When the Lord Builds the House
Psalm 127-128
June 29-30, 2024
Psalm 127 is just one of my favorite Psalms. It is so practical in the living out of your faith, and it is one of the Psalms of Ascent that we were mentioning last week. There are 15 Psalms of Ascent. Again, these would be the songs that they would sing when they are ascending to Jerusalem. Everyone going to Jerusalem goes up. It's about 2,500 feet in elevation. As I mentioned, Jewish men would be required to appear in Jerusalem three times every year. Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Often, not always, but often, they would make it a family adventure, and everyone would then ascend singing the Psalms of Ascent.
The great theme of the Psalms of Ascent that we were looking at last week is the help of the Lord. We saw that in Psalm 121 where he says, "I lift up my eyes to the hills." Anyone ascending to Jerusalem is going to lift up my eyes to the hills. "Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth." Looking to that city set on Mount Zion. That place where the house of the Lord would dwell there in glory and in majesty, and everyone understood, that's where the presence of the Almighty was represented. "I lift up mine eyes through the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth."
Now, what does the help of the Lord mean, though, in the practical reality of life? Now, we know, of course, the great figures of the Bible relied on the help of the Lord. Of course, there was David, and I suggest that David was perhaps the greatest example of relying on the help of the Lord. It was David who said, "By my God, I can run upon a troop. By my God, I can leap over a wall. By my God, I can bend a bow of bronze." David said, "It was God's help that made me great." There was Joseph from the book of Genesis who endured so many difficulties and troubles and yet God used those very troubles to pour out His favor on his life and on his calling.
Relying on the help of the Lord all through the troubles and the trials of his life. There's Moses, there's Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, Jehoshaphat, on and on, the great characters of the Bible who lifted their eyes and looked to God to be their help. What about us? We are not great figures of the Bible. What about us? Can we rely on the help of the Lord? What does it look like to rely on the help of the Lord in the practical reality of life? If we do rely on the help of the Lord, then what is our part and what is God's part? That's what Psalms 127 and 128 are about.
Our part and God's part in that help of the Lord. It speaks also, particularly in Psalm 128 of the blessing that comes back to those who live their life relying on the help of the Lord in the practical living out of their lives. Now, it tells us that Psalm 127 was written by Solomon. Solomon was David's son through Bathsheba, and he was the great king after David in really what could be considered the glory days. The glory days of Israel. It was Solomon who had the honor and the privilege of building the house of the Lord there in Jerusalem.
Oh, what a magnificent wonder it was. It was considered one of the wonders of the world. So magnificent and glorious was this house of the Lord that Solomon built there in Jerusalem. The first verse of the psalm really sets the theme. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build that. Now, there is an analogy there that's very important for us to take hold of and to understand. When Solomon had completed the building of the great house of the Lord, the magnificent, glorious house of the Lord, he called Israel altogether, and then he gave a wonderful prayer of dedication.
As part of that prayer, he said, "O Lord the God of Israel, there is none like you in heaven and on earth, keeping covenant, showing loving kindness to your servants," notice, "who walk before you with all their heart," on and on then Solomon continued in this beautiful prayer of dedication. Then God responded, this is very important, "I have heard your prayer, and I have chosen this place for myself. My eyes shall be opened. My ears shall be attentive to the prayer offered to this place here where I have chosen and consecrated this house, that my name shall be there forever, and that my eyes and my heart will be there forever, but if you turn away and forsake my statutes and my covenants and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from this land and this house, which I have consecrated for my name."
"This house that you see is so glorious and so magnificent and so wonderful, this house, I will cast it out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among the people." Now, we don't often read that verse but it is very important to understand, for he's saying, in other words, that if the words of that prayer become the substance of your heart, then I will fill this house. Now, this is a very important word. I will fill this house with my glory. I will fill this house. My heart will be there. I will fill this house, but if your heart becomes empty, if your faith turns to empty religion, if you honor me with empty words, and your heart moves far from me, then this house will also be empty, and I will cast it out on my sight.
I. God will Meet You in Your Insufficiency
See, now, that brings the words of this psalm right to the forefront. "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it." Now, the word that stands so prominently here, Psalm 127, is the word vain. They labor in vain who build it. Vain. Vanity. Void of meaning. Empty is what it means. It is directly connecting to a right understanding of the help of the Lord. It's in the Psalm. This is one of the greatest Psalms to understand the help of the Lord. Our part and God's part in the help of the Lord.
Let's read it. We're reading Psalm 127, and then, later, we'll look at Psalm 128. "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It's vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors, for it is He who gives to His Beloved even while he sleeps." Then notice verse three. "Behold, children are a gift from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward."
Now, you might think, "that's a strange change of the topic," but it actually is not. It flows right out of it, which we will see as we look at the psalm. "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them? They will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies at the gate." What a wonderful psalm filled with important understanding of the help of the Lord, starting with verse one. God will meet you in your insufficiency. "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards a city, the watchman keeps awake in vain."
Now, in both of those examples, you can see that there's two parts. Your effort and God's hand in it. Starts out with some building a house. That can represent, really, the building of anything. The building of a life, the building of ministry, the building of a business, even a relationship. Then the next is a watchman. Guarding the city. Protecting whatever they have built. You don't want to lose what you've built. You watch over it. You guard over it. He says, unless the Lord's hand is in it, they labor in vain who build it. It's meaningless. It's empty. No one wants to come to the end of whatever they built or the end of their life or whatever and realize that it was a waste.
A. Be men of action
A waste of their life or they wasted their effort, or they wasted the thing, and that it was for nothing. That doesn't mean that you don't do anything. No. If God has called you to build something, then build it. If God has something for you to build, build it. In other words, be men of action. That's what we see. That's what the psalm suggests. Be men of action. Of course, it's generic. Women of action. You get the idea. Be men of action. See, first, we see in the verse someone is building. Who are building? There's effort put forth in those building the house or the ministry or the business or the relationship.
There's a boldness to act, to build, to move, to believe that great things are possible, great things can be accomplished, be men of action. We see that. I mentioned that David was perhaps the great example of relying on the help of the Lord. David was a man of action. We know that David, of course, became famous. When he was a teenager, his father sent him to check on his brothers who were with the men of Israel fighting the Philistines in the Valley of Elah. You know this story.
When David arrives in the camp, he heard the shouts of this Philistine giant taunting the ranks of Israel, daring them to send out a man to fight. When David arrives and hears the taunts of this Philistine, something arises in David, and David becomes incensed. Like, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should taunt the armies of the living God?" Now, right away, you see David's faith there is part of that declaration. Like, "Who does he think he is? This uncircumcised Philistine that he dare to taunt the armies of the living God."
Then, of course, David then became the one to go out and face that Philistine. Later, standing in front of that giant, the giant made his little speech challenging David. David responded, and part of that speech, he said, "The battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands." Now, this is a critical understanding. The battle is the Lord's. Notice what David did not say and what David did not do. David did not say, "The battle is the Lord's, so let the Lord fight the battle. I'm going home." That's not what he said. What he said was, "You come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name, Hashem, in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have just taunted."
Now, we'd love that declaration, but would you notice like, "I come to you." David is a man of action. He's standing in the middle of it. No one else stood in the middle of it. He's a man of action. It's like Ecclesiastes 9:10, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might." Might be better said, "Whatever God calls you to do, do it with all your might. Be a man of action." There's another example during the days of Israel's captivity. Nehemiah, serving as cupbearer to the king of Babylon, and a friend returned from visiting Jerusalem. Nehemiah asked him concerning the Jews and the holy city.
When he heard that the city was in great distress and the city was in great reproach and that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and the gates burned with fire, he sat down, and he wept, and he prayed day and night for days, interceding for the Jews and the city of Jerusalem. Now, when the king saw that his countenance was cast down, he released Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem. Nehemiah felt compelled to go there to Jerusalem himself and to lead these people to rise up and build because they had become so discouraged, downhearted, almost wanting to give up.
When they came back from Babylon, they saw the city was in rubble. The walls were broken down, the gates were burned with fire, and they were just so discouraged, so Nehemiah arrives on the scene to challenge them, "Arise, men. Arise and build." See, this psalm is a call to rise up and build. If God wants you to build this thing, then rise up and build it. Be men of action. That's out of the psalm. If God's calling you to build it, then rise up and build it.
That's also seen in 1 Corinthians 16:13, where Paul writes, "Be on the alert, stand firm in your faith, act like men, be strong." In other words, be men of action. We also see this in the psalm. If God isn't in it, it's empty. See verse two. "It's vain. It's empty. It's vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread, the painful labors." He's speaking here of the emptiness, the vanity of self-effort, self-reliance.
B. If God isn’t in it, it’s empty
Now, in many ways, it's the mantra of our day. Even in our modern times, it's the mantra of the age that you believe that a person ought to man up. That's how we say it today. "Man up. You need to man up and pour yourself into the thing. Do it by your own self-will and determination." Men take hold of this mantra, "I'm going to do this thing. I'm going to get up early, I'm going to build this thing, I'm going to go to bed late. I'm going to work, and I'm going to work, and I'm going to sweat this thing out. I'm going to eat the bread of painful labors, and I'm just going to grind my way through this thing by my own self-will and determination." It's the mantra of the age.
Then the psalm says, "It's empty, and it's vanity, and it will come to nothing," for that's what self-effort does. I try, and I try, and I try, and it's empty. Will come to nothing. I was thinking of an illustration. One of the most famous rock songs that came out of the '60s, it was 1965. One of the most famous rock songs of all time came out in the '60s, 1965, a song by the Rolling Stones. Anybody still remember the Rolling Stones? You have to be old to remember the Rolling Stones in 1965.
I understand. I read all about it in history books. It almost became an iconic song of the age by the Rolling Stones. You might recognize it. "I can't get no--" Now, ignore the poor grammar. Grammar was not part of the hippie movement. "I can't get no, da, da, da, satisfaction, da, da, da, but I try, and I try, and I try." This was a very popular song. You know why it was so popular? Because people could relate to it. They relate to it. "I can't get no satisfaction in life. Life, it has no meaning to me. I try, I try, and I try, and I try. It means nothing to me. It's empty."
Maybe the problem is that they didn't understand the difference between a rolling stone and a solid rock. See what I did there? Amen. The phrase, "I can't get no satisfaction, but I try, and I try, and I try," is the same as saying, "It's vanity. It's meaningless. It's empty. Don't waste your life." No one wants to waste their life. Many of you know the story of my dad, angry, cantankerous, alcoholic, abusive. He left his wife, my mother and his children, me and all the rest moved to another state, never to be seen, just moved away, to become alone and lonely.
Then when he was 75 years old-- by the way, he never came to our wedding, never met our children, but at 75 years old, a set of circumstances that he had to come back. We sat one early morning, and he said to me, "I see now that I've wasted almost all my life." What a tragedy of tragedies to look back over 75 years and to say it was all a waste. "I see it now. I've wasted my life." Then he said, "I don't know how much time I have left." His health was not good. "I don't know how much time I have left, but whatever I got left, would you help me?"
He said, "Can I come back? Can I meet your children? Can I be in your family? Can I be in your life? Would you help me?" I said, "Oh, I would love to help you." We moved him back, and he became friends again-- they never remarried, but he became friends with my mom. We had four more years with him. I remember when he came back, shortly after we invited him to church and he came, and then he came again and then came again. One day, I gave an invitation for those who would receive Christ to lift their hand. I remember that day so clearly. I started over here, and I started looking through the crowd. There he was in the center, in the back.
Now, he's got a very strong constitution, right? When he looked at his hand, he went like this-- I looked back and I saw him. All I could say was, "Come here. Come here." He came down the aisle and I hugged him. He was crying. I was crying. I broke out in a song. "I exalt--" The whole church started singing, "I exalted thee." I prayed with him to receive Christ. A few weeks later, we had a baptism. I baptized him with my own hands. It's never too late. It's never too late to move from emptiness and wasting your life to God. Filling and giving purpose and meaning to your-- it's never too late.
We had four more years with him. I remember that when he was on his deathbed, he's now reconciled to his family. All of his family around his bed. Whereas before he had estranged and moved away, now he's reconciled and now surrounded by those who love him. When he breathed his last, I closed his eyes and I said, "Father, into your hands, I commit his spirit." God's help changes everything. Amen, sure. Let's give praise to God.
C. God’s help changes everything
That's what we need to see in the Psalm. God's help changes everything. Verse 2. Unless the Lord builds the house, unless the Lord guards the city. When the Lord builds and the Lord guards, when you do it all in the name of the Lord, that you do it all in the name. When David faced that giant, he said, "You've come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin. These are the instruments of man. You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, I come to you in the name. In the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel whom you have just taunted. I come to you in the name."
In other words, when you build in the name, when you move in His name, you do it in His name, God's in it. Not only is it an Old Testament truth, it's a New Testament truth. Colossians 3:17, Paul wrote the same. "Whatever you do whether it be in word or indeed, do it all in the name. Do it in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Do it in the name. There is no greater name. He's got the name above all other names that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. You do it in that name and God's in it.
One of the greatest lessons of life is to understand how to rely on the help of God. How God's hand rests on your efforts to show Himself strong in your behalf. God takes faith. God takes Godly character and then builds upon it. God is looking for those whose heart is fully His. What does the word 'fully' mean? Means full, filled. This is a very important understanding to the help of God. God is looking for those whose heart is filled, fully His. If vanity is emptiness, then the opposite is fullness. When you are moving in God's purpose, when you're abiding in the presence of the Almighty, when God's glorious filling your life, then God delights to show Himself strong in your behalf.
God is looking for those to show Himself strong. 2 Chronicles 16:9 is one of the great verses of the Bible. "The eyes of the Lord are searching to and fro." In other words, you don't have to twist God's arm to show Himself strong in your behalf. God's looking for those. The eyes are searching throughout the whole earth in order to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose heart is completely His. That word is shalom, filled, at peace with God. The glory of God filling and overflowing in your life. God will help. God looks for people like that to pour out help and strong support upon.
In other words, there is no self-help programs in the kingdom of God. There are only God help programs. In other words, all your self-effort can only bring you as far as your self-effort. Now, this is important to see. All effort of self can only bring you as far as that self-effort and no farther. God will meet you in that weakness. God will meet you in the insufficiency and that's when He will make His power known. It's the principle of the kingdom. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. "Power is perfected in weakness."
II. How Blessed are Those Who Honor the Lord
That's why then Paul went on to say, "I would rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me for when I am weak then I am strong." That's when God builds it. That's when God adds strength to it. That's when God moves in it. When I am weak, that's when He's strong. I was thinking of an illustration I mentioned last week that when I was going to Bible college I put everything I had into it. Again, my thought was, God provided for me so miraculously. Irrefutably, I'm a miracle. If God did that for me, then the least I could do was to pour everything I have into this to honor Him for what He did for me.
About a year into it, I decided to change my major and take the hardest major they had. When it challenged me to do the hard thing, but I was very worried and concerned about this because it also was a major in Greek and I had never taken a Greek. It was all Greek to me, and I didn't-- I was very afraid of it. I was intimidated by it. I remember calling my pastor in those days. I was going to Beaverton Foursquare. My pastor was Ron Mell, and I remember calling him and saying, "I'm really worried." "Why are you so worried?" I said, "Greek is hard, and I don't know if my brain can do it."
A. It will be well with your soul
He said, I'll never forget. "Just because something is hard is no reason not to do it." That's a good word. Just because something is hard is no reason not to do it. God will give you the sufficiency. God will give you the sufficiency. You're right. Now, I'm a year into this and now I'm behind in my Greek. I remember this one summer when I took two Greek classes at the same time. Summer classes are condensed anyway. They're harder. Two Greek classes at the same time. One was rapid Greek reading, the other was grammar along with theology, and hermeneutics, and homiletics, and whatnot. It became physically impossible to prepare well for all my classes.
I guess, I physically could not do it. I was hardly getting any sleep and I was just pouring everything. It became physically impossible to prepare well for all the classes. I remember one class, again, was rapid Greek reading. The way rapid Greek reading works is that you are given several chapters of the New Testament to translate directly from the Greek, and you arrive in class with only your Greek New Testament open. There was only 9 or 10 of us. He would call on you at various times to read sections of these chapters.
You start the class with 100. Then whenever you make a mistake, that's one off, then it's two off, then your grade starts to go down as you make mistakes. I just could not prepare all of these chapters. I just physically couldn't do it. I remember I was in theology class, trying to take theology notes while studying my Greek over here on the side. I just physically could not prepare all those chapters. Here's the thing. During that entire semester, I was never called upon to read a section that I had not prepared.
Oh God, did a miracle every class. It's like, "Oh God." I have come to believe that God's power is perfecting in weakness. I couldn't do it, but God's power is perfecting in weakness. When you rely on the help of the Lord, God will build the house. God will build. God will add strength to it. If the Lord is in your heart and you seek His glory and your heart is being filled, then there's something of God's glory and there's something of God's character that is arising. God is building that in your heart. How many times have people heard other people say that they're nothing? That they're failures, that they'll never amount to anything?
If God is in you, if faith is arising in you, if God is building, then God is adding, God's glory is being given and filling your life, then you're not nothing. God calls you his own, and if God calls you his own, he brings you into a relationship to God the Almighty, that God is now your Father. You are a son and you are a daughter that He has adopted to bring into a relationship to Himself. God is the one who makes something out of nothing.
How many times have people heard that they're nothing and they believe that they're nothing, but God is the one who fills and fills and fills and make something out of nothing. When we started the church 34 and a half years ago, we started with nothing. We had nothing. No money, no supporters. We had nothing, but did we have nothing? No. We had vision and we had the promise, we had the calling, and we knew we had the help of God. Hey, if you have vision and you have calling and you have God's help, you have all you need. Do you believe? Amen. Let's give a little praise.
B. It is well within your house
If you have vision and you have calling and you have the help of God, you have all you need, and then blessings will come back to you. Notice the next section. How blessed are those who honor the Lord, who are filled and overflowing. Fullness is a key to the understanding of this. Notice starting with verse 3. "Behold, children are a gift from the Lord. Fruit of the womb is a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior through our children of one's youth." Now, at first, again, it might seem unusual, change of topic to be speaking of family, but it is not. It flows beautifully from the earlier verses.
If emptiness comes from self-effort, self-reliance, focus on self, the meaning of purpose comes from the relationships in which you pour out. David says, "My cup runneth over." It runs over. It blesses abundantly, those who are around you now receive the overflow of your life, the glory that's filling you upon those who are around you. Then notice how Psalm 128 just picks up that theme and just carries it beautifully forward. Notice he says, "How blessed is everyone who honors, fears, reveres the Lord that we're blessed again." Is that word esher. Blessed soul. It is well with your soul kind of blessing.
How blessed is the one, he was filled, overflowing, glory being added, who will walk in His ways, then you'll eat of the fruit of your hands. You'll eat of the fruit of your hands. You'll be happy, and it will be well with you. The fruit of your hands is blessed and it comes back to you and it will be well with your soul. Speaks of the blessing of those who honor God and that blessed fruit of their hands is sweet. It's well with their soul. See, when you honor God, it comes back to you, is great blessings upon you as well. The fruit of the spirit is a great blessing.
When you have the fruit of the spirit, it's a great blessing to those around you, but it's also a blessing to you. The fruit of the spirit is love. If you have love in your heart, you are blessed because now you have that love abounding in you. If the joy of the Lord blesses others, it will surely bless you. It comes back to you. Then notice next, not only will it be well with your soul, it will be well in your house. Notice. Your wife will be like a fruited vine within your house. Your children like olive plants around your table. What a beautiful picture is it? Your wife will be like a fruited vine, bearing the fruit of sweetness. That's what that is. It is well within your house.
My cup runneth over upon those who are around me and it blesses them. It's a picture of a young man who decides early in his life that he's going to take God at His word. He believes that if he would revere God, if he would honor God in his life, that God's help and God's favor and God's blessing and God's hand will be on his life, that he will be able to eat the fruits of his own labors beautifully. That young man who decides to take God at His word. I will walk according to His ways. I will honor God in my life. What kind of a wife then would he choose? He will then want and desire one who also has that desire in her heart. I want the same. I want God to honor and to be filling our lives.
Oh, it is well in the house. Then what kind of a husband would he be? It is well in the house. The children will be like olive trees around the table. That's a picture. Olive trees, fruit abounding, bearing the fruit of that which is overflowing upon them. Then I love verse 4 where it says, "And thus shall be the man." I don't know. That's just such a beautiful way of expressing it. Thus shall be the man, thus shall be the woman. Blessed, favor, hand of God upon your efforts, bearing the fruit of it, blessed in the soul, blessed in the house. Thus shall be the man, I want that.
Thus shall be the woman, I want that. For all who believe, who will take God at His word. If you would walk by His ways, if you'll honor Him in your life, if you'll be filled with His glory, His hand will be upon that which you build, that you do in His name. God will do it. Thus shall be the man. Thus shall be the woman. Let's pray. Lord, thank you. What a glorious word is this. Thus shall be the man, the woman who takes God at His word. If you would believe and ask God to fill your heart with glory, with His presence, fullness of heart. God says, "Oh, I'm looking for people like that."
To show Himself strong, to put His hand on all that you build when you build in the name of the Lord of Hosts. How many would say to the Lord today, "I take you at your word. God I believe. I will take you at your word. I want my life to be filled, overflowing. I want it to be said, 'Thus shall be the man, thus shall be the woman, blessed in the soul, blessed in the house.' I want that. I will take you at your word and I believe." Church, is that you? Would you raise your hand as a declaration of that belief, that declaration? I believe, I take you at your word. Pour that, do that, show that. Show yourself strong.
Put your hand on my life. Let it be well in my soul and well in my house, God, because of you. We honor you and thank you for it all in Jesus' name, and everyone said. Can we give the Lord praise, glory, and honor? Amen. Amen. Church, worship. We're going to worship. I tell you, when the soul is right with God, you just got to worship. You want to just give God praise for all that He's done in your life. Before we do that, I want to give you the invitation. If you are here and you're carrying a burden or a trouble, you're not alone. We want to pray with you and stand with you in it. There's a prayer room, prayer team right there. If you're here today and the spirit of the--