Ben Zornes

Robot Pizza & Forgiveness

May 11, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

One thing we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer, is that God would forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us. The Westminster Shorter Catechism draws out an important aspect of what we should mean when making this petition: “We pray, that God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon all our sins; which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others.”

The encouragement for boldly asking God to forgive our sins, arises from His grace within us enabling us to forgive others. You know that the God who forgives is at work within you when you are eager to forgive those who trespass against you, and thus have a clear conscience in asking God to forgive your trespasses.

But there’s a striking phrase in there that deserves our attention, we’re to forgive others from the heart. Forgiveness isn’t like a vending machine: money in, thingamajig out. Once, some MIT students built a restaurant run by robotics. No waiters or cooks needed, just swipe your card & 10 minutes later, out comes your robot-made pizza. That’s like forgiveness that isn’t from the heart. The meal might arrive hot & ready to eat, but the heart is missing.

True forgiveness is like the homemaker who pours her love into hand-kneading dough, slicing ingredients, and patiently watching it bake. The meal will arrive just like the robot pizza, but the difference is that along with the meal, sincere love for the eaters comes along compliments of the chef.

This meal is God’s token that you’re forgiven, and He means it. It isn’t mere formality or ritual. Nor are there clouds of suspicion hanging over you. He’s made a meal for us, and delights to commune with us. Through Christ, we taste true forgiveness, so that we might share that recipe even with our worst enemies.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

The Purpose of Pain

May 10, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

A room full of people is a room full of pain. If we each filed past the microphone, describing the various pains we carry, we’d be here for a few days. Grief over lost loved ones, hard circumstances due to either your sin or another’s sin against you, chronic illness, endless financial strain, multiple miscarriages, family estrangement, hurtful words of parents, fears about current events, battle fatigue from fighting temptations. Were we each to share, it’d be a train of pain, after sorrow, after heartache, after trial, after infirmity.

The response to this pain, by our society, is to medicate it. Pains and sorrows are to be treated therapeutically. If that fails, the dark alleyways of porn, drugs, or debauchery entice.

All this pain is the result of sin, but it isn’t the result of God’s absent-mindedness. Your pain, whether the result of your sin or others’ sins against you, is God’s kindness to you. Do you bear the consequence of your sin? This pain is like the smart of the discipline rod. Through that sting, God adjures you to mortify the sin that brought about that chastisement.

But other pains are harder to explain. Why did God allow that to happen? Why did God allow them to do thus and such to me? Where was He? The answer isn’t to try to get God off the hook. You were hurt by some tragedy, and either there is a point to it, and God alone knows the purpose for it, or else it is pointless. One approach to explaining pain renders it all pointless, and there’s no comfort there. The Bible’s explanation comforts us with the knowledge that all our pain has a point. Through pain, God awakens sinners to their plight. Through pain, God draws us to cling to Him alone. So, don’t numb the pain through sinful vice. Let God put His salve of sovereign purpose on all your wounds, and so be brought to praise Him for His tendnermercies.

We naturally shy away from pain. We opt for numbing it through narcotics, TV, Facebook scrolling, obsessive gym work-outs, overeating, under-eating, gender reassignment surgeries, abortions, godless therapy, or slothful slumber. But we must learn to not look away from the truth. God is the Author of our pain. He ordains the dark clouds of our various trials. He ordains the chastisement we face for our sin. He ordains the trials we each face. The pain isn’t because He’s asleep at the wheel. Rather, pain is His means of awakening us to how things are not as they ought to be, and only by Him, only by His Son, only by the Holy Spirit is this world being restored. He drove our parents out of Eden, and ever since, His flaming sword has directed us to Mt. Zion, the City of our God, whose foundations cannot be shaken. We must stop fleeing the lessons hidden in our pain by seeking out all manner of pain-killers. May God grant eyes to see through the pain, and see His smiling face of kindness to us through Christ.

A Paranoid Nation

May 3, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Our generation lives under constant paranoia that some mistake you make will be caught on camera & go viral, exposing you to the ridicule of millions. Or maybe the mob will discover that you hold some view which was mainstream ten minutes ago, but has fallen out of favor with the wise-ones in the Gender Studies hall of your state college.

This is fear of man writ large. As a society loses the fear of God, the fear of man both dominates our psyche, and compels us to have a deep suspicion of others. This phenomenon is why party members in communist countries are willing to spy on their fellow countrymen, and will betray one another to the authorities for the petty crimes which the tyrants have invented.

When you think that Man sees, hears, and knows everything, the only recourse is to join in the battle and hope to outlast your neighbor. The only way to dismantle this tangled network of anxious rivalry, and fearful envy is to rest in the knowledge that God’s eye is on the righteous & the wicked (Ps. 34:15-16). Paranoia over the supposedly all-seeing eye of the mob is to admit that you don’t believe that God’s eye of fatherly love is on you.

God sees it all. His watchful eye is on the righteous for their protection and preservation. His eyes behold all the vile schemes of wicked men, and He brings them to ruination, catching them in their own net.

Here on this table are tokens of the saints’ peace. God invites you to feast at ease. He’s clothed us in righteous robes. He’s covered all our sins. He’s purging out all our remaining corruption. When we walk in the light of His face, by taking this bread & wine as tokens of His favor, we are liberated from fearing the face of the mob.

As the evangelical hymn-writer put it quite aptly, “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.” This meal is a memorial that the Father looks on Christ and pardons us. He grants us sweet union with Himself, the Three-in-one, and with all His elect children. He drives out all our fears, assures us, through Christ, of that His divine favor rests upon us.

The Gospel isn’t a Riddle

April 27, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

The Gospel is not a complex riddle to be solved. It isn’t an answer that can only be found after going to college and taking a class in Advanced Physics. It isn’t a hidden knowledge found only by a quest to a remote mountaintop. It is this, believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.

This baptism is a sign of that Gospel promise. The water is like a crown, which shows everyone that this one belongs to the promise of Jesus. Jesus promised that those who believe in Him will be saved from their sins and receive everlasting life, because they belong to Him. This is what is confessed when anyone is baptized: they belong to Christ, and Christ’s promise belongs to them.

The Antidote to Individualism

April 26, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

We live in a highly atomized culture. The center of gravity skews heavily towards autonomy. “What do I want out of life? What are my preferred pronouns? Follow your heart.” And so on. We’ve even reached the point where you can fiddle with what your offspring will look like, which is nothing short of demented vanity.

The cure for this individualism, however, isn’t to run haphazardly into communalism. Resorting to a sort of tribalistic “it takes a village” mentality won’t cure the ingrown individualism that ails us. We certainly could do with a stiff dose of familial & national loyalty. But even there we should be wary. Communalism has plenty of tar pits to fall into. Just ask the Hatfields & McCoys.

No, the cure for individualism is found in the Lord’s Supper. God invites us, as individuals, to partake of this meal. Yet in inviting us to this meal, God unites us to Another. Not only are we united with Christ, individually, we’re bound to each other corporately.

As we take this meal, we should look around, and behold that we’re bound together in mystic union with all the saints; not only those present here, but all faithful believers scattered across the world, those who’ve gone before, and those yet unborn. This sacrament raises the individual saint into the glory of a vast body, and that corporate body is joined––as a bride to her groom––in a covenant to the Lord Jesus.

You ought not come to the table simply to “better yourself.” Nor should you come because that’s what your tribe “has always done.” Come because you’ve been called. Come and find true fellowship. Come and find the chief end for which you were made: to enjoy Christ––along with His body, the Church––for endless ages.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

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.)