Building the temple (II)

 

Will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! (2Chr 6:18). Why then is He this precise regarding the details of the construction of the sanctuary? There is no place like home!  When you have a house where everything sits just like you like, no matter where you are, you will always be happy to come back home to familiar odours and settings. At the local church and the individual levels, God also likes to feel at home. Hence the specific instructions to ensure that everything is exactly in place as He likes for when He comes. In fact, these instructions are there to help us build lives and churches which attract the LORD’s presence. Lives and churches where He resides and not just visits never to come back. Are you worshipping in such a church? Are you involved and committed? Is everything in your life exactly where GOD wants it to be? Has He approved of the incorporation of every element that you have brought in your life/His temple? In other words, have you built or are you building according to His plan?

The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein (Ps 24.1). Why/ how do you give to someone who has everything? This question reminds me of something that happened to me at least twice. A brother came to borrow some money from me. He was desperate, I was the only one who could help, and, of course, he was going to pay me back at a certain date with all the necessary guarantees. I did not force him to commit and promise the moon. However, time passed, months, then years, without me seeing the colour of my cash or hearing about it. So, one day, I asked about it. The guy laughed and said: “Oh! I did get the money, but I thought of it and realised that I needed it more than you did. Look at you: you can’t be $500 short!” I could not believe my ears. Who was he to judge? And the problem was not whether I needed the money or not, the problem is that he had to honour his word. Why did he not tell me from the very beginning to give him the money as a gift instead of lending it? Why did he not say that he was not going to pay back because of his perception of my social status? At least, this would have helped him not to sin. After this, a dear sister in Christ also did the same thing to me. At some point, she was even travelling abroad every quarter, would tell me of all her acquisitions and how much she admired me and wanted to have my ‘class’, but would not give my money back. Her justification was: “Mrs P…, you are a big lady. What is $3,000 to you?” I don’t know if she thought that my ‘class’ came from unpaid debts and broken promises. Things really took a funny turn when she later came to complain about a sister who had also borrowed money from her and was now telling her stories. I just smiled and said nothing. She could not even see that she was reaping what she had sown. Likewise, people cry unto GOD for money; but once they have it, they don’t want to return even a part of that to Him. Why give to someone who obviously has everything? Because this is His will: That they bring me an offering (Ex 25:2). How do you give to someone who obviously has everything? By taking what He gives us and rededicating or consecrating it back to Him.

Now, talking about consecration and the construction of the temple, I have read an edifying article on this, written by a certain Rabbi Avraham Fischer: On the way to sanctity. According to him, there are not two distinct and antithetical spheres of existence: the sacred and the profane; but the sacred and the profane are rather the starting and end-points on a continuum. We start from one and progress towards the other. He explains that everything that was used for the tabernacle went through three steps: designated for holiness, construction and then, consecration. For instance, a piece of acacia wood which is designed for sanctity is taken and set apart, although it is not yet sanctified. It is only after the craftsmen have made it into part of the Holy Ark (Ex 25:10), that it is rendered sanctified by their act of sanctification and initiation. So, even at the stage when the donated materials are still not consecrated, they must be open to and directed towards holiness. They must be simultaneously part of the mundane and reserved for the service of GOD. Likewise, the living stones that we are (the building materials), must live every moment of our lives in a way that prepares for sanctity. Even when we are involved in the everyday activities of life, we must be oriented to the holy. The building of the tabernacle on earth (that which is visible), begins with the building of a tabernacle in our hearts. Once again, when we are set to build the temple and do GOD’s work, the emphasis is laid on the disposition and inclination of the heart. I see this like an invitation not to judge those whose progress seems painfully slow in the LORD, and also like an encouragement not to stagnate or backslide, but to keep pressing on towards sanctity and holiness. As He is, so we are in this world and so we shall be.

May God bless you as He empowers you to build your personal temple and your local church as you ought to.

Building the temple…

 

Many buildings are erected worldwide in the "name of God" and many lives also profess to be temples to the glory of God. If God could say something about them, what would He say? I invite you to share my thoughts on a few verses of the Scriptures and then, we will all appraise our lives, service and church.

Ex 25:1-2, 8, “The LORD said to Moses, "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering… And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.”

Let them make me a sanctuary. The local church is not the business of one man or one family alone. It is the responsibility of every soul that must/will benefit from the Temple. Everyone should put their hand on the plough. GOD did not say: let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell in it. No. He rather promised to dwell among them. He dwells among those who involved themselves and who are involved with the construction of the temple. You can visit a church at the beginning; but as soon as the LORD convinces you to stay, you must wet your shirt. Don’t be an eternal visitor: the church is not a hotel.

That they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. Everyone is invited to build, but only a few are qualified to do it –many called, few chosen. Paradoxically, this qualification has nothing to do with any expertise whatsoever: it is primarily a matter of the heart. ALL the children of Israel are invited to bring an offering, but it is only those given from free, willing and generous hearts that are accepted. One Commentary of the Torah says that GOD’s presence dwells in a place of charity, when people are willing to give and to give of themselves. In other words, when people give by force or manipulation, God withdraws. When the Bible tells us to offer the members –which cause us to sin- as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to GOD (Rom 12:1), if we do not decide to offer our tongue to the LORD voluntarily and wholeheartedly in order to stop lying, or our hands to stop stealing, or our sexuality etc., GOD will not come to dwell ‘in our own midst’ to empower us to stop misusing our members/i.e. stop sinning.

After the invitation, people brought all sorts of offerings: gold, silver, bronze, yarns, fine twined linen, goats' hair, tanned rams' skins, goatskins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and frankincense and precious stones (vs. 25.3-7). Others also provided their muscles and joined the team of workers. So, the people brought in their possessions and their talents to build the sanctuary. The precious stones and dolphin skins (according to some translations) were not more important than the oil, the spices or goats’ hair. EVERYTHING was indispensable. The ESV reads: “that they take for me a contribution” instead of offering. I like that. It means that if you can bring a chair, bring it. If you can bring a paint brush or a tin of paint, do so. If you can’t bring those but you can paint, give your church –the place of your blessings- a day and come paint the walls with the paint that someone else has brought. You can’t paint? No worries. I am sure you can clean and tidy. Who likes to worship in an untidy room? Who doesn’t like fresh and clean toilets? Instead of waiting for someone else to do it, take the matter at heart and love your local church. Don’t think that all you have to do is to show up on Sundays and sign checks. God is not a beggar, and neither is the church. More than our checks (or coins), God wants our hearts first; He wants a true engagement/involvement on our part. This is why Paul commended the Macedonians who had contributed beyond his expectations because they had first given themselves to the Lord and then by the will of God to them/the local church and the mission (2Co 8.5). We should also be able to say: "I must be in my Father's house… The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up." (Lk 2:49, Jn 2:17)

God bless you and we’ll continue this next week.

Master or servant?

 

There are basically two types of people in this world: masters and servants. Even those who are currently unemployed have been or will fall in one of these categories.

Problems arise when employees/servants, start taking themselves for the employers, the bosses. When they start thinking that they are free to do or not to do what is required of/from them.

However, Heaven or better still, the Kingdom of Heaven, knows only one category of people: servants. GOD the Father is obviously without categorisation.

This is what the Bible says of angels (Ps 103.20-21): "Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!" Heb 1:14 further adds that they are all ministering spirits sent out to serve. Though they are mighty, they still obey His word ad do His will.

This is also what Jesus, the LORD, the Son of GOD, says of Himself (Jn 4:34): My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Nobody can survive without food. If you don’t eat, sooner rather than later, people will come to carry your corpse. It is not written anywhere that Jesus spent 30 years on earth without eating because He had supernatural abilities. Anyway, Jesus is not talking here of the common food that we eat every day to sustain our physical bodies. He is talking of the true food which sustains our true ‘self’, our inner being, that part of us which will never perish and that will spend eternity in bliss or damnation. He speaks of the Bread of life which is the Word of God. Indeed, He also said: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Mat 4:4).

My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. In other words, what kept Him alive was fulfilling His Master’s will. Come to think of it, the truth of the matter is that any employee/worker/servant lives through the way he/she carries out the orders of their boss or master. If they do it with negligence, they will be sacked and this will have a direct effect on their livelihood. If they are faithful, they will serve long and even be promoted.

We are not bigger than Jesus, our Master, but every fully-trained disciple will be like Him (Lk 6:40). Besides, Paul reminded the employers who could have been tempted to boast that they were also subjected to a Master in heaven with Whom there was no partiality (Eph 6:9).

So, Master or servant? We are all free to choose which legislature we want to operate under: the world’s or the Kingdom’s. I pray that we all make the right choice, but more importantly, that every action of ours may be a demonstration thereof.

God bless you with a great week.

Ready for multiplication?

 

The story of the miraculous catch of fish in Luke 5 recently gave me to reflect on how the Lord works multiplication miracles in our lives. It is written:

Lk 5:1-10, “And it happened that the crowd pressed on Him to hear the Word of God, He stood by the lake of Gennesaret. And He saw two boats standing by the lake. But the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. And He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon's, He asked him to thrust out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people out of the boat. And as He stopped speaking, He said to Simon, Launch out into the deep and let your nets down for a haul. And answering, Simon said to Him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. Yet at Your word I will let down the net. And doing this, they enclosed a great multitude of fish. And their net was being torn. And they signaled the partners, those in the other boat, to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they were sinking. And seeing, Simon Peter fell at the knees of Jesus, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the haul of fish which they had taken, and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Do not fear, from now on you will be taking men alive.”

For those who do not know, 2013 is the year of multiplication in my church, hence my thoughts in this direction. Peter and Co had fished all night without catching anything. They could have rightly thought that there was no fish at all. However, when Jesus sent them back, they caught so much fish that they manage to fill two boats, even though their net was being torn. Whence came the fish? Two things are possible:

1. The LORD did a multiplication from one or two fishes which were around, just like He would later do to feed 5000 men, without counting the children and women (Mat 14).
2. The LORD –the Master of Creation which is submitted to Him and obeys Him- summoned the fish, which had gone on errands elsewhere, back. Let’s not forget that He had previously commanded ravens to feed one of His prophets: so, nothing strange here (1Ki 17:4).

This encourages me not to neglect anything. This year, God can either multiply my ‘meagre’ resources –each of them is actually a seed which can bear 100, 60 or 30 grains (Mat 13:8)-, or command the blessing to make a U-turn and come back to me. My responsibility is to:

• Not hesitate one second to put all I have at the LORD’s disposal (i.e. for the church, the needy, or even an investment opportunity). It is because some people were willing to give five loaves of bread and two fishes that there was multiplication and about 10,000 people were fed. What would have happened if they had kept those for them thinking: “I need it” or “In any case, it won’t be of any help considering the needs?” It is because the widow from Zarephath did not hesitate to give the little flour and oil that was left to the prophet –even at the risk of seeing her only son die of hunger a lot sooner than expected - that the miracle of multiplication happened. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, until famine ceased in the land (1Ki 17:9-16).
• Prepare myself for multiplication. Peter and his partners only left with one net and two boats. Imagine what would have happened if they had taken four nets and eight boats or more? The whole village could have stopped working for months and live only on the profits of that fishing. The widow in 2Ki 4 willingly gave the only jar of oil that she had, but the prophet told her to go borrow some empty vessels from her neighbours and not to borrow a few. However, ‘few’ probably did not mean the same to her as to the prophet. The miracle of multiplication was triggered and the oil ceased to flow when there was no more recipient for it to fill. What would have happened if she had borrowed more jars? Elisha had also told Joash, king of Israel, to take some arrows and strike the ground with them. The king struck thrice and the prophet was angry. He told him that if he had struck five or six times, he would have exterminated the Syrians, but now, he would only beat them thrice (2Ki 13:14-19).

Are you really ready for multiplication? What do you have in your hand that God can use? Don’t think you have nothing. The widow of 2Ki 4 thought she had nothing. She did not realise that the only oil jar which she had left was God’s solution to pay her debts. Give God what you have without stinginess, then go and fetch as many containers as you can in order to receive what you have given to Him, multiplied. Finally, remember that when God multiplies something for you, it is always so that you may become a fisher of men, a source of blessing. Have a fruitful week and God bless you!