Sermons

FILTER BY:

← back to list

May 29, 2022

A Divine Showdown

A Divine Showdown

Passage: 1 Kings 18:17-40

Speaker: Andrew Kerhoulas

Series: Easter Egg, the hidden figure of Elijah in the life of Jesus

Keywords: repentance, idolatry, altar, judgment on sin, fire of the lord

In a period of great turmoil in ancient Israel’s history, idol worship had become ubiquitous. But God through the prophet Elijah pulled out all the stops to keep his people from “limping between two opinions.” It was nothing short of a divine showdown that won the allegiance of God’s people.

Readings & Scripture

PREPARATION: Psalm 115:1-8, 1
LEADER: Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. 2 Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?”

ALL: 3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. 4 But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. 5 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. 6 They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. 7 They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats.

LEADER: 8 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

ALL: Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

CORPORATE PRAYER OF LAMENT: Adapted from a prayer by Mark Vroegop and Psalm 63
LEADER: Father of mercies, we see the news in disbelief and we battle despair. The lives of 21 image-bearers—people who reflected your beauty—were taken. This senseless violence is shocking and troubling. It causes us to turn to you on behalf of the families of Robb Elementary School.

ALL: How long, O Lord?

LEADER: We lament the presence of sin in the world and its destructive effects. We mourn the loss of life that will create empty spaces at dinner tables, birthday parties, and graduations.

ALL: We weep with those who weep.

LEADER: We lament the devaluing of human life and its bitter fruit in our world. We mourn the demonic rage that would lead to this. We weep with the families in the shattering of their peace.

ALL: Comfort the brokenhearted. Bind up their wounds.

LEADER: Lord, do not be far from them. You are their strength.
Come quickly to help those who mourn. Deliver them from the power of despair.
Save them from the darkness that is all around.

ALL: Because you are our help, we sing in the shadow of your wings.
We cling to you; your right hand upholds us.
In the name of Jesus Christ, who weeps with us, we ask these things. Amen.

CENTRAL TEXT: 1 Kings 18:17-40
17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.” 20 So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. 23 Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. 24 And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.” 25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” 26 And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. 27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.


30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name,” 32 and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” 34 And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. 35 And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.
36 And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” 40 And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

BENEDICTION:
LEADER: May the grace of Christ attend you, the love of God surround you, the Holy Spirit keep you now and forevermore.

ALL: Amen.

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Exodus 20:1-6
  • Numbers 15:39-41
  • Joshua 7
  • 1 Samuel 17
  • Psalm 115:1-8
  • Ezekiel 14:3
  • Hosea 4:16-17
  • Matthew 4:1-11
  • Luke 16:19-31
  • Romans 6:16-23; 8:18-23, 31-32
  • Ephesians 6:10-20
  • Philippians 3:3, 10, 17-21

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

  1. Idolatry can seem archaic to our modern sensibilities. While it’s more covert in some instances, idolatry is as pervasive today as it was in the ancient near east. What does idolatry look like in your experience? Give examples.
  2. Elijah rebuked God’s people for “limping between two opinions” (1 Kings 18:21). What did he mean? How does the other instance of “limping”  in verse 26 shed light on verse 21?
  3. Compare and contrast: What does Baal’s (non) answer to his followers' prayers in verses 26-29 reveal about Baal and idols in general? What does God’s answer to Elijah’s prayer in verses 36-37 reveal about God?
  4. Greg Beale says, “What we revere, we resemble, either for ruin or restoration.” For instance, if you pick up your phone hundreds of times a day it shapes you. Discuss how what we love shapes who we become. 
  5. The divine showdown won back the hearts of God’s people, at least for a time (c.f. verse 39). What did Jesus do to enable us to worship him instead of idols? What does he continue to do for his people to that end? How does the fire of God fall, as it were, today?

ILLUSTRATIONS:

5.29.22 Album, InView Media

QUOTES:

  • In the day to day trenches of adult life there’s no such thing as atheism. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what we worship…If you worship money and things — if they are where you tap real meaning in life — then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you. . . .Worship power — you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart — you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. -David Foster Wallace
  • Wherever the people do not believe in something beyond the world, they will worship the world. But above all, they will worship the strongest thing in the world. - G.K. Chesterton
  • I went searching, then, for the truth. But where to find it? Elders, saints, and mystics are notable these days for their absence. In their place we are offered a pick’n’mix spirituality, on sale in every market stall and pastel-shaded hippy web portal. A dreamcatcher, a Celtic cross, a book about tantra, a weekend drum workshop, and a pack of tarot cards with cats on them, and hey, presto: You’re ready for your personalized “spiritual” journey. On the other side, you will find no exhortation to sacrifice or denial of self, and certainly no battered and bleeding god-man calling you to pick up your cross and follow him. No, you will find instead the perfect manifestation of everything you wanted in the first place: the magnification of your will, not its dissolution. Expressive individualism disguised as epiphany, the reaching prayer of a culture that doesn’t know how lost it is…I grew up believing what all modern people are taught: that freedom meant lack of constraint. Orthodoxy taught me that this freedom was no freedom at all, but enslavement to the passions: a neat description of the first thirty years of my life. True freedom, it turns out, is to give up your will and follow God’s. To deny yourself. To let it come. I am terrible at this, but at least now I understand the path. In the Kingdom of Man, the seas are ribboned with plastic, the forests are burning, the cities bulge with billionaires and tented camps, and still we kneel before the idol of the great god Economy as it grows and grows like a cancer cell. And what if this ancient faith is not an obstacle after all, but a way through? As we see the consequences of eating the forbidden fruit, of choosing power over ­humility, separation over communion, the stakes become clearer each day. Surrender or rebellion; sacrifice or conquest; death of the self or triumph of the will; the Cross or the machine. We have always been ­offered the same choice. The gate is strait and the way is narrow and maybe we will always fail to walk it. But is there any other road that leads home? - Paul Kingsnorth
  • We would rather be ruined than changed.
    We would rather die in our dread
    Than climb the cross of the moment
    And let our illusions die.
    - W.H. Auden
  • What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living. An idol has such a controlling position in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources, on it without a second thought. It can be family and children, or career and making money, or achievement and critical acclaim, or saving “face” and social standing. It can be a romantic relationship, peer approval, competence and skill, secure and comfortable circumstances, your beauty or your brains, a great political or social cause, your morality and virtue, or even success in the Christian ministry. When your meaning in life is to fix someone else’s life, we may call it “co-dependency” but it is really idolatry. An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” There are many ways to describe that kind of relationship to something, but perhaps the best one is worship. - Timothy Keller,. Counterfeit Gods

BOOKS / DOCS