9.1.11
INTRO
Every New Year some people make New Year's resolutions -- we resolve either to start doing something good or stop doing something harmful.
Favourites are to do with diet and exercise. Some have to do with relationships and behaviour.
Many do not lead to lasting change. Some do.
At the beginning of a New Year as Christians we may aspire to a closer walk with God -- a new depth to our faith.
Last Sunday -- the first Sunday in the year -- we focused on how we might develop our faith and our walk with God in 2011, and not be disappointed.
RECAP
I spoke about memory -- and how the people of God down the centuries when they forgot their identity as children of the Father, drifted so far from living as the people of God that apart from ritual religion they were indistinct among the other people of the nations.
Micah the prophet revealed to them God's ways:
Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
He called on them to remember who they were and to display godly character in their ways of living as a result.
This is the first in a series on ways of developing our relationship with God that works for us. (Sanctification if you like -- means the same thing)
* You want to experience the power and presence of God
* you want to know greater intimacy with the Lord
* you want to have greater power over sin,
* you want to be able to share your faith with greater confidence,
* you want to be free from fear.
* But try as you might it has not been happening for you.
* It's frustrating and discouraging because you feel that it is expected of you but you cannot seem to get there.
* You want a closer walk with God this year.
Well there are ways and it is possible.
POINT
* When we forget who we are in Christ we can lose the plot.
* But when we remember who we are in Christ we are restored in our confidence and find the path once more.
POINT There is a great Bible character who illustrates this very well for us:
READING 1 Kings 19:1-18
One of the most comforting things James has to say to us in his New Testament letter is:
'Elijah was a man just like us'
POINT
The Bible is refreshingly honest about its characters. We read of:
* Moses' loss of temper
* Jonah's disobedience
* Peter's cowardice,
* King David's philandering
* Elijah's doubt and deep depression (even after all he had accomplished)
POINT
Each of these people needed time to be silent and listen to God.
* Moses met with God on the mountain
* Jonah had a time for serious reflection in the belly of the great fish
* Peter took himself off fishing as he ruminated over his denial of Jesus
* David suffered the discipline of the Lord and prayed sincere prayers of repentance
* And Elijah also needed solitude and space in order to be able to hear God as he needed to.
APPLIC
We are not likely to be different. At some stage in our life we too may need God to intervene for us.
1. HOW DO WE END UP LOSING SIGHT OF WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST AS CHILDREN OF THE FATHER
For Elijah
* Why would a person like Elijah who had shown such faith and courage when challenging the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, now run terrified from woman Jezebel?
POINT
I Kings 19 gives us clues about the cause and the cure:
CAUSES FOR ELIJAH:
A. PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION through overdoing it:
* Elijah had spent a long and exhausting day at Mount Carmel. It is unlikely that he had eaten.
* He had not slept, and his body had been thoroughly "adrenalized" in the contest with the priests of Baal.
* Then he ran beside Ahab's chariot from Carmel to Jezreel, about 8 to 10 miles.
* Then he was off to Beersheba
* And he wondered why he wasn't feeling right?
APPLIC
It pays to look after ourselves physically and emotionally. It's why we have the commandment: Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy -- and Jesus' words: 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath' REST IS ALL IMPORTANT.
B. DISCOURAGEMENT AND DISAPPOINTMENT
* Elijah was disappointed.
POINT
After this great sign from God on Mount Carmel, Ahab and Jezebel, instead of repenting sought to destroy him.
POINT
There is nothing more discouraging than providing the most convincing evidence of divine truth only to see the people you want to change become more hostile.
ILLUSTR
- The raising of Lazarus:
John 11:48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
- The healing of the crippled man
Acts 4:16 an outstanding miracle had been done through Peter and John. So the authorities decided to warn them no longer to speak in the name of Jesus.
APPLIC
Don't underestimate the power of discouragement. It has knocked many a good Christian out of the battle. This is why encouragement is such a powerful gift, and why the Bible says, 'encourage one another daily'.
Encouragement brings us in touch again with healing and restoring truths that can transform the way we feel and bring us closer to God once again.
C. FEAR
1 Kings 19:2-3
So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."
[3] Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.
POINT
This was no idle threat. Elijah knew that Jezebel could make true her word.
Background:
We know from Canaanite literature that the goddesses the Canaanites worshipped were of the most vicious and violent character imaginable.
The goddesses even outstripped the gods of that time in their sheer violence.
Jezebel was a Canaanite, a Phoenician, and reflected much of the character of the goddesses that she worshipped.
There is a very chilling account in Canaanite literature of Anat, the consort of Baal, who wades into battle with Baal's warriors.
There is a very vivid description of the carnage that follows, and how she washes her hands in their blood after the battle. This is what the goddesses that the Canaanites worshipped were like, and Jezebel reflected that violence.
2. HOW HAD ALL THIS AFFECTED ELIJAH?
* Elijah needed a hug:
* He had got himself into such a loop of negative thinking that he couldn't get out of it.
* Elijah needed to hear from God!
State of mind:
Anxiety -- 'Elijah was afraid and ran'
Isolation -- 'left his servant behind'
Exhaustion -- 'I have had enough Lord'
Wishing for death -- 'Take away my life'
Low self-esteem -- 'I am no better than my ancestors'
Self-pity (For the same reason)
Loss of perspective -- 'I am the only one left'
POINT
It was at this point that God intervened for him.
3. ELIJAH GOD ALONE WITH GOD AND HEARD GOD TELL HIM WHAT HE NEEDED TO HEAR
POINT
* he came to "the cave."
* writer of this account has a specific cave in mind
* the cave where the Lord revealed himself to Moses.
What God said to Elijah
* God spoke tenderly (Like a counsellor)
'What are you doing here Elijah?'
Then the Theophany: Wind, earthquake, fire.
Then a Gentle whisper!
What did God Whisper? What was God's message?
It appears Elijah kept some of this to himself.
(Maybe it was so precious that he didn't want it to become diluted by telling others)
But we know the essence of it included:
* You are not a failure?
* You are not on your own?
* I've still got something for you to do?
He had not failed (Ahab and Jezebel had failed to repent)
He wasn't on his own
"Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him" (v. 18).
God still had something for him to do
* Direction 'Go back the way you came--- '
= you get back to where you once were in your relationship with me.
APPLIC
In Jim Belcher's book 'Deep Church' the author confesses to having been depressed and how helpful it was for him to discover
"I was struggling in a new city, far from my community, and I was depressed. I picked up a book called Spiritual Depression by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the famous London preacher. A chapter in the book changed my life. In 'the True Foundation' he says that so much of our difficulties in the Christian life (including some types of depression) come from our confusion of justification and sanctification. Once we become Christians we ignore our sanctification -- that we are saved by grace, through faith, on account of Christ -- and focus on obedience, sanctification. We stop preaching the gospel to ourselves and keep trying to live the Christian life. But we can't live up to the ideal and get discouraged, maybe even depressed. I certainly was. The solution to this problem is to put our justification before our sanctification every day. Only when we preach the gospel to ourselves -- our justification, or adoption, our union with Christ, our participation in the kingdom of God -- will we have the power and motivation to obey. We need grace to be saved, and we need grace to obey ... I soon discovered that this view of justification and sanctification has been called the indicative and imperative. [Deep Church p 154f -- quote Jim Belcher)
He discovered that this is called putting the indicative before the imperative.
Martin Lloyd Jones pointed out that as Christians, once we become Christians we focus on our 'Sanctification' (spiritual formation and development) and not on our 'Justification' (that we have been forgiven and made new in Christ as thought we had never sinned -- freely as the gift of God)
In doing so we are in danger of focusing on the gap between what we aspire to be as Christians and how far short of this we fall. It can lead to discouragement and depression. MLJ recommended that we focus daily first on our JUSTIFICATION before giving our attention to our SANCTIFICATION.
CLOSE
If at this time you have been feeling abandoned, discouraged and depressed know that there is always a way back from this. Take this as a timely word from God today. You were never alone in your distress. Outstanding saints, prophets and patriarchs have gone this way before you. They recovered and they found their way forward and a closer walk with God. Be encouraged as God ministers to your own heart today.
