Psalm 23

 

Below are two emails I sent to a friend who preached on Psalm 23 this past Sunday. He sent me the text of his message and there was a quote in it that I wanted to explore with him.

 

Good morning…,

 

Of course I don't know the context of the quote you used, so acknowledging that:

 

“He’s the only Shepherd who knows what it’s like to be a sheep.  He became a Lamb and lived among us and then died as the perfect Lamb of God to take away all the sins of the other sheep.  He said in John 10, “… I lay down my life for the sheep.””

 

But what about you?

 

What about the elders of 1 Peter 5:1 - 2?

 

What might we say of Colossians 1:24? And Phil. 3:10 "the koinonia of His sufferings"?

 

And 2 Timothy 2:10, "For this reason I suffer all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory."

 

Not to mention 2 Cor. 1:6; 5:12.

 

Are we not to be laying down our lives for the sheep?

 

Is not your congregation to be a collective Good Shepherd for your county and beyond?

 

If Jesus is sending us even as the Father sent Him...then Psalm 23 is our calling as lambs and as shepherds.

 

I recall that last Christmas you pointed out in one of your Sunday messages that Christ lives in us. So I am asking, What does Psalm 23 look like incarnationally?

 

Good morning beloved of our Lord,

 

When I awoke this morning I was thinking again of Psalm 23, and a comment that another friend sent me yesterday made me realize that we can also "see" this Psalm as being prayed by the Corporate Christ...the Body of Christ.

 

The anointing of the Head speaks of Jesus Christ, the Head of our Body. Consider the Table that we are called to. The Valley of the Shadow of Death - ah Gethsemane and the Cross...and indeed we, His Body, continue to walk through these valleys.

 

Glorious love in Christ

 

Bob