Furthermore David the king said unto all the congregation.
Christian experience and Christian influence
I. The nearer a good man approaches his end, the more spiritually-minded he becomes.
II. The more spiritually-minded a good man becomes, the greater his influence upon others.
III. The greater influence a good man has upon others, the more certainly will God’s work be accomplished. (J. Wolfendale.)
The principles of Christian work
1. Personal consecration and example.
2. Willing co-operation by all.
3. Appropriateness of service and gifts.
4. Animated by a true spirit of enthusiasm and joy. (J. Wolfendale.)
A good example and the power of it
God is calling His people everywhere to undertake a work for His glory, which in importance and magnitude and grandeur infinitely transcends the work He laid upon Solomon--the evangelisation of the entire world--the building of that great spiritual temple which is to fill the earth and into which all nations and peoples are to be gathered.
I. The Divine call to this work is direct, imperative, and loud.
II. It is attested by signs and wonders as marvellous and impressive to the spiritually discerning as the miracles of apostolic times.
III. The call in this instance is to the entire Church of Christ, individually and collectively. The command, the obligation is universal and cannot be evaded. If you have not gold and silver to bestow, give yourself--heart, soul, mind, prayers, influence. If you cannot go to the heathen, send a substitute, give of your means, etc.
IV. The times demand large gifts, princely offerings.
V. Never had the power of example such potency as now. (J. M. Sherwood,D. D.)
Interest in God’s work
It is always well for us to take a loving and deep interest in the work of God. We may have at heart some end which we desire to achieve for God’s glory, and because we know that it springs from such a motive may proceed to carry it out without questioning whether we are to be the agents through which itis to be accomplished. But there may be others better fitted for the work than we are, whom God has in reserve. And what matters it whether we or others do the work, so long as it is done by men chosen of God? “The work goes on, though the workmen die,” are the words which Dean Stanley most appropriately had inscribed on Wesley’s memorial in Westminster Abbey. Other men labour, and we enter into their labours. The work they sought to accomplish God denied to them, but lays upon us. (Dr. Egbert.)
Power of example
Before us was a narrow bridge, and between us and the bridge were several thousand sheep. They would have taken a long time going over, and would effectually have checked our entrance into the town, but for a clever plan for getting the sheep quickly over. A few sheep are trained as a sort of decoy. They are at first pet lambs, and then in time become pet sheep. They are kept by the authorities who have control of the bridge, and are let to the sheep-drovers for so much, in order to effect a speedy passage of the bridge. The keepers of the pets go first, then follow the three or four pets, and then away after them the three or four thousand of the mob, as they are called here. (H. T. Robjohns.)
The house of the Lord
I. The building is for the Lord God, because it is for the presentation of God’s worship. God claims to be worshipped. He deserves to be worshipped for--
(1) What he is in Himself.
(2) What He is to us. Worship takes the forms of adoration, thanksgiving, confession, petition, supplication, and intercession. By a very significant expression the Jews used to say when they went up to Jerusalem, that they were going “to appear before the Lord.” The chief attraction of every place of worship ought to be that you ere coming to meet with God.
II. The building is for the Lord because it is built for the proclamation of God’s truth.
III. The building is for the Lord because it is for the promotion of God’s purposes. God’s purposes are that men should be saved, sanctified, enlightened, comforted, strengthened, stimulated, and helped on to glory. (John Corbin.)
The palace for God
These words are not to be pressed unduly, nor their spirit sacrificed to the letter, in forgetfulness of the idiom of the language in which they are recorded. The patriotic king no more forgot his nation’s welfare in the sense of the sacredness of the work, than the prophet who first uttered the immortal words, “I love mercy and not sacrifice,” dreamed of extinguishing the altar fires and abolishing the office of the priesthood seven centuries before the “fulness of time.” Their principal meaning is obvious. An edifice was formed, a pattern was already, it is written, present to his mind’s eye. It was to be no regal palace, however stately, no home for oriental splendour and magnificence; it was to be consecrated for ever to the Jehovah to whom he and his people were bound by everlasting covenant. Yet the truth that no house made with hands could in any literal sense hold Him whom the heaven of heavens could not contain, was already deep in the conscience, and finding expression in the words of God’s truest servant. He who was revealed to the Psalmist, the Psalmist-king well knew, no roof of cedar, no walls of stone, no building however sacred, however sumptuous, could be His real home. It could be only so far His dwelling-place, when His unseen presence could be found and realised by those who sought Him--found best by those who could rise in spirit above that imageless temple, above that altar smoke, and all the machinery of ritual, to the Father of their spirits and the God of their salvation. There is a sense, therefore, in which we may, without irreverence, almost invert the words, and yet gain, rather than lose, their true significance. The palace is not for God, we might even say, as a literal dwelling-place. To Him, the marble, and the cedar, and the palm-tree, and the olive, and the brass, and the gold are as nothing. The palace in this sense is not for God, but it is for man--not for man as merely the foremost of creatures to draw the breath of life on the earth, but for man as the worshipper, as the servant, as the conscious and devout adorer of Him who has created him in His own image; for man as the place for worship which may reclaim, and purify, and uplift his fallen nature; which may bring him into communion with his Father and his God; a place where all that appeals to his highest earthly sense may enable him to forget the things of sense, and reach outto what eye hath not seen or ear heard. And for so bold an apparent inversion of the letter, in order to bring home to our minds the inner spirit of the words, I may surely plead the example of Him who taught His people that the seventh day, which was proclaimed at Sinai to be the Sabbath of the Lord our God, was, for all that, made for man, and that the Son of Man was Lord also of the Sabbath. (Dean Bradley.)
The importance of Church extension
To realise the importance of the work of Church extension, consider--
I. That religion is essential to the welfare of a nation (Psa_33:12; Isa_60:12).
II. It is a work that shall reach forward through many generations (1Ch_28:8).
III. It is your appointed privilege (1Ch_28:10).
IV. What is implied in the word sanctuary? (1Ch_28:10). A sanctuary is a place of refuge from impending evils. If a man erect a lighthouse, he is honoured for preventing a great loss of life. If he build a hospital he is revered as the benefactor of his race for the mitigation of pain. But he who builds a church, or assists in the work, does more. Under the Divine blessing he is instrumental in enlightening dark minds, comforting troubled consciences, and in saving immortal souls.
V. The temple was a type of the Christian Church.
VI. If David and Solomon were so zealous in providing means for having the type only, how much more anxious should we Be to put ourselves and others in possession of the substance?
VII. It is seldom that a great work can be accomplished by an individual. (1Ch_29:1).
VIII. It is for the glory of God (1Ch_29:1).
IX. David’s example (1Ch_29:2).
X. The affection we ought to bear to God’s house (1Ch_29:3). (H. Clissold, M. A.)
David’s desire to build a house for God
I. The God whom David worshipped. He worshipped God--
1. As the Supreme Being (1Ch_29:11).
2. As the God of his fathers (1Ch_29:10).
3. As personally appropriated: “My God”
II. Some of the reasons which led David to desire to build a house for his God.
1. Jealousy for the honour of God.
2. Love and gratitude to God.
3. The thought that others besides himself should worship therein. (J. Shillito.)
Attachment to the sanctuary
It is of one of the noble qualities of the religious life of the Jews I would speak--their love for the house of God.
I. The house of God. The house of worship is the house of God.
II. Because the ancient Jews loved the Lord’s house they made it beautiful. This was natural, lawful, and Divinely sanctioned. This impulse was recognised, called out, and approved by God.
III. It was a general affection exercised and expressed by all the people. (Henry J. VanDyke.)
Godly giving
I. The object. “The work is great; for the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God.”
1. In respect of the greatness of Him for whose use the palace is made.
2. The value of what is wrought there toall mankind.
3. The consequent expenditure.
II. The giving. Circumstances of David’s great collection and of ours are very different, but the principles are the same.
1. Definitely to the Lord. The money went into the hands of treasurers, but it was given to God.
2. Voluntary, “Who is willing?” “They offered willingly.”
3. Hearty and gladsome. “Because I have set my affection to the house of my God,” is David’s reason for giving (1Ch_29:3). And of all the givers it is said, “The people rejoiced for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord” (1Ch_29:9).
4. With preparation. Mistake to give on sudden impulse only or to imagine that forethought, and method, and consideration are opposed to heartiness; intelligent, Christian love will lead to these in proportion as it is fervent. “I have prepared with all my might” (1Ch_29:2).
5. With devout acknowledgement. “Both riches and honour come of Thee.” “All this store cometh of Thine hand, and is all Thine own” (1Ch_29:11-16).
6. With fervent prayer (1Ch_29:18-19). (Homiletic Magazine.)
