After the Fire…

 1 Kings 19: 1-16

A sermon preached by Charles J. Tomlin, DMin;

August 1^th, 2021,   Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

Series: The Way of God’s Justice 17/20

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

 ² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow."

 ³ Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.

 ⁴ But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors."

 ⁵ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat."

 ⁶ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again.

 ⁷ The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you."

 ⁸ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

 ⁹ At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

 ¹⁰ He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

 ¹¹ He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;

 ¹² and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.

 ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

 ¹⁴ He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

 ¹⁵ Then the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

 ¹⁶ Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place.  (1 Ki. 19:1-16 NRS)

 

Today I want to start with a story I’ve told before.  It’s about two fellers who didn't like each other.  One named Ole, and the other named Clarence.  

Ole lived across the Minnesota River from Clarence Bunsen, whom he didn't like at all. They were yelling across the river at each other all the time. 

Ole would yell to Clarence, "If I had a vay to cross dis river, I'd come ofver dere an beat you up good, yeah sure ya betcha by golly!"

This went on for years. Finally, the state built a bridge across the river right there by their houses. 

Ole's wife, Lena , says, "Now iss yer chance, Ole. Vhy doncha go over dere and beat up dat Clarence like you said you vud?" 

Ole replied, "OK, by yimmy, I tink I vill do yust dat!"

Ole started for the bridge, but he saw a sign on the bridge and stopped to read it, then turned around and came back home. Lena asked,

"Vhy did you come back?"

           Ole said, " Lena , I tink I changed my mind 'bout beatin' up dat Clarence. You know, vhen I yell at him from across da river he don't look so big. But dey put a sign on da bridge dat says "Clarence is 13 ft. 6 In." (http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/118802/173446.html?1291147417)

Elijah was one very strong and powerful prophet, but one day, as they say, Elijah 'met his match.'  Elijah was on the run for his life.  He felt as if he was the only one left who had not forsaken their promise to God.  To say the least, to feel small and defeated is not a good place to be.  But as I hope we will all learn, it may the most necessary place to learn how to walk humbly with God.

 

I HAVE BEEN VERY ZEALOUS …. (10a)

The highest moment in Elijah's ministry came just before this lowest one.   Isn’t that how it often happens?   Elijah had just called down 'fire' from heaven and slaughtered all 450 false prophets of Ba'al.  But even before the last cinder went cold, his brave heart fails and he’s on the run.   

The reason or Elijah’s fear is a woman’s wrath.  Jezebel, the notorious wife of King Ahab, who seemed to wear the 'pants' around the kingdom, heard what Elijah had done to her prophets.   She was outraged and sought revenge 'to make (his) life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow' (v. 2).   Jezebel is Elijah's "Clarence" standing across the bridge. 

So Elijah ran, and after making his escape, he began to realize just what this meant.   Here is the prophet of the LORD running from one mean woman, albeit an immensely powerful and mean woman.  But here's the real problem for his large, male ego.  He's supposed to be God's big, strong, courageous prophet.   So, when Elijah stops to catch his breath, seeking the shade of a 'solitary broom tree', he came to realize what was happening.  He starts feeling sorry for himself, ending up so depressed.  It’s gets so dark in his soul that he even asked the LORD to 'take his life' (v.4).   In great anguish and exhaustion Elijah lays down and falls asleep.

 

Finding such a story in the Bible is always incredible.   We live in a world where the recipe for success has become 'never let them see you sweat'.  I did a little research on that popular phrase.   It came from a 1984 Gillette Deodorant commercial that featured three celebrities who mentioned three 'nevers' in their respective professions.   Each of them mentioned two things that they would never let other people do for them.  Then, all three ended with the line, "And Never let them see you sweat.”  In other words, never let anyone see your true weakness.

While that may be a good strategy for winning a football game, or beating out other competitors in business, it's not a good philosophy for walking with God by living a genuine, honest, humble and compassionate spiritual life.   (For goodness sakes, folks, this was a TV commercial!)   To walk with God and do justice and love mercy, must confront and find strength even in our own flaws and weaknesses.   We must come clean not only with who we are, but we must honestly and sincerely face who we aren't.   There’s no place for superheros among the people of God.  Superheros who are put 'perfect' people on pedestals, have no space left for grace.  The Bible doesn't requires this of us, and we shouldn't either.  Throughout Scripture God uses people who are much less than perfect.  Think of lying Abraham, boastful Joseph, stammering Moses, adulterous David, and now, right in front of us, egotistical Elijah.  We need also to picture New Testament characters of an over-bearing Simon Peter,  a vengeful James and John, a murderous Saul, or even humanly fearful Jesus, who in the Garden of Gethsemane prayed for 'this cup to pass' from him.   If we can remember the truth about these true heroes of faith, who had many weaknesses and flaws, we might learn how God can use and even ‘bless the mess’ or the 'weakness' in us. 

When Mother Teresa's personal letters were discovered, they gave great details about many of her personal feelings.  What was most shocking was that she honestly confessed how she 'spent almost 50 years of her life without sensing the presence of God in her life'.   She put this in words to a  to a priest, her confessor, telling Pastor Michael Van der Peet, "Jesus has a very special love for you.  But as for me---the silence and the emptiness is so great---that I look and do not see, ---Listen and do not hear…." 

Do you understand what this means for us?   This saintly woman who said it is not enough to say 'you love God, but that 'we must join with Jesus on his cross by feeding the hungry and helping the hurting', who also unapologically condemned abortion and bemoaned youth drug addiction, sharing her strong belief that "Christ is everywhere---in our hearts, in the poor we meet, Christ is in the smile we give and in the smile we receive.'   This woman who served among the poorest of the poor in some the  darkest places on earth, actually gave her own joy and confidence away to others   Again she wrote:  "The tongue moves (in prayer), but does not speak…"    Pastor Michael, she said: "I want you to pray for me---that I let God have a free hand (in my life).  

In more than 40 letters she bemoaned the 'dryness," "darkness," "loneliness" and "torture" she was undergoing, even to the point of having doubts about the existence of heaven or God.   The most fitting title of the book of these desperate writings?  "Come, Lord be My Light!"  Now, that’s walking about as humbly as anyone can get.  (http://time.com/4126238/mother-teresas-crisis-of-faith/).

"There is perhaps nothing worse than reaching the top of the ladder and discovering that you're on the wrong wall"  , wrote Joseph Campbell.  While I don’t think Mother Teresa was on the ‘wrong wall’, I do think because of the heavy load she took upon herself, she was up on a ladder, just like our Lord was on a cross.   That’s how could such a thing happen to a saint who served so wonderfully.    That’s also how it happened to a prophet who had just toppled 450 false prophets or raised a dead child?    Elijah was strong and courageous in one moment, and then fell fast, with his live becoming more like a 'roller coaster'---filled with valleys and curves, rather than a ‘stairway to heaven’.    "How can you endure such curved, hilly roads?, a Flordia girl once asked me."  I answered: "How do you Floridians stay awake on straight, boring streets?  Can you really have an interesting when you are always driving in straight lines?"

But sometimes, so lows are very low, aren't they?   Sometimes the curves life throws at us are out of bounds.    I'll never forget hearing about a very gifted, much beloved pastor of a large congregation who once burned out while trying to serve all the many needs of his congregation.  Then, unexpectedly, he gets up one Sunday and resigns, telling the congregation that he has cared for all of them, but they haven't really cared at all about him, or his family.  So now, he felt he could only care about himself by 'running' away from ministry so he could take care of his family, and himself.  

Folks, no one can give, and give, and give, without needing time to recharge, refresh, and rejuvenate.  Whether you are a pastor or not, the never ending demands of ministry, with all the constant and overwhelming needs, we seldom take our own very human 'limits' into consideration.   But we need too, and if we want to keep walking with God or working with God, we must take our own limits into consideration.

 As I was writing this, a friend of mine called to tell me she was sending me a copy of a book written by a pastor in Greensboro, who after retiring has written a 'tell-all' book about the things he needed to say, but could not say when he was a pastor.  All those years his congregation came to him with all their problems, even sometimes with their problems about him, he complained that they never were willing to listen to him or his problems, especially not his problems with them.   Now, it was his turn.  When I heard that I said to myself, "Good luck with that!"  Minister, heal yourself; please don’t expect someone else to do it for you!

Facing our own weaknesses with humility is important for any of us who are trying to live a life of service, who have demanding jobs, or have the daily burdens of caring for others.   If you are not taking care of yourself, without warning you may find yourself crashed, running on empty, with nothing left to give.  This has an even better chance of happening when you have been successful, or when you are doing the right thing than when you have only been doing your own thing.  When you give and give without taking time for yourself, one day you wake up to find you have nothing left, because unfortunately, you've given away yourself.   

 

I ALONE AM LEFT…. (10b)

Again, we need to take specially note here, especially when we are thinking about doing justice and loving mercy, that it wasn’t Elijah's failures, but it was his successes that caused Jezebel to try to destroy him.  He was on the run because of the good he had accomplished.   

Now, when Elijah finally reached a ‘shady spot’ he quickly fell asleep and dreamed about angels coming down to him, encouraging him 'to get up and eat'.   After as second more spiritual meal is offered, we are told that Elijah gained enough spiritual and physical strength to 'walk for forty days and night until he came to Horeb'-- that is Mt. Sinai---'the mountain of God' located deep in the Arab desert (v. 8).   When Elijah finally reached the safety of God's mountain, he spent the night in a cave, where the word of the LORD came asking, "What are you doing here, Elijah" (v. 9)?   Don’t you find it quite interesting that the angel of the LORD came to him twice,  while God still wonders what's going on?   But what we need to realize here is that this story isn’t about what going on with God,  but it's about the 'battle' going on inside of Elijah. 

Elijah answers God: "I have been very zealous for the LORD…" (v. 10)  but look where this got me, he implies!   What does it really matter?  Things have only gotten worst instead of better.  The good folks who were once with me, are now all gone. Everyone loves a winner, but no one likes a loser.   “I alone am left,” Elijah says, “and they are seeking my life, to take it away" (19:14).

A 2006 Study from the respected Barna Institute interviewed 627 Pastor's around the country and over 61% reported to have not to have any "close friends".   Although Scripture says that it is 'not good for man to be alone' (Gen. 2:18) one unintended result of ministry is loneliness; loneliness that comes, not from doing evil, but from doing good in a fallen world that still doesn’t have its priorities right.   

Several years ago, I was attempting to lead a church with Sunday night services in a summer-time evangelistic effort.   I proposed that the church buy tickets to a local minor-league baseball game and give these tickets for members to give a way to unchurched friends.  Everyone was excited about the upcoming event which would take the place of our Sunday evening service.  On the Sunday morning of the event, I reminded everyone of the event and shared that we had a few extra tickets.  When I was shaking hands after the service, one of the devout ladies stopped, looked me in the eyes and said; "How dare you call off Sunday night worship for a baseball game!"  She walked away as I tried to explain that Jesus called us to seek the lost sheep.   She just would not hear anything.  To that woman, I had failed to be a responsible pastor.  It hurt me that she was hurt, but who could I tell?  I was trying to lead to church to do good, but she was making me feel awful for doing it.    This is the loneliness of ministry.  But there’s another side to this coin, do you see it?   She needed to voice her opinion and her own hurt, so who could she really voice it too.  She was elderly.  The church of today, wasn’t the church of yesterday.  She wasn’t able to ‘go with the flow’ and she felt threatened, like her life was slipping away.  Who was she to complain too?  That’s also the loneliness of ministry, and the humility of it too, you have to listen.

I'm not trying to make this a 'pity-party' for preachers or ministers, or nor to say all ministry is difficult.   Everyone has their lonely tasks and low moments in life, and there are growing challenges of being Christian leaders in an unchurched world for us all.  But what I want do want you to take from this message is that we need to be ready to ‘walk humbly’ with God, not just ‘happily with God’ when we do good in the world.   This is why we are required to walk ‘humbly’ with the Lord.

 

THE LORD WAS NOT IN THE FIRE (12)

Of course, what may be most important for us to figure out, is that it is when we are humbled in life or in ministry, that we realize best that we are indeed, walking with the Lord, and not only walking on our own.   That’s what Elijah realized too, when he came to understand that he could hear God’s voice best, when everything was ‘still’ and he felt alone.  Isn’t that the final test of everything?  It’s not how you think, feel, or interpret life when there’s excitement, noise, and company, but it’s when you ‘get alone’ and are all by yourself, or only with your significant other, that you hear best what life means, understand what matters most, or know yourself for who you really are.   

            This is exactly what happened to the family of Ana Greene.   It was a happy Christian family of four, Dad, Mom, Brother and Sister, until the unthinkable happened.  Ana became one of the 20 child victims and 6 teachers who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, just before Christmas 2012.   After that terrible event, the Father Jimmy Greene, a very talented jazz saxophonist, turned to music to help deal with his loss.  The album that was released was nominated for 2 Grammys, especially for a song he wrote and sang,  "Ana's Way", which was a tribute to this six year old daughter's short life. 

            How do you dealt what humbles you in grief, loss or darkness?  How have you been able to take something so tragic and turn it into music?  Many couples split up because of all the pain they suffer.  "How did you do this," the reported asked Jimmy Greene.  The husband and wife answered together, in unison, with only one word:  "God!"   I’ll never forget how humbled they were, but also how certain they were in that humility and their own pain and hurt.   They went on to explain that they would not have been able to bear it, had it not been for their faith and their own faith community.  "They still bring food to our doorstep, even after 4 years".  (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sandy-hook-victim-dad-jimmy-greene-nominated-two-grammys-jazz-album-inspired-daughter/).

The most important part of Elijah's story comes right here, at the end.  After Elijah has made his escape to the 'Mountain of God', he found God's presence not in the wind, the earthquake, and not even in the fire, but when he met God's voice in the 'silence' and stillness (19:11-12).  It was in that 'silence' that his soul was both humbled and challenged to get up and even go on the 'way to the wilderness' because God's promise will find him,  even there (vs. 15a).

What Jimmy Greene found is not what of us every want to have to find’ music that comes to us in the midst of terrible grief.  This still, but certain soft voice found when we are most humbled too, isn’t what we seek, but it’s the presence we must hope for, because if we really walk with God, we will also have to walk in humility.     But the strength we find in that humility and weakness, can be stronger than any power ever gained in our day of joy or success.  As Jimmy Greene said,  "Music has a language all it's own."  And so does God.   It’s not in the fire, but in the small, still voice, that we know the God’ who can give us the strength beyond our own.  That’s when we know best, that we’re truly walking humbly with God.   Amen.