Encounter the Truth

Jonathan Griffiths: You and I, we are not called to build a temple at Jerusalem, but make no mistake, you and I do have kingdom work to do. We are participants in God's great project of building a people, a house built through the gospel, a house in which the Lord Jesus lives by His spirit.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. I'm Steve Hiller, glad you've tuned in today as we continue our look at 1 Kings and our look at the life of Solomon. And Jonathan, as you point out, God has given us work to do, and you call it a building of a house through the gospel. What do you mean by that?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, there is this wonderful picture given to us in the Old Testament of a building where God's people can meet with Him, where they can come and enter into His presence through the work of priests, and of course, that is the temple at Jerusalem, a glorious building, a wonderful picture of the dwelling place of God.

But as we come to the New Testament, we are invited to see that the dwelling place of God is not at a building, but among a people by His spirit. And the church of Jesus Christ is spoken of as the dwelling place of God, even the temple of God. And that is a wonderful thing to consider, that as we come into relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we together become the place where God lives by His spirit.

Steve Hiller: Well, we're going to look at that today in a bit more detail. If you can, I hope you'll grab a Bible, open it to the book of 1 Kings. We're going to spend some time in chapters five, six, and seven, as we begin a message called "Doing the Work of the Lord." Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: It can be quite thrilling to see a truly grand project take shape and then come to fruition over time. I don't know if you've ever been part of a really big project, maybe a building program, maybe a major initiative at work, something that requires huge investment, massive coordination, resources, materials, expertise, a project that takes years to plan, that provides years of tangible benefit when it's done.

You think of grand infrastructure projects like the Channel Tunnel, or the Big Dig in Boston, or the interstate highways in the postwar years in the United States, Hoover Dam, the CN Tower. Grand projects, once-in-a-century projects, projects that define a place and are never to be repeated.

Here in 1 Kings chapter five, we enter into the greatest building project of the Old Testament era, the building project that has defined the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem really ever since Solomon's day. If this central section of Solomon's reign was really the high-water mark of the Old Testament era, then the building of the temple at Jerusalem is surely the pinnacle of his achievement.

Now, there is so much that is so significant about the temple and the building of the temple. The purpose of the building was to give a place where the God of heaven might set His presence among a sinful people. And this itself is a sign and a promise of salvation. Having been banished from the presence of God in Eden, God's people are now being invited back into His presence. It's a foretaste of heaven, really, and it points us to the great achievement of the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross.

Ultimately, He is the meeting place between God and humanity. He is the great high priest. He is the great sacrifice for sin. It all points to Him in profound and wonderful ways. And we could happily devote our time together today to conducting a whole Bible survey of the significance and the meaning of the temple, and that'd be a fruitful, very interesting thing to do.

But what jumps off the page in these particular chapters, chapters five and six and seven, what jumps off the page are the practicalities of this extraordinary project conducted in obedience to the word of God, a project of monumental kingdom significance. King Solomon in his day had a special calling placed upon his life. It was to build this grand and great house for the Lord.

And the way in which Solomon goes about doing the work that God has set him to do, it holds profound lessons for us today in what it looks like to do the work of the Lord, to carry out the kingdom work that He has called us to do. Now, you and I, we are not called to build a temple at Jerusalem.

You remember that the curtain of the temple was torn in two, top to bottom, when the Lord Jesus Christ died at the cross, meaning that access to the presence of the Lord is now open to all who would come to Him in faith. We don't need a temple building in order to access the divine presence. Jesus is our great high priest. He has given the supreme sacrifice for sin. He ushers us into the presence of the Father as we believe in Him.

So you and I, we don't need to be temple builders in that sense. But make no mistake, you and I do have kingdom work to do. We are participants in God's great project of building a people, a spiritual house, a house built through the gospel, a house in which the Lord Jesus lives by His spirit.

I love that place in 1 Peter chapter two where Peter describes the people of God, you may remember this, as being a spiritual building, a holy building. 1 Peter two and verse four, He says, "As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

This is the great building project of the church's age. The Lord is calling people to Himself through the gospel. He is making us part of His holy dwelling place by His spirit. And within that great building project, you and I have a vital part to play. We issue the invitation of the gospel. We encourage one another from the word to grow in godliness. We disciple others through the scriptures. We hear the great commission to go and make disciples of all nations, and we recognize that those are our marching orders.

Now, that's the big picture. But what now are the lessons here concerning the Lord's work and the way in which the Lord's servants go about doing it? There are a number of lessons, I think, and I want to try and move through them at a little bit of a pace. But here is the first one: The work of the Lord flows from His promises.

Now, we've said already that Solomon's life story was something that God had planned, God had purposed, God had promised. Throughout our series thus far in 1 Kings, we've been going back again and again and reminding ourselves of that foundational promise of God to David in 2 Samuel chapter seven and verse 12.

The Lord says to David there, "When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name." Now, that's the promise that defines Solomon's life, and he references it here in our passage in chapter five and verse five.

Notice it with me: "And so," he says, "I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to David my father, 'Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.'" Solomon recognizes that this is what the Lord will do. This is the Lord's commitment.

And so we now find ourselves in the time of Solomon's reign. We come to the years of his prime, really. He's at the height of his powers. In 1 Kings five and six and seven, we see Solomon really now in the midst of a building project, a massive worksite. Two huge construction projects, actually: the temple, the house for the Lord, and his own house. He's surrounded by workers. It's dust and mud and noise everywhere. Perhaps you've been there yourself. You know it. You've been in a season like that. It's a season of huge industry and activity.

And here's the very simple point I want to observe at the beginning: The promises of God are driving the activity here. The promises of what God says He will do and He will achieve, what He intends to have done, they motivate His servant to work. They give His people their marching orders.

Solomon had the promises of God. He knew what God intended to do, what God planned to do. He knew in some detail what was God's calling upon his life. And knowing what God was going to do, what did Solomon do? Did he sort of sit back, grab a popcorn, put his feet up and watch the show, wait to see what God was going to do? No, not a bit of it. He recognized that it was to him now to get to work.

Jesus has promised us that He will build His church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. He's promised that He will return for His people. He's promised us a home in heaven above, a place in a new creation in which righteousness dwells. He has pointed us to a day when people from every tribe and nation and tongue will gather in joy before the throne above.

And so what do we do? Do we sit back, think, "Oh, that's going to be marvelous," grab a popcorn, put our feet up and enjoy the show, wait for it all to happen? No, we recognize that we have been given marching orders within the plan of God. We go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing people in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that Jesus has instructed us.

You see, God makes His plans, God makes His promises, and He is more than able to achieve them without us. He doesn't need us. He didn't need Solomon. God, remember, He's the one who spoke the universe into being with a word. He could easily have spoken another word and formed the most glorious temple that's ever been seen.

But He chooses to use His servants to fulfill His purposes. He includes His people in His work. And so as we look at the promises of God, as we consider what God has purposed to do, we find our motivation and our vision to engage ourselves fully in His service.

This last week in our staff prayer time, which happens on a Thursday afternoon, I read for us from 1 Corinthians chapter 15, which is a chapter where Paul lays out the glorious hope of the resurrection. He teaches there, and you may remember the chapter, on the victory of Jesus over the grave and how the resurrection gives us firm hope of our own resurrection to come.

And having set out in some detail that glorious resurrection hope, he says this, and it's so interesting, 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 58: "Therefore," in light of the promise of the resurrection to come, "therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."

God's made these great promises, therefore, we work. And that's it. That's the point. God has purposed, God has planned, God has promised, and so we abound in His work. And Solomon's busy building site, operating under the banner of His great promise in 2 Samuel seven, it is a picture for us and it is something of a model. The work of the Lord, it flows from His promises.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths, and we're going to pause right here, but we'll get back to the message in just a moment, so hope you'll stay with us. Well, if you wanted to know if the change that you saw in someone was just behavior modification or if it was a deep and lasting change that God was involved in, how would you recognize that? I mean, what would be those marks of a supernaturally changed heart?

That's one of the questions that the apostle Paul addressed when he wrote to the church in Corinth. Pastor Tim Keller takes a look at this in his book, "The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness." It's a short and punchy book, and he shows that gospel humility means that we can stop connecting every experience, every conversation with ourselves, and so we can be free from self-condemnation.

He says that a truly gospel humble person is not a self-loving person or even a self-hating person, but a self-forgetful person. We'd love to send you a copy of Tim Keller's book, "The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy," as our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can give online at encounterthetruth.org or when you call us at 1-833-99-TRUTH. Again, our website is encounterthetruth.org and our phone number is 1-833-998-7884.

If you joined us late, we're in 1 Kings looking at chapters five through seven. As we get back to the message, here's Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: Next, the work of the Lord rests upon His provision. Many great endeavors in kingdom work, in kingdom service, look more or less impossible at the outset. Have you ever noticed that? Most great projects of gospel outreach, of church building, of discipleship, of training, of evangelism, you name it, most look at the outset infeasible, impracticable, and unrealistic.

The temple building project that God set before Solomon was a superhuman project. The building envisaged was absolutely massive in scale, grand in every way you can imagine. To construct such a building at this time in history with the tools and with the technology available at the time, with the resources on hand, it was a gargantuan undertaking. It seemed quite unrealistic.

But what we see here in the story as the narrative unfolds is evidence after evidence after evidence that the Lord has made way for this, has provided for what He has commissioned. Just notice with me some of the ways in which the Lord provides for this project. Foundationally and centrally, He provides by giving Solomon wisdom. This proves to be the key to everything.

You remember that the Lord offered Solomon really to give him anything he asked of Him, and Solomon chose to ask for wisdom. That was a good request. The Lord granted his request in abundance, and so we finished the previous chapter, chapter four, with this statement, verse 34: "And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom."

You know, we hear the word "wisdom," we might think that this gift operates on some sort of esoteric level. Solomon understood grand ideas and was able to write a book of wisdom as a kind of philosopher, someone operating in a kind of ivory tower. Well, no doubt Solomon's wisdom enabled him to write down thoughtful proverbs and we read those in the scriptures, but his wisdom we discover is immensely practical in nature.

And we see that this gift of wisdom was absolutely key in enabling the building of the house. We're going to see that Solomon needed the help of the King of Tyre to get the house built. He needed the materials, he needed the workforce. But it was evidently the wisdom of Solomon that attracted the King of Tyre to participate.

So there at the end of chapter four, we read of how people from all over the world coming to hear the wisdom of Solomon, kings are sending their delegations. And we ignore the chapter division for a moment because those aren't original to the text. This would have flowed right into the beginning of chapter five. And what we find in the next sentence is that a delegation has come among these various delegations, one has come from Tyre.

Verse one: "Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram always loved David." Solomon's fame has reached Tyre, and the delegation comes, and Solomon in his wisdom sees the key opportunity. Wisdom is running right through this. He sends words of greeting to the king, he makes this request, verse six: "Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My servants will join your servants, I'll pay whatever wage you set, for you know there's no one among us who can cut timber like the Sidonians."

In the wisdom that God gave Solomon, he sees an opportunity. He's shrewd to fulfill a need. He jumps on it. And the response is positive: "As soon as Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, 'Blessed be the Lord this day, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.'" He's impressed by Solomon's wisdom, and he's eager to enter into a deal. He sets terms, there is an agreement. All the timber that is needed is provided, the labor that's needed is provided. And again, it all flows from this gift of wisdom. Verse 12, it's highlighted once again for us: "And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty."

Solomon didn't have the resources in his kingdom to build the house. The cedar of Lebanon is the best cedar, the Sidonians know how to cut it like no one else knows how to cut it. How is the Lord going to provide? Well, He gives Solomon wisdom that makes him famous. People are coming from all over the world to hear his wisdom. The King of Tyre sends a delegation. Solomon in his wisdom sees opportunity. They make a deal. The King of Tyre is impressed by his wisdom, and suddenly there's timber and labor.

Added to all that, the Lord gives Solomon a situation of peace that allows him to build. And again, this is the provision of God, and Solomon recognizes it. You can't undertake a major building project at home if you are fighting wars on every front, or if there is unrest among your people.

And Solomon rightly recognizes that the Lord has done something here, verse three: "You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune."

There's no way in which this project could be undertaken in a time of tension, civil unrest, or warfare, and no king can guarantee freedom from such things. Only God can provide it. God's provision for the project, it is comprehensive. He provided a context of peace, harmony at home and abroad. He provided Solomon with wisdom, attracted international attention, led to discussions with the King of Tyre and a favorable trade deal.

As we'll see as we go on, He provides an outstanding craftsman to furnish the temple and so much more besides. And here's the point: If God wants something done, if He wants a kingdom initiative to move forward, here is the one thing you can be sure of: He will provide everything that is needed.

I was shopping around for some travel insurance the other day, and I found myself spending an inordinate amount of time reading the fine print for all the exclusions on the policies that I was looking at. The companies are quite good at advertising what they will cover. That tends to get onto the front cover of the brochure; it's printed in bold, in glossy font and so on.

But the exclusions to the policy, they are printed in microscopic font and run to many pages and pages at the back of the brochure. And by the time you read all the exclusions, you struggle to imagine a specific situation in which the insurance company would actually provide cover and make a payment for a claim.

God's provision for His work, by utter contrast, is totally comprehensive. He provides all that's needed. Rarely does He do so in advance, by the way, from what I've noticed. Sometimes He does. But so often it just unfolds as the project takes shape and moves forward. That was the case with Solomon, wasn't it? It unfolded as it happened, as the needs arose.

And that's so often the way. It's not all right in place right from the start. A kingdom need, a kingdom opportunity becomes apparent, and things just unfold. The provision comes. Individual Christians, churches, ministry organizations, each have stories to tell of this. You will have your own stories to tell of the Lord's provision, of how God has provided everything needed.

And I would only say this: If God would call you, if He would call us, to undertake work or projects or initiatives for the sake of the kingdom in the cause of the gospel, He will provide everything. That's just what He does. And He'll provide in a comprehensive way.

Steve Hiller: Jonathan Griffiths here on Encounter the Truth in a message called "Doing the Work of the Lord," and we're pausing right here, but we're going to continue this message on our next broadcast, so I hope you make it a point to tune in. By the way, if you ever miss a program, you can always come and listen at our website, encounterthetruth.org.

Encounter the Truth is a listener-supported program. It is your generosity that keeps Jonathan's teaching on this station and makes the podcast available. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a book written by Timothy Keller. And Jonathan, for those who are unfamiliar with Tim Keller, what can you tell us about him?

Jonathan Griffiths: Tim Keller, who's now passed away, was a well-known pastor in New York City for many years, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church and a very fine leader among evangelicals. Tim had a real gift for making the gospel accessible to urbanites in Manhattan, and he had a profound influence in terms of evangelism and discipleship in that great city.

Steve Hiller: You know, Tim has had a real impact on the evangelical landscape and a lot of pastors that he's mentored over the years. He's touched a lot of people through his books and through his preaching. How has his life impacted you in any way?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, Tim has had influence on so many people, and me included, in a couple of different ways that I'd mention. One is through his church planting endeavors. And when we were in London, living in London and I was involved in training pastors, we actually attended a church plant that had been significantly impacted by Tim's ministry.

And then now, as I have been serving in an urban context here in North America, we've seen quite a number of church plants that have sort of been spin-offs from Tim's ministry in New York, and we've seen those churches flourish and grow and have just been rejoicing in that impact. So that's been lovely and encouraging to see.

And as I serve in a city context as a pastor, I think I've benefited a lot from some of Tim's thinking about it and his strategy for reaching city centers with the gospel and urban people with the gospel. He had so much insight in that, and I've been so grateful to be a beneficiary of that in my own ministry.

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you a copy of Tim Keller's book, "The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path to True Christian Joy." It's our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can find out more or give online at encounterthetruth.org or call us at 1-833-99-TRUTH. That's 1-833-998-7884, or again, our website is encounterthetruth.org. For Jonathan Griffiths, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time.