YOUR HOUSE Is The LORD's HOUSE-IV—Psalm 127:1-5
Attention:
Change with no Change:
Years ago, there was an old tale in the Marine Corps about a lieutenant who inspected his marines & told the ‘gunny’(gunnery sergeant) that they smelled bad...in fact, they stunk to high heaven! The lieutenant demanded that they change their underwear.
The Gunny responded, 'Yes, sir, I'll see to it immediately'.
He went into the tent & said, 'The lieutenant says you guys stink, & he wants you to change your underwear! Smith, you change with Jones, McCarthy, you change with Wiltkowskie, Brown, you change with Schultz. Get to it'.
The Gunny’s 'house’ was not fully the Lieutenant’s ‘house’!
Your house is the Lord’s house. What you do with it must honor him!
By the Holy Spirit, the author of Ps. 127 compels the reader, & singer of these truths, to ensure the heritage of the Lord’s house.
Every successful ‘house’ is built & maintained by the Lord.
*When is your house the Lord’s House?
7 affirmations/evidences that your house is the Lord’s house.
We have previously found that...
Your ‘house’ is the Lord’s ‘house’ when...
1. Your LABOR Is The Lord’s(:1a-b)
2. Your WATCH Is The Lord’s(:1c-d)
3. Your TIME/Attentiveness Is The Lord’s(:2)
4. Your HERITAGE Is The Lord’s(:3)Lineage/Progeny
Likewise today we will find that...
5—Your house is the Lord’s house when...
Your WEAPONRY Is The Lord’s(:4)
Explanation:(:4)Offense/Testimony
:4—“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth.”
By virtue of “children” being a “heritage” & “reward”, they are can be compared to or are similar to or are “like” a “warrior’s” “arrows.”
Children are as near & dear to one’s household in the same manner as “arrows” are near & dear to a “warrior.”
*?In what way(s) do “arrows in the hand of a warrior” speak to “the children of one’s youth”?
They are a part of who the warrior is...They are part of who the parent(s) is(are).
They are the warrior’s(& parent’s) offensive projectors & defensive protectors from enemy encroachment by keeping the enemy subdued & humbled. They bring fear to the enemy.
They give the warrior(& parents) peace of mind & heart.
They are what the warrior(& parents) needs & trusts in to accomplish all that is before him(them). An extension of the warrior(& parents).
Like “arrows” they touch, enter, & destroy that which opposes God.
Once shot/fired, the nearness to their intended target speaks of the integrity of the ones who shot/raised them.
When children are in Christ, they are effective weapons against the enemies of God by being true/faithful to Him...Their faith is extended to others.
Rom. 1:14-17—“I am a debtor both to Greeks & to barbarians, both to wise & to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first & also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
No one can approach the enemy, or “hunt or defend themselves with crooked arrows! Just as straight arrows are indispensable for the success of the archer, so are strong children[indispensable for] the success of society!”
“It’s a frightening thing when a child, at...a young age, becomes crooked in their thinking, in their behavior & in their morals…once society breaks the child’s [Christian]foundation – [Secular]society as it is, does not have the power to fix it!”—Dave Kinney(SermonCentral) Why “of one’s youth”?...
Children should be conceived thru our initial commitment to raise them in the nurture/training & admonition of the Lord(Eph. 6:4).
If we wait to have children until we’ve ‘made our millions’, then our commitment to raising them properly is actually founded on money & flesh rather than God’s glory.
If we wait to have children until we’ve ‘made our millions’, then we will not live long enough nor have strength enough to affect their proper upbringing as has been designed.
Godly parents get to experience their children’s commitment to God in Christ. They remain interactive with & continually instill Christian(godly) values in their adult children.
Those who have their children too late in life, grow old & pass away without witnessing & interacting with their children’s onslaught/battles with & against evil(Eph. 6:10-20).
Someone has said, “An arrow is only as good as the bow that shoots it.” But don't be monolithic or confuse the metaphor in our text with that!
Unfaithful children are, in many ways, an affront to Christian parents. Unfaithful children can be ‘rightly’ or ‘wrongly’ interpreted as representative of parenting ability.
Unfortunately Christians may find themselves 'wrongly' judging Christian parents because their children stray from or outright reject Jesus!
Suppose your children are lost/unsaved. Does that make you a non-Christian?...Does it make the parent(s) a failure?...NO!...
It makes your children so arrogant that they have chosen, thus far, to reject the knowledge of God that they have been raised with—having been raised in the training/nurture & admonition of the Lord in your Christian home!(Eph. 6:4)
*Children raised in a Christian home, whether they admit it or not, are fully aware of the reality of belonging to Jesus, versus the ‘popular’ version of what it means to be a Christian.
*Children are insider witnesses to & champions of their parent’s integrity...Christian or not!
Eph. 6:1-4—“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father & mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you & you may live long on the earth.” And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training(nurture—KJV) & admonition of the Lord.”
?Why do you think this exhortation was penned for children & fathers particularly?...Because both have multiple responsibilities toward each other in securing & maintaining their relationship to God thru the Lord Jesus!...Influence!
1Cor. 7:10-16—“Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, & she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, & the unbelieving wife is sanctified by ... the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?”
Argumentation:
Heb. 4:10-16—“For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example[Israel’s failures] of disobedience. For the word of God is living & powerful, & sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul & spirit, & of joints & marrow, & is a discerner of the thoughts & intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked & open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy & find grace to help in time of need.”
1Sam. 8:1-8—“Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel, & the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, & perverted justice. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together & came to Samuel at Ramah, & said to him, “Look, you are old, & your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day--with which they have forsaken Me & served other gods--so they are doing to you also.”
1Thess. 4:3-8—“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification & honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of & defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you & testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.”
Jn. 12:44-49—“Then Jesus cried out & said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words & does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, & does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say & what I should speak.”
1Jn. 2:28-3:3—“And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence & not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; & it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
Eph. 6:10-13—“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord & in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh & blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, & having done all, to stand.”
Josh. 24:14-15—“Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity & in truth, & put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River & in Egypt. Serve the LORD! “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me & my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Illustration:
The math teacher saw that little Davie wasn't paying attention in class.
She called on him & said, "Davie! What are 2 & 4 & 28 & 44?"
Little Davie quickly replied, "NBC, CBS, HBO & the Cartoon Network!”/Neglected WEAPONRY—Parental supervision is necessary!
Application:
?Is YOUR WEAPONRY the Lord’s WEAPONRY?
?Is Your house the Lord’s house?
?Will whatever you ‘build’ survive eternally?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Smith, you change with Jones, McCarthy, you change with Wiltkowskie, Brown, you change with Schultz!--The Gunny’s 'house’ was not fully the Lieutenant’s ‘house’!
Action:
Your ‘house’ is the Lord’s ‘house’ when...
5. Your WEAPONRY Is The Lord’s(:4)
1. Your LABOR Is The Lord’s(:1a-b)
2. Your WATCH Is The Lord’s(:1c-d)
3. Your TIME/Attentiveness Is The Lord’s(:2)
4. Your PROGENY/Heritage/Lineage Is The Lord’s(:3)
Pt. 5 only! Presented 08/20/2017am to:
FBC Cbelle
206 Storrs Ave. SW(SE Ave. ‘A’)
Carrabelle, FL 32322
