I'm going to invite one of our members, Douglas, up. He's going to read God's word to us.
! Douglas is going to read Psalm 127.
A Song of Ascents of Solomon.
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil.
For he gives to his beloved sleep.
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.
Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.
He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
This is the word of the Lord.
When we eat lunch together after the service today,
two of the questions, two of the most common questions that we'll probably ask each other
are going to be, how's work going?
How's the family?
And I'm not trying to make you feel paranoid.
These are good questions to ask one another.
But it's not just in church that we ask these questions.
These are the questions that we ask each other at work, at school, as we're studying, whatever we may be.
If you want to be a social media influencer, if you want to get a big following on Instagram,
look at the trials of work, or hustle culture, how to build, or the challenges of raising a family,
and you're bound to get a big, healthy following.
And when we read the words of Psalm 127, we see that those are the things that the psalmist is talking about too.
He's talking about building a life, security for life, raising a family.
But Psalm 127 isn't just asking us how we're getting on with that.
It's forcing us to ask ourselves, what are these things really for?
What kind of life are you building?
What is it you're trying to protect?
How are you raising a family?
Does anyone know the motto for Edinburgh's coat of arms?
It's Nisi Dominus Frustra.
And I know that you guys all know what that means, but I don't speak Latin.
But the English means, without the Lord, in vain.
So, without the Lord, everything is in vain.
The motto of this amazing city is Psalm 127.
And what it tells us, I think it's pretty shocking when you look at it.
Because it's that, without God, our work, our life building, our protection, even our family, is meaningless.
And when you think about the society that we live in today, we're kind of a dichotomy.
So, there's never been a time, really, I don't think, where we've had so much freedom around work,
and yet we voluntarily almost imprison ourselves to our careers.
Have we ever had a society that enjoys so much security and safety in one sense,
but then seems to live in such fear and anxiety on the other?
Have we ever had a society where children are the very epicenter of people's lives,
like their whole lives revolve around what their children want, what they want to do?
And yet, for other people, children, family, just seem disposable.
Well, through this Psalm, we're going to learn that the anecdote for our workaholism,
for our anxiety, the solution to the imbalanced way that we think about family life,
is in this Psalm.
I've got three points.
And the first point is, what are you building on?
If we look together at verse one of the Psalm, it says,
So, we're not just talking about construction here.
We're not all builders.
But the idea of building can apply to anything that you are building in your life.
So, whether you're an entrepreneur, a fireman, a software engineer, an artist,
someone who's building a home,
these things apply to you.
These are all really important forms of building in life,
and they require us to work hard.
The word labor that the Psalm uses here is hard work, toil, struggle.
Whether you enjoy what you do for a living or you don't,
you've got to admit that sometimes work is pretty frustrating.
We find it hard to get through the things that we need to do,
let alone to the point where we feel like we're getting ahead.
And sometimes that makes us feel overwhelmed in life,
makes us feel like we're struggling to keep up
while everyone else is running away ahead.
But what is the thing that we feel that we're struggling to keep up with?
Well, often we're drowning because we feel pressured
by the material world that's around us
and the material measures that people use to define success.
More money, bigger house, nicer car, flashier clothes.
These are the things that all around us,
in our workplace, in our neighborhoods,
people put such emphasis on,
they look at this as a sign of what building success is.
The thing about constantly pursuing more material things, though,
is that it is a bottomless pit.
It never ends.
No matter how much you make or accumulate,
we only seem to want more.
We need the next thing,
the extension onto our big house,
or the faster car than the one that came out last year,
or the new iPhone that comes out,
probably in a few months' time,
it's going to cost a thousand pounds and make your one old.
The beast of consumption is never satisfied,
no matter how much you feed it.
And then all the while,
as we're trying to feed this beast,
work is toil.
It's hard.
Even if you really love what you do,
you've got to admit that there's times
where you face frustration.
A report in 2024
found that poor mental health in work,
just in the UK,
costs employers,
just costs employers,
not the country.
51 billion pounds a year.
That's a number that's so big
we can't visualize it.
There's too many zeros
to fit it into our mind's eye.
So work is hard,
and our relationship to work is broken.
But why?
How?
Well, as Christians,
we know why.
It goes right back to the very beginning of the world,
when everything was very good,
and Adam and Eve lived in a beautiful garden city,
and they were given everything that they could imagine,
and they were given a practical purpose as well,
to work the land.
They weren't put there to lie on sun loungers,
they were to work the land,
to build it,
to grow it,
to expand this garden across the world.
But Adam and Eve thought that they could climb the ladder,
and by themselves.
Achieve more without God.
And they were convinced
that they should do the one thing
that God told them not to do.
And then because they disobeyed God,
in Genesis 3, 17,
we're told God said,
cursed is the ground because of you.
In pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
So the very ground,
that's Adam's place of work,
becomes cursed
because of their disobedience to God.
So maybe
you feel like your office is cursed,
but if you want to know why work is so hard,
it's because we live in a broken,
fallen world.
Because Adam tried to build without God.
The first part of this psalm,
well, it reminds us that
all of our work without God
is ultimately meaningless,
in vain.
The word vain appears three times
in just these two first verses.
Without God,
building is empty.
Without God,
protecting our stuff is worthless.
Without God,
getting up at the crack of dawn
to get ahead
is totally futile.
So what does that mean?
Should we all just quit our jobs,
set up a cute commune
in the foot of the Pentlands?
Well, no.
The psalmist is not telling us
that our work is worthless.
Work is not worthless.
And he's not telling us
that building life is meaningless.
He's saying
that these things are meaningless,
that these things are worthless
if they're not built
on the right foundation.
When we build and work
without acknowledging
that it is for God
and by God
that we are working
and building.
You see,
work isn't the punishment
for Adam's disobedience.
Work is purpose.
That's what he was put here
in the garden to do.
And so when we
work with obedience to God,
work becomes worship.
So that means that
no matter what you do
for a living,
no matter how you spend
your days building,
whatever it is you're building,
we're building something
when we're building with God
that's not going to crumble.
It's not going to disintegrate
into dust.
Okay, second point.
How do you sleep at night?
So the psalmist, I think,
seems to know about the UK's
mental health at work crisis
thousands of years ago.
In the second half of verse one,
he says,
unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It's in vain that you rise up early
and go to bed
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil.
I mean,
I wonder if you can relate
to getting up early,
staying up late,
trying to get ahead
and not feeling like
you're making any progress.
Or maybe you have.
Maybe you've got up early,
you've gone to bed late
and you have made progress.
You've got the promotion,
you've got the pay rise,
you've built yourself
a reputation as somebody
who gets things done,
but that's only resulted
in you being given
more to do.
So you have to get up early,
you have to go to bed late,
you have to stay away
from home longer,
you have to go to bed
later and later.
Sometimes, maybe,
for some of us,
it feels like success
in work itself.
Without God is a curse.
The more you get ahead,
the more you have to work,
the less you get to rest.
And I think the psalmist
hits the nail on the head
for our society
when he writes the phrase,
eating the bread of anxious toil.
So the bread of anxious toil
is not an artisan loaf
from 12 triangles.
In Hebrew,
the word bread
can be used to refer
to any form of food.
So this is the way
that we keep ourselves alive.
And he's saying,
you're giving your life
over to the grind
and your reward
is indigestion.
Have you been so anxious?
Are you so anxious in life
that you feel
that you can't even
swallow down food properly?
Have you been so worried
about what lies ahead,
about what you might lose,
that your favorite food
doesn't bring you any pleasure?
Have things,
good things,
like food and drink,
almost become an anesthetic
to help you cope
with the pressure you feel
from the people
and the work
that you have to do?
Well,
this is another question.
Is that because,
functionally,
you're living
and even eating
as an atheist?
Do you go to work,
come to the dinner table,
even,
don't even get to the table.
You sit on the sofa
or you sit
in the driver's seat
of your car
on your way
to another meeting
because you've got
to keep going.
And then you lie down
in your bed exhausted,
riddled with anxiety
because you think,
this is all down to me.
Well,
the second half of verse one
speaks about protection,
about keeping the things
that we're building,
of how futile it is
to stay up all night
guarding our stuff
as if we can protect it
on our own.
when we're scrambling
to hold on
to our material possessions
without the Lord,
without relying on God,
without being confident
that he is with us.
It's like that dream
people talk about
where they've got coins
and they just keep
falling through
your fingers.
That's what our material
stuff is like.
We can't hold on to it.
J.D. Rockefeller,
when he died,
he was,
they said that he was
the richest man
in the world.
probably the richest man
that I'd ever been.
And somebody asked
his accountant,
how much did he leave?
And his accountant said,
he left all of it.
The psalmist is saying,
worrying,
building,
and protecting in life
becomes meaningless.
But he's saying
it's meaningless
because we don't rely on God.
So here it is,
right at the end of verse 2,
in the center of this psalm,
here's the solution
to our tendency
to fall into workaholism
on one hand,
anxiety on the other.
The Lord gives
his beloved sleep.
C.S. Lewis,
who wrote the Narnia series,
was a Christian thinker as well.
And he said this about work.
He said,
if we thought we were
building up a heaven on earth,
if we looked for something
that would turn the present world
from a black pilgrimage
into a permanent city
satisfying the soul of man,
we're disillusioned.
But if we thought
that for some souls,
and at some times,
the life of learning,
humbly offered to God,
was in its own small way
one of the appointed approaches
to the divine reality
and the divine beauty
to which we hope
to enjoy hereafter,
we can think so still.
So Lewis is saying
that whether you're
an engineer,
a joiner,
a nursery teacher,
we can rest safe
in the knowledge
that when we're working
with God,
we are working
for God's kingdom.
And as Lewis puts it,
we can think so still.
Or as Psalm 127 puts it,
the Lord gives
his beloved sleep.
It's such a humbling
humbling and beautiful reminder
of the limits of humanity,
the limits that we have ourselves,
our own frailty,
and also God's care
for his people,
that every night
we have to lie down
for about a third of our lives
and be blind,
defenseless,
unconscious
for hours at a time.
There's a beautiful song
by a Scottish singer-songwriter,
he's called John Martin,
and it's called
May You Never,
and the repeated refrain
in that song
is,
may you never lay your head down
without a hand to hold,
may you never make your bed
out in the cold.
And this is what Psalm 127
is telling us
about God
and sleep.
anxious about
what you're building
or about how you're going
to hold on
to the things
that you have.
God's saying to everyone
who trusts him,
come and lay down,
take my hand,
and know
that I'm watching
over you.
And God gives
his beloved sleep.
This is a precious gift,
in fact,
sleep's two precious gifts
in one.
It refreshes us
and it restains us
but it also reminds us
that we're not in control
and that God is.
And that means
that our life
doesn't come down
to us.
We sang Psalm 121
earlier on
and that Psalm asks,
when I look to the hills,
fearing danger,
where will my help
come from?
And the answer is,
the Lord keeps me.
And that word keep,
in Psalm 121,
it's used
six different times
and it's the same route
that we have
in Psalm 127
for watchers over
or watchmen.
So while
Psalm 127
tells us
that God
gifts
his people sleep,
Psalm 121
reminds us
that God
never sleeps.
And so we can lay down
safe and secure
in the fact
that
although we can't guard
all the things
of our lives,
God can.
Do you feel like
you're in need
of this secure,
peace-filled,
life-giving sleep?
Because I do.
Which is probably why
Matthew,
Matthew chapter 11,
28 to 30
is my favorite
verses
in the Bible.
Jesus says,
come to me,
all you who labor
and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me,
for I'm gentle
and lowly in heart
and you will find rest
for your souls,
for my yoke is easy
and my burden
is light.
And then it's interesting
that straight after
recounting these words,
Matthew writes
that Jesus is Lord
of the Sabbath,
the God-ordained
time of resting in him.
It's also a shadow
of the wonderful
forever rest
that lies ahead
of people
who put their trust
in Jesus.
So if you want to rest
from the anxiety
of toil,
the struggle
of building
and protecting life,
accept Jesus
and come to him.
Put on Jesus' yoke
which is light
and easy.
But here's the thing,
to put on
this light
and easy yoke,
we have to take off
the heavy,
difficult yoke
of whatever it is
that's dragging us down.
Is it living up
to people's expectations?
Is it protecting
the things that you have
because you think
it all relies
on you?
Life doesn't become easy
necessarily overnight
when you put your trust
in Jesus.
It's not what he's
saying here.
But it does become
more peaceful
because we rest
not in what we've
stored up for a rainy
day,
but because of what
God has done
through Jesus,
his beloved,
for his beloved.
And that takes us
to our third,
final point.
Who is our
eternal inheritance?
Well,
the psalmist has told us
that one gift from God
has been able to sleep
even although we're
traveling through
a cursed world
and working
in a cursed workplace.
And that tells us
of a second blessing
that he gives to people
and that's children.
Verse 3 says,
Behold,
children are a heritage
from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb
a reward.
He calls his children
a heritage,
an inheritance,
and he calls them
a reward or wages.
So,
first of all,
I think maybe poignantly
that it's Mother's Day
today,
I didn't plan this,
but it gives
incredible honor
to those who
are raising children.
So,
those precious souls,
precious gifts
from God.
When I was in school,
we would say,
my mom just
stays at home.
Just.
C.S. Lewis
would disagree
with that just.
To paraphrase something
he wrote in a letter once
about,
it's a woman
who was struggling
being a mom,
everything was difficult.
And he said,
the homemaker
has the ultimate career.
All other careers
exist for one purpose
and that's to support
the ultimate career.
So,
keeping those at home
fed,
warm,
and safe
is the most important job
that there is,
Lewis says.
But it's not
a career
where you get
pay rises.
You don't get
promotions,
you don't get
an OBE
for services
to staying up
for 72 hours
straight
while your kids
are vomiting.
But the Lord knows.
He knows
that you read
your Bible
to your children
when nobody else
could possibly know.
He knows that
when you hold
your baby crying
and praying
at 3am
when you feel
like everyone else
in the world
is asleep.
He knows
that you need
him to be there
with you.
The psalmist
is saying
to you,
carer,
the Lord knows.
And the Lord's
not putting
a tally mark
onto your sheet
saying,
good job,
well done.
It's a credit
to your account.
He's saying,
my beloved,
I'm right here
with you
singing with you
to your little baby.
As you teach them
to pray,
I'm with you.
I'm the one
making those
precious seeds grow.
Trust me
to care for you
as you care
for your children.
And then in verses
4 and 5,
the psalmist
kind of suddenly
changes tone
because he chooses
battle language
to describe children.
He calls them
arrows in the hands
of a warrior.
He calls the one
who has them blessed.
The one with many
children will not
be put to shame
in front of his enemies.
So in the ancient world,
children,
and particularly
sons,
because of the society
they lived in,
they were protection.
More men
meant more power.
And having sons
was a sign of blessing
because it literally
meant you had
more workforce,
more soldiers,
whatever you need
those men
to be.
The references
to being not
to be shamed
in the city gates
because in those days
they would gather
at the gates
of the city
and make decisions,
make judgments
about how things
were going
to be handled.
So having somebody
in the family
capable of representing
you well
was super important.
So I think
we can think
about children
as arrows
in terms of the church.
So the church
passes from generation
to generation
and in itself
is extraordinary
when you think
about that.
And it's through
covenant children
that the church
will continue right
until the very end
of the age.
These arrows
are prepared
and they're sent.
That's also how God
through the church
pushes back
into the darkness,
pushing against
the forces of darkness
with a quiver
full of shards
of light.
We were
in the garden
a little while ago
thinking about
work
and protection
takes us back there
as well I think
because Adam
was to work
in the garden
but he was also
part of that job
was to protect it
and he failed.
He failed twice
as a protector.
He failed to protect
the garden
but he also failed
to protect his eve
from the snake.
And this just shows us
how desperately
we need
a protector.
Someone who will come
and protect us.
We need a son
who can place us
in a garden
and never let anyone
come and harm us.
The talk of children
can sometimes feel
awkward or problematic
because we know
that not everybody
is going to be a parent
and that's utterly
heartbreaking for people
and
it feels as though
speaking about children
is something
difficult to do.
but we know
that the Lord
can bring peace
to even the most
broken hearted.
If that's you
if you're in that position
you're not any less
beloved
because God
hasn't given you
children.
So to help us
understand the full
significance
I think
of what this message
about children
really means
we need to think
about the psalm
in the original
context
that it exists.
this is a psalm
of ascent
so this would have
been likely sung
by the children
of Israel
as they journeyed
up to Jerusalem
to worship God
in the temple
and to commemorate
their great feasts.
So there's 15 psalms
of ascent
and psalm 127
is the one right
in the middle
like the peak
in the pyramid
and this psalm
is attributed
to Solomon
so Solomon
was king of Israel
I don't know
if it was
two by or for Solomon
different people
think different things
maybe he commissioned
the song
because he was the one
who built the temple
and that's where
God's priests served
on behalf of the people
or maybe it was
written by Solomon
we know that he wrote
1005 songs
or maybe it's dedicated
to Solomon
because he's the one
who's kind of
the epitome
of human success
he's got all the wealth
and all the knowledge
the wisdom
but he came
to a disappointing end
when he started
to build without the Lord
people used to say
or some people say
that this psalm
is actually
two proverbs
kind of spliced together
so you've got
the first couple of verses
that are about building
and then you've got
the next three verses
that are about children
but I don't think
that's the case
and one of the reasons
I think that that's
not the case
that this psalm
is clearly one
combined thought
is a play on words
in the story
of 2 Samuel 7
so there David
who's Solomon's dad
David's king
and he decides himself
that he's going to
build a house
to the Lord
but God says to David
you're going to build
me a house
no
I'm going to build
you a house
when David said house
like in verse 1
he meant a temple
he's going to build
a temple for the Lord
but when God said house
he meant a dynasty
or a heritage
like in verse 3
God was going to build
David
a kingly line
of succession
and Solomon
inherited his father's throne
but it's from
this Davidic
kingly line
that the true
the great
king
was going to come
in Matthew
we can read
Jesus' genealogy
and it tells us
the genealogy
of Jesus Christ
the son of David
so Jesus
it's Jesus
who's the true
fulfillment
of the kingly
house of David
Solomon
he built
a physical temple
a house
where God
would dwell
God's presence
would be
with his people
but Jesus
is the temple
God himself
come to live
with his people
and Jesus
is also
the forever priest
in the temple
who makes sacrifices
and stands
before God
on behalf
of his people
so Jesus
is the temple
and Jesus
also said
he was going
to make
his people
his church
to be a living
temple
in Genesis
Jesus
God didn't just
curse the ground
and leave it
to rot
he promised
that the offspring
of the woman
the fruit of her womb
would come
and crush
the enemy
and that's Jesus
Jesus has come
and he's broken
the curse
and even although
we're still living
in a world
that's fallen
and broken
and where
work and security
and even family
so often feel
difficult
when we put
our trust
in Jesus
we get to
live
in him
work
rest
and praying
because we're
covered
by his righteousness
his goodness
so that means
that while
work rest
and play
might still be hard
God is teaching us
that he is with us
but also
that something
better
is waiting
for us
in John 14
2
Jesus says
he's going
to prepare
a place
for his people
in his father's
house
the forever
temple
so Jesus
is the one
from the kingly
line of David
who wasn't
welcomed
as a king
but who was
mocked
and slandered
and rejected
who wasn't
defended
in the gate
in front of his
enemies
but he was put
outside the city
to die
despite his
divine power
and strength
he didn't pursue
riches
or wealth
even his own
comfort
but he humbled
himself
and completed
the work
that God
gave him
to do
even to the
point
of death
God's beloved
became cursed
for us
not so that
we can make
more money
or get bigger
houses
or even
as heartbreaking
as it is
for some
people
to have
a family
so that we
can live
in this
new garden
city
that was
designed
and built
by God
where work
will never
be in vain
but will be
utterly
satisfying
where peace
and tranquility
will reign
because God
will live
with his
people
at the end
of the Bible
it talks
about
Jesus
as a
bridegroom
coming
for his
bride
and that's
the church
the bride
of Christ
is the church
when instead
of eating
anxious toil
the bread
of anxious toil
will feast
with Jesus
at a marriage
supper
Jesus finished
the work
that God
his father
gave him
to do
so that he
could bring
his people
glorious
blissful
eternal
rest
let's
pray
Lord God
we ask
that you
would bless
us to this
day
we
confess
we so
often
attempt
to build
our lives
on foundations
that are not
sure and
certain
we're often
so
tempted
to build
on our
own strength
or rely
on other
people
put pressure
on them
to deliver
for us
Lord help
us to be
looking to
you for
everything
that we
need
realizing
that Jesus
is our
greatest
treasure
the true
treasure
the one
thing
needful
and that
we would
be
our whole
lives
would be
oriented
around
pursuing
him
forgive us
for our
sins
in Jesus
name
Amen