“Go in Peace: Power for the Way”
Ps. 23:5
Dr. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ told this story of a famous oil field called Yates Pool: During the depression this field was a sheep ranch owned by a man named Yates. Mr. Yates wasn’t able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch. With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on government subsidy. Day after day, as he grazed his sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills. Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract. At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells were more than twice as large. In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day. And Mr. Yates owned it all. The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he’d been living on relief, a multimillionaire living in poverty. The problem? He didn’t know the oil was there even though he owned it. This is, I believe, a parable of life.
I wonder how much of the power available to us lies buried, unnoticed and untapped. David knew about power for living – he tapped into power for the way: “You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” Let’s examine his IMAGE OF POWER. David points to power through two pictures. First he paints A PICTURE OF ANOINTING. “You anoint my head with oil.” This is a wonderful image from the perspective of THE SHEEP. Sheep are often troubled by the NASAL FLIES which lay eggs in the membranes of the sheep’s nose. Needless to say it makes for some real misery and torture when the eggs hatch. Because of this, when the nasal flies hover around the flock, some of the sheep become frantic with fear. They panic and attempt to escape their tormentors. So at the very first sign of these flies the shepherd applies oil to the head and nose of the sheep. And an incredible transformation immediately occurs in the sheep’s behavior. The oil provides peace and calm.
But summertime is also “SCAB-TIME.” Scab is a highly irritating and contagious disease common among sheep. Caused by a minute, microscopic parasite that multiplies in warm weather, “scab” spreads throughout the flock by direct contact among the flock. And since sheep love to rub heads together, it can spread like wildfire. Again, the only solution is to apply some special oil on the sheep’s head. The oil prevents and heals disease.
Now with this background, we can understand what David is saying. He knows that what’s true of the sheep is TRUE FOR US as well. Think about THE FLIES that irritate us and tend to drive us crazy: pride, jealousy, envy, lust, gossip, idolatry, discord, rebellion and so much more all tend to rob us of our peace. Then there are THE SCABS which develop in our lives when we rub heads with the world and begin to accommodate our lifestyles to the world. Then we infect our witness.
So we, too, need oil - the oil of the Holy Spirit. The apostle John wrote (1 Jn. 2:20) “But you have an anointing from the Holy One…” In Galatians 5:22ff. Paul wrote graphically of the effect of the Holy Spirit’s anointing: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” It is the Holy Spirit who enables, indeed who drives us, who EMPOWERS US TO BE LIKE CHRIST. The Holy Spirit is the presence of God in our lives. There was a factory in northern France where lavender for use in perfumes was produced. Each evening as the workers would head for home and walk the streets the little town, the whole village would be filled with the sweet aroma of lavender that had clung to the workers. And that’s how it should be with us. As we follow Christ, as we stay close to him, we will be the aroma of Christ to the world. Listen again to Paul (2 Cor. 2:14-16): “In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse.” God anoints us with his Spirit and empowers us to be like Christ.
Pastor Steve Yeschek lost his sister, Judy, after a five-year battle with cancer. She was a woman who, as Steve described her, was a party animal—a big drinker with a self-contented lifestyle. She was someone everybody loved, because she exuded excitement and a thrill for life. When Steve tried to share Jesus with her over the years, she would laugh it off and keep partying. But at the age of 44, her world caved in. She found out she had breast cancer. She later learned her husband had cancer, too. Adding to the devastation of these two blows, she discovered her husband was having an affair. He subsequently announced he didn't love her anymore and left her.
It was in that context that she began to ask eternal questions and soon prayed to receive Jesus as her Savior. From that time until her death, Jesus and his Word and purpose became her priority. With the same gusto with which she lived life as an unbeliever, she now approached her new life in Christ. Her greatest aim was winning others to Christ. She boldly shared her faith even as she was undergoing surgery after surgery, praying for a miraculous healing from the Lord.
Judy ultimately came to see that the greater miracle would be for her friends and family to come to know Christ. Even as she struggled for every breath, she talked her way out of the hospital about ten days before her death so she could be baptized and publicly proclaim Christ as the only way of salvation. Judy invited everyone she knew to come to her baptism service. Under the Spirit's anointing, she powerfully and urgently shared her testimony. Her 84-year-old father came to faith in Christ that night and was baptized—along with her ex-husband, a number of nieces, a college roommate who was a New Age cultist, her aunt, her sister, and others. Ten days later, Judy died. Even still, more people came to know the Savior. When Steve read the message she had prepared for her own funeral service, another 100 people prayed to receive Christ that day. As we follow Christ, as we stay close to him, we will be the aroma of Christ to the world.
David also paints A PICTURE OF A CUP. “My cup overflows.” This, too, is a wonderful image from the perspective of THE SHEEP. The term ‘cup’ represents blessing and provision. David claims that as a sheep of this great shepherd HE HAS BEEN RICHLY BLESSED. He is not in want. He has been constantly renewed, refreshed, and restored. He has been guided along the right paths towards home. He fears no evil because his shepherd is with him and comforts him. He repeatedly eats at a festive table even in the presence of his enemies. David is blessed to be a sheep in this shepherd’s flock.
It’s interesting that the Latin translation of ‘my cup overflows’ is “my inebriating chalice.” It’s a picture of total relaxation and contentment. David understands and knows intimately the care of God. God is the One who has all knowledge and wisdom and understanding of his affairs and management; God is able to cope with every situation, good or bad, that David encounters. So David can say his cup of life overflows with the richest of blessings. That’s why David could write in Ps. 16:5-6: “Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”
And the same is TRUE FOR US. Certainly we can say with Paul (1 Tim. 1:14) “The grace of our Lord Jesus was poured out on me abundantly along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” OUR CUPS OVERFLOW as well. In Jesus Christ we have all of God. As Paul queried in Romans 8:32: “So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way!”
A century ago F. B. Meyer wrote: “Whatever the blessing is in our cup, it is sure to run over. With him the calf is always the fatted calf; the robe is always the best robe; the joy is unspeakable; the peace passeth understanding….There is no grudging in God’s benevolence; he does not measure out his goodness as an apothecary counts his drops and measures his dreams, slowly and exactly, drop by drop. God’s way is always characterized by multitudinous and overflowing bounty.” If God is the one who knows me and knows my life, if He is the One who has promised to bring me home, then I can be content.
WE CAN BE CONTENT. We often live and act as if God is sleeping at the switch. We doubt, we complain, we worry. Someone has said that contentment is enjoying the scenery along the detours. Just how do you act when you encounter a detour in your plans and your life? Are you really content with the blessings God has chosen to graciously give you? There was a poor woman who, on breaking a piece of bread and filling her glass with water, said, “All this and Jesus too?” That’s the power of contentment. Charles W. Eliot, former President of Harvard, had a birthmark on his face that bothered him greatly. As a young man, he was told that surgeons could do nothing to remove it. But Eliot’s mother gave him some sound advice; “My son, it is not possible for you to get rid of that hardship...But it is possible for you, with God’s help, to grow a mind and a soul so big that people will forget to look at your face.” That’s the power of contentment. Paul was in prison, awaiting a verdict on his life. Yet he wrote “...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” That’s the power of contentment.
Samuel Rutherford wrote, “It is a great thing to be led through green pastures and by still waters; I think it is a greater thing to have a “table prepared before me in the presence of mine enemies.” It is good to be able to sing in the sunny noon; it is better to be able to sing “songs in the night.” And this deliverance may always be ours in Christ Jesus. The Lord may not smooth out our circumstances, but we may have the regal right of peace. He may not save us from the sorrows of a newly cut grave, but we may have the glorious strength of the immortal hope. God will enable us to be masters of all our circumstances, and none shall have a deadly hold upon us.” An overflowing cup produces the power of contentment.
But it’s important recognize THE SOURCE OF OUR POWER. Not only is the Lord our shepherd but our shepherd is the Lord. David is looking again to the one who rules and reigns. That points us to Jesus. He, too, had a cup. JESUS CHRIST DRANK HIS CUP. It was a cup of suffering. He drank it at Gethsemane. He drank it at Calvary. Phillip Keller sheds light on this concept when he writes about what happens to sheep when they are exposed to cold, damp conditions. Sheep have a low tolerance and freeze up quickly. So Keller always carried a bottle containing a mixture of brandy and water. At the onset of the chilling he could pour a few spoonfuls down a sheep’s throat and in a matter of minutes the sheep would have renewed energy and life. Keller continues: “What a picture of my Master, sharing the wine, the very life bloods of His own suffering from His overflowing cup. Poured out at Calvary for me. He is there with me in every storm. My Shepherd is alert to every approaching disaster that threatens His people. He has been through the storms of suffering before. He bore our sorrows and was acquainted with our grief. And now no matter what storms I face, His very life and strength and vitality is poured into mine. It overflows so the cup of my life runs over with His life.” Christ drank his cup so we could live in the power of contentment.
And because Jesus drank his cup, HE REIGNS AS LORD OF ALL. The Palm Sunday processional was just the first celebration of His reign. When the apostle John refused to stop preaching and teaching about Jesus, he was banished to the island of Patmos. He was lifted, by the Spirit, up to heaven and there he saw another celebration taking place. (Rev. 5) “Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who was sitting on the throne. There was writing on the inside and the outside of the scroll, and it was sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel, who shouted with a loud voice: “Who is worthy to break the seals on this scroll and open it?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll and read it. Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth. He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.” Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered—to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.” And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb.”
The source of our power is the reigning Lord Jesus Christ. He traveled from a crib, to a colt, to a cross, to a crown. And He, the Lord, Jesus Christ, is my shepherd. I shall not be in want.
