Which God Will You Worship?
Elijah #2
I am definitely not a fan of the San Francisco Giants,
especially because they beat the Reds in the playoffs last year. Their starting pitcher in game 5 against us was Barry Zito, and I was reading an article about him last week.
Barry Zito was once known as one of the most dominating pitchers in Major League baseball. But in 2010 Zito had reached his lowest point: He was removed from his team's starting roster. The next season he was plagued by injuries and poor performances. But by the end of 2012 he had returned to his peak performance, winning his last 14 starts and playing a pivotal role in the San Francisco Giant's World Series victory.
[here’s where it gets interesting]
In a 2012 interview Zito said that God used suffering to get his attention, and to lead him to commit "his life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior."
Zito said: Sometimes you have to go through difficulty and physical trials to really get broken down. In 2011, I got broken down physically as well as mentally. I had this very odd injury in April, after never being hurt in 11 years, and I said, "All right, something bigger is going on here. A message is being sent, and I've got to listen."
A few months later, my best friend told me an old story.
A shepherd will be leading his sheep, and one of the sheep will be walking astray from the pack. The shepherd will take his rod and break the sheep's leg, and the sheep will have to rely on the shepherd to get better. But once that leg is completely healed, that sheep never leaves the side of the shepherd ever again.
Then Zito applied that to himself.
A lot of things happen to us as people, and we realize we've been relying on our own strength for too long. Last September, I got a tattoo, and it's the only one I have, of a golden calf on the inside of my right bicep. I show people that, and it signifies idolatry, and that I was putting things before God.
If you have your Bibles, open them up
to I Kings, chapter 18.
This is the second week in a series on Elijah…
If you missed last week, let me quickly review.
Elijah was called by God
to confront a very evil king named King Ahab,
who was married to the wicked Jezebel.
Ahab was the nineteenth consecutive evil king in Israel,
but scripture says that
he did more evil in the eyes of God
than anyone before him,
so he was the worst of the worst,
and of all his long list of evil actions,
the worst thing that he did was,
he continued turning the hearts of the people
away from the one true God
toward idols or false gods
especially Baal and Asherah.
Baal was the sun god.
Asherah was kind of like Baal’s wife,
and was the god of fertility and rain.
The people thought that if they worshipped these gods,
they’d have better crops,
be more wealthy and successful,
and have a better life.
You see, false gods promise what only the true God provides.
So God starts to use Elijah, to confront the king,
and Elijah tells Ahab,
“Because of your idolatry,
God sent me to tell you it’s not going to rain
until God tells me to pray and ask for rain.”
So, here is this major drought and famine,
Thousands of people are dying.
and during this time, God sends Elijah
into a period of hiding and preparation.
Well, as we pick up the story,
its now about 3 years later,
3 years of this drought has devastated the nation,
And God tells Elijah,
okay, its time to go back and talk to king Ahab again.
Chapter 18, Verse 1
After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land."
Skipping down to verse 17
…When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"
"I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have followed the Baals.
So he tells Ahab,
This is really your fault,
because you’re committing the sin of idolatry,
you’re putting false gods ahead of the one true God.
Lets do a little quiz.
Anyone whose been to seminary, you can’t answer…
What does the word monotheism mean?
[It’s the belief that there is only one God.]
What is polytheism?
[the belief that there are multiple gods]
In Israel at the time of Elijah,
were they monotheistic, or polytheistic?
[Poly… they would worship multiple gods]
Last question,
Are Christians in America today monotheistic or polytheistic?
Certainly all of us would say,
“Well, of course we are monotheistic.
We believe in one true God.”
But even though we believe in one true God,
many of us live polytheistic lives.
We say we believe in one God,
but we live as if we worship and serve
many false gods.
And that leads to the question,
what is more important,
what someone says, or what they do?
what is more important,
what they say, or how they live?
VIDEO: What’s Your God?
Now, we all just assume,
nobody worships idols anymore.
We know they did that in the Old Testament,
but nobody does that anymore.
But the truth is,
those idols that the Bible talks about,
those rival gods
have not gone away.
They just look different today.
They’ve gotten sneaky.
They’ve gone undercover.
They’re more devious than ever,
But our world today is packed with idols,
and those idols
can get us to sacrifice our lives to them
without us even knowing
that’s what we're doing.
And, today, we think,
these people back then must have been dim bulbs,
to think that they could make a statue,
out of wood or metal,
and then it would somehow turn into a god,
and they’d worship it.
But the truth is,
most people, even in ancient times,
understood that the statue itself,
was not the real god.
In fact, after they built a statue,
they would have kind of an inauguration ceremony
before it went online,
before it was activated.
Kind of a magical ceremony,
where the god would enter into the statue,
and then it would be given power.
You see, the statue,
was really just a way to manipulate
that spiritual power
to get them what they want.
Let me give you a definition of Idolatry:
I have an idol in my life, when
I put something at the center of my priorities
where only God belongs,
to try to get something
only God has the power to give.
Now, part of the problem with idolatry is
you can take something
that in itself is good
or can be used for good…
things like,
money,
work,
power,
even love…
You take good things,
but make it an idol
when you give it your ultimate devotion,
when you put it in the center
where only God belongs,
and you make it the priority of your life.
Now there’s another interesting thing about idols.
Prosperity tends to hide our idols;
Crises tends to reveal our idols.
In other words,
As long as things are going well in my life,
I don't think I have an idol problem.
I’m fine, I’m cool, its all good.
But then, a crisis comes into my life,
and my finances are threatened,
or my career is going down the tubes,
or a relationship is on the rocks,
or I get a serious illness,
and all of a sudden I start to realize,
you know, I was really counting on this thing,
for my security,
and my self-image,
and fulfillment,
and it didn’t work out,
and now what am I gonna do?
So for all of us, the question is not,
do I have an idol problem,
or do you have an idol problem.
No, I'm not asking that,
because that is just a given.
We all do.
We all have this temptation…
The great Christian leader, John Calvin said,
"The human heart is an idol factory."
We not only live in a society
filled with idols of success and materialism,
and beauty and appearance,
and status, and power,
We’re not only surrounded by it,
but we actually have an idol factory inside us,
in our own heart.
So the question is not,
whether we have an idol problem.
The real question is…
Which idol is God's biggest rival in my life?
Which idol is God's biggest rival in your life?
So before we get back to Elijah’s story,
we're going to take an IQ test, right now.
Not an intelligence quotient test,
an idolatry quotient test.
If you have a sermon outline in your bulletin,
you need to pull it out right now.
The test is on there.
Everybody needs their own paper,
couples, you cannot share on this.
If you don’t have an outline,
you can use another piece of paper,
to write on…
Now there’s going to be two parts to this test….
First, we're going to review the potential idols of our society.
If you have an outline these are already written on it,
if you’re just using a piece of paper
you’ll need to write these down.
Ready?
The first wannabe idol in our society is also the most obvious.
Money…
Does anybody doubt whether money can be an idol?
In Luke 16:13, Jesus said,
You cannot serve both God and Money."
Money wants to be more than just money,
it wants to take the top priority in your life.
2. Success.
Another very common idol in our society,
People build their whole lives around,
and sacrifice everything else,
even their families,
for success.
3. Education
Do you ever hear anybody brag about
their degrees or education?
That can be an idol.
We all want to impress each other
with how smart we are.
Another huge idol in our society,
4. Attractiveness, or appearance.
We spend a ton of money, and effort, and time,
and even go through physical pain and surgery
for this one.
The number five idol is a little more subtle...
5. Relationships
A relationship can become an idol,
If I put it in the wrong place in my life.
You ever heard the word, co-dependent?
That’s when you exist for the approval of another human being,
in our day we call that co-dependency.
In the Bible, they call it idolatry.
Some people are so afraid
of losing a relationship or being rejected,
that they wreck their lives,
and disobey God,
because the relationship seems more important,
its become an idol.
Idol #6
6. Pleasure.
This one covers a lot of ground,
from alcohol and drugs,
porn,
sexual addictions,
video games,
television and sports addictions,
There’s all kinds of ways that
we try to orient our lives
around self-gratification,
Nowadays we call it a habit or an addiction,
but the Bible calls it idolatry,
7. Work.
A lot of people trash their lives,
worshipping at that altar.
8. For idol #8, I left I blank space,
Maybe there’s something else
that you know is a big deal for you,
but I haven’t mentioned it.
You can fill in the blank with another potential idol.
Now that we have the list,
its evaluation time.
I'm going to ask some questions,
and after each of these questions,
I want you to put a little check mark
next to one of the items on your list.
Just choose whichever one fits best,
it doesn’t have to be a perfect fit,
just whichever comes closest.
Question one,
Which of these do I find myself thinking about the most?
Look over those eight on the list.
Which one of those eight occupies your mind the most,
maybe when you’re daydreaming,
or just stray thoughts,
but which one of those eight
do you think about the most?
Which of these do I most fear losing?
Which one tempts you to feel like
life might not be worth living
if I didn’t have this, or if I lost it?
Which of these most makes me feel that, because I have this or am this, I'm somebody?
In other words,
this makes me feel good about myself,
because I have this, or am this?
Which of these do I most depend on to make me feel secure?
But if I lost it, I’d feel insecure.
Which of these do I most want to be known for?
Which of these most easily cause my emotions to go up or down?
It makes me happiest when I have lots of it,
but makes me saddest when it's threatened.
Which of these would other people, who know me well, say is my most likely idol?
Which of these gets the largest share of my time and effort? Which one of these do I sacrifice the most for?
All right, everybody done?
Okay, hand your paper over to the person next to you,
and we'll correct them.
No, I’m kidding, don't do that.
Just look at which item
has the most check marks next to it,
because that will tell you,
your primary rival to God in your life.
We all have a rival,
we’re all tempted by some idol,
so the first step is simply recognizing
which idol it is for us,
which one is the biggest competitor,
for God’s place in my life.
Back to our story…
When Elijah comes to Ahab, he says,
“I want to have a good old-fashioned showdown.”
VIDEO: Anyone seen the movie, the Avengers?
Loki is a Norse god who’s trying to take over the world…
We’re going to watch a clip from the movie,
and in the middle of it, Loki says, I’m a god,
but that doesn’t work out well for him. As we watch,
Imagine for a second that Loki is Baal, and the hulk is Elijah…
I love what the hulk says at the end… “Puny god”
That’s just what Elijah does in this story.
In verse 19 he says
Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."
Can I just stop for a moment and say,
“That is one big honking table.” …850 people…
my dining room table would only fit about 4 or 500.
Verse 20: So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."
But the people said nothing.
Notice, Elijah the prophet,
steps into this polytheistic culture
and he makes a very prophetic
and very strong statement.
He says, “People, it is time to quit wavering.
Quit going back and forth.
It’s time to quit wavering,”
Now listen to this…
God is saying the same thing to all of us here today.
How long will you waver between two opinions?
If God is God, follow him.
And, if something else is your God, follow that,”
but “Quit wavering.
You see, here’s what wavering looks like.
God, please keep me out of Hell and get me into Heaven,
but I still want to do whatever I want.
God, I want all of Your good things,
but don’t want to stop my bad things.
God, I want you to bless my finances,
but I’m not going to give you the first part of my finances.
God, please answer my prayers and bless me,
but you don’t get top priority in my life.
God says, Quit wavering.
Quit being a Christian on Sunday
and different on Monday.
Quit claiming to be a Christian
if you’re acting at work like you don’t know him.
Quit wanting the benefits
and being unwilling to sacrifice.
Quit wavering.
Take a side, one way or the other.
In fact, here’s what Elijah would say
if he were here today.
He wouldn’t talk about Baal,
because we’d all go, “Baal, who?”
None of us worship Baal.
But here is what Elijah would say.
“If your false god is what’s most important to you,
then go all the way with it,
sell out to that.
Just like he told the people of Israel…
If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."
If possessions are really the most important thing,
then quit being half-hearted about it,
go for it,
get into massive debt,
Steal, if you have to,
because that’s your god, its worth it.
So go for it all the way,
get all the possessions you can,
because that’s the most important thing in life.
And by the way,
don’t ever give anything, again.
Don’t ever do anything generous,
Because that would be wavering,
that would take away from your worship
of accumulating possessions.
And Elijah would tell us today,
if your looks are most important,
if that’s gonna be your god,
then don’t just halfway do it.
Buy whatever clothes you need,
get all the right accessories,
forget about the cost,
Then get into the gym 3 hours a day,
who cares if you have time for anything else
Quit wavering,
Get the surgery,
get the liposuction,
whatever it takes.
tan it,
tweak it,
tat it,
puff it,
tuck it,
lift it,
twist it,
curl it,
color it,
whatever it takes
And by the way,
just ignore the fact that you’re going to get old and die.
Don’t even think about that.
The god of your appearance doesn’t want you to think about that.
Or how about the false god of sexual pleasure.
If that’s your god, go for it.
Quit wavering,
Don’t let something as small as marriage
hold you back.
And if you’re not married, more power to you.
Do whatever you want.
Go for it all the way.
But then Elijah would end by telling us,
But! But…
If Christ, the Son of God, is really your God,
then quit your wavering.
Serve Him with all of your heart.
Don’t just claim to be following Him
but then you live as if He doesn’t exist.
Serve Him all the way!
‘Quit wavering.
How long will you waver between two opinions?”
Well, Elijah says this to the people,
and then he decides
its time to back it up with power.
He has a showdown,
He says, “Get a couple bulls for me.
We are going to build a couple of altars,
and we are going to sacrifice these.
You call on your idol,
I’ll call on the one true God,
and whoever answers with fire from heaven,
that’s the true God.
The people say,
sounds good, lets do it.
Elijah tells the prophets of Baal,
you guys go first,
since there’s so many of you, and just one of me.
Verse 26
So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
Now, I love the next part…
Elijah starts messing with them.
This is funny, the great man of God,
and he’s heckling them.
Verse 27
At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.
If you read on, verses 28 through 35,
they shouted louder,
they danced around,
they went crazy.
I read this and it makes me think.
You know, so many of us,
we don’t dance for false gods all day long,
many of us do it all lifetime long,
Our whole life is spent dancing around
trying to get success, for ourselves and our kids,
trying to get applause and popularity,
trying to get everyone to like us,
We’re worshipping all that our false gods promise,
but can never deliver.
But then one day eventually,
we discover what these prophets of Baal discover.
It doesn’t work,
our false gods don’t deliver what we hoped.
Verse 29
Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
Well, finally its Elijah’s turn.
Verse 36
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
Can you feel the power in those statements?
let it be known today that you are God
answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
He’s saying,
Lord, reveal yourself,
show us who You are.
Why?
So that You may turn the hearts of the people back again,
Because they used to know You.
They used to walk with You.
They used to serve You.
They used to worship You,
but these false gods have taken Your place, Oh God.
Turn their hearts back again.”
Some of us here this morning might say,
Yeah, I used to know him,
I used to walk with God.
But I kind of walked away.
I let some other false god
take the top priority in my life.
If that’s true for you today,
then here’s what God would say to you.
He’d say,
I want to reveal myself to you again.
I want to show my power in you again,
let me turn your heart back to me.
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!"
Now, I’ll be honest.
The first time I read this story I thought to myself,
“Well, duh, you send fireball from Heaven,
of course they’re impressed.
Of course they believe, when you do that.
So God, why don’t you do that today?
God why don’t you show yourself like that today?
The reason is that,
about 700 years after Elijah,
God went way beyond doing an impressive miracle,
he went way beyond sending lighting from heaven,
He sent his own son from heaven,
so that people could see in the flesh,
what God is really like.
His Son, Jesus came and lived a perfect life
then died for us on a cross and was raised again,
so we could know God.
You don’t need to send lightning,
when you’ve already sent your son.
And guess what this Jesus, the son of God, said.
He said the same thing Elijah did.
Elijah said, how long will you waver,
trying to serve false gods and the real God.
Quit wavering and make a choice.
Jesus said the same thing.
He said you can’t be half-hearted,
you can’t be wavering, when it comes to God.
He said, the number one commandment is
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
Matt 22:37-39
He said you cannot love God and money.
don’t waver between two opinions about that.
Jesus says
"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
Luke 9:23
No wavering, go all the way.
In Revelation he says…
…because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
He says, if you keep on wavering,
going back and forth to idols,
eventually I’ll spit you out,
I don’t want followers like that.
Jesus says again and again,
in many different ways,
no more wavering,
no more half-hearted living,
no more trying to follow me
but also keeping some little idols in your heart.
make your choice,
if you want to follow Christ, do it all the way.
STAND FOR PRAYER
Heavenly Father, You know the truth about us. We live in a society filled with idols, and our hearts are idol factories,
But right now, God, as best we can, we lay our would-be idols before You. We want to surrender to You. We want to offer You our devotion, our adoration. We want to make you the center, the first priority.
And God, I pray that You give us eyes to see all the different areas of our lives where idolatry has crept in, and we confess those sins to You and ask You to cleanse us, God. We ask that you reveal Yourself by the fire of the Holy Spirit, that You would become so real to us now, that we would worship and love and serve You with all of our hearts, all of our minds, all of our soul, and all of our strength.”
If you’re not sure of your relationship with God,
if you’re not sure you’re a part of his family, right now and for forever, then its time for you to make that commitment.
Just pray in your heart with me right now…
“Heavenly Father, I admit that I’m a sinner, and I need a Savior. Jesus, I believe You’re the Son of God, who died for me and rose again to make a way for me to know the one true God. Right now I ask you, would you be the Savior of my life. I put You on the throne, and commit that I now belong to You. Take all of my life, From this point forward, I am Yours. And I thank You now for the new life you’ve given me. In Jesus’ name I pray.”
