Stand Alone with God I. What was the Historical Setting?

Transcription

1 Series: Speaking to a Dying Culture of a Living God, #1 Text: I Kings 16:29-33, 17:1 Valley Community Baptist Church May 2, 3; 2009 Avon, CT Pastor Jay Abramson Stand Alone with God Robert Klose lives in a crooked house. As a first-time homebuyer back during the housing boom of the 80 s, he was excited to get ANY house, so when the century old home came on the market at a price he could afford, he jumped on it. But then, as he lived in it, he began to notice things. If you dropped a ball on the floor, he said, it rolled away from you, open a door and it would close by itself. There were windows that wouldn t open and cabinets that wouldn t shut. But you know what? Robert got used to it. Seventeen years later when he d saved up some money, he hired a carpenter friend, Mike, to fix a few of the problems. But Mike quickly became very frustrated. His measurements meant nothing because the house was not square, nothing was level. So, Mike told Robert that he was sorry but there was nothing he could do. Robert asked Mike, Well, what do you suggest? Mike said, Get out while the gettin s good. 1 This weekend we begin an eight-week study of the life and ministry of the prophet Elijah. Elijah was sent by God to the northern kingdom of Israel to tell them that they lived in a crooked house and if they didn t have the repairs done, they should get out before it fell down. Elijah was speaking to a dying culture of a living Lord. Over these next two months we need to pay close attention to Elijah s message and his life, because we may be facing some of the same issues in our own culture very, very soon. First, we need to ask I. What was the Historical Setting? For well over 100 years, the Israelites lived under the reign of three kings: Saul, David and Solomon. While not one of them was without his weaknesses and failures, God greatly blessed Israel during this period bringing it to its highest level of advancement. But after Solomon died, civil war broke out and the nation was split in two with ten tribes in the north forming what was called Israel and two tribes in the south where Jerusalem and the Temple were, called Judah. The northern kingdom lasted over two hundred more years and had 19 kings; every one of them was wicked. In 722 B.C. the Assyrian army came and carried the people into captivity. We never hear from those ten tribes again. The southern Kingdom meanwhile, which lasted over three hundred years after Solomon, had 17 kings with about half being wicked and half being godly. It lasted until 586 B.C. when its inhabitants were taken captive by the Babylonians. But this captivity lasted only 70 years after which they were allowed to return to Jerusalem. Each kingdom, Israel to the north and Judah to the South, were visited by prophets sent by God. We ll talk more about the prophet s job description in a moment, but first, I think it s necessary for us to zoom in on the northern kingdom of Israel. What was happening in Israel? What was going on that gave them such a crooked house? Before Elijah was sent by God, there were six kings in Israel. They started out bad and got increasingly worse. Jeroboam was the first. He re-introduced idol worship. 1

2 the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. (I Kings 12:28) Religion in Egypt was deeply occultic so Jeroboam not only led the people into the occult, but he re-wrote history to convince them it was right. Of the five kings that followed Jeroboam before the time of Elijah, two were murdered by their successors, all were drunkards, all were violent, and all were consumed with the occult. Then came Ahab, son of Omri. I Kings 16:30-33 introduces Ahab to us: Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him. What s so provocative about worshipping Baal? Well, first of all, by definition Baal worship was a violation of six of the Ten Commandments: 1. You shall have no other gods before me 2. You shall not make for yourselves idols 3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God 4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy 6. You shall not murder 7. You shall not commit adultery Now, how did Baal worship violated commandments 6 and 7? Let me explain Baal was the Canaanite god of nature and fertility. Asherah was his goddess. The Canaanites believed that Baal and Asherah were responsible for all the fruitfulness of their land and flocks. There was a similar god and goddess pair in Egypt, Osiris and Isis. Actually, these were not husband and wife pairs but a son and mother pair. (If you think this sounds twisted and bizarre, you have no idea!) It is actually extremely dark and satanic. As part of the practice of this religion and to ensure good crops and fertile flocks, individual worshippers were required to have sexual relations with the priests and priestesses of Baal as well as to periodically sacrifice their children. Yes, murder their own children! This is what provoked God to such anger. Ahab, by marrying Jezebel, was combining these two occultic religions, that of the Egyptians and that of the Canaanites. The kings of the north put their people under the direct influence of Satan. Now this may sound incredibly extreme and far, far away from anything that relates to our culture, but is it really? The laws of God that were being violated concerned who they worshipped, their sexual behavior and their view of the sanctity of life. They violated these laws because they believed that by doing so, they would have a better quality of life. So, why do Americans violate God s laws? Why do Americans have sex outside of marriage? Isn t it because we think it will improve our quality of life? Why do we murder 3,700 pre-born infants every day? (Israel NEVER came close to numbers like this!) Isn t it because we say it will provide a better quality of life for the mothers and the children who AREN T murdered? So, how exactly are we different from Israel in Elijah s day? I m sorry, but the only difference I see is that we do more. Bible commentator, A. W. Pink writes this: 2

3 Now it was in the midst of this spiritual darkness and degradation there appeared on the stage of public action, with dramatic suddenness, a solitary but striking witness to and for the living God. 2 II. Who Was this Prophet, Elijah, and Why Is He Important? We have precious little information about Elijah s background, only one sentence really: Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead (I Kings 17:1) That s it! Where s Tishbe? Where s Gilead? [Show Map Divided Kingdom] Gilead is the mountainous region across the Jordan River almost due east from Samaria. Though Samaria, the capital of Israel, and Tishbe were only about 30 miles apart, the inhabitants of each place could ve lived on different planets. Ahab lived in an expanding metropolis, the capital of a new country. Elijah was from a rugged mountain region where traditions hadn t changed in over 100 years. Ahab dressed in fine linens and ate gourmet. Elijah wore camel s hair and cooked over an open fire. Ahab was a consummate politician even choosing his wife to further his career. Elijah cared about one thing, that God received glory. Ahab worshipped many gods. Elijah worshipped one. Elijah s name meant, Yahweh is God. Ahab was the king of a sovereign country. Elijah was a prophet of the one, true God. Who would you rather have received a visit from? Don t answer too quickly. First, how much do you know about prophets? God sent His prophets only in a time of failure and sin. He sent them to call people back to Himself OR to announce that the consequences of their actions were now unavoidable. 3 So, if a true prophet shows up in Avon today, it probably won t be cause for celebration. God sends His prophets into emergency situations. It s like driving home from work and finding three police cars and an ambulance in your driveway. You should know one thing; they re not there because you just won the lottery. There are only seven appearances of Elijah in Scripture six in the Old Testament and one in the New. Seven glimpses only and in several of them, like this first one, he only speaks a few words. So, what could make him so important? Let me mention three things. First, Elijah was prepared. Why did God choose a person like Elijah to speak on His behalf? Coming from the physical environment of Gilead, one thing is for sure, Elijah was not pampered. F.B. Meyer describes Gilead with these words: Gilead lay east of the Jordan: it was wild and rugged; its hills were covered with shaggy forests; its awful solitude was only broken by the dash of mountain streams; its valleys were the haunt of fierce wild beasts. Such a physical setting would harden you for any future challenge. But Elijah was also spiritually prepared. In I Kings 19, we hear Elijah s self analysis as he looks back over his ministry. He says: I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. (I Kings 19:10) Elijah was not a politician, looking for votes. He only cared about one person s opinion God s. Did you hear about Arlene Specter, the senator from Pennsylvania this week? He changed parties, going from being a Republican to being a Democrat. The reason I heard that he did it was because his pollsters told him he couldn t win the next election as a Republican. Apparently for Mr. Specter the words conviction, values and principle don t mean much. It s all about one thing for him, votes! This is the exact 3

4 opposite of the man Elijah. Elijah was not all that concerned about what happened to Elijah. He was zealous for one thing, the LORD God Almighty. The word zealous means, eagerly desires to please, is enthusiastically diligent for someone else s will. Does that describe your attitude? Are you prepared to do God s will? Secondly, Elijah was obedient. I mean, he was radically obedient. Can you imagine doing what Elijah did? He leaves his rural home and walks in, unannounced, to the king s palace. I mean the starkness of this sentence is appalling: Now Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab Don t you just think, Wait!! How is this possible? Where were the guards? Who let him in? What made him think he could do this? We have a thousand questions about the logistics, don t we? But I think God wants us to forget the logistics and focus on something else. Look at Elijah s radical obedience! We say, That could never happen, and the reason we say that is because we aren t willing for it to happen to us. We re looking for an excuse for NOT doing such a thing! But what if God still said you should do it? Would you even try? One of the great privileges of my life was doing ministry along side a woman named Daisy Hepburn at the Bible camp Liz and I ran in Minnesota. Daisy was (and is) a female Elijah! I was the administrator of the camp and Daisy was the program director. On paper I was her supervisor. That was like saying a flea is the supervisor of a race horse! Daisy had one goal for every week of the summer to make that week the best, most exciting, most spiritually stimulating week of every camper s life. She would stop at nothing, nothing to reach that goal. One week of high school camp, we had the teaching theme of Joshua entering the Promised Land. Well, that s kind of a military theme, right? Across the lake from us was a National Guard training camp. We could hear them at night doing their live ammo training exercises. Well, Daisy got the wild idea that we needed some of their army equipment over at our camp to really get our theme across, so she said, Come on Jay, we re going over to camp Ripley! I said, For what? She said, To get some army equipment! I thought to myself, Okay, this tops em all! But off we went. We sat down with the camp commander and I was as shocked as he was when I heard Daisy say, We re trying to teach some high school students the Word of God and we need some of your equipment. The commander said, Really? What did you have in mind? Daisy said, Oh, we could use a tank, and a few jeeps and especially one of those helicopters you ve got sitting out there. The commander tried to stifle a laugh and said, A helicopter? You know, I don t even have the authority to make a decision like that. He was trying to kick Daisy upstairs. That was a big a mistake because Daisy didn t miss a beat. She just asked, Well, who does have the authority? He said, You d have to speak to the Adjutant General about that She said, Really? And what s his number? Three weeks later, when our high school campers showed up at camp, they were stopped at the gate by three National Guardsmen in a jeep. After they put their gear in 4

5 their cabins, they were marched down to the lake by a squad of National Guardsmen teaching them close order drill. At the lake they were taken on a cruise in an amphibious vehicle called a gamma goat and later in the week, while were coming out of chapel we all dove for cover as the camp was buzzed by a National Guard chopper which made a big turn over the lake, came back and delivered the Adjutant General of the National Guard of Minnesota to eat lunch with our 160 high school students who weren t just hearing the story of Joshua, they were living the story of Joshua. If God tells you He wants you to leave your comfort zone to take on a special mission for Him, what will you tell Him? Will you tell Him all the reasons why it won t work? Or, will you just go do it? Let me give you some advice follow Elijah! Lastly, Elijah stood alone with God. Listen to what Elijah said to Ahab: As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word. (I Kings 17:1) This is one sentence that could obviously be a whole sermon in itself, but let me make one comment. When you stand alone for God, you really are not alone at all you are in His presence. Thomas Merton, the modern day monk wrote these profound words: As soon as you are really alone, you are with God. Can you imagine how alone Elijah must have felt, standing before a king whom he knew shared none of his beliefs, values or principles? It had to be an incredibly stressful moment. And what s the first thing he says? The New American Standard version translates it this way: (I Kings 17:1 NASV) As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand: Did you catch that? Elijah s first words were, Before I tell you why I came, I ve just got to tell you this right now, I m not standing here alone. I m standing in the presence of the One True God!! That s what Elijah said. He said it, because he knew it was true. He was experiencing God s presence as he stood alone before a wicked, wicked king. What is God calling you to this week that you re really stressed out about? I m sure that some of you are wishing you could just skip this week. Are you listening to this message? When you get to that day that you so want to avoid, go back and read this verse. You might feel like nothing more than a tishbite from Hicksville, which in fact, you are! And if it was just going to be you, the tishbite versus Ahab and his bizarro wife Jezebel, it could get pretty ugly. But you are not alone. Read it. READ IT! As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand: You re not alone. You ll never be alone. God stands with you. You re in His presence. And He will give you everything you need, even the words. So, don t shrink back from this week. Lean into it because as you do, you ll be leaning into God. Amen. 1 Robert Klose, Life in a Crooked House, Christian Science Monitor, ( ) 2 A.W. Pink, The Life of Elijah (Pensacola: Mt. Zion Publications), p Ibid., p. 4 5