Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

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Grip the Sword

Grip the Sword

Throughout the Gospels and in the Epistles are frequent reminders to watchfulness. Christians are to be known by our love (Jn. 13:35), but the adjective of watchful should hang around the neck of the Christian. By watchfulness over your own soul and the soul’s of those under your care, you demonstrate Christian charity.

But being watchful is wearisome. Anyone who’s had to pull an all-nighter knows the magnetic pull of the pillow, the siren-song of the sheets, beckoning to yield to the weight of your eyelids. It takes force of will to keep alert and not give way to the weariness. In warfare, one of the most vital duties is that of the night watchman. To fall asleep on the watch was punishable with death.

Now, God doesn’t ask you to be superhuman. He provides for our daily bread; or we could say our daily rest. After all, He’s the one who blessed one day a week as a day of spiritual and physical refreshment. But in the battle against sin, the Christian does not have the luxury of sheathing his sword.

There isn’t a “break” from God’s command to put to death the varmints of jealousy, lust, drunkenness, anger, and idolatry that try to breach the wall of your life, your family, your church, your city. He summons you to put on the armor of light, and do battle. He calls you to follow the example of Eleazar who once smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and then his hand clave unto the sword, and yet he still fought on.

Have you wearied of being hospitable? Have you grown tired of having such strict entertainment standards? Have you folded your hands in indifference about the discontentment you harbor towards your job, your wife, your kids? The Word of God to you is this, “Be watchful.”

Remember, God knows that we often grow weary in the fight. That’s why He sent us the Holy Spirit, who does not grow weary and gives us strength to stay steadfast, to confess when we fail, and to comfort our hearts with the assurance of God’s great mercy and forgiveness.

Love & War

Love & War

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Introduction

What pops into your mind when you think about “conversations” over doctrine? Chances are, “love” isn’t what comes immediately to mind. Shepherds love sheep by fighting wolves. Kings love citizens by fighting invaders. Husbands love their families by fighting the seduction of the workplace & the adulteress (or the smartphone, golf course, ATV outings with the guys). Fences make the obligations of love clear.

The Text

1 John 4:1-21

1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins….

Summary of the Text

John doubles down on why Christians have assurance of salvation: Jesus Christ is King & Conqueror (cf. 1 Jn. 3:5, 8). So, John gives a litmus test for whether a spirit is true or false: antichrist doesn’t confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, the Spirit does (vs.1-3). Though false teachers are intimidating & often convincing, those born of God walk with confidence, because Christ dwells in them & so they’ve overcome antichrist (v4, cf.3:8 & 5:4-5). False teachers speak what the world wants to hear, because they are of the world (v5); but those who know God discern the Spirit of truth by listening to the Apostles’ witness (v6), which is how to tell right from wrong, doctrinally.

Christians are to love each other; which can only be done by those who know God, for God is love (vs.7-8). God’s love––being preeminent––was manifested in sending His Son to be both our life (v9), & our propitiation (v10). This is the spur for Christian imitation of His love (v11).

God is Spirit, and unseen. But, Christians loving one another,(which we can see) reminds us that God isn’t just a “force,” He’s personal: by dwelling in us, & His love being perfected in us (v.12). Because the Spirit bears witness that the Father sent the Son to save the world, our love for each other becomes an assurance that we dwell in Him, and He in us (vs. 13-14).

Only those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God dwell in God and God in them (v15); this is how you know & believe that God loves you, by dwelling in the love He showed us in sending His Son (v16). Any fear of the judgement is waylaid because our union with God’s Son, means that God looks at us & sees Jesus (vs. 17-18, cf.2:28). But we must get the order right, God loved us first (v.19). Receiving God’s love––as manifested in Christ––logically leads to the commandment to love our brother who is right in front of us (vs. 20-21). The chapter begins with discerning between spirits (true or false), & ends with discerning between brothers (obedient or disobedient).

Doctrine & Love

A loving community & a commitment to faithful doctrine aren’t at odds. Notice John’s rehearsing the same themes, “Here’s the Gospel, now do it.” Here’s the doctrinal foundation, now go live out the relational implications. Here’s what you should believe, now believe it in action. Here’s the root, now bear the fruit. Here’s God in the flesh––Jesus Christ––your lone salvation, your Mediator, your Messiah, now imitate & declare that love.

John––like a New York taxi driver telling you about the Yankees’ latest win––jumps up & down on the importance of Christ’s incarnation. He weaves this doctrine into its real world relational cash-out. Believe a false gospel? Trust in a false savior? You will murder your brother. Only God in the Flesh can save us from our sins and restore our fellowship with each other. Only the Messiah can intercede for us before the Father and reconcile us with each other. Only Jesus can unite us with the Father and with each other.

False-christs can create a pseudo-community, but certainly not forever (and usually not for long). Disinterested gods stay up on Olympus, never coming down to fellowship with us. Earthly saviors can give us pseudo-community, but never eternal life. An impersonal First Cause might theoretically give us life, but never communion.

Giving What is Best

This is no “pass the peace pipe” kind of love. It’s a life-giving, sin-covering love. Both grace & mercy are on display here. His love gives and forgives. This love has, as its foundation, God’s character & nature. It’s rooted in the love of the Trinity. The Spirit’s message is that Jesus coming to earth should make us see that the Father loves us (vs.13-14). In essence, God gave us Himself. His love, then, is the bedrock for our ethics.

So, how should a husband love his wife? A mother her children? A slave his master, or a master his slaves? A Jew a Gentile? Does it mean you give yourself? Yes & no. Love aims to give supreme happiness to the object of love. You & I are pretty lousy & will never bring complete joy to those we love. However, you are to give yourself––in Christ & by His Spirit––to those you are called to love. You give Him. After all, you don’t have anything better to give.

God in the Flesh is Love

We can know God (cf. 1 Jn. 2:3), & know the love of God, by looking at one thing. Not by looking to our own inward experience (i.e. feelings) (1 Jn. 3:20-21). Not by looking to philosophical gymnastics to discover metaphysical realities (i.e. reason). Not by putting our love for God (i.e. good works) on the scales. We hear God’s love by how He spoke to us in the person of His Son (cf. Heb. 1:1-2). We see it in the flesh & blood of the man from Nazareth. We know it because this is what the Spirit teaches us. We experience it because His love in & through Christ has made us new, & we now love & are loved by our brethren in the same manner.

The message which John received & is declaring to Christians––so that their joy might overflow (1 Jn. 1:4)––is that the one true God is not the mere force of the Universe, but is a personal God. This God has spelled out His love for us––with big, neon letters––by sending His Son to become a man; suffering in the stead of Adam & his sons, that all who believe in Him might obtain forgiveness of sins & eternal life. This was the Gospel which all the Apostles proclaimed:

“Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, & gave him glory; that your faith & hope might be in God (1 Pt. 1:20-21).”

“[Our salvation] is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, & hath brought life & immortality to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1:10).”

Love Thy Neighbor

Love Thy Neighbor

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Introduction

Because of Adam’s sin not only was our fellowship with God broken off, but also our fellowship with each other was shattered. Adam blame-shifted (Gen. 3:12). Cain killed Abel (Gen. 4:8). Lamech was a murderous hothead (Gen. 4:23). Things went from bad to worser in Noah’s day (Gen. 6:1-5). Man’s relationship with God was broken; as a result, his relationship with his brother became a cess-pool of selfishness and strife.

The Text

1 John 2:9-17 “9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. 12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. 13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. 14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

Summary of the Text

The old commandment has been made new in Christ (vs7-8). The command to love the Lord thy God is fulfilled by believing in Jesus Christ: God’s Son (1 Jn. 3:23), our Advocate and the only propitiation for sins (1 Jn. 2:1-2). This naturally leads to “love thy neighbor.” Claiming to walk in the light while hating your brother, indicates you are really continuing in the darkness of your sinful state (v9); your light is dark indeed (Lk. 11:35). God is light (1 Jn. 1:5), and through Christ we abide in God. Thus, abiding in the light of God in Christ, results in loving your brother. When the light is on you don’t stumble around (v10). Hating your brother is a spiritual diagnostic that indicates you continue to dwell in the deep darkness of sin (v11).
The repetition in verses 12-14 should not be taken as “scribal error,” but as a chorus worth repeating; these are theological poetics. John calls attention to our forgiveness, knowledge of the Father and the eternal Word, strength from the abiding Word, and overcoming Satan. Is that not the best sort of content for a gospel hymn?
John warns against loving the world and the world’s things—especially its lusts and pride. These worldly things are not of the Father, and they are fleeting (vs15-16). But, in contrast, those who do God’s will abide forever (v17). The sum is: loving God through Christ leaves no room for treasuring the world’s lusts and pride.

Shadow-Glories

This physical realm of earth was viewed by the pagans as the trash heap of the universe. The quest of the gnostics and mystics to liberate the soul from the body, eventually deteriorated into an inordinate obsession with––ironically––the body. All their seeking for “the divine” only rewarded them with a defiled earth. It is only through the Advocate (1 Jn. 2:1)––the Word incarnate (1 Jn. 1:1-3)––that we can have fellowship with God the Father, know Him (1 Jn. 2:4) and experience His love through Christ (1 Jn. 3:1). Loving God means obeying His command to trust in Jesus, and thus be liberated to enjoy this world rightly. Chesterton put it this way: “He who has seen the whole world hanging on a hair of the mercy of God has seen the truth […] He who has seen the vision of his city upside-down has seen it the right way up.”
Otherwise, we will be obsessed—to the point of perversion—with either hedonistic abuse of this world, or ascetic insult of this world. The Pagans relentlessly worshipped these worldly things (i.e. sun, moon, trees, creatures, etc.); this resulted in abusing their fellow man. Loving the world turns your neighbor into something to satisfy the lust of your flesh, the lust of your eyes, and the pride of life. Your neighbor becomes a means to the end of your own satisfaction.
Love of the world is ruinous to our relationships, especially our closest ones. It isn’t the Swiss yodeler, the Nepalese sherpa, the Uzbek migrant, or the Maasai shepherd who has hurt you or whom you’ve hurt. It’s your spouse, parent, coworker, child, uncle, neighbor, or friend. Worldliness blinds us to the imago dei in our fellow man, and it treats these earthly shadow-glories as if they are preeminent glories. When love for this world rules in our hearts, we degrade earthly blessings and dishonor our fellow man.
If God’s love is not yet reigning in our heart, it would be like “pouring water on a ball; you can gather, no, not a drop, because there is no empty place to retain water.” This world must be given up, and love to God must reign supreme before we can relinquish our grip on this world, and actually rightly love our brother and receive the shadow-glories with thankfulness. These joys pass away and are gone (1 Jn. 2:17). You’re a fool to worship them.

Loving Christ, Hating Sin

John’s overarching goal in writing is that your joy would be full (1 Jn. 1:4). The clear light of the Gospel is that in Christ we have a Mediator to bring us into fellowship with God Almighty (1 Jn. 1:3). It is only through this channel that we can have fellowship with each other (1 Jn. 1:7) and find “peace on earth.” Hatred of our brother has no place in the true believer’s life.
Anti-christs are seducers (1 Jn. 2:26); they won’t acknowledge Jesus was the Christ (1 Jn. 2:22). They are preachers of idolatry. They need minions upon which their own lusts and prides might feed. This is why gnostic cults fell into the self-loathing of asceticism, or insatiable orgies. On the other hand, the Judaizers considered the Gentiles as kindling for hell. For the believing Jews in John’s audience, they should see this link between love the Lord thy God and love thy neighbor. The proper way to understand the law, after all, was not as moral dictums; rather these are the words of a loving King entering into a covenant with His people.
The law was not a list of dos and don’ts. It was a revelation of God’s righteousness and holiness (cf. 1 Jn. 1:5), and man’s unrighteousness and wickedness. Thus, propitiation through our Advocate must be the grounds for our obedience to God’s commandments. Every human attempt to mediate peace and foster love between mankind without first being grounded in reconciliation with God through the Incarnate Christ, is doomed to failure. It assumes that humanity is basically good, divine, and therefore capable of attaining the righteousness of God. It is the anti-christ of adoptionism: Jesus was just a man that God used for an example for us. The other error, Docetism, leaves us without a real human mediator; so regardless of how “reconciled” we are to our fellow man, we both remain under God’s wrath. One other danger is that if we fail to affirm Christ as both fully God and fully man, and lay too much emphasis on the deity of Christ, we may become ambivalent about the need to love, be reconciled and at peace with our brother. We become, in this sense, too heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.
There is no other Savior or Mediator between God and man than Jesus; and our love for our brethren is where our love for Christ is most clearly attested. As we dwell in Christ, we now represent Him in this world. Our love for our neighbor is not what saves us, but it is a vibrant evidence of reconciliation with God, a new birth, and one who is obedient to God’s commandment. Paul hits at this by saying, “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law (Rom. 13:8).”
How can God command in one breath, “love your brother,” and then command “love not the world or the things of the world?” It is only by a new creation. A new heart that knows the God of love and thus hates sin. In trusting Christ you become a channel of God’s love to this world. This world has nothing for you, but it is in this world in which God is making all things new. The very first order of business after being made right with God, is to go and be made right—on the basis of our union with God in Christ and His indwelling Word—with our brother. God’s love has come to reign in us, and His love spills out of us to our neighbor.

For the previous messages in my series on 1 John:
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When Christians Terrify

When Christians Terrify

We have largely been duped into thinking that the cardinal characteristic which should distinguish us as Christians is “niceness”. Christ said it was our love which ought to denote the fact we are His disciples (Jn. 13:35); we have taken this love to mean a simple, placid docility. But agape love is not easy, quaint or tidy. It is hard work, and takes courage. Loving our enemies implies having enemies.

In the first two chapters of Joshua an interesting contrast is presented. After Moses’ death, God is imperative that Joshua “be strong & courageous” and Joshua, in turn, exhorts the tribes to “be strong & courageous” (Jos. 1:6, 7, 9, & 18). They face a vicious fight in front of them, and must be braced for the battles ahead. Their enemies were indeed fierce and mighty, with towering cities.

Yet, it is remarkable that when the two spies are hidden with Rahab the Harlot in Jericho, she intimates that it is the enemies of God’s people who are terrified of them and (as the KJV puts it) their “hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you” (Jos. 2:11). God’s people, when obedient to God’s commands are to be a terror to their enemies.God’s people, when obedient to God’s commands are to be a terror to their enemies.

The Church is to be militant in our advancement of the Gospel of Peace. Our sword is the Word of God, and it is unloving to not proclaim the kingship of Christ over all the nations. The mealy-mouthedness of many Christians has had the net of effect of inhibiting the Gospel’s advancement. Note how fearful many secularists are of the distinctively Christian policies which the Trump administration seems poised to enforce and advance.

However, we must bear in mind too, that God will destroy His enemies and often this means turning them into His friends. We must be known by our agape, which will truly terrify the enemies of God and His people. For many Christians, we think having enemies is a bad thing and we go about making peace treaties with our enemies primarily by conceding the truth and purity of the Word of God. It is peace through compromise, which is no peace and is no love. But in this Gospel Age, God aims to destroy His enemies by converting them through the potency of the truth of His Word. This isn’t about merely “winning arguments”; it is about Gospel-confidence and love which invariably will accomplish the very thing which God intended it to perform. As a pastor once memorably lamented, “Wherever the Apostle Paul went there were riots, wherever I go, they serve tea.”

Even the Sins

Even the Sins

Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins. Proverbs 10:12

A few things to be observed about this verse. Where hatred is in the heart, strife is in the community. Hatred is unable to overlook faults, flaws, differences, and takes offense at just about everything. An unregenerate heart is necessarily a heart that seethes with hatred for God, and therefore towards his fellow man as well.

This is the exact opposite of the two greatest commandments, to love God and love thy neighbor (Mt. 22:36-40). If we do not love God–as an unregenerate man is unable to–we will also be unable to love our neighbor. Because the sinful heart is at enmity with God (Rom. 8:7, 1 Cor. 2:14, Col. 1:21), it is necessarily at odds with his neighbor, who bears the image of God.

In our disobedience, we hate God and we do not love our neighbor as ourself, we hate our neighbor, and abhor him. We are locked in a struggle for what we perceive as scarce resources, and because we are insatiable in our lustful passions and appetites, inevitably someone else will be reaching for the very thing our lusts crave. It will pit us against our fellow man, and therefore we will want to expose his every weakness, to remove him as an opponent. This isn’t living in peaceful fellowship. This is a meat-grinder mentality towards our neighbor, chewing each other up, and spitting each other out.

Love not only overlooks immaturities and social quirks of others, which is what we as humans are accustomed to do anyway, but it even passes over the sins of others; not holding them against each other.But notice how the proverb sets hatred and love at variance with each other. Hatred results in a community divided. Love, on the other hand, covers over all sins. Love not only overlooks immaturities and social quirks of others, which is what we as humans are accustomed to do anyway, but it even passes over the sins of others; not holding them against each other. Sin rips a community apart; love binds it together. I can get along with someone’s immaturities and idiosyncrasies, but forgiving and covering over sins is something that is a grace that must be given to us. Only God can forgive sins, and only God’s love through us can result in this sort of disposition towards dealing with the sins of others we are to be in fellowship & community with.

This means we are in need of a new heart, given to us by God. Love enables us to forgive, and cover over the sins and failures of others. Notice this doesn’t redefine sin as somehow “not sin“; but it means that there is now something beyond retribution for wrong-doings. Now there is a redemptive twist in the story; reconciliation is possible. And only because God poured out his wrath for sin upon His son, and in so doing, covered over the sins of the redeemed; demonstrating His great love for his elect. We are to follow his example, and our hatred for sins against us should find its satiation in Christ’s death; and what is left is a supernatural love which seeks redemption and reconciliation, and that covers over all sins.

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Jesus Wields a Sword

Jesus Wields a Sword

Not A Tame Savior

The book of Revelation, despite the many who would cast a haze upon it, plainly presents to us the Lord Jesus as being the Savior of the World; in John’s preface (Rev. 1:1-8) we see that this book is dedicated “unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood (Rev. 1:5).” Furthermore, we see that a “lamb slain” is the whole theme of the book (Rev. 5:6).

We must be careful, however, to not miss the fact that this saving work of Christ is presented to us in a way as to make us understand that He is not only Savior of the World, but also Lord of the World. Jesus is repeatedly pictured in this book as wielding a sword. This goes agains the grain of the popular thought amongst today’s Christians that Jesus is all about love, grace, acceptance and cuddles. We see throughout the apocalypse of John, a Savior full of power, dominion being given unto him, and all rebellion being subdued by him. To riff on Lewis, this is not a tame Savior.

About as Cozy as a Sword

The reason I point this out is that the mindset of 21st century Christians is being coddled with unbiblical, and unhelpful, notions of the nature of Christ and the mediatorial role which He is now invested with by the Father. We believe that the world is to be won to Christ by embracing the sinful notions which are currently most treasured by the world. On one hand we have older evangelical leaders paying homage to the Nationalistic fervor which Trump has incited; they seem to be persuaded that to “win our country back” we must cooperate with our enemy’s enemy. In this case, we ought to see how that worked out for Nikabrik, and then high-tail it the other way; fighting evil with evil never works out well.

On the other hand, we see many Christians wanting to get cozy with the GQBLT community; endeavoring to show the tolerance and acceptance that has apparently been lacking for 2000 years of Christianity, which they alone have bravely chosen to show. This is nothing more than a lust to fit in with the hipsters of current social thought, and friendship with the world means you’re an enemy of God (Jas. 4:4). Truth happens to be much more rigid than we’d like it to be, and it happens to be far more tender than we thought it could be.

Cozying up to the world, by presenting Christ either as a nationalistic figurehead or else a euphoric synonym for tolerance quite mistakes how Christ is presented to us in scripture, and in particular John’s Revelation. He is shown to us as wielding a sword. Swords aren’t as cozy as quaint political slogans or safe spaces.

Cut to the Quick

Jesus, we are told, has a sword protruding from His mouth (Rev. 1:12, 2:12, 2:16), and later we are told that with it He “smites the nations” (Rev. 19:15) and rules the world. We are also shown Christ going forth on a white horse “conquering and to conquer” (Rev. 6:2); two of the three horsemen which follow the first (Christ certainly being figured as the rider of the white horse) are all shown to be “the instruments that [Christ] raised up” to accomplish His redemptive purposes for the world. Two of these three horsemen are given the sword of war (the other plagues), so that even the wicked wars of mankind are directed by the providence of Christ’s sovereign rule.

This said, we should not be so eager to befriend what Christ intends to destroy. His Word, which good, thinking Christians ought to understand by the sword of His mouth, is to go forth, unapologetically to rebuke, correct, and cut us to the quick. When Christians refuse to be cut to the heart by the Word of God, and surround themselves with “easy” teachings, apostasy is sure to arise. Christ is indeed the friend of the sinner, but He is also Lord of the World, whose Word is the binding rule for mankind.

Note that the New Testament presents to us the prophesied Messiah not as a well-manicured, JC Penny catalogue model, but as a fierce warrior who had conquered the greatest foe and before whom all other foes must submit. We live under a Savior who shed His blood, in order that He might conquer and rule the world. He is all love, all grace, all mercy, we affirm this as true; but we must not miss the glorious truth that He is a warrior, on the war-path to avenge His elect, defeat all foes, and establish His Kingdom in righteousness, truth, and glory. The sooner we get this picture in our head, the better. It’s actually the only way to save our nation, and the only way to show compassion to the hurting and lonely sinners.

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Dietary Self-righteousness

Dietary Self-righteousness

This is my 200th blogpost! Thanks for all your support over the years! Here’s to the next 200!

I have a habit of making my thoughts and opinions known. Thus far I haven’t got in too much trouble for this habit, although I have caused a ruckus or two along the way, but no one was seriously injured. Some folks, have recently poked inquiringly at my views of the entire organic, gluten-free, “GMO-free”, free range, whole (stone ground) wheat, food craze, fad, diet, “lifestyle”. Now, this is certainly not intended to be any sort of professional perspective, nor is my expertise in nutrition. However, as mentioned earlier, I have this habit of making my thoughts and opinions known…so here goes.

First, in thinking about the “theology of what we put in our mouth and swaller”, we as Christians must be guided by the Bible. We are taught in Scripture to be good stewards (Mt. 25:14-30); that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 6:19), and although Paul is specifically addressing sexual fornication, the principle of using this body for God’s glory holds true for every arena of life; and when Paul tells us elsewhere to glorify God in everything we do he bakes it down (pun-intended) most specifically to our eating and drinking (1 Cor. 10:31). I take this to mean that how and what we eat does matter to God, since we will be made to give an account not only of what sort of food we ate, but how we ate it!

So, let us proceed with this as the foundation, and begin to address some of the particulars. We are responsible for what we do with this body; you are free to eat rocks if you please, or MSG-free foods, or Mountain Dew by the gallon. What we need to be wary of as Christians is taking this mandate to be responsible for our bodies and set up a little shrine to the organic food gods, who if we follow their blogs we are certain to find everlasting life and the cure for every malady. Which, by the way, is apparently coconut oil; however, next month it may be soy milk, followed by sawdust flour. My gravest concern here is the location of our hope of eternal life; we must guard ourselves against placing our hope in organic foods as the source of endless life without malady, sickness, or intolerances.

The man who eats McDonalds every day, washed down with a sugary beverage is going to die; so is the vegan, yoga-pants-wearing, Whole Foods shopping mom whose children are all on a strict gluten-free diet. Sorry to break the news to ya, but “we all gonna die.” Some sooner than others, and all of us regardless of how much or how little processed foods we digested.

What we consume matters, yes. But so does how we eat it. This is the prevailing theme when Paul is dealing with the issue of meat sacrificed to idols. Some Christians felt it was wrong to eat it, others felt it was fine and dandy; and as a result those who didn’t eat were stumbled by those who were, and vise versa. So Paul admonishes them that “every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving (1Ti 4:4).”

Yes we should go out of our way to keep our brothers from stumbling, but we should also raise them in maturity. We need to remember that God made both the cow in the stockyard eating Monsanto’s GMO-corn pumped full of antibiotics as well as the free range cow grazing in the pasture. We should remember that this slab of steak on our plate is called “good” by God, and we ought to give cheerful, mouth-watering thanks regardless of where the cow came from or what it was eating. God is after thankful hearts, not Christians who only eat GMO-free food.

Let us venture onward a little further, if I may. The biggest concern I have with all this is the consequences that I see in regards to Christian fellowship. Imagine “Family A” invites “Family B” over for dinner, and “Mom B” calls to tell “Mom A” that “I’m on a gluten-free, dairy-free diet, and little Sally has a wheat sensitivity, Johnny is allergic to lemons (I really have heard this) and a few other citrus fruits, and my husband gets severe headaches from MSG…can’t wait to see you all tonight!” These “sensitivities” immediately prove a stumbling block for “Family A” who may not have any of these issues. Now, being a good Christian woman, “Mom A” will certainly be happy to serve. But this tends to create an inhibition to Christian fellowship.

Furthermore, it is paramount that should one family decide to regulate their diet to eat “all natural”, they need to take great caution that they are not propping up an extra-biblical moral standard. This food snobbery is nothing more than self-righteousness disguised as eating habits, and it is about as flavorful as Kale chips. All natural or organic or paleo diets have a logically fallacy in their assumptions, namely, the assumption that technology has no place in the development of food, and that God frowns upon any attempts to “engineer” food. This seems to me like a rather difficult case to make from Scripture. We ought to be good stewards, but we are also called to take dominion of this world, and I would assert that that includes being able to discover ways of growing more food faster.

Will there be kinks in the process? Most certainly! But should that inhibit our endeavor to subdue this world to the glory of God? Most certainly not.

If you’re interested in reading more on this topic, I’d recommend this article here.

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Ben Zornes