Conviction, Communicate, and Accusation
Notes
Transcript
I’m Jealous
I’m Jealous
Sara and I have been married 36 years. Time has flown by. And to some of you, we’re just past half time.
We’ve lived in 6 different places and have good friend from each stop along the way.
I have my annual golf trip coming up and the core of this group are guys whom I’ve known since before we were married.
We all went to church together. Played softball. Attended each other’s weddings.
You know we just lost one of our friends from our church in Indiana. She fought cancer for 13 years and finally it got her.
Sara was able to go see her just before she passed, which was important.
Kristi and her husband are part of group of friends from there. We were in the same small group, they guys played golf together, we have vacationed together. Lots of dinners, game nights, cards (Euchre), camping trips, lake houses, and movies.
That’s how it works. We didn’t like these guys so we’d get to use their lake houses. But, b/c we played a lot at their lake houses and on cruise ships we became great friends.
Yes, it’s the activities, but it’s what we do while we are doing those other things.
Some serious conversations took place over cards and on pontoon boats and in deck chairs on ships.
We prayed. We cried. We laughed.
I could say, my best friend here in MP is a tree. I’ve got this pine tree that comes up thru my deck. Shade. He’s always there. Never says a mean thing about me.
You think, no that’s just silly. And yet, we have ppl we call friends who treat us like they are tree. They never come to us, call us, reach out to us they just expect us to do all the work coming to them.
Good friends don’t work that way. We do things for each other and with each other.
Marriage is similar in many ways. Good marriages are no accident. The priorities are what you do for each other and with each other.
No short cuts. All of our marriage will look a lot alike in this way.
And, I will freely admit I am a jealous husband.
I am not jealous of Sara in any way. I am jealous for her.
I expect her to not let anyone else in where I only I can be. If she does, we’re going to have a problem. Not just w/ her but w/ whomever tries to get into that place that is reserved for me.
That’s part of a good marriage.
I have a conviction to be a good husband and expect her to be a good wife.
We spend a lot of time talking. Communication is vital. Sharing what we’re thinking, feeling, hoping we can do.
And we don’t throw around any accusations at each other.
If something is not happening for me that I think should be, I have to look at myself first.
We tend to get back what we give in a relationship. So, if there is a problem between me and Sara, or me and one of my friends, I’ve got to look at myself first and not accuse them of something I am responsible for.
This is just how it works. God hard-wired us this way.
We could vote and decide that open marriages are good for everyone. Pick a different partner every night and everybody’s spouse should just be okay w/ it.
I’m sorry. It doesn’t work that way. Vote or no vote. God hard-wired us to need t/b in exclusive relationships.
Then He taught us how to hold up our end of the deal.
This is all true not just about relationships we have w/ each other, it’s also true about our relationship w/ God.
He hard-wired us in the same way He is hard-wired. We are relational b/c He is relational.
Created in God’s image, which is not a carved tree, stacked rocks, or a golden calf.
Our God actively involved in the lives of those who treat Him like He is alive and the most important thing in their life.
If we don’t, then He won’t.
If you want to have good friends. If you want to be happily married. If you want to remain close to God, then 3 things are most important;
Conviction
Communication
And a lack of accusation.
Israel learned this important lesson in 1 Kings 18.
It’s an iconic story about a contest when God proved that He is the only true God, there are not others, and He is active in our lives in big ways and little ways.
Who’s the Trouble-Maker?
Who’s the Trouble-Maker?
So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
“I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.
v.1 in the chapter starts out that the drought had lasted 3 years. No rain. No dew. No moisture whatsoever.
Elijah went to one of the local prophets, Obadiah, and told him to go to Ahab, the king of Israel, tell him he wanted to meet with him.
So, Ahab comes to meet him, and the first words out of his mouth were an accusation.
Ahab blamed Elijah for the trouble they were in. Called him the trouble-maker.
Elijah was just the messenger who told him there would be a severe drought.
It’s like if you get pulled over for speeding and the deputy gives you a ticket. He didn’t make the law. He’s just enforcing it.
Try blaming the deputy for your ticket and see what happens.
Who’s responsible?
Elijah wasn’t responsible for the trouble Israel was in. They were to blame for their own trouble.
Ahab and his father were responsible for leading Israel away from God.
Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, worshiped Baal and wanted Israel to replace God w/ Baal.
They didn’t like the message and they didn’t like the situation they were in.
But it was their own lack of faith, belief in, quality worship that led to their trouble.
They didn’t hold up their end of the relationship so God stepped back and moved a drought in to get their attention.
If I didn’t hold up my end of the marriage then the weather would change in my house, too.
Remember, as I told you last week, Baal is their storm god. He’s the one they looked to for rain on their crops and it hadn’t rained in 3 years.
So, who really is the storm God, the God of the climate?
So, Elijah suggests a contest on Mt. Carmel between him the prophets of Baal.
Ahab loves the idea so he puts the word out to the prophets of Baal and the ppl of Israel to show up and watch this slam dunk of a contest.
When the ppl gathered, Elijah had the chance to address them and set the stage for what they were about to see and what their reaction should be.
Opinion or Conviction?
Opinion or Conviction?
So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.
What Israel had been doing at the time is whichever god appeared t/b winning or doing what they wanted, they jumped on board.
But as soon as the situation shifted, they shifted their loyalties.
Like a friend of mine in LR appeared t/b a big Red Sox fan. Hats. Jerseys. The whole deal.
One day he showed up in Yankee’s gear. He said he was tired of the Red Sox losing to the Yankees and since he was a Yankee fan as a kid he was now a Yankee fan again.
There are rivalries in sports. Arch enemies. Teams. Schools. All sports.
None are more fierce than Red Sox/Yankees.
When our kids were young we took a camping trip to the east coast. Ate lobster in Maine. Chocolate in Hershey, PA. Niagara Falls. And, a Red Sox game in Fenway Park.
Bucket list for me.
The Sox are playing the Blue Jays. But, in the stands all around us the regular Bostonian fans we talking trash about the Yankees. There was not a Yankee w/ hundreds of miles that night.
If you’re a Red Sox fan, you will never root for the Yankees. So, if my friend switched his allegiance, then he never really was a Red Sox fan.
That’s the difference between opinion and conviction.
Opinions can change. Convictions never do no matter how the situation changes.
The Red Sox could lose every game one season and their fans could never root for the Yankees. That’s conviction.
That’s also the kind of conviction that God calls us to about him.
Elijah called out Israel for their wavering opinions. They had an opinion about God. But it changed if they didn’t get what they wanted from Him or what they felt they deserved.
They’d start wearing Baal’s jersey and hat, or whatever god they felt was giving them stuff.
Elijah called them out. They knew God called them to have no other gods before Him. Commandment #1 of the 10.
He is a jealous God. He’s not jealous of them. He is jealous for them. So when they let another god in where only God is supposed t/b they will have trouble.
We’re either all in w/ God or we’re not at all. There is no one foot in and one foot out.
Just like a marriage.
The relationship will be hurt.
The ppl said nothing. They knew they sat on the fence and wavered. They would not commit to God until they saw a good reason to do so.
And, God was about to give it to them.
Mt. Carmel was in a mountain range between Israel and Phoenicia, Baal territory.
There used t/b an altar up there where people would worship God. But it had fallen apart due to lack of use and an altar was built there to worship Baal.
This was not a neutral site. This was Baal’s home field. Ahab called 450 prophet of Baal to go up against Elijah.
They were expecting Baal to vindicate himself after 3 years of not doing his job. Not storms. No rains.
They liked those odds; 450-1
All they needed out of him that day was 1 well-placed lightening strike.
From a human perspective it looks like no contest.
But, God was about to show them 1 man plus God is way more powerful than 450 men plus a made-up god.
Home Field Advantage
Home Field Advantage
Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”
Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
Just so there is no way the ppl could accuse Elijah of fixing the contest he let the others choose the 2 bulls and choose which one they wanted to sacrifice to Baal.
If it didn’t work they could have blamed Elijah for giving them the lesser bull that Baal rejected.
There are baseball diamonds where the grounds crew lets the grass grow longer to slow ground balls down or to soak the basepath under dry dirt so the other team will slip around and can’t beat out infield hits like that.
Their home turf. Their selection of bull and altar. Cut it up. Put it on the seasoned firewood. But don’t light it. Let Baal prove what he can do.
They like the idea. They love their odds.
Then they go to work trying to get Baal to light the altar on fire.
They danced and cried out to Baal all morning and nothing. Hours went by.
Then at noon, Elijah began to taunt them.
At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
Elijah shows he can be as sarcastic as a teenager trying to impress his girlfriend.
It’s Baal. God of storms. All they need is 1 strike of lightening and they are getting no response.
Maybe he’s hard of hearing. He’s old. Needs a hearing aid. Yell louder.
Obviously a god would have a lot on his mind. Responsibilities. Maybe he’s thinking deep thoughts.
Then, he just gets tacky. When he says he might be busy that was a polite word for going to the bathroom.
Maybe he’s out relieving himself and can’t strike right now.
Sailers, sea merchants used to believe that Baal traveled with them on the high seas to settle the storms.
So, Elijah jumps on that notion, maybe he’s traveling, other higher priorities, on vacation.
He’s just worn out. Being a god is tough business and one needs one’s beauty rest.
This is his chance to show up and set the record straight that Baal is more attentive, more powerful, more aware of his people’s needs than God.
But, it seems he was unavailable.
This went on all day, until 3 in the afternoon. No response. No answer. No one even paid attention.
How would you like that? You desperately need your God to show up and you cry out to Him for all you’re worth and He’s just not available.
That’s never the case with our God, the only true God.
Elijah takes over and God showed up.
Always Available
Always Available
Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
Elijah rebuilt the old, broken down alter that they used to use to worship God.
12 stones. Even though Israel did not acknowledge God and the kingdom had split, 10 to the north and 2 to the south.
God was still the God of all Israel.
It really didn’t matter in this sense what the ppl believed or did. God will be the God of Israel until the very end.
Elijah acknowledged that.
The odds were already stacked against him and he added to those odds. 3 times they poured water on the wood and the cut up bull.
After a snowstorm that blows all over my firewood I can have some trouble getting to catch fire. The inside is dry. But if the outside is too wet it won’t take the flame.
3 large jugs, probably 5 gallons each soaked the wood and filled the trench he dug around the altar.
The water likely came from the Med. Sea that was about 30 mi. NW of them. He must have had it brought up with them.
There would be no mistake who did this. This would not be a magic trick, illusion, set up by any man. Only God could light this fire.
Then Elijah prayed. A simple prayer. No flowery language. No deep theology. No trying to impress anyone who was listening.
No King James English either.
Let it be known You are God, always have been, always will be. Please show yourself to these ppl so they will believe again.
BOOM. One big lightening strike. Direct hit. God is very accurate. Nobody died from the lightening, but they all fell to the ground in humble worship at that moment.
God wasn’t just about showing off. He was intent on bringing the ppl back to Him.
That’s what he does. He wants us no matter how far we wander away. He wants us back.
And, from time to time He will show Himself to us.
When Israel responded in faith, God responded by turning the rain back on.
When Israel did what they were supposed to do for their relationship w/ God, he did what He said he’d do and provide for them.
He changed the climate again, the rain began to fall and the crops began to grow.
If you want to have good friends. If you want to be happily married. If you want to remain close to God, then 3 things are most important;
Conviction
Communication
And a lack of accusation.
God doesn’t want your opinion, he want your conviction that will never change no matter how your circumstances change.
Our God is alive and He speaks to us. Carved wood, stacked stones, and golden calves have never uttered a word.
But the Creator of the Universe has something to say to each of us all the time. Will we listen. Will speak humbly, respectfully, and simply?
And when God seems far away, He’s not doing for you what you expect your want him to do, whom do you blame?
Is your accusation focused on Him. Or, do you look at yourself, first?
Applications
Applications
Conviction
Conviction
Is there something that could happen that would change your opinion about God?
Is there something you are afraid might happen that would cause you to stop believing in God?
That’s an opinion. Opinions can change.
Faith is a conviction.
Changes in circumstances call for changes in response. But it never calls for a change in our faith.
Today, decide, there is nothing that can happen that would cause you to change your mind about God.
That security will buoy you and help you when you face tough times.
Communication
Communication
How’s your prayer life?
What language do you use?
I was taught to pray like this. Sit in a chair facing an empty chair and talk to Jesus like He is in that chair and talk to him like you would talk to any person.
I don’t try to impress people w/ my knowledge of theology when meet each other at Kota’s or the P.O.
I can’t I don’t know enough theology.
I can’t impress you w/ what I know. I don’t know enough.
And, I don’t speak in King James English.
When you pray, keep it simple.
That will unlock your prayer life and bring a dynamic that will make you want to pray more.
Accusation
Accusation
When you get a speeding ticket who do you accuse?
When you leave the toilet seat up and your wife gets mad at you who do you accuse?
When God seems distant, but you haven’t prayed simple, humble heartfelt prayers, or studies your bible, or worshiped for all you’re worth, or have allowed things to distract you, get in the way of your time and energy with God. Who do you accuse?
Don’t blame God for the decisions that other ppl make. You value the freedom to make your choices. God lets everyone.
Then, he’s available to help clean up the messes that are created by the choices we make.
Cry out to God for help.
He is never unavailable and He will answer and carry you when you need t/b carried and restore you when you need t/b restored.
Good marriage, good friends, good relationship w/ God all have the 3 things in common.
Conviction
Communication
And a lack of accusation.
Our God actively involved in the lives of those who treat Him like He is alive and the most important thing in their life.
If we don’t, then He won’t.