Word of Salvation – Vol.41 No.39 – October 1996

 

Unless The Lord Builds the House

 

Sermon by Rev PG Van Dam on Psalm 127:1

Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 8:12, 22-30, 54-61, 10:23-29, 11:1-13

Suggested Hymns:

BOW 87:1, 2, 5; 86:2, 5, 7 (with the Law) or 523 (with Creed); 203:1, 6; 241

Dear Brothers and Sisters.

The two thoughts which readily come to mind when mentioning the name of Solomon are

a.         his great wisdom and riches, and
b.         how he used both for the building of the temple of the Lord.

We will concern ourselves mainly with the latter.

We know how his father David had been ashamed that in all his victories he had not built a house for the Lord.  But the Lord had explained to him that not he, but his son, would build a house for Him.

Although in the first instance God spoke of Solomon, it is nevertheless true that – in the end – the reference was to David’s greater Son: the Lord Jesus Christ.  For of all we read in the Old Testament, the New Testament is the fulfilment.  All of the ‘great men’ in the Old Testament are pictures of the promised Messiah; that is to say; of the Christ to come.

Likewise, we must understand the building of the temple by Solomon to point to – to explain – the building of the church by Jesus Christ.  How true it is that “unless the Lord Himself builds the house, its builders labour in vain.  Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain”. (Ps 127.1).

Whatever the Lord may allow us to do, He, and He alone, builds and keeps the church; in no part is it our effort.  It is Jesus Christ Who gathers, protects and preserves His Church by His Spirit and Word”  (Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 54).

The Old Testament and the New Testament belong together; they explain and illustrate each other beautifully.  Often we need the one in order to truly understand the other.

This is certainly true of the ‘central event in the New Testament: the cross of Christ.  It really is the central event of all of Scripture, and without the Old Testament history of God’s people, the ‘how and why’ of the cross could hardly be understood.  Really, a true study of the Bible would convince us that all of the Old Testament does in fact point to Christ, His cross and His church!

So, then, all we read here of the building of the temple also applies to the building of the church by the Lord Himself, to the glory of His Name.  This account of the building of the temple gives us a very rich understanding of how and why the Lord Himself built the church.

There are differences of course, between the building of the temple in the Old Testament and the building of the church in the New Testament.  The building of the temple in the Old Testament was largely an effort and reality of great material riches and splendour, even if in all its grandeur it pointed to the glory of God.  As such, it pointed to the spiritual riches the church of the New Testament – that is, of our days – has in her Builder, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that teaching holds true even if in the Old Testament the emphasis was on the place where the people would meet, while in the New Testament the church is there wherever the Lord calls His people to meet to worship Him.  In the New Testament the church is not the building; it is the people of the Lord, His body.

The temple of Solomon teaches us the great riches which we have in Christ; the great spiritual riches in Him.  Now it no longer is the building of stone that testifies to those riches; no, now, it is the people of the lord themselves who must testify to, and show those riches.

Solomon employed very many people to build the temple.  The Lord does the same.  In fact, of course, we ourselves are His temple.  Did we and do we share in the cost of building and keeping the church; specifically as a testimony to her builder?  Sparing no cost?  For only then – in terms of our responsibility – could we claim that the church reflects the glory of the Lord; for that is its specific place and purpose in the world!

There is great beauty and assurance in the prayer which Solomon prays upon the dedication of the temple.  We read it in 2Chron.6:20 ff: “May Your eyes be open towards this temple day and night.  This place of which You said you would put Your Name there.  May You hear the prayer Your servant prays towards this place.  Hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people when they pray towards this place.  Hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.”

“Towards this place,” there where your people gather to meet with You and pray to You.  Hear them, bless them, forgive them.  In this prayer we could imagine hearing the Lord Jesus Christ, our High Priest, in his intercessory prayer for his people; especially when they gather together as His body to call upon the Name of the Lord.

Indeed, how beautiful is the teaching we find in the Old Testament of the Church in the New Testament; by Solomon in all his wisdom and sparing no cost.

But then the work is completed, the temple has been duly dedicated; consecrated to the holy One of Israel.  Time for a rest, marked by joy, gratitude, commitment to the Lord?

Alas, none of that.

We read that after Solomon had finished the building of the temple, he – like so many rich people in particular – soon got busy gathering more riches (10:26-29).  Also, that he loved many women, building high places for their gods and offering sacrifices to them.

In other words, after he had built the temple for the Lord, he then turned to his own gain and satisfaction.  It sounds familiar, does not it.  For are not these two things – man’s own satisfaction and gain – the very key words of the world today too, the very motivation which explains so much of man’s doing today.  Indeed, expressed so often in the love for money and immorality.

Solomon rested from his work for the Lord… and sinned.  Well, this seems to have often been the picture of the church in the world.  Every time the Lord builds the church anew; then the church is strong in her knowledge of, and in her commitment to – the truth of His Word; in the zeal of the members for the spiritual well-being and strength of the church, in the awareness that each member shares in the responsibility for the doctrine, the preaching, the life of the church and the building up of the community of the saints in love.  Being church is important, a priority in our lives.  That is why the Lord joined us to His church – which is His body – that we should work at its glory for the Lord’s sake!

So, then, are we truly inspired people of the Lord; moved by His Spirit and confirmed in our commitment to Him by the true proclamation of His Word?  Are we able and ready to explain why and how we are church of the Lord?

While the Old Testament teaches us the riches the church – that is to say, the people of the Lord – have in Him, it also tells us time and again how the people nevertheless continue to fail Him and His service.  As often as in His faithfulness to His people the Lord renewed His covenant with them, His people bow before Him or they are excited: “We will do everything the Lord has said” (Exod.19:8, at Mount Sanai); “The Lord He is God!  The Lord He is God!” (1Kings 18:39, on Mount Carmel).

God renewed and enlarged His covenant with the coming of Jesus Christ.  There was great joy upon the institution of the New Testament church following the preaching of the sermon by the apostle Peter on that occasion, as recorded in Acts 2.  There was the revival of the church when the Lord made her return to the truth of His Word, at the time of the Reformation,

Many times since then has the Lord revived and renewed His Church.  And we may include the institution of our Reformed Churches some forty years ago, also!  Each instance was to serve His people as a reminder of the truth of his own Word; of Psalm 127: “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain.  Unless the lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.”

Really, at all times, the church has continued to exist only by the faithfulness of the Lord!  In our New Testament times we should be much more aware of this truth about the church, because we have seen and know for ourselves how God has taught us this truth when He sent Christ: Who would be Faithful as a Son over God’s house”  (Heb.3:6).

And yet, after much joy, gratitude and promises or intentions of a new commitment to the Lord and His church, every time again His people either ‘levelled off’; routine or complacency have killed the alertness which is needed for the unique challenge of being people of the Lord.  Then He is not really first in our lives anymore.

And, indeed, as was the case with Solomon, of this turning away of the heart from the Lord towards our own interests and our own satisfaction, the love of money and the trend towards – or the toleration of – immorality are the very typical illustrations; as sacrifices to false gods which have come to prevail in our hearts.

For many – even seemingly faithful – church members, money often seems more important than spiritual riches, even though we do know and will find that we cannot have it both ways (Luke 16:13).  Indeed, often our priorities shine through in our attitudes in daily life.

And what about immorality, unfaithfulness in marriage, and, perhaps in the near future, homosexuality (using the love we owe our neighbour as an excuse)?

These are the typical marks of the failure of people of the Lord, who by definition must show that “they no longer live but that Christ lives in them” (Gal.2:20).  And should we not seriously examine ourselves on other symptoms as well, whether in life and doctrine we might not as churches also have gone the way of compromise with unbiblical thought of the unbelieving world; of wanting to re-read Scripture to facilitate such compromise, rather than let Scripture expose their falsehood?

And has not either the moral poverty of this world, or else the optimistic view of man the world wants to uphold, tempted us to focus on the ‘good Christian’ rather than on the Christ and Him crucified; either by charismatic experience or by a more legalistic emphasis in the preaching; just as though this is what Christ really wants of us today?  In other words, to which extent is the cross of Christ still central in the preaching and the testimony of the church?

And, in our own personal lives?  For the spiritual strength and faithfulness of the church must be in me, as a member of the church, first of all.  Even if for the sake of holding up the glory of the Lord and of His temple, Solomon (as many other kings in the Old Testament) teaches us that the leadership must accept much of the responsibility for maintaining – or else for the decline of – the glory of the Lord through His people.

The account of the building of temple by Solomon warns us very seriously in case we would become slack or sit back – become complacent – and, in that way, let other selfish interests gain a place in our heart; or, rather and more precisely: let our hearts turn away from the Lord, and from serving His glory in our own lives and in His church.

Just briefly, we read how God would take the kingdom away from him.  No, not in Solomon’s own life-time, but He “will tear it out of the hand of your son” (Jeroboam, 1Kings 11:40).

This punishment is frightful!  In New Testament language that punishment of God would read: on account of your unfaithfulness, there will be no church left for your children and for their children.

To whom would this warning come?  To the leaders of the church first?  Yes, they are the overseeing shepherds of the church of God (Acts 17), including the theologians upon whose insight and study they often depend for their understanding and application of Scripture.

But at heart this warning is to the members of the church.  No longer are they a silent auditorium; in the New Testament they have all been equipped by the Spirit of truth.  In the end the waring is to them!  They, we – the parents – are the trustees for the children of the covenant.  Both, the parents and the church as a whole are responsible for seeing to it that there will be a faithful church tomorrow for our children; for the covenant youth of the church.

One would think that this warning would speak to the heart of even the most careless member of the church.  Yet, the very frightening thing is not merely the warning of God, Who is faithful to the words He speaks, but that it often does not lead to a renewed commitment to the church on the part of parents of young families.

Is it too blunt to say that such is the real hold of self-centred thinking and attitudes of some that apparently ‘seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear’; that they do not understand?  Do they not understand that, in terms of the responsibilities of the members of Christ, a covenant speaks of mutual commitments for it to function; upon the condition of mutual faithfulness?

Our God is a God of grace, but not of some selfish concept of ‘cheap grace.’ There is no such thing at all with God as ‘cheap grace.’  In His mercy God let Christ buy it for us; it is very precious.

And yet…!  There always is the ‘nevertheless’ of God’s grace.  And thus: of our faith!

In Ch.11, vs.13, we read these words: “Yet, I will not tear the whole kingdom away from him, but will give him one tribe, for the sake of David My servant and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

Beautiful words, so typical of our faithful God; faithful to the covenant which He Himself had established.  Always yet is His Word the Word of comfort.  Be it, and sometimes we forget, for those who live by it!

God spoke to Elijah who had been so downcast on account of the attitude and threat of Queen Jezebel.  We read: “And what was God’s answer to him?  I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ so, too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace”  (Rom 11:4).

Beautiful words, which should reach the depth of our hearts, and which should silence our own ‘its and buts’.

Words of grace, for those whom the Lord has chosen.  But if He has chosen them, how would I know whether I belong to them?  How can I be certain.  Of course, this question often comes up, and needs much patience to give reassurance.

But let us here restrict ourselves to the answer which the Word of God gives us in the Letter to the Romans.  It includes all those who have not bowed the knee to Baal; all those who have not in fact worshipped other gods: say, of money or self-gratification; who have not in any way in their own heart and lives slackened in their commitment to their God; who have not compromised their faith and that of the church with anything that does not belong in it; those, who by the power of the Spirit and the guidance of the Word desire to live to the honour of their God.

They may know that they belong to the remnant; and belong to it for the sake of their children and their children’s children.

But the question returns: why has God saved one tribe for Solomon’s son?  Why does He save a remnant?  Our readings give us two answers.

First: for the sake of my servant David.  David, who set the people of the Lord free from their enemies; to make them a people holy to the Lord (that is to say: truly belonging to the Lord).  As such He was the picture of the Christ to come.  For it finally was not David, but Christ who, by His battles, that is: by His sacrifice on the cross and in their resurrection in Him, set the people free to be a people holy to the Lord.

And the second answer is: “for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”  There, in the church, “the dwelling place of His Name” (Ps.74:7); there it is where God has established His own Name.  In the church – in the midst of his people – there!  There will be a remnant; it is a matter of the glory of the Name of our God.

A remnant which, according to His divine purposes (Eph.1:6, 12, 14), ‘will be to the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the One He loves.”

But this means, then, that the church will only continue if it lives to the glory of God’s grace; that is to say: when it preaches the Gospel of the grace of God in Christ Jesus.  Or – more specifically when it continues to confront us with the Christ crucified; and explains to us, and reminds us, how and why it is through His cross that Christ alone is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”  (John 14:6).  For us, for our children, and for the whole world!

Amen.