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How Long Will You Go Limping …?

Elijah describes those who should have been God’s people in his day as “limping between two opinions.”  That is a good way to describe those in the church that have grown complacent and compromised in their faith and the lost but searching that we’d like to reach with the gospel.  In the contest he forces between the impotent false gods the people were worshiping and God Himself, Elijah shows God to be GOD! with tremendous power.

I.  1 Kings 18:11-39.  Just how difficult those in power had made it for God’s people who were truly seeking to worship God in spirit and in truth is evident when Elijah tries to send Obadiah, one of the Lord’s prophets, to force the contest with Ahab and Jezebel.  Obadiah relates how the faithful are being persecuted and how prevalent enforced idolatry is in the culture.  In the contest on Mount Carmel, true power is displayed from God, the people see this, and their decision to choose God cancels out the power those in power believed they had over the people as the false prophets are put to death.

II.  Acts 2:22-39.  In Jesus’ time on earth, those in power feared the opinion of the people as well (John 11:45-48), and when it began to turn towards hailing Jesus, they sought to put Him to death (Luke 22:1-2).  With a “hard saying” Jesus, like Elijah, sought to make the spiritually limping among those who should have been God’s people choose between opinions (John 6:25-69).  Most left Him then but not “the twelve” at that time, Peter wisely answering, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the gospel confronts us with the same choice.

III.  Romans 10:9-15.  The only way that the lost will be reached with that choice (call on His Name) is if those who have already obeyed the gospel (Romans 6:3-5) go (are sent) … so the power of the gospel is presented as a choice (is preached and they hear it) … because they believe it.  First, we must truly believe it ourselves (John 8:24).  Far too often, Christians fear the opinion of the people controlled by those in power and our love grows cold (Matthew 24:9-13).  Instead, we must love through obedience (John 14:15) and sacrificial living (Romans 12:1-2) to love the limping as Jesus did (John 13:34-35).

Are you limping between two opinions?  See the power of God in dying on the cross for your sins and being raised from death for your eternal life.

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You Troubler of Israel

Are those striving to live for God the problem in today’s world or those who have left His standard for their own?  The wicked king Ahab tried to label the prophet Elijah a “troubler” but was quickly told that it was his evil that was troubling the nation.  Who’s the real troubler in our humanistic culture today?

I. 1 Kings 18:17-19.  In his 1989 hit, Billy Joel famously sang, “We didn’t start the fire.”  This is where Ahab and the leaders and influencers in our humanistic culture believe they can call those who live by the Lord’s commandments “troublers.”  After all, Ahab didn’t introduce the worship of foreign gods; that was Solomon and Jeroboam before him.  He was just a product of the culture he inherited (1 Kings 16:30-33).  In the same way, humanists believe that Christians stand opposed to their commandments to live within the fire we’ve all inherited.

II. 1 John 1:5-10.  Billy Joel’s song continues, “No, we didn’t light it, but we’re trying to fight it.”  Ahab and today’s humanists excuse their actions because their intentions are good, but they do not step into the light to let their deeds be known for their darkness (John 3:19-21).  Thus, they judge evil as good and good as evil (Isaiah 5:18-23).  No excuses will do (Luke 14:18-24), and they truly believe that they render a service to the gods of their making (John 16:1-3) while they persecute God’s people.  We can know them by their fruit (Matthew 7:15-20).

III.  Romans 1:18-32.  Judgment is coming for our humanistic culture whether they acknowledge it or not (Matthew 7:13-14).  As those who profess to follow God, we must be careful not to get caught up in it and live a compromised, lukewarm faith like Ahab believed about himself in his time.  The “tolerant” who follow the false religion of Humanism today believe that only man can be man’s savior and so government is god, and so they are intolerant of any who deviate from their politics and edicts, labeling them like Elijah was–troublers!

Are you a proud “troubler” according to the culture?  Or does the world not even know that you once professed to oppose them when you obeyed the gospel?  Have you compromised with the culture and think yourself better than those around you by degree of worldliness?  What would you have to change to no longer live by the excuses you make and be called a “troubler” by the world?