Janet Smith – November 7, 2021 ©gardenministries.org
Matthew 11:28-30 (CSB) Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest (tranquility) for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Romans 16:20 (CSB) The God of peace (Greek: eiréné) will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
What is an aggravated soul? An aggravated soul is when the ego, representing our unique personhood (in the Greek: our psuché), has risen up and wants some form of justice for a perceived wrong or lack. To aggravate means to rouse to displeasure or anger by usually persistent and often petty goading, to make heavy; a burden. Synonyms: annoy, chafe, bug, irk, grate, spite, persecute, vex. Our self-centered, self-protective ego wants—even demands—something more for us than what we are currently experiencing.
We have a choice to make when our soul becomes aggravated and our ego rises up to defend our rights for a better life. We can either choose to believe we are right and take matters into our own hands and begin to demand justice OR we can turn to the God of Peace and ask Him first, “What do You say in this matter God?” and then wait for His answer, not assuming we already know it.
In Matthew 11:25-27, right before Jesus says “Come to Me all who are weary,” He praises the Father for His wisdom. Jesus goes on to describe how He has been entrusted by the Father to reveal the Father’s wisdom to all who want Him. Jesus came to do the Father’s will which was to bring the priestly sacrifice needed to accomplish the Father’s desire to forgive and restore His children to Himself. Jesus is all always all about the Father. When we come to our High Priest Jesus, we are coming the Father for restoration and justice.
The reason we don’t want to come to Jesus is because we don’t want to suffer the painful process of learning how to stop doing things our way and start doing them God’s way. We may think we already know what’s wrong and right and presumptuously expect others to do things our way for resolve. Here is our confrontation: Is our way working? Is righteous fruit being produced? If not, we need to ask the Father for His heavenly wisdom, His will, and His clear direction.
Abiding in the Vine means to seek, patiently wait on, and trust in God. We may incur some hard knocks before we surrender and realize how we’ve been relying on our soul’s self-defensive energy and not going to God. The one power God gives us is housed within our soul’s will. It’s even called will-power. We have the power to yield our will to another.
When our soul is aggravated and the choice to do the same dumb thing that hasn’t worked presents, what will we do this time? Will we yield, humble ourselves, come to Jesus, and ask the Father for His way through this thing? Pride divides. Humility heals. The God of Peace will give rest to our souls because He is bringing all the tattered pieces of our life back together in His wholeness.
Hebrews 5:7-8 (CSB) During his earthly life, he (Jesus) offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. 9 After he was perfected (teleioó), he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, 10 and he was declared by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Teleioó (tel-ay-o’-o) as a course, a race: I complete, finish; to consummate, reaching the end-stage, i.e. working through the entire process (all the stages) to reach the final phase (conclusion).
Jesus always relied on the Father to take care of His soul’s emotional needs. 1 Peter 2:23 says that when Jesus suffered injustice, He entrusted Himself to the One who judges justly—His Father. Even though the Father put His Son through intense suffering, Jesus trusted the Father’s reasons for letting injustice happen to Him, and never took matters into His own hands to defend Himself and His rights.
1 Peter 2:21-25 (CSB) For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth; 23 when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls (Greek: psuché).
If we want to become complete, lacking nothing, we need to follow Jesus’ example in how he ran His race and how He dealt with His own soul when it was provoked. Jesus was a human being with a spirit, soul, and body. Matthew 26:38 (HCSB) Then He (Jesus) said to them, “My soul (psuché) is swallowed up in sorrow—to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with Me. 39 Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.
The one thing we always see Jesus doing is turning to the Father. He never took matters into His own hands and relied on His own soul’s resources to demand justice. Also, Jesus regularly spent time with the Father. He showed up physically, emotionally, and spiritually and waited on Father, even going without sleep to get it done. Jesus spent time with the Father, and learned what the Father’s will was, and then followed it perfectly. This is our path. This is how we run our race. We become like Jesus when we do what He did and do what He says. It’s that simple.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (CSB) Now may the God of peace (eiréné) himself sanctify (hagiazó) you completely (holotelés). And may your whole spirit (pneuma), soul (psuché), and body (sóma) be kept sound and blameless (amemptós) at the coming (Parousia-Presence after absence) of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will do it.
Eiréné (i-ray’-nay) eirḗnē (from eirō, “to join, tie together into a whole“) – properly, wholeness, i.e. when all essential parts are joined together; peace (God’s gift of wholeness).
Hagiazó (hag-ee-ad’-zo) to make holy, consecrate, sanctify, to regard as special (sacred), i.e. “set apart,” to dedicate, separate. From hagios “different from the world” because we are “like the Lord.” We are different (distinguished/distinct)” because we are special to the Lord.
Holotelés (hol-ot-el-ace’) perfect, complete, wholly (holistically), “fully-layered” (all levels present) – describing someone reaching the end-goal of “entire sanctification.”
Holokléros (hol’-ok’-lay-ros) complete in every part, sound, perfect, entire, complete in all its parts, entire, whole, in no part lacking or unsound, James 1:4: “And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete (holóklēros), lacking in nothing.”
Pneuma (pnyoo’-mah) wind, breath, spirit, a movement of air (gentle) blast; the breath of life (Revelation 11:11 But after three and a half days, the breath of life (pneuma) from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. A spirit is a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting.
Psuché (psoo-khay’) the soul, the vital breath of life, (b) the human soul, (c) the soul as the seat of affections and will, (d) the self, (e) a human person, an individual; a person’s distinct identity (unique personhood), i.e. individual personality. The soul is the direct aftermath of God breathing (blowing) His (pneuma) gift of life into a person, making them an ensouled being. Our ego is based in our soul. A crucified ego is fully sanctified.
Sóma (so’-mah) the physical body.
Amemptós (am-emp’-toce) blameless, no cause for censure, i.e., no cause for stern disapproval and public reprimand.
Jesus is our example of how to align our soul’s will in an abiding relationship with the Father. If we follow Jesus, we let the Holy Spirit sanctify our souls. This will enable us to receive Jesus when He comes (Parousia: Christ’s Presence after absence) and we won’t shrink back because all shame is gone.