The Credit We Desire
Lessons from the Kings • Sermon • Submitted
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Have I Ever Desired Credit?
Have I Ever Desired Credit?
Alexander Pope, one of the greatest English poets, said, “All is yellow to the jaundiced eye.”
Have you ever thought you deserved the credit but never did. How did it make you feel.
Christmas Lighting - I wanted to help with our church’s Christmas production one year. I was placed in charge of a spot light. The opening night came and I took my place. The production went off without a hitch. The lighting was perfect. I had figured out a few things I could do with my spotlight and used them to great effectiveness…in my opinion. Pastor came forward at the end, invited people to consider Jesus and then had the crowd acknowledge and thank the cast, the stagehands, the sound people and good night. What about the lighting crew, the spotlight men? Without us the stage would have been dark. We got no acknowledgment, no credit. I felt slighted. I was pretty upset. So I never showed up the next night to do my spotlight. Why? Because I never received the credit I thought I deserved.
Ever thought you deserved credit for something you did and never did? How did you feel? What did you do about it?
The credit we desire, or think we deserve, is a payment to our ego. It’s called self-righteousness, which screams self-importance. It bellows, “Look at what I have done. Give me credit.”
Self-righteousness is the Pharisee standing before God declaring, “God, I thank You that I’m not like other people -greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get’ (Luke 18:11).
What was Jesus’ answer to the self-righteous who trust in themselves?
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath from me —a sinner!’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Self-righteousness is about exaulting oneself. Do I exault myself? Most of us would say no because self-righteousness is not easy to detect in ourselves. Truth is, it is the last sin we would see in ourselves because it is the hardest to see and the hardest to admit. Elijah declares this fact twice and it fails to register.
He entered a cave there and spent the night. Then the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts, but the Israelites have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.” Then He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.” At that moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
In Elijah’s view, he has not received the credit he is due for the zealousness he has displayed for the LORD. He is the only one who has stood for the truth, the only one left and now his head is on the block. Thanks LORD! Do you see? Have you given me any credit? Is this the thanks I get after all I have done for you? I have had enough! Just leave me alone to die. And that is where we found Elijah under the broom tree. Wallowing in self-righteousness and self-pity.
What is self-pity? It is the twin to self-righteousness, as Rev. R.T. Kendall has said, “comes from the feeling of not getting noticed, not getting the credit.” Self-righteousness is not getting the credit we know or think we deserve.
So when the spotlight you shine does not get acknowledge you can feel slighted by both self-pity and self-righteousness, “I did great, I deserve credit, where is my credit.”
So, when the LORD, God asks Elijah, “What are you doing here?” the correct answer is, “I am having a pity party.” Ever thrown one of those for yourself? They are amazing, almost nobody ever attends them except for ourselves. If someone does attend, we do not want them to say anything, but just listen. Or if they are to say anything, they are to tell us how great we are. Give us the credit we think we deserve that nobody has given to us!
So…what are you doing here, Elijah?
So…what are you doing here, Elijah?
Why did God have Elijah travel for 40 days and 40 nights to Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai) - the Mountain of God?
40 days and 40 nights or 40 years is a significant number…something to pay attention to. Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights (Mt. 4:2), Jesus remained on the earth for 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3), God gave Ninevah 40 days to repent (Jonah 3:4), woman are pregnant for 40 weeks, it rained for 40 days and 40 nights leading to end of all life on earth except those in the arc (the Flood; Gen 7:4), Moses was on Mount Sinia (Mountain of God; Horeb) for 40 days and nights (Ex. 24:18). The spies searched Canaan for 40 days (Num. 13:25), Moses was again with God for 40 days and 40 nights to make the new tablets (Ex. 34:28). God allowed the promised land to rest for 40 years (3x, Judges 3:11, 5:31, 8:28), God gave Israel over to their enemy for 40 years (Judges 13:1), Goliath presented himself for 40 days (1 Sam. 17:16), Eli judged Israel for 40 years (1 Sam. 4:18), King David ruled over Israel for 40 years (2 Sam. 5:4; 1 Kings 2:11).
Why did God send Elijah on a 40 day and 40 night journey to Mount Horeb?
Maybe to take time to put things in perspective?
To think…about his actions, his heart, his perspective?
To think about everything God has done and brought him through?
A journey to think about and reconsider his actions. What credit do I really deserve or need to be acknowledged about?
When God sends on a journey to His mountain it is usually to think…to think about who really deserves the credit.
The wilderness of self-pity and self-righteousness is where we want to go, but God desires to lead us back to His mountain, His glory.
I believe God sent Elijah on a 40 night and day journey because He wanted Elijah to see and acknowledge his fault. His self-righteousness and self-pity. Could, would Elijah be able to admit his wrong?
Self-righteousness is the inability to see and admit that, “I am wrong.” To see our errors. To see ourselves as we really are. Self-righteousness is the failure to see and admit that “I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
When we are on a journey of self-righteousness and pity, we may well receive the applause we desire, but that will be it.
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
What Do We Choose…The Mountain of God or the Wilderness?
What Do We Choose…The Mountain of God or the Wilderness?
Then He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.” At that moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Suddenly, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they’re looking for me to take my life.” Then the Lord said to him, “Go and return by the way you came to the Wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram. You are to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu. But I will leave 7,000 in Israel —every knee that has not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
What is this scene all about? God’s glory. God reminded Elijah of His glory, who He was and who Elijah was. God was essentially saying, “I will give you the credit if you can do this.”
God was reminding Elijah as to who exactly is the Potter and who is the clay.
But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath ready for destruction? And what if He did this to make known the riches of His glory on objects of mercy that He prepared beforehand for glory —
Who is the Potter and who is the Clay in our lives?
Note: God never rebukes Elijah in all his pity-party. He simply listens. Why? Because God remembers our frame, we are simply dust (Ps. 103:14).
For He knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust.
Are you not thankful that God remembers that you and I are dust? That He remembers our frame?
God knows that Elijah is done…He has had enough. God does not give us more than what we can handle (1 Cor. 10:13). So God gives Elijah His concluding orders. Anoint Hazael and Jehu as His respective kings and anoint Elisha as His voice, replacing Elijah and concluding his ministry.
God’s parting quip...”and oh by the way Elijah, I will leave 7000 Israelites in Israel that have not bowed their knee to Baal” (v. 18).
See Elijah was not the only one. When we believe we are the only one standing for the truth of God, there is always a remnant one bigger than we think. God always leaves a remnant.
Do Not Go Looking for Credit
Do Not Go Looking for Credit
When we go looking for credit it is not about God, but all about us. We may receive the applause of some, but not of God.
If God does give us some applause, simply say thank you and accept it as God’s gift to you.
The self-righteous wallow in the wilderness, looking for credit. God, though, desires to bring us to Himself, through journeys of reflection, not condemnation.
Remember who the Potter is, and that we are the clay.
Amen.