THE COST OF WEAK SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP EXODUS 32:1-6
Scripture reading prior to sermon Ex 33:11-16, 34:6-10
Introduction
When I was young, I was taught honesty is the key character for life being a great person and we should model after young George Washington the first President of the United States. President Donald Trump will go down the history as the most controversial US president in the 21st century. His speaking talent, along with his inserting-charismatic personality, has made a major impact on many young lives in the future United States and across all nations in viewing world leaders. As one tiny rat can cause tremendous harm to a dam by digging a small hole, so can one individual like you and me start a 'chain reaction' that will affect everyone around us or in the church.
Now, I would like to present a topic on "The Cost of Weak Spiritual Leadership" in the Bible. Let’s read Exodus 32:1-6. NIV
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 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.”
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, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 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. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
vs 1 The Faith Shaken People
When Moses delayed coming down from the mountain... the people gathered themselves to Aaron and said, “Come, Make us gods...”.
Who are these People? They are the covenant people of God (Ex 19:6) “...you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
The book of Exodus is the historical turning point of the nation of Israel.
Ch 1 The growth & bondage of Israel after Joseph.
Ch 2 - 4 Moses the liberator.
Ch 5 -11 Pharaoh and the 10 plagues.
Ch 12-15 The institution of the Passover & the miraculous deliverance through the Red Sea.
Ch 16-18 The journey to Mt. Sinai.
Ch 19-23 The Covenant & the revelation of God (The commandments).
In Ch 24, it recorded Israel’s acceptance of God’s covenant (24:3 “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do.") Then Moses went up with Joshua into the Mountain of God 40 days and 40 nights.
When we come to Ch 32:1, We see that the people became impatience and lost faith. -> "We do not know what has become of him."
What had these people gone through?
They had experienced the power of the Almighty.
1) The 10 plagues - They saw how the great “I AM” dealt against every god that the Egyptians worshipped. Even the Apis bull god which the Egyptians considered all-powerful & sacred but in Ex 9:6, 25 the animals did not escape the plague of God.
2) They had experienced the miraculous deliverance of crossing the Red Sea (Ch 14). They also had experienced the preservation of God in the wilderness through the provision of the manna, quails, the water from the rock & the defeat of the Amalekites (Ch 16-17).
3) At Mt. Sinai, they had experienced God. In Ch 24:3 When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with ONE VOICE, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” 24: 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up 10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. 11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
And NOW, they want to see something more ... "Make us gods, who shall go before us.”
-> Does this make sense to make images of gods? There are no gods in heaven or earth that can replace the great “I AM”!
-> As Christians, we sometimes are as guilty as the Israelites in the past. And we have no excuses either:
1) We have God's revelation - the Bible. We experience God in the past History as we have gone through it.
We also have His instructions of truth in His words.
2) We have living testimonies from other believers that how God changes their lives.
3) We have experienced God ourselves. As we claim to be Christians, we must experience the regeneration of the Spirit. You may hear the Gospel again and again to the point that you can preach it, yet you may have no heart experience. But there is a time in your life when God calls you. He brings grace to your heart, and you rise up and follow Him. This divine calling is with the power to draw you to Himself in sovereign mercy. Then your life will never be the same as before.
YET, THROUGH IGNORANCE & CARELESSNESS, WE LOOK FOR SOMETHING MORE TO TRUST WITH…Money, empty words of personal idols…
vs 2-5 The Weak Leader
When Moses went to meet God, Aaron judged Israel in the absence of Moses (Ex 24:14).
When people came to him with a demand, "Make us gods, who shall go before us.”, here is how he reacted in vs 2-5:
He was supposed in control. He acted as if he really knew what he was doing.
Note the tone how he spoke:
vs2 "Take off the rings of gold... and bring them to me".
vs4 "These are your- gods...”
vs5 "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord." -> So firm and confident!
Yet, incapable of pointing out the people to the truth, and when things went wrong, he avoided his responsibility by putting the blame on others.
(Ex 32:22-24) 22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil.” 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods 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.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (Really?)
Aaron's problem:
Surely he got a smooth tongue…
“He can speak well.” as God commented (Ex 4:14) and he was to be appointed in holy office (Ex28 Chosen High Priest of God), yet nothing about his intimate relationship with God here in the book of Exodus is recorded. He is Moses’ spokesman for God but not as Moses in Ex 33:11; Num 12:7 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. The assumption of “in the office” is spiritual proved to be a disaster in Aaron’s case.
-> The Parallel of Today:
1) The danger to appear to be authoritative and all-knowing as pastors, deacons, elders, Sunday School teachers, or parents; yet we are not careful in handling the word of God or knowing His will.
2) Like Aaron as the spokesman for Moses, we tend to spiritualize ourselves by going alone with great leaders or preachers but pay no attention to our own devotion and dedication to God in worship and service.
3) Full-time service can mean dedication to a job and not to holy living (the only true measure is a spiritual relationship with God).
See Acts 6 & 7, how a man who is well taught in the truth (see Acts 7 in his defense), of good repute, full of Spirit and of wisdom (Acts 6:3) is chosen the humble tasks to serve tables.
As Christians, we are born to be leaders in reflecting Christ in our lives. We are to cooperate with God to help others to reflect the fullness of Christ in their lives. We are to be careful about everything we say or do!
He leads the people to worship the golden calf
He acted as if he is in control and know what to do thus fashioned a molten calf for the "stiff-necked people" ... "These are your gods...". But he did not consult with God with these matters at all!
His problem
Incapable of upholding the truth, he yielded to the demand because of the fear of losing popularity and the threats from the people.
(“Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil.” Ex 32:22). He made haste to have a solution and forgot to seek help from God and forgot the commandments declared in the covenant. He directed their attention to something that they expected and felt comfortable with it. HE LED THEM TO THE GREAT SIN OF IDOLATRY!
-> Our Problem Today:
Materialism - Our Golden Calf
Our value system is built on money. We forgot the meaning of ...." living sacrifice"... and "not conform in Rom 12:1-2 as the elect of God. Our success is measured by the size of the organization and the wealth of our church. The tendency to conform to the world's standard to gain political popularity and acceptance even by lying or misleading information. Many principles are applied to others but not us. Do you see these problems in our church? May God have mercy and help us to confess and correct them!
Freedom – Our Golden Calf
Freedom of the First Amendment rights taken to the extreme is a Golden Calf.
“I have the freedom not to wear masks in this pandemic I disagree it may save lives. I will defend my right even with my life!” In a pandemic of infection that is spread by breathing in airborne viruses, without effective vaccines, wearing an effective mask is the obvious choice. It is common sense! Doctors and nurses did that for a century to prevent cross-contamination. Why did it become a symbol of faith or a political statement? In this case, God did not promise you will be protected against the COVID-19 virus by going to church worship without wearing a mask during the height of the pandemic. In this case, the freedom of not wearing a mask may not only get you infected but also others if you get infected. What about “Love your neighbor as yourselves as God’s expectation in the scripture?”
Warning - God hates idolatry
The Bible uses Jeroboam as a comparison to all the later kings: “Sinned like him” or “Worse than him” etc. The greatest sin he made was leading Israel to worship idols with two golden calves (1 Kings 12:25-33) instead of leading them to the truth and righteousness of God.
How many of us use "dollars & cents" to replace God as the center of our lives? Trade relationship with God for a good standard of living?
We are the modern Noah (two of everything). In Jer 13:26 "I myself will lift up your skirts over your face, and your shame will be seen".
Yes, these awful words are but from the mouth of God to warn the Israelites (See Isa 1:21; Jer 5:7; Ezek 16:31; Micah 1:7; Nahum 3:4).
I had seen in certain churches; bingo is big business, and they justified that gambling is not a sin provided that it is proper and not using bread money. But what about "Thou shall not covet"? See John 2:13-17. The Lord's anger… It is abominable to God to do business in the name of God for profit in churches. Esau gave up his birthright in exchange for a bowl of soup.
-> Aren't we the same? Sell righteousness for gain. Many sell their Christian name for a profit. Judas betrayed Jesus with 30 pieces of silver which was later named the “Blood” money. As the church of Jesus Christ, how do we witness for Christ?
vs6 The Result of the Sin
"And they rose… offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings; and ... eat and drink and rose up to play.
The Broke Loose People resulted in many deaths
The word "play" implies sexual immorality in their form of “meeting gods”, it is the same word used in Gen 26:8 where Isaac “played” with his wife Rebecca. See how unregenerate people fit the description of Rom 1:18-32.
The partial responsibility is that Aaron let them break loose (Ex32:25). He was unable to stand firm against their sinning! As a result, 3000 men fell by the sword of Levites that day (Ex32:28) and many more died in the God-sent plague (Ex32:35).
The Inadequacy of the Religious Ceremony
"They... offered burnt offerings and brought fellowship offering." These offerings are not new. Their forefathers had been practicing them for years. But they missed the spiritual meaning of redemption and propitiation and the desire to have total dedication and fellowship with God. When the animal is offered, the hands of the offerors are laid upon the head of the victim and then killed before the Lord as the atonement for the sinner. The laying on of hands demonstrates his identification with the offerings (die to sin). He redeems his life at the expense of the innocent. In that, we see how God satisfies His righteousness and His love in Jesus Christ by his death through our faith in the Savior.
Day in and day out going to church services can mean nothing without being born again in spirit by the grace of Jesus Christ through faith! Eph 2:8-9
Conclusion:
We can see how as -
a) Individual – will affect the whole body of Christ the church if we do not hold fast to God's principles to be careful in handling the word of God and knowing God in an intimate relationship with Him (as church leaders, as teachers, and parents.) How it will cost others and ourselves?
b) Church as a whole in witnessing to the world. How do we stand as "Light and salt' in this world?
Shall we examine our lives and our dealings before the Lord so that we are pleasing Him? Let’s pray!
