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Grace, mercy, and peace be upon you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning’s sermon comes from the Old Testament reading. You may be seated. There are many things that motivate your behavior, just like it motivates my behavior. But one of those things that’s not a good motivator is fear. And fear can motivate us to do things that we’re very ashamed of. Or fear motivates us to do something and we justify it because we’re so afraid.
Elijah was motivated by fear and yet he is a prophet of God, isn’t he? Prior to this text, this prophet Elijah had been given a great gift by God. He was called by God to gather all the prophets of Baal on top of Mount Carmel to put forth a sacrifice of a large ox. And while the Baal prophets prayed for Baal to come and consume the sacrifice, of course, nothing happened because Baal doesn’t exist. The moment that Elijah prays, the sacrifice is consumed with fire from heaven.
And then God gave Elijah the privilege or the duty, however you want to think about it, because it’s a tough thing to consider. Elijah was given the duty or the privilege of slaughtering all the prophets of Baal on that mountain nearby. He had witnessed God’s power and might. He had experienced in his life something none of us have ever experienced. And then when he hears that Jezebel wants him dead, he no longer trusts in God. And fear motivates him to leave the area that he’s in.
Oh, by the way, do you know what area that he preached in to Ahab and Jezebel? The city, or the area, I should say, of Samaria. We’ll come back to that in a moment. Interesting coincidence, do you not think? He leaves Samaria and travels 300 miles to the south, sprinkling piety on his work of fear. He goes to what place? Mount Sinai. That’s where God revealed himself to Moses. So I’ll go there too, because that’s where God will reveal himself to me, even though God never told him to do it. He, by his own reason, he, by his own fears, thought that out and made that assessment because God could not take care of him there in Samaria, could he?
Fear motivates us. Do we parent a certain way because of our fears? Are we a wife or husband motivated by fear with our wife or husband? And how we act and react? Do we live in fear? All of us do. It is a heart that beats within every one of our bosom, starting first and foremost with Adam and Eve. Where did they go after they had sinned? But they hid themselves for fear. And just as God revealed his great love for Adam and Eve by finding them in their fear, so God finds Elijah in the midst of his fear, 300 miles away from where he should have been.
And God does not come to him with tsk, tsk, tsk, but comes to him as his God and sees him in his fear and embraces him, his fear, and says, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” God knows the answer to such a question. He’s moving Elijah to confess. Yes, Elijah confesses very well his fears. Everybody’s gone. Nobody believes in you anymore. I’m the only one left. They’re trying to kill me.
Do you know what Elijah doesn’t tell God? Elijah doesn’t tell God how God rescued him on Mount Carmel. Elijah doesn’t tell God how wonderful and great God was by calling him to faith. Elijah’s prayer is just like yours and mine. And God does not reject Elijah’s prayer. God tells Elijah to stand upon the mountain. Even that command, Elijah disobeys. For when Elijah shows himself to the Lord, he comes out from where? The text says he comes out from a cave. He didn’t even obey when God told him to stand on the mountain. And God didn’t reject him.
Because God’s love trumps his disobedience and fear, just like it trumps your disobedience and your fear every time. God shows Elijah himself and reveals himself. For in having this magnificent wind that accosted Mount Sinai, only God could have done that. And yet, what does the text say? God was not in the wind. When God shakes this mountain of Sinai, as a child shakes anything, only God could have done that. And yet the text says God is not in the earthquake. And then when a horrific fire engulfs Mount Sinai that only God could do, the text says God’s not in the fire.
So your house is the only one spared by a tornado. Does God love you more? Is that how you know God loves you? Many of the people of Bastrop didn’t have their house burned by the fires that consumed them. Does God love them more? Is that a sign of God’s love? And a sign of God’s punishment if they’re burned? God is not in those signs of judgment. God is in the still small voice. It is finished for you.
That is the same way he comes to you so that you cannot judge it by fear or by sight or by some emotion that wells up within you. You could only judge it by believing in it or not. Did God say it or not? That’s all you and I have. That’s all Elijah had.
Now, after Elijah was given this, God asked him the question again. Elijah answered with the same exact words. And I’m thinking, did he not get it? But then I have to consider myself and say, do I not get it? Do you not get it? God gives Elijah a litany of things to accomplish. Anoint this man, Jehu, king. Anoint this man, king. Anoint Elisha, the prophet, to follow you.
Do you want to know what about this litany of things to do for Elijah? Elijah only did one of the three things. He only did one of those three things. He never, ever anointed Jehu. Elisha did that. He never anointed Hazael. Elisha did that. The thing that really matters in this text is when he says to Elijah, “Elijah, there are 7,000 who need to hear the still small voice and who know the still small voice. Like my sheep know my voice.”
Be faithful in the midst of your fear. Elijah never got to see the result of Elisha’s anointing Jehu, and Elijah never got to see the anointing of Hazael by Elisha. In fact, all that Elijah got to see was being faithful in the area that God had called him. Was that God’s judgment? Whatever. But where did God reveal himself as loving and gracious? In the still, small voice. It is finished.
Why else would he work through a clay pot of a man to speak the words, “I forgive you all your sins,” because it’s the voice of God speaking it, not the man? Why would he use fermented grapes and unleavened bread to bring you his flesh and blood if it’s not to be the still small voice? Can tragedy occur in this world without God? No. God is not in the tragedy in a loving and gracious way. He has promised to be here in a loving and gracious way because fear motivates you and me to do a lot of things that we don’t want to do and to think about God in certain manners that are sinful, just as Elijah thought of God in certain matters that were sinful.
It is a sin to let fear motivate us. And God still finds us in our fears as he finds Elijah in his. It is a sin to disobey God. And yet God finds Elijah in his disobedience and loves him and forgives him as he does you and me.
Now there are many people who are very curious and fearful about Britain leaving the EU and what does that mean? There are many people who are fearful of who’s going to be our next president. There are many people fearing, how is the church going to continue? And I’m just as bad as you when it comes to fears. And yet God says there are 7,000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal. Paul, we learned about that in Bible class today, uses that same illustration to say God will accomplish his works. In chapter 11 of Romans, he will call his people who know his voice, and his sheep will come.
Do not fear. In the midst of fear, be faithful as Elijah was by God’s strength alone and with God’s forgiveness foremost. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
