Tabernacles and Thresholds

Today I want to share a little of my heart with you.  One of my favorite Biblical characters is a guy named Moses.  I think I identify with Moses because he was a flawed but faithful leader of the Hebrew people, as they faced victories and failures.  The people leave Egypt under fire.  They reluctantly enter the desert, quickly forgetting their miraculous delivery from the Pharoah.  Moses struggles as the people balk, complain and invite God's harsh discipline that causes them to wander 40 years in the desert.  If you read the Bible carefully, you will not find Moses as a seamless, perfect leader.  Instead, he fights doubts, stiff-necked people, family struggles and life.  He is my kind of guy!

During October we will travel with Moses and share his struggles.  We will see how he leads through the desert wilderness of the Middle-East.  And we will see how God worked good things through the plight and possibilities of the Hebrew people.  This week we will talk about tabernacles and thresholds.

Three points here.  First, Moses was, though reluctantly, a leader of the Hebrew people.  He was appointed by God, though his leadership qualities were suspect.  He stammered and stuttered.  He was wanted for striking down an Egyptian guard.  He really didn't want the job of leader.  God didn't choose him because of his gifts, passions or strengths (at least visible to others).  God used Moses and equipped Moses so he could lead.

Allow me to chase a rabbit here.  What is a leader?  Lots of leadership gurus define leadership.  An influencer, one who directs the mission or one who manages people are all used in this context.  But, in step with the Biblical idea of leading, I like the oldest root of the word, laedere.  It is an old English word that Peter Senge (my favorite leadership guru) says means "to go first across a threshold."  And this, Moses did well!  He went first, but his direction and his path were chosen by God, as a cloud by day and a fire by night led the people.  And, for this week, we will remember part of the whole process was to remember/keep/acknowledge God's presence with them, through the tabernacle.

We think of our tabernacle as the church building, but there are many lessons we can learn from the tabernacle (Exodus 25-31):

1.  The word means "to dwell," the idea being that God would dwell among the people.

2. God gave specific instructions about the tabernacle and the holiness of liturgy, worship, priests.  This included the actual construction of the tabernacle, which was explicitly portable. 

Let's stop on that portable idea for this week!

Tabernacles were not designed or intended to be comfortable, non-movable structures.  They were to be movable and moving on toward destinations that were thresholds.  The leader, here Moses, was to go before the people and lead them toward those thresholds that were God's plan and path.  How did they know where, when and how to go?

1. God gave them His ordained leader, Moses.  He was imperfect and flawed, but God equipped him, spoke with him and, when necessary, disciplined him.  Moses led the people till they were on the threshold of the promised land.  God then appointed a new leader, Joshua, to lead them across that threshold.

2. God gave them a cloud by day and a fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22).

3. God gave the leaders a place to worship and praise God, a place to make offerings and a place for the leaders to receive guidance.  It was the portable dwelling of God, able to go with the people so they never forgot God's presence, provision and power.

4. God, in this design, reminded the people that He was a God on the move.  God calls us to move the things that are good ... music, liturgy, people (most of them), love, prayer, listening, things that connect us to God.  God calls us to leave some things behind ... things that aren't glorifying to God, anger, self, stagnation, comforts that keep us stopped, some people that won't leave Egypt.

God is, and always has been, moving.  God's leaders follow 'the cloud by day and the fire by night' as they go out in front of the people to cross the thresholds God leads us across.

We have some thresholds to cross.  While we have a church building that is located at 100 E. Kelly St., we are called to be a moving church.  God's Word is a cloud by day and a fire by night.  Will you/we be those people that cross over to the places and challenges God has laid out for us?  I hope so!  Randy