The church that isn’t constructed by the Lord

“To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.  Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.  Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who do evil, who speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts.  Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work; repay them for what their hands have done and bring back upon them what they deserve.  Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD and what his hands have done, he will tear them down and never build them up again.  Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy.  The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.  The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.  Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever.” (Psalms 28:1-9)

            Are you sure that the Lord is building our church as He promised? (Mt. 16:18)  Not only that you believe but have conviction that the Lord will build His church, do you also see with your spiritual eyes that the Lord is building our church as His promise to us ‘I will build my church’ (Mt. 16:18)?  In Psalms 28:5b, the psalmist David said, “…  he will tear them down and never build them up again.”  Based on this word, I would like to meditate on three things as to what church the Lord does not build.  Nowadays, many books are published about the church growth and many pastors and lay leaders are interested in church growth.  But I want to think about how the Lord does not build the church.  Therefore, I want to be taught three things by Psalms 28:1-9 about what our responsibility in order for our church to be built by the Lord.

                First, the church that isn’t constructed by the Lord doesn’t make the Lord the Rock.

                Look at Psalms 28:1 – “To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me.  For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.”  The fact is that church that doesn’t have the Lord as the Rock doesn’t pray.  The psalmist David made the Lord the Rock and cried out to Him in the midst of the misery of the wicked enemies (Park).  The fact that David cried to God indicates that David's heart relied on God.  Look at verse 7: “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.”  David cried out to God earnestly for God's help in his terrible situation, because without God's salvation (vv. 8, 9) he would be like those who have gone down to the pit (v. 1b).  David regarded God's unanswered prayer as death.  That is, David considered the answer of his prayer as a life (Park).  This precious lesson this fact gives us is that the church that makes the Lord the Rock is a prayer church that considers prayer as life.

                Like David, we should make the Lord “My rock” and cry out to Him.  Look at David: “Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place” (v. 2).  Look at verse 6: “Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy.”  The church that the Lord doesn’t build doesn’t pray and thus there is no answer of prayer.  Therefore the church doesn’t give praise to God.  In other words, the church that the Lord doesn’t build has no prayer and no praise.   But our church is a church that the Lord builds.  Our church is the church that cries out to the Lord as we consider Jesus and His promise word as the rock.  We should continue to rely on the Lord and ask Him to help us.

                Second, the church that isn’t constructed by the Lord is the church whose words and hearts do not match.

                Look at Psalms 28:3 – “Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who do evil, who speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts.”  Here, the phrase “the wicked, …  those who do evil” isn’t normal wicked but the extreme wicked whom God cannot accept even in His longsuffering (Park).  David, who was suffering because of these wicked men, cried out to his Rock, and David pleaded that ‘their end would not be like the end of the wicked (vv. 3-5) (Park).  What are the characteristics of these wicked men?  They speak peace with their neighbors, while evil is in their hearts (v. 3).  In short, the wicked and those who do evil are hypocrites.  They speak peace, while evil is in their hearts.  David sought God's justice and asked God to repay the actions of these wicked and their evil.  In other words, David asked for a just God to repay the wicked and those who do evil.  Look at verse 4: “Requite them according to their work and according to the evil of their practices; Requite them according to the deeds of their hands; Repay them their recompense.”  These wicked men, or hypocrites, don’t regard the works of the Lord nor the deeds of His hands.  Look at verse 5: “Because they do not regard the works of the LORD Nor the deeds of His hands, He will tear them down and not build them up.”  Not only the hypocrites don’t do the God's work nor can they do so because they don't regard the works of the Lord nor the deed of His hands

                We should strive to be in harmony with our words and our hearts.  We shouldn't be guilty of hypocrites around us, saying words of peace to our neighbors, but have evil in our hearts (v. 3).  In order to do this, our hearts must rely on God who is “my strength and my shield”.  Look at verse 7: “The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, ….”  If our hearts rely on God like David, we will not have evil in our hearts as the wicked and those who do evil.  And our lips will not speak “peace” in lies, but rather we will praise God like David (v. 6).  What is the reason?  It is because our hearts will leap for joy like David's heart (v. 7).  Our church must be in harmony with words and actions, and our hearts must be filled with His love.  Never should our hearts be filled with evil and say, 'Peace’, ‘I love you.'  Above all, we must all bear the fruit of the Spire more and more so that we may be able to love others with action rather than just mere words.

Third and last, the church that isn’t constructed by the Lord is the church that does not make Him as their Shepherd.

Look at Psalm 28:9 – “Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever.”  David cried out to God in the midst of the persecution of the wicked and those who do evil.  In the midst of that, he was convinced that God would answer his prayers.  He believed that God would help him.  In this conviction, David prayed for the Israelites (v. 9).  One of these prayers was, “be their shepherd and carry them forever” (v. 9).  David asked the Lord to be the shepherd of the Israelites, so that the Lord would lift them up and carry them as if the shepherd were carrying sheep.  But the wicked and those who do evil don’t make the Lord as their shepherd.  They show no regard for the works of the Lord.  And they don’t’ seek the shepherd's guidance or protection.

                The saints who don’t have the Lord as their shepherd cannot be built by the Lord.  The church is same.  The church that doesn’t make the Lord the Shepherd will not be built by the Lord.  It makes no sense to build the church without making the Lord the Shepherd, who is the Head of the Church and the Cornerstone, just as if we are trying to build a house without asking for the help of the builder.  The wicked and those who do evil refuse the Lord to be their shepherd and refuse to be led by Him.  But we the church must consider the Lord who is the head of the church as our Shepherd.  We need to hold on to the word of the Lord's promises and obey that word, putting our efforts in raising the Christ-centered leaders.  In the meantime, as Psalm 23: 1 says, we must confess that “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want” and live according to that confession.

                As I see my heart shaking in doubt as to whether the Lord is building our church or not, I see myself not making Him the “my rock” like David.  I see myself in times when I don’t rely solely on the Lord and ask Him in faith, but in doubt, there is no confidence in answer of my prayers and no praise in my heart toward Him.  Going further, I see myself sinning against God and doing ministry by having so many sinful thoughts in my thought realm and by not having consistency in my word and my action.  I also see myself that even though I am saying that the Lord is my Shepherd, I don’t even listen to HIs voice even when I hear it.  I am not trusting in Him completely and I am not continuing in what I have learned and have become convinced (2 Tim. 3:14).  Nevertheless, the Lord is faithful in building His church as the Lord has promised to us in Matthew 16:18.  How can we know this? We can know this when we look at our church leadership.  Now I am convinced that Satan was attacking the leadership of our church, but in the midst of that, God was protecting us and was building stronger leadership.  The Lord, who enables me to see this sovereign work of God with the spiritual eyes and enables me to dwell in conviction, is causing me to stand firm on the Rock Jesus Christ and His Word.  And the Lord my Shepherd is guiding me and leading me.  This Lord is carrying us.  I pray that the Lord will answer our prayers and make us praise Him as our church relies on Him and prays to Him whenever it is difficult.  Our church must be the church that regards Jesus as the Rock and stand firm on His Word.  Our church must be the church that is in harmony with the heart and words.  And our church must be the church with the Lord as our Shepherd.  In the meantime, we are eagerly pray that the Lord continues to build His church for His glory.