The Fourth Sunday of Easter

“The Lord Is…”

Psalm 23

Revelation 7:15-17

Rev. Dr. R. Tim Meadows

Listen to this Sermon!

Like many of you, I attended a private denominational college with a compulsory chapel requirement. I can say proudly that unlike some of you my chapel attendance was never found insufficient, however I cannot tell you much about those experiences. There was however, one chapel experience, which floods my memory every time I read or hear read the 23^rd Psalm.

The preacher for the day was an African-American Baptist pastor named S. M. Lockridge. The S. M. stood for Shadrach Meshach; actually he was given the name Shadrach Meshach Abednego Lockridge at birth, but said he dropped Abednego, because folks always thought he was saying “A bad Negro”. Nevertheless, Lockridge represented the best of learned but emotional preaching, especially on the day that I heard him talk about the 23^rd Psalm. Let me share with you some of what I remember about the experience.

Lockridge began with the most eloquent, stately, reading of this passage that I have ever heard. After the reading, he then began to pick apart the passage in a word by word fashion. He insisted that to talk about the LORD, was to point to the Almighty Creator of the universe. He spoke softly and tenderly about how identifying the LORD as My Shepherd was an indication of God’s abiding personal interest in us. However, the part of the sermon I remember being most captivated by was the work he did with the little verb “Is”! Lockridge said that when we declare that the Lord Is, we must understand that God was “Is”, God is “Is”, and God will be “Is”, because there is no conjugation with God! Wow, what a simple but profound statement concerning God’s eternal presence with us! I think the Psalmist would be pleased with Lockridge’s conclusion. I know that I was, and that

I‘ve never been able to improve on it as a key to understanding this familiar Psalm. The “Isness” of God is what the Psalmist was pointing toward. The security that God’s eternal presence grants. That is what caused the Psalmist, the Hebrew people, and all of us who have come along behind them since to sing. Because of the presence of God we can know that:

I. God Is With Us: At about the same time that I heard Lockridge’s sermon I encountered a devotional reflection that said of God: “Do not look for me in the past, for I am not there. Do not look for me in the future, for I am not there. Look for me in the present for that is where I can be found, walking beside you, sharing life with you. The Psalmist wants us to know that as we walk through life, we are not alone, God is always present. You may say, but I do not want that. What I do may not please God. You may think of this idea in the traditional sense of God always keeping score, knowing when I fail, and marking out my punishment. But, that is not the Psalmist picture of God’s “isness”. The Psalmist picture is of a loving companion who wants to share our journey, who delights in our successes, revels in our parties, offers hope, direction, and encouragement in our struggles, and weeps with us when we suffer loss or lack. The Psalmist intends that we find comfort in the continual “isness” of God.

Because of the presence of God we can know that:

II. God Is Aware Of The Path We Walk: Because God knows the paths of our lives, we look to God for the things we will need along the way. When we are weary we look for restoration. When we are in need, we look to God for our supply, knowing that God will provide according to God’s ability. On this path, God calls us to righteousness that magnifies God’s goodness. Righteousness that points not to our superior morality, but to the sustaining grace of God, present even when our morality is not. Righteousness, which offers the love of God without qualification. On this path when we walk in the deepest darkness, God promises to be with us and to protect us from the ultimate destruction that the darkness threatens. Whether that darkness involves family or relational difficulties, the loss of a job, the loss of health, the loss of a loved one, or the impending loss of our own lives, God promises to provide the light necessary to guide us through the deepest darkness to wherever it ends. The promise of the Shepherd’s protection is that wherever the darkness finally ends it will not be the darkness, which defines us. On this path we will need comfort. We will need someone to hear our cries, to cry with us, and to wipe away our tears. This is how the Revelator describes the Shepherd in our New Testament reading for today.

The “isness” of God. What more could we ask for? What more could we strive to be as a participant in such? After all, the way that God is capable of being all the things we’ve discussed, is by working through us. Recently, I read these words, which I think, capture this idea. “ I do not have the slightest idea what God is like, really. All I know is what I see God doing in my own life and in the lives of the people around me.” (Take This Bread. P.257 & 258) I agree! What I see God doing are the things described by the Psalmist and the Revelator. What I see God asking us to do are the same things. May God give us the grace to do these things as we follow the Shepherd on the journey of life.