What Are You Doing Here

Greeting

Isaiah 2:3 ESV

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.

Good morning, and welcome to the Baker Heights Church of Christ. We are blessed by everyone being here as we worship together. Visitors, please take a moment to scan that QR code in front of you to connect with us. Baker Heights is a loving church family that seeks to share God with our community. No matter who you are or what your background is, God is the goal and the answer. That’s why you are welcome and wanted right here. So, hit that QR code and let us know what is on your mind.

In July we will begin a series on the Sermon on the Mount.

Grabber

In our modern western culture, there has been a noticeable rise in anxiety, loneliness, and depression over the last 15 years. There are various factors that have led to the current situation: Increased awareness, more willingness to report or seek help, what some call dire times we live in, hardiness of the generation, lockdowns, coddling of the mind, economic stress. No single natural factor can account for the increase in mental health issues. We live at a time when global travel takes hours, not years. Communication is as instant as we can conceive a thought. Connections are everywhere, including our pockets, yet there is a surge in feelings of isolation and despair. What’s going on? More importantly, how can we stop it?

While the natural world reasons may mount, there is an overarching spiritual purpose that many ignore: What are we doing here? God asked Elijah the same question, and it points to our human purpose and need.

Introduction

Introduction to Elijah: 1 Kings 17:1 “Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “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.””

Tishbe in Gilead.

God will withhold the rains. This was a reaction to Ahab’s wickedness. Ahab had become king and did evil in the sight of the Lord (1 Kings 16:30). Then he married Jezebel who led him to worship Baal. He built a house for Baal, an altar, and Asherah. 1 Kings 16:33 “Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.”

Elijah pronounced the judgment of God on the sinful nation, and particularly on the house of Ahab. Then in 1 Kings 18, He confronted the prophets of Baal who were protected by the house of Ahab. Mount Carmel saw Elijah at his best, challenging the false prophets of an impotent god. Elijah mocked them as they danced and gyrated and pled to their non-existent god. Afterward, Elijah drenched the altar and its sacrifice with water, not once, not twice, but three times to remove every doubt or excuse. Then he simply prayed to Yahweh, and everybody witnessed the power of God as flames poured down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, and the altar, and licked up the water from the trenches. In the end, Yahweh consumed everything except the blindness and vindictiveness of Jezebel, who in her fury said 1 Kings 19:2 “Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.””

Elijah fled. How could a servant as bold and fiery as Elijah so quickly turn to fear? Why would he run away? Maybe it has to do with his feelings of isolation and being the lone prophet that opposed God’s enemies. Loneliness is a powerful emotion, and it has led many to the inert caves of safety.

However, God did not give up on Elijah. 2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So, God asked Elijah, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Then God reminded him that he was not abandoned or forgotten or even finished. God still had work for him to do. Let’s turn to 1 Kings 19 and pick up the story there.

Discussion

The Power of Fear (1 Kings 19:1-4)

1 Kings 19:3–4 ESV

Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

Elijah fled from Jezebel. Even after the death of 450 prophets of Baal and the fire of heaven, Elijah believed Jezebel would kill him. She had the temperament. She had the authority. She had the reason.

Elijah wasn’t afraid to die, he asked God to take his life. He was afraid Jezebel and Baal would gain the victory. Escaping the queen’s wrath was equivalent to escaping Baal’s wrath.

“It is enough” may be his way of saying, “I am far enough out of their control I can die now.” More likely, it is Elijah feeling the despondency of being driven from this homeland, alone, under duress. Although Obadiah had saved 100 prophets from the hand of Jezebel, Elijah felt he was the only one publicly confronting the worship of Baal.

Fear has the power to hide God from our hearts. It leaves us feeling like it is us against the world. What if they don’t like me? What if I offend someone with the gospel? What if I lose friends? So we hide our faith. Stay quiet when others are tearing down our Savior. Or we fill our conversations with inane subjects like sports, news, fashion, and life hacks—anything but Jesus. And God asks, “What are you doing here?”

The Power of Safety (1 Kings 19:5-10)

1 Kings 19:9–10 ESV

There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

Elijah continued running for forty days—away from Jezebel’s threat. Forty days on some cake and water (the same diet he sought from the widow). Forty days of running alone to the wilderness of Sinai. From his greatest triumph on Mt. Carmel, to his lowest despair at Mt. Horeb. Until he gets to his cave.

The cave offered safety and Elijah was content to dwell in his cave. Away from Jezebel and Ahab. Away from Israel. Away from danger. Safe.

Sometimes we hunker down in our caves of safety too. Our faith is lived boldly inside these four walls. With this group of people of like precious faith. We sing of God’s goodness. We study his words of wisdom. We pray for his guidance. Here. In this place. But God didn’t call us to safety, Revelation 2:10 “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” He called us to live outwardly to those around us.

God asks Elijah, “What are you doing here?” Why did you stop in this cave? What are you hiding from.

Elijah has been thinking about it for over forty days. God showed the impotence of Baal, but the people didn’t care. They were going to follow Ahab and Jezebel like lemmings. His only hope was to get away from all of it. 1 Kings 19:10 “He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”” That’s why he left—to get away from the covenant breakers and those seeking his life. Elijah probably thought he was doing God a favor by protecting himself from their murderous intent. So he was putting out “Home Sweet Cave” plaques and bearskin rugs. Content to protect himself for God.

Not unlike us when we protect ourselves by cutting ourselves off from the world. We will not let the unsaved hinder, influence, or corrupt us. “If the world goes to hell, at least I’ll be saved.” The problem is, in our safety we may save ourselves from influence, but we also keep the world from our influence.

The Power of the Word (1 Kings 19:11-12)

1 Kings 19:11–12 ESV

And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

Just as God met Moses on Mt. Horeb, now God meets Elijah there as well. Moses made the covenant with God. Elijah reports the nation has broken the covenant. Now he “passed by” the same word used in Exo 33:19-23 when God passed by Moses.

Then a great wind/storm tore at the mountains, followed by an earthquake, then fire—all elements of Baal the god of nature and storms. But God wasn’t in them. These were followed by a voice, a low whisper. Yahweh is the God of Nature, but his greatest power isn’t elemental manipulation—it is in his word.

Isaiah 55:11 “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

I always imaging Elijah’s second response to be a little sheepish. 1 Kings 19:13–14 “And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.””

I think Elijah knew the words were hollow. He stopped doing what God sent him to do. His canned response may have sounded good while he rehearsed them for forty days, but after God sustained him for his journey, then met him on the mountain, his words fell as impotent as Baal.

Like Elijah, we have our rehearsed excuses. “People don’t care; I’m too busy; I’ll do it next week; I don’t want to offend someone; or someone else can do it better.”

Application

Fear and safety brought Elijah to a place where he allowed despondency to grow. The further he got from his perceived danger, the more certain he was of his loneliness and uselessness. What could he do to change a people bent on following fake gods?

As Christians, we can feel disaffected by the world. Each day we wake up to bad news, immorality, abuse, hate, and division. It is easy to think God has pulled up stakes and left. Faith is in decline around the world. Christianity in particular is targeted by secularism and false religions. The call for compromise is loud. The church’s numbers keep dropping year after year. The cave is inviting and safe.

But here is what I love about the Elijah episode 1 Kings 19:15–18 “And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”” God says, “I see you. You are not alone. You are not abandoned. You are not forgotten. You still have work to do.”

Personally, it is hard for me not to get discouraged. Sometimes, I want to hide in my cave and save myself. Maybe you feel that way too. Isolated and alone. Then I remember, fear and safety aren’t my mission. My mission is to spread the word of God to find those who are seeking. That’s my purpose in life. And purpose trumps despair every time.

So, What?

We are on a mission from God, let us find value and worth in that purpose.