Choices Made in the Fire
21. Elijah came to all the people and said, “how long will you hesitate between two opinions?” “If the Lord is God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word.
22. Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left of the prophets of the Lord: but Baal’s prophets are four hundred fifty men.”
23. “Let them therefore give us two oxen; and let them choose one ox for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood but place no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox, and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it.”
24. “And you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the Name of the Lord: and the God who answers by fire, let Him be God.” And all the people answered and said, “it is well spoken.”
1 Kings 18:21-24
You Can’t Fake the Faith
The other day I was watching HSN (Home Shopping Network) with my wife and they had an amazing candle that looked like the real thing. The light flickered like a real candle. It would blow out like a real candle. It had the same color as fire and in every way resembled the real fire of a candle. The only problem: it was not real. It was battery powered. Isn’t it something how false things can be mistaken for genuine?
When you think about the fiery faith that some claim to have; these people also appear to be genuine until you investigate their life and find their fire is not real. What troubles me, is that some have gotten rather good at pretending to have something when they really don’t. People around them know they lack that genuine spirit but will generally go along with the charade because they don’t want to offend. To pretend to have God’s Power is not the way we testify in this dark and dismal world.
Here’s some interesting numbers published by the Pew Research Center on the subject of Religion and Public Life in America. They surveyed 35,000 Americans from all fifty states and asked first their religious affiliation. They reported: 70% of the respondents said they were Christians. Of that number: Evangelicals were (25%), Catholics (21%), Mainline Protestants (15%), and historically Black Protestants (6.5%). Non-Christian faiths (Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu) made up 6% of the respondents, and unaffiliated with any religion or faith, comprised 24% of the respondents. Again, 70% said they were Christians. So, when asked if they believed in “absolute standards of right and wrong” why did only 50% of Evangelicals answer “YES?” The other 50% said it either depended on the situation or they did not know. Historically Black Protestants responded with only 29% believing in absolute standards of right and wrong. Interesting as it is, 57% of Mormons said they believe in those absolutes. This leads us to several conclusions. First, of the folks that say they believe in God, half don’t really believe in doing what’s right because they think it depends on the situation. The second conclusion is that the vast majority don’t know what is right until someone explains it to them.
As we travel back in time to around 870 B.C., Elijah was confronted with those same issues. People really did not know how to respond to right and wrong because they did not know the Living God. They had departed from the ways taught to them by their forefathers and were in a spiritual free fall that centered around Baal worship because that was what their leaders taught them. So then entered Elijah into the religious picture. The nerve of this guy interrupting their spiritual comfort of a religion that had no moral accountability. The nerve of him, contradicting what all the other Baal prophets were saying. The gall he had to suggest that Israel needed to make up their mind and either serve God or their false religion. Elijah came to all the people and said, “how long will you waiver between two opinions?” “If the Lord is God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.”
Getting the Fire Started
The interesting response is that the people did not answer Elijah because they did not and could not relate to the real God. The lies they had been fed had infected their faith and it would take the Fire of God to purify them from the contamination of idolatry. The same is true today in our culture. The mixture of idolatry (including humanism or belief in self) has contaminated the real faith that we should be displayed in our lives. This call for the Fire of God would lead to a decisive moment in the history of Northern Israel. If God was God, then the fire would prove it; if Baal answered, then the evidence would speak for itself.
Well, you and I know the outcome of that contest. The Lord God Almighty did answer by fire. Why do you think God permitted Elijah to make such a proposition? Would God allow for His Power to be on display like that? To understand what was behind this, we must recognize the problem with idolatry and even half-hearted service to God. When a nation resorts to idols, they cut themselves off from the blessing and protection of Almighty God. When a nation forgets God, they open the door to all kinds of wickedness and sin that lead to chaos and utter self-destruction. So Elijah was not so much making a pitch for God as God was speaking through the Prophet to bring Israel to a defining moment. God does that, you know. He will send people that we don’t invite, to say things that we don’t appreciate, in order to lead us to a place that we don’t necessarily want to go. But that’s God. He refuses to leave us alone to self-destruct or to pledge allegiance to idols that cannot hear or answer our prayers. God makes no apologies for His love for us. God makes no apologies for His acting in a protective way over us. God does not apologies for sending the Fire when the Fire will bring us back to him.
I recognize that most of the time we share messages that will help us grow as believers, and that is absolutely needed. But what if God’s desire for this message is to recruit you and me as Fire Starters? What if we could bring the Fire of God to some soul that is seeking the truth? How would God do this? To put it plainly, are there things we can learn from Elijah that would help us become those Fire Starters?
Lets respond to those questions in three statements. First, we must share with others what the Fire of God means. This we’ll simply call it the “symbol of confidence.” When you see the Fire, you will be confident that it is God. The second statement has to do with what the Fire of God does. When the Fire of God fell as an answer to Elijah’s prayer, it made a “statement of control.” God was taking authority, not just over the outcome of the ceremony, but for the leadership of the nation. If Israel was left alone to decide their own destiny, they would have settled on idolatry and that would have ended their celebrated identity as the “People of the Living God.” The fire was sent to establish God’s control. Then, finally the fire represented a “sign of change.” That moment when the Fire of God fell, the people made up their minds. Granted, they would continue to have lapses in memory and problems with unfaithfulness, but God made His presence known through the fire and the people witnessed it.
Let’s apply this in the context of our day. If we are to be fire starters for God, then we too must recognize the indecisiveness of people. For believers to say there is no standard of right and wrong and that truth depends on the circumstance is proof that we need a fire starter. We need those who are confident in God’s Fire Power. Just like the three Hebrews in Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace we must be confident to say “God is able. Elijah came to all the people and said, “how long will you hesitate between two opinions?” “If the Lord is God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word. Where there is a lack of confidence, we can say “it is written in His Word.”
If we are to be that fire starter for God, we must make the statement of God’s control and sovereignty. Elijah’s name meant, “the Lord is my God,” but he was sent to the people of Israel to demonstrate that. When the fire fell from Heaven as Elijah prepared, prayed, and practiced his faith, the people were convinced of God’s Power and said, “The Lord He is God, the Lord He is God.” 1 Kings 18:39. As a fire starter, God will light up our lives so that those around us will see the good work of God and glorify the Father in Heaven. That’s the way we demonstrate the fire.
Finally, as a fire starter for God, we must let the people know what the Fire of God means as “a sign of change. Without the lasting change in the hearts of people, all we witness is a “fire show.” God wanted His people to return from idolatry. It was true in Elijah’s day and it is true in our day. So believer, where is your Fire Power? Where is that awesome presence of Almighty God in your life? You don’t have to visit Mt. Carmel in Israel to display it. Right in your own community, you can allow God to light up your life for His Glory. That is really where the decision is made. When you make up your mind that you will allow God to set your life ablaze, your testimony will reach the people on your street, in your neighborhood, in your county, in your district, in your State, in your nation, and around the world. You just need to catch on fire.