A Broad Court for a Bronze Altar
Notes
Transcript
Prayer of Thanks
Prayer of Illumination
1 “And you shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. 2 “You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. 3 “You shall make its pails for removing its ashes, and its shovels and its basins and its forks and its firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze. 4 “You shall make for it a grating of network of bronze, and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. 5 “You shall put it beneath, under the ledge of the altar, so that the net will reach halfway up the altar. 6 “You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze. 7 “Its poles shall be inserted into the rings, so that the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. 8 “You shall make it hollow with planks; as it was shown to you in the mountain, so they shall make it. 9 “You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side there shall be hangings for the court of fine twisted linen one hundred cubits long for one side; 10 and its pillars shall be twenty, with their twenty sockets of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver. 11 “Likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, and its twenty pillars with their twenty sockets of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver. 12 “For the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits with their ten pillars and their ten sockets. 13 “The width of the court on the east side shall be fifty cubits. 14 “The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets. 15 “And for the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets. 16 “For the gate of the court there shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of a weaver, with their four pillars and their four sockets. 17 “All the pillars around the court shall be furnished with silver bands with their hooks of silver and their sockets of bronze. 18 “The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, and the width fifty throughout, and the height five cubits of fine twisted linen, and their sockets of bronze. 19 “All the utensils of the tabernacle used in all its service, and all its pegs, and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze. 20 “You shall charge the sons of Israel, that they bring you clear oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. 21 “In the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the Lord; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout their generations for the sons of Israel.
Introduction
Before we really dig into our passage this morning I’d like to do a little review. It’s easy to get lost amidst everything that’s going on with the Tabernacle. To put things very simply: The whole of the tabernacle is a pursuit by God to restore fellowship with His covenant people - Israel. Every piece of the tabernacle is telling us something about God’s relationship with His people, and ultimately providing a glimpse into His greater plan of redemption for sinful humanity.
You may have recognized a bit of a pattern, but in so many of the details and features of the tabernacle There’s some truth about God Himself as revealed in the Old Testament.
That truth finds a greater revelation in Christ who ultimately restores that fellowship, but in the end there’s very often a call to us. Many of the New Testament writers use this imagery of the tabernacle and the temple to call us to action.
We looked at a couple pieces actually within the tent of the tabernacle: The Ark of the covenant, the table of showbread, and the lampstand.
We looked at some of the ornate features but we ultimately looked at their function as ordained by God. They’re the place where God speaks to His people, feeds His people, and gives them light to come before Him. Just in the book of Exodus we’ve seen God exercise all of these in extraordinary ways, speaking on the mountaintop the law which the people are to follow, giving them manna in the wilderness, shining as a pillar of fire by night to lead the way. God’s putting the fullness of His glory on display in a tent for His people to approach Him, yet we see how Christ fulfills these functions to an even greater degree. He is the logos, the WORD come in the flesh. He is the bread of life. He is the light of the world.. We ought to revel in the reality of Christ with us as a humble man! Speaking, feeding, and showing the way for sinners, yet we are called to that same work! Gather together around the word! Gather in that place where God has said He will make His dwelling place, the church. Feed the sheep. Be the city on a hill in a dark world that lights the way to Christ for both unbeliever and believer alike.
The tabernacle shows us who God is, who Christ is, and shows us how we are to minister as saints knowing the fellowship we now have in Christ.
There’s (1) sermon in 3 minutes. Let’s do one more.
What did we see last week?
We are the temple of God! What does that mean for us?
God came to dwell in a humble tent, Christ came to put on flesh and tabernacle among us as a carpenter. We can be content with humility. God has been making His dwelling place in humble places from the very beginning, yet as much as we may look ordinary on the outside we are not intended for ordinary use. We are made holy by the blood of Christ, and we’ve been devoted to Christ as His holy temple for His glory alone! We cast aside the idols and the things that compete with Christ for the glory He deserves. That’s what it means to be the temple of God, yet how have we entered into this temple, this holy dwelling place. That narrow way is the veil of Christ. He is the door and the narrow way, and until we arrive in that celestial city we point the lost to the door and we encourage one another on the narrow way.
Thus far you might say we’ve seen the ministry within the house of God, and looked at the house itself. We attend to the ministry of the Word in feeding one another and living in the light of truth. We minister within the house ,but we are the house of God, humble on the outside, holy at heart, and welcomed in through the narrow way that is Christ.
It’s really there at the threshold where I’d like to pickup this morning, we recognize that Christ is the door, the veil through which we enter into the house, but what does it look like to approach the threshold?
If the tabernacle is a house the front step is centered around sacrifice. Right at the center of this broad court is the Bronze altar where the sacrifices for all of Israel are being made.
In this season you might think a little more about what that approach to your house looks like? Maybe a couple pumpkins, maybe a door hanger, something welcoming right? My neighbors are already putting up their Christmas lights, and I’m starting to make plans for lights on our house. Lights or not, we all want the threshold of the house to be welcoming right?
At first glance, you might think that lambs and goats and bulls being slaughtered at the threshold of the house of God is the opposite of welcoming or hospitable. Surely that’s something you would do in the backyard? In truth it’s quite the opposite. This morning I’d like us to see the good news that’s in that broad threshold that all may come with their sin and find a worthy sacrifice to atone for their sins once and for all.
At the entrance to the kingdom of God stands a demand for sacrifice. There is only one sacrifice which will satisfy, yet all may come because of the sufficiency of that sacrifice that is Christ.
At the entrance to the kingdom of God stands a demand for sacrifice. There is only one sacrifice which will satisfy, yet all may come because of the sufficiency of that sacrifice that is Christ.
The First Step of Sacrifice
The Court for All to Come
Before we really start talking about sacrifice let’s just start with the Bronze altar.
The First Step of Sacrifice (vs. 1-8)
The First Step of Sacrifice (vs. 1-8)
If we look at the description there in those first 8 verses this altar is pretty sizable. It’s roughly 8 ft long, 8ft wide and nearly 5 ft tall. It has four horns on each corner, and a grate suspended in the middle that would hold the wood and the sacrifices placed on the altar. The whole thing is covered in bronze! The grate, the walls, the poles, the instruments, the rings - all of it is either bronze or overlayed in bronze. It’s durable. It needs to be, it’s one of the most used pieces in the whole of the tabernacle. This tabernacle is going to be the singular place where the whole of the sacrifices of Israel will be offered up. Wood will be added day after day, animal sacrifices will be placed on it day after day, the ashes must be removed day after day, it will be sprinkled with the blood of the sacrifices on its horns day after day. For many days the fire on the altar will be lit for hours and hours. The bronze altar is far from a museum piece. It’s being used - rigorously used - day in and day out serving a fundamental and central function to the worship of Israel: Sacrifice!
When we talk about sacrifice today we’re probably not thinking about it in the same way Israel would have.
Our culture today thinks of sacrifice largely in the context of success, and services.
If I sacrifice some comfort and some time I might gain some success as an athlete.
If I sacrifice some of my weekends I might gain some success in my career.
If I sacrifice some of my hard earned money I can purchase these services.
It’s a give a little get a little kind of sacrifice. What you put into it you’re going to get out of it.
That’s not really what we’re talking about here. When we talk about sacrifice in Scripture we need to be thinking about sin and a substitute.
The bronze altar isn’t a means of working or paying their way to God. (Give a little get a little) If you sacrifice some weekends and some money you get to approach God. No
The bronze altar is a temporary means by which God addresses the sins of people with a substitute.
The people who approach this doorway approach with a debt as sinners. A debt that needs to be paid with a substitute. A substitute which would die.
… For some time we’ve been looking to the end of the book Exodus to recognize the trajectory of the whole book. It’s truly a magnificent closing to the book.
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
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God finally comes to dwell with His people in glory filling the tabernacle! That’s the trajectory of this whole book, but if you look to the first verse of Leviticus you see that’s not the end of the story. The whole book of Leviticus begins with a conjunction: “Then or and”
You might say Leviticus is the in depth explanation of what exactly it looks like for Holy God to live among you. And where does it begin? What is the first step now that God has come to dwell with His people? The first step is sacrifice.
1 Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock. 3 ‘If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. 4 ‘He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf.
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In order for a sinner to be accepted before the LORD, to be accepted into His house, there must be an acceptable sacrifice for sins presented to God. The presence of sin and substitution are explicit here in this brief description. The man or woman would lay their hand on the head of the animal, as if to place the debt, the penalty of death they owe onto the head of a spotless sacrifice. It’s when that substitute takes upon itself the penalty of sin that it goes to be sacrificed on the alter as an atoning sacrifice on behalf of the sinner.
There’s no question about what it looks to be accepted before the LORD into His house. The people of God don’t need to go looking for it. They don’t need to guess. “Let’s pitch that on the altar and see if that does it.” There is one God, one altar, and one requirement for His acceptance: a spotless substitute as an atonement for sin.
Can you imagine for a moment what it would have been like to be an Israelite in the wilderness. The tabernacle was always positioned at the center of the camp and even if you were on the outskirts of the camp, how often would you have been able to look and see the smoke rising from the altar, morning to evening. Day after day there’s an ongoing reminder even to the community from a distance: that fire still burns because there continues to be a need for a spotless substitute to atone for the sins of the people.
How many times would you have seen one another gathering around the altar, your neighbors, your friends, your family. It’s a very public occasion. Again, the altar isn’t hidden in the backyard where you can enter secretly and sneak out without anyone noticing. I can’t help but wonder what that would have felt like. I’ve been found guilty of some sin, now I’m walking to the altar with a lamb and there’s my neighbor or a family member who I talked to yesterday also bringing a lamb. How many times did men or women look at one another in that approach and really understand what God was telling them. You’re a sinner, I’m a sinner, we’ve been here before. Thank God for providing a spotless substitute as an atonement for sin that we may be accepted before Him.
Being accepted in the house of God to dwell with Him begins with God’s righteous demand for a sacrifice! An acceptable sacrifice presented before God. God makes it very clear to Israel over time that there is one altar, because there is no other place where God has made His dwelling place! Any sacrifice not made on His altar, not made before Him is just unacceptable.
8 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice, 9 and does not bring it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to offer it to the Lord, that man also shall be cut off from his people.
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God requires a sacrifice at the doorway and that sacrifice must be acceptable, but it also must be in the acceptable place and that is before God! There is no alternative route to God’s acceptance. There is no other place to offer sacrifices to satisfy our guilt because our guilt is with God. Just like every other piece of the tabernacle we can’t separate them from God Himself. There is one place, one altar if you will where our guilt and and our sin is addressed and that is before God.
How many people in our world today know they are guilty and they don’t know what to do with it?
They know they don’t measure up and they constantly look for belonging somewhere, looking for life and purpose somewhere - somewhere they will be accepted even though they know they don’t measure up.
And with all this demand, there comes a supply. And so the world attempts to generate for themselves a means of acceptance.
“We’ll accept you just as you are.” Sounds really nice. There’s a certain kind of gospel in that simple statement. It’s a false gospel, but it sounds like good news. Acceptance without cost. All you have to do is ignore God, His law, and the fact that your guilt is a spiritual problem before God, and here you go. “You’re accepted.”
Others really do make sacrifices, but it’s not before God. There’s a burden on their heart they’ll try to relieve through charity, or community service, or generosity. “Perhaps if I make sacrifices in supporting worthy causes and giving to certain people, that will assuage my guilt.”
Others try to bury it all together and try to make it go away with drugs and alcohol or entertainment whatever it takes to distract themselves from the burden on their back.
Maybe there are some of us here who know what that’s like to bear a burden of guilt.
You may have found acceptance in a community, but at the end of the day the burden was still there because they didn’t really know you. And if they did, they’re acceptance was shallow, wanting, because that burden was still there.
Maybe at one point you found a different altar that felt promising at first. Surely this will assuage my guilt, yet only after you fed it time, money, energy did you realize that guilt was still there.
Maybe you’ve simply tried to hide from it hoping it will go away, but it’s still there.
I referenced Pilgrim’s Progress briefly last week, but if you don’t know the story written many years ago, there’s a man named Pilgrim who begins his journey carrying an extraordinary burden on his back. He receives an invitation to go to the Celestial City but at the onset he can’t seem to relieve Himself of this burden, his burden of guilt. It’s not until he comes to the cross does that massive burden finally fall from His back, and he is freed from His guilt.
The same goes for us! At the doorway there is a demand for sacrifice because we are guilty before God, yet at that same doorway is Christ, the one who went to the cross as the perfect substitute for sinners - the atoning sacrifice fully acceptable to God. And truthfully, there is no other acceptable sacrifice.
In Jesus’ own words, he made it very clear.
53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
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Jesus came preaching, he came healing, he came performing great miracles, but at the end of the day he came as a sacrifice for sin. Else there would be no substitute. Apart from Christ we come to the bronze altar of God empty handed. Can you imagine what it would have been like to approach the priest at the altar empty handed. The simple question would have been, “Where is your sacrifice? You have been found guilty, have you not? So then what will pay your price?” Apart from Christ there is no other worthy substitute.
His body was broken for us. His blood was shed for us. And in that sacrifice, the perfect just demands of God were satisfied, why? Because for those who eat of the flesh and drink of His blood, that is those who put their faith in the sufficiency of Christ’s death for them, those who come to the table of Christ believing that He will satisfy them, for these Christ gives eternal life. Apart from a worthy sacrifice, an acceptable sacrifice there is no guarantee of life, only impending judgement. Yet for those who have a worthy and acceptable sacrifice as their substitute, they know - we know - that eternal life is ours because the just demands of God have been satisfied.
54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
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No matter where you are this morning, the cross of Christ invites us to come in faith. There’s no longer a need to hide like Adam and Eve. There’s no need to go wandering and searching for other altars to appease our guilt. There’s no need to look within ourselves or what we have to offer as worthy or acceptable. Christ Himself stands at the door offering Himself as our payment should we trust Him. Seek Him today. Don’t wait. Confess your sins to Him who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and full of loving-kindness. Why go on burdened with sin when freedom in Christ awaits at the altar?
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In weeks to come we will get to see more explicitly how God displays His mercy to His people Israel, but for now I’d like us to see it a little more subtly in how God has ordained the tabernacle to be built.
The Court for All to Come (vs. 9-21)
The Court for All to Come (vs. 9-21)
Running the perimeter of the tabernacle are posts or pillars seated in bronze sockets and between them is hung a linen curtain running all the way around the tabernacle and the bronze altar. It creates a walled courtyard of a kind that can be taken down, folded up, and carried along as they make their journey through the wilderness. This courtyard is pretty substantial in size, it’s about 75 feet wide and 150 feet long.
Just to put that in perspective: God has commissioned a courtyard that’s roughly 10,000 square feet. That’s a lot of space for just the tabernacle and the laver which we’ll talk about later. What’s God planning for here?
I’m sure many of you have seen the little booths that get set up at the fair. All the food trucks and the tents are lined up, each has their own spot in the row along with everyone else. Suppose for a moment I have a product I would like to sell at the fair and I request 10,000 square feet of space at the fair for my little booth. I have a single tent with a single table, but I need 50 feet in every direction. The event organizer would probably think I’m crazy for requesting the same amount of space as the main event, but I insist. What I have to sell is going to be so popular that everyone at the fair is going to need it, and it would be best if I have the space. They won’t even be interested in the main event, because of what I have to offer.
That sounds a little audacious doesn’t it coming from someone ordinary like me, and yet it’s absolutely appropriate coming from God. God is the main event. God is the only one deserving of glory. Fellowship with God is the greatest need of every human being whether they realize it or not no matter where they come from. And God in His mercy doesn’t hide the entrance to His fellowship in an alleyway like some hidden entrance where only the VIPs or the special guests get ushered in while the rest wait outside. No, he sets before Israel a courtyard open and wide for all to see and all to enter. Even in Leviticus, what we read this morning, God’s expecting even requiring all of Israel, along with the the aliens and sojourners to come to His doorway, into His courts to offer their sacrifices before them.
8 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice, 9 and does not bring it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to offer it to the Lord, that man also shall be cut off from his people.
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The courtyard of the tabernacle, the altar of God, it isn’t an emergency room where only the really broken people go. It’s a courtyard intended for every Israelite and every sojourner to come because every human-being is designed for fellowship with God. Not only that, every human .. being broken by sin needs to atone for their sins before God with a worthy sacrifice. As much as God has made a unique covenant with Israel for a time, (they are uniquely set apart to be a holy priesthood amongst the nations) the Israelites will always serve to welcome the nations, “Come and see the one true and living God.”
Consider Psalm 100 for a moment.
A Psalm for Thanksgiving. 1 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. 3 Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.
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The Psalmist bids the whole earth, all those who are created by God, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.”
And the reason the Psalmist can invite the whole earth, as sinful as they are, is because God will provide an atoning sacrifice sufficient for all who would come.
In just a couple weeks we’ll have Black Friday. I don’t know that it’s this way any more, but there used to be a time when the deals were so good that people would line up at the doors just to make sure they got to that particular item before it ran out of stock. The aisles in some places simply weren’t big enough for how many people would rush through the store first thing in the morning.
There is no running out of stock with Christ. His courts are broad and wide to make room for people from every nation tribe and tongue who will come to have their sins atoned for and worship in the fellowship of God their Creator. Through the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed!
There are a couple implications we should take to heart from how God intended His courts to be used.
Two things:
Keep the courts from becoming cluttered.
Keep the courts from becoming a club.
As we’ve seen time and again, we see God’s wonderful plan for Israel and their witness to the nations only to see them miss the point in the end. We come to the time of Christ, and there are a lot of issues to address, one being how the temple courts are being used.
How has Israel come to use the courts intended for prayer, worship, and sacrifice? They’ve turned it into a mall. A place of profit, theft and business rather than a place of worship, and Jesus in a righteous anger drives out the money changers and overturns the tables for the way they’ve used the temple courts.
There are a couple very plain warnings for us there, if God is the main event, and the gathering of the saints is for the worship of God, let’s be careful we don’t clutter the courtyard with things that don’t belong. It may not be theft, it may not be outright business, but we might think about distractions. I should say, such an application begins with me. I need to be careful that my preaching isn’t drawing the church’s attention to something other than the Word of God which leads us to worship - something other than Christ who is the one we fix our eyes on. The court isn’t broad so we can fill it with the clutter of our own ambitions. The day I start to preach my own ambitions, I’m no better than someone trying to sell you something in the temple court. The court isn’t broad so we can fill it with clutter the court is broad so people can come to fellowship with God, to see Christ as their atoning sacrifice, and to worship. Might we make it our heart’s ambition for this gathering, this church to serve that fundamental purpose, making space for people to fellowship with God, see Christ, and worship in the Spirit free from our own clutter. And if I may, I see that ambition so often! There are those of you here with a genuine desire to make your fellow members and guests welcome here. Thank you.
Secondly, Let’s avoid letting the court become a club.
The day the court that is intended for the nations to come and worship becomes an exclusive club, it ceases to serve its purpose. There were those in the time of the apostles who saw themselves as card carrying Jews with privileged access to God. They met the Gentiles at the door and told them they didn’t belong because they weren’t Jews. Now, this doesn’t mean we let the world walk in and turn what is holy into something ordinary, but it does mean that we need remember that we are ambassadors of Christ to the world.
18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
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The ambition of the Psalmist inviting the world into His courts is fulfilled in the reconciliation we have in Christ. An exclusive club doesn’t go out into the streets encouraging broken people to join their gathering. Ambassadors of Christ do! We do, why? Precisely because we were once counted among the broken, the lost, and the dead and now have been reconciled to Christ through His atoning sacrifice on the tree.
Practically I believe there are two steps we can take to being ambassadors of Christ and avoid becoming a club.
(1) Hospitality
(2) Invitation
As you follow the Old Testament narrative you’ll notice that Israel’s posture towards the nations at peace with them is largely one of hospitality. That is when they knock on the door, “They’re welcome to come in.” The sojourners and the strangers among them were to be treated according to God’s laws, they were to be protected, they were to offer sacrifices at the altar. They were not to be excluded from approaching the court of the LORD.
For us here, maybe devote a Sunday to hospitality when you come to church. Talk about it with your family or your spouse on Saturday, and if you’re not committed to some ministry already commit to welcoming the guests who come in the door. You probably know what it’s like to attend an event and you find yourself wandering without anyone to talk to. It doesn’t take long for you to think, “You know what maybe I don’t belong here.” As ambassadors of Christ our hospitality to those who draw near ought to tell them, “You do belong here, because we all need Christ and we were all designed to worship Him.”
(2) Invitation
In the Great Commission our ambassadorship becomes more than just hospitality. We look around at the courtroom of God, we see plenty of space for more worshippers, we see the sufficiency of that sacrifice that is Christ and we go. Nothing against country clubs, but I’ve never had a country club representative come to my door and try to give me a membership for free. From a business perspective it just wouldn’t make sense. For us as the church it makes perfect sense. The membership fee has already been paid. The demand for sacrifice has been satisfied. Why would we not, encourage people from every nation tribe and tongue to come, be reconciled to God, and worship in His courts... If invitation sounds daunting, I’d encourage you to start with the first. Commit to greeting strangers. If you’re comfortable with that, invite a neighbor or a coworker over for dinner. Seek out someone in need of Christ, and invite them into your home. Just serve them dinner to start. Get to know them. Pray for opportunity and boldness to present the gospel through which sinners are reconciled to God...
A few closing thoughts:
God has always intended to gather the nations to worship before him, yet their remains a demand for sacrifice at the door. Being the merciful and gracious God that He is, He provides that sacrifice at the door that we can be free of our burdens. The sufficiency of the cross is more than enough to pay our debts, and that of all who would come. As we stand today we are stewards, hosts, ambassadors of that court in which the worshippers of God gather. Our passage closes with a call to the priests to steward the tabernacle - to steward Israel’s place of worship. That’s our stewardship. Let’s ensure the court remains free from our clutter. The church was never intended to be a fair full of all our ambitions and desires. When we keep the gathering free from our ambitions, we free ourselves to hospitality and invitation. Welcome those who do knock on the door. Seek out those who haven’t even approached the door yet. As much as we enjoy this fellowship with one another in Christ, let’s make it our goal to include others in that fellowship as ambassadors of Christ.
Let’s Pray
Prayer of Devotion:
Pastoral Prayer: Del and Kitty Adolph
Strength in their cancer battle
Wisdom and direction for the doctors who are providing treatment
Healing
Amidst this battle, their heart for Del’s parents who need the gospel.
The Church in Kazakhistan
Even amidst persecution and the closing of Christian institutions, thank you for their bold witness.
Sending missionaries to nearby nations
Keep them clinging to Christ, and be that city on a hill amidst a Muslim majority population.
Strengthen your church, equip them, sustain them as they persevere.
