Psalm 129
1 They have greatly oppressed me from my youth –
let Israel say –
2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but they have not gained the victory over me.
3 Plowmen have plowed my back
and made their furrows long.
4 But the Lord is righteous;
he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion
be turned back in shame.
6 May they be like grass on the roof,
which withers before it can grow;
7 with it the reaper cannot fill his hands,
nor the one who gathers fill his arms.
8 May those who pass by not say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you;
we bless you in the name of the Lord.

​INTRODUCTION

This morning we had the blessing of walking with God.
Psalm 128 is a positive song, reminding the people of the blessing.
And now this evening as we move onto Psalm 129
We are continuing the theme of blessing.

Now on a first reading of the Psalm, this might not appear to be the case.
It seems to be all about oppression and judgement,
But underlying all this is the blessing of God.

The Psalmist is seeing a way through the opposition,
The Psalmist is charting the way to stay pure in a world where we can be battered and bruised for our faith.

So lets look at the Psalm together.









I’ve Been Oppressed

The first thing that we see in this Psalm is that we have been oppressed.
It is the experience of the Psalmist.
And it is also the experience of each person on the Christian Journey.
At times we have all faced opposition.

They have greatly oppressed me from my youth –
let Israel say –
2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth.
Psalm 129:1,2

If we are serious about following Jesus Christ,
Then we will have faced opposition.
This world is not friendly towards Jesus Christ and his followers.
We all face conflicts, as we try to stand up for Jesus.
We know what God’s word says, and then as we try to live it out in society we find so many opposing views.

It seems like such a negative start to the song.
But it very quickly turns at the end of verse 2

they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but they have not gained the victory over me.
Psalm 129:2

The Psalmist has not given up this Journey with God.
Even though at times it has been tough.
The Psalm describes the opposition like having your back ploughed

Ploughmen have ploughed my back
and made their furrows long.
Psalm 129:3

You can imagine the picture he is conjuring up here, with the furrows on the back.

If we are facing opposition for our faith,
Then it is with us all the time.
Every move we make and  everything we say is affected by the attacks.
The wounds are painful and deep.
But they are not obvious to everyone.
We know they are there but others don’t realise.

But we are still going.
We have not been defeated.

Paul links this idea of the deep wounds of opposition to the wounds that Jesus carried on his body from the cross.

8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 
9 persecuted, but not abandoned; 
struck down, but not destroyed. 
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
2 Corinthians 4:8-10

Just as Jesus suffered,
So we suffer.
Just as Satan did not have the victory over Jesus, so we will not be defeated.

After the optimism of Psalm 128,
Perhaps the pilgrims have been sharing with each other, the most difficult times that they have experienced.
And they have encouraged each other by the fact that they are still there.
I’ve Been Set Free

But there is even better news ahead.
Yes we will face opposition.
And not only will the oppressor not have the victory,
But we will be able to say in this Psalm,
I’ve been set free

This is what we find in v4

But the Lord is righteous;
he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.
Psalm 129:4

The wicked had tied us up.
The wicked were holding us back.
And now God has cut us free.

In Psalm 140 the trouble that we are in is described in a bit more detail.

5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
and with cords they have spread a net;
beside the way they have set snares for me.
Psalm 140:5

We need to remember that we are under attack when we attempt to journey with God.
We are tied up,
But God sets us free.

And when we are set free, we have a new life in Christ.
The Psalmist again describes it for us in those well known verses from Psalm 40.

The Psalmist calls out to God,
Just like any of us can call out.
And when God hears he acts.

I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Psalm 40:1-3

He cuts the cords but then he also gives us a new stability.
We were in trouble without Jesus,
But with Him we are free and we have a rock to build our lives on.

And it is not just the oppression that binds us.
It is also our sin.

When we sang, “And Can it Be”
The 4th verse was,

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
fast bound in sin and nature’s night:
then shone Your glorious gospel ray;
I woke! the dungeon flamed with light!
My chains fell off; my heart was new,
I rose, went forth and followed You! 

When we trust in Jesus for Salvation we are free.
Our chains fall off,
Our hearts are made new.
We have been oppressed
But Now We are free

I’ll Uphold The Honour Of The Lord

And finally we come to perhaps the most difficult part of the Psalm.
Because after experiencing the freedom of God,
We now have a call for God’s judgement on the evil.
It seems harsh.
It seems unloving,
But really the Pilgrims have a desire to uphold the honour of the Lord.

As they sing the song and rejoice at their new Salvation.
They want to see God judge the wicked so that His honour can be maintained.

These wicked people are oppressing the followers of God.
They are causing trouble for the Christians.
They are making the journey difficult for others.
They are encouraging people to doubt God,
And those who sing this Psalm cannot stand this. 
They want to see God glorified and his enemies destroyed.

May all who hate Zion
be turned back in shame.
6 May they be like grass on the roof,
which withers before it can grow;
7 with it the reaper cannot fill his hands,
nor the one who gathers fill his arms.
Psalm 129:5-7

As followers of Jesus Christ we should be jealous for God’s glory.
We should hurt when others speak and act against God.
It is so easy to become accustomed to this world and the way that it treats God.
We become immune to the name of Jesus being misused.
As J.B. Philips paraphrases Romans 12:2 we can be moulded by the world and we must beware.

Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good.
Romans 12:2 (J.B. Philips)

We must guard ourselves from being led astray.
It is vital that evil does not have the harvest.
God will come and judge.

It was traditional at harvest time,
to greet the harvest workers with a blessing.
And they would then return the blessing.
It was a sign that what you were doing was good and true.

Boaz in the book of Ruth was involved in such an exchange.

4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.
Ruth 2:4

But this Psalm ends with the desire that even this simple blessing would not be applicable to the wicked.
The longing is that there would be no harvest of evil.

That the Lord God would be glorified

May those who pass by not say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you;
we bless you in the name of the Lord.
Psalm 129:8

Psalm 128

1 Blessed are all who fear the Lord,
who walk in his ways.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor;
blessings and prosperity will be yours.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your sons will be like olive shoots
around your table.
4 Thus is the man blessed
who fears the Lord.
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion
all the days of your life;
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem,
6 and may you live to see your children’s children.
Peace be upon Israel.

​INTRODUCTION

What a difference a day makes!
One day we can be downcast with very little hope,
And then the next day, suddenly our spirits rise.
Joy comes back into our hearts,
And where there was despair, now suddenly there is hope.

That seems to be where we are in our Journey with Psalm 128.

The last few Psalms that we have sung,
All seemed to be dealing with a group of people who had lost their motivation.
They needed to be reminded why they were on the journey.
They needed to be spurred on when they thought about giving up.
They needed to be taken back to their reliance on God.

Remember last week, 
Don’t forget to include God in your plans.

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

Remember on Harvest Sunday,
Don’t be discouraged if we are crying now, God will bring joy.

Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy
Psalm 126:5

And Psalm 125, reminds us that when we feel vulnerable and under attack, 
God will keep us safe.


Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
Psalm 125:1

But this morning in Psalm 128
The mood has changed.
The people are rejoicing again.
They have rediscovered their joy.

They are no longer thinking of giving up.
Now they have a spring in their step.
Their spirits have risen,

And they are singing of God’s blessing.
The whole tone of this Psalm is back to the ones where the people were rejoicing to go to the house of the Lord.

I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
Psalm 122:1

Recognise The Blessing

What we need to do is recognise the blessing that we have in Jesus Christ.

You see there is a prevailing thought today, that it is hard to be a Christian.
Often we focus on the negatives.
We focus on how difficult it is to talk about our faith.
We dwell on the people who laugh at our belief in the bible in this modern age.
We zoom in on the things that others can do on a Sunday while we go to church.

And because of these things, it is hard to be a Christian.
But what is the alternative?
It is much harder not to be a Christian.

Once we have had the joy of Christ,
Imagine if you had to give that up?

Imagine what it would mean.
No help from Jesus when we are at a lose as to what to do.
No added strength when we are weak and unable to pick ourselves up.
No comfort when we are upset and in turmoil.
In other words - No Blessing

There is one person that I often visit,
And she says to me, 
“How do some people cope without the Lord?”

Blessing is God's favour and protection.
And that is what we sing of in this Psalm.
We are favoured by God,
We are protected by God and therefore we are encouraged.

Blessing is a great word to help us in our Christian life.
Because sometimes we are sad, but we know that we are still blessed by God.
We don’t want to wish someone good luck,
But we can pray, God Bless you!

The blessing of God is a wonderful thing to receive.
To be blessed is a remarkable thing to happen to us.
Believe The Blessing

So once we recognise the blessing that can come from God,
We need to believe the Blessing, and we see that in the first 4 verses of the Psalm.

And according to these 4 verses, blessing is linked to the fear of the Lord.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord,
who walk in his ways.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor;
blessings and prosperity will be yours.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your sons will be like olive shoots
around your table.
4 Thus is the man blessed
who fears the Lord.
Psalm 128:1-4

Blessing is being happy and joyful, in a way that is reliant on God.
We are blessed when we fear God.
But what does it mean to fear God.
How does this blessing come to us?

We could of course be paralysed with fear when we come before God.
We could realise the awesome power of the Lord God almighty,
And be so scared of God that we can do nothing.
But that will not lead us to blessing.

The fear that the Pilgrims are singing of here,
Is more like the fear that Isaiah has when he receives his vision of the Lord in Isaiah 6.

Isaiah sees the Holy, Holy Holy God,
And he realises his sinfulness.
He sees his sin for what it is as the creatures fly around the throne of God,
And Isaiah cries out,

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.
Isaiah 6:5

In that moment of fear, Isaiah is blessed.
The Lord pours out his favour and protection upon Isaiah.

And the Pilgrims realise on their journey to Jerusalem,
that when God is given his rightful place,
When he is feared, the result is blessing.

And that blessing comes in every area of life.
It is not just a nice fuzzy feeling that arms your heart,
It is a tangible blessing in every area of life.

[DON’T READ]
Blessed are all who fear the Lord,
who walk in his ways.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labour;
blessings and prosperity will be yours.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your sons will be like olive shoots
around your table.
Psalm 128:1-3

When we fear God, 
We are blessed as we walk in His ways,
Our work will be blessed with fruit and property.
And our family life will be blessed.
The blessing of God extends into every area of life.
You can see immediately why this Psalm follows on from the previous one.

these are the same two areas that were being dealt with.
Work & Family.
We need to believe that this blessing comes from God.
We need to believe that this is what comes into our lives when we fear God.


Receive The Blessing

So we need to recognise that blessing is something that comes from God,
We need to believe that blessing comes through fearing God,
And in the final couple of verses of the Psalm we need to Receive The Blessing.

The last two verses are a prayer,
That we would receive the blessing that we believe in.
This is not a magic spell, that guarantees results,
This is like any other prayer.
We offer it in faith to the Lord,
And we trust Him to do what is best.

It is a Psalm that we sing for ourselves,
But it is also a Psalm that we sing for everyone else.
Pray this Psalm for someone else today,
Even as you sit in the pew,
Who needs this Psalm.

May the Lord bless you from Zion
all the days of your life;
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem,
6 and may you live to see your children’s children.
Peace be upon Israel.
Psalm 128:5,6

Who needs blessing from the Lord,
Who needs blessing from their labour.
Who needs a blessing on their family life.
We need this blessing for ourselves,
But we can all think of others who need it today.

Why not take this Psalm and pick someone to pray it for every day this week.
It is only 6 verses, but pray it for yourself and for someone else.

Psalm 127

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.
3 Sons are a heritage from the Lord,
children a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

​INTRODUCTION

Have you ever set out to do something,
And then realised that it is going to take so long,
That there are many other things that you could be doing instead.

Perhaps it is a neighbour who needs a hand with their garden,
You offer to help,
And then when the day arrives, you have a long list of other things that you could be spending your time on instead.

Or at work you agree to go to a conference or a training day,
You book it into your diary,
And then realise as the day approaches that there are so many other things to be dealt with,
That you wish you had never agreed to go.

I think by the time the Israelites have got round to singing Psalm 127, they are in a similar position.

They have set off on the journey to Jerusalem.
They have left their homes behind,
And as they see a few more days ahead of them,
They start to think about all the things they have left behind at home.

You can almost imagine them complaining along the way.
“This is such a long way to go!”
“I have so many things to do back at home.”
“What is the point in going to Jerusalem? It will just be the same as last year.”

And this Psalm is basically saying to the Pilgrims.
Stop the complaining,
Do you realise what a privileged position you are in.
You are going to Jerusalem to meet with God.
You are getting a break from the daily grind.
You are leaving your work behind for a few days.
What a privilege.

Remember you could spend your time doing something else,
But then God wouldn’t be in it.
And if God is not in it, what is the point.

This Psalm was sung to help the Pilgrims see things the way that God sees them,


See Work As God Does

The first thing that the Psalm deals with, is work.
We are to see Work as God does.
When we get discouraged we see work as a vain activity,

We get up we go to work, 
We work hard,
But no one seems to appreciate us.
We don’t seem to achieve very much
And the Psalmist warns us that unless we see work the way that God does we will see it as being worthless.

Work here is not just what we are paid for.
It is any activity that we are involved in, when we are trying to achieve something.

Unless the Lord builds the house,
its builders labour 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.
Psalm 127:1,2

Unless the Lord is the one doing the work, then it is pointless.
And this goes against the way that we usually consider work.
We assume, if we can do more and meet our targets,
Then there is value to our work.
But that is not how God views it.

Work only has value when God is involved.
Anything that we achieve on our own is in vain,
It is pointless.

You may have come across the TV quiz show Pointless.
The object of the quiz is to think of answers that no one else has thought of.
These answers are pointless answers and hence the name of the programme.
Like many programmes today, they have a Celebrity version of the quiz,
And they call it Pointless Celebrities which is such a lovely name on so many levels.

Well in this Psalm we have pointless work.
Work that is done in vain.
Anything done without God is pointless.

But when we include God,
Or more correctly, when we allow God to take over,
Then there is value in our activity.

John Piper has a little phrase that I find very challenging,
He says, 

“God can do more in five seconds than we can do in five hours.”
John Piper

Unless God builds, why bother.
God is able to do much, much more than we can do.

We get up early and stay up late, working hard to get food,
But God is the one who grants sleep to those he loves,
So what is the point?


ILLUSTRATION
There is a story told of a preacher and his wife visiting the Caribbean.
It was a beautiful place, beautiful beaches, beautiful sea, beautiful weather.
They were asked to dine with one of the wealthiest men in the world, who had a massive mansion there.
The man was about 75 years old,
Throughout the meal he was at the point of weeping,
And he explained to this visiting preacher,
“I am the most miserable man in the world,
Out there is my yacht. I can go anywhere I want.
I have a private plane and helicopter.
I have everything I want to make my life happy, but I am miserable.”
The preacher and his wife attempted to share Christ with Him.

Later that same day, the same preacher and his wife went to visit the Pastor of a local church. 
He too was about 75 years old.
He was a widower who spent most of his time,
Looking after his two sisters.
The pastor said to the visiting preacher,
I don’t have 2 dollars to my name, 
But I am the happiest man on the island.

The visiting preacher was Billy Graham and his wife Ruth.
As they thought back on the visits,
They pondered,
Who was the richest of the two men?

It is a question that answers itself
And yet people try to build buildings 
And watch over cities without taking God into account,
And yet they will all turn into ashes,
Unless the Lord builds it.


See Family As God Does

The second thing that the Psalm gives us a different perspective on is Family.

we see that in v3-5

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

A family, Children are seen in positive terms here.
They are a blessing.
And even if we have not been blessed with physical children,
We may have the blessing of spiritual children.
Children who we have a influence over, at church or in the wider family circle.
Children who we can help grow up in faith.

Here the Psalm is reminding us, how positive children are.
We may get discouraged at times.
Children may be hard work.
But the Psalm reminds us that Children are a Heritage

Children either spiritual or physical are an inheritance from the Lord.
Normally children inherit from their parents,
But God looks at family as an inheritance that he gives to his children.

Children are also a reward
They may cost hundreds of pounds to educate and bring up,
But they are a reward from God.

But Children are also Weapons
This is an odd comparison.
But I suppose the picture here is, that if you have a quiver full of arrows, you are protected,
You can pull out an arrow when needed and feel safe.
Children are a blessing who can help in a time of need.

God is giving us a change of perspective where children are concerned.
Children do not inherit, Parents inherit.
Children do not get rewarded, Parents get rewarded.
Children do not make us weak, old and exhausted, they make us ready for battle.

And the same is true of spiritual children.
Think of Paul in the New Testament, who was a spiritual father to Timothy.

Seeing Life As God Does

So this Psalms helps us See Work as God does,
And it helps us see Children as God does,
and finally in conclusion we will are to see Life as God does.

We are to see beyond the mundane.
There is a daily grind that we can get into,
But we are to see beyond that with God.

If we can view Work differently & Family differently,
Then perhaps we can view all of life differently.

The language we use to talk about things can change our perspective.
I have to go to work today,
Or I get to go to work today, I have this opportunity to do this work for the glory of God.

I have to go to school today,
Or I have an opportunity to go to school and get an education so that God can use me in his service.

I can’t be bothered to deal with this family crisis.
Or I have a family, thank God I can help out and bring grace into this situation.


Conclusion

So what ever we are doing this week,
Whoever we are dealing with.
What ever plans we are making

Lets remember that …

Unless the Lord builds the house,
its builders labour in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
Psalm 127:1

As Jesus explains in the New Testament,
We are to look for God’s kingdom first and everything else then fits into place

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33

Psalm 125 - Harvest Morning Service
​
Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
both now and forevermore.
3 The sceptre of the wicked will not remain
over the land allotted to the righteous,
for then the righteous might use
their hands to do evil.
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
to those who are upright in heart.
5 But those who turn to crooked ways
the Lord will banish with the evildoers.
Peace be upon Israel.

INTRODUCTION

This morning we are celebrating the festival of Harvest Thanksgiving

We have travelled here this morning to give thanks to the Lord, for all his provision in our lives.
And as we do so, we are following the example of the Israelites in these Psalms of Ascent.

When the Israelites want to celebrate a festival,
They would have to leave home and travel to Jerusalem,
And as we have had special songs of thanksgiving this morning,
So the Israelites had these Psalms of Ascent to sing along the way and give thanks to God,
And remember His provision.

And as we study this Psalm this morning,
We are reminded how God surrounds us and looks after us.







God Surrounds Us

So let us give thanks for the Harvest this morning,
And let us thank God that He Surrounds Us.

Sometimes, if we are surrounded it can be a bad thing.
If enemies surround then there is no way out,
There is no escape.

But here it is a good thing.
We are surrounded by a God who loves us,
Who cares for us,
Who protects us.

And the picture of this that the Psalmist uses is the one that everyone is looking at on this journey.

They are on their way to Jerusalem,
And the city of Jerusalem is not only raised up.
So that the people are Ascending on their journey,
But Jerusalem is also surrounded by mountains.
And this provides security all around.

The army can position themselves on the heights and see the enemy coming.
They can launch a counter attack and keep the city safe.
And when we trust in the Lord, this is the security that he offers us.

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
both now and forevermore.
Psalm 125:1-2


Sometimes we can view the Christian life, as being very precarious.
We almost look at it like walking a tightrope.
One slight little wobble along the way and we are in trouble.
One foot in the wrong place and we go crashing down,
Injured unable to pick ourselves up.

But being a Christian is much more secure than that.
We live our lives in a fortress that the evil one cannot penetrate.
We are surrounded by the Lord and he offers us security.
He provides for us.
It is security that comes from the Lord.

And even as the mountains offer security to Jerusalem,
The security that the Lord provides is even more secure than mountains.
Even if the mountains were to fall apart,
The one who is trusting in the Lord is still secure

It is explained for us in Psalm 46,

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever- present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Psalm 46:1-3

We thank God for His provision.
We thank Him for the Harvest,
But even if the Harvest were to fail, we are still secure.
Our trust in God is not dependant on what God gives us.
It is dependant on who God is.

God Protects Us

God not only surrounds us,
But we see from verse 3 of this Psalm, that God protects us.
He protects us from the evil of this world.
And as we look back over this past year, we can see how God has extended his protection to us.

In surrounding us, stops the attacks of the evil one against us,
And in Protecting us, God stops us being corrupted and becoming evil ourselves.

When there is evil all around, it is very easy to be tempted.
It does not take long for us to become accustomed to the sin.
We begin to accept it little by little.
When everyone around us is sinning, our disgust and abhorrence at the sin, is slowly chipped away, until we accept it.

But God is here to protect us.
As the Psalmist sings -

The sceptre of the wicked will not remain
over the land allotted to the righteous,
for then the righteous might use
their hands to do evil.
Psalm 125:3

We can be led astray,
But if we trust in God then he will protect us.
The danger is that we are naturally attracted to the sin around us.
And when we delight in sin, then we do not believe the truth of God’s word.
Is there sin that you enjoy, that is holding you back from being fully committed to God.
The warning is given in 2 Thessalonians -



all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
2 Thessalonians 2:12

God protects us from the rule of evil.
He protects us from the influence of the evil one.
He does not want us to use our hands to do evil.






God Judges Us

And finally this morning as we celebrate this Harvest Festival.
As we approach the Almighty God to worship Him.
As we travel to meet with God.
We see that God Judges us.

This is a service of Thanksgiving, so why are we thanking God, for judgment?
Because He will do what is right.

Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
to those who are upright in heart.
5 But those who turn to crooked ways
the Lord will banish with the evildoers.
Peace be upon Israel.
Psalm 125:4,5

The choice will be made between the upright in heart and those who follow crooked ways.
The problem being that you and I naturally walk along the crooked ways.
That is our preferred route through life.
And on this journey to meet with God, we must choose our footsteps carefully.

The only way to be upright in heart, is not through our own actions, because they are flawed.
The only way is to accept Jesus into our lives, to allow Him to transform our hearts.
To take away the old heart of sin,
And replace it with His heart that is upright.

And this is what we celebrate more than anything else this morning.
We are celebrating God’s provision in the harvest.
But it is an illustration of the spiritual harvest,
God the Father has provided us with riches much greater than the vegetables and flowers that we see around us.
He has provided us with forgiveness from sin
He has promised us the removal of guilt.
He has shown us how He can take away shame.

We have so much to thank Him for.
And when he comes to judge,
We do not worry about when He will come.
We don’t think, I hope God does not catch me on a bad day.
If he comes on the day that I have an argument, or I tell a lie, then I am sunk.
No when he comes, he does not see our sin and our failings,
Instead he sees the righteousness that is ours through Jesus.
He sees the sinless one, instead of us.
And he does good to those who are good.





CONCLUSION

Today then we thank God for the Harvest.
We thank Him that He surrounds us, like the mountains surround Jerusalem,
He Protects us from doing evil like all those around us.
And He Judges us, not based on our actions but on what Jesus has done for us.

Let us give thanks to Him,
This morning, this evening and every day

Psalm 126

Peace be upon Israel.
1 When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6 He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him.

​INTRODUCTION

This evening we are here to give thanks.
And we come to God with Joy.

There have been comments down through the years about Christians not expressing their Joy,
And a lot of that is thrown at Presbyterians.

We explain that our Joy is not just based on how we are feeling,
It is based on something much deeper.
The problem being that it is so deep that it never reaches our faces!!!

Story told about the man who brought his dog with him to church.
And every now and then it would lie down and cover its eyes.
What is it doing that for.
Every time he sees a sad face he does that.
What does he do when someone smiles?
I don’t know, we've only been coming here 5 years.

But that is not my experience.
Because people here are filled with joy.
People are rejoicing, and giving thanks

And as we come to give thanks for the harvest this evening,
We come with great Joy to God.





The Lord Has Done Great Things

This Psalm is all about remembering the good times.
Remembering that God has done great things
It is a Psalm that is to be sung when we start taking things for granted.
And we have got into a bit of a rut with life.

The Psalm is about remembering what God has done in the past.
Do you remember what it was like when we came back to Jerusalem.
Do you remember how happy we were when we came back to our homes.

When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.
Psalm 126:1,2

When God returned the exiles it seemed too good to be true. 
They were filled with joy. 

But we take God's gifts for granted. 
When God provides the harvest we should be filled with joy.
We should be in awe.

How come we have all this food?
How can the plants and flowers be so beautiful? 

When God saves someone we should be filled with joy,
Just as the angels in heaven are filled with Joy.
Think back to when we were saved.
It impacted every area of our lives
We were filled with joy. 
It is almost too good to be true.
It seems like a dream.
We could do nothing but talk about it,
Tel others about it.

The Lord has done great things. 





Do It Again Lord

So this evening as we continue with this Psalm,
We look back over our lives,
And as we give thanks for the hand of the Lord,
We say “Do It Again Lord!”

Come again in your power Lord,
Pour out Your Holy Spirit on us again Lord.
We want to see more.
We want to see you glorified Lord.

As the Psalmist says:

3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like streams in the Negev.
Psalm 126:3,4

Restore our fortunes again Lord.
As we give thanks for this Harvest,
Come again Lord, and bring another Harvest,
But also Lord,

Come again in Revival
Come again with Blessing
Come again with Your Holy Spirit
Come again converting and convicting of Sin

Do it again Lord!

The picture is of the Negev.
It is a dry and dusty land,
Nothing is growing.
There is no life,
And then a stream flows through that desert.
And life returns,
Plants that had withered spring back into life.
And we are filled with Joy at the work of the Lord.
It is a miracle,
It seems too good to be true.







Reaping Songs Of Joy

And as the streams flow through the Negev,
We reap Songs of Joy.
At harvest there is a pattern of sowing and reaping.
The seed that is sown is different from the harvest that is reaped.
The seed is planted and it dies in the ground so that new life can burst forth.

There is hope.
No matter how dark our lives may appear,
There is the hope of Joy.

Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6 He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him.
Psalm 126:5,6

We may be living lives of sadness
Tears may be flowing every day,
But we will reap the songs of joy.

Only Jesus can bring us this deep joy, that transcends our circumstances.
Only Jesus can help us see beyond our problems.

We don’t wait for our circumstances to change, before we have a glimmer of joy in our lives,
Instead the joy comes from trusting in Jesus.

If you plant a seed, you don’t have to wait to see the shoot above the ground before you are satisfied.
You plant the seed and you know that the seed will grow.

You have satisfaction that the job has been well done.

And so it is in our lives.
We sow the seed of tears, and trusting in Jesus we know that the reaping will be joy.

There is nothing that Jesus cannot handle.
There is no situation that is hopeless for Jesus.


CONCLUSION


This Psalm encourages us at this Harvest,
To look back at the Harvest in the past,
And then to plead with God to do it again,
And then we will reap the song of Joy

Psalm 124

1 If the Lord had not been on our side–
let Israel say –
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
3 when their anger flared against us,
they would have swallowed us alive;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
would have swept us away.
6 Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
out of the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

INTRODUCTION

How do you raise the spirits if people are flagging?
How do you pick up people who are discouraged and about to give up?

You bring them together and remind them of their blessings.

In this Psalm this evening, 
You can imagine the Israelites on the Journey to Jerusalem.
They have left home,
They are on the way,
But perhaps some of the people are not really for for the journey,
And they are thinking about turning back.

It happens to people today, 
Who set out on the Christian life with Jesus,
They start off well.
There is the initial enthusiasm, and then the spirits fall.
The reality of the journey ahead sets in,
And the temptation is to give up, and turn back.

Perhaps there is murmuring among those on the Journey.
Why are we doing this again this year?
I remember this last year,
I was so tired when I got to Jerusalem I didn’t enjoy it.
The beds were hard,
The food wasn’t what I’m used to.
You know what, I might not go any further.

Some people today say,
I thought this was going to be easier.
I didn’t think I would still have the same problems.
I never thought I would still get sick with Jesus
I think I might give up, and go back to the old life.


And then some gathers everyone together,
And they start this Psalm to raise the spirits.

1 If the Lord had not been on our side–
let Israel say –
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
Psalm 124:1,2

It is someone saying,

if the Lord had not been on our side,
Come on everyone, sing together,
if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,

Everyone is then singing this Psalm and remembering what God has done for them.

First of all remembering what would have happened to them if they did not have God,
And then remembering what has happened because they do have God.

So lets look at the Psalm,
And remember that is the Lord had not been on our side,
Then we would be in a very different place from where we are tonight.
Without God We Would Be …

So as we continue singing this Psalm,
We see that without God we would be in great trouble.
Sometimes we are so used to having God in our lives,
That we forget what it would be like without Jesus.
We only see the negative things that are in our lives and in times of trouble that is what we focus on,
And we forget all the reasons we trusted in Jesus in the first place.

But look at the reasons given in this song, 
Between verses 2 & 5.

if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
3 when their anger flared against us,
they would have swallowed us alive;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
would have swept us away.
Psalm 124:2-5

The Lord is with us no matter what comes our way in life.
And especially in the difficult times.
When we are attacked by others, 
God does not abandon us.

Without God we would be swallowed up.

Without God we would have drowned in the flood.

Without God we would be swept away.

Do you ever feel like this in life?
That there are just so many problems, that you cannot survive any longer. 
That you are just about managing, but if something else comes your way then that is it.
There is no way you will survive another moment.

We need to remember as we sing this Psalm,
That the reason we are surviving is Jesus Christ.
Without Him, we would be swallowed up, drowned and swept away.

These are dramatic pictures that we sing about in this Psalm,
But it is how life feels sometimes.

And this can be our best defence against the attacks of the evil one,
Simply to recount what God has done.

There is no great theological explanation in this Psalm about the omnipresence of God.
About how he works out everything for the good of those who love him.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

Nothing about how God has a plan and that plan is for our good.

11 For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Romans 29:11

This Psalm is a song of testimony.
We are witnesses to God and his deeds,
We are not singing about the reasons why these things happen.
Instead we are declaring to the people,
This is the way it is.
Remember what life would be like without God.

And sometimes we are slow to speak about Jesus to others,
Because we think that we do not have the arguments to persuade others.
But in reality we do not need the arguments,
We need our own experience and share that with others.
We need to say,

You are finding it difficult to cope at the moment,
Can I share with you how Jesus helped me through a similar time.

Without God I would have been swept away,
I would have drowned,
I would have been swallowed up,

But with Jesus,…
We move onto the next bit of the Psalm.




With God We Are …

Without God we would have been swallowed up,
Drowned in the flood and swept away.
But With God it is a different story.
Look at what the Psalm reminds us.

6 Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
out of the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
Psalm 124:6,7

With God in our lives, we are not eaten up
With God in our lives we are like birds set free from the trap

We can only find true freedom and safety in the Lord.
Do you remember what that feeling was like when you first trusted in Jesus Christ and set out on this journey?
The joy,
The sense of freedom that they chains of sin had been broken.
That new breath had been breathed into a life that was dead.

With God we are safe.
With God we are set free to truly live.

The people who know this Psalm best,
Are the ones who have tested every line and every word in their own lives,
And found them to be trustworthy and a clear reflection of their own experience.

If you have started on the journey towards God,
Then this is the sort of Psalm that easily sums up life.
It is a Psalm where we go through trouble,
And as we face up to that trouble, instead of running away,
We find the Lord.
We realise that God is with us.
And he is not going anywhere.
He is right with us at our side.

This is not a case of just looking on the bright side of things,
This is based on the reality of freedom from God.

When the bird is caught in the snare it looks like game over,
But then the trap breaks, and freedom rushes over.
Where there was once hopelessness, now there are endless possibilities.

With God We have freedom and safety.


Our Help Is In The Lord

So as we come to the end of the Psalm, we see that Without God we are in Big trouble,
With God we have new possibilities.
So we end the Psalm with the a reminder of Psalm 121.

Where do we look for our help?
Do we look to the hills?
Of course not,

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 124:8

What defines your life?
For many their lives are defined by some dramatic event that has happened in the past.
It could be an illness, a battle with Cancer for example.

For others it is the destruction of a relationship.
Someone close has died, or betrayed or is no longer in contact.
And everything in life goes back to that event.
They cannot move on.

It could even be something that was said to them as a child,
That has marred everything else that happens in their lives.

But those are not the things that define the life of the Christian.
Our lives are not defined by the troubles and injustices that we have experienced.
Our lives are defined by the Lord who has been with us through those troubles.

We are defined by Jesus and his compassion and love.
We find our identity in a Saviour who loves us,
And our lives are characterised by his Grace, freely poured out on our lives,
So that we can direct it into the lives of others.


CONCLUSION


I recently met a man for the first time,
And he introduced himself,
“I’m John - Born again”

That is his identity.
I’m born again.

So everyone lets sing,
If the Lord had not been on our side,
Come on everyone, sing louder, I can’t hear you.
If the Lord had not been with us,
We would have been swallowed up, drowned and swept away,
But with God we are protected and set free like a bird.
Our help is in the Lord.

Psalm 123

1 I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven.
2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
till he shows us his mercy.
3 Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt.
4 We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant.


INTRODUCTION

Sometimes as a Christian it is good to view our lives as being like a sponge.
When we worship, as we were doing this morning in Psalm 122,
We are soaking up everything that God has to offer.
We soak up knowledge of God,
We soak up our experience of God.
We gather as much as we can,
Just like a sponge soaks up a liquid.

But there comes a point in the life cycle of a sponge when it cannot take in any more.
It is totally saturated.
And even the slightest movement results in the liquid squirting out on all sides.

And that is what Psalm 123 is all about this evening.
Having soaked up everything we can about God in worship,
Now we need to wring it all out in service.
So that we are ready to soak up even more.

A life of worship with no service leaves us bloated and useless.
BUT A life of service with no worship leaves us dry and without purpose.
But when Worship and service come together,
Then we are living in a healthy, balanced relationship with Jesus Christ.

As we learn about Jesus, we need to share that knowledge with others.
As we experience His Grace we need to be gracious to others
As we see his compassion for us, we need to show compassion to others.

So lets us learn how to serve.
LOOK UP TO GOD

The first step in serving God, is to come to Him with the correct attitude.
Many in the world today, look down on God.
They see God as fitting into their plans, and so they look down occasionally, to make sure that he is still about.

Sadder still are the many who never look near God,
Have no thought of him, and live their lives with no need of Him, and no interest in Him.

But if we are to serve God then we need to sing this Psalm,
And look up to God.

I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven.
2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God.
Psalm 123:1,2a

For us to be servants, God must be on his throne,
He must be the King.
He must be in full control and we must bow to His authority.

Service begins with an upward look to God, God is over us.
The person of faith looks up to God,
Not at Him or down on Him, but up to Him.
It is all about our posture before God.

Sometimes we can assume the leading role.
And we must guard against that at all cost.
We must be in the correct position in relation to God.
We must be His servants.

But that is difficult, because often we think that we know best.
We want to carry out our own plans.

But … As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God.
 
It hardly even matters what we are doing at this stage,
As long as we are always looking at God.
Then we know what he wants us to do.

It is all based on our attitude to God.
If we take our eyes off Him, then we are no longer servants.
We need to be ready to spring into action when we receive the call.

I heard a story recently about Prince Andrew who was at a press launch for an investment in an expanding company in Belfast.
There was a photographer at the event who was very loud and was very distracting.
Prince Andrew simply looked at one of his security guards and pointed to the photographer.
And, immediately they were escorted away.
The security guard was watching for the slightest movement of the Prince to leap into action.

Are our eyes on the Lord in such a way, that we are ready to serve?
Ready to spring into action as soon as he motions to us.

If God is God, then he will know, much more about our needs than we do.
Sometimes it is hard for us to understand this.
We find it unnatural to trust Him in this way,
But that is what it means to be a servant.

ASK FOR MERCY

If we are to be servants we must look up to God,
But what do we expect when we look to God.
What do we want from God?

If we start the journey at this Psalm,
Then perhaps we would have a long list of things that we would want as we look to God.
I’m looking to you Lord,
Give me health and wealth.
A comfortable life,
And happiness.

But this is not the beginning of the journey.
Indeed this is the fourth step of the journey,
We have already come quite a distance to reach this point,
So as the Psalm this morning directed us in worship,
So we have met with God and realised how awesome he is.
In Psalm 120 we became dissatisfied with this world and left the old life behind.
Now as we look to God we realise our greatest need.
And it is not health or wealth it is Mercy!

We must also ask for mercy.
Like a slave and a maid,

As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
till he shows us his mercy.
3 Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us,
for we have endured much contempt.
Psalm 123:2,3

We realise that there is no greater need than the mercy of God.
It is almost as though the initial excitement of going to the Temple  has now been replaced with the reality of what is involved.

We are going to meet the King of Kings.
And he knows everything about us.
If all these people around us, knew what we were really like, then we are in trouble.

Lord Show me mercy
Have mercy
Have mercy.

I cannot take another step closer to you unless you show mercy.
Because the closer I come the more sin I notice.

You know what it is like when you are going to a job interview.
You start out excited at the opportunity of the new job.
And then as you sit in the waiting room, and look round at the other candidates, you suddenly notice the problems.
My shoes aren’t as shiny as they should be?
What is that stain on my jacket?
Why did I think that tie was a good idea this morning?

We ask God for mercy.
We are his servants,
And it is no longer the case that we think.
Why do I have to give of my time in service.
Now we think, Lord have mercy and I will gladly serve you.
I would love the opportunity to serve you.

Have mercy Lord.
Because when we have been shown mercy, we are more ready to share that mercy with others.
When we serve others, we do it to show mercy to others,
We do not do it for personal gain,
But out of compassion.
SACRIFICE

Now we could stop here this evening.
Because we have a good solid spiritual basis for service.
We are to look to God and ask for Mercy.
But although we are on a spiritual journey with these Psalms,

This is also a real physical journey.
The Israelites are on their way to the Temple in Jerusalem.
We are on our way to meet with God.

Notice that this Psalm does not mention serving others.
It only deals with serving God.
But the implication is that, if we have the right attitude to God,
Then we will naturally serve God.

So what do we do practically to serve.
Perhaps the best advice is found at the end of Romans from chapter 12-16.

We know the beginning of chapter 12 well,
Eugene Peterson paraphrases it like this:

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you:
Take your everyday, ordinary life––your sleeping, eating, going–to–work, and walking–around life––and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
Romans 12:1 (The Message)

This is service.
Take the ordinary things that we do every day, …
and do them for God.
In deed place them as an offering before God each day.

Say to God, here is my job today,
Take it and use it in your kingdom, may something be done to bring glory to you.

Take the little jobs that I will do today Lord and may they make an eternal difference in the lives of others.
The NIV calls this your spiritual act of worship.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.
Romans 12:1 (NIV)

The next verse from Romans could be taken from this Psalm.

Don't become so well–adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out.
Romans 12:2

We are to fix our attention on God
Look to him with the eyes of a slave or a maid.
And in so doing our whole lives will be transformed.

If the attitude of servanthood is learned, by attending to God as Lord,
Then serving others will develop as a very natural way of life.
This Psalm is warning us,
That if we are not servants, then perhaps there is something wrong with our relationship with God.

Jesus of course sets this example of servanthood for us, remember in John 13 when he washed the feet of His disciples.

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
John 13:12-17

So we are to be servants just as Jesus has served.



CONCLUSION


So let us lift our eyes to the one who is in heaven,
And ask him for mercy,
And then offer our everyday ordinary lives as a living sacrifice to Him.