Sanctuary
Notes
Transcript
Dedication of Aiden Mathis Thorman
Dedication of Aiden Mathis Thorman
**Invite Thorman and Fillman family to come forward: **
It is my great joy to introduce you to the newest member of our church family. Aiden Mathis Thorman is the son of Russell and Birgitta Thorman and was born on November 26, 2021.
We are pleased to have Birgitta’s parents, Jerry and Terry Fillman, and Russell’s parents, Marvin and Lisa Thorman.
At this time, Trisha Thorman, Russells sister-in-law will be singing a special dedicatory song.
Special Music
When God created humans he said, “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Solomon said that children are a “heritage from the Lord” and like “arrows in the hand of a warrior... blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.” (Psalm 127:4-5)
When Jesus was just 8 days old Mary and Joseph brought him to the priest to be dedicated to the Lord. Today Russell and Brigitta are bringing Aiden to the Lord, recognizing that he is a special gift from God—a blessing for your family. You’re giving him back to God and asking that God would help you be good stewards of this precious life He has given you.
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At this time the grandparents will read a charge:
Jerri:
Birgitta, “The sphere of the mother may be humble; but her influence, united with the father’s, is as abiding as eternity. Next to God, the mother’s power for good is the strongest known on earth.” (AH 240)
Terry:
On the other hand, “If she allows her mind to dwell upon her own feelings, if she indulges in selfishness, if she is peevish and exacting, the disposition of her child will testify to the fact. Thus many have received as a birthright almost unconquerable tendencies to evil. The enemy of souls understands this matter much better than do many parents. He will bring his temptations to bear upon the mother, knowing that if she does not resist him, he can through her affect her child. The mother’s only hope is in God. She may flee to Him for strength and grace; and she will not seek in vain.” (AH 241)
Marvin:
Russell, “All members of the family center in the father. He is the lawmaker, illustrating in his own manly bearing the sterner virtues: energy, integrity, honesty, patience, courage, diligence, and practical usefulness. The father is in one sense the priest of the household, laying upon the altar of God the morning and evening sacrifice. The wife and children should be encouraged to unite in this offering and also to engage in the song of praise. Morning and evening the father, as priest of the household, should confess to God the sins committed by himself and his children through the day.” (AH 212)
Lisa:
In addition, “The wife looks to him for love and sympathy and for aid in the training of the children; and this is right. The children are his as well as hers, and he is equally interested in their welfare. The children look to the father for support and guidance; he needs to have a right conception of life and of the influences and associations that should surround his family; above all, he should be controlled by the love and fear of God and by the teaching of His word, that he may guide the feet of his children in the right way…” (AH 211)
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There is a two-fold purpose of the baby dedication.
The first is found in the purpose of the parents. This ceremony is a dedication of the parents. The parents are pledging themselves to train and disciple their children to fear God and love His Word.
Moses gave this admonition to the parents in Israel which you can find in Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
The second purpose is for the child, recognizing that He is truly God’s possession—God’s child.
Let us now dedicate Aiden to the Lord.
PASTOR JASON:
Today we bring Aiden Mathis Thorman to the church to dedicate him to the Lord. Who brings Aiden for this purpose?
RUSSELL & BIRGITTA:
We Do.
PASTOR JASON:
What can we affirm about baby Aiden?
CHURCH FAMILY:
That he is made in the image of God and is God’s special child.
PASTOR JASON:
What will Aiden be told about his history?
CHURCH FAMILY:
We will tell him about Abraham and Sarah, about Moses, Aaron and Mariam. We will tell him stories of David, of Daniel, of Hannah and Samuel. But most of all we will tell Aiden about Jesus, the baby of Bethlehem, the Savior of the world.
PASTOR JASON:
Russell and Birgitta, do you commit, by God’s grace, to help Aiden know God as his Father, to grow up in faith? Do you dedicate yourselves to do as the Bible commands, to “raise up your child” to follow Christ? Do you promise to give him every spiritual advantage in your home, your church and Christian education? Do you dedicate yourselves to Aiden to share all his good times and bad times, and to love him always?
RUSSELL AND BIRGITTA:
We do.
PASTOR JASON:
Will you, members of Aiden’s spiritual family, help him in his guidance and growth?
CHURCH FAMILY:
Yes, we too, will share in Aiden’s growth. May the Lord bless him and keep him. The Lord lift up His face and shine upon Aiden and give him peace.
**Jason takes baby Aiden (or puts his hand on his head), and prays a prayer of dedication.**
**Family all sit down**
Introduction
Introduction
One of the most horrifying possibilities for a parent is to have someone abduct your child.
In February of this year a 13 year old girl met someone in an online gaming platform. After a couple days of online chatting the 33 year old man convinced her to run away from home. They met up near her house in Kansas and he drove her to where he lived in Georgia, 900 miles away. After several days she was able to access a computer and send her mom a note with the address of a Dollar General store nearby. Police found her and returned her to her parents. And then on March 1 the police found the man who had abducted her and arrested him. He is now awaiting trial.
I don’t want you to imagine what that girl experienced, but I do want you to think about the mother. What was her experience like?
Do you think she was going about life as she always did?
Was she going to work like normal?
Was sitting around watching netflix or playing wordle on her phone?
No, I can’t imagine her life being normal while her 13 year old daughter was missing. She was doing everything possible to find her.
She called the police.
She searched her daughter’s social media accounts for clues.
She probably drove around the neighborhood and even organized a search party.
She certainly called everyone who knew her precious girl to see if they knew anything.
She probably raised funds to offer a reward for finding her.
Whatever she did, we can be almost certain that girl’s mom turned her own world upside down so she could do everything possible to find her daughter and bring her back.
Bring her back.
That’s the phrase I want you to keep in your mind.
The Bible communicates this same idea with the same level of intensity and emotion and passion that mother must have had when it uses the words, “redeem, ransom and reconcile.”
The Problem
The Problem
The earth was new, people were naive, and an evil creature was on the hunt for a victim.
A young woman stood in front of a tree with an intriguing snake talking to her. After only a few moments of conversation, he had deceived the woman and she took the first step of human rebellion against the Creator. She took the step, like that young girl who was led to run away after only a few online chat messages. And the step she took didn’t bring good things, it was a trap that imprisoned her.
The first lady of the human race chose to run away. I don’t want you to imagine what happened to that woman—though you have all experienced it first-hand. Instead, I want you to think about the creator. What happened in that moment of rebellion tore His children away from Him and imprisoned them in the an evil being’s clutches.
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
Seperation.
Title Slide
It’s not a word that God likes. God is an ever-present God — he exists in and around all of His creation.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.
God is everywhere.
But Eve’s sin created a separation between her and God.
Think about that mother who lost her daughter to an evil man and imagine her with her daughter at 3 months old. How often would you see the baby without the mother or the mother without the baby? That mother held her baby nearly all the time. She carried her in a pack, held her in her arms while she nursed, she rubbed her back, changed her diapers, bathed her, clothed her, and sang her to sleep. She lay next to her crib as she fell sleep. She slept at the edge of wakefullness, eager to hear her baby stir and cry for food in the night.
Notice what God says about the people He created.
Isaiah 49:15 (ESV)
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
So when Eve rebelled and they were ripped away from God by that evil creature, God began the most involved and expensive rescue the universe will ever know. Every aspect of God’s existence was turned towards redeeming his stolen children. Every creature in heaven was enlisted and given new roles to facilitate the rescue plan.
So what’s His plan?
The Plan
The Plan
You can find the plan in Psalm 77 where Asaph struggled with the reality of sin and evil. In his position, Asaph is like that young girl held by evil and hoping beyond hope that there’s a way out of her mess.
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah
Psalm 77:11–14 (ESV)
I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy [in the holies, the sanctuary].
What god is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
This psalm points to a way, a path to restoring us to God.
Jesus said, John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life."
The problem is that we’re separated from God. And there is no getting back to God in our own power. We’ve been captured and imprisoned and enslaved to sin. The only hope we have is a rescue from Jesus.
You’ve probably seen a version of this graphic of the wilderness tabernacle before. The sanctuary is the way of rescue and notice the main thing about the sanctuary — every aspect of the sanctuary points to Jesus.
There’s the doorway that separates the tabernacle from the camp — Jesus said, “I am the door” and “no one comes to the father except through me” (John 17:7-8)
And then the sacrificial lamb which was offered on the altar of burnt offering — the Bible says that Jesus is the lamb that was slain for our sins (John 1:29, 36; Rev 5:6, 12; Rev 13:8)
Then there’s the laver for cleansing before entering the tabernacle — Jesus’ blood cleanses us from our sin (1 John 1:7; Rev 7:14)
As you enter into the first compartment, called the holy place, you see the table with 12 loaves of bread on it — Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:41, 48-51)
You also see the 7 branched candlestick which was constantly kept full of oil and which always stayed burning — Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5)
As you stand at the door to holy place, straight in front of you there is an altar with incense that was to be kept burning at all times — the New Testament tells us this represents the prayers of Jesus and that Jesus “lives to make intercession for us” (Heb 7:25)
If you were to lift the curtain behind the altar of incense you’d find a brilliant, golden cabinet called the Ark of the Covenant that held the ten commandment stones inside and two covering cherubs on the top on either side of the seat of God called the mercy seat — at his death Jesus fulfilled the justice of the law while giving us mercy (Ps 85:10), and after his death and resurrection the Bible tells us that Jesus ascended to heaven and took his seat at the “right hand of the father.” (Acts 2:33; 7:55)
When Asaph said that God’s Way was in the sanctuary, and Jesus said “I am the way,” they were pointing to all these things that God was doing to save us from our deadly situation.
title slide
Dwelling
Dwelling
If the problem were only rescuing Eve then the solution would have been much simpler. Instead, the problem included all of humanity as well as the concerns and questions of the watching universe and the issue with bringing justice out of evil. Paul said,
1 Corinthians 4:9 (ESV)
we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.
And so the rescue needs to include a lot of elements:
God needs to get his rebellious children to recognize they’re in a bad situation and need His help. — the sanctuary reveals our condition and shows us who God is.
He needs to somehow get them out of the situation they’re in, and heal the brokenness that has resulted from it. — through the services of the sanctuary we are given forgiveness and cleansing from sin, and the spiritual and emotional healing from the effects of sin.
He needs to assure the watching universe that bringing back His rebel children won’t bring rebellion into heaven. — The sanctuary has a component of open investigation and careful judgment.
And he needs to administer justice to the cause of evil — that evil creature that entrapped us to begin with and who continues to deceive and harm humanity. — The end result of the sanctuary is that rebells are consumed and evil leaves the universe never to return.
We could spend a whole series studying the sanctuary, but today we’re going to stick to the big picture. I’d like to take you to one of my favorite verses about the sanctuary that helps to explain what God is trying to accomplish, Exodus 25:8-9:
And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.
The problem is that sin has separated us from God, and so the way of the sanctuary allows God to dwell with us again.
That’s the whole point of the sanctuary.
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Look back to Eden and you’ll see God’s original plan.
In Genesis 2 - 3 the Bible tells how God stooped down and formed humans with his hands, and then breathed His life-giving breath into their lungs so that they could be with him. He gave the human couple a special garden that He had planted and designed especially for them. And even after they doubted God and chose to disobey Him and ran away from Him, He came looking for them, in person. The relationship God had with people in Eden was a close, personal relationship.
From that specially made garden flowed waters that gave life to the earth, and in which was a special tree that produced life-giving food, and also the light of God’s presence shown there. Do these things sound like the sanctuary with its light and water and food and the presence of God? This was God’s original design—to be with us.
But sin drove man from God’s presence and separated them from their God.
Just look through the stories of the Bible and you’ll see elements of God’s way of salvation scattered all throughout the Bible.
In the story of Noah we find the covenant of justice and mercy. And after the flood Noah offered sacrificial offerings and God responded by renewing his covenant of promise to the world. Then He made His presence known in the light of the rainbow.
And then there was Moses who encountered God on the mountain, first as a burning bush and later as the God who wrote the ten commandments and who appeared with a cloud and brilliant flashes of lightning.
Then there’s the wilderness tabernacle, and Solomon’s temple, and then later Herod’s temple.
After Jesus the focus shifted. He was the fulfillment of all the sanctuary services and emblems and forms so continuing to follow the feasts and ceremonies of cleansing and sacrifice would have been not only useless but against faith in Christ. So the Christians began to think of the sanctuary in a whole new way.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (ESV)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Colossians 1:27 (ESV)
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
They also saw the church as the temple
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
But there’s more to the story than a temple made of hands, or a temple made of people. God’s Way has completely restructured heaven to focus on reconciling as much of humanity as possible back to God.
That’s why we’re told that Moses made the wilderness tabernacle after a copy (Hebrews 8:4-6) that he saw in a vision of heaven.
And Jesus is the connection that binds the earthly copies to the real work that’s going on in heaven. Jacob saw Jesus as a ladder upon which the angels passed back and forth between heaven and earth to do all that was possible to rescue us.
Notice how Paul puts it in his letter to the Hebrews:
Hebrews 2:14–18 (ESV)
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he [Jesus] himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
...Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, ...For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Let’s do a little thinking here.
Our situation isn’t as simple as that young girl who was taken away from her mom. She saw her problem, found a way to communicate, and the police showed up to solve the problem. Instead, we have a generational problem where we’re born in the grip of evil.
There are people today who don’t think they need to be rescued. They have no idea how much they are loved and how good God’s plans are for them, or how much trouble they’re in and what a sad ending their life will have if they don’t accept the rescue Jesus is offering.
We’re more like a kid born into a drug house who has never seen what life should be like and who thinks that the disfunction and evil of their home is normal and maybe even fun. They grow up in addiction and live their life in abuse, thinking that its the best they’re ever going to get. That’s us. We grow up in our broken and evil world, we even think evil is normal and sometimes fun.
Jesus couldn’t just send in the police to rescue us—most of us would prefer to stay put—He had to come live in the drug house with us. Not as a fellow addict or abuser, but as our brother He came to help us to see the love of God our true Father; and to set us free from the control of sin in our lives and heal us from the harm that it has done to us. And now, Jesus is in heaven as our high priest. He is the only member of Deity that can represent us and defend us because He was born our brother, he lived in our house and He knows us intimately.
The Feasts
The Feasts
It may be unclear to some why Jesus is taking His time in coming back, and how God will ultimately deal with evil. Thankfully God’s way of the sanctuary helps us see what Jesus’ plan is. Turn in your Bibles to Leviticus 23 and you can see an outline of the sanctuary festivals.
Just like the ceremonies of the sanctuary, each of these festivals points to something that Jesus has done or will do in order to rescue us from evil.
The first festival was the passover which we can easily connect to Jesus because Paul said Jesus is our passover (1 Cor 5:7). That feast was fulfilled through Jesus’ life on earth and death on the cross.
The second festival was closely connected to the passover, but it starts the next day — the feast of unleavened bread. Jesus himself said that his body was the bread of life, broken for us on the cross (1 Cor 11:24). It was no coincidence that Thursday night Jesus ate the passover feast with the disciples and then experienced the beginning of his sacrifice in the garden of Gethsemane, and then the next day He gave His life on the cross, fulfilling both the passover and unleavened bread festivals.
The third festival was the feast of firstfruits which was celebrated on the day after the Sabbath of the feast of unleavened bread. The people would bring a special offering to God in thanksgiving for the first harvest of the year and the promise of more harvests to come. Paul says that Jesus’ resurrection is the firstfruit of resurrection (1 Cor 15:23), which is a promise of the resurrection of all those who have fallen asleep in Jesus at the second coming. And jesus’ resurrection happened just in time, the day after the Sabbath, on the first day of the week.
These first three festivals were all fulfilled by Jesus in the last week of his life on earth, and then Jesus went to heaven. The last four festivals are fulfilled while Jesus is in heaven.
The fourth festival was the festival of pentecost. Pente, meaning 50, and this festival was exactly 50 days (7 weeks and 1 day) after the firstfruits festival in celebration of the summer harvest. 40 days after Jesus’ resurrection he ascended into heaven, and 10 days later (50 days after He fulfilled the firstfruits festival) He sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples. The result was a “summer” harvest of thousands of new believers who accepted Jesus. (Acts 2:17-18, 37-38, 41)
The fifth festival was observed in the fall and it was called the feast of trumpets. The priests would blow the trumpets as an alarm of sorts, letting the people know that the Day of Atonement was just 9 days away. This was a warning of impending judgment because anyone who was not ready for the Day of Atonement would be sent out of the camp never to return. This festival was fulfilled when Jesus sent his people out to share the message of coming judgment found in Revelation 14:6-8. “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come...” This message began to be preached in 1833 and in 1844 the Day of Atonement festival began to be fulfilled.
The sixth festival was the Day of Atonement. This was a very special feast in which the high priest went into the most holy place, the presence of God, to cleanse the sanctuary of all the sin that had accumulated there and to rid all sin from the camp of Israel. The fulfillment of this feast can be pinpointed to a specific day because Daniel 8:14 and Daniel 9:24 tell us that a 2,300 year period would begin in 457 BC with the decree to restore Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile, and it would end in 1844 AD with the great heavenly day of atonement. Some people call this the “investigative judgment” because it is the time when Jesus defends the case of all his people immediately prior to his second coming. Ultimately, Daniel 7:22 tells us that the judgment will be made in favor of God’s children. When all the cases have been won, Jesus will finally return to get us out of our drug-house existence and take us to heaven to live with God forever. We are right now in the middle of the fulfillment of this festival.
And that leads us to the last feast. The seventh festival was the feast of booths where the Israelites would all camp in tents made of tree branches and leaves for a week. Leviticus 23:40 says “you shall rejoice before the Lord for seven days.” This feast will be fulfilled when God’s people live with the Lord in the rooms Jesus has prepared for them. But it will be a temporary shelter of sorts because it will only last for 1,000 years after which they will return to earth and “build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce.” (Jer 29:28)
The most significant part of this sanctuary story is what happens around the Day of Atonement. There’s a whole description of it in Leviticus 16. It describes a ceremony where two goats are chosen, and then a lot is cast—one becomes the Lord’s goat that will be sacrificed and the other goat is left alive. The Lord’s goat that is sacrificed is Jesus taking on the sin of all the people who trust in Him for salvation. Then the High Priest (that’s Jesus too) takes the blood into most holy place (the throne of God in heaven—see Daniel 7:13-14, 26-27) to plead the case of those who trust in God’s salvation. The Bible tells us everyone will be judged, but this judgment that occurs before the 2nd coming of Christ is only for those who trust in Jesus.
Jesus’ plan is so effective that no one who believes in Jesus and trusts their lives into His hands will be lost. Every case is decided in their favor.
But that leaves a big gap of people who have not trusted their lives to Jesus, and that’s where the living goat comes in. When the priest comes out of the most holy place he places his hands on the living goat and confesses all the iniquity of the people over it. And then a man prepared for the task takes the goat out of the camp to the wilderness “the goat shall bear their iniquities on himself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness” (Lev 16:22). There is very little about this living goat in the Bible except that we know it bears the sins on itself, not as a sacrifice, but as a purging and cleansing of the camp. There are only two things that leave the camp on the day of Atonement — anyone who clings to their own sin, and the living goat. Neither ever return.
I believe this part of the feast will be fulfilled when the evil creature, Satan, who started all this mess will bear the penalty for his deception and lies and murder and greed and pride which is the origin of every sin committed by humanity. He will bear that guilt and its penalty not on behalf of the righteous — Jesus did that, but because of his own responsibility for causing it. And also, everyone who rejects Jesus’ offer of redemption will bear the penalty of their own sin. Ultimately, evil and all the persistent rebells will be sent from the camp and annihilated. Evil and sin and rebellion will die and will never return.
Conclusion
Conclusion
When we see the plan and the great cost of our redemption, we start to get a sense of the deep love that God has for His children—for you.
God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Pet 3:9).
God has completely upended the universe for you. He wants you to come back home with Him. He’s done everything to make that possible. All He needs from you is to recognize His love, desire what He has to offer, and accept His gift.
Just tell Him today, “I want to go Home with you, Jesus. I want to experience all the joy and goodness that You have planned for me. I want to be cleaned from all the filthiness of my life. I want to be your child.”
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Please stand with me and sing our closing hymn: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (154)