THE CHALLENGE OF FAITH
1 KINGS 18:16-46
INTRODUCTION:
THEY SAY IT’S GOOD FROM TIME TO TIME TO START A MESSAGE WITH A JOKE OR A FUNNY STORY. KNOWING MY SENSE OF HUMOR, THAT IS ALWAYS A SCARY UNDERTAKING, BUT I DID COME ACROSS A STORY THAT I FOUND FUNNY AND I HOPE YOU DO AS WELL
IT APPEARS THERE WAS THIS PASTOR WHO HAD A PARROT. ALL THAT THE PARROT COULD SAY WAS “LET’S PRAY, LET’S PRAY.” THE PASTOR TRIED TO TEACH HIM TO SAY OTHER THINGS BUT TO NO AVAIL. HE LEARNED THAT ONE OF HIS DEACON’S GOT A PARROT. THAT PARROT WOULD ONLY SAY “LET’S KISS, LET’S KISS”.
THE PASTOR DECIDED TO INVITE THE DEACON AND THE PARROT OVER TO HIS HOUSE. WHEN THE DEACON ARRIVED THEY PUT THE PARROTS INTO THE SAME CAGE TO SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN. THE DEACON’S PARROT SAID “LET’S KISS, LET’S KISS.” THE PASTOR’S PARROT HEAD SRUNG UP, GOT EXCITED AND SAID “THANK YOU, LORD. MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED.”
THERE IS POWER IN PRAYER.
TODAY WE FACE GREAT CHALLENGES TO THE CHRISTIAN. I’VE BECOME MORE AND MORE CONCERNED THAT CHRISTIANS ARE BECOMING FAR TOO COMFORTABLE WITH WHAT THEY CALL CHRISTIANITY. WHAT IS HAPPENING I FEAR IS THAT WE ARE RESEMBLING A SOCIAL MOVEMENT, NOT A CHURCH WITH VITAL CHRISTIAN VALUES THAT WE AS CHRISTIANS STAND FOR.
I REMEMBER HEARING OR READING MESSAGES ENTITLED “AN INCONVENIENT FAITH” AND I REMEMBER BEING INTRIGUED BY THE TITLE. HOW COULD FAITH BE INCONVENIENT? AS I FOLLOWED THE MESSAGE THOUGH, ALTHOUGH I MAY NOT HAVE LIKED THE TITLE, THE CONTENT WAS RIGHT ON THE MONEY.
HE WAS SAYING THAT AS PEOPLE LIVE THEIR CHRISTIAN LIVES, THAT IT WILL LEAD THEM INTO SITUATIONS OF INCONVENIENCE. DO YOU NOT THINK THAT WHEN MISSIONARIES GO OVERSEAS THAT THEY DON’T FIND SOME OF THE CHANGES THEY FACE TO BE INCONVENIENT FOR THEM? IS IT NOT INCONVENIENT TO GIVE MR. X A DRIVE TO CHURCH ESPECIALLY WHEN HE’S NEVER READY ON TIME, IT’S TWO MILES AWAY IN THE WRONG DIRECTION TO PICK HIM UP, AND YOU ARE ALWAYS LATE AS A RESULT. HOW ARE YOU EVER GOING TO FIND OUT THE SCORES OF THE BASEBALL GAME LAST NIGHT?
HOW ABOUT THIS ONE. THE PASTOR ASKED ME TO LEAD A YOUTH GROUP THIS YEAR. IT MEETS SATURDAY MORNING. THEY DON’T HAVE MUCH AND HE JUST WANTS TO BRIGHTEN THEIR DAY. I ALWAYS KEEP SATURDAY MORNING FREE TO HUNT OR FISH. I KNOW I SHOULD HELP, BUT DON’T I DESERVE SOME FREE TIME LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
THERE ARE COUNTLESS SCENARIOS THAT CAN COME UP WHERE WE HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THE LIFE WE WANT TO LEAD, OR TO WALK THE ROAD CHRIST IS CALLING US TOO. EACH TIME THIS OCCURS WE WILL MAKE A CHOICE, EITHER TO BE FAITHFUL OR NOT. THIS IS THE CHALLENGE OF AN INCONVENIENT FAITH. IS CHRIST THE SOVEREIGN IN OUR LIVES, OR ARE WE.
THERE IS A FABLE OF A HUNGRY DONKEY THAT WAS BETWEEN TWO BUNDLES OF HAY. IT LOOKED AT THE ONE, THEN AT THE OTHER, AND COULD NOT DECIDE WHICH TO EAT FIRST. EVENTUALLY IT DIED OF STARVATION. JUST ABOUT AS FOOLISH ARE THOSE WHO HALT BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS TILL THEY DIE IN THEIR SINS, OR A CHRISTIAN THAT TRIES TO LIVE BOTH A LIFE FOR THE LORD AND A LIFE FOR THEMSELVES AND FIND IN THE END THAT THEY HAVE LIVED NEITHER.
J.I.PACKER STATED:
“ALONG WITH MUCH OF THE BAD THINKING THAT HAS COME DOWN TO US FROM THE LAST FOUR HUNDRED YEARS, COMES THE IDEA OF SPLIT LIVING. THESE ARE THOSE PEOPLE WHO, “LIVE CAMPARTMENTALIZED LIVES; WORSHIP GOD, GO TO CHURCH, AND DO THEIR “RELIGIOUS” BIT ON SUNDAYS. THEN THEY SWITCH THAT OFF AND PURSUE THEIR PROFESSIONS, WEEKDAY WORK, WEEKEND HOBBIES, AND ALL THEIR RELATIONSHIPS (AS THOUGH THESE WERE MATTERS ENTIRELY SEPARATE FROM THEIR CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT). THEY DO NOT EVEN TRY TO SEE THEIR LIVES AS A WHOLE IN TERMS OF GOD AND HIS WORD. INSTEAD, THEY SLIP INTO THEIR RELIGIOUS COMPARTMENT ON SUNDAYS AND THEIR SECULAR COMPARTMENT ON THE OTHER DAYS OF THE WEEK AND ALLOW NO COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE TWO.
THE SCRIPTURES ARE CLEAR THAT WE CANNOT WALK THE TWO ROADS AT THE SAME TIME. WHEN A TIME OF CRISIS COMES, THE ROAD THAT WE HAVE CHOSEN WILL BECOME CLEAR. DO WE HAVE OUR TRUST IN GOD, OR DO WE HAVE OUR TRUST IN OURSELVES?
LUKE 16:13: No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
1 PETER 2:9: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
JOSHUA 24:15: But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE CHURCH TO MAKE A STAND NOT ONLY IN THE WORLD, BUT HERE IN CAMPBELLTON, AND TO OUR OWN FAMILIES, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE. THE TIME HAS COME TO ANSWER THE CHALLENGE OF AN INCONVENIENT GOSPEL. THE TIME HAS COME FOR US TO SAY AS JOSHUA DID, “AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE WE WILL SERVE THE LORD”. WE CAN SEE THIS IN THIS ACCOUNT OF ELIJAH.
BIBLICAL BACKGROUND:
LET ME GIVE YOU SOME BIBLICAL BACKGROUND OF THIS PASSAGE. KING AHAZ AND QUEEN JEZEBEL WERE TWO OF THE WICKEST KINGS IN THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL. THEY HAD RETURNED ISRAEL INTO IDOLATRY AND BAAL WORSHIP. IN RESPONSE TO THAT GOD SENT ELIJAH TO AHAZ WITH THE WORD THAT A DROUGHT WOULD FALL ON THE LAND UNTIL THE PEOPLE REALIZED THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS.
NOT ONLY WAS THEIR IDOLATRY IN ISRAEL, BUT AHAZ AND JEZEBEL WERE KILLING OFF ALL THE PROPHETS OF GOD AND ESTABLISHING THEIR OWN PROPHETS OF BAAL IN THEIR PLACE.
OBADIAH WAS ABLE TO SAVE 100 PROPHETS BY HIDING THEM IN CAVES, BUT THAT WAS ALL.
DURING THE THIRD YEAR OF THE DROUGHT ELIJAH SENT OBADIAH TO GET AHAZ FOR A MEETING. AT THE MEETING ELIJAH CHALLENGED AHAZ TO A TEST. NOW WE READ ABOUT THE PARTICULARS OF THE TEST IN THE MORNING READING, BUT HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU MAY NOT HAVE KNOWN ABOUT THE TEST.
DO NOT THINK FOR A MINUTE THAT THIS TEST AND THE PARTICULARS OF THIS TEST WERE JUST PICKED AT RANDOM BY ELIJAH. THEY WERE CAREFULLY THOUGHT OUT.
MOUNT CARMEL WAS SAID TO BE IN THE MIDDLE OF AHAZ’S KINGDOM SO IT WOULD BE CONVENIENT FOR ALL THE TRIBES TO GO TO AND SEE THE CHALLENGE. BAAL WAS THE CHIEF MALE GOD AND THE HEAD OF THE CANAANITE GODS. BAAL WAS THE GOD OF LIFE WHO WOULD REPLENTISH THE EARTH WITH CROPS IN THE RAINY SEASON. BAAL WAS THE GREAT STORM GOD WHO DROVE THE CLOUDS ACROSS THE SKY AND LET HIS VOICE BE HEARD IN THE CRASH OF THUNDER. BAAL DETERMINED WHEN THE RAIN WOULD FALL. HE WAS REFERRED TO AS THE “RIDER OF THE CLOUDS THROUGH THE HEVEN AS THOUGH THEY WERE HORSES HITCHED TO HIS CHARIOT.”
ELIJAH WAS GOING RIGHT INTO THE LION’S MOUTH WITH THIS CHALLENGE. MOUNT CARMEL WAS CHOSEN NOT ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS THE MID-POINT OF AHAZ’S COUNTRY, BUT ALSO BECAUSE IT WAS THE HIGHEST POINT. THIS WAS NOT ONLY A CHALLENGE OF WHICH GOD IS REAL, BUT AFTER GOD DEFEATS BAAL, ELIJAH WOULD HAVE THE PREFECT PLACE TO SEE THE RAIN CLOUDS COMING, AND AN END TO THE DROUGHT.
ALSO IMPORTANT IN BACKGROUND IS THE PEOPLE’S RESPONSE TO ELIJAH’S CHALLENGE. THEY WERE SILENT. NOW THEY WERE SILENT FOR MANY REASONS, SOME OF THEM UNDERSTANDABLE, BUT THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT THEY WERE CONTENT WITH BAAL AS THEIR GOD. THEY DID NOT WANT TO CHANGE. IF THEY DID THEY WOULD HAVE.
SILENCE CAN COME AS A RESULT OF FEAR
COMPROMISE
IGNORANCE
DIFIANCE
CONVICTION
IT DOESN’T CHANGE THE FACT THAT WHEN ELIJAH ANSWERED THE CHALLENGE, HE ANSWERED IT ALONE. THERE WAS NO SUPPORT FOR HIM.
YOU AND I MUST FACE THE FACT THAT WHEN WE FACE THE CHALLENGE OF LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IN OUR WORLD TODAY, THAT WE ARE IN EXACTLY THE SAME POSITION ELIJAH WAS IN. THERE ARE MANY NEW IDOLS TODAY, IDOLS IN THE WORLD AND IN THE CHURCH, THAT KEEP US FROM A VICTORIOUS WALK WITH THE LORD. WHAT THEY ARE WAITING FOR IS TO SEE HOW OUR WALK DEMONSTRATES THE POWER OF THE GOD WE BELIEVE IN. THEY ARE JUDGING THE POWER OF GOD BY OUR COMMITMENT TO HIM.
BILLY GRAHAM SAID, “HEAVEN IS FULL OF ANSWERS TO PRAYERS FOR WHICH NO ONE EVER BOTHERED TO ASK”.
ELIJAH’S CHALLENGE SHOWS FOUR CHARACTER TRAITS THAT A CHRISTIAN MUST HAVE IN THEIR LIVES IN ORDER TO ANSWER THE CHALLENGE OF FAITH.
POINT ONE: A COMMITTED CHRISTAIN REJECTS PASSIVITY:
A CHRISTIAN WHO IS COMMITTED TO THE LORD WILL REJECT PASSIVITY WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR FAITH. NOW REJECTING PASSIVITY DOES NOT MEAN THAT WE GO OUT LOOKING FOR A FIGHT, BUT RATHER WE DO NOT LET THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE WORLD DETERMINE OUR WORSHIP OF GOD. WE WILL BE LIKE SHADRACK, MEESHACK, AND ABINDIGO, WHO DARED TO GO INTO THE FIREY FUNRACE BEFORE BOWING THEIR KNEE TO THE KING IN WORSHIP.
JAMES 1:22-25:
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
THE COMMITTED CHRISTIAN WILL CHOOSE THE ROAD OF INCONVENIENCE FOR THE REWARD OF KINGDOM BUILDING
POINT TWO: A COMMITTED CHRISTIAN ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY
A COMMITTED CHRISTIAN WILL ACCEPT THE RESPONSIBILITY THAT IT IS THEIR TASK TO KINGDOM BUILD. THEY WILL NOT COME UP WITH EXCUSES FOR PASSING THE TASK TO OTHERS.
NOW THIS IS EASY TO DO, IN FACT IT STARTED WITH ADAM AND EVE. ADAM TRIED TO GIVE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF HIS FALL TO EVE. “THE WOMAN THAT YOU GAVE ME, SHE MADE ME DO IT.”
A COMMITTED CHRISTIAN WILL ACCEPT THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR HOW THEY LEAD THEIR CHRISTIAN LIVES. THEY WILL TITHE FINANCIALLY, THEY WILL BE PRESENT, THEY WILL WITNESS, THEY WILL MAKE THE HARD DECISIONS.
POINT THREE: A COMMITTED CHRISTIAN LEADS COURAGEOUSLY
ISN’T THAT WHAT YOU SEE WHEN YOU SEE ELIJAH IN THE MIDST OF THIS CHALLENGE. GOD-GIVEN COURAGE. IT IS SO EASY TO HIDE IN THE CROWD, AND GO WITH THE FLOW. IT IS MUCH HARDER TO STAND OUT AND FACE THE RESISTANCE.
ELIJAH KNEW THAT IF HE FAILED HE WOULD BE KILLED. HE MIGHT HAVE WONDERED IF HE WOULD BE KILLED BEFORE HE STARTED AT ALL. THE REALITY IS THAT AHAZ WANTED THIS CHALLENGE AS MUCH AS ELIJAH DID FOR THE SAME REASON, TO PROVE HIS GOD GREATER.
FOXES BOOK OF MARTYRS, MISSIONARIES THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES, EVEN SOME OF OUR LOVED ONES IN CHRIST KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO STAND COURAGEOUSLY FOR THEIR FAITH. THEY HAVE MADE THE STATEMENT “IF YOU CANNOT SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN HOW WE LIVE OUR LIVES, THEN ALLOW US ONE MORE OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW YOU THE KINGDOM IN HOW WE DEAL WITH OUR DEATH.”
PETER MARSHALL SAID THIS IN A PRAYER TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE THAT IS SO TRUE:
HELP US TO LEARN, IT IS BETTER TO FAIL IN A GOAL THAT WILL ULTIMATELY SUCCEED, THAN TO SUCCEED IN A GOAL THAT WILL ULTIMATELY FAIL”.
THE CHURCH NEEDS COURAGEOUS MEN AND WOMEN TODAY TO ANSWER THE CHALLENGE OF FAITH. WE NEED TO MAKE OUR STAND FOR THE LORD, PUBLICLY, AND WITHOUT APOLOGY IN ANY FORM. WE NEED TO TELL THE WORLD IT IS NOT WRONG TO BE A CHRISTIAN.
POINT FOUR: THE COMMITTED CHRISTIAN HAS REAL EXPECTATIONS OF GOD:
THIS CHALLENGE WOULD NOT BE MUCH OF A CHALLENGE IF ELIJAH DIDN’T BELIEVE THAT GOD COULD DO WHAT HE SAID HE COULD DO. HE WATCHED FOR SIX HOURS AS THE PROPHETS OF BAAL TRIED ALL THAT THEY COULD TO GET AN ANSWER AND CLAIM VICTORY. THEN IN A SHORT 63 WORD PRAYER GOD SENT FIRE AND CONSUMED BOTH SACRIFICES IN ANSWER TO ELIJAH’S PRAYER.
YOUR CHRISTIAN LIFE WILL NOT HAVE MUCH POWER, IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE THAT GOD CAN DO WHAT WE KNOW HE CAN DO. NOR WILL IT HAVE MUCH POWER IF WE ARE PRYAING FOR “MY WILL BE DONE” AND NOT “THY WILL BE DONE.”
A.W.TOZER SAID:
“WHOEVER IS ON GOD’S SIDE IS ON THE WINNING SIDE AND CANNOT LOSE; WHOEVER IS ON THE OTHER SIDE IS ON THE LOSING SIDE AND CANNOT WIN. THERE IS NO CHANCE, NO GAMBLE. THERE IS FREEDOM TO CHOOSE WHICH SIDE WE SHALL BE ON BUT NO FREEDOM TO NEGOTIATE THE RESULTS OF THE CHOICE ONCE IT IS MADE.
THE RESULTS OF A COMMITTED CHRISTIANS WALK WILL ALWAYS BE KINGDOM BUILDING.
CONCLUSION:
TODAY YOU HAVE A CHOICE TO MAKE. YOU CAN CHOOSE TO LIVE A COMMITTED LIFE IN CHRIST, OR YOU CAN CHOOSE TO LIVE A WORLDLY EXISTANCE, AND REJECT THE CHALLENGE OF FAITH. YOU WILL KNOW THE CHOICE YOU MADE, BECAUSE YOU WILL EITHER HAVE PEACE IN YOUR LIFE, OR CONSTANT DOUBT AND CONVICTION ABOUT HOW YOU ARE LIVING.
FOLKS, THERE IS A REAL NEED FOR GOD’S PEOPLE –US- TO BE REAL AND OPEN ABOUT OUR FAITH. WE NEED TO APPLY FLAVORING AND PRESERVING TO THIS WORLD, FOR WE ARE THE SALT. WE NEED TO ALLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TO COME AND FILL US UP ANEW, SO THAT THE DIFFERENCE WE MAKE WILL NOT BE IN OUR OWN STRENGTH BUT IN GOD’S. WE NEED TO PRAY FOR GOD TO COME AND CHANGE US AND CHALLENGE US, AS INDIVIDUALS AND A CHURCH. WE NEED TO ASK HIM TO USE US TO BRING PEOPLE TO JESUS. IT IS UP TO EACH OF US, IF WE ARE CHRISTIANS, TO STAND UP AND BE COUNTED FOR GOD, TO ANSWER THE CHALLENGE OF FAITH.
THE MARTYRED MISSIONARY JIM ELLIOTT SAID THESE WORDS:
“WHILE WE PROFESS TO KNOW A POWER THE 20TH CENTURY CANNOT RECKON WITH, WE ARE ALL SIDE-LINERS. COACHING AND CRITICIZING THE REAL WRESTLERS WHILE CONTENT TO SET BY AND LEAVE THE ENEMIES OF GOD UNCHALLENGED. WE ARE SPIRITUAL PACIFISTS, CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS IN THE BATTLE-OF-THE DEATH, WITH PRINCEIPALITIES AND POWERS IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES. THE WORLD CANNOT HATE US: WE ARE TOO MUCH LIKE ITS OWN. OH THAT GOD WOULD MAKE US DANGEROUS.”
THE CHALLENGE OF FAITH IS CLEAR, THE QUESTION IS HOW WILL YOU ANSWER IT? IN THE WAY WE LIVE OUR LIVES, OUR ANSWER WILL BE MADE CLEAR TO ALL.
