Making God Who We Want Him to Be

Are you worshiping God or a version of God you’ve made for yourself? We might not blatantly turn away from God, but we subtly try to turn him into something he’s not. We reshape  him to fit our personal preferences, treating him as a genie we can control and who exists mainly to give us the things we want. The true God won't be changed, but he will change us.

Transcript

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If you have your Bibles, let's open to Exodus chapter 32. We are finishing up the Exodus series today. Today is our last Sunday in Exodus. I've loved it. It's been a real blessing to study and go through Exodus together with you guys. Hope it's been a blessing and a challenge for you as well. If you have not been here, just to catch up a little bit, the whole story, this Old Testament narrative of Exodus, where God sends this guy named Moses, raises him up, and sends him to free and deliver his people who were slaves to Pharaoh, slaves to the land of Egypt. And there's this parallel that tells the gospel story how God likewise sent the true Moses, the greater Moses, right? Jesus, his son, to save and redeem us as his people from this sinful, sinful world and from the sin that we are in bondage and addiction to. And he leads us through baptism, right? The crossing of the Red Sea into this land of promise, the life that he has for us, a life of his abundance and blessing and provision. And that's what I hope and pray each and every one of us is experiencing and walking in together today. And today, as we wrap up Exodus 32, we're going to be looking at the story of the golden calf. You guys familiar with this? Golden calf, this idol that God's people made and worshiped while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments, the Ten Words. God's people were on the foot of the mountain making and worshiping this golden calf image. I thought about titling the message today, Don't Have a Cow. But we pivoted and we're just going to keep it pretty simple. So now keep in mind, again, background, as we talked a couple weeks ago, Moses goes up onto Mount Sinai. He's there in the presence of God. God gives him the law, these 10 words, and says, These are the commands I want you to give to my people. And then he gave more commands governing society and worship and the like. Last week we talked about the law of the Sabbath and the importance of resting that sets us apart as the people of God. And now today we're going to pick up and see what God's people have been up to. You know, think about those parents when your kids are too quiet. And you're like, what are they doing right now? This is kind of the situation with Moses. Exodus 32, let's start reading in verse 1. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, Up or rise up, make us gods 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. Now, before we fault the Israelites, by the way, keep in mind, according to Exodus 28, 14, that Moses was up on this mountain for 40 days and 40 nights. That's a long time. So the people, it wasn't like he just left and the next day they're like, Well, Moses is gone. Now let's make a God and worship it. They were truly scared, truly confused, going, What happened to this guy? He must be gone. He's probably dead up on that mountain. We've got to start figuring something out. Verse 2 So Aaron said to them, Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made a golden calf. And they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. So how did God's people respond? In their doubt, in their confusion, in their uncertainty of lack of direction, what do we do now? Where do we go now? How did they respond? Did they turn to God? No. They tried to turn God into who they wanted him to be. They make this golden image. Now it's important to recognize here exactly what their sin is. Because we might kind of read this and go, oh, so they basically started worshiping idols. Like they started worshiping the false gods of Egypt and made a new idol for themselves, kind of violating that first commandment. You shall have no other gods before me. But that's not exactly what's going on here. What we see is them violating more the second commandment. You shall not make for yourselves or carve an image and bow down to and worship it. What we see here happening is God's people, they weren't worshiping false gods. They were worshiping the true God in false ways, false versions of the true God. And we see that even in the text itself, right? What's being declared from some of them to the rest of the people? These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Who brought them out of the land of Egypt? God, Yahweh, the true God. They knew this. And they're saying, Here's this golden image. This is the God that led us out of the land of Egypt. What did Aaron say as a proclamation? Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. The word in the Hebrew for the Lord here is Jehovah. It is the name of God, Yahweh, Jehovah, that he gave to his people. They were breaking the second commandment, not to make a carved image for themselves. Guys, today, we as God's people far too often still try to reduce God to an image that we have made for ourselves. We want to make him who we want him to be. Voltaire, he's an 18th-century French writer and philosopher. He's the one who coined the phrase, in the beginning, God created man in his own image, and man has been trying to repay the favor ever since. We don't worship God for who he is. We don't worship him as he is, as he's revealed himself to be in his word, in the entirety, the sum of his word, the full counsel of scripture, knowing and understanding his holiness, his wrath against sin, his zeal, his jealousy, his these things that we don't necessarily like to talk about and discuss. We've created a version of God. We don't worship him as he is and as he's revealed here. Instead, we try to worship who we want him to be: a safe, predictable image that ends up becoming the syncretized mix or blend of a little bit of scripture, a little bit of the world and what the world wants and says, and a whole lot of our own selfish desires. And we blend it all together, and out comes this golden calf that we call Jehovah and worship and devote ourselves to. He came out with a study where he was unpacking the five faith trends from last year. What are the trends in the church? What do we see in particular in the American church? What do we see happening right now? And one of those five trends he called reshaping God to our liking. Here's what Barnes says Americans are shifting from the biblical characterization of God toward a more accepting, less demanding deity. Over the past 30 years, belief in the God of the Bible, a loving, omnipotent, and morally unyielding being, has sharply declined. Currently, about half of U.S. adults believe in the biblical God, but fewer worship or follow him. And I would add to this, maybe my observation, that most people and most of us, we are perfectly fine with the notion of a loving God, right? He mentions loving God as the biblical God. We're good with that. Everybody good with that? Man, a God who is love, a God who loves us unconditionally, who does all these incredible sacrificial things for us. We are all about a loving God. Our world is all about a loving God. An omnipotent God? One who's all powerful, okay. We're still all right with that, as long as his all-powerfulness doesn't disrupt control that I have over my own life. But this whole idea of a God who is morally unyielding, now all of a sudden that's challenging the pride within each and every one of us. Certainly, our world and our culture does not in any way care for this version of God, which is why they have tried to make a version for themselves. They don't want anyone who is morally unyielding. And so they've created an image of God where He is morally flexible, where He understands our needs and our desires, much more accepting, much less demanding. A God who is nice and tame, who doesn't want to offend people with his moral rigidity or requirements. A God who doesn't ask very much of me. This is the God that our culture has created for themselves and wants to force everybody into the worship of, domesticating him. Because God will not be controlled by his creation. He will not allow his image bearers to make him into an image that they bear. He has called us to submit, to be obedient to his will, his way, his word. He's not tame, he's not nice and safe. There's a difference between kind in your nature and character and being nice. You guys remember the Narnia stories? Remember the part toward the end, I believe, of the first story where Aslan, who represents Jesus, the creator and savior of all things and his might and his power, this ferocious lion. Right? When when one of the humans, one of the kids, asks another person who knows of Aslan, says, Is he safe? I mean, he's scary looking. Is he safe? And the response wasn't, oh yes, he's safe. He's a big fur ball, a big kitty, you'll love him. The response was, oh no, no, no. He's not safe. But he is good. And so we don't need to fear because he's good. But don't make any mistake that he is some trained domesticated animal. We're like one of those exotic pet owners that that pet turns on them when their nature kicks in, right? And we hear those stories. Guys, if the God that we are worshiping is a diluted version of God, one that is a blend of this world's God. We are worshiping an idol. God does not bow to our whims and our wishes. God does not exist for us. We exist for Him, for His glory and His purpose. Too many Christians, we spend our lives worshiping this God that has been made up by culture. I don't know if you guys have ever heard someone make a statement that starts with the phrase, Well, my God would never. Guys heard that before? Whenever you hear that, red alert. Because what we are about to hear described is an idol. My God would never send someone to hell or reject them. My God would never judge someone for who they love. My God would never want me to be unhappy. We say these statements and so casually and flippantly, not understanding that it's the exact opposite of what God has said about Himself. It's not that God wants us to be unhappy, but is God willing to allow us times and seasons of unhappiness in this world to understand our true joy and fulfillment is only found in him? Yes, he will. What are we told often? What's one of the mantras or key principles that you're looking for in a future mate or spouse? What does the world tell us? You want to find someone who loves you just as you are, and they won't try to change you. If someone tries to change you, kick them to the curb. They should love you just as you are. You don't need to change. You're amazing. Guys, a lot of us have bought into the lie. We've been sold a bill of goods. We don't understand that we've been cheated and lied to and deceived. Marriage. Are you guys married here today? If you are the same person that you were before you got married, you're doing it wrong. Marriage is all about change, isn't it? It is all about becoming a version of yourself that understands what it means to actually love another person. Putting their needs and interests before your own. Because prior to that, we just gravitate towards selfishness, towards self-centeredness. It's all about me. And suddenly I get married, and somebody else is looking to me to love them and care for them, and they never leave. They never go away. And so we are face to face with this mirror that reflects our own pride and ego on a daily basis. And something in us needs to break and change. Gentlemen, if you are still living as a bachelor while you have a wife, you are sinning against the God who designed the covenant of marriage. Because that is not his call for you as a husband. His call for you as a husband is to learn what it means to love your wife as Christ loves us. And that means laying your life down. That means it's not about what you want to do or what you need in any given moment anymore. It's about loving her sacrificially. Marriage is meant to change us, designed to change us. Yes, we want to find someone, of course, who loves us as we are, but we also want to find someone who sees who Jesus wants us to be and encourages us toward living that out on a regular basis. But sadly, we have this same, I don't need to change anything attitude toward God. We have this mindset of don't try to change me, even when it comes to our relationship with Him. Guys, please hear this. God's purpose in your life is to change you. It is why He redeemed us, why He saved us, why He rescued us from this world, from Egypt, because He doesn't want you to stay the same. He wants you to move from a slave to a son and daughter of His. And that requires change. Healing you, helping you, making you whole, setting you free requires transformation. You know, physicians who take someone in who is sick and ill or broken and bring healing to them, you know what they're doing to them? They're changing them. Because they were broken and now they're not, they're whole and healthy. He came to change us. He wants our old sinful nature to die so that we can live as new creations in him. Because everything he has done in this world, everything he's done in our life is toward the end, the goal of making us holy as he is holy, not making us feel better about our unholiness, not comforting us in our sinfulness. He wants to change us to make us like him. We have to ask ourselves Am I worshiping Jesus or am I worshiping a cultural Christ? This question matters, guys. We've got to get this right. We don't want to be standing before Jesus on that day where this life ends, and we stand in his presence and his holiness. We don't want to stand in front of the judge of all the earth in that moment and look at him and go, Who are you? This isn't the Jesus I was. I followed the Jesus with the sheep around his neck, you know, and the neatly little trimmed beard and the mullet. That guy. He had the halo around his head and he wouldn't hurt a fly. I mean, he was tame and just domesticated and nice and super sweet and would never ask anything of me. Who are you? With your eyes of fire burning through the depths of my soul right now, with all of your might and power to the point where the angels of heaven just fall down and fly around saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. I don't know this Jesus. Who are you? And have Jesus Himself say in response, Who are you? Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. I never knew you. And for those sitting here going, Jesus would never, my Jesus would never say that. Matthew chapter 7, that's exactly what he says. And we've maybe been bowing down and serving an idol, an image of Jesus, and not Christ as he is. What did the people make Jesus or make God into? They made Jehovah into a golden calf. I don't know if you read this at any point and went, why a calf? Why a baby cow? Just very, very strange. It's not exactly an imposing or intimidating version of God. Is it much more peaceable, much more pacified? And they didn't even make it into a bull. I mean, at least the Egyptians, they had their god of the cattle, and it was the bull god. But a little baby calf. It reminds me of the universities that have their wimpy mascots. Ridiculous. I don't know who gets together and goes, hey, you know what our mascot should be? University of California Irvine. You know what our mascot should be? Let's just really strike fear into the heart of our opponents. Let's be the ant eaters. I mean, if they're playing a university whose mascot is the ants, maybe that would be scary. Otherwise, are you serious? This is so strange. What about University of California Santa Cruz? Anyone know theirs? The banana slugs. Who thinks of this stuff? I think my favorite University of Central Arkansas, their mascot? The sugar bears. They love each other. That's fantastic. That's what I think I feel like initially is going on here. Why the calf? Now, cattle were valuable as they provided milk, they provided meat. The Egyptians, in particular, and during Israel's time over in Egypt, they were sanctified. They were set apart as this holy creature. They really adored and worshiped them to some extent. They were a useful animal and they were revered by the Egyptians because of their usefulness. Think about how we approach God, what image we make him into. We do the same kind of a thing. We make him into an image or version of God that is there and exists to serve our purposes. He is a utilitarian Jesus, one that we will follow so long as he is useful to make us happy and get us the things that we want. We try to make God into a God that exists to serve our purposes and meet our needs. Isaiah chapter 44, love this passage. The prophet is speaking of those who make idols, right? Talking about a man who will make idols for himself, his family, and his culture. And here's what he writes He says, He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak, unless it grows strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar in the rain and nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for met for a man. He takes a part of it and he warms himself. He kindles a fire and bake break bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it. He makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat, he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, Deliver me, for you are my God. Right, Isaiah is exposing the absurdity of idolatry, how ludicrous it is. But he's also exposing the heart and motive behind it. That you take this block of wood, and with that wood you make fire to warm yourself and keep you from being cold. You make a meal and you bake bread to fill your stomach and meet that, satisfy that appetite. And then you also make an idol of it to scratch your spiritual itch, to have a God that you have made in your own image. Isaiah's point is every single one of these situations is about what they want you to do for them, what man wants God to do for him. It's all about usefulness to meeting my needs. These images of carnal convenience, worship for what they give me, not for who they are. Think about as parents, those times, if you've ever raised teenagers, think about the moments where. Your teenager comes to you. Imagine one of my teen daughters comes to me when she's in high school. And she just comes out of her room, you know, after hibernating for a few hours. And out of nowhere, she just sits next to me. And I'm like, hey. And she goes, Hi. Dad, I love you so much. I just want you to know like, you're the best dad ever. Of all the dads, you're the best dad. That your dad jokes. They're so funny. Tell more of them, please. My daughter starts talking to me like that. Parents, what's the first question I'm asking them? What do you want? Oh, you've raised teenagers. This is good. Right? We know. And my kids will do it in jest, like joking, knowing that that that's that's the reputation that the teenagers have. Right? We'll we'll really be kind and nice when we want something from you. Guys, we have this relationship with our creator, don't we? God, as long as you're useful to me, I'll follow you. But the second you stop doing what I want you to do, I'm I'm on my own. I'm gonna walk away. We think he exists to be our cosmic genie, to grant the wishes that we have in our life. The question we need to ask, and please let this haunt you this week. If you receive nothing else from God but his son, but salvation, but the new life we have in Christ. If you receive nothing else from God but what he's already given to you, would you still follow him? Would you still serve him and worship him? Moses in verse 7, all the way through 20 here, God tells Moses what is peep what the people are doing. Moses goes down the mountain, he sees them worshiping this golden image. We read that he threw the tablets down on the ground, he breaks them, and just important to acknowledge this, by the way. You know, Moses just broke the tablets. It was God's people who broke God's law. And Moses, in his righteous indignation and anger, was so incredibly frustrated. He takes the idol, he grinds it down into dust, and then he spreads it out on the surface of the water and makes the people drink it to taste the bitterness of their idolatry. And then let's talk about how we respond and what we do if we recognize maybe we have been worshiping a false version of the true God today. Let's not respond like Aaron did. Verse 21, Moses confronts his relative Aaron, who helped the people with all of this. Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them? And Aaron said, My bad, Moses should have never done that. I take full responsibility for my sin and my actions. Aaron said, Let not the anger of my Lord burn hot. You know the people that they are set on evil. For they have said to me, Make us gods 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. What does Aaron do when confronted with his sin and his participation in idolatry? He points a finger at the people and blames them. This is our human nature, isn't it? We're so good at the blame game. We're so good at explaining why even the things that I do wrong is really ultimately because of other wrong things that have been done to me. We live in a culture where it is a victim mentality and mindset in every scenario and situation. Never do you see someone really just stop, take full ownership of what they've done. Even in relationships, I don't care if it is 99% someone else's fault. If you have 1% and you contributed, and and you know, headline here, I mean hopefully this isn't a shocker to anyone. You always have at least that 1%. Whatever you have contributed, take ownership for that percentage. Take ownership for what you have done. Don't be like Aaron. Don't be like Aaron, who not only blames the people. Check out verse 24. So I said to them, let any who have gold take it off. So they gave it to me and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf. Transference, and here we see justification and ridiculous justification. Isn't it just foolishness? I don't know, I don't know what happened, Moses. I don't know. I mean, they gave me the jewelry and I just threw it into the fire and poof, golden calf. It's like a toddler. Guys, we've got to take ownership for our idolatry. How do we respond? Repent. Repent. Turn from our idolatry. Call it what it is. God, I've been worshiping a version of you that is not the version here. Now, how do we know what the version, the true, the truth of who God is? By being here. We repent of our idolatry and we say, Lord, I want to know you. Teach me who you are. And we spend time in his word and we let him speak to us. We let him show us our his character and all that he's done for us. His love, his goodness, but his holiness, his justice, his wrath against sin, his moral demands, and yet his grace that he gives us when we fail. And we see him in his entirety, and we're able to worship the true God as we live here, not just on Sunday mornings for a little bit hearing from somebody else talking about this, but being in this you're on your own. We repent, we spend time in his word, showing us who he is. And then, guys, we submit to the true God, the creator of all things, for whom we live and breathe and exist. Are you ready to do that today?