What Calf Are You Dancing Around?

WHAT CALF ARE YOU DANCING AROUND?

Exodus 32:1-4,19

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. A drill sergeant had just chewed out one of his cadets. As he was walking away, he turned to the cadet and said, "I guess when I die you'll come and dance on my grave." The cadet replied, "Not me, Sarge...no sir! I promised myself that when I got out of the Army I'd never stand in another line!"

2. Husband and wife go to a club. They notice a guy on the dance floor giving everyone a show. He's breakdancing, moon walking and even throwing in a few backflips. The wife turns to the husband and says, "see that guy on the dance floor? He proposed to be 25 years ago and I turned him down!" Husband says "Yeah looks like he's still celebrating!"

3. These humorous stories connect to our scripture tonight.

B. TEXT

32 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.” Exodus 32:1-4

C. A SHOCKER

1. It was not yet six weeks since the people had stood before Mt. Horeb and sworn, 'All that the Lord has spoken will we do.' The blood of the covenant, sprinkled on them, was scarcely dry when they flung off allegiance to Jehovah, demanding other gods to lead them!

2. And when they get their new ‘convenient’ god, their response was so euphoric that it betrayed their feeling of relief from a God who actually expected something from them! The title of this message is, “What Calf Are You Dancing Around?”

I. WE ALL HAVE IDOLS IN OUR HEARTS

A. OUR UNIVERSAL CONDITION

1. Aaron’s statement, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt” is one of the most shocking statements in Scripture.

2. How could anyone – who witnessed the 10 plagues in Egypt, the opening of the Red Sea, the destruction of the Egyptian army, and Mount Horeb on fire – give the credit to a crudely made metal cow? It just goes to show the magnitude – and our willingness – to be deceived.

3. God told Ezekiel, “Son of man, these men have SET UP IDOLS IN THEIR HEARTS....I will [confront them about it] to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, WHO HAVE ALL DESERTED ME FOR THEIR IDOLS.” Ezek. 14:3,5.

4. Notice the word “ALL.” God said it was the universal condition of the people of God that they ALL had idols in their hearts. Ever since the “Fall” of mankind in Genesis 3, humans have put something else in the place of God. It might be our money, our jobs, or sports, our education, our pleasures, our drug, or a loved one, etc. God said, “You shall have no gods before Me.”

B. MAN, AS A CREATED BEING, MUST HAVE A GOD

1. “Up, make us gods.” The most popular person today will be the one who makes gods for the people. It’s a sign of our times that science, medicine, and government are revered almost as gods in our society: they’re the providers and healers of the masses.

2. A “god” is defined as “the principal object of faith and worship...which controls human events and provides benefits to its followers.” That’s exactly what these do.

3. Trouble was, the Israelites didn’t like the God they had – a God who had strict demands and required sacrifices, so they decided to make-up their own version of God. Of course, they chose a god of convenience and leniency.

4. “Aaron, make us a nice little god that we can bring out when it suits us or ignore if we don’t want him around. One that won’t require much or notice if we choose to sin.”

C. WHY EGYPTIAN STATUES HAVE NO NOSES

1. Edward Bleiberg, an overseer of Egyptian art, was surprised when he was asked why the noses were uniformly missing. He thought: over time they get damaged; but he learned another reason.

2. Ancient thieves believed that the statues, placed around burial sites to protect them, were actually gods. So if the thief knocked off the nose with a hammer, the god couldn’t exhale its spirit. If the ear was knocked off, the god could no longer hear what they were doing when they robbed the tomb.