BUILDING TOGETHER AN ENDURING WORK FOR GOD

Exod.35:5-10, 20-29; 36:2-7; Malachi 3:8-10; Luke 6:38

I welcome you all to this morning’s service. I told you that I will be making a special announcement today. That announcement is in the firm of a special message which I have titled “Building Together An Enduring Work for God”. Don’t build alone. Don’t build selfishly. We all as a church must build together. There is an SOS message from our central HQ in London for funds to repay our loan for Transformation house. Before I make that known I want to share the word of God on building together.

 

1.     Remarkable Giving By God’s People (Exo.35:5-10, 20-29;36:2-7)

The occasion was the building of the Tabernacle of the Lord. God’s people had just come out of Egypt and were moving to the Promised Land. They had experienced remarkable display of God’s power to deliver, power to save and power to provide. They had experienced tokens of the presence of God – Pillar of Cloud and Pillar of Fire. Like the psalmist they would say, “For this God is our God forever and ever” (Psalm 48:14). God showed His intention to dwell among the people by asking them to build a Tabernacle for Him.

Exodus 25:8 (KJV 1900)

⁸And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

To build the Tabernacle, God’s people must contribute the building Materials. The response of the people was remarkable. This was a holy project. They gave and gave and gave. Moses scarcely retrained them from Giving. Bezaleel and Aholiab applied their God given skills to the construction of the Tabernacle. God’s Sanctuary was built. It was a most wonderful. Consider the manner of their giving:

(i)                 They gave willingly (Ex.35:5)

(ii)               They Gave Abundantly (Ex.36:2-7)

(iii)             They Gave Unanimously (Ex.35:23-28)

(iv)              They Gave Appropriately (Ex.35:24-29)

(v)                They Gave of Their Substance

(vi)              They Gave High quality gifts (Ex.25:8)

(vii)            They Gave Till Restrained (Ex.36:6-7)

When the Sanctuary was completed and reared up. The Glory of God appear over it. That was a sign of Divine approval.

Numbers 9:15–16 (KJV 1900)

¹⁵And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning.

¹⁶So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

God has come to dwell among His people. That is the greatest desire of God’s people – for God to dwell among them. Our greatest desire is for God to dwell among us.

Exodus 29:44–45 (KJV 1900)

⁴⁴And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest’s office.

⁴⁵And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.

Leviticus 26:11–12 (KJV 1900)

¹¹And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.

¹²And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.

Building the house of God was something taken very seriously by the people of God. When David wanted to build the Temple of God, God did not permit him. So he provided all the building materials for the Temple and left them for his son Solomon to use to build the Temple.

1 Chronicles 22:6–8, 14, 19 (KJV 1900)

⁶Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build an house for the Lord God of Israel.

⁷And David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God:

⁸But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.

¹⁴Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto.

¹⁹Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the Lord.

For Moses to build the Sanctuary of the Lord, all the building materials were abundantly provided. Although David could not build the Temple of the Lord, he provided all the necessary materials for building the Temple!

But in our own case today, speaking idiomatically I can tell you that we are still looking for building materials to build the house of God which is in London.

2.     Reproachable Gloss Over Of God’s House (Haggai 1:1-15; Luke 12:16-21)

Many centuries later in the life of the children of Israel, the story changed. People began to settle down to build their own houses. And the build of the house of God was neglected. God was not pleased. He Spoke to them through prophet Haggai. It had been sixteen years since the foundation of the Temple of the Lord was laid by Zerubabel and Joshua the son of Josedech. Now it was overgrown by weeds. While this was happening God’s people were living in apparent security and safety in their own homes. Then came the word of the Lord in the form rebuk

Haggai 1:2–11 (KJV 1900)

²Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.

³Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,

⁴Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, And this house lie waste?

⁵Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.

⁶Ye have sown much, and bring in little; Ye eat, but ye have not enough; Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; Ye clothe you, but there is none warm; And he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

⁷Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.

⁸Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; And I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.

⁹Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; And when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, And ye run every man unto his own house.

¹⁰Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, And the earth is stayed from her fruit.

¹¹And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, And upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, And upon that which the ground bringeth forth, And upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

This unacceptable negligence brought God’s judgement upon them. Look at five different things that happened to them as a result of this negligence.

(i)                 The Rebuke of procrastination (Hag.1:2-4)

(ii)               The Reaping of Poverty (Hag.1:5-6; Luke 12:16-21)

(iii)             The Reason for Poverty (Hag.1:9-11; Prov.11:24-26)

(iv)              The Remedy for Poverty (Hag.1:5,7,8)

(v)                The Renewal of Purpose (Hag.1:12-15)

The reason for this message is the need for the DCLM Central Head Quarter building in London, known as the Transformation House. It is a truly magnificent building. Those who have been there testify to that. To bring that building to its present state, DCLM UK borrow money form Barclays Bank. At the moment, our Church owes £3.5 million to Barclays. The repayment has been agreed to £50000 per month. All the Churches in the London area put all their offerings together to try to raise money for this.

In order to help out, we have been mandated to do fund raising among ourselves to help pay off the loan… I believe we can do it. We must renew our purpose and build the house of the Lord. We must give willingly.

3.     Remonstration To Give To God’s Service (Mal.3:8-10; Luke 6:38; 2Cor.9:6-8)

We need to draw some lesson from these passages:

(i)                 Tithe Is Symbolical (Bring ye “All”. Everything belongs to God)

(ii)               Tithe Supports God’s Work (That there may be meat in my house)

(iii)             Tithe Prepares the Believer To Receive (And prove me herewith)

This is this the approved way of having regular supply in God’s house. When a believer keeps back His Tithe, he has practically robbed God of what is due Him. And that will bring poverty.

Someone may say, what about those people who have millions and are very prosperous but never pay any tithe or give any offering in the house of God? You only have to read Luke 12 to help you never to think along that line:

Luke 12:16–21 (KJV 1900)

¹⁶And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

¹⁷And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

¹⁸And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

¹⁹And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

²⁰But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

²¹So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Are you rich towards God? Listen to Jesus

Luke 6:38 (KJV 1900)

³⁸Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

(i)                The Command is – Give!

(ii)              The Compensation is – It shall be given you

(iii)            The Creed is – With what measure you give

2 Corinthians 9:6–8 (KJV 1900)

⁶But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

⁷Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

⁸And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

As you give your tithe do not give sparingly. As you make your commitment to give in support of the Church building do not give sparingly.

The Widow that Jesus commended did not just give a mite, she gave ALL. She was not commended for giving a might. She was commended for giving all. If you give all you will be commended. If you are a millionaire give all. If you are a billionaire, give all. Whatever you have, give all and the Lord will commend you! He will bless you!

(Take the offering at this point)