I want to draw your attention to the profound wittiness that is present in the narrative of the Golden Calf incident. The tale is familiar enough. The people grow restless as Moses meets with Yahweh atop Sinai. They insist on Aaron making them a god. He complies with their request, fashioning a Golden Calf out of the plunder which they’d gotten as they left Egypt.

But how the text (Ex. 32) describes these idolators is what I want to note. The people stoop down to eat and drink. They spring up to frolic. God calls them stiff-necked, we might say bullheaded. The language paints them as straying, running wild, quickly spooked, needing to be corralled. As one commentator, who first drew my attention to this, said, “[they are portrayed] as wild calves […] because they transformed into the very object of their worship.”

Here in vivid narrative is the truth of the proverbial saying: you become like what you worship. Worship isn’t an optional add on to the life of humans. It’s why we were made. It’s hardwired into our system. God made us to worship Him, and by worshipping Him we most truly bear His image. To be human is to imitate and image forth God our Creator.

If you determine to worship anything else, you are also bound to the imitation of that thing. If you serve a golden calf, you become like a wild ox. This is why the self-absorption of our age is so very destructive. If you become like what you worship, what happens when you worship a powerless and depraved creature in rebellion to his Creator? You get a human deteriorating into themselves. It’s moral radioactive decay. The only remedy for such a moral implosion is to repent and worship God alone according to His Word.

Ben Zornes – January 28, 2024

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The King’s Cross elders and deacons met yesterday for our annual vision meeting. This is an annual opportunity to review the previous year and make bigger picture plans for the coming years. One of the significant items to be thankful for is how many more of you there are this year, about 140 new members, including 66 baptisms. And with that, God has raised up 5 new elders, 2 new deacons, as well as 2 new deacons in training. God is very good. 

Related to that, one of the things we discussed yesterday was how we can continue growing in our elder care for you. As you hopefully know, when you become a member of King’s Cross, you are assigned an elder. You’re always welcome to talk to any of the elders or pastors about anything, but this is our way of making sure that at least one elder is keeping an eye out for you and occasionally checking in. The King’s Cross elders meet every Monday afternoon, and once a month one of the elders gives a short report on the folks on his list. With 8 parish elders, we get through the lists about 1.5 times per year. Elders have historically reached out via email, phone call, or offered to take folks out to lunch or coffee, or sometimes schedule a visit in your home. 

The elders specifically asked me to give you all a heads up that you should be expecting more requests for home visits. Some of you come from backgrounds where this has never happened, and if an elder reaches out to schedule a visit in your home, you don’t need to panic as if you’re trouble (unless you are). Others of you come from traditions where you might be used to a pretty regimented schedule of elder visits, perhaps with your name even printed in the bulletin for that week’s elder visit with everyone praying for you. We’re definitely aiming for something less rigid, but we really do believe that it will help us know you better and pray for you and shepherd you better. So be on the look out for that. And lastly, if you think you might have fallen through the cracks and can’t remember if an elder has ever reached out, please send up a flare. 

Toby Sumpter – January 28, 2024

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Anything worth doing is worth doing well. That is good old fashioned advice, the kind we won’t shake a stick at. But, that advice is missing a key ingredient, namely, the only way to do anything well is to do it unto the Lord.

I grant that pride and some natural stubbornness can motivate a man to climb Mount Everest or put in more hours at the gym than the next guy. But these sources of energy will fail you, deceive you, and at the end of the day, they don’t provide the horsepower that devotion to the Lord provides. 

Paul said, “whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). “Whatsoever ye do” means nothing is excluded. Whether you change diapers, plow driveways, run suicides, shoot jump shots, complete math homework, shuttle children from one end of town to the other, cook dinner, or answer e-mail, you must do it unto the Lord.

And this is no sentimental statement. You can’t do a lousy job and then claim to fix it by singing the doxology over it. “There is my lame work,” we say. “And now I will sanctify it with a benediction.” No, you may not do that. A benediction is not a bit of hocus pocus that turns the fruits of our laziness into the fruits of the diligent. “But I sang the doxology unto the Lord,” comes the reply. OK, fine and good. But the text said that your work was to be unto the Lord.

This kind of life is not like the one Israel lived when making bricks without straw for Pharaoh. We server our Father who loves us and gave His Son for us. He accepts C+ offerings so long they are offered up in faith. He then sends us back out with training to do greater works than before. And those works must be unto the Lord.

Jared Longshore – January 28, 2024

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If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right had causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. Matthew 5:29-30

Do a thought experiment with me for a moment. How much would you sell your right eye for? $1000, $10,000, A million dollars? What about your right hand? If I gave you $10 million for your right hand, right now, would you take it?

Jesus teaches here is that your soul is of more value than any of your members. What do you gain if you have the whole world and lose your own soul? And on paper we all nod our head and agree. But do our actions show this belief. Sin leads to death. Do you believe this? Or do you believe you can continue in your sin, at least one more time, and it will be ok. You’ll be able to repent before you die. 

If your hand causes you to sin, it is better that you cut it off right now, than continue in sin.  

But what is the cause of your sin? James teaches that each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death. James 1:14-15

It is your sinful heart. 

And if it would be better to lose a hand then continue to sin, then how much more would it be better to get rid of that thing in your life that you love, that tempts your heart away from Christ. What holds your heart? Is it your pride? Is it some level of control? Is it a pleasure? Your hand is a very good thing, but it would be better to be without hands and headed for glory. Your job, coffee, wine, football, a soft bed, hot showers, TV, movies, your computer, your phone, that app on your phone, going to the park, eating out, running for mayor. All good things, but if they cause you to sin, cut them off today. 

But even so we can never cut deep enough, for it is our heart itself that needs to be cut out. And there is only One who can take away a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Zach Browning – January 21, 2024

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