Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Fear
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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There was great fear in his voice, and the look of panic was on his face.
My son Owen was sure there was some sort of monster in his bedroom
I heard his foot steps running across the living room and into our bedroom.
I asked him what was wrong, and he said there is something very scary in my room.
I told him that everything was fine and that he needed to go back to sleep.
He then responded, but I see his red eye, I think its a monster.
I said, ok, lets go take a look.
Owen was anxious to have me come into his room to kill any monsters that might be hiding behind his toybox
I open the door, and its still dark… He says, see right over there, and he pointed to spot next to the wall where a red eye was looking at him.
I looked and saw what he was talking about.
I put my hand on his shoulder and said, “ok Owen, go see what it is.”
He looked at me with eyes wide not wanting to go over by himself, I told him if it was a bad guy he could fight because i was right there.
He walked over timidly, and bent down and grabs the red eye previously sent him running into my room.
He says, “oh! its the charger to my helicopter!”
I thought it was a monster, it was just the red light to the charger.
“
For a seven year old boy, his faith in a safe bedroom knowing that God is in charge can so quickly turn to panic and fear.
As soon as that safety it infiltrated by a red light and an active imagination his faith in safety is shaken.
But when he placed his faith in my words that he would be ok, he was able to walk up to that fearful red light and discover that it was nothing more than his charger.
We can all relate to this story
You could be living your life with healthy rhythms and habits, enjoying the blessings that God has given you, feeling confident in God’s goodness and grace upon you.
AND THEN you lose a loved one suddenly and all of sudden your faith is shaken
AND THEN you lose your job, or get stuck with a significant medical bill and your faith is shaken.
Someone might criticize you or offend you and your faith is shaken
There are times in our lives where we can be celebrating the grace and faithfulness of God and within moments our celebration can turn to grief, and our confidence can turn to doubt.
The Widow who fed Elijah and gave him a place to stay, likewise experienced this sort of shift from celebration to grief, from joy to sorrow.
The Widow quickly experienced what it was like to have her faith shaken.
We are going to be looking at the story of The Widow’s Son this morning which is found in
And what we see three movements through the text
The Widow’s Faith is Shaken
The Strength of Elijah’s Faith
The WIdow’s Faith is Strengthened
The Widow’s Faith is Shaken
When Elijah met the Widow at the gates of the city, the Widow and her son were getting ready to eat their last meal before they starved to death
By the powerful of God through Elijah the Widow was given an endless supply of flour and oil so she could feed her household and a guest.
For months the widow and her son were nursed back to health by having plenty of food to eat.
During this time Elijah was teaching her about YHWH, and how he is far greater than Baal.
He was teaching her about the Law of God and what it is to serve YHWH as King rather than Baal.
This women, was a convert, a new convert who was being discipled by Elijah
Elijah would have witnessed her devotion to Baal soon after moving in.
And by the power of God Elijah called her away from those sinful practices of baalism and toward a devotion and allegiance to YHWH
No doubt this Widow would have found God’s covenant promises so liberating compared to the oppression and bondage of serving Baal.
She was growing in her faith and daily experiencing the sustaining power of God through the supply of oil and flour.
Then something happened.
Something so tragic that the Widow’s faith was shaken.
Look with me at :17-18
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This women’s greatest fear just became a reality, her son, her only son, became very sick and died.
And her faith was shaken
You can imagine this women's confusion.
“I have been giving up my old life, I’ve allowed God’s prophet to stay with me, and I have seen God’s blessing each and every day with the flour and oil.”
And now, after all this, her son dies of a horrible sickness.
So how does this young follower of God respond?
The widow blames Elijah
The widow blames Elijah
The women is not strong enough in her faith to understand why this would happen.
She struggled to understand, trust, and have confidence that God is in control of all things.
So what does she do?
she blames Elijah.
She says to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God”
Her first thought is that Elijah is against her.
That maybe this whole time Elijah was there to try and destroy her.
That maybe Elijah is no different than the prophets of Baal
That maybe God is no different that Baal himself.
It’s amazing how fast we can forget God’s faithfulness and even the loyalty and faithfulness of godly friends when something goes wrong.
Example**
I was in a situation not to long ago where a friend and I had a strong enough relationship to call each other on sinful habits and try and help one another walk in holiness
For months we had been walking through some habits in his life that were doing damage to people and causing great fear and defensiveness in his life
And through the whole process there was open dialogue around this issue and we would pray together and fight together.
And then one day, the dialogue stopped.
He no longer wanted to hear anything I had to say, and I became the enemy.
He began to blame me for what was going on in his life and said I was the cause for the pain people were experiencing.
This sort of shift can happen on a dime.
As soon as our comfort level get pushed just a little to far everything can change.
This women is looking for answers, and Elijah is the target of her attack
She goes on to say to him, “You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!”
She continues to blame Elijah for the death of her son.
saying that the only reason he came to her was to show her her sins and the wages of those sins, which is death.
This is the sound a young believer having her faith shaken
How quickly she has forgotten God’s faithfulness toward her, how quickly she has forgotten how Elijah had saved her and her son from starvation
How quickly she has forgotten God’s faithfulness toward her, how quickly she has forgotten how Elijah had saved her and her son from starvation
We are the same way:
When our faith is shaken, How quickly do we forget God’s faithfulness toward us,
how quickly do we doubt God’s love, his grace, his sovereignty.
And how often do we see our sin as an ob
We join the widow by lamenting our struggles while at the same time being sustained by his love.
While the the taste of God’s blessings are still on our lips we curse one another and doubt God’s love for us.
Israel says, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness”
While our bellies are still full of God’s provision, we doubt his existence and his faithfulness.
We say, “
This women’s faith is shaken, and she does not know how to respond, so she blames Elijah.
How does Elijah respond to these charges?
He does not get into a theological debate with her, and put her in her place for not trusting God
He does not defend himself as a prophet of God
He does not say this, “Hey, if it wasn’t for me you would have starved to death months ago”
Rather, what we see happening is that when the women’s faith is shaken, Elijah’s faith remains strong.
Look how he responds to her.
Here, in contrast to the widow’s shaken faith, we see the strength of Elijah’s faith
The Strength of Elijah’s Faith
Elijah doesn’t try and comfort her, he doesn’t try and explain God’s sovereign will, nor does he try and defend the goodness of God.
Rather, Elijah says, “give me your son”
Her son embodied all her pain, all her doubt, all her fear, and all of her grief.
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