Sunday Morning May 31, 2009 Bel Aire Baptist Church
Series: “Moving With God (Exodus)” [#21]
A TIME TO KILL
Exodus 19:1-25; 32:1-24
Introduction:
I have preached several sermons in this series that have had titles that began with “A Time To…” Up until this point, I had decided that “A Time To Fight” was my best; but I have changed my mind. This sermon title is even better- “A Time To Kill”. There has definitely been some people that I would like to kill- Amen? Now before you get mad at me, it is in the Bible.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 (NIV)
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build…”
As we studied last week, all of the people agreed to follow all of the Lord’s commands. Then, they prepared themselves for 3 days so that they were ready to be in the presence of God. After 3 days, the people gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai where God met with them. Talk about an awesome time in their lives. They stood and watched as smoke billowed from the mountain; as the mountain shook; and as the trumpet sound got louder and louder. God was there and things couldn’t have been better; but God doesn’t just let us hangout at the mountain, we have to keep living.
Before they had gone to the foot of Mount Sinai, they had promised God, “We will do everything the LORD has said”. God had told the people to obey Him fully and keep His covenant and if they did; they would be His treasured possession. Who here wants to be God’s treasured possession? Who here wants to experience the presence of God? God created us for fellowship. God wants us to worship Him and follow Him. God wants his children to be "real." So much of what is happening in our Churches and in the lives of God’s people is "fake." It’s a show. Do you want to be real?
If you want to be real, you must kill your addiction to…
1. Entertainment.
Exodus 19:20-25
The people liked the show of power by God. They liked the feeling of adrenaline running through their body and the tingling feeling they had as God moved; but as soon as Moses went up on the mountain to talk to God that feeling seemed to leave.
God doesn’t care about entertaining us. He came to this earth to save us. If you have to have tingly, happy moments every time you go before God, you are going to be in trouble. The first time we experienced the presence of God it was exciting, but it’s not always going to be exciting.
Exodus 32:1
What happened? Moses had been gone for 40 days. The people got "bored" with their trembling mountain. It was like a child that got the very toy they wanted for Christmas and then one day got tired of it and retired it to the toy box where it has been for the last 5 years.
Has God become a toy in your life that has been put in the toy box?
If you want to be real, you must kill your addiction to…
2. Popularity.
Exodus 32:2-6
Aaron had become in charge, because obviously Moses had to be dead. Anyone with any kind of brain in their head had to know that since Moses had been gone for so long that he had to be dead. No one considered the fact that God wasn’t through speaking to him. No one considered that there was still smoke on the mountain.
All they knew was that they were bored, God wasn’t doing something new for them, and they wanted the new leader to fix it. It is very obvious here that Aaron was more than happy to oblige the people. He didn’t seem that concerned about his brother’s health or well being. Back in Exodus 19:24, God gave Aaron permission to go up on the mountain; but instead of finding out the truth of Moses’ condition, Aaron went to work on the golden calf.
If you want to be real, you must kill your addiction to…
3. Pride.
Exodus 32:7-24
God had to stop what He was doing again and tell Moses what was going on. God told Moses that He was going to destroy them and build His nation from Moses. Moses pleaded with God to not do that and the Bible says that God relented.
Moses went down the mountain carrying “The 10 Commandments”. When he arrived to the camp, he showed up for their worship service. His reaction was to throw down the tablets, take their golden calf, burn their golden calf, ground their golden calf into ashes, scattered its ashes on the water, and made the people drink it.
When Aaron was asked about this, he began to say ridiculous things, such as, “I threw it (the gold) into the fire, and out came this calf”. We become so worried about ourselves and our own desires that they we simply start making it our way or else. We will do whatever it takes in order to be right. It is so tempting for me to want to please people to the point that sometimes I help them build golden calves too.
How do we get golden calves in our lives?
> By looking at men instead of God. The people were looking for the wrong person. They were looking for Moses and not God. In reality what we have done is put our relationship with God on the shoulders of somebody else.
> By staying away from ministry too long. The people had stopped worshipping God. This place was no longer regarded as holy, it was just another mountain. When we stop serving God, it won’t be long before you will want to serve something or someone else.
> By following the crowd. You probably ought to find out where the crowd is going before you just start following them.
> By creating something else to worship. They replaced God with this golden calf. Check out some of the characteristics about this calf.
* It was valuable. It cost them something. Please don’t forget the value of the cross- It’s more valuable than the stuff you have to offer.
* It was something they knew.
* It consumed their time to build.
* It was something they could be proud of.
* It was something that could give them an excuse to engage in bad behavior.
Conclusion:
This morning, I want to ask you, “What must we do to avoid making golden calves? What must we do to keep it real?”
Our answers are found within the invitation.
In order to keep it real, we must have…
1. An advocate. Israel had Moses- We have Jesus.
2. An accountability partner. The people had Moses. Find somebody.
3. Confession.
4. Repentance.
5. Correction.
Are you being real or fake?
