Ben Zornes, Author at Ben Zornes

The Theology of Christmas | What is Covenant?

by Ben Zornes · Dec 18, 2024

Introduction

In selecting your gifts, one motivation you’ve probably found is the joy of giving a gift that is entirely unforgettable. Various holiday traditions are all aimed at creating joyful memories. You aim to make the sort of memories that will be recalled for years to come. Done rightly, these recollections reinforce the covenant ties of love and loyalty within a family. In this expression of covenant love, we see a faint echo of the steadfast love of God for His people. The gifts under the tree are reminders of the covenant which formed that family.

The Text

And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
Luke 1:67-75

Summary of the Text

Having been struck dumb due to his unbelief, Zacharias’ breaks forth in a prophetic hymn of praise (v67). He blesses God for visiting and redeeming His people (v68). The word visited is misleading to English ears, because it makes us think of an informal meeting. But biblical usage marks a more formal accounting or reckoning. God comes to gather up His wandering flock, and not leave one behind. When God visits His people, He does so for their redemption (Gen 50:24, Ex. 3:16, Rt. 1:6, Ps. 8:4). This redemption comes through raising up the Davidic horn (v69). This salvation was prophesied from the beginning by the holy prophets (v70-71). Furthermore, this deliverance from evil is only part of the splendor which this visitation of Jehovah’s Davidic horn of Salvation would bring about. The coming of the Messiah was also how God would make good on His ancient promise of mercy to His people, and how He would fulfill all of covenantal duties He had bound Himself to perform (v72). As he beholds the great drama unfolding around him, Zacharias declares it to be the fulfillment of God’s oath to Abraham (v73).

This oath of God promised two things. First, deliverance from evil. Secondly, true service unto God. Service with fearless faces. Service that is done in true holiness and righteousness. Service unto God for all our days (vv74-75). The Advent of Christ is described as God’s remembrance of His oath to not only rescue His people like a sheep out of the lion’s jaw, but to restore them to the glory of true servants of the Living God. This is how the WCF describes this liberation unto good works: “Yet notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in Him; not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable and unreproveable in God’s sight; but that He, looking upon them in His Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections.”

The Problem Christmas Solves

Christmas answers an ancient problem. How can the divine deal with the material world? Do the deities even want to have anything to do with us mere mortals? Is this physical world, as many of the ancient pagans surmised, the junk drawer of the cosmos, while the deities reside in a spiritual realm untainted and unchained by the mortal bodies?

These words of Zacharias resound with a clear answer: the Almighty God was not impersonal. The old priest of Israel declares that God remembered. In these events, God was visiting His people. But His coming was not like the Arabic jinns, or Nordic fairies, or Greek godlings; merely to cause some mischief, or indulge in carnal amusements, or to knock some fear into those uppity mortals. He was not sitting in some upper sphere of the cosmos, simply contemplating ways to cause mischief for mortals in order to amuse Himself. He was not bored by the plight of humans. He was not indifferent. No. The God of Israel had come to visit Israel because He had bound Himself in covenant to Israel. It is described as a remembrance of His covenant duty.

When God Remembers

The heavens and earth were framed by the will and Word of God. He took the dark nothing and cut it apart with the brilliant glory of His Word of light. He laid hold of a watery world, and cut it into land and sea and sky. He grasped that glory light in His hand and formed sun, moon, and stars to rule over and provide instruction to the earthly inhabitants. Eventually, He took dust and breathed life into it, turning it into an image of Himself. That man was placed in a garden to rule over and provide instruction to all his descendants and the creatures under him.

God is not one amidst all the many creatures and beings within the Cosmos. He is the Being from which all other being comes from. Therefore, the fact of creation is a fact of God’s graciousness. But how can this Being who is thrice holy, who is unlike His Creation, make Himself intelligible to His creation? We can comprehend contracts and oaths between relative equals. But can seraphim strike up a business deal with amoebas? But seraphim are more akin to amoebas than they are to Jehovah. Solomon asked, “Would God, whom the heavens cannot contain, be pleased to dwell in a temple which the calloused hands of finite humans built?”

Contrary to both ancient and modern pagan thinking, God is not a mere life-force of the universe. He is Personal. He exists in triune delight between Father, Son, and Spirit. He is distinct from that which His hand has made, but He is not disinterested in it. The way which the wisdom of God ordained to bring about this fellowship between Himself and His creation was through covenant.

This was no covenant, however, between relative equals. The chasm between God and man, Creator and creature, is so vast that the only way for it to be crossed is if God does by means of a gracious covenant. The story of the OT is that of God cutting a covenant with man, man wandering from the duties of that covenant, but God remembering and renewing His covenant with man over and over again. So, Zacharias frames the Advent events rightly. Christ’s advent is God remembering. The covenant people had forgotten and perceived that God had forgotten, but God cannot lie.

God who Cannot Lie

As the book of Hebrews tells us: “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us (Heb 6:17-18).” God had promised Adam that the entire earth would be his, incumbent on His obedience to the terms of the covenant (Cf. WCF Chapter VII).

Due to his sin, Adam was told he would return to the dust in death. Rather than ruling over the earth, man’s doom was descent into the earth’s dust. Here then is the glory of Christmas. Christ became the first human born who would not return into dust. Rather, He would live, die, rise again, and go on to rule over the earth for everlasting days. In all of this He is now able to fulfill the Father’s promises to bless the meek with an inheritance of the earth itself (Ps. 37:11).

The covenant of grace is not an escape pod from the earth. The covenant restores us to our Creator and His creation. This is why creation groans. It groans for the resurrection. The infant whose cries echoed in Bethlehem told this groaning earth that the resurrection was at hand. He made this earth good, and though through sin the curse has weighed heavy upon this world, He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.

When you pray, when you partake of the covenant meal, you are reminding the God who never forgets. He has promised and cannot lie. He has covenanted and has remembered His covenant. He has sworn and will not repent. In our prayers, by our faith, in this bready and bloody feast the saints remind God that He has promised to not only deliver us from evil but also to restore us to being real people. He does not begrudge us our creatureliness. Rather, He took our flesh Himself, that He might fulfill the terms of the covenant, take the judgement of the curses of the covenant upon Himself, and then give us who believe all the blessings of that covenant: forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. Christmas is the celebration of the God who remembered us by becoming one of us, that He might dwell in and with us for everlasting days.

Charge & Benediction

Make grand memories with your family to reinforce the covenant loyalties of your family. In doing so, you are imitating the greater covenant that God renewed to us here today. He does not forget His people, and so, do not forget your people.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21

Politics and the Pulpit 4 | The Rot of Ingratitude

by Ben Zornes · Dec 13, 2024

Introduction

When things go wrong we tend to want to find out why (Cf. Pro. 9:8-9). What was the cause? In looking at our nation we must grapple with how we have come to a place where God-honoring laws have been replaced by God-defying laws. Instead of our civil magistrates calling for humbling ourselves and commending us to fast and pray, they call for celebrations of debauchery and pride. As Christians, we need to understand the rot in the middle, and faithfully address it in our own hearts and homes before we can hope to see any wider reformation of our culture.

The Text

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Romans 1:18-23

Summary of the Text

In Paul’s introduction to his defense of the Gospel, he begins by asserting that God’s wrath is bearing down upon unrighteous men. The thing about this truth is that you cannot be indifferent to it. The truth is right there in your hands, and you either treasure it or attempt to push it away. But where can you push it away where it won’t still haunt you? You can’t find a single place to hide from the blazing glory of the presence of the Living God (vv18-19). This is because the invisible God has revealed His nature through the creation of the world; the revelation includes two things: God’s power and His Godhead (v20). To put it another way, nature reveals His works and Himself. Creation reveals the power of its Creator. Your conscience, your reason, your longing to say “thank you” to Someone for that glorious sunset, the simple joys of life all stand as immovable witnesses of “that which may be known of God.”

This revelation of God unto man through creation leaves mankind with no hideout, no room for evasions or excuses (v20). They are without excuse because they knew God, and yet responded in two ways: they refused to glorify Him, and weren’t grateful to Him. Instead they opted to chase after impossibilities, and thus their dark hearts got darker (v21). This course led them to think themselves wise, yet in reality they became the poster-children of folly (v22). This was made evident by their worship of bird, beast, and sensual indulgence (vv23-24).

Envy & Debt

Our culture is saturated by a greasy rain of ingratitudes. Almost all of the government programs and spending priorities are founded upon the premise that we can rectify all varieties of inequities (both real or perceived) if we spend enough money on it. This has driven us to turn away from a sound understanding of wealth, to a system that is smoke and mirrors, wheels and widgets. Biblically speaking, wealth is the accumulation of the produce of diligent labor. Our fiscal policy operates on the principle that money printers go brrr. Merely printing currency does not mean increased wealth; to think this way is to take a step away from the earth which God has commanded us to subdue. Largely, this is because we have built our current economy on debt instead of work.

Debt is not evil in all cases (Cf. Deu. 28:12). However, Scripture prohibits knowingly giving out loans to those who have no capacity to repay (Ex. 22:25). It warns that debt can lead to enslavement (Pro. 22:7). On the other hand, Jesus exhorts us to lend (Lk. 6:35), and there is an implication that any profit from such a loan should be gratefully passed along to the lender. But what it certainly does not commend, whether for private persons or public policy, is a radical addiction to debt as the means of paying for everything. All debt is, in some sense, a fiddling with the future. Which of course can lead us away from faithful trust in God for our provision, and a faithless indulgence of all our current desires while punting the responsibility down the road.

Currently, our national debt is at $36 trillion, which equates to $104k per citizen. Much of this debt has resulted from spending on programs which are fueled by envy and ingratitude. One school outperforms another, and the government decides that rather than figuring out why this is the case, they opt to spend more on the underperforming school. More administrators and iPads will do the trick, right? This rot of discontent and aversion to hard work appears in how we fund our foreign policy, in LGBT ideology, climate change dogma, and in almost every program and department the government invents.

We don’t like our bodies, so we carve them up with government subsidies. We don’t like the mushy brains coming out of our schools, so we demand millions more in funding. We view the planet as a place to be survived instead of subdued, and so we insist on curtailing genuine wealth creation in order to stop climate disasters when it is wealth which has enabled us to actually better weather storms. Paul described this well as vain imaginations.

Time and Discontent

All of this grows out of discontented hearts. And discontent is a spiritual problem 1 Tim 6:6). Behind all the madness is a simple fact: we have denied the God who made us and failed to submit to Him in gratitude. If the church would faithfully battle all the madness in the midst of this season of political opportunity it will flow from grateful hearts.

This leads back to an important principle which our older brothers, the New England Puritans, were exemplars of. Standing on the shoulders of Calvin’s emphasis on God’s sovereignty over all things and near presence by the Spirit of Christ, they sought to live so as to redeem the time. God has given you that breath, so turn a profit on it. God gift-wrapped that heartbeat, so invest it in things that are true, good, and beautiful. God providentially handed you that tick of the second hand, do not throw it away. The Calvinist work ethic can be summarized: be thrifty, and work hard.

This disposition is a wonderful cure for the anxiety, envy, discontent, and ingratitude that drives so much of the political and cultural madness. You are here for a moment. You get a few trips around the sun. Your lifespan is about 8 or 9 decades. So give thanks and get to work. That is why faithful worship of the Living God is a battering ram against the gates of hell. Ingratitude leads to the vapor dreams of idolatry. It leads to chasing after sexual satisfaction where it can never be found. It leads to worshipping beasts, and becoming like the beasts. Whereas true service to God, expressed in grateful praise, leads to prosperity both in this life and the next.

Gratitude thanks God in all things and for all things. It thanks Him for the gender He made you. It thanks Him for the marriage and family He gave you. It thanks Him for the storm and the sunshine. And then it rolls up its sleeves and serves Him. This turns the kitchen sink, your desk, your dinner table into an altar.

A Culture War

So, the duty of the church remains unchanged. We are engaged in an all out culture war. Here is the fountainhead of culture: worship God. Glorify God and give Him thanks. Prepare yourself each week to meet with the Living God here. From here, worship God in your home and workplace. Our nation has grown poor both fiscally and spiritually because of slack hands: He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich (Pro 10:4).

Don’t let in fretting about evildoers. Don’t give way to the perversions of our culture. Don’t grow apathetic. Here is the Word of Christ. Here is Bread. Here is Wine. Receive these potent graces by faith, and then go bake and build. Teach and be taught. Plow and laugh. Give and receive gifts. You live in the Light of the Living God, so do not fear the darkness.

CHARGE & BENEDICTION

The battle at the heart of our nation is whether we will acknowledge Christ as Lord and order our both our personal and national life accordingly. In your feasting this week, make sure it is not feasting just to feast. Get the order right, Christ is Lord and so we feast. God is God, we are not, and this should make us supremely thankful. And thankful people work hard with big smiles.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
Jude 1:24-25

Other Sermons in this Series

The World’s Inflection Point

by Ben Zornes · Dec 10, 2024

This table really is the world’s inflection point. Those who come to this table by faith, are fed with true knowledge of God’s steadfast love towards them, the assurance of their blackest sins being made white, and the peace of fellowship with the elect of God from every nation. Those who don’t come, or who come in pretentious pride, remain in sin’s misery.

In the broken body of Christ, the broken families of the earth are made into a unified loaf. In the spilled blood of Jesus, the disparate clans of mankind drink peace from the same cup. Only those who come to this table by faith in Christ alone taste this unity, this reconciling grace, this contention-destroying peace.

For those who insist on holding their grudges and grievances, this bread will be like hoarded Manna full of worms and stench. For those who tighten their grip on their spite towards those who have wronged them this wine is a white hot cup of divine wrath.

At Bethlehem, the angels declared the Gospel of peace on earth through the Christ child. But this is only a peace for those who come to Christ and leave their sin behind. If you try to commune with Christ while still nibbling on the poisonous gravel of lust, envy, sloth, or avarice you are not, in fact, communing with Christ or His people.

For those who come to this table by faith, they find welcome; for those who come in pride, this table is a sword of damning judgement. Here is where God’s people from every nation, tribe, and tongue find the Father’s everlasting hospitality. While stubborn sinners come face to face with the wrath of the Lamb. It really is quite simple. Come to Christ and leave all your sin. Or keep your sin and be cut off from the joy and peace which Christ brings to His people.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

Don’t Get Lost in the Christmas Sauce

by Ben Zornes · Dec 9, 2024

In all we do, we must aim towards faithfully obeying all of God’s Word. So, how does the Word command us to celebrate? Times of feasting and merry-making aren’t permission slips to tolerate just a little bit of sin. That would be like trying to make your gasoline last longer by first mixing it with water.

Scripture teaches that wine makes the heart merry (Ps. 104:15), but if you hand yourself over to it, you’ll be fighting phantoms (Pro. 23:35). Feasting is an entirely fitting way to celebrate the advent of Christ. He was born in a feeding trough and in the town called “House of Bread” after all. But gluttony really is a sin to be wary of. Gluttony, plainly put, is seen when one’s appetite has a greater grip upon you than the Spirit does. This can go in numerous directions, both towards excess of eating and in the terrified aversion to eating.

We’re commanded to not be swept off our feet by food or drink. But this doesn’t call us to adopt an ascetic vibe. Throughout Scripture we’re given instances of joyful feasting throughout Scripture, where choice portions are sent to & fro in celebration of God’s great mercies. We are new-born people. Remade people. And remade people feast without shame. They make their toasts without the itch to be lost in the sauce.

True rejoicing is only found by those who have no shame. So, then, the foundation of your Christmas celebration is the granite of Christ’s removal of your shame. Shame clouds your countenance, while God’s favor brightens it. In your celebration preparations be ready to quickly confess your sins. Additionally, ready your heart & mind to be vigilant against sin. Whether it be sins of overindulgence, or razor sharp words, sins of long-held grievances. This is how your celebration of Christmas will be truly Christian.

A Simple Generosity

by Ben Zornes · Dec 4, 2024

There might seem to be a bit of an incongruity between the assertion of God’s overwhelming generosity towards us, and the simplicity of this covenant meal. The sceptic might scoff, “Really? Homemade sourdough bread, and a small thimble of inexpensive wine? That’s how you represent God’s generosity?”

But the simplicity of this meal isn’t at all at odds with the incredible lavishness of the Father. Simple tokens often hold deeper significance. A lover gives his beloved some small trinket to remember him by during his deployment. Think of some insignificant personal item recovered from a tragic accident, and how the surviving family would treasure even that little token of their lost loved one. We count trifles as treasures if they’re connected with some historical event: a rare coin from a bygone culture, a musket ball from an important battlefield, a shoelace from a Super Bowl champion’s cleat.

In other words, it isn’t the sign itself that is great with glory, but rather what it calls to mind. Bread is as hum-drum as it gets. But this is bread which which summons to mind the incarnate Son of God who joined His divine nature to human flesh in order that that flesh might be torn to bits by a Roman lash and nailed to a Roman cross. Yes, this is everyday wine, but it memorializes the God who bled to rescue mankind from the ancient dragon.

The simplicity adds, not detracts, from the glory of what it points to. Here again is a proof of God’s generosity. He didn’t establish an ornate and complicated ceremony to be the means of renewing His covenant with His people. Rather, simply bread and wine that’s blessed, broken, and passed to God’s people is all that He commanded. Of course this all should be done with a simple faith in our Almighty God.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

Politics and the Pulpit 3 | Immigration in Clown World

by Ben Zornes · Dec 3, 2024

Introduction

Perhaps you’ve noticed with relief as the political signs suddenly disappear around town. But I noticed one sign has, so far, stubbornly stayed in the front yard with a defiant slogan. The slogan? “We’re all from here.” The postmodern mind wants all cultures to be simultaneously celebrated and indistinguishable. I presume that the owner of the sign would not be keen to have us all ask to be put on the deed to their home, nor would they be interested in any of us moving into the spare bedroom.

The Text

And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:33-34

Summary of the Text

As we consider this issue, we must remember that love is the center pillar of the law. Love to God flows out in love to neighbor. As Paul taught, love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:11). The immigration and assimilation laws of a Christian nation must be governed by the law of love. However, love shouldn’t be confused with saccharine permissiveness.

This law before us in this text demands that in the commonwealth of Israel a non-native who came to dwell in and amongst Israel was not to be vexed. The word vex indicates brutal oppression, particularly by the sword. In other words, ethnic persecution is off the table. But this shouldn’t be confused as a contradiction with the other commandments to entirely drive out the Canaanites, sparing none. The latter is dealing with the conquest, the former is what to do once Israel had settled in their rest.

Also, bear in mind that it was not just Hebrews who followed Moses in the Exodus, there were other families who simply attached themselves to Israel as they left Egypt (Ex. 12:38). Such strangers were to be treated as one native born, and thus the obligations of the neighbor love outlined in the rest of the Law was applicable. This manner of treating strangers is set in contrast to the cruelty which the Hebrews endured during their Egypt enslavement. Hovering over this and every other Law of Moses was the divine authority of the Lord their God.

So then, God’s sovereignty over us and His deliverance of us from bondage should shape everything. This includes how we construct and enforce our laws pertaining to immigration.

More Raw Materials

We need to recognize that in thinking about this issue we are dealing with some of the ugly offspring of Enlightenment thinking. The modern idea of nations has largely been shaped by the individualism which emerged from the Enlightenment. It views people as utterly independent marbles who just so happen to live within the lines on the map. But this neglects the covenantal and familial nature of tribes and nations as found in Scripture.

For instance, strangers who decided to dwell in Israel were required to abide by Israel’s covenant laws. In one case, a half-Israelite man blasphemed the Lord; so Moses, after seeking the Lord’s will, ruled he must be put to death (Lev. 24:10-16). This episode was followed by the introduction of the principle that non-natives must abide by the covenant laws of Israel: Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God (Lev. 24:22).

So then, this would include the prohibition against tampering with boundary lines. “Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof (Job 24:2). Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set (Pr. 22:28). Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen (Deu. 27:17).” Meaning, it would be unlawful for an individual or group of foreigners to come into Israel and erase settled boundary markers. Additionally, a stranger was not allowed to break the Sabbath (Lev. 25:6); if he wanted to observe Passover he would need to fulfill certain legal requirements (Cf. Num 9:14 & Ex. 12:48). One other application is that the Leviticus 24 passage indicates that a stranger could be sentenced to death for blasphemy, and, by implication, any other capital crimes described in the Mosaic law. We might also note that strangers would also be beholden to laws regarding no idolatry, and the death penalty which should be enforced for such idolatry (Cf. Deu. 13).

Blackmailing Hospitality

What our nation has been faced with since the 1960s was a system of immigration law that is effectively lawless. Immigration, as envisioned by a general equity of the OT law would provide us a framework where immigrants would need to be committed to abide by our laws (including reasonable immigration requirements), not interfere or undermine the Christian faith, and be committed to working for their own welfare.

The United States has been a desired destination for immigrants nearly since our founding. The appeal was the fact that we were a Christian nation, there was ample opportunity, and unrivaled freedom. This has been supplanted by the offer of partaking of a welfare State if you can simply get here by hook or by crook. This is simply a form of theft, taking the taxes from citizens and giving it to those who have not worked for it. This is State-sanctioned lawlessness. This is jack-booted charity.

Now, this ought to do nothing to curtail the compassion and mercy-ministry of the church. Poverty is a grievous thing, and Christ commands us to take compassion on the impoverished. But that compassion, generally speaking, is expressed in Scripture through opportunity to work (as seen in the gleaning laws). God’s compassion on us is free grace, but it is free grace that raises us up into true worship and service.

As we face the prospect of a program of deporting illegal immigrants en masse we must also be cautious to not become lawless or cruel in carrying out this duty of justice. The enemies of truth will delight to blackmail the Christian duty of hospitality to advance the lawless program of socialistic governmental maternalism. The State broods over everything, insisting on caring for us all, and therefore it cannot imagine turning any away from its nest. It wants its nest to contain the whole world. Biblically thinking Christians need to recognize two things: first, the breaking of our immigration laws should be met with justice; and, secondly, we need to refuse to have our biblical duty of generous hospitality weaponized against us.

We’re commanded in Hebrews: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares (Heb. 13:2).” This is not a mandate to the State but to Christian households. Hospitality to immigrants means to treat them with the love of Christ, summoning them to join us here in the courts of Jehovah, and not oppressing them. Our civic rulers are tasked with not showing pity to the lawless (Lev. 24:16). However, not showing pity is not the same thing as administering cruelty. Mobs are wicked, even mobs who think they are moving in a righteous direction.

Love God, Hate Sin

In this season of political opportunity we must be ever mindful that our Christian duty is to love what God loves, and to hate what God hates. God hates the slop of globalist gobbledygook which the propagandists tell us is our strength. False gods and those who serve them are not our strength (and that holds true for citizens and non-citizens). God also hates ethnic vainglory and inhospitality. So in thinking this through, don’t forget that either.

All nations, tribes, and tongues are included in our mandate of global discipleship. But you can’t disciple the nations if you are not walking by faith and obedience to all of Christ’s commands. A Christian nation which gladly watches its borders erased, its God blasphemed, and its property stolen will no longer be in a position to teach the nations anything, let alone disciple them in the ways of the Lord. Freedom only comes to a nation through the forgiveness we receive through Christ. Forgiveness assumes two things: a law which was broken, and a promise to no longer reckon it against us. We do great evil to grace by neutering the force of the law. Our aim must be the endgame of all nations enjoying the freedom which Christianity ushers in to a culture.

CHARGE & BENEDICTION

You are the Lord’s flock not mob. Mobs don’t think clearly, and generally don’t act righteously. Do not join the mob. You are free men and women. Therefore, we ought to want to do all things decently and in order, and this should include how we deal with such a substantial problem that confronts our nation in dealing with illegal immigration.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessings of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon, and remain with you always. Amen.

Other Sermons in this Series

The Naive, The Scoffer, The Wise

by Ben Zornes · Nov 25, 2024

Introduction

Imagine going to a game night with some friends. They set up one of those intricate strategy games, one that you’ve never played before. Then, they start reading the rules to you. After a long and confusing series of instructions, you are informed enough to play the game. But imagine if instead of rolling the dice, drawing your cards and moving your pieces to capture your opponents territory, you use your turn to grab the instruction manual and dissect the etymology of each word. You forfeit your turn each time, but with each round you become more convinced that you have a greater mastery of the rules than the rest of your friends. At the end of the game, when tallying the scores, you insist that you have the victory not because you scored the most points, but because you have memorized the instructions.

Your mistake is quite obvious. The instructions are not meant to lead you away from the game, but to enable you to play it. This is a common way that people treat the wisdom of Scripture. The Word of God is not meant to help you escape from this life, but to enable to live this life rightly. Solomon, in the book of Proverbs introduces several characters, players in the game, we might say. I want to look at three of those characters. The first is what we might call the Naive. The second is the Scoffer. The third is the Wise.

The Naive

In the book of Proverbs, the naive man is described in a number of places as being a man void of understanding. He hasn’t figured out how the world works. He goes along with every suggestion of his body, or just flows along with wherever the crowd is going.

We all start, essentially, as simpletons. You can’t help that as a young child, you don’t know much. That’s why good parents discipline and train their children. What Solomon warns you about is being a simpleton who loves being a simpleton. A childish adult is cringe. It gives the ick. “How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge (Pro. 1:22)?”

Growth in wisdom is accepting that you don’t know everything, and you shouldn’t pretend like you do. However, when you find out that you don’t know something, humility teaches you the wisdom of admitting you don’t know and then set about understanding. This doesn’t mean that you’ll ever know everything about everything because then you’d have a headache.

Think about the character of Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. “He jumped in and shut the door, forgetting what a very foolish thing this is to do.” He then wanders around and when he meets the witch, he doesn’t have the faintest idea that he’s being manipulated, deceived, and enticed. He’s offered a box of Turkish Delight and without even reflecting on what’s happening, he gobbles it up. Of course, this leads him to the witch’s dungeon and to a whole series of miserable episodes. Thankfully, he is rescued, but his rescue cost Aslan’s life. Edmund is the man void of understanding.

With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. [Pro 7:21-27 KJV]

I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. [Pro 24:30-31 KJV]

To return to my earlier illustration, the Naive man, the man void of understanding is trying to play the game without ever consulting the instructions, and thus his efforts in the game are all haphazard and will lead to his great loss.

The Scoffer

While the Naive man is in danger due to his ignorance, the Scoffer is in danger because of his arrogance. He is shown the truth, and opts to not only reject it but to also make fun of it. Here are a few verses addressing the Scoffer:

A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke. [Pro 13:1 KJV]

A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise. [Pro 15:12 KJV]

If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. [Pro 9:12 KJV]

He is the sort of character who insists on doing things his own way, and deriding the way of righteousness. Such mockery is a grave danger. To know the truth and to reject it with mockery is like a starving man being offered a loaf of bread and mocking the baker’s recipe as incompetent.

Returning to Narnia, the scoffer is like Eustace Clarence Scrubb. His arrogance is seen in every encounter. He knows more about sea-faring than the captain of the Dawn Treader. He deserves extra rations of water. He understands geopolitics better than Caspian. He wanders off on dragon island while everyone else is hard at work repairing the ship. He glories in a pile of treasure, ignoring the fact that this is a magical dragon horde. He becomes a dragon, because he is a dragon. He has scoffed at the common sense truth that is all around him, and eventually it brings him to the very edge of destruction. It is only Aslan’s mercy that delivers him.

Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools. [Pro 3:34-35 KJV]

The Wise

Lastly, we should turn Jesus’s teaching, for he tells us a parable about two men. One wise, the other foolish. Both men pick a foundation. Both men build a house. Both men face a storm. The wise man’s house stands firm, but the foolish man’s house falls. Why? Because the foundation they chose were absolute opposites. Jesus prefaced his parable with a code for who is who in the story. “Whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does/doesn’t do them…”

God speaks to you in creation and through His Word. He holds forth understanding to you. You don’t need to be a naive simpleton. You ought not to scoff at the understanding which God holds out to you. You simply need to receive it. The truth is not far off. It isn’t really complex. Life is found by trusting in the Lord with all your heart and not leaning on your own understanding. It is found by acknowledging God in all your ways, and beholding as He guides you into straight paths.

Conclusion

Remember, just learning about the sorts of characters that are in this world is not enough. You have to determine which character you will be and then live accordingly. It does no good to know about the instructions for life, but to not live this life according to God’s wisdom and instruction.

Discussion Questions:

What does it mean to be void of understanding?
In what ways is it dangerous to become a scoffer of the truth?
What did Jesus say distinguished the wise man from the foolish man in His parable?
What are some of the attributes that describe the wise man and set him apart from the naive and the scoffer?