1 Chronicles 29:1-19

welcome everybody to lesson number three in this new unit that we've started on solomon i'm calling this unit building with wisdom uh this is going to be out of first chronicles chapter 29 today so i hope you've got your bible or your bible app open to first chronicles 29 there is also a listening guide for today's lesson lesson number three in this unit you'll find that listening guide the same place you found the video if you'll just scroll down and click on it and download it and print it out there are some blanks to fill in but more importantly there are some questions there for you and your small group to go through together and i probably don't say this often enough but it's that time in your discussing these truths with a small group of people who love you and whom you love around the word of god it's that time that will change you much more than just having listened to this lesson so i hope that you've got that small group to discuss these things with before we jump into the lesson though let's pray shall we all of us are keenly aware father that there are things in our life that you've called us to be building whether it's ourselves or a church or a ministry or a business or a family the point is building with wisdom is what we is what we long for it's what we want to be able to do and we know that we can do that with your help lord building with you is what we want to be doing and so we come to this scripture with open arms with open ears with open hearts and open minds we bring no agenda of our own we do not bring our own life interpretation our own life experiences in order to interpret scripture father rather we we bring scripture and the truth of scripture to better interpret our own life experiences and so we have no agenda other than to hear you and to to understand your truth your immovable unchanging truth and so as we open your word today lord will you open our hearts for that process to take place we love you we love your word we pray all of this in jesus name amen and so we've talked in this unit about all of us are in the process of building something and we want to be building with wisdom we've uh we've been reminded each week so far and i will continue to do so that this is not just an old testament lesson or an old testament concept there the idea of being careful how we build and building the right way and building with wisdom is very much a new testament concept as well the apostle paul used that metaphor in his letter to the church in corinth as a reminder first corinthians chapter 3 listen to what it says paul says you are god's field god's building according to the grace of god given to me like a skilled master builder i laid a foundation and someone else is now building on it let each one take care how he builds upon it and then in verse 12 it says if anyone builds on this foundation using gold silver or costly stones on the one hand or wood hay or straw on the other their work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light it will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each person's work what paul is saying there and what what we also learn from today's passage is that it matters the materials we are using and if we are building something with god then he doesn't he's not going to ask us to build that thing with with cheap common everyday materials he's going to ask us to build it with the most precious of things uh things that last things that are worthwhile things that are valuable and so the building materials and what we're using to build with uh matters to god and and and that's what that's what one of the takeaways from today's lesson is going to be i'm calling this lesson prodigal building and that's with a a clear nod to timothy keller tim keller back in 2010 came out with a book called the prodigal god uh recovering the heart of the christian faith is the subtitle to it and it's a book that really changed me a great deal god used that book to help me see some things in my own life and in the world around us about god but the the title itself had me questioning because my only experience with the word prodigal was from the prodigal son the story of the prodigal son in scripture and so i honestly thought that the word prodigal meant lost somehow or something like that but no the word prodigal actually means extravagant or excessive or over the top and in a negative context sometimes it even means wasteful but at the very least it means way way more than was necessary over the top extravagance and so i'm thinking that today's lesson is all about prodigal building building with materials in a way that is way over the top and extravagant characterized prodigal means it's characterized by profuse expenditure right completely extravagant i'm reminded as i looked at this lesson this week i was reminded of the story of mary of bethany and the extravagant anointing of jesus with this extremely expensive perfume this is in all four of the gospels but um looking in john chapter 12 is one of the places you'll find it in and mary takes this this perfume that is in a container that probably that container of perfume may well have been the the most expensive item in her entire household it's usually a perfume that would have been used for the for the embalming of a after the death of a of a family patriarch or a family matriarch or somebody super super important to that family you would take this down out of storage and you would use it for that purpose and so she takes that and she breaks it open and she anoints jesus with it right there in front of everybody and listen to what was said um john chapter 12 verse 4 it says but one of his disciples judas iscariot who would later betray him objected when she did this why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor it was worth a year's wages leave her alone jesus replied it was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial burial you will always have the poor among you but you will not always have me jesus says because of the heart from which this conduct came not only do i receive this but i encourage it i encourage that kind of extravagance that kind of heart that is completely surrendered to jesus building then with extravagance is what today's lesson is going to get us into one more quick illustration when we talk about building with extravagance we can't help but think about the church facilities and the church buildings that are built really all over the world but i think it's become at least in our generation it's become particularly evident in the western church in the western world and in the united states people in other countries look at these huge huge buildings that the church sometimes build here builds here that costs tens of millions of dollars and and people even here in the united states people see that and sometimes question is that a good use is that good stewardship is that a good use of our money is that because and they say the same thing that judas said about about mary's extravagance they asked questions like how much good could have been done for that money rather than building that grossly extravagant building how much how many poor people could have been helped how much ministry could have been done with that think of all the the people that could have been fed for with that money that's not an uncommon objection at all and and as you're going to see when we get into this lesson the bottom line answer to that objection from god's perspective is whether or not that expenditure that extravagance was a good thing or a bad thing is merely a question of the heart behind it the heart with which it was built and we're going to see that as we get into the lesson today so i hope you have your bibles open to first chronicles chapter 29 beginning with verse 1 here's what it sounds like and david the king said to all the assembly and let me stop here and remind you this is at the very end of david's reign and david has made preparations for his son solomon to take over as king and to take on this building project of building the temple david said the king said to all the assembly solomon my son whom alone god has chosen is young and inexperienced and the work is great for the palace will not be for man but for the lord god so i have provided for the house of my god so far as i was able the gold for the things of gold the silver for the things of silver and the bronze for the things of bronze the iron for the things of iron and wood for the things of wood besides great quantities of onyx and stones for setting and antimony colored stones all sorts of precious stones and marbles so what david is saying here is i have over the last several years been collecting the materials the costly expensive materials that will be used to build this temple he goes on though moreover in addition to all that i have provided for the holy house i have a treasure of my own of gold and silver and because of my devotion to the house of my god i give it to the house of my god listen to how much it would have been three this is from his own personal wealth three thousand talents of gold of the gold of ophir and 000 talents of refined silver for overlaying the walls of the house and for all the work to be done by craftsman gold for the things of gold silver for the things of silver who then will offer willingly consecrating himself today to the lord so in larry soap's devotional thought on the everydayprayer.com and i hope you do include reading those quick devotionals it takes two or three minutes to read each day but i hope you include that in your reverse study of this passage of each week and larry usually writes his on thursdays and his in his devotional thought from this last thursday uh he it lets us know that all of the amounts of the materials that are given in this passage in today's dollars would probably come to somewhere around hundreds of millions something around 200 million dollars so we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars worth of materials that david both from the national treasury and from his own personal treasury has put into this building project so that's in addition to what we saw in last week's lesson which was so much of david's creative energy in drawing up the plan so much of his his creative energy has gone into it but now we see so much of his possessions and of the national treasury has gone into this both national resources and his personal resources so david is extravagantly committed to this project his level of commitment is through the roof he is demonstrating that in what we're seeing in this passage and this this is just my friends this is just good leadership on david's part because david understands something about leadership and this is a universal truth about leadership whether it's leadership among god's people or leadership in any other context good leadership recognizes this that that the leader is the one who has set the bar for the level of com commitment to this project in other words while a leader can reasonably expect that there may be other people that come into this project hopefully will be other people that come into this project with a higher level of expertise than this leader has or even with more resources than the leader has there shouldn't be anyone in the project that has a higher level of commitment to it than the leader the leader sets the ceiling on the level of commitment uh to a project and that's what we're seeing here from david this was just setting the bar in a way that indicates that david understood what good leadership meant he set the example of commitment of how much he's committed to this project he set that example for all the other leaders so that all the other leaders could in turn set that example for all of the people in the community the same is true for any leadership role that we have today whether it's building a family whether it's building a church whether it's building a business or building a community if we have a leadership role then that requires of us a level of commitment that is high that is super high because but we should not rightfully expect anyone else who comes and joins in the project to have a higher level commitment than us if we are leading if we truly are to be leaders leaders some people say leaders with regard to any project they're the first to arrive and they're they're the last to leave and that's because of their level of commitment if you have your listening guide let's fill in the first blank on your listening guide as a leader you can expect to lead some who are more resourceful than you some who are more skilled than you and some who are more creative than you but you should not expect anyone to be more committed than you as a leader you set that bar and david understood that and so the first takeaway that we see in terms of what does it mean to build with extravagance is the leader sets that bar of extravagance the leader in the project is the one who is necessarily showing and demonstrating that level of extravagant commitment but look at how the other leaders responded to this though this is so important and so cool to see in verse six it says then the leaders of the father's houses made their free will offerings as did also the leaders of the tribes the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and the officers over the kings work all of this group of leaders anyone who held any kind of a title whatsoever they gave verse seven they gave for the service of the house of god five thousand talents and ten thousand derricks of gold ten thousand talents of silver eighteen thousand talents of bronze a hundred thousand talents of iron and whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the lord in the care of jehiel the gersonite and then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the lord and david the king also rejoiced greatly so what we see here is the other leaders following david's lead david demonstrated it first and then we see the other leaders saying we're also going to be extravagantly extravagantly commit committed to this project this is going to be prodigal building this is going to be extravagant building and we're committed to that as well and as they made that commitment then surely the people in the community all came together and began to make that same kind of a commitment it frankly made solomon's leadership job so much easier so much easier because david set the tone for what that leadership will need to be all solomon had to figure out is how to run and get a get out in front of all of this right as the leader he the the movement the the motive the mobilization was already there he just had to make sure he could run and get out in front of it and be in front of it as as kind of the leader for this project the people gave willingly the people gave freely they they they gave from a place of excessiveness and extravagance that was their heart their hearts were all in on this project when we are building god's projects when we are building something with god we should not be surprised when god mobilizes other people to be a part of the project with us and that they are all in on the project we shouldn't be surprised when god does that when when something god size needs to be done then then god motivates and mobilizes all kinds of people to do that if you have your listening guide let's fill in the second statement on your listening guide now second take away one of the ways we know we are building something with god is that he begins mobilizing others those are your blanks he begins mobilizing others all around us to extravagantly commit themselves and their resources to the project it is one difference between a good idea and a god idea when it is a good idea we have to go out there we have to beat the streets and and really really work hard to recruit others and to get other people interested in it and sometimes they do and sometimes they don't but when it's a god idea which is way better than just a good idea when it is a god idea then the people are going to come the people are going to be mobilized god will see to that and so what happens next is david again being the good leader that he was he demonstrates the the immediate correct response to this kind of outpouring which is thank you god he praises god and he thanks god this is beginning in verse 10. therefore david blessed the lord in the presence of all the assembly and david said and listen to this beautiful prayer blessed are you o lord the god of israel our father forever and ever yours o lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours all of this that we're seeing it belongs to you god all of this comes from you yours is the kingdom o lord and you are exalted as head above all verse 12 both riches and honor come from you and you rule over all in your hand our power and might and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all and now we thank you our god and praise your glorious names i think that verse 11 really does capture the essence of the prodigal god of the excessive extravagant god verse 11. listen to it again yours oh lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours it captures that extravagance right it captures that everything belongs to god and everything that we have comes from god and so the better i understand that concept the more likely i am to give extravagantly to the things of god to the works of god to the assignments he gives me it is exactly the right prayer for good stewardship good stewardship isn't a matter of um of legalistically requiring that i you know okay i know this is the rule of thumb this is what i should do and so i'm going to do it out of some sense of of obligation or out of some sense of paying my dues that's not stewardship good stewardship comes from understanding where all of this stuff comes from in the first place whose it is and only only as i begin to truly understand and embrace that do i begin to then develop a generosity that wants to give that completely back to god and to use all of it not 10 of it not 20 of it but to use all of everything i have for the glory of god whatever he wants from that that's where the extravagance comes from now god gave the plans for this temple and then god also gave the materials for this temple so so god is providing everything through david this isn't this isn't just david being a good king or a good guy this is david just recognizing god told me this god gave me the plans for this and god gave me the materials for this so this is not a big deal of course we're going to use all these things that god gave us for this project our own extravagant building comes from that same kind of understanding and focus of where all this came from in the first place if you have your listening guide let's fill in the third statement now on your listening guide the third takeaway from this lesson the key to being an extravagant giver is understanding at the heart level not just in the head but at the heart level that god has been an extravagant giver to me nothing is mine not even the extravagance itself it is all god's even the heart of extravagance is god's all of it is god's it is a matter though of the heart giving extravagantly is a matter of the heart it is not a matter of measuring how much i've given it is a matter of the heart it is a matter of measuring where it is what kind of a heart it's coming from look at what it says starting in verse 14. but who am i this is still david talking but who am i and what is my people that we should be able thus to offer willingly god that we have the privilege of even being a part of this is astounding for all things come from you and of your own have we have we given you for we are strangers before you and sojourners and all our as all our fathers were our days on the earth are like a shadow and there is no abiding our lord o lord our god all this abundance that we have provided for building your house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own i know my god that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness in the uprightness of my heart i have freely offered all these things and now i have seen your people who are present here offering freely and joyously to you in other words david is saying don't just measure the stuff god measure my heart as i give it i i have the best i can i've given this out of a sense of joy out of a sense of freely giving measure my heart and find for yourself whether it's right or not oh lord verse 18 o lord the god of abraham isaac and israel our fathers keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people and direct their hearts toward you grant to solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments your testimonies your statutes performing all and that he may build the palace for which i have made provision this is a a beautiful example of david praying for everyone else's heart as well test my heart god but also i want to hold before you the hearts of the people and the hearts of my son solomon and i want you to change those hearts i want you to control those hearts and direct those hearts more and more over time towards you that's how he prays and that is a beautiful way to pray for other people david prays for the people's hearts he prays for solomon's heart and so we see here because of what david is saying we see that one of the measures of our spiritual maturity is measuring and checking the desires of our hearts what are the things that we want what are the things that we long for what are the desires of our hearts and how much do those desires really line up with god's heart david is described in scripture as being a man after god's own heart by this time in his life it is fair to say that the the desires of david's heart he's made a lot of mistakes but the desires of his hearts by of his heart by this time in his life have truly begun to line up with god's desires and he truly has become that man after god's own heart because of the work of the spirit in him and the same thing can happen for us it's one of the ways we measure our spiritual maturity do i want the same things that god wants and and am i holding my heart before god and asking him god do that for my heart change my heart so that it wants the things that you want that it's broken over the things that your heart breaks over the pathway to true joy in the lord is aligning our hearts to god that that's the way there that's the the steps that it takes to get to true joy in the lord extravagance being prodigal then is measured not by the gift itself it's not measured by how much i've given it's not really even measured by how much i've kept for myself what extr what extravagance is measured by and what our spiritual maturity is measured by is our heart behind the giving that's how it god measures that extravagance if you ever listen to god let's fill in the last statement on your listening guide what makes extravagant giving either a good thing or a bad thing is not the quantity nor even the quality of the things given it is the heart behind the gift as always god measures the heart not the gift so what does it mean prodigal building extravagant building what does that mean what does that include well it includes leaders who are setting the bar high in terms of the level of commitment leaders demonstrating that they are all in so that the people will do likewise it includes mobilizing a community around the project mobilizing god's people it includes recognizing that all of it even the extravagance itself all of it comes from god it all comes from god and then lastly prodigal building is an is tells us that extravagance is measured not by the giving itself but by the heart behind the giving this is what it means to be building as prodigal as a with extravagance prodigal building extravagant building i'm loving these lessons i hope you are as well i hope that you'll join me again next week we'll be right back here i think we're going to be moving moving into second chronicles next week but we'll continue with this same study in the meantime i hope you have a blessed week i love you guys i'll see you right here next week

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Length: 28min 12sec (1692 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 20 2021