Elijah Part 3 | Faith in a Resurrecting God

INTRO

If you have your Bible today you can turn to 1 Kings 17 as we continue our series of looking at the lives of Elijah and Elisha. How these two men lived supernaturally in a complacent, no, devastating time of Israel’s history. Yet, there lives are not just for study but for looking at on how we can also live supernaturally in a complacent culture.

Body

English Standard Version Chapter 17

17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!”

So some time after the previous miracle of God providing for them in a drought with unlimited flour and oil, tragedy hits this widow who has already been through so much. Her son, who was not that old it seems, dies from sickness. And in her natural mind, she thinks God is getting back at her for some sin that she committed. I say natural because this is how many people respond when tragedy and pain hits, they think God is getting back at them. We see this in John 9 too when Jesus’ disciples ask him “who sinned to have this man born blind? Him or his parents? And Jesus said neither! God is currently still supernaturally providing for them. Sickness and death are a part of the fallen and broken world that she is in. But she turns to Elijah in her grief blames him and God. Her only son is gone. She thought she was hopeless before, but now this is a pain she never has experienced. So how does Elijah respond to this?

English Standard Version Chapter 17

19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. 20 And he cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?”

Elijah has faith and confusion at the same time. He believes that God can do something through him, that’s why he takes the boy. But then when he cries out to God, he is even confused about the situation. Now it is important to point out two things right now that will help us to understand the depth of this story.

Baal was not the only god Sidonites worshiped. They also worshipped Mot, the god of death.

So Baal was they god they sacrificed to to get fertility and rain. Mot was worshipped so that death would not be over their house. Could Yahweh be bigger than Baal and Mot? I guess we will find out soon. But the other important thing to know is, To our knowledge, no one before this time has been raised from the dead.

So Elijah is not drawing from any resources here thinking, okay, God raised this person from the dead, so maybe he wants to do that here! This is out of the ordinary, pure blind faith that, even though he doesn’t know what God will do, He is willing to take a risk. So he has faith, and there is some confusion but when you finally come to the end of yourself, and prayer is all you have, something supernatural can happen. Let’s keep reading.

21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.”

I don’t want to rush past this because there is actually a lot going on. If you can imagine with me for a moment, Elijah, a man just like us, alone in a room with a dead boy. And he doesn’t know what he is going to do, doesn’t know what to say, but he knows God. So in desperation, he lays on the child and prays, O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again. Three times he does this. I’m guessing he was probably going to go on as long as it took to have something change. He is persistent. His faith is active. He doesn’t know what God is going to do but he continues to press in.

This is what happens when every option is stripped away from us and we have to fully rely on God. We seek him and we are even willing to be a little crazy, a little unashamed. Have you gone from praying to, praying on your knees? From praying on your knees to laying down? Because you realize how small you are in this moment and you need God. There is no other way out. This is where Elijah was. And We see here that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Let’s read on.

English Standard Version Chapter 17

22 And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” 24 And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.”

Wow, what a moment. I’m sure there was a little bit of shock from Elijah, like, “Wow! It worked!” Okay, let’s bring you to your mom. And she had to be ecstatic. But what is interesting about this supernatural miracle that God performed through Elijah is the result. Remember, God had already been supernaturally providing for this women. But here it seems like there is a confession of faith that God, yahweh, is the one she will follow. This God is bigger than Baal and Mot. Then I will follow him.

Application

And as I have said before, these stories are incredible to look at, study, and learn, but even more be challenged by. If Elijah is a man just like us, as James 5 tells us, then are there ways that we can live supernaturally in a complacent culture? Are there things that Elijah did that can help us in some incredibly difficult situations? But before we talk about how we can live supernaturally, I want us to turn to James 5 to a text I keep mentioning about Elijah that actually helps us today to live supernaturally.

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

So, while I can’t prove to you that James had the story of the widow’s son being raised in his mind when he wrote this, it would almost seem possible that he could have, right? And in this text, there is so much but to help us connect it to our story today and how to live supernaturally, I want to point out three things that can help us to practically walk supernaturally today and this week.

HOW TO LIVE SUPERNATURALLY IN A COMPLACENT CULTURE

Live by faith

Now I know that this might sound simple or even cliche since we are in church. But I think we need to define what this looks like for Elijah so that we can understand what this means for our life. A lot of times we think living by faith means that we believe in God. Which is true. But looking at Elijah, he had faith in the midst of confusion because faith was his only option. He didn’t know what to do. He had to try something. And while I know that we have a beautiful definition of faith in Hebrews 11, a pastor in Hawaii named Jordan Seng defines faith in a very down to earth way that I have found helpful. He says,

“Faith is trying” Jordan Seng

So in Elijah’s case he could have looked at the dead boy and just said, well I guess it was the will of God. I guess you should just sit in your guilt because God is punishing you. No, he takes the boy and try’s something. He believes that Yahweh is God. Is he over the famine, yes. Is he over crazy kings, yes. Is he over all creation, yes. IS he more powerful than death? Let’s try and see.

I have been reading through the Gospels recently and I am amazed at how much Jesus acknowledges peoples faith. Their amount they have, meaning the lack or the greatness of it. It seems like he really finds it important. And while I know the word “faith” has been misused as a word that we just throw around in the church world to get more finances or more blessing, this is not what we have here in Elijah. He was putting his faith in the living God.

What about you? Are you actions lining up with who the living God is. I’m guessing in a room this size there are some desperate situations going on. Are you responding like the widow today and think this is God’s way of getting back at you! He is finally getting even. Or are you believing that there is a God over all things, even death and that maybe, just possibly, he wants to do something in this situation and even crazier, through you. Because if so we won’t just try things, we also will pray fervently.

2. To live supernaturally in a complacent culture we need to pray fervently.

Going back to Elijah, I don’t think his faith made him comfortable with the situation. I’m sure there was some confusion of what to do and so he cries out to God and lays on the boy. Covering him, not just laying hands on him, but the whole body. This is a code red situation! And as I said before, he did it three times but I’m guessing he is willing to keep trying. To keep seeking. To keep knocking. To keep asking. Like Jesus tells us in Luke 18, to keep praying and not to lose heart.

As your pastor, I never want to make you do something. I desire to follow the Lord and point you to him and you follow him. But I will be honest in saying that one of my desires for this church, something I ask the Lord to continue to stir in me and in this place, is that we would not just be a church that prays, but that we would be a praying church. And to be totally transparent, I don’t even know that looks like. Does it mean having a prayer room filled throughout the week? Maybe. Does it mean we just have people praying all over the county? Possible. But looking at our own lives today, what do our prayer look like? Are they fervent? Or, are we relying a little bit more on something else? Are there little idols in our heart that take our time and fervency from our prayers? Are there things that we have not crushed yet in our life so that our prayers can go from few to fervent?

Take time to pray?

3.To live supernaturally in a complacent culture we need to believe in a resurrecting God.

Did you know that there were two people who were raised from the dead in this story? Not just the son, but the widow. Her declaration of faith was her being raised from the dead of walking in darkness and into life. We know that every person is like this because of Ephesians 2 where it tells us that we were all dead in our trespasses and sins, following the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air. BUT GOD. The God who raised Jesus from the dead also raised you and I from the dead. We are alive because of him. He is still raising people from the dead today. He wants people alive, full of emotions, fervent prayer lives, passionate faith, even when things looks confusing. People that understand that God is God over all, even death. And he showed us this through his son, because his son is alive and seated at his right hand who continually lives to make intercession for us.

Has God raised you from the dead so that you can live a supernatural life in a complacent culture? If he hasn’t raised you up we will pray for that soon, but if you have been raised from the dead my next question is are you praying fervently for others in your life that are dead? Is there faith in you life to see God act and move? If not, today is a great day to start. If that is your desire today, would you stand and pray with me?