Sermon in Minneapolis 13.08.2017

Grace from the God of grace, and peace from our Prince of Peace, may they increase for each and every one of us in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Let's join in opening our services of prayer and thanksgiving. Dear Heavenly Father, holy, righteous, all-knowing God, we humbly draw an eye unto you in prayer, asking for your presence and blessing. Father, we know that we are not capable of anything without your Spirit, your power, and your assistance. So we humbly ask that you would open the mouth of your servant, give words to divide those morsels of grace and instruction which you have appointed for us at this time.

Father, we pray on behalf of all of your children, comfort, refresh, and strengthen, and encourage all to take one more step on this narrow way of life. We pray on behalf of those who are not partakers of faith and blessing. Call them, Father. Cause them to seek for that which pertains to the peace of their undying soul. They could come knocking on the doors of your kingdom where they could hear their life-saving gospel message and be joined with all of your saints to comprehend what is the breadth, the height, the depth, and the width of your love.

Dear Father, bless our land, our nation as leaders. Give them wisdom to so lead and guide that we would be able to continue to gather freely and worship your holy name. Bless the work of thy spirit wherever it is in this world amidst your children. Amen.

Amen.

As we heard this morning in services, the gospel text for today deals with where Jesus describes the division of talents or gifts. Amen.

And he gave one five, and another two, and another one.

And so when I thought about that, I thought about the Old Testament congregation in the wilderness and the work that God did in their midst. God's calling of Moses and then God's leading and guiding the people in all the details of their worship service in the building of that tabernacle or the tent of the congregation wherein they then worship God.

God's calling of Moses and then worship God. Then rocked Bezalel and Aholiab and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary according to all that the Lord had commanded.

And Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab and every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it. And they received of Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary to make it with all.

And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning. And all the wise men that wrought all the work of the sanctuary came, every man from his work which they made.

And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make.

And Moses gave commandment. And they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.

So the people were restrained from bringing, for the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it and too much. Amen.

So I actually read through the seventh verse and stop at the fifth.

So when we look at the departure from Egypt, the children of Israel left with great joy. The rejoicing throng that they were finally allowed by Pharaoh to leave after the ten plagues.

And the scripture tells us that the people were encouraged to borrow of their neighbors.

And obviously the Egyptians saw in the lives of the Israelites and in the plagues how they suffered and the children of Israel did not.

And they were convinced, of course, then, that this people that had served in Egypt for, was it, 430 years? Were worshiping a real living God who's able to sow effect in their land and cause such destruction and death in their midst.

So they freely gave. They gave all manner of goods to the Israelites as they were leaving. All kinds of riches and gold and silver and gems.

In other words, as if admitting their own use, that their use of the Israelites as slaves was wrong and they needed to repay them for all those centuries of work.

So these people of Israel that left on that journey were, for the most part, servants. Doing whatever the Egyptians asked them to do.

They were farmers, gardeners, cleaners probably. Maybe some of them had been taught in carpentry. Or some of them had slaved in different kinds of metal work.

We don't know. The scripture doesn't tell us.

But we understand that the people of Israel left on that journey with just what they could carry. Very little.

So, of course, they made it to the Red Sea.

And all of a sudden, the joy ended because they had the sea to cross.

And now they knew that the Pharaoh had changed his mind and was coming after them.

And they asked Moses, So was it because there weren't enough graves in Egypt that you brought us out here into the wilderness to die?

But God prepared the way, of course.

He went between the camp of the Israelites and the armies of Pharaoh to prevent the army from overtaking.

And he then created the way across the sea.

A strong east wind blew and pushed the waters back and dried the seabed so they crossed on dry land.

And then, of course, when Pharaoh and his armies and chariots tried to cross, the waters returned and killed them.

They drowned.

And the people of Israel saw these soldiers being washed up on shore.

And so now, they have, essentially, we could say, for the first time, access to weaponry.

They didn't even have any weapons by which they would have fought against such an army.

So they were able to take whatever shields and helmets and especially swords, of course, of the Egyptian soldiers, along with all the other goods that they brought with them.

But then, now they come to Mount Sinai, and Moses, of course, was up on the mountain.

God gave him the Ten Commandment Law, wrote it with his finger in the stone tablets that Moses had brought with him.

But God said unto Moses, See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.

And I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom and in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work with gold, and work in gold and in silver and in brass, and in cutting of stones to set them, and in carving of timber to work in all manner of workmanship.

And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahesemach, of the tribe of Dan.

And in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted, I have put wisdom that they may make all that I have commanded thee.

So God tells Moses, when he's up on Mount Sinai, in the midst of this congregation, that I have called you to lead.

I have placed the wisdom, the skills, everything needed for the building of the tabernacle.

And God, in very great detail, down to almost, I could say, the finest of details, described unto Moses how he was to build that tent, which would become what they call the tent of the congregation, the tabernacle worship service.

Tabernacle is just another word for the same thing. It's a tent.

And so all of that, and all the descriptions, and all the details, were as God told Moses to do.

And God told Moses, as I noted from the 31st chapter, that I have put this wisdom, and this understanding, and this knowledge, and this skill, into these people.

So when we look at that which God gives each and every one of us, we look at our own calling, whatever it is.

It's rather fascinating to think that the Scripture predicts that in the latter times, in the days that we live, basically referring to the Scripture says, every prophet will be ashamed of his own vision.

Just think how closely it touches, not only those of us who are called to preach and teach, but each and every one of us.

So, or is it so easy to confess faith?

Tell the world around us how we believe?

What God has blessed me with?

What God has blessed you with?

It is the blessing of God.

He gives to each and every one of us that which we need, that which is necessary for our lives, the lives of our family, our friends, our loved ones, for the benefit of the congregation.

So here we have this tribe.

Moses enumerates in this Exodus 600,350 men.

What was the size of the people, nation of Israel when they left Egypt?

600,000.

A huge city, we would say even today.

More than the population of the city of Minneapolis.

That's just the men.

Not counting the women and children on top of it.

I read an article one time where one, I think he was a, I don't remember what his rank was, but a guy from the army was familiar with supplies and thinking about moving of people.

And he said that's probably because, of course, each family had to have a tent.

Had to have room around them for animals if they had.

And, of course, facilities for their latrines, cooking, whatever else they were doing in natural life is.

You're talking about an area the size of the state of Rhode Island.

50 by 50 miles.

It's a huge problem.

You think of all that pertains to preaching, teaching, and communicating, and leading that nation.

And, of course, like always, in the midst of that people, there were those who were believing and those who were not.

And there were even some of the people that came with them that weren't Israelis.

But they believed and they wanted to go with this people of God.

They were part of that congregation.

And, in fact, I think Moses got some complaints from the children of Israel because his second wife, after his first life, died.

His second wife wasn't an Israelite.

I'm guessing, if I remember from sure which nation she's in.

They just shouldn't guess.

But she was not an Israelite.

And so some of the people of the nation of Israel complained about that.

But all of this that happens as Moses describes for us here in Exodus is the work of God.

God gave to these slaves the understanding.

Probably starts out as a curiosity to think about what can be accomplished.

What can I do?

I can learn to carve wood or I can learn how to melt metal and do something with it.

But they had not only the silver and gold but they also had some of the items that were made for the tabernacle were brass.

So that requires an even hotter oven to melt the brass and form those items whether they were casting or however probably that's how they would make them is a cast than silver and gold.

Silver and gold melt at lower temperatures than brass would.

And then on top of that you needed all of the skills of you could say tapestry or weaving for the cloth of the tabernacle and for the robes for Aaron and his sons woven out of linen which is a very fine thread and knowing how to do that maybe some of them had worked as slaves in the clothing industry and so they understood that we don't know that but they learned and God gave them as he says wisdom to do wisdom to create.

And so when after Moses came down from the mountain he saw the people of Israel worshipping and dancing around that golden camp.

So all of these skills were used for creating an idol because they thought that Moses was never going to come down from that mountain.

Thirty days was way too long.

So he broke those first.

He threw the tablets of stone on which God had written the ten commandments and broke them.

So he had to hew carve out a couple of new tablets and go back up in the mount and God rewrote those ten commandments again.

And so then when he came down the second time that's the way they then started the work of gathering material to build that temple the tabernacle the tent of the congregation.

And as this scripture says the people were so inspired that they donated much more than was needed and the amount of gold that was given was just huge.

So among six hundred thousand some families all of that gold that had come to them as they left Egypt was portion that had been available for construction of the temple.

The mercy seat was made out of wood covered with gold and the cherubims that covered that mercy seat were made out of gold.

And so they were obviously able to create and cast such items as the worship service required from gold and silver and brass.

And it's rather interesting to think that that tent of a tabernacle was really two layers had the inside layer which is linen and then the outside layer was skins.

So the inside layer those different curtain pieces tent pieces were connected with rings of gold and the outside layer they were connected with rings of brass.

So it was essentially quite easy to set up that tent and take it down when they were going to move.

And one of the ways that the people knew that now this is where we are going to be for a while was when the tabernacle tent was set up.

Moses records at the end of Exodus then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode thereon and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys.

But if the cloud was not taken up then they journeyed not until the day that it was taken up.

For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day and the fire was on it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

So as long as that cloud stayed above the tent of the congregation they knew that they could today was a day now was the time we were staying.

But when it moved from off the tabernacle that is when they knew that the priests the Levitical priesthood brothers Aaron and his sons children were taking the tabernacle down take the tent down.

They would cover the ark the mercy seat and the cherubims with a veil.

They had staves that they would put through its rings these were wooden poles that were covered with gold and the priests were required then to carry that ark on their shoulders as they traveled to the next place.

Cloud by day and fire at night for 40 years while they traveled in the wilderness.

It's amazing to think that how something can become so everyday-ish we would say like it is in our own lives things that we have around us blessings we have of God we see them we enjoy them like this church facility.

We were looking at some old pictures and this sanctuary still had in those old pictures the blue carpet the dark paneling wall behind the pulpit and looking at how dark and gloomy was this facility as it was created by the former owners and how bright light cheerful it is as we've been using it all these years now.

It's a wonderful blessing of God and so he has blessed us with and so we have rejoiced over his blessings in our midst.

And it's like every other aspect of life when we enjoy those blessings they can become so everydayish that we forget how great is that blessing that God has given unto us.

I think of the children of Israel in that tent tabernacle a cloud by day and a fire pillar of fire by night and somehow that became so simple and so everyday that when they reached that promised land the first time they thought that God wasn't strong enough to cast out the people of that region from before them.

And their great unbelief and doubts over the power of God caused them to reject the advice Joshua and Caleb instead listened to the other spies who preached a sermon of doubt and unbelief.

And so they ended up returning to the wilderness for another 38 years as God told Moses none of the people of that generation will see the promised land.

Some of them fell in the battles when the false spirits for example of Korah and so on tried the congregation they were swallowed up in the earth.

Some of them simply died of course of their old age on the wilderness journey.

But if they died in faith they attained of course the greatest of victories eternal life in heaven the eternal homeland.

But none of that generation saw the actual promised land except for Joshua and Caleb.

They were the only two even Moses did not.

God led him onto a mountain top from which he could see the promised land but he was not taken there was not allowed to go there.

God took him home to heaven.

And as we all recall from the time on the Mount of Transfiguration where Jesus was changed his clothing and his face shone almost like a light so bright white and Moses and Elijah came to discuss with him that work of redemption which he needed to complete.

In other words Moses representing the Ten Commandment law that Christ had fulfilled it and Elijah as a prophet representing the promise of the gospel which he had to fulfill conversed with him.

So it speaks to us of the power of God.

God is able to take his congregation forward day by day step by step like he can say decision by decision forward so we are able to attain the glory of heaven.

He blesses his children with all that they have need both temporally for our own lives and then for the blessing for the work of his congregation.

And it all is his wisdom it goes for his honor his glory the gifts are his and it makes no difference then what the gift is.

As Paul writes when he describes the different members of the body that one part of the body can't say to the other I have no need of you but we are all as members of the body fulfilling that role that God has placed us in.

And as Jesus described in the parable of the talents that everyone has a gift and it's important that we do not think that because it's so close to us currently that well now it's a thinking from an economic point of view it's a recession so I'm going to bury my gift and not allow it to be used.

One elder had sort of complained that she no longer had anything to offer but the brother who was speaking reminded that you can pray and she said that that she has remembered to do to pray for the servants of God pray for the progress of the gospel pray for the kingdom of God that God would continue to make that message known in this world continue to call those who are outside to come in to comprehend with the rest of the saints of God how great is that love of God for sin fallen mankind.

And so we are called dear brothers and sisters and so God blesses none of us knows of course we can't see the future God alone does he alone is able to because he knows what is to come to so direct our lives our footsteps our decisions for that which is best.

We are so earthly we are so rational that we need as if to convince ourselves that one plus one equals two every single day and we believe that we make decisions that we think are wise and we think make sense for our lives but it's only from the perspective of time when we look back we see the hand of God in our lives we see his direction his leading his guidance that he has done it all it is all his work his blessing.

And so of course he has promised to do he has promised to take care of each and every one of his children he will take care of you and I keep us on this narrow way he will continue to bless his congregation his children wherever they are in the world until that time comes that the last one is called into this congregation and the office of the gospel ministry of the gospel to those outside is no longer needed but the doors are closed and only then to those on the inside is the gospel preached.

Until that time that the world ends it is a wonderful blessing to be called already here while living to be a child of God.

John wrote of it that behold what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us so he can be called the children of God.

It is a great blessing of God because it's an eternal blessing or as John wrote in revelations blessed and holy is he who has partake of the first resurrection from the dead over such second death has no power.

In other words eternal death has no power over you not because you are anything greater or holier or special than those around us in the world who do not have it but because God has called blessed and you have desired to believe your sins forgiven Jesus suffered and died so that all would be able to make to heaven.

But the work of the enemy is so strong and powerful that all those who do not trust in God cannot be partakers of that blessing of life but they are outside of that blessing because they attempt to fulfill the righteousness of God with their own works with their own thinking with their own mind with their own plans for salvation.

In other words they attempt to build their own ladder to heaven and they cannot get there.

So God has blessed your brothers and sisters and so he will continue to bless and no matter how you find yourself whether you find yourself to be weak unprofitable and humans a slothful servant God desires to bless to keep you as his child and he gives you strength.

As the prophet wrote that those on the outside they will become exhausted and they will fall and fail completely but those that wait upon the Lord they receive new strength they will rise up again from those the mire of sin and the failures where we have fallen into the ditch on the side of the way of life whether to the right or to the left.

God gives through his gospel his power to arise again and make new promises to be faithful unto him.

When we are faithful in little we are then faithful in much.

You have been faithful in little you have desire to believe and that means you are faithful in much because God Jesus also says he who is unjust in little is unjust also in much.

In other words there is no room for justifying sin.

Sin it is that separates man from God and the only way out is the gospel.

It is the power of God and salvation to all who believe.

Jesus promises I will lift I will carry and I will take you home.

He has begun the good work in you dear brothers and sisters and he will continue it till that day that he calls you home.

Sins are forgiven in Jesus name and blood unto peace freedom and joy.

I also ask for myself can I believe my many sins and doubts forgiven so I desire to believe together with you in Jesus name.

Amen.

The Lord bless us and keep us.

The Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us.

Lord lift his countenance upon us and give us his eternal peace in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.