Thoughts on Exodus 32 & Ephesians 4

Today’s reading: Exodus 32; Ephesians 4

Some days I think it is easier to write these posts when there’s less I want to talk about, so it’s just a matter of picking something and running with it, but how do you pick just one thing out of the golden calf incident? Let alone everything going on in Ephesians 4??

Where I’ve landed today though is to focus on the importance of the leaders God has put in place filling the role He has called them to fill.

In Exodus, clearly, Aaron did not lead the people well when they came demanding he make them a new god to follow. The craziest thing about this whole thing to me though is that it happens at the base of Mount Sinai while the presence of Yahweh Himself is there, visible on the mountain! They have just been delivered from Egypt by 10 miraculous plagues, they were led through a divided sea where the water stood as walls to either side of them as they passed through, and then God brought that water crashing down to destroy the army of Egypt for them, they have been led through the wilderness by the tangible presence of Yahweh as a pillar of cloud and fire, they are eating the miraculous bread of heaven each morning, and they watched the presence of Yahweh descend on Mount Sinai as dark clouds and flashing fire, and heard Him speak to them out of the cloud on the mountain. So this means that the Israelites woke up that morning, gathered the miraculous manna for their food, and as they ate this miraculous sustenance and looked up at the swirling cloud of God’s presence, they said to one another, “This Yahweh… he isn’t cutting it. We need a new god to lead us.”

When I think about the situation, it’s honestly mind boggling that it even happened at all given the circumstances, but what’s even worse is the response from Aaron in going along with it! Because for Aaron and the elders of the people, this is even worse. They have seen and experienced all that the people have, but they had an experience the people didn’t have; they were invited up on the mountain and ate a covenant meal in the presence of the embodied Yahweh Himself!! So Aaron and the elders didn’t just watch the presence of God descend on the mountain, they ascended the base of the mountain and sat in the physical presence of the pre-incarnate Christ, and yet, they collectively agree to go along with the will of the people for a new god.

And while it is Aaron that is asked, keep in mind that it is all the elders and leaders of Israel agreeing together to do this. Just because they aren’t mentioned doesn’t mean they weren’t there, and even if they didn’t like it, their silence in this is consent. Just like Adam in the garden, who we are told was with Eve when she took the fruit and ate of it, didn’t step up in leadership to stop her from eating it, so too the other elders and leaders of the people who had also been there on the mountain in the presence of Yahweh don’t step up here to stop Aaron from going along with the will of the people.

One important thing to recognize in this is that this is not the first time the people have tried to rebel against God, and it will not be the last, but in those other times Moses is present, and he holds his ground for Yahweh and the people are held in check. Even when it is not easy or comfortable, even when he is being threatened and some of the elders are trying to overthrow his leadership, Moses stands firm for Yahweh and God prevails and the people, as a whole, are ultimately kept moving in the right direction, even though there are sometimes severe consequences for their rebellion.

This is the importance of godly leadership. This is the importance of people who are willing to stand in the gap on God’s behalf and fight for Him before the people, even, and especially, when the people are trying to go astray.

In Ephesians 4, Paul talks about that same role, and what it looks like to fulfill that role faithfully in the church, and to put it bluntly, I think a lot of Christian churches get this wrong and lead more like Aaron than like Moses…

Paul says in Ephesians 4 that God gave people in roles of leadership (apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers) to equip God’s people for the work of ministry. He goes on to develop the metaphor he uses elsewhere of a body, and how the body is made up of many parts and only works properly when each part is performing it’s intended purpose well. The church, likewise, is made up of people with varying giftings and abilities, and God has designed it such that the church (the body) only works properly when each member is functioning properly in their role within the church. So the role of leaders in the church is specifically to equip people to do the works of ministry for which God has prepared them and placed them in the body.

For too many churches, leadership looks more like Aaron’s leadership. Services are more about entertaining the masses and giving them what they want so they keep coming back and keep attendance numbers high than they are about actually equipping and preparing the people for the work of ministry. Preaching and teaching are more about people leaving with a spiritual high than they are about calling people to potentially uncomfortable steps of greater faithfulness to the God who saved them. Decisions on theology and positions as a church are more based on optics and public opinion than they are based on God’s revealed word in the Bible. Just like Aaron, the question is not what God wants from them in leading their people, but it’s how to give the people what they want, whether that lines up with God’s will or not. 

The church today needs godly leaders who will stand in the gap, even against the will of the people, and fight for biblical truth, just like Moses. The church today needs leaders, like Moses, who are not afraid to see a portion of the faithless among their people set a new leader to head back to Egypt because they aren’t interested in truth that they don’t like. The church today needs leaders who will work diligently to equip God’s people for the work of ministry, challenging them to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, even when that growth is difficult and often comes at a cost.

We have a lot of Aarons leading our churches today, and we have a lot of complicit or silent elders among the people, but what the church desperately needs is more Moseses who will stand on the word of truth and fight for God before the people.