Following the Living God
Exodus 32:1-14
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes, Pastor
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Greeley, Colorado
January 23, 2022
Exodus 32:1-14
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.”
Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 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] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
As people of God we are called to accept no substitutes for God, for God alone is unique and sufficient.
People are constantly developing products for the elite and very quickly others create an imitation to sell at a cheaper price.
In recent years I was invited to an education trip to the state of Jalisco, Mexico, one of 32 states of Mexico, and a state that gave the world the mariachi, the tequila, and the patrimony for humanity. Our assignment was to visit schools in the urban and rural setting and learn ways to more effectively connect with children and their families for academic achievement.
As we boarded the Mercedes-Benz midsize bus provided by the Mexico department of education I noticed the young man was wearing a Boss brand watch. I commented, “I like your watch, and it is a Boss brand.” He clarified, “Sir, this is an imitation watch, look.” He took off the watch and showed me the back of the watch with fading words, the real Boss watch has the words engraved on the base of the watch.
I was curious, because I collect watches, but I never pay the regular price, on occasion I buy these when they are on clearance and I enjoy giving these as gifts to pastors, missionaries, friends and family members and keep a few to wear occasionally.
People create imitations of Rolex watches, Gucci products, designer sunglasses. Why pay $300 for a pair of designer watch when you can pay $20 for knock off or imitation brand and look like you’re wearing the real thing and impress others.
My friends, we are a culture of shortcuts, of cheap solutions, of imitations.
I imagine it is okay if you acquire a knock off brand such as watch, purse, or sunglasses, but a knockoff for God is a dangerous thing.
In the wilderness Israel and Moses met with God who was revealed as fire, smoke, thunder, lightning, He gave them the ten commandments to ensure their wellbeing and blessing.
Moses left Israel and went to the mountains to fellowship with God, to hear His voice and be led by Him, to learn what life would be like as they traverse the wilderness and journey to the promised land.
While Moses was gone, the people got antsy and nervous and they asked Aaron, Moses’ brother, “Aaron, make us a God who will go before us.” It would have been natural for Aaron to say, “Not on your life! How dare you suggest we make ourselves a God with our hands, what an offensive and repulsive idea you’ve uttered!!!”
But no, he acquiesced. He instructed, “Bring me your gold” and they did and they melted the gold and created a golden calf and announced, “Okay, this is your God.” The next day they had a festival to honor this golden calf, their newly created God.
Meanwhile, on the mountain, God says to Moses, “This meeting has come to a halt. Your people have made idols onto themselves and I’m done with them! They took gold, put in a fire and created a calf!” Moses pleaded with God, “Forgive them, have mercy on them, do not destroy them.”
Although God did not destroy them, their idolatry started them on a downhill slide.
This was the in-between time between Egypt and Canaan.
When you and I are in wilderness, my friends, it is tempting to get panicky and nervous and we insist on a God who will do what we want him to do, to make the pain go away, to answer our prayers as we wish, to take away our discomfort, and for this to not cost us much.
We begin to demand a substitute, what we want is a remedy, not a God. We willingly accept a substitute for God.
In creating an idol, the people of God violated the first commandment that prohibits the worship of other gods.
Never, in biblical religion, do we find God and something else. We’re called to be monotheistic, to follow the one true and living God.
D. Arthur Trueblood, a Quaker philosopher of religion reflected on the 1st commandment: “There is a real difference between the number one and all other numbers. One is singular and all the rest is plural.”
The people of God violated the first and the second commandments:
Exodus: 20:4
“You shall have no other gods before[a] me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.”
These commandments speak of God as priority and His right to rule sovereignly.
It is interesting that throughout Scripture the commandment against idolatry is the most frequently violated of all the 10, it is not taking the Lord’s name in vain, honoring Father and mother, or adultery or others, it is idolatry.
Idolatry in the wilderness
Idolatry into the land of Canaan
Idolatry into the period of conquest
Idolatry during the period of the judges
Idolatry when the kings came along
Idolatry during the united monarchy of David and Salomon
Idolatry when the kingdoms divided
Idolatry when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom and the Babylonians conquered the south.
We would not think of a knock off version of God, it seems so cruel for us to do this. A substitute version of God is cheap, it does not demand anything from us and it is ultimately useless.
A knock off version of God puts God in a box, it is one that we can control and manipulate.
St. Augustine, the 4th century theologian and author taught: “It is not possible for the finite human mind to comprehend the infinite God.”
Trying to understand God is like putting the Pacific Ocean in a shot glass.
Attempting to understand God is akin to the five blind men describing an elephant:
The first touches the leg and imagines, “An elephant is like a tree.” The second touches the side and reflects, “An elephant is like a wall.” He third touches the tail and utters, “An elephant is like a rope.” The fourth touches the trunk and declares, “An elephant is like a snake.” The fifth touches the ear and exclaims, “An elephant is like a giant fan.”
Each takes a part of the elephant and projects an image of the elephant and that’s what we do with God when we try to figure Him out.
What is God like? We get a bird’s eye view of God when we think of Christ.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
Deuteronomy 4:9-13
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.” You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets.
Is your God made of bronze, gold, wood, does He look like a bull?
No. The image of God is that of fire. Fire is an amazing chemical reaction that is attractive to us. Some of us have fireplaces in our homes and others enjoy going camping and sit around the campfire.
There is something about fire, it is constantly changing and yet it is always the same; it is really mysterious, you can’t really contain it. You take a picture of fire at one point and it would be different the next millisecond, changing, but remaining the same; light and heat, but not something that you can control in your mind.
We use images, metaphors, analogies, similes, words, language, poetry and prophecy to describe God, not wood and stone to express who God is. We rely on ways that give us another image of God.
God is mysterious and we describe and experience God as we need God. God is our provider when we have a need, He is our guide when we are lost, He is our protector when our soul is in danger. In the wilderness, we meet God as he truly is, a dynamic, fluid, mysterious God, not one we can control or manipulate.
A God we can manage is what many in our culture uphold. A popular idea of many people is, “I am spiritual, but I am not religious, no organized groups.”
To some, that expression is a lot of noise at shallow end of a pool. Yes, you can appreciate creation, but creation is not God.
- That thinking demands nothing of us.
- It does not demand that you love one another.
- It does not demand that you love your enemies.
- It does not demand that you bear a cross and follow after Jesus Christ
- It does not call you to suffer patiently as God’s own people
Ours, my friends is a shallow culture where there is no cross involved, that teaches us to live our best life now, that you’ll win every time you go out to play, the name it and claim it religion, one who does not take our sin seriously.
It is a God that we create, like our nation, our government, our culture, our way of life, one that checks your passport to see if you’re one of his, not your heart.
The God who checks the color of your skin to see if you deserve His grace, that’s the God of our culture. The God that hates all the people that we happen to hate. It is not the God of the scripture.
The golden calf looks good, but it is not the real God.
Psalm 115:5-8
They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.
The people said, “Let’s create our own God, one that can pick up and take Him with us where we go.”
The problem we have with our resurrected God is that we cannot control Him. He is a God that goes before us, He shows up when don’t want Him to show up.
When we create our own God, we rob him of his uniqueness. God’s uniqueness is that He is holy.
Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher described God’s relationship to all creating in this way: “There is an infinite qualitative difference between God and all other else.”
Isaiah declared God as the Holy one of Israel because he heard the angel confess: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 10:6-7
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”
Image-making prevents us from Him possessing us.
How can we avoid the danger practices of idolatry?
- Let God be God- live with the mystery of God
- Be alert to cultural pressure- civil religion, culture
- Practice obedience rather than seeking comfort.
- Let worship shape you. We are given 168 hours a week, invest time in worship. Life can be like a bumpy country road and our car eventually needs alignment.
- Look to Jesus Christ. Read the gospels, there you’ll find God in Jesus who shows us about compassion, how he deals with his enemies, what he taught us living life now and what we can expect in the future.