Answering by Fire

Elijah the prophet had challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest. They were both to prepare an offering and the God that provided the fire, well he was the true God. The prophets of Baal went first, they prepared their altar and sacrificial animal and then they prayed and danced and chanted and prayed some more.  Once it became clear that there would be no answer to the prayers and pleas of the prophets of Baal, Elijah spoke. ‘Come near to me, this nonsense has gone on long enough, now come and pay attention’.

First he repaired the altar of the Lord. This altar had been destroyed and the twelve stones which represented the 12 tribes of Israel had been scattered. So Elijah took twelve stones and rebuilt the altar. I doubt that these were just any stones; it may be that as he spent time on the mountain waiting for the crowd to turn up that he found the original stones of the altar, or he may have picked out those that were the right size and shape for the task, but in any event he was prepared. Everything Elijah did had a meaning and on many occasions his actions were designed to remind the people of their heritage and the mercy and grace God had shown to them. On this occasion he was bringing to mind the original altar and the covenant God had established with the people.

The altar that was the symbol of God’s promise to protect and deliver the people on the condition that they served him had been destroyed. It was the place where he received from them offerings of thanksgiving but it had fallen into neglect and been torn down. The altar was the place where the people met with God, but it wasn’t there anymore. All of us have altars in our lives, places of significance where we can meet with God. Memorials to the grace and goodness of God and reminders of his past acts. What are the altars in your life? Where are the places that you have met with God? Perhaps there are times of quietness each day when you meet with him. Maybe it’s the Sunday service where you and the other people of God come together and worship. It could be that you have home groups or times of fellowship and communion where you can celebrate together and be reminded of your salvation. Is it possible that you have allowed these altars to fall into neglect? Have they been maintained as they should? Is it possible that in the busy schedule of everyday life you have not paid attention to them as you should have? You have become too tired to spend that time with God that you once treasured. The Sunday worship has become a burden rather than a joy. And as for communion or home groups, even fellowship - it has all become too difficult. After all you do have a job to work at and a family to raise. And you do need some time for yourself, and there is always sport and so of course we have to at least watch it on TV even if we can’t get to the game.

Have you allowed the altars in your life to be broken down and overtaken with weeds? Have the cares and the concerns of this world become so pervasive that they have strangled the life out of the times you once spent with God. It may be time to rebuild the altars. To put back in place the stones that are essential to your growing relationship with God. These will include those of fellowship, prayer, bible study, worship, giving, witnessing and others beside. But these were the blocks that made up the altar where you met with God. And it may be that they have fallen into disrepair. Now is the time to seek them out, cut away the weeds, clean them up and put them back where they belong.

God wants to meet with you, he wants to remind you of all that he has done and all that he has promised and he wants to receive from you your offerings of thanksgiving in return. Elijah had to rebuild the altar before he could even prepare the sacrifice. There was no point inviting God to come until the altar was ready. If you are seeking a new experience of God then make sure the altar is in good order and in the right place. Then when you present yourself and your sacrifice of praise, be confident that God will meet you there.

Once Elijah had rebuilt the altar he did an unusual thing. He dug a trench around it. Then he arranged the wood on the altar and put the animal on top. Now things got very strange. He ordered that water be poured on the wood and the sacrifice. Now apart from the fact that water would obviously make it difficult to light a fire, this was a drought and water was scarce. The crowd was assembled on the mountain top and even in good weather there wouldn’t have been much water up there. There would have to be a number of trips down the hillside to get the amount of water necessary to do what Elijah wanted, that is have water flow over the altar and fill up the trench.

Once he had what he wanted Elijah addressed God ‘Let it be known that you are God, I am your servant, and that all these things are done at your command. Answer me Lord, answer me that this people may know that you, Oh Lord, are God and that you turned their hearts back to you.’ Elijah made it clear that this whole plan was God’s idea, he was only obeying instructions, but now he needed God to do what he was asked. Everything he had done was at God’s command, even if Elijah had to fill in some of the details himself. This was God’s plan. How often do we embark on a mission for God, convinced that we are doing exactly as he asked, but when it comes to crunch time we get a little nervous – did we hear right, are we really sure? Elijah prayed and reminded God about why he had done what he had, and then he waited.

He didn’t have to wait long, God answered in a dramatic way. Fire fell from heaven. It consumed the wood, the sacrifice, the water and even the stones of the altar. The response of the people was predictable – they fell on their faces! While prostrate they cried out in acknowledgement of God. He was and is the one true God; there is no other beside him. Like Elijah we often long for the fire of God to fall, we cry out for it and we strive to make it happen. But just like in Elijah’s day there are conditions that need to be met. God comes in accordance with his plan. He does not come to bring glory to a movement or a church or a person. He does not come in response to passionate cries alone but only that his glory be made known.

Are you crying to God, waiting in expectation for his fire to fall? Have you done all that he has asked you to do in preparation? Is the altar ready, are you thoroughly prepared, and is everything that needs to be done, done? If you are praying according to his will, confident that you have fulfilled all of your responsibilities then all you need do is wait in expectation. God’s fire will fall because his name and his glory depend on it.

Just limping along

Finally the time had come for Elijah. The prophets of Baal, the people of Israel, the King and Elijah were all assembled. No doubt there was a sense of anticipation – what was going to happen? Did anyone have any inkling about what was on Elijah’s mind? The crowd were no doubt milling around, probably arriving in different groups, possibly asking each other what was going on, why where they there? Once Elijah was satisfied everyone was present he approached them. Where had he been, was he watching them from some secret location? Or was he just on his own, or with his servant an anonymous presence in the midst of all the tumult and energy that surrounded him?

Elijah’s opening line was not calculated to get the audience onside. Anyone who is involved in public speaking knows that the first thing to do is establish rapport with your audience, get them onside, perhaps tell a joke or recall a humorous anecdote. As someone coming from the Baptist tradition I was under the impression that all sermons needed to compose of a joke and three points. The problem was that most of the preachers I heard weren’t very funny, so their opening line was more often met with a collective groan than spontaneous laughter. None of this however for Elijah, his opening line was ‘how long will you go on limping between two opinions? Make up your mind, if the Lord is God follow him, if not find someone or something else to follow’. He set the stage right from the start, he identified the issue. These people were double-minded; they wanted the best of both worlds.

On the one hand the people wanted the privilege of being known as the people of God, but they also wanted the benefits of being connected with the world in which they lived. They thought that worship of the false gods could give them something that they wouldn’t get by following God’s commands. But they also wanted God’s blessing on their life. They didn’t firmly commit to either choice; they limped along between one and the other. They were reminiscent of the church Jesus condemns in the Book of Revelation that was neither hot or cold, just sickening.

These words could equally be applied today, not only to individual Christians but also to the church as a whole. It is time to make a stand, to choose between two opinions, do we as individuals and as a church want to serve God or do we want to enjoy the privileges and blessings of allegiance to the world and its trappings and still claim to be worshipers of God? The church is often more concerned with being relevant and acceptable to its culture than it is about an unadulterated worship of a Holy God. Too much our church programs are about entertainment and drawing a crowd rather than they are about revealing the character of the one true God. If the Lord is God then we must serve him, and if he is not then let’s stop deluding ourselves and eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die!

Elijah had issued his challenge but he was met with no response, not a word. In the quiet that followed, possibly as the people looked at their feet or at one another, maybe as they shuffled around hoping for someone else to break the silence Elijah made a proposal. ‘Let’s each prepare a sacrifice but leave it to either God or Baal to light it. The one who does he is truly God.’ They were now in a difficult place; obviously the prophets of Baal couldn’t refuse the challenge after all there were 450 of them and only one Elijah; and Baal was the sun god. They were also given the choice of animals and allowed to go first. They could accept the fact that their god and religion was a fraud or they could go through with it. They chose to accept the challenge.

The false prophets built an altar and arranged it for the sacrifice. Then they prayed, but nothing happened. Elijah got sarcastic. ‘Pray harder, maybe this god of yours is asleep or deaf. Or maybe he is on holiday, or he’s gone to the bathroom or he’s just too busy! Come on pray louder, wake him up!’ And so they did, they danced and shouted; beat themselves into frenzy for three hours. Did they really think that he would answer, were they so deluded? Or did they just hope? Whatever the case Baal remained silent; there was no answer and no fire. From morning until evening they carried on, louder and louder, more and more passionate – but no response. No one listened, nothing happened.

It may be that these false prophets and their adherents felt that they were backed into a corner and just had to go on with the charade. Or it may be that they genuinely believed that Baal would answer and they were sincere in their attempts. If they were then they were sincerely wrong. It is not enough to be sincere and passionate in our worship. We must worship in truth. Unfortunately there are occasions, even in our places of worship were people passionately sing in worship, they are sincere in the things they sing, but sometimes they do not worship in truth. The God they worship is not the God of the Bible. He lacks the power and the mercy the Bible speaks of, he doesn’t require justice or righteousness and he doesn’t demand an obedient response. He is just some benevolent father figure who will give what we want without expecting anything in return. In fact God delights to answer the prayers of his people and he longs for true and sincere worship. But he is not pleased with worship that is insincere or half-hearted and he certainly won’t accept worship that is unholy or based in falsehood. If we want to offer worship to our God then we must be certain that we do so with sincerity and passion but also in truth. Jesus himself said that a time was coming when God would be looking for those who worshiped in Spirit and in truth. Let us not give up our passion in worship and always continue to be sincere, but at the same time ensure that we have an accurate understanding of who our God is and worship him in truth.