To rebuke and chasten
God’s purpose and design in all things for us in our walk with HIm….is to lead us into Christ’s life for us. It is a life of self-denial and blessing. It is a life of persecution from the world and peace with God. It is a life of love to God and others, while we are thought little of by the world.
This is the life Christ had here….for our sakes. And now He asks us to follow HIm into a knowledge of Him….what overwhelming goodness He is….and to know Him personally through all our days, and circumstances.
God is always dealing with HIs people…..who have heard HIs Word. He is always calling them into new knowledge of Him…and HIs Word and Ways.
Then our faith and obedience is proved….then we grow into strong Christians…
…..or quench the Holy Spirit….till the Lord must rebuke….and finally chasten.
When our ways please the Lord….then is HIs brightness manifested….and HIs Arm bared, that He might help us.
Psalm 89:13-15 “Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand.
Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance.”
Proverbs 4:18 “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”
What could be better than this?
But when our ways do not please Him….Whom we have been called to follow and trust….then He, as our loving Father,….
…. will rebuke…or “backstrike with words”. This is to correct us with HIs Word, often through others, for we have begun to shrug off HIs Holy Spirit’s influence within us…and so we must be awakened to this danger.
Jesus rebuked His disciples….for they should have known better, after being with HIm for three years.
(Peter, when he suggested that the cross was not the Way for Jesus; Matthew 16:21-23.
He rebuked the disciples when a Samaritan city would not receive Him….they asked about sending fire down upon them! Luke 9:52-56
Jesus told the disciples to rebuke a brother when they had offended them….that the brother might realize his hurting a member of the church….and repent. Luke 17:3-4)
And in writing the Hebrews, Paul said….
Hebrews 12:5 “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of HIm:”
(Let me say….. that God will work in judgment on those who mock and scorn HIs govenment….but it is HIs own that He rebukes and chastens. And He does that as our Father. Hebrews 12:6-8….that we may repent and be restored to growth in grace.)
If we will not heed His rebuke…the Word that the Lord sends to get our attention…
…then He will chasten.
Psalm 94:12 “Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law;”
Psalm 119:67, 75 “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Word.
I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness has afflicted me.”
(And may I say, knowing is half the battle.
When we know that the Lord is correcting us from His tender mercies….when we see that we have gone astray, yet He follows us and corrects us…leading us back to the safety of His Word…..then we have true and real knowledge that puts us in good stead for the Walk ahead.
I often can take many insults….but the ones which really sneek through are the little individual flaws I have, being pointed out. I and the Lord have been working a lot to….(not get thicker skin)….but to deny myself…in everything!
The verse that comes to mind when I feel things rise up in me is:
Psalm 41:5 “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let Him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.”
Simply said….”Please correct me,….please pull me out of the mire of self-pity or self in any form….please help me stand in my place aright that my prayers be not hindered.”)
Chastening has to do with actions against us. God has rebuked…and we have let HIs Word slide….
…then He will chasten. The best example in the New Testament is:
1 Corinthians 11:29-30 “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.”
The church at Corinth had come from terrible sin, to salvation. They had been given gifts and knowledge above many others! (1 Cor.1:5-7)
Now that they belonged to Christ, and their numbers had increased….they had become careless concerning the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord’s supper had become a night of feasting…not of prayerful consideration of what Christ did for us. Something they would have surely known was wrong!
“For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” (1 Cor. 11:21, 29)
They were not waiting till all could be gathered…till all, poor and rich alike could share in it…. but combined the Lord’s Supper and the Agape feast….which led to eating and drinking to excess…while others went without.
Paul rebukes them….and tells them that the Lord has already shown them their error. That many were sick because they had acted this way….and some had already died (sleep) because they had probably led in this kind of behavior…or refused to repent and change…relying on old habits instead of the Word of God. (This “damnation” is not being sent to Hell….but rather the act of being sent before the judge…or judgment.)
1 Corinthians 11:31-33 “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.”
The Lord will not let His people go on….without speaking, rebuking, and chastening to bring them back into His Will.
As I said in the beginning….God’s Purpose for us is to bring us into the life of Christ….and have Christ’s life living within us….and through us. All He does….all He says….all He sends is for this Purpose:
Romans 8:28 “And we know…
(and again knowing is half the battle)….that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His Purpose.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (And to me it is odd that this beautiful promise is in Jeremiah, who was the weeping prophet…weeping for the sins and chastisements of God’s people. How wonderful to think of what God knows about us!)
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
Psalm 119:175-176 “Let my soul live, and it shall praise Thee; and let Thy judgments help me.
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Thy servant; for I do not forget Thy commandments.”
The reason of life is to find Christ!
Then to experience Him everyday in a one on one walk that will form our words, actions, and attitudes to be like Him…
…..to know that blessedness which is…”Christ in you the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27.
To have the blessedness which is…”the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” Philippians 3:14
To know Him which is all love and peace in believing…which in fact “passeth knowledge” Ephesians 3:19
Hallelujah! What a Savior we have….which saves from sin, self, the world, and death. Let us hear HIs rebuke and bow if we are chastened….and get on with our walk with HIm.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 