Worthless Work
Notes
Transcript
Handout
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
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.
Worthless Work - Psalm 127
Worthless Work - Psalm 127
We live in a world of constant industry and work:
During this strange day and age that we are living in where so much has closed down including your guys’ schools, technology has made it possible for you all to attend school online
Even when stores have been closed, buying and selling has remained through online shopping
and even restaurants through have maintained work through ordering food online
This last week while I was on vacation back in Montana, there were plenty of opportunities for me bring work with me:
responding to emails
calls or texts
And I even brought my laptop just in case I would need to work on something while I was away
(and even when I don’t have my laptop or an internet connection I usually have my phone will cell service)
Many of us operate with this mindset:
We believe that there is always work to be done
and if we stop working, then the world will stop
so we get worried and anxious about our life when we aren’t working and producing something
thus we are unable to rest rest…
But what is this this life of hustle and work all about… what are we striving for?
Ironically - all this hustle and restlessness, is done so that we might one day earn rest
Retire
have no responsibilities
live in a constant vacation mode
Free from the worries of life
So many work to try to obtain luxury, comfort, and rest
This is the rat race called the American Dream
Where we all work hard to hopefully retire with ease
But this idea is not simply an American idea
it’s not even a modern idea
This idea spans even back to the days of Solomon:
the author of this Psalm
And the big idea is that this kind of mentality of work that is supposed to produce rest is in fact worthless.
Brief overview of who Solomon was
Solomon was the son of King David
He too became the king of Israel
an he is best known for his abundance in wealth and wisdom
And in his wisdom, Solomon wrote this Psalm to tell us about the relationship between work and rest
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.
1. Apart from God, our work is useless.
1. Apart from God, our work is useless.
Two words are repeated twice in this verse and three times in this chapter is: “In vain” - the phrase means that something is useless, or meaningless
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain
most modern thinkers consider this and think it is absurd or unreasonable
For we see men build houses and great infrastructures all the time… many of whom do not even believe in God
But Solomon has more in mind than simply building houses
Laying a foundation, putting up walls and placing a roof on top - that kind of home
yes in part, and yet so much more
A house is not only a structure that is lived in
1 There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.
are literal houses at war in this passage?
A house is not only a building… but it is also a family or a group of people
Solomon is most likely talking about establishing a family when he talks about building a home
Joshua speaking to the people of Israel as they entered into the promised land said this:
15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
He is talking about establishing a family when he says “builds a house”
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.
staying awake and watching over a city is much like our modern equivalent to locking our doors and turning on a security system at night
Again, we are talking about guarding and protecting a house… or many houses (such as a city)
and it’s not the houses (meaning the bricks and morter) that are being protected, rather it is those who dwell within those houses
a family… or group of families
Specifically the household of Abraham, that is the people of Israel
What Solomon has in mind
Building a up group of people
and protecting a group of people
So remember, Solomon is the king of Israel
he governed this nation…
meaning he was the one who was overseeing the house of Israel and protecting the people from other kingdoms who might attack them
he was a man of wisdom,
and in his wisdom he is saying this in effect,
In order for Solomon to build and protect this nation, Solomon needed the Lord to do it with him!
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.
This is profound wisdom to live by:
Solomon is saying, that as a king… he cannot do his job apart from God
And in this political season that we are living upon, we best realize too that it isn’t a wise president with good policies who will do well in dealing with our nation…
Because even Solomon, the wisest king knew that he lacked the ability to deal with the nation of Israel apart from God.
Consider this for a moment the history of Israel
How were they established as a nation?
Was it military might that freed them from slavery?
no, God liberated them from Egypt by the might of his hand…
Was it military strength that enabled Israel to settle in the promised land?
The story of Jericho…
Marching around the city for seven days isn’t a military strategy…
it’s a result of God working on their behalf
We could go on through plenty of OT stories but the reality is this.... everything that Israel was, was because God is
This reality is true in every aspect of life:
not only for those who are governing authorities, but even for student, part time workers, or even those who simply trying to love their siblings and obey their parents as God would have them do
Every part of our life, must be done with the help and aid of God
Now one side note: this Psalm is not an excuse to be lazy…
Notice:
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.
There are still those who labor to build the house
And there are still the watchmen who stay awake to guard the city
It has always been God’s intention that man would work…
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
God is a working God.... and just as he worked for six days creating everything that is and then rested on the seventh day, so too are we to practice this rhythm of work and rest
Proverbs is full of wisdom about the need for work, but just take a few
4 The sluggard does not plow in the autumn;
he will seek at harvest and have nothing.
4 A slack hand causes poverty,
but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
and so
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
But in all the work that you do, do not trust in your own might to get it done!
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. Hard work does not make our work effective apart from God.
2. Hard work does not make our work effective apart from God.
There are two efforts described in this verse where one puts in extra effort in order to make their work more effective,. But again Solomon tells us that these efforts are done in vain
First notice how Solomon writes about rising early and going to bed late…
Why does a person rise early and go to bed late?
Have any of you had a big exam that you needed to study extra hard for… so you stayed up until something like 1 AM and then woke up again at 5AM to keep studying
This rising early and going late to rest is done in an effort to maximize productivity…
I am a big fan of productivity, and I strive to wake up early to get a head start to my day
Rising early, and going to bed late is the only way for us to make “more time” in the day
(God can make the sun stop but we cannot)
So the only we can add time to the day is by waking early and staying up late
(in other words, we simply sleep less in an effort to work more)
Solomon, a king with much on his hands may have employed these kinds of strategies to get work done too
But notice the familiar words there at the beginning of v 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.
He says, it is in vain that one rises early or goes to bed late....
again, like in v1, Solomon says that such work is meaningless or worthless
Harder work does make work more effective if God does not bless the work that we do
Take the Tower of Babel as an example of this…
Do you suppose they worked hard… you bet they did
Did God bless their work?
One way we might try to make our work more effective, is by working longer… waking early and staying up late…
But the other way is by eating the bread of anxious toil
Bread is an extremely cheap meal - it is the most basic meal that one might eat in order to fill their stomach
If you go to college you and aren’t living from your parents pantry you might better understand the effort to spend less on groceries when you have expensive bills to pay each semester of school
so not only are the workers working around the clock, but they are super frugal… thus it is called the bread of anxious toil
Such labors of working early and going to bed late, in combination of eating only bread, are put into practice to maximize the work done in the day and minimize the cost of living. But while Solomon says this work is in vain and meaningless, he also says it produces something:
Solomon calls it anxious toil!
All this work produces the opposite of rest… that is anxiety and worry
with their unsureness of their ability to work hard enough to live, they eat anxiously
Again look at the phrase, “eating the bread of anxious toil”
this bread isn’t called bread from God… but bread of anxious toil… this is a common misconception
And it is one that is believed by most: that is that our work is the very thing puts food on the table…
And to be clear, there is a relationship between our working and our eating
4 The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.
While it is true, laziness does not produce food, the palmist also warns us of the mindset that it is by our hard work that food is provided
Was it anxious toil that provided bread for Israel when they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years?
Was it their diligence that put food in their stomach? NO!
Such thinking is evil when we think that our work is all that leads to our provision…
This is why we ought to pray every day for God to give us food to eat - give us this day our daily bread...
Food is a gift given to us by God
God is the provider for everything that we need
he builds us a house
he protects our city
he fills our stomachs
and our lungs
he keeps our heart beating
and so much more
3. God is our provider and he gives us rest.
3. God is our provider and he gives us rest.
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.
Do you see that word “beloved”
such an important word
If we are loved by God… then there is no reason to be driven by anxiety
This is what Jesus would remind us of in Matt 6 when he tells us not to be anxious about the things we eat and the things that we wear…
for we are of far greater value than the birds and the lilies
Furthermore, the rhythm of work and rest is the way God always intended for his people to live.
God worked six days and then he rested on the 7th
so too, he told his people to work six days and to rest on the Sabath
God gave his people rest…
And the reason we can rest, is because God does not rest:
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
So we are to build the house, and to watch the city....
but we can also find rest in our work, for God is the who is always active in protecting those whom he has set his love upon and he will never fall asleep on the job.
We can rest, because God does not…
God provides for his people those things which unbelievers labor to acquire through their work and industry
That is rest
And the key to receiving rest isn’t by working harder… it is by working and then at the end of the day resting with this confidence, God is at work with us. And when we sleep, God is awake
So hear this:
God is at work building the house
He is at work watching the city
and in doing these things, he provide his beloved with sleep
And how does he do this?
how does he build the house, protect the city and give his beloved rest?
listen to v 3-5
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.
It is often thought that children are a result of a man and a woman…
just as we often think that it is man’s labor that builds a house or protects a city
But anyone familiar with the history of Israel knows better than to think that children are simply a result of a man and a woman procreating…
sure this is done in part, but
Consider Abraham and Sarah:
Was their house built because they were hard at work?
No, rather it was God who blessed them when they were barren when he gave them a son Isaac
And so was the rest of the line of Abraham… it was God who built up the Israelites and protected them
This is why the psalmist says
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain
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.
We have to understand, that children were the means of provision and protection for parents when they grew old… and they often are today as well
It is the children of a nation who go on to protect that nation when they grow up into maturity
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
And Solomon is writing this about God building up the house and protecting the city… because God said this very thing to his father David
4 But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, 5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. 7 In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ’ 8 Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. 9 And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”
If you didn’t understand all that was just read…
God told King David that he would build his house
And establish his family on the throne over the people of Israel… And throne of David would be established forever...
consider this for a moment: who is writing this Psalm?
Solomon… the son of David
that is the house of David will be built and protected by God even after David dies… in fact the throne of David has been established through the Son of David through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as God promised to make a name of Abraham by giving him many children… so God did for David as well by establishing and keeping his family, and the way God would do this would be ultimately by sending his own son to be born as a child into this very family…
As it says:
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
So too, Jesus literally came from God through the womb.
and he did so in order to build a house, and to protect a people…
And that house that he built is the church… and he intends to protect the church that he has built...
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
That is to say, he has redeemed us, and he will protect us from our enemy to the end.
It is not simply through our hard work that we come into the family of God… no jesus tells us that we must be born again
3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Just as children come from the Lord
so too in rebirth do we depend on the God to redeem us from sin and death
And there is no amount of hard work that can cause for us to be built into the household of God
And it’s not even by our hard work that we remain faithful to the end
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
(to be sure we do work.... but we do not rely on our own strength) for:
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.
These promises are a balm to those who are weary…
It is like fresh water to a parched throat…
For we do not strive and work in order to be right with God…
and we do not work our self until we are dead in order to be protected from the temptation and work of the enemy.
Rather it means that through one child… who came from heaven to earth… that is through Jesus
we are built up into the house of God and are protected by God…
thus Jesus says:
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.”
Apart from God, our efforts are worthless.
whether it is in the labor of our hands
or in working in order to receive salvation.
But, we labor not in vain, for our God has already completed the work of salvation on our behalf to build his church, and even now he is at work to keep us to the end. Therefore he has given us rest.
Worthless Work: Psalm 127
Big Idea: Apart from God, human effort is useless.
What is the biblical view of work and rest?
When does work become useless?
How can you tell when work is sinful?
What does it look like to rely upon God in everything we do?