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2 Samuel 7:1-14
Grace has built a nice church. Almost 24 years ago it started as a group of people meeting in the Irmo Elementary Auditorium. In 1989 this building was constructed and Grace moved in. Last year about this time we finished construction on the new educational building. In less than a month we will be wrapping up the renovation to the Sanctuary with pews to go with the new carpet and paint.
All of this has been the culmination of a lot of planning and work. It started in 1984 with a committee representing 4 area churches who felt called to plant a new church in the area. That congregation worked and planned to get this structure built. We worked for 7 years to pay off the debt on this building and the parsonage and raise the money to build the education building, and we have planned and worked to be able to fix up this sanctuary.
All of it was a labor of Love. We love the Lord and we want a place where people can worship and learn and serve and grow in Christ. We worked for years to plan and raise money so that we can know Jesus and make him known to others. We desired to build a proper house for God because we are thankful for the grace and forgiveness God has shown us.
David was in the same place we are. He was a man after God's own heart. He loved God and desired to serve God. God had taken him from shepherd boy to king of Israel. And under David's reign God had blessed Israel. It grew to the strongest and greatest it had ever been.
And David was truly grateful. God had cared for him when he faced Goliath and God had guided him when Saul sought to kill him. And David loved the Lord. He had brought the ark of the covenant up to Jerusalem. And he danced before the Lord.
David had a great palace but God's ark lived in a tent. So David proposed to build God a grand temple. A proper edifice to house the ark of the Almighty God! Being a man of God he called for the Prophet Nathan to inquire of God. To ask if this plan was acceptable to the almighty.
Nathan came back to David with a word from the Lord. God basically said, "Who said I want a house. My ark has dwelt in a tent for generations. I am the one who made you great. I will make you a house, a dynasty. And your descendants shall reign over Israel forever."
But why did God refuse to allow David to build Him a temple? Because he wanted to teach David a lesson. David had done great things and there was a danger that David would become proud and think that he had made God great. David proposed to build God a house, a temple, so to illustrate the point God proposed to build David a house, a dynasty.
God is the one who made David who he was. God had taken him from the fields and made him a king. And God would make him even greater. It was a reward for David's faithfulness. But God was also making the point that He the Almighty is the builder of eternal houses.
So what is the lesson for us? We have built God a fine house here. The buildings here are a proper house for the ministries of the church. But we know that the building is not the church. The congregation is the church.
We may have built a fine structure, but God is the true builder here. God has made us a proper house of God. God is the one who had called us together. God is the one who has equipped us through the Holy Spirit. God has brought us to where we are.
Like David, God took us from the school house and made us the church we are today. God is the source of all that we are as a church. We need to be careful we don't get too proud of our accomplishments. We need to be sure that we acknowledge to hand of God.
But this also has a personal application. Like David, God is the one who has made us what we are. We were nothing but fallen sinners. But God picked us up and cleaned us up. He turned us into co-heirs with Christ the King of kings.
And just in case we get big heads and think we have done something great. God has gone a step further. God has promised us a eternal home. A home not made with hands but eternal in the heavens.
It is God who has lifted us up. So let us lift God up in praise and in service. If you have never committed your life to Christ. Do it to day and God will lift you up and make you an eternal home.
Ephesians 2:11-22
Walls: they are built for many reasons. Mostly they are built for protection. The walls around ancient cities kept out invaders. Dikes keep the sea from flooding valuable farm land. The walls of our homes protect us from the elements. The walls of the prison keeps dangerous people from roaming the streets.
Walls are useful, but they can be used for sinful purposes. Walls can embody our hatreds and give them form. In Europe, Christians hated Jews, so they sent them to one part of the city, the part they called the ghetto and built walls around it. When the eastern and western superpowers couldn't agree on how to work together, a wall was built that divided one political philosophy from another. When the youth on one urban neighborhood decide they can't mix with the youth of another neighborhood, they stake out their turf and construct borders. Walls can also be used to create more hatred. The ghetto walls in Europe made it possible for the so called Christians to kill Jews because they didn't have to live with them. The Berlin Wall didn't bring peace between east and west it was just another source of conflict. Barriers between neighborhoods only succeed in creating an anonymity that makes hating all the more easy.
Walls can be dangerous, because often times they become bigger than the people who built them. It's harder to tear down a wall than it is to build it. Walls are more than bricks and concrete. They are mental and emotional attitudes put in concrete. They can be prejudices and hatreds in material form. Sure, the Berlin wall was torn down rather easily by the citizens of Germany. But the educational and economic inequalities that it created will last a lifetime.
Walls are useful, and dangerous.
Our Scripture passage today talks about a dividing wall.(vs. 14) It is the one that divides God's people from the world. God created this barrier to protect Israel and to keep it holy. It was the wall of laws that defined who was part of God's people and who wasn't. The main symbol of this boundary between the people of God and those outside was circumcision. God's people were circumcised and those outside were not. The wall created by circumcision and the Law was meant to set God's people apart from other peoples. This dividing wall was meant to serve as a sign to the peoples. God's Law showed the world what was holy and what wasn't. It also showed the peoples of the world their need for God.
This boundary between the Godly and the ungodly was a gift from God, but people often use God's gifts in un-Godly ways. Ideally anyone who wanted to serve God could have become an Israelite, one of God's people. But the people of Israel used the laws as a way of keeping people out. A barrier that was meant to show people they needed to change became a barrier that prevented change. The children of Israel should have realized that they were only the chosen people because of God's graciousness, and not through any merit of their own. Instead they looked down on the nations and thought themselves better because they were chosen. The wall between Gentile and Jew became a means of elitism and prejudice toward the Gentiles.
The boundary between the Jews and the Gentiles was created to show people their need for God. But Israel had taken it and used it keep people from coming to God. God built it as a sign of love, but people used it to foster prejudice and hatred.
The Good News is that Jesus came to break down the old barriers. First of all, he came to break down the barriers that separated people from God. He broke down the barriers that the Israelites of his day had misused. Though Christ all could come to God, both Jew and Gentile. Christ broke down the barrier of sin that separated us from God's holiness. It's no accident that at Christ's death the veil in the temple was rent in two. Through Christ's death and resurrection, he broke down the wall that separated us from eternal life. He made it possible for all to become part of God's people through his cleansing blood.
Jesus also broke down the barriers that separated people from one another. He broke down the barriers that separated the Gentiles form the Jews. The law was a holy thing when God gave it to the Israelites. But they had profaned it. So Jesus abolished it.(vs. 15)
Jesus abolished the law, and wall it had created. The title of this sermon is not a misprint. It is meant to be a play on words. When Jesus abolished the Laws, he also abolished the Walls of separation. Then Jesus put himself in place of the Law. He became the only standard for establishing who were God's people and who weren't. No longer was nationality or language or race a standard for God's people. Jesus, his life and death, his identity as the son of God, became the only boundary that mattered.
For the Ephesians this meant a lot. They had been separated from God. The Jews shunned them because they were uncircumcised. They were not allowed to worship God in the temple. They could not enter the Synagogues. They were separated from the worship, activities and guidance of God's people.
But Jesus changed all that. He made a new way for them to be part of God's people. Jesus redefined God's people so that the Ephesians could get in. The boundary that defined God's people ceased to be the Law. It became the cleansing blood of Christ applied to the sinful soul. They were once far off, separated from God. But in Christ they were brought to God.
This new definition of God's people destroyed all the old ones. No longer did the terms Jew and Gentile matter in God's Kingdom. In the church it didn't matter where, when, or to whom you were born. The prejudice and anger between the Jews and Gentiles was forgiven. They were now a new "People of God."
In Christ God broke down those barriers back in Bible times, and God is still breaking down those barriers today. Through Christ God is breaking down the wall of sin and pain that imprisons us. Like the Ephesians we were once separated from God by our sinfulness. But Christ shed his blood so that we could receive salvation and all God's blessings. All we need to do is put our faith in Christ and we will be saved and united with our Heavenly Father.
Christ is also breaking down the walls that separate us from one another. The differences between people are meant to be blessings, gifts from God. Like the distinction between Jews and Gentiles, our differences of race and language and culture are meant to enrich our lives. They are not meant as barriers to separate us. But people often used differences as barriers to separate. And these barriers create hatred. This is even true in the church. Our barriers create hatred between people even in Christ's church: between Protestants and Catholics, between East and West, between Liberals and Conservatives, between Charismatics and Fundamentalists.
People are always at work building new walls. But in the kingdom of God, only one wall matters and that is Christ Jesus. It�s his blood that reconciles us with God. And all who believe on him and trust in him are one in him. But the human made walls that separate us are not easy to tear down. If they were mere brick we could do it. But they are spiritual and emotional walls of hatred and prejudice. Only the power of the blood of Christ, which washes away all sin, can destroy them. Let Jesus break down the walls of sin that separate you from God's grace, and the walls of hatred that separate you from your brothers and sisters.
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
The great John the Baptist was dead. The people were lost. But Jesus was just getting going in his ministry. He had chosen his twelve disciples and had even sent them out to teach and heal. After days of constant ministry the exhausted disciples came back to Jesus excited about all they had done and seen. Jesus could see that his disciples needed a chance to rest and think about and talk about all they had done.
So Jesus tried to take the disciples on a retreat to talk about what was happening. You noticed I said, "tried." No sooner did they get some place then someone would recognize Jesus and tell others. And before you knew it there was a crowd of people.
It became so bad that Jesus didn't have any time to eat much less debrief his disciples. So they tried once again to leave the crowds by crossing the Sea of Galilee. But as soon as they got to the other side they were recognized and people came flocking to him. Jesus and his disciples had no time to eat or sleep or even pray.
What were these people thinking? Couldn't they see what they were doing to Jesus and his disciples? Couldn't they see that Jesus was overworked? Couldn't they tell that Jesus needed a quiet meal and some down time with his closest friends? What were they thinking?
Mark tells us exactly what they were thinking. They were thinking of themselves. They were thinking that Jesus could heal them. We can admire the faith that says, "If only I could touch the hem of his garment." But in many ways it was a self-serving faith. If the crowds had really listened to what Jesus was saying they would have made room for the sickest of the sick to see Jesus first and all would have been orderly.
They didn't really care about Jesus or his disciples. They wanted what they could get from him. They were selfish and self seeking. They wanted to be healed and they didn't care who got in their way.
Why did Jesus put up with it? Their selfishness was contrary to everything he was teaching! Why didn't he just say, "Forget you selfish people. I'm going to teach my disciples." But Jesus didn't think that. The Bible tells us that when Jesus saw the crowds he had compassion for them. Why did he have compassion on these selfish mobs? Because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
You know sheep are really helpless. Sheep have been domesticated for over 11,000 years. All their natural instinct for self-preservation has been bred away. They have been selectively bred to be totally dependent on humans. Some say they are even unable to distinguish their offspring from others.
When Jesus says that the people were like sheep without a shepherd, this is what he had in mind. The people were helpless. Their shepherds, the religious leaders, had abandoned them. The religious leaders had wandered away from God and were leading many astray with them but the masses were just plain lost. So instead of being mad at them for their selfishness or annoyed by their bothersomeness, Jesus was led to compassion by their lostness.
I think I understand a little of what Jesus felt. When I was in seminary I served one summer as a chaplain at Duke Hospital. We all worked from 9 to 5 but each night a different chaplain would be the "on call" chaplain. That person would carry a beeper and sleep in the "on call" room. Well, to tell the truth, we seldom slept in that room. Duke had over 1,000 beds, a regional trauma center and one of the biggest cancer research facilities in the southeast at the time. Every time someone died or had a spiritual crisis the chaplain was called.
Usually the beeper would start going off as soon as you lay down and wouldn't stop until the next morning when the other chaplains showed up for work. But despite this constant onslaught of demands, despite the masses of human suffering pressing upon us, we seldom got angry or irritated. We knew that when the beeper went off someone was suffering. And like Jesus we felt compassion for the people who were in genuine need.
As a father I have experience the same thing. Most of the time if you wake me up in the middle of the night and make me get out of bed I can be very grumpy. Just ask Melissa. Yet there are times when one of my girls gets me out of bed with a fever or some other ailment, my heart goes out to them. Instead of scolding them for waking me in the wee hours of the morning, I respond in compassion.
I have to admit I do not always have compassion for the needy in our world. Often times I lose patience with them. I see people in need who are unwilling to help themselves. They could get a job if they tried. They could deal with their problems if they tried. I see people whose way of life has landed them in the trouble they are in. If they would learn to live right then they wouldn't have some of the problems they have. They wouldn't be addicted if they hadn't started drugs to begin with. They wouldn't be alone if they had been true to their spouse. I see people who seek after material things and value things instead of people. And they wonder why they feel so isolated and alienated. A nice house and car and stereo are wonderful. But they can't keep you company or give you a hug.
And like the crowds that came to Jesus so many come to the church to be served and not to serve. People "pick" their churches by asking "What can the church do for me?" They shop for a church as if being a member of a church is something they chose to do like choosing to buy a car or go to college. The truth is God called them to the church and they should be asking themselves where God wants them. In other words "ask not what your church can do for you but what you can do for God's church."
Sometimes I lack patience with the self-serving masses of people. But then Jesus shows me a deeper reality. The people of the world are really like lost sheep. And I am ashamed of my own attitude. Instead of anger and disgust I should be feeling compassion for the thronging masses.
It has been said that 10% of the people in any church do 90% of the work. And that is true not only of Christian work in the church but also Christian service outside the church. The same people who are keeping the church going with their volunteer time are also the ones witnessing in service in the community. It is no wonder that so many church workers get burned out. They give and give and give until they are emotionally and spiritually exhausted.
At this point in the sermon it would be so easy to point to Jesus say "He didn't give up you shouldn't either." But I am not Jesus and neither are you. We are mere humans, we need to rest and recuperate. Jesus recognized that his disciples needed a retreat to recharge their spiritual batteries. So take time to feed spiritually and rest in the presence of the Lord. Even the most dedicated Christian servant needs some private time of devotion and worship.