Singing Psalm 127

Psalm singing continues to be a great joy in my family having a standard place at our evening meal. We began a little over a year ago with Psalm 128, and have added a few more along the way. As we began 2010 we introduced Psalm 127 the other really strong family Psalm. The version of Psalm 127 found in the Trinity Psalter was pretty rough and awkward, so I worked on editing it seeking to follow the biblical text and to achieve more clarity in expression. In the end I still wanted to do more, but decided it was time to start singing with what we had- lest the pursuit of perfection mean the actual practice of nothing.

So, here is my edited version. It is still not as smooth as the version of Psalm 128, but it has been useful to us and we all now know it by heart after singing it a few months. It is in the Common Meter so we have sung it to the tune of “Amazing Grace.”

Psalm 127

1Except the LORD shall build the house
The builders work in vain;
Except the Lord the city keep
The watchmen watch in vain.

2‘Tis vain for you to rise ear-ly,
Or late from rest to keep,
To eat the bread of anxious toil;
He gives His loved ones sleep.

3Lo, children are the LORD’s good gift;
Rich payment are men’s sons.
4The sons of youth as arrows are
In hands of mighty ones.

5Who has his quiver filled with these
O happy shall he be;
When foes they greet within the gate
They shall from shame be free.

I believe singing verses 4 and 5 have particularly hit home to my sons. They are reminded of the future God envisions for them. What an encouragement for my children, also, to sing regularly together a scriptural reminder that they are blessings from God. It has been helpful to me, also, to have verse 2 running through my head from time to time, reminding me not to fall for the frenetic lifestyle but to rest in God.


Perhaps some of you will be able to work on this rendering even further.

Value of Worship at Home

In some of my work on Baptist theology and practice I came across this quote from Gaines Dobbins’s, The churchbook: A treasury of materials and methods (Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1951), a standard text in the 1950’s. His point applies just as well today.

“Children who have learned to worship at home will not find it difficult to worship in the church. Children from worship-less homes cannot be led easily to appreciate the meaning and the value of church worship. A mark of the decadence of our civilization is the decline of family worship. Its revival would be one of the most significant signs of spiritual recovery. The use of one of the popular aids to family devotions, with suggestions for daily Bible readings and prayer, would prove of inestimable value in the promotion of worship in the home, where the best of all training in worship may be received.” (157).

Good New Year Word from Doug Phillips

Doug Phillips has a really good exhortation for families concerning reflecting on the past year. Here is his introduction:

“Life moves fast. If we don’t take the time to chronicle the providences of God, we forget them. If we don’t take the time to say thank you to those who have invested in our lives, we actually cultivate a spirit of ingratitude in our own hearts. If we don’t stop and make sure that we have a spirit of forgiveness toward others, we grow bitter, we lose the capacity to move victoriously into the future, and our prayers are hindered.

Here is a little practice that I was taught and would like to share with you. Each year, during the last week of December, I would encourage you to do the following things.”

He lists and discusses three things:

1. Outline and Chronicle the Many Providences of God

2. Say ‘Thank You’ to Those Who Have Invested in Your Life

3. Forgive Those Who Have Wronged You

Good, challenging, realistic ideas. Read the whole thing.

Some Favorite Children’s Quotes from 2009

Each year at this time I try to reflect over the past year using notes I have kept through the year and discussion with the family. I find it a helpful and meaningful exercise. I also find myself wishing I kept better notes through the year. This year I noticed that I recorded more direct quotes from my children. Here are some favorites from this year which do not require a lot of background to appreciate.

Abigail while looking at one of her Bible story books: “Dad, why did God have to die?”

Matthew while walking behind geese at Pickwick: “I guess geese never do get potty trained”

Matthew after spotting a snake in the pool at Pickwick: “Dad, there’s some sort of reptile in there.”

Nathan, in a discussion of the horrors of war, after a younger brother said he would just play dead in a battle: “But what about your honor!”

Abigail singing: “We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy ending!”

Abigail singing: “Silent Night, Holy is come.” Pretty good theology really.

Abigail with her arms around me, to Tammie, “Mama, this is my man!’ :)

Value of Family

“When the Bible paints the picture of the happiest men on Earth with the most far-reaching impact on history, it does so in the context of family life, meal time, and the blessing of children (Psalm 127, 128). . . . Sometimes the most important thing happening in the world is the couple deciding to adopt a baby, or the child honoring his mother, or the daughter repenting to her father. Sometimes it is a little boy who waits patiently down the road for his daddy to return form work so that he can simply hold the hand of the most important man in his life. These are the moments that really matter – the ones that will count in eternity. They are the everyday victories of the Christian life that will one day fill the heart of the old man with joy as he looks back on a life well spent. That is why, when the world has passed away, and the trends of this present culture are long since forgotten, those simple acts of love, done in the name of Christ and for His sake by a mother to her child, or a brother for his sister, will retain value with the saints in eternity.”

Douglas W. Phillips, The Little Boy Down the Road: Short Stories & Essays on the Beauty of Family Life (xxi-xxii)
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Psalm Singing and Sanctification

I mentioned previously that my family has begun to sing Psalm 128 at our dinner table. It has been very enjoyable and a great blessing in various ways. We have begun including other psalms.

Recently, we ate dinner at a fast food restaurant in order to go on to a store for some errands. I did not think of or mention the singing of the psalm. As we drove from the restaurant to the store, one of my boys asked, “Daddy, since we could not sing our psalm in the restaurant, can we sing it while we’re in the car?” You better believe we can! If a small step on my part can lead to my 11 or 12 year old asking to seize a moment to sing scripture together, let me take that step!

Then, our singing of Psalm 128 has had an unexpected sanctifying influence on me. The children enjoy the song so I can often hear them singing it lightly as they go about their tasks in the home. I hear them singing “Bless the man who fears Jehovah and that walketh in his ways” and the rest of the Psalm which expounds the benefits which will come to them as their father fears and obeys God. These truths, in the voice of my 12 year old boy who is entering into manhood or my two year old daughter (or anyone in between), has a sobering effect on me. It leads easily to preaching to myself along these lines:

These children will know specific blessings from God as you fight sin, truly fearing God and obeying him. This sin which tempts you is no mere personal matter. It has implications for these little ones as well. Will you be this man about whom they sing? Will you by grace live in such a way as to bring down the blessing of God upon them?

These are truths I already know, but they come home in special force this way. This has been a good reminder to me not to be spiritually lazy, but to cry out to God for his grace to be a godly man.

Baucham, What He Must Be

Vodie Baucham has a new book focused on a father’s role in deciding who can marry his daughter- What He Must Be: ...If He Wants to Marry My Daughter. This role is important, and I hear of more and more fathers who are taking this seriously. However, most of us have not seen this done, so good examples and thoughtful reflection are at a premium. Baucham’s book aims to give us such reflection.

One of the challenges, which I see often in my work as college professor and pastor, is that many well meaning young men have never been taught what it means to be a man and are not ready to lead a family. Baucham mentions this stating:

“We cannot expect young men in our culture to turn up as ready-made husbands. Our culture is broken. As a result, young men are broken. They do not have the tools they need. This is not always due to a lack of spiritual commitment. It is usually a result of a lack of teaching and discipleship. They just don’t know what they don’t know. As a result, fathers have to consider the possibility that they may, in a very real way, have to build their own son-in-law.”

This is true. I recently had a good conversation with Douglas Bond on this very point. I was encouraged hearing how when a young man comes inquiring about his daughter he takes it as an opportunity for discipleship- not just saying “No”, when that is necessary, but showing young men what they are lacking and how to mature.

I am looking forward to reading Baucham’s book. I have no doubt it will be substantive and helpful. Baucham is a leading voice helping the church thinking more carefully about the family.

The Spiritual Home

I have commented a number of times on D. A. Carson’s book about his father, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor. In the most recent Crossway book report Dr. Carson was interviewed about the book and he commented on the value of growing up in a home where his pastor father was faithful and consistent. In the interview he stated:

“I’d be the first to insist that modeling Christian virtues, not least in the home, is of paramount importance. The worst sort of home to be brought up in is the one where spiritual pretensions are high and performance is low; the best sort of home is the one where spiritual pretensions are low and performance is high. That was the kind of home in which I was reared.”

This is a good reminder to anyone particularly us pastors.

Pastor Daddy

Last week at my children’s literature blog I commented on a new book titled, Pastor Daddy. This book is an excellent tool for leading the men in our churches to take seriously their responsibility to lead their families spiritually. I comment further at the other blog and give ordering information. May the Lord use this little book to be a great blessing to many churches.

Baby is Here!

Timothy Van Neste made his appearance this morning at 8:16 am. He weighed 9 lbs 5 oz and was 20.5 inches long. He and mom are both doing very well.

Brothers and sister got to come visit and were delighted with him.

Yes, I am cropped out of the picture!

We are grateful to God for our new little boy, and his and Tammie’s good health through it all.

Helping Parents

One of the important things we must do in pastoral ministry is to encourage gospel-driven parenting. Churches know that families around us are in shambles, and people are looking for help. Sadly, though, people are too often looking for a magic silver bullet, “5 Steps to Change Everything.” What is needed, and what we must provide, is the demonstration of how the gospel speaks to and must shape all areas of life. But again, people too often think of the gospel simply as what you believe to be saved. This is the result of defective teaching over the years. The whole of our pastoral labors is showing ourselves and our people how the gospel is to shape everything we do. Much could be said here, but for now let me just mention two resources.

First, I have recently commented at my blog on Children’s literature on a book entitled Hints for Parentswhich embodies this gospel oriented approach. You can see the comments here and here.

Second, one summer at our church we took our Wednesday nights to watch the Shepherding Your Child’s Heart video series and to discuss it (the book is also excellent). All our adults are together on Wednesday nights in the summer so we showed it to the whole group. Some in that group have children, some have children who are grown and gone, some have never had children and quite a few were unmarried. However, we (pastors) made the point that if we were really to engage in one another’s lives we all needed to think through an issue like this whether we applied it as a parent, grandparent, nursery worker, future parent or an encourager to parents. The material is excellent, and I would highly recommend it. Our experience as a community was also excellent and I would commend this idea to you as well.

Family Driven Faith, Review

Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God, Voddie T. Baucham, Jr.
(Crossway, 2007), hb., 222 pp.

I finished reading this book this weekend and really enjoyed it. My primary overall reaction was, “This book more than any other I have read expresses what my wife and I aspire to for our family.” This book can be of a lot of help to a lot of people.

If you have heard Voddie any time in the last few years you have probably heard some of the material in this book. It is great now to have all of this (and more) in book form. He stresses the role of parents in discipling their own children, the importance of the husband-wife relationship for the children, and the value of children (in contrast to our culture). With these themes he stresses the importance of family worship and the importance of fathers taking the role in teaching their children about God. He powerfully contrasts this with typical priorities among fathers. He encourages having and raising children without being legalistic about how many and how soon we should have them. He talks about how churches fail to help by sustaining the idea that parents need not disciple their own children. There is much of value here and our people (particularly fathers) will gain much in reading this book.

My wife and I came to some of these same conclusions during our time in Scotland. As we prepared to return to a more hectic pace of life in the US we discussed how to maintain what had become important to us. We called it being “family-centered.” Our family, not job or ministry or activities, would be the center of life for us. We wanted our home culture to be the primary culture for our children. By making our home strong and healthy we would be enabled to reach out effectively. But keeping the home central would mean saying no to any number of good things. We continue to struggle to do this well, and this book was a renewed encouragement to me. I found myself being more diligent to look for ways to demonstrate love to my wife, and I was rejuvenated in our efforts in family worship.

Two areas will probably be points of debate concerning this book: schooling and church structure. Voddie is very positive about homeschooling (as am I) but he clearly states that he is not saying this is what all Christians must do. I was glad to see that. Secondly, he advocates having no nursery or any children’s classes at church. This is what is done at his home church in Texas. I, too, am not satisfied with the typical overly segregated church settings. Therefore I appreciate the sentiment. However, I still see a place for a nursery and for children’s classes. At our church we have Sunday School classes for children through age 11. At age 12 a child goes into the adult class with his parents where we cycle through a four year cycle covering systematic theology, church history, bible overview, and the practical outworkings of the faith. Thus Sunday School provides another format for parents to disciple their teenagers as they discus what is going on in class throughout the week. Younger children have their own classes intended to aid parents in their discipleship. Also we have a nursery during corporate worship. We encourage parents to bring their children into the service at 4-5 years of age.
Voddie is careful not to demand churches follow his model exactly but calls for us to consider ways to encourage families in their roles. I wholeheartedly affirm that goal, though we differ in how we go about it.

I hope many people will read this book.