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Psalm 128 - A Life God Blesses · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are in Psalm 128 and
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  this is another one of the song of ascents.
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  And I'm scrolling forward to see when the songs of Ascent end.
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  All right, They end at Psalm 134.
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  So we've got six more, if I'm counting correctly, from 1:28 to
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  1:34, we have six of these left. And so these are the road trip
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  songs. Maybe you, like me, grew up in a
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  family where my mom on car trips, she would get pretty
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  impatient with us kids for good reason.
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  We were for rowdy and somewhat or I wouldn't say that we were
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  cantankerous, but we did like to tease each other.
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  And so along the journey we would we would say things that
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  would get each other upset. We might, you know, be poking
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  one another or all sorts of different things.
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  And so my mom would often be like, listen, we we need to
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  sing. Because if you were singing,
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  then you weren't focusing as much on trying to be a nuisance
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  to your sibling, and you wouldn't be whining about how
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  long it was going to take because you were already busy
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  with your mouth singing a song. And so I wonder if some of that
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  was like what it was as people were going along the the
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  journeys to Jerusalem three times a year for the different
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  festivals that God had set up within the law.
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  And this particular Psalm, frankly, it's just interesting
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  and I'm going to read through it and I want to encourage you guys
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  to be thinking even in your life about how you have seen this
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  Psalm be true. And I'll even phrase it this
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  way, times in which the Psalm has not seemed to be true within
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  life as you have experienced it. You might be like what Brian,
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  you're, you're asking me to think about a time God's word
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  wasn't true. Well, let me read through it and
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  we'll think through this together.
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  And I, I firmly believe that God has some wonderful things for
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  us. Verse #1 How happy is everyone
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  who fears Yahweh who walks in his ways?
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  You will surely eat what your hands have worked for.
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  You'll be happy and it will go well for you.
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  Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house.
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  Your children like young olive trees around your table.
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  In this very way, the man who fears Yahweh will be blessed.
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  May Yahweh bless you from Zion so that you will see the
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  prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life, and we'll see
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  your children's children. Peace be with Israel.
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  So here is this Psalm, and I want to, my brain always for
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  some reason goes to the caveats, it goes to the exceptions, but I
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  want to read through first with this Psalm and simply affirm the
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  joy that there is in serving and following and obeying God.
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  So let's start there and then I'll walk through.
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  All right, What about those times when we don't see it?
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  But first, let's walk through how true this Psalm is
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  normatively within the lives of believers.
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  Verse #1 how happy is everyone who fears Yahweh who walks in
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  His ways? Think about that juxtaposition
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  between happiness and fear. You would think if I am fearful
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  of something, then perhaps the emotion I might feel if I'm not
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  being destroyed by that thing that I'm afraid of is I feel
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  relief or I feel peace or I feel calmness.
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  We wouldn't automatically think what's the opposite of the fear
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  of God? And we'd say or sorry not what
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  is the opposite of the fear of God?
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  What does the fear of God lead to?
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  Most of us would not tend to say happiness, but this is the way
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  that the Bible talks about it. Then as I recognize who God is,
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  the fact that he is the Creator, He is the Lawgiver, He is the
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  Savior, He is the Lord, the King, the one that I am called
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  to obey. Then I need to adjust my
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  thoughts and behavior and actions, my relationships, my
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  finances, my schedule, my calendar, all of it is
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  determined by him. And so because I fear him, my
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  life actually becomes better as a result.
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  Now, that's not better. Like, OK, I have all the
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  Lamborghinis and I've got, you know, just endless cash flow
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  pouring in. And so I'm able to go all over
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  the world on all these trips. It's not that kind of good life.
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  It's just the straight up good life that God has created for me
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  to live. And the same has been true for
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  so many people that I have known within my life.
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  That as we fear and obey and follow the Lord, there is
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  happiness for those that follow His instructions.
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  We went over and over and over this in Psalm 119 that following
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  God's instructions for us leads to our flourishing and our joy
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  and the embodiment of our relationships as God intended
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  them to be. It is a good thing.
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  It results in joy and happiness and blessing for us to walk with
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  God. Verse #2 He then talks about the
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  results of of your labor when you are walking God's way, He
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  says you will surely eat what your hands have worked for.
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  You will be happy and it will go well for you.
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  The opposite of this would be if you are not able to eat what
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  your hands have worked for. So you've worked and worked
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  within a field, and I can think of two possibilities even from
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  what we hear in Scripture. One possibility would be that as
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  crops come up, you have an invading force or an invading
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  army that come and they take away all of the crops.
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  You can read that about that happening several times in the
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  Book of Judges. And so here he's saying when you
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  walk with the Lord, when you are following him, God gives a
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  blessing so that your crops are not stolen from you.
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  The other thing that would sometimes happen in Israel's
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  history, especially when they were not walking with the Lord.
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  Ditto with the invading armies specifically, as Scripture
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  outlines for us. The other way is that people
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  would put in the work, they would plant the seed, they would
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  till the ground, they would try and water, but maybe there
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  wouldn't be enough rainfall that year.
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  Maybe the ground was just too hard or too Stony it it couldn't
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  really be broken up enough via the plows and things like that.
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  And so it would be too rough, too hard to be able to sustain
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  the plant life. And so you could do the work,
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  but then you wouldn't even get the crops because the crops
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  would die. And so here the psalmist says,
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  as you are following the Lord, you can know that the effort
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  that you are putting in there will be good results as a result
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  of that, He says you will be happy and it will go well for
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  you. And I'm thankful that in my
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  life, I haven't had to worry about the work that I have put
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  in, it being pointless, it being useless or choked out, frankly.
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  I just know God has blessed what I have put in so that I have
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  been able to experience sustenance.
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  I've been able to experience joy and satisfaction and
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  thankfulness in what God has done.
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  So let me just kind of shoot it out there.
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  Not everyone that I have ever shared the gospel with has
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  received the Lord, at least as far as I know.
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  And, and so I could have the mindset, all right, well, that
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  was just wasted energy or wasted time.
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  There have been people that I have tried to pastor, that I
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  have counseled that have totally turned away towards a a very bad
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  path in their life. And I could look at that and go,
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  OK, well, you know, I, I just, I failed.
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  I, if you will, using this analogy, I sewed in that field.
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  I tried to water the plant and tried to weed, but it just did
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  not work. It didn't bloom.
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  But the truth is everything that God has wanted to happen in my
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  life has come to pass. And so even in those times, I've
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  been able to find moments where I go all right, that person
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  might not have received the Lord, but I became bolder in
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  sharing my faith as a result of the fact that I shared my faith
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  with them. This person didn't heed my
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  advice, but I was at least a good enough friend to them to
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  warn them about the Cliff that they were headed off of.
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  And so this, this kind of focus and belief in life that God will
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  cause to flourish, what needs to flourish in our life so that we
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  are able to eat what our hands have worked for, that we would
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  have meaningful labor is something that we can genuinely
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  hold onto and love. I'm thankful that here this is
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  someone that is walking in the ways of God.
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  When you walk with the Lord, your money gets to be used for
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  you. So I I'm going to give a couple
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  of examples of how this might not look in your life.
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  So I do not intend these to be any sort of shame.
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  I do not intend for this to be anything that you go, oh, man,
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  yeah, that that all describes me.
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  I feel really down. You know, I just want to
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  encourage you to walk God's way. And when you do that, you will
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  be blessed for it, and you will find that God, as here, allows
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  there to be fresh blessing and happiness as you use your
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  finances in the way that they're supposed to go.
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  So some people due to financial mismanagement, theft, all sorts
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  of different things, you can have garnished wages that at
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  your job, you know, they take out a portion of the money that
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  would normally be yours because you're working for it, but it's
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  going to someone else. You can think of things like
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  child support, that there's no longer a relationship that is
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  there between the parents, not that marriage relationship.
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  And so the family unit is not together.
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  And so perhaps the dad, perhaps the mom has to send in child
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  support for to the other parent so that their child is able to
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  be raised. And so that would be another way
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  in which you'd be working for money that then you are not
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  seeing. You don't get what your hands
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  have worked for. For many people dealing with a
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  lot of, you know, credit card debt or there's all sorts of
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  different debt. And while student loan debt is a
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  giant thing nowadays, I don't know how many of my listeners on
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  here either have student loan debt or are, you know, kind of
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  the age where they're still paying those student loans off
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  jokingly. This is not serious.
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  If you have student loans, let me know in Adm comment below I'd
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  love to hear about. But those are like choices where
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  then you are not able to enjoy all of the things that your
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  hands have been working for now very complicated.
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  And you can say, well, I have my degree and so I worked for that.
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  And so this is just a result of me being able to get what I
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  want. Absolutely.
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  Again, not this isn't like a shameful thing.
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  Many, many, many people find themselves in circumstances
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  where they go, OK, yeah, I worked for this, but now, you
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  know, Uncle Sam gets a third of this.
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  And, you know, maybe I'm giving 10% to the Lord and I'm trying
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  to put, you know, 10 to 20% in savings.
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  And so now at the end of it, I've got, you know, 30 or 40% of
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  my initial paycheck or my gross paycheck that I actually have
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  now to work with. So it happens in many different
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  ways for many different people, but I think here the most direct
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  application is Contra invading armies coming and stealing your
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  money, and Contra there not being enough rain to flourish
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  the crops or the ground being receptive enough to the seeds
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  that then they're able to be crops.
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  No one's stealing them from you. This is a blessing of the Lord,
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  you know, if you will, you're not gambling your money away.
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  You're not doing those kinds of things.
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  You're able to enjoy what the Lord has given you make wise
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  financial choices and decisions. You're like, what is a wise
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  financial choice or decision? Go go talk to someone smarter
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  than me. If, if, if you do want just some
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  basic premises, I'd love to talk to you.
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  But I know many people have been encouraged and helped through
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  guys like a, you know, Dave Ramsey, there's another guy out
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  there, Nate Skelly that has some great things.
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  And I'm sure there's many other people that even some of our
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  commenters, different people could suggest.
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  By no means is any one person like, Oh yes, this person will
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  give you everything God wants you to do with your money
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  because God's relationship with you is personal and He might
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  have you do something that he's not having anyone else do, and
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  He might not have you to do something that a lot of other
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  people are doing. So be sensitive to the Holy
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  Spirit, read the Word, especially Proverbs, and allow
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  the Lord to work in your spirit of what He wants you to do with
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  your wallet, even from day-to-day or month to month.
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  Verse #3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your
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  house. Your children like young olive
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  trees around your table. Here the picture is your family
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  will be overflowing with with joy, with people.
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  There's a gladness that's there. You can think during this
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  agricultural time period, the more kids you had, the more help
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  you were able to have on the farm.
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  You know, you have more hands. And so as a result, you have a
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  better chance at survival and you can do more together.
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  You might be able to have, you know, more animals that are
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  there. You might be able to plant more
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  types of crops because you can send out all of these all over,
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  all of these children all over the place.
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  And so this is not a one to one with 21st century American
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  culture. As I've mentioned before, you do
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  not have to be like, all right, Well, you know, my spouse, we
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  just need to, you know, outfit a full, you know, basketball
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  starting team or a football offense starting team.
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  If we are going to have a biblical marriage, we have to
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  have at least 27 children. No, no, no, you don't have to do
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  that. But here what it is saying is
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  there is joy and flourishing within the family.
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  And I'm really thankful that I grew up in a home in which Jesus
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  was the center. And so even nowadays, me and my
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  siblings and my parents, like we love each other.
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  We talk, whether in our family group chat or a FaceTime call
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  or, you know, sending memes on Instagram.
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  We we talk most every single day and I think here that this was a
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  blessing that as my parents sought to walk with God, that
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  then God brought this joy and flourishing within the home.
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  And then each of us kids had to choose that for ourselves of
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  what kind of life are we going to live?
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  Are we going to choose to walk with God?
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  And as you do that, your family relationships are so much better
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  than they would be otherwise. Now, you might say, OK, but I've
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  got a lot of people in my family that do not know the Lord.
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  And so, yeah, it's all crazy. Let you be the safe haven.
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  Let you be the source of joy and excitement and love and care
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  within your family. Don't be the person that's
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  always picking fights and is cantankerous and who slanders or
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  gossips about other siblings or parents or cousins or whatever
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  it may be. Let you be the source of
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  flourishing and joy within your family.
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  Verse #4 In this very way, the man who fears Yahweh will be
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  blessed. So as I peaked at the time, I
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  solidly don't have the time to go through.
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  All right. What about when this isn't true?
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  Suffice it to say this, this set of circumstances did not all
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  match the the life of Jesus and Jesus walked with God.
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  He feared the Lord and he was blessed.
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  He had God's total favor on him and God's Holy Spirit on him.
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  So if you in your life find that sometimes you're putting the
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  work in and you're just not getting the money out of it, it
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  doesn't mean that God doesn't love you.
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  Jesus said, listen, the foxes have dens and the birds have
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  nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
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  So if you don't have the material goods, that's OK.
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  It doesn't mean that God hates you or if you aren't, you know,
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  getting all the money that you would have otherwise if it
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  weren't for, you know, that garnishment, child support,
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  alimony, whatever. Realize, OK, it's not that God
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  hates you. It's that there are consequences
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  to actions, whether that's our actions sometimes, very often
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  the actions of others against us.
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  But since Jesus knew what it was to be poor, that he is not
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  married yet. He has his bride, the bride of
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  Christ, but he is as of yet unmarried.
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  Jesus did not have any physical children.
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  Don't feel like when you lack some of these things that God's
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  favor is not on you. These are circumstantial.
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  These are cultural things, and so you can know that God loves
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  you and God's favor is on you. Not if you just have all the
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  trappings of this life, but if you have Jesus.
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  Because if you have Jesus, then God's favor rests on you.
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  Then verses 5 and 6 as we and may Yahweh bless you from Zion
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  so that you will see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the
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  days of your life. And we'll see your children's
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  children here again. Jesus didn't see his grandkids.
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  And so as a result, if you don't have grandkids, that's OK God's
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  favor can still rest on you. But for many believers, this is
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  kind of the good life that you are able to live long enough.
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  You're not, you know, doing some knuckleheaded stuff so that then
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  you. Are, you know, dying, you're not
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  trying to rob a bank or something and getting a shootout
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  with police and lose your life and you don't get to see your
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  grandkids because you have done what is wrong, what is evil.
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  And so you didn't experience that good life that God had
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  planned for you. Instead, here as God blesses and
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  as we try and walk in His ways, for many people, this will
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  result in you being able to live a long life that you haven't
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  fallen prey to the various vices of sin that can cause us to die
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  early. Instead, we are able to see
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  God's goodness over and over and over again within our life.
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  We're able to see God's faithfulness even within your
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  area of the world, maybe your country, and you will be able to
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  enjoy those good family relationships even for
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  generations. So thank you for tuning in
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  today. And I know this is a little bit
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  of an interesting Psalm, but I hope that it was a blessing to
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  you today and an encouragement. If you have any questions or if
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  you have any objections. And you're like, Brian, I just
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  really hated how you said this. This was awful.
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  This made me feel bad. Please let me know.
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  I want to try to be sensitive in the way that I interact with
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  people and know that we all come from so many different walks of
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  life and different trials and and hurts that we have walked
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  through. But know this, that God loves
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  you. There is always a chance for a
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  renewal and for that fresh new start with Jesus.
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  He makes us his new creation where the old things have passed
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  away and now everything has become new.
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  And I'm so thankful for that. Have a wonderful time doing
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  whatever you're doing now. And next episode will be in
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  Psalm 129.