Derek Smith, Lead Pastor LHBC
1 Chronicles 29:10-19
Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. 12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. 13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. 14 “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. 15 For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. 6 O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. 17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. 18 O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. 19 Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.”
In this passage David is at the end of his life. He has led Israel to conquer her enemies and live in one of the most prosperous times in the history of their nation. But Israel has been worshipping and sacrificing to God from a temporary tabernacle since the days of Moses, and the Lord tells David to see to it that a permanent Temple is built. However, David would not actually build it, He was to take up a collection so that his son, Solomon, could build it after he has passed on.
Reading this caused me to ask this question: what am I building? Day in and day out what I am trying to accomplish in this life, and does it matter for eternity? What about you, what are you building? Are you building a business, or a name for yourself? What about your resume or your investment portfolio? Maybe your focus is building wealth and possessions? David built the Temple for Solomon and the people of God to worship. On his deathbed David realized that everything he had done in life was just provision and preparation for those to come after Him.
This begs another important question: what should we be building? Scripture has a lot to say about this. We should be building our relationship with Jesus. We must build our marriages. We must build our homes spiritually, and we must be about building God’s church, His invisible Kingdom made visible until He comes again.
David goes into great detail here concerning why we must build for eternity. We must build because Jesus deserves the praise. Scripture says David blessed the Lord in the Presence of the entire assembly of Israel. Some people say their worship is a private matter. “That’s just between me and the Lord.” The only problem with that is private devotion always leads to public adoration. We prove what we love by what we talk about. The same is true in worship. If I love Jesus, I can’t help but praise Him! We must also build because the world needs Jesus. David says that riches and honor come from the Lord and that He is the one who makes great and gives strength to all. In other words, the very things we search for in life ultimately come from the Lord, so it is the Lord really that we need. He meets the deepest need of the soul, which is salvation from our sin.
Third, we build because of the insignificance of mankind. He says we are all just strangers here. This world is not our home, and our days are like a shadow. 1000 years from now nobody is going to care what Stephen Curry and Lebron James did on the basketball court. Nobody is going to care whether or not the Titans won the Super Bowl or Tennessee finally won a championship again. Nobody will care how rich Bill Gates is, or how good an actor Tom Hanks is, or how great a country singer Carrie Underwood is.
Fourth, we build because the church needs to worship. David wasn’t building a monument, he was starting a movement. Most evangelical churches today are just monuments to celebrate the past. David wanted to start a movement of praise and worship to the Lord. We are on this earth to start a movement of praise and salvation.
Lastly, David says we must build for eternity because our children need to see us serve the Lord. David is on his deathbed, and his last dream is to see His son do a great work for God. He took up a collection so Solomon could build the Temple. Why in the world would we invest so much money, time, effort, and energy into building God’s Church? Because our children need to see us passionately worshipping and serving God. Because they need to know how incredibly important the church and the work of God really are. Because the next generation needs a dream worth living for.
Today, what are you building? Are you just building a name for yourself or are you building the Kingdom of God? Just like David it must be our dream to see many come to faith and our children carry on the work of the gospel.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Dear Lord, You are worthy of all the praise, honor, and glory. You are our eternal, immortal, and invisible King. Help me today not to just build my own little kingdom. I want to build Your Kingdom Oh God. Use me to bring You praise, and raise up the next generation to serve as an army of witnesses for You. In Jesus name, amen.
MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
Psalm 119:18
Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.