• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
 
STUDIES IN OLD TESTAMENT MINISTRY 
Bristol Road 15
th
September 2004
ELIJAH – MAN OF ACTION
“Some say John the Baptist; others say
 Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 
Matthew 16 v 14
Over the next few studies we shall be looking at examples of Old Testament Ministry. We use the text in Matthew as a linking phrase.ELIJAH is always seen as the epitome of the prophet’s ministry. Hesteps out of the shadows at God’s instruction and appears on thepolitical and religious scene to challenge the apostasy of his time.Elijah is the archetypal MAN OF ACTION and his life and ministryprovides a rich seam of Biblical material from which to learn aboutaspects of the spiritual life and the life of ministry. (On an earlieroccasion we visited Elijah in a series entitled “How to cope withElijah”.) This evening I want you to find him under the broom tree – deeplydepressed – a he runs from Jezebel, not long after his greatest momenton Carmel.Elijah is a lesson to us in the stresses and strains of ministry as well asit’s style. He teaches us that the servant of God who takes theprophet’s mantle will often be a person of great swings of mood anddisposition. We should not reject someone out of hand for the role of pastor simply because he reveals similar tendencies to becomingdepressed or troubled – we should seek to understand that, as withPaul in different circumstances of physical frailty, so with many menwhom God uses there are inherent weaknesses; but God uses themnone the less.Remember what James says: “Elijah was a man just like us…”Elijah had gone down in the history of the Jewish people as theProphet. None in the time of Jesus’ ministry had ever known him – andprobably only a few knew the detail of his story – but there was ageneral sense of greatness about the man – so much so that, as the
 
Page 2years passed, he became a template for a Man of God – a minister of the divine word. Elijah’s iconic position is underlined by hisappearance at Christ’s transfiguration alongside Moses.Elijah’s ministry can be set out in six episodes:1.He appears to denounce Ahab and declare a drought1Ki172.He meets Obadiah and challenges Baal worship on Carmel1Ki183.He runs to Horeb to avoid Jezebel1Ki194.He confronts Ahab about Naboth’s vineyard1Ki215.He confronts Ahaziah about Baalzebub2Ki 16.He is dramatically taken up to heaven2Ki 2A quick reminder of those stories shows us the kind of ministry thatElijah exercised – an uncompromising series of declarations about Jehovah in the face of widespread apostasy and the evils of Ahab.Looking a little closer we see more of the man himself – and it is thoseaspects of the man Elijah that I want to present to you this evening.We can link them together by a theme that quite remarkably ties in toour word on Sunday evening last concerning the SMALL THINGS in thesign of the feeding of the crowd in John’s gospel.Here they are:-1Ki 17 v12 only a handful of flour1Ki 18 v44a cloud as small as a man’s hand1Ki 19 v46I am no better than my ancestors1Ki 19 v12after the fire came a gentle whisperI want you to picture the man Elijah – not as he stands triumphant onCarmel – or appears menacingly before Ahab in Naboth’s vineyard –but cowering under the scant shade of the broom tree in deep despair.I imagine him looking back over what he has achieved and how he isnow reduced to retreating in the face of Jezebel.
 
Page 3 The answer of God in each situation reminds us that it is the Lord whotransforms the unlikely and the small – who provides for His servant insmall pieces, provoking a faith that can recognise God in small signs of His activity, who rebukes the self-centred and contracted prophet – butalso ministers again to his physical needs and speaks to him – not inthe dramatic and violent – but in the still small voice. This then is a study of God using small things to prepare, inspire,restore and rebuke His servant.He is the Lord God of CherithZarephathCarmel The wildernessand The sacred mountain of Horeb There is another remarkable link with the story in John – the wordENOUGH!
3
 
Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4
 
while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and  prayed that he might die.
“I have had 
enough
 , Lord,” he said.“Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”
5
 
Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep
.
What he needed to bereminded of was that theLord was ENOUGH for all of his needs.
The movements of Elijahwhich are neatly summarised on this mapdraw us into the pattern of the narrative.We see Elijah moving – inthe face of the drought from Samaria to Cherithand on to Zarephath.
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...