Sunday
Morning Bible Study
October 27, 2002
Building a Temple
We’re going to be talking this morning about the building of the Temple,
and in my research, I found a story about temple building that you might find
interesting.
Illustration
Nun Left at Convent
PRILEP, Yugoslavia
(AP) - Outside a small Macedonian village close to the border between Greece
and strife-torn Yugoslavia,
a lone Catholic nun keeps a quiet watch over a silent convent. She is the last
caretaker of the site of significant historical developments spanning more than
2,000 years. When Sister Maria Cyrilla of the Order of the Perpetual Watch dies, the
convent will be closed by the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Macedonia. However, that isn’t likely to happen soon, as
Sister Maria, 53, enjoys excellent health. By her own estimate, she walks 10
miles daily about the grounds of the convent, which once served as a base for
the army of Attila the Hun.
In more ancient times, a Greek temple to Eros, the god of love, occupied
the hilltop site. Historians say that Attila took over the old temple in 439
A.D. and used it as a base for his marauding army.
The Huns are believed to have first collected and then destroyed a large
gathering of Greek legal writs at the site. It is believed that Attila wanted
to study the Greek legal system, and had the writs and other documents brought
to the temple. Scholars differ on why he had the valuable documents
destroyed—either because he was barely literate and couldn’t read them, or
because they provided evidence of democratic government that did not square
with his own notion of rule by an all-powerful tyrant.
When the Greek Church took over the site in the 15th Century and
the convent was built, church leaders ordered the pagan statue of Eros
destroyed, so another ancient Greek treasure was lost. Today, there is only the
lone sister, watching over the old Hun base.
And that’s how it ends: No Huns, no writs, no Eros, and nun left on base.
:11 Now, my son, the LORD be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the
house of the LORD thy God, as he hath said of thee.
Lesson
Identify the Temple
1. The church is called the temple
of God.
I Corinthians 3:16-17 Know ye not that ye (grk
- all of you together) are the temple of God, and [that] the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God
destroy; for the temple of God
is holy, which [temple] ye are.
Do we as a church need help in being built up? We certainly do. We’ve been through some very tough times over
the last four months.
2. Individually we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
I Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are
not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your
body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
We as individuals need to be built up. Many are discouraged, fearful, struggling.
:12 Only the LORD give thee wisdom and understanding…
Lesson #1
Building requires wisdom
(1 Chr 22:12 KJV) Only the LORD give thee wisdom and
understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel,
that thou mayest keep the law of the LORD thy God.
wisdom – sekel – prudence, insight, understanding; wisdom
and common sense; from sakal – to be prudent, be circumspect, wisely
understand, prosper; to look at or upon, have insight; to give attention to,
consider, ponder, be prudent; to have insight, have comprehension
understanding – biynah – understanding, discernment; from biyn – to discern, understand, consider; to
be discerning, intelligent, discreet, have understanding
I see these two as having an “understanding” and having “discernment” of what
is going on around you, and having the “wisdom” or “common sense” to do what is
right.
Sometimes we do some pretty stupid things in life.
Illustration
Breakfast in Bed
An “Intellectually Challenged” woman and her husband are laying in bed
watching TV, an old western is on. The husband says to his wife, “I bet you
breakfast in bed that the covered wagon hits a rock and the driver falls out
dead,” “You’re on,” returned his wife. They watch the western and sure enough
the wagon hits a rock in the dirt road and the driver falls out of the wagon
... dead. The wife gets out of bed and returns shortly with a tray of food.
After eating the husband says, “I have to admit that I saw this movie before.”
She in turn confesses, “I saw the movie before too. But I didn’t think he was
stupid enough to ride over the same rock twice....”
Illustration
Two Guys, No Brains
Two friends rented a boat and fished in a lake every day. One day they
caught 30 fish. One guy said to his friend, “Mark this spot so that we can come
back here again tomorrow.” The next day, when they were driving to rent the
boat, the same guy asked his friend, “Did you mark that spot?” His friend
replied, “Yeah, I put a big ‘X’ on the bottom of the boat.” The first one said,
“You stupid fool! What if we don’t get that same boat today!?!?”
We need wisdom and understanding in life. We need to learn the lessons of
life. We need to learn how to get where we’re going. We need wisdom when it
comes to learning how to build God’s Temple,
both as the church and as individuals.
This sounds very much like a prayer of Paul’s for the church at Colossae:
Colossians 1:9-12 For
this cause we also, since the day we heard [it], do not cease to pray for you,
and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in
every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all
might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering
with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Here with David, we have the prayer of a father for a son.
When Solomon will have a dream about the Lord, the Lord asks Solomon what
he wants. He asks for wisdom, like his daddy asked for him:
(1 Ki 3:9 KJV) Give
therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may
discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a
people?
God honored these requests and made Solomon the wisest man
that ever lived.
James said we ought to ask God for wisdom.
(James 1:5-7 KJV) If any
of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth
to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it
shall be given him. {6} But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that
wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the
wind and tossed. {7} For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing
of the Lord.
Pray for wisdom. Ask God to make you
wise in the things you do.
:12-13 …that thou mayest keep the law of the LORD thy God. {13} Then shalt
thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the LORD charged
Moses with concerning Israel…
Lesson #2
Building is dependant upon the Word
of God.
(1 Chr 22:12-13 KJV) Only the LORD give
thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel,
that thou mayest keep the law of the
LORD thy God. {13} Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest
heed to fulfil
the statutes and judgments which the LORD charged Moses with concerning Israel:
be strong, and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.
David tells his son that the prosperity of the whole project would depend
upon how faithful Solomon would be to learn and obey the things in God’s Word.
(2 Tim 3:16-17 KJV) All
scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: {17} That the man of
God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
If you want to help build your life up, you need to be in God’s Word,
reading it, studying it, but most of all, obeying it.
This is why we give much time to the study of God’s Word when we get
together as a church. It is the key to
our maturity.
But it needs to be in your life more than just on Sunday mornings. It needs to be a daily part of your life.
David is telling Solomon that his success as a Temple
builder depends on learning the Bible and obeying it.
David has learned the hard way. When
he tried to move the Ark of God into Jerusalem,
he didn’t pay attention to moving it according to God’s original
instructions. Disaster followed until
David found out what God’s Word said, and then obeyed it.
It is not optional. Reading the
Bible is not an “elective” course, its required reading.
What kind of time are you spending in God’s Word? Do you have a plan in
reading God’s Word. Don’t just hunt and
peck. Read THROUGH the whole book.
:13 …be strong, and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.
Lesson #3
Building requires encouragement.
(1 Chr 22:13 KJV) …be strong, and
of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.
We NEED to encourage each other:
(Heb 10:23-25 KJV) Let
us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful
that promised;) {24} And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and
to good works: {25} Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see
the day approaching.
The Book of Hebrews was written to people who were going through difficult
times. The temptation was to quit and
throw in the towel.
But to keep from quitting, to keep “holding fast”, we need
encouragement.
Illustration
That’s been one of the amazing things about the Angels’ baseball
season. There have been a lot of games
this season where the Angels get behind.
Even last night’s game, it was tempting to quit watching the game by the
sixth inning when they were down five to nothing. But rather than get discouraged and just
become resigned to losing, they get that seventh inning rally going, and by the
end of the eighth inning, they had pulled into the lead.
“There’s no room for fear
here, or else you’re going to go home,” Spiezio said.
“We battle until the last out of the game. Until they kick us out of the park
and say you’ve got to go home, we’re not giving up.”
Encouragement not only requires that we have an ongoing relationship with
someone who can be close enough to really know who we are, but it requires that
we have relationships were we build each other up and not tear each other down.
Illustration
Another item that’s been big in the news this week has
been the capture of the Washington
area sniper. A large area was paralyzed
with fear as these two guys were roaming around taking shots at people.
I’m afraid that sometimes we get tired of people taking
potshots at us all day long. We want to
hide inside the house, cover the windows and lock the doors.
The article about last night’s game also went on to state,
Give credit to that Rally Monkey, too. Because once the pesky primate
showed up, the Angels and the sellout crowd of 44,506 would not be denied.
“This is, without a doubt, his biggest moment,” said Angels entertainment
manager Peter Bull, who operates video of the mascot. “The success of the
monkey is nothing without the players and their ability to come back.” The
whole thing left many believing the monkey has mystical powers. And it wasn’t
surprising - look at what the underdog Angels did to the New York Yankees and Minnesota
in the playoffs.
There’s a sense in which we all could use a little “rally monkey” to get us
going from time to time when we want to quit.
“That thing was showing again, wasn’t it?” Giants
outfielder Tom Goodwin said.
Sniper or Rally Monkey?
God wants us all to be involved in encouraging others. My question is, are you going to be a sniper
taking potshots, or a Rally Monkey getting things going?
:14-16 Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the LORD
an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand
talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in
abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto.
{15} Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of
stone and timber, and all manner of cunning men for every manner of work. {16}
Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number.
Lesson #4
Building is costly
David paid a HUGE price to have everything prepared for Solomon.
a hundred thousand talents of gold – that’s 3,750 TONS of gold, one
estimate has it at nearly 6 TRILLION dollars worth of gold in today’s
standards.
a thousand thousand talents of silver –
(one million talents) – 37,500 TONS of silver, worth about 384 TRILLION dollars
in today’s standards.
We might like to think that building is easy and painless. It’s not. David
said, “In my trouble I have prepared…”
in my trouble – ‘oniy –
affliction, poverty, misery; from ‘anah – to
afflict, oppress, humble, be afflicted, be bowed down
The things that David contributed weren’t just pocket change, they were the
results of many hard fought battles over the years.
Illustration
I remember being involved with Calvary Chapel Anaheim’s building program. Everybody
we talked to warned us that no matter what you have budgeted in your plans,
it’s going to cost twice as much as you expect. And it did.
It will cost you if you want to be involved in building up the church.
I’m not just talking about giving money to support the ministry of the church. To build up others it takes a commitment to
spend time with other people. It is costly to be involved with people who can
be offensive and who may end up hurting you at some point.
It will cost you if you want to be involved in building up your own life.
Growing as a Christian doesn’t just happen overnight. You don’t go to sleep one night and wake up
as a mature Christian.
It’s important to take time to invest in the kinds of things that will help
you grow as a Christian.
It takes time to commit to daily reading God’s Word. It takes time to commit to praying for
others.
This coming January, we’re going to be making some changes in the weekly
studies. We’re going to be starting a
weekly “Servant-Leadership Training
School” on Sunday nights. My hope is that a few of you will be
interested in paying the cost of time and study to build yourselves up and work
with us to build the church. We’ll tell you much more about this in the coming
months.
:16 …Arise therefore, and be doing, and the LORD be with thee.
Lesson #5
Building requires the Lord
David has actually said this twice,
(1 Chr 22:11 KJV) Now, my son, the LORD be with thee; and
prosper thou, and build the house of the LORD thy God, as he hath said of thee.
(1 Chr 22:16 KJV) Of the gold, the
silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise therefore, and
be doing, and the LORD be with thee.
We have to allow God to work in us. Solomon would later write,
(Psa 127:1 KJV) A Song of degrees for
Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it:
except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh
but in vain.
Jesus said,
(John 15:4-5 KJV) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye,
except ye abide in me. {5} I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth
forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
We need to learn to yield our lives to Him and let Him do the things He
wants to do in our lives.
For some of you, this starts with recognizing your need for Jesus. He died on the cross to pay for your
sins. You need to open your heart to
Him.
For those of you who know Jesus, you can’t do it on your own. We must learn to be dependant upon Him and
yielded to Him.