The screening of the movie “The Voyage That Shook the World” at SYPC will be on Friday 28 August 2009, 7.30pm

2009 has already proven to be a pivotal year in the creation/evolution debate. It’s the 200^th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, and the 150^th anniversary¹ of the publication of his book The Origin of Species. Evolutionists have been busy with special events, including feature films, TV documentaries, world-travelling exhibitions, tall-ship re-enactments of the HMS Beagle voyage, and much, much more. Even the free distribution of 200,000 ‘commissioned’ comic strip books featuring Darwin as a super-hero!

A unique opportunity

In response, Creation Ministries International, through our subsidiary Fathom Media and using a team of world-class professionals, has produced a major international documentary film costing over $1m.² Structured around Darwin’s famous HMS Beagle voyage³ , it features stunning wildlife photography, period re-enactments and interviews with leading authorities from around the world. We made this 52min. documentary to the highest production standards utilizing media professionals so that it could be broadcast on general TV.

It is intended to be a thoughtful exploration, a crossover product to seek to influence the “mainstream” to ”think again” about Darwin. It is also a powerful tool that can “break down the barriers” of evolutionary prejudice, overcoming preconceived ideas about biblical creationists by its approach of being gentle and fair without compromising truth.⁴

Morning Service, 28 June 2009

Have you ever seen drought-affected lands? We read about it, are very conscious that areas of our state are still gripped by drought. But have you ever seen it? Driven for mile after mile and all you see is drought stricken lands void of any crops? Many years ago I remember flying from Melbourne to Brisbane flying over parts of central NSW after years of sustained drought, and even from that height saw the devastation of the landscape – everything looked brown in a time when things should’ve looked green. So stark was it that the Pilot drew our attention to it, indicating how it must’ve distressed him the many times he flew over the sunburn country. He wanted us to be fully aware of the extent of the sustained suffering being endured by farmers at that time.

It has been 3 years since the drought began in Israel, and now Elijah returns and will be confronted by the severity of the impact of this drought. He is going to return to Ahab, which would involve a walk of some100kms through a barren, stricken land. Everywhere he looks – emptiness. Every person he passed would be marked by extreme poverty and despair – tragedy, sorrow, death everywhere he looked.

Why is he returning? As we saw last time it was because God had called him to do so, and indeed to not only return to the land but to go to the king who had placed a death warrant upon his head. It was to risk his very life, to enter into the very den of a wild raging lion determined to tear him apart. Yet his response bore the mark of godly character which is submission, a willing surrender to God’s will. Submission is dying to one’s own independence – and is what every believer has to repeatedly go through in this life. It is to love God and God’s will and ways, more than we love our own desires. It invovles self-denial.

The emphasis of the opening words so far as it depicts the character of the prophet was of a man who eagerly looked forward to and responded with joyful submission to the Word of God. But so far as it depicts the character of the people the opening words of this chapter declare it was one of “the famine was severe in Samaria”.

So we begin the walk with Elijah as he resumes his public prophetic ministry. It is not merely the evidence of drought and famine we see, but that the context of ministry has not changed. There is still widespread, unrepentant and defiant sin. Throughout the time of his removal from the nation, the silence of the Word of God through the removal of his ministry in Israel during this time, had not resulted in the people let alone their king turning to God in repentance. Instead of a humbling over sin there was a hardening in sin, as it will when sin is given its freedom, when all divine restraints are both removed by God and cast off by people.

How things have gone during his absence can be summed up under the heading: the impact of unrestrained sin. It sets before us the exceeding sinfulness of sin.

1. It brings down the full wrath of God

We are presented with a humbling picture of God’s people and king. Even though God was going to end the famine, yet we are not allowed to miss the reality of its severity in v.2 – such that now the king scours the nation for water and grass (v.6).

What a contrast to the glory and abundance of Solomon’s day! Indeed, even to that simple enjoyment by Elijah, the widow and her son in Zarephath.

How do we account for the difference? Was it just a matter of the seasons being disrupted for some known reason? Though there is a cycle of natural events that include times of drought, no one in Israel could legitimately comfort themselves with that thought. It had been made very clear by the Word of God before the drought had any effect on people’s lives as to why the drought had come. That drought was an act of judgment upon unrelenting and unrepentant sin against God. God had been dishonoured, His truth rejected (as we saw in 1 Kings 16:31-34). Because they had sinned so grievously against God, they were made to feel the full weight of the rod of His righteous anger. ‘That’s why no one in Israel should separate the heat of the sun’s burning rays from the heat of Yahweh’s wrath.’ (Van’t Veer)

Do you see the lesson for us that we need to learn? Do we see the warning? Sin is not and ought not ever to be seen as a little or light thing. It is true that God does not always deal immediately and with such resolve against sin, yet it is true that He is never indifferent to it – and that those who treat sin lightly are storing up wrath to themselves for the day of judgement. Indeed even now we should see according to Paul that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against sin (Rom 1:18). Though it is not the day of judgement, and though we may not be under specific judgement as was Israel and ought not consider every tragedy as a direct expression of wrath against a person or people, yet we cannot account for life in this world apart from reality of the wrath of God against sin. It is a fallen world, yet God does not remove His concern for justice and righteousness.

As Christians we know and can see this. Will we then be so silly as to ignore or play down the danger of sin? How foolish it is to tamper with temptation! We should see the holy anger that burns from God’s heart even against the ‘smallest’ sin. If this event doesn’t fill us with the desire to turn from sin, then look again at the cross! If we would but seriously think about and meditate on what it cost Christ to redeem us from sin then surely we would ask ourselves how we can so glibly enter sin again and yet again. When temptation comes we ought to look for the way of escape from it which God has provided for us according to 1 Cor 10:31.

2. It leads to the hardening of the heart against God

It is clear that God uses circumstances to chastise and correct His children (see Heb 12), and no doubt Elijah looked for this drought to work its effect on the heats and consciences of the king and people. But it didn’t work that way for Ahab, and here we see a further evidence of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, for it leads to a hardening of the heart unless God intervenes with grace.

Here we are told that Ahab went around the countryside. That in itself is a statement of how severe things had become. Here is the King and his ‘Prime Minister’ out and about looking for grass. The famine was affecting the king – his property, his glory, his security. And he saw it also severely affected the people.

Yet there is no breaking of the man by seeing the impact of his sin. There was no note of repentance, only a stubborn refusal to fulfil the one condition for rain. In his command to Obadiah there is a marked absence of any reference to God or to the sin of the people, let alone to his own sin. There is clear refusal to recognise sin or God. It is as if he looked upon the whole thing as a freak of nature, something which must be endured as best as one can, refusing to see the hand of God in it. His seeking grass was a demonstration of an unshaken determination not to give in to God.

Not only did Ahab refuse to turn to God in repentance to have this problem removed, he also refused to turn to God merely for relief apart from forgiveness. Even Pharaoh cried out to God for relief! But not Ahab. Instead he turned to his own ingenuity, he tried by himself to find a way around the problem. Instead of seeking God he seeks grass and water! It was an exaltation of his self-reliance. Why was he so concerned about horses? The answer lies in that they were the backbone of his military power on which he relied. If they die he would lose his place of honour in the halls of power filled with other kings and in time the independence of his kingdom. This is where he was putting his faith – in horses. Rather than receive the kingdom as a gift of grace from God’s hand, he wished to protect and preserve it through his own might!

Bear in mind, that King Ahab was not ignorant of the cause of this drought (Deut 28:1-4,12), nor then of its ending if he would just humble himself before God (Deut 28:15-16, 18, 22-24). He did not want the blessing of rain at that price! So each day he increased his guilt because he continued his self-assertion, laughing at the very idea of humbling himself before God.

But even worse the hardening of his heart against God is seen in his permitting Jezebel to kill the prophets of God – v.4. Earlier Ahab’s attitude had been one of disinterest in God, now the attitude was turned into active opposition and hatred. As the drought continued day after day a deep resentment built. Notice how Obadiah in v.10 reports to Elijah that Ahab had sent out agents to track him down among the nations. Instead of humbling him before God, sin had further antagonised him against God.

Sin blinds more and more the heart of man to God! It is like a cataract growing over the eyes, clouding out view. We begin to seek for grass instead of for God, and destroy the very instruments that might lead us to God and to relief for sin and its judgement.

3. It hardens the heart against others

As king, Ahab’s chief concern, next to God, should have been for his people. As their shepherd it was his role to protect and provide for them, to be concerned about promoting and maintaining their welfare.

But what do we see? Ahab’s concern was not for his people but for his stud animals. As much as we don’t like to animals suffer the priority must lie with human life! Ahab went out to find grass whilst he left his people to take their chances! It was nothing for Ahab to have killed some of God’s prophets, nor to see his people dying slowly around him – but what a tragedy it was to him if some of his animals were killed.

As King he was a shepherd who no longer cared for his sheep, risking their lives instead by leading them down the dangerous paths that looked exciting to him, the path of self-reliance, idolatry and spiritual adultery. His flock were now paying the price, but he was hardened against their need.

In other words where sin is given unchallenged hold over a person’s heart an increasing selfishness will be manifested in relation to others. We see it in the world today. But does it not disturb us to see its degree in Christian church today? What about our lives? How are we hampering the cause of God because we tolerate and even nurse secret sins? Do we think we can do so without its impact felt in other areas of our lives? Ahab reminds us that to think that is to think a fallacy, it is to think dangerously.

If this was exercised by the Spirit of Christ then churches, missionary societies, charitable institutions wouldn’t be hampered by lack of funds or lack of workers. There was once a time in the church when people would do without what we today would call necessities for the cause of the gospel. It is still so among some believers, but ought it not to be uniformly so? Where is our love for others if we allow such to continue to happen. Let us remember that love is not merely exhibited in words but action.

Therefore we see the exceeding sinfulness of sin is such that the judgements of God are insufficient in themselves to restore the spiritual dead to life. In Prov 27:22 we read: “Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.” Man’s heart is not softened by even the severest of judgements unless God performs a work of grace within them. As we read in Rev 16:10-11, “they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds”. But when attendant with grace the situation is totally different as the widow of Zarephath powerfully illustrates. What hope there is in the power of God’s grace in spite of the sinfulness of sin!

And that is the encouragement, the encouragement of grace, that with Elijah we are given as we walk through the evidence of unbridled and unrepentant sin

The answer is to be found in the gracious purpose and intervention of God. Notice how God encourages Elijah on the way: “rain” is mentioned. The details haven’t been explained yet; but what is clear is that God is going to have mercy, the result of which desire will be the alteration of circumstances. Later on in the chapter we will see that it focuses on the display of His glory at Mt Carmel resulting in a public repentance and owning of God not only for the forgiveness needed but also for service renewed.

God is going to do something so that the curse will be removed – that is always and the only answer. It is not and never can be what we do, but looking to God and trusting in what God does.

Are you a Christian? Then rejoice that God has softened your heart. Praise Him for His sovereign grace and distinguishing mercy! See how the same events that caused you to turn have left others in their sin and often hardened even more against God and embittered against others. Pray that God will display the same grace today, looking in compassion on this present evil generation and send His Holy Spirit in revival power. Let us also beware of the deceitfulness of sin. Learn the lesson of what sin did to you and what it necessitated of God for Him to restore you. Remember that the smallest sin magnifies quickly if unrepented of.

But let the sinner beware! If the divine restraint was removed from you as with Ahab and many others in our day then you too would soon learn that the madness which posses your heart will soon burst forth like a broken dam and overwhelm your cultured facade. Do not think that your lot will be any different from Ahab if you ignore God’s warnings and listen to the deceitfulness of sin instead of the warnings of judgement. If you are determined by sin to have your own way at all costs, then you will suffer all costs. God is not mocked. There is only one answer for the sinner: a sovereign God in the abundance of His amazing grace. The urgent need is to seek God’s distinguishing love through the Lord Jesus Christ: “Seek and you will find…”

Sin’s madness ….

These verses tell us not only how God’s judgement had stamped it scorching trademark on the fields of Canaan and seared the lives of the people but how the people – especially the king and the court – responded to the drought.

Though there is a cycle of natural events that include times of drought, no one in Israel could legitimately comfort themselves with that thought. It had been made very clear by the Word of God before the drought came why the drought had come, that it was an act of judgment upon unrelenting and unrepentant sin against God. This explanation came before the drought had any effect on people’s lives.

‘That’s why no one in Israel should separate the heat of the sun’s burning rays from the heat of Yahweh’s wrath.’ (Van’t Veer)

Yet what we see here also is not only that the drought came because of the blatant sinfulness of the covenant people, but that left to themselves they discovered that the way of sin is indeed hard. The Word of God had effectively been silenced in Israel – so much so that God had removed the major prophet and was hiding the remaining prophets. And what the opening words of this chapter show is the continuing and expanding effect of sin. It does as we read in James 1:15 “when it is full grown, give birth to death”.

This morning we look at the effect of sin, and are reminded that sin is never of little consequence. And the only way its progress is not only checked but reversed is by the direct intervention of God who sends His prophet to bring the Word of grace, the Word that tells of coming rain, which tells of the coming season of blessing.

Though this chapter opens up with a description of ‘sin’s madness’, it also begins with a gracious declaration of and then demonstrates the gracious intervention of

…God’s mercy.

Evening Service, 21 June 2009

Last week we noted that every circumstance in our lives can be the means of a test or a temptation. That God in His sovereign providence orchestrates things, including those that challenge us and our faith at its very core, to make us more like Jesus. Just like fire purifies when appropriately controlled purges away dross and even strengthens metal, so God uses trials and troubles to purify us and to develop spiritual strength.

But we also saw that with the trouble aimed for our good comes the opportunity of temptation. In fact we saw that the one Greek word conveys both ideas, indicating what is a test may and often will also prove to be a temptation design to lead us into sin.

Whose fault is it when sin explodes in my life? Is it God’s, after all He is sovereign over all things? That is illogical and impossible says James – for “God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”

Well then, if I can’t blame God for the sin in my life, then it must be the devil’s fault, or maybe modern psychology is right and I can blame it on people or on my environment – right? Wrong, says James. The same fire that purifies and strengthens, may also reveal inherent structural defects. So potters have known objects placed in the kiln to be hardened, while others suddenly explode – the heat of firing revealing inherent flaws otherwise unseen, and in particular moisture content.

We have to look within to see the problem says James:

1. The Problem

I remember really enjoying watching Prof Julius Sumner Miller on TV in the 1960’s. He had a program called ‘Why is it so?’ You would never know what simple every-day experiment he would dream up next. Massive handwaving, an eloquent American drawl, flashing raised eyebrows and content matter drawn from the kitchen, the backyard and from nature ensured that his audience would watch as a regularly captivated student as the lively professor asked such questions as: “WHICH weighs more – a pint of wet sand or a pint of dry sand?” “WHAT would happen if there were no friction in the world?” “WHY does a diamond shine so?” “WHY is a dew drop round?” He would keep on asking ‘Why is it so?’, guiding his audience along the track of truth until they came to the correct and complete answer.

James, Why is it so? Why is it that a trial becomes a temptation? Why is it that temptation has any power in us? Is it the temptation itself? Well no says James. And he is right for we know that two different people can be exposed to the same temptation but with different effects. For example the smell of alcohol will But It is not the external thing itself that tempts us; it is our reaction to it. An alcoholic may be tempted overwhelmingly by the smells wafting from a brewery, while a teetotaler is repelled. The odour is the same in each case. What differs is the reaction the odour causes. So you have to ask Why is it so? Why is it that the temptation has any effect at all?

Notice what James says, “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” James analysed the situation carefully.

Temptation is an incitement to sin, it makes sin look attractive and pleasurable. But the problem is not really in the temptation, it is in the one being tempted. Notice James says here that sin comes through our response to temptation. Being tempted is not sinful, though certainly tempting someone is sinful. Just because you are tempted doesn’t mean you have sinned – after all Jesus was tempted in all points as we are yet without sin, says the Scripture (Heb 4:15). No says James, the problem has to do with our “desires”. To the question ‘Why is it that temptation impacts you?’ the answer is my “desires”.

The word “desires” describes a deep strong passionate longing of any kind, it can be good or bad. For instance it is said by Jesus in Luke 22:15, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer”. But here in James the point is that the desires are evil desires.

The reality is that we are to say no to temptation, but something inside us causes us to pause, to ponder, to find ourselves interested and as James puts it “drawn away and enticed”.

Enticed is a fishing word. I used to use silver lures in our inland rivers knowing that fish were attracted to the glitter. Likewise, we succumb to temptation when our own lust ‘draws’ us toward evil things that are appealing to fleshly desire.

What happens when we are tempted is that we toy with the idea, allowing it to occupy a place in our minds. And that which causes us to be enticed is “our desires”.

Put simply the problem is in our nature. It is not the cleverness of the temptation but the corruption of the tempted. The problem lies in our “desires”. It is man’s inbred desire to do wrong. We have a ‘fallen spiritual disposition that makes us susceptible to temptation’ (MacArthur). ‘Every man has within him that fallen perverted nature that is capable of the worst crime in the most terrible evil’ (Blanchard). ‘The problem is not a tempter from without, but the traitor within’ (MacArthur).

Jesus puts it this way in Mk 7:18-23 as he describes how a person becomes corrupt or impure, saying “Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him… What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

The principle being emphasised here is that ‘Sinning doesn’t make us a sinner; we sin because we are sinners.’ The call here is to own our sins, take responsibility for our sin. As Tony Bird comments ‘It is an axiom of Scripture that we are accountable for our actions… my sin is always my responsibility.’ When I sin it is because I wanted to, I am drawn into it by my desire for what is held out before me.

And just in case you think that is not true of you, in this there is no exception “each one…by his own desires…”

2. The Process

In v.15 James personifies evil, saying that temptations and desires come together to “conceive”. Their offspring is named “sin”. The whole imagery here is of the life-cycle; the life-cycle of sin.

Tony Bird explains it this way: ‘As soon as we say yes to a temptation, we set in motion a chain of events as certain and as natural as childbirth itself. Once the egg in the womb has been fertilized, developments take place which lead nine months later to a new life being born. The fruit of evil desire, however, is a most unwelcome development. This child’s name is ‘sin’.’

The serpent used desire to interest Eve: “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Is there anything wrong with gaining knowledge? Is there anything wrong with eating food? Eve saw that “the tree was good for food” (v.6), and her desire was aroused. But then we read that she “took of its fruit and ate” and then “gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (v.6). She chose to rebel and sinful acts followed: of eating, and of tempting or involving Adam.

Desire conceives a method for taking the bait. The will approves and is joined to the desire which thus becomes pregnant with action; and the result is that sin is “conceived” and before long is born into outward action. But we need to understand from the birth imagery that just as the baby was alive before the actual moment of coming out into the world, so also sin doesn’t begin to be sinful only when some specific, visible action emerges. Though some sinful action is bound sooner or later to emerge, sin is already conceived when we embrace the temptation in an act of the will. Matthew Henry: ‘The sin truly exists, though it be but in embryo. And, when it has grown it its full size in the mind, it is then brought forth in actual execution.’ It would be better that sin was not conceived at all, but if has then better to abort it with confession and repentance before it is born into one’s life!

3. The Product

James says that not only does desire conceive and give birth to sin, sin in turn also becomes a parent. The name of its child is “death”. William Barclay, whose theology I could never commend to you, nonetheless often has helpful insights in to the language and culture of the times in which the NT was written. He points out that the word “brings forth” ‘is not a human word at all; it is an animal word for birth; and it means that sin spawns death. Mastered by desire man becomes less than a man and sinks to the level of the brute creation.’

When we indulge our sinful desires, sin becomes a pattern – continuing with the human life-cycle imagery, it becomes “full-grown”, ie is strong and dominating life, a settled habit, it has become a life-dominating force, a sinful lifestyle. Unchecked it too becomes a parent, spawning “death”. ‘Romans 6:23’, says Blanchard, ‘is the Bible’s unwavering verdict.’ “The wages of sin is death.” That is the way it is in God’s economy of justice – a fact that ought not be minimised or forgotten.

There is evil in sin, but there is also evil after sin. It creates its own penalties – “death”. Death is the fruit of all sin. Sin kills peace; it kills hope; it kills usefulness; it kills the conscience; it kills the soul. It destroys so that there is the loss of beauty and purity, of holiness and happiness, of fellowship with God’s people with and God Himself. Each of these is a kind of death in itself. But especially we note that this “death” stands in contrast to the “crown of life” (v.12) and so brings in eternal death.

Just as faith and endurance lead to eternal life (v.12; cf Matt 10:22), so selfish desires and sin lead to eternal death (Rev 20:14-18).

The lesson is clear: unchecked lust yields sin, and unconfessed sin brings death.

You don’t want to go back there says James! “Don’t be deceived!” Even so, how quickly do we forget the evil of sin and the power of corruption in our fallen nature. So James calls us to see how it begins and where it leads, all the time urging us back from the precipice that temptation calls us towards.

James has shown us that God brings no experience into our lives in order to drag us down. His gifts are always and only good. If we feel temptation, the problem is in our own inner desires. Unless we deal with our temptations on this basis, our initial desire will grow into sinful acts, and this to a sinful lifestyle.

Yet we are not given over to despair as Christians as we find ourselves being tempted yet again, even if it is the same temptation where we have experienced such weakness in the past – surely this is James point. Because of Christ we can and ought to say No. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:13 declares “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” God will never allows us to be in such a position that sin is the only option – He limits the temptation to what we can endure, never lets it be something that has not been experienced by others (so watch and learn), and He will always make sure there is a way of escape for us – we will always be able to say No. If we don’t in other words it is because we have given free rein to sinful desires.

How do we master our desires rather than find ourselves mastered by them so that we might resist temptation? How do we find the way of escape? Well, instead of blaming God, we turn to God. Our only hope is God – who can’t be tempted and who doesn’t tempt! James doesn’t allow us to look inward without also holding out before us the glory of God. What James is saying is that w will ever find God true to His nature! Now that not only means true to being holy, but also merciful. It is He who lavishly gives wisdom to whoever asks (v.5) and who gives “every good and perfect gift” (v.17). In Him, James reiterates for clarity “there is no shadow or variation” (v.18).

There is a timely and often necessary warning here to Christians, to forget God is to result in a morbid introspection and make us vulnerable to destructive despair.

Knowing that His apostles would be subject to temptation to evil because of their remaining unredeemed flesh, Jesus admonished, “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41). Turn to Jesus the Victor over temptation and sin – Heb 2:18; 4:16. John Owen: ‘He that would be little in temptation, let him be much in prayer.’

Morning Service, 21 June 2009

As we left chapter 17 we did so with the wonderful testimony of faith of the nameless widow who benefited from Elijah’s ministry (v.24), which reminded us of the importance of confessing with the mouth as well as believing with the heart.

Turning to chapter 18 we see that this testimony was not just necessary for the woman, but also for Elijah as the opening verses of Chapter 18 make clear. This Gentile woman may have come to faith, but this is not the picture of what was happening in Israel during this time.

God comes and brings a word to Elijah that He is to go back into Israel, but it is clear that it was not going to be easy. Indeed things were worse, as it will when sin is given its freedom, when all divine restraints are both removed by God and cast off by people.

Elijah faces then the temptation that faces any soldier who has enjoyed ‘R&R’ in the relative peace and comfort away from the battle zone. They find it hard to go back into the dangers of battle. This will take great courage and faith by Elijah.

Christians know the same today – you’ve stood for Christ, been scarred perhaps in the battle, Christ has given you a little respite. Will you go back again? Will you fight again? How often ministry leaders face this when they complete their involvement in a particular ministry that has been demanding on them. Will they after a rest put themselves forward in another area? Or will they just slide into the background, ever retreating from the front-lines? That is a searching question for every believer!

The great need of serving the Lord in this rebellious, seductive and often hostile world is robust Christian character. We must develop those qualities of character that not only shield us from withdrawal or hesitancy in serving the Lord, but which free us and propel us into that service in response to His call.

In these opening two verses we see 3 such qualities essential for on-going ministry, spiritual qualities we are all to cultivate for effective serving of the Lord

1. Submissiveness

The first thing that strikes us is that Elijah is a man under orders. He is not in Zarephath at God’s order; and he doesn’t leave Zarephath until God’s order.

Now you might think, Well God’s order to go to Zarephath was an easy one to obey after all his present means of support had literally dried up, and Zarephath was outside of Israel and so away from the reach of trouble at the hand of King Ahab. But we saw that it was very much a call to faith, for Zarephath was in the very heartland of Baal and in the kingdom of Jezebel’s father. Further the promise was that he would be cared for by a gentile widow. While thankful for God’s provision it hardly would’ve been an encouraging picture to a godly Israelite, barely a step up from the Ravens. No, at first glance that call was to an unwelcome Zarephath. Yet he was submissive to go.

It is also made clear to us here that it would not have been an easy for Elijah to stay long. Why? Because “there was a severe famine in Samaria”. His whole motivation had been the glory of God and the good of God’s people, but what does he see with the passing of time? No change. This is the way it has been for “many days”, we read that it was now in the 3^rd year of his stay in Zarephath (which understanding meshes in naturally with the comment of Jesus and James relating to 3½ years – Luke 4:25, James 5:17). Elijah we have seen and will continue to see is a man of action, and it must have pulled at his heart strings to get involved. Yet he was submissive to stay.

So why does he go now? Elijah only ventured back into his prophetic ministry to Israel at God’s direct command, and to which there is no arguing, no objecting. There was no hesitancy, no uncertainty. His going showed willing submission.

Notice also that he doesn’t ask God how he is going to be provided for – though God on the two previous occasions supported his faith with that information. Now he needs no such support, but simply went forward waiting on the Lord. As we read in Psa 55:22 “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” Which Peter echoes in 1 Peter 5:7 as he supports the call to humble ourselves under God’s hand, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.“

Submission is not hard when you know the one who directs your steps loves you, cares for you, will sustain you.

This is why in Ephesians 5 as Paul calls for wives to submit to their husbands as to the Lord, he reminds them of Christ’s undertaking the responsibility to be the Saviour of the Church, His body. And we know that cost Him His life. And then he stresses the practical implication of this for husbands, thus encouraging the wife in her submission, by the call to husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church. It is amazing and indeed illogical how in Christian circles that we find such resistance to the biblical call of submission and headship. Men are you evidencing Christ-like headship such that the only glory you seek for yourself is found in the safety and blessing of your wife? Women do you welcome with joy the blessing of such leadership with submission, knowing that He cares for you?

Will Jesus ever ask anything of us that is not for our good and that of the Kingdom? Does He not continue as He always has, laboured with our best interests at heart, even though it has cost him greatly?

Christian, how can we not give ourselves wholeheartedly to submission to the Lord? His wisdom is impeccable; His power to provide and protect unassailable; His love and care unquestionable. Surely our posture must be that of a servant longing to hear any direction from the Master that we might serve him both immediately and enthusiastically, with our whole being, without reserve. God’s glory and grace demands it.

Indeed it is what we see in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do.” (John 5:19).

As F B Meyer observes, ‘So utterly had He emptied Himself that He had abandoned even His own schemes and plans. He lived a planless life, accepting each moment the plan which His Father unfolded before Him. He was confident that that plan would lead Him on to greater and ever greater works, until the world should marvel at the splendour of the results – rising from Gethsemane and Calvary through the broken grave, to the Ascension Mount and the glory of His second Advent. Oh, mystery of humiliation, that He who planned all things should will to live a life of such absolute dependence! And, yet, if He lived such a life, how much more will it become us; how much anxiety it will save us; and to what lengths of usefulness and heights of glory will it bring us! Would that we were content to wait for God to unveil His plan, so that our life might be simply the working out of His thought, the exemplification of His ideal! Let this be the cry of our hearts, “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths! (Psalm 21:4).’

2. Readiness (or preparedness)

Elijah was not only subject to the will of God, he was ready. There was no need for delay. It was what he was waiting for. His retirement from public ministry these past 3 years had not weakened his readiness, but strengthened it.

There is in retirement from public ministry at times a hard lesson for us to learn, whether pastor or people. There seems so much to do, and we feel we are wasting time by not being at the coal front, taking up every opportunity that appears to us. But for 3 years God had placed Elijah into a sphere of inactivity from the main scene. But it was by means an idle time, nor was it meant to be. That’s the hard lesson, and one which we often squander in embracing comforts and needed refreshment, so much so that we forget that this remains a time for continued service, and he need to cultivate a readiness for whatever the Lord calls us next to do.

Elijah was finding his faith challenged and sharpened, to see that faith resides ultimately not in the promises but the God who promises.

Elijah was learning the not only the joy of seeing someone brought to faith but learning about how God operates to that end, that it is all of faith, and that where grace is extended to save then no obstacle is too hard.

Elijah also learnt the wonder of fellowship with God at the Brook which underpins all ministry if it is to be effective, but also of fellowship with the Lord’s people at Zarephath through which God both blesses His servant and gives him an opportunity to be a blessing to other servants. Elijah was not seduced but proved himself ready for the Lord’s call.

To be ready for some kind of service is the state in which we should always find ourselves. We see it in Paul who in Romans 1:15 writes “as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the Gospel in Rome also”. In the previous verses he explains what made him so ready: his sense of gospel-indebtedness. The more he considered the gospel, and its need in the lives of all people, the more he was ready to be used to bring it to them. Again in Acts 21:13 Luke records his comment in the face of concerns of believers about the dangers of him returning to Jerusalem, “I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus”.

Are we ready for whatever the Lord calls us to be engaged in? What are we doing to make ourselves ready? Are we filling our hearts with the Word of God, are we learning from what we see/read of the lives of other Christians and churches both in this nation and around the world? What is it that we have stored up for the Lord to use?

3. Self-Denial

But it is not always easy to go when the Lord calls, is it? What arguments we can mount that feed not only hesitation but even temptation to rebel.

Now while no doubt going to Zarephath at God’s order was for Elijah going to an ‘unwelcome Zarephath’, it had clearly become a most hospitable and warm Zarephath. Under this private ministry God’s grace had come and burgeoned in this home. It was now a haven of godly fellowship, marked by comforts, though maybe small to others, yet very real to God’s prophet.

If ever there was a time to want to stay, it was now. But Elijah not only obeyed God’s call, we see that he did so in a spirit of self-denial. He was to leave a place of comfort and provision and above all believing fellowship, and he was going back into a land that was bereft of human comforts due to the prolonged drought and resulting severe famine, and to a very large if not almost total measure of spiritual comfort as well.

But he did not think of his own interests. He thought of the interests of God, even though this meant acute self-denial.

What moved him to leave all these blessings? It was devotion to God that drove him on, and even when it means self-denial of earthly and even spiritual comforts, relinquishing the things dearest to him and most blessed to him, he does so for the Lord’ God’s sake.

Of course we remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:25 to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” He had just identified that He was the Promised Divine King, accepting the designation of Peter “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (v.18), that His purpose was to build his church (v.18), and He would do so through His death and resurrection. If we are to follow Him into this kingdom, then we must like Him “deny ourselves”. Jesus demands total commitment from us – even unto physical death; and He is stressing that this call to full surrender is to be a part of the message we proclaim to others.

That too is the character of the true servant of God.

True faith is self-denying. It is not an option but an increasing natural reality. You cannot serve if you are constantly thinking ‘What am I going to lose? How am I going to manage?’ The hardest person in the world to deny is yourself. To deny myself is to put self out of the picture and to put Christ in the place of self. As John Calvin wrote: ‘the chief part of self-denial … looks to God’ (III.7.8), yet he also reminds us that we cannot look to God apart from Christ whose ‘whole life was nothing but a sort of perpetual cross’ (III.8.1). The goal of self-denial is not merely self-forgetfulness, but Christlikeness.

Sinclair Ferguson comments: ‘Self-denial is not a shapeless, amorphous, notion. It involves being patterned after the likeness of Christ… This is muscular Christianity indeed. But is it not all too bleak (as some have thought)? Not if we consider (i) the depravity of our hearts that requires the strongest of medicines to eradicate our self intoxication, and (ii) the wonder of the goal the Lord has in view – that we should become like Jesus. In the goal lies the comfort. The implication? Do not underestimate the radical nature of the work that needs to be done in you if you are to become like Christ! Surely you didn’t think that would be a small thing accomplished without pain?’

This then is how a robust and rounded godly character is developed. It is the very answer given to us in 18:15, which in turn echoes 17:1 – “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand…” He said this at the start of his public ministry, and again now as he resumes it. Nothing has changed. What we learn from this is that the word from God to resume that public ministry came not after a time without communication from God, but in the flow of relationship. And it was this same flow of relationship that developed the faith of Elijah which in turned overflowed into the development and maintenance of godly character. God was near to Him during that season, showing His love to him, encouraging him, developing and maturing his character. It will be so for us too. But then we are to manifest it.

‘The Christian life is not lived to the honour of God without effort,’ writes John MacArthur on 2 Peter 1:5, “giving all diligence…”.

Having described what God has done in and for us, Peter is saying that we are to give ourselves to the task of developing Christian character and maturity in Christ Jesus, and that this should be don’t with serious commitment and energy or “diligence”.

God has given us the faith and all the graces necessary for godliness (vv.3-4), but we are to work it out in our lives by pursuing the spiritual qualities listed in vv.5-9, the result of which will be evidence that we really are of the elect (v.11).

To make sure we get the point about doing so with enthusiasm and depth of commitment Peter writes “add to faith”. The word “add” in original usage carried the idea of lavishness and generosity.

MacArthur notes: ‘In Greek culture, the word was used for a choirmaster who was responsible for supplying everything that was needed for his choir. The word never meant to equip sparingly, but to supply lavishly for a noble performance.’

That noble purpose is the development of Christian character that reflects Christian faith which in turn evidences God’s grace to us in Christ Jesus.

As we return to the life of Elijah from 1 Kings 18 we see in vv.1-2 a remarkable picture of the godly character of this man. it is a joy to explore the godly character of the man of faith.

However the real issue is not what was Elijah like as a man of God, but what are we like as the people of God? Are we people of noble character, that character which demonstrates faith, that is Christ-like? Here we see something of what Christian faith looks like in daily life. It is character that is nurtured in the bosom of God’s grace.

John Stasse

Morning Service, 31st May 2009

We don’t know how long Elijah had been waiting, but no doubt he was glad that God spoke to him again, telling him this time to leave the brook Cherith – after all the source of water so essential for life was dried up. But in so calling Elijah to move on God makes it clear that though the brook had dried up, the supply of His grace had not – it was merely relocated. For in v.9 we read God assuring Elijah that He had another place prepared for his care. In this God gives Elijah an insight into His purposes and ways. And that’s where I want us to pause and consider from God’s Word today. In the unfolding of God’s purposes to Elijah we see something about God’s ways and something of what should be our faith. We see:

1. The Challenge of Faith

God’s ways are often and rightly described as mysterious, and at face value they certainly seem to be so here.

(i) Look at the circumstances surrounding Elijah’s travel. God sends him on a journey, without water supplies seeing the brook was already dry, and that which involves going through arid country. The journey, involving hilly country, was about 120kms – which if at 6kms a day would take 20 days!

(ii) But as much a challenge this was, the greater challenge lay in the direction he walked. He was to go outside of Israel. He was to go to Zarephath by Sidon – which was the heart-land of Jezebel, where her father was the priest- king (see 16:32), and therefore also of the Baal worship she brought to Israel.

(iii) Even more strange, the road that would take Elijah to Zarephath passed through the Jezreel valley – the place where Ahab and Jezebel had their palace. He was walking into ‘the lion’s den’, passing right under the nose of the one who sought his blood. And he did so. Even though it meant walking through “the valley of the shadow of death” he “feared not” (Psalms 23). In fact what looked like the valley of death was really a ‘corridor of safety’ because God was the one directing his steps.

(iv) And then God makes clear that he was to go to a gentile widow, who were often amongst the poorest of society and ill-equipped financially to look after others, yet she will provide for him.

What a challenge! God’s ways invariably challenge our faith. We saw that with reference to Elijah’s both going to the Brook but also in the means God used to provide for him there, and again at the test of the drying Brook. Is this merely a repetition of the lessons and the test? In a sense yes, but even more it is a reminder that our response to the ways of God must always be one of faith. Indeed the believer’s life is always one in which faith is challenged by God as He seeks to develop and strengthen it as well as confirm it as the established principle of the believer’s life. In that sense we only leave God’s school of faith as we enter glory.

Do we understand that whilst past experiences of faith expressed and blessed encourage us, they do not remove the need for on-going faith as we face new situations? It is not enough to look back on our faith with gratitude, we need by God’s grace to express faith in the present, and seek preparation of our heart and mind for future calls upon it which we do by giving attention to the means of grace.

So often we can’t understand why certain things happen as they do. We might have caught a glimpse of God’s purpose later but at the time it was mysterious. All of which illustrates a principle which God declared in Isaiah 55:8,9 – “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

How often we have set ideas about how things should go, because of which we find ourselves fighting against change from our plan. But we must allow God the right to direct; even when it seems mysterious to us let alone even obliterates our plans. It is the spirit we see in Eli’s response to the Word from God through the boy Samuel: “Then Samuel told him everything, and hid nothing from him. And he said, ‘It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him’.” (1 Sam 3:18)

The life of faith is a life of daily going forward in faith. As Phil Johnson points out, ‘this is an incredibly difficult lesson for us to learn’. In 2 Cor 5:7 we read “we walk by faith not by sight”, yet we have to admit that ‘our natural tendency is to seek security in things we can see and feel, so walking by faith never really feels secure. We are constantly tempted to abandon the walk of faith and seek our security in tangible things. The truth is that real security only occurs in the walk of faith.’

2. The Confidence of Faith

As we look at God’s dealings with Elijah here we see 3 keys truths concnerning God’s ways which stimulate confidence in the exercise of faith:

a. God’s Ways are not irrational

Though it is mysterious, God’s ways are not without let alone against reason. God’s ways are not ways without purpose. Consider here that –

(i) It will serve to display the impotence of Baal, for God will provide for him under the very nose of the one whom Israel regarded as having displaced and deposed God. A truth which Elijah was to learn for the coming battle on Mt Carmel – that God’s power, provision and protection extended even in the very camp of the enemy. In face what it meant was that God was multiplying the grace to now include this widow and her son. Elijah’s need led to the supply of her need too!

(ii) It would serve as a further indictment of judgement upon Israel. We see that Jesus both understood this and applied its abiding lesson to His time as well. For in Luke 4:25-26 we read Him drawing on this very dimension as He responds to the hardness of the people of Nazareth His home town and the dryness of His work there compared to other places.

(iii) It would be a statement of the sovereignty of God’s grace in not only ministering to the needs of a woman and her son in dire straits, but in bringing God’s truth to them. Ahab would not listen to the Word of God, but here is a woman who by God’s grace will. As Jesus points out, though there were many widows in Israel yet He brought His servant and Word to this one who was both geographically and racially outside of Israel. “I have commanded a widow there to provide for you”, declares God. He did not choose her because of something within her, on the contrary all she did was because of God’s distinguishing sovereign grace. He had one whom He would bring to new life, and He brought the means of that new life to her, and through her sustaining grace to all three.

(iv) It would further strengthen the faith of Elijah for that ministry which lay ahead of him but of which he was at this time unaware. That he was so miraculously kept in the centre of Baalism would embolden him to think little of standing alone as God’s servant in the middle of 450 of Baal.

(v) It would broaden Elijah’s sense of ministry. God was showing not only that He was the Lord of the whole earth, but that His mission field was the whole earth, that he was willing to gather from outside Israel, a truth which Israel had often and long misunderstood. This of course reached its fulfilment in NT age.

We do well to consider what God is doing now against His ways already revealed in Scripture, confident that He is fulfilling well designed purposes.

b. God’s ways are carefully orchestrated

Our God is the God of circumstances. Look at the scene before us. God says He will provide for Elijah in Zarephath by a widow. But God makes no statement about how this widow was to be found. It is most reasonable that if there were many widows in Israel at that time as Jesus says, then there would also be many and certainly more than one in Zarephath. How would he identify her? How would he know He’s got the right one?

Yet they found each other! Coincidence? No! God!! As you read the story it is as if she came on purpose to meet him. Elijah meets her, waiting for him it almost seems, at the gate. He didn’t know she was a widow till she spoke – and how his heart must have leaped for joy when he heard, saying ‘Look, God has brought her to me!’ It has all the appearance of being accidental and yet it is all decreed and arranged by God. God’s sovereignty is written all over this passage!

The principle we ought to remember is that God arranges events and circumstances. In Jeremiah 10:23, “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” (cf Psalm 37:23 – “the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord”; Isaiah 46:9,10)

Learn that it is sheer unbelief that disconnects the ordinary things of life from God. All of our circumstances and experiences are directed by God, for “of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things…” (Rom 11:26).

Learn that God works at both ends of the line. When Jacob sends his sons to Egypt for food, God has already sent Joseph to give it to them. When Israel’s spies were sent to Jericho, Rahab was raised up to shelter them. If the Ethiopian is desirous of an understanding of God’s Word, he finds that Philip was sent to expound it to him. Elijah has no information where the widow lived, but Divine providence timed her steps and search for wood so that she met him at the gate of the city as he approached it. Even before the need is expressed the solution is being prepared.

Learn then to look for God’s hand in all of our life’s circumstances.

c. God’s ways are always accomplished

In 1 Thess 5:24 “Faithful is He who calls, and He also will bring it to pass.”  This is illustrated here as we compare v.9 with v.16.

What a blessed truth this is to have and own! Just as truly as the widow’s meal and oil didn’t fail according to His Word to Elijah, so every promise made to His saints will yet receive its perfect accomplishment. As one said, ‘The impeccable veracity, unchangeable faithfulness and almighty power of God to make good His Word, is the impregnable foundation on which faith may securely rest.’ Of course that has a solemn side – for it is equally true that God will make good His word to judge those who continue in their rebellion and sin and who reject His Son as Saviour. (See Deut. 7:9 which speaks of His abounding mercy to those who love Him, and v.10 of unrelenting judgement to those who hate Him.)

3. The Sight of Faith

Faith as the response to God’s ways causes us to look both within and upward:

a. God’s ways are designed to stop us settling

Lest we become like a can of oil-based paint sitting on our shelves which over time becomes useless due to the separation of the paint from its solvent and is thus in need of stirring, so God works to resist the temptation often present with his people to become complacent and lethargic in their faith.

A suggestive illustration is given to us in Jeremiah 48:11 “Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not emptied from vessel to vessel.” The purpose of this was to remove the lees which over time had the effect of robbing the wine of its life and spoiling it. Elijah on the other hand was being emptied by God from vessel to vessel, so that the scum might rise to the surface and be removed. Interestingly Zarephath means ‘furnace’. In the refining process Elijah was taken from one furnace into another.

This experience is common to all believers – James 1:2-4 – “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

The constant change of circumstances is not a pleasant experience, but it is essential if we are to be preserved from settling on our lees. Our circumstances, chosen by a wise God out of all the possible circumstances, are the most suited to develop our character, and to make us useful in God’s service. Rejoice!

b. God’s ways are directed to lift our eyes to God

Elijah’s response to God’s unfolding ways remained that of faith, seeing that faith does not look at circumstances but at God. Looking simply at naked circumstances the picture looked gloomy. Instead of a woman joyfully greeting him, she spoke sadly of impending death. Instead of having plenty to feed Elijah she only had enough for a small last meal. What a testing of faith. How unreasonable it would seem to expect aid from her roof – there must be another widow in God’s mind.

Yet as shown by his response to the widow’s pessimism Elijah’s faith looks beyond the obvious to the God of the obvious. In v.14 he says “For thus says the Lord God of Israel”. Tomorrow will bring with it tomorrows’ God! (See Isa 41:10). How much better is God than our fears! – v.16. Learn that faith though aware of difficulties is not occupied with them, but with Him with whom all things are possible; not with circumstances but with the God of circumstances. This is how it was with Elijah. Oh that it may increasingly be so of us. Let us ever look to our God and our Father, rejoicing in His ways as the ways of spiritual peace and prosperity.

Paul is talking about death, but more specifically that when we die, when we leave the body behind, we go to be with the Lord. How could Paul be so sure?

Paul says that we walk by faith. We take God at His Word. Our security is not found in the things we can see and feel, but in the living God who has given His Word to us.

As we return to Elijah we see that this is not only the lesson he learnt at the Brook Cherith, but which shaped and focused his life. Though the Brook dried up it was not until the Word of the Lord came to him that Elijah moved on. Three times in these first 8 verses we find reference to “the Word of the Lord”, emphasizing that this was the key directive of Elijah’s life. He exercised implicit faith in God’s Word. Obedience for him was not a matter of following where he could see, it was a matter of faith.

This was not only true at the Brook, but as he left the ‘classroom’ into daily life as he walked to Zarephath. As we shall see today this meant walking right under the noses of Ahab and Jezebel who were seeking everywhere for his blood.

Does that mean he understood God’s ways? Does that mean that his faith was never challenged? On the contrary, but he lived out the principle that Paul enunciated “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Our response to God’s ways must always be one of faith. In this way God confirms faith as the established principle of the believer’s life. In that sense we only leave God’s school of faith when we enter glory.

Though the challenge is real, as we understand the essential principles underpinning God’s ways with us (that they are not irrational, but carefully orchestrated and always accomplished) we find a fresh sight of God and renewed vigour in serving Him.

Evening Service, 24th May 2009

JAMES HAS BEEN TELLING US that God’s glorious plan is to make us “perfect, lacking in nothing” but also that God’s methodology is one that utilises trials. That is, that we are to look on trials we face as Stepping Stones to God’s glorious future for us in Christ. That’s why we should respond to such times with joy. The joy he speaks of is a result of the realisation that God is at work here. It’s like the home owner’s joy as he sees the builder at work renovating the house. Sure there is pain after all he sees holes in walls, rubble piling up, but he knows that there will be a great result because he has employed a great builder – and in our case that result is maturity and ability.

            Peter make the same point as he writes to Christians about to face serious trials involving persecution – “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” (1 Peter 5:10)

But not only are we to respond with joy, here JAMES ENCOURAGES US TO PRAY. What we need is prayer not paracetamol!

But his point is not that we should pray for the trials to be removed, but for wisdom to make correct response to and use of them. Trials have a habit of exposing issues within, but also causing us to stop and think. Questions come to mind. Assumptions are challenged. Possible ways forward begin to mass and cause confusion. We ask: Why this? Why me? But also things like: What is really happening in my life, where is it going? What do I want it to be like? But trials don’t automatically make us wise. In fact trials can expose our lack of wisdom – and they usually do. Some of the foolish things people say and do when they are under pressure stuns us and often deeply saddens us – and we know we are often little different.

Matthew Henry observes: ‘To be wise in trials is a special gift from God.’ And for this necessary gift we must turn to God. We need wisdom as we go through the remodelling of our lives. Like Solomon we should set a premium on the gift wisdom, and we should know that it can be only found with and received from God.

So James writes, “If any of you lacks wisdom let him ask God”. In this as we shall see there are two elements – that of necessity on our part, that of ability and willingness on God’s part.

Wisdom, says James, is the need of every believer under trial – Wisdom N.O.W. – we see it as Necessary, we seek it Optimistically, and we are to ask for it Wholeheartedly.

1.  See it as Necessary

1. The great need stated – “Wisdom” 

What do we understand by this word? AT Robertson defines it as ‘The right use of one’s opportunities in holy living.’  Robert Johnstone compares it to knowledge: `Knowledge, to a certain extent, is common and easy; but to know and to be wise are by no means the same thing.’ He further illustrates this by a man who own a fabric Mill who spends much of his time in adjusting and refining the machinery so they work to their optimum. But because he gave no attention to the yarns, colours and patterns as well his fine machinery beautifully produced fabric which were unsaleable. He was knowledgeable but hardly wise!

Biblical wisdom is more than understanding; it is the ability to apply what the Bible teaches to life’s situations, problems, decision-making and choices. As Motyer says: ‘If we say about someone, ‘He knows his Bible really well’, so far we have described a knowledgeable person. But if he also knows how to use his Bible to understand life and the world around him, and to guide his own conduct and the conduct of others in the maze of life’s problems, then knowledge has passed over into wisdom.’

This is how James uses it in 3:13, 17. “Wisdom” helps us to speak appropriately to the situation, and to live purposefully and profitably in it.

2. Why we need it

a. To see life the way James has just described. It is pretty hard to see that good will come out from what is happening. It seems only like a purposeless mess and nothing like a stepping stone to maturity. We need wisdom to see the wood for the trees. It takes a special wisdom to see all life’s events as serving the purposes of God.

b. To make the right decisions so that we will progress towards maturity. You may see that circumstances are designed by the Lord as James has declared. But you find that seeing life like that doesn’t make it either easier or clearer as to what to do next. There is more than one path opening ahead. Prepared as you are to persevere, you don’t know which to choose as the divinely appointed way forward. It is not that the truths the preacher tells you are wrong, but they seem meaningless. You want to know how to apply them. Again you need wisdom.

c. To keep our heart fixed on God’s purposes – to manage and control our temperament and emotions; so that sadness doesn’t become madness, etc. Afflictions often put one on edge so that we say things we don’t really mean, and hasty thoughts often produce foolish actions. So we need wisdom to control our personality.

3. Who needs it

The “if” here should not be taken as raising doubt, as saying some don’t need wisdom. All do, all will need wisdom.

I agree with Robert Johnstone who says that the “if” here refers rather ‘to the occurrence of circumstances’ – ie, “If” a trial occurs it will bring with it a real sense of need. It is equivalent to ‘whenever’.

We are apt to think ourselves wise, and so we ‘counsel’ a brother here and a sister there on what they should be doing. But Oh how undone we suddenly find ourselves when the same trial comes to us.  Brethren, this should keep us humble, from pontificating advice!

Without wisdom we will become fatalistic or bitter, we will become critical of both God and man. Without wisdom from God we will lose, not gain, by testing. As Earl Kelly reminds us: ‘The rod will be much more of a blessing if instruction goes along with it.’

2. Seek it Optimistically 

To encourage us in the pursuit of biblical wisdom James highlights certain realities pointing out in effect that we are not asking for the impossible, we are not asking for what God is not wanting to give. That is the fallacy of the first temptation – the belief that God is withholding wisdom from you is in effect what satan was saying to Eve, that He was withholding it lest you become like Him.  But that is not the case says James. On the contrary God wants us to enjoy His wisdom. So James stresses 3 things concerning how God will respond to such a prayer:

1. God’s giving is natural. It is God’s nature to give: literally ‘…from the giving God’. There is never a time when we will find God no longer giving, no longer willing to respond with a gift of wisdom to help us to obtain maximum benefit from the trials of life. He is always there, always giving. There will never be a ‘Come back tomorrow.’

2. God’s giving is unrestricted – “generosity”. This word has as its root the idea of single-minded, of not being afflicted by anything that might diminish an activity. So here the idea may be seen as a single-minded concern for the person, or even as an exclusive pre-occupation with them. This is how God gives – with a self-less, total concern for us, with an exclusive pre-occupation as if He had nothing else to do but to keep on giving.

3. God’s giving is enduring – This is a giving that never wears out – “without reproachment”. This word is not saying something about God, so much as about the one asking. James is thinking of everything that stands in the way of a free asking and everything we might imagine the Lord to hold against us. To which James is saying God will not respond to our request with a ‘What again?’ or ‘Yeah, but how did you use it last time?’ or ‘You’ve asked too often or too much.’

We may tend to excuse ourselves from giving – ‘I’ve already given!’ But God never does. Indeed, God sees persistent requests, not as irritating, but as revealing confidence in Him. Our God never grows weary in doing good.

Let us not minimise the ability or willingness of God to fulfil His glorious purpose through trials in us. He not only sovereignly allows the trials; He willingly and generously provides the instruction to make a profitable use of them. What a glorious encouragement this promise is!

3. Ask it Wholeheartedly

 Verses 6-8 raise the question of our sincerity. Are we wholeheartedly committed to His way of seeing things and His ambitions for our future? Or are we keeping a door open for the world and the flesh?

1. Two Key-Words

a. “doubt”.  The thought is making up one’s mind between alternatives, but being unable to. He is a person of two-minds, not committed in either direction.

b. “double-minded” (see also 4:8), is literally, ‘two-souled’, with a divided soul. Not two-faced, but of facing two ways, of being attracted in two directions.

2. Two Consequences.  James is concerned with the sad consequences of being like this. He uses the illustration of a wave – all is in flux and motion. No sooner is the surge of the sea set in one direction than a fresh gust of wind whips it around. Two results follow for the Christian so tossed about:

a. the power of prayer is robbed of power (v.7). Such a shifting person is unlikely to appreciate a gift from God, and therefore cannot expect to receive it.

b. an instability affecting the whole of a person’s life – “unstable in all his ways” (v.8). If we are not secure with God, then we are not secure at all. This refers to more than an inability to keep a steady course through a specific trial; it refers to the effect on personal character so that he is unstable in all of life’s experiences – smooth as well as rough.

3. Two Challenges

a. Is our heart one with God without any division of loyalty? James is saying that when we feel we are coming apart at the approach of trial our first thought should be to look at our relationship with God, and to be unwavering in our loyalty to Him.lhe answer is not turning from God, but to God.

b. Are you proving that reality in the place of prayer? It is one thing to say you are wholehearted in seeking God’s wisdom in facing trial whilst with other Christians, but is it evident in your private prayer life?

This wisdom is not just for a select few Christians, but for all Christians. You only have to admit your need of help, and to ask with sincerity, with wholeheartedness.

Again, in all of this FAITH is the pre-requisite. This is what God looks for: faith in Him. James is stressing that faith in God in the face of the circumstances of this life is the key to the Christian life – a fact that is repeatedly stressed here: v.1, faith in God’s calling; v.2-4 faith in God’s activity; v.5-8, faith in God’s character; and in v.9-11 in God’s grace despite our outward position in the eyes of the world.

In Job 28,Job asks the question: “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” (v.12).  He goes on to say that it is not found among men. But in v.28 the question is answered by God: “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.”

There is no question that we need a lot of wisdom to live in this world with its continuous series of complex events. And the great promise of God is that He will answer our requests for wisdom – if we ask with complete faith in Him.  

Yet in closing we ought to also understand that this is not godly advice from James, it is an inspired command. This is something we are to do when we face trials – and let’s face it that is in some measure a daily occurrence. Prayer for wisdom ought to be a daily prayer, as we enter each new day, each new situation, and each new difficulty whether small or large.

In the original Greek “Let him ask” translates an imperative verb. This then is something we are commanded to do. Our calling on the Lord for wisdom is not an option. It is required. Its absence then is not only foolish it is disobedience and ungrateful mocking and spurning of God’s loving provision. God will not stand idly by, but will cause us to obey. As MacArthur applies it: ‘…if a believer who is being tested is not driven to the Lord and does not develop a deeper prayer life, the Lord is likely to keep the test active and even intensify it until His child comes to the throne of grace—until he makes his “ear attentive to wisdom,” and inclines his “heart to understanding” (Prov. 2:2). And “if you cry for discernment,” Solomon continues, “if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God” (vv. 3–5; cf. Job 28:12–23; Matt. 13:44–46).’

Morning Service, 24th May 2009

Last week we noted that by sending Elijah to the Brook Cherith God was doing several things – He was declaring to Ahab and the nation an act of judgment, such that the Word of God which had been despised was now removed, a famine of the Word; and he was declaring to Elijah that he could fully depend on God and His Word, and daily finding opportunity to exercise faith, and that continually despite outward circumstances.

But then despite months of living by faith in dependence upon God in obedience to God’s word and enjoying God’s blessing in that place, that things suddenly and dramatically changed. Such times are often a time of confusion for believers, and become a real challenge to faith.

Now it is while Elijah is by the Brook Cherith, in a deep ravine in the wild and rugged terrain of Gilead, being cared for by creatures who clearly show more obedience to God than that greedy and self-serving Ahab, that something unexpected happens.

The brook dries up. Such is the scale of the devastation of the drought that even this brook dries up. What this clearly indicates is that Ahab had not changed, he was still hardened in sin of rebellious unbelief. But its impact is also felt by Elijah, by which we see that God had in mind for Elijah to learn another lesson of faith.

What we see in Elijah is that even though he didn’t know what was going to happen next. Elijah walked by faith even when things seemed to get worse. This is the faith God calls us to as well. We too know times when though we are in the will of God, and know so because we are being obedient to the Word of God, we will find things suddenly change and enjoyments evaporate.

Every now and then a Christian cries, perhaps you’ve done it, ‘Lord, what happened?’ He or she has been doing the Lord’s positive will as outlined in the Bible when suddenly disaster struck. They naturally think, ‘What’s going on Where’s the blessing? Has God forgotten me?’

It was here at the drying brook that Elijah was to learn an important lesson relating to this apparent problem in the Christian life – that being in the centre of God’s will doesn’t exclude the possibility of crisis, so when it comes wait on the Lord and don’t throw in the towel in unbelief.

1. Being in God’s Will

Now we now that Elijah was not here at the brook Cherith because he was running away from risky ministry; nor because he thought it wise or best, in fact he may have thought otherwise. He was here because of God’s direction which was supported with a promise of provision.

Elijah had a clear statement of God’s will, and He obeyed. He was where God wanted him to be, doing what God wanted him to do.

Three times in the opening verses we have the phrase “the Word of the Lord” (v.2, 5 and also v.8). What is asserted is that everything Elijah was doing was in accordance to the Word of the Lord, and even his leaving was not without the direction of the Word of the Lord.

He was living in the centre of God’s revealed will.

We are also to note that Elijah continued in the centre of God’s will for he stayed at the brook for a long period as shown by God’s fulfilment of His promise. It wasn’t just for a little while that he stayed there, he continued day after day. He was faithful though the circumstance was not ideal from a human perspective.

He didn’t have many outward comforts except that supplied by twice daily visits by ravens and the gurgling of the brook but it didn’t seem to matter for he was with God. He could do no work there, only meditate and pray. And in that he certainly had a taste of heaven, of communion with God. It is what John later spoke of when in exile on Patmos he revealed that yet he had sweet communion with His Lord.

Has that not been the portion of the Lord’s people when instead of rebelling of their isolation through the bed of sickness or cell of persecution? As we are reminded in John 15 where Jesus said “Abide in Me and I in you” – this fellowship of mutual abiding is ever our portion, and how more clearly are such times to explore and enjoy it.

For Elijah every raven visit was a reminder not only of God’s loving provision but of God’s loving presence with him as well. Even more, they were also a practical confirmation of God’s approval of where he was, that he was indeed where God wanted him, doing what God wanted him. Each appearance of the ravens was a reminder of being in God’s will, and in God was ministering to him through those unlikely instruments, and even in that apparently unlikely place of isolation.

Being in God’s will always provides us with experiences of the blessings of the Lord’s presence and love. This is where we should always strive to be: to be and doing where and what God in His Word calls us to. Can there be any richer place in this world? It is here that we find the grace to help us in our daily life – plentiful, good and sufficient for the day, whilst learning to leave tomorrow in God’s hands. It is here we find a conscience calmed by the Prince of Peace. It is here that we find ourselves most useful to the Lord and to His cause in this world.

When we are living in God’s revealed will remember secondly that this

2. Doesn’t Exclude the possibility of a sudden crisis

It happened in the life of Elijah at the Brook Cherith, where a time came when Elijah began to watch the water flow daily diminish. Eventually one day it dried up!

This was a serious physical crisis because it had been his support during a very severe drought. Now this too was affected. There was no water! And Elijah would not live long in that climate without water.

But it was potentially also a real spiritual crisis, for by faith Elijah had followed God’s directions and enjoyed God’s blessings. But now without any alteration in his obedience or trust, the blessing of water was gone. How could this be?

The answer lies in the fact that God is not just interested in imparting faith; He is interested in its development, in its improvement. Having passed one grade in the school of faith, it was now time for the next. God knows that faith only develops under pressure. It is a spiritual law of thermodynamics: the increase of heat upon faith produces a parallel increase expansion of faith. In this even Jesus was not exempt, for in Hebrews 5:8 we read that “He learned obedience by the things which He suffered”.

Think about that for a moment. As Elijah thought ‘How come it is drying up?’ the answer would have come ‘because I prayed for it!’ In the same why when we ask God what happened His reply is ‘Nothing. I’m just answering your prayer.’ You’ve asked, ‘Lord make me like Your Son’ – and that’s what He is doing! And He is doing it in the same general way as He did with His Son.

It is one of the hardest trials that can possibly come upon us when, having been placed in the middle of comforts and just beginning to enjoy them, that we suddenly lose them. It maybe a drying brook of finance, or it may be of health, or of the removal of a dear Christian friend who has been God’s daily instrument of refreshing your soul in His truth, of a church’s ministry – those things given by God to us which we could rely on before to provide for us are no longer there for us. Life itself is a diminishing provision.

How easy in such times our joy quickly turns to sadness! The temptation to false ideas and harsh thoughts of God are so near. It is so easy to think that God has forgotten us, or to enter in a false morbid introspection of blaming ourselves for some error when in fact God may merely be saying it is time to learn a new lesson in the school of faith. If Elijah had yielded to such things his faith would’ve also dried up, and his confidence would’ve disappeared like the brook.

Let us remember that though such times may come upon us unexpectantly, but they are never unexpected to God. It is not a declaration that He has forgotten His promise to all His people in Lam 3:22-23 that His loving-kindness will not fail, that they are new every morning. It is a declaration that he is working our His eternal purposes, “who does all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph 1:11) and who “works all things together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28).

But in such times and situations,

3. Don’t throw in the towel but wait on the Lord

Here’s Elijah by a brook, day by day seeing a diminishing water flow. Did his hopes diminish also? Did his songs of worship grower weaker as the water rolled less noisily across the rocky bed? Did he lay aside his worship giving himself to anxiety, relentless pacing backwards and forwards?

There is nothing in Scripture to indicate this – on the contrary the implication is that he waited. For God did not give him a word of rebuke, rather God’s Word came as a reward to him to guide his next step.

Last week we saw there were lessons Elijah had to learn in going to the brook Cherith, and here we see them being put into practice as Elijah waited: (i) one step at a time – he waited. Elijah didn’t get his local hiking map out and go looking for another source of water, waterholes which he may have known about from previous travels in this area. No, he waited. (ii) the right perspective – he waited, which evidences a deep sense of humility and dependence upon God. (iii) trust God contrary to sight – he waited. God was in control, He would not let His servant suffer needlessly.

In the light of this we are to understand that the drying brook was an important trial to see if he had learnt the lessons up to this point – which he had. That a word came from God to move on to a more public location to exercise his ministry indicated that he had passed these lessons learnt in the private place.

Is this how we look at the trials in our Christian life – as tests in God’s school of faith aimed to see if we have learned faith’s lessons taught up to this point in our Christian life and are able to put them into practice? Or do we respond like Abraham who no sooner than he arrives in the centre of the will of God of Canaan, this land of plenty that he finds there is a severe famine? The first thing he did was to head for Egypt and what trouble he got into there! That is always the result when we rely on our own resources: trouble!

When our brook seems to dry and we are tempted to cry out ‘Lord what happened?’ let us understand that God is developing us through trials; and let us understand that God is able to meet our needs even when we lose the current means He has been using and blessing us with. The issue is neither context nor means; it is the presence of a loving, wise, purposeful, faithful God.

If at this time you have yielded to this temptation to throw in the towel of faith and to rely on your own thoughts or on someone else, if your zeal for Christ has diminished, your spirit of devotion is dying, if you find no delight in prayer, nothing to give praise and thanksgiving for, and can find nothing about you to stir you up and encourage you – remember Him who said of His vineyard in Isaiah 27:3, “I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; I will even keep it night and day.” And of whom it is said in Psalm 84:11, “No really good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

Be like Elijah – trust and wait – and God’s Word of guidance and help will come! God may teach and test us but He never deserts us. Remember, being in the centre of God’s will doesn’t exclude the possibility of crisis, so when it comes wait on the Lord and don’t throw in the towel in unbelief. Maintain your trust and continue your worship.

Remember that being in the centre of God’s will is not always made known by the flow of circumstances, that sometimes He removes blessings or changes circumstances even though we are being obedient to His revealed will. In this God moves us more into the centre of God’s will, or moves us into something better. Have you not from time to time seen such changes happening in your life? I hope you have seen also how God in such times brings our greatest good out of our worst disasters. We need to remember that and confess that God’s way are always right, His purposes are always good and that we can trust God in even the tragic events of life that we can never fully understand here on this earth.

Even with those things that never come clear to us we can still trust His goodness in them; we can rest in the confidence that God is doing and always does what is right.

Even when things appear to have got out of control we can trust God that He is absolutely in control and always will be, that He is accomplishing His sovereign will, and that what He is doing is always the best thing for us.

It is the very essence of faith to take hold of those truths and to trust implicitly in the wisdom and goodness of God – especially when to our limited human wisdom and perspective everything seems to be absolutely irrational and totally out of God’s control.

That is the lesson that was being stamped on Elijah’s heart and mind during this time – and will be on ours as well, both by the Word this day and by God’s gracious dealings every day.