Our Treasure

Passage: Exodus 38:21-31

I have a friend who worked for a Christian mission in the Philippines for a year. He lived and worked with people who had far less than the poorest people he knew here. He once observed that everyone he met there had two outfits. The first tended to be plain, well-worn, and utilitarian. It was the outfit worn Monday through Saturday. The second was brightly-colored, impeccable and well-preserved – lavish, by local standards. It was reserved for Sunday morning worship. My friend observed the paradox of people who scrounged for food owning outfits that cost the same as months’ worth of groceries – and wearing them only once a week. It didn't seem to make sense to set aside such a significant portion of one’s livelihood for worship.

It doesn't make sense that the Israelites, a poor, displaced and nomadic people, invest all their capital in a worship tent. Chapters 35-39 of Exodus provide painstaking detail about the design and construction of the Tabernacle and its contents. The end of Chapter 38 lists simply the raw materials that went into the project. Rare wood; precious stones; hundreds of pounds of gold and silver – much of the earthly wealth of a people who had very little. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the Israelites to save up these materials until they reached the Promised Land? Wouldn’t their wealth be better invested in food and water, agricultural supplies and municipal infrastructure? It’s not that creating a worship space for God was a waste, but shouldn’t the people’s needs be met first?

An essential part of the story of the Israelites’ wilderness journey is God’s miraculous provision. The Israelites don’t hold on to their gold to meet their needs because their needs have already been met – food, water, shelter, protection - God provides it all. At the end of their trip it is even noted that God kept their clothes and sandals from wearing out. God gives his people what they need. Any possessions they carry with them are extras – unnecessary luxuries.

So the Israelites offer their extra back to God. They build a tent for God that makes their tents look plain. They clothe their priests in garments that make theirs look shabby. They do so to show the world their true treasure. No one who might encounter the Israelites would have any doubt that God is their treasure.

What do people conclude when they encounter you? What do your clothes, your vehicles, and your home say about your treasure? Is there a way that God’s people today can declare to the world, “My treasure is something else; someone else; somewhere else”? How can we show the world that our treasure is God?