Ravens and Widows

Gary Jarvis

The Called: Life Lessons from Elijah • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

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Theme: Living our Purpose is Living in Obedience. Purpose: That we listen more to what God wants us to do. Gospel Connection: Living by the Spirit. Mission Connection: Disciples listen and do, Requires a growing Faith.

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1 Kings 17

17 Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”

2 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 3 “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River.

4 Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.”

5 So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan.

6 The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook.

7 But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.

8 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 9 “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”

10 So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?”

11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”

12 But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”

13 But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son.

14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”

15 So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days.

16 There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.

17 Some time later the woman’s son became sick. He grew worse and worse, and finally he died.

18 Then she said to Elijah, “O man of God, what have you done to me? Have you come here to point out my sins and kill my son?”

19 But Elijah replied, “Give me your son.” And he took the child’s body from her arms, carried him up the stairs to the room where he was staying, and laid the body on his bed.

20 Then Elijah cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, why have you brought tragedy to this widow who has opened her home to me, causing her son to die?”

21 And he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, please let this child’s life return to him.”

22 The Lord heard Elijah’s prayer, and the life of the child returned, and he revived!

23 Then Elijah brought him down from the upper room and gave him to his mother. “Look!” he said. “Your son is alive!”

24 Then the woman told Elijah, “Now I know for sure that you are a man of God, and that the Lord truly speaks through you.”

Introduction: What does it look like to Live out our Purpose?

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” Mark Twain

Elijah is living out His Purpose.

What if Our Purpose was to Survive a Famine?

The Purpose of the Book of Kings: To show how the people of God, led by its Kings not only could not live according to God’s Covenant, but turned from it.

Deuteronomy

The Lexham English Bible Chapter 30

15 “See, I am setting ⌊before you⌋ ⌊today⌋ life and prosperity and death and disaster; 16 what I am commanding you ⌊today⌋ is to love Yahweh your God by going in his ways and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his regulations, and then you will live, and you will become numerous, and Yahweh your God will bless you in the ⌊land where you are going⌋. 17 However, if your heart turns aside and you do not listen and you are lured away and you bow down to other gods and you serve them, 18 I declare to you ⌊today⌋ that you will certainly perish; ⌊you will not extend your time⌋ on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to go there to take possession of it. 19 I invoke as a witness against you ⌊today⌋ the heaven and the earth: life and death I have set ⌊before you⌋, blessing and curse. So choose life, so that you may live, you and your offspring, 20 by loving Yahweh your God by listening to his voice and by clinging to him, for he is your life and the length of your days in order for you to live on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them.”

King David as the prototype and pointer to the Messiah

Solomon led the people into idolatry through his wives

Split Kingdom - Northern Kingdom just became worse.

Ahab: The worst - Married Jezebel from Phoenicia and brought Baal Idol Worship

It is in this context that we are introduced to Elijah, called to be a prophet of God - His Purpose.

Prophets are to call the people especially Kings to Covenant Faithfulness. - Live up to Deuteronomy.

So the stories of Elijah are really the stories of God’s Contest against Baal - Who is Israel’s true God?

Baal - The Phoenician God of Rain - leads to abundance of crops - leads to wealth.

The One True God is God over all creation

Ahab and Jezebel follow Baal, Elijah is the mouthpiece of God

And The first thing we get is God going for Baal’s Jugular, No rain until God says so through Elijah. In other words Baal is really no god over rain.

The One True God is God over all creation, Elijah will experience this famine with everyone, but unlike everyone else, Elijah is a sojourner, he has no home, he lives off the land, how will he survive?

Who Wants a Call like that, where you call in to being an event that could be the end of yourself?

By the Way this was a similar call of the Reformers 500 Years ago - Martin Luther at his trial

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason-for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves-I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. Here I Stand. I Can do No Other. God help me. Amen. - Martin Luther before the diet of Worms - April 1521

So, How does Elijah’s Calling connect with us?

We Have a Purpose!!!

We all like Elijah - The Church is called to be prophetic. That is to align covenantally with God, to call into question idols that steer us from God.

We may not worship Baal - The supposed god that brings abundance - wealth

We may certainly worship the abundance itself.

Unlike Elijah, We may not be called to stand before Kings, and be revolutionaries. You may identify your calling more like the Widow, whose sense of calling is to provide for her family.

“Jesus came into this world not as a philosopher or a general but as a carpenter. All work matters to God.” Timothy Keller (tweet, May 26, 2016, 1:30 pm). Every believer is called by God to do something for His Kingdom, even if it isn’t obvious “ministry” work. Notice the widow in this passage. Her calling in this moment was to make a meal for a prophet.

Both were in a sense living prophetically. They were aligning themselves with God’s Covenant, God’s Purpose for them.

And We can Learn a lot about living our Purpose from both Elijah and the Widow.

Which brings me to my first question, How do we live out that purpose?

Living Our Purpose Means Living in Obedience.

I will suggest to you that Elijah’s way of life is actually what should become the normal way of life for Believers in Jesus.

What I do not mean is that every believer should sell their house and become a “Sojourner” like Elijah, nor to expect to be provided for by Ravens, nor will their cupboards be magically supplied with endless food, nor that every person who dies in our life will be raised when we pray for them.

I do mean that way of life where we listen to God, and do what he says by the Power of the Holy Spirit. That our relationship with God is such that we are in frequent conversation with God, listening by means of the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit, speaking back to God so as to confirm steps he wants us to take.

If we do that - We can expect amazing things to happen from time to time, and that those amazing things would be what God wants to do, not what we want God to do.

Was Elijah concerned when he pronounced drought (What will I eat?, How do I hide from Ahab?) God says, “I will provide. Go to this place and I will feed you and give you drink, and I will protect you from Ahab (who we will see later is out to kill him).” And Elijah does it.

When the Wadi dries up was Elijah concerned (Oh great, what now do I do for water?) God says, “I have already talked to a Woman in Phoenicia, go there and she will feed you.”

When Elijah finds the widow, was Elijah concerned when she said she had her last meal? And was the woman asking God, how do I feed this man you commanded me to feed when I only have enough for a last meal? God spoke through Elijah, “do what I say, and the food will not run out till rain comes.” And they both did it.

This is how God intended life to be like = Garden of Eden

This is really the simplicity of walking in the Spirit. Listen and Do. This was modeled for us by Jesus.

But Why don’t we live this way?

Could it be that we are captured by Ahab by our idols? Our world views are more prominent in our minds then walking and talking with God.

We think people are crazy if they say they hear from God. Certainly miracles like the ones in this passage don’t happen. There must be a scientific explanation for these, or these stories are just made up.

Or perhaps our idols lead us to be way too busy to stop and listen to God.

Maybe we do not know how to listen to God, how do we know if it is God’s voice - This is the question of the Zerephath Women - Is Elijah God’s mouthpiece or an agent of the Enemy.

Yes, we have to navigate and discern. The Resurrection Story here is a confirmation both to the Woman, but also to the reader that “He is a man of God and the word of Yahweh in his mouth is truth.”

Stories of people today listening to God

Nancy, and I, and Dee

Margie - If you had a dream, how would you discern that?

Kingdom Ambassadors - Time for listening to God.

Conclusion:

We want revival - Do you know how it starts. It starts with people like Elijah, the Widow fulfilling their purpose by who simply listen to God and Obeying by the Power of the Holy Spirit. It is like Martin Luther who listened to God through Scripture and could do no other than teach what it said. It is like you and me making discipleship that simple as listening to God, and doing what he says by the Power of the Holy Spirit. The more we do our Faith will Grow.

Reference the Reformed Confessions: The Reformed Confessions are statements of faith written to clarify the Gospel at times when the Church was in crisis. Heidelberg Chatechism: Q&A 26-28, 31-32, 46-51, 91, 125 Belgic Confession: Articles 13

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