The short opening phrase of Psalm 23 says so much about not only God, but about ourselves. What does it mean for God to be our shepherd? How can God be a shepherd for our community and individuals?

Although the idea that Jesus is a shepherd is certainly rooted in Scripture, we also know it's been something valued by Christians for thousands of years. It’s a familiar thread that runs through the Old and New Testaments. Also, archaeologists have uncovered artifacts and art of God personified as a shepherd from the catacombs of ancient Christians.

We're not going to cite all the examples of the shepherd imagery of Christ or God, but we do want to ask why is the theme of God as Shepherd significant in Scripture? More importantly, we might ask: If Jehovah is a shepherd, then what are the implications for our lives? 

We can learn so much about God and ourselves in just the first few words of Psalm 23 (“The Lord is my shepherd”). So, we'll examine the two-fold question: How is God both personal, and how is He the Great Shepherd? 

How is God both personal, and the Great Shepherd? 

1) If The Lord is a Shepherd, Then We Must Be Like Sheep 

This part of the teaching will feel and is, well, less flattering. When we study the nature of sheep, we will find that they are helpless creatures, and they don't survive or thrive without a shepherd. 

So when we look at the nature of sheep, and this won't be a surprise, we see they are dumb animals. They're neither teachable nor have good eyesight or hearing. Sheep have no claws, hooves, powerful teeth, or powerful jaws to ward off a predator. Furthermore, they are easily frightened and easily confused. Sheep are notorious for not being able to think for themselves. 

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—everyone—to his own way;" (Isaiah 53:6a-b) (ESV)

"For you were straying like sheep but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:25) (ESV)

Charles Spurgeon once said that a person cannot honestly say that "the Lord is my shepherd." For someone to say that they must first understand his or her sheep nature. "…for he cannot know that God is his shepherd unless he feels in himself that he has the nature of sheep."

We must understand, based upon what we see in God's word, that if the Lord is a shepherd, we must be like sheep. 

2) If The Lord is a Shepherd, Then It's Too Good To Be True, And Too True to Ignore? 

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:36) (ESV)

Matthew is describing a scene where Jesus was teaching and healing when He saw the crowds. He had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, "like sheep without a shepherd." 

Before we go any further, I want to caution how we view people in ancient times. It's easy to think they were intellectually inferior to us or that we're more enlightened now in the 21st century. CS Lewis, a professor of ancient literature at Oxford, called that "chronological snobbery."  

I bring it up because some of us may have been unconsciously conditioned to understand biblical scenes. Unfortunately, we may have been more conditioned by Monty Python's biblical scenes, or even a poorly done Christian movie, than we have by the Bible itself. 

We sometimes think people were harassed and helpless in Jesus' day because you picture people wearing animal skins and grunting at one another. I want to remind you that they were suffering and dealing with complexities because they are just like us. 

They were suffering from the brokenness of the human condition and the effects of sin in their hearts. They were living among fallen people who were also suffering from the brokenness that sin brings to a culture collectively and individually. So we recognize that they, like us, are like sheep-filled with: 

• Paranoia

• Fear

• Hurt

• Shame

• Unforgiveness

• People-pleasing

• Addiction

• Family tension

• Lust

• Pride

• Inferiority 

• Superiority

Why Jesus Had Compassion

Because we are like sheep, we recognize that we have also gone our own way. We participated in a rebellion, and sin has diminished human flourishing because of the brokenness it brought. 

Sin is a tutor, and it will tutor you. That's why Jesus says, "they were like they were harassed." Sin will coach you in fear and shame, diminishing your capacity and human flourishing. It can happen in a community, and it can occur in an individual, and it does. 

Compassion For the Crowd and the Individual

But I want you to notice something about Jesus. He had compassion for the crowd. Think about the implication of that. Jesus is compassionate about how sin affects a community, which means He is present in our midst when we gather in His name. His compassion for you is also individual. 

JESUS: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?" (Luke 15:4) (ESV)

Compassion is Redemptive

The root word of redemptive is based on the word "redeemed," which literally means to pick you out of one condition and place you in a preferred condition. The Bible even says that the depth of what God does when He redeems us to Christ literally transfers you out of a kingdom of darkness and places you in a kingdom of light. 

JESUS: "Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep." (John 10:15) (ESV)

Before I came to know Jesus, I was an agnostic. But what would trip me up is that I could not wrap my head around Jesus laying his life down for the sheep. So how is it that a person goes to a cross, and somehow whatever that is, affects my life and eternal destiny? 

We, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned to our way. But the Lord has laid our iniquity all on Him. He's a loving Shepherd, and what happened on that cross is He subbed out for you. 

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians, "He knew no sin." Jesus became your sin so that you and I would become the righteousness of God. God laid our brokenness on the person of Jesus Christ. His compassion is redemptive. 

3) If The Lord is a Shepherd, Then Is The Lord My Shepherd? 

In my opinion, the most significant monosyllable in the Bible is found in Psalm 23. iI's the word my. "The Lord is my shepherd." 

My is a possessive pronoun, which means this relationship with the Great Shepherd is personal. There are people who pray a prayer and who profess faith in Christ. And that's really important! However, there is no transformation, no cause-and-effect relationship that aligns with their profession. 

Now listen to Jesus' words. Once again, He's using Shepherd terminology. 

JESUS: "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep." (John 10:14-15) (NIV)

There are two notes I want to make about that passage. 

1) Intimate Knowledge

There are specific passages in the Bible that make me tremble. For example, in Matthew 7, people stand before Jesus and say, "We taught your Word, ministered to people, and freed them from evil. We did all kinds of things in your name." Then Jesus says, "Depart from me. I never knew you." 

That makes my insides shake, and it challenges me. However, upon deeper study, I started understanding what was happening. Because when Jesus says, "Depart from me, I never knew you," what He's using there is a unique Greek word, Ginosko. That word is a word for deep intimacy. 

When reading the New Testament, the Scripture says Joseph did not know Mary in terms of how the scriptures contextualize the virgin birth. It's a reference that Joseph had no intimacy with Mary. 

The point is that the Greek word that Jesus uses regarding His shepherd heart means it's deep and personal.

2) Head vs. Heart Knowledge

For many of us, our relationship with God is all above the shoulders. We have a lot of head knowledge. Don't get me wrong; the Scripture says, "my people perish for lack of knowledge, understanding, lack of vision." So it's not that those things aren't necessary. Knowledge and understanding are not an option, but it's not sufficient. However, what's life-giving is heart-to-heart. 

The question for us is, is He A shepherd, or is He, MY shepherd? We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has, at some point, turned our own way. But the iniquity of a soul has been Laid on Jesus so that we can say in the first person, "The Lord is my shepherd."

TL;DR

1. Imagery and ideas of Jesus and God as shepherds is rooted throughout Christianity and early Christian artifacts.

2. When examining the first phrase of Psalm 23 (“The Lord is my shepherd”), we should ask: How is God both personal, and how is He the Great Shepherd? 

   1. If the Lord is my shepherd, then we must be like sheep

   2. If the Lord is my shepherd, then it’s too good to be true and too true to ignore

   3. If the Lord is my shepherd, then is the Lord my shepherd?

Related Reading

Who We Are Depends on Whose We Are by Rev. Paul Lawler

How Can I Know God by Grant Caldwell

When God Visits You by Bro. Chris Carter

About Christ Church Memphis
Christ Church Memphis is church in East Memphis, Tennessee. For more than 65 years, Christ Church has served the Memphis community. Every weekend, there are multiple worship opportunities including traditional, contemporary and blended services