Eden Wesleyan Church
January 6, 2001 AM Worship
What Am I To God?
1st Corinthians 3:16-17
Exodus 25:10-22
What am I to God? I am God’s Holy Temple
More literal: I am the container of God’s holy presence.
Read 1st Corinthians 3:16-17
What is the temple of God?
1. A place of worship.
a. God’s presence interacts with the presence of man.
2. A place of sacrifice.
a. The only way that the purity of God’s presence can be together with the impurity of man’s sin is the brokenness of sacrifice.
3. A place of change
a. You can never enter the presence of God and leave the same way that you came.
To think that God’s presence can come and interact with man is awesome!
Prior to Christ—prior to grace—where was the presence of God??
God’s presence was in the tabernacle or the temple. But more specifically it was on the Ark of the Covenant.
Exodus 25:10-22
What was the ark?
· First item given to Moses in the instructions for building the tabernacle.
· Not that big—about 4’ long and 2 feet wide and high
· What is the cover of the ark called?
o The “atonement cover” NIV or the “mercy seat” KJ
· The primary purpose of the presence of God encountering the presence of man was to restore mankind’s relationship to God. Not to show judgment, but rather to show mercy.
How was the ark to be handled?
· Verses 12-15
· Poles were fitted into rings that the priest would use to transport the ark.
· We remember vividly the story of the servant of David, Uzzah, who reached out and touched the ark when it was being transported improperly and died for his actions. 2nd Samuel 6
· The ark was certainly an item for which the people of Isael showed great respect.
· How about you?? If some archeologist found the ark, would you be willing to reach our and lay hands on the ark?
What is in the ark?
· Note verses 16 & 21 The “Testimony”
· The Bible teaches that the ark is associated with three items.
o The Ten Commandments
o A jar of manna
o Aaron’s rod that budded
· These things were in the ark for a “testimony” of the power of God at work among his people.
The tabernacle that Moses was given instructions to build and especially the Ark of the Covenant are given to us to show us a picture of God—to show us his presence.
What do these thing say to us??
The articles of the ark represent 3 things in our life about God.
1. The Ten Commandments are a picture of GOD’S POSITION
A. God is a Holy, Holy, Holy God!
a. In order to understand darkness, you must understand light.
b. In order to comprehend black, you must comprehend white.
B. These were not 10 suggestions, but 10 commands. God wants us to live holy lives before him.
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1st John 1:5-7
C. Our world today wants to compare our holiness to those who are worse than we are. But God says that he compares our holiness to himself—his perfect holiness.
2. The Manna—GOD’S PROVISION
A. A picture of the provision of God. The children of Israel were in the wilderness with no means of supporting themselves and God provided for them
B. He is Jehovah-Jireh—my provider.
3. Aaron’s Rod—GOD’S POWER
A. Read Numbers 17:1-12
B. God called Aaron from among his people.
C. It was God who did the calling
D. God’s power was more than abundant—the rod not only budded but bore almonds as fruit.
· The ark provided a place of God’s presence among His people.
· When the Israelites went into battle, they took this ark and God’s presence was with them and they were greatly victorious.
· It was an incredible place of blessing.
Many have wondered where the Ark of the Covenant is today. They would love to find this “holy box” because of its seemingly magical powers.
What would it be like to be able to be near the Ark today?
Wouldn’t it be great to breathe the air around it?
Take a deep breath…You just did! You see, the ark is in you!
WHAT AM I TO GOD?
1. I am the dwelling place of God’s presence.
A. No one has to worship for me! I am a place of worship
B. Church, the car, the truck, the workshop, the back of the tractor, sitting in the bathroom—can all become a place of worship!
C. The text that we read this morning from 1st Corinthians…
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
2. I am the “testimony” of God to the world.
A. How is this testimony revealed?
a. Through God’s holiness. God’s position in my life—He is a holy God.
1st Peter 1:13-16, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
· God is a holy plumb line—He is perfect—His nature us perfect.
· God is calling us to a “holy perfection”
Illus. Water level—plumb line—these are used to check the transits and levels that are used in construction, because the natural laws of nature are always perfect.
· You say—but hold on pastor—I can never be perfect.
· Here this carefully—God is never ambivalent to the sin in our lives. He hates it! He is calling us to holiness—to His holiness, which is perfect.
· Remember what the place was where God’s presence dwells in the ark—it is the MERCY SEAT!
· The ark is a place of worship. God is constantly calling us to holiness—to perfection. We will never make it as long as we live in this human body with our human nature-but that doesn’t mean that God says, “Okay—since they will never be perfect, I’m not even going to expect them to be perfect, or even try—I’ll just wait till they die, and then I’ll make them perfect and they won’t even have anything to do with it!
· WRONG!! God is always calling us to holiness. The ark was a place of worship. Worship consists of repentance, and brokenness, and change.
· God’s presence in us is helping us to change every day. To grow to be more and more like him and his holiness.
b. Through God’s Provision
Numbers 11:7-9, “The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.”
· As a child: Imagined manna to be these little loafs of bread
· Manna was not ready baked, or even heat-n-eat.
· They had to be involved in the process.
· Some people are looking for God to be their personal chef—now I’ve given my heart to Christ—FEED ME!
· God is our provider, but he doesn’t want to “spoon feed” us all our lives. We should be involved in the process—but always remember who is at the heart of our supply.
· The people took what God supplied and made it into cakes and food that gave then nurture.
c. Through God’s Power
I Peter 2:9-10, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
· God has chosen you and me.
· He has called us to holiness.
· God has demonstrated his power in our lives.
· Neat thing is—God goes way beyond our expectations.
· Remember the rod…
· GOD IN YOU CAN DO GOD SIZED THINGS THAT ONLY GOD CAN DO AND YOU AND I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO DO!
HOW AM I TREATING THE ARK?
· The Ark was treated with great care
· What kinds of honor are you giving to the ark?
· What kind of places have you been taking the ark?
WHAT AM I TO GOD? I AM THE DWELLING PLACE OF HIS HOLY PRESENCE. I CONTAIN IN MY LIFE THE TESTIMONY OF GOD HIMSELF!
