The Cutting Room Floor

Hey everybody, welcome to Cutting Room Floor.

This is something that we uh do every once in a while when Justin says calls me on the phone and it's like, hey, I there's a lot of the message that I didn't get to talk about.

There's a isn't a lot, maybe.

It's some.

There's some.

There's some things I didn't say.

Okay, so you gave a message called the one where they made the cow.

Yeah, you painted a painting.

Oh, yeah, I did paint a painting.

That uh, ooh, I wonder if Can we show it?

We could.

Boop.

It's showed right there.

Bam! Your wife loves that painting.

No, she made me not hang it in the house.

I can see why.

She was like, I just don't want to like the painting is about what you talked about.

Like the god, it's called the gods we make, and it's about like making really crummy gods out of our own stuff, and that's why I drew them in little crayon on the colour.

Happy golden cow amidst the flames.

Um but it's because the stuff we make is not as good as the stuff that God has for us.

I like the painting.

What's funny is I saw that in my voice, I think I have a nasal infection.

Don't address it.

No, no, I have a nasal infection, and I haven't slept in a long time.

And so if you're watching the video version of this, I haven't given up on life.

I'm not struggling with my I'm having a great day.

I just sound weird.

But uh no, I saw that painting like a month ago, and I don't know if that's maybe what made me think about the story because I'd not it was like a one-off message.

It was a one-off message, so I was like, where did this why is this in my brain?

Yeah, you also connected it to the the movie stuff, the film stuff, and I was wondering if the title of the message where you were like the one where they made the cow, was that a friends reference?

Kind of.

Well, I just couldn't think of what to uh not because I'm not even a friends person, like I'm not either.

I know that that's what the titles of Friends things are, that it's always the one.

Yeah.

And I was thinking about I think what happened was this.

I was like Explain the context.

Okay, I finished our last series on Romans, yeah.

Uh not all of Romans, but we got to where we are in Romans.

And Romans is a lot.

And so I was like, I I can't I know what the next Romans things is, and I'm just like, I just need a few weeks of not Romans.

Uh and so I haven't given a purely one-off message in a long time, and it's very comfortable to teach like like a series.

Yep.

So at first I was like, ooh, what if I just do a bunch of self-contained stories in the Old Testament?

And then that led me to think about your stories video.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Okay, I see.

And then I decided that maybe you're maybe I didn't commit.

You didn't commit.

I might do another.

I might do another self-contained story.

Nice.

Or maybe not.

Right.

But I just uh yeah.

Okay, so this one was about the golden calf.

The story of the golden calf.

It's a pretty um, it's like simultaneously hilarious and terrifying.

Dude, if you keep reading, and I didn't not edit it because I just didn't want to get into it all.

But like it goes downhill.

Yeah, like they have to eat the calf.

Like it gets the gold gets grounded.

Yeah, like grind it up and put it in.

Drink water, drink it, you drink your God, and then a bunch of people die.

Yeah.

Like a bunch of people.

It's a really intense story.

But a lot of the stuff the Old Testament is, and when you read the Old Testament, people do this really funny thing today where like someone, someone who's like alive right now but has grown up a differ in a different culture, if they have views or opinions that don't line up with ours, we would look at them and we would say to someone else, like, you can't, they just have a different worldview.

Right.

But then if we read stuff in the Old Testament, we're like, that is so offensive.

It's like that was 3,000 years ago in very ancient times that were completely different than today.

So it's pretty brutal stuff.

But you wanted to do a cutting room floor because apparently some things didn't make it into the message.

Yeah, and I don't I don't remember.

You don't even remember what it was.

Well, I think there's things.

Uh can I ask you, can I re-ask you the question that I asked you before we started filming?

Yeah, you can.

I will say the one thing that I I know didn't make it in.

Okay.

Um was just a really interesting thought about how you know the time of the Israelites, because this takes place way before Jesus, right?

We're we're probably 130, 1500 years before Jesus in that range.

And every culture in the world at that time has these idols that they worship.

Um and you know, they're a lot of times they're like animalistic in nature, you know what I mean?

Um, even by the time you get to Jesus' time, uh the Roman gods and and the Greek gods, they're more humanoid, right?

Zeus is like a dude who throws lightning.

Um but you go to the time of Moses, it's very like what we would just call the sun god, the snake gods.

There's very there's a lot of animals, people.

Oh, dropped your mic, drop the microphone.

I didn't put it in my pocket.

It's called cutting room floor because it's informal.

It is, this is not polished at all.

Um but it's just so interesting because all of these nations would have had this desire to see their god and know what their God looked like.

And that's what made the Israelites so weird is they have this A, they have one God who has one God, and B, they don't even know what he looks like.

And all these other nations, we have tons of gods, and here's our you know, jackal god Anubis, and our falcon god Ra and all these animal type things, and they have an invisible god.

And so that's why it made sense for them to make a golden calf because they're just doing what they've always seen.

But I thought about the fact that even in the times God shows up to the people and his presence is undeniable.

If you were to ask them, well, what does he look like, they still couldn't have answered it.

Yeah.

Because sometimes he shows up and it's like a burning bush, right?

But then other times it's a pillar of smoke that is leading the people or a pillar to a pillar of fire.

Sometimes God does show up in human form uh when he wrestles Jacob.

Um he's a he's it's definitely getting a picture of like a pre-Jesus Jesus because he dresses him as Lord and he has authority over him, it's not like an angel.

And then in the in the fiery furnace, you know, the king is like I see a fourth who appears to be like the son of a guy.

So there's obviously some manifestation of him as a that looks like a person form, but then also it's smoke, fire.

It's like that kind of leads to a question that I have is like why teach this?

I this might be a bigger question, and you can say no.

But why teach this to Christians if it's like obviously like a Jewish historical story that informs Jewish stuff?

Why what does this have to do with Jesus and why is it important for a Christian to know this particular story?

Well, there's definitely been a movement in our like current time in churches where it's this like should we even talk about the Old Testament?

Like, let's just I mean that's something that gets talked about a lot.

Um but I think that the truth of the matter is people are people, and when you read the when you read the Old Testament, just as much as you're reading about what God does, you're reading about what people do.

And so it's like the story of Adam and Eve.

Uh it's easy to read that story and be like, what a bunch of idiots.

Why did they eat that forbidden fruit?

If I were there, no, if you were there, you would have done the exact same thing.

Yeah, because people are people.

And so when you read these stories, you see the way that people engage with God, you see some of their missteps, but you also see some of their like, oh wow, that's that's the that's how you respond to God.

And so you learn about yourself.

Um and God is is unchanging.

You know, the way he interacts with us now is is through through Jesus in the cross.

I was gonna say, like, it it seems like unlike the Israelites, where they didn't have that image to follow, so to speak, we get that we have fulfilled in Jesus.

And now we do have like if we're gonna choose to follow a cow, like you said, if I don't want to follow a cow or I want to follow Jesus, it's like we actually do, we're not left with that lack that we don't have these.

Yeah, you're right.

Yeah, you're right, because our God has come to us.

But at the same time, it's so interesting, right?

Because when they make the golden calf, they've just seen God show up.

I would say as tangibly as as any group of people had, maybe before Jesus, right?

Because at least Jesus is like you could touch him, poke him, talk to him, but like their manifestation of their own.

They're following a pillar of fire, it's pretty like it's visible, it's it's as it's as tangible as most people.

In fact, most people today would probably say, Yeah, I have a hard time believing in Jesus, but man, if God could just show up like a pillar of fire, I'd believe in him, right?

And so it's a right on the tail of this really tangible moment, and to me, it's a great example of how we as people have a tendency.

Like, I think what hit me, and this isn't an aside, I said it in the message.

You would think that those first two commandments that God gives to Moses, don't worship another God, don't make a God, don't make a graven image, that those are like throwaways, why are they even there?

Right.

They're clearly what are the likelihoods.

They're the first two that get broken.

Yep.

And they're the first two he lists.

Because maybe, maybe the idolatry stuff, the reason it's first on the list is because maybe it's what we have the the most, we're the most likely to do.

Yeah.

And so, yeah, we have Jesus, but you've seen Jesus get sort of uh get I call it like giving Jesus a makeover.

Like it's almost like someone takes Jesus and says, Hey Jesus.

Well, you can give any historical figure a makeover to to perpetuate whatever you want to believe.

Like, well, the version of insert historical name there would believe this if he were here today.

It's like, well, let's actually go back to what we have of his words, of his, of his teaching, of his life.

Um Yeah, and so the idea there is we have a tendency to take God and sort of mold God into whatever shape we can that we where we don't have a God we have to apologize for.

You know, the Israelites would have dealt with a certain amount of shame that they have an invisible God, they don't have statues, all these other people do.

Yeah.

We deal in our culture today with some in our culture, America, we deal sometimes as Christians with a little bit of embarrassment and shame that we have a God that would tell people to do it.

But we have a God that is visible, you know what I mean?

Like we have we do have a concrete representation of what God is.

Our God might say, This is good, this is right, this is not.

And in our culture today, where everyone gets to decide for themselves, yeah, that so we have the same temptation.

Am I gonna follow God as he is, or am I going to sort of shape and mold God into my own version of a culturally acceptable, understandable God?

That's just a golden calf.

Yeah, and I think it's also it's really cool that we also have a God that is willing to meet us on our level.

Like, as as much as the Israelites screw up, is the is the bronze serpent after this?

Yeah.

Because that is that's huge to me to see how much of it.

That's one of the stories I thought about telling.

I think you should tell that one.

I mean, can I retell it briefly?

Yeah.

Okay, so there's all these snakes and they're they're biting up these Israelites.

And they ask for help, and God says, make a bronze serpent and raise it up.

Which today is still the symbol you see on the ambulance.

Yeah, I know.

And when you look at that bronze serpent, you will be saved.

And the people that look at that bronze serpent, they don't die from the poisonous snake bites.

Right.

And so it's cool that we have like a moment like the golden calf where it's like God sent the snakes into the camp too.

Well, yeah.

I mean, you can dive into that if you go to late.

Yeah, yeah.

Um, but we see this moment where it's like, hey, don't make guys, don't make a representation of me that's like, no, that's not me.

I am, I am, I am.

Right.

But they do it anyways.

But then God's like, okay, obviously the statue thing is important to them, so I'm gonna find a way to relate to them in that statue, and then ultimately relate to them through Jesus.

Through Jesus.

I mean, because even Jesus, Jesus, that that story is sort of like it's there, and then it almost never like I don't even know if it gets referenced again in the entirety of scripture.

Except for what's another thing that gets raised up when Jesus.

Yeah, I mean, Jesus himself talks about it.

Yep.

Because he says to Nicodemus in John 3, just as the serpent was raised up, so the Son of Man must be raised up for all.

So it's like it's like this story that God puts in there, and he's like, Yeah, I'm this it seems like a like like you know, shows that introduce some something and they never go back.

It's like, hey, what'd you guys what was that about?

That's like a tie that loose end up.

Right, but it's like when you connect it to the golden calf, you're like, these things seem contradictory, right?

But it's not.

It's got God kind of meeting us on our level, helping us in a way that we couldn't otherwise choose to be helped, um, but on his own terms.

On his terms, and I think that's the key.

Oh wow.

The light has been we are uh Is this what's happened?

Is everything okay?

I think this is a signal for us to just This is the flashlight, it's enough.

Yeah, so I think at the end of the day.

We'll just end in the dark.

I think at the end of the day, uh if anything, you know, maybe gets gets cut.

When the rubber meets the road, at the end of the day, when all is said and done, when you're when you're laying on your deathbed, uh God is God.

And our our privilege slash I don't know, duty, words you want to use, is not to to alter God and and mold and shape him into a version of him that we feel more comfortable with.

And actually that's something I see happen constantly, it's happened for generations.

That's the whole point.

The golden calf story just gets repeated over and over again.

Take the we talked about the thing, the scientific modern era of the 1950s.

I believe in a God who doesn't do miraculous things because people don't like that.

If we can be people who just say, You are God, I'll meet you on your terms.

I'll meet you on your terms, and I I lay myself at your feet.

Here, I'm yours, you're the potter, I'm the clay, mold me, make me.

This is what I say.

That's a song that I sang uh a lot as a kid.

But the point is that there is, there's a it's the reality of it, right?

And Jesus does the same thing.

He's like, here I am, yep, and accept me, reject me.

Um, and a lot of people tried to mold him into some other like the disciples are like you should be more like be more violent, you know, like go after the Romans.

Right, let's cut his ear off.

That's like be like we want you to be.

And instead, it's like oh no, you tell me.

If God is real, if God is who he says he is, we gotta meet him on his terms.

Meet him on his terms, and it's good when you do because it actually requires way less of you.

And man, I'm so glad that we're not the people who worship that golden cow.

Yeah.

That's story, again.

Don't make cows and follow God.

God does not like cows apparently.

Well, he likes cows too.

He likes snakes.

He makes the snap just too.

Well, yeah, I don't know.

No, that's another deep dive.

You're extrapolating way more.

But uh, but again, no, it's uh it's fun to go into these stories, and there's always there's so much more there than you really often think.

So that's why we do deep dives, cutting room floors.

Cutting room floor?

Snip snip.

Snip snip.

Snip snip, snip, snip, snip, snap.

Cut there.