Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

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Scott & Melissa

Scott & Melissa

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In the midst of Job’s sufferings, he made a profound statement of faith:

“Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
Job 19:23-27 NKJV

In this text we see that even in the most ancient times, the saints of old looked in faith to a bodily resurrection, which would be brought about by the Redeemer of mankind. What the saints longed for, and trusted God to bring about in due time, we now receive in full clarity. 

Jesus insisted that because of the Father’s love for Him, he would, of His own accord, not only lay down His life, but raise it up again: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father (Jhn 10:17-18).” 

After Christ’s resurrection, as the Apostles spread the Gospel through all the world, they echoed the words of Paul when he declared that the controversial message of the church was the resurrection of the dead: “Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day (Act 24:21).” 

The central message of the Bible is this unimaginable glory of the Resurrection. You do not live in a world of cold, unfeeling molecules. You are not a character in an AI generated story. Rather, you live in a world where the Son of God died and rose again. It is the understatement of all understatements to say that this changed absolutely everything. 

Because Christ rose from the grave, your story need not be a story of eternal death. Even though that is, of course, what our sin against God deserves. Instead, by faith in Christ, His story becomes our story. He has begun a work where all things are being made new. He has inaugurated a kingdom where death itself will soon be sent into everlasting exile. He has established a certain future where sorrow and sighing will all flee away. 

As we bring our lives and history to God, we should do so with a firm faith in this central reality of all human history: Christ is risen from the dead. In effect, we should say, “Here Lord, here is my mess, here is my sin, here are my sorrows, here is all my shame.” To which He responds with a kind and entirely undeserved promise that all our sin is forgiven, all our sorrows will be salved, all our shame will be replaced with His endless delight in us.

Scott and Melissa, your marriage is to be unto you a kind proof of God’s unswerving covenant to permeate the whole world with the new creation which Christ’s resurrection began. But this will only be the case if you start with Christ’s resurrection and move outward. The Resurrection will not be a mere add-on, or a nice bouquet off to the side, or a nifty but optional feature. Rather the bodily resurrection of Christ must be your hope both in this world and the world to come. And if this is the case for each of you personally, your marriage too will enjoy the blessing of Christ’s new creation work.

Scott, to you the charge is this. God has taken your wandering path and led you back to the firm ground of Christ and Him crucified. You must lead your bride from that firm and immovable ground. You cannot lead from the swamplands of apathy, the quicksand of unbelief, or the trackless desert of selfishness. You are commanded to be Christ-like unto your wife, which means, among other things, that you must submit yourself to the perfect will of the Father. To do this, you will need at least three things. First, a resolve to glorify God at every turn. Second, a commitment that the wisdom found in Scripture, not your own wisdom, be the standard for how to glorify God. And third, a selfless and humble love. You are to imitate the dying and rising of Christ to your wife each day of your earthly sojourn.

Melissa, to you the exhortation is this. God has shown Himself to you to be indeed a defender of widows. Your sorrow over your first husband’s death is certainly a deep ache. But God has not forgotten you, He has not cast you off. He has remembered you. And so, imitate God your Father in how you submit to and follow and love your new husband. Remember Scott. Be mindful of him. For, you are no longer an island, you are joined by these vows to this man. Rejoice in that gift, and treasure it. Treasure this gift in each kiss, in each embrace, in each meal you prepare, in each honey-do list you compose, in each love note you leave in his coat pocket. Remember him, for from this day forward he is your husband. In this you, too, echo the glory of the Resurrection of Christ; for the Resurrection is the climax of God’s remembrance of His oath to redeem mankind from the tragedy of Eden, and give to us citizenship in Heavenly Jerusalem.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen. 

Nathaniel & Stacie

Nathaniel & Stacie

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If you have ears to hear, every wedding is an echo of the joyful shouts from atop New Jerusalem. Christ has chosen His Bride, and the Spirit and the Bride declare He is coming quickly. We hear, and see, and feel faintly here in this wedding realities whose roots go down deeper than a sequoia and whose heights are higher than Everest. I want to highlight three of those realities today: joy, mercy, and love.

First, joy. We ought to remember that happiness is less than joy. Joy is not tied to circumstance, for it is an attribute of God Himself. If God was dependent on circumstance to be joyful, then He would not be God. The Psalmist tells us that in His presence is the fulness of joy. Which means that joy, true 100-proof joy is not ruffled by storms, or sin, or tragedy, or triumphs. The joy that you both taste in each other’s presence––and that is enjoyed in the consummation of your marriage vows––is a real joy. It is not a counterfeit. However, you must remember that it is the appetizer and not the feast. Furthermore, your joy in each other will only last as long as you each say of the Lord: He is the joy and rejoicing of my heart (Jer. 15:16). For the Joy of God is found in His very being, and not in fleeting circumstances. One of you will depart this life before the other, more than likely, and this will be a great sorrow; but the Joy of the Lord endures through all earthly sorrows and swallows them up like the ocean swallows a thimbleful of freshwater.

Second, mercy. The old phrase which preachers use to define mercy is indeed true: mercy is God not giving us what our sin deserves. This is the Gospel footings upon which a Christian household might be erected. Your sins, though scarlet, have been passed over, and the wrath you deserved has been poured out upon Christ. In a Christian marriage, you should frequently look at your spouse and give thanks that God gave them to you, despite all your sin, and folly, and failures. Your sin deserved death, but God grants to you, by faith in Christ, tender-mercies without number. Amongst those manifold mercies is this mercy of marriage. This union is truly a mercy. It comforts you in your solitude, it brings about godly offspring, and it allows you to image forth the union of Christ and His Bride. This mercy God has shown to you, you now are called to show to each other. You must forgive as Christ forgave, extend mercy as God has done for you, and rather than imitate the Accuser of the brethren, you are to remind each other of the great mercy of God.

Third, love. By this I don’t refer to the feeling of mere affection and attraction which we humans usually use the word love to describe. Rather, I refer the agape of God. This is love whose borders are the delight which God takes in His Son, and which sent that beloved Son to die for sinners. This is a love that makes lovely. This is a love that makes the dead live, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame to leap. Mere attraction will not bind you to your marriage vows. Rather, looking to a bloody cross, with God’s own beloved Son upon it in order to deliver His enemies from Satan’s power, is the only soil in which your marital love can flourish. It is this love that dies which you are called upon to imitate.

Nathaniel, God is bringing you into the high and holy office of husband. From this day forward you are an imitator of Christ in a more profound and significant way than you’ve ever been before. This means that you must be a man who is good at dying. You must die to yourself a thousand times a day to imitate this dying love of Christ Your Savior. This dying is not so that Stacie always gets her way. Rather, it’s so that you are putting to death all of your selfishness, which includes the selfishness of failing to lead your family decisively, gently, and boldly. This lifestyle of dying is to be done on the firm footing which I just described: joy in God, trust in His mercy, and enjoyment of God’s love to you through Christ in order to rightly love this closest and dearest neighbor which He has brought to your side. 

Stacie, a bride is often described as radiant, and this is because she has this marvelous power of being the light and glory of her husband. But like a flashlight with old batteries, the glow will fade if you replace contentment with resentment and warm affection with grumbling lectures. You are called to be a bright light in your husband’s life. A light of wisdom, honor, industry, and affection. He will be called to walk through dark valleys, and God has given you to him in order to be a light in darkness, a pleasure in the midst of the pains, a warmth in the coldness. You cannot be this radiant glory unto your husband if you confuse pride with humility. You too must find joy in the Lord, rejoice in His free mercy, and praise the Father for the love which He lavishes upon you through Christ. Joy, mercy, and love humbly received from God, and then passed along to your husband is how God summons you as a wife to be a vessel of Christ’s light in your husband’s life. 

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen. 

Benediction

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sent His beloved Son to die for the sins of the world, and whose Spirit assures the saints that this eternal love is ours, fill this household just established with His joy, mercy, and love. May the union of their vows and their bodies bear the fruit of children who are faithful to worship the Living God. May Nathaniel be full of vigor for the glory of God, and may Stacie be resplendent with unswerving faith. May the gates of hell ever tremble before the glory of Christ which is displayed in this marriage. And may they be brought at last to dwell in the everlasting Halls of the Triune God. In the name of King Jesus, Amen.

Toast for a Younger Brother

Toast for a Younger Brother

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Sam

Today you’ve become toxic. After all, you’re a Scotch-German mutt. If Granny Zornes’ legends are true, your Cherokee blood raises questions of complicity in oppressive colonization. You put marriage before career. You’re a man; and you know it. You married a woman; and you like it. You plan to have enough kids to thwart the most dogmatic climate activist’s CO2 reduction efforts. If all that weren’t enough, you believe that terrifying Pauline doctrine that salvation is by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone.

The Christ-less world screeches for you to be ashamed of all this. God, however, calls you to rejoice in these blessings. You’re now summoned to the duty of dying that this beloved daughter of God Almighty might flourish in sanctified femininity. You’re to have the swagger of a man who fears God alone. You must stand, when everybody flakes. Sprint into danger, when everyone else turns tail. Use your old parkour moxie for raising children who traumatize globalist bureaucrats.

Face this world with dauntless, Gospel aggression, but face your bride with jolly & gentle gravitas. May you & this good thing the Lord has favored you with be blessed with these covenant mercies: “[…] thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee (Deut. 28:9b-11).”

Nate & Shoshawna

Nate & Shoshawna

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In Revelation 21:5 we read, “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” This is a Revelation, in the middle of history, of how the world will end. Christ’s resurrection inaugurated a new world. This new world is “now” & “not yet”. 

Each of us have tasted and felt the “not yet”. You’ve not only seen how dark and twisted and empty the old world is, but each of us have done our part to add to the darkness. This text before us goes on to describe (in Rev. 21:8) all the filthy acts of wickedness which will be judged with the righteous judgement of Christ. Mankind has spun a dark web of lies in which he thinks he can hide from God. Man has built shadow kingdoms, and claimed that what he says goes. All the strife & envy, all the murder & lust, all the deception, manipulation, and lies are the standard operating procedure of that old world. In the “not yet” there is blackhearted sin, there are sooty lies, there is red-raged envy, there is cancerous lust. This world is not yet as it should be. But, we have not been left without a picture of what it one day shall be.

This is because the Word which Christ declares is not just for the “not yet”, it’s also for the “now.” In Christ, those who look to Him in faith, partake of this global remaking. This includes your blackest, darkest sins being forgiven. This includes grace untangling the tangles which your sin has produced. But this only flows from faith in what Christ has accomplished by His life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascended reign.

Indeed, as we gather for this wedding, a wedding that was more than a bit unlooked for, we see the way God, in Christ, is making all things new. In fact, the picture which God gives to us as to how the world will end is the picture of a wedding (Rev. 21:2). God gives us this picture to aid us in understanding both the “now” & the “not yet.” We know that Christ has set His love upon the church, and baptized believers partake of this certain and unswerving love. But we also know that we must wait and hold steadfast for when the Lord shall come again to judge the living and the dead. This is what your marriage is a parable of.

Therefore, whereas you may have been accustomed to walking in self-centeredness, these marriage vows summon you to selflessness. These vows bind you both to recognize the “now” that Christ has brought about: all your sins forgiven, all His blessings promised to you, all His kindness extended to you in the sweetness of the joy which is a faithful marriage. But they also compel you to put aside all the deeds of darkness and to live & long for the “not yet”, when Christ shall have overcome all His & your enemies.

Nate, the charge to you is this. You are called by the Living God to be like granite & not like sand. Sand is moved and shaped by every wind and tide and rain and toddler with a dollar store bucket. Granite is far less malleable. It doesn’t alter with the mood, season, or year. Your steadfastness must be the foundation for your wife, your daughters, and any other children the Lord blesses you with. First & foremost this means being steadfast in Christ. But then, you must be steadfast in the good works of providing, protecting, and presiding in your home. You provide tangible love by working to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. You protect by being vigilant against sin in your life and theirs, enemies who would do harm whether it be sin, the devil, or the wicked world. You preside by leading them with decisive wisdom, judicious patience, and unfaltering faithfulness.

Shoshawna, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:3, “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” So your charge is this: you’ve lived your life, in many respects without a head over you to provide for & protect you. This isn’t how God designed things to be. This is part of the sorrow of living in the “not yet”. Yet God, in His kindness, is giving you this day a head. From this day on you’re to live as one who has a head. It’s been observed that things that are headless or have two-heads are generally to be avoided! As Nate provides, you are to receive it all joyfully and, with gratitude, turn what he provides into glory. As he protects, be a boon of comfort to him in the weariness of his battles. As he presides, sweeten his duty to guide your home by cheerfully following, patiently advising, and loyally submitting. Scripture tells us that this sort of godly femininity is, in God’s sight, of great worth.

So, here as you exchange vows, which bind you until death parts you, you are telling the world about the glorious “now” which Christ has given to His people: sins forgiven & the assurance of eternal life. Yet, you also proclaim the “not yet”, when all things shall be renewed. Christ is making all things new, and your marriage, with Christ as Lord of it, is one of those things.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen. 

May the God who raised up the Lord Jesus from grave, and Who sent the Holy Spirit to dwell with fire in the midst of His people, pour out plentiful blessings upon this marriage just now established. May He bless with abundant joy the “now”, and grant you faithfulness to pray and labor for the “not yet”. May He bless you with a fruitful & faithful home, and may it be a proof that in Christ, all things are being made new. In the name of Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, and to the glory of God the Father, Amen.

James & Rebekah

James & Rebekah

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God is a master builder. We’re told in numerous places in Scripture that redemptive history is, in many respects, the story of God building His house. Eden was a garden temple, a house for God and man to dwell together in joyful fellowship. Hebrews tells us that Abraham longed for a city who’s “builder and architect was God (Heb. 11:10).” The Psalmist declares that the Lord “built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever (Psa. 78:69).” The Bethlehemites bless Ruth & Boaz with a benediction that Ruth would build up her house like Leah & Rachel; this reveals that the house of Israel, the house in which God had determined to dwell in was always intended to be a house of people. 

In the New Testament, Paul tells us this about the house which God has been building: “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit (Eph 2:20-22).” The Old Testament is all about the scaffolding which was erected to assist in the construction of the house. But the New Testament is the removing of the scaffolding that we might clearly see the glorious foundation stone, Christ Jesus, and the house of living stones which He has completed. The church is that house. The saints are those stones. The Spirit dwells in us, as we rest upon Christ the cornerstone.

When we witness a marriage, we are witnessing the history of the world in miniature. God is building a house, and He’s always done it through people He has covenanted with. His grace was revealed to actual humans. His purposes were accomplished by the mysterious working of His Spirit in and through His chosen servants the prophets and the faithful saints of old. Each marriage is the making of a new household, and thus is a reminder that the whole of history is about God making preparation for the marriage of His Son and the Bride, the Church.

This, then, should shape how a man erects his own house. James, God has set you as the head of this new home which He has built. As such, you are charged to build your home in keeping with how God has built His home. This is as much to say that your home must be ruled with wave after wave of sturdy grace. You are to be the rigid framing and the well insulated walls to keep out the frost of fear, the heat of bitterness, and the flood of envy. In a day when such rigidity is mocked as toxic, harmful, dangerous, a threat to democracy, you are called to remain steadfast, and immovable for the sake of your bride and children. When the corruptions of the world meet with you, they must meet with a hardened buttress; but within the four walls of your strength, your wife & children should experience only warmth, protection, and safety.

The waves of depravity crash into the strong walls of a godly man and are turned away backward. While those who dwell within meet with daily joy as your beaming favor rests upon them. The lies of our culture would convince you to be malleable to the lusts & kinks which it insists should be guests in your heart & home. This lie must be slain on sight. They’ll say you should be more open, accommodating, and welcoming to the fiends of carnality. You must shutter the windows, raise the drawbridge, sound the alarm, and rain down a hail of arrows upon such temptations which would assault you and your household. You are to be impregnable; and yes the pun is intended.

Solomon warns that a certain type of woman can pull down the whole home into ruin (Pro. 14:1). There’s a sort of mysterious power which a woman possesses. It can either be used to make the home shine with splendor, or it can be used to make it a smoking crater. So Rebekah, the charge to you is this. Be as the holy women of old who built their house by a meek faith in the Almighty. A faith which cannot be rattled by the winds & storms outside. Your husband is to stand between you and those storms, so that within you might be all glorious. As the Psalmist described the bride of Christ: “The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold (Psa 45:13).” Fill this home with glory after glory. The first glory which should be found is the glory of reverence for the Almighty. This alone can bring about all the other glories. From that fountain flows the secondary glories. The glory of being the joy & delight of your husband. The glory of bearing & rearing oodles of babies. The glory of sumptuous meals, unfeigned laughter, music, and lots and lots of dancing. The glory of late night talks with your husband. The glory of facing sorrows with Christian courage. The glory of supporting your husband in all the tests & trials which he will face. The glory of being faithful until death parts the two of you. Rebekah, as the Spirit fills the Church with the cloud of glory, so you must fill this household with the glory of godliness, meekness, fruitfulness, industry, and above all faith in Christ.

Christ has been set down as the cornerstone upon which the Father has built the church, and has filled that house with glory. This marriage is a small picture of how history is unfolding. God has come to dwell within us, as we dwell in Him. So, James & Rebekah may your house be a sort of history book; telling the world how history has unfolded, and how it will end, a house built upon Christ, and filled with the glory of Christ.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.  

Joshua & Whitney

Joshua & Whitney

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A Wedding in the Whirlwind

After Job suffered all of his afflictions and loss, and endured the debates with his (unhelpful) counselors, the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind (Job 38:1). Job had faced the fury of hard providence, and now he faced the whirlwind of God’s very Word. These Nebraska plains know a thing or two about whirlwinds. First––and perhaps a bit off topic––they aren’t what a recent Moscow, ID meteorologist called them: “cold air funnel”. That meteorologist probably attended the same school as the people who stripped Pluto of its planetary status. But I severely digress. 

Whirlwinds aren’t polite. They don’t ask permission as to where they go, what they do, or whether the timing is convenient. They arrive with all their sudden ferocity, state their case, and leave just as suddenly.

Joshua and Whitney, you’re getting married in the midst of a time of whirlwind. A virus which no one seems to know much about. A financial ruin which our politicians don’t seem to realize they are bringing upon us. A time of turmoil and upheaval across the world. Riots and protests sparked by injustice in our justice system. All the world seems to be wondering what will happen in next week’s episode.

Some may question whether getting married during such a time is prudent. But we should never look at present turbulent winds we face as voiceless, pointless, or senseless. After all, the Lord speaks through whirlwinds. He blows away all our ramshackle cottages of self-assurance and self-aggrandizement. He shakes the world in order that the world might come to that which is unshakable (Hebrews 12:27-29). 

God is speaking to the world in this moment and through these calamities we face and endure. He’s telling the world that the Cornerstone is the only foundation which can stand firm regardless of earthly circumstances. If all was calm and sunny, you might be tempted to establish your marriage on the fleeting foundation of emotion, attraction, or convenience.

But you’re beginning your marriage in a time when the vows you’re about to take will demand your fidelity to them right away. Better or worse. Plenty or want. Sickness or health. Joy or sorrow. Triumphs or turmoil. You must not only repeat these vows, but you must mean them and then live them.

Modern society is quite comfortable with the notion of vow-less consummation. Couples are expected to move in together––with no promise binding them together––and we expect the mere presence of warm-fuzzies to keep their love burning bright. This arrangement is like a swimmer trying to reach shore while carrying a bowling ball. He can’t do it. No matter how much he strains for solid ground, the only solid ground he’ll find is the grave of the seabed. Our culture clings to their selfishness, lust, pride, and envy; and as a result never stand, and inevitably sink in the sea of guilt. 

However, an equally problematic arrangement is when vows are taken, but are as hollow as the assurances of a used-car salesmen that the car ain’t a lemon. Scripture repeatedly warns against empty vows. “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil (Mat. 5:37 KJV).” “They utter mere words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field (Hos. 10:4 ESV).”

The vows you’re taking today ought to be full. While we might instinctively think that they should be full of your delight in each other (and they should), that delight can only be sustained if they are first full of your faith in Christ. In other words, these vows must be full of Christ Himself, and trust in Him to guide and sustain you through the blessings and trials that will come.

Your vows are a tether not only to each other, but to something bigger than you. Your promise to each other is an imitative shadow of a Divine Promise which God the Father made between His Son and His intended bride, the Church. The Father promised His Son the world: a people from every nation (Ps. 2:8). And He’s keeping that promise as the Good News of Christ’s redeeming work to forgive our sins and give us everlasting life spreads to every last inch of this globe. 

So, in imitation of Him, you must now keep your covenant. Joshua, remember that you’re called to be the head of a new household. As such, you must be the sort of head that is full of tender-mercies. The sort of head that doesn’t weary of hearing what the body the needs. Whitney, don’t spurn the arrangement which places Joshua as your head. Be the sort of wife who might fit the description of Solomon, “Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners (Sngs. 8:10).”

Remember that in leading her and submitting to him, by cherishing her and honoring him, by laying your life down for her and by crowning him with your glory, your vows are made manifest. By keeping this covenant, you show that your vows aren’t built on fickle feelings; rather, you show that you’re a household built on the immovable Cornerstone. 

So, though you’re getting married in a whirlwind, never forget that God speaks from whirlwinds. The whirlwind will sweep away homes built on the sandy foundation of vow-less consummation. The whirlwind will rip apart homes built out of the straw of empty vows. But the whirlwind will prove that a house built on the Rock of Ages––vows which are founded on the Covenant Keeping God––will be raised up to glory, like Elijah of old (2 Ki. 2:11), by the whirlwind.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.  

Ben Zornes