Worship - Sermons - 7/23/06

The Crystal Cathedral Complex

II Samuel 7:1-13

William F. Schnell

July 23, 2006

My mother used to work for the Columbus Convention Bureau.  Having been born and raised in Columbus, and being a socially engaging person, she was well suited for the convention environment and the tasks involved in staffing registration tables, offering directions and generally being of help.  She loved promoting her hometown, being part of the downtown mix and rubbing shoulders with doctors, lawyers, business people and conventioneers of all stripes. 

But there was one convention each year she did not look forward to, and that was the Ohio Minister’s Convocation.  She would say, “They all think they are God.  Preachers are very demanding.  What are little problems for everyone else have eternal significance for these birds.”  I am reminded of a statement made by Mark Twain I have shared before but which bears repeating here.  He said, “Preachers are like manure.  Spread around they do a lot of good.  But piled up they just stink.”  That pretty well summed up my Mom’s attitude.  A bunch of preachers piled up at a convention just stunk to high heaven. 

But there were occasional exceptions.  At one Ohio Ministers Convocation a pastor came up to my Mom and, instead of demanding anything, showed a real interest in her ideas about a variety of subjects.  No, he wasn’t trying to pick her up (although she had absolutely no illusions about preachers engaging in that kind of monkey business).  He was, simply, as interested in her opinions as a political pollster might be in those of a soccer mom. 

This distinguished gentleman looked vaguely familiar to Mom and when she asked him if he served a local congregation, was told, no, he served a congregation in Garden Grove, California.  His name was Robert Schuller of Crystal Cathedral Hour or Power fame, and he had been brought in as the featured speaker.  Mom said, “I’ll tell you why that fellow is so successful.  He really takes an interest in people.  He really wants to know what they think.  He finds out what they need and then he delivers the goods.  All those other birds just yak, yak, yak.  This guy knows how to listen.”

The title of our message for this morning is “The Crystal Cathedral Complex.”  It is in no way meant to diminish the good work of Dr. Schuller.  My mother is a pretty discerning lady and given her high estimation of Dr. Schuller, I suspect he was uniquely suited by God to do exactly what he has done with his life.  I further suspect that was why he was selected to be the featured preacher among preachers.  Every preacher, indeed every person, is uniquely suited by God to accomplish certain things for the kingdom.  But we are not all suited, or called, to do the same things. 

Sometimes I think that is the implied message behind some clergy conferences.  A big name is brought in and the message seems to be, “You can do this, too.”  The prospect appeals to our egos.  We all want to be part of something big, especially something big for the kingdom of God.  Who could argue with that?  But based upon that reasoning, Jesus’ ministry should never have culminated in his crucifixion.  He should have started his own megachurch and been the featured speaker at clergy conferences.  But that was not God’s will for him.  That was not what God called him to do for the kingdom. 

What is God calling us to do?  Maybe Dr. Schuller was able to discern what God was calling him to do because he was, as my Mom put it, a good listener.  How well can we listen to what God is calling us to do so long as we are obsessing upon replicating what somebody else is doing?  The ego-driven Crystal Cathedral Complex is what keeps us from hearing and doing what God wants us to do.  We will never find meaning, purpose and satisfaction in life doing what someone else is better equipped to do than we are, however great it is.  We will only find true contentment doing what we are uniquely suited and called by God to do in his good time.

In our text for this morning King David successfully navigates his way through the Crystal Cathedral Complex and becomes an example for us all.  King David, if you will recall, led Israel to victory after victory against her hostile surrounding neighbors.  As a slight lad he had single-handedly defeated the giant Goliath as a prelude to Israel routing the Philistines.  As a general, the Israelites lauded him more than they did their own king.  Eventually the Israelites made him their king as his string of victories continued.  Our text occurs just after he led his army to conquer the Jebusites at Jerusalem.  From then on Jerusalem was also known as “The City of David.” 

By this time Israel was solidifying itself as a new nation among nations.  Its people had a land of their own, a king of their own and a capital city at Jerusalem.  A sympathetic king of Tyre named Hiram sent carpenters, stonemasons, cedar logs and other supplies as a gift to build a palace in Jerusalem for King David.  The old days of being a collection of nomadic tribes were over.  A new day had dawned for the people of Israel and their king.  Life was good.  David realized that he and the Israelites owed it all to God. 

Since God has done so much for David and the Israelites, David wants to do something big for God in return.  Hence our text recounts a well-meaning desire on King David’s part to build a magnificent temple to the Lord.  After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”  Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you (Verses 1-3). 

The ark of God had been with the Israelites since they escaped from their bondage in Egypt under the leadership of Moses.  Into the ark had been placed the stone tablets upon which had been inscribed the Ten Commandments.  The ark represented God’s presence with his people.  A large and ornate tent had been made to house it.  This was called the Tabernacle, and it represented God’s house while the Israelites were on the move from place to place as God led them.  This is where they worshiped God.

Now that the Israelites are settled in their land, and King David is settled in his palace, the King feels that God deserves to be settled in a more permanent structure than the Tabernacle.  Hence David has it in mind to build a permanent temple to the Lord in Jerusalem.  He shares his plan with the prophet Nathan, who immediately confirms the idea as a great one.  How can you argue with an idea like that?  What is there not to like about building a house of God?  But like many of the preachers my mother encountered, Nathan presumes to speak for God before he listens to God.  Therefore God has to correct him in a dream. 

That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?  I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day.  I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling.  Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’” (Verses 4-7).

Oops.  It sounds as if God is quite happy dwelling in the Tabernacle and not at all interested in living in a house of wood or stone.  I guess all those builders of the magnificent stone cathedrals in Europe should have read this text first.  I guess the builders of the Crystal Cathedral should have read this text first.  I guess the builders of this house of worship should have read our text first before they presumed to build a permanent house of worship for God. 

But our text is not saying that God prefers tents to buildings.  Our text is not about structures so much as it is about timing.  Nathan continues: The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He is the one who will build a house for my Name…. (Verses 11-12). 

We now know that David was succeeded as king by his son, Solomon, who built a magnificent temple in Jerusalem in keeping with God’s timing.  He was able to do that because David acquiesced to God’s will in the matter.  David did, however, help with the plans, store up the materials and have everything ready to go for Solomon just before the former died.  That is why David became the gold standard by which all other kings of Israel were measured, because he listened to God and obeyed him. 

In our New Testament lesson for this morning we heard from Paul, the greatest church planter of all time.  Paul never grew really big churches.  He just planted young church starts and left it for those who followed after to grow the churches in keeping with God’s timing.  One such pastor who followed Paul in the pulpit was named Apollos.  Paul said, I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow (I Corinthians 3:6-7).  Hence the psalmist is quoted at the top of our bulletin: Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain (Psalm 127:1). 

I do not want to labor in vain as a pastor, so it behooves me to listen for God as he speaks through the voice of his people.  Like most pastors, my ego tends toward big construction projects.  I have actually had an accomplished architect walk through this church and offer some professional advice about how to increase the seating capacity of our sanctuary and chapels by 30% and provide a corresponding increase in classroom space, etc.

Among other things, such as retuning the organ for a larger space, the effort would involve moving the Chancel Choir to where the far wall in the Fellowship Hall is currently located.  That would require a new Fellowship Hall to be built out into the present parking lot.  That would require tearing down the Escape, buying the neighbor’s property and tearing down his house to provide the necessary parking spaces.  Believe me, I am capable of thinking big—especially when somebody else has to pay for it. 

However in our last two all-church surveys I have requested that questions to gauge the congregation’s interest in expansion be included.  In both surveys expanding the facility was the least priority of them all.  Since God speaks through the voice of his people, I believe that God has spoken for now and I am okay with that—even the larger-than-life granite likeness of me on the front lawn—I am okay with shelving that plan for now.  When the timing is right, God will revel his plans that involve us if we have the ears to hear them—if we have ears that are not distracted by the overpowering clamor of our egos.

Had Jesus been more politically savvy, dodged the cross and become the pastor of a megachurch, I don’t think Christianity would have turned out the way that it did.  God had a plan and a timetable.  Jesus put God’s will first, just as David did before him and Paul did after him.  Will we?  Will we have ears to hear God speak?  Will we humble ourselves like true servants so that God may exalt us with his Son?  Will we avoid the Crystal Cathedral Complex so that we may become a temple and dwelling place for God’s Holy Spirit within us?