God s Trash-Talking Witness I Kings18:17-39 Sunday, May 29, 2016 Orange United Methodist Church

Transcription

1 God s Trash-Talking Witness I Kings18:17-39 Sunday, May 29, 2016 Orange United Methodist Church We re in I Kings today. In case you re a little foggy on the chronology of the judges and kings and stories in the OT, let me start with some background to this scripture that will help you catch up to the story. There is the Torah, the first 5 books in the OT, the Exodus (where Moses went mano e mano with Pharoah, 10 plagues, parting of the Red Sea, wandering in the wilderness for 40 years); Joshua succeeded Moses and led Israel into the Promised Land through military conquest; and Israel was at first led by Judges (Deborah, Gideon, Samsom and Deliah,); 1,2 Samuel inteoduce us to the first Kings of Israel, Saul, then David; the monarchy divided for a short time and was reunited; Samuel gives us the pastoral stories of David and his son, King Solomon, (the wise King), who built the Temple in Jerusalem and returned the ark of the covenant to the Temple, performed his memorable Temple dedication prayer, and the monarchy divided again; then the Books of Kings record the succession of kings in both Judah and Israel. Some were good, some bad. One was very bad. The worst of the whole lot, the bible tells us, was Ahab, King of Israel (when Jehosophat was king of Judah). The Bible says Ahab, Did evil in eyes of Lord, more than anyone before him. He built an altar to Baal (Palestine s fertility God) and a temple of Baal in Samaria, at that time the capital city of Israel. King Ahab was the most heated adversary of the Lord God in that day which meant he was the most heated adversary of the Lord s prophets. Ahab had killed most of the Lord God s prophets of that day, but Elijah had elluded him. Elijah was the most respected and revered prohpet of the Lord God in that day. (He was fed by ravens and raised a dead boy to life, among other notable acts as prohpet. Our present scripture is the story of the clash of the Titans of that day, the fight of the century, if you will, for all the marbles: King Ahab against the prophet Elijah, who pitted their Gods against each other, Baal the fertillity God, against the Lord God of Israel. I Kings 18:17-26a The Challenge Was Issued, (3X) Don t Light the Fire 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, Is that you, you troubler of Israel? 18 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

2 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. 20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 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. But the people said nothing. 22 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. This challenge was all about demonstrating God. It was about putting God on the line, to the test, in front of a lot of people, enemies, unregenerates, apostates, God-haters/mockers. What about that? Elijah thought nothing of putting God to the test, on the spot, force Him to demonstrate himself or lose the people for good. The thing is we re not supposed to put God to the test. Deut. 6:16 tells us that. It s not one of the BIG 10, but it was and is big enough that Jesus quoted it when being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. If Jesus lived by that law wow, Elijah was. special! (A few other significant people of faith in the OT narrative tested God: Gideon (fleece), Abraham in debate with God over Sodom and Gomorrah. But Elijah and Gideon and Abraham didn t have a problem testing God.) Here s the thing for us as Christians to see. Elijah may not have had a problem putting God to the test, but Jesus did. And as Christians we defer to Jesus, so we try to avoid putting God to the test in our lives. Now, here s the question: if we re not supposed to put God to the test, how do we posture ourselves so that God can in fact demonstrate himself in our lives? Let s call it Situational dependence: i. e. give a situation/circumstance/crisis/mess to God and don t do anything. Wait and see what God does to demonstrate himself in your situation. Lynn and I separated in 1997 for 9 months. We almost got divorced. I had a wall in my mind toward Lynn. I didn t want to see her, talk her, love her. Reconciliation truly was hopeless. It was the most hellish time I ve ever had in my life. I had my wall. I built that wall. I protected that wall. I guarded that wall. But as time

3 passed in those months, I began to miss home, the kids, and deep down, the relationship. I remember one day I was sitting on a beach in NC at my parents getaway house watching the waves come in and go out. I was reading and praying and soon I was crying. I prayed, Jesus, I m exhausted. I don t want my wall anymore. Please take down my wall. Help me love again. In that instant I didn t know what to expect. Would it make any difference? Would the Lord take down the wall slowly, one brick at a time? Would I feel love again? When I said Amen and opened my eyes, there was no wall in my heart, in my mind, in my consciousness. I felt love again. Love for Lynn. Love for home. Love for life. Love for ministry. I laughed and cried interchangably. Within the hour my bags were packed and I drove back home. Lynn and the kids were standing at the door with open arms to hug me. It happened in a moment, the twinkling of an eye. But I wonder, still today, would the miracle of reconcilation ever happened to me in my marriage had I not totally surrendered to God and depended on Jesus completely in that situation to tear down that wall and restore love in my heart? I really don t think so. But I left it completely to Jesus and he did the rest. That s what Elijah did. He put himself and God in a position where God had to show up. So, practice more situational dependence on God. Give your situation to Jesus, fully, whole heartedly, in such a way that only he can save you from the mess/crisis/situation. Do that and Jesus will throw his lifeline to you. He ll still the sea, calm the storm, bring you the healing that you need. Do God s Witnesses Trash Talk People Who Believe in Other Gods? Well, Elijah Did. :26b 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. Some people take trash talking to an art form. A person gets cut off by another car and spews out an string of expletives and deletives that would make a sailor blush. Men, when your spouse contradicts you, points out all the ways you re wrong, a really bad person you do some trash talking it may be under your breath, with your back turned, but you do some trash talking! When your boss or teacher tells you you just don t get it, you re hopeless, you ve failed, you re fired! Trash talking. In 1975, Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier fought for the 3rd time. Each had won a fight. This was called The Thrilla in Manila, Philippines. Ali taunted Joe Frazier

4 mercilessly with some serious trash talk. Ali said, It s gonna be a killa and a thrilla and a chilla, when I get that gorilla in Manila! But Elijah he was trash talking where the battle field was..religion. Have you ever trash talked someone because they have an opposing religious view? Maybe you have. Is religious trash talking a scripturally sound thing to do? This may or may not be a critical issue for you, but it s a good quesiton. We probably have felt like trash talking other people s religious persuasions before. To answer the question, we have to defer to Jesus again. In the NT, the trash talking you see there is always the devil or the devil in someone trash talking Jesus or a follower of Jesus: (e.g. the Gadarene demoniac did some serious trash talking to Jesus.) But never, not once, not even close, did Jesus ever trash talk his religious adversaries. Jesus didn t fight fire with fire. Instead, Jesus countered the people s trash talk with love, mercy, kindness. He said, If someone strikes you on the cheek, don t trash talk them, turn to them the other one as well.love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you that you may be sons and daughters of your father in heaven. When Jesus stood before pilate on Friday morning with his life on the line he said.nothing, like a sheep before the slaughter. Nothing. No trash talk. Only Silence. Humilty. Love. That s what a Christian is called to do. Don t respond with trash talk. Respond with love, mercy, kindness. Just like Jesus. Less like Elijah! When I was 7, in anger I kicked my foot through the screen on the back door. Mom was at home. Dad was at work. Mom said those dreaded words, Wait till your Dad gets home. (Dads, don t you love getting that chore laid on you when you walk into the house!) I spent the day waiting for Dad, his anger, punishment, pain, tears. I expected to hear his trash talk before the beating: This is gong to hurt me more than it s going to hurt you ( I don think so, I thought), If you ever disrespect you mother like that again it ll be too wet to plow, ( I know, I know, can you just get this over with? ) Dad came home, Mom spilled the beans, Dad came toward me. I melted in tears. And then, just when I thought the fur was about to fly, Dad knelt down, wiped my 7 yr old tears away, smiled, said, Do you want to go to Dairy Queen and get an ice cream? What? No thrashing? No bashing? No trashing? Dairy Queen? I nodded, Yes! Yes! That s a 50 year old memory. I can still see myself sitting in that booth with Dad eating ice cream. He didn t answer my lawlessness and defiance with trash talk and a beating. He offered me love, mercy, and grace. That was the day

5 I saw what grace looked like. Elijah trash talked. But Jesus never did. He doesn t want us to either. He wants us to be more like him. Respond with love, mercy, and grace in every situation and that will put you in good stead with the heavenly Father. Elijah Set the Table for the Lord God and God Demonstrated Himself in a Decisive Way : Then Elijah said to all the people, Come here to me. They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, Your name shall be Israel. 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs[a] of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood. 34 Do it again, he said, and they did it again. Do it a third time, he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. 36 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. 38 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. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, The Lord he is God! The Lord he is God! And Elijah and the Lord God of Israel won the Clash of the Titans against King Ahab and their god Baal. Elijah s win here tells us something we need to know everyday: God can make a way when there seems to be no way. It may not involve suspending the laws of physics (like buring soaking wet wood) or spontaneous combustion of fire), but God will come, will demonstrate himself in your crisis, your mess, your situation. It may not be immediate. Sometimes it takes hindsight to see it clearly. But this story teaches us that God hears our prayers, just like he heard Elijah's, and he will act on our behalf in ways that we may not even expect. It s not a test. We call it situational dependence and we need to practice it more and more everyday. Memorial Day is for remembering people who were fired up for their God and country, who gave their lives in service to their country. There is a Marine who has a Facebook page and on it he asks and answers this question: What Is A Veteran? He writes, A Veteran, whether active duty, discharged, retired or reserve-- is someone who, at one point in their lives, wrote a blank check made payable to The United States of America, for an amount up to and including their life. Today we remember them and say thank you. Jesus

6 Christ also wrote a blank check made payable to you and me. It was written with his own blood and he signed it while he was hanging on a cross in Jerusalem. As we remember Jesus, Elijah, all the faithful who have gone before us, they ask you and me a question: What is a Christian? And they give us the answer: A Christian is someone who writes a blank check up to and including their lives made payable to the Lord God and to every person they meet in life. That s what Elijah did. That s what Jesus did. That s what Jesus wants you and me to do. Amen and Amen.