The Lord Jesus is My Shepherd–Part 1 of 3
Few passages of Scripture have brought comfort to as many people as the 23rd Psalm. If you memorized it in childhood, take a moment to recall it. If not, here it is. (This is one case where the King James Version is still my favorite.)
1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4Yea, 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.
5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
This passage is read at almost every funeral, and it is inscribed on many tombstones. That is certainly appropriate – it’s appropriate if it reflects the life of those saying it or the one who is being remembered.
Dallas Willard has noted, however, that “’The Lord is my shepherd’ is written on many more tombstones than lives.”
What I want each of us to ask today is, “What does it look like to have ‘The Lord is my shepherd’ written on my life?”
I think we’ll find the answer in John chapter 10. As we’ve been moving through the gospel of John, we’ve been learning a lot about Jesus – who he is as our Lord and our Savior. That’s the primary purpose of John’s gospel – to bring us to greater faith in Jesus, so that we can have life in his name. We’ve talked about how the “I am” statements of Jesus, like “I am the bread of life,” “I am the light of the world,” are all in the context of the great I AM, Yahweh, the God of Scripture – that Jesus is indeed God! (For a fuller explanation of this idea, see my earlier post.) This chapter is no different. We have another one of those “I am” statements. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd,” in verses 11 and 14.
We confess, “The LORD, Yahweh, is my shepherd.” And now Jesus says that he is the good shepherd.
A passage similar to Psalm 23 is found in the book of Isaiah. Speaking of the “Sovereign LORD,” the prophet says,
“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.” (Isaiah 40-10-11)
So, when Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd,” he is continuing to do what we have seen all along in John’s gospel; he is making a claim that rightfully belongs only to God. So then, we have to decide what we believe about him. Either Jesus is the biggest liar and imposter that the world has ever seen, or he is who he claimed to be, and who the church believes him to be – he is the Son who is one with the Father–he is God.
But we have to remember that, in John’s gospel, faith is not an end in itself. In John 20:31, John says that he is writing, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
So the real focus of John’s gospel is not faith, but life! In this very chapter, John 10, that’s what Jesus says he has come to offer. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) — You see, it’s all about life! Jesus offers full life, abundant life. But what does that life look like?
That’s where we’ll pick up tomorrow.
WordPress database error: [Can't open file: 'wp_comments.MYI' (errno: 144)]
SELECT * FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_ID = '72' AND comment_approved = '1' ORDER BY comment_dateNo Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment