Building a House That Stands

See on YouTube

https://youtube.com/live/n3QVtXuJu7c

Building a House That Stands

1 Samuel 8:4-20

Psalm 138

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

Mark 3:20-35

Any big project in life takes much planning and strategy. These things are not something that you can just jump right in and rush. Without proper planning and execution of that plan success is very unlikely to happen. Often these things require teamwork as well. For example, designing and building a home takes teamwork. If that team though is not working well together and not communicating well then, the integrity of that house’s structure may be questionable. It takes a united home front to build a home that will stand. However, a home front or team divided against itself will not stand.

1 Samuel 8 is a troublesome passage because it marks a moment in time in which Israel decided to surrender its freedom and sovereignty as a nation. It is amazing how Satan can trick entire nations into believing a lie. The people were under the belief that life would be better and easier for them if they had a monarchy just like everyone else in the world. They had no desire to be holy and set apart from other nations. They believed that if they had a king then they could just sit back and let that king do everything for them. What they failed to realize and what Samuel tried to warn them about is that they would have to work twice as hard because now they would be ruled by an earthly king who could do to them and use them however, they saw fit. They believed that the king would fight their battles for them so that they would not have to. But they failed to understand that an earthly king could not fight whole armies on his own. He would need soldiers. And where would those soldiers come from? From the people who thought that they would not have to fight their own battles. The Lord had cared for them and protected them all this time but now the people forgot all about what the Lord did and believed more in what they could see and not in what they could not see.

Samuel was upset out their decision because he knew all what this meant. However, the Lord told Samuel to give them what they want and to not take it personally because it was really God who they were rejecting and not Samuel himself. God gives us the free will to decide to choose him or to choose the world. Well, a house divided against itself will not stand and once the people rejected God and chose a king to lead them, they became a house divided against itself. They were a divided kingdom set apart now away from the Lord and this kingdom though blessed by God, did not stand.

Our Gospel passage this morning comes from Mark 3:20-35. Jesus and his disciples enter a house and quickly a crowd of people started to surround them. Mark tells us that it was so packed full and chaotic that Jesus and the disciples could not even eat a meal together. The crowds had followed because previous to this he had been healing the sick and drove out demons as they traveled. Interesting enough while this is happening, Jesus’ family heard about this and are headed out to “take charge of him” for they possibly did not yet believe or understand about who he was. They thought that he was out of his mind so they were going to go do something about this. Then some Pharisees came by who also of course were not happy about the commotion he was causing and were perhaps jealous about the attention that he was getting. They claimed that he was sent from Satan and was driving out demons through the power of Satan. They had to make him look like he was not from God. However, Jesus calls them over and starts to speak to them logically. Logically, why would Satan drive out Satan? What would that really accomplish for him? If Satan is driving out Satan, then he becomes a house divided and this house cannot stand.

Jesus’ family then arrives and send someone in to call him out. They say that his mother and brothers are outside. Jesus knows what is on their hearts and explains that those who are around him are his mother and brothers. He explains that anyone who does the will of God is his family. Old has gone and the new has come. The house that Jesus grew up in has now been divided and it will not stand but this new house of those who follow the will of God will stand forever.

The same can be said of a church. If a house is divided against itself then it will not stand. This past year there has been a movement of churches in some denominations that have become divided and as a result they have split apart. They have split apart over what is now culturally acceptable but not necessarily biblically acceptable. There have been those who have chosen to follow the world and culture and others who have chosen to continue to follow scripture. Just because the world now accepts something does not make it right. Some believe that if they are loud enough and give the appearance of the majority then this means that they are in the right. However, right is right and wrong is wrong. The difference is defined by the Word of God. However, these differences are so great that there are churches that are not standing firm.

How do we build a church then that will stand? We must be a church that is not divided. We must be a church that is united by the Word of God. If this is the case then everything else becomes trivial. There may be little things here and there that we may not agree on like what should we eat for lunch or what decorations should be in the church or in this political season, what candidate should we vote for and support. These things become trivial to a church that is still united on the word of God. If we follow his will and his Word then we become the family of God. We become Jesus’ brothers and sisters. This is how we build a house that stands. Are we a house that is divided against itself, or are we a house built on the foundation of the Word of God and stand united under that foundation? I don’t know about you but I want to be considered a brother of Christ. We do that by following his will and being united under his will. Let us be a house built on a strong foundation and be a house that stands.