Meditations

The God Who Feasts with Sinners

by Ben Zornes · Aug 29, 2023

In Jesus’ ministry, one of the common accusations leveled against Him by His enemies is that He feasted with tax collectors & sinners. In their mind, to eat with such sinners tainted the Rabbi from Nazareth. How could he share a meal with such vile low-lifes?

These teachers of Israel missed one of the brightest glories of the OT sacrificial system. In the offering of bulls & goats, God was covenantally feasting with the sinners who offered up the sacrifices. The beasts slain to cover Adam and Eve. The clean oxen which Noah offered after safely landing on Mt Ararat, underneath the brilliant rainbow of God’s promise. The divided beasts which Abram offered and which God’s glory passed through. The Passover feast on the eve of the Exodus from Egypt. All of these made clear that though man was utterly corrupt, God was in pursuit, gathering up sinners, pulling them out of their sin, that they might feast at His table.

As we gather around this table, God is still the God who feasts with sinners. This is a meal for those who have sinned greatly but have received even greater forgiveness through Christ. Yes, Christ feasted with the tax collectors & sinners, but by Him they were summoned to forsake the empty tables of sinful indulgence that they might enjoy the bounty of God’s mercy.

That God feasts with sinners is still offensive to those who hate God. It’s distasteful to them to find that forgiveness & social acceptance isn’t something which an earthly court can dish out. Once more, God offends the world with the glory of His mercy through the body & blood of Christ. Murderers, adulterers, thieves, and liars are welcome. Sinners one & all can come here, can come to Christ, and be assured that through Him and Him alone, God feasts with forgiven sinners.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

Hard Times for Joyful Saints

by Ben Zornes · Aug 28, 2023

While we enjoy a higher degree of comfort than any generation before us, it is also evident that we face hard times. Government corruption, economic instability, religious apostasy, and sexual degeneracy are abundant. In the midst of these hard times, your duty as a Christian is to be joyful despite the various cultural sorrows we face. However, a distinction should be made. Being joyful in the midst of clown world doesn’t mean that you just adopt the ethos of an eternal optimist: naive, gullible, but with a toothy grin all while things deteriorate around you. This joy which we are summoned to by the Gospel isn’t a joy of obliviousness, it’s an anchor.

You can flee from the terrors. That is the coward’s way. You can sulk in a corner. That’s the complainer’s way. You can give way and join the madness. That’s the compromiser’s way. Or you can joyfully give thanks in all circumstances, for all circumstances. That is the Christian’s way.

Cowering, complaining, & compromising are all false promises to lead you out of the misery. Gratitude to God–for the forgiveness He gives to You through Christ, for the mercy He’s shown toward your sin, for the abundant life He has sealed to you by the Spirit–is the only way to make it through the fog of trials, into the fields of everlasting joy.

Christian joy enables you to face hard times and emerge from them more like Jesus. This is true no matter what news story comes out this week as another proof of our national fabric unravelling. So, be diligent in the tasks God’s given you. Pay no heed to the conniving of evil-doers. After all, they’re like grass. While the Word, this Word which we preach & feast upon each Lord’s Day, is the Word that begets everlasting trees of righteousness.

Through Christ You pour out upon us eternal joy and everlasting grace, enough to supply us strength in every trial, courage in every dark valley, bright hope in the deepest valley. Yet too often we give way to various temptations to complain, cower, or capitulate. This is a great shame, for You are our God, and You are not thwarted, or terrified, or trembling before any of Your enemies. Forgive us for both the guilt of the ways we avoid walking in courage, and the shame of doing so, considering we have such a God as you. Be merciful unto us for we bring to you now all our various sins and failures, for we know there is no other God like you, a God who forgives repentant sinners.

The solution to our cultural woes is not political or economic or educational. The solution is repentance. Humbling ourselves before God, confessing our sin to Him, and then walking in uprightness of heart is the path of courage, which will bear fruit in all spheres of life.

Ending Bloodthirst

by Ben Zornes · Aug 22, 2023

In Moses’ Law, God restricted Israel from eating blood. A few things are readily obvious in this. First, this ought not to tangle you up with guilt if you prefer your steaks done rare. Rather, this guarded Israel from participating in the occultism of the demon worshipping nations around them. The literal blood-thirst of paganism imagined that drinking a slain beast’s blood would impart the vitality of that beast to you. Even more darkly, the heathen practice of drinking the blood of other humans was a twisted hope for grasping after eternal life.

The Altar of the Lord alone was the lawful place to offer up sacrificial blood. To partake of ritual blood for yourself would be to make a covenant claim that you can assuage your own guilt. If your sin demands death, offering another’s blood to yourself is a claim to sovereignty, setting yourself up as your own judge & pretentiously becoming your own mediator. This is just part of why God forbid this practice. The blood belonged on His Altar, reminding the worshipper that guilt deserved death, but God received the creature’s blood as the worshipper’s substitute. But this arrangement only worked because God covenanted with His people, establishing these terms according to His sovereign will.

When Christ came as the fulfillment of all these laws & ordinances, He surprises us with a command to drink wine as a covenant sign of His blood. While Moses outlawed the partaking of ritual blood, Jesus invites us to drink this covenant blood, every last drop.

Life is in the blood. Until Christ, the blood of guiltless beasts was required. But now, an eternal sacrifice has been made. You drink this covenant sign of the blood of another, and it’s not some dark & twisted way to wrest eternal life from God’s Hand. Because this blood was shed by the Son of God’s own hand.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

Glorifying God

by Ben Zornes · Aug 21, 2023

You exist, right here, right now, to glorify God. This is your purpose. Nothing will ever be more important than glorifying God in all you think, say, and do. “Glorifying God” might be a familiar phrase, but if it be our job description, we ought to know what it means.

In Hebrew, glory can mean weightiness. Glorifying could be thought of as adding to the weightiness. A King’s glory, in ancient times, would be manifested in the weight of his gold, his feasting board, his own physical stature. A weak & anemic king wouldn’t be glorious, because he couldn’t very well “throw his weight around.” But a hearty King–with great wealth, mighty armies, and bright countenance–would strike fear in his foes, and gather his admirers to follow him to conquest.

Now, since you are made to glorify God, how can you add anything to His infinite “weightiness”? It’s like asking whether a proton of dust adds to the weight of the earth. God, being infinite, is in no need of increasing His glory, for He is already all glorious. So, what does it mean to glorify God?

It means, in short, that small though you are, you are made by the loving hand of God & you must live accordingly. His glory has been stamped on all He made. To strive against Him, which is what our vanity & pride really is, is to descend into the eternal unraveling that is hell.

He made you, so this requires you to worship Him. He redeemed you from your sin, so this compels you to repent and forsake your sin and seek after living righteously according to His Word. To glorify God is to live, truly live. It is living as a free creature of the sovereign God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.

In our sinful imagination we have sought out ways to glorify ourselves, to deem ourselves our own creator and sustainer. This is the central wickedness of man’s condition, that though we know that there is a God, we don’t live accordingly. The sins we cherish are defiant attempts to pull God Almighty off the throne of heaven, and this is the utter madness of our sin. To come out of the madness means we must repent for rebelling against living in the light of His glory, the glory with which He made us. Our Father made us to glorify Himself, to reflect Him as creatures made in His image. Our sins, big and small, are all attempts to unmake ourselves in defiance of the great gift of being which He has given to us. This is why we must humble ourselves and confess our sins, that we might be raised up into His glory, the glory which He intended for us when He made us & redeemed us.

As is often the case, it isn’t whether you will glorify someone or something. Rather, you will glorify something. Whose glory will it be? God’s or something inferior. The only way to be truly human is to humble yourself and acknowledge Your Creator & Redeemer, and so glorify Him.

Space Debris

by Ben Zornes · Aug 15, 2023

You find yourself living in what might seem like a field of space debris. For the last few generations, mankind has sought to find a locus for meaning outside of the Triune God. Darwin, Freud, and Marx have ushered in a fractured world. It is full of unelected bureaucrats ruling in tyranny and unrighteousness. The blood of the unborn cry out to the Lord from hospital dumpsters. We’re surrounded by a frenzy of sexual confusion & mutilation.

We have found what every godless culture from Babel to the Hitler’s Germany inevitable finds. The center will not hold if the center is not Christ.

As the bread is broken, and the wine is poured, God confronts you with the center of the universe. Here, on this simple table covered with a white tablecloth, in these baskets and tray, is the focal point of existence, the hope of eternity, the meaning of the material world, the answer to the questions, the rhyme & the reason. Christ died for you. Christ shed His blood for you. Christ plunged down into the swamp of death & depravity in order to resurrect mankind in Himself.

If you try to orbit any other focal point you will find, sooner or later, that you are flying off into the coldness of deepest space. But here is the Sun. Here is the warmth of God reconciled to man through Christ, and sealed to us by the Spirit. Here is an eternal weight of glory, with more than enough gravitational pull to hold all things in their place. And you, by grace, are invited to draw near to the center of it all.

The philosophies of men, the schemes of the wicked, the plots of the arrogant will only result in aimless drifting. But in Christ, all things find their proper orbit.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

Fighting Wild Beasts

by Ben Zornes · Aug 14, 2023

One of the most cinematic moments of Scripture is when David tells Saul how God prepared him to defy the Giant who was defying the armies of the Living God. David tells Saul that as a shepherd boy, he had chased down lions and bears, grappled with them with his bare hands, and delivered the prey from the predator’s jaw.

One commentator points out that in Mark’s description of Jesus being led into the wilderness after His baptism, his likeness to David is alluded to in this way “And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts (Mar 1:13a).” Jesus, like His forefather David, endured without fear the wild beasts.

This becomes just one example of how Jesus came in defiance of all the dangers which had come to fill this fallen world of sin. But this isn’t just interesting Biblical observation, this is highly practical.

The Spirit of Christ now dwells in you. Christ-likeness then isn’t adopting a mousy & timid disposition. Instead, you spot the wild beasts who would harm the flock, and sprint toward them. Is there a good thing you’ve been putting off? Wait no more. Is there a sin weighing on your conscience which you need to confess? Don’t delay. That evangelistic opportunity you’ve been too insecure to try, go for it. That wickedness which you’ve been trying to turn a blind eye to, chase it down & break its jaws.

This is the family trait of those born of God, from David down to us, all because of David’s greater son Jesus. The power of God is at work in you. So then, by faith seek out righteousness & root up wickedness in your own heart, and in the world around you.

The mighty men of old were not daunted by the wild beasts. The Lord God endued them with the grace of His Spirit that they might win the victory. It is a great folly to treat those Old Testament stories as if they were quaint fables, when God gave them to us to instruct us in righteousness. God sent forth the Spirit to embolden and strengthen us to fight against all internal and external unrighteousness. Where we’ve permitted packs of wolves to roam free in our hearts, may God forgive us. Where we’ve been apathetic about the pride of lions devouring our families, may God forgive us. He trains our hands for war, even as we bend our knees to confess our sins to Him.

In all this remember that the Lord Jesus, great David’s greater Son, sent His Spirit to dwell in you and assure you that by His blood, and His blood alone you might be washed clean, and equipped to boldly face whatever fearful beast you may find either in your own heart or in this world.

Riches of Gold & Riches of Grace

by Ben Zornes · Jul 27, 2023

This may be a bit of an odd topic for a communion meditation, but hang with me here, let’s talk about money. Wealth is a good thing. However, the glitter of gold often reveals the state of someone’s heart. The overly pious pretend as if it’s intrinsically evil to grow wealth. Meanwhile, godless men are eaten alive by insatiable greed. Posturing yourself as above the need for wealth is often an instance of pride; you deceive yourself with the illusion that you’ve transcended the material world. Often, this feigned contentment, is really hidden resentment for those wealthier than you. And certainly, Wall St. tycoons, Meme-stock geeks, and $1 Billion lotto winners are frequently guilty of putting faith in uncertain riches.

But when you see by faith the wealth upon this table, you also come to see material wealth rightly. You can only build your wealth under the blessing of the Lord through faithful diligence & generosity, if you first understand how incomparable it is to the wealth of God’s kindness to you through Christ. Scripture doesn’t speak of gold derisively. However, the desirability of gold is to be dwarfed by your desire for God’s Word.

“I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. … Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart. … Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. … I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. (Ps. 119:14, 111, 127, 162; 19:10, Cf. Pro. 16:16).”

In Jesus Christ you partake of all the riches of God’s grace. That great treasure horde of Christ enables you to freely & rightly enjoy all the blessings of earthly wealth; because you know that gold shall perish, but the Word of the Lord shall endure forever.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

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