REFINED
FAITH
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he symbol of fire
appears again and again in God's dealings with the
human race.
Fire has to do with:
judgment,
refining,
separating the gold from the dross.
"Behold,
I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek
will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you
delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and
who can stand when he appears?"
Malachi 3:1-3
"For
behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all
evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord
of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name the sun of
righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from
the stall. And you shall tread down the
wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I
act, says the Lord of hosts." Malachi 4:l-3
Scripture talks about
three visitations of fire which will bring about the close of this age. The very last of these three will be the fire
of divine judgment.
But the day
of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a
loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the
works that are upon it will be burned up.
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons
ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening
the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and
dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! II Peter 3:10-12
Before this
fire will come the fire of blazing prophecy carried across the earth by people
like you and me calling the whole human race to repentance, when the gospel of
the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all
nations ... then the end will come. And before the fire of a worldwide
preaching of the gospel there will be a fire of trial aimed specifically at us
who are to proclaim this gospel. How are
we ever going to preach and live the fire of God unless we have been refined by
that fire ourselves?
Beloved, do
not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as
though something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may
also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are reproached for the name of Christ,
you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or
a thief, or a wrongdoer, or a mischief-maker; yet if one suffers as a
Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify
God. For the time has come for judgment
to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the
end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
And "If the righteous man is scarcely saved, where will the impious
and sinner appear?" Therefore, let
those who suffer according to God's will do right and entrust their souls to a
faithful Creator. I Peter-4.12-19
Fiery
trial has been part of the lot of believers in every
age. Just as surely as we can know that
if we seek God's kingdom first he will provide for us and sustain us, we also
know that if we follow Jesus seriously we will pass through seasons of fiery
trial. That's always been true. But for the hour in which we live it's even
more to be expected.
If
the end is as near as is universally felt by believers all over this
earth.... and if this end is to be
preceded by an aggressive worldwide proclamation of the gospel of Jesus by the
Body of Christ on earth...then the Body of Christ on earth at this time can be
sure that it will be prepared for its task, refined, toughened by fire.
For the time
has come for judgment to begin
with the household of God.... I Peter
4:17a
In
his mercy God has already begun preparing us for days of severe trial
by
giving each of us some exercise in handling trial on a smaller scale.
Perhaps
we've been going on our way satisfied that we have faith in God.
We say quite honestly,
"If
I didn't have faith in God, I don't know who I'd be."
"If I didn't have Jesus I don't know how I could survive."
And
our faith really is part of our daily life.
- We do seek God's face
in prayer.
- We are finding
sustenance in the scriptures.
- We are trying to
apply our faith to our jobs,
our family life,
our leisure time,
turning from temptations,
altering the
way we relate to people,
the way we handle money,
the way we deal with problems, to
conform to the will
of our Lord.
Then one day
a bomb drops on our life ... trouble comes, some disappointment, humiliation,
tragedy, perhaps something that brings pain to our body and our mind, or
perhaps some vicious persecution.
Suddenly,
everything, including our faith, is shaken.
Sometimes this trial
is over
quickly --- like a summer storm.
Sometimes it goes on and on.
In either
case, our faith is now put under a strain ... nothing is simple any
more. Questions start boiling up inside our
hearts.
- How could
the God I have trusted in allow this to happen?
- Is there a
God at all?
- Why has the
path of faith led me to a place where circumstances
have beaten and robbed me of everything but
pain?
Did Jesus
ever promise us that such things would not happen to us?
"If the
world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would
love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the
world, therefore the world hates you.
Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his
master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also."
John 15:18-20
"I have
said this to you, that in me you may have peace.
In the world
you have tribulation; but be of good cheer,
I have
overcome the world." John 16:33
- In the
world....tribulation.
- In me....peace.
- In the world:
rejection, persecution and a cross.
- In me....joy.
The lesson
we're going to have to learn, if the fire of God is to accomplish its purpose
in our lives, is to let this fire come in and refine our faith to the point
where we can rejoice even in our trials.
If we forever run from God's fire and play it soft and safe, we'll never
be of any use to the purpose of God.
1. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery
ordeal which comes upon
you to prove
you, as though something strange were happening to you.
I Peter 4:12
This is nothing
strange...this is necessary. This fiery
ordeal has come to separate the silver from the dross in our lives. Until the trial came many of my hopes were
false. I was hoping in things that were
vain. Now these vain hopes are being
burned up. Before the trial came to me
most of my confidence was not in God's mercy but really in my superiority over
others,
my
spiritual maturity,
my superior
knowledge,
my superior
righteousness,
my superior
commitment.
I was quick
to judge from my exalted platform ... but now that's all being
burned away
and all I have, really all I have, is
Jesus ... who is God's mercy.
2. Beloved,
do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as
though something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also
rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed I Peter 4:12-13
Not only am I
to understand the meaning of this fire that comes at me,
I am to
rejoice in it. Because this very trial
brings me into a fellowship
with the Son
of God which I could never have before.
Now I am sharing,
partaking in
Christ's sufferings. I am getting to
know Jesus under the
yoke of His
cross.
Visions of
Jesus may come to us on mountaintops, but real communion with Jesus comes to us
down in the valley.
Peter caught
a glimpse of who Jesus was up there at the transfiguration,
but Peter
never really knew this Jesus until Peter began to suffer for his
Lord. Look back over your own life and see if it
wasn't the times of trial
that brought
your visions of Jesus into the wonderful reality of communion with him. So with the trial we
may be going through now ... or the trial we may enter tomorrow....don't just grit your teeth and suffer through this
thing... rejoice,
worship,
praise
the Lord who is with you in it.
Paul and
Silas turned their imprisonment in
--- they
didn't use it as a gimmick to bring on an earthquake, they had no
idea there
would be an earthquake, they just praised God.
The rougher
things get in our lives the more joyful and glad and loud and
free these
times of worship should be.
3. If you are reproached for the name of
Christ, you are blessed,
because the
spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Peter 4:14
Not only are
we to understand the purpose of this trial ... not only are we to rejoice in
this trial ... we are to receive its blessing.
We don't have
to wait until the trial is over and we're standing on that sea of
glass.... the blessing begins now. As soon as we experience any kind of reproach
for the name of Christ, any kind of cross, the Spirit of glory and of God comes
to rest upon us.
"I will
not leave you desolate, I will come to you."
Never is this
promise of Jesus more dramatically fulfilled than when the fire of trial
begins to burn in our lives. The same
Son of Man who walked with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Nebuchadnezzar's
fiery furnace walks with us in our fire, rests on us when our heads are covered
with this world's shame.
If God is
raising up a people now who will proclaim His gospel with authority unmatched
since apostolic days, and if we hope to be among them (why shouldn't we?), then
we need to understand that God is raising up this people not only by baptizing
them with the Holy Spirit but also by baptizing them with fire.
The baptism
of the Holy Spirit can happen in minutes. But the baptism of fire, for most of
us at least, takes time. The Lord puts us into the fire then takes us out, then
puts us in until the gold is pure and the steel is hard.
May God give
us the grace to welcome the baptism of fire as much as we welcome the baptism
of the Spirit....
....to
rejoice in our trials,
....to sing praises,
....to give
God glory in them, until the fire of God has put us in shape
for the work that lies ahead.
To put it simply;
To have the fire, we need to feel the fire.
To feel the fire all we have to do is;
1. Ask God to send it.
2. Receive it when it comes.
3. Get used to it.
But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to
us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven
to despair; persecuted,
but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death
of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For
while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that
the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
II Corinthians 4:7-12
Working together with him,
then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,
"At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day
of salvation." Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day
of salvation. We put no obstacle in any
one's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of
God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions,
hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching,
hunger; by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine
love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness
for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and
good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet
well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as
sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having
nothing, and yet possessing everything. II
Corinthians 6:1-10
When we withdraw from this
fire our effectiveness dries up.
When we get accustomed to this flame;
live
with it,
rejoice in it,
glory in it,
God's
power in us increases.
Beloved, do
not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as
though something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may
also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are reproached for
the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God
rests upon you.
I Peter 4:12-14