I recently read through my journal for 2009, and I love this excerpt from Friday, November 27 of that year: “I was at the YMCA on Wednesday, expecting Cindy to show up any minute. I was on a stationary bike and kept turning round as I was riding to look for Cindy’s appearance. At the same time I was listening to a message by Sinclair Ferguson on the Return of Jesus, and it struck me how this picture in the Y looked like that picture in the future. It reminded me of how we should live: distracted from the things of this world because of a longing for the arrival of the One we love. We want to be craning our necks, watching the door, not caring what we look like to others, some of whom may be annoyed by our constant turning and looking and longing. Paul said a crown of righteousness will belong to those who “love His appearing.”

That story also reminds me of February 22 and November 22 of 2025. I remember them like they were yesterday. In each of those days, I was privileged to stand next to a young man who was looking intently at a door that was closed, knowing that when it opened, he would see the young woman standing behind it as his fiance for the last time. Because in mere minutes, she would become his wife. They would leave their father and mother, hold fast to one another, and they would become one flesh. Their lives would be forever changed as a new family was formed, and that union would be a testimony to the world of the marriage between Christ and His church, His bride.    

Cindy and I had the privilege of doing the pre-marital counseling for these two young couples this 

year, and all of them members of Antioch. In fact, three of them grew up in the church and the fourth came to us already grown up beyond her years. 

Let me tell you three things I saw in those two weddings and the work that led up to them. First, I saw four families who were committed to training up their sons and daughters to know the Lord and to follow Him. I saw four men who take seriously Paul’s admonition, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” I saw four women whose children rise up and call them blessed and whose husbands also praise them. Each of these moms “opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”

Second, I saw a church body come together for each wedding to do whatever needed to be done for 

the sake of the bride and the groom and for the glory of God. It was a mountain of work and you did it without complaining because the love of Christ compelled. It really does take a village to pull off a wedding, and what a godly, giving, and loving village the church is. Gospel community is alive and flourishing at Antioch. Third, I saw two young couples that patiently waited to say yes on their wedding day. I saw the light shining in their eyes when they looked at one another and when they talked about one another. 

I want to remind you who are married, whether it is for one month or more than 50 years, of this truth: marriage in Christ is meant for our joy and for God’s glory. Don’t give in to anything less for your marriage than that. Don’t accept for a moment the thought that suggests marriage is something to be endured, not enjoyed. No! That is certainly not how Jesus thinks of His bride! For the JOY that was set before Him, Jesus our bridegroom endured the cross. Because of what Jesus endured for us, we can and we must pursue joy in one another.

Celebrate the one whom God gave you, in good times and in hard times.

I never get tired of reading Luke 2 and learning from the angels and the shepherds. Here are five important lessons we learn from these men who were “keeping watch over their flock by night” when an angel of the Lord appeared with good news of great joy. The Savior had been born in Bethlehem! How did the shepherds respond?

They believed the Good News. We know this because as soon as the angels were gone the shepherds started making plans to go into Bethlehem. This is the critical time for all of us, isn’t it? We have just heard the doctor give us his diagnosis and tell us what to do to get well. Do we believe it? We have just heard our boss give us his evaluation of our work and tell us what to do to improve. Do we believe it? We have just heard the Lord speak to us in a sermon or in our own reading of the Word. Do we believe it? In each case, our “belief” is proved by what we do next. We can say we believe the word we’ve heard and simply ignore what we heard the word, which would be proof that we do not believe it. Belief and obedience walk together or not at all. 

They obeyed the Good News. The shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. What do we know about the shepherds’ obedience from this passage? First, their obedience was corporate, and that’s a great thing. The shepherds obeyed together. They exhorted one another to obey the Lord. If you are spending time with people who make a habit of obeying God, and encouraging you to obey God, you are hanging out with the right people. If you are spending time with friends or family who do not obey the Lord, but they know and they see that you do obey the Lord, then you are a friend of sinners as Jesus was. He was in the world, but not of the world.  Second, their obedience was immediate. And they went with haste.” They hurried to obey God. There were lots of reasons to delay: as many sheep they had, those were each a reason to stay where they were. We are not told what they did with the sheep. Maybe the angels told them they could leave the sheep in the field and they would be fine. Maybe they found some substitute shepherds who were off that day and hired them to come and watch. Maybe they just looked at the sheep, looked at each other, and said, “Good luck Fluffies!” and took off to town. Probably not. They were shepherds, which meant they were first and foremost protectors of their sheep. But God had spoken to them through a heavenly host, an army of angels. And it was with great joy that they obeyed God with abandon! There is delight and surprise waiting for those who will make haste and obey God’s command. 

Third, their obedience was grounded. They said, let’s go see this thing which the Lord has made known to us. How much do we run to see and to do and to walk in what the Lord has made known to us? Think of this. They were going into the city, where they almost never ventured, looking for a baby in a feeding trough. That took faith. But at the same time, God had revealed it to them. There are times to step out in faith, and certainly there was a measure of faith involved in what the Lord told the shepherds. But most of the time our obedience will not be to something we are not sure of, but to that which has been clearly revealed to us. The shepherds understood exactly what God was telling them to do, and they simply obeyed.  Fourth, their obedience was rewarded. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. We don’t know how long it took them to find the right baby. Remember, the angel had said, “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” The key word was manger. There were surely other babies in Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling cloths, but the One they were looking for would be in a feeding trough. They looked until they found Him. This is one of those main things and plain things in the Bible. In Jeremiah we read, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.” And in Isaiah, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.” Wisdom speaks in Proverbs, saying, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me.” Jesus himself said, “Seek and you shall find.” That is what these lowly shepherds did. 

I don’t know about you, but I want to follow the shepherds.

The shepherds were watching their flocks by night. That’s all. Just a normal night for a shepherd. Maybe glad to have sheep to watch. Maybe also wishing they could do something for a living that didn’t subject them to the elements quite so much. It was quiet. And dark. Then everything changed in an instant. For them. For the world. The sky was lit up as an angel of the Lord appeared. The word for appeared means “be at hand in an instant.” The angel was not there. Then it was. It wasn’t like the shepherds looked way off in the distance and saw a dim light moving in their direction. 

“Hey, Levi. What’s that coming yonder?” 

“Don’t know, Jake. But it’s headin’ this way.” 

No. They didn’t see the angel approaching. There was no warning whatsoever. The angel was on them in an instant. “The glory of the Lord shone around them.” 

The pictures that men have painted of this scene over the years are almost comical. They often portray the shepherds as rough-hewn burly men, and the angel as a delicate woman with curls and rosy cheeks. Which would make you wonder, who was afraid of whom? Like the shepherds should be saying to the angel, “Don’t be afraid little lady. Us big ol’ shepherds won’t hurt you. You can talk to strangers. It’s Ok.” No. The angel was awesome and the shepherds were terrified. “Filled with great fear,” Luke said. It was the night of nights and the appearance of an angel changed everything. Because he came with news.

The angel said, “Fear not!” Probably because the shepherds were still shaking, maybe hiding their faces on the ground. Then the angel said, “I bring you good news of great joy!” It is the good news that is not only the answer to all of our fears but is the source of all our joy. All of our fears, gone. All of our joy, now here. Maybe that was the inspiration for perhaps the most popular Christmas Carol, Isaac Watts’ “Joy to the World.” Remember verse 2? “Joy to the Earth! the Savior reigns; Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, Repeat the sounding joy…”

Think about that. This is Biblical language, because fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains are doing what they were created to do: they repeat the sounding joy! It reminds me of what Jesus said as He was entering Jerusalem and the people were praising Him, shouting “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” The Pharisees said, “Hey, Jesus, tell these people to be quiet!” Jesus replied, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” You get that? The rocks would rejoice! When you pick up a rock in your driveway or you find a big one in the woods, do you ever put it up to your ear and listen for it to speak? No. What do rocks say? Nothing. At least nothing that we can hear. So is Jesus saying that those who refuse to sound forth His praises are as dumb as a rock? No, that would be an insult to rocks because they are praising Him. The rocks and the trees and the fields and even the floods. All of creation praises God. 

That’s why Isaac Watts pleads with us, “Let men their songs employ.” Put your life and loves and all your might to work praising God, like heaven and earth does. Why do we sing and speak praises? Because of the angel’s announcement that was good news of great joy: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  

Several years ago I went with a group from church to Boone to work at Operation Christmas Child. Franklin Graham came to the warehouse to speak with all of us and he told a story about a little orphan boy in another country who was invited to come to the church to get a Christmas shoebox. “I don’t want a shoebox,” he said. “I want a Mom and a Dad.” He was told, “Well, we don’t have a Mom and a Dad for you…but we do have a shoebox. Won’t you come and receive your gift?” The little boy went reluctantly and was given a shoebox and when he opened it, he found gifts. But there was also a picture of a young couple, a note from them, and their address. “Hey, why don’t you write to this couple and thank them for the gift?” The boy agreed, sent his letter, and six weeks later they got it and wrote him back. Six weeks later, he got their letter and wrote them back. And six months after the little boy first received a shoebox, he got what he really wanted: the young couple took him home as their adopted son.

There’s good news of GREAT joy today. Christmas is a celebration of the One who came to earth so we could become His sons and His daughters. That’s what we all want. It is certainly what we all need.

Moses saw God’s glory in two ways. First, God passed him by in the cleft of the rock. Immediately after that, Moses saw God’s glory in His character. He gave Moses six ways to know Him and thereby to love Him.

The first thing God revealed about His character is His compassion for His people. David compared it to an earthly father when he wrote, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.” There’s something sad about a father or a mother who is always looking to punish or embarrass or shame their child. God is not petty or cruel. He is full of compassion. 

Second, the Lord is gracious. To those of us who can never measure up, and I am one, He gives grace. I am so thankful for God’s grace, paid for by Jesus. Maxie Dunnam tells the story of a woman who took her friend with her when she went to a photographer to have her picture taken. The beauty parlor had done their best for her. She took her seat in the studio and fixed her pose. Then she said to the photographer, ‘Now be sure to do me justice.’ The friend who had come with her said with a twinkle in her eye, ‘My dear, what you need is not justice but mercy.’” That’s what we all need as we are always before the eyes of the Lord who sees us and knows all about us. We need God’s grace and mercy. As you may have heard before, grace is God giving us what we do not deserve, and mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. 

Third, the Lord is slow to anger. To those who are rebellious, this is good news. The literal translation of “slow to anger” in Hebrew is “long of nose.” We sometimes say an angry person has a short fuse, and someone who is more patient has a long fuse. But there were no fuses or bombs in ancient Israel, so why “a long nose?” Many believe the idea is that this person takes a long and deep inhale. He can wait.  One commentator said it may be because short-nosed animals are the ones that snort. Think of pigs, grunting and snorting. That’s not God. When something sets us off, we may blow up, but God does not. His patience is perfect.

Fourth, the Lord abounds in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands. The Pacific Ocean is so deep at the Mariana Trench that if Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world,  were placed into it, the peak would still be more than a mile underwater. We cannot fathom that depth, no pun intended, but the steadfast love of the Lord makes the Pacific Ocean look like a plastic kiddie pool. The love of the Lord never ceases and has no bottom floor. 

Fifth, the Lord forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. The word forgive means “to lift or carry.” For the repentant, God lifts their sins from them and carries them away. He forgives iniquity, which is turning aside from what we know is right. He forgives transgression, which is rebellion, open opposition to God, sometimes called treason. Paul was guilty of that: he was a treasonous rebel, hell-bent on destroying Christians and Christianity. After God apprehended him on the Damascus Road, Paul referred to himself as the chief of sinners. For the rest of his life he held up the unsearchable riches of Christ’s forgiveness. God also forgives sin, which refers to all sin, or, our sin nature. Remember, we aren’t sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. 

Sixth, the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. The same God who forgives sin also condemns the guilty. The sins of the fathers are passed down from generation to generation. That does not mean that a grandchild is punished for something his grandfather did. It means the patterns and the cycles of sin continue from one generation to the next.

God is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, forgiving, and just. We cannot pick and choose which attributes we believe in or even which attributes we like. They are all true or none of them are true. God is who He says He is or we are all without hope.

My hope is in God.

Moses cried out, “Please show me your glory!” Much has been written about this over the years, and we must not overlook this powerful plea. Charles Spurgeon likened it to Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus and seeing Him in His glory. Peter blurted out, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Can you blame Peter for wanting to make a place for these three to live? Let’s keep this glory right here! I think we see in this story, and in God’s response, that He does not rebuke His sons and daughters for having a hunger to see Him and to know Him in greater ways. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, “We may have been Christians for many years, but have we ever really longed for some personal, direct knowledge and experience of God? We all ask for personal blessings, but how much do we know of this desire for God himself? That is what Moses asked for: ‘Show me your glory. Take me yet a step nearer.’”

God said yes. And He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you.” Goodness! Not justice, or wrath, or even holiness. God’s glory encompasses all of His character, but you could say that God’s glory rests in His goodness. He said to Jeremiah, “My people will be satisfied by my goodness.” If we don’t know that God is good, then we really don’t know much about Him. Remember when Susan asked Mr. Beaver if Aslan was safe? Mr. Beaver said, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn’t safe. But he is good. He’s the king!” God is good. 

Then notice God said, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” God is Lord of all creation. That gives Him alone the right to be compassionate and show mercy on those whom He chooses. And because He is good, everything He does is good. Why did God choose Abraham? Why did God choose Moses? Not because of anything He saw in them. He chose them simply because of His compassion and mercy. His goodness. If you know Christ, why did God call you out of darkness and into His marvelous light? Because of His God’s grace. His mercy. 

God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock, because no one on earth can see the face of God and live. I love this: Moses was protected from God by God. God covered Moses with His hand and passed by. When God passed by Moses, hidden in the rock, He took away His hand and Moses saw the back of God. Perhaps more accurately, Moses saw the after-effects of the radiance of God’s glory, since God is spirit. What was Moses’ response? We are not told. But we can guess, based on others’ responses in the Bible. 

When Isaiah beheld a vision of God, he cried out, “Woe is me! For I am lost!” When John got a glimpse of heaven in a vision and saw the Son of Man in all His glory, John “fell at his feet as though dead.” And when Paul was caught up to the third heaven in a vision, he could barely describe it, writing of himself in third person, “He heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.” 

What we know of Moses’ experience with God is very limited. But what we know should call each of us into greater desire to know God more deeply. God heard Moses’ request to see His glory and rewarded his seeking heart. Seeing God’s glory assured Moses that the Lord was with him. And we need nothing more as followers of Christ and nothing more than a church than to know that God, the God who makes Himself known, is with us and will never forsake us. 

Do you want to see God’s glory? I hope so! Listen beloved, what Moses experienced in the cleft of the rock does not compare to the revelation we have been given in the person of Jesus Christ. John wrote, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” You may say, but John saw Jesus, face to face! Yes, he did. But Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” And Paul wrote, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

The glory of God in Jesus. Celebrate it. Tell others about it.

When God saw what was going on below with His people, He sent Moses down the mountain. When Moses saw what was going on, he smashed the two tablets of the law that God had personally written. The golden calf was burned, the people drank down its ashes, and three thousand of the ringleaders in that idolatrous orgy were killed that day. The greatest cost for their disobedience, however, was when God told them they could still go to the Promised Land, and He would protect them on the way there and help them defeat their enemies, but He would not go with them. He would destroy them if He did.

Imagine a wedding ceremony where the bride and groom say “I will” to the charge, and “I do” to the vows, and “we will” to the kiss, and they nod “we are” to the pronouncement of being husband and wife. And then as the music for the recessional starts, the groom walks out the back door of the church and drives away alone, leaving the bride standing at the altar. The reception would be a strange and sad event, to say the least. Well, for most people. Some guys would say, “Hey, there’s food here, it’s not a total loss.”

What is the point of a wedding if the two do not become one? What is the point of a Promised Land if God is not there? What is the point of heaven if the Son of God is absent? The people in the wilderness understood where their sin had put them with God, and they responded with humility. They mourned this proclamation. When Moses told them God had said they were stiff-necked (aren’t we?) and they should take off their ornaments, they did so. In fact, the Bible says they “stripped themselves of their ornaments,” indicating forceful removal of their Egyptian jewelry. It was an outward act of inward humility. 

To hear that the Lord would not go with them to the Promised Land was terrifying. And to hear that God would not go for fear that he would destroy them because of their sin is even worse. I remember in high school when I challenged a guy that was twice my size to a fight after school because he was going out with a girl I liked. She couldn’t have cared less about me, but then, what does logic have to do with hormones? Word spread fast in the school that day and a crowd gathered to watch the slaughter. We faced off and then David said, “Fox, I’m not going to fight you.” I grinned and said, “Hah! So you’re scared!” He said, “Yeah, I am. I’m scared I might kill you.” 

Let’s be clear. God was not scared. He was resolute in his judgment of a rebellious people, and that judgment included mercy. This is a story of redemption from beginning to end. How can a holy God dwell in the midst of an unholy people? He cannot. But because of his mercy, He will once again hear the cries of the mediator, Moses, and will renew the covenant with His people.

The sad truth is that many choose a “god” that promises much and demands little. To the One who created them they say, Give me all the promises of God, but don’t bother me with having to try to get to know him. Or hang out with his people on Sundays and other times. And learn about his commands? Nah, all that stuff cramps my style. Yeah, sign me up for the “low-involvement” package, please.

We have to hand it to the Israelites. They didn’t respond that way. Instead they mourned the news that God would not go with them. In humility they surrendered their will to His. 

What does it cost to have God’s presence? Jesus paid that cost. Our part is faith, and surrender. Which, praise be to God, we only do either by the power He gives us through the Spirit.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory!

When Moses saw the people worshiping an idol, he smashed the tablets of the law, ground the idol into powder, and made the people drink it down. Then he confronted his older brother, the high priest. His reproach against Aaron started with a question that seemed at first to give Aaron the benefit of the doubt: “What did this people do to you…”  But it also clearly laid the blame at Aaron’s feet. “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” On the one hand Moses seems to be conceding that the people must have abused Aaron in some way. “I mean, they must have made you do this, right Aaron? Was it a spear pointed at your head until you gave in to their demands? On the other hand, big brother no matter what the people did, you are guilty. You did this, Aaron.” It reminds me of the classic analogy of a ship’s captain whose vessel is run aground by a lieutenant in his charge. The lieutenant is guilty, but the captain is responsible. Aaron was the person in authority in Moses’ absence. The people were guilty, but Aaron was responsible. It works the same way in the home. A home without godly leadership will run aground quickly. As will a church. 

Aaron’s response to Moses’ question is classic denial. First, he seems to blow it off. Hey, don’t be so angry about this, Moses. He seems to have no sense of the significance of his sin, and calling him “my lord” does not soften the charge. Second, Aaron shifts the blame. You know these people and how much they love evil. Ahh, the first priest of Israel sounds a lot like the first priest of the garden. Why did I eat the fruit? This woman, which by the way you gave to me, handed it to me! When confronted, Aaron made excuses. Philip Ryken writes, “There’s always somebody to blame: “My parents didn’t love me.” “My husband didn’t care for me.” “My wife wasn’t meeting my needs.” “My elders didn’t handle the situation right.” “My boss didn’t treat me fairly.” “They went behind my back.” “Everyone was doing it!”

Third, Aaron actually spoke the truth. “They told me to make gods for them because you were gone and they didn’t know when you were coming back.” That was true. Aaron then said he told them to give him any gold that they were wearing. That is also true. Good job, Aaron. But wait.  Fourth, Aaron spoke a bald-faced lie while looking Moses straight in the eye. Calf? What calf? Oh, you mean that one? Pssh. I just threw all the gold they gave me into the fire and that’s what came out! Again we wonder why Aaron wasn’t a made a greasy spot right then, by the wrath of a just God. It is simply that by the mercy of God, because of the intercession of Moses, Aaron was spared. But the damage was done.

This story is a photograph of the sinfulness of sin and the consequences for it. Three thousand men died that day for their part in the idolatry. It is also a picture of the mercy of God. He did not destroy them all. He heard Moses’ offer to take their place: “take my name out of your book!” God had a plan for redemption, for someone who would stand in the place of sinners. There is only One who could.

It wasn’t Moses.  

The story of the golden calf in Exodus 32 is a familiar one. The people who had seen God’s mighty power and felt his mercy and grace got tired of waiting for Moses to come down from his 40-day meeting with God on Mt. Sinai. So they asked Aaron to make them a god, to build them an idol they could worship. When God saw it, he told the leader of Israel that he would destroy the nation and start over with Moses. That is when Moses “implored” God not to do that. The word is rich in meaning. To “implore” pictures a person who is weak and sick, grieved and bent over with the weight of intercession and entreaty. We see a clearer picture of that in this same story as Moses told it in Deuteronomy. That account adds even more weight to Moses’ plea for mercy. When God told him what was going on below, Moses went down to see what the people were doing. When he witnessed their idolatry, he threw down the stone tablets and broke them. He wrote, “Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.” 

Do the math. When idolatry broke out below, Moses had already been on the mountaintop with God for 40 days. Add another 40 of brokenness and intercession, and that means Moses went 80 days without bread or water. He was supernaturally sustained by God. But more importantly, look at his intercession which he gives us in the text in Exodus 32. His argument in defense of God’s people is an appeal to God’s great favor he has shown them already many times. First, Moses appeals to a God’s great love for His people that showed itself in mighty deeds. “You brought them out with great power.” Second, Moses appeals to God’s great name and character. “Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains.’” Third, Moses appeals to God’s great covenant with the patriarchs. “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self…I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven.” Notice Moses calls Jacob “Israel” which is what God changed Jacob’s name to when the deceiver finally and fully surrendered his will to the Lord. 

What happened? God relented. You could say he “gave in” to the exact plan he had all along. And Moses was the man who stood in the gap. Psalm 106:23 says, “Therefore he said he would destroy them—had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.”

Two challenges I would leave with you. Just as Moses had to go down and intercede to stop God’s wrath, the greater intercessor, the Son of God had to come down and stand in the gap for God’s people. And he did that with his own blood. Paul writes to those who believe, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” The first challenge is simply a question, then: do you know Him? Have you bowed your head and accepted the yoke that Jesus offers? He say to you this morning, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

The second challenge is this: For whom are you interceding? You can make the same appeal that Moses made. Ask the Father to show his love to that one who has not yet come to repentance. Cry out to God for his own name’s sake and ask him to save so that others will see and proclaim his glory. Finally, appeal to the covenant God has made with the world that because of the finished work of Jesus his Son on the cross, men and women can be saved. You can pray, “Add this one, Lord! Open his eyes. Show her your kindness and mercy. Save them, O God!”

What can we do? We can pray. We can intercede. We can ask our God who is unstoppable in his love and mercy to change the hearts of our loved ones and friends. So what are we waiting on? 

Let’s pray.

When Moses stayed on the mountaintop with God for a long time, the natives got restless. Their response was a desire for a “better god,” one they could see, so they asked Aaron to make them one. Did Aaron respond with, “What are you talking about? I will not do any such thing!” Not quite. He basically said, “Ok.” And then, ‘Take off your gold earrings.” He just gave in to their demands. Fear of man triumphed over fear of God, and when that happens, evil is sure to follow. As we read in Proverbs., “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” Aaron didn’t pray about their request. He didn’t consult the elders. He didn’t do anything but go along with the pressure of the crowd. His will was not settled in a desire for only God’s will, and that opens the door for the enemy every time. A leader without conviction gives sinful people what they want. 

Young people, don’t listen to the voices around you, live or streamed, that tell you to do what you know is wrong. Be a man or woman of courage and conviction. Be a Daniel who would not give in even to the king’s demands with what he was to eat. Be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who would not bow to the golden image while the rest of the nation was eating dust as they groveled before it. Be like Esther who went before the king without permission to plead for her people, saying, “If I perish, I perish.” Be like Jesus who did not give in to the crowd’s demands but did exactly what the Father sent him to do. When it comes to conviction about sin that others are inviting you into, be a leader not a follower.

The people gave their golden earrings to Aaron. And remember where they came from! These were part of the bounty, the plunder, that the people of Egypt gave to their former slaves as they sent them on their way. God gave them these riches for the building of the tabernacle, not for the practice of idolatry. But the people weren’t thinking about that, They craved the gods of Egypt, something they could see, even if it was something that was made with human hands. They also wanted a god they could control.  And Aaron gave them what they craved. He fashioned it with a graving tool, and you wonder if God’s thunderous voice was in his ears saying, “You shall not make for yourself a graven image.” This was not the spirit-inspired artistry of Bezalel, this golden calf. This was the sin-inspired idolatry of a man ordained and appointed as the primary spiritual leader of a nation. It may have been a beautiful piece of art, but that was not the problem. The problem was that the artist perverted his skill to make an idol. It is a reminder to all of us that our gift can be our greatest blessing, or it can become our greatest curse. Whether it is artistry or intelligence or beauty or athletic ability or business acumen, or anything else that the world praises, we must devote it to God and his glory. Lest we end up worshiping the gift and not the Giver.

Think of this. The golden calf Aaron created did not even exist the day before. But to this lifeless image the people gave their worship and to this statue carved by a man they ascribed glory and power. Isn’t that what Paul said happens when we reject the Creator and exchange the glory of the immortal God for images? “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!”

We look at this and say, “Why? How? How could you throw away what you had with God for this? How in the world did you get there?” One day at a time. One corrupt thought at a time that instead of being held captive is allowed to run wild in their minds. One opportunity after another to trust God that instead is turned into a complaint against him. Or against his people. Or against his leaders.

Sin makes us forget the goodness of God. Sin makes us doubt the presence of God. Sin makes us ignore the treasures of God. 

“Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, O, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.”

Because God is creator, we are given the ability to create as well. We are all artists. Our creativity and artistry can be expressed in many ways, from painting to sculpting to master carpentry to music to storytelling to acting to sewing to designing clothes…and the list goes on. Of course the artistic ability we are given varies widely as well. And I believe Exodus 31 gives us great help in developing a biblical view of art and artists.

First, you see there that God called two men by name, Bezalel and Oholiab.  Just as Moses and Aaron were called by God to lead the people, these two craftsmen were called by God to lead in building the tabernacle and everything in it. Bezalel means “in the shadow of God,” and that is where he would stand as he did everything God told Moses to do in preparing this earthly home for God’s presence. Moses did not do it because it wasn’t his job and it wasn’t his gift. The tabernacle needed an artist to build it, not a prophet. Bezalel’s associate in this work, Oholiab, was called to the same task as an artist, and his name means “My Father’s Tent.”  That seems appropriate: in the shadow of the Almighty, Bezalel and Oholiab built their Father’s tent.

Second, notice that these artists were gifted and their gifts came from God. Look at this. God said of Bezalel, “I have filled him with the Spirit of God.” This is only the third time in Scripture that the Spirit of God, “Ruach Elohim,” is mentioned. The first mention is in Genesis 1, when the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. The second time was in Genesis 41, when the Pharaoh said Joseph must be the second in command because where else would we find man in whom is the “Ruach Elohim?” And Exodus 31 is the third time someone is said to be filled with the Spirit of God. But notice, this man filled with the Spirit was not a prophet. Or a priest. Or a king. He was a builder. A construction foreman. And an artist. And under his leadership, men and women would construct the tabernacle and all that was in it.

Don’t think these were men and women who had no ability and God instantly turned them into artists and craftsmen. That would be like me waking up tomorrow and knowing how to build a beautiful China cabinet out of cherry wood. You don’t want me anywhere near that project. No, they were already skilled in these things and God worked with them as he does with us and with our gifts. He refines our gifts and takes us deeper with them and repurposes them for his own glory. He sometimes takes people who have developed good leadership in the world and gives them a heart for leading God’s people with humility. He often takes people who like to serve and shows them how to do that in the church. For his greater purposes. God gives us ability and teaches us wisdom as we use the gifts he has given. The Spirit of God came upon David to play the lyre before King Saul. He didn’t suddenly learn to play the lyre; he had practiced for many years. And at the right time, God used that gift. I know the Bible has a few lists of spiritual gifts, but I think those are descriptive rather than exhaustive. And if the ability to make music or the ability to build something beautiful can be used by God for his glory, and we certainly see that in Scripture, then they are spiritual gifts as well. And if you are an artist, God will show you how to use that gift for his glory. 

All of God’s people have abilities that God has developed for the purpose of building up his body and declaring his glory. We must not undervalue or squander those gifts.