I’m excited by the good things happening in the kingdom of God. There are some churches that are impacting secular culture. Some congregations are growing through conversion growth. Many churches are practicing the love of Christ in their communities.
But at the same time, the church seems to be having less of an impact on our culture. Our world appears to be changing the church rather than the church challenging our culture.
I am not an alarmist but it doesn’t take great insight to realize that around the world these are dark days morally, ethically and spiritually. Secularism is advancing. Humanism is more entrenched in our thinking than ever before.
These days are calling for people willing to demonstrate faith in the living God regardless of the consequences.
Some would say that our society is too secular and that it’s impossible now to do anything great for God. Others would excuse themselves, saying that they are not capable of doing anything significant for God. Others would declare they have tried and failed so that there is not point in trying again.
The prophet Elijah stands as a testimony to what can be done in difficult circumstances. No one messed with Elijah. He bravely faced 1,000 false prophets. He took on the king for taking a commoner’s vineyard. He called fire down on soldiers.
Elijah didn’t say, “I will serve only if I can see big results. “ In fact, the ministerial style of Elijah did not bring about great spiritual revival throughout Israel. There were lots of fireworks through his ministry, yet life in Israel remained as it had been before he appeared. But Elijah’s faithfulness was not predicated on visible results. He served his God because he was God’s servant. He knew God does not always produce the results we want or expect. Yet he served obediently.
Elijah was a difference-maker, an impact player.
It was a dark day!
– Elijah burst on the scene at one of the darkest hours in Israel’s history
– God’s people were in a deplorable state
– They had flagrantly departed from Jehovah
– During the previous 58 years, no less than seven kings ruled the 10 tribes
– Each was worse than his father
– Each lead the people deeper into gross immorality
Ahab was king
1 Kings 16:30-33 (NIV)
Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.
Ahab was a weak man
– his backbone was made of jelly
– his actions were usually manipulated by the whims of Jezebel
– he was unscrupulous
– he devised some of the worst crimes ever committed
– children were offered as human sacrifices
– people bowed to worship a golden calf
– the priest of Baal took charge of worship
– there was open defiance of Jehovah
– it was openly said that Baal lived and Jehovah ceased to be
– the schools of the prophets of Jehovah were boarded shut
– the fires of persecution burned against anyone who served Jehovah
– the Bible sums it up this way: “he considered it trivial to commit sins…”
Elijah is an important character for us to study today
– our world is very similar to his world
– we live in an increasingly secular society
– it’s not that people believe God is dead; they just ignore him
– sin is trivialized
– there’s total disregard for God’s absolute standards
– words like integrity, truth-telling and faithfulness seem out of place
– corruption, bribery and greed are becoming acceptable
– what can we learn from Elijah’s life?
1. STAND UP
– at the end of 1 Kings 16, you would think the situation was hopeless
– it seemed Jehovah’s day had come and gone
– Ahab thought so
– Jezebel thought so
– the prophets of Baal thought so
– in the midst of this depraved society, one man stepped forward: Elijah
1 Kings 17:1 (NIV)
Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
“Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead…”
– now!
– when everything seemed lost, God said “Now!”
– in God’s economy, evil never has the last word
– God raised up Elijah as a standard of righteousness
Elijah was God’s man for a dark day
– he appeared at God’s bidding
– and God’s power rested upon him mightily
– this one man made the entire nation take notice
– every man, woman and child felt his presence
– every level of society felt the sting of his words
– no one could ignore him
Elijah appeared unannounced
– he was a rough man, dressed in humble clothing
– he was from Tishbe, the hill country – a hillbilly
No one in the king’s court had ever heard of him
– he was a nobody
– yet he gained an audience with the king
– he stood before Ahab as a messenger of Jehovah God
– he held in his hands the key to the heavens
– he stood up to a man who in the natural had the power to wipe out his life
Elijah
– just one man
– but he responded to God’s call
– Elijah offered no excuses
– what could he do against a whole nation?
– what influence would he have with the king?
– he was a country bumpkin with no formal training
– what difference could he expect to make
– what could he hope to accomplish?
– but that wasn’t Elijah
– he made himself available to his God
– he willingly became the man God could use in that dark day
when God wants to accomplish something, he always finds an individual he can use
– don’t tell God what you are willing to do; ask him what he wants you to do
– EG. I once saw a sign in a shoe store: “Don’t ask us for a size; let us give you a perfect fit!”
– too often we think we know what fits us best
– we need to let God give us a perfect fit
today –
– God is looking for individuals who will stand up like Elijah
– people who will stand up in a perverse, depraved generation
– people who will boldly declare their faith in the living God
– people who aren’t afraid to take their stand against sin and evil
– Elijah was the man for his day
– where are the people who will fill his sandals in this generation?
2. SPEAK UP
1 Kings 17:1 (NIV)
Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
Elijah was a prophet, not a diplomat
– he was anything but politically correct
– when he had a message from the Lord, he didn’t beat around the bush
– he was never a man of many words
– he came straight to the point
– he wasn’t sent to build up the self-image of Israel, to make the people feel good about themselves and stroke their egos
– he was sent with a message from the Almighty
Elijah’s first words were precise and clear
– there was no mistaking his meaning
– neither rain nor dew for three years!
– that’s quite a prediction
– you don’t make that kind of prediction unless you know
– you need to know intimately the God in whose name you are speaking
Elijah was on good biblical ground in making this statement
– this is what Moses said would happen
Deuteronomy 11:16-17 (NIV)
Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.
– Elijah was merely announcing what God said would happen
– Elijah’s prophecy lined up exactly with Scripture
– no rain, only drought for three years
Now that sounds like a strange thing for a loving God to do
– how could a loving God withhold the rains for three years?
– how could a God of love bring famine and starvation to a nation?
– surely a God of love wouldn’t do that!
People today have a crazy idea of what God is like
– yes God is loving, but he is also righteous and holy
– they forget that sin makes God want to vomit
– they have forgotten that God has promised judgment on all who sin
– in Elijah’s day, sin was so severe that God had to take drastic action
– he could not let the situation go on any longer
– God wasn’t being mean
– God wasn’t being unfair
– God was warning his people
– God’s intent was to bring his people back to himself
– the moment they repented, God would open the clouds
– God knew that withholding rain was preferable to letting sin go unchecked
– the danger of uncontrolled sin was greater than the calamity of no rain
– God loved these people so much that he didn’t want sin to continue to ruin their lives
– God knew that if sin continued, these people would be totally destroyed by the consequences of their sin
it’s time for God’s people to speak up
– we are not called to be popular, but prophetic
– we may be laughed at and ridiculed, but if we are in touch with our God, we will courageously speak up
3. SHAPE UP
– I stand amazed at the courage of Elijah
– what was the secret of his boldness?
– how did he muster the nerve to walk into the king’s palace?
– where did he get the faith to announce the rains would stop?
– if we are to learn anything from Elijah to apply to our lives, we must learn the secret of his strength
– first remember, Elijah was a very ordinary man
– he had no special gifts or abilities
– he was very human
James 5:17-18 (NIV)
Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
– the Living Bible says “he was as perfectly human as we are”
– just like you
– same limitations
– same flesh and blood
– with a lot less formal education and sophistication than you have
– when you study Elijah, you don’t discover what a great man can do for God
– you see what an ordinary man can do for a great God
– Elijah proves that the ordinary, made extraordinary by God, can shake the world for God
– we think it’s the person who has a way with words or who is highly educated
– we think it’s the dynamic, flamboyant personality who does God’s work
– but the story of the Bible is the story of very ordinary people
that’s the story of the church around the world today
– it is ordinary people who are building God’s kingdom
– it is ordinary people who are winning others to Christ
– it is ordinary people who are supporting the work of God
– the dynamic of the church is ordinary people giving themselves in faith and obedience to God
– it’s the story of God working through the lives of yielded people
Elijah was an ordinary person
– what was the secret of his spiritual strength?
– it wasn’t that he knew how to influence or manipulate people
– it wasn’t that he had learned the secrets of positive thinking
– he hadn’t taken a course in public relations
– here are some keys:
i. Elijah’s name
– his name gives us a clue
– it literally means “My God is Jehovah”
– we don’t know how Elijah got his name
o perhaps it was given him by his parents
o perhaps he took this name as he grew older, a common custom in the Middle East
o if so, this was an expression of his faith and convictions
o it tells us that Elijah was a man of God, a man of faith in Jehovah
o either way, he used his name as a statement of his faith
ii. Elijah’s relationship with God
here’s how Elijah started his announcement:
– “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve…”
– Elijah was convinced that Jehovah-God was real and alive
King Ahab had tried to remove the living God from the land
– today, people treat the very idea of God as irrelevant
– they have removed God from their consciousness
– they say:
– there is no God, or
– I can live my life without God, or,
– as humanists believe, I am God
– Elijah boldly declared
– There is a God
– He is alive
– And I am serving him
– Elijah knew his God, lived with an awareness of his presence and served him unashamedly
iii. Elijah was a man of prayer
James put it very clearly in the New Testament
James 5:17-18 (NIV)
Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
– Elijah had cultivated the habit of prayer
– he prayed earnestly and with passion
– when he appeared before King Ahab was not the first time he prayed
iv. Elijah was jealous of his God
1 Kings 19:10 (NIV)
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken 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.”
– in the Hebrew language, there is one word which in English we translate as one of two words: jealous or zealous
– Elijah was jealous for God
– He was zealous for his God
– how does a man act who is jealous of his wife?
o He protects her
o He defends her when people speak against her
o He guards her very carefully
o He gets uptight if she spends too much time with another man
– Elijah was jealous for God
o He didn’t want his God’s name dragged through the dirt
o He was indignant when the name of the Lord was profaned
o He was hurt in his spirit when God was slighted
o He was incensed when people forsook the Lord
– this jealousy became a driving force in his life; it fueled his spirit
– jealousy for the name of the Lord propelled him
o it gave him courage to face the king
o it gave him faith to handle ridicule, slander and opposition
– it was jealousy that drove him to his knees in prayer
– it was this jealousy that made him willing to obey the voice of the Lord
– jealousy is a word that has received a bad press
– people don’t look at jealousy as a positive quality
– but Jealousy is one of the names of God himself
Exodus 34:14 (NIV)
Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
– it is an intrinsic part of God’s character to be jealous
– it’s his nature to be jealous when his people flirt and give their attention to anyone or anything
and a Godly person today shares that jealousy
– a passion rises up within you when you hear God’s name profaned
– you are bothered when people drift away from church
– you are troubled when you see people treating the things of God casually
Elijah was a jealous man and his jealousy gave him spiritual strength
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