Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways.
You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table.
Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD (Psalm 128:1-4).
Psalm 128 is labeled a song of ascent. The “songs of ascent” were likely psalms that were sung by bands of pilgrims on their way to the yearly feasts in Jerusalem. Because a person always went up to Jerusalem, if one sung these psalms on the way, they were songs of ascent, sung as one ascended to Jerusalem and to the Temple mount. Let’s experience this Psalm together today.
For eight weeks now we’ve been making over our homes. First, we realized that none of us has a perfect family and agreed that there were things we could change. Second, we gutted our house. We looked at our personal life and our family life and sledged out those things that didn’t belong. Then, we stopped to accept and promise to follow God’s plan for our home, the Bible. Then we started going through the house room by room. We made over the living room, a place for values. Then we made over the kitchen, a place for nourishment. Next, we moved to the master bedroom, a place for love. Once through there, we stopped off and made over the kid’s room, a place for testing. Now, we’re finished. Well, you may have a few years of work left on your home, but we are done with learning how to do that work.
On the television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, this would be the episode when the family finally sees the finished product. Of course, the family members jump up and down, cry, and generally make absolute fools of themselves, and rightly so, because their house is much better than they ever expected.
I believe that if we will makeover our families according to God’s plan, the plan we have laid out in the previous weeks, our homes too will be better than we could ever expect. We’ll be so blessed, we’ll want to jump up and down. We’ll look back and say, “It was hard work – was it ever! But we did it, and it was worth it.”
But something else happens when that final reveal takes place on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – everyone is stunned and asks, “How’d they do that?” The same is true when you makeover your family. The world around you – members of your extended family, your friends, your acquaintances, your neighbors – will look at you and ask, “How’d They Do That?” I know where they were before, but, man, look at them now! “How’d they do that?”
That’s where Psalm 128 is. The Psalms are often vivid in their poetic imagery. This one, even though it is short, is just as vivid. In Psalm 128 we have a picture painted for us with words. The picture links up with Psalm 127, which we considered two weeks ago. The man with his quiver full of arrows is now sitting at the table with his large family. A person comes into the house, sees the man and his family, sees their happy state of affairs, and asks, “How’d they do that?” He goes on to reflect upon just how it has happened, why things are so good, and then speaks blessings upon the family for future good.
Let’s experience what’s happening in this psalm. Picture a family sitting at a banquet table – an elder man and his wife along with their two grown sons and their spouses. Now, we walk in and ask, “How’d they do that?”
Well, let’s find out.
Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways.
This family is blessed because they fear the lord and walk in His ways.
We use the word “fear” to describe a feeling of dread for the future, that we are “scared” of something. But the Bible uses the word “fear” in slightly different ways. When we talk of this man’s, “Fear of God,” we mean at least two things.
First, we mean that he has a reverence for God.
This is an awe, a respect. Psalm 89:7 says, “In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him.” Genuine faith is expressed in, and full of, an awe and reverence for God. Christians should never lose their sense of awe of God. This fear of God leads to true wisdom and provides direction for us through life. In fact, true reverence for God must be expressed in good works and holy living. 2 Corinthians 7:1 says, “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” If you fear God, you will obey him. That leads us to the second meaning of fear of God.
Second, we mean that he has a fear of disobeying God.
Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Lord.” Fear often does two things: it freezes people up, making then unable to act, or it seriously affects their behavior. Our reverential fear of God should affect our behavior for it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Lord. This man walks in the Lord’s way because he has a fear of disobeying the Lord.
He knows if he messes up, he’ll pay up. This man is not scared of God. He doesn’t go through life shaking in his boots, thinking God might strike him down at any moment. But he does know that he has an awesome responsibility as the spiritual leader of his family. And he knows that he will have to answer to an awesome God.
Because of this reverence and healthy fear of disobedience, this man walks in the ways of the Lord. He is obedient.
When Martin Luther became a priest and celebrated his first Mass, in 1507, he trembled so much he nearly dropped the bread and cup. He became so terrified of the presence of Christ that he wanted to run from the altar. Yet that same fear of the holy, led him to be obedient to Christ and His Word above the rules and regulations of the church. Even when facing severe punishment by the church and the empire for the things he had written, Luther stood bold and said, “I am mastered by the passages of scripture I have quoted, and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recent . . . . I can do no other. Here I take my stand, God being my helper. Amen.”
Blessed are all who fear the Lord and walk in His ways.
How blessed we are if we fear the Lord. Let’s look at this man’s life and see what happens when you do so.
You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours
You will eat the fruit of your labor. This man’s family did not get to this point on its own. It took hard work. Perhaps some years ago he was sitting in a church like this one and heard some messages like those in this series. During that time he committed to the Lord, “I will follow your plan Lord. I will makeover my home.” And he did the hard work of gutting things out of his life and his family’s life. He made it a priority to spend time with his family, to teach and model values for his children, to discipline and instruct his children, and to love his wife as Christ loved the church. And every day of every week of every year he labored. And now he is eating and enjoying the fruit of his labor.
Look at his smile! This is a blessed man. He is a proud man. He is a fulfilled man. He is now enjoying the fruit of his labor. Why? Because he labored for years under the fear of the Lord and walked in the ways of the Lord. “The prosperity of our families depends upon the blessing of God; . . . the only way to obtain that blessing which will make our families comfortable is to live in the fear of God and in obedience to him.”
This man’s family table is full of the fruit of blessing and prosperity. But what forms do this blessing and prosperity take?
Well, it’s interesting. The poet’s selection of blessings is particularly significant. Some popular preachers today might focus on wealth and prestige as the blessings of God. They might say, “Believe for a large house, and you’ll get it,” or “Believe for a more prominent position at work, and you’ll get it.” But this poet does not hold up wealth or prestige or power. He upholds “the simpler treasures of life, which are also the greater ones: a work which is meaningful and which gives appropriate return; a wife who is the completion of and is made complete by her husband; and children who are the promise of the present and the security of the future.”
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house
The vine was a symbol of fruitfulness, of charm, and of festivity. This dear lady has been fruitful in rearing children but also in all of the things she puts her hands to. She has charm. She provides a sense of festivity to life. She is very much a Proverbs 31 kind of woman.
The blessed man’s wife is like a fruitful vine within his house. The word “within” is important. It means she is faithful to her husband, not promiscuous. She is all about her calling by God to be the wife of this man.
This man has the same attitude of his wife as Martin Luther had of his. Luther eventually married a former nun, and they had a fascinating marriage. Among his very humorous statements about marriage are some very strong words as well. Luther once commented, “I have been very happy in my marriage, thank God. I have a faithful wife, according to Solomon: ‘The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her’ (Prov. 31:11). She spoils nothing for me. Ah, dear Lord God, marriage is not something natural and physical; but it is a gift of God, the sweetest, nay, the most chaste life; it is above all celibacy.”
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house.
Your sons will be like olive shoots around your table
The olive tree was vitally important for daily life and the economy of Israel. Olive shoots were a symbol of hope for the future. This man’s sons provide great hope for the future.
You’ve probably never heard of George McCluskey. But he was a man who could be sitting at this table. George was a man who decided to make a big investment in his family. As he married and started a family, he decided to invest one hour a day in prayer. He was concerned that his children might follow Christ and establish their own homes with reverence for God and obedience to Christ. After a time, he decided to expand his prayers to include not only his children, but his children’s children, and also his children’s children’s children. Every day between 11 a.m. and noon, George would pray for the next 3 generations.
As the years went by, George’s two daughters committed their lives to Christ and married ministers. Those two couples produced four girls and one boy. All four girls married ministers and the boy became a pastor. The first two children of the fourth generation were both boys. One became a pastor, but the other didn’t. He was the first descendant and the first boy in the family to not be a minister. He was the black sheep of the family.
This black sheep pursued his own interest in psychology, and, over the years, met with success. After earning his doctorate, he wrote a book to parents that became a best-seller. He then wrote another book and another and another. On and on it went. Eventually he started a radio program that is now heard on more than 1000 stations a day. The black sheep’s name? James Dobson, perhaps the most influential pro-family leader in America today. His ministry is the direct result of the prayers of a man who lived four generations ago.
Never underestimate your importance in the history of your family. Make a difference. Be this type of father, this type of mother, this type of child. You will see the difference.
Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord.
Charles Spurgeon once said, “Every blessing that comes from God is sent with the same message, ‘And more to follow.’ ‘I forgive you your sins, but there’s more to follow.’ ‘I justify you in the righteousness of Christ, but there’s more to follow.’ ‘I adopt you into my family, but there’s more to follow.’ ‘I educated you for heaven, but there’s more to follow.’ ‘I give you grace upon grace, but there’s more to follow.’ ‘I have helped you even to old age, but there’s still more to follow.’ ‘I will uphold you in the hour of death, and as you are passing into the world of spirits, my mercy shall still continue with you, and when you land in the world to come there shall still be more to follow.’”
What brings blessing of a strong family? The fear of the Lord does. How’d they do that? In one big way – they feared the Lord. The difference between a Christian home and a regular home is this: A Christian home is a home in which Christ is made Lord of the lives of those who constitute it. Christ being Lord means you respect Him and you follow Him.
Sir, is Christ the Lord of your life?
Ma’am, is Christ the Lord of your life?
Boys, is Christ the Lord of your life?
It makes us all ask, “Is Christ the Lord of my life?”
Fear God, obey God, and you will have the blessings of God. Those who are truly holy are truly happy.
