Created to be in His Presence

For the past three weeks we have considered the concept of being Human Clay. We began by seeing God as the Great Sculptor and considered His ability to make and remake something from a lump of clay as long as the clay didn’t become so hard it could only be broken. We then looked at man as the Sculpture of God and saw that clay has no business questioning the Great Sculptor as to what He is doing, and that this Sculptor can do amazing things with an ordinary lump of clay, if it will submit to His will and molding. Next we considered the Studio this Great Sculptor uses (the world) in order to craft us, and how that crafting will involve hardships and a process of refining, but our Great Sculptor has things in complete control.

This morning we will conclude our series on Human Clay by considering the Gallery and what it means to be a work of art worthy of being displayed with all of His other works of art. Will He see us as a genuine article of His own making, or will we be rejected as being a cheap knock-off or a counterfeit? How do you tell the real thing?

I am reminded of the account from Exodus 32-34 where Moses brings the 10 Commandments down to the people of Israel two times! God brought Israel to Mt. Sinai in order to make a covenant with them and give them the 10 Commandments. However, what happens to make it necessary for a 2nd presentation of the 10 Commandments is a case study in the things we have been studying about Human Clay. Here is God, the Great Sculptor, trying to mold Israel to become holy as He is holy, but they are so easily distracted, that 40 days of Moses being gone leads to the creation of a golden calf and complete unholiness in the camp! Israel was having a hard time with being soft enough to mold into the image of their God!

What is great about this story is that God did not give up on them! He feared what He might have to do if He continued to travel with them and told Moses His presence would not go with them (33:2-3); but that was because God did not want to have to break them! However, His desire to be in their presence was fierce, thus He revealed more of Himself to Moses (34:5-8) and then reaffirmed covenant with Moses (34:10-26); and finally had Moses make a 2nd set of stone tablets to teach the people His ways (34:27-28). At this point, Moses went back down to the people but they were afraid to come near to him because his appearance had changed!
How do you know when someone has been in the presence of God? It shows up all over their face! (Read Exodus 34:29-30) As Human Clay, God wants to make us more like Him! Will our countenance reveal even a glimmer of light because we have been in His presence together this morning? As we talk about God’s Gallery this morning, listen for two key points: (1) WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A REFLECTION OF THE ARTIST WHO CREATED US; and (2) WE ARE CREATED TO BE IN HIS PRESENCE!!!

To listen to sermon, click The Gallery.