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It probably doesn't get more familiar to us
than these words the Lord
is my shepherd I lack nothing
He makes me lie down in green pastures
He leads me beside quiet waters He refreshes my soul
He guides me along the right paths
for his name's sake. everybody's reasonably familiar I think with
the 23rd psalm it's probably one of the most
quoted and maybe even one of the most comforting
passages of Scripture that any of us have ever had any familiarity with it
all
in fact when we read it we often
may be passed by some of it because if the familiarity other than we've heard
it before but
in times where it matters most like for instance
at funerals which I've overseen
so many of, you hear this passage
time and time again now
it seems maybe slightly outdated that
the psalmist chose to use the metaphor of
sheep and shepherd and we look at that and go I don't I don't know how
accessible that is to us but it's a beautiful picture
it's really a perfect picture in the ancient world but it's still a beautiful
metaphor and a beautiful picture for us
in the world that we live in I mean the shepherd and sheep
metaphor reminds us that sheep can't sustain themselves
they need a shepherd I mean they
they're comforted by the voice that we hear
they're comforted and led by a
shepherd who cares for them his hands protect them his voice
calls to them and leads them and
you know I've been in even today when you go to Israel
I still see shepherds when I'm there
we'll be out in particular places in Israel and there will be shepherds with
their sheep
and if we get close enough which we rarely do but I have
on occasion actually one time right outside
in what they call the shepherds fields in bethlehem
we had pulled up and we were just kinda overlooking Bethlehem
and overlooking the City of David so to speak
looking toward Jerusalem they're very close together
and we were kind of on a a bit of steep terrain we were standing at the top
of it
and upstarts coming kinda below us
I hear this very faint voice and it's a lady
who is shepherding sheep and it's very faint
she's not speaking very loud but sheep
are responding to her voice that whatever she says they're kind of
coming along with her they recognize that voice so we were just kind of quiet
and let her do what she did
in leading her sheep but it's incredible to watch
even today where those types of things go on and
by the way in Israel green grass is somewhat hard to come by
and so you need a shepherd to be able to take the sheep there they can't sustain
themselves
in the middle of a dry hot middle eastern summer
a shepherd needs to be able to provide direction
as to where the sheep can get water so we see this
incredible beautiful picture
metaphor that's established for us in the 23rd psalm
and I think maybe as good as anyone the guy who's writing the song
David probably has a good idea about these things
he was a shepherd so he knew it he knows full well
how that is supposed to go and what he says is that the way in which
shepherds sheppard their sheep is the way in which Yahweh
our God cares for and shepherds us
in other words he kind of reminds us that what time in the presence
of Yahweh does is it renews us
it refreshes us comforts us
leads us and so I don't know
if you came in from a weekend that was really harried or a week that was
really hurried and harried
maybe stressed or whatever I want to remind you to
to rest in the presence up the shepherd
who will when you get into his presence refresh you
and renew you speak to you and comfo you for there's nothing like being in the
presence
of our shepherd and hearing His voice
speak to us because that's what we long for
what we long to hear he also leads us it says
in right pass for his namesake and when that's referred to
its talking about this he talks about paths of righteousness or the right way
in other words the path
that the shepherd leads us on is it has a destination it's going somewhere
in other words it's not a path to nowhere
it's headed somewhere so when we hear the voice of our God
when we hear the voice are great Shepherd he is leading us to places he
wants to take us there is a destination
it's not it's not an empty just kinda wandering road that goes nowhere he
knows where
we are supposed to be headed because he is our Shepherd can see farther
he knows where we're going so you have this beautiful picture of shepherd and
sheep in the first three verses but I'll
I'll be honest with you that part
incredibly familiar to me incredibly comforting to me
and still is every time I read it and I reflect on it
but I always struggled when I made the turn in verse number four
and when I say struggled I don't mean that in a bad way I just met wrestled
somewhat when I would make the turn in verse number four because
it seemed to me like the metaphor of shepherd because everybody calls this
the shepherd Psalm
it seemed to me that the metaphor of shepherd was harder to keep
through the back end of the psalm then what seems obvious
in the front part this psalm
you see when we turned the corner we see some different words listen
to verse number four through six says
even though I walk through the darkest valley or 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 in you know in my
head with oil my cup overflows
surely goodness and love
will follow me all the days of my life
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. great words familiar words
and you see a contrast from the first three verses that talk about comfort
and life and sustaining
and then you make a turn where the conversation turns to
the valley of the shadow of death the idea that
dark times come in this life so you go from comfort
and security and life
to a conversation about death
I've always wondered how that fit together and I understand in some ways
how that fits together with the shepherd
because then he turns the conversation saying in the midst of that in the midst
of the difficult days when we walk through the valley of the shadow of
death let me tell you what is my comfort
your rod and your staff
they comfort me this is what David is saying
I've often wondered about that now it is true with beyond a shadow of a doubt
that
shepherds have staffs you know the the crook
right shepherd's crook they have that they gently are able to
to guide their sheep with that they walk with that
they do a number of things with that it's kinda um you know it
it's part of the job description you need one of those as a shepherd
and David says to God as my great shepherd it comforts me that you've got
a shepherd's crook in hand a staff
to be able at times when I'm beginning to wander to pull me back in
it comforts me but he also says your rod
comforts me now when you look at this term
it is used two times in the Old Testament
outside of this time to refer to
something that a shepherd has some say that it actually is one in the same
thing as the staff
that the shepherds use the staff and turn it over sometimes as a rod
to be able to fight off the wild you know animals that are coming to attack
the sheep that happened often
wolves would come in an attack this even they would have to fight him off
some would say it's a completely different object where it's something
that they used it was kind of like you know
a bat almost so you had a staff and you had a rod
the staff was for you know correction
and the rod was for protection
there's no question that that is used on a couple different occasions
um specifically in the book of Leviticus it refers to that with a shepherd
and in the book of Micah it refers to that as a shepherd
but the vast preponderance
of the time that that term is used and when I say vast I mean
vast when this term is used in the Scripture
it is with only a few rare occasions
used to describe not something that a shepherd uses
but the scepter of a king
that's what it's describing and see
all the sudden I'm paused because when I'm reading this it's becoming
maybe not as familiar as I thought that I'm reading this whole thing saying
okay this is just about a shepherd maybe not
maybe this is about a shepherd and a king
when we read Psalm 23 and I thought to myself
of course it is Jerry. who's writing it?
David who was what
shepherd who became king
it started to make sense to me particularly when I began to
to look at the context because most scholars would tell you that when you're
reading Psalm 23
you're reading the middle psalm of three psalm set
that is set together in context Psalm 22 which talks about the Messiah
Psalm 23 which begins as a shepherd Psalm
and Psalm 24 which talks about the King
of Glory it makes perfect sense to me that Psalm 23
comes from the Messiah the one who is going to suffer the one who's
arms would be extended whose hands and feet would be pierced according to Psalm
22
and it begins to talk to us about a shepherd
but then it transitions into conversation about a king
and in chapter 24 it continues that conversation about a king
the King of Glory. So Jerry why do you go that direction I'll tell you why
because
the picture that we see in verses 5 and 6
makes more sense now when we are looking at it in the context of a king instead
of the context of a shepherd now don't misunderstand what I'm saying to you
it can be applied in the context of a shepherd
I'm suggesting to you that I think that maybe we ought to look at this
may be slightly differently and I'm going to explain to you why
when he says in verse number five you prepare a table before me in the
presence of my enemies
I have always wrestled with what does that have to do with shepherd
since when the shepherds do that that
is a king job that's what
kings do when kings would go out to battle
and they would win the battle ultimately what they would do with those people
that they had captured
or sometimes even on the fields of the slain
they would host a feast for the winning army
in the presence of their enemies
this is what kings did in fact
when we begin to fast forward through
the consummation of history when Jesus ultimately is going to return
we have a reminder that that picture is played out when King Jesus
shows back up Revelation chapter 19 verse 17 says this
and I saw an angel standing in the sun who cried in a loud voice to all the
birds flying in midair come
gather together for the great supper of
God I didn't read the remainder of that it's reasonably explicit when you read
it but the idea is that Jesus
is defeating the enemies of God
and they will be a feast for the birds so to speak
and the people of God will feast in the presence
of the enemies of God and this is what King Jesus
shows us then we see that his
david says you anoint my head with oil another picture
of kingship we saw that in the life of David didn't we
but then he says something really incredible here
he says your cup my cup overflows
the idea here is that a king just like a shepherd is one who will provide
the shepherd leads to green grass the shepherd
brings to quiet waters the shepherd has a staff
maybe even a rod that comforts
and then he transitions to a king who is going to prepare a table
in the presence of my enemies and he says my cup
overflows the idea there
is that the king provides he provides
food he provides something to drink he provides
shelter because he is sovereign and has control
over everything that exists
in fact when we see this what we see is that the Shepherd King
motif is quite common in Scripture
to give you one illustration Isaiah later wrote these words
in Isaiah chapter 40 see the Sovereign
remember when you hear that word Sovereign you're talking about the one
who is in control it's an idea of a king
see the Sovereign Lord comes with power and he rules with a mighty arm
his reward is with him and his recompence accompanies him
he tends his flock like a shepherd he gathers the lambs in his arms and
carries them close to his heart
he gently leads those that have young you see the picture there it's the
picture of a king
and the picture of a shepherd all bundled up into one is Isaiah does
Isaish is simply doing something that David has I believe already done
in this particular Psalm but then David ends
the Psalm by saying this surely your goodness and love will follow me all the
days of my life and I will dwell
in the house love the Lord forever
now when David talks about the house of the Lord or he's talking about
referencing the tabernacle and certainly referencing
what ultimately would be the temple Solomon David's son
even though David had this vision in his heart and was birthed in his heart
Solomon is the one
who actually brought the temple to completion
and what we see is we see something very interesting David is saying
what his desire is he's comforted by the fact that he has a shepherd King that is
leading him
and what he ultimately wants to do is he wants to do well in the house of the
Lord
forever now he doesn't just mean all the days of his life necessarily he means
forever and by that he doesn't necessarily mean a structure
you see because for him for David in for the Jewish people
the idea of the temple or the idea of the tabernacle
was this this was a place
where heaven and earth intersected
that was their idea this for them was what the temple was all about
it was a place where heaven and earth intersected
this was the dwelling place if God where human beings would come
an offer sacrifices and the priest would Minister but this was a place where
there was an intersection of Heaven and Earth
if us throughout the ages people have had different ways a viewing certain
things there were some
that had had views of the world in views have heaven
that were very very separate completely and totally separated
that there is Heaven and that there is Earth
for and never shall the twain meet
and then there are those who had this idea that heaven on earth are all one in
the same right now
it's all the same thing like the pantheos or the pentheus the yes they kinda
have that kind of idea that's all one in the same
but the the Jewish that ultimately will become the Christian idea
of Heaven and Earth was this is that there were through the course if the
Scripture many things
and places that were referred to as places where Heaven and Earth
intersected and the temple was one of those
where humanity and God
had a place where it would intersect at a point
but this wasn't just what they thought about the temple in fact you see it when
Solomon dedicates the temple you see this idea
up the glory of Heaven inhabiting a place of human construction where
Heaven and Earth intersect listen to what happened at the dedication of the
temple in 2nd Chronicles 5 it says
the trumpeters in the musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to
the Lord
accompanied by trumpet symbols and other instruments the singer's raise their
voices in praise to the Lord and saying he is good
his love endures forever
then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud
and the priest could not perform their service because of the cloud
for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God
then Solomon said the Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud I have
built a magnificent temple for you
a place for you to dwell forever you see the idea here was is that the temple was
a place
where Heaven and Earth intersected you know the Jewish people had other
ideas of this Heaven and Earth intersecting
they believe that the Torah their scriptures
they believed that that was a place where Heaven and Earth intersected
that they they believe this was these were words breathed out by God
that were written by the hand of God on tablets some of which are represented in
here
that he wrote with his own hand on tablets of stone
and that these were the words of God inspired through the prophets
namely Moses and that this was a place when we studied it
and we begin to get to know God through it this was a place where Heaven and
Earth
would intersect because these were God's words
breathed to humanity they believed that in fact the ancient rabbis used to teach this
that if all Israel would obey the Torah
at exactly the same time with all their heart
it would be the birth of the New Age
that's what they would teach because they believed that the Torah
the word was a place where Heaven and Earth intersected
they also believed that about wisdom and we've been studying wisdom here lately
they also believed that about wisdom because they believe that in all wise
God
made everything that is and He has made the world to function in a certain way
based on wisdom
so that when we as human beings
are acting in wisdom we are now acting in such a way that it's like an
intersection
of Heaven and Earth coming together so you see it in the temple
you see it in the word you see it in wisdom these are all things that the
Jews had in their mind
and so when David says I long to dwell in the house of the Lord forever he's
talking about a place
where Heaven and Earth intersect
and he's talking about wanting to be in that presence
but here's what we know looking backwards: we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ
is the intersection of Heaven and Earth
that he himself is the new temple
he is the place where the fullness of God dwells in bodily form
that he lives in a human body but the fullness of God dwells in bodily form
Jesus himself is the new temple the place where the presence of God exists
Jesus himself is the word
made flesh who dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory
of the only begotten of God full of grace and truth
He is the intersection of Heaven and Earth
in Jesus himself the scripture says is the wisdom
love God personified
when we see that here's what we recognize the Jesus himself
is not only the intersection of Heaven and Earth
but He's the one who interlocks the two
He interlocks Heaven and Earth so that
those of us that put our faith and trust in Him
we realize that we now have bridged the gap between Heaven and Earth even though
they intersect at points Jesus now
interlocks them and provides for us a promise
of what is to come isn't it interesting that Jesus
is both King and Shepherd
that He is the place where Heaven the King
meets Earth the shepherd
this is the picture this isn't lost on the Gospel writers by the way
and you say Jerry how are we gonna end up at the Lord's Supper from what you're
talking about right now
we'll get there I told you not to get too familiar right
Jesus as Shepherd King
is also shown that picture in the Gospels
listen closely do you remember
where Jesus is walking around in the Galilee region
and He looks upon these masses of people
and they look like what without a what
they look like sheep without a shepherd
and the Scripture says he has compassion on them because they are like sheep
without a shepherd at so what does he do
listen closely he lays them down on green grass
next a quiet water the Sea of Galilee
and He spreads a table before them
the table consisted only of a little bit a fish and a little bit of bread
but the Sovereign King who is also the shepherd
multiplied them and provided for all of the people
you see that picture I bet that one wasn't too familiar to you
there the Shepherd King is demonstrating
exactly what David was personifying
that in the midst of the oppression of the Roman Empire where the Jewish people
who are an agrarian people who don't have a lot who are sitting and working
the land but the land is being taken from them
there Jesus spreads a table before them in the presence
of the empire demonstrating that he is they're great Shepherd
and he is also the King who can sovereignly provide
at a moment's notice
I want us in this time
to not grow so familiar with Jesus
that we lose how profound God the Son
is to us I want us when we approach the table
to understand that our cup overflows
because of the richness and the matchless
name of our Lord Jesus Christ
and because of what he has done on our behalf
it's His goodness and His mercy and His love
that follows us all the days of our life and when we come to the table
I want us to remember that exact
thing so as we get to that place
I want us to look in for just a moment at what Paul's words were in first
Corinthians
chapter number eleven and he says this beginning
in verse number 23
He says for I received from the Lord
what I also passed on to you
the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed
took bread and when he had given thanks
he broke it and said this is my body
which is for you do this in remembrance of me
in the same way after supper He took the cup
saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood
do this whenever you drink it in remembrance
of me for whenever you eat this bread
and you drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death
until he comes I want us to pause for just a moment because
what we have is we have the Lord Jesus who gives us a picture
of all the covenant promises of the past and all the hopes that we have in Longs
that we have for the future
he gives us a picture that in a meal
and that meal is bread and a cup
wine grape jice fruit of the vine
in that meal here's the picture it's a picture in this meal of
Heaven and Earth for intersecting
it's a picture if everything that Jesus
in covenant times past was promised to be
and every longing of our heart for the future
all brought into the present
have you ever thought about that how incredibly rich
that idea is and how beautiful it is
that Jesus is the one as I said who interlocks two worlds
the world of Heaven an the world of Earth
and he's given us this meal to be able to think about that reality that He
himself is the one
who interlocks these two things
so think about it this way: all of covenant eternity past
that had led up to this point everything that had pointed to the fact that a
savior was going to come
that a messiah was coming to rescue who would be a shepherd king as David
described him
everything that was promises fulfilled in the person of Jesus
and every longing of our heart
that all the wrongs that now exist will one day be made right
that all of the brokenness that now exists will one day be healed
everything the hope that Heavn and
Earth will be able to come together as one
is all brought together in Jesus
so when we come around this meal what we're doing is we're saying
it's like all over the past and all the future
are pulled together into the present
to remind us of the rich reality
of the one who is beyond time who entered time
to be able to save us for all time
this is a rich reality think about this what you're going man I can't get my
head around that me neither
try this you're sitting down to an incredible feast
and joining you at that feast think about this
are your grandparents
and your great-grandparents
and your great-great grandparents
that you never met and there they are
but also at the table
are your grandkids and your great grandkids
and your great great great grandkids
all together the same time
all of the past all the longing in hopes and dreams in the future
all in one moment if you think of it that way and translate that
to Jesus when we take the meal
what's happening it's as if we are pulling the future
backwards in time to the present
and we are pulling the past up into the reality of this moment to say
Jesus is the one who interlocks
Heaven and Earth and one day
sooner maybe then we know
He is going to return as He promised
because what Paul says here at the very end of 1st Corinthians
is he says and every time you do this when you
when you come to this table I want you to proclaim the Lord's
death until he comes
if you pull that sentence out of context in just stripped it of its context and
threw that out to someone
it almost seems ludicrous doesn't it just
here's the sentence proclaim his death
until he comes people are hearing that on the street they're going wait a
second
he's dead why would he be coming?
why would I be proclaiming his death
until he comes it seems like I would be proclaiming his death forever because
he's never coming because he's dead
that so people would be be be thinking but here's what Paul says
what you're doing at the supper what you're doing at the table
your proclaiming his death how are you doing that in the remembrance
what he's done you remembering
that it was his sacrifice that has brought everything together
that it was him laying down his sinless self born of the *** sinless life
never having sinned in word, thought or deed he was laying himself down voluntarily
for the saving of people from their sins
because all of eternity past was reaching toward this moment and he was
fulfilling it
an all of eternity future was hinging on that moment
and he fulfilled that and now he brings it all together where now we have to
hope that one day finally
and totally Heaven and Earth will not just be separated by a thin veil where
Jesus is holding them together but one day they will become one
Heaven and Earth will be one
united in the person
of the King who is our
shepherd this is the hope that we have
Heaven and Earth will be one that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever
that goodness and love and mercy will follow us
all the days of our life so you know what happens when we come to the table
what it does what it should do in our hearts
is it creates a deep deep longing
a deep longing that says these words
come
don't you wish it was today
come that's what we do
when we're here we don't just remember
we long
for you to come
love them
humidity you
fellow us
and still you PE
to the seal
fee
is we alone
0
he looks badass
famous
so here's what we're gonna do
we're going to share in communion together
gonna do it the slightly differently you
what I'm going to ask you to do is to identify some folks that are
around you
the maybe you know them maybe they're your family
you want to do it as a family together great
maybe you are here and
you may be sitting by yourself I want you to link up with a group around you
right there in your section you maybe you're just friends and
you connect with some friends that doesn't matter I don't care what the
size of the group is
the family of five the
group 10 either way doesn't matter
the what's going to happen is in just a moment
are ushers will come in they will dismiss you by sections and tell you
which station that they want you to go to
there are stations in here and there are multiple stations
out in the atrium some of you
particularly on the back side you'll be dismissed outside
the we'll ask you to do is you go by the station and you'll receive
bread and the cup
and then you've got some instructions I think
the that they are in
your worship folder and if you open those up if somebody in your group
to will follow those instructions
and lead your group in a time
around communion so wait a minute Jerry you're not going to lead us
nope you're going to you're going to share this with one another
but you got instructions on what to do
if you don't know everybody this in your group if you see somebody standing
around by themselves
don't let them stand around by themselves the bring them with you
I listened because what Jesus is done
it doesn't matter if you think you've got great standing
or not such great standing in the world shepherds and kings both come to this
table
either you
come as a believer in Jesus
and you receive the
so I would ask you when this when they dismiss you in a moment you take
the elements you find a place
if you're in this room you come by and you go to one of the stations
and then you just find a place together it could be standing in one of the Isles
wherever standing up front you can gather together
just go find a place don't come up take and eat em
take them in with your group who every group is
you just find a place together where you can walk through these things
together you'll be able to do that spent some time talking with one another
reflecting
praying reading the scripture for just a few moments together either in here or
out there depending on where they dismiss you
the and then you'll hear the
Kathy playing out in the in the atrium in just a moment not be going through
everything in
you'll know when we're done the when the music changes
ok should be playing for a little bit when she's done playing
you'll understand that be kinda a little bit of a different vibe in you know that
we're done in you'll be dismissed and you can go
their body understand what we're doing now to find you a group with whoever
that may be.
I'm gonna ask our ushers to find their places and just please remain seated
until ushers come by and dismiss you in your spots
there'll be some that'll be coming to serve ushers will be dismissing you in
spots go take the elements into a communion together