On This Day: When God Serves Notice on Sin

   But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

   After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”  Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. (Acts 5:1-11)

   Yes, I have kazillions of questions about this. However, they come down to two main ones. Why doesn’t God judge liars in the church today the way he did that one time? And what is the church to do about lying, hypocrisy, cheating in business, deceiving, bearing false witness, and whatever synonymous expressions come to mind?

   When we face scenarios where God did something once and it never appears to be repeated, I see it as God serving notice. A singular event can still reveal things about what God is like as a person, what he wants us to understand about what he’s up to, and how he works to get things done. Noah’s flood will never happen again, but we certainly learn a lot about God in that unique event. Moses’ burning bush was a once-in-history experience, but through it we come to know so much about who God is as the great “I AM”, and how he speaks to his people about what he is doing so we can join him in his work.

   When we come to God’s death sentence on Ananias and Sapphira, and the way it instilled godly fear in everyone when they realized how seriously God took dishonesty, we must accept that this is still what he is like, it is still how he feels about falsehood, and he still wants us treating lying and deceiving as seriously as he does.

   The church is living between that unique event when God pronounce a death sentence on Ananias and Sapphira, and the coming judgment when “all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). God has served notice through his judgment on the church’s first two liars, and he has served notice of the judgment that will come on all who live in such sin.

   When I then consider how the church is to live in light of this revelation of God, I am aware that many of us may wonder why God doesn’t do this judgment again with those people who have hurt us so terribly by lying about us, bearing false witness about us, and deceiving people into believing their lies instead of the truth. Yes, I have often asked God why it wouldn’t be advantageous to stop liars from doing so much damage to the church!

   The problem is stated by the Psalmist: “I said in my alarm, ‘All mankind are liars’” (Psalm 116:11). You see, if God put to death every liar in the church there wouldn’t be any church! Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration, but I think you get the point. Who hasn’t lied? Who hasn’t pretended to be doing well when inside we are really dying? Who hasn’t listened to slander about another believer because it was one of our favorite people telling the story? Who hasn’t answered someone to their face with one story and then gone and told our people a totally different one?

   My point is that God served notice how he feels about the sin of lying, and we are now to help one another in the church take this seriously. This means that the church, the body of Christ, must address lying in the church without favoritism or partiality. We side with the truth. We “speak the truth in love”. We worship God “in spirit and in truth”. We seek to be our real “in Christ” selves with all people so that, even when we can’t tell people everything going on inside us, we certainly don’t promote external appearances that contradict our inner love of truth. We must express genuineness, realness, sincerity, so that, even if we keep to ourselves things that only concern us, what we express and say to others is still our truthful and real expression of trying to “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29). We can absolutely aim to do that in sincerity and truth even while having other struggles and difficulties inside us that we are dealing with just between us and God.

   Obviously, there is much more to say on this matter. However, the main point for me is that, through Ananias and Sapphira, God has told us how deadly serious he is about lying because it is so not him, and it is so Satan. We can ask God if it would be advantageous to do this again in scenarios that seem even more grievous to us than what that first partners-in-crime brought into the church. However, he has left church discipline to the church, so we must follow Jesus’ instructions, follow the apostles’ teaching and examples in the New Testament, and be absolutely truthful in any participation regarding lying, dishonesty, and deception in the church no matter who it is we must side with and who it is we must hold to accouny for sin.

   And, since so many churches can’t discipline the liars because of the power of church politics, we need to be at peace with God that “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19).   

   Today we must look in the mirror of God, his word, and his Spirit, confess anything in us that smacks of dishonesty, repent and reconcile with people we have hurt with our lying, entrust to God’s sovereign goodness and justice anyone who has wronged us and never repented, and go into our days seeking to “walk in the light, as he is in the light,” because that is the way “we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7).

  

© 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: Down in Humility; Up in Exalting

   As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62)

   My wife was just reminding me a few days ago about what happened the first time I was going to teach through the Beatitudes in our home church ministry. We were in a series through Matthew that brought us to chapter 5. I initially thought I could do a summary of the eight Beatitudes in one message.

   However, as I was meditating on them leading up to that particular Sunday, the things I was learning about what it looks like to be blessed by God surprised me. What I had once thought was a “to do” list for believers turned out to be a “God is doing” list for the kingdom of heaven. 

   This was so mind-changing that I knew there was no way I could make do with an eight-point summary. I had to lead our church through these one at a time so we could be transformed by the mind-renewal God had given us (Romans 12:1-2). 

   The next big surprise was that, when I announced my change of plans from one message to eight, people voiced their despair that I was going to take that much time to look at these qualities. As one man said, “You’re taking the highest standards of the kingdom of God and you’re going to take eight weeks to tell people who already feel like crap about our walk with God all the things we are failing at?!”

   I couldn’t help smiling at how God had prepared me that week with a far different view from what we had been taught. For the next two months, we had a very uplifting time of considering NOT what were these “highest standards” of what God required OF us, but what were the marks of GOD’S blessing when HE was working IN us. 

   In other words, the Beatitudes do not list eight things we are to do to be blessed. Rather, they show us eight of the qualities we will find happening in our lives when God is blessing us. For what I now call the “downside” of the Beatitudinal Valley, we don’t try to be poor in spirit so God will bless us; God is blessing us with the “poor in spirit” experience so he can give us his kingdom. We don’t try to mourn so God will bless us; we accept that God is blessing us when we find ourselves mourning whatever is wrong between us and him because he wants to comfort us beyond our comprehension. We don’t try to attain meekness; we accept God’s work of blessing us with the meekness that admits we can’t fix ourselves and so we surrender to Jesus’ authority to save us, heal us, fix us, and transform us. And we don’t try to make ourselves hunger and thirst for righteousness so God can bless us; we acknowledge we are being blessed when we feel starving for the righteousness we do not have because we know God will satisfy that longing. 

   The same is with the other four qualities that describe the “upside” of the Beatitudinal Valley. We don’t try to be merciful so God will bless us; we agree that we are being blessed (and have been blessed) when we see how God is leading us to be merciful towards others as he has been merciful towards us. We don’t try to earn God’s blessing by purifying our hearts; we rest in God’s blessing as we join his work of purifying us from the inside out. We don’t try to make ourselves peacemakers so we can earn God’s blessing; we receive God’s blessing of turning us into his peacemakers who want nothing more than to see other people experience peace with God. And we don’t try to earn brownie points for good behavior when we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, but we know we are being blessed by God when our walk with Jesus Christ receives the same hatred as he did when he was here.

   I share all that because today I needed to be reminded that we can face the absolutely most painful, hopeless, discouragements, and those days when feelings can’t even be described in words, and know that “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). 

   Two other Scriptures I really need to review so often are,

   For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isaiah 57:15)

   “All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2).  

   Today I’m being honest with God about things in me I can’t even explain. I’m trembling at his word that speaks of the exact things I am feeling and facing with such a gracious invitation to “draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). And I’m going out on a prayer walk along a favorite trail that will help me experience the blessings of the Beatitudinal Valley God has set before me today. 

   And even though I don’t know all the specifics that await, I do know that humbling myself under the mighty hand of God today will lead to him lifting me up in due time however he decides is the most blessed way of doing so. 

© 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 Heart That Gets Us in Trouble

   And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:14-23)

   There have been times when I have been shocked to realize how different Jesus’ teachings are from the way churches live. And one of the most glaring contrasts is still between religion’s focus on externals and God’s focus on our hearts. 

   In the early 90’s, I read Larry Crabb’s book, “Inside Out” and heard this strange idea that church folks are more committed to their self-protection (keeping God away from their hearts) than they are to knowing and doing the will of God. Three decades later that is exactly what I have seen. 

   In fact, most church people I have known not only focus on externals instead of matters of the heart, but they have put considerable energy into making their churches like that and expend constant energy trying to keep them that way! The whole while we have the word of God filled with the good news of how God changes hearts. 

   One of the most significant prophecies about this is in Ezekiel 11:19 and repeated in 36:26. There God promises, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” 

   Paul spoke about this when he wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (II Corinthians 5:17). He included this focus when he spoke about baptism (something universal to the church throughout the whole world and all the rest of time), “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). 

   Churches should not be such a breeding ground for things like “evil thoughts, coveting, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness”. Jesus called these “evil things” and called us to “hunger and thirst for righteousness”. 

   Because it is true that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9), we must confess the “evil things” in our hearts and set our minds on the Spirit who will lead us in the newness of life. 

   Hiding in arguments about externals did not work for Jesus’ opponents back in the day, and we cannot expect he will tolerate it from us now. He has a much better way for us and his love cannot leave us self-justifying a wash-your-hands policy that leaves people with hearts far away from God. 

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
(Psalm 24:3-5)

© 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 Hardness of Heart Hinders the Mind

    And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. (Mark 6:48-52)

   Does it matter to you that your mind might be hindered in understanding God’s word because your heart is hardened against applying it as fully as God is speaking it to you?

   Yup, that’s the point of this passage. The reason the disciples were so astounded about Jesus walking on the water was because they hadn’t let themselves process what it meant that he had just multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food to feed 5,000 people. 

   This is serious business because I have witnessed it so many times. People sit in church complaining that they really didn’t get anything out of a message, or they aren’t really getting anything out of their time with God in his word, when the problem is that they have hardened their hearts against letting themselves admit the implications and applications of God’s work in their lives. 

   Two other Scriptures help with this. First, 

We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also. (II Corinthians 6:11-13)

   This is another way of describing the hardness of heart in the disciples. The believers were restricted in their affections by choice. They also had the choice to “widen your hearts also”. Paul and his companions had exemplified hearts-wide-open fellowship and ministry. The restriction of affection and attachment between them was on the part of the church. 

   The same applies to Jesus. He is never restricted in his freedom to relate to us in love, grace, and mercy. He wants attachment with us more than we know it exists. What we are lacking with him is because of how we restrict our hearts with self-protection, and how that restriction limits our understanding of him.

   Second, 

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:13-15)

   This illustrates how we are the ones who give in to the desire for self-protection, restrict our affections towards God, and then blame him that we don’t get it what he is saying in his word. 

   Right now, we are three groups of people. The narcissists don’t see anything wrong with them and it is always God and the pastor who are at fault if they don’t get something. The religious practitioners see this may be a struggle, but it clashes with their self-dependent way of deciding how far God can go in making them like Jesus. They will keep thinking about how this might apply without ever doing anything about it.

   On the other hand, the poor in spirit hear of this hardness of heart and mourn how much it is real in their lives. They meekly surrender to Jesus to fix this in them and let themselves hunger and thirst for the righteousness of having a heart that is absolutely unrestricted in affection, thought, or will. These are the ones who are blessed in their relationship with Jesus Christ, and I know this is the kind of church I want to be in, even if it is only a few who desire it.    

© 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.)

When the Narcissists are Gone

My first understanding of a narcissist was as someone who was in love with themselves. It was only in the last few years that it was explained why, which is, a narcissist is unable to receive a healthy shame message. They can’t admit they are wrong when they are wrong because the shame of being wrong (as they see it in their own mind) is so reprehensible that they can’t ever let themselves feel such a crippling emotion. This, of course, results in them loving and taking care of themselves no matter who gets sacrificed along the way. 

The Bible speaks of narcissists, but God has his own word for this condition that was in use long before Greek mythology presented the idea or modern psychology popularized the problem. God’s word for narcissism is “stiff-necked”. A stiff-necked person is someone who, when confronted with anything they have done wrong, cannot admit to it. Instead of bowing their head in a good and healthy response of shame for what they did, they stiffen their neck in absolute pride that they will never admit to doing anything wrong. 

The sad thing is that I can replay virtually every church I have been in and tell you the head narcissist who ran the life of the church. And they did this primarily by making the rules of how everyone had to behave and treat them so that they were never the bad guy about anything. They also delighted in gathering intel on the weaknesses of as many of the members as possible because these weaknesses could then be exploited to keep these people supporting the narcissist out of self-protection rather than doing God’s will out of faith, hope, and love. 

I bring this up because of where I am in my journey through the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was one of the fulfillments to a prophecy God gave his people a hundred or so years earlier, prior to the judgment of the exile. God promised, “‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.’”[1] Ezra and Nehemiah were two of those shepherds who overlapped in their work, Ezra focused on rebuilding the temple, and Nehemiah on rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. 

I am into chapter 9 of Nehemiah. The people have rebuilt the temple and the wall. They are organizing for reestablishing themselves as God’s people in the land, particularly once again centered on Jerusalem. They have begun coming together to hear the word of God read to them daily. And they are so aware that it was the unrepentant sins of their people that brought all the judgment of God upon them. 

As I found them this morning once again gathering to hear the word of Yahweh, this is the way Nehemiah’s journal describes it: 

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.[2] 

The following verses show how “they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God.”[3] 

Following this is a detailed confession of the sins of the people over the generations of their history, including three expressions of “stiffened their neck” in response to God’s prophets. This included them acting “presumptuously”, they “refused to obey”, and they “were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them”.[4] 

Another way this narcissistic tendency is described in God’s word is when people “harden your hearts”. A hardened heart produces a stiffened neck. All of it is a refusal to hear what God says about our sin. And churches are destroyed by such prideful rebellion because the narcissists always aim to control the church to keep anyone from daring to suggest they are doing anything wrong. 

Both these phrases come together in God’s rebuke of king Zedekiah. First, we read that, “He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD.” And then that, “He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel.”[5] 

The reason this is standing out so much for me today is that I have witnessed too many churches held back (usually completely controlled) by the chief narcissists. They will sacrifice anyone on the altar of their self-protection to maintain the appearance of always being right and never being wrong. 

And in comes this glorious picture of God’s people returning to their homeland, coming every day to hear the word of the Law of God read to them, humbling themselves under the word of God to do what it says, and now clearing up with God any sins of every generation of their people. It was the unrepentant sin of their fathers that got them into the exile and captivity, and it would be repentance of sin that laid the foundation for their return. 

The good news of the gospel began with these words from our Savior’s heart, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”[6] Repentance and belief always go together. Repentance is usually pictured as the “turning away” from sin, and belief, or faith as the “turning to” Christ. 

In fact, this is made abundantly clear in these words from the apostle Paul, “He has delivered us FROM the domain of darkness and transferred us TO the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”[7] We are delivered “from” our sinful lives and “transferred to” God’s kingdom. That happens as we join this work of God in repentance and faith. 

In the seven letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus is clear to point out the good he saw in some of the churches, but also to identify the things he held against them. Why? Because we are taught “to PUT OFF your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to PUT ON the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”[8] The “putting off” is repentance, and the “putting on” is faith. They are always together. 

I know that not everyone in the church is a narcissist. However, we all have that narcissistic tendency to avoid shame by denying we have done something wrong. Many of us have deep hidden shame inside us that terrifies us of experiencing it again and that works against our obligation to always resolve our sin problems, not only with God, but also with anyone we hurt by our wrongdoing. 

But it is the gospel we believe in that gives us the ability to face our sin. Why? Because in Jesus Christ it is forgiven. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”[9] Even our Old Testament brothers knew this, as the psalmist wrote, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.”[10] And, “For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.”[11] 

The whole message of the Bible is about God the Creator who wanted a people in his own image and likeness upon whom he could show the glories of his love. The “for God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”,[12] was written into the script of salvation before creation began. And it is that love that softens hearts and necks to humbly receive the word of God. 

In our home church we promote the idea of “keeping short accounts with God”. It means that we are quick to repent of sin so that nothing has time to take root in our hearts so we “give no opportunity to the devil.”[13] 

However, for those times when we realize that we have hardened our hearts against admitting our sins, or stiffened our necks when a sermon or a scripture was working to convict us, we may need to stop and get caught up on confessing our sins and receiving forgiveness. If we ask the Lord to show us all our unrepentant sins, he will do so in the most loving and gentle ways, and we simply need to confess them and receive forgiveness. 

I often use this verse in my praying for others who are hurting the church with their unrepentant sins, and also in reminding me how I should view the times when God is being patient with me in my struggles. Paul warned, “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”[14] His point is that, just because you don’t see any direct discipline on specific sin in your life, don’t show contempt for God’s patience by delaying your repentance. Instead, we are to view the kindness of God’s grace and patience as the means of leading us to repentance because he would much rather bring us home the easy way than the hard way of discipline. 

Well, enough said. It is still true that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”[15] So, “humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”[16]

 

© 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] Jeremiah 3:15

[2] Nehemiah 9:1-2

[3] Nehemiah 9:3

[4] Nehemiah 9:16,17,29

[5] II Chronicles 36:12,13

[6] Mark 1:15

[7] Colossians 1:13-14

[8] Ephesians 4:22-24

[9] I John 1:9

[10] Psalm 130:3-4

[11] Psalm 86:5

[12] John 3:16

[13] Ephesians 4:27

[14] Romans 2:4

[15] James 4:6; I Peter 5:5

[16] I Peter 5:6-7

Sark-Denial Now For Soul-Glorification Then

Just in case my title is confusing, “sark-denial” is another way of saying “flesh-denial”. The Greek word translated “flesh” sounds like saying “sark” in English, so our home church often uses that word to address how easily we can be “sarky” (fleshly) instead of Spirit-filled.[1]

The over-all theme of my time in the word lately has been the eternal nature of our rewards.[2] There are many rewards of faith that happen in the present time, but there are some components of our salvation that are waiting for the return of Christ, and learning to wait well is part of our present growing up to maturity in Christ. 

(Star, Asterisk, Flashing Light) Some of us have never gone through the stage of maturing that is supposed to begin happening in our third year of life where a dad lovingly starts training us to do things we don’t want to do and to handle delayed gratification.  

SELF-TEST: how do you respond to God as a Father when he shows you what he is doing and it requires you to do something you don’t want to do, and when joining him in his work would mean an inferior gratification must be denied in view of a superior gratification that is coming later? 

This should set the stage for how you relate to the rewards of drawing near to God that are coming later, especially those that are waiting for us in our heavenly home. 

When Peter expresses his praise for God’s great mercy that has given us the new birth into our living hope, he also identifies that our salvation includes, “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you”.[3] 

It is interesting that getting older seems to increase the focus on inheritances. As people die, dealing with their estates cannot be avoided. It often brings out the worst in families. 

However, the reality of an inheritance is a huge part of our relationship with God.[4] And, while our earthly inheritances may be in jeopardy from all kinds of influences, our heavenly inheritance is an absolute thing.[5] What our inheritance is cannot change, and neither can the fact of it being ours in Christ and with Christ. 

All that brings me to consider what it is like from God’s side of things when I fit Asaph’s description of himself when he almost slipped because he envied the wicked.[6] Asaph described himself like this: 

When my soul was embittered,

    when I was pricked in heart,

I was brutish and ignorant;

    I was like a beast toward you.[7] 

Everything he says there is that he was “empty-minded”. He was stupid like a cow. His mind was detached from truth and his heart was pierced with grief because of the stupid thoughts in his head (not things that were really happening). 

At that very time, God was still absolutely true. God’s wisdom and knowledge were ready and willing to help Asaph understand what was true. The sanctuary and the word were standing by ready to fill Asaph’s mind with truth, his heart with joy, and his soul with life. God was still being fully himself even while Asaph was losing touch with who he was in the only true God. 

Which brings me again to that amazing expression that comes next: “NEVER-THE-LESS”. 

NEVER-THE-LESS, I am continually with you;

    you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

    and afterward you will receive me to glory.[8] 

When God brings us to our senses in the sanctuary,[9] and we suddenly realize that all our amazing ideas of rejecting the hard life of doing things we don’t want to do, and giving up on denying ourselves immediate gratification, were just plain STUPID, what do we find when we turn around on the spot and look to see what is on God’s face?[10] 

This is what blows me away right now. Even while we are envying worldlings because we are overcome with addictive attachments, and we are ignoring God because we are as ignorant and stupid as a cow, we are continually with God.[11] 

Where will we find God when we finally come to our senses and contrast the destiny of the wicked to the destiny of the righteous? He will be right there at our right hand showing his children that we were in his hands the whole time.[12] 

What about when we have let our sarky minds counsel us in all manner of pride, and self-importance, and self-justification, and self-protection, and we have given God’s counsel the bird, so to speak, because our childishly immature and ignorant hearts were so convinced that we had superior understanding to our Creator? What will we find God doing after we have maligned him like that? 

We will find him guiding us with his counsel! That’s what we will find! 

And, when we come to our senses and allow ourselves to see where worldlings are headed, and what is soon to come of them, and we realize that their demise is not worth any immediate pleasure in the world, and we admit that we have been so stupid as to imagine their pleasures could be greater than the fullness of joy in God’s presence and the eternal pleasures at his right hand,[13] what have we done to our relationship with God? Have we ruined anything? Have we lost our inheritance? Have we been disowned for being so stupid?! 

No. NOTA (none-of-the-above). Asaph says that “afterward”, meaning, after a lifetime of being continually with God, being held by our right hand, and being guided by God’s counsel, “afterward you will receive me to glory.” 

As I run the race into my seventh decade (ouch, but that happened fast!), I am so aware of both the brevity and meaninglessness of this earthly life if there is nothing more. Enduring bad government at every turn would be unthinkably hopeless if this world was my home. Even living with religion that was nothing more than external activity would be utterly meaningless if it were nothing more than the manmade attempts to please a holy God. 

The earthly pleasures that seem so bright and glittery as children and teenagers lose their luster as the years go by and experience after experience proves that they neither last nor fulfill the deepest desires of the heart. 

However, in the Never-the-Less of God, the blessings of God are never less than the deceptions offered us by the world. In fact, God’s grace is never-the-less than our sinful stupidity that chases after our adulterous friendships with the world.[14] The always-the-more grace of God is so much greater than our sin that, no matter how we trample on our Father’s love by imagining that the world offers us so much more, we never stop being his, we never stop being loved, and we never stop hearing his shepherdly voice seeking us, and finding us, and bringing us home. 

Somewhere in this past couple of weeks I was deeply impacted by the reminder that Jesus’ sheep hear his voice and follow him.[15] This means that, when Jesus’ sheep are lost because of their stupidity in envying worldlings, Jesus is speaking his voice through his word, through his Spirit, through his church, so that we will hear him calling us to announce ourselves. Our Savior is calling us to bleat out our acknowledgement that we are lost and tangled in sins and addictions and we have heard him coming for us and desperately want to be found. 

In the four lines of Psalm 73:23-24, three of the lines describe what we will experience in this lifetime when we daily meet our Savior in the sanctuary and let him constantly bring us to our senses about everything. We are continually with him, he holds us by our right hand, and he daily guides us with his counsel. 

The fourth line adds the beautiful, hopeful, glorious and gracious reminder that, “afterward you will receive me to glory.” And sometimes we need just that reminder about future grace to help us do something our sarks do not want to do, and to accept that some of the gratification of our eternal life is kept in heaven for us, awaiting the end of our earthly life and the return of our Savior. 

When we contrast our “afterward” of glory with the worldlings’ “afterward” of terrifying ruin, we can receive the encouragement of God’s word that says, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”[16] 

Asaph in Psalm 73 serves as an example of someone who became as stupid as a cow when he envied worldlings but came to his senses when he went into the sanctuary. When he saw again where worldlings are headed, and what was ahead for the children of God, his whole attitude and focus changed because right beliefs express good emotions. 

Question: when God seeks to motivate you by showing you his future grace, what do you learn about yourself, and how can other believers in your church join you in joining God in his work?

 

© 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] Paul’s contrast between the sark/flesh and life in the Spirit is very clear in Romans 7-8 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+7-8&version=ESV

[2] This is based on Hebrews 11:6 where we see that part of our motivation in drawing near to God is that he “rewards those who earnestly seek him”. Some of those rewards are now; others are yet to come.

[3] I Peter 1:4 (context is I Peter 1:3-9)

[4] Ephesians 1:11, 14 speak of this in the context of Paul’s expression of praise for everything we have in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14).

[5] I mean this, of course, as it relates to everyone who has been born again into the family of God through genuine faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

[6] Psalm 73 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+73&version=ESV

[7] Psalm 73:21-22

[8] Psalm 73:23-24

[9] Psalm 73:16-17

[10] We have recently looked at Scriptures that describe God’s people drifting so far away from him that he had to put them under discipline, including what we learn of Israel’s exile into Babylon, and God assuring them that, no matter how they have offended him with their adulteries and idolatries, he is ready to draw near to us when we come to our senses and draw near to him. See: Deuteronomy 4:29; II Chronicles 7:13-14; Jeremiah 29:3; James 4:1-10, especially James 4:7-8.

[11] Just go for a drive somewhere when there are cattle on the back roads and try getting past them. You will quickly understand what Asaph was describing about himself.

[12] John 10:28-30

[13] Psalm 16:11

[14] See James 4:1-10

[15] John 10:27 (context John 10:1-42)

[16] I Peter 4:19