Father's Day Psalms 128
GOD’S PRINCIPLES FOR FATHERS
Psalms 128:1-128:6
Psalm 128 is called the “Marriage Prayer” because it is sung at Jewish weddings.
“You can be born a male, but it takes maturity to become a man. Somebody has well said, "You’re only young once, but immaturity can last forever."
Real men are in shortage, real men who say, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
The Bible speaks of real men, men of value.
Where can we find real men?
Someone was visiting a little village, and they said to someone who had lived there all their life, "Have you had any famous men born here?" They said, "No, only babies."
So great men aren’t born; great men are made. It’s a process!
Operationing instructions
Psalm 128 has much to say about how this man is made.
That’s one of the problems with our society: we have confusion about what a man is; we have confusion about what a woman is.
"Are men and women really so different? They are. They really are.
Research have shown that men are more different from the women
known. Their bodies are different; their minds are different. Men are different from the very composition of their blood to the way their brains develop, which means they think and experience life differently from women.
--culture tries to blur the differences!
“…God has made them male and female.”
"Men and women differ in every cell of their bodies. The difference in the chromosome combination is the basic cause of the development into maleness and femaleness, as the case may be.
Normally they outlive us by three or four years.
Women’s blood contains more water, 20 percent fewer red cells. Since these supply oxygen to the body cells, she tires more easily and is more prone to faint.
God has a great deal to say in his Word about the importance of a man being a man.
I. A REAL MAN HAS A FAITHFUL WALK. "
Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord" (Psalm 128:1a).
“Blessed”
Psalm 128 starts out with the word “blessed”.
To be blessed is to be truly happy, regardless of circumstances.
“is every one that fears the Lord" (Psalm 128:1)
First thing about blessed is to change your perception of happiness.
We all know people who are killing themselves to get ahead in life, to find happiness.
It’s more than a change in the external it is a change of perception!
It’s a matter of perception, which means that some people will never be happy, no matter what.
We see clearly when we see life from God’s perspective.
When we look with spiritual eyes, we learn what’s really important in life.
True happiness is not something external but it is within, and for good. --Happiness isn’t a matter of luck; there are no tricks involved.
“every one that fears the Lord"
What does it mean to “the fear the Lord “
The correct interpretation of the fear of the Lord is more than just “afraid” of God, but rather, we show Him due respect.
--We reverence Him.
--We take God seriously.
--We recognize that He is holy.
Therefore, He must be at the center of everything we are, think, and aspire to do.
He must be our starting point for every endeavor.
Paul counsels us in
Colossians 1:18 that “in all things Christ should have the preeminence.”
If we reverence God, we will not make plans, then pray as an after-thought; we will begin with God.
“who walks in His ways.”
The next step is to “walk in His ways.”
We need to travel God’s way by thinking and behaving biblically.
**Happiness is the by-product of a life that is lived in the will of God.
Our beliefs determine our behavior.
To think secularly is to operate within a frame of reference restricted by the limits of our world.
Is our thinking earth-bound or heavenly-minded?
To think as a Christian is to regard all things as related to God’s purpose.
v.2
When we walk with God we can expect Him to bless our work, verse 2.
We may not perceive the blessing; we may wonder how God is working at times, but we trust His plan to produce the intended results. !!!
>>>>>not measured be the standards of the world!!
In our striving for success, we may achieve our goal and live to regret it. **In whatever we do, without God we will either fail miserably or succeed miserably.
Happiness comes from doing things God’s way.
He’s talking about a man who is to be a worshipping father.
to walk with God he knows how to worship God.
REWARD: PERSONAL BLESSING
Read verse 2" (Psalm 128:2).
The Golden rule:
Galatians 6:7-9
In the verse we find that God’s plan for the father is TO BE THE PROVIDER for his family.
God has given a man a primary responsibility to be the emotional provider,
the provider of security, the provider of the welfare and peace of the home.
If you think you can just give your kids things and you’ve met your obligation as a father, then you’re wrong.
If you think providing for your family is putting your wife in a beautiful home and you’ve done all that God expects you to do, then you’re wrong.
When the Bible says you’re to be the provider, it means far more than just the material things.
It’s talking about the spiritual things of life.
And once we have that taken care of then we can support our wives to help them grow as a “fruitful vine”.
First it begins with your relationship with God then your wife.
WIFE:
Read v. 3a
Wives are called “fruitful vines”. Grapevines are Jewish symbols of prosperity, of abundant life.
Not just a spreading vine which serves for an ornament, but as a fruitful vine which is for profit, and with the fruit.
The vine is a weak and tender plant, and needs to be supported and cherished, but it is a very valuable plant.
A vine has to have the support of that wall.
Guess who that wall is?
**He’s talking about a man who can be as strong as the wall of a house and yet be supportive and tender so that wife can be a fruitful vine.
Men, the greatest thing you can do for your children is to love their mother as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it.
The planet Jupiter "is our first line of defense" says Allan Boss, an astrophysicist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "It is something like 99.9 percent efficient at throwing dangerous space junk, asteroids, and meteorites back out to interstellar space."
How does that happen?
Jupiter is 318 times heavier than earth. Because of its mass, Jupiter creates a huge gravitational field that acts as a giant cosmic vacuum cleaner, drawing the "junk" that floats into the gravitational field toward it and away from other planets.
Jupiter displayed its protective power six years ago when a monster comet broke into fragments and bombarded the planet Jupiter with more destructive power than all the atomic bombs on earth. Not all space particles get deflected by Jupiter, but living in Jupiter's gravitational field minimizes the destructive forces that enter the earth's atmosphere.
Considering Jupiter's protective role, the ancient Romans unknowingly named the mighty planet well. In Old Latin, Jupiter means "Sky-Father."
Children
Read vv. 3-4
Your children are to be like olive plants.
In the holy land, a person who owned olive plants and olive trees owned something of great value. Olive plants and olive trees can provide fruit and income for twenty to thirty generations.
He’s talking about you as a dad perpetuating your life and your faith and your heritage through all the generations that are to come.
“The children around your table are as fresh and promising as young olive plants” (The Message).
Your greatest work is not building a business.
My greatest work is not building a ministry.
My greatest work is not preaching sermons.
I want to be remembered as a dad who loved God and a dad who passed on to my children the values and the heritage of the Word of God that causes them to pass the message of Christ down through all the generations.
God’s plan for evangelizing the world and carrying on the message of Jesus Christ is for that message to be passed down from generation to generation to generation.
The Bible says, "You fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).
I want you to listen to a statement Josh McDowell made. If you forget everything else, don’t forget this. He said, "Rules without relationship bring rebellion."
You can’t grow children who will love God by setting up the rules for them and coming home once in awhile and enforcing those rules.
You have to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
If you just have rules, you will provoke your children; you will exasperate your children; you’ll frustrate your children.
So he says the way to bring them up like the tender olive plant is to do it in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to have that relationship with your children that will help them to know that you love them and that you love God.
NATION WILL BE BLESSED
read v. 5
The blessing extends from the family unit to the nation.
We look at our country today, and we understand what God says in his Word: "As the father goes, so goes the home. As the home goes, so goes the nation."
If we want to turn our nation back to God, we’ve got to turn fathers back to God. That’s where it begins.
Joshua stood before all of Israel, that mighty general, that man who had led them in victory after victory, and he gave them a great challenge. "Choose you this day
whom you will serve, whether the God that your fathers served on the other side of the flood, or whether the gods of the people of the land where you dwell. But as
for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Why is the “Father’s role is important?
The father is the spiritual representative of God in the home.
So the husband is to represent the leadership of God in his home.
The wife
is to represent the bride of Christ, the church.
The Bible says husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it.
The reason that a man must live a godly life is that they are to model before their family the love, character, and care of God himself.
Yet what a tremendous contrast this is with the idea that some men have that religion and spirituality is up to the wife.
I want to tell you, Sir, because YOU’RE to be the spiritual leader of your home; YOU’RE to be the spiritual example in your home.
The spirituality of your home is primarily YOUR responsibility.
You are to represent God in your home. God is called our Father, and He has given that earthly role to you.
The chief characteristic of God is faithfulness.
God is always consistent; God is always faithful; God is always loving; He’s always kind; God is always present;
God is always there.
Each time you fly you'll hear a little spiel that almost anyone can recite. "In the unlikely event that we should lose cabin pressure, an oxygen mask will drop in front of you. Place the mask securely over your nose and pull firmly to activate the flow of oxygen. If you are traveling with a child, place the mask over your face first, then proceed to place a mask over your child." It's a nice speech, but it goes against our nature. As parents we tend to think we must take care of our children first. Yet the airline says take care of yourself first. Their reasoning is simple; our children depend on us. If we don't receive the breath of life to sustain us, we won't be able to assist our children, and both lives will be lost. By taking care of ourselves first, we will be able to save both them and us.
The spiritual connection is obvious. If we neglect the life-sustaining breath of God in our lives, then we will promote the spiritual destruction of both parent and child. So take a deep spiritual breathe today--your children are counting on it.