Expository Sermon on 1 Chronicles 16 and 17
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue Seventh-day Adventist Church 5/7/2022
©2022 by Maylan Schurch
Please open your Bibles to 1 Chronicles 15.
Today’s sermon is still another in a series I’m calling “Finding God’s Heart.” It’s based on this week’s Bible reading range in our read-the-Bible-through-in-a-year plan. If you’d like a copy of the entire year’s readings, you can pick them up in the foyer. Or you can just keep an eye, week by week, on the bulletin announcement page 4 information about the following week’s reading range.
I’ve called today’s sermon “Homecomings.” Because we’re going to see not one but two homecomings happen.
If one day you decided that you would like to visit Redfield, South Dakota, and would like to drive nonstop, Google tells me that it would take you 20 hours and 57 minutes by the straightest route. It’s 1,365 miles. Back in the days when Shelley and I would make that drive, we never drove nonstop, nor did we exactly take the shortest route. But we did was to get on I 90, and keep going until we got to Plankinton, South Dakota, and make a left. Then we would go 80 miles, and we’d be at my hometown of Redfield.
There’s nothing quite like coming home. I realize that schools have homecomings – in fact, last week was Auburn Academy’s alumni weekend, which is sort of a homecoming. Several years back I was the main speaker for ever reunion of Plainview Academy, and Adventist school in South Dakota. The school had closed long ago, but the alumni still kept meeting, until they finally decided to stop.
But coming home to your childhood home is powerfully emotional. It would generally be around sunset when Shelley and I would enter Redfield, and turn west on the County Highway toward our farm. We come over a low hill, and there would be the creek, and the long tin barn on the right side of the road, and our farmhouse on the left side.
And then we would turn into the driveway leading up to the house, and braked to a stop. The lights would be on, and even though those were the days before cell phones, Dad and Mom would be ready to greet us. I would glance around the kitchen, noticing what was different and what was the same, and then into the living room where the piano stood in the corner. And then we would just settle down together and talk.
I know that this weekend, anyone who’s mother is still alive is either making plans to visit her, or wishing they could.
If you know anything at all about the Bible, you understand that God loves homecomings. After He created our earthly home, He used every excuse to come and visit. And then, when our sins made it necessary for Him to move back to a safe distance, He still dropped in from time to time.
Most often, God would communicate to the prophet or a close friend, but sometimes he actually would make himself appear as human – as he did when visiting Abraham’s tent with a couple of angels. He would appear in dreams to people. Jesus the son of God spent 33 years among us until He returned to heaven.
So God loves homecomings. And here in 1 Chronicles 15, and then a bit into 16, we’re going to watch King David provide a homecoming for God.
What has happened is that for several months, the ark of God – which was a symbol of His presence – had been kept in a private home. That was because the last time they tried to move the ark, everybody was really careless, and God had to let it be known that His presence was holy, and that His ark-transportation rules had to be followed.
But now David decides to try again, and this time he’s going to do it right. He is going to leave nothing to chance.
And I think that as we watch David prepare for God’s homecoming, we will discover some very specific things we can do to welcome God into our own lives – to give Him a homecoming with us.
I believe that David shows us five ways to welcome God into our lives. Let’s find out what they are.
1 Chronicles 15:1 [NKJV]: David built houses for himself in the City of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched a tent for it.
This tent wasn’t the real tabernacle – that was still located back in the city of Gibeon. No, this was a special tent David had prepared so that God’s ark could have it place to stay. David’s home was now the city of Jerusalem, and it was that becoming the nation’s capitol, and David wanted to welcome God to this city. David knew that eventually the ark would have to travel back to Gibeon, but David wanted – and wanted the whole nation to know – that he wanted God close.
If you’re taking sermon notes, here comes Sermon Point One.
David’s first homecoming step was to make room for God.
David could have simply said, “Okay, let’s bring the ark here and then figure out what to do with it.” But instead, David pitched a tent – David made room for God.
It suddenly struck me last night – this fall it will be nine years since our church’s 50th anniversary. Can you believe it? I even went back into the bulletin archives and check to make sure. Sure enough, in 2013 we had a gigantic “homecoming” for this congregation.
Every living pastor who had ever led this church was present. I remember standing in the foyer as people gathered in, and watch them reconnecting with each other. I actually felt a heavy, holy presence is all these people converged on this building. Some described it as a healing time.
And if you were here back then, you remember how carefully we remodeled and refurbished this campus just before that event. In fact, that homecoming weekend was sort of a spur, or motivation, for us to get these projects done. Remember the wide trench that was cut down the center aisle? Remember the old maroon carpet, and maroon pew-covers?
I don’t think that the renovation and the homecoming happened because of each other. I think we started the renovation, and during that time someone remembered that the 50th anniversary was coming up. So hand in hand, the renovations and the homecoming planning moved forward. It was an absolutely splendid and heart-satisfying gathering. I believe that we prepared a place to welcome God at that time.
Okay – how are we going to put this principle to work? How do we make room for God in our daily lives? Well, we do this personally – by following such things as our daily Bible reading plan. You don’t have to exactly follow the plan – just make sure you continue to study some portion of the Bible each day.
Our Sabbath school classes help us do this. If we go through and study the lessons, those lead us to Bible verses that talk about a topic.
As a family, we can use the Sabbath as a 24-hour “tent” for God to come and stay in. And a huge part of how to make the Sabbath meaningful is to come to church on that day. Each Sabbath is a homecoming, where we come home to God, and He comes home to us.
And we can prepare a place for God by opening our hearts to His Holy Spirit. In John 14, starting with verse 15, Jesus told His disciples: “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
In other words, a homecoming. Every once in a while, as a pastor, someone tells me that they have really began to feel a strong desire to read the Bible and get to know God better. That is the Holy Spirit, inviting Himself into our mind, so that He can interpret the Bible to us.
But now we need to go back to the story of David and discover another “homecoming” step he took.
Verses 1 – 2: David built houses for himself in the City of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched a tent for it. Then David said, “No one may carry the ark of God but the Levites, for the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of God and to minister before Him forever.”
Here comes Sermon Point Two:
David’s first homecoming step was to make room for God, and his second step was to follow God’s homecoming plans.
I’m going to mention the names of a couple of individuals who did the planning for our church’s 50th anniversary homecoming. Both Bev Riter and Duane Childs put a lot of work into the details of that Friday-through-Sunday event. To our visitors, and to me, everything moved smoothly and thoughtfully along. I detected no glitches whatsoever, and I didn’t hear of any.
And I’m not saying, of course, that Bev and Duane took direct dictation from God for their planning. But they were good plans, and I’m sure they put a delighted smile on God’s face.
And I’m sure David’s careful consultation with Scripture, to find exactly how God wanted things to happen, brought joy and relief into God’s heart as well.
Because God is not freewheeling and haphazard. God lays plans, and works out those plans. Imagine how horrible it would be if we couldn’t depend on tomorrow’s sunrise, or the steady combustion in our car engines. Imagine how uncertain life would be if we couldn’t trust apples to always be nutritious and poison-free.
No, God makes plans, and loves plans, because plans keep people safe. And plans – if they’re followed – allow us to focus our attention on what is truly important.
God has reunion plans, and His Son Jesus clearly spelled out those plans in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. And Peter and Paul and John gave more details about the Second Coming. Because of these clear statements, we know that Jesus’ return will be visible, audible, and earthshaking. We know enough about Jesus’ coming to not be fooled by a fake one if that should happen.
So how can we follow God’s homecoming plans in our homes and families? For one thing, as the first several verses of Deuteronomy 6 say, we need to teach God’s truths to our children. They need to know the truth about what it will look like and feel like and sounds like when Jesus comes back. They need to know all the encouragement He gives in those red-print words in the Gospels.
And of course the truths about the Second Coming are repeated and reinforced – guess where – right here in church. Children learn about them in their Sabbath school classes. Youth and young adults with their greater maturity can ponder their nuances. Grown-ups can savor God’s whole-hearted promises, and depend on them as the future seems dark.
Did you know that Jesus made it a habit, made it a custom, to attend church? And not only attend, but participate. Luke four, starting with verse 15, says,
And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. (Luke 4:15 – 17)
And then Jesus begins to read from Isaiah, and reveal some of God’s plans.
A couple of days ago I was reading out loud to Shelley from a book whose author has become extremely concerned about social media and the effect it has on us. This author’s father happens to be the Willow Creek megachurch founder, and during his own crises, his daughter was attacked on social media. And she has decided that we were not meant to be constantly exposed to the cruelty of anybody who wants to be cruel online. So she is gradually checking out of social media, canceling this account, that account, because she has discovered that they are doing her emotional damage. She says that she was actually in danger of becoming the person that people who didn’t even know her were accusing her of becoming.
I believe that you and I need to turn it resolutely away from people take it upon themselves to try to run our life. You know what the first couple of verses of the book of Psalms say? Let me read them to you.
Psalm 1:1 – 2: Blessed is the man [and of course the woman, or the boy, or the girl] Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
For something written around 3000 years ago, long before there was such a thing as social media, that cuts pretty close to the bone. Don’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly, don’t stand around in the path of sinners, don’t sit down with the scornful, but instead make the law of the Lord your delight.
Because that law, that word, that Scripture, is where you find God’s plans. And God’s plans will far outlast any other plans.
Now let’s discover David’s third step in planning God’s homecoming.
Verse 3: And David gathered all Israel together at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD to its place, which he had prepared for it.
David’s first homecoming step was to make room for God, and his second step was to follow God’s homecoming plans, and his third step was to gather people together.
David didn’t have his scribes write up a little newsletter and send copies all over the nation. He invited the people to come, and gather together from all directions.
That’s what happened the weekend of September 14, 2013, right here. Hundreds of people who been connected to this church over the past 50 years drove and flew from all directions to be here. Again, we could have sent out a newsletter, or even printed up a book about our church’s history. But that wouldn’t have been enough. People knew that the best way to remember this church was to come, if at all possible.
And I think that is so true, week to week in our congregation. Thanks to our carefully calibrated sound and picture on our YouTube channel, it could be very easy to just stay at home and watch.
And of course, if you’re worried about Covid, stay home. If you have Covid, stay home. But coming to church is immensely, intensely important. Why?
People who come to church both give and receive mutual encouragement. New people are arriving all the time, and that checking us out, and if they feel encouragement, and if they see smiles from friendly, humble people, they’ll want to keep enjoying that kind of atmosphere.
When you come to church, you make new friends, and you become new friends. Because when you come to church, this is not a performance to watch – it’s participatory. In a minute will see how David made God’s homecoming a time of joyous satisfaction.
When you come to church, this room won’t seem as empty as if you didn’t come. When you come to a Sabbath school class, you’ll enter a place where people express truth in new ways, but where ideas are kept sensible by bouncing them off other minds.
And of course the most important reason for coming to church is that Jesus is here. True, He is with you in your home, but in Matthew 18:19 and 20, He specifically said, “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Did you see that? There is power in gathering – and there is power in gathered prayer – because Jesus is present.
So I would suggest that you make plans to return to this building Sabbath mornings. Wear a mask if you want to – in fact it might be a good idea to keep that mass candy, what with Covid numbers going up. But my now, we know what to do to stay safe. And while we stay safe physically, we need to stay safe spiritually – in the way to do that is to remember what David knew. We need to gather together.
But now, on to something else David did to make this homecoming a success. Let’s start down at verse 16:
Verses 16 – 25: Then David spoke to the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers accompanied by instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, by raising the voice with resounding joy. So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of their brethren, the sons of Merari, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; and with them their brethren of the second rank: Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers; the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were to sound the cymbals of bronze; Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with strings according to Alamoth; Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, to direct with harps on the Sheminith; Chenaniah, leader of the Levites, was instructor in charge of the music, because he was skillful; Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark; Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God; and Obed-Edom and Jehiah, doorkeepers for the ark. So David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-Edom with joy.
David’s first homecoming step was to make room for God. His second step was to follow God’s homecoming plans. His third step was to gather people together. And David’s fourth homecoming step was to make it a celebration.
That homecoming could have been so different. David could have gathered people into small groups, commanded them to study theology all day, and even given them certificates of completion, and then sent them home.
But David keenly felt the joy of God’s arrival, and he did everything he possibly could to inspire that joy in the rest of the people.
Let’s keep watching David as the celebration continues.
Verses 26 – 29: And so it was, when God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered seven bulls and seven rams. David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who bore the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the music master with the singers. David also wore a linen ephod. Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets and with cymbals, making music with stringed instruments and harps. And it happened, as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the City of David, that Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David whirling and playing music; and she despised him in her heart.
There’s always someone who can’t see the point. There’s always someone who just doesn’t get it. But we mustn’t let that kind of person sneer us into silence or scoff us into backing away in embarrassment.
Let’s keep reading. We’re starting a new chapter.
1 Chronicles 16:1 – 3: So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD. Then he distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins.
Imagine the planning that must’ve taken. I am always in awe of people who can plan that’s what happened at our 50th reunion here at the church. The food was delightful, and people had enough.
What a joy food brings to an event like this. Camp meeting is great, but can’t many wouldn’t be as great without those Sabbath potlucks.
And the celebration continues:
Verses 4 – 6: And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the LORD God of Israel: Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, and Obed-Edom: Jeiel with stringed instruments and harps, but Asaph made music with cymbals; Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests regularly blew the trumpets before the ark of the covenant of God.
Imagine someone coming a bit late to that gathering. “Hey,” someone says. “I hear music! Let’s follow that music and see what’s happening.” And the closer they get, the louder the music gets, and pretty soon they realize that these instrumentalists are playing in front of a tent that is been pitched on the ground. And they discover that inside that tent is the ark of God.
And that’s exactly the way it ought to be. One of the shortest Psalms says,
Psalm 100:1 – 5: Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.
The bottom line (or at least one bottom line) it is, if you’re not used to singing aloud, start doing it. Sing the closing song. Sing along with Christian music in your car. That’s one way to express our joy in God’s presence.
Let’s find one final homecoming step David took. It probably sums up all the other steps pretty well. To see this step in action, but start reading at verse 7:
Verses 7 – 13: On that day David first delivered this psalm into the hand of Asaph and his brethren, to thank the LORD: Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD! Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face evermore! Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth, O seed of Israel His servant, You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!
David’s first homecoming step was to make room for God. His second step was to follow God’s homecoming plans. His third step was to gather people together. His fourth homecoming step was to make it a celebration. And David’s fifth homecoming step was to spotlight God.
I am always charmed when I hear someone saying, or play an instrument, or do something else that causes joy, and they do it so humbly and naturally that you know that they are not bathing in the spotlight but are turning that spotlight on God, just like David did with his Psalm.
That’s what our closing song does – puts the spotlight on God. It’s one of those thrilling hymns that lifts our hearts away from our traumas and worries and points us to our Creator and Redeemer.
Let’s stand and sing it together. It’s hymn number 2.
“All Creatures of Our God and King”