Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends. I wonder how 2022 has begun for you in these first few days? May I invite you to look around your circle of closest friends and family for a moment? What kinds of people are they? How do they affect your life?
As we begin 2022 can you identify those people in your life who are helping you become the honorable man or woman you really want to be, the God honoring person God designed you to be? It’s an important question, isn’t it? The truth is our friends & family influence us, and that’s great if the influence for GOOD, but too often we allow into our lives those who, because of our friendship, influence us in ways we live to regret! Isn’t that true?
Yesterday I left you with Moses and the people he led out of Egyptian slavery. They’re at Mount Sinai and Moses has just come down from his 8th and final trip up the mountain to meet with God. The people are anxious to know what God said, so Exodus 35 is the beginning of Moses’ instructions to them. Yesterday we saw the very first decision God was asking them to make, not once or twice, but EVERY week, was a choice to “Sabbath“. Moses had said “For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD.” (Ex. 35:2) It wasn’t just a day off from work, it was a day focused on physical rest from work, and emotional refreshment from the stress of life, and spiritual realignment with the heart of God.
This would be accomplished NOT by sleeping all day, but by intentionally spending the day focusing mind and heart on the majesty and wonder of their great God and all He had done for them! BUT… every week there would be a battle of the soul, for there would be those friends or family who would want to use that ‘day off’ to do all kinds of things that would have NOTHING to do with spiritual renewal, spiritual realignment with God! The very same thing occurs today, doesn’t it my friends? So what is your “Sabbath” normally like and what are YOU like the day after your ‘Sabbath‘?
The next thing Moses told the people was that God wanted them to realize that He had rescued them from Egyptian slavery by His mighty power through the plagues and the Red Sea, but He had also blessed them with the bounty of Egypt’s wealth as they carried out gold, silver, bronze, fancy clothes and so much more. They had not stolen it, but the Egyptians had given it all to them willingly. And now God was asking that His people realize HE had provided all that for a purpose, and He was asking that they bring Him an offering from it! So once again it was time for a decision of the soul! In their minds they could easily conclude it was their due from long years of hard labor. Already once they had used some of it to rebel against God and make a golden calf idol, remember? (Ex. 32)
Then Moses gave one more instruction: “All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the LORD has commanded: the Tabernacle … the Ark of the Covenant… the Table… the lampstand… the altar of incense … the altar of burnt offerings… all the sacred garments for Aaron and his sons as they serve as priests…” (Ex. 35:10-19) Up on that Sinai mountain, God had spent several weeks describing to Moses a type of worship which had never before been seen on earth. God wanted His people to worship Him in a manner which daily acknowledged His majestic holiness, His sovereignty over all things, His daily sustaining of their lives and our world, but also their natural, human sinfulness and their need for God’s help. While Moses had not given the people any details of how this God designed worship would function, Moses had made it clear it all starts deep in the heart and mind, our soul. What we think about God and His holy, majestic, sovereign involvement in our world. What we think about ourselves and then… what we think about our relationship with God. So Moses dismissed the people to go home and reflect.
Moses then recorded for us what happened next, and it’s powerful: “..and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service and for the sacred garments. All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds… and any who had acacia wood for any part of the work brought it… All the women who were willing and had the skills spun with yarn or goat hair… The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems…” (Ex. 35:21-28) Can you picture it my friends? People coming from all directions in this huge camp of 1 million people, carrying all types of things they believe might be helpful in building this special place of worship for holy God. But do you also see many other people, standing at the entrance of their tents, hands on their hips, watching and shaking their heads in disbelief and refusal. They are not about to give any of the little they have. Can you feel the tension?
Then Moses summarizes this day with this powerful statement: “All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the LORD freewill offerings for all the work the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.” (Ex. 35:29) Look around my friends… your world now, wherever you live in our world, and also this scene at Mount Sinai with Moses and all these people. Do you see how similar our world is to theirs? You and I are surrounded with people who have no interest in God or worshipping God or living in any type of relationship with God. All they have they claim is theirs and they hold tightly to it. We each also know some other people who love God deeply, give of their resources generously, and love worshipping God, and their desire in 2022 is that their relationship with God will grow significantly!
So, here’s the question… how will we live at peace, with the people in our lives, who are part of both these very different groups of people? How will each group influence you and me this year and how can we be helpful to each of them? It’s not difficult for us to imagine that the response to Moses’ appeal began to divide the people, maybe even divide families that day at Sinai, as some brought and others refused. How Christmas was celebrated two weeks ago, and even how the New Year was welcomed a few days ago probably reflects some of those same attitudes in us and our friends, right?
So let’s pause right here. I invite you to re-read Exodus 35:1-29 and put yourself in the middle of the scene, watching the people respond to Moses. Then compare it to your neighborhood, even your extended family, and what you’ve seen this past year with differences in responses to COVID or Vaccines or political changes or economic instability or even just face masks! One of the great challenges facing you and me in 2022 will be learning to live at peace with people who hold very different opinions than you do. I suggest we spend some time right now talking with God about this. How does God want to help us each be a blessing and an encouragement to people who hold very different viewpoints and attitudes on very volatile issues?
Today’s Scripture is Exodus 35:1-29.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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