 VBS!
This has been VBS week at MFBC! All week long, we have been considering the implication of David’s prayer in the 23rd Psalm. The King cries out that the Sovereign LORD is his shepherd. David then extols the many ways that God leads, protects, provides, encourages, and comforts those who are His sheep! David is the ultimate authority in Israel but he knows that he is still under the powerful, merciful, and gracious hand of God. The New Testament teachers including the Lord Jesus Himself also take up this analogy of the sheep and the shepherd to help us in the new covenant understand the relationship of guidance, care, and compassion that we have with our King Jesus Christ! MY Shepherd First, let’s remember that David understood that his relationship to God was essentially a personal relationship. Of course covenant relationship to God in both the old and new testaments does deal with the corporate body, but we are in that body by virtue of the individual, personal relationship we have to God. In the Old covenant the corporate body was the ethnic, political, ceremonial kingdom of Israel. However, only those who genuinely believed God’s words and trusted His promises were surely His people. In the new covenant, the corporate body is the church and only those who have personal faith in Jesus as the promised king, Lord, and Messiah are included in that church. David uses the possessive pronoun my to convey his connection to Yahweh as his shepherd. However, when David uses the possessive in relationship to God as shepherd the nature of this analogy is that David is the one who is owned by God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). David is clearly showing that the Lord is the superior in the relationship and he is one needing the privileges and protections of his shepherd. Even this first verse of the Psalm, ends with David’s assurance that his relationship to God is perfect and complete because of the confidence he has in the Lord. He states that he shall not want. David’s point is that God will provide everything he needs so that he may have peace with God forever! Good Shepherd In the New Testament, Jesus also explains the relationship between Yahweh and His people with the language of sheep and shepherd (John 10). But it is clear that Jesus is putting Himself in the place of the shepherd which is a clear claim to be Yahweh in the flesh. It is so clear that the Jews pick up rocks to stone Him for what they perceive to be blasphemy. In this place, Jesus uses the analogy in at least two ways. First, Jesus expresses the intimacy of the relationship that God has with His people. Sheep, Jesus says, know the voice of their shepherd and they will not follow the voice of a stranger. In fact, the sheep will actually flee from the stranger's voice. One of the ways that we can evaluate our relationship with God is by considering the voice that we follow. If we are continually turning aside after the siren call of the lost world that would be in direct contradiction of what Jesus is teaching us in John 10. On the other hand, if we are growing not only in our understanding and knowledge of the words of Jesus but also in obedience to those words this would be strong evidence that our faith is profitable and active (James 2:14-26). We also must remember that through the Apostles we are instructed that we are to flee from our adversary and his wicked lies, just like the sheep flee from the stranger’s voice (James 4:7-10). The second way that Jesus points out that He is the good Shepherd is through the example of His sacrifice. A hireling, one who doesn’t care personally about the sheep, will abandon them when it becomes difficult or dangerous but the true shepherd will lay down His life for the sheep. In Jesus' sacrifice on the cross He was being the great shepherd of the sheep and the perfect lamb that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:28-31). Chief Shepherd Finally, when the Apostle Peter is giving instructions in his first letter to pastors about how to lead well the people of God and to the church also how to submit and follow godly leadership, he acknowledges that Jesus will appear and uses the title chief shepherd (1 Peter 5:1-7). As pastors we cannot have the mindset of a hireling because the flock of God that is among us are our brothers and sisters. If a man is not willing to suffer hardship, pain, and loss he should not become a pastor or teacher of God’s people. But none of us will ever be able to love and sacrifice to the level of our Chief shepherd who by His own blood has purchased us and given us eternal life (Hebrews 9:11-14). Jesus is my shepherd. Jesus is the Good shepherd. Jesus is the Chief shepherd. The question for you is: Are you a sheep? And will you follow Jesus?
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