WORK: “IF GOD DOESN’T BUILD THE HOUSE” (Part 9)
Psalm 127 (ESV)
1Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
3Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
4Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
5Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
One of the tasks of Christian discipleship is to relearn how to work. One requirement of discipleship is to learn the ways sin skews our nature and to submit what we learn to the continuing will of God, so that we are reshaped through the days of our obedience. Psalm 127 show both the right way and he wrong way to work. It posts a warning and provides an example to guide Christians in work that is done to the glory of God.
Babel or Buddhist:
Psalm 127 first posts a warning about work. If we work without God then we are wasting our time. Anything we try and accomplish on our own, without his blessing, will never glorify him. Psalm 127 shows a way to work that is neither sheer activity nor pure passivity. It doesn’t glorify work as such, and it doesn’t condemn work as such. If we want to experience the fullness of work we need to work for what God wants.
In the Beginning God Worked:
The Bible begins with an announcement that God created. He did something, he created something, he worked. The work of God is defined in the Scriptures. One of the reasons that Christians read Scripture repeatedly and carefully is to find out just how God works in Jesus Christ so that we can first rest in the work of Jesus Christ (The Gospel) and then work in the name of Jesus Christ.
In every letter that the apostle Paul wrote, he demonstrated that a Christian’s work is a natural, inevitable and faithful development out of God’s work. Christian discipleship, by orienting us in God’s work and setting us in the mainstream of what God is already doing, frees us from the compulsiveness of work. Every Christian must be constantly vigilant against believing that they can do God’s work for him.
The foundational truth is that work is good. If God does it, it must be all right. Work has dignity: there can be nothing degrading about work if God works. Work had purpose: there can be nothing futile about work if God works.
Effortless Work:
In contrast to the anxious labor that builds cities and guards possessions, this Psalm praises the effortless work of making children. We do not make these people that walk among us, we participate in an act of love that was provided for us in the structure of God’s creation. By joining Jesus and the Psalm we learn a way of work that does not acquire things or amass possessions but responds to God and develops relationships. The work that we are called to do is the personal relationships that we create and develop. Out of numerous handshakes and greetings, some germinate and grow into a friendship in Christ.
Relentless compulsive work habits which our society rewards and admires are seen by the psalmist as a sign of weak faith and assertive pride, as if God could not be trusted to accomplish his will, as if we could rearrange the universe by our own effort. Psalm 127 insists on a perspective in which our effort is at the periphery and God’s work is at the center.
(This post is a summary and partial abridgement of Eugene Peterson’s book “A Long Obedience In The Same Direction.” It is based solely on Peterson’s work and any help that this content gives should be credited to God’s grace through Peterson’s effort. In other words, give God glory, thank Eugene Peterson and consider buying the book.)