I Chronicles 29: 1 – 10
Text: v. 5 “Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal
treasurers of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything
I have provided for this holy temple:”
Introduction:
The passage about David and the preparations for building the Temple of the Lord
We have said, “What we are is greater and more important than what we do.
Yes, there is a siege against the Church today.
But they are of no effect if not for cooperation of church people, by their:
Conformity
Compromise
Confusion of identity
Selfishness
Greed
Opportunism
Etc.
Regardless of situation, Jesus’ Words, “…my church…the gates of hell shall not overcome”, “light shines and darkness cannot comprehend it” must come to play.
How possible?
When Christians are genuinely serious;
When they are ready to do the Lord’s will
Oh! when they are ready to sacrifice comfort.
In my study I came across this thought by Revd. Bo Dunford… who said someone sent him a post called Satan’s Beatitudes
I am sharing this message particularly because I see this trend with many people in our world today.
Satan’s Beatitudes
Were the devil to write his beatitudes they will look his this:
1. Blessed are they who are too tired and busy to go to church on Sundays and Wednesday, for they are my best workers
2. Blessed are they who are bored with the minister’s mannerisms and mistakes, for they get nothing out of his sermon
3. Blessed is the church member, who expects to be invited to his own church, for he is part of the problem instead of the solution
4. Blessed are they while gossip, for they cause strife and divisions that please me
5. Blessed are thy who are easily offended, for they soon get angry and quit
6. Blessed are they who do not give their tithes and offerings to carry on God’s work, for they are my best workers
7. Blessed are they who profess to love God but hates his brother, for he shall be with me for ever
8. Blessed are the trouble makers, for they shall be called the children of Satan
9. Blessed are the complainers, for I am all ears to them
I do hope some of us are not fulfilling the devil’s desire.
But he came up with 3 Beatitudes based on our passage today and that what we are sharing.
The submission here is that we are being called upon to love our church as God loves it.
How?
1. Sacrificially – Gave His begotten Son for it
2. Unconditionally – Whether pleased with it or not
3. Eternally – God cannot stop loving the church
Dr. Bo Dunford gave the following three beatitudes from this passage.
1. Blessed is the church member who gives his church his loving affection David, an example – I Chr. 29:1 – 5
Had a desire to build a house for God – legitmate, noble, honourable desire.
But God didn’t want David to build the house, rather David’s son, Solomon. David could have got mad and not do anything about it
But David was going to give to build a house of worship that benfi-ted someone else
David was going build a house of worship that he would never attend
David was going to build a home of worship that he would not even live to see
Were David to say “What’s in it for me” he wouldn’t give a dime for it.
For David, the structure is for the Lord. V. 1 – not for any man
It is not what David gave that was impressive as to why he gave v.3. Because he loves God’s house
Do you love the church?
You have no right to say you love God’s church if you are not giving to it and supporting it financially with your tithes and offerings
God does not see what you give; he sees why you give it. And even if you give and give generously if you give for the wrong motives or the wrong reason, God writes zero over your account
Do you give to this church for any other reason than because you love Jesus and His church?
“There is no excuse that God will accept from a church member not to support the church financially that he is a member of or that he regularly attends
When you withhold from the church you withhold from Jesus
When you refuse to help the church you refuse to help Jesus
Illustration – Acts 9:4 (Paul was persecuting Jesus by persecuting the church)
That is:
- Anything you do to hurt the church, you hurt Jesus
- When you don’t support the church, you are not supporting Jesus
- When you don’t give to your church, you are not giving to Jesus
- When you don’t love your church like you ought to, then you don’t love Jesus like you ought to
2. Blessed is the Believer who gives his church his loyal allegiance. Neh. 10:39 “We will not forsake…” It is not excusable for a man to forsake his wife, it is inexcusable for a Christian to forsake his Church. Some forsake their church by not just coming. They just don’t show up’; they have filled the church with their absence.
Even though, we miss them, they don’t miss us. Yet there are some who come to church and still neglect the church. They just come to take up space. The only thing they do contribute is their presence – they don’t give, work, serve, witness, worship, some of them don’t even sing, they just come
Another way we can neglect our church is just simply not caring at all
Many people there are in the church who don’t just care
There is this story told, that I also have heard before, which I am sure, some of you here too, we familiar with.
It is the story of 4 people named:
Everybody
Somebody
Anybody
Nobody
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody can do, but Nobody is doing it
Are you a Somebody who is doing what Everybody thought Anybody could do, but Nobody would have done, if you weren’t doing it? Do you care for your (this) Church?
3. Blessed is the Believer that Gives His Church His lasting attendance – Heb. 10:25 “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching”
Your church deserves your consistent, constant, continuous attendance and functional participation
It is amazing, reasons and excuses that people give for not coming to church
Some reasons:
- Everytime I went they asked for money
- The people I had to sit with weren’t friendly and didn’t speak to me
- The seat were too hard and was very comfortable
The truth is, don’t look at anybody to come to church
There is never an excuse that God will accept for professing Christian not to go to church
Conclusion:
Now,
Do you love your (this) church enough to give it your loving affection, to give it your loyal allegiance and your lasting attendance?
All of you here today, do you really and honestly love your church?
Hear the testimony of King David.
Ps. 26:8 “Lord, I have loved the habitation of your house, and the place where your
glory dwells”
Ps. 27:4 “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek; that I may dwell in
the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of
the lord, and to inquire in His temple”.
Ps. 84:4 “Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they will still be praising You”
Ps. 122:1 “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD”
To show you love your church, you must do these two things:
1. Work for its unity
Eph. 1: 22 – 23
v. 22. “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything of the church”
23. Which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Rm 16:17 “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and
put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.
I Cor. 12: 12 – 14
v.12. “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
v. 13. “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body- whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
v.14. “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Col. 1: 17 – 20
v.17. “He is before all things and in him all things hold together
v.18 “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy”
v. 19. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.
v. 20. “And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth on things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross”.
I Peter 1:22 “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so
that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
2. Serve in this church (Give this church your whole service)
Acts 6: 1 – 2
v. 1. In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food
v.2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would no be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.
Rm 16:1 “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in
Cenchrea
1 Peter 2: 9-10
v.9 “but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light
v.10. “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy