Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world. RSV
“ . . . we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened . . . “
The NCV says: “ . . . when the Lord judges us, He punishes us . . .”
It is very popular these days to believe that God loves us (which He does). But we translates that belief into “God won’t cause us to suffer because of that love” and that’s not at all true. The fact is, God can bring about suffering in our lives. The reason He does will be good for us, but He will do it because of His love for us. His love never fails, but it can be gentle and it can be painful.
Peter talked a lot about the suffering that accompanied the Christian life:
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6-7 RSV).
The Greek is “dokimion” which means crucible, test, trial.
A crucible is a porcelain jar in which metal is melted for the process of purification. The heat of the melting is so high as to separate the impurities from the true metal. The impurities rise to the surface so that they can be skimmed off.
Think about that in our lives. When God places a test (a trial) in our lives, first the heat is raised . . . a lot! That means pain, suffering, a lot of discomfort. And what results is that the junk in our lives that is causing sin, that is pulling us away from Him comes to the surface; we now see it. We now can cast it out of our lives (if we choose to do so) so that our faith becomes more pure.
It’s interesting that Peter chose this word. David used a similar picture in Psalm 66:
“For You, O God, have tested us;
You have refined us as silver is refined.
You brought us into the net;
You laid affliction on our backs.
You have caused men to ride over our heads;
We went through fire and through water;
But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.” (v. 10-12 NKJ)
Notice after the initial analogy (“as silver is refined”), the things that David notes:
• You brought us into the net (being captured)
• You laid affliction on our backs (whipping)
• You caused men to rise over our heads (being run over)
• We went through fire and through water (destruction)
None of these are pleasant experiences; in fact, they are horrible experiences in our lives. And yet David gives credit for all of it as coming from God as the result of a test. Peter tells us that such tests are tests of our faith. They are then “faith” tests.
We so often hear that “faith” is about getting what we want, about making our lives easier and happier and less stressful, about not hurting, not feeling pain. And yet, it seems obvious that both David and Peter had far different ideas about it. Even Paul tells us that God “punishes” us in order to test or purify our faith.
David ends these verses with “You brought us out to rich fulfillment.” Paul tells us that God judges us now so that (at the last judgement) we will not be judged (and condemned) with the world.
But Paul goes a step further. He tells us that “if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged.” If we looked at ourselves, our actions, our choices with a critical eye, if we spent time everyday searching out where our sins lie, where we have hurt and offended (rather than having been hurt and offended), where we have missed the mark, then the Lord won’t judge us.
Father God gives us every opportunity to avoid His punishment. He gives us the Spirit as a Teacher to bring to our hearts and minds where we need to change. He gives us His Word as a Guide to show us how we should live. And He gives us the opportunity for us to come to Him first with the realization of our sins and the determination to turn away from them.
But if we should fail to avail ourselves of all this, then, out of His love for us and His desire that we be saved rather than condemned, He will bring us punishment in a holy effort to push us away from our sin and toward Him.
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