Stay in the Tent!
CCCAG February 12th, 2017
Scripture: Exodus 33:7-11
Intro
In my early days of being a Christian, I was working in an electronics factory. Tammie and I had been arguing over something that morning when she got home from work after closing the restaurant she managed, and I left for work angry. At that time, I was getting a ride to work from a coworker as we didn’t have a car, and I lived about 8 miles away from my job.
As I sat on the assembly line, I was fuming over the fight. Usually, I didn’t let things get under my skin, but Tammie was driving me crazy about this and my mind kept playing the argument over and over again in my head thinking of better ways of winning the fight. I kept feeling God knocking on the door of my heart, but I kept ignoring it and letting the anger fuel my rage at the situation until my lead came over and ask me what was wrong. He said it was like a dark cloud was hanging over my head and I looked like I was ready to kill someone. I blew him off a bit saying I didn’t want to talk about it.
That insistent knocking of Jesus on my heart grew louder, and harder, and actually was quite irritating.
Has anyone ever been there- Jesus is knocking, and you just want HIM to go away and leave you alone so you can wallow in whatever situation HE’s trying to get you out of?
As I kept trying to ignore the prompting of the LORD, I felt an almost suffocating weight descending on me- much like what people who have anxiety have described what they feel- but I don’t suffer anxiety.
I’m German and Norwegian…we don’t feel fear? (Joke)
As this weight kept pressing on me, the current job on that line ended. There was a parts delay of a few hours on the next job, and there wasn’t much else for us to do so my boss came up to me and told me I could go home if I wanted. The problem was- my ride was on another line that would be working for several more hours, and no one else was going my way.
So I walked home. Over 8 miles. In January.
That’s like walking from here to Pigeon Falls, and half of that walk would be in the county, all alone in the fields before I hit the city limits.
It was the best thing I could have done. Getting alone, quiet, and away from the noise of life where I could hear God’s voice again and humble myself before HIM and turn from my stubbornness.
I’ve always remembered that time, and I try to do the same thing now- when life gets too busy, the noise of life is too loud, or the demands get too heavy and seem insurmountable-
I go away. I walk in the woods, go for a long drive, get alone by myself so I can quiet my spirit and hear from God.
There are tons of scriptural examples of this, so let’s look at one of them- (David, John the Baptist, Jesus)
Moses is the first to model that for us in the bible. (from our reading)
Ex 33:7-11
Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Prayer
What can we learn from what Moses was doing here- setting up a tent for his personal prayer use.
The first thing we find about the Tent of Meeting is that it was-
I. Deliberate
Think of his situation-
Moses is about 85 years old.
He has the best access to God of any person that has ever lived- God has descended on the mountain in front of Him, and all he has to do speak to God is climb up the mountain a ways and he will be in God’s presence. In fact, the presence of God is so powerful and manifested there that he can exist within that presence for extended periods of time without food or water (40 days!)
However, he has a problem with going to the mountain-
HE is the leader of 6 million people. 6 Million Former slaves to be exact- people who haven’t the first clue about how to take care of themselves or think for themselves. They’ve been slaves for all of their lives, as were their parents and their parents parents for 8 generations.
When we say that they were the Children of Israel, that’s a very accurate description of their mindset- that slave mentality made their decision making capacity at the level of children. Like small children, they had no capacity to make good decisions- everything was based on how they felt at the moment, and who the loudest voice in the crowd was.
It essence, it was like Moses was the parent of 6 million toddler children. Like toddler children, Moses couldn’t leave them alone without them getting into some type of trouble, or a major rebellion of some type breaking out. The last time he tried to get alone with God, they made a Golden Calf and descended into complete anarchy to the point that God wanted to wipe them all out and start over with a tribe made from Moses’ offspring only.
Moses was wise enough to know that he needed God. HE knew he needed that time away with God, but he couldn’t go too far away or stay away too long, so he came up with a solution-the tent of meeting.
What do we learn from this?
You will never find your strength in God if it’s not your first priority in life.
This is the struggle we all have. It’s been the same struggle humanity has had throughout history.
Today-The typical American Christianity views their spirituality as an ala carte menu- pick what you want or what makes us comfortable, and forget about the rest.
We walk through the spiritual lunch line with our tray and make our selections-
We take the blessing
We take a lot of the forgiveness
We fill our plate with feel good stories and anecdotes from sermons
We skip the obedience even thought there is plenty of it because no one wants to take some of that- it doesn’t go down well
And then pass the cashier saying, “Jesus paid it all!”
Ala Carte Christianity is not Christianity as prescribed by Jesus- and HE is the expert right?
What did He say? There are dozens of statements Jesus made that should make most of us cringe a little. IF Jesus was one of the teachers in your high school, you’d never take His class, because HE is a tough grader-
“Look upon a woman lustfully, you have committed adultery”
“Hate someone with or without cause- you commit murder”
Those are just two of his clarifications of the 10 Commandments. What did Jesus say about following HIM?
“Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life within you”
“If any of you want to be my follower, you must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you for following me.” ERV
Jesus doesn’t expect much from us- just everything.
Your pursuit of Jesus needs to be the first, and only thing in your life.
“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else you desire from HIM will be given to you as well”
There was a discussion on the farm between a chicken and a pig once about human breakfasts-
The chicken was complaining about how hard she had to work to keep producing eggs-even more so as the farmers family kept growing, and how her backside hurt from all the effort she had to put into making sure humans had enough eggs.
The pig looked at her with a sideways tilted head, and said, “Think about what I have to give up!”
That’s Christianity as prescribed by Jesus- that’s what HE died for!
It’s everything in life, and the first way it’s shown is in our devotional life. That time away with God to spend time with HIM in prayer and reading the bible has to by our number one priority.
We need to be very deliberate about it, because life, our own tendancy toward spiritual apathy, and a very real devil will do everything they can to make sure we don’t make it a priority.
Once we make it our number 1 priority we have to make sure it’s guarded.
II. Guarded
Oswald Chambers is the author of one of the most famous devotionals in history called “My Utmost for His Highest”. This devotional shaped my Christianity.
In fact, if you are a newer Christian here, I’d strongly recommend you buy it and read it over a year. Less than 5 min a day, but incredibly deep.
Oswald Chambers said this-“An unguarded strength is a double weakness”
Think of a wall around a city built on the top of a mountain. One of the walls faces a cliff that has a 1000 foot, solid rock drop off. No one has every been able to scale that rock face, so they never put a guard on that wall.
Until a new enemy comes- one who also lives in mountains and has experience in climbing rock faces. A small contingent of enemy soldiers climb that rock face, scale the wall, sneak into the city and kill the guards at the gate, and throw it open, allowing the entire enemy army to enter and destroy the city.
An unguarded strength is a double weakness.
Above all else, that is why you need to guard your time away with God.
The devil has all kinds of expert soldiers available to him. He has the Spiritual equivalent of Green Beret’s, Army Rangers, Navy Seals, Marine Force Recon, or Air Force Special Operations- they are experts at probing defenses and finding a way into your heart. Once they find a way in, they will open the gates of your heart to allow more and more of their friends in.
That’s why you need to guard your time with God.
Moses understood this, and put his most trusted aide in charge of guarding this tent. Moses didn’t want anything or anyone else to enter into it unless they were approved because he treasured the tangible presence of God so much.
If you make that kind of effort to be deliberate and guard your time with God, something supernatural and wonderful will happen-
God will help you guard that time-
the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance
Imagine for a moment God so wanting to spend time with you that He sends a supernatural guard to protect that time.
God does want to spend time with you.
Think about that for a moment-
The creator, sustainer, and ruler of everything wants one on one time with you. (pause)
That’s the intimate nature of our God. That’s the heart of Jesus- that He gave His own life so that we can experience God in His fullness.
That’s another thing that Moses’ tent of meeting teaches us-
III. Knew intimacy with God
A. Not a dull religious exercise
This WAS Moses’ life. Time alone with God isn’t supposed to be a dull, repetitious punching of a spiritual time clock. It’s meant to be your very life blood, your source of strength, and what gives you peace to handle everything that life can throw at you.
That’s why everything in life revolves around your prayer time.
Having a good day- pray
Having a horrible day- pray
Is the sun shining, the weather perfect, your getting along with everyone-pray
Are you in the middle of an ice storm, you’re are rolled over in a ditch in pitch dark and your cell phone has died? I would definitely pray!
This is all about your prayer life. Moses shows us what that can look like-
He got to dwell in the very tangible presence of God.
Most of us here have felt God moving in our church services. We’ve felt HIM during our worship. We’ve felt His word penetrate us during the message time, and maybe even changed our ways because of that presence.
But have you ever felt the terrible presence of God? What I mean by terrible is a presence so overwhelming that in your flesh you can’t stand it.
There have been times in history where God’s presence has fallen in such a heavy way that even unrepentant sinners were immediately converted without anyone having to say a single thing to them.
This happened in 1949 in Scotland. A Presbyterian pastor named Duncan Campbell was preaching his heart out to the local villages for years with little response to his ministry. One Sunday a young man visited his church and responded to the salvation message and was weeping at the front of his church over his sin and over his lost family members.
Pastor Campbell saw that and realized that he had gotten a little jaded about the things of God, and was stricken in his heart over his own coldness. He realized that this brand new convert was closer to God than he had been for years.
He came down from his pulpit and asked that the man pray for him and for the church. The man began to sob a prayer out, and three lines into the prayer, and the manifest, or terrible presence of God fell in that church. For the next several hours people wailed and worshipped, interceded and wept for the lost and that power and presence of God left the church and went into the surrounding community. The taverns emptied and people used to stumbling from intoxication were now stumbling under the weighty presence of God. There was a dance at the local school for young people that evening, and the power of God entered that dance and the young people, over 100 of them ran from the dance and came into the church.
This event, called the Hebrides Revival was covered by major news outlets and besides the revival in Pensacola was one of the most independently verifiable religious events in modern history. It was said that there wasn’t a single person on the island that didn’t have a direct encounter with God.
This last week I had my reappointment interview with our presbyter Pastor Cowles and he asked me what I wanted for our church.
That’s what I’m after. I’m normally a fairly introverted and unemotional person, but I want that kind of presence of God in our church.
I can preach the best sermons ever, but nothing will happen. Tammie and Jennifer can lead worship better than Hillsong Church, but not a soul will be moved. We can have the best of everything, but unless God’s tangible presence is here, we are wasting our time.
What is true for the church, is true for us as individuals. You can go through the motions. You can attend every church service and give toward the work of the Kingdom.
But unless you seek God on your own- unless you set up a special time and place to meet with your LORD, it’s all a wasted effort.
God wants intimacy with US!
This scripture tells us that Moses Spoke to God as a friend.
We sing songs like “What a friend we have in Jesus”, but do we really mean it?
Friendship means intimacy. We trust our friends with things we would never tell the person on the street.
The ultimate expression of friendship is seen in marriage. Marriage is a commitment that we will lay down our lives for our spouses. That’s the power of that relationship.
Is it any wonder why we are called the bride of Christ? Jesus wants that kind of relationship with you, and with me.
And we can have it when we are deliberate in our prayer lives, when we guard that time with God, and strive to have intimacy with HIM.
That’s when we hear His heart.
Americans have a lot of goals-
WE want to lose weight
We want to get fit
Maybe give up a bad habit like smoking, chewing, or cussing.
Buy the new car
Buy a new house
Learn a 2nd language
Travel
And through all of that, we miss what is most important- taking advantage of what Jesus did for us- The ability to enter into the very throne room of God- to hear His heart, and to experience HIM in all of HIS fullness.
To have intimacy with God.
When we are deliberate with our setting a time and place to meet with God, when we guard that time above all else, and when we begin to know intimacy with God, it will
IV. Be recognized
Musicians
The bible record says that the people would see Moses heading toward the tent, and stand at the doorway of their tents and worship God.
Intimacy with God spreads. An Effective, fervent life of prayer is contagious to others.
Just like in the historical account of the Hebrides revival, people will begin to notice.
They will grow hungry for what you have.
As Jesus is lifted up in your life, HE will begin to draw all people onto HIMself.
Let’s practice some of that this morning as we close. Listen to the words of this song, and make it your life goal.
“Take Me In” song
