“The Story”
“Chapter 15 - Can You Hear Me Now?”
Text: 1 Kings 17-19; 2 Kings 2,4,6; Amos (selected) Hosea (selected)
Thesis:
God continues to work on the Upper Story – to bring all humanity
back to God’s self. But God divides the nation of Israel into 2
kingdoms because they do not faithfully show the world God’s true
character. Still, God continues to woo the people back through the
prophets. In the northern kingdom of Israel, 9 prophets are sent but
no one will listen.
Previously on The Story...
∙
Three kings – Saul, David, and Solomon – reign over a united Israel for
120 years.
∙
But Solomon’s lukewarm faith in God mixed with the worship of idols,
leaves a legacy of idolatry and a divided nation.
∙
King Rehoboam rules the smaller southern kingdom of Judah and is the
king from David’s line. But like his father Solomon, he mixes the worship
of God with idolatry.
∙
King Jeroboam rules the 10 tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel and is
anointed by God to be king. But he creates a hybrid religion using the
ritual of Israel, 2 golden calves, and bogus priests.
What a mess!
We are now entering what Randy Frazee calls “the black hole” of the Bible.
Whenever I first tried to read through the Bible from beginning to end, this is
where I got stuck – not with all the tedious laws in Leviticus or Numbers – but with
the chaos of the 2 kingdoms and trying to keep the story straight as the writers of
Kings and Chronicles bounces back and forth between the two kingdoms in what
is definitely not a straight line. Remember, the Bible is arranged by type of
material and not chronologically. So, it gets very confusing.
In your bulletin is a handout – “Timeline of The Story” It looks like this. [show] I
encourage you to keep it with The Story as you read the upcoming chapters. On
the left is the rough dating of the history with key people and events. To the right
are the corresponding Biblical books. We are at 930 BC. And remember, I said
before that the Bible is not a science book – it’s about why not how. The Bible is
also not a history book as we think of it – it’s about why things happened not
exactly when or how. My goal at the end of this series is for everyone to be
comfortable with God’s story so that you can go back to the Bible and hear God
speak to you.
Last week, the nation had split into 2 kingdoms. In the Lower Story, this was a
conflict between Jeroboam and Rehoboam. But in the Upper Story God was at
work – why did God divide the nation? God divided Israel because the people
were sending a wrong message. God’s plan was to bless Israel so that others
would see it and be drawn to God. Their faithfulness to God was the key to their
prosperity. But the nation began to see their wealth and power as their own
doing. They became complacent in their ritual. They disobeyed God’s
commands. And they began to worship pagan gods especially Baal and
Ashtoreth.
Israel became no different from their neighbors. And that sent the wrong
message about who God is and what God expects from people. God is the One,
True God – Almighty, Gracious and Merciful, Always Faithful. God’s people
were expected to worship God alone – to love God alone with heart, soul, mind,
and strength. That was not what the world saw. So, God divided the nation to
purify this message. The world needed to see that God did not bless Israel’s
unfaithfulness.
God does not need all 12 tribes to fulfill his unconditional promises. God
promised Abraham and Sarah to bless their family so that through their family the
world would be blessed. God promised David that one of his descendants would
always reign. Well, David is from the tribe of Judah. Ultimately one of his
offspring will be the Messiah. These promises are fulfilled in Jesus. But, for
now, we have 2 kingdoms and neither one is faithful.
What is God to do? – enter the prophets. Verizon Wireless came up with an
incredibly successful ad campaign back in 2005. Their commercials used a
so-called “test man,” plus a crowd of network engineers to travel the country and
ask one simple question – “Can you hear me now?” All around the country they
went – “Can you hear me now?” The ad worked. Apparently, folks were tired of
dropped calls and unreliable communication systems. Verizon sent a message
that they wanted desperately to connect with their subscribers and they wanted
their subscribers to connect with one another.
This is what God was doing with the prophets. Even when the nation had split in
two, God kept speaking to the leaders and the people – “Can you hear me now?”
God gave the northern kingdom 208 years to decide whether they would accept
or reject God’s call. 9 prophets delivered God’s message – “Can you hear me
now?”
This morning as we prepare to ordain and install our newest class of leaders, I
want to explore the lessons we might learn from the prophets. I’m going to
select 3 of the 9 who spoke to the northern kingdom of Israel.
First, the prophet Elijah. Elijah is called to speak to King Ahab, an evil king who
is married to a very evil woman, Jezebel. It was Jezebel who promoted the
worship of Baal and slaughtered the priests of God while Ahab did nothing. God
responds by telling Elijah to proclaim a severe drought - no rain, not even dew in
the morning. The irony is that Baal is a water god – if any idol could end the
drought, it should be Baal.
The drought is broken by a head-to-head competition between Baal (served by
450 priests) and God (served by one man, Elijah) on the top of Mt. Carmel.
Each is to cut up a bull and lay the pieces on the wood but without lighting the
fire. Then each will call upon their god to consume the sacrifice with divine fire.
Elijah lets the prophets of Baal go first. They call to Baal. They jump and
scream and beg and even cut themselves. Nothing. Elijah mocks, “maybe your
god is sleeping, yell louder.”
Before Elijah speaks to God he has the sacrifice doused with water – soaking
everything. But when he calls upon the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – fire
flashes from heaven and everything is consumed even the stones. Then Elijah
orders the people to kill the prophets of Baal. With that, the clouds appeared
and the rain began.
Now, Jezebel isn’t too happy with Elijah so she orders his death and he flees.
This man of God who has done many mighty works for God, runs away into the
wilderness, sits down under a broom tree, and prays to die – “I’ve had enough.”
But God’s not through with Elijah. God gives him food and water and lets him
rest. Then he’s sent to Horeb, the mountain of God.
In a cave, God asks Elijah - “why are you here?” Elijah whines, “Well, I’ve been
working hard for the Lord. The people don’t care, they’ve abandoned you. I’m
the only prophet left and they’re trying to kill me.” God tells him to stand at the
mouth of the cave. There’s a great wind and an earthquake and fire – but God is
not in those. God speaks in a quiet, gentle voice. Despite Elijah’s fears, God
sends him to anoint the next king of Israel and to anoint Elisha as his disciple.
I see a few lessons here for our officers. First, try not to serve as a lone ranger.
Individuals can sometimes do very powerful things but they also burn out. We
need people to work with us – to share the load. Second, take care of yourself
while you serve. God gave Elijah time to eat and drink and sleep before sending
him to Mt. Horeb. When he’s recharged, Elijah can be sent on his next
assignment. Third, take time to listen for God’s voice. We may not hear it in
the chaos around us – we live in a noisy, busy world. We need times of quiet
listening.
The second prophet I want us to look at is Elisha. He serves with Elijah through
the reign of Ahab and his equally evil son King Ahaziah and then for another 50
years. When Elijah is about to taken from him, Elisha asks to receive a double
portion of his spirit. Elijah says it’s up to God – wait and see what happens when
I’m taken up. Well, Elisha sees the chariots of fire whisk Elijah up to heaven so
God grants his request.
Elisha serves God with many miracles and mighty acts to show God’s power and
glory. He saves a widow and her son with a bottomless jar of oil. He prays for a
barren Shunammite woman to have a son and later, when he dies, Elisha revives
him. Elisha heals General Naaman of leprosy. One time the King of Aram
sends his army to find and kill Elisha. They surround the town where Elisha and
his servant were staying. (BTW, Elisha always served with someone else.) The
servant wakes him, all upset – “we’re surrounded by the army of Aram!” Elisha
reassures him – “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with
them.” “Where?” Elisha asks the Lord to open his servant’s eyes and he sees
the hills surrounding them filled with horses and chariots of fire. Then Elisha
prayed that the Aramean army would be struck with blindness. And he leads
them to the city of Samaria to be captured by King Joram.
Elisha teaches us a couple things about leadership. First, he reinforces the need
to serve with others. Second, we are reminded to trust God and not be afraid.
God can show us a spiritual reality to help in difficult times. “There are more with
us than there are with them.” God is greater than any challenge facing us.
Finally, the prophet Hosea speaks for God as the kingdom of Israel spirals to an
end. He begins during the reign of Jeroboam II but he will address a total of six
kings for God – “can you hear me now?” In a last ditch effort to get the people
back, God sends an extreme message using extreme means. God calls Hosea
to marry a prostitute named Gomer. He is to support her and love her. They
will have 3 children. When she leaves him to return to her life on the street,
Hosea is told to go to her and win her back. He pays the price to her pimp.
Imagine her surprise as she opens the door for her next customer and sees
Hosea. He says, “I love you and I want you to come home.” This is the love
that God still has for Israel.
God pours out his heart through Hosea. But the people will not listen. On p.215
we read - “Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a
charge to bring against you who live in the land: There is no faithfulness, no love,
no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder,
stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in
their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord.”
Hosea shows us the love that must be part of leading God’s people. It’s not just
our words but our deeds which invite folks to be faithful to God. And even with
the most obnoxious, unlovely folks, we show the compassion of God which just
doesn’t want to let go.
The prophets teach us that when God calls us to leadership try not to be a Lone
Ranger. Work with others both for effectiveness and support. Take care of
yourself – get the food and rest that help you stay strong. Take time to be quiet
and listen for God’s quiet voice, encouraging and challenging you. Trust God
and do not be afraid of the challenges – “there are more with us than there are
with them.” Keep loving the people you are called to serve no matter how
difficult they may be – we show the love of God who will not let us go.
But these prophets to Israel also teach us something else – focus on God and not
the results. Only one of the 9 prophets had anyone actually listen to him and
change their lives. It was Jonah, and he wasn’t even talking to God’s people.
God sent him to the city of Ninevah in the pagan nation of Assyria. Jonah didn’t
want to go but 3 days in the belly of a great fish convinced him to obey. The
people of Ninevah heard the same message that all the prophets were speaking
– turn from your evil ways and return to the One God. And they listened. And
they fell on their faces and repented from the king down to the beggars in the
streets. They turned to worship the True God and experienced a revival. How
ironic that in 208 years, the people of Israel turned a deaf ear to the God of their
ancestors while these pagans listened to God immediately.
So, I guess a final lesson is this – no one is beyond the reach of God’s love and
care.
My friends, there is one difference between us and the people of Israel. We live
after the life and ministry of Jesus. We live with the knowledge that God did not
finally let his people go. God came to live among them in Jesus. Jesus loved
them and healed them and taught them. Jesus died and was raised for them.
Jesus reigns in heaven and on earth.
So, when God asks “can you hear me now?” – say, yes! In baptism we say “yes”
to following Jesus. In ordination we say “yes” to serving God in a leadership
role. In a few minutes, I hope everyone will take the opportunity to renew their
baptismal promise and say “yes” to God. Amen