[INTRO]
(This sermon was delivered as a trial sermon for a pastoral position; hence the personal information about self and family)
Tell a little about self and family; 3 children living at home now; 7 total; Also have 3 we never see but hear a lot about.
Names?
Nobody…. I don’t know… Not me.
Who’s on the phone? - Nobody.
Whose papers are these scattered all over the living room? - I don’t know.
Hey, who’s making all that noise up there? - Not me.
Of course, we all know that when it’s quiet, when you don’t hear anything, that’s when you have to pay attention.
[TEACHING]
When it’s quite, that’s when you have to pay attention! Elijah had to learn this the hard way.
We’ve kind of picked up the story at the end…kind of like starting a joke at the punch line. No buildup. No drama. So let’s just briefly look at what happened previously.
[tell story … country under rule of King Ahab; actually, under rule of Jezebel. They worship Ba’al. Elijah had been sent to get them and the rest of the country back on track to renounce Ba’al and worship the one true God. So Elijah gets this idea to challenge the priests of Ba’al to a kind of duel. 2 bulls for sacrifices, wood for the fires, 450 priests of Ba’al against Elijah and God. The idea is that if the priests of Ba’al succeed in convincing their god to supernaturally send fire for their bull, than Ba’al was the one true god. If Elijah’s supplication to his God was successful in producing a fire for the sacrifice, then his God, Yahweh, was the one true God.
The Ba’al priests go first. They prepare their bull, lay the carcass out on the wood, and appeal to Ba’al. Nothing happens. They begin dancing and chanting, driving themselves into a frenzy of whooping and hollering and even cutting themselves. Nada.
Then it’s Elijah’s turn. He prepares his bull, and then, for dramatic effect, he has water poured all over the sacrifice and the altar and the wood – lots of water. Then, he offers a prayer, and the bull catches fire.
The 450 prophets of Ba’al are killed; Elijah is on a spiritual high. But then, Jezebel gets angry, and she sends a death threat to Elijah. Now, you’d think that a man who has just defeated 450 priests would be able to stand up to one woman. You’d think that after such a rousing victory Elijah would be secure in the knowledge that his God would protect him. You’d think.
But he’s scared. He’s terrified. He runs for his life. He runs away to the desert and sinks into such a depression that he reaches a low point where he actually wants to die.
And God shows up. “What are you doing here in the desert?” He says. And then, just like a mom who wants to cheer her child up, God says “Eat! You’ll feel better!”
How many can relate to that? I can. My Mom was a firm believer that food could fix anything. Got a cold? Have some chicken soup. Boyfriend dumped you? Aw, eat some more lasagna; Got a good report card? Celebrate with some cake. You get the idea.
So the LORD feeds Elijah, he feels a little better, well enough to take a 40 day journey to Mt. Horeb, that same mountain on which Moses found himself after a 40 year journey; the mountain on which the law was given. The mountain on which some scholars think Jesus talked with Elijah and Moses during his transfiguration.
So Elijah travels to this mountain, and instead of standing atop it, he crawls within it by finding himself a dark, damp cave to hide in.]
* * * * *
Now we’re all caught up. That’s where our text for today picks it up. Elijah is in this cave, feeling sorry for himself. And God shows up again and says, “Elijah… what are you doing here? Go stand on the mountain…I’ll meet you there”.
But Elijah doesn’t move. Then, again like a parent who wants to cheer his child up, God presents a fantastic show to coax this pouty child out – He sends wind that batters the mountains and breaks rocks apart. Elijah doesn’t budge. God sends an earthquake that rattles the ground and no doubt Elijah, too. No movement from Elijah. Then God sends a fire. Nothing, nothing can bring Elijah out of his depression and out of that cave.
Then, (pause), all is quiet. We all know that when it’s quiet, when you don’t hear anything, that’s when you have to really pay attention. How many of you know that? Uh-oh… I think I see evidence of the “Nobody”, “I don’t know”, “Not me” trio here this morning. How many of you know that when it’s quiet, when you don’t hear anything, that’s when you have to pay attention? All right, then.
So it’s quiet, and in a whisper of a gentle breeze, not more than a sigh, like the sigh of an exasperated parent trying to reach a wayward child, God speaks.
In that whisper, in that still, small voice, lies the remedy. And Elijah hears. For God was not in the calamity of the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire.
God was not in the calamity. He was in the remedy.
Elijah hears, and he wraps his face in his mantle. A mantle was a garment, like a shawl, which denoted a particular anointing and calling. Elijah’s mantle was that of a prophet. He wraps his face in his mantle, reminding himself of the calling God had given him, and he comes to the opening of the cave. And again God asks,
“What are you doing here, Elijah?”
It’s not a rebuke; it’s not a condemnation. It’s more of a rhetorical question; God is not trying to find out where Elijah is physically. He knows. God is trying to prompt Elijah to evaluate his current spiritual position and the calling and journey that brought him there.
It’s that still, small voice that is the remedy for Elijah’s emotion sickness. That still, small voice that gets him back on track to fulfill his calling and pass the anointing on to the next generation of prophets.
Over the past several weeks I’ve had the opportunity to have conversations with a young man, in his early 20’s, who’s really struggling with the question of “Is God real?” Matt is a self-proclaimed atheist, a sweet young guy, really. But he picks up the newspapers, and he switches on the TV, and he reads reports of children being abused, and he sees clips about suicide bombers in Iraq. He hears about shootings in the schools where innocent lives are lost. He points to 911 and the devastation Hurricane Katrina wreaked on New Orleans, and the wildfires in California, and the earthquakes in Peru and Japan, and the economic recession, and the rash of home foreclosures, and the plight of the homeless , and the plight of orphans in Africa and Honduras – on and on, and this young man asks, “Where is your God? Where is God in all this?” And he comes to the false conclusion that there must not be a God.
And I want to tell him that he’s looking in the wrong places. God is not in the calamity, He’s in the remedy. He’s in the thousands of people who gathered supplies and offered time and muscle to rebuild the flood-ravaged homes in New Orleans. He’s in the firefighters who risked their lives to go into the Twin Towers that day to lead survivors out. He’s in the mission-minded believers who collect money and resources for the orphans.
I want to tell him that while humanity was in the darkness of sin, a darkness darker than any cave could ever be, God provided a remedy in sending His son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:10 says,
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Propitiation. Appeasement. Payment. The Greek word used for this comes from an exclamation which means “Heaven forbid! God Forbid! May God be merciful to you in averting calamity!”
The real calamity, the basis for all the trouble in the world, is sin. And the cure, the remedy, is Jesus Christ; the Kingdom of God that He has established here on earth. And in as much as Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is now in/within/among us, we now become that remedy.
God is not in the calamity; He’s in the remedy.
[CLOSING]
And so, Beloved of the LORD, I need to ask you, and me today, “What are you doing here?”
What are you doing here in a world besieged by so many wars and natural disasters?
What are you doing here in a nation rocked by economic recession and still, even now in the 21st century, corrupted by social injustice?
What are you doing here in a county where unemployment still ranks among the highest in the state?
What are you doing here in a town where drugs and promiscuity threaten to destroy our young people right in their schools and homes?
What are you doing here in homes where there is sickness and financial troubles and relational problems?
What are you doing here, Beloved?
You don’t belong in a cave. God has a very specific purpose, calling, mantle for you. Maybe you’re finding yourself right now in a place, spiritually or physically, where you don’t quite belong. Where you are struggling and gasping for breath, like a fish floundering around on the shore. Take that fish and put it in the water, and its genius emerges! It does what it was called to do- it swims away gracefully and purposefully.
You weren’t made to flounder around. You have a specific purpose in the church and in God’s Kingdom. You might think that if you don’t step into that calling, someone else will do it. You might think that the church has others much more gifted than I. Certainly, my pathetic talents won’t make any difference.
Oh, Beloved, you’re wrong. A Rolls Royce is a beautiful car. A very expensive and luxurious car. But just as a Rolls Royce with 3 wheels is limited, so, too, is the church, and the Kingdom, without you.
Each of us has a very specific and unique calling which is important to the whole. I used to think that if I didn’t participate, so what? God will anoint and commission someone else. I was wrong. If I don’t fulfill my calling, if you don’t fulfill yours, the church will go without. I cannot be all that I was called to be unless you become all that you are called to be. Besides, you and I don’t have the right to hold anything back from Him who gave everything for us; do we?
Perhaps it’s time to come out of your cave. Perhaps it’s time to wrap your face in your mantle – your calling, your purpose in advancing the Kingdom - and listen to that still, small voice directing you in just how you are to be the remedy in someone’s calamity.
Don’t know exactly what that mantle is? We can pray that God reveal that to you and anoint you to fulfill your purpose.
Or maybe you’re even now caught up in some calamity of personal storm or devastation or trouble. Look for your personal remedy in the sweet fellowship found here in this place.
Come, in any case, come. Come to the altar and let us pray together. Come to the altar and let God reveal Himself to you. Come.
Let us not look for God in the calamity, but in the remedy.
[Altar call and prayer]
