1 Kings 18:16-40 – When Standing Up Means Standing Alone
Chuck Colson tells the story of Telemachus, a 4th-century Christian monk. This man lived in a remote village, tending his garden and spending much of his time in prayer. One day he thought he heard the voice of God telling him to go to Rome, so he obeyed, heading out on foot. Weary weeks later, he arrived in the city at the time of a great festival. The little monk followed the crowd surging down the streets into the Colosseum. He saw the gladiators stand before the emperor and say, “We who are about to die salute you.” Then he realized these men were going to fight to the death for the entertainment of the crowd Telemachus cried out, “In the name of Christ, stop!”
As the games began, he pushed his way through the crowd, climbed his way over the wall, and dropped to the floor of the arena. When the crowd saw this tiny figure rushing to the gladiators and saying, “In the name of Christ, stop!” they thought it was part of the show and began laughing.
When they realized it wasn’t, the laughter turned to anger. As Telemachus was pleading with the gladiators to stop, one of them plunged a sword into his body. He fell to the sand. As he was dying, his last words were, “In the name of Christ, stop!”
Then a strange thing happened. The gladiators stood looking at the tiny figure lying there. A hush fell over the Colosseum. Way up in the upper rows, a man stood and made his way to the exit. Others began to follow. In dead silence, everyone left the Colosseum.
The year was 391AD, and that was the last battle to the death between gladiators in the Roman Colosseum. Never again in the great stadium did men kill each other for the entertainment of the crowd, all prompted by one tiny voice that could hardly be heard above the roar, one voice that spoke the truth in God’s name.
You know, it takes something to be the only voice. It takes guts to be the lone man or woman, sticking out in a crowd. It takes heart to speak out when it’s easier to keep still. It takes courage to stand up when you’re standing alone.
Today we begin a several-week series on Elijah’s mountaintop experience on 1 Kings 18. Elijah stood alone on Mt.Carmel, defending his faith and the honor of his God against skeptics and scoffers. One look around will show that our culture is not too friendly to people courageously standing up and standing alone for God, yet God longs for each of us to stand anyway. Perhaps through Elijah’s example, we can gain some strength and encouragement today. Read v16-40.
Now, after reading that, you may be thinking, “Well, I’m glad I’ll never have to do that, because I don’t know if I could.” While it’s true that you’ll probably never have to get into a do-or-die match with murderous priests of another religion, as a Christian, you still represent God wherever you go, whatever you do. There are times when you are required to stand up for what’s right and what’s true. And don’t let Elijah’s appearance of super-human courage fool you. I will remind you that James in the NT said Elijah was as human as we are. So, let’s glean some thoughts about standing up for God when you’re standing alone.
First, let’s picture what Elijah was up against. He felt as if he was a lone voice in a crowd of pagan worshippers. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel had successfully integrated (as if it were possible) worship of God with worship of Baal. Then people were not limited to one all-powerful being. They could choose the path that seemed right for them. So God sent Elijah to bring a drought upon the land for 3-1/2 years in an effort to show that the false gods of nature were really no gods at all. And it came time for a showdown. Elijah reappeared on the scene, requesting to meet the king and challenge the false prophets of the false gods to a duel of sorts. Elijah and the 850 false prophets would meet on Mt.Carmel, a mountain range at the north-western part of Israel, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Here, there would be a challenge: whosever god would set a sacrificial bull on fire would be proclaimed as the true god. It seemed like a good deal, so the false prophets took Elijah up on the offer.
We will look at many of the details of this story over the next few weeks, but for this week I just want to look at Elijah’s stand. I can only imagine what was going through his head. “What will they do to me?” “What if I’m wrong?” “What if God doesn’t see fit to answer me the way I’m looking for?” “What if I am ridiculed?” “What if the people turn on me?” It’s neat to see that even if he had these questions, he still was willing to stand up and stand alone. And by standing alone, he was running many risks. We run the same risks when we stand alone. When we stand up for God at school, or work, or in our families, or in our social groups, even in our church, we risk standing alone. What risks did Elijah run? What risks do we run?
1) We run the risk of being falsely labeled. V17 – Ahab called Elijah a trouble-maker. Quite honestly, wasn’t Ahab the one causing the troubles? Yes. But Elijah got branded with the label. When we stand up for God, we run the risk of getting falsely labeled – called names like “holier-than-thou” or “religious fanatic”. It’s a real chance we take.
2) We run the risk of being misunderstood. In the same thought of being falsely labeled, Elijah was not trying to make trouble. He was only doing what God wanted him to do. But most other people thought he was being a spoilsport or a killjoy. His motives were not understood. What to him was obedience to others was trouble-making. What to us might be trying to turn the tide of disobedience in out country to others might look like bigotry or intolerance.
3) We run the risk of feeling isolated. You can see how Elijah felt he was the only one of God’s prophets. He wasn’t, and we’ll eventually get to that some Sunday, but he felt all alone. The truth is, standing up for God will turn others away. You run the risk of isolating yourself when you take a stand for God. I’m not saying you bring it on, or provoke it, but the truth is still, isolation and loneliness are common for people who stand up for God.
4) We run the risk of offending others. So there was Elijah, and v30-31 says that he rebuilt the altar of the Lord with 12 stones, one for each tribe of Israel. Remember the tribes had split. This action reminded the people of their sins in the past. You know, when we stand up for God, we take the chance that we will offend someone. It’s just a part of standing up.
5) And the last risk we run is sticking our neck out. We take the chance that someone will hurt us, emotionally, or even physically. Elijah took a chance of being proven wrong in front of his enemies, and if that had happened, he likely would have lost his life. It didn’t, and he didn’t, but he took the chance. Standing up for God means that we may get hurt ourselves. But we still need to stand.
Now, these are real concerns. They are stronger to some than others. But they are very real to those who are in them. “How do I stand up for God when I’m all alone?” Well, let me share a few scriptures with you. Romans 15:4 says: “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Really, you are not alone. Elijah went through it too. So did many other OT prophets, NT too. And people all over the world today are dying for their faith. When you stand up for God, you are NOT standing alone.
And what’s more, even as Elijah would know what standing up for God means, and other biblical characters would know what it means, and people around the world know what it means, even still, Jesus knows what it means.
Jesus knows what it means to be falsely labeled. He was called an insurrectionist, a blasphemer and a liar. But He knew that what’s most important is what God says about you – how God labels you. Faithful. Obedient. Believing. Trusting. These are the labels that really matter.
And Jesus knows what it means to be misunderstood. No-one understood why He was here. His closest friends were trying to preserve His life, when what He needed to do was lose it. People questioned His motives and His methods. Still He pressed on. He knows what you go through when you are misunderstood.
And Jesus was certainly isolated. There was no-one like Him. He was perfect, when no-one else was. While He prayed His most fervently in the Garden of Gethsemane, His closest friends fell asleep. He certainly knew what it was to be alone, much more than we actually. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus knows how you feel when you feel isolated and alone.
And He knows what offending others felt like. He ran the risk, and did it well. He offended others to the point of losing His life over it. Yet He still did it, because it was God’s desires. Jesus knows your fears.
And finally, Jesus most certainly knows what it feels like to stick your neck out. To chance being hurt by doing God’s will. God’s will cost Jesus His life. He not only stuck His neck out, but He also stretched His arms out. For Him, being obedient cost Jesus everything. Yet, because of His obedience, God raised Him up and blessed Him. Jesus stood up, was beaten down, and was raised back up. And we will be too. God ALWAYS rewards obedience.
Folks, there is a real need for God’s people – US – to be real, to be open, to let our lights shine. We need to love people with the love of Christ. We need to apply flavoring and preserving to this world, like salt. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to come and fill us up anew, so that the difference we make will be not in our own strength but in God’s. We need to pray for God to come and change us and challenge us, as individuals and as a church. We need to wait on Him for directions and guidance. We need to ask Him to use us to bring people to Jesus. It is up to each of us, if we are Christians, to stand up and be counted for God.
The martyred missionary Jim Eliot said these words: “While we profess to know a power the 20th century cannot reckon with, we are all side-liners. Coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to set by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. We are spiritual pacifists, conscientious objectors in the Battle-of-the-Death, with principalities and powers in the heavenly places. The world cannot hate us: we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous.”
