Sermon Tone Analysis

*Inscription: Writing God’s Words on Our Hearts & Minds*

*/Part 30: Elijah on Discouragement /*

*1 Kings 18-19*

*/August 29, 2010/*

 

* *

*Prep: *

·         Screwtape: Undulation

 

*Scripture reading: 1 Kings 16:29-33 (Jewel) *

 

 

Prayer

 

A history lesson

 

I love history.

Taught well, it is simply learning great stories.

I have recently been reading about the Revolution.

·         But history is full of lessons – right now George Washington is teaching me to face facts, rather than ignore them.

Today we are learning from Israel’s history, particularly the discouragement Elijah faced, on the heels of best known success.

·         On the way you’ll learn stuff you didn’t hear in Sunday School.

Last week we ended with Solomon.

After his death, God divided Israel into two nations, Judah and Israel.

Judah and Benjamin are ruled by David’s descendants and the northern nations (“Israel”) ruled by various kings, ranging from bad to worse.

Israel lives in varying degrees of apostasy, and Judah’s not much better, worshiping the gods around them, as God had warned about.

In response, God sent prophets to warn them to return.

·         The greatest of prophets was Elijah; he didn’t write books but was known both for fearlessly proclamation and great miracles.

He is actually reference in the NT more than any other prophets: 1) John the Baptist was called “Elijah,” 2) Moses and Elijah met up with Jesus at the Transfiguration.

Yahweh vs. Ba’al

 

In an attempt to get Israel’s attention, Elijah announces a major drought, which won’t end until he said so.

Elijah then disappears and the rain stops – a severe mercy.

·         Three years later, he shows up to confront Ahab, one of the wickedest of Israel’s kings.

*1 Kings 18:17-40*   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.

·         Have you noticed how often we are the ones who sin, then blame others when we suffer?

19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel.

·         Elijah is suggesting a showdown between Yahweh and Ba’al.

Mt.

Carmel is the perfect place, it is one of the taller mountains in the area, and was frequently used as a “high place,” where idols would have been worshiped, because supposedly close to the gods (also near Phoenicia).

And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

This was the original jezebel, where we got the term from.

was the queen and perhaps the wickedest woman in the Bible – she’d been aggressively pushing Ba’al worship.

·         Apparently, Ahab likes these odds (950:1), so sets things up.

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 them 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.”

God is confronting this idol on his own terms.

Ba’al was called the “Rider on the Clouds,” and was believed to bring rain and agricultural fertility.

·         See the irony?

They had worshiped Ba’al so he would bless their crops, and in response God says, “I don’t think so.”

Ba’al was also the storm god (makes sense, rain and storms).

Q   Any guess what would be his weapon of choice?

Q   Can you guess the significance of “lighting the sacrifice”?

Elijah is saying, “Your god is the storm god, let’s see if he can give you one bolt of lightning on a clear day.”

 

 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.

“O Baal, answer us!” they shouted.

But there was no response; no one answered.

And they danced around the altar they had made.

27 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.”

I love the sarcasm here, maybe your god is “busy.”

The prophets were big on potty humor.

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.

30 ¶ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.”

They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins.

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 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.

·         There would be no doubt this was God, no trickery.

36 ¶ At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “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.

37 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.”

No frantic ritual, just a simple prayer, about 30 words long.

Elijah knew the power didn’t lie in ritual, but in God himself.

·         Don’t you wish everyone prayed this way, esp.

before a meal?

The prayer was for the people’s benefit.

It spoke both of God’s power and concern for his people, to bring them home.

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!”  40 Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal.

Don’t let anyone get away!”

They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.

This might seem a little harsh, but the OT required that capital punishment for those who lead Israel away from God. Elijah was telling them to make a clean break from their false worship.

Better they die than all Israel.

·         And to finish it off, Elijah prays for rain, and it comes.