Rebukes

“He who listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise” (Proverbs 15:31)

There we stood before one another.  He, a five-year-old boy with a lot of spunk.  Me, a grown woman who should have known better.  I looked at him and asked what I thought would be an ingenious and light-hearted question for a five-year-old.  “Are you married?”  To which my little worthy opponent looked at me and said, “That’s the stupidest question I’ve ever heard in my entire life.”  His entire life!  All five years of it!  I told Reid that I was never going to ask another child that question, and I haven’t.  My little contender is now 26 and has a son of his own.  But you know what?  That little guy was right.  It was a stupid question, and I did need to be rebuked.

The word rebuke in the Greek means to confront a person with honesty and frankness.  Jesus rebuked his disciples on four major occasions.  He didn’t do it to be mean to his disciples, nor to embarrass them.  Jesus rebuked his disciples out of a love for them, and a desire for them to be and do better.  It’s what he rebuked them for that should be of interest to us because it tells us what displeases Christ.

The first rebuke is found in Luke 9:46-48 when an argument broke out among the disciples about which of them would be the greatest in heaven.  Apparently, they all wanted their own little kingdom throne, so Jesus rebuked them by placing a child in the middle of them and pointing out that the way to become great is to first become the least.  What Jesus was rebuking them for were their selfish ambitions.  Aren’t we all guilty of that?  Our one underlying ambition should be to bring honor to Jesus Christ, and here we are thinking of what we’re going to gain rather than what his kingdom is going to gain.  The second rebuke is in Matthew 17:19-20 when the disciples tried to cast out a demon and failed.  There Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith, just as he did in the storm in Matthew 8.  A lack of faith can do great damage to our relationship with Christ, and he knows that.  It must be challenged.  The third rebuke came in Matthew 16:23, when Peter tried to show how spiritual he was going to be by protecting Christ from the cross.  Jesus had to rebuke him for being a tool of the Devil who was trying to keep Jesus from the very mission he had come to accomplish.  The fourth rebuke we find in Matthew 26:33-35.  There Peter told Jesus that if everyone left him, he never possibly could.  That was Peter’s pride speaking.  Our pride trips us up every time, making it a stumbling block in our lives that must be rebuked and purged. 

So, there are four sinful weaknesses in our lives that God’s Spirt will go after and reprimand, reproach, and reprove.  They are our selfish ambitions, our lack of faith, allowing Satan to use us to foil God’s work, and our pride.  These are four imperfections in our humanity that Jesus will work at purging from us as he makes us a new creation in him.  Each of these weaknesses need to be rebuked so that we may become who Christ wants us to be.  Is he rebuking any of these in your life right now?  If so, you may need to prepare yourself to be humbled by a spunky five-year-old child. 

                                                                                  Darlene