The Golden Calf

                                                              Exodus 32:1-8

 

October 28, 2024

 

The Golden Calf

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.”

Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons, and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.”  So, all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.  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.”

When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.”  So, the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward, they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.  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, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

 

As you read this account, I’m willing to bet the farm, I do not own, that you were thinking, no one would be that dumb.  Let me ask you a few questions: have you ever allowed a pastor or priest who had a very close walk with the Lord, and die or leave, and another man came in their place who seemed not to have that same leadership, and you quit going to that Church building?  Many of you just quit and have found someone else to follow.  Are you any different from them?  They believed in Moses God till he was no longer in their presence.  Was it God they were following, or the God that Moses followed?  Following a man will get you to leave God, who loves you.

 

I must keep asking questions of you. Have you gone looking for a god who you can see, one that you have made yourself?  The Scripture is very clear that anything we put ahead of God has taken his place, and that is a very dangerous place to put yourself or your family.

 

What happens to people who chase after the world’s gods? They worship before them and go out with only one thing in mind, to do as they please, in that the gods of this world do not have the Holy Spirit to guide you into all Truth, so you buy into whatever the world is selling. 

What is the solution to your problem? First, examine who you are following; it might even be yourself.  In 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”  Let me share with you a part of the test: when I am rude, unloving, and unkind to my wife or anyone, the Spirit of God that lives in me, not only brings that to my attention but requires me to ask for forgiveness.  I first must acknowledge I’ve sinned, and that is agreeing with God and asking His forgiveness and the person my actions have hurt.

If you can do as you please, then the Spirit of God is not in you; you have failed the test.  In my life I’ve met some People who go by the title of Christian, who attend bible study, and are active at the building, but are some of the most mean-spirited people I’ve ever met,  They act as if their Citizenship is earth, and it may be, but many of them will break fellowship with people if they do not agree with them.  Jesus does not tell us to be that kind of person.  They have made a golden calf, and it is them.

From ​our Back Porch,

Bob Rice