Expository Sermon on 1 Chronicles 28 and 29
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue Seventh-day Adventist Church 5/14/2022
©2022 by Maylan Schurch
Please open your Bibles to First Chronicles 28.
This is another sermon in a series I’ve been preaching’s since the beginning of the year called “Finding the Heart of God.” It’s a passage that comes from this past week’s Bible reading range which is part of our read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan. Every week in our bulletin you see the following week’s reading range, and I would suggest that you make a habit of skimming through it. Some people like to read each day’s exact readings on that day, but I tend to settle down do them all at one time.
And the two Bible chapters we’ll be looking at today are very easy ones in which to discover the heart of God. This is because we’ll be watching some of the actions of a man’s heart which God said was close to His own.
In Acts 13:22, Paul is giving a Bible history review in a synagogue in the town of Antioch. He tells how God chose David as king, and quotes God as saying, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.”
I called this sermon “The David Attitude,” because I think will find for attitudes that David shows which echo the heart of God. That way we can compare these attitudes to our own, and find out how to match up our own heart with God.
And as you probably know, the way our hearts become like God’s heart isn’t through some sort of discipline, or practice. Our hearts are changed by the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 10:16 quotes Jeremiah 31 when it says:: “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
So how is the human heart changed into a heart like God’s? The Holy Spirit does the changing. We do the cooperating, and the asking.
An old gospel song puts it this way:
“Give me a love that knows no ill,
Give me the grace to do Thy will;
Pardon and cleanse this soul of mine,
Give me a heart like Thine.
Come to my soul, blessed Jesus, Hear me! O Savior divine!
Open the fountain and cleanse me, Give me a heart like Thine.”
And according to God, David had this heart. And then the next few minutes, we’re going to discover how a human being with this kind of heart behaves. So let’s find out.
But first, let’s set the historical stage. King David has had a long and successful reign of 40 years as king of Israel. At this point, his son Solomon has been crowned king, but David has one more task to do before he dies.
1 Chronicles 28:1 [NKJKV]: Now David assembled at Jerusalem all the leaders of Israel: the officers of the tribes and the captains of the divisions who served the king, the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possessions of the king and of his sons, with the officials, the valiant men, and all the mighty men of valor.
Now, so far, we are not told why David is gathering all these national leaders together. But we can see him doing something he often did – gathering people together. For the first seven years of his rule, the nation was not totally united, but David was patient. And finally, his efforts were rewarded.
Let’s lay down what I consider Sermon Point One before we go any further. What is the first way David reflects the heart of God?
David was a unifier.
When you think of it, David was a unifier almost from the Day One. As a boy, his job was to unify a flock of sheep and keep them safe. Later on, his first sling-hurled stone sank deep into the forehead of a Philistine giant, and as that giant slammed down upon the ground, the Israelite army was suddenly unified, and they chased and defeated the Philistines.
But here, David knows that he needs unity on a very important matter. He knows very well that the people have loved and followed him, and that it might be a while before Solomon can generate that same kind of loyalty.
So David gathers together all of the nation’s most important leaders. These are people he knows very well, and now he wants them to stand on the same ground, and he wants to look them in the eye and give them one final challenge before he dies.
Is being a unifier really one of the qualities of God’s heart? It certainly is. It is Satan who has been the deceiver, the divider, the accuser. Before Lucifer arrived in Eden, Adam and Eve and God were a happy and unified group. But Satan deceived Eve, and then Adam, into thinking that God couldn’t be trusted.
God loves unity. Jesus emphasized this in His chapter-length prayer in John 17 on the Thursday night before His Friday crucifixion. In the verses I’m going to read, He is actually praying not just for His disciples but for you and me as well, as you’ll see. Listen to His main theme:
John 17:20 – 23: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Notice? Over and over and over again, Jesus prays for unity. He knows His Father better than anyone else, and He knows that a prayer for unity will touch God’s heart with great power.
If you’ve been keeping track of the news, you know that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has suddenly made it previously-neutral Finland and Sweden become very anxious to join NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. These two countries now want to be unified with an organization which can be a powerful deterrent to Russia’s military plans.
David could have approached the end of his life very differently. He could have dredged up old grudges, and taken revenge on his enemies, and split the nation neatly and half the way his grandson the Rehoboam will do after Solomon dies.
But David was a unifier. David didn’t know Paul, but he would have thoroughly agreed with what Paul would say later, in Romans 12, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” (Romans 12:17, 18)
in other words, as much as you’re able – without violating God’s principles and laws – be peaceful. Yesterday afternoon my next-door neighbor was walking his dogs, and pause to ask if I would be willing to trim some of the tall bush-like trees in my backyard. His house is on the other side of the fence, and he would like some sun to be able to reach a little growing area he has.
So I said, sure, we’ll be glad to cut those trees down to where the sun can reach his plans. I guess I could’ve jutted out my jaw and said, “Hey, these are my trees and I don’t want to do anything with them.” But this man is a nice guy, and Shelley and I want to maintain our happy, unified relationship.
Now let’s find another “heart of God” attitude which David had. And this is where he tells the nation’s leaders why he has called them together.
1 Chronicles 28:2: Then King David rose to his feet . . . .
Let’s just pause for a moment here. I mean, David is a very old man, who will probably die in just a few weeks. Also, a king – even a king emeritus – has the right to sit on the throne, while his subjects stand respectfully before him.
David struggles to his feet. What he is about to say, he considered very important. Maybe by standing to his feet he is lowering himself to the level of his standing subjects. But whatever the reason, David stands up to talk to the people he knows so well. Listen to what he says:
Verses 2 – 3: Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Hear me, my brethren and my people: I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made preparations to build it. But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name, because you have been a man of war and have shed blood.’
There are more details about this story back in chapter 17. David had told the prophet Nathan, “I’m going to build a temple for God’s ark.” Nathan immediately said, “Go for it!” But then God got in touch with Nathan and said, no, David can’t build the ark.
And that was a blow to David back then, but instead of getting all rebellious, he went and talked to the Lord about it, and express gratitude for all God had done for him.
But what’s really interesting about what we just read is that David is bringing up the subject at all. But he does. And that’s what led me to what I think could be Sermon Point Two. What is another “heart of God” attitude which David showed?
Not only was David was a unifier, but David loved transparency.
David doesn’t seem to have been much of a “private person.” The Bible mentions how people enjoyed how he “went out and came in” before them, which indicates just how sociable he was, and how much he enjoyed having his friends around him. After all, he is making these remarks not to a private secretary who will take notes and then deliver a decree. Instead, he is saying these things to yet another gathering of people.
And David refuses to put any spin on what he says. He says, “I really wanted to build the house of God, but God said no, because I was a man of war. I have shed blood.”
And David could have complained about this, either privately to God, for right here in this gathering. He could’ve said, “Isn’t that kinda hard to figure out? Here I have spent 40 years going to war for God, fighting His battles, winning them, and now he skips over me as a temple-builder because I’ve just been following his battle plans.”
David was transparent. King Saul often tried to cover things up, make excuses for things. But not David. David opened his heart and transparency to God, and also to his friends.
David probably sensed something that Jesus actually put into words later on. In Luke 8:17, Jesus said, “For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.”
In other words, don’t get into the habit of covering things up. They’re going to be revealed anyway. Learn to live and act as a transparent person.
How do we do this? We just need to trust God to make things right. There are personal matters of, of course, but need to be spoken only into the ear of God. But if you just think about the people in your life that you like and admire and appreciate, it’s most likely that these are the people who are transparent. You know what they’re thinking, and you know that if necessary, you can be transparent to them.
One delightful example of this has been the 9:30 Sabbath school features which Dixie has coordinated. We have heard people open up about their spiritual experience, about Bible verses that they have found helpful in a crisis. The people we like the most, and trust the most, are those who don’t claim to be perfect, but let us know that they are forgiven by God and are giving His Holy Spirit permission to perform that Hebrews 10:16 change within them.
So how can I become more transparent? I think the first way is to remember something David will mention in the next verse or so – to follow God’s will. If God says do something, do it. If one of the 10 Commandments says behave a certain way, behave in that way. If Jesus says to love your neighbor, don’t get huffy when he comes to you with a perfectly reasonable request to let a bit more sunlight into his yard.
And this leads right into the next “heart of God” attitude David shows us. Let’s pick up the story in verse four.
Verses 4 – 9: However the LORD God of Israel chose me above all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever, for He has chosen Judah to be the ruler. And of the house of Judah, the house of my father, and among the sons of my father, He was pleased with me to make me king over all Israel. And of all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons) He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. Now He said to me, ‘It is your son Solomon who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be My son, and I will be his Father. Moreover I will establish his kingdom forever, if he is steadfast to observe My commandments and My judgments, as it is this day.’ Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, be careful to seek out all the commandments of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land, and leave it as an inheritance for your children after you forever. “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.
Here comes Sermon Point Three. What is another of David’s “heart of God” qualities?
Not only was David was a unifier, and not only did David love transparency, but David was loyal to God.
So, how is being loyal a quality of God? Well, God has always been loyal to us. He made a number of covenants with people down through history, and it was never God who broke off the covenant, but the people. God stayed true to his part of the bargain.
Jesus, of course, was absolutely loyal to God. In John 6:38 He said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” In Mark 14:36 in Gethsemane, He prayed, “. . . Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
How can you be loyal to God this coming week? One way is to be – and get ready for this – a “road-bump.” What why mean by being a road bump? Earlier this week I was walking along a sidewalk beside a busy street near our church, and I spotted one of those little reflective plastic devices which had been dislodged from the road and tossed up near the sidewalk. (There’s probably a technical name for them, but I think of them as “road bumps.”)
When I first arrived in Seattle from the Great Plains, I was surprised—and sometimes a bit annoyed—by these road bumps. I’d never seen them before. But then, when driving at night through our frequent rains, and finding the roads’ paint-striping hard do see, I began to be very grateful for these bumps. Not only did they reflect my headlights (both this type and the round dome-shaped kind), but they also rumbled warningly under my tires if I drifted too far to one side.
Have you ever heard or sung the song, “Dare to Be a Daniel”? The theme of that cheerful, challenging song is that just like Daniel, we need to continue “standing by a purpose true, heeding God’s command” as we “dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone, dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known.”
Daniel, a Hebrew captive taken to Babylon, refused to let his captors intimidate him into disobeying God’s will, either publicly or privately. And this fortitude caused him to influence those around him in favor of the God of Heaven.
I would suggest that someone rewrite those lyrics to urge us to “Dare to be a road-bump.” Because, in their way, road-bumps do what Daniel did. If someone is veering off into spiritual danger, the very presence of someone who knows the true path can act as a gentle reminder that God’s way is safest.
I have always enjoyed the cartoons in the New Yorker magazine. Cartoon styles change, of course, and some of the more recent ones are a little hard to get into. But I’ve always enjoyed the work of one particular cartoonist, named Matt Diffee.
Yesterday, just for the fun of it, I looked him up on Wikipedia. Sure enough, there he was. And as I read his bio, I discovered that he is a Christian. He attended Bob Jones University, and he was part of a campus, the act which said they were trying to put the “fun in fundamentalism.”
But the sentence in the Wikipedia article which stood out to me was this one: “He remains a devout Christian, not consuming alcohol and refusing to draw cartoons about sex.”
And I thought, “Good for him.” I’m sure that as he hobnob’s with other cartoonists and with the rest of the people in his life, his influence certainly has to rub off on people. Every once in a while, he might just act as a road-bump for someone traveling along.
You’ve probably noticed, and I know that I have, but if you’re the type of person who has principles, and who doesn’t loosen up those principles, people pick up on it. I could tell you stories, and I know you could tell me stories. So let’s dare to be road-bumps for our Savior. Let’s be loyal to God.
And David could be so loyal to God because he had learned to trust God – and to trust that God’s laws and commandments and ways made far more sense than any other way of living.
As I say, David seems to have learned this very early. In one of the places he may have learned is while herding sheep. Because at one point David wrote a song about how the Lord is our shepherd.
A long time ago someone put that Psalm into English rhyme, and matched it with a Scottish tune, so that we can sing about it today. It’s our closing song, and it’s hymn number 546. If you’re not familiar with it, I like Erin to play it through once before we start to sing. Let’s stand and get ready to sing together.
“The Lord’s My Shepherd” – 546.