Recently a teacher, a garbage collector, and a lawyer wound up together at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter informed them that in order to get into Heaven, they would each have to answer one question.
St. Peter Address the teacher and asked, “What was the name of the ship that crashed into the iceberg? They made a big movie about it.
The teacher answered quickly, ‘That would be the Titanic.’ St. Peter let him through the gate.
St. Peter turned to the garbage man and, figuring Heaven didn’t “really” need all the odors that his guy would bring with him, decided to make the question a little harder: “How many people died on the ship?”
Fortunately for him, the trash man had just seen the movie on TBS. “1,228,” he answered.
That’s right! You may enter.”
Then St. Peter turned to the lawyer. “Name them.”
We’ve come to the end of our series on the 23rd Psalm, and with it that examination of this loved verse. This passage is often preached at funerals because of the assurance that we receive from the final clause “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Forever with God is a promise that we all love to hear. David begins and ends this Psalm by identifying the Lord as his shepherd.
It’s fitting that he ends the Psalm with a promise about the end of life’s journey, because this Psalm has taken us on a journey and that journey is ending. This Psalm is a journey, just like life is a journey. The first three verses can be said from one sheep to another in the home winter meadows. This is where the sheep spend most of their life. It is the home ground, and here one sheep could be heard whispering to a sheep in another heard. I want you to picture that sheep. On the one side the fields are lush and green. They have been carefully fed and cleared of dangerous weeds. The shepherd has been diligent to keep the heard moving every few days so that none of the fields are over grazed and they reflect his care along with the sheep. The sheep are free of parasites and infections because the shepherd cares for them and inspects them to keep them healthy. The result of this is the pride in the sheep’s voice as he says, “The Lord is my shepherd.”
But picture the sheep on the other side of the fence, the grass is sparse from over grazing, the fields rutted from lack of proper management. The flock infested with scab and other parasites and they look longingly at across the fence. As we read the 23rd Psalm together though I want you to reflect on this question, would these sheep follow the good shepherd if they had the chance?
Consider that as we read these words together. Psalms 23, “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. Even 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.”
It is a wonderful Psalm, a poem about what God does for us, the first three verses would best be fulfilled in the home range of the shepherd, the place where they would spend their winters. But then verses 4 and 5 are a turn. They talk about going through the valleys. This indicates the travel up through the valleys to the highland range, the tables that the shepherd has prepared in advance for the sheep.
Now as we come to verse 6 the scene changes again, now the imagery is that the time at the tables has come to an end and the sheep are on their way back home. As they start we get a statement of confidence. As they come back through those same valleys that held the threat and danger of the unknown, this time the attitude of the sheep is different because they have been through these valleys before. They know they will make it through because they know they say, shepherd will lead them through. And so they say, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
We can be confident because of what the Shepherd has already done. Look back on it, the shepherd provides the green pastures for the sheep to lay down in. It’s not just that the shepherd gives them the food that they need but the security that they need to relax and rest. In the midst of the struggles of life, we can relax because our shepherd is near to take care of us. Those times that the sheep became cast, they can count on the shepherd to be there to restore them. Those times that life or our own weaknesses cause us to be down cast God will restore us. God is there to help us and to restore us. The process may not be easy, it may take time, but our shepherd will be with us every step of the way until we are restored. When the sheep go through the valleys even the valleys where the sunlight never hits the bottom, the shepherd is there to see them through. The greatest truth is that the shepherd reveals that the darkness is an illusion, in the presence of light darkness must disappear. As for the enemies that are there in the darkness the shepherd is there with his rod and his staff, they give protection from the outside world and guidance for the sheep. It’s interesting that when the sheep willfully go astray the same rod that fights of the predators may discipline the sheep, but the shepherd never uses it to bring permanent harm to the sheep, but to motivate them to get there feet back on the right path. And the shepherd uses those valleys to allow the sheep to complete the journey that they need to stay healthy and thrive as a heard. It is the trip to the summer pastures in the highlands. There the shepherd has prepared a table, the Mesa that the pasture is on, the one that the shepherd has cleared in advance. Left alone the plateau may be full of poisonous weeds, and predators, but the shepherd has cleared them. Our world is full of dangers. We have and enemy who wants to destroy us, we are surrounded by people who are friendly with us but their nature is different then ours and because of that, at times they may even become enemies, people who would lead us in paths that would harm or destroy us. But the shepherd is there and the shepherd cares for us and we can have confidence in Him as the sheep have confidence in the good shepherd.
It’s important for us to remember how the shepherd earned that confidence. It was earned because the shepherd lays down his life for the sheep everyday. All of the preceding verses talk about the things that the shepherd does of the sheep on a regular basis. May we never take for granted that everyday God cares for and shows His love for us.
See when it comes to Christianity people focus on what Christ did for us at the cross, and while that is the greatest good that has ever been done for mankind. We need to understand that it was the culmination of Christ’s work here as a human, but that He has also cared for us everyday since. That is the truest fulfillment of 1 John 3:16, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” We see two great truths in this verse that Jesus laid down His life for us, He put our needs first every day, and second that we are to follow His example.
Take a look at this entire statement, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Do you see it? It’s not just a statement of faith in the shepherd, it is a statement about the sheep, that what follows this sheep will be goodness and mercy. That should be a statement about all of us. God’s love and mercy are supposed to flow to us and through us. Jesus loved us, so we are to love others.
This is our final amazing fact about sheep for this series. When sheep are well cared for and the shepherd is attentive to managing their grazing habit they are actually among the most beneficial of animals. A well maintained sheep herd will result in a healthy pasture for one very basic reason, what they leave behind is well balanced and full of nutrients for the soil. I know you didn’t think this topic could ever come up in a sermon, trust me I didn’t either, but there it is.
What happens is that most of the pastures where the sheep graze is full of hills. When the rains come, the water naturally rolls down into the low grounds, it carries with it the minierals that the grass needs to grow. If you’ve spent time with farmers you’ll hear them talk about the value of bottom land. Naturally that is where the sheep like to go to eat. They may not be the brightest of creatures, but they know good eating when they taste it. So the take in the result of all that rain in the form of good healthy grass.
Because sheep aren’t the toughest of prey when they get full they like to move from the lower elevations to the higher elevations to rest. You can guess the rest the sheep transport the nutrients of the lush grass in the low lands up to the higher ground. Just because it’s not a package that you want to step in doesn’t mean that it’s not valuable. The result is that if the shepherd is diligent to move them where they need to go, they keep the fields properly fertilized. The nutrients that they deposit in their wake can bring life back to a previously dead field. Farmers have crop rotation and shepherds have sheep rotation.
What the sheep leaves behind, what follows them is life and restoration. That’s how it is supposed to be with us. The God of the Universe lives with us. He gives us His strength, energy and love. He does all of that for us, it benefits us, and we are supposed to transport that goodness on to other people as a reflection of Him. That is why He does what He does. Remember that earlier statement, “He leads me in paths of righteousness for His names sake.” The Lord is our shepherd, how we act, the words that we say, the faith that we display all of it is a reflection on Him. When we sit and complain about our circumstances all the time, when we are known as the person who is always worrying, it reflects on our shepherd. When we live with the quiet confidence that says, even in the midst of valley’s and enemies, the Lord is my Shepherd and surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life it reflects not just on us but ultimately on Him because He is the only one who could be the source of such peace in the midst of all of the storms of life. It is that type of life that Isaiah describes in 52:7, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Isn’t that the type of legacy that you would like to leave behind?
Let me ask you this question, “What do you leave behind?” It’s a shame that our society focuses so much on negative things. Many of you know the famous quote from Shakespeare about the evil that men do. But what about this quote from Alfred Tennyson, “The good that men do lives after them.” Do we live so that even while we are here on earth we leave a path of love healing and restoration?
What we leave behind is important because of the final clause, “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” We usually read it as the promise of eternity, but it’s more then that. The first statement refers to the confidence of the sheep, but this statement refers to the contentment of the sheep. They’ve been to the highlands, up to the mountain pastures and now at the end of the journey the sheep wants to be in the house of the shepherd. The sheep is saying that that he is with the Lord because he wants to be with the Lord not just during eternity but for all the days of his life. The sheep is with the shepherd because it is good to be with the shepherd.
See the word “house” has a broader meaning then what we may think. It refers to the fields and pastures that the shepherd prepares for the sheep, they are the house of the Lord. It is a promise for all of this life, the sheep’s statement that he is content to be in the house, in the presence of the Lord wherever that may be.
But there is one final picture for us to see. We talked about the sheep on the other side of the fence. The sheep on the good shepherds side are well fed and content. But what about the sheep on the other side? Their lot in life is not as good. Philip Keller talks about the sheep of his neighbor his neighbor who left the sheep to their own devices making a living of the sheep who managed to survive. Keller would often see these sheep staring over the fence at his lush green fields. Their envious eyes not only longing for the lush grass that they could see but also looking at his fit and content sheep.
The sheep of the other herd would often look at the fence with an obvious desire to cross over. At times they would find a hole in the fence or a low spot and they would do exactly that, they would cross over into his fields. This caused a huge problem. It wasn’t that they brought disease with them, it wasn’t that they ate his grass, it was that they came over on their own terms. Not his, they came over in their time and by their rules. You see sheep who try to enter the house on their own terms will meet with disaster.
This disaster comes for reasons that the sheep can’t foresee and the danger was real. You see for Keller no matter how well he keep the fence his pasture went down to the sea shore. During one particular time of the year the tide would get low enough that the sheep could wade out and go around his fence. One year in particular several of his neighbor’s ewes went out into the water and made it around the fence. The moment that they were on shore they probably thought that they had it made. There was no more barrier between them and the lush grass that they had so longed to eat. Nothing between them and the cool soft fields that they had longed to run in compared to their deeply rutted pastures. And so driven by their hunger and longing they rushed head long towards the fields that he had prepared for his sheep and the gorged themselves on the grass that they found there.
Some of you have figured out what the problem was already, their poor systems were so emaciated and broken down that they could handle the sudden influx of food, it was simply too much for them. Because of that they quickly became severely ill some of them died before he found them. He did find three of them laying down in their misery. Because he wasn’t their shepherd he did the only thing that he could do. He loaded them in a wheel barrow and took them back to their shepherd. When he saw them, rather then attempting to help them he simply pulled out a knife and put them out of their misery. The thing was they were so malnourished that even before their adventure their fate was pretty much sealed, death was what awaited them. Their only hope was to be purchased by the good shepherd.
Had Keller been able to purchase them, he wouldn’t have turned them lose in the fields right away either. He would have spent some time giving them dry hay and pellets. Food that wouldn’t have tasted as good, but would have built their strength. He wouldn’t have given them as much as they wanted but as much as they could bear. He would have keep them in smaller pens at first rather than the pastures until they had built up enough strength to keep up with the rest of the sheep.
Do you see the comparison? The good news for us all is that if you’re on the wrong side of the fence, Jesus the one true, good shepherd has already paid the price to purchase you. All you have to do to come into the house of the Lord is to ask and agree to follow Him. It may sound strange but God will lead you, He gave us the Bible to tell us how to do that. But we have to follow Him, His is the only way to Heaven. Look at his words in John 10:9, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.” Many people talk about finding God, but they want to do it on their own terms, it is a matter of control. But the only way to find the life that He offers is to follow Him, will you do that today?
