string(7) "m-66998" Burnt Hickory Baptist Church

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Jun 15, 2025

The Blessing Process | Summer of Psalms

The Blessing Process | Summer of Psalms

Passage: Psalms 128:1-6

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Summer of Psalms

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: what does psalm 128 mean, how to receive blessings from god, fearing god and walking in obedience, spiritual blessings in the bible, family legacy in scripture, how to align with god’s will, generational blessings, biblical parenting and marriage, father's day sermon series

Psalm 128 paints a picture of what it looks like to walk in God's blessing. This message walks through the 'blessing process'—fearing God, walking in obedience, and living in alignment with His design. We see how blessing starts with the individual but moves outward to our marriages, families, communities, and even future generations. If you're wondering how to live a life God can bless, this message is a timely and practical reminder of the way forward.

Well, look, since it's Father's Day, and since we're coming on the backside of VBS and since as a church, we're walking in this series called The Summer of Psalms, I want you to turn with me to Psalm 128. And as you're finding that psalm, I want to remind you that the book of Psalms is nothing more than ancient Israel's book of songs. Now, they are songs for a reason, because they help you remember the spiritual truths that God has given you during their day. When these were written, there were no digital copies of scripture. Everybody didn't have a Bible in their hand. So each generation taught a song to the next generation, so they could connect with God, so that they could memorize it, so that they could have their moment of worshiping God. That's what the Psalms are. The Psalms are a collection of songs that connect God's hearts with our heart, and allows us to bring our emotion to him and walk in his way.

For all of us as believers, Psalm 128 does exactly what I talked about, and it points us in a direction to connect our heart with God's heart and our heart with the blessings of what God wants to give us. And in Psalm 128, I love this little six-verse-Psalm because in these verses, it's going to lay out this charge of how to walk in God's blessing. But it's also going to give us some practical indicators of what are the blessings of God. So what I want to do this week is the same as I've done the last couple weeks. I want to start with a principle that lays some guardrails for the morning, and then I want to pull out a couple of truths that can help us walk out this Psalm in our life.

Here's the principle for the morning: God has graciously offered us a powerful and a blessed life. But here's the thing, that life can only be found in him. And I want you to let that sit on you for a minute. This is the promise of God, and this is where this Psalm is going to take us. God has given us, he's graciously offered to us this powerful life. Not a little weak life, but a powerful life and a blessed life. That's what he offers. But it can only be found in Him. But the question is, how do we get it?

Well, here's the good news this morning. That's actually what the Psalm lays out for us this morning, and it gives us such an anti-view of the blessing of God that most of culture gives us. You'll see what I mean in just a minute. Let me read the psalm over us and then I'll pull apart a couple things for us. It says this in verse one: blessed are all who fear the Lord and who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor, blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house. Your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion. May you see prosperity in Jerusalem all the days of your life, and may you live to see your children's children peace be on Israel.

Now, once again, I love this, because the last three weeks, each of these psalms that I’ve pulled out for us, have started with this same word. Blessed is the Hebrew word ashray. It literally means happy. And it's pointing to the idea that we serve a God that wants to bless us. We serve a God that wants to give us happiness. But this psalm is showing us the how we get it and actually what it is that he wants to give us. But it's also showing us two main things as we work through it. On one end, it's showing us that there are some requirements for God's blessing. But on the other side, it's showing us the practical ways that God blesses.

Now, look, when you first read this, just a fast reading, it almost seems like, okay, that's kind of common knowledge. Why would we need to process through that? But as I thought about it this week, this text actually is incredibly relevant and important to us because it shows us some misconceived notions about God and about the blessings of God. Now, this is not for you, but just for some other friends that misunderstand this, all right? Let me show you why this Psalm is so important for us. It's so important because there's this feeling, when the Psalm was written that you can actually live this lifestyle, however you want to live, doing whatever you want to do. But then when you need God, you can just pull him off the shelf and plant his blessings in your life. You've maybe had a friend that this was there view of God, that saw God as a genie in the bottle. Just live how I want to and when I need him, I'll rub the bottle up and call him out for a blessing. Or maybe God is just this butler in the corner where he just minds his own business until I need him, and I give him the nod and he steps in. Well, this Psalm then and now is showing us that is not how the blessings of God works. It's also showing us that there's this cultural misunderstanding that many people feel that they can just live how they want to live, and then somehow call on God and put him on the hook for doing what I need him to do. And then I'll have the audacity to be mad at him for not doing what I need him to do. You ever kind of felt that in your life a little bit or seen that in somebody's life?

That's what this psalm is dealing with. There's this understanding the Psalm is dealing with a misunderstanding of God's blessing. When some people hear the blessings of God, they're thinking the prosperity gospel or that God is going to make me hit the lotto next week or give me millions. Or I'll never be sick as long as I say my prayers at night. But that is not the blessings that God is talking about here. You see, this psalm is actually going to show us what the blessing of God looks like. And spoiler alert: catch this, dads… many times it starts with the dads inwardly in us. It moves to us as dads providing for our families. It highlights our marriage, it touches our kids. It moves into the community, the city and the nation, and all in all, it even presses into our grandkids.

And here's the thing, I don't think any of us in this room would not want that to happen. So in other words, what I'm going to press into a little bit is that the blessing of God, yes, it starts in you, but it's never meant to remain in you. It's meant to pass through you. So let's look at it pretty close. What does it take for a man of God, for a family, for any believer, to be blessed. It's kind of a two-step process. And the secret sauce is actually in the first verse of this psalm. Let me read it to you again and it'll show you how to be blessed.

It says this, blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. Did you see it? There's two main verbs here, right? There's the word fear, and then there's the word walk. And here's the thing, church. It's that simple.

If we want to be happy, if we want to see the blessing of God in our life, the first thing the psalmist says is that we just need to fear the Lord. Now, does that mean I'm scared of him? Does that mean I run away from him? No, no, no, no. That means I run to him. That's what it literally means. It doesn't mean that I'm afraid of God. It means that I'm in awe of God. Where it says fear there, you may want to write the word AWE. I'm in awe of God. Now what does that mean? That means that I put him in such a prominent position of my life, that his shadow is cast over me, that his presence is cast over me, and that he is preeminent. And in everything that I do, in everything that I say, that every decision I make is based upon his rightful place in my life. Now, this is the opposite of a casual view of God, right? A casual view of God, is just attending church or maybe saying a prayer at a meal or a in God I trust bumper sticker or, or maybe even have that cool bumper sticker that the Darwin bumper deal is being bitten by the fish over here.

This is an opposite view of that. This means that by God being at this place of all in my life, that it affects how I think, how I speak, how I walk. CS Lewis says it like this about fearing God. He says, the fear of God rests somewhere in the middle of dreading to let God down and then holding him in the highest esteem. Now, what this means for us and from scripture is that blessings from God come our way when we put him in his rightful place. To live in the light of God's presence is to invite God's presence into our lives. But it doesn't stop there.

When we live in his presence, the second thing the psalmist says, if we want to be blessed is to walk in his way. Now, don't separate these two things, fear and walk. Now this is logical. Why? Because how do you really know? If you fear God, is it because you said something? Is it because you went somewhere? No. You know, you fear God by where your feet take you. That's how you know you fear God. In fact, look at verse one again. It says, blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. Now, how do you show that you fear the Lord, it's easy. You walk in his way, right? How do you know that you're walking in his way? It's easy. You fear the Lord and you take him seriously. Here's the deal. We've tried to separate these things out a whole lot, but one cannot exist without the other. But we've tried to make them independent, right? It's not just your heart that matters. And it's not just your works that matter. It's the intersection of both of these things in your life that invite God's presence in your life. I'm putting God in the preeminent spot. And as a result of that, I'm walking him out and showing what he's done in my life.

In fact, this is the same thing that James says in James chapter two. The half-brother of Jesus says this, James 2:14. What good is it? My brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, go in peace, keep warm and be fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it's not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

The psalm is saying is that blessings of God result from us fearing God and walking in obedience, fearing God and walking in obedience. You will be blessed with your feet and not just your feelings with your life and not just your lips. The bottom line is, if you're not moving in your faith, you're not fearing. And if you're not fearing, you are not moving. This is such a clear message, dads, I'm putting it on the bottom shelf for us.

The idea verse one is, blessed are all who fear the Lord and who walk in obedience to him. Now look, we could stop right there. But if I'm you, what I'm asking is, okay, Matt, I grabbed that. I get that there's my two things is to put him where he needs to go and to walk it out. But what will it do? Because that's the, that's my question in everything. Okay, how's that going to work? What's that going to mean? Where's that going to flesh out?

That is actually what the rest of the psalm gives us. The rest of the psalm gives us some very practical categories that God is waiting to unleash on your family, these blessings. In fact, let me give them to you real quick before we're done. The first blessing that is in this psalm, and that can be in your life for fearing and following, is number one is just a personal blessing. It's a personal blessing that God wants to give you when you fear God and when you walk in obedience. So dad, mom, kids, listen. You will be blessed personally when you fear and when you follow. How do you know that?

Well, look at verse two. It says, you will eat the fruit of your labor, blessings, and prosperity. It says, watch, this will be yours. What is it saying? When you fear and when you follow, you can eat the fruit of your labor. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to become wealthy and you're going to become rich the moment you start working. That's not what that means. But what it does mean is that God, the creator of the universe, will begin to fill your heart and give you meaning and fulfillment in your work. And as a result of that, your work will begin to provide for your needs and you will begin to see him move in your life when you're fearing him.

And when you're following, you'll begin to feel the presence of God pressing into you and pressing you into directions. Whether it's your finances, your feelings, whether it's your future, all of these things, God is in those details and he wants to bless you. He wants to walk with you in those things.

But it doesn't just stop at a personal blessing. That's where it starts. But it doesn't stop there. It moves from a personal blessing. If you fear and if you walk, it moves from personal to, number two, family. God promises us family blessings when we walk in him. Where am I getting that? Look at verse three. Watch what it says. It says, your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house. Look at your wife right now and say, you are fruitful vine, honey. Now don't say that. That's just weird, right? That's weird. Don't, don't say it. But listen, this is really cool. Not usually the language I hear about you talking about your wives, but this is really cool. Why? Because the picture here is of a fruitful vine. A vine. Listen, that especially in an agrarian society that this was being written in, it is a picture of thriving. Listen, dude, when you walk in your faith, what it's saying is your wife is going to be blessed, they're going to thrive, they're going to flourish, they're going to be fruitful, they're going to be productive. I mean, all in all, when you think about a vine, all that vines need to be flourishing is they need something to cling to. They need something to give them nutrients, and they need something to hold on so they can produce the fruit in their life. And that's what this is saying about us. It's saying the sign of a happy marriage is being fruitful and faithful. And when we as the male, as the believer of Jesus, the head of our houses, when we begin to fear and follow, our wives will be filled to the brim. That's what it's saying here. But look, it doesn't stop at just our wives. It moves from our wives to the whole family. Why? Because Satan knows. So goes the family, so goes the world, right? It all starts in the family.

Look at the rest of verse three. It says, your children, see we've moved from wife, now we're to children. Your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Olive shoots. Because in ancient Israel, the olive tree is a symbol of stability, a symbol of loyalty and a symbol of investment. Man, they were a basic, and they actually still are a basic sense of the agriculture of the day. And catch this even better poetic language here in the Psalms. Did you know it takes 10 to 15 years for an olive shoot to produce fruit? And what is it saying? If you'll cultivate it, if you'll fear and follow dad, if you'll fear and follow mom, if you'll fear and follow family, that little shoot will begin to grow and begin to grow. And after about 15 years, maybe a little bit longer in America, maybe 27 years in America, after about 15 years, that thing will begin to produce fruit. And here's the cool part about olive trees. I told you this is such a cool deal in the scriptures. Olive trees will produce once they start producing up to 20 to 30 generations. So you know what the Lord is saying here? It's like, Hey, not only did the blessings of God hit you personally, hits your wife. Secondly, it hits your kids after that up to 20 and 30 generations. In fact, he keeps going in verse six, and watch this. He says this, may you live to see your children's children. In other words, may you live to see the day that those little shoots around your table grow up into trees, and then they have little shoots that you're helping them grow up and bless their lives. You want to talk about the blessing of God?! The blessing of God is when he blesses personally, when he blesses your family.

And then thirdly, here's the shortest one, when he moves from personal to family, then thirdly, he moves to community blessings. This is what happens when we fear and follow. This is what happens when we fear and obey. Blessing starts personal, it moves to family, and then it moves out into the community. Watch verse five. It says, may the Lord bless you from Zion. And may you see, watch here it is the prosperity of we've already had the wife. We've already had a personal, we've already had kids, we've already had grandkids. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. What does that mean? That means that as the people of God begin to get blessed, there's a ultimate response in us that we begin to spread the blessings of God to those that are outside this place. That's what we saw this week, right? That's what we saw when we magnified, when God began to press our hearts into these kids, into these families, into this community, it begins to spread. And it doesn't just stop in Jerusalem. It doesn't just stop in West Cobb. It begins to move. He says in the last verse, all the way into Israel, he says All the way out as far as it can. Because the person of God began to fear God and began to walk in his ways. Listen, it's that easy. It's that easy. Put God in his place and walk out his ways. It's that easy.

You want the blessing of God in your life? You can pray for it all you want to. But the moment you turn in awe to who the Father is in the moment, you begin to walk it out with your feet. You're aligning yourself with the creator of the universe that can pour them on to you, pour them on to your wife, pour them onto your kids, pour them onto your grandkids, pour them onto your community, and you will begin to pour them right back to him.

So as we close today, let me ask you a couple questions. Number one, is God in the rightful place for you to stand in your life and say, I'm all yours God? Or are you standing on the throne looking down at God saying, why are you not blessing me? Is God the force that drives your actions? Or do you just invite him to walk in your way? Is God the God of your life or are you?

 

Follow Along with the Message

The Blessing Process

 

June 15, 2025

PRINCIPLE: God graciously offers us a powerful and blessed life that can be found in Him.

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 128:1

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.

to be blessed:

1. the Lord.

2. in His way.

Psalm 128:1

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.

James 2:14–18

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

Psalm 128:1

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.

Practical blessings from god

1. blessings

Psalm 128:2

You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.

2. blessings

Psalm 128:3

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house.

Psalm 128:3b

Your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

Psalm 126:6

May you live to see your children’s children.

3. blessings

Psalm 128:5

May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.

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