What does Tribe teach about building a church?
Drawn from the message where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on building a church starts with a question about who is really doing the building. On Tribe's sixth birthday, Brian used 1 Chronicles 17 to press on that question honestly. David had settled into his palace, noticed that God's presence was still living in a tent, and decided it was time to build God a proper house. The prophet Nathan agreed on the spot. That same night, God sent Nathan back to correct himself. Brian held that moment up for the congregation to sit with, because the discomfort it creates, feeling disqualified, wondering what went wrong, asking who will do it instead, is worth feeling rather than moving past quickly.
The heart of what Brian drew out is that David may have had a genuinely good intention, possibly even a God-given one, but he had gotten out ahead of the Lord. Brian says, "Many a work that was begun in the spirit ends in the flesh." The corrective in the passage is not harsh. God reminds David of where He found him, a shepherd with no platform, and of everything God had already done through him. Then God flips the whole conversation. Brian notes that David says they should build a house for the Lord, "but then God flips it and says no, no, no, you're not going to be building me a house." God promises instead to build David a house, a dynasty, a lineage that would last forever. The same Hebrew word that describes David settled in his own palace at the start of the chapter reappears at the end, when David goes and sits before the Lord. The movement of the chapter is from David seated in his own kingdom to David seated before God.
That movement is what Tribe holds up as the posture a church is meant to keep. Brian connected the promise God makes to David, that one of his sons would rule forever, to the New Testament and to Jesus as the one who ultimately fulfills it. The invitation on Tribe's birthday was for the congregation to recommit to Jesus as the senior pastor of the church, trusting that the building belongs to Him.
Taught from 1 Chronicles 17:1-16 · 2 Corinthians 9:6
“Many a work that was begun in the spirit ends in the flesh.”
From Happy Birthday Tribe!
The passage taught · 1 Chronicles 17:1-16
1 When David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of Yahweh’s covenant is in a tent.”
2 Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart; for God is with you.”
3 That same night, the word of God came to Nathan, saying,
4 “Go and tell David my servant, ‘Yahweh says, “You shall not build me a house to dwell in;
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- October 31, 2022 Happy Birthday Tribe! Tribe Church in Jackson Hole marks its sixth birthday by studying 1 Chronicles 17, where David learns that God builds the house, not the other way around.