Thank you, Steve. Church, you can turn to Psalm 23. We're going to look at it as well. I'm going to be preaching primarily on verse 2 today, but I'd like for us to just have a sense of the whole just kind of in our head before we dive into the details here. Psalm 23 shows up on page 458 of my Bible, perhaps yours too, but it begins this way. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even 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, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This is God's word for us today. Let's pray that he would give us the grace that we would understand it and rightly apply it to our hearts. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for gathering us together as your sheep, as your flock today to be fed of your word. Lord, I pray that you would give us eyes to see what we need to see here. You would give us ears to hear what we need to hear here. And you would just make our hearts sensitive and soft that we would receive and believe everything that it is you want to impress upon us today. Lord, would you do this for your glory, for our good, even the joy of the world. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. A couple of years ago, I stumbled upon a version of Psalm 23 that was written by the late counselor and theologian David Pallison. Now what was special about David Powelson's version of Psalm 23 is that it was written as an anti-psalm, sort of the antithesis or the exact opposite of what we have just read. I want to read just Psalm 23 verses 1, 2, and sort of that first part of verse 3 so that when you hear the antithesis, you can sort of catch the juxtaposition or what's so arresting about this juxtaposition. Okay, here's the original, not David Pallison, but King David's Psalm 23, verses 1, 2, and 3. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Now I want you to hear the antithesis or the opposite of that. I'm on my own. No one looks out for me or protects me. I experience a continual sense of need. Nothing's quite right. I'm always restless, frustrated, disappointed, overwhelmed, thirsty. My soul feels broken, twisted, stuck. I can't fix myself. Now, I find the juxtaposition of Psalm 23 and sort of the anti-Psalm arresting. It stops me in my tracks, and I find it illuminating and penetrating. A question comes to my mind as I hear these two sort of side by side. Which of those Psalms, the Psalm 23 or the anti-Psalm 23, is more reflective of my life? Like, where do I see myself or find myself between those two? And if my life is more reflected in the anti-psalm, restless, frustrated, disappointed, overwhelmed, and thirsty, how do I experience, like how do I move to a place of deep and abiding rest? How do I leave sort of the world of the anti-psalm and find myself in sort of this original psalm, full of stillness and joy, contentment and restoration? How do I leave the world of the anti-Psalm and enter the world of Psalm 23, a world that Jesus is very much inviting us into? I think the first thing that we have to do, if you want to make that move with me, I think the first thing that we have to do is be honest about where we are actually starting from. You know, if we're going to go on a journey, And let's say we're going on Google Maps and we're inputting our destination. We want the directions to start from our current location and not some imaginary place, as nice as that imaginary place might be, right? If we want to go somewhere, let's start from where we actually are. And I think where many of us are actually located is not in green pastures or still waters. It is in a hurried and harried place. A lot of us are restless. A lot of us are just so busy. As a campus minister at the University of Vermont, I'm always checking in with students, and I'm asking them, how are they doing? How are you? The most common answer I get to that question is, good. I'm just so busy. I'm really, really busy. I'm crazy busy. Now, this isn't just an affliction of the young and the restless, right? Even in your retirement, your mind and heart can race with anxious thoughts and never-ending to-do lists. I hear this sort of answer, I'm so busy, from family and neighbors and friends. I think it is a commonplace thing for many Americans, maybe for Italians too, right? But it's commonplace for Americans to wear their busyness as a badge, as a badge of honor, right? Saying I'm busy communicates I'm one of the important people. Right? Saying I'm busy says I matter. I'm getting stuff done. I'm productive. I'm worthwhile. So we think. Right? In this article for the New York Times called The Busy Trap, Tim Crider writes, and I quote, Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance that your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you're so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day. Now in his article, Kreider is scratching at something. What if, what if our busyness isn't so much a badge of honor, what if it's more a suit of armor? Not a badge of honor, but a suit of armor. What if we're not wearing our busyness because we're proud? What if we're wearing our busyness because deep down inside, we're anxious and afraid? Deep down inside, afraid that we aren't good enough, or smart enough, or strong enough, or pretty enough. What if we're afraid? If I don't hustle, if I'm not busy, someone else is going to eat my bread. If I don't do all of those exercises, I'm never going to get the swipe right. If I don't join, you know, 15 clubs or, you know, honor societies or, you know, rotary clubs or whatever it may be, it's not just, you know, students, you know, you too. What if I don't do all of those things, sign up for all of those committees? I'm never going to get the approval or the summer internship or, you know, the job, whatever it may be. Deep down inside, you're not proud or okay. Deep down inside, you're anxious and afraid. And so you jump on that treadmill or that hamster wheel and you run as fast as you can. You get really busy. But underneath all of that noise and activity is a tired and insecure sheep. I think that would be honest. I know for myself a lot of my busyness is my trying to mask or to hide my insecurities and fear of not measuring up. It's a way of sort of justifying my existence. But busyness is not just masked insecurity. There is also underneath our busyness an insatiable restlessness, a hunger and a thirst that will not go away. We are like sheep going from one clump of grass to another, always on the move because we are never satisfied. In 2017, Netflix put out a press release and they were promoting this new trend that they hoped would catch on called binge racing. You probably know what binge watching is. If you're watching a lot of television or a lot of movies, you know, it's if you spend, if you watch more than five episodes of a television show in one sitting, that's considered binge watching. What Netflix was promoting was something different. They wanted you to get into binge racing. Binge racing is not when you watch five episodes in a row. It's when you watch an entire season of a show in less than 24 hours. When the Netflix CEO was asked about it, he said, what's the problem? He said, there's only a certain amount of hours in a day that humans can tend to activities, and Netflix's goal is to occupy all of them. You can look this up. He said that the biggest competition that Netflix faces is not from other streaming services like Amazon Prime or HBO. He said, and I quote, our biggest competitor is sleep. And we're winning. So the CEO of Netflix wants to use all of, he wants to steal all of your time. And to leave you restless. But he's not alone in his ambition. Apps like Netflix, Instagram, TikTok, they're all intentionally engineered to steal your time and your attention. They are like digital carnivores that are constantly eating at your time, attention, and even sleep, leaving you quite literally restless. But we are restless in another sense, too. Online and offline, we go from one thing to the other, thinking that this person or this place or this thing will finally satisfy me. But it can't, and it won't. Despite all of our consumption, we are never satisfied. We are a restless people. The fourth century African theologian Augustine was right when he said, oh Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. So you and I are restless because we are made in the image of God. We were created to know the infinite God and to be filled with his infinite love. But when we turn our backs on God, which we have all done, we still have infinite desire. But we're now trying to fill that infinite desire with finite things. The result is restlessness. We move through this world like sheep, wandering from one clump of grass to the other, always grazing, never fully satisfied. We think this one clump of grass over there is going to fill me up, but it runs out. So we restlessly move on. And we are looking for more. But no matter how much we see, or do, or buy, or sell, or eat, or drink, or experience, or travel, we always want more. And advertising capitalizes on this feeling of restlessness. It holds out the promise that if you just buy this bathrobe, or maybe this laptop, you'll truly be satisfied. But friends, you bought the bathrobe, and you own the laptop. And you're still not happy. You're still not satisfied. When it fails to deliver, you blame the bathrobe. Oh, gosh, I should have bought a fluffier one. Or you blame the laptop. Oh, crap, I should have bought the quicker one. But what you never do is question the search itself. And we're off to the races again in search of that finite thing that's going to fill the infinite void. C.S. Lewis is spot on when he says, and I quote, most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. Here's the money line. But if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. Now church, of course we're busy and restless, like people were busy and restless before iPhones. But like climate change is making the weather more intense, our technology is ratcheting up the noise and the restlessness. We are flooded more than ever before and Christians are not immune from this crisis. In his book, Subversive Sabbath, The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World, author A.J. Swoboda writes, and I quote, the church has uncritically mimicked the rhythms of the industrial and success-obsessed West. The result? We have become perhaps the most emotionally exhausted, psychologically overworked, and spiritually malnourished people in history. Okay, that's the bad news. What is, here's an important question, because I think he's not just describing me, I think he's describing all of us, right? What is Jesus' reaction to that? What is Jesus' reaction to us? Matthew 9, 37 reads, When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Let me read that to you one more time. When Jesus saw the crowds, which is to say when he saw Woodstock Congregational Church, he had compassion on them. He had compassion on you. because they were and you are harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Filled with compassion, the good shepherd pursues harassed, helpless, and hurried sheep. He pursues them and he calls them to himself and he gives them rest. He gives us rest. Come to me. Jesus says all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn from me For I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls For my yoke is easy and my burden is light Now I want you to hear the same verses just translated into American idiom From the message Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn how to live freely and lightly. The solution to our hurry is not more time. We don't need more time. If we were given more time, we would do with it what we already do with the time that we have. We would just fill it with things. We don't need more time and we don't need more stuff. The solution to our hurry, to our busyness and our restlessness is returning and resting in the Good Shepherd. That's the solution. Not more time, not more stuff. It's returning and resting in the Good Shepherd. Isaiah 30, 15. The kind of verse that you want to bookmark and highlight. This is what it says, it says, this is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says, in repentance and rest is your salvation. In quietness and trust is your strength. Now the word repentance literally means returning. In returning and rest is your salvation. Repentance means to turn around, which for a bunch of people who have run away from home, to turn around means to go home. Repentance means Go home. Quit wearing your busyness like a badge of honor or even a suit of armor. And quit binge racing from one clump of grass to another thinking that this TV show or vacation or hookup or whatever it is will finally satisfy you. No, no, no. Turn around. Face home. And when you face home, you will see the face of your good shepherd who left his home to find you. See, when you turn home, you see the one who's going after you. Kirk Thompson said, we're all born into this world looking for someone who's looking for us. We're all born into this world looking for someone looking for us. We all have this ache inside that makes us get busy and that leaves us restless. We all want to be wanted, don't we? We want to be seen and known and loved and we are looking for someone who is looking for us, someone who can see us at the depths of our being and say yes. A love that will meet us where we are at and a love that will not leave us there. I wouldn't fault you for looking to your parents to love you like this. or your friends to love you like this, or a future spouse to love you like this. But all of those people will let you down. They can't help it, they're sinners. They will let you down. And you will let them down too. There is only one person whose love is this good. One who doesn't just see us, but sees into us. Who sees the goodness inside but also sees the brokenness. Who sees our sins as well as sees the sins committed against us. Sees our sins but also sees our scars. He sees it all. And that one person is Jesus. And when Jesus sees us, when he sees you, he doesn't avert his gaze. He doesn't turn away in disgust. He moves towards you in love. He meets you where you are at. And he doesn't leave you there. See, we're all looking for someone looking for us, and Jesus is looking for you. He is the shepherd who goes after and loves lost sheep. He is a shepherd who knows your name and who calls you by name, and he draws you to himself, and he dies for you. His love is as high as the heavens. It is as wide as east is from the west, and it is as deep as the grave. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, right? The Lord is my shepherd. That is enough for me. He makes me lie down in green pastures. Now a sheep lying down in green pastures is a perfect picture of contentment. It's lying down in green pastures. It is surrounded by so much to eat, but it's good. It's okay. It's lying down, not munching and crunching and greeming. It's lying down. And when you encounter the love that God has for you and Jesus, it will satisfy you too, so much so that you can lie down in your abundance. You don't have to keep rushing and racing and consuming. You can lie down because you have found something finally that satisfies your soul. Who Jesus is and what he has done for me, it is more than I could ask for or imagine. It is enough for me. A sheep lying down in green pastures is not just a perfect picture of contentment. It is, I think, a perfect picture of the Sabbath. You're like, what is that? Well, the Sabbath is God's command to stop every seventh day and just rest. Right? Sabbath means stop. Stop trying to earn. Stop trying to achieve. Stop trying to prove or justify your existence. Stop trying to be productive or efficient. You don't have to get super busy to earn God's attention. You don't have to get super busy to win his approval. He sees you. And he says yes to you. Friends, you are loved because you are great. You are great because you are loved, and loved by him. Sabbath is not just about ceasing to work, it's about ceasing to consume. So you don't have to keep running from one clump of grass to another. You don't need to buy and sell and shop and surf the web. You can just put away all that and enjoy what you already have. In the words of John Mark Comer, drink deeply from the well of ordinary life, a meal with friends, time with family, a walk in the forest, afternoon tea, above all, slow down long enough to enjoy life with God, who offers everything that materialism promises but can never deliver on, namely, contentment. In his excellent book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer points out that Sabbath is the only spiritual discipline that makes it into the Ten Commandments. So the same list as don't murder and don't steal and don't commit adultery, don't be a workaholic, right? Remember the Sabbath. And why is that? Well, I think it means that God wants you to know about his love, not just with your head. He wants you to have a deep experience of it. He wants you to not just know his love intellectually, but to know it experientially. He makes me lie down. He makes me lie down to stop in green pastures. And he leads me beside still waters. the emphasis on still, and it says, starting in verse three, he restores my soul. I want you to note the word rest and restore. The word restore means to repair, so as to return something to its original condition. Jesus restoring our soul, returning it and repairing it to that original condition, which is when we walked in the garden, that place of abundance. And we just enjoyed not just the fruit, but we enjoyed walking with God. The word restore also means to give something stolen or lost back to the original owner. Jesus restores our soul. He mends our broken hearts. He mends our broken relationships. He brings us home to God. Again, to quote Isaiah 30, in returning and rest is your salvation. In quietness and trust is your strength. When we stop and we come back to the truth of who God is and all that he has done for us in Jesus, when we remember the gospel, our soul is also remembered. It's put back together again. He remembers. He restores my soul. You all know what it's like to be busy and restless and constantly on the go. You know hurry and thirstiness of soul. But church, you are invited into green pastures. And you are called to still waters. And it's not me who's calling you, it's Jesus the Good Shepherd. Yours and mine, our good shepherd, calling you by name, saying, are you tired, worn out? Come to me. I will give you rest. In returning and rest, you will be saved. In quietness and in trust will be your strength. Church, repent. Go home and rest in him. Let's pray. Lord, we confess that we are hurried and harried sheep. Our souls, when they are not resting in you, are restless. And so, Lord, thank you. Thank you that you've told us that we should come home. And thank you that you have come and you have pursued Lost Sheep and you have come, you've done everything to bring us there. And I pray that whether we have forgotten how to rest in you or we've, this is the first time we've ever heard a message like this. I pray, Lord, that we would experience sort of that restoration of soul that only you can give. We thank you and we praise you in Jesus's name. Amen.