Sermon Tone Analysis

Title- A Heavenly Harvest

Passage- Psalm 127

Introduction

I don’t want to pick on them too much because I say things that are similar but...

I get a kick out of gardeners that either show you what they grew or offer you some of what they grew and in the conversation say “I grew these in my garden”

-It is sort of splitting hairs but the gardener did not take part in the growing…he took part in the

-Tilling and planting and watering…the seed did all the growing…the farmer was in instrument in the process but did not do the actual growing.

Attention- This often is the case in parenting....

Problem- We can have a wrong focus on who is actually doing the work and who is the one to be the instrument being used.

CPS- All human labor is in vain unless it is in keeping with the Lord’s sovereign purpose and will.

Human labor is in vain unless it is in keeping with the Lord’s sovereign purpose and will.

And parenting is no different

Bratcher, R. G., & Reyburn, W. D. (1991).

A translator’s handbook on the book of Psalms (p.

1073).

New York: United Bible Societies.

Interrogative (CPS in a question) What can we learn from this Psalm to guide us in our parenting?

Transition In this want us to see two truths to either get us on the right track in our parenting or get us back on the right track.

The first truth we find is that....

I. God Is The Source Of All We Have

Explain

This opening verse is, in Hebrew poetry, parallel

There are parallel thoughts

The first phrase of the first line is parallel to the first phrase in the second line

The second phrases are parallel as well...

Slide

Psalm 127

The first phrase “Except the Lord build the house” has the idea of producing something...

And this morning we are focusing in on Mothers and parenting...

The truth is that in parenting…and I am sure in Mothering…we too often look to our own power and wisdom to complete the task.

And we see in the second phrases of this verse that the result of our labor apart from the Lord is vain…pointless

The second line of the first verse “Except the Lord keep the city”…here we understand that not only is it God that gives it is God who keeps

Slide

Now, if we do not struggle with the truth that God gives us all we have and that he is the source of everything we have…and if we are honest, we may struggle thinking that we are the ones to keep things right...

Now don’t get me wrong, we play our part in life but it is God who gives and keeps....

I don’t want to over simplify this but in life we have two main objectives…Love and obey God and love and serve others

The rest is God’s responsibility

As humans it becomes too easy to use ourselves to keep, especially our children, where we feel they ought to be

We try to use:

-Our goodness in place of God’s

-Our resources in place of faith in God

-Our emotions in place of the love of God

-Our wisdom in place of God’s

When we parent in this way we are worshiping our desires in place of God…we become idolators

-We love the comfort of now over the potential of what difficulties could produce

-We love the control we feel more than trusting God and walking in faith

-I can admit from personal experience that parenting without abiding in Christ is a worship problem.

And verse two tells us what toe results of my worship problem is…vanity....

the result is nothing, in all my toils and labors early in the morning until late at night....it results in nothing

How would you feel if you worked all day, from sunrise to sunset and all you had to eat was bread....

Thats how it feels to parent outside the power and guidance of God

You toil and labor and put in long hours only to be met with sorrow....

Without the Lord all work is in vain…but with the importance of children the stakes are even higher when it comes to parenting...

We need to abide in Jesus Christ and allow Him to work in and through us as parents…and in the last line of verse three we see the results of allowing God to work in your family....

“For so he giveth his beloved sleep”

Two things to quickly point out…the word giveth carries the idea of giving freely…without limits

I do not believe that these verses are teaching that we just turn our children over to God and we do nothing....on the contrary....we have an immense amount of work to do in our children…the amount of work may not differ but the product does...

What does he give his beloved?

His beloved is refering to those who love and obey him....like

Slide

Slide

If you keep his commandments what is the result.... “sleep”!!!

And especially in the early years....sleep is like gold

Someone once said “People who say they sleep like a baby usually don’t have one”

But the idea here is not just physical rest....Mom’s know all too well those nights where you either can’y get to sleep because your mind just won’t stop....or you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep....

This sleep is referring to both the body and the mind.

When we keep our focus on God and Him alone he can give us that peaceful rest.

Let me once again condition this with the truth that if this happens to you it doesn’t meant you are not trusting God and walking in faith or that trusting God and walking in faith will guarantee you peaceful sleep.

This is a generality…there are seasons in life that are exceptions.

But in the big picture of our lives....if we trust and obey we will enjoy that peace and rest

It is God who is the source of all we have.

Yes we work…but as the Psalmist points out in the second half of the first phrase....our works, aside from the Lord, are pointless.

And that even.....or especially....includes parenting

It includes being a Mother...

It includes being a father, grandparent, step parent, foster parent, spiritual parent....

Friends, we live in a society that prides itself on what it can accomplish through its own means

The reality of the situation is we do nothing apart from God...

This has been proven over and over in my own life....when I choose to not abide in Christ and go under my own power and wisdom it never goes well....at least until I turn back to Him and repent and start abiding again.

In fact we cannot even

Even the paths we take in life are not of our own direction…God is a part of that...

But listen to this

It is not me that works of my pleasure..

It is God that works in me

God works.

We see that from the creation account in Genesis…If God works then there must some kinds of work that are meaningful.

Here in verse 1 we see that God is the one working…there is human effort but God is the one producing results.

Part of what God does is work in, with, and through those who are working for him and in his name.

He is making the general statement that whatever effort, wisdom, or industry men expend in looking after a family or in protecting a city will be ineffectual unless God from heaven orders a prosperous outcome.

Refute

Apply

Transition

But trusting and obeying does not just produce peace and rest.

Explain

The second truth we find is that....

Illustrate

Refute

Apply

Transition

II.

God Rewards Our Work For Him

Explain-