This sermon can be listened to online by visiting:
http://www.cayafellowship.com/2007/08/19/let-it-out-part-4-living-together-things-can-happen/
The story so far ...
The Israelites are pretty high off of the Exodus. They have seen the miraculous work of God in freeing them from the Egyptians. Things are going incredibly well. I think of Moses in the Prince of Egypt as he is coming down from the mountain - regal, expectant, excited ... just wait until the next frame. Because now, he’s gonna have to live with these people.
When Christ is not visible “things” can happen
1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain,
But we just talked last week about dealing with a quiet God
They should have just had faith and trusted
Why couldn’t they just believe and endure
It’s easy to put expectations on people without realizing that everyone is not operating at the same spiritual level.
I was 16 years old when my sisters came to live with us. I was 16, George was 14, Tangy was 11, Chmara was 5, and Jenny and Jessica were 1. But the expectations for me were different than the expectations of my other siblings. Why because I was a little older, a bit more experienced in Mommy Wanda’s family, and had been there much longer. It was also EXPECTED that I would understand that a 16 year old would know a bit more than the 1 year old. I had to love, listen, and give grace to these little girls and help them grow.
In the same way we’ve got to understand that if we are going to be a church that is about “Coming as you are”:
Everyone coming is at a different spiritual level; including no level at all
Everyone coming hasn’t received Christ; and may not even desire to do so
Everyone coming hasn’t been there for the whole story so the concept of “don’t forget what God has done for us” doesn’t even resonate
Everyone coming cannot “understand” or even “comprehend” a quiet or absent God
BUT - everyone is looking for GOD! So they MUST then see God & Christ through us!
Matthew 15:5Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
As a community we have to remember for each other,
As a community we pray for each other,
As a community we plead for each other When we aren’t strong for each other “things” can happen
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." 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, [b] O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
It’s sad but the “they” entity shows up!
“They” come and approach Aaron
“They” put a seed of what not to do in Aaron
“They” influence him
“They” downgrade “this fellow Moses”
“They” prey on his weakness
Yea, so we can look and see and point out that Aaron is weak. But where are his boys? Where is Aaron’s backup?
I pledged Phi Beta Sigma in college. Everyone has stories to tell of when they were pledging. But the one thing we could be sure of whenever we had a set was that we would be locked up - arm in arm - unified, joined, refusing to let anybody else separate us. Why because if they were able to break our line ... or single somebody out ... they could divide us.
The enemy comes to steal kill and destroy ... and he does that through division!
Jude 1:18-20 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires." These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
When we don’t plead for each other “things” can happen
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. [c] Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
7 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ’These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
9 "I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."
11 But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. "O LORD," he said, "why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ’It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ’I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’ " 14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
So what happens:
Aaron makes the golden calf “Holy Cow”
God gets upset, calls them “stiff necked”, says He will destroy them, gonna do a “pillar of fire and brimstone out of the clouds” kind of thing
But Moses jumps in and pleads for them!
You what’s crazy:
They had done wrong.
They had deserved what was coming their way.
But Moses interceded and had mercy for them!
He didn’t sell out his people. Even Aaron will sell out the people that led him once Moses gets to the bottom of the mountain.
21 He said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?" 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!"
Yea, when Moses gets down to the mountain things are not hunky dory and craziness still follows. And Moses gets upset and winds up breaking the tablets and then having to walk all the way back up to the mountain and next time he has to write all the notes and bring them back down again;
But He pleads for the lives of those living with him.
Will we do the same. Are we going to plead for the lives of those with us, even though they don’t have it together, and may not be as developed in their spiritual lives as we are?
As a community we have to remember for each other,
As a community we pray for each other,
As a community we plead for each other
