More Than a Building – 4/27/25

What an interesting parable. What an odd parable for a building dedication. In this short parable — if you’re not there go ahead and turn to Matthew 12:43 — Jesus compares a person to a house. The house is occupied by a squatter, and the squatter is a partier and a hoarder and has filled the house with trinkets and trash. The house smells like empty beer cans, rotting food. There’s mildew and mold taking over the bathrooms.

One day, the homeowner returns with an eviction notice, and the squatter realizes he needs to move on. So he loads some junk on the back of his moped, and he hits the road, and he goes from town to town looking for a place he can call home.

He spends several months of unsettledness trying to find a new home, and he finally becomes convinced that there’s no better option than what he had, so he decides to return to his old subdivision.  And as he’s driving down the road on his big moped, playing a little John Denver, “Take me home to the place I belong,” he almost passes his old house.

He looks, and he can’t believe his eyes. It looks completely different. The homeowner has put sod all over the front yard. There is mulch in the beds with flowers emerging. There’s a new coat of paint on the outside, and new shingles on the roof. And the squatter pulls into the driveway and begins peering through the windows, and he can’t believe his eyes.

It looks like a brand new house. All the junk is gone. The mold and mildew is cleaned out. Fresh paint on the walls, new carpet. He can smell the house, the newness, even from the outside. But what is most shocking to him is it appears to be empty. No one has moved in.

And just as he’s taking all this in, he gets a text from one of his squatter friends, whose likewise looking for a place to stay, and it hits him, with all the junk gone, there’s room for everyone. So he gets the word out to all his squatter buddies. And by the end of the day, he and seven other squatters manage to break into the home and begin trashing it. And not long, the house is in worse shape than it was when he left it.

Obviously, I’ve embellished this story a little bit. But what is the point of Jesus’s little parable? In order to answer this question, I think we need to take a step back and remember the context of Matthew 12. Jesus is healing the sick. He’s casting out demons, setting people free from oppression. The kingdom of Christ is coming — a kingdom characterized by mercy, by truth, by hope. And the religious leaders of the day are becoming more and more concerned and hostile.

They believe Jesus has to be stopped. They reject his claims. They believe he is violating the Law, and they even were suggesting that he is casting out demons by the power of demons.

And so Jesus tells this little parable in order to help what he calls “the evil generation.” See what they might not be able to see and also to help us see what we might not be able to see. What do we need to see? Two warnings and then one main point. Two warnings are in this parable and then one main point.

Warning #1. Don’t underestimate the power of evil.

Don’t underestimate the power of evil. In this brief parable, Jesus highlights four characteristics of evil.

#1. Evil is restless.

Look at verse 43 again. The spirit, or demon,

“passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.”

Jesus, the source of true rest, is contrasting this dry, desert-like dissatisfaction of demon life.

Evil is restless.

#2. Evil is resilient.

Look at verse 44.

“I will return…”

Evil will at times depart, but it will come back.

In “Five Stages of Greek Religion,” Gilbert Murray, who is not writing as a Christian, makes an interesting observation. He writes,

“The great thing to remember is that the mind of man cannot be enlightened permanently by merely teaching him to reject some particular set of superstitions. There is an infinite supply of other superstitions always at hand; and the mind that desires such things will, as soon as its devils are cast out, proceed to fill itself with their relations.”

Murray seems to be suggesting that there is a kind of demonic exchange program where evil departs only to return in another form. Edwin Friedman, a Jewish family therapist, echoes this when he predicted over 25 years ago, he wrote,

“If, for example, we succeed in reducing the number of cigarettes smoked by our nation’s youth but do nothing to reduce the level of chronic anxiety throughout the nation, then the addiction will just take another form, and the same children who were vulnerable to one kind of addiction will become easy prey for the as-yet unimagined new temptation.”

And over the last quarter of a century, his prediction has been realized. Often as a society, do you feel like we’re trading troubles? We solve one problem, but we create another one. We jump out of the frying pan into the fire.

Evil is resilient.

Third, Jesus is highlighting the fact that evil is possessive, possessive.

#3. Evil is possessive.

Notice the spirit, or the squatter, says in verse 44,

“I will return to my house from which I came.”

He doesn’t own anything, but demons seek to colonize God’s creation. They are illegal tenants who prey upon unsuspecting homeowners.

Evil is possessive.

And then finally, evil is expansive.

#4. Evil is expansive.

That is, it has a tendency to expand. Look at verse 45.

“Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

Evil is like having a couple of roaches in your house. It’s not going to stay a couple. Evil is like having kudzu in your yard. Evil is like getting a virus. If you do nothing, it’s going to multiply.

This past week some of us were at a conference. And in the last session, Pastor David Platt began his message with a question. How, he asked, how is Satan currently attacking you and others who are close to you?

And then he listed some possibilities. It might be through besetting sin like lust or porn. It might be through greed, or pride, or anger, or despair, or discouragement, or doubt. It could come in the form of an emotional attack, or a physical or a relational conflict.

But then he walked through Ephesians 6:10-20, and demonstrated the seriousness of what we are up against. Now some of us may be thinking, I’m not against anyone. I’m a nice person. I try to get along with everyone. Look at Ephesians, we’ll put it up on the screen, 6:10.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, [why?] that you may be able to stand against…

Watch how many times the word “against” appears. I’ll give you a hint. It’s six.

“That you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Paul, here in Ephesians, is saying the same thing Jesus is saying in Matthew 12. Don’t underestimate the power of evil. You may think you’re not against anyone. But you have an enemy who spends all of his time seeking how he might deceive and destroy you.

Don’t underestimate the power of evil.

#2. Don’t overestimate the power of good.

Don’t overestimate the power of good. This is what Jesus is getting at in verse 44 when he talks about the spirit returning to find the house empty, swept, and put in order. The homeowner has been busy — busy renovating, busy cleaning. He is scrolling less. He is reading more. Last month, he read two books, “Atomic Habits” and “12 Rules for Life” in the same month. He’s making his bed each morning. He’s exercising. He’s even eating more avocados. He’s watching less TV. He’s practicing more mindfulness. And all of this is good.

But think about who Jesus is confronting. Jesus, most directly, is confronting the Pharisees. The Pharisees would make our self-help podcasters and exercise gurus look like sloths. The Pharisees were radically disciplined. They memorized and maintained the Mosaic law. They refrained from anything idolatrous or immoral. They cast out demons. They brought order to society. They swept the house and put it in order. They did good.

But Jesus, in this tiny little parable, is exposing the limits of this kind of externalism, this kind of moral reformation.

Good is good, but good is not God.

It is limited. Moral reformation can even tend to blind us to our deeper need and inoculate us so that we don’t think we need a Savior.

Brothers and sisters, we need more than New Year’s resolutions, more than CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), more than moral reformation, more than cleaning up the house. All of those things can be good, they can play a role.

But what Jesus is warning us of in this tiny little parable is, we need to get to our deeper need. And what is that? And that question is going to lead us to the point. We’ve seen two warnings, and now what is the main point of this parable? Here it is.

Something will fill everyone.

Something will fill everyone. No one stays empty. No one remains neutral. Nature abhors a what? A vacuum. Just like Jesus told this story about a house that was evil, and then empty, and then more evil, the house didn’t stay empty.

We see this pattern in the Bible while the aroma in John 12 of Mary’s sacrificial perfume filled the house, Judas’s heart was being filled with greed.

Or in Acts 2 at Pentecost, while the Spirit filled the house and the hearts of the disciples, Ananias’s heart was being filled with deception in Acts 5. Peter even asked Ananias, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?”

Romans could be bookended with this kind of thing. Romans 1:29, while the “debased mind” is “filled with all manner of unrighteousness,” those putting their faith in Jesus are filled with joy and peace. Look at Romans 15:13,

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Something will fill everyone.

And after describing in Ephesians 1-3, all that Jesus has done so that we are saved by grace through faith, Paul prays a prayer in Ephesians 3:14.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may [move in and] dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

That is what we have been made for. We have not been created to be hollow houses waiting for the next time someone offends us so that we can be filled with rage or bitterness. We are not empty, hollow vessels just waiting for the next squatter to come along and take possession. No.

And if you say, well, that sounds great, Hubbard. But I’m weak. I’ve tried. Look what Paul prays next, still in Ephesians 3.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,”

He is right now, within us, doing what we could never in and of ourselves do. He is able, and he is at work within us.

Now, some of you may be thinking at this point and wisely so, I thought we were having a building dedication. What does this have to do with this building? And once again, throughout these weeks, I’ve been amazed at the timing of the Lord in our journey through Matthew. I think the message the Spirit has for us today from this little parable is:

Something will fill this building.

It could be hypocrisy. We can come and play church. It could be religiosity or pride, where we try to impress one another or earn favor with God. Or, and the reason we’ve gathered to dedicate this building today, and the reason we’ve called this whole project “Building More Than a Building,” is because even though Roebuck and the other contractors have built a magnificently built facility for us, the key question we need to answer is, what’s going to fill it?

33-1/2 years ago, we began in Arnie Moser’s house. And then we moved to a foot doctor’s, where we all brought our own chairs, lawn chairs, whatever chair you happened to have. And then we moved to a grocery store, where when it rained, we had buckets to catch the water. And then we moved to our old auditorium, where, due to the chairs, it always felt like Christmas.

And now we’re here. And a lot has changed, but in some ways nothing has changed because who we are is not about the size or the appearance of the building, but it’s about what fills this space. Are we going to be a church full of the Spirit, bearing fruits of love, and joy, and peace, and patience, and kindness, and goodness, and faithfulness, and gentleness, and self-control?

And what we are praying for today is that the One who gave his life for us, the One who died, was buried, rose, and then ascended on high, the One who, as Ephesians says, fills all things, all in all, would so fill this place that when people come in, like 1 Corinthians 14 says, they will say, “Surely God is among you.” This isn’t just a group of people trying to impress one another. Christians do not fear demonic exchange programs because we know greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world.

What I’d like for us to do is as we continue worshiping from now to the end of the service, let’s view this as one big prayer of dedication. We’re going to sing those prayers. We’re going to pray those prayers. But what we’re saying, based on what we’ve just heard from Jesus’s parable is, Jesus, we want this space to be a space where your presence and your transforming power are evident and obvious.

And we’re going to follow the shape of our church’s purpose as we believe God’s Word, Connect with his Family, and then Share his Story. That will be the shape of these prayers and songs of dedication.

Let’s pray. Father, when you are present, everything changes. And if you’re not with us, we’re not moving forward. We are not empty shells living in fear and vulnerability to the next squatter.

You have demonstrated your power in our lives to break chains and set us free. And you give us your Holy Spirit who fills us with the manifest presence of God and you bear your fruit out through us.

And we praise you, and we pray that this time would be a time of dedication, where you take this magnificently built facility and you fill it with your glory, your kindness, your presence, your power.

Hear us now as we cry out to you. We pray in Jesus’s name, amen.