The Harmonies of God’s Coming Kingdom

THE MORE I meditate on what it means to pray, “your kingdom come,” the more layers of meaning come to the surface of my mind. And just now, at this moment, I heard them in harmony. 

WHAT I MEAN is that there are so many different thoughts about God’s kingdom coming, and so many ways it affects everything about life, and for a moment (in my early morning brain fog) I was struggling to try to hold on to all the thoughts. But suddenly I was hearing them all at the same time without any discord in my mind. They were in harmony. They blended into one beautiful expression of God’s rule and reign over the universe and filled my heart with hope about how to pray for God’s kingdom to come, and how to live in light of this coming. 

SO, WHAT harmonies of the kingdom do I hear this morning? 

I HEAR the “good news of great joy” that God has given us his Son to be the Savior of the world. I hear the “gospel of the kingdom”, that “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand,” so we must “repent and believe in the gospel”, or, “repent and believe the good news” of the kingdom of God’s beloved Son!  

I HEAR the wonderful good news that the blessings of God are seen in the poor in spirit, and those who mourn, and the meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and the merciful, and the pure in heart, and the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for the sake of the righteousness of Jesus’ kingdom. 

I HEAR that the righteousness of Jesus’ kingdom makes his brothers the salt of the earth and the light of the world. I hear Jesus singing out how the righteousness in his kingdom exceeds the righteousness of the religious elite, the religious hypocrites who do all their good deeds for show. The righteousness of Jesus’ kingdom is a real, genuine experience of the activity of God in our hearts. God gives us the new hearts he promised to the prophets. We can now be righteous by faith in Jesus Christ in ways that could never happen by keeping laws and rules, even the very best system of laws and rules the world has ever known, what is now the old covenant. 

I HEAR how the stanza of the song of the kingdom is now playing out the glorious harmonies of how to pray according to the righteousness of faith so that we are filled with the knowledge that our heavenly Father knows everything we need before we ask him for a thing, and so we are not going to babble on in prayer hoping our many words will get us what we want, but we attach to “our Father in heaven,” and then ask that his name would be hallowed, honored, and revered in our lives, that his kingdom would come both now and at the end of the age, and that his will would be done here on earth in the same ways it is done in heaven. 

AND BECAUSE we are those who are always seeking first the kingdom and righteousness of God instead of the things of the world, we ask him to “give us this day our daily bread” knowing that he will give us what we need, sometimes through our own employment, and sometimes through the sharing of the body of Christ. We pray that the church would be a place where we are always confessing our sins to one another (however it is needed where we have wronged someone or they have wronged us) so that we keep being forgiven as we keep on forgiving. And we are always seeking God to “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”, or from the evil one and his evil ways. 

I ALSO HEAR the harmony of how Jesus concludes his Sermon on Mount where he gives the illustration of the wise and foolish builders. I hear the beautiful sound of the wise builder who hears Jesus’ words and puts them into practice, and I hear the mournful sounds of the foolish builder who hears Jesus’ words but does not      put them into practice, and so I know how to pray that God’s kingdom would come to us in power and glory so we would be known as those who love to do God’s will just like Jesus. 

AND I HEAR the realities of the new covenant that tell me that there is also a future aspect to the coming of God’s kingdom. I know that God has already “made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father,” and that we are to live accordingly right now in every aspect of our lives. But I also know that we are always waiting for Jesus’ “appearing and his kingdom”. We are looking forward to when we will have our “entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” in a way that can only happen at Jesus’ return when he comes to judge the lost and gather the elect to himself. 

I HEAR how Jesus could say as with one set of instruments in the orchestra, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age”, and with another set promise, “Surely I am coming soon”! to which the rest of us harmonize with our brother John, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

MY POINT is that God’s kingdom is always coming. It is coming near to people all the time through the presence of the church Jesus is building, and through the ongoing proclamation of the “good news of great joy” that God has given us his Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. 

BUT GOD’S KINGDOM is still to come. It is coming. It is on its way. It has not yet arrived. The final consummation of all God’s work in the coming of Jesus Christ is yet to happen, and we are constantly asking Father, “your kingdom come!” “Come, Lord Jesus!” 

OH, AND one more thing: you and I are adding our own harmonies to Jesus’ teaching on prayer. If we are in Christ, we are equipped with new hearts and new minds and new life that is fully able to pray as Jesus instructed. We can pray from our new hearts with the righteousness of faith that wants everything Jesus taught in his model prayer. When we pray it, it is our prayer. It is our harmony to the “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” 

AND EVEN if we all were to pray the exact words of Jesus’ model prayer all at the same time, guess what: it would sound like the most beautiful harmony in the world to hear the voices of “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”

AND SO, we pray as Jesus taught. We pray this model prayer in our own words, describing our own situations and circumstances, praying each request for the people in our lives, and the things we are going through, so that all our thoughts and prayers rise up to the Father in harmony with one another so that our Father in heaven is always hearing us praying together that his name would be hallowed, and his kingdom would come, and his will would be done on earth as it is done in heaven, and that he would provide the daily bread for all his children throughout the whole world, and that he would forgive us our sins as we confess them to him just as we forgive everyone who confesses their sins to us, and that he would lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil and the evil one, because, after all, HIS is the kingdom, and HIS is the power, and HIS is the glory for ever and ever, Amen! 

SO, LET’S raise our crescendo of prayer like we believe and know that everything Jesus taught us is TRUE!

 

© 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.)

 

Branches that Shine the Light of the Vine

This morning, I began with Jesus’ next declaration in the Sermon on the Mount: “You are the light of the world.”[1] This is an identity-statement about all believers in Jesus Christ our Lord. Because he is the light of the world, we are the light of the world in him, and so we must shine the life of Christ everywhere we go. 

However, we aren’t to picture this as the moon reflecting the light of the sun. That’s too impersonal. It makes us a passive reflector of light when Jesus said we ARE the light of the world. 

A much better image is the one Jesus gave us when he said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”[2] In the same way as we are extensions of Christ as branches of his vine, we are the light of the world shining the light of Christ. 

One of the places where Jesus referred to himself as the light of the world was this one in John 8:12 where Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus as the vine IS the light of the world, and Jesus’ disciples “have the light of life” in them as the branches, which also makes us the light of the world in Christ. 

However, what God had in mind for me this morning was in the context of this passage in John 9:3-5. 

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 

This is jam-packed with things to talk about! It begins with the disciples asking Jesus whether a blind man had his ailment because of his sin or his parents’ sin. Jesus’ reply answers their specific question, but then elaborates on the work of God in this very situation. 

One thing that stood out was that Jesus’ light would be useless to a blind man who couldn’t see it, so he used the miracle of healing to show that his light not only illuminates the darkness, but it gives sight to the blind so they can see it! This is true of the church as we are the ambassadors of the good news of great joy. The gospel gives sight to the blind so they can see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”[3] 

But the bigger thing that stood out for me personally was that I am not to define God’s work in my life by my sins, or by my parents’ sins. It doesn’t matter what we have done, and it doesn’t matter what anyone has done to us, all the effects of living in a sinful world merely set the stage for God’s work. The man’s situation was not about sin, but about the stage that was set that “the works of God might be displayed in him.” 

Suddenly it was so clear. My life is what it is so God can show his works to the world through me in the very story that is mine and no one else’s. And that tied right in with how Jesus elaborated on us being the light of the world back in the Sermon on the Mount: 

 A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5) 

Part of us shining as the light of the world is that people “may see your good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven.” Jesus as the vine showed how he was doing the works of the Father, and we as the branches show how we are doing the works that give glory to the Father. 

And today, God’s encouragement turns me from feeling down on myself because of my sins, or from depressing myself with things that have been done to me, to looking at the way my weaknesses in life are the stage on which he can show himself strong and faithful. And so, I eagerly look for what God is doing in me that I can shine into the lives of others around me so that people would be blessed with my good works, and God would be glorified in the bearing of much fruit.

 

© 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.)

 

 

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[1] Matthew 4:14

[2] John 15:5

[3] II Corinthians 4:6

The Blessed Kind of Righteousness

I AM now at the final Beatitude, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 

PERSECUTION is something that happens to us (not something we do) and inheriting the kingdom of heaven is something that is given to us (not something we earn), so the central thing in describing us is “righteousness”. It is when worldlings see righteousness in us that they want to persecute us, and it is when God sees righteousness in us that he can welcome us into his kingdom. 

BECAUSE righteousness means to measure up to a standard, the best understanding of this is that we are acting according to what it means to be “in the image and likeness of God”. After all, THAT is the primary definition of being human! 

PROBLEM: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Meaning, “None is righteous, no, not one”. No one measures up to the image and likeness of God. 

THE AMAZING thing is that the first mention of righteousness in the Bible is that Abraham “believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” Which means that the way humans are viewed by God as righteous is not by acting righteous enough for him to accept them, but by believing God and being made righteous. 

THIS IS WHY Paul said so wonderfully, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” 

HIS POINT was that it is only in the gospel, the good news of great joy in Jesus Christ our Lord, that humans can be righteous. It is only one someone experiences “the power of God for salvation” as a human “who believes” in Jesus Christ that we become “the righteous” who “shall live by faith.” 

ONE OF the most beautiful summaries of our relationship with God is, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” We enter the kingdom of God by grace through faith, we are made righteous by faith, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us as those who are credited with righteousness by faith, and so we experience the righteousness, peace, and joy of God in the Holy Spirit. 

IT WILL take another post to explain righteousness in relation to persecution, but first we must understand this righteousness. It means to be like Jesus. It means to be restored to the image and likeness of God as was God’s work in creation. It is why we are a “new creation”, because righteousness had to be restored to us. And the way the world treats us will be in relation to our righteousness that matures in us as we grow up in Christ. 

THIS IS WHY Jesus said we would be treated by the world the same way the world treated him. “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” And, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” We are persecuted for the sake of the righteousness of being like Jesus, which simply means that the world will treat us the way it treated him. 

THE POINT in this is that being persecuted because of being like Jesus is not a judgment that we are failing to make the good news known well enough, or that we are dishonoring our Savior by incurring the wrath of worldlings. 

INSTEAD, we are to see persecution for the sake of our Christlikeness as evidence that we are in the kingdom of God because we are being treated by the world the same way Jesus was treated. 

SO, while the world despises us and our Savior, we are “imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” In other words, we keep growing up in the image and likeness of Jesus Christ our Lord and rejoice to be “counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name” of our Savior, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God.

 

© 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.)

 

The Blessed Realness of a Pure Heart

If the Beatitudes were based on works, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” would be the most hopeless of them all. 

Why? 

Because I don’t have a lot of problem admitting things about being poor in spirit. And it seems to come naturally to me to mourn my sins and offences against God. And feeling meek in relation to fixing things myself (impossible) and knowing I must surrender to the authority of Christ seems to happen without resistance. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness in the belief that I will be satisfied by faith instead of good works seems to happen without much trying. And even feeling merciful towards others is something I’m always learning to work into my daily life with a sense that I really want this and know God will help me do it. 

But “pure in heart”? That seems to trigger so much guilt, shame, and fear, that it would be easy to let a good-works mindset tell me I am a hopeless scumbag of sin who could never expect to see a smile on God’s face because of all the impurities within me! 

And that is why I love using the term “good news” more than its counterpart, “the gospel”. In English, “the gospel” is the term we typically use to speak of the message of salvation. However, in the Greek we are translating from, the word translated “the gospel” sounds like “euangelion”. It is where we get our word “evangelism”. And the primary meaning of the word is “good news”, specifically, the good news of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. 

In the familiar account of an angel announcing the birth of Jesus Christ, the expression “good news of great joy” is used. Here the “good news” comes from the same Greek word that is elsewhere translated “gospel”. And my point is that many of us understand that “the gospel” is about Jesus Christ saving us from our sins, but we don’t naturally hear it as “good news of great joy”, often because we have so much negative baggage about our sins and failings that we simply don’t think of it that way. 

However, when we come to the Beatitudes, we must have an understanding that they are taught to people who had already heard the gospel, the good news of great joy that God has given us his Son as our Savior. Jesus had already made it clear that, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Or, repent and believe in the good news of great joy that the Savior has come! 

How does this help us who often feel like failures in our walk with God hear the blessing of “the pure in heart” as good news? After all, if it is only with a pure heart that we “shall see God”, and we know there is that “if people really knew us they would hate us” part of ourselves lurking deep within, how could we ever have the purity of heart that will see God? After all, God’s own word says, there is “the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” To have a heart that is pure-heartedly holy seems completely out of reach. At least to me. 

That is where we must do a double-check that we are hearing Jesus’ Beatitudes through the good news of great joy that we have a Savior who is Jesus Christ our Lord. It is in this good news that we can acknowledge that we are sinners in need of a Savior because we have a Savior who came into the world to save sinners! 

And, it is in this good news of great joy that we can understand and accept that it is “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” I am totally fine with the idea that I have nothing to boast about. But without the gospel that would be hopeless. However, in the gospel, not having works to add to my salvation is not hopeless. Having an impure heart that needs saving is not hopeless. Having a salvation that “is not your own doing” IS… NOT… HOPELESS!!! 

One thing we must never forget is that our salvation is three-dimensional. These three dimensions of salvation are referred to as justification, sanctification, and glorification. Justification declares us righteous in God’s sight at the moment of our new birth. Sanctification works righteousness into us as we grow up in Christ. And glorification prefects righteousness in us so that every child of God will be as righteous as Jesus in eternity. 

We must apply this to “blessed are the pure in heart” so that we see all three of these dimensions at the same time. This is where our hope lies, in a salvation that sees us as pure in heart now, that helps us grow to be purer in heart every day, and that guarantees our perfect purity of heart when we see Jesus. 

Let’s apply the justification side of our salvation to “blessed are the pure in heart”. Paul said that all those who are disciples of Jesus Christ have “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ”. He adds that for anyone who “believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” This is what makes the good news “of great joy”. This is why the prostitutes and tax-collectors were entering the kingdom of God while the religious elite were not. These sinners understood something of this message that they were received by faith in a way they would never be welcomed by good works. 

And now, after the evidence of the crucifixion of Christ, it is abundantly clear that God “made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” And that is why our faith is counted as righteousness. That is why our faith is counted as “pure in heart”. That is why “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This happens in our justification by faith as we trust in Jesus Christ and “become the righteousness of God” in our Savior. 

And then it continues in our sanctification as we constantly keep short accounts with God about our sins, always confessing them to God whenever we fail him, and always knowing that he is always forgiving us, and always cleansing us of our sins. 

Paul described this sanctification dimension of our growth in righteousness so beautifully when he wrote that we are “being transformed into the same image” as our Savior “from one degree of glory to another.” We are already “the righteousness of God” in Christ according to our justification by grace through faith, but every day we are BEING transformed into the same image of our Savior in degree after degree of glory. And that is why we can have daily hope of being “the pure in heart” because we know we are seen that way by God in our justification, and we know God is purifying our hearts every day in our sanctification. 

And that brings us to the third dimension, the “living hope” of one day feeling completely pure in our hearts without any fear of ever having impurity within us ever again. Here we look to the apostle John as he describes the return of Christ and says, “we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” That is what the Bible calls our “glorification”. It may feel utterly unbelievable that we could ever be fully like Jesus in righteousness, particularly in purity of heart, but that is what is promised to us in our so great salvation. We SHALL be like him. Period. No exceptions for anyone who has received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. 

A very necessary aspect of us relating to God in our salvation is described like this, 

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 

Knowing that our justification by grace through faith has already made us “the righteousness of God” in one way, and our glorification by grace through faith will complete the pure-hearted work of God in another, our daily focus must be on how we join God’s work of making us more like Jesus every day of our lives. If God is daily working to transform us into the image of his Son from one degree of glory to another, what are we to do to attach to him in what he is doing? 

Paul’s answer is that we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling based on the fact that God is already working in us so that we would both will the things he wills by his good pleasure and do the things he is pleased to lead us to do. God is at work first, and he is at work now, so we actively look at how we are to work these things out into our lives in joyful fellowship with our Father. 

And the way John told us to join God in his work is, “everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” In other words, everyone who knows we have been made pure in heart in our justification, and that we will be made completely pure in heart in our glorification, joins God’s work in the present by constantly purifying ourselves as we keep seeing the glory of the purity of God. We confess our sins to God every time we fall into them because we truly want purity of heart rather than the corruption of sin. 

The bottom line is that all the Beatitudes are a description of what it looks like in our lives when God is blessing us with his grace. Our faith will feel poor in spirit. Our faith will mourn our sin. Our faith will meekly surrender to the authority of Christ as our Savior. Our faith will hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God offered to us in the gospel as a free gift of grace. Our faith will begin expressing itself in mercy to others as we have experienced the abundance of God’s mercy towards us. And our faith will delight to grow in pure-hearted righteousness from one degree of glory to another in the safety that we are already the righteousness of God in Christ, and will most definitely be as pure-heartedly righteous as Jesus when he returns and we see him as he is.

Today, let’s expect to see God call us to greater steps in purity of heart than we have ever taken, and praise him for the so great salvation that enables us to take those steps. 

And because this good news is received and experienced by grace through faith, let’s rejoice in the hope we have in Christ that we can become more pure-heartedly like him today than we have ever been before.

The words of the LORD are pure words,

like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,

purified seven times.

(Psalm 12:6)

 

 

© 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.)

 

 

 

The Big Picture of the Savior

This morning, I was more drawn to a summary of the next few paragraphs that end Matthew 4 than to focus on any one of them. It is like watching God set the scene for the next three years of Jesus’ life and ministry, along with his training of the Twelve. 

First, I love the way Matthew regularly refers to prophecy. In this case, “that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled”, meaning that Jesus was the light of the world the prophets had spoken about. He is still the light of the world today, and we who believe in him are the light of the world in him, branches of light shining from the vine of Christ. 

Second, this has really been settling in for me, that Jesus’ message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Some people downplay repentance in the mistaken idea that it is a “good work” that can’t be added to faith. However, when the proclamation of the gospel is, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” our faith says, “I believe I need to repent and trust in Jesus in order to enter the kingdom”, and so “the obedience of faith” does so! 

Third, Matthew doesn’t speak of Jesus’ first encounter with Peter and Andrew, and James and John, so we are picking up after they had already spend some time with him in what is sometimes called the “Come and See” phase of discipleship. After some weeks or months of getting to know Jesus, they had returned to their careers as fishermen, and now Jesus finds them and calls them to “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”. Peter and Andrew “Immediately they left their nets and followed him,” and James and John, “Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.” They left their possessions, they left their livelihood, and they left their family to follow Christ. And they did so… IMMEDIATELY! 

One of the biggest conflicts in church life for me has been dealing with professing Christians who are not willing to leave their “nets” (possessions) to follow Jesus, they are not willing to leave their “boats” (livelihood plans) to follow Christ, and they are not willing to leave their “father” (parents, family, friends) to follow the Savior. What is particularly sad about watching people forsake Jesus (while maintaining good church appearances) is that the family members and friends they follow instead never see someone truly living by faith so they can hear the “good news of the kingdom” and know what it looks like to have eternal life. 

Fourth, Matthew then adds a note that we must factor in to every scene that follows throughout the rest of the gospels, that everywhere Jesus went, and in every town or place he did ministry, he was “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom”. As I have seen a few times recently, “the gospel” of North American Christianity is not “the gospel of the kingdom” as Jesus taught it. It is the individualistic invite-Jesus-into-your-heart message that makes it sound like Jesus comes to us instead of us being “delivered out of the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.” Because this view of the gospel is so me-centered, people find it easy to make a profession of “accepting Christ” into their lives without actually leaving their lives of sin and entering Jesus’ kingdom! They also find it easy to walk away when it is no longer helping the me-centered person feel satisfied in their flesh. 

Fifth, we can’t get past this reality that everywhere Jesus went he was “healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” Peter would say in his Day of Pentecost sermon that Jesus was “a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know”. That was the purpose of the signs then, to attest to Israel that Jesus was the Messiah God had promised. I believe that God can and will do this whenever he pleases, but I do not believe it is an on-demand thing. And it definitely does not belong in money-making religious ventures that give Christianity a bad name. 

At the end of Matthew 4, I find it interesting that we go from this brief description (3 paragraphs) of Jesus starting his ministry, and then we move into the 3 chapters of the Sermon on the Mount. Since the Beatitudes Jesus uses to introduce that message are so familiar to me, I am curious how God will lead me through this section so I am called to put it into practice in Higher-and-Deeper ways. I trust he still has some surprises for how he will apply this to my life! 

For today, I know that I truly want to be a disciple who follows Christ in everything, who keeps learning to fish for men by faith even when sight is a bit discouraging, who proclaims the “good news of the kingdom” no matter what hateful laws governments make to stop us, and who lives as the light of the world and the salt of the earth that Jesus is just about to talk about. And all while knowing that the days are growing dark and short until the return of our Savior, and I want people to hear about my Savior by whatever means we have at our disposal to share the good news.

 

© 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.)

 

 

 

 

The People Who Are God’s Sons

As I meditate my way through the gospel of Matthew, I am now looking at how Jesus was “led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” As this is quite familiar territory, I have been eager to discover what new things God wants me to see. Sometimes this means discovering something I haven’t noticed before, and other times it comes in the way of understanding how something applies to my life further than I have ever taken it. So far, I can say that I am not being disappointed with my journey! 

I am now at the second temptation of Jesus that revolved around Satan’s challenge, “If you are the Son of God…” In other words, the devil was telling Jesus what he would have to do to prove he was the Son of God. Jesus had nothing to prove so it was a short conversation![1] 

However, although Jesus would not prove he was the Son of God on Satan’s terms, God’s plan of salvation would make it abundantly clear who Jesus of Nazareth really was. When Jesus completed his work of redemption on the cross, he “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead”. 

The only reason worldlings can’t see this is, “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.” 

And the reason it is crystal clear to Jesus’ disciples is, “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.” 

Now, while it is abundantly settled that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, I began wondering what proof there is that someone like me is a son of God. So, I looked up the verse that popped into my mind right away. In the 7^th Beatitude, Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” 

The term “sons of…” isn’t specifically male or female. It indicates those who are like God, the children who are known by the fact that they look like their Father. This is why Paul could say, “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” And “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.” His point is that being a “son” means a child who looks like his/her Father, not specifically being a male. 

I have often complained about the way some of the new translations put “sons and daughters” in place of “sons” and “brothers and sisters” in place of “brothers”. Aside from the fact that God didn’t breathe out those words, I hate the way it steals the point God himself is making, that his people are “one”. We are all sons of God. The male-and-female and son-and-daughter is still there in the sense of our earthly design. Everything the apostles taught about men and women, and husbands and wives, still applies. But the point in the kingdom is that there is only one people who are all sons of God, meaning all the offspring who look like our Father. 

So, being a peacemaker makes us look like our Father because everything about God is aimed at bringing his lost sheep to have peace with him through faith in Christ, and, if we are like our Father, we will want others to have peace with God along with us. 

We can’t escape that we honor God as a people when we are busy trying to lead others to have peace with God through the gospel. While that easily can turn into “blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness”, that, too, is like our God who knew that his own Son would be hated by the world, disowned by his own people, and deserted even by his own disciples. 

But we have our so great salvation that gives us “peace with God” because Jesus is the “Prince of Peace” who “is our peace”. Jesus has created in himself “one new man in place of the two, so making peace,” and that’s why “he came and preached peace to you who were far off (us Gentiles) and peace to those who were near (the Jews).” 

Therefore, as the body of Christ is made up of members who are all sons of God, Paul tells us about the “full armor of God” we are to wear to maintain our victory in Christ. This includes “as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” 

And in that readiness, we make the gospel of peace known to everyone so we keep growing up in Christ as peacemakers who are just like our Savior, the “sons of God” who are looking and acting like the “Son of God”. Or, as Paul put it, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” That is what the sons of God look like.

 

© 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.)

 

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[1] “‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” (Matthew 4:6-7)

When Jesus was Tempted to Save Me

My time with God this morning only got one verse into Matthew 4: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” 

One of the things that is exciting about retraveling through familiar territory is the expectation of finding new treasures in old places. This morning was no exception! 

When Matthew writes that Jesus was “tempted by the devil”, “tempted” means: “to be tested v. — to be put to the test in order to ascertain the nature of someone, including imperfections, faults, or other qualities.”[1] 

So, the primary focus was not that Jesus needed to be tempted to show that he could resist anything the devil could dish out. It is more than that. 

Giving the supreme tempter the opportunity to go at Jesus when Jesus was at an incredible point of weakness (40 days of fasting), was to reveal to us what Jesus was made of. 

As this began to sink in, I found myself traveling back in time to my early teen years. When I knew for certain I believed in Jesus and needed to confess him as my Lord and Savior in baptism, I also faced a testing. However, what it showed me about myself was nothing to be proud of. There was such an angry backlash against me getting baptized that I caved to the fear-based pressure and didn’t do what I knew was God’s will. I know God was merciful and forgave me, but I live with the regret of knowing I missed whatever God would have done if I had confessed Christ as Lord through baptism four years earlier than I finally did. How many people in the church I was attending would have been blessed to see me experiencing “the obedience of faith” from a young age.[2] 

On the other hand, right after Jesus was baptized “to fulfill all righteousness”, the Holy Spirit immediately led him out to the wilderness to show what he was made of. And what he was made of was truth, and holiness, and righteousness, and faithfulness, and purity, and love that Satan could not change no matter what tactics he tried. 

In fact, me failing my testing as a young teen (and many others since) makes Jesus’ perfection in his temptations stand out all the more clearly as something of personal concern to me. I needed a Savior who wasn’t… SINFUL!!! And God has been showing believers for centuries that Jesus absolutely passed that test! This meditation on God’s word also took me to what it will be like in the new heavens and the new earth when we will be like Jesus. I was thinking of how horribly easy it is to sin. Even when no one else sees us doing anything at all we can be sinning with resentment, jealousy, envy, coveting, pride, lust, hatred, and the like. 

But eternity will be us feeling like Jesus. Feeling pure. Feeling holy and righteous. Feeling good in the most real of ways. We will have no sarky flesh wanting to do what is wrong and disobey what is right. We won’t battle temptation. We will love love, and we will love goodness, and we will love holiness and righteousness. We will so love being like God as originally designed that we will not ever want to be our old selves. 

Seeing Jesus today in this new light (how he was shown through his testing to be the Son of God of whom the Father was well pleased, and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world) makes me realize that his temptations by the devil weren’t primarily an example of how to resist temptation by using the word of God. That is there, and it is invaluable to see that. 

But Jesus’ testing was meant to show us who he was. He was “the Word who became flesh to dwell among us”. And it was that identity that proved through his temptations that he would never do anything sinful, and that he would never fail to save completely all those who would believe in him. 

I have shared in other posts about how I often see God working in the Higher-and-Deeper way I first noticed in Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman.[3] As I interact with him in his word, he will show me something Higher and more glorious about himself than I have ever realized before, and something Deeper about myself that needs to know the glorious thing revealed to me about God. 

Today’s Higher was seeing how Jesus went from his baptism to be tested and proven to be my Savior. The Deeper was being reminded of how I failed the test at my baptism and denied my Savior’s worthiness to be loved and obeyed no matter how scary the opposition. 

And, because of seeing Jesus the way he is, I know without a doubt that my sins and failures are all covered by the new covenant in Jesus’ blood. Not because I never fail him, but because he cannot fail to be himself. 

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.[4]

 

© 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.)

 

 

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[1] Bible Sense Lexicon, Logos Bible Systems

[2] Paul introduced and concluded his letter to the Romans with this expression (Romans 1:5; 16:26)

[3] John 4

[4] Hebrews 4:14-16

To Live My Scene Well

As I continue looking at John the Baptist preparing the way for Christ, one thing that really stood out today is that our blip of life on earth is really miniscule compared to what God has prepared for us in eternity. We know how God gave Zechariah and Elizabeth the gift of a son in their old age. But next thing we know John is preparing the way for the Christ. And not long after that he is beheaded and ushered into glory. 

While we must always be careful we don’t turn historical events into doctrinal teachings, I had so many examples come to mind where the primary thing we are shown about people is their place in the work of God. A few people are given a longer scene on God’s stage (Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Paul), but most of God’s children that are mentioned in history are only described in terms of their specific place in one particular scene. 

I think of Stephen in Acts who was one of the men chosen as the first deacons. He was clearly known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. He would have served for a while in helping distribute food to the widows. But the spotlight quickly shifts to a day in which he is preaching to the religious elite, and they get so angry at him that they stone him to death. Scene ended. Job done. Death is exit-stage-right. 

So with John. And what it tells me is that I don’t get to tell God how my life turns out. I don’t need to live long to live well. I don’t need to have long-term friendships to have long-term faithfulness. I don’t need to be seen to have substance. I am a branch of Christ’s vine, a member of the body of Christ, and John the Baptist mentors me in living to the full wherever God has put me, to agapè-love to the full everyone he puts in my life, and to trust him to accomplish in me and through me whatever he has uniquely prepared for me to do. 

I now head into this day knowing I have heard what God was speaking to me through his word, seeing what he is doing in me to show me what he is doing around me, and I am ready to join God in his work just like my Savior did before me. I hope to see God glorified as I take my place on the divine stage and play my role with thanksgiving that he has called me into his-story. 

© 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.)

 

 

An Empty Stage for the Fullness of Life

After an interlude in Psalm 51, I now return to my journey through Matthew. It is like a place I have visited many times and am once again able to travel a familiar road to see things I have never noticed before, and to treasure the familiar sights and landmarks that have already come to mean so much to me. 

This morning, I came to the first two verses of Matthew 3: “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” 

What stood out was the stage John was given on which to herald the Christ to Israel and the world: “the wilderness”. 

As I pondered this in prayer, trying to picture the kind of places this would have involved, I was curious why the wilderness would have been better than Jerusalem or any of the other locations that are familiar to us. What did the wilderness give that those would have taken away? 

And then it hit me: the wilderness was the one place where everyone had to leave where they were, to go to where no one already lived, to hear a message that was exactly the same for all who heard it. The wilderness gave the most level-ground stage possible! 

The fact that John came “preaching” in the wilderness meant that he was heralding a message of hope that everyone needed to hear. In one sense, that meant it wasn’t about him, but about the message he was given. In another sense, it was all about him at that time because he was the only messenger of this good news. Everyone had to come to John to get ready for what was about to happen that wasn’t about John! 

On the level-ground of this empty stage, everyone heard two things that applied to them all. First, that everyone needed to “repent”. This spoke of a change-of-heart about sin. Everything we do comes out of our hearts. For God to change us from sinners to saints he must change the heart. We can’t live a new life out of an old heart, but must repent (change our minds about sin), so that we truly want to walk with God in the righteousness of faith. 

Second, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” for everyone at that time in a way that no one had ever experienced. It was level ground because it was offered to all, and nobody already had it. Everyone was outside the kingdom of heaven. It was just as “at hand” for one person as another, and repentance was the key to get people ready to enter it. 

Over the course of John’s ministry everyone would discover that prostitutes and tax collectors were repenting and entering the kingdom of heaven, while the religious elite only came as far as spectators of John’s ministry but had no concept that they were not in God’s kingdom or that God would require them to repent to come under his rule. 

On one occasion, Jesus confronted the religious leaders about this. 

“Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”[1] 

For those who mistakenly think that Jesus hung out with prostitutes and sinners who were still living in their sins, the truth is that everywhere Jesus went he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom and many prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners of every kind, were going into the kingdom. In other words, the sinners who fellowshipped with Jesus were the ones who repented and entered God’s kingdom, not the ones who were still quite happy to continue living in their sin! 

Because our attachment to God in his word should always deal with us first (how the branch is doing with the vine determines what kind of fruit it is able to bear), what does this have to say to someone who has believed in God for 58 years, has trusted in Jesus as my Lord and Savior for 52 years, and is now a senior who has many stories of getting to know God better every day of my life? 

For starters, John’s wilderness stage seems like the ultimate in level ground. Nobody could make the mistake of thinking that they got bonus points just because John started preaching in their town instead of somewhere else (pride), and no one could think they were excluded because John didn’t begin in their community because other folks were more important (despair). 

The wilderness was level ground. Everyone had to leave what they had and come hear the good news about something no one had. This would lead to the level ground at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ where everyone would have to admit they were a sinner, and that Jesus Christ alone was the Savior for the whole world. 

Recently, I had my eyes opened to another place of level ground that continues to bless me personally as an old guy treasuring a new thought: every believer in Jesus Christ has level ground at the throne of God. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”[2] Every sinner must come to the level ground at the foot of the cross to be saved, and every saint (saved person) must come to the level ground at the “throne of grace” to “receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” It is the same for everyone, and I need that at my age as much as you do at yours. 

It is only a few weeks ago that God transformed my level-ground understanding from the cross to the throne. Today he takes me back to the beginnings of the gospel to show me that it has been level ground from the very beginning. The good news was introduced in the wilderness where everyone had to leave where they were and go to the same place to hear the same message of God’s kingdom. 

And that still applies to everyone reading this. God doesn’t come into our lives to give us the impression we can add him to whatever we are already doing. We must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Jesus wherever he leads. 

Jesus gave a simile to help us appreciate what John was introducing and what Jesus would continue proclaiming. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”[3] 

That’s what it looks like to come to the level ground of the wilderness and the cross. We all discover the same treasure in Christ and his gift of salvation. We all must give up everything we already have in ourselves and our own good works. And we all must buy the field. This is not suggesting we have money (good works) with which to do it, but that we must break ties with what we had in our lives of sin (repentance) and take possession of God’s gift of salvation by grace through faith. 

Today, the empty stage of the wilderness gives everyone the same standing before God as condemned sinners meeting God’s fullness of life. For those who believe in Christ, we receive the same standing as saints set apart unto God as his beloved children. Everyone must leave our self-made lives of sin, and everyone must trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Those who do this enter the kingdom of heaven just like everyone else who has received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

 

© 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.)

 

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[1] Matthew 21:31-32

[2] Hebrews 4:14-16

[3] Matthew 13:44

The Delightful Newness of Level Ground Faith

I first knew about God 58 years ago. I have been growing to know him better ever since. 

One of the advantages of age is that it humbles a guy with the awareness that things I once thought I had all figured out in my younger years were saturated with childish immaturity that didn’t even know how much I didn’t even know! 

In my knowing-God-much-better-than-I-used-to stage of life I can now appreciate and marvel at things I am still learning in a genuine getting-to-know-God kind of way. 

For example, just in the last couple of weeks I came to realize that picturing God’s children coming to the level ground in front of the throne of grace is vastly superior to what I had thought for decades about the level ground at the foot of the cross. 

Fact is that people only come to the level ground at the foot of the cross once. That is when they understand the good news of great joy that God sent his Son to be their Savior, they feel God’s kindness bringing them to repentance, and they know that Jesus Christ died for them, was buried, and was raised from the dead to be their Lord and Savior forever. 

At that place at the foot of the cross they are “delivered… from the domain of darkness and transferred… to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” The cross became the door by which they enter the kingdom, and they never need to go back to the cross for anything because it has already given them EVERYTHING! 

Instead of coming to the level ground at the foot of the cross, I now see that we come to the level ground at the throne of grace. Every child of God comes here. All believers have the same “great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God”. All Jesus’ disciples have the same level-ground calling to “hold fast our confession.” And the reason for the level-ground at the throne of grace is that, in the negative, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,” and, in the positive, we have “one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” 

And so, as the level-ground continues, God invites all his children to, “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” 

The “throne of grace” is level ground because God is pure holiness. It is his throne. It is his grace. He relates to each of his children based on the cross, but the cross that has brought us to his throne. 

God’s “mercy” is level ground because it is MERCY!!! He always shows mercy to all his children all the time. The cross has already told us that every child of God has already experienced the mercy of God pouring out his wrath against our sin on his Son. Because of this, God can freely and fully show mercy to every one of his children in a level-ground kind of way since we are all forgiven, cleansed, and adopted in the exact same salvation. We all entered the kingdom through the same door, which is faith in Jesus Christ crucified. 

And all God’s children will “find grace to help in time of need” because with our Father in heaven there is no favoritism, no injustice, no partiality, no bribery, no blindness, no busyness that can’t see what is going on. 

Instead, God’s grace is the grace of the holy God who knows all, sees all, loves all his children, knows the most intimate realities of our secret hearts, and has both the wisdom and knowledge to do what is absolutely best for each of his children, always working everything in each of us for the greatest good of making us more like Jesus Christ his Son. 

I share this because I had another dream about a third person who needs to reconcile with me. As I was praying through Psalm 51 for them, particularly asking God to lead them to pray this prayer of repentance for themselves, I was again reminded that the level-ground I long for with them is at the foot of the throne of grace where we will all receive the grace, and mercy, and help we need to walk in the “obedience of faith” in reconciliation. 

It wasn’t just the reminder that this level-ground that we once found at the foot of the cross already led us to the level-ground at the throne of grace, but also the awareness of a humble maturing within me that has only happened through meeting with God in his word and prayer almost every day for over thirty years. 

I simply found myself smiling with the knowledge that I now know something that hadn’t occurred to me until just a couple of weeks ago, and now it has transformed the way I think of Christians reconciling in the level-ground of the kingdom of God, the level-ground that welcomes every child of God to the throne of grace where we all will always receive the mercy, grace, and help that God deems the perfect fit with whatever we are going through each day, including whoever we need to reconcile with to the glory of “our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 

Is there any fellow believer you need to reconcile with, perhaps someone who has been unwilling to even consider their need to repent to you for what they have done? I highly recommend going to the throne of grace in intercession, and using David’s prayer of repentance in Psalm 51 to ask God to do for them what David prayed for himself, and even to lead them to pray this prayer of repentance for themselves so they will meet you at the level-ground before the throne of grace where all believers are helped to reconcile with God and each other to the glory of the Savior who died on the cross to make such things possible.

 

© 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.)