Please Note That Most Messages Follow
The Revised Common Lectionary

The Liturgy - Psalm 23 - To be recited in Unison

23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

The Lord Is My Shepherd
St. John 10:1-10, Psalm 23

If I were to query our congregation this morning and ask the following question: "If you could have anything in this life what would it be?" I would venture to say that each response might be different. One might say "I would like to have a new car." Another might say "I’d like a vacation to Aruba." While yet another "I want one million dollars." What would you say?

It was early Saturday morning and I had just gotten my bags packed, ready to head home from speaking in a six day revival. I was tired and anxious to get home. The phone rang and the voice on the other end was the pastor of the church I had been speaking in. "Ray I have someone here who wanted to speak with you before you get gone." At this he handed the phone over to another male who identified himself as Skip.

"Reverend Osborne my name is Skip. I don’t expect you to remember who I am but I sat on the back row last night with my wife and children. I had not been to church in a long while. I guess you could say that I was sparse in my attendance and then it just became easy to quit going all together. Church just wasn’t a very important thing to me. Fulfilling my own wants and wishes had become more important I guess than what God wanted.

Reverend Osborne I have had everything in life that a man could want. I’ve had money, women, lots of success in my business. But in the midst of all that I had something was missing - I was never satisfied. I had to have more and more and the more I had the more it took to satisfy me. And so I kept searching. I experimented in alcohol and drugs. I tried everything I could get my hands on but no matter what I tried I was never completely satisfied. I didn’t want to go last night but my wife and children pestered me enough until I said I’d go if they would leave me alone.

Last night your sermon "How Much God Loves You," touched my heart. My heart literally raced as that invitation was given. Not understanding what was going on in my life I ran out the back door. My wife urged me to call our pastor and speak with him - I did and that’s why I am calling you. Last night as I spoke with the pastor I asked Jesus into my life and I suddenly realized that it was His presence in my life that was missing. It took Jesus to bring complete satisfaction in my life."

I rejoiced with Skip that Saturday morning on the telephone! And I was instantly reminded of the words of David:

"The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want." And I thought about how wonderful it is to be able to say "The Lord Is my Shepherd." I began to think of all the implications that go along with having the Lord as our Shepherd. And I began to consider what it truly means to say "I shall not want."

Those four little words are rich with theological truth - Our Lord meets our deepest needs and we are satisfied!

In our Gospel lesson this morning Jesus gives us two of His "I am" statements. First he says "I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture." (John 10:9 NRSV)

When Skip called to tell me of Christ’s touch upon his life he told me in his own words the words of Jesus. "I tried everything I could get my hands on but no matter what I tried I was never completely satisfied."

What did Jesus say in the beginning of this chapter?

"Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers." (John 10:1-5 NRSV)

What Jesus is saying to you and I this morning is that there is that there is no other way to satisfy the "want" in our lives until we turn to Him. The deeoest needs of our lives can only be met through Christ our Good Shepherd. The joyous message of the resurrected Christ SHOUTS "Come Unto Me and I Will Give You REST!" Another way of interpreting that might be to hear Jesus saying "Come to me and I will meet the deepest needs of your life."

If we take the liberty to extend our lectionary text by one verse we hear Jesus saying "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." (John 10:11 NRSV)

Our Shepherd leads us to clear waters and green pastures. What a picture of tranquillity!

On Tuesday I experienced the joy of a lifetime! I took my last Greek exam forever and ever no more! I needed to find some little quiet spot that would make me comfortable (when it comes to Greek I need all the comforting I can get!). I chose to drive down the rode to First Baptist Church, Boiling Springs and I sat down on the ground and attempted to pass my test. The air was stirring a bit and the grass was so very green. It felt so good to simply get out of my fast paced schedule and simply enjoy the beauty of the day.

Life gets chaotic at times. I ran into Steve Hearn at Gardner-Webb this past week. "Ray what’s going on?" "Life" was my response to which he said "Well like they say ‘any day above ground is a good day!’"

In his book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Phillip Keller lists four needs sheep have.

They are to be:
1.Free of all Fear
2. Free of friction from other sheep
3. Free of pests
4. Free from feeling a need to find food.

Keller writes:

"When we examine each of these four factors that affect sheep so severely we will understand why the part the owner plays in their management is so tremendously important. It is actually he who makes it possible for them to lie down, to rest, to relax, to be content and quiet and flourishing.

A flock that is restless, discontented, always agitated and disturbed never does well. And the same is true of people.

It is not generally known that sheep are so timid and easily panicked that even a stray jackrabbit suddenly bounding from behind a bush can stampede a whole flock. When one startled sheep runs in fright a dozen others will bolt with it in blind fear, not waiting to see what frightened them.

One day a friend came to call on us from the city. She had a tiny Pekingese pup along. As she opened the car door the pup jumped out on the grass. Just one glimpse of the unexpected little dog was enough. In sheer tenor over 200 of my sheep which were resting nearby leaped up and rushed off across the pasture.

As long as there is even the slightest suspicion of danger from dogs, coyotes, cougars, bears or other enemies the sheep stand up ready to flee for their lives. They have little or no means of self-defense. They are helpless, timid, feeble creatures whose only recourse is to run.

In the course of time I came to realize that nothing so quieted and reassured the sheep as to see me in the field. The presence of their mater and owner and protector put them at ease as nothing else could do. . .

In the Christian’s life there is no substitute for the keen awareness that my Shepherd is nearby. There is nothing like Christ’s presence to dispel the fear, the panic, the terror of the unknown.

We live a most uncertain life. Any hour can bring disaster, danger and distress from unknown quarters. Life is full of hazards. No one can tell what a day will produce in new trouble. We live either in a sense of anxiety, fear and foreboding, or in a sense of quiet rest. Which is it?

Generally it is the "unknown," the "unexpected," that produces the greatest panic. It is in the grip of fear that most of us are unable to cope with the cruel circumstances and harsh complexities of life. We feel they are foes which endanger our tranquility. Often our first impulse is simply to get up and run from them.

Then in the midst of our misfortunes there suddenly comes the awareness that He, the Christ, the Good Shepherd is there.

(Phillip Keller, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Harper, 1970, p. 25-26)

We make the wrong assumptions that if we just had a little more time in a day, a little more money in the bank, find another wife or husband, or if we just could end our life that would make everything better. It's not those things that satisfy our deepest needs.

Isn't it funny how we often think of our wants in terms of our needs? We adults mimick our children. Seth wore his new sneakers to school one day and during after school care he was playing in the dirt and his shoes became very brown and dirty. The very first thing he said to me as he got in the van was "Daddy I NEED new sneakers - these got dirty." Now you and I both know he did not need new sneakers. What he really needed was a bath for both he and the sneakers!

The needs in our lives, the deepest needs in our lives can only be met by the Christ of Easter. Salvation can be found in no other place. There is no other Gate by which we enter into God's Kingdom except through Jesus Christ. We can certainly find things like love and peace in other people and things. But no matter how good we think that love is, no matter how great that peace is, Jesus makes it even better.

There is absolutely nothing that Christ is unwilling to help us through if we allow Him too - not even death! "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

The sound of Martha's voice on the other end of the telephone always brought a smile to Brother Jim's face. She was not only one of the oldest members of the congregation, but one of the most faithful. Aunt Martie, as all the children called her, just seemed to ooze faith, hope, and love wherever she went. This time, however, there seemed to be an unusual tone to her words.

"Preacher, could you stop by this afternoon? I need to talk with you."

"Of course. I'll be there around 3:00."

As they sat facing each other in the quiet of her small living room, Jim learned the reason for what he sensed in her voice. Martha shared the news that her doctor had just discovered a previously undetected tumor.

"He says I probably have six months to live." Martha's words were certainly serious, yet there was a definite calm about her.

"I'm so sorry to . . . " but before Jim could finish, Martha interrupted.

"Don't be. The Lord has been good. I have lived a long life. I'm ready to go. You know that."

"I know," Jim whispered with a reassuring nod.

"But I do want to talk with you about my funeral. I have been thinking about it, and there are things that I know I want."

The two talked quietly for a long time. They talked about Martha's favorite hymns, the passages of Scripture that had meant so much to her through the years, and the many memories they shared from the five years Jim had been with Central Church.

When it seemed that they had covered just about everything, Aunt Martie paused, looked up at Jim with a twinkle in her eye, and then added,

"One more thing, preacher. When they bury me, I want my old Bible in one hand and a fork in the other."

"A fork?" Jim was sure he had heard everything, but this caught him by surprise. "Why do you want to be buried with a fork?"

"I have been thinking about all of the church dinners and banquets that I attended through the years," she explained.

"I couldn't begin to count them all. But one thing sticks in my mind. At those really nice get-togethers, when the meal was almost finished, a server or maybe the hostess would come by to collect the dirty dishes. I can hear the words now. Sometimes, at the best ones, somebody would lean over my shoulder and whisper, `You can keep your fork.' And do you know what that meant? Dessert was coming! "It didn't mean a cup of Jell-O or pudding or even a dish of ice cream. You don't need a fork for that. It meant the good stuff, like chocolate cake or cherry pie! When they told me I could keep my fork, I knew the best was yet to come!

"That's exactly what I want people to talk about at my funeral. Oh, they can talk about all the good times we had together. That would be nice.

"But when they walk by my casket and look at my pretty blue dress, I want them to turn to one another and say, `Why the fork?'

"This is what I want you to say. I want you to tell them that I kept my fork because the best is yet to come."

That is the testimony of one who knows the Shepherd. That is the testimony of one who has faith in the Shepherd. That is one who has entered the Gate and found the Good Shepherd called Jesus.

The deepest needs of our life - the need of salvation, love, peace, and joy can only be met through an intimate relationship with the Good Shepherd.

The Lord is MY shepherd. Is he yours? Do you find your life is in a perpetual pursuit to satisfy the hungering that is deep inside you? You try everything to experience satisfaction but nothing helps?

Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want!

Make Jesus your Shepherd today. Accept him as your Lord and Savior. Recommit yourself to getting to know and responding to his voice. He will lead you to green pastures and still waters. He will meet the deepest needs of your life. And you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever! Amen.

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