A word about how I go about preparing sermons. I prefer to preach from a specific text than on a specific theme. I have my favourite themes of course, and the theme that emerges from today’s texts is one of them. It is, therefore, all the more important that I begin with Scripture. I use a lectionary that Lee Hiebert, our senior pastor at SMC, uses, and it gives us the two passages I work with this morning.
My basic
process is to consider each passage of Scripture, and then to search for common
themes, which form the basis of the sermon. We begin then with 2 Samuel 7,
proceed to Ephesians 2, and then seek a synthesis. The lectionary also adds
Mark 6, but I have omitted the gospel reading from this morning’s texts.
2 Samuel 7:
1-17
The story in 2
Samuel 7 is set in the time after David has brought relative peace to his
kingdom. In his earlier reign, David was in conflict with various enemies who
sought to enslave or obliterate the Children of Israel. Now the land is at
peace, and David begins to think about what should come next. He is sitting
with Nathan, well known as a prophet. (Note that prophets in the Old Testament
are known as “the mouth of God”.)
David floats an
idea that has been brewing in his mind. Now that his own throne is secure and
he is at peace in his palace, he would like to build a house for God, a temple
to the Lord. At first, Nathan says, “Go for it!” Then God speaks to Nathan, and
Nathan acts out his role as one who speaks for God. God says, “Do you think I
need a house? I don’t need a house. You are the one who needs something, and I
will give it to you. I will establish your son on your throne, and he is the
one who will build a house for me.”
In 1 Chronicles
17, we have a parallel passage that tells essentially this same story, and then
in 1 Chronicles 22, David gathers the materials necessary for Solomon to build
the Temple. It is in that chapter that we are given a reason that Solomon and
not David should build the Temple – that David was a man of war and had blood
on his hands, while Solomon was a man of peace (witness his name: Solomon,
derived from the word “Shalom”, or peace). But that explanation does not appear
in our text. What does?
Our text
suggests something else: That God must first establish (build) David’s house
before David builds God’s house. The point is simple: “Unless the Lord builds
the house, they labour in vain who build it” (Psalm 127: 1). Genesis 11 and 12
make the same point. In Genesis 11, the people say, “Let us build ourselves a
city and a tower … Let us make a name for ourselves.” God rebuked their
efforts, because they left God out of their plans. Then, in chapter 12, God
says, “I will make you a great nation [I will build you], and I will bless you,
and I will make your name great.” Human efforts to do anything must follow
God’s plans to work in our lives. David needed to step back and wait for God to
work, so that he could join in what God wanted to do.
Ephesians 2:
11-22
Our second
passage makes it clear what God wants to do. The first ten verses of the
chapter describe God’s gift of life – “By grace you have been saved through
faith”. Our text describes that gift of life more fully.
Paul describes
two groups of people, the “circumcised” and the “uncircumcised” – that is, Jews
and Gentiles. Jews were “close to God” through the old covenant, which reminds
his readers of the whole story of the Old Testament. Gentiles were “far way
from God”, because, as Jesus puts it to the woman at the well, “salvation comes
through the Jews” (John 4: 22).
Now someone
might think that the Gentiles’ condition excludes them from God’s presence.
Indeed, the Jews of Paul’s day looked down on Gentiles. The barrier between Jew
and Gentile was perhaps the strongest barrier in the New Testament world, but Paul
makes clear what is really going on. God came through the Jews not just for the
Jewish people, but for the Gentiles as well. Christ has broken down “the
dividing wall of hostility” to make one new group of people that we call
“Christians”. This was, if you will, the original “All Peoples’ Church”.
Everyone was welcome!
The way Paul
puts it is important: “So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off
and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one
Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you
are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as
the cornerstone.” (2: 17-20) The essence of God’s salvation is peace, restored
relationships between us and God and restored relationships between people. The
dividing wall of hostility describes this world; “Peace” describes life in God.
Working it
Out
I teach world
religions at Providence, and I have been to the mosque in Winnipeg many times. Islam
has a basic problem in that it honours Jesus only as a prophet. Muslims cannot
say that Jesus is “the Son of God” and they would find it difficult to talk about
Jesus the way that this passage does. At the same time, Islam has an important
insight about how we relate to God.
Islam divides
the world into two groups of people – Dar al Islam and Dar al Harb. Dar al
Islam means “House of those who submit” (Muslims are “people who submit” to
God); Dar al Harb means “House of those who are at war” (infidels are “people
at war with God”). Now surely this is an accurate depiction in Christian terms
also. The world outside of God is filled with people who are at war with God
and with each other.
Listen to the
news and see how we live in a world at war with itself. This week there were
riots in South Africa, especially in Durban and KwaZulu-Natal. Our own country
struggles with the relationship between Canada’s indigenous people and those of
us who now live in the land. Our neighbour to the south is consumed with the
debate over vaccines, with people on both sides convinced that the other side
is trying to destroy them. We are even at war with the planet itself, as we
face heat waves in the northwest of North America, floods in Europe, and
drought on the Western plains of Canada. We are indeed a world at war.
Paul suggests
that the road to peace is found in the person of Jesus Christ. If we want to
become Dar al Salam (the house of peace), we must become Dar al Islam (the
house of those who submit to God). The true path to this peace is faith in
Jesus Christ, who saves us by his grace.
Synthesis
Let’s bring
these two passages together.
1) David wanted to build a house for God. God said, “First, I
will establish you. You need to get with my program if you want to worship me.”
2) Paul shows us how God wants to establish us and what God’s
program is.
3) God’s program is comprehensive – the healing of all the
problems in our world, beginning with the church, that is, starting here with
you and me.
Together, then,
these passages tell us that, if you want to worship God fully – if you want to
build a house for God, you begin by seeking peace with God and asking God to build
that full salvation and peace in your life and mine.
Application
What does that
look like in our world? I find it interesting that this wonderful passage in
Ephesians 2 follows immediately on the reminder that salvation is by grace
through faith. Our first step is always to recognize that God does what needs
to be done. We just join in. David wanted to build a house, and God said, “Wait
for me to do the building.” We want to save the world, and God says, “Only I
can save the world.”
Our first step,
then, is always a step into prayer and worship. As we are doing this morning,
we come into God’s presence and honour and adore God. We do that in many
different ways. Some people like loud fast-paced music; other prefer simple and
reflective chants. Some people like prayer services where everyone is calling
out to God together in a cacophony of sound; others prefer silence. Some people
find God in the city; others find God by water and trees. The specific ways we
worship are not as important as this basic fact: We come into God’s presence.
If you have not met God in Christ, there is a basic hole in your life that only
God can fill.
Worship always
leads to action, and action continues our worship. As we meet God in prayer, we
may realise that God wants us to do something specific – something that breaks
down barriers between people, something that reaches into a world at war with
itself and holds out God’s peace. That action of seeking peace where people are
at war is an act of worship.
Remember that
this peace, God’s peace, is comprehensive. It includes peace between Democrats
and Republicans in the USA and peace between Wab Kinew and Pallister in
Manitoba. It includes peace between Americans and Canadians divided by
Covid-19. It includes even peace between the people who live here and the land
in which we live. As Paul puts it in Romans 8, “For the creation waits with
eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; … in hope that the
creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the
freedom of the glory of the children of God.” God’s peace and salvation is for
every person and indeed for the whole earth.
This means that
our worship leads us to seek peace and reconciliation on every side. When the
medical people in the hospital work to reduce the effects of Covid-19, if they
are Christians, their work is their worship for God. When a business manager
seeks good relationships between management and employees, if he/she is a
Christian, their work is their worship to God. When a neighbour brings a
conflict between neighbours to an end and “makes peace”, if she is a Christian,
if he is a Christian, their action is their worship for God.
I think of an
example from Christian environmentalism. In a book titled Kingfisher’s Fire:
A story of hope for God’s earth, Peter Harris describes the founding of an
organisation called A Rocha. A Rocha is present in Manitoba also, with a centre
near East Braintree. Check it out sometime on your way here!
In his book
describing the beginnings of A Rocha in Portugal (A Rocha means “The Rock” in
Portuguese), Harris describes how they also found themselves planting a church
in Portugal, because their environmental work was an expression of their love
for and worship of God. They have listened to God’s voice establishing them in
the world, and A Rocha is the result.
One of their
projects was in the Bekaa Valley in the country of Lebanon. They were working
in a war zone trying to save wetlands, which were basic to the survival of
migrating birds. Although this project took place in a war zone, God has
blessed it with remarkable success. Their work has been their worship.
You and Me
What does all
this mean for you and me? David got something very right in the Old Testament
reading. Once he was able to sit down and rest, he started asking, “What can I
do for God?” God told him to rest some more and wait for God to work, but
David’s impulse was right. I can give you a homework assignment. Ask God what
God is doing!
As you worship
here in the church, as you pray and worship God at home, as God speaks to you
in your work and in your play, listen for God’s voice. Then make your worship
complete by joining in what God is doing. We live in a world at war with
itself. God comes into our world and brings peace and reconciliation. God has
made us “ministers and messengers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5).
Your homework
is to listen for what God is doing and then to join in. If you don’t do this,
your worship here is incomplete and God is not pleased with it. If you do join
in? Well:
Now in Christ
Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For
he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken
down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. 15 He
has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might
create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16 and
might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting
to death that hostility through it. 17 So he came and
proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18 for
through him we all have access in one Spirit to the Father.
If you do join
in? You are part of the salvation of the world!
18 July 2021
All Nations
People’s Church
Texts
2 Samuel 7: 1-17
David wants to
build a “house of cedar” for God. God says, “I will establish your house
instead, and your son will build a house for me.”
The order of things is important here: First, God
builds-establishes; then we build-establish. Compare to Genesis 11 (Let us make
a name for ourselves) and 12 (I will make your name great). We face the
constant temptation to do God’s work for God (acting as though we can take
God’s place), instead of joining in and participating in God’s work.
Ephesians 2:
11-22
God
builds one new humanity out of the various warring factions in our world. This
is the “house of God”, and this was God’s purpose from the beginning – to
reconcile the world to God and the people of the world to each other (cf 2 Cor
5). This great work is central to the name of this congregation: “All People’s
Church”. This work is based on the work of Jesus (dying and rising) and of the
Holy Spirit (filling and empowering).
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