Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20100912.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
K. God's Directive Of The Tabernacle To Fellowship With His People
15: God's Equipping And Leading The Tabernacle Builders To Succeed
(Exodus 31:1-11)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    In our last Sunday morning message, we learned that the best thing we can do with our lives is to perform God's assignment for us.

    However, we may ask how to identify that task or to do it in view of the difficult job market and our practical need to earn a living:

    (1) Brett Graff of Bankrate, Inc. had an article on September 4, 2010 that was cited in yahoo.finance.com titled, "Survey: Fewer Workers Wanted This Labor Day" where he noted that, nationally, for every job opening, 3.4 people are looking for one.

    However, high tech fields like computers and mathematics science see the demand for workers far outstrip the supply: there are three job openings for every one such skilled person! (Ibid.)

    In the field of health care practitioners, the demand is two job openings for every single skilled person. (Ibid.)

    Similarly, an AP story ran on September 5, 2010 titled, "Future hiring will mainly benefit the high-skilled".

    (2) In part due to this problem, a story by Fortune that ran on CNNMoney.com on September 3, 2010 claimed the term "a jobless recovery" is now often used to describe how the recession will end.

    (3) This need hits us locally: three different believers spoke individually with me or my wife last week on concerns they had on the direction of their lives or their livelihood needs. Our prayer requests as a congregation almost regularly mention a livelihood need issue!

    (4) Even churches are expected by some to help solve the job problem: a caller named "John" on the September 7, 2010 "Talk of Connecticut" radio show suggested that churches in Hartford should do more to spur economic development in the community.

    (5) Actually, Scripture never makes the Church directly responsible for community economic development, but the Bible does have much to say on the economic development of individuals.

    Since we pastors are called of God in 2 Timothy 4:1-2 to preach His Word, and since the Bible passage we are slated to view today has direct application to this issue, we will apply it to this matter!



    So, in viewing the passage, we seek to answer the question: "If doing God's will is the best thing I can do with my life, how do I discern that will, and integrate it with my need to earn a living?!"

    Need: "If performing God's will is the best I can do with my life, how may I know that will and reconcile it with my need to earn a living?!"

  1. God's assignment for Bezalel with Oholiab's help was to lead other skilled men in Israel to build the Lord's tabernacle, Exodus 31:1-6.
  2. However, to accomplish this feat, they needed comprehensive help to address their livelihood and workmanship needs (as follows):
    1. The workers dwelt in a wilderness with little food and water (Exodus 15:22; 16:1-3), and, since it was hot, they needed clothing provisions to do the work because their labor would greatly wear on their clothes.
    2. Fresh out of slavery and experienced only in brick making, the men lacked the craftsmanship to build the tabernacle, Ex. 1:11; 5:7-9; 2:23.
    3. The wilderness had few raw materials the workers needed, Ex. 31:4-5.
  3. Well, God met all these needs so the men could do His assignment:
    1. God met the workers' living needs so they could do His assignment:
      1. Exodus 15:23-25, 17:6-7 and Numbers 20:1-11 show God kept the men (and all Israel) supplied with water for their living needs.
      2. Exodus 16:35 with Joshua 5:12 reveal God fed them manna for 40 years until the day after they entered Canaan and ate of its food.
      3. Deuteronomy 29:5 explains God preserved their shoes and clothes in the wilderness so the men could do their work assignments.
    2. God gave the workers the skills they needed to do His assignment:
      1. Exodus 31:3a, 6b reveals God equipped with His Holy Spirit both Bezalel and Oholiab and the other workers under them with the skills needed to perform their various assignments from the Lord:
        1. The word "wisdom" in Exodus 31:3a, 6b KJV is better rendered "skill" (NIV), B. D. B., A Hebr.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 315.
        2. As Bezalel, Oholiab and all the other workers under them were thus equipped with such hakmah, all were given craftsmanship skills as so they could perform their God-assigned tasks.
      2. Exodus 31:3, 6 with 35:34 reveal God equipped Bezalel with His Holy Spirit to coordinate and instruct Oholiab and the rest of the craftsmen so that the tabernacle project might progress:
        1. The "understanding" and "knowledge" God gave Bezalel versus the other workers in Exodus 31:3 and 35:31, 34 KJV meant he was gifted to know how the various crafts were to interact and all of the craftsmen be coordinated for the work to proceed, Kittel, Bib. Hebr., p. 127, 135; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 108, 395-396.
        2. Bezalel was thus to use the "understanding" and "knowledge" the Holy Spirit had given him to tell Oholiab, his helper how the work was to proceed, and they in turn were to teach the other workers what to do in coordinating the project, Exodus 35:34.
    3. God supplied the raw materials the workers needed to perform His assignment: by God's plagues on Egypt, Israel spoiled the Egyptians of their resources, and God later led the people of Israel to give of those materials for the tabernacle construction, Ex. 12:35-36; 36:2-3.
  4. Thus, the ONLY FOCUS the WORKERS needed have was to HEED (a) GOD'S WORD and (b) His CIRCUMSTANTIAL LEADING :
    1. The workers were to heed God's circumstantial leading and drink the water He supplied, and obey His Exodus 16:14-30 command to gather and eat the manna He sent each day before the sun melted it, and to gather enough of it the day before the Sabbath for food on that day.
    2. They had to notice God's visible circumstantial work to spur them to use their abilities in life, and to heed God's Word through Moses that identified these abilities that they might fulfill God's assignment:
      1. God told Moses to "see" (Ex. 31:2 KJV) Bezalel's skills: this is not the usual exclamation "Behold!" (hineh), but the imperative ra'ah , to "observe, look," Ibid., Kittel, p. 127; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 906-909.
      2. This means Bezalel had already been motivated to use his abilities so they were visible to Bezalel himself and to others, Exodus 31:2.
      3. Thus, Bezalel was to notice both God's motivation and work in his own heart and acts (Philippians 2:13), and have it all validated by God's Word through Moses to know what his gift was, and thus know what he was to do! [The other workers would do the same!]
    3. They had to obey the Lord relative to performing their assigned work.
    4. They had to obey God and not work on the Sabbath, Exodus 16:23-30.
Application: To know God's assignment for us and how it relates to our livelihood need issues, may we (1) trust Christ to be a child of God (John 1:11-12). (2) Then, (a) may we note how God spurs and gifts us to act as verified by His Word to discern what is His gifting and task for us, and (b) heed His Word in our daily routine. (c) He will supply and guide in all of our job issues so we can do His will!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 This closing illustration for this sermon was produced from the Lord's work all last week to apply this message in my life.

After the study for this message began, my attention was split between the issue of jobs in this sermon and the controversy over the proposed plan to build a Muslim mosque near Ground Zero and the Florida pastor who said he would burn copies of the Quran in response on the ninth anniversary of the Muslim terrorist attacks in our country.

The Exodus 31:1-11 passage in today's message had been covered last week with another application, so I thought of moving on to Exodus 31:12-18 that lends itself well to the whole issue of Islam.

It was tough to know what to do, for the mosque matter had sparked so many stories: (1) the anniversary of the Islamic terrorist attacks, (2) the debate over the plan for a future mosque near there, (3) the threat of a Florida pastor to burn the Quran in response to that plan, a (4) move that would touch off Muslim reprisals against Americans worldwide, (5) the story of a Muslim stonemason who had built his face onto a gargoyle on a Paris Catholic cathedral, adding the words "God is great" that had led to an outcry, (6) American embassies being put on alert for reprisals over the Florida pastor's threat and (7) Muslim appeals to Glenn Beck to censure that pastor's threat ran on pages 4A-5A in the September 9th Waterbury Republican-American.

Then, when these news items seemed to peak on Thursday with the Florida pastor's announcement that he would not burn the Quran, my wife was involved in extensive counseling over a party's livelihood issues, and our evening meal hosted an intense discussion on another party's livelihood issues. These (1) experiences had led me to refocus on the need to address the jobs issue today, and since (2) God has Biblically indicated I not "skip over" any part of His Word, I chose to stay with my first plan to preach this message out of Exodus 31:1-11.

The next morning while driving to the office to "finesse" my weekend messages, I heard on the radio of the Florida pastor's claim to rethink his Thursday decision not to burn the Quran, for he claimed he had been deceived into thinking the mosque near Ground Zero would be moved! I knew then that the world could be in for a long weekend, and that a message dealing with Islam would be timely next Sunday!

God led through His Word and circumstances so I could do His will. May we all similarly find God's niche for us, and fill it!