“THY ROD AND THY STAFF” (PS. 23:4)

1. The Methodist church was founded by John Wesley. Mr. Wesley was a preacher in the 1700’s.

2. During one of Mr. Wesley’s gospel meetings, he started to preach about sins.

3. One of his lessons involved alcohol.

4. It happened that two intoxicated men were in the audience.

5. These two men said to each other, “He’s saying mean things about us.

6. Let’s do him in.”

7. The two inebriated men picked up huge rocks and started towards Wesley.

8. They positioned themselves so they could hit Mr. Wesley with the rocks.

9. Just about before these two drunken men threw their rocks,

10. John Wesley changed the theme of his preaching.

11. He moved from the subject of sin to the saving power of Christ.

12. As Wesley spoke of Christ, his face radiated with warmth and care.

13. The words he spoke touched the lives of the men who wanted to kill him.

14. Soon the men dropped the stones that were in their hands.

15. The would-be-murderers went and knelt before John Wesley’s feet.

16. Soon the two men walked away, and one of them said to the other,

17. “Was it God Himself?” The other man responded,

18. “No, Bill, but it was man like God!”

I. ALTHOUGH JOHN WESLEY WAS A DENOMINATIONAL PREACHER, HIS LESSON ON THE OCCASION I JUST DESCRIBED WAS WELL-PLANNED.

A. Wesley had positive and negative things to say; it was balanced.

B. The lesson I am presenting tonight deals with the subject of balance.

C. The text my main point is derived from, is Ps. 23:4.

D. The words in this passage that tie into this lesson are on the board.

E. Thy rod and thy staff comfort me.

F. For Eastern shepherds, the rod and the staff were prized possessions.

G. Only these two items were normally taken into the hill country.

1) From the time that a boy started to tend his father’s flock,

2) The child had an interest in a rod and staff.

3) I have read that early in a boy’s life, he would go into the bush.

4) The child would search for a young sapling.

5) The sapling was dug out of the ground;

6) Then the sapling was made into a rod (club) that fit the hand.

7) This rod (club) was the shepherd’s weapon.

8) As I understand shepherding, the staff was not really a weapon.

9) The only weapon was the rod.

10) The boys also competed with their rods (clubs).

11) They would see who could throw with the greatest distance and the most accuracy.

H. Eastern shepherds needed to be skillful with their clubs.

I. If a sheep decided to misbehave, started off into dangerous

J. Territory, or if it began to eat a poisonous plant,

K. The shepherd needed to be able to throw his club and give the sheep a quick whack.

L. Clubs were also used to beat brush and drive out snakes.

M. Shepherds used a rod as some people would use a gun.

N. In fact, I came across a story about a man who was with a shepherd.

O. These two men were trying to move a huge rock.

P. As the rock was being moved, a cobra slithered out from under it.

Q. The shepherd almost instantaneously took his club and killed the cobra.

R. In addition to the rod, shepherds also had a staff.

S. The staff was much longer than the club.

T. Normally it was a long, slender stick with a crook (hook) on one end.

U. This tool was also shaped and smoothed to fit the owner.

V. A sturdy staff allowed the shepherd to lean on it for strength/support.

W. If a newborn lamb became separated from its mother,

X. A staff was used to bring the baby and mother together.

Y. Human hands were not used, because the mother may have picked up the scent and rejected the lamb.

Z. A staff was also used when ewes were lambing (giving birth).

Sometimes a shepherd wanted to examine sheep that were shy (timid).

A staff allowed the shepherd to reach out and bring that sheep in.

Staffs were also used to guide sheep.

If a sheep was unwilling to go somewhere,

A gentle push from the staff would encourage the sheep to move.

On some occasions, a shepherd would hold his staff to a sheep’s side.

This would be parallel to two people “holding hands”.

Sheep apparently get a lot of pleasure from this.

This was one of the ways that the “staff comforted sheep” (Ps. 23:4).

II. IN PS. 23:4, DAVID MENTIONS TWO TOOLS. THE ROD WAS DESIGNED TO CORRECT AND PROTECT. THE STAFF WAS DESIGNED TO COMFORT SHEEP. DAVID KNEW THAT A GOOD SHEPHERD WOULD NEED BOTH TOOLS TO SUCCESSFULLY CARE FOR A FLOCK.

A. As flocks need both items, so do people.

B. In every aspect of life I can think of, we need a rod and staff.

C. As human beings, we need the positive and the negative.

D. Let me give you some examples starting with the home.

E. In the home children need the staff.

F. They need love, attention, care, and parental concern.

G. Many times they need parental closeness.

H. The Bible teaches that parents are to learn how to give these things.

I. Tit. 2:4

J. Loving children is something that can be taught to people.

K. I have known of families where the rod was the only thing the kids knew.

L. Children do not deserve this kind of home life.

M. Children need to know what the staff feels like just as sheep do.

N. But, the staff is not the only tool for parents to use.

O. Just as sheep need to be corrected, so do children.

P. In this lesson I am not arguing for child abuse.

Q. I have known of cases where parents took a paddle and beat their children so badly that blood was drawn and scars were formed.

R. This is child abuse. Scripture condemns abuse.

S. Scripture, though, does not condemn correction by spanking.

T. One of the world’s wisest men wrote in the book of Proverbs,

U. READ Prov. 19:18; 22:15; 29:15.

V. Children need to have the balance that we find in Ps. 23.

W. They cannot always be free from punishment (enjoy staff).

X. The paddle needs to be administered at times.

Y. Parents ought not to be paddling several times a day, 7 days a week.

Z. No parent has the right to ever abuse a child.

1) If we as parents use the principal David laid down,

2) Our children will be well adjusted and happy.

3) They will grow up in the right kind of environment.

A. Let’s go on to another area—the area of religion.

B. Within our brotherhood, I often see two extremes.

C. One mind set in the church is dedicated to the rod.

D. Brethren who think this way are focused on false teaching and sin.

E. Whenever these brethren teach/write an article, the theme is always the same.

F. The other segment of brotherhood concentrates on pleasant thoughts.

G. Error and sin are seldom covered.

H. As I watch both camps point at each other, I am often amused.

I. Each group points at the other and says, “You’re off base”.

J. The people who are bent on dealing with false teaching and sin say,

1) “You never cover bad things.”

K. The people gent on the “let’s feel good mentality” say,

1) “You brethren are never positive.”

L. If we use Ps. 23:4 as a guide, which group is right? Neither.

M. Ps. 23:4 suggests that there must be a balance.

N. Balance is exactly what God has called for in other texts.

O. Allow me to direct your attention to the book of Joshua 1.

P. Very early in Joshua’s career, God gave this man some important instructions.

Q. This material is in v. 7. READ.

R. Was Joshua supposed to be balanced? Absolutely.

S. God said that he was not to go to the right or to the left.

T. Rom. 15:4 says, QUOTE. What do we learn from Josh. 1:7?

U. Teachers in the church need to be balanced.

V. If all of our teaching in Bible classes and in our families is negative,

W. We are teaching only with the rod. That’s wrong.

X. If all of the teaching we do is positive, we have limited ourselves to the staff.

Y. This is one of the greatest challenges I have faced in my profession.

Z. I continually struggle with whether or not I am being balanced.

A. If you have children that you are raising,

B. Work with them at home so they have a balanced view of things.

C. Work with them and blend the positive and negative together.

D. This is what God desires.

E. A third area that involves both the rod and staff is life in general.

F. How many of us have met people who have an unbalanced life?

1) I have met those who believe in working 18 hours a day, Monday thru Friday.

2) Plus weekends.

3) People like this work 90, 100, or even more hours per week.

4) Schedules such as this leave no time for recreation.

5) God did not intend for man to operate at this kind of pace.

6) When the first written law code was given, God said:

7) “There is a rest day—the Sabbath—keep it.”

8) In the 10 commandments, we see the principle of balance.

9) There needs to be a mixture of pleasure and work.

10) If we focus too much on 1 or the other, we get into trouble.

G. Another aspect of balance in life involves material wealth.

H. I have seen people in and out of the church imbalanced in this area.

I. One mindset that people have says that retirement will be difficult.

J. If one is to retire, there must be a vast storehouse of wealth.

K. Throughout the years pennies are pinched; money is carefully saved;

L. People worry about how much they will have when they reach retirement age.

M. With Christians, this approach is justified with scripture.

N. One frequently used text is 1 Tim. 5:8, where Paul refers to Widows.

O. QUOTE.

P. Brethren will point out hat providing for one’s family is right.

Q. Retirement is a need that most will have, therefore, it is right to prepare.

R. Another passage that is sometimes used is 2 Cor. 12:14.

S. QUOTE/READ.

T. Paul is not referring to literal dollars and cents in 2 Cor. 12.

U. Nevertheless, there is a principle to be gleaned from the text.

V. Some kind of savings plan is authorized.

W. This authorization causes some to save up lots of money for retirement.

X. Not all brethren have this kind of view about retirement.

Y. I have met brethren who say, “What about Matt. 6:19-20?”

Z. These two verses are familiar to us. They saw…READ.

A. What about Heb. 13:5? QUOTE.

B. Which attitude about retirement is right?

C. The four texts I have cited are not in opposition to each other.

D. Rather, when they are put together, they blend to form a balance.

E. In regard to retirement, the Lord doesn’t prohibit that.

F. Retirement can fall under the area of good stewardship.

G. On the other hand, if retirement is our main goal…

H. If we are working 100 hours a week to retire at 50 or 60

I. And our hopes and dreams focus on retirement…we are imbalanced.

CONCLUSION:

1. It is not always easy to determine if we are properly balanced.

2. All of us need to know that balance is possible and this is God’s will.

3. From time to time, we need to check ourselves.

4. We can look at the areas I have listed as well as other areas.

5. When things get out of whack, we can put them back in order.

6. Perhaps some here have a life that is out of balance.

7. Maybe you would like to talk with someone about that.

8. There may be something else that you would like to discuss.

9. Tonight there is time and there are people here to serve you.