Works: Setting Up Camp
Series: The Great Adventure, Lessons
We’re going to move on this morning in our series on “The Great Adventure”. We’re using the Psalms of Ascent found in Ps. 120-134 to describe for us what we can expect to encounter as we live the Christian life.
This morning we’re going to be looking at the quality of life you can expect as you follow in the Lords footsteps. Ps. 126, 127 & 128 speak to superiority of the Christian life over every other philosophy of life that you can find out there.
And from each of these Ps. we’re going to look at a quality statement that David makes, and what it means.
To start out, lets read Ps. 126 from the Message version of the bible…
You need to know this morning that the Christian way of life is far SUPERIOR to every other way of living!
Now when I say that, I may sound a little bit ‘superior’ myself… but it’s the truth! Even if eternal life wasn’t part of the deal that God makes with us… living the Christian way of life would STILL be the best way to live life!
Listen to what God does for the person who decides to obey and follow Him… (write this down)
First…
1. He delivers us from the HOPELESSNESS of mundane living
One of the most surprising things you discover as you start your Christian life is how much laughter you hear, and how much fun you’re actually having! It takes you totally by surprise!
It’s all of the fun you thought you were having when you were drinking… but none of the hangovers!
It’s all of the enjoyment you used to have at parties, without any of the lingering guilt!
If you’re around the people of this church for any length of time, you’ll begin to see how much genuine, fun we’re having! And it’s all because of what God is doing in our hearts.
Now I know there may be a few so-called Christians you meet along the way that look like they’ve been sucking on sour lemons all their life
… but I’d say, all of the stories of Christians who can’t crack a smile or enjoy a good joke (for the most part), are a stereotype designed by the devil to keep people from what they’re really looking for!
The psalmist says… “We laughed, we sang, we couldn’t believe our good fortune.”
When you really begin to understand what God did when He saved you… you’re amazed at your good fortune in finding Him, or more correctly… that God found you!
Like bubbles in a soda, the joy just starts welling up in you! In fact, joy is one of the signs that you’ve truly found God.
I’d go so far as to say, that if you’re not experiencing true joy this morning… if you’re not genuinely excited about what God is doing in your life… I’d question whether you really are a Christian! Because joy is basic equipment for the Christian walk.
It’s the 2nd fruit in Paul’s list of the ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ in Gal.5:22…
He says, “These are the characteristics that a true believer will exhibit as a result of having God’s Spirit in their lives… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control!”
The bible says that joy is one of the “fruit” not because it’s a requirement of Christian living… but because it’s a consequence. Joy is one of the by-products of having God’s Spirit in your life.
When you become a Christian, you’re life begins to look more like a party than it does a wake! When Jesus was asked in “What is your kingdom like?”
He didn’t put it in negative terms… he put it in positive terms. In Mt. 9:14 and other places He said, “My kingdom is like a wedding feast!”
Ever been to a wedding? Is it a sour, down in the mouth occasion? NO! It’s a joyful celebration! It’s a lot of fun!
People who think Jesus was this somber, serious, melancholy person all the time, haven’t read their bibles very well! His first miracle was done while he was attending a wedding party!
Now Jesus was Jewish and let me tell you something… Jews know how to throw a wedding! Ever been to a Jewish wedding? The only difference between an Jewish wedding and an Jewish funeral, is that there’s one less person at the funeral! It’s still a party!
Jesus said, “If you want to get a good taste of what being a part of my kingdom is like, go to a Jewish wedding! That’s what it’s like! And I’m the bridegroom! As long as the bridegroom’s around, you don’t fast and mourn… you party!”
It’s still that way! Being a part of Jesus’ kingdom brings joy to your life and delivers you from mundane living!
Tony Campolo described what it’s like to live as a Christian in one of his most famous messages… Remember Zaccheus in Luke 19? The man people loved to hate. Ripped off everybody in town! Jesus comes to town, crowds are lining the road, pushing, shoving, trying to get a look… & little “Z” can’t see… so he climbs up in a tree!
Remember the little song you learned in S.S.? (sing)…and he said… “Zacchaeus, you’re a dirty rotten sinner and you’re going to burn in hell forever!”
That’s not what he said is it? No! He said, “Hey Zac! We’re going to your house today… we’re going to have a PARTY!” Zac. changed his life around that day and became one of Jesus’ most devoted followers!
Then there’s the prodigal son. Heres a kid who takes ½ of his fathers money, then goes off and wastes it! Sounds like sending a kid to college doesn’t it?
Joins some “Frat House”, (I don’t know). But he ends up poor, out of money, and the only job he can get is slopping the pigs! You party with the world, that’s where you end up! Surrounded by filth!
He’s sitting there, thinking, “This is no good, I think I’ll go back home!” Now folks, if you blow ½ of your Father’s income… you had better rehearse your lines!
And so all the way home, he’s practicing his lines…
“I have sinned against heaven and earth, Father forgive me, I no longer deserve to be called your son, make me one of your hired servants” (oh he’s getting it down pat!)
He’s practicing and practicing and practicing… and His Father sees him from a long way off… runs to him… throws his arms around that kid… and he starts his speech… “Father I have sinned…” Dads not listening… “Go get a robe, this kids in rags!”
“I’m no longer worthy to be called your son”….
“Get a ring, put it on his finger!...”
“Oh Father, make me one of your servants”… “Shut up would ya?”
“There’s a fat calf out behind that barn… go out and kill that sucker! We’re gonna have a… party!”
All that to say, “There’s great joy when 1 sinner comes home!” That’s the way it oughta be in the Fathers house! We ought to be celebrating the fact that God has delivered us from a mundane life!
But instead, I see so many Christians acting more like the elder brother. Ever read the rest of the Prodigal Son story?
The older brother sees all this commotion and begins to complain … Can’t you just hear him? “I’ve been here for 40 yrs. Always done the right thing, faithful in season, and out of season… and nobody ever threw a party for me!” (no wonder!)
You say, “What’s the older brother got up his crawl?” I’ll tell you what his problem was…He’d forgotten what a privilege it was to live in the Fathers house!
You say, “Is that a possibility?” You better believe it! I think a lot of long-time Christians have lost their joy, because they’ve forgotten how good they’ve got it… and how rotten it is outside of God’s care and blessing!
That’s why I think it’s so good for a church to filled with newly returned prodigals! It reminds the rest of us how good God is!
The center sentence in this Psalm is… “We are one happy people!”Why are we ‘one happy people’? Well, according to this verse it’s because… “God returned Israels exiles”.
For 400 years God’s people had been in slavery, building Egyptian pyramids, under the whip of Pharaohs harsh taskmasters. And then, suddenly, without warning…it was over.
One day their making bricks out of straw… they next their running up the slopes of the Red Sea, shouting a song of victory as God wipes out their enemies.
That’s the way it is when you 1st come to Christ! You’re no longer a slave to your sin! You’re set free to be all God created you to be!
Addictions? Gone! Past sins? Gone! Hopelessness? Gone!
He says, “It was a dream, almost too good to be true!” See, Joy has a history. No one knows how it happens, but it just happens suddenly, almost miraculously as you continue to follow God and stay involved in what He’s doing. And because joy has a history, you can depend on God to do it again!
Does that mean after you begin to follow God you’ll never have a down moment? Never another depressing thought? Not at all! But what it DOES mean is, now that you know what God has done in your past, you can project His faithfulness into your future!
The psalmist says, “and now God… do it again! Bring rain to our drought stricken lives!”
I’m a Christian, I go through “drought times” when I don’t think God is paying any attention. I deal with “doubt times”, wondering if He’s ever going to answer my prayers…
But you know what the difference is between me and the non-Christian? Because of my history with God, I know that all the suffering, all the pain, all the disappointment I’m going through right now… aren’t going to be wasted (like they used to be)… but that God uses every bad thing that comes into my life… as seed.
And if I sow it, (by giving those problems to him)…. eventually, just as sure as if I plant a pumpkin seed there’s going to be a pumpkin come Halloween… in time, I’m going to reap a harvest from it!
So those who planted their crops in despair,
will shout hurrahs at the harvest,
So those who went off with heavy hearts
will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing.”
That’s the difference in the Christian life! God never wastes a tear, God never wastes a sorrow… He uses them as seeds for a “harvest of joy” in my life!
He delivers me from the HOPELESSNESS that so many other people have, who are trying to live their lives independent of Him!
I have hope! And because I have hope, I don’t have to go through life methodically plodding along, fearful, cringing, wondering what terrible thing is going to happen to me next!
Let’s look at the 2nd promise that makes Christian living superior to every other option out there!
2. Deliverance from the EMPTINESS of meaningless work
Let’s read Ps. 127…
Considering the fact that you’re going to spend 40% of your waking hours in this life working at your job… your work has a lot to do with the quality of your life.
If you like your work, life is good… but what if you don’t? It means you’re going to spend an awful lot of time frustrated and unfulfilled!
I don’t know if you read “Dilbert” or not, but Scott Adams in the book, “The Dibert Principle”, says what a lot of employees can only think. Listen to “Dilberts Laws of Work”
1. Don’t be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted!
2. When you don’t know what to do, walk fast and look worried.
3. Everything can be filed under ‘miscellaneous’.
4. If you’re good, you will be assigned all the work. If you’re really good,
you’ll get out of it.
5. If it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.
6. Keep you boss’s boss off your boss’s back
7. Eat one live toad the first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will
happen to you the rest of the day.
How many of you can relate to some of those Laws?
When it comes to work, if we’re not real careful, we lose track of why we’re doing what we’re doing, and who we’re doing it for! God knows that and so Psalm 127 shows both the right way and the wrong way to look at your work.
First off, He posts a warning… “If God doesn’t build the house, the builders only build shacks! It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, to work your tired fingers to the bone! ”
You need to know that nowhere in the bible does God condemn work. In fact, He not only encourages it, but He models it! The first book of the bible starts with God (you guessed it)…working! He created the heavens and the earth! Gen. 1 is a journal of work. So if God does it… it must be alright!
See, God’s not against hard work… but He IS against working for the wrong reasons. Ps. 127 is telling us that the curse of some peoples lives isn’t work… it’s senseless work, meaningless work, futile work… work that takes us away from God.
Now this may come as a shock to some of you, but the main reason God wants us to work is NOT to make more money and get more things!
On 20/20 one night Barbara Walters was interviewing a mega-millionare and asked him, “Has money made you happy?” He said very bluntly, “NO. Anyone who thinks money will make you happy doesn’t have any money!”
Another millionaire put it this way…
“When a man’s possessions increase, it seems there’s a corresponding increase in the number of parasites who live off them; Management consultants, tax advisers, accountants, lawyers, household employees, and sponging relatives.”
You know, if you’re poor this morning you have an advantage over the rich. (oh?) Yea! At least you can still cling to the illusion that money will make you happy!
Some people become work-a-holics out of a deep need to gain some sense of significance, to be a somebody…
But each of those motivations eventually end in disillusionment…It’s like Lily Tomlin once said, “The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat!”
This Ps. is telling us that without the proper purpose, all of our sacrifices…(getting up early, putting in overtime, fighting traffic, getting home late, working our tired fingers to the bone)…“are useless!” Solomon calls them, “chasing after the wind!”
“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.”
Listen, our work will never be fulfilling if it becomes the principal means of being fulfilled. (did you hear that?) If the Lord isn’t central in building your house… you’re wasting your time!
In otherwords, true contentment, true joy, true fulfillment in your work only comes when you get the reasons right… and the only true reason for work (according to the bible), is twofold…to please God & provide for others.
Investing our energies in serving God and other people are the only worthwhile reasons to work. See, our work is not the ultimate end, it’s the means to other ends!
Need an example? Ps. 127 provides it. He says, “Take your eyes off your work for a second and take a look at your family. They’re an example of the ultimate reason you do what you do. David writes, “Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift! Oh, how blessed are you parents!”
See, work is the means, but “family” is the end goal! How easily we forget that sometimes! They are what gives our work meaning!
Patrick Morley in book “Man in the Mirror”, (Joshua’s Men are reading), gives a warning when it comes to balancing work and family… “No amount of success at the job will compensate for failure at home. To succeed in work, but fail at home is to fail completely.”
A lot of parents today are suffering from the “Weekend Parent Syndrome”. They slave away at their work so hard Mon.-Friday, that they rarely see the kids except on weekends.
See, the 2 main ways we provide for our families are through money and time. But we’re making a BIG mistake when we give our kids enough money, but not enough time. See, money represents everything that’s NOT you… but your time IS you!
The problem is, we tend to steal time from those who need us the most, to give it to those who need us the least!
Ps. 127 says, “Don’t you know that He enjoys giving rest to those He loves?” One of the greatest gifts God can give you in your work is the gift of contentment. Contentment frees you from pursuing the urgent at the cost of the important. It frees you from the rat race!
Want to know what the secret to job contentment is? Now listen closely… The secret to job contentment is not getting what you want…but redefining what you need. (let me say that again.)
One of the things we need to redefine is our role from an owner to a steward.
Listen to Col.3:22-24 (READ)
The 2nd purpose of work is to please God. So, when you allow God to be the owner… He may ask you to stay on and be the “branch manager”, but you’re no longer working for what YOU want, you’re working for what God wants!
Now listen, because as soon as you redefine who your real boss is… (the Lord) contentment will take the place of meaningless work in your life!
That’s the quality of life you can expect as you follow in the Lords footsteps! And then lastly… when you sign on to follow God all the way, you will experience…
3. Deliverance from the REGRET of a manmade life.
Lets read Ps. 128 together…
Wow! Did you catch that? Did you see how many times the word blessed is used? Did you hear how many good things come to the person who fears and obeys God?
This Ps. begins with 3 descriptive promises…
1. You’re blessed if you fear God.
2. You deserve all the good things you’ve got coming
3. Enjoy the blessing and revel in the goodness!
Then it concludes with 3 powerful pronouncements …
1. How He blesses the one who fears God
2. Enjoy the good life!
3. Enjoy the long life… enjoy your grandchildren!
That all adds up to the good life for the man or woman of God I mean, who wouldn’t want to get in on that?
See one of the biggest lies out there today is that once you become a Christian, get ready for extreme difficulty. But they’ve got it all mixed up!
One of the easiest things in the world is to be a Christian. What’s hard, is living a life of sin! It’s the difference between a manmade life and a God-made life.
See, being a Christian is what we were created for. God made a world with a whole set of rules, principles and regulations that fit in perfectly with His will for us. So, if we go along with His directions, they’re going to bring nothing but blessing. That’s a God-made life.
It’s when we decide we have a better way, that we know better… that we get in trouble. That’s a manmade life! Someone once said, “You can’t break the 10 commandments… they break you!”
Just think about all the heartache that’s come into the world because we refuse to live by these 10 simple commands!
The bible says, “Don’t commit adultery”… but when we decide ignore this command, what’s the fallout? Divorce, custody battles, broken homes, absentee Dads, teen pregnancy, abortions, welfare, pornography, sex crimes… the list goes on and on… and that’s just ONE broken commandment!
People who are constantly breaking the rules, trying other roads, attempting to make-up their own system of values and truth as they go… end up in a ditch!
They’re like Hiker Hal… trying to set up their tent without first reading the instructions! Instead of making the kind of life they wanted, they end up spending all of their time calling up others to get them out of trouble and repair their damaged lives.
Then they ask the silly question… “What went wrong?”
It’s like H.H. Farmer once said, “If you go against the grain of the universe…you get splinters!”
Don’t be a fool! God wants to rescue from the regret of a manmade life! He wants to save you the time and the effort of making all the mistakes yourself! How many of you know that you don’t have enough time in life to make all the mistakes yourself?
Instead of making detours and wasting valuable time, why not do what Ps. 128 tells us to do…”walk on the smooth straight road!”
You know, of all the people I’ve met in my life, I’ve yet to meet one person who doesn’t want to be happy! Everyone wants to be happy! Everyone wants to be blessed!
The problem is… very few people are willing to acknowledge that only Jesus Christ knows how to deliver! They want to achieve meaning in their lives, but they’re unwilling to take the well-traveled road that leads there!
Let me put it as bluntly as I know how…without Jesus Christ in your life, you’re doing it the hard way! It’s not Christians who have it hard… it’s NON-Christians who’ve got it hard!
God’s ways, and God’s presence are where we experience the happiness that lasts! So, why not do it the easy way!
“All who fear God, how blessed you are! How happily you walk on the smooth straight road!”
Ps. 127,128,129… describe for us how to have a high quality life… it’s time to take God up on His promise!
