Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles recap and discuss Pastor Stephen Pierce's sermon from Exodus 32.
Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles recap and discuss Pastor Stephen Pierce's sermon from Exodus 32.
Bobby: Welcome to the Midweek Checkup. My name is Bobby Gilles and I’m joined by Lindsey Blair. This past Sunday Pastor Stephen preached Exodus Thirty-Two, the story of the Golden Calf. He taught us to see that we were made to worship God and become like him.
Stephen helped us to see how our disordered desires lead to wrong worship. But he didn’t stop there. He gave us this hope: if we can restore our worship to its rightful place, we will become like what we are supposed to be.
Lindsey, what did you think?
Lindsey: Our souls long to worship, and we are always worshiping something. Pastor Stephen encouraged us to examine our hearts and consider what we are worshiping. These may be things that we’ve been conditioned to worship, without even realizing it. There is a wonderful invitation here to open our eyes and be aware of what these things are, and then we can begin to get curious around how our souls are being molded to those things that we worship.
Now, for anyone who missed the sermon or needs help remembering, let’s do a quick recap.
Bobby: Pastor Stephen began by noting that we all worship. We are commanded to worship God alone, just like the ancient Israelites who worshiped a golden calf but held a festival for God. The attempted to blend two religions or worship two gods is called syncretism. We do this when we claim to worship God but give allegiance to other things or beings. Even atheists worship, whether its money, beauty, power, or the human intellect.
Lindsey: We usually worship with our time, money, and energy. You want a concrete way to find what you're worshipping? For your time, check your browser history. For your money, check your bank account. For your energy, think about the thing that gets you the angriest on the inside. Follow your time, money and energy and you’ll find what and how you worship.
Bobby: Next, Stephen said that we become what we worship. The Israelites worshiped a Golden Calf and God said they are a stiff necked or stubborn people — an animal term meant to say they will not obey. We worship our entertainment and we, like our phones, become objects to be used, turned on in the morning, and charged at night. We worship our politics, and we, like our political scripts, become dogmatic words, unable to change or think beyond what’s on the page. We worship our health and we, like our heart monitors, beep along, not trying to live, but only trying not to die.
Lindsey: Worshiping physical things is a terrifying prospect. But if we become like the thing we worship then worshiping the God of the universe will fill us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness gentleness and self control. God offers us the chance to rule the cosmos as his stewards in right relationship with himself and each other as we kindly and graciously make the universe more good, true, and beautiful. And this invitation to worship God, to become like God, only exists because of what Jesus did. Jesus was the new and better Adam. Jesus was the true Israel. He fully and only worshiped God because he was God. He resisted the temptations of the devil. He conquered death. He has life that can never die. And he offers us that life today.
Bobby: Jesus is inviting us to step out of the conditioning that has shaped us. Free yourself by bowing your knee and worshiping the one true God. Maybe that means you call a friend instead of turning on the TV. Maybe that means you go out and garden and watch for God’s provision. Maybe it means you quit trying to go it alone and call a counselor. Maybe it means not looking at your phone while you’re with people or in a worship service.
Lindsey: These tiny acts of worship, living life the way God has called you to, are transformative. Not immediately. Maybe not even in a way you can tell. But that’s the thing about conditioning. It’s slow. It’s subtle. It takes time. But it is transformative.
Bobby: This coming Sunday we’ll continue our current series, looking at how rebellious spiritual forces tempt God’s image bearers to doubt God’s character and his promises. And in Bible Fellowship we’ll study Psalm Twenty-Seven together, on this second Sunday of Lent.
Join us, and bring a friend.