Psalm 27

It's one of the great moments in a movie, I think. The movie was Shenandoah. That's an old movie. How many of you have ever seen the movie Shenandoah? Henry Fonda, set in the time of the Civil War.

There's a scene I remember from that movie, and I'll have to paraphrase it because I can't quote it exactly, but it's when Henry Fonda is sitting around the...

that's what

Shenandoah is it Henry it's Jimmy Stewart not Henry Fonda

I think it's Henry Fonda how many believe it's Henry Fonda how many believe it's Jimmy Stewart okay Jimmy Stewart was sitting around

I remember the paraphrase though Jimmy was sitting around They were getting ready to enjoy a meal. And the prayer went something like this. Lord, we want to thank you for this meal. You know that voice he has.

Of course, we plowed the ground. And we planted the seed. And we watered the seed and the plants. And of course, we harvested it. we ground up the corn into grain and into flour we made the bread that's on the table but Lord whatever you did we give you thanks for

and when you're done this is this notion that we humans really have done what we need to get what we need and sometimes we forget that at root everything we have and everything we are is but a gift from the Lord. Today I hope we will understand that ever more clearly as we turn to Psalm 127.

And let me just, Psalm 127. I'm going to read the whole psalm, and then we'll talk about it.

your homework for next week is to read psalm 133 psalm 133 but today psalm 127 which reads unless the lord builds the house its builders labor in vain unless the lord watches over the city the watchmen stand guard in vain in vain you rise early and stay up late to eat for he grants sleep to those he loves sons are a heritage from the Lord children a reward from him like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them they will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate. This is one of the song of ascents. As we studied last week, as the Jews would travel to Jerusalem on their three annual pilgrimages for these pilgrimage feasts, the feast of Passover, the feast of Pentecost, the feast of tabernacles, they would sing these songs, these psalms as they went up to Jerusalem and they likely used these psalms in the liturgy as part of the worship in the temple because you recall there were 15 steps between the court of women and the court of Israel and many believe that these 15 psalms from Psalm 120 through Psalm 134 formed part of the liturgy these songs of ascents that they used as they went up those 15 steps singing each of these psalms You notice at 127, if your Bible is like my Bible, there's a little note right below Psalm 127 that says, A Song of Ascents. And then if you've got the King James, it says, A Song of Degrees. It's literally a song of goings up, of going up.

But going up to Jerusalem and then going up the steps in the liturgy. But then the next two words, in my NIV Bible, it says, Of Solomon. Does everybody see that? All right, now, does somebody have something that says, For Solomon?

If you're reading the King James, it says, For Solomon, right? It's interesting. The Hebrew could be either. It could be of Solomon or for Solomon. If it's of Solomon, then likely this was a psalm written by Solomon.

Many believe it may have been written by him at the time of the dedication of the temple. You remember Solomon was the son of David who got the honor of building the first temple to the Lord. And many believe he wrote this psalm on that occasion or for that occasion. And it begins, Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. So that is a possibility that it is of Solomon.

In other words, a psalm written by Solomon. But it is possible that this is a psalm written for Solomon. The Hebrew would allow that. And if it's written for Solomon, who likely wrote it?

His daddy. In other words, this may well be a psalm written by a father for a son. It may be that King David wrote this psalm for Solomon, knowing that his son would be the heir to the throne, knowing that his son would be responsible for building the temple of the Lord. David wasn't going to get that privilege, and he knew that. Knowing all the responsibility his son would have, Maybe a daddy wrote this for a son to tell him how he should live his life and where he should place his trust.

It's hard for us to know which of those two is right, by Solomon or for Solomon. I like that notion of a daddy writing a letter to a son. I encourage parents to write letters to their children at specific times in their lives. that some of you know my practice was has been when my children got 16 I wrote them this lengthy letter with what wisdom I could muster to try to help them as they would go on in life and then as they left have left home Caleb already as he left to go to college I wrote him another letter and I will do the same with Kate when she gets ready to go to college next year we parents need sometimes to say things to our children and at least for me sometimes i have found i can write some things in a way and say and write some things that will they will get that i might not as easily say to them verbally so maybe we've got david doing the same for solomon here and i like to keep that notion in mind as we go through this i think this psalm tells us there's some very basic needs that we have as human beings or basic desires. This may not be true for each individual, but generally I think these basic needs and basic desires are pretty pervasive throughout most of humanity.

We all want some shelter, a home.

we like to have safety in our lives

we like to have sustenance and need sustenance food to eat the basic necessities of life we want to be able to rest to get a good night's sleep and I think at least in general there's this desire to have children sons and daughters that we can raise and pass our legacy on to. The question is, and I struggled long and hard to figure out how to get the picture of what the psalmist is teaching here in a way that we can grasp it. I think what the psalmist is trying to press us toward here is to determine how we should achieve these basic needs or desires in life. How are you going to do it? If you want shelter or home, safety, sustenance, sleep, sons and daughters, how should we go about seeking to achieve these needs?

And I think the psalmist tells us there are basically two alternatives. If you want these things in life, there are really two different ways that people often go about achieving these needs or desires. One of them is a good way, one of them is a bad way. way and then I'm going to talk about the good way. Okay, does everybody understand the question?

How should we seek to achieve these needs? The first method is to issue

In other words, some human beings say that they are going to achieve or obtain these needs or desires by a life of self-effort apart from the Lord. The person who has declared independence says it is by my efforts alone that I can achieve what I desire. I have all the skills that I need. I'm smart. And I can determine what to do to achieve my own goals in my own way.

Whatever it takes, I can work harder. I can work longer. I can work smarter to achieve them. I am strong. And I can make it on my own.

I know some people need the Lord. but the Lord is really a crutch for the weak and I am not weak. What my mind can conceive, I can achieve. I will care for my children but always in a way that never hinders my goals of self-achievement. After all, my legacy will be based on what I achieve.

Do you hear this life of self-effort, this independent life that says, I can do whatever I want to do in the way I want to do it? Many have chosen this route to try to achieve what they need and desire. And in fact, in our culture, I would, particularly our American culture, I believe that we are in fact pressed toward this notion of declaring independence. The strong person, the person that is admired in our culture is John Wayne. You know, the person who can do whatever he needs to do on his own without being dependent on others.

Well, the psalmist says, yes, you certainly can seek to achieve these needs or desires by declaring independence. But the psalmist has a word for those who want to do that. He says to do so is to live a life of vanity.

Repeatedly, the first two verses, three times you see the words in vain. unless the lord builds the house its builders labor in vain unless the lord watches over the city the watchmen stand guard in vain in vain you rise early and stay up late that word the hebrew word in vain has the notion of something being empty or something being useless or worthless or something being futile.

And by telling us that this declaration of independence really is trying to live a life that is in vain, the psalmist is trying to tell us that we cannot achieve that which we seek apart from God.

Do you want to build a house? And that word house can mean a shelter, but probably it has the sense of building a home. Not just the shelter, but a place where family is. The psalmist says, if you want to build a home, it will crumble if it is not built on God's principles. That's what it means when it says, unless the Lord builds the house, The sense is we must build on the foundation that he teaches we should have, and our homes will crumble if not built on God's principles.

Have we not seen many homes crumble because they weren't built on God's principles? The husband or the wife or the family decided they were going to do it their way instead of God's way, a sure recipe for disaster in a home. The psalmist is pressing us that we cannot achieve security apart from God. Yes, we can develop elaborate security systems and defenses, but they are in an ultimate sense insufficient to protect us. If anyone should understand that, it ought to be us Americans today.

We have the most elaborate security in the world, the strongest army, most sophisticated radar. Yet, 9-1-1, despite all our security systems, we weren't secure, were we? I wonder if the Lord wanted us to hear a message. America, do you really think your security is found in yourself, in your own achievements, in your own defense systems? You need to remember your security ultimately is in me.

What about the Soviet Union and its declaration of independence from God? A nation, a system built on a belief that there is no God and an enforced atheistic view. Yet, in 1989, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. And that whole system collapsed because it was built on a false premise, on a false foundation. and we were again reminded that people cannot achieve security or safety apart from God.

The psalmist tells us that life is vanity when we try to achieve what we want through our own self-efforts at work. You know, the person who is always rising early, going to bed late, striving after greater and greater wealth, building bigger and bigger barns, more and more stuff. The psalmist says that's a life of vanity. You don't really achieve what you want because your life just ends up being a life of fatigue and worry and anxiety. The bottom line is that without God's provision, we can really have nothing that we desire.

It is only through God and by God that we get what we desire. So the psalmist is going to press us not to live lives that declare independence. He's going to suggest a different alternative. And his alternative is that we should have a declaration of dependence. That's on your outline.

Write that word down, dependence. A declaration of dependence.

the life that lives by this declaration a declaration of dependence is a life that is characterized by trust in the lord and i have put all caps there on the word lord you remember last week i told you that in your our english translations the the english translators give us a hint as to what Hebrew word is behind the English word and when the word Lord is all caps, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. What Hebrew word is it that's behind that word? Yahweh. This is the covenant God. Israel, do you want to know how you can achieve that which you desire?

Then you must have a life that is characterized by trust in Yahweh. and what was true for the nation of Israel is true for us if we want to achieve these things in life if these desires that we have for home and security for sustenance for sleep for sons and daughters if those if we want those things we get them only by trusting in the Lord a life characterized by trust in the Lord has these attitudes

any skills or gifts that I have at root come from the Lord

there are many smart people in this room many skilled people and some of us can begin to believe like Jimmy Stewart or it could have been Henry Fonda Jimmy Stewart I'm gonna go watch the movie and figure it out jimmy stewart some of us begin to believe that we did it all i don't care how smart you are i don't care how much education you have i don't care what skills you have at root you are nothing apart from god you did not give yourself yourself the mind you have god gave it to you whatever gifts or abilities you have at root they came from god anyone who has the ability to speak at root that came from God we can develop these we can work on these but at root we are nothing apart from God so let's not believe that we just did this all ourselves because the very bodies we have are a gift from him and anything we can do comes from him and is because of him and a life characterized by trust in the Lord never ever believes that it's because of him or herself that something has been achieved they know it's because of what the lord has provided a life characterized by trusting the lord is a lot is a life that says my home can only stand so long as i live by god's principles and priorities it acknowledges that god has the formula for how life is best lived he is the manufacturer of us and the manufacturer knows best how we should live and if we live by his principles trusting that his principles really will help us achieve that which we desire in life then our lives will be stable our homes will be stable and secure a life characterized by dependence on the lord recognizes that the world is dangerous but says I will trust in God to protect my family and me. Now, let's be clear here. The life that says I will trust in God to protect my family and me also recognize that God often gives us ordinary means to protect ourselves and to protect our families. It's sort of like the story of Nehemiah. You remember Nehemiah?

he's the guy who went and helped rebuild the wall around the city of Jerusalem after the exile after the nation of Israel and then Judah had been defeated Nehemiah comes back and he helps rebuild the wall around the temple and there's an interesting scene where Nehemiah gathers together the men to prepare to rebuild the wall and there was danger in rebuilding the wall the Israelites or the Jews didn't want them to get this wall rebuilt because that would give them protection from attack. So Nehemiah says, we're going to pray for God's protection. So they get together and Nehemiah prays this great prayer that everyone will be protected as they're rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem. And when he finishes praying, he says, now go get your spears and get on the wall and get to work. it's sort of like let's pray now pass me the ammunition but there's nothing inconsistent in those two things the the life that it believes that we achieve that which we desire by dependence on god recognizes that he often gives us very ordinary ways to achieve what we desire he gives us ways to protect ourselves he gives us so we can earn what we need to live.

And we are to use those ordinary means to accomplish the ends. But always understanding that even the ordinary means are a gift from God and are provided by God. So this life of trust acknowledges that God, any skills I have come at root from God, that my home can stand only so long as I live by God's principles and priorities. that the world is dangerous, that I must trust God to protect my family and me, recognizing he wants me to use the ordinary means to protect ourselves. So lock your doors at night.

That doesn't mean you don't trust God. It means you're using an ordinary means he's given you to protect your family. So lock the door and then trust him to protect. This life also means that we recognize God will provide for the basic necessities of life. So I don't need to worry or fear.

because I know he cares for me and he will help me. I will work hard, but I will always live a life of trustful balance. The scriptures are clear, and this passage in Psalm 127 isn't saying we get to just be lazy and not do any work to help provide for our own basic needs. In fact, scripture is very clear that we should watch the ant and see how the ant works in summer to get ready for the winter. The Apostle Paul will say if a person won't work, don't let him eat if he's able to work.

So we must work hard, but always work hard acknowledging that at root, again, anything we achieve is from God. At night, the person who lives in trustful dependence on God can go to sleep and rest. You see, the text says that God, verse 2, He grants sleep to those He loves. And that notion that we can sleep at night is the notion that we know we've got the great shepherd watching over us. So we don't have to be anxious about what tomorrow is going to bring.

We can go to sleep at night and just rest. knowing the Lord is my shepherd. The life of trustful dependence on God recognizes that our legacies are built on stewardship of what God provides. And one of those things He provides is children. Children are a cherished gift from God, the psalmist says.

He uses different words to describe this gift. Children are a reward. children are a blessing and interestingly he doesn't use the word protection but in a real sense children are protection in the niv translation verse 3 they use the word sons are heritage from the lord children are reward from him verse 4 uses the word sons the word translated sons can mean children and some translations just translated children the new You look at verse 3, whatever translation you have, the New American Standard says, Behold, children are a gift from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. But there was a real sense, particularly in David and Solomon's day, that those sons could be very important for protecting the family.

They were the warriors. And there's an interesting picture here where the psalmist tells us that the person whose quiver is full these children including sons is somebody who won't be put to shame when they contend with their enemies at the gate you see the picture the gate is often where the gate to the city was where court was held the judges would come and sit at the city gate and would preside and you know what the man who had a lot of children particularly those sons didn't have to be afraid when he stood in the gate. He didn't have to be afraid that there would be false witnesses. He didn't have to be afraid that somebody could overwhelm them because if somebody wanted to do something to harm him, he could say, all right, sons, line up. And he could line up his six or seven sons and then they didn't want to mess with him. There's a great scene in the modern day movie Three Musketeers where the three Musketeers are surrounded by their enemies. Got about 50 men with swords surrounding the three Musketeers but then suddenly here show up more Musketeers and suddenly you've got these 70 Musketeers facing the enemies. That's sort of the sense here that children are a protection because you can call on them when you need them to help you and protect And in a real sense, children are our protection, are they not?

As we get older, they can help us. We who parented them, in a sense, can really rely on them to help us in the future. So my legacy as one who trustfully depends on the Lord, I know will be based on my stewardship of what God provides to me. And particularly, I need to be a good steward of those children.

This life lived in trustful dependence is not a life of vanity. It is a life of blessing.

Because we can rest in the Lord, not be anxious, knowing He cares for us. So here are my questions to you, questions for life or lessons for life. First, we need to develop a dependent attitude. one of those who thinks it's only through our self-achievement that things are accomplished, we need to begin to recognize just how dependent we are on the Lord for everything, for the next heartbeat, for the next breath, for the materials we need to provide for our families, for the bodies and minds to accomplish what needs to be done to care for our families. Secondly, we need to dedicate ourselves and our children to God.

How many of you have, those of you who have children, how many of you have dedicated them to the Lord?

You know, there's probably no greater anxiety that a parent faces than anxiety for a child. when they leave home because suddenly they're no longer right there where you can wrap your arms around them i know louise and i experienced that sense when caleb went off to college he was out there with the wolves now and that's true in a real sense but you know what god protects him much better than louise and i ever could now we were the means that god provided to protect and he still provides us to be there as a means to help protect the parents give them to the lord and trust him to look after them he will thirdly count your blessings many of these things we desire in life we already have and sometimes we just don't pause to count our blessings thank god for the little things and the big things the ordinary things and things. I love to stand at the bottom of the stairs in my home early in the morning. My daughter Kate is often up in her bathroom and she doesn't realize daddy's standing there down there just listening to her as she sings. What a gift from the Lord to be able to listen to her sing. And you know what i know it came from god and i thank you we need to develop that attitude of being grateful for what god has given us fourthly i would encourage you to zealously protect your family by living according to god's principles i'd care not what the culture would encourage you to do with your children i would encourage you to do what god says you should do with your children it takes do not be pulled away from the principles that God has about what is right and what is wrong what is good what is bad what is true what is false may the family may our families live by God's principles fifthly assess your anxiety level are you constantly worried constantly fretting about life and you know what there are a lot of things in life that happen that genuinely give us anxiety in a sense but we have to learn to take those anxieties and hand them to God and say this is bigger than I can handle Lord will you take it and handle it for me. Sixthly understand that being a workaholic is not a virtue.

In our culture, it is often viewed as a virtue. The person who's willing to forsake all else for occupation is often praised. It is not a virtue in the Christian perspective, and in fact, it may well show a lack of trust in the Lord. I would encourage you to recognize that God will provide what you need. Work hard, but don't become a workaholic.

And lastly, go to sleep at night and sleep well, knowing that God is always awake.

So is your life an independent life, or is it a dependent life? I pray that it will be dependent, because then it is a life that is most blessed. Let's pray. Lord today I pray that we will take heed the words of the psalmist that we will

recognize just how completely dependent we are on you for all that we have in life and for anything we achieve in life forgive us for our attitudes of independence when we have thought that we could ignore you and still achieve those basic desires we have in life. Help us to realize just how futile and vain such thoughts are and to begin today to live lives that are completely dependent upon you. These things we ask in Christ's name. Amen.