The
Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
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LMIGHTY and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and
charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou dost promise, make us to love
that which thou dost command; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
2 But who may abide the day of his
coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire,
and like fullers' soap: 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as
gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. (Mal 3:2-3)
At
the very moment we may believe that we have heard and learned all of the
glorious beauties of the works attributable to Christ, we turn the page of our
Bible and discover yet another that may embrace an attribute we had not
previously considered. It is this rich display of opulence in truth that makes
the Scriptures such a joy to read and study.
Have
you, Good Reader, ever experienced moments of trial and hurt even at times when
you have felt that you have rendered your greatest service to God? Have you
wondered why such trials come to you when you are putting forth your best foot
to be faithful and loyal to your Lord? Do you most often blame all of your
troubles as having the Dark Prince of the Air as their source? Though the
source may be evil, God often turns that evil intent to the good of His
precious children. He may use those hard trials sent by the wicked one to purge
out the dross and slag of the slightest impurity in His favored Child. Judas
was a most wicked and evil schemer, but God turned his evil intent of betrayal
to our good through the offering up of His dearly beloved and only begotten Son
for our sins. The wickedness of the traitor, Judas, condemned him to an
Eternity of Darkness (He then having received the sop went immediately
out: and it was night. John 13:30); the eyes of Judas never again
witnessed the beauty of a Sunrise! But God turned the wicked intentions of
Judas' heart, possessed of Satan, into a means of His grace in making a way for
our Redemption through Christ. He allows trials in our lives to purify and
sanctify our souls.
Christ is the Refiner of our souls. He refines the silver and separates its
valuable essence from the dross and slag of its naturally formed state. His
Word, being His own essence, is also a Refiner that purifies and cleanses as we
study and learn from it.
"…..for he is like a refiner's fire."
"God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:29) God burns
and destroys those elements of our character that are not edifying, and
purifies those qualities that remain. As a Refiner of Silver, Christ draws near
the fire and sits as a Refiner intently watching the purifying of the silver as
He holds it in the center of the flames. You may shrink back in fear that the
silver will be destroyed, but Christ is an expert Refiner and He will only burn
and cast away the dross. The purity of your heart will not be diminished but
rather purified.
The
words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth,
purified seven times. (Psalms 12:6) Seven represents complete
perfection. The Refiner sits patiently by the silver crucible as the silver is
held in the fire. He observe the dross come to the surface – for no sin shall
be concealed from His All-Knowing Eye. He carefully scoops the dross from the
surfaced, casts it aside, and returns the silver to the fire. Remember
now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the
years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; While the
sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return
after the rain (Eccl 12:1-2) When troubles seem to constantly multiply
and return after storm upon rainy storm, it may be that Christ is purifying our
souls thereby.
Having purified the silver seven times, it should be ready to remove from the
fire. How shall the great Refiner (Christ) know when the refinement has been
complete? When He is able to look at the surface reflection of the silver in
the crucible and clearly see His own image. Does YOUR image reflect that
refinement and likeness of Christ?
In
what more ways is the Refiner like Christ? Silver is a precious metal. The
Refiner separates the believer from the non-believer as the wheat from the
tares. He also Refines and purifies the soul and character of the silver as Christ
does His Elect.
The
Refiner, in order to purify the silver, must use fire to burn and separate the
undesirable elements that have been added to the silver through too much
contact with the earth. So Christ separates the undesirable habits and sinful
inclinations from His elect by means of pain, trial, and hurt; but He does so
without hurting the silver (or pure qualities of character for which He
refines).
The
Refiner softens the metal through heat to make it become malleable and fluid.
Christ softens the tissues of the heart to cause them to be formed into His
image, and He makes our hearts fluid so that it can penetrate into every
possible crack and crevice of grace.
The
product of refined silver has gained much value through the process of
refinement. So does every soul refined by God assume a value which it never
before contemplated in the eyes of God.
The
expert Refiner will not leave the silver in the fire any longer than absolutely
necessary to its refinement. Christ may send trials into our lives, but for no
longer a time than is necessary to purify our hearts.
The
quantity of silver refined at once is of a comparably small quantity. So the
hearts refined by Christ are usually few in number for few will meet the
standards of ore expected by the Refiner who is Christ. Has your heart been
Refined by the Refiner, and has your luster and has your properties and nature
changed in conformance with His?
