Today’s sermon was by Rev. Arthur Wong over at my home church, Jaffray. You can find the sermon online after some digging… These are my crappy notes.

Jealous Love

Exodus 20:4-6 [show] [4]"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. [5]You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, [6]but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (ESV)
; Exodus 32:1-8 [show] When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." [2]So Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." [3]So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. [4]And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" [5]When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD." [6]And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. [7]And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. [8]They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" (ESV)
; Colossians 1:15-23 [show] [15]He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. [16]For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. [17]And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18]And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. [19]For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, [20]and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. [21]And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, [22]he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, [23]if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. (ESV)

Sidestory: Ashley Madison & “Life is short. Have an affair.” ad campaign for TTC; community OUTRAGE and TTC outrage (and subsequent refusal) since it was re: cheating.

• jealousy is embedded within DNA of love?
  
  • when a person has a crush, wants to capture attention and affections of the other person
  • jealousy turns to anger sometimes?
• “jealousy” in today’s culture is…self-serving/selfish? (tainted by own insecurities)
  
  • ie. gf/wife constantly calling to check where you are, bf/husband that prohibits wife from speaking to other men
• 10 Commandments: relationship vs contract
  
  • legal/culture’s definition of marriage = contract…wth
  • God uses “covenant”; a relationship…mutual promises of love
• why does God say “I am a jealous God”?
  
  • wrathful love = natural response of a loving God
  • contrasts passive, distant, anti-fellowship Greek gods
• Exodus 32 [show] When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." [2]So Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." [3]So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. [4]And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" [5]When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD." [6]And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. [7]And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. [8]They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" [9]And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. [10]Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you." [11]But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? [12]Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. [13]Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'" [14]And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. [15]Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. [16]The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. [17]When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp." [18]But he said, "It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear." [19]And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. [20]He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it. [21]And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?" [22]And Aaron said, "Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. [23]For they said to me, 'Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' [24]So I said to them, 'Let any who have gold take it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." [25]And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), [26]then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the LORD's side? Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. [27]And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'" [28]And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. [29]And Moses said, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day." [30]The next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." [31]So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. [32]But now, if you will forgive their sin--but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written." [33]But the LORD said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. [34]But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them." [35]Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made. (ESV)
  ; what do you do when God seems absent? (prayers not answered, desires not met the way you want, actions unseen?)
  
  • “Dark Night of the Soul” John of the Cross; you start to take matters into own hands…
  • Aaron was there when God made the covenant…but he started to panic when ppl asked him? believed a god in your hand was worth 2 in your bush?
  • people want a god they can see, touch, control… Aaron innocently makes a tangible form of God, but problem of humanity overcomes all possible good that was in his actions (Ex 32:1-8 [show] When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." [2]So Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." [3]So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. [4]And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" [5]When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD." [6]And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. [7]And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. [8]They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'" (ESV)
    )
  • shaping God in OUR img always leads to sin
• ultimate reason for out downfall (root of sin): unbelief
• “We trust our senses, but have not sense enough to trust our God”, Spurgeon
• does God focus on our moral upright living, OR our trust and faith? “God is jealous for our trust and faith, not moral upright living”
  
  • Art’s statement is kind of…well, it feels like there’s a catch. How is moral upright living not important as well? I mean…yes, maybe we’ll trust and have faith in God, His promises and [maybe] His commands, but what if we perform highly immoral things? What if we commit adultery, steal, or kill? What if we cheat the system?…all the while trusting and having faith. But the point here is that God is not jealous (wrathful anger etc.) for us to just be MORAL — He’s jealous for exactly what Art says: our trust and faith
• God says “Don’t make img of me…I WILL REVEAL TO YOU THE IMG” (Colossians)
  
  • v19; Jesus is not a dummy demi-god…scripture tells us God was PLEASED to dwell fully there.
• we make img of Jesus in relation to culture (ie. Chicago Evangelicals started the “Michael Bolton”-Jesus look… eeps)
  
  • BUT Isaiah 53:2 [show] [2]For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
    …God never specified how Jesus looks
• Martin Luther: “seeing Jesus is seeing the Father” (Jesus Is the Mirror of God’s Fatherly Heart”)
  
  • img of Jesus=words and works, not nose, lips, etc.
• God’s ultimate jealousy is for our faith and trust in His Word/promises
• built on Trust in God’s essential statement of “I have loved you, I have chosen you…will you choose and love me?”