To all the Dads who have so deeply impacted, and shaped our lives, we remember you. We will never forget you. We are eternally grateful for you. To all you Dads here today, you have a tougher job than dads of any generation in recent memory. We love you. We stand behind you. We support you. We want you and your family to flourish in Christ Jesus.
Let me tell you what we’re going to be talking about these next weeks. Even if you’re unchurched, or irreligious, there is a good chance you’ve heard of Psalm 23. Psalm 23 was a song or poetry written by King David. The Psalm begins with the simple but profound words: “The Lord is my shepherd…” I’ve noticed these days that a lot of people love the idea of “being a leader.” It appeals to our ego, to our sense of individuality. Now the younger generation don’t much care for the word “leader.” Instead, they opt for the idea of “being an influencer.”
But Psalm 23 is special because it flips the script. As you may know King David grew up, literally, being a shepherd (and a humble shepherd at that). But suddenly, as a young boy, David was catapulted to national prominence. Once, when the Philistines (and a certain giant named Goliath) were threatening Israel, the young shepherd David came forward to offer his teenage experience and skills to the great King Saul.
1 Samuel 17:33-36 King Saul is bewildered. He tells David, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and Goliath has been a warrior since he was young.” But of course, David is unflummoxed. He answers, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”
For young David, slaying Giants was just another day in the office (or another day in the wilderness). This of course sets the stage for God to later anoint David Shepherd of Israel. In 2 Samuel 7:8b the Lord of Armies tells David, “I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, to be ruler [leader] over my people Israel.” King David had all the credentials, charisma, and character of a leader any man would admire. But in Psalm 23, David is telling us that the Lord is his shepherd. The Lord is his ruler. The Lord is his King. The Lord is the one whose influence he’s placed himself under! What should most define us (as men, as women) isn’t who is following us. It isn’t who’s become intoxicated by our influence. What should define us is whose leadership and influence were under.
Now, I want to run a little deeper with this idea. In Psalm 23 we have the beginning of a kind of portrait of manhood. Nowadays people are asking, “What is a man?” or “What is a woman?” What most defines a person is who or what orders their life. I think of my own dad. He wasn’t a perfect man—but he was most definitely a godly man. Dad was too humble, or maybe broken, to ever see himself as a Shepherd, or Leader, or Influencer. Yet he had this deeply personal connection with God that was evident to everyone who knew him. Like David he could say—and in his own way did say, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”
I want to be really careful in what I’m about to say. But I think this is the defining difference between someone who is “godly” vs. merely “religious.” I know boatloads of churchgoing, religious men. If you ask a religious man about his faith he will tell you he’s a good man, that he loves his wife, that he goes to church, that maybe he tithes, maybe serves, maybe goes to a small group, maybe attends a bible class, has been baptized (stuff like that). But a god-oriented man is different that a religious man.
When I think of a godly man I think of man named, Brad Stuart. Many of you knew Brad personally. Tragically, his life was cut short a few years ago when his car was struck by a drunk driver. I rarely meet men who have such a voracious love for God as did Brad. There is no question in his professional life people saw him as a leader, or an influencer. He was as driven, and successful as any person you’d meet or want to imitate. He was wildly successful as a high school and college athlete.
But what most stood out about Brad was “whose” influence he was under. He always had his Scriptures open, discerning what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of Christ. He actively sought the Lord in prayer, in worship. You can really tell when Christ captivates a man’s heart. At Brad’s funeral I learned all sorts of stuff (cool stuff) about his past—stuff he never got around to tell me about. I was speechless. I was like, “I never knew this, or that…” But it was only because each time we talked, it was always about our love for the Lord!
Let me ask you. How would you characterize yourself? Are you “religious” or are you one of God’s very own? There is such a tenderness to Psalm 23, to a man confessing freely, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Is God your Lord? Is God your ruler and king? Do you concern yourself with what is the good, pleasing, perfect will of God? Do you take up the Word of God to know God for yourself, or do you just listen to sermons? Do you have much to pray to God about, or praise God for?
For David (or any of us) to call God “My Shepherd” suggests we understand our “sheeply nature.” Have you ever thought about this before? I told you guys a few weeks ago that I was having lunch with an “Iranian” pastor in Chicago. I couldn’t help myself. I asked him, “Please tell me, what was it like growing up in Iran? And what was it like growing up as a Christian there?” He told me that he and his family were probably more “religious” than Christian. Nonetheless, he spent his early years as a shepherd. He said it was the lowest status job you could assume.
But then rather excitedly he started telling me all about sheep. He was like, “google this, google that.” Anyhow some insights on Sheep. Sheep are central to many economies. They are raised as food—for milk, for meat, for the warmth of their wool. Like camels, they can survive on a minimum amount of grass and water. Their easily moved around. But there is more to consider.
Sheep are relatively unintelligent. When left in open pasture, which is quite often in open country, they are quite vulnerable. First, they are prone to wander. Second, they lack self-care. They will drink foul water and develop sickness. They will tread the pasture down, and get stuck in ruts, unable to find food. Third, they lack direction. They are often their unable to find their way back home even when the sheepfold is in sight. Fourth, they are dependent on competent shepherds for protection, for grazing, for watering, for shelter. They are dependent on the Shepherd to bind them up, and heal them (if they get scratched, injured, or break a bone). You could have sheep from several different pastures all mingling together in a roadway. But as each lamb or flock hears their shepherd’s voice they easily separate. They won’t follow any other voice but that of their own shepherd.
Now think for a moment, what does it mean for someone like David to say, “The Lord is my Shepherd?” Perhaps David is confessing that just like sheep are prone to wander, his own heart was prone to wander? Perhaps he was confessing that left to himself, he’d settle for stale (foul) water instead of finding the satisfaction that can only be found in the streams of Living Water only God can provide? Perhaps he was confessing that apart from God’s lead, he’d be lost, unable to find his way back home? Perhaps he was confessing that apart from God’s hand he’d be in constant want, constant need, constant danger, hungry, thirsty. . .
The modern man (and I think the religious man) says “I don’t need a ruler, leader, King or Lord.” The modern man says, “I’m my own man. I’m self-sufficient, self-satisfied.” The modern man says, “I’m not lost. I don’t need to hear any word or voice from God. I’m at home in this wilderness. I have nothing to fear.”
Here is King David. By all definition, “A man’s man.” Uber competent, charismatic, successful, whatever. Yet, unabashedly sheeply, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Now I only know of one person who was more manly than King David—and that is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. John 1:4 says of Jesus, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” John 1:14 says Jesus was “full of grace and truth.” But the New Testament goes on to say the glory of God was on full display in Jesus’ life. He was the radiance of God’s glory in human form. He was the image of God, the exact representation of God’s being. You aren’t going to find a more fully human, fully perfect man, than Jesus Christ. In John 10 Jesus refers to himself as “The Good Shepherd” –i.e. the Good Ruler, King, Lord, or Influencer!
But something to think about… before Jesus ever introduced himself as the Good Shepherd he identified himself first as a lamb. What did John the Baptist say? Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! In taking on human nature, Jesus Christ found himself as dependent on the God the Father as his shepherd as did King David. He was indeed perfect, righteous, spotless and blameless, without sin. Yet what does Peter tell us Jesus did? In 1 Peter 2:23… “He continually entrusted himself to the Father.” In what ways did Jesus, like a sheep, depend upon God… entrust himself to God’s care?
In Scripture, God personally knows the name of every lamb. He literally counts them (attendance!). He gathers, He provides, God satisfies, God waters, God feeds, God seeks and saves that which is lost, God heals that broken lamb, God binds up that weak lamb, He nourishes, He strengthens, He guides with his voice and by his word, he answers our bleating and cries. He never abandons sheep. But in John 10 Jesus tells us something even more remarkable—that God is willing to lay down his life for his sheep!
We’ve been talking about Psalm 23. If you read Psalm 22, it’s a picture of how Jesus came to die for God’s flock, God’s sheep, to save us. Psalm 23 is a picture of what it means to actively (like Jesus, like David) walk with God daily, personally, with the Lord as my Shepherd. But Psalm 24 is a picture of the future—of the moment when the great Shepherd and Overseer of our souls comes for us.
The key to being a man, a leader, an influencer is to be led by your God and Savior, Christ Jesus our Lord. Here are some things were going to unpack in coming weeks. What does it look like to find deep satisfaction in God? What it look like for God to renew your life, and lead you in righteousness? What’s it look like to walk with God through valleys of fear or danger? To accept God’s rod, staff, and discipline in your life? To face down God’s enemies? To face down death itself—to actually, tangibly live life in hope? We’ve got lot to learn from Jesus, David, Psalm 22, 23, and 24.