Wildside: The Golden Calf

Wildside May 26, 2019

The Golden Calf

Bible Passage: ;

Main Point: God punished His people for worshiping a golden calf.

Key Passage:

Big Picture Question: What is God’s plan? God’s plan is to rescue His people from captivity.

Small Group opening

(10–15 minutes)

Large Group Bible study

(25–30 minutes)

Small Group activities

(25–30 minutes)

Leader BIBLE STUDY

God led His people into the wilderness, but He did not leave them there alone. The Lord was with His people. He provided meat, bread, and water. He guided them to Mount Sinai, where He met with their leader, Moses. The Lord came down on the mountain in fire and He spoke through thunder. The Israelites could not have ignored His presence.

But when Moses went up on the mountain and did not return for several weeks, the Israelites felt abandoned. They appealed to Moses’ brother, Aaron: “Come, make us a god who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!” ()

Aaron’s response led the people to commit a terrible sin. He gathered gold from the people and made an image of a calf, and the people worshiped the golden calf. God saw what the people were doing, and He told Moses to go down the mountain at once. Moses confronted his brother. Aaron claimed that when the people gave him the gold, he threw it into the fire, and “out came this calf!” ()

God punished His people for worshiping a golden calf, and Moses returned to the mountain to ask the Lord to forgive the Israelites’ sin. Moses could not atone for the people’s sin; God said He would hold the people accountable for their sins, but the Lord did not abandon the Israelites.

Introduce the kids you teach to the concept of idolatry. An idol is anything a person puts in the place of God. Explain that idolatry is a sin. The Israelites deserved to be punished for their sin. In the same way, we deserve to be punished for our sin. Point out that Jesus never sinned. He is greater than Moses, and when we sin, Jesus not only talks to the Father for us, He atones for our sin. God forgives those who trust in Jesus.

The BIBLE Story

The Golden Calf

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Moses and the Israelites were in the wilderness. God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt and from Pharaoh and his pursuing army. The Israelites came to Mount Sinai (SIGH nigh), and they camped there in front of the mountain. Moses went up the mountain, and God spoke to him.

God had a lot to tell Moses, and Moses was up on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights. Meanwhile, the Israelites camping at the base of the mountain were getting impatient. They began to wonder, Where is Moses? What is taking him so long? Is he still alive?

The Israelites went to Moses’ brother, Aaron. “Make us a god to lead us,” they said. “Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don’t know what has happened to him.”

So Aaron made a gold calf that they could worship.

God saw what the people were doing, and He was angry because of their sin. God told Moses to go down the mountain. “I will destroy these people,” God said.

“Please forgive them,” Moses said. “Remember the great promise You made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You promised to give them as many offspring as there are stars in the sky. You promised to bless them and give them land.” So God decided not to destroy the people.

Moses went down the mountain. He carried two stone tablets on which God had written the laws. Moses got closer to the camp and saw that the people were dancing before the gold calf! He threw down the stone tablets, smashing them at the bottom of the mountain. Then he destroyed the calf they made.

“What were you thinking?” Moses asked Aaron. The people were out of control.

The next day, Moses said, “I will go up to the Lord. Maybe I can do something to make up for your sin.” So Moses went back up the mountain to talk to God.

“These people have sinned against You. They made a god out of gold for themselves,” Moses said. “Please forgive their sin.”

God told Moses to return to the people. “When the time comes, I will punish them for their sin,” God said. Then the Lord sent a plague—a terrible sickness—to the people because they worshiped the gold calf.

God continued to meet with Moses and give him laws and instructions. He made two more stone tablets to replace the ones Moses broke. One morning, Moses went up the mountain to meet with God. The Lord came down in a cloud. He said, “Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God ... but He will not leave the guilty unpunished.”

Moses bowed down and worshiped God. “Lord, please go with us,” he said. “Forgive our sin, and accept us as Your people.”

Christ Connection: God’s people sinned against God, and Moses asked God to forgive them. Moses acted as their mediator, standing for them before God. Moses could not do anything to make up for their sin, but we have a better Mediator—Jesus. Jesus paid for our sin on the cross and stands for us before God. When we trust in Jesus, our sins are forgiven.

Small Group Opening

Session Title: The Golden Calf

Bible Passage: ;

Main Point: God punished His people for worshiping a golden calf.

Key Passage:

Big Picture Question: What is God’s plan? God’s plan is to rescue His people from captivity.

Welcome time

Greet each kid as he or she arrives. Use this time to connect to your group and make sure each student is checked in.

As kids arrive, ask for volunteers to share about a time they did something wrong.

Say • What was the situation? Did you receive a punishment? How did it make you feel?

Transition to large group

Table Wars

Large Group LEADER

Hi, boys and girls. I’m so glad you’re all here today!

A couple of weeks ago, we learned that God sent plagues to punish the Egyptians for their sin. Do you remember why? The Egyptians worshiped false gods like Ra, the sun god, and Hapi, the god of the Nile. () But through the plagues, God proved to the Egyptians that He is the one true God.

Today we get to talk about “The Golden Calf.” Uh oh! That sounds like a false god, too. What do you think?

Big picture question

Leader • Our big picture question is, What is God’s plan? God’s plan is to rescue His people from captivity. In the previous few weeks, we heard how God rescued the Israelites from physical captivity. In today’s Bible story, God’s planned to rescue the Israelites from captivity to sin. Let’s listen.

Tell the Bible story

Open your Bible to . Let’s watch the Bible story video “The Golden Calf.”

Leader • Moses and the Israelites were in the wilderness, a desert. God was with them, and He had a plan. What is God’s plan? God’s plan is to rescue His people from captivity.

God’s people had experienced His grace and His power in Egypt through the plagues and Passover. They had seen Him act in a mighty way at the Red Sea. In the wilderness, God showed the Israelites He was with them when He provided water for them to drink. Every morning, God provided bread from heaven and, every evening, God sent quail into the camp. God showed them He is Yahweh, “the I AM.” God called Himself “the Lord your God.”

But without their leader Moses, the Israelites were confused about whom to follow. So they asked Aaron to make a golden calf that they could worship. God’s people were out of control. They danced and worshiped the golden calf. God saw their sin, and He was angry.

Moses asked God to forgive the Israelites. Moses acted as their mediator, standing for them before God. Moses could not do anything to make up for their sin, and God punished His people for worshiping a golden calf.

But God had a plan! What is God’s plan? God’s plan is to rescue His people from captivity, not only physical captivity like He rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, but spiritual captivity—slavery to sin. God sent His Son, Jesus, to be a better Mediator. Jesus paid for our sin on the cross and stands for us before God. When we trust in Jesus, our sins are forgiven. What good news!

Key passage

Show the key passage. Lead the boys and girls to read together .

Leader • Our key passage tells us to “hold on to the courage and confidence of our hope” (). Whom do you think we should place our hope in? (Jesus) That’s right!

In our Bible story today, God’s people put their hope in a golden calf. Today, we might sometimes place our hope in things like having a lot of friends or getting good grades. If we follow Jesus, we will turn from hoping in these things and hope in Jesus alone.

Discussion starter video

Show the “Unit 4, Session 4” discussion starter video.

Leader • Samuel was being silly. Was Samuel able to make the real game? Samuel wanted the game so much that he made up his own and played it, even though it was pretty bad. Sin makes us do foolish things. When Moses went up the mountain, the people thought God had left them, so they made their own god to worship. But the statue had no power.

Lead kids to discuss things people might worship today. Explain that an idol is anything we worship in the place of God. People might worship other people, themselves, or possessions.

Pray

Invite kids to pray before dismissing to small groups.

Leader • Lord God, We thank You that You are compassionate and gracious. We know that You do not leave the guilty unpunished. We admit that we, like the Israelites, worship things other than You. That is sin. But when we trust in Jesus—who died on the cross and took the punishment we deserve—You forgive our sins. We praise You, Father, for Jesus, who stands for us before You. This is such good news! We love You. Amen.

Dismiss to small groups

Small Group LEADER

Session Title: The Golden Calf

Bible Passage: ;

Main Point: God punished His people for worshiping a golden calf.

Key Passage:

Big Picture Question: What is God’s plan? God’s plan is to rescue His people from captivity.

Key passage activity

Before the session, write the key passage on several index cards, one phrase per card. Make two sets.

Look up the key passage. Lead the kids to read aloud together.

Form two groups. Choose a volunteer from each group to distribute the key passage phrase cards to each kid in his group. Explain that groups should race to arrange themselves in the correct order without talking. When a group finishes, players should sit down.

Bible story review & Bible skills

Distribute Bibles and instruct kids to open their Bibles to .

Ask a volunteer to roll the numbered cube. Challenge kids to answer the question below that corresponds to the rolled number. If needed, encourage them to use the Scripture reference provided to help answer the question.

1.Why did the Israelites get impatient? (The Israelites were impatient because Moses was up on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights, )

2. What false god did Aaron make for the Israelites to worship? (a golden calf, )

3. How did God punish the Israelites for worshiping the gold calf? (God sent a plague, a terrible sickness; )

4. The Lord came down in a cloud. What did He say? (“Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God … but He will not leave the guilty unpunished,” )

5. Moses stood before the Israelites and God. He acted as their what? (mediator, )

6. Who is our Mediator? (Jesus, )

Say • In today’s Bible story, God’s people sinned against God. They worshiped a golden calf while Moses was up on the mountain. Why was it wrong for them to worship the golden calf? (Only God deserves our worship.)

Worshiping anything other than God is sin, and just like God punished His people for worshiping a golden calf, God must punish all sin. Thankfully, God had a plan to punish sin through Jesus’ death on the cross! It was God’s plan from the beginning. What is God’s plan? God’s plan is to rescue His people from captivity—especially captivity to sin. When we trust in Jesus, our sins are forgiven. What good news!

 In today’s Bible story, God punished His people for worshiping a golden calf. A golden calf may seem silly to you, but we too worship false gods sometimes. When we put ourselves first, we put ourselves in the place of God. When playing video games or making good grades is more important to us than God, those things become false gods.

Anything we love and honor more than God is an idol. Even though we may not bow down to these things or sing songs to them, God knows our hearts. Because we sin, we deserve to be punished. But Jesus paid for our sin on the cross and stands for us before God. When we trust in Jesus, God forgives our sins.

prayer

Distribute pencils and prayer cards.

Say • Everyone sins against God, and He would be right to punish us. The Bible says we deserve to die for our sin, but God loves us and He sent His Son, Jesus, to be our Mediator. The Father punished His Son in our place. Let’s pray and thank God for sending Jesus to be our Mediator.

Lead kids in a short prayer. Thank God for sending His Son, Jesus, and praise Him for forgiving our sin. Invite kids to write in their prayer cards about how this good news makes them feel.