The LORD My SHEPHERD; Psalm 23, Part 2

Contrary to popular thinking, to be a shepherd in King David's time was NOT an upwardly mobile position. It was scraping the bottom of the job barrell. It often, like in David's case, fell to the youngest, who had no seniority with which to argue or bump another brother from a better job.

To be a shepherd demanded that you be present 24/7 with the sheep, protecting, providing, and guiding the ornery, dumb, stinky, flock. It was an unending task, day and night, summer and winter, fair weather and foul. One biblical record of this is found in Jacob's complaint about his shepherding life to his father-in-law Laban in Genesis 31:40:

"This was my situation: the heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. It was like this for the 26 years I was in your household."

Without such a faithful, ever-present, ever-watching shepherd, life for a sheep could be torturous or...very, very short. WHO WOULD CHOOSE TO BE A SHEPHERD?

YHWH, the LORD, has!

"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 40:11.

As astounding as it is to consider, the MOST HIGH has taken on the MOST LOWLY of all jobs: to shepherd you and me...to protect us in our weakness, to provide for us in our inability, to guide us in our lostness.

"You stoop down to make me great" Psalm 18:35 (NIV). What a glorious, merciful Shepherd. YHWH has stooped to make us great in that Great Shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:20). Next we will look at this great, stooping Shepherd in John 10.

But for now...worship the Shepherd, sheep. Worship the Almighty who has stooped to save, to care for...you and me.

Shepherd Confidence: Psalm 23, Part 1

Who doesn't love Psalm 23? Of course, some of our love and appreciation for this Shepherd's Psalm can be lost by our long familiarity with it. Next to John 3:16, perhaps more folks can quote parts of these scriptures than any other. But, oh, what richness begs to be mined from these simple words!

Think about the first verse: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."

"I shall not want..." could sound like words from either a "pie in the sky" victim of religious naivete or a self-confident fool. How can David, now King of Israel and former shepherd of his family's sheep, make such a claim? How can a sane man make a statement like this about a future he neither KNOWS nor CONTROLS? There is only one reason such a claim can be sanely made...

"The LORD is my shepherd." The only confidence that is proper for a sheep is SHEPHERD CONFIDENCE. Since sheep are weak, defenseless, dense, and easily led astray, they of all livestock are most desperately in need of a shepherd. All that is supplied for a sheep's well-being must come from OUTSIDE himself...from ANOTHER...from a SHEPHERD. And for a sheep to say, "I shall not want," i.e. I will always have everything that I need...he must be looking away from his sorry self to a faithful shepherd.

Now we know why David is so confident...the LORD is his shepherd. LORD (all caps) is that great OT name Jehovah or YHWH. This name occurs over 6500 times in the OT Scriptures. One might be tempted to think that with such overwhelming occurrrence the LORD WANTS us to know what that name means. And indeed He does.

YHWH is that name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush so that He could be identified to Israel. "I am that I am." YHWH tells us that God is:

• Unchanging: He is who He was and who He was He will be. There is no change, diminishing, or weakening of His nature. Who He has revealed Himself to be He still is...fully, infinitely.
• Self-Sufficient: the LORD is in need of no one outside of Himself. He needs no love, no service, no help of any kind at any time from anyone. In other words, He is the SOURCE of all, the overflowing fountain of life and love and grace and mercy.
• The Covenant Maker and Keeper: It is YHWH who has made solemn promises to His people for their good and everlasting happiness. He is the One whose "steadfast love endures forever" (Psalm 100:5 and many etcs). He keeps His promises...period.

If THIS LORD is one's shepherd, the confident claim is fitting...even a necessary corollary...that "I shall not want." IF the Lord is my shepherd, I am unbelieving NOT to make such a claim. And such a statement is infinitely SAFE and SURE when a sheep with such a shepherd makes it.

DO YOU, WILL YOU have everything that you need? Who is your Shepherd? Where does your confidence lie sheep?

Jesus Sightings - 2

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

"In the beginning" is a phrase that points to eternity at the point of creation. It points to the ETERNITY of the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. He who was and is the eternal revelatory Word never began to exist. He was there in the eternal state BEFORE creation.

Consider the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, before He became man, was the ETERNAL Word. He had no beginning. In Himself is EXISTENCE. No source outside of Himself caused His being. No source outside of Himself is necessary for His CONTINUED existence. Life, Existence, Being are inherent to WHO He is.

This means that our Lord cannot become weak, cannot change, cannot fail to keep His exceeding great and precious promises, can NEVER become other than He has always been in His divine nature. Who He was is Who He is and Who He will be.

But the Word was not alone..."the Word was with God." Surely this points to the Trinity of God...the Father, Son, and Spirit. Though the universe was uncreated and only existed in the mind of God, there was fellowship and love and communication between the eternal Word and God the Father and Spirit. Who could begin to think about what that Divine Triune interaction was like? No misunderstanding, no needs for clarification, no friction, no discouragement, no anger, no selfishness...it is a glorious thing to realize that our communication in heaven with one another and with Christ and God will resemble that eternal fellowship.

All of this, of course, points to the fact that "...the Word was God." How else could he be eternal and uncreated? How else could He share fellowship with the Father and Spirit? The eternal Word, the Son, who also became our Lord Jesus Christ...IS GOD. And what glory is it to KNOW that Jesus, my Lord, He who indwells me by the Spirit, He who gave Himself up for me...is GOD!

What mind-boggling condescension!

Jesus Sightings - 1

The Bible is about Jesus Christ. He himself said this:

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
(Luke 24:27)

However, I have found over the years that when I go to the Scriptures, I often...most often...nearly ALWAYS...go to the Scriptures NOT to SEEK Jesus, not to SEE Jesus, but for some personal encouragement, some answer to a question or problem, or for MATERIAL for a talk or sermon. Lord of the Scriptures, forgive me.

By the grace of God, I am beginning to go to the written WORD to see the LIVING WORD, Jesus. It is ALL about Him and as a Christian I AM ALL ABOUT HIM. The Scriptures are for "beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord" so that we can be "transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another" 2 Corinthians 3:17,18.

How LITTLE of His glory I really know. I want to know HIM more. I want to know His PERSON and His LOVE and His GLORY...MORE! This is what eternal life is about - John 17:3. The ONLY place to see Him clearly and faithfully is in the written Word...so here I go...

For the next while, Lord willing, I will be looking for Jesus in the GOSPEL of JOHN. I pray that these "Jesus Sightings" will be a means of grace in His sovereign hands to show Himself to me...to us.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1

Why is Jesus called the "Word"? Words are communication. Words are the outward expression of what is inside. Words are the audible expression of the TRUE PERSON or BEING. Words are SELF REVELATION. Jesus is God's self-revelation in its ultimate and final form..."He has made Him known" v.18. "In these last days He has spoken to us by His Son..." Hebrews 1:2. That Jesus is the WORD tells us that God WANTS to reveal Himself to us and that a primary purpose of the incarnation of Jesus was to reveal the Father.

It is glorious to know that God wants to be known. He is not hiding from us. He has come in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ so that in terms we can understand...HUMAN LIFE IN THIS WORLD...we might see Him and know Him. Jesus coming as the WORD is the Father's invitation for us all to KNOW Him. He WANTS to be known. He has put REVELATION of Himself on the "bottom shelf," so to speak, in Jesus. He is accessible. John says in his epistle (1:3) that he is making known what he has "seen and heard." God is within reach in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That there are "Jesus Sightings" at all is a glory and grace from God too high to fathom in a million devotional meditations...but there are an abundance of them that all the books in the world could not contain (John 21:25) simply BECAUSE God wants to be known and JESUS is the WORD who reveals Him.

Children and Fathers (Parents) from Ephesians 6 - Part 1

The Apostle Paul continues his teaching on how life IN CHRIST is to be lived with a section in 6:1-4 for children and fathers.

Roman fathers had absolute control by law over their children. They could treat them as slaves, they could sell them, they could have them put to death. At a child's birth a father would decide whether he wanted the child to live or die. A child in Roman society NEVER "came of age" but was under his father's authority until the father died.

In the context of this sometimes tyrannical social structure Paul gives the command that children are to "...Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right" 6:1.

Note first of all that Paul addresses children DIRECTLY. This tells us:

• There were children PRESENT in the congregation. Entire families worshipped together.
• Children were expected to LISTEN when the Word of God through the Apostle was read.
• Children were expected to UNDERSTAND what was being said. We can underestimate what children are capable of learning. There is no need to dumb down or kiddie-size the Word of God for children to benefit. Remember, the Spirit of God is at work in children, too. He can teach them. The Kingdom belongs to such as these!
• Children were treated as RESPONSIBLE for their hearing and obeying of the Word of God.

The basic command to children here is "OBEY." This means they were to LISTEN to their parents and DO WHAT THEY SAY. It is a SIMPLE command, but not simplistic.

Parents have a God-given authority. God channels His goodness into the lives of children through their parents. Apart from the whole consideration of HOW the parent actually parents, God has commanded children to respond in obedience to His authority through their parents. Children are not to obey ALL ADULTS as their authorities, but their OWN PARENTS.

When a child listens to his parents, he listens to God. When a child obeys his parents, he obeys God. And when a child obeys his parents, he is shaping WHO HE WILL BE as an adult. As a rule a child who learns to listen and obey his parents will have a good relationship with authorities in his life as an adult: bosses, police, government officials, church leaders, etc. But the child who does NOT learn to listen to and obey his parents will most often grow up butting heads with other authorities. Worse yet, the child who rejects his parents' authority will often reject the authority of God, at least IF and UNTIL God in mercy brings them to repentance and saving faith.

Listen to Proverbs:

"Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future" 19:20.

"Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom,, instruction, and understanding. The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him" 23:22-24.

Husbands and Wives from Ephesians 5 - Part 5

What does it mean for a husband to love his wife "as his own body" Ephesians 5:28?

• It means for the husband to NOURISH his wife, v.29. This word "nourish" is a word that has the idea of nurturing and bringing up gently. It means the husband will not be HARSH with his wife, either in his words or in his actions. It means he will treat her with the utmost care, seeing that she needs special attention and protection. It means he will seek to provide his wife what she needs in body, spirit, mind, and emotions. He will treat her as a young plant, needing food, water, sunlight and protection from adverse elements.
• It means for the husband to CHERISH his wife, v.29. This word has to do with treating warmly, affectionately...holding your wife as DEAR...to treat in a manner to encourage growth. Our wife is NOT a man nor is she another one of "the guys." She is a woman. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:7: "...Live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life..."
• It means to see your relationship with your wife as WE and not ME and YOU. In Christ, husband and wife as a UNIT, a UNITY, the TWO have become ONE flesh, v.31. We are to view ALL of life from the vantage point of US. It now becomes OUR decisions, OUR purchases, OUR children, OUR church, OUR money, OUR commitments. This means the husband will not make a decision for the family and then ramrod it through by announcing, with no input or discussion, what he has decided. Nor will he ask his wife's opinion as an empty courtesy when he has already made up his mind. He will KNOW that God has given to him a helper who has wisdom and insight that COMPLETES what is needed for decisions and guidance.

"He who loves his wife loves himself" v.28. When we are joined together as husband and wife we can NO LONGER live as a single or self-sufficient person. There is something that happens to me and her that makes the two of us a WE. What happens to her affects ME deeply. What happens to me affects HER deeply: body, soul, spirit. Therefore, when I love and cherish and protect and nourish my wife I am indeed loving myself. What benefits her benefits me. If she is joyful, encouraged, and hopeful...I will be.

Husbands and Wives from Ephesians 5 - Part 4

Husbands, we are to love our wives as Christ loved the church. That love was and continues to be SACRIFICIAL.

That love is also SANCTIFYING. The Apostle Paul writes, "...Christ...gave himself up for her (the church) that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" Ephesians 5:25-27.

To SANCTIFY means to SET APART from one thing to another. Christ died that we, the church, would be separated from sin and the world to belong exclusively to HIM. Our love for our wives is to win the hearts of our wives so that they love us EXCLUSIVELY.

Christ sanctifies us to Himself more and more through HIS WORD. As husbands, we are to win the heart of our wives to ourselves through OUR WORDS and HIS WORDS.

Our words have a powerful impact on our marriage relationship. Words of anger and irritation and belittlement have a divisive, separating effect. Our wife will generally feel and act as close to (or as far away from) us as our words allow her to be.

On the other hand, words of encouragement and affirmation and hope and commitment DRAW our wife to us and create oneness and intimacy.

• "I love you...I will always love you."
• "You are becoming more beautiful with each passing day."
• "You are such an excellent manager of our home."
• "I love the way you connect with the children when they are discouraged."

But we are also to love our wives with HIS WORDS. We have responsibility for helping along and nurturing the SPIRITUAL GROWTH of our wife. We are to be before the Lord receiving fresh bread from heaven each morning so that we can pass it on to our wife. Of course, she has her own responsibility for her spiritual relationship with the Lord, but we are to SHEPHERD her towards HIM and HIS truth.

Does she need encouragement? The WORD of God has it.

Does she need correction? The WORD of God has it.

Does she need hope? The WORD of God has it.

Does she need to be taught some area of God's truth? The WORD of God has it.

But we must be in the WORD to fetch it for our wives. WE must be growing and learning from God through His Word first, and then we can be good shepherds of our wives.