Before we read God’s Word, I just wanted to say that it was a month ago when I picked this text. And I picked it, I was thinking about Faith Covenant’s plan to build a Christian education wing, as well as our own family’s plan to begin to build a ministry in Cheyenne, and also every man’s call to build a or to build into their family. I thought we could all use the reminder of that simple and powerful truth that unless the Lord builds a house, the builders labor in vain. With that as a background, let me pray for the reading and also the preaching of God’s Word. Father, we do desire that we would be just that, seated before your Word, that you would unstop our ears that we might hear you, that you would open our eyes that we might Father, that you would preach to me even as you preach through me, that you would remind us all of the simple and glorious truth that to you be the glory.
Father, we lift up this time and pray that you would work your will in our lives and build your kingdom through your word. Through Christ we pray. Amen. Psalm 127, a Song of Ascents of Solomon. Unless the Lord build the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil, for he gives to his beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.
He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated.
About 3 weeks ago, several friends all joked that if they knew we were moving to Ministry to State in Cheyenne, they might not have worked so hard to help us build, fix, and improve our house and property. Well, that was funny then, but 2 weeks ago when the fire came, I did have a ready list for the fire inspector as to who might be some possible suspects. But no, seriously. It brought the question home to us in a completely different way. We asked ourselves the question, would we have paid good money to refurbish a room, to build a deck, to paint the house, to do all this work if we knew it was gonna burn down 8 months later?
And then as I began to look back at Psalm 127:1, the answer Jumped out. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. As we work to unpack the answer to that question, was it worth it? I think as we do, we may notice again that this text affirms that underlying truth that helps to answer this question. That God is the one who has established his order.
Over every area and frankly every result in this life. And because of this truth, we are invited to grow in our trust in him, resting on the reality of his goodness and his provision and his active involvement in our life. Solomon shows us this. He teaches us this by showing what I, I see as 3 vain pursuits, 2 blessings, and they all point towards that Underlying truth. It’s in the form of a wisdom psalm.
Solomon wrote 2, and one scholar notes this one is a centering psalm. By that, scholars put it— it’s in the middle of 15 Psalms of Ascent, which are broken down into 3 sets of 5. And so not only is it the middle of its 5, but it’s also the middle of the 15. And as a Centering psalm. It, it should be— it should serve to focus our thoughts and our attentions, our life, in back to this underlying truth.
And so it’s my prayer that as you spend time with this psalm today and perhaps in the weeks to come, you might ask yourself, how can this truth center you? How can it bring me back to truth that can truly serve as an anchor? To our souls. There is one underlying truth, even though many truths can be mined here. For instance, as we look at each of these vain pursuits, each of these 2 blessings, they all communicate to us truth about ourselves, our fears, our nature, as well as truth about God’s nature.
But the one underlying truth that flows throughout this psalm is where we’re our focus ought to be as we look at this text, both in our study, but even more importantly, throughout our daily living. You can express this truth in several ways. One scholar, the Old Testament scholar Stuart Perrone, for instance, he remarks, this truth seems obvious and undeniable, that all success is from God. And to that, I think we can say yes and amen. And yet we might ask the question, well, what does this do with failures, setbacks, disappointments, illnesses?
Are they not also from God, given to us by him for our good? Is God only the author of what we like and what we want? I’m not suggesting that Perron denies God’s complete sovereignty. I think he does. But I think that in this case, the theologian Leslie Allen Captures the truth in a superior fashion when he sums up the psalm like this: God rules and overrules.
To God be the glory. Indeed, to God be the glory. The focus of this psalm is surely on God. It’s implicit in the beginning. It’s more explicit towards the end, but there’s the fact that God’s order has been established over all of human life.
All that we do, all that we experience, all that happens to us, none of this takes God by surprise. Our confessions declare, God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. The joke of the Puritan falling down the stairs and saying, thank God that’s over with, is true. And it’s a helpful truth. Surely God is the focus of this psalm too.
The fact that God’s order has been established. Nothing takes him by surprise. Furthermore, not only has God foreordained all things, but he knows all things. In the Old Testament, in the Hebrew, the word for know often and regularly describes that beautiful and intimate relationship Between a husband and his wife. And additionally, in the Old Testament, when we hear that God sees, when we read that God hears, we also know that he acts.
And then in the New Testament, we see even more spectacularly this intimate knowledge of mankind. Mankind, his highest creation. We see that in the Incarnation. Jesus, the God-man, in his person, experienced all of what it means to be human. Hunger, exhaustion, joy, sorrow, celebration, temptation, betrayal— all of these Jesus experienced like you and I experience.
And we read about them throughout the stories of our Savior. But you can also capture them in some of the summary statements. Hebrews 5:2, for instance, tells us that Jesus can deal gently with the ignorant and the wayward since he himself is beset with weakness. It’s an extraordinary verse. Jesus knows our weakness.
Hebrews 4:15, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize or is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Jesus knows us, and this is a facet of that underlying truth. Jesus shows us that while it’s true that God has foreordained, that God knows, that God understands, he also saves us, sustains us, and blesses us anyway. And in our psalm this morning, he is pleased to give us wisdom. But even as we look at this text, even in the superscription, we ought to be warned.
This is a Song of Ascents of Solomon. Solomon was a man of wisdom. You can read in 1 Kings 4:30 that his wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the peoples of the East and all the wisdom of the Others speak about the fact that his wisdom was above all the wisdom of the kings of the earth. And this is Solomon. And so we need to hear Derek Kidner’s warning.
He says, Yet, like much of Solomon’s wisdom, the lessons of this psalm is as relevant to his situation as they were to his situation, were mostly lost on him. The wisest man missed out on his own wisdom. You will see that this psalm speaks to mankind’s 3 universal occupations or preoccupations: a home or a building, security or safety, and then family, a sense of belonging. And yet when you look at the end of Solomon’s life using Derek Kidner’s description. He says his building was reckless, his kingdom was in ruins, and his family and marriages a disaster.
And so you and I must take care, lest we too abuse and neglect the wisdom given to us. There’s a truth here that reveals our tendencies to move into vain pursuits. And we’re given 3 of them. For instance, we read in verse 1, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. And so we should affirm our tendency to work to build houses in our own strength, that is, with our own desires or pursuits or passions in mind.
Or put it another way, we tend to build houses for ourselves. But this verse teaches us that, in fact, it is God Who is the Creator. He is the builder, and if we find that our plans are out of accord with his plans, our efforts are in vain. There is no real and lasting purpose. Verse 1 also gives us a second vain pursuit: security.
The need to save things in our own strength is in vain. We read in the text, unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It’s a timeless truth affirmed. Real security comes from the Lord. The vain tendency of mankind is in thinking that I can take care of myself.
I’m strong enough. I’ve accumulated enough. The strength comes in the number of horses or chariots. It’s like thinking that my garden hose could put out the house fire. It’s a normal and natural tendency.
And this passage brings us back to the reality that unless the Lord is watching over, we watch in vain. Several biblical stories quickly come to mind, for me anyway, and perhaps for you. I thought of Elijah’s assistant who awoke to find his city surrounded by an army intent on capturing the prophet. Elisha prays that his assistant’s eyes would be opened, and then he sees the armies and the chariots of the Lord surrounding the besieging army. Elisha remarks in 2 Kings 6, those who are with us are more than those who are against us.
I thought of Hezekiah in a city surrounded by the Assyrian army, boldly declaring to his people, The one who is with us is greater than the one with them. And I think also of the Roman guards keeping watch over the tomb that Saturday night into Sunday. They were surely keeping watch in vain. It is God who sustains. It is God who protects.
It is God who creates and conserves, and outside of his perfect will, all our endeavors are in vain. There’s a third vain pursuit that mankind regularly engages in, and that’s in tireless labor or workaholism. This is one that I struggle with myself. Our tendency is to think that I could just do more, work harder, perform more spectacularly, Then I’ll achieve goals of accumulation or acceptance or recognition or achievement, whatever it is that motivates us, and perhaps many of you as well, to burn the candle at both ends. Or to use the language of our text, to rise up early and go late to rest.
We think we can accomplish so much. But in the end, all we get is stomach ulcers from eating the bread of anxiety, or again, to use our text, of anxious toil. On that phrase, one scholar notes that it may be an echo of the curse to Adam, bringing toiling to bring fruit from the land, to bring bread from the land. There’s certainly no biblical injunction against hard work. Indeed, there are many biblical examples and proverbs to commend hard work and also to condemn the opposite, the slothful and the lazy, those lifestyles.
But once again, our tendency is to strive in our own strength for our own glory, or for our goals, our gains, our successes. Our culture celebrates the self-made man. That 70-hour work week, that guy that drives a hard bargain, that makes things happen. And his wife, not to be outdone, she takes up the mantle. And she works to prove to the world that she too can bend the corporate world to her will.
And so unknowingly, they each create a busy world that pulls them apart from each other, that tragically pulls them apart from their children, community, and even their church. Men rejecting the harder call to lead their wives and children prefer rather to lead a project or a team at work. And women rejecting the call to nurture their children, to build community, also find opportunities to use their gifts in other ways. And they both find that this restful sleep eludes them. And so medications, some prescribed and some found, distractions, they’re all called in to remedy this.
Psalm 127 paints a different picture. It’s a higher way of living, and it begins with trusting the Lord. If you work in your strength, it’s in vain. But rather, if you learn from the Lord, right, striving to learn contentment, especially as a young adult. Starting small, building slowly, investing in people, your children, your friends, your church.
You’ll still end the day exhausted. Your toddler may awaken you in the middle of the night, but your sleep will be the blessing that the beloved one gives his beloved. Think of Jesus sleeping in the boat in the midst of a storm. The disciples anxiously trying to bail water, row against the wind. These are all good and normal things that men do in trying times.
But they had forgotten what was the most essential: I will trust in the Lord. While I bale, while I labor, while I love my work, my coworkers, my wife, my husband, our children, I will not labor for my own gain, but for God’s glory. Be reminded that Christ is with you. And there he sleeps while the world rages around you. You are not actually in any real danger, for God is with you.
He is the Creator. He is the Builder. He is the Sustainer. And he has already done the work. You and I are freed up to enjoy the blessings of peaceful sleep.
That— scholar C. Hassell Bullock, a name I love. Jenny and I in the office used to talk about what a great name Hassell Bullock is. He reminds us that whatever we are considering, whether it’s a house or our community, our children, bread, protection, work, whatever it is, we must also remember that they are God’s gift. And that does not imply that the absence of them is God’s curse. This is an important point, for it would be easy to hear the wrong message.
For instance, if you weren’t married, if you were struggling to have kids, or if you all made— if you’re, as a couple, made non-traditional work choices, the absence of these aforementioned gifts does not imply God’s curse. This is especially significant in our text because verse 3 turns the picture towards God’s Second blessing of children. Verse 3 explicitly notes that children are a heritage from the Lord, that children, as the fruit of the womb, are a reward. Verse 5, that the man is blessed whose quiver is full of them. One scholar notes that God’s gifts are as unpretentious as they are miraculous.
Man’s tendency may be to build for his own glory, to defend all that he has, to work for himself, and yet God quietly gives him a son or a daughter, and that can completely change his perspective on the legacy he really wants to leave. A young mother often, in a single glance, changes career plans. Desiring instead to invest her gifts, her intellect, herself into the lives of her children. In this one way, or in this way, one writer notes that the reality of family heritage is confirmed by the picture of many sons in our text. These sons, these daughters perpetuate that covenant family name.
Solomon Continues to expand the blessing of children. Not only do they establish a heritage and show forth God’s covenant faithfulness throughout the generations, but they’re also a blessing in the present. If man is concerned with security, verse 4 presents a picture of a warrior who is equipped in part by his own family. In this case, our text says it’s his children. The Hebrew is actually, it’s his son, and it’s true, while that word can be translated in many contexts as sons and daughters or simply as children, here, I think son fits the analogy of the warrior moving into battle much better.
A warrior moves into battle, and he’s either, in his older age, surrounded by his sons as they move together, or perhaps, he is at least secure in the knowledge that as he ages, his sons will take his place in defense of the city, the home, the nation. Derek Kidner, on this picture, remarks, and also on the whole idea of God’s gift of children, he remarks that God’s gifts are first often a liability. Children take a lot of work and effort You don’t get a lot back from them initially. It’s extraordinary to think of how fast a horse or a sheep or something can stand up and walk around. Not so with a child.
They are first a liability. A kidner says even further, the greater their promise, the more likely these sons will be a handful before they’re a quiverful. I think that’s great encouragement to exhausted or overwhelmed parents or grandparents. Those children are likely to be a handful before a quiverful. We get a final picture in verse 5.
That’s one in which there’s a case or an issue that’s being discussed or debated in the city gates. The city gates is a place of judgment in the Old Testament. It’s where the elders gather to hear a complaint or a case and then rule on it. And here we read that the children are a blessing again, that somehow they serve to bolster the case that’s presented, that enemies in some way are prevented from taking advantage of a man of many children. Solomon, in Proverbs 27:11, seems to speak on this same idea.
He writes there, Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him who reproaches me. Our children who come after us can be a blessing to us because of the underlying truth that Christ has already gone ahead of us. Deuteronomy 31:8, in fact, declares, it is the Lord who has gone before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
Do not fear. Do not be dismayed. Our homes, our work, our family— these are all areas that are so important to us, and it is easy to work out in our own strength to our own ends. Hilary of Tours calls this a blasphemous anxiety to do God’s work for him. There is often an unwholesome reliance on our own or others’ human efforts to bring satisfaction and fulfillment in these essential areas.
We’re far wiser to hear our Savior declaring, apart from me you can do nothing. That’s in John 15:5 where he has just described himself as the vine, that we are the branches, so life and vitality, strength, purpose, they all come from Christ. So when we feel these challenges arise from these 3 vain pursuits, building a name for ourselves, protecting ourselves, having an unhealthy pursuit in work, as Christians we must turn away from ourselves and look to Jesus. We must hear again the truth of Galatians 2:20. I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. To God be the glory. That’s the underlying truth that spares us from vain pursuits, And brings us blessing. Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we do give you thanks and praise for this truth, that to you be the glory, that nothing takes you by surprise, that you bring us through fire and flood. And Father, that you have redeemed all things, that your word is true when it says That you work all things for our good. And so remind us that— of that as we go through our various building programs as a church longing, desiring to build a Christian education wing. In ministry, new ministries or rebuilding old ones. And for each of us in the family connections and communities that you’ve placed us.
Amen. As we desire to build there. Let our homes be for your glory and for— as a gift to others. Lord, may our possessions— may we remember that we are held in your hand and you let no one snatch us out. And Father, that all the work has already been done.
This we pray in the matchless name of Jesus Christ and for his glory. Amen. Amen.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.