Online Bible Study - 2 Chronicles 5:1-14

hey everybody welcome to lesson number seven in our uh bible study series that we are calling building with wisdom this is a study of solomon in first and second chronicles and the building of the temple and there is a listening guide for today's lesson you'll find at the same place you found this video just scroll down and click on it download it print it out there are some blanks to fill in during the lesson portion but much more important than that there are some discussion questions there for you and your small group to use after the lesson you will need your bibles or your bible app open to second chronicles chapter five and before we jump into the lesson let's pray shall we we love your your word lord we love its impact in our lives it's wisdom we love that you do give us assignments to build with you and that your word gives us all of the guidance and instruction that we need in order to do that wisely whether we're building a family or a business or a ministry or a church or a neighborhood no matter what we're building lord you you are there to do it with us and we're grateful for that and we want to learn all that you have to say to each of us in terms of being able to do that wisely and so thank you lord for your word thank you for the presence of your spirit within each of us thank you for friends and family that we can gather with around your word and thank you for the powerful combination of all of those things that results in the transformation of our lives and that's what we desire father we want to be changed as a result of doing this as a result of opening your word and so as we open your word will you open our hearts and will you pour into us and will you change us we ask this in jesus name amen so this has been a really rich study it's been a study of building and building with wisdom no matter what we're building really no matter no matter what the lord calls us to put our hand to whether it's building ourselves or a family or building a business or building a ministry or a church this uh this study has given us lots of insights into how to do that wisely we've talked about everything from from a humble acceptance of our role kind of learning to stay in our lane even if even if the building vision is ours or even if it's not ours we we talked about the idea of prodigal building or lavish building whenever we want to build with god we want to build the very very best we can we've talked about the difference between godly wisdom and worldly wisdom and that what we want to be building with is godly wisdom wisdom that comes from from above we've talked about building a team four purposes of our building project uh and what recruiting that team looks like and things to keep in mind and then lastly last week we looked very specifically at one example of building and that is what about when it's us what about when we are the temple as god describes us in his word what does that mean and how does that work this week we're going to see as solomon completes the building of the temple there is this celebration this worship time gathered worship time and so this week's lesson is all about celebrating with god when when we get finished or as we get things right along the way the idea of coming together with other believers and celebrating with them what god has done and what he's allowed us to do with him and so that's what today's lesson is really all about successful building should lead us to celebrate not not separate and apart from god but celebrating actually with god and of course we call that worship whether it's done alone or whether it's done in a gathered setting we call that worship recognizing god's worthiness that so the temple is finished and the today's passage in second chronicles chapter 5 uh shows us move-in day in other words it's it's when god moves into this house that this temple that uh solomon and his people have built for god's presence to to dwell in and so today is move-in day and let's just pick up in second chronicles chapter 5 beginning in verse 1. thus all the work that solomon did for the house of the lord was finished and solomon brought in the things that david his father had dedicated and stored the silver the gold and all the vessels and the treasures of the house of god then solomon assembled the elders of israel and all the heads of the tribes the leaders of the father's houses of the people of israel in jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the lord out of the city of david which is zion now of course if you're familiar with the with current day jerusalem jerusalem includes both of these settings it includes both what was referred to as old jerusalem or the city of david but it also includes uh up on mount moriah the the the place where the temple was built and but at the time it did not at the time the temple was a little bit outside of the city and so what they're what what they're describing here is bringing the ark of the covenant from the place within the old jerusalem within the city of david uh that it had been being kept by king david they're bringing it up the mountain onto the where the temple is and it's going to be stored in the temple and and they're gathering people together for this celebration for this enormous enormously significant spiritually significant thing the the the building of this temple was a team effort we've talked about that in previous lessons and so the celebration of the completion of it is necessarily going to be a team effort as well and and i think this is a great story to remind us that god actually encourages this with us he encourages our celebrations he he actually for the people of israel he actually instituted specific festivals for uh for these kinds of celebrations a festival of weeks the festival of booths which actually this coincides at the same time as the festival of booth is going on he actually he knows that about us he knows that that celebrations help to mark spiritually significant events in our lives and so he encourages that he he he wants that to take place when we look into the new testament uh beyond uh just what what god had instituted for the peep for the hebrew people we look into the new testament at the life of jesus and we recognize that jesus loved celebrations he loved parties he he went to parties he the wedding at cana the uh the the dinner parties i mean he he loved those things he wanted to celebrate as well and so uh we're taught through the the rhythms of the the economy of god that god's word sets up for us in our life we've taught we're taught that this rhythm of celebrating is a good thing it's a healthy thing but make no mistake this particular event we're looking at here was more than just a party it was more than just a social gathering this was a gathering where they would be literally inviting the presence of god to come and be a part of it with them now how that worked then and how that works today is a little bit different because then god had not yet begun to physically manifest himself and dwell the people of god except on very rare occasions and so his presence then was within this temple within the holy of holies within the ark of the covenant and all that surrounded that there was this physical presence of god that's different then or different today than it was then ironically we now now god lives within us and we are the temple and the spirit of god indwells us and the irony is that that we've actually permitted a version of christianity in today's climate that that is so very strictly personal and private that we miss out on actually getting to experience god in one another which was what it was intended to be like the the the notion of a private faith the notion of a christianity that is kept private and just within myself and is not a publicly expressed thing that is completely foreign to what god's word tells us and what jesus clearly intended for this age of the church that you and i are living in and yet we live in a culture that says no you need to keep your faith to yourself you need to keep that private that that's not something that should be shared uh lest we appear that we're trying to impose it on other people but that's not the way christianity works and the idea of being a lone ranger christian a christian that is strictly following jesus just for myself but i'm really i don't want to be i don't want to be involved with god's people that that just doesn't exist that's completely foreign to following christ and completely foreign to anything that god had in mind for his people celebrating with god therefore is not merely a private matter it certainly can be there is such a thing as private worship and it can be but more times than not celebrating with god the kind of things that we're looking at in this passage is a very public matter and as a and is very much done in in connection in community with god's people so following christ is not pro not a private personal endeavor and neither is celebrating with god if you have your listening guide let's fill in the first blank on your listening guide following christ is neither exclusively private nor exclusively public it is necessarily both my capacity to be alone with god depends on my ability to be in community with his people and vice versa that actually that actually comes from a notion from dietrich bonhoeffer who in his in his work life together uh talked about how um uh be a man should be where a man who doesn't like to be alone with god who isn't comfortable being alone with god should be aware of being in community with god's people and vice versa anyone who's not comfortable being in community with god's people should be aware of being alone with god because they are necessarily interrelated they're necessarily interrelated and so the celebrations that we do are more times than not going to be in community with god's people but worship also includes more than just gathering together and singing songs together it includes enough there's an element of sacrifice that is included look at what it says beginning in verse 3 and all the men of israel assembled before the king at the feast that is in the seventh month this is the festival of booths this is the festival that that for there are three main festivals that the jewish people were given by god and they all happen around harvest times the wheat harvest the barley harvest and then the harvest of grapes and olives and the festival of booths was the third of those festivals passover being the first one uh and the significance of passover of leaving um leaving uh the the from it from egypt and then the festival of weeks is the second one and that happens in connection with the giving of the torah the giving of the word of god at mount sinai and then the festival of booths is the last one and this this is taking place coincidentally with coinciding with the festival of booths and all of the elders of israel came and the levites took up the ark and they brought up the ark the tent of meeting and all the holy vessels that were in the tent the levitical priests brought them up and king solomon and all the congregation of israel who had assembled before him were before the ark sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered and so this element of sacrifice from the beginning was a part of worshiping god and of course deuteronomy and leviticus gives so much instruction on how these sacrifices were to take place and that they are in fact a part of worshiping god so inviting god to this joint celebration necessarily means that there are going to be sacrifices involved that's what worship looked like what about today what about when there is no more temple what about when the fact that jesus hung on a cross and was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins what is this idea of sacrifice and worship how does that work in today's mindset well the apostle paul gives us an insight into that in romans chapter 12 listen to what it says what he says to the church in rome in verses one and 2 of chapter 12 he says i appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of god to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to god which is your spiritual worship so sacrificing ourselves is that there is this imagery of of laying our bodies on the altar sacrificing ourselves as our act of worship he goes on to to explain further what all is involved in this he says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of god what is good and acceptable and perfect so in other words this ongoing sanctification process of being changed and being transformed that is our sacrifice we are literally sacrificing our own will in order to pursue god's will in our life and this is this ongoing sanctification process now listen this is so important every single time then i choose god's will rather than my will that according to the apostle paul that is our spiritual act of worship that is an act of worship and how much more meaningful is that act of worship that demonstration of god's worthiness how much more meaningful is that than just the words that come out of my mouth it's not that those words are not important it's not that gathering and singing to god and proclaiming our our devotion to god it's not that those words are unimportant it's just that those words demonstrate or those words express express our love for the lord at one level but sacrificing our will moment by moment so that we can pursue the will of god that is an actual demonstration of worship an act of worship and that process happening over and over and over again is what the apostle paul calls our spiritual acts of worship our sacrifices today happen every single time we make a decision like that to sacrifice our will in order to pursue god's will and that process that ongoing sanctification process is the process that feeds our ability that nurtures and facilitates our ability to actually celebrate with god isn't that just the coolest thing if you have your listening guide let's fill in the second statement on your listening guide now celebrating with god has always required sacrifices our ability to come into his presence today required jesus's sacrifice on the cross our ability to experience god's manifest presence in our lives requires our ongoing sacrifice of our will to pursue him let me say that last sentence again our ability to experience god's manifest presence in our lives requires our ongoing sacrifice of our will to pursue his that my friends is what following christ is all about it's so much more than just that decision that we made on that one time when we decided to become a christian and to to to allow jesus to become the lord of our life it's so much more than that single decision it is this ongoing sanctification process of intentionally sacrificing my will in order to pursue god's will and that is how that is how i begin to actually experience his manifest presence in my life so cool so they're bringing the ark now into its place in the holy of holies in the temple beginning in verse seven here's what it says then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house in the most holy place underneath the wings of the church remember we talked about that last week these massive turbine their wingspans together side by side their wingspans reached 30 feet across 20 cubits across and they've placed the ark underneath those turbine the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles and the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary in other words you could see the poles from outside the holy of holies they were so long but they could not be seen from outside the temple altogether and they are there to this day there was nothing in the that the at the time this was written verse 10 there was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that moses put there at horeb where the lord made a covenant with the people of israel when they came out of egypt so that's significant because at some point within contained within the ark not only were those two tablets but there was the the staff of aaron and then there was also uh the um the manna a container of of a sample of the manna that the people were provided with in the in the wilderness and those two things are no longer in the ark all we've got there now is the word of god these are the tablets of stone with with the the ten commandments the the first commandments from god actually written by the hand of god on these stones was what was contained within the ark the word of god therefore was at the very center of god's presence which was at the very center of this entire celebration so what does that say what is our takeaway from that well what it says to me is that that the word of god should always be at the very heart at the very center of any of our worship celebrations any of our celebrations with god that that aspect of having the word of god at the center did not change with the new covenant with the new testament don't let anyone tell you that because we got a new testament in the new covenant that the idea of god's word at the very center of worship is no longer important no it's still it's still central to worship i'm reminded of jesus and the the samaritan woman at the well in john chapter four uh when when he's explained to her we talked about this a little bit in last week's lesson he's explaining to her about how worship itself is about to change it's no longer going to be about places and forms at the time jesus came he was ushering in the messianic age he was ushering in the age of the church where god's spirit would begin to indwell every believer and that's going to change the way worship would work in some aspects it's no longer going to be about forms and places but listen to what he says john chapter 4 verse 23 but the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth for the father is seeking such people to worship him listen god is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth so even with that shift in the way worship would take place even with that shift into the age of the church and the spirit of god now indwells every believer and we become the temple even with that shift god's word truth is still at the very heart of worship and should be at the very center of any worship activities whether it's a gathered worship time or whether it's those personal moments of worship where we sacrifice our will in order to pursue god's will it is god's word that is at the center of that worship if you have your listening guide let's fill in the third blank now on your listening guide any hope on our part to celebrate with god should have god's eternal truths god's word that's your blanks god's word at the heart of that celebration it would be impossible to overstate the importance of god's word to true worship and so the people had the word of god written on tablets of stone in the ark of the covenant which was the center piece to this entire gathered worship experience but what happens next is amazing because what happens next is god shows up in his manifest presence look what it says beginning in verse 11 and when the priests came out of the holy place for all of the priests who were present and had consecrated themselves without regard to their divisions and all of the levitical singers asaph haman jejutham their sons and kinsmen arrayed in fine linen with symbols harps and liars stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters can you imagine 120 trumpets and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the lord and when the song was raised with trumpets and symbols and other musical instruments in praise to the lord here's what they sang for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever the house the house of the lord was then filled with a cloud so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the lord filled the house of god this was quite a scene even before god showed up this was quite a scene there this was an extravaganza this was extraordinary it was visually extraordinary and it was audibly extraordinary the music it must have been so loud can you imagine 120 trumpets and symbols and and all of these musical instruments and everybody singing together it was just glorious and that was before god showed up but when god showed up when god's manifest presence showed up his manifest presence rendered all of the rest of it so small almost irrelevant they couldn't even do it anymore they couldn't even stand in the presence they couldn't even they couldn't even do the the the extraordinary things that they had been doing it was all rendered irrelevant by the presence of the almighty god and that's what god's manifest presence does when we come to it we see it over and over again in scripture whether it's in isaiah chapter 6 in the in the year that king azad died i saw the lord high and lifted up on his lofty throne isaiah coming into the presence of the lord or or or john in the revelation coming into the presence of the lord any time any time someone finds themselves literally in the manifest presence of god it is silence it is speechless it is um we become so small and so irrelevant at that point in light of the majesty of god and and all that is before us and and that is what happened with this case what does that mean then for us well it's the very picture it's the very picture of getting worship right don't you know that when all of these priests and all of these leaders and all these people went home to talk about what happened they weren't talking about the trumpets they weren't talking about the singing they weren't even talking about the the huge building that they just that they just gathered around they were talking about the presence of the almighty god that showed up in a huge way and rendered all of the rest of that stuff almost irrelevant almost so small as to not even be memorable because because of the presence of god and when we get worship right that's what it feels like and that's what we remember if you have your listening guide let's fill in the fourth statement the last statement on your listening guide if we are getting worship right our clearest memories won't be of stirring music nor of awesome preaching they will be about a personal encounter with almighty god whose steadfast love endures forever and so when we talk about building with wisdom and and finding times along the way and especially at the conclusion to look back and celebrate with god this building project it means that we're going to be doing it more than likely in community with god's people it means that we will be regularly sacrificing our will in order to pursue his will that's what worship looks like us for looks like for us today it means having god's word at the very center of that experience of that celebration experience and it means that it will involve life-changing personal encounters with the very manifest presence of god in our lives that's what celebrating with god should look like i'm loving these lessons i'm hoping you are as well we will pick up right here where we left off next week and so i'll be right here waiting for you and looking forward to seeing you in the meantime god bless you guys i love you

Channel: First Baptist Church of San Antonio

Views: 327

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: First Baptist Church of San Antonio, FBCSA, Re:Verse, FBCSA Online Bible Study, Online Bible Study, SOLOMON, Blake Coffee

Id: AHeB-NKd6Us

Length: 27min 1sec (1621 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 17 2021