Exodus 32:1-14

What happens when worship goes wrong?  Is the hymn out or tune, the sermon going on too long, or the kid’s moments ends in some calamity?  But actually, the real way that worship goes horribly wrong, is not how in-tune we sing, or how smoothly things run, but by the orientation of our hearts.

In Exodus 32, Aaron makes an idol from gold and the Israelites begin to worship it.  There is a problem in Exodus 32, but it is not the golden calf.  The real problem with any idolatry is the heart.  The real problem is where is the True and Living God in our hearts.  An idol does not need to be a physical statue; it can be anything that causes us to put God second because we think that it is more important than God.  Anything we simply couldn’t face the future if it was taken away.  Anything that we devote our lives and values to rather than our Creating, Redeeming God.  That’s the real problem with idolatry.  That is the real reason worship goes wrong.

When the center of our worship, is no longer on the true and living God, we’ve exchanged the truth for a lie, and have ended up worshiping creation instead of the Creator.  Yes, we should strive for orderliness and the best we can do for worship, but when we get our attention off of the worship of our God that has been revealed through Jesus Christ, then we are falling into a trap of idolatry,

Jesus said “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (Jn 4:24)  The Israelites sinned in Exodus 32 because they substituted something for the God who is spirit and truth.

Pastor Greg