On This Day: To Glory in the Word of God

   And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7:9-13)

   Ever since I finished my five-and-a-half-month journey through a book of false teachings about God’s word, I have been amazed and delighted by how often Jesus spoke of the Scriptures as the word of God. 

   One reason this is so important is that the false teachers speaking against God’s word are as prolific as Jesus and the apostles warned. Many people who are snared by their clever reasonings miss the fact that both the teachers and their followers are confirming scripture as the word of God since God said that there would be many deceivers and many people deceived by them!

   I want to elaborate on how Jesus affirmed the scriptures as the word of God simply to encourage everyone that we who trust in God’s word will not be the ones who are ashamed in the judgment. It will be those who cry out in horror that they taught or followed teachings against the word of God who will be ashamed that they rejected the authoritative word of God in the scriptures.

   The reason Isaiah’s prophecy is affirmed as God’s word is because the Jewish understanding of the genuine prophets was that they were speaking for God. For Jesus to quote Isaiah and declare his writing as prophecy is to make him a spokesman for God and his book the word of God.

   If we follow how Jesus and the gospels addressed “as it is written,” we will see that it is the written word that is treated as the word of God. That written word is what we now have in the Old Testament part of our Bibles. 

   The quote from Isaiah is Isaiah quoting Yahweh, the name of God in the Old Testament. To quote Yahweh (know by the Jews of Jesus’ time as Adonai), is declaring the word of God, and the dominos of this quote being in Isaiah, being “what is written”, and being in “the scriptures” amplifies the declaration that we are dealing with the word of God.

   When Jesus taught something from the scriptures and called it “the commandment of God”, he was declaring it to be the word of God, but also emphasizing that it is authoritative over God’s people, as are the scriptures to this day.

   What we call the books of Moses are the first five books of the Bible. They are greatly under attack because the history they reveal is foundational to understanding the whole of scripture. When Jesus used Moses as his authority, he was affirming that what Moses wrote was God’s word. It should serve as a warning to the many people who are tampering with it to suit their agendas.

    I smiled when I saw that Jesus used the very phrase “the word of God” when summarizing all he had said about scripture, Isaiah, Moses, and what is written. The scriptures are the word of God, and this now includes everything we have in the New Testament scriptures.

   So many times in my journey through that book of false teachings I came back to the way Jesus replied to Satan in the wilderness: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). When we add to this that, “everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (I John 5:4), and, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17), we must always “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 3:16). 

   And I love to share testimonies of how “the word of God” in the scriptures we have in the Bible speaks to me every day and builds up my faith to not only live by every word that comes from the mouth of God, but to encourage you to do so as well!

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

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

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

On This Day: As the Word Unfolds Into Life

   When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. (Mark 6:53-56)

   My main focus in sharing is to encourage everyone with how God speaks to his people through his word. It is “living and active”, the Holy Spirit is always teaching us and reminding us, and living “by every word that comes from the mouth of God” should feel as real and personal as life can get. 

    Sometimes this means focusing on a small seed of truth that will grow in our lives if we receive it. Sometimes it is a “big picture” day where larger scenes come alive as the Holy Spirit shows how the threads of the tapestry are woven together. And other times it is like focusing on a few puzzle pieces that suddenly make more sense when they are combined to show something we have never noticed before.

   This morning, things felt like a bit of everything. The smaller details were added to the bigger picture in puzzle pieces that fit together so I could see not only what God was showing me in his word, but what he was showing me in myself. I am now watching for how the disciples’ hardness of heart affected their ability to receive Jesus’ revelations of who he was as the Messiah. I have long been on guard against the blindness of the religious elite who couldn’t even see what Jesus was doing because they were consumed with envy at his influence over the people. 

   But the main thing I am always watching for is how people related to God in the Scriptures because I want to know how God wants me relating to him in the “obedience of faith” every day. 

   In all this, one thing stood out more brightly than everything else. Mark made sure to tell me that the people recognized “him”, they came where “he” was, and wherever “he” came, the people brought their sick and implored “him”. 

   When I combine that with the reminder of the disciples’ hardness of heart on one side and the religious elite’s blindness on the other, it tells me to come to Jesus personally no matter what hardened disciples or hypocritical blind guides have to say. Jesus is available to us by grace through faith so we can seek him right now where we are, and receive him in repentance and faith so that he will make us well in the fullness of eternal life. 

© 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.)

On This Day: Taking a Break with Jesus

   The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. (Mark 6:30-32)

   Life is busy. My Christian worldview has me running a race that even my entrance to the “senior years” will not slow down. Activities may decrease. Projects may take longer to complete. Exercise routines may need adjusting. But the life of faith has no limits by age, and there is always something to do in the kingdom of God, even for the most aged of his disciples. 

   On the other hand, I have had many experiences in church life where the pressure to perform, to run things, to keep people happy, to meet targets and goals, and to keep programs going, was so not kingdomish that there was a very unnecessary weariness for those we called “the committed”. 

   When I see Jesus’ concern for his disciples after sending them out on a work assignment, I see his heart in showing us that it is his own interest to ensure our times of rest. As always, we can’t turn a historical description of something God did with others into an absolute rule that applies to everyone all the time. However, we can look at what scripture reveals elsewhere about Jesus’ interest in both our work and our rest and see how this experience with the apostles affirms and illustrates a vital facet of our Savior’s love for us. 

   Along with what I shared yesterday that “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17), there is the necessity of walking with Jesus in ways that give rest to our souls. Some people serve Christ with great energy and enthusiasm because they know how to rest with Jesus in their souls. Others feel weary just hearing that God might have something for them to do to “serve one another in love” because they have never attached to Jesus in a way that calms and quiets their souls.

   My encouragement is to get to know Jesus according to his invitation, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-20).

   At the very least, seeing how Jesus cared for his disciples' need for rest should affirm to our own hearts that he has the same interest for us. And even with the miserableness of the man-cold that has no comparison in the… okay, just kidding… I have felt that restfulness of my soul to have had a prolonged and comforting time with my Lord in his word, in prayer, and in sharing what God gave me for the building-up of others. 

© 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: Comforted by the Details

   But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.” And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly (Mark 6:16-20 ~ conclusion in footnote).

   The reason I find so much comfort in a passage like this is because of our tendency to think that no one could possibly know what painful things we have gone through in life. When painful experiences pile up so that we feel buried in our grief, it can be difficult to imagine anyone else knowing what we are going through. 

   However, when we read something like this account of John the Baptist’s imprisonment and execution, the details are so familiar that there is comfort in knowing that “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

   Instead of expanding on how the things I shared relate to my own experiences, I encourage you to look at the things John the Baptist went through for being “a righteous and holy man” who was living in “the obedience of faith”.  John’s assignment was to prepare the way for the Messiah to come and secure our salvation. So even in his unjust death, he pointed ahead to what would be done to our Savior who was perfect in righteousness and holiness. 

   By the end of my meditation on God’s word, I found myself attaching to Paul’s motto in facing the threat of death, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). John the Baptist showed that he was living the same way. He proclaimed a baptism of repentance, and so he kept confronting Herod with his sin in the hope of bringing the king to repent and believe the good news that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah of God. 

   John’s example continues to prepare our hearts for the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Herod shows us the cost of respecting Jesus without repenting and trusting him. Herodias shows us the cost of despising God’s servants who expose us in our sin (when it is God’s kindness working to bring us to repentance – Romans 2:4). Herodias’s daughter shows us the cost of following our parents in their sin instead of following Jesus into his salvation. 

   But John the Baptist shows us another member of that “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) who, “through his faith, though he died, he still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4). And what he speaks into our “nothing new under the sun” experiences of injustice is to,

let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

© 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.)

Footnote: But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias's daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. (Mark 6:21-29)

On This Day: The Universal and the Unique

   And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. (Mark 6:7-13)

   Some parts of the Bible are history. They are telling us something that happened without explaining how it applies to us today. Some of these details are there to affirm the historicity of the scriptures as God’s word. There’s nothing wrong with struggling to find a direct application to our lives today because sometimes there isn’t one. 

   However, there are also times when reading a description of a historical event does have lessons for us today. We simply need to heed Paul’s warning “not to go beyond what is written” (I Corinthians 4:6). When a scene of history in Scripture is wrongly applied, it puts the authority on the speaker instead of the scriptures, so caution and humility are always required.

   One way it helps us to know that historical events are sometimes absolutely unique to the persons involved is that we can easily become worried that if Jesus authorized his apostles to cast out demons maybe every Christian should be able to do that. Or if Jesus sent the apostles out two-by-two, maybe that’s his rule for how everyone should do evangelism. Those kinds of extrapolations are both unnecessary and unhelpful, and knowing that can help us relax and not burden ourselves with demands that aren’t even there.

   On the other hand, looking at what Jesus told the apostles to do in their ministry, and following how faithfully they did what they were told, does have a universal lesson in how each believer should be living out their place in the body of Christ. 

   Peter, one of those twelve apostles, later wrote, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace” (I Peter 4:10). He went on to list some of the ways to apply this, but still with a sense that each of us must be diligent to see how God has given us a gift to use in ministry, and then see how to “serve one another” as unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

   One of my favorite illustrations of how God does something unique with someone at one time but with wonderfully encouraging applications to his people for this church age is how God spoke to Moses through a burning bush. The way God spoke to Moses then was unique (the way Moses argued with God about it… not so much!). But that whole experience (Exodus 3-4) does illustrate the wonderful truth that God speaks through his word to every generation of the church so we can still “hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (repeated after all 7 letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3). 

   My encouragement in reading Scripture is to identify whether what you are reading is a description of history (what God did at one time with certain people with unique applications), or it is a teaching passage that clearly identifies how God wants us to live for him today just as believers were expected to live for him back then. 

   Between the two kinds of passages will be unique historical events that also have universal applications. Usually, all we need to do to understand how these apply is ask ourselves what is taught in the apostles’ letters to the churches that show us how to walk in “the obedience of faith” today even as those people did in the scene before us.   

   The bottom line is summarized in this exhortation from the apostle Paul: 

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13) 

   And yes, we are expected to obey with the same “faith expressing itself in love” as we witness that others did in their leg of the race.

© 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: The Astonishment of the Easily Offended

   He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. (Mark 6:1-6)

   Since childhood, I have had to question whether things people believe have substance. A quiet Christian mom and an angry agnostic dad gave me plenty of practice in listening for the reasons people believed what they did. 

   So many decades later, I continue to marvel at how people react to Jesus’ claims. I listen for substance but hear only emotional opinion. Even so-called science is saturated by words, emotions, and opinions rather than substance that can be tested, observed, repeated, and falsified. 

   What I saw when Jesus went back to his hometown was what I now understand as childish pride. I have seen it in two-year-olds, that idea that what they think they know is the whole sum of knowledge in the whole wide world. It’s even worse in the hormonal years of the teens when young folk imagine they have attained far more knowledge than their parents or elders and their way of seeing things is the only way they can be. When we find the same thing in older people who are still at the toddler and teen levels of maturity (or immaturity), it is almost impossible to convince them that there is a view of Jesus that has far more substance than their own. 

   When I first noticed how often Jesus contrasted the “many” with the “few”, I thought of the “many” being worldlings and the “few” being true believers in Jesus Christ. But then I realized that Jesus kept applying the “many” to religious people. Church folk. They first stood out as religious Jews who were blind to who he was as their Messiah. But then I realized that Jesus spoke of a time when “many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another” (Matthew 24:10), meaning, church people. People who put on a show of attending church but without ever experiencing the transforming power of the gospel.

   Why does this encourage me? Because if that is the way it is, it puts my heart and mind to rest to know that Jesus called it (commonly referred to as “prophesied”). He even said, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’” (Matthew 7:22), referring to a characteristic of the judgment when many people who were active in churches, even doing things we would call miracles, will discover that Jesus didn’t even know them in the personal relationship the church should be known for. 

   And why would I want everyone who reads this to know that Jesus does not necessarily approve of every church we might attend (or have attended)? Because our response to Jesus is just that, OUR response, not someone else’s. I would rather be among the few who are humbly living by faith in Jesus Christ than the many who are in love with themselves, their churches, their denominations, their doctrines, their church friends, and/or their religious family heritage, but would be among the easily-offended if Jesus actually did something in their church groups. 

   Jesus calls you and I to him. Simple as that. His word is full of the evidences of his words and his work. Testing ourselves every day to be sure our faith is in him and the new covenant in his blood and not in anything we are doing for him, helps us to know what only a few experience, that “the righteous shall live by faith” no matter how few or many we appear to be.

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

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com 

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

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