A 23rd Psalm Funeral

A 23rd Psalm Funeral

Jean Morphet was a very Godly woman and it’s no surprise (given that she and her husband Don raised sheep most of their lives) that the family told me that her favorite passage of Scripture was the 23rd Psalm. So I want to begin today’s eulogy by reading it:

“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. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Ye, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 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. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Notice, the Psalm starts out: “The Lord is MY shepherd”. It doesn’t say He is “A” shepherd, or that He is “THE” shepherd. He is MY shepherd and I shall not want!

ILLUS: The story is told of a preacher who asked his church if anyone knew the 23rd Psalm. Almost immediately, a little 6-year-old girl was raised their hand. Now, the preacher didn’t think she really knew the Psalm by heart, so he asked her if she really knew the entire Psalm. The little girl nodded and said: “The Lord’s my shepherd… and that’s all I want.”

Believe it or not that is what the 23rd Psalm is all about. Whatever I could want, my shepherd is capable of supplying it, and Jean knew THAT shepherd. The Lord was HER shepherd and she did not want. She built her life around Jesus and Jean became the kind of woman that she was because she served the kind of Shepherd Jesus was. Jesus was her shepherd.

You saw that in every aspect of her life. The family told me she didn’t have any enemies. Jean would apparently say “hi” to just about anyone And she knew everyone, and she also knew just about everybody’s family tree. She was like a walking encyclopedia because people mattered to her. And she would talk on the phone with friends for hours, and laugh so much when others came over that it kept the kids up when they were younger.

It was like she didn’t have a care in the world. And that was – in part - because she had good husband, but mostly it was because she had Jesus. Jesus was the shepherd who would lead her beside still waters and restore her soul. If she was ever burdened and heavy-laden Jesus gave her rest.

So, people mattered to Jean - but her family mattered even more. She was always taking pictures… 100s and 100s of them. In fact, in the few pictures that the family had of her she always seemed to have a camera hanging around her neck. And it seems she was always there for her kids/grandkids/great grandkids. She was there for all their times at 4H and State Fairs, and at their sporting events and piano recitals. She knew that God bless had blessed her … with a wonderful family. She literally knew what it was to have “Goodness and mercy follow her all the days of her life.”

And, of course there was the promise she had that she would dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You know, she was such a nice person that some people might say: “If anybody should get into heaven … Jean should.” And she was a nice person – the kind of woman you could picture deserving to be with God forever. And that sounds good… but the Bible tells us that’s not how it works. The reason Jean was a nice person and lived such a nice life was because she followed her shepherd. The life she lived… she lived to please HIM! And that was why she lived like she did.

But being “nice” was not the way Jean would get into heaven. Jean was only going to get to heaven because she followed Jesus there. And that is the Only way you get to heaven - by following Jesus. NOT by doing good things. I mean – it’s not that God doesn’t like good deeds. It’s just THAT’S not what gets you through the gates.

The Bible says “ALL OF US have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Not one of us is righteous enough to claim a place in eternity. If that were possible then we could eventually do so much good that God couldn’t keep us out if He wanted to. We would deserve heaven because of our own personal “self-righteousness”… and most of us sense that doesn’t quite sound right.