9/23/07 - Pentecost 17 - Exodus 32:7-14

WE ARE GOD'S PEOPLE
- Although we quickly turn away
- Because Jesus seeks his favor

In our culture and in our society today, the word “people” is simply used to describe any group of individuals. They might not even have anything in common other than standing in the same general area as each other, but they may still be referred to as a group of people. The word “people” in Scripture, however, and especially in the Old Testament, often times has a much deeper meaning. If a group was identified as “people,” that usually meant they shared a bond, that they belonged to a special group, that they considered each other as family. For example, an Old Testament Israelite’s people were those in his clan, those in his tribe, and those in the entire Hebrew nation. In fact, throughout Scripture the Israelites are called God’s “people.” That means there was a unique relationship, a responsibility, an ownership, a pride. The Israelites were proud to be God’s people.
But as we come across God’s Old Testament people today in Exodus 32, we find them in the middle of a situation in which they didn’t act like God’s people at all. The Israelites were gathered around Mt. Sinai and the Lord had called Moses up onto the mountain to give him the commands for his people. But when Moses was up on the mountain for quite a few days longer than the Israelites expected, God’s people did the unthinkable! God’s people turned to a false god! They actually made a golden calf and bowed down to it as their god. This happened while Moses was still up on the mountain, and so, “the LORD said to Moses, ‘Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.’” Did you notice what God called the Israelites? He tells Moses, “They are your people! They are the ones you led out of Egypt! You are an Israelite! You are their leader! Go down and see what your people have done!”
The Lord was not about to claim any connection to them after they way they had dishonored him. He was not about to call them “his people” when they were acting like his enemies. Especially because they had no excuse! They were at the foot of Mt. Sinai after all! The mountain that was still covered in a huge cloud because of God’s power. A mountain they were terrified of just weeks before as the thunder and lightning of the Lord’s glory came down around it. In fact, if any of them or their animals touched the mountain, they died! They were in the presence of the Lord. They could physically see the effects of it. But when they got a little impatient, what did they do? They built an idol out of melted gold and claimed it as their god, when right behind them an entire mountain was covered in the glory of the one who had proved he was their God time and time again.
We shake our heads at what the Israelites did, don’t we? How could they have possibly turned their backs on the Lord so quickly and so blatantly with the evidence of the true God right in front of their faces and with the love of the true God demonstrated so clearly in their recent past?
We probably shouldn’t shake our heads too long at what the Israelites did. We aren’t all that different. We turn away just as quickly and just as blatantly as they did at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Because we too have heard what the Lord has said. We too are in the presence of the Lord every day. We too have seen the Lord’s love fill our lives. But then what happens? As soon as we walk out these doors after church, we completely forget about what has been said. We seem to ignore what the Lord has just told us.
Last week in our sermon we talked about refreshing people with forgiveness. But what did you do throughout this week? Did that ever cross your mind? Are you still holding that grudge? Are you still nitpicking and seeking out sins that you think someone might do? Are you holding something over another’s head? Are you still angry at what has happened in the past? Didn’t you hear what God had told you just last week? How quickly you have turned away.
The week before that we talked about humility being the mark of a Christian. But has your humility improved in the last two weeks? Are you still proud about your accomplishments? Do you base your self assurance and confidence on what you are able to do and how you can handle things in this life? How quickly you have turned away. The week before that was Liturgy Sunday and we discussed how we are to devote ourselves to the liturgy because the liturgy is formed by the words of God. We have gone through the liturgy for three weeks now since then. Have you even noticed? Have you made a conscious effort to devote yourselves to the liturgy or have you been going through it as you always have been - with wandering thoughts and mindless repetition and half-hearted emotion?
How quickly I have turned away in that respect. How quickly we have all turned away. We may not be at the foot of Mt. Sinai in all its glory, but we are at the foot of some magnificent mountains and the glories of God’s creation - we are in the presence of God and we can see it every day. And yet we turn away. We might not have Moses retrieving the words of the Lord for us at the moment, but we have the Word of the Lord in every one of our homes. And yet we turn away. We may go home and actually build a golden calf to worship, but when we forget about what the Lord has said, when we decide to do something other than what the Lord wants us to do, when our wants take priority over the Lord’s, those are idols just the same. And those idols are just as blasphemous and just as demeaning to our Lord. We are no different than the Israelites in Exodus 32. We turn away just as quickly and just as often.
Don’t think that the Lord is OK with that. He was furious at the Israelites for doing the same thing! He was angry enough to destroy his own people! “‘I have seen these people,’ the LORD said to Moses, ‘and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them.’” The Lord is not pleased with sin. The Lord does not tolerate his Word being set aside for something else. And we are all guilty of that. We, along with the Israelites, deserve to be destroyed for that. And “it is a dreadful thing,” the book of Hebrews says, “to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).
The Israelites didn’t know how close they were to complete annihilation. They did not know what almost happened. They were fortunate to have Moses still up on that mountain. Because when he heard what had happened, “Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God.” Moses knew what his fellow Israelites did was wrong. He knew they deserved to be destroyed. He knew that the Lord had every right to wipe them off the face of the earth. And so Moses sought his favor. He didn’t ask the Lord to consider all of the good things they had done. He didn’t point the Lord to the potential they had as a people. He appealed to God’s mercy and said, “O LORD, why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?... Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self.” Moses relied on the Lord’s love. And notice that he calls the Israelites, “Your people, whom you brought out of Egypt. These are your people, Lord! They belong to you! You’ve claimed them as your own and you promised them an inheritance! Do not go back on your love. Do not rescind your promises. Do not forget your people.” And because Moses sought the favor of the Lord, the Lord had mercy and did not destroy his people.
Doesn’t this story give us a striking parallel to what Christ has done for us? As long as human beings have lived on this earth we have been rebelling and sinning and turning away from our Father. And every sin deserves the destruction of eternal death in hell. And so Jesus stepped up in our place. He sought his Father’s favor. He appealed to his love. He begged for his mercy. And his Father listened. Moses is a beautiful type of Christ in Exodus 32 because both of them interceded for the people.
But there’s also a big difference between what Moses did for the Israelites and what Jesus did for us. Moses pointed towards the Lord’s promise; Jesus was the Promise. He was the solution to the problem. Because although God the Father listened to his Son who sought his favor on our behalf, the punishment of sin still had to be administered. God is loving, but God is also just. That means he has to carry out justice - he has to do what he said he’d do. And he promised that sin would have its consequences. God cannot break his promises and still be true God. And so God the Father said to his Son, “I have heard your plea for my people. But you will have to take the punishment for what they have done. You will be despised. You will be destroyed. You will be forsaken by me. You, my only Son, will be disowned for a time so that those sinners can be my people.” Jesus did much more than simply seek the Lord’s favor. He offered himself up for you. He sacrificed himself for you. So that now Peter can say to you, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God” (1 Peter 2:9-10).
We are the people of God. We are the people of the Lord - slow to anger and abounding in love. That means he will fight for us. He will stand up for us. He will protect us because we are his. He has chosen us to be with him forever and that is exactly what will happen. He will make sure that whatever happens to us on this earth will not affect what will happen to us in eternity. We are God’s people although we quickly turn away. We are God’s people because Jesus sought his favor and sacrificed himself. And so “Come, let us bow down in worship,” Psalm 95 urges us, “let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care” (Psalm 95:6-7).
Amen.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.” - Psalm 33:12