Kingdom Series- Is The Church A Place of meeting God?

Exo 33:7  And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. Exo 33:8  And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. 
Exo 33:9  And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses. 
Exo 33:10  And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. 

Christianity is not a set of moral principles!

Do not get me wrong here, men will definitely become morally upright by knowing God and walking with Him but any other morality that exists outside of a living relationship with God is the same as what Buddhist Monks do. They are able to  discipline themselves and deny themselves  great pleasures by an act of their will. God considers this righteousness, attained outside of His help and relationship with Him,as filthy rags. What motivates us to live for God should not be the fear of hell or judgement but our love for  and closeness to Him.

How does the above verse of scripture fit into my message for today? Please bear with me and keep reading.

Let me start by giving you some background of what happened before Moses did what he did in the verses above.

In Exodus chapter 32, the High Priest who was in charge of instructing the people of Israel in Spiritual things, in the absence of Moses, fashioned a golden calf for the people to worship the true God before it. The people declared that:these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. If men do not know the God that delivered them, they will give the glory of their deliverance to anything.(I think thats a quote I heard from Pastor Tunde Bakare).

It amazes me that the High Priest did not even know God enough, to defend Him before the people. So why should the people know any better? I have met Christians who quote their Pastors more than they do the bible. When we are engaged in discussions about the Christian Life, you hear them say, My Pastor said this, My Pastor said that. This seems to  point to a void of personal knowledge of God. Again I am not advocating that we despise the words of our Pastors but like the Late Archbishop Benson Idahosa says "1 Peter chapter One verse five says, Acts 2 verse 3 says, I, Benson Idahosa say, What do you have to Say?''

After the incidence of the golden calf happened, Moses realised that the people, and worse still even the High Priest, did not know God!

This made him take a  tabernacle and set it up so that any one that sought God would do so there.
He set it up away from the distractions of their homes, children, friends etc, so that people could truly seek God for themselves.  Unfortunately only Moses and Joshua went to seek God, everyone else still sort to worship God from their tent doors. Not seeing or willing to put in the extra effort it takes to know God personally.

Many have forsaken times of prayer and count on the Pastor to pray for them because that is convenient. Few will cultivate a discipline of seeking God at Night, fasting, personal study of Gods word or even longing for God on a personal level. This has left Christians powerless against the onslaught of the devil.

As bad as the personal state of affairs of most believers may be, it is compounded even further when Churches are no longer tabernacles of meeting God.  Entertaining men seems to be more important than ensuring that men encounter God in our services. A lot of sermons have made believers to think that it all starts and ends here.People are devoid of a real walk with God and many grow lean in the House of God. Many in the house of God, Have come to depend on their Pastor so much, that they can not seek God for themselves.

Worst still is that some Pastors take pleasure in this state of affairs.Why should you be happy that your congregation remains trapped in Spiritual diapers? Why would you have people attend your church for two hours every sunday and leave without having touched the God of Heaven?

You were called to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ(Eph.4:12)

Every Pastor owes it to his congregation, as much as it lies with him, to preach, teach and pray for his congregation till they grow in their walk with God and live out the call of God for their lives.. He should , like Moses, put forth the Tabernacle of meeting or in this case a lifestyle or teachings  that would help the believer know God for himself.

At this point I would like to ask you, Is your church a place of meeting God? Or does God stand at the door of your church and Knock?

Jesus said :Mark 11:17  And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.