Meditations

Birth & New Birth

by Ben Zornes · Jul 7, 2025

Consider how scripture compares & contrasts birth and new birth. You exist, not by your own will, but by a choice of your father. This applies also to your spiritual rebirth; as James puts it, “Of the Father’s own will begat he us with the word of truth (Jas 1:8).” Further, earthly birth is marked by labor’s blood and water. While the new birth is also marked by water representing Christ’s atoning blood, Jesus expounds that it is marked by water and the Spirit.

Put all this together. The new birth isn’t the work of your own will. It’s Your Father’s pleasure to beget you. Baptism is a mark of the Father’s will to beget. Nevertheless, the water must not be alone. The Spirit must blow. The Spirit blows in the preaching of the Word. He blows as parents discipline their child in true faith. He blows in our psalms sung in sincere hope. God blows as He pleases. Therefore, we trust that He is also pleased to blow here, at baptism’s waters.

So welcome our brother to Jesus Christ…

Everyone is a Hypocrite

by Ben Zornes · Jul 2, 2025

Every human is a hypocrite. Say you were to stand outside a busy shopping mall in order to survey the broad population about their moral framework. Ask people what they believe to be right or wrong, what their primary moral guidelines are, and what they believe evil to be you would certainly get a great deal of variety. However, if you followed up that survey with a question about whether they have perfectly kept their own moral framework, every honest participant would need to admit that they broke their own moral code.

Culturally, we live in a world governed by rules and regulations. Some of these laws are better and more biblical than others, but we are surrounded by a dense forrest of litigiousness. But though we have our rules, we commonly break those rules while insisting we are keeping the spirit of those rules.

Yet if we really took a long and honest look at ourselves, we not only are breakers of the letter of the law, we are breakers of the spirit of the law. Our hypocrisy is deep and wide. It transcends lines of liberal and conservative, male and female, and national borders. It is the condition of man. He holds up standards for others that he himself does not attain to. You are, on your own, blackmailed by your own moral inconsistency.

This is why the new birth which is offered to us in Christ is of absolute necessity. The Christian is one who acknowledges their great sinfulness, but not to bemoan it or wallow in it, but to confess it, be rid of it through the forgiveness which the Father gives, and to overcome it by the Spirit’s power at work in us. Only by honest confession is the blackmail of your moral hypocrisy rendered powerless.

An Astonishing Meal

by Ben Zornes · Jun 30, 2025

This meal is both simple and astonishing. It is simple in that it is made up of simple and common things, a loaf of bread, a cup of wine set on a folding table covered by a nice white tablecloth. But we really should be astonished in considering this simple meal. Many traditions try to jazz up the simplicity in order to make the sign itself astonishing. But we must look at this simplicity by faith, and see that it is what the sign signifies which takes your breath away.

The astonishment is two-fold. First, God guarantees that in drawing to this table in true faith, we draw near to feast with Him. Here we dine with the Divine One. We are seated at the cosmic VIP table. We are made guests of honor in the heavenly banquet hall. We––who were once scandalous sinners, who were treacherous rebels, who defied the God who made us––are welcomed here by the Father, because of the Son’s redeeming blood, and by the new life which the Spirit has given us. This really is astonishing. You, a sinner, are brought here to dine with God.

But there is a second astonishment found here. The reason we can feast here with God as righteous and redeemed saints, is because Christ took upon Himself our damnation. The One who had known no fear or faltering, the only One who was never morally inconsistent, was broken like bread, and crushed like the fruit of the vine. He did this for you, and there is nothing left for you to do in order to obtain this great gift. He simply calls you to believe all this, and so receive all this. He comes to feast with sinners, and these sinners can come as righteous saints because Christ was made accursed for You and for me.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

The Spirit Over the Water

by Ben Zornes · Jun 16, 2025

At creation, the Spirit hovered over the waters of the unformed world, and thus began the six days of creation. By the Father’s will, the Son’s Word, and the Spirit’s light the heavens and earth and all things visible and invisible were called into being.

The Spirit still hovers over the water, but now His work is that of a New Creation. That which is dark will be brightened. That which is unformed will be shaped in accordance with His will. We ought not to think of baptism as merely the possibility of the Spirit working. As our confession explains, the Spirit not only offers the grace of God in baptism, but He really exhibits and confers it. The Spirit moves as He sees fit. So we shouldn’t tell Him that He can work mightily elsewhere, but not here at the baptismal font. Why would we think that the Spirit who worked so mightily at the creation of the world would work less vibrantly here?

So welcome our sister to Jesus Christ…

The AI Echo Chamber

by Ben Zornes · Jun 11, 2025

There is a great deal of excitement surrounding the technological advances of AI. As such, it’s incumbent upon Christians to not be swept off by the spirit of the age into the particular sins and follies that arise with any new technological development. Whenever a new innovation arrives, it takes five seconds before evil men use it to pursue carnal desires. New tools inevitably are put to use to kill one’s enemies, take liberties with your neighbor’s wife, pilfer the possessions of others, or blaspheme God.

AI is just the latest thing. It has great capacity for usefulness, productivity, and further innovations. But along with it comes dreadful and soul-destroying follies. AI avatars are already being put to use to function as therapists, digital harlots, and loyal companions. Embracing such digital fellowship is not harmless. It’s effectively locking yourself in an echo chamber. Everything in the servers is derived from human language and understanding. There’s no transcendence there. It isn’t a digital tower into heaven.

AI also offers a perverse illusion of easy shortcuts. It holds out a shortcut to sexual satisfaction by AI girlfriends. Or, it allures with the opportunity to skip the duty to think long and hard about a topic, offering a cheap answer spit out by the algorithm. All this appeals to our sloth and ungodly desires.

The Spirit of God which hovered over the waters, and by Whose light the first day was lightened, has been given to You. You are an image bearer of Almighty God, and this demands that You bear yourself in such a manner. You are a lord or a lady of the Kingdom of God; not a slave of 0s & 1s. Don’t be enticed into submitting to chains of subservience, when God has made you free by His Spirit.

Pentecost Again

by Ben Zornes · Jun 9, 2025

The effects of that first Pentecost are like the waves generated from an undersea earthquake. Tsunami after tsunami continue to wash over this world as the Spirit accomplishes the task of subduing the whole world to Christ.

During times of cultural deadness and indifference, one might wonder if the Spirit has clocked out. In short, certainly not. History stands as a witness that in times of particular darkness the Spirit is mysteriously at work. He rouses God’s people to devote themselves to a few seemingly small things which then precipitate large scale renewal.

This renewal isn’t found in spreadsheets, by-laws, or protests. The secret sauce is found in God’s people devoting themselves to waiting upon God. And here’s how. By His power, faithfully obey His Word. Stack up the kindling of sincere obedience. Dry out the timber by devoting yourself to public and private prayer. Douse the altar in the lighter fluid of pure worship, repenting of all hypocrisy and double-living. And if the people of God will live in this way, we shall have Pentecost again. According to His good pleasure, and in His perfect timing, the Spirit of God always lights such fuel. It won’t need committees to manage it, or motions to pass it. The Spirit of God will leave no question that He is indeed in our midst.

In coming to the Lord’s table, we must come with that simple loyalty. Here is the body of the Lord, given to make you holy, to make you a witness of His new life, to make you a glory to His name. This earth will be covered in the glory of the Lord Jesus, and it will be brought about by faithful submission to the clear Word of God. Take and eat, and overthrow evil empires. Take and drink, and see righteousness billow like thunderclouds.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

Another Stone in the Temple

by Ben Zornes · May 27, 2025

Scripture is the time lapse of a construction project. That project was the construction of a house for God. The Law was like the Scaffolding, the Prophets were like the general contractors, the Patriarchs provided the building materials. The NT reveals that this temple was really a person, God’s own Son.

Each baptism reminds us that this temple is still under construction, and will be until, in eternity, it is a perfect city foursquare (Rev. 21:16). Baptism is God taking the hammer and chisel of His covenant, and hewing a new stone out of the old granite of Adam. That new stone is made alive, because it’s laid on the cornerstone of Life Himself, Jesus Christ. Baptism is thus an encouragement and assurance to us that God desires to dwell with us. As the water is sprinkled, by faith, hear the thud of another brick being laid in house of the Lord.

So welcome our brother to Jesus Christ…