Irvington Presbyterian Church

Irvington Presbyterian Church

PO Box 1336 4181 Irvington Avenue, Fremont, CA 94538510-657-3133

October 9, 2016

“Which God Will You Serve?”

Larry Thorson

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I Kings 18:16-39

16So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.17When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troublerof Israel?”

18“I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But youand your father’s family have. You have abandonedtheLord’s commands and have followed the Baals.19Now summonthe people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel.And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

20So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.21Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waverbetween two opinions? If theLordis God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

But the people said nothing.

22Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of theLord’s prophets left,but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.23Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it.24Then you callon the name of your god, and I will call on the name of theLord.The god who answers by fire—he is God.”

Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”

25Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.”26So they took the bull given them and prepared it.

Then they calledon the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response;no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

27At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.”28So they shouted louder and slashedthemselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.29Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice.But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

30Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altarof theLord, which had been torn down.31Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of theLordhad come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.”32With the stones he built an altar in the nameof theLord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahsof seed.33He arrangedthe wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”

34“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.

“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time.35The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

36At the timeof sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham,Isaac and Israel, let it be knowntoday that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.37Answer me,Lord, answer me, so these people will knowthat you,Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

38Then the fireof theLordfell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

39When all the people saw this, they fell prostrateand cried, “TheLord—he is God! TheLord—he is God!”

We continue our study of Elijah the prophet today and I’m going to begin with a question: which god do you serve? The god of ??? What’s your god called?

We throw the name “God” around like it’s someone’s first name. “Dear God hear our prayers…” “Dear Jesus hear our prayers.” “Dear Mom I need money.” I hate to bring this up but there is no “Mr. God” and there is no “Mrs God” from anything the Bible says. The term god refers to what or whom we worship. Worship is an act of adoration.

One time the elders of a church I served had a Saturday off campus retreat to plan for the new year. One of the elders had just purchased a brand new luxury car the day before. During our reflection quiet time when he needed to at least be in God’s Word I saw him reading the owner’s manual to that car in front of everyone. I whispered to him that I identified with him but it probably wasn’t the best role model for the other elders to be adoring that car over the Creator and he agreed.

Now again I ask the question: which god do you serve? I will suggest it depends on the day or the time of day. I once knew a very wealthy young man who had a beautiful wife and lived in a new mini mansion. From mid-February through August he was a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ. From September to early February he was a devoted disciple of the NFL. Starting with the pregame shows every Sunday to the post game shows in the evening he showed his allegiance. If there was time left over he’d give it to Jesus.

You see answering the question of which god do you serve is not that easy. In the days of Elijah God’s people had converted from being monotheistic meaning they believed in the one God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to polytheistic meaning they served and worshipped a multitude of objects.

Fremont has been in the process of converting from having the appearance of a monotheistic culture where the majority of people believe in one god (monotheism) to a polytheistic culture (many gods) dominated by Hinduism and secularism where you pick your own gods. There’s one exception to the newcomers, the Muslims who believe in one god and they call him Allah. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is called Yahweh in the Old Testament.

Above anything else in our lives, Yahweh wants to have all of our hearts, our worship, our focus, our adoration. In fact, the very first of the Ten Commandments, Yahweh says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” When Jesus was questioned, what is the most important commandment, Jesus said, “Above all else, you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.” Yahweh wants all of our heart, not just part of our heart.

What most of us do, even monotheistic Christians is keep a variety of gods tucked away in our heart and we compartmentalize them. We have what I’ll call the “church god” and pull him out on Sundays but mainly just in the late morning and preferably for no more than an hour. Then we have what I’ll call the “sports god” and she can take all kinds of shapes depending on the season. One of our church members jokes about worshipping at the “Church of the Holy Greens.” I’m all for worshipping there. In fact the First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu was so into worshipping at the Church of the Holy Greens they bought a golf course country club and moved their church into the club house ballroom overlooking the course.

We have these gods and we try so hard to keep our gods in balance but there’s just so much time and so much energy. And in Elijah’s day Yahweh’s people were no longer worshipping just the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. No, they had added a multitude of false gods. The false gods promised, “If you worship me, I’ll make your crops grow. If you worship me, you’ll have a better life.”

So God raised up Elijah to confront the evil king, and basically said, “Because of your idolatry, God sent me to tell you it’s not going to rain until God tells me to pray and ask for rain.” So, here is this major drought that they begin to experience. People are dying all over the place. It’s the worst thing you could imagine, and so as we looked at last week God sent Elijah into a period of hiding in order to prepare him for a later battle. Meanwhile evil King Ahab wanted him dead. He said to anybody and everybody, “You find him, kill him on the spot.”

Nowthey were about three years into this drought in I Kings and in 18:16-17, we see Elijah coming out of hiding and once again confronting the evil king. “16So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.17When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troublerof Israel?”

That word “troubler” can also be translated as snake, or viper. It’s sort of like saying“Hey, you no good, low down snake, it’s your fault all this drought is happening. All these people are dying because of you, Elijah.”

Elijah responds in verse 18: “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But youand your father’s family have. You have abandonedtheLord’s commands and have followed the Baals.19Now summonthe people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel.And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

To refresh you from last week, Jezebel was the evil wife of the evil king Ahab. Prophets were spokespeople for these gods. Yahweh had prophets like Elijah and false gods had prophets as well. Elijah was now calling the false gods’ bluff. There’s going to be a showdown at the OK Corral and we’ll see who the real god is.

So, Elijah, the prophet, steps into this polytheistic culture and makes a very prophetic and strong statement in verse 21, Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waverbetween two opinions? If theLordis God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”But the people said nothing.

Why do you think the people said nothing about this challenge? It’s simple. Psychologically they were torn. They knew in their heritage that their ancestors had been strong believers in Yahweh and Yahweh had done mighty miracles in their presence like parting the Red Sea. But for 200 years, starting long before they were born, Israel had departed from Yahweh as their god. So while their heritage said one thing, their own personal experience said something else.

“Quit wavering.” Take a side. Here’s what I honestly think Elijah would say “If your false god, little ‘g’, whatever it is, really is God, then sell out to it. Okay?” In other words, if material possessions are really the most important thing, then quit just sort of accumulating them, but go for it. I mean, get into massive debt. Steal, if you have to. I’m not joking about this, because if the greatest thing is accumulation, then everything should be justified, and stealing would be justified. And don’t ever give again. Don’t ever do anything generous, because that would, then, diminish your ultimate goal of accumulating. If material possessionsis truly God, then go for it. Buy whatever clothes you need and go for it. Okay?

But! If Christ, the Son of God, is the one true God, then quit your wavering. Serve Him with all of your heart. Don’t just claim Him and then live as if He doesn’t exist. Serve Him! How long will you waver between two opinions?” So, what did he do? He has a showdown.

We read starting in v.22Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of theLord’s prophets left,but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.23Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it.24Then you callon the name of your god, and I will call on the name of theLord.The god who answers by fire—he is God.”

Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”

Then they calledon the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response;no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

Let’s say morning is 9:00 am so these 200+ prophets pray to their god from 9:00 am and maybe earlier until noon. That’s at least three hours. The challenge was the god who answers by fire is the true God. Three hour prayer circle with 200+ prophets praying their heart out. They’re yelling, they’re dancing, they’re sweating, everything they know to do to get their god to start that fire. But nothing happens, just silence.

I really don’t think anyone expected that to happen except Elijah. The people had great confidence in their gods. When Elijah made that challenge they were thinking: “You idiot. Do you know who you are dealing with? We’re putting our money on Baal. Baal is the sun god, sun, hot, fire. You’re going to get smoked, silly prophet.” Again, the people had great confidence in their gods. That’s what we do. We’re not going to commit ourself to a cause that we think is bogus. We’re not going to pour hours and hours of energy into something we don’t think is going to return something to us. People have faith in all kinds of things and it makes us feel good to believe whether it’s true or not. As long as that faith is never tested it remains a fantasy that might or might not be true.

So finally, at the end of the day, they danced, cut themselves andstill nothing happened. Then Elijah did this as we read in IKings 18:36, “At the time of the sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and,” what did he do? The Bible says he prayed: Okay? He didn’t dance, shout, cut himself, do everything he could to get God’s attention. He prayed.

34“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.

“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time.35The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

Now it’s all on the line. Everything. The false prophets of Baal and Asherah have proven their god isn’t playing. How was Elijah so convinced that his God was in play? I’m going to suggest that God revealed it to him but only after his having experienced smaller miracles earlier in his life. One miracle was when God sent him into a barren, forgotten place to hide from the king there was a brook running through it in the midst of a drought that no one had previously discovered until God revealed it to him. Then God dried the brook up to get his attention to send him to a widow who was about to starve and miraculously through Elijah provided more than enough food for her and her son. That was a faith builder. Then later when her son suddenly died Elijah prayed for a resurrection and the first recorded resurrection in the Bible occurred. Each of those experiences were building blocks of faith leading up to this showdown.