An Undivided Heart

“Undivided Heart”

 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sunday, Sept 2, 2012

Text: Exodus 32 // Series Wrap up for: “Exodus”

Well good morning, friends. If you’ve been with us this summer, we’ve been on a journey through the second book in the Bible, Exodus.  The basic plot line of Exodus is focused on how God is going to get over 1 million people out of slavery in ancient Egypt.  So, to review our storyline to date I will need some willing t-shirt models for our final review…  The story of Exodus starts with Moses being born as a baby being hidden among the bulrushes in the Nile River.  And we saw specifically how his mother and his sister took incredible risks to keep him safe and how God rewarded them for their courage.  So our little phrase to help us remember this was July 15: “God’s radical provision flows to those who risk big for His mission”

Then in week 2, Ruth Ellen led us through the story of Moses encountering God at the Burning Bush and as we posted our objections up on the objection wall, we learned that July 22: “God often takes what is ordinary and uses it in extraordinary ways”

Then, we saw that when Moses was all grown up and went down to Egypt to lead the people out of slavery, things got worse before they got better.  And so we learned that “Just because something is part of God’s plan, doesn’t mean it will be easy.”   So if you can slip on this t-shirt right here.

Then Pastor Keith talked about the first nine plagues and he asked a profound question: “What is the condition of your heart – hard or soft?”  Would you be in a place to hear and respond to God as He is speaking uniquely to you here today or is have you chosen the part of a heart hardened by skepticism, unbelief and fear. 

Then we talked about one of the pinnacle moments in the book of Exodus.  The tenth plague.  Where God struck down the first born son of every Egyptian but spared the life of the Israelites who trusted in him and who placed the blood of a lamb on their doorposts in faith.  This kind of foreshadows God’s ultimate rescue plan where Jesus dies in our place, but we’ll get to that later on in our story.  This event became known as the Passover, because God passed over those who trusted in Him and it’s an event that is so significant that it is celebrated by Jewish people throughout the world down to this very day.  And so we learned that “Rhythm and rituals help us to Remember” what God has done.

Then 2 weeks ago, Mike Olynyk asked if we felt trapped in any area of our livers and we looked at the story of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and how when they were between a rock and a wet place, God was not fazed. And he invited them to stand still, watch and see the salvation of the Lord.  So when you feel trapped, God can deliver you.

Then last week, Pastor Keith looked at the story of the Manna and the Quail and how in spite of all of their arguing and complaining, God didn’t give the people what they deserved.  He offered them grace.  And today, we come to our final t-shirt as we look at part 8 - the golden calf.

Well, our t-shirt models have been great this summer so I want to give them a hand and I also want to send the shirts home with them today as a thank you for all the work you boys have done this summer.

Boys, here’s a question for you to consider...  What if, instead of me sending you home with a t-shirt, I sent you home with 20 dollars, what would you do with it?  What if I sent you home with $200?  What if I sent you home with $200,000?  What if you won the lottery and you won 2 million or 22 million dollars?  What would you do if you won the lottery?  Sure, there’s all the commercials about having dinner on top of a mountain or taking your friends on exotic vacation after exotic vacation, but much of that never happens.  In fact, a few years ago, Meg and I were watching a fascinating documentary on TV that followed lottery winners after their big wins and asked how they handled themselves and their money.  It was astounding and sobering to watch.  Most of them were broke within a few short years.  Many so ruined their relationships and their lives that they wished that they never won the lottery in the first place.  Even here in BC, this spring, do you remember the story of the guy who one 1 million dollars, went out and bought a brand new corvette and then proceeded while the dealer plates were still on it to smash it into a fire hydrant, resulting in him being criminally charged.  Then there’s the man in Abbotsford who 9.5 million dollars in 2010.  In the first year following his win, the stress resulted in him putting on 170 pounds, topping out at 465 pounds.  The biggest one that sticks out in my mind recently is the story of Michael Carroll.  In 2002, when he was just 19 years old and working as a garbage man, he won the equivalent of 15.4 million US dollars.  He promptly went on a binge spending spree and after a series of disastrous decisions, in 2006, he was put in jail for 9 months.  By 2010, just 7 short years after his big win, he declared bankruptcy and was forced to sell his few remaining assets.  Today, in 2012, Michael Carroll, who is now known in the UK as the Lotto Lout, makes just 42 pounds a week on a jobseekers allowance.  From multi-millionaire to unemployed in 10 years flat.

I don’t know about you, but when I hear these stories, the very first thought that goes through my head is “I would never do that!”.  That Mark Carroll guy, what a fool!  How could you make such crazy decisions and get pulled in so many unwise directions that you fall so far and so fast.  If I was in his shoes, I would never do that!” 

But then I read through the later part of the book of Exodus and I encounter the stories of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness….  They gripe and complain, I also think to myself, “I would never do that!”  But we’re going to see today just how similar you and I actually are to the people we encounter in the book of Exodus.  Let’s pray as we look into God’s word together. 

Well last week, when we left the people of Israel in Exodus 16, they got into trouble for complaining.  It happens again in chapter 17.  Then in chapter 19, God reveals himself to them and begins to give them instructions on how to live.  Two months after they have left Egypt, God comes to the people and says in 19:5 “now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth…  And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.” And the people are super stoked about this proposition so respond with great fervour and enthusiasm: “We will do everything the Lord has commanded!” So Moses goes up Mount Sinai in the wilderness to receive the instructions for living that God wants to give to His people.  He is gone 40 days and 40 nights, Aaron and Hur are supposed to be in charge while he’s gone.  But kids, some of you know that when your parents leave and babysitters are in charge, sometimes the rules get a little um, lax.  Don’t they?  You don’t have to shake your head or raise your hands – if Mom and Dad were gone for 40 days and 40 nights, you and I both know that the rules would be out the window!  And that’s kind of what happens when we pick up our story in Exodus 32.  Some of the text will be up on the side screens follow along in Youversion.com app on your smart phone or in your Bible.  There’s space for taking notes on page p 62-63 of you MoJo.

2 Slides (Ex 32:1-4) – read on to Verse 6.

Let’s stop here for a minute because the text is pretty thick with irony.  The story opens with a comment on how long Moses has been gone.  But remember, he’s up on the mountain talking to God getting instructions, ironically, for proper worship in what will become the tabernacle or the worship house in the Old Testament.  And, he’s only been gone like a month!  Two months out of Egypt, they arrive at Mount Sinai, then Moses is gone for one month – it’s not like they have lost him…  He’s just taking too long for their personal taste.  So they put some pressure on the babysitter, Aaron.  And he exercises weak leadership and caves so quickly to their bad ideas!  Moses is up on the mountain and God is writing in stone with His own divine finger “you shall have no other God’s before me” because that’s what they just agreed to…  “You shall not make any idols” – and what’s going on down below?  Idol making!  But not just any idol, Aaron asks them for gold.  Do you remember where they got this gold that he wants to use?  Yup, that’s right.  They got it from the Egyptians on the night that they were redeemed and led out of slavery by God Himself.  The very gold that Aaron uses to make a false god is the very status symbol of the deliverance!  When the cat’s away, the mice will play, and play these little mice did!  Moses leaves for a few days and wham-o… the whole project of God’s people becoming a nation of holy priests and declaring to the world His goodness & character is in the middle of being compromised! 

Let’s keep reading…  Exodus 32:7-8 (then read 32:15-24). 

This is a sad low point in the book of Exodus where the people have so quickly forsaken God and run after other things. And so God punishes the people for their sin.  Thousands of people die; people get sick from drinking the water that has the ground up gold in it…  It’s a bad situation.  If you had a word or phrase to describe or sum up what the people did, what would it be?  [Q&A].  I think if I had a word, disobedience wouldn’t be strong enough.  I think I would use the word “disloyalty”.  They made a promise to God, and they broke it big time.  This also comes up in Moses’ action when he comes down from the mountain – what does he do?  That’s right, he smashes the stone tablets.  Now this might seem like an angry impetuous act, like Moses just can’t control himself, but the text suggests to us that this action is highly symbolic. Moses is giving people the visual reminder “you have broken your promise or your contract with God”.  I don’t have stone tablets for you to smash today, but I do need 4 volunteers…  Now, we’re going to do something that kind of approximates this here today.  I am going to give you a pair of scissors, and I want you to cut up these credit cards.  Here’s some bills and a section of my cardholder agreement with them – I want you to shred it.  I am done with PC financial MasterCard.  I am taking public and decisive actions to sever my relationship with them.  I am breaking our contract and I am being disloyal to the way in which they want me to act.  This is essentially what the people have done by worshipping another god.  One commentator notes that their problem “is thus fundamentally not one of disobedience to a law code; it is a matter of unfaithfulness to the God who had bound himself to a people.”    And so Moses has responded by saying “Oh, you’ve broken your contract, all right.  It’s so broken that its smashed (or cut) into tiny pieces!” 

And this is where it almost seems easy and convenient for us to say to ourselves “I would never do that!  If I was there, I would have made a different choice!”  Maybe.  If so, you must be stronger than I am, because I think I might have tried to push the babysitter to let me do my own thing.

Because the real question for you and me isn’t “would you bow down to a golden baby cow,”. The real question for application is to ask “Is there anything in your life that you would say is more important than God?”  To answer that, let’s take a visit to the PNE-like Bibleland with the Sunday School lady from JellyTelly’s animated series “What’s in the Bible” to see if we’re really all that different from the children of Israel. 

Video: What’s in the Bible: “The Golden Cow” (2 min.)

Oh, yes, we’re much smarter than they were!  You might be, but I’m not.  We may not give out our earrings and gold and have them melted down into an idolatrous golden calf that we bow down to, but fundamentally that’s not what this story or the story of the book of Exodus is about.  It’s about what and who we offer our hearts and our lives to.  It’s about how serious we are about following God versus doing life on our own terms.

 I think that the description of this event in I Corinthians 10 is pretty telling:

“I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness…

6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, 7 or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” 8 And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.

9 Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. 10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. 11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. 12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. 13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience.”

When you think about it, the temptations in your life and mine are not fundamentally different from those the people of Israel experienced in the book of Exodus.  You and I get pulled in a whole bunch of unhealthy directions each and every day.  You and I get presented with the opportunity to make choices that go directly in the face of the way in which God wants us to live.  We’re tempted to play it safe when God asks us to take risks.  We’re tempted to believe that life with God will always be ‘up and to the right’ and when it isn’t, we’re disappointed.  We’re tempted to take the credit for other people’s hard work.  We’re tempted to not tell the full truth so we can get out of an uncomfortable situation and save face.  When God says ‘trust me’, I’ll provide for you, we’re tempted to rush out and make it happen all by ourselves.  We are tempted to trust in our education, our personal net worth and our planning smarts for the future.  We are tempted when we’ve been hurt, sometimes very deeply by people, to gossip about them.  We’re tempted to keep all of our money to ourselves instead of releasing it generously and gladly to the work and mission of God in the world.  The temptations in your life and mine are no different from what others experience.  We’re all tempted to be less than serious about following God and living our lives as individuals and as a community of faith on the terms that He offers to us in the contract.  And at the risk of being overly simplistic, those terms of pretty simple: “is there anything in your life that you would say is more important than God?”  The Bible uses a picture or a metaphor of the heart to help us understand this. And that is the picture of what occupies our heart. 

I don’t know about you, but in my heart are all kinds of things like worry, distractions, confidence and fun.  Thoughts about money, fear, trust, doubt and there’s even room in there sometimes for God.  But you can see in this picture that the challenge is that my heart is pulled in so many directions.  It is divided in its loyalty. Pulled in too many competing directions so that no one thing can win the day.  The Bible calls this what it is. A divided heart is idolatry – I can’t’ serve that many masters.  I have to choose this day who is occupying the primary place in my life in my heart, in my decision making and in my hope for the future.  The people of Israel had to choose, Pharaoh had to choose and you and I each have to choose: what will occupy the primary real estate in our hearts?  And perhaps more importantly, what is competing for that space (that’s what we’ll talk about in our “stiff Competition” series that begins next week)? 

As Dustin and the team come, they are going to lead us in a new song that expresses this longing for an undivided heart.  This language comes to us from Psalm 86:11 which says “give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” Grant me a purity or a singleness of heart, that I may honour You. I want you to ask yourself as the team plays this song through “what is competing for space in my heart?  And how much real estate am I giving that thing or those things?    If you’ve never considered or given God that place of leadership in your life, consider it today. [call for salvation]. 

After you’ve asked the question “what is competing for space in my heart?” When you are ready, you can begin to sing the words to this song, but if you don’t mean them, I don’t want you to sing them.  This is between you and God but you might also want to take the helpful and brave step of sharing your joys or your challenges with our prayer team, who will be available at the sides and back during this time of response in song.  We do this so that you don’t just listen and think “oh, that was interesting” or even just give mental assent to it.  We build this time in and have our prayer team there so that you can act on your aspirations in community.  So as we sing, take some time to ask God to reveal to you by His Holy Spirit is there anything in your life that is more important than God?  If so, and for me there often is, then take some time to talk to God about it, to surrender it, and to invite Him to give you an undivided heart.  Let’s pray together as we respond… 

Benediction:

Later on in the Old Testament, the Bible comes back to this image of an undivided heart and in Ezekiel 11:19 God makes a wonderful promise: that He is interested in helping you and I keep our hearts in a state of unity and focus: And I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart.”  And so may you go from this place today, knowing that God has given you His Spirit and His grace so that your heart can remain tender, responsive and undivided.  In the name of the Father who sent the Son who sends the Spirit, who sends His people into the world on His mission of inviting others to respond to Him and who calls us to live with an undivided heart, Amen.