Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

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The Posture of Being Human

The Posture of Being Human

The wonder of the Gospel is that it makes you truly human. Because of the fall, man is rendered dead. The Gospel doesn’t liberate your soul from the prison of the body. Rather, the Gospel brings you truly to life. The Word we preach is life to the body, health to the soul, vitality to the spirit. 

This is why we shouldn’t think of our worship as an attempt to escape the body. Rather, we bring our whole self––body, soul, and spirit––risen by Christ’s grace, to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice.

And so we adopt various postures throughout our service. We stand at attention to hear God call us to worship. Our voices resound in songs & prayers. We kneel in hope-filled contrition. We stand again to hear God’s Word. Our ears are opened by the Spirit to hear what He says to the church. We turn our eyes forward to see the bread broken. We open our mouths to feast and to drink. Our hands extend the bread and wine to our brothers and sisters. We lift our hands in holy praise. The minister lifts his hands to bless us in the Triune name, and we extend open hands to receive this gift.

These physical actions force us to be reminded that salvation isn’t found by melding your mind with the Universe’s “force of love.” Salvation is found because God, in Christ, took on a human body. He lived, died, and was raised to glory as a true human, in order that these bodies might be redeemed and made truly human. So bend your knee, lift up your hearts, hands, and voices, taste the bread & wine. In all this physical activity be reminded that you are not your own, your body has been redeemed by Christ.

The Songs of Zion

The Songs of Zion

Introduction 

A striking feature of heaven-born reformations is a restoration of Biblical worship, and from this fountain springs psalms & hymn of praise. In our time, we face a similar need to restore biblically ordered worship to the church. This means going to the Word, not our preferences, to determine how to bring the glory due His name. The overwhelming instruction in Scripture is to give glory. All too often we give mass-produced nonsense. Nowhere is this more evident than in the prevailing approach to music in our corporate worship services.

The Text

Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

1 Chronicles 16:29

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 35:10 

Summary of the Text

As David brought the Ark into Jerusalem after it had been in exile for over a hundred years, (for time dwelling in the Gentile household of Obed-Edom; 1 Chr. 15:25) we’re provided with a detailed description of everything from the utensils, to the divisions of the Levites (1 Chr. 15:16-24), to the sacrifices offered. While the expected thank-offerings are made (1 Chr. 16:1-2), a new offering is described. That new offering stands out like a successful trick play at a football game. 

The chronicler describes this new offering which David arranges: a sacrifice of song. David has composed a psalm to sing and then arranges Levitical choirs to sing it. In that Psalm––among other things––the saints of God are called to “give glory” and to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” The glory can be embodied in both volume & quality (Ps. 33:3, 98:4). We’re repeatedly summoned to make a loud & joyful noise skillfully accompanied with the understanding of faith. There’s no shushing of the heavenly choir. This reformation of worship which David led by establishing the tabernacle of Zion as the center of Israel’s worship should be seen as the OT’s high-point.

Zion was the stronghold of David, which is where the tabernacle of David was erected and where the Ark was brought. The offerings in the tabernacle of David were primarily offerings of song (at David’s time, animal sacrifices primarily took place in Gibeah, until Solomon’s temple was constructed). 

Skipping ahead a few centuries, Isaiah’s vision presents a scene of redeemed and restored saints ascending to Zion with songs and everlasting joy (Is. 35:10). Though the threat of judgement loomed over Judah, the promise behind it was that God would restore His people to Zion, and they would come singing merry songs.

All of this (both David’s reformation of emphasizing song in Israel’s worship, and Isaiah’s vision of the Restored Israel) anticipates that Messiah’s courts would be filled with songs from both Jews & Gentiles. As one commentator points out, whereas the Tabernacle of Moses was filled with a cloud of smoke, the Temple of Christ is filled with a cloud of song.

The Song of Moses

After great OT victories, it is the songs that are recorded in detail, whereas the details of thank offerings are oftentimes either passed over entirely, or very briefly described. Not only that, but the battles themselves often receive only the concise description: “the Lord wrought a great victory.” When God grants victory, the people sing. The songs are recorded so that we too might join the chorus of God’s saints and remember back to Jehovah how He has delivered His people in times past in hope that His mighty arm will once more be bared to deliver us in our present conflicts and in future battles.

After Pharaoh and his army were defeated at the Red Sea, Moses & Miriam (Ex. 15:1ff) led Israel in celebratory songs of praise. Moses again leads Israel in song after the 40 years of wandering, as they look to begin the conquest of Canaan (Deu. 32:1-43). Deborah & Barak (Jdg. 5:1ff) sang of the Lord’s deliverance of His people from the Canaanites. Hannah prayed a prayer which rings with poetic glory, as she rejoiced over her rival (1 Sam. 2:1); Mary draws heavily from this prayer in the Magnificat. David’s reformation was a profound incorporation of this musical tradition as a fixed feature of the worship of the Lord. Generations later, Jehosaphat famously sent the Levitical choirs––which David had originally organized––as the vanguard in a battle with Judah’s enemies (2 Chr. 20).

There’s a curious note in Rev. 15:3 that the saints who overcame the beast sing in joy for their victory. And what they sing is an abbreviated version of the song of Moses, which is also called the song of the Lamb (Deu. 32:1-43). John’s vision invites us to see that Christ has delivered his people (from every nation) once more from Egypt (unbelieving Jerusalem), while preparing them to conquer the land (by bringing Heavenly Jerusalem everywhere they go). 

Notice the pattern. God grants a deliverance, God’s people start singing. We not only see this throughout the OT, but after Pentecost and in early church history we see songs of praise to Christ being composed (Cf. Phil 2:5-11, Col 1:15-20, 1Tim 3:16, Heb. 1:1-3, 1 Jn. 2:12-14, and 1Pet 2:21-25) and sung heartily (Cf. Rev. 5:8-14), even in the face of fierce persecution.

Mismatched Music

There’s a modern tendency, especially in Christian circles, to assume that music is interchangeable, and merely a matter of preference. None of us would dare break into a yodeled polka tune at a funeral; nor would we think a death metal song appropriate for a bridal procession. Just because you can sing Amazing Grace to the tune of Gilligan’s Island doesn’t mean you should.

We want our music to rhyme with the truths they proclaim. Thus joyful reverence is the tone. Trying to cram the eternal glories of the Triune God into the tin can of pop-music is a fool’s errand. Monosyllabic la-la’s set to pop melodies don’t compare to Watt’s skillful poetry paired with the harmonic glories of Bach. 

Our music, whether we acknowledge it or not, is part of a larger battle. The question is whether we will have arrows that are straight and sharp and sturdy, or else they are flimsy and blunt and bent. Is there objective truth and beauty? Or can we just slap a boring chord progression to some random assemblage of words and call it good, call it glory? As C.S. Lewis once insightfully noted that there’s a tendency for church music to be “fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music.” The brilliant ordering of notes into melodic patterns with thrilling harmonies stacked on top of profound, theologically sound poetry is an arrow in our quiver that should not be tossed aside.

With Skill and Understanding

A visitor could attend our services for a year and be unaware of our primary distinctives (i.e. Reformed, postmillennialism, etc.). But on their first Sunday they’ll be confronted with our musical priorities. But let me state explicitly what our music states implicitly. We aim to be a mighty choir belting out Psalms of God’s faithfulness and songs of God’s grace to us in Christ. We aim to bring glory to God, in the beauty of holiness.

To get there, however, we must not begin with musical literacy, that should come after. We must keep first things first. A musical reformation must begin with evangelical faith. We understand and know that the Son of God has come, and we are in Him (1 Jn. 5:20). That is the key signature that dictates the rest of our musical endeavors. While we should strive to learn our parts, raise our children to be musically skillful, it must spring from Gospel joy and every song must conclude with a faith-filled “Amen.”

The Son of David Singing the Songs of David

The pitch-note, then, of our Lord’s Day worship is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We aren’t aiming to have the Reformed Evangelical equivalent to the Vienna Boys Choir or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Nor do we want to mindlessly just go along with whatever the record companies decide we should prefer. 

Biblical worship is not a job for those people “up there” to do; whether they’re an ornately robed priest muttering Latin, or a ripped-jeans worship band with a gnarly bassist. Biblical worship is the righteous work of Christ alone. Yet since we are in Him, we come by Him to offer glory. This service of worship is the work of Christ’s body, the church. You cannot worship God rightly if you do not come to Him by the Son. We come to God, clothed in the righteousness of the Son of David to sing the psalms of David. As one hymnist said, “So come to the Father, through Jesus the Son.”

Look God in the Eyes

Look God in the Eyes

In Lewis’ Screwtape Letters he describes the temptation of praying to the “god” that is “up and to the left at the corner of the bedroom ceiling.” Our enemy wants us to worship anything other than the Triune God. He doesn’t mind if the god we’re worshipping closely resembles Jehovah, just so long as we aren’t worshipping Jehovah himself.

Man has the bad habit of thinking he can keep God in his pocket. Man wants a god he manage. One that fits with what he imagines a god should be. A god that coddles him, but strikes terror in his enemies. A god who sits only as high as the rafters.

But that isn’t the God we come to worship. We worship the God who made heaven and earth. The God who revealed Himself to our first parents and then to the patriarchs, prophets, and psalmists. The God who is not to be likened to another, and who has no equal. The God who came in human flesh, died in place of sinful man, and was raised by the Father’s power.

Have you been entertaining low thoughts of God? Have you been holding up a mirror and convincing yourself that that is what God must be like? Have you been settling for an Americanized god who is safe? Have you crafted idols so as to avoid making eye contact with God? 

The remedy for all these vain imaginations is to forsake the habit of trying to pass off our knock-off idols for being the Triune God, and come to God on His terms. His terms are these: cast away all your idols, and then meet with God as He revealed Himself. In short, turn from your idols by looking God in the eye. Which is to say: look to Christ.

Not a Bother

Not a Bother

There is a feature of our worship service that can be quite distracting if you aren’t expecting it or accustomed to it. That feature is the sound of about a hundred knee-high saints. Our nation is increasingly disinterested in children, as indicated by our birth-rate. Even in the church, Christian parents have grown accustomed to dropping kids off at Children’s Church. Apparently, children are deemed to be a distraction, with all their squawks, wiggles, bathroom trips, loud whispers about the cavernous condition of their belly, and so on.

First, a word to you little ones. Children, we’re glad you’re here, and we want you to learn the songs, say “amen” with all the gusto you can, and, if you’re baptized, join us in eating the Lord’s Supper later in the service. Listen closely to the sermon each week, you may just hear about monstrous dragons, and how the King Jesus defeated them all.

Second, a word to parents, grandparents, and all the rest of us. The presence of these little saints isn’t a distraction. Of course, train your children to sit still. Work on the songs throughout the week. Pray the Lord’s Prayer regularly in your home. With a cool head, take them out to the car or restroom if they need a little, ahem, course correction. 

But let me be emphatic, their presence here is necessary to our worship. We are storming the gates of hell in these prayers, these songs, this Gospel trumpet which is declared by the Word preached & eaten. These little ones are knights & handmaids of King Jesus. They aren’t an inconvenience, or a distraction, or inferior citizens of Christ’s Kingdom. Our nation thinks of children as optional add-ons. We see them as part of our weaponry in obeying Christ’s command to subdue the nations to His Gospel.

How great a judgement rests upon us as a nation that permits the slaughter of unborn babies, debases young children by bringing them to be groomed in sexual perversion at Pride Parades, and then shuffles them off to be cared for by others so as not to inconvenience the selfish lifestyle of their parents. Our Father in Heaven calls children a blessing; yet all too often, even in the church, we treat our children as a bother. Our failures to discipline, and train our children, bringing them to worship with us are all a warning light that we’ve adopted the world’s attitude towards children, not the Bible’s.

A Swarm of Locust – Joel 1

A Swarm of Locust – Joel 1

Introduction

The phrase “senseless tragedy” is often employed when describing some crime or calamity. But as Christians, no tragedy is senseless. How are we to understand national tragedy? Can we call COVID-19 a judgement? If so, what are we to make of it? Joel gives us the pattern for how to respond to such tragedy, by his response to a swarm of locust.

The Text

Joel 1:1-5

The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. […]

Summary of the Text

After the brief personal introduction (v1), Joel invites the old men to give their assent to the uncommon magnitude of the tragedy that has befallen Judah, and then commands them to tell of this tragedy to future generations (vv2-3). Typically this command to tell future generations is in regard to great deliverances by the Lord’s hand (Cf. Ex. 10:1-2, Deu. 6:7, Josh. 4:6, Ps. 44:1), but here the devastating tragedy is to be retold to children’s children. The plague is then described in vibrant simplicity: the land has been devastated by wave after wave of locust (v4). A plague which had once been part of their deliverance, was now a plague come upon them for their chastisement.12

The drunkards are implored to weep, for their source of pleasure is cut off, and now must face the world (v5). The locust are likened to a foreign nation, fierce as lions (a theme then developed in 2:1-11 and then employed by St. John’s Apocalyptic vision); and the ruination the locust swarms brought was total (vv6-7).

The nation of Judah (often likened to a virgin, Cf. Amos 5:2) is to lament like a bereaved virgin (v8). The reason for the lamentation is that the locust swarms have utterly consumed the elements of the meat and drink offerings (vv9-10). The farmers and the priests are both exhorted to mourn, for the livelihood of the one and the ministry of the other are cut off (vs11-13).

The response to the tragedy should not be passivity. Rather, in the midst of the mourning, the priests should gather the elders and call a fast (v14). Joel provides a prayer for the nation to pray (vs15-18). The locust plague heralds that the Day of the Lord is soon at hand, and that Day will bring an even more severe judgement (v15), the rites of worship are unable to be performed, and joy and gladness along with it (v16), the Promised Land, which ought to be a land of rest, is laid desolate (v17), the flocks groan in the pangs of starvation and drought, and winnowing must follow (v18). Joel then speaks for himself (v19), demonstrating the spirit of true contrition. While the devastation was total––even the wild beasts who receive their meat and drink from the Lord (Cf. Ps 42:1, 104:21) were touched by this devastation (v20)––from the Lord alone could there be restoration (Cf. 2 Chr. 20:12).

Meat & Drink Offerings

Leviticus 2 gives the prescriptions for the meat offerings. For the grain/meat offering, the worshipper would bring fine flour, oil, and frankincense. The priest would take a portion of these elements and burn them, while the rest would be a portion for the priests. 

The drink offering (Lev. 23:16, Num 15:6-7) varied in amount (between a quarter to half a hin––which is a little more than our modern gallon). It was never offered on its own, but always accompanied other offerings, and was explicitly only to be performed once Israel entered the land (Lev. 23:10). The wine could only be enjoyed once Israel entered her rest.

When examining the Mosaic offerings, the propitiatory nature of the sacrifices is often prominent. However, what ends up in our peripheral vision is that because our sin has been covered we’re enabled to meet with God (Ex. 29:42). So to, Christ’s sacrifice––which cleanses us from sin & guilt––enables our fellowship with God, and with God’s people (Cf. Heb. 10:18-25, 1 Jn. 1:3 & 2:1-2).

Invitation to Mourn

The locust swarm, and subsequent famine, directly impacted this important symbol of faithful worship. In light of this devastation, Joel invites all the people of the land to mourn and lament. While the mourning over the fact that the sign of communion with God was cut off, Joel is eager that they not neglect what the sign pointed to: their covenantal union with God by His free grace. Whether it be in the sacraments, or in our corporate or individual worship & piety, we can often perform all the external duties without having done so out of true faith. This is how we can make sense of what blind unbelief calls “senseless tragedy”; tragedy comes in to waken, disturb, and rattle us.

National lamentation is a bitter pill that only God can prescribe, and which we desperately need in our own time, in order to heal our cancer of proud self-sufficiency. Edward Topsell put it this way, “Oh how stubborn is the conceit of our hard hearts, which will not be taught till they smart, nor yet be instructed till they be corrected.” Tough cuts of meat often need to endure a salty brine to make them tender. While specific sins are noticeably unmentioned, the sin which Joel seems to be confronting throughout this book is that of heartless worship. As Calvin put it, “[Joel is] reproving the hardness of the people, because they do not feel their plagues.” They have become like Pharaoh. Stubborn nations and sinners often need a salty brine of suffering in order to soften their hearts. But national tragedies should bring about national lamentation and thus, in the end, national repentance and reformation.

But the plague of locust isn’t merely an event that happened and that Joel is simply responding to. He’s not using the locust swarms as a helpful sermon illustration. Rather, Joel wants us to see that the tragedy transpired at Yahweh’s command and according to His purpose, and, as such, are revelation. Swarms of locust are Divine revelations. God was saying something to Judah through clouds of insects.

When God Shuts the Temple

So what was God saying? We get a main clue by what Joel highlights as worthy of great mourning. The wheat, oil, and new wine were cut off. As a direct result, the rites of worship in the temple would also be unable to be performed. God is the one who sent the swarms, and so it was by His hand that the meat and drink offerings were suspended. God, who commanded Israel to commune with Him and meet with Him by these offerings, put His foot in the side of these offerings. The God of the offerings cancelled the offerings.

When man is in rebellion to God, the primary symptom is various attempts to invert the Gospel. Man tries to make God palatable to man, instead of making man acceptable to God through Christ. We have churches ordaining women to offices which scripture explicitly state are reserved for men. We have churches repenting for sins conjured up by the woke-craft of Marxist mobs. We have churches providing cover for sodomy and all other varieties of sexual pollution. They do it all in an attempt to make God palatable to man, instead of bringing man to God. 

But closer to home, many “Bible-believing” churches have an orderly worship service, a liturgy based on biblical principles, they have bread and wine on the table, and water in the baptistry, and yet they are tombs. God has seen fit, this year, to empty many such churches. God shut the temple. God shut the church. God cancelled the meat and drink offerings. 

Faithful mourning, as Joel demonstrates, can only come from loving what God loves and hating what He hates (Cf. 2 Cor. 7:10-11). This pandemic we face should bring us up short. God hates false religion so much that He cancelled church. God hates pretentious and presumptuous worshippers, and so he sent them to cover their faces and hide in their houses. God hates faithless worship, and our confessional standards, our orderly liturgies, our commitment to solid doctrinal teaching won’t save us.

May the Smoke Ascend

But this is why Joel invites Judah to mourn. We mourn that God has withdrawn Himself, and we plead with Him to relent. True mourning longs for the glory to be restored. For the smoke to ascend once more. 

When Christ ascended, He brought us with Him. Our worship is the offering of ourselves, and it is in our worship that we ascend to God by Christ as a sweet savor. But if our worship is all tidy and in order, but our hearts are full of bitterness, our minds are polluted with lust, our hands are covered with the blood of hatred towards our brother, God will look on it all and say, “Time to shut it down.” 

Only through Christ, can our worship be made right. He has entered the holy place in the heavenlies, that we too might enter in and offer right worship. We are to be the offering which ascends to God in Christ. We are to come to God, not try to get God all trimmed out with all the things that are palatable to our culture or our tribe, chanting the right slogans the whole way. The only way to enter in, the only way to ascend with the smoke, is to look to Christ. To put it another way, clouds of grasshoppers should make you look to Jesus.

Prepare for Worship

Prepare for Worship

Have you ever seen a theatrical performance where all the actors have clearly invested a lot of time to know their parts? The show’s going off without a flaw, and then one actor enters the stage who doesn’t know his lines or stage directions, and keeps ruining key scenes.

Unfortunately, that actor’s glaringly bad “performance” will become the thing which is remembered. I bring that up not merely to say, “don’t be that guy,” but also to highlight what our corporate worship ought to be. The Reformation restored the work of worship to the people, the congregation. Worship isn’t a performance of people up on stage, while the audience watches.

Rather, we are the performers. We are the actors. We are the set. Which means that our corporate worship requires work. It takes attentiveness. It takes preparation. 

First off, and above all, it demands that we come in the right garments: the righteousness of Christ. Knowing that our filthy works of self-righteousness are odious to Him. But as we come to God, to bring our worship, and are dressed in Christ’s righteousness by faith, we are filled with His Spirit to render good works which God accepts. These songs we will sing, these prayers we will offer, the Word which we will hear, these tithes we will give, the Supper we will take are good works which God has called us to.

So, know your part. We print next week’s songs in the bulletin and post them on the church website/app, so work on the songs beforehand as a family so as not to be caught off-guard. Get the ironing done Saturday so that you’re not scrambling for clean trousers on Sunday morning. Do all this so that together, as the congregation of the Lord, we execute this service of praise to the Lord as a thing of glory.

Another Inch Forward

Another Inch Forward

When a nation goes to war, it does no good to rally their resources and spill the blood of their sons just to grow squeamish at the first sign of resistance. They must persistently engage the enemy until the battle is won.

The battle of Iwo Jima is a remarkable instance of this. It was of vital importance to capture that strategic outpost. Many days, the goal was simply to inch forward to a slightly better position to fire upon the enemy. Slowly, after a month of grit & determination to win, by crawling forward inch by inch, the U.S. troops finally bested the enemy.

Worship is warfare. We’re in locked battle with those who worship Humanity. Their sacrament is the abortion of babies and the satiation of their various lusts, their songs are political slogans, their prayers are cancel campaigns, their righteousness is found in good works (as defined by current sentiments). 

Our weekly worship is in direct conflict with this false religion. We are forgiven for sins by the sacrificial death of God’s own Son. We lift songs of praise to the only Source of true delight. We offer prayers to One who made every star and grain of sand.

The enemy will oppose us, but we must not be turned aside. Our worship culminates in this meal. Here we are fortified for the fight at our daily posts as husbands, wives, sons, daughters, students, teachers, employers, and employees.

Inch by inch, week by week we advance Christ’s Kingdom. This meal is like another charge into enemy ranks. In this bread which is the body of the Lord, and this wine which is the blood of the only sufficient sacrifice for sin, God is lifted up. God in Christ is held forth to you. And as He is lifted up, His enemies are scattered (Ps. 68:1).

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

God Wants You to Fight

God Wants You to Fight

Did you know God wants you to fight? Now He doesn’t want us to fight each other. He doesn’t want us to fight and hurt widows or orphans. But he does want us to fight sin, to fight bad guys, to fight evil in us and around us.

How do we fight evil? Not with swords or guns first (maybe later). We first fight by trusting Jesus, worshipping Him joyfully at church each Sunday, loving our neighbor, and praying daily “thy kingdom come.” That is how God wants us to fight.

Ben Zornes