“Exodus: A Repentant People” by Rev. Cody Sandahl – November 13, 2016
Introduction
This is our final week in Exodus. Last week we heard about the role of prayer in our lives since it feeds the lion and starves the dragon. Next week Dave Blackburn will be preaching, and then we’ll be in Advent.
This week we see the Israelites at their low point. And we see how God and Moses respond.
Exodus 32:1-14, 19-20
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” 6They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.
7The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; 8they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt! 9The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.” 11But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’“ 14And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
19As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.
Keep Your Eye on the Ball
Well it was my time to shine. My freshman year flag football team was on the move. We had lost almost all our games, but this one was within reach. All we needed was one big play to take the W. And so they went to me. It was a trick play, designed to confuse the opponent and leave me wide open. And it worked. In fact, it worked so well there wasn’t anyone within twenty yards of me when I turned around and saw the quarterback loft the pass in my direction. The ball arced toward my outstretched arms. But then something funny happened. You see, this was a night game. So there were these brilliant white lights everywhere, one of which was shining right into my eyeballs. So after the ball left the quarterback’s hand, I had absolutely no clue where it went. I guessed how long it might take to reach me and flailed my arms about, desperate. I actually hit the ball, but it was with my foot. Incomplete. Game over. Another loss. They dialed up my number and I couldn’t deliver. All because I couldn’t see the ball. It also wasn’t lost on my freshman social consciousness that to anyone watching me, it looked like a wide open guy spazzing out instead of catching an easy pass.
The Israelites in our text today…all they have to do is wait for a little while as Moses receives the Law from God. All they have to do is remember what God did in Egypt. Remember how God has been personally leading them. Remember how God gave them manna and miraculous water. Just remember one of the many mind-bending miracles performed by God over the last few months. Just hold that in mind for a few days while Moses talks to God one-on-one. They are wide open. There isn’t a defender within twenty yards of them. It’s an easy pass-and-catch. But like me, they took their eyes off the ball, they spazzed out, and they dropped the ball.
Have you ever forgotten the most important things in life? Have you ever forgotten who you are? Ever done something you regret? Ever done something wrong because you couldn’t stand waiting around any longer?
It’s really fascinating to see what happens to the Israelites after this. I skipped over a lot of parts of the story, but there are definitely some consequences. 3000 of the leaders were killed. A plague struck the people. They apparently had to drink water with flakes of the charred remains of the bull inside it – maybe that’s where Red Bull came from.
But it’s even more fascinating to see what DOESN’T happen. Aaron squirms out of his responsibility. He says that he just threw some gold in the fire and a bull came out, but that lacks a bit of truthiness. And God lets him remain as the High Priest. As a side note, you can write this down. If I lead this congregation in a ceremony worshiping a golden bull, you can fire me. Although the gold might help the budget, so there’s that.
You know what else DOESN’T happen? God doesn’t abandon them. God doesn’t zap them. God doesn’t smite them. He doesn’t squash them like the bugs that they are.
So if you have ever done something you regret, done something wrong, done something that doesn’t square with who you are and what you believe…God doesn’t squash you either. God doesn’t zap you. God doesn’t smite you.
There are consequences…but God doesn’t grind you into dust. God doesn’t leave you.
Drawn Back to God
In fact, God can even use our worst decisions to draw us back to him. For instance, do you know the story of General Butt Naked? Actually named Joshua, he earned the nickname by going into battle wearing nothing but shoes. In a brutal war in Liberia, he was known as one of the most brutal. When he was asked to estimate how many people he murdered, his best guess was 20,000. He was a king of child soldiers, responsible for turning them into heartless killers. But one day he heard a line from the bible. He said, “I was told that I should tell the truth, and the truth will set me free.” And after that, he sought out a bishop who told him, “All I wanted to tell you is that Jesus loves you, and that he has a better plan for your life.”
Since that day, instead of corrupting child soldiers he started a mission for helping them recover. He visits the families of his victims to try to help them. He became a priest. The bishop who helped him find Jesus later explained, “God has the power to change anyone…even General Butt Naked.”
If one of the most notorious war criminals on the planet can find redemption in Christ, your worst decisions are eligible for redemption in Christ as well. The lie you’ve told or planning to tell. The person you took advantage of. The secret you’re hiding. Whatever it is, it’s not too far for God. And it is those darkest times in our lives, our worst decisions, that are also opportunities to return to Christ. For the truth doesn’t condemn you with God. The truth sets you free.
Reshaping the Sculpture
But why? Why does God offer a way back even for General Butt Naked? Why does God offer a way back despite all of our worst decisions? Why does God offer a way back to these stiff-necked, impatient Israelites?
Well in our first text today we heard the answer. The prophet Jeremiah is sent by God to a potter’s house to watch him make things out of clay. And the container he’s spinning falls apart. It “spoils” the text says. I like that word “spoils,” because it reminds me of fruit rotting. Kind of like what happens to our souls when we hold onto those secrets and those bad decisions.
But, as Jeremiah watched, text says, “he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.” And God says he can do the same thing with the Israelites. He can do the same thing with us. We may do things that spoil, that cause our lives to collapse. But God can rework it into something else – something good. The great sculptor Michaelangelo once said, “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” That’s what God is doing. He sees past the outer level – he sees the sculpture inside you. God sees past the messy clay exterior. He sees the useful and beautiful vessel inside.
That means you aren’t a cheap toaster that gets thrown out when it breaks. You aren’t an old TV that gets tossed so God can upgrade to a flatscreen. You are the family heirloom. You are worth reworking. Repairing. Recovering. Redeeming. You are worth it. Even General Butt Naked is worth it.
Repenting
So what kind of sculpture is inside you, and how can you let it show? There are two basic ways to do that. First you can ask God to chip away at some of the rock that’s standing in the way of your sculpture. What needs to change inside yourself? That’s one way to reveal what God sees inside.
And the other way is outside yourself. In our text today God and Moses both get angry at what’s going on with the Israelites. And that motivates them to do something about it. Another way to let your sculpture show is to see what’s happening around you and do something to make it better.
So does God want to chip away at some unsightly parts of your life right now? Or does God want to deploy you to make something better?
Summary
The biggest point today isn’t how badly we need to change. The biggest point is that God sees something amazing inside of us and is willing to stick with us as long as it takes for that to show through. That’s what he did with the Israelites, that’s what he did with General Butt Naked, and that’s what he does with us, too.
You aren’t an obsolete device, ready to be thrown away. You are a magnificent sculpture in the process of being revealed by the Master Sculptor. Thanks be to God. Amen.
