Be Fuller With God With The Fuller's Soap

Sunday Devotional

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But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.

Malachi 3:2

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This is a warning AND a word of hope, depending on which side you fall on, of course. What do I mean by that?

Let’s start with the warning first:

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

This could be taken to apply to sinners, the lost, first. However, this actually applies to the people of God. In its primary context, it applied to Israel, and now it applies to us since we are grafted into the promises of Israel (Read Romans 11 for the whole discourse on this). We are grafted not only into blessings but also into the numerous warnings. Yes, that means we get many (not all) of the same curses if we disobey God (see John 3:36). This sounds contrary to what so many teach, but I can assure you that this is true, AND those of us who Jesus has saved are held to a higher standard with greater punishment meted out if we decide to shipwreck our faith.

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

2 Peter 2:20-21

They had expected him to come and judge the heathen; the prophet warns them that they themselves shall be first judged (comp. Amos 5:18).

Pulpit Commentary

This quote is from the pulpit commentary and should draw our attention. We can get caught up in our hubris more often than we would like to admit. We can be like Job’s friends, the infamous Sons of Thunder James and John, and others where we are willing to look down our noses at others’ sins while ignoring the plank in our own eye.

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

Matthew 7:3-5

This should exhort us to closely examine ourselves before we decide to sit in judgment on someone else’s sins because we will be judged by the righteous judge himself, Jesus. We can be judged through the blood of Jesus or our sins; either way, we will be judged.

That is the warning for us all. Thank God it doesn’t end there for us! Thank God we don’t have to walk in constant worry and anxiety about the state of our salvation. We can be assured that our right standing before God is secure daily because when Jesus redeemed us, He enabled us to live a life pleasing to Him.

This leads us to the second part of Malachi 3:2

For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.

Obviously, this is Jesus, the refiner. The language used here may be lost in translation, so let’s see what fullers soap was:

consisting of a term בֹּרִית, H1383, “alkaline salt,” “natural lye” extracted from the Asiatic soap plants such as Mesembrianthemum cristallinum; Salicornia solacea; Salsala kali and the like (cf. I. Löw, Die Flora der Juden [1924-1934]) which are reduced by burning to produce a pasty mass used as a bleach, esp. in the presence of olive oil.

Encyclopedia of The Bible

This tells us Jesus is like the fuller’s soap mentioned here. Jesus washes us entirely from the stain of sin that was upon our life. If we thought about it today, it would be just like us washing dirty and stained clothing. When we pulled it from the washing machine, we would expect those clothes to look and smell clean. After pulling them from the dryer, we would expect those same clothes to feel clean.

This is how it is with us and Jesus, except better than we can imagine.

The problem is many Christians stop here in their journey with Jesus. They think salvation is the end and the beginning but forget that we must also be sanctified. That: he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). In other words, this cleansing and purifying of us should be a lifelong process. We were justified; the righteousness of Christ was imputed to us at the moment of our salvation.

However, we are far from perfect. We must humble ourselves daily, submitting ourselves to the work of Christ.

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Luke 9:23

If we fail to obey this, we may squeak into glory, but we will never have the fulfilled life of a Believer that Jesus promised us. Can you imagine a normal adult still wearing diapers and being bottle-fed? How about them wandering around the house complaining about how bored they are? Every time you tell them what there is to cure their boredom, they complain that those suggestions are boring? This is the same type of mentality Christians have who never get past the initial stages of salvation. They live very unsatisfied lives with a salvation that is tenuous at best.

We were never meant to live this way! Paul rebukes the Church in Corinth for this:

I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,

1 Corinthians 3:2

This body of Believers, this church, was very active in the gifts of the Spirit. Paul even commends them for this. Yet, right after this, he starts rebuking and correcting them. I believe if Paul were alive and writing today, we in the American Church would also receive similarly worded letters. Why? So many adult baby Christians are walking around today. There are adults wandering from church to church and conference to conference, looking to be bottle-fed by the latest speakers.

We must be willing to let The Great Refiner do His mighty work in us if we want to live the satisfying Christian life promised to us instead of being seeker-sensitive and looking for the next “Christian thrill.”

If we really want the fullness of Jesus, then we must decrease so that He may increase.

What are some of the keys that will unlock this for us?

Choose To Abide In Jesus

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:4-5

If we want to bear fruit, which is the fulfilling Christian life, then we cannot do a single part of this life apart from Jesus. We are told we can do NOTHING apart from Jesus. We are also told we will bear MUCH fruit if we abide in Jesus. If we read further on in John chapter 15, we see in verse 6: If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. As I said earlier, salvation is tenuous at best for a Christian who doesn’t move past the initial stages of salvation. Why? Because when we are cut off from our life source, we begin the stages of spiritual death.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

John 15:7-9 (emphasis mine)

The key to all of this is to abide in the love of Jesus. The Christian life is not about a list of do’s and don’ts to get saved, stay saved, or even mature. It’s most certainly not trying to earn the love of God. The key is doing FROM a place of the love of Christ.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

2 Corinthians 5:14

When we choose to abide in the love of Christ, we don’t have to worry about being controlled by anything other than the love of Christ. The lust of the flesh, the temptations of the wicked one, or anything else will control us because the all-consuming, passionate love of Christ now controls us if we let it.

If you have to today, repent for letting other love/s take the place of Jesus. Repent for gratifying the lust of the flesh. Believe me, Jesus wants nothing more than to have that abiding relationship with everyone. Jesus is not going to reject or publicly humiliate you for choosing to let Him wash you clean with the fullers soap of His precious and powerful blood.

Then we can FULLY have all of Jesus and one day proclaim along with Brother Paul:

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

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