「あなたの日々を守り導くお方」 一月第三主日礼拝 宣教 2025年1月19日
詩編 Psalms 23編1〜6節 牧師 河野信一郎
Good morning. How are you spending the cold weather days. I thank God for being able to gather in this chapel this morning with you and being made worshippers. Good morning to those who are attending online. I welcome you all.
The church business meeting was held last week after the worship service and three deacons were elected for the new year starting in April. We thank the Lord and thank all of you for your prayers. Yesterday, the deacons for the 24th and 25th fiscal year met online and held a deacons’ meeting, during which they began preparations for the new fiscal year. Starting next week, we will be making an appeal for cooperation that we ask of everyone in the church, and we hope that you will pray for us and participate and cooperate in the work of the church for church formation and evangelical mission. For more details, please read the monthly bulletin published today.
As a pastor, I, too, have been given a variety of homework assignments to work on. In particular, I need to finalize a yearly scripture and theme that will point the direction for the new year and propose it to the deacons. I already have some candidates, but I have not yet been given definite guidance. I will pray carefully and ask God for guidance. I hope that you will remember this in your prayers, as it is important in your life of faith and in the life of the church. We ask that you pray responsibly for and support the work of the deacons you have elected with faith and prayer.
Today is the 19th day of the New Year, and this January we are listening together to what God is saying to us, with the word “good” as the key word. We have been listening to the Gospel of Deuteronomy and the Gospel of John about how it is important to walk in a year that is “good” and pleasing to God and in accordance with His will, not ours. Do what is right in the sight of God, by keeping well the commandments, statutes and laws which the Lord God commands us. We have heard from Deuteronomy 6 that if we do this, we will be blessed.
I’m going to get a little sidetracked, but I would like to read what God’s commandments, statutes, and laws are in Psalm 19:8-11.
“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”
God’s commandments, statutes, and laws are clearly revealed through His Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, we have learned that it is most important to listen to and obey the words of Jesus. This Jesus said in the Gospel of John chapter 10, “I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep so that they may receive abundant life from God.”
Last week we heard that Jesus gave His life on the cross to save us from our sins, and this morning we will hear from Psalm 23 about how Jesus, the Good Shepherd, specifically protects and guides us on a daily basis. As a side note, when I was thinking about the subject of the message, my first thought was “He who protects and guides you throughout the year,” but I changed it to “daily” because a year is the accumulation of our days.
Now, the 23rd Psalm is one of the 150 psalms that are familiar to the faithful. It is written, “Hymn. A psalm of David.” In the 23rd Psalm, David, a shepherd as a boy, looks back on his life and confesses that his relationship with God was the same as that of a shepherd and his sheep. In other words, he rejoiced, thanked, and praised God, convinced of God’s truthfulness that God was constantly with him like a shepherd, protecting him from all dangers, guiding his life powerfully, and blessing him abundantly. The Hebrew word for “good” is also used in this psalm, and I would like to mention that at the end.
In verse 1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing.” David affirms. “The Lord is my shepherd,” he declares emphatically. David is not saying, “If the Lord God is my shepherd, then I have nothing to spend”. He is saying, “Because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing”. This is important for us as well. It is important to believe that Jesus Christ is “my Shepherd and Savior,” and that “He is the only Shepherd and Savior I have”. Faith that “maybe He will help me, maybe He will save me” will not a blessing, not to be blessed.
Sheep are said to have extremely poor eyesight, but extremely good hearing and hearing ability, so they cannot survive on their own. Therefore, they must always live in a herd and obey the shepherd’s voice. They are extremely afraid of two things: food shortages and attacks by animals.
Food shortages includes not only food but also drinking water, as in verses 2 and the first half of verse 3, “The Lord makes me rest in green pastures, and accompanies me by the waters of rest, that my soul may be revived.” The word “accompany” means “to lead”. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leads us continually to meadows of green grass and food, where He feeds us and satisfies our spiritual hunger. He also leads us to the waters, where He gives us plenty of water to drink and quench our spiritual thirst, David says with joy and gratitude, based on his own past experiences.
Jesus invites us in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Indeed, Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd who leads us, who have sinned against God and wandered in the wilderness away from God, to green pastures where we can rest and revive our souls. We are thankful.
In the latter half of verse 3, David says, “The Lord is worthy of His name, and He will guide me in the right path.” “The Lord is worthy of His name,” meaning “the Lord God is truthful”. In other words, he is confessing that the One who is the Truth has always guided David on the right path, even when he was about to go down a bad one. This “right path” is translated “the path of righteousness” in other translations of the Bible, but it is a confession that He continually and repeatedly led David back to the path that would lead him to God.
Our life is not only a smooth road. It is a journey full of mountains and valleys, twists and turns. We move left and right. We may doubt God, forget, complain, and sometimes our hearts are far away from God. It is constant attacks from Satan. But the Lord of mercy, the Good Shepherd, is always with us, encouraging us with His Word and always correcting our course so that our feet turn toward God. It is “Thy rod and Thy staff,” verse 4, that are used to correct our course, “that it may strengthen me.” A shepherd holds a whip in one hand and a thick, sturdy staff in the other to protect his sheep from wild beasts. God’s Word, Jesus’ Word, protects us from Satan’s relentless attacks and gives us the strength to go forward strongly.
Therefore, David praises the Lord with confidence saying “I will fear no evil when I go through the valley of the shadow of death. You are with me”. God sent the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, to the world because we need this faith and confidence as we suffer daily from various trials. Those who walk with the Lord Jesus on this righteous path, the path of righteousness, will be given salvation and peace. Jesus Himself is the “way” to salvation.
David said in verse 5, “You prepare a table for me in the presence of those who afflict me. You anoint my head with oil and make my cup overflow.” He praises the Lord. He praises the Lord, saying, “I am not afraid, even though my enemies attack and surround me in great numbers. He says that he is safe because he is protected by God’s sure protection and powerful protection so that he can enjoy his meal slowly.
David confesses here the truthfulness of God that he has experienced in many battles. The “anointing of the head with perfume” represents rejoicing in God’s protection. The “cup” represents God’s grace. When we trust in the Lord as our shepherd, our hearts are filled with grace and gratitude, as if the cup overflows with good wine.
Finally, David said in verse 6, “As long as [my] life is, [the Lord’s] grace and mercy will always follow me. To the house of the Lord I will return, and there I will remain all the days of my life.” He is saying, “I will return to the house of the Lord, and there I will remain all the days of my life”. These are words of thanksgiving for God’s grace and mercy that he has experienced in the past and will experience during the rest of his life. The word “mercy” is the Hebrew word for “good”. That is amazing.
To “always follow me” means to be driven into the enclosure of God’s love, God’s mercy, into God’s protection. This is the same as being invited to church and offering worship services. Just like the sheepdog, God’s love drives us into God’s enclosure, where He gives us rest, life, food, and water, and keeps us safe from wild animals and Satan, He feeds us and nurtures us.
Can you picture Jesus smiling as he watches us? We are blessed to be continually called and returned to God by the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, where we are worshipers, or rather, God’s children, living in praise of God. Let us walk daily, offering joy and thanksgiving to the Lord.