Psalm 127:2

whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men.

This psalm also highlights who really is at work and that is God, which brings me to my second point of our work being worthless work. And it depends on the type of work that we have. And yes, I'm going to get to sleep. We're not talking about work. Eating the bread of anxious toil, the psalm reads, eating the bread of anxious toil. Doesn't that sound delicious? Anxious toil. Toil is hard work, we know that. Anxious toil is that fearful uncertainty, dread, if you think of that anxiety. Your work is worthless apart from God and it won't produce the satisfaction you truly desire or need. Working a long day focused on your agenda or apart from God's gives you a plate of unpleasant work. Could be not very fun. And you get a side of anxiety to boot. Isn't that great? You can't even enjoy it. And you think about that, that makes a lot of sense. If you're worried about your work, you come home, you eat real quick and then get back to work. God is saying here that that's worthless. Even those seemingly successful, apart from God, they will one day learn the truth. And I immediately thought of Rockefeller with that, when he was asked, how much is enough money? He said,

just one dollar more.

That's so foolish. Because we know, as Christians, the only thing that's going to last is going to be what Christ does. It's going to be His work. We need Christ to redeem our work. And if we think about that and looking back I think a couple weeks ago Keith was sharing with Genesis as well about our work is cursed. It will be hard. There will be problems. We'll eat the bread but it will have anxiety with it. It will come at a cost. But Christ offers us a different bread. He offers us a different drink. One that brings peace with God. One that is satisfying. Work for the Lord is not worthless. Our work on our own is worthless. Colossians 1, 28 through 29,

him we proclaim warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

The difference between those two toils, our energy versus God's energy. And so that is, our work is worthless, but God's work is worthy of so much. Which brings us to the point three and the great part of this all. We can sleep soundly. For he gives his beloved sleep. It's wise for us to do our work unto the Lord. I'm thankful that God allows us to join in his kingdom work. It's it's great that we get to toil. Anyone that has worked hard for something for the Lord for on a mission trip, we just heard that I bet you there was hard work on our that Hannah shared with us. It's toil, it's hard work, but it's it feels good. We learned that before as well and we can rest in that then God's work. God's so gracious that he's given us a reminder as well of our finiteness in his infiniteness though. God never slumbers or sleeps. but we get to sleep. We can sleep because we can trust God with everything and that his work is perfect. He gives his beloved sleep. And I don't think we should read over beloved too much. Think about that. We're beloved. We're so beloved, he says, don't worry, I got it, go to sleep. That's a beautiful thing. And of course, sleep, practically speaking, it rejuvenates, it refreshes our bodies. The rest makes us able to work another day. His mercies are new every morning. You can't have a morning unless you go to sleep. And so we get them new every morning. And as I was meditating on this, I thought about one day we're gonna, and the Bible often talks about sleep and says he's, and then Jesus has to say he's asleep, he's dead. We're all going to die. That's an ultimate sleep. But what a beautiful thing, as Christians, we get to wake to a new life with Christ. One day we will awaken to a new life in Christ. That is an awesome thing to think about. Sleep is an opportunity to trust God. You put your faith in him. You stop the day's work and say, I'm done. It's time for God to do the work. In Matthew 8, 23 through 27, Jesus models this, think about this. He was sleeping in a boat in the midst of a storm and it wasn't just a rocky boat, it was a storm that was enough that the disciples thought they would perish. So a significant storm and Jesus had perfect trust that his heavenly father was with them and would care for them perfectly and he was able to sleep. And, okay, that's Jesus. Let's take somebody that's not Jesus. Peter, in Acts 12, 6 and 7, Peter was sleeping chained between two guards. Now, I haven't spent a night in jail. Surprising, I know. But, I don't think that situation would be too conducive to sleeping. And yet, he was able to sleep. God granted Peter a peace that surpasses our understanding. He can sleep chained between two guards. That's pretty impressive. So sleep, so we sleep and God is working and I think if we go back to that verse one, unless God builds the house and I think about that, what house is God building? He's building his church. Solomon built the temple but he's building his church and he continues to build his church. He's building his body of believers, us. He does the work. He's also the watchman. God's the one who watches over us. And so I don't think this is just talking about a temple. I think he's talking about us and his church. God watches over us. He works. In Mark 4, 26 and 27,

the kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, and he knows not.

God does the work. We get to sleep. So, a little bit of application for those three points. And this is really more, I'll have some questions for us to think about. So, how is your sleep? There are many things that can keep us awake. We have several young parents in here. There's a couple in my house. I know what keeps you, can keep you awake. Yes, those babies can cry and they wake you up. Pain can keep you awake. My wife has a thing that comes up and has pain in her leg sometimes and that wakes her up. That can keep you awake. This one is scary. Unrepentant sin can keep you awake. And I've been there. Sin that is eating at you and rotting your soul and keeping you awake. Repent. Repent so you can sleep and you can sleep soundly. And I'm so happy to say, I sleep well. I sleep well. There's lots of things that can keep you awake, but I think as we think about some more questions, and what keeps us awake, we can also thank God for our sleep. Having grateful hearts that we are able to work and then go to sleep. So we should receive that blessing. We should just think about it and glorify God by that we get to sleep. But if you're not sleeping, I think there's some things that you could ask yourself and even ask others. Check your motivation. Are you motivated by selfish desires? Are you working so hard? What are you thinking about? What's keeping you, what's rattling in your brain over and over? Are you thinking about more comfort? Are you thinking about more prestige in your work? Are you thinking about more money? Are you worried about that? How much time and energy are you putting into your pursuits versus God's pursuits? Are you having time for things like coming to Wednesday night, coming to church, being involved in others' lives? Can you turn off work and say, that's enough today? Ask yourself those questions. Better yet, ask those around you, particularly if you're married. Ask those around you. Are you so spent at the end of the day that you don't have anything left for anyone else or for any work of God? Those around you might be able to do that. Think about your conversations. What are your conversations about? When you talk about your day, does it hit more than the highlights? Does it become the center of all your thought and conversation? If your own work becomes that, I know that I'm guilty of that. If that is the only thing that you talk about. That might be a good check to think. Maybe your sleep could improve with that. Wrapping up in conclusion, we should not be surprised that there's anxious toil. Work is hard. We know that there's going to be problems. It goes back to the fall. Our sin produces pain and anxiety and worthless toil, but God provides us with a perfect solution in Christ. He redeems us, he redeems our work, and he does it all. What a mercy that God grants us sleep that we do not have to worry and we can trust God to provide for every need. We can be thankful that God grants us sleep. The work he does in a believer's heart, in our hearts, we can be thankful for that and trust God that he has it and everything will be okay. I'll end with Proverbs 3.6,

in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths.

That's Proverbs 6. But I would add, and then he'll give you sleep. Let's pray. Father, we just thank you for your word. We thank you for your mercy. Lord, we thank you for your forgiveness. Lord, we just ask that we would Be awake to see your mercy and see how much you have forgiven us so that then we can sleep soundly and sleep in your presence and sleep in your peace. Lord, we thank you and we love you and we praise you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.