Bill Johnson - The Single Most Important Question: Who is Your Lord?
There are many who think they have relational problems, but they actually have lordship problems. There are many who struggle with fear and anxiety, and it is only the result of the absence of lordship. I can take any small problem and make it so large in my mind that I forget who Jesus is, but no problem is impressive in the face of the One who defeated everything on our behalf. Psalms 23:1 states, «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 the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.» Yet 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 runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Let me take the Passion Translation: «The Lord is my best friend and my shepherd; I always have more than enough. He offers a resting place for me in His luxurious love. His tracks take me to an oasis of peace, the quiet brook of bliss. That’s where He restores and revives my life. He opens before me pathways to God’s pleasure; He leads me along in His footsteps of righteousness so that I can bring honor to His name.» Lord, even when Your path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will never conquer me, for You already have.
Some of you are daydreaming; I’m sure of it. Let me read this again: «Even when Your path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will never conquer me, for You already have. You remain close to me and lead me through it all the way. Your authority is my strength and my peace; the comfort of Your love takes away my fear. I’ll never be lonely, for You are near.» Listen to this phrase: «You become my delicious feast even when my enemies dare to fight.» Oh wow! You become my delicious feast even when my enemies dare to fight. You anoint me with the fragrance of Your Holy Spirit; You give me all I can drink of You until my heart overflows. So why should I fear the future, for I am being pursued only by Your goodness and unfailing love? Then afterwards, when my life is through, I’ll return to Your glorious presence to be forever with You.
That was good. One more: «The Lord is my shepherd to feed, guide, and shield me; I shall not lack. He makes me lie down in fresh, tender green pastures; He leads me beside still and restful waters; He refreshes and restores my life. He leads me in the paths of righteousness, which is uprightness and right standing with Him, not for my earning it but for His name’s sake.» Yes, even though I walk through deep, sunless valleys, the shadow of death, I will fear no dread or evil, for You are with me; Your rod to protect and Your staff to guide, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my brimming cup runs over. Surely our only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days, the house of the Lord and His presence shall be my dwelling place.
This is just a glorious Psalm that needs to be revisited. Verse 1 says, «The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.» Oftentimes for us, we don’t have a financial problem; we have a lordship problem. The issue of lordship—the Lord is my shepherd—is where this begins. It doesn’t ignore that there’s conflict, that there’s warfare, that there are devils, that there’s darkness. It doesn’t ignore any of that; it just gives us insight as to how He takes us through that process—not for defeat, not for fear, not for anxiety, but for triumph—that His name would be exalted and we would be strengthened.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. We are the worst at diagnosing our own problems, our own circumstances. There are many who think they have relational problems and they actually have lordship problems. There are many who struggle with fear and anxiety, and it is only the result of the absence of lordship. I can take any small problem and make it so large in my mind that I forget who Jesus is, but no problem is impressive, no problem looks big in the face of the One who defeated everything on our behalf.
In the face of the Lord, the Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Sometimes the Lord yoked us together with people—maybe in a work context, maybe it’s a family upbringing, could be any number of things—but He yokes us together, and when you’re yoked with someone, the yoke only hurts when you try to go a different direction than they’re going. When you try to sit when they are sitting, it’s the fact that the Lord is actually using the circumstances around us to teach us to walk like Jesus. Sometimes the pain we feel, that we are so certain is somebody else’s fault, is actually a lordship issue. Yep, we can go home now.
The Lord is my shepherd— the Lord, the Master, the Ruler, the wonderful, gracious Father, the benevolent, kind, caring leader that we have—He directs my life. I’ll tell you, my greatest weakness over the last 40 years, it comes up, I’m embarrassed to say how often it has come up. My greatest weakness has been that I assume that I know the will of God in a matter. It’s never a choice between something evil and something good, or something moral versus immoral, or honest versus dishonest; that’s not the issue. Those issues have long been settled. It’s the issue of doing the right thing that God has directed or the right thing hoping that He’ll bless a good thing, and He’s such a great Father! Sometimes He covers me, you know; He says, «Yeah, I’ll cover you. You just do something in My name that I wasn’t a part of,» but He goes, «Yeah, I was close.» He’s just that kind of a Father, and I’m so thankful for that because He’s saved me out of a bunch of dumb stuff. But other times, He just leaves me hanging.
But it’s not like He’s punishing me; it’s just like, «Son, if you can feel the pain of the moment you’re in, it’ll help your memory the next time you get in that situation where you think you already know what I want from you.» Does that make sense to anybody else? I just feel like I already know. I saw Him do this, this, and this; obviously, this is what He wants! And that’s not always the case; it’s that assumption that gets me into trouble.
I receive a lot of encouragement, especially from David in his life. I think maybe his life is the one that speaks to me the most, where there were times he would forget to pray or he sought the Lord on the most obvious details. He would pray for things that I wouldn’t even think to pray for; I just assume, «Well, this is what God wants.» He’s Lord; He’s the King of Glory. He’s the Lord of all lords; He is my Savior, my benevolent dictator. He is a kind and perfect Father—He’s loving, and He covers me, and He empowers me—but He is Lord, and it’s never to be forgotten. He is absolutely Lord, the Lord of all, and every knee will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That moment, that day is coming, but we have the privilege of doing it every day of our life.
Here, He starts this Psalm by describing the condition of a disciple. When it says, «I shall not want,» it doesn’t mean that I’m not going to have another need tomorrow, doesn’t mean I don’t have a difficult decision to make, doesn’t mean any of those things. If you have a problem in your life, then Jesus obviously isn’t your Lord—that’s the opposite. This Psalm is describing how to live life in such a way that, regardless of your circumstances, you always come into a place of breakthrough because Jesus is Lord.
Notice in this Psalm He says, «For My name’s sake.» Every victory that you and I experience, all of creation celebrates Jesus for your victory. Why? Because they see His plan worked. The scripture says wherever two or three of us are gathered in His name, He is in the midst. Well, He’s already in me, but there’s an increased measure of presence when we come together in His name. So we have two or three of us gathered in His name, and Jesus stands in the midst. All of creation celebrates it because His plan worked! It was actually possible to create something in people who are born again—the capacity for unity that only the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have known throughout all eternity—and all of creation looks at that and says it worked.
There’s this celebration of who He is, so when He says, «For His namesake,» He’s actually describing that it is imperative, it is vital that all of creation sees and witnesses the effect of His plan. In fact, Romans chapter 8 talks about all of creation groaning and travailing.
We’ve got some good music going on somewhere; is this the beauty of cell phones? Yes! I once said, «You know, somebody needs to get the hell out of your core so that when your phone rings, it’s kind of a moment of celebration!» So that night they had the Hallelujah Chorus on their phone.
The Lord is looking for one simple thing—it’s our acknowledgment of His lordship. It’s not complicated; it may be hard, but it’s not complicated. Jesus is Lord, and in that place, there is such rich fulfillment that it is possible for you and me to stand in the face of adversity, difficulty, challenges—whatever we might be facing—and say, «Because He’s my shepherd, I actually am lacking nothing.» It’s in that context that we are able to testify to His goodness in our life.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. Some of you need to be made to lie down—to be made to lie down. He leads me beside still or quiet waters. I had a phrase go through my mind here a few weeks ago in Sydney; see if this helps anyone.
Many of us struggle with guilt and shame in equal measure to our overemphasis on our own role in our conversion. Do we have a role? Yeah, I chose Him, but He first chose me. I love Him, but He first loved me. I put my faith in Him, but that faith was a gift from God. Anytime we overemphasize, we overtake responsibility when, in fact, He’s looking to lead us into a place of abandonment and trust. Maturity is where I represent Him well—in power, wisdom, and love—but I remain as a child. I never grow out of dependency; I only grow deeper in dependency. The issue of lordship will be an issue throughout all eternity, but it’s never restrictive in a sense of punishment. It’s never a restriction in a sense of confinement of who you were born to be. Instead, it’s a restriction so that all your efforts can be put into who you were designed to be. It’s a controlled strength, if you will—a directed strength, and so the lordship of Jesus is always with your eternal purpose. Your eternal purpose is always in mind, that we could stand fully representing Jesus accurately.
I really believe that before He returns, there’s going to be a generation—not just individuals, but a generation—that represents Him well—in purity, true holiness, great power, and great wisdom—which automatically means there’s going to be transformation of cities and nations as a result.
So He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul. The word «soul» there—now oftentimes when we see the word «soul,» we think in terms of mind, will, and emotion, which is legitimate—but this word is used about 750 times in the Bible and is often used to describe our whole person—spirit, soul, and body. Everything about it. So when He says, «He restores my soul,» it means He restores me completely; everything about me becomes healthy again. Sign me up for that one—that’s a good one!
He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. There’s that phrase again: «Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.» Here’s one of the most important things I saw in that particular season for me: I’ll be honest, I was sick, and I kept waiting for that word of the Lord. I kept waiting for that thing that would clarify everything for me, and it just didn’t come. His silence—whenever He’s silent, it’s not punishment; it’s because He’s already spoken. His silence will help you to find what He’s already said. It’s not the silent treatment; He’s not like you and me giving each other the silent treatment. He’s a gracious Father. Everything is out of love; everything is out of love.
I was hoping to get that word; I was hoping that somebody would call or write, and there were a lot of things given to me. They were all wonderful, but there was never that breakthrough word, that breakthrough movement; it just didn’t come. All there was was sick. I was in the hospital for a while. There were two people with kidney transplants who came in and left before I did. There was a third person that was there when I got there. So they all graduated before I did, and I was there for quite some time. I was just praying; I was just looking for that word. I had great friends come and pray for me and talk with me; it was wonderful. Zero complaint, but I was looking for that breakthrough word, and it never came. What did come was overwhelming peace.
After I looked back, I could say two things. Number one: bold faith stands on the shoulders of quiet trust. Bold faith stands on the shoulders of quiet trust. What He was looking for in me was not the expression of bold faith; He was looking for me to have quiet trust. He was trying to build something deeper in me, where I had been working to illustrate, demonstrate, and pursue bold faith. He was looking to develop a rest in me that enabled or allowed for quiet trust to be the platform on which another level of bold faith would come.
Does that make any sense? I hope so. But here’s the main deal that I wanted to mention to you this morning: as He says, «Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I’ll fear no evil because You’re with me.» I fear no evil because You’re with me. I came to the realization that there are measures or manifestations of His presence that you can only find in the valley of the shadow of death. He manifests Himself differently in different contexts and in different situations, and there’s an aspect of His presence you can only find in that context.
Why would He take you through the valley of the shadow of death? Because He believes in the work He’s done in you! He’s confident of the great work He’s done in each one of us. He’s confident enough that He can trust us in perilous situations. If a true, sufficient new creation had not taken place inside our hearts when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and if that were not a reality, He would never put us in that environment because we’d be devoured—in a heartbeat. But He enables us to go through those situations.
He doesn’t create the evil; He doesn’t create the darkness. But where He wants to take us, we walk through it. I tell you what, the longest way through a trial is to try to do it apart from the lordship of Jesus. The quickest way through a trial is what Jesus says: «Lord, there’s only one shortcut: Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord.» That’s how you go through.