A Kingdom of Priests (11)

 Intercession (6)

Continuing to reflect on Exodus chapters 32 – 34:

 

“Aaron said, ‘Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. For they said to me, Make a god for us who will go before us…’” (Exodus 32:22 – 23a).

 

We are, I think, all prone to idols. While we may see our individual propensity to idols at times, there are other times we need to mutually guard one another – in fact, if we aren’t living in accountable relationships in which we warn one another of idols, I don’t see how we can make this pilgrimage. We cannot ascend this mountain by ourselves, we must be roped to one another, we must warn one another of danger.

 

Most idols look good, they appear very very good. Many idols start out as good, even instruments of blessing and salvation – consider the bronze serpent in the wilderness. We make Nehustan’s (Num. 21:6ff; 2 Kings 18:4) out of anything and everything. As I write this I’m thinking of having coffee with an acquaintance a few years ago, he brought a book about leadership to give me. His large church had latched onto this book and its approach to leadership and had made it the center of its focus, teaching, and preaching.

 

Whatever the merits of this book may have been, it did not merit the absorption of a congregation - only Jesus Christ merits our absorption. Why were the pastor and church leadership excited about this book? Because it promised results – pragmatic results are what we normally look for, they are what we have become addicted to, they are what we need to achieve in order to sustain our churches and our ministries; visible results have become our validation – not the centrality and worship of Jesus Christ. Let me say again, most idols look good, religious, and promise results.

 

Will we be like Aaron and acquiesce in idol worship, even teaching people to make golden calves? Will we go along to get along?  

 

Note this statement in Exodus 32:25, “Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control – for Aaron had let them get out of control…” Responsible leadership, a responsible priesthood, does not give people what they want, it gives them what they need – and that is a continuous focus on the True and Living God.

 

The people said to Aaron, regarding Moses (32:23), “Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

 

Could it be that this is our attitude regarding Jesus Christ? Could it be that, since His ascension into heaven (Luke 24:50 – 51; Acts 1:9 – 11), we have been functionally saying, “For this Jesus, we do not know what has become of Him?” Have we made idols that make sense to us; success, entertainment in the form of lyrics that focus on us and not Christ, personal comfort, marketing our wares instead of sacrificially witnessing for Jesus Christ? The epistemology of this world and age instead of Biblical – Holy Spirit illumination (1 Cor. 1:16 – 2:16; John 14:16 – 17; 15:26 – 27; 16:13 – 15)?

 

Are we a priesthood that is faithful to our Great High Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ? Or, are we as Aaron, giving people what they want and teaching them to make idols?