Building Plans on Hold

Building Plans

For those who are part of our church, you’ll no doubt remember the whirl wind drama we had at the end of June regarding a proposal for a new site for our church.

For those who might be less familiar, let me recap.

Our church has been considering options for what to do with our large block of land since pretty much the day it was first purchased (which was some 40 odd years ago). Over the years, some plans have come close to being realised, but fallen over with a final hurdle.

Over the last few years, we had revived these talks. We had looked to be making some progress, although things from our perspective seemed to be going very slowly.

But that slowness suddenly changed when a new option was presented to us. You see, there was a local building that was considered an ideal location for a church, but it had always seemed a dream too far. But a few doors ways seemed to be opening and we dared to dream big.

We dared to dream of creating a centre that could be at the heart of the entire community. We dared to dream how much we could bring glory to God’s name. To be able to show love in tangible ways that we normally just can’t do. To share and serve in ways that are beyond us in our current place.

And so we took a step. With advice from the Baptist Association, we submitted an expression of interest, and I think we were all knocked over when our expression of interest was accepted.

Our dream seemed to be becoming a reality.

We then busied ourselves to make it all happen which included getting all the legal stuff right.

There was a period of a few weeks when it was all happening.

But then, as suddenly as it all started, it all came to a halt when the owner of the property changed his mind and no longer accepted our offer.

It left us all feeling a bit confused. What just happened?

There was a mixture of frustration and confusion, alongside relief - because as exciting as the venture was, we knew it would be hard.

But why did all of this happen? Why did it seem that God led us so far only to close the door?

Well, I don’t for a moment want to make it seem like there is a simple answer. You know, sometimes we have this temptation to simplify events into simple lessons or messages, whereas the reality has God conducting an infinitely large orchestra where he has a much bigger picture than we can even comprehend in his mind.

But keeping that in mind, I still think it is worth trying to get our heads around it. You see, we need to give consideration into how our story fits in with the bigger picture of what God is doing.

Link with passage

Now earlier, we had read for us the story of when King David had plans, and after initially looking like they were good to go, God put a hold on things.

Now, we could look at some parallels with this chapter and the story I just related about our church plans. We have to be careful however as we make these links. You see, the events in this story are a very significant part of the unveiling plan to save humanity - something that I’ll explore shortly.

And so, just because we can find a few parallels, it would be wrong to just take the message given to King David and think that we can somehow apply it to us.

But, what we can do, is in exploring this passage, we will find some lessons that apply to us.

So what I’m going to do is to first explore this passage in the original context, and then I’ll come back and think how we can apply it to us today.

Kingship and temple

Well, to understand what’s going on in this passage, there are two significant themes that come together. There is a kingship theme and a temple theme. So let’s briefly consider both of these.

Kingship

Starting with the kingship theme, we can go back to when Israel was just being established as a nation.

You see, God set this nation up quite differently to the other nations of the time. At that time, every nation had their own king. It just the way they operated.

But for the young nation of Israel, God was their king. Now we see that God still raises up leaders, people like Moses, Joshua, Deborah and Gideon. But they were quite different to the traditional understanding of a king. They were leaders that could discern God’s voice and help people follow him.

But despite God providing this leadership, the people decided they wanted a king of their own. We can see this back in 1 Sam 8.

At this time, the prophet Samuel was the one that had been raised up and was pointing people to God. Samuel, however, realised what an error they were making in asking for a traditional king, and told them clearly. I won’t repeat his argument now, but if you read 1 Sam 8 you’ll see him accurately tell them the struggles the king will bring.

But curiously at the end of that chapter, when Samuel talks to the Lord about the matter, Yahweh (that is, the Lord God), simply says: “Listen to them and give them a king”.

You see, despite them rejecting God as their king and wanting to be like other nations, God had a bigger picture for them, and it was in our chapter this morning that this theme starts to take a new shape.

Temple

Now, let me quickly jump from this theme, and consider briefly the theme of the temple.

Well, for this theme, let’s go back to the time Israel was still wandering in the wilderness after leaving Egypt.

Now, have you ever tried reading the Bible right from the start? If you do, you’ll go right through the book of Genesis with some amazing stories. Then, after the excitement of Genesis, you’ll be keen to continue into the book of Exodus, and for the first half of the book you won’t be disappointed - in fact, some of the most powerful stories are in this section.

But then, in the second half, the reading becomes a whole lot harder. Firstly you find yourself in a whole bunch of laws, some of them in fact being quite obscure.

But then towards the end, reading becomes quite sluggish as it moves into descriptions of the tabernacle. You see, it gets described in painful detail. The dimensions. The types of material. The furnishing. The lot. It all gets described. And not only that, but being a tent, it is also described how it should be moved and who should carry what.

But here’s the thing… when the Bible takes a long time to describe something - we should sit up and take note. That’s because, it’s important.

That being said, even though I know this, every time my bible reading gets to this section I really struggle.

But the reason it is so important is because the tabernacle was the place where God resides. Now you might object - but isn’t God everywhere? And you would be right. But at this time, God had a system in place for his people to approach him - and this was it.

Now the tabernacle itself housed the Ark of God. This Ark essentially represented God’s provisions. It held some of the manna from Heaven. It had Aaron’s rod that had budded. And it had the tablets in which God had written the Ten Commandments on it.

The Ark really signified in many ways the presence of God.

So even though God is Spirit and he is everywhere, God give them these tangible objects to signify his presence. It became the connection point between God and humanity.

Themes combine

So here we have two of the significant overarching themes of the Bible.

This theme of kingship is this exploration of who really is in control.

The theme of temple explores the idea of how God connects with us here on Earth.

What we’re about to see is these two themes coming together in this chapter. Actually, in this chapter we see other themes like blessing and rest also coming in as well, but I’ll focus just on the two for today.

So let’s consider the more immediate background to this story.

Background

Well, David’s kingship is now quite secure at this point. It had been quite a journey to get there, but he did.

And God really blessed his leadership because he was a man that sought after God. He was far from perfect - in fact he stumbled in some quite momentous ways, but he always came back to God.

Now, if you look in 2 Samuel, you see his kingship is made official in chapter 5. Chapter 5 then fast forwards the first 7 years of his kingship where he rules in Hebron, and then takes us to his conquest of Jerusalem where he sets up the capital.

He then has some significant victories, but if you look at the narrative, this is almost like background information to the event of chapter 6, which is where the Ark comes into focus.

Now for a full account of the whereabouts of the Ark you can read the first part of 1 Samuel. But I’ll just give you a really quick summary. Before even the time of King Saul (David’s predecessor), the Ark had been captured by the Philistines. In quite amusing circumstances, the Ark does get returned to Israel, but because of the calamity it causes, it stays on the outskirts of the nation - that is, until David finally brings it to the centre of the land God had given them - and specifically inside the tent.

Rest

Now, as we look at chapter 7, the very first verse is one of those verses that sets the scene for us, but it actually does more than that. You see, it is carefully placed to remind us where we are in this whole unveiling plan of God to redeem humanity.

You see, I mentioned just a moment ago I wasn’t going to explore the theme of rest, but let me just very briefly think about it.

As God formed this nation, he promised them rest. As they entered the land, there have been moments when that rest seems to have been realised, but it is always short lived.

But in this first verse, when it says the words: “The LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him” - it’s designed to bring our attention back to God’s big plan.

The plan

So, basically, things are starting to all fit together. They have rest. The Ark is back where it should be. And David being the great godly leader that he is, starts piecing it all together, and it starts to make sense.

It’s almost like you can see what’s going on in his mind. They’re all settled now. And the other part we learnt in that first verse is that he is now got himself a new palace for himself.

So, if he is in a palace, why should he keep the Ark of God in a tent?

What’s more, he’s even got a prophet with him - and so he pieces together his thought process.

Now Nathan is the prophet there - and being a prophet, he has this close connection with God, and he also can see the logic - and it makes sense!

And so he replies - “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you”.

Now what we have here is the logical next step in the development of the temple theme I spoke about.

God is building his connection with his people and so you would naturally expect a development in the way this is expressed.

Shift in Priorities

But… while this move seems to fit with what is happening, we actually see that it’s not quite right.

It would seem that Nathan the prophet goes home for the night, and he gets a word from the Lord.

God effectively says - woah, now settle down and let me set the priorities.

What this will boil down to, is God saying, the development of the temple can wait - I want to instead set a new seed in the theme of the kingship.

I think this section here just shows the brilliance in the way God works.

Verses 5 to 7 argue that God doesn’t need luxury for him to perform. He’s not like the other so-called gods of the other nations. Basically, it says, at this point, it’s not the temple theme that needs developing.

What is more important, is that God’s people recognise who is in control.

Blessing through King

Now as we move into verse 8 and the following few verses, it’s the Kingship theme that is developed.

Now let’s just look at the development of this. You see, in this paragraph, that is, verses 8 to 11, it becomes clear that God will work through the King to bless his people.

Now, maybe on first reading that might not sound overly dramatic, but it is actually the start of the development of an idea, that will be central to God’s plan.

The long promised blessing (that promise that started way back with Abraham), will come through the king.

They are going to have land. They are going to have peace. And it is coming through the king.

Foreshadowing Jesus

Now, it’s not made explicit here, after all, this is really just the seed, but I want you to see that what God is doing here is actually adjusting the theme of Kingship to set it up for Jesus who will be the ultimate King.

You see, David and Nathan had run ahead of God. They were thinking of the physical presence of God. But God was saying that David’s kingship was to have a different focus. David’s kingship was going to foreshadow Jesus himself.

The temple

But that’s not to say the temple wasn’t important. You see, as we get into verse 12, we start hearing about David’s offspring - and it is with them that the temple will come.

You see, the temple will have it’s own significance. Interestingly, we’ll see how this theme will bring us to Jesus as well, but, I’ll flesh that theme out over the next few weeks.

Davidic Covenant

Now, all of this ends with the words in verse 16: “Your house and your kingdom shall endure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever”.

This is essentially what we often refer to as the Davidic covenant. That is, the promise that David’s line will always endure.

The interesting thing of course for those of you who have read further in the Old Testament, David’s line does seem to run out, that is, when Israel are taken into exile by Babylon. But as the New Testament makes clear, the line is never broken, and finds its ultimate fulfilment in Jesus Christ.

David’s response

Well, the prophet Nathan relates all of this to David, and David responds the best way he can - by coming before God and praying.

Now, I’d love to spend time exploring this prayer, but time is going to stop me.

So let’s just fly through it. David rightfully humbles himself before God. He recognises that everything that happens is because of how great God is. In verses 22 to 24 he acknowledges the great things God has done in the past.

In verse 25, he then acknowledges this new promise that God has made - but he does so in a way that keeps the praise on God.

This prayer really does just show the beautiful connection that he has with God.

Application for us

Now, I said at the start that we can see some parallels with our situation and here. Well, as I’ve gone through it, perhaps it’s become clear that those parallels are probably less pronounced than it might have initially seemed. That is, David’s plan for a new building was central to God’s entire plan to save humanity. Our plan was just one tiny speck in all of humanity.

But that being said, I want to draw out a few principles in this account that can apply to us.

Jesus is King

The first and foremost principle that we should take is that Jesus is our King. What this means in practice is that we all need to recognise that none of us are the ones calling the shots.

I as the Pastor do not get to call the shots. Though we have a congregational form of governance, you as members don’t get to call the shots.

What each of us as believers have a duty to do however, is to each listen to Jesus our King and hear what he has to say.

People before things

But there is another principle I want to draw out. You see, in this account we saw that God wanted to develop this idea of the blessing through kingship, before the bricks and mortar of the temple.

In this way, I want to suggest that God cares more about people then he does buildings and other such objects.

He wants to build relationships before buildings.

Now, that does not mean buildings and objects are not important. They do have there place. God never said no to the temple, he just said wait.

Now what does that mean for us? Well it doesn’t say anything definitively about when we should or shouldn’t build. But it does say that whatever we do, our bigger focus should be on people and how we can love, share and serve them.

I can be easy to think that God would be super impressed if we build something huge that will draw people’s attention to him. At times, this may be appropriate - but we need to remember that this is a God that even in this critical point of unveiling his big plan to save humanity, he was happy for his earthly presence to be housed in a tent.

Attitude of a servant

So can I suggest that if we want to build a new church it is so important that we take the attitude of a servant.

This is one of the big things to come out of David’s response in the second half of this chapter. He humbled himself before God. He submitted his plans over to God’s.

It is as we do this that our plans will start to line up with God’s.

Conclusion

It may be that God still has big building plans for us here at Tanilba Bay.

But the type of leadership we are going to need to take is servant leadership. A type of leadership that recognises that Jesus is King.

A leadership that honours love of God and love of others above big noting ourselves.

This passage we have before us is special because of its significance of God’s unveiling plan to save humanity, but from this we can also learn a few things about how we operate as God’s people.

Let me pray...