THE ELIJAH CHURCH IS A CONFRONTATIONAL CHURCH
INTRO: This is part of a series using the life of Elijah as a picture of the last day Church. It is also a stand alone sermon.
1 Kings 18:1-15 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.” So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.” So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another. As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” “Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’” “What have I done wrong,” asked Obadiah, “that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!” Elijah said, “As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.”
Elijah's journey has gone from cutting away the flesh (Kerith), communion (Zarephath), to now confrontation!
Confrontation means, to bring face to face, a person or persons into a revelation or truth. Confrontation happens all the time we get stigmatised by the word but in reality we are all confronted in some way on a daily basis. When a believer in Christ comes on the scene their is going to be some reaction. Why? Because their mere presence will bring a reaction to God's Kingdom. At work people may be talking crudely but when a believer walks in they will either stop, or deliberately up the ante, this is because they have been confronted by a belief system contrary to theirs! Elijah was coming into a confrontation of kingdoms at Carmel, a different belief system, but before then he would confront Obadiah, a lukewarm Christian in many ways.
Listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 12:49-53 I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
TRUTH CAUSES A DIVISION OR CONFRONTATION, EITHER YOU SUBMIT TO IT OR DENY IT.
Simeon prophesied this in Luke 2:34-35 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."
And again we find this confrontation in Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Obadiah was highly place in Ahab's kingdom, he was next to the king himself. Obadiah stands in scripture as one of the most baffling and bewildering figures. On one hand he served Ahab on the other he held God in great reverence. Obadiah means "servant of God". It may be appropriate to say Obadiah represents an example of the carnal, or soul living Christian who is typified by the Laodicean Church in Revelation 3, who Jesus calls lukewarm! He calls Elijah God's representative "Lord", but Elijah says to him "Go tell your "Master", Elijah is here!
Obadiah had never fully resolved the conflicts in his own life between fully serving God or Ahab. He had tried unsuccessfully to make the most of both worlds..
Matthew 6:24 tells us “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other"
2 Corinthians 6:14-17 is more explicit - Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." Therefore, "Come out from them and be separate, says the LORD. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
Obadiah's testimony and witness were so weak that had no way had he deterred Ahab from doing evil. He had unwittingly become an accomplice with Ahab and Jezebel.
In today's world we see so many Leaders of Churches being asked the hard questions about sin in today's culture, but they avoid the issue. SILENCE gives both tacit endorsement to any action it does not oppose. Obadiah had never protested against wickedness. He had not taken a stand for what was right. HE PROTECTED HIS OWN INTERESTS! His concern was "ME". Obadiah was riding the fence with divided affections, and divided loyalties. Elijah confronts Obadiah, God calls each of us to face truth. We cannot be people of divided minds, divided loyalties, divide affections. Confrontation reveals the heart. Obadiah's strong protests to Elijah, disclose the duplicity and double dealing of his own character.
A major issue in preaching today omits the need for repentance yet it was the message of Jesus, the message of the Gospel.
Mark 1:15 The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!"
The Obadiah Christian, or Church has the following characteristics:
1. One foot in the world, one foot in God.
2. They do good deeds (hiding the prophets) but compensates by compromise.
4. They claim to serve God and man, but does neither but lives to serve themselves.
4. Has a form of godliness but denies the power thereof (2 Timothy3:5). Obadiah says "I have worshipped God since my youth - but did not believe in God's power to protect and overcome.
5. He recognises but is afraid of The Holy Spirit, "I don't know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you"
The Obadiah Christian is uncomfortable around the Elijah Christian. In these days we have to make a choice who we will serve.
Revelation 3:14-22 To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. 21To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Jesus, the uncompromising God, visits the compromising Church. He confronts them!
Laodicea means "rights of the people" the major culture of today's world!
* They were neither hot nor cold.
* They thought they were rich and did not need a thing.
* They were spiritually blind.
* They were naked but did not know it.
This reminds us of Genesis 3:7 were the man and the woman were naked and hid from God. Confrontation can result in repentance or hiding from the truth!
Elijah sums up this attitude in 1 Kings 18:21 "How long will you waver between two opinions?"
The Elijah Church will confront the lukewarm Christian. It is for the best because without repentance who will see the kingdom of God? What else will distinguish us from other people!
1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God's household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
How about you? Are you confronted by this message today? Are you willing to follow Jesus at any cost and leave the world behind you?
