Pastor Horton

The 17th Sunday of Pentecost

Travel with me into a church called the Notre Dame in Paris, France, back to December 2, 1804.  Inside that majestic cathedral we’d find Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Josephine draped in white satin as the soon-to-be-crowned emperor and empress of the French.  Pope Pius VII was also in attendance, and as was customary, he would place the crown onto the new emperor’s head.  But that’s not what happened.  When the time came, Napoleon removed the laurel wreath he had begun the ceremony with and set that down, took the crown from out of the pope’s hands and placed it on his own head, and then crowned his wife.  It was a pointed and symbolic move.  Napoleon wanted it to be known through his actions, that he had gained this kingdom through his own power and to his own credit and was not subject to the Church or tradition or divine rite.  He made a statement.

Travel back now if you will once more to Jerusalem, approximately 1000 years before the coming Christ.  King David is nearing the end of his reign and he gathered all of the leadership there before him in Jerusalem: the military generals, palace officials, and the strong men of the nation.  David had been informed by God that although he had a heart for the Lord and a desire to build the great temple in Jerusalem, David would not be given that opportunity.  He was a man of war and had blood on his hands.  The temple-building privilege would be given to his son Solomon.  What would King David do?  Would he act like Napoleon and make the moment about himself and his kingdom? 

I mean he had a case, didn’t he?  He was the youngest of his brothers and yet God handpicked him to be king – you may remember his anointing by the prophet Samuel.  He was the man who had that legendary victory one v. one against the giant Goliath.  He claimed numerous battlefield victories, keeping the Philistines back, capturing Jerusalem, and bringing the ark back to the city of God with dancing.  And he would have his name connected to the everlasting throne of the Messiah.  It would have been easy for David to make a case before the leaders, take the crown into his own hands so to speak, and say, “I know God told me to do something but I’m going to do what I want instead and build the temple anyways.”

But what did David actually do?  We’re told in our chapter for today. “King David said this to the whole assembly: My son Solomon, the one God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The work is great because this citadel is not for a man.  It is for the Lord God.  According to all my strength, I have provided these things for the house of my God: gold…silver…bronze…iron…wood…onyx stones…antimony (a mineral that looks like a mix between silver metal & diamonds)…every kind of precious stone, and alabaster in abundance.”  He then, in the next verse, offers to go above and beyond, and fund this building project with his own wealth.  To help us better understand this offering, kings back in this day and age would keep a personal treasury which served more than as a rainy-day-fund, it was to help raise and pay for an army if their crown and their kingdom was in danger of attack.  What David is offering is the security of his own throne to build a worship space where God would be enthroned before the people.  And then he goes above and beyond even that, by challenging Israel’s leadership to give generously as well and set an example.  David’s words and actions reflected his heart, and he set the crown not on himself, but upon the altar of our God.  

And the people responded in abundance.  Our verses skip down to David’s awe-struck response at the outpouring of their gifts.  And yet the king looks to the heavens and says thank you to God for his kingdom reign.  Let’s walk through a few of these verses picking back up at verse 10, “David blessed the Lord in the presence of the entire assembly.  He said: Blessed are you, Lord, the God of Israel, our father, from eternity to eternity.”  Remember that Jacob was renamed Israel.  The same God who was there and acted on behalf of those previous generations of believers – is here today continuing to fulfill what he promised!  “To you, O Lord, belong greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty, because everything in the heavens and on the earth belongs to you.”  What can we give you that is not already yours!  “You, Lord, are exalted as head above everything.  The kingdom belongs to you. Riches and honor come from you. You are ruling over everything….Who am I?  Who are my people that we are able to offer willingly like this? For everything comes from you. What we have given to you came from your hand.”  What an incredible understanding from his heart of faith!  All things I can give you you have given me first!  All good blessings come from you!  All things in heaven and on earth, all the achievements you have graced me with serve you, and your good plan, to ultimately save souls.  David’s life was a living testimony to the mercy and might of our loving God in heaven.  This episode from the Bible models a believer’s heart when it comes to freely giving not just of our treasure, but of our time, talent, and daily opportunity today in the kingdom of the Lord. 

I need such a perspective found in the word of God, because I am often missing that viewpoint – and I’d guess that you are often missing out on that perspective as well.  Because we like the attention and the glory when it comes to the might of our hands.  You might say we stumble and fall and are not thinking in Davidic ways (when it comes to these verses) but Napoleonic ways.  We want our kingdom our way.  We want to be the ones to chisel out for ourselves a nice little palace of comfort and live by our own rules and take the crown off the altar and crown ourselves and celebrate our own coronation.  But minds and hearts and actions that are not moved by the freedom of the gospel and the joy of salvation are minds and hearts and actions that are driven by vanity and delusion, and by fear and worry.  If we ignore the kingdom of our God and the eternal providence he provides through his wondrous word, we waddle around and obsess over earthly consumptions of popularity, money, and prideful achievements.  At no time while traipsing about this globe will we ever have enough or be enough for long enough.

Napoleon’s personal reign?  He found himself facing more war (with Waterloo yet to come), more exile, and death.  Napoleon’s kingdom of the French?  They’d keep fighting with folks until well into the next century.  King David reminds us of something better.  

Through his own line and from his own throne, God would provide salvation through Christ Jesus.  His kingdom is an eternal one.  His redemption is a personal one.  Through the saving work at his cross Jesus would pay for each and every sin – even the ones that involve our death grip on his crown.  Thanks to his rising, we will have life with him forever.  We pray for this message of his kingdom to continue to come and to extend to our hearts and lives through Word and Sacraments (all of which is ours this weekend).  Come Lord Jesus indeed, and by the works of your hands bring us home to your heavenly kingdom! 

Homecoming!  This weekend was homecoming for both high schools we support as a church: Lakeside Lutheran (go Warriors) and Luther Prep in Watertown (which both of your pastors graduated from).  I happened to get to a Prep volleyball game and definitely understood the homecoming feeling.  My step daughter and mother were talking next to a pastor and his wife I served with in MN.  My dad was down by the court jibberjabbering with new friends.  In the row in front of me was my cousin, her husband, and next to me his parents who had served in the world mission fields.  In walked my former professors, Pastor Boggs, and former classmates with both their children and parents.  Memories and multigenerations were there under the same room.  It was homecoming.  How much better will be heaven!  Maybe you experienced this sliver on Thursday morning as grandparents and grandkids sang hymns side by side in the pews – what a special moment!  Just a peak at the kingdom!  Or last Sunday at our 100th as former church leaders, school staff, and friends joined us as we fixed our eyes on the cross of Christ and life eternal to come through him.  Such homecoming events give us but a momentary reminder, a tiny twinkle, a fleeting glimpse at the neverending glory that is far beyond our understanding in the throne room of heaven.  Where believers and angels sing in resounding triumph to the Lamb on the throne!  And you will get to come home and be home in God’s kingdom forever!  We can’t wait for that unending celebration that Jesus has made possible!Napoleon in all his pomp and celebration at the Notre Dame will pale in comparison.  For there in heaven our victorious king, who served us as the sacrificial Lamb will reign over us in perfect love, providing for all our needs forevermore.  It is why David could say in verse 18, “Lord, the God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, preserve forever this purpose and way of thinking in the heart of your people. Direct their heart to you.”  Your kingdom, o Lord, on heaven and on earth, is built by your hands.  Amen.