Ben Zornes

The Crescendo of Our Worship

April 21, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

The whole of our service deliberately leads up to this moment. This communion meal is the crescendo of a glorious symphony. The grandest crescendo you can recall is like a dollar store penny whistle compared to the culmination of this worship service culminates. We’re raised up into glorious union with God, a great host of saints and angels. This meal is the whole point of our worship.

Imagine attending a London Philharmonic Orchestra performance. But imagine you’re deaf. You’d see the instrumentalists wiggling around in an odd way with their various funny-looking pieces of wood, string, and metal. You’d see the rest of the audience caught up in the rapture. You’d see the vocalists with mouths agape. You’d see the delighted applause at the end. But to you, it would all be a seemingly random set of senseless motions.

Taking this meal without faith is like that. You see all the motions, but hear none of the melodies. You can observe it all, but without faith you do not partake at all.

Our worship thunders up to this point. This is the trumpet blast, the timpani roll, the payoff for all the motifs. It all comes to this head. In the Lord’s Supper, God assures those who’ve heard His call, who have come in Christ––with the clean water of baptism upon their brow––that He is theirs, they are His, and nothing can separate them from the Father’s love.

You’ve been called to worship. You’ve been invited to confess your sins. You’ve witnessed a baptism and been reminded of yours. You’ve heard God’s Word proclaimed to you. And now, in this simple sign of bread & wine, you’re assured that all the promises of forgiveness of sins and fellowship with God are given to you. So, if you hear the crescendo, it’s because you’ve been given ears to hear it.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

Seeds of Sons & Daughters

April 20, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

The blessed man is like a tree planted by rivers of water. A godly son is like a plant which grows up to full maturity. Fruitful olive trees around the table is the description of a blessed man’s offspring. In order for plants to grow to maturity and become fruitful, however, they must first be a seed that goes into the ground, dies, and then springs forth into new life.

God the Father planted His Son like a seed. Then, by His power, raised Him again. Christ is the first-fruits of the harvest which God is in the process of bringing in. When we bring our infants to baptism, we’re bringing our sons & daughters like seeds. We give them to God. We bring them to die. We bring them to be buried. We bring them in order that they might be joined with Christ, and therefore be planted in His death. And if this son be planted in Christ, he’s also joined to Christ’s everlasting life. So we plant this seed in faith, trusting that he will grow into a mighty oak, abounding by the River of Life.

So welcome covenant children to Jesus Christ…

Odds & Ends I Like Online

April 19, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

I wanted to highlight a few resources I have found helpful, and commend them to you, my reader. You have gripped your seats with white knuckled worry as you’ve read my posts, wondering, “What hornets nest will he whack this time?” Here is your reward. A grab bag of apps/sites and other resources which I’ve found immensely helpful on a variety of fronts. In full disclosure, a few of these are referral links; that means if you like these as much as I do and purchase the app, you get a discount/promotional rate, and I get a few nickels to keep the lights on here.

With all those formalities out of the way…let us proceed.

YNAB

My momma always joked that my money burned holes in my pockets. However, while seeking to be both generous, frugal, and provide for my children and children’s children, my wife and I hunted for various budgeting systems. We tried envelopes, but found that that made online shopping difficult. We tried a few other apps (i.e. Albert, Mint, etc.). Last year we tried the free trial for YNAB (You Need A Budget), and after the trial expired gladly paid the annual subscription to their software. It has been, hands down, our most responsible year financially. We’ve kept to our budget much better, been enabled to save more and give more than ever before. I’d highly recommend gifting this to young married couples, or folks who’ve gotten into bad financial habits who are willing to do some hard work to get back in the black. The basic principle is that you enter the amount of money you have right now (not what you expect to come in in a few weeks); you then put that money in your “funds”, and then you can link your various accounts or manually enter transactions. If you stay under budget, the money rolls over (in that same fund) to the next month. So we always budgeted $100/mo for gas. But after a few months using YNAB, we realized we were only using about $60-70/mo. This meant we could either reduce our budgeted amount, or let that spare $30 roll-over and pay for future months’ expenses. In other words, you break the paycheck to paycheck cycle.

BLB

As far as Bible software goes, I started using Blue Letter Bible 10+ years ago, and while I’ve dabbled in other programs, I’ve come to use BLB for most of my study/sermon prep. They’ve only improved their desktop and mobile interface. My favorite feature in the app is that you can set the text to autoscroll. This helps with daily Bible reading, because it helps you read quickly, and forces you to not get bogged down in rabbit trails that should be saved for when you have the time to delve into the text. All the original languages and various translations are there. I really appreciate that it doesn’t have many bells and whistles; it keeps the text front and center. It’s free, but I’m sure BLB would appreciate the occasional donation to give some peanuts to the gerbils that power their app and website.

BibleMemory

This was a really great discovery, as years ago I had adopted the “one-letter” Bible memory method. You basically memorize a verse/passage by just using the first letter of each word. See if you can read this one: “I t b G c t h a t e.” Easy peasy, right? Genesis 1:1. Well, the Bible Memory App uses that principle to help you memorize verses. Once you’ve mastered a verse, it automatically sends you a notification at set intervals so you can review it. As you master a verse, the period between reviews gets further apart. I found this really useful in prepping for my ordination exam, as I was able to really solidify various texts that I wanted to cite in case of being asked to prove some difficult doctrine from Scripture. This link will get you a discount on the paid version of the app, but there is a free version that is quite useful as well. The free version doesn’t allow you to create your own “sets” of verses, you just have to use “pre-made” sets.

Spreeder

Lastly, Spreeder is a really useful tool for getting used to speed reading. It also helps to read lengthy texts available in the public domain. For instance, you can copy any text into the browser app (linked below), set how many WPM it flashes, the size/color of the font, and then press play…and…away it goes. I was able to train myself to go from 300WPM to 600WPM. Quite useful for becoming a faster reader, and then allowing you to read any text you can copy/paste online quickly (i.e. articles, public domain books, congressional bills etc.)

A Polluted Land

April 19, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

During times of widespread apostasy, the prophets described the condition of the Promised Land in an intriguing way. They told God’s people that the land was polluted. This pollution was due to sexual fornication, the shedding of innocent blood, and the worship of idols (Cf. Ps. 106:38, Jer. 3:1-2, Eze. 36:18, Am. 7:17).

The promise to Israel in Leviticus 26:3-6 is described in terms of the land yielding bountifully, of fertile families, fields, and flocks. But if they were draw off into various perversions the land would be polluted by these wicked acts. Until they repented in true humility the sky would be iron, the earth would be brass (Lev. 26:19).

In our nation, fornication abounds, unborn infants are sacrificed to gods of corporate profits and career advancement, and the innocent are slain. Pornography consumes young men’s years of virility. Abortion accommodates young women’s years of fertility. We’ve polluted the land.

A polluted land must be cleansed. But, it can’t be scrubbed clean by laws, protests, or additional Supreme Court justices. The weeds of chaos in our nation are the fruits of polluting the land with seeds of sodomy, lust, envy, murder, infanticide, and insatiable greed. The stain is too dark for us to cleanse.

The only remedy is found here, in this Gospel we proclaim here. Forsake your sins. Quit demeaning your husband. Quit neglecting your wife. Stop disobeying your parents. Don’t steal from your employer or your clients by slacking at your job. Stop snarking on social media.

Flee your sin. Come to the fountain of Jesus’ blood. The old Gospel songs were quite right when they sang about being washed in the blood. It’s only by His shed blood that our land might be cleansed of all our sins, both individual and corporate. The pollution of the land can only be purged by a new creation work, and only Christ has such regenerative power.

Companion of Fools

April 17, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Introduction

Teaching our children to walk in wisdom when it comes to entertainment and friendship is an active task for parents. Throughout the Proverbs the word used for companion is a poetic use of the same word used throughout the OT for shepherding/feeding/tending a flock.

One of our primary jobs as parents is to feed our children. Now, imagine a parent who lets their child rummage freely through the cupboards whenever they like. Those parents will soon find the health problems of a diet which consists solely of jelly-beans and potato chips. In the same manner, parents are called to shepherd their children to pastures of green pastures. This is particularly important when it comes to what flock they run with.

Lead Your Teens to Green Pastures

The task is to lead your children to green pastures where other sheep commune together under the Great Shepherd. Sheep require vigilant care and attention. Sheep are herd creatures, and if they wander from the herd, or wander with the wrong animal they’re sure to become the main course on some other animal’s menu.

The Scriptures are our authority not only for what sort of friendships we should cultivate, but also what godly friendship is for. Proverbs 13:20 says, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” Paul reiterates this same reality that evil companionship leads to corruption, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners (1Cor. 15:33).” In other words, friendship is for the cultivation of wisdom.

When you walk with the wise, you walk in the way of the righteous, and so the fruit of wise friendship is that, “The lips of the righteous feed[H7462] many: but fools die for want of wisdom (Pro. 10:21).” Instead of becoming the main course, a wise man is able to feed many. Proverbs 15:14 offers a stark contrast to this exact thing: “The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth[H7462] on foolishness.”

So friendship is for the cultivation of wisdom and thus righteousness. But how does Solomon teach us to cultivate friendship, and what sort?

The clear guidance we are given is that the morality of your friends matters, and certain individuals are to be spurned, not befriended: “Make no friendship[H7462] with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go (Pro. 22:24).” And, “Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion[H7462] of riotous men shameth his father (Pro. 28:7).” Lastly, “Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company[H7462] with harlots spendeth his substance (Pro. 29:3).” In other words, we are not to keep company with angry or riotous men, or with harlots.

There are other words of wisdom for us, but notice that here we have a simple summary of what sort of people shouldn’t be befriended. Are they bitter (and therefore prone to either outburst of wrath or cold, seething envy)? Are they out of control? Are they sexual loose? Then don’t keep company with such individuals it. Avarice, greed, and lust are not the traits you want in your children’s companions. As the Apostle John teaches, “Love not the world (1 Jn. 2:15-16).”

Contempt for the Cool

Perhaps one of the most important lessons which parents should teach their children is that of godly uncooperativeness. Proverbs 1:10, “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” Those three words––“consent thou not”––is the sum and substance of what you want to aim for in raising your children to choose wise friends. It is the young man, void of understanding, who wanders down her street.

You want your children, at their various stages of development, to be sticks in the mud. They don’t just go along. They lead in the games, in the places the gang hangs out, what sort of things they talk about, what sort of jokes they laugh at, what sort of entertainment they enjoy. A wise son is not a log floating down the Mississippi; he’s a steamship going against the flow of foolishness.

But just going against the grain isn’t enough. Think about all the teens you’ve known who have gone through a rebellious “independent” streak. They shave the side of their head, put streaks of neon green, orange, or pink in their hair, put the bone through their nose and claim they’re doing it all to be different, to not conform. But the mugshots of all the Antifa protesters should be enough to conclude they they are not non-conformists, they are just conformists to an entirely different culture.

We want our children to go against the grain because they are being raised up to not depart from the way in which they’ve been trained. They already have a way they are going, and any deviation from that way will not entice them.

Lewis points out in the Four Loves that phileo love is oriented towards a mutual goal. Eros is face to face, while phileo is shoulder to shoulder. The question for your teens is: if you stand shoulder to shoulder with this individual or group of friends, which way are you pointing? Are you pointing towards folly, and thus poverty, despair, and death, or are you pointed at wisdom and therefore abundance, hope, and life?

Leisure Rather than Entertainment

An important distinction should be made here between entertainment, and leisure. Entertainment is akin to gluttony, in that it turns us into mindless consumers with no brakes to stop our indulgence. The rabbit hole of Youtube videos, the endless scroll of Social Media, all serve up to us a seemingly endless world of discovery and gratification.

Leisure, on the other hand, is the enjoyment of one’s work, and the reception of the blessings of God. Entertainment gobbles and grabs, whereas leisure receives and rests. We rest in God, to work up a sweat, in order to rest once more. Leisure is a gift to be received.

Remember that friends are chosen, not assigned. We are born into families, but we choose our friends. Entertainment is a subset of friendship. In other words, no one forces you to watch whatever the latest smut-fest is. You choose it. Your choice is a fruit of your heart. A heart that either rejoices in evil or in the truth.

When your children are knee-high to a grasshopper, the father in particular is tasked with pointing and instructing. The movies you watch, the music you allow, the internet sites permitted should all be accompanied with pointing. Point out that Moana disobeys her dad, and then it is her dad who has to apologize in the end. Point out that the melody for most pop music is boring, repetitive, and unoriginal. All this pointing is so that by the time they are nearing adulthood, you’ve pointed out all the principles, and now they will continue to go in the way in which you’ve trained them.

One final note in regards to entertainment. The common complaint is that “clean” or “Christian” entertainment isn’t as cool, or slick, or well-produced as the latest “Dawn of the Freaky Brain Eaters” or whatever blockbuster garbagé Hollywood insists must be seen. The reply is this: “Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit (Ecc. 4:6).”

Narnian Friendship

You want your kids to be Narnian in their friendship: “You could see that they were ready to be friends with anyone who was friendly and didn’t give a fig for anyone who wasn’t (The Horse and His Boy, pg. 55).” Readiness to befriend, however, is not the same thing as being a friend with everyone.

While we may choose our friends, and by extension our entertainment choices, we cannot choose to not have friendship. Friendship is inescapable. You are either a friend of the world, and thus riddled with lust and envy, and so an enemy of God: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (Jas. 4:4);” or you are a friend of God, by faith, like father Abraham (Jas. 2:23).

So, as in all things, it comes back to believing the Gospel. This of course must be followed with obeying the Gospel out of love for God. And be like David, “I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts (Psa. 119:63).”

Abundance & Apathy

April 12, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Abundance Himself is set before you. There is plenty here. The cup overflows. The table is laden. Could we but have eyes to see, this table, this cup, this room, even the highest heavens can’t contain what’s given here to us. Grace upon grace. Grace to overcome your sin. Grace to stand courageous. Grace for the bad news you received this week.

But in abundance, we must be wary. Prosperity without faith begets apathy. All of Christ is given for you, so you might overcome your sin and grow in godliness; not so that you can continue indulging your sins in entitled presumption.

This is why it’s important to view this meal aright. These aren’t bare & empty symbols. To illustrate, when a hippie holds up the peace sign and offer his, “Peace bro”, this sign doesn’t bring about the peace signified. Here, however, in this bread & wine––when eaten in faith––Christ is truly imparted to us. The sign and the thing it signifies are both here. The symbol of abundant grace, and the Source of that grace are both present here.

The Lord promised that in eating this meal of covenant memorial we would partake of Him. Are you His? Are you baptized into Him? Then this meal is for you, and what is offered in this meal is abundance.

How do you receive abundance rightly? Not by thinking you must squint hard enough in order to see this meal correctly. Not by taking on an air of flippant entitlement. Receive this abundance by trusting that Christ has imparted to you all the fortitude for your temptations, trials, & tasks. This mindset gives rise to what some have called the Protestant Work Ethic. But we should simply call it freely receiving and freely giving; receiving abundant life, and then giving our life away in obedience.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

Book Review: “Black Rednecks & White Liberals” by Thomas Sowell

April 8, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sowell was like a skilled chef, everything cooked to perfection, seasoned beautifully, and something for every palette. If you can’t enjoy it, it’s because you choose to hate great food, and you probably prefer Kale chips to potato chips, and would somehow enjoy eating bread made from sawdust. There is a multitude of fascinating takeaways, and Sowell takes us back through history to show that “black culture” is really Scottish clan culture. He makes a compelling defense of why America isn’t an inherently racist country, and explains why the Founders weren’t perpetuating racism by not ending slavery at our founding. Contrary to the statue smashers over in Portland, the Founders laid the groundwork for ending slavery.

Perhaps the most poignant point which Sowell makes is that while every ethnicity has at one time been enslaved, and in turn enslaved others, it was only in the West that this temptation to enslave our fellow man was overcome. It was the cause of liberty which ensured the eventual end of slavery not only in the West but (almost) throughout the whole world. Ironically, it is in places where Western values are not predominant that slavery still exists (I would assert it would be more accurate to say Christian ethics). However, current narratives regarding race/slavery would have us believe that America’s founders simply perpetuated/entrenched slavery, rather than planting the seeds of liberty which would grow the fruit of abolition of the institution of slavery. This book is a potent antidote to the woke-sorcery which has beguiled our universities, press, and culture.

Other Book Reviews

The Tale is True

April 6, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

The tale is true. This world is strewn with hints. All the clues are there. We are tipped off each time we plant seeds in the spring and harvest the fruit in the fall; or every time the sun sets, only to rise again the next morning; or when the dark chill of winter gives way to the bright green of April.

When God spoke the words of creation, it was foretold, for pulsing with life something came from dead nothingness. When God put Adam to sleep and made Eve, He was inviting us into the inside scoop that life would come from death. Noah emerging from the ark. Abraham receiving back Isaac on Mt. Moriah. Joseph being raised from Pharaoh’s prison to Pharaoh’s right hand. Moses leading Israel through the Red Sea. Joshua conquering the five kings, hanging them on a tree, and then burying them in a cave. Samson delivering Israel by bringing the temple of Dagon down upon Himself. David’s psalmody tells of many a time where he was near death, and then by God’s deliverance raised to triumph. The prophets all foretold it, some like Jeremiah were cast into pits to be a sign of it. But for those who have been given eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to understand, there it is in creation and in scripture, plain as day. Life out of death is the story God has been telling us from the very get go.

Now we, those who believe all this in faith, taste life that came from death. Death that will soon be written out of the story. Death whose days are numbered. Death who doesn’t get the last line of the story.

Earthly bread can’t sustain you forever. Medical science can’t keep you alive indefinitely. Here, in this bread & wine which is Christ’s body & blood, you’re offered life out of death. Eternal life is here, bursting through the seams, that you might truly live. So see, hear, & believe the story that God is telling all around us.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…