Our God Is Seriously…

17th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/11/16
Exodus 32:7-14


Our God Is Seriously…
I. Frightening
II. Forgiving


We like to think that we always mean what we say. But that isn’t always true, is it?

For instance, I’m sure you’ve told your spouse, your children, a relative or a friend that you have had it and you’re not going to put up with whatever behavior or attitude you’re objecting to at that moment. And for a while, your expectations are met. But sinful ways and attitudes have a way of coming back, sometimes all too soon. And there you go, dealing with it all over again. We didn’t stand behind our demands.

The same thing is often true about the forgiveness we extend to others. We tell someone who has wronged us that we forgive them, and we mean it sincerely, but we have so much trouble completely letting go of the situation. The scars run deep. The inner hurt resurfaces at the most unexpected times. To put it simply, we hold a grudge. We have trouble putting into practice the forgiveness we’ve extended.

So, how often do those two situations surface in your life—the challenge to what you expect and demand of others, and the challenge for you to truly forgive someone? I’ll confess it doesn’t happen that often in my life. How about yours?

But now put yourself in the place of your God. Imagine how many times each second human beings challenge what he says about sin. It’s constant from countless people. Are his 10 Commandments just words without any punch behind them?

And now imagine how often God hears his people pleading for forgiveness. He heard from each one of us just a few minutes ago, and we’re just one small congregation of Christians. We confessed our sins and immediately we heard God’s words of forgiveness. But do you think he really means it? After all, he’s heard our pleas for forgiveness so many times.

Today’s text from Exodus assures us that God is serious about both. He is serious about sin and he is serious about forgiving. As daily sinners who need his daily forgiveness, let’s use these words to remind us just how serious our God is.

Part I.

When you see a sin occur right in front of your eyes, what’s your reaction? Well, we have a menu of responses, don’t we? We can completely ignore it; after all it’s not our business. We can say something, but we better be prepared for the fallout. We can shrug our shoulders and say, “Everybody’s doing it.” Worst of all, we can smile because we love to say and do the same thing.

But did you notice God’s reaction to sin in today’s text?

Before we go any further, let’s be sure we have our Bible bearings. I’m sure almost of all of you are familiar with what occurred right before this conversation between God and Moses.

Remember the golden calf? While Moses is up on Mt. Sinai for 40 days and nights, the Children of Israel are at the foot of the mountain worshipping a golden calf. They proclaimed, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt” (32:4). It’s beyond a slap in the divine face; it’s unimaginable! The very first commandment prohibited worship of any idols of any kind. The Israelites not only make one and worship it, they credit it and not the Lord for bringing them out of slavery in Egypt. They conveniently forget God’s mighty hand in parting the water of the Red Sea. The plagues on the Egyptians by the hand of God are a hazy memory. Just as bad is the way they worshipped this calf. They ate, drank and indulged in revelry (32:6). There was drunkenness and sexual immorality all in the name of worship, just as the heathen nations around them did. And these were God’s people?!

This wasn’t a sin of weakness. This was open rebellion. They were ditching the Lord who had been so good and faithful to them. They were elevating what their own hands had made above the Creator of the universe. They were vowing allegiance to a hunk of metal and turning their backs on the God of love who had chosen them in eternity to be his people. Spiritual mutiny!
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So listen again to the Lord’s response. “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” That response doesn’t leave any room for uncertainty about how God feels about sin. He’s dead serious. Frighteningly serious. He’s ready to wipe out more than 2 million people and start all over with Moses. And can you blame him? It would be like you expending great time and energy to make sure you did everything you possibly could do to love and protect and support your spouse, only to find that spouse right in the act of unfaithfulness with another person. It would rip your heart out and fill you with righteous anger. Your anger would be frightening! How much more the anger of the righteous and holy God!

So, if you think sin is no big deal, think again. When it comes to sin, our God is seriously frightening.

But it’s so easy to forget that. One of the reasons is that our world not only condones sin, it encourages sinful behavior and even demands the right to do what God calls sin. I don’t need to cite examples for you.

But a more important point to make is this: when has my attitude and yours towards sin—any sin—been the same? How often have we decided that we can do what God forbids because it will be beneficial to us? How many times have we enjoyed sin? Countless! And we somehow think, at least in the moment, that our God is unconcerned or is willing to look the other way. Nothing escapes the all-seeing eye and all-knowing mind of our God. He is seriously frightening when it comes to sin. So serious about our sins, that he sent his only Son to endure the horrors of the cross for us. That’s how angry God is with sin, but thanks be to him he took that anger out on Jesus in our place. Instead of his righteous anger, we see his eternal love for us.

Part II.

When someone sins against you, why do you forgive them? You might reply, “Because it’s the Christian thing to do.” I can understand that correctly, but it might be an attempt to do the right thing for the wrong reason. A better response is, “Because God forgives me.” But have there been times in your life when you forgave the other person simply because of who they were? For instance, they are your own children; of course you forgive them.

God doesn’t forgive us because of who we are, that is, his children by faith in Jesus. He forgives us because of who he is. God is moved to forgive us not because of anything good he sees in us, but only because of what he sees in himself.

And that’s exactly what Moses zeroed in on as he appealed to the Lord. Listen to that masterful intercession. “But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. ‘O LORD,’ he said, ‘why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, “‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’”? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: “‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’”

First, he appeals to God’s glory. If God were to destroy the Israelites, the Egyptians would have endlessly mocked him. They would have spread all sorts of wicked lies about the only true God. And this right after the Lord had humiliated this sinfully proud nation.

Next, Moses appealed to God’s covenant. In his dealings with the Jewish patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—God had taken oaths in his own name, because there is no higher name, to make them into a great nation and to give their descendants the Holy Land. Surely God wouldn’t break his oath! Surely God would find a way to keep his covenant!

Lastly, Moses appealed to God’s faithfulness. He addressed the only true God as the LORD—all upper case letters. This was that special name that God used for himself to emphasize his faithful love towards his people. Even if his people were unfaithful to him, the LORD was the God of everlasting faithfulness. He is the God who forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin (Ex. 34:6). That’s what our God is all about. Our God is seriously forgiving.

Your God, above all else, is forgiving; far more so than he is frightening when he deals with sin. He wants above everything else to forgive you. So immerse yourself in his forgiving love. Wrap his forgiveness around you every day of your life. Recognize your daily sins and embrace the truth that, in Christ and his death on the cross, you have full and free forgiveness. Show your appreciation for that forgiveness by fleeing from sin and clinging to your Savior from sin. Seriously! Amen.