Standing Strong

Posted on by korgrocker

“If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”
1 Corinthians 10:12-13 NLT

As we review the previous verses and chapters, we find that Paul addressed some false assumptions the Corinthian believers were making. There was much in their culture and society that would be considered sinful, but through God’s grace, the believers somehow wrongly thought that He would overlook their sins if they joined in with certain idolatrous and immoral customs. Paul even wrote about the sins of grumbling and rebellion, such as those committed by the early Israelites on their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. However, all of Paul’s exhortations were ultimately addressing the need for the believers in Corinth to be holy and upright, exemplifying right living, and being beacons of light and hope in a dark and evil society.

The believers in Corinth were saved from the consequences of their sin through God’s grace, but that did not mean that God would necessarily leave them alone to continue with their sin-tainted lives and ignore the consequences of their actions. Paul warned the Corinthians that they must not belittle the reality of God’s grace and think that they were “standing strong” when in fact they were in danger of a heavy fall. Through grace, we are saved, but God also wants to purify our lives, using Jesus as our example. Paul said this to the Ephesian church, “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2). Whenever I consider the practical reality of God’s grace and holiness, of sin and temptation, I always return to Ephesians 4:22-24. “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”. We refer back to our baptism, where we left our “old man” under the waters, and adopted the visage of a “new man” and all that entails. We cannot realistically expect to stand firm in our faith, and make assumptions about our status before God, but continue to live in our old, sinful ways.

Some of the believers in the Corinthian church had become supremely confident in their standing before God, but as we know, such confidence can be delusional. Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” It is wrong to assume that salvation brings us immunity from the earthly consequences of our own behaviours. Taken with other comments made by Paul, it also serves as a warning to those who are arrogant or careless about their standing in Christ. If we persist in sinful behaviour, then God, our loving Heavenly Father, will discipline His children. In Hebrews 12:10-11, we read, “For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterwards there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way”. The reality of living the Christian life is that God will help us deal with any persistent sin.  God can and does use various methods of discipline. He may use trouble at work, hardship at home, or troubles in the ministry. God may allow us to experience loss, as David learnt. God may send physical ailments or even death. Often, God allows the natural consequences of our sin to run their course. One thing is certain: God will deal with us with love and kindness. He is never harsh with us. We should note that discipline is not the same as condemnation. God disciplines His children, but He does not condemn them. Discipline is related to training and growth; condemnation is associated with punishment and guilt.

Although some in the Corinthian church thought they were untouchable, standing strong in their understanding of God’s grace, Paul warned them to be careful and realise that there were temptations in their lives that could lead them astray. The same applies to us pilgrims today. We must never become so complacent that we become arrogant. We must continually read the Word, applying its precepts to every facet of our lives, both to ourselves and our relationship with others. And we also pray for God to shine His spotlight on our lives, asking Him to point out to us anything that we need to deal with. “Then [we] will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard [our] hearts and minds as [we] live in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

Dear Father God. We pray the same prayer as David did, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24). As we stay close to You, we know that You will guide us in Your ways. Amen.

Trials and Testing

Posted on by korgrocker

“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT

Life for a Christian must have been difficult in the five provinces in those days. Peter wrote about “trials”. We don’t know what they were but we can imagine. News reports today of the trials experienced by Christians in other countries dominated by hostile religions and governments will give us a good idea. For example, in India today, Christians are under attack, and the violence against them has been steadily increasing over recent years, with 2023 the most violent so far. So Christians endure arrests, beatings, and killings. Churches are burned down and pastors arrested and thrown into gaol. That would have been the life for those early believers living in the first Century Turkish societies.

Peter encourages the believers, saying that they “must endure many trials for a little while”. Why? Because there is “wonderful joy ahead”. Peter continued in saying the these trials are necessary to refine faith and ensure commitment is genuine. And as he pauses with pen raised, a picture before him of a worker in precious metals purifying gold comes into his mind, a picture that he immediately connects with the process of refining faith through trials. You see, no one is going to falsely claim to be a Christian for long if it is going to cost him beyond what he is prepared to pay. The trials, Peter was saying, will shake out anyone who is not prepared to pay the price for being a Christian.

The recent Covid pandemic with its lockdowns here in the UK saw church attendance plummet and, for many, it has not recovered. The Church of England has claimed attendance at weekly church services is down by a third. And that is without all the trials Peter was writing about. But regardless of pandemics and the like, there is still a substantial cost involved in being a Christian. We pilgrims are not running our own lives anymore, in accordance with our own sinful and selfish desires. We look to God for guidance and try and follow His ways which are often contrary to our own human viewpoint. 

Jesus once made a statement to the crowd of people following Him that was extraordinary in its implication. He said, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27). Strong words but they contain a message about the commitment required to be a follower of Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:15, “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them”. 

So we pilgrims, mostly sitting in the comfort of our lives, look around us and reflect with the question – if this was all taken away would I still be a follower of Christ? My wife and I were faced with an extremely painful situation when we were called to discuss the prognosis and treatment for our seriously ill daughter. We were told that she would be unlikely to survive her illness and that we should prepare for the worst. I can remember that in our prayers we believed that God would heal her. But we also had to face the reality of what we do if she was taken from us. We concluded that we would still praise Him, follow Him and trust Him. Thankfully He did heal her but perhaps we briefly experienced the trials Peter wrote about. Many disciples stopped following Jesus because of His hard teaching, and as they disappeared over the horizon Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked them if they wanted to leave as well. We read in John 6:68, “Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life”. We have before us the short-term cost of being a Jesus follower, but longer term we will find ”much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world”. When will that be? We don’t have a date but we do know that one day Jesus will return to this planet.  Let’s not forget that. We need to get ready for His return because it could be tomorrow.

Dear God. We know that eternal life with You is the only goal we should consider. Please help us in our journey, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.