Allan Blythe - The Lord Is. (Sermon Notes)
Psalm 23, Jn 10: 7-18
I want to share with you the reason I am here today. I suspect it is the same reason reason we are all here today.
It’s the same reason that maybe a billion or more other people around the world will be gathering today. The reason…
The Lord is
A popular song has been on the top of the charts now for over 3000 years. It begins “The Lord is”
Sung at weddings and funerals, coronations and enthronements down through the ages, in scores of languages, a song that most of you know well, even off by heart.
The Lord is my Shepherd
I shall not want, or as the Good News Bible renders,
The Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need.
Today I want to spend a little while unpacking these three words: “The Lord is”
Why The Lord?
The definite article defines this Lord who is as unique, the one that stand alone and above all other Lords. This Lord who is The lord is not any ordinary old Lord like the Lord Advocate, or the Lord of the Manor or Lord Mountbatten, Lord Casey or even a drug lord.
When we say “the Lord be with you” we don’t have to say, The Lord who is above all, who created all that is, who sustains the whole cosmos by His power , the great Three in One, Source of all love, comfort and peace, be with you
The Lord, friend of sinners, protector and defender of orphans widows, refugees and outcasts, the One Supreme over all who commands all nations to live in love, harmony and respect for one another sharing and taking good care of the resources of His creation for His glory and praise, whom, for all who trust their lives to Jesus His Son and surrender their bodies minds and hearts to His power, can be known, enjoyed and depended upon even as a loving parent; be with you.
This little 3 letter word, the definite article, says all that and lots more for us. So as David pens his song he doesn’t write ‘A Lord is my Shepherd, but rather “the” Lord; The Lord, The One who saved me from lions and bears, the Lord who anointed Saul to be King and then me and one of my descendants to rule for ever.
David himself was addressed as My lord, my Lord the King—but the Lord who is our King is more than a King. He is The Lord.
Let us look for a moment then at the word Lord.
Just a little while ago many of us got to choose the Christmas presents that you gave to different friends and loved-ones.
As a church you have chosen to invite Julie and me to come and be with you during the next 22 months. Julie and I chose to accept your invitation.
Today we have all chosen to come here to share fellowship, renew our commitment to Christ around His table and to honour God.
Lords get to choose. Lords of the realm get to choose laws for the land, lords of empires get to direct their armies or finances or staffs for a season, but the Lord rules over the cosmos. The Lord chooses to create the universe. The Lord chooses to make the plants and the animals and to make people like himself - in His own image giving us personal sovereignty, free will to choose - even to choose to violate the Lord. He chooses to love & bless his people anyway even when we alienate him. The Lord chooses to keep the sun shining and to keep sending the rain and holding every atom and constellation together even when the pride of his masterpiece vandalizes and rebels. And when the time was right the Lord chose to send His Son, a descendant of David, Jesus. The Lord chose that Jesus would have the full nature of himself. The Lord chose that Jesus Cjhrist would come into the world to reveal the wonderful plan foreshadowed by the prophets, for all of His creation, rich and poor, sighted and blind, popular and friendless, local and foreigner, male and female, young and old, black, red, yellow and pink to be reconciled under the headship of His Son Jesus Christ. The Lord chose that this would be achieved at infinite personal cost to himself - the ruthless death his much loved only son, Jesus Christ..
More than that, this lord who is the Lord, chooses that all who come into his family as adopted children should be made beautiful in every way - like Jesus, and that they are the ones charged to preach the gospel to the people and to show that Jesus is the one whom God has appointed to be judge of all living, and the dead, all who will join His everlasting Kingdom.
This is a little glimpse of this Lord.
And finally the Lord Is.
Do we have news for the atheist and the agnostic?
Is. In grammar it is called the Verb to be, in the Bible the Great I AM.
When David wrote “The Lord is my shepherd I have everything I need.” he was quite categorical about it. The Lord is my shepherd. He was confident that God would lead him into safe, wide open spaces by cool waters despite the ravages of Saul’s madness, of Goliath’s threats, of Absalom (his son’s rebellion) or the pain of his son’s death by Bathsheba.
The Lord is the same yesterday today and for ever. The Lord does not change. The Lord is.
And so we reflect on David’s words - because the Lord is my shepherd I have everything I need. He could have said, “The Lord is my lord.” But he chose shepherd - a metaphor very familiar to one who was himself a shepherd. You can almost here him thinking “As I care for my father’s sheep, he leads me. He speaks to me. He cares for me. He chose me to be his sheep.
And just as he chose David, and to send Jesus, likewise he has chosen you and me. He has chosen us for his sheep, to be his flock, to be our Lord. And as his to be the ones who take his love, restoration and reconciliation to all peoples of all nations.
Jn 15:16 Jesus said “I have chosen you and appointed…
“The Lord has chosen Zion; he wants to make it his home: “This is where I will live for ever; this is where I want to rule.” Ps 132 13,14 GNB
Have you accepted God’s choice of you?
Probably most of us know the Lord a little at least - we may even know quite a lot about Him. But can you say to day the Lord is my shepherd - I have everything I need. Imagine everything else in your life taken away, but the Lord The Lord is my Lord - I have everything I need.
Jn 10:17 Jesus said “..I am willing to give up my life in order to receive it back again”.
You can choose to accept the Lord today as your Lord and discover with David “The Lord is my shepherd. I have have everything I need, because …
The Lord is.
