Exodus- “The story of God’s presence”
Part 12
“Be the Church “
Exodus chapters 25- 26- 27-28-29- 30
Galatians 5
Good morning
Today we are going to pick back up in our study of Exodus
The teaching in this series continues to be hard
Some of you may feel like you just got bucked off of a good horse and you are sitting in the dirt saying what just happened?
I have fully committed myself to God’s word and the proper instruction of it
God’s word is powerful
Life changing
And it is important for us to understand it in order for us to apply it
Often times when we truly study God’s word
In context
We discover that we have been taught wrong or that we have understood wrong
It is never my intent to prove anyone wrong
It is simply my intent to rightly teach God’s word
Let’s look at 2 Timothy 2:15
“Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.”
Paul is speaking to Timothy – an aspiring preacher and teaching him the importance of his call to ministry and his responsibility to teach the word of God correctly
You see God’s word is designed to make us think
Designed to make us study so that we can correctly apply his word to our lives
Hebrews 4:12
“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”
Many want to say that the Old Testament is just an out dated book of wore out old laws about wore out old people and that it has no place in our lives today
Let’s see what the bible says on that subject as well
2 Timothy 3:16
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
In context Paul is teaching Timothy to hold true to the scriptures
And use them to teach
Sometimes we tend to get confused about the Old Testament
Often times the teachings don’t seem to make sense or have relevance in our lives
But
Listen
All scripture has a place in our lives
How we read it and how we understand it and how we use it
Determines just how much influence it has on us
I can tell you from my perspective last week
I saw lots of different reactions to the topic of the 10 commandments
This was hard teaching
And may have been a different teaching then you have heard in the past’
Today is going to be similar
You are fixing to hear something that you may have never heard a preacher say before
I want to issue a challenge to you today
First let me shock you a bit
Please don’t shut down on me
Because you need to hear the rest
I want to challenge each of you to
“Stop going to church”
The finance team just fell out of their chairs
The Elders just shuddered and grabbed their chests
Many of you just asked yourself “is he completely crazy”
Has he lost his mind?
Did I hear him right?
Just so the last doesn’t apply here – that you did not hear wrong
Let me repeat my self
I want to challenge you to “Stop GOING to church”
Hang on
Before you get wadded up or walk out
Please continue to listen to me
Notice I did not say
I want you to stop coming to church
I said I want you to stop going to church
Because I want to challenge each of you to become the church
-----Pause----
I want you to become the church
We tend to think of church as a building
And that building as the HOUSE Of GOD
Somewhere to go on Sunday and Wednesday
In the Old Testament
It was
Exodus chapter 25 verse 8
“Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.”
God though Moses is giving the people instructions on how to prepare a place for his presence
Remember here Guys
The nation of Israel had already been delivered
Building the tabernacle and all of the items involved in worship did not deliver them
It was grace
God’s mercy that delivered them
Now he was teaching them how to worship him
How to prepare his dwelling place
God gave instructions
Then in Exodus 25:40
He told them he was serious
“Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern I have shown you here on the mountain.
He says
Do it ----just like this
Just like I said
No better plan
No better idea
Follow my plan
God says build me a place
Follow my plan
And then
He taught them about sacrifice
And then he said
When you build it
I will come
Exodus 29:42-45
“These burnt offerings are to be made each day from generation to generation. Offer them in the LORD’s presence at the Tabernacle entrance; there I will meet with you and speak with you. 43 I will meet the people of Israel there, in the place made holy by my glorious presence. 44 Yes, I will consecrate the Tabernacle and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. 45 Then I will live among the people of Israel and be their God,
Focus with me on the words then I live among the people of Israel and be will be their God
God said--- Do this
Build me a place
And then I will move in
And he did
Exodus 40:34
4 Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle.
So you may be saying right about now
So
What does this mean to me?
Well if you believe that this building is the church and that God lives here
Hang on tight
I had the Elders and lay pastors make sure there were no rocks under the chairs this morning
I need to tell you
This building that we are standing in
Is not the house of God
We are the house of God
We are the church
Not this building or any other building – anywhere in the world
We could stack about 10,000 square bales of hay in here if we stopped using this building as a place for the church to meet
Notice I said a place for the church to meet
Not as a church
We – the believers in Christ are called to be the church
Not to go to a building that we think is the church
----Pause-----
I will tell you
There are similarities to the nation of Israel and ourselves
Just one of which is
The Israelites did not begin construction on the dwelling place of God until they had been delivered—rescued – saved
And we
Do not begin construction on the dwelling place of God until we are delivered- rescued- saved
But a big differences as well
With the Hebrews God did not move in until the construction was complete
With us
God the Holy Spirit moves in and then he starts the construction
The New Testament tells us that we are to be the church
We are the body of Christ and that he is the head of the church
The head of his body
Every believer becomes the church when they accept Jesus as their Lord
And he moves in right then and right there
And construction begins
But preacher
Exodus gives us all these plans for building the Tabernacle
And
1 Kings and 2 Chronicles gives plans and instructions on the building of the temple in Jerusalem that took the place of the portable tent that was the dwelling place of God’s spirit
And then
The books of Haggi and Nehemiah , Zechariah and Ezra
After the destruction of the Temple that Solomon built by the King Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian King in about 586 BC
Give details and instructions
Plans about the rebuilding of the Temple of God
Which we also know was destroyed by the Romans and an Evil King named Nero in 70 Ad
So preacher--- you may be asking
I see all these instructions and plans for the building of the dwelling place of God
And preacher---you say
That today we are the dwelling place of God
So
Where are the plans for building that dwelling place?
If we are the church
How are we supposed to know how to build the church or what the church is supposed to look like?
Well once again I am Glad you asked
In order to know how to build the church
We must go to the instruction manual
I know especially for us men this can be hard
How many have struggled with trying to put something together on Christmas Eve
It’s starting to get late
Way late
The kids will up soon
So finally we relent and look at the instructions
Life would be so much easier if we looked at the instructions before we started
So let’s use God’s word the instruction book
To see how we are to be the church and what that church should look like
First
How do we become the church?
We become the church on at the time of our acceptance of Jesus as our Lord and Salvation
Some will argue that this occurs when we are baptized
But
They are not rightly dividing God’s word
What that means is they are not teaching God’s word as Paul told Timothy to do- Correctly
Once again context is king and scripture does not contradict scripture
I could take a turn here but we would lose sight of the lesson today
So
If we are to be the church
That is the dwelling place of God
When do we become the church ?
When God the Holy Spirit moves in
When does he do this?
When we accept Christ for salvation
I will use Ephesians 1: 13
To show
There are many-- many --many more verses to support this truth
But I picked one that is pretty straight forward
Ephesians 1:13b
And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own[a] by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.
When you believed—he gave – as he promised the Holy Spirit
Paul is teaching the new believers at Ephesus about what it means to be a believer
I challenge you to read Ephesians to see we are in context here
You see
It is the presence of the Holy Spirit that gives you the seal of salvation
And that is where and when we become the dwelling place of God
Or the church
So we are the church
But we are not finished
We are already occupied
But we are still under construction
What is the plan for God’s church ---that is the church—us- the believers
Not the building
Supposed to look like?
First as with any good building
Any building that we expect to stand the tests of time
We have to have a foundation a solid foundation
And Jesus Christ is the foundation
The bible says he is the corner stone
Listen
Without Jesus
We do not have a church
Without Jesus these bodies that God designed to be his dwelling place are empty
Without Jesus this building is just a hay barn
Go back to Ephesians 2 with me
Ephesians 2:20-22
20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
So to be the church we must have the Holt Spirit in us
To be the Church we must build on the cornerstone that is Jesus
But
Preacher
All those rules
All those verse about
The kind of wood
The kind of cloth
The colors
The in and outs
How do I know what?
I
As the church should look like?
In the building of the tabernacle
In the Building of both temples
God had a lot of concern for the appearance of the structures
As the temple
His concern for our appearance is our internal appearance
And
What comes out of us
Not our outward appearance
What I mean by this is
Many in religion focus on the wrong things
Let me tell you
God does not care if you wear a suit and tie or cut offs and flip flops
He does not care about the color or your hair- the length of your hair or the absence of hair
He does not care about the tattoos or piercings
He does not care about the color of your skin or the language you speak
He does not care if you wear your hat to preach
Or even if you walk in here barefoot
He is concerned with the interior construction of his church- the framework
And he knows that when the interior construction is solid
Then the exterior will serve his purpose
So what is the church supposed to look like?
Turn back to God’s word with me
I will use a verse I use often to show us what the church should look like
First let’s look at what it should not look like
Please turn to Galatians 5
Galatians 5
Verse 16-18
In order to keep this in context
Let’s set the stage
So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the Law of Moses.
Paul is saying here -- Let the Holy Spirit guide the construction of the church
You see-Letting someone else runs the job
Anyone else , even yourself
Will not build the church to God’s specifications
We must let Jesus build it
Let’s look at what is built when we build by our own plan
Galatians 5 verses 19-21
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Guys
This is what the world looks like
And unfortunately this is what many churches look like
Both the buildings that people call church and the people who are supposed to be the church
Sexual Immorality
This includes
Adultery- And Fornication- sex outside of marriage
Homosexuality
Tran sexuality
Bisexuality- tri sexuality – I’ m not even sure I know what that one means
Impurity—minds clouded with the things of the world- evil wicked thoughts
Lustful pleasures- idolatry
Sorcery – this includes psychics- horoscopes- card readers-false prophets – luck – chance- the little forward this and you are promised blessings texts -emails and face book posts
Hostility
Quarreling
Jealousy
Outbursts of anger
Selfish ambition
Dissention
Division
Envy
Drunkenness
Wild parties
And other sins like these
Guys this is what the world we live in looks like
This is not what the church is supposed to look like
The church
We
Us
The believers
The body of Christ
Are supposed to look different from the world that we live in
We tend to often get so hung up on outward appearances -tattoos and such or how someone dresses
But look the other way on the things that matter- That is why we must let Jesus be in charge
So what should the church look like?
It should look like Jesus
The head of the Church
The Lord of our lives
Galatians 5:22-23
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control.
Love- a desire to see lives changed
We should get excited about what God is doing in the world
We should be excited when someone wants to show their obedience in baptism
We should get excited when our missionaries are successful
We should love others enough to be truly concerned with their spiritual health
We should be focused on telling people about the love we have in Christ
That is how we love them
Joy
The church
We and this building should be filled with joy
We should be smiling – singing- clapping our hands
Excited about serving each other
Excited about Serving God
Excited about what he has done and what he will do
Peace
Jesus said peace be with you to his boys after he was resurrected
Peace
That means assurance that he is in change
Assurance that he has got this under control no matter what happens
A type of peace that baffles those who don’t have it that those who live by the flesh
Those who live in the world cannot understand
Patience
The world is an impatient place
Deadlines
Rushing here rushing there
Lack of patience with anyone or anything
The church --We –You and I must not be like the world
We need to learn to be patient
With each other and even with those who do not belong to the body of Christ
That is what we are supposed to look like
Kindness
Being nice
Expressing concern
Focusing on others instead of ourselves
Seeing what we can do for the body of Christ
For the world instead of looking to the body to supply or wants and needs
Goodness
This is the opposite of the world we live in
Goodness
Means we think different
Talk different
Act different
That we are---- different than the world and those who still live in the dark
Faithfulness
We as the church need to be faithful to Christ
Faithful to each other
Faithful to the right teaching of the word
Faithful to our beliefs
Faithful to ourselves in the area of self discipline
Faithful to Evangelism and discipleship
Gentleness
It is often hard to tell a rough bunch of men to be gentle
But I can tell you it is awesome to see what happens when the Holy Spirit moves in these same Men’s lives
Tears that were once thought of as a sign of weakness
Show instead as a sign of obedience and sign of love
A softening of the heart
A Usability
A sign of Jesus
The last is self control
Being able to overcome the temptations
We all have them
But being able to overcome them- not surrender to them
In order to show Jesus to the world as the Church and not cause others to stumble in their own faith
Galatians 5:24-25
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”
That’s what the church should look like
That’s what we as the church should be striving to look like
In the Old Testament God did not move in until the construction was complete
Today he moves in and builds as he goes
We are a work in progress
Let me leave you with this passage of scripture
Colossians 3:12-17
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
So---- we need to stop going to church
And we must become the church
And the first step is allowing the builder and head of the church to move in and begin the construction process
Close from the heart
Pray
