A House of Faith

1^st Chronicles 17:4-14; Romans 3:21-30

Rev. Chris Harbin, Rocks Baptist Church—Pamplin, VA

17 July 2005

What is in a people house? The mouse explains to the bird that a house has all kinds of things like doors, walls, windows, dishes, mops, clothes, and stairs. At the end, he reports that the most important thing of all is that a people house has people!^[1] When we think about it, a house may be only as important as the people and their memories it shelters. What make this building important and special? What would set it apart from all other buildings?

David wanted to build God a house. Yahweh said, “Since when have I needed a house of cedar? No, I will build you a house. I will establish your descendants to reign after you, one of whom will build me a house and His kingdom will never fall.” David heard part of those words and understood them. He was glad for the message, and began making plans for Solomon to carry out the construction of the temple that David wanted to build for Yahweh. He missed part of the message.

It is hard for us to hear the word “No.” Perhaps it is just that bull-headed aspect of human nature. We know we are right and are normally determined to do what we know to be the best. At times, we make it hard for God to get our attention. We get wrapped up in our own issues and fail to grasp what God would like us to hear.

It was hard for David to hear God fully. He was wrapped up in his desires, ambitions, and dreams. What he heard was that Solomon would be the one to build God a house. He got that part right, and he also got it wrong. God did allow Solomon to build the Temple in Jerusalem. It was not this temple, however, that concerned God. Sure, God gave reassurance that David’s greater desires would be fulfilled. In the short term, he would die in peace and his descendants would rise to the throne after him as God built him a house, a dynasty in Israel. That was not God real concern.

There was in God’s words a message that rang deeper and truer. One of David’s descendants would build God a house and his kingdom would be for ever. This descendant would stand out from the rest on a couple of counts. He would be as God’s son, and God would place him in Yahweh’s house and kingdom forever. While these were words about David’s dynasty, they were about more than that as well. God allowed Solomon to build a temple of stone and cedar, but God had something greater in mind. There was still the fact that God did not need a temple of stone and timber. God wanted a temple of hearts and faith, where the true worshippers would worship in spirit and in truth.^[2]

Paul speaks of faith as the framework of salvation. He speaks of faith as more than what the prophets understood. Faith is the greater fulfillment of God’s grace that accords with the previous witness yet goes beyond it.

Paul was writing to the church in Rome. The saints there did not have a building. This was a church with no physical structure set aside for their use in worship, discipleship, and encouraging one another. He wrote to share with them the outline of the gospel of grace that he preached, and yet he had already heard of their faith. We don’t know how the church in Rome began. We have no record of how the first believers arrived in Rome and began sharing the good news of faith and grace through Jesus Christ. Regardless, Paul had heard of their faith, as it was reported throughout the Roman Empire.

They had no building. They had no temple. Those who began this church seemingly had no special commission for church planting in Rome. Even so, they witnessed effectively in their community, and reports of their faith spread throughout the empire. A few years down the road, the believers would be kicked out of Rome and begin meeting in the catacombs. Even so, their ranks would grow as they proclaimed the grace of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

This is the reality of Paul’s message to the Roman Christians in chapter 3. He begins the passage laying the framework that all have sinned and no one is righteous by merit. His point is that we all come to God in the same condition. As one, our standing before God is that of a rebellious people, both those holding God’s instruction and those without. We all begin on the same page. We are outside God’s household, but God has prepared for our admission.

Admission to this household is not through the structures of law and tradition. It is not through a physical structure of a building we call holy. It is not through mighty works of mercy or feats of construction as the Temple of Solomon. We must all come to God on the same footing—as sinners in need of grace.

This was not a message the Jews wanted to hear. They were proud of their traditions and the established means of entering God’s favor through the zealous keeping of the commandments with their traditional interpretations. They were sure that their standing as descendants of Abraham, couple with their efforts of good works should be sufficient grounds to come before God. Paul disagreed.

Paul spoke rather of grace. He did not consider human effort as sufficient to earn the right to enter God’s kingdom. The Jews did not consider themselves able to approach God directly. They must follow the prescribed forms of going to the Temple to request God’s favor. The Gentiles had their own prescribed means to curry favor with the gods. Paul spoke of a very different relationship. This was not one of rites and rituals, but of submission and acceptance of God’s grace.

Jesus was the one who erected the house of faith of which God spoke to David. This house is much greater than the Temple of Solomon. This one requires no walls, neither within nor without. This house is open for any who would accept the call of faith in God’s grace, allowing God to transform them into new creatures, becoming part of a new people. It is not about traditions, it is about grace. It is not about genealogy, it is about grace. It is not about buildings or institutions or denominations. It is about coming to Christ in repentance and accepting God’s grace through trusting Him.

We are enjoined by Paul to accept our sinful condition and cast our lives upon the grace of God. It is through faith in Christ Jesus that we can enter the true Temple of God, the one not made with hands. We enter through trusting God’s grace. We live that grace through the same faith through which we enter. It is a household of faith. Without that relationship built upon trust and submission to God’s grace, these walls have little meaning. Perhaps we might make this place a museum, but without living faith, it can be little more. In a house of faith there is faith. What will be said of this place?

—©Copyright 2005 Christopher B. Harbin

This sermon in pdf

¹ LeSieg, Theo (Geisel, Theodore). In A People House. 1972.

² John 4:23.