Unless the LORD Builds the House

The title for today's sermon is taken from the 127th Psalm, and it is, Unless the Lord Builds the House. Unless the Lord Builds the House. Let's begin today by turning over to that Psalm. Psalm chapter 127, it's a song of a sense, as it's so labeled in this section of Scripture. There's actually a number of songs of a sense packaged together here. This section of the Psalms. And those songs of a sense were essentially sung to the best of our understanding as people would make the pilgrimage up to Jerusalem during the three feast seasons of the year at Passover and Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles.

They would sing these songs as they ascended to worship before God in Jerusalem. And we say ascended because Jerusalem generally sits at a higher level in whatever direction you came in around it for the pilgrimage you went up to Jerusalem. So this is a song of a sense, Psalm 127, attributed here to Solomon. It says here, Psalm 127 verse 1, Unless the Lord Builds the House, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. Again, this is actually something that they would acknowledge as they were coming up into God's presence to worship before Him.

It was their focus, recognizing the great need that they had for God's involvement in their life, His direct involvement, and indeed what their response to Him ought to be. Verse 2 says, It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for He gives His beloved sleep. Unless the Lord builds the house, brethren, it's an essential concept for us to remember and to consider, to ingrain our thinking as the people of God today.

Unless the Lord builds the house. I'd ask you to ask yourself, how often, how much do we value God's active involvement in all that we do in this life? Do we seek daily, diligently, pursuing God's hand in all that we set our hand to do? Do we yield ourselves to God, or do we somehow get halfway through a process before God comes to mind and we say, Oh God, please bless this effort? Or do we indeed put it as a part of our thinking process that before I even begin a venture, I looked for God, looked to Him, and seek indeed His involvement in His blessing.

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who builds it. The driving principle behind this song of a sense is that God must be intricately involved in our life's endeavors if they're going to succeed, if they're going to amount to anything according to God's purpose. Again, the focus must be centrally and solely on Him. If God is not for our plans, and maybe even stronger than that, if God opposes our plans, they will not stand. What we in our heart determine to do will not succeed if it does not have God's blessing. We'll simply spin our wheels, simply put in the effort.

We'll lay awake at the sleepless nights, making our plans, planning our strategy, putting our hand and our effort to it to the greatest of our ability, but apart from God. Again, if He is not involved or He does not approve, in the end it will come to nothing. Actually, Solomon here uses this term vain. Let's notice how many times he uses vain just in these two verses. Again, Psalm 127, verses 1 and 2, "...unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain, who build it." It's just vanity. It's like Rod was saying last week. In the cold winter air, you go out and breathe out, and you have that vapor puff that goes out, and poof, it's gone.

Nothing substantial that remains. It is effort and labor spent in vanity. "...unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain." It is vain for you to rise up early. Again, the implication, vain to sit up late, vain to eat the bread of sorrows. For He gives His beloved sleep. God does indeed what He will do.

And if we seek to do what we're going to do apart from Him, Solomon says, you know what, this is vanity as well. I think it's important to remember and to consider. It's a song of a sense. We're going to assemble before God according to His command.

At His feasts, let us remember, unless the Lord builds the house, our efforts are in vain. And it's the principle behind this passage. Three times, literally in the text, we see the term vain used. And it points out the fact that you can spend your best efforts pursuing whatever it is you're planning to pursue.

But apart from God, it will all be effort which comes to nothing in the end. That doesn't mean we don't do our part. Alright? It doesn't mean we don't make plans. It doesn't mean we don't put our effort forward. Indeed, the psalmist doesn't tell the laborer to cease from laboring. He doesn't tell the watchman to cease from watching. But the point is, indeed, they must be partnered with God while doing their part.

If in our Christian life you and I somehow think we can go it alone, or we receive a calling from God and we think, okay, God, I got this. Just watch me. Then again, we're seeking to build a house and pursue an effort in vain. In all your human efforts, all your human energies and focus, all that you could possibly pour into it in this flesh will come to nothing apart from the active involvement of God.

Unless God does the work that He does in us along the way, and that's what we must remember it is the work that He is doing in us by His Spirit, unless that element is there, our efforts, brethren, will be in vain. Unless the Lord builds the house, the house will not get built. Unless the Lord guards the city, the city will go undefended. And ultimately, unless God builds up this spiritual house, this house, this house that we call the Church of God, our greatest human efforts will not accomplish what it is that God is seeking to accomplish in you and me and the body today.

This house will not be built apart from the direct hand of God. It will not be built on the back of sweat and labor and efforts of human efforts by their own standing, only by the direct intervention and the care of God. Now, Psalm 127 is not necessarily specific to the house of God, as in the physical and the spiritual house of God.

It is a concept and a principle, but I would like to focus on the house of God in terms of the... to illustrate how God's involvement is critical to the success of any endeavor that is raised up in His name. So I want to go to, I suppose, what we could call the first house of God. Exodus chapter 35. Let's take a look at the tabernacle in the wilderness. Exodus chapter 35.

This predates the temple Solomon built. This would be the tabernacle of meeting that which was carried for the 40 years of Israel's wanderings. God gave them instruction and specific insight into building. Exodus chapter 35 and verse 4. We're going back here to its inception, to the construction phase, and indeed even before that. Exodus 35 verse 4. It says, And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD commands, saying, Take from among you an offering to the LORD. Whoever is of willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the LORD.

Gold, silver, and bronze, blue, purple, and scarlet, thread, fine linen, and goat's hair, ramskins, dyed red, badger skins, acacia wood, oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. Onyx stones and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. So here all these beautiful and wonderful and intricate things are going to be collected and we might wonder where did this ragtag group of slaves even come up with these things?

Well, likely, if you recall, they plundered the Egyptians. God gave them favor with the Egyptians just before their departure in the Exodus from Egypt. And likely, these things that were contributed now to the building of the tabernacle were the things that they collected, the materials that they brought and carried out on their own back from the Egyptians out of Egypt.

Verse 10 says, All who are gifted artisans among you shall come and make all the Lord has commanded. The tabernacle, its tents, its covering, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets. And what we see, as we have already seen, if the Lord builds a house, the point is here, the people as well had to do their part. They were to contribute their goods towards the collection, and they were to contribute specific skills that were going to be nornated towards what would need to be done to construct the tabernacle.

And not only the structure, but the accoutrements, all the things that went into the instruments for the service of the priesthood that would be constructed as well. So they contributed material, they contributed skill, human devices, human efforts. Verse 21, let's drop down, still in Exodus 35, says, Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord's offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments.

And they came both men and women, as many as had willing hearts, and they brought earrings and nose rings and necklaces, all jewelry of gold, that is, every man who made an offering of gold to the Lord. And every man whom was found blue and purple and scarlet thread, fine linen, goat's hair, redskins, just all these wonderful, beautiful things, they brought them. Everyone who offered an offering of silver or bronze brought the Lord's offering, and everyone with whom was found acacia would, for any work of the service, brought it. All the women who were gifted artisans spun yarn with their hands, and brought what they had spun, of blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen.

And all the women whose heart stirred with wisdom spun yarn of goat's hair. The rulers brought onyx stones, and the stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate, and spices and oil for the light, oil for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.

It says, And the children of Israel brought a freewill offering to the Lord, all the men and women whose hearts were willing to bring material for all kinds of work which the Lord, by the hand of Moses, had commanded to be done. So the people here, the people of Israel, had a zeal. They were fired up. They had a desire. God had given them something to do. Giving them something to do that could be attributed to His name. And they brought all these things according to their best efforts. They brought their substance, their materials. They brought their skill. This was not skill that suddenly appeared. There was a level of skill that they had. Again, everything that they could bring according to their best human efforts. The zeal was good, brother. Verse 30, it says, And Moses said to the children of Israel, See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And he has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works to the work in gold, in silver, and bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic workmanship. And he has put in his heart the ability to teach in him, in Holyab, the son of Ahissimak, the tribe of Dan. God has filled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver, the designer, the tapestry maker, in blue and purple, in scarlet thread, in fine linen, and of the weaver, those who do every work, and those who design artistic works. And Bezalel, in Aholiyab, and every gifted artisan in whom the Lord has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, shall do according to all that the Lord has commanded. And so God desired that his tabernacle, and additionally the items of service that would go along with that, that they would be constructed according to a certain specification. He'd given to Moses those specifications. This is how it's going to be built. Here's how it's going to look. Here's the materials for it. And he took individuals with skill. He said they had skill. They were skilled artisans in their trade, and he took them in their skill, and God increased their skill by his spirit. It says he gave them the spirit of wisdom and the spirit of understanding to do these things. So the point is, even in their own skill, even by the best of their physical human standards and the talents of which they had, they were not capable of constructing the tabernacle according to the standards and specifications that God desired. God added to them a special measure of ability in wisdom through his spirit. And by that, they were able to teach others. And by that, they were able to accomplish in service to God that which he desired. Apart from God's active involvement, brethren, in the construction of the tabernacle, Israel would have spent their best human efforts in vain.

They would have taken the materials they brought out in Egypt. They would have taken the skill that they had in their midst, and they would have put it to work according to their best efforts. And you know what? The result would have fallen short of what it is that God desired and what he commanded that tabernacle would be. Carrying on in verse 2, here now in chapter 36, it says, In Moses and Bezalel and Holyab, and every gifted artisan, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone whose heart was stirred to come and do the work. And they received from Moses all the offering with the children of Israel brought for the work of the service of the making of the sanctuary. So they continued bringing to him free will offerings every morning. People were just pouring it out, pouring it out, bringing it in. Verse 4, Then all the craftsmen who were doing all the work of the sanctuary came from the work he was doing, and they spoke to Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord has commanded us to do. And so Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. And the people were restrained from bringing, for the material which they had brought was sufficient for the work to be done, and indeed too much. What we find here is that the zeal of the people to fulfill what God desired to be accomplished was great. And when God called for an offering that could bring these materials for the construction of the tabernacle, it came. And it came with great zeal, great abundance. But in actually building this thing, actually putting it together, you know, there came a point where people had to be restrained of what they brought. Again, it wasn't for a lack of zeal here. There must be zeal. There must be zeal among us and the people of God. But the point is, apart from zeal, you're still not going to accomplish what indeed God had set before them. It only came by God's hand and God's efforts backing up their active involvement in the construction of this tabernacle. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. All the toil, all the efforts will come to nothing apart from God's active involvement in the process. We see it here with the tabernacle, we would say, the earliest prototype or type of the house of God. Now, after Israel settled into the Promised Land, fast forward now to the time of Solomon. Solomon was given the ability by God, the permission in that sense, to build a house for his name, a more permanent temple than that would be constructed, be the house of God's presence.

I won't necessarily turn to that account today, brethren, but I would just consider that Solomon's acknowledgement in the psalm of a sense, Psalm 127, this is just my speculation, but I think Solomon in his mind likely was considering the house that God had given him to build for his name.

Unless the Lord builds the house, this is just wasted effort. The fact that unless God is involved in our life, in our worship, again they're coming up to worship before him in Jerusalem, without that perspective, then our life's work would be in vain.

Now, ultimately, as time went on, both Israel and Judah, we know the story, they rebelled against God. They would think, well, we've got the temple in our midst. Ultimately, there was the separation between Israel and Judah, and you can turn through the prophets and you can read about Judah going, well, you know, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we. And thinking, the temple's in our midst, we have God here, nothing could happen to us. And yet, they didn't conduct themselves, as if God was in their midst. Like we heard in the sermonette, you know, when God is in your midst and you see who God is directly, it ought to be a humbling event in your life, by which you recognize who you are, and you recognize who God is in perspective. So they thought, we've got the temple of the Lord, we're okay. And yet, God said, you're not okay because you're not obedient, going after false gods. Ultimately, Israel was carried off by the Assyrians, scattered among the nations. Judah was taken captivity then into Babylon, hauled off for 70 years, captivity, and the temple of God was destroyed. Jerusalem was burned.

If we fast forward now to the end of that 70-year captivity, a remnant returned to Jerusalem.

They began rebuilding the city. They began rebuilding the temple of God with zeal, actually.

Everybody could have returned, should they desired, but not everybody did. It was approximately 10 percent, that remnant that returned to Jerusalem. But again, it was with zeal for God's house, to build that house. And they began with zeal. But if you're to study through the story, what you're going to find is their efforts were frustrated.

Their attempts to do what God had given them to do were hindered. They received opposition from the surrounding nations. They became stalled. They became discouraged. In many ways, they became lost, and what it was their focus should have been. Result of that stalling was a 20-year delay, between the laying of the foundation of Zerubbabel's temple and the consecration of the structure in 516 BC. 20 years, return with zeal, you laid a foundation, opposition, can't get it done, discouragement. Your best efforts, yet it's like a flame that flames up in zeal and then dwindles. 20 years between the laying of the foundation and when they actually consecrated the temple. Again, their purpose became discouraged. It became stalled.

But then an event occurred which reignited their vision, reignited their zeal and their drive for the completion of the house of God. Let's go to Zechariah chapter 4. Let's take a look at this moment.

Zechariah chapter 4.

Zechariah was a prophet who had been commissioned by God to encourage the people to once again pick up and complete the building process. Through Zechariah, God gave visions. He gave prophecies, and we would call some of those dual prophecies, some which had a partial fulfillment in that day and yet are dual, pointing towards the end time. And indeed, Zechariah has prophecies as well contained in his book, pointing to the return of Jesus Christ. But what we have here, specifically regarding the temple in Zerubbabel, we can find in Zechariah chapter 4 and verse 1.

It says, Now the angel who talked with me, talked to Zechariah, came back and wakened me as a man who was wakened out of sleep. And he said to me, What do you see? So I said, I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes and seven lamps, two olive trees, one at the right of the bowl, one other at its left.

So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, What are these, my Lord? And the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, Do you not know what these things are? And I said, No, my Lord. And so he answered and said to me, verse 6, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

Here God is saying to Zerubbabel that the completing of the temple project would not be by human might. It's not going to be by human desire and zeal. Indeed, we've seen that with stalled time and time and time again, whenever opposition came, whenever something happened to frustrate their abilities. This is not going to be by might nor by power on the human level. This temple wasn't going to be built by the skilled craftsmen or laborers wasn't going to be by their efforts that it would be completed. Indeed, it had stalled again under their efforts.

What would get this done? What would get the house of God rebuilt among the people of God, the city of God, not by might nor by power, but by the motivating power of God's Holy Spirit?

Verse 7 says, Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plane. In other words, no obstacle would stand in his way. God says, I've partnered with you. I am backing this effort by my spirit. There will be no obstacle to stand in your way, Zerubbabel. This will be completed. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plane. You know, just kind of leveled, cleared out of the way. And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace, grace to it. Zerubbabel here is being told, you know what, you will be the one to complete this project. You will be the one to see it through from the foundation to the capstone. Again, by my spirit with shouts of grace, grace to it. Verse 8, Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple. His hands shall also finish it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For who has despised the day of small things? This temple, by comparison to Solomon's temple, was a very small thing. In the grand scale and simply the items of the construction and the materials, this was a very small thing. In fact, you go back and read through the story, people wept when they saw the foundation of this new temple laid. And it wasn't a weeping necessarily over rejoicing over this. This was a weeping when they called the mind the temple that had been built and what they now had the ability to build by comparison. Again, human efforts alone would not accomplish these things, though. For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoiced to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth. So again, this temple very small compared to the glory of Solomon's temple. Yet it was God here, again, the eyes of the Lord. It was God who rejoiced to see the completion of this small thing. You know what? He had provided the miraculous means by which they came out of Babylon, by which their deliverance had come. He brought them back to this place where this temple could be rebuilt. So this was the will of God, which, by the way, translates into no small thing. This may have been a small structure, insignificant to the glory days, but God said, I am behind this. I am backing this effort. This is perhaps a small thing, but my spirit is here. And by his spirit and power, he would bring this effort to pass. Again, when it had been stalled over and over by human efforts alone. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. That's what we find in Zechariah. Same principle. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. All the human toil, all the effort, all that would be poured into that, the blood, sweat, and tears, those things, in this case, distracted, thwarted, put on pause, apart from God's active involvement in the process. Darlan, I experienced a similar lesson in our lives over the last year and a half or so.

You all are aware of what it is that we've gone through. We were displaced from our house by mudslide on June 1st of 2017. That's a, you know, certain things happen in your life that are memorable dates that you'll probably never forget the date. June 1st, 2017, there was the mudslide. It was a sudden event. One day we were in our home. Next day we're just out, removed, and simply no warning at all, never to return again. We also had one other neighbor that was affected by the mudslide as well. They were also displaced at the same time. I'm not going to rehash the story for you, brethren, but I would just say there's a lesson that seems to come to Darlan's mind in this, and that is that for whatever reason, God removed us from that house. I mean, just literally said, you're out and removed us on that day. Now, his protection was clearly there.

If that mudslide had come straight down the hill, a number of people in Spokane have been up there and seen it. You hiked to the top of the hill and you looked down the throat of this mudslide, and from where it started, if it had just gone straight down, it would have overrun the house, family in it, killing everybody. It slid at an angle, just missing. The news reporter that came out and did the story put one hand on the house and one hand on the debris field there, outbuilding just right next to the house, turned into toothpicks. And so for us, clearly God's hand, God's blessing, his direction is there. And personally, having seen that, I have not one complaint about, honestly, what took place that day. I have questions, you know, maybe, you know, maybe there's things you could calculate in your life that you say, well, kind of wish this hadn't happened or we hadn't lost that, but you see God's direct hand and know that he was indeed there and what he spared, believe me, I have no complaint. The county came along, says, that hill is unstable, your house is condemned, ultimately, you know, we're out. So we spend now the last year and a half, and specifically the more so the last year, trying to get back onto our property.

So we have 15 acres, we have some room we can rebuild in a safe zone on there. Again, get back up onto our property. And so the last year has been spent trying to re-establish ourselves. And it's that re-establishment process that many of you are aware of that brings to my mind, again, Psalm 127. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.

A number of you are aware of the difficulties we faced with the first company that we hired.

We contracted to have our home moved in November of 2017. We bought a four-section, manufactured home from Oregon. It was a secondhand home, but it had the footprint and the size we needed to get re-established. I needed an office. My mother-in-law lives with us. We have two children at home, so we needed to have this square footage to get re-established. So we bought this home, we hired this contractor with the expectation that, you know, this is coming very soon.

And so we began the process there, again, November of 2017. What happened from there? Well, equipment breakdowns for the contractor, right? Sickness, injury, personal injury to the contractor, employee issues, delay after delay after delay. I even volunteered at one point to become essentially his employee. Let's go get this thing. We need it here. It was going to be March and then April and then May, then June and then July, right? So best human efforts, on our part, to push. Let's get this done. Let's get this place here. Again, delay after delay. After 10 months, right, of fruitless effort, the contractor broke the contract with us and essentially allowed us to move on. And we were able then to find some other contractors that helped us along the way. But you know what? God made it clear to us that this wasn't the company that he wanted to handle our home. And what to us at the time looked like, you know, very unfortunate delay after delay after delay, we believe really was God's hand literally restraining that home from being moved under that management, shall we say. Again, all our effort, our drive, our pushing, let's get this thing done. Weather was beautiful and it did not happen for one reason after another. August, fast forward now, August of this year we were able to move on. We hired four different contractors, one that disassembled the home on that end, one that transported it to Spokane, one that did the foundation pad, as it should be done, for the footprint of the home, and one that assembled it. And literally, as we stepped into that arena, the doors flew open. We had one point where I was gone to the feast and gone, the home was disassembled, boom, the transport company said, we're ready to bring it, bang, and suddenly now I'm scrambling going, the foundation isn't finished here at home because we had to reset and go forward with a new plan and a new contractor. And yet, we're like, let's just get this thing here, we'll figure it out. So the transport company starts out on the second of October with the first section of our home. Tire blowout after tire blowout. And we're thinking, is this another continuance? This disaster, does it ever end? Well, four tire blowouts and 40 miles, they take the first section back. And so we're going to have to regroup, figure this thing out, and come again. Well, in the meantime, that gave us the opportunity with the contractor on this end to pour the foundation, have the footprint set. And when the home came a month later, you just, you can just pull it right on and you're ready to go. And again, looking back, we say, God restrained that. He put this in place, and then he brought it all together. So it arrived November 2nd. First part of December, we had a company that came and assembled it. And I was talking to one of the foremen on the job, the foreman, and he said to me, you know, I'm not really sure how you got on our schedule. The people that did the foundation gave us the referral, made a phone call on our behalf. But he said, I'm not really sure how you got on our schedule because they spent five guys, four guys, five days, all right, four guys, five days doing this. And he said, you know what, we're booked up for three months. And my wife works in the office, and we just turned away 20 jobs this week. It is just just like the house building industry, the manufactured home industry is booming, and they cannot keep up. He said, I don't know how you even got on our schedule.

And Darla and I said, we know. We know. Unless the Lord builds the house. There was a point where God said, you're not going this direction. I'm not for it. And despite our best efforts in pushing for 10 months, it did not happen. God says, here's the door I've opened. And the people and the timing, it just all fell into place. And the efforts were not in vain. The efforts were into completion.

God opened the door. Interestingly enough, we received the final sign off for occupancy on January 17th. We had our final inspection, signed the paperwork, you're good to go, move in anytime. Interestingly, our neighbor up on the hill, who had also been affected by the mudslide, had a contractor that basically moved in a mountain back to that hole, all right, put in footings, culverts, drainage, built this back up so they could have access to their place. They had certain delays and various things that took place. But January 17th, they received official access back to their home the very day that we received access to ours.

I can't really tell you what that means, except to me that's not a coincidence.

You know, displaced on the same day, June 1st, 2017, granted access back the same day, January 17, 2019. To me, that is not of our own hands and our own doing. That is only by the hand of God. We spent our first night in the house last night, by the way. It's a huge blessing.

Certain things we got to figure out, like I got up this morning, it has all these windows.

Essentially, we're living in the horse pasture, except we got a little fence keeping the horses back a little distance. But I opened all these windows because it's a beautiful view, and the horses recognized, oh, you're awake! So suddenly now we got this whole line of horses kind of staring in the window, saying, oh, is that your second cup of coffee? You know, get us fed. But it's been an adventure. But again, brethren, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. It's the same with us in the Church of God today as well. We are the house of God. We are the spiritual temple of God. And unless God builds up this house, our best efforts, our best human efforts, blood, sweat, and tears, whatever we might pour into this of our own resource apart from God, will not stand. The Church of God in this day and age won't be built by human power or might, but by the active involvement of God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Let's notice Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19. Ephesians 2 verse 19.

Apostle Paul writing, he says, Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, that's you and I, members of the household of God, having built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Every house has to have a foundation if it's going to stand. God said to us, you're not getting your house until your foundation is laid. And you know what he said to the Church, the house that I'm going to build is going to be laid on the foundation of the apostles, the prophets, the teachings, the revelations from God, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. He's that stone that ties the whole thing together and squares up the entire structure. Verse 21. In whom, in Christ, the whole building being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. And so the house of God is a spiritual house.

It's not a physical house made with physical hands. Stephen, standing before the council, says, you know, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands. Heavens his throne, earth is his footstool. Where's the house you'll build for me? And where's the place of my rest, says the Lord. Indeed, it is here, brethren, among us in this house, here, the spiritual church of God.

This is not a physical house, and it's not going to be constructed upon our own human labor and efforts to build it up. It's going to be built up upon the will of God by his Spirit, by his direct involvement, and through the reconciliation of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That's how this house will be built. If we ever come to the point that we think our own human efforts, our own physical drive and ability is what builds this house, then I would say we've lost perspective. And we've gravely missed out on recognizing what it is, indeed, God is doing in us and through us. We must still do our part. Israel had to do their part. All right. Darlan and I had to do our part in getting our house built. You know, you don't just sit idly back. In the Church of God, every member must do its part, contributing to the whole, to the strength of the body, but God does his part as well. Ephesians 4, verse 11. Ephesians 4, 11. And he himself gave some to the apostles and prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. Ministry simply means service. God has called all of us into his service for the edifying or the building up of the body of Christ. Till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. God the Father and Jesus Christ give responsibilities to men for the building up of this spiritual house, but let us never think that it is men alone who do the actual construction that produce the actual fruit of the labor. We do our part and there is result, but apart from God and apart from his Spirit, the increase does not come.

We won't turn there, but Jesus Christ said in Matthew 16 verse 18, I will build my church and the gates of the grave shall not prevail against it.

This is the body of Jesus Christ. It is the church of God the Father. We are the dwelling place of his Spirit and this church will be built not on our own standing, not on our own strength and skill. All that labor would simply be in vain. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 1.

1 Corinthians 3 verse 1, Paul says, And I brethren could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.

He says, I filled you with milk and not with solid food, for until now you are not able to receive it. And even now you are still not able, for you are still carnal. For where there are envy and strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? Notice it's the Lord who gave to each one. The point is what had been accomplished in God's spiritual house through those men was a result of what God was doing through them, not I'm for that guy or I'm for that guy.

The answer is I am for God. And as Matthew mentioned in last week's sermon, Paul said, I'm for God to follow me as I follow Jesus Christ. That's the standard we're looking towards, not to the standard necessarily of a man on their own merit. So this argument, Apoll or Apollos. Verse 5, Who then is Paul, who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? Paul says, I planted Apollos waters, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Unless the Lord builds the house, this spiritual house, they labor in vain who build it. Again, we still do our part. It's not that we sit back on our heels, but it is God who gives the increase. And apart from God's active involvement, the ministry of Jesus Christ would simply be spinning their wheels with no actual production or growth in God's service taking place. Verse 8, he says, Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's building. According to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Again, this work isn't about what it is that we are doing.

According to our standard or our desires, it is about what God is doing, building on the foundation which has been laid. Verse 12, Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, the day of test, the day of when this is brought to bear under intensity, scrutiny, under fire, ultimately the day of the Lord. Each one's work will become clear if the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. It says, Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? I could almost hear Paul. He's going, Do you not get this?

You're arguing, you know, who's a Paul, who's of Apollo? So do you not even know who you are? You are the temple of God. The Spirit of God dwells in you, and it's not about any man, it is about God, and what God would perhaps do and would allow us to do in his service.

But you are his temple. Verse 17, If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy which temple you are. The instruction here, I believe, and indeed the warning, is be careful how you build.

Paul specifically, and specifically as well, to the ministry, be careful how you build.

Yet that applies indeed to all of us who would labor in the word of God and among his body as fellow workers of God. This is a spiritual house of God, and he's allowed us to play a part in the building up of the body. We need to come together for activities, we associate with one another and do things that are fun. The fun isn't the end result we seek, the fun is the strengthening of relationships. The fun is the building up of the body, not some country club atmosphere that we're looking to maintain. And it is God, brethren, who gives the increase. It is God who builds the house. Whatever God purposes will succeed. That which he has purpose to succeed, it will succeed. Whatever he purposes to fail, it will come to nothing despite our best efforts. When the apostles preached Jesus Christ throughout Jerusalem, many of the Jewish leaders really weren't all that impressed. In fact, you know what, they wanted that faction stopped because that faction was a threat to their own authority. And they decided they really didn't like where this was going.

One man with a degree of wisdom offered a bit of advice that ties in well, brethren, with the principle we're looking at today. So I'd like to conclude in Acts chapter 5.

Acts 5, you know, we could probably question the overall wisdom of the man himself, but I think this is a nugget of truth that he expresses here in Acts chapter 5. Acts 5 verse 27, speaking of the apostles, it says, And when they had brought the apostles, they set them before the council, and the high priest asked them, saying, Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and you intend to bring this man's blood on us.

You know, just think about the magnitude of that for a moment. Who are they standing before? This is the council and the Pharisees in Jerusalem. This is the high priest saying, Would you just shut up about this guy? All right. A bunch of troublemakers. You seek to bring this man's blood on us. This is kind of the highest, I suppose, human authority under the Jewish culture that they're standing before. Verse 29, But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on the tree. It wasn't Baal who resurrected Jesus Christ, right? It wasn't Molech. It wasn't Diana, goddess of the Ephesians. He said, The God of our fathers raised him up, and he is whom we serve. He is whom we obey. We don't yield to what it is that you may try to undermine his efforts in. Again, the point is the authority for all that we do in the Church of God comes from God.

Carry on verse 31. Acts 5, 31. Him, speaking of Christ, God is exalted to his right hand to be prince and savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.

When they heard this, they were furious. They plotted to kill them. And then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gemeliel, a teacher of the law. It's very likely this Gemeliel is the same one whom young Apostle Paul, who was Saul at the time, learned at his feet. Gemeliel, a teacher of the law, held in respect by all the people. And he commanded them to put the Apostles outside for a little while. And he said to them, men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. For some time ago, Theodos rose up, claiming to be somebody. And a number of men, about 400, joined him, and he was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. He says, you know what? This was an effort of men, plain and simple. Verse 37, after this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed.

Again, the efforts of men. And it is what you see time and time again, going back through the history of the Church of God, that when there's perhaps somebody that would rise up in a faction, depart, oftentimes, as is Satan's ploy, it leads to a dispersal scattered to the wind. And that is, indeed, what they were having take place here. Someone would rise up, would leave, zeal for a period of time, but it was of men, dispersal, scattered to the wind. It was not of God. And he says, these are the fruits. But verse 38 now is what I want to focus on. 38 and 39. And now I say to you, keep away from these men, keep away from the apostles, and let them alone. For if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing. But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest you be found to fight against God. You know, he's essentially saying, you know, sit back and watch the fruits of this thing. See where this goes. Whatever God purposes to succeed will succeed. Whatever he purposes or allows to fail will fail. You cannot stand in the way of it. You cannot stand in the way of what it is that God would do. But sometimes mankind will do things, all right? They will do things that are of their own will and purpose. And sometimes mankind will do things which are of God. And sometimes we may even sit back and wonder which is which. You know, is this is this of men? Or is this of God? And I think this word is instructive.

Be patient. Watch for the fruits. Seek to discern the spirit surrounding such a thing. If a matter is of God, it will stand. It will not be opposed. It will not be brought low. And if it is not of God, it will come to nothing. Again, this nugget of wisdom from Gamaliel, I believe, is important for us to consider. If God's presence is indeed in a matter and he is guiding the effort by his spirit, you know what will be evident? The fruits of the spirit. If you want to know if God and his spirit are present in something, look for the fruits of the spirit of God. Fruits of love, fruits of joy, fruits of peace, fruits of long suffering, we would call that patience. Fruits of kindness, fruits of goodness, fruits of gentleness, fruits of self-control. You can find all of those. Galatians 5, verse 22 and 23. If the spirit of God is present, you will find that spirit. If it's of the spirit of God, the root of bitterness, the spirit of anger will not be found. The spirit of accusation, the spirit of pointing of the finger, brethren, will not be present if it is of the spirit of God. I would just encourage us, let us all be cautious of what manner of spirit we are. Notice the response of the apostles.

Here, they're brought in. They're told to zip it by the highest authority that at least man would recognize among the Jewish people. But let's notice their response as they go out from facing the council. Verse 40. And they agreed with him, agreed with Gimaliel, they agreed with him, and when they had called the apostles and beaten them, not exactly what he said, remember he said, let these men alone, right? But I suppose they had to get in a few looks just for good measure. When they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing, rejoicing, rejoicing, that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple and in every house they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. Gimaliel said, if this work is of men, it will come to nothing. But if it is of God, you cannot stand against it. You cannot resist God. It will not be squelched. It will not be overthrown. Solomon said, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Put in your best efforts, but if God's not there, it's all vanity.

God said through the prophet Zechariah, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Brethren, you and I are the spiritual house that God is building. The church of God is not all about what we are doing. It's all about what God is doing through us by his Spirit, what he's allowed us to participate in. Let us recognize that apart from God, our best human efforts and abilities will accomplish nothing lasting. But you know what? We are fellow workers of God.

We've been called to labor and to serve one another in this way of life, not laborers of ourselves, fellow workers with God. So let us look to him, look to his Son, to direct our spiritual efforts in his service and to his glory. Let us be about our Father's business. Let us be about contributing to the strength and the unity of this spiritual house until the return of Jesus Christ, looking forward, brethren, to the day when we will be granted to live forever in the Lord-built house.