Loving Jesus by Keeping his Words

I have been in a journey through John 17, examining what is commonly referred to as Jesus’ High Priestly prayer. He has spent the Passover evening teaching his disciples what was crucial to their understanding of what was about to happen in his arrest, abusive trial, and crucifixion.

The strange thing is that we are following a scene leading up to the most horrific experience of Jesus’ life. What we have revealed to us in John 13-16 is such a collection of life-giving words to prepare us for anything we could ever go through that we need to remind ourselves that Jesus taught these things on the verge of HIS unimaginable suffering!

I know what it is like to be consumed with fear of something that is going to happen to me so that I can barely think of anyone because of what I anticipate for myself. So, when I see Jesus’ consideration of his disciples on the night before his worst-case-scenario-ever experience, I am blown away by how we see “God is love” in the face of Jesus Christ![1]

The point is that Jesus knew that the horrifying thing about to happen to him would be horrible for them as well, and so he not only spoke to them the clearest words of comfort, help, and even joy, but directed the apostle John to write his teachings down in his gospel account to make sure we could benefit from those words as much as the apostles did.

In the next verse of my journey through John 17, Jesus says, “these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”[2]

Because of Jesus’ focus on, “these things I speak,” I was drawn to survey John 13-16 to highlight Jesus’ main teachings of that night that would summarize what he was referring to because these are obviously the words that would fulfill our joy while he is away from us. I didn’t get past this:

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.”[3]

That was like the most zinger bull’s eye ever. If we are not keeping Jesus’ words, it is because we don’t love him. THAT is the cancer that needs healing!

However, our love for Jesus never begins with us. Whenever God talks about us loving them it is always as a living response to their love for us. As God himself says in his word, “We love because he first loved us.”[4]

This means that the invitation in Jesus’ words is to so know love-relationship with him in such a real and personal way that keeping his words is a delight instead of a drudgery. There is such a strong “Father-Returning-Us-to-Joy” message here![5]

To clarify: this is NOT a message of works where we must love Jesus and keep his word for him to love us. Look at the way this whole section begins to make sure we have Jesus’ love as the foundation to understanding everything he calls us to do to walk in love:

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.[6]

Jesus’ disciples (of our present generation as well) are the Beloved.[7] The cross has expressed God’s love completely.[8] The issue is how we are responding to his love. If we cannot love someone who has “so loved” us,[9] there is something terrifyingly wrong with us, something that NEEDS to know his love![10]

This next verse is very personal for me. It has gripped me for a long time. Please make sure you understand me so Satan isn’t able to surround your heart with WoLVeS that torment you about it.[11] It is such an invitation into God’s love!

“If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.”[12]

NO, this is not driving us to do the good work of trying our hardest to love Jesus who is so unloving as to detest us if we don’t. This cannot be understood at all without looking at someone responding to the greatness of God’s love poured out for them.

After all, this is I CORINTHIANS! It contains the “love chapter”. If anyone can read through a letter like this and respond by saying in our hearts that Jesus is not worthy of us letting our hearts feel affection for him and loyalty towards him, we ought to be detested for being so pridefully self-centered and so arrogantly Christ-denying.

I should also clarify that, if anyone is feeling conviction about this, do not let Satan turn you to despair about it. God’s work right now is that we would know, “that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance (changing our minds about who we think is more loveable, us or him).[13] God shows us the truth about things like this to draw us into his love.

Since this is my sharing, I’m not trying to make it say something to you that is not God’s word for you today. I’m only emphasizing what it is doing in me that keeping Jesus’ words is all about a love-response to his love. If I am lacking any kind of love-response to him, I want to throw myself down in his loving presence and plead with him to overcome my WoLVeS, my self-protection, and all my insipid self-justification, and bring me to know his love in the most real and personal of ways EVER!

And, to encourage us in this, God even teaches us how to pray about it:

“I pray that according to the riches of your glory you may grant us to be strengthened with power through your Spirit in our inner being, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith—that we who are already rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of Jesus’ love, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.”[14]

And all God’s people said, “AMEN!”

 

© 2021 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.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] God is love: I John 4:7-8, 16; God’s glory in the face of Christ: II Corinthians 4:6

[2] John 17:13

[3] John 14:23-24

[4] I John 4:19

[5] I learned the principle of returning children to joy in our daycare and have been delighted to see how it works. It isn’t so easy with self-protective adults, but it is all through God’s word that he is constantly working to return us to joy. He is the most joyful person and wants to break through all our self-protection to get to our inner being where he can bring us to know his love, joy, and peace as never before.

[6] John 13:1

[7] Here is a link to a biblegateway.com search of the word “beloved” in the Bible: https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=beloved&resultspp=250&version=ESV

[8] Romans 5:6-8

[9] John 3:16

[10] I was just singing this song to Father the morning I finished this blog post: https://youtu.be/Y-jrwSwZN_w

[11] Thanks to Marcus Warner for the WoLVeS acronym. It simply summarizes the way our Wounds affect us when they are not brought to Jesus for healing. The devil comes in and Lies to us about everything, we make Vows about how to protect ourselves from ever getting hurt again, and this turns into a Stronghold where we keep finding ourselves acting the same way in the same kinds of circumstances.

[12] I Corinthians 16:22

[13] Romans 2:4

[14] Ephesians 3:16-19 (paraphrased)

John Bible Study ~ John 1:43-51 - Come and See the Shepherd King

A long time ago I was introduced to the idea that Jesus took his disciples through four stages of discipleship. The gospel accounts don’t have inspired headings that reveal this, so it never stood out to me. 

However, as I began looking at the differences from Jesus’ first interactions with his disciples to those at the end of his ministry, it was clear that he was adding stronger elements of discipleship to the stronger maturing of their relationship. 

The first element of discipleship is expressed in the recurring phrase, “come and see”. While people were expecting a Messiah (Christ) to come, they had not heard a fresh word from God in four centuries. Ideas of what it would look like for the Messiah to appear were either dim with disillusionment or distorted by fanciful imagination. The fact that Israel at the time was under the dominion of the Roman Empire made it easy to hope for a Messiah-King who would bring deliverance and give Israel back their autonomous identity under God. 

Because Jesus was coming in a way that people did not understand, and bringing the kingdom of God to the Jews in a way that was far above anything they had imagined, the first thing he offered people was the opportunity to “come and see” if he acted in a way that was consistent with the prophecies made about the coming Savior. 

This Bible study helps us consider what it was like for people to first meet Jesus and wonder if he was the Messiah they were waiting for. As Jesus gave people the opportunity to “come and see” for themselves then, our journey through these testimonies invites us to “come and see” for ourselves today.

 

John Bible Study ~ John 1:43-51 - Come and See the Shepherd King[1]

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1 ~ ESV) 

As Jesus begins his ministry, we see the early stages of relationships forming that are characterized by people coming and seeing for themselves who Jesus is and what he is about. These encounters draw us into his story (history) as God’s Book invites us to “come and see” for ourselves who Jesus of Nazareth is as the Word of God who came in the flesh, the very one the prophets told everyone to expect. 

Part 1: The “Come and See” Followers 

Our previous study showed us what happened when John the Baptist pointed his own disciples to Jesus and they went to see for themselves what John meant that Jesus was, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Now we watch as Jesus introduces himself to people and invites them into the “come and see” stage of getting to know him for who he is. The same invitation is presented to us. 

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John 1) 

1.     What does it add to the relational things that happened in Galilee that Jesus “decided” to go there? 

 

2.    How would you describe the impact that Jesus had on Philip that he immediately went to find Nathanael and tell him the good news of what he had discovered? 

 

3.    What does Philip’s declaration to Nathanael tell you about Jesus that God’s word wants you to believe as surely as Philip wanted his friend to share with him? 

 

4.    What does it mean to you that Jesus as the eternal Word of God, the Word who became flesh to dwell among us, makes decisions that bring people to know him for who he really is? 

 

Part 2: When Prejudice Meets Its Savior 

Throughout this gospel account, we are confronted with a whole variety of “issues” people need to get over in order to recognize Jesus. These testimonies show us that whatever our issues are in relating to Jesus, whatever triggers come up to challenge his call to follow him, they are more than answered by discovering for ourselves that Jesus is the Savior of the world. Today’s study focuses on how ingrained prejudice changes when Jesus opens our eyes to see him as he is.  

46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”  47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” (John 1) 

1.     When Philip tells his friend that the Messiah they have been waiting for has come, and that he is this Jesus who comes from Nazareth, Nathanael’s prejudice about Nazareth comes to center stage. How does Philip’s answer to Nathanael’s prejudice indicate what you need to do with your own issues to following Jesus as the Savior of the world? 

 

2.    Nathanael responded to Philip’s invitation by coming to see this Jesus of Nazareth. What is the very first thing Jesus reveals to Nathanael? 

 

3.    How does Nathanael’s response to Jesus express what we would feel if we heard Jesus express what he knows about us? 

 

4.    What does Jesus’ reply tell you about him that is just as true for you as it was for Nathanael? 

 

Part 3: To Have Come and Seen 

Amazing things can happen in our lives when we “come and see” for ourselves who Jesus is and what he is about. In the last section of this passage, we consider what one person came and saw so we can open our hearts to do the same. 

49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”  (John 1) 

1.     What does Nathanael’s response to Jesus tell you about how it impacted him that Jesus had seen him and known him before they met? 

 

2.    What does Nathanael’s testimony about Jesus add to the gospel’s introduction of Jesus as the Word of God who became flesh and John the Baptist’s declarations that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? 

 

3.    How would you explain what Jesus was saying about Nathanael’s faith when he said, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these”? 

 

4.    What is Jesus saying about himself in the promise, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man”? 

 

Conclusion: Hearing, Seeing, Joining 

After seeing the way Philip and Nathanael become followers of Jesus as the Christ: 

1.     What do you hear God speaking to you about? 

 

2.    What do you see God doing in you through this part of his word? 

 

3.    How are you going to join God in his work? 

 

 

© 2021 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.)

 

 

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[1] A .doc version to use for prayer-journaling can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wl2b4658qm5nrc8/0008%20-%20John%201_43-51%20-%20Come%20and%20See%20the%20Shepherd%20King.docx?dl=0

A .pdf version to print out can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ghg4kzzeinlqwdh/0008%20-%20John%201_43-51%20-%20Come%20and%20See%20the%20Shepherd%20King.pdf?dl=0

When Mercy Begins by Stopping

What would it have sounded like for blind men to hear Jesus stop?[1] 

For the blind, Jesus coming along their way would be all about the sounds. Sitting alongside a roadway in the hope of getting a few coins to buy their daily bread had a wearisome familiarity to it. Same sounds. Same activities. Same results. 

So, what about the day Jesus was going by? What was different?       

What we know is that something happened to alert them “that Jesus was passing by”. It is easy to imagine an unusual commotion that the blind would have perceived as different from the norm simply because of the sounds. We can picture them asking someone to tell them what was going on. 

But what about the moment they discover it is Jesus passing by? 

These men know all about what it is like to seize the moment. Every person going up or down the road would give them a tiny opportunity to get their attention and plead for help. They alone would know how many times a day, and how many days of their lives, they survived by these minutes of connection that would supply their daily need. 

This day was different. It was Jesus passing by. Somehow they had already heard about him, enough that they believed he was the Lord, the Son of David. Whether this could have happened in the few minutes it took for Jesus and a crowd to pass in front of these two men, or they had other opportunities to hear him, we cannot know. 

What we do know is that the awareness that this was Jesus passing by was the biggest change in life they had ever experienced. They knew that it was a moment in their lives that may never come again. The hopelessness of their need combined with the immediacy of the opportunity triggered a desperate faith that had to get Jesus’ attention. 

When the men cried out for mercy, the crowd tried to silence them because they didn’t want anything interrupting their adventure with Jesus that day. All the seeing people had their own agendas of what they wanted to get out of his activities. They were listening to what he was saying, thinking about where they were going, marveling at the things Jesus was doing, and two blind men annoying them with their incessant shouting didn’t fit! 

However, the more the crowd told these men to be quiet, the more urgently they called out because this was THEIR moment. Whoever else was with Jesus that day was going to benefit from being with him wherever he went and whatever he did. Only these two men were stuck with a moment that was passing by. It was their one shot to attach to the Messiah for themselves, and they would not be dissuaded. 

It was nothing new that these men would call out in repetitive phrases. Asking one person after another for a coin to buy bread was their daily monotony. 

However, today the repetitive phrase would be something they had never asked in their whole lives. “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” The more they were told to be quiet, the louder they cried. They did not want the crowd’s answer; they wanted Jesus’ answer! 

And then it happened. And it happened as only blind people would have experienced it. Jesus stopped. 

What did that sound like? What did these men hear that others missed because they only saw? What was the first sound that the ebb tide had ended and a slack tide of quiet had arrived? Was it that the whole crowd grew silent because they suddenly saw that Jesus had stopped? Or was it the awareness that voices that were moving past were now standing still? 

Whatever the case, the sound of Jesus stopping would have been an amazing thing for men who could not see. What waves of hope would have suddenly come over them? What feeling of anticipation suddenly began growing in place of the desperation to attach? 

Have you ever had the experience of reading something in God’s word and suddenly realizing, “Hey! That’s Me!” 

That is exactly what I am feeling with this present adventure in the life of the blind men. They would have heard the sound of Jesus stopping. Or the absence of sound that was just as loud. 

And I realize that the noise in me is never silent. Hyper-vigilance never turns off. Attachment-Light-Always-On-ness is never quiet. There is always the sound of listening, and wondering, and examining, and considering, and rehearsing, and weighing, but not quiet. 

And now I am listening for the quietness of Jesus stopping. I hear the noise of a thousand people moving along with a willfulness that matches their own dreams and desires, but now I hear Jesus stopping. And the mere wonder of a slack tide holds my breath to listen. The silence of Jesus stopping. Mesmerizing. Wonderful. Peaceful. Hopeful. Promising. 

And in the intensity of listening as only the blind can do, these men suddenly heard Jesus calling to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 

The issue here is not that they were hearing such words for the first time. Perhaps they had often heard stranger’s voices ask them what they would like. “A coin for bread, please!” they would reply. 

However, this was the first time they heard the voice of Jesus, the Lord, the Son of David, asking them what they wanted from him, and that made all the difference! 

No, a coin would not suffice! No, daily bread was not the deepest need. The request had to match the person who was offering to help. 

And so, the cry of the blind men’s hearts blurted out what required no additional thought whatsoever, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 

What a prayer! “The Christ came to open the eyes of the blind, so let us see!” 

The flood tide was beginning as hope-filled hearts responded to the Savior’s invitation. While the men had often experienced people passing by and ignoring their plaintiff requests for help, Jesus was the Son of David. Jesus was the King who would sit on David’s throne. And Jesus was THERE! 

I am quite sure that my stage has been set to travel with Jesus through his invitation for the next few days. I expect things to get quite personal with me answering his question of what I would like him to do for me. There will be reminders and clarifications of things that qualify as blindness, but only as they are led into the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.[2] 

For now, with you in mind, I express things in prayer to Jesus that all his brothers can ask him to do in our lives: 

“Lord, let our eyes be opened! Give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ so that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened! Let us have personal attachment to knowing the hope to which we have been called, and what are the riches of your glorious inheritance in the saints! Let us know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward us who believe so that, just as the Father raised you from the dead, we would experience the fullness of our resurrection into newness of life!”[3] 

“Our Father in heaven, according to the riches of your glory, grant that we would be strengthened with power through your Spirit in our inner being, so that Jesus Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith — that we who are already rooted and grounded in the love of Christ may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth of this love, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.”[4] 

I am going to continue through my day captivated by what it would have sounded like for Jesus to stop. As blind men heard that in a way that all the seeing people could not, there are things each of us will hear when Jesus stops what he is doing to respond to our prayers. 

And, because the word of God is living and active, always teaching, reproving, correcting, and training in righteousness, when Jesus stops and asks us what we need from him, he is waiting to hear how deeply we want what only he can give. 

 

© 2021 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.) 

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[1] Matthew 20:29-34

[2] Based on II Corinthians 4:6 (and the parallel expression in II Corinthians 4:4).

[3] Based on Paul’s prayer of Ephesians 1:15-23 and the teaching of Romans 6:4

[4] Based on Paul’s prayer of Ephesians 3:14-21

The Freedom of Merciful Grace

There is a prayer of repentance in God’s Book that puts into words and music the deepest cry for forgiveness and cleansing, and the greatest hope to experience God in his merciful kindness and love, all within the context of God always being who he is no matter how contrary we act to who we are. 

And so it begins with this expression, “Have mercy on me, O God…”[1] 

I’m continuing to pray through this whole song with a sense of adventure. I have written music to the first two verses, obviously not knowing the original score that King David had in mind. Others have captured various expressions of this psalm with their own songs. Even if the flow of the Hebrew poetry doesn’t match our contemporary or cultural feel for music, there is no doubt that the truth expressed here is something the amazed heart will love to sing. 

My quest in going through this Psalm is to know how David’s expression of repentance and faith regarding his sin of adultery would help people pray for their own freedom in Christ about anything at all. It is amazing to consider what a genuine attachment to God’s merciful grace would do for someone who has all kinds of bondage-issues telling them they are unworthy of any good thing from God. That makes us prime candidates for his mercy! 

The Hebrew word translated “mercy” means to show gracious kindness to someone. We often bring the words mercy and grace together as two sides of the same coin. Both address the idea of God relating to us in ways we do not deserve. Mercy is God withholding judgment from us that we do deserve (something we can’t deserve), while grace focuses on God favoring us with blessings we could never deserve. 

The negative side of praying according to God’s mercy and grace is that we never limit our praying based on the fact that we do not deserve anything from God. Because of God’s merciful grace, we cannot put a limit on any prayer out of a sense that we are not good enough for it, or that we didn’t have a great week, or we aren’t doing well. Knowing the horribleness of David’s sin magnifies the freedom he had in asking God to not treat him according to his sins, but according to his merciful grace. 

The positive side of praying according to God’s mercy and grace is that we are emboldened to ask for everything we see that applies to us no matter how undeserving we feel. There is almost a sense in which, the more undeserving we feel, the more the reality of God’s merciful grace invites us to ask for what we could never earn. David’s example shows a sinful man asking his heavenly Father to do good and wonderful things for him he couldn’t possibly deserve. 

The more we understand God’s merciful grace and kindness, the more we know that it actually honors God in his mercy and grace when we expect him to treat us far better than we deserve. We glorify him when we read a Scripture of relational promises and ask to know him in those ways because we are so convinced that his mercy is not holding anything against us and his grace is superaboundingly ready to do good for us based on what he is like, not what we are like. 

As I was praying about this, I realized that the disgust, disappointment and dissociation people have expressed to me have been primarily about things that are inherent to who I am (being a boy, not being able to read minds, being broken), meaning they were not deserved. 

But then I understood that I do deserve God’s disgust, disappointment and dissociation, but he is so mercifully gracious that he is the one person who would never treat me like that! In fact, his own words are, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”. Which means that no matter what I deserve, there is far more merciful grace and kindness coming from God than any sin coming from me! 

How does this affect my praying, including meeting with God’s children for prayer? 

It calls me to remove any limits from my praying for God’s promised blessings that are there because I see myself as undeserving of those things. Of course I am undeserving! 

And this invites me to identify all the promises God is giving me in his word that I could and should pray for earnestly and eagerly because I am convinced that where sin abounds, merciful grace abounds all the more. 

As I continue my journey through David’s Psalm 51, the path ahead of me will be customized with praying for things that I must expect God to do because of how mercifully gracious he is. This will contribute something meaningful and wonderful to my own journey of freedom in Christ that leads to new realities of experiencing God in real and personal ways. I am eager to find out what he wants to do in me, and in us, that we couldn't possibly deserve to be part of.

© 2021 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.)

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[1] Psalm 51:1

From Gaslighting to Freedom

Now would be a really good time to evaluate whether your beliefs come from a careful investigation of facts and data within an atmosphere of freedom, or through the psychological manipulation that is popularly known as gaslighting. 

It really is a simple test. 

Pick one of your beliefs. The Wuhan virus, the untested vaccines, belief in evolution vs creation or atheism vs God. Now replay how you came to your conclusions. 

Have you examined both sides of the issue, honestly examining the data and facts that each side presents? Have you felt like you had the freedom to explore both sides without prejudice and settle which way the data and facts point without fear of censoring, ridicule, or rejection if you conclude one side rather than the other? 

What about the biggest issue of all, the question of whether life arose by mindless chance that leaves us without accountability to anyone, or by deliberate act of the Creator to whom we will all give account one day. Did you come to a conclusion by having the freedom to explore all the facts and come to your own conclusions, or did you come to a belief because you were directed there by the dissing, ridiculing, mocking and rejecting that was aimed at one viewpoint? 

For me, I have had to come to beliefs about life under the reign of gaslighting over everything. One side has consistently presented facts, data and evidence with a sense of offering me the opportunity to look at it and come to whatever conclusion seems right to me, albeit with a strong sense of love hoping I would see the good of what they believe. 

The other side, even from my youngest years of childhood, demanded agreement through the exact psychological manipulation we are witnessing in high gear today. I was called to believe things, not on the basis of facts, data and evidence, but on anger if I didn’t comply, mocking of anyone who would so stupidly believe the other viewpoint, threats of disowning if I chose one side over the other, and experiences of disowning and rejection when I concluded that the evidence contradicted the gaslighters’ claims. 

Here are my conclusions: 

God has shone his light on my path even in the midst of all the gaslighters’ attempts to steal, kill and destroy my knowledge of the truth. With God’s safeness surrounding me, I have been able to respond to his invitation of, “Come now, let us reason together, says Yahweh: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”[1] 

When all the facts, data and evidence are examined together, and all the gaslighters’ psychological manipulation is ignored, the Bible stands triumphantly above every communication the world has ever expressed. When the gaslighting is removed from the declarations of the opposers, their arguments do not hold up to the light of God’s word. 

The evidence constantly declares that we were created by the deliberate intention and activity of the God revealed in the Bible. The geology of the planet gives ample witness to the worldwide flood described in God’s Book, proving that what God has written is just that, the word of God. 

And all the eye-witness evidence surrounding the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proves him true as the Resurrection and the Life, the only name given to men by which we must be saved. Yes, people will mock the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, not because it lacks evidence, but because it demands accountability. 

It is no surprise that God’s Book includes its own prophecies regarding today’s gaslighting escapades. God states, “In the last time there will be scoffers (gaslighters), following their own ungodly passions.”[2] He says, “knowing this first of all, that scoffers (gaslighters) will come in the last days with scoffing (gaslighting), following their own sinful desires.”[3] 

The question then is, have any of us picked sides on an issue based on avoiding the scoffing, ridiculing, gaslighting threats directed at one viewpoint? 

My contribution to helping everyone with this is to testify that it is possible to avoid the psychological manipulation of the gaslighters, get alone with our thoughts, examine all the evidence for God, creation, the flood, and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and come to our own conclusions about everything so we know we are willing to stand before the Creator in the judgment and take full responsibility for what we believe. 

And, of course, I would be quite happy to share my journey from gaslighters’ bondage to freedom in Christ with anyone who would like a safe environment to think these things through.

 

© 2021 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.)

 

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[1] Isaiah 1:18

[2] Jude 1:18

[3] II Peter 3:3

John Bible Study ~ John 1:35-42 ~ The Lamb of God Begins Gathering Sheep

This is study seven in our Gospel of John series. Our attention is drawn to the specific way that John the Baptist put the spotlight on Jesus, and how John’s disciples knew what to do in response. It should be fairly clear how God wants us to see ourselves in the picture.

John Bible Study ~ John 1:35-42 ~ The Lamb of God Begins Gathering Sheep[1] 

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). (John 1 ~ ESV)

In this study we consider the transition between the focus on John the Baptist preparing people for the coming of the Christ and the first people who began following Jesus because of John’s testimony. We are invited to let the interactions between John, Jesus and these early followers lead us in our response to Jesus today. 

Part 1: The Sheep that Follow the Lamb of God 

God’s Book uses multiple word-pictures, metaphors, similes, and other figures of speech to help us understand him. The overlapping of these pictures magnifies the wonder of who God is in the same way as different facets of a diamond call us to look at the same realities from different viewpoints. As we get to know Jesus for who he is, we discover that seeing him as both the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and the Good Shepherd who leads the flock of God increases the spectrum of glories that bring us to trust him to accomplish in our lives everything the heavenly Father sent him to do. 

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.  (John 1) 

1.     How did John’s testimony, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” express his place in life as the one who was preparing the way for the Lord? 

 

2.    A disciple is a follower of a particular teacher with the intent of putting into practice what they are taught. Why would it be a natural thing for someone who was a disciple of John the Baptist to then become a follower of Jesus? 

 

3.    What is your story of how God has used people, resources or circumstances to tell you, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”? 

 

4.    How does the disciples’ reaction to Jesus compare with your own? 

 

Part 2: Come and See 

The stage has been set for two of John the Baptist’s disciples to begin following Jesus. Some readers of this Bible study will remember when you first let your thoughts begin following Jesus to settle whether he is deserving of the following he has to this very day. Other readers may find that this Bible study is the first time you are letting your mind come and see who this Jesus really is and what his life and teaching means for you today. Whichever seems most like your story, there is always something to be learned by watching how Jesus related to those people who were trying to understand who he was and what his life meant to them. We can be sure he will be just as receptive to us if we would come and see him for ourselves. 

38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.  (John 1) 

1.     How would you reply to Jesus if he looked up at you from this page and asked, “What are you seeking?” 

 

2.    What kinds of things are communicated to us in Jesus’ use of a question to attach to the people who were following him? 

 

3.    What is the relationship between Jesus inviting these men to, “come and see,” and the role that the biblical witnesses are playing in telling you about Jesus? 

 

4.    The fact that these men came and saw where Jesus was staying is the beginning of a theme of many people coming and seeing what he did and taught. How have you come to Jesus and seen for yourself who he is and what he is all about? 

 

Part 3: Come and Become 

We saw earlier that the way people responded to Jesus during his years on earth came down to most people not knowing him, others not receiving him, and some believing in him and receiving him as the Word of God. This section of the gospel account gives us the names of some of those who would believe in him and receive him and introduces us to the theme of what people become when they come to Jesus. 

40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).  (John 1) 

1.     What would it have done to the first hearers of this gospel record to know the names of those who initially began to follow Jesus? 

 

2.    What does Andrew’s declaration to his brother tell you about the success of John the Baptist’s work? 

 

3.    Peter, or Simon Peter, became a central figure in Jesus’ ministry. In his natural self he would become known for his impulsiveness, saying and doing whatever first popped into his head. Jesus gives Simon a new name, Cephas (in Aramaic) or Peter (in Greek), both of which mean “rock”. What do you think it means that Jesus knew who Simon was but then gave him a new name as well? 

 

4.    How much have you experienced a relationship with Jesus in which you know he knows you in your earthly experience of life but also in his work of making you a new person in him? 

 

Conclusion: Hearing, Seeing, Joining 

After watching the gospel account become more personal by introducing us to Jesus’ earliest followers by name: 

1.     What do you hear God speaking to you about? 

 

2.    What do you see God doing in you through this part of his word? 

 

3.    How are you going to join God in his work? 

 

 

© 2021 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.)

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[1] Here is a link to a .doc version of this Bible study to download for prayer journaling:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/isajf2mosl2skt9/0007%20-%20John%201_35-42%20-%20The%20Lamb%20of%20God%20Begins%20Gathering%20Sheep.docx?dl=0

 

Here is a link to a .pdf version of this Bible study to print:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e3gbaj3xvyuqd04/0007%20-%20John%201_35-42%20-%20The%20Lamb%20of%20God%20Begins%20Gathering%20Sheep.pdf?dl=0