Mensa Otabil - Approve The Things That Are Excellent - Part 2
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I am speaking today, and I’ll speak shortly because of communion, and will continue next week with part two of my message: «Approve the Things That Are Excellent.» This is part two of «Approve the Things That Are Excellent.» We looked at a fact last week that, for us to approve of things, they must be excellent. In order to approve of things that are excellent, we must be able to discern and have the knowledge to make the right judgments. We must distinguish and differentiate between things presented to us. There are two statements I want to make before we read the text. The first is that God approves of things that meet His requirements. God doesn’t just approve of anything we do. He doesn’t approve of something because you had good intentions; He doesn’t approve of something because you like it. He doesn’t approve of something because you invested so much time in it. He approves of things because they meet His requirements.
Sometimes, even as parents, we feel that the way to show love to our children is to approve of everything they do. Sometimes, parents fall into that dangerous mindset. A child behaves in any way, and they feel they have to approve it. Sometimes you can find yourself in a situation where your child is really misbehaving, yet parents feel they must approve and encourage them because, if you tell the child no, you are probably going to discourage them. However, one of the ways to show love to people is to let them know what you approve of and what you disapprove of. In the Bible, you find that God approves of the things that meet His requirements; He did not approve of what Adam and Eve did when they ate the forbidden fruit. He did not approve of Cain’s offering; He approved of Abel’s offering. God doesn’t just approve of everything; He approves of things that meet His requirements.
The second statement I want to make is that when God approves or disapproves of a thing, He expresses it. He doesn’t keep His opinion to Himself. When He approves of something, He makes it known; when He disapproves, He makes it known. He made Adam and Eve know that He disapproved of what they had done. He made Abel know that He approved of his offering, and He made Cain know that He disapproved of his offering. So, when God approves of something, He expresses it and doesn’t keep it a secret. Today, we’re going to look at two instances when God showed approval for something that He instructed His people to do. They are both in the Old Testament and relate to the worship of God; both speak to the sanctuary, or the temple, or the place of worship related to God. We will examine the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon to see God’s approval system.
The first one we’ll look at today is the Tabernacle of Moses. We call it the Tabernacle of Moses because God instructed Moses to build it. It wasn’t for Moses, but he was the one instructed to build it, so we call it the Tabernacle of Moses. It is the temporary building or tent that was built by Israel when they were in the wilderness, right after Mount Sinai. It remained with them until they reached the Promised Land and built a temple for Him. The Tabernacle of Moses went through different phases, and I will look at four phases of God’s dealings with Israel concerning the Tabernacle of Moses.
The first phase we will examine is the commissioning of the Tabernacle. God showed their pattern to Moses, and the reference is in Exodus 25:8-9: «And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.» Then Exodus 25:40 states, «And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.» This is God commissioning the building of a Tabernacle where the people will worship Him. This is not the people building their own sitting room or bedroom; this is their building a place to worship God. Therefore, it doesn’t depend on what the people like; it depends on what God likes. God calls Moses and tells him what he is supposed to do. The Bible says that God said to him to do it according to the pattern shown to him. I want you to take note of the word «pattern.» The word «pattern» means a unique form or likeness.
God showed Moses what He wanted Moses to lead the people to build; He did not show this pattern to anyone else—only to Moses. He gave the vision to Moses, saying, «This is the pattern,» and then He gave Moses strict instructions in written form as to how that building should be constructed. I want you to note the instruction God gives to him: «Make it according to the pattern shown to you.» That means there is zero tolerance for deviation. They couldn’t substitute materials; they couldn’t change the processes. They had to do it exactly as God said it should be done. You don’t improvise when you’re supposed to follow a pattern. When there’s a clear pattern, you don’t improvise, and you don’t make mistakes and call it a new style. So God says to Moses, «Do it exactly.» Everybody say «exactly.» In other words, if something is to be made of gold, you don’t make it out of bronze or brass. If something is to be made of wood, you don’t make it out of metal. If something must be made of ram’s hair, you don’t use sheep’s wool; you have to do it exactly. If something is supposed to be indigo, it is indigo, not blue. God says you do it exactly according to the pattern shown to you.
There is something very interesting here because a defect in any manufacturing process can cause disaster. Sometimes, in the manufacturing of a car, there can be a defect in the braking system or the airbags, and sometimes a car company can recall a whole batch of cars, twenty thousand cars that have been sold because the defect has been noticed. There was a time when there was a problem with Toyota cars, where cars would accelerate without people stepping on the gas pedal, leading to various accidents and crashes. So, Toyota had to recall those vehicles. Why? Because, in the process of manufacturing, someone did not follow the pattern. God says to Moses, «This is not for you to be creative; this is for you to follow the pattern, because if you mix one part of this system, then something that is supposed to worship Me may end up worshipping the devil because you mixed something in the wrong way. You do it exactly according to the pattern.»
The second thing I want you to note about the building of this Tabernacle is the implementation process. There is commissioning, where God says to do it according to the pattern; then there is implementation. God chooses the craftsmen to do the work. Exodus 31:1-5 says, «God says to Moses, 'I have called Bezalel, the son of Uri. I will fill him with the Spirit of God. I will fill him with wisdom to design artistic works, to work with gold, to cut jewels, and so on.'» Moses sees the pattern, but he is not the one who is going to execute the process or the project. He knows what must be done, but the people with the technical skill are different. The Bible says God chose people who are Spirit-filled, wise, and technically skilled. They have to be Spirit-filled, wise, and technically skilled. If you read the passage, the skill sets are very diverse; these people can do many things because there are so many little parts needed to make the Tabernacle.
These people have the technical skills to do it, but they don’t have the pattern. Moses has the pattern but doesn’t have the technical skill. Therefore, there has to be cooperation between Moses and the people with technical skill. Although the Bible doesn’t state it clearly, I can imagine the number of times they quarreled because the technical people would come and design something flashy or flamboyant and present it to Moses as if to say, «Oh wow, this is the best in the industry!» Moses would respond that it wasn’t what he saw—that’s not the pattern, so they must change it. They might argue, «But Moses, you don’t understand; this is how it’s done in the industry!» Moses would insist that this was not what God showed him. They must learn to do it his way as it has been shown to him, not the way they wanted to interpret it. There would be a lot of back and forth, shouting, and probably many times Moses rejected their designs. However, they worked on, and after some time, they presented everything they had done to Moses. Remember, Moses has the pattern; the people have the skills.
The third thing you see here is the appraisal system. After they have finished the work, Moses assesses the work of the craftsmen in Exodus 39:42–43, which says, «According to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work. Then Moses looked over all the work, and indeed they had done it as the Lord had commanded. Just so they had done it.» Interestingly, Moses looks at the work they have done and praises them, «Well done! Well done! You’ve done it the way I saw it.»
The Bible says Moses blesses them. He appraises and assesses the work, passing judgment. It is important to note that only the one with the pattern can certify the work. For example, if God showed me, as the pastor of this church, what we should do in the church and how to organize it, then I bring in someone who has expertise in project management or some profession and I explain that God wants us to build a church and how it should be built. I have the pattern; they have the skill. I am not supposed to follow them; they are to follow me because I have the pattern. They present it to me, and I determine whether it matches my vision.
Just because you feel good about the work you have done does not mean that the person with the pattern must approve it, because sometimes we do things for people and say, «You know, this person hates me because nothing I do pleases him. Nothing I do seems to light up his eyes.» You are doing your best; yes, you are doing your best. You are Bezalel, you have the technical skill, but you don’t have the pattern. Just because you have done the work does not mean that the person with the pattern will approve it. We must learn not to be offended when the person with the vision and the pattern does not think your work fits the vision they wanted to create. If we don’t do it that way, it will be each for himself. Everybody’s going to try to do things independently.
Sometimes you go to workplaces where projects seem to be done, but you wonder what they are trying to achieve. What is the big vision? What is the pattern they are aiming for? It’s important that we have a pattern and have people working toward it. The only one who could say, «This is good,» was Moses, not the workers. Moses is not the final authority because Moses himself also received authority from someone else. Moses can only say, «Well, it’s good,» but the one who can approve it is not Moses, as the originality is not from Moses.
So we looked at the commissioning, the implementation, and the appraisal. The final thing we want to consider is the approval in Exodus 40:33–35: «And he raised up the court all around the Tabernacle and the altar, hung up the screen of the court gate so Moses finished the work.» Isn’t it interesting that he didn’t do the technical work, but he finished it because it was his assignment? Moses finished the work, and then the cloud covered the Tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the Tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.
God tells Moses, «This is what I want you to build.» He picks people with the technical skill and says to Moses, «These ones will help you do what I told you to do.» The people do it, and Moses says, «I think it’s okay.» Moses then puts it all together for God, and whether or not God will show approval rests on Him alone. The Bible says God shows approval: how does God show approval? His glory fills the place! Now, we have the project that has been implemented, appraised, and approved by the one who gives the commission in the first place. Jehovah God’s excellence always brings out His glory. Excellence showcases God’s glory, and we must learn not to glorify imperfections. Did Moses act according to God’s plan? Yes, because God says, «Do it exactly according to the pattern that was shown to you.»
For those of you God has given a vision, maybe you started a business and have a clear vision; sometimes we don’t have a clear vision, and we do something without precisely understanding. However, when you have a clear vision, you must ensure that everyone who works with you is working within that vision. Otherwise, you end up with something you cannot approve of—and that God cannot approve of—because what He showed you is not what you are doing. You’ve allowed people to interpret the vision in their way, and they have, as we say in Ghana, «spalted.» When God gives us something to do, we must be careful to execute it exactly as He showed us. Only when that happens does the glory of God come upon it. Only then do we see that God’s glory falls upon the Tabernacle! The Bible states that Moses himself couldn’t worship because God took over and came to reside in that building. His glory filled the place, and He began to minister.
Interestingly, when God is ministering, man cannot minister. So God fills the Tabernacle; His glory fills the Tabernacle. Moses cannot go in to minister because God says, «This is exactly what I wanted you to do!» It went through the commissioning, implementation, appraisal, and approval. Now, let’s look at the second instance in the Bible: the Temple of Solomon. The Temple of Solomon was different from the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was made with tents, but the Temple was a more solid structure, and the details were grander, as Israel was now settled and building something permanent for God’s glory. Interestingly, the Temple of Solomon was also built according to divine pattern. The Bible says David received a pattern from God and passed it on to Solomon. Just as in the Tabernacle of Moses, many people worked on this project. After the work was finished, in 2 Chronicles 5:1, we read, «So all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was finished, and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and all the furnishings—and put them in the treasuries of the house of God.»
Then, in 2 Chronicles 5:11–14: «And it came to pass when the priests came out of the holy place, for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves without keeping to their divisions. And the Levites, who were the singers, all those of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, string instruments, and harps; and with them were 120 priests sounding trumpets. Indeed, it came to pass when the trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals, instruments of music and praise, saying, 'For He is good, and His mercy endures forever, ' that the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.» Amazing!
There is a slight difference between what God was looking for in the Tabernacle of Moses and in the Temple of Solomon. In the Tabernacle of Moses, God approved what had been constructed. It was the structure, and everything had been built according to the pattern, and God said, «Approved!» But in the Temple of Solomon, He went beyond the structure to the systems. What God approved of was not just the building; it was what happened inside the building. They came in, and the building was okay, but God wanted to observe what they were doing within that structure. It was when He saw what they were doing in the building that His glory filled the house. This indicates that sometimes God approves of a structure, while sometimes, He also approves of a system. There is structural approval and systems approval; both must be excellent.
So, when we do things for God, it is not just the structure that must be good; how we function within the structure must also be good. In other words, building a nice building is good, but once the nice building is built, we must pay attention to how we operate within it. Both the building and the systems of running the building must be excellent. Sometimes we receive approval for the structure, but the systems are poor. It’s like going to a nice office building but receiving below-standard service. They have a world-class building but offer low-class services. In Solomon’s Temple, they built a world-class building and offered world-class services; and God says, «My stamp of approval!» The cloud came down.
Now, how do we know this? Verse 13 states, «Indeed, it came to pass when the trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound.» The trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound. In that one phrase, I want to highlight three things before I close. The first is performance; they played skillfully. They played the trumpet, the cymbal, the timbrel, the harp, and they played skillfully. In Solomon’s Temple, to qualify to play, you had to be extremely skillful. It’s not like, «Oh, the church has a new piano; anyone who knows how to play it can come and play.» The people who played had to be skillful. So you see skillful performance.
The second thing to note is a big word: polyphony. What is polyphony? Polyphony is when they played all the instruments as one instrument; they harmonized their efforts. It’s not cacophony but polyphony. Cacophony is when everybody is singing their part separately; polyphony is harmonious collaboration. So, there is polyphony. Everybody say, «polyphony!» Cacophony is when everyone seeks to outshine others. They may assemble the best team, but if they don’t create polyphony, they will end up with cacophony. A cacophonous team, no matter how skilled, cannot be excellent. In fact, moderately skilled people who know how to make one sound can often achieve more than exceptionally talented individuals who cannot harmonize effectively.
It is when the singers are singing, the trumpeters are trumpeting, and everything comes together as one that the glory of the Lord comes down—not merely because they built the structure, but because they perfected the system. The glory of the Lord comes down when they have perfected the system, as both building and doing the work are critical. We must not just be excellent builders; we must also be excellent performers. The team must work together; there has to be proper teamwork and polyphony. How can two walk together except they be agreed? Many times people listen to our band, and you know what most of my international friends say about the band? They say, «They are tight!» Now, when we say a band is tight, it means they play with polyphony; they have learned to play together as one.
Some people say they play tight, so let’s not lose that; that is what brings the glory down—not one person playing a solo, not harmonizing with anyone because they’re in their own world, leaving you to wonder where the sound is coming from. Sometimes you hear people singing, and one person’s voice is out of key. You know, sometimes when people do that, they claim, «Well, it doesn’t matter; the Bible says make a joyful noise unto the Lord.» He didn’t say «make an annoying noise unto the Lord!» A joyful noise isn’t discordant—it is when everything is tight and in harmony. We learn from approving things that are excellent. God approved the excellent construction of the Temple, and God approved the excellent performance in the Temple. How did He show it? His glory was there. When God approves of something, He shows it. If He doesn’t approve, He will show it as disapproval, and being disqualified doesn’t mean one can’t do better.
When God didn’t accept Cain’s offering, He said to Cain, «If you do well, you will be accepted.» In other words, this is not favoritism or a random decision; it is saying, «You are disqualified, but if you do well, you will also be accepted.» This is what we commit ourselves to as a church: to excel in what we build and in what we do, because this is the only thing that ensures God’s approval. Whether it is in the building of the church, building our businesses, or building our lives and homes. Because building a home is not merely constructing a nice house; you can build a beautiful house, yet if the children grow up poorly, the systems are broken down. A child might witness the mother and father mishandling behavior—that, it doesn’t matter. They are learning disrespectful behavior; even if visitors come to the house or children show disrespect, everyone will say, «Your children are disrespectful.» They may claim, «No, they are confident,» but in reality, they are not; they are just disrespectful!
The house may appear approved, yet the systems must also gain approval. God states, «Moses, you built a good house.» He tells Solomon, «You built with the right systems.» In both cases, God’s approval is shown. I pray that the Lord will look at the things we are building: our marriages—not just the wedding day. Yes, you may put together an excellent wedding, but what about the marriage? It is not about how great your wedding is but whether there is polyphony. What is the value of a beautiful home and a wonderful wedding when behavioral issues lead to discord? It is not simply the appearance on your wedding day, wearing your nice attire and having a luminary sing for you, enjoying the celebration, and then afterward, there is no polyphony, no agreement, and no harmony. It’s not about how grand your house looks; it’s what takes place inside the house.
Many times, we pay too much attention to the outside appearance and ignore everything inside. It’s in the way we build; when we construct a house, it needs to be dramatic on the outside. That’s acceptable, but that’s not the only thing God looks for; He is assessing the systems. I pray that we will be good builders of structures and systems. Amen.