WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.560 an Israelite society reminding us that God will live among His people, and that's a wonderful 00:00:06.560 --> 00:00:14.839 privilege, and His people are to center their lives on Him. And so, it makes us ask the question, 00:00:14.839 --> 00:00:23.900 what is at the center of my life? And to ask that, what drives us, what gives us a sense of hope and 00:00:23.899 --> 00:00:31.179 purpose and meaning and security is to ask a worship question. We will all find ourselves devoted to 00:00:31.179 --> 00:00:41.079 someone or something in order to get those great longings met. There are many options. Perhaps 00:00:41.079 --> 00:00:47.320 even ourselves, we rotate between them. Sometimes we find that family is at the center. Sometimes it's 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:55.380 perhaps work or a set of values, or it may just be ourselves. But the tabernacle's lesson 00:00:55.380 --> 00:01:03.760 is that by God's grace and by God's design, He would be at the center of our lives personally 00:01:03.760 --> 00:01:11.859 and at the center of our worship corporately. And we're invited to discover the solid joy 00:01:11.859 --> 00:01:20.159 of life with the God of glory and a life centered on Jesus Christ. So, I was thinking about this. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:24.280 You know, imagine, so if we fast forward, this is then being told to build it, but every morning 00:01:24.280 --> 00:01:31.359 when it's constructed, an Israelite wakes up and they go outside their tent. They see the Lord of 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:38.960 glory has taken a human address. He is right here with us. Every time they would walk to the tabernacle, 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:45.339 every week, every week, they know that they're going to meet with the Lord who has saved them 00:01:45.339 --> 00:01:51.500 and who has committed to an ongoing relationship with them. And every day as they would go to work, 00:01:51.579 --> 00:01:56.859 perhaps out to the fields, or perhaps at the end of a day as they would be sitting with their friends, 00:01:58.179 --> 00:02:02.839 they would see the tent and they would know the Lord who is holy is in this place, in this camp. 00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:10.700 How can I live to please Him in my life? Now, think about that for us. We have a greater privilege. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:15.500 We have a greater experience of glory because God Himself, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:24.659 has come to be God with us, to save us for relationship, so that we would gratefully, 00:02:24.840 --> 00:02:32.719 gladly pursue life with Him, so that we would wake up conscious that God has come to be with us. 00:02:33.659 --> 00:02:39.159 That we would come to worship knowing that we come because we're invited by the God who has saved us. 00:02:39.939 --> 00:02:43.659 And that we would go to work or we'd go to spend time in our relationships thinking, 00:02:43.659 --> 00:02:47.379 how can I please God, the God of glory today? 00:02:49.580 --> 00:02:54.780 So that's our big thought, that God, our Creator and Savior, dwells among His people, 00:02:55.099 --> 00:02:59.699 so we, in response, are to organize our lives and our worship around Him. 00:02:59.699 --> 00:03:06.359 And we'll see this three different ways. First of all, we'll think about the nature of the offering. 00:03:07.219 --> 00:03:09.739 So we'll think about the offering, then we'll think about the tabernacle. 00:03:10.759 --> 00:03:17.560 So within these verses, just a small reading, we see three principles that the people are to put 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:22.139 into practice for this offering they are to bring. First, there's willingness, and then there's sacrifice, 00:03:22.139 --> 00:03:27.819 and then there's obedience. So in the first couple of verses, we recognize this call to have willing 00:03:27.819 --> 00:03:34.299 hearts. The Lord said to Moses, tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the 00:03:34.299 --> 00:03:42.659 offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. Now, if this was all we had to go on 00:03:42.659 --> 00:03:47.379 for our understanding of who is God and what is He like, we might think, well, that sounds very 00:03:47.379 --> 00:03:53.460 demanding. This sounds like a very demanding God. And so we need more background. We need the 00:03:53.460 --> 00:04:00.139 background of who God is and what He's done. We need to know what God's already been doing for and 00:04:00.139 --> 00:04:06.780 with and in His people in the book of Exodus. So the story begins when they are slaves to Pharaoh, 00:04:06.780 --> 00:04:11.919 and God hears their cries, and He's going to respond to keep His covenant promise. 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:19.659 Part of that response is to call this man Moses and to send him to go to Pharaoh to say, let my people 00:04:19.659 --> 00:04:26.560 go. And then we discover that God works in power to show that He is greater than Pharaoh and the gods 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:33.759 of Egypt with these ten acts of judgment, these ten plagues that are sent, ultimately leading them to 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:40.419 deliverance and bringing them safely across the Red Sea. And now they find themselves in the wilderness, 00:04:40.420 --> 00:04:47.379 and still God is protecting them, and still He is providing for them. He is leading them, and He is 00:04:47.379 --> 00:04:54.700 feeding them. He's giving them water to drink. He's sending them bread from heaven. And then in chapter 19, 00:04:54.700 --> 00:05:01.920 they come to Mount Sinai, and God meets with them, and God establishes covenant relationship with them, 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:08.800 gives them His law. And then in chapter 24, they share a meal. The leaders of God's people share a meal 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:19.319 in the presence of God. That's the story. This is the God who says, bring me an offering in response to 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:28.580 all that I have done to save you and sustain you. This is God, our Creator King, God, our Savior, 00:05:28.819 --> 00:05:36.639 God, our Covenant Lord, inviting His people to respond to His grace and His mercy and His love. 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:46.000 So we need to see that this request is calling the people to respond to the grace that He has shown 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:54.579 them. And He says, give willingly. How we give matters, how they gave matters. And we can spot the 00:05:54.579 --> 00:06:02.599 difference, can't we, between a work that's done willingly and a work that's done grudgingly. 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:11.520 We can spot the difference between glad hearts and grumbling hearts. And so can God. And so He says 00:06:11.520 --> 00:06:17.939 to the people, I want an offering that's voluntary and that's generous and that's sacrificial, 00:06:18.620 --> 00:06:26.500 because that's how I've loved you. And to do it because of this new relationship with God. 00:06:26.500 --> 00:06:33.680 And so I think it's appropriate for us to ask and be reflecting on that question. How is my worship? How 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:41.500 is my heart? Am I enjoying the privilege of the gospel? Life with the God who made me and has sent 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:50.959 His Son to save me? Is my worship, is my way of life a response to the truth of God in Christ with me and 00:06:50.959 --> 00:07:00.120 forming? Is God's love in the gospel, is His kindness to me and salvation causing me to recenter my life on 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:08.639 Him? So there's to be willing hearts. And there's also to be, verses 3 to 7, sacrificial giving. 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:14.299 So all of those materials that you can read about there are all high value, high quality materials. 00:07:14.300 --> 00:07:20.800 And I think that in itself was an invitation to the people to acknowledge, as they saw this being 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:29.040 constructed, the God who lives in this glorious tent is infinitely more glorious. His house should 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:36.900 reflect His nature. And so there's offerings to be given for the structure, for the fabrics, 00:07:37.540 --> 00:07:44.240 for the furniture within the tabernacle, and even for the priest's clothing. It's all to be taken 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:49.939 care of. And maybe you have the question, well, where would they get this stuff? Now, some of it 00:07:49.939 --> 00:07:55.680 seems quite ordinary. Some of it seems very high value, luxury items. Some of it, of course, they'd be 00:07:55.680 --> 00:08:00.879 able to source locally. You know, you could find some acacia trees and chop them down. You could find 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:09.199 some olive groves and you could get some oil. But a lot of it is the treasure that they took from Egypt. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:15.300 And how do they leave Egypt? You know, they were slaves, but they leave with this great treasure 00:08:15.300 --> 00:08:20.639 because God again had acted for them, opening the hearts of their neighbors to be favorable 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:29.000 to those slaves and giving them great treasure as they left. In other words, God has given to them 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:37.120 everything that they have comes from God. Same is true for us. Their life of freedom, 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:45.860 the reality of daily bread. All our resources, our treasures, and our wealth. 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:53.019 And so, they're invited to give sacrificially as worship, acknowledging God is the one who has given 00:08:53.019 --> 00:09:01.700 them everything. And again, as we think about that principle, how is our giving? Do we have that 00:09:01.700 --> 00:09:09.080 mindset that all of our resources come from our God? Whether we're thinking about our money, whether 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:15.540 we're thinking about our energy or our skills or our homes, all of it comes from God. How do we steward 00:09:15.540 --> 00:09:24.120 and use it for God's glory? And is our giving a response to God's giving in the gospel? 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:33.840 That God held nothing back when He gave us His Son to give us salvation. Nobody made Him do it. It was 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:43.940 freely given. There's generosity and sacrifice. And so, as much as we give, we will never outgive 00:09:43.940 --> 00:09:52.720 God. But we are called to generous giving. And the last principle to do with this offering is the 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:57.420 principle of total obedience. So, read verse 8 again, 00:09:57.540 --> 00:10:02.480 Then let them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:08.420 furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. So, the designer of the tabernacle is God Himself. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:14.180 It's to be constructed according to the blueprints that He gives. In fact, in the book of Hebrews, 00:10:14.179 --> 00:10:24.519 we're told that the tabernacle is a representation of heaven itself, where God dwells in heaven. 00:10:25.699 --> 00:10:32.479 But the privilege of God with them, it meant that it was really important for the people to follow 00:10:32.479 --> 00:10:42.079 His pattern in order to create this house fit for their king. And so, the tabernacle construction 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:50.900 for the Old Testament worshiper gave them the best picture of the glorious privilege that they were 00:10:50.900 --> 00:11:01.180 enjoying, God living with them, of them enjoying life in God's presence. And so, their generous giving 00:11:01.180 --> 00:11:08.900 and their obedient construction and their faithful obedience in their lives are an expression of them 00:11:08.899 --> 00:11:18.819 saying, this is what we want. This is good for us, to have God among us, to have the true God to worship. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:29.319 And again, flowing from that, how is our obedience when we consider, 1 Corinthians 3, that God's human 00:11:29.319 --> 00:11:38.879 address is now His people? Our bodies become temples of the living God, where God dwells by His 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:48.639 spirit. And God gives a pattern for the life of our bodies as temples. He gives us the moral law. 00:11:49.860 --> 00:12:02.200 The holy God lives in us and with us. That should shape our obedience, our sense of God being present with us. 00:12:02.200 --> 00:12:11.600 So, that's the nature of the offering. But let's think now about the nature of the tabernacle. 00:12:13.040 --> 00:12:17.660 I don't know, some of us have been in Edinburgh for a long time, some of us are quite new here. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:22.500 It's one of those cities where you can walk around and if you go to a different bit of the city, you can 00:12:22.500 --> 00:12:27.580 find yourself looking at a grand public building and asking the question, what's that building used for? 00:12:27.580 --> 00:12:33.480 Or what did it used to be used for, perhaps? Who does it belong to? What goes on in there? 00:12:34.139 --> 00:12:41.420 Maybe we do the same on our holidays. But if we take that kind of question to our text, 00:12:41.980 --> 00:12:50.460 what's the tabernacle for? Who lives there? What's its purpose? We can actually find some answers here 00:12:50.460 --> 00:13:00.019 in verses 8 and 9. Two words that help us. The first is the word sanctuary. Verse 8, 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:05.700 then let them make a sanctuary for me. So, this is interesting. This is one of these words that 00:13:05.700 --> 00:13:12.139 seems to have changed over time. So, when we use sanctuary, we typically, I imagine, think of a 00:13:12.139 --> 00:13:19.840 safe place. We might think of an animal sanctuary. Or we might think of the city for sanctuary, Edinburgh, 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:27.139 a charity. But in Bible usage, it wasn't predominantly a safe place. It was a holy place. 00:13:28.340 --> 00:13:36.620 Sanctuary was a holy place because the holy God was there. Remember the idea of holiness? God is pure. 00:13:36.759 --> 00:13:44.940 God is sinless. God exists in a moral category, all of His own. With this holy God, condescended to come 00:13:44.940 --> 00:13:52.180 and to dwell in the tabernacle among His people, making it a sanctuary, making it a holy place. 00:13:53.340 --> 00:13:58.420 So, that's one word, sanctuary. The other word is the word that the tent gets known as, tabernacle. 00:13:58.820 --> 00:14:05.280 Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. And the tabernacle, 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:16.339 that word has, I guess, two related ideas. The idea of a dwelling place, a home. And related to that, 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:24.399 a place to settle down in. And so, we put those two things together, and we discover that this tent 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:33.620 is the human address of the holy and glorious God of the universe that the Lord settles down 00:14:33.620 --> 00:14:43.519 and makes His home with His people. Now, that's a staggering reality. That is something that sets 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:51.000 the people of Israel utterly apart from everybody else and truly sets the Christian apart from everybody 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:56.940 else on this earth. The God who made the whole universe, who cannot be contained by the universe, 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:06.679 now dwelling in a tent at the center of the life of His people. Now, if indeed Alec Matira is right, 00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:11.799 that the tabernacle is this great visual aid in the Bible about spiritual realities, 00:15:13.100 --> 00:15:20.700 what lessons are we invited to draw? And especially with this idea of God at the center. So, 00:15:20.700 --> 00:15:25.360 it was interesting for me this week, a couple of different books in one conversation, this idea 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:33.780 of the centrality of God came up. I was on a call with Manuel from Columbia. It's always a great joy 00:15:33.780 --> 00:15:40.500 to connect with him. He's one of our mission partners. He does a lot of pastoral counseling for 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:48.700 pastors and for families and for church leaders. And I was talking to him about, what do you say to 00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:54.640 pastors who are struggling or maybe they're beginning to experience a burnout or things aren't going well 00:15:54.640 --> 00:16:00.759 in their organization? And he talked about various things. But then he said this, he said, 00:16:01.420 --> 00:16:08.560 I always tell people, find the right center for your universe. Because so often when we dig down, 00:16:08.700 --> 00:16:13.580 we discover that who we put at the center of our universe is actually our cell. 00:16:13.580 --> 00:16:20.740 And when we do that, especially as Christian people, we find that we can become really 00:16:20.740 --> 00:16:27.340 impatient with God. God, your timing is not matching up with my timing and you're not answering my prayers 00:16:27.340 --> 00:16:32.759 exactly how I would like to. We can become angry with God if things don't go our way. 00:16:32.759 --> 00:16:40.720 But he said, when we choose to put God at the center of our universe, we're constantly asking, 00:16:41.340 --> 00:16:53.679 where do I fit in His plan? How can God be at work for His glory? How can I live with trust so that 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:59.840 God's glorious purposes are being worked out? It's a very different way to think depending who or what is 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:08.819 at the center. And then, different voice, Tim Keller in his book, The Reason for God, he says it in many 00:17:08.819 --> 00:17:14.799 places, that recognition that everyone will live with something at the center. It'll either be Jesus 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:21.640 or it'll be something else. We understand that because we're made to worship. We all are made to 00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:28.420 find meaning and purpose in something. But what Keller was always so good at was that reminder that it's 00:17:28.420 --> 00:17:35.420 only Jesus that gives freedom. So, if we live thinking that my career is my center, this defines me, 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:43.759 what happens when we lose our jobs? Or what happens when we need to retire? Then all of a sudden, 00:17:44.320 --> 00:17:52.460 our foundation crumbles. What about if we choose to make our family the center and our identity is based 00:17:52.460 --> 00:17:58.700 on how our kids are, how our home is, and they don't turn out the way that we would like? 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:02.519 Well, we can feel ruined and we can feel worthless. 00:18:04.700 --> 00:18:11.120 And what we need to understand is that Jesus is the only center, the only person or thing that we can build 00:18:11.120 --> 00:18:13.779 our life on who can forgive our sins, 00:18:13.779 --> 00:18:23.440 who recognizes our failures and still will choose to love us. He is the only one who lived for us and died 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:33.299 for us, the only one who can give us a secure and lasting identity. But we need to make him central. 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:39.759 And in our chat, Greg Beo is a biblical theologian. I just finished his book, 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:45.879 We Become What We Worship. It was a very thick book that was just making the same point over and over. 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:54.519 That we come to, he uses the language, we revere, what we revere, what we lift up high, 00:18:54.839 --> 00:19:02.900 we come to resemble. We become what we worship. And so, what we make central, that thing that we 00:19:02.900 --> 00:19:11.000 devote ourselves to will have a shaping influence on us. One thing that I found helpful from that book, 00:19:11.040 --> 00:19:21.660 he says, worship involves commitment and contentment. What do I commit myself to? Who gets my loyalty and 00:19:21.660 --> 00:19:31.880 devotion? And where can I find peace and rest? Do we live with the God of glory on the throne 00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:41.380 at the center of our lives? And that will be shown in our loyalty and our contentment to know that he 00:19:41.380 --> 00:19:48.900 is enough and more than enough. So, I think the question that we can be asking ourselves every day 00:19:48.900 --> 00:19:58.800 is, how will my life today be shaped by the God of glory? How can I bring God glory today, 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:08.339 acknowledging that he is central? And just as we close up, here's another thing to think about, 00:20:08.399 --> 00:20:15.440 and it's maybe going more wide, to think about the nature of God's promise that's represented by 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:25.220 this tabernacle tent. So, as God invites us to make him the center and the goal of our lives, 00:20:25.220 --> 00:20:34.500 we're also being reminded that God with us is one of the great unfolding themes in the storyline of the 00:20:34.500 --> 00:20:40.059 Bible. So, if we do a very quick scan from creation to new creation, we would go to the beginning, 00:20:40.660 --> 00:20:45.460 and we would discover that the Garden of Eden was designed as a garden sanctuary, 00:20:45.460 --> 00:20:52.579 that there are Adam and Eve in this perfect place, in this holy place, and God is among them. 00:20:52.579 --> 00:20:59.439 And there is worship, and there is joy, and there is loving relationship. But then we know that there 00:20:59.439 --> 00:21:04.779 was that fall into sin. Instead of God being at the center, God being on the throne, they wanted to 00:21:04.779 --> 00:21:11.939 get rid of God's rule and to place themselves at the center. And that sort of giving in to that sin and 00:21:11.939 --> 00:21:19.599 the idolatry of the self led to separation and to loss, no longer in the holy place, no longer dwelling 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:27.179 where God is. But even so shortly after that, the promise came again that God would be with his 00:21:27.179 --> 00:21:32.079 people, that promise that was given to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, then given to the nation of 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:40.399 Israel, represented visually by the tabernacle and then the temple. Here was the one people group on 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:46.080 earth who had God who had God with them, and as they lived in worship and lived following God, the 00:21:46.080 --> 00:21:52.880 nations were being drawn in. But again, we see the storyline of the Old Testament that the people 00:21:52.880 --> 00:22:02.000 would so often reject God. They wouldn't make him central. They found their security from other idols 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:11.359 and other nations. And so we had those sad realities of the people being sent out of God's holy place, 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:19.440 the holy land being sent into exile. Prophets like Ezekiel giving these visions of God's glory departing 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:26.160 the temple because of his people's sin. But you get towards the end of the Old Testament and we're left 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:32.600 with the prophets bringing this great promise, this gracious promise that the Lord God again would come 00:22:32.600 --> 00:22:38.560 to his temple, that the glory of God would return, that he would once again dwell among his people. And 00:22:38.560 --> 00:22:42.640 so the Old Testament closes with that question, well, when will it happen and how will it happen? 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:48.960 John's gospel gives us that wonderful answer as he introduces Jesus, 00:22:48.960 --> 00:23:00.319 Jesus, the Word who became flesh and made his dwelling, who tabernacled among us so that we see God's 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:07.680 glory, the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth. The glorious Son of God takes a human 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:18.480 address in the form of a human body, the holy God walking the streets of Palestine. Jesus as God with us, 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:27.279 revealing his grace and glory in a new way, dying to forgive our sins, giving us new birth and sending 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:35.440 the Spirit, making us a renewed people, his family, the temple of the living God, and still to come, 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:41.920 we'll get there by the time we get to the end of Revelation, when Christ comes again, that promise 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:51.279 of the new creation becoming a tabernacle and a sanctuary, when heaven comes down to earth, when God and his 00:23:51.279 --> 00:24:03.360 people live together forever in a holy place, a place of perfect love. There is a day coming when Jesus 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:09.199 returns when the great lesson, when the great lesson, the great visual aid of the tabernacle will be fully 00:24:09.199 --> 00:24:19.119 and finally understood. When all the people of God live with our glorious God and Savior for all eternity, 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:27.439 we will live forever in the new creation to glorify God and enjoy him forever. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:36.960 So in the gospel, we discover that Jesus has come to tabernacle among us as the Lord of glory. 00:24:37.840 --> 00:24:46.880 And the invitation for all of us is to organize our lives, our worship, our mission around him. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:56.720 And then again, thanks again for joining us again. 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:00.800 You know what I believe in哪裡 is a哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to 00:25:00.800 --> 00:25:05.840 哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to 00:25:05.840 --> 00:24:56.720 哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:00.800 哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to 00:25:00.800 --> 00:25:05.840 哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to 00:25:05.840 --> 00:25:05.840 00:25:05.840 --> 00:25:07.360 哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to 00:25:07.360 --> 00:25:14.000 哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to哪裡 to