Experience Christian Church
God as our Good Shepherd|Grace: Finding Rest and Renewal in God’s Grace| ECC
- Welcome to the Experience Christian Church Message Podcast. We are a church startup based out of Exton, Pennsylvania, committed to giving the community a fresh start with God and with church. Our mission is to help people experience God's love in a practical way. We would love to connect with you. Would you text ECC info to 94000 or go to our website experiencecc.org for more information and to learn how you can be a part of our community? Enjoy today's message. - Okay. Well, I got a text message from Eric Magnus that I thought I would share with everybody here on the screen. He sent me a text last week and said, "Hey, we had 19 simultaneous devices. "This is people watching from online. "Egg is on service on Sunday. "This is the biggest number I've ever seen. "It's about evenly divided between YouTube and the website. "You can watch the service on YouTube website "and also Facebook. "It says what the bigger number "came slightly increases interaction on the website "and I'm still trying to figure out "the right mode and style of conversation on YouTube "since that's so public." And he said, "Excellent services, "energy and tech modality going on right now." So that text was very encouraging. So from that, I just wanna give you five statements, right? The first one is, I wanna ensure that you know if you're sick or if you're traveling, you can log in online and enjoy the service. That's one thing. Second is, there is a group of individuals that call experience home that are beyond our geographical area that tune in and watch. So we're glad you're with us today at 10 o'clock. Third is, if you're online, maybe consider jumping in the chat line and have some interactions there. Fourth is, there's a pretty good complements, excellent services, energy and tech modality. So that is basically it takes energy from your interaction when you come in, right? So when you come in full with energy, it feeds everything else. When people come here early to do setup, when people will help with the tech in the back, when individuals do hospitality, it's just a community coming together to bring great energy. So, give yourselves a hand, right? Like, let's just give, like, build good. Takes a village to kind of bring this much energy together. And lastly, just know that the fifth thing is anything you text me may end up on the screen. So you better be nice, all right? That, you better be nice. That's important for you to know. But I'm just thankful for what God is doing, how he works in the community. And so, thanks for being a part of it, rather your online or in-person. Seasons are changing. And as we mentioned last week, it's good for us to slow down, to recognize the season that we're in. And I'm convinced that we need a God who is with us in every season, right? Rather, we're celebrating life. Rather, life is very difficult. If we are full of joy, or full of fear and skepticism, if we're celebrating or we're in fear, we need a good shepherd watching over us. And we're gonna be over the next several weeks looking at God as our good shepherd. Hence, the series titled Grace, Finding Rest and Renewal in God's Grace. Grace typically is put under two theological umbrellas. One is common grace, the idea that God helps all people in all ways, He provides the life, nutrition things that we need, food, sunlight, rain, these things that help keep the government structures in place, it's not that they're perfect because we know there's problems, but God offers grace to all people at all times. That's common grace. There's also salvation grace, where we're able to enter into a relationship with Jesus because of the goodness of God. But what we sometimes forget is we are sustained by grace. We live in grace all the time. I like how it was the theologian, Dallas Willard. He said, "The true saints burn grace like a 747 burns fuel on takeoff." Isn't that a good quote? It's like we're sustained by grace. It's like if you wanna realize like, how do I make it through a tough day? How do I deal with my own shortcomings? How do I experience forgiveness? How do I extend forgiveness? It's an awareness of grace. So that's where we're gonna be looking at over the next several weeks. And we're gonna be banking it on Psalms 23. You may not know it by its address, but I'm sure you know the text. So it's on the screen you can read along. It says, "The Lord is my shepherd. "I lack nothing. "He makes me lie down in green pastures. "He leads me beside quiet waters. "He refreshes my soul. "He guides me along the right paths for his namesake. "And even though I walk through the darkest valley, "I will fear no evil. "For you are with me. "Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. "You prepare a table before me "in the presence of my enemies. "You anoint my head with oil. "My cup overflows. "And surely your goodness and love will follow me "all the days of my life. "And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Does that psalm take you to a place? Take you to a memory? Take you to an event? It's familiar words probably transport you to an emotional space. You know, I ask a few folks, when have you used this psalm as a prayer? Someone said, "I prayed it frequently "as I went through my divorce." We prayed it when we lost our baby due to a miscarriage. When I was at my former job, one of my coworkers had a heart attack that he didn't survive. We performed CPR until the ambulance arrived. I was a new Christian at the time and I happened to have one of those many new testament psalm proverbs with me. And after the ambulance left, our adrenaline started to subside. We read psalm 23 together and when we read that psalm, we felt this supernatural peace. Others say, "I read it when I wake up in the middle of the night "and I have a hard time going back to sleep." Others said, "I pray it when I feel out of sorts "or a sense of darkness around me. "For me, I says that I go to texts "when I visit someone in prison or in a hospital "or perform a funeral or a memorial service. "It brings such comfort, doesn't it? "It is a go-to text. "And if you haven't explored it in the heavy seasons of life, "I would do so, but it's also important to understand it "in our best days when life is good "because it lets us see into the heart "of a loving God who wants a relationship with us. "And so that's what we're gonna be unpacking "over the next seven weeks. "And today we'll take on some of these first three verses. "And the first is, "The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing." So the first word I want you to focus on is the fourth word, my, who wrote this? Well, it was King David. Some of you know that. And you're thinking, okay, a king. He says I lack nothing. That's why he lacks nothing. But David had his share of hardships. One of the companion tools we'll be using during this series, if you wanna work from home on this, is this is a workbook basically helping us dive deeper into grace. You can fill out the questions. This is some of what we're gonna use as our conversation starter on Wednesday night, but you could also do it alone. But I wanted to read their perspective on David from this book that I think you'll find helpful. You can read along on the screen as well. It says whatever impression you might have from your reading of Psalm 23, David's life was anything but smooth and serene. After killing Goliath, David's rise for prominence enraged the insecure and arguably insane King Saul. David was literally stalked by Saul, forced to live as a fugitive. David narrowly escaped multiple assassination attempts. David was also no stranger to crushing grief. Jonathan, his most trusted friend, one who became one in spirit with David, was killed along with Saul in battle. David lost an infant son and a grown son to death. David knew shame and regret. He not only committed adultery, he engaged in an elaborate cover-up scheme. When that didn't work in desperation, he caused the offended husband to be killed. Confronted by Nathan the prophet, David finally repented, although it was a horrible stain on his public and private reputation. David also had daily pressures from his role as political and military leader of the nation. His kingdom was threatened by civil war. He was forced to run for his life. His pain was multiplied because his very own son, Absalom, led the rebellion. The unvarnished emotions accompanying life's ups and downs flow through David's many psalms. "I am worn out from groaning. "All night long, I flood my bed with weeping. "Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress. "My strength fails because of my affliction, "and my bones grow weak. "Answer me with your sure salvation, "rescue me from the mire. "Do not let me sink. "Deliver me from those who hate me from the deep waters. "And it's against this landscape, "one punctuated by pressure, "opposition, fear, grief, guilt, uncertainty. "David confidently asserts, the Lord is my shepherd." You know, we may not understand what it's like to be king, but we certainly understand what it's like to feel some of those emotions, don't we? When we reach for this psalm, we understand the connection point, and we feel something with David. And what's interesting to me, think of all the things and all the experiences David had in life. You know, David, he was a militant man, right? He could have said, "The Lord is my commander." He was a king. He could have said, "The Lord is my king." I'll submit to his leadership. He could have said, "He's my inspiration." David was an artist. But of all the illustrations that he could have used, he says, "The Lord is my shepherd." And really, he's calling himself a sheep, isn't he? He's like, "He's the shepherd, I'm the sheep." Now, how many of you have sheep at home? Let me count it up. No one. So we lose some of the influence of this powerful analogy, don't we? It's like, okay, sheep, we're often told they're dumb, they're stupid, they don't behave themselves. Like, this is the image we give of a sheep, but the more you study sheep, you realize they're actually intelligent, good, productive creatures. Here's some fun facts for you. Sheep can recognize up to 50 faces of other sheep and humans and remember them for years. Remember when you were mean to that sheep at the zoo? It remembers, and it's gonna get you. Do you know sheep have rectangular pupils? It's true, don't Google it now, but look at it later. Their pupils are rectangular, it allows their field of vision to be 270 to 320 degrees. They can see predators, pretty cool. They experience complex emotions. It's been recorded that they can feel afraid, angry, bored, sad, happy. They're like teenagers, isn't that cute? They get excited, they frolic, and they kick. And interestingly enough, sheep can be pessimists and optimists, like teenagers. They communicate with each other with a variety of sounds and body language, and despite relying predominantly on a herd mentality to stay alive, they're not entirely defensive. Defense less if someone's been kicked by a sheep, that hurts, and you can be rammed by a ram. And although you don't see a whole lot of mascots in high school like being the sheep, you do hear some rams, right? Like, and that's for good reason. Rams are male sheep for you city folks in the room, they're the boy rams, that's what rams are. But despite their characteristics, let's play a game of wood you rather. Lion or sheep? Tiger or sheep? Bear or sheep? Lion's tigers and bears, oh my. We're gonna choose them every time because sheep, they're just kind of sheep. Despite their attributes, they do have some setbacks. That wool that gets really big, it gets heavy, and they can drown. The other thing about a wool or heavy sheep as they get size, if it's turned over, if it's cast on its back, it has 24 hours to get turned over by someone else like a shepherd, otherwise they'll die. Their stomachs fill with gas, and they swell up, and they swell up, and they swell up, and their lungs compress. And you know these are emotional creatures, it's pretty horrifying to think that they can die from being left when they're back too hard. Not a good sign to be a sheep. If they're under attack, they typically bunched together, and just hope they're not on the outside. So again, David, you're smart, you're creative, you're articulate. Why would you start off with the illustration? The Lord is my shepherd. Like you've been around sheep, you know their strengths, you know their weaknesses, and yet you're still calling yourself a sheep of all the examples, what else? Two other things that are interesting about sheep is one. They're prone to wonder when they're eating, they can just follow their impulses, and rather than think logically, they can just kind of wander off, and before they know it, they find themselves isolated in harm's way. Their great vision to see around them is limited to about 20 feet, they're short sighted. They can't see dangers from far away. Those are pretty, these are two reasons that you can compare yourself to sheep, right? Prone to wonder, prone for distraction, ability to see danger far off. Maybe we are a little bit like sheep. Despite David having near everything, he said, "I'm a sheep, Lord, you're my shepherd." Each of us, we kind of have this if only list, don't we? If only I had more help, I'd be able to relax. If only I didn't have so much to do, I could get the balance of life. If only I had more money, I could stop wishing I had stuff, or I'd be able to pay the bills. If only if I was in charge, things would be better around here, right? If only I had more power, then I could in fact influence. But you see, David had all of that, and yet didn't leverage that in this illustration. It was the humility of a sheep. As if he said, "Okay, I have the opportunity to amass so many things that others desire, yet I'm still lacking." And what he lacked was provision. There were things that only God could provide. Protection, he was always pressured. He trusted God in that, and direction. You know, sometimes when you're on top, it's hard to wonder where to go next, isn't it? And so I think we can really resonate with this illustration. He says, "The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing as his words." You know, it's not unique that God would be referred to as a shepherd, but what is unique is the my, the personal connection with God. And saying God is my shepherd is powerful. It's as if he's saying God is my shepherd, and he wants to be your shepherd, because he knew you would come to impact this psalm. The opening lines ends with the statement, "I lack nothing." So if you've heard it say, "I shall not want," correct? But this actually illustrates the point a little bit more. It's not that you won't have desires. You'll still have once, but it's that you'll lack nothing. God will provide everything that you absolutely need. Another way you could say it is settled. I can be settled because the good shepherd is watching over me. I kind of say it this way. God will meet us in our deepest need, not in our insatiable greed, right? We're desirous creatures. We always want more. And God may not be able to meet that insatiable need, but he will help us and make sure that we can be settled. That's why it's that he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. Green pastures of grass to eat, quiet waters for drinking. These are the things that a sheep is dependent on the shepherd for a domesticated sheep doesn't survive well in the wild. It's kind of like my fish in my aquarium, right? My responsibility is to feed them, to keep that water clean. My two precious, adorable cats, make sure that they're fed and cared for. And we love them, all five of us love them so much. And we take care of them. God takes care of us as his creatures. Sometimes when I think about that verse, like he leads them beside pastures. He leads them beside waters. I get this idea of Scotland. Like here's their kind of pasture, right? Back one, go back one, there you go. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. This is Scotland and it just makes me think of that beautiful coastline, the lush green grass. It's almost like sheep don't need you, right? I mean, the sheep don't need a shepherd. They can just wander off and take care of themselves. But those in Israel, they're gonna have a different kind of framework of this text because of what they experienced. I went to Israel in 2017. And despite Israel being the size of New Jersey, there is a ton of variety in landscape. This is what Bethlehem looks like here. And you can see that there is clumps of grass and there's dangers really all around, correct? And so there the shepherd analogy makes a little bit more sense. Go a little further south down to the Dead Sea area. And that's like how barren this is. They will literally have to go on hikes to get your herd to tufts of grass, just small little slivers of grass. And that sheep are very dependent to get their shepherd to get them to the next location in the fine water. Yet in the northern Israel, someone reading this, and it looks a lot like Scotland, doesn't it? It's lush, it's beautiful. And I think the point is Psalm 23 is applicable for each of those environments. Like take a look at those three at the same time and then there you'll get a chance to say, which one would best describe my life at this point? Maybe you have this season where you feel like you have plenty. Well, that's God's provision and don't think of it as your own success, correct? The Lord is your shepherd. Maybe you're desperate for direction. You feel like you're in the Dead Sea. And you're trusting God to provide for you in the next season. Well, the good news is the good shepherd wants to meet us in every one of those season because he's our shepherd. And in verse three, it says, "He refreshes my soul." We know from experience that physical needs met does not equate to a soul that's being refreshed, does it? Matthew 11, 28. We've been in this text a few times. He says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I'll give you rest." The voice of the good shepherd is, "I can meet you in the needs. I can help you in your burdens, and I can give you the rest." But here's what's interesting. You can lead the sheep to water, but you can't make them drink, right? I don't know if you've seen this video out before, but there's a quick 30-second video of a sheep. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) Obviously, in trouble when this shepherd just gets him right out. (speaking in foreign language) (laughing) We're a lot like that sheep, aren't we? God, I need you. God, help me. Thank you. Thank you. I'm on my way now, God. I'm on my way. Whoops. God, I need you. God, come back. I need you. I was just kidding. I thought I had my life together. We really, if we don't see the shepherd as a good shepherd, and we think we're independent, we really can find ourselves in trouble, can't we? In those times when we have a gift, a gift to see just how desperate we are and we cry out, well, it's not long, we're kind of doing our own thing and end up in that place again. I was moved by a story this week. I heard it was from a John Orberg devotion that was emailed to me and he was talking about Reverend Ruang Rogers. This gentleman, he had this appointment with Dallas Willard who we read a quote from earlier in the beginning of the sermon. Theological guy does a lot of soul direction for people, soul care. And so this gentleman, this Reverend Rogers went to beat him in the 90s. His friends said, you need to have this conversation because you're really in a bad space now. Like you're struggling spiritually. We know you're floundering. Go meet with Dallas Willard. Says, Dallas, welcome to me warmly. These are his words. Dallas, welcome me warmly and ask to hear my story. And I had come prepared to share a long list of grievances. Grievances against others. Grievances against God and grievances against myself. Mostly against the uncaring nature of God. At least his perception of God not caring. He said, as I had told my story of how I had heard others and of how God did not seem to care, Dallas listened. And every now and then he would interject with grace filled questions. And as I was sharing one particularly painful story, he spoke with such kindness and mercy and grace to me. It was as if I heard the spirit whisper to me, your sins are forgiven, all of them. He says, our meeting concluded with a transforming blessing. Dallas had listened patiently to my rantings against the God who ignores and who favors discriminately and ask if I might do this one thing as we parted. And he said, are you willing to see everything that is good as being a gift from God and everything that is not good as not being from God? I appreciated your prayer just now. God, you are sovereign and in control. And yet we're praying for a weather condition that God could have stopped, right? Was that from God? No, I don't believe it is from God. God is good. Every good thing comes from God. God is not being from God. I appreciate your prayer just now. God, you are sovereign and in control. And yet we're praying for a weather condition that God could have stopped, right? Was that from God? No, I don't believe it is from God. It comes from God. This is what Job said. Remember Job's story? If you're not familiar, read Job in the Old Testament. You think your life's hard? Read Job's account. He lost everything. Everything he owned, his family, his business. And this was Job's comment. He said, the Lord gave me what I had. The good shepherd gave me what I had and the Lord had taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord. And verse 22 says, in all this, Job did not sin by blaming God. James, the brother of Jesus said it this way. Don't be misled. Interesting choice of words, Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. He guides me. The good shepherd wants to guide us in a direction. We can also be misled inappropriately, right? Do not be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down from us, from God our Father. James echoes that. Every good thing is from God. Can you accept that every not good thing is not from God? This week, as you read Psalm 23, and I hope you'll memorize Psalm 23 one through three, I just want you to add one word in there. And I want you to add the word good before shepherd. The Lord is my good shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. And for those of you that are like, hey, hey, you're adding a word to scripture, John 10 11. Jesus says what? I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep or lays down his life for the sheep. So I think you're safe to add the word good in there. You can keep in parentheses if it feels a little crazy. But do you see God as your good shepherd? 'Cause if you just see God as a shepherd and you don't see his goodness, you don't really want to be under his care. And you'll find yourself rebelling. A book that I'm reading, it's Max Lucado, safe in the shepherd's arms. He paints a great picture of the God we served and I'm cutting out chunks of it. But he says, we need an uncaused shepherd. No one breathed life into Yahweh. No one sired him. No one gave birth to him. No one caused him. No act brought him forth. Though he creates, God was never created. Though he makes, he was never made. Though he causes, he was never caused. Since no act brought him forth, no act can take him out. Does he fear an earthquake? Does he tremble out a tornado hardly? Yahweh sleeps through storms and calms the winds with a word. Cancer does not trouble him. Symmetaries do not disturb him. He was here before they came and he'll be here long after they are gone. Counselors can comfort you in the storm, but you need a God who can still the storm. Friends can hold your hand at your deathbed, but you need Yahweh who has defeated the grave. Philosophers can debate the meaning of life, but you need a Lord who can declare the meaning of life. You need Yahweh. You don't need to carry the burden of a lesser God, a God on a shelf, a God in a box, or a God in a bottle, no. You need a God who can place 100 billion stars in the galaxy and 100 billion galaxies in the universe. You need a God who can shape two fists of flesh into 75 to 100 billion nerve cells, each with as many as 10,000 connections to other nerve cells placed in a skull and call it a brain. You need a God who, while so mind-numbingly, might can come in the soft of night and touch you with the tenderness of April snow. You need Yahweh. And according to David, you have one. He's your shepherd. God, you're good shepherd. You're good shepherd. And as we go through this, you'll see just how gracious he is. And I pray you'll breathe in the peace that only the good shepherd can bring. You question what kind of field you're in. You question what you're experiencing in life. Everything that's good is from our good God. And there's things that aren't, aren't. Let's pray together, Father God. We thank you for your word, and we're thankful for David, a king, a warrior, a poet that was able to capture the persona of a helpless sheep, an emotionally complex, sometimes rebellious animal. That despite its feelings of security and adequacy, realize that he's in desperate need of a shepherd, a good shepherd that will care for him. And so it is humbling to say, we are sheep, God. God, we don't always follow you. We follow our noses. We follow our impulses. We don't think of long-term consequences. And so, God, there are times when we are humbled enough to say, wow, we need you. And so we find ourselves today, rather feeling well-provided or desperate. Thanks for being the good shepherd who knows and promises to give us everything we need. We love you, God. In Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for joining us. We hope something you heard today will draw you closer to God and encourage you to know him better. If you found this message podcast helpful, please subscribe, write a review, and consider sharing it with someone else. If there is anything we can do for you, a question we could talk through with you, a prayer we could say on your behalf, or a need you have, please don't hesitate to let us know. We are better together. Please connect with us soon. Take care. (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING]