Sunday
Morning Bible Study
November
23, 2008
Introduction
For almost 40 days and nights Moses has been up on Mount Sinai with God receiving instructions on
how to built the portable worship center we call the “Tabernacle. We’ve looked
at the various parts of this portable worship center in the wilderness and have
been learning that there was purpose and design in these things. They teach us about heaven. They teach us about God. They teach us about how we are to worship and
serve God.
Moses is about to get his last few instructions before heading back down
the mountain and starting to build the things he’s been learning about.
:1-11 Calling all Workmen
:1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
:2 "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur,
of the tribe of Judah.
Bezalel
– B@tsal’el – “in the shadow (i.e.
protection) of God”. Bezalel will be the
fellow in charge of the construction, the master builder, the superintendent.
Uri – ‘Uwriy –
“fiery”
son of Hur
– the Hebrew here is “Ben Hur” (Charlton Heston’s son???) – “hole”
Hur might be the same guy who was one of the assistants to Moses, who
helped Aaron hold Moses’ hands up when Joshua fought the Amalekites (Ex. 17).
called by
name – God wasn’t just looking for someone with the right qualifications,
God was looking for a specific person.
Wouldn’t that be cool to think that God was talking to Moses about
YOU???
(Eph
2:10 NKJV) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
God has specific things for each of us to do, things designed for us,
things with your “name” on it.
:3 "And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in
understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,
filled him with the Spirit of God –Almost sounds like something in
the New Testament.
A rare combination of words in the
Hebrew, only one other place are they found together (filled & Spirit)
Mic 3:8 But truly I am full of power by
the Spirit of the LORD, And of justice and might, To declare to Jacob his
transgression And to Israel his sin.
wisdom – chokmah
– wisdom
understanding – tabuwn
– intelligence; insight
knowledge – da‘ath
– knowledge; discernment
workmanship – m@la’kah
– work, business
:4 "to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze,
to design
artistic works - design – chashab – to think,
plan, calculate
artistic works – machashabah
– thought, device, invention
One commentary translates this as Bezalel being filled with the Spirit of
God “to think out inventions”
When I see some of the designs in the table of showbread, with the various
racks to hold the loaves of bread, the laver and how the water was poured out,
I see invention.
:5 "in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all
manner of workmanship.
cutting – charosheth
– carving, skilful working
I found it interesting while we were in Israel how many times we had
opportunities to buy diamonds. There are
quite a lot of diamond cutters who are Jewish.
A lot. Our tour guide Leor said
that Jews are good with diamonds because since they’ve been persecuted so much,
diamonds are one type of wealth that you can grab quickly and run when you are
being persecuted (as opposed to a farm or a factory).
The jewels that
would be cut would be for the gems on the priest’s garments.
Lesson
Filled for a purpose
Sometimes we get confused about the work of the Holy Spirit and fall into a
trap of thinking that it’s all about experience and strange supernatural
phenomena.
When we read about the disciples first being filled with the Spirit, it
makes us think of weirdness -
(Acts 2:1-4 NKJV) When the Day of Pentecost had fully come,
they were all with one accord in one place. {2} And suddenly there came a sound
from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where
they were sitting. {3} Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire,
and one sat upon each of them. {4} And they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them
utterance.
But Jesus made it clear that the power of the Spirit was not about being
weird, it was about fulfilling a purpose.
(Acts 1:8 NKJV) "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
power
– dunamis – strength, power, ability
For the apostles, the initial filling of the Holy Spirit
was to give them the ability to be His witnesses.
Keep in mind these were a batch of fellows who fled when
Jesus was arrested. They were not the
boldest, most courageous group ever assembled.
But after they were filled with the Spirit, things
changed.
When they spoke with tongues, it wasn’t just gibberish:
(Acts 2:11 NKJV) …we hear
them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God."
Peter had denied the Lord a couple months earlier, but now
he stands up and boldly proclaims the gospel.
The filling of
the Spirit is very practical.
God wants to give you the ability to serve Him – whether
it’s telling people about Jesus or whether it’s building something with your
hands.
It might involve saying no temptation. It might be about being a better husband or
father.
Don’t be afraid of the Spirit. Yield to the Spirit.
:6 "And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of
Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all who
are gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you:
Aholiab
– ‘Oholiy’ab – “Father’s tent”
Ahisamach – ‘Achiycamak – “my brother is support (has
supported)”
(1 Ki 7:13-14 NKJV) Now King Solomon sent and brought Huram from
Tyre. {14} He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father
was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker; he was filled with wisdom and understanding
and skill in working with all kinds of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon
and did all his work.
:7 "the
tabernacle of meeting, the
ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the
tabernacle;
:8 "the
table and its utensils, the
pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense,
:9 "the
altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base;
:10 "the
garments of ministry, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments
of his sons, to minister as priests,
:11 "and the
anointing oil and sweet
incense for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded you they
shall do."
These guys were pretty knowledgeable.
They had to know a lot about a lot of things.
Lesson
You are also a part
God had shown Moses all the things that needed to be made, but God didn’t
give Moses the ability to make them.
God gave these people the ability to make the things that Moses had seen.
(1 Cor 12:14-18 NLT) Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. {15}
If the foot says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a
hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body. {16} And if the
ear says, "I am not part of the body because I am only an ear and not an
eye," would that make it any less a part of the body? {17} Suppose the
whole body were an eye--then how would you hear? Or if your whole body were
just one big ear, how could you smell anything? {18} But God made our bodies
with many parts, and he has put each part just where he wants it.
Part of growing as a Christian is learning to find out that you have a part
to play in God’s plans. He has things
that only you can do. Church should not
be about coming to watch one guy come and speak. Church is about finding out how I can serve
the Lord.
Our vision as a church is to: Win the lost, equip the
saints, and send the servants.
There’s a progression to it. God’s desire is for the church to reach a
lost world. But the goal is not just to
get a lot of people coming to church and sitting to listen to a sermon. The goal is to grow Christians and help them
find out how they can serve the Lord with the things that God has given to
them.
We were talking in the elders meeting yesterday about some
of the cool things God has been doing at our church. Years ago our mission’s budget used to go for
supporting good organizations, but we were basically sending our money to
someone else to do the work of missions.
Last year we sent out our first full time long term
missionary – Drew
Morehouse. Drew was someone who was
pretty lost when he started coming to church.
The Lord has been growing Drew, and now he’s in Russia as a missionary.
In a few months we may be sending out our next batch of
missionaries – Caleb
and Kim Beller. Caleb starting coming to
the church when he was sixteen – and pretty lost. God has done a lot in Caleb.
It’s not just about becoming a missionary either. But it’s about finding your place and serving
the Lord. It might be in the band, on
the soundboard, in Children’s Ministry, at the Food Outreach, as an usher,
preaching at the Convalescent hospital, sweeping the sidewalk, praying with
people, cooking on Thursday nights, working with the Youth, helping with the
Spanish fellowship, or a ministry at your work or in your home.
Don’t think that the pastors are to do all the work. You
have a part.
:12-17 Sabbath Law
:12 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
One last things before Moses goes
back down the mountain, a reminder of something God has already told Moses (the
fourth commandment)
:13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths
you shall keep, for it is a
sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know
that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
The Sabbath was something given by God to the Israelites.
Some try and make the church keep the Sabbath, saying you have to worship
on Saturday, not Sunday.
But the law was a sign between God and the children of Israel.
We worship on Sunday because of the resurrection. Jesus rose on a Sunday. The early church met on Sunday. That’s good enough for me.
:14 'You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone
who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it,
that person shall be cut off from among his people.
:15 'Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of
rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall
surely be put to death.
:16 'Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe
the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.
:17 'It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six
days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested
and was refreshed.'"
:18 And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He
gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the
finger of God.
When we came back from Israel, we came back with our own souvenirs. Our boys got some cool t-shirts. Moses got stone tablets.
God had told Moses that He would be
giving Moses a souvenir of these 40 days on the mountain (Ex. 24:12)
(Exo 24:12 NKJV) Then the LORD said to Moses, "Come up to
Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the
law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them."
Lesson
Priceless
God gave Moses a written copy of
the Ten Commandments, written by God’s own finger on tablets of stone.
A priceless treasure.
Autographs can be
valuable –
On eBay
you can find a baseball signed by A-Rod for $425.
A Peyton Manning signed
football for $495.
A Michael Jordan signed
jersey for $759.99.
How much
would two stone tablets signed by God go for?
Priceless?
Actually, we have
something signed by God.
We are.
(Eph 2:10 NKJV) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in
them.
:17 …on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"
rested –
shabath – to cease, desist, rest
was
refreshed – naphash – (Niphal) to
take breath, refresh oneself
related to the word soul – nephesh
– soul, self, life (Gen. 2:7)
Ge 2:7 And the LORD God formed man [of]
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living being.
We got a taste of Shabbat
while we were in Israel. We were there
over two Saturdays, two “Shabbats”.
About 30% of the population are “observant”, they actually are careful to
observe the Sabbath laws.
Frankly we weren’t affected all that much, but it was interesting to learn
more about it.
Shabbat starts on Friday evening.
The typical family will go to synagogue early Friday evening, then come
home and stay home. Shabbat lasts until
Saturday evening, technically when you can see three stars in the sky, or,
about 5:30pm during our time there.
Some of the Shabbat laws are kind of silly.
Some of the laws come from a set of teachings known as the “Mishna”, supposedly
things that Moses taught, but were really just a bunch of things that various
rabbis came up with over the years to help explain things more fully.
These were the things that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for, in making their
“traditions” more important than God’s real laws (Mark 7:6-8).
(Mark 7:6-8 NLT) Jesus replied, "You hypocrites! Isaiah
was prophesying about you when he said, {7} 'These people honor me with their
lips, but their hearts are far away. Their worship is a farce, for they replace
God's commands with their own man-made teachings.' {8} For you ignore God's
specific laws and substitute your own traditions."
The Mishna has an entire book that gives lots of details just about the
Sabbath Law (the entire section has 24 chapters), such as …
Chapter
15: Regulations concerning the tying and
untying of knots
A woman may tie the slit of her tunic, the bands of her
hood, the bands of her girdle, the straps of her shoes and sandals… One may tie
a bucket (over the well) with his girdle, but not with a rope.
One set of Sabbath laws are derived from the Scriptures:
(Exo
35:3 NKJV) "You shall kindle no
fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day."
There are lots of things that “kindle a fire”.
When you turn on an electric light, you are starting a fire.
To get around it, many things in an observant home will
have timers that
take over on Friday night so you aren’t the one kindling the fire.
In your hotel room, you can flip a switch and the lights
will go on and off again automatically.
Sensors in the room will turn off the lights after you leave the room.
Some
of the hotel elevators are designated as “Shabbat” elevators. They will stop on every floor. You can get in the elevator without having to
press a button, but it will take you longer to get to your floor.
Driving a car is forbidden.
1/3 of the population don’t drive on Shabbat. They even get a discount on their auto
insurance, they pay 1/7 less because they drive only six days a week. Less traffic.
For the typical observant family, Shabbat is all about spending time with the
family.
TV sets are
turned off. Computers are turned off.
You read books. You play games. You spend time with your family. You don’t go out, you stay at home. It’s about resting. It’s about slowing down.
Food is prepared ahead of time. If
food needs to be cooked, the oven runs on a timer. Breakfast on Saturday morning had a lot of
cold food items.
The Jewish work week starts on Sunday.
They work six days a week instead of our five. But the day off is a real, complete day off.
Lesson
Learn to rest and be refreshed
We can make fun of some of the goofy parts of Shabbat, but personally I
kind of like the idea of having a complete day off.
Illustration
Larry McMurtry, known for his
[book] Lonesome Dove, wrote another book about roads—the many roads he
had driven on and the hundreds of miles he had explored across America. At
last, returning in memory to the place where he grew up in east Texas, he
recalls that his father had seldom gone much farther than the dusty roads near
his dirt farm. Comparing his own travels to his father’s localized life,
McMurtry admits, “I have looked at many places quickly. My father looked at one
place deeply.”
Perhaps we ought to think about
slowing down every once in a while and look at one place deeply.
Illustration
I had accepted
the call as senior pastor of a large congregation that had recently erected a
huge, state-of-the-art building resulting in major debt. Feeling the pressures
of my new responsibility—and with a strong desire to impress my parishioners—I
hit the ground running. I was in the office early every day, and almost every
evening I was out shepherding the flock or reaching out to potential church
members.
My wife, Teresa, was very understanding, but our two-and-a-half-year-old
daughter, Mandi, was perplexed by my absence. Mandi loved for me to read to her
after dinner each evening—a practice I continued in my new position, with one
caveat: I would sit on the edge of my recliner with her seated by my side and
read a quick story or two before rushing out for another night of harried
activity.
One evening Mandi said something that jolted me back to reality about my
role as a father. I had sat down with her in my recliner—once again on the
edge, ready to quickly read and run. While I was reading, Mandi interrupted me,
patted the recliner seat, and said, "Scoot back, Daddy, scoot back."
She knew on those rare occasions when I wasn't going back out that I would
relax, sit back in my recliner, and leisurely read stories to her heart's
content.
Her words pierced my soul as I understood what she was really saying:
"Please slow down, Daddy. Make time for me!" Appropriately chastened,
I scooted back.
Phil LeMaster, Cane Ridge,
Tennessee
Illustration
We are too busy
to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity,
but we accomplish little; many services, but few conversions; much machinery,
but few results.
—R. A. Torrey, American evangelist (1856–1928)
R. A. Torrey, How to Obtain Fullness of Power
Take time for family. Take time for
God.
Lesson
The sign
The Sabbath was to be a sign that showed the world that the Jews belonged
to the Lord. It’s interesting that
before they get to work, God reminds them to rest.
It made them different from the rest of the world.
Could our “rest” be a sign?
Rest comes from trust.
It demonstrates our trust in God.
We don't have to work 20 hour days, seven days a week to
meet our needs.
We trust that God will provide if we take one day off to
rest and honor Him.
We can become overwhelmed with anxiety, but we can trust
Him and find rest.
(Phil 4:6-7 NKJV) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; {7}
and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus.
The
world needs to see people who are learning to find peace, rest, in times of
anxiety.