SERMON OUTLINE:
• I look to God to meet all my needs (vs 1)
• I obey God’s instruction about rest (vs 2a)
• I go to God for guidance (vs 3)
• I look I trust God in the dark times (vs 4)
• I let God heal my hurts (vs 5)
• I give God for all my tomorrows (vs 6)
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• Outside the Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen,
• Which is Denmark’s Parliament building.
• There are three stone figures guarding the entrance.
• They represent the earache, the headache, and the stomach ache.
• They were placed there to suggest that if you enter politics,
• You will have all three!
• Now I would have thought all three were linked to being a parent!
• But maybe that’s just my experience (only joking!)
• We live in a very stress-filled society:
• And it effects all of us, not just politicians.
ill;
• Last year for my birthday my wife asked me what would I like for a present,
• I replied; “Just by me something that will make me look sexy and good!”
• When I opened her present, she bought me an exercise bike!
Quote: 10 reasons to Exercise and Be Physically Active:
1. Feel more energized
2. Burn more calories at rest
3. Improve overall appearance
4. Be able to withstand stress
5. Decrease risk of illness
6. Speed up recovery from injury or surgery
7. Keep focused (healthy body, a healthy mind).
8. Build up cardiovascular endurance
9. Improve flexibility
10. Increase lean body mass
As Christians (followers of Jesus) looking after the body is important:
• FIRST: These bodies are the temple of the living God.
• Quote: 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 19-20 (NIV)
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body.”
• Don’t miss that last line; “Therefore honour God with your body.””
• If we neglect our physical health according to this verse;
• We are dishonouring God!
• SECOND: What happens to the body can also affect our spiritual health.
• Last week our theme was ‘Spiritual Health’;
• And our Bible reference was Romans chapter 12 verses 1-2.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God”.
Notice:
• The apostle did not say “offer your minds to God”,
• Nor did he say; “offer your hearts to God”,
• He quite deliberately said: “offer your bodies to God”,
• Because what we do with our bodies with have a knock on effect spiritually:
• The two are always linked.
• That is why the Bible says; i.e. “Do not get drunk”
• Because that will affect you spiritually.
• i.e. “Do not be sexually impure”
• Because that will affect you spiritually.
• i.e. “Do not pollute your body with addictive substances”.
• Because that will affect you spiritually.
• i.e. “Do not be gluttonous”
• Because that will affect you spiritually.
• What we do with our bodies will affect our spiritual condition.
• Quote: “Our objective should be a healthy body, a healthy mind & a healthy spirit”
Note: There is a key phrase in this Psalm and it is found in verse 6:
• "All the days of my life".
• Note: "Of my 1ife" not “After my 1ife".
• Contrary to popular opinion, Psalm 23 is not a funeral psalm!
• It may bring comfort to those who mourn;
• But primarily this is a psalm for the living!
• The psalmist is talking from present experience:
• This a psalm for daily living and not future anticipation.
• In fact you can apply that phrase to every section of the Psalm:
• Quote: Psalm 23:
"The Lord is my Shepherd,
all the days of my life".
"I shall not be in want,
all the days of my life".
"He makes me 1ie down in green pastures,
all the days of my life".
"He leads me besides the still waters,
all the days of my life".
"He restores my soul,
all the days of my life".
"He guides me in paths of righteousness for his names sake,
all the days of my life".
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
all the days of my life".
"For you are with me,
all the days of my life".
"Your rod and your staff, they comfort me,
all the days of my life".
"You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies,
all the days of my life".
"You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows,
all the days of my life".
"Surely (With all of those guarantees, surely) goodness and love will follow me,
all the days of my life".
And what's waiting for the believer when that life is over?
"I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever".
• TRANSITION: This is a song full of blessings, full of good, relevant advice on living!
• And it contains some practical principles regarding physical health.
(1). I look to God to meet all my needs (vs1)
• N.I.V.: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall lack nothing”.
• K.J.B.: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want”.
• L.B.: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need”.
• The Christian life is a dependent life!
• There is no place for independent living.
• Between a shepherd and a sheep there is a relationship, a trust;
• A sheep daily trusts the shepherd for its needs;
• i.e. food – green grass, for clean water & for protection.
Ill:
• “The Lord is…….”
• To some people "Distant?"
• To others, “Nowhere to be found?"
• To many; "Not much good to me?" or “Just a name I hear about?"
• But to the believer he is central to their living!
• David the psalmist is not saying; ”The Lord is A shepherd".
• That would have been true, but it would not have been enough.
• The equivalent is:
• Jesus is A saviour, in comparison to; Jesus is MY saviour.
• i.e. Imagine if I said, “Look over there, there is a £50 note on the floor!”
• You would all be interested.
• But if I changed my wording to;
• “Look over there, there is MY £50 note on the floor!”
• All of a sudden, you are excluded, because it is mine! It is personnel!
• TRANSITION: There is a real relationship here:
• Between the sheep and the Shepherd.
• This is not simply words, just nice poetry.
• God is real to the Psalmist, he's part of his life & experience.
• As David's sheep daily looked to him for:
• - For protection & for guidance & for food & for water etc.
• So he looks to his shepherd, the Lord.
ill:
• For an Eastern shepherd in that part of the country;
• There was not always green grass lying around.
• A shepherd may have needed to travel up to 15 miles a day to find suitable pasture.
• So David the Psalmist says: "That's what God does for me".
• I look and trust my shepherd to daily guide me;
• I refuse to live an independent life.
• I am willing to trust the good shepherd to lead me,
• Rather than my own judgement and feelings.
Quote:
“God calls us to be sheep. But too many of us want to be cats!”
• Now out of this relationship ‘Daily trusting and living for God’;
• Flow all the blessings of this psalm,
• And without that relationship, we will not have the benefits!
Questions:
• “Do you trust him?”
• I did not say, “Do you go to Church” or even, “Do you believe in God etc.”
• Are you a Christian, a follower of Jesus;
• Are you a sheep following the shepherd or are you are a sheep, doing your own thing?
ill:
• Someone once said to a teacher;
• "So & so tells me he was one of your students”
• The teacher insightfully replied;
• "He may have at tended my classes, one of my students".
• TRANSITION: It is our attitude & obedience,
• And not our attendance that is untimely important.
(2). I obey God’s instruction about rest (vs2a)
"He makes me lie down in green pastures".
Ill:
• A newlywed bride was concerned about coping with her new husbands snoring.
• And when she was asked by her mother, “Hope you had a sound sleep?”
• She replied; “yes, I had sound, he had sleep.”
Ill:
• The experts will tell you that rest is a vital part of any fitness program.
• Of course, you’ve got to do the work in order to validate this point,
• But lack of rest can be just as harmful as lack of exercise.
• While lack of exercise leads to a much more obvious result, obesity,
• Lack of rest will lead to less noticeable–yet every bit as damaging—problems,
• Such as chronic fatigue syndrome.
• These examples are the extreme ends of the spectrum.
• In the middle lies the far subtler and exceedingly frustrating condition,
• Known as the plateau.
• When you rest from exercise,
• Physiologically your body is seizing the opportunity to repair itself,
• To become stronger in preparation for the next exercise stress placed upon it.
• It is during rest that the body becomes stronger.
• TRANSITION: What is true physically has a spiritual twin:
• Remember that in the Old Testament God gave his people a commandment (#4);
• “To keep the Sabbath Day holy”
Ill:
• ‘1 out of 7’ - DVD Clip from ‘Sermonspice.com’.
• (Warning it is a fast talking, fast visual clip.)
• TRANSITION: Now I know that the Sabbath day is not Sunday;
• And nowhere (not a single verse) in the New Testament;
• Are Christians told to keep the Sabbath!
• But the principle of 1 day of rest in 7 is important – in many ways essential;
• Physical wellbeing is linked to one day of rest!
• It is linked to time spent with God’s people.
Ill:
• I like the story of the student who was taking an exam;
• To see if he was suitable for confirmation.
• He was asked to list the Ten Commandments in any order he liked;
• So he wrote down; "3, 6, 1, 8, 4, 5, 9, 2, 10, 7."
• TRANSITION: Christians are not told to keep the Sabbath!
• But they are told to make sure they do not stop meeting together;
• i.e. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25:
“Do not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching”.
Quote:
“When you're up, the team needs you;
when you're down, you need the team!”
We need spiritual rest for the soul but also physical rest for the body:
Ill:
• Think about an elastic band.
• If stretched, it will return to its normal, relaxed position when the external force is removed.
• Stress & physical tiredness occurs when the body’s limits are also stretched;
• Whenever it is subjected to any emergency or extra demand.
• But it ought to return to a normal, relaxed state when the demand is removed.
• If stretched for a long time and held, it loses its elastic properties and will eventually snap.
• We too can snap when affected by too much stress & physical demands:
• Our bodies let us know that something is wrong;
• By creating within us various symptoms:
• Sometimes the solution is simple and uncomplicated;
• “Go and rest, go and sleep, take a break!”
• Quote: Someone has commentated on the words of Jesus:
• “Come apart and rest a while, if you don’t you will just come apart!”
(3). I go to God for guidance (vs3)
“he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.”
• "He restores/refreshes/invigorates my soul".
• Spiritually speaking, David's experience of the lord is not a one off experience,
• But a daily walk., a regular refreshing!
• Question: Let me ask an obvious question:
• Why do you drink? Why do you eat?
• Answer: Because each day you need to replenish, to refuel, to replace,
• That which you have burnt off during the previous day.
• That is one reason we encourage every Christian to have a ‘Quiet Time’;
• On a regular basis.
• Look after (feed) your soul like you look after (feed) your body!
According to this psalm – sheep need fresh water and fresh pasture.
• A simple application of theses verses is what am I eating and drinking?
• Is my diet balanced!
• Balanced because; “God has given us all things to enjoy”
• 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 17
• Balanced because; “One of the fruits of the Spirit….is self-control”
• Galatians chapter 5 verses 22-23.
• And at times we need to be disciplined to know when to say, “enough”
Ill:
• If we are not disciplined, then often our bodies will let us know that something is wrong;
• By creating within us various symptoms:
• i.e. Frequent headaches
• i.e. Irregular heartbeats
• i.e. Stiffness in the neck, shoulders, jaw, arms, legs, hands or stomach.
• i.e. Getting dizzy or light-headed.
• i.e. Suffering from colds, flu or hoarseness
• i.e. Indigestion, nausea or discomfort in the stomach.
• i.e. Difficulty falling or staying asleep.
• i.e. Waking up feeling tired
• i.e. Cold hands or cold feet
• i.e. Excess perspiration
• i.e. Anger or irritability
• At times these symptoms may be down to food intolerances;
• We probably all know of someone who have a wheat and gluten intolerance.
• But at other times the issue is not an intolerance but a bad diet!
• Quote: “You are what you eat”
• Quote: “Junk in results in junk out!”
Note: A quick word on verse 3:
• "He guides me in paths of righteousness for his names sake".
• "Paths of righteousness" or "The right way".
• God always leads us in wholesome ways;
• And if there are things in our lives that are unwholesome,
• We put them or allowed them there, they are not from God!
(4). I look I trust God in the dark times (vs4)
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will not fear it, because" You are with me".
• Because we live in a ‘fallen world’, a world tainted by sin,
• We will all experience at some time, ‘dark and difficult times’.
• And our physical health can cause us to struggle spiritually;
• If you read the book of psalms you will see that again and again.
• As the psalmists asks the question; “Why are you downcast O my soul?”
• He was often ‘Downcast’ due to stress, physical exhaustion or illness.
• But as with this psalm the psalmist commands himself, talks to himself,
• Instructs himself to seek out God.
Note:
• Whatever threatens us, whatever our circumstances, we need not fear it:
• Question: Why?
• Answer: Because "You are with me".
• God promises us a daily strength to face daily difficulties.
Quote: Annie Johnson Flint.
‘God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
many a burden, many a care.
God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love’
• Whatever threatens us, whatever our circumstances, we need not fear it:
• Because "You are with me".
• God promises us a daily strength to face daily difficulties.
Note: Verse 4: "Your rod and your staff they comfort me".
• Now don't miss the change-over in this verse;
• Up 'to verse 4 the psalmist has been talking ABOUT the shepherd.
• But now in verse 4 he talks TO the shepherd.
• If we want to know God’s comfort in ‘dark’ timers;
• We must make sure we are talking to him!
• "A Rod or a club" is used by a shepherd to defend and protect his sheep.
• i.e. To hit out at an enemy, e.g. wild animals attacking a sheep.
• It was used for close combat, he simply hit the animal over the head with it!
• "A Staff" is used to recapture a straying sheep:
• A staff or a crook is still today a symbol of God's care and compassion.
• i.e. Church of England Bishops carry them in the form of a crozier.
• (Sometimes they actually use a real shepherds crook).
• In dark times – keep trusting!
• Seek out God’s protection and comfort.
(5). I let God heal my hurts (vs5)
“You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.”
Quote:
"Oil is often put on the head of a sheep because sheep nuzzle around deep grass and therefore their heads encounter snake holes,
yet snakes can smell the oil and will leave them alone, otherwise they would bite them on the lips or on the nose or on the mouth.”
Ill:
• In the Bible oil was involved in the anointing of the prophets, priests and kings;
• Preparing them for the ministry to their offices.
Ill:
Oil symbolizes the soothing and healing:
• i.e. Luke chapter 10 verses 25-37 in the parable of the good Samaritan;
• We read, “He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.”
• i.e. And James in his letter said (chapter 5 verse 14);
• In cases of series illness:
“Is anyone among you ill? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.”
I let God heal my hurts (vs5):
Ill:
• There is a pun that says:
• “Wait? That’s what made the bridge collapse!”
• TRANSITION: Of course, it’s a play on words;
• It is supposed to be weight: W-E-I-G-H-T, not wait: W-A-I-T.
• But then these two words, weight and wait are not always unrelated;
• Because one of our needs in waiting on the Lord;
• Is the need to cast the weighty (heavy) burdens of life on Him.
Ill:
• A missionary was driving his pick-up truck along a long, dry, dirt track.
• As he drove down the road he noticed an old man walking down road;
• This old man was weighed down by a huge back pack full of crops to sell at the market.
• The missionary pulled up in a pickup truck and pointed to the man with the heavy load;
• To jump on the back.
• The man raised a hand in appreciation and climbed on board.
• As the missionary drove away he looked in his rear view mirror to check the man was ok;
• To his surprise the man was sitting on the back of the truck;
• But had not unhitched his heavy load;
• So despite the perfect opportunity to find rest and relief he was still carrying his burden.
• TRANSITION: Too many of us carry around burdens that we can actually cast off;
• But for that to happen we need to ‘wait on the Lord’.
• Those people who learn to wait on the Lord’;
• Will experience his ‘help in distress’ & ‘hope’ for the future,
Note:
• Verse 5 contains that great expression: "My cup runs over".
• It speaks of course of abundance, of plenty, of exuberance.
Quote:
"The shepherds cup would have been the troughs that were around the well this meant when he wanted to give water to his sheep, He would have been spared the hard work of having to draw the water up for himself.”
• TRANSITION: We find refreshment;
• Because someone has gone before and done the hard work.
• The image is not that we can heal ourselves, that we can cope on our own;
• But rather we look to the Lord to heal our hurts.
(6). I give God for all my tomorrows (vs 6)
“Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
• If "Goodness and love” follow me in this life;
• Then “Surely” it will get even better in the life to come!
• Until then I will trust God daily and look to his provision. help & forgiveness:.
ill
• I would guess that we are all familiar with the Dutch Christian Corrie ten Boom;
• Who, along with her father and other family members,
• Helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II;
• As a result she was imprisoned for it.
• Her most famous book, The Hiding Place, describes the ordeal.
• Corrie ten Boom had a number of well-known sayings;
• “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
• Another saying was:
• “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
• Another saying was:
• “If you look at the world, you'll be distressed.
• If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest.”
• Corrie own favourite saying was; ‘Don’t wrestle just nestle!’
• Good advice from a godly woman!
And finally…
• Psalm 23 is a very practical Psalm,
• It is all about a shepherd who is caring and who gets involved.
But it is also a very personal Psalm:
• Verse 1: "MY shepherd".
• Verse 2: "He makes ME".
• Verse 2: "He 1eads Me”.
• Verse 3: "He restores ME".
• Verse 3: "He guides ME".
• Verse 4: "You are with ME".
• Verse 4: "You comfort ME".
• Verse 5: "You prepare... for ME".
• Verse 5: "You anoint…ME".
• Verse 6: Again we find those personal pronouns, "Me” & ”I".
Question: Do you know the shepherd? Do you want to know him better?
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=mJLqpRP2djjYbdlaI9QJnC9uC0hHGMmW
