“WOULD YOU BUILD A HOUSE?”
INTRODUCTION:
I spent a few days in a hotel this past week. It had all the amenities needed for shelter. A bed, a bathroom with shower, towels, blankets, lights, mirrors, air conditioning, oh and REMOTE CONTROL TV WITH CABLE!
It was comfortable and functional but it wasn’t a home! I could live there for a while but it wouldn’t be what I would call a home!
It was a place for me to relax in, shower, shave, change clothes, read and rest, although I didn’t rest well because it wasn’t home! Generally we rest better at home, even if we don’t have a brand new mattress or furniture, because it’s home!
I’ve stayed in beach houses, tents, sleeping bags under the stars, mountain cabin getaways, lake cabins, I’ve slept on planes overnight traveling across the world, I’ve even stayed in a few, well maybe not “mansions” in the strictest sense, but better than well to do homes for most people, I’ve even spend the night in the back seat of a car on occasion.
I’ve stayed in people’s homes that were comfortable and some not so comfortable. But folk, I guess Dorothy was right with she spoke the old adage:
“THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!”
I’ve mentioned to you in past that I’m reading a book titled, “Hosting the Presence of God!” With the intent of become a better host, a great host, a host that the Presence of God would be warm, welcome, comfortable, entertained, and BE HONORED!
It would be hard for me to be the kind of host I am desiring to be without the proper place in which to practice “HOSTING SKILLS” of the nature I desire! I’ve been “HOSTED” by some who are good at it and “HOSTED” by some who are not so good at it, shall we say.
I’ve not heard of the homeless having any place to “HOST” someone visiting. Without a “HOME” or without a “HOUSE” or an “ABODE” if you will, “HOSTING” would be at the very least a difficult skill to attain!
Now for the last few minutes I’ve talked about us, myself particularly! I’ve done this to draw attention to the topic I’m wanting to draw your attention to this morning!
God sent David a message in the form of a question in II Samuel 7:5:
“Go and tell My servant David, Thus says the Lord, ‘Would you build a house for me to set in?’ ”
Now any Bible Scholar would tell you that was meaning a House, an Abode, for the “Presence of God” and the “Ark of the Covenant” which therein dwelled the “Presence of the Almighty!” He was talking about, what we came to know as, the “Tabernacle!”
But I’m going a different direction this morning! In fact the direction I’m going is greater in the eyes of God than the “Tabernacle” God questioned about to David in our text. I’m talking the fulfillment of God’s full desire through Jesus His Son!
Yes, there was a “Tabernacle” for God to dwell in but that wasn’t the mansion that He eventually wanted as His Dwelling place!
Look with me in Acts 7:48-49
“However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says; Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool! ‘What HOUSE will you build for Me .’ says the Lord...”
That is the question this morning! As I’m reading this book on “Hosting the Presence of God” I’m having to re-evaluate my hosting abilities, my place of “HOSTING!”
The Lord says to David through His servant, “Would you build a house for Me to dwell in? He doesn’t say, “If I give you the money”, He doesn’t say “If I give you the resources!” He doesn’t say “If I make a way for you.” He simply says, “Would YOU build a house for Me to dwell in?”
Man immediately thinks to himself, “And how am I supposed to do that?” Well, it’s obvious that God does know so much more than we do, but in His infinite wisdom He allows us to find out the process through the leading of the Spirit!
The books of Samuel gives us the greatest insight to David, the one we know as “A Man After God’s Own Heart!”
I think it obvious the poignant question made to David. We see it later when, while David was getting ready to offer his sacrifice to God, Arrunah offers the threshing floor to David free of charge. Arrunah meant well in the offer but David knew better than to take it for nothing. For David understood something I think we all would do well to remember or at least be reminded of!
David responds to Arrunah in II Samuel 24:24...
“No! For I will surely buy it from you for a price, nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs (me) nothing.’
David knew the true price of relationship! Anybody here in the sound of my voice has relationships. In those relationships we learn that everything has a cost! There is nothing free!
But that is “PART & PARCEL” of what makes ‘RELATIONSHIPS” so glorious and wonderful!
To often we “OFFER” to God that which “COSTS (US) NOTHING TO LITTLE!” To often we want from God that which costs (US) nothing. To often we want from God that which has little cost or price to us at all.
We’ve been told all our lives that Salvation is free! But we’ve taken the word “FREE” & abused it. We think or at least act like “FREE” means “NO COST” or a “FREE RIDE!” But folk, those of us who are adults & have lived for a while know that is just not true. There is NOTHING FOR FREE! Everything has a cost to it somewhere for somebody!
God holds high esteem on “COST!” Salvation for you and I “COST” God His Son! Salvation for Free is far from free! You can’t purchase it with money or earn it from works, but there is a “COST!”
Folk, that which costs us “NOTHING” usually has little significance to us, it usually has little effect on us, we hold it of less value if any at all of that which “COSTS” us “NOTHING!” I think “FREE” means you don’t have to go to the cross and pay for it with your life like Jesus did on the Cross for you and I!
But that which (WE) have “PAID” for with the sweat of our brow, with our time & with our effort maintains a “PLACE OF SIGNIFICANCE” to us, it maintains a “WORTHINESS” to us, it has “HIGHER VALUE” to us than that which “COSTS US NOTHING!”
Look at our world today! These great United States! Look at what some of us remember as to the “COST OF FREEDOM!” of Freedom! Shed and spilled blood! Young people today, for the most part, not all, have no idea of the “COST OF FREEDOM!”
David said to Arrunah emphatically, “I will pay for it, NOR will I offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” David knew that if he offered something that didn’t “COST HIM SOMETHING” there would be no “REAL VALUE” to him or God! David knew that a “SACRIFICE” had to be “FROM THE HEART”, something that “COSTS” enough to “FEEL” from his spirit, something that “COST” him “BLOOD, SWEAT OR TEARS” at the very least.
We wonder why our “PERCEIVED SACRIFICES” bring little effect or blessing to us. We wonder why but when was the last time we looked out through the eyes of God? When was the last time our “PERCEIVED SACRIFICES” costs us more than the least little discomfort?
Folk, there is a reason I used the words “PERCEIVED SACRIFICES”, it’s because many times, our “PERCEIVED SACRIFICES” are not for God but they are for us! They are used as “POKER CHIPS” in a spiritual celestial “GAME OF POKER” hopping to get something for little or nothing.
God said to David through His servant, “Would you build a house for Me to dwell in?” Most of the time we “PERCEIVED SACRIFICE” in the manner that says “God, if you will provide I will sacrifice!” What kind of “SACRIFICE” costs nothing at all? IT IS NO SACRIFICE AT ALL!
God said to David, “Would you build Me a house to dwell in?” God knew it was going to cost David greatly! But David was more than willing to build it and was sorely disappointed when the task fell to his son Solomon!
But, I believe that David knew something else about the “HOUSE” that God desired to dwell in!
“YOU” are the “HOUSE” God desires to dwell in! “YOU” are the Temple since the veil was rent from top to bottom! But “YOU” have to build, He will help you, He will guide you, He will teach you, He will show you but “YOU” have to “BUILD!”
We have to get away from this idea and notion that all we have to do is show up and He will do the rest! Folk, that’s not in the Bible anywhere! Even those times in the Old Testament when the Children of Israel were facing overwhelming odds in battle God said in II Chron. 20: 15 & 17
“Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for
the battle is not yours, but God’s...you will not need to fight in this
battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you...Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against
them for the LORD is with you!”
They still had a “COST” for their victory in and through the Lord! They had to be and get ready for the battle anyway! There is always a “COST!”
We are “PARTICIPANTS” in the Glorious Kingdom of God! “PARTICIPANTS” indicates more than “JUST SHOWING UP!”
Nehemiah didn’t just show up & the wall was rebuilt! David didn’t just show up & Goliath was killed! Noah didn’t just show up and the Ark built itself! THEY HAD TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PLAN GOD HAD LAID OUT!
Folk, what I’m trying to say is that “YOU” have responsibility to
“BUILD A HOUSE FOR GOD TO DWELL IN!
Are you “BUILDING” a House for God to dwell in? Are you taking the “MATERIALS” (YOURSELF) & are you taking the “PLANS” (GOD’S WORD) and BUILDING!
NO WISE BUILDER BUILDS
WITHOUT MATERIALS &
WITHOUT PLANS!
