Sermon Tone Analysis

The Altars Where We Worship

This morning our text is the story of the Golden Calf from .

And because that’s our text, it makes sense that we look examine our own idols this morning.

Idols have stood as barriers between people and God for as long as there have been people.

They don’t always look the same through the ages, whether the thing worshiped is ourselves, the desires of our heart, or some cast image.

And while the existence of very real, physical, hand-made images to be worshipped has been a very real problem for followers of God at various points along the way, as I said last week, the vast majority of those in our culture are never going to be tempted to bow down in reverent worship of a golden animal-shaped statue, it would be foolish to think that only that is the definition of an idol.

Some 500 years ago, a guy named Martin Luther gave what I think is a pretty good working definition of an idol.

He said:

A “god” is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need.

Therefore, to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart.

As I have often said, it is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol.

If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true one.

Conversely, where your trust is false and wrong, there you do not have the true God.

For these two belong together, faith and God.

Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your God.

Not that long ago a purchased a book entitled “The Altars Where we Worship.”

The general direction the book takes is to examine the things that we Americans treat as gods without realizing it.

I’ll admit up front that I haven’t finished it yet, though thus far I’d definitely say that if you’re a reader, its worth a spin.

The authors write the book by examining our culture and identifying the things that people give their lives to with the same dedication and energy that the worship of God should warrant.

Perhaps better said, the authors examine anything and everything people treat with religious reverence, which is no short list.

I want to share with you a short quotes that I think do a pretty good job of defining the idolatrous nature of us as people.

“The objects of our desire have become our God, and fulfilling our desires have become our religion… Though we claim to serve things that are sacred, in actuality we deem sacred those things that serve us.”

Floyd-Thomas, Juan M.; Floyd-Thomas, Stacey M.; Toulouse, Mark G.. The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture (Kindle Location 212).

Westminster John Knox Press.

Kindle Edition.

I think that’s a pretty accurate statement that doesn’t just apply to those who choose not to attend church.

There’s not a person in this room who hasn’t, knowingly or unknowingly, been tempted to give religious treatment and significance to things that aren’t God.

And though the worship those things isn’t as absurd as bowing and feasting around golden animal, that perhaps makes them more insidious.

Let’s dive into the text and then work from there. .

The people saw that Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain.

They gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come on!

Make us gods who can lead us.

As for this man Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t have a clue what has happened to him.”

2 Aaron said to them, “All right, take out the gold rings from the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took out the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He collected them and tied them up in a cloth.

Then he made a metal image of a bull calf, and the people declared, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf.

Then Aaron announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the LORD!” 6 They got up early the next day and offered up entirely burned offerings and brought well-being sacrifices.

The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to celebrate.

So, they’ve been freed from Egypt, crossed the sea on dry land, received food from above and water from a rock, God has consistently provided for God’s people every step of the way.

They’ve been led by fire and cloud, day and night.

The Lord’s presence has never been far from them.

They’ve heard the thunderous sound of God’s voice and instantly recognized the power of God.

And yet the beginning of this passage tells us that its who that they’ve come to rely on?

Moses!

And the problem here isn’t in their mind their own impatience- who has ever done a good job at recognizing their own impatience.

Instead, the problem is that Moses was a human.

They need something more powerful, something not mortal to be God’s representative so they create what they’ve had in the past in Egypt- an image representative of their god.

Aaron stands over this calf, attaches God’s work in Egypt to it, and then essentially, calls it The LORD, announcing a feast to The LORD as the dedication of the Calf.

This isn’t a foreign god.

This is a safe, controllable, comfortable version of the God lighting up the mountain that they’re so afraid of.

They have, in essence, decided to domesticate God.

What makes this all the more apparent is that just before this incident in the text is the instructions for how to build the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, the altar to God, the washbasin, the priestly vestments.

There’s plenty of opportunity coming for carving and crafting, plenty of opportunity for the gold they just wasted on this calf to be used for God and instead they waste their resources, energy, and passion on their own safe, comfortable version of God.

They’ve traded the throne of the all-powerful, unimaginable God for something they could understand, see, and grasp.

They’ve set aside the intangible for the touchable, the Holy for the Earthly.

No matter which way you slice it and no matter what approach you take to it, they were too afraid of God to trust God.

To bring back last week’s image, they had pledged themselves to God, made their vows to God, and are now cheating on God while on the Honeymoon.

They haven’t even left the mountain yet, and yet because they don’t trust God, because they trust their own wisdom and understanding far more than they do The LORD, they’ve dedicated themselves to something that pales in comparison, and yet in their eyes is equated to God.

To say that God is less than thrilled with this result is an understatement.

7 The LORD spoke to Moses: “Hurry up and go down!

Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, are ruining everything! 8 They’ve already abandoned the path that I commanded.

They have made a metal bull calf for themselves.

They’ve bowed down to it and offered sacrifices to it and declared, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” 9 The LORD said to Moses, “I’ve been watching these people, and I’ve seen how stubborn they are.

10 Now leave me alone!

Let my fury burn and devour them.

Then I’ll make a great nation out of you.”

11 But Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, “LORD, why does your fury burn against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and amazing force?

12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He had an evil plan to take the people out and kill them in the mountains and so wipe them off the earth’?

Calm down your fierce anger.

Change your mind about doing terrible things to your own people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, whom you yourself promised, ‘I’ll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky.

And I’ve promised to give your descendants this whole land to possess for all time.’

” 14 Then the LORD changed his mind about the terrible things he said he would do to his people.

11 But Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, “LORD, why does your fury burn against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and amazing force?

12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He had an evil plan to take the people out and kill them in the mountains and so wipe them off the earth’?

Calm down your fierce anger.

Change your mind about doing terrible things to your own people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, whom you yourself promised, ‘I’ll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky.

And I’ve promised to give your descendants this whole land to possess for all time.’

” 14 Then the LORD changed his mind about the terrible things he said he would do to his people.

11 But Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, “LORD, why does your fury burn against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and amazing force?

12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He had an evil plan to take the people out and kill them in the mountains and so wipe them off the earth’?

Calm down your fierce anger.

Change your mind about doing terrible things to your own people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, whom you yourself promised, ‘I’ll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky.

And I’ve promised to give your descendants this whole land to possess for all time.’

” 14 Then the LORD changed his mind about the terrible things he said he would do to his people.

Lets just start by remembering everything that Israel has said and done against God since they were brought out of Egypt.

They are afraid each and every step of the way that God will abandon, that God won’t be able, that God won’t hold up to the promise.

Every single time something goes wrong they cry out, wondering why God bothered to bring them out of Egypt just to die in the desert.

And each and every time, God responds to their complains and accusations with patience, providing for them, meeting their needs, reassuring them of God’s own dedication to them.

That’s not the direction of this passage.

God essentially tells Moses, “That’s it, I’m done with them.

I’ve tried and tried and tried and now I’m done trying.

This is too far.

How unclear was “don’t make images of any kind and call them gods, call the me?

Did I stutter?

You’ve been great Moses, I’ll take care of you don’t worry, just step out of my way and let me wipe them off the face of the earth.”

And part of me feels like this has to be tempting for Moses, because these same people that God’s threatening to destroy are the ones who have fought against him constantly, so bad in fact that he fears for his life.

And yet Moses defends the people and defends God’s own name for God’s sake.