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Biblical Church

Preparing The House

I recently came across this quote from T. Austin Sparks.

The truth is that subjection to Jesus Christ is not a miserable life as a vassal.  It is a life of triumph, a life of victory, a life of glory, a life of fullness. It is the blinding work of the enemy with men, to make them think that to belong to the Lord, to have the Lord in their lives, means they are going to lose all that is worth while, and be shut down, and then all the time be poor cringing creatures, hardly able to lift their heads up, going about as beggars. That is Satan’s lie.  The Old Testament brings it out here so clearly that, when all things were subject to, submitting themselves to, God’s appointed king, it was a time of fullness, such as the people had never known: and so it is when Jesus is Lord with us in heaven.

T. Austin Sparks, God’s Spiritual House

The Old Testament scripture he is referring to is found in 1 Chronicles 24. In this chapter, David is preparing to hand over the many resources he has collected to Solomon, so he can begin construction of the House of God.

Now David said, “Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all countries. I will now make preparation for it.”

Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies all around. His name shall be Solomon, for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his day.

I Chronicles 24:5, 9

As we examine our lives, are they full of victory, glory and fullness? If not, maybe there are a few things to consider. Have we been blinded by the enemy to believe that life truly devoted to Christ is slavery? In this case, we hold back from completely surrendering to our Lord. We want to keep various portions of our lives separated from Him. It’s hard to give up everything.

However, I think there is something more troubling. Consider our corporate church culture. We are taught that we need to help our church/pastor fulfill his vision for his house. We are given gifts and talents to help build up the ekklesia but instead we use them to build up a man’s vision of his church. You might think this is harsh but would you consider the fruit of the church today to be “exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all countries.” Would you consider that the church is at rest with our enemies? It appears something is not working. Church based and founded on dynamic personalities will never achieve this. I know from personal experience.

So the question is, whose houses are we building? I truly believe, and have experienced, that when we submit ourselves to our King, not a dynamic leader, our lives and the life of the ekklesia will be exceedingly magnificent.

One reply on “Preparing The House”

I started of liking what he said, but when I came to the end I recognized an appeal to the authority of his experience rather than the revelation of God.
“It appears something is not working. Church based and founded on dynamic personalities will never achieve this. I know from personal experience.”

I think he knows the revelation on this. Maybe it’s in a later context. The “word of God is living and active” to bring correction, not his experience. I hope the context has something to offer from God.

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