Preached in Markham Baptist Church, February 25, 2007

We are on a most amazing journey together as we think of intimacy with God.  We are learning about what it means to be intimate with God and we are using the Old Testament Tabernacle as an object lesson. The Tabernacle was the place where God promised to meet with His people.  I hope you have discovered that the truths that the tabernacle points us to are wonderful and thrilling.  And understand that this is not by accident.  God truly is the architect of this building – He designed it in order to teach us spiritual truth.  The book of Hebrews calls the tabernacle a “shadow of what is in heaven” (Hebrews 8:5) and a “copy of heavenly things.” (Hebrews 9:23)

To understand the importance of the tabernacle you should know that no less than 50 chapters in the Bible are devoted to the construction, ritual, and priesthood of the tabernacle.  13 in Exodus, 18 in Leviticus, 13 in Numbers, 2 in Deuteronomy and 4 in Hebrews.  The significance of this is made all the more real when we compare it to the number of chapters devoted to the creation of the world – two! 

So the tabernacle – the place where God told His people He would meet with them is designed to bring us into the most intimate of relationships with God. 

Today we find ourselves standing before God as His priests ministering at the altar of incense. You will remember we have already encountered an altar in the tabernacle, called the altar of burnt offering.  These two altars are similar in that they are both square -though the altar of incense is smaller. And both have horns fashioned on the four corners (Exodus 30:2).  The horn in Scripture is a symbol of strength, power and security.      

The two altars are similar also in that they are both portable.  God moves with His people – they both have a set of poles for carrying. (Exodus 30:4-5)  But this altar is different from the altar of burnt offering because here incense is to be offered.  Aaron and the priests must burn incense continually – every morning and evening – on this altar. 

Also, the location of this altar is different. The altar of incense is set in the Holy Place, right in front of the ark of the Testimony, or “the ark of the covenant” (the name made popular by Indiana Jones).   We will examine the ark next week, but understand that it is the place where God says over and over again, and in our text in verse 6, that He will meet with His people.

Our text also tells us in verse 10 that this altar is to be cleansed by the sacrifice of atonement once a year.  This demonstrates that this altar is holy – it is an article of furniture dedicated to God. 

Now all of this is very interesting, but as we have asked throughout this series what does it have to do with anything?  And again, as we have learned throughout this series, the physical reality points us to heavenly truths.  The tabernacle is a pattern, a shadow of heavenly realities. (See Hebrews 8-10)

So what does this altar of incense point us to?  What heavenly reality does it represent? 

As we read through Scripture, we discover that incense is a symbol of something fantastic and important.  It is a symbol of prayer.  So we read in Psalm 141:2 “May my prayer be set before you like incense.”  

And then in Revelation 5:8 we read that that the inhabitants of heaven are holding golden bowls full of incense “which are the prayers of the saints.”  (see also Revelation 8:3)

And then in Luke 1 we read that a priest by the name of Zechariah – John the Baptist’s father – was chosen by lot to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.  “And when the time for the burning of the incense came, all assembled worshipers were praying outside.”  (Luke 1:8-10)

So we see that the burning of incense and prayer are connected throughout Scripture.  It really is a beautiful picture.  Just as incense burned and went into the heavens, so our prayers are offered up to God.  Just as incense burned continually in the tabernacle, evening and morning so we are to pray without ceasing.  Just as incense is  a delight to the senses so God takes delight in our prayers. 

Just as incense is burned on an altar with four horns symbolizing strength, power, and security, so our prayers bring strength, power and security to ourselves, the cause of the kingdom and to others. Just as the altar of incense was to be dedicated to the Lord on a yearly, continual basis so our prayers are to be dedicated to God.  We are participating in a holy act.

All that is pictured for us in the altar of incense.  But there is one aspect about the altar that I want to emphasize today - an aspect which I think will help us in our prayer life and in our desire to be intimate with God. 

And it has to do with the position of the altar - its placement.  Verse 6 of our text says, “Put an altar in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the Testimony – before the atonement cover that is over the testimony where I will meet with you.”

Now this underlines two important and practical spiritual truths and one exercise. The first truth I have stressed throughout this series – that Christianity is all about a relationship with the living God through faith in Jesus Christ. 

Many people believe that Christianity is a belief system and so they think we need to have our doctrine perfect. Others say that Christianity is an experience, and so they seek the best experience possible.  If they have a good experience they seek to repeat it over and over.  Some believe that Christianity is a good feeling and so these people endeavour to create emotional highs.  If we have felt good then we have worshipped. 

But Christianity is not about a belief system – for who can say that we have our theology perfect in the face of such awesome mysteries as the Trinity, eternal security, the deity  and humanity of Christ?   

Christianity is not about an experience, and thank the Lord for that – for experiences are fleeting. 

Christianity is not about a good feeling.  That is a self-centred faith - if I feel good then my faith is alive and worship is meaningful.  If I go out of worship and I feel good then worship is good.  But that’s self-centred.  Besides, Jesus said that the man who did  not even look up to heaven and beat his breast and said, “God have mercy on me a sinner,” (Luke 18:13) was the man who truly worshipped God.  I doubt he felt very good about his worship. 

No, Christianity is not about these.  It is about a relationship with the living God.  To be sure, Christianity contains a belief system, experiences and feelings, but it is so much more – it is a relationship.  And that is so much more exciting than these other things because a relationship is dynamic, it grows, it changes and it matures.  Beliefs systems are often dull, experiences shift according to our mood and feelings are fleeting.  But a relationship is alive and has every possibility for intimacy. 

“Place the altar in front of the ark of the covenant where I will meet with you.” First truth -Christianity is all about a relationship with the living God. 

Now the placement of the altar of incense underlines a second truth, which is that the major way to foster this relationship is through prayer.  God says, “Put the altar in front of the curtain in front of the ark of the testimony where I will meet with you.”

The priests knew that as they stood and burned the incense and offered the prayers, they were standing directly before God.  In their day there was a curtain that separated them.  But they had this keen sense that they were as close to God as they could possibly get.  They were praying in God’s presence.  So if Christianity is all about a relationship with the living God through faith in Christ – then prayer is the means for deepening that relationship. Prayer is communication with God.

I’m not sure that we should use the word prayer anymore in our culture.    There is so much baggage attached to that word in our lives.  We have a picture of what prayer is and how it happens – we think it happens only when we’re in a specific place such as a sanctuary, a prayer meeting, a designated prayer place or chair.  And we think it happens only at particular times of day and when we have a particular posture, kneeling, laying down, sitting with hands outstretched.  It all seems to be in life but detached from life. 

And to an extent prayer can involve these things – but prayer is more than that.  Prayer is talking to God.  It is communication with God.  It is not an event, or a posture, as much as it is an attitude, a continual conversation with God.

This is what you and I were made to do.  We were made to walk with God in the garden in the cool of the day – I think that is a lovely picture of God’s children, walking hand in hand with God intimately and talking, communicating.  That’s what prayer is. It is talking with God. 

Now, let me say something to the men of the congregation – the women can listen – but this is for the men because I may have lost you.  If you are like me – and you hear the words conversation, intimacy and talking – you have tuned out.  It’s not what we do.  The very thought of it exhausts me.  Talking exhausts me – I know that may surprise you since I talk every week for more than 30 minutes at a stretch, but you have no idea how much preparation that takes and how drained I am afterward.  It’s not how I am wired, and I think it is true of most men.  I have a friend who wants to get together with me once a month in order to get to know me better.  I can’t think of anything more exhausting and dull! I should feel privileged, I know, but the thought of a two hour breakfast with no other purpose but to talk – exhausts me.  Don’t get me wrong, meet me for lunch and I’m doing pastoral care, or we’re planning something, or strategizing, or doing anything, great.  But to have breakfast to just chat – no!    

I got together with a friend of mine from Acton this past week whom I hadn’t seen for about 5 years and he put it really well for me.  He was the one who designed the black light puppet stage and we needed an extension built on the stage. He got wind of that and he volunteered to do that – and so we were working together over the chop saw.  I said to Ron, it’s great to see you, thanks for coming and helping with this and it’s great to talk with you and catch up.  And he said to me, “Tom anytime. Anytime you want a project done.  Call me.  Anytime you want to pull the tools out and do something call me.  But don’t call me and ask me if I want to meet you for coffee and a chat.  I’m not interested in that.  But if you want to do something and talk while we do that – great!” 

I think many men have that attitude and many men carry that same attitude into our prayer life.  We can’t think of anything more boring, anything more dull than talking with God. 

But I think it would be a great benefit for us men, if we could change our perception of prayer from an event where we sit down and do these steps – say a little prayer, read this passage from the Psalms and then one from the gospels, then write in our journal, then say a prayer  – and see it instead as a constant awareness of being in God’s presence so that when I’m working with the chop saw for instance, I say “God thanks for wood.  I love the smell of it. I love the way the grain makes a design, I love what you have enable me  to do with it. ”

And when I’m at the chop saw I often find myself saying, “God help to concentrate on what I’m doing.  I’m a bit distracted right now by life’s circumstances and I want to keep all my fingers.”

And God says, “What’s the problem?”  And as I’m working I go on to tell Him.  That’s prayer, it’s a conversation. 

Or maybe for you it might be watching a sports event – and you say to God, “Thanks for hockey God.  I love the thrill of competition, I love the way teams play together.”   And God says to you,  “Yeah it’s like each member of the church participating together to build up the church, each playing their part for the good of the body.” And you say, “Hey you’re right.  I wonder what my part in the church is.”  And the conversation continues. 

Or maybe again for me, I put plants in the office, and I find myself saying, “Thank you for plants, thank you for the colour green.  I love the way I can take cuttings and root them and it grows into a beautiful plant.”  

That’s prayer.  It’s talking with God and telling Him what’s on your mind.    

Men, we can’t excuse ourselves from talking to God simply because we don’t like talking.  There are situations where we can talk and do talk – so put ourselves in those situations and practice the presence of God. 

I  hope that as we have gone through this series that you have found that intimacy with God is not all that difficult.  And if you haven’t learned that yet, learn it today – intimacy with God is not all that difficult – He wants it, He has initiated it, it is what we’ve been created for. We lost it through sin, but through faith in Christ it is gained back and we are enabled – it’s not all that hard – it’s as simple as striking up a conversation with God. 

No conversation, no intimacy.  You want intimacy, you want to know God deeply, then talk to him.   No conversation, no intimacy. If we do not talk with God it should not surprise us that our relationship with God isn’t growing. 

Imagine if on the day that I got married to Janet – July 12, 1986.  We had a morning wedding and an afternoon reception.  Can you imagine if after that reception I said to Janet, “Well thank you so much for the meal and be sure to thank your parents. It was great.  But I’ve just had the tractor tuned up and I want to take it for a spin in the field – see you!” 

And late that night I come home and turned on the T.V. and then said, “O I have a wife.  So I go upstairs give her a peck on the cheek and say, “Good night, dear,” brush my teeth and hit the hay. 

Then in the morning in I get up, get dressed, have my orange juice, get my car keys to go to work and on the way out the door I say, “O, I have a wife.  I’m not used to having a wife so I give her a kiss and say ‘Good bye dear.’ ” 

Is that a relationship?  No.  If that carries on for 3 months what will happen?  Will the relationship grow?  Will intimacy grow?  No.  Yet this is the way we sometimes treat God.  We say a short prayer in the morning, one at night and we expect our relationship with God to grow. 

Do you know what I did say on the afternoon of July 12, 1986 after our wedding reception was over??  I said “Janet dear, let’s leave all these people and be alone!” And then while I’m at work I’m think of Janet – I’m thinking of my bride and so I give her a call.  “How are you, dear?  Just thinking of you.”  And we send emails.    And on the way home I stop and buy flowers because I love her so much.  And what happens to our relationship?  It grows. 

And so our relationship with God.  Prayer is talking with God and it enables our relationship with God to grow more intimate. 

Bill Hybels has written a helpful book about prayer entitled, “Too Busy Not to Pray.”  And in it he admitted that for many years he knew more about prayer than he had ever practiced. But then he started to practice what he preached.  And he said, “the greatest thrill I have received is not the long list of miraculous answers – as wonderful as that is.  The greatest thrill has been the qualitative difference in my relationship with God.  At first,” Hybels says, “we talked rather casually but then our conversations got more substantial – and I feel that I’ve gotten to know God better since I started praying.” ¹

Christianity is about a relationship and that relationship grows as we talk to God. 

And the thrilling thing is that we don’t need to shout for God to hear us. In our house we have a policy that if the person is not in the same room we don’t talk to them.  This cuts down on shouting.  So we have this policy – but it is a policy that every one ignores.  We really should make a policy that states that if the person is not on the same floor we don’t talk to them.  Because this is what happens.  Here’s the picture - the kids are upstairs and Janet is in the kitchen running the Mixmaster and we have a main floor laundry and there is a load of laundry in that machine that cleans the clothes.  I’m at the kitchen table, and the kids are yelling, “Mom, MOM! MOM!”  Of course Janet can’t hear the child.  I happen to hear this faint call, thinking its an emergency, and go running upstairs thinking someone has cut off a leg. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to know where my shirt it.” 

“Could you not have gone stairs for that? Did you have to shout?”

“Yeah I have to shout. How is Mom going to hear me if I don’t shout?”

We sometimes think that way with God and prayer.  We think we have to shout.  He’s so busy, He’s got so much going on, He lives up there and we live down here and we have to shout.  But that’s not what Scripture tells us.  Look where the priests stand to offer the prayers of the people – symbolized by the burning of incense.  They stand right before God. 

And for us Christians it is even more intimate than that!  We know that the veil that separated the priests from the Most Holy Place has been torn by Jesus Christ.  But more we have discovered that God is not out there, or even on the next floor, or even in the next room. He lives in us through faith in Christ.    The phrase Christ in us and us in Christ is mentioned 196 times in the Bible. God lives in us and us in Him. He does not live out there somewhere.  He is here in the heart. 

Once we learn that, our prayer is not trying to get to God – it’s not shouting to get His attention, because He is present in you – prayer is now communing with God.  You don’t have to worry whether or not He hears you, for God is right here in your heart through faith in Christ.

And this idea of Christ in us – doesn’t that help you with distractions in your prayer life?  We get so worried about distractions in our prayers.  We begin to pray and we get distracted by this idea and that thought and this activity.  I heard recently heard of a man who was a lumber jack and mountain climber. I couldn’t relate to that, but I could relate to the complaint he made to his pastor friend. The man said,  “Often I want to pray and I hear a chain saw and I want to go and see what chain saw it is.  And then I pray and I hear a tractor and I want to and see what kind of tractor that is.”

And his pastor friend told this fellow, “That’s not a problem.  Why don’t you say, God there’s a chain saw let’s go have a look at what type of chain saw that is.  Take Jesus with you and look at the chain saw with Jesus.  And when you hear a tractor – take Jesus with you and take a look at the tractor.”

Do you know what? It’s funny that it sounds funny because that is normal Christianity.  Where do you think Jesus lives?  He lives in you.  That’s the whole point of Christianity.   So when you are distracted, share the distraction with Jesus.  Pray through it. 

Now it follows that if prayer is a conversation with God then we must not just talk to God but we must also listen to God.   God says at the end of verse 6 that He will meet with His people.  He will meet with us.  The whole idea is that a conversation is going to happen.  Prayer is not just talking to God it is also listening to God and allowing Him to speak to us.  In your devotions this past week I had you study the prayer of Abraham in Genesis 18.  It is a conversation between Abraham and God as Abraham intercedes for the people of Sodom – Abraham speaks and God replies. 

All through Scripture there is this conversation going on.  In Acts 9 God appears before a man named Ananais  and the Lord said to him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus names Saul … go and place your hands on him to restore his sight.” (Acts 9:12)  Ananias hesitates, says he doesn’t want to go and the Lord says, “Go!  This is my chosen instrument …”

I could give you example after example in Scripture of God talking to His people.  Prayer is a two-way dialogue.   So be sure that when you practice the presence of God, you leave time for Him to say something.  Have you ever been with a friend and all they can do is talk about themselves?  They never ask those questions, “How are you?”  “What do you think?”  “What’s going on in your life?”  God must think that way about us sometimes.  We never give Him time to speak. 

Please take it in that God enjoys being with you.  He enjoys your personality, He enjoys spending time with you. He likes talking to you and you talking with Him.  We need to give Him time to talk to us. 

Now I said there were two truths and one exercise about prayer that is underlined in this text – first our faith is about a relationship.  The second is that if we want to build this relationship, we need to talk with God and listen to God.

And now the exercise.  It is something that I just learned recently, from Hans Peeter Royer at the Spiritual Life Convention that happened in January.  So I’ve been chewing on this for just a couple of months. But it really hit me and it fits here – God says here that He will meet with is people in verse 6 of our text.  The priests are standing before God as they pray and light the incense.  I have said that as Christians we have a deeper understanding of this – we understand that God lives in His people.   

And here’s the exercise – in your conversations with God stop talking to Him in the  “I”, “me”, and “my” because that is what we are used to.  Instead we need to learn to talk to God in terms of truth which is “we”, “us” and “our”.    We must learn to speak to God this way because this reflects the reality in which you and I live as Christians.  Do you understand the difference?

We often say,  I’m so afraid,  OR  I don’t know what to do.   OR  I will die.

Now try it in the plural form -  “Jesus, We are so afraid.”  Jesus says, “Actually I’m not”. 

“Jesus, I have no clue what to do”.  Jesus says, “I always know what I’m doing”.

“Jesus, we will die”.  Jesus says, “No, I rose”.

Again it sounds funny, but it’s the truth.   

A student said to Hans Peeter, “I have such a hard time to pretend that Jesus is here.”  So Hans Peeter asked him,  “Are you a Christian?”  “Yes”.  Said the student .

“Do you believe Jesus rose from the dead?” asked Hans Peeter.  “Yes.” 

“Do you believe Jesus is alive?” “Yes”

“Then if that is true where is Jesus?”   “I guess He is here.”

“Do you believe that he lives in you?”  “Yeah, I believe he lives in me.”

“Then why do you pretend He is here?  If that is true that Jesus is alive and that He is here, and lives in you, if we have to pretend anything, it is that we need to pretend that He is not here!  We don’t have to pretend.  We don’t have to try to make it happen with concentration.  Because if He didn’t rise from the dead the whole thing is nonsense anyways. If He didn’t rise from the dead, our faith if futile.  But if He rose, then it is true and then He is here!” 

And Hans Peeter asked, “Do you know why many Christians are confused? Because they constantly live a lie, they confess with their mouth that Jesus is here, but they don’t believe in their heart that He is here and they have to pretend that Jesus is here.”

Do you believe that Jesus is here? You do? Then live in the truth.  You can stand up today after worship and you could say, “I’m going to get in my car and I’m going to go for lunch.”  That’s living a lie.  OR you can say, “Jesus let’s get up and we go for lunch.” That’s living in the truth.

As we begin to exercise this truth we learn to understand communication with Jesus is that intimate and close. Prayer is something we do all the time, it is praying without ceasing.    

In John 6:5, we see Jesus talking to Philip about a great crowd that has come and is hungry.   We read,  “When Jesus looked up and he saw a great crowd coming towards him he said to Philip, ‘Where should we buy bread for these people to eat?’  He said this only to test him for he already had in mind what he was going to do”.   

And Philip answered, “Eight month’s wages would not be enough to buy these people bread.”

Do you see what Jesus said? He said, “Philip where should WE buy bread?”  You and I together.  You know what Philip did?  He opened his wallet and said it doesn’t look good.  Can’t do it.

Jesus didn’t say, “Where will you buy bread?”  He said, “Where should we buy bread?”  Let’s live in the we, count on me, believe in me that I can do what you cannot do.

Every time that I say, ”Jesus, I’m not,” Jesus says, “I know, but I am.”

Every time you say, “Jesus, I can’t,” Jesus says, “I know but I can.”

Every time you say “Jesus, I won’t,” Jesus says, “I know but I will.”

Every time you say “Jesus, I haven’t,” Jesus says, “I Know but I have.”

That’s powerful – that changes a life. That changes the way I see prayer.  It is a conversation that fosters intimacy and enables me to live life, not in my own strength, but in the strength of the one who lives in me and who lives in you. 

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - February 2007

ENDNOTES:

1. Bill Hybels, Too Busy Not to Pray, (Downers Grove Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 9.

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