In Monday’s post, I asked the question, “Where is the God of Elijah?” That’s a question being asked by a whole lot of people in today’s spiritually drought-stricken church.
It’s a question asked in many different ways by many different people. Young people especially, but not exclusively.
In some ways, the question may not even be asked consciously. It’s more of a subconscious cry of the heart. And it’s leading a whole lot of folks to wash their hands of church altogether.
I can’t blame them.
I mean it. I can’t, and I don’t.
I wrote a post a couple of years ago entitled “The Best Christian I know.” It was about my daughter, Mary, who has decided that Christianity (which, whether we like it or not, is connected inseparably with church) does not line up with her view of life and the world.
Mary is a deeply compassionate, loving, and giving person. She received a full scholarship to New York’s Albany law school and graduated third in her class. In fact, she received a job with New York’s highest court of appeals (most states refer to the highest court as the Supreme Court). She was one of, if not the only non-Ivy League graduate serving. The sky was the limit for Mary.
But Mary didn’t go into law to impress people or make lots of money. She left that prestigious job and has been serving as an immigration attorney, helping countless numbers of undocumented immigrants find refuge and safety in the United States.
In her spare time, she serves soup kitchens, gives to homeless shelters, and speaks to police and churches about the helpless state of so many undocumented immigrants in our country who are absolutely terrified of going back to their homes where they are raped repeatedly, sold, and abused in some of the most horrific ways.
In the words of Jesus, Mary is clothing the hungry, caring for the sick (she literally became the guardian of one minor who she carried to the hospital after his appendix ruptured), and visiting those in prison. (See Jesus’s words in Matthew 25:34-36.)
So, how does Mary describe herself? “I’m a humanist. I believe in treating all human beings with dignity and compassion.”
I happen to believe Jesus was and is the most fully human being who has ever lived. I also believe that the distinguishing mark of Jesus’s disciples is their compassion and service for other human beings.
I’m preaching on Elijah at Embrace church, and one of the things that stands out about him and most of the other prophets is the fact that these guys were rejected by the established religious leaders of their day; leaders who had the ear of kings lived in luxury and enjoyed great prestige as the guardians of Israel’s orthodox religion.
The more things change, the more things stay the same.
Elijah showed up in a shaggy camel-haired cloak in the opulent courtroom of King Ahab and declared that drought was on the way. I can only imagine the snickers in the courtroom of Ahab as this uncouth nobody from the desert, living in an off-the-grid place, stood before the king.
Interestingly enough, that’s the phrase used. One stood before the king.
Check out I Kings 17:1 and read what Elijah says. He’s standing in the presence of a king, alright, but it ain’t Ahab.
After that brief moment in the limelight in Ahab’s palace, this country boy, nobody from nowhere, went into hiding for three and one-half years. Would you like to know where this famous prophet stayed for three years of that time?
With an impoverished widow and her son from Sidon. Sidon was a Gentile area and a major center of Baal worship. Of course, the drought that Elijah announced and that came upon the land of Israel was due to their worship of the god Baal.1 This is the reason the prophet went into hiding. King Ahab and his wicked queen, Jezebel, were out to kill him. And God chose to hide his servant in the backyard of Baal with a widow and her boy.
I’ll share the whole story later, but if you’re familiar with it, then you know Elijah provided for this woman and her son. He also brought the boy back to life after he died.
All this was before the prophet challenged the prophets to a showdown on the top of Mount Carmel. It was there that God sent the fire from heaven and, soon afterward, the rains so desperately needed by Israel.
That was the first three and a half years of the prophet’s fourteen-year ministry. One day in the courtroom of the king. One day basking in the victory on Carmel. The rest of the time, out of sight. Not exactly like our modern-day celebrity pastors and evangelists, whose net worth, I might add, is staggering.
I just googled the net worth of two extremely prominent and well-known Christian leaders. Ten million and eighteen million. I read and listen to what these guys have to say often. They are harsh, highly critical of the pagans and the Democrats (as if the problem with our country was a political one), and seem to me to be too earthly-minded to be of any heavenly (kingdom of God) good.
Back to my daughter, Mary, the humanist, and the article I wrote entitled “The Best Christian I know.”
The response to that article by so many was harsh and critical, to say the least. And I couldn’t help but think to myself as I read statements like -
“She can’t be a Christan unless she confesses Jesus as Lord.”
“Sorry, but your article won’t get your daughter into heaven. She’s on her way to hell.”
“The best Christians are faithful to their church and regularly tell others about Jesus.”
“Hasn’t anybody ever taught you the difference between salvation by works and salvation by faith in Christ?”
I couldn’t help but think to myself - Thank you for proving my point.
Comments like these demonstrate the hard hearts that are the number one sign of spiritual drought in our nation. They reflect a Christianity more concerned with dotting the doctrinal i’s and crossing the doctrinal t’s than living like Jesus. Orthodoxy is King; being “right” matters more than living right, and the focus is on knowing the Bible rather than knowing the one to whom the Bible points.
Take time to read that passage in Matthew 25 I referenced above. It’s pretty obvious Jesus is saying there are going to be some surprises in the form of who is welcomed into his kingdom at the end of the age.
And consider these words of Christ about a Roman Centurion. I would like to read what some of our celebrity Christian leaders would say about him - and about what they would have to say about what Jesus had to say about him -
“Truly, I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:10-12)
I’m teaching on Elijah at Embrace Church. I’ll be releasing a book later this year entitled “Where is the God of Elijah: Overcoming Spiritual Drought in Our Lives and Churches.” Meanwhile, I’m going to spend my time writing posts like this one. Posts with an edge, a bite, if you will. (After all, “Church on the Edge” is the name I chose for this ministry which needs to be a lot edgier than it often is.)
I hope you’ll take the time to read some of these upcoming posts.
In Christ,
Dan
You can listen to my weekly messages at Embrace Church, High Point.
Most Bible scholars will tell you that the worship of Baal was mixed with Israel’s claim to worship God. It’s not like the priests and religious leaders disappeared. They just embraced a syncrestic religion following their king rather than their God.
Amen.