Background Passages: Malachi 3:2-3; Ephesians 1:11; Genesis 50:20; I Corinthians 10:13
The following story made its rounds on Facebook last week pulling me into a quick study of Malachi.
According to the story, a group of women were studying the third chapter of Malachi in the Old Testament. They came across verse three, which says:
“…He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver…”
This verse puzzled the women, and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study.
This woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot – then she thought again about the verse, that “he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.
The man explained that he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be damaged.
Watching in silence for a few moments. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”
He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy. When I see my image in it.”
That story made me wonder. As we are feeling the heat of today’s chaotic fire, are we simply being refined for a greater, purer and more holy purpose? Is this just another moment in time…another fire…that God is using to make us a more holy people, better equipped to serve and worship him more perfectly?
I suspect the answer is yes…at least for those who want to be refined.
Malachi, the last of the prophetic words of the Old Testament, was written after the people of Israel returned from exile and the rebuilding of the temple. Though back in their homeland, Israel was still a backwoods province subject to its Persian masters.
The grandeur of restoration preached by Zechariah had not been realized yet. The people of Israel, looking for a more instant gratification began again to doubt the promises of God and no longer trusted in his justice. They lost hope and their worship degenerated into rote and ritual without meaning.
God called Malachi to preach a word of rebuke for the faithlessness of Israel and its people. He said that God would again come to his people, but he would come like the “refiner’s fire” to warn and reassure his people of his coming salvation.
Malachi speaks of God’s “messenger” who will prepare the way of the Lord. Then, once the way is prepared, God will send “the messenger of the covenant,” a direct reference to Jesus.
“But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord…” (Malachi 3:2-3)
It is God’s role as a silversmith that we’ll explore for a bit today.
From a very human perspective, our world is in chaos. Think about the events of the past few weeks. Devastation caused by another major hurricane along the Gulf Coast. Severe forest fires claiming entire communities in the west. Major floods in the northeast. Recovery from these natural calamities take a toll on those affected.
Then, the pandemic continues to claim lives in illness, death and financial uncertainty, robbing us of normalcy we crave.
On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we’re reminded that humankind causes plenty of its own turmoil and destruction without the help of natural calamities or disease.
While we’ve not seen that level of terrorism in the past two decades, we see the chaos of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan and the danger and threat to the innocent citizens of that country with signs of new brutality already emerging.
None of these things caught an omniscient God by surprise. He already had plans in place to use these circumstances to grow our faith. Set aside the familiar passage in Romans 8:28 and find truth in Ephesians 1:11.
“God works everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in order that we who were the first hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory.”
He told as much in the story of Joseph. Sold into slavery by his scheming and resentful brothers, Joseph tells them later at that great reunion that God used the situation for the good of his people.
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)
Though we’re on the opposite side of God’s redemptive work from Malachi, his words remind us that God uses the events of the world to offer a path forward through the chaos that will create in us a holy people who will serve and worship him in truth, tested by the fire…purer and stronger for it.
Here’s a thought we may not want to hear. One pastor wrote that God is less concerned that we “get out” of our current chaos, and more concerned that there is something he wants us to “get out” of our situation. To remove us from the refiner’s fire may cheat us out of the very lessons we need to learn. Trust in this. God is doing something in this time in your life and in the world. There is something he wants us to get out of this that fits into his plan for our lives.
So, what is it that God wants us to learn? I think there are two things we can draw from this passage in Malachi.
The refining process heats the ore to allow impurities to float to the surface where they can be skimmed off and discarded. The imagery of the woman watching the silversmith says that the artisan watches and waits until the perfect time to remove the slag. He doesn’t take the metal from the fire until it is cleansed.
God walks with us through the fire in our Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego moments so we can emerge on the other end stronger in faith and purer in purpose. God’s heart desire is for us to be pure and holy.
Lest we cringe at the thought of God holding us in the flame, the silversmith sits and keeps his eye on the work to ensure that the silver is not damaged beyond use. That is to say that God will not stretch us to the breaking point.
“No temptation (test) has overtaken you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted (tested) but when you are tempted (tested), he will provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (I Corinthians 10:13)
The purpose of the flame is to strengthen and purify, not destroy. As we walk through the trials of life, we must look for opportunities to rid ourselves of anything that pollutes our standing with God, careful to learn his lessons.
Think of it this way. In the story of the silversmith, the woman asked, “How do you know when it’s pure?” The silversmith answered, “When I can see my image in it.” That’s perfection! We have been refined by God’s hands when he can see his image in us. When we live as the image of Christ in a chaotic world.
So, here’s the second point. Perhaps the best reason for walking through the chaos. God refines our faith so that we can worship him. Malachi tells us in the latter part of verse three that “…he will purify the sons of Levi”…THEN, the Lord will have people who will “bring offerings in righteousness” and those offerings will be “acceptable to the Lord.”
The offerings or sacrifices of Malachi’s day were their forms of worship. The purpose of God’s refining work is so we can bring offerings of authentic praise and worship in truth and righteousness. The writer of Hebrews says we should offer a “sacrifice of praise” to our Lord.
If you believe God is at work through every aspect of life, know that this may well be the lesson he is trying to teach us. He wants us to return to him. The pandemic made it easy to stay away from church and the fellowship of believers. It provides an easy way out.
My church is in the middle of a pastor transition while in the middle of a pandemic. A double whammy! It would be easy to say, “I’ll just come back when all this settles down and a new pastor comes.” If we come at all, it would be easy to settle into the rote and routine of worship.
That’s not the lesson we should learn from this. Now, is the time God calls us to a stronger faith and a deeper commitment to worship. Now is the time he is calling us to worship in the way he created us to worship.
Bishop Handley Moule, an Anglican theologian from Durham, England, once wrote, “There is no situation so chaotic that God cannot, from that situation, create something that is surpassingly good. He did it at the creation. He did it at the cross. He is doing it today.”
“Today” for Moule was amid the worst days of bitter fighting in World War I. He could have easily been writing about almost any generation. It is certainly true of our “today.” There is, indeed, no situation so chaotic that God cannot create something surpassingly good.
The key is we must let him work in and through us. We must trust that he is at work refining and purifying us for his continued service. We must willingly draw nearer to him in worship and praise for the good work he is doing and the good work he will do amid the hurting lives of today’s chaos.
It certainly qualifies as the perfect prayer for Christians living in our ravaged world. Hold our feet to the fire. Refine us, Lord. Remove the impurities from us until you can see your image reflected in us.
Come! Now is the time to worship.