Refiner’s Fire

What is the point of “serving God” if the arrogant and wicked prosper and we don’t?  Many of those who raise this cry have their eye on the "other" and miss or discount their own sin. Prepare to be surprised by God's list of your sins. Refiner’s fire is coming. Punishment for the wicked and “dancing calves” for the righteous. Just desserts.The actual "righteous" are those who "fear His name." We fear the Lord, "remember us, Jesus."

Driving with Arabelle

Arabelle has now had her permit for 6 months. All told, she is doing well. She went with TopCops last week for her first freeway drives and downtown drives.

We are entering into the scary stage where she could start to get comfortable. It used to take 10 minutes to back out of the driveway… now she is driving to school more often than not.

So, public warning, Arabelle is now confidently driving a 2-ton vehicle confidently down the road.

On that subject:

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Or the corollary: Why do good things happen to bad people?

Old question. Great question.

It comes up when tragedy strikes.

It comes up when our loved ones are sick. My mom in the hospital this morning, recovering from surgical lung biopsy.

What’s the underlying assumption in the one asking the question?

That you are one of the “good people.” Isn’t it? At least the tone of the question is phrased that way. It is the “good person” bemoaning their lack of rewards… and looking at the woeful sinners living it up.

Now, I hope we have a better theology of grace and blessing and consequences and freedom than this… but the early Israelites did not.

There was a powerful tie between righteousness and blessing. If you are good and righteous, God will bless you like Abraham, Father of many Nations.

And if you are bad, you will be struck down and punished.

So, conversely, if you are poor, you are probably bad… and if you are rich you are probably righteous.

That’s… bad theology, it doesn’t work that way AT ALL. Point one.

Point two, you aren’t really good, at all… and that’s what wearies God. You are pointing at everyone else, bemoaning their sin and how it should disqualify them from blessing… and ignoring your own sin.

Malachi 2:17–3:6 (ESV)

17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

Beware what you ask for!!! It’s coming.

2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.

This is a beautiful metaphor God uses again and again. The prophets especially, from Isaiah, to Jeremiah, Daniel, Zechariah, now Malachi.

Silver refined, gold refined. How do they do that? Melt it, let the pure metal sink down to the bottom and all the crud and “extra” float up. Then you skim the gross off the top until you are left with the pure good stuff.

It’s a burny and melty process. Great for getting “pure” metal, not comfortable for the original little nugget of silver.

We have a term for this in the modern vernacular: the Crucible. That’s what that picture is. The crucible is not a place you want to be… it breaks you down, it is pain and struggle and even torment. But in the hands of a Maker, what emerges is purer and better.

Similar with the soap, this is not the “gentle for your hands” stuff, but that used to clean and bleach the wool. Strip the skin off your bones, kind of soap. It gets it clean… but it isn’t easy, it isn’t gentle.

So, this is the answer to those who sit smugly back, railing at the Lord’s lack of justice. Yes, justice is coming… are you sure you’re ready for that???

3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.

4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

I love this list… find yourself in it:

5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Sorcerors.... get ‘em!!! That’s a “those guys” kind of sin.

Adulterers… maybe some folks are quieting down… but maybe not. Get em!

Swearing falsely. Well… my little white lies don’t count, right? Maybe this only counts people who swear on oath? Getting nervous?

Those who oppress the hired workers in wages??? Wait, fair wage practices? What kind of list is this? This is union talk, or something. Socialism!???

Those who oppress widows and the fatherless. And by “oppress” here, it means not taking care of, or taking advantage of. Maybe you feel exempt, but these are more and more common practices.

And my favorite:

“those who thrust aside the sojourner.”

The “sojourner” is someone who comes to town who doesn’t have family or tribe there. They could be passing through for a day, or a month, or even years, but generally not planning on becoming a permanent resident.

And there was no Holiday Express nearby, no new hotels going up over the course of a decade… If the sojourner wasn’t staying with you, he or she or them… they’re sleeping on the street! And God says that’s a sin, that’s unacceptable.

We can say this is cultural, this vision of open-home hospitality doesn’t scale to city life… but essentially God is calling out anyone who walked or drove past someone who didn’t have a place to stay and didn’t offer their own home.

Yikes.

And Jesus would walk right back up the list. Oh, by the way, you’re all liars too, before God, in your hearts and out loud. And, by the way, you’re all adulterers too, if you’ve ever looked with lust.

And you’re all sorcerers too, if you’ve ever attempted to force God, or the heavens, or the “universe” to do something in response to your ritual or magic words (“In Jesus’ name, Amen.”)

So God’s looking at people saying “Why do good things happen to bad people, and good people like me get nothing.”

Ummm… you know I know your heart, right? I see your wickedness, your selfishness, I see the sin you commit… I see the sins you wish you could commit, you just lack the opportunities.

Justice is coming, are you sure you are ready for it?

Refiner’s FIRE!!!

6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

God has always been Justice. And the wait for Judgment Day is an absolute act of grace. We long for it… and we fear it.

Then he talks about robbing God again, we took that one out of order.

Malachi 3:13–4:6 (ESV)

13 “Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’

14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?

This is the other side of that coin. Where is the reward for the righteous???

15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’ ”

Now here come the truly “righteous” people. But that’s not their name. They are identified by this. “Those who fear the Lord.”

16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.

The Bible uses this phrase all the time, it is weird to our modern ears. “Fear” as in respect, yes… but “fear” as in fear, too. As in, I know I am a sinner, and I know that God is holy, that I, rightly, have no place in His presence.

Fear drives me to humility, fear drives me to seek grace and mercy, which I desperately need. Fear leads to repentance.

I’m teaching Arabelle to drive. It is “fear” that leads her to practice tremendous caution, she is driving a ton of plastic and steel around at high speeds and a twitch in the wrong direction could kill herself, me, pedestrians, other drivers.

When teenagers lose that “fear” they get arrogant… and stupid… and people get hurt, because it’s stupid not to have the right amount of “fear” when driving.

When approaching the Holy Judge of All, all-powerful Creator of the Universes, whom you have deeply and constantly hurt and offended… “fear” is the appropriate posture.

Thus the Bible says “fear is the beginning of wisdom.”

Fear and “esteeming” His name.

Because it isn’t just fear...

17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

We “fear” Him… and we love Him as He calls us his beloved son. A treasured possession.

There is trust and safety and confidence and security in that… but still the fear that keeps us in right posture before God.

18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

I picture goats leaping from the stall. Calves. I picture Julia and the twins running on all fours… backwards. Or if you remember Abby Moore doing that when she was that age, faster than I could sprint.

The joy in it, moving for its own sake, so excited you can’t not move.

3 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.

4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

More about this next week, but this is the prophecy of Elijah fulfilled in the John the Baptist… and Jesus himself coming as “one like Moses.” The near fulfillment…

but the Judgment Day, the day of Refining… that’s still to come.

Fear the Lord

Remember me, Jesus

Why do bad things happen to good people? This is still a real question, I don’t want to trivialize it, or mock it. But we should remember… there are no “good” people. Not truly.

And most importantly, I know, on my own merits… I’m not a “good” person. I’m a broken sinner, saved by grace!

Are you a good person? You’re a broken sinner, in need of grace.

You haven’t kept God’s rules… you haven’t even kept your own rules.

So it is beyond foolish for us to yell at God demanding Justice!

What we need is grace.

Are you in the book of Remembrance?

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom… because it drives us to repentance.

We bow before God and say, I know who you are… Creator of the Universe.

I know who I am. A sinner. I’ve messed up. Sorcery and adultery, lying, cheating and taking advantage of others. Passing by folks who needed my help. In a thousand ways I’ve messed up.

So I fear you, Lord, because I know I’m not worthy.

And I practice that posture. Fear the Lord...

But I love you, Lord, Jesus, because you have rescued a sinner like me. Love the Lord, and glorify His name.

Then, the fire is not terrifying. I fear the Maker more than the fire… and I trust the Maker, I trust the Refiner.

Refine me, remake me, purify me and make me something beautiful, worthy, glorious.

Write my name in the Book of Remembrance… which is simply this. Remember me, Jesus.

So let’s practice it, let’s sing it, Refine me, Lord, Remember me.