God is the Shepherd who guides, protects, provides, and sustains His people as they walk through difficult seasons of their lives, preached Wu Yuzhuang this past weekend.
At the start of his sermon on the weekend of 11 and 12 February, City Harvest Church pastor Wu Yuzhuang reiterated what CHC’s senior pastor Kong Hee preached the week before, on “Slow Down Christianity”. “If we can slow down and follow Jesus’ unhurried pace of life, we will be changed. We will find that His yoke is easy and his burden is light,” he said.
Reading Psalm 23:2, the pastor noted that Jesus, the Shepherd, wants His disciples to lie down in green pastures, in other words, to rest. The verse continues with “He leads me beside still waters’, which means that there is a supernatural ease that believers can experience through Christ.
THE SHEPHERD IS A PROTECTOR
Following his previous sermon, Pastor Zhuang expounded on the next two verses in his sermon. Psalm 23:4-5 reads, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me, your rod and your staff will comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”
The pastor then read John 10:7-11 where Jesus described Himself as “the door of the sheep”.
“The door is an access to things,” Pastor Zhuang explained. “Because Jesus is the door, we have access to what God has provided for us. We have access to His presence, power, miracles, healings and blessings.”
V10 reads, ‘The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill and to destroy.’ Pastor Zhuang taught, “Just because you have a door doesn’t mean thieves do not come.” Even Christians who practice their spiritual disciplines and serve God actively will experience the thief coming into their lives.
The good news is that while the thief tries to steal, kill and destroy, Jesus came to give life. Not only is He the Door, but He is also the Shepherd who guards His sheep at the door.
Speaking to those facing challenges in life, who struggle to “slow down”, Pastor Zhuang reminded the church that they have a Shepherd who protects them so that they can rest in the dark of the night.
While many Christians have the mental image of a Jesus who is sweet and gentle, the pastor emphasised that shepherds are also strong. In 1 Samuel 17:34-35, David described how he fought lions and bears in order to protect his flock. To a shepherd, when his sheep faces danger, the most natural thing to do is to risk his life to protect his sheep.
“To most of us, He’s known as sweet Jesus. But in the scriptures, He’s a Shepherd who will strike the enemy,” Pastor Zhuang stated.
Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd as a foreshadowing of the Gospel. The pastor explained that under the old covenant, sheep are sacrificed to make atonement for the sins of humanity. “Under the old covenant, the sheep has to die for the shepherd, but in the new covenant, the Shepherd dies for the sheep. Jesus, the perfect Shepherd reversed the role as He lay down his life for the sheep, to protect us from the curse of sin and death,” Pastor Zhuang said, expounding on the verse.
The pastor went on to teach that in Psalm 23, David expressed that the Shepherd not only leads him but also protects him. He used three metaphors to describe and explain how his Shepherd protects him.
1. The Shepherd protects him in the valley
Psalm 23:4 reads, ‘Ye, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.’
Pastor Zhuang noted that Psalm 23 started on a happy note, describing the green pastures. However, it takes a sudden turn, and danger is introduced. “What happened? Let me tell you: real life happened,” the pastor said.
The valley depicts a place where people experience darkness in their lives. However, David wrote that he walked through the valley—this implies that one does not stay in the valley forever. “Because if you keep walking, you will walk out of the valley and go up the mountaintop again,” Pastor Zhuang encouraged the church.
He assured them that although the valley is filled with darkness and at times, they cannot even see God, the Lord still sees them. He added that in “the valley of the shadow of death’, the shadow may cause fear but it cannot hurt them.
He acknowledged that some people are going through challenges that are very real. However, he encouraged them that Jesus has conquered death and they no longer need to fear its shadow. David did not deny the reality of the valley, but he looked to the Shepherd in the midst of the valley, and the whole experience became bearable.
Pastor Zhuang noted that in the middle of the verse, David went from using third person reference to first person. The valley is where one experiences God in a personal way. “You will meet God face to face. You’ll never have to fear because Jesus is here,” he said.
2. The rod and the staff comfort him
Pastor Zhuang explained that the rod is used by the shepherd to fight off the predators, while the staff is used to pull the sheep back when they go astray, or to save the sheep if they have fallen off a cliff.
“We serve a God who is not only able to protect us from outsiders but to also protect us from ourselves,” Pastor Zhuang highlighted. Attacks from Satan can only happen when God permits it.
Reading Job 1:8-10, Pastor Zhuang shared how Satan was trying to find a person’s life to disrupt. He commented that God has placed a hedge of protection over Job and all his possessions and he could not get to him.
“Very often, we complain about how many times the enemy has attacked us but we have no idea how many times God has protected us,” the pastor preached. “We praise God for the things we know that He has done for us, but we should also praise God for the things that God has protected and shielded us from that we don’t even know about.”
The rod and the staff are basic instruments that a shepherd carries on a daily basis. Pastor Zhuang believes that David is comforted by the rod and staff because he knows his Shepherd is involved in the daily affairs of his life. He reminded the church that God protects them on a daily basis and is very much involved in their lives.
3. The table before the enemies
Psalm 23:5 reads, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” The word “prepare” implies that God had used foresight when He prepared this table.
Illustrating his point with a stage set, Pastor Zhuang emphasised that God wants to dine with His people. He has prepared a table and paid the price by laying down His life on the cross. “The interesting is this, God prepared this table for us, not in the presence of God but in the presence of the enemies,” he pointed out.
“I believe what God is saying to us, ‘I won’t get rid of your enemies, but I want to manifest My goodness, provision and protection even in the midst of your enemies,’” Pastor Zhuang explained. “Because the place of your greatest victory is often in the middle of your fiercest battle.”
Borrowing an illustration by American pastor Louie Giglio, Pastor Zhuang invited a pastoral staff member and four cell group leaders onstage to play the part of David and his enemies. What does one do when he is surrounded by enemies? 1 Peter 5:8 teaches Christians to be sober-minded and watchful because there are two groups of adversaries fighting for a seat at their table.
The first is the devil. “The devil looks for an opportunity to pull out a chair, sit at your table and talk to you,” Pastor Zhuang explained. “By doing so, the devil will steal your heart and devotion away from God.”
1 Peter 5:9 teaches Christians to “resist him, steadfast in the faith...” when facing the devil.
The second is bad company. The relationships a person has contribute greatly to his ability to live a fulfilling and fruitful life. However, people are often oblivious to the fact that their spiritual, emotional and financial well-being are impacted by whom they allow in their lives.
Reading Proverbs 13:20 and Proverbs 27:17, the pastor emphasised that there are no neutral relationships. “Relationships either pull us forward or back,” he said. “They either brings us joy or sorrow, they either push us into God’s purpose or into pain.”
“It is possible for us to be unaware of the impact a relationship has on us. If we are not careful, we could allow the wrong person to sit at the table and corrupt our good character,” the pastor preached, quoting 1 Cor 15:33, adding that it is important to have “relational intelligence”. “That is the ability to define and align your relationships. The right people must be put in the right place so that good can come to us.”
Having said that, he also stated that every person should be loved biblically and valued equally, but not all should be treated the same way. This means that while believers need to love everyone unconditionally and value them equally regardless of their race, gender, social economic status, or educational level, they should not open their hearts to just anyone. “Everybody gets to be loved, but not everybody should get access into your lives,” he said.
“I must be sober-minded and watchful of who seats at my table. I need people who love me enough to correct me but are willing to pray and cheer for me,” Pastor Zhuang reiterated. “God prepared a table for us, and we get to choose who sits at this table.”
The table that God prepared is a powerful one. In 2 Kings 6:14-16, the prophet Elisha was surrounded by enemies who were seeking to kill him. Yet he knew that “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Pastor Zhuang taught, “Maybe the enemy has surrounded you, but God’s angels are surrounding your enemies. That is the picture of the table that God has provided for us.”
God then confused the enemies, and they were soon surrounded by the armies of Israel. Elijah then advised the King of Israel to give them a feast and send them back instead of killing them.
After the enemies ate and drank, they went back to where they belonged and stopped raiding Israel. “That is the power of the table that God has prepared for us in the presence of our enemies,” the pastor preached. By doing this, God is showing the enemies how He is sustaining His people, strengthening them, and leading, and protecting them in the midst of difficulties.
Many times, Christians would ask God to get them out of their battles, yet God wants to get into their battles, to fight alongside them.
Similarly, when the three Hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fire, God did not simply let them escape. He jumped into the fire with them as the fourth Man, and protected them from all harm.
In closing, the pastor reminded the church that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who leads them and protects them. He encouraged them to not be afraid when they face the shadows of death.
