Exodus 32:1-6
It is good to be here with you today. Thank you for listening. Not last week, but the week before, our lesson was “True Worship” and today’s title is “Improper Worship.”
That lesson was from chapter 30 which was part of God’s long explanation to Moses about how to construct the tabernacle and its furnishing. This lesson is from Exodus 32 and while Moses was receiving this information from God the Israelites went to Aaron and asked him to “make us gods.”
Imagine they had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, they saw the Egyptians destroyed when the waters came together, then God miraculously led and fed them through the desert. They came to Mt Sinai and met God. The mountain shook, they saw lightning and the sound of the trumpet was very loud. The Israelites experienced God like few people have ever experienced Him. and here they are just a short time later worshiping a golden calf as if that is what brought them out of Egypt.
We look back and wonder how the Israelites could be so foolish. We can understand why God was furious, here they are giving His honor and glory to a calf. How ridiculous. Worshiping an idol of their own making as if it was their savior. Improper worship today is just as foolish and infuriates God just as much. We must be careful – the human heart has not changed since then. We have the same tendencies. In order for God to get our worship we must be intentional and work hard to give God our devotion and worship.
Now let’s go with Bible teacher J Mark to Exodus 32 and hear what he has to say about “Improper Worship.”
There is in the heart of every human being a desire to worship something or someone. It is a part of the way God created us. This desire to worship shows itself in various ways. The reason we want to worship God, or something else, is because we have a connection with God. God created us with the desire to worship, to make connection with Him.
So, people have this desire, this drive for worship. They want to connect with God, but they don’t know how, and they don’t know where to go to learn how. As a result, they often go the wrong way, they look in the wrong places. By looking the wrong places, they get further away from God instead of closer. That’s sad because it isn’t necessary. God has revealed Himself to us in the Holy Scriptures and He will show Himself to us when we come to Him through them. I’m so thankful that God’s Word shows us how to worship properly.
A wrong way to worship is described for us in Exodus 32:1-6. The elements of this experience Israel’s history can teach us even today about IMPROPER WORSHIP.
1. And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.
2. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3. And all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them unto Aaron.
4. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.
6. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play.
In Israel’s experience we discover the CONDITIONS which led to improper worship so we can avoid them.
The First Condition was,
An Unsettled People
It began with the people complaining about Moses. He had been on Mount Sinai with God for several weeks. They said he had been delayed up on the mountain, but they did not know why. They made a hasty and wrong conclusion. They did not realize that he was up there for their sake. He was receiving from God the revelation of Himself so they would know more about Him and be able to serve Him better.
They complained about Moses being absent and then they commanded Aaron to do something: “Make us gods.” That is a very strange command. Did they actually think that a man could make gods. Think about how absurd that is. These unsettled people commanded Aaron their leader to make gods for them. That is almost unthinkable.
Their command to Aaron to make them gods followed their hasty conclusion. They said, “we don’t know what happened to this Moses, this man who brought us out of Egypt.” They didn’t seem to care about him either. They didn’t take time to think through their situation. In their unsettled condition they became impatient. Impatience is a common human problem. We want what we want – NOW!
These unsettled people created a condition which led to improper worship. Many people today are unsettled. They complain about conditions they don’t know about. Instead of thinking carefully about the outcome of their choices, they just want something, anything, to happen. That is the way it was in Israel’s day and that is the way it is today.
The Second Condition was,
An Unsafe Pastor
When the people came to Aaron with their command he cooperated with their wishes. He didn’t warn them that what they were doing was not wise. No, he just asked them to give him their golden earrings. It might have been a wise thing to get rid of the golden earrings but hardly in the way that Aaron did it. All he did was cooperate with their wishes.
Aaron didn’t give any warning about improper worship. He didn’t say, “let’s take some time to think this through.” Instead, he said, “I’ll cooperate. I’ll do what you ask. Just give me the golden earrings.” To get the shape of this so-called god, he cast the calf out of molten gold and then he finished the details with an engraving tool. I imagine it was quite beautiful.
In a way this is not surprising because the children of Israel would have seen this kind of worship in ancient Egypt. The Egyptians worshipped a certain kind of bull. There is yet today the Tomb of the Bulls covered with the desert sand where the Sahara meets the Nile Valley.
What was happening here at Mount Sinai was that the children of Israel were going back to pagan idol worship, and the pastor, Aaron, did nothing to warn them. Then the multitude cried out and said, “Here are your gods.” I wonder whether anyone really believed that. Most likely there were many standing around watching as Aaron melted down the gold and fashioned it like a calf and set it up. Then they said, “These be thy gods.” That’s ridiculous!
Only a brief time before that, they had seen the glory of God on the top of the mountain like a devouring fire. Now they’re saying this golden calf which Aaron fashioned was their god!
This unsafe pastor satisfied the people’s desire by making the golden calf, but this led to improper worship. Unfortunately, many pastors today only satisfy and feed the people’s desires. Hardly a warning ripple crosses the unsettled congregation. Instead, they tell the people what they want to hear. That was the condition that led to improper worship in those days.
There is a Third Condition,
An Unsuited Procedure
Watch closely what happened after that golden calf was fashioned. When Aaron saw it he built an altar. For what reason? Apparently for the calf. He made an altar before that calf which he had forged and fashioned out of gold. It doesn’t seem possible but that is what he did. And then he made a proclamation. He said, “Tomorrow is a feast unto the LORD” by way of the calf. That cannot be right or pleasing to God. No, that was improper worship. It was unsuited procedure to build an altar to sacrifice to the calf and make a proclamation and say we are going to have a feast to the LORD Jehovah. Today, we call that syncretism; the mixing of practices from two different types of religion.
What did they do? The next morning, they got up early and they offered sacrifices and peace offerings before the calf. What an unsuited mixture! What a confusion! What an insult to Jehovah God!
Aaron, this unsafe pastor, dealing with this unsettled people made an unsuited proclamation for unsuited procedure. Such mixture cannot come out well. This unsuited procedure mixed things which cannot be mixed and led to improper worship.
Unsafe pastors today lead people into similar situations when they try to mix God’s ways with man’s ways. They try to worship God on their own terms. So, not all worship is proper worship. Some is improper. As in Israel so in every group of people. These conditions will only lead to improper worship.
The conditions which led the people of Israel into improper worship are easily discovered here: the unsettled people complaining about Moses, the unsafe pastor who gave no warning to the people, and the unsuited procedure which mixed things which cannot and should not be mixed. God wants your love and devotion, but He wants it free from such confusion as found in Israel in those ancient times. I’m glad to tell you the Bible presents the proper way of worship. Do you know how to worship God? Have you offered your prayer to Him? He is right there near you, as near as a prayer.
Thanks J Mark for these thoughts about worship. This subject is very important and it’s important because we are worshippers, it is in every human to worship something. It is our desire that you worship only Him. He alone is worthy of our worship, don’t be deceived and give your worship to anything else. Allow your heart to be captured by the power and beauty of our great God.
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Thank you so much for being with us and we hope you will join us again next week. For encouragement to stay true in your worship of God look at the awesome scenes of worship at the end of Revelation 4 and 5. This is what we were created for and we long to be worshipping our Great King around His throne.
*This episode is an exposition of Exodus 32:1-6 by J. Otis Yoder, re-recorded by J. Mark Horst, with an opening and closing by Arlin Horst.