Exodus 36

Transcript

00:00:00:54 – 00:00:23:09
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for joining us. As we close out the week in the Book of Exodus. We are moving through this section where we’ve kind of we’re skimming a little bit and we will try to highlight some of the things that we think are of interest. Yesterday, we kicked that off really to bring you up to speed. If you haven’t been with us in the last couple of days.

00:00:23:43 – 00:00:48:01
Clint Loveall
This is a section where we get told kind of about the the movement to build the tabernacle and fill it and all of the things that go with it. We saw we saw a preview of that early in the book. And now we kind of see it coming to fruition in some ways, not the most exciting reading, but as I went through some of this, Michael, it is interesting.

00:00:48:01 – 00:01:21:28
Clint Loveall
There are some great phrases in here. We saw them yesterday, everyone who was skillful, everyone who had a generous heart. We see some more of that today. Verse 21 here of chapter 35, Everyone whose heart was stirred and everyone whose spirit was willing brought the Lord offerings. They came, men and women. All who had this willing heart brought brooches and earrings and rings and pendants.

00:01:21:28 – 00:01:48:03
Clint Loveall
And then I think you pointed this out yesterday, I’m down a couple versus 25. All the skillful women spun things and then verse 29, all the Israelite men and women whose hearts made them willing to bring anything for the work of the Lord which had been commanded to Moses to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.

00:01:48:36 – 00:02:12:03
Clint Loveall
So if you read these phrases, I just really get a sense of generosity. You really get a sense of willingness, of openness that this is a wonderful way. William and complimented the people of Israel recently in the book, and this has a nice ring to it that the people were skillful, they were willing to work, the people were willing to give.

00:02:12:14 – 00:02:45:55
Clint Loveall
They did so at generous hearts. The women were involved, which is, you know, not unheard of in a biblical text, But to to go out of the way to highlight that I think is interesting and really tries, I think, to paint a picture that the entire community is involved here. And so I just think there are some very complimentary phrases being used in this, and it’s nice to get there in the aftermath of some of the the less than complimentary things that have happened.

00:02:45:56 – 00:02:47:36
Clint Loveall
So in the recent past.

00:02:47:47 – 00:03:20:02
Michael Gewecke
I think another aspect of this story may not immediately be obvious to us, Clint, but for just a moment here, I think it’s worth pausing and recognizing the extensive amount of resources that the people appear to have. And I think that that is a corrective a little bit, because if you are a Sunday school person, you grew up in Sunday school and you’ve read or you remember a little bit about that wilderness period, I suspect you think of the tents, you think of the nomadic lifestyle.

00:03:20:20 – 00:03:43:28
Michael Gewecke
You probably think about taking things with you as you go. And I think it would be surprising to most of us if we’re going to be honest. Clint, I think it would be surprising to most of us to find here that they’re bringing silver and bronze and acacia wood and they have these very specific and even costly colors, the blue and the purple that is with their fine linen.

00:03:43:28 – 00:04:09:23
Michael Gewecke
And then the ability to find onyx, John stones and gems and spices and oil. I mean, this is a reflection of the people that have quite a bit of a resource, actually, that they’ve been bringing with them. And the fact that all of this is being brought to bear is a reflection of the the best gifts being the things brought for God’s house, for the keeping of the covenant.

00:04:09:23 – 00:04:45:54
Michael Gewecke
And I think that as as we know, the things that we invest in are the things that tend to drive our lives. We tend to give value to the things that we give our money to and that we give our time to. And so I do think there is a kind of symbolic nature here that not only do the people have some resources which might be on its own surface, surprising to us, but they’re willing to use those resources to give to God the not just the physical value, but their spiritual dedication to to give to God the best that they have.

00:04:46:12 – 00:05:03:52
Michael Gewecke
And that, to your point, clean only emphasizes, I think, this idea that the people are doing something really good here for this whole season, this dry spell that we’ve been in, this is a really positive reflection on the people both in what they have been given and their willingness to use it wisely.

00:05:03:52 – 00:05:37:22
Clint Loveall
Yeah, And if you think of this in terms of like a church campaign or a congregational moment, congregations life, if you think of it in a communal sense, and obviously this is a much bigger version of that, but the idea that that would be well-received and that there would be excitement and there would be joy and willingness to give, you know, and then we get in verse 30 that kind of highlighting basil and or healing of who are kind of the primary workers we saw.

00:05:37:22 – 00:05:59:42
Clint Loveall
We’ve seen their names. They showed up back in the other passages we talked about some of these things and it says here God had filled them with a skill to do every kind of work done by artisans, and God’s spirit rested upon them. The divine spirit with skill gave them skill and intelligence and knowledge of every kind of craft.

00:05:59:42 – 00:06:31:57
Clint Loveall
So you have here these two men that are kind of very much fixtures of this whole this whole process, this whole endeavor, and they kind of take the lead. What I want to get to the end of probably the span of passage we’ll look at today. This is chapter 36. And if you jump in about verse oh, let’s go about verse three here, they receive from Moses all the freewill offerings that the Israelites brought for doing the work on the sanctuary.

00:06:32:25 – 00:06:56:54
Clint Loveall
They still kept bringing freewill offerings every morning so that all the artisans who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came each from the task being performed and said to Moses, The people are bringing much more than enough for doing the work the Lord has commanded us to do. So made Moses gave the command and the word was proclaimed throughout the camp.

00:06:57:25 – 00:07:25:21
Clint Loveall
No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing for what they had already brought was more than enough. I can’t think of a moment, Michael, in any church campaign that I’ve ever known of or in the in the Scripture where, you know, the reaction, the movement is so strong and the people’s willingness so great that they have to tone them down.

00:07:25:21 – 00:07:53:38
Clint Loveall
They have to tell them, look, we have enough. We can’t use any more. We don’t know what to do. You don’t turn it off. And I think that that really that is the greatest thing we’ve heard about the Israelites in many, many chapters of this book. And I think that’s that’s an amazing that’s an amazing moment, amazing passage, and really speaks to the kind of generosity that is undergirding this this effort.

00:07:54:00 – 00:08:17:06
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. And it’s a reminder that as the people make these gifts, as they sort of live in to the best of the promise of the other side of the golden calf, there is a kind of redemptive movement to the text. And I think we would miss that if we just breezed into this if we were just, you know, really trying to find some spiritual nuggets in here.

00:08:17:06 – 00:08:37:01
Michael Gewecke
And we were looking for a meditation or meeting in the text, I think we would miss that. What’s happening is with each and every step, as the people give to these craftsmen and the craftsmen make these things, notice that there’s no Idol jumping out of the fire here. There’s no excuses. It’s the people making it. It’s the people giving of the resources.

00:08:37:01 – 00:09:13:17
Michael Gewecke
And then those resources by real people, by skillful artisans being turned into a thing, maybe by only note here, this is a little bit of a foolish way to interpret the text, but I think that there is a danger present here in the text naming these people, right, Clint? I mean, you have Basil and are all hilly. AB And I think, you know, one of the dangers of the people named in the text is you might think that those people are the celebrities, that they are the ones who are the most important in the story.

00:09:13:17 – 00:09:36:05
Michael Gewecke
And I think the text goes out of its way not only to name those sort of architects, but also all of the people beneath the surface who are helping make a thing possible. But as people who serve in the congregation, we know how easy it is to begin to vest in one person or a few people all of the leadership and praise and sort of add elation of a group.

00:09:36:19 – 00:09:52:13
Michael Gewecke
And the text goes out of its way, though it names these folks to not put them up on a pedestal, I think. And I think, you know, that’s not really that’s not going to be in a commentary, but just a reflection of someone who has seen that happen in real life in the church.

00:09:52:15 – 00:10:17:56
Clint Loveall
Yeah. I mean, there are different ways to contribute here. Not everyone is a hands on making something, but every hand is behind it. And I think, you know, if we could take this out of interpretation, Michael, and maybe go toward application, what does this say to us? You know, one of the things that’s very interesting about this passage is how often the word heart shows up.

00:10:17:56 – 00:10:53:15
Clint Loveall
And the implication, I think, is pretty clear that a willingness to work and generosity both begin in the heart. And the other word that shows up here is joyfully, that when people of faith work and give joyfully, good things happen. That when generosity and effort is undergirded with a joyful heart, that is the that is the absolute best that we can do.

00:10:53:34 – 00:11:16:17
Clint Loveall
This is not out of compulsion. This is not out of threat. We’ve seen some of that in this book. But this is genuine joy. This is genuine gratitude. This this is a movement that begins in the hearts of the Israelites, and such is the impact on them that they give more than is needed, more than it can be used.

00:11:16:17 – 00:11:48:54
Clint Loveall
And I think, you know, that’s a wonderful challenge for us to think about our own giving in. And I don’t mean just money here. I mean, what do we what do we do because of our faith? What does our faith move us to? To give in time and talent and treasure? What are the ways we’re generous with praise and encouragement and patience, if we could, you know, talk about those in the biggest sense of of the ways that we can interact with the world around us.

00:11:48:54 – 00:12:04:33
Clint Loveall
If we can begin those moments, if we can pursue those ways of living with joyful hearts, then we are much more likely to get it right.

00:12:05:04 – 00:12:29:16
Michael Gewecke
Well, yeah, and I think the temptation is to bring to our church experience maybe the same kind of mentality that we live in our our everyday life, which we live in a culture where acquiring things are consuming things, being able to go places for entertainment or watch. The most recent thing that this is a very central kind of currency in our culture.

00:12:29:16 – 00:12:58:03
Michael Gewecke
And I think that the gospel calls us to not be people defined by what we acquire or consume, but rather by the kind of people who have received in grace and so therefore, or share freely. And I think that this is very much the image you get from the Apostle Paul in, say, Philippians chapter two, that, yes, the image that we see in Jesus himself, who goes and feeds entire crowds who are hungry, it’s that reminder that in God all of our needs are supplied.

00:12:58:03 – 00:13:16:46
Michael Gewecke
And I think if that’s true, if we’re people of faith and we truly believe that our needs are supplied by the God who calls us, make no mistake, the talk of Sabbath we just had a couple of days ago that is directly related here, this idea that we can trust that there will be enough. And if we do trust that there will be enough that look what happens.

00:13:16:46 – 00:13:58:55
Michael Gewecke
We can cooperate, work together and give to something larger than ourselves. And I think you’re right to point out, Clint, that maybe one of the temptations of the giving sermon in church is that we over identify that with financial resources, that we fail to recognize that giving is intended to be the core central thrust of our lives oriented to the world that we are giving people, that when people see us, they see people who have lived the pathway of giving, and that that pathway should exist in our time, should exist in our relationships, that should exist in the ways in which we are even open to our neighbor instead of just counting people.

00:13:58:57 – 00:14:12:37
Michael Gewecke
I think that there are so many different ways that we fail to capture the breadth of the biblical image of generosity. And maybe here that is in some ways illustrated in in a helpful way.

00:14:12:50 – 00:14:37:26
Clint Loveall
Right. And that at our best that giving should be marked with a sense of joy, a sense of gratitude. It should come from the heart. It should not be grumbling, it should not be complaining, it should not be reluctant. You know, again, I, I love these phrases here. Everyone whose heart was stirred to come and do the work.

00:14:37:55 – 00:15:19:15
Clint Loveall
And that’s that’s what we hope in our faith, is that our hearts are stirred and that they are stirred toward the end, that we do become giving people that we become generous. And undeniably. Michael, you’re you’re right that we have often made that about finances. We’ve often made that about financial giving in the church. But it should never only be that that that’s that’s not unimportant, but that should only be one expression of a life leaned in the direction of graciousness and generosity.

00:15:19:15 – 00:15:21:52
Clint Loveall
And it should come out in lots of other ways as well.

00:15:22:15 – 00:15:44:29
Michael Gewecke
You know, I just to give this a very quick example, I’m sure that you’ve known these people as well, Clint, but the people who make it their spiritual gift to write cards come to mind here because we we may over identify giving with finances until you’ve received a card that comes out of the blue unexpected doubt attached to your birthday or anniversary.

00:15:44:29 – 00:16:11:11
Michael Gewecke
Just a card saw. This thing made an impact on me and I’m grateful for it. If you’ve ever received something like that, you know that feeling of just true warmth, a kind of gift that someone would take the time and the energy to offer an encouragement. And if you’ve received that, then you know that the same effect would be enabled If we practice something similar.

00:16:11:11 – 00:16:29:52
Michael Gewecke
Maybe you don’t write cards, but you you go to a place like Facebook where lots of people here join us on Facebook or YouTube would be harder. But instead of we all know the dangers of these places, these spaces we all know the danger of being in an echo chamber and people going on to those spaces and sharing lots of negative stuff.

00:16:29:52 – 00:16:52:08
Michael Gewecke
But what if instead you went to the private messages and you sent someone encouragement? I mean, you could make it a part of your practice. You come to the daily Bible study and you see somebody that was there and you just send them a note and say, thinking of you, praying for you to Clint. Those things, I think, are markers of lives in which each person to whatever their gifting is, are able to serve and love one another.

00:16:52:08 – 00:16:57:37
Michael Gewecke
And that certainly looks different at different moments of life, different seasons of life, but it still matters.

00:16:57:54 – 00:17:31:44
Clint Loveall
Yeah, you know, we’re coming up on Lent. That would be a great project to undertake for Lent to find a way daily to encourage someone in some way like that, a note card, a call, whatever it might be. But yeah, I think this is this is these are the kind of passages for me, Michael, that they’re not uninteresting as history, but they’re really interesting as interpretation, as an application, as a challenge for when Israel got it right.

00:17:31:44 – 00:17:42:09
Clint Loveall
How does it give us an example of a way to live out our faith? And I think, you know, this is as positive a text as we’ve seen in a while, and I think it’s really good friends.

00:17:42:19 – 00:17:52:44
Michael Gewecke
It’s been a joy to have you with us here today. I certainly hope if you found it encouraging that you would give it a like share. Subscribe for more Bible studies like this and we look forward to being with you next week.

00:17:52:46 – 00:18:01:57
Clint Loveall
Have a great weekend, everybody.