Vision Message Psalm 127(2005-Sep-11)
BI: Unless we work with the Lord our labor is in vain
On New Year's Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played UCLA in the Rose Bowl. In that game a young man named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for UCLA. Picking up the loose ball, he lost his direction and ran sixty-five yards toward the wrong goal line. One of his teammates, Benny Lom, ran him down and tackled him just before he scored for the opposing team. Several plays later, UCLA had to punt. Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety, deflating the UCLA team.
That was a just football game (a big game but just a game). None of us in the “game of life” want to get to the end of our days, only to realize we’ve been running really hard with the ball, in the wrong direction!
At half-time the UCLA players filed off the field and into the dressing room. As others sat down on the benches and the floor, Riegels put a blanket around his shoulders, sat down in a corner, and put his face in his hands.
A football coach usually has a great deal to say to his team during halftime, but coach Price was very quiet.
Then just before the 2nd half of the game was to begin, Coach Price looked at the team and said, "The same team that played the first half will start the second." The players got up and started out, all but Riegels. He didn't budge. The coach looked back and called to him. Riegels didn't move. Coach Price went over to where Riegels sat and said, "Roy, didn't you hear me? The same team that played the first half will start the second."
Roy Riegels looked up, his cheeks wet with tears. "Coach," he said, "I can't do it. I've ruined you. I've ruined the university's reputation. I've ruined myself. I can't face that crowd out there."
Coach Price reached out, put his hand on Riegels's shoulder, and said, "Roy, get up and go on back. The game is only half over."
Even if some of us suspect we’ve running hard in the wrong direction, the game is not over for us, and we can adjust and make sure we’re running in the right direction.
A great Psalm that can act like a life compass for is Psalm 127.
If you have a Bible please turn to Psalm 127.
Psalm 127
This is a psalm of Solomon or concerning Solomon.
A song of ascents. Of Solomon (some believe it’s by Solomon, but the inscription also can mean concerning Solomon).
1 Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.
3 Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth.
5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies at the city gate.
The Psalm begins with the words unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain.
House here can refer an actual physical house; it could also refer to the raising of a family.
The psalmist says unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain.
This doesn’t mean that no human work can flourish without God’s conspicuous intervention, but it does mean that ultimately a work done without God will be empty, it will not last, as Psalmist says, it will be in vain.
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—
If our work is not in line with God’s plan, the Psalmist says even if we work very hard rising early, staying up late, toiling… ultimately our work will be in vain.
Stephen Covey speaks about climbing to the top of the proverbial ladder, only to realize that it leaning against the wrong building.
A person can work very hard rising early and staying up late toiling to make a living, but with out God’s blessing the person fail to build a LIFE.
Because unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain…
Philip Parham tells the story of a wealthy industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting, relaxed beside his boat.
"Why aren't you out there fishing?" he asked.
"Because I've caught enough fish for today," said the fisherman.
"Why don't you catch more fish than you need?" the rich man asked.
"What would I do with them?"
"You could earn more money," came the impatient reply, "and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you'd have a fleet of boats and be rich like me."
The fisherman asked, "Then what would I do?"
"You could sit down and enjoy life," said the industrialist.
"What do you think I'm doing now?" the fisherman replied.
There can be a kind of vanity to work simply for the sake of gaining more and more….
There can be a kind of vanity in pursuing “success” just for it’s own sake…
There’s a kind of vanity that causes to give our health (whether physical or relational health or soul health) to get wealth and then we’re forced to give our wealth to get our health back…
So the Psalmist--says we are to work on the projects that God has chooses for us…
When it comes to our work… we are to make our choices not just because it generates a lot of money or only because it’s prestigious or just because one of our parents wants to go in that direction, BUT because there is a sense God is pleased with our doing this work…
(That doesn’t necessarily mean that our work will be “religious” in nature, our work may be secular or considered menial but we sense this what called us to do at least for now…)
When it comes to our work as a community, this Psalm calls us work on those things that God called to work on…
When I first came here to Tenth 9 years ago, I was intimidated by the challenge of pastoring a historic church whose “glory years” were considered have been back in the 50’s…
An older minister and mentor, Leighton Ford and I were sitting in my car not far from the church and I asked him from some counsel…
He paused and said, “Remember that God is an artist, and he will not lead to copy others seek God for his unique vision for this place….”
We will learn from others, but we don’t do things just because it “works” somewhere else, but because God has led us to do something as a community… We don’t want to just do something because it’s a good idea, but because it’s a God idea…
Because unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain…
When Psalmist says that unless the Lord builds the house, it’s builders labor in vain… he is not saying he is NOT saying that we are NOT to work and he’s NOT saying we are NOT to work hard, but he says unless our work is done with the Lord’s guidance that work will ultimately be in vain…
We are to work and work hard in those areas where we sense the Lord is guiding BUT we also relax because we know that true success is not primarily the result of our efforts, but true success is result God building something...
Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain…
Notice again vs. 2:
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Sleep and deep rest are gifts from the Lord.
Falling asleep and resting, believe it or not, serve as an excellent illustration of how our lives are to be lived.
We cannot forces ourselves to sleep. As some of us know firsthand that the more we try to force ourselves the sleep, the less we actually are able to sleep. You’ve got a big exam or interview early tomorrow morning and you say, shoot is already past midnight.. the more intensely you try to sleep, the less you can actually, you can’t force yourself to sleep, but there are certain things you can do to fall asleep.
You can go into a dark room, lie on a soft bed, close your eyes… or perhaps like my friend you can grab your math textbook and put by your head… certain things can help foster our sleeping, but sleep is ultimately a gift from God.
(By the way, the original Hebrew here can read simply, “He gives his beloved sleep” or “He gives to His beloved in sleep.” And both happen to true… sleep is a gift from God and it’s as we know that God provides for us in our sleep that we can really sleep… so in more ways than one sleep really is God’s gift… But as we’ve said there we do to foster this… lying down on soft bed in a dark room and reminding ourselves that God will provide even while we sleep…)
So with our life work that God has set out for us, there things we can do, certain things we cannot do that we trust…
The Psalmist tells us that children are a gift from God. (BTW, in this culture children would have been especially valued. We live in a time of birth control and many parts of world there is a desire to limit populations, but in this ancient agricultural society—more kids more farm hands and as the Psalmist says at end the Psalm children can protect aged parents from their enemies).
Children were and are gifts from God.
And certain commentators have pointed out the gift of children are proof positive that we can’t really do anything, but trust God for life’s great gifts.
Well, that not entirely accurate. Children are gifts, but there is something we can do about to foster their conception and healthy development…
Again this can be metaphor of the way we are to live life: we are to work hard at what we can do, but to trust God to bring about what we cannot…
So, it is with our lives, there certain we can do, but there are things only God can do…
Many of us here are just now returning to school: There are certain things we can do as students. We can show up for class, we can do our assignments, we can resist the temptation to cheat, but only God can make us make us wiser, deeper, and God shape our character.
There are certain we can, there are certain only God can do.
In our work, we can work hard, seek to improve our skills, but only God can bring meaning to our work, only God can build a lasting legacy through our work…
In our spiritual lives, there things we can do and certain things only God can do…
This truth is also brought clearly in the ministry of Jesus. Our small group this past week, we studied John 15. In that passage, Jesus says I am the vine you are the branches, if a man or woman remains in me and I in him or her, he or she will bear much fruit, apart from me, you can do nothing.
In our spiritual lives we can choose to abide in Christ (perhaps through the Word, prayer, nature, in our daily work or wherever we seem to be meeting Christ), that’s our work, but only God can cause to the bear fruit of a Christ-like character.
Thomas Merton was a partying student at Columbia University in New York City. He was converted to Christ and later was called by God to become a monk in a Trappist monastery.
Thomas Merton, in his autobiography the Seven Storey Mountain, describes 2 kinds of monks at his monastery. There were those who tried to scrupulously live out every rule: they tried to make themselves saints by sheer concentration and effort as though their growth in purity depended all on them.
Then there were those who did not seek to purity themselves, as if none of it depended on them.
Both types of people ending falling away from the monastery.
Merton said those who flourished spiritually those exercised a certain effort, but also relaxed, trusting that God would carry them…
In our spiritual lives, there are certain things we can do, and certain things only God can, so we don’t of a take the posture or a marine, but we don’t take the posture of over a super laid-back, beach bum either. We make an effort, but we relax because we realize there are only certain God can do…
Here at Tenth in our ministries… we want to work hard in things that God has called us to do, but to trust God…
There are certain we can do, we can mobilize a team to place Mexico, as we did this summer. They can build a house as we saw in their PowerPoint presentation, but only God can give that single mother Refuhyo and her family a sense this house was given to them by God…
We can facilitate a ministry, where we serve a meal and introduce some of the ssential teaching of Christian faith through a ministry like Alpha, but only God can bring a person on a person friendship with his son Jesus, and led to commit themselves through baptism as he’s we’ve seen this morning with Emily’s Collacut.
As we go forward in this new year, we’re going to offer ministries for children, young people, young adults, adult adults, for seniors…. And we can foster ministries, but only God can transform lives… we trusting God will do that…
In this coming year, we’re planning to rebuild the part of building has do deteriorated to the point where we haven’t able to use for more than 4 years… we can plan and we can give, we can pray, and we can rebuild, but only can build spiritual daughters and sons in that place…
We plan to hire a pastor of missions and outreach in this coming year who can help us wisely and strategically steward our resources so that reach out outreach more effecively to people in need in Vancouver whether materially, socially or spiritually in Vancouver and around the world, but only God lead to the candidate of His choice and only God can bring social, spiritual, and cultural renewal to Vancouver and the world.
This years as a community we are going to raise our sails, we going to the point bow of our boat in a way that we sense is consistent with God’s leading, but we are going to trust God to fill our sails… we’re going to trust move us ahead…
Because we know that unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain…
Song and prayer…
On New Year's Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played UCLA in the Rose Bowl. In that game a young man named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for UCLA. Picking up the loose ball, he lost his direction and ran sixty-five yards toward the wrong goal line. One of his teammates, Benny Lom, ran him down and tackled him just before he scored for the opposing team. Several plays later, UCLA had to punt. Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety, deflating the UCLA team.
That was a just football game (a big game but just a game). None of us in the “game of life” want to get to the end of our days, only to realize we’ve been running really hard with the ball, in the wrong direction!
At half-time the UCLA players filed off the field and into the dressing room. As others sat down on the benches and the floor, Riegels put a blanket around his shoulders, sat down in a corner, and put his face in his hands.
A football coach usually has a great deal to say to his team during halftime, but coach Price was very quiet.
Then just before the 2nd half of the game was to begin, Coach Price looked at the team and said, "The same team that played the first half will start the second." The players got up and started out, all but Riegels. He didn't budge. The coach looked back and called to him. Riegels didn't move. Coach Price went over to where Riegels sat and said, "Roy, didn't you hear me? The same team that played the first half will start the second."
Roy Riegels looked up, his cheeks wet with tears. "Coach," he said, "I can't do it. I've ruined you. I've ruined the university's reputation. I've ruined myself. I can't face that crowd out there."
Coach Price reached out, put his hand on Riegels's shoulder, and said, "Roy, get up and go on back. The game is only half over."
Even if some of us suspect we’ve running hard in the wrong direction, the game is not over for us, and we can adjust and make sure we’re running in the right direction.
A great Psalm that can act like a life compass for is Psalm 127.
If you have a Bible please turn to Psalm 127.
Psalm 127
This is a psalm of Solomon or concerning Solomon.
A song of ascents. Of Solomon (some believe it’s by Solomon, but the inscription also can mean concerning Solomon).
1 Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.
3 Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth.
5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies at the city gate.
The Psalm begins with the words unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain.
House here can refer an actual physical house; it could also refer to the raising of a family.
The psalmist says unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain.
This doesn’t mean that no human work can flourish without God’s conspicuous intervention, but it does mean that ultimately a work done without God will be empty, it will not last, as Psalmist says, it will be in vain.
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—
If our work is not in line with God’s plan, the Psalmist says even if we work very hard rising early, staying up late, toiling… ultimately our work will be in vain.
Stephen Covey speaks about climbing to the top of the proverbial ladder, only to realize that it leaning against the wrong building.
A person can work very hard rising early and staying up late toiling to make a living, but with out God’s blessing the person fail to build a LIFE.
Because unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain…
Philip Parham tells the story of a wealthy industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting, relaxed beside his boat.
"Why aren't you out there fishing?" he asked.
"Because I've caught enough fish for today," said the fisherman.
"Why don't you catch more fish than you need?" the rich man asked.
"What would I do with them?"
"You could earn more money," came the impatient reply, "and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you'd have a fleet of boats and be rich like me."
The fisherman asked, "Then what would I do?"
"You could sit down and enjoy life," said the industrialist.
"What do you think I'm doing now?" the fisherman replied.
There can be a kind of vanity to work simply for the sake of gaining more and more….
There can be a kind of vanity in pursuing “success” just for it’s own sake…
There’s a kind of vanity that causes to give our health (whether physical or relational health or soul health) to get wealth and then we’re forced to give our wealth to get our health back…
So the Psalmist--says we are to work on the projects that God has chooses for us…
When it comes to our work… we are to make our choices not just because it generates a lot of money or only because it’s prestigious or just because one of our parents wants to go in that direction, BUT because there is a sense God is pleased with our doing this work…
(That doesn’t necessarily mean that our work will be “religious” in nature, our work may be secular or considered menial but we sense this what called us to do at least for now…)
When it comes to our work as a community, this Psalm calls us work on those things that God called to work on…
When I first came here to Tenth 9 years ago, I was intimidated by the challenge of pastoring a historic church whose “glory years” were considered have been back in the 50’s…
An older minister and mentor, Leighton Ford and I were sitting in my car not far from the church and I asked him from some counsel…
He paused and said, “Remember that God is an artist, and he will not lead to copy others seek God for his unique vision for this place….”
We will learn from others, but we don’t do things just because it “works” somewhere else, but because God has led us to do something as a community… We don’t want to just do something because it’s a good idea, but because it’s a God idea…
Because unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain…
When Psalmist says that unless the Lord builds the house, it’s builders labor in vain… he is not saying he is NOT saying that we are NOT to work and he’s NOT saying we are NOT to work hard, but he says unless our work is done with the Lord’s guidance that work will ultimately be in vain…
We are to work and work hard in those areas where we sense the Lord is guiding BUT we also relax because we know that true success is not primarily the result of our efforts, but true success is result God building something...
Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain…
Notice again vs. 2:
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Sleep and deep rest are gifts from the Lord.
Falling asleep and resting, believe it or not, serve as an excellent illustration of how our lives are to be lived.
We cannot forces ourselves to sleep. As some of us know firsthand that the more we try to force ourselves the sleep, the less we actually are able to sleep. You’ve got a big exam or interview early tomorrow morning and you say, shoot is already past midnight.. the more intensely you try to sleep, the less you can actually, you can’t force yourself to sleep, but there are certain things you can do to fall asleep.
You can go into a dark room, lie on a soft bed, close your eyes… or perhaps like my friend you can grab your math textbook and put by your head… certain things can help foster our sleeping, but sleep is ultimately a gift from God.
(By the way, the original Hebrew here can read simply, “He gives his beloved sleep” or “He gives to His beloved in sleep.” And both happen to true… sleep is a gift from God and it’s as we know that God provides for us in our sleep that we can really sleep… so in more ways than one sleep really is God’s gift… But as we’ve said there we do to foster this… lying down on soft bed in a dark room and reminding ourselves that God will provide even while we sleep…)
So with our life work that God has set out for us, there things we can do, certain things we cannot do that we trust…
The Psalmist tells us that children are a gift from God. (BTW, in this culture children would have been especially valued. We live in a time of birth control and many parts of world there is a desire to limit populations, but in this ancient agricultural society—more kids more farm hands and as the Psalmist says at end the Psalm children can protect aged parents from their enemies).
Children were and are gifts from God.
And certain commentators have pointed out the gift of children are proof positive that we can’t really do anything, but trust God for life’s great gifts.
Well, that not entirely accurate. Children are gifts, but there is something we can do about to foster their conception and healthy development…
Again this can be metaphor of the way we are to live life: we are to work hard at what we can do, but to trust God to bring about what we cannot…
So, it is with our lives, there certain we can do, but there are things only God can do…
Many of us here are just now returning to school: There are certain things we can do as students. We can show up for class, we can do our assignments, we can resist the temptation to cheat, but only God can make us make us wiser, deeper, and God shape our character.
There are certain we can, there are certain only God can do.
In our work, we can work hard, seek to improve our skills, but only God can bring meaning to our work, only God can build a lasting legacy through our work…
In our spiritual lives, there things we can do and certain things only God can do…
This truth is also brought clearly in the ministry of Jesus. Our small group this past week, we studied John 15. In that passage, Jesus says I am the vine you are the branches, if a man or woman remains in me and I in him or her, he or she will bear much fruit, apart from me, you can do nothing.
In our spiritual lives we can choose to abide in Christ (perhaps through the Word, prayer, nature, in our daily work or wherever we seem to be meeting Christ), that’s our work, but only God can cause to the bear fruit of a Christ-like character.
Thomas Merton was a partying student at Columbia University in New York City. He was converted to Christ and later was called by God to become a monk in a Trappist monastery.
Thomas Merton, in his autobiography the Seven Storey Mountain, describes 2 kinds of monks at his monastery. There were those who tried to scrupulously live out every rule: they tried to make themselves saints by sheer concentration and effort as though their growth in purity depended all on them.
Then there were those who did not seek to purity themselves, as if none of it depended on them.
Both types of people ending falling away from the monastery.
Merton said those who flourished spiritually those exercised a certain effort, but also relaxed, trusting that God would carry them…
In our spiritual lives, there are certain things we can do, and certain things only God can, so we don’t of a take the posture or a marine, but we don’t take the posture of over a super laid-back, beach bum either. We make an effort, but we relax because we realize there are only certain God can do…
Here at Tenth in our ministries… we want to work hard in things that God has called us to do, but to trust God…
There are certain we can do, we can mobilize a team to place Mexico, as we did this summer. They can build a house as we saw in their PowerPoint presentation, but only God can give that single mother Refuhyo and her family a sense this house was given to them by God…
We can facilitate a ministry, where we serve a meal and introduce some of the ssential teaching of Christian faith through a ministry like Alpha, but only God can bring a person on a person friendship with his son Jesus, and led to commit themselves through baptism as he’s we’ve seen this morning with Emily’s Collacut.
As we go forward in this new year, we’re going to offer ministries for children, young people, young adults, adult adults, for seniors…. And we can foster ministries, but only God can transform lives… we trusting God will do that…
In this coming year, we’re planning to rebuild the part of building has do deteriorated to the point where we haven’t able to use for more than 4 years… we can plan and we can give, we can pray, and we can rebuild, but only can build spiritual daughters and sons in that place…
We plan to hire a pastor of missions and outreach in this coming year who can help us wisely and strategically steward our resources so that reach out outreach more effecively to people in need in Vancouver whether materially, socially or spiritually in Vancouver and around the world, but only God lead to the candidate of His choice and only God can bring social, spiritual, and cultural renewal to Vancouver and the world.
This years as a community we are going to raise our sails, we going to the point bow of our boat in a way that we sense is consistent with God’s leading, but we are going to trust God to fill our sails… we’re going to trust move us ahead…
Because we know that unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain…
Song and prayer…
posted by Shigematsu at 8:15 PM
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