Trusting the Master Builder

Good morning my name is Jeff Kammerer I’m the Administrative Pastor and I’m excited to open up the word together from Psalm 127.

Before we begin I wanted to remind you that coming up in two weeks we will have a class for new members. If you are not yet part of the membership we’d love for you to participate. You’re not making a commitment but it is the first step you can take to learn about our church and what you need to do to join our congregation. We are continuing a sermon series called Raising Arrows. John alluded to our text last week because Psalm 127 is where the series title is pulled from.

If you have kids or have ever been around kids one thing you will notice is their wrestle with their own independence. Its one of the things parents have a hard time with because there are so many factors that should be considered as we grant our children more interdependence. But I can remember back when this first began, it’s somewhere in the 2-3 year old age range, where your child will begin to demand that their own control over something. I’m going to get dressed on my own, put my shoes on, get buckled in the car, parents i’m sure you’ve gotten scolded by your child when they say, “I can do it myself”. I can even recall moments when I’m helping one of my kids with a puzzle or game because they learned they can’t do it only to realize after a minute or so, they are gone, they are letting me handle this all by myself. But then there are times when they hang around and I’m able to wrap my hands around theirs and help them to accomplish a task. As we get ready to look at our text this morning I thought it be beneficial to get a peek into understanding the sovereignty of God.

When I say that word here’s how I define God’s sovereignty. It is the full control of God to do as he sees fit with the entirety of his creation. I love J Vernon McGee’s definition as well… “This is God’s universe, and God does things his way. You may have a better way, but you don’t have a universe.” There are a few different views we can have when it comes to God’s sovereignty.

God does nothing, we do everything. In essence this would be an atheistic worldview. Maybe your here and that describes you, if that’s you welcome, I’m glad you are here and hope you find this time fruitful. Others in this category wouldn’t classify themselves as atheists but in practice they are. When pressed with something they will do anything and everything in their power to fix it. I have no need to consult God, I can handle this on my own.

God does everything, we do nothing. Spiritual laziness definitely falls into this category but I think often we fall into this when we tell someone, “I’ll pray for you” when it was in our ability to actually help them. Yes, prayer is helpful but it shouldn’t be what we prop up as an excuse to not help someone in a tangible way when we are able.

The title of today’s sermon is Trusting the Master Builder.

What we are going to see in our text today is there is nothing that can be accomplished in our life without the Lord working.

Our text is going to emphasize this last way we could view God’s sovereignty…

3. God does everything, we do something.

The sweet spot of helping a child do something is when they acknowledge their need but are willing to work alongside you to accomplish the task. They know they can’t accomplish it on their own but they want to be part of the process. We’d do well to align our life in that manner as it relates to God working.

To that end and before we begin, let’s ask God to speak to us during this time.

Prayer

Psalm 127:1–5 (ESV)

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.

1. The vanity of self-reliance. (v. 1)

Psalm 127:1 “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.”

You can see in the subscript of this Psalm that it is a song of ascent along with Psalms 120-134. These would be sung at the yearly festivals of the Jews and some commentators believe they would sing these as they went along their way to Jerusalem. I imagine a family going up to celebrate a festival and singing this song and he starts with an emphasis on Yahweh, The Lord. These first phrases start The Lord and the second phrases start, “in vain”.

Unless the Lord there is vanity. What is that that vain work? The building of the house or the watching of the city. One of the miracles of God is that his work is accomplished among his creation by the people he has created. There is a builder, there is a watchman. Those are people fulfilling those roles, but the value is not there unless God is part of it.

We were at Colonial Elementary on Monday, our church helps run an after school bible program. We’re always looking for people to join if you are interested. This girl raises her hand and Sonja is teaching and she asks, “Can you love God but not be a Christian?” I’m sitting off to the side and I’m like, oh this is good. She answered it great, when you answer kids you have to be careful in how you answer questions like that. Because what she was asking is, I’ve seen lots of people be good people and do good things but they are not Christians. Through experience we can be led to believe the lie that people are good, but that’s not how the bible describes humanity.

Genesis 6:5 “5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Luke 18:19 “19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”

So if you are tempted to look around and arrive at the conclusion that people can be good while they are walking far from God here’s the truth that you need to hear. God is still walking with that person. The good things that person is accomplishing are only because God is working through them whether they are willing to acknowledge that or not.

Looking back to verse Psalm 127:1 “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.” As you are building your home… Not the physical structure but the values, habits, rhythms, are you considering the direction of the Lord? Building a house is too hard of a job to realize that your work has been in vain. What can we can do to ensure we are recognizing the Lord’s work?

Deflect praise/compliments.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 8 that knowledge puffs up. Why is that the case? We gain more confidence, more influence, more stature, and in that we have the potential to steal more credit from God. I think this is the reason why Paul says, when i am weak, then I am strong. because those are the moments we are most inclined to give God all the credit. But listen it’s all his. We will experience so much more satisfaction in our work when we give God all the credit for our successes. Do you know what else we will experience more of?

Psalm 127:2 “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.”

2. God gives rest. (v. 2)

Let me start by explaining how we are to read wisdom literature. We should read the Psalms and Proverbs and other wisdom literature throughout scripture as principles of wise living not necessarily as promises. These are general truths and they would describe things as they ought to be. If verse 2 were to be seen as a promise then there is an easy conclusion for some of you, I don’t sleep, I guess God doesn’t love me.

I recalled memories that I’m not too far removed from the sleepless nights from young children for a variety of reasons. Often you get a little warning with the phrase before bed, “my stomach hurts.” Get some sleep you’ll be fine. They were not in fact, fine. I also remember the early morning conversations where my wife would ask, did you hear the kids last night? Nope didn’t hear them at all. Well I didn’t sleep because they kept coming in.

We’ve been talking about rest in the kids ministry on Wednesday night because it’s a discipline we should be practicing but more than that its a gift from God. And it’s a gift we can squander by constantly working. I don’t know how you accomplish things at your job but for me I put everything on my to do list. I was joking with someone on Wednesday because I forgot to do something for them because it never got on my to do list. And maybe yours is like mine in that there are always things on it. The work is never done. Ask the families in our small group who are over our house every other week, the work is never done.

Solomon is not advocating we don’t work hard. Because there will be seasons where we will have to wake up early and go to bed late. The larger purpose in this is why are you doing those things? I’m working late because I need to make more money, I need to make a good impression, I need to take the next step in my career. Those are not bad things in themselves but to solely pursue them is vain.

God’s intention is that we receive the gift of sleep because we trust in his provision and his watchful care. He doesn’t want us tossing and turning or waking up in the middle of the night because we are second guessing a decision that we made or a conversation we had. He doesn’t want us dwelling on some type of critical problem trying to envision the perfect solution. He doesn’t want us overcome with worry about an upcoming dr. appointment or recent result. Again, that is a list of things that is not all bad, but they each have the ability to rob us of sleep which God desires for his beloved. But even more, it lessens our ability to fully trust in the Lord.

Jesus knows that we have this inclination toward being busy and neglecting the command and refusing the gift of rest, that’s why he says in Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Solomon specifically talked about the overworked. If that’s you come to Jesus. If you are losing sleep for other reasons, come to Jesus. For some it may be worth spending time this week meditating on this truth, because this is a promise. When you come to Jesus you will find rest for your soul.

Solomon moves from discussing the vain pursuits of life to the blessing of children and what we see in verses 3-5 is…

Living Blessings. (v. 3-5)

Psalm 127:3–5 (ESV)

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.

Let me start with this, if you make highlights in your bible or are taking notes, mark off the word “reward”. Children are a reward. They are not a burden. They are not in the way. They are not too loud (well maybe sometimes). They do not “cost too much”. Have you seen stats of how much it cost to raise a child to adulthood? I don’t want to share the number because I don’t want it to be the only thing you remember from the sermon. Children are a reward, and you are blessed when you have them.

Others are blessed when they have children too. There is a tendency to view families in our church (or any church) a certain way because their view/practice of family doesn’t align with ours. Your small family may hear news that the family of 9 is expecting another child and you get that shocked look at maybe throw in a little comment. The fruit of the womb is a reward. We should treat it as such! Likewise it would be wise to view those who have a small family with the same grace and know there are a multitude of reasons why a family might choose to have one or two children. There are plenty of couples and single people who choose to never have children.

Once again, wisdom literature. Do not read this to mean, if you do not have kids you are not blessed. I’ve known so many faithful people, many here who do not have kids for a variety of reasons and it does not mean they are not blessed. In fact I have heard many of their testimonies of God’s blessing on their life. God’s blessing takes many forms. Solomon is writing about the blessing of children.

Even with kids there is not a guarantee you will actually be able to experience that blessing. It depends on how you build your family. Looking at the arrow, there could be many different things that could make this useless. Not having a sharp point, not being straight, not having a target to shoot at.. with a picture of the family. What’s the point? The effectiveness of your kids depends on the work you do with the help of the Lord. You can have a full quiver of children but that doesn’t guarantee they will be a blessing to you as you get older.

The picture Solomon is creating here is of the one who has children while he is still young. God certainly did that for a reason, right. My parents tell me often they don’t know how I handle everything with the kids, I keep reminding them I’m 25 years younger than them. The blessing Solomon is referring to is not the children while they are young but when they are grown. The picture here is of the empty nester being able to rely on the arrows they have shot out in the world. The gate is not a barrier wall but where the court was held and where people met. It could often be where someone brings an accusation and imagine if you will an enemy coming against that person but you see this older man with all his children standing behind him ready to defend him. That’s how Solomon says we are blessed.

The blessing is for parents but what about the children? This is the application for all of us because we are all arrows. All of us have parents. We were added to their quiver. And whether or not you have been shot out yet or not I think we ought to consider how well we have done to ensure my mom or my dad will not be put to shame. I will rise up and defend them, and care for them. I challenged myself to do that this morning with my parents as today they celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. Part of my striving as a son is to allow my parents to experience this blessing from the Lord, because there is never going to be a finished product.

I want you to see a picture

This is the The Sagrada Família. It is a church in Barcelona Spain. Despite the fact that it has millions of visitors every year the building is not finished. Construction began in 1882 and the target completion date had been in 2026 but the pandemic caused even more delays. To think of the all the people who have worked on this over the last 140 years and wonder how many of them have passed on without ever seeing the completion of their work. Although tragically not always the case.. In most situations the building you do in the lives of your children will continue on long after you are gone in their lives and in the lives of their children.

What are you doing right now to pour into those who will be alive long after you are gone? There’s an old adage that goes something to the effect of: “blessed is the man who plants a tree knowing that he will never be able to sit in it’s shade.” What are you doing to pour into the next generation?

There’s a deep need in our church for you to take the responsibility to intentionally disciple someone in their faith. I meet with a group of guys every week and part of what I count on them for is, I need you to help me ensure the building I am doing is not in vain. All of us need that accountability. You need that accountability. You need to be connected to others who can help you view the blind spots in your life.

When we’re building our house and raising our arrows we need to trust the Lord who is doing the work, and when we fully trust the Lord, he gives us sleep, he gives us rest, he allows us to walk in peace. Will you take steps this morning to fully trust in God?

Prayer.