(Sermon by Pastor Michael D. Schultz 09/23/07)

INTRODUCTION:

In a recent 5-6 Grade catechism class, we had ourselves a pretty good laugh about the Golden Calf.  The Israelites took their earrings, melted them down, poured the gold into a mold, set up this image and bowed down before it: “O metal cow, O great metal cow!  You brought us out of Egypt.”  Come on, what were they thinking!  We don’t bow before a metal cow…

…till we figure out how much like the Israelites we really are.  They took the Lord to a pawn shop and traded him in for a golden calf.  We trade God in and pick up an idol cast in the shape of ourselves every time we go our own way and do our own thing.  Was it God’s way or our way we were following when we shoved a sibling across the room?  If you’ve never insulted but always respected every teacher/boss you’ve ever had, never once spoken negatively about someone who was not in the room, never once put your faith on pause so you could blend in with your friends – we’d better stop because this isn’t going to get any better.  No metal cow worshipers here, or a room full of them?

As demeaning as it is, we’re going to have to identify ourselves with the idolatrous Israelites, but we’re going to want to be sure to pay attention to the conversation Moses and the Lord had a few thousand feet up.  It will do you good to watch this episode.

Moses’ Mediation – So Good For Sinners To See

It’s good for us to see this because we catch a couple quick, blunt reminders of what it means to disobey or go our own way.  “Your people, Moses, whom you brought out of Egypt…”  Our ears have to hear God say: “Performance assessment time!  You’re not my people, not from what I see!”  On any given day our sinfulness makes us as corrupt as the people who perished in the flood.  How quickly after hearing the Word or eating the holy meal do we trade God in for doing as we please – before we get back to the tile, before we push the garage door opener at home?  Truth about us – we’ve been stubborn mules.  Truth about God – he ought to bring his anger to a boil and beat us like a mule. Moses heard God say it.

You know what Moses did?  He threw himself right between an understandably outraged God and the idolatrous Israelites and he started reciting his memory work, passage after passage, point after point on the performance and promises of God.  “Lord, you brought your people out of Israel.  If you deliver them only to destroy them, how will you look?  Lord, you swore!  You promised the patriarchs.  You told Abraham, “Look at the sky.  Count the stars if you can.  So shall your offspring be.  And one of those offspring [Jesus] will be a blessing to everyone everywhere.”  You promised a Savior from sin.  You promised to forgive and to keep these people as your people.  You promised!

In a story Jesus once told, a tax collector who knew how corrupt he was had his chin mashed into his chest.  He wouldn’t even lift up his head.  He pled guilty and he pled for mercy.  That’s a posture and a plea we ought to be familiar with from daily repentance.  And yet when you say the Lord’s Prayer each day and you get to “Forgive us our trespasses,” when you use a hymn verse as a bedtime prayer, “Jesus Savior wash away all that I’ve done wrong today,” there’s a truth God wants you to know so that you don’t stay stuck in the sadness and sorrow of sin.  “Lord, you promised.” 

It’s good to see Moses’ mediation on top of Mt. Sinai because it teaches us that sinners can prevail on the promises of God.  “Chief of sinners though I be, Lord, you promised me one to suffer in my place.  I have no right to expect it and I have nothing that could pay for it, but I need to lose my sinfulness so that I don’t lose my soul.”  My friends, you have God’s promise.  Make use of it.  Humbly hold God to his promise.  He’s taken an oath not to hold your sins against you, promised you that all your wickedness went to Jesus and was nailed to his cross, that all Jesus’ holiness went to you and was credited to your account.  The worst thing you’ve ever done, the sins your mind doesn’t want to forget and the sum total of all your sinfulness are not yours to worry about.  It’s all been eliminated because Jesus was cursed for it on the cross.  Go before God today for forgiveness for your trespasses, go before him tonight to wash away all you’ve done wrong today, and hold him to his promise and hear what you need to hear: You are forgiven!  You are the Lord’s!  You are loved by God!

It’s so good to see how Moses held God to his promises and to know that we can do the same.  How consistent we are in doing that – well, that may be another whole matter, right?  But how helpful would it be to you to know that when you forget to hold God to his promises, when you don’t because you’re unaware of some specific promise he makes you, when there are large gaps between the times that you avail yourself of God’s promises, there’s someone who’s taking care of that for you?

Here’s how Psalm 106 describes today’s OT lesson: At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal.  They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass.  They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.  So he said he would destroy them had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them.  You don’t have Moses doing that for you, but the one who gave his life for you is alive forever and he’s doing that for you right now  It’s so good to see Moses’ mediation on the mountain because it points us to what Jesus is doing in heaven.  Jesus is a mediator greater than Moses.

When you haven’t held God to his promises, when you don’t, when troubles are big and your faith is small, here’s what’s happening in heaven: Romans 8:34 - Who is he that condemns? [No one] Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  1 John 2:1 - …if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  Hebrews 7:25 – [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.  There’s not a minute of any day that Jesus is not standing in the breach to keep God’s wrath from destroying you.  Every day and all the time: “Father, forgive them because I purchased them with the blood I shed.  Father, they are as much your children as I am your Son.  Forgive them.  Hear them.  Help them.”  Knowing that’s happening is what lets you wake up in the morning and fall asleep in the evening at peace.  It’s also how God helps you to rid your life of metal cows and to live instead for the King of kings.

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