Solomon engaged in building — A.J. Higgins

Solomon’s Call to Build for God

1 Kings again and chapter number 5 this time. We will be looking at Solomon and his exercise to build for God and as with our previous studies considering it also in a very practical way for ourselves.

So chapter number 5 and we will read a little bit in chapter 6, 7 and 8 just for content. And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto David. For he had heard he had anointed him king in the room of his father for Hiram was ever a lover of David.

And Solomon sent to Hiram saying thou knowest how that David my father could not build a house unto the name of the Lord his God for wars which were about him on every side until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet.

But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side so there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence. Behold I purpose to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God as the Lord speak unto David my father saying thy son whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room he shall build a house unto my name.

Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon and my servant shall be with thy servant and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint.

For thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians. And it came to pass when Hiram heard the words of Solomon he rejoiced greatly and said blessed be the Lord this day which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people.

And Hiram sent to Solomon saying I have considered the things which thou sendest to me for and I will do all that I desire concerning timber of cedar and concerning timber of fir or cypress. My servant shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea and I will convey them by sea in flutes unto the place thou shalt appoint me and will cause them to be discharged there and thou shalt receive them thou shalt accomplish my desire in giving food for my household.

So this is the agreement food for wood and Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household and twenty measures of pure oil thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year and the Lord gave Solomon.

Now notice the order there verse 10 Hiram gave. Verse 11 Solomon gave. Verse 12 God gave. God gave Solomon wisdom as he promised him and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon and they two made a league together a covenant a treaty and King Solomon raised a levy a levy out of all of Israel and the levy was thirty thousand men and he sent them to Lebanon ten thousand a month by course a month they were in Lebanon and two months at home and Adoniram was over the tribute and Solomon had three score and ten thousand at their burdens and four score thousand hewers in the mountains beside the chief of Solomon's officers over the work three thousand and three hundred which ruled over the people that brought in the work and King the King commanded and they brought great stones costly stones and huge stones to lay the foundation of the house and Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders that hew them and the stone quarry.

So they prepared timber and stones to build the house. Chapter 6. And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt. In the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel in the month Zipf which is the second month he began to build the house of the Lord.

Now down the chapter verse number 11 while he's building the word of the Lord came to Solomon saying concerning this house which thou art in building. If I will walk in my statutes execute my judgments keep all my commandments to walk in them.

Then will I perform my word with thee which I speak unto David my father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and not forsake my people Israel. So Solomon built the house and finished it. Strange that it tells us he finished it when it goes on to tell us about his building of the house now down the chapter.

Verse 37. In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid in the month Zipf. In the eleventh year in the month bull which is the eighth month was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof and according to all the fashion of it.

So he was seven years in building it. Chapter 7 and verse 51. So was ended all the work that King Solomon made for the house of the Lord. Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated even the silver and the gold and the vessels that he put among the treasures of the house of the Lord.

Chapter 8. Verse 1 Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel unto King Solomon in Jerusalem that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David which is Zion.

Verse 4. And they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tabernacle of a congregation and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle. Even these did the priests and the Levites bring up. Verse 6.

And the priest brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place into the article of the house to the most holy place even under the wings of the cherubim. Verse 10. And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that priests could not stand to minister because the cloud for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.

God will add his blessing to again the sacred reading the reading of his sacred word to each of us here. So we'd like to talk about this man and his exercise for building a man who desired to build for God.

The Privilege of Building for God

I hope that every one of us has some desire to build for God not to tear down not to destroy not to remove not to somehow weaken. But to build up what is of God in our own generation. Responsibility is ours.

God has committed it to us to be builders for God. So the first thing I want you notice is that this man appreciated the mercy which enabled him. The mercy which verses 1 to 4 remind us here is a man conscious that it is the mercy of God that has brought him to this point in time.

Now it's interesting just jumping over to chapter 6 that this is dated from the time of the exodus from the time of redemption. It tells us it was 480 years since the coming out of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt.

So he's conscious of the mercy of God that has redeemed and the mercy of God that has privileged. And the mercy of God that has brought him to this great opportunity of being able to to build. For for God.

Think of the age think of the Israelites as they came out of Egypt they had been there building pyramids and building cities for Pharaoh things that were just linked with Egypt and with Egypt's prosperity and with Egypt's history and with Egypt's future.

And they're brought out of all of that. And they're brought into a wilderness. And God says now make me build me a tabernacle. What a privilege then to go from building what was going to be destroyed to building what would honor God.

And that's where this man solemn begins with a deep consciousness of the tremendous privilege that he can actually do something to build for God. I don't know if it's ever ever gripped you maybe a grip there's a strong word to use but ever ever just dawned on you.

That redemption has given us the privilege of doing something that is going to last forever. Now I don't mean the assembly is going to last forever. The assembly won't last forever but everything we put into God's assembly all the effort we put into it is going to last eternally.

When all of the CEOs of the world when all of the corporate executives of the world have done all that they can do it is all going to be forgotten someday. Even the records of athletes the stars of this world their brief moment of shining and neon lights all going to be gone someday.

But everything that you and I do for God it's going to last eternally. What a privilege. What a tremendous privilege to actually be able to do something with lasting consequences with eternal value. I want you to see how this man first of all he recognizes a debt he owes to others.

That's why it brings in. Hiram was ever a lover of David. So he owes this this help from Hiram. He owes it to a previous generation so that as we are building never forget we stand on the shoulders of a previous generation that has gone before and in many many instances paid dearly for the truths that have been handed to us freely.

We needn't go back many generations to know of believers who suffered tremendous persecution tremendous loss to be identified to be saved and then to be identified with the Lord Jesus and local assembly capacity.

They paid dearly and they they handed those truths down to us. And very few of us here very few of us here know anything of paying a price to be in God's assembly. Some may but very few of us do. We were we were just placed in.

But here is Solomon and he recognizes the tremendous debt he owes to a previous generation. I know there is a tendency to think that we are better educated we are more technologically savvy which definitely you are compared to the generation before me or the generation that has gone before me that we are more savvy we are more intelligent we are more sophisticated we are more in touch and all the rest.

But please never despise a previous generation. They may not have known Greek very well. They might may not have known their tenses in the Bible very well. They would have looked at a computer and wondered what in the world that contraption was.

And iPhones and iPods and iPads. I mean they were science fiction things in their day. Okay. But many of them knew God better than we do. There were men and women who knew God from personal experience and they brought that into God's assembly and they lived for God.

Their lives weren't perfect. They may have been at times you may say a bit legalistic and a bit archaic and all the rest. But they had their priorities. Right. So never look down on a previous generation.

Always remember that they built what you're building upon. They laid the foundation and much of the superstructure and we're just we're just kind of adjusting some of the windows and putting some gingerbread around.

Right. Because they are the ones who really labored and and built for God. So he recognizes then the the fact that he owes so much to a previous generation. Also the divine mercy which had brought him to the place where he was the privilege where he was circumstances and conditions favorable for building.

God’s Time and the Priority of Building

And he recognized this is the time this is the time when you read that your mind goes back instinctively to the writings of Haggai when the people of God had just settled down and it said it's not the time to build the Lord's house.

And we'll take care of our own houses and we'll build for ourselves. And when God's time comes then we'll we'll start building. And God raises up a man called Haggai to stir their conscience to seek to remind them that it was God's time to build.

The truth is it's always God's time to build. That verse we use in the gospel. Behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation. Go back and look at the context. He's preaching to Christians.

He's preaching to people who are who are getting involved with things they shouldn't be involved with. And the goal was to get them directed again seeking to be of use and service for God. He has a sense of timing.

How much of a priority. How much of a priority in your life is God's assembly and serving God. Is it something that you fit in around all of your social life and all of your other responsibilities. Is it something that if you can fit it in you'll do it.

And if you have a spare week you'll you'll do it. Or maybe you're just waiting till you're done school or you're done this commitment or done that commitment. And then you know when I'm done that I am really going to get my life focused and begin really living for the Lord.

I've got bad news. If you can't live for God where you are right now you can't live for God anywhere. If you can't live for God where God has placed you right now you cannot live for God anywhere. Never use circumstances as an excuse.

Never use your current responsibilities as an excuse. God intends you to begin building now. Living now till we call priority. What is the priority in your life now. We need to work. It's part of Christian testimony.

And we need to finish our education and to do it as well as we can. That's part of our testimony as Christians. And we need to care for our homes. They're not supposed to be disheveled again. That's all part of our testimony.

But priorities. God's assembly. The meetings of God's assembly. And I'm not just saying God's assembly or just serving God in whatever capacity he has committed to your hand. Is it a priority or just a convenience.

Why is it. You don't have to answer me. Because I think you know the answer. Why is it that on Sunday morning 95 of the assembly is there and on prayer meeting night maybe 50 of the assembly. Now I realize there are commitments and young children small children school and children too young to bring to meeting.

But where did we get the idea that the breaking of bread is the important meeting of the week. Or maybe it's the idea that as long as I go to the breaking of bread I'm still on the rolls of the assembly.

I'm not considered out of fellowship. It's interesting that when Paul starts talking about the prayer when when Paul is talking to the assembly at Ephesus in his letter to Timothy he says first of all first of all prayer.

It's almost like that's the first thing on the agenda. There is nothing in the Word of God that would suggest one meeting is more important than another that somehow the breaking of bread is the most important meeting.

And gospel meeting and ministry meetings and prayer meeting are kind of nothing in the Word of God that suggests that commitment to the assembly commitment to building to seeking to build up to seek the strength in the assembly in any way I can.

And to build for God. Here's a man and he appreciates the mercy which had brought him to it. But he's also conscious of a mandate. Building was not an option. God had said to David your son will build and so this isn't just something you know it would be nice if I could build for God and I think I'll know he recognized there was a mandate to build for God it wasn't optional.

God intended Solomon to get busy and to be building and build a house to his name. You remember that when we were referring to Haggai remember what how Haggai deals with the issue when Haggai is seeking to stir the conscience of the people of God about building and the mandate for building he says God says to go up build a house I will take pleasure I will be glorified.

He says I want you above all to recognize that what you are building is for my pleasure and for my glory. Now he says that now listen to this. He says that before there was ever a word about blessing because they're building.

He says the main reason I want you to build the main reason I want you to stop being concerned with your own things being a priority. And building my house is because I will take pleasure and I will be glorified.

It's only verses later that he tells them if you build I will bless. But the first thing he wants to occupy their minds with is this building is what will honor me and what will bring me pleasure. So that as you put your effort into building for God doesn't talk about success doesn't talk about great results from what you're doing.

But as you put your efforts into building for God God says I take pleasure I'm glorified. That should be the stirring motive that should move us to seek to honor God. His building was really controlled then by the the Word of God wasn't it.

And we are reminded that all buildings as we'll see with the building that Solomon does all building is first of all for the heart of God for the heart of God. It is also to be consistent with the holiness of God and it is to be conducive to the habitation of God the heart of God the holiness of God and the habitation of God.

And we'll come to it then in the end that God does take up his residence here is a place that is consistent with his person and his glory and he can inhabit it. His glory fills the place at the end. So we are not building.

We are not building to get the approval of the neighbors. We are not building for God so that people will think we are a wonderful company of lovely nice middle-class Christians who really are not that bad and not that different not that strange.

They just have their own ideas. We're not really building with a view to what people out there think to make ourselves acceptable to a religious world or make ourselves less less different. I mean I'm not out for making ourselves different just for the sake of being different.

We are different when the Word of God calls upon us to be different. But we are building for God's heart consistent with God's holiness and conducive to God's habitation. We want the presence of God and as a result we build in certain ways.

The Materials and Members God Uses

But also here's a man who appreciated materials that would be needed. Now there are a diversity of offerings that are brought. There's gold there's brass there's cypress there's cedar. There are stones.

Different individuals and different groups of men bringing different things all together for the building of the house of God might be nice to be able to bring gold wouldn't it. And instead you're called upon to just bring some cypress and bring some fir trees and to bring maybe some brass everybody bringing what God told you.

Would you have rather been. Would you have rather been a stonemason chipping away at one of those stones that was going to be a foundation stone. Slowly methodically meticulously patiently try to be that would rather be back in Egypt building great pyramids and splendid sphinxes that we're going to adorn the desert.

Far better to be a minor player in a major work than a major player in a minor work. Right. Far better to have a minor role in the big play and to have the starring role in the little play. We have lost sight that the big thing the big thing is what God is doing.

Yes we are small yes we are weak. Yes we are pathetically lacking in so many things can't hide our nakedness and our need. But still we are involved in the big thing God is doing in our world today in calling people out from the world to know his son as Savior and as able to lead them to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.

It's the big thing. Don't hesitate to play a minor role in God's big drama. Here were men that were willing to bring different things and to provide them for the building. And so there are some raised up to work in the gospel.

There are some that are raised up to work in teaching some raised up for personal work some raised up for door-to-door work some raised up for Sunday school work. And the variety is tremendous to think of.

And every believer has the potential to be useful in building in God's assembly. I hesitate to say this because we've we've been through some some losses recently but when my wife and I came into fellowship in the assembly in which we are in now it would be 46 years ago the assembly was very small and I wouldn't say the assembly was dead but I would say it was on life support and the medics were outside and the coroner maybe as well waiting today the assembly is almost triple in size not quite almost triple.

And while we have had some problems recently we still value the blessing of God upon the assembly. It might surprise you to know that the growth in that assembly could mainly be laid at the feet of three sisters not gifted men not eloquent speakers.

Yes we have them and we've had them come and we have gospel meetings. We have tent meetings every summer and people get saved. But the real work the real effort involved in seeing all this happen primarily three sisters in the assembly and not one of them leaving the sphere.

God gave them as sisters not stepping out of their role in their role seeking to build for God quietly in different ways with hospitality with personal work with contacts slowly one another brought in and then their contacts brought in from them.

And the ripple effect of people hearing the gospel for the first time and coming to Christ. So there's no one here sister brother young old who has to sit back and say well there's no you know that's for the men to do.

That's for the older people to do. That's for the younger people to do. There is something for everyone in God's assembly to do. As we'll see. And further as we come down this chapter you'll notice as well he was also building with the right motive in view.

Look at verse number three. He was going to build a house unto the name of the Lord his God. Look at verse number five. I purpose to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God. Verse number 11. Or rather I'm missing one of the verses.

But nevertheless the the truth is there. He was building for the name of the Lord his God. The goal of all assembly testimony is not that our assembly be bigger. Not that our assembly have a greater diversity of cultures.

Not that our assembly somehow outstripped other assemblies in its efforts. And we look really good building for the name of the Lord our God. All of the different pictures. Now you young Christians all know these so I won't go over all of them.

But all of the different pictures you have in the New Testament of what an assembly is like. It's a it's a house of God. Right. It's a it's a husbandry. God's husbandry. A tilled field. It's a temple of God.

It's a lampstand. Every single one of those pictures show what an assembly means to God not what it means to you and me. Every New Testament picture of an assembly speaks of what it means to God. That's what God thinks of it not what it means to me.

It's not a matter that I come to the assembly for what I can get. You know I'm not getting enough love in the assembly. I don't feel a love. Don't get warm fuzzies when I look at you. No I don't sorry.

Okay. And you know no one really appreciates me. I'm not getting my place. I'm not getting the attention I deserve not getting the chances to speak that I deserve. And it even goes beyond that. You know my daughter should be a Sunday school teacher.

And I'm gonna make sure. And my son should be preaching more often. And so we get even generational conflicts. Okay simply has nothing to do with what I get. It has everything to do with what God gets building for him.

A house for his name a house for his glory. And so we build for him building with the right motives. He was a man that was willing to pay. It was going to be costly to Solomon to build now I know God had provided it God had given him abundance from his father David.

But nevertheless he was going to be willing to sacrifice to build for God. Could I put it like this. If what you are doing for God doesn't cost you something it's worth nothing. If there's no sacrifice involved then it means nothing.

Everyone who serves effectively for God sacrifices. Some of the things are very legitimate. Social time money promotions advancement all those things. Those who are going to serve God are going to be willing to sacrifice.

Solomon's willing to make a I want the trees you have. Here's what I'll give. Here's what I'll pay now. God doesn't call upon everyone to make the same sacrifice. Some. Some few have sacrificed their lives.

Some have sacrificed years. You know what a humbling experience is. And you feel like you don't deserve in the same. You don't deserve to be in the same heaven as they're in to sit across the table from a man.

I had this experience twice in in China. Sit across the table from a man who spent 20 years in prison for preaching Christ. And you think I shouldn't be in the same heaven as he's in talk about feeling small.

And as I sat across from the table from one of those men and he was recounting what it was like to work in a Chinese mine in the wintertime with hardly any clothes to cover his body and no Christian fellowship at all and away from his family.

Wife didn't even know if he was alive or dead. And it dawned on me that for 20 of those there for all those 20 years I never once thought of praying for Christians in prison. And you feel like hiding somewhere and confessing to God your tremendous failure.

There are people who have sacrificed to build for God sacrifice lives. Years. Solomon's willing to sacrifice money. Sometimes money becomes the greatest test of our faith and what we think of God. And so he's willing to sacrifice so that he can build for God.

Sacrifice and Faithful Service

You'll notice as well others in the Word of God who sacrificed for building for God. Think. Let me just mention one more could be said. Just let me mention one. When Paul is writing to the Romans and he's commending different people.

He writes about Aquila and Priscilla who for my sakes have laid down their necks now that's nice. But there's something even better than that because the the real rendering that the more critical rendering of that is who for my sake have laid down their neck.

Singular they were so together in what they were doing. They were so united in their zeal for the gospel that Paul says it's like one neck together laid down on the altar for God willing to sacrifice their lives if necessary.

And as you trace that couple their home is opened their hearts are opened their purses opened. Everything is open for the spread of the gospel. Little wonder. Paul says that who not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles have a tremendous debt for all they have given and all they've sacrificed.

So there are individuals then who are willing to sacrifice. So you may have to sacrifice a night getting ready for a Bible reading because you want to give something to the Christians. You may have to sacrifice a night for visiting a day when you could be out having fun doing something that others what might enjoy.

And you may say you know I think I'd like to be able to to do this or that for the Lord and I'm just gonna me sacrifice. He was a man who as well who valued other men. He valued able men. He was able to organize them able to get them working able to get them organized delegated and so on.

As we've seen already we see that in his delegation of these 30 ,000 and then the men who were over them as well and he was we must build as well by right methods. Notice again the third and last time we are reminded here in this chapter verse number 12 God gave Solomon wisdom wisdom for building.

Remember what Paul says as a wise master builder as a wise architect I've laid the foundation and others are building their own that every man take heed how he builds and so on. But as a wise master builder he had laid the foundation at Corinth and now others were adding to the foundation wisdom for building for God.

Where are you going to find that wisdom in this book. God's methods for building. Everything must take character from a foundation. Right. I mean that's why you lay a foundation. Everything else has to be consistent with the foundation and it is I've laid the foundation.

Jesus Christ are rejected despised man here upon earth whom heaven approved of. Now he says make sure everything you build squares with that. Now this weekend was not intended as a weekend on assembly principles assembly teaching.

Let me just mention this and you can trace it out for yourself. There is nothing we do scripturally as an assembly that if you were to remove it would not detract from the glory of Christ. I just think of that nothing that we do as an assembly that if somehow you decided not to do it that it would not detract from the glory of Christ said another way everything we do we do because of who Christ is and what he has done and where he is now.

You just think of that whether it's the multiplicity of leadership in the assembly the priesthood of all believers the silence of our sisters the leadership of our brethren the head coverings the breaking of bread whatever it is that we do that has scriptural basis.

It is all linked inseparably with who Christ is and what he has done. What that means is there's nothing we do that's arbitrary. Nothing we do this just whimsical. I know the buzzword is what we do is so it was all tradition.

No it's not. And tradition isn't always bad. Keep that in mind. What we do scripturally is all linked with the person of Christ. So building requires a knowledge of God's Word the methods God has used so that Paul says a man is not crowned unless he strived lawfully gotta follow the rules gotta follow God's pattern.

Having said that I was asked recently or the question come up recently if if the assembly is the right place to be why is it that you hear about blessing in this church. And there's this great teacher in that church and there's this great expositor who goes to that particular church.

And why is it that people go there and and they actually they actually can enjoy the scriptures. Well it's easy to just brush it all aside and say that God is sovereign and all of that. But there's really more to it than that.

What kind of a father would God be if he allowed his children to starve. He wouldn't be a very kind father. He's going to feed his children wherever they are. And he will even use men who were in the wrong place because they're handling his word.

And when his word is read and his word is spoken those who are genuinely saved will respond to it. So we leave that with God. We leave that with his wisdom his care. As a father he takes care of his children wherever they are.

But that's not our it's not our issue. Our issue is we want the presence of God in a very real way amongst us. And to do that we have to build according to the rules. We need to strive lawfully. And so we have in the Word of God and the not just a mandate for building but also the the methods for for buildings we could talk about the right mindsets building in light of a future day of revelation.

The Different Workers in God’s Assembly

Let me just talk about the the people themselves. We had burden bearers. We had shewers of wood. We had corridors of stone. We had laborers. We had officers in the chapter right. All those different spheres of labor.

Burden bearers shewers of wood those who quarried stone those who are just called laborers. And those who were the officers I mentioned. I don't know whether it was last night or today things get blurry after a while.

But burden bearers in God's assembly people who bear the burden of testimony you know who they are. There are people who were at all the meetings. And if you were crazy enough to schedule a meeting at midnight they'd be there because they're there to support the assembly.

They just bear the burden of it. They're the ones always in place. They're the ones always ready to do something. They're the ones always there when there's a cleanup day when there's a day where things have to be done they're there and quietly and without a lot of fanfare they go about their work always in their place steady reliable not spectacular just doing whatever they can do to help the assembly.

And as I mentioned those people aren't missed until they're gone. They're the burden bearers. They really carry the burden of assembly testimony. Not necessarily gifted people not even necessarily public people.

But people who just are there reliable. They're the kind of people when they're not at the meeting you call them because they are either sick or something's wrong. You know there's other people they're not at the meeting.

You don't even think twice because they're hardly ever there right. But then there are those people that if they're not there you know something must be wrong. They're known by their absence. And so there are the burden bearers.

There are the hewers of wood maybe a bit more public a bit more important there they're doing all the the big work right there shoeing the wood and bringing the logs in and and bringing it to the temple to be constructed.

And you know people notice them and they're doing big things likewise the quarters of stone and they're working away quietly silently. And yet they're bringing these massive stones to be the foundation for the temple that God is about to build in laborers and those who are officers over the people those who are giving guidance those who are giving instruction let me just mention something here because sometimes when our ministry is directed more for young people there's a maybe some older Christians sit back and think well you know not for us.

Come with me in your mind a couple of centuries back from Solomon let me bring it to the little city of Bethlehem and tell you about a woman named Ruth and Ruth is brought into the family of Boaz and Ruth has a child.

Now there are many many strands that you could trace that bring Ruth to the family of Boaz from the fields of Moab all the way to the field of Boaz to the threshing floor to the family to the future and so on all be traced.

But one thing is noticeable and that was the advice and the encouragement of Naomi. And so when when Ruth comes back with the word that she's actually been in the field of Boaz who was a near kinsman Naomi suddenly begins to realize God is at work.

And Naomi begins to give instructions. Now follow follow my instructions my daughter and it will be well with thee. And she tells her what to do how to go down to the threshing floor how to uncover his skirt and how to call upon him to be the Redeemer.