What to do with your ornaments . . .

 

READ Exodus 33-36

One of the most delightful courses taken in seminary taught me how to see Christ in the Old Testament. The professor was centered on Jesus and could point out His presence from many passages. Today, I see a pattern of in the OT that parallels what Jesus does in saving people and building His church, the Body of Christ, as described in the NT.

One detail stands out; the OT saints had heard the commandments and were chastened for breaking them. They were ready to move on when the Lord said to Moses:

“Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’ ” Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. (Exodus 33:1–6)

Ornaments are what people put on themselves, sometimes for beauty, sometimes to display their wealth. It’s not too hard to see them as symbols of self-effort, self-aggrandizement, the things I do to make myself look good and to show off my skills and abilities. The NT is filled with instructions to “take off” or “put off” all the stuff of self. This is an important part of my journey with God.

After that, the people were motivated by God to give what they had toward building the tabernacle. Among the contributions were “brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects” and other items including skills, whatever their hearts moved them to bring as a freewill offering to the Lord. (Exodus 35:20–29) This giving continued until Moses had to stop them for “the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, and said to Moses, ‘The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.’ So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, ‘Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.’ So the people were restrained from bringing.” (Exodus 36:3–6)

These craftsmen were also appointed by God who “filled them with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft. And he has inspired him to teach . . . .” (Exodus 35:30–35)

In building the body of Christ, the NT speaks of the Holy Spirit giving gifts for the task. It says,

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them . . . . (Romans 12:3ff)

It also says God gifted His Body with “the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11–13) Just as He gave workmen to use the gifts of His people in the OT, some of which had been used before for selfish reasons. God’s plan for our skills, our “ornaments” is this:

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10–11)

For me: Simple — use whatever God gives me to build His Body, be a blessing to others, and to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.