Meditations

Law/Grace Paradigm

by Ben Zornes · Apr 25, 2023

Later in our service we’ll recite together the first table of the Ten Commandments. This is an opportune time to clear up a common misunderstanding in evangelical circles. Many read Scripture with a Law/Grace paradigm. This way of reading & interpreting the Bible, however, turns us into editors of God’s Word, scratching our chin and trying to discern which parts are Law parts and which parts are Grace parts.

Some even go so far as to say that Paul’s writings are too laden with Law, and that we should really only concern ourselves with the parts that talk about God’s forgiveness, grace, and love. This approach turns the Law into oozing pond to be avoided, and reduces grace into a smothering, maternal hug.

But this approach will stump us when we get to texts like this:

“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them (Ps. 119:165).”

“Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it (Deu. 32:46-47).”

Taking all this together, it is the Word which sorts mankind, not mankind which sorts the Word. To the regenerate heart, all the Words of God are precious, they are Grace. To the unbelieving, all of Scripture is a millstone of Law. As we corporately recite the Ten Commandments, notice the prologue: the Lord delivered us from Egypt. It’s this deliverance which forms the basis for our obedience. It isn’t our obedience that procures our deliverance. Grace, in other words, makes law-keeping a possibility.

God’s Law is holy, just, and good. It restrains wicked men, it reveals our sin as well as the perfect righteousness of Christ; but it also restores us, by our union with the Son, to righteousness. The Father has clothed us in Him, and reckoned us righteous in Him. Furthermore, the Law is not grievous, as John tells us; for the Law commands us to love God, and so bask in the glory which He made us for. Yet, we have transgressed the law in its finer points and in its major ones. We have been legalistic about other’s transgressions, and profoundly permissive of our own. This compels us to go to God for forgiveness for such unjust weights and measures. Our prayer should be that by God’s Holy Law He would reveal Christ to us, reveal our sin to us, and spur us to righteousness in Christ.

Being righteous isn’t a matter of trying harder, but of resting entirely in the righteousness of Christ. This is the only way to have the guilt of your sin cleansed, and the only way to obtain strength for the good works God has called you to.

History on the Table

by Ben Zornes · Apr 12, 2023

From the opening salvo of Genesis’ creation account, to the adventurous romps of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Kings; from the scrupulous chronologies to the precise measurements for the tabernacle & temple; from the glorious conquests to the disastrous exiles, the Scripture is clear. It isn’t just a collection of moralistic assertions. It isn’t a book of food for thought for philosophers or theologians.

It’s a history. It’s our history. It’s a book about the world we live in, how God made it, and more to the point, how He redeemed it. Of course, it’s not only a history. Nevertheless, too often Christians are lured into thinking that the Scriptures are written to bring us to some higher plane. However, the Resurrection brings home to us a vital truth. Christ’s Resurrection is not merely a wonderful idea to meditate upon, it is a historic fact which changed everything.

Christianity isn’t an attempt at escaping to a world of shapeless ideals. The Resurrection isn’t a fable about liberation from the prison of this material world. Rather, the Resurrection is the beginning of a total renovation of this world. The Old Management has been tossed out on his ear, and New Management is running this place: the Risen Christ.

And to make the point clear, King Jesus tasked us with placing a sign of running water upon all who are His, and then those who are His must also share a regular meal of bread and wine. In this respect, the old adage is true: the victors write the history. Since Christ arose, your destiny isn’t the corruption of the grave, but a new creation. Your body shall be made like His glorious body. Christ arose bodily in this world, and that means this is now His world & His story. And that means, for those who are His, He is also your glorious future.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

Envy & the Empty Tomb

by Ben Zornes · Apr 11, 2023

The first murder was the fruit of a heart that had been rotted out by envy. The worst murder–the crucifixion of Jesus––was no different. Christ was crucified because of the envy of the Jewish leaders. Christ spoke with power & authority. Christ’s ministry was accompanied by irrefutable miracles. The crowds hung on Jesus’ every word, and followed Him loyally. The same couldn’t be said of the priests & Pharisees.

But this is why Christ’s death and resurrection is so potent. It incapacitated the mechanics of ever-escalating envy. The Resurrection of Christ from the dead ensured that this world could no longer run on the machinery of envy.

Our sinful instinct is to strive with our neighbor for power & position, for love & loyalty, for gold & glory. This leads us to speak poisoned words of resentment. It fills our minds with mutinous vanity, and bitter grudges. Our actions aim at kneecapping our rivals.

The cross of our Lord Jesus puts an end to all this. You no longer need to strive with your brother, because Christ died for sinners. You no longer need to harbor that grudge, because Christ was buried. You no longer need to knock others down a notch, because Christ is risen & ascended. The war to be the last man standing was won by the man who laid His life down for us all. You can be at peace with your neighbor, because Christ has made peace between you & the Father.

Perhaps you’ve been storing up envy in bulk. You’ve been inwardly muttering about how he’s more well-respected, she has all the nicest things, they had better circumstances growing up than you did, your parents weren’t as godly as others. That inner chorus of envy is the hymn of damnation. Refuse to sing it. Let it echo into silence in the empty tomb, for Christ is risen.

The strife is ended. Our envy and bitter carping has been rendered powerless, because the Son drank up the full cup of God’s divine wrath. But we, like fools, try to resurrect the old grudges, but the Gospel declares to us that the Son was resurrected to end them all. The debts of our sin are all paid, and now we can forgive as God, in Christ, has forgiven us. May the Lord grant us grace to live in the New Creation of grace & peace, instead of trying to stoke the fires of envy & strife.

Where we have craved vain glory, may God forgive us. Where we have lusted for carnal gratification, may God forgive us. Where we have conspired to bring ruin to those around us, may God forgive us. And may He grant that we would rejoice in the liberation from all our envy. Christ is alive, and the guilt and shame of your sin is dead and buried. If you are in Christ, You partake of the New Creation glory, and the foundation stone of that glory is this Gospel we declare, God, in Christ, has forgiven all your sins.

A Certain Hope

by Ben Zornes · Apr 5, 2023

Imagine the disciples at the Last Supper. All their lives, as good sons of Abraham, they’d heard the prophecies, partaken of the feasts, prayed the Psalms, and hoped for the Messiah to come. Here He was, at last. He’d come. He sat in their midst, telling them that His body would be broken like the bread He passed to them, His blood would be poured out like the wine in the cup.

God’s people had cried for deliverance. Deliverance from the wicked sons of Cain. Deliverance from Pharaohs, giant, Canaanite Kings, Philistine champions, demon-gods, Assyrian, Babylonian, Grecian, and Roman empires. “Avenge us, oh Lord,” they had prayed. And God had done so. Repeatedly.

But now, in the carpenter from Nazareth, this Deliverance had a face. This Deliverance had a human body. This Deliverance shared with them a meal of bread & wine. Hope had come.

It’s been keenly observed that, “Hope is certainty of outcome, uncertainty of timing.” So, when you look upon these signs, you see the certain outcome of all things: Christ once crucified, now ruling evermore. With certainty we know that the Christ who shed His blood for the remission of our sins, now sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; thrones, angels and powers all made subject unto His majesty. He must reign until all enemies are subdued, then He shall come to judge the living & the dead, and offer up the Kingdom to His Father, that Christ may be all in all.

While the timing is uncertain, we rest assured that this is how it will all play out. This certainty is held out to us here in this meal. Christ is our head, we’re His body; He dwells in us, and we in Him. We are bound with Him who rules the world. This is our certain hope.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ

Sin’s Madhouse

by Ben Zornes · Apr 3, 2023

The Christian faith is not a privately held religious belief. As if we could fold up the greatest news which has ever occurred upon this planet, stuff it in our coat pocket & go whistling along as if nothing has happened. Christ is the great fork in the road of history.

You don’t get to ignore Him, or go around Him, or avoid Him. He is the immovable fact which must be reckoned with. He came to mankind, and you must either fling wide the gates, or bar them in stubborn unbelief. Christ entered Jerusalem, the City of David, to assert His right to earth’s throne. And then He won it by dying the death which you deserved.

Thus, the question that is perpetually before each of us is this: what have I done about Jesus? You either cling to Him in faith, fleeing from all your sin and unbelief in so doing. Or else you have determined to live in the house of mirrors which is your unbelieving pride. To pretend as if Christ didn’t enter Jerusalem to take up the Kingship of the World which was promised to His father David, and which he obtained by His blood, is to admit yourself into the madhouse.

While Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem has global & eternal significance, each individual must look this truth in the face. You either live in the peace of Christ’s Kingdom, or in the madness of pretending that the blood-thirsty demons of paganism still run this place.

Sin is trying to create a world, out of nothing, where you are in charge, & where Christ isn’t King. But this is insanity. So, repenting from your sins is admitting that you’ve embraced the crazed lies of Satan, turning from that lunacy, & then walking in the clear light of Christ’s Kingdom.

We live in a world which is filled with madness, chaos, and confusion because it is insanely attempting to go back to darkness. But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is David’s promised heir, the One who would eternally sit upon the throne of the earth, judging righteously. Our sins are pretentious attempts to live as if the Son isn’t King. We’ve despaired and envied. We’ve lusted and lied. We’ve been anxious, proud, and lazy. All these sins are lame attempts to live in the daydream, instead of living in the light and life of Jesus Christ, the ever-living Son of David.

The world tempts you with insane words about “trying harder”, “doing better”, “trusting yourself”. Confession, however, is the act of coming into the Light of the sanity of Christ’s kingdom of peace. All sin is insanity, but confession is walking in the truth, walking in reality, walking in the Kingdom of Christ. The Gospel speaks a clear word of sanity: your sins are forgiven through Christ.

A Present Christ

by Ben Zornes · Mar 20, 2023

Our God isn’t an aloof Father. He didn’t create & then forsake His creation. This world hasn’t bored Him, and now He’s moved on to other projects. Rather, He upholds creation by His Word. He’s present at every turn. He’s the inescapable Fact. He’s there in the ocean depths & mountain heights.

Baptism is given to us as a gift & blessing to underscore God’s omnipresence in a profoundly personal way. While He’s present everywhere, and at all times, these waters assure you that He’s present with you. Or as the confession reminds us: you belong, body & soul, in life & death, to your faithful God & Savior.

You are brought into true fellowship with God the Father, by baptism into the life, death, & resurrection of His Son. Christ the divine comes near to us in this sign, and by His humanity sympathizes with our plight. And so the God who made & fills Heaven & Earth, comes to dwell in us.

So welcome our sister & brothers to Jesus Christ…

The Word We Eat

by Ben Zornes · Mar 15, 2023

The Word of God is a sword. It slays lies with the truth. It lops off the heads of draconian vanities. It flays the sacrifice, that it might be rightly offered up. It cuts down the hypocrite who trusts in his own power to save himself.

The Word of God is a seed. It is scattered into the hearts of mankind, and where it finds fertile soil it bears much fruit. It germinates more faith, and perpetuates a greater and greater harvest of faith, 30, 60, 100-fold. It even causes the wilderness to bloom forth into an oasis of life (Is. 35).

The Word of God is a scepter. It is the confirmation as to who the lawful authority is. It is the measure for righteousness. It is the bar of true justice. It is extended in favor to the meek, but it is raised in condemnation towards the rebellious who would wrest it from Jehovah’s hand.

The Word of God is a hammer. It breaks. It builds. It chisels. It fits things together. It is the Lord’s tool of choice. It both removes that which doesn’t belong, and it arranges the stones in perfect order, fixes the beams into immovable joints, and erects a glorious sanctuary.

The Word of God is water. It cleanses away filth. It fits us for service in God’s courts. It refreshes us, alleviates our thirst, and causes the fruits of grace to ripen in our lives.

The Word of God is food. It nourishes our faith. It feeds us with heavenly manna. Bread that won’t grow stale. Wine that won’t go sour. It is more than our daily bread, for this food gives strength to both body & soul.

All of this is laid before you here. You take & eat the Word. The Word which cuts you & breaks you; builds you, and makes you.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

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