Exodus 32:2-6
1 Cor. 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is perhaps the severest letter that St. Paul ever wrote. He wrote it to the Christians living in Corinth, a city as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah of old, and not much different from many cities in America. The Corinthians believed in Jesus as their Savior, and yet were so carnally secure in their faith that they felt free to continue in the very sins that they had learned to give up, sins like idolatry and fornication. In an effort to show them how displeased God was with their behavior, St. Paul referred them to examples from the lives of the children of Israel, examples that vividly portray what happens when you defy the Lord. In our sermons for the next few weeks we are going to consider some of these examples, examples that were written not only for the admonition of the Corinthians but also as an admonition for you and me, as the text says, “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come,” 1 Corinthians 10:11.
St. Paul begins by speaking of the sin of idolatry. “Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” This doesn’t sound much like idolatry but like a lot of fun, eating and drinking and playing. The incident he is referring to happened when the Children of Israel were gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Just before the events of this text the Lord had called an all-family meeting, a meeting in which, with a roar of thunder and spectacular flashes of lightening, He once more confirmed His promise of a new land and a Savior from sin. This is what he said, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation,” Exodus 19:4-6. What was the response of the people? “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do,” ibid. 8.
Now God, fully assured that His people would remain faithful, called Moses to the top of the mountain to receive the 10 Commandments. However, during Moses’ absence, the people grew restless. They expected him to return any moment, but he didn’t come back. They waited for a month but he didn’t come back. God hadn’t told them that Moses would be gone for 40 days, but He expected His people to trust Him to lead them to the promised land, Moses or no Moses. Here they were, stranded in the middle of a desert. Where was the invisible Lord who had made all these promises? They were tired of waiting for God’s leader, so they put pressure on Moses’ brother, Aaron, to make them a leader like the Egyptians had, something they could see and follow. Aaron was in a difficult position. He trusted in his heart that Moses would eventually return, but he also knew how volatile this mob was. He had seen how they, in a moment’s notice, could turn on someone and stone him or her to death. As a result Aaron, in a moment of great weakness, asked them to break off their earrings and bring him the gold so he could create a god they could see. The creature that Aaron created was the golden calf.
It is hard to believe what Aaron did next. He gave this golden calf credit for leading Israel out of Egypt and bringing them this far. He had to have known better in his heart because he had personally witnessed how it was not a calf but God who with a mighty hand had delivered His people from Egypt. Yet now, in spite of the fact that he was their religious leader and a representative of almighty God, he built an altar to this calf and said, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.“ Exodus 32:4. That was an outright lie. But it didn’t stop there. To satisfy their evil lust, Aaron proclaimed the next day as a feast day; not just any feast day, but a feast day to the LORD. What a feast day it was. From earliest dawn the Israelites sacrificed animals as a sort of barbeque whereupon “they sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play”. Play they did! They concluded this ceremony with one of those licentious orgies just like the Egyptians did Now it happened while they were celebrating, Moses came down, and when he saw them dancing naked around the golden calf, he took the two tables of stone that the LORD had engraved and threw them to the ground. Then he took the senseless image, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered the ashes on the neighboring brook, and compelled the Children of Israel to drink it. In commenting on this incident the Psalmist David wrote, “They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of a calf that eateth hay.” Psalm 106:19,20.
The whole problem was that the people in the wilderness couldn’t wait. They had no patience. They wanted a god now, so they told Aaron to make some gods for them. Aaron, to bide time, asked for their gold to make the idol, figuring that they wouldn’t be so quick to give away their wealth to make the new god. But they chose to give up their gold. We might even call it “fool’s gold”. The men took off their earrings, and persuaded their wives and children to part with theirs. Why? Because they couldn’t, or better, because they wouldn’t wait. They wanted to move forward now to possess the promised land, and they were willing to surrender anything so they could follow an idol of their choice. They wanted a god who was convenient, comfortable and that they could control. They wanted to worship as they pleased, when they pleased and how they pleased. It isn’t that they didn’t want God, but they wanted Him now.
Is it any different today? People today, just like then, have no patience. We want things to happen at once. If we don’t get our way, if the will of God stands in our way, we tend to deny Him and make our own gods. That’s idolatry, though we would be the last to admit it. We fashion our “golden calves”, out of material, earthly things, or even other people. There are many golden calves out there, and you know what they are as well as I do. Think for a moment of how the devil leads people to worship at the altar of TIME- “We must check with our daily planner to see if we can squeeze in a little time for Jesus;” or think of the idol of SPORTS – The overwhelming sports programs of many school systems leaves our children little time for family-worship; or the idol of MONEY - We need to work so many extra hours to maintain our lifestyle that many times we don’t have time or energy for worship; and then there are other idols like TV, or HOW WE LOOK AND DRESS, and even COUNTRY. Yes, some people put patriotism above loyalty to God. The Bible teaches us that the road of impatience can only lead to spiritual disaster.
Think of how “I want it now” has led many people from their faith. When we are sick, when we have a problem, we want an answer now. It is hard to accept the truth that God doesn’t always work as fast we like. Just like He kept Israel waiting for over a month, so He may keep us waiting for a life-time so that we learn to trust Him. “Tribulation worketh patience,” Romans 5:3, writes the apostle. Think of the foolish questions we tend to ask in our affliction, “Why can’t I do the things I used to?” “Why do I have to keep on suffering?” “Why doesn’t He come and take me home?” His answer is, “Be patient. Trust me. Remove that frown and smile.” “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy,” James 5:11.
How often has the “I want it now” attitude invaded churches! Many Christians easily fall prey to theologies that promise them prosperity and easy living – that’s a false Gospel! They invent a god modeled after their own image - the god of "NOW". Ministers who were once true to their calling have given in to the wishes of their pleasure and entertainment-seeking congregations. In an effort not to offend those who support the church they allow just about anything to keep or build a bigger crowd as though the size of the crowd would give them a stamp of legitimacy. When will we ever learn that it is not our out-reach committees, not our knowledge or power that builds the Kingdom of God. Actually, our church may not grow today; it may not grow tomorrow, it may not grow this year, but we need to learn the patience to trust God to build His kingdom through His Word by the power of the Holy Ghost. This is the source of life and there is no other.
Indeed, this text is an admonition to us “upon whom the ends of the world are come,” It is a call to repentance, to ask our God to forgive us our “golden calves” and to find in His Son the strength to wait. “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” Psalms 27:14, for “they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31.
We couldn’t ask for more than this. Amen!