Are You Building a House or a Home? - Part B

Man wasn't made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man. It's a gift. And so the Lord gives his beloved sleep. There's a time to quit, not to worry and to worship your work.

Rest is not a necessary evil or a break from what's really important. It's a gift from God to us. And as Skip shares today in his message, are you building a house or a home?

God desires for you to rest in him and not worry. Now, here's an offer that'll help you connect with God's design for fathers and understand why they are such a vital part of a strong family. America is reaping the whirlwind of bad fruit from a generation of young men who lack the influence of a father. We desperately need to educate men of all ages and stages of life to begin to turn this destructive social trend.

Listen to Skip Heitzig. Where's dad? That's a crucial question in our world today. When fathers abandon their children, a series of dominoes begin to fall with devastating results. We see young men rampaging through streets destroyed by drugs, then continuing the vicious cycle by creating fatherless homes. We need to educate boys and men of all ages about how dads make a difference. And that's the theme of our current resource package that includes my full hour video documentary called Where's Dad? Plus seven of my most important messages to men. I hope you'll order your copy now. Dads Make a Difference.

That's the title of a critical issues package you can order now. The Dads Make a Difference package includes seven of Skip's most important messages to men and the full hour video documentary Where's Dad? hosted by Skip. I think it's pretty easy to see from just a reading through of scripture that it is dad's responsibility to set the moral spiritual tone in the home.

Remember it was Joshua who said as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Get this package in either digital download or CD and DVD when you support Connect with Skip with your gift of $50 or more. You'll be joining us as we take Skip's Bible teachings into more major cities.

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All right now we're turning to Psalm 127 as Skip begins his teaching. It's interesting that both David and Solomon were builders. They knew what it was like to have that deep drive within the heart of man to build something to be successful and to preserve what you have made. As soon as Solomon becomes king he undertakes the massive building project of making in Jerusalem the house of the Lord.

This is what he did. First of all he made a treaty with the Phoenician king named Hiram who is the king of Tyre up in Lebanon. Solomon knew that he needed stone but he also needed wood so in exchange for Israeli oil and wine and wheat he wanted Lebanese cypress and cedar wood. So he sends 30,000 wood cutters from Israel up to Lebanon to cut the wood down bring it down by boat down to Joppa and up to Jerusalem. Not only that but he gets 183,000 workers 80,000 stone cutters and 3,300 supervisors.

I'd probably want to be one of those if I could have had a choice. He had that many people working on building the temple. He was quite successful. He was able to build a temple that today would cost in the billions of dollars to make. He was able to build that in seven and a half years. He spent seven and a half years building the house of the Lord but listen to this he spent another 13 years building his own house.

So it kind of shows you where his priorities are. So he builds his own house he builds the house of the Lord and when they dedicate the temple in Jerusalem the Lord said this, if you or the kings who come after you ever turn away from following me this house will become a heap of ruins. If you turn away from me or if the people who follow you turn away from me this house this temple will become a heap of ruins. So he says unless the Lord builds the house unless the Lord's behind this anointing this doing the work this is all for nothing it's vanity.

The Lord's got to be behind it. Notice he also says unless the Lord guards the city the watchman stays awake in vain. Anytime you build a city in those days with walls around it you got to guard it. Now Solomon was not only a builder he was a protector a gardener of cities.

I wish today we were standing in Israel in the city of Megiddo. I would point out to you an interesting archaeological discovery called the gate of Solomon a Solomonic gate that he made in different parts of the land wherever he built fortification cities. And the gate of Solomon was a corridor of four interlocking gates so that if you were an enemy and you could penetrate the first gate you'd find yourself in a stone corridor and you'd face the second gate. If you got past the second gate you'd face the third gate and then the fourth gate.

Meanwhile there'd be soldiers above you standing on the ramparts taking pot shots at you with their arrows. It was very difficult to penetrate the gates of Solomon but what happened after building the city and fortifying the city after building the house of the Lord in his own house Solomon eventually fell away from God and the kings that came after him broke the covenant of God so God stopped protecting the city and allowed it to be destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonian army and the whole group of that nation went into captivity for 70 years. So here you have this builder this achiever this magnanimous workaholic saying unless the Lord builds the house and unless the Lord guards the city it's all emptiness futile vanity. These verses could be addressed today to the workaholic overachiever the person who likes to build and guard his or her own empire. This could be addressed to those who work hard to build the house the organization the corporation or the church but their own home is in disrepair the relationships are in disrepair that's a house that is built upon vanity. I found an article in the magazine Scientific American by a gentleman named Yuri Brofenbrenner some of you have heard of him only if you have a counseling background probably will you have heard of Yuri Brofenbrenner. He was a Russian American who examined American culture American life and especially American families and he looked specifically at problems that face the American family and he was warning of forces that are causing the family in America to deteriorate. This is what he wrote quote the demands of a job that claim mealtimes evenings and weekends as well as days the trips and moves necessary to get ahead or simply hold one's own the increasing time spent commuting entertaining going out meeting social and community obligations all of these produce a situation in which a child often spends more time with the passive babysitter than with a participating parent close quote. We all applaud hard-working entrepreneurial parents what we have to be careful of is that our labor and our watching is not in vain that we're working on people not just on projects or property but that we have the right value system the right priorities notice in verse two he amplifies now the thought it's vain for you empty to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrows for so he gives his beloved sleep it's easy to see what this verse is talking about the forced artificial lengthening of the day where you are managing your time you're trying to push so much in the 24-hour period and you're adding anxiety on top of your labor so you build it all day long you guard it all evening long and then you toss and turn all night long that's the idea the living bible renders it it is senseless for you to work so hard from early morning to late at night fearing that you'll starve to death such as the life of the empire builder he says it's vain it's demanding it's vain for you to rise up early and to sit up late it's excruciating it says to eat the bread of sorrows in other words you're busy but you're bummed out ever met a person like that how come you're so bummed out because i'm so busy so bummed out because i'm so busy busy busy busy bummed out bummed out bummed out you're eating the bread of sorrows back in 1851 the greatest marvel in the world at that time was steam because we discovered that you could take steam and you could convert it into energy so at the world's fair in london in hyde park the crystal palace exhibition they had all sorts of gadgets that were on display for people to come and check out a steam locomotive steam plows steam looms steam organs steam cannons and all of them were placed on display and a first prize was given to the greatest machine but get this the machine that took first place at that crystal palace exhibition in 1851 in london england was a machine that had 7 000 moving parts all powered by steam when the machine was turned on gears moved police pulled bells rang out but the interesting thing about that is the machine did nothing it just moved and made noise it was of no practical value at all 7 000 moving parts with no practical value lots of activity no accomplishment and it got first place have you discovered there's a big difference between activity and accomplishment don't confuse the two you can be busy busy busy bummed out bummed out bummed out eating the bread of sorrows ever feel like you're just spinning plates spinning plates like oh spinning plates can't let that fall wait a minute over here got to spin that plate got to spin that plate busy bummed out lots of activity no accomplishment not only that but solomon says it's exhausting for he says for so he gives his beloved sleep god gave you the gift of being able to go home and stop work and have a good night's sleep it's god's gift to you just like the sabbath is a good gift of god you take one day a week and you just hang you rest jesus said the sabbath wasn't a man wasn't made for the sabbath the sabbath was made for man it's a gift and so the lord gives his beloved sleep there's a time to quit not to worry and to worship your work i came across a biography sometime back on george lucas you know the name he's the producer of star wars and all of the subsequent films that that incredible story produced george lucas in this book is portrayed as a young multi-millionaire who is restless and unfulfilled and frustrated the book portrays him not having a good relationship with his wife not enjoying life but he can't quit there's a classic example of somebody who built a house an empire while his home is in shambles it's the wrong focus a house built on vanity it's vain vain vain now in verse three we have a change to a home built on values behold children are a heritage from the lord the fruit of the womb is a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior so are the children's of one's youth happy as the man who has his quiver full of them they shall not be ashamed of the world they shall not be ashamed but shall speak with their enemies in the gate now whenever you have the word behold it's a word that causes you to stop and look that's the idea behold like look at this or i like to say hey check this out so he writes negatively here's a here's a house built on vanity he says okay now forget that but hey check this out let me have you check out what a home built on values is all about we're not focusing on projects we're not focusing on property we're focusing on people you notice in the wording there's nothing written written about building or watching guarding we're at a deeper level you might say that he turns from just making a living to enjoying your life that is a blessing of god and what makes it so valuable first of all first of all god-centered relationships now you'll notice three words in the song notice the word lord it is mentioned three times all together in psalm 127 lord it's mentioned three times but it's also implied another three times so really a total i've counted of six times the word lord is either mentioned or implied and then in verse three notice the word womb the fruit of the womb is a reward the womb would refer to the wife it's the reproductive process of a woman and then the term children is mentioned twice so you have the lord the wife and children and that describes a home these are the core family relationships with god at the center that's a home a home isn't built on vain things a home is built on valuable relationships i've said this before it bears repeating if you were to strip away everything else in life down to its irreducible minimum you would have one thing left relationships a relationship with god or not and relationships with people good or bad you take all of the stuff away from life all of the extras and you boil it down to its irreducible minimum and you have relationships so the rule of thumb is that our spiritual commitment should spill over and affect every other relationship in other words the vertical relationship with god should affect the horizontal relationships with people in a positive way hudson taylor was a missionary to china founded the china inland mission over a century ago he said if your father and mother brother and sister if the very cat and dog in your house are not happier for you being a christian it's a question whether you really are i like to think that i have a happy dog because i love the lord and everybody else because i love the lord so the value is first of all god-centered relationships the second thing that makes it valuable is a god-given heritage he says children are a heritage from the lord i know some parents that would question this their kids are at that age where they test the whole heritage thing even babies you know you you're so excited to have a baby and then you have a baby and this thing screams like all the time somebody once said a baby is a digestive apparatus with a loud noise at one end and no responsibility at the other end well god would say no it's a heritage it's a gift on loan to you for you to shape and you to launch out into this world to make a difference listen kids are the only earthly possession you can take with you to heaven what about my new iphone 5 can i take that no you can't first of all it'll be outdated in a month and all of the cool things you have around you in the world is a gift to you all of the cool things you have around you in your life you'll never take with you to heaven children people relationships it's the only thing you can take with you to heaven now some people at this stage of our history might dispute the value of having children they might say well you know there's enough people on earth already we don't need to have any more or we live in such a dark dangerous world it's probably not the best time to have kids there's terrorism there's the threat of war in the middle east there's the possibility of economic problems here at home and we don't know what's going to happen in the next four years in this country it's such a bad time we shouldn't have children that's exactly why you should have children don't you get it this world needs the kind of children that christians can produce we need to keep the flow of the heritage thing going we really do we really do can you imagine if the parents of elijah would have fought that way honey i don't think we should have kids you know it's really bad here in israel king omri is like a wicked dude his value his administration so bad we should no no we need to have an elijah right about now or what if the parents of moses would have said you know that pharaoh dude he's a bad guy he kills babies and he could kill our baby well no let's have one anyway and trust the lord with little moses and so moses was born and when god sees what's happening in the world is bad and looming and wicked his plan is a baby is going to be born to do something about that hence the lord jesus christ we're celebrating that in a month christmas so children are a heritage from the lord now as we come to a close of this message in the series go back to some of the historical information we noted at the beginning of psalm 127 david was the one who wanted to build the lord a house in jerusalem that was his dream he amassed finances for it he amassed supplies to get ready for that event but the lord said david sorry you're not going to build a house your son will build a house for me but then the lord promised him something else he said you're not going to build me a house but i am going to build you a house now here's a question when god made that promise i'm going to build you a house was he thinking of an outward structure was he thinking of a townhouse was he thinking of an adobe house no he wasn't thinking of anything material he was thinking of something spiritual metaphorical i'm going to build you a dynasty of sons who will rule the nation of israel that will eventually lead to the lord jesus christ the greater son of david so david is thinking materially i want to build the lord a house god is thinking relationally i want to do for you david what no man can do i want you to have a home you're in you're into building a kingdom and even building me a house i'm going to build you a relational thing a home there's some principles i want you to walk away with i've distilled this message and really the entire series down to three principles to go home with to walk away with number one god's best gifts are people not property or projects people those are god's best gifts number two no amount of human effort or toil can accomplish as much as god's blessing unless the lord builds it's in vain unless the lord guards it's in vain all of your effort and all of your toil cannot accomplish what god's blessing can do and number three godly relationships will turn your house into a home are those your priorities what are your priorities as we leave this series and we march out from this place are your priorities projects property or people some of you will find this interesting in deadwood south dakota there's a museum and inside is an inscription written by a tired beleaguered prospector you know prospector looking for gold he said i lost my gun i lost my gun i lost my horse i'm out of food the indians are after me but i've got all the gold i can carry how stupid he lost his protection his transportation and his enemies are about to kill him and he's got the gold dude you won't have it for another 20 minutes if they're that close to you behind you i've lost everything but i've got the gold what are you willing to lose to hold on to something that is perishing so what do you want a house or do you want a home is it projects and property or is it people what will you invest in if you're building your life apart from god it's vanity if you're adding worry on top of that it's insanity but if you're building upward to god and outward to people that's a valuable commodity that's Skip heideck wrapping up his series keep calm and marry on find the full message as well as books booklets and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com now here's Skip to share how you can keep these messages coming your way to connect you and many others around the world with god's word god's word promises an eternal home for those who follow christ and it calls us to tell that good news to other people that's why we share these bible-based messages online and on the air to connect you and many others around the world to the eternal hope of the gospel when you give a gift to support this radio ministry you not only help reach more listeners but you also keep these messages that you love coming to you with your support we can expand the ministry this year into more major us cities reaching people who desperately need the gospel will you help make that happen here's how you can give now visit connectwithskip.com donate to give a gift that's connectwithskip.com slash donate or call 800-922-1888 800-922-1888 thank you for your generosity come back tomorrow as Skip begins a message from josea part of his series the bible from 30 000 feet connect with Skip hyton is a presentation of connection communications connecting you to god's never changing truth in ever-changing times