The Village Church
Resolve That The Lord Be My Shepherd - Audio
A better citizen. A better neighbor. I'm a volunteer moron. All those things are gonna make me better than I was last year. I'm gonna need Jesus a little less. A little less than I did last year. You see, the problem with these New Year resolutions, at least for myself, is that my aim in them is that I can live out of strength. In not weakness. That's what I want them to help me to do. To be able to love out of my strength, to live out of my strength, to parent out of my strength, to do my marriage out of my strength, to leave this church out of my strength, to provide for my family, out of my strength, to serve out of my strength, and not Jesus, and not Jesus. You see, we need a new type of resolution. We need one that's kind of counter-cultural to our culture, because our culture values strength, not weakness, power. That's what our culture values. And so what we all need is a resolution that's gonna help us to live, love, parent, out of weakness, out of our weakness, and not our strength. And so this resolution that I'm calling you all to make is a one-time resolution. It never changes. The same one every year for the rest of your life. And it's this. You got to get to a place in your life where you know and rest in the fact that the Lord God is your shepherd, no matter what you go through. You got to get to a place where you know that without a shadow of a doubt, in 2011 and beyond, my Lord is my shepherd in this life, for all eternity. Do you believe that? Are you gonna believe that? You see, trusting in that when it able you to live out of weakness, and not to run from your weakness, it'll allow you to embrace your weakness in order that you may live out of his strength. If you believe he is your shepherd, not just any shepherd, but your good shepherd. That is what he is to us. So a good picture of what it means for God to be our shepherd, of course, is Psalm 23. Everyone knows that, just like John 3 16. A lot of people know Psalm 23, even those who aren't believers usually know this Psalm. And we're gonna look at the first three verses this morning. So if you have your Bibles, please open them to Psalm 23. Here's God's word. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul and leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Please pray with me. Father, God, as we come to your word this morning, as I pray every week, it's not about me, and I pray that to remind myself that it's not about me. It's about you. And you being glorified through the preaching of your word, and spirit come. Take what is preaching, apply it to my heart, and apply it to our heart. Because if you don't, nothing's gonna happen. We gotta believe that. And so spirit glorify our Savior this morning through his word, and crashing my prayer, amen. So a kind of cultural New Year's resolution, that is what we need to make. One that says, I know and I'm gonna rest in the fact that the Lord is my shepherd. But what kind of shepherd is he gonna be for you this year? A good one, yes, we know that, but what in particular? What are those particular things I can look for and expect from my shepherd as this New Year began? First, we know that the shepherd is gonna be personal with you. That's what we see in verse one here. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. You see Psalm 23. It's a psalm of David. It's a psalm of confidence and trust in the fact that the Lord God is gonna be a good shepherd. There's no uncertainty in David's words here. The Lord is my shepherd. Without a doubt. That's the reality. The holy, most almighty God is a shepherd to David. And the beauty of this is that he doesn't shepherd him from a distance. He's not in some over office or of a higher room and up above the house, shepherding him. He's personally involved with him. And the same is for you. You have a personal shepherd. Shepherd, you through phone calls and emails? Yeah, I love you. I'll be there in a minute. No, he's personally involved with his sheep. The English word that your Lord in the Hebrew is says Yahweh. Do you know what's so special about Yahweh? What's special about Yahweh? What's so special about that name for the Lord? It's his personal name. You don't have a faceless shepherd, a nameless shepherd. Your shepherd is Yahweh, a personal shepherd who is personally involved with his sheep. And David is confident of this, so confident that the Lord God is a good personal shepherd that he says, "I shall not want." "I shall not want." Who can make that a New Year's resolution? "This year, the Lord's my shepherd and I shall not want." What does he mean by that? It means he's not lacking any good thing in his life. All of life necessities the shepherd provides for his sheep, David. Do you believe that for your life? Or do you have to rearrange your life in such a way that you make sure you're going to get what you're going to get? Because it's all up to you. Not for David. David says in Psalm 34, "O, for the Lord, you his sins, for those who fit him, there is no want. The young lions do like food, do like and serve for hunger, but those who seek the Lord should not be and want any good things." Those who seek the Lord should not be and want to any good thing. That applies to you if he's your shepherd. That's always a question, right? Can you confidently say that? I know you say it here because you're around other believers in church folk, but when you're alone in the places where you really live, is that true? Is that true? Or do you go through the motions? Is it your shepherd? It's the question. Have you truly surrendered your life to his authority? And if you have, are you still holding on to other things? Yeah, you can be shepherd over this, but I got this right here. I want this. I want to shepherd this. I'll let you shepherd all the other things, Lord. You see, you're either in the sheep fold or you're out. You're not one foot in, you're not a sheep one day, and not a sheep another day. You're either a sheep or you're not. That's how he sees it. The question is, are you a sheep? Do you want to be a part-time sheep or a full-time sheep? And here's the thing, our shepherd isn't a part-time shepherd. He's either going to be your full-time shepherd or no shepherd at all. He said, you can't go to the Lord and dictate to him on what kind of sheep you're going to be this year. You know, it's like you coming to the Lord, you know, coming to his office, you know. Come on in, come in. Oh, hey, Richard. Come on in. Have a seat, buddy. Have a seat. What's on your mind today, Richard? Well, Lord, I've been thinking. You know, I've been thinking about this shepherd and sheep thing that we got here. And so because, you know, I have freedom, you know, I do have freedom in our robot, I took the liberty to come up with some compromises that I think is going to work well for you and I in this relationship that we have. So here's what I'm putting on the table. You give me Fridays and Saturdays off for being your sheep. And I would also like to have one week off a month for being your sheep. Now, I know, I know, I'll cross your eyebrows. Lord, come on. I'm not done yet. Let me finish. It's going to get good. It's going to get better. Now, here's what you get from me. I give you all day Sunday. I mean, here, I mean, I'm going to even start going to Sunday school. How about that? And, and I'm going to start bringing coffee and donuts, too. And check this out, Lord. It's going to even get better. I'm going to even start tithing. How about that? How about that? That's even better. You see, see, you're getting something in this, too, right? And check this out, Lord. Check this out. I'm going to even start going to church on Wednesdays. High five, me. This is what I'm giving you, Lord. Just give me those days off. And here's the cherry on top. I'm going to even start volunteering to help the poor. I'm so good. I'm on a roll, Lord. I'm on a roll. What does God say to that? That only sounds silly, but that's what we do. I mean, we really want to be part-time sheep sometime, particularly with some things that we want to hold on to. That's mine, whether it's money, relationship, whatever it could be. He wants to be shuffled over those things, too. And so this year, Christian, what kind of shepherd you're going to be? What kind of sheep are you going to be in 2011? Are you going to make demands of God or are you just going to surrender? I said, all I have is yours. Every area of my life is yours. My circumstances are yours. My money is yours. My time is yours. And have you want me to use it? That's how I'm going to use it for your glory. Can't pick and choose on what we're going to surrender. He wants it all. Have you become a sheep? You know, you can't work yourself into the sheep fold. You realize that, right? If he's not your shepherd, you can't work yourself in. All you have to do is receive the invitation. That's all you do. In the invitation is this, you have to give your life to Jesus. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. That's the invitation into the sheep fold. And if you haven't done that, that's available to you, just surrender your life to Christ, to receive Him as your personal Lord and Savior, to be in a relationship with Him. And when you're in a relationship with Jesus, you recognize the shepherd's voice. If you don't hear his voice, you've got to ask yourself, "Am I in the sheep fold or not?" Of course, if you are, you hear and recognize the voice of your shepherd because he speaks to his people. So this year, have confidence that the Lord is going to be personal with you. You're not alone. Whatever you're going through, whatever you're facing, wherever it's going to come this year, your shepherd is with you. He's beside you, in front of you, right here and right here all the days of your life. And he's with you. David had confidence of this. And so he could say, "I shall not want for anything," because it's already given. He's already provided. Next we see from the Lord that he's not just personal shepherd, but he also gives restful security to his people. That's what we see in verse two. He says, "He makes me like not in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. That's waters of rest." That's what David is talking about here. Restful security. That's what we get. That's what we should expect from him. He's going to give me rest this year. And think about it. You know, lying down in green pastures. Waters, I'm sorry, here we go. Besides still waters, what is he talking about there? Those are places of rest, places of peace. There's been fully supplied with life necessities. You see, just like any human shepherd, you know, he's responsible for leading that flock to pastures, of green, on better pastures to feed upon. The shepherd seeks those things out, and he leads the flock there. The same for your shepherd. He's ahead of you, always providing for you, leading you to the places that you're going to go. And you got to trust that. You got to trust that. He'll lead you to those cool springs of water this year. It ain't going to be your job. It ain't going to be anyone else. It ain't going to be your neighborhood or wherever you place your security in. It's going to be your ship. Can't lose sight of that. That he's the one that's always working in your life, providing for you, sustaining you, and leading you. And if so, there's no need to worry. There's no need to be fearful. There's no need to want for anything. The Lord makes you lie down. The Lord leads you beside still waters. And David is totally secure in that. Totally secure in the Lord's gathering power here. God's provenance. This is what he's talking about. Him gathering your life and your circumstances, his protective care. Do you know God protects you? Do you believe that? You got to believe that. A good shepherd takes good care of his sheep always. You got to hold true to that. Particularly when circumstances get hard. And David, you know, David used to be a shepherd. He was a shepherd before he became king. And so no one knows the work of a shepherd more than a teen, David, because he was one. And you got to think he was a good shepherd to his sheep. He watched over them. He protected them from wolves and bears. He knew them. He guarded them. He watched over them. He sought after the ones that was lost. That's what a good shepherd does. And now here, David is saying, my God is my good shepherd. He's going to do those same things for me, because I am a sheep of his. I'm in his sheep fold. And David is embracing weakness here. You don't call yourself a sheep unless you were to embrace weakness, because sheep are weak. They're dependent upon the shepherd, because without the shepherd, they're going to get themselves in trouble. And so by saying the Lord is your shepherd, you are acknowledging your own weakness, even in that statement. You are acknowledging the fact that I'm weak, independent, and I need him. You are embracing weakness, even in that. So don't pray that if you're not willing to embrace it, because that's what it means. I'm going to embrace my weakness, because my shepherd is going to be strong for me. You understand that? Do you believe that? So, I'm going to lost my place. This year, are you going to embrace weakness? Are you going to run from it? Wherever you weaken, accept it. Take it to Jesus. Embrace your weakness that you may live out of the shepherd's strength. And this is what David admits here. And so he has wrestled security in his life, in his circumstances, in his situations. See, David says in Psalm 27, "I believe that I should look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Be strong and wait for the Lord. Take courage and wait for him." He believed that. I would see God's goodness. And you would see God's goodness. You would see it. Do we have the patience to wait for it? Do we have the patience to wait for it? Think about David's life. I mean, did he have moments of green pastures in his life, and still waters? He was a man of the God's own heart. He was anointed king. He was a boy. So I mean, a boy. What happened when he fought good life? Was God over him then? Yes. God gave him victory. Who brought the art back to the kingdom? David did. David did. He was king. God gave him victories in war. So he experienced the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. He did. And so you can expect those things too in your life, in ministry, in your marriage, in leadership. And whatever you do, expect the Lord to give you some good pastures, green pastures, and still waters. If you're struggling to believe this, pray Psalm 27. I believe I should look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Pray that. Ask the Spirit to give me patience for that, to to to to to wait on the Lord to come. There's a song by gospel artist, Fred Hammond, that's called "All Things Are Working For Me." In the course of that song, it says, "All things are working for me, even things I can't see. Your ways are so beyond me, but you said it would be for my good, so I'll rest and just believe." Do you believe that? All things are working for you. Even the things you can't see are working for you, and it's for your good, where you rest and believe that. Well, I'll rest and believe that, because I can leave here today and go home and not believe in this. And so can you. The shepherd will never abandon you, even when life is hard. He always has your back. Monday night will be the end of the college football season this year, and it'll be Saturday for a lot of folks in the South. But, well until next fall, come on. You know, some guys live and die with football season, so it's just a joke. Next month, next month marks another big season of college football. It's called signing day. Any of you who know anything about college football, you look forward to February, because it's signing day. That's the day when your college program is going to get all these five-star recruits that come to play football for you in the fall. And here's the thing about recruiting in college football. A whole lot of promises are made to get those kids to your school. A lot of promises are made. Come play for me. I'm going to give you more plan time. Come play for me. I'm going to give you this starting position. And even have some head coaches promise their players, I'm going to be your coach. I'm going to be there. Sit on the couch and tell the kid, "I'm going to be your coach. I'm not going anywhere." Now, if you don't think my college football, that promise gets broken all the time. They promise that I'm going to be your coach. I'm going to be one coaching you for four years. That's the promise I hear about all the time when it comes to college football, that coaches, head coaches, will jump ship quick to the next program. And what you got to see about your shepherd, he's not a college football head coach. The promise is he makes to you. When he sits down on your couch and he saves to you, I'm going to be your shepherd all your life. Now, just four years, but forever, that's a promise that he's never going to break. And to this thing, he's not recruiting you to help him win a national championship. It's for your benefit that he recruits you because he doesn't need you. You need him. There's a difference. And that promise you got to hold on to, I will be your shepherd forever. Remind yourself with that, because I know I do. I have to remind myself for that, because life gets hard, circumstances are always good. And I have to go back to the gospel, remind myself, the Lord is my shepherd. He's going to be there. He's not going to abandon me. He's not a college football head coach. He's going to jump ship on me. But he's here through the good and bad. He's personal, responsible security. And he brings restoration to my soul. Verse three, David says, "The Lord restores my soul, restores my soul." So you have David, he moves away from talking about green pastures to steal waters, to now talking about restoration. And this verse is important. You know why? Because it brings balance to what David is talking about here. Because you can't read this and think all of life is going to be green pastures, right? He's not talking about all of life. He is saying he will experience them. See, a soul that needs to be restored is one that has been broken. Only a broken soul needs to be restored. For a healthy soul doesn't. Was David's life always filled with green pastures and steal waters? If you read through kings and chronicles, you know that's not true. He was a broken man at different points of his life. That man after God's own heart fell into sin. Not only that, he had a man killed and took his wife. Not much. He had troubles with his kids. He didn't have any situation with his kids well at all. One son raped his sister, one son tried to steal the kingdom from him. He was broken at different periods in his life. But you know what was consistent? God was still a shepherd. God was still a shepherd. The God abandoned David. Even when he committed sin with the God said, "You know what I'm tired of you, David? I'm done." What did he do? He had mercy in sitting in the prophet Nathan. That was mercy. Go to David and David repented when the sin was revealed to him. Even in his brokenness, the Lord was still a shepherd. He didn't leave him, didn't abandon him. Think about when you read through some of his songs. Some of his songs are from despair. I mean, "Well, are you Lord?" Think about it. King Saul tried to kill him. In pursuit of him, we're going to take his life. He didn't have those seasons of brokenness. And we will too. We will too. And his view of God, his view of his shepherd was not dictated by his circumstances. His view of God didn't change like his situations. Well, when life is good and God is good, when life is bad and shepherds bad, the shepherd was good for it all. There is your view of God changed depending upon your circumstances. Do you struggle with that? I know I do sometimes, but that's a lie. He's good through the ups and downs of life. He's shepherding you through it all. You got to hold on to that. You got to hold on to that. And the reason David could still have this type of security is because he knew that his life was never outside of his shepherd. He knew that. The shepherd always kept watch over him even when he went through hard times. We got to see that about our own lives. That whatever you go through this year, whatever failures or mistakes, whatever successes you're going to have this year, your life is never outside of your shepherd. He's always watching, protecting you, guiding you. And this year, you got to have this balanced perspective. Now, I'm going to have green pastures. There are going to be times when I need restoration. You got to go into New Year with that perspective. That'll keep you balanced. That'll keep you from going to a place of totally despair when you fail your New Year's resolutions, because you're not going to keep them all. You're going to fail. Some of us are going to make mistakes. I'm going to get into arguments with my wife. I'm going to fail as a pastor. I'm going to say something that I shouldn't say. That that makes me a bad person just makes me a sinner. It makes me human. That I'm not going to ever get to a place in this life where I don't need grace. I'm not going to ever get to a place in this life where I don't need my shepherd. And if you think that, then you're going to have a hard, hard life, a hard, hard year. Because you're refusing to accept the fact that you are sinful and you're going to fail at times. You're going to embrace that. Accept that. That's what we have to do. David, when David fought Goliath and the folks thought he was too small to go out to battle, but he had confidence. What did he had confidence in? Do you know if you remember what he told Saul before he went out to fight? First Samuel 17, David said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion, from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hands of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go and the Lord be with you." That Lord be with you. David was remembering God's past faithfulness in his pleasant situation. Did you do that? When you face something hard in your life, do you remember what God delivered me from this last year? Man, he delivered me from that last year. And this and that and that. So I can't expect him to do the same this year. And so I say, "Go and the Lord be with you." And he will be with you. But you remember those past blessings. That's those past restorations that he brought to your soul. Because sometimes we'll do a good job of that. I know I don't. He delivered me one week. And next week, "Oh God, I'm not going to make it. Jesus helped me." And just last week, he delivered me from something. And this week I'm all in shambles again. Because I don't remember what he has already done for me. Those things help you to get through those difficulties times of life. Remembering what he has done for you. Hold on to that. Remember that. You see, Calvin says, "We ought to bear in mind that our happiness consists of this, that his hand is stretched out to govern us. We are under his shadow. And that his provenance keeps watch over our welfare." Your happiness consists in this. That his hand is stretched out over your life like this. And his provenance watches over you all the days of your life. Knowing that brings happiness. Not knowing that brings uncertainty and despair. If you don't believe God has your best interests at heart. And that doesn't mean all life is going to be perfect. You can't say that, but it means he's going to shepherd you through whatever you go through. Do we have the patience to wait for it? I heard one of my friends who's a pastor says, "For the Christian, all about surfing is not forever. God does bring restoration." Now, I might not be what you're looking for, but he will bring you out of it. Do we have the patience to wait for it? Do we? One time while I was doing your work, Madison was helping me do it. And you know, she fell down, she started to cry because she heard her leg. And what she never did, even though she was crying, she looked up at me, never took her eyes off me. She was looking at me, crying. And so I walked over, I picked her up in my arms, and I sure heard it. She was okay. You're okay, Madison. You're going to be okay. And what was I doing? What was I doing for my daughter? I was restoring her. But knows what she was doing. She expected me to come to her. She expected her daddy to be there. And you can expect the same thing from your dad, that if you ever, when those times come in 2011, when you fall down, you hurt your leg, and you're crying, do not take your eyes off your daddy. Do not run to this place or that place, do not run to your idols or whatever you run to my life, get hard. Keep your eyes on Jesus. That's what we got to learn to do. And he will bring restoration. You are his people. You are his sons and daughters. And you should expect that, that he's going to come. When the flag is not coming, go to his word and pray. Help me to believe it. My Savior is on the way. He's going to come. He does. We have a wonderful shepherd, don't we? Personal. He gives us restful security. He gives us restoration. And finally, David says, our shepherd gives us guidance in life. In verse 3b, he says, "He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." What does that mean? What is David talking about there? That the Lord God, it's going to be a God for him throughout life. That he doesn't have to be his own God. That his future is in good hands, not all state hands, but in his shepherd's hands. The Lord is going to continue to lead him on the right path of life. This is the work of the shepherd. The shepherd's responsibility to do this, not yours, not us. We're the sheep. We're depending upon the shepherd to lead in God us. And he will lead us in leading God us. And Psalm 119 says, your word is a laugh unto my feet and a light unto my path. So, what can you take from that verse? God is going to lead you through his word. That's how he leads us. His word. His word. Do you see that his word is that? Do you spend time in his word? Do you read it for guidance, for understanding? And not just his word alone, but his spirit and his word always work together. Always. Because if the spirit ain't working, then the word ain't happening in your heart. That's the truth. The spirit takes what you read, takes what you hear, and he is the one who applies to your life unto your heart. That's how he leads us in his life. And so, this year, I need to spend time in God's word outside of just preparing for sermons. If that's all I do, if that's the only time I spend in God's word is to write sermons, then I'm not feeding my soul spiritually. I got to have that time when I'm not dead or work, I'm dead to listen. I'm dead to feed as a sheep with feed. I need those times. And I need you to pray that for me, that your pastor would fellowship. He would feast upon the scriptures. Because if I don't, I'm not going to be a very good pastor. I'm going to be operating in my own stream. Because he can only go so far in that. I need to offer out a weakness, pray out a weakness, pass out a weakness, preach out a weakness. And the same is for you. You need to live out a weakness. And it starts with his word, going to it, bathing in it, understanding it. And the spirit would give you understanding of it. The phrase for his namesake is for his glory. He leads you on the right path for his glory. John Piper says, had a conversation with one of his former students about this issue of God's glory. Listen to what Piper says. He says, "A few weeks ago I was talking to one of my really fine former students who's in graduate school now. I told him I was preaching a three-week series on the fact that God does everything for his own glory. And we need to bring our lives into alignment with that. And it's not selfish but loving for God to act this way. This is what he told his student. His student says in response, "Are you still talking about that?" God's glory. And Piper says, the kid goes on and says, "That was your thing when you first came to this church six years ago. You're still talking about God's glory. Six years ago you started. Now you're still doing it." Piper says to Bill, "Everywhere I look in scripture I see this thing. It really is central to the fact that God does things for his glory and is central for your life. He does it for his glory and his glory along. And that's to your benefit that he does. Because don't lose sight of your God is a good God. And if he didn't do it for his glory he'd be the last in God. And his top benefit that our God is God's center in all that he does. And so our personal shepherd, the reason he gives you, the reason he's personal, the reason he gives you restful security, the reason he gives you restoration and the reason he's going to guide you this year is for his glory, to bring glory to his name. So that when people see your life, they can glorify your God because they see God's work in you. That's what's going to happen for us this year and beyond. Because we don't get the praise for any of these things. We don't. He does. You see, you know, I have two kids, you know, I have a little girl, she's three, a little boy, he's one. Eventually, I'm going to move on with their life and outfit up under my house, eventually. I'm knocked down with my 35-year-old son, still living at home with me. I want him to get out, be independent. But no, with God, it's not like that. He's kind of cultural. You see, he's never going to get to a place in your life where he comes to the dinner table and he breaks the plate and says, "You know what? You're on now, son, daughter. It's time for you to become independent of me and go out and live your life no longer under my roof. God doesn't do that. He wants you to be the 35-year-old who never leaves home, to be always dependent upon him for everything in life. We never get to the place where we leave the Father's house. Is that you sit as good news of bad news? Is it good news of bad news? Good news. And so in 2011, stop trying to leave his house. Be at home, be at rest, because he's never going to kick you out. That's where he wants you to be as his sons and daughters, always at home under his care. Let us pray. Father, I thank you that I can be a 35-year-old who never leaves home in your house, because that's where you want me to be. That's where you want all of us to be as your sons and daughters. I know, you know, the year just begun and there's a lot of things are going to happen. Some good things are going to happen for us, bad things, ups and downs, hardships, trials. All we can expect all those things to come this year, but through it all, Father, help us to know that you are shepherd. You are our good shepherd. You are going to be with us no matter what comes, help us to be whole, firm to that truth in the early days of this year, and let us not lose side of that when life changes. And when it does, Father, help us to go back to your Word, to pray your Word back to you. Be able to build in the Spirit faith of trust in our Lord God. Be with us as we go out today this week. Help us to worship and fellowship with you through your scriptures. And we thank you, Father, that we cross the Jesus where we are your sheep, because of His work upon the cross, we're never cast out. You're crossing my prayer. Amen.