Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

PASTOR'S PENS 2008

Grace Church of Burlington March 30, 2008  “As heat is opposed to cold, and light to darkness, so grace is opposed to sin.”  Thomas Brooks         I’ll be honest. Sometimes when I see the injustice, the debauchery and wickedness in our culture...I just want to nuke ‘em till they glow. But I’m wrong. God has not called us to judge this world or even to pray down His judgement upon it. Wonderfully, this is the Age of Grace. But if we’re honest, we’d have to admit that most of us have a little bit of the Prophet Elijah in us.   Recently, I learned that at a Jewish Passover meal, they leave an empty chair. Jews traditionally set an extra place for  Elijah. For them Elijah represents a longing for a type of messiah they never got. Most believers though would have to admit that Elijah represents what many Grace Age Christians think that we too want in a Messiah.    Even our picture of what a prophet was like comes largely from Elijah. He lived in the wilderness, wore animal skins and emerged from hiding to make lightning raids on a pagan empire. When John the Baptist appeared centuries later, for many Jews, he brought Elijah to mind. Observers also wondered for a time if Jesus Himself might be Elijah reincarnate. Jesus soon corrected them from that notion. Jesus just didn’t fit the Elijah mold...     Elijah solved problems. Ravens fed Elijah in the desert. He became a popular houseguest by providing a widow an endless supply of oil and flour. When her son died, Elijah promptly resurrected him. Some of these miracles prefigured Jesus' own but with an important difference. Jesus' miracles benefitted others, never Himself. While He fed 5,000, He went hungry in the wilderness. The source of Living Water died with "I thirst" on His lips.     Nobody messed with Elijah. Children love hearing stories about Elijah. They have a Terminator aspect to them. This scraggly desert prophet strolled into the gleaming city of Samaria and took on a thousand false prophets in their fancy white robes. He blasted King Ahab for seizing a commoner's vineyard. When a company of soldiers came to arrest him, fire dropped from heaven to incinerate them. The contrast with Jesus could hardly be greater. "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him," (John 3:17). His disciples earned Jesus' rebuke by calling for fire on unrepentant cities. When the leaders crucified Jesus like a common criminal, He had only these words for His tormentors, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”     Elijah gave absolute proof. Is there a Biblical scene more theatrically staged than Elijah's confrontation on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal?  After disposing of the 850 pagan priests, Elijah ended a three-year drought and bested a chariot in a 17-mile race. But  Jesus declined every opportunity to prove Himself. He said, “a wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign.” He resisted Satan's temptations toward a more dazzling style, did not call on rescuing angels and died listening to skeptics' taunts and mockery.    Elijah did not die. Slaves used to sing, “swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home,” looking back to Elijah's dramatic departure. Those chariots of fire furnished Elijah an escape route around death. A prophet who did not die? Little wonder Jews anticipate his return. As for Jesus, He died, a horrible death reserved mostly for slaves and criminals. In a great irony when He cried out from the cross, "Eli, eli...," onlookers presumed He was calling for Elijah's help. It’s easy to understand why Jews value Elijah. He stands for what we want in a prophet, what we want in a God: someone to solve my problems, protect me, give me absolute proof, and offer an escape route around life's messiest problems. But on further reflection, from Elijah I also learn why God does not always act as we may want.  For example, Elijah's style never achieved the desired results. Despite all the fireworks his ministry accomplished little. Even the Mount Carmel scene barely made a dent in the nation's faith. The Bible shows again and again that spectacular miracles have minimal long-term effect on faith. Elijah himself, who’d just stared down 850 priests and an angry king, fled like a scared rabbit from Queen Jezebel. The God we think we want does not always produce the results we think we'll get. In a tender scene following Elijah's chicken little flight from Jezebel, God revealed a different style. At Elijah’s lowest point God visited him—pointedly, not in a powerful wind, earthquake, or fire; rather, in a gentle whisper. Instead of overwhelming Elijah with supernatural power, God found a way to descend, to restore his confidence from the inside out. (It reminds me of a similar scene centuries later when Jesus tenderly brought Peter back from despair toward faith.)  It’s easy to understand why Jews still leave a place for Elijah at the Passover table. In many ways faith in Elijah is easier to understand than faith in Jesus. But remember Jesus said, “when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). Our Lord called upon us to take up a cross, not a lightning bolt. If this world is to be won for Christ, it will be won by a gentle voice and self-sacrificing love, not by loud shouts, cries for judgement and spectacle. It will be won by Jesus' style, not Elijah's.      This morning as we conclude our series, An Earthly Cross...It’s Eternal Significance, I pray that it will help each of us have more of the suffering Savior’s compassionate heart for a Hell-bound world so that we can more effectively share His message of love and the Gospel with our world.