Sermon
Series: He Calls His Own Sheep By Name
I Will Dwell in the House of the Lord Forever
Hebrews 13:18-21 Psalm 23
Dr. Larry D. Thorson
The Lord is my
Shepherd. Say that with me. “The
Lord is my Shepherd.” Now the
question is really whether that’s true for you or not. If it’s true that makes you like a
sheep. Some people don’t like to be
compared to a sheep. They see themselves
as the intelligent shepherd with authority over the sheep.
I shall not be
in want. Say that with me. “I shall not be in want.” But that’s also not necessarily true. I have lots of wants. I want to see my daughter graduate from
college. I want to see my son graduate
from high school and then college. I
want to see more people come to know Christ as their savior. But “I shall not be in need.” When you pray can you say “My shepherd
provides everything that I need?”
He makes me
lie down in green pastures. Say that
with me “He makes me lie down in green
pastures.” Lying down for sheep is a
sign that they can relax because they know their basic needs are met. Now the question is whether you can actually
relax or not. If the Lord is not your
shepherd then what confidence do you have that your needs will be met?
He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores
my soul. Say that with me. “He
leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul” Our body weight is made up of 60% water. Medical studies have shown us that we need to
drink 8 big glasses of water every day to stay hydrated or just under two
liters. Without water we cannot survive
long. We become dehydrated.
I learned from
reading Lance Armstrong’s book It’s Not
About the Bike that one of the biggest challenges of a long distance
bicyclist is to stay hydrated in a race.
Once the body gets dehydrated it’s not just a matter of drinking lots of
fluids to rehydrate it. The new water
doesn’t soak in that fast. We’ve seen
that with so many who get pneumonia.
They end up in the hospital because the fever dehydrates their body and
only through a regular drip system of fluids will they be restored.
Water often
represents God’s Holy Spirit in the Bible.
I think lots of Christians in churches are dehydrated. They think if they can come to church once in
a while and drink up all the spiritual water while they’re here that they’ll be
fine. But it doesn’t work that way. To have your soul restored means stopping
each day and allowing God’s Holy Spirit to fill you.
But you can’t
stop to drink if you can’t relax. You
can’t relax until you have confidence in your shepherd. You can’t have a shepherd until you admit
that you’re a sheep in need of a shepherd.
You see it all ties together.
He guides me
in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Say that with me. “He guides me in paths of righteousness for
his name’s sake.” A sheep left to
his own devises will gnaw the grass down to the ground until the roots are
damaged. Too many sheep over too many
years under poor management brings poverty and disaster to a land. There are ravaged grasslands all over the
world from mismanaged sheep. There are
ravaged urban areas all over the world from mismanaged humans. That’s the greatest proof to me that we are
like sheep in need of a shepherd.
Even though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Say that with me. “Even
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil.” A good shepherd moves his
sheep to new pastures so as not to allow the grass roots in one area to be
destroyed. That transition path is
sometimes scary with steep cliffs and ugly predators in waiting. But they’re only shadows of death, not death
itself. When you’re going through a
scary time, when the doctor says you’ve got cancer and you have to start
treatment immediately to know that it’s not a random accident. It’s comforting to know that there’s a
shepherd moving you to a better field.
But again, if the Lord is not your shepherd you have lots to fear.
You are with
me. Say that with me “You are with
me”. That means whatever it is that
you’re going through, in the dark hours of the morning when you can’t sleep, in
the waning hours of the afternoon when you don’t know what to do, you are never
alone. The Good Shepherd is right there
in the room with you. Talk to him.
Your rod and your staff they comfort
me. Say that with me “Your rod and your staff they comfort me.” Philip Keller in A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 says
“Each shepherd boy, from the time he
first starts to tend his father’s flock, takes special pride in the selection
of a rod and staff exactly suited to his own size and strength. He goes into the bush and selects a young
sapling which is dug from the ground. This
is carved and whittled down with great care and patience. The enlarged base of the sapling where its
trunk joins the roots is shaped into a smooth, rounded head of hard wood. The sapling itself is shaped to exactly fit
the owner’s hand. After he completes it,
the shepherd boy spends hours practicing with this club, learning how to throw
it with amazing speed and accuracy. It
becomes his main weapon of defense for both himself and his sheep.”
The rod is the
shepherd’s weapon of power and authority.
When Moses stood up to the wicked Pharoah from his rod came the plaques
on
You prepare a
table before me in the presence of my enemies.
Say that with me. “You prepare a table before me in the
presence of my enemies.” Pastor
Scott spoke on this last week. Table is
another word for mesa or plateau, the summer place of destination for the
sheep. Philip Keller said that before
his sheep would be turned out into this field he would go through it with his
children plucking out the poisonous plants that would harm his sheep. Meanwhile on the bluffs around him are the
predators waiting for their chance to pounce without the shepherd able to get
to them. That’s where a good border
collie comes in handy.
As pastor or
border collie I can see God preparing a field for you. I feel so helpless when something comes after
you to distract you from our Lord. We
have a Wednesday morning prayer meeting and for a few weeks two of our members
Simon Sybrandy and Pat Berry were in the
You anoint my
head with oil; my cup overflows. Say
that with me “You anoint my head with
oil; my cup overflows.” Sheep were
anointed with oil to keep flies away. We
sometimes anoint people who come to us for healing with oil. We sometimes anoint those being baptized with
oil. The Bible commands it. Oil is a mark of the Holy Spirit’s presence. When we dedicated our new Christian education
center in
That’s how it
is with God’s Holy Spirit. When you’re
in the service of our Lord you take a lot of battering. The flies, the knats, the pests, they
constantly try to whittle away the joy you have in the Lord. You don’t lose God’s Holy Spirit when you go
through a time of trial and tribulation but you get weakened. That’s when you need to be anointed with oil
in prayer and your cup will overflow.
Surely
goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. Say that with me “Surely goodness and love
will follow me all the days of my life.”
Now it’s about this sheep’s future.
Based on what he has experienced in the past with his shepherd he can
look forward to his future. That’s why
journaling your spiritual experience is so important. We need to write down our experiences with
the Lord because our memories can be biased based on our present
experiences. Look at what the Lord has
done in your life in the past to know what is ahead. I think my wife’s seminar starting Wednesday
is going to be a helpful one for those who have experienced difficult
loss. It’s hard to look to the future
with the Lord if you’re not yet healed from some loss.
And I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Say that with me “And I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
That’s confidence. House refers
to family. David writing as one of his
sheep is saying “And I will dwell in my Lord’s family forever.” His sheep didn’t have to worry about getting
kicked out. They didn’t have to worry
about not meeting a standard. That’s
hope.
We’ve known
people whose spouse left them for someone else.
We’ve known people whose company decided they weren’t a good match for
the company’s new direction. I’ve known
pastors who were asked to leave their church.
It takes a long time to trust again.
When a new person walks in our door we have no idea what kind of
rejection they have experienced.
I have visited
churches where I heard that if someone didn’t speak in tongues they weren’t
right with God. I have visited other
churches where if someone spoke in tongues they were of the devil. I have visited other churches where if the
person didn’t do what the pastor was saying to do that day they were told that
they were heading to the bad place.
But that’s not
David’s sheep. If you want to be in this
family what God asks you to do is to make him your shepherd. By making him your shepherd you are acknowledging
that you need a higher power to guide you.
That higher power is accessible through his son Jesus Christ who died
for the sins that separate us from God.
When God
becomes your shepherd he will never lead you to do something that will harm
your body or anyone else’s body. That
shepherd will also never lead you to only care for yourself. We are family and that family supports one
another. The gate to that shepherd’s pen
is always open for you to invite others in.
That’s what God’s flock does.
May the Lord
be your shepherd and may you have the hope of dwelling in his house forever.
I received an
email last week about the 23rd Psalm. “A Sunday School teacher
decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the
Bible; Psalm 23 She gave the youngsters
a month to learn the verse. Little Rick
was excited about the task--but, he just couldn't remember the Psalm. After much practice, he could barely get past
the first line. On the day that
the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation,Rickey
was so nervous. When it was his turn, he
stepped up to the microphone and said proudly,"The Lord is my Shepherd,
and that's all I need to know.”
Ricky was
right. In our “Time of Reflection” this
morning reflect upon the thought “Can I admit that I’m a sheep who needs a
shepherd?”