Go For The Glory

Exodus 32:1–7 (ESV)

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”

And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.

Exodus 33:1–9 (ESV)

The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’

I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.

For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’ ”

Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent.

When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses.

Exodus 34:29–35 (ESV)

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.

But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them.

Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai.

And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded,

the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Title of Message is: GO FOR THE GLORY

God Can Seem Farther Away Than He Really Is

We lose that point of connection

A person

A place

An experience

A song

A relationship

“We don’t know what happened” to it…

We turn to idols

The big bad ones…

The “nicer”, subtle ones…

That point of connection of was pointing to something deeper (Isaiah 6:1)

Separation From God Is As Bad As It Can Possibly Get

God was going to send an angel

God was going to give them the land.

The only thing God was withholding from them was His presence.

Not His technical presence, but His manifest presence (intimacy, engagement, acknowledgement, connection, fellowship)

I am here for you

You are here for me

Moses:

“Depart from me”...”get out of my face”

TAKE THE WHOLE WORLD, GIVE ME JESUS!

It Is Time To Go Closer To God Than You’ve Ever Been

2 Corinthians 3:12–18 (ESV)

Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,

not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.

But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.

But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Shame breeds separation…from glory to veil…from glory to veil

No more veiled moments

High spiritual experiences

Hours of suffering

Mundane rhythms of life

Simple joys

EVERY MOMENT CAN BE A GOD MOMENT

GO FOR THE GLORY!

What is glory?

Hebrew - kabod

Greek - doxa

The singular splendor of God and its consequences.

The unending, incomprehensible reality of God.

In our human understanding, glory is difficult to grasp. We interpret glorious experiences as “special times with the Lord.

And what makes special moments special is that all the other moments are not like the special moments.

Today is my birthday

All the other days 364 days out of the year

Special moments are defined as much by what is lacking in all the moments as they are by what is present in the special moment.

If it can happen all the time, by definition, it is not special.

THAT IS NOT HOW GLORY WORKS

You don’t have to ration it.

You don’t have to save some for later.

THERE IS ENOUGH GLORY!

To fill All of your moments

Your life

This congregation

This city

Isaiah 6:3 (ESV)

And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

THERE IS ENOUGH GLORY TO FILL THIS WHOLE EARTH!