communion

Rejoicing in Another’s Sufferings

by Ben Zornes · Apr 9, 2025

This meal should be a comfort to you. Among the many reasons for this is that it speaks to you that God is not ignorant of or indifferent to your sufferings. Here we must grapple with the indisputable splendor that the Lord of glory descended down into the suffering of death. A death that He did not deserve.

His sufferings were undertaken to accomplish two things in relation to your sufferings. First, His suffering upon the cross ensures that one day, in the new heavens and new earth, there will be no more suffering. This truly surpasses anything you can think or imagination. All the pains you’ve suffered, all the sorrows you’ve ever carried, all the misery you’ve ever been called to endure, will one day be no more. Not only that but in that eternal glory you can be certain that there will be no temptation to fear or worry about future potential sufferings. A staggering reality that awaits us: tears shall be no more.

But the second, and more glorious, reason that Christ’s sufferings are a comfort to you in your sufferings is that it means that your sufferings mean something. Sin undoubtedly mangled the good creation of the Lord. But the cross certifies to us that Christ dealt with the consequences of sin by becoming Sin. He answered the question of why there is evil in the world by enduring the greatest evil. Because of the cross you can be certain that the sovereign God intends in the weight of your sufferings a far surpassing weight of glory.

Thus, what would be impolite elsewhere is faith’s true delight here. At this table we rejoice in Another’s sufferings. Another’s misery is our peace. You here remember with gladness the Man of sorrows. For His sufferings were undertaken for His and your eternal joy.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

You Shall Want No More

by Ben Zornes · Mar 31, 2025

Secular scientists are convinced that the world is slouching towards an inevitable demise. They speculate that the world’s ending may be a frigid dissipation of all heat and energy from the universe. Or they posit that it’ll all burn up in a final, splendid kaboom.

This world is not destined for death, however. It’s destined for glory. This is simply how the works of God are. God creates light on day one, but on day four He enthrones the light. The earth is not left void, it is gloriously ordered into sea, sky, and land. The land itself is glorified when God tenderly forms it into a man. That spiritless man is glorified when God breathes into him a spirit. The man is further glorified by being given a “same but sundered” helper: his bride Eve.

Abraham’s solitary son of promise is being glorified into a mighty heavenly host. The Passover feast was glorified into this meal, signifying to us all that is in Christ for us. But even this meal will one day be further glorified.

The Lord’s Supper is complete and sufficient; but it, too, is like a seed that will one day burst into flower. In the new heavens and earth we will taste the unbroken delight of Christ’s bodily presence. In that presence, you will finally know what it means to be satisfied.

In this life you have never experienced a moment without the pangs of unsatisfied desires. We hunger and thirst. We are tired or lonely. This meal invites us to see by faith that just as temporal food satisfies desires, we shall one day enjoy a two-fold glory. First, the everlasting satisfaction of Christ’s presence, and second, the absence of unsatisfied desire. You shall want no more, because as this meal promises the glory that awaits this world is this: Christ given to you.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

The Scandalous Gift of Salvation

by Ben Zornes · Feb 27, 2025

If a pushy salesman shows up at your door to hawk his wares you are unlikely to cave to his spiel. No matter how slick he is, no matter how many Jedi mind-tricks he tries to play on you, you are disposed to be suspicious of “too good to be true” sales pitches.

This is suspicion is well applied when it comes to fending off the salesman. However, our cynical suspicion can all too often leak into our understanding of what Christ holds out to us. What He holds out to you, as shown in the meal, is everlasting life. Bread for your hunger, wine for your thirst, and an assembly of fellow saints to enjoy it all with. It is beyond our comprehension that this is pure gift. Christ gives this to us as sheer grace.

There is no fine print. There are no hidden fees. The only thing required of you, He also provides. He calls you to see, and gives you eyes. He offers you this bread and gives you hands in order that you may “take, and eat.” This is, of course, what faith is. It, too, is a gift. The gift which enables you to hold all the other gifts. The marvelous glory of our salvation is that it really is entirely a gift, so that none of us can boast.

If such a gift is given, the response should be nothing other than love. Indeed, that is why the early church took to calling the Lord’s Supper a love feast. That indeed is what it is. His love is great towards His people, and if you have heard the splendor of Christ crucified on your behalf then receive it. Without objection, without cynicism, without excuses, without embarrassment at how great the gift is. Here is love, so respond in love.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

How to Complain

by Ben Zornes · Feb 4, 2025

Let me start with an understatement. Life is full of difficulties. The central difficulty we face is that of our own transgressions. But even leaving out sin, there are the difficulties of living in a world marred by sin. Difficulties in relationships, finances, politics, and on and on we could go.

If we liken our hearts to machinery, these difficulties are like built up pressure. Faulty machinery will inevitably lead to failure causing all that pressurized material to come spilling out as molten lava. The complaints, excuses, and selfish demands spew out in every direction, scalding everyone nearby. Some people’s machinery is so poorly maintained that all the complaints just ooze out continuously. Others try to keep it stowed away for respectability’s sake, but eventually it all explodes anyway. Difficulties build up, and the complaints come out either as seeping sludge, or explosive magma.

Now, let me say something surprising. You should complain. The pressure of your complaints cannot be kept inside. How your complain, however, must be completely unlike how the surrounding Christless culture complains. Your complaints are to be released through the valve of thankful and faith-filled prayer. Consider the Psalmist’s example: I poured out my complaint before [the LORD]; I shewed before him my trouble (Ps. 142:2). The unbelieving man doesn’t know where to direct the built up pressure, while the believer brings absolutely everything to God in praise, prayer, and petition.

The Lamb of God did not go to cross whining and fussing, spilling out bile upon all around Him. Rather, He went complacently, entrusting all the weight of His difficulties to the Father. Not only is He our example in this, He is also the only way for you to deal righteously with Your complaints. Cast all your cares upon Him, leave them there, and then give thanks. For Christ gives to you this everlasting bread of comfort, and this sweet wine of relief.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…

Hard Law & Sweet Gospel

by Ben Zornes · Jan 28, 2025

By God’s good design, this table confronts you with the severity of sin and the sweetness of the Gospel. Like the Israelites of old, standing upon the twin mountains of blessings and curses, we stand here to say “amen” to the covenant terms which God has kindly made with us.

Upon this table is hard law. “Cursed be the man that obeys not the words of this covenant (Jer. 11:3).” You see here that sin deserves death. The paycheck that comes along with toiling in the fields of sin is death. Signified upon this table is the torn body of Jesus, and the blood he spilt upon Golgotha’s tree. He died, and did so joyfully, because we all had sinned, and had done so with a twisted gladness.

Set before you is the severity of God towards sin. He hates your sin so much, that He sent His Son to die for you. You don’t taste the sweet wine of the Gospel’s salvation without having tasted the bitter cup of the Law’s condemnation. “Be holy, for I the Lord your God, am holy” echoes in our ears, even as we see the dingy gray of our own pathetic efforts at holiness, and the soiled garments of our sin. As one poet put it, “When legal fears shook me, I trembled to die; No refuge, no safety in self could I see.”

The heavy word of the Law ought not to be despised. For it is followed by the easy burden of the Gospel Word: come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavily burdened, for I will give you rest. Simultaneously, here is a meal of rest. Wine well aged. Bread well baked. A table of true leisure, rest, and welcome. Truly, the severity of the Law makes the sweetness of the Gospel deeper and richer.

So come in faith and welcome to King Jesus…

Die in Order to Reign

by Ben Zornes · Jan 14, 2025

Here, with a loaf of bread and a goblet of wine, God uses us to put on display to the entire cosmos the death of the God who bled for us. It is not hyperbole to say that this meal puts before our eyes an act of brutal violence. The bloody body of Christ, His cries of holy despair, His great sufferings should really be brought to our mind’s eye when we look upon this bread and wine.

But this is not in order to stir up tears of compassion for the suffering servant. Certainly, we should feel the great weight and glory of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. But in memorializing the bloody and gruesome death of the God-man, we are compelled rather to remember that He undertook this great work in order to nourish, fortify, and deliver you.

Your faith is weak, and so He trusted Himself to the Judge who judges justly. Your sins are great and many, and so He bled in your place. Your chains held you fast, and so He broke them asunder. All this was done through a horrific death.

However, because He died, He also reigns. This is the pattern which He sets before us. Die in order to reign. When you eat this bread & drink this wine, you are joined with the One who died to sin, who died to self, who resigned His will to the Father’s will. Upon this table is pure submission to pure authority.

Two things flow from all of this. When God, through this sacrament, holds in front of you the gruesome death of Christ, you should remember that this is how God deals with sin, and therefore how you ought to deal with your sin: die to it in Christ. Secondly, if you die, you shall also reign.

So come and welcome to Jesus Christ…

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…