Like any title of a book, this title is one of the millions to entice one to read it. Speaker Danny Koh adopted it for the sermon today. Yes, this title categorizes people by name, and God knows you by name.
Matthew 5: 12 Beatitudes at Sermon of the Mount
Jesus brought his disciples to the Mount and for those who are in the valley, they do not get to hear the sermon.
We climbed up Mount Sinai with Danny Koh today at the sermon.
Exodus 19 -When they were at the foot of the mountain, God commanded Moses for the people to be consecrated for Him.
From Exodus 24: 9-10, there was a progressive revelation for the people of God. This progressive revelation revealed the clarity of heaven.
9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up 10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. 10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.
He zeroed in on 3 concentric circles for the intimacy we have with God. The people at the outer circle never get to climb up the mountain; they were the stiff - necked people who were contented to worship God from afar. They were not qualified, not committed to God and did not consecrate their lives for God, wholly describing what we name today the carnal Christians, who have a weak faith, allow their feet to fall and stray away easily, and they were the ones in the later chapter of Exodus, who went back to a life of sins. (Exodus 32), they were the first and the quick to turn and forsake God, and God leaves them when they forsake Him. And so they are obviously the Quitters.
The people in the inner circle and the innermost circle were the 74 people who have broken the barrier, the covenant with God is confirmed and got to God. (Exodus 19), illustrated in (Exodus 24).
Exodus 24 1 Then he said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, 2 but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him."
They moved up the mountain as qualified people to witness His cloud of glory. They stepped on the sapphire pavement, but there was no real transformation. (Exodus 32) was an evidence of them eventually leading people to idol worship.
Exodus 32 1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."
2 Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
They are the Campers who were tempted by the halfway houses of temptations and trials and never preceded on to the next level. Many of us are like the Campers who in our walk with God, had experienced the Holy Spirit, but left it to be forgotten, tossed and tainted by the harsh winds of life like a leaf. Their feet will slip off the mountain easily.
Only two managed to be in the innermost circle, to be the most intimate with God, to see the God of Israel. Only those who remain in the vine will remain in God, without it, we can do nothing. They were Moses and Joshua. The level of intimacy Moses had with God, is exemplified by (Exodus 33:11), where God communed with him like a friend. Joshua was able to reach the peak of this intimacy as well as he never did leave the tabernacle. God looks for faithful followers who are the Climbers, and who embodies the spirit in Joshua, never leaving His kingdom. Eventually they ascended to the top of Mount Sinai.
Exodus 33:11 The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
The heart of this message spurs the church to be a church of climbers, to recognize we are all going to be transformed into climbers from wherever we are now positioned in.
And this brings me to the people who are the quitters and the campers. In this time where we are heading towards Easter, this period of lent from 1 March to 14 April is the LENT in which we reflect and consecrate ourselves for Easter to come. There is a reason why the church is preaching these sermons these days. It is with hope for us to turn back to God once again. Yes, for both the Quitters and the Campers.
The Parable of the Lost Son
Luke 15:11
11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
13"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
28"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
31" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "
For those who have not read this before, do read it. This is perhaps the best parable ever, which itself is tragic. The prodigal son in the wilderness experiences what it means that “nothing disappears any more quickly than the friends who have drunk the liquor and helped waste the substance of a man like the prodigal. His plight is contrasted with his glory when he told himself the truth. He simply faced up to the facts of his hunger and hopelessness and loneliness. The "life" which he no doubt expected when he left home dramatized into "death" for him.
The great depth of perception in this parable when the prodigal son admitted that he had sinned against heaven. Sin has a dreadful recoil against the sinner, being against himself, and also against his family, against society and against every good and beautiful thing on earth; but primarily sin is "against God."
The ring, the robe, the shoes ..All these were the signs of the sonship which the father restored to him. The new clothing and the status at the father's table are fitting emblems of the salvation which God bestows upon his returning children to restore the joy in God's house over the salvation of the lost.
The Quitters can be dead and alive again. God does gives a second chance. Once u were lost, but you will be found. You are a gift from God not a curse, He wants to embellish you with His gifts again, so that you can once again, move in full capacity and full potential juts like the prodigal son.
The Campers, are represented by the elder brother. The logical thing for the elder son to have done would have been to go at once to the father; but he did not. The elder son was closer to the servants than to his father; leading a life of slavery, it is a small incident that shows the broken fellowship. Through the passage of time, the elder son had not maintained communication with the father; and, in this, he became a type of the Christian who, while attending to all of the outward duties of faith, nevertheless drifts away from the love of it. The vital prayer line becomes neglected; the heart grows cold, indifferent, and proud; and, at last, such a Christian becomes as much estranged from the heavenly Father.
What is in a gift?
Love, sacrifice, care, concern, sensitivity, understanding, consideration, selflessness, desire to give and avail..
If you have received the gift of salvation, you would understand what it means to God every beat of your heart. Are we too stuffed with His many gifts that we have turned cold to them?
-I thank the physical gifts I have received from my dear friends, brothers and sisters, and thank God the most for His gift of salvation that is imperishable, undefiled, does not change or decay, that is eternal.
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