The Lord's Building

Intro

Unless the Lord builds the house, unless we are abiding in God the one true vine it is all in vain. I was thinking of the Leaning tower of Pisa on Friday. The tower is an interesting structure. But the problem is that it was built on a weak foundation.

Leaning Tower of Pisa is a medieval structure in Pisa, Italy, that is famous for the settling of its foundations, which caused it to lean 5.5 degrees (about 15 feet [4.5 metres]) from the perpendicular in the late 20th century. Extensive work was subsequently done to straighten the tower, and its lean was ultimately reduced to less than 4.0 degrees.The bell tower, begun in 1173 as the third and final structure of the city’s cathedral complex, was designed to stand 185 feet (56 metres) high and was constructed of white marble. Three of its eight stories had been completed when the uneven settling of the building’s foundations in the soft ground became noticeable. At that time, war broke out between the Italian city-states, and construction was halted for almost a century. This pause allowed the tower’s foundation to settle and likely prevented its early collapse. the engineer in charge when construction resumed, sought to compensate for the lean by making the new stories slightly taller on the short side, but the extra masonry caused the structure to sink still further. The project was plagued with interruptions, as engineers sought solutions to the leaning problem, but the tower was ultimately topped out in the 14th century. Twin spiral staircases lined the tower’s interior, with 294 steps leading from the ground to the bell chamber (one staircase incorporates two additional steps to compensate for the tower’s lean). Over the next four centuries the tower’s seven bells were installed; the largest weighed more than 3,600 kg (nearly 8,000 pounds). By the early 20th century, however, the heavier bells were silenced, as it was believed that their movement could potentially worsen the tower’s lean.

The foundations have been strengthened by the injection of cement grout and various types of bracing and reinforcement, but in the late 20th century the structure was still subsiding, at the rate of 0.05 inch (1.2 mm) per year, and was in danger of collapse. In 1990 the tower was closed and all the bells silenced as engineers undertook a major straightening project. Earth was siphoned from underneath the foundations, decreasing the lean by 17 inches (44 cm) to 13.5 feet (4.1 metres); the work was completed in May 2001, and the structure was reopened to visitors.

When you build on a weak foundation, like sand or what the built this tower on it doesn't work so well. If it where not for the constant interference of people to try and keep the thing from falling to the ground it would not have lasted long but people have been trying over the years to help it to stop from falling over. The bible tells us that unless the Lord builds the house, or unless we build on the firm foundation of Jesus that it is all in vain, that it will fall apart in the end.

But we have a problem. We are told that each man and women shall obtain the fullest stature of which we are capable of in tis world and be recognize by others for what they are. This is part of the american dream that teaches us our greatest asset is our own ability. but the bible teaches that unless the Lord builds the house, unless the Lord controls our life it is in vain.

HBI - Blessing in the life rests in us abiding in Jesus and living for His glory.

The Builder

Psalm 127 is a fairly short Psalm and it reminds us again that as we come to the Lord We need to be reminded of who we are and who He is and how our relationship is supposed to be. But it starts out again from the beginning. How is it that we are building our lives.

Psalm 127:1 CSB

1 Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain.

In this Psalm we will see the contrast between the anxiety of life without God And the blessing of living our lvies for the Glory of the Lord.

To dig a little deeper in the meaning of the Psalm, what is the meaning f the word House here. The only reason why I dig into this is because it will help us understand what is going on in the rest of the passage.

You see, unless the Lord builds the house it is all in vain, but what is this talking about? The word house has a number of meanings in the Hebrew Bible. According to the NICOT it has referred to family dwellings, Whole Households, The whole people of Israel, ruling dynasties, or the temple in Jerusalem. The meaning hear remains open to interpretation but I would say based on the rest of the passage it is in reference to our lives, our family, our households, everything that we are.

You see the problem that of the Israelite's is the same problem that we have today. We are too busy building our own lives, our own desires that we forget that we are to build our lives on the Lord God.

The Israelite's where given time to go back and rebuild the temple of the Lord, to focus first on the Lord for the temple was God’s dwelling place in their midst. But instead the where focusing on their own houses.

Haggai 1:2–3 CSB

2 “The Lord of Armies says this: These people say: The time has not come for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.” 3 The word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai:

Haggai 1:4 CSB

4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

Man with all of them working on it, it is not like it would have taken very long. They would have had temporary dwellings to stay in until the temple we built but instead they where focusing on themselves to the point the where forgetting about God, the only reason they where sent out to rebuild to begin with, the only reason for their existence.

Lets go back to the Psalms

Psalm 127:2 CSB

2 In vain you get up early and stay up late, working hard to have enough food— yes, he gives sleep to the one he loves.

The building of your life, your status your house as it where if it is for yourself then it is in vain. Unless all that we do is for the Lord , Unless He is involved and becomes the enter Then the Lord’s blessings will not be evident either. This life we live is in vain unless the Lord is at the center of it.

This is echoed in the book of John as well. In the parable of The vine and the branches that Jesus told.

John 15:4–5 CSB

4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.

Jesus likened himself to a vine and God the gardener. If you cut the branch off of the vine then the branch becomes dead and useless. Maybe God is being patient right now but there will come a time of pruning you could say when God is going to dispose of all the branches that are dead and they will be burned.

Which reminds us that we need to abide in Jesus. We need to remain in Him. As we come to Jesus we need to remember that a life lived without Jesus is vain.

So then we go back to Psalm 127:1

Psalm 127:1 CSB

1 Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain.

How is it that we build our lives in the Lord then? We do it by abiding in Jesus as Our source of life. So How do we abide in Jesus then so we are not building our lives in Vain?

This may seem like common sense, but we commit out lives to Jesus. Not just go to church on Sundays’s We need to be in the word of God and allow it to change our lives. We remember that this life is about the glory of the Lord. We go to church together as one body worship the Lord with our whole hearts. So many things we can do to abide in Jesus but none of them include making this life about us.

The Lord’s Blessing

Humans look at what they have built and declare “look what I have done!” I was driving through Saskatoon who with someone who has been working construction for many years. He was driving me around the city and saying I built that, I worked on that, this is one I worked on. It was kind of fun. My friend was not trying to be prideful, I had asked what he had done around the city. But as Humans isn't that our natural proclivity, to say I made that. Now I understand that as a business owner that is kind of something we need to do to promote what you do.

But as a human we like to point towards what we have done, what we have built and not give the glory to God. What this Psalm Has been Trying to tell us is that unless we build our lives in on God, it is in vain.

But if there is anything in this life we could look at and declare “I made that” it is our kids. We could assume that we, in fact, are the vines—and that all life, especially the life of our children, springs from us. And yet the Bible teaches us something different.

Psalm 127:3 CSB

3 Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, offspring, a reward.

You can translate this as children. It does not necessarily mean just sons. If all we have is from the Lord and built on the Lord then that includes children as well. Our children it says are a reward from God.

The actual word used is kind of interesting. The word used is inheritance. similar meanings but I like the idea behind inheritance. Something of great importance passed down from the father to His son. God as our heavenly father has gifted us His children to care for, to raise to follow Him.

Psalm 127:4–5 CSB

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them. They will never be put to shame when they speak with their enemies at the city gate.

What we build in this life, what we keep watch over only matters if the Lord is in it, if the Lord is at the center of it. To get up early in the morning, to break our backs working on to get ahead in life. All this only matters if the Lord is at the center of it, if we allow the Lord to be the builder of it. Children are the same.

It would seem then that it is saying as arrows protect the warrior in battle, so then do the godly man need not be afraid when blessed with children. The quiver full of arrows also being a blessing. After all the more arrows you have when going into battle the better right?

The warrior like the mighty men of David, The Gate being the traditional place Where elders met, where important legal business was transacted. The psalmist explains that although the gate holds the potential for injustice and false accusations, the blessed man and his quiver full of children will thwart any forms of injustice or abuse attempted by his enemies

Also if we do not raise our children to know the truth of Jesus, to love and speak the truth of Jesus who will plant the seeds of truth and fight the spiritual battle we face in the future.

Children are a gift from God, an inheritance in the Lord and when we raise them we need to remember that it is the Lord who gave us our children And unless the Lord is in it, unless we center it in the Lord then it will be in vain.

So What?

There is a good sized lake near where I grew up. It had become so popular that people started building lakefront property in parts along it. The problem with building on sand and building near the lake is you face the risk of losing your house. You see I think what some of the cabin owners forgot was that where their houses and cabins where used to be lake at some point. about 10 years ago that happened. We had a lot of rain and runoff from the winter which caused the lake to rise a lot and what had once been a flood plain and had become dwellings once again became part of the Lake.

Those who build their lives without the Lord face ruin and destruction. Like the tower of Pisa that would have fallen down if it where for modern influence and technology, or the cabin owners that built on a flood plane,

Blessing in the life rests in us abiding in Jesus

If we want the blessing of Jesus in this life then we must be abiding in Jesus. We have gone over what these means a lot lately. Not blessings like what we think, but the blessing that comes from being part of the family of God living for the glory of the Lord. Are we abiding in Jesus?

The ultimate blessing is being with Jesus some day. But the opposite of that is if we do not build our lives in Jesus then we labor in vain. We will one day be pruned and thrown out. You must give your lives to Jesus and abide in Him, or as it says we are doing it in vain.

Are you raising your kids for Jesus?

Our kids are also a gift from the Lord, to be raised for the glory of the Lord to be the future warriors in the army of Jesus. They are a blessing from God and we must treat them as such. The Bible is quite serious about the ramifications of leading the little ones astray. But this got me thinking.

What about those in our community? We have an opportunity. We have problems in the community with kids that have not been raised for the glory of the Lord causing no end of grief. What are we doing to teach them about Jesus? How can we teach them to love Jesus before it is to late. Instead of complaining about the problems.

It all starts with prayer though. We must spend the time together bringing this to the Lord and then act on what He is leading us to do. For unless we live this life for the Glory of the Lord, unless we are abiding in Him in all things what are we doing here. On the other hand though, imagine what God will do through us when we are found abiding in Him!

Heavenly Father, We come before You acknowledging that all our efforts and plans are in vain unless You are at the center. Your Word reminds us that unless You build the house, our labor is meaningless, and unless You watch over the city, our protection is incomplete. Lord, we place our lives, our families, our work, and our dreams in Your hands, trusting that You alone can bring lasting success and security.

Teach us to rely on You in everything we do. Help us to surrender our pride and our sense of control, knowing that true fruitfulness comes only from Your blessing. When we strive in our own strength, remind us that it is You who gives us rest and peace.

For those of us building homes and families, we ask for Your wisdom and grace. Guide our decisions, guard our hearts, and protect what we hold dear. May our homes be places where Your love dwells, and may we raise the next generation in Your ways.

Father, as we work, help us to find balance, knowing that You give rest to Your beloved. Teach us to trust in Your provision, rather than in endless toil or worry. Let us find peace in knowing that You are the Master Builder of our lives.

In all things, may we seek Your guidance and blessing, and trust that with You, our efforts will have eternal value.

In Jesus' name, Amen.