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Words of Rest, Part 5 Psalm 23 |
October 15, 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum |
The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley
Of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
For you are with me;
Your rod and your staff,
They comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
In the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me
All the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.
I cannot believe that just 6 weeks ago, I actually thought that I was going to be able to preach my way through that amazing psalm with just a single sermon. Thankfully, God quickly opened my eyes to the vast array of treasure scattered throughout this most loved of all the psalms and I sensed that He wanted to lead us not on a whirlwind tour, but rather on an extended journey to explore the deep, deep riches that are hidden here. So, today, we come to the fifth stage of our extended journey.
Since our journey was interrupted last week when I stopped for a brief layover at my dad’s following our grand adventure in Mexico, let’s take a moment to briefly review the ground we’ve covered previously before we move on to some new ground, this morning.
--We talked at length about this idea that when we are following the Shepherd we will not be in want because He will provide us everything that He knows is truly good for us; everything that He knows we need to realize the plans and purposes that He has for us.
--We talked about the joy of following our Shepherd into “green pastures…” “beside quiet waters.”
--We also talked about the strength and security we find in the Shepherd’s presence when we find ourselves moving through valleys shadowed with death.
--We affirmed our confidence in the fact that as long as we are following the Shepherd that we will always be on “paths of righteousness,” because our Shepherd would never lead us down any other kind of path. Righteousness is key to the work that God is accomplishing in us and He would never lead us in a direction that would undermine that work.
--And, most recently, we stopped to ponder this amazing promise: that, on those occasions when we find ourselves spiritually parched, that we can trust our Shepherd to breathe fresh air into our worn and weary spirits by leading us into fresh encounters with God that restore our souls.
This morning, I want to return to verse 3 to focus our attention on this statement, “He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Key words, today—“He guides me.”
A few weeks ago we talked about the fact that these “paths of righteousness” sometimes lead us through “green pastures” beside “quiet waters” and at other times they lead us through valleys shadowed with death. Today, I want us to focus our attention on this idea that God “guides” us along the path of righteousness and, to help us in that process, I want us to ask two very important questions:
Number One—How does God guide us down the path of righteousness?
Number Two—Why does God guide us down the path of righteousness?
Let’s start with number one—How, exactly, does God go about guiding us along the path of righteousness? How does God provide us the guidance we need to keep our feet firmly fixed on that path called, “righteousness?” How does he do that?
At the risk of disillusioning some of you, let me begin to answer that question with a confession—while I have been following the Lord, my Shepherd, for a good many years I have never yet been guided down the path of righteousness by an audible voice that clearly belonged to God and rang out from heaven saying, “Turn here. Go there. Or, don’t go there?” I’ve never had that happen. God does not speak to me in an audible voice. Yet I can honestly say that God guides me constantly. How does He do that?
First, of all, He does so through His word. One of the primary ways in which God keeps our feet centered in the path of righteousness is by providing us guidance through His written, revealed, inspired, holy word, which we call, the Bible. Folks, what we have in this book, right here, is nothing less than the very word of God. And it is altogether reliable and altogether trustworthy. And one of the things that we can trust it to do is to guide us along the path of righteousness. If we are faithfully following His word we will not go astray.
Psalm 119:105 says this, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
Eugene Peterson captures the essence of that verse in his paraphrase, The Message, like this, “By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.”
What a wonderful promise for us to hold on to—that in a world filled with darkness, we can always count on God’s word to shed light on our path. Light that will keep us from stumbling. Light that will keep us from drifting astray. Light that will keep us right in the heart of the path of righteousness where God’s plans and purposes are always being accomplished in our lives and God’s character is being revealed in our words and actions.
Some years ago I was driving down a busy street in the midst of rush hour traffic when the traffic very suddenly stopped. My first reaction was to slam on the brakes to keep from smashing the guy in front of me and my second reaction was to look up into my rearview mirror to see if I was going to get smashed by the guy behind me. Unfortunately, what I saw in my mirror was a driver whose attention was completely fixed on something he could see through the passenger side window. When he finally turned his attention back to matters ahead, he immediately slammed on his brakes but it was too little, too late and he smashed right into the back of my car.
After my car quit shaking, I clenched my jaws and squeezed the steering wheel in frustration and immediately began thinking of all the time that I was going to lose running around getting estimates for the insurance company and getting my car repaired. Then I spent a couple of moments wondering how a moron like that was even issued a driver’s license in the first place and then I began to contemplate the greeting that I would offer this fine fellow. I came up with some pretty good lines. And then, as I stepped out of my car, these words roared into my mind, “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” And in an instant the light of God’s word drove all of those dark thoughts right out of my mind and the path of righteousness was absolutely clear.
I tried to imagine being in that young man’s shoes. I asked myself, “If I were him, what would I most want to hear from the guy whose car I just smashed?”
As I walked back to his car I saw that he was sitting in the driver’s seat with his head hanging down. As I leaned down toward his open window he fearfully lifted his eyes to meet mine I said, “Are you OK?” He said, “Yeah.” I said, “Me, too. These are just cars and accidents happen. We’ll get them fixed. I’m just really glad that you’re not hurt.”
And the relief that flooded across his face and through his whole body was an absolute joy to behold. And in the moment I sensed God’s pleasure. He guided me through His word and I trusted it and acted on it and in doing so, stayed on the path of righteousness.
So, sometimes God guides us along the path of righteousness through His written word.
But, the truth is, His written word alone is not enough to keep us on the path of righteousness at all times and in all circumstances and the reason for that is two-fold.
To begin with, the Bible does not contain a specific action command to govern every decision that you or I will ever have to make. There’s no possible way that it could. And that means that if we’re going to stay on the path of righteousness in those moments when the Bible does not provide us a clear plan of action that God is going to have to provide us with another source of leadership.
And the second reason that we need more than just the Bible to stay on the path of righteousness is because staying on the path of righteousness is about more than just doing the right thing. Staying on the path of righteousness ultimately means doing the right thing with the right attitude and the right spirit.
Romans 12:2 says this, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
So, if our desire is to stay on the path of righteousness…if our desire is to live our life in that place called, “God’s will”…we need more than just the Bible. We need internal transformation and renewal. And the only way that that kind of internal transformation happens is through the power of God’s Spirit. And God’s Spirit is the other way that God guides us along paths of righteousness.
So, Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” The point is that oftentimes, the written word of God will offer clear and specific counsel to help us make “righteous” decisions in the day-to-day circumstances and situations that we face.
On the other hand, we regularly face moments of decision in circumstances and situations that are not specifically addressed in the Bible. But in those situations God doesn’t stop leading His children, instead, He leads us by the power of His Spirit. So, Romans 8:14 says, “…those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.”
What’s more, while our natural human tendency is to turn the path of righteousness into a path of misery by turning the Bible into a legalistic code book of do’s and don’ts…mostly don’ts, God’s Spirit frees us from that kind of externally focused approach to righteousness by transforming us inwardly. He pours His love, His peace, His kindness, His mercy and His joy into us so that we are constantly renewed and energized inwardly as we follow Him.
So, now we know how God guides along paths of righteousness. He guides us by His Word and He guides us by His Spirit. That brings us to the second question that I want us to consider—Why? Why does God guide us along paths of righteousness? And the answer to our question is right there in plain sight at the end of verse 3, we just don’t often pause to think about it. But we should, because there’s a wonderful truth here. Why does God guide us along paths of righteousness? According to verse 3, “He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
That phrase, “His name,” is not talking about the particular word that we use to identify or call out to God. “His name,” here, refers to the very essence of who God is…the totality of His being—His character, His person and His glory. And that means, folks, that there is in this verse an incredible promise for every child of God.
--If you are a child of God you can absolutely trust that God will ALWAYS lead you in the direction of righteousness.
--You can absolutely trust that He will ALWAYS lead you along paths that further His plans and purposes for you.
--You can absolutely trust that He will ALWAYS lead you along paths that enable you to reflect His character.
And do you know why you can absolutely trust Him to do that? Because it’s His name, His honor and His reputation that is in on the line in His ability to care for His children. If a child lacks what they need to grow, mature and prosper, it doesn’t reflect badly on the child. It reflects badly on that child’s father. So God keeps His promises. He provides for His children. And through His faithfulness His glory is revealed to all who have eyes to see.
The Lord is my shepherd
And I have glimpsed the Shepherd’s heart
in the faithfulness with which He has guided me;
Guided me by word and spirit,
Sometimes through green pastures beside quiet streams,
Sometimes through valleys shadowed with death,
But always…always…along paths of righteousness where I can realize everything that God has planned for me.
To Him be all the glory. Now and forevermore.
And every child of God said, “Amen.”
© Copyright 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum