On This Day: Everyone is Affected by Jesus

   “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
    according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
    that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and for glory to your people Israel.”
   And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:29-35)

   When I read or hear professional skeptics telling me why I shouldn’t believe in Jesus, I often have a Bible passage pop into my head that tells me what God says about their blindness and hardness of heart.

   This morning, which happens to be Christmas day, I read the above passage and considered what Joseph and Mary first heard from Simeon about who and what Jesus was to both Jews and Gentiles, and then what Simeon said about how Jesus would affect people. 

   When we read that, it is easy to see how Jesus brought salvation, that the Old Testament part of the Bible describes how God prepared this salvation “in the presence of all peoples”, how Jesus’ life and ministry have become “a light for revelation” to us “Gentiles”, and how Jesus as the Christ/Messiah is the most glorious thing to come out of Israel. 

   How does that help me regarding the professional skeptics? How does that comfort me in relation to trauma I have experienced by angry Jesus-haters? How does that bring peace to my heart when the world continues to hate Jesus and his followers just as Jesus prophesied?

   Simeon’s description of how Jesus would be treated blesses me with comfort and peace because it tells me that witnessing people “fall” in relation to Jesus is just as much a fulfillment of Scripture as watching people “rise” from the deadness of their sin. Witnessing the “thoughts from many hearts” being “revealed” through people’s responses to Jesus assures me that seeing hateful, angry and deceptive hearts is just as much a fulfillment of God’s word as when I see hearts open to God’s word in “the obedience of faith”. 

   No one can escape that Jesus was “appointed” to bring God’s salvation into the world so we could clearly see who believed and who did not, who received God’s gift of eternal life and those who remained condemned in their sin. 

   I know I will never be as popular or profiteering as the professional skeptics. But “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25). 

   And because I can now see, I can also see how blind and hard-hearted the professional skeptics are in their deceiving of the nations. But this is also something God’s word prophecies would be a significant work of Satan to keep people from knowing God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

   So, while I hate that it is so (that “evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” ~ II Timothy 3:13), I raise my voice to tell people the “good news of great joy” that God has given us “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). 

   If anyone hears God calling you to “rise” into the good news of salvation, please ask me or another follower of Jesus to help you come to Christ. What a Christmas Day that would be! 

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

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

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

On This Day: When God Reveals His Heart to Children

   Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. (Luke 2:25-26)

   This Fall, my wife and I passed through the twenty-first anniversary of our family daycare. I have so many treasured memories of hearing what our Littles were thinking while they were with us, including my recent delight when a little boy asked me if I had heard of Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia! 

   As I have listened to countless stories from our little ones, some of what I heard was unique to each child, and some was universal to their age and development. 

   When I come to God’s word each morning, I often feel like a little child meeting with my Father in heaven. I have a sense that when I tell him how I am doing it is somewhat unique in the details, but also consistent with what we are all like at our various stages of maturing. 

   I also know that when I listen to Father speak to me through his word, I must differentiate between something that was unique to the person(s) involved in a scenario and the lessons that are universal for all God’s children. 

   As I pondered this in relation to Simeon, there was no doubt what was unique about his encounter with Jesus. No one else had the exact same opportunity to welcome the Christ and declare such personal praise to God. 

   However, I could also see what was applicable to me, partly in what Simeon expressed about Jesus that applies to all who believe in him, and partly in realizing that the unique way the Spirit revealed God’s will to Simeon illustrates the universal way God reveals his will to all his children. 

   I am exceptionally cautious when people tell me God spoke to them outside of Scripture. So many of these “God spoke to me” testimonies contradict what God has already told us in his word! 

   But the multitude of counterfeits do nothing to erase the fact that God still reveals the truth about Jesus to little children like me. From my first awareness of God at seven years old, to understanding the gospel at 12 and receiving Christ, to spending over 30 years living the “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” lifestyle,  I have no claim to knowing God except that it has delighted the Father to make Jesus known to me. 

   What God ministered to my heart for others is to be relentless about laying my prayers on the throne of grace that God will speak into their lives so they can hear him. What I see God has done for people like Simeon, and what I have seen him do for a child like me, makes me long for people like you to know what God is teaching you from his word each day. 

   And, when you know you are getting to know God through his word, would you join me in praying for others to experience how “faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of Christ”, the scriptures we now have in the Bible? The next best thing to knowing Jesus Christ for ourselves is when we witness him bringing someone else to know him as well. 

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

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

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

On This Day: In the Peace of God's Pleasure

   And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
   “Glory to God in the highest,
       and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:8-14)

   Two things I have mostly seen in distorted forms are peace and pleasure. Peace is usually superficial peace-keeping, while pleasure is often sinful self-centered (sexual) indulgence.

   Because peace is so central to Jesus coming into the world, it is no wonder that Satan wants to give the wrong impression. God will never give his peace to a world that loves darkness because its deeds are evil.

   Instead, Jesus came to bring “good news of great joy” to the earth because “a Savior” had been born, “who is Christ the Lord”. And it is in this good news of salvation that people come to have peace with God even while we are still here on earth.

   Decades after Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, Paul wrote, 

   Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).   

   This is what distinguishes the ones in whom God delights from those who “loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). Our “peace with God’ is not only “through our Lord Jesus Christ”, but it is through being “justified by faith”. The temple curtain was torn in two at Jesus’ death to show that we now have “access by faith” into the most holy place of God’s presence, but only by the grace of God.

   Note also that the “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” is our response to the angels’ “Glory to God in the highest”. God’s glory is the reason we have so great a salvation. God’s work is to the measure of what gives him glory. It is to the glory of God in the highest that his Son would come into the world for the purpose of laying down his life as the sacrifice for sin so we would be justified by grace through faith and rejoice in hope (the confident expection of future glory) of the glory of God. We see God’s glory in giving us so great a salvation, and we look forward to the glory we will experience with him when Jesus returns and we see him as he is (see I John 3:1-3). 

   As we live in such a peace-destroying time, it is fitting that we who are God’s beloved children ought to bless one another as exemplified by the apostles, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13). 

   Joy and hope are central to what we call the Christmas Story. Jesus’ birth was announced as “good news of great joy”. Jesus came into the world as the “Prince of Peace”, not because he would bring peace to the world, but that he would bring sinners into the kingdom of God where they would experience peace with his Father.

   The thing for each of us is that, when Jesus shines light on our sinful condition, does it drive us to run for darkness because we prefer our sinful indulgences, or does it call us to run into the light to be washed clean of sin so we can live in the righteousness of faith and experience peace with God our Creator? 

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

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

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

On This Day: Turning the Spotlight from Us to Him

   When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
   And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. (Luke 2:15-21)

   Sometimes, it is good to slow down in our journey through Scripture and imagine the various components of what was taking place. In this journey through Luke’s gospel, it stands out to me that Luke had talked to a lot of people to collect the details of what he wrote into his account. 

   Since we do not hear of Joseph during the time of Jesus’ public ministry, it is likely that he had already passed away by that time. We do know that Mary was still alive and well when the early church was filled with the Holy Spirit and growing phenomenally through the proclamation of the gospel. 

   This means that what I am reading in the early chapters of Luke’s gospel account would likely have involved some direct interaction between Luke and Mary, or at least between Luke and people who had heard from Mary about the events. 

   But what really stood out is that Mary is one more example of how God turns the spotlight away from the role someone played in his work so that we will not fall into the trap of idolizing a person. We do not have enough info about Mary to build a monument at a specific location or claim to have some object involved in her role that would tempt people to see how much money they can make from selling it, or paying admission to see it! 

   It is rather glaring that God mostly leads his servants off into glory with no parade that would give us the wrong impression. The spotlight keeps turning from the ones who joined God in his work to the work God is doing to seek and save the lost. Even Mary, the woman through whom God gave his Son to the world, was to be known as a disciple of Jesus Christ just like anyone else who received him. 

   The encouragement to me today is to point people to Christ and carry on. Tell someone about Jesus, and then carry on. Give a cup of cold water to someone in Jesus’ name, and then carry on. Rejoice in every opportunity God gives us to join him in his work, and then carry on with whatever he gives us to do next. 

   The fact is that God’s work of seeking and saving the lost continues. No one’s place in this work is inferior or superior to others, and the more we live out our unique place in God’s work, the more people will hear about Jesus Christ as the one and only Savior of the world. So we carry on turning the spotlight on Jesus, and rejoicing that he is still saving people like ourselves. 

   Oh, and one day, I will get to ask Luke and Mary all the questions that are unanswered in this earthly journey. That is, if I will even care once I am with them in the presence of God’s fullness of joy!

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

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

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

On This Day: God’s Blessings for Us in His Blessing of Others

   And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:35-38)

   First, the word “story” means an accounting of events. It used to mostly refer to non-fictional experiences. People would tell their stories, recounting things that happened to them. It seems that things have changed so that now people think a story is fictional unless otherwise clarified. With that in mind, I clarify that the Christmas “story” means the recounting of the events that brought the Christ into the world. True story.

   Second, by the very nature of our creation in the image and likeness of God, we are all involved in God’s world uniquely. There is no other us. Our birth parents are only one father and one mother. Even if our parents had other children, none of them are us, and none of us is them. 

   I emphasize this because of the way we need to receive from others. It’s designed into us. It begins before we are born. Our development to maturity is largely conditioned by what people invest in our lives. Parents who nurture loving attachment to their children affect their children with positive development. Parents who traumatize their children through either neglect or abuse affect their children negatively. In this there are kazillions of stories that are unique unto themselves, but also universal in the fact that we are all affected by others. 

   Third, the most universal experience of being affected positively by others is the salvation story of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. One scene after another shows how God has blessed us today through the way he blessed others in the past. Elizabeth and Mary are the two people front and center in Luke chapter 1. Next, we will see shepherds invited to witness the birth of the Christ as a newborn baby. Matthew will add how the Magi are included as the first Gentiles to meet the Christ as a little boy. All these people who were blessed with joining God’s work back then are blessing us today with our attachment to the same Savior they welcomed into the world.

   We could go back even further than this to the blessing given to the prophets to be told of the things that would come. We can look forward from the ones who welcomed Jesus as the Christ child to those who welcomed him as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). We can even go through the history that followed the completed scriptures to men and women whose blessed participation in the work of God has blessed so many others to run the race of faith with perseverance.

   Today, what matters the most, is how you and I personally connect to the way God has blessed others to participate in his work so that we are invited into his work in some unique way that only we can join. Even two people joining God’s work at the exact same time will be blessed by the testimony of others in unique ways and will be gifted to serve others uniquely as well. 

   The bottom line is that all of us are either blessed or cursed based on how we respond to the Christ. So, if you are reading this far, please consider how many people God has blessed with some participation in his work so that you could be invited to join God in his work today in the most unique expression of God’s blessing towards you.

© 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.)

Covid-19 Christmas: Grappling with Satan’s Successes and Our Conquering

So, it’s Covid-19 Christmas morning and the issue staring me in the face is, why was Satan permitted to sift Peter like wheat?[1] 

Which also raises the question, why was he permitted to torment Job? Why does God continue to allow Satan to have success in our lives whenever we refuse to submit to the Triune? Is it all the same thing of showing us our true soul-condition (a Deeper) in order to convince us to humble ourselves and get right with God (a Higher)? 

My thoughts went from considering what we are like as an embarrassment to God as our Father every time we give in to Satan’s schemes to what God shows Satan about himself every time we repent and come home.[2] 

Which brought me to consider why the pattern God gives is so effective: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”,[3] and, “Resist him, firm in your faith…”[4] 

“Submit yourselves therefore to God” and “firm in your faith” come first. “Resist the devil” and “resist him” come second. And “he will flee from you” is the result of this change. 

We do not win over our pet sins and demoralizing strongholds so that we can submit to God in faith. We are always told to submit to God in our hearts, right where we are, even in the middle of any sin whatsoever,[5] and in that faith-attachment to God, finding our strength restored in genuine attachment to Jesus, we can then resist the devil.[6] 

Why does Satan flee from the Christian he has had so much success with but who is now submitting again to God? Isn’t it, at least in part, because he sees this thing that is so wonderfully good, and so gloriously gracious, that he cannot bear to see God once again glorified in his erring child? 

The Psalm-writer declared, “For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.”[7] When the child of God who has just been caught committing adultery with the world repents (changes their mind) about what they are doing, draws near to the God they have sinned against, submitting again to their Father in heaven,[8] Satan sees the most remarkable expressions of the glory of God in his goodness expressed to his naughty children, his forgiveness magnifying the victorious work of salvation Jesus purchased on the cross, and the super-abounding steadfast love poured into the hearts of these disobedient, ungrateful and unruly children. 

Satan absolutely despises what God has done to gain victory over his successful scheme against Adam.[9] He is furious that his days of tormenting mankind are coming to an end[10] and that Jesus has redeemed every one of the people God has loved with an everlasting love. Even when Satan succeeds at getting the Christian to commit adultery with the world, he cannot take away the nature of God as good, forgiving and loving. He cannot do anything to diminish the gracious work of God expressed in forgiving sinful children because Jesus has borne the wrath of God expressed on every sin of every child of God to the fullest possible degree.[11] 

What Satan cannot get away from is Jesus’ pronouncement over his sinning brothers, “’It is finished!’ Their sin is paid for!”[12] Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more,[13] and Satan has to see that glorification of grace every time he leads any of God’s children into sin. The loving, gracious and forgiving Father simply expresses kindness to his child, leading them to repentance,[14] and then forgives whatever they had done and continues his work of purifying them from all that unrighteousness.[15] 

At the same time, hanging over the whole scene is the picture of our coming glorification.[16] What Satan sees all the time is that God will carry on to completion the good work he has started in us.[17] God will make us fully like Jesus in his image and likeness as intended before the creation of Adam and Eve.[18] No matter what Satan does, and no matter how many times he causes a child of God to stumble, “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”[19] 

Every time a Christian confesses their sins to our heavenly Father, Jesus Christ is glorified as our advocate, our one and only mediator between us and God, always working to perfection those who come to him in repentance and faith. 

What does this have to do with Christmas? 

Simply this: “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,”[20] and, “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”[21] He was given the name “Jesus” for the declared reason that “he will save his people from their sins,”[22] and Satan must watch that happen kazillions of times a day as God’s erring children keep submitting themselves to their heavenly Father, confessing their sins, glorifying God for their forgiveness, and renewing their walk with God to continue growing up to be like Jesus. 

The other day, while shovelling snow in front of our driveway, I saw a drug-addict acquaintance of mine walking by and greeted him by name. He hasn’t seen me for a long time so was initially surprised that I knew him. As soon as I reminded him of the circumstances of how we had met he immediately knew who I was. When he admitted that his struggle with addiction was as hopeless as ever, I urged him to call on Jesus to save him rather than try to get free in his own strength because, “‘everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”[23] 

We all need that same invitation all the time. It doesn’t matter if we are still dead in our trespasses and sins and need to call on Jesus for salvation,[24] or are already his brothers by faith and need to call on him for deliverance from a specific sin. “Everyone” means everyone; “calls” means calls; “the name of the Lord” means the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and “be saved” is the one and the same gift of salvation and deliverance given to everyone who receives Jesus Christ by faith. 

Satan was given his day in court, so to speak, to prove that Peter was not the man he boasted to be. Jesus already knew that. And when Jesus had finished with his death by crucifixion, his burial, and his resurrection from the grave, he restored Peter to a love-relationship with his Savior that was now based on grace instead of works,[25] and empowered Peter to proclaim the good news of great joy one particular day to such great effect that three thousand people repented and received Jesus as Lord and Savior right then and there.[26] And Satan had to watch it happen! 

It doesn’t matter how many times or ways Satan has lured you into sin. Jesus is glorified in saving you from your sins and leading you to be like him one day because, “he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”[27] 

So, let us “confess our sins” to God because, “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”[28] And, every time he does that, Satan will flee from us because he hates to see God receiving such glory for treating us so good.

 

© 2020 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] Luke 22:31-34

[2] The fact that God’s work in us is on display to the whole spiritual realm is stated in Ephesians 3:10 in the immediate context of Ephesians 3:7-13 and the larger context of Ephesians 3:1-21

[3] James 4:7

[4] I Peter 5:9

[5] Deuteronomy 4:29

[6] This is expressed in greater detail in Ephesians 6:10-20 where Paul talks about the success we can have against the devil’s schemes when we put on the whole armor of God together and devote ourselves to prayer.

[7] Psalm 86:5

[8] As James describes in James 4:1-10

[9] Genesis 3 describes how Satan lured Adam and Eve into sin, thinking he had destroyed God’s hope of having a people in his own image and likeness. God told Satan right then and there that his Son would come and crush his head (authority) through a means that would allow Satan to strike his heel (Genesis 3:15). In the crucifixion of Jesus (partially about what Satan conspired against him), Jesus was attacked, tortured and put to death in what appeared to be a lethal strike against the work of God. However, in this Jesus fully propitiated God’s justice (bore God’s wrath that belonged to our sins on himself) so that he could save completely all who trust in him.

[10] Revelation 12:12 in context of Revelation 12:1-17

[11] The word “propitiation” in the better English translations means just that (Romans 3:21-26; Hebrews 2:17; I John 2:2; I John 4:10)

[12] John 19:30; compare with Isaiah 6:7

[13] Romans 5:18-21; 6:1-4

[14] Romans 2:4

[15] I John 1:9; compare this with Psalm 130:3 ~ “If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?” (NIV)

[16] Romans 8:28-30

[17] Philippians 1:6

[18] I John 3:1-2

[19] I John 2:1

[20] I Timothy 1:15

[21] Like 19:10

[22] Matthew 1:21

[23] Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13

[24] Ephesians 2:1-10 shows the remarkable transformation of sinners dead in their trespasses and sins becoming alive in our Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith.

[25] John 21:15-19

[26] Acts 2:1-47

[27] Hebrews 7:25

[28] I John 1:9

The Savior who Left Home to Bring us Home

As I continue exploring what it means that God wants us to receive his good news with great joy, I realize that the whole history of man is about our relationship with God. Everything is about whether we are attaching to God or not attaching to him.

Our identity in the image and likeness of God means in the image and likeness of a relational being beyond our wildest imaginings. We cannot understand ourselves without understanding attachment to our Creator. We are always for God or against him, nothing in between.

What has done all the damage in our souls that has resulted in horrible strongholds of self-protection is relationship problems with people when we had no relationship with God.

What we see healing childhood wounds, attachment-pain and sarky self-protection is people reconnecting with the Triune God.

The reason the good news of great joy is good news of great joy is because there is “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”[1] It is not just about sinners being saved from sin and condemnation. It is about a Shepherd going out to seek, find and save his lost sheep so there can be one flock and everyone can be together forever.

As I consider how to lead people in living out either Christ-centered singleness or Christ-centered marriage in Christ-centered churches, I realize that the issues we face are not about knowing the right thing to “do”. The issue is always about how we are “doing” in our relationship with God. Marriage and singleness are not the primary focus; it is all about being Christ-centered in everything.

So, “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin,”[2] because it is being done independent of our relationship with God. The reason that, “apart from me (Jesus) you can do nothing,”[3] is because we are trying to live independent of God. The reason that, if we “have not agapè-love” we are “nothing”,[4] is because we are being unlike God. And the reason that anyone who “knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin,”[5] is because someone who is like Jesus will never fail to do what they know is the will of God because relationship with God is everything.[6]

I am often nervous and anxious about sharing how a new-hearted look at both Christ-centered singleness and Christ-centered marriage settles what to think about everything in between the two. I am always mindful of how growing in attachment to Jesus may result in losing relationships with people who don’t want him.

However, the only way it could ever turn out good for every one of us is if returning to the Christ-centeredness we lost in the Garden of Eden feels like finding a treasure hidden in a field, and that the ultimate joy of attachment to the Triune God is so precious to us that giving up anything else doesn’t feel like we are losing anything at all.[7]

© 2020 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] Luke 2:10-11

[2] Romans 14:23

[3] John 15:5

[4] I Corinthians 13:1-3

[5] James 4:17

[6] John 5:19 (in the context of John 5:1-47)

[7] Matthew 13:44

Pandemic Lockdowns and Good News of Great Joy

Does the good news of great joy that God offers the world triumph over the agony of a pandemic lockdown?

Yes.

In fact, does the good news of great joy triumph over the possibility of contracting this virus?

Yes. 

Okay, let’s go further, does the good news of great joy triumph over the possibility of dying from covid-19? 

Yes, absolutely. 

Approximately three thousand years ago one of the most famous songs the world has ever heard was sung for the first time. In this famous song, the writer describes what relationship with the only true God is like using the imagery of sheep cared for by the Good Shepherd. 

After sharing a variety of scenarios in which this Shepherd cared for his sheep, he presents this worst-case scenario: 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

    I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

    your rod and your staff,

    they comfort me. 

Valley of the shadow of death facing us today? Check. 

Evil all around? Check. 

Hearts in need of comfort? Check. 

What is it that causes a person to “fear no evil”? 

Answer: The shepherd is with us. 

Where does a person get comfort in such a scenario? 

Answer: The shepherd’s rod and staff. 

What do the shepherd’s rod and staff give a sheep so that it would feel comforted? 

They give sheep the promise of leading, rescuing, discipline and protection. 

Jesus promised that he would lead his sheep, they would hear his voice and follow him, and no one would ever snatch them away from him. 

For this reason, that ancient song-writer concluded: 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

    all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of Jesus

    forever. 

The reason that the good news of great joy permeates Jesus’ coming into the world is because his death for our sins, and his resurrection from the dead, mean that he can save completely anyone who comes to him in repentance and faith. 

All who trust in Jesus have goodness and mercy following us all through life, every day of our lives, pandemics and lockdowns included. And these days of goodness and mercy will lead us to our Forever Home where we will live in the fullness of Jesus’ joy for eternity. 

Will covid-19 get me there sooner? 

Maybe. Who knows. 

What I do know is that I want you to be just as certain that a Forever Home with Jesus is yours as much as mine, and that Jesus’ goodness and mercy will follow you everywhere you go as Jesus leads us as the Great Shepherd of his sheep.

© 2020 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.)

 

 

Home Church Video ~ Good News of Great Joy ~ Part 1 ~ The Source of Joy is a Person

One of my pet peeves against the Christmas package is that it makes it difficult to talk about Jesus’ birth without it feeling out of season, so to speak. As soon as we start speaking of Bethlehem, and angels, and shepherds, and the baby in a manger, it conjures up all the tinsely entrapments that confine such things to one tiny window of distractions.

How then do we address the wonderful message that there is “good news of great joy that will be for all the people”[1] without reducing it to a materialistic season of enchantment? How do we revel in the Scriptures that describe Jesus’ entrance into our world without limiting them to a season when they so clearly offer us a lifetime of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit?[2]

After finishing up a very encouraging series on agapè-love, I found myself wanting to address our equally desperate need for joy. What I have come to realize is that the message of joy in the Bible does not match the experience of joy in so many church-folk. “Why is that?”, I wonder.

In the first message of this series we look at how clearly God intends for his people to experience a life of “good news of great joy”. This will be our theme for the whole series as we look at every aspect of joyful living we can find in God’s word. It is clear that he has spoken his mind on the matter. Our aim is to let his words dwell in us richly until what we feel inside us matches his will and work.

Join our home church as we attempt to throw off the trappings of the Christmas filter and receive God’s gift of everlasting joy as our right and heritage all year round, and on into eternity. Unto us a Savior has been born, who is Christ the Lord,[3] and we can enjoy his transforming love and joy every day of our lives.

© 2019 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] Luke 2:10

[2] Romans 14:17

[3] Luke 2:11