United Church of God
Sermon Transcript — August 25, 2007
The Feast of Tabernacles in many ways is the highlight of the year for God's people. It's only four and a half weeks away. Where has the summer gone?
The Feast of Tabernacles, of course as we understand, pictures the one thousand rule of Jesus Christ over everyone living on the earth at that time following His second coming. It also pictures the fact that God's people, the church, will have the privilege and responsibility of ruling with Jesus Christ assisting Him.
How much do you and I already know and understand about the millennial Kingdom of God? What have you and I individually learned over the years? Do we know it all? Do we understand it all?
Turn with me to I Kings 4:25. The setting is King Solomon, of course as King David's son. The church has taught for years and accurately so that this forty year rule of Solomon can be used as a type of the millennial rule of Jesus Christ. Solomon's reign was a time of peace, safety, prosperity and accomplishment. Solomon's era is sometimes referred to as a golden era in Israel 's history.
I Kings 4:25 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, (in other words from the north all the way to the south, the entire land) all the days of Solomon.
This expression (each man under his vine and fig tree) may not mean a lot to us because many of us would not have vines or fig trees but it was a reference to peace, to safety, to security and contentment. I guess when we read that scripture, probably for many of us it would remind us of another scripture, we won't turn to read but Micah 4:4 is a scripture we often read during the Feast of Tabernacles and it is describing the millennial rule of Jesus Christ and it says this: Everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, no one shall make them afraid, the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.
We're still in I Kings, let's turn to I Kings 10. At one point during Solomon's rule, the queen of Sheba paid him a visit. She wanted to see whether this reputation of Solomon and the nation of Israel could possibly live up to the way she heard it described. The bible records what her experience was like.
I Kings 10:4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house (or palace) that he had built,
Verse 5: the food on his table, the seating of his servants (or his officials) the service of his waiters and their apparel, (we might say the 5 star wait staff that he had) his cupbearers and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
Another translation says she was amazed, overwhelmed, left breathless. She was overcome. The grandeur of all that she saw and experienced had a very strong emotional impact on her, it took her breath away.
Verse 6: Then she said to the king: "It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom."
Verse 7: "However I did not believe the words until I came and saw it with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard."
Verse 8: "Happy are your men and happy are your servants who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom."
Verse 9: "Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel ! Because the Lord has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king to do justice and righteousness."
The queen of Sheba acknowledged that Solomon's blessings and the whole nation of Israel, their blessings had come from the God of Israel.
I couldn't help but wonder, since the queen of Sheba was amazed, overwhelmed by what she experienced and saw in Solomon's kingdom, how much more so we would be if somehow we could see into the millennium, to see what it was like. If we could somehow get on a transporter, a science fiction transporter, travel ahead in time, four to five hundred years into the millennium, what we saw, would it have a similar affect on us? Would it take our breath away? We'd be amazed, we'd be overwhelmed by what we saw; the physical beauty of the oceans and the land, how gorgeous the earth would be, the mountains, beautiful manicured farms and homes, fabulous palaces and homes in which people live, excellent weather, no pollution. I imagine we would be equally breathless; everyone getting along, finding a place, fitting in, cooperating, no disharmony among people, people waking up in the morning anxious to go to work, loving their responsibilities and their jobs. I think we would be overwhelmed by seeing the specific application of how God's laws were being followed and the benefits that came as a result. I think we would be amazed, maybe breathless.
The millennium or the world tomorrow as we so often call it will bring about some of the most dramatic changes culturally and spiritually that the world has ever experienced. Dramatic changes because we've been brought up in a society in which we live; I doubt that we can truly grasp what enormous changes will take place; how different the millennium will be from the way life is right now. There will be tremendous benefits, tangible benefits of people obeying God's laws. So we could perhaps ask ourselves do you and I have more to learn about the Kingdom of God , the millennium than we already know? Is there more yet to learn? Do we have more to learn about God's laws and the blessings and results and the changes in people's lives that occur as a result of that? God's laws form a foundation upon which the Kingdom of God will run. I think we would all answer yes. There is a lot that we have not imagined, a lot of changes that will take place that we will not have envisioned.
Another question; how much do you and I already understand and know about the coming King? How well do we know the King who will rule the earth during the millennium? What have you and I already learned about Jesus Christ and how well do we personally know the great King? We'll see an important principle in Zechariah 14:16. We read this every year at the feast. It is a prophecy but it also contains some instruction for us, a lesson for us to learn and apply right now. It's referring to Christ as the King and notice what it says:
Zachariah 14:16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
God has a number of reasons for us to keep the Feast of Tabernacles but one that's listed here is to worship the King. He says those folks are going to be coming up to worship the King. Obviously we'll also be worshipping God the Father who placed Jesus Christ in that position, who is over Him in authority, who gave the Kingdom to Christ. Let's go next to Psalm 99:1. This is quite a revealing psalm as so many of them are. Again we get some insight, some specific tangible insights into how it is to worship this King. We don't have a king in America . We're not used to honoring a king. We have a President, we have a congress, and we don't have a king. It's kind of a new dimension for us, even humanly.
Psalm 99:1 The Eternal reigns; let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; let the earth be moved!
Verse 2: The Eternal is great in Zion and He is high above all the peoples.
Verse 3: Let them praise Your great and awesome name - He is holy.
I'd like to read those verses from the Tanach. As I read them we might ask ourselves a question; as I go to the Feast of Tabernacles this year, am I looking forward to and will I be worshipping the King, will my attitude be like this toward the King of Kings, toward Jesus Christ?
"The Eternal enthroned on cherubim is King, peoples tremble, the earth quakes. The Eternal is great in Zion and exalted above all peoples. They praise Your name as great and awesome. He is holy.
This is the perception of Jesus Christ as the King that we need to begin to develop. It should be our perspective as we honor Jesus Christ during the millennium and even during the Feast of Tabernacles.
Let's go next to Colossians 1:16. It begins to tell us even more about this King that we will be honoring and worshipping as well as serving during the millennium; His power and glory that will extend throughout the universe in both the physical and spiritual realms. Again we see more insight into our attitude, what it should be toward the King, toward Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him (referring to Jesus Christ) all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
Hold your place there because we'll be back to the next verse a little later.
But can you imagine a King like this? Can you imagine a greater King, a more marvelous or impressive King? Thinking about Jesus Christ as the Creator, one thing that comes to my mind is a picture I remember seeing some time back in a book full of pictures about our universe. This particular picture covered an entire page, about ten inches square. It was a picture of a night sky taken by the Hubble space telescope. The caption under the picture said this: "An ocean of black space speckled with galaxies of all shapes and sizes." It didn't try to count all the dots of light that were in that picture, there were probably hundreds of little dots on this ten inch page in the book. But every one of those spots of light was a galaxy, not just a star but a galaxy with possibly hundreds of billions of stars per galaxy. What I found so fascinating and inspiring was that to look at that picture, seeing hundreds of galaxies, the picture was only a tiny portion of the night sky. If you were to stand outdoors and hold your arm as far as you could and hold up one grain of sand, that's the amount of space shown by that picture in the book. It gives us an idea how many hundreds and thousands and perhaps billions of galaxies there are. The size and the scope of the universe is phenomenal, almost impossible for us to grasp but that of course should insight us to realize that not only is that awesome in itself but who made it; the King who made it. The God who made it is worthy of our very best honor, respect and love and reverence. This God who created the universe and all these galaxies will be watching us as we observe His Feast of Tabernacles.
What is your perception of God, your perception, my perception? It's easy for us as human beings to kind of lose the vastness of God's power and domain. We can kind of picture ourselves as being unfortunately the center of the universe, how our little world revolves around us. But the Feast helps us to realize that we're worshipping a far greater God than just that; when we picture ourselves at the Feast honoring this God, the Creator of the universe and having a glimpse of all that He has created. None of us could possible give this King the honor that He deserves. We certainly can do our very best to prepare to give Him all that we can as far as respect and honor because He certainly is worthy of our very best.
Turn now to Col 1:17.
Verse 17: And He is before all things and in Him all things consist.
The New American Standard translates the last part of that verse: And in Him all things hold together.
Hold together is describing the power of God, how He actively is involved in His creation and His plan. He's very involved, very hands on.
Verse 18: And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Verse 18 tells us that Jesus Christ is so intimately involved within the church, with His church, very aware, very involved and active, very much in control. He's the head of the church. He's not a God that is far off or aloof or detached or remote, He's very involved. He's intimately involved with His children, individually in each of our lives but also collectively as an entire church, as a body. God has a great plan, a marvelous plan and He's doing what's best for His church as well as for each one of us.
Philippians 1:6 is a verse that is very inspiring to us, very meaningful. I hope that many of us already have that verse marked in our bibles because it's very significant for us. It tells us something about God's attitude, His involvement and His perspective, something we should take into consideration when we think about God the Father and Jesus Christ as well as the God we'll be worshipping during the Feast.
Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
What is the good work that God is doing in us? What is the good work that He's going to finish in us? He's called us out of this world, He's building His character within us, and He's preparing each one of us for a specific responsibility in the family of God to be involved in rulership and in teaching in service in the world tomorrow.
What's another name for the Feast of Tabernacles? Another name in the bible is called the Feast of Ingathering. God compares His plan of salvation to an agricultural harvest. When we harvest physical crops we gather the produce when they're ripe, whether it is grain or vegetables or fruits. God's plan is about harvesting people for His family and giving us eternal life. God is not trying to convert the whole world at this time; that is not what He is doing. One day He will. He will set His hand to save everyone, the whole world. But during the millennium when God works with His harvest, when He begins to harvest people into His family, He tells us that He needs laborers. He needs individuals working with Him during that time. He's not going to be doing all that work by Himself and those laborers are us, the church, the first fruits working and ruling with Him. God knows how many laborers He needs for this harvest and He also understands and realizes the qualifications that each one of those laborers needs to have to be able to serve in that capacity. It only makes sense that God is very aware of each one of us by name, how we're progressing toward His family and when we will be ready to teach and serve in the world tomorrow; how we're growing in our understanding of God's laws, His way of life, how we're putting into practice what we're learning from God's word. God monitors that to see just like we pay attention to our garden; to see how the tomatoes or the cucumbers or the cantaloupe are doing. God watches us to see how we're growing and maturing. It is both humbling as well as encouraging to know that God the Father and Jesus Christ discuss us individually; that they have conversations where our individual names are mentioned. They are making decisions about us on a daily basis. God the Father and Jesus Christ are actively working to finish the work they started in our lives but they know us by name and discuss us. I think it's worthwhile that we take some time to consider how God feels about these things.
Let's go to Luke 12:32. This is a basic scripture, a simple scripture but a very inspiring one, a very important one for us to keep in our memories because it helps give us perspective, it gives us insight into God's thinking and I hope something that we'll always remember.
Luke 12:32 Do not fear little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
It's His good pleasure; those words, good pleasure say something about God's emotions, God's feelings. God created us with emotions and He also has emotions. No doubt His emotional capacity is far greater than ours.
If we were to string together a few thoughts, we could say this: That we're moved emotionally by the suffering we see around us; the Utah miners trapped in the mines that we're been reading about and hearing about the last couple of weeks; those trapped and their families. It has an emotional reaction in us, we feel for them. With God's far greater emotional capacity and His far greater love, you can only begin to imagine the feelings He had about situations and sufferings like that. With that in mind, how anxious is He for the time when He could send His Son to establish the Kingdom of God on this earth to bring an end to suffering? With that in mind, how interested is He in how we're progressing so that we'll be ready to be part of the solution to the problems? Finally with that in mind, how important is our Feast observance to God?
God is a God of great feelings as well as a God of great intellect and power. He's not only very aware of us but He also has strong feelings about solving the problems that we've created. He also has strong feelings about the Feast of Tabernacles; what it means to Him and what it should mean to us. He's very interested in our level of understanding of the millennium and Jesus Christ's thousand year rule; what we grasp and the many truths about the meaning of the feast, the more inspiring these truths will be to us. It's one thing to have a certain level of minimal understanding of what it pictures but hopefully every year we gain a deeper understanding and what that feast means to God as well as to us. God has feelings and He's moved when He sees people properly observing the Feast of Tabernacles. He knows our thoughts and our feelings as He watches us observe the Feast of Tabernacles. He knows to what degree we really consider it an honor and privilege to understand His plan; to understand His involvement and His amount of energy. He's devoted to this. We in turn should consider how He feels about us as we keep His Feast of Tabernacles.
All this is kind of a précis to ask ourselves another important question and that is: What will you and I have to do to have a successful Feast of Tabernacles? By a successful feast I mean, one of which we accomplish in our lives what God would like us to accomplish, a feast of worshipping Him, a feast of learning and growing spiritually.
In the rest of the sermon I'd like to make two suggestions on how we can have a successful feast this year.
First of all a successful feast requires a certain amount of diligent plan and preparation. Let's begin by turning to Deuteronomy 16:13. We get a view and review of the command and the opportunity that God tells us to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. We read this routinely, we read it every year but it is important we understand it's a command. God says, do this, but it's also a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the feast with Him.
Deuteronomy 16:13 You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress;
Verse 14: And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates.
One of the obvious themes of the Feast of Tabernacles is rejoicing; not just showing up, not just physically being there but coming there with an attitude, an attitude of rejoicing. We're familiar with the events, certainly then having themes, we're familiar with dances having themes; maybe a fifty theme that affects the decorations and the dress. We're familiar with church socials having a theme; maybe an international night or a special theme night. Well God has themes for the feast as well and one of the great themes is rejoice, come and rejoice. It says in verse 15:
Verse 15: Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Eternal chooses.
God not only sets the theme, He also chooses the location of the feast. In the church today He does this through human beings; people who have been given the responsibility of locating festival sites and we have the pleasure of choosing from a number of wonderful selections. Verse 15 goes on to say; we only read half the verse, the other half says:
Because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.
In the last half of verse 15, God is telling us that He's willing and eager to help us have right attitudes. When our hearts are right He's willing and anxious to bless us if we're obeying Him.
If you're a kid in school and you're going to the feast, that might present some challenges for you as far as school work and other things involved with the school. But God wants us to learn to ask Him for help, even our children learning that. He wants us to believe that He will help us when we're obeying Him and we're asking Him for this help. Either He'll find a short term solution or a long term solution to our challenges for our children but He will help us through that. He really wants us to not be weighed down or discouraged or heavy during the feast with concerns. He wants us, even our children to be able to rejoice during the Feast. The same is of course true for adults. Sometimes there presents a job challenge as well; whether it be with work mates or whether it be perhaps even our mate does not attend the feast with us or other members of our family perhaps do not, there are challenges in many cases and no doubt you can think of even more challenges then just those. God wants to bless us as we obey Him and He promises in His own way He'll help us through the difficulties and He'll find a way to bless us and to help us as we obey Him.
Verse 14 was a reminder though that our rejoicing is not to be selfish; we're not to just go there to see what a good time we can have, it should include others, we should look for ways to help others enjoy the feast and one obvious example would be our children, we should help our children to rejoice along with us. How can parents help children rejoice at the feast? One way of course is by planning activities with them and for them and spending extra time with them during the feast. It's also important to remember that their minds are capable of understanding many of God's deep important truths, understanding God's plan. They can begin to understand many of the principles and truths of God's plan. We can obviously give them formal instruction when we're at church or Sabbath school or the festival youth information classes. But it's also important that children many times learn by doing; for example as parents are packing for the feast, getting ready, making preparations, they could talk to their children about what they're doing and why they're doing it. The subject of preparation, the subject of planning, we can explain them for example how God is the one who tells us to do this and how He's a planner, He has a plan, He's making preparations for His kingdom just like we're physically preparing to make the trip. As we travel we can explain to them that we're leaving home and we're going to a place that God has chosen for us. We can explain to them as we settle into our motel that God wants us to live in a temporary dwelling, what booth means, why it's called the Feast of Tabernacles. After church services we can help explain to them the points of the sermonette and then the sermon. They're able to understand many of those points, be sure they understand the messages. When we're sitting in a restaurant we can enjoy special activities, special meals with them and explain to them that we're able to enjoy these because we obey God and He's blessing us. We can begin to explain to them and they can begin to understand that the world tomorrow is a time when everyone who begins to obey God will be blessed so the whole world will be able to enjoy the same kind of experience that we are enjoying right there at the feast. Those are the types of discussion points and things we can cover but obviously in a natural and balanced way. We don't want to make the whole feast a time of just preaching to our children but those things can be mentioned as we have interaction with them. These things of course should be explained in a way that's appropriate for their age level to be able to grasp and be meaningful for them. Those are the types of things that can add to the children's rejoicing when they realize it's not just good food and good times and swimming pools and gifts that's picturing a time when everybody can enjoy what we're beginning to enjoy now.
Going over this point of importance of preparation, there are many other ways of course involved in preparing and planning for a successful feast, let's turn back of Deuteronomy 14:22. Here we see preparation as well. This is typically ongoing preparation throughout the year, every time we receive a paycheck, every time we earn money. This verse talks about the second tithe or festival tithe.
Deuteronomy 14:22 You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year.
Another translation begins verse 22 by saying be sure to set aside a tenth. This is a tithe that God expects us to carefully, accurately, faithfully save for using at His festivals. We set it aside, we don't use it for other purposes, we don't borrow from it throughout the year, we set it aside specifically for God's festivals. If we have children we can begin to explain to our children what we're doing, what this second tithe is for; every time we set the money aside we see accumulated in a savings account and we can explain to our children that this is so we can observe the Feast of Tabernacles. We can begin to instill within them, begin to program within their very mental fabric how we set aside money in advance for a predictable expense. The feast is coming, God says right after last year's feast we start saving for the next feast. Our children can begin to see by our example, by our involvement and have those principles reinforced so they learn to save second tithe as well. Notice verse 23:
Verse 23: And you shall eat before the Eternal Your God (so this is clearly a tithe that we eat, it's not one we give God, this is a separate tithe) in a place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstlings of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.
Another theme of the feast is learning to fear Him.
Verse 26: And you shall spend that money (again, it's not one we give to God or the church, this is something we spend on ourselves) for whatever your soul (heart) desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
I think that from time to time it's important for us to review and reinforce in our minds that this festival tithe is something God commands us and instructs us to do every year, to faithfully save His second tithe. We typically call it second tithe because that distinguishes it from first tithe which goes to God but it's a separate tithe, one we give to God, the second we save for ourselves and our families. To see this more clearly let's go to Leviticus 37:30 because here's one of several scriptures that refers to and makes it clear that that first tithe is God's; it's not one we spend on ourselves, it's not one that we keep for ourselves, it's a separate one that we give God. We call that the first tithe or God's tithe.
Leviticus 37:30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Eternals. It is holy to the Eternal.
In other words it belongs to God and failure to give that to Him becomes stealing from God. Now let's go to Numbers 18:21. We see what God assigned to be done to His tithes. He said it belongs to Him. We make ten dollars, one dollar is His. It explains here what we do with His tithe.
Numbers 18:21 Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting.
God instructed the Israelites to give His tithe, this first tithe to the Levites for doing God's work at that time. We won't turn to the book of Hebrews where it shows that God instructs New Testament Christians to give that same tithe, the first tithe to the church for doing God's work today. The point that we're emphasizing here is that this festival tithe as we read earlier, the first tithe was given to God, the second tithe was kept by individual families to be used while at the festivals, God's holy days. So it becomes clear the bible is discussing two separate tithes and following God's instructions regarding these two tithes, it's an adjustment when we come into the church and realize God requires a tithe, He also requires that we save a second tithe. That takes some adjusting, it takes some getting used to, and it requires faith. It does, it requires faith in God but also requires careful financial management. It forces us to make that other eighty per cent go wisely, go carefully.
There's a web site I sometimes go to for national and world news. The other day on this web site it had kind of interesting article about money management. It also made an interesting point. It said: "The most important money management tool is the mind." The most important money management tool is the mind; meaning that good money management begins with our thoughts, it begins with our beliefs and our values; that's where we start. We can apply that principle to second tithe; it's a way of preparing and covering the cost of the physical needs we'll have during the feast. But it's really more than that. That's the obvious part but I believe God has much more in mind than just that. If we're saving our second tithe we're actually spiritually preparing as well. It requires faith, that's a spiritual commodity; obedience, that's a spiritual commodity. God's teaching us His values, true values. He's teaching us obedience and faith but also involvement in something far bigger than ourselves, the work of God and preparing for the Kingdom of God . He requires us to save a second tithe in addition to our holy day offerings of course, it's a way in which God is working actively with us. Now all of a sudden our priorities take on a different slant. We begin to think in terms of God's tithe and the festival tithe and preparing for things like that, it's very important. It's a way that God is actively working with us, He's reorienting our priorities. It helps us to prepare in more ways then one for the Kingdom of God and our place in it.
While we're on the subject of our financial preparations for the feast, you may remember a form that was in the festival brochure; hopefully you all would have received this months ago, back in the spring in fact. Back on page forty-one there's a form called the 2007 festival fund form and it mentions to meet festival expenses throughout the world U.S. members are asked to send in a ten per cent donation from their expected second tithe total, a tithe of the tithe. Canadian members may also send a similar donation to the Canadian office. Some of asked about this tithe of the tithe, what is its purpose? What is this? We talk about first tithe, we talk about second tithe, we talk about tithe of the tithe; we talk about holy day offerings, when is he going to stop talking about money? Right? But it's important we understand the tithe of the tithe. Many of us of course would understand but some of us would not. As I recall back in the nineteen sixties, Mr. Herbert Armstrong implemented this program. It was designed to help pay rental costs and related expenses for holding services during the Feast of Tabernacles.
How many of you have attended the feast where the meeting facility was a tent? Yes! The way the hands went up in every case there was a smile on the face; many memories of keeping the feast in a large tent. My first feast was 1963 in Jekyll Island . A storm came through that year. I barely knew about the church, we were brand new, my family and I; my parents and my sisters and I. We knew about tithing, we didn't know about second tithe; that was all new. We didn't know about the Feast of Tabernacles although we knew about the Sabbath so our minister said well you go to the Feast of Tabernacles, God will help you and we got there. (Undistinguishable) tent in Jekyll Island , thousands of people, a storm came. As the storm came and it began to get under that tent but the tent began to kind of rise and then it would come down and as it rose deacons got a hold of these poles and they would ride them up and ride them down. We knew they were deacons because they had this arm band that said deacon or maybe it said assistant deacon. So we knew these obviously were important people, they got to ride the poles up and down. It was impressive; you sat there and you saw the tent go up and down, you saw these people go up and down. It was a moving experience in more ways than one. But these were giant tents. Mr. Armstrong began to realize, well they're obviously that suitable, and it can be done. Then I remember as the rain came in and it would run along the electrical lines and it would run down the light bulbs and the light bulbs would pop. We'd be sitting there and ping, ping, ping, ping, ping; lights would just pop all over, it was impressive but a little scary at times. Mr. Armstrong began to realize there's a better way. If we all have plenty of second tithe, if we all gave a little bit of that and pooled it, we could actually afford something better than a big tent in which to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. We could rent auditoriums and that's how it began so we still do that. We each chip in ten percent of our second tithe that's pooled, that pays for rental expenses, festival expenses so we have nicer auditoriums in which to meet. That's how it originated, that's how it began and we still do that. So we appreciate those who understand that and are willing to help do that by giving ten percent of their second tithe. It's a principle we still practice in the church, it's a way we're able to share and pool resources and we all benefit from it. Likewise when the feast is over and we have excess second tithe that we've not used during the feast, for those folks who are able to donate that, we're able to use that the following year to help more people whose finances did not allow them to go to the feast. Not those who didn't observe or keep second tithe but we have a number of people who have no tithe-able income. There are widows and as a result we're able to pay their way to the feast. So excess second tithe, what we have left over helps us do that so the following year we can help even more people, more widows go to the feast. So we appreciate those who are able to understand that and help in that respect. So part of our preparation for God's holy days is saving our second tithe; that's a personal responsibility and then donating our tithe of the tithe but also planning for holy day offerings as well.
There are many physical things as far as preparation involved. The car, clothing, school work, travel plans, all kinds of things; the dog, the newspaper and the mail and many physical things as far as planning. Those are the things we make a list of and work our way through as we do every year for the feast and advance planning is essential in order to have a successful feast. But by and far the most important preparation for the feast is what? It would be spiritual preparation. A principle I'd like to focus our attention on, is in order to keep God's festival properly, we cannot do this without God's help; we need God's help. We can't have a successful feast apart from God, we need His involvement, we need His presence; we need His blessing to make the feast successful for each individual as well as for the church as a whole. Knowing how much the feast means to God, it certainly is pleasing to Him, I'm sure, to see us include Him in our preparation; asking God far in advance of the feast for His guidance, His direction, His blessing, His help in many, many ways. I'm sure God would be encouraged and pleased to see our reliance, our trust upon Him or asking Him for blessings and favor for the feast. We can make our list of things to ask for His blessings upon; for example, protection in traveling. So many of our members travel on the roads, through the air, quite a number of people travel overseas for the Feast of Tabernacles; a lot of traveling. Generally speaking we have God's protection and things go extremely well, even sometimes when our members do the very best they can as far as driving, there are still accidents involved. Sometimes another driver falls asleep and plows into them, very rarely but occasionally that happens. So we certainly do need God's protection; asking for God's inspiration on every message, every sermonette, and every sermon. God's protection, God's favor with the weather, upon the special music, the activities, God's blessing upon all those who are serving and looking for opportunities to serve as well. We can also pray for those who are not able to go to the feast; there are always a few not able to go because of circumstances beyond their control. Maybe their health just does not allow that. So our prayers can have a tremendous impact on how God blesses us and shows His favor during the feast.
I'd recommend if at all possible that we set aside a day between now and the feast to more than just pray and study but lastly fast if we can in addition to the Day of Atonement but an extra fast asking for God's favor and His help; spending extra time praying and asking for God's favor but also studying the scriptures that apply to the Feast of Tabernacles, laying a foundation upon which we can build when we hear messages during the feast that we've already got a solid foundation upon which to build. If we stay close to God, God will help us.
Ephesians 1:16. If we spend extra time in prayer and study it can give us that much more of an edge of being able to have a very successful feast. Early in the sermon we considered the question of how much more there is we can learn about the millennium, about God's kingdom and God's laws and God Himself, but could be more encouraging and motivating than what we read right here. Paul is writing to God's people and He said:
Ephesians 1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Notice what Paul considered important, a high importance that he repeatedly prayed for.
Verse 17: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
Wouldn't this make a wonderful feast prayer that we would all come to a deeper understanding of the things of God's plan, of God's purpose, of how to apply God's law in our lives. Paul continues in verse 18.
Verse 18: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
I'd like to read verse 18 from God's word for the day another translation. It says:
Then you will have deeper insight you will know the confidence that He calls you to have and the glorious wealth that God's people will inherit.
It's probably hard for us to fully grasp how much God wants for us to daily and especially even during the feast to deepen our understanding of what He is doing. A deeper understanding of the truths that we may understand on the surface, we may understand in principle, we may be able to memorize and play back but to have a deeper understanding so it affects our character including truth about the coming Kingdom of God .
Verse 19: What is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power.
What is God doing with His mighty power? God uses His mighty power to help His people. Notice He says: the greatness of His power toward us.
Verse 20: Which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places
How much power did it take to raise Christ from the dead? He's telling us that God is eager to use that mighty power to work in our lives. We can ask God for help to learn the things that we need to learn during the feast through the sermons and sermonettes, the messages, through serving. There are lessons we learn by serving. Through fellowship and conversation, recreation activities that we're getting involved with, everything we experience during the feast there are things that can be learned and learned more deeply. We can ask God to use His power to enable us to get from the feast what we need to get from the feast but also then to give to the feast what we're able to give that will benefit others. We all want the feast to make a difference in our lives; we want to come back different, more mature, more grown up than when we left for the feast. We want the feast to propel us forward spiritually. Notice verse 21:
Verse 21: Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
Verse 22: And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
Verse 23: which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Again we see that the Father and Jesus Christ are intimately involved in the lives of their people and their intent is that the Holy Spirit pervade and influence and change the church. Christ is actively preparing us for His government. We're going to be members of His family which is the ruling family, part of His government to be established on this earth. He's actively preparing every one of us for a part in that family government.
Another suggestion for preparation that might be helpful is to dig out your festival brochure and re-read or read if you haven't already done so many of the articles in it. This is designed to kind of whet our appetite. There's an introductory letter that sets the tone. We have an article here describing the vision of the world tomorrow; kind of a reminder, a review of how the feast pictures God's coming kingdom. It talks about the festival tithe, how to use it properly, how to budget. It talks next about preparing for holy day offerings, etiquette at the feast; very, very helpful article. Some of the captions here in etiquette are: be on time for services, don't come in late, don't loiter in the hallway and kind of dilly dally around, get in, find your seat, get ready to sing, no noise during services, obviously we're talking about minimizing noise during services. Children at services; what do we do to prepare them? Cell phones, yes, cell phones. Computer and video games for children, some guidelines there as well. These are some very helpful points. I hope that you will dig your brochure out, there may be some very helpful family bible study to go to with the children, some points that will good for us as adults but also I'm sure helpful for the children too.
So our first point in having a successful feast is diligent planning and preparation. A second suggestion for a successful feast is to have a goal, have a goal during the feast of allowing Jesus Christ to live more fully in us during the feast. In every circumstance, every situation that we would respond in a way Jesus Christ would respond; to become more like Him during the feast. After all our long term goal is to become just like the King we're going to be assisting during the feast. This means that we'll be obeying God's laws; we'll be living righteously during the feast. It also means we'll be doing our best to not let negative circumstances prevent us from keeping a spiritual feast, of being able to rejoice spiritually.
I'm sure many of us have had what we call feast frustrations. Hopefully we won't have too many feast frustrations but sooner or later everybody is going to have one or two; luggage sometimes gets lost when you're flying, that can be fun. Unexpected sickness, sometimes that happens. Sometimes there are car problems, sometimes traffic congestion, traffic problems can be a real drag, inclement weather can have an effect on the feast. You can have disappointing motel rooms; sometimes that can be a concern. Sometimes we have poor service in restaurants, especially if we're in a hurry to get back for a church activity. We might have ordered a meal and it seems like it never comes and when it comes the chicken is undercooked and the baked potato is not baked; sometimes that happens. If we let that ruin our feast, if that is our feast, we've missed the point. If we're determined to do our best to respond in every situation, regardless of what happens and sometimes there are even more serious trials than that, I'm not trying to make light of it, our frustrations. The feast is a type of the world tomorrow; it's not the world tomorrow. It's important to understand the distinction there.
So regardless of what happens, what God allows to happen, our intent is, how would Jesus Christ respond in this situation? If we can do that, we'll going to have a far more successful feast and we'll learn and we'll grow as a result of that. Often these frustrations make great stories to laugh at years later. Some of the best and funniest conversations we've had with some of our friends are some of the things that happened at the Feast of Tabernacles years ago and now we're able to look back on those and laugh like crazy. At the time they weren't so funny but years later they become very funny.
If we have children with us during the feast, they see a great deal and learn a great deal by watching how we deal with unexpected circumstances. How do we deal with this? How do we respond? We have to maintain a sense of perspective and patience and a good attitude, realizing they're watching us; maybe even a little humor when things don't go exactly right. It becomes a powerful example and a tremendous means of teaching our children. How we deal with adversity says more about our character than probably any other single thing; how we deal with adversity. The children learn much more about God's way of life by watching our example than they do by hearing a sermon or by hearing an article.
Because we want to have Jesus Christ in us more fully during the feast, I think it's important that we focus on the scriptures; that we do our prayer and bible study and do our part spiritually during the feast. But you know there's one account in the scriptures that is very instructive. I think a good one to review. It's the feast Jesus Christ kept while He was on the earth in far less than ideal circumstances. He did not sin, even though it was a tough feast. Every feast He observed was a successful one; one that pleased God the Father.
John 7, let's turn there. In John 7 we're given an account of Jesus' last feast as a human being on the earth; this was the last feast before He died, the following Passover He would have been killed but He knew at this Feast of Tabernacles that it was only a matter of time until He would be sacrificed and killed.
John 7:1, and a lot of instruction we could pull from this example.
John 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in (or we might say traveled in) Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill Him.
Verse 2: Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
Verse 3: His brothers therefore said to Him: (and you could almost hear a bit of an attitude in these next couple of verses) "Depart from here and go into Judea and Your disciples also may see the works that You are dong,
Verse 4: For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world."
Verse 5: For even His brothers (we're talking about His physical brothers, His family members) did not believe in Him.
These were verbal jabs by His brothers. See Jesus had some pre-feast trials too. Here's what the Nelson Study Bible says about these three verses (verses 3 to 5):
Jesus' brothers argued, "If you are really working miracles and thus claiming to be the Messiah, do not hide in obscure Galilee. If you are doing miracles at all, then do them in Jerusalem at the Feast to convince the whole nation." These words were sarcastic, as verse 5 explains. That was the end of the quote.
Verse 6: Then Jesus said to them: "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready."
Verse 7: "The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil."
Verse 8: "You go up to this feast, I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."
Verse 9: When He had said these things to them He remained in Galilee.
Verse 10: But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.
Jesus did exactly the opposite of what his brothers had egged Him on to do. Jesus knew His enemies were looking for Him, that He had to be careful and circumspect. He went to the feast in a way that did not call attention to Himself. Notice verse 11:
Verse 11 Then the Jews (this would be the Jewish leaders) sought Him at the feast and said" "Where is He?"
Verse 12: And there was much murmuring among the people concerning Him. Some said: "He is good;" others said: "No, on the contrary, He deceives people."
Verse 13: However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.
Can you imagine what it would be like to be in Jesus Christ shoes at that feast, attending that feast under those circumstances with your life at risk, knowing people were looking for you to kill you and talking about you in the way they were? I can imagine that Jesus probably had many wonderful feasts as a boy growing up, as a young man, some happy memories. This feast would not be one of them, this would be a challenging feast for Him yet He kept this feast perfectly, He did not sin. He rejoiced in this feast, He was I'm sure thankful to God for the privilege of being there but it was a feast under great tension and stress.
During the first half of the feast Jesus kept a low profile but notice verse 14:
Verse 14: Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
Verse 15: And the Jews marveled, saying: "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"
In other words, how can He know these things and speak so powerfully when He's not been through the Jewish formal training programs?
Here were people who had been to feasts all their lives, had heard messages every year and now at this feast they heard things they had never heard before. God Himself was there with them in the flesh teaching them, but they rejected Him and they rejected His message.
In our case at the feast God is with us in spirit and we listen to His words as they come through the scriptures, through the ministry and we have expected and teachable and eager minds and willing attitudes. John 7:20 even mentions the fact that people accused Christ of being demon possessed. What would that do to your feast? Again not a very pleasant experience. It put a lot of pressure on Jesus Christ. Pressure reveals a person's character and in Jesus' case, regardless of the pressure He was under, He always was at His best. He lived God's way perfectly. He didn't use that as an excuse, it was a bad feast. In many ways this would have been a very stressful feast for Jesus; it was also very successful I'm, sure. He gave to others through His teaching. He would have rejoiced spiritually, especially inwardly at the meaning of the feast and knowing what it pictured. It pictured a time when He would be King of Kings, a time when Satan would be removed and He'd be able to be in charge and teach people and they'd be receptive and recognize Him as the King, a very positive time. He would have had to look into the future and seen what it pictured, just like we're able to do. He would have worshipped God and feared God in spite of His physical circumstances; that's a tremendous example for us.
I hope our physical circumstances at the feast will be very positive, I'm not hoping that you'll have a lot of feast frustrations. But there's always a few cliché's aren't there? It's very encouraging to us to realize that God the Father and Jesus Christ want us to rejoice at the feast regardless of our physical circumstances; to know that Jesus Christ understands; He's been through difficult times Himself. When we encounter frustrations it's nothing like the difficulties that He had to go through. Jesus Christ wants to live in us through His spirit at this year's feast. Under any type of physical conditions, God can certainly work miracles. If we stay close to God, God will help us. With God's help nothing should prevent this feast from moving us a step closer, a step closer to being ready to serve with Christ at His coming in the wonderful world tomorrow.
So brethren, I hope these two suggestions; diligent preparation before the feast and determination to become more like Jesus Christ during the feast I hope will be helpful for us all. Soon we'll have the blessing and opportunity of being together with brethren for eight days during the feast and last great day; with God's help let's plan to make this a most successful feast.