The Only One
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
Introduction:
Why did God give him a set of instructions?
To understand that, you have to understand the source of Elijah’s burnout.
Elijah’s Burnout
Elijah’s Burnout
The clue is that last comment God made: I have reserved 7000.
That prompts us to re-examine Elijah’s perspective.
Elijah is not alone. But did he know that?
YES!
Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water.
These weren’t a random group. They were organized. The Sons of the Prophets.
Maybe because of the loss of the priesthood?
Not only did he know they exists—HE WAS THEIR LEADER! He may have even been their founder!
Elijah burned out because he believed a lie: “I AM THE ONLY ONE.”
Where did the lie come from?
Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.
Maybe this was rhetorical. Maybe he was trying to protect them.
This is how we start:
I’m the only one who can.
who can do it right.
Who cares enough.
Who’s responsible.
Who’s supposed to.
In fact, our culture encourages this kind of thinking. We call it freedom.
We have designed everything in our culture so you can do it yourself.
We’ve turned that into “You should do it yourself.”
And we’ve become less available to others, so they have to do it alone.
We’ve spent so much time making sure that I can do it alone that I have no idea what “It” is!
Freedom has no inherent value—it only gives you the ability to do what is valuable.
The lie DISTORTED Elijah’s perception of REALITY.
This lie has distorted everything else Elijah thinks and feels.
He blames himself.
while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”
Elijah has done everything a prophet can. If the people don’t turn back, it’s not his fault.
He thinks only in extremes
He exaggerates his opponents.
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
The Israelites are not all against him, only the king and queen are.
He distorts the record.
He’s forgetting the most recent episode:
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
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.
He overestimates the stakes.
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
He forgets what he knows about God.
The lie DISTRACTED Elijah from what his TRUE PURPOSE.
What are you doing here?
Elijah has not been playing the role God has for him.
The problem here isn’t that Elijah is on Horeb instead of working—it’s Elijah who thinks that Israel can’t go on without him.
The problem is that Elijah is not playing the proper role—he so caught up in being the only prophet left that he’s not spending time with the other prophets!
When you try to be the only one, you will find yourself doing the urgent at the expense of the important.
Moral Injury is soul-destroying.
God’s Response
God’s Response
God is never shocked, angered, or disappointed when this happens.
God CARED FOR Elijah in his DESPAIR.
God started with a snack, a nap, and a retreat.
Either Elijah couldn’t accept his limitations, or he didn’t think he had time for them.
But God is not surprised by our limitations.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
You may forget that you are dust, but God never does.
But why doesn’t God sympathize with him? Because it’s a lie. Instead, he emphasized the truth.
God REMINDED Elijah that he wasn’t ALONE.
He reminded him of his own presence. (v. 11-12)
He reminded him of all the others.
The good news of the Gospel is that you are not alone, never have been alone—and you are part of a body.
For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
And now that you’ve been reminded, you’re fixed, right? So get back to work.
That’s not how it works.
Physical therapy—I had to learn how to walk properly.
The physical therapy didn’t fix me—it showed me how to walk properly. I get fixed by actually walking in a new way.
This is why God gave him a mission.
The instructions only make sense if Elijah’s assumptions are wrong.
God showed Elijah how to UNLEARN the lie: one FAITHFUL step at a time.
Elijah’s Burnout
Elijah’s Burnout
Elijah burned out because he believed a lie: “I AM THE ONLY ONE.” (1 Kings 19:14; 18:13, 22)
The lie DISTORTED Elijah’s perception of REALITY. (1 Kings 19:4, 14; 18:39-40)
The lie DISTRACTED Elijah from what his TRUE PURPOSE.
God’s Response
God’s Response
God CARED FOR Elijah in his DESPAIR. (1 Kings 19:5-8)
God REMINDED Elijah that he wasn’t ALONE. 1 Kings 19:11-12, 18; 1 Corinthians 12:13-14)
God showed Elijah how to UNLEARN the lie: one FAITHFUL step at a time. (1 Kings 19:15-18)
