A Place for God's Name
A PLACE FOR GOD’S NAME
9/12/99 - A.M. Service
TEXT: 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 & 11-22
Introduction
Ever since I began in ministry, I have often thought of the many things we can say about, and the ways we can describe, Christian ministry.
However, as I was preparing my thoughts this week, none of those things came rushing back into my mind, except one, and that is—To God Be the Glory!
The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism is, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” (Expound—my hearts desire in serving here at Bethel is to glorify God for what He has done in my life and in this church).
I have always wanted to serve in a place and be a part of, a work where it was evident that all that took place there, was taking place, because God was doing it.
I never wanted to serve in a place because it was known for its great music.
I never wanted to serve in a place because it was known for its great programs.
I never wanted to serve in a place because it was known for its great benevolence.
I never wanted to serve in a place because it was known for its great facilities.
I never wanted to serve in a place because it was known for its great staff. (Even though all those things can be good things).
No, I have always wanted to serve in a church that when people look at it they so clearly see the provision and action of God that they can only marvel and say, “God has done it.” To God be the glory! This is what I have been committed to and will remain committed to and what I believe Bethel is committed to.
I believe that when we consider what has transpired here at Bethel, just during the two years that I have been here, not to mention the rest of Bethel’s long history, we can only say, but also, surely say, that God has done it! (Not arrived but God is at work).
God has displayed Himself and will continue to display Himself through His people of which we are a part. And this morning we come together as a people wanting God to display Himself through us. (I mean don’t we?)
We want this to be a place and we want to be a people where God displays Himself and draws people to Himself. We want to be known by the name of Ezekiel’s City of God in Ezekiel 48—Yahweh-shammah—The Lord is there. (Expound – this is what I desire and I hope you do also).
While today, God’s presence is made known through His people the church, rather than through the temple in Jerusalem as we read about in 2 Chronicles, there are, nevertheless, many parallels that can be drawn between the O.T. temple and the church today. Several of these parallels can be seen in the dedication of Solomon’s temple and God’s response to that dedication in 2 Chronicles chapters 6 & 7.
Perhaps the most defining characteristic of the O.T. temple was the fact that God referred to it as a place for His name. In the passage we read a few moments ago, v.16 stated, “For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever. . . .”
The O.T. temple was a place where God’s name was to be known. Remember, in the O.T., name was much more than just a way to differentiate between individuals. In O.T. times, name was who you were. People’s names represented their character and the essence of who and what they were.
So when God says that the temple is to be a place for His name He is saying it is to be a place that demonstrates who He is and what He is.
Just as that house in the O.T. was to reflect the presence of God, demonstrate the reality of God, display the image and character of God and draw people to God, so today, we want this to be a place and we want to be a people that does the same.
We want to be a place for God’s name. A place that in every way demonstrates the presence and person of God. More than anything else we want to be known as Yahweh-shammah—the Lord is There. (Expound – Don’t we?).
In the O.T. the God of Israel was uniquely identified and characterized by what went on in His temple. The temple was the focal point for all religious activity and service. In a very real sense the temple activities in Israel identified the nature of the Israelites and the God they served.
In a like manner, in a very real sense, the part of God’s church, that we call Bethel Baptist Church, will be identified and characterized by what people see going on in this local place.
The same kind of spiritual activities that were centered in O.T. times in the temple at Jerusalem, should be centered today in the local church with the same objective as the temple—to make God’s person and presence known.
As the local church meets together it is to be a house of worship, a house of prayer, a house of sacrifice and service, all directed toward making the church a place for God’s name. A place that demonstrates the presence, person and provision of the one true God.
The question then comes, what is required in order for God’s people and their community of worship to be truly a place for God’s name?
Well, I believe we can see several things implied in the text we read this morning. To be a people and place for God’s name, I believe God’s people must be: A Committed People; A Consecrated People; A Contrite People; and A Consistent People. Let’s consider these. First note that God’s people must be:
I.) A Committed People (2 Chron. 7:1-3 & 11)
2 Chronicles 7:1-3 & 11 1 Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. 2 And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. 3 And all the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord, saying, “Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting.” 11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s palace, and successfully completed all that he had planned on doing in the house of the Lord and in his palace.
The context of chapter 7 of 2 Chronicles is that it is God’s response and answer to Solomon’s prayer of dedication which is recorded in chapter 6 of 2 Chronicles. Chapter 7 demonstrates God’s acceptance and approval of what Solomon and the people had done.
The verses that we just read demonstrate that the people of Israel and their leader, at least at that time, were committed to both the worship and the work of their God.
We are told here that God’s glory descended upon the temple and consumed the offering and sacrifices that had been made there and when this happened, all the people bowed down and worshiped God.
We see in the offerings and sacrifices the commitment of the people to the worship of their God, and God’s consuming of the offerings demonstrates His acceptance of their offering and sacrifice.
To be a place for God’s name, we must be committed to the whole hearted worship of our God. (Expound – must be first priority).
Not only were the people committed to the worship of God, but they were also committed to the work of God. Verse 11 states, “Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s palace, and successfully completed all that he had planned on doing in the house of the Lord and in his palace.”
In both chapters 6 and 7 of 2 Chronicles, Solomon represents all the people of Israel. It is obvious that Solomon did not build the temple and palaces by himself but rather that the whole nation joined in the effort. All of God’s people participated in some way in doing God’s work, in this case, building the temple.
To be a people and place for God’s name, we must all be committed to doing the work of God as He calls us to do it. (Expound).
So, God’s people must be committed to both the Worship and Work of God. We must be a committed people. The next thing we see in this passage of Scripture is that God’s people must be:
II.) A Consecrated People (2 Chron. 7:12)
2 Chronicles 7:12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.
When the Lord refers to the temple as a house of sacrifice, He is referring to the fact that the temple was to be the place where the people would come to separate themselves unto the Lord and serve Him. The term sacrifice here refers to the righteous sacrifice of God’s people as they consecrate themselves to the Lord for His work.
As God’s people, we are to consecrate, or set ourselves apart for God’s service. Just prior to God doing a mighty work amongst His people as they prepared to enter the land of Canaan for conquest, Joshua said to the people,
Joshua 3:5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.” NIV
If we want to see the Lord do amazing things amongst us, we must be a consecrated people.
Consecration refers to making ourselves ready for service. It means dedicating ourselves to the Lord’s will and way. It speaks of holiness and purity of life. As Romans puts it, we are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.
To be a place and a people for God’s name we must consecrate ourselves, set ourselves apart as a living and holy sacrifice to God. (Expound).
So, we must be a Committed people, and we must be a consecrated people, and note we must also be:
III.) A Contrite People (2 Chron. 7:13-14)
2 Chronicles 7:13-14 13“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
The only way that a sinful people can live in harmony and fruitfully with a perfect and holy God is by accepting the provision God has made for the forgiveness of our sins. The provision that God has made for forgiveness of sins in the lives of His people is through confession and repentance.
When we sin, and God disciplines us for it and makes us aware of it, we must be humble and contrite of heart, and we must go humbly and contritely before our God and plead for his forgiveness. God will not ignore our sin and pride.
God will not prosper a people or person with Spiritual good as long as they remain to proud to bow their knee before their God and confess and repent of their sin. God will not allow His name to be dragged through the mud by prideful and sinful people. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
In Isaiah 66:1-2 we read, “1 Thus says the Lord, “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? 2 “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.” (Expound – we must be contrite).
To be a people and a place for God’s name, we must be a contrite people, a people willing to admit it when we sin, to be intolerant of our sin, to repent of our sin, and to humbly seek God’s forgiveness when we sin.
And this brings us to our last point, we must be:
IV.) A Consistent People (2 Chron. 7:15-22)
2 Chronicles 7:15-22 15 “Now My eyes shall be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. 16 “For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that My name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 17 “And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked even to do according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, 18 then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.’ 19 “But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you and shall go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 “As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22 “And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.’”
These verses demonstrate God’s conditional promise to keep His name associated with a people and place only so long as the people remain consistent in their faith toward God.
The same idea is seen in the Lord’s words to the church at Ephesus in
Revelation 2:4-5, 4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 ‘Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.
God does not promise to leave His name on an inconsistent people. God demands the continued allegiance of His people. I am not speaking here of momentary failures but of turning away from God to serve other things.
In our day and age, for the most part, we don’t have images and statues and altars that we bow down to and worship as false gods. But we do have a multitude of pursuits and distractions that draw us away from God to serve other things. Whether it be our jobs, our family, our pursuit of things, or our recreations and entertainments, anything that gets in the way of our single-minded devotion and service to God is a false god. Christ is to be our first love and to remain so consistently.
Our God is what we are to be devoted to. On a consistent and continuous basis, our God should be the One, and only One, who captures our first affections, our first attention, our first allegiance and is the preeminent concern in our lives. Anything less than this makes us guilty of inconsistent devotion to our God.
This is what James was speaking of when he said, that a double-minded person would receive nothing from the Lord.
To be a people and place for God’s name, we must be consistent in our devotion, allegiance and pursuit of the one true God.
Conclusion
We haven’t arrived. (Expound). We must remain vigilant. (Expound).
And if we are to be a people and place for God’s name, if we are to be known as Yahweh-shammah – God is there, we must continue to be a Committed People; a Consecrated People; a Contrite People and a Consistent People.