1 Kings 18:20-39
"Stop Sitting on the Fence"
Ahab, son of Omri, ruled over the Northern Kingdom of Israel for 22 years, and he is described in 1 Kings Chapter 16 as being more evil than all the Kings who had come before him.
We are also told that he worshiped Baal--the Canaanite agricultural god, the giver of rain.
Oddly enough, there was a terrible drought going on in the land, and when our Scripture passage starts for this morning, we are three years into the drought.
But the people of Israel had become confused as to which God to worship, the Lord God Who brought them out of Egypt or Baal, whom their king was promoting.
Many, tried to serve both the Lord God and Baal.
It's sort of like they couldn't make up their mind, or they were trying to have the "best of both worlds," shall we say?
After 3 years without rain, Elijah told Ahab to assemble the people of Israel on Mount Carmel along with the 450 prophets of Baal.
So we are told that "Ahab sent the message to all the Israelites. He gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel."
Then, "Elijah approached all the people and said, 'How long will you hobble back and forth between two opinions?
If the Lord is God, follow God.
If Baal is God, follow Baal.'"
And we are told that "The people gave no answer."
So the central question in this story speaks not only to the people of Israel some 2,500 years ago, but it also speaks to us today.
"How long will you hobble back and forth between two opinions?"
"How long are you gonna keep sitting there on the fence?"
"Make up your mind."
"Will you follow God or will you follow Baal?"
Remember that Jesus said that no one can serve two masters.
So it is decision time on Mount Carmel, is it decision time in your life as well?
Do you find yourself caught between two worlds--the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of this world?
Do you have a hard time making a commitment to following Christ?
Are there just too many other things that get in the way?
Do you feel as if you are never fully in and never fully out?
In matters of faith, do you find yourself never really doubting, but never really devoted?
Are you "hobbling back and forth" between Jesus and some false god or gods?
Again, are you sitting on the fence?
The fence isn't a very comfortable place to sit, in more ways than one.
The fence is a place of procrastination.
The fence is a place where nothing gets done.
The fence is a waste of time, a waste of life.
James Chapter 4:14 tells us: "What is life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."
How many times have we heard people, as they have looked back on their lives say: "O, I should have done this...or...I should have done that. I wasted so much time"?
Perhaps you can relate to this yourself this morning.
We are good at putting things off, are we not?
We may talk to ourselves and say, "I should read my Bible and attend Bible study, but not now.
There will be another day."
We might say to ourselves, "I know I must make a decision to give my life fully to Jesus Christ, but not now, there will be another day."
How come we are so convinced that there is "plenty of time"?
Augustine said, "God has promised forgiveness for our repentance.
But He has not promised tomorrow to our procrastination."
The truth is, we should live each day as if it could be our last...'cause it very well could be.
Most of us know what we should do.
We know what we should be.
Why not start being that person today?
Why postpone our life of faith in Jesus Christ?
Confucius said, "To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice."
And that is true.
The hardest thing we may ever do is to make the commitment to give our lives fully to Jesus Christ.
It's the hardest thing to do, but it is the most important.
And when and if we finally make the decision to "get off that fence" we will find the greatest happiness, the greatest satisfaction, the most joy, and finally--peace.
Our lives gain an extra "spark" as we become part of a cause much bigger than ourselves.
We become transformed and begin the process of becoming the persons we were created, in the first place, to be.
So, in our Scripture passage for this morning, the people of Israel are called to make a decision about whom they will worship--The Lord God or Baal.
And Elijah uses his confrontation with the prophets of Baal to demonstrate, without a shred of doubt, the emptiness of their message and the foolishness of their worship.
Elijah begins by telling the people of Israel that they must make a decision as to whom they will worship.
Failure to choose, was and is, by default, a decision against serving God.
When the people do not answer Elijah's question as to whom they will worship, he sets up a contest between the One True God and the false god--Baal.
This is the way the contest would work: Elijah and the prophets of Baal would each prepare a bull for sacrifice on an altar and then call upon their god.
Whichever god sent the flash of fire to consume the sacrifice was the true God of Israel.
The prophets of Baal went first.
From morning until mid-afternoon, they paraded around the altar, crying out to Baal.
All day long these 450 prophets danced around the altar with growing frustration.
They performed some kind of "hopping dance," and we are told that Elijah started to make fun of them, presumably to heighten the tension: "Shout louder!" Elijah jeered.
"Perhaps he is lost in thought or wandering or traveling somewhere. Or maybe he is asleep and must wake up!"
And we are told: "So the prophets of Baal cried with a louder voice and cut themselves...their blood flowed all over them...they went crazy with their ritual..." but, "Still there was no sound or answer, no response whatsoever."
Can you imagine their frustration?
Can you imagine how lost and 'left alone' they must have felt?
Can you imagine their humiliation in front of all those people?
We too, live in a world which is more and more being dominated by false gods who are being promoted by false prophets.
Our tendency to cling to sources of security that are not God leaves us looking and feeling ridiculous and pathetic.
It's like we frantically dance to appease powers that aren't real...
...we try to ensure prosperity through things that cannot respond to us...
...we look for hope in things that cannot truly transform our lives.
When we don't recognize God as the Only Source of our rest and peace, we live our lives chaotically, on the edge of desperation.
We seek the Holy in profane places, we go hobbling through life with two different opinions which is as useful as the "hopping dance" of the prophets of Baal.
Our false gods appear no matter whether we are rich or poor, young or old.
If we live in a gated community in a suburban subdivision, we may be seduced by materialism and a culture that has an addiction to high-end possessions.
If we live in a turbulent inner-city neighborhood we may be tempted to seek security in a kind of "gang solidarity" that uses violence to reinforce group norms.
However we cloth these things, they cannot save!!!
What we are dealing with is spiritual warfare.
A battle is being fought for our hearts and our souls.
Just as we are told in 1st Peter 5:8: "[Our] enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."
Therefore we are called to "be alert," to "humble [ourselves]," to "cast all [our] anxiety on [God] because he cares for [us]."
But this is hard.
It's very easy to "get off course."
And this is because we live in a Fallen World.
We live in a world where our relationship with God has been severed.
We have rebelled against our Creator, we are not living the lives we were created to live.
And it is only through Jesus Christ, the Perfect Lamb Who was Slain that we can be brought back to a right relationship with God.
And it comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and it's a gift of God, lest anyone should boast.
It's a gift, but it must be accepted.
That means that we must get off that fence and make a decision about Who we are going to serve.
Will we accept God's free gift of salvation, through the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ?
I mean, that's how much God loves us.
Jesus came and died so that we can live.
In Revelation Chapter 5 we are told that Jesus was "slaughtered" and by His "blood" He has paid the "ransom" for all who will believe.
So that, through faith in Christ we be purchased by God from captivity to Satan!!!
Jesus has done this for you; for me!!!
What are we waiting for?
In our Scripture Lesson for this morning, the 450 prophets of Baal drive themselves nuts trying to get their false god to light the fire.
"Then Elijah said to all the people, 'Come here!'
All the people closed in..."
Elijah built an altar with twelve stones, representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
He dug a trench around the altar...
...he prepared the wood and the bull for the sacrifice and then...
...just to make it that much more mind-boggling and faith-filled he poured four jars of water over the offering and the wood--not once but three times, until the trench was full of water.
The prophets of Baal and the Israelites must have been completely dumb-founded at this point...
..."how are you gonna start a fire by drenching everything in water?"...
But Elijah wasn't the One Who was lighting the fire.
Just as we aren't the ones who save ourselves.
Our job is to jump off that fence--God does the saving.
Elijah said a two-sentence prayer and then "The Lord's fire fell" on that water drenched altar and "it consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the dust.
It even licked up the water in the trench!"
And when the people saw this, they were consumed as well as they "fell on their faces."
They exclaimed, "The Lord is the real God! The Lord is the real God!"
And this is what happens to us as well, when we finally make the decision to follow Christ, to be consumed by Christ!!!
We experience God in relationship--for real...
...when we decide for real that we will follow God no matter what...
...we will trust in God no matter what happens...
...through good times and bad, through happiness and heartbreak, through success and sadness.
We make the decision that we will believe in God even while the pain and violence of our time occupy center stage, dominate the news, disturb the sleep.
Following Christ means acting upon the conviction that God has already won the battle against Satan at the Cross, and He will someday return to set up the New Heaven and the New Earth, and the dwelling of God will once again be with God's people!!!
Following Christ means that no matter what, we have decided that we are going to keep the faith, and we are going to "sell all we have" in order to keep that faith, that treasure, that pearl of great price!!!
It's not hopping on this foot for a while and that foot a little while, in church every once in a while.
It takes daily commitment.
It takes the commitment of our entire selves.
Following Christ must come first over every other thing that comes up.
If a softball game is scheduled to be played when we are to be worshiping, it means not going to that softball game.
If the weather is nice when it's time for Bible study, it means coming to Bible study anyway.
If our eyes are extra tired in the morning it means reading our Bible, our devotion and praying to God anyway.
Fredrick Buechner once said, "Even in the wilderness, especially in the wilderness, you shall love [God]."
The question that Elijah asked the people on Mount Carmel, "How long will you hobble back and forth between two opinions?" is just as relevant to us today as it was 2,500 years ago.
"If the Lord is God, follow God.
If Baal is God, follow Baal."
The crux of the matter is that we must fully and finally choose...and we will choose, no matter what because if we choose not to choose, we will still have made a choice.
