Transcript
Thank you, Wade. That was just wonderful. Well, what a joy it is to be here in this beloved sanctuary. I love it. I love the windows, how they tell the story of why we're here, because of Jesus Christ and His love. First, I want to say a few personal words here at the beginning of today's message. First, a personal thank you. And thank you for your prayers for me during the health crisis or challenge I had
in August. I had this crisis and then a wonderful thing happened. I got a pacemaker and the pacemaker enabled me to feel great now and I feel well and energetic too. So, but you prayed for me and I received so many notes and all from the, and I know that you did in the church service too, and I'm so grateful for that. And then also, another personal item, on November 26, I celebrated my birthday and it
was my 90th birthday. And I know everybody is surprised. And a lot of you sent me letters and notice, and my wife actually sent out a little notice to people on our mailing list and said, you might want to write some memory you had or some funny thing that happened in your, in your time with Earl Palmer at UPC or at National Presbyterian Church of Washington or First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley or Union Church of Manila.
Those have been my places where I've been. And I got all these wonderful notes and it was just a joy to get those on my 90th birthday. And I want to thank you for that. That is a thing to say. Now also, I have, my daughter Anne is here. She's a doctor and she's been my medical advisor. And that's one of the reasons I only use my elbow in visiting with people. I don't hug anybody and
I wear my mask, of course, all the time except when I'm preaching right here. But then there is social distance. So that makes it possible for me to follow all of her regulations that she's given me. But it's just a joy that she's here. I'm sure he's here too, but that my daughter is here assisting me in all of those issues. We're in the epiphany time and we are thankful for this second day after Christmas, second
Sunday to worship after Christmas when shepherds were invited by the angel to go to Bethlehem and to be the witnesses. They were the witnesses of the birth of Jesus Christ. Not the wise men. They came later. They came with honor and they're very important too. But the shepherds were the first witnesses and that is a very marvelous, that's a marvelous feature in the way we celebrate Christmas and are thankful that these night shift shepherds were invited
first to go. They know about birth and they know about what's involved in families and they were the ones who were there. And so we celebrated that on Christmas. And I want to begin today with a psalm. It's probably the most beloved psalm in all of the book of Psalms. You know, King David, as first a young man and then as a king, he wrote many psalms. But the one that is most beloved is the psalm
that he titled, The Lord is My Shepherd. And it's the shepherd psalm that he wrote. And I want to begin with that. I want to begin with one line in the shepherd psalm that is so memorable and maybe the most important line in that great, The Lord is My Shepherd I Shall Not Want. But the one line I want to especially draw your attention to today is, Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. This is the shepherd psalm and he's praying to the Lord his shepherd, because you are with me. Your rod and your staff, those are the main equipment of a shepherd. The rod to protect, the staff to guide. So you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. I really feel this is such a great sentence. It's a sentence that recognizes that we walk through
a dark valley many times in our lives. And right now in our country and in this city, we're walking through a dark valley. And it's a health crisis too. And we are aware of that darkness and it's danger. And so here in this psalm, David says in the present tense, Though I walk, not I will walk, but though, or I did walk, but though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and he saw
the danger of that valley. But then a surprise, I fear no evil. Again, present tense, I fear no evil. For thou art with me. That's the shepherd. The shepherd is with me. With his rod, with his staff, the shepherd is with me. And his rod and staff, as a shepherd, comforts me. I love that sentence because it's so realistic and it's so genuine and simple. And then he ends with this line, thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me. I was especially taken by that word comfort. What does it mean? What did David mean by saying that? Thy rod, thy staff, they comfort me. Well, in studying the word, it is in Hebrew, it's a Hebrew word that David is using. He writes the Psalms in Hebrew. And Hebrew is a pictorial language. That is a very big mark about Hebrew. In fact, I should have titled my sermon today not words that matter. I
should probably have titled my sermon today pictures that matter. What we see matters, what we experience matters because that's what this psalm is saying. Thy rod, thy staff, they comfort me. And when I looked up the word, it is the Hebrew word nihim. And the Hebrew language is pictorial so that almost everything that is spoken that we might think of as theoretical, and in Greek, Greek is a theoretical language and is able to think in theory
terms. But Hebrew doesn't think that way. In the Hebrew language, almost every word means something concrete. And that's why in Old Testament poetry, we have the richness of all the words have a concrete and real experiential dimension. And when I looked up that word and studied it, I discovered that that word literally in the Greek language, in the Hebrew language, literally nihim means to breathe deeply. It's concrete. To breathe deeply. That's comfort. Not to gasp, not
to hold your breath, not to wonder and therefore be afraid to breathe, but to breathe deeply. And that is the word for comfort in the Hebrew. And it's interesting that David in his psalm uses that. Now think of it in that terms with regard to that sentence. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. Why? Because thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, the shepherd is with me,
and you comfort me. And now I can breathe deeply. That's what comfort is, is to breathe deeply. I'll show you how it's used in a very famous passage, which we just celebrated in preparing for Christmas. And that is Isaiah 40. In Isaiah 40, we get the beginnings of the preparation for this Messiah who is coming. We had heard about him earlier in Isaiah 9 that for us a child is born and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor. By the way, notice, these are all concrete pictures. Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And that we heard in Isaiah 9. But in Isaiah 40, we get ready for that. And Isaiah 40 begins this way. Comfort ye, O comfort ye, my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Her warfare is over. And it begins with comfort, comfort thee. The same word, neham, the same word used in David's psalm some 450 years later, David
lived 1000 BC, and some 400 years later, 300 years later, Isaiah writes, getting ready for the coming of Messiah. He says, comfort ye, O comfort ye, my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Her warfare is over. In other words, in effect, what Isaiah is saying, because every Hebrew that hears that knows the Hebrew language and knows that he is using twice, neham, neham. So he, anyone that is listening to or reading Isaiah 40 knows he's saying, breathe
deeply, breathe deeply. O Jerusalem, speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Your warfare is over. Comfort, comfort ye. And so there is a dynamic use of that word, comfort. And that is, that is a beautiful thing to read about. And the fact is that comfort ye, that breathing easy or breathing deeply is portrayed in a place of deep danger. That is David's psalm. Though, even though, in fact, it begins even, which means it seems odd, but even though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I not, I will fear no evil, but I fear no evil. How could you say that? I fear no evil because the Lord is alongside. He's alongside of me in that danger. And now I can breathe deeply. So when the Lord is alongside of David, if you think of King David, young David writing that amazing psalm, the one psalm where he refers to the Lord as his shepherd
and that amazing line that in the midst of profound danger, I fear no evil. Evil is the thing that you're really worried about. It's when things turn bad and they go and they become dark and they become evil. And though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. Thou art with me. My shepherd is alongside and therefore I can breathe deeply. He is comforting me. I just think that's marvelous. It's
interesting in the New Testament, the word comfort picks this up because the word for comfort in the New Testament is parakletos, which means to come alongside. Isn't that interesting? And that is the Greek word for comfort. And it's about as close, Greek every once in a while become very concrete too. And that is the word when Jesus says that I will not leave you comfortless. I will not leave you without coming alongside of you. And he
uses that word parakletos, alongside. To calate means to call, alongside. I'm alongside of you. And so that is the same, the same you might say experiential dynamic that was in David's psalm or in Isaiah 40. And that means that our Messiah is the one who comes alongside of us. He knows us. He knows our name. And that is the comfort we feel. Well in the New Testament, our Lord also picks this up and makes use of
this shepherd language. Now it's interesting, the text that I chose for today is a text which does demonstrate that truth. It is the first Thessalonians one, six verses of that first Thessalonians one. And I'll just read it to you because it is very interesting. Paul had traveled to Thessalonica and there a great, if you read the chapter, chapter six especially and on in the book of Acts, you can read about Paul first in Philippi. And then
he went on to the capital of Macedonia. He's now entered Europe. The gospel is coming into Europe and he's entered Europe and he goes first to the little town of Bethlehem where he gets arrested and thrown into prison. Interesting because of racial prejudice because when he and Sylvanius were there with Luke and Timothy, somebody started a riot in Philippi, a little town, and then they protested that said that Paul is a, these men are Jews and
they're bothering our city because they were preaching the gospel and they and many people were becoming believers but they are troubling our city, these Jews. And so Paul was put in prison that night before, we don't know how many days, but he was thrown into a prison with Sylvanius, his other partner who's Jewish. Notice Timothy was not thrown into jail. He's a Greek. Nor was Luke thrown into jail, his other traveler, his beloved physician. He's a
Greek. But it was a prejudice against Jews that these people in Philippi decided when they went to before the magistrate, they said these Jews are bothering us. So he was put in jail. But a beautiful thing happened in that jail and that, in my opinion, is the beginning of the Philippian church. The church Paul loved better than almost every other church he was at and his letter to the Philippians is one of the very last letters
Paul wrote. But the Philippian jailer is there, an earthquake occurs, it jars all of the bars that were holding prisoners and they broke. But the jailer was evidently either knocked out or fell asleep. We don't know. Maybe he was derelict. And you know, that is a very bad thing for a Roman guard to become derelict and have a prisoner leave. But so he was taking out his sword and about, the text says, to expire himself. He
was going to kill himself because I have lost my prisoners in this earthquake. I'll certainly lose my job, maybe lose my life for that. And Paul cries out inside the prison, don't hurt yourself, we're still here. You know, I think that's one of the greatest grace sentences in the whole of the New Testament book of Acts. These two guys, they had been whipped the day before with lectors. They had been beaten and that itself was a
very severe penalty. That's what happened just before they were put in jail. And then here's these two wounded guys and they, when they realized Paul knows Roman tradition and he knows that this guard is about to kill him because he can see him pull his sword out and he's going to kill himself. And he says, don't hurt yourself, we are still here. And you know, the guard came in trembling before him and says this interesting sentence,
what must I do to be saved? And whatever he had heard from Paul, he decides, what do I do to be like you? And you know, that's the beginning of the Philippian church as far as we know, because the text says the guard then took Paul and Sylvanius to his house and they nourished them and did first aid. And then the next day Paul had to return to prison because he wanted to appear before the magistrate
and protest the fact that they had been illegally captive. Then Paul goes on to the capital of Macedonia, the big city, Thessalonica. And Thessalonica deserves two letters in the New Testament. Some people think the very first letters Paul wrote may have been first letter would be Galatians perhaps and then the Thessalonian letters are the next, the early letters. And he writes to them and says how grateful he is for the fact that they had left idols
and they are following the living God. And I'll just read you that opening text. We give thanks to God for you. We mention you in our prayers and remember you before God. Because of your work of faith, they have made faith work, they have thought things through. Your labor of love, they have been living out grace, a little like what Paul and Silas did in Philippi. You did that. And by the way, there was a riot
also that happened in Thessalonica and the Christian believers there in Thessalonica protected Paul in there. So your labor of love, your steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. But then he goes on to say, for in spite of affliction, you receive the word with joy. So he adds a fourth word to faith, hope, love, and joy. And he adds that. It's almost like that's the deep breathing that happened also in the midst of that riot.
And in that riot, I was so taken by that, that in the middle of that affliction, that's the word that's used in the Greek. And not the word persecution, which the RSV uses, but it is the more general term, affliction or controversy or danger. In the middle of that, they experienced joy, almost like David. In the valley of the shadow of death, I experienced joy, but comfort. I experienced the ability to breathe easily because the shepherd
was with me. So there you have Paul sharing that there is joy that comes in the middle of that crisis. So our Lord will pick that up and will pick up the shepherd imagery, the images of the shepherd in that very Isaiah text, which said, comfort ye, comfort ye, breathe deeply, breathe deeply because God is speaking tenderly now to you in Jerusalem. Your warfare is over and the Messiah is coming. And they'll hear that. And then
comes just 10 verses later, it describes the Messiah. He will be like a shepherd who feeds his flock. He will feed his flock. He will carry the young lambs and also hold them near his bosom. The shepherd will do that. And so he, that wonderful line about the Messiah who's coming, who will be like a shepherd, he will shepherd you. Can I tell you a personal story? When I went to college, I grew up in a
little town called McLeod and it wasn't, it was not a cultural center. So we had a church and I went to it and I wasn't, I wasn't really very deep in my Christian faith. I was just a beginner and because I did go to the youth group in our church, but then I went off to U.C. Berkeley to become a student, study political science. And I went there and I had a major experience in my life
of becoming a Christian there in that church, in the church, First Prebitterian Church of Berkeley, because I went to that great university. But before I actually got into the Bible study group, which changed my life, and I've preached about that here. I've told you about it, that I got into a Bible study with other guys and I, whenever you do a Bible study in the New Testament and the Gospels and even in the Old Testament in
the predictive way, you meet the Lord. The Lord you meet and Jesus you meet him and then he wins your respect. And then you begin to hear his promises and you decide to put your weight down and trust his promises and then you become a believer. But for me, I went to Berkeley and I was a student there my freshman year and I was very interested in hiking. In fact, I was in the U.C. hiking club
and stuff like that. So I didn't particularly go to church or anything like that, but I was very, I wanted to become more culturally adept. And somebody said, you know, they're performing George Frideric Handel's Messiah here at U.C. and so it was at Zellerbach Hall and it'd be a chance to go and hear this great work. And I had never heard George Frideric Handel's Messiah. And I went and I heard the huge presentation with this
great, with orchestra, with choir and soloists singing this amazing work, George Frideric Handel. And it has the great hallelujah chorus about halfway through the Messiah. And then at the end is probably one of the most beautiful of all, uh, choral pieces. Worthy is the lamb, which ends Messiah. But right in the middle of Messiah is to me the high mark and to, and I have seen Messiah now number of times. And when I was a pastor
for the time I was at National Presbyterian Church, we performed it there. The church performed it with full orchestra and the whole Messiah, every part. And so I, I know it now, but then I was the first time seeing or listening to it. And they came to this middle point right after the introduction of Jesus and his birth, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulders. And we heard that. And then a high water mark for me in Messiah is when the contralto then sings in a lower voice. And it was absolutely amazing. Sings, he will feed his flock like a shepherd. I heard this contralto sing that and I was blown away, but that's not the end. When the contralto finishes, then the soprano comes in. Sharon Acton, who used to be in our choir, just, she wrote me a note
after I, they were, you were honoring my 90th birthday and she said, Earl, I still remember that one of my last times to sing a solo at UPC, you asked if I would sing that song and I sang it and I still remember it. The great soprano, aria, the contralto come unto him all you that labor and are heavy laden, and then the soprano come unto him, he will feed his flock, but then come unto him
all you that labor. That's Matthew 11. That is in the gospel. That's Jesus Christ the shepherd inviting us in. I'll read that great line because that is what is behind that messiah text. Matthew 11, come unto me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. By the way, the word rest and pause are the same word in Greek. So you could read it, I'll give you pause or I'll
give you rest. So there is an interesting thing, isn't it? I'll give you rest. I'll give you space. And then he goes on to say, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Or again, you could say you will find pause for your souls. For my yoke is easy, my burden is light. And that is the great promise of Jesus
Christ, the good shepherd coming to us. Do you know when I left that concert, I've said this to other people because I'm not a particularly musical, as you discovered, I had a little more chance to sing the contralto part, but I can't sing the soprano part. But I left that concert, I could not get those two melodies out of my head. I still can. I could not get them out of my mind. I wasn't even a
Christian yet. But I had fallen in love with the one who is the shepherd and the one who calls me to come and have rest and pause. And you know, then I joined the guy's Bible study group in my co-op, Arba Hudgens, who became one of my very dearest friends in Berkeley, invited me to come to the Bible study group. And I went to that Bible study group. And in that small group, all the pieces
came together. And the marvelous truth of Jesus Christ was confirmed to me. And this person became real to me. And I'll never forget then going to a conference and Robert Boyd Munger was the speaker at that conference who was also a pastor in this church. And he said, when on the basis of what you know about Jesus Christ, you're willing to trust in his trustworthiness, then you're ready to become a Christian, ready to become a believer.
And that's what happened to me in that college conference at Lake Tahoe. And the rest for me is history. But you know, it all began, and I have said this to, I've said it to a couple of my musician friends, my whole experience of really becoming a Christian began with George Frideric and it began with that marvelous music. And especially, and then of course, I came to love all the songs in Messiah. But that those two
still stand out, in my opinion, as the sort of high water mark, even musically of that great oratorio. And they're the quietest part of the oratorio. And they're sung by two wonderful soloists, a contralto, he will feed his flock like a shepherd, and the soprano, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. We're living in a time where there are so many burdens. And there are so many of us are heavy laden. And
we need to breathe deeply. We need not to gasp and not to hold our breath, but to breathe deeply. And that is a gift that comes from Jesus Christ. It comes to us. And that's what we need to model to our generation right now. Because as you know, in the middle of this crisis, there's been so much blame and so much anger and disputes that have developed. But the role we can play, in fact, I thought
to myself, the role we can play is to show that we really care about other people, and that we really care about helping people to discover grace, is we need to ourselves get vaccinated. And then we need to wear our mask. I had an experience a few weeks ago where a young man who came to help move a mattress in our house, and he was with another guy, and they were both carried this huge mattress up
and put it into our house and took the old mattress away. And I was visiting with them afterward outside. And so I just asked him, have you guys been vaccinated? And the one guy said, yes, I have. And then the other guy said, and he said, no, I'm not afraid to die. And he said, told me he was a Christian. He said, I'm not afraid to die. So I haven't been vaccinated. And so then I said
to him, what about the people you might infect? Are you afraid that they might die? You're going to be fine. And if you do die, you don't care. But you say, but what about people that might get what you carry if you aren't vaccinated? Because vaccinations will keep you from hurting others. And it was really funny. The other guy said, yes, I've been telling him that. So I told him, I said, keep working on this guy.
And then the guy said, well, you know, I never thought of it that way. I never thought that it's other people that I should care about. I was just telling him about myself, but I should care about other people too. And I thought, well, you know, there was thanks to his partner who backed me up and they were good guys, but I wanted them both to be safe. And it seems to me that when we care
about other people being safe and care about other people experiencing, then we're following the good shepherd. And we're then yoking ourselves with him because he is the one who makes us feel safe. And we need that today in our time. And I just felt what an honor to be able to preach on this beginning of the year 2022. And I wondered what can we hear that will help us the most. And it seems to me we
need to know that we can be in a dark place or a dark valley where it is dangerous. And we can, by being steadfast and holding on to the truth and holding on to God's love, we can make a difference. And then we can breathe deeply. Heavenly Father, thank you for these wonderful models that have been given to us in the New Testament. And thank you for the wonderful gift that David gave in his Good Shepherd
song. And may we experience that kind of peace and that kind of joy, the joy of breathing deeply. And then give us the ability to share that goodness with people around us. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.