Still Faithful pt4

Part of God being faithful to us should mean that we are being faithful to Him. Unfortunately, for so many of us, that is not the case. And sometimes, when we get complacent, especially when life seems to be returning to normal, we tend to lose our focus on God and go seeking other “gods” to replace Him.

Think about all the Israelites have endured. Slavery. Murder. Plagues. Escape. Red Sea….the list is LONG. And yet God has been faithful every time. He has delivered them and protected them. But in this moment, when it seems like life is returning to normal, they get impatient, and want the new hotness, to replace the God who has led them for so long.

The first warning sign is their reaction to Moses being delayed on the mountain. They have come to relay on Moses as their link to God (Exodus 20:18-21) and when he is delayed, they start to bug Aaron for a new god.

When we start to rely on another person as our connection to God, we have a problem. No one person can replace your direct relationship with God. That is why it is important to not build a church or a ministry around a single person or personality. You should not be unwilling to listen to another teacher or preacher. That’s why Rick and Phill teach here. I am not your connection to God, and when people will say they will only listen to one person, that is a concern!

The people don’t just want to abandon Moses, they think since Moses is gone, then their connection to God is gone! That is NEVER the case. God is present and He speaks in a multitude of ways and thru a multitude of people. And Aaron not only fails to tell them this, but he leads them to the wrong god! He didn’t check their request against the Word of God! So when you are listening to ANY teacher who claims to represent God, you better check what they are teaching against the Word. If they are in error, rebuke them. If they are in agreement, praise God. And if you have questions, ask!

Exodus: An Introduction and Commentary Israel’s Sin (32:1–6)

Impatience lay at the root of this sin of Israel’s. They cannot wait. Where has Moses gone? They must have visible gods. The plural gods is demanded by the plural verb: otherwise ‘gods’ might legitimately be translated ‘God’, treating it as the common ‘plural of majesty’. Whatever Aaron may have thought, the Israelites were not thinking of YHWH at all.

The other thing we see in this passage, is the Israelites are impatient! Moses is taking too long. God is taking too long. When we get impatient, we try to make God go faster, and if we can’t we try to replace Him with a shortcut. That’s not going to help, and it is going to blow up in our faces!

But when confronted with all this, Aaron should step up, he should stand firm, he should rebuke them. But he gives in.

But Aaron not only gives in, he enables. He helps them make a new god.

We have a lot of Aarons today. And some of them are gathering gold. And others are gathering likes or clicks or campaign contributions or all sorts of other resources to build new gods.

Aaron shapes his like a calf. Ours look different.

New American gods:

1. Pleasure

2. Freedom

3. Safety

4. Influence/Uniqueness

5. Politics

All of these gods are aligned against what scripture says the dictates are for following Jesus. Each values our personal opinions and preferences over the Word of God, just like the people following Aaron.

And each of the leads us into rebellion against God. And God has one way to deal with rebellion- wrath. (vs 9-10) “leave me alone is a challenge to Moses”

Exodus (2) God’s Anger and Moses’ Intercession (32:7–14)

In saying “Now leave me alone” God made a rhetorical demand. He was challenging Moses rather than commanding him. Moses had no power to stop God from doing anything, so there would have been no need whatever for God to ask permission of Moses to do something through the statement “leave me alone.” Rather, it was a rhetorical way of saying to Moses: “Here is what I will do unless you intervene.”

And only someone who can serve as our intermediary can save us from the wrath of God. Moses stand sin the gap for the people (v11-14) and what he does for them, is a picture of what Jesus does for us.

And when they approach the camp, they hear what is typical of sin- pleasure for a season, until it ends as it usually ends-with death. (vs17-18)

And look at how Aaron seeks to cover up his complicity in this replacement of God- (v22-24) he lies and blames others- he says the calf came from the fire when he made it himself- and he blames the people, when he could have said no, he even blames Moses!

We often do the same thing and our excuses are just as weak. The idols in our lives didn’t build themselves and they didn’t just happen. They were a willful exercise and they require willful repentance, not abdication of blame! We chose the gods rather than choosing to trust in the God who has continued to come thru

What is the result of replacing God with a god?

1. The idol gets destroyed

2. Death follows sin

3. Repentance- often painful- brings the people back to God- humbled people return to the Lord

So let me ask you this morning- what is your calf? It may not be some of the things I have listed earlier this morning. Some of you have one calf and some of you have a herd. But those calves are killing you. They are setting themselves up as rivals to a God who allows no rivals.

To divest yourself of them, you need to humble yourself and return to God. You need relinquish your idols to God and let Him destroy them, and seat Himself in His rightful place in your life.

God will not allow ANY rivals to His throne. Period.