3-29-2020 The Lord Is My Shepherd, Not The Coronavirus Psalm 23

COVID-19 Pandemic  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  42:55
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Introduction:
As we look upon weeks now of the closings of schools, cancellations of sporting events, celebrations being rescheduled and even churches closing, we have to look at “what is at the heart of these unprecedented drastic measures that have been taken?” What is it that we are trying to stop?
What is it that we are afraid might happen? What is it that has so many people worrying? Is there really an unseen enemy out there that we can’t control that is out to get us? Are the leaders of this world humbled by the reality, that no government, no army in the world can stop it. And, the fact that stockpiles of medical supplies cannot deter it.
Are we ourselves humbled by the reality that we are no where near as independent and confident of the control we have over our lives than we did just a few weeks ago. Things that we thought were going to be our greatest moments in championship basketball games, state tournaments, and even March madness basketball tournaments, have gone in an instant like a puff of smoke. It’s now history.
A lot of our vacation plans to visit extended family, and going to the theaters have all changed with no input from us. For all the boasting of what we were going to do and how we were going to do it, has now been changed. And still to this day, no one knows for sure how long this pandemic will last—even if it does subside during summer, next winter is coming and will continue the pandemic.
Some of what I want to share with you this morning is from Pastor Rick Gillespie ([GI][LESP][EE])- Mobley
The Bible has a lot to say about this—and we can draw counsel from the word of God as to how we should respond to the current situation. As Christians, what should we personally do about the current crisis? One of the things I remember growing up as a kid, was how often I heard some church people say the words, “Lord willing” or “if the Lord wills.” It was only later that I understood they were quoting the half brother of Jesus, the Apostle James.
James 4:13-15
James 4:13–15 LEB
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there, and carry on business and make a profit,” you who do not know what will happen tomorrow, what your life will be like. For you are a smoky vapor that appears for a short time and then disappears. Instead you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
It is disturbingly fascinating to think back to last month where we thought that nothing was going to stop us from doing certain plans, that all of a sudden we won’t be doing those things really because of an announcement by some government official. As we are faced with this crisis, everyone of us is confronted with the issue, of “who is our leader at this time?” does the governor or the president dictate these new social rules? What exactly do we want our leaders to protect us from? A virus? can they? is it reasonable to expect them to protect us from getting sick? What will happen if they fail? What are we willing to do or become if this pandemic continues for more weeks, months, or even years? What freedoms will we give up? What comforts will we give up or be forced to forfeit?
One thing I know for sure: we must appear right now to God like sheep scattered on a hill trying figure out which direction to run. Thanks to the spread of information and disinformation on social media, some sheep are terrified, and their own fear will be the thing to kill them.
So when you stop for a moment, step back, be still and peel back the layers of our anxiety, what is at the heart of it all? What are we really worrying about? Can we really control the outcome? We are worrying about the possibility of dying. Fear of our own death, or maybe not our own death, but the fear of the death of those that we love—and it is a genuine concern. Yet As believers we don’t have to be paralyzed by this fear, because we have the antidote to the fear of death. His name is Jesus, the Christ. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life.
Jesus died on a cross, and he rose from the dead, because He knew each one of us were going to die because of our wrong doing and the evil in our hearts— and I’m not talking about just physical death here. He knew that we would be afraid of death, because inside we know that we have done wrong, and that somehow we are going to give an account for what we have done.
It was out of his love for us, that he gave us the words to remove the fear of death from us. He said, John 14:1-3
John 14:1–3 LEB
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places; but if not, I would have told you, because I am going away to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, so that where I am, you may be also.
Do you actually believe Jesus of Nazareth? Can we really trust what Jesus tells us about death? If the answer for you is ‘yes’ then this ought to change your outlook & perspective on this crisis! If the answer is “No, I don’t trust Jesus" then who will you trust? It will take over a year to get a vaccine out and even more years to make this vaccine available worldwide.
Today, more and more people are being troubled because they are forced to face with, “I could get this corona-virus and not even know it.” Or perhaps, “what is the next deadly contagious virus, and when will it strike next?” They convince themselves they will be among the percentage of people that die if they get it. We are living the reality that we can take all kinds of precautions but we still have relatively little control over what happens. We don’t know what will eventually kill us. The irony is that we could survive this pandemic only to die of an aneurysm, or a heart attack, or from high blood pressure brought on by the stress of the pandemic we fought to survive.
So then, your life is still, and always has been, in the hands of your Creator. In order for us to live, our sin must be somehow removed or paid for—no medical advancement or precaution can do that. God’s holy Law established the fact that forgiveness—the cleansing from sin can only happen through the bloody sacrifice of an innocent life (Hebrews 9:22).
Hebrews 9:22 LEB
Indeed, nearly everything is purified with blood according to the law, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
This trust in Jesus involves Jesus’ death on the cross as the sin offering to fulfill the Law’s righteous requirement.
You might be like “Okay, Josh, I hear you, I believe. Now what?”
Transition:
How then, should believers respond to any crisis in which the fear of death is out there? It begins with knowing, our hope is always to be rooted in YHWH. But beyond that, how then are we, believers, to live in light of this pandemic? Much in the spirit of the Christian Philosopher and author, Francis Shaffer: How then shall we live?

I. In Trust

Perhaps the most well known Psalm in the bible, is where we begin. Psalm 23
Verse 1, the psalmist says:
Psalm 23:1 LEB
Yahweh is my shepherd; I will not lack for anything.
Yahweh is my shepherd
I want you to know, that God says, we are his sheep and the sheep of his pasture. YHWH knew about the COVID-19 10 years ago and even a 1000 years ago. YHWH knew about our days, before a single one of them came into being. Nothing has ever caught God by surprise.
YHWH did not wake up and say, “I’ve got to change my plans for the church and for the world, because I forgot to take into account the coronavirus spreading in the world in the year 2020.”
This is not the first virus or plague to enter the world. Have you ever considered the possibility, that God wants to use the church, to show the world who He is by how we react to this pandemic? Are we willing to talk with others about what the fear is with the virus? Are we willing to bring up the topic of death and what’s there afterwards?
When our friends and co-workers mention how worried they are about what’s going to happen next, do we join in with how worried we are too. Or we will remember the words of Jesus in which he said Matthew 6:25-27
Matthew 6:25–27 LEB
“For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat, and not for your body, what you will wear. Is your life not more than food and your body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky, that they do not sow or reap or gather produce into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they are? And who among you, by being anxious, is able to add one hour to his life span?
If the Lord is truly our shepherd, then is not the Lord free to do with His sheep what God thinks is best. As believers are we to be afraid, or to worry about what the coronavirus might do to us? Do we believe that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to His purposes? We never know where our faith is rooted, until we run into a crisis.
Past rampant plagues and diseases have been opportunities for Christians to shine in society.
Eric Metaxes in a Breakpoint Article “Running Toward The Plague: Christians And Ebola”
He talked about a terrible plague which devastated the Roman Empire which stretched across Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa between the years 250 AD and 270 AD. He says:
“We are not sure if it was the measles or small pox. They didn’t have the hospitals and medicine we have today. At the height of the plague, known as the Plague of Cyprian, St. Cyprian chronicled that 5000 people every day died in just the city of Rome itself. That’s not including the rest of the empire.
This occurred at the same time there was an empire wide persecution of Christians under the emperor Decius. The enemies of the Christians blamed the Christians for the plague. There were two problems with the theory of the Christians being responsible.
The first is that many Christians died from the plague. Why would Christians start something to kill Christians?
The Second problem with the theory was the witness of the Christians of the love of Jesus Christ to their pagan neighbors. Whereas many people abandoned those who got sick, the Christians risked their lives to take care of those who had been abandoned by their families.
A century earlier in the Antonine Plague had symptoms like small pox. 10% of the population of Rome died. The leaders and people including the doctors began to abandon the city leaving the sick behind to die. The Christians stayed in the city to take care of those who were ill.
Candida Moss, a professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Notre Dame notes, “an epidemic that seemed like the end of the world actually promoted the spread of Christianity. “By their action in the face of death, Christians showed their pagan neighbors that Christianity is worth dying for.
Transition:
We trust that YHWH will be our Shephard even unto death, but we are to live in Belief

II. In Belief

Psalm 23:1 LEB
Yahweh is my shepherd; I will not lack for anything.
I will not lack for anything.
Do we believe Jesus when Jesus tells us that he is the good shepherd? We like to believe that means that Jesus is always going to surround us with good things that will make us comfortable in life. He’s going to lead us to cause us to lie down in green pastures where there is plenty of food for us to eat and be happy.
He will take us to where the water is calm and peaceful so that we can drink and it’s not splashing back in our faces.
Psalm 23:2 LEB
In grassy pastures he makes me lie down; by quiet waters he leads me.
Yes, we enjoy the still and quiet waters. Oh we just have a joy from Jesus in our souls as we feel refreshed coming out of our devotions especially with some good praise music on.
Psalm 23:3 LEB
He restores my life. He leads me in correct paths for the sake of his name.
But then we choose to forget, that’s not the only place Jesus leads us, and that’s not the only role Jesus has for us. What is this talk about walking through the valley of the shadow of death (ESV) or walking through the darkest valley (LEB)?
Psalm 23:4 LEB
Even when I walk in a dark valley, I fear no evil because you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Do we still look to Jesus then or is there something else we want to grab on to? This valley does not catch Jesus by surprise because the verses before it said that he was leading along the right path when I arrived at this valley.
There are all kinds of valleys the shepherd leads us down. The valley of sickness, the valley of loneliness, the valley of pain and suffering, the valley of broken dreams or unfulfilled promises, the valley of unemployment and homelessness, the valley of the loss of a skill or talent, and the valley of the death of someone we love. Those are valleys we have no control over and yet the events of life seem to slide us into them whether we are willing to go or not.
But then there are those valleys that are created for us specifically for us to do the will of Christ. Jesus, who knows the role of the good shepherd seems to switch hats on us at times. Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers in the field, “therefore I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.”
Let’s just suppose for a moment that this coronavirus is being used by God to create a harvest of hearts that are open because of fear, anxiety and worry. Beyond the virus itself, people are going to worry about how they are going to pay their bills with their jobs being shut down, and who will watch over their kids while they work.
How many of us are willing to be a lamb sent out among wolves for Jesus in this crisis? I do know that Jesus knew, if he sent out lambs among the wolves, some of those lambs are not going to make it back. Then there are other words of Jesus that sort of put us on the spot when we are all tempted to quarantine and isolate ourselves. What did he actually mean when he said, “Greater love has no one than this, than that he should lay down his life for a friend.” Should we only serve Jesus when it is safe to do so?
What was it the Christians had during the plagues in Europe that caused them to head toward the sick and dying to help them, when everyone else were running away from them trying to save their own lives? Could it be they loved Jesus more than they loved their own lives? Could it be they believed the promises of Jesus even in the face of death itself. Were they trying to love their neighbor as themselves?
Did they understand, their witness might be the final thing separating this person who was ill from entering eternity hopelessly lost, dying in their sins with no chance of a Savior to stand beside them at the great judgment.
Whatever it was, I want it for my own life. I want it for the people of this church. I want it for today’s body of Christ. We have a hope promised to us that goes beyond the concerns of this world.
Transition:
We live in trust, we live in belief, and finally we live in Faith?”

III. In Faith

“Wait… aren’t Faith, Belief, & Trust about the same things?” yup!
The psalmist did not stay down while in the valley of the shadow of death. He went on to write,
Psalm 23:4 LEB
Even when I walk in a dark valley, I fear no evil because you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
I fear no evil, for you are with me.”
It’s good to use all the soap you can, but that’s not where you deliverance is. Your deliverance is in the fact that God is with you.
But because God is sovereign, and we have voluntarily given our lives to Him through Christ, if God desires to use us through receiving the corona virus, then we say, your will be done.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
The psalmist says God’s rod and staff they comfort him. God’s rod and staff comes in many different forms.
Listen to the many forms we find in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 11:35-38
Hebrews 11:35–38 LEB
Women received back their dead by resurrection. But others were tortured, not accepting release, in order that they might gain a better resurrection. And others experienced mocking and flogging, and in addition bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by murder with a sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, impoverished, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about on deserts and mountains and in caves and in holes in the ground.
How many of you would choose the corona virus over being flogged--repeated lashes & blows of a whip or rod? The Old Testament used flogging as a form of punishment limiting it to 40 blows so that the one who was punished would not die. How many of you would choose the corona virus over being sawed in two or put to death by the sword for the cause of Christ? Is God still in control or not? Does God choose in his mercy who will live and who will die? Is God free to decide, how our lives would best glorify him.
The Apostle Paul wrote
Philippians 1:21 LEB
For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Is that where we are in our hearts today? Do we really believe that Jesus is going to be there for us? I know some of us say, but I’ve got others depending on me so I can’t just die. It is an illusion to think we can determine how long or short on earth our time is going to be.
If we quarantined every person in the world that has the virus, we still are no more in control of our lives than we were two weeks ago. For we are still going to ultimately die and still will have to give an account of our lives to God. We just won’t have the news media and social media constantly reminding us that we should be worried because we could be next.
How does God expect to use us in response to the worry and fear that has spread through our nation and the world? Will we see this as an opportunity to reach out and serve those who are affected by this situation directly or indirectly? Will we show a confidence in Christ for our future that the world has not known by not joining in the panic?
Will we become bolder in our witness of God actually being in charge of our lives? Will we be willing to continue embrace, those who are being cast aside? It won’t be long before we start to look at people a certain way and decide that person probably has it and so I’m going to keep a little bit more distance. Inside we are actually thinking that person is less in the image of God than I am.
When Lepers had to be isolated by going through the streets yelling unclean. Jesus voided the isolation ban and went to touch them! When sinners were declared to be religiously unclean, Jesus went and he touched them so that they could be healed. The woman who had a disease for 12 years, said, “if I could just touch the hem of his garment, I can be healed.” We lose something in the body of Christ, when we can no longer reach out and touch each other.
Even if we think the coronavirus is a great enemy, the psalmist conclude, Psalm 23:5-6
Psalm 23:5–6 ESV
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.
We should be able to celebrate what God has done for us even with the coronavirus around us.

So What?

Past rampant plagues and diseases have been opportunities for Christians to shine in society.
Let’s just suppose for a moment that this coronavirus is being used by God to create a harvest of hearts that are open because of fear, anxiety and worry. Beyond the virus itself, people are going to worry about how they are going to pay their bills with their jobs being shut down, and who will watch over their kids while they work.
There is a verse in the bible that has a song written for it, titled: “Whose report will you believe, we shall believe the report of the Lord.” They can say what they want to say about the coronavirus, I still believe God is sitting on throne of heaven and God’s plans and purposes will still be accomplished.
In Conclusion:
Will you believe? Christ wants a real relationship with you today! The gospel is the good news about how we can relate to God. It answers the deepest questions about human beings: why we are here, and what God requires of us.
Pray this prayer with me:
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are proved right when You speak and justified when You judge. Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me… Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow… Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will turn back to You.
Are you ready to live a life for Christ and profess your faith? Join our large praying community in the comments section on YouTube here and be encouraged as others celebrate with you!
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