Homer Avenue UMC - Laity Sunday/19th Sunday after Pentecost - 10/15/17 Sermon - “Pick your leaders wisely"

Sunday 10/15/17 Homer Avenue UMC

Sermon Title: “Pick your leaders wisely”

Old Testament Scripture: Exodus 32:1-14

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Philippians 4:1-9

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 22:1-14

          My friends, my sisters and brothers in Christ, welcome again on this our Laity Sunday, and this the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

          Laity Sunday is a special Sunday in the life of the United Methodist Church, because on this Sunday lay persons have the opportunity to run and sculpt the worship service. The Methodist movement within Christianity began, largely as a lay movement. Whereby lay persons and pastors would work together to achieve the mission of the church.

          Since it is Laity Sunday, I will be brief this morning. If that is possible. In trying to preach out of the Old Testament more, today we have a scripture from the Book of Exodus. The Book of Exodus is largely about the Israelites leaving or “exiting” slavery in Egypt. This is why the book is called “Exodus” which comes from Greek meaning, “Going out,” or to exit. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Exodus). This book has historically been attributed to being written by Moses.

          With this said, what I want to talk about briefly this morning is leadership, and why that it is important in the church and in life to “pick your leaders wisely”.

          How many of you have seen the famous 1978 movie, “Animal House”? In the movie, the actor John Belushi played the character “John Blutarsky”. John Belushi’s character is one of the leaders of a college fraternity, and this fraternity is known for its partying, drinking, and crazy behavior. While the movie itself is very funny, I think that the character that John Belushi plays is not a good leader.

          Earlier in the Book of Exodus, Moses leads the Israelites to safety out of Egypt, through the Red Sea. I wonder what that story would have looked like if John Belushi or “John Blutarsky” was in charge?

          This morning, Moses has been up on the mountain, or Mount Sinai to be exact. He has been up there for about 40-days, and the Israelites are growing impatient waiting for him to come back down (Ex. 32:1a, NSRV). The people grew nervous about Moses’ return, and they then talked Moses’ brother Aaron, our John Belushi for this morning, into making a golden calf (Ex. 32:1b, NRSV).

          Specifically, Aaron said in Exodus 32:2-4:

“Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (Ex. 32:2-4).

          So Aaron, or John Belushi, or “John Blutarsky,” has allowed the Israelites, God’s chosen people, to reject God and worship a golden calf (Ex. 32:5, NRSV). Not good.

God then alerts Moses on the mountain to what is going on (Ex. 32:7-10, NRSV). Moses pleads with God to not destroy the Israelites, his people. God agrees, and shows mercy (Ex. 32:11-14, NRSV).

          As the scripture goes on beyond what we have for this morning in the Book of Exodus, Moses comes down from the mountain, and is angry that his people are worshiping a golden calf, and not the living God.

          Specifically, Moses is angry at John Belushi, I mean “John Blutarsky,” I mean Aaron. Moses is so angry that he throws the two stone tablets that he is carrying down, and they break. Moses then angrily asks John Belushi, I mean “John Blutarsky,” I mean Aaron, why he allowed this to happen.

          Moses will then set things right, but I wonder how eager Moses was to put Aaron back in charge after this? The point of all of this my brothers and sisters is this, “pick your leaders wisely”. Would I ask John Belushi to organize a fraternity party? I sure would! Would I ask John Belushi to be my guest preacher for a couple of a weeks? I sure wouldn’t!

          Picking our leaders in the church and in life is important, as we need to “pick our leaders wisely”. When we chose Godly, responsible, and honest leaders, the church is then led by the people whom God has called, and God has blessed.

          As far as Moses’ brother Aaron goes though, I wonder if it was a little bit like the movie Animal House. Did Moses put Aaron on “Double secret probation” after the golden calf incident? The point is my sisters and brothers, in church and in life, God calls us to “pick our leaders carefully”. Amen.