In our voters’ meeting last Sunday we passed a motion which, Lord willing, should speed up the pace of our building program considerably. Now instead of saving little by little for the next ten or fifteen years before being able to build the grand plan you’ve seen leaning against the bulletin board, we’ve decided to scale down the project so we can get something built within the next year or two! I don’t have all the details of what this scaled down project will look like. The building committee will present such a plan by mid April. It seems though that we’ll be refurbishing this house of worship and connecting it to a new building with classrooms, offices, a kitchen, and a fellowship hall. While this is a scaled down building project, the committee still anticipates that it will cost $600,000. That’s not including the furniture needed for the new building. Can we do this? Sure, we have land to sell but that’s not part of the financing plan right now. So can 30 families really pay for such a project as we continue to support ongoing ministry efforts? We can do this! I’m confident that we can. But don’t take my word for it. Take to heart God’s Word, which reminds us today that we have God’s promises, and that we are God’s people.
Although our text doesn’t talk about building a church, it does teach us how God uses challenges to exercise his people’s faith. The prophet Elijah was the object of God’s attention in our text. God had used him to confront wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel who were trying to make Baal worship the official religion in Israel. One day Elijah marched into the king’s court and announced that God was going to withhold rain from Israel because of her idolatry. Then God hid Elijah in the wilderness and gave him water to drink from a brook and food that was delivered to him by birds, not just any birds, mind you, but ravens which are among the most ravenous of God’s creatures! In time, however, the water dried up. So God directed Elijah north on a three or four-day journey to the small town of Zarephath. There he would find a widow whom God had appointed to care for the prophet.
We know how this true story turns out but Elijah didn’t. God’s command must have seemed like nonsense to him. God was asking him to leave Israel and find refuge among the non-Jews? Not only that, he was supposed to get food from a widow? Widows in those days needed financiers, not freeloaders. But God had said, “Go!” and hadn’t God provided for him in a miraculous way in the Kerith Ravine? He certainly could do that again in Zarephath.
God would have to provide in a miraculous way again because upon arrival in Zarephath it was clear that the widow God had chosen to care for Elijah wasn’t rich. She was out gathering a few stray sticks with which to make a last meal for her son and herself before they expected to die because they had no more food. When Elijah asked her for some water, she was willing to fetch that for him. But when he asked for a bite to eat as well she explained how she didn’t have anything for him. Listen to Elijah’s response: “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land’” (1 Kings 17:13, 14).
What would you have done if you had been that widow? Would you have given this stranger your last bit of food? And if you had been Elijah, would you have been able to eat it in front of her and her starving son? Faith in God’s promise was essential for both Elijah and the widow. Motivated by God’s promise the widow went home and used up her last cup of flour and made bread for Elijah. Then, hardly daring to breathe, she checked the flour jar again. There was still flour there! Not much, but enough to make another little cake for her son and herself!
What an encouragement Elijah’s presence must have been to that widow. Shortly before his arrival she had been resigned to starving to death. Now she was confident that her flour and oil would not run out until the drought had ended. She knew that the Lord had not abandoned her. On the other hand the widow must have been an encouragement to Elijah. Here was someone else who took God’s promises seriously. And my how it showed in her actions! This should have given Elijah hope for his own people. If God could work such faith in the heart of a gentile, he certainly could turn around the hearts of his own people. Therefore Elijah’s ministry was not in vain!
There is so much that applies to us from this true story that I’m not sure where to begin. Let’s start with this truth: God’s Word is powerful. I need that reminder often for when I look at our congregational statistics and see, once again, that we haven’t grown, it’s easy to think: “What’s the point? Why continue writing sermons and delivering Bible classes when it doesn’t seem to make a difference? Why waste time telling that person at the gym about Jesus when he probably won’t believe anyway?” Had Elijah thought that and stayed in Israel, he would have missed out on a miracle. In the same way we should not sell short the power of God’s Word. It does change hearts. You and I should know. It has changed our hearts! Keep scattering the seed.
On the other hand we learn that if we ignore God’s Word, in time God will take it away and give its blessings to someone else. That’s the point Jesus made when he referred to this story in our gospel lesson. He said that there was plenty of Israelite widows that would have benefitted from Elijah’s presence during that drought but God didn’t send him to any of them because Israel had turned its back on God’s Word. It might not seem like we are guilty of this sin because we’re sitting in church listening to that Word right now. But you don’t have to drive me out of this church to be guilty of rejecting God’s Word, as King Ahab was when he rejected Elijah. You can nod your head in agreement to everything I say from this pulpit while inwardly rummaging through the words as if cleaning out your garage and tossing what you don’t like. At least Ahab wasn’t hypocritical about his unbelief! Repent now and treasure God’s Word – all of it. Not just the promises but his commands too which speak against greed, lust, laziness. If you keep rejecting the Word, God will take it and its blessings from you. That much is clear from our text.
Another truth that strikes me has to do with stewardship. The command to love and trust in God with our whole heart, soul, and might, and to worship him with our offerings applies in good times as well as bad. We may say to ourselves, “I’ll wait until the economy improves and my job is secure. Then I’ll give to the Lord.” The widow didn’t have the luxury of waiting, did she? God expected her to feed Elijah for the duration of the drought. And it’s not just the rich who are expected to honor God with their possessions but the poor as well. As you look at the price tag of our building program you might be tempted to think, “I wish I could help but I’m not in a financial position to do so.” Well if you have any money at all or if you have any time or talent, you are in a position to help. Indeed, it’s what God wants you to do. It’s an opportunity for you to show with your actions that the Lord is number one in your life. Trust that as you give to him he will bless you, for King Solomon said: “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9, 10). No, the widow’s flour jar didn’t exactly overflow but the jar was never empty. God made sure of that and he will make sure to multiply what you divide.
But treasure most what God has already provided: forgiveness. Just as the flour in the widow’s house never ran out, so God’s forgiveness will never flag. As often as you sin, come to Jesus. He will not turn you away. His love can never be exhausted. His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). Just as Elijah was refreshed every time he ate of that miraculously provided flour, so your heart will be refreshed with God’s forgiveness, and your mind strengthened in resolve not to fall back into the same sins.
After our service this morning our building chairman, Mr. Slaback, will tell you more about our building plans. As you listen to him you may think: “Can we do this?” Yes we can! We have God’s promises. We are God’s people. In fact I can’t wait to see how God will work through you. Your faith-filled actions will be a great encouragement. Amen.
