Meditations

Teaching What to Ask

May 30, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Children are question asking-machines. Why? What’s that? What’re you eating mama? But why? How do birds fly? It is a good thing to be inquisitive, love to learn, wonder about the way God made the world, and be wisely curious about how watermelon seeds turn into watermelons.

But parents are not only called to answer their children’s questions, they should ask their children questions as well. Who made you? Why did God make you? Does Jesus live in your heart? How does He live there?

When parents dialogue with their children in this way, it teaches the children to learn to ask questions which lead them to God and His ways (Jos. 4:21, Ex. 12:26). After all questions are meant for answers, and all our wonderings find their true conclusion in Jesus, the Answer Himself. So children, learn to be guided to not only the right answers, but the right questions as well.

A Glitch Riddled World

May 29, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

I used to play a video game on my Apple iiC, and whenever I’d get to the final level there was a glitch. I tried to troubleshoot, but my gaming career always ended in frustration, and failure, rather than in triumphant joy.

The world isn’t what it ought to be. There’s a glitch in the whole thing. Sin and sickness, shame and sorrow are the operating system. We look inside of us and around us and find as the Apostle Paul said, “For I know that in me dwelleth no good thing (Rom. 7:18).” Reach for worldly pleasures and just as you close your grasp upon them, they fade to ether. Try every which way to satisfy that longing for joy, but still it won’t come and it won’t stay put.

So, you wreck everything and everyone that gets in the way of your pursuit of happiness, but still joy eludes you. You’re the glitch in the system. We’ve broken the whole thing, ruined all the joys, soiled all the glories, and made a hash out of ourselves and this world God gave us.

Jesus famously told Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again (Jn. 3:7).” Our old way of doing things was broken, and we needed to be made new. But Jesus didn’t come to make new men in a dead world. To borrow a bit from CS Lewis, He came into this glitch-riddled world, plunged down into the depths of our misery and woe by His incarnation, death, and burial; then He came rushing up, towing in hand this whole world.

We celebrate in the Lord’s Supper both our individual salvation, and the salvation of the world. Those in Christ partake of His new life, represented here by this bread and wine. Christ is reigning over this world until His new life pervades every corner of our planet. In part, we remember here that Jesus made new men for the new world which He is making.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

The Loudness of Baptism

May 27, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Baptism is loud. It isn’t a quiet thing. It doesn’t use its indoor voice; in fact, it doesn’t have an indoor voice. And what does baptism say? What is the substance of the holy ruckus it makes? It proclaims that Christ lived, and died, and rose again; and your baptism into Him means that you did too.

It doesn’t whisper sweet-nothings about how good of a person you are, or how lucky God is that you chose him, or that you’ve done anything spectacular. It doesn’t speak coddling words to puff up your self-esteem. It doesn’t get all mushy with sentimental sayings.

It shouts that you are dead. The Old Man is crucified––with all his twisted desires, all his selfish rage, all his pride, all his shame, all his guilt. Your baptism tells you, and the whole world, that when Christ died, you died in Him. And with the volume turned to full blast, it blares out like a megaphone that when Christ rose, you rose with Him to new life, and You are now seated with Him in His reign of peace. This is the promise that is declared by this sign of baptism, and this is the gift that you receive by faith.

The Comfort of a Conqueror

May 26, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

In ancient times, when a conqueror would return from the conquest of his enemies, he’d give gifts to his loyal subjects. In modern days this might look like when a CEO makes a huge profit on some deal and shouts to the whole office, “Drinks are on me.”

The root of our Christian confession is that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phi. 2:11). Or as the Nicene Creed frames it, “[Christ] ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father.” Our faith is founded on the irrefutable reality that Jesus rules the world. Our faith is in Him who died, but is now risen and reigning over all the affairs of heaven and earth. Christ ascended on high as a conqueror who not only had all authority over all matters in all corners of the cosmos, but who had the power to execute and carry out the full extent of His will.

When Christ ascended to His throne of majesty, which was His by right and by blood, we’re told “He gave gifts to men (Eph. 4:8).” He ascended to the Father. The Father gave Him the world. In turn, Jesus gave a gift to the world. The Spirit–poured out on Pentecost–was Christ’s gift.

Jesus called the Spirit our Comforter, but this Comforter would come to reprove the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement (Jn. 16:8). In other words, the Holy Spirit–Who proceeds from the Father and the Son–comforts us with the knowledge that Christ reigns and is putting all evil underneath His and our feet. Our Comforter gives us courage that we will conquer all our enemies, all because–and only because–Jesus is Lord.

Weary Parents & Banshee Kids

May 16, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
Proverbs 3:11-12

Sometimes moms and dads get tired of disciplining their children. Parents who fail grow weary of disciplining their children are not only being lazy, they are being unloving. Failing to discipline their children ensures that rather than their parenting resulting in wise and godly adults, they are fine with raising wild banshees.

But kids can also come to despise the chastening which the Lord has given them. They might think they have outgrown correction, and get tired of being corrected. Children should remember that just like a father corrects the son he loves, God corrects the one he loves. So receive the correction God gives you in His Word, through your parents and teachers and pastors, as One of the ways God loves you. Correction is not something that should weary you, but something that proves to you that God loves you.

Good News on the Table

May 12, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

The Good News on this table, the Gospel which we will now eat, the Glad Tidings which are declared by this bread and wine is that your sin, all of it, every last black ounce of it, was burned up by God’s wrath being poured out on another: His beloved Son. Not only that but He buried it in the ground, never to accuse your conscience again. And the rolling thunder of joyous news crescendoes louder by proclaiming that your Lord and Savior rose from the dead, and gives you eternal life, so that even death need no longer be feared as a fiend, but welcomed as a final passageway from earth’s shadows to heaven’s glory.

While you remain here on earth, you are seated with the Messiah in heavenly places. He rules the nations, and you reign with Him. So all your enemies of lust, fear, failure, sin, and temptation have the boot of Christ’s power on their neck.

As you eat this meal in faith, you declare that your sin is forgiven and conquered because Christ suffered in your place. You declare that you fear and reverence God alone. You declare that you are His, and He is yours. All of this rests on the firm foundation of God’s oath. God has sworn, and He will not break His Word. You come to Him by faith, and He receives you, forgives you, feeds you, and gives you His very life.

This remains true regardless of what Google’s algorithms put at the top of your newsfeed, news reports on the latest studies, public opinion polls, natural disasters, the Dow Jones industrial average, or which party is in office. The Good News on this table is your hope, regardless of how tightly the politicians are clutching their pearls. Your God reigns, and you reign in Him.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

Bend or Be Bent

May 11, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

One of mankind’s besetting sins goes by various names in Scripture: stubbornness (Ps. 78:8), stiff-necked (Deu. 9:6), hard-heartedness (Mk. 3:5), impudence (Eze. 2:4), and uncircumcised in heart (Act. 7:51). This is the sin of pride, the insistence of doing things our way, rather than God’s way. We form our ruts and routines and feign our righteousness and insist that our god fit in with our schedule. We want our religion to meet our preferences, suite our tastes, coddle our sensibilities.

The stiff-necked man will dig in his heels and will not humble himself to hear the truth about himself. He doesn’t want to hear that his habits are rooted in selfishness. He doesn’t want his cushy existence interrupted. He doesn’t want his enjoyments and diversions called sin.

Man does this in manifold ways. We describe our loose lips as concern for brother so-and-so. We disguise the vile content of our entertainment as the way we unwind after a hectic day. We doll up our envy in the airbrushed medium of Pinterest boards and Instagram snaps. We deny that our stress comes from fear of being found out for cutting corners, loafing, or fudging the numbers.

It’s been said that the measurement of your humility is the amount of time between when you realize you have sinned and when you confess it and make it right. The stubborn, stiff-necked, hard-hearted man or woman will not bend, and in so doing they put their pride on full display. Pride sets itself up as a rival god, but God will not share His glory with false gods. But the man or woman whom God humbles will find grace to bend. And if God bends you, you’ll find that even the guilt and shame felt over your sins will have been God’s grace to You. So bend, or be irreparably bent.

Where the Arrow Points

May 5, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

This sacrament is an arrow pointing back. It points to the broken body and blood of our Lord. And so we remember His great sacrifice. But this sacrament is also an arrow pointing to this very moment. It points to you and me, and the unity we enjoy through Christ as we gather here in His name, and the fellowship we saints below have with the saints above. But it is also an arrow pointing forward. It points to a final consummation of the church with her Lord.

So this meal reminds us of Christ’s redemptive work in the past. It reminds us of His eternal supply of grace which He bestows on His people in each moment. It lifts our eyes to see the end of all our hopes and prayers and desires: our resurrection into endless life, where we shall enjoy perfect, unbroken communion with the Triune God for endless ages.

These last few weeks, our body has longed to be able to partake this meal together, in the assembly. That longing for enjoying this meal together should be a spur to us to look forward to the day when our faith shall be sight, our prayers turn to praise, our hopes shall be made manifest, the sacrament shall be substance.

In taking this meal we “shew the Lord’s death till He comes.” So look back and behold the great price that was paid for your salvation. Look right here and see the early blessings which the Lord has surrounded you with. And look forward with eagerness when the Lord of the Sacrament shall come, and give to us the full inheritance which He purchased for us with His blood. The inheritance of unbroken fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit, without sin, sickness, sorrow, or shadow interfering ever again.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

Latest Book

The Gospel of the Pentateuch

Jesus and His Apostles quote the Old Testament with surprising regularity. We would do well to observe the example of their use, interpretation, and application of Scripture. Here is a series of short reflections on New Testament citations of the Pentateuch. The aim here is to let the New Testament authors “show us how it’s done.”

It is also available over at Amazon in Kindle and Paperback.
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