❖ Video
❖ Audio (Message)
How To Live in Vain
(Psalm 127:1, 2)
Andy Nagahara
Let’s listen to the words of Jesus Christ speaking to us through the Psalm today. Today’s text is the Psalm 12７. This psalm has different contents sung in the first and second halves. The first half of this psalm sings that all human activities are futile if they don’t recognize God’s work in them. The second half of the song is a blessing about having descendants, especially sons. And the content of this latter half is connected to the content of the next psalm 128 . The latter half of Psalm 127 and Psalm 128 are important passages that fundamentally question the way we read the Bible, and the meaning changes greatly depending on how we interpret them, so I will speak about them together early next year after the Christmas message series. So, this time I will only focus on verses 1 and 2.
0 A song of ascents. Of Solomon.
1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat– for he grants sleep to those he loves.
1. Background
Psalms 120-134 are named “Songs of ascending to the City” at the beginning, and are considered to be a collection of songs sung during temple rituals at the time. Among them, there are three songs that are additionally written as “Songs of David”. And, Psalm 127 is the only one that has the title “Song of Ascending to the City: Song of Solomon.”
This seems to be because matters such as “building houses and guarding cities” became traditions associated with Solomon’s achievements in building the temple and his excellent politics. In fact, many scholars believe that the background lies in the second period of temple construction, after liberation from Babylonian rule. However, this passage also teaches something important for those of us living today.
2. Our lives that the Lord is building up (1a)
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.
Today, for many people, a house is something they buy or rent rather than build. For the people of Israel, building a house meant building a temple more than a private residence. This was deeply connected to the issue of “guarding the city”, which I will talk about next, from the memory of its destruction and rebuilding due to the invasion of surrounding powerful countries. For this reason, there are many places in the Bible where the act of “building a house” is used as a metaphor.
The prophets warned those who were preoccupied with rebuilding their homes and putting off rebuilding the temple, but God’s true intentions were never about material matters such as home or temple; It was to seek an attitude of trying to listen to God’s thoughts.
When Jesus came to this world, he harshly criticized the religious leaders of the time because even though they said they were doing it for God, they did not accept God’s intentions and were engaged in vain activities. The temple rituals and law observance that they required of the people did not match God’s intentions and caused the people to suffer. And Jesus encouraged each person to be firmly united to God. This was unacceptable to the religious leaders of the time. And they incited the people to hang Jesus on the cross.
Jesus cited Psalm 118 and pointed out that what was written there was a prophecy about himself. And that’s exactly what happened.
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone [1] ; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’ ? （Matthew 21:42）
The religious leaders failed to receive the true meaning of Jesus, and Jesus, who should have been erased from society, rose from the dead, and from there the Christian church began. And for those who wanted to follow him, he taught them how to walk in life, comparing it to building a house.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”（Matthew 7:24-27)
Having the Lord Jesus build up our lives means that we listen to the words of Jesus every day and move forward while being taught by Him.
3. Our lives that the Lord guards (1b)
Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.
Guarding a town is not something we think about specifically and concretely, but there are many things we should protect.
Please think of what is first and foremost important for you all to protect. Then think about whether you can protect it with your own abilities.
I think there are many important things that we want to protect, things that we don’t want to lose even if they are not our first priority. However, in reality, there is nothing that we can protect on our own. The same is true for individuals and groups. No matter how much power you accumulate, a stronger threat will always appear, and you won’t have time to calm down.
What I would like to recommend is to follow this text and change your way of thinking. It means accepting that the Lord Jesus is the protector of our lives, not ourselves. Life never goes as planned. There is much to lose. But there must have been many unexpected gifts. Jesus does not take away what is essential to us. And it is Jesus who also protects our own existence.
4. Is labor vain? (2)
In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat– for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Does that mean you shouldn’t work too much? Is it futile to wake up early? Let’s find out what Jesus thinks about this. In chapter 6 of his Gospel, Matthew records several words of Jesus related to this matter.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:25-34)
Jesus is not saying here that we should just live for the day without a plan. He also encourages us to be diligent.
However, just before Jesus spoke this, he said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but store up in heaven instead. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” And, “No one can serve two masters.You cannot serve both God and money.” Diligence is good, and the more savings, the better, of course. However, when you start pursuing that thing, your mind becomes focused on it, and you end up “worrying”. “Anxiety” shuts out thoughts of God from a person’s heart. Jesus is warning us about this.
The act of working would also be empty unless the Lord is working. It can also be said to be a question of motivation to work. There’s a compact car that I’ve been interested in lately, and it has some stylish colors that other cars don’t have, so when I pass them on the street, I find myself thinking, “That’s so nice”. Then, later, I looked online to see how much it would cost, and as you all know, related advertisements appeared one after another on the screen, and after a while, I began to think that it might be “God’s will” for me to have it.
An anthropologist has said, “In the end, human desire is imitation. To put it simply, we never want something until we know someone else has it, uses it, eats it, or wears it. Desire itself is not a bad thing. It gives motivation and enthusiasm to life. It gives motivation to life, and has actually led to the development of various technologies. What we need to know is that “desire has no limit”.
There is no limit to what you can do if you are willing to work to satisfy your own desires. Because desire knows no satisfaction. It becomes an idol in place of God, turning us into empty and pitiful idolaters.
So we need to change our thinking about working as well. Just like building a house or protecting a city, our work is also something the Lord is doing. We are the ones who are actually there, using our brains, moving our hands, and sweating. But if we accept Jesus as Lord, then He is also responsible for our work. Whether things are going well or not, let’s walk in gratitude that we are being used by the Lord and working without worrying.
5. Build up the church
As I have talked about, it is important to think about this teaching as it applies to each of us in our own lives, but it also provides important suggestions for the church’s journey. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the church called Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, which is pictured in today’s weekly bulletin. Construction began in 1882 and is still underway. Initially, it was said that it would take about 300 years to complete the project, but with the advancement of various technologies, it was announced that the project is scheduled to be completed in three years, in 2026. Unfortunately, however, the global spread of the new coronavirus is expected to extend this period by several more years. Even so, it has already taken nearly 150 years to build. They plan to have a total of 18 towers, and the ninth tower, which will be the second tallest tower overall, was completed in 2021.
There is no doubt that it is a great building, but we must also remember that it is a “church building” that cannot be called a church. If we mistake something that is visible for something important that cannot be seen, it becomes idolatry. Church buildings are useful for faith, but building and protecting church buildings is not faith. However, we can see that “church” is something we should believe in as expressed in the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. There it is said, “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church”. It is not a building, but a gathering of people who believe in Jesus as Lord and seek to follow Him. Its Lord is Jesus, and it is called the body of Christ Jesus. The church began at the time of Pentecost recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, and although Sagrada Familia is nearing completion, the church will remain under construction until the end of the world and will never see its completion.
We are living our lives as members of the staff who are working to “build up the church,” which is God’s work. As people in charge of Yourchurch, which is part of the one holy, universal, and apostolic Church, we have a role to play in making Yourchurch a better community where God’s love is expressed.
You are not here as an audience. We all are invited to express God’s love more clearly in this world, accept it, and live as workers for that purpose.
Of course, the general director is Jesus. What does it mean to say that building a church without Jesus is futile? That means not listening to the Lord’s will and running the church according to one’s own ideas. Yourchurch’s Your means first and foremost God. This is not Our Church or My Church. Therefore, we should confess over and over again, “We are your people. This is your church.” Otherwise, we can easily forget about it and build our own castles. And secondly, we call it Your Church in the sense that we want to be able to say to all the people God wants to invite here, “This is the church for you”.
(Prayer) God, thank you for guiding our daily steps.
You are responsible for all of our activities and are guiding us, so there really shouldn’t be any need for us to worry, but we forget our trust in You and worry about getting assurance from others. Please forgive us.
Fill us with your Spirit every day, and let us be builders of our lives, protectors, and builders of the church together with you.
Please make us listen carefully to what you are saying, so that we do not forget the true Lord, wander off, and lead an empty life.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
Summary
We live in a society where we are discouraged from helping each other due to the concept of self-responsibility, but in reality, God is responsible for building each person’s life and protecting it. The path of the church, which is a combination of us, is also guided by God.
The church is a community of people who work together to build on each other’s strengths and compensate for each other’s weaknesses. God has made it exist in the world as a model for the whole society.
For Discussion
- What does it mean for the Lord to build and protect my life?
- Let’s discuss what we noticed after reading verse 2.