WEBVTT 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:08.560 So as we enter the fall, we are entering, studying, and contemplating Psalm 23. 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:14.240 We're just taking it phrase by phrase and breaking it apart each Sunday. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:18.879 So last week we took the first verse, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:25.120 This week we're going to begin into the second verse, but just focus on the first phrase of the second verse. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:29.280 Now, King David in the Old Testament, he wrote Psalm 23. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:39.280 What's interesting about David is that David was not just a king, powerful, probably had plenty of provision for himself, but before that he was a shepherd. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:40.640 So he knows about sheep. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:44.159 And in Psalm 23, he's writing about sheep, and he's writing about being a shepherd. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:51.280 This guy had been poor and beaten down and oppressed and on the run and then flips around and he becomes a king. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:53.600 So he has something to say to us. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:55.600 Wherever we're at. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:09.200 And he has something to say to us, not about God giving us a pain-free life, but about a God who's fiercely caring, and like we just told the kindergartners, he's with us and he's for us. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:16.879 So Psalm 23, 1 and 2 on the screens, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:20.640 He makes me lie down in green pastures. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:23.200 He leads me beside still waters. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:26.640 So for today, he makes me lie down in green pastures. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:27.840 I love this promise. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:30.400 All week I've been like, oh, what a great promise. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:33.760 And then about halfway through the week I realize this kind of frustrates me also. 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:40.959 Like I love it and I need it because I'm exhausted or I'm weary or usually I'm anxious. 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:49.280 But then it kind of frustrates me because I'm often exhausted and anxious, and I'm not experiencing this how I want to. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:51.519 I'm not, he makes me lie down in green pastures. 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:52.079 What a promise. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:53.599 Like, yeah, like I want more of that. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:56.560 So it's sort of like a little bit of a frustration there. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:06.799 So this morning we're gonna break apart this phrase that is talking contentment to us and a quietness of heart and a calmness. 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:09.520 So first we're gonna talk about lie down. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:16.240 We're gonna start in the middle, and then we're gonna move to the end, Green Pastures, and then we're gonna jump back and talk about He Makes Me. 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:22.319 Ten years ago, Tim Kreider wrote a piece, not bad, in the New York Times, entitled The Busy Trap. 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:23.759 Piece went viral. 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:24.800 It's been about 10 years. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:28.000 I think it summarizes us today just as well. 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:32.080 He says almost everyone that he knows is busy. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:36.240 And he says, worst yet is they like saying it. 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:37.520 Like we kind of like saying it. 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:39.439 Like I'm just busy, you know, how is it? 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:42.000 I'm busy, just so busy, crazy busy. 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:42.800 Right? 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:45.199 It kind of makes us feel important in a way. 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:50.319 And Kreider kind of calls us out, all of us, including himself, about this way that we do this. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:57.360 It's our sort of modern way of justifying our value and ourselves, to earn our worth by our busyness. 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:04.879 And here's what he writes It's almost always people whose lamented busyness is purely self-imposed. 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:08.719 Work and obligations they've taken on voluntarily. 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:09.199 Amen. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:12.639 Anybody just want to say that, yep, got it this week, felt that. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:17.039 Classes and activities they've encouraged their kids to participate in. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:26.479 They're busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they're addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:28.800 Almost everyone I know is busy. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:35.439 They feel anxious and guilty when they aren't either working or doing something to promote their work. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:43.520 It might summarize you, it might summarize your schedule, but it's possible also, just maybe it just kind of like summarizes your heart. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:45.280 It's possible. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:53.280 Now, the New York Times online, this article is posted, and here's the painting that they have posted with the article. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:57.919 This painting, this piece is entitled So Very Busy. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:03:59.680 And it's by a Belgian artist. 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:05.520 Forgive me, all Belgians here, Brecht Vanderbrock. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:08.800 Alright, so let's just be cultured for a moment, okay? 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:10.159 Let's get artsy. 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:11.520 Alright, just for a moment. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:19.600 Just get artsy, and just sort of let your eyes focus in on like all the different details of the painting. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:21.759 Just let them move around the details. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:27.519 An art friend once told me, you look at the art, and then over time the art begins to look at you. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:30.560 I didn't know that because I'm not artsy. 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:34.480 But now just kind of zoom out at the painting. 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:34.959 Just zoom out. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:37.040 So don't be f you don't have to worry about the details. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:39.680 Just kind of zoom out as a whole. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:41.439 And how do you feel? 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:42.800 Does anybody want to tell me how you feel? 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:43.920 There's no right or wrong. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:46.959 There might be something ridiculous said, but there's just going to be no right or wrong. 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:50.399 Anyone just want to tell you how you feel in front of this painting? 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:52.079 Told you we're gonna get artsy. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:59.360 Chaotic, stressed, it's angry. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:03.600 It's not calming. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:09.759 I looked at this several times throughout the week. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:16.800 At first, I thought it made me feel chaotic, angry. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:25.920 And then I started to realize, oh, it's revealing that I already have that in me. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:34.160 Like I don't really think shapes and colors have that much power over me, but I do think it can reveal something that's in me. 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:37.600 I live a lot of life with a busy heart. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:39.279 And then we have David. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:44.399 He makes me lie down in green pastures. 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:52.800 The word lie down means to lie down or recline or stretch out. 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:56.560 So point number one is this to lie down means we surrender into. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:03.600 It's like a giving up, a reclining, a stretching out into God's lavish provision for us. 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:14.399 Maybe after a long day, or maybe you're away from your house traveling for a couple days, and you get into your bed and you have new sheets on. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:16.399 You always know the new sheet night, right? 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:19.199 Like the new sheet night, you get under the and you stretch out. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:30.720 It's a different stretching out on new sheet night is you stretch out and it feels so good, you know, and you're stretched out, like you are really reclining into this bed, especially if you've been away from home, right? 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:36.399 Lying down is always kind of like giving up, the stretching out into. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:43.360 And hopefully, when we get into our beds, like we're leading toward falling asleep. 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:49.120 I love what theologian Frederick Butner writes about falling asleep in his book Whistling in the Dark. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:54.879 He says this about falling asleep, all in the context of surrendering to God. 00:06:56.079 --> 00:06:59.040 It's a surrender, a laying down of arms. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:09.920 Whatever plans you're making, whatever work you're up to your ears in, whatever pleasures you're enjoying, whatever sorrows or anxieties or problems you're in the midst of, you set them aside. 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:15.600 Find a place to stretch out somewhere, close your eyes and wait for sleep. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:23.120 One of the worst nights' sleep I've had in the past few years was this past New Year's Eve. 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:25.600 We decided to spend New Year's Eve in St. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:31.199 Simon's Island for a couple nights, five of us in a small hotel room. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:32.720 Mistake number one. 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:39.120 The other thing is, is by the time we get there, we realize three out of the five of us have COVID. 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:41.920 And hey, I know you were asymptomatic. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:46.240 You told everybody 17 times you're asymptomatic, you got like some superpower. 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:46.720 I get it. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:48.319 We were not, we felt like trash. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:53.839 So we're in a hotel room feeling like trash, three out of the five of us. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:56.399 Finally, we fall asleep. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:57.519 Everybody's asleep. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:02.240 I'm not asleep yet because that hotel room air conditioner unit, that'll keep you up all night, right? 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:04.560 Like on and off, on and off, just keep you up. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:08.399 Fireworks are going outside, it's New Year's Eve, they're having a great time. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:09.279 Isn't that great? 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:15.600 You have COVID for like trash, they're out there celebrating, having a great, probably getting COVID at that point. 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:17.920 I kind of wished it on them. 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:21.680 Maybe I should go join their party and just breathe. 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:28.240 Once an hour I'm sitting up, agitated, coughing. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:33.519 I probably went to the restroom seven times that night just for entertainment to have something to do, really. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.200 And then questions are gonna start rattling around during the night. 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:39.120 Will my other two kids get sick? 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:40.320 What day is this? 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:41.120 What day? 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:42.799 What day number am I on? 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:45.840 And like starting to count your days and how many days, and then school starting. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:47.759 Like, you're doing the day count. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:50.480 How long am I gonna feel like this? 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:53.360 Like, do you feel you know, and you know, how long do you feel like this? 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:54.320 How long do you feel bad? 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:55.360 How long am I gonna feel? 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:57.279 Why am I not falling asleep? 00:08:57.360 --> 00:08:58.399 I'm deathly tired. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:00.320 Why am I not falling asleep? 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:04.879 And then finally, I just got to the final question that was like, how long is it till 4 30 a.m. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:11.120 where I'm pulling the dad card, I'm waking this whole room up, and we're getting in the car and we're going home, putting new sheets on the bed. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.480 I'm gonna slide in, I'm gonna stretch out for a few days. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:17.919 And of course, this happened, you know, with COVID, right? 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.000 Like, of course, this inability to fall asleep, right? 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:21.440 You feel like trash, you know. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:25.360 But it also happened like two weeks ago, and I felt great. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:27.279 Like I'm, you know, prime health. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:28.399 I'm feeling great. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:30.399 And I quietly slide into bed. 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:34.000 Christy's already fully asleep, like normal, it's very annoying. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:36.879 And I slide in nice and quiet. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:44.480 I was perfectly tired on the couch, and somehow, in that 30-foot walk down the hallway, something happens. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:46.720 Dangerous 30 feet. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:51.759 I get into the bed, and all of a sudden, it's like the two things, you know, in my work life. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:53.840 You know, the 10 things in my work life that are great. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:54.799 I'm not thinking about them. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:10:01.200 This is the two things, all of a sudden, I'm like projecting onto them more agony than they, you know, they really deserve. 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:05.600 Or you're stuck thinking about the one thing with the one kid. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:07.519 You're just doing that. 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:10.720 Or suddenly. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:13.679 It's strange how this happens. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:23.919 Like in a flash, like you lie your head on the pillow, and like a flash, you can feel a rejection from 15 years ago. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:26.320 Isn't it crazy? 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:28.799 Like it, like it's like it just happened. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:30.320 It's wild. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:33.840 You can replay a comment made to you. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:42.399 And then you're just back on the couch eating a bag of Doritos in the middle of the night, you know, watching Seinfeld or whatever you do this with. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:44.559 You've been there, right? 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:51.759 The inability to kind of let go, like to recline, to stretch out into God's lavish provision for us. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:53.360 Trust is hard. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:11:01.679 Like this surrendering part, this surrendering to God, this trust thing, this surrender, like it's the hardest, easiest thing you'll do. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:03.840 Like, in theory, it should be really easy. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:05.440 Like, let go and let God. 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:09.519 Like, well, I'm 43, I'm still struggling with this. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:11.120 This is really hard. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:13.840 Will God be present? 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:16.000 Will he be enough? 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:22.639 If I stop dwelling on that thing, will it be enough for me? 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:24.639 Will it be enough in that problem? 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:31.360 David says he makes me lie down in green pastures. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:35.120 And David knew a lot about sheep because he was a shepherd. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:37.679 And we're a lot like sheep. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:40.720 We fear things that might hurt us. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:44.799 We have anxiety when there's conflict with other sheep. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:51.759 We can become frantic when we think, just think that there's the possibility that we won't have provision. 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:55.120 Or whatever your definition of enough is. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:02.159 We just can't rest if there's an aggravating circumstance. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:06.879 But this is what David also knew. 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:17.600 When the sheep are convinced that the shepherd actually knows what he's doing, is actually sufficient, changes everything. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:22.559 So this brings us into the last phrase, in green pastures. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:29.440 Point number two, God, as good shepherd is intently thoughtful and proactive in his care for you. 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:34.240 David is saying he is a good shepherd, not a pain-free life. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:45.840 I mean, David's kind of, he's saying this by saying green pastures, because this would be such a, this is such a surprise, it's such a difficulty for a shepherd to find green pastures in the land of Israel. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:47.440 I mean, Israel was rugged. 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:52.879 Israel is rugged, it's wilderness, it's barren, it's rocky, there's canyons, it's it's dry. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:55.759 But sheep can survive. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:13:03.600 If they have a very thoughtful, proactive shepherd. 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:07.519 David is saying God is like that for us. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:12.000 Not pain-free, because it is a barren land. 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:17.600 But he, as shepherd, is sufficient to guide us through. 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:19.440 He's committed. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:24.240 There's a well-known story where Jesus enters the house of two sisters. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:25.440 You probably remember the story. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:26.639 It's in Luke 10. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:30.720 Mary and Martha, they respond very differently to how when Jesus shows up. 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:35.200 Verse 38, let me read the story through verse 42. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:41.759 Now, as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:46.320 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:48.960 But Martha was distracted with much serving. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:54.799 And she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:57.120 Tell her then to help me. 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:03.679 But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:06.879 But one thing is necessary. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:11.120 Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken from her. 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:22.639 Martha, this anxious sheep, thinks she needs to supply everything. 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:24.639 She's going to impress Jesus. 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:27.039 She's anxious. 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:30.720 She's self-righteous in how she judges her sister. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:34.960 I would guess because of being anxious and self-righteous, she's probably exhausted. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:40.159 She doesn't yet know that she can lie down. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:42.879 Trust. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:46.399 She's still trying to impress Jesus, but not Mary. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:47.600 Right? 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:54.159 Mary's reclined, stretched out, soaking up the presence of Jesus in his words. 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:59.039 And then finally, Jesus speaks to Martha with rightful diagnosis. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:04.559 You're anxious, you're doing too much, you need to lie down in some green pastures. 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:10.080 He's calling her into slow down. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:11.919 Slow your heart down. 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:15.039 Slow down into the pace of grace. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:20.639 God is lavish in his provision for our hearts' needs. 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:30.159 Yes, in a painful world at times, but he is lavish in his provision for our hearts through our pain. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:34.960 We are, we could say it this way, already delivered, yet being delivered. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:37.519 Already delivered, yet being delivered. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:38.720 Here's what I mean by that. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:46.879 On the cross, when Christ is on the cross, God fully forgives us, fully given his righteousness to us. 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:48.799 We'd say one-way love. 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:55.200 We do not deserve it, we do not earn it, and there is nothing required in response to it. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:59.840 It is absolutely one way, nothing for you to add. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:02.720 Forever secure. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:08.240 Which is actually what the Holy Spirit uses to grow us. 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:14.480 Is the fact that it is one way and it is so sufficient, and we are so secured, so we are already delivered. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:22.399 It is full and secure, and yet we are still broken and we live in a broken world, so we're still being delivered. 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:25.519 We're growing in the grace that's already been given to us. 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:32.720 We're delivered into our secure belovedness and still learning how profound it is for us. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:38.000 We could say we're working the gospel deeper into our hearts. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:43.600 So the life application here is we could say stuff like trust God, worry less. 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:44.879 That's good advice. 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:45.919 I mean, that's good. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:47.200 You can write that down. 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:49.039 Worry less and trust God. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:50.799 Live slower. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:52.080 That's good. 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:53.519 Slow down. 00:16:54.720 --> 00:17:00.159 I think in the realm of this application would be read your Bible and pray. 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:02.559 Classic good church advice. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:04.240 Read your Bible and pray. 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:08.319 This, you won't fault a lot by reading your Bible and praying. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:11.119 There's not a lot going to go wrong with this type of advice. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:12.160 This is good. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:13.759 We need to do this. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:22.559 And yet, like just that on its own, hey, surrender more, fret less, love more, resent less. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:25.519 This is all how we should be as Christians. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:28.000 Yet it's not quite enough. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:32.400 It leaves out the first phrase of this: He makes me. 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:34.400 Lie down in Green Pasture. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:35.839 It's Him that's making me. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:38.799 So it leaves out the empowerment part of the application. 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:44.079 See, application, or we could say law or standards on its own. 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:51.119 They may guide us, but eventually will burden us if they become the gaze of our heart. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:59.279 Either you will achieve the law and become self-righteous and judgmental to those who are not doing it well enough. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:01.920 You'll become exhausted on the way. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:05.039 Or you'll just be burdened by the law. 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:06.240 You'll be buried. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:07.680 You'll be buried by it. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:11.200 And maybe that's been your Christian experience. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:12.720 One of those two. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:18.799 But a gospel-fueled Christian life is very different. 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:21.279 It's the fullness of this phrase. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:23.680 He makes me lie down and green pasture. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:25.440 He makes me. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:33.599 So we are empowered by our secure belovedness into the implications of that grace. 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:35.759 This is the fruit of the gospel. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:37.440 This is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:41.359 So we end today thinking about those first three words. 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:42.799 Emphatic words. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:44.640 He makes me. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:46.880 This is where the gaze of our heart is. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:48.000 Point number three. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:54.799 Astonished by the shepherd's plentiful goodness and care, we are empowered to lie down. 00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:57.599 And keep learning to lie down. 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:04.160 Amanda McMillan in the Mockingbird Daily Devotional Book, she wrote this. 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:08.880 And then, sweet rest. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:11.759 It happens to you. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:14.160 Certainly not because of you. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:20.240 Your mind surrenders to the need of your body, and you finally fall asleep. 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:27.119 You wake up the next morning and you don't remember how or when it happened, but you thank God it did. 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:31.359 Repentance is similar. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:35.279 Repentance has never been a word that I've liked. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:37.920 It sounds very fire and brimstony. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:42.079 But repentance is a sweet and restful thing. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:44.400 It is a blessed giving up. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:58.240 It is the moment when we realize that we cannot carry the load of the law, that our rule-keeping hands of control are not serving us, that the to-do list is crushing, and that we are desperately tired. 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:05.119 In repentance, we are simply made aware of the myriad ways that we need a Savior. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:23.440 So what if we, me and you, what if we allowed our hearts by grace to perform and control less and rest more until lie down in a green passion? 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:26.799 What ways might your heart be freed? 00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:30.000 Healed? 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:33.440 What ways might your heart grow in godliness? 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:48.160 By the power of the gospel, if you could say, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, He makes me lie down in green pastures. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:50.160 Let's pray together. 00:20:51.759 --> 00:21:01.440 God, thank you for this great promise that so often feels so outside of us, but thank you that it is you that do the work inside of us. 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:33.359 Teach us more what it means to lie down, surrender, let go, stretch out, recline, fall deeper into the sufficiency of your grace for us for the validation of who we are as human beings, the justification of our souls before you, the fullness of the forgiveness that we need by Christ's cross as absolution, and the fullness of the righteousness you give to us by the imputation of Christ's righteousness onto us, fully secure, because you are sufficient for us. 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:47.519 May our hearts and our minds gaze even more upon you who empower us to lie down in your great and lavish provision. 00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:49.039 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:49.839 Amen.