Fearing God

-EI: Blessed is the man who fears the Lord and walks in His ways.

-EP: To teach people the value of fearing the Lord and walking in his ways.

-EQ: What benefit is fearing the Lord?

Introduction:

The passage we will be studying to today is a short but powerful one found in the book of Psalms. We will be looking at Psalms 128 and we will be looking at an issue that is very relevant to us today. Psalm 128

Psalm 128 NKJV

A Song of Ascents. Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, Who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed Who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you out of Zion, And may you see the good of Jerusalem All the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!

Ninth in the group of fifteen psalms (Psalms 120–34) identified in their superscriptions as Songs of the Ascents (see the Introduction to the Songs of the Ascents), Psalm 128 was most likely sung by pilgrims as they made their way to Jerusalem to celebrate a number of annual religious festivals, including Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. It is classified, along with Psalm 127, as a wisdom psalm.

When looking at this passage we must first answer the fundamental question what is fearing the Lord. Pherhaps a verse like Proverbs 1:7 comes to mind. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

When we think of the idea of fearing God it can be hard to get our minds around because we have recieved great Grace from God and often think about how loving and gracious God is. This is certainly an understandable perspective as a modern day believer because we praise God and hear all the time about His great love which is great. Even though all of those things about God are true about God and our relationship with Him it does not mean that God is not the pure holy, and just God of the creation and the Old Testament. Often people in modern times as a criticism of modern culture will say “there is just no fear of God anymore” or something to that effect and actually this is a good way or us to think about God. The high standard for living and conduct that God places on man and the perfection and purity that God represents should cause us to be fearful when we sin. Isaiah serves as a great example of what the fear of God looks like.

Isaiah 6:1–5 NKJV

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”

God is unapproachable in His purity; He is a consuming fire. Thus when Isaiah sees Him in the temple, he cries out "Woe!" (Isa 6:5 ). In our churches today we need to recapture this sense of the fear of God.

Most certainly a famous passage but is illustrates a great point that when confronted with the power and perfection of God men become aware of their sin and immediately become fearful. The fear of God is what keeps man in check and while we as believers certainly don’t have to fear the judgement of God any longer we still have to contend with the perfect nature of God and how our sin conflicts with that nature. We still have to observe the power of God and His wrath towards sin that we were spared from because of Christ. Like Isaiah the thought of our sin with contrast to God’s nature and power should make us go “Woe.” The woe should cause to want to walk in the ways of God and carry ourselves with reverence toward the power of God and the understanding of the seriousness of our sin.

The overall message of today’s passage is that fearing the Lord brings about many blessings in the life of the man who fears God. Together we will pray fully and thankfully look at these various blessings.

Body:

I. You are blessed when you fear the Lord (vs. 1-2)

Psalm 128:1–2 NKJV

Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, Who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.

a. The Labor of your hands will be fruitful for you (vs. 2)

(1). “The Labor of your hands” - The work that we do will be blessed and it satisfy us and make us happy.

This concept runs completely counter to the what the world says about work. The world tells people to find a job that makes them happy and sure there is nothing wrong with having a job that you are gifted at or enjoy but it is not the main goal. The main goal is to work for the glory of God while remembering to fear God and walk in His ways.

After all the good of our labor is a gift from God as Ecclesiastes tells us. Ecclesiastes 3:13 “and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.” We should remember God with the results of our labor.

b. You will be Happy (vs.2)

(1) When God blesses our labor and we fear Him in our labor then we will be happy because of our work. There is nothing like the joy that comes with getting a good result out of working hard. There are three main things that give me this feeling one is when I get my car cleaned and vacuumed out or when I finish working on my car and it runs better than it did before or when I am at work and we take down a big tree to see that tree gone brings a big sense of accomplishment.

(2) It is the natural human instinct to be happy when we accomplish big tasks or are rewarded for our labor but it is important that we don’t take short cut on our journey there or forget God in the process. Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of ways to cut corners and there are people who succeed at cutting the corners we see are work or online in social media and it can be frustrating when we are doing the right thing and we see families acting selfishly and getting many blessings it can be discouraging, but it is important to remember true deep satisfaction in life does not come from the result but in the relationship and honour that we give God in what we do throughout our lives.

c. It will be well with you (vs.2)

II. Your Family will be blessed when you fear the Lord (v. 3-4)

a.Your wife will be blessed (v.3)

Psalm 128:3 “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table.”

Children were often considered a blessing in the time and a man was blessed if he has children.

My dad once told me something that really stuck with me. He told me something to the effect that if you really want to believe God is to see children be born in reference to our family being born. I think not only is there power seen but there is great blessing in having children. I have never personally had children but I have known people who have and they tell of the different joys there are in having children. Sure it comes with its share of work, but in the end it is a blessing.

It is also interesting to note the language that the author uses not only does he use a plant analogy. He also describes the wife as being “In the heart of your house.” This is what can be very cool about the Psalms in their language and descriptiveness.

b.Your children will be blessed (v. 3)

The children will be like olive plants around the table extending the idea of the mother being fruitful. Also when you the language of the Psalms gives a picture of how intimate the family is speaking of the heart of the house and mentioning the children being around the table.

III. Your community will be blessed (vs.5-6)

a. You will see good of your country (vs.5)

Psalm 128:5 “The Lord bless you out of Zion, And may you see the good of Jerusalem All the days of your life.”

A country that fears the Lord will thrive in the good done in the community and the attitude of the people.

While it is true that a nation that fears God will be blessed. This however here seems like a hopeful blessing a blessing that the psalmist is wishing for a man who fears the Lord.

In a world of seeming political turmoil and so many evil things being done in societies all around the world I can see how it would be a tremendous blessing for many even today.

b. You will see your grandchildren (vs. 6).

Psalm 128:6 “Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!”

Talk to any grandparent about how they feel about their grandchildren they will most certainly say it is a blessing. I am not a Grandparent, but when I see other grandparents I can see the joy they have around their grand kids and the love that they show them. It is a really cool thing and it would be a great blessing for someone who fears the Lord.

Conclusion

Response

So what is our response as believers in light of all of these blessings. We should not only be motivated, but encouraged in our walk in the fear of Lord. There are many great blessing for those all around us when we choose to walk in the fear of the Lord. I certainly don’t mean to oversell this walking in the fear of Lord has many blessing but it requires a choice to continue to fear God despite when there is persecution or difficulty along the way. Walking in fear of the Lord goes against the grain of the world and our nature and that can be challenging. While it may be difficult this passage along with the rest of the Bible assures us that walking in the fear of the Lord is not only worth it but morally right.

Let me pray for us....