Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] In Korea, I visited a Christian medical OR doctors conference.
[00:00:06] 1200 people from 120 different nations.
[00:00:10] The theme was God's kingdom amongst the broken.
[00:00:15] On the last day, the leaders asked doctors to stand up who had come from or who were serving in nations in military conflict at the moment.
[00:00:30] And of 1200 people, almost 100 doctors stood.
[00:00:36] And then we clustered around and prayed for these brothers and sisters who were serving in those challenging contexts.
[00:00:46] I went to a breakout session run by a Ukrainian doctor and the title he gave to his session was how and when should you'd reconcile with your enemy during or after the war?
[00:01:04] At the end of the session, a young lady stood up and said, I'm a cardiologist from Russia.
[00:01:12] I chose to come to your session and she was in tears.
[00:01:19] Your enemy is my government and I am sorry for my government.
[00:01:26] The Russian people are not your enemy.
[00:01:30] I am not your enemy.
[00:01:32] I am a sister, you are a brother, and in Christ we are together.
[00:01:41] Later we went to Mongolia.
[00:01:44] Mongolia is a country of 45 million horses, three and a half million people and about 30,000 followers of Christ.
[00:01:58] The church that we went to on the Sunday we were visiting some long term missionaries that are our friends.
[00:02:05] The church we gathered with had seven local believers.
[00:02:10] On a good day, they have 15.
[00:02:13] This is a church that faithfully gathers in small numbers to worship the Lord Jesus our friend does a business as mission project, using business to build into local community to be able to live as Sultan Light.
[00:02:32] He told me about one of his friends in Kyrgyzstan who runs a business as mission initiative in Kyrgyzstan. The government's just made a law saying any religious gathering of less than 500 people is now illegal.
[00:02:53] If you want to gather as a church, you must have names and addresses of 500 people. Plus, if the Tasmanian government made that law, there might be one or two churches legally able to gather in Launceston.
[00:03:13] How would the people following Jesus in Kyrgyzstan?
[00:03:19] How will they respond to these realities in order to stay faithful to the Lord Jesus?
[00:03:27] Now these are snapshots of the global church that you and I are a part of, living for Jesus amidst the challenges of this broken and chaotic world.
[00:03:42] What will keep us from being discouraged and overwhelmed as we face these challenges or others?
[00:03:51] Now 1 Chronicles 17 is the story of David in his palace.
[00:03:57] And because it is the word of God, it has a message for believers in Mongolia and Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan and Summerhill.
[00:04:12] God is building his kingdom and his kingdom will last forever.
[00:04:21] Are you joining in with what he is doing?
[00:04:27] That's the message we'll Explore this morning let's pray and ask for the Lord's help.
[00:04:36] Lord God, we thank you for the privilege of gathering in the name of the Lord Jesus.
[00:04:42] Thank you that in this place we can do that in freedom.
[00:04:46] But we know across the world brothers and sisters of ours are meeting in all sorts of circumstances or perhaps not meeting at all because of the realities of their circumstance.
[00:05:00] But we thank you for your word to your church and we pray that you would give us ears to hear and hearts to believe and bodies to respond in obedience that we would live faithful lives for you.
[00:05:16] Amen.
[00:05:20] Now I've come three times this year and we're in this slow moving series just to stay connected in some way.
[00:05:28] So just to cast our mind back, we are in this series called Meeting the Lord Up Close and personal.
[00:05:35] In week one we looked at the theme of purpose.
[00:05:39] From Genesis 2 we were with Adam and Eve in the garden and we saw the Lord as the life giver, the Creator who blesses humanity with identity and belonging and purpose.
[00:05:55] In week two we unpacked the theme of Promise. From Genesis 12 we traveled with Abraham on a journey, seeing the Lord as the blessing giver who is generous in his promises and global in his purpose purposes.
[00:06:14] The Lord works in and through his people to bless all the peoples of the world.
[00:06:22] And in week three we explored the theme of personality.
[00:06:26] From Exodus 34 we were with Moses on the mountain when the Lord revealed what he is like.
[00:06:35] I am the Lord, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness.
[00:06:47] And today's story comes a few hundred years later.
[00:06:52] The people of Israel entered the land under the leadership of Joshua.
[00:06:58] And then there was a few hundred years of chaos during the time of the Judges and the failed experiments with King Saul.
[00:07:08] But now we find the nation of Israel forming under King David.
[00:07:15] The Genesis 12 promises are being realized in an earthly kingdom of God's people, in God's place, and under his rule and blessing.
[00:07:27] And today in 1 Chronicles 17, we find David in a palace.
[00:07:34] Now our word for today is posterity, less familiar than the other p words that we've looked at and not to be confused with prosperity.
[00:07:46] Posterity speaks of the descendants or the future generations of a person, a future that outlives their own.
[00:07:58] And we're at this key transition point in Israel's history when the Lord renews and refocuses his promises to his people by committing to establishing a kingdom through a promised Son of David.
[00:08:16] So this morning we'll be looking at the story through Three headings David's Good Idea, the Lord's Glorious Promise, and David's Grateful Prayer.
[00:08:31] And along the way we'll seek to respond with some application.
[00:08:36] So David's Good Idea, verse one makes me think of two friends sitting on a veranda in a summer afternoon in January, enjoying a quiet drink, sharing their love for the Lord and dreaming together about what they might do for him.
[00:08:59] Now, these two friends happened to be David the king, and Nathan his advisor.
[00:09:07] There were celebrations in chapter 16 and now they are over the Ark, the symbol of the Lord's presence was brought back and is now settled in Jerusalem and the people have returned to their homes.
[00:09:25] But whilst David is settled in his palace, he is strangely unsettled in his heart.
[00:09:35] Listen to verse one. After David was settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, here I am, living in a palace of cedar while the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord is in a tent.
[00:09:54] Now, we get a bit more detail of this verse in the parallel passage in 1. Kings, when Solomon says, my father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the name of the Lord.
[00:10:11] You see, David observed a disconnect in his life.
[00:10:17] We have a comfortable home, but the Lord still lives in a tent.
[00:10:24] This is not right.
[00:10:26] I want to build a temple to honour the name of the Lord.
[00:10:33] Now, David's idea was a good idea.
[00:10:37] His desire was that the Lord would be honoured and that everyone would see his glory.
[00:10:46] And this is the heart of worship, isn't it?
[00:10:50] But David's heart would remain unsettled in the Lord until the Lord was honoured as he deserved.
[00:11:00] So let's pause for a moment.
[00:11:03] Have you and I become settled in our palaces?
[00:11:10] Or do we have a holy unsettledness in our hearts as we do life here in Launceston?
[00:11:20] And then as we look beyond to our state, our nation, our world, does it sadden us that the Lord is not honoured as he deserves?
[00:11:34] That the Lord is not celebrated for the wonderfully good God that he is now David's friend. Nathan sensed his friend's holiness, unsettledness and listening to David's idea. And Nathan said to him, whatever you have in mind, you go and do it.
[00:12:01] Nathan encouraged his friend's passion to glorify the Lord.
[00:12:07] Your resources are limited, but the Lord is present with you. So go and do what you have in mind.
[00:12:17] Now, later that night, Nathan receives a specific word from the Lord and so reports to David all the words of that revelation.
[00:12:29] Now we get to eavesdrop on that conversation between the King and the advisor. And it can prompt us to reflect on our own friendships with one another.
[00:12:42] What do we chat about with our Christian friends?
[00:12:48] Do we encourage each other to live wholly and completely for the glory of God?
[00:12:56] How often do we toss around our half ideas and then dream and collaborate together for ways in which we could bring him glory in our life?
[00:13:09] We all need encouragement to to live for God's glory.
[00:13:14] And our half ideas will always improve when we share them with someone else and submit them to wisdom and counsel and prayer.
[00:13:26] Are we dreaming together like this and encouraging one another to go and do as the Lord enables us to do, to live for his glory?
[00:13:39] Now let's move on to our second heading, the Lord's Glorious Promise.
[00:13:45] And notice in this section how the Lord gives a gentle no and also a generous yes.
[00:13:56] Now even when the Lord says no to our ideas, he is kind and gentle and gracious.
[00:14:04] He says, david, you have a good idea, but you are not the right man and now is not the right time.
[00:14:14] And I'm actually doing something on a scale that you cannot even imagine.
[00:14:20] And as the conversation continues, the Lord explains his gentle no with two important truths.
[00:14:31] Firstly, the Lord is quite happy to live in a yurt, a ger, a tent.
[00:14:39] Verse 5 I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought Israel up out of Egypt to this day I have moved as a nomad from one tent site to another, from one dwelling place to another.
[00:15:00] The Lord deserves to live in a palace, but he seems quite happy to live in a tent.
[00:15:10] His focus is to be present amongst his mobile people.
[00:15:16] What a humble God he is.
[00:15:20] Now you might see a throw forward to the New Testament here.
[00:15:25] The Lord Jesus who left the comforts and glory of a palace in heaven to tabernacle with us.
[00:15:37] He entered our sin soaked world in order to seek and save you and I who were lost.
[00:15:47] Though he had the skills of a carpenter, he never built his own home.
[00:15:55] Instead he lived a simple life.
[00:15:57] He stayed mobile, moving from place to place, teaching and healing and rescuing.
[00:16:06] He came to live amongst his people up close and personal, not to be served as the King, but to serve the King.
[00:16:20] The Lord is quite happy to live in a tent.
[00:16:25] What a humble God he is.
[00:16:30] Now the second reason for his gentle no is that the Lord does the real work, not David.
[00:16:40] Look at verse 7 and 8.
[00:16:42] He speaks of what he has done for David.
[00:16:46] I took you David, from the pasture, from tending the flock and I appointed you ruler over my people Israel.
[00:16:58] I've been with you wherever you have gone and I've cut off all your enemies before you.
[00:17:07] David was not a self made man.
[00:17:11] His success was due to the gracious work of the Lord.
[00:17:17] And in verses 8 to 11, the Lord speaks of what he will do for David and the nation of Israel.
[00:17:26] In these verses we hear echoes of the promise to Abraham of a name and a people and a land and blessing.
[00:17:37] The point is clear.
[00:17:40] The Lord does the real work and he does it through fulfilling his glorious promises.
[00:17:48] We do not make a name for ourselves.
[00:17:54] No, it's the Lord who gives us a name and gives us a place in his purposes.
[00:18:04] Now, what we learned when we looked at Moses was that all of this was grounded in the Lord's unique personality.
[00:18:12] He is compassionate and gracious and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness.
[00:18:21] We've looked at this gentle no.
[00:18:23] And we also see a generous yes.
[00:18:28] The look at verse 11 to 14 and notice the seven I wills.
[00:18:35] I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you.
[00:18:42] When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors.
[00:18:46] I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons. And I will establish his kingdom.
[00:18:57] He's the one who will build a house for me.
[00:19:00] And I will establish his throne forever.
[00:19:04] I will be his father. He will be my son. I will never take my love away from him as I took it away from your predecessor.
[00:19:15] I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever.
[00:19:21] His throne will be established forever.
[00:19:26] The Lord says, david, you won't build a house for me.
[00:19:33] I will build a house for you.
[00:19:37] And we're not talking about a physical house.
[00:19:40] That's a small thing for me to do.
[00:19:43] I am going to build a house, a dynasty, a kingdom through a son of David. And this kingdom will endure forever.
[00:19:55] Now, for David, this was incredibly significant.
[00:20:00] We must remind ourselves of what happened to Israel's first king.
[00:20:05] Saul's reign ended in shame and failure and the kingdom was not passed to a son of Saul, as would be the cultural custom.
[00:20:17] That was Israel's only precedent of how kingship gets passed on.
[00:20:25] David had no assurance that his own son would be king when he passed himself.
[00:20:34] No assurance. That is, until the Lord spoke these promises about a future son of David.
[00:20:45] Now, just like there was a double meaning with this word house, we also have this back and forth about the meaning of the son.
[00:20:56] Who is this promised son of David?
[00:21:02] Perhaps it's Solomon, the biological son of David.
[00:21:08] We know that Solomon was the one who did build an earthly temple for the Lord.
[00:21:14] And Under Solomon, Israel experienced peace and prosperity, security and stability.
[00:21:23] And this was a testimony to the Lord's presence and goodness.
[00:21:28] It was a time described by the Hebrew word shalom.
[00:21:34] Even Solomon's name hints at this.
[00:21:38] He is the shalom man.
[00:21:42] People from other nations came and were amazed by what they saw and experienced in Israel under King Solomon.
[00:21:52] This was the high point of the earthly kingdom of Israel, showing a people blessed by the Lord.
[00:22:03] But perhaps the promised son of David is not Solomon, but another shalom man who comes after him.
[00:22:15] You see, the king in these verses is described in ways that are another league compared to Solomon.
[00:22:26] There's an intimacy between the Lord and the king, as close as father and son.
[00:22:36] There's a commitment that the Lord's love will never be taken away from this son.
[00:22:44] And the word forever is used three times.
[00:22:50] This son of David rules over an everlasting kingdom, a prince of peace who brings a shalom that lasts forever.
[00:23:04] Now this son of David theme is developed elsewhere in the Bible.
[00:23:09] Psalm 72 is one example.
[00:23:13] The subtitle is A Psalm for Solomon.
[00:23:20] This psalm describes what the shalom man is like.
[00:23:26] It describes Solomon, but describes beyond him as well.
[00:23:32] This shalom man is a good and gracious king who hears the cry of the sick and the suffering and intervenes to protect the poor and the vulnerable.
[00:23:45] He rules with wisdom and justice, defeating the enemy and crushing the oppressor.
[00:23:52] The king of Psalm 72 brings true shalom, life and blessing for all who come under his loving rule.
[00:24:05] Now the New Testament is clear that these promises and prophecies are most clearly fulfilled in the Lord Jesus.
[00:24:16] In Matthew and Luke, we see genealogies that describe Jesus as a true son of David descended from him.
[00:24:26] In the Gospels, we see the Lord Jesus as the servant king, proclaiming and demonstrating the shalom of the kingdom of God.
[00:24:39] And we see the same message and same mission continuing in the Book of Acts as the king does his work through his people.
[00:24:52] The Lord Jesus is the promised son of David, the true shalom man, the prince of Peace who becomes a king whose throne will last forever.
[00:25:08] So David is sitting in his palace as he hears these glorious promises.
[00:25:16] How does he respond?
[00:25:19] Verse 16 is astonishing.
[00:25:23] It says, then King David went in and sat before the Lord.
[00:25:30] What a wonderful picture of the privilege of prayer.
[00:25:34] In New Testament language, David enters the throne rooms of heaven and takes a seat with our heavenly Father.
[00:25:45] I want us to notice three things.
[00:25:48] A humble servant, a holy God, and a wholehearted hope.
[00:25:56] A humble servant, the human king in his place.
[00:26:02] All through this Prayer David refers to himself in the third person simply as your servant.
[00:26:10] The earthly king is in his place, stripped down to that simplest of identities.
[00:26:20] Humble servant of the King of Kings.
[00:26:25] Now David is astonished at the generosity of the Lord.
[00:26:30] Verse 16 to 17 who am I, Lord God.
[00:26:35] And who is my family?
[00:26:37] That you have brought us this far and if this was not enough, in your sight you've even spoken about a future for your servants.
[00:26:50] David is aware of past and present grace.
[00:26:56] And now God speaks even of grace to come in the future.
[00:27:02] David is astonished at how extraordinarily, extravagantly generous this God is.
[00:27:13] We see the personality of the Lord on show again.
[00:27:17] You remember those Hebrew words. The Lord is Hanun, who gives undeserved kindness and favour.
[00:27:27] And he abounds with Emet, full of faithfulness to his promises.
[00:27:35] David knows that there is no better place in all the world than to simply be a a humble servant of a God like this.
[00:27:46] The second thing we see is a holy God.
[00:27:51] Here is the King of kings in his proper place.
[00:27:56] Holiness simply describes how the Lord belongs in a category of his own.
[00:28:05] Verse 20 David says, There is no one like you, O Lord.
[00:28:14] You see, the Lord is unique in every aspect of his being.
[00:28:19] He's holy in his greatness, in his power and authority and self sufficiency.
[00:28:27] He's holy in his goodness, in his love and kindness and mercy and compassion.
[00:28:34] All of these holy one of a kind attributes are made visible when the Lord comes down as the Savior of his people in the Lord Jesus. He comes rescuing them, setting them free, calling them to himself and gathering them together as his very own.
[00:29:01] There is no one like the Lord.
[00:29:04] You can almost imagine David breaking out into this future song.
[00:29:11] Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee.
[00:29:16] How great thou art, how great Thou art.
[00:29:24] We also see a whole hope in David.
[00:29:31] Remember how this chapter started?
[00:29:33] David wanted to build a house for the Lord.
[00:29:36] But now his horizons have expanded.
[00:29:40] David has become aware that God is building his kingdom and he's inviting David to be a part of this story.
[00:29:49] Verse 25 and so your servant has found courage to pray.
[00:29:58] Would you like to pray courageous prayers?
[00:30:03] David shows us how in verse 24.
[00:30:09] Do as you have promised so that your kingdom will be established forever and that your name will be great forever.
[00:30:23] Now this is how to pray to the Lord.
[00:30:26] It's virtually the first half of the Lord's Prayer.
[00:30:32] You see, David's prayer is grounded on God's promises.
[00:30:36] May your will be done.
[00:30:41] It's guided towards his purposes.
[00:30:44] May your kingdom come and it has the goal of his glory so that your name would be hallowed forever.
[00:30:59] Now a believer who prays like this develops a whole hearted hope.
[00:31:06] It's a prayer that the Lord loves to answer.
[00:31:13] So let's bring all these threads together.
[00:31:19] God is building his kingdom and his kingdom will last forever.
[00:31:25] He has raised up the promised Son of David. The Lord Jesus Christ raised him from the dead, raised him to the throne room of heaven, and one day will raise him even further so that people from every tribe and every tongue will see and acknowledge his glory.
[00:31:50] That's where all of history is heading.
[00:31:56] Are you joining in with what the Lord is doing?
[00:32:02] Are your eyes open to the Lord at work in this world?
[00:32:08] Are your eyes open to the Lord at work in your specific circumstances?
[00:32:17] Do you see what he is doing in you and through you and around you?
[00:32:25] Remember what David did after Nathan shared the news of this incredible kingdom.
[00:32:34] Verse 16 King David went in and sat before the Lord.
[00:32:42] So two points of application.
[00:32:45] We need to learn how to sit in order to learn how to serve.
[00:32:54] As we sit with the Lord and soak in his word, we absorb his priorities.
[00:33:04] So two suggestions for you. One small, one bigger. The small suggestion this afternoon, carve out five minutes, maybe stretch it to 10 or 15 and read Psalm 72.
[00:33:21] As you read it, think of Solomon, but think beyond him as well.
[00:33:29] Let this psalm help you to see the Lord Jesus, the true shalom man and what he is like.
[00:33:39] The big suggestion over the next month, read the gospel of Matthew 28 chapters 28 days.
[00:33:53] It fills a month with a few days left over.
[00:33:58] And as you read a chapter of this gospel each day, tune into what it says about the kingdom of heaven.
[00:34:08] See the Lord Jesus in action bringing this kingdom into our world and notice the values of this kingdom and learn his kingdom building methods.
[00:34:25] In Matthew 4, Jesus began his ministry with an announcement.
[00:34:30] Repent.
[00:34:32] The kingdom of heaven is really close.
[00:34:37] Come and follow me and discover what it looks like.
[00:34:42] This was the message and mission of Jesus and that mission continues today.
[00:34:49] The Lord is calling people, everyone from everywhere to repent and believe and follow the Lord Jesus.
[00:35:00] He wants people to taste and see that the Lord is good in order to experience the the shalom of the kingdom of God and join in.
[00:35:14] And he wants to do this kingdom building.
[00:35:17] He wants to do this kingdom building work in and through his people.
[00:35:23] And that means people like you and me.
[00:35:28] So the second thing to respond with is to serve in our here and now.
[00:35:36] Here's a daily practice for you to try out this week.
[00:35:40] I want you to think right now, what place do you spend most of your Monday to Friday time?
[00:35:50] For me, it's a consulting room at Newstead, where I work as a gp.
[00:35:56] Perhaps for you it's a classroom where you study, or perhaps a classroom where you teach.
[00:36:04] Perhaps it's a hospital, a construction site, an office, a place where you volunteer.
[00:36:12] Perhaps you visit people's homes as a tradie or a community nurse.
[00:36:17] Perhaps most of your work is from home via Zoom or raising children in that particular place.
[00:36:28] Each day this week, as you prepare to enter it, take one full minute to pause, to breathe and to pray this prayer.
[00:36:43] It's a familiar prayer, you'll recognise it, but there's a little edit right at the end.
[00:36:52] Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, May your kingdom come, may your will be done in this place as it is in heaven.
[00:37:12] Now we know that this is a prayer that the Lord will love to answer.
[00:37:18] That his name would be honoured, that his kingdom would come, that his will would be done in the particular place that you are living your life.
[00:37:29] This is a prayer that can be prayed by believers in Mongolia, in Ukraine, in Russia, in Kyrgyzstan and here in Launceston.
[00:37:41] But we need to expect that the Lord's Prayer should be answered first in our own hearts.
[00:37:50] That we would honour his name, that we would serve him as our king, and that we would do his will with joy and energy and love.
[00:38:10] You see, as we worship and trust and obey Jesus, we get a taste of his shalom.
[00:38:19] And that's a shalom that we can then share with others.
[00:38:25] David saw these kingdom building realities and verse 25 records his words.
[00:38:32] And so your servant has found courage to pray.
[00:38:40] Have you found the courage to pray the Lord's Prayer into your here and now?
[00:38:52] This simple daily practice that you can practice each day this week, it will fill our ordinary and everyday moments with eternal significance as the Lord builds his kingdom in us and through us and brings that into all the places that we visit this week.
[00:39:16] Ephesians tells us that he is the one who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.
[00:39:27] What might he do in us and through us this week?
[00:39:33] There's only one way to find out, to pray, to obey, and then to watch and see what the Lord does as he does his kingdom building work through us.
