Transcription

Connor:
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris:
Hey, everybody, welcome to The Bible Guys. My name is Chris Zarbaugh, and this is Wesley Woods.

Wesley:
Back again.

Chris:
Yes, and if you have not listened to the first two podcasts of this week, I encourage you to go back and listen, because these have actually been pretty great.

Wesley:
Yeah, they’ve been packed full of good stuff.

Chris:
Yeah, not saying that Jeff is greater. These are greater than Jeff’s. Because after all, you can’t fill his shoes, even though you have a size 14 and he probably has a size, what, 10?

Wesley:
I don’t know what size he wears.

Chris:
I don’t know. It’s so funny. We covered that on Monday, so we won’t go there. But anyway, we’re doing a bang up job together. We are the Bible guys today, and we are going to launch into a segment that Desiree has written for us. And I like these. This is called a summer draft list. And here’s how it reads. She says, we’re now in the full swing of summer. So let’s do a draft list of your favorite summer activities. Do rock, paper, scissors to see who gets the first pick and go until you have five activities each. So for those who are watching and not listening, you can actually see the results, but we’re going to do rock, paper, scissors. One, two, three, shoot. Oh, I beat you. So I did rock. He did scissors for the listeners. And so I’ll go first. Okay. All right. So I would have to say, uh, number one activity for me is being on the water on a boat. Um, now I don’t, I don’t have a boat.

Wesley:
So you need friends with a boat.

Chris:
I have two friends that invite us on boats, and we actually have not yet said yes to a friend in a couple years, but this other friend, we’re on the boat with them, and I just absolutely think it’s one of the best things ever. And so Lake St. Clair, that kind of thing, right?

Wesley:
Yeah.

Chris:
That’s awesome. For those who don’t live in Detroit, that’s our big body of water.

Wesley:
Yeah. For me, it’s going to be very similar. I put vacation. Okay. So we take these long road trips. My wife has family in Georgia and Florida, so we will literally do a long drive, like spend the night in like Tennessee, keep driving the next day, visit family all along the way. I have family in Tennessee too. So yeah, those are always fun.

Chris:
So you guys stop in Tennessee, Georgia and Florida.

Wesley:
Yeah. So normally we do the Nashville is like our spend the night spot. If we’re hitting Tennessee on the way down, we’ll spend the night in Nashville and then cut through Atlanta and then head on down to like the Tampa area. If we’re bypassing it and just doing a spend the night spot, we’ll do the Florida. Let’s say we leave from Tampa. We’ll spend the night in Chattanooga or Knoxville. That’s our spend the night spot. And then we keep going to Michigan. Yeah, no, we got our spots all.

Chris:
All right. So I’m going to say number two, uh, I enjoy landscaping a lot. Okay. So, uh, in the summer that gives me the opportunity to go out and do it. Although right now it’s looking pretty rough. So I get a lot of work to do, but when I do have it done, I love, love, love it.

Wesley:
Yeah, my wife is really into landscaping. I like the way it looks. I just, I think I have like trauma from a kid being forced to work in the yard when I was young. So yeah, I’m not a big, so we actually have a lawn guy that does our lawn. I don’t even mow the lawn. Yeah, I’m not a big landscaping, but I like the way it looks and then I know I’ll help my wife plant flowers But not a not big into that. So what’s your second one? My second one is kind of like the first one in a sense I put many road trips So this is something my daughter and I have been doing ever since she was like three we will literally hop in the car on a Saturday and just drive and We have no destination. We’ll figure it out as we go. So we’re on 696 and it’s like, okay, do we go north towards like Bertrand or do we go south towards Ohio? I don’t know. And we will literally make it up as we go. So we’ve been doing that a long time.

Chris:
Wow. That sounds incredible.

Wesley:
I like that. Little mini like Saturday trips we’ll do.

Chris:
Yeah. I’ve done it a few times, but I love those kinds. You just end up where you end up.

Wesley:
Yeah. We end up where we end up, eat there and yeah.

Chris:
Right. Okay. Uh, number three, I’m going to choose, uh, putt, putt. Oh yeah. So, so you can’t do that in the winter, obviously, you know, when the bad weather happens in the spring or the, you know, but usually, you know, spring, summer, but, uh, I think we’re going to do putt, putt. My parents are in town this weekend. And I think we’re probably all going to go and do miniature golf.

Wesley:
Now your dad isn’t super competitive, is he?

Chris:
He is. Where do you think I get it from?

Wesley:
There’s going to be a sermon out of this one. So for me, for my number three, I put festivals. I remember being a kid and Hart Plaza in Detroit used to have a lot of free festivals. And it would be like the jazz festival and the this festival. And we would go down there and just like spend the whole like Saturday or Sunday. Yeah. It was really fun.

Chris:
Yeah. That’s interesting because my number four is going to be those parking lot carnivals. Oh yeah. Yeah. I love parking lot carnivals.

Wesley:
Elephant ears. Elephant ears.

Chris:
We have fond memories. So my family and my kids are grown adults and in here they are in their twenties and we’ll be driving in a car and if they see a parking lot festival, they go, Oh, Oh, And then we have to go. Yeah. And so, uh, yeah, because we just went every time we saw them as a kid and you know, they, as kids, they loved them.

Wesley:
Yeah, no, that’s cool. Yep. Yeah. For me, number four is beach. So I’m not a big beach person. So I mean, we can go or not go. It’s not a big deal to me. So, but it is fun, um, to go to the beach, put your feet in the water and all that stuff.

Chris:
So yeah, that’s great. And I’m going to say number five is grilling. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Grilling is just something you don’t get to do other than, you know, for the most part summer. Yeah. And, uh, and I think it’s just, you know, there’s nothing like a grill buddy.

Wesley:
Yeah. And my last one is sports. So all that outdoor sports stuff you do like 4th of July, all the, uh, the volleyball with the net, no one can actually play volleyball, but it’s just fun being with family. Like all those sports holiday type things. That’s great. Yeah.

Chris:
That’s great. Awesome. Well, hey, there you go. Summer draft list. So let’s go ahead and dive into Exodus chapter 32. We’re covering the instructions that God is giving to Moses on the mountain. And what we’re about to see is that Moses has been up there a long time.

Wesley:
Yeah. Now we covered the chaos ensues. Yes.

Chris:
Well, we basically, you know, we’re, we’re, we’re only doing milestones of the old Testament, like main highlights. So we’re not going to, you know, do everything, but we’re skipping over, you know, there’s more instructions on the top of the mountain money for the tabernacle plans for the wash basin. Uh, you know, she talks about craftsmen. He actually gives very explicit instructions about keeping the Sabbath And then finally, there’s something that happens on the ground, and this is where Exodus chapter 32 picks up, and we’re going to read all of it, right?

Wesley:
Yeah, 1 through 29. 1 through 29. So this is Exodus chapter 32 verses 1 through 29, and it says, Now, Didn’t Moses just lead them out of the land of Egypt? But they’re talking like he’s this… What happened to this fellow Moses who brought us here?

Chris:
Yeah, well, you know, and by the way, he could have been gone a year. Yeah. Like, we don’t know. Yeah.

Wesley:
We don’t know how long it took, but… Yeah, just that phrase just sounds funny to me.

Chris:
Well, for them to say fellow, he would have had to have been pretty distant, right? Yeah. He’d have been gone a long time now.

Wesley:
And it says, who brought us here from the land of Egypt? Verse two says, so Aaron said, take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me. All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, Tomorrow will be the festival to the Lord. The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry. Verse 7, The Lord told Moses, Quick, go down the mountain. Your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned away from the way I have commanded them to live. They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Verse 9 Then the Lord said, I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation. But Moses tried to pacify the Lord his God. Oh Lord, he said, why are you so angry with your own people who brought you from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a strong hand? Whom you? Let me reread that. Oh Lord, he said, why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a great strong hand? Verse 12, why let the Egyptians say their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth? Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people. Verse 13, Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven, and I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever. So the Lord changed His mind about the terrible disaster He had threatened to bring on His people. Verse 15, Then Moses turned and went down the mountain. He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. These tablets were God’s work. The words on them were written by God Himself. When Joshua heard the boisterous noise of the people shouting below them, he exclaimed to Moses, it sounds like war in the camp. But Moses replied, no, it’s not a shout of victory nor the wailing of defeat. I hear the sound of a celebration. When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing, and he burned with anger. He threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf they had made and burned it. Then he ground it into powder, threw it into the water, and forced the people to drink it. He was ticked. Verse 21, finally he turned to Aaron and demanded, what did these people do to make to make you bring such terrible sin upon us. Verse 22, Don’t you get so upset, my Lord? Aaron replied, you yourself know how evil these people are. So Aaron’s kind of pushing the blame a little bit. They said to me, make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses who brought us here from the land of Egypt, verse 24. So I told them, whoever has gold jewelry, take it off. When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire and out came this calf, which I think is hilarious.

Chris:
That’s hilarious.

Wesley:
Verse 25, Moses saw that Aaron had let the people get completely out of control, much to the amusement of their enemies. So he stood at the entrance of the camp and shouted, All of you who are on the Lord’s side, come here and join me, and all the Levites gathered around him. Verse 27, Moses told them, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Kill everyone, even your brothers, friends, and neighbors. The Levites obeyed Moses’ command and about 3,000 people died that day. Then Moses told the Levites, Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord, for you obeyed him, even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Today you have earned a blessing. And yuck. There’s a lot that happened there.

Chris:
Yeah, there’s a bunch of yuck with sin, isn’t there? Yeah. And so, wow, on that whole story. And it represents so many things. And yet, it’s interesting because even though symbolically we can apply it to today, oh, today we have many things that we place, you know, in God’s place, whatever’s reserved for God. We can worship money. We can worship, you know, even our own children or a relationship or a job or whatever it is. And those are the false gods, you know, that we have in our lives. So it’s transferable and it’s definitely symbolic and it happens for a reason. But if you were to really truly try to imagine yourself as a part of this story, yuck.

Wesley:
Yeah.

Chris:
It is unbelievably just painful. And, you know, what’s interesting about Aaron is that it’s the one verse that really stands out, isn’t it? So it says at the very beginning, number one, it was Aaron’s idea, right? And he admitted to that. He says, oh, it’s because of the people. I said, bring me all your earrings and golds. And he said, I threw it in the fire and out came this calf. And yet, and yet the Bible, the inerrancy of the Bible, the truth of the Bible tells us exactly what he did. Aaron took the gold and melted it down and molded it into the shape of a calf.

Wesley:
So it didn’t just poof, just like fly out of the fire.

Chris:
So I guess what Aaron is trying to do is to say that there’s some validity to this false God. Like, what is he trying to do here? He’s trying to say, You know, hey, there’s some supernatural things, don’t blame me, that is happening here. I don’t know.

Wesley:
To me, this reminds me of, just making a reference to today, trying to play both sides of the fence.

Chris:
Oh, for sure.

Wesley:
You know, there are people I can think of, maybe there’s someone listening in on your job. Maybe there are things that are being presented to you that aren’t illegal, but they just kind of skirt up against unethical or immoral. And you’re wondering, well, everyone else is doing it. Should I do it too? And you’ve got to make a decision. What side of the fence are you going to be on? Right. Are you going to be like Aaron and go ahead and capitulate and, you know, make the false God? Or are you going to stick to what you know, God said to do so?

Chris:
I’ll tell you when you meet a person, I had a staff member. I worked at my previous church who, uh, he was known to be talking out of both sides of his mouth and he would say one thing to one person. And then if he went to another person who has had a different opposing opinion, he would, he would play it to that opinion. Yeah. And he would literally say two things, and he’d go back and forth. And you know, guess what? People talk. And you’re going to get in trouble for that. You’re going to be known for that. He told me this. Well, he told me that.

Wesley:
Yeah.

Chris:
And I’m telling you, there’s almost nothing worse than getting tagged with a person who talks out of both sides of their mouth. Unless you’re Aaron. Aaron’s worse. Yeah. So let me read this Light Application Study Bible note about Aaron. It says this. Effective teamwork happens when all team members use their special skills. Identify, or no, excuse me, ideally each member’s strengths will contribute something important to the team effort. In this way, members make up another’s weakness. Aaron made a good team with Moses. He provided Moses with one skill Moses lacked, effective public speaking. But while Aaron was necessary to Moses, he needed Moses as well. Without a guide, Aaron had little direction on his own. There was never any doubt as to who God’s chosen leader and trained leader was. The pliability that made Aaron a good follower also made him a weak leader.” Isn’t that interesting? Yeah. His major failures were caused by his inability to stand alone. His yielding to the public pressure of making an idol was a good example of this weakness. Most of us have more of the follower than the leader in us. We may even be good followers if we are following a good leader. but no leader is perfect and no human deserves our complete and unquestionable allegiance. Only God deserves our complete loyalty and obedience. We need an effective team members and using good skills and abilities that God has given us. So anyway, it goes on. It talks about this strengths and weaknesses of Aaron. We just talked about his weaknesses, but you know, his strengths are he was the first high priest of God in Israel. He was an effective communicator. He was God’s main mouthpiece for Moses. The lessons he learned in life where God gives individual and special abilities, which he weaves together for his use. And then the other lesson was the very skills that make us a good team player sometimes also make us a poor leader. It’s really interesting, isn’t it? How Aaron is such a great complement to Moses, and yet it’s very clear that that person who’s a great number two, should never be a number one. Right? And by the way, that’s okay. Right? Because some people are Aaron’s. God makes Moses’s and God makes Aaron’s. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Right? So I think that that’s a really great sermon right there in the middle of everything.

Wesley:
Now, Chris, to make this practical for the listeners, what would you say to the person who is struggling in that position where it would just be easier to go along with the crowd? It would be easier to just yield with, I don’t want to be the outcast. I don’t want to be the outsider. I mean, if I don’t go with the crowd, you know, maybe they’ll talk about me or they won’t be friends with me anymore. What would you say to that person who’s struggling in that area? And that could have been what Aaron was dealing with a little bit.

Chris:
Well, you know, it’s interesting, but it connects the dots for me to so many different things. And the main thing that I want to say that has come to my mind is this, is that think about how much you love God. So in the New Testament, we aren’t obeying God because we absolutely have to, right? Because we’re given grace. have to meaning that God isn’t going to smite us. God isn’t going to punish us, right? There’s not going to be 3000 people dying by the sword because of our sin. And that’s not the way God works anymore. So, in other words, we don’t obey God because we have to, it is much more effective to obey God because we want to. And so we are supposed to be motivated out of grace, out of gratitude that Jesus has done things for us. So I would just say, I would say to the person who wants to go with the crowd, Remember this, that God’s response to sin only changes in his response to us, but his response to sin is still, he hates sin. He is just as angry in his heart.

Wesley:
There’s still a consequence.

Chris:
If you want to love God, if you want to gain His favor, if you want to receive the blessings that are already in store for you, that are in reserve for you, then understand that God hates sin just as much as He does right here. You know what the only difference is? The only difference is God’s reaction to sin changes drastically. God’s reaction to sin changes because of Jesus. So if not for Jesus, God would still react to sin this way, because God still hates it.

Wesley:
OK, curveball right here. Yeah. What about the person who says, OK, I hear everything you’re saying, Chris, but I just want to just take my big toe and just dip it lightly on the other side. I’m not diving in. I’m staying on this side. I’m just going to just dip my foot in just a little bit just to get a little taste.

Chris:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Wesley:
So, so the, uh, you know, it’s, Jeff talks about this a lot with the window, the window example he uses about like a rock hitting the window. Right.

Chris:
Well, I mean, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s found in so many things that we’ve already read. Yeah. Even, even air, even a lot in Abraham. where it says, you know, Lot chose the side that Sodom and Gomorrah were on, and then Lot would pitch his tent, but he would actually have the opening of his tent gazing toward the beauty of Sodom and Gomorrah. And then it says before too long, Lot was a prominent member of Sodom and Gomorrah, which means if you dip your toe, right, and it’s like, well, I’m not getting too close to Sodom and Gomorrah. You know, I’m just, I’m just getting near the region and now I’m gazing toward it. Now I’m lusting after it. Before you know, you turn, you know, you blink your eyes and all of a sudden you’re, you’re in the thick of it.

Wesley:
Yeah. So which I would say. You’re a card carrying member. Yeah, right. Exactly.

Chris:
Which means, which means dipping your toe in sin may seem thrilling and you may seem, think to yourself, well, I’m strong enough. I have control of this. It’s not an addiction. It’s not a habit. And yet before we know it, we realize we are not strong. And so, you know, there’s no sense in dipping our toe in sin, because the examples given in Scripture over and over are, we’re going to do more than that, because pretty soon dipping your toe isn’t going to be good enough. Did you ever wade into water and it’s cold, but then eventually it becomes warm?

Wesley:
Yeah. And it’s like, man, it felt like 10 minutes ago, this was freezing. Yeah.

Chris:
Yeah. Dipping my toe in it. Oh, that’s exhilarating. But before too long, it doesn’t feel exhilarating anymore. Now I want to dip my whole leg in it. Yeah. Now I want to dip up to my waist. Right. But at least I’m not over my head. Yeah. Right. And before you know it, we’re over our heads. Yep. And so that’s what dipping our toe in sin means. So that’s why Jesus says, run the other way. Yeah. Right. So we talked about Joseph already too. So what did Joseph do? He left Potiphar’s wife, left his jacket in her hands, turns around and runs because he’s like, no, no, no, no. I’m not even going to, I’m not even going to flirt with this idea.

Wesley:
So essentially you’re saying, don’t even get close. No, don’t even get close to the line. Don’t even, yeah.

Chris:
And so Moses builds this false god, or excuse me, Aaron builds this false god. Moses comes down the mountain, and Moses has this unbelievable wrath.

Wesley:
Yeah, he’s angry.

Chris:
And because he’s the one that talked God out of his wrath.

Wesley:
Yeah.

Chris:
which by the way, there’s another sermon in there altogether, which says that God can be persuaded.

Wesley:
Yeah. Verse 14. So the Lord changed his mind on behalf of Moses.

Chris:
Right. So, so therefore we know that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much says James, right? So our prayer can change things. Our communion with God, we can move. on someone else’s behalf and God can change his mind. That’s what Jesus teaches. Jesus says, hey, because of his persistence, he keeps knocking. I’m going to get up and I’m going to give him the loaf of bread. Right. Even though I said go away five times because of his persistence. And so therefore that is how the kingdom of God works. Jesus tells us this. And so, you know, don’t be afraid to continue to go to God, pray for things that haven’t happened yet. you know, intervene on someone else’s behalf or on your own behalf, because God can change his mind. And then Moses has wrath and, you know, good gosh, I mean, forcing them to drink water with gold dust.

Wesley:
Yeah. I mean, this was, he grounded into powder, threw it in the water, then made them drink it. This was like deliberate, like he’s, he’s fuming at this point.

Chris:
Now I’m assuming because there’s a million people that, you know, that the, that the, even if the calf were huge, which I’m assuming it was right. You know, that, that the deluge, the delusion of the gold dust will dissolve, even though Technically gold wouldn’t dissolve in water.

Wesley:
It would just dissipate more.

Chris:
Yeah. So I just think, wow, what an unbelievable word picture, right? Maybe this is where parents got washing your mouth out with soap.

Wesley:
Yeah, I guess so.

Chris:
But yeah, so, you know, it just goes to show you the ultimate lesson, the ultimate sermon in here is we violate this time and time again in our lives. Whenever we decide to place anything else in the space that is reserved for God, that is a false idol, right? When God says, lower your pride and go apologize. And we say, Nope. I’m not going to handle my conflict resolution that way.

Wesley:
They did it to me first, you know. Yeah.

Chris:
And then what we’re doing there is we’re placing ourselves, right? Or maybe the wisdom of our father, right? Or generational sin, whatever it is. And we’re placing that in the place of God, whatever, whatever takes place of the advice of God, the words of God, the nature of God, you know, the worship that is reserved for the worship of God. It is a false side in our lives and it could be anything. And Jesus says that the main competitor is money, right? You know, that’s why there’s 2,000 verses about money, more than any other topic in the Bible, because God knows that’s our chief competitor for our affection. Yeah. So anyway, yeah, there’s a bunch of stuff in there, right? Yeah. So it looks like we’re at our maximum time here. So hopefully we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.