On This Day: When Jesus Explains Everything to His Own

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. (Mark 4:33-34)

   It is really standing out to me in this present journey through the gospel of Mark how Jesus taught his disciples. He preached the good news of the kingdom of God everywhere he went and constantly used parables to illustrate things to the crowd. He was even sensitive to how the crowds were able to hear what he was saying and taught them like a shepherd feeding his sheep.

   But this picture of Jesus getting alone with his disciples and explaining everything to them is so amazing to me. The word “explained” means “to interpret, conceived of as untying or untangling something knotted” (Bible Sense Lexicon). 

   That is such an accurate description of what my time with God in his word feels like each morning. It isn’t that the Scriptures are tangled and knotted, but that my befuddled mind experiences God’s word like that. As David sang, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it” (Psalm 139:6). 

   But then I felt Jesus doing this exact thing to me, explaining everything to me in private! And he did this by taking my little chin in his hands and turning my eyes to see the expression “the word”. I looked this up and discovered that the word for “the word” is “logos”. This word means, “gospel ⇔ word n. — the content of what is preached about the good news of Jesus’ way of salvation” (Bible Sense Lexicon). It is the same word John used when he wrote his prologue, “In the beginning was the Word (logos), and the Word (logos) was with God, and the Word (logos) was God” (John 1:1), and his theme statement, “And the Word (logos) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). 

   I cannot put into words the wonder and delight of feeling "the Word" (Jesus) explaining his "word" to me. I know that spending time with God every morning can be a challenge, particularly with all the demands, distractions, decoys and deceptions that are all around. 

   But when we discover for ourselves that Jesus will meet with us by his Spirit and explain his word to us in the most real and personal of ways, we will hunger and thirst to “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly” (Colossians 3:16) so that we not only grow in our knowledge and understanding of the word of God, but we get to know the Word of God better than we have ever known him before.     

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: Understanding the Kingdom Secrets

And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that
“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
    and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”
And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? (Mark 4:11-13)

   I love coming to God’s word (the Bible) day after day and anticipating what God will teach me. Sometimes what I learn is of the “I’ve never noticed that before” category, and other times it’s one of those “Oh, is that what that means?” lessons.

   What stood out this morning was the variety of words that are synonyms of “understand”. Psalm 111:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.” In speaking of the Messiah, Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 11:2 “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.”

   Both understanding and knowing are central to our new life in Christ. So, how is God ministering that to me today (and hopefully to you)? 

   This comes after listening to a podcast yesterday while I was sorting photos for the daycare. The title intrigued me, but the content left me in the dust of people who knew things that went way beyond my knowledge of doctrine and theology. 

   But this is why Jesus said the kingdom of God was given to the poor in spirit, to those who mourn, to the meek, to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:1-12). It’s because we can understand the gospel without being able to keep up with theological discussions. The Samaritan woman went into her town after talking with Jesus and declared, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (John 4:29). She didn’t understand everything about him, but she knew what it was like to talk with him, and that gave her understanding that even the religious elite could not grasp.

   The thing I most want to encourage everyone with is that Jesus told us we must be like little children to enter his kingdom. Children often understand relational things very clearly even though they may not have intellectual understanding of what we mean. 

   In our daycare, I am always having fun with the Littles, throwing out phrases that I know are going right over their heads (I’m always hoping one of them will come back someday and tell me they “got it” about something I had said).  However, the goofy way I’m acting and talking when I say these things has the kids “getting” me in a relational way even though they think it is hilarious that I’M the one who doesn’t know what he’s talking about! 

   My point is simply to encourage everyone that you can know Jesus without knowing everything about him. I don’t come to his word every day because I know everything, but because I know him, and I want to find out what he will teach me each day if I show up with my listening ears on. I am NEVER disappointed and ALWAYS have so much to share with others because of God’s gifts of grace each morning. 

   When Jesus told Satan that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God, he was not only beginning to destroy the devil’s work but was identifying a chief characteristic of his followers. We would be those who would let the word of Christ dwell in us richly so we can live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. We would come to know Jesus Christ in our moment of salvation in a way that would make us want to know him better every day than we have ever known him before.

   And I hope this helps you with that very thing even as God has helped me this morning.

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: Explaining Why ‘Outsiders’ Do not Understand

And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that
“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
    and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” 
(Mark 4:10-12)

   For a long time, I have been troubled by this passage. It sounded to me like God had prophesied that when the Messiah came he would do things in such a way that people would not be able to understand. And that did NOT make sense to me!

   This morning, what the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see is the distinction between those who were outside the kingdom and those who were inside. And then he brought to my remembrance some other Scriptures that made so much sense of this troubling passage.

   The simple point is that everyone was called to the same gospel, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). By Mark 4, we have a group of people who had received the gospel and entered Jesus’ kingdom.

   This means that everyone Jesus referred to as “outsiders” were still “dead” in their “trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). As Paul clarified later, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Ephesians 4:18). And he adds to the Corinthians, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14). 

   That’s the point. Outside the kingdom of God there is no understanding. This is why I don’t see much value in focusing on left-brain debates with unbelievers. They cannot understand spiritual truth. Instead, we share the good news of the kingdom of God, we speak Scripture to people as the “word of Christ”, and watch to see if there are any sheep among the listeners who will hear Jesus’ voice and follow him where he leads.

   In the category of the Spirit’s work of bringing Scriptures to our remembrance, he did this with two verses from II Corinthians 4. 

   First, “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (vs 4). This is why “outsiders” don’t understand. 

   Second, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (vs 6). This is why “those around him with the twelve” were with Jesus and wanted to hear his explanations of the parables. 

   I still don’t like that the “many” prefer the wide road to destruction. But now it makes sense to me why there is such a distinction between the “outsiders” and those who were “around Jesus”. When Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3), he was telling a Jewish religious leader why the kingdom of God is so distinct from anything in the world. We can only enter by being “born again”, and that’s why we keep making everything about Jesus. 

   Our Shepherd said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27), so let’s help people hear Jesus’ voice while uniting with those who are “around him with the twelve”. Each of us will know who we are.

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: The ‘Again he began to teach’ of Jesus

Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: (Mark 4:1-2)

 

   Before I looked at the next section of God’s word in the gospel of Mark, I was already wondering how God would break through my familiarity with the gospels to teach me what I needed to walk with him today. Some days that thought leans more toward despondency, and other days more toward excited expectation. But it is always there, that I am dependent on God to make known to me whatever he pleases through his word.

   As a bit of background, I learned a few years ago that our brains process information from the right-side to the left-side. The right-hemisphere is focused on bonding (who or what we are attached to) and the left-hemisphere on believing. 

   This is fascinating and explains so much of why people in churches struggle to attach to truth. It isn’t because the truth of God’s word doesn’t make sense, it’s because they have bonded to someone or something that is restricting their ability to believe the good news.

   For example, I have had many professing Christians in churches struggle to believe God loves them. For a long time, I didn’t understand why such obvious truths in Scripture as God’s love for his beloved children had virtually no impact on some people. When I heard that anything I taught was processed on the right side of the brain before it got to the left side, and that it was the deepest bonds that were filtering what a person could believe, I realized that these people needed help with their relationship with God (bonding) more than their instruction about God (believing). 

   I don’t have room to say more in this short post, but ever since I learned how our brains process the intel of our five senses, I have also helped myself by watching for signs of bonding issues that need ministry so my believing issues are free to “delight in truth in the inward being,” so God can “teach me wisdom in the secret heart” (Psalm 51:6). 

   For today, I simply loved the “inward being” feeling of my “secret heart” that delighted in the attachment I felt to Jesus “again” beginning “to teach beside the sea”. Aside from the fact that I grew up in Sandspit, BC, with the “sea” right outside my bedroom window, knowing that God has given me everything I need to meet with Jesus Christ my Creator, Savior, and Lord every morning and day of my life is awesome in the real sense. And knowing that through the word of God in the Bible, I can hear Jesus teaching me by his Spirit today as clearly as those people heard him then fills me with so much wonder and awe that I do not want to miss anything “the Spirit is saying to the churches”. 

   Part of the application for me is to “again” pass on to you those “wonderful words of life”, as the old hymn expressed it. And the verse that just came up with Psalm 51:6 seems like such a beautiful way to conclude, “The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth” (Ecclesiastes 12:10). 

   I’m going to head out on a prayer walk shortly. I will be praying for whoever reads this, that any right-brain bonding issues will be met and comforted and healed by the God who “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). This will include praying that anyone who needs help and healing for their bonding issues will find it through the body of Christ expressing the love of Christ by serving one another in love just as our Savior does “again” and “again”.   

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: When We Become Family to Jesus

   And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:31-35)

   I remember the day I was talking with our Father in heaven about some things that happened to me and suddenly the word “ORPHAN!” flashed into my mind like the title on a movie screen. I immediately felt a mixture of pain and comfort because that one word explained everything I thought about myself.

   God has not allowed me what I call “the luxury” of being a church-goer who gets away with saying that Christians don’t have family-issues, or the wounds of childhood trauma, or fear-based identities that are contributed to by church people who deny the kinds of things Christians bring with them to church!

   God’s word declares that the same God who “determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names,” also “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3-4). 

   “Brokenhearted” is synonymous with “blessed are the poor in spirit”, and “blessed are those who mourn”. It is anyone who knows that we are sinners in need of a Savior. These are the ones God comforts, forgives, heals, and restores, which includes becoming part of his family.

   The Scriptures are full of the truth that whoever believes in Jesus Christ becomes a member of his family. Paul wrote, 

“In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:4-6). 

   I know some people think it is nit-picking to point this out, but the new translations are wrong to replace “sons” with “sons and daughters”. God deliberately presents one group of people with no distinctions between them. Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ discovers that they were already predestined to be adopted as a son of God.

   This is why Paul clarified, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). He did not mean that everything he said to differentiate between men and women, husbands and wives, or even slaves and masters, was invalid. He meant that in our spiritual standing as God’s family, we are all “one in Christ”, all the same, all sons.

   So many Christians are familiar with the promise of God, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” However, many miss what Paul said in the next verse to show what this means, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:28-29). 

   Again, if your translation says “brothers and sisters” it is destroying the very words of God. Jewish and Gentile believers are all brothers to Jesus Christ.  Slave and free believers are all brothers to Jesus Christ. Male and female believers are all brothers to Jesus Christ. There is only ONE people of God, and although there are instructions regarding our earthly distinctions, they have nothing to do with the way God sees us as his family. 

   Jesus Christ died to secure the salvation of all God planned to adopt as his sons. Jesus never denied his earthly family, but he showed that even they (Mary included) had to become his spiritual family by grace through faith and share in the glorious gift of God called “adoption as sons”. 

   No matter whether family has given us the most trauma we have ever experienced, or the best relationships we have ever known, seeking first the kingdom and righteousness of God means becoming Jesus’ family above everything and everyone else. But always in the hope that our earthly family will join our spiritual family as well. 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: The ‘Real and Personal’ of Being with Jesus

And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. (Mark 3:13-15)

   I did not grow up knowing how real and personal a relationship with God should be. My mom was a quiet Christian who took us to church but never talked about it. My dad was an angry agnostic who made it dangerous to talk about anything I was learning. My youthful interactions with the church met my need for belonging, but never taught me how to know Jesus as “God with us”. And my Bible college years taught me to see “experience” as an enemy of the church! 

   All that to say I don’t really know when I realized that a relationship with Jesus Christ in today’s world is supposed to feel both “real and personal”. Yes, by EXPERIENCE!

   I know for sure when I “got it” that this was the case (1992). I am so thankful for how God has worked for a few decades making him and his work all the more real to me. And I praise him for the way knowing him has become increasingly personal as I learn to bare my heart to him in prayer, receive his word into my heart no matter what adjustments must be made, and then join him in his work as best I know to do. 

   When we consider how to apply things Jesus did with his apostles to our lives in the church it helps to remember that the apostles were the “foundation” of the church (see Ephesians 2), while Jesus’ disciples of today are the “living stones” that “are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (I Peter 2:5).

   So, the way we experience Jesus in the “real and personal way” taught in Scripture is by each believer fully living out their place in the body of Christ. We can learn from the example of the apostles that we also have an assignment (our spiritual gifts) and must fulfill our place in the church Jesus is building as surely as they fulfilled their place in laying the foundation. 

   This means that we all must be able to identify that our salvation is both “real and personal”. We also must strive to serve the body of Christ in real ways that are personal expressions of our love and spiritual gifts that people experience in real and personal ways related to building them up in the Lord. And we must make every effort to 

“do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life” (Philippians 2:14-16).

   And, if you do not know how to know Jesus Christ in the real and personal way we see in his word, just ask! Ask God to make this real to you in the most personal of ways. Pray with a genuine hunger and thirst for the righteousness of knowing Jesus Christ your Lord in the most real and personal of ways. Ask fellow believers how the things of God’s word are real and personal to them. Seek this together. Yes, even if you don’t know what it is supposed to feel like! 

   Jesus said that eternal life is “that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). I simply encourage you to not be satisfied with an experience of church life that is not an experience of knowing the Triune God in real and personal ways. 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: The Quest to Destroy Jesus

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. (Mark 3:1-6)

   It really impacted me today that the religious elite were narcissistic hypocrites.

   A narcissist is someone who cannot accept a healthy shame message. You can’t tell them they are doing anything wrong, even in the nicest and kindest of ways, because they will need to destroy you before you make them look bad.

   A hypocrite is someone who acts one way while being another. They create the roles by which they want to be known, and detest anyone who exposes the duplicity of their lives.

   A narcissistic hypocrite is someone who will not accept any criticism of their beliefs or behaviors because they cannot lose the perception that they are the person they pretend to be. They will destroy anyone who threatens their image.

   The Pharisees were the leaders of the synagogues. They had fabricated an image of what good religious people should look like, and had not imagined anyone taking that from them until… well… Jesus came along!

   In today’s account from Mark 3, these narcissistic hypocrites are blind to the glory of Jesus revealing himself to everyone as Messiah, and could only see how he was breaking their rules, rules they had used to support their roles. And we are called to take notice of the Pharisees’ need to find fault with Jesus so they could destroy him.  

   The first application is an invitation to use this scripture as a mirror. When you see how determined the religious elite were to destroy Jesus, do you see yourself in the scene? Does your mind work to destroy any evidence that Jesus Christ is our Creator, the only Savior of the world, and the King of kings and Lord of lords? Do you argue against Jesus to try to keep others from following him and making you look like you’re not? There are lots of ways we can be just like those narcissistic hypocrites as we seek to “steal, kill, and destroy” people’s faith in the Savior.

   As our second application, the hidden lesson in this is that if this is the way narcissistic hypocrites treated Jesus then, how could we expect anything different for ourselves if we are seeking to make him known to everyone in our lives? And knowing this, let us put on the whole armor of God, take our stand against the devil’s schemes, and proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the people living in darkness. They need people who aren't afraid of narcissistic hypocrites!

 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)