One Sunday morning an old cowboy entered a church just before services were to begin. Although the old man and his clothes were spotlessly clean, he wore jeans, a denim shirt, and boots that were very worn and ragged. In his hand he carried a worn-out old hat and an equally worn-out Bible.
The church he entered was in a very upscale and exclusive part of the city. It was the largest and most beautiful church the old cowboy had ever seen. The people of the congregation were all dressed in expensive clothes and accessories. As the cowboy took a seat, the others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him.
They were all appalled at his appearance and did not attempt to hide it. The preacher gave a long sermon filled with fire and brimstone and a stern lecture on how much money the church needed to do God’s work.
As the old cowboy was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor. “Before you come back in here again, have a talk with God and ask him what He thinks would be appropriate attire for worship.”
The old cowboy assured the preacher he would.
The next Sunday, he showed back up for the services wearing the same ragged jeans, shirt, boots, and hat. Once again, the people completely shunned and ignored him.
The preacher approached the man and said, “I thought I asked you to speak to God about what you should wear before you came back to our church.”
“I did,” replied the old cowboy.
“If you spoke to God, what did he tell you the proper attire should be for worshiping in here?” asked the preacher.
“Well, sir, God told me that He didn’t have a clue what I should wear. He says He’s never been here before” (Jeff Strite, Nearer My God to Thee, www.SermonCentral.com).
God disregards fancy clothes and ornate sanctuaries. On the contrary, He appreciates simple things like a chair, a table, and a lamp. That’s what you see in Exodus 25, where God describes the furnishings He wants in the place he chose to dwell with His people. So, if you want to enjoy the presence of God, then I invite you to turn with me to Exodus 25, Exodus 25, where God shows us how to make Him feel at home with His people.
Exodus 25:23 You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height (ESV).
Earlier, in the chapter, God asked His people to build a chair, the mercy seat (vs.17). Here, He asks them to build a simple, little table, 3-feet long, 1½ feet wide, and 2¼ feet high. Although, it (and everything associated with it) is overlaid with gold, which is fitting for the tabernacle’s Occupant, God Himself.
Exodus 25:24-25 You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim (ESV).
This rim kept the contents on the table from falling on the ground.
Exodus 25:26-28 And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table. You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these (ESV).
Like everything else in the Tabernacle, the table was portable, with poles for the priests to carry it.
Exodus 25:29 And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold (ESV).
The table held gold containers of all kinds for incense and wine. It also held 12 loaves of bread (Leviticus 24:6), one for each of the 12 tribes of Israel.
Exodus 25:30 And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.
In pagan temples, the priests left bread for their gods to eat. Here, the bread is for the priests to eat in God’s presence, according to Leviticus 24:5-9.
You see, God desires fellowship with His people. He wants to eat with His people, whom the priests represent in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, every believer is a priest (1 Peter 2:9), so God wants to eat with all of you who have trusted Christ. He wants fellowship with every one of you believers. He desires an intimate relationship with you! Can you believe it?!
Jesus says to every believer, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).
Jesus wants to enter your life and enjoy fellowship with you. All you have to do is open the door to Him!
In fact, Jesus Himself IS the bread that we eat.
In John 6, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life… I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:48, 51).
In other words, Jesus not only invites you to eat WITH Him. He invites you to EAT Him. He gave His flesh for your life on the cross. Now, He invites you to feed on Him, i.e., to ingest Him into your life, to receive Him at the very core of your being.
Jesus wants to be at the center of everything you do. So open your life to Him and let Him nourish you. Let Him fill you with Himself. Let Him satisfy your soul. If you want God to feel at home with you…
EAT THE BREAD HE OFFERS.
Invite Jesus into your life and put Him at the center of everything you do.
Think about what happens when you sit down to eat a turkey dinner and the contribution of each part. Pat Bailey, recently retired pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Telluride, Colorado, describes each part’s contribution:
The wheat gave its best as it was beaten to separate the heart of the wheat from the plant. That heart was given to the wheel of the mill and ground into flour. The flour was mixed and beaten down time and time again as it was prepared for the oven. Then the oven, with great blasts of heat, baked the bread that now sits on our table.
The cow gave her milk, sacrificing part of herself that we might drink. And the milk gave its best, as the cream was separated from the milk. The cream was beaten to become the topping for our desserts, and it was churned to become the butter for our bread.
The grapes gave their best, as they yielded to the hand that bruised and crushed them. They were tipped from vessel to vessel to purify them as they aged and became the wine that now sparkles in the crystal on our table.
And the turkey gave the greatest gift of all, as it gave its life to be the meat that is the main course at our feast of plenty.
There is another table, another feast, that has been carefully planned and prepared for us by God. He has given his best, his only begotten, beloved Son. Jesus was crushed, bruised, broken, and poured out unto death for us. All the planning, all the preparation, all the work, all that was needed is now finished, and he calls us… to come, be filled and nurtured [with Him] (Pat Bailey, The Chancel Newsletter, November 2006; www.PreachingToday.com).
Please, feast on the Lord today and every day. Long for the pure milk of His Word (1 Peter 2:2) and devour it every chance you get.
Julie Collins from North Platte, Nebraska, was trying to feed her 2-month-old daughter, Crystal. Crystal cried loudly and frantically, pausing just to breathe. “If she would only be still,” Julie thought, “then I could feed her.” Then looking down at the baby girl in her arms, Julie wondered, “How often do I cry out to God, hungry for spiritual food, but am too frantic to allow Him to satisfy my needs” (Julie Collins, North Platte, NE, “Heart to Heart,” Today's Christian Woman; www.PreachingToday.com).
If you want God to feel at home with you, then at least slow down enough to let Him satisfy you. Eat the bread He offers, and…
BASK IN HIS LIGHT.
Rest in the glow of His truth. Welcome the radiance of His presence in your life, letting it expose and comfort you all at the same time.
So far, in the place God chose to dwell with His people, He asks for a chair and a table. Now, He asks for a lamp.
Exodus 25:31 “You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it (ESV).
The furnishings in God’s dwelling are very limited—a chair, a table, and a lamp. There is not a lot of clutter, just the necessities. You see, God appreciates an uncluttered home, so if you want God to feel at home in your life, get rid of the clutter. Here, God asks for a golden lampstand (a menorah in Hebrew), fashioned into one whole piece without separate parts.
Exodus 25:32-37 And there shall be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand. Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it (ESV).
This menorah decorated with almond blossoms had seven oil lamps, which provided the only light for the tabernacle.
Exodus 25:38-40 Its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold. It shall be made, with all these utensils, out of a talent of pure gold. And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain (ESV).
God is showing Moses His own home in heaven, and He wants Moses to replicate that home on earth, because God wants to feel at home with His people.
1,600 years later, God will also show the Apostle John His home in heaven, which will come down to the earth. He calls it “the New Jerusalem,” and when John saw it, he said, “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it…” (Revelation 21:22-24).
Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29; Revelation 5:6). He is also the Lamp in God’s home.
So, if you want God to feel at home with you, you must welcome Jesus into your life and let the light of His presence expose your sin. Allow His shining glory to reveal the dirt in your life.
John says of Jesus in John 1, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5).
Even a tiny flame will dispel the darkness. So, in an even greater way, Jesus dispels all the dark forces of evil.
John goes on to say of Jesus, “The true light, which gives light to everyone [better, which shines on everyone] was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:9-12).
People do not welcome the light of Christ’s presence, because it exposes their sin. However, those who do welcome the light of His presence, become a part of God’s family. They find themselves at home with God.
Later, in the Gospel of John, Jesus Himself will go on to say, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed” (John 3:19-20).
Singer and author, Debby Boone, described battling with her son Jordan every morning to get him up for school. Then everything changed when he left his window shades up at night. In the morning, the light filtered in and quickly woke him up. The presence of light solved their problem completely.
Later, as she was reading her Bible, her struggle with Jordan came to mind. Debby said, “I asked the Lord to show me how to let his light awaken the places in my heart I was content to leave sleeping in the darkness. To expose myself to God's light, I must leave the window shades of my heart open and willingly allow him to change me” (Debby Boone, “Heart to Heart,” Today's Christian Woman; www.PreachingToday.com).
Please, let Jesus expose the darkness in your own heart, so He can begin the process of changing you from the inside out.
Plato once said, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark: the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light” (Leadership, Vol. 1, no. 2; www.PreachingToday.com).
Please, don’t be afraid of the light. If you want God to feel at home with you, welcome Jesus into your life and let the light of His presence expose your sin.
More than that, welcome Jesus into your life and let the light of His presence comfort your soul. Allow the radiance of His company to cheer and encourage your heart.
In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
You have a choice. You can walk in the darkness of despair, or you can invite Christ into your life and enjoy His life-giving light.
Charles Colson and several other Christian leaders once met with the former President Borja of Ecuador to discuss Prison Fellowship International's ministry in Ecuadorian penitentiaries. They had no sooner been seated in luxurious leather chairs when the President interrupted the conversation with the story of his own imprisonment years before being elected to the presidency.
He had been involved in the struggle for democracy in Ecuador. The military cracked down and arrested him. Without trial, they threw him into a cold dungeon with no light and no window. For three days he endured the solitary fear and darkness that can drive a person mad.
Just when the situation seemed unbearable, the huge steel door opened, and someone crept into the darkness. Borja heard the person working on something in the opposite corner. Then the figure crept out, closed the door, and disappeared.
Minutes later, the room suddenly blazed with light. Someone, perhaps taking his life into his hands, had connected electricity to the broken light fixture. “From that moment,” explained President Borja, “my imprisonment had meaning because at least I could see” (Ronald W. Nikkel in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching, Baker, from the editors of Leadership; www.PreachingToday.com).
That’s what happens when you invite Christ into your life. He dispels the darkness and gives your life meaning. If you want God to feel at home with you, welcome Christ into your life to expose your sin and encourage your soul.
Please, allow me one more thought before I bring this message to its conclusion. According to Exodus 25:36, Craftsmen fashioned the lampstand in the tabernacle as “a single piece of hammered work of pure gold.” The gold was valuable, but it had to be beaten to bear light. It had to be hammered before it could shine.
In the same way, Jesus, the high and holy Son of God, had to be beaten and bruised. They had to hammer nails into His hands and feet in order for Him to shine. He had to die on a cross for our sins to give us the light of life.
Isaiah 53 says, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).
Please, welcome Him into your life, the one who died for your sins and rose again.
Canadian journalist Bronwyn Drainie describes the surprising behavior of a haredi woman—an ultra-orthodox Jew—at a Jerusalem street market. Drainie says:
The most heroic single act I heard of during my two years in Jerusalem involved a haredi woman. At a Jewish street market just around the corner from my boys' school, an Arab terrorist drew a knife among the throng of shoppers and managed to stab two young men before fleeing for his life. The crowd of Israelis, incensed, began running after him, a number of them drawing pistols as they ran. The Arab darted across the street, running straight towards a haredi woman of 40 who was standing at a bus-stop. Her name was Bella Freund.
[She quickly] sized up what was happening. She stepped directly into the Arab's path and tripped him so that he fell to the ground, and she threw herself on top of him to protect him. The crowd kicked her, spat on her, threatened her with their guns, but they could not loosen her hold on the Arab, and she lay there until the police arrived to take him into custody.
Later, when the reporters got to her, Bella Freund said: “It was very simple. If you can save a life, you do it… I could not see a helpless man killed by a mob, whatever he had done. That's not the way I was brought up” (Bronwyn Drainie, My Jerusalem: Secular Adventures in the Holy City, Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1994, p. 220; www.PreachingToday.com).
That’s a picture of what Jesus did for us. The mob kicked Him, spat on Him, and bruised Him. Only, He died protecting us from God’s wrath against our sin. Then, three days later, He arose from the grave, victorious over sin and death. And now, he offers the light of life to anyone who will welcome Him into his or her life. Please, if you haven’t done it already, welcome Jesus into your life.
If you want God to feel at home with you, eat the bread that He offers and bask in His light. In other words, receive Jesus into the core of your being, because Jesus is that bread and Jesus is that light.
I’ve shared this illustration before, but it warrants sharing again, because I cannot find a better one to explain what it means to receive Christ.
Ray Ortlund asks us to imagine: a big table, leather chairs, coffee, bottled water, and a whiteboard. A committee sits around the table in your heart. There is the social self, the private self, the work self, the sexual self, the recreational self, the religious self, and others. The committee is arguing and debating and voting, constantly agitated and upset. Rarely can they come to a unanimous, wholehearted decision. We tell ourselves we're this way because we're so busy with so many responsibilities. But the truth is that we're just divided, unfocused, hesitant, and unfree.
That kind of person can “accept Jesus” in two ways. One way is to invite him onto the committee. Give him a vote too. But then he becomes just one more complication. The other way to “accept Jesus” is to say to him, “My life isn't working. Please come in and fire my committee, every last one of them. I hand myself over to you. I am your responsibility now. Please run my whole life for me” (Ray Ortund, “#9: What Does It Mean to Accept Jesus?” Ray Ortlund: Christ Is Deeper Still blog, 6-4-10; www.PreachingToday.com).
Don’t just add Jesus to the committee. Fire the committee and let Jesus run your life. Then, and only then, will God feel at home with you.
