A Life Worth Living

I am considering with you this evening Psalm 127, one of the Psalms of Ascent.

There are 15 of those. They begin at Psalm 120 and go through Psalm 134, again 15 in all. And the Psalms of Ascent were psalms that were used by pilgrims who would make their trek to Jerusalem, primarily for the three festive holidays that Jews were commanded to go to the temple. So as Jews would make their pilgrimage, this was part of the journey. They would sing the Psalms of Ascent.

And we don't know in what order, we don't know how frequent, we just know that this was the religious practice. And so these hymns, or these psalms, are hymns that were part of the hymnody of the Jewish religion. So I say that because we wouldn't necessarily think of the content of Psalm 127 being suited for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for worship, but it indeed was given for not just that purpose exclusively, but it's one of the purposes that it was used. So, Psalm 127. Again, laboring and prospering with the Lord is the subheading of the Psalm, a song of ascents of Solomon. There are only two of the psalms that are credited to Solomon, this psalm and Psalm 72. So when you listen to the words of Psalm 127, listen for Solomon and what he's known for, and what we attribute him to when we think of Solomon, and particularly the book of Ecclesiastes. Beginning in verse 1. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.

Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he gives his beloved sleep. Behold, children are heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.

They shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate. Psalm 127 again is attributed to Solomon, and you see in verse 1 twice the word vain, and then again in verse 2 the word vain, and we're reminded of Solomon and what he said as a summation of the book of Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities, all is vanity, vain. And utterly meaningless. Utterly meaningless. Everything is meaningless. Vanity.

What do we make of that? Well, what we're being told here, again the word vain in our Webster's dictionary is defined as having no real value or significance, being worthless, being empty, being hollow, futile, fruitless, unprofitable, and there are few things in life that are more disturbing than the thought that our efforts might prove to be empty and fruitless. We yearn, all of us yearn to account for something, to live with the confidence that what we're doing has meaning and has significance. We want our lives to be meaningful, but the text says unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays up awake in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so He gives His beloved sleep. Useless, meaningless, in vain. Is everything meaningless?

Well, yes, if we leave God out of the picture. Building is useless unless the Lord builds the house. Precautions are useless unless the Lord watches over the city. Useless unless the Lord blesses our work, unless the Lord blesses our family. Our Herculean labors are in vain. They are not in vain, however, if God is in what we're doing. But if God is not a part of that, if God is not at the center of that, if God is not involved in that, then all of our efforts, according to the Word of God, is fruitless, is meaningless.

So we see here in the very beginning of Psalm 127 this warning. And the warning is this, without God's blessing, our efforts will prove empty. Without God's blessing, our efforts will prove empty. Vain, meaningless, of no value. Without the Lord, frustration. With the Lord, satisfaction. So we're confronted here in verse 1 of the meaningless of a frantic, self-absorbed, self-sufficient work that does not emanate from God, is void of God, in the blessing of God. That's what Solomon is telling us. So the Psalm begins with a sober warning.

Again, what is being emphasized? That living life apart from God is fruitless, empty, meaningless. God must be at the center of our efforts in order for us to know blessing and satisfaction. Without God's blessing, without His favor, all of our exertion, all of our determination, all of our talent, all of our resources, all of our connections will ultimately amount to nothing. A life that is not consciously dependent upon God is ultimately a life that is not worth living according to these verses.

Life is short. And if we want life to have meaning and significance, then we must not live our lives void of God and His involvement. And in particular, what is being emphasized in these opening verses is the idea that without God's blessing, our personal exertion, our own personal effort, will ultimately have no value or significance. We can work and we can work and we can work some more, but if God doesn't build the home, it's empty, it's meaningless, it's worthless. We can be diligent, we can be careful to guard that which is precious to us, but if God is not the one superintending our guarding, it will prove to be a vain exercise. We can get up real early and we can stay up real late, burn the candle at both ends as the saying goes, but if God does not smile upon our determination, it will be in the final analysis, fruitless, meaningless.

So we want to take seriously this sober warning that we find here at the very beginning. How can we in this country expect the continued blessing of the living God upon our country, upon our economy, upon our culture, if we continue to ignore God and violate His laws? There's so much in our culture that is brazenly defiant of God and His law, but we are very confident in our technology, we are very confident in our vast natural resources, we are very confident in our money, we are very self-sufficient.

Is it not the heart and soul of the American psyche that we can do it? There's no mountain so high we can't climb it, there's no challenge so great that we can't deal with it. Well, Psalm 127 warns us otherwise. Without God's favor, without God's help, we are utterly powerless to be able to provide for ourselves. No amount of toil, no amount of ingenuity, no amount of money, no amount of connections will compensate for the one thing that's needful, for the one thing that is paramount, and that is having God's blessing. So it's true in the first place that if we're to provide for ourselves, we need the blessing of God. And it's also true in the second place, if we want to protect ourselves, we need the blessing of God. It's funny how we can take measures to secure our home and our lives and even our best efforts.

If God doesn't honor them and God doesn't bless them, they are meaningless. We've had a couple of break-ins at our home in the past, therefore we have a security system. And there's a sense of peace, I think, at night when we go and set the alarm and activate the system and it says the alarm is set, so if there's anybody who enters the home in the middle of the night, sirens go off, noise wakes us up, alerts us to it. Same if we're away, if we've set the alarm, notification goes to the police station. But criminals, thieves, they know. They're not completely ignorant, they know how the system works.

So they know that they can break into your home with sirens and whistles going off and notifications going to the police station, but most likely they're in and out of your home in five or six minutes and gone before the police ever roll up. So you have kind of a false sense of peace. And again, here's the point. The point is that we can have our confidence in those things, and if we don't have our confidence in God, those efforts are meaningless. Even God has purposes when our homes are violated.

It's a reminder of the broken world in which we live, the sin-cursed world in which we live, the depravity of the human heart, the violators of the laws of God. Psalm 33 verse 12 says, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen for His own inheritance. In verse 16 of Psalm 33, we're told a horse is a vain hope for safety. Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but we trust in the Lord our God. So despite America's self-confidence and so on and so forth, the living God is in control of our national security.

He's in control of our personal security. And without God's blessing on all of our efforts to protect ourselves, all of our efforts will prove to be vain. A third way in which we see the futility of a life that's not lived in conscious dependence of God is seen in our efforts to correct and reform bad behavior in our children. We strive and we labor to bring up our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. We return to see the Word of God shaping their character.

But if God is not owning our efforts, if God is not blessing our efforts, even those efforts, as good as they may be, as well intention as they may be, will prove to be vain. Again, in our parenting, we can read it all, know it all, have all the books, employ all the right techniques. We can train. We can discipline consistently.

We can talk and talk and talk. We can offer positive reinforcement for desired behavior. But one thing we must have is that we must have God's blessing or we will not see the yearning of our hearts. God must own. God must bless these efforts. God must build our homes or our efforts will be in vain.

Notice, warnings continue here. Apart from God, all of our efforts to experience true satisfaction in life will prove to be in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows.

It's a fool's errand. And I understand that we're not in control of our work schedules, that companies can insist that we work overtime and some have taken new jobs and you have to work on Sunday. But those are matters of prayer that we make appeals that the Lord stays important to us and we trust God to overcome those obstacles in the workplace. But listen, one of the big lies I think men have bought into is this idea that I leave my home in the morning and I go to work. And whenever I leave work, whether it's five o'clock or six o'clock or whatever, I'm leaving work and I'm going home. Now, I understand we call that work, we call that a vocation, but the idea can be that once I get home, I'm off the clock. I'm not working anymore. There's no more work to do. No, the most important work to do is within your home.

The nurturing of relationships, the teaching, the training, the investing in your marriage, in your family, and in your children. But too many men come home exhausted from the demands of work and just interested in relaxing for the evening. And I'm not against relaxing, but if that's the mindset continually, we've missed it.

We've missed it. There's work, important work, God-ordained work, work that God has promised to bless if we trust Him in the process. So apart from God, all of our efforts to experience true satisfaction in life will prove to be in vain.

So it begs the question, what is it that we're living our lives for? Are we living our lives for more income, to buy more things? Jesus said a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. If we didn't have another verse warning us against materialism, all we had was the words of Jesus.

That would be enough. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. So why, therefore, do we invest so much of our time in the accumulation of things? That's the world. That's the culture in which we live.

We've bought the lie. We must learn to be content with less and give ourselves to the things that are going to last forever. Again, apart from God, apart from God being in the middle of the picture, life itself and our satisfaction with life will be empty in vain. And it is one of the most elusive things in this world, satisfaction, contentment. God alone provides a paycheck. God alone provides a quiet heart that is content and satisfied.

You see that? God promises something, not to everyone. God promises something to those who are looking to Him, those who are abiding in Him, those who have entrusted themselves to Him, those who are looking to God to bless their God-ordained efforts. And what is that? For so He gives His beloved sleep.

Now, there's a number of applications here. I think we all know the benefit of a good night's sleep on the heels of a hard day of work. That's just the body recouping and replenishing itself. But that's not what's in view here, I don't believe. What's in view here is being able to pillow your head at night and not lay there and wrestle and be awake and worry and be full of anxiety about things.

Why? Because you've entrusted yourself and your children, your family to the Lord. You're resting in Him. You understand that it doesn't depend upon you, that it depends upon Him. That it's not your efforts, it's not your ingenuity, it's not your hard work, it's the blessing of God.

And if you're resting under His smile, you can sleep at night because it doesn't depend on you, it depends on Him. Again, without God's blessing, our efforts will prove empty no matter how much we exert ourselves, no matter how much we fret and worry. If God doesn't build the house, it won't be built. And if God doesn't guard the city, the watchmen, they watch in vain. So there's these warnings that begin the passage, unless, unless. But there's more than warnings in the passage, there are by implication some wonderful encouragements.

By implication, we have this truth. God is working. God is working for and with His people. Now apart from His work, it's all vain, but the fact of the matter is God is working. God is building homes.

God is guarding cities. And again, while the largest emphasis of verse 1 and 2 deal with the warning, that last part that I just looked at with you, He gives His beloved sleep. That's the blessing of God. That is the contentment that comes with entrusting yourself to God. It's the ability of the Christian to be able to leave his or her cares with God. It's the believing persuasion that ultimately what is decisive is not what we do, or what we have failed to do, but what God does. The Christian doesn't have to rise up early and stay up late as if it all depends on him because it doesn't. The child of God doesn't have to fret and worry as if his or her determination and effort were the decisive factor as to what will be accomplished because the child of God knows that it's not. Our exertion, our resolve is not what is ultimately decisive. How many times have we wanted something and been determined to see it happen and yet despite all of our efforts and expense and investment, it doesn't come to fruition.

Why? Because it wasn't the will of God. God's blessing wasn't upon it. But the Christian has the wonderful privilege of working out his responsibilities that in the final analysis what is decisive and what will prove effectual and what will prove lasting is what God does. And the encouragement here is God is working. God is doing something.

That is our conviction. God is working. He's building homes.

He's guarding cities. So what have we seen in terms of encouragement here by way of implication? Number one, God works. Number two, God builds.

Number three, God guards. The angels of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them, the Bible says. God is working. God is working and saving his people.

And he's doing that right now in this world. Here, there, or somewhere, God is working to save his people. God is working to sanctify his people today. He is working to bring his sheep along in the ways of righteousness.

God is busy. God is busy today blessing his people. No small work of his today is the work of blessing his people. One distinctive expression of that is expressed in the latter half of this psalm.

What is that? The blessing of children. The blessing of children. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.

The fruit of the womb is a reward. So God is working. God is working to build his church, and God is working to build his church in this context through the salvation of believing parents in the saving of their children. I think parents need to have the conviction, have the mindset that their number one role as a parent is to disciple their children. Now here's a question that is a bit of a tricky question, and that is, are disciples, are they made? Do we make disciples, or are disciples something that God does? Well, you can't make a follower of Christ.

God, through the operation of the Spirit of God, makes a boy, a girl, a man, or a woman a follower of Jesus Christ. But we have to disciple. We have to train. We have to teach.

We have to instruct. And that's the role of parents, making disciples for Jesus, building his church in the family. So much of God's work is concentrated with his beloved people. So we're looking at encouragements here in Psalm 127. Encouragement, not only that God is working as much of an encouragement as that is, God is working in us both to will and to do according to his good pleasure.

Don't minimize that. That is a wonderful promise from God. God is not uninvolved in the lives of his children. God is working to a desired end. God is working.

That's the first encouragement. The second encouragement is that God is one who makes our work meaningful. God makes our work meaningful.

He works for us, he works in us, and he works through us. And if God is doing something meaningful, then we, who are his people, are necessarily involved in something meaningful as well. So God is determined to work in us, to work with us, to work for us, and to work through us. And it is because of that divine determination that the life of a Christian cannot be proven to be vain or empty or meaningless because we are co-workers with God. We are involved in divine activity as God works through us. Again, Psalm 127 makes this clear. It speaks of God building, it speaks of God guarding, and then it speaks also of we ourselves building and we ourselves guarding. You see, it's his work, but at the same time it is our work. And yes, it is vain and empty to labor without him, but by implication it's noble, it's fruitful to be working with him. So like God, from our vantage point at least, our work often seems to be mundane and at times unsuccessful. We can look at our work in a given season of life and there may appear to be very little fruit on the vine, very little encouragement.

There may not appear to be anything worth getting excited about. The vast majority of Christians will never do anything that will make the headlines, not in God's sight. Those who have lived in conscious dependence upon him and those who honestly have sought to honor him will be rewarded. God will bless those efforts. Our daily doing things that have eternal significance are worth our effort. Our efforts, even when we have fallen short in our eyes and in our hopes, have eternal significance because God makes them eternally significant. So we're thinking about the encouragements here in the psalm.

And what are they? Well, number one, God works, God builds, God guards, God makes our work meaningful. And then number three, He rewards our work for Him. He rewards our work for Him. The fruit of the womb is a reward. Now don't think antithetically.

And what do I mean by that? Well, don't think because God hasn't blessed you with children that in place of a reward, that is punishment. No, that's not what this is teaching. We acknowledge that it is God who opens the womb in His time. God doesn't always open the womb for reasons and purposes known to Him. Some on this Father's Day have a heavy heart because they have a longing to have children, to invest in children, to nurture children, to bring up children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

But let me encourage you with this. If you believe, as the Bible teaches, that life begins at conception and you have had the unfortunate experience of going through and walking through miscarriages, God has given you children. Now He hasn't given you the blessing of holding those children and nurturing those children and raising those children for Him, but all of our children are gifts from Him and we are simply stewards of that. And in those situations through miscarriage, God has said, I want those children with me. Well, find joy in that, that these are children who are going to live forever in heaven with the Lord and you will see them someday. There's wonderful encouragement in that. I know that doesn't replace the emptiness that you feel right now, but rather than seeing it as a negative, see it as a positive.

What's it say? The fruit of the womb. The fruit of the womb.

Too often we associate the blessing here with the duration of life, but if God has blessed the womb with the conception of life, that is a soul that's going to live forever. And rejoice in that. Find comfort in that. Thank God for that. And continue to bring your desires before Him. Children are a gift of God.

They're a gift. So fathers tonight, thank God for the gift that He's given to you of children. And since the family is the basic unit of society, it is the family that's under attack in our country. The nation will prosper to the degree that the family prospers. And if families are neglected and families decline, the entire society will decline with them. And I don't need to tell you that in these United States of America, at the present time, families are disintegrating.

Children are being neglected. And the frequency and the magnitude of violence is skyrocketing. There is an attack on the basic institution of family and marriage, one of the pillars of society.

So we are in a war. And therefore, all the more that we need to heed the warnings of this passage and draw strength from the encouragements that are here. The point of Psalm 127 stands. Children are a blessing from God. They, with their parents, are among the vital foundation blocks of a healthy, thriving society.

It is a blessing. That is, children. There are seasons that we go through that are part of nurturing children. It seems like a long time that we typically have our children in our homes for 17, 18 years or so.

Some a little longer, some a little shorter. And as long as it sounds, when you say 18 or 19 years, in the living of it out, it goes by very, very quickly. But it's in the mundane, the habits, the relationships, the investment, day after day, week after week, month after month, that God has promised to bless and honor the seeds that are sown in faith and trust of God. So God works slowly, but God works surely. So don't despair if God has yet to save your children. Trust Him for that. Don't tire of your responsibility. Continue to pray. Continue to seek God. Continue to set the word of God before them. Continue to bring them to church. Continue to admonish them.

Continue to instruct them. And trust God all the while. If it is a vain thing to build a house without God or to watch over city without depending on God to preserve it, then it is even greater folly to try and raise a family or raise a child without God. We must seek God's help in the raising of our children. We must be dependent upon God prayerfully. And above all, we must set an example before our children of what it looks like to live for God.

It's easy to be discouraged in these days in which we live. There are times that it appears, as we look around, that God's work is being challenged and threatened, maybe from our perception even frustrated in this fallen world. God's work is often perplexing to us and hard to discern what exactly is God doing in a given situation.

But make no mistake, our God is working. He is working powerfully. He is working infallibly.

He is working sovereignly. He is working in keeping with and in perfect harmony with His eternal decrees. And brothers and sisters, His work is praiseworthy, and His work is noble, and His work is going to last.

His work is going to be seen to be glorious and worthy of His eternal praise. Therefore, I challenge you, as Paul challenged the Corinthians, be steadfast, unmovable, abounding in the things of the Lord, knowing that your work is not in vain in the Lord. Shall we pray? Father, thank You for Your word. Thank You for its relevancy as it addresses life in this broken, fallen world, and how it reminds us of the necessity of dependence upon You and the vanity of living a life apart from You. We pray, O God, that You would strengthen us in the inner man, strengthen our efforts. Bless our efforts, Father, as we endeavor to honor You and our parenting. We delight and desire to see the salvation of our children and of our grandchildren and all of our desire and all of our effort and all of our praying cannot save them. You must do the saving, and we ask You to do it for Your own honor and Your own glory and for their eternal good. Help us not to become weary in well-doing. Help us to stay at the task. Help us to continue to invest in our children and in our grandchildren if You are giving us that opportunity. And, Lord, help us to see the deceptive lies of this world that tell us that we must live for the accumulation of things.

We must work night and day, burn the candle at both ends. No, this passage warns us against that. Thank You, Father, for the peace that You give that passes understanding. You said You will keep Him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on Thee because He trusteth in Thee. How we thank You for that abiding peace because the Prince of Peace has redeemed us, has owned us, has subdued us, and He lives within us. So bless, Father, this word tonight to our hearts. Encourage us.

Strengthen us. And may we know the blessing of God upon our efforts and upon our labors. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.