One of the saddest things about the world we live in today is the integrity of men & women. It seems people have no problem breaking their word if it helps them. Used to be a man was as good as his word or a man’s word was his bond but that is simply not the case anymore. B/c of that, today, we are bound by contracts & paperwork simply b/c people don’t keep their word. Contracts on services or purchases...Right now I have a contract w/ c-spire for this phone...telling them I will keep it for two years.
The scripture we read tonight, b/c of our contract driven society, we will tend to think of this as a contract but it isn’t. It is a covenant. A contract is no good after one sides doesn’t uphold their end. A covenant on the other hand is made w/ God. We know He will keep His end of the deal & if we fail to keep ours He is faithful & big enough to keep the deal. For example Abraham’s covenant with God. There were times when Abraham didn’t obey like God told him to...lying to the King about his wife being his sister or the time he got impatient & had a child with his servant. Although Abraham didn’t keep his end of the deal, God never broke the covenant. It is a sacred relationship between God & His people. It is established by God in which God belongs to His people & His people belong to Him.
Tonight we are going to look at the Covenant God made with His people. Over the last three weeks we have been looking at all the terms of the covenant. We have painfully read & attempted to apply the last two chapters. We now come to the time when God confirms His law. This chapter is the key to the rest of the book and I would say one of the crucial chapters in the new testament.
Exodus 24:1-4a (NLT)
1 Then the Lord instructed Moses: “Come up here to me, & bring along Aaron,(priest) Nadab, Abihu,(Aaron’s sons-they will die later on in Lev. 10-playing w/ fire on alter) & seventy of Israel’s elders. (probably picked during delegation in 18) All of you must worship from a distance. 2 Only Moses is allowed to come near to the Lord. The others must not come near, & none of the other people are allowed to climb up the mountain w/ him.” 3 Then Moses went down to the people & repeated all the instructions & regulations the Lord had given him. All the people answered w/ one voice, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded.” 4 Then Moses carefully wrote down all the Lord’s instructions.
I. GOD CALLS US TO WORSHIP HIM.
WE ARE HARDWIRED TO WORSHIP...You might say...I’m really not into all that worship stuff (um yes you are)...you don’t even have to be religious but you are STILL A WORSHIPER. You might say...
Not a Worshiper But.....You spend 6 hrs. a day in the gym or maybe you’ve went in debt trying to keep that look. You’ve been TUCKED & LIFTED & CUT & CLIPPED & PUFFED & TRIMMED DOWN & FILLED IN & PULLED UP & SAGGED DOWN & STRETCHED OUT. You worship your body
Not a Worship But...You go to your etrade or scottrade account every hour on the hour. You over charge or under serve trying to make a buck. Constantly thinking about what you bring in & what goes out. You worship your finances
Not a Worshiper but...all your time...devotion...effort...energy...goes toward a certain person...You worship a relationship
Not a Worshiper but...but you are obessed w/ Big house--bigger house, Expensive clothesmore exspensive clothes, nice car--nicer car--clean car--some people are OCD about the cleanness of their stuff, they can't sleep at night when something is dirty. Give me a break somebody, some people's cars are cleaner than their heart. We cleaned our cars this week and found about three happy meals under the car seat.
Not a Worshiper but...(I may get in trouble for saying this) you will wear there colors...chant their name...talk trash with others...spend time & money to go to their sanctuary...paint yourself up...get all excited...grab your cowbell (maybe that was to far)...if people cared as much about Jesus as they do college football we might have something in our churches.
Let me be extremely clear you will worship something if you don't worship God. This is what I have found...YOU WILL BECOME LIKE WHAT YOU WORSHIP...(YOU ARE WHAT EAT...same principle...YOU ARE WHAT WORSHIP)
So let me ask you...
WHAT DO YOU WORSHIP
What is most important in your life?
What do you spend most of your time on?
Where does your heart long for?
What could you not live without?
God has called you to worship Him and Him alone.
vs. 4b-8 NLT
Early the next morning Moses got up & built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He also set up twelve pillars, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent some of the young Israelite men to present burnt offerings & to sacrifice bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses drained half the blood from these animals into basins. The other half he splattered against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant (laws given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, orally presented & written down--contained all ways of the people) & read it aloud to the people. Again they all responded, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded. We will obey.” 8 Then Moses took the blood from the basins & splattered it over the people,(blood signified the sealing of covenant (like signing today--much more binding) Blood b/c something sacrificed life for this) declaring, “Look, this blood confirms the covenant the Lord has made with you in giving you these instructions.”
II. GOD CALLS US INTO COVENANT RELATIONSHIP.
God was making a covenant with the people to be their God & they would be His people. Every relationship with God has always been made through Blood. Blood is sacred Sacred. Blood gives us physical life & through shed blood gives us spiritual life.
The only practical way I can think to describe it to you is the covenant relationship we make through marriage. Marriage as a covenant...you are not committing your life to another person you are promising God that you are going to love & cherish this person. I married a couple this past weekend. She was 22 and he was 20. They were so young. I did my best to explain to them that this is not a contract. If one person doesn't do exactly like you expect them to the marriage is not null & void. It is a covenant. You are in essence promising God that you will love this man/woman no matter what for the rest of your life. That is the relationship God has with us. You can not break the relationship b/c it is not a contract. It is not dependent on you ability to perform. Even when we are unfaithful God remains faithful. He has sealed the covenant with the blood of Christ. We are His children & He is our Father. There is no way to break the Covenant Relationship. Our performance does not determine His love.
24:9-11 (NLT)
9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, & the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. 10 There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli,(your translation may say sapphire stone...Lapis lazuli was much used stone in the area) as clear as the sky itself. 11 And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating & drinking in his presence! (Don’t know what saw...all described is footstool...could be only thing revealed or could have been sacred to lift their eyes)
III. GOD WANTS US TO SEE HIM.
A lot of translation have problems with this verse, b/c of the fact it say they saw God. Some translators tried to translate the phrase "saw the place where God stood" However, it clearly says “They Saw God”. There is no physical description of God besides where He rested His feet. This could have been b/c they were afraid to look up at His face or b/c they were far down the mountain. Fact is God allowed Himself to be seen or we might say that God wanted to be seen. A guy at funeral last week came up to me & was asking me about a plot in the churches cemetery. I told him I would have to check the process but we could probably work it out. Then he proceeded to tell me why he wanted the plot. He told me how he had a heart attack a while back & he said, "I died." Then He told me this big long story of how he saw God. "He just had this big ole beard...it was just white...it was just real white...It wasn't scraggly...Just big beard...and it glowed...it was a beautiful beard...the most beautiful beard I’d ever seen...like grizzly adams but better." I thought, "How do you respond to this." I said do you think you just saw an angel..."nah it was him" He said..."and you know how everybody said they wanted to stay...welll...I kind of wanted to come back. I don't know its weird." He said.
May I say it was extremely funny & awkward at the same time. I say all that to say this, it would be cool to see God in the flesh but we don't have to go to Heave to see God. He wants us to see Him in our everyday things. God is in everything. Creation is calling holding up the images of God. We never see Him however b/c our minds are not fixed on Him.
As you know I like country music & listen to it alot. About three years ago this song came out when my Addyson was born. It is by George Strait & it really touched me. The lyric read this way...
Just walked down the street to the coffee shop, Had to take a break,
I've been by her side for eighteen hours straight,
Saw a flower growing in the middle of the sidewalk, pushing up through the concrete,
Like it was planted right there for me to see,
The flashing lights, The honking horns,
All seem to fade away,
but in the shadow of the hospital, at 508,
I saw God today,
[VERSE 3:]
Got my face pushed up against the nursery glass, she's sleeping like a rock,
My name on her wrist, wearing tiny pink socks,
She's got my nose, she's got her Mama's eyes,
My bran new baby girl, She's a miracle,
I Saw God Today
[CHORUS:]
I've been to church, I've read the book,
I know He's there,but I don't look,
near as often as I should,
His fingerprints are everywhere,
I just look down and stop and stare,
Open my eye and then I swear,
I Saw God Today,
Whether you like the song or not, it is thought provoking. It reminds us that we often miss seeing God in the little things.
24:12-18
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, & I will give you the tablets of stone on which I have inscribed the instructions & commands so you can teach the people.” 13 So Moses & his assistant Joshua set out, & Moses climbed up the mountain of God. (Hard to keep up w/ various trips up the Mountain) 14 Moses told the elders, “Stay here & wait for us until we come back. Aaron & Hur are here w/ you. If anyone has a dispute while I am gone, consult w/ them.” 15 Then Moses climbed up the mountain, & the cloud covered it. 16 And the glory of the Lord settled down on Mount Sinai, & the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from inside the cloud. 17 To the Israelites at the foot of the mountain, the glory of the Lord appeared at the summit like a consuming fire. 18 Then Moses disappeared into the cloud as he climbed higher up the mountain. He remained on the mountain forty days & forty nights (cloud-Shekinah glory...visible presence of God...received all instructions for Tabernacle)
IV. GOD DESIRES US IN HIS GLORY.
Lets think about Moses for a second. First He encountered God in a burning bush, next heard the voice of the Lord in Egypt, after that He saw God, now He is actually stepping into the literal glory of God. Moses kept getting closer & closer until finally he was enveloped by God’s Glory.
This is a beautiful picture of our salvation...
First God made us to worship Him. We worship on Holy Ground in awe of first encountering God. Next God calls us into a covenant relationship with Him. Pain for by the blood of Jesus. We begin to hear His voice in our live. After that He wants us to begin to walk with Him & see Him in everything we do. Finally we get closer & closer until we are actually caught up in His glory.
Wherever you are in this process don't allow your past to stop you from going forward. God is good & want you to overcome through His strength.
