We are jumping back into Exodus, so we want to recap a little bit. Exodus is the story of the people of Israel being delivered from captivity by God Himself, using Moses as His leader. Today, we're going to be in Chapter 32, where we'll study two lessons in leadership with Moses and Aaron. We'll see what bad leadership looks like, and what great leadership looks like in today's passage. But before we do that, we've got to lay a little foundation. I'm going to ask you to go to Exodus Chapter 20 with me, and we're going to look at two verses in Chapter 20 because we need this foundation for everything to really make sense in Chapter 32. Exodus Chapter 20, verses 3 and 4, these are the first two commandments of the Ten Commandments: "You shall have no other gods before Me." Pretty straightforward. The second commandment: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." Pretty clear, pretty straightforward.
Now let's fast forward to Exodus Chapter 24, because we need to make sure the people got that. Exodus Chapter 24, Verse 3: Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules, and all the people answered with one voice and said, "All the words that the Lord has spoken, we will do." So that brings us to Exodus Chapter 32. And I want us to see ourselves, as much as we hate to admit it at times, being like the people of Israel. We come to church, we hear a message, God stirs our heart, and we say, "God, I am going to do what it is you are leading me to do, and I'm going to be faithful to do that. I'm not deviating." But then life comes along, things get a little ambiguous, things are uncertain, and we start to develop some uncertainty in our lives.
This is what happens with the people of Israel in Chapter 32 of Exodus, beginning at verse 1. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." So here's what's happening: Moses has given them the law, and now he's gone up on the mountain of God, and he's been gone for 40 days. Nobody's seen him, nobody's heard from him, and the people are now wondering, "Well, if he's not around to lead us, what should we be doing?"
And here's why I want us to really lock into this: I'm speaking for myself, I would imagine some of you can relate. There are times when I am seeking God's direction in my life, and everything is quiet, meaning I'm not hearing from God, I'm not getting the answer I'm looking for, I'm not hearing clear instruction on what to do next. And so what begins to happen is this temptation comes along to create my own solution. Now, I don't know if you can relate to this, but my biggest problems generally come from my best thinking. So, some of you can relate. So generally, my solution to deal with the problems that come from my best thinking is, what? Do some more thinking. And it never ends well.
And that's what's happening here. The people of Israel are saying, "Okay, this Moses guy who led us out, obviously he's died or something's happened to him. He's not coming back. Let's take matters into our own hands." The temptation for us is we do the same thing: "God, I need your solution to whatever my problem is, and I'm not hearing from God, so I go create a solution of my own." And what begins to happen is I begin to put my confidence in that person, that job, that situation, that relationship, instead of putting my confidence in God. I am looking for satisfaction in something other than Him.
So, Moses delays to come down from the mountain, and the people go to Aaron. Now, Aaron is number two in charge. He's Moses's kin; they should be of the same heart and same mind. He was called when Moses was called; he's seen all the cool stuff. "Aaron, this Moses guy's disappeared, we want you to make us an idol." Aaron had a choice in the moment. He could have said no, that's not what God's led us to do, but what we find about Aaron is, like a lot of leaders today, he leads by popularity. "That's what the people want, I guess. I don't want to make any waves. I don't want people not to like me. I don't want these people to kill me, so I guess I'll do what they're asking of me, even though I know it's not the right thing." Here's the reality of leadership: you can't lead from a place of compromise; you have to lead from conviction. And what we're finding with Aaron is, Aaron lacks conviction; he leads from compromise.
So they come to him: "Up, make us gods who should go before us. As for this Moses guy, the guy that brought us out of Egypt, we don't know what's happened to him." So Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron, and he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf.
So you want to hang on to the picture here. Aaron feels the pressure. "Hey, Aaron, Moses is obviously flaked out. We need a leader, we need somebody to go before us, we need something to worship. What are you going to do about it?" So Aaron turns to his best thinking. "Hey, bring me all your gold." They bring it; he melts it down, he takes his tools, and he starts forming the idol. So he goes from not just listening to the whims of the people, but to being an active participant in their sin. Remember, he always had the option to say no. He always had the option to lead them back to the path of righteousness, but he chose not to. In fact, he becomes a willing participant.
So he forms with a graving tool a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." So I want you to pay attention to the downward spiral. "Hey, Aaron, Moses is flaked out. We want you to give us gods to lead us." So Aaron makes the golden calf, but then he assigns the credit for what God has done to the creation of his hand. I've been guilty of that. "Wow, look at what I accomplished in my own might, my own strength, my own creativity," and I robbed God of His glory and I place it to something temporal, easily done, guilty as charged.
This is where Aaron's at. He begins to tell them, "These are now your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." Verse 5: 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." Now notice in your Bible, "Lord" is capitalized. So what Aaron is doing is, Aaron's conscience is bothering him a little bit. So he's not dismissing God; he's saying, "We'll worship God and the golden calf." And here's where we tend to be guilty. We do the same thing: "God, I'm losing trust, I'm losing confidence, so I'm gonna create another thing here, and I'm going to start to worship it with my time and my resources, my energy, my focus, and my attention. But I'm not—I don't want to deny you totally, I'm just gonna put another god on the shelf with you."
And that's what Aaron is doing with the people. We see this in polytheistic society, so like in India, where there are millions of gods to choose from. "Oh well, let me put Jesus on the shelf with my three, four, five, ten, twelve other gods that I'm worshiping." Remember the commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." The people already knew that, and yet here they are, not only creating a god but now they are worshiping that god equally with the Lord God.
So 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." Well, how do we end up worshiping our idols? Well, it's with our time, our energy, and our money. So the old saying holds true: if you want to know what a man truly worships, you look at his calendar and you look at his checkbook, and you'll find where his priorities lie. And so we can be guilty of worshiping with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and worshiping the wrong things.
So this feast is planned. Verse 6: They rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings, the very things that are supposed to be for God. They brought peace offerings, which are also supposed to be for God, and the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Now the words "to play" are kind of interesting because when you study that in the original language, the idea is it was more of an orgy, not that they were gonna go play sandlot volleyball afterwards. So what was happening is the calf was a deity in Egyptian culture; it was familiar to them. This orgiastic worship—and I don't know if "orgiastic" is a word, but it is today—was part of the celebration. And so they are taking what is God's and they are combining it with what is garbage.
Folks, in our world today, we see the church wrestling with this same thing. Do we follow the winds of popularity and compromise the message and corrupt what is rightfully God's with the things that are popular with the world? It's a battle going on even in our culture today. So they rose up, they began to party, and not in a good way.
So we get to verse 7, and as we get through verse 7, I want you to put yourself in Moses's shoes for a minute. He's been alone with God for forty days, and now all of a sudden, God says to him, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves." I don't think that would be an enjoyable conversation. "Hey, Carl, your people, your people, the ones you're responsible for, here's what they're doing." Verse 8: They've turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They've made for themselves a golden calf, and have worshipped it, and sacrificed to it, and said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." And the Lord said to Moses, "I've seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people."
So Moses, your people, the ones you've been leading, the ones you brought out of Egypt, they are running amok, and they are a stiff-necked people. You'll see that term in Scripture. The easiest way to describe it is, we have a pitbull at home named Lily. Lily is an amazing dog, except when Lily decides Lily doesn't want to do what you're asking Lily to do. And so she will stiffen up her neck, and you literally have to drag her back to the house or wherever you're trying to take her. She's not going; she's being obstinate. This is how God is defining the people of Israel: "I am trying to lead them, and they are digging in their heels, and they are unwilling to follow me."
So when we continue this thought process, notice what else God says to Moses. Verse 10: "Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you." So God is telling Moses, "Don't even talk to me about these people because I'm furious. I want to wipe them off the earth, and I'll establish my covenant through you." Moses has a choice here, as a leader. He could have said, "Whoa, okay, God, you know, obviously, you're ticked, but a great leader cares more about his people than he cares about himself. As a parent, I care more about my children than I care about my own life. As a pastor, I have to care more about my congregation than I care about my well-being. As a church, we have to care more about the people outside these doors than we do about our own comfort. Am I willing to sit aside and just watch God's wrath burn, or am I willing to get in the middle of a very difficult situation?" And here's what Moses does, remember, we're seeing two examples of leaders: Aaron, not so good, but Moses is something we need to pay attention to.
Verse 11: Moses implored the Lord his God and said, "O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people whom you've brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?" Notice what Moses does here: he pushes back. "Yeah, these are your people before they were ever my people. You're the one that delivered them. Why are you letting your wrath burn hot?" Do you think that was a comfortable place for Moses to be? Not at all. He's been in front of God for forty days; he knows how holy and mighty and righteous God is, and he's going to challenge. Notice what else happens.
Verse 12: "Why should the Egyptians say, with evil intent, 'Did he bring them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth?'" "God, don't give credit to your enemies. Don't give them a reason to doubt who you are. God, remember your character, remember your promise, remember your nature." Notice where else he goes in his conversation with the Lord: "Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. God, they don't deserve it, but would you turn because of who you are?" See, Moses does something that's key for us. He reminds God of God's character, he reminds God of God's promises, he reminds God of God's covenant. He puts all of those things back in front of God. "God, here's who you are, here's what you do, here's who these people are to you. Would you relent, not that they deserve it, but because of your nature?" In Daniel Chapter 9, you see Daniel pray a similar prayer for the people. He's praying that God would relent from unleashing judgment upon the people, and he says, "Not because of who they are, but because of who you are. Not because they deserve it, but because who you are. You're merciful, you're full of grace." Notice where he goes with this: "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'"
Church, I want to ask you a question: Who has God given you responsibility for that you need to be fighting for in prayer? There are people in all of our lives who don't know to pray for themselves, who are busy running from God, or they're ignorant, or whatever their excuse is, but they are not looking for God. They are in a precarious position, and God has put you in place to stand in the gap for them.
A number of years ago, my oldest son wasn't walking with the Lord. It broke my heart. All I knew to do was pray for him. And this is what I loved, how God works. Every day I prayed, "God, box him in, surround him, don't let him get away from you." So in the Navy, he was assigned to a submarine. It gets even better: They find out his dad's a preacher. "Young man, young sailor, you're now responsible for leading the Protestant services on the submarine every week." And here's a father on his knees going, "Amen." But I needed to fight for him. I needed to fight for him. There may be people in your family you need to be fighting for. "God, God, God, God, God, God, I know they are thumbing their nose at you, but because of who you are, do not let that glory escape you." As a church, we need to be praying that for our city. "Father, there are people out here that don't even know to look for you. Would you hold off on your judgment? Would you glorify your name in their lives?" That's the greatest thing we could be doing as a church, going to battle on our knees for the people around us.
The question I want you to ponder is: Who are the people you need to be battling for? Is that your family, is it people in your school, your workplace, the community around you? Who needs you fighting on their behalf? Who needs you going before God, standing in the gap, putting yourself at risk, saying, "God, because of who you are, because of your great mercy, your love, because of what Jesus did on the cross, move in their life?" Notice where we go from here.
Moses implored the Lord—verse 14—and the Lord relented from the disaster that He had spoken of bringing on His people. Prayer changes things. The married couples' class started a study today on a movie called "War Room." "War Room" is all about a woman who does battle in prayer for people who aren't even looking for God's help, for people who aren't even looking for God's solution. The question for us is: Are we those kinds of people? Do we go to war on behalf of others so that God can be glorified in their lives?
Verse 15: Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand. He's got the Ten Commandments written on these tablets. They were written on both sides, on the front and on the back; they were written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. Joshua, his understudy, is with him. Verse 17: Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted. He said to Moses, "There's a noise of war in the camp." But he said, "It is not the sound of shouting for victory, nor the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear."
And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses's anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. So in one throw, Moses breaks all Ten Commandments. He is ticked because he cares about his people. Now we get a great lesson in leadership once again. He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the people of Israel drink it.
Let me ask you a question: If we were to grind up some gold and put it in some water today, and everybody took a big glass of it, what do you think would happen? Bet, yeah, that's right, and probably not just out at one end. You're probably going to be a double projectile person, right? What Moses was doing was he was showing the people, "This is what your god really is. What you've created is no god. It's nothing more than what's now on the ground." He was proving a point: "Your god is meaningless."
There's a festival that happens in India that I'm always chuckling about a little bit, where they create clay figurines of some of the deities that they worship, and they float them down the river. The only problem is, when water hits clay, it disintegrates. And I've always marveled at that. "You're watching your deity disintegrate in front of you. Wouldn't that make you question a little bit?" And that's the point that Moses is showing them: "Your god is not who delivered you. This calf isn't what delivered you. It's not righteous; it's not holy."
Now it gets kind of funny. The two leaders go head-to-head. Verse 21: Moses said, "Aaron, what did this people do to you that you've brought such a great sin upon them?" Aaron, what gives? You were supposed to be in charge. What in the world did these people do to you that would cause you to do such a thing? And Aaron said, "Don't be mad, let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, it's their fault. They're evil. I'm not gonna take responsibility. It's their problem." Verse 23: For they said to me, "Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." So I said to them, "Let any who have gold, take it off." So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and poof! Here comes the calf.
Wait a minute, we just read Aaron took his time. This was his handiwork. He created this thing; he molded it. But now when he's being held to account, "I don't know what happened, Moses. Like, I took the gold and I threw it in the fire, and poof, there it is." Again, a lesson in leadership: Real leaders are accountable, and they take accountability for their actions, whether that's as a parent, whether that's as a leader in the community, the workplace. I am responsible for my decisions. I am accountable for my decisions because I'm also accountable for my people. Remember, any time Aaron could have said, "Hey folks, we've already made a commitment to God. We're not going to serve other gods. We're not going to make idols." But Aaron was more interested in self-preservation than in doing what was right.
And that's the danger for us in our world today. Am I more concerned about self-preservation, preserving my image, my good name, and my reputation, than I am in doing what's right? Or am I willing to take the stands that are uncomfortable for the sake of doing what's appropriate? Well, we're going to see how Moses deals with this. When Moses saw that the people had broken loose, meaning they're unrestrained, they're going crazy, Aaron had let them break loose to the derision of their enemies. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me."
He drew a line in the sand. "Choose. Where do you stand? Where do you stand?" To stand with Moses, you had to make a public statement. You had to cross over to where he was. "Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. For some of you today, God is asking you, "Are you really on my side? If you are, then come here. Take a stand. Be visible. Be bold." One of the things that I tell people who are being baptized is, "This is your place to plant your flag in the ground and say, 'I'm not moving from here. It's my no turning back point. It's my no compromise point.'" And that's what Moses is asking.
And so we see that all the sons of Levi respond. They gather around him, and he said, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side, each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'" And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and that day about three thousand men of the people fell. Moses knew that the corrupting influence could no longer remain among the people; it had to be cut off. And that's hard. But here's the reality of following Jesus: If you're going to follow Jesus, if you're gonna put your flag in the ground and say, "I'm not turning back," there are things you are going to have to cut off because they are agents of compromise in your life.
That may mean there are certain places you don't go anymore. That may mean there are toxic relationships you don't allow in close anymore. You may have to change what you feed into your mind, your eyes, and your ears to truly follow Him. Following Jesus is not a halfway proposition, which is what the people were trying to make it. "Hey, I'll follow you, God, but I'm also going to follow this." "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." To truly follow Christ means I say, "There is nothing else," and there are some things that have to be severed to make that possible.
Let's keep going. Verse 29: Moses said, "Today you've been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you to this day." When we sever those things that pull us away from God, there is a blessing in that. God begins to pour out His presence upon us, we live wholeheartedly with Him, and we begin to experience life in a new way. I promise, each and every day. Verse 30: The next day, Moses said to the people, "You've sinned a great sin, and now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."
So Moses returned to the Lord and said, "Alas, this people have sinned a great sin; they have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written." This is what a leader really looks like. "God, there's no excusing the behavior, guilty as charged, but I'm turning to you because of who you are. I'm asking you to be merciful. I'm asking you to extend grace. But if you're not willing to do that, then go ahead and blot me out as well. If you're not going to be who I believe you are, then I'd rather not be here."
A true leader puts his life on the line for those that he leads. We can't lose sight of that when it comes to our children, when we're battling for them in a spiritual sense. "God, if you're not gonna move, I'd rather not be here to see their demise. But because I believe in you, because I have confidence in you, I'm trusting you to deliver." We have to be bold when we approach God's throne and stand in the gap for others. It's not dismissing what's happened; it's asking God to be who He is. "God, I'm not trying to excuse anybody's behavior. I'm asking you to be merciful because that's who you are."
Let's continue on here. The Lord said to Moses—verse 33—"Whoever sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now, go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them." God reminds Moses, "I'm going to fulfill the promise that I've made. I'm going to continue to lead you, but there's a consequence. Sin always has a consequence." Verse 35: And then the Lord sent a plague on the people because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.
So, as we wrap this chapter up this morning, a couple of thoughts I want to leave for you: Number one, God has put each one of us in a place to stand in the gap for others. The question is, are we going to do that? As a church, are we going to stand in the gap for our city? Are we going to cry out to God that He would move in the hearts and lives of people? Are we going to remind Him of who He is and what His heart is until we see our community change? Are we doing that for our families? Are we doing that for our neighbors? Are we doing that for our workplace, for our school? Are we engaged in active battle for the people that God has called us to lead? And if we're not, we need to examine ourselves. Why not? Or have we been like Aaron? Have we compromised? "I don't want to offend anybody. I don't want to rock any boats. I don't want people not to like me, so I'm gonna participate in the compromise." That's a hard question every one of us has to answer every day.
But the thing we find is that one man, one woman, on their knees crying out to God on behalf of others can make a difference. It can truly change things. That was the greatest joy of watching my son. God boxed him in on a submarine, and now he's living the life that I always wanted him to have. It's all God, but the battle was mine to fight; it was Carol's to fight. We're called to fight. Sometimes that's one of the uncomfortable parts of leadership. Sometimes I have to put myself in between God and people, and that's not always an easy place to be because there's no excusing the people, but I know my God is bigger than their sin. I know God is bigger than my frailties. I know God is bigger than any challenge that they face.
