Kirkers Read 05 – A Vibrant Gospel

Ben Zornes on July 2, 2018

The Gospel of Mark was likely the first written record of the life and ministry of Christ; it is likely that Peter was a primary source for Mark. One thing that doesn’t always come through in English translations is just how active and vibrant the narrative is. Mark clearly wants to get across the activity and agency of Christ. Jesus was “at work.” This is not a mere “retelling.” Mark wants us to see Jesus moving and doing. Jesus is a real man who is not passively responding to things that happen to Him; He is in the driver’s seat, performing His ministry as a servant to the sick and suffering of Israel.

This is important when it comes to His death and resurrection. He is not passive, even as He is being tried by night, nailed to a cross, and buried in a grave. Jesus is the active character in it all. Ultimately this shows us what Jesus said elsewhere, “No man taketh [my life] from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father (John 10:18).” Jesus is the servant, come to heal mankind’s disease. But He comes not as a sad puppy waiting for attention before acting. Jesus is the instigator of all the events that come to pass. Including––most importantly––His redemptive work.

We’ll read Galatians at the end of the week. As you read this epistle, read it as Paul’s case for which way the vote should go at the Jerusalem Council. What was in question at the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 was whether Gentile believers needed to be circumcised in order to become Christians. Paul clearly thought that requiring this would be tantamount to undermining the entirety of the gospel. Galatians was written very much in the midst of all the debate and lead up to the council. We can be grateful for his defense of the liberty from the law which Christ won for us, and that our salvation is in no other than Christ and Him crucified.

You Shall Not Steal: The Seventh Commandment

Ben Zornes on June 27, 2018

Communion Meditation

Christ Church Downtown

Ty Knight – June 24, 2018

We’ve come to the eighth commandment, “You shall not steal.” This one is so simple and so needed. If you are a parent and could get one genie wish out of the Ten Commandments granted for your kids, this commandment would be a quality choice. Imagine how pleasant your home would be if your kids did not steal––the toy, the toast, the turn on the swing. Life would be right nice.

Paul shows us how we should apply the Eight Commandment in Ephesians 4:28, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Eph. 4:28). First, you must not steal. You steal by taking cookies or skittles out of the snack drawer without your mama’s permission. You steal when you should be working but are not––come in late, take too long of lunch break, check Facebook, text your GF on the clock. You steal another’s work or credit through plagiarism or copying. Citizens steal from governments. Governments steal from citizens. Why do you steal? You steal because of selfishness, entitlement, laziness, pride to keep up appearances. God hates all stealing.

Paul says it’s not enough just to keep your mitts off other people’s stuff. You must apply your hands to honest work. Work is good, dignified, blessed and especially when you take responsibility for your own life. Kids, if you’re having a stealing squabble–– “I had it first…No, it’s mine!,” then it would be a good time to transition to working on chores. Don’t be a taker but be a worker so that you can be a generous giver.

Here’s the pattern––Don’t steal, but do good work so that out of the abundance of good work, you can bless others. Who does this sound like? Jesus the Giver, who said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that you may have life and have life abundantly.” How do we receive this abundant life? Through Christ’s work of giving himself through his life and death. And so keeping the 8th commandment is nothing short of imitating Jesus Christ, who took nothing but our sins, and gives his life abundantly. This reminds us of our need to confess our sins.

Father, we confess that from youngest to oldest that we have broken your commandment to not steal. We are thieves of toys, of finances, of approval for others, of time. But often we feel justified like the rich young ruler that we have kept all these commandments from a young age. But like him we still grasp when you tell us to be generous. This selfishness of stealing and refusal of open-handed generosity reveals that we are ungrateful, discontent, and not like you. We confess this as sin. We now confess our individual sins to you, and selah.

Grace & Peace: Revelation 101

Douglas Wilson on June 26, 2018

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, And is become the habitation of devils, And the hold of every foul spirit, And a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, And the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, And the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies” (Rev. 18:1–3).

Commentators differ over whether this angel is intended to represent the Lord Jesus, or whether he is simply one of the greater created beings. As there is no explicit reason for identifying him with Christ, it is perhaps best to simply take the description at face value. This is an angel with “great power,” and with the kind of vivid luminosity that lit up the earth. We should perhaps think of the kind of light that He has “great power,” and he cries out “mightily” with a “strong voice.” The message he declares is one of the great themes of this book—the collapse of the old Babylon, and her replacement by a virgin bride, the new Jerusalem.

The first thing the angel says is that Babylon “the great” has fallen utterly. The first set of descriptions show the greatness of her calamity—and also helps to identify her as the city under judgment, the city of Jerusalem. First, she has become the “habitation of devils” and a stronghold of “every foul spirit.” This is precisely what happened to the military defenders of that desolate city, and exactly what Jesus had predicted.

“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation” (Matt. 12:43–45).

Jesus was using a cleansed demoniac as an illustration—but what he was actually talking about is what would happen to that unrepentant nation after His ministry of casting out demons. He spent three years casting them out, and yet the rulers of Israel rejected their Messiah. The end result was a revolt against Rome that was literally a pandemonium, a frenzy, a warp spasm of iniquity.

The Lord had said this about Jerusalem—it was going to be flattened.

“And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matt. 24:2).

When this kind of complete destruction comes upon a city, the next residents will be the foul and unclean birds. This had been expressly declared as the future of Babylon.

“But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; And their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; And owls shall dwell there, And satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, And dragons in their pleasant palaces: And her time is near to come, And her days shall not be prolonged” (Is. 13:21–22).

Some question the identification of Babylon here with Jerusalem—was Jerusalem really that great a merchant power, such that the merchants of the earth would weep and lament her fall? I believe that this is the point that John is making—while perhaps he is keying more off the descriptions of an unfaithful and luxury-loving Jerusalem in the Old Testament than he is saying something about the GDP of Jerusalem in the first century. But even here we should be careful—there is no reason for assuming that it was not an economic power.

“Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;” (Ezekiel 16:28–30, cf. 14-15, 26; 23:12-21)

After all, when we read these words with the assumption that the Old Testament is our primary context, the identification seems sure.

“Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, That made all the earth drunken: The nations have drunken of her wine; Therefore the nations are mad” (Jer. 51:7).

You Shall Not Murder: The Sixth Commandment

Ben Zornes on June 26, 2018

Communion Meditation

Christ Church Downtown

Ty Knight – June 10, 2018

In many of the Ten Commandments, you are told not to do things––you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal. We react, “Why all the negativity?” The negative command should be heard the same way a recently freed Israelite hears the command, “Do not return to Egypt.” Don’t go back there because God is leading you to the Promise Land. You have been set free to live free.

And so, in the Sixth Commandment, God says, “You shall not murder.” Short and simple––you shall not murder. Even if we’ve failed at the first five commandments, we feel good that we haven’t broken this one––“I’m pretty sure I haven’t murdered anyone.” But Jesus does not limit this command to the bloody corpse on the ground. He inquires, “Have you been angry? Have you screamed at your husband? Have you talon-scratched your brother in frustration? Have you cursed your roommate behind his back? Have you kicked the equipment because of your employee or boss? Have you hated your brother?” Then Jesus says you have broken the sixth commandment.

God forbids murder because his aim is the flourishing of human life. As the church, we must be the people that love and cultivate the flourishing of life. Christians ought to be on the forefront to research cures for diseases, to support those with disabilities, to encourage parents adopting or fostering kids, to visit the elderly lady next door.

Christians must support life from the cradle to the grave. But even this phrase––cradle to the grave, is no longer enough. Millions of humans do not even survive long enough to make it to a cradle. Their first and final resting place in the world is a dumpster behind Planned Parenthood. This murder is evil. And with doctor-assisted suicide, the grave is now able to be scheduled like a oil change. This self-murder is evil.

Our God is the living God who gives and celebrates life. But as a culture we have turned from God, and so we snip up and vacuum out life, we silence life with a syringe. We will continue to murder with our hands, our votes, our words, our hearts, until we repent and turn to the Author of Life, the Crucified Christ.

Kirkers Read 04 – A Successful Commission

Ben Zornes on June 25, 2018

We wrap up the Gospel of Matthew this week, and––as mentioned before––Matthew is keen to show Christ as the promised King of Israel. The Gospel presents Jesus to Israel as King, and then shows them reject Him as King, but we see Christ’s Kingship being vindicated by the resurrection and ascension. His final words, often called the Great Commission, are a prime example of Jesus’ attitude regarding His own resurrection. He considered Himself King above all kings, and having been given all authority.

Now, we ought to realize that earth and all dominions have now been given into the hand of the risen and ascended Christ. There are only two options for how Jesus’ appropriation of that authority. He could either abdicate it and never actually employ His power to accomplish the redemptive end for which He died; or He could actually exercise it. The Great Commission shows us that Christ intended to conquer the world which He had been given dominion over, and He intended to conquer it successfully.

We ought to call it the “Successful Commission.” He has all authority and so there is no power which can withstand His reign over history. He will redeem the world through the good news of His atoning work. This ought to give us––as ambassadors of Christ––great confidence. We are sent out to proclaim the victory of our victorious King. We aren’t rallying for votes, hoping we can at least get a majority, we are announcing the conquest.

Finally, a brief word on Colossians, which we will read at the end of this week. Paul didn’t plan the church of Colosse, nor had he ever met the people there. However, he had heard that Jewish zealots were wreaking havoc amongst the believers there. Paul wants to emphasis the importance of their faith and baptism into Christ as the symbol which designates them as the people of God, not the ceremonies, symbols and shadows of the Old Testament. One other thing to note is how far these Jewish zealots had drifted from true faith, especially in the description at the end of Colossians 2:16-23. Faith in the promised Christ was the whole point of the Old Testament Christ, now, in the New Testament age, it is faith in the Christ who came that saves us.

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