November 24, 2013
Stetson Memorial United Methodist
Church
Sermon
6 of Fall Series
“Shepherd
Us O God”
Jeremiah
29:11 Common English Bible
2
Timothy 4:7-8 Common English Bible
John
14:1-3 Common English Bible
Psalm
23:6 King James Version
“Shepherd
Me O God” by Marty Haugen
A reading from
the Psalms, Psalm 23, verse 6…listen for the voice of the Shepherd to you and
me, the sheep of His flock. (Read from the King James Bible)
Psalm 23:6 King James Version (KJV)
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
“Shepherd me O
God beyond my wants,
beyond my
needs, from death into life.
Surely your
kindness and mercy follow me all the days of my life;
I will dwell
in the house of my God forevermore. (Sing)
I don’t know about you but there are
times…I hate waiting. It is usually those times when I am in a hurry and I have
to wait…being in a hurry probably makes the time seem to go by slow. I may be
in a line at the grocery store and it just seems to take forever. How bout at
the doctor’s office? That seems to take so long. You get there before time so
that you can be sure to be on time and you get to hurry up and wait. Why do so
many things take so much time? We may use sayings like “it seems like an
eternity” when we have to wait. But what is eternity really like? Actually, how
long is an eternity?
Over the past few weeks, we have been
journeying with the Shepherd found in the 23rd Psalm, the Good
Shepherd. We have learned that we have no wants because of our Shepherd, our
Risen Lord, Jesus Christ…how we are never without Him…this same Shepherd…wants
to bring us to peaceful pastures where we can rest beside the calm streams of living
water He gives so freely to all of His sheep. We know that He is the only one
who can truly restore us and when we are restored we are guided on the path of
righteousness for His name…not our own. And when we can become “cast sheep”
stuck on our backs unable to get up …Jesus is the only one who can set us right
again. We know that we can feel comfort from our Shepherd in times of chaos…because
we have His presence. Last week…we will heard how we have victory in and with
our Shepherd but we also need to have that daily anointing with the oil of
God’s Word that pours down from heaven…for you and for me…so that we can draw
close to our Shepherd. This week we are at the end of the Psalm…when we recite
that God’s goodness and mercy follows us as we live out our faith walk and
after our journey is complete, we get to be with God forever…for an eternity…in
heaven.
So…what is an eternity? Well, Webster’s Dictionary defines it as:
: time without an end
: a state that comes after death and
never ends
: time that seems to be without an end
Wow…that seems really long…a time without
end. We, as Christians, live here on
earth and everything has a time table. To be somewhere without time is almost
mind boggling.
Vocabulary.com states:
“Eternity
means "forever," like living for all eternity. Or it can mean
something that seems like it will go on for forever, like waiting an eternity
for your sister to get out of the bathroom.
Eternity
means "time without end, or infinity," like people who promise to
love one another for eternity — they aren't planning to ever split up. When you
put the word an before eternity, you can use it to describe a very long — too
long — period of time, so that you can use it to complain. For example, you
might use the phrase "it felt like an eternity," after waiting twenty
minutes to get an ice cream cone.”
Now I don’t know about you but being
with God for “an eternity” is not something I would complain about, it will be
awesome to be in His presence for “an eternity”…a time that never will end…
So…we have been talking about sheep
during our journey with the God Shepherd and how we are very much like our four
legged friends son let’s see what the shepherd has to say… Now throughout this
journey we have talked about how the flock’s welfare depends completely on the
shepherd who cares for them. If the shepherd is good and cares for the sheep
they are safe and secure. But…if the shepherd cares not for the sheep their
life has a much different outcome…one of danger and despair. Now we come to the
part where the Psalmist puts it all out there with a simple statement “Surely goodness and mercy follow me all the
days of my life.” The sheep knows, without a doubt, that their good
shepherd will treat them with goodness and mercy. They have been cared for with
tenderness and love and they can believe that it will continue.
We…as with the sheep of the pasture…can
rest assured in our Good Shepherd who wants nothing but good in and for our
lives. But how many Christians really feel this way about Christ? How many
really feel that no matter what happens they are being followed by goodness and
mercy? I mean I would love to say “hey that’s me…I never feel any different…I
always know that goodness and mercy follow me.” It is easy to say but how about
those times when things aren’t going so well. How about those times when our
health fails or our finances are in a rut? How about those times when the enemy
seems to be winning in our lives or the world around us? What is our reaction
when we lose a job and there is no income coming in?
These are the times that our confidence
in Christ is put to the test. In these times our natural reaction may be fear
and doubt. We, as humankind, don’t always comprehend what God is really doing.
We may even think that He doesn’t know what He is doing or even worse, we may
think He no longer cares for us. But even as we may doubt God’s good intention,
He never gives up on us. He continues to follow us with His goodness and mercy.
God is love and that’s all there is to His motives, love. There is no
difficulty, dilemma or disaster that can come into our lives that the Good
Shepherd can’t eventually turn good out of the chaos we are in. This is what
build our faith and trust in the Shepherd.
Look at sheep. Now when they are managed
right, they can be such a benefit to the world around them and for others who
come after. When they are taken care of and moved along as they should, their
manure provides for the land they leave behind. Not too much and not too little
time spent there will be a benefit to those who come after with creating lush,
we fertilized, good soil. They eat the weed and other things that can invade a
field make them kind of a weed killer. And you know what…we too can help
others…even in our moments of chaos. You see the Shepherds goodness and mercy
follows us all the days of our lives and this same goodness and mercy can be
left by us…pour out onto the world from our cup that runneth over…leaving a
legacy for others as we go through our lives. Do we leave a trail of gladness or sadness behind us? Do people think
of goodness and mercy when they remember us or would they rather forget us? Do
we leave blessings or curses behind? Is our life a pleasure or a pain to those
around us?
And now my favorite part of the Psalm “I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.” Here the Psalmist…and hopefully we Christians, is so utterly
satisfied with their life and fully content under the Shepherds care that there
is no other place they would rather be than with his Shepherd. There has been
an affection that has grown with time with the Shepherd that is unshakable. You
see, a good shepherd, builds a great affection and devotion to his sheep. He
would never part from the sheep of his herd.
Healthy, happy, productive sheep are his
delight. His good and kindly acts towards the sheep are always part of his mercy
for and to them. We, as humanity are
often harsh and vindictive with one another. You can always see his
compassion and tenderness towards the sheep. Even the most flagrant of sinner
find forgiveness with the Good Shepherd whereas there is only condemnation and
cruel criticism found at the hands of other humans. Do we, as Christians sit up on our “high horse” and look down at
others or do we identify with the sinner and extend to goodness and mercy we
are given by our Shepherd? Do we see them with the compassion and love of
Christ? Are we willing to overlook the faults of others and give them the
forgiveness and mercy we are given from God for our own mistakes? We live in a fallen…hurting world…how do we
welcome others when they come to find affection, love and forgiveness? The
person who knows firsthand about the goodness and mercy of God in their own
life will be warm and loving with goodness and mercy towards others. We can be
that blessing of and to God. We are blessed to be a blessing.
As our Shepherd looks upon us as we
share that love for others tenderly and with pride. He loves His sheep dearly.
He see the years that His goodness and mercy have followed us without
slacking…and longs to see the same goodness and mercy in His sheep…in you and
in me. And not only shared with others but shared back with Him as we sing for
joy to Him our Savior. He longs for our love and we love Him because He loved
us first.
Let us continue to be that sheep of the
sheepfold of the One who came to give us life, our Risen Lord Jesus Christ who
is the King of kings and Lord of lords. You see our Good Shepherd is not just a
shepherd; He is also the King of our hearts and lives. May we truly sing along
with the Psalmist as well as with the sheep of the Good Shepherds sheep fold
through the ages of time for we are loved “From
Here To Eternity”:
Shepherd
me, O God beyond my wants,
beyond
my fears, from death into life.
(Refrain)
God
is my shepherd, so nothing shall I want,
I
rest in the meadows of faithfulness and love,
I
walk by the quiet waters of peace.
(Refrain)
Gently
you raise me and heal my weary soul,
You
lead me by pathways of righteousness and truth,
my
spirit shall sing the music of your Name.
(Refrain)
Though
I should wander the valley of death,
I
fear no evil, for you are at my side,
your
rod and your staff, my comfort and my hope.
(Refrain)
You
have set me a banquet of love in the face of hatred,
crowning
me with love beyond my pow’r to hold.
(Refrain)
Surely
your kindness and mercy follow me all the days of my life;
I
will dwell in the house of my God forevermore.
(Refrain)
Amen!
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