God's Priority List
Notes
Transcript
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I. God values worship and service
I. God values worship and service
A. The value of the temple to mankind
A. The value of the temple to mankind
Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.
And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.
And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim.
The New American Commentary: 1, 2 Chronicles Main Structure (3:3–7)
Several grades of gold are mentioned in this and parallel passages (3:4, 6,:8; 1 Kgs 6:20–21). It is arguable that the value of the gold increased as one approached the ark and the most holy place.
He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls.
And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.
The New American Commentary: 1, 2 Chronicles (3) The Temple Furnishings (3:8–5:1)
This too was overlaid with gold, six hundred talents of fine gold. The amount is considerable, even enormous
And in the most holy house he made two cherubims of image work, and overlaid them with gold. And the wings of the cherubims were twenty cubits long: one wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub. And one wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub.
The New American Commentary: 1, 2 Chronicles (3) The Temple Furnishings (3:8–5:1)
A pair of sculptured cherubim overlaid with gold graced the most holy place (cf. 1 Kgs 6:23–28). They must have been a spectacular sight. Their wingspan was twenty cubits. One wing of each touched the temple wall; the other wing touched that of its partner. These cherubim stood upright and faced the main hall. According to the RSV, the cherubim were made of wood overlaid with gold.
The description of Solomon’s temple goes on for 3 more chapters detailing the temple furnishings, the ark of the covenant, Solomon’s prayer and the temple’s dedication in which 142,000 animals were sacrificed. Not to mention the task force that Solomon employed to build this structure. Over 150,000 people where used to build the temple. The expense, the detail, the effort that went into this structure was immense. The terms opulent, spared no expense, and over the top are appropriate here. And yet God deserves nothing less. If this structure were still in existence today it would be one of the greatest wonders of the world.
Its earthly value was enormous. I can’t even wrap my head around how much wealth went into its construction. Such a structure, to most, would be inestimable, it would be priceless.
B. The value of the temple to God
B. The value of the temple to God
11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord, and the king’s house: and all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in the house of the Lord, and in his own house, he prosperously effected. 12 And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. 13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; 14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 15 Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. 17 And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments; 18 Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel. 19 But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; 20 Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. 21 And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and unto this house? 22 And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.
Did you catch what God said He would do to this temple?
20 Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.
I will cast it out of my sight!
Why will God do this?
19 But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;
Listen to the parallel passage.
But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:
Why? If you go and serve other gods and worship them! Then I will cast this house, which I have hallowed for my name, out of my sight.
Devotion note Dec 17, 2005
God certainly was not interested in the wealth of the temple that Solomon had created. God had no problems "Casting Out" the temple if Israel did not obey Him from the heart. What is important to God should also be important to us. The most luxurious opulent structure every created and God is ready to trade it in an instant in order to turn our hearts toward Him.
This morning we are talking about priorities. What are God’s priorities? If we had to make a list of priorities that God values how would we order these two concepts
Concept one: material wealth; Concept two: service and worship
If we had to number them in order of which God values more how would we rank them?
That is easy right? Worship and service #1 and material wealth #2 right?
I don’t think that is an accurate reflection of God’s value system or God’s priority list.
#1. Worship and service #3.45x10(75) material wealth
Teaching the teens in the DR about Joseph- you meant it for evil, God meant it for good. Good does not mean money and things (God doesn’t care very much about those things)
Now I am not saying that accumulating wealth is a bad thing. We all need some amount of wealth in order to live and provide for our family. Nor am I arguing that acquiring a lot of money or wealth is a bad thing. God chooses to bless some with a large amount of material wealth and that is fine. It is not a sin to acquire wealth or even to value wealth. That is not the problem! The problem is when we get our values out of wack. The problem is when our priority list does not come into line with God’s priority list. Too often we get these concepts switched around in our hearts. We get our priorities messed up. When God is not first in our lives, when our worship and our service to God get outranked by anything else we have allowed sin to creep into our hearts.
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
You can only have one treasure of your heart. It must be God. Your worship and service for God must be your top priority.
How can you tell?
How can you tell what your priorities are?
Moving the curtain rod in our dinning room. It took literally months for me to get around to it. Why? I could care less how high the curtains are hung! On the other hand I made it out bow hunting quite a few times this past season and the Lord blessed me with several successful hunts. In fact the very first day, on the very first morning, there I was in my stand. Why? It was more of a priority than hanging curtains. Somehow, the things are are priorities to us find ways of making it into our lives. How much is worship and service a part of your life? That is good place to start on determining its place in your priority list.
II. God values His name and His glory
II. God values His name and His glory
A. The value of the furnace
A. The value of the furnace
1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob,
Which are called by the name of Israel,
And are come forth out of the waters of Judah,
Which swear by the name of the Lord,
And make mention of the God of Israel,
But not in truth, nor in righteousness.
2 For they call themselves of the holy city,
And stay themselves upon the God of Israel;
The Lord of hosts is his name.
3 I have declared the former things from the beginning;
And they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them;
I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate,
And thy neck is an iron sinew,
And thy brow brass;
5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee;
Before it came to pass I shewed it thee:
Lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them,
And my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
6 Thou hast heard, see all this;
And will not ye declare it?
I have shewed thee new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
7 They are created now, and not from the beginning;
Even before the day when thou heardest them not;
Lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not;
Yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened:
For I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously,
And wast called a transgressor from the womb.
9 For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger,
And for my praise will I refrain for thee,
That I cut thee not off.
10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver;
I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it:
For how should my name be polluted?
And I will not give my glory unto another.
Notice v. 10-
10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver;
I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction
Chosen- to test a person’s character, similar to testing an object’s quality.
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Nobody likes the furnace. We prefer, what I like to call “cruise ship Christianity.” What does that mean? That means that if the choice were up to us our lives would be like living on a cruise ship ever single day. Nothing would ever go wrong. All of our needs would be met. There would be no hardship, no difficulties, certainly no pain and definitely no trials/furnaces!
Yet God often allows believers to go through the furnaces of life.
Why does God do that?
8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not;
Yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened:
For I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously,
And wast called a transgressor from the womb.
I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,
and that from before you were born you were called a rebel (transgressor)
Why else does God allow furnaces in our lives?
4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate,
And thy neck is an iron sinew,
And thy brow brass;
You are obstinate! (what does that mean?)
You neck is an iron sinew
Your forehead brass
God is saying that our hearts are so hard, they are so stubborn that it is like our necks are constructed out of inflexible iron making it nearly impossible for us to bow our heads, or turn our direction.
Our heads are so hard so impenetrable that it is as if they were made out of solid brass. (I think this may become my wife’s new favorite verse to quote to me)
What is God saying? Our hearts are so marred by sin, they are so hard and stubborn and difficult to produce change that one of the only ways for us to become soft and tender hearted. One of the only ways for God to get through our foreheads of brass is through the furnace. Iron and brass do not bend they do not change under ordinary circumstances- it takes the furnace!
B. The result of the furnace
B. The result of the furnace
Name Sake Slide
9 For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger,
And for my praise will I refrain for thee,
That I cut thee not off.
10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver;
I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it:
For how should my name be polluted?
And I will not give my glory unto another.
The result of the furnace is that God’s name sake, His praise might be upheld. The result of the furnace is that God’s name is no longer polluted and that His glory is no longer robbed and stolen by something utterly unworthy.
And here I think we see another top item on God’s priority list. God values His name and His glory. He values it so much that He puts it ahead of our own creature comforts. In other words God is willing to put us through trials and affliction if it means that His name and His glory will be upheld.
Concept #1. Creature Comforts Concept #2. God’s name & God’s glory
What would God’s priority list look like?
#1. God’s name & God’s glory: #56x10(355) Creature Comforts
Where do we put these concepts on our priority list? If we are honest the concept of cruise ship Christianity rates pretty high on our list I would venture to guess.
Now I am not saying that we should be lovers of pain and misery. I am not saying that if your life isn’t full of trials then you must not be right with God. I am not saying that we should even long for trials and hardships. Nor am I saying that spending seasons of our lives in prosperity and comfort is wrong.
What I am saying is that when we put our own comfort and our own ease of life higher up on our priority list than God’s name and God’s glory we have a problem.
In other words if God’s name and God’s glory do not come first in your priority list then you invite all kinds of failures and sinful outcomes into your lives.
Illustration: Russian pastor who had to watch his two little boys have boiling water poured into their ears because he would not stop preaching the cross of Christ.
Sometimes God allows us to go through the furnace and if we don’t have our priorities straight we are in for spiritual failure.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
God never promises us cruise ship Christianity. In fact He promises us the exact opposite, He knows that we need the furnace. Whether or not you will go through the furnace and actually be refined, whether or not you necks of iron will bend or your heads of brass will be penetrated depends on your priorities.
Do you value God’s name and His glory more than your own creature comforts.
How can I tell?
Illustration: kids doing school-when the work is difficult and demanding (I know this is hard and I don’t like it, in fact I detest it, but I know God has allowed it for my own good so I am going to do my very best) or WWAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!
Your response to the furnace will be a good indicator of your priority list.
III. God values faithfulness and godliness
III. God values faithfulness and godliness
A. What is of little value
A. What is of little value
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. 7 But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
γυμνασία- gymnasium, exercise, physical activity
profits (useful, beneficial, advantageous) LITTLE
It is of some profit, the text does not say it is unprofitable, just that it is of little profit or of little value
How much value does our culture put on physical bodily exercise? Does it put little value on it? No, it puts an extreme, extraordinary value on it! But God says it is of little profit.
B. What is of eternal value
B. What is of eternal value
8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
Godliness- the quality of being like God.
That is profitable, it is of value unto all things, or in every way. Why?
Having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come...
Because it offers promised benefits not only in this life that we presently live, but also in the life that is to come. In other words godliness is profitable eternally. What about bodily exercise? What happens to our bodies as we grow old? The person that is in peak physical shape at the age of 20, what will happen to him or her at the age of 90? What happens to the person who today is in great physical health, but decides to stop exercising? How long does that exercise last him or her? No long. Fairly quickly the body deteriorates. Physical exercise has but temporary benefits so it is of little value, but godliness has eternal benefits so it has eternal value.
9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. 10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
Purse godliness and labor and suffer reproach (be faithful) because our trust our hope our faith is in the living God.
Concept #1. Physical Exercise Concept #2. Spiritual Exercise
What would God’s priority list look like?
What does our priority list look like?
Now I am not saying that you should not exercise and that you should let your bodies go to waste because they are not important. I am not saying that if you are in good physical condition then you must be backslidden in your walk with God. I am not saying that you should not invest time and effort into taking care of the bodies that God has given you. I am asking the question what are your priorities? What do you value more? Physical exercise or faithfulness and godliness? If godliness and faithfulness are not at the top of your priority list then you have a serious problem.
Illustration: spending time at they YMCA- these ideas are not exclusive, you can do both. What do we value more though?
How can you tell?
What do you spend more time doing?
Illustration:
Scavenger hunt- blue rocks (1 penny) green rocks ($100) which color are you going to spend your time looking for? Green! If you find a blue one there is value to picking it up, it just has little value. But you don’t spend the entire scavenger hunt looking for blue rocks. You spend your energy on the green ones because their value is far an above that of the blue.
So believer, what do you value? What does your priority list look like?
God values
Worship and service
His name and His glory
Faithfulness and godliness
How about you?