God Dwells With His People

Communion:

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (NIV)

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

All-Church Alpha Focus:

Michael: Introduce vision

People come to the from every walk of life, from all sorts of faith and non-faith traditions, we want to take a few weeks at the beginning of this year to orient, or reorient ourselves around the person of Jesus Christ, and the amazing good new of his gospel.

Some of us assume we believe the same kinds of things about Jesus, because were in this room, or part of our online community…but do we really?

Our goal is that all together we would help the Duluth Vineyard community be more solidly grounded in a biblical Christianity.

Alpha is a wonderful tool, birthed in part because of the Vineyard, and utilized all around the world, which will help us to do just that.

Brian: practical details

Michael: outreach option

I want to invite all of us to utilize the Alpha material in our small groups, and here’s another really cool option…

If you have friends or coworkers who might be willing to get together with you to discuss these kinds of topics in a relaxed, nonjudgemental atmosphere, we want to make the material available for you to use with you friends or coworkers or whomever.

We want to teach you how to lead this kind of group—which is really fun cause you absolutely do not have to have all the answers!

Each of us have people in our lives who are open to exploring faith, but not quite comfortable enough to try walking into here. What if you invited them over for a few weeks to explore the topic with you?

Introduction:

Intro: This month we are continuing our study of the book of Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament, and we're at an exciting transition in this piece of ancient literature.

You may remember us mentioning a few weeks ago, that the Exodus is broken up into three movements…

Movement One: God liberates his people from slavery (Exodus 1–13:16)

The descendants of Jacob are being fruitful and multiplying in Egypt, their oppression and slavery begins because of a cruel Pharaoh, and the conflict is intensified as God raises up a deliverer—Moses & Aaron—and they confront Pharaoh. There are ten plagues, acts of de-creation, ending with the death of the firstborn, but the passover lamb is Yahweh's provision of a merciful substitute. And then the narrative stops and it becomes a little handbook for how to celebrate passover.

Movement Two: God leads his people through the deadly wilderness and brings them to himself at Sinai (Exodus 13:17–24)

A journey from Egypt to Sinai through the deadly wilderness. There is a period of testing—the people testing Yahweh and Yahweh testing the people. There are leadership consultations with Moses' father-in-law, and then they arrive at Sinai with the fire and clouds and they are afraid. So they send Moses up the mountain and God reveals how the covenant will work: 10 laws followed by 42 more, and the people say, "Sign us up!"

These covenant laws are a summary of the will of God for his covenant partners. All of these commands come as a choice that lay before Israel about whether or not they will live out their calling…

To bear the name of Yahweh, by becoming a kingdom of priests, a set-apart, holy people among the nations, so that the nations can look on them to see the character of God, the image of God…

living by these commands is not just a way to make God happy, or in our modern lingo, how to get to heaven when you die. Rather this is how they will fulfill their mission to bear God’s name, to be an image of God to the nations.

(today we begin…) Movement three: God has a plan to be present with his people (Exodus 25–40)

To set up what we're talking about we've got to backtrack just a bit.

Exodus 24:9–11 (NIV) 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up 10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. 11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

Here’s a passage you might be tempted to pass by too quickly…

Moses and the elders go halfway up Mt. Sinai and they're looking up through a dome that looks like sapphire…a skydome (raqia) and looking through the dome they could see Elohim—they we're looking through the snow-globe from the inside! And then they sit down and have a meal…all while looking up at Elohim!

It's like Sinai is a place where heaven and earth meet. Throughout the centuries people have called these "thin places," like somehow the unseen becomes visible…like the barrier between the natural and the supernatural becomes very thin.

There are several times this happens in the scriptures: When Jacob has dream (or was it) of a ladder ascending up into heaven; or when a few of the disciples see Jesus transfigured and conversing with Moses and Elijah… I'm going to get back to this “thin place” point later…

…and then after the meal on the side of Sinai, God invites Moses to summit the mountain…

Exodus 24:12 (NIV) 12 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

…and here's what happens next…

Exodus 24:15–18 (NIV) 15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

So, on the seventh day (the sabbath day of resting and ruling with God), Moses climbs to the top of the mountain, goes into the cloud, through a wall of fire, and he's there for forty days!

And what does he get while he's up there?

Exodus 25:1–2 (NIV) 1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.

Moses is instructed to begin a capital campaign, we we might call it…he's told to collect an offering from the people! Why?

Exodus 25:8–9 (NIV) 8 “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. 9 Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

Moses is to collect an offering because God's going to give him detailed verbal blueprints for a sacred tabernacle!

And that's basically the rest of the book of Exodus—detailed verbal blueprints!

I don't know how many of you like to try to read through the bible each year, as I do. But when some of us get to these kinds of chapters, we may begin to reconsider our life choices!! What's going on here‽

The three movements of Exodus are: Rescued out of slavery; lead through the deadly wilderness; and brought into the presence of God.

Let me remind us of a point we’ve made several times during this series of messages… Exodus is meant to be Hebrew Meditational Literature.

Our friends at the Bible Project have produced a very helpful video that explains what this means very well:

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/bible-jewish-meditation-literature-h2r/

This ancient Hebrew literature is known as meditational literature, it’s meant to be read over and over again. It’s written in a way to help the reader notice themes and repeating patterns. It not only narrates the story, but through the constant repetition of themes and patterns, it’s almost as though the writer is giving you hyperlinks to past stories and laying the groundwork to more deeply understand future stories—and in doing so we are being taught who God is, what God's character is like, why we can trust him, and what its like to live as the people of God in our world.

This is one of the reason I work to read through the bible every single year, and I invite you to do it with me! The Youversion or Logos bible apps are helpful here, and The Bible Project app has a ton of great resources.

Let's try a meditational "geek-out" for a moment…

Remember the original creation story from Genesis… God created everything in six days and on the seventh, he rested—more literally, he stopped and settled into His creation to rest and rule with his human partners in a day that has no end. The seventh-day rest is what we all long for and it's what God promises to recreate.

The idea of the number seven being important, something to remember and reflect upon comes throughout that entire narrative, even to the point of using seven Hebrew words in the first verse (Genesis 1:1).

So that when we just read that Moses went further up Mt Sinai on the seventh day to meet with God, we're to realize the he, as a representative of all Israel, is being invited into a whole different way of life with God.

If I just follow this "seven day" element forward into the gospels of Jesus, we see Jesus making seven statements in John's gospel declaring that he is the embodiment of all of these promises. (Our next series of messages is going to be unpacking these statements)

The number seven throughout the scriptures is a reminder of the kind of life we're invited into…a life of trusting dependence on God, participating with all he's doing in the world, empowered by his presence and co-working with him to bring his life/light/beauty everywhere we go.

Does that give you an idea of how this meditational literature works? And these kinds of clues are throughout the scriptures. It's utterly fascinating to see it all weave together.

Alright, so, what about this story we're looking at in Exodus, this third movement: Moses at Sinai receiving these detailed verbal blueprints for a sacred tabernacle…what's this all about?

One of our Pastors, John, is going to be unpacking the details of this over the next couple of weeks, but let me give us a big really practical overview…

Yahweh is recreating a way to be present with his people, the people he's chosen to bear his name, to represent him to all of humanity.

We are invited to partner with God to build something beautiful (25:1–2; 8–9)

As the people of Yahweh, in a covenant relationship with Yahweh, as the people who bear his name and represent him to the nations, we are to partner with him to build something stunningly beautiful.

25:8 “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.

Yahweh is inviting his people to build something along with him. Think about it, God doesn’t need us to build him a place to live—he build all of creation for us!! And yet he invites us to build, to partner with him on this planet.

And, God has given them all they need to build a sacred tabernacle where God will dwell in their midst: the resources, the raw materials, the specific skills they’ll need—More about that next week.

And when you read through the description of what they are to build, its gorgeous! The tabernacle is the place where the presence of God will dwell…where is the place where the presence of God dwells?

1 Peter 2:4–5 (NIV) 4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

The community of the people of God today is the church. I think God has given us everything we need to build something stunningly beautiful today—a church who worships God, who loves and serves one another, and who partners with God to bring his healing, his mercy, and his beauty to the rest of our neighbors.

The work we do here together, worshipping, leading, loving and serving our brothers and sisters…and the work we do in the wider community of leading and loving and serving our neighbors—all of that is a partnering with Yahweh to build something beautiful.

To partner with God requires entering his rest (24:16)

I know I've made this point almost every time I've taught in this series…and it's because it just keeps coming up—sabbath. Remember the seven day thingy?

The weekly sabbath rest was the first thing that marked the Israelites as God-followers—God ave them this directive before the rest of the commands, while they were in the wilderness on the way to Sinai. It reminded them of their origin story, and it continually reoriented them to trust God’s provision instead of their own.

Stopping for Sabbath is one of God's great gifts to us. It limits us. The limit of Sabbath keeps us grounded and humble, reminding us we are not in charge of running the world. It breaks our self-will and helps us grow in wisdom.

And going beyond the simple weekly rhythm, sabbath is a way of life, a way of living in trusting dependence on Yahweh throughout every moment of every day.

God is doing all the heavy lifting in this partnership! God has already provided what they need. He gave it to them from the Egyptians! It’s kinda amazing! And He’s showing Moses a detailed blueprint of the entire thing—pulling back the curtains of heaven, as it were…

We are each invited to partner with God to create something we could never accomplish on our own. Not at all. Its all way too beautiful and merciful to be something we could craft on our own.

Have you ever experienced something like that? Being invited into something you know deep down that you can’t accomplish on your own? Welcome to the club of following Jesus and partnering with God.

Strangely enough: Sabbath is the answer. Slowing down a bit. Taking your hands off the wheel for a moment. Paying attention; learning to observe what God is doing in you and in others. Re-acknowledging that you’re not the one who holds the universe all together. And then pick back up the things God shows you to pick back up…sabbath is key to participating with God.

God is recreating what was lost through a lack of trust (25–31)

I used the word “recreating” on purpose… between chapter 25 to the end of chapter 31, how many times to you think we read, “Then the Lord said to Moses…”? SEVEN TIMES!

The writer is echoing the seven days of the original creation. There’s a recreation going on here…God will once again be present with his people, like in the garden. And there are several other layers here I don’t have the time to unpack right now…

We need to realize that God’s intent is to be present with his people, to live in an ongoing sabbath with his people…So Yahweh is giving very specific directions…that require Israel to trust Yahweh.

And a lack of trust is what led to the sin in Genesis 3, the munching from the tree of life God had made off limits. God is recreating a relationship of trust among his covenant people

What about for you and I… I wonder how you and I might be tempted to disregard the way God has designed up to work based on a lack of trust?

How we might disregard specific instructions in the scriptures because we just don’t trust that its good for us?

I remember as I was coming to faith in Christ, have a discussion with Pastor Ted about the sexual ethics in the bible. I didn’t like the way the bible seemed to constrict the practice of sexuality to marriage. It just seemed so limiting!! I was into cars and carburetors and such, and Ted encouraged me to think of those parts of the bible that address our behaviors like an owner’s manual…even though you don’t understand why, changing the oil is better for your motorcycle.

The covenant laws are a summary of the will of God for his covenant partners. The commands give us a choice about whether or not we will live out our calling as a people of God’s presence.

We are a people of the presence of God (24:15; 40:34–35)

What makes the tabernacle so stinking beautiful isn’t just the wonderful artistic work, although that’s pretty stunning, its the presence of God himself indwelling the tabernacle.

Its very cool that once the work on the tabernacle was done, the same cloud that was on Mt Sinai…fills the tabernacle.

Exodus 40:34–35 (NIV) 34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

What makes the church beautiful isn’t just the buildings we’re in…like this! lol…no! it’s the presence of God here that is doing all the heavy lifting. And its the presence of God in our lives that makes us beautiful.

when people begin to attend church here for the first time, there is a common occurrence that takes place…tears. What we're encountering in those moments when we’re overwhelmed with emotions is the very presence of God. And it's powerful when we're all together…

Let me ask you a question: What will make the Duluth Vineyard unique among all the other social groups and clubs and gatherings? What makes the church distinct from every other charitable organization or religious institution on earth as we move into the future? The church is not unique because we’re better organized. We’re not special because we’re better financed. We’re not even unique in our ability to teach. There are lots of colleges and TED Talks that educate people better than the church does. What makes the church unique, what makes the church worth doing, is the presence of God.

“[In the first two centuries of the church], it was not Christian worship that attracted outsiders; it was the Christians who attracted them, and the outsiders found the Christians attractive because of their Christian habitus (i.e formation), which catechesis and worship had formed.” Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church

The most powerful witness in the early church was the transformed lives of those who were following the resurrected Christ. And who does the life transformation we so deeply long for—the Holy Spirit.

But here’s the deal, living as a people of the presence of God right in the middle of your current reality, is gonna feel a bit intense from time to time! Why?

We are a people living in two realities at the same time

When Moses is on Mt Sinai, he’s on earth, on the mountain, but he’s also experiencing and seeing heaven, the place where God dwells—it a “thin place.”

And when the presence of God comes to the tabernacle, the same things happens. The tabernacle becomes a kind of portal to heaven—when the priest in in the holy place, the priest in in two places, two realities at the same time.

This is where it get a little intense for us. As followers of Jesus we’re invited to live in both realities at the same time.

Here’s an example of the apostle Peter inviting us into both realities at the same time…

1 Peter 2:11–12 (NIV) 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

and listen to how Eugene Peterson masterfully translates this…

1 Peter 2:11–12 (NIV) 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

It’s intense to be the people of God in the world, in the culture we live in. It’s intense to live differently than your neighbors.

Let me describe it this way…

To become a Christian is basically to cross over from the world you’ve been living in…into a whole different kind of world—that’s exactly what Israel is experiencing!

Jesus reveals and invites us into this new world as well. It’s like you have to cross over into a new dimension. And for you and I, the ONLY way to do that is to connect with this one person who is the embodiment of the new world that God has promised humanity, Jesus Christ himself.

…and he is so welcoming to everyone — no matter what you’ve done or not done, no matter how ashamed you are or how proud you are of yourself—he absolutely welcomes you.

As you cross over, when you get into this way of life, the way this becomes a reality is through the power of the Holy Spirit, the presence of God that comes.

As you continue to read through the gospels, we see Jesus, as he’s about to leave, he promises the Holy Spirit. God is not going to leave us without his presence.

It turns out, Jesus did all of this, everything he did through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s personal presence!

When we accept his invitation, when we submit to his authority over our lives, he gives birth to that new world inside of us. And a strange thing happens to you, a you of your final future, starts to stand up inside of you.

It’s quite confusing in the beginning, because the old you is still around. But the more you walk with Jesus, the more the new you arrises, and it is very encouraging…and it’s very confusing all at the same time.

We use the language around here of “experiencing the already and not yet” all at the same time. It can make you feel a bit schizophrenic at times! And that’s completely normal. Weird, right!?

But that’s not all, The Holy Spirit also makes us agents of the new world to come… God makes his presence available to everyone…through you and I!!!

Jesus said things like this: go and preach this message, the kingdom of heaven is at hand – code for, this new world that God has promised to us is right here in front of us, its available right now, right here…who wants some of it?