We Depend on God - Pastor Tom Loghry
In Psalm 110 we find that We are not the builders, watchmen, or givers of life — God is. All our labor and striving for security is in vain apart from Him, but when we trust in God and offer our efforts to Him in prayer, He provides protection, rest, and every good gift — including children — as expressions of His sovereign care and love.
Transcript:
Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guard stands, watch it in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat- for he grants sleep to those he loves. Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children 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 opponents in court.
A trip to the store can be an invitation to become a Jedi. That's at least what children and their dads, too, sometimes make of it. Approaching the sliding doors of the establish, establishment, we are invited to wield our powers, motioning our hands to make them open at our command. It's good to find fun in the mundane things of life.
Of course, we know that the doors will not open if the motor operating the doors is broken. The doors also won't open if the power is out and there's no backup generator. We can wave our hands all we want, but they won't budge.
It's a reality that gives us a good analogy of our action in relation to God's action. Yes, we are invited to act, to move forward, to motion our hands - but the effective power does not reside in us. We look and depend entirely upon God.
Psalm 127 reminds us of this reality. It is a song of ascents, a song sung as pilgrims made their way to the temple in Jerusalem. And as they are going, as they are ascending to Mount Zion, they are singing a song that reminds them why they seek God. It reminds them why they didn't just stay home. They had plenty of work to take care of back at home. Who would watch their property while they were gone? This psalm is their answer. It is a psalm written by King Solomon, a man who wielded great wealth, resources, and power during his reign. But he began his rule by praying that God would give him wisdom, and we see that wisdom manifest in this psalm.
So we look first at verse one here in Psalm 127. "Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain"
When we're thinking about building here, we should not limit ourselves to thinking of literal construction, like a lift back there. As human beings, we build all sorts of things. Yes, we build buildings, we build careers, we build lives. It's in our nature as human beings to build. But as we've gone about our projects, It's not the case that we're always so faithful in looking to God and doing those things that we pursue with our hands and with our minds. We're not always looking to, to God in these things. Instead, we sometimes follow a pattern that we see emerge at the very beginning in Genesis 11 when the humans at that time gathered together rather than spreading across the face of, face of the earth as God had called them to do, gathered themselves together in one city in order to build the Tower of Babel, that they might make heaven and earth meet by means of this tower. It was a plan that was, went against God's will, and so their plan came to nothing. Their language was confused and in the end, the human beings were indeed scattered across the face of the earth.
We think also of the example of a man like King Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians, king of an empire, who had conquered the people of Judah, had destroyed Jerusalem and brought those people into exile, and who came to know the one true God because of that, because of the ministry of the prophet Daniel. And in Daniel 4, we see God warn King Nebuchadnezzar, saying that he's going to fall prey to his hubris, to his pride, and that he's going to be cursed as a result. And in fact, that does indeed come to pass because Nebuchadnezzar was a prideful man. In Daniel 4:29-30, it says that, "As the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon, he said, 'Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?'" And when he said that, he became cursed so that he had the mind of a cow, and he grazed from the fields for seven years before he, the sanity of his mind was restored.
We think about the nation of Israel itself, of how this people were brought into existence from nothing, more or less. You had Abram and, Abram and Sarah, this couple who were old, who had no children, but it was God who gave them a child and brought forth a nation, and then redeemed their children from slavery in Egypt. Israel did not make anything of itself. It's only God who made them.
When we think of ourselves today, we fall prey to forgetting how it is that God who is the one who has raised us up. We fall prey to the pride of Nebuchadnezzar, the pride that leads us to really idolize ourselves, to say we're the ones on whom the future depends, as though our fate depends upon us. Well, apart from God, we certainly seal our fate, because apart from God, our way only leads to death.
When God sends His Son into the world, in Christ's incarnation, when the Son of God becomes a human being, what God exposes once and for all is our utter need for Him, that the only way we could be saved is by God coming to us Himself. We cannot build what only He can provide. We cannot bring about the salvation for ourselves that He can only give.
And even once we are saved, once we've put our faith in Christ and we are now members of the Kingdom of God, the work that we are invited into in that kingdom is a work that does not succeed by our own strength. It is something that only proceeds by the power of God. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:6-9, reflecting on his work and a fellow worker, Apollos, he says, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be awarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God's service; you are God's field, God's building." So yes, we are invited into the work, but we should never forget, this is God's doing. This is God's building, God's construction.
And then of course, this applies to us individually as well. We are called to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and to not lean on our own understanding, so that it would be God who would make our paths straight. When we think about our life in Christ, we have to confess that it's not us to whom credit should be given for the life that we now live, but rather, as Paul says in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in, in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." It is only God who builds. If we build without God, it all comes to ruin.
And by the same token, here in verse one, Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. We have to remember that security is not found in ourselves. Safety, we cannot bring ourselves perfect safety.
I think as you look around us, you'll find that we live in a very fearful society, and there is a danger in that, a very practical sort of danger in the immediate. Because when we no longer trust in God to watch over us, to guard us, then we need to find some other sense of security. And in trying to find some perfect sense of security, it's inevitable that we'll surrender liberty. It's no, it seems to be no accident that in societies in which faith in God is surrendered, more and more power is given to governments, because government must strive to emulate the power of God, and it's a terrible thing. Our lives become much smaller.
When we look to the nation of Israel, we notice that it is not God who forgot Israel when they fell prey to their enemies. They fell prey to their enemies because they forgot God. And rather than looking to God, they decided, "Oh, we're gonna try to make deals with our neighbors. We're gonna look to Egypt. We're gonna look to these other powers, the Babylonians, to try to sure up ourselves, have a sense of safety rather than just depending upon God." You and I must remember that God does not forget us. Christ will not abandon us. And if we forget Him, it's only at our own loss.
Now, this does not mean that we should be careless. We, we need to be watchful. Jesus calls his disciples to watch, but also, and to pray. Watch and pray, because we need God's protection. We need deeper insight than which, than what naturally occurs to us. We need the insight which is provided by the Holy Spirit.
In the midst of our fears, our anxieties, we are called to pray. The Apostle Paul says this is our recourse. When you're feeling anxious, when you don't know what to do, he says in Philippians 4, verses 6 through 7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." We're invited to exchange our anxiety for peace, and we can find peace in Christ because he's the only one in whom our life is secure. He is the only one who has overcome death and the devil and every evil power.
Now, this segues nicely into verse two because Solomon says, "In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat, for he grants sleep to those he loves."
Is there a danger in being lazy? Yes, certainly. God does not call us to a life of inactivity when we're fully capable of living an active life. We should avoid laziness. But there's another danger, and it's a danger that we see all around us in American society, which is the danger of workaholism. Workaholism, never taking rest.
And what it exposes is our belief, our true belief, whatever we would say to others. We might say that God's the builder, that God watches over us, but when we become workaholics, what we actually reveal is that we think that we're the builder. We think that we're the watchman. And so it would be no surprise that a godless society is a restless society that can take no rest. We can think about how in generations past, businesses would completely shut down on Sunday. That's not a sort of legalistic thing. I'm not saying that people can't work on Sundays, and we have essential workers who do work on Sundays. We need hospitals to be open and things like that. But there's a certain mindset today which says, "How could I afford to do that? How could we afford to be closed on Sunday? How could I afford not to work on Sunday?"
We must hear the words of Christ Matthew 6, verses 25 through 34. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you'll wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" And verse 34, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus is inviting us to take some sleep, to find some rest, because God exists, and God loves and cares for us.
And, and there's a promise here, not only that we, it, it's not just an invitation like, go, go take a nap. It's that God will give sleep to us if we will welcome it. If we'll stop acting like we are the builders, that we are the watchmen. When we rise early and go to bed late, we are in a very practical way denying that.
Now, sometimes we fall into this trap because of our laziness, because of our procrastination. I mean, that's happened to me, especially when I was a student. You put something off, then all of a sudden you're getting up really early to write a paper, you're staying up past midnight and, and that calls us to be more diligent, to be more virtuous so we don't put ourselves into that sort of sittuation. But generally, we should be able to say at a certain point in, in the day, "That's enough. I'm not God. I'm not gonna take care of it all. I'm going to sleep."
And there's a certain confession, there is a certain confession in sleep because when we sleep, we are just totally useless to the world. It's a reminder of our creatureliness, and sometimes we don't like that. The idea that we're just always awake, that's almost like trying to be like God. In sleep, we have to hand things over and say, "I really don't have everything in control here. God's gonna have to look over me while I, while I sleep, 'cause I need to take rest."
Now, think about, where is it that, where's the best place that you find sleep? Where can you rest? It's wherever you feel safe. And so it all loops back around to this thing about anxiety and safety. You're able to take your rest, you're able to take your sleep when you reckon your perfect security in Christ. In Christ, we no longer live under God's condemnation. We have been delivered from the punishment of our sins by His sacrifice. We have been delivered from the fear and tyranny of death. We no longer live under the old law in which we had to measure up by our performance, 'cause it's a test that we always fail. And so Jesus, in Matthew 11:28, gives the invitation, "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
We find rest because we know that God loves us and cares for us. A verse that's very familiar to many of you, Romans 8:26, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." God is working. He is, He is, He is, we might sleep, but God is at work in all things.
And then later on in that chapter, in verses 38 and 39, Paul reminds us that this is all secured down for us because of the love which God has for us. Says, "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
When you reckon how much God loves you, that God loves you so much that He sent His Son to die on the cross for your sake so that you would be saved, so that you, so that you would not have to live in fear any longer, then you can take some rest. You can go to sleep. The point here altogether is that we should look to God, that we should trust in God in all the things that He is calling us to do.
And again, He is calling us to live a full and active life, but we don't live that life apart from Him. John Calvin, in his commentary on this passage, says this. He says, "It is not, therefore, the design of the prophet to encourage men to give way to sloth, so that they should think upon nothing all their life long, but fall asleep and abandon themselves to idleness- his meaning rather is, that, in executing what God has enjoined upon them, they should always begin with prayer and calling upon His name, offering to Him their labors that He may bless them." That's how we begin our day, our work. We go to God in prayer and say, "Here it is, Lord. Make of, make of my labors, make of my life whatever you will, and I'm going to rest in your purpose, perfect plan and purpose.
Now, the second half of this psalm takes a turn that at first glance might seem kind of disconnected. Verses three through five: Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children 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 opponents in court.
Why mention children? Why bring this up? I think it's because it's the perfect example of the reality of the first half of this Psalm. Children are a gift. Children are a gift. Now, many people would say that, and I, that's something I would've said. And sometimes when we say that, we mean yes, of course, it's nice to have kids. They're a gift. They're a, they're a blessing. We do not bring children into this world by our own will. This is something that God has impressed upon me personally over the years, as many of you know my own struggle and our desire to have more children and not being able to have more up to this point. Children are given by God. We can't plan that out and say, "Oh, I'm gonna have three and a half children," but we approach life like that.
Children are a gift from God. But again, our, our society tends to not think about children in that sort of way. Even the words that we use, and they're just words that we inherited, but even words like reproduction. And when you think about that, it has a very industrial quality about that, reproduction. Children are begotten, and they're brought into this world by God's perfect will and plan. Now obviously, human beings are entailed in procreation, but it's not us who bring persons into existence, it is Him. And we too often forget this and believe ourselves to be, to be God, and sadly, people are trying to play God when it comes to children and, and doing many terrible things in trying to bring them into the world by their own will.
This, this, these verses here remind us that we should absolutely affirm the goodness of children and family, that they are a true blessing, because as you get old, you have that comfort of them standing by your side. And perhaps when you're weak and you're facing hardships, whether it's literal enemies as are kind of anticipated here, coming to the, coming to court with somebody, or whether it's just hardships of calamities and disease, they are there with you to help you face those hardships.
But we should never think that children, who are a reward from God, a, a gift from God, they do not replace God. They're only an extension of God's care and promise. Going back to Abram, Genesis 15:1-4. Now, again, here we just, we see once again how we have a very obvious connection here of how the nation of Israel emerged as a gift. It was built by God as a gift, as Abraham and Sarah were given a child. But notice this also. It says, "After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.' But Abram said, 'Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?' And Abram said, 'You, you have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.' Then the word of the Lord came to him: 'This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.'" I just want you to notice there. So we have here in, in Psalm 127 how we're told that children are, are a reward, but we should not forget what God tells Abram here. God says to him, "I am your shield, your very great reward." So yes, it is a good thing to have children. It is a comfort to have children. It's a blessing to have children. But the children are not our shield ultimately. They are not our ultimate reward. God is. So that even if we should have no children, we can rest secure in him.
Now, flesh and blood children are important to Israel, to the old covenant, to God's fulfillment of those promises, but in Christ we also have the revelation of the importance of the new birth. In Christ, we have the introduction of the possibility of people being born again. In John 1, verses 12 through 13, the Apostle John says, "Yet to all who did receive Him," talking about Jesus, "to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God."
We have some anticipation of this in the Old Testament. In, in Isaiah 54:1 it says, "Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor, because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband." And in Galatians 4, verses 27 through 29, Paul picks this up. In verse 28 he says, "Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise."
Now, I don't wanna trivialize the importance of literal children, but this should only lead us to desire all the more that we would bring forth the children of God, that God would bring more and more children forth from this second birth. And we have to wrestle with the question of, of this, and it's a question that I've had to wrestle with in, in my own desire for, for more children is, do I take more joy, do we take more joy in a newborn baby than we do in someone being born again in Christ? Do I in fact take more joy in someone coming to Christ and being born again? It's something we all have to wrestle with and figure out, what, what's my mindset on this? Where's my heart on this? Do I have the mind of God in these things? Now, we should take joy in all those things. I'm just saying, sometimes we just think so little of this new birth, which is so important, and which is such a great gift.
Because again, this new birth, this second birth, again, it's not our doing. We're involved as spiritual mothers and fathers in the lives of those that God has called us to, to bring the Gospel, to disciple. But it is God who raises the dead. It is God who gives the growth.
At its best, the church is that family for us when we lack biological children of our own. Who we see standing at our side, a quiver full of arrows, who will face down hardship and opposition when it comes our way. All of this, all of it, natural and spiritual, all together, all of this is God's doing. It is God's care for us.
Solomon is reminding us here of our basic need for God. We are mere creatures. Our efforts will amount to nothing. All our building, all our laboring, all our striving, all our watching cannot deliver us. We are vulnerable. We are exposed. On our own, we are overcome with anxiety because even while we might try to live in denial, we recognize that we're weak. We recognize in our bones that we are not God, that we cannot provide for ourselves the conditions that will allow for us to truly sleep peacefully.
But in this psalm, Solomon not only tells us that we need God, but that God gives himself to us. Solomon tells us that as we turn to God, as we offer our labors up to him, he is the one that ensures it's not all for nothing. He is the one who offers perfect protection- because as Paul tells us, even death cannot separate us from the love of God. He gives us rest as we acknowledge his sovereignty, his rule, his power in our affairs. He loves us and grants us sleep. Children are iconic of this reality, an expression of His care, involving us but only given by Him.
Yes, we need God, and Solomon invites us here to confess that we are not God. Babel can't be built. All the weapons of this world, all manner of deadly force, cannot deliver us from death. Children are not a product of manufacturing. We have no life in ourselves, we are no gods. Life is given, we receive it as a gift.
We successively build, watch, bring children into this world only when God is in it. And in Christ, all these pursuits have taken on new dimensions to God's deeper purpose Above all, by our various giftings, we seek to build up the church- but as with all things, the church cannot be built apart from God. We watch, but need deeper insight to see past the threat of human violence - discernment from the Spirit to see deeper to pick out Satan's lurking presence and God's providential ordering of circumstances to protect His church. We need the rest that goes deeper than physical sleep, that only comes in our security in Christ. We desire children, not only of the flesh, but all the more of the Spirit.
So how do you live this way? You pray-- you bring every matter before God. And if you're not living a life that is filled with prayer, if your day is not marked by moments of prayer, it's revealing something. Because if you believed that God is truly all-powerful and good and is the one who builds and the one who watches over you, you would pray to him. If you believe that all action depended upon Him, you would turn to Him in prayer. And when you don't, it says something. Most likely that you think you're the builder, that you think that you are the watchman, or that maybe you're depending on someone else. Someone else is the builder. You're depending on someone else to be the watchman, but not God. We live this life In prayer. We start living like we believe in our prayers. You embrace humility, you drop your God complex, your workaholism. You do excellent work. Christians should be the best workers, but you stop. You sleep. When children are born, of the flesh or the spirit, you thank God. When they are not, you pray, but you also trust God in all of this because He is your shield and your great reward. We are called to act, we are called to obey, but it doesn't depend on you. Everything is in His hands. And so we rest, because we know that the one who has called you and I is faithful-- He will bring to pass all that should be accomplished.
Let us pray.
Father, this is a Psalm which humbles us. It humbles me.
Because we confess, Father, that too often we imagine ourselves to be the builders and watchmen. Rather than counting children as a gift, we, we ascribe credit to ourselves.
Father, too often we act like we are God and that you are not. Forgive us for this, Father, under the blood of Jesus Christ. Turn us, Father, to trust in you completely, to trust in Jesus Christ as our one and only Savior and King. Father, help us to see you for who you really are. Prompt us in this week ahead and all those thereafter, Father, that when things arise, or just when we simply begin our day, Father, that we would turn to you in prayer and lay everything before you and rest in your perfect purpose.
Help us to work well, Father, but to let things go because we confess that you are God and we are not All together, Father, in our work and in our rest, we pray that you would be glorified in us. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we continue our series Summer in the Psalms. It's our joy to welcome you into our community
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)