Cell Notes for Sunday 8th July Into the Wilderness Replacing God

We are continuing our sermon series Into the wilderness, and the Israelites are continuing their own journey through the wilderness, on the way to the promised land. Moses goes up the mountain to speak with God, and the Israelites feel he is a long time returning. So they gather around Aaron and demand that he make some gods for them to worship. Aaron makes, from gold, an idol in the shape of a calf for them to worship, and builds an altar in front of the calf. Building idols, attempting to replace God, is an all-too-human temptation (Satan tries to get Jesus to do the same in the wilderness). There are lots of reasons for doing this, and we can see these in the Israelites situation. God is on the mountain: perhaps He feels distant for them. Moses has been gone some time: perhaps the Israelites grow impatient, perhaps they feel no-one is watching them anymore and are tempted to rebel. In the wilderness it can feel like the future is taking an awfully long time to come home: perhaps weve backed the wrong horse? Is the message we sent out, the investment we made, every going to come back? Were afraid; bored; longing for something other than what we have, for a place other than where we are There are golden calves, idols, that are fairly easy to see through: obsession with wealth, success, statusOur secular culture is quite well able to see through these idols, as often films show, as when a person realises that a life based on certain virtues and values is preferable to a self-orientated life. But in a way these are only secondary idols: and they cover up more primary, more original, idols that are harder to cast aside. These primary idols are deeply-embedded untruths that we, and our culture, build secondary idols to conceal: examples of primary idols might be the belief that we are ultimately all alone; that life is meaningless; that we must die; that we are essentially un-loveable. These fears and anxieties buried deep within our culture, and often within our own hearts, are idols because they are untrue but we too easily believe them to be true, and allow them to stand between ourselves and a liberating faith in Christ Jesus. Being confronted by these basic idols is one of the toughest aspects of being in the wilderness. But if we can identify these primary idols in our lives, we can realise that they are not ultimate: can hold them before God, and ask Him to set us free in the deepest regions of our hearts and minds. God can set us free from things we struggle to find the strength to let go of for ourselves. If we ask for Christs healing, his blessings of wholeness and peace on this level, we will be more able, in His strength, to go out into the world and help this world to cast aside its primary, as well as its secondary, idols: to realise that in Christ there is release from death, and abundance of life, both now, and in the world to come. Read Exodus 32: 1-14 (The Golden Calf) 1. Where are the golden calves in your life? What are the things that you find yourself trying to replace God with? 2. The Israelites demanded an idol to worship for many reasons, including impatience, fear, rebelliousness, longing for GodWhat are the reasons for your building of your idols?

3. Can you think of a non-religious film, or book, or similar, where someone casts aside the idols in their life? How did the story make you feel? 4. Some idols are quite easy to see through, other idols are buried much deeper in our hearts, and in the heart of our culture, and are harder to see through and cast aside. Can you think of any such primary idols? 5. How do you think you personally could play a part in helping our world to see through its idols and break them down?