Blessed - Psalm 128
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INTRO
When I was 16 my Grandpa gave me two sentimental gifts.
My Uncles old coin
A story to remember
The Keys Story
My Grandfather wanted me to know and be aware of the blessings in my life.
He wanted me to have prospective as to what truly matters.
This Psalmist calls us to have prospective.
But the call isn't to the keys in your pocket, but the promises of God written on your heart.
This is a Psalm that sets before us what all of us long for.
A life of deep abiding happiness.
And this Psalm says it can be ours.
That we can have happiness.
If you’re a note taker write this down.
If you just listen then put this at the front of your mind.
Those who fear the Lord are happy and blessed.
This is the guiding principle of Psalm 128. It is a deep and rich reminder for all of us.
Today maybe you come in with a heavy heart.
Maybe you come in the pursuit of having more.
My hope is that the keys of the kingdom in the hand of our master would stir you to remember the truth written on your heart.
That God would unite your heart to fear his name and in that you would be overcome by joy.
We’re going through the Psalms of Ascent, the pilgrim songs sung by ancient jews on their journey to worship in Jerusalem.
For us on this side of Calvary they serve as the songs of Jesus that we sing as Pilgrims in this life on our journey to glory.
This is a Psalm that we would all do well to sing because it set’s in right perspective how we should live and what the aim of our lives should be.
So let’s walk through our passage together and see that it starts with Blessed Fear.
TRANSITION
I. Blessed Fear (v.1)
Psalm 128:1 (ESV)
Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways!
The Psalmist starts out with the object of blessedness, that is the one who fears the Lord and walks in his ways.
So for us to really get to the meat of this passage we have to answer a couple questions.
First, what does it mean to be blessed?
When we first moved to NC Hannah would often look to me to translate.
When co-workers would say, “bless it” or sometimes just “bless”
I had to explain that it was short-hand for bless their heart…and it wasn't actually a nice way of wishing God’s kindness on them.
So what do we mean by blessed in this Psalm?
To be blessed is to move through life with a settled depth of happiness that comes from walking with God and enjoying his fatherly favor.
To be blessed means to live the human life the way it was meant to be lived.
We will see how that blessing plays out in every aspect of life in just a moment.
But this gives us a really helpful starting place.
We can understand blessing as happiness in walking with and enjoying God.
That friends is where deep abiding joy is found, in blessedness.
This past week I was given a father’s day gift of a trip to ride roller coasters at Carowinds.
Now look I love theme parks, but let’s be honest they can be pretty miserable.
The whole thing is really a parable for how many of us live our lives.
You stand in line for upwards of an hour for 2mins of joy.
How often have we pursued things, chased after something for just a moment of satisfaction.
This Psalm tells us we can have something deeper than fleeting joy, we can have blessing.
Now the question is how?
By living in the Fear of the Lord and walking in his ways.
What does it mean to fear the Lord?
Dane Ortlund who wrote the massively helpful Gentle & Lowly has this to say:
To fear the Lord means to live as if God exists and is who he says he is. It is to walk through life bowing to his kingship and remembering his gracious redemption. To fear the Lord means to yield to his will and seek to walk in his ways as our gracious deliverer. _Dane Ortlund.
The Fear of The Lord can be a bit jarring.
Especially if it is a concept that you have not been raised with.
This is not a dread or terror, not a fear that would cause you to run from God.
Godly fear of God attracts you to him.
God's holiness, his otherness, his majesty it stirs "awe and dread," but at the same time his people are "fascinated" and "entranced" by the Holy One.
This friends is setting God in perspective.
Nothing could be as wonderful, nothing as significant, as the almighty.
This is standing and beholding the vastness of the universe, the complexity of the atom, the beauty of your babies laughter and saying who could make this?!
It is a love for God as God.
And here precisely is where we have to lay the foundation.
Because this fear of God, it’s not a begrudging submission.
This is a matter of the heart, it’s a matter of desire.
In his immensely helpful book, Rejoice & Tremble Michael Reeves helps explain the difference between you and me just getting by and trying to be “good” people but instead to have a biblical understanding of the fear of God.
The fear of God as a strong biblical theme thus stands as a superb theological guard dog. It stops us from thinking that we are made for either passionless performance or a detached knowledge of abstract truths.
It backs us into the acknowledgment that we are made to know God in such a way that our hearts tremble at his beauty and splendor, that we are remade at the deepest level. It shows us that entering the life of Christ involves a transformation of our very affections, so that we begin actually to despise -and not merely renounce-the sins we once cherished, and treasure the God we once abhorred. _Michael Reeves
Where is your heart this morning?
Do you love God for God?
Do you live in the fear of the Lord?
It’s been said that To fear God is to factor Him into every thought and situation, to live in the reality of God.
Again it is not a terror that keeps us distant from God, but a friendship that brings us under His intimate guidance.
Here is what is incredible about this, living this way results in blessing.
It results in a deep happiness.
The best part, anyone can get in on this.
Because of Christ we now have access.
We are blessed when we humbly walk in the fear of the Lord which means humbling ourselves in the gospel, taking Christ’s accomplishment as our own and allowing him to take our iniquities as his own.
So we see this blessed fear but the Psalmist then goes on to show the fruit of this blessing
TRANSITION
II. The Fruit of Blessing
Psalm 128:2–4 (ESV)
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.
So we start with the principle of where we set our devotion, that we should walk in the fear of the Lord
Now we see how that fear then bleeds over into our day to day lives.
Will start with verse 2 looking at our labor, our jobs.
_ OUR WORK _
Because we live in a fallen world our labor is difficult.
But the psalmist says that if we live in the fear of the Lord even our work is redeemed.
This doesn't mean our work is suddenly free of all problems and struggles, but that God blesses our work.
That when our perspective is set on the eternal king of the ages it shifts our prospective.
Colossians 3:23 (ESV)
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
When we live to yes meet our needs, provide for our families and to share with others, but primarily we work to serve our God.
In this our labor is redeemed and it becomes a sacred calling
Our labor then can be infused with dignity, purpose, and reward.
Y’all this is our bread and butter.
On our website we have a little snippet about our name Coram Deo, before the face of God
Living Coram Deo is a sober understanding of the Sovereignty of God.
Understanding that if God is God, he is sovereign.
Our lives are to be lived in his presence as living sacrifices, offering ourselves in a spirit of adoration and gratitude.
Finally, we understand that if our lives are lived Coram Deo then they are lived not fragmented, but in wholeness.
We find our unity and coherency in the majesty of God, knowing that a fragmented life is a life of disintegration. We know that to compartmentalize our life into the spiritual and non-spiritual, we fail to live as God has called us to live, in his presence.
To Live Coram Deo means that we are every bit as spiritual as a dry-waller, insurance agent, or homemaker as a pastor or church planter.
I know this is not always easy.
For me I would go into a utility closet at my job and catch myself, pray and refocus on who I truly work for.
God always meet me in my weakness.
So we see work is redeemed but it doesn’t stopt there it goes into our homes
V.3 is a reminder that this kind of abiding faith shapes our marriages and children
This morning maybe your coming in a little beat up.
Maybe your marriage hasn't been all you’ve hoped for in the past few years.
Maybe you are pining for fall so you can get your kids back to school!
Look, Every home is dysfunctional to some degree, because every individual is sinful.
Every home is fraught with challenges: unrealistic expectations, abrasive personalities, selfish attitudes, harsh words, long days, sleepless nights, dirty
diapers, feuding siblings, and on it goes.
But...When we live in the fear of God, our marriage is transformed.
It's liberated from its modern-day caricature that marriage is either a trap, chore, or burden.
Instead it is elevated into the realm of the divine.
It's set apart as one of the most sacred callings the world has ever known.
We see marriage for what it is: an illustration of the relationship between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:22-33).
God has embedded the gospel in the created order by embedding it in marriage.
When we see a husband giving himself for his wife, we see Christ giving himself for his church.
The fear of God also transforms the relationship between parent and child.
Parenthood becomes a calling, not a chore
A blessing, not an inconvenience.
Listen, this is not to say that our homes will be free of all problems.
It’s not a magic wand, an antidote, it’s a call to a renewed life.
At times, we assume that if we read the right books, watch the right ted talk, and adopt the right systems, then God will
automatically bless our families.
We have to be careful because this assumption is a subtle form of legalism, whereby we assume our performance determines God's
favor.
But that isn't what the psalmist is saying.
His point is that the fear of God transforms families.
It humbles the proud, breaks the stubborn, and heals the wounded.
It causes meekness and compels forgiveness.
This is a gospel transformed family, and renewed and fruitful family.
Coram Deo, do you want to live in deep abiding blessing, then walk in the fear of the Lord.
Finally we see the source of blessing
III. The Source of Blessing (v.5-6)
Psalm 128:5–6 (ESV)
The Lord bless you from Zion!
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life!
May you see your children’s children!
Peace be upon Israel!
Having just described the fruit of blessedness in verses 2-4, the psalmist prays for it in verses 5-6.
He prays for fruitful labor ("May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life!") and fruitful homes ("May you see your children's children!").
The psalmist makes it clear that God alone is the source of this blessedness: "The LORD bless you from Zion!'
For ancient Israel, Zion is Jerusalem, where the temple stands in all its glory.
For us, Zion is Christ and his church.
The church is where the fear of God is birthed and nurtured and where the ways of God are proclaimed and expounded.
Living a blessed life is living a life in community, building one another up and making much of Jesus in the process.
Are you known?
Have you reached out?
Are you aware of those who are sitting around you right now?
Are you investing your life in others?
Do you long to see the blessings of Jesus made much of in the lives of your brothers and sisters?
The christian journey isn’t one of independence but dependence.
Thats the way God designed it.
Ephesians 4:11–16 (ESV)
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
It's in the church that we find the source of blessedness because in the church we come under the preaching of the Word- the means by which the Holy Spirit creates faith in the heart
It's the appointed means by which God works in his people.
“This, therefore, teaches us how to judge who fears the Lord, They are those who learn, and Who stand in awe of the Word. Those fear God who have, by the holy Word of God, the very form of that Word engraved upon the face of their souls." _John Bunyan
Living in this fear sets you in a blessed life.
A life that greets trials and hardships with a deep abiding joy.
It’s a blessing that renews your occupation, your home, your life.
CONCLUSION
Is your worship sluggish?
Is your obedience half-hearted?
Do you find yourself easily distracted by worldly desires?
Are you consumed with anxiety?
Have you Shrunk back from opportunities to speak up as a witness for the Lord
Coram Deo, seek a renewed sight of God's holiness in the Word.
Pray, Psalm 86:11
Psalm 86:11 (ESV)
Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.
When it comes to fearing God, to developing that life of reverent worship and enjoying the blessed life, two things are essential:
Scripture and prayer.
We develop this fear through the diligent use of the ordinary means of grace.
And both these means are important.
If you bought a new battery for your car, which cable would you attach? Just the black one? If so, you're going
to be sitting still for a long time.
Would you clamp on just the red one? The car still won't run.
But if you connect both, the energy of the battery will be harnessed to the potential of the engine and things will happen.
You'll get moving.
The same is true in your walk with God.
Will you hook up only the cable of Scripture?
That's great. You need it.
But what about prayer?
Or will you hook up only the cable of prayer?
What, then, will guide your prayers?
If you fasten your heart on to both, you will link your soul to the power of God, his means of channelling grace and power into your life, and things will happen.
You'll get moving spiritually! You will grow in the fear of the Lord.
Coram Deo...We're made for eternity.
We're made for something greater than ourselves- something greater than anything this world has to offer.
Inherently, we know it's true.
We long for something this world can't satisfy.
Most people don't understand this.
They're looking to the material and temporal to satisfy the spiritual and eternal.
But God alone can provide true blessedness.
This is what Christ has purchased for us:
1 Peter 3:18 (ESV)
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
God is ours
His power is ours to protect us.
His wisdom is ours to direct us.
His mercy is ours to pity us.
His grace is ours to pardon us.
His love is ours to refresh us.
His joy is ours to satisfy us.
His justice is ours to accept us as righteous in Christ.
His faithfulness is ours to fulfill his promises to us.
His majesty is ours to make us glorious forever.
On top of all this, he's "our God forever and ever" (Psalm 48:14).
He isn't our God for a day, week, month, or year, but "forever and ever."
He isn't our God for a thousand years, but "forever and ever."
He isn't our God for a million years, but "forever and ever."
Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD" (Psalm 144:15).
Let’s pray.