I Would Rather...

“I Would Rather...”

Psalm 84

"I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness."

What a powerful, humble aspiration. The Psalmist is pouring out his heart before the Lord... longing for the House of God... willing to take on the most menial of responsibilities in the Lord’s house, over-and-beyond any devotion to the ways of the world.

"I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness."

Wickedness has never been hard to define. We know wickedness when we see it. And the tents of wickedness are everywhere.

*Some of those tents look like churches. Churches where the gospel has been replaced by false theology and idolistic hedonism. In other words, we’ve made the glorification of “self” an idol, and most people have made church a consumer choice: they shop for a church like shopping for a car. They don’t want it to cost much - but they want all the bell and whistles! And when they get tired of it they trade it in on a new model!

*The halls of government are filled with wickedness. People who are power hungry... people who “brush aside” the mandates of God for the fickleness of the world. People who pander for popularity instead of doing what’s right, and just, and good.

*Institutions and corporations who prey on the needy, the vulnerable, the weak, are wicked. Slum-lords who profit on poverty... businesses that sell controlled substances to minors. Crack-houses and drug dens... Gangs... the list just goes on and on... we know where the tents of wickedness are.

But truth be told... the largest “tent of wickedness” - and deceitfulness - if you and I are not very careful... can be found in our own hearts. Jeremiah 17:9, tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked...”

When we’re proud... and self-centered. When we reject the commands of Christ, replaced by our feelings, opinions, and desires... we sin... we harbor sin in our hearts... and we become tents of wickedness.

Of course, we all have to be self-reliant and self-determined to a degree... but when we reject our dependency on God, and our need for the things of God, we find ourselves in rebellion against God’s Will.

In the house of God, among the family of faith, we’re called to depend on Christ... and to encourage one another... and to be accountable to one another. We lean on our brothers and sisters in Christ. In the house of God we lift one another up. And, together we, as one family, lean on and depend on God, and in doing so, we "go from strength to strength." We become more and more confident as we live life, and faith, together.

When we’re self-focused; thinking only of my needs, my wants, my desires... we tend to become narcissistic. Which is the complete opposite of Jesus’ call to give our lives away in service to God’s kingdom to “the least of these”. In Greek mythology, Narcissus loved himself, and himself alone. So the gods punished him by making him fall in love with his own reflection in a pond. And in the end he perishes there staring at his own image.

In the tents of wickedness, people are preoccupied with their own image... every person is a loner, every person is self-centered, and self focused. But in the house of God we’re called to be different... we’re called to be a community - putting the needs of others ahead of self. In the house of the Lord, Jesus calls us to love God, and love our neighbor. James tells us “care for widows and orphans in their distress AND to keep oneself from being polluted by the ways of the world.”

In God’s house, Jesus is our example... our teacher... who calls us to follow after him in a Kingdom where the last becomes first... where the voiceless gain a voice... and the oppressed find freedom.

Back in the early 1960s, John F. Kennedy delivered a famous speech, where he said, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.“ The idea being... that our country is a collective… in which each person, each citizen, is responsible for doing their part to benefit the whole. And the church is no different. We should be asking NOT what our church can do for us… rather what can we do for our church.

Our abilities certainly differ… we can’t all preach or teach. We can’t all attend physically every week! We get sick… some are home bound… we have differing degrees of talents and resources. We try, at times, to cast that in a negative light! “Well, I can’t do this… or… I can’t do that!” So I’ll just do nothing. That’s counterproductive to say the least!

Serving Christ’s church is less about what you can’t do than it is what God can do through you! Sure there are those who physically do a lot... and if you’re physically able, you’re asked to join in. But there’s always something you can be doing, regardless to your physical condition or your circumstances?

Can you pray? Can you talk on the phone? Can you send an email or a text? Can you jot down a word of encouragement, or offer a simple “I’m praying for you” to a friend? Can you lick a stamp? Send a card or note to someone you haven’t seen in the pews for a while?

Serving the Lord through his church should be one of the greatest joys of this life! We should hunger and thirst for such. We should be searching out ways we CAN serve the Lord with gladness, coming before his throne with thanksgiving for how good he’s been to us! We should long to be in the house of God… joining our meager offerings and talents along side our brothers and sister who are all striving for the same.

And in living this way; by giving of self, surrendering self-centeredness and narcissistic ways... we find true and lasting JOY! Joy is always found in putting Jesus first, other’s ahead of self, and yourself last.

The psalmist said, "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness." For "Blessed (or Happy) are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise. Blessed (Happy) are those whose strength is in you..."

The fact is: Being a doorkeeper, a greeter... may not be much... but at least the doorkeeper is in the house. In God’s House we have the presence of God to shield and guide and strengthen us. In God’s House we have the love and care of brothers and sisters and we can find joy in loving and caring for them.

"For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere."

"I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than live in the tents of the wicked."

How about you?