Douglas Woodward’s sermon on 25 September 2011
I Kings 18:16-39
It is a delight to be here worshipping with you this morning. Indeed, it is the day that the Lord has made, and whether you are coming here on an emotional or spiritual high or whether you are here in an emotional and spiritual valley, we welcome you to worship this morning at St. Andrews.
My name is Doug Woodward and as a word of brief introduction, I would like to share a few items about myself. We arrived in KL about just over 4 years ago and have been worshipping at St. Andrews for much of that time.
I am delighted to be here this morning with my wife and three kids. I am also very blessed to be in KL with my mother and father. My father, whom many of you know very well is in the States where he is spending time with my sister, my nephews, as well as with my grandmother, who is 105 years old.
As a trade, I work as a teacher in the middle school at the international school in Ampang.
And most importantly, I am a sinner, broken and helpless. Only here by the grace of God. So I pray that this morning, God’s word might be spoken as we look at this amazing chapter in I Kings where Elijah is on Mt. Carmel.
Let’s pray: Prayer
The inspiration for this morning’s sermon is from Sunday School. As we go through today’s lesson, you will find pictures of the Sunday School group interwoven, as the Sunday school students have been studying Elijah the past several weeks. Hopefully, we can be inspired and challenged by the 5-8 year olds, whose pictures will be sprinkled through the sermon to help tell the story.
Also, I’ve got to make a plug for helping with Sunday School. Teachers are dwindling, and I hope you will consider finding your ministry niche here at St. Andrews. Selfishly, having three kids in the Sunday school program, I really want the best for them – for them to grow up passionate about God’s work in their lives. It is trite but true to say, the children are the future of the church. We really are thrilled to have a training coming up on Oct 1 by Pastor Stephen Low from World Teach. Please, please consider attending and helping out with this vital need.
Background:
Some of the deepest valleys and biggest mountains of the Bible occur between I Kings 16 – 19. I remember being inspired and challenged a sermon series on I Kings in a rural Indiana church when I was attending University, so I hope that today can be relevant to us today.
We can relate when things are bad or we are depressed. It may be a personal or a communal depression. We can be encouraged today by the words of, James 5: “Elijah was a man just like us.” So whether you come here from a deep valley or if you are on a spiritual mountaintop, this part of the Bible is addressed to you and to me.
Whether the struggles are over years, like the past 3 ½ years of Chapters 17 & 18 or the 24 hours between Chapters 18 & 19, this is one of the more amazing 3 chapters of the Bible in terms of emotional and spiritual lows and emotional and spiritual highs.
I want you to think about the valley you might be in – or a choice that keeps you wavering.
Take a moment to think about these two questions.
Our sermon this morning is divided into three parts:
Confrontation, Choice & Conversion
Part 1: Confrontation: Whose fault is it?
Read verses 17 – 18
“When he [Ahab] saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
“I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. ..”
This is the classic example of who’s fault is it. As a parent, I can relate – we have three wonderful kids, but there are inevitably the conflict and everyone wants to blame someone else. As a teacher, I can relate. This week, articles in Washington Post said Fairfax Schools want to install video cameras – to help solve this issue. The principals are tired of the ‘he said,’ ‘she said’ of solving discipline issues – and are desperate for other tools. So, Who’s fault is it?
In I Kings, the problem is not family harmony or student discipline, but 3 ½ years of no rain have brought drought and desolation. The ground is dry and barren. The Jordan River is now only flowing as a trickle. The animals are dying and the land is parched. And the people are desperate for rain.
Who’s fault is it? Ahab blames Elijah. Picture from Sunday School – Ahab, at this point played by my son, Reeve, on your right is blaming Elijah. Elijah, at this point played by my daughter, Rania, is pointing to Mt. Carmel and claiming it is Ahab’s fault.
This amazing encounter is a testament of the Power of God. Elijah, hungry and scraggly, ascends from being alone with ravens to confronting the most unscrupulous of monarchs – says 19th Century Bible commentator, Albert Barnes.
Elijah responds in truth – that these years of drought have not brought repentance. You are not going to find Elijah’s words in any conflict reconciliation techniques. You won’t find Elijah’s words in the manuals for anger management. You do not hear the “I” statement of “Oh, King Ahab, I feel grieved when you. . .”
v. 18b “You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.” If there is spiritual, emotional, relational or moral drought in our lives – are we, like Ahab, still trying to lay blame? Or can we speak the truth.
In this case, a test is proposed to figure out who is at fault.
Elijah’s answer using the imperative of “Gather,” says the King James; “summon” says the NIV; “order all the people” says the Good News Bible – these are the words of a King, not to a King. Gather all the people at Mt. Carmel and let’s resolve this.
So where are we?
Geographically, we are at Mt. Carmel a geographic mountaintop and also symbolic of the spiritual mountaintop. Topographically, it would have a large flat top, where representatives from all of Israel could gather. It provided a vantage point of the Mediterranean to the West – to see the approaching rain. And also below to the East, the temple courts of Jezreel and the palaces of wicked queen Jezebel.
It was strategic militarily as whoever controlled Mt. Carmel controlled the north of the country. And who ever controlled Mt. Carmel spiritually controlled the spiritual heart of the country.
Where are we in Biblical history? Sometime around 870 – 860 BC, perhaps about 100 years after Solomon’s temple was dedicated and 60 years after his death. Since Solomon’s death, The northern kingdoms, Israel have been divided from the southern kingdom, Judah. King Asa rules in the south and King Ahab in the north.
And the symbolism could not be more clear as Elijah, confined to near-solitary confinement where ravens brought him his sustenance will now go from the valley – Kerith Ravine – to the mountain – Mt. Carmel.
So that is the confrontation. Now comes the Choice.
Choice:
v. 21 “Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
Elijah confronts the people with the desire to serve both. Deuteronomy 4:35 makes clear this is not an option – “You have been shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.”
God could not be more clear, ‘YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.” (Exodus 20 & The 10 commandments. It was true in the time of Moses, It was true in the time of Jesus – Matt 6:24 – cannot serve God and mammon. It is true today.
“Waver” – it literally means dance – People want to please both God and please Jezebel and the prophets of Baal. The are dancing or trying to straddle both desires.
This is an example of spiritual indecision – when I had the privilege of preached here last spring, I shared that my family has given everyone mottos. My mother’s motto is, “Always be prepared.” When we go on vacations, she is sure to have the mosquito repellant, the sunscreen, the life jackets, the first aid kit. She truly makes the boy scouts proud! My motto is considerably less flattering: “Always evaluate all options.” This is especially true when it comes to buying things – somewhere, someplace, somehow there must be a better deal, my wife likes to tease me. So at least in this way, I can relate somewhat to indecision, at least when it comes to shopping. But today’s church, like Ahab is faced with a much greater threat of spiritual indecision.
Ahab has tried to waver or dance between the two with disastrous effects. Why, when faced with this choice, do we waver?
There can certainly be many motivations, very likely fear – fear of failure, fear of rejection. We can surmise that King Ahab had a fear of his wife, Jezebel. But sometimes we just refuse to give up something. Whether out of anger, bitterness, helplessness, loneliness, we cling to this “baal.” We cling to it, making it an obsession.
Reminder of the King Ahab’s namesake, the famous Captain Ahab of the American legend, Moby Dick. Ahab is the captain who wants to set his own compass and who resists warnings in his obsession with the white whale, Moby Dick. “… to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.”
Melville tells how in the end Ahab is killed by his own harpoon, a victim of his own twisted obsession and desire for revenge. As he sinks to his watery grave, he brings down the entire Pequod, as only the narrator, Ishmael, survives.
We do not have to be Ahab – neither Melville’s character who brings about his own ruin and the ruin of others – nor the Ahab of I Kings where he wavers – there is a choice. Is it God or Baal?
But what an indictment to the people’s initial reaction.
v. 21 b “But the people said nothing.”
So Elijah proposes a test, In verse 23 and 24, they get two bulls, the cut them up and put the wood, but don’t light the fire. “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.”
V24b – perhaps the great tragedy is that there is a choice. This is a second indictment of the people.
“Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
After all that God has done for the people of Israel – think Noah, think Moses, think Joshua, think—wait, think of ourselves and all of our blessings. Why is this still relevant today – why is God so crowded out by our distractions?
But the choice exists. I’m sure that for us, we are not greatly tempted by setting up idols on mountains and dedicating our lives and our time to the sun god to make sure that our crops grow well. But instead of Baal, you can substitute your own competing “choice?” Time? Work? Obsessions you don’t want to give up?
When there is a choice between God & Baal, outward appearances often appear to tilt against God.
On one side we have 1 scrawny raven-fed messenger of God vs. 450 well-fed prophets.
Baal, said to ride on the thunderstorm in his divine chariot, but Elijah knows the God of
– Ps 104:1,3 “O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty…He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.”
Baal, said to have thunder in his voice, but Elijah knows the God of Ps. 29
“Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength…The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty waters.”
Baal, said to have lightning as his weapon, but Elijah knows the God of Ps 18:13-14.
“The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them.”
Let’s take a moment here to look at the test – in a land parched and dry, the test is not to bring rain, but to bring fire. The people think they need rain; God sees that they need atonement. We want the drought to end; God wants our hearts. Only through the burnt offerings and sacrifice of sin, in its ultimate fulfillment of the perfect sacrifice, Jesus, dying for our sins are we redeemed.
Solomon’s temple was probably dedicated about 100 years earlier. It is very likely that in the crowd there are people who remember their father or their grandfather telling them about that day from II Chronicles 7:3 – After Solomon dedicated the temple, fire came from heaven to consume the burnt offerings . And the people responded, “He is good; His love endures forever,” the people worshipped.
Elijah knew the God who created the heavens and had rained down fire.
In Judges 6:21 fire consumed the offering and in Lev 9:24, “Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.”
In each of these instances, the result is the people worshipping before God. But we are not there yet. Let’s not jump ahead too far.
The test – Elijah lets the prophets of Baal go first – this is a big risk – middle of day, hottest sun. Elijah must know that success of Baal’s prophets will likely result in his death from the wavering masses. What if by some spark randomly ignites Baal’s fire? Or what if God says, “later” instead of bringing fire? Certainly, such a result will end in Elijah’s death. He is truly putting his life on the line.
I attended Taylor University in rural Indiana, and the center of the campus was a huge bell tower. The two towers symbolized faith and learning, respectively. One was not taller than the other, and the premise that Jay Kesler, our college president would often say is that there is nothing that we can discover, no rock that we can turn over that will jump out and eat God. Elijah puts his faith on the line, even his life on the line, saying his trust is in the Lord. He knew that his quest for truth could never compromise the power of Almighty God.
So Baal goes first – men dancing around the Work of men’s hands (v. 26). The hours pass, from morning til noon.
At this point, Elijah can’t resist the mocking – the silliness of asking idols to do our billing.
“Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened” In the picture from Sunday School, you can see the prophets of Baal earnestly praying while Elijah, in the back, is mocking them.
17th Century Swiss theologian Clericus: “Although these things when spoken of God are the most absurd things possible, yet idolaters could believe such things.”
Yet are we equally susceptible to mocking for our own idols.
Morning to noon; noon til night. The first choice has failed, and it is time for Elijah’s response. Is God up for the test?
Up until now the people have been spectators. Now the people are called to act – bring the water. We are called to a response. Instead of wavering or watching, the people are now asked to participate. The people are asked to help repair the altar of the Lord and the symbolic act of reminding the people of the covenant
What do they bring? Water, in the midst of the drought? Your most precious possession may be called upon by God to be laid on the altar.
We started with confrontation, then choice, and now the climax the story: conversion.
CONVERSION
Elijah’s prayer (v. 36 & 37) “O Lord, 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. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
As I was preparing this sermon, I came across a joke, which I modified. It’s called, ‘Three frogs on a log.’ There are three frogs on a log, two hear someone say “jump off?” How many are left? The answer is still three, of course because it is more than hearing. Just hearing a nice sermon won’t make any difference. Okay, let me try again. So there are still three frogs on a log. Two decide to jump off. How many are left? The answer is still three. This choice is an action verb – it requires action, not just a decision.
But thankfully, it is not depending on our trying or our attempts to work harder or decide better. We serve a mighty God.
In verse 38, the fire of the Lord burns up the sacrifice. Not just the sacrifice, but the wood. And the stones. And the soil. And the water in the trench. This is the power of our God who does so much more than we can ask or imagine, and whose power and love we can only glimpse.
Where does the fire fall – on the sacrifice, not on the sinners. What a picture of Jesus. Grace – God’s riches at Christ’s expense. Christ has taken the sacrifice for us. Hallelujah, what a Savior, Hallelujah, what a Lord.
Picture of Sunday School.
v. 39: “When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord – he is God! The Lord – he is God!”
At the beginning we asked what valley you are in and the choice God is asking you to make? Can our answer be like the words of our worship?
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Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. |
All-consuming fire Ignite our hearts again. |
If you have never said, “yes” to Christ, have never said I will seek first the kingdom / let his fire ignite our hearts, I encourage you to make that decision and to talk to someone today.
If you have made that decision, what choice is God asking you to make today?
When is the last time we’ve been in the presence of God for the sole purpose worship and adoration of God?
Sources:
http://www.sermonnotebook.org/elijah/1%20Kings%2018_16a-40.htm (where the fire falls)
http://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/2006-03-07-Baal-Buster/ (three frogs)