STUCK BETWEEN TWO ALTARS
The Problem of Indecision
1Kings 18:20-40
The people of Israel are standing between two altars during the time of Elijah. We are also facing the same choices today. Different forms but the same spirit. Like the Jews, are you still stuck in the middle?
THERE ARE TWO ALTARS MENTIONED HERE:
1. THE FIRELESS ALTAR OF BAAL
2. THE FLAMING ALTAR OF THE LORD
I – THE FIRELESS ALTAR
Are we still offering sacrifices to the FIRELESS ALTAR today? To better understand, let us expose the characteristic of this FIRELESS ALTAR.
1. IT OFFERS OPEN OPTIONS BUT PROVIDES NO SATISFACTION.
20So Ahab called all the Israelites and those prophets to Mount Carmel. 21Elijah approached the people and said, “How long will you not decide between two choices? If the LORD is the true God, follow him, but if Baal is the true God, follow him!” But the people said nothing.
THIS BAAL WORSHIP GAVE THEM ALTERNATIVES:
1. It gave them access with dignitaries and Royals
2. It gave them legal rights to enjoy the luxury of sin
3. It provide them exemption from persecution
4. It offer them financial support from the queen
Opportunities and the offer of choices make the people confused in the middle
THE KID IN THE CANDY BAR (illustration story)
A kid walked into a candy store with his dad and was amazed by the display of delicacies on offer.“What should I choose? What should I choose? What should I choose?” He asked himself.“Come on son, we don’t have all day,” his dad said.“These are my favourites. No wait, these are my favourites.” He walked along the aisles, picking up bags and putting them back. He just couldn’t make up his mind.“Quick son, make up your mind, we have to go,” His impatient dad said.
Frantically, the boy ran around the store, his eyes moving from one shelf to another, but all of the options looked so good and he couldn’t make a decision. Eventually, the dad had enough, grabbed his son by the hand and they walked out of the store empty-handed.
The young boy had tears in his eyes. He wanted them all, but ended up with nothing because he couldn’t choose just one.
We’re that boy! The world is that candy store! We have a multitude of options available to us, but if we don’t make a decision about our career, education, relationships, investments, church or other important issues, we end up empty-handed.
Sometimes we worry about making the wrong choice. But the bigger danger is that we make no decision at all and end up going nowhere and doing nothing.
At Starbucks, a customer ordered a decaf Grande sugar-free vanilla nonfat latte with extra foam and the milk heated to 140 degrees. Suddenly, his choices made me unhappier about my own. I began to covet. I wasn’t sure what I wanted anymore. I became anxious and indecisive. I wasn’t sure I was ready to commit — either to my kind of coffee or to his. Was this really freedom of choice, or slavery to it?
What if we take the same multiplicity of trivial options we have at Starbucks, and apply them to bigger questions: where we should work, where we should study, where we should live, whom we should marry, or whom we should worship? It seems that the more options we have, the more afraid we are of choosing. We become enslaved to being noncommittal. We don’t want to make a mistake or cut down our options. In fact, we may become so fearful of making a choice, we simply refuse to choose. As we do that, we are worshiping an idol. A false god! One of the Baals of our culture! In fact, his name is “open options.”
(By Barry Coorper – Desiring God)
ARE WE STILL OFFERING SACRIFICES TO THE FIRELESS ALTAR TODAY?
1. Yes! If we cannot make a decisions to fully surrender our lives to God
2. Yes! If we allow the multiple choices and opportunities that the world offer to hinder our commitment to follow and obey God
3. Yes if we are still hanging and stuck in the middle of indecision between commitment and compromise.
Let us continue to expose the characteristic of this FIRELESS ALTAR.
2. IT ENJOYS MAJORITY OPINIONS BUT NO COMPLIANCE WITH THE TRUTH.
22Elijah said, “I am the only prophet of the LORD here, but there are four hundred fifty prophets of Baal.
Same sex marriage, homosexuality, polygamy – they are becoming popular and accepted way of life today. But as a people believing on the word of God, what should be our stand? Like Elijah, are you willing to take a stand even when you are alone against the majority?
ARE WE STILL OFFERING SACRIFICES TO THE FIRELESS ALTAR TODAY?
1. Yes! If we compromise our stand against the popular opinion of the world
2. Yes! If we bow down to the pressure of majority and abandon our faith in God’s word which is the absolute truth and our foundation for all our decisions.
3. Yes! If the fear of people silent your voice and prevent you from doing the will of God
Let us continue to expose the characteristic of this FIRELESS ALTAR.
3. IT DUPLICATES OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF RELIGIOSITY BUT CANNOT PASS THE TEST OF AUTHENTICITY.
23Bring two bulls. Let the prophets of Baal choose one bull and kill it and cut it into pieces. Then let them put the meat on the wood, but they are not to set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull, putting the meat on the wood but not setting fire to it. 24You prophets of Baal, pray to your god, and I will pray to the LORD. The god who answers by setting fire to his wood is the true God.”All the people agreed that this was a good idea.
25Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “There are many of you, so you go first. Choose a bull and prepare it. Pray to your god, but don’t start the fire.”
At the onset, the service at the fake altar of Baal is almost identical with the Altar of God. There is altar, sacrifice bull, prayers, praise, dances, songs, prophets and atmosphere of religiosity. There is only one lacking, the fire which gives life! The symbol of the Holy Spirit of God!
THE FAKE GORILLA (illustration story)
The story is told of a zoo that was noted for their great collection of different animals. One day the gorilla died, and to keep up the appearance of a full range of animals, the zookeeper hired a man to wear a gorilla suit and fill in for the dead animal. It was his first day on the job, and the man didn’t know how to act like a gorilla very well. As he tried to move convincingly, he got too close to the wall of the enclosure and tripped and fell into the lion exhibit. He began to scream, convinced his life was over…until the lion spoke to him: “Be quiet, or you’re going to get us both fired!” Like the fake Gorilla in the above story, there are many fake or duplicate Christian today.
ARE WE STILL OFFERING SACRIFICES TO THE FIRELESS ALTAR TODAY?
1. Yes! If our service to God does not come from the genuine and authentic spirit
2. Yes! If our motive of our heart is self centered and does not give glory to God.
3. Yes! If our love for God is half hearted and we are only serving Him for personal gain.
Let us continue to expose the characteristic of this FIRELESS ALTAR.
4. IT REQUIRES EXTENSIVE RITUALS BUT EMPTY RETURN.
26So they took the bull that was given to them and prepared it. They prayed to Baal from morning until noon, shouting “Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound, and no one answered. They danced around the altar they had built.
27At noon Elijah began to make fun of them. “Pray louder!” he said. “If Baal really is a god, maybe he is thinking, or busy, or traveling! Maybe he is sleeping so you will have to wake him!”
As I read, the above scripture passages, I wonder if the prophets of Baal really believe that Baal can send fire on their altar. I’m sure that they never experience it before. But the pressure of the challenge of Elijah which was made in the midst of people forced them to oblige themselves to accept the showdown.
In our generation, we can also suggest that there are many professing Christians who pray every day in the church but do not actually believe from the bottom of their hearts that God can answer their prayer. Their church activity is only mechanical and they are doing all things for the sake of their Christian duty not from the real conviction of the hearts.
The Church and the Bar (illustration story)
In a small town in America, a person decided to open up his bar business, which was right opposite to a church. The church & its congregation started a campaign to block the bar from opening with
petitions and prayed daily against his business.
Work progressed. However, when it was almost complete and was about to open a few days later, a strong lightning struck the bar and it was
burnt to the ground. The church folk were rather smug in their outlook after that, till The bar owner sued the church authorities for $2million on the grounds that the church through its congregation &
prayers was ultimately responsible For the demise of his bar shop,
either through direct or indirect actions or means.
In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection that their prayers were reasons to the bar shop’s demise. In support of their claim they referred to the Benson study at Harvard that inter-cessionary prayer had no impact!
As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork and at the hearing and commented: "I don’t know how I am going to decide this case, but it appears from
the paperwork that… we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer and we have an entire church and its devotees that does not."
ARE WE STILL OFFERING SACRIFICES TO THE FIRELESS ALTAR TODAY?
1. Yes! If our belief and experience in God is only mechanical religiosity and does not produce real change of our heart
2. Yes! If we do not really experience and encounter God in a personal way
3. Yes! If we do not have the fire in our heart that keeps burning for the glory of God like Elijah
Let us continue to expose the characteristic of this FIRELESS ALTAR.
5. IT DEMANDS GRUESOME SACRIFICE BUT NO GAIN.
28The prophets prayed louder, cutting themselves with swords and spears until their blood flowed, which was the way they worshiped.
29The afternoon passed, and the prophets continued to act like this until it was time for the evening sacrifice. But no voice was heard; Baal did not answer, and no one paid attention.
We can tell from the above passage that the bloody sacrifice that the prophets of Baal are but nonsense. I don’t know and I don’t care if they are sincere or not but to me they are useless!
TODAY ARE WE STILL OFFERING A SENSELESS SACRIFICE?
My answer is yes because I saw people dying in hazing in our country. They trade in their physical health, safety and even their very own lives for the acceptance of people in their brotherhood, gangs and fraternity.
My answer is yes because I read almost every day in the news about people who are serving the wrong cause, the wrong war, and the wrong gods which are called extremism and terrorism. These gods like Baal does not care for the people’s lives and they are willing to destroy people’s body even everything dear to us.
My answer is yes every time we trade in the welfare of our family for money, for own ambitions or for the pleasure of sinful life. As an Overseas Filipino Worker in the Middle East, I already saw many ruined family and broken lives because of the husband or wife that sacrifice their own family in exchange for forbidden relationship with other men or woman while working in different country.
LET US REVIEW THE CHARACTERISTIC OF FIRELESS ALTAR
1. It offers open options but provides no satisfaction
2. It enjoys popular opinions but no compliance with the truth
3. It duplicates outward appearance of religiosity but cannot pass the test of authenticity
4. It requires extensive rituals but empty return
5. It demands gruesome sacrifice but no gain
THERE ARE TWO ALTARS MENTIONED
1. THE FIRELESS ALTAR OF BAAL
2. THE FLAMING ALTAR OF THE LORD
As we already discussed the first altar, let us proceed to the second altar which is the Flaming altar of God.
II – THE FLAMING ALTAR
1. IT IS CONSTRUCTING
30Then Elijah said to all the people, “Now come to me.” So they gathered around him, and Elijah rebuilt the altar of the LORD, which had been torn down.
How do we offer sacrifices to the Altar of God today?
1. By coming to hear the Word God
2. By gathering and attending fellowship with God’s people
3. By rebuilding altar in our hearts through worship
2. IT IS CONNECTING
31He took twelve stones, one stone for each of the twelve tribes, the number of Jacob’s sons. (The LORDchanged Jacob’s name to Israel.)
32Elijah used these stones to rebuild the altar in honor of the LORD.
How do we built an altar of worship today?
1. By gathering members of our family and joining other people also to be members of God’s family
2. By digging in the word of God to let its message sink into our hearts
3. IT IS CLEANSING
Then he dug a ditch around the altar that was big enough to hold about thirteen quarts of seed.33Elijah put the wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood.
34Then he said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the meat and on the wood.” Then Elijah said, “Do it again,” and they did it again. Then he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it the third time. 35So the water ran off the altar and filled the ditch.
Today, we are the living sacrifice in God’s altar of worship. What happened to us when we offer our lives to God?
1. We are being cleansed and soak with water which is the word of God
2. Then we are being burned with fire which symbolize the Holy Spirit
4. IT IS CONFIRMING
36At the time for the evening sacrifice, the prophet Elijah went near the altar. “LORD, you are the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,” he prayed. “Prove that you are the God of Israel and that I am your servant. Show these people that you commanded me to do all these things. 37LORD, answer my prayer so these people will know that you, LORD, are God and that you will change their minds.”
The Lord will confirm his promises
• He will heal our diseases
• He will protect us
• He will change us
• He will bless us
• He will sustain us
• He will deliver us
• He will vindicate us
• He will raise us
5. IT IS CONSUMING
38Then fire from the LORD came down and burned the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the ground around the altar. It also dried up the water in the ditch.
The Lord will purify us in His Altar
• He will burn all our trash, garbage and waste
• He will purify us like fire purifying the gold
• He will change us in His presence
• He will charge us with power of the Holy Spirit
• He will anoint us with his glory
• He will equip us with divine authority
6. IT IS COMPELLING
39When all the people saw this, they fell down to the ground, crying, “The LORD is God! The LORD is God!”
What convince the people that our God is the Lord? When they saw that the sacrifice is burning with fire it compel them to believe
• If they will see us burning with fire of enthusiasm from the Holy Spirit, then they will believe
• If they will see us change and purify by God, then they will believe
7. IT IS CAPTURING
40Then Elijah said, “Capture the prophets of Baal! Don’t let any of them run away!” The people captured all the prophets. Then Elijah led them down to the Kishon Valley, where he killed them.
There are Baal prophets in our lives that must be captured and killed
• In the altar of God, our unbelief must be removed
• Our pride must be eliminated
• Our sin must be arrested
• Our disobedience must be subdued
• Our rebellious spirit must be corrected
• Our hearts must yield to God
The Blessing of a Flaming Altar of God
1. It is Constructing
2. It is Connecting
3. It is Cleansing
4. It is Confirming
5. It is Consuming
6. It is Compelling
7. It is Capturing
If you have been blessed, encouraged or inspired by this sermon then it’s your turn to be an encouragement too. You can do it by sending email to this author at spy2rb@yahoo.com or post comment on the discussion box below.
