Evening Service, 17 May 2009

As a boy my brothers and I often played in the bush that bordered on the housing estate where we lived at Frankston. It was not uncommon that to get somewhere we had to cross a creek. We would look for tufts of grass, outcrops of stone or earth or some other dry and solid-looking area and, stepping from one to the other, we crossed to the other side.

The idea was to always move, to never get too attached to the one you were presently on, but to look ahead and move on to the next one.

There were times when you miscalculated or looked up from where you were stepping and found yourself with a wet foot, and quickly you hopped to the next dry spot shaking your wet foot.

And so by this process of using ‘stepping stones’ you would get across to the other side.

Now this is a very useful illustration to describe the Christian life. Christians are going to glory, and the events in their life can be seen as stepping stones, and that we are moving from one such event to another but always moving toward our heavenly goal. As such it is essential that we keep each event in its perspective and in its place in the over-all plan of God.

It tells us to not just focusing on the current event, but stepping on with a view to stepping off once its purpose is realised. We are not to be fearful of what is happening to us, but use it for its God-appointed purpose. At the same time we know that it is a sad reality that for some people the event takes charge of their life and reactions – loosing perspective of the whole journey. So we need to learn to focus, not so much on the event itself, but on where it is taking us. This, James tells us, is the way to look at life.

Now before we see how James works this out let us also notice where he is beginning. He wants to draw out the practical exhibition of true faith; and most of this letter focuses on how Christians should relate to others. But he begins not with a concern for others, rather in 1:2-25 he begins with a concern for the individual Christian.

It is interesting to note that in Acts 20:28 Paul does the same thing as he exhorts the Elders of Ephesus to a practical demonstration of their eldership responsibilities – “Take heed to yourself and to the flock”.

James, like Paul, understood that whilst we are to be caring and considered to others we cannot really put them first if we do not put ourselves first. This sounds like a paradox, and at worst a display of sinful self-centredness and self-love. But that is more of a problem to our western minds than the eastern mind.

The explanation is this: The first priority for the church in the world, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, is that Christians must look after themselves – for the life which issues in the caring ministries of 1:27 is the life which is itself moving forward to maturity (Motyer).

James is saying: Forget about others for a bit; what is your life with God like? How can you lead others along the road to maturity if you are not on the road? How can you help others to endure if you are not enduring?

And the place to begin is to ask, What is your view of Life? How do you handle the circumstances of life?

This portion of Scripture tells us that as Christians we should face life’s circumstances:

1.  REALISITICALLY

Everyone in this world faces some measure of trouble. That is the consequence of the Fall, the natural result of sinful human nature and of a world and society corrupted by iniquity. As Christians we also expect trouble because of our faith. Jesus said, “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Paul reminded Timothy that “indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). So like David we often cry out to the Lord, “Be not far from me, for trouble is near” (Ps. 22:11)

1.  James tells us that life is a tale of “trials”.

Now when we hear the word “trial” we immediately realise we are speaking about things that will be felt. It speaks of the severity of the circumstances; it tells us that they are not pleasant.

But even more, James is saying that these are events that challenge our moral and spiritual character. They will have an impact on us. The question is, what will it be? These events are not neutral, and they may catch us out – we must be on guard.

2.  These trials are varied

The Greek word translated “various” speaks of diversity, of limitless possibilities. James’ point is this: ‘No matter what trial you face’. There is a seemingly limitless possibility that can come before us. It doesn’t matter which kind, all are included.

3.  But they are also often unexpected

“Fall into” is the same word used in the parable of the Good Samaritan. There we read that the man who went from Jerusalem to Jericho “fell in with” (same word) a band of robbers, the point there being that he was taken by surprise! It was certainly not something he planned to happen. Trials are not to be looked for; on the contrary all lawful means from experience or thought should be used to either avoid or mitigate them. Yet even when we do all of that, trials will come upon us, and that unexpectantly. They are unpredictable in advance.

And so we are to see our condition in this world as one where we are constantly faced by unpredictable and diverse trials.

What we see in others we may not be called on to face. What we have experienced before may not be imitated in what is yet to come. We cannot predict the time, tenacity or tenure of the event; so throughout our life we must be on guard.

We must know our condition – it is a false gospel that conveys the impression that Christianity smoothes out the rough patches of life. Rather, as we shall see, it utilises and as a result transforms them for progress in life.

2. HOPEFULLY 

1.  There is something we are to know – “knowing” (v.3)

We are to understand that these unexpected pressures and trials are instruments of God’s grace – they have a productive purpose; they work to an end result; they are purposeful in God’s grace for good. For example we are told of King Hezekiah that “God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart” (2 Chron. 32:31).

And this is something James assumes all Christians do know. You don’t come to God without some knowledge of God and His ways; faith is by the path of thinking about God as He is revealed in the Bible. It is coming to grips with the truth that God is operating in this world to fulfil His holy purpose of fully redeeming a people to Himself.

This all Christians know. But the problem is that we don’t always put this knowledge of God’s grace and providence into practice. This James calls us to do, to face the trial by exercising your understanding concerning God.

We may not know the purpose of God underlying each trial we face, but, James is saying, we do know that God is at work in, with and through them, and that as a result we know that there is a goal of maturity before us – “perfect and complete” (v.4), and the road to it is through the terrain of trials.

2.  We should also know that the trials cause the believer:

a. to better know himself. They expose our weaknesses and prejudices even against God’s grace and Word, including our continuing belief in our own inner abilities and strengths, our reluctance to obey, our delight in sin. How trials often serve to expose the depth of sin in our hearts and lives. How they humble us in the light of who we are. In this way trials become like a roadblock against continuing sinfulness in our lives, and they wean us from the ways of the world and from the surging of sinful lusts, having a sweet sanctifying influence upon the godly. But they also help us to come to grips with the very nature of faith. And trials do shake faith even in genuine believers, and seem to mock our belief in God as Father who cares for us. The true believer eventually throws himself back onto God, trusting Him to somehow make something out of the confused and painful events. In this way we learn to trust Him, more and more. And as we pass from trial to trial we find our faith grows.

b. to develop patient endurance. The ‘patience’ here is not the idea of passive submission to circumstances, just waiting them through; but an active, persistent steadfastness in the circumstances a staying power, loyal firmness.

Let us be careful to see these unpredictable events as stepping stones for God’s great future for us – that though some may be more difficult to pass over than others – and though no two are ever the same – yet by means of traversing them in turn we are brought towards God’s goal for our life – maturity in Christ.

3. JOYFULLY

1.  A Revolutionary Approach – “count it all joy”

The word “count” here has what is called the aorist tense in Greek. In effect this has the meaning in this context of being precise and definite or decisive about something. It is to come to a settled, unshaken conviction.

This requires that we revolutionise our thinking, for so often that is not how we respond. We move from shock to despair and maybe to disagreement with God and even to grumbling against God.

Now the only way to do that is not by forcing a smile onto your face, or by evading the painful reality with denial or a cavalier attitude to life. It is by kicking-in the biblical teaching. It ought to be a deliberate, calculated, knowing response in the light of the over-all understanding of the place these events have in God’s gracious dealings with us.

This reminds me of the patient: Doctor does the treatment have to be so nasty and severe? The Doctor responded: Don’t you want to get better?

Likewise, don’t you want to be like Jesus, come to enjoy full salvation? Then there is no other way. So “count it all joy”, this is what is going to happen to us as a result.

2.  This is true of all trials – “it” covers each and every trial. This is to be applied not just to some but to all of them. we may find it easier in the face of some trials, especially if they are relatively minor, or we have gone through the same sort of trial before and so have the benefit of experience. But the principle of joy flowing from hope is to be evident in all trials, including those ones which rock our world with such horrendous force. And yes, even then we are to cultivate and respond with the attitude of “Hey, God’s at work here! He’s doing something special in me, and something that will show His glory both to me and through me!’ Isn’t that something to get excited about, something that ought to stimulate joy? The moment we do that, we lift our eyes from the problem at the cutting edge of the trial, and raise it to the Lord whose hand is on the trial, whose purposes of good lay at the very heart of the trial

3.  As such, then, this is a response of faith – to be glad while sad. We can be glad when we with faith see the hand of God upon us in it and the end God is bringing us to through it. It is not an unrealistic joy; it arises from knowing that God is in control, and that He knows how much we can bear with His help, and keeps watch over us as He brings us through it.

Faith that is reliable only when things are going well is not saving faith and is worth nothing, and you will be in no position to help others in their faith journey.

John MacArthur points out that ‘To test the genuineness of a diamond, jewellers often place it in clear water, which causes a real diamond to sparkle with special brilliance. An imitation stone, on the other hand, will have almost no sparkle at all. When the two are placed side by side, even an untrained eye can easily tell the difference.’

He then observes by way of application: ‘In a similar way, even the world can often notice the marked differences between genuine Christians and those who merely profess faith in Christ. As with jewels, there is a noticeable difference in radiance, especially when people are undergoing difficult times. Many people have great confidence in their faith until it is severely tested by hardships and disappointments. How a person handles trouble will reveal whether his faith is living or dead, genuine or imitation, saving or nonsaving.’

So as Christians we must face trials:

Realistically – they are trials, often taking us by surprise;

Hopefully – seeing God’s great future being brought through it; and

Joyfully – you must transcend it by faith.

They are stepping stones to glory.

Morning Service, 17 May 2009

Elijah’s means “the Lord is God.” Elijah’s ministry corresponded exactly to his name, for he was sent by God to confront the worship of Baal by God’s people, and to declare to Israel that the Lord was God and there was no other.

The first act of the battle scene, as it were, was Elijah the prophet of God standing as God’s ambassador in the very throne room of King Ahab making known God’s judgement to this ungodly King who not only built a temple for Baal in his capital but also actively pursued an anti-God policy which was aimed at the full and final eradication of anything to do with the God of Israel from his kingdom.

            That judgement was the application of the curse

Drought conditions had begun. The fact that it didn’t yet look serious didn’t alter the fact. Elijah, in tune with the revealed will of God had prayed that God would fulfil His curse upon His rebellious people – not so they might suffer, but that through their suffering they might return to God in repentance, and God be glorified in His mercy and grace by a people renewed in obedience to and worship of God.

Despite the outward appearances of peace and prosperity, Elijah declared this reality to the godless king Ahab, stressing that it would continue until Elijah once more came to the king.

It is against this background that now we consider v.2-6, in which we see Elijah in response to God’s instruction leaving the king’s presence and going to the Brook Cherith. This brook was not far from where he lived. In other words he was to return home, but not to the comforts of home for he is told to “hide” . There is no doubt a measure of foresight behind this for as the reality of the drought increasingly set in and began to cost king and nation it would be matched by an increasing hatred of Elijah. Here in the isolated region he would be safe from the searching and potentially murderous wrath of the king. So we see Elijah secreting himself away in territory familiar to him, but clearly one in which he would be hard to find.

How are we to interpret this hiding of Elijah by the brook Cherith? What was God doing? In answering this let us note that Elijah’s removal was:

1. An Act of Judgement

The first thing we notice here is that this was not Elijah’s idea, it was the Lord’s doing. Elijah was not running away, he was being removed. In v.2 we read “Then the word of the Lord came to him…” He was being removed by God.

No doubt in time it would work to his safety as we just noted, but there is no hint that Ahab was immediately seeking to deal with Elijah. No doubt he thought it was all a joke. But it was no joke.

It’s important here to note this against the background of v.1 where we read of the close identification between the word of the prophet and God – “my word” said Elijah – though it was God’s Word. Hence, in having Elijah’s presence and hearing Elijah’s word, they were being given the ministry of God, hearing the Word of God.  By implication then, the removal of Elijah form the scene was not merely a symbolic but indeed a literal removal of the voice of God from the people. They had spurned it, now they will be deprived of it. In other words the drought was not merely going to be of water, but there would be a drought of the Word…

The nation had already had the ‘tap of refreshing moisture’ turned off, and now having been given a prophet he is immediately removed. Though they will look they will not be able to find him. God’s word through His prophet is removed.

But further, as a result it meant that the opportunity to apply some pressure on Elijah to pray for a shorting of the judgement was removed. God was determined that it will last for the full distance He had decreed. God was determined there would be none to stand in the gap.

Though great and terrifying are temporal judgements upon a people, none is so great as the removal of His Word and instruction and prayer based on that Word.  And woe betide then any church or nation when God removes His Word and its servants from it. How we should make use of the opportunities God gives us lest they be taken from us. Let us never presume that we will always have the opportunities we now have. Even in the letters to the 7 churches of Revelation this warning is given, a warning we do well to take seriously as a church (cf 2:5)!

2. An act of dependance

Elijah was destined for even greater heights of service, but he was not ready for that yet. He would go to Mt Carmel and achieve great things for God, but first he needed an education so God sends him to Cherith and to Zarapeth. This removal was for the further preparation and equipping of his servant for what lay ahead of him.

Elijah had just had a very heady experience. He would have been high on adrenalin and on grace. He had been to the court of this king as the Ambassador of the King of kings, he had done something that was not only courageous, it was spiritually significant. God had spoken to this nation. Our natural inclination would be to begin to think of the next task. How do we build on it. But God says ‘Hide!’ Our natural response to this direction would have been to say ‘Hide – when there is so much to be done? We need to capitalise on this great start! We’ve challenged the king, let’s challenge the prophets of Baal next!..”  We like to be in the middle of things. Go show yourself is easy – to hide yourself is hard!

The fact is that God lead’s His servants one step at a time. Remember Saul as he talked with the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus? He said, “Lord what will you have me to do?’ (Acts 9:6). There was a bold and even aggressive determination about him as he desired to serve the Lord. That which had driven him to hunt Christians, now drove him to serve Christ. But it was a self-originated zeal. There was too much of Saul about it – his desire, his enthusiasm, his determination as to what comes next and how it will be done. As such he was not yet right for the Lord’s service. How strange the reply must’ve been to him: “Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told you what you must do.’  Just one step at a time Saul – that’s how I operate. Don’t run ahead of Me, rather follow behind looking primarily to Me not to the work.

Have we not know this in our own Christian service? One step at a time.

By this method God makes us dependent upon Him rather than upon ourselves. If we knew the end from the beginning we might try to devise a better way of arriving at that end, we certainly would be tempted to run ahead of God. By this method we find ourselves looking to Him for more, learning by easy stages the habit of obedience and trust.

It also teaches us that life is not meaningless, there is always more to do. As we accomplish one thing from the Lord we neither give ourselves to idleness as if there is nothing more to do, nor do we give ourselves over to despair wondering how we will do what comes next for as we step out in faith we know we will find that God has prepared a stepping stone, and another… each appearing as we come to it.

3. An act of perspective

It is surely no coincidence that God lead him to a quiet place where the only continual sound would be the rippling of this brook. Here he was to be alone for at least a year without human company.  More importantly, here he would be alone with God. We all need to learn to spend time alone with God. It doesn’t come easy. There are so many distractions that demolish our best plans. Sometimes God has to force us into it.

We need to see the value of it, which lies in it helps keep things in perspective. There would be none here for Elijah to be tempted to parade himself before. He can only talk about what had happened with God – now that will keep the fleshly pride down!

God saw the need for Elijah to keep things in perspective, and there is nothing like quiet times where we are alone with the Lord to help us find that. How easy it is to make the service which God trusts us with a pedestal on which to display ourselves. But God will not share His glory, so Elijah is told to go to a lonely place. Jesus did the same with His disciples at the end of a tour of ministry, so full were they of the joy of success of their ministry, what they had been involved in: “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mk 6:31).

We ought not be surprised if our Father says, ‘You have had enough of this hurry, publicity and excitement. Go hide yourself by the Cherith of sick bed, of bereavement…’ We can be too strong, too full of ourselves for God to use, and so by the Cheriths God buries our self-centeredness.

The other side of this is that if we would wield great power for God we must win it in some hidden Cherith. For it was from here that Elijah began the journey to Mt Carmel. ‘The acquisition of spiritual power is impossible unless we hide ourselves from men and from ourselves in some gorge where we may absorb the power of the eternal God’ (Martin)

4. An act of faith

The place chosen was a great place for hiding but a challenge to survive there. Yet God proved Himself adequate. There was a brook for water, and at His command even the ravens helped provide for Elijah’s needs.

In this God was teaching Elijah to trust Him contrary to sight. Think of the obstacles to faith: Ravens! Birds of prey more likely to take meat from him (including of his bones) than to feed him. They live on carrion yet they will bring him wholesome food. They will neglect their young yet when God pleases they will feed His prophet. A Brook! This was a time of severe drought. Even a river would have been regarded as insufficient. How could it last? Yet it did. There! Only in that most unlikely place and nowhere else, not where we would have chosen as a likely haven!

By it Elijah was to learn to fix his attention on God not God’s instruments. If we are where God wants us to be then we can be assured that God will work and direct miracles rather than see us perish for lack!

At first we yield a timid obedience to the command of God which seems to involve a multitude of difficulties. But when we find that God is better than His Word our faith grows and we advance to further feats of faith and service. This is how God trains His young eaglets to fly. At last nothing is impossible. This is the key to Elijah’s experience and life.

As we leave this passage are we not lifted up in our vision to see the glory of the God we are called to trust? See His absolute sovereignty and power that even birds contrary to natural instincts do His bidding on behalf of His people. See His unsearchable wisdom in that if humans delivered food they may have divulged the hiding place, if dogs, morning and night, someone might have seen this curiosity and followed. But birds carrying food would’ve aroused no interest. See His unmatchable grace in that though He withdraws His Word from a people for a season yet He protects that Word and its servants for future ministry.

No matter the circumstances we will always find God adequate. Take heart.  Those dark shadows on the horizon may well be God’s ravens. Be assured that God will never forsake you nor fail you. That Elijah learned his lesson well is seen in what he said to the widow in v.13,14.

Elijah not only preached God’s Word, he practised it – he went without hesitation. This is the crying need of our times for there is a great deal of talking but little walking according to Divine precepts and directions.

Isn’t it true that the unexpected gives life a certain freshness.

It can be little things or big things. Maybe it’s a bunch of flowers when it’s not your birthday or Valentine’s Day. Maybe it’s a surprise birthday party, or a visit from someone you haven’t seen for ages. Maybe it’s the boss calling you into his office and giving you a bonus – now, you’re thinking, that would be a surprise! Sometimes they are not immediately pleasant.

God is full of surprises – even with God’s prophetic information who would have thought that the eternal Son of God would be born in humble circumstances of a Bethlehem stable, or die the death of the cursed on Calvary’s cross? Even the disciples were thinking of Christ eventually breaking free from His relative anonymity and setting up a kingdom that not only rivalled the kingdoms of the world like that of Rome but far greatly surpassed them. They were surprised at His news that He would save people and secure His spiritual kingdom through His death for them.

The record of Elijah is full of surprises and the unexpected. There are his sudden appearances, and equally sudden disappearances – and we meet one of them in this morning’s pas-sage from God’s Word.

Just when things were starting up for the renewal of the worship of God, as God’s prophet speaks into the wickedness of the times, he is told to leave. Not just told to leave what he

had started, but to leave it all behind. He was to disappear, go to a remote place and live in complete isolation from all human contact.

What is God up to? What relevance does it have to our lives? That’s what we will be looking at as we return to the life and ministry of Elijah. Here we will see and be challenged by the fact that his exit to the Brook Cherith is an act of judgement, an act of dependence, an act of preparation, and an act of faith.

Evening Service, 10th May 2009

‘Give me a relevant message!’ This is the cry every generation of Christians utter if they are in even the smallest way engaging with non-Christians, whether in overt evangelism or in some ministry of compassion. But it is also a cry they are sensitive to personally as they seek to come to grips with call to live the Christian life in their own setting.

As we look at the Bible in search of the ‘relevant message’ we find two things:

            Problems may change their shape and size, but basically 21^st century humanity is not that far removed from the problems of the 1^st century Christians were called upon to face as the calendar would indicate. The Bible responds to the personal and social concern, to the spiritual, emotional and moral needs of God’s people today even though the first audience of readers lived some 20 centuries earlier.

            This can be particularly said of the letter of James. It has a message for the ‘Christian’ whose faith is not issuing in love, whose professed theology is not finding real expression in life, who have become self-centred and forgetful of the needs of others, who feel their faith strained by circumstances beyond their control, and even those who desire the things of this life and world more than they desire the favour of God.

There is a resonance here particularly for Australian Christians in that it neither butters up the reader nor builds up the writer; it simply gets to the point with at times stark precision and with a clear call to identifiable duty. It is a ‘manly’ letter, robust, direct, realistic.

            William Vander Beek said, ‘James did not write for sissies; he wrote for real men and women whose eyes would often  roll heavenward as they wondered why they had to endure suffering and struggle that was coming their way. He doesn’t give them sympathy, but tells them to make the most of it and use their hardships to develop a strong and muscular faith.’

In this letter James challenge his readers to examine their faith to see if it was genuine saving faith.

Though Luther called James it ‘a right strawy epistle in comparison with them’ because it didn’t expound the great doctrines of the Christian faith that he so passionately defended, we nonetheless rejoice in it. It has been called the Wisdom literature of the NT, even the Amos of the NT because of its concern over  social injustice. It also serves as a practical commentary on the Sermon on the Mount with many points of parallel indicating a close knowledge of it.

It is a letter that calls us to put faith into action, and to that end is crammed with bits of practical understanding and direction delivered by one who knows the temptations to which all Christians are subject.  John Blanchard notes the story of a student once asked to name his favourite Bible translation. ‘My mother’s’, he replied. ‘Is it a translation into English?’ his friend went on. ‘No,’ he replied, ‘It is a translation into action!’

            That is the letter to James. James is not a doctrinal treatise but an intensely practical manual for Christian living. Yet having said that James’ teaching has a clear doctrinal undergirding, it is doctrine brought to life. James writes as one who translates the Bible into action, and calls us to also translate the Bible into action.

Who was James? The traditional view is that it is ‘James the brother of the Lord’ who though initially with other members of Jesus’ family rejected him as Messiah later came to believe in Him and who became the recognised leader of the church in Jerusalem (Acts 12:17; Gal. 2:9). This position is certainly supported by the simple salutation he makes when compared to that of the James in Acts 15:23. One thing is clear, that the writer of James was so well known and respected that he didn’t need to further identify himself and is consistent with the note of humility characteristic of this letter. The lack of reference to the letter of the Council (Acts 15) or even Gentiles suggests it predates this letter, the most likely date from A.D. 44-49, making it the first of the NT books to be written.

Yet one thing is clear: James knows that the Christian life in this world is tough – but he also knows it is possible. The key is to see who you are and to be that. In v.1 he gives us the basic of all Christian testimonies (again short and to the point), yet also basic to all Christian testimonies – for it identifies the essential elements of true faith as focused upon Jesus and in the light of Jesus. James tells us that we are a people with:

1.  A Unique Master

He identifies the Uniqueness of Jesus in that He is

1. Lord. He is not merely a man. He who was born a despised Jew in a stable, raised as a carpenter’s son, field preacher, despised and rejected by the religious leaders – is nonetheless the Lord of all men – the Christian recognises Him as King. There is no ‘if’ in James – Jesus is Lord.

2. He is Divine. The Greek here is equally capable of being translation – “servant of Jesus Christ who is God and Lord”. Though translators shy away from this translation they do so without arguing a case. All agree James was a master of the Greek language. Even therefore if he intended the usual translation he would have been aware of this alternative, yet he doesn’t seek to limit its possibility. Indeed, it is implied by the “and” in “God and Lord”. By this Jesus is put on a level with God. Jesus also said “I and the Father are one” “He who has seen the Son has seen the Father” It is not enough to accept that Jesus is a great Teacher or prophet. Though He is man the believer sees He is God.

3. He is co-existent with God in salvation.  The conjunction “and” also tell us that no relationship with God is possible apart from Jesus, and to be in a relationship with Jesus is to be in a relationship with God. The “and” is essential. The Christian fundamentally believes that Jesus is the one and only way to God, that one cannot come to or remain with God apart from Jesus.

Jesus in John 14:1 says, “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” It is not enough to believe in God; it must be God and Jesus. This we must insist on in this generation – for many testify they believe in God – but without a belief in Jesus there is no real belief in God.

This heart knowledge only comes by the Holy Spirit – ONLY by Him can we really and sincerely confess this (“… no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3)); it is that which the Father reveals (“…flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matt 16:17) ). Without it you are not a Christian.

To belong to Christ, then, is to acknowledge Him as the divine Lord through whom alone we come to God the Father – it is to worship Him and to rest in His sovereign activity in this world as He fulfils the eternal plan of the Godhead.

2. A Unique Position  – “…to the twelve tribes in the dispersion”

Who is meant? Alec Motyer says, ‘If James was to post this letter today it would be marked “Return to sender” on the ground of being insufficiently addressed.’

But while this may be too difficult even for Aussie Post, it is not as obscure as we may think. The 12 tribes reminds us of the OT people of God, a designation familiar in that day. As was ‘The Dispersion’, referring to the scattering with the Exile. Some had returned to the Land, others remained scattered in the nations. It seems then that it is a letter to the Jews.

However, James says the “12 tribes are IN the dispersion” indicating all are scattered, all are far from the homeland. This was not geographically true of the Jewish people or even Jewish Christians as he wrote.

Further, it is clear that James is writing to Christians. A favourite term he uses is “brother” (1:2), but it is clear that he means more than genetic brother; it is a brother in Christ for in 2:l they are described as united with him “in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Also he declares their new birth in 1:18; and possibly recalls the formula at their baptism in 2:7

Clearly He is using the motif drawn from the OT – indeed one also used by Jesus who called 12 Apostles and looked forward to the day of His glory when they would sit on the 12 thrones ruling the 12 tribes of Israel. Motyer: ‘In doing this He was not creating a ‘new’ Israel (either alongside or replacing an ‘old’ Israel); He was leading the Israel of the Old Covenant on into its full, intended reality as the Israel of the New Covenant, the apostolic people of the Lord Jesus Christ, those whom Paul calls “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:16)’. (also 1 Pet 1:1,2)

James, like Jesus, Paul and Peter, takes the OT terms and applies them to the NT people of God, but without adjusting the meaning or compromising the truth, for they are God’s Israel (Motyer).

What then is meant?            James brings these two phrases together to describe the church, but in such a way as to emphasise that they are in this world but distinct from this world, that their existence in this world is one of trials and tribulations. Like Israel of old they are pilgrims struggling with the tension of living in an ungodly and anti-God world, striving for holiness whilst all around them are the temptations of the world.

These people at that time were living, as it were, at the ‘coal-face’, but it is equally true of all believers. We are aliens in this world. It may be more or less felt, but the reality is equally the same.  ‘We must see ourselves as a people ‘dispersed throughout a menacing and testing world’.’ (Motyer) We don’t belong there anymore – we belong to God, we belong with each other.

Our fulfilment can never come from what this world offers. It is only possible through Christ and in our relationship with God’s people. The call and challenge is: Stand out. Don’t compromise with the world. Be separate. But equally, don’t be isolated from God’s people, avoid such a foolish individualism. You are part of a people, so make that evident, and enjoy the as well as contribute to the blessings of that reality.

But more, we must see-ourselves as God’s special, elect people in this situation, in the hard and pressing times. We are the objects of His special love and purpose. You may feel yourself to be driven away, lost in a hostile world; yet you are not forgotten. God has written this letter and sent it to ‘scattered believers’, to you. See then His tender love. He doesn’t forget His own. You are still a part of the God’s “12 tribes” even in the dispersion. When you have lost everything else you have not lost this unique position. You have not lost God, you have not lost your place in His people or in His blessings.

3. A Unique Relationship – “James, a servant of…”

It is a particular relationship.  Literally “doulos” is a bond-slave, belonging to another, under his direct and total authority. Living only to Him and for Him. Calling himself a servant was not merely a tactical move so that they would listen to him, it was a statement of reality. It is the basic reality true of all Christians, and which all Christians must keep in mind. Right from the outset he would have them recall that he – and they and us with him – are servants of the Lord.

It is an active relationship.  It is far from ornamental, it’s practical. It introduces us to his call to be that servant of Jesus which we are. This letter is an inspired response to the question being asked by the servant eagerly waiting before his master with the question, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’

It is a humble relationship. To be identified as a bond-slave is a humbling truth. Even the highest in the church are still servants. Nor is this a mark of dishonour. David preferred to be a gate-keeper (Psa 4:10) than have all the honours of the world. Then there is Paul who wonderfully described his servant hood as the “helper of your joy” (2 Cor 1:24).

We are no longer masters of our own thoughts, actions let alone destinies. This we have willingly discharged as we bow before Jesus as Lord, that unique Lord. Our position with His people, the church, is not one of status but service.

We may live in a pagan environment, and be under strong pressure to live as pagans once again – but we are bond-servants, and we have no right to live as we like, or to live like the world. Our focus should not be on our needs, wants, rights or aspirations – but on God’s glory and work. And in this we are to be earnest. This letter clearly has the stamp of wholeheartedness about it. James goes on to tells us by this letter that the only religion of value in God’s sight is that which influences the whole life and activity for God. It is about the Behaviour of Belief – or the Belief that Behaves.

Though we have high views of Christ, though we have concerned views for the church, yet we have low views of ourselves. In an ego-centric age “servant”-hood stand out in a stark way. It says it’s not about me but Christ, and not for my benefit but for that of His people, the church. Not about what I get but how I serve and what I give. It tells us that everything that is said about the individual Christian must be said through this grid: for Christ and His church.  Anything less is a counterfeit.

3.  obedience.  This is how Paul expounds it in Eph 6:1 “children obey your parents” .  This means that we are to listen to what they say, listening is honouring, don’t right off your parents because they are ‘old’, thinking ‘what would they know!’  It is amazing what they have learnt from their parents and experience.  You don’t have to accept, believe or follow everything they say, but to listen with respect is a significant way of honouring our parents.  To honour means to appreciate the investment of your parents in your life by training and instruction.  And where the exercise of authority is legitimate we must listen in the sense of doing what they say.  Parents, this has implications for discipline: it should be exercised in a spirit of encouraging, comforting and exhorting (1 Thess 2:11-12); it should be both moderate and reasonable; it should be child focussed not self-relieving (of anger or frustration); it is about the child not you; it should be child-blessing not child-abusing.  But I have said obedience to the legitimate or lawful authority.  It certainly doesn’t mean buckling to various schemes to weaken a child’s commitment to Christ – the believer has to honour the Lord first and foremost, and honouring parents must not challenge this (Lk 9:60; 14:26).  Likewise, if parents of adult children are possessive, over-bearing or domineering (it sometimes happens even with Christian parents), then as Peter Master’s rightly points out, these adult children are not obliged to invest undue time and energy pandering to them, fearing that to do otherwise would be a breach of Gods’ commandment.

4.  loving and caring for them.  Here we see that honouring continues even after we have left the nest.  Indeed if you look at 2 Cor 12:14 and 1 Tim 5:4 we see that there is a shift that takes place in caring from the parents to the child to the child for the parents as the child grows up and the parents grow older and more frail. Our love takes on the special form of care, yet we don’t care for them just because we want to set a good example to our kids so that they will in due time treat us right, but because they are our parents, because they are people made in the image of God, and people that God has given us an extremely close connection to (whether we have always enjoyed that or not).  Mother’s day is an opportunity to help children show that care, a care which they should see modelled in adult children as well.

3.  Our Motivation

This, as Paul points out, is the only commandment that comes with a promise.  That certainly draws attention to this commandment.  But it also seems to be a gracious accommodation of God to the mind of children who respond to the promise of a reward.  Certainly it can be argued that this general promise is implied in all the other commandments and of all of them as a whole, but God seems to be accommodating to a child’s need for encouragement, highlighting benefit and blessing.

Looking at that motivation or inducement it is important to notice that it refers not so much to long life, but to the stability and longevity of Israel’s occupation of the Promised Land, including its well being as a nation.  Paul in Ephesians 6:3 extends it to “the earth” , clearly because the new covenant now has an international dimension, but the issue of stability and longevity to the home, church and society are involved.  The personal application is clear: by relating to your parents in this way we will result in a well ordered family life, you will have a more stable, secure, happy and productive family environment – and the more families there are like this the more our society will be the same. 

We are all children and if we desire family and spiritual blessing and usefulness throughout our lifetime we had better be sure that we are obeying and pleasing God at this point.

The modern Mother’s Day holiday was created as a day for each family to honour its mother by Anna Jarvis who in 1912 trademarked the phrases “second Sunday in May” and “Mother’s Day”. She also lost a lawsuit aimed to stop its over-commercialisation. Anna had hoped for a day of reflection and quiet prayer by families, thanking God for all that mothers had done.

But the concept of honouring mothers (and by implication fathers) of course goes way back further, being stressed in the creation account by Adam who gives the reason for calling his wife “Eve” in Gen 3:20, “”because she was the mother of all living”. In that name he honoured her for her role and work as “mother”.

Effectively, that was the very first Mother’s Day – given in anticipation of the birth of children which was promised in God’s Word “be fruitful and multiply…” (Gen 1:28) – and all this in the context of “It was very good” (Gen 1:31).

It is no surprise then that this is finds expression in the covenant of Mt Sinai in describing what it means to be God’s redeemed people in new life within the Promised Land. It is given in the fifth commandment (Exod 20:12).

In the NT this of course is reinforced as the underlying dynamic of Christian family life in Eph 6:1-3.

Of course the actual day is not the issue or where we put the emphasis – grace-living means it is to be true of everyday life, and that in so being and doing we honour God as our Father in heaven.

This morning we take the time to look at the fifth commandment. Let’s ask God’s blessing upon His Word to shape and strengthen this principle of grace-living in our families – for parents to teach and model it, and for children to learn and delight in it.

Evening Service, 3rd May 2009

To stand at a grave side after a funeral, to walk around a cemetery reading the tombstones is one of the most sobering events of life.  It is a very confronting scene.  In many ways it is a lonely scene.

In this saying we come to the climatic moment of the crucifixion, for it is with this word that Jesus dies.  It is a sobering word.  Here as it were, we stand at the edge of a newly filled grave.  Here we walk around the tombstones of those who have gone before us.  Here we are not only confronted with Jesus’ death but our own.  May it be that here that we can confront our own by Christ’s death.

As we look at this last saying, by introduction let us briefly notice 3 things

Firstly, this is a prayer.  Indeed the first, fourth (or the middle) and last sayings from the cross are prayers.  Prayer was a vital part of Jesus’ life on this earth, and here we are reminded that it was so even at His death.  What better way to die and indeed to live but that of prayer? 

Secondly, this is a quotation of Scripture, from Ps 31:5a.  Here we see that Christ died as He lived in an atmosphere of the Word of God.  Christ continually quoted the Bible during His public ministry.  ‘The great majority of His expressions may be traced to the Old Testament’ (Spurgeon).  Clearly Jesus was very familiar with it.  If the Incarnate Word lived on the Inspired word, to again quote Spurgeon, how much more so should we.  As Paul tells us “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col 3:16).  But not only do we see here that Jesus lived in an atmosphere of the Word of God, but that it was from an awareness of that Word that He engaged in prayer to God.  Here is the proper preparation for death as for life.  Listening to God and speaking to God – open channels of communication.  How we should give ourselves to that and make use of it.

Thirdly, Jesus is speaking of His human spirit, and its existence beyond death.  In this Jesus was declaring that He was fully human with body and soul (or spirit).  These were not meant to be separated from each other, but when it occurs we have physical death.  The spirit then goes to God who gave it, for one destination or another – heaven or hell – depending on a person’s relationship with God during their life, on whether the person was saved or not before death.  In His human nature Jesus faced death, the separation of the body and spirit.  His body would be laid in the tomb or grave, and His human spirit would go to God – but as He speaks of this He does so with a calm and collected assurance, committing Himself to His Father.

Now this is a very precious and very full saying, as were all the others, there is a wealth of truth and blessing in this last saying.  Let me try to bring out some of that wealth and blessing by noting that it is:

1.  A word of Love

His last word to men from the cross is “It is finished”.  His last word to God from the cross is “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.”

How precious is that word “Father” which Jesus cries here.  The first recorded word of Jesus in this life is also His last – “Father”(Lk 2:49).  This is all the more wonderful in the light of all that has just occurred on the cross, especially that which is brought to light by the words “My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?”  Suffering God’s wrath for our sins He could not cry “Father”, He felt “forsaken” by His Father, and could only hang on to Him with the double grip of faith as He cried “My God, My God”

But now He again can take up that name, indicating that once again He was experiencing the reality and joy of His relationship with God His Father.  The cry “It is finished!” signalled the end of the darkness that covered the Father’s face from His soul, even as the physical darkness covered the earth.  Now that God’s wrath was completely poured out and finished He was able to return to this word that declares the relationship of love and the awareness and enjoyment of it.

An observer might think that Jesus could never again know the love of His Father, but here He declares it is otherwise. In dying His expiring heart was lifted up and comforted with the thought that God was His Father.  Once again He was enjoying and refreshed by the love of His Father who was well pleased in Him for the work He had finished upon the cross.

2.  A word of Hope

This was His last word to the Father from the cross, but it was also His first word in going home to His Father.  It was His greeting His Father.

Jesus was aware once again of His Father’s nearness, but also of His interest (that His Father would receive His human spirit), and blessing (that His Father would receive His human spirit in love not justice, that He was falling into the hands of a loving Father, not into the hands of an “consuming fire” as the ungodly will according to Heb. 12:29).  Had he not already asserted this?  In comforting the dying repentant thief He declared His own hope, “Today you shall be with Me in paradise”.

Appearances are deceptive.  It is as if Jesus is saying, ‘It may look as if in death I am just like a dog and that there is nothing more to Him – but this is not so, My human spirit goes to be with the Father.  It may look as if I die as a criminal who will immediately upon death appear before God’s judgement bar without hope and comfort, but that its not so – I die accomplishing the satisfaction of God’s law and the appeasement of God’s wrath, so I go confidently in the Father’s hands’.

Jesus knew where He was going in death – home!  To be with His Father!

3.  A word of Determination

Even at this late stage Jesus could have got down from the cross.  But instead He actively committed Himself to the whole task, declaring “I commend my spirit into Your hands”.  In Matthew 27:50 it is noted that then Jesus “yielded up His spirit”, or literally ‘He dismissed His spirit” – the picture of kingly authority dismissing a servant.  By this Jesus declares that He was in control till the last.  Earlier Jesus had said “I lay down My life that I may take it up again.  No one takes my life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself…”  (John 10:17,18).  That is what we see right to the end.  It was not that men took His life, He gave it for us.  He was obedient to the last, but not as one who had to but as one who wanted to.

Jesus’ death was a voluntary death.  It is not that His will was swamped by the onslaught both of man and then of God, but it remained active and determined.  It was not forced upon Him, but He did it as an act of service to God for us.  Here He was glorifying His Father even at the end.

Why is this important?  Without it His obedience would not have been true.  God declares that we are to love Him “with all heart… soul…  strength” (Deut. 6:5).  It is not enough to merely do the right thing, we must be wholly and willingly given over to it.  It must be done with a mind that being informed by the Word of God understands that this pleases God and consents to it, with a heart that delights in and loves what pleases God, and a will that is determined to please God.  This is where the thinking of many as to what constitutes ‘good’ is wrong.  If there is no total involvement of the inner person it is not good in God’s sight for it is not done for Him.  Anything less is mechanical, robotic.  But that could never be said of Jesus – His obedience was voluntary because it was God-centred and God-honouring from beginning even to the end.

What a challenge and corrective this is to our ‘obedience’!  But even more without this level of obedience there could not have been a redemption; there would have been an end to God’s wrath but we would have been left in the position of Adam before the Fall except with a darkened mind, a polluted heart and a will in bondage.  The penalty paid, but without hope of being accepted before God.  No, we needed a perfect righteousness to be given to us – which Jesus’ obedience unto death achieved for us.

4.  A word of Confidence

The word “commend” means to entrust and commit.  Jesus puts Himself into His Father’s hands.  What better place could there be?  What safer place could he find?  None!

Jesus had emphasised this reality in John 10:29 – “no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand”.  The Father’s hand is the place of perfect and eternal security. 

Just as nothing could harm Noah when God’s hand had secured the door of the ark, so nothing can touch the spirit of believers which is grasped by the hand of Omnipotence.  Weak as we are ourselves we are “kept by the power of God” (1 Pet 1:5).

Here He applies it to Himself also.  Throughout His life He was conscious of being in His Father’s hands, and He sees it will be no different in death.  By this Jesus was expressing His hope in His resurrection, of the re-union of His body and soul, and that till that moment on the third day in which the spirit would be reunited with a resurrected body His spirit would be with the Father, enjoying the Father’s love, safe in the Father’s custody.

5.  A word of Comfort

On His last word to us we hang our hope; on His last word to His Father we hang our comfort.  Christ had no fear in coming into the very presence of God.  In the same way through Christ we who trust in His death on our behalf, have no need to fear approaching God – in life and in death.  He could greet Him with the cry “Father!” so now can we.  We can go confident of the Father’s love for us in Christ.  Let us not doubt it.

There was a time when we dreaded the thought of coming near to God for we were guilty and God was angry with us, but now we praise God for His anger is turned away and He comforts us because of Christ.  The very throne which was a place of dread has now become the place of shelter.

This is true in life for in Hebrews 4:16 we read “Let us come boldly to the throne of grace…” ; in 1 Peter 5:7, “cast all you care on Him for He cares for you”; and in Phi 4:19 “He will supply all my need”.  No harm shall come upon us but that which He will make it work for good.  The Psalmists constantly call God our shelter, fortress, rock or tower.  We must commit ourselves into His hands wherever we may be – that is the safest place.

This is true in death as well.  Here is an example to us as to how to die, because ‘in Christ’ this is the fruit of our death too.  Like Paul writing near the end of his life in 2 Tim.1:2 we can entrust to Him “until that day” of the resurrection what we have committed into His hands: our salvation, including our soul in paradise and our body in the grave.  Both are under His care.  We need not fear the grave again!  Death is defeated and the grave is but a storage locker for the body.  This was the mind of Stephen: “Lord receive my Spirit”.  That is the godly application of Christ’s words for one’s own death. 

Happy indeed are those who have a last day like that, who believe this, who think this even if they can’t say it. 

But not so the unbeliever – that will be terrible day for them!  May God lead such to seek Him and to find Christ through whom alone there is eternal life.

Morning Service, 3rd May 2009

The times of Elijah were not just times of spiritual decline bordering on indifference; they were times of open, defiant and aggressive apostasy. We noted last time from the concluding verses of chapter 16 that this was a period where there was open contempt for the Word of God, corruption of the Worship of God, and with a policy of eradication of Biblical faith the carnage of the people of God. God was out Baal was in, and it was planned to stay that way for Israel. A W Pink assesses this period of history saying, ‘Spiritual death was spread over everything, and it looked as though satan had indeed obtained mastery of the situation.’

As we looked we recognised an increasing resonance with our times, with the spiritual apostasy within the church and the seemingly concerted anti-God policy within the state aimed to minimise and even remove the remnants of biblical influence. How the Baals of human wisdom, sensualism…even family abound!

However, dark days are also days of great opportunity. There is the great opportunity for God’s true servants to take a stand and to witness against the prevailing wickedness – such as we see in Elijah. But it is also a great opportunity for God to work in the midst to bring about change and revival among the people. Things in Israel were bleak, but no so bleak that they couldn’t be turned around, and God was going to raise up a man whose ministry would not only challenge the prevailing and appalling religious and moral state of the nation, but a man through whom God would bring about change in the thinking of the people and in some measure for a period of time at least a change in the spiritual state of the nation.

            The motto of the city of Geneva, gratefully celebrating the ministry of John Calvin and others at the time of the Reformation, is ‘Post Tenebras Lux’ – After the darkness, LIGHT. This is a motto that could suitably be applied to the life and ministry of Elijah, and one that we should always remember in days of spiritual darkness, praying that God may scatter the darkness and give us light.

Our great comfort and encouragement in facing such times is reading that in the Bible that in such and even worse times God has maintained pockets of truth and righteousness centred upon a faithful people of God. God is active, and raises up and equips His people to be active. A reality that also comes with a challenge to us today to be faithful and earnest for God.

We are His men and women of all ages appointed to stand and withstand, to stand for truth and righteousness as revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and to withstand the assaults of satan as he seeks to obliterate all reference to God from the consciences and lifestyles of people, including ourselves. We are engaged in a holy war against satan and sin.

That we might be encouraged in this struggle it is good to consider the life of Elijah who bursts upon the scene as a bright light against the background of such spiritual darkness. Matthew Henry writes: ‘Never was Israel so blessed with a good prophet as when it was so plagued with a bad king.’

Elijah stands unique in his day, suddenly and boldly appearing in the very court of the wicked architect of the appalling spiritual state of the nation of Israel, King Ahab. He comes, stands and speaks with all the dignity of an ambassador representing God and bringing God’s message of war to him. It was like a shot across the bows – God was not finished yet, and ungodliness and evil, no matter how things might appear for a period will never win the day.

But who is Elijah? What do we know of him? In seeking to know this man of God we must be careful to refrain from putting him up on a pedestal as one so far above us in abilities, while finding ourselves drawn along by his example to walk as he walked and to talk as he talked – for God.

The Bible calls us to see that here is an ordinary man who with great courage stood where we stand because he was consumed with the glory of God. He was jealous for God’s glory and who wasn’t afraid to serve and honour His God.

As we look at his spiritual journey we will see many parallels with our own, and will be armed and encouraged by his strengths and forewarned by his challenges and weaknesses.

Further as we explore his life and ministry together among the various expositors let me indicate that I have found especially helpful were the sermons of Al Martin who first helped me to appreciate Elijah, which I regard as masterly, as well as the writings of two godly men of former generations F W Krummacher and A W Pink and that of Raymond Dillard from our own time. Those who are familiar with these will find strong echoes of their ministry from time to time.

Now, in turning to the opening words of 1 Kings 17 we are confronted with:

1. An Ordinary Man

What sort of person will God take and cause to stand against this tsunami of evil? Would he be a scholar of great repute? A powerful gifted orator who could win people with his skilled use of words to draw people to his position? Would he be a warrior like David of whom the populace sang songs about?

Well we are told that he came from Gilead, an area east of the Jordan which was noted for its rugged and wild terrain. One described it this way: ‘Its hills were covered with shaggy forests; its awful solitudes were only broken by the dash of mountain streams; its valleys were the haunt of fierce wild beasts.’

Like the terrain so the people. They were tough rugged, solemn, stern, and largely shepherds hardened by an ‘open-air life’. 2 Ki 1:8 describes Elijah as a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist which shows he was tough and poor.

In other words Elijah was not a polished sophisticate or highly educated and trained in the culture of the court or in the arts of debates. He was a plain guy from the bush, who lived on the wrong side of the tracks, and who was accustomed to spending a lot of his time alone.

He is no super human, he is an ordinary man. This does not distinguish him from us. A point which James was at pains to make when he wrote, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours” (James 5:17). Though God can and does work through the identifiable leaders, yet God largely works through ordinary people.

Paul says to the Corinthians “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Cor 1:26-29).

This is a humbling truth, but it is also one that removes excuses from us for it tells us that the key ingredient is not our intellectual, social or physical abilities but God’s grace a He works through us. The qualities he possessed were qualities any of us can possess. He was just a man, like we, in God’s hands. God shapes and uses ordinary people to do His work. Don’t think for a moment ‘God can’t use me, I am just an ordinary person’. So was Elijah.

2. A Godly Man

This ordinary man stands out not simply because of how he dressed, uncultured language skills, nor for his sheer physical presence. He stands out in a generation of rampant and unbridled ungodliness because of his godliness. He was a man of God, who lived up to his name, “my God is Yahweh” – a name which excludes all other gods. A name of which he was not ashamed though it must have stood out as a reminder to God’s enemies of their sin every time they thought, said or heard of this man.

            To Elijah his name was not a mere convention. Listen to his testimony before the King as he speaks of the Lord the God of Israel: “…before whom I stand”. He saw himself as God’s servant, eagerly ready to do His bidding. He makes it clear from the outset his faith and commitment to God as primary, supreme, and controlling all that he is and does.

We see this attitude to God also in his comments to God in 1 Ki. 19:10, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” He was consumed with the glory of God, even when it looked as if he was alone in that concern, when it was both unpopular and dangerous to show that concern. The honour of His name meant more to him than anything else.

As news of what was happening in Israel came across the Jordan he became very jealous for the Lord of Hosts. This led to prayer – James 5.17a, “and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain”. In 1 Kings 17:1 it is said to include even the dew which in desert lands would normally still fall at night. It was to be a total dry.

How do we respond to this apparent harshness of this prayer? By noting that Elijah was clearly aware of Duet 11:16, 17 which declares that the lack of rain was part of God’s judicial curse upon an unfaithful Israel. If in the face of Israel’s religious and moral wickedness the threatened judgement was not executed, would it not appear that God was but a myth, a dead tradition? Would it not confirm what the priests of Baal taught, that God was dead.

Elijah’s declaration to King Ahab “As the Lord God of Israel lives..” served as a reminder of (1) their covenantal relationship with God, (2) that God is alive, and (3) that idols are lifeless!

Yes the measure taken was drastic but what are national reverses in comparison with the loss of God’s favour? The fact revealed here is that it is Elijah that had a true sense of values. To Him God and His honour must be first, and that without that nothing else matters.

He was a godly man. This ought not to distinguish him from us. What do people see of our spiritual calibre? We should speak and act as those who see God standing before us, being concerned for His honour, eagerly ready to serve Him.

3. A Courageous Man

The dilemma which this godly yet ordinary man must’ve faced! ‘What can I do?’ must have come up constantly in his mind. Confronted with such sinfulness he must’ve thought ‘Something must be done but I am only one!’ As he looked at the task of going to the king and rebuke him he must’ve thought ‘I don’t have the background, the experience – I won’t even get to the king for I am only a man of the wilderness, what can I do?’ Satan would’ve driven this home: ‘You can’t do it, you’re hopeless!’

But his concern for the honour of the Lord came first, and he took this love for the Lord to the natural, logical and consistent point of speaking to the very king responsible. A very daunting experience for anybody, especially for one who’s life was far removed from the life of court.

Where was the source of His courage and strength?

1. His prayer life – The thing that we should see here in the light of James 5:17 is that he didn’t pray for this after he had seen Ahab, but before When you compare 18:1 (“in the third year”) with James 5:17 (“3 years and 6 months”) then he was praying for upwards of 6 months before! James also tells us that he prayed “earnestly”, it was far from occasional or haphazard. Prayer in private was the source of his power in public. He could stand unabashed in the presence of the wicked king because he knew what it was to kneel in humility before the King of kings.

2. His knowledge of God – His declaration “As the Lord God of Israel lives” tells us that Elijah had a knowledge of God. On all sides open recognition of God had ceased but Elijah was not swayed by public opinion. He who knows God is strong and doesn’t fear men.

3. His consciousness of God’s presence – this is seen in the words “before whom I stand”. He was not only assured of God’s existence bit conscious of being in His presence. He saw himself as standing in the presence of God even as he stood before Ahab. If the Almighty was with him why should he tremble before a worm of the earth?

He was a courageous man, and here is the secret of his courage. Now this may distinguish him from us! But again it ought not. God “has not given us a spirit of timidity” said Paul to Timothy, but “a Spirit of power…”

It is so easy to see spiritual darkness and degradation… and say nothing, to say what can I possibly do? But that’s not the issue – it is but ‘What can God do?’ He can use the one as easily as the many. He uses the weak to confound the mighty of the world. We might find ourselves to be only one voice but what does that matter if God magnifies its power? So much can be done by one voice being courageous for God. Elijah was but one voice – but it was it was at least one, a voice that was lifted up out of a vital relationship with God that stirred up a passion for God – and what a difference it made. Let us follow the lead of Elijah in being “very jealous for the Lord God”. The stronger our relationship with God will we see more clearly not only what needs to be done, we will find the courage to do it.

God uses ordinary people who are people of faith and love Him being consumed with His honour, people who readily obey His Word and follow Him where He leads them. That is, a Christian – for that is what we are by the grace of God.

“If only I was a bit more like brother `X’  then I could do great things like he does. But I am just me” – ie, so don’t expect great things from me.

This is not only using comparison to camouflage a sinful heart full of fear, or indolence, etc. It is also illogical nonsense. I say illogical for it assumes firstly that they are different to you, and secondly it is that difference that makes the difference.

What we learn from Elijah is that he was no different than us ‘ordinary man’ — a man “with a nature like ours” (James 5:17); and that what really made the difference was God’s grace.

When we say we cannot do something that other believers in the past or around us are doing we are failing to realize why it is that these others were able to do it, and we are failing to give God the glory that is His due for enabling them to do it.

Paul got it right when he said with reference to contentment with lack as well as plenty, “I can do all things because of Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).

Do you face a challenge at work or school? Is there a burden you are being called to carry? Is there an area of your life you are being called to get right and keep right before God? Is there a Christian discipline like praying, Bible reading, witnessing or even worship that you struggle to keep active? Is there an area of ministry God is calling you to be a part of — but in any or all of which you feel total inadequacy? The answer remains Christ.

Today we look at Elijah the man of God … and what do we see? A man like you and me, an ordinary man, but one who believed in and loved God, and whom God blessed and used mightily.

May God bless this to encourage us as ‘ordinary’ believers, but also to in turn become a blessing to other ^‘ordinary’ believers like you and me.

Morning Service, 26 April 2009

Who was Elijah? How was it that he was so honoured with Moses by God in bringing him to talk with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17:3)? That fact alone should be enough to say we ought to get to know this man and understand his ministry. But a further encouragement to us is a consideration of the times in which he lived. It is rightly said you cannot understand the history of a person unless you understand the history in which they lived. Knowing the times help us to both understand and appreciate the ministry of Elijah, but more they make his ministry very personal to us in the light of our times.

What we know of Elijah’s life and ministry begins in 1 Kings 17:1. The thing that is striking, as we will note next time, is the sudden appearance of Elijah on the scene (17:1). But there is nothing sudden about the scene’s appearance. 

It is about 58 years since the division of the Kingdom of Israel after the death of Solomon. Within the Northern Kingdom which retained the name Israel, there had been a succession of 6 kings, whose record reads like a rogue’s gallery. It is not to be missed that God’s Word declares of each King that he “did evil in the sight of the Lord after the manner of Jeraboam the son of Nebat who made Israel sin”. But the darkest page of that album of spiritual and moral treachery belongs to Ahab the son of Omri. Omri is said to be worse than all who went before him – showing an escalation in wickedness along the line of kings – but his son is said to be in a league of his own!

In 16:31-34 we are given a description of the times of Ahab and as a result of the state of the nation. It is against this background that Elijah seen to be the man for his times. Yet he was not a man of his times. Bishop Hall calls Elijah ‘the eminentist prophet reserved for the corruptest age’. 

What are we told about the age to which Elijah spoke, and what do they tell us about assessing and responding to our times? It was a time when there was

1. Contempt for the Word of God

This is firstly seen in Ahab’s marriage to Jezebel. The first thing that is said about Ahab , indeed as that which showed his defiance of God, was that he married a foreign wife – Jezebel, the daughter of the Phoenician king Ethbaal.

Why is this painted as such a serious sin? Because it showed contempt for the Word of God which explicitly commanded that no Israelite was to marry anyone who did not belong to the covenant community; which command God had not rescinded (see Deut 7: 1-6; Joshua 23:12-13; Judges 3:5-7).

Nor was this merely a personal sin. Kings in Israel were theocratic monarchs, they ruled under God and for God – and were to do so according to the Book of the Law as their guide. He was personally but also publicly contemptuous of the Word, effectively saying to the nation ‘You don’t need to take seriously God’s Word, that it is too restrictive, too irrelevant in our modern and enlightened age’.

Secondly in Ahab’s introduction of Baal worship into Israel. Meaning ‘lord, husband, owner,’ Baal was the chief god in Canaanite religion, the storm god who allegedly provided the rain necessary for the fertility of the land. Ahab’s father-in-law was a high priest of Baal.

Not only did Ahab join his wife in worshipping Baal, he built a temple to Baal in the capital, Samaria. While Jeroboam broke the 2^nd Commandment, by this Ahab broke the 1^st Commandment, and further institutionalised Baal worship as the state religion. He established an anti-theocratic policy for his dynasty.

The point is that this would not have happened if God’s word had had the place it ought to have had in the lives of the people. Otherwise Baal worship would never have been allowed to be introduced and to co-exist with the established worship of God, let alone to replace it entirely. They were to worship God alone and only the way God had commanded. The people sadly increasingly ignored what God had said and did their own thing.

Thirdly, the contempt for the Word of God is seen in the rebuilding of Jericho, the first city destroyed in the Israelite conquest of Canaan. By this victory, done totally by God, God showed He was the Saviour Warrior King of His people.

            And its ruins was to be a permanent memorial to God, for which God had forbidden Israel to ever rebuild Jericho and he had in fact pronounced a curse upon any who dared to do so – Joshua 6:26ff .

But Ahab treated God’s curse with contempt. Ahab contracted Hiel from Bethel to rebuild Jericho but instead of refusing out of a fear of and reverence for the Word of God, Hiel went ahead with the project. They did not believe that the word of God’s judgement would come true. They despised God’s word.

The rubble heap of Jericho was to stand as a perpetual reminder of the reality of God speaking of Hs holy power to judge sin and also of the grace of God to save His people and to bring them into a place of blessing. But having gone over to Baal, Ahab was determined to eradicate the monument to God’s holiness and grace, by this definitive act to eradicate every reminder and hint of Yahwehstic religion. Jericho had been the door into the Promised Land for God, now Ahab was seeking to make it the exit door for God. In effect he was removing the Word of God, showing contempt for its proclamation and its curse. But it backfired, for immediately upon this statement we read about the curse applied upon that family, and when it wasn’t listened to applied yet again. Hiel’s two sons were covered with stones as a declaration of the Word of God.

2. Corruption of the Worship of God

The institutionalisation of Baal worship as the state religion didn’t just happen.

Two things occurred: the corruption of worship from within through syncretism, and the corruption of the worship from without through compromise.

a. through syncretism. The prior history of the kings showed that it could and did happen because of the corruption of God’s worship beginning with Jeroboam.

            When Jeroboam, the first in the line of wicked kings, set up the golden calves at Bethel near the border with Judah and on the road to Jerusalem, and in Dan in the north he did not set out to worship false gods. They were aids to worship, allegedly aimed at sparing the people from demanding and finically costly journeys to the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:28). But not only was this contrary to the Word of God, it corrupted the worship God instituted.

He turned the worship of God into a convenience, worship with minimal personal sacrifice, worship that appealed to people rather than approved by God. His real agenda of course was always political – by keeping the people from Jerusalem, he kept them from realising what they had lost and form seeing what little he had really done for them. Worship was politicised. He knew that if the people continued to worship in the Temple of Jerusalem, eventually they would want to be reunited under the rule of the king of Jerusalem – which wasn’t him.

            With the passage of kings, the ‘aids’ to worship became the idols of worship and then the gods they worshipped. God was increasingly marginalised to the fringe of spiritual activity and thought. So when Jezebel came with the religion that seemed so successful in her homeland, and came with great sensual appeal (for its means of communicating with Baal was not through verbal prayer but sexual activity), it found a very easy entry into the life of the nation.

b. through compromise. The worship of Baal was not new to the people of God. The ease with which Ahab and Jezebel brought it in and then made it the state religion shows that it already had a place in the worship life of the people alongside the worship of the Lord God of Israel. Indeed the ease of its acceptance suggests it had a warm place in their hearts. In their hearts God was forced to share a place with Baal –the worship of God being what one had to do, that of Baal being what one really wanted to do. So the worship of God became increasingly a routine, an outward form but empty of spiritual reality even in its syncretistic state. But now their precious Baal worship could come from out of the shadows, and be done with royal approval, and with official temple prostitutes.

3. Carnage of the People of God

When we speak of the carnage of war, we speak of the suffering and death often inflicted. What we are being told here is that there was a deliberate policy not only to establish the religion of Baal, but also to eradicate the competition.

Jezebel was fanatically evangelical in her promotion of the worship of Baal.

As the historical record unfolds we see that Jezebel with Ahab’s support was proactive in exterminating God’s prophets (“For so it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord…” (1 Kings 18:4). It is seen also in the relentless pursuit of Elijah (“As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to hunt for you… he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they could not find you.” (1 Kings 18:10) ).

            There were believers but they were anonymous like Obadiah or hidden away by men like him. They knew that to say you believed and served God of  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was to put your head in the noose.

The degree of Jezebel’s hostility and its brazenness is seen when the news came of Elijah’s victory on Mt Carmel she was not humbled but incensed and enraged; she was not cautious but aggressive.

These were dangerous days to be a worshipper of the God if Israel, let alone a prophet. The scene we find ourselves confronted with is of battle between God and Baal for the hearts of God’s people, with the tragic reality that the people following their king chose Baal.

            Jezebel’s father’s name Ethbaal meant “Baal is alive” – and Jezebel meant to make it so in Israel, and in this the weak pragmatic Ahab not only concurred but became an active partner and so did the nation.

            When Elijah burst onto this horrendous scene in the national life of Israel he came challenging that claim. Indeed his very name means “My God is Yahweh”!

            Ahab is given such attention in the biblical record because ‘he led the nation to the fork in the road and forced it to take the path of destruction’ (Van’t Veer). Elijah is given such attention because he was God’s man holding up the stop sign, calling the people back from the edge of the precipice of destruction.

What do we learn from all of this?

1. We learn something of the insidious nature of sin – it builds from small beginnings, perhaps imperceptivity at first… but over time a foul monster spits its vileness and fire of rage against all godliness… from Jeroboam’s aids to worship that were an adjustment of the Word and Worship of God to wholesale rejection of Ahab. No sin is harmless; all sin which is tolerated is actively at work to strengthen itself… just as the full blown idolatry of Elijah’s day was the culmination and inevitable outcome of a process which had small beginnings, so too it is often the case with all kinds of sin.

2. We learn that the door for sins increase is contempt for the Word of God. This is why Paul stressed to Timothy “preach the Word in season and out of season” (2 Tim 4:1). A strong ministry of the Word, where the Word strongly holds our heart and mind, is the only protection against sin and antidote to sin. Jesus’ constant reply in defence was “what does the Word say?”’ and His constant call in advancing against sin’s hold on the mind and heart of people was exactly the same. What place does the Word have in our hearts and churches – is it the inspired, authoritative and sufficient Word of God?

3. We learn that one of the clearest tests of the regard we have for the Word of God, as to whether we exercising a heart-contempt to it, is in the area of worship – when worship begins to be shaped around the edges to make it more appealing to man (albeit under the guise of wanting to please God in relevant ways)… and where the appeal is fleshly rather than spiritual in nature – remember Jesus said our worship is to be spiritual when he said “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”.

4. We learn that we do not live in all that different a world to that of Elijah. The anti-Bible, anti-Christian policy is increasingly evident in our day – even in countries whose modern democracies owe their existence to the Christian faith.  We see these things developing a-pace here… the active design to eradicate all mention of the God of the Bible from public life and society in general, to marginalise biblical witness… if possible to deem those with biblically shaped and governed consciences ‘cranks’ and eventually enemies against decency and order. ‘There is no doubt that our present Government’s attitude towards Reformed, Evangelical, Bible believing, Bible reading, non-ecumenical churches is that they would rather we didn’t exist. To them we are, at best, a nuisance and at worst a threat to their liberalising ideals’ (Robert Robb).

5. We also learn, and will see as we progress through the life of Elijah and Elisha, that God is not weakened let alone silenced, and will demonstrate His power and grace even in the days of darkest of apostasy. The great declaration of the NT which is looked for and foreshadowed here is that the Messiah reigns and has won the decisive battle, and the flow of history for all the opposition of the enemies of God, is that of bringing all things under His feet. So we are encouraged to cry ‘My God is Yahweh!’