Elijah & the prophets of Baal

Father in heaven, we know we can’t climb up to heaven to know you: we need you to come down to make yourself know to us. We thank you that you have done that through the Bible and through Jesus. We pray you would help us to learn and understand what you say and what you have done. Amen.

I hate feeling vulnerable. I hate the idea of being out of control, in danger and unable to defend myself. But I love rollercoasters, I love abseiling, I love contact sports. I love these things because I trust the engineers and operators of the roller coasters. I trust the person holding the rope on the abseil. And I trust the people I play sports with to play within certain limits. I hate being let down. A friend of mine drove up from Oxford to Durham to meet some students – and then drove on to Newcastle to meet a couple more. Both of them cancelled on him at the last minute. How frustrating! But imagine if he was relying on them to do a job – and they never showed. Imagine you’re travelling to an interview and the train’s delayed so you miss it. Imagine you’re planning a wedding and the reception venue cancels at the last minute. I hate the idea of having to rely on someone if I don’t know I can trust them. But I love the adventure of facing the unknown with the help of someone I trust. That is the situation Elijah is in. He is trusting the Lord to show up and act for him. He is asked to make himself vulnerable and open to attack. But he knows that he can rely on God, the creator of heaven and earth, to come through for him. And through Elijah’s trust and obedience, God dramatically demonstrates that he alone is God, and turns the hearts of his people back to him. What does this demonstration say to us today? We’ll look at it from three angles; Warning, Courage, Hope.

1. Warning

For those of us who are new to the book of 1 Kings and missed or need a refresher from Ian’s sermon two weeks ago – Elijah is a prophet of God. These events take place about 850 years before Jesus was born. The people of God were divided into a southern Kingdom called Judah (capital city Jerusalem) and a northern Kingdom of Israel (capital city Samaria). The King of Israel at this time is Ahab – and he’s a bad king and he and his wife Jezebel have been leading the people to worship another god, Baal. So here is Elijah’s challenge to the people as they assemble (1 Kings 18.21):

How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him…

And do you see the people’s response:

…And the people did not answer him a word.

Now these were not people who had never heard of God. These were descendants from Abraham. Their ancestors were led out of slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea. They had received God’s law. They had access to God’s temple. God spoke to them through the prophets. These were people who had privileged access and revelation of God. In short, they knew that the Lord is God, and they stayed silent because they had no answer to give. Their own consciences condemned their behaviour. They were limping between two different opinions: “Maybe God is God – and we can trust him entirely”. “Maybe Baal is God – and our crops and animals depend on him to keep them going”. The warning is: listen to the voice of God and the voice of conscience.

Maybe you wouldn’t call yourself a follower of Jesus, but you’ve been coming to church for a while. You’ve been reading the Bible, reading Christian books, watching videos, listening to sermons. And maybe by this stage you know the main message of the Christian faith – Jesus Christ is the Son of God, he loves you. He died for you. He rose again and can offer you forgiveness, peace with God and eternal life. And maybe you’ve heard his call to believe in him and to live for him but you know that following him will mean changes. If that’s you then you know Elijah’s challenge – it is also the challenge of your conscience: If Jesus is God, then follow him. But alongside the voice of conscience, there’s usually another voice in our hearts, some other god whispering “not yet…Don’t rush in. Give yourself more time. Watch another youtube debate. Wait til things quiet down at work. You’ll be able to give it some proper thought then…”

What is it that stops you from obeying the voice of God and the voice of your own conscience? Is it the fear of what people will say about you? Then they are your God. Is it an unwillingness to give something up? Then that is your God. Are you afraid of what following Jesus might involve? Then comfort and security is your God. The horribly irony of living for any other god than the true God is that they can never look after us. Just like Baal we work ourselves up into a frenzy serving at their altars and in the end they never show up to rescue us. If we worship safety, we’ll always feel in peril. If we worship approval of others we’ll always feel insecure. If we worship riches we will never be rich enough. If we worship freedom we will always feel constrained. In short, the demonstration at Mount Carmel is a warning to those of us who are limping between the opinions between serving God or something else. For God has demonstrated that he alone is God. He demonstrated it at Carmel, and he demonstrated it at the Cross and by the resurrection. To those of us who are limping between two opinions, God consistently calls us to come to Jesus before it is too late.

At the end of the demonstration the prophets of Baal are rounded up and executed. They had lived their lives leading people away from the true God. They had taken their stand against him and lost. And when we hear God’s word, and when we hear the voice of conscience calling us to turn back to God and we take our stand against it, we also take our stand against the true God, and by our example and by our words, we lead others to do the same. The writer GK Chesterton wrote in defence of one of his books:

In the end it will not matter to us whether we wrote well or ill; whether we fought with flails or reeds. It will matter to us greatly on what side we fought[GK Chesterton, All Things Considered; The Case for the Ephemeral]

Your life matters. You may influence a generation. You may only influence one or two people. The question will be – with the life that God gave you, did you spend it in the love of God and love of neighbour, or did you try to keep it for something else? There may only be one or two of us here who have heard, and are hearing, the voice of God and the voice of their conscience say they should come to Jesus now. If that’s you, please do not delay any more. Do not let fear put you off.

Don’t reckon on what you can do in your weakness. Reckon on what God can do with you in his strength.[Stuart Piggin and John Roxborogh, The St Andrews Seven p.16]

For we will see from the second angle, this demonstration is a source of:

2. Courage.

One of the things that stands out is how alone Elijah is here (1 Kings 18.22):

Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men.”

Yet he is the one who initiates the challenge and sets out the terms in 1 Kings 18.23-24: If he loses, Ahab will have him executed. The prophets were playing with live ammo. This was a contest to the death. Now where do you get the courage to do that? It is from faith in his God. In 1 Kings 18.1 we read:

After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.”

That is the word that sets in motion this contest. Elijah comes out of hiding and trusts that his God will look after him. 1 Kings 18.36 seems to suggest that the whole idea of the contest was God’s idea:

“…Let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I ma your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word”

Elijah’s courage comes from faith and faith looks very weak. Faith has to be weak if it is to be courageous. You can’t be brave if you are stronger than your opponent. If there were 450 prophets of God and one prophet of Baal – that wouldn’t be brave. I hate being vulnerable, but there are times when we have to be vulnerable if we are to live by faith. Like Elijah, God’s people are called to come out of hiding. We are called to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ known. Jesus says to us at the end of Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 28.18-20):

…“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We live in an age like Elijah’s where the rules seem to be stacked against making Jesus known. Some of us may be in jobs where if someone were to make a complaint against us for telling them about Jesus we’d be formally disciplined. For others of us, we are part of friendship groups where to mention the name Jesus invites mockery or insults: Bigot, homophobic, intolerant etc. And it’s so easy to tell ourselves: “Now’s not the time”. Again, the word of God and the voice of conscience says “Make Jesus known; he’s the only way we can be saved”, but the other voice in our heart says: “Not yet. Wait til we’re better prepared. Read another book on evangelism. Go to another training event. Wait til the Church of England situations sorts itself out. Wait til we get enough Christian MPs to change the laws. Wait til we feel strong enough so that we don’t feel so vulnerable when we step out of hiding and open ourselves up to getting hurt”. That’s the little voice in my heart anyway. And this demonstration at Mount Carmel gives me courage. God said go – Elijah went in the face of all the odds – and he was so confident that God was with him he even said pour water on the sacrifice. Jesus tells us that he is with us to the end of the age. He has died, he has risen, he reigns, and he will return. What better conditions am I waiting for? Let’s take courage, and let’s have:

3. Hope

Because what if I get it wrong or if I have gotten it wrong? What if I don’t feel like Elijah? What if I don’t even feel like the people of Israel? What if I feel more like the prophets of Baal? Maybe you’re young and you’ve made some catastrophic error of judgement. Or maybe you’re middle aged and you’re evaluating your life, and you feel like you’ve made wrong decision after wrong decision after wrong decision – and now it feels like the consequences are catching up. It might be a strained marriage, or a son or daughter who’s not speaking with you any more. And you’re looking back and thinking I’ll never get those years back. What’s left for me now? Or maybe you’re towards the end of your life and you look around at the state of your neighbourhood, your family, the church in this country – and you think “Will I live to see any improvement?” I love the details included in this demonstration of God (1 Kings 18.31-32):

Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number fo the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying “Israel shall be your name.” And with the stones he built an altar to the Lord…

The name Israel was given to Jacob, their ancestor. Israel, we are told means: He struggles with God. Imagine naming your child “Fights with his parents”. It’s as if God is saying: “I knew what I was getting into when I chose you to be my people” The twelve stones are a reminder: God chose you to be his people. And Elijah’s prayer: It’s concerned for God’s honour. He’s not going to allow himself to be shown up by some side show god like Baal. 1 Kings 18.36-37:

…“O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

No matter how far his people wander – God is able to turn their hearts back to him. There is always hope. God is so confident in his salvation plan he will choose a wayward people to represent him on earth. He will permit the worship of his name to be defiled because he knows he can restore it any moment he wants. He will take on human flesh and allow himself to be killed on a cross because he knows he can overturn death itself. That’s terrifying on one hand because God is the master of brinkmanship. No one can drive their car closer to the edge than God can. The Son of God can allow himself to be killed because he knows he can rise. God can allow his church to be persecuted by false teachers and petty tyrants. He can allow his name to be blasphemed by the people he came to save because he is utterly confident in his ability to rescue sinful, wayward people like you and me. It’s terrifying, but it’s so reassuring. It means there’s always hope while you live.

There’s hope for your soul if you will hear the word of God and come to Jesus for grace, mercy and new life. There’s hope for your family if you pray for them and take what opportunities you can to love them and point them to Jesus our healer. There’s hope for our nation if we will pray, and take our courage in our hands, and come out of hiding and say we know there is a God who loves us and is wise enough to lead us. He has demonstrated his love at the cross and his power through the resurrection, and he calls us to come to him and let him restore us. So let’s put our trust in the rescuing God of Israel:

Father in heaven, we thank you that you speak – and that you demonstrate your love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Help us to take courage and live wisely in the light of your Gospel and your word. Amen