church

INI
Jubilate, The Third Sunday after Easter
April 21, 2013
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD - THAT IS ENOUGH
Psalm 23:1

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who
gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age,
according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen. The brief text for our consideration on this day comes from the 23rd
Psalm, verse one:

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. This is the Word of God.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep,
Dear Fellow Redeemed,

There’s a story that’s a favorite of mine. It’s about a pastor who used to
advertise his next Sunday's sermon theme in the local paper. That meant he had
to get started rather early, because in order to get the sermon theme into the
Saturday paper he had to call by Friday afternoon. Well, one Friday in spring,
the pastor found himself at a loss. His text was the same as ours for today, the
23rd Psalm. But for the life of him he couldn't come up with a sermon theme
that he liked. Finally he phoned the editor's desk just a few minutes before the
5:00 deadline. He gave him the text, and when asked what the theme was, the
pastor said, "The Lord is My Shepherd." "That's it?" said the editor, "Isn't there
any more?" "That is enough," the preacher replied, and hung up the phone. So
you can imagine his surprise when he opened his newspaper the next day and
saw printed there his new sermon theme, "The Lord is My Shepherd - That is
Enough!"

Obviously that wasn't the pastor's intention. But it you think about it for a
moment, it's amazing how well that theme fits the text before us this morning.
It speaks to the all-sufficiency of our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Down
through the centuries believers of all ages have, like trusting sheep, looked to
the Lord Jesus to supply their every physical and spiritual need. So if the details
of day-to-day life and uncertainty about the future have you worried lately, if
you're wondering how you're going to make ends meet - or more importantly,
what will happen when you meet your end, then your answer lies in this
well-beloved psalm. It's entirely appropriate that we take that as our theme for
today:

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD - THAT IS ENOUGH
I. Enough to save a lost and wayward sheep like me.
II. Enough to protect and provide for me my whole life long.

The Lord is my Shepherd. What does that mean, exactly? The occupation of
shepherd is not a very familiar one in 21st century America. But it was very
familiar in the ancient Near East of David’s time. It was especially familiar to
King David himself, because like Moses before him, he had spent quite a bit of
time working as a shepherd. You remember that, when the Israelite army was
threatened by the great warrior Goliath, David reassured Saul by harking back
to his shepherd background: "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and
when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after
it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose
against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36 "Your servant
has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one
of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. Moreover David
said, "The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw
of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." I Sam
17:34-37.

So David knew what it meant to be a shepherd. He knew just what it was like
to travel with the flock day in and day out, to care for the sheep and protect
them from predators. And when David wanted to describe the way God cares
for an protects His believers, that was the picture that sprang first to his mind.
The picture of a shepherd.

Maybe when you were little and you first heard verse one of the 23rd Psalm,
you had the same question I had. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not
want…" what? What does that mean? I shall not want anything? I shall not
want the shepherd? That can’t be the meaning! The verse is a bit confusing
because it uses the word "want" in a way we're not accustomed to today. To
"want" means have a lack, a shortfall, to be missing something that you need.
In the old days it was said that, if you had no food or clothing, you "suffered
want." Or, if a rich man were proposing marriage to a young lady, he might
promise her, "You shall never want for anything ever again."

Here in the 23rd Psalm, King David is saying, in effect, "The Lord is my
Shepherd - that is enough! All my needs, both spiritual and physical have always
been - and will always be - supplied by my gracious Good Shepherd.” What a
beautiful confession! It's a confession that every Christian certainly can and
should share.

The sad thing is how often we've acted as if the Lord wasn't enough for us.
How many times haven't you relied not on God, but on other things to supply
your need? How often haven't you looked for security and deliverance to
something other than the voice of your Good Shepherd? How often haven't
you, in effect, said, "I've got money in the bank - I shall not want." Or, "I've got
plenty of insurance - I shall not want." Or, "I'm young and healthy, I'm at the
height of my earning power, I’ve got skills and ability - I shall not want." So,
though the ages, the soldier has trusted in his arms, the scholar in his wisdom,
and the rich man in his gold.

All of them have been disappointed. For these things simply cannot be relied
upon. All of them are liable to let you down just when you need them the most.
Money is certainly one of the least reliable. Many Americans discovered that the
hard way in 2008, when the stock market plummeted and they woke up to
discover that their retirement savings had been cut in half, or worse. Many of
those people discovered the sad truth that, if money is your shepherd, you may
indeed find yourself suddenly and desperately in want. The Bible says: "Cursed
is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose
heart turns away from the LORD. 6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he
will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the
desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in
the LORD, whose confidence is in him. --Jer 17:5-7.

Or health. How many times have you heard people say, "Well, I've got my
health, and that's the most important thing!" But we all know how suddenly
that can change. One day you’re healthy and in the pink, on top of the world,
the next day illness or injury strikes you or a loved one, and you enter a world of
weakness and pain and anxiety. At times like that, when you suddenly haven’t
got your health, you learn how important it is to have a Good Shepherd.

You've seen artists' depictions of Jesus with a shepherd's staff, leading a flock
of sheep along a mountain pathway, cradling the lambs of the flock in His arms.
It's a very apt and poignant metaphor. Most people dwell, of course, on the
beautiful picture of Christ as the Good Shepherd. But there’s also a
less-attractive aspect of this picture, isn't there? If Jesus is the shepherd, that
means you and I are what? -The sheep. Do you like being called a sheep? I'm
not sure I like it very much. If you think about it for a while you soon realize
that it’s not a very complimentary description. It's well known that sheep are
among the least intelligent of domestic animals. They are prone to wander and
get into trouble. And when they do find trouble, they’re usually powerless to get
themselves out of it. A sheep without a shepherd, or a sheep that is lost, is
completely helpless. It is at the mercy of the many predators that threaten it. In
fact, it’s hard to think of a creature that has so many natural enemies, and such
a complete lack of ability to defend itself.

…Unless it’s a human being! We’re very similar to sheep in a lot of ways. And
King David wasn’t the only one to draw this comparison. Isaiah said the same
thing: All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his
own way; We've all gone astray. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God. Times without number we've strayed from the side of our Good
Shepherd and wandered into dangerous and sinful paths, places where we knew
we had no right to be. So what did the Lord do about that? Did He cast us off
eternally? Did He condemn us to everlasting torment for our iniquity? No!
Isaiah goes on, And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Instead of
punishing the sheep, God punished the Shepherd. The Lord laid upon Jesus, our
Good Shepherd, the punishment for our sins. And now comes one of the most
beautiful mixed metaphors you'll ever hear. We've been talking up till now
about Jesus as our Good Shepherd, haven't we? But Isaiah says that, for our
sake, the Shepherd allowed Himself to be treated as a sheep. 7 He was
oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a
lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened
not His mouth. Isaiah 53:6-7.

How true were the words of John the Baptist when he identified Jesus by
saying, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus
took on human flesh so that he might save us frail and flawed humans. Jesus,
our Good Shepherd, allowed Himself to be made the sacrificial Lamb. He
offered Himself on Calvary so that by the blood of His sacrifice, you and I
might be freed from the punishment of sin. What joy! For God to say to you
that nothing further is required of you, everything necessary for your salvation
was accomplished by Christ some 2000 years ago! By the way, we sometimes
speak of the all-revealing question, the one where you’ve died and God meets
you at the pearly gates and asks, "Why should I let you into heaven?" Well,
here's your answer to that question: "The Lord is my Shepherd - that is
enough!"

My prayer for you is that Christ will your sufficiency - in all things! - from this
day forth and even forever more. May our children lisping at their mother's knee
learn to say, "The Lord is my Shepherd - that is enough!" May our young people
who take their confirmation vows at this altar say, "The Lord is my Shepherd -
that is enough!" May the aged of our congregation never falter, though they face
the dark valley of the shadow of death. May they say with confidence, "The
Lord is my Shepherd - that is enough!" For it is surely true that those who place
their trust in the Good Shepherd will one day join the elders round the throne,
as John describes it for us in Revelation chapter seven: He said to me, "Who are
these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?" 14 And I said to
him, "Sir, you know." So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of
the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb. 15 "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him
day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among
them. 16 "They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall
not strike them, nor any heat; 17 "for the Lamb who is in the midst of the
throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And
God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Rev 7:13-17. AMEN.