Ben Zornes

Book Review: “Debating the Text” by Douglas Wilson & James White

February 20, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Debating the Text of the Word of God by Douglas Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’d liken this book to a fencing match between two friends. They practice their swordplay, and are both skilled in the art, but each takes a different tact. However, their fencing is no mere hobby, but it is training for warfare. The Word of God is under continual assault from without the church and within. Unbelieving lions would like to undermine the integrity/reliability of the text of Scripture, while wolves from within endeavor to wrest the Scriptures.

Wilson and White each care deeply about the Bible. That is manifestly evident in this debate. Where they differ is which manuscripts––and more broadly, which manuscript tradition––should be understood as the original text of inspired Scripture.

Pastor Wilson holds to the Textus Receptus and the Byzantine Text type; while Dr. White believes there is still a “backlog” of textual criticism to be done to get the Church to the original text, and approves the Nestle-Aland/UBS Text as the sort of “jumping off” point for this endeavor. Neither denies that the Church does indeed have the authoritative, inerrant, and infallible Word of God. Rather they contend over the various discrepancies between the manuscripts, as well as what the Church’s process should be for how to make those determinations.

The audiobook is read by both gentlemen, which was a nice touch. There are points where the format of the debate seemed to leave them “talking past” the other. But I have it on good authority that these gents will be continuing the conversation in other venues in the near future. For those who need a good introduction to the Xs & Os of textual criticism and manuscript traditions, this is a helpful starting place; namely because these are two men who both desire the church to submit to the Word of her Lord, whatever He says.

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Looking Through the Window

February 18, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

There are two ways to look at this meal. You can either see this meal as a tapestry or you can look through it as a window. Some look upon this meal as simply a quaint tradition which provides solace and comfort to the emotional and psychological needs of those who take it. They merely see a tapestry of curious anthropology.

But when you look at this meal by faith, you not only look at the elements, but you look through the elements. You see bread and wine, but faith sees and understands that it is really Christ which is beheld.

But let me push this illustration to very corners. A window is useless if there are not beams of light gleaming through it to dance upon the pupil of an opened eye. A blind man, straining his eyes, during a midnight hurricane will never see through that window, no matter how hard he tries. No, the eyes must be opened. The light must beam through. So not only do we look through the window, but the only way we can even see out the window is because the light first blazed through to us.

We see Christ here in this meal, because Christ first shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. We see because He first showed. We behold because He first revealed. We delight in Him as our bridegroom because He first rejoiced over us as His precious bride. We are dead to sin, because He lived in righteousness. We are alive, because He died for us.

Those who merely look at this meal will never truly taste or see the glory of this meal. Only those who look through this window of bread and wine will taste Joy Himself, Life Himself, Glory Himself, Brilliant, Majestic, Boundless, Shoreless Love Himself.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

More Not Less

February 17, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Sacraments are an inescapable reality in this world. Every false gospel has its rites, symbols, initiations, and sacred ceremonies. But the sacraments of these false gospels are signs which symbolize vanity, emptiness, outer darkness. The religious traditions of pagans, or Muslims, or even secularists are empty motions.

The Muslim’s sacrament of daily prayer is a bare exercise of muttering empty words to a deaf god. The sign is more than what is symbolized. The ritual gives a calloused forehead, but nothing more. Embracing one’s membership in an oppressed class is the sacrament of Modern Progressivism. But again––regardless of how many social media likes it gets––it’s a vain sign which symbolizes a speck of hollow covetousness. All the signs of false gospels are powerless and ineffectual, because their gods are impotent.

Christian Baptism is the inverse of this. What’s symbolized is more––not lesser––than the sign itself. What is here is that this little child, though not deserving the least of God’s favor, will be united with Christ. And in being united with Him in baptism is assured that by evangelical faith, what is true of Christ is true of her. His death is hers. His life is hers. His righteousness is hers. He takes her sin, and gives the riches of His grace. For the believer, the sign of baptism points to something infinitely larger than itself. Indeed, we say with the Apostle John: “Of Christ’s fullness we receive, and grace upon grace.”

So welcome covenant child to Christ.

Book Review: “Eastern Orthodoxy” by Donald Fairbairn

February 12, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Eastern Orthodoxy Through Western Eyes by Donald Fairbairn My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fairbairn offers a really helpful primer on the important things to know about our brothers and sisters in Christ across the Bosphorus. He also gives a good handful of insights on how EO believers view Protestants. Perhaps the most helpful takeaway was a very simple (perhaps oversimplification) observation about the respective traditions. In the West our salvation largely consists of “looking back” to the work of Christ upon the cross; whereas for the Orthodox, they view salvation as something we are “looking forward” to. The West is very text based, the East very image based.
Fairbairn is quite gracious towards EO, and I think does a good job of painting them in the best possible light. But he also doesn’t paint a Thomas Kinkade vision of EO; he highlights how often the understanding of Orthodoxy by the average practitioner is grossly in error (especially as regards icons), even while EO theologians try to be careful to avoid those errors. He also reminds Protestants of the areas where we are prone to fall into error.
That said, this is a helpful starting place to understanding the key distinctions, but Fairbairn doesn’t go as far in making it plain how truly grievous the errors are in EO. While we certainly should seek to understand where our Eastern brethren are coming from and what they are (and aren’t saying), we must not be naïve in thinking that our differences are insignificant. Altogether, I’d recommend this as a good beginning place; it was helpful to me in getting a grasp on the key similarities and differences between Geneva and Constantinople.

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Speaking to God

February 11, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

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Introduction

One of the key doctrines recovered in the Reformation was that of the priesthood of all believers. What that resulted in was an increased fervor for piety. Calvin’s original (very catchy) title of the 1536 edition of The Institutes was: The Institutes of Christian Religion, Containing almost the Whole Sum of Piety and Whatever It is Necessary to Know in the Doctrine of Salvation. A Work Very Well Worth Reading by All Persons Zealous for Piety, and Lately Published. The Reformation restored a biblical understanding of fellowship with God to the individual believer, and thus recovered true fellowship between believers as well. God wants to speak to us, in His Word by His Son (Heb. 1:1-3), and God wants us to speak to Him. In other words, God wants to be with us.

The Text

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Luke 18:1-8

Summary of the Text

Zoom out of this passage, and I want to highlight something about Luke’s narrative. One of his focal points is the activity of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Jesus (Lk. 1:35, 41; 2:25-26; 3:16; 4:1, 18; 11:9-13; 12:8-12; 24:49). Think of Luke as volume one, and Acts as volume two of the same work. Along with this comes a frequent emphasis on prayer, which we know from elsewhere in Scripture is closely linked with the ministry of the Spirit. So Luke shows how Christ’s ministry, teaching, and example was marked by prayer (Cf. Lk. 6:12, 9:18, 28, 11:1, 22:44).

Unlike most parables, this one comes with an answer key, this parable is an exhortation to prayer, the sort of prayer that isn’t feeble or fainthearted (v1). The sort of persistence we are to have in prayer is exemplified by the picture of the relationship between a hard-hearted judge (v2), and a widow (v3). Her request is to be avenged, but the judge refuses to take her cause (v4a); but because of her persistence he agrees to take up the cause of avenging her lest he wear out (v5).

Jesus tells us the takeaway from this story of the unjust judge (v6). That is, even the most corrupt judge will finally give way due to persistent petition. This is a “how much more” argument (similar to Lk 11:13). If the unjust judge will finally hear the persistent petitions of the needy widow, how much more will God avenge His chosen people (v7)? His tarrying is not evidence of His not hearing their prayers, it is a means whereby their faith is tested and proved (v8). God has promised His people that He will avenge them. So, they must not relinquish faith that He will perform His promise.

The Importunate Church

Why does God wait to answer our prayers? The Evangelical church has been praying for close to fifty years that the abomination of Roe v. Wade would be overturned. The Chinese church has been praying for deliverance from communist persecution for close to a hundred years. The Reformers were persecuted for well over two hundred years before they enjoyed the peace of deliverance.

It might be easy to think that God’s delay is because He must be like the unjust judge. He must have a lot on His plate; or He wants to “teach us a lesson”; or He only begrudgingly answers our prayers. But this runs antithetical not only to this text, but to the whole of Scriptural revelation as to God’s character. He is a Father. He delights to answer our requests. And this text highlights the speed with which He will avenge His beloved.

One reason is that His tarrying demands that our prayers continue in faith, which implies that we are all too likely to treat Him like Santa Claus. This makes man out to be the cause of the effect of answered prayer, rather than the believer being part of God’s means whereby He effects His answers to prayer. Another reason is that waiting for His answer to come results in us coming to see that the Giver is better than the gift, the Answerer is superior to the answer. Finally, we must not overlook the fact that He is not “time-bound.” He answers in accordance with His sovereign will. All our prayers, even if the answer comes long after we are dead and gone, result in great glory for God and the building up of the faith of the Church. The church has been asking “Thy Kingdom come” for millennia, and God assures us that it will come, and when it does the whole church will say, “Amen.”

Pray Like a Psalmist

Pray big prayers. Pray specific prayers. Pray tireless prayers. Pray that Your enemies might be undone (either in conversion or in judgement). Pray that God might be glorified. Pray in faith. Pray, pray, pray.

And just as importantly, expect God to answer your prayers. Jesus commands us to ask the Father for whatsoever, and accompanies that command with a promise that the Father will answer: “And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full (Jhn. 16:23-24).” In other words, pray like God told you to pray. Pray like a psalmist.

Where Faith Shall Be Sight

Our Lord taught us to pray that God’s will would be done on earth as it was it heaven. We pray by faith, awaiting the unseen answer. But God does answer our prayers. Faith asks, faith waits, and faith keeps its eyes open for the answer.

Prayer need not be eloquent. In fact, grunts and groans are acceptable forms of prayer (Rom. 8:26). Lengthy times in the prayer closet don’t expedite the answer. But God invites you to ask. He wants to hear you. He wants to answer your prayers. He wants to answer them with nothing other than Himself.

We pray together throughout our service each Lord’s Day. But this should not replace frequent converse with the Lord both as families, individuals, and friends. Paul commands us to do everything by prayer (Phi. 4:6); Tozer pointed out that the church’s temptation is to do everything by committee, rather than by prayer and supplication.

So, pray without ceasing. After all, you are in Christ, Christ brings you to the Father, and the Spirit grants you power to ask with boldness what God delights to answer: that in all things He might receive all glory, honor, and praise. This is true piety. The sort of piety that isn’t lost in the la-la-land of introspection. This is the sort of piety that reads the Bible to hear from God and obey what He says, and then talk continually to God as His own child requesting what He’s promised to give. This is the fellowship with the Father which Christ purchased for you, which the Spirit seals to you.

Pill Poppin’ Christians

February 7, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Orcs and Elves

Aged women are given explicit Apostolic instruction to be “not given to much wine (Tit. 2:3).” A deacon’s (and probably elder’s) wife is, among other things, to be sober, νηφαλέους (1 Tim. 3:11). The entire congregation is commanded to not be drunk with wine, but filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Sober-mindedness is a frequently commanded virtue. God wants His people clear-headed. That’s the virtue which is being admonished.

Now, is wine the only way in which sober-mindedness is compromised? Of course not. Is wine expressly forbidden? Of course not. Wine stands in for other forms of mood/mind altering substances. And we should not forget that wine is a blessing from the Lord, given to make the heart of man glad (Ps. 104:15). That blessing should be embraced without blushing.

But the devil likes the blessings God gives. He loves to mangle and corrupt them, and bids us do the same. The blessings God gives can be corrupted from the means of enjoying God’s grace and goodness, and turned into a means of self-worship. The same wine that can gladden the heart can also turn one into a drunken brawler (Pro. 20:1). Orcs were once elves, mind you.

The Heart Problem

The problem isn’t the substance, it is the human heart. We love to concoct ways to mangle God’s blessings. Our rebellion turns the means of enjoying God’s blessings into idolatrous ends. The heart is the problem, not the stuff. Lust in the heart is the problem, not wine in the cup.

God has laden this world––like the ranch dressing on my french fries––with blessings. Medicine ought to be the result of the faithful labors of doctors and researches, taking those blessings and converting them into means of healing, restoring, and alleviating suffering. Broken bones healing more rapidly. Hearts being strengthened to pump a few decades longer.

However, assuming that medical discoveries are clean as the wind-driven snow is like assuming that leaving your wallet next to you on a New York subway while you take a nap is a wise decision. One of the ways in which we’ve placed ourselves unreflectively in the hands of modern medicine is by imbibing psychotropic drugs.

Without much objection we have turned to treating human suffering, mental grief, energetic activity, and gloomy moods with little pills. These little pills, by design, alter mood/mind. And one in six Americans are taking them. Most indications are that women are twice as likely as men are to be taking antidepressants. So, are these pills blessings which Christians should freely enjoy, or a mangling of medical care?

Anti-Sin not Anti-Science

First, we should insist that being anti-sin is not equivalent to being anti-science. Christians have historically led in scientific discovery, and done so as a means of glorifying God. However, as secularism has overtaken the scientific and medical professions, Christians need to have their BS-meters on high.

In the arena of psychopharmacology we should be especially on guard. Sins have been rapidly redefined as medical/biological disorders, and some sins (like homosexuality) have been removed from the psychiatric diagnostic manuals under pressure from the GQBLT lobby. The psychiatric community is very wishy-washy on what constitutes mental disorders. They are also very cowardly when society scolds them for diagnosing societal lusts as forms of mental derangement. Just look at all of our sexuality/gender confusion. The psychiatric community has essentially said, “Nope, nothing to see here.”

But consider this quote from one of the “founding fathers” modern psychopharmacology:

Those of us who work in this field [psychiatry] see a developing potential for a nearly total control of human emotional status, mental functioning, and will to act.
Nathan Kline

In other words, psychotropic drugs were developed with the express purpose of controlling human’s emotion, mental frame of mind, and will. But even Kline warned of overmedicating, and modern psychologists themselves are admitting that “there is vast agreement that [psychotropic drugs] are grossly overprescribed, do not treat any known diseases, and provide only superficial relief.”

These medications––which alter mood, cognition, etc.––if beneficial are recommended only for short periods; yet the evidence shows that once someone begins taking antidepressants or other sorts of behavioral drugs, they are on them for long stretches of time. Couple this with the fact that there are ZERO tests which can be run to determine whether the patient in question actually needs these medications.

In other words, what may be helpful for some very extreme cases––usually for short periods of time––is not even recommended by modern psychiatrists for the average person, nor is it advised for this form of “treatment” to be long term. I won’t go into how there is a revolving door between the FDA and the pharmaceutical companies, but the concern I’m raising is that Christians in particular have been gullible in receiving a form of “treatment” from a discipline of medicine whose express purpose is in conflict with Scripture’s mandate to be sober-minded.

Add to all this the reality that the church simply goes along with the redefining of sins as mental/emotional disorders. Pastorally, even when counseling someone who is not dealing with sin as the direct cause of their melancholy (i.e. tragedy as opposed to transgression), the suffering individual doesn’t need to be told that a pill can help them deal with grief. A pill won’t overcome the temptations that arise as a result of grief. Prozac can’t mortify the flesh or vivify the Spirit.

Christians and Their Pills

Many Christians have thoughtlessly begun partaking of this pharmaceutical sacrament. Without reflection, or acknowledging the worldview origin of such drugs, they have joined with the world’s programme of treating mental and emotional frames of mind as something to be treated rather than the battleground in which God calls us to cultivate holiness and mortify sin.

Furthermore, regardless of denominational background, our nation is paedo-pharmaceutical. Pre-schoolers are the fastest growing market for consuming antidepressants, and more and more children are growing up taking medication for behavioral issues. Our culture wants our children to come to the table of psychotropic drugs and commune long into adulthood.

So, what should Christians think about all this? Our starting point is obedience to the Risen Christ. Which means, we should start by affirming that we are to be obedient to His command to be sober-minded. This means we are all called to sober-mindedness regardless of how we feel, regardless of our emotional or mental condition, regardless of the pain of our circumstances. Secondly, we should repent of thinking that joy will return to us if we take our pills. Joy doesn’t come in a bottle of pills.

The fear and anxiety and joylessness which plague Christian women are not going to be fixed by medicine. Fear is cast out by resting in the love of the Father. Anxiety is soothed by the peace of conscience brought by understanding the Sovereign goodness of God over all matters. Joylessness is cured by confessing one’s sins, and turning in evangelical faith to salvation offered in Christ.

One final word, when facing grief, suffering, or mental anguish we are going to be assaulted with a host of temptations. Will we look to Christ, or will we look for escape? The escape can take many forms, but increasingly, it takes the form of a handful of pills. The escape which psychiatric medication offers comes with a long list of so called “side” effects. But the Gospel offers joy and deliverance by facing the trial in faith. As the old hymn reminds us:

The flame shall not harm thee,
I only design, thy dross to consume
and thy gold to refine.

We know this because Jesus suffered the most poignant anguish ever faced by any human ever. He did not seek escape. He did not medicate his emotions. He did not resign his will to the prescription of his therapist. He refused the gall. He yielded to the Father’s will, and the Father gave Him glory in return. Something a prescription can never fill.

Click Here for My Review of “Spiritual Depression”

Hearing from God

February 5, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

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Introduction

A child can be disobedient in one of two ways. First, he can outright rebel. He can insist on his own way, marching to his own drum, being his own boss. The other way is bit harder to notice, but just as dangerous. He can never grow up. A child is taught obedience not so that he might always be a child, nor so that he can become an entirely independent entity. Rather, so that he might become his own man, but a man in fellowship (cf. 1 Jn. 1:3). Willful immaturity and rebellious autonomy are both sinful, and are a hinderance to true fellowship with our Father, and our brothers.

The Text

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Hebrews 1:1-3

Summary of the Text

These opening lines of Hebrews were written to believing Jews who were bracing for looming persecution. They are told that whereas God had spoken in times past through prophets (Heb. 1:1), He had now spoken by His Son, who is the appointed heir of the whole kit and caboodle. Not only that, but the Son was eternally with the Father in the act of Creation (Heb. 1:2). The long and short of it is that the God who had spoken creation into being, is the very same God who now spoke by the Son. This demands precise and faithful adherence to the Son’s kingship (Heb. 2:1). The Triune God spoke creation into being, and the Triune God has now spoken a new creation into being. We know this because God became a man, purged our sins, and became King of the world (Heb. 1:3). This was all a warning to them to not return to the incomplete word of Moses, but to hear the fulfillment of what God spoke through Moses and the prophets by His Son (Mt. 17:5). The better Word had been spoken, and with blood red finality.

How God Speaks

The Scriptures begin with a crucial assertion about God: He speaks (Gen. 1:3). He speaks clearly, and He speaks directly. He commands light and it comes into being. His Word creates and commands and upholds. He gives Adam clear orders and injunctions. After the fall, God comes to talk with the patriarchs. On Mount Sinai, God reveals Himself to the entire nation via Word: “ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.” Later, the Holy of holies came to be known as the Oracle (debiyr דביר).

The gods are never quiet. There is no culture in history which does not have priests claiming to speak on behalf of the gods. Replace God with Science, and you begin to see how religious the so-called rationalists actually are. We are repeatedly confronted with claims that “The science is settled.” Which is just another way of saying, “Thus saith the Lord.” Look at our American religious landscape where every person is a priest of a god in their own likeness. When people say things like, “Well to me, God is…” they are claiming to speak for God. So, the unbelieving objectivism of pseudo-science, and the unbelieving subjectivism of feel-good religion are both at odds with reality.

Man is always looking for ways to plug his ears to God’s voice, in order to hear his own voice. This unbelieving way of thinking often creeps into the church. Various types of Christians claim to have “words from the Lord”. Some believers with tender-consciences want to truly honor the Lord and follow His guidance and thus have become confused about how to hear the Lord’s voice; because of mankind’s hunger to hear from God, others have seen a grand opportunity to be God’s mouthpiece. The first type hear “God” saying an awful lot of murky and/or wishy-washy sentimentalism, while the second type hear an awful lot about sending donations to the number at the bottom of the screen.

The question before each man is this, will he listen to the subjective voice of man, or to the objective Voice of God in Nature and in inspired Scripture. The Protestant position is that God has two books which He speaks to us. The book of the World (general revelation), and the book of His Word (special revelation). Creation says enough to leave man without an excuse for not seeking, finding, and following the God he knows is there. The Word tells man that God has made a way to save man from His rebellion. The final Word which God has spoken is that Jesus who suffered for lost mankind, is now King of mankind. Which means man must hear and obey.

What God Hath Said?

Now, where this gets real sticky is when you try to figure out what God is saying to you. It is easy to try to get your own way by looking to a subjective “inner voice” and pretending it was God speaking to you, but He always seems to say what you wanted to hear anyway. The other error is that of the liberal who treats the Bible as a novelty shop of nice aphorisms of by-gone “God-followers” who show us that every person’s journey to God is unique. On one hand you undermine the work of the Spirit, on the other you undermine the thunder of God’s voice in the Bible.

God’s definitive Word has been spoken, the Spirit opens our ears and grants us wisdom to apply it in our circumstances. Christ is King, the Spirit dwells in You, and the Bible makes your marching orders plain. So, look at your current circumstances. Do you really believe what the Bible says about them? God has ordered your steps.

So, what has God told you to do? Believe upon the Lord Jesus (Rom. 10:9). Honor your parents (Ex. 20:12). Love your wife (Col. 3:19). Submit to Your husband (Col. 3:18). Don’t lie (Ex. 20:16). Take a nap on Sunday afternoons (Mk. 2:27). Go to church (Heb. 10:25). Unfollow some Instagram accounts ASAP (2 Tim. 2:22). With a big smile, give a big fat check to the Lord’s work (1 Cor. 16:2, 2 Cor. 9:7). Work yourself ragged six days a week (Col. 3:23). Host a big feast on a regular basis (Rom. 12:13). Obey your rulers, and resist tyrants (Rom. 13; 1 Sam. 22:2). If that’s not enough to go on, look at all the “one another” passages in the New Testament. Love one another. Receive one another. Forgive and forbear with one another. Serve one another. Admonish one another. Comfort one another with Scripture. Provoke one another to good works.

The point is, often when we are wrestling with making a big decision, trying to determine God’s will for our life, we stall out. If you want to know God’s will for your particular circumstances, you should get started by doing what He’s clearly and plainly told you to do.

And remember, Biblical decision making includes tossing a coin. “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD (Pro 16:33).” Make a decision. If things go haywire, give thanks in all circumstances, and learn the lesson Your Father has sent to you. This all demands that you learn to read the Bible, and think like the Bible teaches you to think, and in the manner which the Bible would have you think. The whole book of Proverbs is an instruction manual for life, but only those who seek wisdom understand how to apply that wisdom to their unique circumstance. Oftentimes, wanting God to give you a script is just a cunning way to avoid the clear stage directions he has already given you.

The Scottish pastor, M’Cheyne, once put it so beautifully, “One gem from that ocean [of Scripture] is worth all the pebbles from earthly streams. […] Unfathomable oceans of grace are in Christ for you. Dive and dive again, you will never come to the bottom of these depths. How many millions of dazzling pearls and gems are at this moment hid in the deep recesses of the ocean caves.”

In short, God wants to speak to you. And do you know what He wants to tell you about? Jesus first. Jesus last. Jesus between.

Grains in the Harvest

February 4, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Paul tells us, “we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread (1 Cor. 10:17).” But for grain to be made into bread it must face threshing, milling, kneading, and fire. In ancient times cattle would trample the grain with a heavy wooden sledge, then it would be winnowed with a fan to blow all the chaff into the fire, then it would be ground between two millstones, then of course transformed––by water, yeast, kneading, proving, and finally baking––into bread.

You are grains in the harvest of God. But grains by themselves are quite useless. By God’s providence, various means of the Spirit’s purging flame works in us to unite us into one loaf, that we might be bread to the nations. When we join a local church body, we become mingled with that part of Christ’s body. Thus our duty is to join with the saints we are in community with, and walk alongside each other as the Lord threshes, mills, kneads, proves and bakes us into a loaf for the great fellowship meal of joy in the everlasting Kingdom of our God.