Growing Together: Week 1

In the Construction Zone (Exodus 35, 36)

Introduction
Read Exodus 35 and 36

I. A Community in the Wilderness
So you have this freakish sight: a homeless, nomadic multitude; camping out in the wilderness of Sinai, building a strange-looking portable contraption that serves no apparent military or civic purpose. Why would so much time, money, and work go into this “tent”?

Catch this powerful spiritual picture: In the midst of a stark, barren landscape, the Tabernacle was a magnificent aesthetic experience. Life is barren. Life is often a wilderness experience. But then there’s God: alive and active—a colorful oasis in this barren wilderness of fallen humanity. Here, in the midst of the desert, God’s people could absorb the faith, not just by hearing about it, but by seeing it through this aesthetic masterpiece called the Tabernacle. The same is true in the wilderness here. We need an oasis for the people to come drink. That’s what Growing Together is about; it’s constructing a place for us and our neighbors to come and drink in the Gospel.

Now here’s where the people of God come in. Up to this point the people had seen the manifest presence of God by divine fiat—the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, tablets of law written out by the finger of God, and so forth. But now God orders human activity, intense activity, Spirit-filled and Spirit-skilled activity—the building of the Tabernacle. This would be a hint of things to come: “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.”

But beyond the prophetic significance, the Tabernacle was a practical worship environment for God’s people. We live on God’s earth which consists of places and spaces, and for the church practically, some of these earth-places are consecrated (set apart, designed, and blessed) to be centers of worship. And that’s what the Tabernacle, later the Temple, and still later, the churches are—centers of life and worship for the covenant community.

At the center of the Tabernacle construction we see an everyday ordinary guy named Bezalel. But the Bible says he was “filled with the spirit of God, with ability, intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft, to devise artistic designs….” God chose a skilled artisan and had him use his artistry to display God’s manifest presence to the people. And note this: he was described also as one “filled with the spirit of God.” And he was the first person in the Bible described in this way. “Filled with the spirit of God” is a description first used, not of a priest or prophet or patriarch, but of a “blue-collar” worker. So, church, welcome to the construction zone!

II. A Community Bent on Working Together
Bezalel was not alone in his work. He was part of a missional community. It takes teamwork to make the dream work. They were bent on a common purpose—a mission to build for the aesthetically pleasing worship of God. And God inspired Bezalel to teach other skilled workers so that a large number were involved in the building of the Tabernacle. In addition, the people were urged to help by bringing “gold, silver, and bronze and all the other lavish materials used to make the invisible kingdom of God visible and beautiful. This was everyone’s commission, but it was also everyone’s passion:

III. A Community of Givers
Exodus 35:21-22: and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. 22 All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the LORD….

The mystery of stewardship: Giving inspires more giving. This is the opposite of the satanic/natural trend that greed inspires more greed. And here’s the twisted irony: Greed satisfies less and less, where giving satisfies more and more. Giving is redemptive, greed is destructive. Giving benefits both benefactor and beneficiary. Greed doesn’t only hurt the poor; it hurts the greedy person.

Then God showed his pleasure over the whole building project in Exodus 40:34:“The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” The same thing happened in 2 Chronicles when the construction of the Temple was complete. God inhabits (lives within) the worship of his people. When we work with out hands, when we sing with our lips, when we give of ourselves, when we offer our time, talents and treasures, we see something of the manifest presence of God—“the glory of the lord fills our tabernacles.”

IV. A Community of Stirred Hearts
Haggai 1:14: “So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel…and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God…” God still stirs hearts—because God still has “zeal for His house.” And when God stirs hearts, the pattern from Scripture shows that He stirs many hearts simultaneously, and as He does, there is unity of purpose.

Haggai 1:4: “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while God’s house remains a ruin?” Haggai was imploring them to build the House of God—a center for community and worship. Haggai spoke in a way that many of us might consider harsh; at least I think it’s kind of harsh; he basically said, “Look at your houses… Now look at God’s house… What’s wrong with this picture?” He said, you all live in those “paneled houses” referring to the paneling which was, in a sense, a status symbol of the day. Haggai wasn’t condemning them for having nice houses. It’s just that they neglected God’s house in the process.

I might be tempted to think, “yeah, but these digs aren’t so bad.” But then I think, “What digs?” The school is very strict on which rooms we’re allowed to use, and there are a limited amount. The room we’re having to put preschoolers in has posters about sex in it. Now I’m all for sex. But there’s a certain age-appropriate issue here. Just when the Sunday School teacher in that room thought, “I’m glad these little guys can’t read yet!” it turns out that one or two of them actually can and asked what those words on that poster meant. I say all that to say this: I’m really happy that many of us have nice homes. But God’s house, so to speak for us, is in disarray with the present scenario.

Conclusion: The Goal
The goal is not $150,000. That’s merely the amount we’ll need to get started. The goal is everyone pray, everyone serve, and everyone give. The goal is what ever God provides as a result of us all doing these three things. God often speaks through His provision. So if God provides a million dollars or two through this 2 year campaign, we’ll know that He has more ministry for us to accomplish. If He provides less, we’ll take that to mean that He wants to be faithful with less. Either way, God’s provision is perfect, and we flow with whatever He sees fit.