The Blessed Family - Psalm 128
For the first six weeks in January, I’ve been preaching through the Psalms of Ascent at the Sunday evening worship services at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Roanoke.
This sermon is the third from the series. You can listen to previous sermons here.
The traditional marriage and family is under attack. And by traditional marriage and family I’m referring to one man married to one woman, who may or may not have children together. Hopefully you knew that’s what I was talking about, but you just never know these days. Nevertheless, I’m sure most of you are probably aware of the stigma and negativity associated with God’s familial design.
The traditional family is often dismissed as patriarchal. Which simply means men are oppressing or worse abusing women within the context of marriage and family. Still worse, the organization Black Lives Matter expressed as one of their goals, “[the] disruption of [the] Western-prescribed nuclear family structure.” As I understand, they have removed that statement from the website, but no one has abandoned the sentiment.
In many ways, it seems that they have had some degree of success. Non-traditional families, like single parent homes, or homosexual couples, are displayed by our society as morally equivalent if not superior to the traditional family.
The traditional marriage and family is under attack.
But it’s more than just BLM and our cultural moment. Because more and more people in the church are listening to the world and rejecting the traditional family for practical reasons. Often children are viewed as a burden, which has led to more and more married couples choosing not to have children because they don’t want to be distracted from their work or have their lifestyle restricted. And isn’t that one of the major arguments for abortion? That children will inhibit your personal freedom and autonomy?
I’m not trying to be a provocateur. I’m not just looking for every controversial subject just to bring it up. But when you really think about it, so much of what is controversial in our society is centered around how we think about and define marriage and the family.
Our society tells us that the traditional family suppresses your ability to be who you truly are and keeps you from reaching your full potential.
But God’s Word tells us that the traditional family is a blessing. Psalm 128 makes it crystal clear that the traditional family is something we should celebrate, which in turn highlights the contrast between Christianity and the culture we live in. Could the divide be any greater?
Before we dive into Psalm 128, it’s important to understand a little bit about wisdom literature. This is a wisdom Psalm, but it isn’t plug and play. Like most wisdom literature, this isn’t to be taken literally. This Psalm certainly isn’t saying that if you fear the Lord you’ll have an amazing career and family and everything is going to work out perfectly for you. Rather, this is a general rule of thumb. These are general principles that we should heed.
Additionally, Psalm 128 is another Psalm of Ascent or Song of Ascent. This is a Psalm that the Jewish people would sing on their way to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the Lord.
Because going to make sacrifices to the Lord was a family affair. The whole gang would set out on these journeys. And as they would journey to Jerusalem they would sing about the beauty of the family. Everyone would go to worship.
There are three blessings found in this Psalm: first there is the blessing of work in verses one and two, second we see the blessing of family in verses three and four, and lastly we see the blessing of peace in verses 5 and 6.
Blessing of Work (vv. 1-2)
There's a very basic component to going to worship and that basic component is acknowledging your dependence on the Lord.
And that’s why verse 1 says, Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!
The word “fear” simply means “reverence or awe,” but the scared kind of fear is also wrapped up in it as well. There’s a reason that everyone in the Bible who entered in the presence of God thought they were going to die.
But the idea is very similar to what is said in the book of Proverbs: “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
I might say of Psalm 128, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of a wonderful Christian home.” Reverence, awe, and a love for Christ is central to having a healthy family life.
Everything about your family, how you raise children, how you relate to your spouse, how you relate to your father or mother, all of it flows out of your relationship with God.
Because it isn’t good enough to simply acknowledge God’s existence. If you really love God, you’ll follow his commands. Verse 1 reiterates that point. You’re blessed not simply because you “fear the Lord” but because you “fear the Lord” and “walk in His ways.”
That’s the building block for a wonderful family. Not a perfect family! But a God-glorifying family. Verse 1 frames how we read and understand the rest of what is said in this Psalm.
And it’s from there that the Psalmist mentions work in verse 2. “You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.”
What’s interesting about verse 2 is its positive outlook on work. Work is a creation ordinance. Adam and Eve worked the garden before they fell into sin. It was only after the fall that God said that work was going to be harder. Work would be more laborious.
Work isn’t in and of itself bad. What often makes work difficult, but the challenges of working with others and things not going according to plan. The curse of sin is what makes work difficult.
But there is another side to work, which is the pleasure that comes as a result of working hard and receiving the fruits of your labor.
There’s something satisfying about earning an honest living. There’s something attractive about hard work.
I’m not a woman, but I’ll go ahead and speak on behalf of all women: everyone is nervous and on the edge of their seats…
Women are attracted to men that work hard. One day, children will admire parents who take their work seriously.
Because earning an honest living and being a provider sets the rest of your family up for success. This pleases God.
Blessing of Family (vv. 3-4)
Notice that verses 3 and 4 are primarily geared toward husbands.
Where do I see that? Well, verse 3 speaks specifically about “your wife.” And verse 4 says that “thus shall the man be blessed.”
But notice what comes as the result of hard work. “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.” When men embrace their roles as husbands, fathers, and providers, they become a blessing to their family.
But the Psalmist isn’t saying that everyone’s well being rests solely on the shoulders of the husband.
After all, husbands sin. We make mistakes. But remember, we’re thinking generally. We’re applying general principles here. Typically, if men embrace their roles as husbands and providers it benefits their entire family.
I think this is really an undeniable point. Fatherlessness is a massive problem in this country. Just think about the damage that has been done because men have failed to embrace their God-given role.
And ironically, men who walk away from their families believe they're doing what’s best for them. They believe their lives will be better by rejecting their roles as husbands and fathers.
But what’s really interesting about verse 4 is that the Psalmist tells us that “thus the man [is] blessed.” You see, God blesses men through their wives and children! There’s happiness and inexpressible joy that comes from being a loving husband and father.
Your wife and children are not burdens. They’re wonderful blessings. Lasting happiness will not come from outside your family, because your family itself is a God-given source of happiness.
Blessing of Peace (vv. 5-6)
And the blessings of one’s family extends to the people of God. And we’re not talking about blessings of health and wealth, we’re talking about spiritual blessings. Blessings flow from God, through the family, to the church. Because your family is the building block of the church, just as the family was the building block for the nation of Israel.
That’s why the Psalmist goes from speaking about the family in verses 3 and 4 to speaking about the worshiping community in verses 5 and 6. “The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! May you see your children's children! Peace be upon Israel!”
One commentator put verses 5 and 6 this way, “[Psalm 128]... encourages the individual to contribute to the building up of the kingdom of God by living a righteous life in the presence of God. Through him his family will be established and through him God will extend his blessing to all the people of God.”
Leading your family before the Lord ultimately blesses the body of believers. It builds up the church. Faithfulness to God and His Word is the protection of the church. You’re protecting the future of the church by teaching your children the truth of God’s word.
How you raise your family doesn’t only impact you, it impacts those around you.
What about those who don't have children in the home? Those who are single or widowers? The church needs you. You play a vital role.
In our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, and in other denominations as well, whenever a child is baptized the congregation takes vows to assist the family in raising the child.
Please take these vows seriously. But I also know that it’s difficult to know exactly how to help.
Empty nesters and widowers, particularly those of you who have raised children to maturity, please encourage those of us who haven’t. Help us. I can’t speak for everyone here with young kids, but I can speak for me and my wife: we don’t know what we're doing. There’s a lot of trial and error going on.
Wisdom comes with age! Please impart your words of wisdom to us. But do it in a gracious, loving way, because most of us are already paranoid that we’re not raising our children well.
Single people or those of you who are married without children, please be involved in our kid’s lives.
For whatever reason, kids look up to people that aren’t their parents. And you can have a Godly influence on our children. Parents need individuals and young couples to reinforce the truth of God’s word to their kids, and God has uniquely positioned single and young married couples to be that voice.
That might mean taking a teenager to coffee (with Mom and Dad’s permission of course!) when they’re going through a season of doubt.
Parents, don’t be afraid to ask for help. There are people right around you that can help you point your children to Christ.
This is the beauty of the church. At the end of the day, isn’t this the sort of church community that we all long for? Don’t we want a community where we can pick up the phone and call someone to ask for help? And don’t we all want to be a part of a church where people genuinely care for one another?
I pray this is the case for Providence Presbyterian Church and I pray this is true for Westminster as well!
Isn’t this the sort of Christian environment that we want to raise our children in? Raising our children and their children in this sort of church environment is exactly what we want!
What a beautiful blessing to see your grandkids faithfully walking with the Lord.
Blessing, prosperity, and peace are the results of families having deep bonds with one another. This is how we achieve peace within the life of the church. Peace within the church comes through people relying on the Lord for their strength.
What makes Psalm 128 so special is that it looks upon the family with happiness and positivity while our culture and the world view the family such disdain.
But you don’t say that your family is a blessing because you’re a Christian. That’s backwards. Your faith in Christ frames how you view your family. How you view your family flows out of your faith in Christ, because raising a family is a spiritual endeavor!
Perhaps you’re sitting there thinking that you’ve failed in this way. Maybe you came to Christ later in life after your children were out of the house. Repent. Repent before the Lord of course, but repent to your family as well. If you want to show your family the work that God has done in your life, ask them for forgiveness. It’s your walk with Christ that lets you see this!
Apart from Christ, exactly how is a family a blessing? Why shouldn’t a father walk away from his family? Because it has a negative impact on society? That’s such a lame argument. People don’t care about society. They care about themselves.
This only makes sense if you're a Christian.
As I said earlier, the fear of the Lord, trusting in Christ for your salvation is the beginning of a God-glorifying family.
So much of the controversy in our world is over the Biblical definition of marriage and family. The LGBTQ agenda, abortion, personal autonomy, all of those things stand in opposition to the Bible defintions of marriage and family.
Because the world believes prescribing to God’s design is tantamount to signing over your personal happiness. Isn’t that what being free to express yourself is all about? Your personal happiness?
At the most basic level our world teaches that being able to do what you want is what will make you happy. The more autonomous you are the happier you’ll be.
They don’t think that trusting in Christ can make you happy, when in reality, it’s the only thing that will bring you lasting happiness.
But Psalm 128 stands in complete contrast by teaching you that your family is a source of great happiness. Maybe a better way of putting it is: submitting to God’s will for your life is what will make you happy.
Parents, grandparents, sisters and brothers, aunts, and uncles we all have an incredible opportunity before us: we change the world by teaching the things of God to the next generation. Taking your kids and grandkids to church, reading the Bible to them, teaching them about God, praying with them is how we impact the world for Christ!
Your family isn’t just an appendage to your body or something. Your family is your God-given life’s work! And it’s a privilege! Thank you Lord!
You see, embracing Christ in faith and accepting your God-given roles are the secret to happiness. It doesn’t mean you’ll have a perfect life. But it means you’ll have a God-glorifying one.
Matthew Henry said it best commenting on this Psalm. He said, “those who are truly holy are truly happy.” May you and I find our happiness in Christ and what he’s called us to do. Amen.
