My Worth is Not in What I Own

I remember in disbelief reading part of the recantation biography of Jim Bakker called, I Was Wrong. In it he talks about watching on television his home in Tega Cay, South Carolina, burn to the ground from a prison cafeteria. The lavish $1M (in 1989 money) home represented much of what was wrong with his first ministry, and his response to much of what is wrong with his latter ministry. In his biography he agonizes over the loss of the home and what it represented in his life and family. His statement is telling, "Sitting in that prison TV room watching my former home crumble in flames was one of the most traumatic times of my life."

I read the entire worthless attempt at repentance with a judgmental eye, but I was especially exacerbated by the chapter idolizing his home. How someone could lose his ministry to the consequences of sin, his wife to an unfaithful friend, and his son to the secular culture and yet claim that the losing of his home (that didn't even belong to him at the time) was amongst the most traumatic events of his life was clearly a sin that had not been repented of.

But then Hurricane Michael happened. And I realized I had a log in my eye at least as big as Jim Bakker's.

Hurricane Michael slammed into Panama City last week. I called Panama City home for four and a half years, I met my wife there, my twins were born there. I purchased an old run down home near the Air Force base for half of what it was worth, and over four years spent countless hours and quite a bit of money repairing things that previous owners had neglected, and improving other things. I carried my wife across the threshold, my middlest daughter and both twins learned to walk there, we taught Bible Study almost every Monday for years, we transformed the office into the girl's room. I discipled young men in the living room, two dear friends helped renovate the garage and make it a useable space. I came to love the home there, which, albeit small, is jam packed with memories.

But then Hurricane Michael hit, and though we already sold the home and moved far north, it was still a crushing feeling to know that a house right on the bay would not survive the hurricane unscathed. And then a dear friend sent this picture:

It shows the garage decimated, a water pipe burst that has flooded the driveway, the roof damage almost guarantees that everything we did in the kitchen is destroyed. Even though we no longer own the home, it still uncovered a level of affection I have for this world that I did not even know I was still holding onto.

For my entire time in Panama City I was blessed to be a member of Carlisle Baptist Church in Callaway. I married my wife there, I was blessed to fill the pulpit several times, I watched young men and women transformed by the gospel, and I baptized one of my best friends there. But the roof couldn't handle a Cat 4/5 hurricane, and the church structure we enjoyed and loved is gone forever.

But a dear friend from that church said it best, "The church is the people, not the building." And that is true, the church building will perish sooner or later, but the living church will endure forever.

So why am I so downcast over the destruction of two buildings? While I would not say, like Bakker, that it is amongst the most traumatic events of my life, I will say that it is quite traumatic. And I'm not even there, or have a monetary stake in it, and as far as has been reported, all of our brothers and sisters have survived the storm.

My hope is not in what I own, and thankfully so, because in my life I've seen things that I have built or maintained (F-15E S/N 304 that I worked on a few years before it crashed in Libya) that I thought would last forever, but have quickly fallen apart. As a young man it was merely the words of Jesus that I was trusting when he said, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matt 6:20)." As I've gotten older I've now experienced that verse and I trust it both because Jesus said it, and because I've experienced it at a far greater pace than I ever imagined.

The late Adrian Rogers defined human life in three epochs of temptation, the first being the temptation of the body (lust, laziness, violence, drugs/alcohol), the second being the temptation of possessions and position, and last being the temptation of fear and doubt.

I suppose I have officially transitioned into the middle epoch, and having identified it I must lift my eyes to Heaven to seek the kingdom that is to come. We seek a city to come, for here we have no lasting city.  My mind is a jumble in writing and recalling so many facts, but I remember that when prorating a house the insurance companies generally assume a house is a usable structure for 55-70 years. That is quite a short time span for a kingdom which we invest so much of our lives building. Let us then build up, with living stones, a kingdom that will endure for eternity, and will not be shaken.

Let us pray with Keith and Kristyn Getty, "When I cling to what I have, please wrest it quickly from my grasp. I'd rather lose all the things of earth to gain the things of heaven (Simple Living, 2011)." But at the same time, let us seek what will truly last:

Rescue the perishing
care for the dying
Jesus is merciful
Jesus will save
Church, open your eyes once more
and see what Christ died for
Jesus is merciful
Jesus will save. ~ Billy Foote, Rescue the Perishing, 2003

Build the House

With the proliferation of House-Flipper and Home-Renovation shows it has become very popular to improve the quality of a physical structure. This has become so popular that various experts in the real-estate market see an impending fall coming: another real-estate bubble. We saw this as we purchased a home recently, and several of the houses we looked at were what I called, “Flips Gone Bad” in which case it was clear that the flipper ran out of money before the house was ready to be sold, and the flipper would be fortunate to break even on their venture. House flipping and renovation are costly ventures and usually they cost much more than they are worth.

Let me take you to post-exilic Israel where another housing boom was in full swing. The year is 520BC (Haggai 1:1). After Ezra and others had led a multitude of Jews back to Judah and Jerusalem they had rebuilt their homes but had been stopped by the reigning government from rebuilding the House of God (Ezra 4:23-24). For eighteen years the Jews rebuilt their great houses, no detail was overlooked, and the neighborhoods were beautiful, with the exception of a big burned out husk of a temple at the top of Mount Moriah. If they had reality TV, I imagine everyone would have had their own show, and the view of a destroyed temple would be a turn-off for potential investors.

But,

Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.”

Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” declares the LORD of hosts. “Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.” – Haggai 1:3-11

The Israelites heard and responded, they rebuilt the temple. Everyone who had seen Solomon’s temple wept, but those who had not seen it rejoiced. And God promised that the glory of this temple would be greater than the glory of Solomon’s temple. For it was all pointing towards a better temple: Jesus said,

“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up...” He was speaking about the temple of his body. – John 2:19,21

Now, the application. It’s going to hurt. Brace yourself. The world says you ought to be working on your own house, on knocking down walls, on replacing cabinets, on improving the value of your earthly dwelling. But God asks if it is not time for you to be working on his house, on his dwelling? God is not looking for a home on Moriah, for he said,

The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father…but the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. – John 4:21-24

The dwelling place of God is with man. You, Christian, are the house of God, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God (1 Corinthians 6:19). God does not dwell in houses made of stone, or brick, or wood, or gypsum, or granite, or marble; he dwells in the human heart.

Which house have you been building? A worldly house for yourself? Focusing on the necessities of this world? Or building the house of God, which is yourself?

One of these houses is stored up for fire, or a housing bubble collapse, or both. The other is stored up for glory, for usefulness in this life and in the life to come. There are no lack of Bible verses that speak to this topic, not least of all concerns storing your treasure in heaven, not on earth, where earthquake, flood, fire, wood rot, changing fads, etc consume. Repent of building an earthly kingdom, of focusing on things more than souls, check your motivation, build up the spiritual house of the Lord.

Beloved, I encourage you to read Psalm 132 today, and heed its exhortation. You may have a very nice place to rest your head tonight, but does God have a place in you? Pray with King David,

I will not enter my house
or get into my bed,
I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
until I find a place for the LORD,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob. – Psalm 132:3-5

And never give up the renovation of his house while you still inhabit it,

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:1-2

for,

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. - Philippians 1:6