Psalm 128, these are God's words, a song of a sense blessed is everyone who fears Yahweh who walks in his ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy and it should be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears Yahweh. Yahweh bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel. Amen. This ends this reading of God's inspired and inerrant word in which he teaches us to be happy. The word that's translated blessed here and the word happy in verse 3 and blessed in verse 4, not the word bless in verse 5, but the other ones, they're all from the Hebrew root for the word happy. Maybe the rest of the congregation not spending a lot of time in Hebrew like I do, they don't get the same smile for the same reason that I see that I get when I see little Asher running around, because his name means happy. That's the root word here. And God is teaching us to be happy. I have a friend who's a minister and he used to do a lot of flying, probably still does. In fact, he was one of those big shot speakers at conferences and such. And we used to talk about evangelizing together. And one of the ways that he evangelizes is if he's on a plane or an airport or something and someone asks him What do you do? He says I teach the science of how to be happy perfectly happy forever Obviously it gets a response out of a lot of people and And it's true. That's what Psalm 128 is. It's how to be happy. And of course, the great way to be happy is to be happy in the Lord himself. It's just what we learned in Proverbs 8, 22 through 36 yesterday, thinking about the pre-creation, the extra creation, outside of the creation, intra, Trinitarian within the Trinity, personal interaction, the interaction between the persons of the Godhead and the Father always delighting in the Son and the Son always rejoicing before the Father and delighting in the Father, which is pictured in John 1. Which does not use the ordinary word for with when it says the word was with God But it uses the preposition from which we get the word face. The word was toward God or even better facing God rejoicing before him and so God is happy in himself. He refers to himself in the Bible as the ever-blessed God. And he has created us to be happy in him. Happy, happy is everyone who fears Yahweh. treats Yahweh rightly according to the greatness of His glory. And then of course, being creatures, treating Yahweh rightly also according to the goodness of His grace. And you combine proper respect for response to valuing and interacting with the greatness of His glory and the goodness of His grace. And you get not a silly, flippant, superficial familiarity, but a profound, reverent, deeply joyous intimacy. Happy. Happy is the one. "'who fears Yahweh," verse one, and then, "'Behold, thus shall the man be happy "'who fears Yahweh," in verse four. And so our happiness is in the Lord himself, but that doesn't mean that we don't do anything in the creation or that we don't enjoy the creation. It is the creator's creation, and it's according to his design. And there are in particular, creation ordinances, what we call creation ordinances, those things that God had given man to do and to enjoy and to have from before even the fall. And among them are work, take dominion over all the earth and subdue it, to work in the creation, imitating God, who created creation in a procedural way, who could speak it in an instant, all into existence, but didn't. He worked for six days, establishing a pattern for us of working for six days, and he worked in a progressive way in which he created at first chaotic and empty and brought an increasing amount of order and thriving and flourishing and giving us to do the same. And there's some repeal of the fall then in this first creation ordinance in the beginning of verse two, when you eat from the labor of your hands, Remember the curse in the fall was the ground was cursed on account of us by this the sweat of your brow You it'll be toilsome. It'll produce thorns and thistles and the we were designed to be created to be happy in our working. The material world is God's creation for good, to be enjoyed as a gift from Him and in which to be employed as images of and servants unto Him. There's all these wonderful creational things to do. And so one way to be happy in God is to receive your work as from Him and do your work as for Him. That's part of living in the fear of Yahweh. And that's part of how he has given us to be happy. Happy in doing your school and happy in doing your chores. Happy in serving one another. Happy in taking care of the things that he has given you. Happy in growing things and making things and learning and doing as well as you can with what you learn. and being productive. Not only being able to eat from your own labor, but remember what the Apostle says, let him who stole steal no longer, but let him work with his hands, not just that he may eat and be happy in the Psalm 128-2 way, but that he may produce enough that others may eat. Let him work with his hands so that he may have something to share with those who are in time of need." And so the happiness of the creation ordinance of work. Another creation ordinance was marriage. He made them male and female. It says in Genesis 1, Matthew 19, Jesus quotes first Genesis 1 when talking about marriage. He who made them from the beginning made them male and female but then he hurries up and he pairs that with Genesis 2 Because Genesis 2 zooms in on the making of male and then female to give us the Blessed happiness of the institution of marriage the man made as head and especially spiritual head and provider seeing God provide for him and do all these things as his own head and God gave him the words of the covenant of life in the garden about the tree and so forth and only then does he make the woman and the man names the woman he is her Her head, but it's not good for him to be alone. She's a helper exactly corresponding to him meaning of all The creation only this man and this woman are made in the image of God So she exactly corresponds to him the Lord providentially brings this particular woman to this particular man so that marriage is still today, however, the providence of God brings her and No man today gets his wife from a rib of his that has been cut out and then fashioned by God into a woman. But it is the same God who, in His sovereign providence, brings a particular woman to a particular man, so that she is for you, or he is for you, and the blessed institution of marriage. And if he fears Yahweh, walks in his ways, which includes the keeping of the seventh commandment, includes keeping of all the commandments, lives with her according to knowledge, 1st Peter 3, who loves his wife and gives himself up for her, especially unto her sanctification, Ephesians chapter 5, and in other places. This man is blessed with a wife who is like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house So the blessedness of marriage the thriving Of his wife the fruitfulness of his wife. He doesn't just labor so that he can be fruitful. He Follows the Lord and labors and seeks that she would be fruitful Well, there's a creation Ordinance of work, there's a creation ordinance of marriage. There's a creation ordinance of multiplying. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And that is how the Lord is blessing this man in the second part of verse three. You are children like olive plants. The word there is not the word for tree, it's the word for shoot. And the verb that is being translated all around your table, is the verb for surrounding. You would use it for going around something in a circle, or if you're talking about multiple things or multiple parties, you might use it, for instance, of an enemy surrounding and circling a town. Here, the idea is if you're doing like a time-lapse of this man's life, as he fears the Lord and he walks with him and his wife is being fruitful. What fruit is she especially bearing? She's bearing these olive shoots. And in the time lapse, the kids shoot up and sprout and grow. all around the table and the blessedness of that glimpse into life as God created and designed it to be in these creation ordinances with work and marriage and multiplying. And it's not just any sort of shoot, it's an olive shoot. There are olive trees still today in Israel. Mom and I saw them when we were there. that were around in the time of the Lord Jesus. Thousands of years of producing food and fuel for light and oil that can be medication and all of this productivity and blessedness and richness. for a thousand generations worth, the one who loves him, loves the Lord, and keeps his commandments. You think about the second commandment, the one who properly fears Yahweh. And if he fears Yahweh, his first table of the law, second commandment, and second table of the law here, especially in his marriage and parenting. And what a joy to see your children springing up still in their green shoot phase of their life and their existence, not yet established in place, not yet with the hardened wood on the outside and bearing offspring of their own, and yet in this green and growing and alive and full of promise. and not just one, but many of them surrounding the table. Some people call those who have lots of children from Psalm 127, quiverful. If you were gonna start using biblical analogies like that, you might call them table surrenders. So it doesn't have the same ring to it. But here are the images of the blessedness. Well, there aren't just creation ordinances if you fear Yahweh. because the point of the creation was not the creation. Man fell, and the creation was cursed on account of him, and it has been bound to corruption and decay. But this was not like the messing up of a plan A in which the Lord had to revert to plan B after man messed it up. No, the point of it was redemption. The point of it was the adoption of those who the Lord would redeem in his Son, so that even the creation, which has been groaning in bondage to corruption and decay, would come to rejoice and participate in the glorious freedom of the children of God. especially in the day of their adoption, the final ratifying of their adoption, which is the redemption of our bodies, that wonderful language from the middle of Romans 8. And so the creation ordinances are followed by and reach their climax in the redemption ordinance, the blessedness that comes from Zion. the gospel preached from out of the church on earth, which the Lord has established for himself, which has the words of God, and which has the ministry of God, those whom the Lord has sent to minister, first in anticipation of Christ and now under Christ, And it has the ordinances of God, the sacraments and church discipline and so forth. And so there's blessing that comes from Zion above, of course, where God himself is or has made his glory especially to be known. There's blessing that comes from God himself. as he sends his son into the world in the fullness of the time, born of a woman under the law and so forth. And because we are his children sends the spirit of his son into our hearts. Indeed, the Lord bless you from Zion, give you that blessing. that is Him Himself. But the Lord also bless you from Zion in the Bible way of using that language to talk about His visible church and the benefits and blessings that He has ordained to give particularly in that institution, in that field, or that dragnet, or that tree, or that batch of flour, to use all of those metaphors from the parables in Matthew chapter 13, in which we have been recently. The Lord bless you out of Zion. May you see the good of Jerusalem. So there's a redemption ordinance to be blessed in and from and by the church. There's also a redemption ordinance to be a blessing to the church, that that's the first place of our service, that not only would we receive the ministry from on high, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor, teachers, but then that we would speak the truth in love, that we would be joints that supply something of the strength of the body, that we would be members of the body that have a share to do as the whole is built up into Christ. And the blessed man, the man whose happiness is defined the way the Lord defines happiness, what makes him happy is to see the health of the church, to see the church prosper and grow and thrive. And so may you see the good of Jerusalem. Well, unless his heart is conformed to the heart and mind of the Lord as open to us in Scripture, seeing the good of Jerusalem is not going to be so much happiness. But, oh, the more you learn to think like the Lord, the more your heart and mind is conformed to that of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more you love the visible church. are careful even of the baby wheat and drag the net for the sake of the good fish, but love the church itself. You rejoice over the field because of the hidden treasure that's in it. And you give all to buy the field like the Lord Jesus gave all to purchase the church. And you see the Lord Jesus is the one who does all of these beautiful things. He's a merchant in beautiful pearls. And yet, it's all for the sake of purchasing the one pearl of great price, all of the other great and good works that he has done, especially for the obtaining of that one good work, that one great work, his finally gathered, fully sanctified church. in the last day, the more your heart is conformed to that of Christ, the more you will love the church, the more you will come like Psalm 128 in verse five and say, you know what really makes me happy? To see the good of Jerusalem, to see the church healthy. to see the church reforming in her doctrine and worship, to see the church reviving in the life of Christ, in every heart, in every life, in every home, in obedience and holiness and zeal and service, in the experiential knowledge of God, and to see this not just in one generation, but generation after generation, the children who are surrounding the table like olive plants, olive shoots, in verse 3, are part and parcel of this good of Jerusalem in verse 5. So that you don't just have one table surrounded with olive shoots, but each of these shoots eventually get their own table, and they start to be surrounded by olive shoots. And so these happy ones who are happy in the Lord and happy in the creation ordinances that He has given them and happy in the redemption ordinances and their participation in and desire for the good of the church, they multiply these happy people. so that more and more are happy with the same happiness. Indeed, this is how the shalom, the entire well-being and wholeness of Israel, knowing that the Lord God himself is for them. This is how it comes about as the Lord works in these happy people, these happy workers, these happy warriors, these happy servants of his church. Yahweh bless you out of Zion. May you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel. That's real happiness. Our flesh will want to define happiness in the use of created things alone, and in the misuse of created things. But we must not give in to our fleshliness. We must find our happiness first in the Lord, and having our happiness in Him, according to His design in creation and redemption, to be happy in walking with him in his ways in the creation ordinances, especially here, work and marriage and parenting. And we could, of course, add the wonderful creation ordinance of the Sabbath there and those bookends being happy in the Lord himself. on the seventh day, the happy day, the blessed day and sanctified day. And then in his redemption ordinances, especially, which is more, which lays hold of the Sabbath in a special way, but especially in his church, from his church, unto his church, giving ourselves to that and finding our happiness in her good. So let's pray and ask that God would make us happy. Our gracious God, our glorious God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we confess that you are the ever-blessed God, and we desire, as you have designed and even spoken to us just now from your word, that we would be your ever-blessed people. by having our happiness from and especially in you yourself and so grant according to this portion of your scripture the ministry of your spirit to make us happy we ask in christ's name amen