Accepting God’s rebukes

This morning I was upset at my spouse for using something in the pantry that I’d planned to use for Christmas dinner. It didn’t take the Lord long to remind me that He could feel like that every time I forget to do what He plans. But I know His patience. Sigh. I often do not have it.

He tells me this; that I need to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and run with endurance the race that is set before me.” To do this, I must keep looking to Him who is the founder and perfecter of my faith. He endured the cross, considered the shame worthless, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. He endure all hostility for the joy set before Him and did it so I would not grow weary or fainthearted. My struggle against sin has never made me shed blood. (Hebrews 12:1–4)

It was a kind rebuke. I know He loves me and wants me to be like Him. I also know that rebuke is another evidence that I belong to Him and am a child of God. He patiently endures the sins of those who are not, but treats me as a good father treats his child and disciplines me for my good, that I may share his holiness. What is a mere staple from the pantry compared to having the patience and kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ? 

A little spanking is nothing compared to what any sin deserves. As I prayed, He reminded me that I am in a kingdom that cannot be shaken. His rebukes enable me to offer acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for my God is a consuming fire and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. His love and care never change. (Hebrews 13:8)

At that, I went upstairs to make my usual drink, either lemon/honey or herbal tea, and thought how much good this has done to my body. Then I read this:

Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. (Hebrews 13:9)

I almost laughed. God’s grace is my health and energy. While He might use whatever I eat or drink to make me healthy, my heart is stronger because of God’s unconditional care and kindness. 

And He wants me to pass that along. He adds: “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Hebrews 13:16) This is another reminder: The love of God is like the love of Jesus — it involves sacrifice, giving up what I’d like to keep for myself and sharing it with others — like that item in the pantry and much more.

PRAY: Oh Lord, the God of peace who brought You from the dead, and made You the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of Your eternal covenant, I must rely on You to equip me with everything good that I may do Your will. Work in me whatever is pleasing in Your sight, and may You be glorified forever and ever. Amen.

 

Rebuking or Judging — What’s the difference?

 

In the NT when the disciples shared the Gospel message, they experienced varying reactions.  For instance, like Jesus, some were killed. Others experienced threats and ridicule. However…

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)

Telling others the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing all people need to know, but those who hear it may not think so. It means they must admit their sin and yield to the Lord. Pride hates doing that.

Resisting this message often translates into resisting the messenger. In this year alone, several thousand believers have died because of their faith in Christ. 

Not only that, I’ve noticed in my own life that the perception of what I am doing is not always in line with my reasons for doing it. The Bible says two things that seem contradictory without careful study. For some, it is more like “pick what suits you” than knowing what fits where. The two activities are judging and rebuking.

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:1–2)
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. (Galatians 6:1–5)

Sometimes I judge people caught in sin because I want to look better in comparison. That is sin. In my heart, I know it. I’m not caring about the spiritual needs of that person, only my own reputation.

On the other hand, if someone is constantly falling into the same temptation, my heart goes out and I want to help them. I have to make sure I’m not guilty of the same thing or of any personal gain or glory. This desire to pick up another who stumbles is motivated by the love of Christ. It is a sacrificial love that cares because I know the harm done by any sin, theirs or mine. This may call for a private conversation, a gentle rebuke, or something stronger, but it is for their good and God’s glory, not about me at all.

Another issue is knowing if the person who sins should know better, or does know better. This makes a difference in how to talk to them. This could be compared to a small child who has never touched a hot stove, or has but wants to try again. Speak gently or yell, that is the question, but the motive remains — I don’t want that child to be injured.

Another issue is the attitude of that person who sins. Are they aware and brag about it? Or are they oblivious to cause and effect? Some have trouble connecting dots and need help. Some have trouble with self-sufficiency and boasting, maybe to hide a feeling of not having any value or being loved. Holy Spirit discernment is needed.

But Holy Spirit messages to me are not always heard by other people. I remember a pastor who made a decision and did not give his reasons to his congregation. I met with him and asked why this decision. He pounded his desk and said, “Because God told me to.” Since many Christians are suspicious of that reason, or do not listen for God’s voice at all, he knew his reason would not be accepted. He barely understood the why of it himself!

PRAY: Regarding judgment, we are called to love one another. I can rebuke to restore, which You do for me, but I cannot judge with a view to condemn. You died for sin and You alone are able to judge rightly. When I am annoyed or impatient with others, reveal it quickly that I might repent and instead love them, pray for them, and if I do or say anything, may it be as You would do or say it. Let me hear You clearly and not be concerned about any opinions that run contrary to what You say to me. Instead, give me confidence in Your instructions, and if none come, grant me the ability to keep quiet and wait on You, rather than take matters into my own hands.

What about a worldly mind-set?

 

What is a Christian supposed to do when another Christian is walking in the flesh? The NT instructions could prompt a lot of discussion. Several come to mind that say this is to be done in Christ-like gentleness. Most of those refer to telling truth to unbelievers.

However, God is not so gentle when it comes to dealing with Christians who sin and should know better. For example:

Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds. (Psalm 141:5)
Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. (Proverbs 27:5-6)
Whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with his tongue. (Proverbs 28:23)
Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, (Luke 17:3)
As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. (1 Timothy 5:20)
This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, (Titus 1:13)
Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. (Titus 2:15)

Most Christians have an aversion to a preacher who shakes their finger at them. As I read the OT prophets, it seems that a lot of that is happening, but at the same time, writers like Isaiah and Jeremiah also speak about the goodness and power of God. He gave His people reasons why they should obey God and rebuked them for their unbelief and disobedience. Yet who enjoys rebuke!

Sometimes in a group that gather for study and prayer, some of those present try to “fix” the problems presented in prayer requests rather than asking God’s will to be done. They may tell the person who made the request how to fix their problem, which could be helpful (or not), but often do it by telling God how to fix it. as if our ideas are solutions God never thought of, or worse, that He doesn’t know what He is doing. Many prayers are for the comfort rather than the will of God.

Think of what Jesus said to Peter when this man said Jesus should not die:

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:21–23)

The words do not convey whether Jesus spoke gently or with strong authority, but He did not thank Peter for being concerned. This disciple was thinking about comfort and that his friend should never suffer or die, but not the will of God. Did he not hear Jesus pray, “Not My will but Thine be done”?

When a Christian is behaving or even talking as if they don’t know God, I usually pray for them, but sometimes God wants me to say something. To be like Jesus could mean a gentle and private conversation, but as the above verses say, Jesus was not always that way with His rebukes. Sometimes He used sharp words. When He speaks to me, He is usually gentle too, but I know the feel of His sharpness. It usually comes when I’ve persisted in having my own way for some time and need a swift kick instead of a soft warning.

PRAY: Lord, I rebuked someone who persists in trying to “fix” the problems of others, even those who are trusting You to take care of them. This person wants everyone to be comfortable and seems oblivious to the reality that You use even tough trials for our good. Wanting to be comfortable all the time can mean pushing Your will out of the picture. Thank You for letting me know that a rebuke can be sharp and reminding me that if Peter had his way, You would not have gone to the cross. Then where would we be!

Pride ignores rebukes

One life event can became a negative to the rest of life. In high school, I did so well that if my marks were less than 100% in pop quizzes, the rest of the class made fun of me. This treatment, plus my pride, affected my view of being corrected. Correction didn’t happen very often but when it did, I dismissed it. Instead of seeing it as helpful, it seemed like mockery. Looking back, I can remember a few times that I should have listened and didn’t, resulting in life-long problems.

Today’s reading reflects how I feel now about being corrected for mistakes I’m making. It remains a rare thing, mostly because my pride also keeps me from listening. Not only that, a few times I’ve asked for help and my request backfired. Once I asked a friend about a problem and her advice was “try harder” and not at all what I needed to hear. Self-effort (pride again) instead of trusting the Lord was causing the problem in the first place. Trying harder would increase it.

Finally, I realized that God reproves me for my sins and this is a comfort. What would I be if my Savior did not show me my faults and give me a desire to get rid of them? Of course I would rather see my own faults than have anyone else should see them, but God can use others in His work of rebuking sin to bring comfort to a soul disappointed in itself. I’ve learned:

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. (Proverbs 27:6)
Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it…. (Psalm 141:5)

The psalmist also says he does not want to consort with evil people or listen to them or be involved in evil with them. I agree. Sin is easy, but the consequences are never worth it.

Today’s reading also says I need the Holy Spirit’s comforting all the more because I am not worthy. Christ came into the world to save sinners not good people, and my unworthiness is my greatest claim for His salvation. Note this passage (personalized) that shows His attitude toward the unworthy, and what He does about it:

For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for her spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made. Because of the iniquity of her unjust gain I was angry, I struck her; I hid my face and was angry, but she went on backsliding in the way of her own heart. I have seen her ways, but I will heal her; I will lead her and restore comfort to her and her mourners, creating the fruit of her lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal her.” (Isaiah 57:16–19)

I’ve often said that I could not worship a God who didn’t care about my sinfulness, who didn’t love me enough to correct me. Yes, correction is often painful, and my history has made some of it hard to accept, but love changes my receptivity. I pray with a group of ladies, and one of them is particularly good at loving correction, easy to listen to because the Holy Spirit is using her to gentle tell me when I get off base. She, and others who love God’s people, bring the consolations of God that result in a far higher and better thing than the things I lose to receive them.

PRAY: Lord, sometimes correction from people still stings because I feel mocked instead of ministered to, but when You are using those stings to change my life and make me more like You, I need to welcome them, pay attention, confess the sins and welcome Your forgiveness and cleansing. Grant me the grace to be better at receiving Your loving rebukes.

A Cure is better than a diagnosis . . .

 

If my doctor diagnosed something wrong in my body but did not do anything toward a cure, I’d find another doctor. If the preacher(s) in my church kept telling me about my sin but did not talk about God’s remedy for sin, I would find another place to worship.

The NT gives the task of convicting people of sin to the Holy Spirit. Such a diagnosis is not my job unless the Spirit expressly wants to use me to give a rebuke — and that invitation comes with a caveat:

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1–5)

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

From these and other verses, I get the strong message to be careful about diagnosing sin in others; I am responsible to listen to what the Holy Spirit says to me, not taking on His role when I have enough to deal with by looking in the mirror. If I’m sinning and not aware, a rebuke is needed, but I also want to know and be reminded of the cure, rather than repeatedly hearing how ‘sick’ I am. This analogy relates to the love of God. Scripture says:

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:7)

The word “bears” means to put up with annoyance or difficulty, either in my own life or the life of someone else. It comes from a root word that means to roof over, indicating to cover with patient silence. This makes me think of God’s love for me. What if He pointed to all my sin all at once and all the time? I would be in such angst that I would try to run away from Him. However, He does not do that. He gently deals with one sin at a time, one attitude or activity that needs His grace to overcome. Love is not shaking my finger at every sin I perceive or gossip about it, or point it out to the world. Love “bears” all things, waiting on God for instruction and if none comes, love still believes, hopes, and endures. This good news is what I most need to hear and I’m certain others are the same. We need the cure, not a nagging repetition of the diagnosis!

Love wants to cover sins and protect sinners from further harm. Our society makes a big business of gossip with a sinful and insatiable appetite for exposés and “true confessions.” God may call me to confront and discipline sin but never expose or broadcast the failures or wrongs others do. I’m to feel their pain and the sorrow of God, not try to alleviate it by describing what they are doing for public condemnation.

Jesus died for my sin and for all sin. I cannot do that redemptive work (It is finished), but I can love them:

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. (Proverbs 10:12)

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)

The bottom line is that love never thinks the worst when it sees sin in others, nor does it gloat over those failures. Instead, love believes and hopes God will patiently work in the lives of others, lovingly expecting that to happen. Love will not jump at further exposure, ridicule, or harm. When God prods, love may confront that sin but only to bear their burden in gentleness and restore them to a right relationship with our Savior.

PRAY: Lord, I’ve been thinking much about what specific assignments You give and loving others is always near the top of the list. This task must come from my heart, not be treated as a chore or a duty. Enable me to deeply care about the needs of others, whether those needs are physical, social, or having a roof put in place over their sins. I thank You that all sin is covered by Your blood and that You patiently deal with my sin in ways that clearly show me how to deal with the sins of others. You don’t put them out there for everyone to see, and You never treat me with anything but patience, mercy, grace, and gentle kindness.

PONDER: Isaiah 53:3–12 describes further how Jesus bore all things to put His protecting “roof” over all who trust in Him. Read this a few times today and consider what I can do to be more like Him.

 

 

Restoring God’s people . . .

 

READ Hosea 10–14

When other Christians are caught in sin, the NT says to restore them in a spirit of meekness. With this on my mind, reading the OT prophets is challenging. Were they meek? The words they speak are from a Holy God who has been patient with them for centuries. How did they do it? In these chapters, I notice several things. One is that they told the people what’s what — no sugar-coating their sinfulness:

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors, therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle; mothers were dashed in pieces with their children. Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great evil. At dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off. (Hosea 10:12–15)

Much earlier, they asked for a king, but they didn’t obey him, nor did they listen to God. He declared their fate:

They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me. The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them because of their own counsels. My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all. (11:5–7)

And yet there is mercy in His words and hope . . .

I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. They shall go after the Lord; he will roar like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west; they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord. (11:9–11)

God knows they cannot do this without His enablement. If they could, they would not be in the state they were in. He says to them, “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” (12:6) And again, He tells them like it is:

But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior. It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought; but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me. So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way. I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rip them open. He destroys you, O Israel, for you are against me, against your helper. Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities? Where are all your rulers— those of whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”? I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath. (13:4–11)

Eventually they got it. At first their response may have been mere words, but after the exile and living in a land of idolatry until they were sick of it, the people of God realized this truth:

Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.” (14:3)

The big picture for this nation is the same as the big picture for God’s people today. God says, “O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.” (14:8–9)

God is the only one who cares for us. Our idols (anything we trust instead of Him) are helpless. They cannot hear our prayers or care for our needs, and even if they could and did, their ‘help’ would not satisfy or be the right choices for us. Idols, whether inanimate or alive are not able to produce in us or for us what only God can do. And this answers my question: always point those caught in sin to the only One who can do anything about it, making sure that I’m not trusting my words or actions to ‘fix’ the problems, again, only God can do that.