Ben Zornes

Fear’s Torment

August 27, 2019 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Think of the “pit in your stomach” feeling you get when you are afraid. The most fearful I’ve ever been was in the days following a harrowing experience. Years ago my family was awakened in the middle of the night by a gas line exploding a hundred yards from our home. Fortunately, neither we nor our home were harmed. But for the next several days, whenever a cupboard slammed shut, or something made a loud bang, we all jumped with fright.

Fear brings torment. It leaves us miserable. It leaves us continually “on edge.” It cripples. It eats away at the inside. It foments and brews new things to fear.

However, my fright from that explosion subsided due to loving parents who took special care to let my sister and I sleep in their room for a few nights, made some special meals, and other deliberate acts of love. Their love dispelled the choking, black smoke of fear.

Sinners are innately fearful creatures. The fear of God’s impending wrath and judgement on their sin looms large. But God’s love is so great that He sent His Son to pay the price for Your sin, that He might dispel all your fear.

The Lord declares to you in this supper that you are welcome, you are beloved, you are reminded of the salvation He gives from your sins. Here is assurance that though your sin deserved His white hot wrath, because you have trusted in His Son, all you will taste is the wine of His love and the bread of His fellowship. Here is love that casts out fear. Here is God’s voice to the fearful:

“Come in faith, and welcome to Jesus…”

No Prosthetic Hands

August 26, 2019 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Jesus commands us that, “if thy hand offend thee, cut it off (Mk 9:43).” He repeats this for the foot and eye, with the point being: take the battle against sin seriously. Better to lose limbs than let sin conquer you. Better to live free and die, than to live in slavery to sin and die spiritually.

In this room are a wide-variety of sins. The sin which you might find such a struggle to overcome might not be the sin which the person to the left of you finds they are beset by, and the person on your right could be facing some other sin entirely. But each of you need to face your sins and temptations square in the face and resolve to do whatever it takes, by the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, to resist your sins.

Confessing your sin is a sort of cutting off of your hand. It is acknowledging the wickedness of your sin, and your admission that it is vile in God’s sight. It is you separating yourself from your sin. But the routine of confessing your sins (whether in your daily walk, or at a set point in the weekly liturgy) should not be taken as a permission slip to go out and get a new hand to facilitate your sin tomorrow. Jesus didn’t say that if your hand causes you to sin cut it off but it’s ok to go get a prosthetic replacement. He didn’t say to pluck out your eye and then replace it with a robotically enhanced one.

So, confess your sin. Cut off anything which facilitates that sin you need to confess this morning. Delete that app. Leave that group of friends. Cut up your credit card. Unsubscribe from that streaming service. Don’t go to that party. Don’t hit the snooze button. In other words, make no provision for the flesh…kill it, mortify it, and triumph over it in the death and resurrection of Christ which enables you to be victorious over your sin.

Worship as Human Murmuration

August 12, 2019 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Worship is to be a well-executed service; like a dance, a play, a high-quality restaurant, a coronation, an inauguration, a beautiful wedding. In each of these examples, thought goes into when each element happens, who does it, and how. It isn’t slapped together mindlessly. And if it is, we notice it, and sit there, squirming at the awkwardness.

This is an exhortation to know your part as we work together in worshipping our Lord. We are to be like those massive flocks of birds as they “dance” through the air with seemingly flawless execution and unity. It is an amazing thing to witness how massive flocks of birds, or schools of fish, or herds of wildebeests, comprised of thousands of members act as one unit. Those creatures are obedient to the Lord out of their instinct. They render Him praise in their own creaturely way.

But we, made in God’s image, are to render our worship to the Lord consciously. We are to be like a flock––many individuals seemingly moving as one body––but we are to do so deliberately, with determined steps, aware that we are doing so to the Praise of God’s glory.

So, say “Amen” with vigor and unity. Sing with strength and harmony. Stand, kneel, sit, listen, and lift your hands on cue, with all your might, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind. Prepare each week as individuals and families to meet with God. We ought not to stumble in mindlessly to meet with the King of kings. We ought to make ready with delighted joy, to make it clear to Him that He is worthy of all our worship, honor, and praise…because He is.

Mistaken for Jeremiah

August 5, 2019 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Jesus asked his disciples in Matthew 16:13, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” They give a few of the popular options: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or some other OT prophet.

Now, the fact that the Jews of Jesus’ day saw continuity with those prophets is striking, and we should pause for a moment to reflect on why they made this connection. The prophets mentioned proclaimed a coming judgment on Israel. They beckoned Israel to repent and be reconciled unto God, otherwise the covenant curses would come.

The modern American caricature of Jesus makes one think of Jesus as a pony-tailed hippy, tossing frisbee like a youth pastor, spreading a message of “love and tolerance.” But this isn’t the picture you actually get from reading the Gospels, nor is it the sense that 1st century Jews got. The sense they got was that Jesus was an OT prophet, tearfully calling them to repent of their idolatry, worldliness, injustice, and compromised worship and return to worship, serve, and obey the one, true and only God.

But while Jesus’ preaching echoed Jeremiah’s warnings of destruction and exile, thus causing the confusion, He presses His disciples to answer who they say He was. Peter’s answer is, of course, the bedrock answer for our faith, “Jesus is the Christ.”

Jesus calls us today to see in Him the fulfillment of all those OT prophets. He is the promised Christ, come to bring judgement on idolaters, but offer mercy to the repentant. This meal is a fellowship meal with Him. He speaks to us here that our sin has been judged––in His own body on the tree; and we are no longer slaves or exiles, but adopted sons and daughters of the King of Israel, and thus, we are more than welcome to come feast at his board.

So come in faith, and welcome to Jesus…

A Song for Exiles

August 4, 2019 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

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Introduction

We live in what some have termed a “post-Christian America.” We’ve rapidly abandoned our Christian heritage as a nation. Sincere Christians across the West might feel like exiles. But like the Jewish exiles in this Psalm, we have no one but ourselves to blame for the calamities that have befallen us. There are many symptoms that show that we are sick: addiction to debt ($38k), killing our unwanted babies, squishy self-help sermonettes in our churches, prominent seminaries publicly proclaiming that God is trans, queer, non-binary. The only way of return from such an exile is the faith displayed in this Psalm.

The Text

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
Psalm 137

Summary of the Text

Jeremiah likely authored this Psalm, and sent it to the exiles to comfort them and stir them up to hope in God’s justice (Lam. 2:20, Jer. 51:24-26). This Psalm begins in an idyllic setting, but ends with a grisly scene. The first number in this “musical” is a scene of weeping exiles in the canal gardens of Babylon; weeping because of the fond memory of Mount Zion, the city of God, the mountain of praise (v1). The instruments of praise are on the shelf (v2). Their Babylonian captors make a jeering request for a Jewish folk song; and they want it sung with a smile (v3). The Jews reply that singing the Lord’s song in a foreign land is a bridge too far (v4). It would be like the person who murdered a beloved friend asking you to sing that friend’s favorite song. The memory of Jerusalem invokes grief for all that had been lost. Thus, they call down curses upon their playing hands and singing voices should they forget Jerusalem’s joys and glories (vs.5-6).

Then we come to the crescendo. The bass drum of retribution begins. First, Edom is imprecated; for they had egged on the Babylonians during the destruction of the holy city (cf. Oba. 1:15). Then Babylon herself is brought into the crosshairs of holy justice. The white-hot heat of holy anger is aimed at that wicked nation (vs. 7-9).

Sighing and Crying

The Jews were exiled because of their repeated idolatries. The prophets had warned them––time without number––to turn from this wickedness, lest all the Deuteronomic curses come upon them (Dt. 28:53-57). The prophets had echoed the horrific warnings: “Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished (Isa. 13:16)….And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them (Jer. 19:9).”

These Exiles are in the nuclear wasteland of all those warnings coming true. Now what? What should God’s people do when they see Jerusalem in ruins because of their own stubbornness, rebellion, and pride? To top it off, how should they respond when the Babylonians want a toe-tapper?

When saints––through their own sin––find themselves in calamity, three options arise. You could simply become Babylonian. Or, you could appease the world’s mocking invitation to sing little ditties of false joy. Or you could weep. Sigh and cry over the abominations that precipitated your downfall (Ez. 9:4). Weep over your sin, your family’s sin, your nation’s sin. Weep over the consequences of the sin. Then…remember.

Remember to Sing of God’s Goodness

Jerusalem was a praiseworthy city (cf. Ps. 48). The Psalms frequently rehearse the joys of praising God in His holy temple, “I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness (Ps. 84:10).” But here they are in the tents of wickedness.

When you find yourself in exile you must not forget the goodness of God. In Zion is hope for salvation, forgiveness for sin, communion with God. But many people––when faced by calamity––forsake the church. If you find yourself in the wasteland of the consequences of your sin, despair often whispers, “Don’t go to church, you’d be a hypocrite, and besides, you’re not worthy of Zion’s joys.” But that’s the point. None of us deserve to enjoy God’s goodness. But in His church we find the Lord Jesus: proclaimed in Word and Sacrament.

True grief over sin never puts the instrument into the case. Notice that the exiles had hung their harps up, but then they call down curses upon their hands and voices if they failed to remember the songs of praise for the Holy City. After the Deuteronomic blessings and curses are pronounced, God promised a gracious deliverance for repentant exiles (Deut. 30:1-6) Faith runs to the Promise giver, to cry out for His promised mercy. Godly sorrow rushes back to the songs of comfort, songs of hope, songs of vengeance. Wait, vengeance?

Remember to Sing of God’s Justice

Some exegetes bend over backwards with red-faced embarrassment at the imprecatory portions of this Psalm. These are perhaps the most vivid and shocking verses in the entire Psalter. We can either try to sandpaper the text, or delete it, or we can sing it without flinching. Part and parcel of repentance is learning to love what God loves and hate what God hates. The Babylonians wanted a happy-clappy song, and they got one.

The Babylonians had mercilessly executed their conquests with savage vehemence. They had dashed babies upon the rocks, ripped open pregnant women, and ruthlessly razed cities to rubble. The wickedness which they had sown was soon to be reaped. When Darius besieged the Babylon, the Babylonians “winnowed” the city by strangling women and young children to make provisions last. The imprecation of Psalm 137:9 was fulfilled by the very ones upon whom it was pronounced. Spurgeon notes, “It came to pass that the man who had destroyed his own children thought himself happy to be rid of them that he might maintain the fight.”

So while the Babylonians had fulfilled this Psalm’s imprecation in one sense, it is God Himself Who fulfills it another sense. God is the avenger of the righteous. God will bring justice upon the heads of all evildoers (cf. Dt. 30:7). The curses which come upon God’s people because of their disobedience, will––if they repent––come upon their persecutors.

Blessed be the Lord God who through His sovereign hand rules history and avenges His elect speedily (Lk. 18:7-8). “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord (Rom 12:19).” This Psalm is an example of mature faith. Here is faith that can handle the power tools of imprecatory prayers for vindication.

You Must Sing

The world wants you to join in their song. If you refuse that, they want you to sing the Lord’s praise for the sake of their amusement. But worship is warfare. Singing is our sword. Sing we must, else the true saint will burst.

So, when in exile, will you sing of God’s goodness and His justice? Will you cling to His promise of returning to every man according his works (cf. Ps. 62:12)? Or will you faint in that season, and join in the discordant merriment of wicked men? Or settle for singing God’s songs with triteness? The irony of this Psalm is that the exiles at first refuse to sing, but the Psalm itself is to be sung!

God’s people must learn to weep over the consequences of their sin; but this must incite them to rush back to all the joy and goodness which God offers to the repentant. Then, they must learn to sing with these exiles and the martyrs under the throne: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth (Rev. 6:10)?” In other words, whether in exile or not, you must learn to sing of the cross: God’s mercy given to repentant sinners, His justice satisfied.

The Non-Negotiable of Submission

July 29, 2019 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

As created beings, submission is a non-negotiable reality. We are, all of us, subordinate creatures in an intricate series of relationships which come with obligations to either the exercise of authority or the response of obedience.

Throughout Peter’s first epistle we are given a handful of relationships in which submission is commanded. Citizens to their governing authorities. Servants to their masters. Wives to their husbands. Christians to their elders. Elsewhere in Scripture we know that children are to render obedience to their parents.

A culture which tries to live without submission is like a spider trying to build a web without spinning any silk. In other words, it will––in the end––build nothing and catch nothing. You are either in submission or you are in rebellion. But rebels haven’t escaped the obligation to submit. They’ve simply chosen to submit themselves to a rival authority, and have pledged loyalty to a rival allegiance. This is why, at the end of 1 Peter, we’re told to resist the devil.

Nonconformists always start looking and sounding like each other. They’ve fooled themselves into thinking they’ve gotten out from under the thumb of authority, when they’ve only crawled under the sledgehammer of rebellion.

Submission is love in action. So ask yourself, “Who am I in authority over? Who am I to submit to?” Submission isn’t a dirty word, it is the demonstration of love’s loyalty. Where have you been stubborn and slow to obey? If you haven’t been obedient to the authorities which God has placed over you, it means you have been obedient to false authorities (i.e. yourself, the world, the devil).

But at the root of submitting to the earthly authorities which we are placed under, is the call to submit ourselves––body and soul––to God. He made you. He redeemed you. His commands are not grievous, but are life, and health, and peace.

The Glory of Conversion

July 18, 2019 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.
Acts 9:1-22

This chapter marks a shift in focus, as Luke begins to trace the conversion and subsequent ministry of Paul. We were introduced to Saul back in Acts 7:58-8:3. There we see him consenting to the martyrdom of Stephen, and then proceeding to ravage the church; this resulted in the early church being scattered throughout the region. Which leads us to Saul’s vendetta to hunt down Christians throughout the land of Judea and Samaria; he’s authorized by the high priest (Ananias) to hunt down followers of Jesus (both men and women)in Damascus, and then drag them back to Jerusalem.

While nearing the completion of the 150 mile journey from Jerusalem to Damascus, Saul is met by the Lord whom he had been persecuting. Stephen had proclaimed that he saw the Son of Man at God’s right hand, and now the Son of Man reveals himself to perhaps the staunchest opponent of His Gospel. What did Saul’s companions experience? They heard the voice speaking in Hebrew (Acts 26:14), but saw no one, which seems to indicate the specificity of the Lord’s purpose to convert Saul and send him out as a witness to the Gentiles.

The Lord revealed His glory to Stephen and he saw; whereas the Lord showed his glory to Saul and he was blinded. Once in Damascus Saul fasts and prays for three days, as one would likely do in such extraordinary circumstances. There are similarities here with some of the callings of OT prophets (cf. Ez. 3:15). And right on schedule we have the prophetic figure of Ananias arise. It’s worth noting that there are two Ananias’ in this story: one is the high priest authorizing the persecution of the Lord and his people; the other is a devout man according to the law (Acts 22:12).

The upshot of Ananias’ conversation with the Lord is that the man named Saul has been chosen by the Lord Jesus to be a witness to the Gentiles and to Israel, and Ananias is to go and lay hands on him that his sight might be restored. Ananias obeys the Lord’s instructions. He greets Saul with a greeting that is quite a wonderful instance of faith, calling Saul “brother.” Saul’s sight is restored, and we should note while he had been blind the Lord had shown him what his calling would be (Acts. 9:16).

But the Saul we met at the beginning of this chapter and the Saul we see in verse 22 are not quite opposites. The new Saul is just as vehement, if not more so, as he was before, but he is now zealous for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. We also see this in the contrast between his ravaging believers “house to house” in Acts 8:3, and his description of his ministry to the Ephesians teaching them the Gospel “house to house” (Acts. 20:20). Saul’s conversion heightened his zeal and diligence, not diminish it.

One of the clearest “take-aways” from this passage is that the exalted Lord Jesus is able to turn the fiercest enemy of the Gospel into its most able and loyal defender. And that gives extraordinary confidence to us in ministering to even the most stubborn of sinners. We also see that conversion is glorious. It takes a dead man and makes him live, resurrecting all his giftings and talents rendering them useful to a new master: the Lord Jesus.

Reading the Story

July 11, 2019 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luke 13:1-5 KJV

This passage is quite instructive on a number of levels. First, we see that Jesus was not indifferent to current events. When the issue of the controversy with Pilate is raised for discussion, Jesus doesn’t say, “I do not care about these earthly matters, I’m far too heavenly minded for such things.” We see that he notes that the Galileans had indeed suffered, acknowledging the tragedy as such. He is not caught up in current events, in the same way that a teenage girl might follow the gossip columns on BuzzFeed. But He is not ignorant of the goings on.

The second thing we learn is that Jesus wants us to read the story correctly. The problem with those who were raising the issue is that they were reading history the wrong way. They looked at the tragedy and thought, apparently, that those Galileans must have really had it coming to them, otherwise something this bad wouldn’t have happened to them. But Jesus answers them by correcting their “spin” on the news story.

Which leads to a third thing we learn, which is the real pith of this passage. It is that when tragedy strikes a people, city, or nation, it is a warning. It is a prophetic sign, signaling the coming final judgement. In this way, every death, every tragedy, every hurricane, earthquake, etc. warns the unrepentant that this is their doom should they refuse to turn. The promise, however, nestled in this is that those who do repent “shall not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).”

We as humans cannot help but try to read history. Every religion and culture seeks to do this. We instinctively know that history is pregnant with meaning. The problem is that we try to read history by filling in the margins with our own sinful bias. One sentence out of a book on the history of the Czars of Russia isn’t sufficient to make conclusions about Russia’s future. What we need is to read history as Jesus demonstrates for us here in this text. God’s redemptive purpose is the reference point for everything.

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