(Psalm 127)

Bringing the sermon home:

A foundational commitment of every healthy church is the commitment to celebrate God's good gifts, especially the good gift of children, honoring and protecting all human life from the moment of fertilization until natural death.

The proverbial wisdom of this Psalm calls us to reflect upon four of God’s good gifts: success (v.1a), security (v.1b), sustenance (v.2), and sons and daughters (vv.3-5).

1. All of life depends upon God’s blessing (vv.1-2).
    
   Whatever you are seeking to build (e.g., a house, business, family, church, kingdom), the decisive factor is not your efforts, talents, or wisdom, but rather the will of your Maker. The question being posed to you is this: Will you seek His blessing? To seek His blessing is to seek to align yourself with His will through prayer and the study of His Word, that you may do all you do with God in view.
   
   
2. Children are one of God’s greatest gifts (v.3).
    
   The good gift of children is worthy of praise from us all, even those to whom this gift has been withheld, for we must all have our priorities and worldview shaped by this wisdom. Our culture has lost sight of the blessing of responsibility in general, but all the best gifts come with responsibility as part of the goodness of the gift (Gen 1:28).
   
   
3. We must not spurn God’s good gifts (vv.4-5).
    
   A society that has deliberately killed an average of 1.3 million preborn babies each of the last 50 years is a society that has willfully chosen to “call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isa 5:20). This is not merely foolish and self-destructive, but evil. The people of God must celebrate all of God's good gifts and labor to help our neighbors do the same.