Kevin Dibbley - June 16, 2024
"The Shepherd King"
For our message this week, we are going to spend a little time together meditating upon Psalm 23. The twenty-third psalm is without a doubt the most well-known and, I would suggest, well-loved of all 150 psalms. And I think rightly so. This psalm brings the assurance that from beginning to end the Lord, Yahweh, shepherds his people through all the storms of life and brings us safely into our eternal home with Himself forever. It is a psalm of enormous comfort. It is a psalm of rock-solid hope and peace. What we often don’t recognize is that it is also a very personal psalm from the Son about his Father. One commentator reminds us that the psalms are the most quoted part of the Old Testament in the New Testament. He writes: “This was not because the Psalms seemed to them to cover the full range of human emotions – a psalm for every mood. Not at all. It was not sentimentalism or anthropocentrism. Rather, it was because the Psalms were about the Messiah, the Christ of God.” Come this Sunday as we consider the twenty-third psalm through the lens of Jesus. It will prove to be an amazing picture for us of the purest and highest Father and Son relationship that led to our adoption into God’s family. Because Psalm 23 is about Jesus, we can be sure that He will shepherd us all the way home!
Scripture References: Psalms 23:1-6
From Series: "Sing to the King"
We are going to study the Psalms in a series called “Sing to the King.” The psalms are a collection of songs and prayers meant to guide Israel through the long struggle with their own sin and their experience of exile without a King to guide and to shepherd them. The Psalms invoke an eager expectation that God is sending a righteous King who will faithfully lead and shepherd His people. These deep hopes and longings are realized in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Much like Israel, we still struggle with personal sin and a world of injustice. We still groan in what sometimes seems like a long season of silence from God. But as New Testament Christians, we have a King who has come, has conquered and who now reigns. That King is also coming soon to make all things new. The psalms are meant to make us look to Jesus as the King who fulfills all the longings and needs of his people. Jesus is the King who saves us from our sins and leads us in triumphal procession. He is coming to reign over all the earth. Come and celebrate and “Sing to the King” with us this summer. It is going to be a blessing to be together and to encourage one another in the Lord.
