The Best Deceptions are Built with a Seed of Truth

Exodus 32:1-14 CEB
    The people saw that Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain. They gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come on! Make us gods who can lead us. As for this man Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t have a clue what has happened to him.”
    Aaron said to them, “All right, take out the gold rings from the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took out the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. He collected them and tied them up in a cloth. Then he made a metal image of a bull calf, and the people declared, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
    When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf. Then Aaron announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!” They got up early the next day and offered up entirely burned offerings and brought well-being sacrifices. The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to celebrate.
    The Lord spoke to Moses: “Hurry up and go down! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, are ruining everything! They’ve already abandoned the path that I commanded. They have made a metal bull calf for themselves. They’ve bowed down to it and offered sacrifices to it and declared, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’”  The Lord said to Moses, “I’ve been watching these people, and I’ve seen how stubborn they are. Now leave me alone! Let my fury burn and devour them. Then I’ll make a great nation out of you.”
    But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, “Lord, why does your fury burn against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and amazing force? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He had an evil plan to take the people out and kill them in the mountains and so wipe them off the earth’? Calm down your fierce anger. Change your mind about doing terrible things to your own people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, whom you yourself promised, ‘I’ll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky. And I’ve promised to give your descendants this whole land to possess for all time.’” Then the Lord changed his mind about the terrible things he said he would do to his people.

This post is for all those congregants wanting to revitalize their church. With so many, "Why is the church dying?" posts, let me explain why the church is dying in relation to revitalization. 

1. Revitalization requires letting go of the old way- The Israelites were spending so much time in the wilderness because they needed to change. They were slaves becoming a free people. They had to let go of their old ways in order to become what God wanted them to be.  Here's where it becomes difficult. We can all look at Exodus and draw easy conclusions. Of course God doesn't want the people to be slaves! 
       When it comes to churches that need revitalization, they often can't see their own captors, because they look too far back. Imagine it this way: Every church has a huge metaphorical mirror, where they can see what they have become. The churches love to look in this mirror because instead of seeing their reflection they have pasted an old picture over the mirror, a picture that shows a time when the church was healthy. Of course they don't want to change, because they don't want to let go of that picture! Revitalization can only happen when the old picture is ripped away revealing where a congregation actually is. Relating this to the Israelites: The picture is a pre-Egyptian people. The mirror image, the now image, is a captive-in-Egypt people. Revitalization is the promised land. The path requires wilderness time. Which leads me to my second point...
   
   
2. Revitalization requires time- We have been falsely taught there are easy fixes to our problems. Wanna' lose weight? Take a pill! Wanna' be happy? Buy a toy! Wanna' look younger? Botox! Those 20-30 pounds might quickly fall off, but statistically they come back. That new toy might be fun and engaging at first, but eventually it will break or the interest in it will wane. Botox might melt away those wrinkles, but a month later they are back.
       Good and healthy change is a process. It took 40 years for the Israelites, and we grumble because it might take one or two years for a church. A church might choose to take the road to revitalization, but five years down the road they are scratching their heads wondering why it didn't take. Which leads me to the final point...
   
   
3. The wrong way is paved with bits of the truth- This is where the scripture comes into play. The Golden Calf narrative deals three strikes to the Israelites. If you understand what's going on, you would realize each of these strikes contain a seed of truth. It's this deceptive seed of truth that sugarcoats the lie. Now, Fig Tree has spent the last month on the 10 Commandments. As I was meditating on this week's reading I saw the Ten Commandments, specifically the first three from the Jewish version.
   

Commandment 1: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,"
Commandment 2: "you shall have no other gods before me."
Commandment 3: "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them."

The Israelites make an idol, use nearly the same line from commandment one, and follow it up with putting another god before their eyes. (Now, there is question whether they were attempting to force God down by creating an idol, or giving their worship to another idol. The issue is still wrong.) 

In their impatience, the people took a seed of truth from the commandments and used it to follow the wrong path. Those who shake their heads, wondering why transformation didn't take, usually are dealing with a situation where impatience or fear take root and the people begin to craft their own plan. Not dealing with their real problem, they paint a the false reality of transformation over their bad habits and choices.

Church revitalization requires letting go of the past and working hard over time. Finally, it requires faith that God will be there. It's really kinda easy to understand. Unfortunately, it's not so easy to follow.

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