PENTECOST
25
November
9-11. 2024
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
1 Kings 17:8-16
“IT’S TIME TO
START THE INSANITY!”
1.
Insane
Trust.
2.
Insane
Generosity.
Brothers and sisters, it’s time to start
the insanity. I know what those of you who were here a few weeks ago are
thinking. “Just wait a minute, pastor. Three weeks ago you told us it was time
to stop the insanity and now you are telling us to start it. You can’t do
that!” Yes, I can and let me tell you why. The definition of insanity that I’m
using is the popular one, extreme foolishness or being extremely irrational.
Three weeks ago, I correctly stated that it was extremely foolish for
Christians who have Jesus as king to get all bent out of shape over an election
in a country which is a drop in the bucket of the world’s population and
insignificant in New Testament history. It is extremely foolish to think the
King of kings and Lord of lords has to take His cues from an American
President. It’s always time for that kind of insanity, extreme foolishness, to
stop. Today I’m focusing on the extremely irrational type of insanity, going
against logic and reason. And I’m saying that is exactly what we want to do.
Why? Because that’s what exercising our faith is. Believing without seeing.
Acting on God’s promises that go against our own understanding. That’s insane! Extremely
irrational! Exactly what followers of the Christ like you and me want to do.
The Lord teaches us that truth in all of
the Scripture readings you heard today but for now let’s focus on the Old
Testament reading from 1 Kings. Here is the background. It’s around 850 BC.
These are dark spiritual days for the nation of Israel. Wicked King Ahab and
wickeder Queen Jezebel rule. They have persecuted and killed true prophets of
God and promoted Baal worship. To call the nation to repentance the Lord caused
a years long drought that caused a years long famine. People were starving. The
prophet Elijah served as God’s true prophet. God wanted him to stay alive. He
sent Elijah to a widow woman to get some food. Listen again to what happened. “So he got up and went to Zarephath. He came
to the city gate, and there he saw a widow gathering sticks. He called to her
and said, “Please give me a little water in a jar, so that I can have something
to drink.” 11When she went to get it, he called to her, “Please
bring me a piece of bread.” 12She said, “As surely as the Lord your
God lives, I have no food except a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive
oil in a pitcher. See, I am gathering a couple of sticks so that I can go and
prepare it for myself and my son, so that we can eat it and then die.”
You probably already know what I’m going
to say. This is insane. Zarephath is not a part of the nation of Israel. It’s
in modern day Lebanon. It was located in the area in which the Baal worship
plaguing Israel originated. And God told Elijah to go there and he went? That’s
insane! It must have gone against every ounce of Elijah’s being as an Israelite
faithful to the one true God. There would be absolutely no reason for a widow
in Baal country to share with him. And when he got there things got even worse.
The widow had a son and they were preparing to die. Only one meal left. I mean,
once you hear that wouldn’t you say something like, “I’m sorry to have bothered
you. I’ll be OK. I’ll see if I can find you some more food.” But Elijah plows
forward. “Elijah said to her, “Do
not be afraid. Go and do just as you said. But first make a small loaf of bread
for me from the flour and bring it out to me. Then go and make another for you
and your son. 14For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel,
says. The jar of flour will not run out and the pitcher of oil will not become
empty until the day the Lord sends rain to water the surface of the ground.”
That’s insane! But Elijah was not the
only one with insane trust. Look at this woman. I don’t know how prophets
dressed back then or what Elijah looked like but somehow this woman knew he was
a prophet. She said, “As surely as the Lord your God lives.” So he was a
prophet, but not her prophet. So, let’s get this straight. Some guy shows up on
your doorstep in the middle of a famine causing drought as you are preparing
the last food you have for you and your only child and asks you to give him the
food first, what do you do? A. Run away! B. Yell for help. C. Tell him what you
are really thinking or D. Do exactly what he says. OK, if you picked D, you’re insane! She was.
“So she went and did exactly as
Elijah said. He and she, as well as her household, were able to eat for many
days. 16The jar of flour did not run out, and the pitcher of
oil did not become empty, just as the Lord had said through Elijah.”
That’s insane. Extremely irrational. Elijah
trusted the words and promise of God that told him to go to a place that didn’t
make sense, to a woman that didn’t make sense with a demand that didn’t make
sense and he did it. Insane trust. The woman acted on the words and promise of
God and gave all she had left for herself and her son to Elijah. Insane generosity.
And God blessed it, greatly. Not only did she and her son have food for the
rest of the famine but if you read the rest of the story she is brought to see
that the Lord is her God too.
Can you think back to all three Bible
readings now? Did you notice something that the widow of Zarepheth, the
Madedonians and the widow at the Temple all had in common? They were all poor.
Their giving that caught God’s eye was not from their plenty but from their
little. And that’s good news for us. You know why? If you ask an average
American who the rich people are do you know what most will say? Anyone who has
more than I do. So that makes us all poor and so capable of insane generosity.
But it has to start with insane faith.
Give a 5 year old $20 and what are
they likely to do with it? Give it to missions. Give it away at school for some
food or clothing drive. Offer to buy something for mom or dad. Give a 15 year
old $20 dollars and what are they likely to do with it? Buy some snack for
themselves. Spend it to buy in game bonuses for whatever online game they are
playing. Get something for themselves. Give a 75 year old $20 dollars and what
are they likely to do with it? Save it for a rainy day. You see that in the
area of generosity as we grow up physically we grow down spiritually. The 5
year old has complete trust that mom and dad will provide so why not give it
away? As we grow older that childlike faith can fade. But it does not have to. We
can live like 5 year olds with complete trust that God will provide for us even
if we give what we have away. We also have the words and promise of God enabling
us to go against the rational way of thinking of ourselves first and instead
help others spiritual and physical needs. Jesus said in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will
be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken
together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the
measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.” And the Holy
Spirit had Paul write this promise in 2 Corinthians 9, “The
one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. The one who sows
generously will also reap generously.” Those are God’s truths. Acting
on them with insane generosity will take insane trust and it is clear to me
that He wants us to do this.
This is what happened last weekend. It
was Saturday. Many Jacobi members generously gave of their time to do the
preliminary clean up. We were just about done, just a few members remaining.
All of the sudden this guy strolls through the carport doors. I hear him say to
the members standing in the atrium, “Is the reverend around?” They say, “No,
but Pastor Spaude is here.” I ask him if I can help him. He says, “Well, I’m
not a member here but I am behind in my tithing and I want to make that right. It’s
what God deserves. Here is 10% of what I just got paid.” And he hands me a wad
of bills. So some guy comes in off the street the week before the Bible
readings for church are about giving and even though he is not a member tithes
to God here. You know what that is? That’s insane. Caught my eye. Caught God’s
eyes. You and I can too. It’s time to start the insanity! Amen.
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