"Chaff Stands No Chance"

(Today's title is adapted from a quote from the sermon: "When fire passes through, chaff stands no chance.")

Some of you will have noticed that there was an atmosphere of conviction that settled in during Sunday's sermon. This phenomenon also occured three Sundays ago: please see the blog entry "What's Yours Is His." for more detail. Apparently some people really don't like being faced with the reality of their state of sinfulness and their need for Christ, particularly those who are fixtures in the community of faith and believe that their mere presence is sufficient to save themselves.

So, the wicked are like chaff. Anyone who has memorized Psalm 1 knows of the metaphor "like the chaff which the wind drives away" (1:4). But what is chaff? Pastor Benji gave a great analogy which we all can understand: chaff is trash. Chaff is a waste product. Chaff cannot be eaten, chaff cannot be planted, chaff cannot be thrown to the birds- they don't want it. Chaff's destiny is to be discarded.

There are no positive attributes.

I don't enjoy being harsh, but that seems to be the zone we're in. It's a call for no more compromising, no more duplicity in the kingdom of God. No more pretending that we are fine when our lives indicate no love and no obedience to our Lord and Master.

What does God want? Sunday's sermon gave some guidance:

Value, not worthlessness;
Usefulness, not uselessness;
Adoration, not antagonism;
Insiders, not outsiders (see Revelation 22:14-15).

Tomorrow we will have a crash course in how to separate wheat from chaff.