The Olive Trees Around the Table // Building a Godly Family, Part 15

Bringing up children can feel like such a thankless task some days. You invest, invest, sacrifice, invest some more – hoping that one day, it’ll all have a positive impact on them. Well, I want to share something with you about this investment thing that’ll just blow you away.

We've been talking, these last 3 weeks, about Building a Godly Family. And today, today I want to share a story with you that blew me away. And my prayer is, it will blow you away too. It's all about fruit, well olives actually; the fruit of the investment of building a godly family.

Now, you and I both know that whenever we invest in anything, what the word "investment" really means is "sacrifice now in order to reap the harvest later" because investing is about putting something we have in hand now; something we could use or spend in another way. And investing is about taking that thing and planting it somewhere else to reap a reward later.

If we save for our retirement, we take money that we could blow on things that we'd love to enjoy today but we set it aside in some form of investment plan so that the seed grows into a tree that will feed us when we retire, right?

Or if we decide to lose weight and get fit, we sacrifice today's "eat whatever you want" plan, we sacrifice that in order to reap the reward of a healthier body. We give up time that we'd rather spend watching television to exercise to reap the reward. And as it turns out, exactly the same principle applies when we invest the time and the effort and the emotional energy that's required to build a godly family.

Now earlier this week you may have heard me talk about my friend Mark and his family who live in the United States of America. Let me tell you the story about Mark. Mark is a wonderful godly man; a man I respect tremendously. He has this outrageous sense of humour and laugh.

I remember he and I were driving together through the chaotic traffic of India, the first time I'd ever driven in India and I thought I was going to die. I mean Mark was in the front seat, me in the back seat and amidst my sheer terror, in this traffic, all I remember is the outrageous laughter of this man. And yet, he's one of the godliest men I know.

He and his wife have nine children, all home schooled. Not a perfect family by any means but a godly one. Nine kids! I find that hard to comprehend. Nine! And yet there is a calm delight in this man and his family and godliness that really catches your eye. You think how is that possible?

So I've shared with you over the last few days some of the things that he said to me that were the most important in building a godly family. And today, I want to share Mark’s final take on this. And it comes out of Psalm 128, verse 3. Now Psalm 128 in written to the father of a family. It is a message written specifically to him. Have a listen. It's actually a very short psalm. Psalm 128.

Happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. You shall eat the fruit of the labour of your hands. You shall be happy and it shall go well with you. You wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house. Your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of you life. May you see your children's children. Peace upon Israel.

To our 21st Century ears that take on family life, well it may seem a tad patriarchal but remember it was written to people who lived in a patriarchal society. So let’s go with it. The first verse says:

Happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways.

Everyone who fears the Lord – what we've been talking about over these last few weeks. Putting God first in everything, every part of our lives including the way we do family. And that brings blessing. The sort of blessing the psalmist talks about in verse 2:

You'll eat the fruit of your labour. You'll be happy and all will go well for you.

But now listen to verse 3. It sounds a bit patriarchal:

Your wife will be a fruitful vine within your house.

But it comes back to the Old Testament view and concept of blessing. Blessing equalled lots of children in your own land. It's pretty simple. So to the person reading this psalm when it was written, that's what verse 3 meant; the first part. But have a listen again to the second part of the verse:

Your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

Olive shoots, these new shoots of plants that grow into mighty olive trees that bear one of the staples of the Eastern diet – olives, from which comes the precious commodity of olive oil.

Now have a listen to what my friend Mark wrote about this particular verse. Here it is, word for word, from this father of nine children. I love this. God impacted us with the idea, out of our own family study of the Scriptures some time back. It comes out of Psalm 128, verse 3 which says that:

Children will be like olive shoots around the table of the man who fears God”. When we learned that olive plants typically take sixteen to eighteen years of careful cultivation, pruning and watering and during that time they typically bear very little fruit until after the eighteenth year they bear abundant fruit for many, many years to come. That gave us a reason to persevere and not to be weary in doing good. That is an incredible truth from Scripture that has kept us going through some of the toughest times with our children.

Don't you love how God packs so much into His Word. It's so full of practical truth.

What an amazing picture, this picture of the olive tree. A man who fears God, a family that fears God can expect the children to be like olive shoots around the table. This fresh young shoot.

You put all the effort, all the investment into that tree. For years it occupies a part of your orchard. It takes investment and work and it doesn't bear any fruit. But then, then one day, just as God had always planned long, long ago, that tree produces olives.

I love olives. There's a cafe just down the road from us owned by a Greek man, Alex. And his olives are to die for. You get them with some toasted Turkish bread and a bit of Greek dip. Imagine, Alex's olives come from one of those trees. A tree somewhere that some farmer has nurtured and watered and pruned and cared for, for eighteen years without much fruit until finally, it bore this wonderful fruit.

Do you see this beautiful picture? And just on top of this, the psalmist at the end of the psalm, helps us to realise that when we invest in our family and invest in our children and it goes on, day after day, week after week, year after year and it seems so hard. There is so much more at the end of this than just the olives of that first tree. There's much more, Psalm 128, verse 6.

May you see your children's children. Peace upon Israel.

The investment in these little olive shoots sitting around the table of the parents who fear God, who honour God. These parents who are prepared to invest tirelessly, day after day, is going to bear fruit in a little while; fruit that will last for GENERATIONS; your children's children.

I look at my three: Simon who's almost 30; Michael in his late 20's; Melissa, our baby, who's just turned 18. And Jacqui and I are so proud of who they've become, so delighted in seeing the fruit growing in their lives; seeing them making their way in this world. Rising up to be the people who God made them to be.

Truly, naturally, I'm just not into the 'little kid' thing. It's just not my gig. So for me, many days, it was a tough, long, hard road. But sitting at this end of it, the fruit, the fruit that this investment is now bearing is so sweet. It is so incredibly worth it.

I want to encourage you today. That the investment of building a godly family is one that we will never, ever regret.