Anticipating Worship: Rest
Psalms 127
May 29, 2022
Tonight we continue with our songs “of Ascents”
• It is that segment of the book of Psalms that was devoted to anticipating the worship which would occur in Jerusalem.
• For us they are reminders of the blessing of corporate worship
• And they are brief earthly pictures of the glory of the coming day of worship in Heaven.
Tonight’s song is said to be “of Solomon”
If you’ll remember God gave Solomon the name “Jedidiah”
Which means “beloved of the LORD”
It is the word used in verse 2 which says, “For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.”
So we find here a song in which Solomon gave tribute to
The blessing of God which he had received as God’s “beloved”.
And this one I find to be extremely fitting
And a tremendous reminder to us
Especially as we talk about the benefit of corporate worship.
Perhaps tonight we should talk about the PRIORITY of corporate worship.
I’ve often said it and still believe it that in America, as much as we love money, MONEY IS NOT OUR GREATEST TREASURE.
In America our greatest treasure is our time.
In fact, many people will spend their money to save their time.
And so the main excuses we hear for not attending corporate worship
• Is no longer “That church only wants my money”
• Now we hear “I just didn’t have time”.
Sunday nights struggle in churches across America,
Not because the worship service costs too much,
But because people are using their time in other ways.
Sometimes it’s RECREATION,
• They just want to play longer on the weekend and they certainly can’t give up the work week for play so they cut out church.
Sometimes it’s to CATCH UP.
• There were projects or assignments that they needed to get done and Sunday was a day to accomplish it.
Sometimes it’s OCCUPATIONAL.
• They could make more money if they worked on Sunday. The world is driving forward and no longer breaks for the Lord’s Day so why not be a part of the rat race and get what you can.
However you slice it, what we’ve seen is that
Sunday has been a day where people are
Increasingly seeing worship as a waste of time.
Many of you have seen the Methodist church across the street
Meeting earlier on Sundays.
That has been done out of necessity
Since they have been sharing a pastor with Matador.
I had one man tell me, “I really like it. You get up early and go and…”
He never finished the sentence.
I sensed he was about to say, “Get it over with without killing the whole day.”
I like to think he thought about what he was about to say,
Got convicted, and chose not to say it.
Regardless of that one conversation, the fact is that
It is a common sentiment with so many in our culture;
Even among so many who still think going to church is important.
This is why Sunday nights are dying across the nation.
• Corporate worship is seen as a waste of time.
• They have better, more urgent things to do than come back to church.
• I certainly applaud those of you who are faithful here.
There is a rising mentality that
Attending corporate worship is a waste of time.
(Or at the very least there are ways to make better use of our time)
Well, think about our pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem.
They weren’t being asked to give up a whole day, more like 2 to 3 weeks.
Depending on how far they had to travel, and knowing that most of these feasts lasted from Sabbath to Sabbath, they were going to have be gone a while.
Livestock was left…
Fields were left…
Houses were left…
How much could get done if you just skip it this year?
How much could you accomplish if you stayed home?
You could get some repairs done on the house.
Certainly you could watch over your place. (It’s not like looters wouldn’t know you were commanded to go to Jerusalem.)
And so you were then faced with the same dilemma
That men are faced with now.
WHERE IS THE VALUE IN GIVING YOUR TIME TO THE LORD?
Think about that.
The answer is found in this one word: REST
Rest is a big word in the Bible.
It comes as the most appropriate request of people who lived under the curse.
Remember God’s response to Adam’s sin:
Genesis 3:17-19 “Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
It’s not long before we see men fulfilling that promise
And dying left and right.
And then we read:
Genesis 5:28-29 “Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son. Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.”
What you see from the beginning is
Men who lament the harshness of labor.
We learn from the very beginning that the answer is never man’s works.
• God said from the beginning that man will bust his head against the ground and ultimately lose.
• He will strive and strive and strive and fail.
• Man learned quickly that they wanted rest.
It is certainly significant that when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt
They went seeking a land that offered to them rest.
They never found it of course because they refused to trust and obey God.
We remember Jesus arriving on the scene:
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
The goal was rest.
Now ULTIMATELY that rest
Is a rest from works intended to earn God’s favor.
Hebrews 4:9-11 “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”
The picture of rest in the Old Testament was meant to be a foreshadow of the spiritual rest that we enjoy in Christ.
• He did the work, we rest in Him.
• He earned God’s favor, we rest in Him.
• He satisfied God’s wrath, we rest in Him.
THAT IS THE ULTIMATE FULFILLMENT OF REST.
But there is still what we might call
A lesser fulfillment of rest to be enjoyed today.
It is the rest associated with faith in God.
Some might better understand it as “peace”
• It is that calm assurance that God can handle and is handling what I cannot.
• It is that peace that comes with knowing that when I trust God, He’ll work it all
out.
It is this type of rest or peace that Jesus referenced in Matthew 6
Matthew 6:31-33 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
There is a rest there.
There is a peace there.
Where we say, “Alright God I’m trusting You to meet my needs while I focus on Your kingdom. I can actually in one sense neglect physical things and leave them to You, while I focus on spiritual things.”
Now, that DOES NOT enable laziness in the life of the believer.
Clearly Paul told the Thessalonians who just wanted to quit work and wait on Jesus that “if a man shall not work, he shall not eat.”
This isn’t an excuse for slothfulness.
But it is what allows us to obey God’s commands,
• Even when obedience seems to throw a monkey wrench in our plans for worldly success.
It is what allows us to see that taking a day to break from the world
• Is not a waste of time, for we know that God is watching over our needs.
When we understand that our works accomplish nothing,
We can then focus on the things He has commanded
And enjoy peace of mind that He will take care of everything else.
• This peace of mind or rest is what allows us to prioritize a day for the Lord.
• This rest is what allows us not to try and use Sunday to get ahead.
• This rest is what allows us to worship and leave the world to itself for a day.
And it is a good reminder for the pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem.
(I can leave my labors and fields behind, God will take care of it while I worship)
So let’s break this Psalm up into 2 main points.
#1 THE VANITY OF LABOR
Psalms 127:1-3
When you read those verses there is ONE WORD
That obviously comes to the forefront and it is the word “vain”
Now just because you will probably try to connect the dots, this is NOT the same Hebrew word that Solomon liked to use in Ecclesiastes.
He spoke of things being “vanity”.
That word is HEBEL
It is a vapor or smoke or a mirage
And he categorized the things you try to earn or achieve in this life as “vanity”
The word “vain” here is SAV (shawv)
It means “emptiness” or “worthlessness” or “falsehood”
It is the word used
• When we are commanded not to “take the name of the LORD in vain”
• (that is: don’t make a worthless confession of God)
It is a word often used
• To describe idols and their benefit to humanity.
• They are “vain idols”, they are worthless falsehoods.
So here Solomon isn’t saying that your pursuits are all a mirage,
He’s saying that on your own
You can’t accomplish anything that’s worth anything.
• You may build a house but it will be a worthless house.
• You may protect a city but it will be worthless protection.
In fact, the Psalmist here outlines 3 areas that are vain by man’s efforts.
1) CONSTRUCTING (1a)
“Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it;”
It is simply making the point that man on his own
Can’t build anything that has any worth.
They great ironic structure of the Old Testament is the “Tower of Babel” where men were going to build a tower to the heavens.
• What a monumental structure they were going to build.
• They didn’t realize that without the LORD’S help they couldn’t do it.
• They needed God’s help to communicate with one another.
When God removed communication the whole project fell apart.
Without God’s help that was a worthless construction project.
We think of Zerubbabel and his mandate to rebuild the temple after the exile.
• It was a daunting project.
• It was actually referred to as a mountain.
• It was insurmountable by his own strength.
And yet the promise was given to him:
Zechariah 4:6-7 “Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’”
There’s no way Zerubbabel can build that tower on his own.
It was an impossible construction project without God’s help.
Probably the most mind-boggling when you think about it has to be Noah’s ark.
I don’t know what you think is the most difficult command God has ever given you to obey, but try this one on.
Genesis 6:14-17 “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. “This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. “You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. “Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.”
• What is “gopher wood”?
• Where do you get “pitch”?
• Does anyone know how to build a boat?
• What’s a cubit?
It’s not like there’s a Home Depot where you can go pick up materials,
You’ve got to chop down trees, split them into beams and make lumber.
Oh, but wait,
• Where do you get an axe?
• Where do you get a saw?
So you have to dig up iron ore and heat it and forge an axe?
• What do you dig it up with?
And even though it’s your first boat, you need to DO IT RIGHT
Because I’m gonna flood the whole earth.
Can we just say IMPOSSIBLE?
“Unless the LORD builds…they labor in vain who build it.”
And by the way this is true for every structure any man ever built.
Just down the street they’re constructing a Family Dollar
And they’re moving right along.
It looks like those guys know what they are doing.
• Where’d they get the intellect?
• Who supplies strength to their arm?
• Who allows them to communicate?
MAN CAN’T DO IT ON HIS OWN.
Often times this verse is even applied sort of metaphorically to marriage.
Some of you may not realize this
But men and women aren’t exactly compatible.
And many have noted that
The only thing that allows a marriage to be a blessing is “the LORD”.
That’s true, even if a secular marriage lasts a long time.
Marriage is meant to be a testimony of the relationship between Christ and the church and two people on their own cannot do that.
They may have a marriage but without the Lord,
In it’s truest purpose it will be a worthless one.
“Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it.”
You can’t build anything on your own.
Solomon certainly understood this with his great projects.
So, what does that say about all those projects you have to put on hold so that you can go and attend corporate worship? (they’ll be fine)
Are you really going to assume that you are saving time by neglecting God’s command of corporate worship?
You’re going to ignore God’s mandate because you’ve got something to build?
Do you see how foolish that is?
Like you can build anything without Him.
If God doesn’t show up to the jobsite you might as well lock up the tools.
• That’s true in construction.
• That’s true in your marriage.
• That’s true in this church.
• That’s true in anything you want to build.
Jesus said:
Matthew 16:18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
Paul reminded:
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
The point is that construction only occurs with God.
If God tells you to take a break and come worship,
You’ll be fine since He’s the builder anyway.
• You can leave your crops for a couple of weeks.
• You can leave your project for a couple of weeks.
• “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit”
So if God builds, what do you get? REST
• God is allowing you to rest today and to come and worship Him with the saints.
• What a blessing!
There’s a second area that is vain by man’s efforts.
Constructing
2) CONSERVING (1b)
“Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.”
I’m not skipping worship to build something,
I’m skipping worship to protect or enjoy what I’ve already built.
Hmm…
• It’s the idea of using Sunday for “family time”
• Or working more to be able to afford what I want.
• Skipping worship because that time needs to be used to protect my lifestyle.
But here we see the same reality.
If you are trying to guard your own city you will do that “in vain”.
In other words, you can’t.
• The LORD has always been our security…
• The LORD has always been our assurance…
Jesus asked if you could add even an hour to your life by worrying?
Only God has the ability to provide and protect.
We think of the impenetrable wall of Jericho
• And how it fell simply with the Israelites marching around it 7 days.
We think of the fortress of Jerusalem,
• But Ezekiel saw God depart from Jerusalem and then she easily fell to the Babylonians.
One can’t help but think about our nation here.
Our culture can’t understand the simple principle
That only God is our strength and security.
So our culture continually pushes God and His laws aside
But then are shocked when evil rises up and terrorizes us.
Do you really think metal detectors and armed security officers
Can keep Satan at bay?
I don’t care how many soldiers Jerusalem had, once God’s glory departed that battle was over.
• That is true for our schools.
• That is true for our nation.
It is a futile endeavor for men to assume
That they can conserve what they’ve built.
Do you remember the farmer who wanted to protect his fortune so he tore down his barns and built bigger ones?
• The problem was he had no control over the day of his death
• And what he worked so hard to preserve
• Was actually all given to someone else in the blink of an eye.
• No one had to steal it…
• Famine didn’t have to touch it…
• In a moment he lost it.
And so it is obvious, man can’t construct and man can’t conserve,
Only God has that ability.
And that is still true of your marriage or your family.
Only God has that ability.
NOW WE KNOW HUMANITY DON’T WE.
Man can hear this and say, “Well, I’ll work harder!”
It is man’s tendency to assume that he can avoid hardship
If he just works hard enough to prevent it.
Isaiah 30:15-17 “For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” But you were not willing, And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,” Therefore you shall flee! “And we will ride on swift horses,” Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift. One thousand will flee at the threat of one man; You will flee at the threat of five, Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top And as a signal on a hill.”
That is man isn’t it.
We’ll just work harder.
But God has an answer for that man.
(2a) “It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors;”
What is God’s response to man’s solution to just working harder?
IT WON’T WORK.
• Go ahead, skip worship.
• Use Sunday as a day to get ahead.
• Use the Lord’s Day as a time to get that extra work done and see how it works
out.
Now, don’t get me wrong, you might actually succeed a little.
This man worked hard and he did supply bread.
The problem was that even that was “vain”.
It was worthless; it was unfulfilling.
We’ve recently read Haggai in our Sunday night scripture reading.
They were a people who had neglected God’s house.
Worship was not a priority.
Listen to what God was doing as a result.
Haggai 1:9-11 “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the LORD of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. “Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. “I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Haggai 2:15-17 “‘But now, do consider from this day onward: before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the LORD, from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there would be only twenty. ‘I smote you and every work of your hands with blasting wind, mildew and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the LORD.”
The point?
• God has other ways of making sure it doesn’t work.
• It is never fixed with harder labor.
You need God working for you, not against you.
Do you remember that passage about tithing in Malachi?
God made them a promise if they would again start honoring Him with their wealth.
Malachi 3:11 “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the LORD of hosts.”
Might I suggest that the devourer can be a devourer of time too.
The point is that only God can cause construction to succeed
And only God can conserve what you wish to protect.
There’s a third vanity of humanity.
Constructing, Conserving,
3) CONCEIVING (3)
“Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.”
The simple point here is that children only come from God.
I think it’s a cruel mistake to put too much emphasis on the word “reward” as though God rewards people’s behavior with children.
I think that is obviously not the point.
• The Texas Girls and Boys Ranch sees all the time that some of the most
wicked people imaginable are granted kids.
The point is that children are not a bi-product of human effort,
But of God’s grace.
Only God can create life.
Only God can form a child.
A man can try to do it, but if God does not grant it, it won’t happen.
Ask Sarah or Rebekah or Rachel or Hannah or Elizabeth.
But there is again a another reality in which man needs God.
And I think here about all the Sunday worship that is missed
Because families want to enroll their kids
In some extracurricular program.
Travel ball or even family time with the kids
And parents participate in such things at the expense of worship.
Have they forgotten who gave them those kids to begin with?
Have they forgotten the grace of God to even allow that?
Hannah is a marvelous example of a woman who never forgot.
• God gave her a son
• She didn’t run off with him and enjoy him by neglecting God.
• She returned that boy and dedicated him to the Lord.
And that boy became one of the most prominent and godly leaders in Israel’s history. His name was SAMUEL.
Remember that it is vain to try and construct or conserve or conceive.
Only God can do those things.
And so neglecting Him in order to attempt those things is VAIN.
Now let’s quickly look at the second point.
#2 THE BLESSING OF GRACE
Psalms 127:2b-5
It is in fact implied in the first two voices by the phrase “Unless the LORD”
But it is stated explicitly in verse 2.
“For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.”
I think there is a translation issue there.
You’ll notice the words “even in his” are italicized indicating that they were added.
That means that the translators thought that
The Psalmist was saying that God’s provision is totally of God
So that even in a man’s sleep God is working for him.
AND THAT CERTAINLY MAY BE TRUE.
But I think it’s best to leave it as the original language suggests and read it “For He gives to His beloved sleep”
(Now that’s not a new ambition for your posture in church)
What is Solomon saying?
• Man works and toils and strives to construct and conserve and conceive.
• He labors and works.
But to the man who trusts and honors God, God gives something else.
• What does God give that man? “sleep” or REST
Do you understand this?
• When you prioritize God…
• When you trust God…
• When you honor God…
It is God who constructs and God who conserves
And God who grants children.
Now I’m NOT SAYING that if you’ll start going to church
Then God will build you a house, protect it from thieves
And cause you to fill it with children.
That’s not the point,
For certainly we are aware of His sovereign prerogative in life.
What I am saying is that only He can do those things
And you’ll certainly never achieve them by neglecting Him.
And even if you do, it will be vain (worthless)
GOD GIVES REST FROM OUR LABORS.
His chief command WAS NEVER “work harder” for Him.
His chief command WAS to “love Him” with all you’ve got.
Jesus didn’t say “come to Me and put on your work gloves”.
Jesus said “come to Me and receive rest”.
God is a God of grace.
Remember the story of Matthew 20 about all the men who worked in the vineyard and those who worked longer assumed they’d be paid more?
Matthew 20:9-15 “When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. “When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. “When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ “But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ‘Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’”
• Those men were angry because they wanted to be compensated based on
their performance.
• Indeed, for that day that might have worked out well for them, but I promise
over a lifetime you don’t want that arrangement.
You’d much rather a God who provides by grace than by works.
AND THAT IS WHAT SOLOMON IS REMINDING OF.
That is what this caravan is singing as they depart from their fields to go worship God for a couple of weeks.
I learn this all the time.
• I feel like I’m a pretty talented wood-worker
• And yet I have learned that God does not let me make money doing wood work. (O there are a few rare occasions)
• But I can’t sell anything.
• Yet, God has made my livelihood off of the generosity of His people.
And isn’t that better?
• Would I actually prefer to have to depend on my labor to make a living?
• Or would I rather devote myself to His kingdom and He just take care of my life?
GOD PROVIDES BY GRACE.
(3-5) “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.”
One could spend some time here, especially in an abortion happy culture
And talk about what a blessing children are.
Solomon here makes an analogy.
He says that children are “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior”
A warrior with many arrows is confident in battle.
A man with many children is confident in the future.
• You think of the joy children produce.
• You think of the comfort they produce.
• You think of the labor they can offer.
• You think of the care they may give you in old age.
• You think of the legacy they provide.
A man with many children is like a warrior with many arrows.
“They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.”
But the analogy goes even deeper.
The point is that those things which God gives you
Are greater than those things which you earn.
So in this life trust God, seek God, worship God, honor God
And put your labors on the back burner that you may do so.
In this world you have labor which results in vanity.
With God you have grace which results in rest.
This is a great reminder when you are tempted to set worship aside
So that you might accomplish something in the world.
Corporate worship is a blessing and a time to rest!
