SYNOPSIS: Choose your issue: inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, gender-bending, CRT, Christian Nationalism, BLM, social justice, QAnon, the refugee crises, identity politics, racism, inflation, the death of truth and the rise of moral relativism, abortion, homelessness, protests in the streets, lawlessness, violence, the rising crime rate, national anger, cultural decline, neighbor hating neighbor over politics—no matter what belief system with which you side, no matter what life philosophy by which you choose to live, most of us are worried about our nation. With good cause, many of us believe we are watching the self-immolation of America. We are at a point where God stands ready to judge us—or help us—depending on the heart response that we offer. If the worsening conditions of our country lead us to repent and return to him, then he is prepared to meet us with his provision of peace for our land.

Moments With God // Exodus 23:1-9

Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness. Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit. If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it. Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent. Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

America is living in an incredibly divisive, mean-spirited, win-at-all-cost environment, with no signs of letting up. Racial disharmony, hatred, name-calling, government gridlock, lawsuits, violent protests, destroyed friendships, national anxiety, and general nastiness continue to pound our nation, and many of us are seriously worried about America’s stability and longevity as the best hope of the world. We are in trouble, and only we can fix it, with God’s help. We must create a grassroots, organic, internal movement that will call a stop to our national cannibalism and return us to the common ground that has made us the envy of the world, imperfect as we have been, for hundreds of years.

The blame for our mess is not to be laid at any one person’s feet—not at former Presidents Obama or Trump, nor current President, Joe Biden. The blame is not one political party or another—it is not the Republicans or the Democrats. It is not the media’s fault. Secularists or academicians are not to blame. Nor is it right-wing nut jobs, shrill Christians, or blue hairs from the Tea Party. The problem isn’t leftists, socialists, open borderists, or anarchists.

The fault is ours. We have met the enemy—and he is us. Let me be clear: you and I are to blame.

If you don’t believe me, read Exodus 23. God gets up in our grill in this chapter and shows us issue after issue where we have not just gone off the rails, we have annihilated his holy law and have deeply offended his righteous character. In very unmistakable language, he turns into an equal opportunity judge and goes after us on issue after issue:

• Dishonesty, dissembling, fake news, and flat-out lying: “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.” (Ex 23:1)
• Pandering for popular appeal, blind loyalty to a political leader, media bias, and pushing a false narrative for political power: “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit.” (Ex 23:2-3)
• Nastiness, the politics of personal destruction, name-calling, and argumentum ad hominem: “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.” (Ex 23:4-5)
• Social justice, inequality, racism, profiling, judicial activism, and a legal system that is biased in favor of the wealthy: “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.” (Ex 23:6-8)
• Immigration reform, open borders, religious discrimination, and the mounting refugee crisis: “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.” (Ex 23:9)

Did God leave anything out? I don’t think so. There is no cultural issue currently dividing us that God’s Word hasn’t already addressed. And when you look at what he has declared with an open mind and a tender heart, you realize that we are all guilty before a holy God who sees through our sophisticated philosophies and convoluted arguments with utter moral clarity. And he stands ready to judge us or help us, depending on the heart response that we offer him.

Choose your issue: inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, gender-bending, CRT, Christian Nationalism, BLM, social justice, QAnon, the refugee crises, identity politics, racism, inflation, the death of truth and the rise of moral relativism, abortion, homelessness, protests in the streets, lawlessness, violence, the rising crime rate, national anger, cultural decline, neighbor hating neighbor over politics—no matter what belief system with which you side, no matter what life philosophy by which you choose to live, most of us are worried about our nation. With good cause, many of us believe we are watching the self-immolation of America. We are at a point where God stands ready to judge us—or help us—depending on the heart response that we offer. If the worsening conditions of our country lead us to repent and return to him, then he is prepared to meet us with his provision of peace for our land.

And make no mistake: you are a lawbreaker. So am I. If not the letter of the law, we have murdered the spirit of the law in our hearts and minds. And may your acknowledgment of guilt lead you to repentance.

What can we do to save America? It might sound simplistic, but I believe it starts with personal confession and repentance. Then comes obedience to God’s law, not man’s opinion or political preferences, or cultural philosophies. And when we follow God’s way, he makes some wonderful promises of what life will be like as he leads us into a time of peace and prosperity—which you can read about in Exodus 23:20-33. Among other blessings, our repentance and obedience will be met with his provision of peace: “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.” (Exodus 23:20)

If enough of us do that—repent and obey—we can save America. We really can!

Do you long for your church to be defined not by the style of music or the powerful preaching or the incredible programs or the cool café in the lobby, but by the presence of Almighty God? What would it take to set the right conditions for such a Divine intersection of our lives with his presence? Certainly, God’s sovereignty is a critical factor—he will show up where he chooses, in the way he chooses, when he wants to. But perhaps a key phrase that appears no less than 18 times in Exodus 39-40 is the secret: “And they did as the Lord had commanded.”

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 40:35-35

Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Moses could no longer enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.

After all of the detailed construction of the tabernacle was complete—from the structure itself, to the garments of the priest, to the pots and pans used in ritual worship, the glory of the Lord fill the house.

Feast on that phrase for a moment: “And the glory of the Lord filled the house!”

That is the hope and prayer I have for every corporate gathering in the church where I serve—that every time we come into God’s house to worship him, call upon his name, and hear from his Word, that the glory of his presence would fill his house in an undeniable way.

I bet you long for that, too! Whatever church you belong to, wherever you worship, no matter what the style that defines your spiritual community, my sense is that you and others you gather with desperately long for the manifest presence of Almighty God as you come together. If you are like me, deep down, you don’t want the excellent music, or the great preaching or the beautiful architecture of your building to be what attracts people, you want it to be the glorious presence of God himself. After all, that is what we need most: to encounter the living God.

What would it take on our part to set the right conditions for such a Divine intersection of our lives with his presence? Certainly, God’s sovereignty is at play in this matter—he will show up where he chooses, in the way he chooses, when he wants to. And he does: he reveals his presence in gatherings under trees in Africa, in boardroom Bible studies in Hong Kong, in underground house churches in China, in prayer sessions in dormitories on college campuses. But I want that in my church the next time we gather!

But perhaps a key phrase that appears no less than ten times in Exodus 39 and another eight times in Exodus 40 is the secret: “And they did as the Lord had commanded.” I have a feeling that our slip-shod, overly-casual, low-expectations, anything goes, cheap grace approach to the presence of God these days keeps us from experiencing those deeper dimensions with God that we long for.

Perhaps it is time that we rethink how we plan our worship services. In all honesty, don’t we give more thought to how the people will respond to the music and the message than how God will respond? Of course, worship blesses us, since we were created to worship God and to fully enjoy him forever. But worship is first and foremost for God. He designed it and gave careful instructions for how his people were to approach his glorious presence in worship down to the smallest details. Graham Kendrick offered this insight, “Worship is first and foremost for His benefit, not ours, though it is marvelous to discover that in giving Him pleasure, we ourselves enter into what can become our richest and most wholesome experience in life.”

What if we began to list “for the glory of God alone” at the top of our weekly worship planner?

May doing “everything the Lord has commanded” become our first and highest priority! And may the glory of the Lord fill your house of worship this next Lord’s Day!

Our work matters to God, because it reflects his DNA. God is a working God and creative God. We ought therefore to work as if we were to be saved by our works; and so rely on Jesus, as if we did no works.

the Journey // Focus: Exodus 39:42-43

So the people of Israel followed all of the Lord’s instructions to Moses. Then Moses inspected all their work. When he found it had been done just as the Lord had commanded him, he blessed them.

Thank God for work!  No—really!

When we first meet God in the Bible, he is a creating, working God. In fact, we first learn of God that he is the Creator. He takes nothing and makes it something, turning the mess into his masterpiece. Often in the creation account, we find that when God has finished a certain aspect of his work, he looked it over and upon examination, exclaimed, “that’s good.”

When God created the human couple, he declared that his work as Creator was done, and that it, too was good. In fact, he declared it to be his most impressive work: “Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!” But he didn’t stop either his work or his creativity; he simply assigned it to Adam and Eve. In Genesis 1:28, God says to the couple, “Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” In other words, now you take what I’ve done to the next level. Creatively work it so that it brings honor to me.

All that to say, in our passage today, we find a parallel to the creation account in Genesis: “Moses saw that the people had done, that they had done it just as the Lord had commanded, and his summation was that it was good. How do we know that? We see that in response to their creative work, “Moses blessed them. On God’s behalf, Moses is looking it over, then saying, “it is so good.”

Among the many things that could be said in commentary on the construction of the tabernacle, one of the things we can draw from this is a theology of work. Work is what God does, and being made in his image, being assigned responsibilities of co-rulership with him, work is what he has called us to do. Work is not a necessary evil, it is at the heart of our God-infused DNA. Furthermore, we have his creativity in our DNA as well, so our work is to be done in a way that creates beauty and value, bringing honor and glory to the Creator. That is why, over in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul exhorts the Colossians believers,

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged. Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. (Colossians 3:17-24)

So whether it is managing creation on God’s behalf in Genesis, or doing God’s work in constructing a beautiful tabernacle in Exodus, or giving effort in whatever our daily life brings to us, in marriage, our family, or on the job either as an employee or an employer, God has ordained our work. So therefore,

1. Our work is to do God’s work. In fact whatever we do is God’s work.
2. In our work we are actually managing God’s creation for him, no matter what it is we have been assigned to do.
3. When we do our work as God’s work, and we carry out our work in God’s way, we will never lack God’s favor and God’s provision. Like Moses did with the tabernacle workers, God will review it and reward it.

And as we approach our work in that way, whatever we do, big or small, glorious or common, we will find great joy and eternal significance in knowing we have done it as service unto the Lord Christ.

“ We should so work as if we were to be saved by our works; and so rely on Jesus Christ, as if we did no works. —FRANCIS ASBURY

The Journey // Focus: Exodus 38:21

The reading in Exodus today isn’t all that exciting to me, frankly. I found my mind wandering to my “to do” list for the day ahead as my eyes passed over the minutiae of the endless list of strange Tabernacle furnishings. Why would I care about “horns overlaid with bronze at the four corners of the altar”? How will details about the “pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans” (Exodus 38:3) provide wisdom for dealing with heady spiritual issues or direction for leading my church toward a glorious future? All this stuff sounds more like a packing list for a camping trip!

But wait…the Lord is in the details!

For reasons that are important to God, he saw fit to include these details in the eternal witness of our Holy Scriptures. Perhaps God is reminding us that he cares about the details of our lives, too, just as he did about the implements of worship for the tabernacle. Maybe he is reminding us through this inventory that we are his holy people; he has set us apart, sanctified us, as sacred instruments of worship.

And, just like the details of tabernacle worship, he cares about the details of our worship. He cares because he is a holy God and he longs for a people who are a holy people who can experience closeness and intimacy with him through the pathway of their worship.

Reading about these ancient artifacts and building plans in Exodus and the archaic sacrificial rituals in Leviticus quickly reminds us that this holy God is very concerned that we, his people, have been selected and set apart for his holy purposes. As we come before God in worship and as we serve God with our daily lives, he doesn’t want our second-rate stuff or sin-tainted lives. He demands, and he deserves, our very best, even in the smallest details.

Given your sin nature and the tendency of your heart to wander, perhaps that sounds to you like you will never be a holy implement of worship. But the good news is that Father God, through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ, has cleansed you from all unrighteous and has purified you in holiness. Through his blood, he has made a way into the Holy of Holies; through is death, he ripped the veil separating you from the unapproachable holiness of God. As a Christian, you stand before God in the righteousness of Christ. Yes, you are holy! And that is not due to your own efforts or inherent worthiness. It is all because of God’s mercy and grace.

Yet the truth is, that while your position before God is holy, your walk before him is not always so pure. That is why, on an ongoing, if not daily basis, you ought to surrender your mind—how you think, your heart—what you desire, your hands—what you do, and all your ways down to the minute details of your being to his cleansing power.

God demands daily holiness from you, because he has set you apart to glorify and represent him with your whole life. What an honor that you have been chosen for that purpose! And the God who chose you deserves holiness as your reasonable act of worship. Because of who God is, and for all that he has done to save you, sanctify you and select you, holiness is the very least that you can offer to him.

I have a feeling that even though God demands and deserves your holiness, deep down, as a redeemed believer, holiness is what you desire to give God. And you should know this: that even though you don’t always achieve holiness in your thoughts, feelings and actions, your desire to be holy pleases your Heavenly Father’s heart. So much so is God blessed by your heart’s desire that he will help you this day to present to a holy life before him, even in the details, even in the pots and pans and utensils of your life.

“ There is nothing destroyed by sanctification but that which would destroy us. —WILLIAM JENKYN

When you plow through the tabernacle details and are getting a bit bored, or tempted to skip past them, just remember that they are reminding you of a God who cares about your worship because through your worship he wants you to be close to him and him close to you. And furthermore, those details are a promissory note to you that one day in the eternal future, there will no need of a tabernacle because “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will be our tabernacle.”

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 37:1-9

Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. He overlaid it with pure gold, both inside and out, and made a gold molding around it. He cast four gold rings for it and fastened them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. And he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. He made the atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. Then he made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. He made one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; at the two ends he made them of one piece with the cover. The cherubim had their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim faced each other, looking toward the cover.

In chapter after chapter over the last sixteen chapters in Exodus we are provided exacting details of the tabernacle, its furnishing and the supplies that will be used for worship. How exciting this must have been for the children of Israel, who up to this point, worshipped a God who took no form and had no sacred temple where the worshipper could meet with him. Unlike the surrounding nations, their God was invisible. Now he would have a home, and they would have a place worthy of a deity.

From our point of view, it is very likely that as we read this tabernacle minutiae between Exodus 25-40 we may be bored and tempted to “speed read” if not skip over it entirely. Yet since we hold a high view of Scripture, namely, that all sixty-six books of the Bible are inspired by God, and are therefore “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17), we must conclude that God included these chapters as a blue print for worship that still has some application for both our corporate and private worship today. And it does.

Many have undertaken the task of explaining the significance of the tabernacle, but that is neither my expertise nor my purpose here. But I would point out three general “take-aways” from this chapter, and its companion chapters, that should remind us of the grace and mercy of the up-close and personal God to whom we belong.

Firstly, it reminds us that Almighty God, the Creator and Sovereign of the Universe, is worthy of our highest praise and continual adoration. In the artistry and richness of the tabernacle—made according to his design—he tells us that our most careful and costly worship is due him.

Secondly, in calling his people to construct a tabernacle that he, himself, has designed, he is showing us that he has come “to dwell,” literally, to tabernacle, in the midst of his people. That is why his people must be holy, worship him in his holiness, and themselves be holy. But more than that, think of how amazing it was for a God to dwell in his awesome but loving presence among his people! And he does. What other god is like Israel’s God. There is no other. How merciful and lovingly kind Yaweh is!

But thirdly, as significant as this house of worship was for the people of Israel as they journeyed through the desert and later on possessed the Promised Land, the tabernacle was also a picture of what was to come—a prophetic foreshadow of a time when God would come to permanently and personally dwell among his people. He would come one day in the glorious incarnation of his Son (John 1:14), and would again one day return in the Second Coming to usher in his permanent and personal dwelling among his people in the eternal kingdom.

When you plow through the tabernacle details and are getting a bit bored, just remember, those details are reminding you of a God who cares about your worship because through your worship he wants you to be close to him and him close to you. So much so does the Creator desire intimacy with you, his creation, that he sent his Son to physically, literally, bring the tabernacle to you and through his death, make a way—a new and living way—into the place of the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy of Holies. And the full and final fulfillment of that Divine desire to have intimate closeness with you and all his people will be consummated at the Second Coming when there will be no “temple in the eternal city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” (Revelation 21:22)

Learn to read between the details of the tabernacle the promissory note of love that God has left for you.

SYNOPSIS: It is through the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that the body of Christ ministers effectively to God, to itself, and even to the world. How awesome is it that God would share his grace with his children, you and me, through the gifts that he places within us, allowing us to be vessels through which his supernatural power flows as the Spirit enables us.

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 36:1

The Lord has gifted Bezalel, Oholiab, and the other skilled craftsmen with wisdom and ability to perform any task involved in building the sanctuary. Let them construct and furnish the Tabernacle, just as the Lord has commanded.

As you read about the work of the uber-skilled craftsman that God anointed for the construction of the tabernacle, you are tempted to stand back in jaw-dropping amazement at the incredible gifting of the Holy Spirit that enabled these workers, Bezalel and Oholiab, to pull off this stunning feat. But do you realize that “the Lord has gifted” you, too. And when your gifts interact with the rest of your spiritual shape, your personality, experiences and passions, the angels stand back in jaw-dropping amazement at what the Holy Spirit has enabled you to do, too!

The Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 12:1 and 7, “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant…. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” What follows is Paul’s description of the body of Christ building itself up and functioning in its God-given call to be the dwelling place of God and repository of truth in the world. Essential to this process of edification is the operation of spiritual gifts within the body. Paul says each one has at least one gift, these gifts are determined and empowered by the Spirit, and they are to be used for the common good, i.e., “as a means of helping the entire church.” (vs. 7 NLT)

When you understand and begin to operate in your gifts, serving according to your passion, the church is unleashed to experience the effectiveness and success that Christ envisioned when he said he would build his church. And the widespread, Spirit-directed operation of the gifts active among all the church members indicates the church’s degree of health. When people are operating in their gifts and authentic ministry is occurring, there is no limit to what God will accomplish through that body of believers to reveal his power and presence to the world.

The presence of spiritual gift in your life—and in the lives of all the others in your spiritual community, means several things:

First, it means that ministry is not just for the pastors, but also for the parishioners. Each believer is called to a ministry, and ministries are enabled only as one understands and operates in the ministry gifts. It is through the gift-based ministry of the believers that God’s grace flows to the body. I Peter 4:10 reminds us, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

Second, it means that ministry is a privilege, not a problem. So many Christians have looked a service in the body as a duty that must be endured, perhaps even resisted and avoided in some cases, and not a joy. Most likely, this occurs because that believer is not serving according to their gifts. When Paul teaches in Ephesians 4 on ministry gifts, he reminds his readers in verse 7, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” Christ gives the gift that enables us to minister. Furthermore, that gift is associated with grace. Seeing it as a problem reveals a profound misunderstanding of what the Bible teaches about gifts.

Third, it means that the impartation of spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit gives you the privilege of being partners in ministry, not a pew potato. I Corinthians 12:7 says, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” A gift requires a stewardship, a producing of fruit, a contribution to the common good. An uninvolved believer simply warming a pew is an oxymoron.

Fourth, it means that gift-based ministry releases your potential, which in turn, as your work in harmony with all the other gifts operating in your church, enables your fellowship to grow exponentially. Operating in the gifts of the Spirit release God’s power to work through the Christian in ways that would not ordinarily occur. When many believers are operating in the gifts in a Spirit-coordinated way, unlimited and unexpected results occur. Ephesians 4:16 says that it is through the operation of the gifts, that “the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Fifth, it means that using your spiritual gifts to minister enables other believers to experience God’s grace. I Peter 4:10-11 says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms… so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” What is the conduit of God’s grace (the Greek word is charis) in the church? Your spiritual gifts (the Greek word for gifts is charismata).

It is through the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that the body of Christ ministers effectively to God, to itself, and even to the world. How awesome is it that God would share his grace with his children, through the gifts that he places within us, allowing us to be vessels through which his supernatural power flows as the Spirit enables us.

Yes, “the Lord has gifted” you “to perform your task involved in building the sanctuary” of his presence among his people!

SYNOPSIS: Offerings didn’t originate with the preacher, but with God. Interestingly, God could have created all the resources a ministry would ever need to operate if he wanted to. He is God, the Creator, after all. Apparently, he didn’t want to. What he wanted was willing partners who would take steps of faith to sacrifice their own resources to invest in the things that mattered to him. Amazing, isn’t it? God wants you as an invested partner!

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 35:4-5, 20-23, 29

Preachers get a bad rap for taking offerings—early and often. Surveys reveal that a high percentage of the un-churched believe there will be an over-emphasis on money if they attend a church service. Even believers—some of them, anyway—clinch their wallets a little tighter when it comes to offering time. Unfortunately, some preachers and televangelists have given folks good concern about getting fleeced.

Yet there is a place in the work of God for giving people the opportunity to give of their time, talent and treasure to support and advance the work of the Kingdom. In fact, the call to give didn’t originate with the preacher, but with God. Interestingly, God could have created all the resources a ministry would ever need to operate if he wanted to. He is God, the Creator, after all. Apparently, he didn’t want to. What he wanted was willing partners who would take steps of faith to sacrifice their own resources to invest in the things that mattered to him.

And when people—you and I—are willing to give and allow God to touch our hearts, as was the case with the Israelites in this story, opportunity and generosity meet to create a miraculous giving moment. Human willingness meets with Divine enablement and the Kingdom of God is advanced in defining ways that please the heart of God and delight the hearts of the giver. What happens in the catalytic moment is what Jesus said would happen: It is better to give than receive. (Acts 20:35)

Arguably there is no more impactful way to partner with the Almighty than by joyfully, willingly and sacrificially giving to his work. It is worship—it honors God with your trust at the most costly level. And it unties his hands to bless you, the giver, with divine abundance—the giver becomes a conduit: the more you give, the more God gives you to give. Generous, joyful Kingdom givers get caught in a cycle of Divine generosity—and there is nary a more beautiful thing.

Yes, I know: I’m a preacher who just wants more money. Right? No, wrong! I just want to see God’s abundance unleashed in your life through the joy of generous giving. Just try it, and see if it doesn’t work.

Legend has it that a man was lost in the desert. He’d wandered for days and was near death from thirst. He stumbled on a dilapidated, deserted shack. An old pump was in the yard, likely useless, but he was dying, so he starting furiously pumping. All he got was squeaks and dust.

He was about to give up when he saw a jar nearby. A note was attached, and it still had a little water. It said, “Use the water in this jar to prime the pump.” He suddenly faced a decision: Drink the water in the jar and live a few more hours or put faith in the note and hope for a flow of life-giving water. Then he decided to hedge his bet, so he poured in some in, kept some back, and began to pump. All he got was just a dribble, but there was hope! So he poured in all the water and began pumping. And soon there was all the water he could want.

When he’d fully satisfied his thirst, he filled the jar back up and added to the note, “Believe me, it really works, but you’ve to give it all you’ve got!”

Pass

Moses was tasked with leading a people, some who didn’t want to follow him, others who were jealous of him, and still others who just didn’t like him or his style of leading. But God gave Moses a gift to fulfill his high call of pastoring the Israelites: the manifest Presence of God himself. As a result, the glory of the Lord lit up Moses’ face whenever he returned to the people from the Lord’s presence. Now most pastors don’t expect something that dramatic, but they do crave God’s approval as they stand before their people. Without that, they’ve got nothing.

The Journey // Focus: Exodus 34:29-30,35

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him…they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.

Most of the direct interaction pastors have with the people of their church is quite positive and appreciative. Those who are upset and who do not appreciate their pastor’s leadership style or his ministerial abilities don’t usually speak to the pastor directly—which is certainly the Biblical approach to handling differences—they tell other people. Pastors usually hear of it either second or third hand, or after the fact when those who are disgruntled have landed in another church.

This is, undoubtedly, the most disheartening thing that the pastor faces. Don’t let your pastor kid you: he takes it personally. (I realize your spiritual leader may be a woman, but just for the sake of discussion, let me use the masculine pronoun to refer to your pastor.) It gnaws at his insecurities, shakes his confidence in his abilities, discourages his spirit, frustrates his vision, and if all that weren’t enough, it hurts his feelings. Yes, pastors have feelings just like you. I know all of this because I am a pastor, and because I interact with enough of them to know this is true.

Is the challenge the pastor faces any different than the one Moses faced? He was tasked with leading a people, some of whom didn’t want to follow, others who were jealous of him, and some who just didn’t like him or his style of leading. But God gave Moses some special gifts to fulfill his high call: miracles, divine interventions, the dramatic Presence of God himself, and in this case, the glory of the Lord that lit up Moses’ face whenever he would return to the people from the Lord’s presence.

Most pastors I know don’t expect something that dramatic—neither do I. But we do crave some sort of Divine aide that will indicate the Lord’s approval as we stand before our people. Our only qualification to lead is God’s anointing upon our life and ministry. Without that, we’ve got nothing.

What is interesting to note is that even though Moses had these Divine displays of affirmation on his résumé, there were still those who resisted and rejected his leadership. I guess it happens to the best of them—and I guess I, and every other spiritual leader, have to steel ourselves against the insecurities, oppositions and rejections that will assault our leadership at one time or another.

But at the end of the day, for most of the pastors I know, including me, the privilege of representing God to the people and the people to God is more than enough to make up for any slight, oversight, or personal inconvenience we may experience.

Soli Deo Gloria!

The Journey // Focus: Exodus 33:11

The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.

If I could choose an epitaph that described my life, it would be this: “The Lord would speak to Ray Noah face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” But is that really possible for a human being?

It was for Moses! If anyone ever really knew God, if a human being ever experienced an extraordinarily intimate revelation of God, if a man ever truly had a close personal friendship with God, it was Moses.

But Moses didn’t always have this kind of relationship with God. If you were to review Moses’ life, you would be reminded that in his first forty years, Moses knew a lot about God. He was born to Hebrew parents, but raised in the lap of luxury in the Egyptian palace as one of Pharaoh’s sons—he was a prince of Egypt. Moses knew about God through his heritage, but there is no indication of a walk with God characterized by love and obedience. In fact, it appears Moses was somewhat indifferent to God.

But then Moses tried to play God and killed an Egyptian, and he had to flee the palace to the backside of the Sinai Desert, where he lived as a fugitive for the next forty years until he met God at the burning bush. And during these four decades, Moses unlearned everything he knew about God in the first forty years. It was a desert experience—literally and spiritually—where Moses knew nothing but the silence of God. God had enrolled Moses in the University of the Desert—the Graduate School of Sinai—where he trained Moses in the curricula of solitude, monotony and failure.

But then came the burning bush, which marked the beginning of the final forty years of Moses’ life. And in this period, he came to know and experience God the way we want to know and experience him: In his power and glory. Moses, unlike any other man, experienced first hand every attribute of God a human being could possibly experience: God’s omnipotence—that he is all-powerful; his omniscience—that he is all-wise and knowing; his omnipresence—that he is everywhere at all times; his Divine nature—that is, his justice, righteousness, holiness, and incomparable greatness.

What more could a human being want? Yet that wasn’t enough. Moses didn’t just want to know about God, he wasn’t satisfied with seeing the evidence of God’s activity. He wanted more:

If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favor with you…Now show me your glory. (Exodus 33:13,18)

You’ve got to admire Moses’ boldness, audacity and greediness for God! Here is what he’s really asking: “God, I want to know you…your character…your nature…what makes you tick. I want to enter into the deepest dimension of intimacy with the Almighty that’s possible for one human being.”

Amazingly, God obliged this big, audacious request—he revealed himself fully to Moses. (Exodus 33:14-23) Now this doesn’t simply tell us something about Moses, it mostly reveals something vitally important about God: God wants us to know how much he wants to be known.

He has made himself knowable. He is not some unapproachable deity way out there in a galaxy far, far away. He is the God who is there, the God who is near, the God who will reveal himself to those who long to know him.

What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him. (Deuteronomy 4:7)

God wants us to know that he’s near and that he is knowable: “I will cause my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence.” (Exodus 33:19) In other words, I will let you know me.

To ask to know him is a request that pleases the heart of God! You see, that’s what we were made for: To know God. That’s what he desires from us. God himself says in Hosea 6:6, “For I desire…the knowledge of God [from you] more than burnt offerings.” And that should be our chief aim in life—to know God—because that is truly the sweetest nectar of life. Jeremiah 9:23-24 says,

This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I, the LORD, have spoken!

Knowing God is the best thing in life. In fact, it is eternal life. Jesus said in John 17:3, “This is eternal life: That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

God has offered to let you know him—really know him. It’s the best offer you’ll ever get! I would take him up on it if I were you.

The Journey // Focus: Exodus 32:1-4

When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.” So Aaron said, “Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

A golden calf! Really? After all that God had just done for them! Are you kidding me? How could they?

After 400 years of slavery, God delivered His people from the thoroughly idolatrous nation of Egypt. The Egyptians had hundreds of gods, and as slaves, the Israelites had been forced to build temples for many of those idols.

The influence of Egyptian for idolatry surfaced when the Israelites insisted that Aaron build a golden calf as an object of worship while Moses was on the mountain receiving God’s commandments. Keep in mind that God had just delivered them with miracle after miracle that no other god could come close to replicating, not by thousands of miles. The God of Israel had shown himself to be the one, true, covenantly faithful God. Yet Israel abandoned him in a flash.

God was so angry with their abrupt, blatant backsliding that He wanted to wipe out the whole nation and start over with Moses. But in one of the outstanding acts of priestly intercession, Moses stood between God’s judgment and the people’s guilt to save the day. Yet Moses ordered the slaughter of those who had led the way and for those who openly participated in this gross spiritual fornication.

That is when the tribe of Levi rose up and executed 3,000 idolaters that day with the sword. God’s subsequent choice of the Levites to serve as priests may have been rooted in their response to help Moses destroy idolatry among the people. And that became one of the priest’s duties in perpetuity—then and now in the pastoral priesthood: to keep the people out of idolatry while keeping them locked into the exclusive worship of Yahweh.

Tragically, over time, after Israel became a strong nation, they again became infested with idolatry, and at times, even the Levitical priests joined the people in the worship of idols. There came the day when idolatry was even practiced in the very Temple of God.

And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, shall bear their iniquity. Because they ministered to them before their idols and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore I have raised My hand in an oath against them that they shall bear their iniquity. (Ezekiel 44:10, 12)

Now if you are like me, the question I have, in light of all that God had just orchestrated on behalf of his people—miracle after miracle—is “how could they?” Yet don’t we, too, quickly desert the worship of God to rely on other sources for our safety, provision and happiness? Think of false god after false god Israel fell for—and in a less obvious way, we fall for as well. Here are some of the gods back then, and how we subtly worship them today:

There was Dagon, who was viewed as the god of vegetation. The Philistines worshiped him as a god of provision. His help was sought to ensure a bountiful harvest. We must realize that we do not worship God primarily for the purpose of receiving his blessings. If our loyalty to him is mostly so that we can get something from him, then we are in real danger of trading our revelation of God for a concept of Dagon.

Then there was Baal, who was considered to be the son of Dagon. Baal was a chief god of the Philistines and he was considered to be unpredictable and unreliable. Most famously, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest to see who was the true God;, and the sign of the true God would be the one who answered by fire. Elijah taunted the prophets of Baal as they beseeched their reluctant god to answer and prove himself. The prophet mocked Baal’s unpredictability and unreliability for doing only what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it—which was never. Sometimes we drift into that opinion of God, too, when he doesn’t’ answer when we want and in the way we want. That is flirting with idolatry. God is sovereign and he does as he pleases, but he also mercifully invites us to petition him through expectant, persistent prayer in trust that he is reliable and always acts on the promise of his Word in response to our asking.

There was Ashtoreth, the lone goddess of the four Philistine gods who was considered to be the spouse of Baal. She was the goddess of sex and fertility. She was identified with the Egyptian deity Isis and also with the Greco- Roman sex-deities of Aphrodite and Venus. Need I make application to our cultures infatuation with the goddess of elicit sex. Unlike Israel, we must be careful as believers not to allow our minds to become polluted with a preoccupation with sexual lust and salacious behavior.

Finally, Beelzebub was known, interestingly, as the god who creates and sustains wounds. Jesus called him the prince of demons, clearly identifying him with Satan. Beelzebub means, “the lord of the flies,” an appropriate title for the work of demons. This is a disturbing picture in the natural realm of what the disgusting devil likes to do in the spiritual realm. Just as flies are drawn to open wounds and cuts, so demons are drawn to the open wounds in our hearts. When we allow the hurts of our hearts to fester and go unhealed, we are prime targets for the demonic to work through the idolatrous attitudes of bitterness, un-forgiveness and victimization.

Maybe you think I am stretching the application of Old Testament idolatry a little too far here, but just think about it. Whenever we replace our devotion to and dependence on God, even in the most subtle or self-justifiable ways, with doubts about God’s love, with dependencies on the arm of flesh, with doctrines about God that are not squared with the loving, faithful, sovereign God of the Bible, we are flirting with worship of the golden calf. As Becky Manley Pippert said,

Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by acceptance. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our lives.

Who or what is god of your life? Make sure it is the only one and true God!

“ Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God, your functional savior. —MARTIN LUTHER