Faith that Changes The World
Notes
Transcript
Happy Mother’s Day
It is a really special thing to have my mom with us today
I can’t remember how long it has been since I’ve been with my mom on Mother’s Day
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’ ” 15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
Now what is happening here?
Well, if we go back to verse one, we meet Elijah
This is the first time that we read of the prophet Ellijah
Elijah is ministering and prophecying in the days of King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel, one of the wickedest kings that Israel ever had
And Ahab’s extreme wickedness, and the wickedness of the people that Ahab had led them into, had not gone unnoticed by God.
And judgement was coming upon the land of Israel
And so God commanded Elijah to go to Ahab and say to him
“As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
Wow, can you imagine that? Neither dew nor rain in a land that is already rather dry and arid. This had to be devastating to go years without rain or any kind of moisture.
And it says that after this, Elijah went and lived by a brook called Cherith
That is on the east side of the Jordan River
And he lived by the ravens bringing him food.
Man, considering what I’ve seen ravens eating, I wonder what they brought him!!
But it says that they brought bread and meat
And he drank from the brook until the brook dried up
Which, I imagine wasn’t too long
And then, if he was going to live, he had to move on!
Well, if I was him, I’d try to conserve energy and just move on to the next watering hole, and hunker down
But that’s not what God told Elijah to do
God said to him, “Arise and go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”
Now, what is significant about this?
Well, I looked up these places and the first thing that I noticed was The distance
A short, rough calculation tells me that from where Elijah was at Cherith brook to Zarephath was a distance of at least 100 miles!
100 miles on foot over rough and dry terrain at the height of a drought
Water is drying up
Crops are failing
This guy can’t stop at Casey’s for a bottle of water and a piece of pizza
He can’t pull out his phone and book a hotel
This is not an insignificant journey!
The location
He is being told to go to a location outside of the land of Israel!
Away from the Jewish population and to the Gentile population
He’s supposed to go to a town called Zaraphath which is close to Sidon
Sidon is to the north of Israel, beyond the northern border and in the land of Sidon which is in modern day Lebanon
Now, Elijah is a Jewish prophet. God has just used him to judge King Ahab and the land of Israel, and now here he is being sent out of Israel into the land of the Gentiles
I wonder what was going through his mind when this message came
The Person
Elijah is being sent into the care of a person and when he hears to whom he is being sent, I wonder how many red flags went off in his head
First of all, this person is a woman
Elijah is a Jewish man. Jewish men were supposed to be very careful how they interacted with women who were not their wives or were not part of their family
This had to have raised a red flag in his head
And maybe he felt a little embarrassed as well—he a man was being sent into the care of a woman
Second of all, this person is a Gentile woman
Here again is another problem
Not only is she a woman, but she is a Gentile woman
The Jews were supposed to be separate from the Gentiles.
They weren’t supposed to marry them or live with them…they were to have very little do do with Gentiles
And the third thing is, this Gentile woman is a widow
Now, remember, this is a time of great need. Drought
The economy is falling apart
Many people were starving and in great need
And if there was anyone who was in great need, It was the widows.
The man, the husband was the breadwinner of the family, and when the man died, there was not a good system in place to take care of widows
and so, in time of need, the widows were usually the ones to run out of food
And so, it’s no surprise that when she comes on the scene, we find her out gathering sticks so that she can make one last meal for her and her son, and then die
There simply will be no more food
She believes in the existence of the One True God
Elijah comes to Zaraphath, and finds her out gathering sticks for her fire
And he says, “Hey, can you please bring me some water?”
and as she is going to get it, he says, “And BTW, can you bring me some food?”
And she says, “As the LORD your God lives, I have no food baked”
She acknowledges the God of Israel. But she has not met this God. She doesn’t know this God
She only believes that He exists and that He is powerful enough and real enough for her to use Him as an oath. A name to use to persuade Elijah that she is telling the truth
She has tremendous faith
Or maybe it is tremendous desperation that is driving her actions
But I would prefer to see it is a tremendous faith because of the way that God rewards her and shows His power to her
The first glimpse of faith that we see is when Elijah asks her for water.
Without question, she starts off to find water for him
It’s a drought. Water is doubtless scarce.
Here is a stranger asking for water, a precious commodity
Yet, without question or protest, she starts off
And the second glimpse of her faith is when she obeys the command of the LORD, given through Elijah to go and make some food
This strange man tells her that if she will consent to making him some food before she or her son have something to eat, she will have endless oil and flour for baking until the rains return to the earth
Just stop and put yourself in your minds’ eye for a moment and try to imagine what she must be thinking and feeling
She and her son are starving. They are desperately hungry…probably nothing but skin and bones
They just need something for their stomach to ward off those hunger pains one last time
And after that....well, the thought is too terrible to think about
Yet, she listens to the word of the LORD through Elijah and she does exactly what she is told to do
And the rest of story is, as we say, history. She not only saves the life of Elijah, but it says that Elijah, and she, and her entire household eat for many days
And the jar of flour did not run out and the jug of oil was never empty
This woman, living outside of community of the people of God had great faith
Her life is saved,
Her child’s life is saved
And this woman
And became part of the story of God’s salvation of His people
Without the faith that this woman showed, who knows what would have happened to Elijah, and who knows what would have happened to God’s people
It reminds me of another story found in Matthew 15
I wonder if Jesus had the story of this widow woman in mind when he took his disciples up to this same area
in the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon
Outside of the land of Palestine,
Outside of the Jewish community, into the land of the Gentiles
And a Canaanite woman came to him crying out “Have mercy on my, O, Lord, Son of David! My daughter has a demon”
and at first, Jesus pretends like He doesn’t hear her
And the disciples are growing irritated
And Jesus tests her faith. He says, “It’s not right to take the children’s food and give it to the dogs”
meaning, just like Elijah, I have come to serve the people of Israel. You are not one of them
And the woman with such amazing faith and humility comes and kneels down before him and says
“Yes, Lord, I know. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table”
Meaning, “Yes, I know. But even the people around get to benefit from what God is doing for His people”
And Jesus, I can imagine with a smile on His face, turns to her and says, “O Woman! Great is your faith!” And he heals her daughter.
And she becomes a part of God’s story of the salvation of His people
Two women
Two women from outside of the people of God
Two women with great faith in the salvation of God
And two women who receive healing for their children
They receive the blessing of God
And they become part of the the story of God’s salvation for his people.
Ladies, this is an encouragement to you (and to all of us)
I don’t know where you find yourself today
Every one of you are at different places in your walk with Jesus
And each one of you is at a different place in life
Maybe you feel like your faith is weak
Maybe life seems overwhelming at the time
Maybe you feel like your lives are a bit routine and mundane
Maybe you feel like your place in the world is insignificant
And your corner of the world is small
Maybe when it comes to all the amazing things that the Holy Spirit is doing in the lives of other people, you feel like an outsider (just like these two women)
Maybe a lot of us feel that way sometimes
But you know what, you are in good company
Hebrews 11 is full of people who were called by God, they followed God, yet they often never saw the fulfillment of what God had promised
They must have felt like their lives were insignificant
Like the faithfulness that they were showing really didn’t matter in the long run
Just like these two women must have felt
The author of Hebrews in chapter 11 calls out a lot of these people by name
But then there are so many people who had great faith, that he just says “others”
Not everyone had their stories preserved like these two women, And yet they are held up as great examples of faith
And maybe these two women could fit into that word, “others”
And do you know what? Maybe you could too!
Because you are part of God’s story
You have been chosen to play a vital role in the story of God’s salvation
His story of redeeming all mankind back to Himself
He chose you before the world was created, Ephesians 1 says.
And you are chosen to be a part of God’s salvation
2 Cor. 5 says that Through Jesus Christ, you have been reconciled to God
And now you have been given that ministry
The passage urges you to first be reconciled to God and then take up the ministry that you have been given
You are an ambassador for God
You have been given the ministry of reconciliation, that is to help people be in a right relationship with God through Jesus
Whether it is at home with your kids
Whether it is with your husband
Whether it is with co-workers
Or in the store
Or at church
You have been given this ministry of reconciliation
So, be faithful in that ministry
In your conversations, in your life and actions, in all that you do, point the people in your life toward a right relationship with God
You are part of God’s story, so by faith press into that story
Even though in the grand scheme of things your corner of the world may seem small, and insignificant, and routine
It really is none of those things
Rather, it is where God has placed you for this time for His purpose in the story of His salvation.
Be faithful in this.