Give us a God we can follow

In Exodus 32 the people asked this of their pastor and he complied for fear of what they would do if he didn’t.

Let’s look at scripture-

1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods [a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."

I have heard this story before and read it several times but this past week it really hit me. Why would they do this? First they say make us a gods who will go before us. What they were saying is that we can follow. Something easier than what Moses and the true God was requiring already. Look at how they refer to Moses “this fellow” what had he done for them….. Brought them out of Egypt? How about rescued them! They were all slaves. No life of their own, beaten abused taken advantage of. But now free. I think all of us that have been set free from what ever it was that kept us in bondage thought our life with Christ would be easier. But we need to look and realize that it takes work.

So instead of doing the work let’s create our own gods? That we can control? That requires only what we are willing to offer?

2 Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, [b] O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."

So they took of their gold….. They gave there money…. Their status…. They even required their family to do the same. Once they fashioned it with a tool (this means it was made with their own hands) they said that this was the god that saved them. Do we do this today? Do we require our pastors to build golden calves and justify it by saying that the churches that we build are saving us? Do we ask each other to sacrifice…. To throw our gold into the fire?

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD." 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. [c] Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

I think we can find the above on any given Sunday across America.

7 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'

Can’t run from God…….

9 "I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."

Would God ever do this to HIS PEOPLE?

11 But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. "O LORD," he said, "why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.' “14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

How many times have we heard people defend what the church is doing because they are the Body of Christ?

15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, "There is the sound of war in the camp."
18 Moses replied:
"It is not the sound of victory,
it is not the sound of defeat;
it is the sound of singing that I hear."

It is often stated “I love that church they have great worship” or “I only go for the worship” but Moses said, "It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear." The Message version says…

But Moses said,
Those aren't songs of victory,
And those aren't songs of defeat,
I hear songs of people throwing a party.

I wonder if to God our worship sounds like us just throwing a party every Sunday. I found this definition of worship on the internet.

Worship - "Worship is honor and adoration directed to God. The New Testament uses several words for worship. Two of them particularly are noteworthy. The first is proskuneo, a commonly used term that literally means "to kiss toward," "to kiss the hand," or "to bow down." It is the word for worship used to signify humble adoration. The second word is latreuo, which suggests rendering honor, or paying homage. Both terms carry the idea of giving, because worship is giving something to God. The Anglo-Saxon word from which our English word is weorthscipe, which is tied to the concept of worthiness. Worship is ascribing to God His worth, or stating and affirming His supreme value.

When we talk about worship, we are talking about something we give to God. Modern Christianity seems committed instead to the idea that God should be giving to us. God does give to us abundantly, but we need to understand the balance of that truth - we are to render honor and adoration to God. That consuming, selfless desire to give to God is the essence and the heart of worship. It begins with the giving first of ourselves, and then of our attitudes, and then of our possessions - until worship is a way of life." (from John MacArthur, Jr. "The Unltimate Priority")

"Worship is to the Christian life what the mainspring is to a watch, what the engine is to a car. It is the very core, the most essential element. Worship cannot be isolated or relegated to just one place, time, or segment of our lives." (from John MacArthur, Jr. "The Unltimate Priority")

"Worship is the only gift we can bring to God that He Himself has not first given to us."
We need to ask ourselves does our worship look like this?

More to come.................................


Pastor Rudy