Psalm 127 The Lord Built the House

The place we were meeting before we moved in here, AGR, was an event center that had indoor paintball. Angel went there with some of his friends and thought it would be a cool place for NewChurch to meet. I thought so, too. It was big, had a lot of open area for seating, plenty of parking—anyway, I called the owner and worked out a deal for us to meet there on Sunday mornings.

We were excited to get out of the middle school gym we had been in for a few years. 

We show up for our first week at the paintball center and the owner had decked the place out for Halloween. Thirteen foot tall skeletons, werewolves, witches and zombies everywhere you look. Most of you were there, you know. I tried to make the best of it, I said, “Hey, every church deals with spiritual attacks—we just have plastic reminders!” I played it cool but it was disappointing.

It only got worse from there. The owner doubled the number of tables and video games. We got a little more choked out every week we were there. Ugh. We thought it would be a fun place to meet but it got a little less fun every Sunday morning. 

Why did we ever move there? Some of you are thinking, “That’s a good question.”

It might have been the second or third week we were there when I saw a couple of new faces walk in. I introduced myself and they said they were friends with Gary and Chalice—Chalice had invited them to church, so they thought they might check it out. Gary and Chalice, who are almost always here, didn’t show up that week. I figured I’d never see this new couple again.

But they came back the next week. And the next. And they kept coming—even bringing people with them. A few months later, I was standing at the door as people were leaving church and he said, “Hey, would you be interested in coming to the school and speaking in chapel sometime?”

I said, “Sure. What’s “the school?”

Gary said (his name is Gary, too) he said, “Oh, I’m the founder of Faith West, it’s my school.”

As he and his wife Laurie walked out the door I said, “What the heck is he doing in our little church?”

I found out he had been a pastor for 40 years. He planted a church, built the school, and then closed down the church so he could focus on the school. He said for the last fifteen years they almost always go to church on Sunday but it’s usually at a place where one of their students go—he said he hadn’t been to the same church more than once every couple of years for fifteen years. Until he came to NewChurch. He said he’s just being selfish—he likes it. He was very encouraging. Then he said something truly remarkable.

He said he loves the way we took such a non-religious space and made it sacred. He specifically said he loved the Halloween decorations and how we handled it.

Long story short—he took me a tour of his amazing school and offered us this theater to meet in. Said we could renovate it and make it work for us—and just trusted us to do something good. He didn’t even need to see the plans, just said, “Make sure it still works for us, too. Try not to paint the walls pink.” 

One thing leads to another. Gary and Chalice invited some friends to church and look what happened. I doubt if they would have shown up to visit if we were still in a school gym—why would that be interesting to someone who owns a school? And that led to us being here this morning. I look forward to finding ways to partner in ministry with Faith West.

I was a little scared he might sneak some giant Halloween monsters and video games in here last night, though.

We are very thankful to God for this opportunity. I thought we’d spend some time this morning making sure we are asking for His blessing on everything we do here in His name. We’re going to read through Psalm 127. It says that it’s… 

A song of ascents. Of Solomon. 

Songs of ascents are the Psalms the people would sing as they traveled to Jerusalem and approached the temple. There’s fifteen of them—Psalm 120 to 134. The faithful went to Jerusalem for three annual festival holidays. So, these are like our Christmas songs. Everyone knew them by heart.

This particular one was written by Solomon, David’s son who actually built the temple.

As amazing as our mini megachurch is, as much time and resources have gone into making it our new sanctuary—it obviously doesn’t compare to the temple Solomon built. But sometimes people say things like, “We don’t need a fancy place to worship—we can all sit on buckets and praise God outside of Home Depot. I don’t think God gives a rip.” Well, that’s not exactly the impression we get from the instructions He gave to Solomon. God had very specific and fancy ideas for the design and materials of His house. Cedar wood from Lebanon, gold everywhere you looked, bronze tools and furnishings, ivory and precious stone decorations all over the place, fine linen and tapestries, carvings of angels and flowers and trees—He wanted it to be beautiful and attractive as well as functional. He wanted His people to enjoy the splendor of the temple when they went to church. 

In a very small way—He wants the same for us.

But the temple came with a warning, and that warning rings very true for us.

Psalm 127… 

Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Psalm 127:1

This verse has been ringing in my ears while we’ve been doing all the renovations and repairs in here. Our congregation and leaders have been so incredibly generous, giving all the money and technology to make this happen. Showing up early and staying late to do the hard work of tearing it apart and rebuilding with all the improvements. But unless the LORD builds the house, it’s all in vain. All for nothing.

What does it mean for the LORD to build the house?

Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves. Psalm 127:1-2

Even though this is one of the Psalms of Ascents, it’s clearly not just about the temple. It’s about the city, the community, the well-being of the people in general. Their safety, that they’re provided for—even their rest. 

And not just the big picture of the whole community but it's also talking about at home, our families… 

Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court. Psalm 127:3-5

That last line seems to be the problem the Psalm is addressing—A blessed man’s children will not be put to shame if someone takes him to court. But the Psalm applies to any kind of trouble we might face—the Psalms are all purposely generic in that way—they’re written to be our prayers when we find ourselves in a jam. 

One of the ways the LORD builds a house is filling it with children. When we have children who love the LORD, it’s a great blessing, it’s like having plenty of arrows when you go into battle. When our kids grow up and become our friends, our brothers and sisters who can stand beside us as we face the troubles of the world—no matter what gets thrown at us—what can be better than that? 

But this Psalm isn’t just about our biological children. Abraham was promised that his children would outnumber the stars—even though he only had two sons. The promise was to be fulfilled through his great grandson, the Messiah. And everyone who believes on the name of the LORD, everyone who believes in Jesus, is a child of that promise. The church is the house that was promised to Abraham. 

We’re coming back around to the first idea…

The church is the city that the LORD watches over. 

The church is the house the LORD is building.

We are a church… 

So, unless the LORD is the one building this house, we labor in vain.

What does it mean for the LORD to build the house? What can we do to ask for God to build our house? Both here at NewChurch and at home.

We have to trust God instead of our own ideas. 

Another book Solomon wrote most of was Proverbs.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, 

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

Most people live their lives like a carpenter who refuses to use a tape measure or a level or a chalk line. They just “eyeball” it. Go with their gut. Follow their heart. Lead by their emotions. Their impulses. Their desires. That’s no way to build a house—it’ll come out all jacked up and crooked. If we ignore God’s wisdom and do whatever seems good to us we’ll up way off the mark. “There’s a way that seems right to a man but it always leads to a dead end.”

This is the lighting console that some well meaning church folks built for the original church that met in this space. It’s pretty glorious—still up there in the old tech booth behind that curtain in the back wall. I’m sure it turned the lights on and off—might have even dimmed them. I like the note that says “be gentle.”

I think it’s an accurate picture of what our plans look like when we try to build the house on our own.

If we want the LORD to build and bless our house, we need to constantly seek His guidance and align our little plans with His big masterplan—His will. His word. No matter how well-intentioned we might be, unless the LORD builds the house, it’s all for nothing.

We can put up a giant video wall, have pretty lights, a killer sound system, and a fresh coat of paint, but without God’s blessing it’s just glitter and noise. 

We can have a nice house, the car of our dreams, a rocking job, but unless we dedicate it all to God, unless everything we do, we do as unto the LORD—asking for His blessing and favor—using all of His gifts for His glory for the purpose He gave them to us—it’ll all come to nothing. Jesus says rust and moths will destroy it all and we can’t take it with us anyway.

Everything we have, we have to give it to God. It’s the only safe place to keep it. If we try to hold on onto it, it’ll slip through our fingers. We can only hold something if we let it go and trust God to keep it for us. 

We were trying to hook all these screens up and some of them wouldn’t work. They’re all connected by HDMI cables—you probably have the same kind of cables at home.

Here’s something most people don’t know about HDMI cables: The really good ones only work in one direction. They have little microchips that help pass the video and sound information but it only goes one way. If you plug the cable in backwards, you get nothing.

We were getting nothing—until we flipped the cable around and then, ta-da! The screens started working.

Gary Kerr, the owner of Faith West, started laughing. He said, “That’s a pretty good way to understand grace. It only goes one way. From God to us. Sometimes we think we can make God’s blessing happen by something we do but it only flows from Him.”

I said, “Yeah, that’s a pretty good metaphor but people would have to understand something about HDMI to get it.”

He said, “Well, maybe save it for if you ever speak at a video and lighting conference.”

I probably should have taken his advice. Ha

We can build this room and make it as attractive and amazing as we can figure out how to make it but if we don’t ask for God to bless it—if we don’t place it in His hands—we have it backwards. The whole point of it is lost. Unless the LORD builds the house, we labor in vain.

We can go to college, get good jobs, get married, have kids, but if we don’t ask for God to bless all those things, if we don’t use them the way He told us to use them, if we don’t constantly measure our lives against the standard of God’s word—if we don’t trust God that He knows best what we should do with everything He’s given us—unless the LORD builds the house…

Solomon said it best in one of his other writings…

The book of Ecclesiastes is my favorite book in the Bible. It asks the questions that the rest of it answers. Solomon said… 

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? Ecclesiastes 1:2–3

His conclusion is “nothing,” it’s all meaningless. You got to love his optimism. 

Jesus has a different answer for anyone who calls on His name. Jesus promises an abundant life, a life full of purpose, joy, and fulfillment in all the things we do in this life when we trust them to Him. He said, “I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.”

1 Corinthians 15:58 says,

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

Your labor is not in vain. It’s not for nothing—when your work is aligned with what He called you out of the world to do. When you go with the flow of His grace in your life. Whether we’re talking about your church or your family or your career. Ask for God’s wisdom. Ask for His blessing. Ask Him to build your house. It’s your house but it’s not just for you. Give it all to Him, ask Him how He wants you to use it to love and serve your neighbor. This is part of what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. But listen, you’re part of the LORD’s house—part of His family. You’re one of His children. He’s building the house through you. You are the living stones that have been set on the Cornerstone which is Christ the LORD. He is building this house through you and with you. And here’s what we know—if the LORD builds the house, it will not have been built in vain. AMEN