Sermon Tone Analysis
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This morning we are going to look straight at the golden calf and talk through this idea:
Our solutions to deal with our deepest desires always point to something necessary but disappoints at the same time.
Christ offers a real solution.
This is a well worn story in the book of Exodus.
We need to talk through what is going on and then talk through the implications of it.
This is a wild story.
So let’s begin when Moses is missing.
First: the story begins with Moses gone missing.
Or so they think.
Moses has been up on the mountain for apparently too long.
And the isrealites have a short term memory issue.
And because he is gone for what they believe is too long, they begin to come up with an ingenious solution.
The god replacement plan.
They believe that, even after seeing all that God has done for them, that they can replace and create something that will be better than what they had.
They become the creators of a solution for a problem that had not yet been able to solve.
Illustration on a not quite fully baked solution.
The GRavina Island bridge was a bridge that was started to be built to connect the small community of Ketchikan AK with their airport.
The construction process began but never finished.
So it sits as a bridge to nowhere.
Something that points to another destination but isn’t solving the issue
Idolatry is like a bridge to nowhere.
IT points to something desired and needed but can never reach the solution.
It shows something that we desire but can never meet that desire.
This is what the Israelites experience in our passage this morning.
Creating an idol that resolves a deep need
We think that waiting is too big of a burden to bear, so we create solutions that never last as long as we want.
Idolatry will always point to a desire and disappoint In meeting that desire.
So in this passage today we learn something about the human condition and then we learn how much it takes to truly satisfy the weight of the human condition.
We think that we are the solution to every problem.
After the Israelites are freed, they experience the miracles of power from God, the shepherding of kindness in leading them through the desert and then the giving of the laws that help the Israelites live in relative peace.
They are also given the instructions on what it means for them to live in relationship with God.
And then Moses goes up the mountain and he is gone for a little too long and they decide that they can do this whole thing by themselves.
This represents All the right things in the wrong direction.
They are pointing to a real need.
They are pointing to a real problem.
But are going about it the wrong way.
This is the thing with building idols.
We want to create things we can worship all the time because we have a desire to worship.
What is happening with this group shows us that we have it in us a desire to worship.
But it also shows us that we really can’t meet that desire.
They sure try though.
Aaron creates an idol from thier gold to deal with their loss.
They didn’t know what to do next, they needed something to aim their certainty at and so they aimed it at a calf.
We see in this the deep desire for certainty when there is none and the inability to create something sufficient to meet that loss.
Have you ever had a kid look at you when they are learning something and say to you, “I can do it!”
And you sit back and watch and realize that they are not in fact, going to be able to do it.
ANd they mess up gloriously?
For a kid this is an opportunity to learn.
They can safely practice tying their shoes or putting toys away.
But in the Israelites case it would be like if your 3 year old walked up to you with your car keys in his hand and said, “I can do it!”
And in the Israelites case, Aaron agrees to go along with it.
In this creation of an idol, they relax.
They move into celebration and peace.
This idol becomes a means for them to believe they have recovered everything.
The problem is that it doesn’t actually fix the issue.
The idol points to a need but does nothing to resolve our issues.
The calf doesn’t lead them anywhere or covenant with them in relationship.
The calf doesn’t offer mercy and love.
The calf doesn’t give them everything they need in order to survive and thrive in relationship.
It is easy to create a golden calf because it represents the desire to have our losses met, our desires filled.
But no idol has ever been sufficient to rebuild us, to forgive us.
An idol is more of a mirror of our need than a redeemer of a people.
And we create these mirrors to our desires in the forms of idols all the time.
We trust something that we think will hold us up.
We believe in something that we think will be enough.
We create idols in our mind and immediately ask too much of them.
We bear our full weight on them and then we are upset when they can’t hold us up.
An idol can never do anything proactive for us.
It’s like jumping into a foam pit with everything you are and not being able to get out again.
Robin and the foam put at the trampoline place.
We do this with most anything and everything.
We are creative in our idol making.
Anything that will show us our desire but not be able to actually meet it fits in this frame.
An idol will make demands of us that we can’t keep.
It will demand of us a sacrifice.
And these idols are found everywhere.
That’s why this story matters.
Because we still create idols to fit our needs.
Politics?
Yes.
I am not anti politcal.
It is unavoidable.
The problem is that we have turned politics into an idol.
We have asked more of it than it is able to produce.
We felt like God wasn’t doing enough and so instead of waiting on Him we wanted to see if politics are able to produce what He can’t.
I’m here to tell you now that politics will only point to a real need and desire but disappoint to meet that need and desire.
Sexuality and identity?
Yes.
Conversations around sexuality and identity are very important and needed.
We want to make room for us as a church to have conversations around this.
But if we turn to our sexuality to meet the deepest needs of our soul it will disappoint every time.
It points to a real need that we need to talk about but will disappoint everytime.
Work?
Points to a need but will disappoint as an idol
Eventually we have to come to terms with the fact that the idol cannot hold up to the weight of our soul.
So then the very thing that we are holding up as an idol we end up blaming for not being able to deliver.
Blaming an idol to resolve our guilt
As you can imagine God sees what is going on and becomes angry.
And you might be suspect at God’s anger or if you have never read through the OT and you’re like, “well God is angry, I should have expected that.”
But imagine for a moment that you have a child that is interested in hockey.
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