I want to talk with you today about building, because you see, we’re builders.
From the time we’re born - we start building. You probably don't even realise what an expert and complex builder you are. (Simon does) As babies, we spend all our energy and effort building bodies and vocabularies. As young adults, we build our knowledge and our skill. We are always building relationships with others. Eventually, we will build a special relationship with a special person. And from this one special relationship, we’ll build a marriage. Together we’ll build a house and turn it into a home. And then we’ll build a family. We’ll build estates, bank accounts, built a Super and many other things. We all build because, you see, we’re builders.
God is a builder he told; Noah build an Ark, Moses build a tabernacle, David build anation, Solomon a temple Nehemiah build a wall. God is building you and using you in building a place.
And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. (1 Peter 2:5 NLT)
Living stones cut from the quarries of this world, and developed and fashioned, prepared into a useful size and condition. The ultimate in this innate desire to build is building the temple of God. You are one of those stones that is being developed.
He is building a spiritual temple. We have been reading this week about Solomon who was building a physical temple. It is a type a shadow of what Jesus is doing. Solomon is a type of Christ, his name means "bringer of peace", we know what Jesus does - he brings peace. There is no peace in the heart outside of Christ. He brings a peace that surpasses understanding
Why is he building a temple place for God? No doubt to bring glory to God and men to his glory. Let's see what is possible.
Let's turn to our Wednesday reading from this week.
When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions. She arrived with a large group of attendants and a great caravan of camels loaded with spices, large quantities of gold, and precious jewels. When she met with Solomon, she talked with him about everything she had on her mind. (2 Chronicles 9:1 NLT)
She was seeking something she didn't have. She was powerful and wealthy but something was missing and she had heard of what Solomon was doing. She, like a lot of people, had power, prestige and riches, the things the world would say are symbols of what it mean to have made it. She knew she hadn't.
She didn't need to come the long journey from (1600km) Ethiopia. That is a long way on an elephants back. The preparation is enormous. She wasn't needy, but she was hungry and thirsty.
Note it doesn't say God it says Solomon that is important. Because a lot of people who see that is what I want, don't know it is God. They can't understand an unseeing God. People are his glory, you are his glory we are his glory. We are his sign of power.
No one has it together but together we have it.
The glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the see. People come seeking, thirsty, because of us. Salt his glory
He is building a house here that will show his glory.
Solomon had answers for all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba realized how wise Solomon was, and when she saw the palace he had built, she was overwhelmed. (2 Chronicles 9:2-4 NLT)
She didn't get an explanation of who God is, she got an experience.
Think of a situation where you had bulletproof facts, reason, and logic on your side, and believed there was absolutely no way the other person could say no to your perfectly constructed argument and proposal. To do so would be impossible, you figured, because there was no other logical solution or answer.
But the other person dug in his heels and refused to budge. He wasn’t swayed by your logic. Were you flabbergasted?
A few years ago, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio made a groundbreaking discovery. He studied people with damage in the part of the brain where emotions are generated. He found that they seemed normal, except that they were not able to feel emotions. But they all had something peculiar in common: they couldn’t make decisions. They could describe what they should be doing in logical terms, yet they found it very difficult to make even simple decisions, such as what to eat.
So at the point of decision, emotions are very important for choosing. In fact even with what we believe are logical decisions, the very point of choice is arguably always based on emotion.
This is very significant. You feel in your heart. And life directing decisions are made in your heart.
The mind will analyse argue and deny but what the heart experiences, the head will follow.
You can try to overcome people's objections to Christ and give them your experience and the scripture that will lead with him, and I think this is right and valid, however when you bring them into an experience - and it bypass their head and goes to where it really matters - their heart.
Major decision.
People make a decision to marry not based on a list of things they are looking for in a person but on how they feel. Dangerous, your heart leads you to a place your head doesn't what to go. Have you ever watched a person’s life explode making the wrong decision? You can see what they shouldn’t be doing, it's not the right thing. But their heart is set on it, and you might convince them whilst you are with them but once you have gone there heart will convince them back.
They say with your heart you want, then justify it with your head. “I love they way it made me feel. But it got great fuel economy and I got a great deal.”
We don't say give your mind to Christ we say give your heart. Hearts are seldom won on the bases of cognitive argument. I didn't convince my wife to marry me with a clear 4 point plan. If you marry me you will have kids, a place to live, clear running water and sewage.
It was a matter of the heart. The major decision, the most powerful decision comes from the heart and most often that’s the result of something I felt, but maybe couldn't even define.
What we are seeing here, is why the church is so powerful in God’s plan. Some say it’s not about church it about Jesus.
We have to recognize this is how we as a church move forward.
Let's read what this experience consisted of.
She was also amazed at the food on his tables, the organization of his officials and their splendid clothing, the cup-bearers and their robes, and the burnt offerings Solomon made at the Temple of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 9:4 NLT)
She was amazed - this was her experience.
Food on his table.
We serve spiritual food. In the preaching of the word.
Preach in a way that is captivating, it had to arrest peoples attention and give them more than they expect. I have been doing this for 20 years. Every time, I have to preach like it's the first time that I have done it -with the same privilege and angst. If I get complacent, and stop reading and leaning, and trying to get better, we are all in for some boring church. We have to change. Man doesn't live by bread alone but by word that comes from God. Word that comes from God that is communicated with excellence and relevance.
The other day my eldest daughter, Aleesha, wanted to put on a TV show for our granddaughter, but couldn’t sync it. We discovered that the issue was out-dated software - I hadn't updated. I then did it, and it took 2 hours. We were trying to sync this show, but the TV could not hear. It should’ve understood, but there was no communication. We can sometimes think “I don't need to update” then try and communicate, but the church is hearing it. We need to stay relevant.
The food is the word not, some boring homily. People should be left saying “I wasn't expecting something to speak to me. I wasn't expecting to hear something that helped.”
The people have an excellence about them
Solomon’s officials were there to go the extra mile. It wasn't a “she'll be right attitude.” There wasn’t a lazy approach. They weren't thinking “why do I need to do this?” There was excellence of spirit to serve. They understood who's court they where in.
There is a lot of average in the world today, but we have an opportunity to build an above average house for God. To give people more then they expect, to go the extra mile.
To engage at a higher level. They more she spoke to people the more about God she was convinced.
When people leave here they don't remember what I preach, they don't remember what was sung, they remember how the people treated them.
Let's come with the spirit to build the house by serving People with excellence.
It wasn't just the food. Those who serve on the welcome team and on the car park team, welcome with a passion that can change the city. One passion is okay 2 is multiples 20 can change a city.
Their clothes are remarkable
Not that you have to buy Armani or Calvin Klein, let me read.
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. (Colossians 3:12-14 NLT)
The way we relate to each other. You know if people love each other, or love under a cloud of suspicion and innuendo. You can just feel it. That’s why Jesus teaches more on how to get on with each other than anything else. It’s not just what's best for you, it's what's best for us. You know when you are in a place where people love each other.
People don't know when they are in a place where there is animosity, it’s considered normal. But they know when they are in a place of love, acceptance and forgiveness. It’s not normal, it is attractive
No one on their own could of effected the Queen like a corporate approach.
This why life groups are important, where we learn how to love and be love. When you bring it together, you influence people hearts.
and the burnt offerings
Their commitment and passion for God.
They worshiped with all their heart. It was dome for God. When they sang, they sang not just a song, but a heart expression to Him. When they prayed it was not just some religious poem but it was heart felt. These people are serious about their walk with God. When they gave, when they prayed, and when they sang, they were there involved.
All this created an experience that someone was not just convinced of an argument, but convinced in their heart.
She exclaimed to the king, “Everything I heard in my country about your achievements and wisdom is true! I didn’t believe what was said until I arrived here and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, I had not heard the half of your great wisdom! It is far beyond what I was told. (2 Chronicles 9:5, 6 NLT)
It should be that where ever they go, they see the same level of spirit. They go to the kid’s ministry and there it is. They go to youth camp there it is. The more they inspect the more they realize this isn’t just a showy front. This isn't some cute web site and phone app. This is fair drinking this is the real thing.
How happy your people must be! What a privilege for your officials to stand here day after day, listening to your wisdom! Praise the Lord your God, who delights in you and has placed you on the throne as king to rule for him. Because God loves Israel and desires this kingdom to last forever, he has made you king over them so you can rule with justice and righteousness.” (2 Chronicles 9:7, 8 NLT)
How happy they were. The people aren't there because they have to be but want to be. People think church goers are lemon suckers. Religious people aren’t happy. People don't give with joy they get with joy. I have I am happy, not, I gave I am happy.
It is a different spirit, it's not of this world, it is the Kingdom of God. It surprises people, and therefore influences.
This isn't obligation or a sense of ought, but of passion and desire.
She came because of what she saw in the people but left praising God. They came seeking Solomon, but they left praising God.
It is important to realise God owes us nothing, and everything that we have comes from God. People see God’s glory on you, on us. They can't deny it when they experience it.
I can read a Richard Dawkin’s argument, but I can deny what I felt.
It is you that creates the spirit of the house.
I don't know what you are building now. We are building our grandchild’s vocabulary. We are purpose full. You are intentionally building something.
You are a living stone in the temple of God.
