I want you to think of a specific way in which you have chosen to limit God’s reign in your life. It’s a line that you have drawn in the sand orsome condition that you have put on your relationship with God."God I will do anything,but I won’t do _____." You fill in the blank.
You know how it is when you first become a Christian, when you first feel God’s call on your life. Back in college Lara had this little neighbor girl. Lara babysat her as a child but now she had become a pre-teen. The girl was from a rather devout family and when I’d go to pick Lara up,the girlwould proudly declare from porch swing, "I’m going to be single for the Lord." "Yeah, we’ll see,"I would think to myself.
New Christians have a childlike faith that we might want to emulate.
When you first become a Christian you have this childlike, almost naive faith that says, "Anything Lord!"
•I’ll be single for the Lord.
•I’ll no longer watch this, listen to that, go here, or do that.
•I’ll read the whole Bible in a year. I’ll pray every night.
•I will tell all my friends about Jesus Christ.
•I will downsize my lifestyle so I can be free to serve others. Lord, I will tithe. I will give to the poor. I will help the downtrodden, widows, orphans, hungry, and sick. You name it."
•I will go to the ends of the earth.I will take that mountain.I will slay that spiritual giant. I will do anything for your glory!"
But then it inevitably happens. The world begins to dull our spiritual edge. We start putting limits on God’s reign. We draw the lines in the sand. We set conditions for God.
•Lord, if I tithe I won’t be able to pay the mortgage.
•Lord, I’d lose my job if I stood up for what is right. My friends won’t like me if I talk about Jesus.
•Lord, it’s too dangerous, too risky, to go to ends of earth.
•That mountain is too tall and the giant is too fierce. The need is too great for one person to make difference. That is medically and scientifically impossible. It would take a miracle.
•Lord, I don’t know enough. I’m unqualified. I’m too young. I'm too old. It’s too messy. It's too complicated. I can’t.
Fill in the blank. "Lord, I will do anything for your glory but I won’t do ___________ (that)."
Without faith, it is impossible to please God.
The longer you are a Christian the more apt you are to set limits, to stop believing in the power of the living God, and to stop trusting in the daily provisions that God makes for us in his grace. We Christians often make God smaller, not larger. We put God in a box and we make him safe and convenient.
The problem with us Christians is that we have a form of godliness, but we deny its power. We don’t live lives of faith. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God..."
I am saying that we don’t put our necks on the line. We don’t risk enough for God’s kingdom and glory. We don’t talk to people about Jesus. We don’t love people like we should. We don’t demonstrate grace enough. We don’t confront lies, hypocrisy, impurity, sin, and unrighteousness. We don’t speak to people’s consciences. We don’t sacrifice enough or forgive enough. We’d much rather walk by sight than by faith.
Not Elijah. Elijah was a man of courageous faith, a man willing to stand in the gap and be God’s servant in a godless culture. In 1 Kings 17:1 (NIV) he confronts King Ahab."As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word."
Can you remember the last time you truly stepped out on faith and risked something for God? It doesn’t take any faith to remain silent. It doesn’t take any faith to go through the motions of faith in God. It takes faith though, to stand up and speak for God in a godless culture. And notice that God didn’t disappoint. He protected Elijah from danger. He provided for Elijah’s daily needs. Elijah drank water from the brook andthe ravens brought him bread and meat.
How many of us put it all on the line for our faith?
Just curious-- how many of you have drank from a brook or been fed by ravens? How many of you, in faith, have put yourself in a place where you have had to trust in God’s grace daily just to make it through the day?
We get letters from our missionary families in Africa. The Wilhoits andthe Bettisons are both from families who grew up in this church. They are translating the word of God in a Muslim land. They are over there with their children. From time to time drunk soldiers wave loaded guns in their faces. Robbers wait alongside roadways to ambush them. Their vehicles break down, tires blow out, and you don’t exactly call the AAA. If they get sick or injured, medical help can be hours or days away.
How great is our faith? With what are we willing to trust God? Elijah’s detour into the Kerith Ravine was God’s plan for increasing Elijah’s faith. God was preparing Elijah for even greater things. He was teaching Elijah faith and perseverance so that Elijah would be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
The widow learns to trust God.
In 1 Kings 17:7-12 (NIV) we read, "Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.Then the word of the Lord came to him: 'Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.' So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, 'Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?' As she was going to get it, he called, 'And bring me, please, a piece of bread.' "
" 'As surely as the Lord your God lives,' she replied, 'I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.' "
This widowed mother sounds just a wee bit pessimistic. Different words maybe, different circumstances. But we are just like this widow. Notice her vocabulary in the above verse."I don’t have any…only a handful…a little oil...I am preparing to eat what I have and die… I… I… I…"
1 Kings 7:13-16 (NIV) continues, "Elijah said to her, 'Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.'She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah."
We’ll never know the goodness or the greatness of God apart from faith. It’s hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God because they have everything they need and want. But the widow, the orphan, and the poor learn to put their faith in God. It is only when we reach our limits that we can begin to trust in God. It's when there isn’t enough bread or enough money to pay the bills. It's when our health is teetering back and forth. It's when we're staring danger in the face. It's when we find ourselves standing alone in a sinful and godless world.
Look at 1 Kings 7:16.The Lord doesn’t disappoint. But then we come to 1 Kings 17:17-18 (NIV)."Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing.She said to Elijah, 'What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?' "
We must trust God in matters of life and death.
It’s one thing to trust God for bread and water. It’s another thing to trust God in matters of life and death. Consider the widow’s point of view. "You tell me to trust in your God but then your God punishes me for my sin and kills my son." Consider Elijah’s point of view. "God, you send me here to provide breadfor this widow but then her son dies! She's blaming God and she's blaming me.What’s a mere mortal to do?"
Elijah did the only thing he knew to do! 1 Kings 17:19-24 (NIV) tells us, " 'Give me your son,' Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, 'O Lord my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?' Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the Lord, 'O Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!'"
"The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, 'Look, your son is alive!'Then the woman said to Elijah, 'Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.' "
Have you learned to trust God in everything?
I wonder, have you learned to trust God to take care of your needs? Have you learned to trust God in sickness and health, for better or for worse, and for richer or poorer? Have you learned to trust God in life or in death?
John 3:16 (NIV) says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Do you believe that the living God is good enough and great enough to conquer the power of sin and death? Without faith it is impossible to please God. God wants to teach us to walk by faith and not by sight. He wants us towalk by faith and not by science. God wants us towalk by faith and not by fear. He wants us towalk by faith and not by anxiety.
Elijah demonstrates the kind of life that is possible for a man or woman of faith. With God no mountain is too tall, no valley too deep, no crisis too great, and no circumstance too impossible. God's grace is always sufficient. Do you believe that?
Read Matthew 17:14-21 (NIV). "When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 'Lord, have mercy on my son,' he said. 'He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.''O unbelieving and perverse generation,'Jesus replied, 'how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.' Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, 'Why couldn't we drive it out?' He replied, ' Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.' "