Lemons or Lemonade
1 King 19:1-18
(For the accompanying powerpoint - http://www.hueytownbaptist.com/pastorspage/sermondownloads.html)
> (video of Joe verses the volcano – Pt 1)
> Have you ever felt like Joe? The questions you ask would be: what’s the use? What’s next? Or how did I get here? Candidly, most of us have at one time or another felt just like Joe. And what’s more, we wanted help we got to that place. Truthfully, most of us have been in those situations when we feel like life has given us a lemon. And for many of us, we have done our best to make lemonade. Yet, we don’t really care to live our lives in a lemon orchard
> The previous question begs us to ask a follow-up, “Does the Bible ever speak to this type of situation?” The truth is, it does. In fact, several characters in the Bible felt this very way. I think of Peter, after the denial of Christ. He went out & cried profusely. I can only imagine how bad Thomas felt when he demonstrated a tremendous lack of faith. Undoubtedly, Mary & Martha would be the New Testament poster girls for this. Remember, they sent word that their brother was dying. The message was, “come quickly.” Jesus tarried and Lazarus died. When Jesus did arrive Lazarus had been dead for over three days. The sister’s response to Jesus is coming was, “if only you had been here, you could have saved him.” Isn’t it interesting the similarities between the sisters and us? They and we seem to be able to trust Jesus to heal their brother, but not to raise him from the dead. We trust Jesus for the little things like healing, but not for the big things like "giving back life."
> While Mary and Martha maintain the title of poster girls in the New Testament, apparently it would be Elijah who would be the poster boy of the Old Testament. Turn with me now to 1 Kings 19. Before we read this passage of scripture, let me give us a little background.
> From our history we know that the country of Israel was divided into two kingdoms for a period of time. The southern country was Judah and the northern country was Israel. During these days Israel had trouble with all her Kings. It seems that everything contained this assessment, “he did evil in the sight of the Lord.” This is true for every King except King Ahab. About this king it was written, “He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight MORE than all who were before him.” So Ahab is noted for his evil ways. Then he compounds his sin but marrying a wicked woman. A woman by the name of Jezebel. Under their leadership the country continually moved away from God & toward the Baals (other cultic practices). Because of the wickedness in the country, God called Elijah. He predicted a severe drought & then left the country. During that time He was gone that drought came, the prophets of God who remained in Israel were put to death while & Ahab & Jezzie sought to find this prophet. The Bible teaches that after a long time, God told Elijah to return & present himself to the King. Through a series of events Elijah, 450 prophets of Baal, 400 prophets of Asherah, & Ahab meet on Mount Carmel for a showdown.
> It is at this meeting that Elijah gives those stirring words, “how long will you hesitate between two opinions? If he Yahweh is God, followed him. But if Baal, follow him.” Most of us know of this showdown. The false prophets prepared their sacrifice, placed it on the altar, and called on their god two accept their sacrifice by fire. Admittedly, Elijah is seemingly less than Christian about this. He literally makes fun of these prophets as they spend the day calling on their god. These guys shout, holler, cut themselves, and use every other trick they could, with no success, the Bible says no one heard & no one responded.
> After that, Elijah prepared his own sacrifice, poured water over it, gets down his knee, prayed a simple prayer and the God of Heaven responded. Scriptures record the fire fell. The water and the sacrifice were consumed, and what resulted was the death of the false prophets. This is where the story truly gets interesting.
> Let’s read verses one through eighteen. (READ) Now before we’re too hard on Elijah consider this, how many times do we do exactly like Elijah did? Things seem to go badly and we run to the backside of nowhere (spiritually) and we say, “Lord, just let me die”. Now, our particular mode of saying this might not be let me die. It may be seen more in our activities, actions and attitude. Quite likely, particularly for men, when we are down like Elijah we stay away from the very group of people with whom we should be embracing. The Church people.
> Elijah ran away; he sat down under a broom tree, & sulked. This was his reaction to life dealing him a lemon. Let’s walk through exactly how God pulled him out of this situation & apply it to our own lives.
1) A SIMPLE EVALUATION – God is nothing if not consistent. He begins with a question and he repeats the question. Some people don’t like questions because questions reveal truth. When life deals you a lemon or when your world has seemingly gone wrong, the appropriate question to ask might well be “what are you doing here?”
> Consider the inflection in the voice of God. He possibly emphasizes the word “here”. Why are you here? Be clear about this; that Elijah was not where God desired for him to be was not a “surprise” to God. It’s the same with you and me. God knew where Elijah was & knows where we are, but He still asks.
> Why does He do that? Because He wants us to know where “we” are (and admit it). God asked, “Elijah, what are you doing here?” Today he ask you, do you know where you are? What are you doing here? How did you get here? When your world gets out of sorts you might need to ask, how did I get here?
> There is another interesting thought from this encounter. Many believe that every time something goes wrong in a person’s world that this individual has to be out of God’s will. However, this is not necessarily so, it may be God sending a test or trial to you for the purposes of teaching and training.
> In Elijah’s case, he was a long way from God’s will. And his trek to get here had not been easy. It was worked to get away. And He found himself fatigued, malnourished, and emotionally drained. When God begin this evaluation Elijah was kidding himself. Quite likely, Elijah was suffering from some level of depression, and depression will calls dishonesty.
> Case in point: Verse 4 gives His words, ”I want to die”. Why do I say this is dishonesty? Because had Elijah wanted to die He could have saved everyone trouble and stayed in Israel, Jezebel would have gladly obliged him. Then in verse 10 he makes excuses (maybe he was a Baptist)!! It was everyone else’s fault. Almost every one of His complaints could be seen corrected on Mt Carmel.
> So why was He there? Let’s list the reasons: became afraid and ran (wrong), took matters into his own hands, preferred to run from a woman than fight for God.
> Dad’s (Men) what are you doing here today? (1 word?) Some need a fresh touch, a first touch, or a firm touch.
2) A SUPERNATURAL ENCOUNTER – God’s evaluation question is simple, Why are you here and Elijah excuse is classic. Modern day verbiage would be, “nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I’m going to eat some worms!” I have done my part, they have messed up, and now I’m all alone. Are you getting the idea yet? Give Elijah credit, he expresses his deepest feelings to God. Learn from this. If we are to get our joy, peace, and sense of happiness back, it will be when we come clean before the Lord.
> Like God always does, He told Elijah to “GO”. God always requires His children to “GO”. Go out and Stand. When Elijah was obedient, God was open to showing Himself.
> Not in the wind, earthquake, nor the fire, did Elijah find God. On occasion, certainly God uses these elements, but He doesn’t HAVE to use anything. And as a general rule He will speak in an unexpected way. We simply have to be obedient and Open to Him.
> Elijah had come to know that he would never make sense out of life without God’s intervention. And God did both show up and intervene. That same still small voice which speaks to us today (when we listen) is what Elijah heard. Let’s read verse 13 together. Elijah was now convinced.
> Yes, he recognized he had abandoned God’s call and God’s best, and was ready for his new assignment.
3) A SPIRITUAL EXPECTATION – This comes from the encounter with Jehovah. When we get a true image of God, then we KNOW that HE expects something from us.
> I stated it earilier, God is nothing if not consistent and He consistently expects something from His men (and women). Elijah (like us) refuses to give in or up until he gives OUT. If that is what you require, God is up to the Challenge & never loses His focus. We may get sidetracked, not God.
> Watch this, “what are you doing here?” We cannot know the inflexion or tenor of Elijah’s voice, but my “guess” is that this time the answer was a little more softly spoken.
> God’s response is the response He has given through out all of time. “Go back the way you came”. Fulfill your call. Recognize who is really, truly in charge.
> Let’s return to the Joe verse the volcano movie. Through a series of comedic it events Joe finds himself on a raft in the Pacific Ocean. His is parched, sunburned, and almost dehydrated. The truth is, he doesn’t expect to survive. Let’s join him just for a second. (VIDEO) Seems to me that Up beside God, Joe feel small and even insignificant. For Joe-it was on a raft, for Elijah it’s in a cave, For Jonah -it was the belly of a fish, for Peter it was the court-yard, the question is; where is it that you have to get, go, or be, to see God? Do you have to be flat on your back, financially broke, suffering a death, or is it somewhere else? when life deals you a lemon (I.E. trouble, heartache, sickness)- what do you do?
