I Have No Needs, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. The Christian's joy is found in one simple thing, the presence of the shepherd. If you think joy and peace is found in a change of circumstance, if there is anything you think, if this changes, then life will be good.

I can tell you on good authority that you're not going to find it there. Happy Monday, and thanks for joining us for another great week of biblical teaching here on Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have no needs? I mean, that's living the dream, right? Well, today, as we continue our brand new teaching series through Psalm 23, Pastor J.D. shows us exactly how to say that and mean it. Do you have needs?

I know I sure do. And if so, this message is for you. And before we jump in today, I want to remind you that our latest featured resource for all of our generous gospel partners and financial supporters is an expanded study on Psalm 23.

And you can get a hold of that today at jdgreer.com. Now let's open up to Psalm 23, and here's Pastor J.D. A lot of Christians wonder, how can I believe in God's goodness when life around me feels so bad? Well, see, that's what Psalm 23 is all about. Scholars say that David most likely wrote Psalm 23 when he was on the run. Y'all, I used to think that David wrote this Psalm in his early years when he was a shepherd boy, but honestly, this Psalm is far too reflective for somebody early in their walk with God. You're going to see the writer of this Psalm has faced worry and fear and disappointment and frustration. David might have learned the concepts of this Psalm when he was a young shepherd boy, but there is no way that he could have felt them like he does in Psalm 23 until the pain and the frustration of life had wrung them out of him. That's the context of Psalm 23. Today, let's explore how the presence of the shepherd is our life, our joy, our safety, and our fulfillment. Verse one, here we go. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. By the way, want there doesn't mean desire.

It's like an old English word for need, like being in one. David is saying the Lord is my shepherd, therefore I don't need anything. Y'all keep in mind, David had all kinds of pains and problems. Life for David at this point was about as hard as life could get for anybody. He had a broken heart, betrayed promises, unfulfilled dreams, unanswered prayers, and yet David says, I like nothing.

Why? This is the key to Psalm 23, because the Lord is my shepherd and he's close by and just that all by itself means I've got no wants. Verse two, he makes me lie down in green pastures.

When a sheep lies down in a green pasture, it can only mean one thing. He's full. David is so full that even in the presence of what others would call food, he doesn't feel compelled to eat. His soul is full. We see what has he then been feasting on? The presence of the shepherd. God's presence is for David a satisfaction that no green pasture can ever supply. David continues, he said, he leads me besides still waters. Again, what do sheep normally do besides still waters? They drink. The fact that these sheep are just strutting along beside still waters means they're not thirsty.

Why? Because the spirit of God is a well of everlasting water springing up within them. David in the wilderness is drinking at the well of God's of God's spirit and he's saying, I'm not even thirsty anymore. Number three, he restores my soul. He gives me the ability to get up and keep going even when I've got a broken heart or a disappointed dream or an unmet yearning when I feel like not getting out of bed in the morning. He restores my soul. Many of us have found that the closeness that we felt toward God, the closeness to God that we experienced in a time of pain or in a time of great need was far greater than what we experienced in a time of blessing or ease. Anybody out there ready to testify to that? Verse three, David says, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake.

The path of righteousness is the path of dependence on the shepherd. Verse four, even though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Why? Because I see the silver lining of this dark crowd. Oh, because I know that happy days are right around the corner. No, I will fear no evil because you were with me. There's one reason that I'm not afraid and that's you're with me and your rod and your staff. I know they comfort me.

They protect me and they guide me. Verse five, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Question, what do you do at a table? You eat. You fellowship with people you feel comfortable with.

There's nothing worse to me than a meal where you feel uncomfortable the whole time. In the presence of his enemies, he is at rest and joyful because he's sitting with his shepherd. You anoint my head with oil. My cup is full. Is that what your translation says? It's full?

No, it overflows. Even in the midst of fear and worry, I got so much peace and joy that I got something to share with others. Verse six, surely your goodness and mercy. He says, I know that'll follow me all the days of my life. David says, I can't get away from goodness and mercy. It's always right behind me.

It's always following me. We always talk about following Jesus and we should, but according to Psalm 23, he also follows us, bringing beauty and blessing from our tragedy and tears. That brings me comfort. David says, just knowing that he's back there following me, always doing what he does and I will dwell, he says, in the house of the Lord forever. That's the main point of the Psalm. Whether in a green pasture or beside a still water or wandering in a desert or hiding in a cave for my enemies, I'm still with you in your presence. And thus I have no needs.

I'm not in want. The Christian's joy is found in one simple thing, the presence of the shepherd. If you think joy and peace is found in a change of circumstance, if there is anything you think, if this changes, then life will be good.

I can tell you on good authority that you're not going to find it there. Lonely, insecure, single people become lonely, insecure, married people. Rich people are often, more often than not, they're bitter and unhappy. I had a friend who was pretty well off and he lived on a golf course and we were playing golf. I don't really play golf.

I just basically there knocking balls into the woods. Along this particular hole, there were all these beautiful houses. We were commenting on how beautiful they were. And he looked over at them and he said, you know, I can tell you something from having lived at a place like this. There's a really solid chance that nobody in any of those homes is happy. There's family strife, there's dysfunction, there's deep frustration, even more so than what you would think of as a normal neighborhood. The land of no needs is not found in any green pasture on earth.

It's found in the gracious presence of the shepherd. Some of you think, if I could just change this or change that, life would be better. Others of you have just given up on change. You've just stopped praying for things to change.

You've given up and you've kind of grown bitter, cold. I am telling you that it is possible for you to live a life where you feel no lack, where you fear nothing, and where you overflow with blessing enough that it ministers to and blesses everybody around you. That life comes from learning to abide in the presence of the shepherd. Y'all, Psalm 23 is one of those passages of the Bible that could not possibly have been made up by human ingenuity.

Our minds, Dallas Willard says, he says, our minds do not naturally run at these kinds of heights. David is talking about an experience that he has had and that is beyond this world and one that he says you can have too. This past January, I read a book by Dallas Willard called Life Without Lack. It was his last book. It was written posthumously based on a series of lectures that Dr. Willard gave to some of his closest friends on Psalm 23 right before he died. He compares the language of Psalm 23 with the experience of Job and he explains, I never really knew this. I've been a student of the Bible for years and read Job a number of times and I never knew this. He explains that throughout Job's life, listen to this, Job had to learn three different kinds of faith. This is brilliant.

Listen to this. First, he calls the faith of propriety. Job did what was right and God blessed him for it. Job is described by the writer of Job as the most righteous man living at the time, which is weird when you think that the writer of Job was Job, but that's how Job self-described. Job served God with all of his heart.

He rose early every morning to offer burnt offerings on his behalf and on behalf of his sons and daughters just in case they'd send. God was pleased with Job's life and God blessed him for it. God blesses the faith of propriety because God likes to bless people. By the way, it's a perfectly valid kind of faith. It's taught in the book of Proverbs. I obey the Bible. I seek God first in my marriage and my family and my career, my studies, my finances, and God blesses me. Many of us have experienced the faith of propriety, but then God allowed everything to be stripped from Job.

Job had not changed any of his behavior. Not one thing was different, but everything fell apart and all that was bad. In fact, Job described it this way, Job 325. He said, you know, the thing that I've greatly, most greatly feared in life has now come upon me. What I've dreaded has happened to me. Hey, here's a question. What do you fear the most this morning right now?

What would be the worst thing that you would think, the worst news I could get, the worst the worst thing that could happen to me? For Job, it happened. All of his kids died in a tragic house fire. His health deteriorated. His family and friends, rather than standing with him and encouraging him to stand strong in faith, turned on him and encouraged him to give up his faith.

His wife said, just curse God and die already. Well, see, that forced Job to develop another kind of faith, a higher kind of faith. Let's call this faith kind number two, the faith of desperation.

Job expresses the faith of desperation in Job 13, 15, one of my favorite verses in Job. Though he slay me, yet still will I trust him. God, I cannot understand what you're doing, but I know you're good, and so I know even though everything's falling apart right now, I'm still going to trust you that you're working a good plan.

Though you slay me, I'm still going to trust you. Let me just say candidly, many people never make it to this stage. They live on the faith of propriety. It makes them not only shallow Christians, it makes them really judgmental, because when something goes wrong in somebody else's life, you know what they think? I wonder what they did wrong. Their marriage ain't going well, and so you think, well, I bet you they're different behind closed doors than what we see of them. That's why their marriage is bad. Or their finances are a mess, and so you just say, well, they must not be very good money managers.

Somebody needs some Dave Ramsey. It must not be putting God first. They act all generous, but clearly they're not because their finances are in a mess. Or one of their kids start to wander, and so you think, well, I wonder what they did wrong in their parenting.

Unlike me over here, who's just killing it as a parent, which is why my kids are so awesome. So you think that way. You always assign blame because you only know the faith of propriety. But then God sends you through a Job chapter, and for some people, when that happens, they fall away from the faith, sadly. But see, others of you go on to develop the faith of desperation.

It strips you of your judgmentalism, and you start to say things like, though you slay me yet, I'm still going to trust you. I'm going to hold on. Is that where you are right now this morning? Have you ever been forced to develop this kind of faith? Dallas Willard says, often God allows us to reach the point of desperation so that we can learn how to trust.

It's a hard lesson, but an essential one. The life about lack is known by those who have learned how to trust God in the moment of their need. In the moment of their need.

Not before the moment of their need, not after the moment has passed, but in the moment of their need. For it is in that moment when everything else is gone, it is then, and pretty much only then, that you know the reality of God. that you can keep up with Pastor JD's ministry? Consider following Pastor JD on social media, and why not get some biblical insight as you scroll? Just search for Pastor JD Greer on Facebook, at Pastor JD Greer on Instagram, and JD Greer on X, formerly known as Twitter. Follow along on all your favorite social media platforms and stay up to date with this ministry, while simultaneously filling up your timeline with encouragement from God's word. Now, let's get back to today's teaching from Pastor JD Greer, right here on Summit Life.

You say, well, wow. Y'all believe it or not, there was still another level of faith for Job. It's the faith of Psalm 23. Dallas Willard calls it the faith of sufficiency, number three. I used to think, y'all, that the faith of desperation was the ultimate expression of faith. But Dallas Willard showed me there was a third kind of faith, an even higher type of faith, and it appears right at the end of the book of Job. It's the faith, listen to this, that rejoices and, listen, listen, sits silently and calmly in the presence of the shepherd. You see, throughout the book of Job, Job has been talking a lot, protesting his situation before. God's saying, God, I did it right, I obeyed you, I put you first in my marriage, put you first in my parenting, put you first in my finances, and look what happened.

When are you gonna come through for me? Throughout the book of Job, Job keeps saying, I wanna appear before God. I wanna see God and talk to him face to face.

I can't wait to lay out this case before him and find out what in the world he was doing. So at the end of the book of Job, God grants Job that audience. Job sees God. Job stands in God's presence. And when that happens, Job says, Job chapter 40, behold, I am vile.

What shall I answer you? Vile, by the way, doesn't mean what we think it means. It doesn't mean nasty or evil.

A better translation of the Hebrew word kalal there, which is what we translate as vile, a better translation would be insignificant or unworthy. Because I am so insignificant, I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I've spoken, but I will not answer ever again. Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further. Job says, seeing you, I see how utterly small-minded and unwise I am and how utterly sovereign and good you are. Job continues, before this moment, I'd heard of you. I'd heard of you by the hearing of the ears. I went to church and I heard what the pastor said, and I said, amen. I knew all the doctrines about you. I knew how to answer the theological questions. I knew that you were powerful and good, but now my eye sees you, beholds you. Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. Surely I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, things which I could not know, did not know. Every teacher in here knows what it's like to have a student who can regurgitate the right answers, but has not internalized them. Job has always believed the right things about God here, but he has never felt them here. He's never feasted on them here. Job went in chapter 40 from believing in the goodness of God here, though he slay me, yet while I trust him, to feeling it here.

I know you're good, and I got nothing left to say. You see, at that point in the book, Job stopped pressing his case. He rested. He saw with his eyes the goodness of God, and he knew that he could trust God in all things. In fact, did you see where it used the word repent? I repent in dust and ashes. What was he repenting of? I asked that because throughout the book of Job, if you've read it, the writer of Job says repeatedly that throughout the whole ordeal, Job never sinned with his lips. So what's he repenting of? He's repenting of not feasting upon and resting in the goodness of the shepherd. But now you see, now Job's vision of God is so full and so satisfying that what happens to him from this point on doesn't matter. He can trust in the goodness of God, content just to be in the presence of the shepherd where goodness and mercy surround him and follow him and satisfy him all the days of his life.

Friend, that is called the faith of sufficiency. A lot of us are where Job was. We've heard about all these things with the hearing of our ears, but our eyes have never seen them and our souls have yet to feel them. Some of you are Bible scholar level in your perception of the doctrines of God, but you are kindergarten in terms of your experience of them. You say, well, what exactly did Job see, and how can I see it too?

Well, see, now you're asking the right question. Job gives us a clue as to what he saw in chapter 19. Job says, I know.

I know verse 19, chapter 19, verse 25. I know that my redeemer lives, and I know that in the end he is going to stand on the earth, and I'm going to stand with him. Job saw his redeemer alive after having been slain and standing on the earth, which means he wins. Job saw how committed God was to reconciling him and how secure his future was with God. He saw that Jesus, the redeemer, was standing now, which meant he was in control of everything. Job says, in the words of the modern psalm we sing, he stands by my side because he stood in my place. Where do you learn the faith of sufficiency?

Where do you learn it? At the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith. I received my sight so that now I am happy all the day.

Not happy as in I got no troubles, but happy as in I am filled to overflowing in the presence of my shepherd. At the very end of the book of Job in the final verses, God restored all that Job had lost sevenfold. God did that because, well, God's good. God loves to pour out his goodness. See, the point of Job is, and don't miss this, Job's joy and his peace and his security and his fulfillment came before that restoration. Job's faith of sufficiency was founded on the fact that his redeemer lived and stood with him. I know you stand by my side because you stood in my place. A God who would not forsake me then at the cross will not forsake me now in my hour of trouble. And I know that someday he's going to keep his promise to turn all this mess for good, and he's going to make every sad thing come untrue.

So why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come? Why should my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home when Jesus is my portion now? My constant friend is he. His eye is on the sparrow. And I know my shepherd watches me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free, for his eye is on the sparrow.

And so I know he watches me. So why do you say, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my God? Have you not known?

Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary.

His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might. He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted. But those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Oh, see, they'll mount up with wings like eagles. They'll run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint. So let me ask you again, what do you think you like this morning? What do you fear? You fear your marriage going south? You fear your kids wandering?

You're afraid of being single again or single this time next year? You're afraid of your health deteriorating, the death of your spouse, the loss of your job, the collapse of your finances, nuclear war with Russia? No matter what it is, you can live without that fear. You don't have to be afraid of anything because God is with you. You have no lack, so you can live without fear.

Here's my dilemma. I can't teach you this. I couldn't even teach myself this. I can tell you stuff that you can hear with your ears, like Job listened to, but it's only the Holy Spirit that can open the eyes of your heart or my heart. But it will tell you that sometimes he does that through pain. Sometimes he does that through suffering. Philip Keller says there's one thing that shepherds sometimes do that outsiders cannot understand.

He said when there's a sheep that continues to wander, no matter what the shepherd does, no matter how many times the shepherd brings the sheep back, he just continues to wander. The shepherd will take his staff and he will break the front legs of the sheep. Painful.

Awful. Then he has to carry because that sheep can't walk with the rest of the herd. He carries that sheep on his back for the next three months as that sheep heals. Here's what happens though. It's almost like a miracle when the shepherd, after carrying that sheep on his back for three months, when he puts him down, that sheep never wanders again.

Why? Well, not because he's afraid of having his legs broken. It's because that sheep has learned in that three months that he spent on the back of the shepherd, he's learned that all he needs for fulfillment and security is just to be close to the shepherd. See, maybe that's what God is doing to you right now. Maybe that pain in your life is not to punish you. Maybe it's just to teach you to lean more fully on him so that your joy goes from being contingent and it becomes unshakable because you're going to know the greatest and most secure joy in the universe, the joy of knowing that the Lord is your shepherd and he's right beside you, knowing even when a hair of your head falls to the ground, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord. Take it. Seal it.

Seal it for thy courts above. And that's the secret to being able to say, I have no needs, straight from scripture. If you'd like to access our entire library of sermons free of charge, you can head over to jdgrier.com anytime. Today we wrapped up the first message from our brand new teaching series through Psalm 23 called Goodness in the Middle. We'll be studying this beloved chapter here on Summit Life for the next several days, but in case you missed it earlier in today's broadcast, I wanted to remind you about the brand new featured resource we have to go along with this study, the Goodness in the Middle Bible study examines what it means to see God's goodness in the middle of whatever you might be walking through. It takes the teaching you'll hear during this series and helps you apply it to your life.

Because let's be honest, we're all in the middle of something, aren't we? The beauty of this chapter is how it shows us that God is good no matter what our circumstances are. And we believe taking a close look at Psalm 23 will help us all refocus our hearts on just how good our heavenly Father is. We'd love to send you a copy today with your gift of $35 or more to this ministry. Your support is essential to our mission, and we're so grateful for every contribution. To give, simply call us at 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220.

Or you can give online at jdgrier.com. Don't forget to check out the Gospel Partner page as well to learn more about what it looks like to be a part of our monthly giving family. I'm Molly Vitovich, and we'll see you right here tomorrow for a brand new teaching titled, Surely Goodness and Mercy Will Follow Me. Don't miss it Tuesday here on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.