{"id":2696,"date":"2018-07-23T14:42:13","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T04:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=2696"},"modified":"2018-07-23T14:42:13","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T04:42:13","slug":"discerning-gods-will-22-07-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=2696","title":{"rendered":"Discerning God’s Will 22-07-2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Discerning God\u2019s Will<\/i>.<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

2 Samuel 7: 1 \u2013 14a;\u00a0 <\/span>Ephesians 2: 11 – 22<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

David is the great king of Israel. David is the king that united the 12 tribes of Israel, established a nation, secured peace for Israel and provided a secure capital city, Jerusalem. Israel is important because God had chosen the people to be his earthly witnesses to God\u2019s love and mercy.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Now we haven\u2019t been following the David story in the lectionary, but this week I paused at this very insightful passage and felt led to preach on it. In fact there is a direct connection to Nathan\u2019s conversations with David about the temple and the letter to the Ephesian Church.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Today we read that David, having established his kingdom, built himself a palace, secured the great city of Jerusalem, then wanted to build a temple to God. David was a very spiritual and sensitive person. He gave us some beautiful psalms, not least of all is Psalm 23 \u2013 \u2018The Lord\u2019s my Shepherd\u2019. He was also a brilliant and ruthless military and political leader. David\u2019s desire was quite natural in the context of his day. The notion of building a temple, to be God\u2019s house as is the palace the king\u2019s house, may seem primitive to us. However that is how they saw it.\u00a0 <\/span>Every nation had a god and the god must be appropriately housed so others could see the god. The greatness of the temple signals the greatness of the god. By implication, the greater the temple, the greater the nation is. Before we rush to criticise such thinking, and we should critique it\u00a0 <\/span>– that is exactly what I want to do \u2013 remember we do similar things. We build great buildings to show our wealth. Not so long ago there was that wonderful Aussie middle class living in the comfortable triple front brick veneered or weather board house, with the Holden or Ford parked outside.\u00a0 <\/span>Look at our quarter acre housing blocks today where the twin carport sits in front of the house that covers 3\/4s of the housing block like a small manor home. It speaks of the owner\u2019s wealth and success. Look at our government buildings and our church buildings. They say no less. Our buildings are a statement about who we think we are.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s return to King David and Nathan. Until that time Israel, unlike all other nations, worshipped a god who did not reside in a temple. Rather God was present with them through the symbol of the Ark of the Covenant, which was protected by a tent. It symbolised God journeying with God\u2019s pilgrim people.\u00a0 <\/span>Now Israel had arrived. Other nations had their city, palace and temple. So Nathan, the prophet, automatically affirmed David\u2019s desire.\u00a0 <\/span>This great king wanted to build a great temple.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It is fascinating what then took place, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 <\/span>Nathan returned to his residence and God spoek to him that night.. The next day Nathan delivered an uncomfortable message to King David;\u00a0 <\/span>\u2018God doesn\u2019t want you to build a temple, but the next king will\u2019. Nathan then reminded David that God had been quite happy without a temple. That\u2019s interesting isn\u2019t it? Reading the Scriptures reveals no clear divine instruction to build a temple. Permission is given, yes, but no clear instruction to build.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The first lesson this conversation offers is about discerning God\u2019s will.\u00a0 <\/span>When David first tells Nathan of his intention to build a temple Nathan\u2019s common sense tells him that this is right and God is with David [2 Sam 7: 1-3].<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

But when Nathan went to bed and had a few moments of quietness God tells Nathan to go and tell David; \u201cWherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, \u201cWhy have you not built me a house of cedar?<\/i>\u201d [7:5,7]. Given this statement I am asking, does God really want a temple to be built at all?\u00a0 <\/span>And I am wondering if the rest of Nathan\u2019s comments about David\u2019s heir building the temple is the \u2018Word of God\u2019 or is it just the word of Nathan? And really did Solomon build that wonderful Temple because it was all for God, or was a good bit of that saying, \u2018Look at me and this nation we\u2019re powerful and rich as is our god?\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The issue is what criteria do we use to determine God\u2019s word to us?\u00a0 <\/span>Just because something is written in the Bible does not make it the Word of God<\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/i> E.g. the Bible tells me I can sell my daughters into slavery [Ex 21:7f]!\u00a0 <\/span>I say this as one who places great importance on the Bible. To me it is the book that I read first and the book I read last. I wish to discern God\u2019s will through the Bible and in it I find a golden thread woven through its rich tapestry of life. The principles that help me to discern God\u2019s will must conform to these basic facts:\u00a0 <\/span>We are created to be in relationship with God; to love God and others; we have misused our freedom to choose; and, God comes to rescue and renew us.\u00a0 <\/span>Whatever God wants us to do must conform to these basic principles of relationship, love for God and all others, recognition of our poor choices and our need for redemption. So God\u2019s will always serves these interests.\u00a0 <\/span>I am not sure how a Temple meets these criteria.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Now when you bring these principles to bear, especially the principles of our poor choices and need for redemption, is it not possible that Nathan was adding his bit about David\u2019s heir building the temple to pacify the king?\u00a0 <\/span>Why I question this is that the history of the Jerusalem temple shows it not to be a blessing or means of redemption.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at what happen. Solomon built an amazing temple. Even the Queen of Sheba came to see the King Solomon\u2019s city, temple and wealth. But the Israelites made more self-centred choices and their relationship with God broke down. The Babylonians conquered them in 587 BC and the temple was completely destroyed. 80 years later they came back and rebuilt the temple. But it was never the same. A line of thinking emerged that God would build the temple; from it developed an understanding that when the people came together to worship there would be the temple of God. The Essenes or Dead Sea Community, held this view.\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus seemed to suggest the same thing when he said that where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the midst of them [Mt 18:20].\u00a0 <\/span>John\u2019s account of the Gospel tells us that Jesus would replace the temple. Paul spoke of our bodies \u2013 not individuals \u2013as being the temple of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 <\/span>Our Ephesians\u2019 passage expresses the same thought.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

But now <\/i>in Christ Jesus<\/i> you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 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. 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, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. 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, <\/i>with Christ Jesus himself<\/i> as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God<\/i>. [Eph 2: 13-22]<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I wonder what the world would be like today if there were no Jerusalem temple? I wonder what Judaism would be like if they realised that God\u2019s greatest gift to them was the Synagogue and the Scriptures not the Temple in Jerusalem? In fact can you see how a physical space has become a distraction if not a serious handicap to relationship with God and others?\u00a0 <\/span>I wonder what it would have been like today if Nathan had simply said to David, \u2018God does not want a temple. God is quite happy just travelling with us wherever life takes us.\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I wonder what the Church would be like today if we had put all our effort into building a community of faithful followers, instead of spending countless hours and effort spent in building a sacred place? Oh, I love the great cathedrals. I love this little worship centre, but it is not an icon, or an idol, or a replacement for our faith in God. Nathan came close to reminding us.\u00a0 <\/span>Ephesians clearly states that God\u2019s temple is where we gather as a community of faith and praise, not 185 Wickham Rd.\u00a0 <\/span>The church, the temple of God, is wherever the people gather together and live out their lives in faith and compassionate love for all \u2013 wanting all to be valued, respected and honoured with justice and love.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*******<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC:\u00a0 <\/span>22\/07\/2018<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

pcwhitaker@icloud.com<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discerning God\u2019s Will. 2 Samuel 7: 1 \u2013 14a;\u00a0 Ephesians 2: 11 – 22 David is the great king of Israel. David is the king that united the 12 tribes of Israel, established a nation, secured peace for Israel and provided a secure capital city, Jerusalem. Israel is important because God had chosen the people to be his earthly witnesses to God\u2019s love and mercy. Now we haven\u2019t been following the David story in the lectionary, but this week I paused at this very insightful passage and felt led to preach on it. In fact there is a direct connection to Nathan\u2019s conversations with David about the temple and the letter to the Ephesian Church.\u00a0 Today we read that David, having established his kingdom, built himself a palace, secured the great city of Jerusalem, then wanted to build a temple to God. David was a very spiritual and sensitive person. He gave us some beautiful psalms, not least of all is Psalm 23 \u2013 \u2018The Lord\u2019s my Shepherd\u2019. He was also a brilliant and ruthless military and political leader. David\u2019s desire was quite natural in the context of his day. The notion of building a temple, to be God\u2019s house as is the palace the king\u2019s house, may seem primitive to us. However that is how they saw it.\u00a0 Every nation had a god and the god must be appropriately housed so others could see the god. The greatness of the temple signals the greatness of the god. By implication, the greater the temple, the greater the nation is. Before we rush to criticise such thinking, and we should critique it\u00a0 – that is exactly what I want to do \u2013 remember we do similar things. We build great buildings to show our wealth. Not so long ago there was that wonderful Aussie middle class living in the comfortable triple front brick veneered or weather board house, with the Holden or Ford parked outside.\u00a0 Look at our quarter acre housing blocks today where the twin carport sits in front of the house that covers 3\/4s of the housing block like a small manor home. It speaks of the owner\u2019s wealth and success. Look at our government buildings and our church buildings. They say no less. Our buildings are a statement about who we think we are. Let\u2019s return to King David and Nathan. Until that time Israel, unlike all other nations, worshipped a god who did not reside in a temple. Rather God was present with them through the symbol of the Ark of the Covenant, which was protected by a tent. It symbolised God journeying with God\u2019s pilgrim people.\u00a0 Now Israel had arrived. Other nations had their city, palace and temple. So Nathan, the prophet, automatically affirmed David\u2019s desire.\u00a0 This great king wanted to build a great temple. It is fascinating what then took place, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Nathan returned to his residence and God spoek to him that night.. The next day Nathan delivered an uncomfortable message to King David;\u00a0 \u2018God doesn\u2019t want you to build a temple, but the next king will\u2019. Nathan then reminded David that God had been quite happy without a temple. That\u2019s interesting isn\u2019t it? Reading the Scriptures reveals no clear divine instruction to build a temple. Permission is given, yes, but no clear instruction to build. The first lesson this conversation offers is about discerning God\u2019s will.\u00a0 When David first tells Nathan of his intention to build a temple Nathan\u2019s common sense tells him that this is right and God is with David [2 Sam 7: 1-3]. But when Nathan went to bed and had a few moments of quietness God tells Nathan to go and tell David; \u201cWherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, \u201cWhy have you not built me a house of cedar?\u201d [7:5,7]. Given this statement I am asking, does God really want a temple to be built at all?\u00a0 And I am wondering if the rest of Nathan\u2019s comments about David\u2019s heir building the temple is the \u2018Word of God\u2019 or is it just the word of Nathan? And really did Solomon build that wonderful Temple because it was all for God, or was a good bit of that saying, \u2018Look at me and this nation we\u2019re powerful and rich as is our god?\u2019 The issue is what criteria do we use to determine God\u2019s word to us?\u00a0 Just because something is written in the Bible does not make it the Word of God.\u00a0 E.g. the Bible tells me I can sell my daughters into slavery [Ex 21:7f]!\u00a0 I say this as one who places great importance on the Bible. To me it is the book that I read first and the book I read last. I wish to discern God\u2019s will through the Bible and in it I find a golden thread woven through its rich tapestry of life. The principles that help me to discern God\u2019s will must conform to these basic facts:\u00a0 We are created to be in relationship with God; to love God and others; we have misused our freedom to choose; and, God comes to rescue and renew us.\u00a0 Whatever God wants us to do must conform to these basic principles of relationship, love for God and all others, recognition of our poor choices and our need for redemption. So God\u2019s will always serves these interests.\u00a0 I am not sure how a Temple meets these criteria. Now when you bring these principles to bear, especially the principles of our poor choices and need for redemption, is it not possible that Nathan was adding his bit about David\u2019s heir building the temple to pacify the king?\u00a0 Why I question this is that the history of the Jerusalem temple shows it not to be a blessing or means of redemption.\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at what happen. Solomon built an<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Leighmoor.Master","author_link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/author\/leighmoor-master"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Sermons<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Discerning God\u2019s Will. 2 Samuel 7: 1 \u2013 14a;\u00a0 Ephesians 2: 11 – 22 David is the great king of Israel. David is the king that united the 12 tribes of Israel, established a nation, secured peace for Israel and provided a secure capital city, Jerusalem. Israel is important because God had chosen the people…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2697,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2696\/revisions\/2697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}