A Cheesy T-Shirt and the Power of God

Everything hinges on who you think you are standing before - whom are living before. Years ago, working at a camp, a director there had shirts printed that said “Audience of One.” And like so many things from cultural Christianity, I found it cheesy at the time but have come to appreciate its simplicity and for our purposes this morning, its absolute accuracy. For understanding ones’ audience establishes what success and failure mean, it determines whom you are supposed to please, and it gives a clarity and a specific kind of authority.

When we turn to 1 Kings 17 we find ourselves at the front end of two notorious Old Testament characters’ public lives. Ahab and his wife Jezebel are recorded along some of the darkest days in the history of Israel. They promoted idolatry among God’s people and sought to destroy the last vestiges of faithfulness from the land. Elijah’s work as a prophet (and his heir, Elisha) is one of the strangest ministries recorded in the Bible. His ministry is filled with prophetic foreshadowing of both the work of John the Baptist and Jesus himself. 1 Kings 17 records a number of things it would behoove us to pay attention to:

1. First, Elijah tells the wicked king Ahab that there will be no rain. For years. But in Elijah’s declaration there is an important little phrase that informs the rest of the chapter, indeed it grounds the whole of Elijah’s ministry. Elijah says, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand…” God sends Elijah to confront the rulers of the day, to speak a word of judgment. This is, in fact what the whole story of Elijah is about: confronting the powers who were refusing the word of the Lord. What’s notable is that Elijah doesn’t present himself as a fellow sojourner trying to make sense of the world and finding some solace in an old religion. This is, far too often, how modern Christians and pastors present themselves. He speaks with a kind of off-putting authority that sounds odd to our ears. He speaks the word of God to the most politically powerful man in the region, and the result will be that he becomes the most hated man by the most powerful person in the region: Jezebel. How can he speak this way? He speaks this way because the whole of his ministry, the whole of his prophetic work is done standing before the living God of Israel, the Lord. 
   Far too many Christians, for that matter, far too many pastors have forgotten that we speak on behalf of the living God of Israel.
   
   And we forget before whom we stand. It can be confusing. There are all kinds of people listening to you, watching you, considering your words - reacting to your words. But your words are not judged by men. Your life is not evaluated on the basis of whether or not people like you. Your authority is not in your ability to persuade or to be well liked. Your authority is grounded, like Elijah’s, in the authority of the one you speak on behalf of. Your authority is grounded in understanding before whom you stand and you stand before the Living God of Israel, the One who is the Lord. The widow who appears at the end of the chapter will testify to Elijah’s words: “I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” Far too many pastors stand in pulpits sounding mealy-mouthed and apologetic. Some wax eloquent with their own best thoughts. But you stand before the Living God of Israel, sent to speak on his behalf. You have no quarter to speak your own words, or to speak apologetically. Whether declaring a word of grace and peace, a word of warning, or a word of judgment, so long as you speak His words, your authority is not your own and you have the authority to speak to kings - and their wives.
   

2. A theme develops in the chapter that we should take note of: In verse 4, God says, “I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” In verse 9, God commands Elijah to go to a gentile region and that he has “commanded a widow to feed you there.” The language is the same: God commands widows and he commands ravens. The thing that must strike us is that God commands and it is done. God commands and the world is ordered. God commands and ravens drop off bread and meat. God commands and there is bread and oil. God commands and a widow’s son is raised from the dead. But don’t miss the point for the action: God commands and his commands, his words, reorder the world - all of it. Rain stops, birds deliver food, a dying widow and her son have food to give.
   
   The parallels of this section with Jesus’ own ministry are telling. Jesus cites this incident as a warning (and promise!) that as God’s judgment comes against Israel, his mercy will spread to the Gentiles (his hometown tries to kill him for that). Jesus deals mercifully with widows, even raising sons from the dead. Jesus multiplies bread and fish in the midst of a drought of God’s word, echoing this story, but adding the glory that he is multiplying both Jews (the bread) and the nations (fish) in his hand. But undergirding all of this is the command, the word, the power of God’s words. And this is the secret sauce guiding us to the difficult calling outlined above. We know both whom we stand before and what his words do. His words make alive. His words kill. His words command reality itself. We are not offering one religious set of practices and philosophies to compete in the marketplace of ideas. We speak the words of One whose words order the world, history and the lives of widows and their kitchens.
   

3. The widow’s progression is worth paying attention to as well. Her son dies and she says, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” Now, this brings to mind all kind of scenes from the ministry of Jesus - when he tells the disciples that Lazarus dies so that he can show them the power of God or when the widow’s son is raised in Luke 7. But don’t miss the widow’s own words: Elijah has come and brought her own sins to remembrance and he brought about the death of her son. We tend to skip past this part to the nice part where God raises the son from the dead. But the widow’s experience of Elijah’s ministry is something we shouldn’t skip over: He brought her sin to remembrance. He is the source of grave trouble for this poor woman. So it is for those who stand before the Lord. We bring sins to remembrance and for many the experience of God’s word is tragedy. God will raise the dead. God will provide bread and oil. But God will also bring buried sins to the surface. He will expose. He will judge. He will destroy even as he makes alive.
   
   Christian, remember before whom you stand. Pastor, speak with the authority of God’s own words and stop expecting your words to be well received. God’s words kill. God’s words make alive. God’s words provide bread and God’s words expose sins.