1 Kings 19: 9 – 15 & 18 * August 23, 2009 * Pentecost 12 * Rev. Harold Hagedorn

As some of you know, we are privileged to be members here at St. John’s. My work and travel schedule don’t permit us to always attend but we do give thanks for this congregation because the Gospel in Word and Sacraments, the means of grace, is amongst us; because of you; and because of our pastors. I give thanks for their preaching—the Lord’s use of them to feed me clear Law, which shows me my sin, and sweet Gospel, which shows me my Savior. Their substantial skills are certainly displayed during the summer series on the Cloud of Witnesses as encouraged in Hebrews 12 as we look to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ by reviewing the faith and lives of OT witnesses. When able to be here I have given thanks as our pastors were able to package so much about these witnesses of the Lord into their sermons. The challenge became especially apparent when I was asked to take this turn.

Trying to wrap Elijah into a sermon leaves me with two options. Either you settle in and we will have lunch brought in or we skip some portions of the life of Elijah. Having chosen the second option, we ask the Lord God to bless and guide us by the outpouring of His Holy Spirit as we consider

ELIJAH, LEARNING TO LISTEN FOR LIFE.

We will lead up to the section of Scripture that is recorded immediately after the OT Lesson as read earlier in our service.

As we meet and greet Elijah, we note that one Bible study listed 13 separate scenes from his life that are worthy of special note, plus one that occurred after Elijah was gathered to heaven. This occasion we know as the Transfiguration, which occurred shortly before Jesus suffered and died for the sins of the world. Elijah and Moses appeared to encourage him for this saving task. In a way, Moses can be said to be the law bringer and Elijah a grand representative of the Prophets. The demands of the Holy Lord God and the wondrous promises of our Savior God are fulfilled and accomplished by Christ Jesus.

Elijah = “The Lord is my God.” This is all we know of his background: “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead…” (1 Kgs 17:1a) Of his life of faith we know much more: “…said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” (17:1)

Elijah lived at a time when the land of Israel was divided between the kingdom of Israel to the north and the kingdom of Judah to the south. Ahab was king in Israel to the north and of him it is written: “Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him.” (16:30) He married Jezebel and they established the worship of the idols Baal and his consort Asherah. They were considered to be the gods of rain and fertility and the worship of them heaped sexual sins upon sexual sins. It is directly into the face of this idolatry that Elijah announces God’s pro-nouncement of no more rain. That’s a lesson for life: there is only one who is God and the worship of any other is an abomination to the living Lord God.

“Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: ‘Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.” (17:2-4) Whoa. Ravens are scavengers. They don’t do food service. Ah, a life lesson: God’s ways are not always ours, but he provides what we need, even if not always what we want or think we need.

The brook dried up and Elijah went to a Gentile woman and her son and displayed the might, majesty and mercy of the Lord God. But then he was sent to Ahab and Jezebeel. On Mount Carmel Elijah gathered the heathen priests and priestesses of Baal and Asherah and challenged them to have their gods make it rain. It is written: ²¹Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." But the people said nothing. … ²⁷At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." ²⁸So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. ²⁹Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. ³⁰Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins. … ³⁸Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. ³⁹When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!" (1 Kgs 18) Sadly this was only a temporary profession of faith, but the people did join Elijah in executing the false prophets.

Needless to say, the righteous judgment of the Lord God as carried out by Elijah created some ill will. ¹Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ²So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them." (1 Kgs 19)

An old ditty declared: “Gloom, despair and agony on me, deep, dark depression, excessive misery.” These all came upon Elijah in his struggle to trust and serve. And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" ¹⁰He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." ¹¹The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹²After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" ¹⁴He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." ¹⁵The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came,…¹⁸Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him." (1 Kgs 19)

All of the spectacular displays of the might and majesty of the Lord God, and still Elijah despaired. All of the knowledge and evidence that “The Lord – He is God!” and yet Elijah struggled. But, oh, the amazing grace of our Savior God! He reached out to Elijah and declared, Listen. Listen for Life for time and eternity. Listen.

Our Savior God reaches out to us as well. When we doubt or despair, when we toil and struggle, He declares, Listen. We would like to know what all was said by the “gentle whisper” of the Lord as Elijah stood at the mouth of that cave. But what’s really more important is what the Lord God says to all, to us. Through the same quiet Word, the Lord our God still today continues to save sinners and to restore the souls of his troubled people. For example, in the Lessons we heard today from God’s holy Word: ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God. “Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. ⁴⁶No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life.” (Jn 6) And, oh, what this means for our faith and our lives of faith as declared in the Epistle Lesson: ³²Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. ¹Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Eph 4&5)

Learn to listen for life. I want to pause now and read you Romans and Philippians and the Gospel according to John. Listen. Listen to the voice of the Lord God. ²⁸"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Mt 11) Listen. ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8) Listen. ¹⁴But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, ¹⁵and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3)

You know your triumphs and tears, your challenges and courage, your joys and despairs. Listen for life, life for time and eternity. And that brings us back to where we started. This is a good place to listen, to learn of the justice and justification of the Lord our God. We are blessed with the Word of the Lord. We are blessed with good and faithful preacher/teachers. At times we all probably would like to have the Lord directly provide for us as He did Elijah. Or have the Lord enable us to call down fire. But for all that spectacular, the people didn’t listen. For ourselves and for those to whom we witness, how blessed we are to have the lesson of Elijah about Learning to Listen for Life! Come and listen and bring someone with you.

Amen.