July 23, 2017

Jericho Ridge

 

Elijah: Bold Faith

“Faith Showdown”

 

Text: 1 Kings 18

Focus: It matters to God that our hearts are fully his!

 

 

Training is Over

 

Elijah … the prophet with bold faith!

• But as we saw last Sunday, Elijah’s bold faith didn’t materialize in a vacuum … actually, far from it.
• It was forged through rigorous life-training, including times of testing and trials:
  • Facing off with King Ahab on idol worship
  • Placing his own country/Israel into drought/starvation
  • Camping at Cherith Brook and watching it dry up
  • Taking charity from a starving widow
  • The tragedy of a child’s life taken away

 

• And as we all know, training is only useful if it gets to be used for a purpose.
• Well, Elijah’s season of training is over.
• That’s not to say that he won’t be back in faith-training… because he will.
• But for now, he’s learned through experience that he can rely on God … if God says something, he follows through!
• So, Elijah is ready to re-emerge into public ministry.

 

• Turn in your Bibles/devices to 1 Kings 18:1…

 

Later on, in the third year of the drought, the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and present yourself to King Ahab. Tell him that I will soon send rain!” ² So Elijah went to appear before Ahab. Meanwhile, the famine had become very severe in Samaria. 

• The next verses remind us how bad the drought has become and describe how Elijah meets King Ahab’s servant Obadiah.
• Elijah convinces Obadiah to send word to King Ahab with a request to meet.
• And as you can imagine, that meeting wasn’t pleasant…

 

¹⁶ So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had come, and Ahab went out to meet Elijah. ¹⁷ When Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, “So, is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?”  ¹⁸ “I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead.

• In today’s language, Elijah is saying, “You still don’t get it, do you Ahab? YOU are the reason there’s been no rain.”
• Elijah is straight up with the king and tells him that the reason Israel is starving and all the livestock are laying dead on the ground rotting is because of him.
• God has given Ahab plenty of time to change their ways and save face as the king of Israel.
• But now the time has come to expose Ahab’s evil… his belief in Baal … and it’s going to happen in public, for everyone to see.
• As we said last week, there is no question in God’s mind, and no question in Elijah’s mind, as to who holds the power when it comes to a showdown.

 

 

To the Mountain

 

So Elijah requests that all the main players be called to this showdown.

• He wants to eradicate all doubt.

 

¹⁹ “Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.” ²⁰ So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. ²¹ Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions?  If the Lord is God, follow him!  But if Baal is God, then follow him!”  But the people were completely silent.

• With 850 false prophets, and the entire muffled nation of Israel on hand, Elijah issues a challenge of choice.
• Time to make a decision and live by it!

 

²² Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets. ²³ Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. ²⁴ Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed.

• Elijah definitely has the people’s attention.
• And I’m sure the prophets of Baal are thinking they are in a “can’t lose” situation.
• They get to go first and either Baal is going to do something or at worst, nothing happens … and certainly, nothing will happen for Elijah…
• So it’s a stand off, and then the King can take out Elijah.

²⁵ Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “You go first, for there are many of you. Choose one of the bulls, and prepare it and call on the name of your god. But do not set fire to the wood.”

²⁶ So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced, hobbling around the altar they had made.

²⁷ About noontime Elijah began mocking them. “You’ll have to shout louder,” he scoffed, “for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!”

²⁸ So they shouted louder, and following their normal custom, they cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out. ²⁹ They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response.

 

 

Baal 0 / God ?

 

So Baal’s prophets failed miserably.

• Now the camera shifts away from the exhausted and hopeless priests and zooms in on Elijah.
• If nothing happens for Elijah, then it’s back to 850 + King against 1 … not good odds.
• But listen to Elijah’s confidence and anticipation…

 

³⁰ Then Elijah called to the people, “Come over here!” They all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. ³¹ He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel, ³² and he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold about three gallons. ³³ He piled wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood.

Then he said, “Fill four large jars with water, and pour the water over the offering and the wood.”

³⁴ After they had done this, he said, “Do the same thing again!”  And when they were finished, he said, “Now do it a third time!” So they did as he said, ³⁵ and the water ran around the altar and even filled the trench.

• Any doubters left out there, are now waiting to see what’s going to happen next.
• And what happens? Elijah prays!
• Oh, church don’t miss the central/pivotal step of this amazing showdown…

³⁶ At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. ³⁷ O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”

• This is not about Elijah!
• This is about Yahweh, Israel’s God … he is the author of this event.
• Everything that has been happening for the last 3 years is God’s design to re-engage relationship with his people … and Elijah wants to make sure the Israelites know it.
• This is the same God that your ancestors lived with and spoke of…
• This is the same God that has always been faithful to you/his people…
• This is the same God that still wants to be in relationship with you…
• Who is this God? Have you forgotten? Let Him remind you!

 

³⁸ Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! 

 

• Did you catch that?
• The intensity of this fire makes our horrific wildfires in the interior pale in comparison.
• This fire is so hot that it instantly vaporizes the animal meat, the water; even the stones used to build the altar are gone!

 

 

Baal 0 / God WON

 

I’d say, “As the smoke cleared” but when something burns that hot, there is no smoke … so, “as the heat dissipated,” two things emerge…

• The people of Israel = worship.
• The 850 false prophets = are dreadfully stunned.
• The pendulum of allegiance immediately and rightfully swings to Elijah’s God!

 

³⁹ And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”

⁴⁰ Then Elijah commanded, “Seize all the prophets of Baal. Don’t let a single one escape!” So the people seized them all, and Elijah took them down to the Kishon Valley and killed them there.

Let it Rain

 

Is there any doubt after this showdown as to who is God?

• No, but we do still have that matter of prophesied rain.

 

⁴¹ Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go get something to eat and drink, for I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!”

• “That’s right Elijah … after what we just saw … you’re darn rights there’s going to be a mighty rainstorm … you might want to go build an Ark … it’s gonna start raining like you’ve never seen.”
• “Come on God; let’s get this next show on the road!”
• “Not so fast. Don’t let your ego take over.”
• “This is not about you. This is about God.”

 

⁴² So Ahab went to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bowed low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees.

• Church, don’t miss this!
• If ever there was a time that Elijah could have puffed out his chest and said, “You think that was something?! Well it hasn’t rained in over three years and watch this!”

 

• Instead, he went off by himself, out of the limelight, and humbled himself before God and prayed.
• “God, what next? What do you want to do and how do you want to do it?  Not my will, but your will be done.”
• This is where Elijah’s training was truly paying off.

 

⁴³ Then Elijah said to his servant, “Go and look out toward the sea.”  The servant went and looked, then returned to Elijah and said, “I didn’t see anything.”  Seven times Elijah told him to go and look (training … paying off). ⁴⁴ Finally the seventh time, his servant told him, “I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.”

• “What? That’s it? Come on God, we need more than that!”
• Right … how many of us would be thinking like that?
• But listen to the mark of someone who has been in faith-training … someone who continues to go deeper in his relationship with God.

 

Then Elijah shouted, “Hurry to Ahab and tell him, ‘Climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don’t hurry, the rain will stop you!’”

⁴⁵ And soon the sky was black with clouds. A heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm, and Ahab left quickly for Jezreel. ⁴⁶ Then the Lord gave special strength to Elijah. He tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab’s chariot all the way to the entrance of Jezreel.

• Only God could write that script!
• For emphasis, and maybe a bit of humor and revelling on God’s part … he throws in one last miracle as Elijah runs past the king’s chariot.
• I can see King Ahab, “Are you kidding me!”

 

 

It’s all About God

 

It’s one final exclamation by God to say, “You might be a king, but I am God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords!”

• I am the One true God that everyone is called to bow down to and worship.

 

• Exodus 20:2…

² “I am the Lord your God … ³ You must not have any other god but me. ⁴ You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. ⁵ You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods… ⁶ But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

• Says the God of the Old Testament!
• And what does the God of the New Testament say is the most important commandment for all people?

 

• Matthew 22:37…

 

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

• Everything we are reading in regards to Elijah, this mighty prophet with bold faith, is about loving God and having nothing else get in the way of our relationship with Him.
• All the miracles, the resurrection, the self-replenishing flour and oil, the drought, the fire from heaven…
• It is all intended to point us to one thing … God!
• It is all intended to focus us on our relationship with the living God who pursues us and is always faithful in relationship with us.

 

• It’s all intended to align our hearts in worship of the King of Kings and Lord or Lords.

 

• Jericho, do you think it matters to God whether our hearts are fully / consistently committed to Him?

 

So How Should We Live?

 

Above all else, Elijah tells us that we do not want to be a people on the wrong side of the worship equation.

• We want to be people who walk with God no matter what!
• We want to be people who we keep giving God more and more of ourselves.

 

If that’s who we commit to be, then four truths/principles will emerge in our lives, in our church, in our world:

 

1. Those in the will of God are invincible… (God is invincible).

• Even in the most threatening/hopeless circumstances, if you are in the will of God, you do not need to be intimidated by anyone or anything.
• Elijah was outnumbered and outranked, but his confidence in God’s “power ranking” proved him invincible.

 

2. Divided allegiance/tolerance is as wrong as open idolatry.

• The easiest thing to do when outnumbered is to assume a middling stance of non-commitment or passive allegiance with the popular masses.
• But straddling the fences and tolerance for the sake of self-preservation, is the same as idolatry in God’s eyes.
• Elijah hit that head-on and called for a choice, “You must have no other gods…”
• That’s not popular in our society and it can be challenging to navigate … which leads me to the third principle…

 

3. The most effective resource/action is always prayer.

• No matter what/who confronts you, prayer needs to be your first response … this is where our faith-training is so key.
• Remember all the pomp and desperation of the false prophets … contrast that with Elijah’s simple/effective prayer.
• He knew who God was and what God wanted from his people, so he prayed to that end and got results.
• Could he have done that on his own? No, he didn’t even try.
• Instead, at every juncture, he prayed … and God responded!
• Jericho, never underestimate prayer and lastly…

 

4. Never underestimate the power of one life lived dedicated to God.

• Pastor Rick Warren says, “God always uses imperfect people, in imperfect situations, to accomplish his perfect will.”
• Elijah was an imperfect human being (like me … like you), dedicated to God in every facet of his life.
• And we are still telling his story 2900 years later.
• Friends, sometimes, it just takes one.

 Let’s pray.