Bradford Church of the Nazarene
10/12/14
The god of Pleasure
1 Kings 16:29:30, 18:16–46
Last week we began our study into the gods at war
within us for control of our heart and life. Scripture
reminded us that the Lord God of all of creation is
indeed a jealous God. He is not envious of the
things we have, desiring those things for Himself.
The God of heaven and earth is jealous for our
heart; He wants and will accept only those whose
hearts are completely His.
This week’s emphasis is on the god of pleasure. In a
book that I have been reading entitled “When God
Doesn’t Make Sense”, the author recounted horrific
hardships endured by soldiers of both the north and
south during the Civil War.
Troops would at times march for up to two weeks
with only dry biscuits called hardtack and coffee to
sustain them. Soldiers frequently spent sleepless
nights in cold and rain and yet many of the soldiers
expressed their determination to serve for a cause
that they so deeply believed in. The north alone lost
200,000 soldiers to diseases that often devastated
those weakened by poor nutrition and fatigue.
To those hardships the author of the book contrasted
the Apostle Paul’s second letter to Timothy. In that
passage the apostle challenges the young disciple to:
Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ
Jesus... who wants to please his commanding officer.
One of the many gods at war in our lives is the god
of pleasure. Many of the pleasures that we live and
sacrifice for were given to us as a gift from the Lord
1
Bradford Church of the Nazarene
10/12/14
God. Incredibly though we somehow gravitate
toward worshipping the gift instead of the giver.
In the bible’s book of Joshua just prior to his death
Joshua calls upon the people of God to recommit
themselves to the Lord. In Joshua 24:15 he
declares:” Choose for yourselves this day whom you
will serve… But as for me and my household, we will
serve the LORD.”
We like the Israelites have to make a choice as to
whom we will serve and we have to make those
choices each day. The challenge is; will you serve
the gods that temporarily make you feel good or will
you serve the living and true God? That was the
question that Joshua asked the people.
For a time after crossing the Jordan River into the
Promised Land, the people did faithfully follow God,
but little by little their commitment weakened. They
began bowing to the gods of pleasure while
continuing to go through the motions of worshipping
the one true God.
Do you recognize the same tendency in your own
life; the inclination to pursue the things that make
you feel good or makes you feel like you are
somehow in control?
It’s not at all surprising that when the Israelites
began worshipping the Canaanite god Baal that God
would allow a three year draught to strike the land.
Baal was after all, believed to be a weather god that
made the rain.
If you go back to the time following the death of
Joshua in the book of Judges 1, God blesses the
2
Bradford Church of the Nazarene
10/12/14
Israelites faithfulness by driving out the Canaanites
before them. In Judges 2 the people begin to
embrace the beliefs and gods of the Canaanites. In
response to the people’s lack of faith God begins to
withdraw His hand of protection over the chosen
people. This flow of events reminded me of God’s
words in the book of Ezekiel 22:30 30 “I looked for a
man among them who would build up the wall and
stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I
would not have to destroy it...
Throughout the remainder of the book of Judges God
allows vast hardship into the lives of His people due
to disobedience. Then in an act of love and mercy,
God sends men and women to sound the alarm and
lead the people back to faithful obedience to Him.
After the time of the Judges, scripture tells us that
the Israelites continued down this road until they
finally came to the place where they insisted on
having an earthly king to rule over them.
In 1 Samuel 8:7-8 we are told that God told the
elderly Samuel: …it is not you they have rejected,
but they have rejected me as their king. … forsaking
me and serving other gods…
So often we like the people of Israel are at a
crossroads, hesitating and pondering which path to
take. In today’s passage of scripture Elijah calls the
people to make a commitment. It wasn’t that they
were against the Lord God. The problem is that they
were trying to worship BOTH the Lord and Baal.
People often try to do the same thing today. Some
may even go to church on Sunday morning and live
for their false gods the rest of the week; they are
double minded with no real commitment to the Lord.
3
Bradford Church of the Nazarene
10/12/14
But the living God is a jealous God and settles for
nothing less than ALL of you.
In today’s passage of scripture the Lord God has
allowed a devastating drought to strike the land. The
situation has gotten so bad that even king Ahab goes
out in search for a spring of water and some grass in
the valleys so that they could keep the horses and
mules alive.
Maybe you have wondered why the Lord God allowed
the drought. Why not a plague like the Egyptians
experienced when Pharaoh refuse to set God’s
people free? Why not an earthquake or a terrifying
storm that produced destructive lightning?
1 Ki 18:21 Elijah 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.
These were the Israelites, the chosen people of God.
Why would they remain silent? Why didn’t they
recognize that they had strayed away from the Lord
God, seeking forgiveness and recommit themselves
to the Lord?
As we said earlier, the reason is that they believed
Baal was the pagan god of lightning and rain; the
god who made their crops grow. As Elijah asked the
question: who will you serve? The people standing
before him may have thought that the pagan god
had the hometown advantage.
They not only believed Baal to be the god of storms,
but Mt. Carmel was also regarded as the sacred
dwelling place of Baal. They must have wondered
4
Bradford Church of the Nazarene
10/12/14
how powerful could the Lord God be against him
under these cirumstances?
The Lord had allowed this devastating three year
drought in order to show Himself powerful over even
the most highly believed in pagan god. Now the
Lord God had determined that the time was right to
demonstrate just how powerless the god’s of this
world really are.
For Israel God allowed a multiyear drought from rain
but a lack of rain isn’t the only type of drought that
we may experience is it? What about a famine in our
income or marriage? What about a drought in our
work or business? What about the lack of a sense of
peace and security in life?
God allows droughts into our lives not to punish us
but to compel us to take our focus and desire off of
the false gods in our lives in order to turn our heart
back to Him.
Ever since sin entered into the human experience
mankind has struggled with the pursuit of pleasure
over its commitment to the Lord God. Never before
in modern history though has the sins of the “god of
pleasure” manifested their destruction more than the
world is now experiencing.
The late 1960’s ushered in the sexual revolution that
precipitated a moral decline. That moral decline
continues to devastate individuals and families yet
today. Families and communities suffer from high
rates of divorce, babies being born out of wedlock
and single parent homes. All of this due to what the
proponents of the sexual revolution claimed would
set us free.
5
Bradford Church of the Nazarene
10/12/14
The dominion of the god of pleasure certainly isn’t
limited to the sexuality of the world is it? We live in
a consumer oriented mindset where debt and instant
access to anything we want has become the god of
the current generations. Isn’t it time that the church
recommits itself to wholly worshipping only the Lord
God?
In today’s passage Elijah called for two oxen to be
brought to them. The first was killed and its pieces
placed on the altar of Baal. The false prophets
danced, chanted, cried out to their god and cut
themselves in an attempt to move him to action.
Baal was the god of the storms so surely there would
be no problem in delivering a bolt of lightning to
burn the wood and sacrifice on the altar.
The passage tells us that they continued this from
morning until at noon. Around noon Elijah began to
taunt the false prophets. Shout louder he cried.
Maybe your god no longer hears very well. Maybe
he’s sleeping or maybe he’s simply ignoring you!
I have had people ask why God would allow
heartbreak and suffering into their lives. I’ve even
had some imply if not directly say that if God is
really God He wouldn’t allow things like that to
happen.
The bible tells us that we are incapable of knowing or
understanding the wisdom of God but scripture also
tells us that God does allow droughts of various
kinds into the lives of people, even Christians when
they begin to place too much emphasis on the things
of this world.
6
Bradford Church of the Nazarene
10/12/14
By that I am not implying that every negative thing
that happens in your life is in effect God slapping
your hand. We all make choices every day that have
the potential to help us along on the road to
blessings or to send us down the road of regret and
needless suffering.
Elijah’s taunting drove the prophets of Baal to an
almost frenzied state. They shout even louder than
before and cut themselves until the blood flowed.
After calling on their god for hours the prophets had
nothing but exhaustion to show for their sincerity.
There’s something that we all need to remember
here. Sincerity is no substitute for the truth. The
false prophets were sincere in their worship of Baal
but that didn’t change the fact that they were still
worshipping a false god. Scripture teaches us that
good intentions are no substitute for genuine faith.
The same is true today. You may be sincere in your
devotion to your children or grandchildren. You may
be diligent in protecting your flow of income. You
may even be saintly in your devotion to the church;
but if you place anything before your relationship
with the Lord you are also sincerely wrong.
History is littered with people that did not believe in
Christ Jesus. Some of those people were even
willing to die for their beliefs; but even that level of
commitment is no proof that their beliefs are right.
There is only one Lord and God that created
everything that exists.
There is only one God that reigns over all of time
eternal. He is the Lord God that sent His Son Christ
Jesus our Lord to die for your sins that you may live.
7
Bradford Church of the Nazarene
10/12/14
He died and rose again, breaking the chains of death
for anyone that has enough faith to believe upon
Him and Him only as the Lord of their life.
The false gods of pleasure come in multiple forms.
They could be the god of physical comfort or the god
of financial comfort and security. Your god of
pleasure could be the god of fitting in with those
around you or the god of possessions.
Elijah asked: “How long will you waver between two
opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him;
It’s time for you to consider whether or not you will
stand firm with the fathers of our faith in joining
Josuah in saying: “As for me and my household, we
will serve the LORD.”
8