In his sermon 'The Secret of a Happy Home,' Scott Brown discusses the importance of Psalm 128 in understanding the foundations of a joyful Christian household. He emphasizes that true happiness in a home stems from two main principles: the fear of God and obedience to His commandments. The fear of God is described as a deep admiration and reverence for God, leading to a desire to please Him, rather than being scared or fearful in a negative sense. Brown highlights how the Psalms, particularly Psalm 128, serve as a guide for emotional and spiritual well-being, providing a framework for dealing with life's challenges, and how they were historically used by families ascending to Jerusalem for religious feasts. The sermon underscores the value of family unity, including the importance of shared meals and how these simple acts contribute to a harmonious household. It also sheds light on the role of wives and children, portraying them as integral to the home’s happiness when the husband embodies fear and obedience to God. The sermon further connects this personal and familial happiness to the broader community, suggesting that a household rooted in fear of God and obedience positively impacts civic life and the nation as a whole. Lastly, Brown calls for a return to prioritizing worship and family unity amidst societal fragmentation.

Okay, we are going to do some messages on the Psalms going forward, and we're going to work through different categories of the Psalms as we do it. The Psalms Happens to be the most highly quoted book in the New Testament It really was the hymnal of the people of God and has been the hymnal for the people of God The word means to pluck the strings and that's what they do they pluck the strings of your heart in every every possible area the Psalms really are perfect for the recalibration of your emotions they There's a psalm for every feeling you've ever had, there's a psalm for every experience you've ever been through, every difficulty, There's a psalm for sin, there's a psalm for depression, there's a psalm for everything, and they're so practical and so helpful. One of the remarkable things about the Psalms is how often David's prayers in these songs are about enemies and threats. It's astonishing and extremely helpful. It was Steve Lawson who he says that the Psalms was what sustained Martin Luther through all the tumult of the Reformation.

He says that Romans and Galatians gave him his theology, but the Psalms gave him his thunder. In other words, it gave him the confidence to continue through all the conflict that he was experiencing. He says that his first sermon series he ever preached, verse by verse, was in the Psalms. And the second time he did it, he was converted by reading the Psalms. One of the most famous hymns of the church, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, was written directly after Luther pondered with all of his heart Psalm 46, God is our refuge and strength, and ever-present help and trouble.

Therefore we shall not fear, though the earth should change and the mountains slip into the heart of the sea." He wrote that song after contemplating the psalm, Psalm 46. So There are many Psalms, many kinds of Psalms, and in the next months we're going to cover some of those categories. One of the categories of the Psalms is the imprecatory Psalms. You have Psalms of praise. You have various kinds of Psalms.

We'll talk about that. But there is a section in the Psalms called the Songs of Assents. There are 20 of them, and I want to draw one Psalm out of the Songs of Assents. Please open your bibles to Psalm 128 Psalm 128 it's a short Psalm and I've titled this the secret of happiness in your home This is a psalm about home life. And it makes sense that it's in the songs of ascent because the songs of ascent were sung by the children of Israel as they went up to the great feasts.

And by the way, that's ascent like you ascend, you're going up. And they would go, the families of Israel would go up to Jerusalem and they'd walk along the roads to go up into the heights of Jerusalem to go and worship there. You know the Feast of Booths, they would set up their booths and they would camp out for a week and they would rejoice together and worship together, singing and feasting together during that week. Fully 22% of the days of the year of Israel were dedicated to feasts, feasting, celebrating. That's what they did.

We should do the same thing. But this is one of the songs of ascent. These Psalms were written particularly for the families to sing on their way to the feast so they were on the pilgrimage and they were singing these Psalms as they went so you can picture a family picture your own family and you're walking along the streets and you're headed up the hill to worship God and you're singing this psalm. Well this is one of them, Psalm 128. Verse 1, a song of a sense.

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall 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 the Lord. The Lord 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. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for these words. These are words of life.

These words guide us. Pray that you would use these words to guide our church into these things. Amen. Well the secret of happiness in a home is here. Well do you have a happy home?

Do you have a happy heart? Everybody wants a happy home, everyone wants a happy heart, but not everyone does the things that make for a happy heart or a happy home. And the answer is here. The answer is here. We must never forget that a Christian home must be a happy home or it's not a Christian home.

Christian home. And I think that's revealed here. So here in the psalm it's very clear David reveals to us that a happy home springs from two things that you do. Two things. The fear of God, first of all, and obedience to His ways.

If you miss these two things, You can't have a happy home the way that God designed your home to be. The basic elements of life are all mentioned here. It's sort of a picture of the ebbs and flows of life. You have laboring with your hands. You know, you have your work life.

A man goes off and he works and of course everybody in the home is laboring and with with their hands and then you have home life You're eating together with meals you have a wife their children that are there and then you have Zion that's that's religious life. That's your word the worship of God and then you have Israel now you have the life in the community, the direction of the nation. So all those things are wrapped up in this picture of happiness. Now the word blessed or happiness appears four times in these six verses That should tell you the theme That that word and the word fear of God and obedience those really are the words that describe what's at the heart of this psalm. Now there are there five distinct sections in this psalm and it kind of pictures concentric circles of happiness that flow out really of a person's heart.

And like the first section speaks of the happiness of the man who fears God and keeps his commandments. He does those two things and it brings happiness to him. And then in the next circle is his wife. The second section describes his wife. And then the third section describes his children and the family together.

And then the fourth section speaks of the blessings of the worship of God that's in verse 5 and Then in verse 6 the fifth section Describes the blessings of public life in the community. So these two things the fear of the Lord and obedience just roll out happiness into the community. That's the logic of this psalm. Now the heart of, he speaks of two things, the fear of God and obedience. Let's talk about the fear of God.

What is the fear of God? The fear of God is beholding the face of God. It's living before God. If you want to be happy, the key to happiness is living before God and beholding his face in everything that happens. And you know, what's it like to fear God?

Does it mean, does fearing God meaning you're cowering in terror is, does it make you loathe, you know, the object of fear? You're just scared, you want to run away from it. That's not this kind of fear. That's not the fear of God the way the Bible speaks about it. To fear God is different than that, And there are several elements to the true fear of God.

Positively, the fear of God is having an awe of God. Another way to say it is to have an appreciation for God, an amazement of God, a love for God, a desire to please God, an impulse to praise God. That's the fear, that's the kind of fear of God that the Bible speaks of. In other words, to behold the face of God, to fear God, means that you don't take Him lightly, but you regard Him as the best and the highest and most blessed thing to behold and the most blessed one to obey. That's why Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments.

The love comes first. That's this whole idea. Negatively, the fear of God expresses itself in fearing offending God, or fearing distance from God. I hope our greatest fear as a church is that we would be distant from God. It's the fear of sinning against God.

Like For example, you think sin is so bad that you don't want to sin and you want to run from it. And when you fall from it, I'm sorry, when you fall into it, you want to get away from it as fast as you can. And you confess it. And you don't want to do it anymore. So that's why here in this Psalm David thinks the fear of God is a good thing.

He knew the value of this kind of fear. One of the English Puritans, John Howe, says the fear of God is like a pleasing fear. I love the way he communicates this. He says, to live in the fear of God is not without pleasure. It composes the soul.

It expels vanity. It checks unruly passions. It keeps all within a pleasant calm is health to your heart and marrow to the bones so when David says blessed is the man who fears the Lord, he's not talking about anything negative at all. There's no gloom or sadness in the fear of God at all. It doesn't create a gloomy spirit.

It multiplies joy. That's why Thomas Watson said this, The fear of God is the morning star which ushers in the sunlight of comfort, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. So when you fear God it actually fills your heart with motivation and and and joy. You know the Bible says that Noah was filled with godly fear. Remember that?

Remember what Noah did? He built an ark for a hundred years. How did he keep going for a hundred years while everybody was mocking him? Godly fear. He appreciated God.

He stood in awe of God far, far more than any of the pleasures he could have gotten from favor from the world. My view is Noah was a happy man, he was moved by godly fear and it energized him every day. Now this blessing here says Blessed is, blessed is the man, okay? But there's a catch, and it's these two things, the fear of the Lord and walking in his ways. Now, the blessings that are promised here don't come because you wish for them and they don't even come because you pray for them they come because you fear God and you keep his commandments that's how they come there's a catch and that's And that's the secret of a happy home.

The blessings that are promised in Psalm 128 come only from God and only from the people who do the things that are spoken of here. Now, I just want to back up and give us some other visions of what's happening here. Here's what happens when you fear God and obey Him. First of all, you enjoy the simplest things in life, the simplest things. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you." That's verse 2.

And the picture here is of a family, and they're just eating the fruit of the labor of their hands. And they've been laboring together, they've been working hard, and now they're back, they're sitting at the table after a hard day's work and they're just eating together. And their meal is the fruit of the labor of their hands. And it's the simplest thing. They find joy in the simplest thing in the world, sitting down and just eating a meal.

And you know, by the way, I think this just brings up the matter of the family dinner table. Today people don't gather together and they eat, they don't eat together hardly anymore. I know you do in your in this church. That's so good. I'm so glad that you do.

But most of the world is kind of bouncing from fast food joint to another and they're running 50 different directions. And because they're not unified families, they're never together to eat together. And it's really important that families try to break all the fragmentation that the society wants to do to families so that they never have time to come together. They can never prioritize coming and enjoying the simplest thing in life and that is eating. You just need to protect that family meal.

And I think that that should happen by setting it down a time when the family sits down and that there's that there's profitable conversation. You know we should come to the table with something to share now the second thing about this is that luxury isn't necessary in this picture a happy home isn't dependent on the luxurious surroundings or some kind of designer lifestyle They just work together and now they're eating together. That's all it is It does it doesn't require your designer lifestyle at all. It just requires God and His fear and his obedience and the family together, the luxury is not necessary at all. And Psalm 128 teaches us really, everybody knows this, happiness is supplied by things that money cannot buy.

The most, some of the unhappiest people in the world are the richest people in the world and we've all known some of them It doesn't make you you might you might think oh if I just had a little bit More I could finally rest secure. Guess what? That doesn't happen. Also there's this comment about a wife. Your wife is fruitful.

That's another really interesting thing. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house so there's this there's this beauty that affects your wife when the fear of God and obedience to God is in your house. It actually energizes her and it beautifies her. Fear and obedience does something to people in your house and the fear of God and the obedience of a husband does something to his wife. This is why it's so important that we have holy men so that they can have happy wives.

And the psalmist I think is speaking of this beautiful standard of feminine beauty and industry in the home under the influence of godly fear and heartfelt obedience and she she she she's likened to a fruitful vine you know You have to be careful with the symbolism of wives in the Bible because if you read the Song of Solomon you think, what does this woman look like? This is imagery of beauty and industry. She's a symbol of prosperity. She's a symbol of cheer, she's a symbol of fruitfulness. There's a certain kind of environment that a wife needs, and it's a husband that fears God and walks in His ways.

I love this part. She is in the very heart of her home. The Bible makes it very clear a wife should be a keeper at home. And recovering that in our society is difficult, but it really does need to be recovered as best we can in the situations that we have. But God really has designed For a wife to have her home as the center of her life There are things that happen in people's lives that make that very very difficult with with the matters of the fragmentation of the family and divorce it really messes that whole thing up, but the I we should seek to have wives that are keepers at home.

You know, Solomon said, Who can find a virtuous wife, for her worth is far above rubies? And then also notice the children. The children are a blessing. Your children like olive plants all around your table. That's verse 3.

So it's kind of like the fun begins here the children are there You know, it's so much fun to have little children around your table. You know, I'm a grandpa, right? So, you know, now the children around our table, they come and go. But man, when they come, it's so much fun. It's hilarious.

I love it. And when they're not there, we sit down at the table and say hey where is everybody but here these are olive plants that's the imagery the children are olive plants planted around the table then they're all in their place and you can just kind of feel the the vibrant squirmy you know vigor of childhood in this scene here. And they're like olive plants, which is really reflective of everything else we read in the Bible about children. Children are a blessing. Olive plants are a blessing, and they're a blessing for a long time.

Olive plants live for hundreds of years. And by the way, olive plants imply slow growth. And that's what happens with children it's slow and olive trees were thought of blessings in Israel and they were blessings for many many years of oil and various other products. And it's just, it's a kind of slow farming that implies long-term blessing in a person's life. They really were a symbol of abundant life.

You know, we live in a day where people don't want children anymore. That is such a tragic result of unbelief. There's really only one reason people don't want children anymore. They don't love God and they don't love what God loves. God loves to see multiplication of children.

And then the Father is blessed. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. And then you have the blessings of church life. That's what I'm going to call it. Number six, the blessings come from Zion.

That's code for worship of God in the temple and the and the feasts of Israel and The blessings that come when you dedicate yourself to the worship of God And it really refers to the way that families are involved in the worship of God. In fact, this whole Psalm is about families going up to worship God in Zion, in Mount Zion. They're ascending to Mount Zion for the worship of God. A family should make the worship of God the center of their week. They should prioritize it above everything else.

Let whatever else fit in, but don't miss the worship of God. You know, I really want to urge every family in our church to prioritize the gatherings of the people of God. It's such a blessing. And then blessings on future generations, or blessings for the generations, here may you see your children's children. That's kind of like what Solomon said in Proverbs 17, 6, children's children are a crown.

And then you have blessings in the community. So the blessings extend, you know, far beyond the heart, the wife, the children, the church life, but it spreads out into the community so that you will see the good of Jerusalem." Now he's talking about a nation and civic life. In other words, you fear your fear of God and your obedience has an effect on your city. And then Israel, all of Israel. But this is a picture, first of all, of a person and then a family enthralled with God, standing in awe of God, loving the things of God.

And so if you want to have a happy home, if you want to have a happy church, if you want to have a happy town, If you want to have a happy church, if you want to have a happy town, if you want to have a happy nation, it comes from adoring God, reverencing Him, always being before the face of the Lord and doing what He commands and worshiping Him in the beauty of holiness, in your home, in your church, in the streets, in your work, and in every part of life. But be really clear about this one thing. In order to be happy, You must fear the Lord and walk in His ways. And that's Psalm 128. The blessings of the fear of God and a family.

The secret of happiness. Would you pray with me? Lord, we thank you for your word, for how beautiful it is. We thank you for these wonderful Psalms, the Psalms of a sense. Lord, we pray that you would take these Psalms as we go through them and burn them deep within our hearts.

Amen.