Sermon: “God can take ordinary people to do extraordinary things”
I was looking at our lectionary readings for today and one verse stood out and that was from the New Testament reading from the book of James.
That’s why we didn’t have a Gospel reading today
And it is the verse where James tells us that “Elijah was a man just like us”
My first reaction when I read that was:
Who have to be – I’m not even in the same league as Elijah
Who then was Elijah?
He was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets.
You’ll find his story in the two Old Testament books of 1 and 2 Kings.
In 1 Kings 17, Elijah simply arrives on the scene from out of nowhere – or to be more precise from Tishbe in Gilead – and in 2 Kings 2 he vanishes in a whirlwind.
And between those two events he becomes the
greatest prophet Israel has ever seen.
Elijah (Hebrew: àìéäå, Eliyahu) – the name is made up of El and Jah = God is king - was a prophet in Israel in the 9th century BC.
The Chronicler in 1 and 2 Kings records various feats that Elijah did like
raising the dead,
causing fire to come down from heaven, and
ascending into heaven in a whirlwind.
But it doesn’t end there. We see Elijah again in the New Testament together with Moses and Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah represent the Old Covenant – the Law and the Prophets (Mk 9:1-13) and Jesus represents the New Covenant.
The Prophet Malachi – in the last book in the Old Testament - foretold Elijah’s coming as a precursor to the coming of the Messiah. (Mal 3:22-24).
And Jesus equated the coming of John the Baptist as that precursor- return of the Prophet Elijah.
Story: Even today in every Orthodox Jewish home at Passover, when they put the chairs around the table one chair is kept empty.
Because they are waiting for Elijah to come.
Elijah, the OT prophet of God, was a very special person.
And yet, there is this amazing statement in James 5:17 that says, "Elijah was a man just like us."
If James had said “Peter was a man like us”,
I could understand that - because Peter often got things wrong
He said some good things and he made some monumental howlers. And the Bible is so honest about them
If James had said that “David was a man like us”
I could understand that too.
David writes in the Psalms of his joys and frustrations.
I can relate to that because I have these too
I find David searching for God’s will and trying to do it. And I have this goal too
We find him famously – or infamously - commiting adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband, his close commander Uriah the Hittite
Whilst I haven’t committed adultery – you will be pleased to hear – I too know how the sense of failure at letting God down by my sins
David had trouble with his kids. I can identify with that.
If you told me David was a man just like us – I could quite easily agree.
But James ONLY says: "Elijah was a man just like us."
And if we try to get Scripture to interpret Scripture we find that phrase, "just like us," used only in one other time in the Bible.
It appears in the Book of Acts – in Acts 14.
Paul & Barnabas are in the city of Lystra.
They have healed a crippled man and the miracle so amazed the citizens of Lystra that they started to believe that Paul and Barnabas were gods.
They called Paul "Mercury" and Barnabas "Jupiter".
And they started to worship and offer sacrifices to them.
But as the crowd surrounded them, Paul cried out,
"Wait. We’re not gods. We’re men, just like you." (Acts 14:15))
So WHAT does James mean when he says,
"Elijah was a man just like us?"
Even the great men of God – are men they are human with their faults as well as their strengths
My picture of Elijah is of this awesome man with tremendous faith and a powerful relationship with God
James reinforces that when he tells us that when Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain, God held back the rain.
Then three and a half years later, Elijah prayed that it would rain and did it rain!!.
I think James’ message is simply this
“ God can take ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things, if only we will let him do so”
Elijah was an ordinary human being
So let’s take a closer look at Elijah.
What was the key to his success?
His strength was that his commitment to God was 100%
1. Elijah was sold out to God
Whilst the Israelite king of Elijah’s day, King Ahab believed in the God of Israel, Ahab was also happy to believe in other gods too – like the god of Baal.
You might say Ahab was very much into “Interfaith” dialogue.
Ahab would have been a great supporter of Canon Andrew Wingate and his St Philip’s Centre here in Leicester
“Baal, Jehovah” – call him what you like - it’s all God isn’t it? What’s in a name?
But for Elijah that was unacceptable.
There was only ONE true God and he is the God of Israel, the Trinity as revealed by Jesus to us
In the end it came to a show down on Mount Carmel – Elijah risks his neck for his faith.
He confronts King Ahab time and again and finally 1 Kings 18 he challenges the 450 priests of Baal to a contest.
You may recall the story from your time in Sunday school
Elijah challenges the priests of Baal to prove who the real god is. Baal or the God of Israel
“Let’s each prepare a sacrifice to our gods” – Elijah says - and the true God is the one who answers by consuming the sacrifice by fire.
The prophets of Baal tried all day to get their god to cobut to no avail – their God did not answer with fire
When it came to Elijah’s turn, God immediately answers with fire so that the very stones around the sacrifice are burnt up too.
Elijah was vindicated and the priests of Baal were put to death
And as an aside. Is there a message in this for the church today?
Elijah said,
"I will not be contaminated by my surroundings.
I will keep my life pure, my testimony untarnished.
I will keep on standing up for the fact that God is who He is, and there is no other god."
The world will tolerate us as Christians as long as we don’t get too serious about it.
It is perfectly acceptable to the world for us to believe that Jesus is the Christ as long as we conform to its standards, its values and its attitudes.
But that is an aside. Back to the Mt Carmel story
After that dazzling vindication of Elijah’s teaching you would have then expected revival to break out
But it didn’t. Why?
Because we see Elijah had weaknesses too!!
Elijah’s weakness was fear
Elijah’s life was threatened and he ran
As soon as Jezebel heard that her prophets had been defeated and killed on Mt Carmel, she sent a messenger to Elijah who simply said this
"The gods will get you for this and I’ll get even with you! By this time tomorrow you’ll be as dead as any one of those prophets." (1 Kings 19:2)
And Elijah ran!
And he ran immediately after the stunning victory at the end of the previous chapter (1 Ki 18) on Mount Carmel.
Elijah should have been on Cloud 9 as the Israelites turned back to Jehovah, their true God.
It should have been the beginning of a revival.
So how was it that that little threat from Jezebel (as we read in the first reading) sent Elijah running
Well I think there are three reasons
1. Firstly Elijah was exhausted – and when we get exhausted we tend to think irrationally.
I can identify with that
If Elijah had thought about it rationally – he could have called down fire from heaven to consume her.
Indeed later on in life he was to do just that.
King Ahaziah, Ahab’s son sent two of his captains - each with their fifty men – to arrest Elijah and bring him to the king for execution (2 Kings 1. 8-12).
Elijah calls down fire from heaven and the captains and their men are consumed by fire
But at this time, when Jezebel threatens him, Elijah isn’t thinking rationally.
I believe he was too tired – and as such was vulnerable
And there are times when we are tired and we need to remember that it is then that we are at our most vulnerable.
No wonder Jesus used to take his disciples to a quiet place to pray –even in the heat of revival (Mk 6:30-31).
And Elijah didn’t have Jesus to advise him.
2. Secondly Elijah took his eyes off God and looked to himself for the answer
It is all too easy when crises come to suddenly look to human ways to deal with them.
Nowhere in the story do we read of Elijah asking God what he should do – he just runs.
Elijah’s reaction to Jerezel’s message was simply that of fear – the Scripture records “Elijah was afraid” (1 Ki 19 v3.)
I feel encouraged – because even great men like Elijah get it WRONG!!
He should have taken it to God in prayer but he didn’t.
He should have stood up to Jezebel but didn’t
3. Thirdly God knew that Elijah actually needed time off
Elijah fled for 40 days from Mt Carmel to Horeb where he finds a cave to hide in
I wonder what Elijah was thinking those 40 days on the run.
I expect he was buzzing with self pity (cf1Ki 19:10 and 14)
I think God used this time to allow Elijah to work his self pity out of his system and to find out who God really was.
It was when Elijah stopped running and reached the cave at Mt Horeb – that God was able to reach him
And when God speaks to him, you can almost hear Elijah’s self pity oozing out
“What are you doing here, Elijah? God asks him.
Elijah replies: I have been very zealous for the Lord Almighty, The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars and put your prophets to the sword and I am the only one left.”
And God’s reply is very interesting.
He tells Elijah "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
But God wasn’t in the powerful wind that tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks
Nor was he in the wind nor the earthquake that followed, nor was he in the fire – but he was in the “gentle whisper” (v 12) .
Sometimes God is very gentle with us – as Jesus said a “bruised reed he will not break”
Again God asks him "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
And Elijah, - must have been an Anglican because he repeats him self word perfect.
“I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."
Despite all that - God still has work for his trusty old prophet to do. He restores him refreshes him and gives him a fresh mandate.
And then God adds a post script: “And by the way Elijah there are another seven thousand in Israel who have not given in to Baal."
So you make seven thousand and one!”
So often our problems can seem so consuming that we think we are the centre of the universe.
We think the existence of the church is our responsibility.
The Church is God’s and not our worry – we just have to be at the right time in the right place.
And even when we fail – God can restore us and
recommissioned us just as he did Elijah
Conclusion:
James tells us that “Elijah was man like us”
I can identify with his weaknesses – but James wants us to go further
He wants us learn to identify with Elijah’s strengths
God plus one is a majority!!
Because Elijah’s strength came from the same God who we serve.
Elijah was a powerful man of prayer. He was as James said a powerful man of faith.
God can use us warts and all. He restores us when we fail – and we will fail. For it is not on our own strength that we must depend
Rather we are called to depend on the same God on whom Elijah depended .The Trinity revealed to us by Jesus. The true God of Israel
(My thanks to Melvin Newland for some of the ideas)
