Elijah - Which God will you serve?

 

Today we are going to continue in our series on the prophet Elijah and look at one of the most spectacular miracles recorded in the Bible.  As we do, let’s remember where Elijah is and what has been going on.  Elijah was called by God when Ahab was king of Israel.  Ahab was the 19th consecutive bad king in Israel, but he had the distinction of being the worst of all.  

Not only did Ahab and his wife not worship the one true God but they also encouraged others to worship false gods.  The gods they encouraged people to bow down to and worship were Baal and Asherah.  Baal was often depicted as a ram because he was known for his strength and power.  He was also seen as a god of the sun and storms and was the one who brought rain and dew to the land.  Last week we heard Elijah say that God was going to stop the rain throughout all of Israel because of the sin of the people so Elijah had already shown that God has more power than Baal, but this didn’t stop the people from worshiping him.  

Above everything else that Ahab and Jezebel did, it was leading the people to worship Baal that angered God the most.  The very first of the 10 Commandments says, you shall have no other gods before me, and the second commandment said we are not to make or worship any idols.  Above everything else, God wants and commands us to worship Him and Him alone.

When Jesus was asked which of all the commandments was the most important, He said it was to love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, and ALL your mind, and ALL your soul, and ALL your strength.  God is not interested in part of our heart, or even most of our heart - God wants all our heart and our mind and soul and strength.  God wants all of us.  God is not content with a portion of our lives, and He grieves when we worship any other god.  

While we might say that we don’t bow down and worship any other god, the truth is that we often worship and serve other gods.  Money can be a god.  We trust our money to make us secure and we think our money will make us happy.  But money doesn’t bring us security because all our money could be wiped out in a week if the economy collapsed.  There is no security in our wealth or possessions, and in fact the more possessions we have the more we find they possess us as we live to care for them.  Money is a huge false god in our lives.  We think it will provide us with things that only God can provide like security and peace.  

Fame and recognition is a false god many people worship today.  Becoming a social media sensation, to have our posts go viral so we can finally feel significant is what many people give their lives to, often with tragic results.  Instagram challenges injure and kill people every year because they are looking to become popular or famous.  We think fame will make us happy, that it will make our lives complete, but once again those are things we will only find in a relationship with God.  

Success is another false god.  People will work 80 plus hours a week to climb the ladder, to get the next promotion, to set themselves apart and find true success, but they often do that at the expense of their health and family costing us everything.  As you can see, there are many false gods we might worship today, and in some ways they are more dangerous than Baal and Asherah because we don’t see them as a false god at all, but they are.  

Here is a great way to identify a false god, false gods PROMISE what only God can PROVIDE.  False gods promise security but they can’t provide it.  Lasting and eternal security comes from God alone.  False gods promise happiness, but happiness is fragile and fleeting, but joy comes from the Lord and lasts forever.  Fame and success promise fulfillment and purpose but they only last until someone better comes along, and they always do.  False gods promise what only God can provide.  

With this definition in mind, what false gods do you serve?  What things are you looking to bring you what God alone can provide?  What are you hoping brings you security, happiness, fulfillment?  What are you giving yourself to in order to get the most out of life?   

A false god I have always struggled with is money - specifically I look to money to provide me the financial security I will need in the future.  I worry that I am not going to have enough to live on in my retirement and I have always wanted to be retired.  I don’t always trust God to provide what I need so I constantly look at what I need to do to take care of myself.   The economic downturn these past few years have taught me that all my savings and investments could be gone in an instant.  The security I want my money to provide in my retirement is something that only God can provide.  

What gods do you struggle with?  What has taken God’s place as first in your heart and life?  Even if it is something that we see as good, if it isn’t God, then it needs to be removed.  For the people of Israel, the false gods were Baal and Asherah. They looked to them to bring the rain and the sun and the harvest and prosperity instead of God, and Elijah had been called by God to point out this sin and call people to return to God.  First Elijah showed them that their gods don’t bring the rain and can’t provide the harvest, but that hasn’t turned the people’s hearts back to God, so Elijah returns to Israel and Ahab and calls for a final showdown.  

Elijah had been away for about 3 years and last week we saw that he has gone through a time of complete humility, dependence, and obedience to God.  So now, in the power of God he goes back to King Ahab and calls him and all the people to stop wavering.  Worship one god or the other.  

When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”

“I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 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.  1 Kings 18: 17-21

Elijah asked the people; how long will you waver between two opinions?  Either serve and follow God or give yourself fully to Baal, but don’t waver back and forth between the two.  Don’t say you love God and then bow down to Baal.  Don’t say you serve God and then set up Asherah poles to call on her to increase the harvest.  Give yourself fully to one or the other.  

If Elijah were here today, he would ask us the same question.  How long will we waver between two opinions?  How long will we worship two gods?  Elijah would say we can’t come here on Sunday and worship God but then go out and live for money, wealth, and power all week.  How long will we waver?  Give yourself to one or the other.  If you want to live for wealth and fame - go for it.  Give it your all.  Do everything you can do to get what they promise.  If that is how you want to live, Elijah would say, go for it.    

On the other hand, Elijah would tell us that if we truly want to live for God and God alone then we need to root out the false gods and remove them from our heart and life.  Find the false gods in your life.  Examine your heart to see what things in this world you are living for and what things you are hoping will provide for you what God alone can provide.  Root those things out.  Turn away from them.  Stop giving yourself to them and start giving yourself completely to God.  Stop wavering, Elijah would say.  Give yourself to one or the other.  

To show the people that God alone was God, Elijah set up a showdown.  It is one of the most spectacular and truly entertaining stories in the Bible.  1 Kings 18:22-24

Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”  Then all the people said, what you say is good.  

I’m sure the people were feeling confident with this wager.  Not only was it 450 to 1, but Baal is known as the sun god and a god of the storm.  Fire and lighting are his thing, this will be easy.  They prepare the sacrifice and begin to call on Baal to bring the fire.  

They called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

No one responds to the priests of Baal.  The false god can’t provide.  The god of the sun and storm can’t send fire or even a meager little lightning bolt to try and start a fire.  There is nothing.  Now this is where the story gets entertaining.  

At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.  Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

So the priests of Baal start crying out and nothing happens.  They start dancing and shouting and begging Baal to come but nothing happens.  Elijah then begins to taunt them.  Hey, maybe you need to shout louder.  Maybe your god is sleeping and you have to wake him up?  Maybe he is traveling and left you alone, see if you can get him to come back.  Maybe he is busy.  

In the original Hebrew, the word for busy really means relieving yourself.  Yup, Elijah actually says, maybe your god is in the bathroom and you have to get him to hurry up and finish so he can help you. Maybe he’s off in the woods behind a tree and can’t hear you.  Who said there is no humor in the bible?  Elijah really lets them have it which drives them into a deeper frenzy to try and get their god to provide.  But it never comes.  It never happens.  The sacrifice remained on the altar completely untouched.  

Now it is Elijah’s turn.  He gathered everyone around him and repaired the altar of God that had been torn down.   Elijah prepared the sacrifice and laid it on the altar, and then he dug a trench all around the altar and said to the people: 

“Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”  “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.

“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time.  The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”  1 Kings 18: 33-37

Elijah didn’t just prepare the sacrifice but he saturated it with water.  Elijah wanted to show that the fire from God was going to be so powerful that it could not only burn the sacrifice but it one that's been soaked in water.  And then Elijah prayed.  No cries or shouts or dances or cutting, he just prayed.  We are going to look at the prayer life of Elijah next week, but for now we just need to know that his prayer was effective because God answered.  What Baal promised, to be there and help his people, God provided.  

Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.  When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”  1 Kings 18:38-39

God has shown the people that He alone is God and that they need to stop wavering and worship Him.  What is so beautiful about this story is that Elijah asks God to do this not to prove a point, but to draw people back to God.  When Elijah prayed, he asked God to send fire, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.  

At one point the people had worshiped God.  They had loved and served God, but over time they wavered and leaders like Ahab and Jezebel were leading them astray.  While Elijah taunts and teases the priests, he has compassion on the people.  They are like sheep without a shepherd and Elijah wants them to know that the Lord is their shepherd and that they can return to Him.  

We might be tempted to ask God to send down fire today so that the hearts of people might turn back to Him, but we have been given an infinitely better display of God’s power in Jesus.  In Jesus, God didn’t send fire to the earth, He came to live on the earth.  God took on our flesh and blood and then He took on our sin and guilt and shame and shouldered it on the cross.  God paid the price for our sin.  He died our death.  But in a display of God’s power and love, Jesus rose from the grave to show the world not just His power but His love. What other gods promised, eternal life, God provides. 

While fire from heaven sounds good, fire from heaven can’t forgive.  Fire from heaven can’t heal.  Fire from heaven can’t save.  But Jesus can.  In Jesus we have been given a much better sign that God alone is God.  It’s time we stop wavering.  It’s time to get serious and give ourselves, heart, mind, soul and strength to God. It’s time for us to root out and turn away from false gods and turn back to the one true God, the one who can provide what other gods only promise.    

Next Steps

Which God Do You Serve?

Read 1 Kings 18.

False gods PROMISE what only the true God can PROVIDE.

What false gods do you see at work in the world today?  

While we say we believe in and worship one God, we often live as if there are many gods.  What is your false god?  What false gods have you struggled with in your life?  

Elijah asks the people; how long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.  

● What would it look like if you went all in and followed your false god?

● What would it look like for you to go all in and follow the one true God?

● What keeps you from going all in with God?  

While we often want God to reveal Himself in miraculous displays of power today (like fire from heaven), how is God’s revelation in Jesus better?  

Make the commitment today to stop wavering.  Go all in and love, worship, and serve God alone.  Here are steps forward:

● Acknowledge the false gods at work in your life.

● Repent of your sin of idolatry.

● Ask Jesus to forgive you and draw you back to God.

● Commit to worshiping and serving God alone.  

Elijah - The making of a servant of God

 

Today we begin a series on the Old Testament prophet Elijah.  As a prophet, Elijah spoke God’s word to the people of his day, so it’s important for us to know what was going on in Israel when God called Elijah.  After King Solomon died, the nation of Israel divided into two kingdoms, a northern kingdom called Israel and a southern kingdom called Judah.  Each kingdom had their own king and when a good king was on the throne, the people worshiped God and followed His law.  When a bad king came along, the people often turned from God and worshiped false gods and idols - usually Baal and Asherah, the gods of the people around them.  

When Elijah was called by God, there had been 19 consecutive kings in Israel that were bad.  That means for almost 200 years there had not been a king who encouraged the worship of God.  The current king in Israel was Ahab. Ahab wasn’t just a bad king, he was a truly evil king.  The Bible says Ahab did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.  Ahab was married to Jezebel and the two of them promoted the worship of idols.  They supported large groups of priests to Baal and encouraged the worship of Asherah.  They were corrupt and evil in every way.  

It was into this spiritual darkness that God finally said, enough was enough and He called one person to step up and make a difference.  This in itself is significant.  God often calls individual people to step out in faith to make a difference.  God called Moses to lead the people out of slavery.  God called David to be a king and lead His people.  God called Jonah to save an evil nation and God called Paul to advance the gospel around the world.  While each of those people had help and support, God often chooses to work through individuals to bring hope and salvation to the world, and that individual just might be you.  

Today, God might be looking at a situation that is breaking His heart and is saying, I want you to make a difference.  If you are a student, maybe God is asking you to step out at school and share your faith or start a bible study.  Maybe on your team God is calling you to be the one to step up and say, if you need prayer, let me know.   Maybe there is a problem at work and your stepping out in faith can make a difference for everyone.  Or maybe God is showing you a need in the community that if Jesus were here He would say, enough is enough, and He would do something about it.  If you see that need, maybe God is asking you to be the one to do something about it.  God often looks for people who are simply willing to be used by Him and that is what He found in Elijah.

The name Elijah comes from three different words, El - i - jah.  El is short for Elohim which is a name for God.  I simply means my, and jah is short for Jehovah, or Yahweh, which also means God.  So Elijah’s name literally means, God is my God.  In a culture that was encouraging the worship of false gods and idols, we already see there is something different about Elijah.  He doesn’t worship Baal.  He hasn’t bowed down to Asherah.  He is faithful to God and God alone and that is the kind of person God can use to make a difference.  

Beside his name, all we know about Elijah is that he comes from Tishbe,   Look at 1 Kings 17:1  Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

We don’t know anything about Elijah’s upbringing or how God called him, but we do know that he was bold in telling Ahab that because of his sin and the sin of the people, there would be no rain or dew unless he said so.  With this pronouncement, Elijah is not only condemning the people for their sin but he is also making it clear that the drought to come is from God and that he serves God alone.  

Elijah’s boldness put his life in danger and when the drought came people would be looking to blame and kill him, so after he spoke God’s word, God sent him to safety.   

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”  So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.    1 Kings 17:2-5

Elijah is entering into a season where God is going to prepare him to be the prophet He needs.  Elijah is going to be called to do even greater things than this and God needs him fully committed to Him.  Through Elijah we are going to see what it often takes for us to become men and women and servants of God.  And it all started with where God sent Elijah.  

God sent Elijah to a place called the Kerith Ravine.  The word Kerith means to be cut off or cut down.  For some time, Elijah was going to be cut off from God’s people.  In fact, he was going to be cut off from all people.  Elijah was also going to be cut down.  Elijah was going to suffer the pain of isolation and loneliness.  God was going to humble Elijah in order to lift him up and use him for great things later on.  

The first step in becoming a true servant of God is total humility.  In Elijah’s isolation and pain, he is going to see that it is God alone who can and will care for him.  Elijah has to learn to stop trusting in his own strength and ability, his own wisdom and power, and come to trust God alone - and for many of us this comes when we are broken and humble.  

Can you imagine how difficult it must have been for Elijah, how many questions he must have had for God.  God had just told him to tell off the king and pronounce a drought that will devastate the people and then cut him off from everyone.  In this place of isolation, Elijah has no one to cry out to, no one to listen to, no one to turn to but God.  He humbles Elijah to form in him a heart and mind and spirit that will trust in God alone.  

If you are going through a difficult time right now, it could be that God is preparing you for something great to come.  There can be purpose in the pain we feel if the pain draws us closer to God and helps us learn to trust God more deeply.  If we are willing to totally humble ourselves before God and not ask, Why God?  But What God?  We will not only draw closer to God but God will have the ability to strengthen us and prepare us for what is to come.  So as we heard last week, if you are going through a difficult time, ask God; What God are you trying to teach me?  What are you trying to do in me?  What do you want to do through me?  

It is doubtful God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.  AW Tozer

With total humility comes total dependence.  When Elijah was isolated and alone, cut off from others and being humbled by God, God was also providing him with everything that he needed. 

So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.  1 Kings 17:5-6

I’m sure Elijah was thinking, how am I going to survive here alone in the wilderness, but because he did what the Lord told him to do, because he humbled himself and was faithful, God provided in a way I’m sure Elijah could never have imagined.  Every morning and evening ravens brought Elijah bread and meat.  Can you imagine praying for food and then seeing a raven come and drop a piece of bread.  And then another one some meet, and the flocks of them bring you all the food you need, not once a day, but twice a day and every day.  God was teaching Elijah that if he will depend on Him, He will provide all Elijah needs.   

No matter what we are going through, we need to remember that God will provide what we need.  That was one of the promises we heard last week.  God will supply all our needs and to that we say YES and AMEN.  Now it does say needs and not wants.  God might intentionally not give us a surplus so that we will learn how to depend on Him every day and not in our strength and power.  Even in the Lord’s Prayer we ask God to give us this day our daily bread.  We don’t ask for this week’s groceries or a surplus of bread so we can be sure that tomorrow is taken care of.  God wants us to depend on Him day after day after day.  

If you are in a place where you are being forced to depend on God day after day - don’t see it as a season of suffering but a season of strengthening.  God is helping you become totally dependent upon Him and if we can learn that, then we can handle any and every situation in life.  If we can learn total dependance, we will do all God wants us to do which I guarantee you will be more than you ever thought or imagined you could do.   

Elijah became the servant of God by learning total humility, total dependance, and then total obedience.  Look at 1 Kings 17:7-16

Sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.”  So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah. 

In time the brook that God had provided dried up and instead of complaining that the brook was gone, or asking God why He had stopped providing for him when he was doing God’s work, Elijah listened to God’s word and obeyed.  In fact, obedience is all over this part of the story.  Elijah was obedient to God’s word and went to Zarephath where he met a widow.  When Elijah asked her for some food, she said that she only had enough for her and her son to have one last meal before they died, but Elijah said, make me some bread and God will not let your grain or oil run out.   

Now it is the woman who is obedient and she makes a cake for Elijah and her grain and oil never run out.  God has not only provided for Elijah but He has provided for this woman and her son.  First God used ravens to care for Elijah and now God uses a woman and the miracle of her grain and oil never running dry to provide for him.  Elijah is learning that God can meet his needs in a variety of ways if Elijah will be faithful.  Obedience to God’s word was needed for God to provide.    

When we are willing to obey God’s word and promptings in our lives, God can use us to do great things.  This season of humility, dependence and obedience led Elijah to do his first great miracle.  

Sometime later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

“Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”  The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived.  1 Kings 17:17-22

Other than Jesus, we don’t know of anyone else who was able to bring the dead to life. But Elijah, completely dependent on God and crying out to God for help, simply did what he believed God would want him to do.  He restored the boy's life and gave him back to his mother.  What prepared Elijah for this first amazing miracle?  What prepared Elijah to do something no one else had ever done?  Total humility, total dependence, total obedience.  

Elijah is a different man now than when he was first called by God.  When we first met Elijah he was only described as a Tishbite from Tishbe in Galilee.  But now he has been given another name.  When the widow received her son back from Elijah, she said, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

Elijah is a man of God.  He is a prophet and every word of his mouth is from the Lord and it is truth.  It wasn’t an easy season for Elijah but it prepared him to do all that God wanted and needed to do through him.  Our own season of preparation isn’t easy.  There are struggles and trials but through them, if we learn humility, dependency, and obedience, we will become the men and women God can use right here and now to do more than we ever thought we could do.  I believe God wants to use each and every one of us in some way, so let us humble ourselves, let us learn how to  depend on God for all things and in all ways, and let us follow God’s word and spirit so we can see God’s power at work in our lives.  

Next Steps

Elijah - the making of a servant of God

Read 1 Kings 17.  What stands out to you about Elijah’s call and journey in this chapter?  How does God shape Elijah during this season of his life?

Total Humility

Elijah was sent to the Kerith Ravine.  Kerith means to be cut off or cut down.  

● Has there been a season in your life where you felt cut off or cut down?   What did you learn?

● How is God teaching you humility today?

● What is God’s promise when we humble ourselves? (James 4:10)

Total Dependence

Name all the ways God provided for Elijah in 1 Kings 17.

● What unexpected ways has God provided for you?  What did these situations teach you?

● How is God teaching you to completely depend on Him today?

● Reflect on the prayer, Give us this day our daily bread.  

Total Obedience

How is obedience seen throughout I Kings 17?  What is the result of this obedience?  

● When have you felt God’s leading in powerful ways?  Were you obedient?  What was the result?

● Is there something God is calling you to today that is a struggle for you?  What would obedience require of you?  What might the result be?  

Which is more difficult for you, humility, dependency or obedience?  Reflect on why that is and how you can more faithfully follow God.  

Doubting God - Faith and Science

 

We are in a series called Doubting God where we have looked at different reasons why people doubt the existence of God.  Today we are going to talk about science, and I am going to tell you right now that I am not a scientist.  In fact, science was my least favorite class in school.  I took what I had to in High School to graduate, but all I remember of science class was when we had to dissect frogs and sheep eyes. 

Science has just never been my thing, so for me there is no conflict between science and faith.  When I see the amazing pictures from the Hubble telescope, I don’t worry about how all those galaxies formed, I just stand in awe of God’s vast creation and think of Psalm 19:1-2.  The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

For many people, however, science and faith just don’t go together, you have to pick one or the other.  People see science and faith as competing with each other instead of working in cooperation with each other.  That science can cause people to doubt the existence of God is nothing new.  

In the 3rd century, Augustine of Hippo, also known as St. Augustine was concerned that the educated people of his day would see a conflict between faith and science and would also reject their faith.  In his writings, Augustine said that any conflict between science and faith was because people either misunderstood science or they were misinterpreting the Bible. What Augustine talked about 1700 years ago still is true today.  When we see science and faith in conflict, it might be because we are misunderstanding science or misinterpreting the Bible.  

While I am not a scientist, what I do know about science is that things changes.  The definition of science is: the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained.

It only makes sense that as we learn more about our world, theories about how things work will change.  For example, at one point in time science told us that the earth was the center of the universe and the sun, moon, stars and planets all revolve around us.  That is what we observed so that is what science told us.  But as we learned more about the world, things changed.  In the 16th century Copernicus came along and proposed a theory that the sun was the center of the solar system.  Scientific ideas changed.  The more we learn about things, the more our theories and ideas about what we know to be true will change.  

We saw this play out in front of our eyes these past few years as we learned more about covid-19.  At first, we believed covid could be spread through surface contact.  We wiped down all our groceries and you couldn’t find any clorox wipes in the stores.  As we learned more about covid, we realized that it wasn’t surface transmission we needed to worry about but respiratory droplets, so masks were suggested, then mandated.  And there is lots of science about the effectiveness of masks but I am smart enough to not go there.    

Just as science changes as we learn more facts, so does what we know about our faith and the Bible.  For example, if we don’t know that the Bible is full of poetry, we might think that the Lord is an actual shepherd tending a flock of sheep.  And if we don’t know how to interpret the symbolic meaning of words we might think Jesus was an actual lamb who was slain.  

The Bible contains several different types of literature and we can’t read them all the same.  We read the prophets differently than the psalms, and the gospels differently from the letters Paul wrote to the churches.  The more we learn about the Bible the more we understand about our faith and at times see things differently.  

So if today’s science and faith seem to be competing with each other, maybe we don’t know enough about science, or maybe we have misconceptions or misunderstandings about our faith.  Either way, we don’t need to throw out our faith when things don’t add up.  Just because we don’t understand everything doesn’t mean we can’t believe in something.  We don’t do that with science.  I don’t know how a car works but I still drive.  I don’t have any idea how a 700,000 pound airplane can get off the ground but I still fly - I just try not to think about it as the plane lifts off the ground.  Just because we don’t understand everything in science doesn’t mean we toss it all out, and the same needs to be true with our faith.  

Just because we don’t have an answer to every question we have about God doesn’t mean we can’t believe in God.  Not understanding everything we read in the gospels doesn’t mean we can’t believe in Jesus.  Just because we don’t understand everything doesn’t mean we can’t believe in something.  When we struggle to see how faith and science can work together, we don’t throw out the faith and we don’t throw out the science.  What we need to do is dig deeper into both.  

For many people, the conflict between faith and science starts at the beginning, literally, the beginning of creation and the beginning of the Bible.  Many people look at the creation story in Genesis 1 and say that this is a great example of how faith and science can’t be reconciled.  Either you have to believe that God created the world in 7 days, or you have to  believe that the world came into being over millions of years.  Many say faith and science can’t work together in creation, but what if they can.  

In Genesis 1, it says that in the beginning there was nothing but God.  Then God spoke, and at that word the world came into being.  This sounds very close to what science calls the big bang theory.  Nasa explains the Big Bang Theory as the idea that the universe began as just a single point, then expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is right now—and it is still stretching!

300 years ago the authors of Genesis said the same thing.  There was nothing, just a formless void, and then God spoke and bang - the world came into being.  Science says that the world continued to grow and expand and that is what Genesis says too.  Each day of creation, the world expanded.  First there was water, then dry ground, then seed bearing plants.  Notice they were seed bearing plants so that more plants could grow and sustain creation. All that had to take place before there could be sea creatures, land animals and then finally human beings.  From a single word, a big bang, a world came into being.  If we look at the big picture, science and faith go hand in hand.  

What we get hung up on in the creation story is the word day.  Was it 24 hours?  Was it a thousand years?  Was it ten million years?  Does it matter?  The larger biblical story of creation goes along with what science seems to say about creation.  It’s just that for us it wasn’t a big bang but a powerful word.  For us there is an intelligent and loving being behind what took place and many scientists are also beginning to believe that there had to be some kind of intelligent being behind creation.  

As we look at the detail and precision of creation, more and more scientists are beginning to think that there has to be some kind of intelligence involved in our world.  For example, there are more than 150 astronomical constants that are needed for there to be life on earth.  Astronomical constants are things like how fast the earth rotates, how close we are to the sun, and the exact tilt of the earth’s axis.  If any of these 150 things are off just a fraction of a percent, there would be no life on earth.  

The likelihood of all these things randomly taking place was calculated by the atheist scientist, Sir Roger Penrose.  He said that the odds of the earth accidentally forming the way it did to sustain life is 10 billion to the 123rd power.  That number is so large that if you put a zero on every particle in the universe, you still would not be able to write it out because there would not be enough particles.  You would have much better odds winning the lottery every day for 10,000 years.  The late Christopher Hitchens, one of the most influential atheists of the 20th century called this the most compelling argument for the existence of God.  

Instead of the creation story and the science of creation competing with each other, maybe they actually complement each other.  We don’t have to give up our intellect to believe that God created the world.  Many scientists have concluded that there not only was a single moment when the world began but that an intelligent being set it all into motion, or as we might say, spoke it all into being.   

Another place where faith and science often collide is when we look at Jesus.  Can we trust that there actually was a man named Jesus who lived and died in the first century?  And is there evidence that this same Jesus physically rose from the dead?  If there was not a Jesus who lived, died, and rose again,  then truly, our faith means nothing.  The Apostle Paul said, if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  1 Corinthians 15:14

If Jesus has not been raised from the dead and if there never was a man named Jesus then truly there is no faith, but there is evidence for Jesus and His resurrection.  From sources outside of the Bible and early Christian writings we know that there was a man named Jesus who lived in the first century.  The Roman historian Josephus tells us this and that He was known to be a wise man who had a following of both Jews and Gentiles, and was put to death by Pontius Pilate.  

These are solid facts we know about Jesus.  Very few people dispute that Jesus is an actual historical figure, but what about his resurrection?  Are there any facts to back it up?  There are.  We need to remember that the story of Jesus rising from the dead was not welcomed by either the Jewish leaders or the Roman authorities.  These were the people who controlled everything throughout Israel.  The easiest way for them to put an end to the Jesus movement would have been to produce the body of Jesus - but they never did.  The Romans were the ones to execute Him and the Jewish leaders were the ones who wanted to silence Him so if His body could have been produced to stop the movement, they would have been eager to do it.  But they didn’t.  They couldn’t.  

Some people say that the tomb was empty because Jesus didn’t really die on the cross, He just passed out.  After a few days of rest in the coolness of the tomb, Jesus got up and simply walked away.  This swoon theory, however, doesn’t hold up with what we know about Roman crucifixions.  

The Romans were experts at crucifixions.  The soldiers knew when someone was dead and they made sure there were no mistakes.  A mistake might cost them their lives.  The gospels tell us that the soldiers were surprised Jesus had died so quickly so they pierced  His side and water and blood flowed out.  They were making sure He was dead.  There is no way Roman soldiers would have risked their lives and not checked to make sure that Jesus was dead.

Some people say that Jesus' body couldn't be produced by the Romans or religious leaders because the disciples stole it.  Pastor David shared with us last week that the disciples wouldn’t have taken Jesus’ body, hidden it, and then died for what they knew to be a lie.  If you knew that Jesus’ body was hiding in another tomb, you wouldn’t put yourself through some of the pain the disciples endured before their death.  The disciples didn’t die of old age believing in the risen Jesus, they died because they believed in the risen Jesus.  

While we don’t know exactly how every disciple died, tradition tells us that several of them were crucified, some were beheaded and one may have been flayed.  We do know how the disciple James died.  In Acts 12:1-2 it says

King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

It doesn’t make sense that the disciples of Jesus would suffer such intense persecution if they had not seen the risen Jesus.  

But the greatest evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is the radically changed lives of the disciples and the Apostle Paul.  Peter had been so afraid of the Jewish leaders that he denied even knowing Jesus, but 40 days later he was standing in the Temple courts in Jerusalem telling people that the risen Jesus was the son of God.  That doesn’t happen without 100% believing what you are saying.    

The Apostle Paul persecuted the early followers of Jesus and even stood by when Stephen was stoned to death.  Stephen refused to give up his faith in the resurrection of Jesus and became the first martyr of the church.  Paul was right there cheering it on and yet not long after that he had an encounter with the risen Jesus that changed his life.  Paul went from persecuting the followers of Jesus to preaching that the risen Jesus was Savior and Lord.  That doesn’t happen without having an encounter with the risen Jesus.  

Part of the reason I believe in God and follow Jesus as my Savior and Lord, is because of the evidence I see.  I look at creation and am convinced that it was not a random accident.  I was listening to a lecture this week on Darwin’s Origin of Species and scientists who were not believers in Jesus  said that the more we learn about how we are made, the more implausible his theory becomes.  I believe in a creator God who made us in His image because as the Bible says, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Those words are backed up by science.  

I follow Jesus because of the evidence that He was a real man who lived and died in the first century, and after looking at the evidence, I believe He rose again.  I believe His words are true because the Jesus movement, first called The Way, began in the days after His death and resurrection.  People who know Jesus and heard him preach shared his message and wrote down his words and that truth continues to this day.  

I also believe because I have heard the voice of God.  I heard God say to me that with Him there is life and without Him there is death.  I trust Jesus because after I accepted Christ as my Savior and Lord, my life changed.  Sorrow was turned to joy, doubt became a new and living faith, and fear was replaced by hope and love.  My life changed, and while I wasn’t made perfect in those moments, and while I still struggle with sin and failure in my life, I trust the words of Jesus who said, Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.  

Science and faith might not always line up perfectly but don’t turn away from either faith or science, dig deeper into both and allow the truth, God’s truth, to set you free.  

One final word to those who are looking for science to prove the existence of God and the reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Don’t ask for more clarity and answers and proof, ask for the ability to trust.  Trust the One who not only created the world with purpose but who created you for a purpose.  Trust the one who has worked to reveal Himself to us in different ways.  More answers and more proof will only lead to more questions and more doubt.  Ask for the ability to trust.  Ask the living God, the one you are searching for in science to speak to your heart and allow you trust the evidence God provides all around us.  At some point faith in God is just that, faith.  The conviction of things hoped for and the assurance of things unseen.  

Next Steps

Doubting God - Science and Faith

What scientific “fact” has challenged what you believe about God, Jesus, or the Bible?  How have you resolved this?  

Why do you think we have to believe either in science or our faith (the Bible)?  Is it possible to believe in science AND faith? Where do see cooperation and where do you see conflict?   

Science and Creation

Genesis 1. Read the creation story. 

How might this story and what science tells us about creation go together?  

Science and the Resurrection of Jesus

Can we trust that Jesus actually rose from the dead?  We can, by exploring the alternative theories of Jesus' empty tomb and how “science” might disprove them.

How might science disprove these theories:

● Swoon Theory

● Wrong Tomb Theory

● Hallucination Theory

● Theft Theory

Why do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus?

How has the risen Jesus changed your life?

To learn more about how to study the Bible, join Jeff Martin on Thursday nights at 7:30 during June & July.  

Doubting Others

 

The pictures and stories of a mission trip inspire our faith.  The testimonies of how God provided what was needed at just the right moment and watching followers of Jesus put their faith into action  to help others can draw people to God and it helps all of us grow deeper in our faith.  What we say and do makes a difference and can help people believe and trust in Jesus, but the opposite is also true.  People can be turned off and doubt the very existence of God because of what they see and hear from people who say they are a Christian but then fail to look anything like Jesus 

We are in a series called Doubting God and one of the big reasons people doubt God and turn away from Jesus has nothing to do with what they believe about God or Jesus, it has to do with what they see in people who claim to believe in God and follow Jesus but then don’t look anything like Jesus Himself.  When we see people posting Bible verses on social media but then hear or see them doing things that go against those very verses - we not only doubt the authenticity of their faith but it can turn people off from wanting to follow God at all.  It’s like getting flipped off by a driver on the highway only to have them pull in front of you and you see a bumper sticker that says “I love Jesus”.  When the world sees people who say they follow Jesus act in ways that don’t reflect Jesus, it has the power to turn them away from Jesus.  

And let’s not forget that the scandals, abuse, corruption, and hate that has come from different churches for hundreds of years doesn’t only turn people away from the church, but from the One the church says they love and follow - Jesus.  

Author Brennan Manning said: The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.  

For many people, this is why they don’t want to be part of any church or seek to develop any kind of a relationship with God.  

As a new pastor, I had the son of a church member, a man about my age who didn’t attend worship and was not active in his faith, make an appointment to come and see me.  As we talked, he shared with me that when he was a youth, a youth leader at the church had touched him and some other boys inappropriately.  This was years before all the abuse and scandals of the church were making the news and he didn’t want me to do anything about it, he just wanted me to know.  The deep hurt and disillusionment of this teenager caused him to leave the church as an adult and have deep doubts about God.  If God is so good and loving, how could His people do this and how could God let it happen?    

Not long after that, a colleague of mine, a pastor who had become a friend and mentor, admitted to having an affair with a young woman in his church.  I was devastated and hurt by his actions.  The depth of hypocrisy I saw in him was hard to process.  It was a difficult time for me personally and for his congregation.  I ended up listening to several people from his church who were having a hard time believing and trusting God because of his actions.  

I remember sitting in one of my first seminary classes and the professor said, as a pastor, you have the power to….  He paused.  I thought he was going to say help people or change the world.  He said… hurt people.  We can hurt people physically and emotionally but also spiritually.  Our actions can cause people to doubt and turn away from God.  

If you have been hurt by someone who claimed to have loved God and followed Jesus but whose actions caused you pain or harm, I’m sorry.  I’m sorry that you had to go through what you did.  I’m sorry the church didn’t do more to protect and care for you.  If you have been hurt, I pray you will find healing and hope and that if you need guidance in how to find this in Jesus that you will give us a chance to offer you help.  I also pray that you would not let the actions of those who have hurt you keep you from the love God has for you and from the healing and new life that can be found in Jesus.  God won’t let you down and Jesus will not fail you.    

If this kind of hypocrisy disturbs and angers you, you are not alone.  It disturbed and angered Jesus.  While we know Jesus was full of love and grace, He also had very harsh and critical words for those who said one thing about their faith and yet did something else.  

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.  Matthew 23:27-28

What’s interesting is that Jesus is not calling out their sinful behaviors, He is calling out their show.  They are making themselves look good and righteous, but they know that they are not living the life of faith that God has laid out for His people.  They are wearing a mask and acting a part and that is the original meaning of the word hypocrite.

The word hypocrite comes from the Greek word hypokrites which means an actor, or a stage player.  In the ancient Greek theater, actors would wear a mask to portray different characters.  One actor could take on different roles because they could wear different masks.  Up until the time of Jesus, the word hypocrite was only used in the context of the theater.  Jesus is the one who began to use the word to mean something different.  

17 times the word hypocrite is found in the Bible and each time it comes from the mouth of Jesus, and each time He uses it, Jesus is calling out the behavior of people who are showing the world that they are living faithfully for God, but who are actually living a very different life.  They are whitewashed tombs - they look beautiful on the outside, they appear loving and faithful, but inside they are filled with decaying corpses. They are filled with sin and pride and greed and they don’t want to change.  

While there is no excuse for this kind of hypocrisy and we need to guard against it in our lives, it’s also helpful for us to think about why people act this way.  It might help us have compassion for those who do say one thing but do something else, but it also might help us not turn from God when we see this kind of hypocrisy around us.  Here are three reasons people might say one thing about their faith and yet do something very different.  

1. Some claim to be Christian, but they don’t belong to Jesus.    

This is nothing new.  The Apostle Paul wrote to his companion Titus who was leading a new church.  This is what he said about people INSIDE the church.  They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.  Titus 1:16

While it’s not our place to judge the heart of anyone, we need to remember that just because someone goes to church doesn’t make them a true follower of Jesus.  Believing in God doesn’t make someone a follower of Jesus.  Some people will let us down because while they say they follow Jesus, they simply have not acknowledged and repented of their sin.  They have not asked Jesus to forgive them.  They have not asked the power of God to change them or the Holy Spirit to lead them into a new life.  They claim to be Christian, but they don’t really belong to Jesus.    

2. Some are Christians but they are not mature.  

The author of Hebrews said, Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.  Hebrews 5:13-14

When we first become followers of Jesus we are not perfected in a moment.  At the beginning of our faith, we don’t know all the teachings that lead us to a righteous life.  We don’t know how to act or what to say so that we are honoring God and being a reflection of Jesus. Even when we learn them, it takes a while for us to make these new ways of living a part of our life. So we often see actions that don’t reflect Jesus when people are new in their faith.   

Again, when I was a pastor in Altoona there was a family that started attending our worship.  They had never been part of a church before and let’s just say that their actions reflected it.  They were very rough around the edges, but they were learning about Jesus and what it means to follow Him.  One day someone told me that they saw this family at a gas station and waved to them, the mother waved back but with just one finger raised.  

The person who shared this with me wasn’t offended and we talked about how following Jesus was new for them and they were still maturing and growing.  While it’s hard to not be offended when we see hypocrisy like this, it’s also important to be patient and gracious like Jesus was in dealing with people.  My hope is that we all see our own need to grow and mature which will give us patience when we see it in others.  

The third reason we see hypocrisy in the church is this:

3. Some are Christians, and maturing, and still mess up.  

Just because we follow Jesus doesn’t mean we won’t sin.  We can love Jesus and still find ourselves caught up in our own lies.  We can love Jesus and still find ourselves short tempered and critical.  We can love Jesus and still find ourselves giving in to temptation, being filled with pride and longing for all the things of this world.  This is not an excuse to keep on sinning.  We can’t say, well I’m always going to be a sinner so there is nothing I can do.  No, we need to constantly grow and mature in our relationship with God and daily we need to ask Jesus to be part of our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit so that we might encourage people to believe instead of causing them to doubt. 

The reality is we are and always will be sinners.  We may deeply love Jesus but will still miss the mark.  If you think you are not prone to this kind of sin and hypocrisy, if you think you are above temptation, then let me tell you that you are one of the most vulnerable.  The Bible says that pride comes before a fall and pride is one of the easiest ways for us to miss the mark and it is often the pride of Christians that drives people away from God.  

For those of us in the church, we need to recognize that how we live out our faith impacts the faith of others.  Our hypocrisy can cause others to doubt.  Our failures can cause others to leave the church and turn away from their faith.  While we can’t be perfect, when we make mistakes, miss the mark, and do things that don’t line up with the example of Jesus, we need to admit our mistakes, take ownership of our failures, and ask for forgiveness from those we have hurt.  Living this way in itself makes a difference.  When the world around us says, never admit to a mistake and never tell people you are wrong, when we own up to our failures and ask for forgiveness, we show the world what faith and trust in Jesus really looks like.  

We need to remember that while Jesus had zero tolerance for hypocrisy, He had unlimited grace for sinners in need of forgiveness.  There might be times God will call out our hypocrisy, or point out the ways that our attitudes, words, and actions might be driving others away from God - in those moments we need to seek forgiveness and commit to learning how to change with the help of the Holy Spirit.  We can’t be perfect, we will make mistakes, we just need to be honest and humble and ask God for His help and mercy.  

Now to those who have been let down, disappointed, and even deeply hurt by people who claim to follow Jesus but whose words and actions don’t reflect it, again, let me say I’m sorry.  Please don’t let a few people keep you from knowing the love of God and the healing power of Jesus.  While our faith is often shaped by the people around us, our faith can never be in those people. People will let us down, people will get it wrong, but Jesus won’t.  Jesus won’t let us down so instead of looking to people, let us look to Jesus.  

The author of Hebrews gives us a list of people who were amazing examples of faith.  He talks about Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.  He mentions Rahab the prostitute, Samuel and David and all the prophets.  He talks about all the amazing people who help us believe in God but then he says this…

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.  Hebrews 12:1-2

While he points out amazing people of faith, he doesn’t tell us to fix our eyes on them.  He tells us to look to Jesus.  Jesus alone is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.  Jesus alone is the one who will lead us deeper into a relationship with God.  While people can be a support and witness, there will be a time when they will fail and disappoint us.  Each person listed in Hebrews failed and let others down - but Jesus did not.  If we lose faith in God because of people, then maybe our faith was never in God but only in people.  If that has happened, then fix your eyes on Jesus and allow Him to give new life to your faith.  

One final word, if you have been hurt or disappointed by people here at Faith Church - I’m sorry.  We don’t always get it right.  I don’t always get it right.  We often miss the mark of what it means to follow Jesus and at times we end up doing things that let people down and saying things that might end up turning people away from God.  We have, and will mess up, and I’m sorry.  While we strive to be a reflection of Jesus in our love, our words and actions might betray that love.  Please don’t put your faith and trust in us - if you do, you will be disappointed.  Put your faith in Jesus.  Fix your eyes on Him.  Let the living God reveal to you who He is and how His love and grace can change your life.  Fix your eyes on Jesus and let Him be the author of your faith.  

Next Steps 

Doubting God - Doubting Others

When has a follower of Jesus disappointed you and caused you to struggle in your faith?  When have you been hurt by other Christians or the church?  

● If you need to talk about this with someone, seek out a trusted friend or counselor to find help and healing.  

● How can you learn to forgive and find a renewal of your faith and trust in God?  

When have you failed to live out your faith and perhaps caused people to doubt the goodness and love of God?  

● Have you asked God, and others, to forgive you?  

● Is that something you need to do this week?  

The word hypocrite comes from the Greek theater and means an actor or stage performer.  How did Jesus change the meaning of this world?  

Read Matthew 23:1-36.  What are the 7 woes listed here?

Why do you think Jesus spoke so harshly against religious leaders that He saw as hypocrites?  

Three reasons we often see people say one thing and yet do something else in their faith.

● Some claim to be Christian, but they don’t belong to Jesus.  See Titus 1:16

● Some are Christians but they are not mature.  See Hebrews 5:13-14

● Some are Christians, and maturing, and still mess up. See Romans 7:21-25

How can you make sure you are continuing to grow in your faith?  Consider joining a small group, learning how to read the Bible, or attend the Design class that starts tonight.