Sermon Discussion Questions
Psalm 127
1. What do you think it means to build a house in vain, to watch over a city in vain, or to work long hours in vain? (this word in vain can mean: empty, pointless, futile, inconsequential)
2. What have you been working on or protecting? Has this been rewarding and meaningful or has it felt empty and frustratingly futile?
3. In your own words, what do you think the writer means by “eating the bread of anxious toil?”
4. What causes frustration, futility and anxiety in life?
5. What does it mean to depend on the Lord in our efforts to build and to protect (watch over)?
6. Why do you think the psalmist suddenly shifts from a focus on futility in our efforts to the blessing of having children?
7. Genesis 11 and 12 describes the futility of the Tower of Babel, followed by the grace of God‘s blessing upon Abraham and Sarah to have many descendants.
8. Spend some time in prayer that this Psalm would reorient our hearts toward God’s definition of success, that we would depend upon him in everything we do, and that we would find not anxiety, but peace as we relish in the fact that we are his beloved to whom he gives rest and eternal purpose.
(I am sensitive to the fact that there are some who would love to have children and may be single or unable to get pregnant. Thank God that he has brought us into his beloved family and has called us all to the meaningful, eternal work of making disciples and furthering his kingdom in our work and in our homes. While marriage and having children are a blessing, Paul sees great blessing and opportunity in his own singleness in 1 Cor 7).