16th Sunday after Pentecost
Exodus 32:7-14
9/16/2007
Rev. Philip A. Bouknight
God delivered his people out of slavery from the Egyptians. He performed miracle after miracle, beginning with how Moses was saved from genocide. God took a baby that had been laid in a basket and drifted that basket to the place where Pharaoh’s daughter was to bathe. He moved her heart to save this child. Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s house. He saved Moses after Moses killed an Egyptian overseer who was abusing a fellow Israelite. He sent Moses into the wilderness where he used the miracle of the burning bush to bring him back to Egypt where he would become Israel’s shepherd and prophet. He used Moses to appeal to Pharaoh on behalf of the Israelites and when Pharaoh would not listen, God sent plague after plague, each one worse than the last. Each one was an opportunity for Pharaoh to let the people go and when Pharaoh’s heart continued to be hardened against God and God’s people, God sent the worst plague of all, saving the Israelites by what they would later call the Passover. When Pharaoh came after them, God parted the sea so that the Israelites crossed over on dry land. The Egyptian army, their horses and chariots perished in the waters when they pursued. In the wilderness, God provided Manna from heaven when there was no food. He brought forth water from the rock when there was no water. Time after time, he showed the Israelites that not only was he with them, he was their ever present savior. He continued to save them and keep his promises.
Now Moses had been up the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments; the law of God given to the people so that they would live the life that God wanted them to live. Instead of giving thanks to God and worshiping him, they made a god for themselves from their jewelry. A golden calf was set up in the midst of the people and they worshiped it. Not only did they worship it and make sacrifices to it, they credited this calf with delivering them out of Egypt. “This calf has brought you your freedom”, they said. We look at this from a distance in our safe little church and we can say that God had every right to be angry. He had every right to smite them all, yet we cringe when we hear the words of judgment that God gave concerning them. Moses appealed to God to turn away his anger; to remember his promises and keep them, not for the people’s sake alone, but for the sanctity of his word.
And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people. Exodus 32:14
I dare say that we cringe, not because we fear what God was going to do to that stiff necked bunch of Israelites, we cringe because we see ourselves in them. We have been delivered out of slavery when we passed through the waters of our baptism. He performed a great miracle before our eyes and delivered us from death and from the power of sin. Not only has God been with us. He is our ever present savior. Though we should fall down and worship him, giving him our lives, we are guilty of pointing to other things in this world, maybe even things that we have made, calling them our salvation. We cringe, because we know deep down that we are a stiff necked bunch of people who are quick to turn away from our God. We cringe because we know that we deserve his wrath and yet God stays his hand.
God is very patient with us, continuing to grant us miracle after miracle. He wants more than anything that we would worship him not only in our pews, but in our lives. He wants us to live in the freedom that was given to us in baptism. We have new life, a new beginning and a new hope that transcends anything that can be made by human hands. If someone were to look at our lives from the safe distance of a couple millennia, they would probably shake their heads at the stupidity of our actions, just as we do when we watch the Israelites turn their gold into a god. Not a lot has changed with God’s people. We are still turning our trinkets into something to be worshiped.
And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people. Exodus 32:14
When we were deep in our sin, God sent his son. When we were busy worshiping our money and our might; when we failed to sacrifice our lives for his glory, he sacrificed his Son. He had every right to smite us all and yet he kept his promise. God keeps his promises even when we fail to keep ours. Lest we believe that we are saved, because we deserve it, we hear Moses appealing to God to save the people not for their sakes alone, but for the sanctity of his word. God has every right to change his mind and there are several instances in the bible where we see a hint of it.
When the world was obsessed with itself; when it was overcome with evil, God sent the flood, but saved Noah and his family. Then he placed a bow in the clouds as a reminder to himself that he would never bring such a calamity upon us for our transgressions. When you see that bow in the clouds, you may marvel at its beauty, but marvel even more at what that bow represents for you and for me. When Sodom and Gomorrah was obsessed with sinful living; when it was utterly evil, God set his wrath against it. Abraham pleaded with God to save the righteous who lived there. He had family living in Sodom. Lot, his wife, and their two daughters escaped, yet his wife’s love for the city and all that the city represented, caused her to turn back. God had changed his mind concerning this family, yet she chose to long for the life she had in Sodom instead of the new live she was given. God sent Jonah to the city of Nineveh. Again, this was a horrible place full of immorality. People avoided this place as did Jonah. When he finally went with the help of that great fish, he proclaimed God’s wrath in the shortest sermon on record.
"Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" Jonah 3:4
The people repented and we hear
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. Jonah 3:10
Even the animals repented in Nineveh.
We begin to see a pattern of God changing his mind, but note that all of these accounts deal with him changing his mind when it comes to his wrath. We never see an instance where God changes his mind when it comes to his grace or the salvation of his people. He keeps his promise. Moses knew this about God and appealed to him to remember his promise, just as the bow in the clouds was a reminder to God of a promise made. God looks at our sin and our failure to worship him and instead he sees his Son. Jesus Christ is that reminder of all of his promises; promises of grace and promises of salvation.
For the sake of his Son and for the sanctity of his word, God stays his hand, not for our sakes alone, but for the sake of this world. So for the sake of the world, live the new life that you have been given. Look at the bow in the sky and give thanks for God’s grace. Live in the salvation that has been given to you. Do not turn back to the life you once lived. Instead, look forward to the freedom that is yours. When you are brought face to face with your own failure to live a Godly life, repent and turn again to the life God laid out for you. Toss aside your trinkets; every single thing that would take your heart away from the God who has claimed you. Do not worship them. Worship him. You have been brought from death to new life. You have crossed over on dry land and are heading to the Promised Land. In Christ you have a new life, a new hope and a new beginning. You have been reborn. Worship God with your life. Give him all that you are, because you are his. His Son died for you. He looks at you and he sees Jesus Christ. He is reminded of his promise. Remember this when you struggle to live the life God would have you live. When you see your error, you may be saddened and you may be ashamed. Let that sadness and shame turn you back to him. Remember his promise. Then remember this; when it comes to God’s promises, He will never change his mind.
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