Exodus 25:1-8 - Freewill Offering for the Tabernacle
Notes
Transcript
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. 3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, 5 tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, 6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.
Introduction
Introduction
Lev 26:12 “And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.”
There was a time God did this in the garden of Eden.
The problem: Our sin and subsequent separation from God.
The tabernacle was a place where God could meet with His people
An Offering of the Heart
An Offering of the Heart
The first thing we have recorded that God told Moses to do was to take an offering.
Not a tax - a forced payment.
Imagine if taxes were voluntary.
Current national debt.
It was a sacrifice
Possessions and labor.
Giving in the church to God
Body and service
The best of what they had.
They are giving back, what they have received from God
Exodus 12:35-36 “The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.”
They were previously slaves - all that they have, God has recently given to them.
The same is true for us: 1 Cor 4:7 “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”
God makes us rich for the advance of the kingdom.
Heart motivation (2b)
2 Cor 9:6-7 “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Out of the overflow of the heart.
David with the temple: 1 Chron 29:5-9
5 and for all the work to be done by craftsmen, gold for the things of gold and silver for the things of silver. Who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself today to the Lord?” 6 Then the leaders of fathers’ houses made their freewill offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officers over the king’s work. 7 They gave for the service of the house of God 5,000 talents and 10,000 darics of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze and 100,000 talents of iron. 8 And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, in the care of Jehiel the Gershonite. 9 Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.
Their hearts moved them because they were recipients of grace.
God saved them from slavery in Egypt.
He has revealed to them His glory and lead them through the wilderness.
He has provided for their every need in the wilderness.
He is bringing them into the Promised land.
He has bound Himself to them by covenant and provided the blood of the covenant.
His Son is coming for their atonement.
They were grateful!
Are you?
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
Ryken, “Giving to God is an important sign of our commitment to Christ. Our willingness to give back some of what we own is one of the leading indicators of our spiritual health. Generosity is one of the vital signs of real Christianity, and a Christian who isn’t giving probably isn’t growing.”
Giving to God is an act of holy worship
God could have provided for them a perfectly built Tabernacle.
He chose to allow the people to contribute to and participate in the building of it.
NT does not specify an amount.
10% can be a baseline.
Desire to grow in generosity as you grow in grace.
Ask God to enlarge your heart.
The Goal: God in their Midst (8)
The Goal: God in their Midst (8)
Sin has separated us from God
Our longing is to dwell with Him and He with us.
Ex 29:45-46 “I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.”
Symbolic representation of God dwelling with them, His nearness to them.
Looks back to the Garden of Eden
Gen 2:12 “And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.”
Ezek 28:13 “You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared.”
The lampstand is a reflection of the tree of life
A place for man to meet with God.
Looks forward to heaven
Sanctuary - is a place set apart for holy use.
We worship in Spirit and truth wherever we meet with God.
300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon God’s Presence Consecrates Every Place (Genesis 28:16–17; 1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 6:18; Psalm 23:6; Isaiah 66:1–2; Acts 7:48–50; Hebrews 11:6)
I passed a church the other day, and I saw on one of its doors the words, “The house of God.” I thought, “Is it?” On the next door I saw the words, “The gate of heaven,” and I said to myself, “It is not so, any more than any other door is.” Is this tabernacle God’s house? While we worship him here, it is; but it is not any more holy than our own house is. One place is as sacred as another, for God’s presence has consecrated it all: “The Most High does not live in houses made by human hands” (Acts 7:48).
Every part of my garden, as I meditate on God in it, is as holy as the aisles of the most venerable cathedral. Your bedroom, as you kneel in prayer before you lie down to sleep, is as sacred as the temple of Solomon. Every spot where there is a devout worshiper is the abode of Deity; it is no more and no less so in one place than in another.
Application
Application
What we desire determines how we use our money (and time, etc.)
Every other use of our money will not last. This is the one way use our money for an eternal impact.
33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
God desires to dwell with us.
He calls us to join Him.
Mt 18:20 “20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.””
Mt 28:20 “20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
1 Cor 3:16 “16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
Heb 3:6 “Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”
We must desire to dwell with God.
Jesus came to die that we might dwell with Him
Jesus embraced poverty on our behalf: 2 Cor 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
He sent His Spirit into our hearts.
This changes how we live:
2 Cor 6:16 “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
One Day we will dwell in God’s presence for all eternity.
Rev 21:3 “3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
Closing Hymn: How firm a foundation
Benediction: 1 Chron 29:11 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.”