Elijah, A Hero Who Did Not Waver
#heroes
OKAY
THIS MORNING – is week 7 of our Summer 2016 series, ‘Heroes, Amazing Stories Of Faith’
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. – Hebrews 12:1
QUESTION – have you noticed that their seems to be increasingly (more and more) warning signs and labels everywhere? I MEAN – in our day, there are warning labels on just about everything.
THIS WEEK – I went online looking for crazy warning signs and labels… (you know, the kind that you read and you are like, seriously – they really need to put that on there)
HERE - are my top ten from want I found this week… AND HEY – if you know of any other ones shoot me an email this week…
#10
#9
#8
#7
#6
#5
#4
#3
#2
#1
If you touch these and die, it’s gonna cost you, and if this doesn’t work, maybe this will. Maybe that’ll get your attention.
YEAH - there are just a lot of signs…a lot of warnings that don’t seem necessary. BUT - here’s what we know: We know that there are certain times when we need to be warned that we’re in a dangerous situation, because ignoring those warnings can lead to some pretty devastating consequences. Like….
NOW – the hero we are unpacking today… was a one of God’s prophet… a pretty well know one at that.
AND UNDERSTAND – the prophets were God’s messengers who oftentimes warned the people of destruction that was coming, of devastation that was on its way…
IF THEY - didn’t change and do something different.
IN FACT – we read these words in the final chapter of the book of 2 Chronicles… (as the city of Jerusalem falls and is destroyed)… IT’S – kind of a summary statement that come on the screen as we watch scene after scene of the destruction of God’s people and their cities.
And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.
But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy.
– 2 Chronicles 36:15,16
AND LISTEN - when it says God would “rise up early”
IT - doesn’t mean that God set the alarm clock and got up early in the day… NO - it means that God…
BEFORE - tragedy struck,
BEFORE - there was devastation,
BEFORE - sin took root and there was the full weight of its consequences—God would speak and He would warn the people, “Look, you need to make some changes.”
NOW – the prophets would occasionally ‘predict’ a dramatic future event that had been revealed by God.
But they would regularly give a message of warning from God to His people.
MEN LIKE – Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah… would hear from God. THEN THEY - would speak on God’s behalf and they would say to the people,
“You need to turn around. You can’t keep going down this path. If you don’t make some changes, let me tell you where all of this is gonna end.
Let me tell you what’s gonna become of this nation,
What’s gonna become of your family, what’s gonna become of your life if you don’t do some things differently.”
AND AGAIN – this morning we are going to meet one of these prophets … His name is Elijah… which means
“My God Is Yahweh!”
NOW - Elijah arrived on the scene about 900 years before Christ. AND - at this time Israel was politically and economically prospering under the rule of King Ahab.
Peace had been established with Judah in the south.
And also a mutually advantageous alliance had been formed with the Phoenicians on the coast, who were the undisputed leaders in international trade on the seas.
Peace and prosperity.... not bad things in and of themselves,
BUT BEFORE - we start a re-elect Ahab campaign…LET’S - do a little more vetting and find out who these guy really is. BECAUSE - there is more to a great leader than simply making us happy, bringing about peace and filling our pocketbooks.
IN FACT - the ultimate criteria for any leader is what does ‘The’ Leader – What does Almighty God think of him…
After all God is the one who Daniel says in Daniel 2:21,
who raises up and brings down Kings and Kingdoms.
WELL - 1 Kings tells us some ‘need to know’ stuff about Ahab, that ruled for 22 years, AND…
Ahab… did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him.
He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him… - 1 Kings 16:30-34
NOW - Ahab's selection of a mate was not very good.... Jezebel was a terrible women.
I MEAN - she was so bad that her name has come down to us as a symbol of evil.
AND UNDERSTAND - Jezebel was a jealous worshipper of Baal... AND - she was determined to have the worship of her god declared as the official religion of Israel...
Baal was the god of fertility, crops and rain..
AND - Baal worship included human sacrifice and was usually accompanied by drunken orgies and all kinds of sexual perversion.
THIS - is what made it so popular to the people and so detestable to God.... (yeah I think, I’ll head over to the temple to have sex.. I mean to worship)
AND LISTEN - the main obstacles to Jezebel’s religious pursuits were the prophets of God... SO - the evil queen launch a bloody campaign to eliminate this opposition...
Many prophets were killed at her command and many more were forced into hiding...
THEN – one day, a guy named Elijah comes riding onto the scene… AND THIS – is a very bold move on his part, hundreds of God’s prophets had been hunted down and killed and others are dead and others are hiding…
(I picture him as a William Wallace kind of guy)…
AND - you just know that Jezebel just had to hate to hear his name even spoken…
AHAB - My Queen… “what is it?”
‘I just want to let you that My God is Yahweh’ has just rode into town again… and this time he says that he has a message for us…
Elijah… said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” – 1 Kings 17:1
Awesome – bold – direct - powerful
Elijah is saying, "Ahab, because you have encouraged the worship of Baal, the worship of rain -- there isn't going to be any rain or even dew for the next few years, until I say so …. AND THEN - you and the people will see just how weak and pathetic this so called god Baal really is..."
Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did rain for three and a half years.
– James 5:17
WELL THREE YEARS – into the drought… Elijah arranges a meeting with King Ahab…
And the king is like “oh, there you are… the one who has brought so much trouble on our nation…”
“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.
19 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.”
YEAH – I am calling you out.
20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, - 1 Kings 18:18-21
The Choice
PICTURE – the scene. Thousands of people and just one Elijah.
“How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
Like I said, Elijah – is calling them out…
• You’ve been taught you must follow God, walk in His ways and not have any other God’s before Him or in His presence
• And this Jezebel comes along and has convinced you that it is totally okay to worship her gods.
• She’s wrong – you’re wrong.
“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. – 1 Kings 18:21
QUESTION… Why did the people say nothing? BECAUSE – they wanted both… I MEAN – think about it.
IF THEY – wanted God, they would’ve said, “We choose God.” If they wanted Baal, they would’ve said, “We choose Baal.”
BUT THEY - said nothing because they wanted both.
AND - I think this is true for many of us. YOU SEE - it’s not that we don’t want God in our lives (I mean, who wouldn’t, right?). We just want God and something else.
We want God to share that position of glory…
BUT B/S – listen, listen… THAT - that is not how our God rolls. He is a jealous God and HE demands that we love Him with ALL of our heart, ALL of our soul, ALL of our mind and ALL of our strength…
No divided hearts allowed.
AND LISTEN – the truth is that whenever we try to choose both (our version Baal and our version God)… we have
Whether we want to admit it, accept it, believe it or not
WE HAVE chosen to NOT follow God. ..
UNDERSTAND - God never left open the option to serve two masters… get it?
“God declines to sit atop an organizational flowchart. HE IS the organization. He is not interested in being president of the board. He is the board And life doesn’t work until everyone else sitting around the table of the boardroom of your heart is fired. He is God, and there are no other applicants for the position. There are no partial gods, no honorary gods, no interim gods, no assistants to the regional gods.” Kyle Idleman
AGAIN – picture the powerful scene going down on Mt Carmel nearly 3000 years ago.
“How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
NOW- I know that it is difficult to see ourselves as idol worshippers. I MEAN – that is just an OT issue, right?
BUT PERHAPS - the following questions will help to both locate and reveal some potential problem areas in our lives.
AREAS – where we have put other gods before our God.
PLACES – we have our hope and sought life in, rather than in HIM.
What disappoints you?
What are you most disappointed with? Maybe it is your career. Maybe it is your financial status. Maybe it is your sex life. Maybe it is your family. Maybe it is your marriage. What are you most disappointed with?
UNDERSTAND - whatever we’re most disappointed with points to something that you’ve put your hope in. YOU SEE - instead of putting our hope in God, we put our hope in this or in that, and when it doesn’t work out we live with this disappointment and despair.
Now some disappointment, of course, is natural. That’s not what I mean. I mean, there’s just this constant disappointment in your life. What causes that?
“Have you ever thought that our disappointments are God’s way of reminding us that there are idols in our lives that must be dealt with.” – Erwin Lutzer
What do you complain about the most?
What you complain about often and frequently has a way of revealing something that we’ve put your hope in, something that has replaced God in some way in your life.
IF WE – constantly complain about: money, sex, lack of respect @ work…etc maybe they have become more to us then they should be.
AGAIN – what we complain about often reveals what really has power over us.
Whining shows what has power over us…
What do you sacrifice your time and money for?
What do we sacrifice for? That’s how we know what or who our god is.
Do you sacrifice time and money for the Lord and His church, or do you sacrifice time and money for…?
Maybe it’s a person or maybe it’s the job or maybe it’s your home or maybe it’s your car or a hobby.
What do you sacrifice for?
REMEMBER - the Bible says, “Where your treasure is, that’s where your heart is.” If you really want to know who or what you worship, look at how you spend your money and your time. It reveals the gods within our hearts.
What do you worry about?
What scares you? What do you think, “If I lost this or if I lost that or if I lost this relationship or this person, life wouldn’t be worth living?” It has a way of showing who or what we worship.
UNDERSTAND
WHATEVER – it is that wakes you, OR for that matter keeps you up, HAS the potential to be an idol.
Where do you go when you get hurt?
I think this is a big one.
Where do we go when life is hard?
Where do we find comfort?
Do we come home after a long day and you open up the refrigerator and there’s some comfort food? I mean, that’s even what we call it. Instead of turning to God, we help ourselves feel better maybe by eating or maybe drinking.
Maybe you get into a fight with your spouse and you feel rejected, so where do you go for comfort? Do you enter the pagan temple of a pornographic website and try to find some kind of comfort there?
Where do you go for comfort?
Maybe we turn on the television after a hard day where life has just gone poorly, and we flip through the channels and we just kind of go numb so we don’t have to think about things.
OKAY
Here’s what I’m saying: Where we go for comfort reveals where we’ve put our hope. It reveals…it’s this honest moment that shows us…if we’re going to God with our problems and with our challenges and with our pain and our suffering. Or are we going to something or something else?
BOTTOM LINE
When we go to something or someone other than God, first and primarily, with the hurts and the pain of this life, it has a way of revealing what has become an idol.
What makes you mad?
What makes you angry? Maybe your team loses and it ruins your whole week. What’s that tell you? What’s that tell you?
Or maybe someone treats you with disrespect and it just makes you angry (I MEAN, why do these people, even complete strangers who cut us off in traffic have so much power over us), MAYBE – it’s because we’ve made other people’s respect a god.
What brings you the most joy?
What makes you laugh?
AND LISTEN - this is where it gets a little bit challenging because some of what gives us joy… I MEAN - there’s nothing evil or wrong about those things.
In fact, those things are often gifts from God—good gifts from God. But instead of allowing those gifts to draw us closer to God, we allow God’s gifts to become competition for Him. Instead of worshipping the Giver, we worship the gift. So what are some of the things that make us happy? And instead of rejoicing in the Lord with those things, maybe we allow those things to replace Him.
Last question,
Whose applause do you long for?
Whose approval are we really living for?
Maybe it’s a boss, or maybe it’s a spouse, or maybe it’s a parent or a friend.
QUESTION – whose applause or approval do you need to hear say… you’re pretty, you’re smart, you’re talented, you’re competent…?
UNDERSTAND - who we are living for…whose applause we’re living for tells us a lot about who has the throne of our heart.
Ultimately, an idol is anything or anyone other than God that takes the passion, value, the hope, the glory and the commitment of our lives.
So an idol, then, is just kind of this cheap substitute for God. Where we look to something or someone to do for us what God wants to do for us. It’ when we try to find that in something other than Him.
SO… are there any other idol worshipper in here besides me?
“How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
The Challenge
AGAIN… the stage is set for the greatest cage match in human history – let’s see whose God is the real deal.
ON – one side of the cage wearing black boxing trunks are the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah…
AND ON THE OTHER – wearing white is God’s man Elijah (My God is Yahweh).
Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the LORD’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23
Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it.
24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”
Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 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.
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. 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.
What a tragic scene as they tried to get the attention of these false gods and they’re bleeding for these gods, hoping that that will be enough, hoping that will satisfy. And we look at them and we think, “Oh, that’s just ridiculous. That’s so primitive—bleeding for these idols.” But are we really that different?
I think oftentimes we too have bled for our gods.
• Some bled out on the altar of alcohol (or some other substance) I mean, they have sacrificed almost everything to worship that god.
• Other have bled out for the god of sexual pleasure. Sacrificing their value, worth, purity, marriage, peace, walk with God you have sacrificed marriage and intimacy. They’ve bled for that god.
UNDERSTAND – we still in a frantic frenzy bleed out for our gods, hoping that… money, success, pleasure, good times, applause, accomplishment, popularity, approval, food…etc
WILL - light up our sacrifice and give us life.
BUT – they don’t.
They can’t not really, not long term.
YOU SEE – as we dance, shout and bleed we discover that…
False gods don’t give they take. They leave us empty and we try to numb that emptiness with other false gods. Why? Because just one false god won’t do. Where have these gods & idols really taken us? Are they delivering what they promised? Can they save us?
AFTER - hours… from sun rise to sunset
IT’S FINALLY - Elijah’s turn, and he has a trench dug around the altar; and he puts wood on the altar, and he tells them to drench everything with gallons and gallons of water, repeating the process 3 times…
(I guess Elijah did not want some skeptic to say the fire really was not from God but rather the result of some ‘latent spontaneous combustion’ from the sparks made the false prophets knives)
AND AFTER - the 3rd everything is completely soaked… the altar, the wood are soaked… IN FACT - the entire trench around the altar is full of water…
THEN - Elijah steps forward and he just prays a simple prayer in verse 36. He says,
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.”
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.
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!”
AND – once again The Story is as it should always be about the glory of our God!
The Consequences
Understand there are consequences for not choosing to follow God…
Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.
– 1 Kings 18:40
NOW – this may seem severe to us, because we are not used to justice. INSTEAD – we are more familiar with
Suspended sentences, plea bargains and early parole.
BUT B/S – our God is a jealous God and a just God.
He deals severely with sin.
All rivals to God must be overthrown.
UNDERSTAND – there is @ severity in love.
A cancer surgeon may remove or leg to save a person’s life.
IN 1 KINGS 18 – God was amputating a portion of the people to save the nation.
NOW – I doubt that our consequences will be that dramatic but nevertheless there is a price to pay if we choose to not follow God with ALL of our heart, mind, soul and strength…
Divided heart/allegiance = idolatry.
I asked a question earlier after we looked at those 8 questions… let me asked it agin
Any other idol worshippers out there besides me?
YOU SEE – with us like with the Israelites, it’s is not so much the idol itself, BUT…
WHAT - that idol cause us to do….
WHO – they cause us to become or not become.
BUT HEY – is it (idolatry) really that big of deal…
I don’t know, let me read a few verses from the final book of the bible and see what you think…
But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” - Rev 21: 8
Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. – Rev 21:27-
Outside the city are… the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie. – Rev 22:15
YOU KNOW…
What’s helped me in understanding and seeing life through this lens of idolatry is to understand that idolatry is not just offensive to God; it is hurtful to God. It doesn’t just offend Him; it hurts Him, because God loves us.
AND BECAUSE - He loves us, the Bible says, He is a jealous God. He’s jealous for our hearts. And the prophet Ezekiel says when we give our hearts to another, it is as if God is being cheated on. It’s like we’re having an affair. That’s how it feels to Him.
That is why God sent another prophet to his people, named Hosea, and Hosea is told by God to go marry a prostitute named Gomer.
That’s an odd request if you’re a preacher, right? “Go marry a prostitute.” That seems strange enough…. “Her name is Gomer.” Now it’s really weird.
BUT – God said in Hosea 1:2…
Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”
And so he goes and he finds this prostitute named Gomer in kind of the bad part of town, the Red Light District, and he buys her from her pimp. And he takes her home and he marries her.
And life seems to be going okay. Things seem to be going… It doesn’t make any sense to Hosea the prophet, but he’s obeyed God.
And then one day he comes home and Gomer’s nowhere to be found. And he looks; (he) can’t find her. The thought occurs to him, “Maybe she’s gone back to her old life.” He’s short of breath, a little panicky, but he goes back down to where he first found her.
And there he sees his wife on the street corner with her arms around another man, leading him into a house of prostitution, and Hosea is devastated. He says, “God, what am I supposed to do now? You told me to marry this prostitute; I did. Now look what’s happened. What am I supposed to do now, God?”
And God says, “Here’s what I want you to do.” This is what He says to His prophet. “I want you to go back and I want you to buy her a second time, and I want you to show your love to her again. I want you to bring her back home.” “What? Why, God? Why?” Hosea 3:1 God says, “So the people will know how much I love them.”
Then the LORD said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the LORD still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.”
- Hosea 3:1
YES… We have offended God. We have hurt God by allowing other things and other people to become more important than Him. We’ve pushed Him down. He’s not a priority. An hour a week on Sundays. We mark it off our list. But God would say, “I want you back. I still love you with all of My heart.”
And so the warning from the prophet Elijah is, “There is nothing and there is no one that is to sit on the throne of your heart other than God.”
And if there is something or if there is someone that you’ve asked God to share your heart with, you need to repent of that sin and you need to put God back in His rightful place.
SO - your story can start being about the glory of God. And the message of the prophets is, “If you haven’t been doing that, you can start today. You can come home today. God still wants you today.”
“How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
