A House! a House! and a House!
Sermon
WIND THROUGH The VALLEYS
Sermons for the First Third of the Pentecost Season
To live at the time of a building boom is exciting! House plans are spread out on the coffee table like an evening paper. Mealtimes are interspersed with comments on a new idea. Caterpillars, cement trucks, carpenters, and utility people make their noisy way to and from the building sites. At every new hole in the ground or downtown construction site, people ask, "What's going up here?"
King David lived at such a time. To build was in his blood. The text before us gives three distinct ideas about building. Each uses the term "house," but in a different way. We shall deal, then, with a house, a House, and a house.
1. A house. David had, probably for the first time, his own wood and masonry home. It became a symbol, for himself and for his people, of a nation at the end of war. It spoke of security and peace. After his many years of running over the Palestinian mountains with foot soldiers and after his own exile from King Saul, walking into his own home must have been a pleasure! David was satisfied.
There is satisfaction in owning one's own home, It has to do with the pride of possession. There is also a financial value. Depending upon tax reform laws, there can be dollar advantages for those who pay interest on home loans. The traditional desire to pay on the mortgage for twenty or thirty years and to have a home completely upon retirement is still with us.
There is also the sense of permanence. Families tend to remain in communities longer if they own homes. That stability brings stability, also, to family and personal life. It has been said that delinquency in children is related to the mobility of the family. Children suffer when there is no feeling of permanence, no sense of belonging. For many people, the thought of the family home, even though it may have been sold several times since, conjures feelings of warmth and belonging.
David was so satisfied with his home that he began to feel guilty. That's when he decided to push a building boom for God! He wanted to do something great! Why is it that we so often wait until we have our own house in order before we attempt to do the greater things? We wait until the children are grown before we take the big trip, when maybe the children could have gone on a shorter one with us. We wait until we are retired to do something, and then health does not permit it. We say we'll get involved in a Bible study group or a service agency after this and after that. Many opportunities go by, missed! Many needs go by, unmet! So many great things to be done for God, but we wait. Why? "See now," said David, "I dwell in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God dwells in a tent."
2. We move from a house to a House. David wanted to build a temple as a place for God to live. It was to house the Ark of the Covenant.
"Yes," said Nathan the prophet, "God bless you!" He was as eager as we are to encourage someone on a big project, especially for God. But God gave him second thoughts. It may have taken some clearing of his throat the next morning to explain the change of mind to the king, but it came out loud and clear: "You will not be building a House for God!" The reasons for not encouraging David to build are varied in Scripture. We are told that David was too busy (1 Kings 5:3). We are told that as a warrior he had shed too much blood to be a house builder for God (1 Chronicles 22:8). But our text gives the theological reason.
We read our text correctly when we understand it as a violent attack on the whole concept of the temple. With all the attention the temple gets in biblical history and the part it still is to play in the end times, according to some, it may be surprising to find words that speak against it. Those negative words are of two kinds. They have to do with the nature of God and the nature of the temple.
"God needs no House!" Nathan says to David. To build one would show a misunderstanding of the nature of God. God is a wandering God. He goes where his people are. That was well-illustrated in the moveable tent as a home for the Ark. More than that, the tent for the Ark in the wilderness, was not intended to be seen as the abode of God. It was the place where God met with his people. For that reason it was called the Tent of Meeting. God is always on the move with his people. He rides the covered wagons and the space shuttles in their adventures. He lives all the dangers of the windy mountaintop and he walks all the valleys. God is One who, by his very nature, is always "going forth." No, a House for God was not a great idea! It was the apostle Paul who put it well in his sermon to the people of Athens. "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man." (Acts 17:24)
There is also something about the nature of a temple that would make its building less than desirable. To localize God in a House tends to give more attention to the House than to God. That it happened among the Hebrews is exactly the complaint of the prophet Jeremiah. We limit God when we have institutionalized him. We are apt to be so busy maintaining the church building and polishing the silver-plated vessels and repairing the stained glass that we are out of touch with the God to whom all of these are dedicated. We are apt to be so occupied in the governmental structures that we lose missionary zeal.
In his book, The Salty Tang, Fred Speakman tells the story of a Midwestern grandmother. Her appearance already told that it was her children who saved up money to send her on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe. She is in a London tour group, being guided through the famous Westminster Abbey. In a memorized sort of way, the guide explains some of the parts of the building and the art pieces. The woman interrupts, "That's all very well, young man, but tell me, has anyone been saved here lately?" The woman raises the same issue as the writer of our text. Of what purpose is the House of God? Of what purpose is the church?
3. We move again. From David's comfortable house, we have looked at his plans for a House for God which he could not build. Now we move to another house. It brings us to the crux of the text.
In a careful play on words, Nathan speaks for God to David. "Would you build me a house to dwell in? No, I will build you a house!" In this play on words a great prophecy comes to a climax. Yes, "house" can mean a place to live, but it can also mean a dynasty, a family, a ruling family. David is not to make a House (a dwelling) for God, but God is going to make a house (a family) for David that will rule forever! David is not the house builder; God is! God is in the housing business!
The reason that God needed no House from David is that his dwelling place was the people he was forming through David. It was with these people; it was in and through these people, that God was to live. It had nothing to do with a place, but a people.
It is on these words of God to David that the hope of the Messiah was founded. David would have a family. Oh, the blessings of family! In the case of David, one of his family, his house, his dynasty, would always rule. "Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever." Over and over again this eternal promise to David is repeated in the Old Testament. The history of the Jewish kingdom hinges on this, and so does the history of salvation. The hope for the everlasting kingdom of David continued even after the fall and destruction of Jerusalem. Throughout the exile, people of faith clung to that hope. And it was fulfilled! It was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, whose family tree is carefully given so as to declare that he is the messianic son of David! His kingdom will rule forever.
It is in the person of Jesus that God himself moved into the human scene to live with his people. Jesus is the fulfillment of the temple concept. He is the Tent of Meeting. And the people of his saving are his house.
God is still keeping his promise to David. God is still providing a house, a people. By his Spirit he is still calling people into the family of the saved. In this family of the saved, God lives. The people of faith are still the house of God. There is no need of a physical temple. It has been supeseded by the living temple of the Christian church. There God continues to make his home with the believer, with us! He will continue to be with the humble, the repentant, the faithful. They are his home. We are his house! And God is bulding it all the time. There will always be the company of the saved. There will always be people in the Kingdom of God. God will see to it! May we always be among them!
4. We can make one more move and take the concept of the house one further step. We can use the word in one more sense. It is a word of comfort. It comes from Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:1, 5.
We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. He who prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
While we wish we might build great things for God, let us first be grateful that he, too, is in the housing business. Let us be grateful that he has brought us into his household of faith and has provided a room in his eternal mansion.
King David lived at such a time. To build was in his blood. The text before us gives three distinct ideas about building. Each uses the term "house," but in a different way. We shall deal, then, with a house, a House, and a house.
1. A house. David had, probably for the first time, his own wood and masonry home. It became a symbol, for himself and for his people, of a nation at the end of war. It spoke of security and peace. After his many years of running over the Palestinian mountains with foot soldiers and after his own exile from King Saul, walking into his own home must have been a pleasure! David was satisfied.
There is satisfaction in owning one's own home, It has to do with the pride of possession. There is also a financial value. Depending upon tax reform laws, there can be dollar advantages for those who pay interest on home loans. The traditional desire to pay on the mortgage for twenty or thirty years and to have a home completely upon retirement is still with us.
There is also the sense of permanence. Families tend to remain in communities longer if they own homes. That stability brings stability, also, to family and personal life. It has been said that delinquency in children is related to the mobility of the family. Children suffer when there is no feeling of permanence, no sense of belonging. For many people, the thought of the family home, even though it may have been sold several times since, conjures feelings of warmth and belonging.
David was so satisfied with his home that he began to feel guilty. That's when he decided to push a building boom for God! He wanted to do something great! Why is it that we so often wait until we have our own house in order before we attempt to do the greater things? We wait until the children are grown before we take the big trip, when maybe the children could have gone on a shorter one with us. We wait until we are retired to do something, and then health does not permit it. We say we'll get involved in a Bible study group or a service agency after this and after that. Many opportunities go by, missed! Many needs go by, unmet! So many great things to be done for God, but we wait. Why? "See now," said David, "I dwell in a house of cedar, but the Ark of God dwells in a tent."
2. We move from a house to a House. David wanted to build a temple as a place for God to live. It was to house the Ark of the Covenant.
"Yes," said Nathan the prophet, "God bless you!" He was as eager as we are to encourage someone on a big project, especially for God. But God gave him second thoughts. It may have taken some clearing of his throat the next morning to explain the change of mind to the king, but it came out loud and clear: "You will not be building a House for God!" The reasons for not encouraging David to build are varied in Scripture. We are told that David was too busy (1 Kings 5:3). We are told that as a warrior he had shed too much blood to be a house builder for God (1 Chronicles 22:8). But our text gives the theological reason.
We read our text correctly when we understand it as a violent attack on the whole concept of the temple. With all the attention the temple gets in biblical history and the part it still is to play in the end times, according to some, it may be surprising to find words that speak against it. Those negative words are of two kinds. They have to do with the nature of God and the nature of the temple.
"God needs no House!" Nathan says to David. To build one would show a misunderstanding of the nature of God. God is a wandering God. He goes where his people are. That was well-illustrated in the moveable tent as a home for the Ark. More than that, the tent for the Ark in the wilderness, was not intended to be seen as the abode of God. It was the place where God met with his people. For that reason it was called the Tent of Meeting. God is always on the move with his people. He rides the covered wagons and the space shuttles in their adventures. He lives all the dangers of the windy mountaintop and he walks all the valleys. God is One who, by his very nature, is always "going forth." No, a House for God was not a great idea! It was the apostle Paul who put it well in his sermon to the people of Athens. "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man." (Acts 17:24)
There is also something about the nature of a temple that would make its building less than desirable. To localize God in a House tends to give more attention to the House than to God. That it happened among the Hebrews is exactly the complaint of the prophet Jeremiah. We limit God when we have institutionalized him. We are apt to be so busy maintaining the church building and polishing the silver-plated vessels and repairing the stained glass that we are out of touch with the God to whom all of these are dedicated. We are apt to be so occupied in the governmental structures that we lose missionary zeal.
In his book, The Salty Tang, Fred Speakman tells the story of a Midwestern grandmother. Her appearance already told that it was her children who saved up money to send her on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe. She is in a London tour group, being guided through the famous Westminster Abbey. In a memorized sort of way, the guide explains some of the parts of the building and the art pieces. The woman interrupts, "That's all very well, young man, but tell me, has anyone been saved here lately?" The woman raises the same issue as the writer of our text. Of what purpose is the House of God? Of what purpose is the church?
3. We move again. From David's comfortable house, we have looked at his plans for a House for God which he could not build. Now we move to another house. It brings us to the crux of the text.
In a careful play on words, Nathan speaks for God to David. "Would you build me a house to dwell in? No, I will build you a house!" In this play on words a great prophecy comes to a climax. Yes, "house" can mean a place to live, but it can also mean a dynasty, a family, a ruling family. David is not to make a House (a dwelling) for God, but God is going to make a house (a family) for David that will rule forever! David is not the house builder; God is! God is in the housing business!
The reason that God needed no House from David is that his dwelling place was the people he was forming through David. It was with these people; it was in and through these people, that God was to live. It had nothing to do with a place, but a people.
It is on these words of God to David that the hope of the Messiah was founded. David would have a family. Oh, the blessings of family! In the case of David, one of his family, his house, his dynasty, would always rule. "Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever." Over and over again this eternal promise to David is repeated in the Old Testament. The history of the Jewish kingdom hinges on this, and so does the history of salvation. The hope for the everlasting kingdom of David continued even after the fall and destruction of Jerusalem. Throughout the exile, people of faith clung to that hope. And it was fulfilled! It was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, whose family tree is carefully given so as to declare that he is the messianic son of David! His kingdom will rule forever.
It is in the person of Jesus that God himself moved into the human scene to live with his people. Jesus is the fulfillment of the temple concept. He is the Tent of Meeting. And the people of his saving are his house.
God is still keeping his promise to David. God is still providing a house, a people. By his Spirit he is still calling people into the family of the saved. In this family of the saved, God lives. The people of faith are still the house of God. There is no need of a physical temple. It has been supeseded by the living temple of the Christian church. There God continues to make his home with the believer, with us! He will continue to be with the humble, the repentant, the faithful. They are his home. We are his house! And God is bulding it all the time. There will always be the company of the saved. There will always be people in the Kingdom of God. God will see to it! May we always be among them!
4. We can make one more move and take the concept of the house one further step. We can use the word in one more sense. It is a word of comfort. It comes from Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:1, 5.
We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. He who prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
While we wish we might build great things for God, let us first be grateful that he, too, is in the housing business. Let us be grateful that he has brought us into his household of faith and has provided a room in his eternal mansion.
