Keep God Number One
As we see in Exodus 32:15-29, Moses had work to do with the Israelites, work that involved re-teaching the basic element underneath all of God's commands, "Keep God Number One." We can also Keep God Number One in our lives by listening to his words and watching him at work. July 24, 2011.
In 1962, Avis launched a highly successful advertising campaign emphasizing its status in the car rental market–“We’re number two. We try harder.” From what I can tell, Avis still uses “We try harder,” but I haven’t heard the first part lately, “We’re number two,” even though it may be true. Why do you think that is? Could it be that “We’re number two” is just not playing well anymore? Who wants to sign up with a loser? Who remembers the second-place finishers at the Olympic Games or in other championship games, unless your favorite team was playing? Who wants to be number two?
The desire to be number one is built into all of us. Some might think that fact is like a harmless fly that you flick off of your arm. But no! It’s more like a tick that’s worked its way deep into our core with no human cure, and it’s in everyone. You might be thinking, “I’m not a very competitive person. I’m content with the skills and abilities God has given me, and I accept my lot and station in life. I don’t have to be number one.” That’s well and good, but the fact remains that ever since Adam and Eve bit into Satan’s lie, every human has a default program that is set at being number one. No matter how shy or reserved you see yourself, no matter how selfless and other-centered you have tried to be, you and I have been infected with this deadly me-first disease. No one is exempted.
It was embedded in every Israelite, too. God had pulled the ancient Israelites out of Egypt where they had lived in conditions far worse than dealing with a slow housing market. They had been enslaved. He engineered an escape plan that only he could arrange. Then, he had his appointed leader, Moses, take them to an out-of-the-way mountain range called Sinai where God intended to lay out the special arrangement he wanted to have with that nation until the Savior was born. But Moses’ trip up the mountain to get that information was taking too long. At least that was the word floating from tent to tent, and the people got scared: “Maybe Moses got too close to the fire and lightning we see up there. Maybe we’re stranded out here in the middle of nowhere. Who will lead us? How can we have any hope and help to get out of this situation?” So, they convinced Moses’ brother to fashion something that would represent a higher power, not a hidden God but something they could see. “How about an image like the nature-god we knew in Egypt?” Aaron got them to cough up their jewelry and fashioned a golden calf. There stood blatant evidence of what was in their hearts, that me-first attitude. Aware of what was going on, God interrupted his chat with Moses, and told him, “You better go down and get them back on track, or I’ll wipe them out and start over.” Moses had work to do with these people, work that involved re-teaching the basic element underneath all of God’s commands, “Keep God Number One.”
By listening to his words
I heard this story of the golden calf and Moses smashing the two tablets of stone when I was a little kid. Many of you did, too. I always figured that Moses went up on that mountain, stayed there for days, maybe weeks, came down, saw the foolishness and filth, broke the tablets of stone, cleaned up the mess (not the tablets, but the people), and then went back up for the carbon copy. But after reading the book of Exodus more carefully, it seems that Moses had been up on that mountain talking to God and coming back with the words of God five times before. Why all those trips? Because ten short commandments did not comprise all of what God wanted the Israelites to know. The Lord had important things to say to them. He wanted them to know the special rules of the relationship they were to have with him so that they would be distinct from other nations and not intermarry, blend in with other cultures, and disappear as a nation because the promise of the Savior coming through them would have disappeared like a jet’s vapor-stream in the sky. He also wanted them to have visual aids to picture the coming Savior so they had something to look forward to. But before they could look forward to that Savior, they had to look inward and know why they needed that Savior. Otherwise, God would be giving them promises like Grandma telling a child who has a cupboard full of breakfast cereal, “I’m going to bring you a treat, a little box of Honey Nut Cheerios.” “Oh,” the child would say politely and somewhat disappointedly. But if the cupboard were bare, and especially if the child were starving, then Grandma’s promise to bring a box of cereal would really mean something. The Israelites needed to sense that their souls were starving.
Moses went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony…The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God. Written on those tablets was a summary of what God had already told the Israelites through Moses. He is God. They are people. He is holy. They are not. But if they wanted to hang out with him, live with him, and enjoy his blessing, then they had to be as holy as he is. And the number one test to see if they match up was to keep God number one by listening to his words. Those words they had heard from Moses before. Now he brought them to the Israelites in print, words that were going to create a reaction in one of two directions. Either the people would give up in despair of ever being right with God, or they would fool themselves into thinking they could air-condition themselves under the heat of God’s anger. The Israelites went down the latter path, the me-first path, and made their own god, which was in essence making themselves gods. They were more concerned about preserving themselves and having a good time doing it than relying on God to provide comfort, joy, hope, and safety. That was not keeping God number one. Just the opposite. It was idolatry. Aaron was right when he told Moses, “You know how prone these people are to evil.”
If we spit God’s name out like chewed gum and stick “OMG” onto the start of every other sentence, we are dancing around the calf, not listening to God’s words, and not keeping God number one. If we put in our time at church out of habit and fail to take to heart and put into practice during the week the truths we hear, we’re dancing around the calf, not listening to God’s words, and not keeping God number one. If we disagree with governing authorities in a disrespectful way, we’re dancing around the calf, not listening to God’s words, and not keeping God number one. If we harbor a grudge that borders on hate, we’re dancing around the calf, not listening to God’s words, and not keeping God number one. If we let our sexual desires run wild, we’re dancing around the calf exactly as the Israelites did, not listening to God’s words, and not keeping God number one. If we pocket what is not ours or withhold gifts from God just because we don’t like the majority plan, we’re dancing around the calf, not listening to God’s words, and not keeping God number one. If we let our tongue flap around loose with gossiping or griping, we’re dancing around the calf, not listening to God’s words, and not keeping God number one. If we turn two shades of green from desiring what belongs to others, we’re dancing around the calf, not listening to God’s words, and not keeping God number one.
The Israelites failed to listen to the words of God and so have we. How could they and how can we ever expect to stand in God’s presence and see him smile at us? There’s only one way. He will have to deliver to us what he also delivered to the Israelites–more words, different words, the promise of forgiveness through a Savior.
By watching him at work
Moses burned the wood frame of the calf idol, ground its golden outer covering to dust, mixed the gold dust with water, and made the Israelites drink it. Was this evidence of God’s anger? Sure. Did this mixture of gold dust and water cause many of them to become violently ill? Probably. Was this a lesson to teach them that they had made bitter the pure words and commands of God? Mostly likely. But the scene gets more disturbing. Moses called on Levites, the designated worship leaders, to run through the camp, slashing this way and that with their swords, killing 3,000. Was this a culling out of those who were especially lewd and crude? Probably. Was this slaughter to serve as a warning to others? Absolutely. Was this the work of God who condemns and cuts down sinners? Definitely. And the Israelites watched.
Sadly, many in that nation of two and a half million were so immersed in their self-absorbed me-first state that they didn’t learn the lesson. God had to return with more condemning and more killing, but only on those who had first cut themselves off from his love and killed their own hearts, already dead in unbelief. For example, as they broke camp to head to the Promised Land, fire from the LORD burned a ring around those who tried to go AWOL. Later, complainers who said, “There’s not meat to eat,” gagged and choked on quail. Not long after that, 250 rebels were swallowed by the earth, and 14,700 of their supporters were wiped out by a plague. After nearly 40 years of wilderness wandering, venomous snakes bit a bunch more, and, after reaching the Promised Land’s border, 24,000 more died in a plague because they had been diving head-first into the same lewd behavior as their parents around the golden calf.
Watch God at work, and see that he can and has condemned and killed sinners on the spot. The big question is, “Does he still do that today?” If we think we can read the mind of God and guess that God is bringing vengeance on our nation or on certain people by allowing disasters, then we are no better than Westboro-wackos who picket and shout at military funerals. It’s not our job to read the mind of God. But it is our job to keep God number one by looking into our own heart and watching God at work. He did indeed send Levites to slay us when he used our parents and pastors to slay the inborn sinful nature, drowning our old Adam in baptism’s floodwaters. And because the inborn me-first attitude is so resilient and tends to raise its ugly head daily, he strikes it with a Levite-like sword every time he exposes our falling short of his perfect standards, even the tiniest details, crushing us with his threats. But then he brings us to life again by directing our eyes to watch what he did in slaying his Son instead of us.
For there is no better way to keep God number one than by watching Jesus at work. He kept God number one by praying and never tossing his Father’s name around unnecessarily. He worshiped regularly, respected his parents, and taught people to pay their taxes even to a government that was oppressive. He could have slapped a few wiseacres in the mouth or blasted people who reviled him but never did. He upheld the sanctity of marriage by attending a wedding and providing for the reception. He treated his friends of the opposite gender with utmost respect. He remained generous with his time and inspired generosity in those who had been greedy. He never cut others down in order to make himself look good, and his desires were always as pure as the driven snow. All that work was the work of God. We’ve watched it again and again, and we do that because that is not just a model of what we should have been doing and should do in the future. When the final tally comes in on the last day, and we have to stand before God and give an account, we won’t have to feel like Israelites who were dancing naked and caught with their pants down. We’ll be covered by the robes of the perfect life of Jesus. That is God at work.
How could the ancient Israelites and how can we ever expect to stand in God’s presence and see him smile at us? There’s only one way. He will have to deliver to us what he also delivered to the Israelites–the promise of forgiveness through a Savior. But there’s a marvelous combination going on. As we listen to God’s words of promise, we are also watching God at work. Through his words we have seen Jesus on the paths of Palestine, in the cross of Calvary, at Easter’s empty tomb, and in our hearts and lives. Focus on those words and works of God, and you will be keeping God number one.
The stunning conclusion of it all is that because of Jesus, God now considers us to be number one. Amen.
Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on July 24, 2011
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