Creativity: Aiding People in the Worship of God?
Are you an elder, a pastor, or deacon? We like to think of those jobs as “the ministry”. It’s the worship pastor, the teaching pastor, or the sunday school teacher. In many places throughout scripture we see how “the ministry” is not just for the pastor. We are all part of one body, the church, as it says in Corinthians:
“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.”
1 Corinthians 12:12
We all have unique gifts that help the body grow and mature in Christ. We all have different roles to play, but one goal, spiritual growth and making disciples.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20
The word “creative” in today's vocabulary can mean a lot. There are a lot of people who call themselves creatives. Everyone from artists, musicians, designers, software engineers, and so forth. Creatives create stuff, many times out of nothing, they take the raw materials and form something to serve a purpose. When God created man he made him out of dust for a purpose, to glorify him and be his image bearer. We were not just to sit back and enjoy the garden that he created for us, we were to work it, keep it, and have dominion over it (Genesis 2:15). An interesting detail in that chapter is in the description of the terrain. Among the rivers that make up where the garden is located the writer describes what can be found there. There is gold, bdellium, and onyx stone (2:10-12). Raw material, waiting to be used and explored.
Fast forward to Exodus. The people of Israel are in the desert, they have been rescued from Egypt and now they are nomads wandering. After Moses’ encounter with God on the mountain, God outlines instructions to build a meeting place for the sacrifice and worship of him. These are nomads with only the things that they brought out of Egypt on their own backs. How are they going to accomplish this?
Enter Bezalel and Oholiab. Wait Who? Who are these people you might add? Well they are from the tribe of Judah and they are artists, or in today's language they are creatives. They are in charge of the building and construction of the Tabernacle.
Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts.
Exodus 35:30-33
What is cool about this passage is that we see that God uses two people who were not the stars of the show. These people are not Aaron or Moses. They are not the leaders of the people, but God uses them to lead in the construction of his house. They are new to the scene. But we do see that the Lord chose them. I love it when God chooses to use ordinary people to accomplish his plans. This tabernacle will be the basis for Israel's worship for years to come up until the physical temple is constructed by Soloman. The rest of the passage and next chapter describe the details that go into these designs and it is fascinating. As a designer and creative today we see that even in the small details God is glorified. At the end we see the material used, gold, silver, bronze, stones, and wood. Those raw materials created in Genesis are now used in the construction of the Tabernacle and the instruments to be used in worship. Two people using raw materials, create something to aid people in the worship of God.
Just when you think it's only the creatives, Bezalel and Oholiab, that get to take part in this you would be wrong. The whole camp took part in this project.
They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary.
Exodus 36:3
Everyone contributed what they had. So much so that they had to ask people to stop bringing things.
So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.”
Exodus 36:4-5
Does our worship and our giving overflow when it comes to building his church? Are we so excited to be a part of God’s plan and his worship that we can’t stop giving all that we have?
Don’t think because you are not a teacher or a pastor that you can’t lead people to worship Christ. Worship in today's church is sometimes linked only with music and if you're not a musician then you can not be on the worship team. How can you use your skills to aid in the church in worship? I would say that helping watch babies in the nursery helps the parents listen and worship better without distractions. Maybe that note you sent to a friend encourages them to show up on the weekend.
What can you do to aid people in the worship of God?
Are you creative in the church? Are you struggling to find how you can serve? Join CRTVCHURCH, a group of creatives from across the world serving local churches.