Ascent #4 - Ascend for Rest (Dr. Kurt Bjorklund)

Senior Pastor Dr. Kurt Bjorklund continues the message series "Ascent" exploring Psalms 120–134. Together, we’ll reflect on the journey of rising—whether in personal growth, spiritual depth, or relational connection—embracing challenges, celebrating triumphs, and discovering deeper lessons along the way.

Message Transcript - https://www.orchardhillchurch.com/blog-post/2025/1/27/ascent-4-ascend-for-rest

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Transcript

Good morning. It's great to be together. Just before we jump into the teaching, I want to just give you a quick update. If you've been around Orchard Hill, you know that at the end of every year, we do an initiative where we talk about kind of where we've been, where we're headed and ask you if you're part of this church, just to pray about how you can participate financially. And the way that that we're funded here is all of the giving that you do week after week funds most of what happens week to week around the church, and then at the end of every year, we talk about projects and new initiatives and just ask you if you feel God's compelled you to be a part of that, to give toward those new initiatives. And that is much of how the church has grown over the years. It's how we've done construction projects, new facilities, all of the things that we've done. And this last year, so many of you participated in that. And I just first want to say thank you. And also, let you know how we did. 

So all in over this last end of year, you as a church gave over $1.35 million to the year-end giving, which is phenomenal. So way to go. And I know when you throw out a number like that, you're like, whoa, what does that mean in context of everything? So our hope is that some of that is going to help with some of what took place in finishing the next gen wing that has been added to this building here in Wexford. Some of that will be for projects in our different campuses, some of it will be for a new ministry initiative around residency, some of it will be for future expansion. And so we'll let you know more about that in the weeks and months ahead.  

But just to give you a context, and I know anytime you talk about money and numbers, it's a little like, do we need to know? But sometimes if you don't know, you don't have context. And so I just want to give you a little context for that. And like I said, I know if you think you know, if you talk about it, it's like all this church cares about is nickels and noses. And that's not true. But here's what, what it means, money helps us do more ministry, which helps us help more and more people find and follow Jesus Christ. And that's our mission, to help more people find and follow Jesus Christ. And so this last year we ended with an average week attendance of just under 3200 people a week across our campuses.  

And I just tell you that because sometimes when you come to one campus, one service, you don't feel the extent of what's going on. And that's without Christmas or Easter in the count, Most churches count Christmas and Easter. Evidently here we don't. That's a joke. But with Easter and Christmas counted, it's over 3,600 people that we average in a week. And that's only a part of the story, because not everyone comes every week. And so the scope of what's going on here is really great for what God is doing. And what the money represents is an opportunity to keep building structure, to continue just to reach more and more people and to help those of us who are here just to grow in our relationships with God as well. So again, thank you and let me pray and we'll jump into today. 

God, thank you just for each person, each family who participated in the It's A Party initiative over this last year. And God, I pray that you would use those funds in a way that would help more and more people find and follow you. And God, as we're gathered today, I ask that wherever we're coming from, whether church has been our pattern for years, or if church is something we're just trying out, that you would speak to us today. And we pray this in Jesus name, Amen.  

So let me ask you, are any of us who are here, tired? Is there anybody who's here who says, I could use some rest? I would think that in any size gathering, there are a great number of us who would say, I'm a little tired, I could use some rest. There was an article that came out a few years ago that talked about how when you ask people how they're doing, one of the most common answers is, I'm busy. And in the article, the author basically said that to say you're busy is a little bit like a boast disguised as a complaint. Because what you're doing is you're saying, I'm so important that of course I'm busy. Because I'm so busy, it means that I'm needed, that what I do matters.  

And so that was his take on it. My wife found a calendar of ours from a few years ago when our kids were knee deep in all of their activities. And I got tired just looking at it in terms of that. And some of you, you're in that season right now where you say, I don't even know how to get to everything that I need to get to. I could use some rest. And some of us are probably here and we're not in that season. We're a little bored if we're honest with ourselves. We feel lonely. And our tiredness, our weariness is from the boredom or the aloneness of our lives. But what if I said to you today that one of the things God is concerned about in your life is how you experience your emotional world, that you don't feel the angst of always feeling burned out on whatever is going on? 

We've been looking at the Psalms of Ascent to start this year. And these are Psalms that are found in the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament, Psalm 120 to 134. And they all have this little phrase at the top that says “A Psalm of Ascent” or “A Song of Ascent.” And these, we believe, were the songs or the psalms that people either sang or recited as they ascended to Jerusalem for the three festivals that the people were required to go to. And the festivals were religious worship observances. And so this was in a way, a preparation for worship, a part of their worship.  

And when we come to Psalm 127, there's an additional phrase at the top. It says “A Song of Ascents,” and then it says “Of Solomon”. Now, who's Solomon? Solomon is one of the Old Testament kings of the united kingdom. So in the Old Testament, you get the kingdom and you had Saul, David, Solomon, who were part of the united kingdom. Then you get the divided kingdom, which is when Judah and Israel split. And you get all the kings names that are in the Book of Kings, that when you try to read through it, you're like, which king is this? I have no idea. Which nation? Come on, you've all read that portion where you're like, that's how that works. So Solomon was that guy, and he was the one who actually built the temple. David had wanted that to happen, didn't get to do it. Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem. 

And when Solomon built the temple, he wasn't just building the temple, but according to 1 Kings, chapter 9, verse 10, he was also building houses in a palace. Here's what it says: 

“At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings — the temple of the Lord and the royal palace...”

And we know that he built all kinds of things. And in Psalm 127, it says: 

“Unless the Lord builds the house, 
 the builders labor in vain.”

Now, the word house could also be the word temple. Here's a picture of the temple, the temple mount today, this is not the ancient temple. We believe this was built on approximately the spot where Solomon had built it. But even today, if you come into Jerusalem, you look up and you see this temple. And it is an amazing thing that you look up and see.  

And so all the people, as they were coming, would have come and would have looked up and seen this temple and been like, wow. And here Solomon says, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain. And when we first hear that, maybe the way that we hear it is to say, well, maybe what God is doing here is saying that what we need to do is just prioritize God in all of the things that we do. And that wouldn't be a wrong way to read this. But I think as we read through the psalm, I think we actually understand that there's even more to the heart of God for us in this. 

And I want to start by maybe going down a little trail on the word vain here. This is admittedly a word geek moment. So just indulge me for a moment. So the word vain when he says: 

“Unless the Lord builds the house, 
 the builders labor in vain.”

If you have some familiarity with the Bible, Solomon also thought to have written what? Ecclesiastes. Do you remember how Ecclesiastes starts? What does it say? Meaningless. Meaningless. Everything is meaningless. If you're older, you would say vanity, vanities, everything's vanity. Because that's how the King James used to translate that, or still does when people use that. Well, the word for meaningless or vanity in Ecclesiastes is the Hebrew word hevel, and it means a puff of smoke, a breath of air, a mist.  

And what he's saying now again, Solomon is saying, listen, I've tried everything in this world to satisfy me. I've tried. I've tried pleasure. I've tried building stuff. I've tried being productive. I mean, I've tried it all, and it's all just a breath of air. That's what it is. That was his conclusion. And we can talk more about that in a variety of settings, certainly if you read through that book. Ultimately, he says, meaning has to be found abundant above the earth, above kind of what we're doing here. But here he says: 

“Unless the Lord builds the house, 
 the builders labor in vain.”

And it's a different Hebrew word. It's not hevel. It's not. It's a puff of smoke. It's a word that means there's a space between. And if you were to put this into concordance, what you would see is that the word vain is the same word, this word is the same word that appears in the Ten Commandments when we're told that we should not use the Lord's name in vain. Between the way that it's intended and the way that we actually use it, There's a space between, because his name is to be revered, it's to be holy. Not used flippantly, not used as a pledge or a guarantee. And so here what he's doing is he's not saying, if the Lord doesn't build the house, it's a puff of smoke, it's meaningless, what he's saying is there's a gap between what it is that could be and is and what you experience. Now, what is that gap? Does it mean that we necessarily get the things that we want? Or does it mean the gap is maybe that our angst around our lives is higher than it needs to be, thus contributing to our sense of weariness?  

Derek Kidner, in his little commentary on the Psalms, says that this text teaches that it's the Lord's doing, or it's pointless. There is no third option. So he kind of takes that broader view. But here, what I want to do is say, as we look at this text, we see that there are at least three ways in which we take weight into our lives that we don't need to. Without the Lord, it's pointless. And at the end of verse one, to watch everything, here's what the text actually says. It says: 

“Unless the Lord watches over the city,
 the guards stand watch in vain.”  

So there's a space between. And here he's talking about guarding, watching. Now, we don't have guards at our city typically, so it's a distant metaphor, but there's a lot of watching that goes on in our world.  

I have a friend who has a kid who just started to drive not long ago, and he was telling me about a new device that you can put on a car with an app that tells you when your kids speed. It geofences where they are, so you get a notification that tells you they went outside of the geofence. Now, I don't have a lot of opinions about how you want to parent. Well, actually I have some, but I'm not going to share them. But here's what's true: you can watch, but it doesn't mean you have any control.  

Okay, some of us get these little rings that we put on our fingers. You've seen these that tell you when you're not sleeping, when your blood pressure's off, when everything's a little amok inside of you. Now, again, fine thing, you want to put a ring on your finger that tells you you didn't sleep very well, that's okay. But what this text is saying is you can watch all you want, but it isn't going to change the reality of your health by simply watching. Now, obviously, knowledge can lead to change of behavior that can change. But what he's driving at here is you watch all you want, but without the Lord, there's nothing.  

Some of us wake up and one of the first things we do is we get online and we check the stock market to see how our investments did. Now, if that's your job, we want you to do it, but if you do that every day, you can do it. It's fine. But if the Lord's not in it, it says it's a little vain in terms of what you do. And what you're doing, at least in part, is you're saying, if I know, then I can control.  

And that leads to the second thing that's here, and that is if the Lord's not in it in some way, then what happens is it's pointless to simply work harder. This is chapter 127, verse 2: 

In vain you rise early 
and stay up late, 
toiling for food to eat...” 

See, what happens for many of us, is we assume that if there's something that isn't to our liking in our life, that if we simply work a little harder, bring a little more of ourselves, that then we can control the outcome. If we just give a little more of ourselves to our marriage, if we just were a little more present as a parent, if we just worked a little harder at our job, if we just saved a little more, then we could achieve what it is that we think we need to achieve, and we can control the outcome. And so what we do is we watch, we work. And then the third thing that it's pointless to do is to worry more. And here's where we see this. He says that: 

“for he [the Lord] grants sleep to those he loves.“ 

Now, certainly this doesn't appear to mean that if you're struggling with insomnia, God doesn't love you. What this is insinuating is that when you spend your time at night stewing about what isn't going well, what isn't the way that you want it, that there's a sense in which you're not trusting God. That when you know the love of God, then you will be able to rest. Now, I know that not being able to sleep is multifactorial, meaning there are some physiological reasons, there are some different reasons, and I'm not saying it's all a spiritual reason in any sense. But what I'm saying is this: and that is there is that there is something spiritual when we worry, where we're borrowing trouble and we're not restful, because we're saying it's all up to me.  

And the reason that we do this is really remarkably similar, no matter what area of our world we do it in. In Genesis 11, there's the account of the people building what's known as the Tower of Babel, and what they did is they built this big tower all the way to the sky. And do you know what the text says about why they did it? And this is the part that's remarkably similar. This is verse 4. It says this: 

“Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens...’ 

And here's the part: 

“...so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”  

So why did they build the tower? They wanted to make a name for themselves, and they were afraid of what happened if they didn't. Why do we watch, work and worry so much in our lives? Because we want to think well of ourselves. Maybe we don't want a name for ourselves that's out there, but we want to think of ourselves in a certain way, or have something in our lives that we feel is secure. In other words, those reasons are remarkably similar in our lives. And so what we do is we go through this life always trying harder to do better, to get more. And then we find ourselves weary and tired. And we wonder why we're so weary and tired.  

T.S. Elliot wrote this. He said: 

“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm...they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”

You see, our worry, our work, our watching, is because we want to think well of ourselves.  

I want to just pause for a moment here and think about sleep. In fact, I saw an article this week, and since it was in this text, it made me want to look at it. It was in the New Yorker. It was called “What An Insomniac Knows”. So of course I had to read it. And usually when I quote an article, I try to tell you what it says enough that you don't have to read it. So here was the upshot of this article — no one knows and they have no solution. 

But at one point in the article, what the author did is he cited some studies and he says, when you don't sleep, here's what happens inside of you. He says: 

“...we are warned that the consequences of not sleeping are even worse than we’d feared. Everything goes wrong when we don’t sleep. The damage to our immune system is astounding...”

Then he cites a study where it says that young men that they showed in this study when they had a four-hour night of sleep swept away 70% of their natural killer cells, meaning the cells that circulate in the immune system to kill things that shouldn't be there. In other words, you're more likely to get sick.  

“...Sleep-deprived mice—it seems cruel to keep even mice awake, but we do, possibly by showing them Election Night on MSNBC over and over—will have a two-hundred-per-cent increase in tumor growth. Nor is cancer the only risk. You don’t need a full night of total sleep deprivation to inflict a measurable impact on your cardiovascular system.”

Now, as I said, not sleeping can be multifactorial, so this isn't to say that all of a sleep issue has to do with a spiritual issue, but again, when he says the Lord gives sleep to those he loves, what he's talking about is this idea of saying when you aren't consumed with your problems, then you're able to rest. You're able to not feel so anxious and tired all the time.  

And then he says this about kids. And this is a section of the Bible that has been quoted many times. Verse 3:

“Children are a heritage from the Lord,
offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.”  

So is that teaching, the idea that everyone should have as many kids as they can, or that they should at least have a quiverful, and however many were in a quiver, depending on how big the quiver was, 7, 10, 11, you know, something like that. Is that what the Bible's teaching? I mean, probably not, but the Bible does speak to being fruitful and multiplying. And there's an article, another article that I read that talks about kind of how in our day and age, people have recoiled from this idea of having a lot of kids.  

This is an article by a man named Marsilio D'Ambrosio, and it's called “Christianity and the Body Count Problem,” and he says this, he says: 

In the United States, the true fertility rate has dropped below two, and 2 is considered what you need. Fertility rate means every woman has two children, and if every woman has two children, then a population can stay steady. But if the population rate grows, drops below two, you don't keep a population. If you go above, you grow.  

In the USA, our population, our true fertility rate now is 1.6. And then this man writing talks about it. He's writing from a Catholic perspective. He says mainline Protestants have a true fertility rate of 1.6 as well. So same as the broader culture. Catholics 1.68, almost 1.7. He said non-mainline Protestants, that would kind of be those of us who are gathered here. 1.8. Mormons have a true fertility rate of 2.3, Orthodox Jews of 4.2, and the Amish of 6.9.  

Now here's his point. He says that the more you get disengaged from wanting to look like and act like the culture, the more likely you are to have a lot of kids. And the more you embrace culture? The less kids you want to have. And here's how he articulates this, whether you agree with him or not, it's an interesting thought. He says the the Christian worldview speaks about nature, that God created nature, which is to be respected. And nature sets limits, and limits are good. But in our secular worldview, we don't want limits. We want to do what we want, when we want, how we want, including how we come to issues of birth and controlling, when and how it happens. He talks about hierarchy, says in the Christian worldview, hierarchy is natural and therefore good. Loving authority reflects God's created order. But in the secular worldview, authority is deemed as suspicious and something to be resisted, because the power people are always malicious in our world.  

He talks about egalitarianism, which as he defines it is Christian egalitarianism simply recognizes each person's individual dignity and doesn't mandate equal outcomes. But the egalitarianism of our culture says that everyone should have the same. And then he talks about sexuality. And here's what he said: God created man and woman in his image. God's plan for sexuality in marriage is oriented toward family and children. And then he says this. He says, but sexuality in our culture is seen as the most pleasurable thing in existence. Therefore, sexual exploitation is the highest form of sexual self-realization. Children are to be avoided, because they're a negative outcome.  

And here's why I think this fits into this. Besides that it was here in this text. And that is for some people, the decision to have kids, and I realize some people have wanted kids and you haven't been able to. That's not what's at view here. Some people, whether it's an economic reason or something, just say this wasn't for us. But on a whole, what happens is people say, this is such a big commitment, I can't possibly do it, so I want to minimize it in my life. And that, in a sense, it's a way of not trusting God in our lives. 

So I don't know where you are in a variety of areas of your life, but here's what Solomon was doing. He was saying, unless the Lord builds the house, unless the Lord watches over the city, if you work all the time, you do all of it in vain unless God is in it, because then you can rest. Now, God being in it doesn't guarantee the outcome. But what it does is it allows you to say, I am not solely responsible. So how do you get there?  

Do you know that Solomon had another name in the Bible? I don't know that I've thought a lot about this. But in 2 Samuel, chapter 12, verse 24 and 25, here's what we read:

“Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.” 

Do you know what Jedidiah means? Loved by God. So here is Solomon, one of the great people to live, built great things, had lots of opportunity for anything he wanted. He says, unless the Lord builds the house, there's a gap in what you're doing. It isn't moving you forward in the same way. And then we understand that one of the reasons that he was able to have this public Persona is because he'd been given this name that says, you're Jedidiah, you are loved by God.  

Now you might react to that and say, well, okay, that's Old Testament Solomon. Of course, God loved him and gave him his own name. Like, how does this relate to me? This is where what we call the Gospel comes in. The Gospel is the good news of God. That simply means that God has loved you, and although you deserve punishment because of your sin, God has chosen through Jesus Christ to give you eternal life. It's a gift that has nothing to do with you or with what you do. And if you respond in faith to Jesus Christ, then you can say, I am loved by God, regardless of what else happens. And here's what this means: if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, you don't need to watch everything in the same way.  

It doesn't mean that you're not going to care where your kids go, but it means you're not going to say, it's all up to me what my kids decide or do in their life. It means that if your health numbers come back in a way that you say, I don't like this so much. that you're able to say, I'm loved by God. I'm not defined by my health. It means that when you think about what happens to your money, your resources, that you're able to say, my worth is not defined by how well I've done, because I've been declared loved by the God of the Universe apart from any of it.  

And it means that when we're tempted to say, what I need is a little more work to try a little harder to do better at anything, whether it be a religious thing or whether it be another part of our lives, you can work at it with all of your might, because you can say, I am loved whether it turns out or not, by the God of the Universe.  

Do you see how this changes how you approach the things that make you watch and work and worry? It changes everything if you get it. But in order to get it, we need to be able to say in a very significant way that I am loved apart from what I do. This is the essence of the message. And there's two ways that we run from God, by the way. This isn't a new thought to those of you who've been here. This isn't original to me, but we run from God by practicing religion. Let me do good so I don't have to face God. And we run from God through our rebellion, saying, I don't need God. I don't need anything from him. But the reality is, what we need is, is Jesus to say, God has met me in my sin and loved me anyway. And because of that, my life can say, unless God builds the house, there's nothing. And this is the recognition that frees us.  

And so I'm going to say a prayer, and then we're going to partake of communion. And this prayer comes from a devotional, it's not mine, but would you just pray with me? 

Lord, admitting that my accomplishments are your gift is a bittersweet thing to do. It stings at first, because it humbles, but then it's so very sweet and brings such peace. God help us to live in that peace. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.  

Today we're going to open the communion tables here in front to the outside, in the back in the lobby. and invite you to come and partake in communion. And as you come, what I just encourage you to do is take the bread, dunk it in the wine, and as you do, say, God, I thank you that I am loved regardless of what I do. And if that's true, then you are able to say, I don't need to be worn out and agitated and filled with worry in my life, because God's at work. It doesn't guarantee my outcome, but it guarantees his presence. And so we invite you to do that.  

We practice open communion, meaning we invite you, if you're a follower of Jesus, to come. And then when you're done, I encourage you to return to your seat and join the team in declaring the reality of what God has done in our lives. So let's stand in response with communion. 

This transcript was automatically generated. Please excuse errors.