Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning.

Today we continue our conversation and examination into the God’s purpose for us as a body of believers.

We started this journey by learning what it means to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Then we pressed on and saw that if love God with our everything, He will lead us to love those who the world neglects and mistreats, i.e. the Untouchables.

And now we move forward with on our spiritual journey following Jesus in a series called, The Called: Life Lessons from the Life of Elijah.

Now, if you think about it, to go from loving God with our everything, to loving the untouchables in the world, there are a few steps between location A and location B, so to speak.

So, while we are moving our conversation forward, we are actually looking at what we need to be doing as move from loving God with our everything to loving the lost among us.

We will start our investigation in , and you can turn there now if you have your Bible.

Incidentally, if you don’t have a Bible, please raise your hand and we will bring one to you that is yours to keep.

We also have children’s Bibles if you are in need of one.

You can always get a Bible from us at our Welcome Center anytime.

Seriously, take as many as you want, they will always be free to you.

So, in this series called, The Called, we will see 5 principles, 5 purposes, for 5 steps that take us from loving God to loving anyone and everyone else.

All too often, we major on loving God, but we falter at loving others, and many times, its because we have either skipped, neglected, or are somehow oblivious to what we are about to examine over the next few weeks.

The first step, then, is understanding the Purpose of Obedience.

In other words, other than making God smile, and other than us choosing God instead of sin, what does obeying Him accomplish?

How does obedience work through our lives to accomplish God’s purposes for our lives?

Let’s pray.

To set up the scene, its important to know that God is introducing Elijah to us in contrast to Israel’s current king, Ahab.

a.

The accession of Ahab (16:29–34)

29–30 Ahab’s twenty-two year reign (v.29) marked the depths of spiritual decline in Israel.

No more notorious husband and wife team is known in all the sacred Scriptures (cf.

21:25–26).

Ahab built on his father’s foundation, not only in bringing Israel into the arena of international conflict, but causing it to serve and worship Baal (v.30).

31–32 Ahab was a man of complex character.

The remainder of this chapter makes it clear that he was unconcerned with true, vital faith (cf.

21:20).

Not only did he participate personally in the sins of Jeroboam, but having willingly married Jezebel, he followed her in the worship of Baal-Melqart, officially instituting and propagating Baal worship throughout his kingdom.

34 An example of his spiritual infidelity is seen as he granted to Hiel of Bethel the authority to rebuild Jericho as a fortified town, despite Joshua’s long-standing curse.

The undertaking was to cost Hiel the lives of his eldest and youngest sons, in accordance with Joshua’s prophetic pronouncement (Josh 6:26).

The subsequent chapters of 1 Kings show that Ahab was selfish and sullen (20:43; 21:4–5), cruel (22:27), morally weak (21:1–16), and concerned with luxuries of this world (22:39).

Though he could display real bravery (ch.

20; 22:1–39) and at times even heeded God’s word (18:16–46; 20:13–17, 22, 28–30; 21:27–29; 22:30), nevertheless he was basically a compromiser as far as the will of God was concerned (20:31–34, 42–43; 22:8, 18, 26–28).

The divine estimation of his character stands as a tragic epitaph: “There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD”

And so it is under the incredibly evil king Ahab that Elijah is called by God to be His prophet.

Let’s pick up in .

Let me sum up what we just read so we are clear as to what this meant at the time.

In those dark times God raised up a light, the prophet Elijah.

Reared in rugged Gilead, Elijah was a rugged individualist, a man of stern character and countenance zealous for the Lord.

Elijah sought Ahab and delivered the Lord’s pronouncement.

In contrast to those who were not gods, whose idols Ahab ignorantly worshiped, the living Lord, who was truly Israel’s God, would withhold both dew and rain for the next several years.

Already the drought had lain on the land some six months (cf.

Luke 4:25; James 5:17 with 1 Kings 18:1); now the reason for it all was to be revealed to Israel’s apostate leadership.

The message was clear: Israel had broken the pledge of its covenantal relationship with God (Deut 11:16–17; 28:23–24; cf.

Lev 26:19; 1 Kings 8:35).

Therefore God was demonstrating his concern for both his people’s infidelity and their folly in trusting in false fertility gods like Baal.

No rain!

There would not even be dew until God’s authentic messenger would give the word!

Unknown to Ahab, Elijah had agonized over the sin of his people and had prayed to the Lord for corrective measures to be levied on his people.

Accordingly Elijah was God’s logical choice.

2–6 To impress the message and its deep spiritual implications further on Ahab and all Israel, God sent Elijah into seclusion.

Not only would Ahab’s frantic search for the prophet be thwarted, but Elijah’s very absence would be living testimony of a divine displeasure (cf.

Ps 74:1, 9).

Moreover Elijah himself had much to learn, and the time of solitude would furnish needed moments of divine instruction.

Obeying God’s directions implicitly, Elijah walked the fifteen miles from Jezreel eastward to the Jordan River (v.5).

There in Kerith, one of the Jordan’s many narrow gorges, Elijah took up his residence.

Alone and relying solely on divine provision, Elijah was nourished by the available water of Kerith and by ravens sent from God (v.6)

7–16 When the heavy rains of late autumn and early winter, which were needed to prepare the earth for cultivation, failed to materialize (v.7), God set the second stage of caring for his prophet into operation (v.8).

He sent him to a certain widow of Zarephath in Phoenician Sidon, Jezebel’s very own homeland (v.9).

On arriving there, Elijah was led to the widow whom God had mentioned (v.10).

The prophet put a severe test before her (vv.11–14).

If she would first bake a small loaf for Elijah before seeing to her family’s needs, God would honor her faith with a supply of flour and oil so long as the drought should last.

Taking the prophet at his word, she obeyed; and all came to pass even as he had promised (vv.15–16).

The incident must have served not only as a source of great comfort for the simple, godly non-Jewish woman (cf.

Deut 10:18–19), but also as a strengthening to Elijah’s faith in God’s providence (cf.

Ps 37:3–4; Isa 41:10).

The episode also stands impressed in the pages of history as a lasting memorial to the availability of God’s full provision to all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile (Matt 10:41–42; Luke 4:25–26).

1) Elijah’s call (17:1–6)

1 In those dark times God raised up a light, the prophet Elijah.

Reared in rugged Gilead, Elijah was a rugged individualist, a man of stern character and countenance zealous for the Lord.

Elijah sought Ahab and delivered the Lord’s pronouncement.

In contrast to those who were not gods, whose idols Ahab ignorantly worshiped, the living Lord, who was truly Israel’s God, would withhold both dew and rain for the next several years.

Already the drought had lain on the land some six months (cf.

Luke 4:25; James 5:17 with 1 Kings 18:1); now the reason for it all was to be revealed to Israel’s apostate leadership.

The message was clear: Israel had broken the pledge of its covenantal relationship with God (Deut 11:16–17; 28:23–24; cf.

Lev 26:19; 1 Kings 8:35).

Therefore God was demonstrating his concern for both his people’s infidelity and their folly in trusting in false fertility gods like Baal.

No rain!

There would not even be dew until God’s authentic messenger would give the word!

Unknown to Ahab, Elijah had agonized over the sin of his people and had prayed to the Lord for corrective measures to be levied on his people.

Accordingly Elijah was God’s logical choice.

2–6 To impress the message and its deep spiritual implications further on Ahab and all Israel, God sent Elijah into seclusion.

Not only would Ahab’s frantic search for the prophet be thwarted, but Elijah’s very absence would be living testimony of a divine displeasure (cf.

Ps 74:1, 9).

Moreover Elijah himself had much to learn, and the time of solitude would furnish needed moments of divine instruction.

Obeying God’s directions implicitly, Elijah walked the fifteen miles from Jezreel eastward to the Jordan River (v.5).

There in Kerith, one of the Jordan’s many narrow gorges, Elijah took up his residence.

Alone and relying solely on divine provision, Elijah was nourished by the available water of Kerith and by ravens sent from God (v.6).

Purpose of Obedience

Obedience is how we stay in God’s favor in our relationship with Him

Clearly, Ahab did not have favor with God, and after some time, God disciplined the nation of Israel.

But at the same time, God wanted to restore His favor, so He called Elijah.

When we disobey, while those who believe in Jesus do not lose their salvation, because remember, it was the work of Jesus that paid for your sin, not your work, even so, we can fall out of God’s favor.

We can fall out of regular fellowship with God.

Just like when we have strained relationships with our loved ones, we always love them, but the relationship is altered by the sin and strife that is apparent.

Obedience is how God activates His purpose for our lives

Elijah was a loner who lived an isolated life.

He was rugged and used to the outdoors.

Yet Elijah’s purpose was activated when God called him out of his self-appointed isolation and into his God-appointed mission.

I say self-appointed because God would also send Elijah back into hiding, but this time, that isolation was according to God’s purposes, not Elijah’s choice.

Obedience demonstrates that we have died to our old selves