From 1 Corinthians 13:5, “Love is not self-seeking.” If it were possible to eliminate selfishness from the world. What would that be like? Political corruption would not exist. We could elect our officials with confidence, knowing that they would govern not in their own self-interest, not in the interest of their political allies, but in the interest of the people. Their motivation would not be personal gain, but everything would stem from a heart of charity. Come to think of it, why would we need a government at all? Of course we recognize that the fallen world needs laws. What is to prevent selfishness from turning into abuse if there are no laws? But if selfishness doesn’t exist, what laws are necessary? Fear that is derived from the malfeasance of man finds no foothold. For example, should you lock your door at night? Only the selfish would want to deny another man of his possessions. What about laws prohibiting drunk driving? Only a selfish man would put the lives of others at risk for the convenience of driving home from the bar. What about getting drunk in the first place?

If you’re 21, it’s perfectly legal to sit in your house alone, and drink beer until there’s two moons in the sky. And while observing such a person would give us cause for concern, I don’t think we would immediately jump to the conclusion that this behavior is a result of selfishness. Our default would be to say something like, “He’s depressed.”

But the selfish person takes the blindfold, covers his own eyes, and then says, “It’s not my fault I can’t see.” Self-deception is an essential constituent of selfishness, because you have to convince yourself that you’re the only thing that matters. Your needs, your desires, your wants supercede everyone else’s. If someone is being selfish, in a family context, it manifests in a very obvious way. Dad says something like, “Who ate the last slice of pizza? Mom still hasn’t eaten yet.” But if you live alone and the bottle of vodka is your roommate and you say, “I’m not harming anyone else.” It might be depressing, but it’s not selfish to get drunk in the privacy or your own home, right?

Ephesians 5 says, “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.” The drunkard living alone has a desire to get intoxicated. God does not want him to do that. But selfishness, by its very definition, doesn’t care what other people think and by extension doesn’t care what God thinks, so it’s down the hatch.

But the selfless person does care about what God thinks and if God says, “No,” then honoring his commandment takes precedence over our own desires, whether or not the sin is sanctioned by the state.
So whether it’s a surface sin, like being inconsiderate of others, or the type of sin you can commit when you’re all alone, do not neglect this truth: wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. And wherever sin casts its shadow, selfishness lurks in the darkness.

Daniel Namahoe – February 4, 2024

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Here is your exhortation in a nutshell: Killing sin is a different thing than getting into a tizzy over it. And you must not get into a tizzy over sin. Confessing sin, yes. Forgiving sin, yes. But no tizzys allowed.

By all means, let zeal for the house of the LORD consume you as it did our Savior. If the question is, “Should we not model Jesus who turned over tables at the sight of flagrant sin?” then the answer is, “Yes, indeed, we should.” But taking it to the high and mighty who slam the door of the kingdom in people’s faces is a different thing than getting fussy because a fellow covenant member slandered you or wronged you.

Now, if Eli heard this word when he was failing to restrain his vile sons, he would be tempted to misunderstand it and  misapply it. So don’t be like Eli who failed to honor God and love his sons. And remember our options are not: Neglectful Eli on the one hand and Frazzled Freddy on the other.

If you get all worked up in disbelief over the shortcoming of a fellow Christian, you can pretty much guarantee sins will start compounding.

So here is a little test for when you are considering how another Christian has missed the mark. Whether it be a sin you simply observe or a sin that has been committed against you or your children, either way, consider the Apostle Paul’s question, “What do you have that you didn’t receive?” Answer that question honestly, and your attitude toward your brother or sister will be just right. What do you have that you did not receive?

Jared Longshore – February 4, 2024

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How often do you consider the effect that your private sins—the sins you do in the dark, the sins no one knows about—how often do you consider the effect of these sins on those around you? Is there an effect? Does your secret hidden sin as an individual effect this body of people gathered in this room? This is important to consider because to be part of this fellowship, the church, the people of God, is to be covenantally bound to one another. In other words, God does not view us, King’s Cross Church, merely as individuals but as a covenantal body. 

Now consider the sin of Achan in Joshua 7. Achan defies God’s commands and keeps some of the plunder from Jericho for himself. And because of the unknown sin of this one man, God punishes all of Israel and they are defeated in battle at Ai. And it’s only once Israel puts Achan to death for his private sin, purging the evil from among themselves, that God relents from his wrath and punishment on them.

We need to remember this morning that as a body, the holiness of the parts matters for the holiness of the whole. If you are here this morning, if you are baptized into Christ, and if you proclaim to have faith in him, you belong to Jesus, and you belong to his bride. And if you choose to walk in darkness—hiding your sin, sneeking around, thinking its not that big of a deal—you are making a mockery of Christ and his bride for whom he died. You are incurring judgment on yourself and bringing reproach upon this body. 

Be assured, God is not mocked: “For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17). Be assured, your going to step into the light. You’re going to have your sin exposed one way or another. It will either happen despite your best efforts to keep it hidden. Or if you would humble yourself, casting yourself upon the mercy of God this morning and bring it into the light willingly, a promise awaits you: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). 

Zach Wilke – February 4, 2024

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It hath been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: but I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. Matthew 5:31-32

In 1969, future president Ronald Reagan signed a no-fault divorce law into effect in the state of California. This was the first such law in the nation, but today every state holds a similar statute. In its effect it declared that marriage was not a covenant before God but was simply an institution of man which was of no more significance than an agreement between individuals, which could be ended at any time, for any reason or no for reason at all. Reagan would later admit this was the worst mistakes of his career. 

The evangelical church in America largely allowed this change to go unchallenged. It was argued that this was a necessary step allowing a peaceful way to end a bad marriage without ruining reputations or incentivizing perjury in court.  

But there is no such thing as a peaceful divorce. 

Jesus declares that only fornication can end a marriage. There is either fornication before the divorce or there will be fornication after the divorce. By codifying into law that 2 people may divorce for no reason at all – the state lied about what a marriage is and sanctioned adultery. The state legislated sexual immorality. And this 46 years before the Obergefell decision. 

If there is no God above the state, then the state becomes god. 

But what about you? Do you tell the truth about what marriage is? Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her. Do you profess this truth about marriage in your actions? Or do you allow days to go by in which you define marriage differently, telling yourself today I don’t need to sacrifice for my wife, after what she did or what she said, she doesn’t deserve it. That is not marriage, that is a lie. 

And likewise, wives, do you profess biblical marriage with your actions? Submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. Respect your husband. The one you have right now, not the one you wish your husband became. Do this today, and tomorrow and until death do you part. And in this way, stand on the truth.

Zach Browning – January 28, 2024

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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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