Refined by Reproach

I am encouraged today by these verses found in 1 Peter 4:12-15:  "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; ¹³ but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. ¹⁴ If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified."  The implication of Peter's initial statement is fiery trials can catch us off guard.  We wonder why we are being persecuted, experience trouble or have persistent struggles.  Peter reminded believers we are beloved by God and affirmed trials will most certainly come.  Trials are not allowed by God without good and redemptive purposes, however, for they are intended to test, refine and purify us to be more like Jesus.  While the process can be unexpected and seem unwarranted, by God's grace we can be glad the results are amazingly good.

God established a principle in Israel after God's victorious people plundered the Midianites in Numbers 1:21-23:  "Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, "This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses: ²² only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water."  Items like jewellery, iron tools and weapons could be safely put through the fire, but articles made of linen or leather were not to be put through fire because they would be consumed.  The principle was any spoil plundered from enemies that could endure fire must go through the fire to be purified before it is brought into the camp.  The water of purification that contained ashes of the red heifer, the same water used on the 3rd and 7th day when a person needed purification after touching a dead body under the Mosaic Law, was used to ceremonially cleanse objects.

Under the new covenant established by the shed blood of Jesus, Christians have been purified from all sin and declared righteous by grace through faith.  We are given eternal life and the Holy Spirit resides in our hearts.  While we continue living in these human bodies as disciples, servants and ambassadors for Christ, God chooses to refine us.  We may have sound theology and in a relatively short time grow in spiritual maturity, but we are far from perfection.  Our outlook, attitudes, words, deeds, and habits require continual refinement, and fiery trials are a way God removes the residual impurities of sin He alone is able to expose in our minds and hearts.  Paul pointed out the son of the bondwoman Ishmael mocked the son of promise Isaac, and so those who remain slaves to the Law of Moses, humanist philosophy, atheism, self or anything of this world mock and criticise those who are being saved by the Gospel.  Jesus was perfect and was hated by His fellow Jews, and a servant is not above his master.  If people hated Jesus, those who follow Jesus as LORD will also be hated.

Being put through a fiery trial causes us to suffer burns that hurt, but we need to remember trials work for our refinement and greater usefulness--not our destruction.  Rather than being depressed or embittered by suffering for Christ's sake, Peter urged believers to rejoice.  If we are made partakers of Christ's sufferings, when His glory is revealed we can be glad with exceedingly joy.  If we are reproached for Jesus' sake, we are blessed because the Holy Spirit rests upon us.  Jesus said in John 15:19:  "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."  When people blaspheme Jesus it grieves us, yet by our patient and loving response Jesus is glorified.  Beloved, when we face fiery trials that are sure to come, let us rejoice and glorify God in humbling ourselves before our LORD who sanctifies and purifies us.  How truly blessed we are and will ever be!

King in Conflict

By God's grace, Christians can learn from kings and servants alike.  We don't need to be a king or even in a position of authority to observe their lives, aim to emulate their wise decisions, and avoid their foolish ones.  Many kings who began their reigns well by faith in God did not finish their lives strong, and this ought to motivate us to succeed where they failed by increasing dependence on God.  Kings of old cannot go back and change their decisions, but we can make considerable effort to order our future steps according to God's word in His service.

Jeroboam was a man described as an industrious and ambitious worker who got things done, and Solomon promoted him to a position of leadership.  It was then a prophet of God Ahijah came to Jeroboam, and he revealed by the word of the LORD God would take away 10 tribes from Solomon and give them to Jeroboam.  The prophet also explained why God would do this in 1 Kings 11:33:  "...because they have forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David."  Because Solomon had been unfaithful to God and embraced idolatry, God would rend a large portion of the kingdom from the house of David.  One would think seeing this clear cause and effect would make a serious impression upon Jeroboam to avoid the pitfalls of idolatry--seeing the disaster it brought upon Israel and Solomon's house.

Through Ahijah, God also made a promise to Jeroboam in 1 Kings 11:38:  "Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you."  Over the course of time the word of God came to pass, and Jeroboam was made king over the 10 tribes of Israel referred to as the northern kingdom.  Being a receiver of God's blessings and fulfilled promises did not impart faith in God to Jeroboam.  Though he was made king by God's sovereign choice and grace, he felt the kingdom would slip from his grasp if the people continued to worship God at the temple in Jerusalem.  1 Kings 12:26-27 reads, "And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: ²⁷ if these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah."  Lack of faith in God and His promise led to Jeroboam fearing he would lose his kingdom and his life!  This unbelief led him to do the unthinkable.

Jeroboam sought counsel--not of God but with men he trusted--and he set up idols in Bethel and Dan as more convenient places to worship the God of Israel.  He appointed whomever he desired to be priests at these shrines (including himself) and led the people into grave sin (1 Kings 14:3).  Though God sent a prophet to warn Jeroboam judgment from God was coming for his sins, he did not repent or cease his abominable practices.  There came a time when his son was sick, and what did Jeroboam do?  He directed his wife to go to Ahijah the prophet of God, the same man who accurately foretold he would be made king.  Jeroboam had all confidence the prophet would speak the truth concerning his ill son.  Unbelief blinded Jeroboam to his hypocrisy of effort to worship the God of Israel according to the dictates of his own heart rather than by obedience to God.  Fear and anxiety about his future and that of his son brought him into conflict with God only stern judgment would resolve.

Proverbs 31:3 says, "Do not give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings."  The Bible is full of examples of ways kings destroyed themselves:  King Saul was lifted up with pride, Solomon's heart was led astray by his many wives and he was ensnared in idolatry, and Jeroboam was stricken with unbelief and worry.  Kings destroyed themselves with alcohol, disobedience to God, by foolish wars, seeking counsel of men and ignoring God's wisdom, by choosing what seemed expedient or convenient rather than reliance upon God.  Kings who enjoyed peace and prosperity for a long season were thrust into terrible conflicts with many adversaries because they departed from the LORD who chose and called them to be king.  God who gives kingdoms can also take them away, and let not our receiving of good things from God deter us from seeking, trusting and relying upon Him always.  Jesus is our peace, and a life built by faith in Him will endure and enjoy His eternal kingdom.

Preparing for Victory

"Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, ¹¹ lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices."

2 Corinthians 2:10-11

In his second letter to the church in Corinth, Paul spoke of the importance of recognising the tactics of Satan to prevent him from taking advantage of believers.  Unforgiveness is a snare Satan lays at our feet when we have been offended or after we heard about what others said or did.  When we allow malice and envy to abide in our hearts it leads to greater sin.  In William Gurnall's book The Christian in Complete Armour, after a detailed explanation of various satanic tactics, he counsels believers in good actions to take.  In light of God's sovereignty and goodness, there are things we can do to be prepared:

1.  Take God into thy counsel.  Heaven overlooks hell.  God at any time can tell thee what plots are hatching there against thee.  Consider Satan as he is God's creature; so God cannot but know him.  He that makes the watch, knows every pin in it. He formed this crooked serpent, though not the crookedness of this serpent; and though Satan's way in tempting is as wonderful as the way of a serpent on a rock, yet God traceth him, yea, knows all his thoughts together.  Hell itself is naked before him; and this destroyer hath no covering.  Again, consider him as God's prisoner, who hath him fast in chains, and so the Lord, who is his keeper, must needs know whither his prisoner goes, who cannot stir without his leave.  Lastly, consider him as his messenger, for so he is.  An evil spirit from the Lord vexed Saul, and he that give him his errand, is able to tell thee what it is.  Go then and plough with God's heifer; improve thy interest in Christ, who knows what his Father knows, and is ready to reveal all that concerns thee to thee (Job xv. 15).  It was he who descried the devil coming against Peter and the rest of the apostles, and faithfully revealed it to them, before they thought of any such matter (Luke xxii).  Through Christ's hands passes all that is transacted in heaven and hell.  We live in days of great actions, deep counsels, and plots on all sides, and only a few that stand on the upper end of the world know these mysteries of state; all the rest know little more than pamphlet intelligence.  Thus it is in regard of those plots which Satan in his infernal conclave is laying against the souls of men; they are but a few that know anything to the purpose of Satan's designs against them; and those are the saints, from whom God cannot hide his own counsels of love, but sends his Spirit to reveal unto them here, what he hath prepared for them in heaven (1 Cor. ii. 10), and therefore much less will he conceal any destructive plot of Satan from them.

2. Be intimately acquainted with thy own heart, and thou wilt the better know his design against thee, who takes his method of tempting from the inclination and posture of thy heart.  As a general walks about the city, and views it will, and then raiseth his batteries where he hath the greatest advantage, so doth Satan compass and consider the Christian in every part before he tempts.

 3. Be careful to read the Word of God with observation.  In it thou has the history of the most remarkable battles that have been fought by the most eminent worthies in Christ's army of saints with this great warrior Satan.  Here thou mayst see how Satan hath foiled them, and how they have recovered their lost ground.  Here you have his cabinet-counsels opened.  There is not a lust which you are in danger of, but you have it descried; not a temptation which the Word doth not arm you against.  It is reported that a certain Jew should have poisoned Luther, but was happily prevented by his picture which was sent to Luther, with a warning from a faithful friend that he should take heed of such a man when he saw him, by which he knew the murderer, and escaped his hands.  The Word shows thee, O Christian, the face of those lusts which Satan employs to butcher thy precious soul.  "By them is thy servant warned,' saith David (Ps. xix. 11).  (Gurnall, William. Christian In Complete Armour. Banner of Truth Trust, 2002. Pages 84-85)

A Familiar Flavour

We are blessed the unchanging, eternal God has made the way of salvation simple enough for a child to understand:  by faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, God who became flesh, sinners who repent can receive forgiveness and eternal life.  A child knows what it is like to trust their parent to pick them up and carry them.  You don't need a doctorate to understand what it means to rely or depend on someone.  A baby can tell the difference between good and bad milk, and very early in our Christian walk God helps us to discern truth from deception.  You don't need 20 years of professional experience in the dairy industry to know when milk has curdled and gone off.  If a child failed to do a sight or sniff test of sour milk before drinking it, only a brief taste would be required before the whole glass of milk would be rejected.

When I observe eating and drinking habits of children, they notice when flavours are different.  They can drink too much of what makes them sick, and they can avoid eating or drinking what is healthy for them.  God has so designed children to have parents to provide food for them and guide them to "try" new foods that are healthy when children would be more pleased to eat dessert only.  This is similar to the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, for through God's word He presents new ways of thinking, speaking and living that are foreign to us.  As we submit and surrender to Him, obedience to God provides satisfaction living for ourselves cannot supply.  Jesus is the Bread of Life, and His word sustains and guides us with His wisdom.  We become familiar with God's voice, His tone and prefer the Scriptures rightly divided--to the point we notice when doctrine or teachings are off.

There are many accurate, edifying ways to teach the same Bible verses, and God is able to help us discern truth from error.  While there is freedom for a variety of interpretations at times (the Bible being infinitely complex and multi-faceted), by the authority of God's word Christians can know what they believe and why.  God's ways and thoughts are beyond our understanding, and when confronted with things we do not or cannot know we can comfortably fall back upon the God we know and knows us.  It used to bother me when my kids pointed out something in my cooking or baking was "different" this time, but I have grown to appreciate this because it demonstrates a spiritual truth:  as our palates can be refined to noticed subtle changes, so our spiritual "palate" can weigh words which are spoken and discern truth from error.

Hear the observation and exhortation of Job 34:3-4:  "For the ear tests words as the palate tastes food. ⁴ Let us choose justice for ourselves; let us know among ourselves what is good."  Because the Holy Spirit is good, guides us into all truth and dwells within us, we can go beyond catering to our preferences or our personal bias and open our mouths wide, trusting God to fill us and supply all our needs with His truth.  God and His word do not change, and spiritual maturity correlates with familiarity with God's wisdom and putting it in into practice.  At the same time, it is said there are no "adults" of God--only children of God.  This reminds us of our need for God, His protection and provision, to rely upon Jesus for our physical and spiritual bread He is faithful to supply.