February 26, 2017 A.D., by Pastor Ben Willis

NUMBERS 25:9-34 [NLTse]
9 The Lord said to Moses, 10 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel.
“When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 designate cities of refuge to which people can flee if they have killed someone accidentally. 12 These cities will be places of protection from a dead person’s relatives who want to avenge the death. The slayer must not be put to death before being tried by the community. 13 Designate six cities of refuge for yourselves, 14 three on the east side of the Jordan River and three on the west in the land of Canaan. 15 These cities are for the protection of Israelites, foreigners living among you, and traveling merchants. Anyone who accidentally kills someone may flee there for safety.

16 “But if someone strikes and kills another person with a piece of iron, it is murder, and the murderer must be executed. 17 Or if someone with a stone in his hand strikes and kills another person, it is murder, and the murderer must be put to death. 18 Or if someone strikes and kills another person with a wooden object, it is murder, and the murderer must be put to death. 19 The victim’s nearest relative is responsible for putting the murderer to death. When they meet, the avenger must put the murderer to death. 20 So if someone hates another person and waits in ambush, then pushes him or throws something at him and he dies, it is murder. 21 Or if someone hates another person and hits him with a fist and he dies, it is murder. In such cases, the avenger must put the murderer to death when they meet.

22 “But suppose someone pushes another person without having shown previous hostility, or throws something that unintentionally hits another person, 23 or accidentally drops a huge stone on someone, though they were not enemies, and the person dies. 24 If this should happen, the community must follow these regulations in making a judgment between the slayer and the avenger, the victim’s nearest relative: 25 The community must protect the slayer from the avenger and must escort the slayer back to live in the city of refuge to which he fled. There he must remain until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the sacred oil.

26 “But if the slayer ever leaves the limits of the city of refuge, 27 and the avenger finds him outside the city and kills him, it will not be considered murder. 28 The slayer should have stayed inside the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to his own property. 29 These are legal requirements for you to observe from generation to generation, wherever you may live.

30 “All murderers must be put to death, but only if evidence is presented by more than one witness. No one may be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 31 Also, you must never accept a ransom payment for the life of someone judged guilty of murder and subject to execution; murderers must always be put to death. 32 And never accept a ransom payment from someone who has fled to a city of refuge, allowing a slayer to return to his property before the death of the high priest. 33 This will ensure that the land where you live will not be polluted, for murder pollutes the land. And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder. 34 You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there Myself. I am the Lord, Who lives among the people of Israel.”

SERMON
We’ve been reading through the Bible together since the beginning of 2017 and, as we’ve read, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy especially are filled with all manner of rules and regulations, definitions and descriptions. Measurements are exact and materials are specified for the construction of the Tabernacle and its furnishings. The different sacrifices are described in detail, including what can be offered in the variety of situations the people might find themselves in, and how much or how many are required. Laws and regulations are spelled out for family and community life: Laws and regulations that show what it looks like to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.

In these last chapters of Numbers, the Promised Land has been surveyed and divided up among the Tribes of Israel with great exactness: The larger Tribes getting larger allotments of land and the smaller Tribes getting smaller allotments. And here we’ve just read of the Cities of Refuge – the Sanctuary Cities – that Israel was to set aside as places where those who’d been accused of murder could flee for protection from avenging friends and family members until they’d been given a fair trial.

And then the Lord reveals why all these details are necessary, why all the precision is important, why all the exactness and detailed measurements and meticulous lists. The Lord says, “You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there Myself. I am the Lord, Who lives among the people of Israel.”

Since the opening pages of the Bible, when the Lord used to visit with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God has shown His desire to be with us, that He wants to hang out with us, to live with us and among us, His family, His people. One of the Lord Jesus’ many titles, Emmanuel, underlines that it remains God’s desire and God’s heart, because this title of Jesus – Emmanuel – means, “God With Us”.

During His last supper with His disciples, the Lord Jesus said, “All who love Me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and We will come and make our home with each of them.” (John 14:23) Since “in the beginning” it has been the desire of God the Father and God the Son to live with and within human beings through the agency of God the Holy Spirit. Not some far-off deity, but God with us; God within us.

(Of course, this doesn’t make us God, to have God living with us and within us, just as it doesn’t make a dog a tapeworm if that dog has a tapeworm living inside of it. The dog is a dog. The tapeworm is a tapeworm. We are human beings. And God is God. And He is living with us and within us, the moment we put our trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins; the moment we give our lives to get to know Him, to love Him, and to become more and more like Him.)
Which brings us to my point today: God wants to be with us and to live within us, but do we want to be with God? Do we want God living within us?

I think we do. At least, I know that many of you do, and I know that I do. So, how do we be with Him? How do we make ourselves more “homey”, more welcoming, to His indwelling presence?

Across the centuries Christians from among the famous and the influential alongside those most humble and simple in the circumstances of this life have found “exercises of grace” or “grace practices” that, when incorporated into their lives, have given them a growing sense of God’s presence with them and of sweet and deepening communion with Him within them. I’m going to use the Sundays between now and Easter to talk about some of these “grace practices” to help us nurture an awareness of God-with-us, and to help us cooperate with Him living within and through us each day.
As for today, I want to call us to the grace-practice of Worship: I call each and every one of you not to miss being in Worship on the Sundays from now through to Resurrection Sunday. If you can’t be here because you are out of town, then commit to participate in a Worship Service wherever you are. If you need to be traveling, then commit to identify a church along the way. Stop and take a break for the Worship Service as you drive by.

If the Lord is to be Lord, worship must have a priority in our lives. Come into Worship expecting to actually hear the voice of God. When Moses went into the Tabernacle, he knew he was entering the presence of God. It didn’t surprise the early church when the building they met in shook with the power of God. It had happened before! The Veil has been torn in two. In Worship, we are entering the Holy of Holies! We are coming into the awful, glorious, gracious presence of the living God! Gather with anticipation! Know that Christ is here among us! Expect Him to teach! Expect Him to touch you and those around you with His living power!

The Bible describes worship in physical terms, so be ready to move. The root meaning for the Hebrew word we translate worship is “to lay yourself out flat on your face”. The word bless (as in “bless the LORD, O my soul”) literally means “to kneel before”. Thanksgiving refers to “an extension of the hand”. Throughout Scripture we find a variety of physical postures in connection with worship: Lying prostrate, standing, kneeling, lifting hands, clapping hands, lifting the head, bowing the head, dancing, and wearing sackcloth and ashes. Worship is a physical activity. Sitting still looking dour is simply not appropriate for praise!

Prepare for Worship by going to bed early on Saturday night. Examine your life and confess your sins and faults to the Lord Who forgives us when we confess our sins to Him. Arrive in the Sanctuary early and ask God for His presence. Let go of any distractions so you can really participate.

Remember that the Worship Service is not about you. The language of Worship is not “me” but “we”. Genuinely desire for God’s life to rise up among the congregation, not just within yourself.

Come praying. Come expecting. Come looking for God to do a new and living work among us all.