On This Day: What Good Has the Good News Done?

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

   There came a time in my “institutional church” experience when I understood something as a pattern. It was the realization that so many people I was supposed to be caring for in a pastoral way had never had a personal experience of God doing anything for them in their “inner being”. 

   Instead, everything was described in terms of externals. People could give details of when, where, and how they were “saved”, often followed by a testimony of how they were quickly ushered into helping with some kind of program in the church. 

   In the last institutional church I was pastoring, I was leading an evening of discipleship training and asked everyone to describe the best experience they ever had of someone ministering to them. As we completed our testimonies around the circle, something stood out in glaring revelation: Not one person talked about something that happened while attending a program! Every story of ministry happened in personal relationship in whatever circumstances people were going through at the time. And yet here they were convinced they had to run more programs than were possible with our number of people! 

   It doesn’t matter if we are kept busy with constantly changing expectations, or the routine of doing the same old job in the same old church program, taking care of others has a way of numbing us to how we are doing. And, since how well we are doing in fellowship or ministry to others comes from how well we are abiding in Jesus as branches attached to the vine, we must regularly take a look inside to see if the “good news of great joy” that was announced at Jesus’ birth (Luke 2) is stirring us with good news in a world of bad and filling us with a sense of great joy to be a recipient of God’s gift of salvation.

   Paul prayed for believers, “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:16). If that is not what we have, we must consider it a “blessed are the poor in spirit” experience. Why? Because God always begins blessing us by showing us what we are missing. Hungry? He has bread of life for that. Thirsty? He has living water for that. Lost? He has a shepherd for that. Dead in sin? He presents “the Resurrection and the Life” in his Son. Blind? Jesus came to give sight. Oppressed? Jesus came to declare the “Year of Jubilee” over you. 

   My point is simply that we need to always admit the true condition of our souls in our inner being so we can then let ourselves “hunger and thirst for righteousness” knowing God is blessing us with that hunger and thirst so he can satisfy us where it counts.

   Jesus did come to proclaim good news to the poor. Anyone who is poor in spirit qualifies (even if they are rich in worldly goods). With all the bad news around us, I really want to feel the good news of God inside me, and I will settle for nothing less than the “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17) that was in my Savior during his ministry and is my birthright today. 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

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

On This Day: The Unique and Universal of the Spirit

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

   The apostle Paul gave us the picture of the church as “a holy temple in the Lord… a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22). He also clarified that the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (vs 20). 

   This means we have three distinct parts. Jesus is the cornerstone that makes the structure true. The apostles and prophets are the foundation, uniquely attached to Jesus for their foundational work. The “household of God” (vs 19) is built on what was laid down by Jesus and the apostles. 

   Peter gives a synonymous picture of this when he writes, 

“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (I Peter 2:4-5).

Believers are “living stones” in the building of God.

   I clarify this distinction because, when we look at the Holy Spirit in Jesus that relationship is unique to him in his cornerstone ministry and work. At the same time, it gives us amazing illustrations of what it looks like for a human being to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit, albeit never with the same calling as the Savior.

   When we look at the apostles, there are also clear aspects of their assignment that were unique to them. At the same time, so much of what they did is still exemplary of the Spirit-filled life for all believers even to this day.

   However, once we come to the “living stones” who make up the “holy temple in the Lord,” we must see the necessity of accepting the uniqueness of each person’s spiritual gifts along with the universal calling for us to all use our gifts as fully as they are given. 

   I know God is applying this very personally as I explore how to understand my spiritual gifts and to be filled with the Spirit when I serve God’s people in love. It is a relational way of life for the church because it is in the image of the Triune God. As “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” prophesied the triunity of God in the ministry of the Messiah, we must grow in unity and harmony as we follow our Savior’s unique example in our universal applications of ministry in the body of Christ.

© 2025 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.)

A Pastoral Example of Love

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. (I Timothy 4:12)

The Pastor’s responsibility: For the past week I have been praying through the details of a pastor’s job description as Paul expressed to Timothy in I Timothy 4:11-16. Today I focused on the pastor’s responsibility to set an example in love. For some of us pastors, there are lots of sight-based reasons to think this could never happen. However, there are even more faith-based reasons to ask for this in prayer and wait in expectation as God answers according to his good, acceptable, and perfect will.[1]

When I read this exhortation to Timothy, that he set an example for the believers in love, the conclusion is simple: every pastor today has enough in the love of Christ, and in the examples of love set by the apostles, and passed on to us through men like Timothy and Titus, that even if we did not experience love in the church from one other person, including all the ways we may have missed out on older men setting an example of love towards us, we still have everything we need to both know and experience the love of Christ for ourselves as fully as it can be experienced this side of heaven, and we have everything we need to set the same example of love in our lives as we see in Christ and his apostles.

In other words, even if all we have is the example Christ, every pastor can set an example of both experiencing that love, and expressing that love to others. Whatever heartaches may stand in the way of experiencing God’s love, or expressing that love to others, the love of Christ will heal us and bind up our wounds[2] so that we come to experience the love of Christ more than ever before, and are enabled by the Spirit to simply live out the same love we have received from God.

The church’s response: to not only follow their pastors’ example of seeking to walk in love (no matter how limited that example may be), but to look for any other contemporary examples of pastors loving the church and see what God is providing for us to help us do the same. And, whenever we feel stuck in the same place of having no immediate examples of loving one another in the church, and we feel like all our examples of people relating one another in the church are bad examples, we still have every reason to encourage ourselves to walk in love towards others simply because, if nothing else, we have Christ.

Here is the will of God for each of us no matter how little we see of love in our pastors’ example, or how we have been treated by any other believers.

“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” (Ephesians 5:1-2).

The bottom line here is that all of us can imitate God as his beloved children. Even the fact that many believers do not feel this love from God should not drive them to despair so that they give up on everything and run for self-protective cover. Rather, the fact that Christ loving the church on the cross is so well substantiated both in history, and in the divine revelation, means that we should cry out to God for our share in experiencing this to the full.

We do have the example of God, and of Christ, and his apostles, and many others throughout church history, so we can urge ourselves to not only live in the greatest love-relationship with God and his people that is possible this side of heaven, but to also seek to be an example of love to our church family, our enemies, and to the world around us. Whatever God’s word tells our pastors to exemplify for us is intended to lead the church to exemplify the same things towards others.

Prayer for both pastors and congregations:

    Heavenly Father, I want to experience such a filling of the Holy Spirit with the love of God that is in Christ Jesus my Lord that it not only heals everything that is broken within me, but makes me an imitator of the love of God, one who walks in the same love as Christ expressed to me when he laid down his life for me. I ask that I would so fully experience the love of God that is mine in my Savior that I would also become a shining example of this love to everyone around me. I have no doubt that this is impossible for me, but I ask for it in Jesus’ name because I know that even this is possible for you.

© 2016 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

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[1] Romans 12:1-2

[2] Psalm 147:3

The Emotional Fear Factor

The idea of Fear Factor is to get people to do things that any normal human being would be afraid to face, let alone try on purpose. Forget being afraid of a solitary spider; how about we fill a whole room with arachnids and throw someone in!

Okay, I digress.

Image an emotional Fear Factor; you know, where there is some room filled with emotions and we would be thrown into the room just to see whether we could get out alive, so to speak.

Does the same thing happen to you as to me, where we suddenly wonder why we would rather climb into an arachnid-filled room than open the door to some hideaway in our hearts that has always screamed at us with… horrifying… FEELINGS?!

I have a question for God: is there some connection between all kinds of emotional stuff coming up for me, and God speaking to me about the spiritual gift of faith? Is God leading me to have the spiritual gift of faith in emotional things so that I can encourage and build others up as they face emotional things in their lives? Strange concept. Might work. God-sized.

Or, would it take more faith to believe God would energize the spiritual gifts of his church to minister to me should my emotions suddenly sproing-forth with four pairs of creepy little legs and threaten to undo me?

Anyway, this weekend I have been able to enter into one of my stories as a reader/editor. It is emotional. It also coincides with children leaving our daycare (some leaving our town), having a couple of children to look after while their Daddy was in the hospital over the weekend, being painfully reminded of people who once held a very personal place in my life but now have no room for me whatsoever, responding to a very personal email with zero response from any of the other recipients, posting a just-for-fun video on Facebook and facing a surprising reminder of childhood stuff, having a miserable night’s sleep, and having extra time this morning to FEEL!

It is in such real-life experiences as this that I hear the teaching of God’s word regarding spiritual gifts. God clearly wants his church to earnestly desire spiritual gifts,[1] including the utterance of wisdom, the utterance of knowledge, and the expression of faith.[2] These appear to be the foundation for handling the others.[3] Perhaps, if these three gifts were used freely, it would help the church avoid extremes in the use of the other gifts?

It is tragic to see the division in the church between those who exaggerate spiritual gifts out of proportion to the teachings of God’s word, and those who deny some of the spiritual gifts in contradiction of the teachings of God’s word, when the Holy Spirit is working to distribute all the spiritual gifts among the whole body of Christ for the common good of all.[4]

Now, while this admission may trespass on minefields of self-protection, and lure some into theological digressions, my focus is simple: many of God’s children are emotionally crippled simply because they, and/or their churches, are overwhelmed by the Fear Factor that comes from threatening to open the emotional back rooms and bring the hidden things to God.

My contention is that God has given spiritual gifts to his church to enable us to lead members of the body of Christ to healing for the brokenhearted and binding up of their wounds,[5] so that they can join God’s work of using their spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ.[6]

Perhaps God wants us to know what it is like to have ALL the spiritual gifts in his church (as widely as he wants us to associate with his church), and to have them so working together that none are exaggerated, all are accepted and encouraged, and the whole body is built up because of it. Yes, even when facing the emotional Fear Factor!

Since that is what God’s word teaches,[7] can we trust him to factor in the handling of our fears so that, through the fellowship of spiritual gifts in the church, such strong love-relationships mature that his perfect love drives out our fears?[8]

Hmmm… maybe that is why some among us are to have the spiritual gift of faith?

© 2016 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

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[1] I Corinthians 14:1

[2] I Corinthians 12:8-9

[3] I share these three because this is as far as I have prayed and preached through the list of spiritual gifts Paul presents in I Corinthians 12:8-11. I Corinthians 12:1-11 is the context for this. I will likely have much more to share as I complete the list. Paul gives another description of these spiritual gifts in Romans 12:3-8.

[4] I Corinthians 12:7. Yes, John McArthur is wrong to teach that some of the spiritual gifts died out with the apostles since God carried the apostles along by his Holy Spirit to instruct the church in how to use all the spiritual gifts after they were gone. No, I do not have all the spiritual gifts issues figured out, but contribute this as something I hope has some spiritual gifting carrying me along to share it. I also pray that God is freeing me from emotional fears so that I can join his church to test everything by his word and his Spirit (there is a spiritual gift for that), and maximize the fellowship of the church in the use of spiritual gifts.

[5] Psalm 147:3

[6] Ephesians 4:1-16 gives another view of how the church works together in love to build up the whole body.

[7] I do not say this as though I am prideful in a personal position, but because these are the explicit statements of God’s word as written in the apostolic letters to the churches. Anything to the contrary is someone reading-in (eisegesis) their own personal opinions on the matter, making it unnecessarily divisive.

[8] God’s promise of I John 4:18, that “perfect love casts out fear”, is fulfilled in distributing spiritual gifts throughout the body of Christ to enable us to join him in this work. Of course, it requires us to put aside our fears that sabotage love-relationships in the church, and love each other enough to come together in our fears, presenting them all to God in prayer, and welcoming whatever he does throughout his body to minister to these needs.

A Wanted-Poster for Depressed Christians

Do you ever discover something in God’s Book and wonder why you never noticed it before? Does it ever feel like something in God’s word suddenly stands out so clearly that you realize God has been giving you the puzzle pieces for years, and now the picture is undeniably obvious?

Just this past while, with a special emphasis on sharing with God’s people Sunday morning, it has become abundantly clear that there is a huge and necessary connection between our man-sized problems and God’s God-sized provisions. One reason the righteous live by faith instead of sight is that everything we see is man-sized, while the things faith sees are God-sized. God-sized provisions always trump man-sized problems.

The sentence from God’s Book that has tied together so many other pieces of the puzzle is this: “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being…”[1]

It does not matter how we would describe the condition of our inner being, it is going to be man-sized. Whether it be depression or dissociation, trauma or trial, fear or frivolity,[2] or any other thing we could describe, its immensity is never more than man-sized. No matter how impossible the problem, it is only impossible in the realm of man.

On the other hand, no matter how we would describe “the riches of his glory”, we are entering into the realm of, “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think”.[3] In other words, the human mind cannot conceive of how much “more abundantly” God is able to work than “all that we ask or think”. His glory is so infinitely and eternally rich, that there is no comparison between the immensity of his provisions and the man-sized impossibilities of our problems.

Lately I have been drawn to consider this with a special emphasis on depression. This is partly because I have met too many Christians who have struggled with the beliefs, thoughts, and feelings that fall under the depression label. And, it is partly because most of what I read in relation to depression is… well… depressing!

In other words, so much of what I read about depression is that it is a lifelong struggle that is somehow outside the scope of the riches of God’s glory. I heard the same thing way back when I was first introduced to eating disorders in the church. The message was that all we can do is sympathize and empathize with such people because they are stuck with this problem for the rest of their lives.

What I learned then, and what is all the clearer now, is that the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ is of the “according to the riches of his glory” kind, while depression, eating disorders, and any other expression of hopelessness, is of the man-sized impossibility kind.

Which means (drum roll please), that any kind of man-sized hopelessness that is brought to the riches of God’s glory has more than met its match. God revealed in his book, “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.”[4] By this, he meant that the joy, peace, and hope that are according to the riches of his glory, can fill the believer in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit no matter how man-sized-impossible anything may seem inside or outside our souls.

Which is why Paul told us he prayed, “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being…”[5]We do not focus on what broken people can do for themselves, or what we can do for them in ministry. We focus on praying to the God who does “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think”,[6] and we tell him all we ask or think about how the riches of his glory would minister to the true condition of our inner beings through the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us in Christ.

With this in mind, I want to figuratively nail up some wanted posters. I want to let depressed Christians know they are wanted. Ministry to depressed children of God is normal ministry in the church, just as we minister to any other condition of the soul. Jesus called his children to come to him for rest for their souls,[7] and he fulfills that promise through the ministries of his body, the church.

Of course, it is characteristic of depressed people to feel hopeless about anything they hear, so those of us who have some faith in what God could do in the power of his Spirit must share this around and invite them to join us as we pray for their joy, peace, and hope in Jesus Christ.

Here’s my wanted poster.

© 2016 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

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[1] Ephesians 3:16

[2] Yes, I was enjoying myself here.

[3] Ephesians 3:20

[4] Romans 15:13

[5] Ephesians 3:16

[6] Ephesians 3:20

[7] Matthew 11:28-30

Pastoral Ponderings ~ The Full Measure of Weeping With Those Who Weep

          One of the biggest dangers of the people-pleasing self-protection I learned as a child is that it wants to immobilize me from doing anything when “important” people disagree on what is the right thing to do. If we reach a crossroads in the path of life, and one significant person believes heading west is best, while the other thinks heading right is right, how does one decide whom to follow?

          This is typically where people-pleasing self-protection sits down and busies itself so distractingly in the hope that it will never need to choose.[1] The hope is that the big people will make the decision, and we will be able to stay right where we are without anyone noticing that our resourceful activities are not moving us along the path at all.

          In the midst of the differences of opinion argued within the church, there are times and situations in which a decision must be made. Someone is hurting too much for the new-hearted believer in Jesus Christ to hide in the shadows of self-protection. We are now the body of Christ, and we have the life of the Holy Spirit flowing through the body of Christ to enable and equip us all for ministry.[2]

          While I have listened intently to leaders argue their opinions about ministry, I have tried to look at these things from a comprehensive worldview. I not only want to know that someone is reading the right owner’s manual, but that they are fully relating to whatever ministry-needs are staring us in the face. I want to see that they are not only arguing what the owners’ manual means, but showing how to put it into practice in whatever difficult situations the church is facing.[3]

          The result of seeking to weigh everyone’s ministry opinions against the plumbline of a branch abiding in Christ and bearing much fruit[4] is that I have noticed that, while everyone seems to use Scripture to justify their doctrinal beliefs, not everyone is bearing fruit in the lives of those who receive the efforts of their ministry.

          In other words, while all the leaders involved know how to talk-the-talk, not everyone is walking-the-walk (including their own!). Some get so distracted by the doctrinal debates that they don’t realize they aren’t really doing any ministry to the people in question. They are like politicians spending all their time shooting down their opponents, but never stating how they are going to do things the right way.

          It reminds me of the religious elite of Jesus’ day bringing to him the woman caught in adultery.[5] They confronted Jesus with a situation in which they were sure they could bring about his demise. Based on Scripture, they believed that capital punishment was required, and that the true Messiah would carry out the letter of the law no matter what the Romans might do as a result. In their minds, if Jesus carried out the law of Scripture, the Romans would put him to death because they would not allow the Jews to decide issues of capital punishment.

          What the religious elite could not factor into their thinking was that this Jesus of Nazareth was the Word of God,[6] the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.[7] They did not understand that he was the embodiment of a new covenant that would so thoroughly satisfy the just demands of the first covenant that sinners could be eternally forgiven of all their sins and trespasses against God.

          Jesus’ response to the situation, knowing that he was dealing with a woman caught in grievous sin, was to confront his opponents with the full measure of the law they claimed to honor. If they wanted to judge a situation under the law of the first covenant, then they must do it without favoritism or partiality. If any of them were free from sin, they could carry out the law’s judgment on this woman’s sin. If they were guilty of sin, he would need to carry out the law’s judgment against them as well.[8]

          It was not long before every one of Jesus’ opponents had drifted off, unable to stand against his wisdom. The only ones left were Jesus and the accused woman. Jesus knew Scripture, since he had breathed it out through the messengers of old.[9] In his Word-became-flesh existence, he lived by every word that came from the mouth of God.[10]

          However, in his first coming, he did not come to condemn and judge the world.[11] This first coming was to seek and to save the lost.[12] He had come to present and ratify a new covenant in his blood. His intent was to find sinners, redeem them, and transfer them from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of light.[13]

          After leaving the religious elite to slink away under the judgment of the law, Jesus turned to this woman under the grace of the new covenant. Based on his purpose in coming, he presented the way the new covenant would deal with sinners. The new covenant would not call for their sin to be punished, but would present the Son of God as the sacrifice for sin. It would not be the sinners who were put to death for their sin, but the Savior who would suffer and die in their place.

          What would God give to sinners if the death penalty were satisfied in the death of his Son? Forgiveness.[14] Those who received the gift of the new covenant would receive forgiveness.[15]

          Because of the gracious purpose of his coming in the flesh, the Son of God spoke to the sinful woman with these words of light, “’Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’”[16]

          Jesus made clear earlier in the gospel account of John, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”[17] Since Jesus did not come to condemn the world,[18] he would not stand in condemnation of this woman, sinful though she may have been.

          Instead, Jesus called her out of her sin. She would need to settle for herself whether he was the Messiah God promised, and whether she would turn from her sin to follow him. At that moment, she needed to know that this man who just saved her from the death penalty of her sin (what a beautifully prophetic picture!), called her to turn from her life of sin.

          The reason that this picture stands out to me is that I hear so many so-called ministries arguing why other ministries are invalid based on Scripture. They point at Scripture to insist that there is no such thing as a demonized Christian, therefore all the ministries delivering Christians from demons are guilty of judgment and condemnation as a pack of ravenous wolves.

          They say that anything that is being done for Christians with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder[19] involves psychology, and therefore it is thoroughly unbiblical to believe there is such a thing, or to do ministry to brothers and sisters demonstrating such an effect.

          And now we have some of the most horrendously painful situations facing the worldwide body of Christ. We have Christian girls being abducted by a satanic religion and exposed to a level of sexual abuse and molestation that is unthinkable in its depravity. The news that military forces are beginning to rescue the victims of these crimes gives hope that many of these poor girls will be delivered.

          But what now? They are traumatized. They are traumatized now. Those who went into this horror as true believers in Jesus Christ will come back to the church with all that has happened to them. Those who were unbelievers going into this experience, but come to Christ during or after what they endured, will still feel the severe wounds that need healing in Christ. Some may have explicit memories haunting them as the ugliness replays in their minds day after day. Others will have shut down parts of their minds and souls because they were not able to bear the pain of what they were enduring.

          And now the church will be divided. On one side will be those who see a Savior who came to seek and save the lost, to heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds, to proclaim good news to those who are so mentally, emotionally, and spiritually impoverished, to free the prisoners and deliver the oppressed, and to announce to all that it is the time of God’s favor.[20] God’s word says that he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds,[21]and these people intend to be the body of Christ that makes this work of God real in the lives of these traumatized sisters in Jesus Christ.[22]

          On the other side, there will be those who will stand by with stones in hand, judging whether any ministry provides help that is not spoken of in Scripture, or presents Christ with too much emphasis on psychology, or steps outside the self-protective boxes of the religious elite in any way.

          What will I do? I will deal with truth in real life. I know whom I have believed, and I know what he is able to do for his traumatized children. As he shocked the religious elite of his day by doing things far outside their doctrines and expectations (without any violation of the word of God), I expect him to do things that are beyond what anyone could ask or think,[23] while leaving us in awe of how his work in peoples’ lives is perfectly consistent with his breathed-out revelation of himself in Scripture.

          What it comes down to is that I am under command of God to weep with those who weep.[24] I would rather that my beloved brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ feel the tears of love, and grace, and hope, and faith coming from my heart, than that my self-protection keeps me sitting at the crossroads hoping that none of the big people notice I’m not doing anything.

          It is time to do something. Jesus will know what to do, just like always. He is already working in me and my fellowship of believers both to will and to work for his good pleasure.[25] It is up to us to now work out those inner workings and promptings of the Holy Spirit with a fear and trembling that is overwhelmed with the perfect love of God that drives out our fear of what people think of us.[26] What my broken brothers and sisters think of the ministry they receive through the body of Christ is what matters most.

          So, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, if you are intimidated by the religious elite who want judgment more than mercy,[27] hide God’s word in your heart,[28] grab your box of tissues,[29] and go find a brother or sister who is weeping. Sit down and weep with them until the word and the Spirit direct you into what to do next. You can be sure that, if you will let your faith express itself in such love,[30] you will be the first in line to rejoice when they rejoice.[31]

© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

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[1] Even spending time writing blogs about things I do know can be a self-protective distraction from joining God’s work in people’s lives in areas that leave me feeling very insecure, and afraid of judgment (people’s, not God’s).

[2] Ephesians 4:11-16

[3] Matthew 7:24-27. The illustration of the wise and foolish builders reveals that God’s will is for us to put Jesus’ words into practice. James, of course, confirms this with his teaching on being doers of the word, not just hearers (James 1:22-25).

[4] John 15:5-8 (John 15:1-11 if you want the larger context).

[5] John 8:1-11

[6] John 1:1-5

[7] John 1:14

[8] James 2:10

[9] II Peter 1:21; II Timothy 3:16-17

[10] Matthew 4:4

[11] John 3:17

[12] Luke 19:10

[13] Colossians 1:13

[14] Psalm 130:4 showed that God has always been a forgiving God. The new covenant gives God just grounds to freely and justly forgive sins forever. See also Luke 24:46-47.

[15] Acts 2:37-39

[16] John 8:10-11

[17] John 3:17

[18] His second coming will be in wrath and condemnation of all unrepentant sin, but that was not the purpose of his first coming.

[19] Or any of the synonymous labels attempting to describe the effects of trauma on the human mind and soul.

[20] Luke 19:10; Luke 4:16-30 (notice what people tried to do to him then as well!)

[21] Psalm 147:3

[22] Of course, I am not excluding all the other ways that Christians in these situations have been traumatized by what they have experienced and witnessed. I am simply presenting one of the most heart-rending aspects of these tragedies.

[23] Ephesians 3:20-21

[24] Romans 12:15

[25] Philippians 2:12-13

[26] I John 4:18

[27] Matthew 9:13; 12:7

[28] Psalm 119:9-11

[29] Sorry, no Scripture for that!

[30] Galatians 5:6

[31] Romans 12:15

Pastoral Pings (Plus) ~ Getting it Together for a Joyful Body

          In my pondering through Scripture, I often have to remind myself to consider what I am reading through the biblical mindset of the one body of Christ, rather than thinking of it only in its application to me personally. It is too easy to fall into the world’s independent worldview and assume that everything I read in Scripture is just between me and God. Anything he instructs in the letters to the churches falls on me to figure out and perform.

          In this erroneous focus, how well I am doing rests in how well I am doing. The measure of everything to do with my life is just between me and God. I am either strong or weak. I am either succeeding or failing. If anything is wrong, it's up to me to fix it.

          If we allow this independent thinking to rule the church, everyone rises or falls based on only their own behavior, or their own experience of the things God speaks about. This creates the false image of the church hero who does everything in God’s word better than everyone else. It also causes some people to stand out as utter failures at doing what they are told. In-between is a whole mob of God’s children who pretend to be okay because they don’t want anyone to know that they are not doing as well as they put on.

          When I look at Scriptures through the mindset of the one body of Christ, and apply the exhortations and instructions to what it looks like for God’s people to do these things together, I find a far more hopeful picture. I will use my present focus on, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice,”[1]to illustrate.

          If I read this through the individualistic mindset of the world, I see only that God expects me to rejoice in Jesus Christ always. It doesn’t matter how I am doing, or what I am going through, it is up to me to stay connected with Jesus in such a way that the overriding characteristic of my life is rejoicing. When I find it too hard, I must take responsibility for dealing with me and God in whatever ways are required for me to turn my frown upside down, so to speak.

          The fact is that, for many of God’s children, there is too much hard stuff going on in us, and around us, for us to successfully “obey” this exhortation. This means that, when rejoicing in Jesus is just between me and God, those days where I find it impossible to rejoice are a failure. Add too many of those failure-days together, and I become consumed with frustration, and then hopelessness. Life becomes too hard, and all I have left is to find some church-approved escapism, or do my best to pretend so no one will harass me for my failure of a Christian life, or just stay home and do the just-me-and-God-in-nature counterfeit of life.

          On the other side, when we look at, “Rejoice in the Lord always,” as an exhortation to the whole church as the one body of Christ, everything suddenly looks different. This is about a church rejoicing in the Lord always. This is about the combined fellowship of pastors, and elders, and congregation. This includes all the different maturity levels of congregants. This involves those who are weeping and those who are rejoicing, all at the same time.

          So, as anyone in the church faces their own inability to rejoice, they meet together with their church that seeks to rejoice in the Lord always. Their church has learned never to deny how anyone is really doing (hence weeping with those who weep, and rejoicing with those who rejoice[2]). However, they are a church that pursues joy. They join the apostolic ministry to “work with you for your joy.”[3]

          When someone who is struggling with inner heartaches, or has just been hit with joy-crushing news, is in a church that pursues joy together, they can look forward to prayer meeting night, or their small group meeting, because they know that the church will connect with them in their heartaches in order to return them to joy. The church will pray the prayers that promote the fellowship in which God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.[4]

          In a church that seeks to rejoice in Jesus at all times, and in all ways, God’s children can be honest about every failure at joy, every overwhelming inner broken thing they don’t even understand, while knowing that the pastors and elders are working together to return them to joy. They know there are mature members of the congregation who have weathered the most joyless circumstances imaginable, and have so found Jesus as the pearl of great price,[5] and the treasure hidden in the field,[6] that now they lead the way in rejoicing with that “joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,” because they are, “obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”[7]

          While I have often been punished for sharing my feelings with church folk, I still believe wholeheartedly that my freedom and maturity in rejoicing in Jesus always require deeply personal fellowship with God and his people at the same time. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full,”[8] and the apostles said, “we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”[9]

          Did you notice that? Jesus said, “my joy,” and “your joy.” John received this and passed it on as “our joy." When Jesus’ joy fills the church so that the church feels our joy increasing and maturing, even the most wounded of God’s children can come into the church with absolutely nothing to contribute to church life except their need. The rest of the church can wrap such brothers and sisters in the arms of love so that the rejoicing of the one body of Christ fills the individual members of the body with constantly growing joy.

          If you consider yourself quite hopeless in the joy department, see yourself as a wounded member of the body. Would you would allow an injured part of your body to take the time to heal while the rest of the body sends healing life to the injuries? In the same way, join with other believers to seek the body-life in which a rejoicing church ministers joy to the whole body, no matter how joyless any given member of the body feels.

          After spending considerable time pondering what Paul meant by calling the church his “joy and crown,”[10]I now know something more of what it means that we rejoice in the Lord always within the widest possible expressions of the body of Christ. If older brother Paul can make me feel treasured and prized across the distance of almost two millennia, Jesus can lead churches to treasure and prize one another into rejoicing in the Lord always. Together.

© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

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[1] Philippians 4:4

[2] Romans 12:15

[3] II Corinthians 1:24

[4] While Psalm 147:3 speaks of God healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds, Christians must factor this in to the life of the body of Christ where Jesus, as our head, now works his healing ministry to the brokenhearted through the love and spiritual gifts of the church.

[5] Matthew 13:45-46

[6] Matthew 13:44

[7] I Peter 1:8

[8] John 15:11

[9] I John 1:4

[10] Philippians 4:1