Building God’s House — Willingly

From a message given at the Nassau, Bahamas Bible conference, a few days before the Lord called the author home. We recommend that, if possible, you read 1 Chronicles 29 before reading this message, and have your Bible open so you can refer to the passages as they are mentioned.

How good it is that God has given us in picture form in the Old Testament what helps us to put into action the position and calling to which we are called. I would like to bring before us just a few thoughts from 1 Chronicles chapter 29, which have impressed me much lately with the truth of the willingness wherewith we take up the things of God. In fact, the portion we have before us speaks of it seven times: the willingness of the people in getting together the material for the temple.

David wanted to build the temple, but we know he was a man of war. God allowed him, however, to prepare for his son, Solomon, to undertake for that work. Could we not look at this as a picture of the house of God, and link it with lessons for the local assemblies; for our being prepared willingly to further the work; to build up the saints of God?

We have illustrations of Nehemiah and Ezra and I think here, in connection with the building of the temple, we have the preparation being laid by David, a type of our Lord Jesus. And then how He provides for the upbuilding, the enrichment, the ministry, shall we say, that will keep the assembly to the honor of God.

"Furthermore David the King said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender." I could not help but be impressed with the fact that it is those who are young and tender. Those who accompanied the Lord in discipleship while here were comparatively young men. Young men. Young men were those who were taking the lead in following the Lord, establishing the truth of God and the assemblies. So it is important to begin in our youth.

And I say for us who are older, let's take care of our young people. Let's see to it that they are led in the way that will enable them to take up the work and carry it on until the Lord returns. The work is great. It is so great that only God can really do it. But He uses instruments that are willing. Willing and ready--prepared. That is what we all want to be, that is what we would all like to encourage others to be. The work is great. The temple was not for man, but for the Lord God, and so is the assembly. The assembly is for the Lord. "I will build My assembly." Each local assembly is regarded as for the Lord. It is not my assembly; it is His. By the grace of God we are part of it and isn't it a wonderful privilege to be part of the testimony in the assembly which the Lord is still building through the means of the young and through the material we have in the Word of God?

"I have prepared with all my might." Think of David and the love that he had. He was truly a man after God's own heart. There was no reserve of strength. He did not reserve anything for himself. He had it in mind that with all his might, all his strength he would prepare for the house of God, or as we shall say, the assembly. It should take precedence over every other activity because we are called into the fellowship of God's Son. We are here for that purpose in the world, to have Him working in us and through us what will give a testimony to Himself, to the Christ, to Christ the Head, and you and I members of His body.

He says, "For the house of my God" and then there was mentioned gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, onyx stones, glistening stones, and of divers colors and all manner of precious stones and white marble in abundance." All could have a suggestive thought as to the various truths of Scripture which the Holy Spirit delights to bring forth, that we may lay hold of them and value them. And as we value them ourselves and they get a hold of us, we can contribute them to the building up of the house of God, the building up of the assembly. So here there is no reserve of strength on his part. Shouldn't it be our first thought that we are set apart for God to be here in a very special way--a people that He has called out to His Name? There cannot be anything more precious, or more valuable, and God would like us to be sincere and withhold nothing in seeking to build up that testimony.

Then you notice we read, "Moreover, I have set my affection to the house of my God." Where are our affections centered? What comes first in our thoughts? With David his affections were set toward the house of his God. That's where there was no lack of love; in fact, there was first love. It had first place. He was aware of the greatness and goodness of God whom he had learned as his Shepherd that he would not want. He had experienced many trials; he had gone through failures. But he had been the recipient of the ministry and grace of a loving God. And therefore he would not withhold any love for what would please Him. God was going to build a house. The Lord is building His church today. How good it is if our affections are set toward what He is doing.

"Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given..." There's no lack of giving. In regards to our communicating, we read, "To do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Hebrews 13:16). So here we see an example of a man who had a heart right with God: a man after God's own heart. He had no reserve of strength. There was nothing lacking in what he could bring, there was no lack of love, and there was no lack of giving.

What a splendid example he is, then, of the product of grace to produce and to have here in this scene, where all is contrary to it, a testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ. His assembly is the dearest possession that He has, and how precious to be part of that, and to be part of it in a practical way. I know all believers are a part of the assembly generally. But here we are in the local meeting. When we come together we get a little idea of the unity of the saints of God from other places. What a wonderful joy it will be when in heaven all will be complete. But we have the privilege here, now, in our locality to be a representation of that body, of that assembly, that house that God is building; to be lively, or living stones in it; to show forth the praises and excellencies of Him that has called us out of darkness into light.

And here you notice there was no lack of affection, and no lack of giving. "I have given to the house of my God over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house." Think of that! He would give more--give all.

It all begins in the heart, does it not? If our heart is right with Him, all will flow in a proper direction to build up. If we are not building up, I do believe we are tearing down. I don't think there is any such thing as standing still in the testimony for our Lord. Let us search our hearts and ask, "Am I building, or what?" You know, to be builders, we must be influenced by the same motivation that we read of here.

Then he goes on to say, "Even three thousand talents of gold." All this would no doubt speak of the magnificent magnitude of God's provision to display His glory in the church. The time is coming!--the dispensation of the fullness of time. He is going to display all this; all to perfection. The very fact that that is going to be, ought to have an effect upon us even now. We should act out now, by God's strength and God's power, the Spirit's teaching, the Spirit's leading, the Lord's headship, and produce now what will manifest His glory here on earth in what He is building.

"I have prepared for the holy house, even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal: the gold for things of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers."

Then comes the question. It is a challenge for each of us. We might not have the abundance that he had, but whatever we have and is given to Him, is regarded as a great sacrifice. The woman that cast the two mites into the treasury, of her the Lord says she gave more than they all. There was no reserve, no keeping back. There was a total commitment to the Lord Jesus shall we say. And that is what He wants from us and so the question comes, "Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?"

It is a challenge to my heart. It is a challenge to your heart too. It is the willingness. What produces willingness? I believe it is grace. It is the grace that establishes, it is the grace that makes us willing. The more we think of what He has by His grace done for us, and is doing in us, and through us, and for us, and will do for us--it is all grace. If that isn't enough to cause us to consecrate ourselves to Him, I don't know what is. But His grace is marvelous if we realize how much we need it, and how He doesn't hold it back from us.

In connection with salvation, it is grace. In regards to our going through this world, it is grace. And when we have tribulation and trouble, "My grace is sufficient for thee." It is grace all the way through. Peter in his epistles mentions eight different times that word grace which has to do with our pathway through this world. Grace will lead us finally, safely home. But he wants grace now to work while we are here in this world. We don't know how much longer we may have to be here, so let us make use of the time that we have.

Where do we see grace exemplified? "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor." Why? "That ye through His poverty might be rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Can you think of a more splendid verse than that, for a description, for an example of grace? The Creator of the universe, the God who ever existed, came into a world His hands had made and was rejected, and became poor, having no place to lay His head. He was alone, and especially at the cross when all forsook Him and even God turned His back. Poor? He went to the depths of poverty because He wanted to reach us there. That's where we were. But because He went there, we have been made rich. It was grace then, abundant grace.

We see this illustrated, I think, in the way David responded and the challenge goes out now, "Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?" His service consists, first of all, of worship; to serve Him as the holy priesthood and then as royal priests to go out in service to others. Who is willing? It takes time, but above all it takes love, it takes grace.

Next he says, "Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king's work, offered willingly." There was a response! How good! There was a response to the question, "who is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?" And it is good to read that "the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king's work, [they] offered willingly."

They had to set the example. And so do we who are older in the assemblies have to set the example. Sadly, the example is not always manifested, but rather we see a lethargic attitude. Sometimes it is just a going along with things and not showing the willingness of grace to see the assembly grow, and to put our efforts into building up what God has established on earth for His testimony in the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ. That is the testimony here on earth that is to be manifested, to be seen in the working of the hearts and lives of God's people gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

"And they gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron." All this, no doubt, has a spiritual significance. It shows, I do believe, how God values whatever we bring, especially when there is that willingness which will not withhold anything-- strength, nor love, nor giving.

Then we read in verse eight, "And they with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the Lord, by the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite." And then notice: after the rulers and the captains had given, we read this: "Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly." The people rejoiced. They could see, there was growth, there was development. My! Everything is pointed toward Jehovah and what He is doing. Eyes are turned away from man and all are focused upon Him. And let us remember that He is still building the church. He is the One who is building the assembly. He is working through those who are willing-hearted, who willingly consecrate themselves to this work of the Lord.

"Because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord." A perfect heart would not be a sinless heart. As to the word perfect, it suggests a complete action because of a complete object and purpose of heart. It suggests a heart which is set upon something with thought and maturity and with the purpose of equipping, to see that everything is in order for the furtherance of what we are doing. And so here, "because with perfect heart," meant a heart that was sincere, a heart that was not divided. Maybe that helps to give us the thought. I trust it does. That is the kind of a heart it is--a heart that is not divided. It is not divided--50% of the time for myself and 50% of the time for the Lord--and maybe even less than that for Him. With a "perfect heart they offered willingly to [Jehovah]." So all that was done was done for Him. We must keep our focus on Him.

And then "they offered willingly to the Lord: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy." If we think of him as a picture of Christ, if we want to make Him rejoice, we have here how we can do it. We have the house of God that He is building and we have Him bringing us into conformity with His thoughts, His deeds, His actions. And we willingly follow Him and fall into place as to the way He has placed us in the body of Christ, or as a stone in the Building. We are distinctly placed there for a purpose. Not seeking someone else's place, doing someone else's work, but each one being so taken up with the Lord, that the Lord is directing Him in what to do. He is not even thinking of what He is doing, but rather he is thinking of the Lord.

This is what caused David also to rejoice with great joy. It was great joy the disciples had when the Lord appeared to them on the day of resurrection. "Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord." He showed them His hands and His side. How glad they were. If we keep in mind that we have that same Christ building His assembly, our Lord, our resurrected Lord, and if we want to be in tune with His mind and ways, we will see that He rejoices when there is a response in our hearts to His drawing us in the work which He is doing. To make the Lord rejoice is to be worshipping and is to be obedient. Obedience and dependence upon Him causes our Lord to rejoice. He rejoices in the assembly. He is the leader of the singing. I remember one brother putting it like this: He sang the loudest of them all, and the sweetest of them all.

We must see that He is the One that is doing the work and when He sees a ready response from the hearts of His own, He rejoices. Let us see to it that He rejoices in our coming together, and in our individual lives for Him, and in our preparing for the work of the Lord, the building of the house; adding to it what we can as directed by Himself.

"Wherefore David blessed [Jehovah] before all the congregation." The result of things being done in order and going on well is praise and prayer. Praise belongs to God. We are saved to praise Him, and saved to serve Him. "And David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our Father, for ever and ever." Again we see David as a man, leading the praises of his people. But it is this that the Lord longs for. It reminds us of passages when Paul was writing and presenting a wonderful truth, and he could not help but just stop and say, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). The truths of God that get hold of our hearts will cause us to burst out in praise, and then with prayer to keep us dependent upon Him. We cannot work up praise that will glorify Him. It has to come from within, from the Holy Spirit, because we worship by God's Spirit and have no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3).

Now look at verse 11: "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all." What victory when He rose from the dead! There is no greater victory. And it is a precedent to the victory that will be achieved on the basis of the finished work accomplished at Calvary. That may take place today. Do you ever think of what a wonderful display of power and victory it will be when He calls from the graves the bodies of those who have died in Him and fashions them like His own? He will come through the air to get them all together and marshal them right straight through the very heavens beyond the stars to the Father's house. The victory is over Satan, who would hinder, but he is defeated. We have that victory through Him. "Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory." His is the glory. His be the victor's Name who fought the fight alone. We see His victory and we see His majesty. All will bow before Him and own Him Lord of all. "For all that is in the heaven." We can't take that in now--all that is in heaven. But in a coming day, He will display what is in heaven for us throughout eternity. By His presence His glory will be displayed to us. The glory that He has acquired by His redemption He is going to share with us. We are joint-heirs with Him. But what majesty when we behold the heavens, which are not even now pure in His sight, all purified.

We see the earth which He made and designed. He is going to have a kingdom on earth according to the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and David. "Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all." He is indeed the head of creation, He is the head of new creation, and He is the head of His body which is the church, the complement that filleth all in all. He is the head. That is to be the point of focus--His headship, and our being linked with Him. Colossians speaks of "Holding the head." Failure to do so has caused devastation to the testimony, to the body of Christ. "Holding the head." Let Him be the head; not some man, not some organization, not even the assembly; but Himself. "And Thou art exalted as head above all." This is what David now is speaking to the Lord.

In verse twelve we read, "Both riches and honor come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all; and in Thine hand is power and might; and in Thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all." That is what He wants to do. He wants us to be partakers of what He alone can produce in us. Only He can give us the strength that we need and also manifest our connection with His greatness. We sing "How great Thou art," and we know it is by His grace He has linked us with Himself in that greatness. That ought to humble us. It ought to make us realize the blessedness of what He has done for us and what we are now in Him. We are "accepted in the Beloved," and "as He is, so are we in this world." The truth goes beyond what we could naturally expect because it is all of grace. But it is based upon His love, His sacrifice, His death, His resurrection and His headship.

"Now therefore, our God, we thank Thee." How grand it is that He can accept thanks. You know, dear young brethren and older ones too, just a simple word of thanks is what He desires from us. Be part of those who voice their thanks. Don't leave it to just a few. When we have something to give thanks for, it doesn't have to be long. When the Lord has touched your heart as you see afresh His love for you in the breaking of bread, and you have feelings in your heart rise up and you think, "Oh, I would like to praise Him," do it! Just stand up and say "I thank Thee, Lord. Amen," and sit down. He will accept it. He will delight in it. Dear young brethren, be concerned about this. Get your eye on Him and be thankful and express it. This is "the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." What joy! What a privilege that is for us! We ought to regard that as the greatest privilege we have, to give thanks and to "praise Thy glorious name."

"But who am I?" David asks in verse fourteen, "and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?" See what he is indicating now? See the attitude that he has? See the heart that he has? See the mind that he has? "Who am I, and what are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?" He is not taking any credit to himself. Nor can we. Anything that we give thanks for is something that He has given us. Anything that we worship Him for, is what He has filled our hands and our hearts with. He has done it so that He might have it returned. He has caused the waters of the Niagara River to descend over the Falls and He then, as it hits the bottom in its abundance and constant supply, receives the mist of worship that arises to Him. What abundance flows down those Falls! How impressive it is to any who have seen it, and quite a lesson for us.

Next we have David realizing all that the Lord was to him and he says regarding giving willingly, can we take credit for that? Notice, "For all things come of Thee, and of Thine own hand have we given Thee." All that gold, all that silver, all the onyx stones and whatever we see here that he had set aside had come from the Lord. We receive of His own by the ministry of His grace in order that we might return it to His praise and thanksgiving.

"For we are strangers." Are we? Well, we actually are as to our calling. We are in a strange land and because we are strangers, it makes us sojourners or pilgrims. We are born from above; we are those who have our citizenship in heaven. That's where it is. We have been born from above and born of God. We have a divine nature. He has left us in the world, however, and sent us here for the purpose of setting up, building up, and maintaining a testimony for Him, for His glory, for His praise. He will give us what we need for that, if we depend upon Him for it, if we are taken up with Him, if we learn of Him. He gives us, and oh how He gives, and He gives and He gives again. He is the Giver. He wants us then to appreciate His gifts. And when we do, there will be that return to Himself.

But David says here in verse fifteen, "We are strangers." Peter emphasizes this in his writings. "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims" (1 Peter 2:11). We are in a strange land. This is not our home any longer because heaven is now our home. Heaven is our Father's place where the mansions are prepared. It is there waiting for us. In a few short years, or maybe moments, we will join those who have already gone there. Think of what it will be like to be in bodies such as His own glorious body, singing those praises of heaven, with Him in the midst receiving it all and producing it all. Think of the multitudes! Are we going to recognize each other in heaven? I'll say we will! And we will remember the grace of God toward each of us. What a display it will be.

But, here in the world we are still strangers and sojourners or pilgrims, "as were all our Fathers." They went out seeking a country not knowing where they went. Abraham was called out of Mesopotamia, and he went and became a pilgrim. A pilgrim is one who has an object before him. We seek no continuing city, but we seek one to come. That is what those who were here did. Abraham "looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." And so do we. Sit loose, dear brethren, to things here; things that are quickly passing, deteriorating, soon going to be gone! Only that which God has wrought by His grace remains. "Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding." Short and uncertain indeed is our life span. We will soon be there. Let us take advantage of the time that we have each day, each moment, each hour, to live it for Him and for building His house.

Next he says here in verse sixteen, "O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build Thee an house for Thine holy name cometh of Thine hand, and is all Thine own." Don't you feel that way when we come together and we get some of the riches of His grace and glory and His Word brought before us? It is all His. We have that joy unspeakable and full of glory. "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8). "An house for Thine holy name cometh of Thine hand, and is all Thine own." The Church is of His building. Jesus said, "I will build My [assembly]; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).

Then David says, "I know also, my God, that Thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness." He sees and looks to our ways. Often we fail, but His grace intervenes. "As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things." He is not boasting here, because he has already stated that what he had came from God. If he had not given it, he would have been robbing God. Are we going to rob God? In Malachi they said, "wherein have we robbed God?" We can rob God by withholding from Him what He has given for us to use for the building of His house, the upbuilding of the saints, their establishment, being rooted and grounded in the things of God.

"I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy Thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto Thee." When we are joined by others, how grand is that fellowship. With joy Thy people, which are present here, offer willingly unto thee. This is the seventh time willingly is mentioned in this chapter. Will we accept the challenge? Who then "this day" will consecrate himself unto the Lord for this purpose of seeing that the assembly with which you are identified, and the church of God as a whole, is nurtured, cared for, and built up by bringing willingly what God has given and entrusted you with for the purpose of enriching the saints and establishing them in the truth? May God bless His Word.

—Donald T. Johnson