The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2015Mfano

Refining Fire

In the Bible, ‘fire’ is sometimes used as an image of destruction.  However, it is also used to symbolise passion, power and purity.  In our New Testament passage today we read of ‘gold refined in the fire’ (Revelation 3:18).

Being in the refining fire is not comfortable, but it has a good purpose.  It is often in the difficult times that our lives are refined and we discover who we really are.  C. H. Spurgeon said, ‘I owe more to the fire, and the hammer, and the file, than to anything else in my Lord’s workshop.’  One of the ways God refines us is through ‘rebuke’.  

Psalm 141:1-10

1.  The kind rebuke of the righteous

There have been times in my life when people have rebuked me out of kindness.  It is never easy at the time.  But I am so grateful to them.  David regards the rebuke of the righteous person as kindness – like ‘oil on my head’ (v.5) because his desire is that not only his head, but every part of his body and his life should honour God:

• Hands
  ‘May the lifting of my hands be like the evening sacrifice’ (v.2)
  The lifting of hands to God was the normal posture for prayer for both Jews and the early Christians.  It symbolised an opening of the whole body to God.
• Lips
  ‘Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips’ (v.3)
  I often pray this before I give a talk or go into a meeting – that God will protect me from saying anything unhelpful, and that my words will be an encouragement and a blessing.
• Heart
  ‘Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil’ (v.4a)
  Your thoughts become your actions.  Your actions become your habits.  Your habits become your character.  Your character becomes your life.  It all starts in your heart.
• Eyes
  ‘My eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord’ (v.8a)
  The New Testament urges us to ‘fix our eyes on Jesus’ (Hebrews 12:2).

Lord, I dedicate my whole body to you again.  I lift my hands and voice to you in worship, and fix my eyes upon you.  Set a guard over my mouth and lips, and keep my heart from evil.  May the kind rebuke of the righteous be like ‘oil on my head’ (Psalm 141:5).

Revelation 3:7-22

2.  The loving rebuke of the Lord

Jesus loves you.  When he allows you to go through the fire of testing, rebuke or discipline, he does so out of love.  He says to the church in Philadelphia ‘it’s you that I’ve loved ... I’ll keep you safe in the time of testing’ (vv.9–10, MSG).  He says to the church in Laodicea, ‘Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline’ (v.19).  How should we respond?

• Make the most of every opportunity
  Jesus is holy and true and he ‘holds the key … What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open’ (v.7).  If you are unsure about, for example, a job or relationship, ask God to shut the door if it is not the right job or relationship, or to open the door if it is.

There have been two occasions in my life when God has closed the door on something that I very much wanted, and which I believed at the time was God’s will.  Praying and struggling, I tried to force the doors open – but they remained shut.  On both occasions I was bitterly disappointed.  But, years later, I am very grateful and now understand why he closed those doors.  However, I’m not sure I will ever know, this side of heaven, why God has closed other doors in my life.

The Spirit continues, ‘See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut’ (v.8).  Sometimes God places before us a door of opportunity – maybe for some ministry.  If he opens the door, no human being can shut it.  The ministry may come under great attack but, if Jesus opens the door, we can be confident that he is in control. 

This does not mean passively waiting for the doors to open.  Often we have to take the first steps in faith and then see whether or not the doors open.  As Joyce Meyer points out, ‘Trusting him is like standing before the automatic door to a supermarket.  We can stand and look at the door all day, but it will not open until we take a step forward and trigger the mechanism that opens the door.’

This church has little strength, yet it has kept Jesus’ word and not denied his name (v.8).  Jesus loves his church (v.9).  They have endured patiently and he promises to keep them from the hour of trial (v.10). 

Humanly speaking this church does not appear to have been particularly impressive.  Yet Jesus has no words of criticism for it.  His perspective can often be very different from ours, and faithfulness to him matters far more than outward signs of size or strength.  His message to the Philadelphians is simply to hold on to what they have.  He promises that those who overcome will be made pillars in the temple of God.  His name will be written on them (v.12).  Their future is utterly secure. 

Lord, thank you that we can commit our plans to you.  Thank you that when you open a door no one can shut it and when you shut it, no one can open it.  Lord, we bring to you our plans ...

We trust you that the doors you have opened, no one can shut.

• Be filled with enthusiasm
  As Bear Grylls writes, ‘Be the most enthusiastic person you know.  Enthusiasm sustains you when times are tough, encourages those around you and is totally infectious.’

The harshest words of Jesus are reserved for the church at Laodicea (vv.15–17).

The church in Laodicea was like so much of the church in the West.  At one level it was ‘successful’.  Laodicea was a place famous for its banks and industry.  But spiritually they were blind, naked and poor.  Heidi Baker, a missionary in Mozambique, said that even though she had worked with the poorest of the poor ‘I could not understand and I could not see that people in the Western world were poor and starving too, that they were starving for the things of God.  And then God opened my eyes.’

I find these words deeply challenging.  It is so easy to become proud, ‘lukewarm’, ‘wretched’, ‘pitiful’, spiritually ‘poor, blind and naked’ (v.17).

Yet, there is hope here.  We are still loved by the Lord (v.19).  He urges us to acquire real treasure, refined in the fire, so that we may become spiritually rich (v.18a).  The only way to cover our shameful nakedness is with his robes of righteousness (v.18b).  We need his salve on our eyes to remove our spiritual blindness (v.18c).

As we go through the refiner’s fire it is a form of discipline (v.19).  It has a purpose.  He wants us to ‘be earnest, and repent’ (v.19).  We need to repent of being lukewarm – our half-heartedness, complacency and pride. 

It is in this context that this wonderful and famous verse is found: ‘Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me’ (v.20).  Eating together is a sign of intimate friendship that Jesus offers to all those who open the door of their lives to him.

There is only one handle and it is on the inside of the door.  In other words, we have to open the door to let Jesus into our lives.  Jesus will never force his way in.  He gives us the freedom to choose.  It is up to us whether or not we open the door to him.  If we do, he promises, ‘I will come in and eat with them and they with me.’ 

Lord, we repent of the times when we have been half-hearted, complacent and spiritually poor.  Thank you for your loving rebuke and discipline.  Thank you that you promise that if we open the door to you, you will come in and eat with us.  Lord, we long for a greater intimacy with you.  May we always be filled with enthusiasm.

Esther 2:19-5:14

3.  The wise rebuke of a father

Anti-Semitism is not a twentieth-century phenomenon.  Here in the book of Esther, set in the fifth century BC, we read of appalling anti-Semitism.  Esther had to keep her background a secret (2:20).  ‘Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people’ (3:6).  He wanted to ‘annihilate all the Jews – young and old, women and little children – on a single day … and to plunder their goods’ (v.13). 

Mordecai’s response was to tear his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and wail loudly and bitterly (4:1).  Effectively, he was calling on God for help. 

Mordecai realised that Esther, his adopted daughter, was in a position to help.  Esther pointed out the problems of her situation and how it would be very difficult for her to help (vv.9–11).

Mordecai’s response was in effect the wise rebuke of a father: ‘Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape.  For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish.  And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?’ (vv.13–14).

Esther realised that God had put her in that position for a purpose.  You too have a purpose.  Many people go through life without meaning or ultimate purpose, trying to pursue their own agenda – not realising that God’s purposes are so much better.  You are alive today in order to fulfil God’s purposes for this generation.  Whatever position you are in believe that you are there ‘for such a time as this’.

Esther listened to Mordecai’s wise words.  She asked the people to fast for her and said, ‘I will go to the king, even though it is against the law.  And if I perish, I perish’ (v.16).  There is risk involved.  We only have one life.  We have to go for it.  If we perish, we perish.  But better to take the risk than never to have tried.  May we rather be like Esther – utterly dependent on God and willing to risk our lives to save the lives of others.

Lord, help us to listen to the wise and kind rebukes of others.  Even more, help us to hear your loving rebuke and discipline.  As we go through the refiner’s fire, purify our hearts that we may love you more fully, seizing every opportunity of life and serving you whole-heartedly and enthusiastically.

Pippa Adds

Esther 2:19–5:14

Esther was not just a pretty face.  She was someone in the right place willing to make a daring stand against injustice.  She didn’t do it alone and she didn’t rush in.  She prayed, planned and made it happen at the right moment.  She used a brilliant mixture of bravery, faith and skill.

Are there any opportunities for you to make a stand against injustice?

Notes:

Heidi Baker, Compelled By Love, (Charisma House, 2008).

Joyce Meyer, The Everyday Life Bible, (Faithwords, 2014).

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.