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GOD REVEALS HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS TO CREATE A WORSHIPPING COMMUNITYEXODUS 20:22-26INTRODUCTION What do you think of when you hear the word “worship”? Probably most of us think of what we do here on Sunday mornings. We are at a worship service, right? Most of us think of worship as religious acts we perform together for the purpose of praising God. Worship is primarily thought of as actions directed towards God to declare or show in some way his greatness and glory. To think of worship in this way is right. The Bible regularly talks about worship in this way, as particular actions and words that a group of believers engage in to acknowledge who God is and what he has done for us and thus to thank and praise him. However, we also realize that these religious actions are not truly worship if they do not express an internal, heart felt reality. Worship is not merely group religious behavior but it includes and requires the affections or feelings we have towards God. This connection is clearly spelled out throughout the Bible. For example, in Isaiah 29:13, which Jesus quotes when rebuking the Jewish leaders, Isaiah says about Israel, “These people come near me with their mouth and honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up of rules taught by men.” Here we are explicitly told that worship is not merely external action but also internal affection for God and his word. Worship is the external expressions, usually in a corporate setting, of our internal affections. Worship is what we do with our bodies, our physical selves, because of what we love with our hearts. In this sense, worship is not merely a religious idea but it is the way that all humans live all the time. All of us, every day, demonstrate by our actions what we trust, love and hope in, what we are depending upon for security and life. Every day we perform acts of worship by the devotion of our time and attention and money and mental and physical energy to the things and people that are attractive to us. The story we have been examining in Exodus 1-20 is the story of how God aims to get for himself worshippers. God told Moses in Exodus 3 that the end result of Moses bringing out the Israelites from Egypt would be that he and all the Israelites would worship God on Mt. Sinai. Twelve times in Moses’ interactions with Pharaoh it is stated that the reason God wants Pharaoh to let the people go is so that they can worship the Lord. In Exodus 19-20 we are witnessing the fulfillment of that purpose. God has brought the nation of Israel to himself at Mt. Sinai. He has revealed himself to them in a thunderous display and spoken his law to them. He has established Moses as the mediator between him and them and in the passage today he tells them how he wants them to worship him. While this passage concentrates on what actions God wants Israel to perform in the worship of him, yet the entire point of all that he has done is to inspire admiration for him in them. God has saved Israel so that they will trust and love him and perform acts of worship that manifest their delight in him. This is the reason that God saved Israel out of Egypt and it is the reason that he saves us out of our sins. He saves us so that we will perform acts of worship towards him with our bodies because we are so delighted with and so full of admiration for him in our hearts. As we saw a couple of weeks ago, Moses, at the request of the people has entered into the cloud from which God has spoken, to act as the mediator between God and the people of Israel. What we have in vv. 22-26 is the first thing God tells Moses to tell the people upon their trusting him as their mediator. The first thing Moses is to tell the people is how they are to worship God. The Lord is giving to the people through the mediator the reasons and the methods by which they are to worship him. God reminds his people, as he did at the beginning of the Ten Commandments, the first and most important thing is that they worship him alone, that is, to have him at the center of their affections while they perform the acts of worship he commands. MAIN POINT The Triune God alone is to be the object of our attention and affection because…I. He has spoken to us from heaven (v. 22) The first thing God wants Moses to tell the people, as their Mediator, is to remind them that he, Yahweh, has spoken to them from heaven. Why would God want Israel to remember this first of all? How does God’s speaking to Israel from heaven inspire admiration and delight in God that will result in acts of worship? The first and most obvious point of emphasis is that he wants them to remember who it is that is speaking to them. The God who made the heavens and the earth and who holds it all together and who gives them life and breath and everything else has chosen to speak to them. The One who performed those great and awesome signs in Egypt and who parted the Red Sea and who protected them from Pharaoh’s army, this is the one who is speaking to them. The One who gives them their daily bread and who goes before them in a pillar of fire and cloud to direct them, he is the one who has spoken to them. The God whose presence makes the earth quake and the mountain to burn and who is surrounded by thick darkness and flashes of lightning, it is this God who has spoken to them. It is the God who lives in heaven who has spoken to them. While he has revealed himself in this particular location on Mt. Sinai, and has spoken out of the cloud on the mountain, yet he wants them to know that this is not his home. He does not dwell on earth, much less on this mountain, but he lives and reigns in heaven. It is this glorious and magnificent person who has spoken to them. There are people, famous people, for whom all of us have a certain kind of admiration. Whether it’s an athlete or an actor or a musician or a politician, all of us are impressed with certain people. If a famous person whom you admired for their ability or their work were to call you up and tell you things about themselves and express an interest in having a relationship with you, how would that alter how you feel about them? If a famous person spoke with you, would not your interest in and appreciation of that person increase? When people whom we admire take a personal interest in us our admiration for them increases. In the fall of 1976, then governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter, who was running for President came and spoke at UW-Stevens Point where I was a student. I went to hear him speak and afterwards I shook his hand as he left the auditorium. That simple acknowledgement by him caused me to be impressed with him. My estimation of him grew because he paid attention to me in this small way. That is why politicians spend so much time shaking hands with people. The God of heaven and earth has spoken to us, how can we not be impressed? Not only does God want Moses to remind Israel of who has spoken to them but also so they will remember that he has spoken to them in particular. He has chosen to speak to them out of all the nations of the earth. He did not choose to speak to the Egyptians. He did not choose to speak to Esau and his descendants but to Jacob and his descendants. He did not save the Swedes or the Norwegians in order to speak to them. He has picked them, the Jewish people, out of all the nations on the earth to receive his word. It is one thing to have a famous person speak with you, it is another thing to know the famous person chose to speak with you and not with anyone else. When you are especially chosen to receive the favors of the famous, your respect for them grows more than if they choose to talk with everyone in the same way. Anyone who has ever had a crush on a member of the opposite sex knows what this feels like. If you have a crush on a girl and she is a friendly person who says hi to everyone she meets, including you, that makes you happy. However, if she is walking in a different direction with a group of her friends and sees you and waves and runs over to you and cheerfully tells you about her day, that is an entirely different thing. Your delight in her is multiplied because she chose to talk with you when she could have chosen to talk with all kinds of other people. So God wants Moses to remind Israel first of all that he, the creator of all things, whose throne is in heaven, has chosen to speak to them out of all the nations on the face of the earth. You might be saying to yourself, “God hasn’t chosen to say anything to me. I’ve never had God show up on a mountain with an earthquake and black cloud and lightning and an audible voice. So how does God doing this for Israel help me to fix my attention and affection on God alone?” The fact is that God has spoken to us from heaven. Hebrews 1:1-3 says, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe.” This Jesus who has spoken to us has, according to his own words, come down from heaven. In 1 Peter 1:12 Peter says, “It was revealed to them (the prophets) that they were not serving themselves but you when they spoke of the things that have been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit who was sent from heaven.” In other words, everyone who understands and believes the gospel of Christ has had God choose to speak to them from heaven. God sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to take this written word of God and to make it come alive to us so that we believe it and trust it and hear in it the voice of God speaking from heaven. If you are a person who believes this book and trusts in Christ as he has been revealed to you in the gospel, then you are a person God, whose throne is in heaven, has chosen out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to speak to. If that doesn’t get your motor running, I don’t know what will. The Triune God alone is to be the object of our attention and affection because… He has spoken to us from heaven
II. He is infinitely superior to everything and everyone else (v. 23) Verse 23 is a concise restatement of the first two of the Ten Commandments. However it is a restatement with a difference. In both places we are commanded to have no other gods beside the Lord, the Triune God who is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is only one God and it is him alone that we are to trust, love and worship. However, notice that while in the second commandment (Exodus 20:4-6) we are forbidden from making images of God in the form of any creature on the earth; yet in this verse we are forbidden from making idols out of silver or gold. In the commandment the emphasis is on what the idols represent whereas in this restatement of the commandment the emphasis is on what the idols are made of. We made the point several months ago that the reason God opposes idols in the shape of created beings is that of necessity every created being is infinitely less than he is. No creature can possibly represent the Creator. The image of any created thing as the representation of God is always a degrading of God for God is the creator of all things and thus to represent him by any part of his creation is to make him less than he actually is. I greatly admire and respect Gloria Michael and I made this picture to hang in my office in order to remind me of her. (Show picture of a spider.) Gloria, how does that make you feel? Does that make you feel special? Which of us would want to have a person say they love us and then make a picture of a spider to remind him of us? My wife has picked out the pictures of her she wants me to have on my desk in my office. Why? Because she wants me to be reminded of her at her best. God is a spirit and therefore invisible and infinitely glorious in his being. There is nothing in all creation that can adequately represent him. But why would God condemn idols not only because they represent the omnipotent, invisible God by finite, visible creatures but also because of what material they are made from? Silver and gold are the most valuable of all precious metals. In addition statues made of these metals reflect a very high level of human craftsmanship and sophistication. Statues made of silver and gold would hold a strong aesthetic and monetary value for those who worshipped. It would draw attention to the craftsmanship and to the economic value of the idols. Again, these images, which are said to assist in the worship of the true God, would instead distract from worship of the true God. Attention is drawn to the well crafted and valuable figure and away from the only true God. However, God is not against the use of objects made of silver and gold or objects of fine craftsmanship in his worship as you can see by just skipping a few chapters ahead and reading about the construction of the tabernacle. God commands that a golden lamp stand, golden table, golden bowls, a gold covered Ark of the Covenant, as well as numerous silver utensils be made by skilled craftsmen to be used in his worship. So he is not against the use of valuable objects or skilled people in his worship. He is opposed to idols made in this way to represent him, as though the best things that humans can conceive and make can adequately represent him. Isaiah asks the central question that stands behind God’s condemnation of man-made images of created things to assist us in worship of God in Isaiah 40:25, “To whom will you compare me or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens, who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. Because of his great strength and mighty power not one of them is missing.” The point here is this, the stars are among the most glorious of all that is in creation. While the ancient world knew that by simply looking at the sky, we moderns know it in greater reality due to telescopes and other deep space probes. We know even better than Isaiah there is nothing more glorious in all creation than the stars. Yet, God treats these most glorious of all created objects like we treat pets, he gives them names. If God is so much higher than the stars and they, the most glorious of created objects cannot be compared to him, then how in the world can he be compared to a statue, no matter how finely crafted and no matter how much gold and silver is used to make it? There is no one and nothing in all of creation that can even begin to be compared to the Lord God Almighty. The apostle Paul in Romans 1 makes the point that the worship of man-made idols results from human hearts that are not impressed with what is truly impressive. Please turn there with me. I want you to notice the progression Paul describes in vv. 20-25. In verse 20 we are told that every human being knows on the basis of creation that there is a creator of eternal power and divine glory. Every human being, no matter what they say, knows that this awesome creation can only have come into existence and continue to exist through the work of an infinitely more awesome creator. When you observe a great work of art you aren’t impressed by the creative ability of the paint and the brushes and the canvas. You know that there is a great artist who deserves to be praised for his or her ability to paint. In the same way, every human being, by looking at the artistry of this creation, knows that a great and glorious Artist was and is at work. Notice then that v. 21 says that “although they knew God they neither glorified him as God, nor gave thanks to him.” How should people respond to the knowledge of God that is blazing in front of our faces every day? We ought to be taken up with the greatness and glory of God and we ought to thank him 24/7 because we are living as recipients of his abundant goodness as a gift. You didn’t do anything to get into this world and experience this beauty and abundance. It is all given to you. You and I ought to be overcome with admiration of this great and glorious God all the time. Our problem isn't that we don't know what it is like to be impressed with beauty or to be in awe of the power found in creation. Our problem is that we are awed by volcanoes and hurricanes and tornados but have not an ounce of awe in us when we think of the one who controls them. Paul isn’t just condemning atheists here. He is condemning every human being because no human being responds to the greatness of God as revealed in creation as he or she ought. Notice the next step in the progression: “our foolish hearts are darkened and our thinking becomes futile.” Having rejected the truth about reality God removes the light of the knowledge of him from our hearts and we are left to make up fantastic stories to describe what everything is about. The facts of creation continue to exist but we now are immersed in an overwhelming number of explanations of that reality. Whether it is the tribal shaman who says that the reason the volcano erupted is the spirit of the mountain is mad, or the naturalistic materialist who says the reason the volcano explodes is due to purely natural forces, both are an expression of our darkened hearts and our futile thinking. “Although we claim to be wise, we become fools and exchange the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” For most of human history for most of the world the final step in the process is that our futile and foolish story telling leads us into false worship of false gods through the use of idols. Most of us have not grown up in idol worshipping cultures and we can’t understand how anyone would be so foolish as to spend their time and energy worshipping statutes. Yet, are we any different when we spend countless hours mesmerized by television or video games or hunting or catalogs or internet chat rooms or pornography or fishing or sporting events? Are we any less idolatrous when we spend over 10 billion dollars a year to feed our pets or more hundreds of billions on movies and dvd's? We Americans, like our idol worshipping counterparts in the rest of the world are impressed with things that are not impressive. Our hearts are drawn out to things and people that are infinitely inferior to the God. We eagerly exchange the glory of the only God for created things and created images. Think about all the things that get you excited and then ask yourself Isaiah’s question: how does the Sovereign Lord compare to that bauble you are so attracted to and which you worship? The Triune God alone is to be the object of our attention and affection because… He has spoken to us from heaven
III. He is the only one who has made provision for our lawbreaking (vv. 24-26) We made the point when we talked about the Ten Commandments that every commandment, whether it prohibits something or whether it commands us to do something, it always includes the opposite. The command to not worship idols includes the command to worship the true God in the way he prescribes. We see that clearly spelled out in vv. 24-26. Don't use idols to worship the true God, instead make an altar and offer burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on it. Think with me about the significance of this. God has shown up on Mt. Sinai. He has spoken to them from heaven, giving them the Ten Commandments. He has established Moses as the mediator. Now the first thing he tells them they must do to worship him is build an altar upon which to offer sacrifices. He doesn't tell them to form a massive choir and sing in praise of him. He doesn't tell them to write poetry exalting his name. He doesn't tell them to make a huge monument on Mt. Sinai as a memorial of his coming there. Rather, he commands them to make an altar in order to offer animal sacrifices upon it. Why does God only want to be worshipped in this way? The answer to that question is so obvious that it is a wonder that the Jewish people so completely missed it. The fact that God requires animal sacrifice immediately after he gives them the law ought to have shown the Israelites that the law was not given to them for them to obey so they could gain God's blessing. All the law can do for us is to condemn us. The Ten Commandments is given, as Paul says, "to make us conscious of sin." The law tells us that we deserve to go to hell because we are lawbreakers. The Ten Commandments, indeed all of God's law is given to prove to us that we are not good people who God should reward with eternal bliss. Rather, the law proves that we are all criminals who deserve to die. God's command to build an altar is his gracious provision for our sin. He has made a way for us to approach him, even though we are lawbreakers. Every believing Jewish person knew that the animal sacrifices were not the real reason God forgave their sins. They knew that all of these sacrifices were pointing ahead towards the one, final sacrifice of the Messiah. That's what Jesus meant, in John 8, when he told the Jewish leaders that Abraham had seen him. Abraham saw Jesus in the ram that God provided as a sacrifice in the place of his son Isaac. Abraham and all believing Jews knew when they sacrificed animals for their sins that these were all symbols of the great Lamb of God who was going to come into the world to take away sin. They believed in Christ who was represented by the animals. There are several things God tells them about this altar and about the sacrifices to be offered on it that help us to think about what Christ has done for us and how we are to approach God through him. First, notice that the altar is to be made of a pile of dirt or of a pile of stones. They are not to construct a permanent altar made out of chiseled stone but one that would, after it was used disappear under the effect of the weather. In light of the fact that in just a few chapters (27:1ff.) he is going to command Israel to make a permanent but movable altar and then many years later he is going to command them to make a permanent altar of stone and bronze (1 Kings 6 &7), why does he here command them to build only temporary ones? The first thing this tells us is that the people need to have their sins paid for right now, they can't wait until the tabernacle is built. God has come near to them on Mt. Sinai, he has revealed his law and therefore they are in imminent danger of being wiped out. Their sins must be paid for immediately. Notice that they are to build an altar like this in every place where God causes his name to be remembered. In other words, whenever God shows up to speak to them, then they need an altar upon which to offer sacrifices. No human can come into God's presence without their sins being paid for by the death of a substitute. When you enter God's presence either you must die or a substitute must die for you. These earth and stone altars are only a temporary means given until the tabernacle and its permanent but movable altar of burnt offering is made. Then the tabernacle and after that the temple are only temporary until Christ, the perfect sacrifice comes. The fact that God requires this immediately shows how desperate is our condition as well. There is no time when we do not need our sins to be paid for by Christ. We always must approach God with our sins having been atoned for through Christ. God hates every prayer and every act of worship that does not come in and through the person of Jesus. Next, there are two kinds of offerings to be made upon this altar. The first kind, the "whole burnt offering" is when the sheep or goat or bull is killed, its blood drained and then the entire animal is placed on the altar and burned to ashes while its blood is sprinkled on the side of the altar. The animal takes the place of the one who offers it. The worshipper acknowledges that he or she ought to be burned upon the altar but that God is willing to accept the animal in his or her place. The fellowship or peace offering is different. The animal is killed, its blood drained and all of its fat and entrails are burned to ash on the altar but the meat of the animal is cooked, and then the worshippers share in eating it, along with the priests who offer it. This sacrifice recognizes that by the death of the animal the worshippers are joined together into the people of God and now have fellowship or reconciliation with God and with one another. The NT tells us that God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. In other words, Jesus is our whole burnt offering and just like Israel trusted that God forgave them by accepting the animal (as a type of Christ) in their place so we believe that God forgives us by accepting Christ's death in our place. In addition, according to Ephesians 2:14-16, we are reconciled to God and one another through the death of Christ. He is our fellowship offering. Next, notice that wherever God causes his name to be remembered and they build an altar and make these sacrifices, then God will come to them and bless them. God does not come to people and bless them apart from these sacrifices. God comes near to us through Christ and for the sake of Christ he blesses us with his presence and his promises. He sends his Holy Spirit to live in us and among us because of the sacrifice of Jesus and for no other reason. Finally, why does he command that there be no steps on the altar so that the nakedness of the worshipper is not exposed? The nations among which Israel lived often worshipped their gods naked and many of their practices included ritual prostitution. Essentially God is commanding Israel to not worship him the way the pagans worship their false gods. He ends where he began in v. 23, don't worship the true God with the practices of those who worship false gods. Don't use idols and don't use sex to worship the true God. There is a final reason why God wants Moses to tell the Israelites this first of all. God is preparing for what is about to happen. Moses has only gone a little way into the cloud and he is going to come out in a few moments and tell the Israelites this and what is contained in chapters 21-23. Then in chapter 24 he is going to build an altar and make these sacrifices. After he does that he is going up the mountain for 40 days and nights. While he is up that mountain, what will the Israelites do under the leadership of Aaron? They are going to make an idol of gold in the form of a bull and build an altar and get naked in the worship of that idol. When Moses returns and God judges the nation for their disobedience, there will be no one who will be able to plead ignorance. No one will be able to say, "We didn't know we shouldn't do that." God, just before he takes the mediator from them, tells them exactly how he wants to be worshipped, so that they are without excuse when they make the golden calf. Dear friends, God is telling you today how he wants to be worshipped. He commands you to trust in Jesus Christ. He commands that you approach him only through the person and work of Jesus. Just as Aaron and Israel had no excuse for worshipping the idol, if you do not trust in Christ you will have no excuse when you stand before God in the final judgment. How do you think God will respond to you if you go through your entire life without obeying God's command to worship him in and by Jesus Christ, though you have heard God speak to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven? If Aaron and the Israelites had no excuse for their disobedience, how much less do you. So make use of the provision that God has made for you through Christ. He has been offered by God as your whole burnt offering and your fellowship offering. Be reconciled to God through Christ today. The Triune God alone is to be the object of our attention and affection because…
© Copyright 2006 John Swanson. |