Sermon Tone Analysis

Counterfeit goods opening

So the counterfeit good industy is a booming one right now.

It’s estimated that around 1.7 trillion counterfiet goods are sold every year.

It’s currently the largest crime in the world.

And we see this, right?

We’ve all been on alibaba or ali express and seen these cheap knock off goods right?

I’ve got a few examples here: Abidas, Polystation, Okay shampoo, Dave soap, Creme Betweens, the huge Mountain, Kat Kots, Dolce and Banana, and my personal favotire Unbeleive!

this is not butter.

And so we can laugh at these right?

but its gets a little less funny when start thinking about counterfeits in other industires - like the military - there was a story awhile back about the government finding fake microships in the fighter plans that if they werent caught would have lead to the planes malfunctioning.

Or whats most sad is counterfeits the pharmacutical industy - medicines - theres one study that found that almost half of the anit-malaria drugs circulating in Africa are counterfiets.

Malaria is a curbale desiese, but its deadly if left untreated, but people are dying from it because they’re receiving counterfeit medicine.

And so what they thought would bring them life and save them, is actually a cheap substitue that will ultimatly lead to death.

So why do I say all this?

Because we’re about to read a story where the people of Israel are going to exchange the worship of the one true God, for a counterfeit.

And as we study the people of Israel in this story, we’re going to see that this isnt just their story, its also ours too.

SLIDE CHANGE

so lets read

Exodus 32:1–6 (ESV)

Recap the story

and so theres three sections of this story, and there are three points that i want us to see in the stroy

the first one is this

#1 The Draw to Idolarty

so we see in this story that the people create for themselves an idol to worship right?

But what you mean by “we all” ?

what you talking bout Ben? i have never once had the inclination to carve a golden bull and worship it.

I definitly dont want to do that.

And I dont really understand why they wanted to do that.

So lets look at why the israelites turned to idolatry, and i think it might help us see that we do the same thing.

Why Idols?

- Idolatry eases our insecurites

v1 - the peole saw that Moses delayed in coming down the mountain.

Moses was their leader - not only governmentally but also spiritually, right?

Moses was the one driving them through the wilderness, he was the one hearing from God - but he goes up this mountain and seems to dissapear.

So the people get scared, and feel out of control.

And their solution is to create an idol - because that will give them a greater sense of security and help ease their fear.

So they run to worship this thing because they were scared, and felt out of control.

- Idolatry lets us look good to others

another reason israel makes this Idol is because all the other nations had idols.

and you would often go to war with your idols, and fight for them - and so the identity of your nation was based upon the idols you worshipped - and every other nation has idols, so Israel also wants idols.

It helps them fit in, it helps them look good.

And so we’ll see Israel compromise their identity under God to be like everyone else around them.

- Idolatry lets us do whatever we want (gain wealth/power, get laid)

lastly, idolatry really was a way to do whatever you wanted.

When you create the god, ultimatley you are the person who decides what that god allows and doesnt allow.

Really you become the god.

and in this day, idols were primary used for two things - wealth and sex. 1) you would worship and sacrifice to idols in order to get more food, and more livestock - so to grow your food.

if you sacrificed more the gods would be in debt to you and bless you.

2) idols were used as basis for increasing fertility - and so when you worshiped idols, sex become a way of worship.

Temple prostitues were common back then, and you would often have big orgies as a way of worship.

so worshiping idols was really just a n excuse to justify striving for power or wealth, and having your sexual lusts met.

and so when we describe it like that - Idolarty is anything you go to 1) eases our insecurities, or comfort us 2) help us look good to others or fit in 3) or something that gives us control and lets us decide whats right and wrong, so you can do whatever you want like have sex or chase money and popularity - it starts to hit a little closer to home, doesnt it?

and so we wont bow down to golden calfs - but we often do is idolized things in our lives.

We’ll run to other things in our life other than God for security, comfort, popularity, control, power.. Or we’ll make excuses to justify the sins in our life - all while keeping a spiritual facade.

And the bible tells us that when we do that, we’re practicing idolarty.

two things things I see in the passage about Idolitary I want to note:

You can make an idol out of a good thing

the made this out of the gold that they got from the Egyptians - on Gods orders.

and later they’re gonna use some of this gold to help build the temple and worship God.

But here they take a blessing that God gave them and twisted it for their own purpose- and turned in to something to worship.

second is this:

Adding religious activity doesnt negate idolatry

slide change

Look what Aaron does in verse 5-6

Exodus 32:5–6 (ESV)

When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it.

And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”

And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.

And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

so what Aaron wanted to do was take the ways God wanted to be worship and give that to their idol worship so that he could ease his consceince.

But it didnt change the fact that they were still worshiping idols.

And so just because you’re here tonight, you call youself a Christian, go to church - doesnt mean you dont have idols in your life.

Because a lot of people want to be spiritual.

There is a draw inside of us to want to be connected to something bigger, to be spiritual - but we want to do it on our terms.

So we’ll go throw the religious motions but still be worshiping idols.

What we often do is change the character of God to better suit or needs or life.

We’ve all heard people say “well i just dont think God is like blank” or “I think God is like xxx” we try to change the character of God to meet our wants and our needs.

But when we do this, we’re worshiping a false god.

So if say you’re a Christian and go to church and everything, however you wont follow God in relationtion to sexual sin, i’m not gonna listen to him about honoring my father and mother.

You can pick and chose what parts of God you want.

You either get all of him, or you’re worshiping an idol that you’re creating.

So dont tune me out - Because we all have idols in our lives.

And one of the most important questions you can ask yourself in life is what are your idols?

So what are your idols?

1.

What do you spend most your time doing?

The things we value and cherish most are what we dedicate our time to.

2. What do you spend most of your time thinking about?

What we invest our thoughts into is often an indicator of what we love most.

3. When are your emotions strongest?

(Such as fear, sadness or anger) We often respond with strong emotions when our idols are threatened or we can’t access our idols.

4. What controls your schedule?

Our idols often define and rule our days.

5. What do you fear losing?

What we think we can’t live without is often an idol.

6.

What do you trust in to make your life better or easier?

Idols often become our refuge, what we turn to for help and hope.

7. What are your ‘if-only’s?

Fill in the blank: “If only _____ happened, then my life would be better.”

8. What sin or sins do you constantly battle?

Whatever we worship, whatever we love more than God, we will sin to obtain it.