Jesus’ Provision and Example For Our Seasons of Suffering

For a while I have been praying my way through the book of I Peter. It has been very clear that all God’s children are living in this world as beloved sojourners and exiles.[1] This means we are to see ourselves as the beloved children of God no matter what happens to us in this earthly life; as sojourners we are to consider our lives in this world as a very short and temporary experience, a mere blip in our eternal life; and we are to see ourselves as foreigners to this world, exiles who cannot help it that we are not yet home, but living consistent with our homeland, not the world in which we presently reside.

This morning I began meditating on a paragraph that begins like this:

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, (I Peter 3)

Whenever there is a “for”, we must find out what it is there for! It means that what is in this paragraph is elaborating on what was just written. In this case, the fact that Jesus suffered unjustly, the righteous one suffering for the unrighteous ones, is foundational to what is expected of us, that, as we “are zealous for what is good” (vs 13), and that may mean that we “suffer for righteousness’ sake” (vs 14), we are to keep in mind that, “it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil” (vs 17).

The “for” in verse 18 now associates what may happen to us in suffering for doing good to what Jesus suffered for us in doing good. Which made me look at this:

Question: How many ways has Peter described believers suffering for the sake of righteousness?

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. (I Peter 1)

POINT: “the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories” were prophesied so that we would recognize this as a characteristic of the true Messiah’s ministry, and of the beloved sojourners and exiles who came into his kingdom.

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 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)

POINT: what matters here is that Jesus was, “a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,” and we, “like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house”. Jesus was very clear that the spiritual house he would build would be treated the same way as himself, which means, “rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious”.

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (I Peter 2)

POINT: in our momentary lives in this foreign land of the world our abstaining from fleshly passions, and our honorable conduct, will be spoken against with lies and slander. However, in the future, at the return of our Savior, God will be glorified for the honorable way we lived our lives in reverent fear.

15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. (I Peter 2)

POINT: ignorant and foolish people will speak against us, even while we do greater good than anyone in the world,[2] but our continuing zeal for what is good will one day silence those who have spoken against our good behavior in Christ.

18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. (I Peter 2)

POINT: when servants/employees suffer unjustly on the job, meaning that they do not deserve the suffering they experience, they are to continue subjecting themselves to their masters/employers “with all respect”, because it is “a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly”.

20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. (I Peter 2)

POINT: it is no credit to a believer if we suffer on the job because we are sinning against our employer, but if we “do good and suffer for it,” and we “endure” what is done to us, “this is a gracious thin in the sight of God.” Peter now connects this directly to the suffering of Christ, that Christ’s suffering was for us, and it leaves us with an example to follow.

22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (I Peter 2)

POINT: with Jesus’ example staring us in the face, Peter identifies how Jesus was sinless in all his actions, including when he was reviled, and when he suffered unjustly. His continuing way of life in all things was, “entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” For the believer, we are reminded that Jesus’ unjust suffering was because “He himself bore OUR sins in his body on the true, that WE might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Everything about our return to Christ is about an entrance into the life he has given us through his suffering, and the life of suffering we will experience while waiting for our home coming.

1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. (I Peter 3)

POINT: a wife’s subjection to her husband, and her “respectful and pure conduct”, are not based on her husband’s adherence to the word, but applies also to those marriages in which the husband does “not obey the word”.

9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. (I Peter 3)

POINT: we may experience evil and reviling as we seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33), but our calling as God’s beloved sojourners and exiles is to bless those who seek our harm in order “that you may obtain a blessing.” We are not to “repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling” because that is giving in to the passions of the flesh that war against our souls (I Peter 2:11), causing us to act just like the Worldlings who are not in Jesus’ kingdom. We will never win Worldlings into Jesus’ kingdom by acting just like them.

13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. (I Peter 3)

POINT: even though it is not natural that people who are “zealous for what is good” are harmed for doing so, even if it should happen, and we “should suffer for righteousness’ sake,” we are the ones who are blessed.

15 …yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. (I Peter 3)

POINT: no matter how we are treated, including slander and reviling, if we relate to Worldlings “with gentleness and respect,” and maintain “a good conscience” before our heavenly Father in how we relate to Worldlings, we will not be the ones ashamed of our good behavior in Christ, but our enemies will “be put to shame,” if not during this earthly lifetime (as with the Apostle Paul), but at the return of our Savior when all things are made right. The bottom line is that we must see suffering for doing good as better than suffering for doing evil, and follow the example of our Savior.

Which brings us back to:

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, (I Peter 3)

POINT: look at how Jesus suffered, not for his own sins, but for our sins, the righteous one suffering for the unrighteous, and with the direct purpose of bringing sinners to God. There is no greater example of someone suffering unjustly than what we have in our Savior, and his suffering for the unrighteous brings us to God where we can learn to be just like him. Since no Worldling can ever act like Jesus, we who can be like Jesus must do so even in suffering, since that is exactly what Jesus did.  

Why is this so important to me in my walk with God today? Because God wants his beloved children to be able to make sense of our unjust suffering so that, instead of us falling into the victim-mindset where every injustice against us immobilizes us from being zealous for good works, we would do the same things as Jesus as he “continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”[3]

As Peter tells us later, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.”[4] We do this because we are the beloved sojourners and exiles of God, beloved children experiencing “this light momentary affliction,” that, “is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,”[5] as we keep our eyes on our Savior who is presently preparing the home for us in which we will live forever without any fear of harm ever again.

© 2017 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 Peter 2:11-12

[2] This does not mean that our specific good works are superior to the good works done by Worldlings, but that the good we are seeking in all our good works is the eternal salvation of those who are reaching out to, including the good of seeking the eternal salvation of those who are seeking our harm. Only Jesus’ beloved sojourners and exiles do the kind of good in the world that invites even our worst enemies to be born again into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.

[3] I Peter 2:23

[4] I Peter 4:19

[5] II Corinthians 4:17

Freedom Replacements

This morning’s theme was simple: we experience freedom from the bad things by replacing them with God’s will.

By “bad things” I’m thinking of anything that holds us back through guilt, shame, or fear. I’m thinking of bad habits that spring from not knowing Christ well enough to treasure him above all things. I’m thinking of childhood experiences that remind us of trauma that debilitates our relationship with Christ every time they flash through our minds. And, of course, I’m thinking of all the ways the world, the flesh, and the devil, take hold of anything we give them in order to steal, kill, and destroy whatever good our heavenly Father is working into our lives.[1]

I could go on with more specific descriptions of what I mean, but I simply want us to be able to attach to the stuff that goes on within us that often hinders our relationship with Jesus Christ when we could bring the very same underlying issues to Jesus Christ in a way that helps our relationship with him flourish.

Here are some examples of how we replace the bad and harmful things with a change of direction in seeking after the things of God:

Scripture	The Do-Not’s	The Do’s
I Peter 3:13-17	In relation to those who seek our harm, “Have no fear of them, nor be troubled”	Instead, “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy”
Romans 12:1-2	“Do not be conformed to the world”	“be transformed by the renewal of your mind”
Romans 7:6	“now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive”	“so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.”
Romans 8:4	We are those “who walk not according to the flesh”	“but according to the Spirit.”
Romans 8:5	We are not those “who live according to the flesh” and “set their minds on the things of the flesh”	“but those who live according to the Spirit” and “set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”
Romans 8:15	“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear”	“but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’”

This morning I experienced this huge reminder: when I looked back at the section in Romans 7:6 and context, it stood out to me that in order for us to experience release from the negative and debilitating things that hold us back we need to live like we are released from the law. In order for us to be released from the power of sin, and of the sark/flesh, we need to grasp how every believer in Jesus Christ has been released from the law and is no longer in subjection to it.[2]

So much of what we call “bondage issues”[3] are exacerbated by law-based thinking. We mistakenly see our struggles as an issue with the law, and freedom will be when we are free of that unlawful habit or compulsion and can now keep the law. It is this law-based thinking that then snares us over-and-over again, just as Paul describes later as the sark’s inability to do the good we want to do, or to resist the bad we do not want to do.[4] When the law is removed from the picture, there is no longer this tyrant of a task-master constantly accusing us of our sins and holding us back because of all the guilt, shame, and fear that come up whenever we do sin.

Instead of measuring our freedom in relation to the law (which is now dead to us), we measure our freedom on the basis of the Spirit. Instead of a law that WE must keep in order to be right with God, we are already right with God and have the SPIRIT at work to make us like Jesus.[5] What we are looking for is the freedom to set our minds on the Spirit, and the faith that leads the way in doing so.

This means that, in relation to the stories of the debilitating thoughts, feelings, memories, habits that consume us, God is not telling us to just do the right thing. He is at work to get us setting our minds on what he is doing in our lives through his Spirit. When he tells me that I must avoid the temptation to fear and, instead, honor Christ the Lord as holy in my heart, he is telling me what HE is doing, and he wants me to set my mind on his Spirit because he is the one through whom this work is applied to my life.

This simply reinforces all the more that my problem is not whatever wounds are underneath the worthlessness and hopelessness that has long consumed my innermost being. My problem is all the sarky ways I have tried to handle my broken soul-condition. And the only way to stop doing the sarky thing is to bring all my brokenness to God by setting my mind on his Spirit, and listening to whatever he is saying to me through his word.

In other words, we don’t set our minds on the Spirit by denying that we are wounded, but by denying our sarks the right to handle our wounds and bringing them all to the Spirit who will heal the brokenhearted and bind up our wounds.[6] Instead of denying that we are oppressed by compulsive thoughts, feelings, beliefs, or habits, we deny our sarks the right to handle those negative things and pour out all our negativity before God in the power of the Holy Spirit to present them all to him as the only one who can help us with those destructive enemies of the soul.

As I prayed about this, one more example of the “Do-Not’s” and “Do’s” came to mind:

Scripture	The Do-Not’s	The Do’s
Philippians 4:6-7	“do not be anxious about anything”	“but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God”

What is the result of replacing a bad thing like anxiety with a good thing like faith-filled prayer? It is this promise of God: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

There are so many such promises of God that are not waiting on our good-boy or good-girl performance according to the law, but on us turning attention from the sark’s incessant demand that we ought to let ourselves be in charge of how we handle our hurts, fears, and anxieties, and setting our minds on the Holy Spirit and whatever he is doing to fulfill the gracious promises of God in our lives.

For starters, I encourage you to take anything you feel anxious about, any bitterness and resentment you feel to people who have hurt you, any childhood wounds that just won’t heal, any compulsive habits that express how worthless and hopeless you feel deep inside, and, instead of sitting in some sarky hole obsessing about what a miserable life you have, direct every thought and feeling to God in prayer.

He WILL do what we could never accomplish. And he will even give us growing experiences of his peace as we wait upon him for the fullness of his will. As the prophet of old continues to speak to our souls, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”[7]

See that?! Even in the Old Testament they knew that we experience the peace of God by faith. And we have all the more reason in Jesus Christ to experience that today even while our need for peace is staring us in the face.

© 2017 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] John 10:10

[2] I encourage everyone to read from Romans 7:1-8:39 in one sitting and see the glorious transformation that comes to our lives by setting our minds on the Holy Spirit, an experience that begins with our release from the law so that sin can no longer find a way to have dominion over us.

[3] These are things Christians feel in bondage to, whether it be compulsions to sin, or debilitating beliefs they can’t shake, or anything that consistently stops a child of God from attaching to their heavenly Father in obedient faith.

[4] Romans 7:18-20 (context: Romans 7:13-25)

[5] II Corinthians 3:18

[6] Psalm 147:3

[7] Isaiah 26:3

Subjection and Supplication

If God’s children are living in the world, but we are not “of the world,”[1] how are we then to live in relation to the governments that rule the world?

After all, we’re facing whatever government is running the country in which we live, including decisions they make that are for the good of the world and not Jesus’ church. In some countries, the government is decidedly against Jesus’ church and is doing all they can to snuff it out. In others, like Canada and the USA, movements abound with the aim of manipulating government into doing only what is good for Worldlings, and nothing that is good for Jesus’ church.

How should we then live?

For starters, we must understand our identity. Whose we are, and who we are because of him, is the primary determinant of how we live in the world.

Lately I have been strongly influenced by the description of God’s people as, “beloved sojourners and exiles”.[2] This tells me that I am living in the world with the primary identity of a beloved child of God who lives in imitation of God as his beloved children.[3] As a sojourner, I live as one who is only here for a brief time, a mere blip compared to the eternity yet to come. As an exile, I’m living in a foreign country that is not my true home, for Jesus has gone ahead of his church to prepare a new home for us and will soon return to take us there.[4]

The two aims of the beloved sojourners and exiles of God is that we are to “abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul,” and, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”[5] The negative aim is to avoid the passions of the flesh/sark. The positive aim is to live a God-honoring life characterized by God-glorifying good deeds. This applies to everything we do in the world, and every relationship we are in.

The way this relates to our local governments is stated like this:

13 Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. (I Peter 2)

What stands out front and center is that, while God’s beloved sojourners and exiles are called to, “be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution,”[6] our identity as the beloved sojourners and exiles of God keeps us always in subjection to God above all. Woven into this paragraph are these expressions:

·  “for the Lord’s sake” = we do not move from under the Lord’s authority to the government’s authority, but we do everything for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, even when we subject ourselves to the authority of human institutions. We are the beloved sojourners and exiles of God, and so even our good behavior in the world is in submission to Jesus Christ.

·  “this is the will of God” = whatever is going on in our society, and our particular expression of government, the good we do is according to the will of our heavenly Father because we are his beloved children who are temporarily residing in this foreign country of the world.

·  “living as servants of God” = it is as servants of God that we subject ourselves to human institutions. This is what God’s servants do. It does not mean we do not seek to eradicate slavery as Wilberforce did. It does not mean we allow atrocities at the hands of governments. It does not mean that we live with the evils perpetrated by governments and do nothing to help the oppressed. It just means that we are in this world as the servants of God, and the general idea of our sojourning in the foreign countries in which we live is to live in subjection to whichever government is running the country as far as serving our Savior allows.

·  “fear God” = while we seek to honor people and governments and authorities and institutions around us, whatever is put in place to govern the foreign land in which we live, and we seek to love the brotherhood of believers as the kingdom in which we truly live, the home-away-from-home kingdom of God, and as we honor the emperor, or president, or prime minister, or monarch, or mayor, or premier, or whatever other authorities are in place, we do everything in the reverential fear of God. God is the ultimate authority and there is a way that we honor and fear his authority above all things, knowing that it is under his authority that we subject ourselves to the authorities around us.

Thankfully, what God teaches his beloved sojourners and exiles is in glorious contrast to what we see taking place in our world today with all the anarchistic movements that flood the news. It brought to mind a long-ago situation in which God’s beloved sojourners and exiles were in subjection to a government that was oppressing them with slavery. You can read about this in the book of Exodus.[7]

The over-riding thing that stood out was that, in contrast to an anarchistic movement that seeks to overthrow one government and establish another, the people of God did what was consistent with their identity as the children of God.   

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.[8]

The point for me was that the people of God groaned and cried out for help, looking to the King of their kingdom, not the government that oppressed them. Their subjection to God led to their supplication about their unfair treatment. God’s faithfulness to his covenant shone out and he began working in answer to his children’s prayers. This reminded me of the great revivals throughout history that were not brought about by Christians staging protests against their governments, but by uniting in prayers of repentance and faith that God would intervene and turn their countries back to him in a big way.[9]

As God hears the prayers of his people, and prepares the way for their deliverance, we get a wonderful example of how God’s children live in subjection to God while in subjection to a government. First, when Pharaoh commanded that the Hebrew baby boys be put to death, we are told that, “the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.”[10] Living in fear and subjection to God will lead us in how to disobey specific laws of a government while still living in subjection to that government. A government has no right to command the murdering of babies (prior to birth included), and so our subjection to God requires defiance of such unjust laws while continuing to live in subjection to the general laws of the land, so to speak.

As the situation unfolds, when Moses was born, and Moses’ mother protected him from the king’s law, the book of Hebrews describes it like this, “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.”[11] Because Moses’ parents were living by faith, they were not afraid of an evil governmental edict even though it put them in danger of being caught and punished for disobedience. They were not boycotting, or setting up lobbyist groups, or publishing tweets and posts about the terrible Pharaoh of the land. They simply lived in subjection to God, subjecting themselves to a life of slavery, praying in supplication that God would intervene, while refusing to subject themselves to the murderous edicts of a wicked king.

Conclusion: because our primary identity in the world is as the beloved sojourners and exiles of God (not citizens of whichever country we are living in), our subjection to human institutions of government is governed by our subjection to God our Father and Jesus Christ our King. This means abstaining from the fleshly, sarky passions that would cause us to relate to worldly governments just like the Worldlings around us, and it means living such honorable lives filled with such good works that, even if people presently accuse us of being evil for not endorsing their sin, at the return of Jesus Christ they will see that the church Jesus was building has indeed revealed his glory after all.

© 2017 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] John 17:14-16

[2] I Peter 2:11

[3] Ephesians 5:1-2

[4] John 14:1-3

[5] I Peter 2:11-12

[6] I Peter 2:13

[7] You can start here and keep going: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+1&version=ESV

[8] Exodus 2:23-25

[9] Here is a short audio/video clip of Duncan Campbell recounting the great story of the revival that God poured over the Hebrides Islands of Scotland between 1948-1952: https://youtu.be/g8NCXwl0UDg

[10] Exodus 1:17

[11] Hebrews 11:23

The Beloved Who Live What We Are

Yesterday was my birthday, that annual reminder that I am aging, and life is short.

With this in mind, I began my prayer journaling this morning talking to God about the brevity of life. No matter how long we live on this earth, because God “has put eternity into man's heart,”[1] it will always feel too short. The Christian, of all people, can face this with true hope since the eternity in our hearts will be fully satisfied with the eternity of God’s presence in which there is fullness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures forevermore.[2] However, this earthly life is short, and we have so little time to make it count.

I’m now continuing in my journey through I Peter and have arrived at the section that describes the relationships of husbands and wives. However, these are applications of a foundational truth that directs how we live in a whole variety of relationships. To understand how to live as husbands and wives, we must keep in mind that it is a distinctive expression of this teaching:

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (I Peter 2)

First I noticed the three nouns that describe us who are the children of God:

         

·  Beloved: the people who are loved, simple as that!

·  Sojourners: sojourn means to stay somewhere for a brief period of time.

·  Exiles: those living away from their own country.

When Peter tells us to “abstain from the passions of the flesh,” and, “keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable,” he speaks of us in three nouns that identify who we are. How we do what we do in the relational examples that follow is based on this universal understanding of our identity. We do both the negative abstaining and the positive God-honoring because of who we are in Jesus Christ, but particularly as it applies to how we view ourselves in this present world.

How do these three identifications make us the people who can both abstain from sarky passions and glorify God?

         

·  Beloved: we love God because he first loves us.[3] Knowing ourselves as beloved children of God draws our hearts to turn from what is evil and pursue what is good. We are able to imitate God in his love for us because we are beloved children who have witnessed the love of God expressed to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.[4]

·  Sojourners: we are in this foreign country for a brief stay and so we do not make ourselves at home! We do not indulge in the sinful activities of this foreign country, and we live in the culture of the God-glorifying kingdom even though it is totally foreign to the world in which we live. Our very identity as a brief visitor keeps us focused on living according to the things that last forever.

·  Exiles: we are so conscious that we are exiled from our homeland that we live in constant longing to be home. This makes us live by the culture of our homeland because that is who we are. We are not immigrants in the world, now seeking to make a home in a new place. We are prisoners released from the oppressive tyranny of this sinful world, living as exiles who are in this world but not of the world, and our one over-riding passion is to go home. With that in mind, we live accordingly.

I thought it was interesting to begin by talking to God about how I feel concerning the brevity of life and then have him focus this into my very identity as one of his beloved sojourners and exiles. I have a heavenly Father who loves me more than I know, and he keeps reminding me that life in this world is so brief that I am not to live like I belong here. Instead, I am to constantly express who I am as a beloved child of God who is a sojourning exile shining the light of life into the darkness of the foreign country in which I live.

Therefore, instead of letting this foreign country draw me into its darkness, I must let my “light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”[5] The church is the light of the world. Because we do not live and walk in the world’s darkness, and we do live and walk in the light of the Lord, we are free to shine the light of God’s life and love into the dark world in which we live.  

How does this relate to a fifty-nine year old husband relating to his wife of thirty-seven years? 

As a beloved child of God I will not love as the world loves, but will imitate the love of God in how I express my love to my wife. As a sojourner, I will look to fill our marriage with activities and relationships that have eternal value. As an exile, I will aim to nurture our marriage with the shared activity of seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and seek to bear with the troubles and trials of this earthly life with constant comforts of our coming eternal home. And, I will seek to maintain strong attachment-level love-relationships with Jesus’ church so others in the body of Christ can both help me and hold me accountable to keep growing up in these things.

© 2017 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] Ecclesiastes 3:11

[2] Psalm 16:11

[3] I John 4:19

[4] Ephesians 5:1-2

[5] Matthew 5:16

Dear Pastor: Your Shepherd and Overseer Will Make You a Shepherd and Overseer

I have long complained to God that he has chosen to not give me in-person mentors/disciplemakers who would address my soul-condition with the deliberate aim of helping me grow up in Christ.[1]

In fact, I have had occasion to go to older pastors in my life and describe things I was dealing with only to hear them tell me they had never heard of such things and then leave me and never speak to me again.

While God has regularly addressed my lament with assurances of the sufficiency of Jesus Christ, yesterday he ministered this to my soul in a profoundly comforting way. It was in a visit to this teaching of God’s word:

For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.[2]

This is a reminder to the church that Jesus is not only our example of enduring unjust suffering for doing good, but he is our means of enduring unjust suffering for doing good.[3] As Paul said, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”[4] This includes those times when we suffer as a result of anything good we do in Jesus’ name.

What God ministered to me so personally was the deliberate expression that we have returned to Jesus as “the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” Although Jesus does work through members of his body to shepherd and oversee our souls in their use of the spiritual gifts they have been given,[5] there is always this overriding reality that it is Jesus himself who is our Shepherd and Overseer.

This means that, no matter how much we lack of members of the body of Christ personally watching over our souls, any man serving the church as a pastor has a Shepherd and Overseer who is able to give all the shepherding and overseeing we could ever need, even if he chooses to do this without the involvement of the shepherds and overseers within his body.

At the time this spoke to me I was also very mindful of Jesus’ imagery of the vine and the branches in John 15. It is as we abide in the vine that we bear much fruit. There is no experience of lack of attachment to people that can stop us from abiding in Jesus and bearing much fruit. There is no amount of unjust suffering that can diminish our relationship to Jesus as the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. Jesus is the true vine, we are his branches, and even unshepherded shepherds can be all the shepherd and overseer they ought to be by abiding in the Shepherd and Overseer of our own souls.

This also connected to the glorious picture of Romans 5 in which we are told that, “hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”[6] Again, this hope is in reference to suffering. As our hope is not diminished in the least when we suffer unjustly, so our experience of the love of God that is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit is sufficient for us to serve as shepherds and overseers of the flock.

In other words, abiding in Christ as the true vine is not hindered by bad experiences with people, or people in our lives failing to give us what their place in the body of Christ should have provided, or churches that have hurt us as pastors, or us hurting ourselves through our failures in ministry to churches, or any other personal testimony we could give of someone failing us or doing us wrong.

The message is that the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls will so shepherd and oversee every pastor who abides in him as a branch in the vine so that we can then fulfill our entire ministry as men who “are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.”[7]

What Jesus will do in disciplining those pastors who must give account to him of their failures in our lives is really none of our business. We cannot excuse our failures with theirs or anyone else’s.

Instead, we must look to the Shepherd and Overseer of our own souls as the true vine who will enable us to branch out and serve as shepherds and overseers of the souls of others. This will include pouring out our complaints before him when certain days make us feel so abandoned by people who should have loved us more than they did,[8] and it will include “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”[9]

While this may involve requests that God would please give us men who will shepherd and oversee our own souls, it will more be directed at asking God to please give us such an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ that his shepherding and overseeing of our souls will flow through us into our participation in shepherding and overseeing the souls of others.

For me, this has become a ministry to my soul that, whenever I am tempted to look away from Christ in some complaint, or some sarky attraction, or some sinful snare, I will find victory as I look to the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul instead.[10] As the victory of this faith strengthens and matures me in Christ, I will then see how to bless others with my personal involvement in their lives for the care of their souls.

© 2017 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 avail myself of the ministries and resources provided by God’s servants who seek to shepherd and oversee the church through their books, podcasts, and videos. However, I have not had this kind of in-person shepherding/overseeing ministry where someone addressed my soul-condition in the way I imagine a pastor would relate to things I have experienced throughout my life.

[2] I Peter 2:25

[3] This is what Peter addresses in I Peter 2:18-25

[4] Philippians 4:13

[5] Ephesians 4:11-16 shows Jesus’ blueprint for the way leaders equip the flock for ministry that builds up the whole body of Christ.

[6] Romans 5:5

[7] Hebrews 13:17

[8] Laying our complaint before God is expressed in such places as, Psalm 102:1; 142:2; Jeremiah 12:1. Presenting a lament about the condition of the people of God is expressed very personally in the book of Lamentations.

[9] Addressing specific complaints and laments as we pour out our hearts to God leads into the more positive focus of prayer as given by Paul in Philippians 4:4-8 in which we present everything to God in all kinds of prayers and requests, with thanksgiving, knowing that we can experience the peace of Christ through our abiding relationship with him, even while we wait to see how he will answer our prayers.

[10] I John 5:4 identifies that it is our faith that gives us victory over the world. Everything God teaches us about abiding in Jesus as the true vine, and as the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls, is an issue of faith. Instead of losing faith because of people who have wronged us, let us down, or failed us, Jesus is glorious enough to fill us with faith as we keep our eyes fixed on him (see Hebrews 12:1-3). 

Joyful Life in Jesus' Words

Continuing on with the imagery of Jesus as the true vine and the Father as the vinedresser who prunes us for our joy and his glory, I was drawn to consider our relationship to the words of Christ.[1]

3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. (John 15)

While Judas was about to be cut off, and the other disciples pruned, Jesus assures them they are already clean. For us who keep wondering if we are saved because of our failures, Jesus said these words just before all the disciples failed him. All deserted him, and Peter denied him three times.

Focus: it was “the word I have spoken to you” that made them clean, not the works they were able to accomplish.

Add this:

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10)

It is faith that is our victory, and we do not get faith from good works, but “through the word of Christ”. If we listen up, we grow up.

Add this:

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1)

It is when we “heard the word of truth” that we “believe in him” and received eternal life. When Peter told the Day-of-Pentecost crowd what they were to do, he stated it like this: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Receiving the Holy Spirit is a promise of the gospel that is applied to us when we repent and declare Jesus our Lord and Savior through baptism. My point is that faith comes from hearing the words of Christ, so when we hear the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, we are born again into the life of Jesus Christ.

Add this:

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3)

It is our place to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”. This is no mere nibbling at the words of Christ while longing for a different meal. This is a starving soul (think “blessed are the poor in Spirit”) that is now hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of faith as revealed in Jesus Christ.

Add this:

18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5)

The simple point is that Paul makes “let the word of Christ dwell in your richly,” and, “be filled with the Spirit” synonymous. Being filled with the word and filled with the Spirit are the same thing, simply identifying different facets of the same gem. If being filled with the Spirit feels nebulous to us and we don’t know how to know if it is real in our lives, then let the word of Christ dwell in you richly and you will know you are filled with the Spirit since the Spirit is the only one who can teach you all things and bring to your remembrance what the word of Christ has already taught you.

And then add this:

33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16)

This simply brings out to me that Jesus has “said these things to you,” and that is enough for us to have peace. Even when the world causes us tribulation, as it has, does, and will, we are to take heart in the words of Christ and persevere in faith.

Which, of course, reminds me of what Jesus had said earlier that evening,

11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15)

It is what Jesus has spoken to us that leads us into that abiding relationship between vine and branches in which the joy of the vine flows into the branches bringing the joy of the branches to the full. As that joyful fellowship with Christ becomes evident to others, it both builds up the body of Christ, and gives us opportunity to share our testimony with people who wonder why we have such hope as Christ in us.

In conclusion: Because Jesus has “overcome the world”, our faith in him makes us those who overcome the world. We simply must let his word dwell in us richly so we are constantly abiding in him and so bearing much fruit to Father’s glory.

4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4)

4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5)

© 2017 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] Jesus teaches on this in John 15:1-11