So a lot of people think Christianity, our faith, you
know, with God, it's mainly about what we do for God.
Be a good person, serve, give sacrifice, go to missions, do
something meaningful for God. And of course, those are all
true things, good things. Christians should want to honor
God with our lives, but the danger is that we can start to
think that our relationship with God is built on what we do for
God. It shouldn't be simply just what
can I do for God? But we also need to consider
what does God actually desire? What does God desire?
And sometimes one of the most spiritually dangerous place to
be is not sin. I mean, most of the times it is.
But sometimes it's not sin, but misunderstanding God's grace.
In today's passage, David asked the question, what can I do for
God? He's in a good place and he
says, what can I do for God? And he decides to build God a
new house. We talked about the ark last
week, and he wants to give the ark a nice new house, but God
doesn't. Turns out he doesn't want that
and he teaches David what he actually desires.
So let's learn from David. We're going to ask the question,
answer the question. What kind of house does God
desire? What kind of house does God
desire? Number one, God desires a house
built by grace. He desires a house built by
grace. Let's turn to Second Samuel
Chapter 7. Let's read just the first 10
verses for now. This is just the very next
chapter from last week's sermon where David brings the ark back
to Jerusalem. And so this is still beginning
of him being king. When the king has settled into
his palace and the Lord had given him rest on every side
from all his enemies, the king said to prophet Nathan, look, I
am living in a cedar house while the ark of God sits inside tent
curtains. So Nathan told the king, go and
do all that is on your mind, for the Lord is with you.
But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan.
Go to my servant David and say, this is what the Lord says.
Are you to build me a house to dwell in?
From the time I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until
today, I have not dwelt in a house.
Instead, I have been moving around with a tent as my
dwelling. In all my journeys with all the
Israelites, have I ever spoken a word to one of the tribal
leaders of Israel whom I commanded, the shepherd, my
people of Israel, asking, why haven't you built me a House of
cedar? So now this is what you want to
say to my servant David? This is what the Lord of armies
says. I took you from the pasture,
from tending the flock to be ruled over my people, Israel.
I've been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed
all your enemies before you. I will make great name for you
like that of the greatest on earth.
We'll just read up tonight. If you could go to the very
first slide. All right, so two weeks in a
row, last weekend and today, we see that good intentions are not
enough. Last week we learned that God
has been teaching his people about holiness and that we have
to take God's holiness seriously, otherwise we will
never see our sins. God is all about Him wanting to
be with us and he says, hey, you got to see my holiness.
Until that you can't see your sinfulness, and if you don't see
your sinfulness, you're never going to have a desire for
Savior. So when Ouza touched the ark,
good intentions, but he disregards God's holiness and he
was struck dead. In today's passage, God is
saying, hey, a house is nice, but I'm not going to let you
build me a house unless you understand what I'm about.
So this happens when you know, it says from very first one, he
has settled into his palace, he settled down and it says the
Lord has given him rest. So there are no more external
threats, there are no more internal threats.
He there is a time of rest and peace, and then he's thinking
out loud to the prophet, Hey, look, I am living in a cedar
house, which is the most expensive type of house or the
wood. Back then, only kings basically
used it. I'm in a theater house while the
Ark of God where God's presence is manifested.
The ark of God sits inside a tent.
I'm in a nice house. God is in a tent.
We got to do something about this.
This sounds like a good king to me.
He wants to give God something impressive.
He has a desire to do something for God.
He even takes the right steps. He goes to the prophet make sure
this is OK. He gets his permission.
God gives him a strange response.
Are you to build me a house to dwell in and he and he goes on
to say the next two verses. Hey, all the years since Moses,
time to now, I've been intense the entire time.
I've never ever asked for a house.
You have the right intention, but you don't understand what
I'm about. So we know from reading the
Bible that God is in a tent not because God can't afford cedar
wood. The tent shows God's nearness.
It was God saying I am with you to his people.
The Tabernacle, which is the moving tent, the name of the
moving tent, was not about God being poor.
The tent showed that God was willing to dwell with his
people, all of the other gods. God is somewhere far, somewhere
nice, and it's about people trying to reach God.
You got to give him a performance.
You got to be nice, you got to be good, and then you try to
reach God. God is saying I'm not like the
other gods, I'm about being with the people, me going to the
people. David sees the tent and and
thinks this is too shabby for God.
God sees the tent and he says this is where I choose to meet
my people. This is how they all feel like I
am near to them. That's what David was doing last
chapter. He was treating God like any
other God. He gave.
He gave God a 30,000 soldier March, a parade, and yet he
disregarded the holy ark. And here we see David do what
any other king would do. You achieve success, then you
honor the whatever God you're worshipping.
A monument, a temple, a big gift.
And David is following the exact same pattern.
Any king would would do at the time.
He's doing well and now he thinks he could do a favor for
God. Imagine I'm being very general
here. Imagine that you have a your
dream house and it's it's fully furnished.
All the extra bedrooms. You need a backyard.
It's your dream house, and you've spent a lot of money on
it. But time passed and all that
money is replenished and you're very comfortable and you have
the house. And then you're sitting down,
everything's calm, peaceful. And you're like, hmm, wait a
minute, My house is awesome. My parents' house is a little
shabby. You know what?
I'm going to buy them a new house.
They raised me. They immigrated to US for me.
They sacrificed for me so I could be successful.
And perhaps you come to a point where you're like, you know
what? It's time for me to take care of
my parents. And what I just said kind of
makes sense. It's nothing crazy.
Yeah. If I'm comfortable, if I'm at my
dream house and I'm comfortable, yeah, I would then take care of
my parents. But see, underneath the good
actions that you want to do for your parents, we have an idea
that now it's like now I can finally repay them for all they
have done for me. On a human level, that makes
sense. And that's even OK.
But David here is making the mistake when he brings that same
repayment mindset into his relationship with God.
That same repayment mindset is how everyone worshiped at the
time. That's how they repay back their
gods. David is not wrong to wanting to
honor God. The problem is that he does not
yet understand the kind of God he's serving.
Our God is saying you are putting me in a box with every
other God out there. You think this is how I am.
You assume I work the same way. I gave you all that David, and
now you're saying you need to do me a favor.
And God reminds David, I don't actually need you to build me a
house. Let's go to the next slide, the
next verses. Sorry, one more.
God reminds David, I took you from the pasture.
You're a shepherd boy and I made you ruler over all of Israel.
I I made you from shepherd boy to king.
It was me, he says. I also I not you, but I
destroyed all your enemies and I'm the one who will make your
name great later on. My for those of you guys who
knew my my birthday was Friday. Thank you.
I turned 37, 46 OK, and my ever since and then obviously very
close to Mother's Day. You know, weekend in Korea, May
8th is actually Parents Day, right?
So I was born on Parents Day and ever since I was little, right,
the, the tradition is my mom gives me money or my parents
give me money for my birthday. And with that money, my dad
would be like, hey, go get your mom something, right?
So I'll be like 10, I get a $20 bill and I go to CVSI, pick up
random lipstick and then I give it to my mom and I'm like, yes,
I still have $17.00 left, right? Imagine me right, 10 years old,
I get $20.00. I buy my mom a gift and I say
mom, I got you now I'm going to take care of you.
Now I'm rich. My mom would say cute, very
cute. That's what God is saying.
David says I'm going to build your house.
He responses, you're going to build my house.
Let me remind you, I took you from a shepherd boy to king.
I'm the one who destroyed all your enemies.
I don't actually need you to do anything for me.
God is not against the house. In fact, if you keep reading
Second Samuel, First Kings, Second Kings, eventually Solomon
does build God a temple. God doesn't let David build it
because David misunderstood the reason for it.
God didn't want David to think I'm going to build God this
house so that I could pay him back.
God is saying I'm not like that. I am where I am because that's
where I could meet my people. Even King David who had an
intimate relationship with God, we see in the Psalmos that he
wrote, he's my shepherd. I should not be in one.
He, he, he had such a good relationship with God.
But even he makes the mistake of putting God in the same God box
where every other religion would put their God in.
Once your life is settled, it's time to pay back God.
So if we are not paying back God, then why do we serve him?
We serve God because his grace does not leave you unchanged.
When you experience God's grace, it changes you.
When you really see that everything you have is grace,
your salvation, your calling, your gifts, your opportunities,
even your desire to serve, that is grace.
When you have been changed by grace, then your service to God
is no longer repayment. It becomes worship.
Repayment, says God, look what I have done for you, either I'm
paying you back or I'm going to do this for you and you, you
paying you back later. Worship, says God.
Everything I came or everything I have came from you, so I
gladly offer it back to you. More than what you do for God,
sometimes it's more important to understand His grace and what He
desires from us. OK, what kind of house does God
desire #2 God desires a house built through his promised son.
God desires a house that is built through his promised son.
The street 11 through 16, Ever since the day I ordered judges
to be over my people, Israel, I will give you rest from all your
enemies. The Lord declares to you.
The Lord himself will make a house for you when your time
comes and you rest with your ancestors.
I will raise up after you your descendant who will come from
your body, and I will establish his Kingdom.
He's the one who will build a house for my name, and I will
establish the throne of his Kingdom forever.
I will be his father. I will be, He'll be my son.
When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of
man and blows from mortals, but my faithful love will never
leave him as it did when I removed it from Saul.
Who am I removed from before you?
Your house and Kingdom will endure before me forever, and
your throne will be established forever.
OK, so David wants to build God a house and God has a different
plan and he says something very unexpected.
He says the Lord himself will make a house for you.
David goes, God, I want to build your house.
And God says, Nope, I will build you a house.
My immediate reaction is what? He already has a house.
What? What is this?
That's the whole reason why this story, the story started.
David built himself a House of cedar, and he wanted to build
God another house for cedar probably.
But God says I will build your house.
But this is a little different. This one will last forever, this
house forever, forever, forever. This one will last forever.
In verse 11, it says I will give you rest.
In verse one, same thing. The Lord had given him rest on
every side. See, when you have a house, it's
where you find rest. When, when, When I take people
to mission trips near the end. That's what people saying, oh, I
missed my bed, I missed my house.
People can't wait until they go home.
Even if you go on nice vacations, if it's long enough,
you start missing your house because that's where you find
really good rest. The problem is that that rest,
even if it's in your own home, it's truly not forever.
David built this cedar house for himself and it's nice, so nice
that he wants God to have one. But he's not going to find rest
in the house very long. If you keep reading the
chapters, the Bathsheba happens very soon.
He tries to commits adultery, he commits a murder, and if you
keep reading, his son tries to kill him.
The House of theater is not restful very long.
And even if somehow he's able to find rest in the house for until
his life when he dies, there might not be rest.
In fact, after David dies, Solomon takes over as king and
the Kingdom is immediately split into two.
Rest doesn't last because of sin and because kings die, people
die. God and David are both talking
about building a house, but they are talking about two different
houses. David's house is talking about a
physical building. And then we'll have problems
once he dies. But God's house is beyond time,
beyond space, beyond who lives there.
When you think of a house that's not a building we think of
sometimes ATV show, like Game of Thrones, House of Stark, House
of Lannister, it's not a single house.
It's the dynasty, it's the descendants, it's generations of
people. But same thing those houses all
fall and it was a made-up story. But even in real life House of
Tudor doesn't matter. Those houses fall because people
sin and kings die. But God wants to build a house
for generations and generations for David.
A house where it's not just for sleeping, but a house where you
find true rest. Not just a house, but a home, a
true home where you could find true rest.
And this house is special because it will never end.
It will never end. A house that will last forever.
How is this possible? All houses fall because of sin,
because of death. How is David's house never going
to have those two? Well, God gives us these hints.
Verses 12 to 16 scholars give a title for these verses, the
Davidic covenant. But David, God is making a
promise, a covenant with David saying hey your house will never
end and I'll give you a hint. OK, really it's because of who
will build your house. 3 hints Verse 12 When your time comes
and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after
you your descendant who will come from your body, and I will
establish his Kingdom. So it will be 1 of David's
descendants. Hit number one.
Hit #2 verse 13. He'll, he's the one who will
build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his
Kingdom forever. For some reason, this, this guy
will never die. This Kingdom will be forever.
And hit #3 verse 14, I will be his father, and he will be my
son. Who could that be?
Well, in case you didn't know, Paul tells us clearly in Romans
1/3, Romans 1/3 and this is the mystery person will be building
gods or, or, or the House of David that will last forever.
This is the person that will build it.
This is Paul speaking in Romans 1/3 concerning his Son Jesus
Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to
the flesh and what's appointed to be powerful Son of God,
according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of
the dead, He will resurrect, He will defeat death.
He's not going to die. He is the Son of God.
What's going on here? That's OK, Two moms, you guys
are fine today. If it feels last week, big
trouble, but Mother's Day, you guys do whatever.
You turn off all the lights if you want.
I can end the sermon right now if you want.
It's like my baby's hungry. What's going on here?
Baby's hungry. OK, All right, It's OK.
This is just the climax of the sermon.
No problem. All right?
No problem. My entire sermon was building to
right here. It's a mystery character.
It's Jesus Christ prophesized in the Old Testament, pointing to
Jesus. No problem.
So David, a covenant God promising, hey, there will be
someone who to build this house will be the perfect home for
everyone. He want to die.
He want that sin. Holiness will never fall.
Your house will fall. Solomon's house will fall.
Saul's house already fell. Everyone's house, no matter how
restful it might seem, like now it will fall because of sin and
death. This house, it's forever.
David wanted his God to have a nice home.
It's a nice thought, but God says, you know what?
You don't know me. You think that's what I care
about. What I care about is a home that
all my people can rest in forever.
What I care about all the people who are lost, all the people who
are anxious and worried, who are fearful.
What I care about is that those people will find true rest in
the true home that will be built by my Son.
And Jesus comes to this earth and He has this mission to
accomplish. He needs to find us a home, a
forever home where we could find rest.
How does he do that? Well, he has to have no home.
Jesus never had a home as he do his ministry.
He was a wanderer and he says foxes have holes and birds have
nests, but the Son of Man has no place to rest his head.
Jesus had no home. He had no rest so that we could
find the home and so that we could find rest.
He died on the cross so that we could find eternal life.
He was naked, mocked and rejected so we could be accepted
into this family in this eternal home.
Jesus died on the cross. Though he can defeat sin and
death, He did all of that. So we all have a family.
We'll be welcomed into the family of God.
I know we live busy lives, we work hard, we're good people,
but sometimes we do this so we could find rest here.
We feel like we make enough money, we have a nice enough
home. You know, if our children are
successful enough, then I'll have rest.
Then I could have peace. But God is saying because of sin
and death, you may have rest for a little bit, but it's
temporary. It is fleeting, what you should
care about. It's not the little glimpses of
rest that you could find in this world.
What you should really worry about, what you should really be
concerned about, what should really drive your life, is the
permanent home, the forever home that you will have in Jesus
Christ, where you'll find fulfillment, peace.
You'll be forever accepted, forever loved.
That is the house you should be living for What kind of house
does God desire? God desires to build this house
not through what we do for him, but through the grace of Jesus
Christ. Let's take time to pray.