Sermon(Ps 23): God of grace
The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025252619
>> 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; 2 he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; 3 he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (Ps 23) <<
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It is a poem of David, the most beautiful poem in the world. This poem describes the nature of God very well. Therefore it is the most beautiful poem. Because the God is the fountain of all truth, good, and beauty. David was a true shepherd who loved his sheep, so he said that God was a good shepherd who loved him, because God took good care of David as David did of sheep. In the poem of David, God is not only a good shepherd. David praised the good and faithful God with the beautiful words of various similes.
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God, in the sight of David, was a good shepherd. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. (v. 1, 2)" A good shepherd feeds his sheep with good grass and water. As a mother wants to give her child only valuable, good, clean food, so God the good shepherd gave David good things. So David said, “I shall not want. (v. 1)” My brethren, I want you to believe in God as a good shepherd. Believe that all that God gives you in any circumstances is the best thing in the world for you. And never utter words of complaint and despair before God. If a child eats sweets, its mother is happy and says, "How cutely my child eats!" If a child eats bitter herbs very pleasantly, its mother says far more gladly, "Oh, my child has grown much. Now it eats even bitter herbs!" My brethren, please eat pleasantly everything that God has put in your mouth whether it is sweet or bitter. God feeds us sweet things and bitter things, but not dirty things. By what can you prove that you have grown up from a young child to an adult? Isn't it the change of behavior from the childish seeking for sweets, comic books, toys or dolls, to the becoming a mature responsible member of the society? As the meal without salt is tasteless, as the coffee is unsavory if it loses bitterness, how will your life be if it loses saltiness and bitterness? If you acknowledge that God is a good shepherd, you can acknowledge that everything God has given you is for you, saying, "I shall not want." Thank God for everything and rejoice in him. Strangely, after eating sweets, the thirst increases, but it decreases when we eat bitter things. Have you tried pomegranates? The paperlike thin matter that separates cells of the pellets of the pomegranates tastes bitter. You can enjoy the pomegranates better if you eat the pellets together with the white membranes. If you enjoy the pomegranates so, you'll feel cool even to the inner parts. Because the sweetness and the bitterness are in perfect harmony there. So pomegranates quench thirst better than watermelons. Life's thirst also is quenched by bitterness. What is amazing is that pure water tastes a little bitter. If you don't believe it, close your eyes and taste the water. Pure water gets more bitter when it is cooler. Isn't it the cool and pure water that quenches the thirst fastest? I'm saying this, because your life can never be rich only by sweetness.
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God was a good teacher for David. "He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. (v. 3)" A good teacher shows his disciples a right way. God now and then taught David the right way. When David walked in the right way, he could be a righteous man. David obeyed God absolutely, because he thought God is a good teacher. You can be a righteous man if you obey God gladly. But a teacher who teaches an evil way to his disciples is one who kills them. God, on the other hand, shows us a righteous way and revives our souls that were dead by sins. My brethren, do you want to be righteous? Keep the righteous law of God and obey him.
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God was a faithful companion of David's life. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. (v. 4)" You can discern your faithful companion of your life when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death. God delivered David from those who were seeking David's life. God never deserted David and left him alone whenever there were enemies on every side of David. So David could feel neither scarcity nor fear in everything. As David had driven away savage beasts from his sheep with shepherd's rod, so God with his staff struck all of David's enemies attacking him and drove them away. My brethren, accept God as your lifelong companion. My brethren, Jesus is your good shepherd. And he promised to be with us until the end of the world. Jesus told us not to be afraid but to be in peace. When you are with God, the wicked even cannot touch you. When God is your companion, you are the strongest man in the world. The deeper and darker the valley of the shadow of death, the closer you are to God. The greater power of God can be seen in you then.
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God was a noble host, who received David as a dignified guest. "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows. (v. 5)" It is a great honor to be invited as a guest to a house of a noble man. It will be an undeserved honor for a commoner to be invited to the palace and to have a wonderful meal with the king. The verse 5 says how the holy and noble God invited David to his house and cordially and hospitably treated him. God was the host, David, the guest. In the presence of David's enemies, that is, in their knowing, God invited David as a precious guest. David's enemies were just enviously looking on the invitation, and had a greater enmity against David and gnashed more. But they were not invited by God for they were out of the grace of God because they had persecuted David, a righteous man. They just had to observe clearly how cordially God gave David hospitality. God treated David as a precious guest. What is the evidence? God anointed David's head with oil. Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with the costly ointment of pure nard, for she indeed respected him. When David as a guest came to the house of God, the servants washed his feet and God anointed his head in order to make David his precious guest. You can use Hair Mousse for the hair styling these days, but people of old days used oil for the hair styling. Now David was dressed and prepared for the banquet, and he took a seat at the table of wonderful meal. God told David to hold a cup and poured good wine into the cup to the brim so that the cup almost overflowed. David could know again God's true mind when he saw how he lavished the valuable wine on David. (I (Z^_stevision) don't drink alcohol as a Korean Christian.) By the overflowing cup, God showed his mind that he could give anything valuable to David ungrudgingly. The verse 5 is a confession that David made after he became a king, I think. He thought of his honor and rich, and thought that it was God's abundant reward and hospitality given to him. David was anointed to be a king. People became his servants and heartily served him. In the mean time, the holy blessings of heaven and the worldly blessings of fatness of ground that came upon David were too much for him to enjoy entirely. on the contrary, those enemies who had persecuted David were dead already or were living as the lowliest of the low-class people while David was enjoying God's blessings now. They just envied David who was living in peace and luxury, in the palace. My brethren, if you acknowledge God as your good shepherd, teacher and companion, God will invite you as a precious guest to his home, and treat you well. God invites the believers to the heavenly banquet he has prepared. They might be look shabby, but he washes out all the dirt of sins by the blood of his only begotten Son, pours out his Spirit on them to make them holy ones, and clothes them with the robes of the righteousness of Jesus. How sorry would it be if God who owns everything could not find ones to share his possessions with! Be a man like David so that God's wish to give everything to you gladly may be fulfilled. God cherishes you when you fear him.
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The eternal and almighty God became the father of David. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (v. 6)" After he was invited to the God and treated well, David thought, 'Can't I live forever in this good and honorable house of God?' Goodness and kindness are the character of a father. David could not but think that the God had been a more good and gracious father to him than his earthly father. And after he had known God, David clearly noticed that God filled his life with all kinds of good blessings even when he served him a little. David has never suffered losses because of God since he met him. God was sincere indeed to him. So David had another hope. 'Let him be my father!' David unilaterally declared to God, "My God, I'll live in your house forever." This means that David wants to make God his father and to live with him in his house forever. Seeing that the 23rd Psalm ends at the verse 6, we can conclude that God exceedingly delighted in David's request. There might not have been the verse 6 if God had rejected David's request, saying, "What are you saying? How impudent you are!" Clearly, God was pleased to make David his son and to have David live with him in his house forever. How can a father live with a man forever if he is not his son? My brethren, be a little more greedy(!) for God's grace like David. Make God your father. And you'll enjoy all abundant blessings and live with God in his house forever. He will willingly be your good and gracious father forever. And the good place heaven will be yours. But with one condition. You can make the God your father only if you believe in Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, as your Savior. You must first receive Jesus as your Lord in your heart and treat him very well. However, there are some in the world like Simon the Pharisee (Lk 7:36-50). He invited Jesus, but neither gave him the water for his feet nor anointed his head with oil that was much cheaper than ointment. This means that he would insult Jesus openly. But a woman who was thought to be a sinner in the village was so sad to see Jesus being insulted that she washed his feet with her tears and anointed him with precious ointment. He who receives the Son receives the Father who sent him (Jn 13:20). My brethren, never ignore and insult him when you receive him. Serve him warmly as your Master. All blessings of God become yours as you believe in Jesus as your Savior. No other way!
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There is something we should not overlook in Ps 23. God does all these things 'for his name's sake.' My brethren, Our existence has meaning when the God we serve is in the glory. It is unfortunate for a son to have a father who is a swindler. A woman whose husband is a defrauder must hide herself from her friends for shame. The family are happy and confident when the father, the husband and the wife are in the glory. Sometimes you see the leader of a heretic sect. Those who follow him are very miserable! We who are serving God as our father must keep his name holy. Therefore, the God does not compromise with injustice, but does justice, and wants to be a good and merciful shepherd, teacher and father. When we commit sins, he punishes us to keep his name holy and glorious, but later he grants us more grace and blessings. Parents who always connives at their children's sins are unrighteous ones, and a shame to their children. It is better for us if our heavenly Father properly disciplines us. It is our glory that the God our Father is righteous one. God's rods and staffs are the tools to drive out our enemies, but they are also the means to lead us in the right way.
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May you accept Jesus as your Savior and experience the abundant grace of God. May you obey God to live a righteous life. May you live with the God forever in heaven.
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Chong Tack Kim
- Dongtoma Sunshine Church -
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