Unless the LORD Builds the House

Good morning church. Thank you again, for having me today. It’s a privilege and an honor to bring the holy word of God to you this morning.

If you have your bibles, please open them to Psalm 127, again that’s Psalm 127, and if you’re able, please stand for the reading of God’s word.

English Standard Version (Psalm 127)

127 A SONG OF ASCENTS. OF SOLOMON.

1  Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

2  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.

3  Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.

4  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.

5  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.

Amen, you may be seated.

How many of you grew up in a Christian home? I know many of you did not. I was fortunate to have been raised by Christian parents, by a Christian father who taught be what being a Christian was fundamentally about. Who taught me the bible, who taught me to pray, who taught me to go to church. This was a great benefit to me. Some of you, in fact many of you may not have had such a blessing. What we have here in Psalm 127, I think, is an outline of what a Christian home and family ought to look like. The great preacher Steven Lawson calls it a “Blueprint” of the Christian home, and I think that is a good description.

So, let us dive into this Psalm, first from a 10,000 foot view, and then we shall dig into each and every word that God saw fit to gift us with.

Looking at the first half of the Psalm, it is not entirely certain if this Psalm is speaking of a literal home or figuratively of a family, but it is certain that principles here have implications for both, and more importantly implications for the family. Both the personal family and the church family. What we will see here in the first few verses is a contrast between good and evil. We know that the wiles of the devil are to seek and destroy everything that God builds. So what is our great protection for the things we labor to build? To ensure that it is the Lord at it’s very center. Otherwise, if God not be there, our efforts to build and protect are in vain. Useless. The second half begins to tell us of the blessings of God for those homes who are not built in vain. Those who are obedient in God’s commands.

Verse 1, begins with “Unless the LORD builds the house” - it must be the LORD who builds the home. This seems simple, and it is. But how easily do we as a people forget the most basic of biblical truths? It’s a simple and profound truth. The LORD must be the one to build the home. A man can be of great skill, or of great wealth and status so as to hire the best builders in all the land, he could have many hands in this labor of building the home, that home will crumble in the same way as the tower of Babel. This analogy may be speaking of the physical home, but we can understand or grasp the principles here, can we not?