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In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Grace, mercy and peace ….
Last week, we as a congregation put a donated Truck on the road … and yes, it did arrive in Houston safely Last Monday … at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. What’s of interest this morning about our experience with that truck is that it’s very much like some of the events we see played out for us in Scripture.
You see, we were simply asked to pray for a truck. Specifically, for a ¾-ton or larger pick-up truck that could be used to haul around a bobcat loader on a trailer.
Now, because I got that request when wasn’t leading worship that Sunday, the only place I went with it was to our Experiencing God class that meets on Sunday Mornings. A class of just 4 to 5 regular attendees.
Now, that’s significant. You see, it wasn’t because the pastor alone brought this in prayer …nor was it because so many people in the congregation were praying for it. It was just a class, a small, intimate class … with a request that seemed a bit unusual, out of the ordinary, out of the comfort zone … “Class, we’ve been asked to pray for a pick-up truck.” And we did.
And once we did, God provided a truck … but, it was half a state away. And then, by His design it got here to us. And it was perfect for what was needed. One local TV station covered it. And people from the community we didn’t even know contributed to filling it up.
Then, at the right time, the Lord opened up Matt Schultz’s schedule.
Matt told me it was God’s perfect timing because on the day he was going to get back to Houston, the lease on the rental truck they had been using was going to expire.
What did we do in all that? Well, we prayed. And from that point on, we simply reacted, we followed what the Lord was doing.
Obviously, the church in Houston had been praying. But God’s direction was that He wanted them to see Him provide something apart from themselves … And at the same time, He wanted to give this church the opportunity to witness first hand, not on a DVD, what He can do.
Which brings us to the Old Testament reading we have today from 2 Samuel. There we see God at work … just like we saw in our truck experience ..
God had brought an end to the days that David had found himself striving to bring peace to the land of Israel. And now David was living in a fine Palace, and he felt guilty that the Ark of the Covenant, God’s dwelling place, was still in the old Tabernacle built by Moses. A tent, a very special tent, but still a tent.
David decided that he should build a suitable house, a temple, for God to dwell in … in their midst. But God, through the Prophet Nathan, told David, no, that was not His job.
David would not be the one to build God a house. Instead, God said that He would be the One who would make a house, literally, a dynasty, for David. Not just a worldly dynasty, but one that would be divine, that would last forever.
This was a prophecy that the savior, the messiah, would indeed be an heir of David, a shoot from the root of David’s father, Jesse.
But the key thing in this reading is who the builder is. Not David. But God. //
The encounter we see between the angel Gabriel and Mary has some of the same overtones. Mary responds to the news of the impending birth of a child with … “how can this be?” She had not done what she knew she’d have to do in order to conceive a child.
But, the key thing in the message of the Angel was that the maker of this child, would be the same as the maker of David’s house …God.
Now we could go on and pull up Moses, Gideon, Abraham, Joseph of the multi-colored coat, Joseph, of Mary and Joseph … Ruth, and my particular favorite in this instance … Esther …as similar examples of God the builder in Scripture.
When God’s about to do something … we find that those involved with Him will come up against a challenge of faith, a Crisis of Belief … in terms of what they will do.
David relented from his plans and complied with the word of the Lord through Nathan in our 2 Samuel reading, putting Himself in the Lord’s hands.
Mary replied to the angel, “May it be unto me as you have said,” putting herself in the Lord’s hands
Remember these words of Uncle Mordecai to Esther when she was facing that crisis of faith in her life: “And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” And Esther took a bold step of putting herself in the Lord’s hands.
Could David have built a house for God? Yes. Could Mary have refused the shame of bearing a child not her husband’s? Yes. Could Esther remained silent before the king? Certainly …
But, all of them were at a crucial place and time by God’s design … to further what God was doing. Was it all about Esther, or Mary, or David? No … it was God all the way, in all those cases, He was the one who was making the house … building the kingdom, making the history …
Interview all those servants of God when you get to heaven. They will all reflect those words of Mary, “I am the Lord’s servant let it be to me as you have said.”
They would affirm that God is the Kingdom builder, and they were blessed by his grace to be in the right place at the right time to play a role He had designed for them to play.
And so, through David, when peace came to Israel, and through Esther, when the Jews were delivered from the schemes of Haman, and through Mary, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem … who got the credit, or who should get the credit … not the servants … but God Himself.
We’ve pulled up these Scriptural examples along with the example that we’ve seen in our own midst most recently, our Truck, so that these words we heard this morning might come a little closer to home: “I, The Lord, will make you a house.”
God’s in control when it comes to building up our hearts … and when it comes to building up His kingdom. Our lives are NOT just a string of random unrelated events, or meaningless circumstances or chance coincidences.
And that should be of great comfort, because the responsibility for God’s success in building up His House is not on our shoulders.
God’s always at work … and He invites us to join Him. We could have blown off that ridiculous request to pray for a pick-up truck, of all things. But when we did pray… God made everything else happen.
Had we not prayed for it, well, someone else would have, and God would have blessed them by seeing His will being accomplished through them.
Mordecai, in His Words to Esther, not only pointed out that she was in the position she was for such a time as this … but he also told her, “If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will come from another place …”
God’s ends will be met, but you may miss out on the opportunity to serve Him in a way He has designed just for you.
However, the good news is that our eternal life and salvation are not dependent on our making all the right choices at all the right times. As we are in Christ, we stand forgiven. And God will continue to use us, and bless us, and continue to challenge us to grow in our faith.
And so, as we are in our final Sunday of Preparation for our Lord’s coming … coming in the stable … coming again in glory … we are reminded that God is the designer … God is the architect … God is the builder … of our house of faith. Our house and everyone else’s.
And that He has a plan, a purpose, for each of our lives to that we might be part of accomplishing those things which He intends.
The old cliché, “Let Go and Let God.” Might seem trite … but it rings true. Especially as we remember that it’s also God, by His Spirit, Who assists us to Let Go and to Let Him.
That’s why He prepares us … Yes, He is the one who prepares us. And we might note that He does it every time we meet Him in His supper. It is truly one of the ways He invites us to join Him in what He is doing … because here, at His altar, He strengthens our faith, saying, “I, the Lord, am making a house for you!”
In Him. Amen.
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