Sermon Tone Analysis

*Psalm 23 – The Lord is My Shepherd*

1A Psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4Even 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.

5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

(Ps 23)

Psalm 23 is perhaps one of the most memorized or best know texts of the Bible.

It was the first chapter of Scripture I ever memorized...

It is one of those passages that is recited by children and oft shared on to those on their death bed as a Psalm of comfort.

WHY?

Because of its powerful message that a caring God will meet us at our point of deepest needs.

It puts into words, precious, timeless images that transcend culture and time of a Christian’s walk with His Lord.

Let’s be honest!

Having a personal relationship with God, the Creator of the Universe is not an easy thing to quantify.

∙ God is not like other people with whom we talk in face-to-face communication.

∙ While God is present, He is not seen.

∙ While God speaks, He is does not speak to us audibly.

∙ While God is always with me, I am not always sure of it.

That my friends, is the beauty of Psalm 23 – It answers the question, “How Do I Relate to God?” not in cold, factual statements, but in images of a sheep’s trust in its faithful shepherd.

And who is this Shepherd?

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

The word Lord is Jehovah, the personal covenant name of God.

As we saw last week it speaks of God’s self-existent sufficiency.

It is this name for God that David calls ‘my shepherd’!

We must stop to realize what an astonishing statement this is.

In Israel, as in other ancient near-eastern, a shepherd was looked down upon as a lower-class worker.

David knew this... as the youngest he got ‘stuck’ with shepherding.

He knew the intense 24 hr a day involvement.

But yet, that is what David calls Jehovah God, my shepherd!

The self-existent One, the One who needs no other is called our caring shepherd.

The implication is that God has taken on Himself a humble, self-sacrificing ministry to us, His sheep!

This imagery of God as shepherd is not just a whim of David...

This imagery is repeated in the NT:

20Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

(Heb 13:20-21)

Jesus is equated with being the great Shepherd of the sheep.

He is shown to be the One who cares for His sheep.

He is the One who equips His sheep.

That is part of the beauty of David’s imagery in Psalm 23 God, the all-sufficient one (Jehovah) is said to be our Shepherd.

Being compared to a sheep is NOT a flattering thing!

Simply put, sheep are helpless and downright stupid creatures.

They are easily panicked, annoyed and easily weakened.

They are unable to defend themselves against predators, in fact they need protection from themselves.

Sheep are notorious for wandering off good pastures or away from good water.

They will often destroy the good grass that is available because they overgraze.

Spurgeon said this:

There is no animal (except a man) that has so many forms of sickness as a sheep has.

It may be afflicted in any part of its body, from its feet up to its head... Sheep have a great number of follies.

If there is a hole in the hedge, they are sure to find it out, and press through...

They are prone to wander and ready for all sorts of mishchief, but they never assist the shepherd in the slightest degree.

In this respect, we are just like the silly sheep, yet our good Shepherd supplies all the needs, pities all our infirmities and pardons all the wanderings of His poor wayward flock.

Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol 52 pg 462.

The one good thing we can say about sheep is that they always have a shepherd.

David tells us right up front: The Lord is my shepherd;

Not that God is JUST a Shepherd, but that the Lord is MY SHEPHERD.

That is important because sheep are NOT wild animals, they are owned.

The owner of sheep take great stock in them and

often sheep are bought with a great price.

That is perhaps one of the reasons we are so comforted by this Psalm.

It evokes in us a feeling of security and reassures us that Jehovah God is interested, involved and in control of our lives.

Let’s look at what David, the shepherd King has to teach us about life under our Great Shepherd:

/The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4Even 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.

5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

(Ps 23)/

1) I shall not want 1-3

rest(2), refreshment(2) , restoration(3), righteousness(3)

2) I will fear not 4-5

protection in trouble(4) , provision (5)

3) I will not fail – return to the house of the Lord 6

1) I shall not want 1-3

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

rest(2), refreshment(2) , restoration(3), righteousness(3)

The nature of sheep is that they are always on the move.

The shepherd must rotate his sheep among his pastures because they quickly eat the grass in an area.

A sheep’s life consists of constantly moving from pasture to pasture.

David indicates that with the Great Shepherd as his shepherd he would not want.

God makes sure that his sheep are well cared for with no needs.

Notice the things that the Great Shepherd provides for us:

Rest, refreshment, restoration and righteousness – our greatest spiritual needs in this life.

A) rest.

2He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

Look at the awesome imagery of David... what more ideal or restful scene is there than a sheep lying down in rich meadow grass beside still waters with a protective Shepherd standing by?

Interestingly sheep will often only lie down when they are made to by their shepherds.