Sermon in Minneapolis 31.05.2017

In the name of the Father, in the Son, in the Holy Spirit, let us begin our evening service with opening prayer and thanksgiving. Holy and righteous God, our dear Heavenly Father, we again thank you for this opportunity to gather around your Holy Word. Lord, we ask for your service blessings. We ask for your presence through your Holy Spirit so that we could be strengthened and nourished in our faith and that you would guide us on this walk of life in faith and feed us with your everlasting gospel word. All of this we ask in the name of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Last Sunday was the sixth Sunday after Easter, and so it's the last Sunday before Pentecost. The theme for this week is Awaiting for the Holy Spirit. So we're like on the eve of Pentecost Festival. An Old Testament text set aside for last Sunday and this week is from 1 Kings chapter 19, verses 8 through 13. And we will hear these words as follows in Jesus' name.

And he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat or that food for 40 days and 40 nights unto Horeb, the mount of God. And he came thither unto a cave and lodged there. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he, the Lord, said to him, What doest thou here, Elijah? Elijah. And Elijah said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant. They have thrown down thine altars and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left. And they seek my life to take it away.

And he said, for the Lord said, Go forth, stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still, small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, and he went out. And he stood in the entering, or the mouth of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? Amen.

Two of my friends, some years ago, were a director and a camp director at a camp in the old country. And there was a meltdown of some sorts, an argument between two of the students. And some of the staff tried to go and visit and get matters taken care of. And for one of the students, he wanted nothing to do with their help and helping. And so they asked the camp directors that maybe you could come and help us, assist us. And so the camp director and the assistant went into the room where the one student was lodged. And he was buried underneath his quilt, underneath his covering. He had completely hidden himself underneath his quilt. And he wouldn't come out. And so through the quilt, they began to talk to him and tried to coax him to come out and tried to talk about the meltdown that had occurred. And they tried, and they tried with love and patience. And finally, the boy from under the cover said, well, the camp directors were asking that, does he want to ask for forgiveness for what he did? And we all know how sometimes it's very difficult to ask for forgiveness. And after a period of time, then the boy from underneath the cover said that, well, can I ask for forgiveness in the English language? And they said, you can ask for forgiveness in any language you want. Well, eventually, the matter got cared for.

Here in our text, it tells about one of the most well-known prophets of the Old Testament, whose name was Prophet Elijah. He was a man of God. And yet, here in our text, he seems to be as if moping, almost like that student at the camp, hiding underneath his blanket in his dorm room and unwilling to even visit about matters with the director and the assistant director.

What do we know about this great well-known prophet, whose name was Elijah? Jesus even gives mention about him that John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus. John the Baptist would come when he came. He came in the spirit of the prophet Elijah. And we remember how the end of the life of Prophet Elijah ended. It didn't end in a normal way. Every one of us will, just as we have been born into this world, we will one day die and we will have a funeral and we will be buried into the bosom of the earth. Well, Prophet Elijah did not die. But God sent chariots from heaven, pulled by a team of horses, and Prophet Elijah was able to be swept up into these chariots and carried alive into heaven. Prophet Elijah did not die as we did.

Long after this event happened, in the last book of the Old Testament, it gives mention about the prophet Elijah after he had ascended into heaven. And he said, Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the great and the awesome day of the Lord comes. So, when Jesus appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration and he was transfigured, he suddenly changed to the metamorphosis and was now in the body, just like he was there in the glory of heaven. Momentarily, he was in like fashion on Mount Transfiguration. And then suddenly, there appeared two Old Testament saints who returned from glory, the glory of heaven momentarily, to stand on either side of Jesus. One was Moses, representing the law, and on the other side was prophet Elijah, representing the books of the prophets in the Old Testament time.

We remember when Jesus was hanging on the cross and he said a few sentences, seven different sentences are recorded of Jesus as he was hanging there during the last moments of his life on the cross. And one of the statements was said in his native language, the Aramaic language, and that statement is, as is, also in our English Bible, but also translated for us so we would understand what he said. And Jesus said, in his great pain, anguish, and suffering, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. So he said, Eli, Eli, which, in the Aramaic language, is very close, if not the same, as the forename, the first name of Elijah. We say Elijah, but there in that language, apparently they would say, Eli, or Eli. And so, the people there at the foot of the cross thought that Jesus was calling out for prophet Elijah to come and give him help and assistance. Somehow they misconstrued completely what Jesus said. In our English Bible, it's translated, and those who spoke the Aramaic language should have well known that Jesus was saying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

So these are some of the statements and allusions that we can find in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, about this great prophet whose name was Elijah.

So what then led up to this event where our text then takes place? In the previous chapter, chapter 18, it tells of an event that took place on a certain mountain which is called Mount Carmel. At that time, one of the kings of Israel was Ahab. And all of the kings of Israel and Judah were not good kings, but many of them were evil kings. And one of the most evil kings was Ahab. And what made matters worse is he married a woman from a foreign country whose name was Jezebel, Queen Jezebel. And she was even more wicked than King Ahab himself. So maybe she was the driving force behind the evilness of King Ahab.

Anyways, the goal of King Ahab was to destroy all of the believers off of the face of this earth. And the king and the queen were doing a pretty good job of it. They had already killed many, many, many of the Israelites, the believers of that time. But there was one servant there in the house of, or in the palace of the king and the queen whose name was Obadiah. Apparently the same name that carries the name of the prophetical book, Obadiah. But he was a believing man. And he was kind of a secret spokesman that would come and visit with prophet Elijah. And he said that just to make sure I have hidden 100 prophets or believing messengers of the Lord, 50 in one cave and 50 in another cave. Just in case the king and the queen are so successful that they kill everyone else.

But prophet Elijah wanted to go visit with the king. Obadiah kind of said that I don't recommend doing so, but prophet Elijah went anyways and had a visit with King Ahab. And he came up with a plan or an idea of how do we find out whose god is the correct god. King Ahab's wife was Jezebel and she came from a religion that believed in the prophets Baal. And so they came up with this little plan that let's go to the top of this Mount Carmel and each group, the group supporting Baal will build an altar and then the group supporting the god of Israel will build an altar. And we will only use prayer. We can't use match sticks or any other ways to kindle a fire but only prayer is allowed and we will call unto our gods, you call unto your gods, the gods of Baal, and I'll call unto the god of Israel in prayer and whosoever god answers the prayer with fire that's a sign, a symbol that that is the true and the living god.

And so the prophets of Baal went first. They built their altar, they put wood on the altar and I think they had to even drench it in water and then put a sacrifice on the altar and then they began to pray. The sun rose at 6 a.m. and they had until noon, six hours, half a day to try and get their god to answer with fire. And so the people who were supporting Baal began to dance and they would take their knives and they would cut themselves and jump up and down and holler with a loud voice and nothing happened. So prophet Elijah was a little mean and he began to be sarcastic and he said, well where is your god? Is he sleeping? Maybe he's gone out on a trip? Maybe he's gone to the bathroom? Why isn't he answering? For six hours they hollered, they shouted, they jumped, they danced and nothing was heard from heaven.

Now at noon was the turn for prophet Elijah and he put wood upon his altar that was built having a base of twelve stones and twelve, of course, is a common number in the Bible. Jesus chose twelve disciples and it's often known as the number of the doctrine. And upon that altar they put wood which is then drenched wet with water and then prophet Elijah began to pray and he said, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, hear my prayer. The heavens opened, fire fell down from heaven and not only did it light the wet wood but it burned it to ashes as well as the sacrifice that was lying on the altar. And the people who were there were so amazed that many bowed down on their knees and they began to say the Lord is God, the Lord is God and there were many repentances even that occurred at those services.

So it is said that prophet Elijah at this event conquered 450 prophets of Baal at this one moment. But then when Queen Jezebel heard what happened she became so angry, so filled with wrath that the prophet Elijah had to flee for his life. And now he leaves on a journey and he is going as far away as possible to escape the presence and the wrath of Queen Jezebel.

Earlier before I read text it says, but Elijah himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and he sat underneath a juniper tree and what was his prayer even after this great mighty deed? He begins to pray that he might die. It is enough now, oh Lord, take away my life for I am not better than his father. And he fell asleep under the juniper tree. As he was sleeping an angel came and touched him and woke him up and had food for him and the angel says your journey is a long one but here is some food for the journey. And he rose, he ate and he left on his journey and he traveled for forty days and forty nights and when he stopped he was at Mount Horeb.

And another name for this mount is Mount Sinai, a very familiar name using the other name for us in the Bible when Moses was out there during the second phase of his life there tending the sheep of his father in law Jethro and he saw that vision of that bush that was burning but was not consumed and the voice began to speak to him from that bush that was at the base of Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai. This is where prophet Elijah now was.

When Moses later led the people of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt into the wilderness their first major stop was at Mount Sinai and there at the top of this mountain God spoke to Moses and at one point Moses was in a cave and then later God gave the Ten Commandment law to Moses on Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb. And so prophet Elijah is now at the very same location and there on that mountain the prophet goes into the cave to hide himself as we could think just as that boy at that camp when he was angered he went and hid himself underneath the quilts and blankets in his dorm room.

So prophet Elijah was there hiding himself in a cave and now the Lord comes to speak to him and I've never been to Israel but many friends have been to Israel and I guess in this location there's a statue, there's a statue of prophet Elijah. You can google it on the internet and find a picture of that statue and it shows the statue is an image of a big man and shows like he has an angry face and his eyebrows are raised up and he's got a sword in his hand ready to strike and under one of his feet he has a prophet apparently one of the prophets of Baal. So when we look at this statue of this prophet, this man of God, he looks like a very angry person.

So we can ask this question, is this the correct model or image or picture of a believer? So now prophet Elijah is buried deep in this cave but then the Lord God comes and wants to have a little conversation, a little visit with this prophet and he, the prophet Elijah, came onto the cave and he lodged there and while he was lodged there behold the word of the Lord came to him and God said to him, Elijah, what are you doing here?

So when we think of the mission work of God next Sunday is Pentecost and the Jews up to that point had been basically huddled among themselves among their own plan, the Jewish people there in the country of Israel and centered around the city of Jerusalem. But then when the Holy Spirit on Pentecost appeared in a visible form and flames of fire landed upon the heads of the disciples then they were emboldened, they were given strength to fulfill the mission work, the mission command of Christ Jesus has said in his last words in Matthew chapter 28, go forth into all of the world and preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins for the gospel must go to all corners of the world, to all peoples, to all nations and all tongues and then the end will come.

So on the one hand how can this even though the mission command in that form hadn't been given yet, how can the mission work of God go forth when he's holed up in a cave? So on the one hand the Lord God is coming to say coax him out of here, out of the cave, come from underneath the covers and go and continue to do the work of the Lord. So that's one point in the conversation between Lord God and prophet Elijah.

But now he, this conversation continues and the word of the Lord came to Elijah and he said, Elijah, what are you doing here? And Elijah responds with kind of a very, what would I say, almost in a self-righteous way he says, I have been very jealous for the Lord of hosts for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant. They have thrown down your altars. Didn't the altars of Baal come down just a few days earlier? They're on Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal have been slain with a sword, 450 of them. But then he says, but I only, I am left. Was that true? Prophet Elijah was thinking that he is the only believer left on this earth. Well, that's not quite true.

First I'll recall a conversation that I had or wasn't a conversation I was in the sauna with a Finnish speaker brother was visiting here in this country 22 years ago and somehow he started telling of a little incident that occurred in the old country back in the 1970s and he said that one preacher brother together with seven others, so there was eight total in one house in one room and they had become so, could we say, dried up that they said that the eight of us who are here in this room are the only eight on earth anymore who are correctly believing. Imagine, they thought that there's only eight people on earth anymore who are correctly believing.

Well the minister who said that statement he was able to be later cared for and is now in the glory of heaven. So prophet Elijah here says that only I am left and my enemies are seeking my life to take it away. Well prophet or the servant Obadiah had just told prophet Elijah earlier that I have hidden fifty prophets in one cave and fifty in another cave so there's at least a hundred. What about that widow in Zarephath that prophet Elijah came to during the time of famine and she gave or made a meal for him out of her last bit of flour that she had in her house and then after that fed her family? She was a believer. And what about after the fire came down on the altar there on Mount Carmel? Weren't there also many who repented, received the grace of repentance at those services?

And so how could prophet Elijah say that I am the only one left remaining here on this earth? Well a little bit later it says in response to this that the Lord God has hid yet seven thousand prophets and spared their lives. So prophet Elijah was, could we say, a little bit, not only a little bit dried up in himself. So the Lord God was having a little conversation and a little visit with him but then it says and God said to Elijah that come out from under your quilt or under your covers so to say or come out from the depths of that cave and come out to the mouth of the cave and stand here on the mountain before the Lord and watch and listen.

And behold there was a great strong wind. It was so strong that it began to cause the mountains to crumble. We could say this is similar to a tornado in our language today. Just a week ago there was in western Wisconsin a bad tornado that hit that mobile park and leveled it completely and unfortunately there was only one person who died. So a great strong wind rent the mountains and broke it in pieces before the Lord. But what does it say? The Lord was not in the wind.

There are religions out there and who have very much outward show in a way and much high church formality and very beautiful in this sense but is it the correct faith and religion? In this high church formality some people may walk barefoot on hot rocks thinking this is a sign of the spirit of God or some people may speak in tongues saying this is the sign of the correct spirit of the Lord and they may try to do other great mighty deeds and miracles as a sign that they supposedly have the correct spirit of the Lord. But when this wind came and even shook and broke the mountains because of the crumble it says the Lord was not in that wind.

And then there was an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire but the Lord was not in the fire. We must remember that Elijah was just on Mount Carmel and there was that battle so to say against the prophets of Baal and the religion of Baal believed it was a religion of fertility but also they believed that their gods were in these forms of nature in the wind, in the fire and in the earthquakes. And so this is a demonstration, a show to prophet Elijah that the correct religion of true living God is not like the religion of Baal who believes in the forces of nature as their ultimate authority.

We remember when Jesus and his disciples were going through the land of Samaria which is a piece of land which is between Jerusalem in the south and Galilee in the north separating the northern part of Israel from the southern part known as Judah and the most direct route was to go through this land of Samaria. And the Samaritans and the Jews had a bitter relationship between each other and so Jesus and his disciples were passing through this land and the sun was going down and they were looking for a place to have services and a place to lodge for the night and so they began to knock on a few doors and there was a very cold reception, "You're not allowed, we will not let you come in."

And so the disciples of Jesus became very anxious, we could say, and they said that Jesus, why don't you call fire down from heaven and kill every one of these Samaritans? They're treating us so poorly. That's what happened during the time of prophet Elijah soon after this event here and just before he ascended into heaven in a fiery chariot. King Ahab continued to harass him and so prophet Elijah called fire to come down from heaven to kill a band of fifty soldiers. King Ahab sent another band of fifty soldiers and prophet Elijah again called fire to come down from heaven and killed the second band of fifty soldiers.

So I'm sure the disciples were recalling, remembering these Old Testament events and they said Jesus, why don't you just call fire down from heaven and kill every one of these Samaritans? They're treating us so poorly. And it was James and John who were the two brothers who were known as sons of thunder, maybe because they were making this request. And Jesus turned to them and said, you do not know of what kind of spirit you are speaking of. That's not the correct attitude, that's not the mind and that's not the heart of a child of God.

Imagine if Jesus would have asked for fire to come down from heaven and killed every one of those Samaritans. It was soon after this event that Jesus was visiting with that Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar who received the grace of repentance. She went to tell her fellow Samaritans about what had happened and many of the other Samaritans received the grace of repentance. There was a small awakening among the Samaritans. There would have been many lost souls had all of the Samaritans been killed at the disciples' request.

But then so God wasn't in the fire, he wasn't in the earthquake and he wasn't in the strong wind. But it continues, but after the earthquake a fire but God was not in the fire. But after the fire came a still small voice. In the Finnish language and some of the other translations it says in a soft breeze or wind. This breeze or wind or small breath meaning a whisper or still small voice comes from the word which is the same as the spirit, the Holy Spirit.

We remember when Jesus was visiting with Nicodemus during that nocturnal visit and Nicodemus was curious and asking important questions about very important matters and Jesus at one point says unless a person is born of water and spirit they shall not see and enter the kingdom of God. But then Jesus went on to speak about the Holy Spirit. He said it's like a soft breeze. So spirit and breeze in the Greek language are the exact same word. It comes from the word pneuma. If some of you have air power tools you call them pneumatic tools. It comes from the same word air powered pneumatic tools.

So wind or air, breeze and spirit are the same and so Jesus uses his play on words and he says the Holy Spirit is like the wind. We don't know where its origin is, where it's coming from and we don't know where it ends up. We can't see it but we can feel it and we can see its effects. We can see, look outside and see if the wind is blowing the leaves are moving about on the branches and the branches are swaying so you can see and feel its effects but you cannot see the wind itself.

So Jesus says that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God works and functions in the same way but yet it's a still small voice, a soft breeze. It doesn't come with thunder, it doesn't come as a strong wind breaking the mountains, it doesn't come like an earthquake, it doesn't come like fire falling down from heaven and killing people but it comes in a soft gentle way, a small still voice, a gentle breeze.

People tell a story when a minister came from southern Finland to northern Finland on a preaching trip and he came to preach in a lumber camp which was very typical in years gone by decades ago and you can imagine the lifestyle in a lumber camp very rough people and living a very rugged and many times ungodly life. And so he went to keep services there in that lumber camp and lo and behold there in that lumber camp was a neighbor of his from southern Finland and it wasn't any ordinary neighbor but it was a neighbor that often made fun of him and persecuted him and jeered him and treated him poorly knowing that he was a staunch believer and knowing that he was a minister.

Now this man was at the services there in northern Finland in the middle of the winter at that lumber camp. So the minister sees this neighbor of his and comes to him and he says I can see that your boots are not in very good shape, they're just cardboard boots and you have to wade into the cold icy waters to move those logs around. He says lo and behold my wife just before I left on my trip bought me a brand new pair of leather boots here I'll give these to you as a gift. So he pulls off his cardboard boots and on his feet were ragged wool socks with big holes in them. The minister says to this neighbor of his that lo and behold I have a brand new pair of wool socks it looks like your socks are all torn and ragged here maybe you could use these.

And he kept his sermon, kept the services and went back eventually to his home in southern Finland. That evening he had been preaching that sometimes the word of God is like hot coals which are poured upon the hearts of men and unbelievers. So he arrives home and he's going to bed one night in the middle of the night and there's a knock on the door and the minister tells his wife can you go answer the front door and the wife says I don't dare and so he went up, got up himself and went to the front door and opened the front door and there was that neighbor that was at that lumber camp in northern Finland to whom he had given the new pair of boots and the new pair of wool socks.

And this neighbor of his had one question he said I have been so mean to you over the years and you treated me with such love and compassion that it just broke my heart there's something different in you so I have only one question can I a great sinner have my sins forgiven? And joyfully and gladly that minister preached that gospel to this neighbor you can believe your sins forgiven in Jesus name and precious blood.

So we remember how Peter the apostle of the Lord one time acted in the flesh and when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane and the soldiers came to capture Jesus Peter wanted nothing to do with it and he took out his sword and he took a swipe at one of the soldiers and cut his ear off and the ear lobe fell to the ground and Jesus stooped down and he picked up the ear lobe, the bloody ear lobe and put it back in its place and it became healed. Then Jesus turned to Peter and he said Peter put your sword away who lives after the sword will also die by the sword that is not the right mind and attitude of a believer, a child of God.

But the spirit of God works with a small still voice, a soft breeze like it's blowing in the wind. There was one mother of a fairly large family had six children and she became a widow and she got left alone to raise these six children. So I'm sure in the temporal sense it was very difficult financially it was a challenge but also the enemy of souls was tempting her and harassing her and saying to her are you even a child of God don't even think that you're a child of God.

And so she was so tempted and tried and full of doubts and temptations and wondering is there even a flicker of faith left in her heart and one morning she woke up early and was putting wood in the fire going in the stove. This was years ago and the enemy of souls was grabbing her by the throat and putting a stranglehold on her and she was wondering is such a one even a believer.

And the window happened to be open and one of the children, one of the girls was singing a song and it's a familiar song in our songbook it begins, "Oh what bliss beyond all measure in our home and heaven above." But the last words of the last verse continue to echo and ring in her heart as the daughter sang the song again and again, "Oh remember this assurance do not weary on the way e'er remember your dear savior unto heaven turn your gaze Jesus soon will come and gather all his own to heaven home."

This warmed her heart and she began to be happy and rejoice in her heart that God is not yet, even yet not forsaken me a weak doubting child of God.

So we have been talking much about the prophet Elijah a man of God, a prophet of the Lord and in the New Testament it says that he was faulty and he was tempted and a sinner just like you and I. But as we recalled earlier that his journey ended and it ended in a wonderful way when prophet Elijah was now about to take over and to continue his work he handed the mantle over to Elisha. God sent those fiery chariots prophet Elijah was swept away and carried into the glory of heaven.

So prophet Elijah was a human, was a sinner just like you and I but we can believe of the grace of God a sinner yet righteous, evil yet holy as Luther says. So even now this evening just as you are just as you find yourself you can turn your gaze to the heavenly Father to the Son Jesus Christ who has paid the price of sin, blazed open the way unto the glory of heaven in his name and precious blood you can believe sins forgiven unto peace, freedom and joy in Jesus name. Amen.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us your peace in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.