God: A Self-description

Life is hard. To be sure, there are many good things to be enjoyed in this place. But that does not remove the fact that life is hard. And when someone is confronted with some hardship of life what he does, in one way or another, is appeal to his god. It is increasingly clear that many are doing that by appealing to a god who is not Yahweh, the living and true God. There are those who appeal to money. Others appeal to government. And there are those who look to pleasure to make life work. That’s just a sampling. There are many more false gods that so many place their hope in. This is one reason why there is an increase in depression which is just another word for hopelessness. That’s what happens when it hits you that your gods have failed you, and you have nowhere else to look, no one else to appeal to. And for so many of these, the solution is to end the pain by suicide.  

Being a Christian does not mean that we are able to avoid the hardships of life. Life is hard for us as well. In some respects, we can say that being a Christian makes life a little harder. And like everyone else, we need to appeal to our God. We need to look to Him to act as our refuge and strength as we deal with life.

However, to do this we need to know our God. We need to know Him well. We cannot appeal to Him as a refuge if we do not realize that He actually is a refuge. He cannot be a strength for us if we don’t know how He can be that for us. There are too many Christians who struggle needlessly with the hardships of life because they do not know their God very well. They do not understand Him. They do not know what He has to offer.

Who Is God and What Is He Like?

Exodus 33.12-34.8

So, who is God and what is He like? Personally, I think that that is a rather important question. But not everyone agrees with me. There are some who respond by saying that it may be an interesting question, but life is just to full right now to answer it. They'll ponder it when they get more time. Interesting but not all that important. Then there are others. These folk agree that it's a fine question but then ask, 'Isn't it the kind of question that theologians need to answer? Aren't they the ones who are supposed to deal with those deep and heavy issues?' And so, they don't answer it either. I'm sure that there are other ways that people avoid my question. And I think that it is unfortunate they do. Let me tell you why. This question is important because it is so very practical. How a person answers it sets the tone of his life. Let me explain. Take someone who is too busy consider a thoughtful answer to my question. There are consequences to that choice, and one of them will be loneliness. How can it not be? Such a person may not label what he feels as loneliness, but there will be a disquiet within him. He was made to know God and to come to understand, by experience, who He is and what He is like. A refusal to take the time to get to know the God who has created him has to result in this huge hole in his soul. Something will be missing. And life, instead of being the exploration of all these vivid colors, will simply be a trudge through the gray. There are those, however, who do take the time to answer the question. But they pursue an answer by taking refuge in abstract theological study. And so, their answer to my question, 'Who is God and what is He like?' goes something like this: 'God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.' But what will this result in but a cold and formal acquaintance with Deity? How else can you relate to someone whose character is understood as infinite, eternal and unchangeable? These folk have misapplied a good answer to a different question. So, I hope you see where I'm coming from. 'Who is God and what is He like?', is an important question. How we answer it, or refuse to answer it, will affect us in ways that go far beneath the surface.

In our text Moses wants an answer to our question. That's not to say that he's never asked the question before. He already knows what God is like, at least to some extent. But he's not satisfied with his current experience of God. He wants to know his God better. So, he pushes for a deeper answer to that question. And what is so exciting and encouraging for us is that he gets an answer. And it's this answer, God's answer to our question, that we are going to be looking at this morning. Listen to how He described Himself. 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.'

There are two things that I want to point out to you right away. First, this description is a collection of what have become church words, words that we have gotten so used to that we use them without thinking much about them. So, I'll have to translate them. I point this out to remind you that you need to stop when you encounter a church word. You need to make sure that you understand what it means. Second, I want you to notice that God describes Himself in terms of relationship, His relationship with us. This is not some abstract description. Our God is no cold, distant Deity. Part of what makes Him who He is, is His affection for us, His people, and His involvement in our lives. And that will become clear, I hope, as I attempt to translate these church words.

So, how's this for a translation? 'I am Jehovah, the almighty God, and I have decided to focus My might on pursuing the wellbeing of My people. I am determined to see them flourish. I pursue this course knowing that these, My people, are stubborn and willful. They are slow to get the point and slow to trust Me. In light of this, I will need to be patient with them, repeating often the things that I have told them, forgiving their insulting rejection of Me and My ways and reminding them time and time and time again that I love them. There will be those who will adamantly and repeatedly refuse to listen to Me. I will respond to them appropriately. But they will not turn Me away from doing good to the rest. I know that there will be obstacles in My way, but I intend to keep at it until I succeed.'

You might think that I have taken some liberties in my translation, and I have. But I think that it gets at the sense of what our God said to Moses. Listen to the original once more. 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.'

Now, where do we go from here? I have a choice as to what I say next, and how I say it is rather important. I could say, 'And this is the God that you need to get to know better.' I suppose that in some sense that's accurate. But once again, the idea of tone comes into play. To my ears, that sentence sounds like a command from an overly strict God. So, getting to know Him is an obligation placed on us, an obligation that quickly feels like a burden. 'And this is the God that you need to get to know better.' And we're back to understanding God's character as 'infinite, eternal and unchangeable' and other distant qualities. You may hear this differently, but in this context, at least, that's the tone I feel. So, I'm not going to put my next thought in those terms. Instead, I'm going to say this. 'And this is the God that you can get to know better.' I like that better, and I'll tell you why. Jesus didn't come to pile more obligations and burdens on us. Quite the opposite. He came to free us from such things. And He did that so that we would be able to enjoy the real God, the God who is determined to see us flourish, the God who loves us. Jesus has come so that we can find the satisfaction that our souls were built to enjoy, a satisfaction that becomes increasingly ours as we get to know our God. So, our question is answered. God has described Himself in our text, and in so doing He invites us to enjoy Him.

Now, we're ready for the next step. What do we do to get to know our God better? I want to clarify something here. There are things that we are to do to get to know our God better, but our doing those things does not cause us to know our God better. He does not pay you off because you've jumped through the right hoops. That just ends up as more burdens: finding the right hoops, jumping though them from the right side, doing that well enough to get at least a passing grade, doing it all over again when you don't do it well enough and never being quite sure of how you're doing. Who needs that? If you get to know Him better it will be because of the things that He does and not because of the things that you do. It's like this. If you want to enjoy seeing the sunrise you're going to want to get up early and then look east. If you sleep in or even if you're up early enough but look west – well, it just isn't going to work. But getting up early and facing east will not cause the sun to rise. God does that. What you need to do is put yourself in the right place at the right time so that God can bless you then and there with His beauty. There are things for you to do, but just remember that a growing enjoyment of your God is something that He does in you. And that is so freeing. To put all of that into church words, we are saved by grace and not by works.

Back to Moses. He wanted more of God. So, what did he do? What can we learn from his example? Well, it may sound obvious but too often it isn't. Moses asked for more. That is, he prayed. 'Please show me Your glory.' Now, we might have encountered another church word here, prayer. So, let me say it this way. Moses had a conversation with God and told Him exactly what he was thinking. He told God that he wanted to know Him better and that He wanted God to make that happen. He prayed for more.

Now, if someone is going to do what Moses did, there are going to be a couple of other things also going on. Moses had his conversation with God because he was convinced that God would listen. The empty religious ritual that some people call prayer boils down to saying some words in your head, and maybe someone is listen or maybe not. Real prayer knows that God is listening. Real prayer is actually talking to Someone. Moses prayed. Now, that's good and it's important, but it's not quite enough. Moses also knew something else. He knew that God cared about he had to say. And this gets us back to God's description of Himself. Real prayer is based on this foundation: my God really is determined to see me flourish. So, discussing that with Him makes sense. Real prayer. Before a word is out of the mouth, there are important things going on in the soul. It is because of those things in the soul – things that are known – that such a person can pray. That such a person can discuss with his God how he can flourish.

There's one more thing to notice about Moses' prayer. He wasn't timid. In fact, you might almost say that he was a little pushy. Listen to what he said. 'See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.' Do you see what Moses is saying? 'Lord, You have given me a job to do. But there are problems doing the job. If it's true, as You've said, that You have decided to love me, then bless me. Bless me with more so that I can fulfill what you have called me to do.' We are sometimes just too timid. Our prayers are small and predictable. Just as He did with Moses, the Father leaves problems in our way to see what we'll do. Moses faced the problems and got a little pushy. [I'd say 'bold' but that's become another church word.] We need to get a little pushy like Moses. But that will only happen when we are convinced of a couple of things: what God has called us to be and to do is so very important and beyond our current abilities, and He really does want us to flourish. Ironically, we will only become convinced of these things if we ask God to grant that conviction.

There's one more thing I want to point out from our text. Getting to know anyone is a rather subjective thing. How do you know if you're making progress? How can you be sure that you really are getting to know God better? Consider Moses again. Did you notice his response at the end? 'And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.' The evidence of a growing knowledge of your God is worship. Something happened to Moses. There was a sense of awe and wonder, a sense of being small, though definitely not insignificant, in the presence of God. And that sense can express itself in any number of ways from singing a song of praise, to responding with some appropriate Scripture, to just being quiet in God's presence. The evidence of getting to know God better is a soul that finds itself worshiping. And that makes perfect sense. Worshiping God is just another way of talking about flourishing as a person. And that's God's goal for our lives, knowing Him, that is worshiping Him, in a way that also satisfies us. We flourish better as worship becomes more real.

Everything that I have told you is just another way of describing the Gospel. Jesus has come so that we can enjoy God – Father, Son, and Spirit. That's what that church word 'salvation' is about. Jesus has come to rescue us from our petty, self-centered ways so that we might flourish in our enjoyment of God. This is the Gospel. All you need to do is believe it.

The Benefit of Suffering Evil

I was reading Exodus 5 the other day. This is after Moses is called by God at the burning bush and he goes to Egypt to deliver God's message to Pharaoh, 'Let My people go.' But delivering God's message makes things worse for Israel, not better. Now they have to gather their own straw and yet maintain the same quota of bricks as before. As a result, the response of Israel to Moses was not good. "Jehovah look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."

Moses responded by asking the question that popped into my head as I read. "O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all." Why did God do it this way? Why the suffering? Why not just free them immediately?

Then I cheated and looked at the beginning of the next chapter. (There really shouldn't be a chapter division here.) 'But Jehovah said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land."' Which impresses more, highlights God's power more, gives the most hope for the future, is more encouraging even to today: Moses saying, 'Let My people go' and Pharaoh responding, 'Oh, okay', or Pharaoh refusing and God sending plague after plague, taking a world power and utterly destroying it until it is thouroughly humiliated, and its leader begs Israel to leave?

What set Israel up to better appreciate the astonishing power of their God was the suffering they endured when Moses first proclaimed his message to Pharaoh. Things getting worse helped them to really 'get it' when things got better. Suffering evil, sent from God, is always for our ultimate benefit. We get to know Him better (And what's better than that?) when He causes us to drink more deeply of the cup of evil. Remembering this when in the midst of the evil makes all the difference. Something to pray about.

God's Guidance

Exodus 18.13-27

I think that it is significant that this major reorganization of Israel, something that affects it profoundly, did not come as a result of a word from YHWH. Moses reorganized Israel because of a word from his father-in-law. I am going to assume that Moses considered its wisdom based on what he knew about God's Law at the time. But the point remains that Moses had some liberty to act in leading Israel that did not require some explicit command from God. I wonder how this affects things like the application of the Regulative Principle.

Idolatry

Exodus 20.1-3

At our last Bible study we took a look at Stephen’s sermon before the Sanhedrin, the sermon that resulted in his martyrdom. One of the themes of that sermon was about idolatry. We had a good discussion about this, with one particularly interesting question. Afterward, I thought it might be good if I preached about idolatry at some point. I was thinking in terms of weeks down the pike. But it seemed that the Spirit was nudging me to speak on this sooner. So, after some prayer it seemed right to preach on it today. And so, here we are. We’re going to take a look at idolatry and we’ll see how the Spirit wants to apply this to our lives.

Our text is too clear to miss. There are to be ‘no other gods’ in our lives. No idols. If you know anything about the Old Testament, you’ll agree that idolatry was a big deal for our God. It was a sin that was to be punished by execution. And when the northern ten tribes pursued their idols, they were exiled from the Promised Land by God, never to return. Idolatry was a big deal for our God. And nothing has changed to this day. It’s not surprising that idolatry is dealt with in the first of the Ten Commandments. In fact, whenever someone breaks any of the other nine Commandments he’s also broken this first one. It really is a big deal, and we all need to see it that way. So, the first thing that I need to do is to help you to see clearly why it is such a big deal, and I’m going to do that from two different, but related, perspectives.

To get at the first of these, let me ask you a question. Why are you? That is, why do you exist? Let me answer that in what might seem to be an inflammatory way. You exist to make God look good. Your purpose is to reveal God’s nature, character, personality and all the rest to everyone you meet. You exist to reveal how good God really is. The rest of His creation does this automatically. Listen. ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.’ And we are called upon to join in. ‘Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name…’ This isn’t a matter of hype, just honesty. God really is good, and you exist to make that very basic fact known. Imagine a situation where you’ve enjoyed something, or a need has been met, or you’ve accomplished an important goal. What’s happened? God has done good to you. And you are to respond to that fact. You are to acknowledge God’s goodness first to God. But then, you are also to let others know how He has been so good to you. ‘Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name…’ This, pretty much, summarizes why you exist: to reveal God’s goodness as you enjoy that goodness.

A person falls into idolatry whenever that simple reason for living is ignored; when, instead of acknowledging God’s goodness before Him and others, that person gives the credit to someone or something else. He might thank his lucky stars, offer a special sacrifice to Baal or just give himself the credit. Regardless of how he does it, whenever someone fails to make God look good, he’s fallen into idolatry. You are here to make God look good because the fact of the matter is that He is good. And to refuse this purpose is to try to be what you were never designed to be. To refuse this purpose is to live a lie. This creation – and that includes all of you – is designed to point to the goodness of our God. Pursuing anything else just won’t work.

That’s one way to answer my question, ‘Why are you?’ Now, let’s take a look at another answer. God created you to enjoy a relationship of love with Him. He didn’t do this because He was in need, because He was lonely. He wasn’t. Remember, God is Father, Son and Spirit. They have been enjoying a relationship of love since forever. It’s just that God decided to include you in this relationship of love. Creating you was an act of pure grace.

One way He tried to explain this love relationship to you was by creating marriage. When God made Adam and Eve, He intended their marriage to be a picture of the relationship between God and His human creatures. That explains some things. For one thing, it explains why our God describes Himself as a jealous God. To some folk that seems wrong, beneath God, even just plain weird. But consider a husband and wife. If their marriage is going to succeed, both need to be jealous for that marriage. They need to forsake all others. A marriage of three will never work. It can’t. It was designed to work with two and only two. So, a proper jealousy for the marriage shows as each says, ‘I give myself, body and soul, to you and only to you. And I expect you to give yourself, body and soul, to me and only to me.’ Idolatry is trying to have a marriage of three. And the issue isn’t about behavior. It’s not about someone bowing down to some stone statue or the like. Marriage is first and foremost, a matter of the heart. ‘I give myself to you, body and soul.’ Getting a gift from your spouse is neat. But what good is it if you know that he or she has been pursuing another, a third? And this third doesn’t even have to be another person. It’s just some other to whom your spouse has given a portion of his or her heart. If idolatry is going to be avoided, then hearts will be given – completely given – to the one true God. Anything less is allowing some third into the relationship, some third who will steal away the affections. And so, you see why our God is a jealous God. He wants you all for Himself even as He wants to give all of Himself to you. A good marriage is just a faint picture of that.

So, do you see what’s going on? First, our Creator is good to us, so very good. He has made us to respond to that goodness, to acknowledge that to Him and to declare it to others. This is simply living according to what is true. And then, secondly, God – Father, Son and Spirit – has graciously created us to enter into an eternal love relationship and to enjoy that love forever. This is why we exist.

Now, all of that has been ruined because of sin. We should never cease to be amazed at the destructive power of sin. We refuse to fulfill our purpose of making God look as good as He is. Instead, we look for good to come from elsewhere. And because we look to our idols and thus fail to receive the good that we truly need, we learn the habits of worry and fear. We also learn to compensate by trying to fill in the gaps left by our idols. We try to be married to multiple others who have promised much and yet never really come through. No wonder we have a hard time really believing in the love of the true God. The sin of idolatry has taken something that could have been oh so beautiful and turned it into something that is not just ugly but repulsive. We are idolaters, all of us. We have broken the first and most important Commandment and breaking the other nine simply follows suit, over and over and over again.

Is it any wonder that the God whom we have spurned is so angry? We reject His purpose for our lives. We reject His invitation to love. We reject Him. We are creatures who have despised the one who has created us for His good purposes. And so, justice is coming. That’s when the Creator will deal with His wicked creatures. Justice is coming for all of us idolaters. And it would consume every last person except for one thing: Jesus has come first. He has come to rescue people who love their foolish and worthless idols instead of the God who is so good to them. He has come before final justice has come. And He will rescue all who admit the evil of their idolatry and the reasonableness of God’s justice. Those who are honest about their idolatry and then believe Jesus’ promise will be cared for. These will be forgiven their heinous sin. And that is a glorious truth. Jesus has provided forgiveness for awful idolaters like us.

But understand: even as Christians, we still fall into idolatry. But, thankfully, Jesus’ work isn’t limited to dealing with justice. It’s not just about forgiveness. It’s also about change. Jesus has also come to change idolaters like us into people who worship but one God. Jesus has sent His Spirit to renew us to our original purpose, that we may fulfill the reason for our existence. And one day, the Spirit will finish His work. We will enjoy the goodness and love of our God and make much of His kind goodness. We will make God look as good as He really is. And as we do that, we will enjoy the sense of peace and satisfaction and all the rest that fulfilling our role was intended to produce. Restored to this relationship of love, we will give ourselves fully to our God and to no other. This will be a marriage truly made in heaven because that’s where we’ll be once heaven is again restored to earth.

I mentioned earlier that there was one particularly interesting question at our Bible study. I was asked what I thought your idols are. The answer I gave was only so-so. But I’ve had some time to ponder that question. So, I’m going to expand upon what I said then. Let me start by saying that I don’t know what your particular idols are. But I do know that you have some. So, while I don’t know your idols, I do think that it’s important to give you some help so that you can identify them and then deal with them.

So, first a principle. We are affected by our culture. Anyone here normally wear a kilt or a sari? No. That’s because we live in America and not in Scotland or India. Likewise, our choice of idols is influenced by our culture. So, it makes sense to look at the culture around us to see the popular idols of our day and then to see if we have adopted any of them. Second, let’s use what happened in the Garden of Eden as a guide. After all, the temptation there was all about idolatry. So, it’s appropriate to begin by asking, ‘What were some of the idols that Adam and Eve were pursuing?’

Let’s first look at knowledge. It was, after all, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What was Satan’s lure? ‘If you eat, you’ll know. And then, you’ll be like God.’ The lure was power, godlike power, the power of knowledge. Today, there is still the temptation of trying to gain power, control or even a sense of security by gaining knowledge. Why do your neighbors send their kids to college? If you were to ask them, what would they say? They’d talk about a better job, better options in the future and therefore a better life. What’s that but more power over what happens, more control, more security. Is going to college evil or is gaining knowledge evil? These things are not more evil than eating a piece of fruit. But remember, idolatry is first a matter of the heart before it becomes a way of behaving. So, the question of ‘Why?’ becomes important. Adam, Eve, why do you want to know? Is it to be able to acknowledge God’s goodness better? That would have been fine. But that wasn’t it. Our culture is very much given to the seeking the power of knowledge and making it into an idol. Control is an idol of our culture.

Then there’s this: ‘If you eat of this fruit, you’ll become wise.’ Now, wisdom is a skill that can be very helpful. But, again, it depends. Have you heard of someone being ‘street wise’? He knows how to how to use sin and crime to survive and succeed according to the rules of his community. Does that have anything to do with declaring the goodness of God? Those of higher social standing do the same kind of thing except it’s not about being street wise. It’s about someone being able to win and be seen as a success according to the rules of his community. It takes a kind of wisdom to achieve that. Again, success is no more sinful than knowledge or college or eating fruit. But it’s all about why you want it. Succeeding according to the rules of the community is an idol of our culture.

One more: Adam and Eve noticed that the tree was good for food. Obviously, food is a gift of God. But even this gift can be twisted. It’s one thing to enjoy a good meal and quite another to stuff your face. We live in a culture that is so very given to pleasure or better, it’s abuse. Another word for pleasure is comfort. We do not tolerate pain very well. And so, when there is a business downturn, for whatever reason, we look to our federal god to make sure we don’t feel any pain. When there is physical pain we expect some doctor to wave his wand and make it go away. When there is emotional pain there must be some pill that deadens it. Anything but pain. Comfort is an idol of our culture.

Behind all of these stands this suggestion by the tempter: ‘God isn’t going to come through for you. He doesn’t really love you. So, you’d better watch out for yourself.’ So, there’s always a Plan B – just in case – because you never know.

These are some of the idols of our culture. Whether any of these are yours is something that you and the Spirit will have to decide. But whether these or others, you have idols. That’s just a fact. But don’t despair. Jesus has come to free us from our idols. That also is a fact. And so, rejoice. One day all your idols will be gone. That’s Jesus’ promise.

What I Was Aiming At: ‘God’s Home’

Everything starts with God. A person’s Christian walk is defined by his understanding of who God is, not just in general, but to him. ‘Who is God?’, is probably the most important question that we have to answer. Without a good answer to this question, that other question, ‘Who is Jesus?’ is either perceived as unimportant – and then ignored – or answered very superficially. One of my goals for this sermon was to emphasize the warmth of our God. It is easy for us in the Reformed tradition to think of God in ways that seem to be majestic but, for one reason or other, are actually just distant. And, practically speaking, distant translates into cold. But that isn’t who YHWH is. He is warm and inviting and hospitable. He still has expectations of His guests. There is the need for the altar of burnt offering and the mercy seat. But these are seen in the context of God’s invitation to a great conversation.

God's Home

Exodus 40.17-29

You can learn a lot about a person by taking a walk through his home. The way he’s decorated the rooms is a tip off. How he’s placed the furniture gives clues. I imagine you’ve been in homes that made you feel uncomfortable. Everything seemed so expensive and so fragile, or the TV was always on even when you’re trying to have a conversation. Then there are those places that felt so welcoming. Warm colors covered the walls. The sofa and chairs were placed in such a way that the room felt cozy, inviting and friendly. A person’s home can tell you a lot about who lives there.

Our text for this morning tells us about God’s home. The Spirit has included this picture of God’s home for our sake. Those who enter God’s home learn a lot about Him just by looking around. He’s set it up with certain furniture put in particular places. As we stop and look around this home, we will be able to understand our God a bit better. And that will help us to enjoy Him and Him honor that much more. So, let’s begin our tour of God’s home and see what kind of person lives there.

As you enter the first room you see three pieces of furniture. To your right there’s a table. In front of you is an altar. To your left, a lampstand. The first thing you notice is that these three are wonderfully-crafted pieces covered with gold. It’s not too often you see something like that. What does it tell you about your host? Two things come to my mind. First, He is incredibly rich. He has wealth beyond my imagining. And yet, I don’t get the feeling that He’s like those rich folk who are always showing off because they think of themselves as so superior. After all, our host has welcomed us into His home. The second thing that comes to mind is that beauty is very important to Him. Each of the pieces of furniture serves an important function. We’re not in a museum where things just sit there and look pretty. This is a home where things are used. But the things that are being used are beautiful. Beauty is important to this homeowner.

As you turn to the right you see the table. But this time you notice the bread. There are twelve loaves of bread on the table, the Bread of the Presence. What’s this all about? This is hospitality. Our host expects us and so He provides a meal. (Incidentally, this is more proof that He’s not one of those stuffy rich folk.) Meals are important to our host. They are a special time. Consider the meals in the Scriptures. God and two of His angels show up at Abraham’s doorstep, and what happens next? A meal, time to stop; time to chat and enjoy some company. And, if you remember that was quite a chat. Or think about when God called Moses and the leaders of Israel up to Mt. Sinai. What did they do once they arrived at the top? They enjoyed a meal with God. There are many significant meals recorded in the Gospels. It’s during a breakfast with the Apostles after the resurrection that Jesus restores Peter. Meals together are a big deal with God, even ordinary everyday meals. So, being a good host, He provides a meal on the table for His guests to enjoy with Him.

Turning from the table we see the altar. If you entered a room in someone’s home where the only furniture was two or three chairs pointed right at the TV, you’d know what the purpose of that room would be. In God’s home, the center of the room is occupied by this altar. It’s the first thing you see when you walk in. It tells you what the room is for. An added clue is that only incense is burned on this altar. And what is incense all about? A look through the Scriptures will show you that incense represents the prayers of the saints. And that tells you what this altar is about. It also tells you what this room is for. It tells us that this room in not for watching TV. It is for conversation. Our host enjoys having people into His home so that He and they can enjoy one of the great pleasures of life: hearty talk. This is when souls open up to one another and share something of themselves with each other. That’s the definition of conversation. Our host enjoys this and invites us to enjoy it also. Our prayers are our part of this conversation with God. Our host enjoys a good conversation.

But then, we turn again, and we see the lampstand. The seven branches of the lampstand must have some symbolic importance, but I’m not clear what that might be. What is clear is that light is important to this host. It’s not just functionally important – How could you see in this room without any light? – but it also makes a more profound point which becomes clear when you remember this verse: ‘This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.’ Our world is filled with the darkness of sin. Left to itself, our world would become so dark that no one would be able to see. But not in this home. There is light here. The darkness is pushed back. And because of that light, we can see the furniture. We can see the table with its meal laid out for us and thus sense the warm hospitality of the host. And we can see the altar of incense and thus understand His desire for conversation, the opening of souls. Without the light, what good would these other pieces of furniture be? But our host is wise. He provides the light we need to enjoy being with Him.

This is the first room. Behind the altar is a curtain. There’s another room behind it. So, we push aside the curtain and enter the second room. And there we see the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God’s special presence. It is covered with gold, inside and out. Within there are three items: Aaron’s budding rod, a jar of manna, the Ten Commandments. Each of these has great significance. How could they not? Consider where they are kept! Aaron’s rod has to do with God’s sense of authority and that He has invested His authority in some and not in others. The jar of manna has to do with God’s promise-making and promise-keeping. He promises to provide for His guests out of His enormous wealth. And He keeps His promises to overflowing. Then there’s the tablet with the Ten Commandments. Just as the other two items say something about our host, so does this. The Ten Commandments remind us that our host has expectations of His guests. We are in His home and so we are to do things His way. This doesn’t put a damper on His hospitality or on our conversation with Him. In fact, His expectations make these things incalculably better. But He does expect His guests to comply. Those who are wise do, and their great enjoyment of their host reveals their wisdom. And lest any misunderstand these expectations or think that our host is harsh and unsympathetic to our situation, the covering of this Ark, the lid over the three items, is called ‘the mercy seat’. Our host, while strict, is also very merciful. His mercy covers the indiscretions of His guests. And that, again, enhances the enjoyment of His guests.

That’s our tour of God’s home. I’ve not covered everything, but this is enough for now. The first room is the Holy Place and the second the Holy of Holies, or better, the Holiest Place.

I’m going to guess that some of you are thinking, ‘I thought that only priests were allowed in the Holy Place and that only the High Priest was allowed in the Holiest Place, and that only once a year. Are you sure that people like us can actually be invited guests?’ Well, let’s go outside God’s home. As you walk out you see before you another altar. This one is not for incense. This altar is for atoning sacrifice. This one is for blood. ‘Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.’ No one can enter God’s home without making use of this altar. If any try, they will be destroyed. We are welcomed into God’s only because of Jesus. We become fit guests in His home only because of Jesus. Apart from Him we are excluded. No hospitality. No conversation. No mercy. Only justice. Apart from Jesus we are not greeted by a warm and inviting host. No, apart from Jesus we are confronted by an angry Judge who is intent on satisfying the proper demands of His Law. Apart from Jesus, no one enters God’s home. But Jesus has come. He has poured out His blood. Jesus has opened a new and living way into God’s home so that we might enter. Because of Jesus we are welcomed into God’s home. But we do not enter as guests for a visit. That’s not nearly good enough for this God. We are invited in as loved children. We are invited to enjoy the Fatherhood of God and become part of the family. His home has become our home.

The tour is over and I’ve dealt with a question. So, now is a good time for me to tweak, a bit, what I’ve just told you. I told you that I was describing God’s home, not His real home. In a way, I was, but in a way, I wasn’t. The tent that Moses constructed, the tent that I’ve just described, isn’t God’s home. It’s actually just a rendition of it. It’s kind of a symbolic model of God’s home. In God’s home, there is no table with bread, no altar for incense, no lampstand, or Ark. These are His authorized symbols for the realities of His home. He did it this way because His real home is more than we could understand. It is even better than what we’ve seen. So, this is His attempt to communicate what is real in simplified ways that we might possibly grasp. God’s real home is, of course, heaven. That’s His home and He has invited you to enjoy being with Him there. And while the real furniture will be very different from what we saw in Moses’ tent, the furniture of our text pictured the truth. Heaven is the home of our kind and welcoming host. He has invited us to enjoy the best of meals with Him and all the rest of His family. There will be good conversation (Remember the definition.) and lots of laughter. And while there will be no lampstand, we will see our host and His home so much more clearly than you can imagine since there will be no night there. The darkness of sin will be chased away. And it will be more beautiful than all the golden furniture ever crafted. Our host will spend His great wealth for us to enjoy. There are those who think that heaven will be boring. How can they think that? The only explanation is that they do not know who the host is nor what kind of host He is. Heaven will be anything but boring. Heaven is going to be a blast. And one day we will go there. Or it may be that we’ll still be here when Jesus returns to bring heaven back down to earth. Either way, it will be so good!

Let me add this. A little something to ponder. Our enjoyment of heaven is not completely future. We get a taste of it now. There is another rendition of God’s home. It’s scaled down, just as Moses’ tent was, but it is a real taste nonetheless. In this rendition of heaven our host really is present, we see the truth a bit more clearly, we enjoy good conversation and that along with a meal. I’m speaking of Sunday worship together: God’s special presence; a conversation: some spoken, some sung; a meal together; all provided by our hospitable host. It’s all here in a very special way. It’s like Moses’ tent but better. But it’s nowhere near as good as heaven itself where our Father waits to welcome us. All of this is ours because of Jesus.

I started this morning’s sermon by saying, ‘You can learn a lot about a person by taking a walk through his home.’ We’ve taken a walk through God’s home. I hope that the warmth of His love for you is now a little bit more real.

Bible Reading Thoughts

One of my goals is to read lots of Scripture. When a thought pops up from something I've read, I write it down. Here's something from this morning's readings.

After reading Exodus 38:

Who were the ministering women of verse 8 and what did they do? Whose idea were they? Does this have anything to say about women and their roles in the Church today? Does this have anything to say about how much leeway we have when it comes to the worship of God? Isn't it interesting that this is thrown in here without any comment or explanation?