Let us Build a House where Love can dwell

Sermon to joint service

     A popular TV program on UK television is a program called Grand Designs. It comes up on Channel 4. What happens in the show is that every week Kevin McCloud the presenter visits some really ambitious self-build house building projects. Some young couple or individual design and build the house of their dreams and Kevin watches as they draw up their plans and their new house slowly takes shape.

Every house design was different. My favourite one was a house that was built by Ed and Rowena Waghorn. They bought 8 acres of land in the country of Hereford and designed a house together and Ed built it himself – he had the woodworking and other skills. He built the perfect family home for himself and Rowena and their four children. His family had to wait 9 nears for it, because it took 9 years for him to build it, but it was a unique and special house. 

Most of us don’t get the chance to design and build our own perfect house for ourselves and our family, but many of us would love to get the chance, maybe that’s why the TV show Grand Designs has been so popular for so long. 

One of the images of God found in the Bible is as an architect and builder. It’s a deep theme woven throughout scripture. And one of the things that God loves to design and build is a home for himself in the midst of his people. 

In the Old Testament in the book of Exodus God designed for himself a home in which to live in the midst of his people. We call it the tabernacle. We read in Exodus 25:9 that God instructed Moses : ‘You must make it according to all that I show you—the design of the tabernacle and the design of all its furnishings." 

And so God gave instructions of the design of the tabernacle or tent that Moses was to build and all the furniture and all the décor inside it. And Moses and the people built it according to God’s instructions. And then the glory, the shining presence of God came down and dwelt in that tabernacle. And when the children of Israel were travelling through the desert. They would pitch that tent in the middle of their camp and God would dwell in the tent in the middle of all his people. God designed his dwelling place and it was built by his people according to his design and he lived in it.

Same with the temple in Jerusalem. The design of the temple came from God and he passed it on to David and then Solomon his son to build according to God’s design. 

God is an architect and a builder and just like Ed Waghorn designed and built a wonderful and unique house for his family, for him to live in with his family, so God designs and co-operates with his people to build a wonderful family home to live. 

It’s called the local church. 

A local church is a house of God, a place where God lives. The church isn’t the building, but it’s the gathered people of God. And when God’s people gather together in his name, this is where he comes to dwell by his Spirit. The presence of God should be felt in the midst of his house, in the midst of a congregation of his people.

In the old days God dwelt in a tent and then in a temple. But today he has no tent, no physical temple, we his people as we come together are his tent, his temple, the place where he dwells. 

Peter tells us- you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house 1 Peter 2:5 

Paul in Ephesians 2:19-22 says: ‘Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.’ 

Jesus himself said: ‘I will build my church.’ Matthew 16:18

A church is Jesus’ house. It is his possession, designed by him and built for him using his plans. He has a grand design for us as his house. But we must build according to Jesus’ design, not our own. It’s his house and we must follow his plans as we build it with him.

Just as God has plans for us as individuals and guides us into his plans. He has plans for his churches and guides his churches into his plans. 

He guides his people through two means- through his word, the Bible and through his Spirit. If we listen to what God tells us in the Bible and obey it and also do what he tells us through the guidance of his Spirit, then we will build lives that please him and build a church that pleases him. 

Hopefully we all realise that God has plans for our lives? The Bible tells us He has- Ephesians 2:10 says ^‘For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’

God has prepared in advance things for each of us to do. He has planned it all out. Jeremiah 29:11 is a heavily used verse, but it’s a true verse. It says: ‘For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God has plans for you here in Scotland, He has things prepared for you to do, from the youngest to the oldest. He has plans for each of us, unique plans, special plans. 

It’s the same for us as a church, he has unique plans for us as a church, we as a church are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.

Let us think a bit more about God’s unique plans. 

I’ve told some of you this testimony, but I will tell you again if you will forgive me, because it is such a clear example of the fact that God has plans for us. 

In 2008 I was given a prophetic word by a friend of mine called Claire Simpson and she said Duncan I see you going round a roundabout and there are three turn offs on that roundabout and I see you trying to take each one of these turn offs, one, two, three. But each time you don’t do it, you stay on the roundabout. The fourth turn off you do take. And on that fourth turn off, there is a woman in a green dress with very white skin and you take her by the hand and walk down that fourth turn off the roundabout  Well that was a prophecy which summarised what was going to happen in the next six years of my life. It showed me that God knew and had planned out the next six years of my life in detail.

So what happened was I had been doing volunteer children’s work, but realised I needed to get a paid job. I couldn’t work as a volunteer forever. So I applied to train at Moray House to be a primary school teacher, but I was turned down at the interview. Then I applied to be a children’s worker in a church near Aberdeen, and didn’t get the job. Then I started the process to become a minister with the Church of Scotland and after a few months or more, I got turned down! 

So God knew I would be rejected in some job or training applications! And he actually told me in advance how many times it would happen. God had it all factored in.

My next career idea was to apply to be a minister with the United Free Church. It took a bit of time, but eventually they accepted me! And so time moved forward to early 2012, remember the prophecy was given in 2008. I was invited to preach one Sunday in 2012 at a church I had never been to before. It was on the other side of Edinburgh to where I lived and I wasn’t familiar with the area, but I had my friend Hector with me in the car and he was navigating. 

We were coming along St John’s Road here in Corstorphine and he said turn left at the white lady pub- the Weatherspoons, and I remembered the prophecy of four years before. The white lady in the prophecy! I came to this church building and I saw it was a white building surrounded by green grass and trees. And I realised that this was the white lady, this church was. And right enough I started here as pastor in June 2014.

You see God had a plan for my life. He knew where he wanted me to go and how he wanted me to get there. And even the times when I thought here I am coming to a deed end, it wasn’t a dead end, it was part of God’s plan. 

And it all happened in God’s timing. Because the church only had the money to really pay me after we got all the outside groups coming in to rent the building which happened in late 2013. But God knew that in 2008 when I got the prophecy.

My friends, God had a plan for your life also. Just the same. It’s a good plan, a plan where yes, you will have questions and you might wonder ‘what I am I doing’ and ‘where am I going’? Keep trusting God and obeying his Bible and listening to his Spirit and God will get you to where he wants you to be. He knows the plans he has for you, to give you hope and great future.

God is faithful. So don’t doubt him and don’t lose hope.

It’s the same with us as a church. God has a plan for us. He knows what he wants us to do and what he wants us to become. And if we as a church just listen to his truths in the Bible and follow the guidance of his Holy Spirit and keep trusting, he will get us to the best future. And if we do this he will build us into a very special church. A unique church. Because God doesn’t make copies, every house God designs and makes is unique. No two snow flakes are made the same by God, no two leaves are the same, no two people are designed and made the same by their creator. God doesn’t want us to look like other churches, he has a unique design for every church, a unique plan for us.

In Haddington there is a big new housing estate being thrown up very quickly. And all the houses look the same! I’m exaggerating, but they all look so similar. It’s a bit boring. But God doesn’t make churches to be all be like each other. He likes variety, he designs and builds unique churches. 

Now a year ago someone gave me a prophetic word that said that it was time to unite the two services of this church. I was surprised by that word, because I thought the two services we had on a Sunday was working more or less ok. But I prayed about it and asked the Lord to speak to me directly about it.

I then had a picture or vision come to mind. It was of a hang glider. I asked the Lord, why are you showing me a picture of a hang glider? Well I realised that a hang glider is a kind of glider which has only one wing- a delta wing. Most glider or aeroplanes have two wings but a hang glider has only one wing. Now I had up to that point been thinking in my mind of our church as being like an aeroplane that flew with two wings- the two church services carried this church. But I realised that God was showing me a different picture, that we as a church are to fly on one wing- one church service not two.

So as I said God guides us by two methods, by his Spirit and by his Word. And the guidance he gives us by his Spirit never contradicts the guidance he gives us in the Bible, his written word.

So God was speaking by his Spirit giving this vision, but did it correspond to what God says in the Bible?

Well when I read the Bible I see that God loves unity in his people, he likes us to be together. Psalm 133 says: 

How good and pleasant it is
    when God’s people live together in unity!

² It is like precious oil poured on the head,
    running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
    down on the collar of his robe.
³ It is as if the dew of Hermon
    were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
    even life for evermore.

Unity is good to God, it is pleasant to God and the Lord blesses unity, there is a blessing that comes down from heaven when we get together. 

And so this vision which I believe comes from the Holy Spirit of joining the two services, is a vision which matches with what the Bible says about God’s love for His people living together in unity.

I think that what the Spirit and the Bible are saying to us agree.

As you know, I’ve been talking about it for a few months now and listening to what people think. Listening to people from both services. Some people like the idea of joining the two services into one service, some people are not so keen on this idea and others are ok with either option. 

Originally back in October I suggested to folks in Hong Kong Circle that we combine our two services into one weekly fully bilingual, Cantonese and English Sunday 11am service here in the hall. The suggestion was that this begins in Easter. Well not everyone was keen at the time, so we delayed it beyond Easter. But we have had a monthly joint services since October which has gone not too badly.

Well, after consulting the Hong Kong Circle pastors and others, the Kirk Session and I have decided to merge the two Sunday services into one fully bilingual joint service from the 20^th of July this year. 

So from July, there will no longer be an English language Sunday morning service and a Hong Kong Circle Sunday afternoon bilingual service, but instead we will have a Sunday morning Cantonese and English bilingual service each week. A unified Sunday service. Starting the 20^th of July.

We believe this gives time for the different ministries to get organised and make the changes needed. 

However we have been running monthly joint services for a few months now, so we know what is involved. In a sense this is not something new, because we have already been doing it.

But we will try to improve our joint services and make them work better. 

Coming together is going to require some adjustments. Not massive adjustments mind you, but adjustments nevertheless- adjustments for people in both services. We are going to all have to compromise to make this work. It is a change for the Sunday morning folks who are used to meeting in the church sanctuary not in the hall. It is a change for HK Circle folks who are now used to meeting at 2pm but will now have to come at 11am instead.

It will be a fully bilingual service, no one will be left out. For a Hong Konger who isn’t fluent in English yet, they will hear the whole service in Cantonese. And for a Scots person who doesn’t know Cantonese, they will get it all in English. So our translators is very important in making this work.

By coming together in one space, the aim is that we will get to know one another better. That the Sunday morning folks will get to know the Hong Kong Circle folks and vice versa. Right now it feels like we are two churches in one building. Communication is limited between the two congregations. We aren’t integrated. It’s time to get together, despite our differences. 

Yes there are differences of age, of culture and of language. But surely what unites us should be greater than our differences. Surely the fact that we have the same faith, the same Bible, the same Lord, the same Holy Spirit, the same purpose, the same destiny, that we are brothers and sisters in the same family, surely these things should overcome our differences.

At the end of his time on Earth, Jesus prayed for his disciples and for those who would believe in him down the years. And he prayed that they be united. He prayed in John 17 ‘May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.’ 

When Christians of different cultures and languages and personalities and backgrounds come together and really accept and care for one another and serve one another and overcome the barriers, people who are not Christian really notice and they start to take Christianity, Christ seriously. When Christians unite, the nonChristian world sees something that is quite special and they start to believe that Jesus really might be sent by God. 

I think a unified service will appeal to Scottish people. Why? Because the music will be live music and have a modern flavour. To reach a new generation we need more modern music than we have in our morning service. 

I think a unified service will also continue to reach Hong Kongers with the gospel because we will be worshipping in Cantonese. 

I think a unified church service will make a stronger organisation, a stronger, more together church structure.

I don’t know if you know what the motto for the city of Edinburgh is? It is in Latin and it says ‘Nisi Dominus Frustra’ which means ‘Without the Lord it is in vain.’ The Edinburgh city motto is taken from Psalm 127:1 which says: “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labour in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

I believe by uniting our services we are following God’s building plans for this house. And because we are following his plans, he will bless it. Our labour will not be in vain, because the Lord will help us build His house according to his plans. He is wanting I believe to build a unique church where there is great diversity but where there is also great unity.