MY FAVORITE PSALMS
PSALM 23: THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD
DR. JIM DIXON
JUNE 3, 2012
PSALM 23
Some years ago, a chain letter was sent to churches all across the United States. It was sent to elder boards, deacon boards, and governing bodies of churches. I will read the letter to you:
“Are you tired of inept preaching? Are you tired of inefficient management? Are you tired of incompetent counseling? Are you tired of your pastor? If so, please send a copy of this letter to six other churches who are tired of their pastor. Bundle up your pastor and send him to the church address listed at the top of the enclosed list. Put your church’s address at the bottom of the enclosed list. Then, in 30 days, you should receive 3,671 pastors. One of them ought to be a dandy. However, have faith in this letter and don’t break the chain. One church broke the chain and got its old pastor back.”
There are a lot of pastors and a lot of churches in America. There are 250,000 Protestant pastors, 200,000 Catholic priests—almost a half million pastors in this nation. The Hebrew word for “pastor” is “roeh.” The Greek word for “pastor” is “poimen.” Both of these words literally mean “shepherd.” To be a pastor is to be a shepherd. This is true in the Old Testament, and this is true in the New Testament.
I think you know that in this world, all pastors are flawed. In this world, all shepherds are flawed. There is no pastor in this world today that is the Chief Shepherd. There is no pastor in this world today that is the Good Shepherd. The Bible says that there is only one Chief Shepherd and only one Good Shepherd. And that shepherd is God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is the Shepherd, Chief Shepherd, Good Shepherd. All others pastors in this nation and in this world are under-shepherds and very flawed. This morning, we get a chance to look at the Chief Shepherd. This morning, we get a chance to look at the real pastor. This morning we get to look at the Good Shepherd because we are looking at the 23rd Psalm.
In this psalm, we are really told two things about God as shepherd. First of all, He protects us. God is the Shepherd who protects His flock. He protects His people. He is Jehovah, “Roeh,” the Lord my Shepherd. He protects us. We are told in the 23rd Psalm that He protects us in two ways. First of all, He protects us through right paths. The Hebrew word for right is “tzedek.” God is “Malki Tzedek.” He is the King of Righteousness, the King of Right Paths. He leads His people on right paths. These are paths that are morally right, paths that are theologically right, paths that are relationally right. These are paths that lead to green pastures, paths that lead to still waters, paths that will restore your soul. God, as Chief Shepherd, is supremely concerned with your soul and with my soul. He seeks to lead us on right paths.
He uses His rod and His staff to keep us on these paths. He uses His rod and staff to ward off the enemy because He protects us. He uses His rod and His staff to protect us from danger, to protect us from powers of darkness, and to protect us from evil. But He also uses His rod and staff to keep us on the right path, so that we might find the green pastures, so that we might find the still waters, and so that our souls might be restored. Therefore, His rod and staff comfort us. That is what it says in the 23rd Psalm. His rod and staff comfort us. Our Shepherd is not about intimidation. He is not trying to intimidate us, and He is using His rod and staff to keep us on the right path. His rod and staff are meant to comfort us.
We live in a world where there is a lot of intimidation and a lot of intimidators. We see this in every way. A few years ago, Barb and I took a vacation with our kids. We went with my brother Greg, his wife Barb, and their kids up to the Custer National Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota, not too far from Mount Rushmore. One day, we decided to go horseback riding. It was a lot of fun for the kids; for the adults . . . not so much. It was one of those deals where you just go in a line. You get on your horse, and everyone else gets on their horse, and you are all in a line, and you follow this designated path.
They ask you before you get on the horse, “Are you an experienced rider?” I don’t know why you would need to be. “Are you an experienced rider, are you an average rider, or are you brand new at this?” Barb said she was kind of new at it and a little bit afraid of horseback riding. They said, “Don’t worry. We have just the right horse for you.” They took her over to this horse, and they said, “This horse’s name is Bimbo.” Whenever you see a horse named Bimbo, there has got to be problems. The guide said to Barb, “You will be great. As long as you keep Bimbo in the back of the line, you will do great. Don’t let Bimbo get ahead of any other horse.” Barb says, “Great.”
We all take off and Barb is in the back of the line. It seems like Bimbo is doing really good and Barb is doing good. She is relaxing back there. Suddenly, Bimbo decides to pass the horse in front of her, and Barb could not hold him back. Bimbo passes the horse in front of her. Once Bimbo gets in front, Bimbo begins to kick the horse behind her. There is a cloud of dust and a commotion. The horses are going off the path. Bimbo starts moving further up the line passing other horses and kicking them. The guide yells, “Get Bimbo to the back of the line.” Barb had a hard time with that.
It occurred to me that there are a lot of Bimbos in this world. These are people who should just be in the back of the line. They really cannot lead. If they lead, they are not going to lead you to green pastures, they are not going to lead you to still waters, they are not going to do anything good for your soul. They love to intimidate. If they get ahead, they use their position to intimidate what is behind and below them. There are Bimbos in the marketplace; there are Bimbos in the corporate world; there are Bimbos in the academic world; there are Bimbos in houses, homes, and families. There are Bimbos in the ecclesiastical world, and there are pastors who are Bimbos.
The beauty of looking at our Lord Jesus Christ is to see what it means to be a servant leader, to see what it means to lead people towards green pastures, still waters. It is to see what it means to care about the soul, the beauty of seeing what it means to not lead by intimidation.
Gene made an announcement earlier about the leadership summit that is coming up here at Cherry Hills Community Church on August 9 and 10. You couldn’t go to a better event if you want to know how to lead without being a Bimbo. If you want to know how to be a servant leader, this is the conference for you to go to. This conference, by satellite, is going to cover the world at key sites and destinations. We are one of the key sites. Bill Hybels is responsible for this conference, and he is a great friend of ours. From Bill Hybels to Condoleezza Rice to Jim Collins, there are going to be great speakers at this conference. It is all designed to help us to be servant shepherds and servant leaders. Go to the table in the lobby today to check it out. Register online. We would love to see you there.
Christ is the Shepherd who protects. He protects us with right paths. It says in the 23rd Psalm that He also protects us with secure destinations. He is the Shepherd who can secure your destination. Even if you are in the valley of the shadow of death, you fear no evil, for He is there to protect you. You know that, ultimately, you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever if you are in His flock. If He is your Shepherd, you know your destination is secure. “I know My sheep,” Christ says, “They hear My voice. They follow Me. I give them eternal life. No one is able to snatch them out of My hand.” Secure destination.
I want to use an illustration from the world of the Roman Empire and the life of Christians in that world. The Academy Award winning movie “Gladiator” tells a story from this time. It concerns the Roman Coliseum, the Flavian Amphitheatre. It is about General Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies of the north, General of the Felix Legions, loyal to the true emperor Marcus Aurelius. If you look on the website for Gladiator, you will see that the producers and directors of the movie were trying to give us an accurate understanding of the Roman world, the Roman arenas, the Roman legions, and the Roman Senate. They wanted us to enter that world, if only for a few hours, and get a glimpse of it.
The irony is that Maximus Decimus Meridius is a fictitious character. There is no historical Roman general with that name. He is a combination, an amalgamation of Cincinnatus and Spartacus. There was much in the movie that was accurate. Maximus portrays the general of the Felix Legions, and the Felix Legions really existed. The Felix Legions consisted of the Fourth Legion. The Fourth Legion was comprised of the armies of the north. They fought the Germanic tribes, as shown at the beginning of the movie “Gladiator.”
There really was a Marcus Aurelius. He ruled Rome from AD 161 to AD 180. He was the philosopher king. His son, Commodus, really did ascend the throne in AD 180. He ruled Rome for 12 years. Commodus was not killed by a gladiator; he was killed by a Greco-Roman wrestler. Much in the movie is historical. You understand that the Roman legions were literally the life blood of the Roman Empire. The entire Roman Empire was predicated on the reality and might of the Roman legions.
You can travel today across Europe, and you can see Roman ruins. You can go into Asia Minor and other parts of Asia, and you see Roman ruins. You can go into Northern Africa, and you can see Roman ruins. The extent of the empire boggles the mind. All you see was done by the Roman legions; they built the walls that surrounded the Roman cities. The Roman legions built the roads that connected the Roman cities. The Roman legions built the aqueducts that carried water to the cities. The Roman legions built the bridges, they built the tunnels, and they fought the wars. The Roman legions defended the empire. The Roman legions were on the frontier expanding the empire. The Fourth Legion, portrayed in the movie Gladiator, was one of the least of the legions. The most famous legion was the Tenth.
For us as Christians, the legion of greatest interest was the Twelfth Legion. Historians tell us that in the time of Marcus Aurelius, the Twelfth Legion was predominately a Christian legion. In that time and in that era, members of the Roman legions were both volunteers and conscripted. The Twelfth Legion consisted primarily of Christians. There is a story, one of the most famous stories in Christian history, concerning the Twelfth Legion. In the year AD 174, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the Twelfth Legion was about to go to war against the Quadi armies in the region that today would be called Slovakia. The Twelfth Legion was desperate. The soldiers had been without food and water for more than two days. They were dying of thirst. They were outnumbered by the Quadi armies. The Twelfth Legion that was predominately Christian got on its knees and prayed.
As they prayed, miraculously, in the midst of a drought, this huge thunderstorm rolled in. This thunderstorm brought rain that was torrential. That rain was life for the Twelfth Legion. They drank and were refreshed. Then the lightning and the thunder came. The lightning was so violent, but none of it came down on the Twelfth Legion. All of it came down on the Quadi armies. They were scattered and driven away. The Twelfth Legion was spared. According to the story, Marcus Aurelius then gave the Twelfth Legion a new name: “the Thundering Legion.” He wrote a letter to the Roman Senate saying that Christians were to be persecuted no more.
Here we are today in the 21st century. What do we think of that story? Is it historical? Should we buy it? We can study the opinion of the historians. No doubt, there is a lot of historical evidence about what happened on that day in AD 174. We have the writings of Tertullian, one of the early church fathers. We have his book “Apologeticum.” We also have the writings of Apollinaris of Hierapolis. We have the writings of Eusebius and his church history. We also have secular Roman writings relating to this event. They all tell the same story of the thunderstorm.
It is unlikely that the Twelfth Legion was renamed by Marcus Aurelius. In fact, the Twelfth Legion was established in the first century BC by Julius Caesar. The Twelfth Legion was named by Augustus Caesar in the first century. It was given the name “Legio Duodecima Fulminata,” “the Twelfth Legion Lightning.” The lightning bolt was always the symbol of the Twelfth Legion. So, it is highly unlikely that the name “Thundering” was new to that legion. It is also unlikely that Marcus Aurelius wrote a letter to the Roman Senate saying, “Don’t persecute Christians.” It is true that historians have found a letter, but they aren’t sure how accurate it is. Some think it’s bogus.
The truth is that persecution of Christians actually increased in the aftermath of AD 174. We know there was the thunderstorm, of that no historian would doubt. We have the records of Christian writers, Roman writers, and secular writers; they all agree that a thunderstorm saved the Twelfth Legion. It brought water for them to drink, and the lightning scattered the enemy. The Roman Empire minted a brand-new coin that showed the Twelfth Legion, the lightning bolt coming from heaven, and an image of Jupiter. They attributed this miracle to Jupiter. Historians today, both secular and Christian, know that the Twelfth Legion was predominately Christian. They prayed, and they were delivered.
So, you sit here, and you think, “Well, does God work like that?” If you look at history, has God worked like that? You have Daniel and the lion’s den, the fiery furnace, and many stories of God’s deliverance and protection in the Bible. How about your life? As you look at your life, do you see God intervening? Do you see the rescue? Do you see the protection? Does God always work like that? Even take a rational look back at the Roman era . . . Did God always protect Christians? How about all of the Christian persecution? How about all of those Christians who died in Roman hippodromes across the Roman Empire? How about all of the suffering in the catacombs where Christians suffered under the earth? How about all of those Christians that were crucified in massive lines of crosses along the Via Appia in the city of Rome?
God does not always protect in the way we might want Him to protect, does He? Some of you have had much suffering in your lives, a lot of pain, a lot of heartache and loss. In the midst of it, we have faith that God does sometimes intervene.
This church is a praying church. We pray after every service. We have special prayers with anointing oil after every communion service. We have seen miracles happen. We have seen God eradicate cancers. We have seen God remove tumors. We have seen miracles happen. We have also seen people die. We would acknowledge that there is a mystery to how and when God works. He is sovereign. We have His promises that He is with us always, even in the valley of the shadow of death, even in the darkest of the dark times. He has promised, also, that in the lives of His flock, there will be no meaningless pain. He is always at work for good. Ultimately, He has secured our destination.
I want to tell you a little story about a fish in the Red Sea. It is a flounder. This fish is called the Moses sole by the Israeli people. The Moses sole is unique in the whole of the Red Sea because it is immune to shark attacks. There are sharks in the Red Sea. Sharks, within the world of the sea, are like the devil; they seek to devour, and they are willing to devour most anything. Marine biologists tell us that the Moses sole has the ability when a shark is approaching, to release a milky substance from under their dorsal fin that is lethal to the shark. In small doses it paralyzes the shark. You can see videos of sharks approaching a Moses sole or a school of soles. The shark will approach with its jaws opened wide, the milky substance is released, and the shark is paralyzed with its mouth staying open. It floats off paralyzed. Amazing.
What are you going to learn from a story like that? From that visual image, what would I want you to remember? I want you to remember this: God cares about the soul. In this sea we call life, what God cares about and protects is the soul. The devil prowls around seeking to devour, but God cares about the soul. He protects the soul. When you come into His flock and you receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, He secures your destination.
There is an interesting verse in 1 John 5. First John 5:18 says this: “We know that no one born of God commits sin, for He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one cannot touch him.” Have any of you read that verse, 1 John 5:18? “We know that no one born of God commits sin, for He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one cannot touch him.”
Exegetically, it is a typical verse; scholars and theologians debate its meaning. We know that we all sin. Even in that little book of 1 John, it is very clear that we are all sinners. So, what does it mean—”No one born of God commits sin”? In the book of 1 John, it says, “If anyone says he has no sin, he deceives himself and the truth is not in him.” If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. The Bible is clear that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It is present active tense, so that we all continue to sin and fall short of the glory of God in this life.
What does it mean when it says, “No one born of God commits sin”? You have to look at the context. This is always the case. To understand 1 John 5:18, you have to look at 1 John 5:16-17. If you look at those verses, you see that there is a discussion of mortal sin. No one born of God commits mortal sin. We sin, but we don’t commit mortal sin. The Greek is “pros thanatos,” sin that is towards death. What is mortal sin? What does it mean that no one born of God commits mortal sin? Most theologians agree, and the Bible would seem to indicate that mortal sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus Christ as the Son of God. If you resist that, if you deny that, if ultimately and finally you reject the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the Son of God, that is mortal sin. It is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
Many of you have been to church and heard the gospel. You might say, “I am not sure yet.” You come again, and you say, “I am not sure yet.” You can reach a point where you are “pros thanatos.” You can reach a point where you have rejected—finally and ultimately rejected—the testimony of the Holy Spirit who tugs on your spirit. You have so quenched the Spirit that you have committed mortal sin. That happens to people.
What the Bible tells us is that if you belong to Christ . . . if you have come to faith . . . if you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior . . . and if you have entered His flock, your destiny is secured. If, down the road after accepting Christ and having entered His flock, you begin to leave the right path and you begin to leave the faith . . . if you begin to question the faith, if you begin to drift away from the faith, God won’t let you do that if you are a part of His flock. He is not going to let you commit mortal sin. The Bible indicates in a number of ways that God might even take your life physically before He would allow you to die spiritually.
He is the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls; that is what the Bible calls God, the Great Shepherd and Guardian of our souls. Jesus said, “I know My sheep. They hear My voice, they follow Me. I give them eternal life. No one is able to snatch them out of My hand. My Father is greater than all; no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” He will secure your destiny. If you give your life over to such an extent that you are moving towards mortal sin, He may take your life physically because He doesn’t want a single sheep to be lost, not one of the flock. He doesn’t want to lose one lamb. That is the Shepherd that He is.
Finally, He doesn’t just protect us; He also provides for us. He is our Shepherd, and He provides. This is “Jehovah Jireh.” He is the Lord Who Provides. He provides the green pastures and the still waters, so that our souls might be restored. That has to do with protection and provision. He is not just the Shepherd; He is the Host. If you read the 23rd Psalm, the first four verses describe God as Shepherd; the last two verses, verses 5-6, describe God as Host. He receives His people into His home. He has prepared for us a table that is laid before us, “prepared before me in the presence of my enemies.” Once you enter into His house, you are safe from your enemies.
He has a table prepared, and He anoints your head with oil, your cup runneth over. In every home in Biblical times in the land of Israel . . . when you were an invited guest and you would come into the house, the host would anoint you with oil. Your cup runneth over. The cup is oftentimes a symbol of your lot in life. As you enter the Lord’s house, you are anointed. His provision is full. He is “Jehovah Jireh,” the Lord Who Provides. You enter His house with the understanding that you will dwell in His house forever. When you come into the house of the Lord and He begins to provide for you, you are His forever. There is a sense in which you never leave His house. He continues to provide for you.
I want you understand His provision. To do that I want to tell you one more story. It concerns Aaron Burr. You have probably taken enough American history to have heard of him. As you look at our nation’s history and at the founders of the United States of America, there is no founder more controversial than Aaron Burr. That remains true to this day. He was brilliant and, oh, so gifted. He applied to Princeton at the age of 11. He was accepted at Princeton at age 13. He graduated from Princeton at age 16. He was our nation’s shining star. He was so brilliant, so gifted. It has been written that, in his era, he was the greatest Princeton graduate. He studied theology, and he studied law. He became an attorney at law.
I want to be fair because, in history, there have been many who demonized Aaron Burr. There was great talent in him and some goodness; he was very kind to his friends and very generous, even to strangers. He had wisdom. He served as vice president of the United States. He oversaw the impeachment trial of Samuel Chase, who was a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He did that with great fairness, with great balance and wisdom.
Aaron Burr was the third vice president of the United States. He served under Thomas Jefferson when he was president. They were elected in the year 1800. Aaron Burr was born in 1756, making him 44 years old when he became vice president. When Jefferson and Burr were elected in the year 1800, they were tied in the electoral college, each receiving 73 votes. Back then, they didn’t designate who was president and who was vice president. The intention of every voter was that Jefferson would be president and Aaron Burr would be vice president. But there was this technical problem. While overtly Aaron Burr did not seek the presidency, many felt that he did covertly. There were 36 ballots in the House of Representatives debating who would be president and vice president. Finally, Jefferson was made president and Burr vice president.
Jefferson never trusted Aaron Burr from that point forward. He kept Aaron Burr out of the major policies and decisions of his administration. In the fourth year of Aaron Burr’s vice presidency, he had his infamous duel with Alexander Hamilton, his political rival. Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in that duel. Aaron Burr felt like Hamilton had slandered him. Most historians believe Alexander Hamilton did slander him. Dueling was illegal in New York and New Jersey where the duel took place. Burr was brought up for murder but never convicted. His political career was pretty much over.
Aaron Burr, assisted by the wealthiest man in America, began to try to build a military force to conquer parts of Mexico and to birth a new nation. He was hopeful that some of the western states in the United States would join with Mexico and become part of this new nation. He hoped that he would be president or, perhaps, in his own writings, emperor. When Jefferson found out, he was enraged. Burr was brought up for treason but never convicted. He fled to Europe where he sought counsel with the royal house in England. He even went seeking some kind of alignment with Napoleon in France. He tried once again to carve out a new North American country with him as king. You think, “Who does this? Who even thinks this way?”
When you look at our nation’s founders, they all had flaws. From Washington to Jefferson, they all had flaws. But they all had this singular virtue: they sought what was good for the United States, what was best for America. With Aaron Burr, it was always suspected that he was seeking what was best for himself. He was, in the core of his being, so needy—brilliant, but, oh, so needy. I have often wondered, “If his family had lived, would he have been different?” I think so.
Do you realize that Aaron Burr’s father was Aaron Burr, Sr., a devout Presbyterian pastor who was in love with Jesus? Aaron Burr, Sr. was the second president at Princeton when it was called the College of New Jersey. He died when Aaron was one year old. His mother was Esther Edwards. Who is Esther Edwards? She is the daughter of Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards was the man who, along with George Whitefield, brought about the Great Awakening in the United States of America. This was the revival that swept across our country. God had anointed Jonathan Edwards, our nation’s greatest theologian. Many today would say he was the greatest theologian in American history. He was the third president of Princeton University. He died of a small pox vaccination when he was only 55. When he died, Aaron was only two.
In that same year, Burr’s mother Esther died. His father, Aaron Burr, Sr., died when he was one; his mother, Esther Edwards, died when he was two; and his grandfather, Jonathan Edwards, who would have adopted him, died when he was two. His grandmother, Jonathan Edward’s wife, Sarah, also died when he was two. Here he is, a two-year-old who has lost all of these devout Christians who would have reared him in the love of Jesus. Surely that would have made a difference. But he was shipped off to an uncle named Thomas, and he did not like him.
Look back at the 23rd Psalm. How does it begin? “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” The literal meaning of the Hebrew is, “The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need.” That is huge. “The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need.” I think there is a little bit of Aaron Burr in all of us. There is a little bit of Aaron Burr in you, a little bit of Aaron Burr in me. There is a little bit of you that wakes up every morning, and you kind of want to be king of something. There is a little bit of you that wakes up every morning and wants to be emperor. There is a little bit of you that wakes up every morning, and you are damaged at the core. You have a lot of wants.
Here, we are called into the flock of the Great Shepherd. We should wake up every morning with this attitude: “The Lord is my Shepherd. I have everything I need.” He is the one who protects us, the one who leads us on the right paths by His Word. These paths lead us to green pastures and still waters. They restore our souls. He is the one who keeps us on these paths with His rod and His staff. He is the one who protects us, in the sense that He secures our destination. We are bound for heaven, and we are going to go through its gates.
He is “Jehovah Jireh,” He is the Lord Who Provides. Sometimes His provision has nothing to do with money. Sometimes it does, but sometimes it does not. Sometimes His provision isn’t about fame. Sometimes what He provides us with is health. Sometimes what He provides us with is friendship—we are rich in friends. Sometimes what He provides us with is ministry—ministry opportunity, ministry anointing, and ministry giftedness.
Every morning, we should wake up and say, “The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need.” Take a walk today. Check out the flowers. Look up at the beauty of the mountains. Call a friend. The Lord is our provider, and He is awesome. He is, oh, so wonderful. We should live everyday with this psalm in our hearts. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.