Hope Alliance Bethlehem

Patience is a choice to take the long view. In our patience, we trust God as judge and we join him in taking a posture of redemption and restoration in our world. Waiting, humility and forgiveness are all examples of patience in action. 

Peace is not a feeling. It is a fruit. It is the offering of new creation only found through Jesus  to the broken world around us. Where the fruit of peace is growing, injustice is decreasing, harmony within creation is rising and unity in the church is championed. This kind of peacemaking is only possible when we have truly embraced the peace that only God can offer.

Joy, as a fruit of the Spirit, cannot be produced but can be promoted through our beliefs and the leading of the Spirit.  When we focus on God's faithfulness we find joy.  And when we focus our purposes and hope on Jesus and his mission, we find joy.  Doing this as individual persons leads us to be a church and people of joy.

Love is the singular fruit of the Spirit, but it comes in all kinds of varieties and manifestations. There is not peace, patience, kindness, or any others without love. Moreover, biblical love is self-giving, volitional and often unreciprocated. But pride keeps us from seeing love blossom in our lives. We are called to join the Spirit in his work to crucify the flesh which produces pride and instead be rooted in the gospel which breeds genuine love.

Exodus closes with the building of the tabernacle. Its a wonderful picture of generosity in sacrifice and service for the kingdom of God. It is also a tremendous act of faith and expectancy. Massive sacrifice and effort precedes God's fulfillment of his promise to dwell amongst them. And then the book closes with the glory of God in the midst of the people - a great announcement of their forgiveness. This is our hope and mission as the church too. And it is a mission worth our greatest and most generous sacrifice and service.

After the massive failure of the golden calf, Moses enters into a lengthy negotiation with God about the future of Israel. Rather than father a new nation, Moses offers himself as a substitute sacrifice and leverages his relationship with God for the forgiveness and good of the people. This is exactly what Jesus has done for us in light of our rebellion and failures. As a result, we get to see the splendor of God's glory. And the only response is worship.

The golden calf incident is a story of massive failure. More than simply making an idol, Israel was compromising the grandeur and totality of God with their local surroundings and embracing a pluralistic mindset. We tend to do the same things quite often. Like them, it typically comes from an impatience with God. Rather than embracing God for all of who he is, we take preferred slices and form a god in our own image. This always leads to self-indulgence and destruction.

When it came time to actually build the tabernacle and its contents, God pointed Moses to a man named Bezalel. God had gifted him with the right talent and abilities and filled him with his Spirit. In many ways, Bezalel, like all of humanity, is acting as a mini-creator in the shadow of the Creator. We too have been gifted by God to join him in his mission to redeem and restore our world. And we work as agents of new creation in the shadow of Jesus, the author of New Creation.

If God is going to live amongst a broken people, then the role of the high priest is critical. He will represent God to man and he will represent man to God, cultivating the necessary balance. But standing in this gap is a dangerous job, especially for a human wearing diving splendor. Ultimately, God would take on human flesh and provide our ultimate high priest, Jesus.

Among the first instructions God gives Moses, are those to build the tabernacle. This will be the place that God resides and from which he leads the people. This stunning revelation of God's intent to dwell with his people despite their failures should never cease to amaze us. What's more he invites the people themselves to build this mobile dwelling and in so doing calls them directly into his plan to establish his kingdom to restore the earth.