Psalm 128 – “1 Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. 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 children will be like olive shoots around your table. 4 Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. 5 May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem     all the days of your life. 6 May you live to see your children’s children—peace be on Israel.”

Psalm 128 begins with a pronouncement of blessing, “Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.” To be blessed means to be happy, regardless of your circumstance, but to really understand blessing we need to change our perception of happiness. Our world tells us that happiness depends on our happenings, but blessing is not tied to our circumstances it’s tied to Christ. We all know people who are killing themselves trying to find happiness and get ahead in life. Most are trying to find significance and satisfaction in the stuff instead of in the Savior. Worldly happiness is like chasing the wind, just about the time you finally catch up to it you realize you are caught in it. The wind you wished for has become the wind that that wears you down, instead of finding satisfaction you find a storm. In striving for success, we may achieve our goal only to live to regret it. No matter what we do, without God we will either fail miserably or succeed miserably. Happiness comes from doing things God’s way not the worlds way. Blessing is more than just a change in the external it’s a complete change of perception. Depending on the lens that we look at life through depends on what we see, as a result we see life, not as it is, but as we are. Because it’s a matter of perception there will always be those who will never be happy, no matter how much they have. We will only see clearly when we see life from Christ’s perspective, when we stop looking at life through secular eyes and start seeing it with spiritual ones. True happiness is not something external, it’s not a matter of luck, or dependent on tricks, it involves fear, faithfulness and fruit. First the Psalmist starts with:

• Fearful worship

What does it really mean to “the fear the Lord?” Fearing the Lord is not about being afraid of the Almighty, but rather showing Him reverent respect. To reverence God, means to take God seriously to recognize that He is holy and hold Him in high regard. Taking God seriously means recognizing His Sovereignty and His right to rule. It means letting Christ be at the center of everything we are, what we think, dream and aspire to do. The Savior must be the starting point for our every endeavor. Paul preached and counseled us in Colossians 1:18 that “in all things Christ should have the preeminence.” Does Christ have preeminence in your life, who has the primary-say in your life? Have you surrendered to the supremacy of the Savior? When we reverence God, we will start with prayer not our plans. Instead of making plans and then praying as an after-thought we will pursue God in prayer first, and as we do we will hear about His plans instead of trying to tell Him about ours. What about you do you begin with God or your goals? Second we see a:

• Faithful Walk

“who walk in obedience to him” Out of fear comes faithfulness, true reverence result in right living. Obedience to God is the natural outcome of regarding God with reverence and respect. Our worship always shapes our walk, if our worship is worldly then our walk will be worldly. But if our worship is focused on the father then we will walk in His ways not in the world. The backbone of worship is an obedient walk. So how do we travel down the road of truth, by following God’s holy way not the worldly way, by thinking and behaving biblically. Happiness is the by-product of a holy life, one that is lived in the will of God not in the lust of our wants. Because beliefs determine behavior it is imperative that the basis for our beliefs is the Bible. Do you approach life from a scriptural standpoint or a secular one? When we think secularly we end up operating within a frame of reference restricted by the limits of our world. We will never engage on an eternal scope because we have limited life to an earthly perspective not an eternal one. What about you is your thinking human-bound or heavenly-minded? To think as a Christian is to regard all things in relation to God’s purpose. We can expect blessing when we live with a constant awareness that we belong to God. Our faithful walk flows into:

• Fruitful Work

Verse 2 says “You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.” Not only will our worship impact our walk but it will also affect our work. God desires to bless our work, the problem is that most of us try to start with work and end with worship. But the proper progression is fear, faithfulness and then fruit.  Until we recognize that the path to fruitfulness flows first through fear and then faithfulness we will always be tempted to start with fruit. Our work is an outflow of our worship but many of us are trying to make worship our work, as a result we end up worshipping our work. A workaholic doesn’t have a work problem they have a worship problem. Until they refocus their life to revolve around worship their world will always revolve around work. Blessings flows first out of our worship not our work. Which means that blessings comes as a result of heart work not hard work. Worldly wisdom tells us that it takes hard work to get ahead, but Godly wisdom calls us not to hard work but to heart worship. Worship is centered around and celebrates God’s work not ours, it glorifies the Messiahs work not mans. When we rely on Christ’s finished work we can rest, but when we try to rest on our work we end up worn out because our work is never finished. We learn to be content with what we have when we base our joy on what Jesus has done and is doing in and through us. Our work flows out of worship because we work in response to His revelation. When we start with work we often become too weary to worship, we end up giving God our leftovers instead of our life. If we want to experience fruit in our work we need to start giving God our first fruits not the spoiled ones. Are you giving God your best or the leftovers? Are you giving to God out of a grateful heart or a grumpy one? Is your life characterized by cheerfulness or complaining? As we think about God’s blessing in our life we must keep in mind that prosperity and success for the saved are not measured by the standards of the world. Prosperity is not necessarily measured through material possessions. Sometimes God’s greatest treasures are not the temporary rewards but the eternal riches. Because happiness doesn’t always come in the form of health and wealth we may not always be aware of His blessings. There will be times when we may wonder if God is working, but when we can’t see His hand we can still trust His heart. When you can’t perceive the blessing keep trusting in His plan to produce the intended results. God calls us to our careers, He is the One who opens and closes doors of opportunity, and brings succees. Our responsibility is to start with worship and let worship dictate our walk so that our walk impacts our work. So let me ask you how is your worship, what about your walk, and lastly your work?

2 Corinthians 9:6-8

6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

After teaching us about the Almighty’s ability Paul tells us about His:

• Abundance

The result of receiving God’s gift of grace is that the giver will always have all sufficiency to help in every good work. God has the ability to not only supply us so that we can serve but to do so abundantly. The result of His exuberant and extravagant outpouring of grace is not only to fill our reservoirs but to fill them to overflowing. God is able to enrich you so that you will have in every respect at all times, all kinds of sufficiency. So often we get stingy in our serving because we fear we will run dry, that we will give until it’s all gone. But God will give more than enough good gifts so that we can participate in every good work. It’s the story of the widow woman and her finite supply of food, when she lived by faith and not fear God kept filling up her flour and oil jars. 1 Kings 17:10-16: “10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” 12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’” 15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.” God kept adding to her flour so that she could feed not only herself but others.  Success didn’t come from saving her flour but sharing it. Her resources were not dictated by the famine but divinely given by the Father. When we focus on the famine we will withhold our flour but when we focus on the Father we will not only be fed but we will be free to feed others. Many of us have resigned ourselves to just surviving when God has called us to a life of thriving. Instead of living by faith we are living in fear, holding back and hiding instead of living in hope and helping. Why don’t we see the great things God can do, because we are living life according to what we can do, relying on our resources instead of His riches. Are you living a limited life based on what you can do or the abundant life based on God’s ability? Instead of living the blessed life we have let fear back us into a corner, we have surrendered to a mediocre life instead of a meaningful one. Are you scraping the last leftovers from the bowl of self or taking a heaping helping from God’s bottomless bowl? Are you living on the backside of life or the blessed side? The idea is that Christians will be both content in their heart and competent in their helping as they step out to meet the challenges of caring for others. Through Jesus we have the adequacy and abundance to meet the demands of life. What Paul wants to make plain is that the good gifts of divine grace will always be proportioned according to our willingness to walk by faith. We will not want while we exercise cheerful faithful stewardship. Before our resources run dry they will be replenished by God’s divine grace, because of our generous giving. You can’t out give God. This replenishment gives the cheerful giver a complete competence, and contentment, as they live to please God in obedience to His promises. Not only is He able to abundantly supply but His abundance can cause us to:

• Abound

God’s goal is not for us to get by but to abound in every good work. The reason every grace abounds is so that believers can abound in every good work. In reality we can only dispense what we have received, whether it be material, Acts 14:17: “but he never left them without evidence of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and gives you food and joyful hearts.” or spiritual, Romans 5:17: “For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.” As we let God’s abundance flow through our life and into the lives of others God keeps pouring into us, but when we selfishly stop serving God shuts of the spigot of blessing. He doesn’t just give so that we can be enriched but so that we can abound in enriching others through our good works. He pours into us so that we can pass on the blessing. He soaks us with grace so that we can serve not so that we can sit and be selfish. Today we have limited God’s gifts to physical prosperity, money and material things, but God cares more about character and conduct than coins. The reason God gives us His grace which results in good works is because good works develop our character and conduct. As the grace of God enriches us morally and spiritually we grow in Christian character and conduct. As we are filled with the fullness of Christ we are free to faithfully serve. In our character and conduct we are called to copy God in the grace of giving, and as we do the inexhaustible resources of God’s grace will fill us to overflowing, as 1 Corinthians 15:58 says: “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” God’s grace is always abundant; it always leads to increase not decrease, even when it involves parting with our precious possessions. Do you believe God is able? Will you allow the fountain of God’s grace not only to flow in you but to flow freely through you? God wants to touch the world through you, to bless you not only to be a grace bearer but a grace giver. Will you become a receptacle, a reservoir so that God can do what His grace so desires to do in you and through you?