Above anything else in our lives, God wants to have all of our hearts, our worship, our focus, our adoration. God wants to be number one and have all of our hearts. In fact, the very first of the Ten Commandments God says, “You shall have no other gods before me. When Jesus was questioned, what is the most important commandment, Jesus said, “Above all else, we are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.” God wants all of our hearts, not just part of our hearts. Because this is true, its a good reason, for Satan, the spiritual enemy, to try and hurt God. To take the hearts of the people away from the one true God and try to get people to worship and serve false gods, is something that Satan’s been doing throughout history. Putting false gods in the place of the one true God, it is called the sin of idolatry.
False gods promise what only the true God provides. For example, money is a popular false god. What does money do? Money promises what only God can provide. Money says if you have enough money, you’ll be happy and secure. That’s what many people believe about the false god of money. But the reality is, once you get enough money and someone says, “You have cancer and you are going to die in thirty days,” you realize it doesn’t matter how much money you have. It doesn’t make you secure. It’s a false promise. Money says if you have enough, you’ll be happy, but it doesn’t matter how money you have. If one day you find you’ve lost one of your own children, there’s no amount of money that can buy your happiness in that moment. It’s a false promise. It’s a false god. It promises something that it does not provide.
In the life of Elijah, many people were living idolatrous lives. They were worshipping and serving false gods. Elijah was called by God to confront a very evil king named King Ahab, who was married to the wicked woman, Jezebel. Ahab was the seventh consecutive evil king. Scripture says that he did more evil in the eyes of God than anyone before him, so he was the worst of the worst, and of all his long list of sins and wickedness, the worst thing that he did was, he continued turning the hearts of the people away from the one true God toward the false gods of Baal and Asherah.
Baal was the sun god, Asherah was a fertility goddess. The people were no longer worshipping the one true God. Instead, they were worshipping the false gods. The false gods promised, “If you worship me, we’ll make your crops grow. If you worship me, then you’ll have a better life.” False gods promise what only the true God provides.
God raises up Elijah, who confronts the king, and basically says, “Because of your idolatry, God sent me to tell you it’s not going to rain until God tells me to pray and asks it to rain.” It’s the worst thing you could imagine, and so God sends Elijah into a period of hiding and preparation. Why? Because king Ahab wanted him dead. He said to everybody, “You find him, kill him on the spot.” God takes Elijah to the place called the Karith Ravine. Karith means the place of cutting, cutting down. It’s a place of humbling, where God humbled him and developed him into even a stronger man of God. God fed him by morning and evening, by ravens who flew in, would drop bread and meat, and then he was, had drink through the brook. But one day, the brook dried up. God called him to move on to a place known as Zarephath, where there was a widow, who God used to provide for him with just a little bit of oil and a little bit of flour that never miraculously ran dry. One day, the widow’s son died. This growing man of faith took the son up to the upper room, called out to God, and God raise this boy from the dead. And we see the prophet developing into the man of God that God wants him to become.
Now, our last verse told us that he went into hiding. We find out now, God wants him to go and confront the evil king, and here’s where we pick up the story. We are about three years into the drought, and in I Kings 18:17-18, we see them together again. Scripture says, “When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him. ‘Is that you, you troubler of Israel?’ ” Now, the Hebrew word that’s translated as troubler can also be translated as snake, or viper. In other words “Hey, you no good, low down snake. I’m, it’s your fault all this is happening. All these people are dying with this huge draught, because of you, Elijah. Elijah says, “I’m not taking any of that from you. He pops back toward the king, verse 18, and says, “No, I’ve not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied, “but you and your father’s family have. You’ve abandoned the Lord’s command and you have followed the Baal’s. You are committing the sin of idolatry. You are putting false gods ahead of the one true God. And Elijah was confronting the very popular idea that there are many gods.
Monotheism and polytheism. What is Monotheism? It’s the belief that there is one God. As Christians, we are monotheistic in our beliefs. Polytheism, though, is the belief that there are multiple gods, and Elijah was confronting a very polytheistic culture, where they would worship multiple gods. Now, those of you who are Christ followers, you would say, “Well, we are monotheistic. We believe in one true God.” But even though we believe in one true God, many of us live what I would call polytheistic lives. We believe in God, but in reality, we worship and serve many false gods.
Most people I know aren’t worshipping the false gods of Baal or Asherah. In reality, the false gods today that people worship and serve are much more socially acceptable. People worship the false god of material possessions. A house, a car. It could be your image, your look. It could be your favorite sport. It could be your career. It could be your, your hobby. It could be your children. You say, “Well, how in the world could our children be a false god?” When you elevate anything into the rightful place of the one true God and put anything on the throne of your life besides God, that is adultery, even something as good and important as your children. So, that’s why I would ask the question to all of you today to identify Him.
What are the false gods that you serve?
I’ll tell you a few in my life. I’m not proud of these, but one is, I’ve made building this church, the ministry, what I do, the number one most important thing in my life. Serving the church is my calling. But my calling can’t be above God and my love for Him. I’ll do it in the name of God, but it becomes my god. Grow the church. Serve the church, improve the church, promote the church. If I’m not careful it can become an idol in my life. Another thing is that my family has been an idol to me. Obviously, family is good and I should love my wife and my kids, my parents, my grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, but the truth is, I’ve put them at a too important place in my life sometimes, caring about what they think instead of what God thinks. I could go on: seeking too much comfort or ease, status through great vacations, my home, clothes, vehicles, or maybe too much attention to my hobby of landscaping and buying plants. What about you? What gets most of your time, attention, money, effort, thoughts or dreams?
Be honest. What are some of the false gods you’ve elevated and erected in the place of the one true God? The sin of idolatry. Sure, we’re monotheistic in our beliefs, but our practices are often very polytheistic. So, Elijah, the prophet, steps into this polytheistic culture and he makes a very prophetic and very strong statement.
He looks at them as they are going back and forth, and he says with all the authority of God, he says, “People, it is time to quit wavering. It’s time. Quit wavering between the gods. Quit going back and forth.
Choose today to follow God
It’s time to quit wavering,” so what he does is, he basically says, “We are going to have a good old-fashioned showdown.” Watch what he says to the king in verse 19-21. He says to the king, “King, now summon the people from all over Israel to meet on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” May we pause for a moment and say, “That is one big honking table.” ? I just had to say it. , verse 20. “So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel, and he assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Verse 21, here’s where Elijah gets in the people’s face. “Elijah went before the people”, and he asked this piercing question. He asked, “How long will you waver between two opinions? How long will you waver?” Then he says this, “If the Lord is God,” what do you do? Say it out loud. If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God,” what do you do? “Follow him. But the people said nothing,” and he steps in and says, “How long will you do this? If God is God, follow him. If Baal is God, follow him,” and I can guarantee you. If Elijah were here today, he’d say the same thing to us. “Quit wavering! We say, “God, keep me out of Hell and get me into Heaven, but I still want to do whatever I want. Oh, God, hear my prayer and bless me, but I don’t want to obey your command. Oh, God, I want all of Your good things, but don’t want to stop my bad things.” Quit wavering! Quit being a Christian on Sunday and a heathen on Monday. Quit claiming Christ and living like you don’t know him! Quit wanting the benefits and being unwilling to sacrifice. Just quit wavering!
Take a side. In fact, I’m trying to conceptualize Elijah’s message to today. And here’s what I honestly think he would say.
“If material possessions, if they’re really the most important thing, then quit just sort of accumulating them, but go for it! Get into massive debt. Steal, if you have to. If the greatest thing is accumulation, then everything should be justified, and stealing would be justified. And don’t ever give again. Don’t ever do anything generous! That would, then, diminish your ultimate goal of accumulating. If material possessions, if that is truly God, then go for it.
If your image, if that’s truly God, then, then don’t just kind of do it. get in the gym three hours a day. Tan it, tweak it, tat it, puff it, tuck it, lift it, twist it, curl it, color it! Just ignore the fact that you’re going to die one day. Don’t even think about that. That would totally disqualify the god of your appearance. Buy whatever clothes you need and go for it.
Sexual pleasure? If that’s your god, go for it. Go for it. Look at porn, get addicted, get herpes, syphilis, aids. Don’t let something as small as marriage hold you back. If you are married and you’re not happy, have an affair. If you like to play on both sides of the street, do whatever you want. Go for it. If that’s your god, go for it.
Your house, is that your god? Quit doing one little room at a time. Go into debt. Hire the best … get that pool, patio and wine cellar. If those things are your god, then quit playing around and go for it!”
*Wow, that’s why the prophets would often get killed, because their message was offensive!
BUT! If Christ, the Son of God, is the one true God, then quit your wavering! Serve Him with all of your hearts! Don’t just claim Him and then live as if He doesn’t exist. Serve Him! I can, I can feel the Spirit of Elijah saying, “, quit wavering,” and I’m saying to our church, ‘Quit wavering. How long will you waver between two opinions?” Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength!
So, what did he do? He has a showdown, and he goes and says, “Get two bulls for me, one bull for you, one bull for me. We are going to build a couple of altars, and we are going to sacrifice these. And we’re going to call on your god, our God, and we’ll see who really is God.” So, we’ll pick up the story and see what happens.
Verse 24, he says this. “Then you call on the name of,” whom? Help me out. He says, “You call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. And the one who answers by,” what? “The one who answers by fire,” who is he? Scripture says, “—he is God, and then all the people said, ‘What you say is good.’ “
Verse 26, scripture says, “So they took the bull. They prepared it.” These are the prophets. They, they prepared it, and, “Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon.” And they’re dancing around, going, ‘O Baal, answer us!’ and they shouted. But,” the Bible says there was what? The Bible says, “There was no response; no one answered. And so they danced around the altar that they had made.”
This was just a worship dance. It, it was a full body, jumping up and down. It was this twisting around. It was this, this shouts of, of joy and shrieks to their false … and nothing happened. Nobody dances like that today, do they? Except if you are in a concert with your favorite band or you’re watching your favorite sports team and they score! I’ve got to be honest. I get fired up at a football game, I wish it were easier to get fired up like that at EVERY church service! I don’t want to EVER be more excited about the Aggies than I am about Jesus!
They’re dancing, “Baal, send fire.” Nothing happened. I love this, Elijah starts teasing them, this is funny. This is a man of God, and he’s going to mess with them. Here’s what he does. Verse 27, “At noon Elijah began to taunt them. ‘Why don’t you shout louder! I don’t think he can hear you. ? Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or he’s busy, or he’s traveling. Maybe he’s sleeping and somebody needs to go wake him up.” What’s he doing? He’s messing with them. “I know he’s a god, but maybe he’s on vacation. Maybe he’s taking a little siesta. He’s got his milk and cookies. He’s taking a little nap.” Now, here’s what’s just funnier than ever. When he says “maybe he’s busy” what he’s really saying is, look it up. I studied Hebrew in seminary. Look it up. I’m not making this up. What he’s really saying is, “Maybe he’s going to the bathroom.” That’s funny! That’s what he’s say … the most literal translation is, “Maybe he’s busy. Maybe he’s relieving himself.”
As we read on, verse 28 through 35, what’d they do? They shouted louder. They danced around. They went crazy. They started to cut themselves, because that’s what they did. And scripture says they shouted all day long. Sadly though, many of us, we don’t dance for the false gods all day long, but many of us do it all lifetime long, our whole lifetime. Dancing, praising, pursuing, serving, and worshipping the false gods that promise, but never deliver all lifetime long.
So finally, at the end of the day, they danced, cut themselves, nothing happened. Elijah does this. I Kings 18:36, “At the time of the sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and,” what did he do? The Bible says he what? He what? He prayed:
Choose today to pray to God.
He didn’t dance, shout, cut himself, do everything he could to get God’s attention. He prayed. “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and I have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that these people will know, O Lord, that you are God, and that you are,” what? “And that you are turning their hearts back again.” Can you see the power and the beauty in those statements? “Answer me, Oh, Lord. Reveal yourself. Show us who You are. Let us see You. Reveal Yourself by fire. May we feel the heat of Your love. Show us who You are. Why? So that You may turn the hearts of the people back again, because they used to know You. They used to walk with You. They, they used to serve You. They used to worship You, but these false gods have taken Your place, Oh God. Turn their hearts back again.”
And as I read that, I feel such passion for so many of you, because there are those of you, you walked with Him. And then you walked away, and you put some false god or any combination of false gods on the throne of your life. And today, God is trying to reveal Himself to you. Why? So you can turn your hearts back to Him again. And there are those of you, that’s why you’re here, because God has been working. Why? So you can turn your hearts back to Him again. That’s why you are here. Turn your hearts back to Him, whoever has God revealed yourself by fire.
He prays and verse 38, watch what happens. “Then the fire of the Lord,” Imagine that. A lightning rod of fire from Heaven fell, and here’s what scripture says. “It burned up the sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the soil, and it licked up all the water around that the false prophets had poured on it. It licked up the water, and when all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!”
Choose today to worship God.
Today, don’t wait until you see God and its too late! They were terrified! There is a day when we see God for who He really is and we will be terrified. And that would be my prayer for our church, that we would so see Him for who He is that all the false gods would fall far away in comparison to the one true God, and our hearts would be turned back to Him and we would say, “Lord, He is God. He, He is God!” Not on the Day of Judgment but today.
Why didn’t God do that today? Why doesn’t God show Himself like that? I question I have asked but I realized in so much of an infinitely more beautiful way, just how God showed Himself when He left Heaven, became one of us in the person of His Son, Jesus, and lived a perfect and sinless life so that He, so that He could die for us on a cross and be raised again, so we could know Him. And when you do know Him through Christ, then all the false gods just seem to fall away.
The Spirit of Elijah, (the Holy Spirit) would say to us today: Choose to Follow God, don’t waiver, Choose to Pray to God, don’t hurt yourself or others to get your way, Choose to Worship God, and God alone. If you know God for who He is, you will never be tempted to serve these false gods, because the one true God is so much greater!
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