February 16, 1992
Exodus 27:20-21
Matthew 25:7 Our lamps are going out ...
Introduction
I am using The One Year Bible for personal devotions this year. February 7 there was an interesting juxtaposition of Exodus 27 and Matthew 25. There is the common theme of oil lamps and the need to keep them burning bright. And the Old Testament passage spoke to me.
Granted, there are passages in the Old Testament that require patience, lists of names and the like. But the Old Testament is still the Bible. It is part of God's inspired revelation.
Jesus knew and loved the Old Testament scriptures, and quoted from them. He urged even His critics to search the scriptures. "They testify of Me!" He said.
This passage in Exodus can illuminate one very vital Gospel truth. It is the simple command of God to keep the light burning in the inner room of the Tent of Meeting.
I. A LIGHT IN THE TENT OF MEETING
AN OLD TESTAMENT 'PICTURE-LESSON'
God had delivered His people from bondage in Egypt. They were "free," but they were in the desert. God was leading them to a place they knew as the Promised Land. God led His people by one miracle after another. God STILL leads His people, and it is always a miracle when God enters into the affairs of men and women.
God met with His people in a special way in a place called the "tabernacle," or Tent of Meeting. It was a holy place because it was there God's Presence was manifested.
The assignment for the priests who looked after the Holy Place is the message of our text: they were to keep the lamps burning with a supply of pure olive oil so that there would be a light in the Tent of Meeting. They were never to let the light go out. This task was a relatively simple chore. Not too exciting. Not too difficult. But necessary. A light in the inner sanctuary, the holy place.
JESUS PICKS UP AND EXPANDS ON THIS OLD TESTAMENT THEME:
The idea of a well-tended, ever-burning flame in the Holy Place gives insight into (or at least resonates with) the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. You probably know the story line.
The setting of an ancient Mid-East wedding is too remote, culturally, for us to make too much of the specific customs. A lot of sermons have been preached about what this or that signifies.
But there is one vivid lesson Jesus drives home: A lamp or lamps that were supposed to be burning bright are flickering and going out. And somehow the results of that darkness when the Bridegroom comes are disastrous! Just when the oil is most needed the cry is, "Give us some of your oil! Our lamps are going out!"
Probably not one of us here this morning has given thought that today might be the day when we meet the Bridegroom, or when He might return and call for our lamps to shine. But what could Jesus have been teaching in this parable?
II. EACH PERSON HAS A HOLY PLACE, A 'TENT OF MEETING' A GOD-ROOM IN YOUR HEART!
Wherever or however God speaks to you, that God-connection is the most important thing in all the world! GOD IS SPEAKING TO YOU!
When the world is convinced that God has spoken in a special way to this or that person, the religious of the world tend to build a shrine, and people come by the thousands.
But God wants to speak personally, unmistakably, to each one of us!
A PERSONAL GOD-CONNECTION IS 'CRAZY TALK' TO A MODERN WORLD - Make no mistake: the very idea that God Himself meets with you or me is revolutionary. It takes a miracle. We may not think too much about it. Or, we may submit to the spirit of the age and think that God-business is a "personal matter," or listen to the propaganda that God is the Great Irrelevancy. Whatever we think, God still intends to make a keep a connection with each one of us in this present world (as un-holy as it is)! GOD WANTS TO SPEAK WITH YOU!
God has put within each one of us a "Tent of Meeting." There is a place built into the human personality a place where we can pray, and where we can approach God. Everyone prays sometime or another. It is this holy place that God wants to help us furnish. This is the ONE PLACE where a pure light needs to be kept burning.
This simple "chore" of keeping a flame burning in our Meeting Place with God is easy to overlook. So many OTHER things seem important in this "business-of-being-Christian!" Do this! JOIN here! LEARN these rules! BUT NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN TO SEE THAT THE LIGHT OF OUR FIRST LOVE NEVER GOES OUT!
PERHAPS OUR GREATEST SINGLE NEED IN A HIGH-TECH WORLD IS THE SIMPLE DISCIPLINE OF DAILY PRAYER.
Yes, it is important that we learn to sacrifice. It is vital that we invest our lives in the inner cities and the rural mission fields. Yes, we must care about the needy.
But all these things are in vain if, when at the end of the day, when we meet Jesus, we have a flickering Lamp at the center of our heart where we are supposed to meet the Presence!
John Wesley wrote in his Journal:
"Wisely said the ancients,' The soul and body make a man; the Spirit and discipline make a Christian.'"(1)
Keeping the lamp of love for God burning is not an impossible thing to do. If it is sometimes a chore, so be it. Think of the Old Testament priests keeping the lamps lit in the Tent of Meeting, and later in the Temple. Not exciting in and of itself: a light in the holy place.
[But you say: "Get practical! It is difficult! Can you give some help?]
KEEPING THE LIGHT ON IN THIS GOD-ROOM OF OUR SPIRIT
Come to God person-to-PERSON. Make personal contact every day. Start and end prayer time by affirming your love to God; by telling Him that you are His, available for sacrifice or service. Try to "make contact" every day. Or better, try to walk and talk with God every hour. It is NOT silly. It SHOULD be normal, if we are His people!
Develop good PATTERNs of devotion. We will read the Bible. We will pray prayers of worship, surrender, intercession. But these "ways" or patterns will vary. There are different ways to read the Bible; different patterns of prayer. It never becomes "automatic." As soon as you find a new, fresh and meaningful way to "do devotions" it may well go stale. Give even the staleness to Christ! Maybe we honor Him more by praying when we don't feel like it that when we do!
Be prepared for the duration! PATIENCE! It takes time to keep the inner chambers of the soul "filled." This is not just an electronic transfer of funds from one bank to another; this is a working of one Spirit on another spirit. It takes some time. Ephesians 5:18 says: "Be being filled with the Spirit!"
The INNER LIGHT is the SOURCE for everything else that is done in the Christian Life!
IF THE 'INNER LIGHT' IS BURNING, THE WORLD WILL SEE THE LIGHT
The inner light unfolds the PROMISE Jesus said that when the Spirit comes (to His own Church) the Spirit will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment to come.(2)
The inner light makes real Christ's PRESENCE. Before we need money (and we need money!) and before we need plans and programs (and we need them, too!)... before we need anything else we need to be sure that the light is burning bright in that Holy Place in our hearts where we meet with God! Jesus died on the cross so that we might have this holy conversation with God! Jesus saves us so that we might be RIGHT with God! Jesus sanctifies us so that we might have fellowship with God!
The inner light defines life's PURPOSE Then— if the light is burning in our Inner Sanctum our everyday conversation will be transformed! When the lamp is bright it cannot be hidden within ourselves.
Conclusion
THE LIGHT WE MUST KEEP BURNING IS THE LOVE WE SHARE WITH GOD, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST
LOVE IS NEVER 'ABSTRACT'. Probably you have heard many sermons about how the "oil" is the symbol of the Holy Spirit; how we need to have this or that experience. I want to tell you that those sermons are true.
But the Holy Spirit is NOT an just an experience or a symbol. The Holy Spirit is NOT "oil" or a "thing." The Holy Spirit is a Person, and at its very essence SALVATION IS A RELATIONSHIP.
To have this "oil," to keep the "light burning" is to make the Spirit of Jesus welcome, and to keep Him in absolute first place in our thoughts and words and actions.
JESUS SAID "FOLLOW ME!" We seem to think that this is such a dreadfully hard thing! It IS, if we only think of the "task" of reading our Bible every day, and spending "so much" time in prayer.
But it is not an impossible task if we keep the real purpose in mind! We are making Jesus know that He is loved! We are trying to get to know Him, and know Him better and better! We are keeping HIM in first place!
[Back to Exodus:] The priests had a "chore." It wasn't difficult. It was important. Whatever it took to keep the lamps lit is what they did!
OUR FIRST TASK IS TO LOVE JESUS!
NURTURE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS. Salvation is first of all a love, and a trust, a relationship between God's heart and your heart.
Every relationship needs to be nurtured. Re-kindling, encouraging, enhancing is necessary for every human relationship. In our marriages, in our friendships, in our families, and certainly within our church family. It is necessary in our homes between parents and children, and between children and parents and brothers and sisters.
And it is also necessary in our most important relationship: our relationship with Father God through Jesus Christ His Son, by the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
A CHILLING WARNING!: JESUS SPOKE THESE WORDS ABOUT OUR LOVE FOR HIM: In this same discourse (in Matthew 24:12,13) Jesus made this flat statement. To me it is chilling:
Because of the increase of wickedness the love of most will grow cold; but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.(3)
Who can deny that wickedness has increased during your lifetime and mine?
[I often wonder, knowing that God is just, and knowing how He judged Sodom and Gomorrah, what great impending JUDGMENT lies in store for the civilization in which you and I live! Wickedness has increased!]
But even amid all this wickedness it is pretty much "business as usual" for Christians. We think "We're here! The church is pretty full! WE are righteous even if the world is pretty bad!
But Jesus did not say, "The righteousness of many will grow cold!" And He did not say, "The honesty of most of My people will be called in question." Or, "The faithfulness to committee meetings will grow slack." That is not what is breaking His heart!
Rather than these, Jesus says, "Because of the increase of wickedness, the LOVE of MOST will grow cold! — You really won't love Me any more!"
The message I get in Jesus' parable about brides and lamps and all is that I need to keep a light burning in that God-room of my heart, where I meet with Him every day! IT ISN'T AUTOMATIC!
How about YOU?
Prayer: Lord— help us to do whatever is necessary to keep that central connection up to date! Keep us close to You. Amen.
Hymn EH #13 Let Us Sing to the God of Salvation
(1) John Wesley, Works, II, 204
(2) John 16:8
(3) Matthew 24: 12,13
-------
Dr. Russell Metcalfe is Pastor Emeritus of the Wollaston Church of the Nazarene. Permission to reprint or publish this material is GRANTED as long as the reprinting or republishing is not-for-profit.
You can access more of Dr. Metcalfe’s sermons at his scripturally indexed sermon archives web site. Now with MP3 audio sermons and audio bonus material. http://russellmetcalfesermons.nazarene.nl/Sermons/Sermons.htm
