The “Feasts”
Series
#4
“FEAST OF TABERNACLES”
(Or "Booths" or
"Ingathering")
TEXT: Deut.
16:13-17; Lev. 23:33-43; Num. 29:12-39; Ex. 23:16-19
INTRO:
Thanksgiving is not a holiday created in the United States several
hundred years ago ... some other nation created it first, Israel! Actually this great holiday was created
by God Himself for the nation of Israel. The “Feast of
Tabernacles” like our Thanksgiving holiday was a harvest celebration
at the end of the fall season to give thanks for all of God's blessings in goods
and care, and to give thanks for freedom. Like we honor our pilgrims, they honored
their pilgrimage. The “Feast of
Tabernacles” was their “Thanksgiving” holiday, celebrated once a year at
the same time, it was a national event.
It lasted 8 days total, the 1st
and 8th day were special services.
The people lived in tents for 7 days as did their forefathers in the
wilderness. It was required
attendance for all Jewish males!
[Ex.
23:16-17]
It was a time of rejoicing ...
sacrifices given each of the 7 days.
Num. 29:13-39 describes how much was to
be given each day. It was a great
time of thanksgiving to God. [Deut. 16:13-17]
It celebrated the time the
Israelites spent in the wilderness living in tents, thanksgiving for God's care
and provisions for them when they experienced the worst time of their life. Hence this was the most joyous of the
feasts for them.
ILLUS: A
man whom many believe was the greatest American president is a good
example. When he was 7 years of
age, his family was forced out of their home, and he went to work. When he was 9, his mother died. He lost his job as a store clerk when he
was 20. He wanted to go to law
school, but he didn't have the education.
At age 23 he went into debt to be a partner in a small store. Three years later the business partner
died, and the resulting debt took years to repay.
When he was 28, after courting a
girl for four years, he asked her to marry him, and she turned him down. On his third try he was elected to
Congress, at age 37, but then failed to be re-elected. His son died at 4 years of age. When this man was 45, he ran for the
Senate and lost. At age 47 he ran
for the vice-presidency and lost.
But at age 51 he was elected president of the United
States.
The man was Abraham Lincoln, a man
who learned to face discouragement and move beyond it. Did you know that it was Abraham Lincoln
who, in the midst of the Civil War, in 1863, established the annual celebration
of Thanksgiving? Lincoln had
learned how important it is to stop and thank God in the midst of great
difficulties. -- John Yates, "An Attitude of Gratitude," Preaching
Today, Tape No. 110.
The “Feast of
Tabernacles,” was only 5 days after the “Feast of
Atonement,” which was a fast ... the pain now gone from fasting it
was time for great joy! What’s the
lesson? The pain won't last; it
will be replaced with rejoicing ... soon!
Life is still like this, the Bible records it this way, "WEEPING MAY
ENDURE FOR A NIGHT, BUT JOY COMETH IN THE
MORNING"
We are still dwelling in
tabernacles (our bodies), and still in a desert (this planet), we are awaiting
the final “Feast of Tabernacles” ... in Heaven! The tabernacles were only intended to be
temporary dwellings for
So why the feast? To have them remember their humble
beginning and God's provisions for them, then and now!
PROP.SENT: The Word of God teaches us
that we should celebrate and be joyous in our life together in God; with
Thanks and with Giving. True thanks is evidenced by
giving!
I. CELEBRATE! Deut. 16:13-15a
A. Joyous
Gathering Deut.
16:13-14
1. It wasn't "Time to go to
church again, is that all we do?" It was "Time to go to
church again ... praise the Lord!"
a. The first word in this verse is "CELEBRATE."
b. It was an exciting time for God and
His people!
2. No wonder their worship time was so
dynamic ... they were filled with anticipation before it ever
began!
3. It was nearly a command! Deut.
16:14a “Be
joyful at your Feast—”
a. You can choose which attitude you
want to display.
ILLUS: In
southern Alabama is the town of Enterprise, in Coffee County. There they have erected a monument to an
insect, honoring the Mexican boll weevil.
In 1895 the boll weevil began to destroy the major crop of the county,
cotton. In desperation to survive
the farmers had to diversify, and by 1919 the county's peanut crop was many
times what cotton had been at its height.
In that year of prosperity a fountain and monument were built. The inscription reads: "In profound appreciation of the boll weevil
and what it has done as the herald of prosperity this monument was erected by
the citizens of Enterprise, Coffee County, Alabama." Out of a time of struggle and crisis had
come new growth and success. Out of
adversity had come blessing. -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton:
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 263.
b. This is still true today ... you
can choose to shut out the problems and focus on God or think about them to the
point of crowding God out.
4. All people called to celebrate,
rich or poor, slave or free. Deut. 16:14
B. Jubilee
of God's Deut.
16:15
1. God called for this
celebration!
a. God is not dull; He wishes our life
with Him to be full of celebration and joy!
b. So why not cooperate, don't be
afraid to celebrate ... you have something to celebrate about in
Christ!
ILLUS: Inasmuch
as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn,
wheat, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to
abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has
protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and
disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our
own conscience; now, I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with
your wives and little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between
the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November ye 29th of the year
of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year since
ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor, and render
thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings. -- William
Bradford, governor of the Plymouth Colony, 1623 -- James S. Hewett,
Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) pp.
263-264.
2. Salvation, God's gift to us should
excite all of us ... even our emotions!
[There
is nothing wrong with being "Pentecostal"]
a. Dancing in the
Spirit
b. Singing hymns and spiritual
songs
c. Lifting up holy
hands
d. Shouting unto
God
e.
Testimonies
f.
Prayers
g. Laughing in the
Spirit.
h. Expressing love by hugs and
handshakes, etc.
3. Why are we so afraid to show
what we feel?
ILLUS: In
Vermont a farmer was sitting on the porch with his wife. He was beginning to realize how much she
meant to him. It was about time --
for they had lived together forty-two years, and she had been such a help, a
very willing worker. One day as
they sat together, he said, "Wife, you've
been such a wonderful woman that there are times I can hardly keep from telling
you." -- Leslie
Flynn -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 263.
a. God blesses celebrations! Deut.
16:15b He doesn't want every service to be a
wake!
b. Not only will we be blessed in our
harvests and work ...
c. But also our joy will be
complete!
II. CONSECRATE! Lev. 23:33-41 Num. 29:12-40
A. Just for
God Lev. 23:33-41
1. Consecrate
myself.
2. Consecrate
money.
3. Consecrate
materials.
4. Everything was consecrated to God
so that they might enjoy Him, to experience the joy that comes from
giving.
a. The focus was God ... not
me!
ILLUS: The
old coronation mantle worn by most of the Hungarian kings bore an inscription in
Latin from the "Te Deum," a popular
Christian hymn. It was a hymn of
thanksgiving. There's no better way
for a king to begin his reign, or a commoner to begin his career, or every man
to begin his day. -- Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio:
Standard Publishing Company, 1997).
b. We would do well today to copy this
dynamic.
c. Rather than self we look to a savior.
B. Join in
Gladness Num.
29:12-40
1. They joined in together for 8 days
of celebration.
a. Day 1 -- holy
gathering.
b. Day 8 -- holy
gathering.
c. They began and ended this feast
with worship!
2. They were to consecrate the time
they would be together before God.
3. The atmosphere was
gladness!
ILLUS: How
happy a person is depends upon the depth of his gratitude. --
John Miller (1923-1961) -- Edythe Draper, Draper's Book of Quotations for the
Christian World (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1992). Entry
5249.
4. This was the most joyous of all
their celebrations ... 5 days after the “Feast of
Atonement,” a time of fasting!
III. COMMEMORATE! Lev.
23:42-43
A. Journey with
God Lev. 23:42-43
1. They were commemorating the time in
the desert when they lived in tents.
a. Why?
b. To remember how God took care of
them under the worst of conditions ... life in a
desert!
c. It was a "thanksgiving" celebration of God's goodness
to their ancestors and to them, they were to live in tents 7 days so they would
know and remember the past ... gave them faith for the
future!
ILLUS: Out of the
history of Napoleonic France, Leonard Griffith has given us a moving story of a
political prisoner by the name of Charnet.
Charnet was thrown into prison simply because he had accidentally, by a
remark, offended the emperor Napoleon.
Cast into a dungeon cell, presumably left to die, as the days and weeks
and months passed by, Charnet became embittered at his fate. Slowly but surely he began to lose his
faith in God. And one day, in a
moment of rebellious anger, he scratched on the wall of his cell, "All things come by chance," which
reflected the injustice that had come his way by chance. He sat in the darkness of that cell
growing more bitter by the day.
There was one spot in the cell
where a single ray of sunlight came every day and remained for a little
while. And one morning, to his
absolute amazement, he noticed that in the hard, earthen floor of that cell a
tiny, green blade was breaking through.
It was something living, struggling up toward that shaft of
sunlight. It was his only living
companion, and his heart went out in joy toward it. He nurtured it with his tiny ration of
water, cultivated it, and encouraged its growth. That green blade became his friend. It became his teacher in a sense, and
finally it burst through until one day there bloomed from the little plant a
beautiful, purple and white flower.
Once again Charnet found himself thinking thoughts about God. He scratched off the thing he had
scribbled on the wall of his dungeon and in its place wrote, "He who made all things is
God."
Somehow through the guards and
their wives and the gossip of the community, this little story reached the ears
of Josephine, Napoleon's wife. She
was so moved by it and so convinced that a man who loved a flower that way could
not possibly be a dangerous criminal that she persuaded Napoleon to release
him. So Charnet was set free. You can be sure that he dug out his
precious little prison flower and took it with him and cultivated that plant in
the years to come. He also pondered
in his heart a verse that he put on the little flower pot holding the
plant. What would that verse
be? "If
God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into
the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O ye of little
faith?" --
David A. Seamands, "Instruction for Thanksgiving," Preaching Today, Tape No.
62.
2. We are still dwelling in tents (our
bodies); in a wilderness (our planet); the great “Feast of
Tabernacles” or celebration will ultimately be experienced in the
Promise Land (heaven)!
a. The tents were intended to only be
temporary structures.
b. So it is with our
bodies!
3. That journey with God was
celebrated every year ... so should we regularly celebrate our journey with God
... every day and week when together!
B. Jesus'
Gift John
3:16
1. New life ... there is no greater
gift!
a. Not just in the
future.
b. Now also new life! Get in on a great deal ...
now!
ILLUS: Thanksgiving
is good, but "thanksliving" is better. -- Croft M. Pentz, The Complete Book of Zingers (Wheaton:
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990).
2. Yet, some still continue to reject
this offer; choosing instead to live in doubt, fear, loneliness, pain, routine,
etc.
3. There is a rich life for those who
accept Jesus’ gift, eternal life. Don’t throw it
away!
IV. CONTRIBUTION! Deut. 16:16-17; Ex. 23:15b,19; Num. 29:39
A. Joyous
Giving Ex.
23:15b,19; Num.
29:39
1. "No one is to
appear before me empty handed." Ex.
23:15b
a. We all have something we can give
... even if it isn't money!
b. You'll leave church feeling empty
if you come empty handed!
c. It is a thrill to come and give ...
there is great joy in giving, whether it's money, talents, love, joy, time, and
a hug; whatever!
d. "It is more
blessed (happy) to give than to receive" ... sounds like a great
verse huh?
e. Even the widow that only had 2
coins (worth
less than 1¢) found the ecstasy of giving,
not much by the world's standards but a fortune by God's standards, for it was
all she had! Mark 12:41-44
(1. Jesus said the wealthy had given
their excess ... thus no real gift!
(2. The widow had given all, thus a
real gift of great value!
ILLUS: In
1636 during the Thirty Years War--one of the worst wars in the history of
mankind in terms of the sheer number of deaths, epidemics, the economic results
-- there was a godly pastor whose name was Martin Rinkert. In a single year, this pastor buried
5,000 people in his parish -- about fifteen a day. He lived with the worst that life could
do.
But if you look in your hymnal,
you'll find that in the middle of that time, he wrote a table grace for his
children, our thanksgiving hymn:
"Now thank we all our
God
With hearts and hands and
voices,
Who wondrous things has
done,
In whom his world
rejoices."
If I'd spent the year holding
5,000 funerals of the people I served, could I write for my children a song of
thanksgiving? It's an unusual thing
that in history many who have the least to thank God about thank him the
most. -- Joel Gregory, "The Unlikely Thanker," Preaching Today,
Tape No. 110.
2. The point was to come before God
full ... not empty!
a. Try driving your car on empty ... how far do
you get?
b. Try coming to church empty ...
you'll get about as far as your car does on empty!
c. If everyone came empty there
wouldn't be much to share.
d. If everyone came full we would all
leave flowing over!
3. We are to bring the best to
God! Lev. 23:19
a. Where do we bring
it?
b. The House of
God!
c. You don't mail it
away!
4. If everyone practiced this the
churches would be overflowing so much they would have to find ways to use it for
the Kingdom!
a. Needs would be
met.
b. God's work would snowball around
the world!
B. Joy's
Gifts Deut.
16:16-17
1. One of Joy's gifts is
giving!
a. When you're full of joy you want to
give!
b. In fact you can't help but
give!
2. Another of joy’s gifts is life …
where there is giving there is life!
3. Another of joy's gifts is freedom
... freedom to love and be loved!
4. Another of joy's gifts is more joy
... like the old song: "The beat goes
on!"
5. Bring gifts with you when you come
to worship -- gifts of love, fellowship, joy, giving of time, talents, money,
praise, singing, etc. and watch
what happens to the church and to you!
ILLUS: Fulton
Oursler tells of his old nurse, who was born a slave on the eastern shore of
Maryland and who attended the birth of his mother and his own birth. She taught him the greatest lesson in
giving thanks and finding contentment.
"I remember her as she sat at the
kitchen table in our house; the hard, old, brown hands folded across her
starched apron, the glistening eyes, and the husky old whispering voice, saying,
'Much obliged, Lord, for my vittles.'
'Anna,' I asked, 'what's a
vittle?' 'It's what I've got to eat
and drink, that's vittles. 'But
you'd get your vittles whether you thanked the Lord or not.' 'Sure, but it makes everything taste
better to be thankful.'"
--
James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers,
Inc, 1988) p. 265.
a. Watch your burdens begin to
shrivel.
b. Watch your faith begin to
grow.
c. Watch others begin to
glow.
d. Watch God do mighty things in our
midst!
6. There's no need to wait once a year
for this kind of "THANKSGIVING," we can experience it daily and weekly with each
other!
CONCLUSION:
God wants a people who can
celebrate! Let's be sure to come
full, not empty. We should
celebrate and be joyous in our life together in God, with Thanks and
with Giving; true thanks is evidenced by
giving!