Meditations

Story-time at the Supper Table

July 20, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

The best suppers are those with good stories told during the meal. The Lord’s Supper is the best of suppers, because it is the best story, told by the Master of Stories. This story is the true myth.

It retells how God made a paradise, placing a human King and Queen to rule it. But they were willfully deceived by an evil dragon, and thus fell from royalty into slavery.

God swiftly promised to avenge and deliver His people. Some believed His promise, others scoffed; preferring the chains. Long years passed, and often the people who had received the signs and promises of God’s worldwide conquest of the dragon’s kingdom grew weary of waiting.

In the fullness of time, the Father sent the Son, our Lord Jesus. He came healing and forgiving sins. He proclaimed good news that He would overthrow the dragon, and establish His Kingdom, where justice and peace would have no end. But the dragon and his puppets couldn’t stomach the idea of being cast down. So Pontius Pilate, King Herod, the Jewish chief priests, a close friend of Jesus, and unbelieving Jews conspired to slay the Prince of Glory. They broke His body. They spilled His blood.

But in slaying the only innocent man who was never enslaved to the dragon, they were unwittingly fulfilling the deeper magic. The great hero, in laying His life down, crushed the dragon’s skull. By His Son’s death and defeat of the ancient Serpent, the Father is pleased to extend a promise to all who come in faith to this table. The promise is that for those who come, you are adopted out of slavery to sin, and made royalty. You now share in the conquest, the spoils of the war, the joy of His eternal reign of peace. You enjoy His song over you; and His song to us, His redeemed bride, is this, “Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee (Sng 4:7).”

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

Tunnel Vision Not Allowed

July 15, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Jesus has three instructions for this meal. Take it. Eat it. Do it in remembrance of Him. But notice the gracious simplicity in what Jesus commands. He commands you to receive the bread and wine that is handed to you from Him through His ministers, and passed to you by your fellow saints. He commands you to eat (and drink) it. That is something that even the youngest saint can do quite capably. He commands you to take, to eat and drink, and to do it in remembrance.

Paul exhorts us to not partake of this meal in an unworthy manner. But notice the wise simplicity of where Paul tells us the field of play is: seeing Jesus in this family Supper (1 Cor. 11:26-29). Whose family is this? It’s our Father’s family, purchased by our older brother’s blood. Our babies sit at our supper tables, untroubled by wondering whether they belong there. All they’ve known is that these are their people, this is their table, they are in.

It’s when someone eats this meal with self-centered introspection––waving the wand of the piety-meter to ensure the holy feels are measuring high enough––that they’re failing to discern Christ’s body, and forget Him in the partaking. Soul-searching tunnel vision blinds you to beholding Christ in these gathered believers. You’re eating and drinking damnation when you eat this meal selfishly, with arrogant disregard for Christ Himself and His precious bride which surrounds you.

But you are eating it obediently––whether you’re a saint with nothing but white hair, or a saint without any hair yet––when you take it and eat it, together with this family of blood-bought saints; and in so doing, we together make a memorial of Jesus, Who is in it all, and through it all. And thus we do it in remembrance of Him.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

Bringing Nothing

July 14, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Through no goodness or deserving of our own, God claims us for Himself, sets His seal of love upon us, and grants new hearts which cling to Him by faith. It isn’t because this child is cute enough, clever enough, or is sleeping enough that we place this sign of baptism upon him. No. We baptize him because God has promised that from everlasting to everlasting, His mercy shall be upon them that fear Him, and his righteousness unto their children’s children (Ps. 103:17).

A father turns in faith to God, and receives mercy through Jesus blood. He then stands as a representative for his household and lays hold of God’s covenant promise to show mercy to a thousand generations of them that love Him and keep His commandments (Ex. 20:6). And so, this child receives the sign of promised mercy, and also this seal of assurance that God is faithful to covenant keepers. And what does this covenant demand? What are the obligations which rest upon this child? He’s called to believe that Jesus is the Christ (1 Jn. 5:1). As that old hymn wonderfully puts it:

Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.
Naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace.

So welcome, covenant child, to Jesus Christ.

Risky Calvinists

July 13, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Our world is in the grip of fear from a virus that has a survival rate (even for the most vulnerable) of 96-99%; and out of 1 million people, 2.97 people die from it. As Ben Carson once highlighted, “Your risk of being injured by a malfunctioning television this year is 1 in 7,000. […] Your chances of being seriously injured by Christmas decorations are 1 in 65,000.” He then quite rightly concludes, “The truth is that life itself is risky.”

It’s been said: “In all places, in all time, from eternity to eternity, Calvinism sees God (The Creed by E.W. Smith).” A Calvinist view of history–one where God sovereignly presides over every moment & molecule–leads to a few things.

First, it brings a courageous calm. We know Whose hand is on history’s steering wheel. To put it another way, God can answer the question “Why?” for every season of human history, even if we never know that reason.

Second, it safeguards us against sin & hypocrisy. Wherever you go: there’s God. The Christian’s continual awareness of God’s presence drives us to do our duty, walk uprightly, and in the light of God’s favor.

Third, it makes us wise risk-takers by driving out worldly fear. Why be afraid of persecution or pestilence, when God is present with you and sees all your actions, motives, and attitudes? Life is risky. But riskier far is to fear earthly terrors and not live humbly before God’s face. Jesus instructed us as much when He said not to fear that which can kill the body, but not the soul. But to fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Mt. 10:25). As faithful Christians, you must not run the risk of fearing likelihoods. You must fear the Living God.

God is Good

July 7, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

If you’ve spent any time in evangelical circles you’re probably familiar with the cliché “God is good, all the time; and all the time, God is good.” The problem with this cliché is, obviously, not with the substance of it; rather, it’s in the fact that all too often such slogans grow so familiar that they plink off our head like a ping-pong ball.

God just gave you a breath. God gives you sunshine, and sends awe-inspiring thunderstorms. He invented lemons so we could make lemonade. He gave the Chinese the cleverness to make fireworks, so that we could make a big deal out of grand occasions of celebration. God is smiling upon us as His beloved children, and has accepted our prayers and worship because we are clothed in white robes which His Son’s blood made clean for us. God not only has forgiven your sins, but He declares you to be “not guilty.”

The Psalmist declares this when he proclaims, “Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men (Ps. 31:19)!” And the root of this goodness is the fellowship we have with Him through His Son’s body and blood; and the crown of this goodness is the robe of Christ’s righteousness which He clothes us in. He covers us and He fills us, and He brings us to Himself.

Here is goodness. Guilt forgiven. Sins passed over. Praises accepted. Fellowship with God Himself––Father, Son, and Spirit––the source and well-spring of all goodness. So reflect on God’s goodness and mercy which have followed you so faithfully. Then, receive and enjoy that goodness by taking in Christ’s broken body and spilled blood and the grace that God ministers to you through it.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

The Promise of Circumcised Hearts

July 6, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

God is the God of extraordinary blessing. He doesn’t promise the bare minimum, or give us only the obligatory free sample. He makes stunning promises that unfold blessing upon blessing. In Deuteronomy, we see an instance of this when God tells Israel that He will, “circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live (Deu. 30:6).”

God gives the covenant sign of circumcision to signify that they belonged to Him, a tremendous blessing in its own right. But then He unfolds to them a promise to produce within them the glory which is offered in the sign: namely, a heart that loves the Lord their God.

And because God isn’t a Scrooge, He promises this same glory to their seed, so that our children too might love the Lord their God wholly. Paul links true circumcision to true baptism (Col. 2:11-12, Rom. 2:28-29, Phi. 3:3). And so in baptism God makes the same promise, this time with the sign of sprinkled water. The nub of the promise is that He will give circumcised hearts––which love Him wholly––to you and to your children.

So parents, believe His glorious promise, and welcome covenant child to Christ.

When Baptism Burns

June 25, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

You can have saving faith, and not have received the physical sign of baptism; and of course, you can be physically baptized and not have faith in what your baptism is a sign of. But the cliché that baptism without faith is just “gettin’ wet” isn’t quite the full picture. Rather, baptism without faith is like those moments in the Lord of the Rings where the pathetic creature Gollum has the elven rope tied around his neck. In short, the very nature of the rope makes it a burning torment to him.

The grace of faith may arise before or after the sacrament itself. But if the grace of faith never arises, the sacrament is like a heavy chain which you can’t be free of. The bright glory promised in baptism will turn out to be fiery wrath if faith is absent. Because in baptism you’re buried and risen with Christ and you enjoy this by faith in the operation of God which raised Jesus from the grave (Col. 2:12). So the charge to those who have been baptized––or are about to be baptized––your faith in Christ and your baptism into Christ must go hand in glove.

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.