Sermon Tone Analysis

Unless the Lord Builds the House

Introduction: Several years ago I was blessed to serve as a board member, building a retirement center, which would include an Alzheimer care unit.

I was excited!

The President of the project used this verse in verse 1 as the mantra for seeing the project through to completion.

He could speak from personal experience because he had tried to build his own house so to speak, only without the Lord.

It fell apart.

So, for this project he was determined to let the Lord build it.

However, it wasn’t long before dissection grew within the ranks and people were saying he wasn’t doing a good job; a sister care center was biding for the same funds; sales reps started pointing fingers at one another.

Before you knew it, the Lord didn’t appear to be in it.

I was called to another ministry and went off the board.

The last I heard was that the project never did see its final completion.

The land was sold and in the end there was a nice development that went in as a result of the work that had previously been done.

Today we want to look at these verse in and see what happens when the Lord isn’t in the building of a house and when he is: the Blessings he gives to us.

This a a Psalm that King Solomon wrote.

He also wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes.

In it he writes.

What happens if the Lord is not in it?

Your motives become misplaced

We say we are working for our family; to provide for them; to give them things we may not have had.

We work for a nicer house, a newer car, a few toys to play with on the weekend at the lake; special vacations or event.

It isn’t that God doesn’t want us to enjoy these things, it’s just that if the Lord is not the one helping you build your house, then all these things become gods and God is left out of our personal life, our finances, our relationships.

Before we know it, life has passed us by and we come to the end of our life and ask, “What was it all for?”

Why did I work so hare and put in so many long hours?

Did i really enjoy my family?

Did I really enjoy my time on earth with God and others?

All good questions to ponder!

Your priorities become distorted

God does not give us a specific time to start our day or to end our day.

If you enjoy the fruitful labor of life, working 12 hours days, and are managing our household well, then great.

However, be careful and take into consideration verse 2 “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat.”

The more our motives have been misplaced, the greater the potential is for our priorities to become distorted.

Instead of taking time with family, we seem to be working more and more hours.

Our conversation with our spouse and kids become less intentional and focused.

Instead of taking the time to help your child learn how to color or ride a bike, or throw a football or baseball, we seem to be on the run giving them a token of our time.

We forget to take our spouse out on a date night.

We seem to pour more money into things that we think will make us happy instead of learning to be content with what we have.

All this leads to greater anxiety.

Before we know it, we have two properties to take care of, two property taxes; more wear and tare on our vehicles for the distance traveled, fixing our toys, less time actually enjoying family time.

How many of you are anxious at this point?

Well, that’s what happens… Anxiety creeps in...

You become anxious.

Worry sets in and you begin to doubt yourself.

Fear sets in and you begin to wonder if anything you do is of value.

You seem to have less money, even though your making more than you use to.

It seems like the bottom line gets smaller and smaller with each passing year and you wonder, has it been worth it all.

Solomon would say it is meaningless.

It all seems meaningless.

But what happens when the Lord is in?

HE says also in verse 2 “”he grants sleep to those he loves.

John Piper writes “Be diligent as God may lead and eat the bread you earn, but fret not over what you need and let not worry burn.”

For this we can turn to

Blessed when the Lord is in it

Those who rest in the Lord, their deeds will follow them.

They will have been productive in raising their family and taking care of them.

They will have learned contentment in all things.

They will have experienced peace.

Paul wrote …

Unless God is with you, you may never finish building your house.

Remember the story of the tower of Babel in .

They built, but God was not in it, and so they labored in vain and did not complete what they started.

Unless the Lord builds your house, your house becomes weak and stands a good chance of collapse.

A house collapses because it does not have a good foundation.

In the New Testament Jesus tells the parable of the wise and foolish man.

“The foolish man built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell and great was its fall.

But the one who build his house upon the rock… a solid foundation, the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against the house but it did not fall, it remained strong.

Unless the Lord builds your house you could die before you really get to enjoy it.

Remember the story of the rich man in who said he needed to build more barns for his grain.

God said, “You fool! this very night your life will be demanded from you.

Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”

It is always important to remember that God is the provider of all our means and needs.

He is the one who gives us the skills to do what we do, the wisdom to know what to day, and the strength to complete it.

Unless the Lord build your house it could become a tragedy.

Before you know it your marriage is on the rocks, your children are rebellious… all this takes place among an abundance of things.

It appears to me, that no matter how much we work or how successful we may become, unless the Lord build the house, all is in vain.

For just a moment, let’s look at the church.

Unless the Lord builds the house, he who labors, labors in vain.

It isn’t based on who the Pastor is… It is based on who the people are.

It isn’t based one what others do…It’s based on what you do…It isn’t faith in your own efforts…It’s faith in the Work of the Holy Spirit working in you and through you and others.

Unless the Lord Builds the house, he who labors, labors in vain.

But we come back to the blessing.

In verse 2 as we mentioned earlier… The Lord grants sleep to those he loves and children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are the children born in one’s youth.

Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.

They will not be put to shame.”

When we know our motives and priorities are based on God’s calling and principles, we will sleep well.

Children are a heritage - They are given to be taken care of!

Psalm 128:

When we trust God and let him build the house, he will make it plain to us.

It may not be what we might think, but it will be better than we can imagine.

Yes, it is true, not every family is given the blessing of having their own children.

I’m not going to pretend that this is an easy position to be in or to know what it feels like.

One of the great things that I have seen happen throughout the years are families who have adopted children or families who make others children their own through ministry.

Their names were Milton and Martha Pfaff.

No one knows for certain whether or not they could not have children or whether they chose not to.

But what they did in ministering to others children had a tremendous impact upon the Kingdom of God.

They chose to take a group of college age young people and created a college and career group where many people found the Lord; found their spouse; pursued ministry; grew in their faith.

In the churches that I served in SD i can think of at least seven couples who grew into families where the influence of Milton and Martha shaped them and gave them the necessary fortitude to take bold steps for Christ as husband and wife.

In verse 4 we read “Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born into ones you.”

When a warrior selected arrows for the hunt, he made sure they were straight and had the piercing edge on them to do the job.

When we become parents it it imperative that we lead our children in the way of the Lord, help them to know how to do life and make life count, not just in a materialistic word, but in a spiritual world.