Is The Lord Building It?

Text

Psalm 127:1–2 NASB95

Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

Leadership in the kingdom cannot be properly executed until we acknowledge that God must first lead us.

Kingdom leadership is not limited to church events and corporate life.

If God doesn’t lead in your personal life, nothing will change when you are with the assembly.

Life as a kingdom member, means that I willingly submit to the authority, leadership, and guidance of God

This is needs to be seen:

On your job

In your school

In your home

In your neighbourhood

God should not just have the authority in the assembly and and not when you’re alone. He is king regardless of who you are with.

Our Text

This Psalm is a wisdom psalm couched among the “Song Of Ascents”

It is beleived that these 15 psalms were sung as worshippers made their way up to the House of God

It is also beleived that the songs increased in intensity, concluding in a climactic crescendo as they arrived at the House of God

But even in the context of worhsip, there was som wisdom from God.

Yes I came to give God worship but I also need to hear a word from the Lord

The wisdom of this psalm is a caution against SELF-SUFFICIENCY

The exhortation, if there is one, is that I need to depend on everything that God is and does

If I have to do anything, God must be in it. Not just in it, in front of it, all around it, all up in it. If I have to build anything, it must not exclude God.

When we think of things like PROGRESS, SUCCESS, DEVELOPMENT, CHANGE, BREAK-THROUGH

The thought that sometimes invades our mind is, “what can I do about it?”

This psalm is telling us that this is the incorrect mind to have. The quesion to ask is, “what can God do about it?”

Some of us are still struggling with this

We are still trying to do it, fix it, change it, change them, develop them etc.

It’s still in our hands and we are not letting God build.

Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.”

The House

The house was a necessary place for life, it was a basic human necessity

This was a place of comfort, peace and saftey

But if God is not in it where is the comfort, peace, and the saftey?

It makes no sense to have big, nice house but the devil is the landlord.

These are normal human activities

These are things you don’t think twice about getting done

These are things that I can do myself - it’s natural to rely on me for this

APPL - If you can lean on God for the basic things, it will teach you turn to Him everything.

But if only lean on Him for some things, the devil will try to convince you don’t need Him for anything

APPL.

There are somethings that have become so natural to you that you no longer turn to God for - You’ve got it all figured out

I’ve been doing ministry, preaching, serving, dealing with youth - for so long the devil convinces me that to trust me and not God

The Psalmist says, unless the Lord builds, it’s beiing built in vain.

I trust God’s construction experience

Daniel 2:44 ““In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.”

Matthew 16:18 ““I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

Matthew 7:24 ““Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

Not only is this true for building, but it is true for watching (same context as a necessary and basic commodity for the ancient person)

But unless the Lord watches, you could watch all you want it’s not going to be the same when the Lord is watching.

Psalm 34:15 “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry.”

Psalm 121:4 “Behold, He who keeps (watch/guard) Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep.”

Men fail in watching Matthew 26:40 “And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?”

John 10:28 “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” - this is the kind of watching I want

The Psalmist compunds the point

He goes on to show the futility in trying to do it yourself

He shows the futility in trusting in your efforts

POINT OF CLARITY - There is a major difference in doing and trusting God vs doing and trusting your ability

It is still God working in me “to will and work His good pleasure”

Psalm 127:2 “It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.”

This is not encouraging laziness. It is counselling against a posture that relies on self and pushes God out of the picture

Your effort is irrelevant when it comes to the working of God.

What you fail to achieve through effort, God accomplishes through grace

I don’t care how blessed, gifted, talented, brilliant you are, you can’t do anything in your sleep.

God is so amazing, He can bless you from a position that you don’t think a blessing might come from

Even when I am in a state where i can’t function or effect anything God can still give me His grace

You might be thinking that we’re still talking about the psalm but I’m talking about Jesus

Because while I was a sinner, ungodly, child of wrath, weak, enemy - Christ died to bless me

Why would I want to lead myself when I couldn’t even save myself?

Let The Lord Build It?