Tag: Idolatry

Morning Musing: Exodus 32:2-6

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“Aaron replied 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.’ So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaon. He took the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, ‘Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it and made an announcement: ‘There will be a festival to the Lord tomorrow.’ Early the next morning they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented fellowship offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been given a set of instructions you didn’t properly understand? The result is often that you do the wrong thing without realizing it. Maybe you do something that falls more in line with a previous understanding than the one you didn’t quite get this time. Either at, your doing the wrong thing is the result. While Moses was up on the mountain, after the people had agreed to play by God’s rules, the first thing they did was the wrong thing. Worse yet, they were led into it. Let’s talk about what’s going on here, and making sure we understand God properly.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 20:22-26

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“Then the Lord told Moses, ‘This is what you are to say to the Israelites: You have seen that I have spoken to you from have. Do not make gods of silver to rival me; do not make gods of gold for yourselves. Make an earthen altar for me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your flocks and herds. I will come to you and bless you in every place where I cause my name to be remembered. If you make a stone altar for me, do not build it out of cut stones. If you use your chisel on it, you will defile it. Do not go up to my altar on steps, so that your nakedness is not exposed on it.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

While listening to a podcast segment in the car about the ongoing border crisis with our youngest the other day, we wound up in a conversation about national boundaries and how you knew which side of the line you were on. It was a good conversation from an astutely inquisitive mind. Rivers make easy natural boundaries, but when you have long stretches with no rivers, things are a bit trickier. With the Ten Commandments, God gave the people the big picture boundaries of a relationship with Him. He knew, though, that we live our lives in the small picture. As a result, once those were in place, He started giving them a whole bunch of signposts that were intended to help them know which side of the boundary they were on. Over the next few weeks, we are going to look at a whole bunch of these signposts. Some are fairly easy to understand, but some are a lot stranger to us. Let’s talk today about why this mattered and what these particular boundaries were for.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 20:4-6

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“Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow in worship to them, and do no serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The theme of a jealous spouse is a fairly common one in our stories, and it is a uniformly negative picture. That is, the jealous spouse is always the villain. Here in the second of the foundational commands God gives the people for what it looks like to live in a covenant relationship with Him, though, we find God describing Himself as jealous. He wants us all to Himself, and doesn’t want us putting anyone or anything ahead of Him. Let’s talk about why this is, what idolatry is, and why it’s a good thing that God is jealous for us.

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Truly Unique

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What exactly is it we believe about God? Better yet, what should we believe about God? The Scriptures are obviously our most important guide here for followers of Jesus. Recent results from The State of Theology survey conducted last year by LifeWay and Ligonier Ministries, however, suggests that folks who self-consciously identify themselves as followers of Jesus hold some beliefs about Him and about the Christian worldview that do not line up with the Scriptures in any way, shape, or form. Over the next few weeks leading to Easter, we are going to examine some of the most egregious examples and talk about why the truth is so much better. In this first part, we will address the idea that God accepts worship from all different religions. Let’s dig in to see what’s true and how we can live in light of that.

Truly Unique

A few years ago, I was given a Kobalt 80V battery-operated leaf blower. All the leaf blowers I had owned to that point were ones you had to plug in. Being able to go cordless for the first time (and at a point when leaves in our backyard will pile up to a foot deep in the fall if we don’t stay on it) was fantastic. What I like even more than its power and portability, though, is the fact that its battery works in multiple different tools. I now own a leaf blower, a set of hedge trimmers, and a chainsaw that all use the same battery. That is just super convenient. 

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Digging in Deeper: Amos 5:20-23

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“Won’t the day of the Lord be darkness rather than light, even gloom without any brightness in it? I hate, I despise, your feasts! I can’t stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. Even if you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will have no regard for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle. Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Israel was a very religious nation. They observed any number of festivals and rituals. They offered sacrifices. They sang songs and prayed prayers. And it seemed like all of this religiosity on their part was working. After all, their economy was booming, and their military was strong. Clearly God was for them and nothing bad could happen to them. And then Amos came out of the fields from keeping his sheep and delivered this warning to them. Let’s talk today about what this meant for Israel and what it might mean for us.

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