Toward Green Pastures

So this past week has been one for the ages for us in Houston. Between the cold, the snow, the frozen roads and pipes bursting like balloons, it’s been a difficult time for a lot of us. Well, because almost all of our collective experiences with water have just been altogether terrible this week, I want to spend a little time in Psalm 23 where David talks about our Good Shepherd leading us to green pastures and still waters.

Not cold waters. Not water bursting from pipes. Not boiled water. Still and quiet waters.

So the plan in this post is to hopefully redeem our recent experience with water if you would from the first verses of Psalm 23.

Psalm 23:1-2: The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

Islands of Green Pasture

I want you to think about a green pasture. No snow. No ice. Just a green pasture on a warm day.

What are you envisioning?

What does it look like?

What does it smell like?

I’m guessing for most of us, when we think of green pastures, what we think about is probably something like the Irish countryside. Perhaps a rolling meadow or a green expanse.

And yet, that’s not really the case for what a green pasture would have looked like here in ancient Israel…

It would actually look more like this image..

Here’s why.

Because of the lack of moisture and precipitation in Israel, instead of rolling expanses of green hills, there are primarily patches of green pasture land.

So think of a desert oasis. There is indeed a green pasture with green grass, still waters, and the whole peaceful scene. However, surrounding that green pasture is dry, rocky ground.

Now this is important. This reality of what the green pastures and still waters would have looked like is very important for us to understand the full weight of what David is communicating in Psalm 23.

Because it’s this idea that we’re surrounded by drought.

We’re surrounded by exhaustion.

However, Jesus our true and ultimate Good Shepherd, is leading us out of drought and exhaustion and into an island of green pastures to rest.

Jesus the Good Shepherd

Ah. I should have said this earlier. Jesus is our true and ultimate Lord and Shepherd in Psalm 23. In John 10, Jesus said that He is the Good Shepherd. What that means is that Jesus is ultimately in view here in Psalm 23. Those who follow after His voice, they shall not want.

He will provide. He will care. He will protect. He will lead.

See, the imagery that God is putting into our minds with these green pastures and still waters is an image of peace — when the weariness and exhaustion of life gives way to peace.

Yes, your pipe still may be busted. The plumber still may have to come. It still may be a mess in your life. You’re still tired and you’re still exhausted.

But because you are being led by the Good Shepherd into green pastures and still waters, you have peace.

Why?

Because you know and you trust that Jesus the Good Shepherd is taking care of you. He’s providing for you He’s caring for you you. He’s guiding protecting and leading you.

Jesus Among the False Shepherds

This is the reason that we hang our hat on being led by Jesus our Good Shepherd rather than the other shepherds that attempt to lead toward contentment and peace.

There are other shepherds and there are other voices. However, they are not going to lead you to green pastures and still waters. What’s going to happen is that their going to lead you out wandering in the dry, rocky desert every single time…

So let’s think about this together.

Don’t just take my word for it.

Let’s take a step back and actually play this out.

Because we are finite beings, we need a shepherd to lead us to the good life. Deep down, we know we need protection, fulfillment and peace from something or someone outside of us.

And if your like, “No I can take protect myself…I can find fulfillment for myself…”

Oh really? Can you now?

Because all it took was an invisible virus to keep essentially shut down the world down and keep us isolated in our homes for over a year. And there was nothing any of us could do about it. All it took was a freak snowstorm that turned off the electrical grid this past week to really shut everything down. It’s these things that make us realize that you take a few things like water, electricity and medicine out of play, just add a few zombies and we’re not that far away from dystopia.

Don’t even get me started on how fragile our transfer of political power is. When we turned on the news and saw dudes busting down fences and occupying the Capitol.

However, that’s not even counting the normal stuff that reminds us how limited we really are. As in how powerless we are to stop a giant meteor from hitting the earth. Or how if the sun heats up or cools down by 5%, then all life on earth ends.

We know we’re finite and limited human beings. We know we need protection, fulfillment and peace from beyond ourselves.

So because of that, here is what we typically do as human beings:

We identify something that we need that we think will take us to green pastures and still waters — some false shepherd that will take us to the good life. It could be any number of things: inner desires and compulsions, cultural fads and trends, unhealthy relationships.

More specifically though it could be money, romance, a certain standard of living, popularity, good health

But here’s what Augustine would say, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” He’s saying we were created to find rest in God alone. Jesus is supposed to be that shepherd that leads us to rest. And when He is, we experience the good life, because we were created for Him.

But whenever we choose something besides God to be our shepherd, to be the primary source of protection, peace and fulfillment, not only are we not fulfilled… But instead of being led to green pastures and still water. We’re restless and we’re searching. We’re led out to the drought and desert…

Or to quote our boy Michael J. Fox in the American President: We’re so thirsty for it, we’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when we discover there's no water, we’ll drink the sand.

So as an example of how we drink the sand so to speak, if we depend on money to lead us to the good life then more often than not we become obsessive…stingy…workaholics…

If you think romance is what will make you happy and content then you depend on it and may become fearful about being alone or codependent in relationships.

If you need family to be secure and fulfilled you can become controlling and possessive of your family.

If you need your kids to turn out well as a validation of you and you become very controlling of them because you need them close by and you resent them for doing things that take them away.

If you look to the approval of others to be happy then you can become a slave to other people’s opinions

Bob Dylan said it so perfectly in that old song Gotta Serve Somebody,

You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,

You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage;

You may be a business man or some high degree thief,

They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief,

but you’re going to have to serve somebody.

It might be the devil or it might be the Lord,

but you’re going to have to serve somebody.”

I’m pretty sure that its written somewhere that when King David and Bob Dylan both say it, it has to be settled in eternity. Everybody serves something. It’s just a matter of who is going to actually going to get the job done to lead you to the good life your heart so desperately crave and need.

So if you’re sitting here and internally, your just feeling overwhelmed and there’s a million things going on…and you don’t know how your going to solve this one or even get to this one…the invitation from the voice of Jesus today is that you would come in and rest.

That you would let go…that you would trust Him…that you would stop and allow Him to work.

And I know that’s really hard for us.

In fact the big question is how do you even do that?

It’s like, “OK preacher you’ve given me the answer but how do I do it…”

Well in John 10, Jesus says, “I am the door.”

I’m not just the good shepherd, I’m also the door.

So if you want to get into these green pastures.

If you want to get into these still waters.

Come in through me, the door.

So the question you have to ask yourself is, “Are you trusting Christ?

Are you trusting Jesus the Good Shepherd to work and do the things that right now feel impossible to you…

Or have you taken ownership of your own life and decided…

I’ll make this happen.

I’ll control this.

I’ll get that done.

Look the rest that we so desperately need is not going be found in vacation.

It will not be found in a new Netflix series.

It will not be found in recreation.

True and deep and lasting rest is going to be found as we listen to the Good Shepherd as He leads us to green pastures and living water.

And what we have in this passage really is a picture of the Christian life.

We have peace with God that allows us to have peace with others and…really importantly…peace with ourselves…

In Colossians 1 we see that the cross of Jesus Christ has created peace between us and God.

And we also read in 1 John that when our hearts condemn us that we’re not good enough…that we don’t do enough…that we’re not righteous enough…that there’s no way that God can love us…

That God sees our hearts and He’s greater than our hearts.

Life in Christ…life with the Good Shepherd is a life where over and over we’re brought to green pastures…we’re laid beside still waters.

And the purpose of all of that, I don’t want you to miss this…when you look at this passage…its so that our souls might be restored…

That Hebrew word literally means to be reanimated, to be reborn.

That following the voice of the Good Shepherd towards these green pastures and still waters reanimates and rebirths our soul in such a way that we’re alive again.

We’re at peace with God…

Peace with others…

Peace with ourselves…

And this is the invitation that David and ultimately Jesus is extending that you would let go of all that your carrying…

Let go of all that your fearful and worried about and surrender into His leadership and care.

SLIDE: Matthew 11 is helpful because Jesus gives us a visceral picture of how that works…

This is Matthew 11 starting in verse 25: “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Look at what he says next: Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

You see at first what Jesus said there may sound confusing:

Because His burden was what? It was the Cross.

And how was that a light burden?

And a yoke?

A yoke is tool used to work.

That’s the last thing that tired people need.

Do they really need a yoke?

They need a mattress.

They need a vacation.

SLIDE: But here’s what Jesus was saying: Jesus doesn’t offer an escape from your problems…He offers a new way to go about dealing with your problems.

You ever actually seen a yoke? It looks like this.

SLIDE: So what do you see?

You have two places for two different heads.

So you’ve got one place for one ox and one place for another ox.

So the yoke that Jesus is offering to you is this: you go in one, who goes in the other?

Jesus does.

And when you and somebody much stronger than you are carrying a heavy load, who ends up doing all the heavy lifting?

Of course, the person who’s stronger.

What Jesus is offering to you is not just a temporary vacation or a checklist of things to do, He’s offering you a whole new way of living.

1. Jesus says, “I’ll carry the weight. I’ll lead you to where you need to go.”

2. I’m going to give you a way for all of your stress and your heavy labor to be cast on me.

   1. Because when your walking with Jesus…

      1. He’s the one who takes responsibility for peace…

      2. He’s the one who takes responsibility for the security and fulfillment of everything that your doing whether its for yourself, your family, your job or whatever it is.

1. And you know what…the only way to experience this rest is to be fully surrendered to Jesus.

   1. See to be yoked up with Him, you’ve got to be going where He’s going.

      1. You can’t have one ox going this way and one ox going that way.

         1. You’ve got to go where He goes.

         2. The most tiring way to live is the way the vast majority of religious people live.

            1. They’ve got a checklist of some things they should be doing…

            2. They’ve heard some good advice about what Christians should be doing:

               1. Be nice, go to church, give some money.

         3. But they’ve never fully surrendered to Jesus.

            1. And so church just becomes a checklist that just makes you more tired because you have never actually believed that God is in complete control over everything including your work and your assignments.

   2. But when you get this, you go through the day with Jesus and He pulls the weight and strain and you just get to be faithful in what you do.

      1. And through it all, you rest because He’s the one who is leading you to green pastures and still waters.

         1. Have you experienced that kind of rest?

         2. Some of you who are believers in Jesus may need to drop off some weight this morning.