Psalm 127

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon expresses the importance of realizing that life is empty and meaningless without God.

Picture this, the wisest, richest, most powerful man of that time after all he had learned, accomplished and gained said it was all pointless without God.

None of it had lasting fulfillment because he had forsaken God’s plan and had entertained the gods of his wives and concubines.

Psalm 127 echos much of this same truth.

Written by Solomon, he speaks of what is most important to men, building a home and family, protecting that family and their community, and working hard to provide for them, but Solomon comes to the conclusion it is all vain without God’s involvement.

These psalms of degrees, or Psalms of ascent were held in an high importance to the remneant that returned from Babylon and rebuilt the city.

Without God’s blessings and help, it was all in vain.

This Psalm is still very relevant today, as we work to build our homes and families, as we protect them and as we work to provide for them.

And yet as this Psalm points out, most are empty inside because they labor in vain.

Their marriages fall apart, their families rip apart, and everything they have worked for disappears because they left God out of all of it!

We see first of all, we have Success when:

I. The Lord Builds

1 Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows: For so he giveth his beloved sleep.

When the remnant returned and began to build they realized quickly, unless the Lord was on their side all their labor would be in vain.

The enemy would destroy all their hard work.

Throughout Scripture we see God give us the idea of building a house as a picture of establishing and growing a family in the Lord.

He tells us here that unless the Lord builds the house...

A. The Labor is in Vain

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it...”

Jesus told the story of the two men who built their houses.

One built it on the rock, and the other on the foundation of sand.

When the storms came, the house on the sand collapsed, btu the house built on a foundation of the rock stood form.

Jesus then drove home the application of the illustration:

Those who build their loves and their homes on the Lord and teachings of His Word build on a firm foundation and will weather any storm.

Proverbs 10:25 KJV

25 As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: But the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

We are all building on something!

If you will build your home on the Word of God, the Church of God, and the principles of God your home will stay strong.

But when we begin to build our home on the philosophies of this world, of television shows, of popular ideas they will crumble.

Make God the center of our lives and homes!

Nothing should take greater priority in our lives than the Word of God, the House of God, and the fellowship with the People of God!

When the storms come, the pressures, challenges, trials and temptations…your home will be able to stand strong against the attacks from Satan and this World.

Psalm 27:5 KJV

5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock.

Keep as your foundation Jesus Christ!

1 Corinthians 3:11 KJV

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Unless the Lord build the house…we labour in vain, and our ...

B. Protection Is Vain

“… except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”

The men of the city of Jerusalem labored to rebuild the city and at times even had to work with one hand and hold a sword with the other.

But without God, their fighting would be in vain.

We can do everything we can to protect our homes and families, but we need to remember our true security is in the Lord.

I believe we ought to do what we can to protect our families.

But if in the end we are trusting in our own firepower more than God, and let’s be honest, far too many are…our protection is vain.

I don’t care how many guns, alarm systems, booby traps or other protections you have if you have left God behind…if you are trusting in your own might rather than in God’s it is in vain!

The watchman waketh in vain!

The best protection we can give our families is to lean on and trust in the supernatural protection of God.

Through out the Palms the Lord is a shield, a fortress and a refuge for those who trust in Him.

Does that guarantee that nothing bad will ever happen to us?

Of course not, but neither does having a gun.

But if it is God’s will for us to suffer, we will suffer…but we will only gain from it if we are yielded to His will.

Countless Christians have suffered throughout the centuries and millennia, and those who have fully trusted in Christ have shone forth like a beam of light through the centuries to testify of God’s true protection.

We can use locks, gates, fences, alarms, cameras, dogs and even armed guards, but all these are in vain if the Lord is not standing guard over us.

Those were some mighty men standing guard over the tomb, but they all fell at the will of God.

Our labor is in vain without God

Our protection is in vain without God

C. Hard Work is Vain

2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows: For so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Nehemiah and the remnant worked hard, but all their labor would be for nothing had God not been with them.

just as building a house, and safeguarding it is vain without the Lord, so is working long, hard hours without Him.

Many people seek their satisfaction or fulfillment in their work.

Working early, coming home late, working weekends.

But many people too often ignore the real purpose of the home.

To train up those children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Far too many people replace God as their priority with material things thinking it will make their family happy.

They replace the family altar with toys and presents.

They replace teaching their children with video game systems.

They replace taking them to church with taking them to ball games or vacations.

There is nothing wrong with toys and presents, or video game systems, or ball games or vacations.

Where they become wrong…is when we replace God with them.

Far too many work extra shifts, and long hours and replace the time they can spend with their family with things that they can buy.

It’s not God’s plan!

Our homes ought to reflect God’s will for our family.

a hunger and a thirst for righteousness

a priority set for attending church

a regular set time of praying together and reading God’s Word together.

Many will realize too late, when their children move on to college and work…and they have been taught by example that their job, and gaining things is more important than time with family, and with God.

We will have true success in our families and our lives when the Lord builds our homes.

We will have true success in our families and our lives when ...

II. The Lord Gives

3 Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: And the fruit of the womb is his reward.

4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; So are children of the youth.

5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: They shall not be ashamed, But they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Solomon concludes this song by emphasizing that the children that the Lord has given us are a gift from Him.

We are stewards of these gifts, and will be held accountable for what we do with them.

In the language of these verses we see that these gifts of our children has a...

A. Sense of Investment

3 Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: And the fruit of the womb is his reward.

We see that our children our an heritage - a gift given to us as an inheritance, but we also see that the fruit of the womb is His reward.

His needs to point to an antecedent, it cannot stand alone.

An antecedent is the word that is previously mentioned to let you know who the pronoun (his) is talking about.

There is no mention of the mother or father here as of yet.

The only mention of a person is the children and the Lord.

The children can’t be their own reward…so by default we see it is the reward to the Lord

I have heard many sermons mention the fruit of the womb is the parents reward…but it is the Lord’s reward.

We have a giving (heritage) and a return (reward).

Children are investment by God into our families.

We are going to give an answer to God for this investment.

These children are not ours - they are His investments.

Take it very seriously!

Not only is there a sense of investment, but these verses show a ...

B. Sense of Directing

Psalm 127:4 KJV

4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; So are children of the youth.

Just as arrows in the hand of a mighty man is directed by his strength, skill and careful aim so are our children to be directed with all of our might, with great skill, and care.

We are to teach them in the way to go.

Proverbs 22:6 KJV

6 Train up a child in the way he should go: And when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Charles Spurgeon said, “Let no Christian parents fall into the delusion that Sunday School is intended to ease them of their personal duties. The first and most natural condition of things is for Christian parents to train up their own children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

I will come back to this verse in a moment as we close, but see first… these verses give not only a sense of investment, and a sense of directing, but also a...

C. Sense of Blessing

5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: They shall not be ashamed, But they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

The city gates were a place where business was transacted, an important part of Jewish society.

The mention of speaking with the enemies in the gate shows that these parents have raised a man of strength.

The child, now a man, is there to support his father, to protect him and defend him against his enemies.

Parents are blessed who have children who watch out for their best interests and protect them.

Parents who raise their kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord do not have to fear being left behind or forgotten.

Although there is still free will involved, the principle is true, lovingly investing in your children and raising them on the principles of God’s Word help them make the right decisions when we are old.

Conclusion

Going back for just a moment to verse 4, I read an explanation of this verse by Bible Teacher John Phillips that was too good not to share, he said:

“As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.” Arrows in the hand of a mighty man are arrows he intends to use, and use effectively. Those arrows are going to go where he wants them to go and do what he wants them to do.

Not everyone can make arrows do what they want. The ability to direct an arrow, so that it accomplishes what the mighty man has in mind, assumes quite a number of things, not least of which is discipline on the part of the mighty man. Before he can discipline his arrows he must discipline himself. He must learn how to direct arrows. He must master the art of archery, learn how to bend a bow, how to take aim, how to judge distance, direction, the strength and quarter of the wind. He must learn how to draw back the string, how to keep his eye on the target. Then, too, he must know how to fashion arrows. They must be made straight. He is not going to hit the target with bent and crooked arrows.

Children who turn out well are not the product of a haphazard home life. Bringing up our children is the single most important task we have in life—far more important than excelling as a biochemist, a pathologist, or a professor of economics. We need to study child raising. We need to study our children. We need to know the various stages through which they pass as they grow from babyhood to adulthood. Above all we need to study the Bible so that we will know and apply what God has to say about this matter. Then our children will grow up to be our helpers. They will help us accomplish our goals in life, and we will help them discover their own place in God’s plan. They will be extensions of our own commitment, able to help us in our prime and willing to support us when old age overtakes us, when our own mightiness has passed away.