God's House

Call to Worship:

L: Come and sit with me; we shall study the Word.

P: Together we shall read and understand.

L: Come and kneel with me; we shall break the bread.

P: Together we shall eat and be satisfied.

L: Come and walk with me; we shall part the waters.

A: Together we shall risk, and, behold, we shall be changed.

Invocation:

O Lord of the broken chain, the peoples of your earth seek their freedom. We kneel in the night, breathless runaways, breathing the silent prayer of the preyed upon.

O God of the North Star, we shall not be able to find our way unless someone guides us. Bend to us and lift our chins, and point our eyes to the brilliant light in the sky, that we may have a beacon upon which to fix our hopes. We have dared to stumble away from slave row, but unless you lead us, Lord, we can go no farther.

JACOB OFFERS A TITHE (GEN. 28:20–22)

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Jacob responds to a dream he has received from God by building an altar and vowing that, in exchange for God’s care and provision, he would give God a tenth of his belongings.

Prayer:

Almighty God, whose love is beyond understanding, whose mercy is beyond comprehension—we lift up our hearts to you in prayer. How can we express our thanksgiving, except to praise your name and to allow your love to be seen in us. Grant to us a determined faith and a fervent love, that we might be reflections of your divine grace. Hear our prayer, O Lord, as we offer our petitions in the name of the One who is love, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Psalms 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

God's House

Introduction: In Football, you will often read or hear the phrase “This is our house” or “Defend the house!” What this means is that when a visiting team comes to play, the home team makes it known that the visitors have entered into their domain. The home team makes it clear that they plan to protect, defend, and rule their house. The goal is to send the visiting team back to their own house with a defeat.

While sayings like that in sports can often be chalked up to mere hype (after all, many home teams lose games in “their house”), when God makes a similar claim to His own creation-He speaks seriously.

The temple was not yet built, but the tabernacle still served as God’s house.

God’s House is the Lord’s v.1a “The earth is the Lord’s” God claims comprehensive kingdom ownership over all creation. This is His house. This is His kingdom. We live in His domain. There is no shared ownership in God’s kingdom. There are no partnerships or additional signatories on any deeds or titles. God owns it all. And since God owns it all, neither you nor I have any right to claim ownership of something that is not ours. Because “the earth is the Lord’s”, all of us are stewards or caretakers. God owns it all. He is the one-not anyone else(like another god)-who owns the earth and everything in it. Yet what God has established in His divine order of creation is a management-based created order. Businesses have entered into a new trend over the last few years, having identified the large financial waste and inefficiency of having upper-level executive roles. We are seeing fewer companies and nonprofits seeking to fill executive director, C-suite, or top leadership roles. Escalating budgets at that level, as well as a lack of accountability related to outward-facing work assignments for these types of positions, have encouraged the trend to what is now known as the “self-managed workplace.” 1.God’s House is the Lord’s

God’s House and everything in it.v1b “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,” Everything that exists in the created world, living and non-living. We should be committed to the proper management of this world and it resources. A self-managed workplace consists of high-performing management personnel who report to no one other than each other and the owner, president, or board of directors. These teams require a significant amount of self-awareness, trust, and cohesion among the directors, but when they do have things, they have demonstrated a greater ability to perform efficiently, productively, and at a lower cost to the business or non-profit.

Forbes recently published findings on this trend toward self management: “To be effective in this new world, everyone, in his or her own way, will need to assume a leadership role.” I’m sure they weren’t intending to make a spiritual statement, but that is a very spiritual statement when looked at in the context of kingdom stewardship.

Forbes was saying that when each person properly stewards his or her time, talents, and resources in a way that reflects a spirit of responsibility, enthusiasm, excellence, and drive-organization grows. A management style that commissions a heart of leadership throughout the organization leads to motivated and productive employees. Similarly, our stewardship in God’s economy and creative structure is entirely up to us as well. We are not to become devoted to anything created or act as sole proprietors, however, because this world will pass away.

In conclusion,

1.God’s House is the Lord’s

2.God’s House and everything in it.

God rules, and through the sacrifice of His Son, God has given us direct access to Himself. In the final analysis, each of us reports directly to God-the President per se. We report to the Trinity-the Board per se. And when we do, we discover that He has entrusted us with the freedom, responsibility, and opportunity to manage all within our domain.

What you do with the time, talents, and treasures God has given you is up to you. The choices you make. The decisions on how you spend your days. The focus of your mind. Even the thoughts you think. That is all up to you. And because it is up to you, you have a unique ability to directly influence the rate of your own spiritual progress.

That reality ought to invigorate you to work harder, seek creative ways to grow, and look for how you can fully maximize all that God has given to you. God’s trust in you can inspire you to make the most of what He’s placed within your disposal.