Shepherds: Week 2

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0:00 For the rest of us, I want to, we're going to be in First Kings this morning and that can take a minute to find if you're using a paper copy of Scripture. So I'll give you a head start on that first king. It's in the Old Testament. And like I mentioned at the start, I feel like I really need God as a shepherd right now. I feel like there's a lot of open questions.

0:35 All of the things that I'm normally not in control of are like smacking me in the face, how out of control, how the limits of my scope, the scope of my control. I need to know that there is a shepherd watching out for me and guiding me. So we spent several weeks looking at the story of God as a shepherd in Scripture, the plus of being in this like hybrid space. As you can go back and find those there on YouTube, they live. We talked about a lot of different ways that God has shepherd in the Scriptures.

1:09 And what I wanted to start to do was look at some secondary shepherds for us. And I'd love to hear a couple of people had sent me some little descriptions of people who have been shepherds for them in their life. As we get into the next couple of weeks, I'm going to go through some of those from other people and share some people who have been shepherds or leaders or role models for me. But what I want to do for the next two weeks is go through two stories of that, how that's

1:41 worked out in the story of Scripture. Where people found leaders, role models, shepherds to follow. And the first one that I want to look at is in First Kings. So the First and Second Kings is fun to read. It's really super interesting. First and Second Kings. And then it's kind of recounted again a lot of the same content in First and Second Chronicles. So if you are looking at a paper copy of the Scriptures, you get to the Psalms, you want

2:13 to go to the left. And then if you get to the Pentateuch, the first five books and the first Samuel, then you go on too far, go back to the right a little bit. First Kings chapter 19. When I thought about this example of sub-shepherds, people who are leaders, who set examples or

2:49 lead instructions for other people to follow, people whose behavior folks can model. When I thought about examples of that in Scripture, last week he talked about Paul who said, follow me as I follow Christ. But immediately after Paul who comes to mind is the prophet Elijah. And that's where this story in First Kings comes. It's kind of a famous story about the prophet Elijah. And that is an interesting place. Israel has already had kings for a while.

3:19 And as God told them, the kings go bad. Right? Israel is like the intent for Israel is to be this city on a hill, this light to the world where the God of creation and life, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has brought his manifest. I mean his aspect of God's physical presence out of where it dwells infinitely, has ushered

3:50 that presence down right into the center of this group of people so that they can live as we did in the garden in close proximity to the God with the capacity to let God be God. And what he tells Israel, this group of people is that when you live in close proximity to the God with the capacity to let God be God, everything in your life will change. You'll begin to move towards the life that you were made for from the very beginning. It will be described by these 10 words. You only have one God you have to deal with.

4:22 You won't be committing adultery or killing each other. You won't covet your neighbor's things. Everything will go towards the life you were made for because you're living in close proximity to the God and you have capacity to let God be God. This is the plan for Israel. And this is why he gives him this strategic, beautiful land with walled cities and fertile vineyards so that all the world could look at him and say, that's the life humanity was made for. How do we get there? And they could say, welcome, come to the temple, enter to the manifest presence of God.

4:56 And we'll all live as the people of God the way we were intended. But you know the fatal flaw of humanity, the same for Israel as it is for you and me, is that no matter how much God gives to us, we're always sure God is holding out on us. It is so hard for us to believe as people that God has our best interests at heart and that happens to Israel immediately and then it repairs and then over and over and over again. And they get to where they want a political leader besides the divine presence, the manifest

5:29 presence, the Shikaiina glory of God and a king, please, because all the other nations have kings. We'd like kings and God says it's going to go bad. They say, no, no, it'll be fine. And then sure enough, it goes bad, right? And it goes so bad. I mean, they're killing people. The shining city on a hill looks just like every other country in the world. And the God of creation and life is obscured among all the other gods that people go after

6:00 because the image bearers of God in the world have forgotten that they carry that image and are content to look like everyone else. And this breaks God's heart because his plan to reach out to humanity was through Israel. Right? So the time that he calls Elijah, Elijah will be his voice to the people, hey, come back to the God who made you, who gave you the land and gave you life, who's preserved a

6:32 future for you and will protect you from your enemies. Come back to this, God, leave the gods of fertility. Right? Leave the gods of money. Leave the gods of Egypt and Babylon and the Israelite kings, while Elijah is calling that out, are bringing in the gods of all the nations. One of the most famous ones is this God they call Baal. And Elijah is confronting this king, violence, kind of murderous king.

7:09 He's got a bunch of prophets of Baal and a famous scene where Elijah goes up and challenges 400 prophets of Baal. God comes through mightily on his behalf. And Elijah must feel like finally now the king will see that the God of creation and life is stronger and worth our alignment. But the king tries to kill Elijah and Elijah runs.

7:43 That's where we're at. First Kings chapter 19, Elijah flees from Jezebel. Jezebel and the king were working together. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how Elijah had killed all the prophets with the sword. And then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and more also if I did not make your life as one of them by this time tomorrow. Elijah is a brutal time.

8:17 God demonstrates his power over Baal and then Elijah kills all 400 of the prophets of Baal with the sword. And Jezebel says, man you kill my prophets, I'm going to kill you. And I'm going to bring a whole army to do it. But until then he was afraid and he arose and ran for his life and came to Bierschiba which belongs to Judah and left his servant there. But he himself went on a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under

8:51 a broom tree and he asked that he might die. Saying, is it enough now, Lord take away my life or I am no better than my father's? He's like, he feels like a failure and he does not know what to do. He said, I can imagine Elijah's position. But I have done everything I know how to do and the world is falling apart around me

9:23 and I do not know what to do. God I cannot predict the future. I cannot see what's going to happen. I can't convince the people around me of a way of life that makes sense. They keep making these choices that seem to be all wrong all the time. Like Lord the nation and the country that I live in is going crazy and I don't know how to fix it.

9:53 Let me just be done. I think that like the states is definitely not Israel under Jezebel. It's not like it's not a one to one correlation. But no matter where your politics or economics align, we can agree that there is a lot of upheaval and confusion.

10:28 And it can be very hard to know what to do or how to act. Elijah the one of the commentaries I read calls Elijah Mr. Prophet because he's such the prototypical prophet of God. Mr. Prophet does not know what to do.

11:03 So it makes sense if you at times can't figure out what to do. Mr. Prophet came to times where he could not figure out what to do. We need role models to know how to handle the challenges of life because we won't have

11:36 all the answers. Elijah in a place of confusion when there's upheaval in the world can be a role model for us on what to do. He accomplishes what he thinks he's supposed to do by God and it does not go the way that he would like. I mean partly it does and then he's confused and then he runs and he says, Lord, let's just be done. And he lays down the dot. He says, 100% honest.

12:07 He doesn't run to the enemy and he runs away and then calls out to God. But he looks, oh, it's enough Lord, take away my life for I'm no better than my father's response. And he lay down and steps under a broom tree. I don't know what a broom tree is. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, arise and eat.

12:37 And he looked and behold, there was a bread at his head, a cake, baked on hot stones and a jar of water and an ate and drank and laid down again. I love that. Elijah, get up and eat and drink. Okay, cool. Miraculous bread and water. He eats it and goes back to sleep. Dude is tired, right? Like he is completely spent.

13:13 It's okay to get to a place where you are completely to acknowledge. I'm out of gas here. It's okay to acknowledge. Look, this has been six months of I keep thinking in three weeks everything is going to go back to normal. And the emotional energy that it takes to hold my family together and to push back the anxiety of what will happen to my job and my money, to push back the anxiety of what

13:48 will happen with the politics and the police and the protest to advocate for what I know is right. Well, I don't know who will advocate for me. It's okay to say, I'm just real tired and you can manifest miraculous bread and water and the best you're going to get from me, God, is I'll take your blessing and go back to sleep. This is not interesting. God gives him miraculous bread and water and it's not enough for him.

14:22 He takes the miracle, the miracle provision of God and then goes back to sleep. Mr. Prophet does. I love that. It's okay to ask God for a miracle to get up out of bed. That's fair. Mr. Prophet got exhausted. You may get exhausted.

14:53 Okay. So he gives him the miraculous bread and water and they lays down again and the angel Lord came again and said a second time and touched him and said, a rise and eat for the journey is too great for you. And he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food. Three days and forty nights to Horeb or Carmel or the Mount of God. This is the next point where Eliza is a model for me because I think after the second miraculous

15:29 meal I would be very inclined to say, cool man, I feel so much better. I got it. I'll go back and take care of Jezebel. Don't worry about it. This is where Elijah is a model for me. Before the days of GPS directions on your phone, right, like when if you wanted a direction

16:03 you either had to have one of the fold out maps or you had to have planned ahead and visited map quests on your gateway computer and printed out the directions on your ink jet printer and then bring the pages with you. Remember, did you map quest it? Before that I can remember there was a season where you know, Megan and I were moving like seven times in six years or something and I can remember having this phrase, the turn

16:36 is always just a little bit farther than you think. Don't turn around yet. Like did we miss it? Right when you're starting to feel like you missed your turn, just keep going a little bit further because so many times you're like, do we miss it? And then you turn around and then you realize, oh no, we weren't far enough. Then you have to turn around and go even further, right, before you make your turn. And so I can remember having this phrase of like as soon as you start to feel like you missed it, you've got to go just a little bit further. That's what I thought about when I saw this.

17:08 When I was reading the story of Elijah and allowing him to be a role model for me, a shepherd who was following the good shepherd who I could follow behind, I saw a situation where he in great desperation and exhaustion runs out by himself and calls out to God and God meets him miraculously. And it's not enough. He goes back to sleep. He got meets him miraculously again and then he gets up and runs further, further towards

17:40 God and away from the work. One of the phrases for me is I feel like a lot of times I work, I was just some agonist this weekend, I just stumbled on it. A lot of times I work harder, not smarter. It's just like a personality trait. It's like what needs to get done? I won't even stop to think about it. I'll just go get it done. There's probably a smarter way to do it, but by the time you've figured out the smarter way, I'm already done.

18:12 And there's some good and some bad to that. The bad would be after the second miraculous meal, I would just get back to work. Elijah does not. Lord, I need more of you. Four days, forty nights. Why does he go so far? Because that's the mountain where Moses met God, man. He is running straight to where you go and see God in person. He will take nothing short of a meeting with the Creator God.

18:45 So he goes and he gets it. It's a mountain horn of God. There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him and he said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah? And he's like, dude, I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. And I, even I only am left. And they seek my life to take it away.

19:17 God, I did everything I was supposed to do. Right? God, I did everything I was supposed to do. I've been all a mission for you and it did not work out well. And I do not know what will happen and I'm more out, man. That's why I'm here. Where do you go with your exhaustion? This is a, this is a, a, a serious question because we have a real challenge in that because we have so many options. But you can just, you can, you can, you can bliss out on entertainment and get the faux

19:56 resurgence of just taking your mind out of your life and into a story on the screen for a period of time. Right? Or you can put your mind in someone else's story and, and build a lot of kind of drama and gossip. Or you can borrow the narrative of the country and kind of just spin forever in national politics that you're actually cannot affect or health. It can become just another drama line that you follow. Right? Or political option.

20:27 You can get so down the rabbit trail of all the social media activism that it's just an escape to do with your anxiety that only builds your anxiety. Elijah as a role model for me and for you in a place of anxiety and fear and confusion goes to God and will suffer nothing else. Will not be deprived. Go straight to the mountain meeting and says, here's why I'm here. And so then God said, go out and stand on the mount before the Lord and behold the Lord

20:59 passed by and a great and strong wind for the mountain and broke it in pieces and rocks before the Lord. But the Lord is not in the wind and after the wind and earthquake, but the Lord is not in the in the earthquake and after the earthquake of fire, but the Lord is not in the fire and after the fire, the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the

21:32 entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah? He asked him again. And Elijah says the same thing. Look at the persistence. The persistence of role model Elijah, Mr. Prophet, the key is Mr. Prophet and he knows

22:12 where to get the answer that he needs. And he will not suffer anything less. You and I at times may need more than the casual mental ramblings of prayer. We may need like some focused pursuit of the God if we will get the consolation and help that we need. And that is even more pressing as the world gets crazy.

22:44 Ahab and Desabelle running the show. Go and return. Oh no. After the quake of fire and when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah? And he said, I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel for sake in your covenant, thrown down your altars, tilled your prophets with the sword. And I even I only am left and they seek to take my life away.

23:17 And the Lord said to him, Hey man, I love this. He's given him the bread and water two times. You're going to need the strength. He gives to the Mount of meeting. He talks to him. Hey, why are you here? Elijah tells him, God's like cool here I come. And the presence of God, the manifest physical presence of God comes down and in front of that presence is wind, earthquake, fire, then God. God comes down right to Elijah. Mr. Prophet says, tell me again why you're here.

23:50 And Elijah says, because man, I'm trying to do what you want and everybody's crazy and I don't know what to do. And so then right then when Elijah is very clear about his motivation and what he needs from God, listen to what God tells him. Hey, go. Return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, he puts in the work.

24:22 It gives him three jobs. Hey, Elijah, man, I know you're tired, but the world needs you. And this is why I want to spend several weeks focusing on role models in Scripture, role models in our lives, role models in your life, because right now the world needs the church and you all are the church. I know you're tired. It's understandable that you would be confused. So go to the Lord persistently, doggedly go to the Lord.

24:57 And when you get there, I'm telling you, this is what he does. He's going to send you back out. He's going to put you to work. We need the world needs you all to hunt down the consolation of God. In order to get commissioned again. He says, go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall you shall

25:28 anoint Hazal to be king over Syria and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be king over Israel. And Elijah, the son of the thought of Abdu'l, Mahola, you shall anoint to be profit in your place. Elijah said, hello, what? You picked a replacement. We don't have time to read the whole story, but you'll find out. Elijah does that first and none of the other ones. Oh, hold on. You found a replacement for me?

25:59 I'm going to take care of that one first, and then we'll see how far we get on the other two. God bless him. He did it. God takes him up. Elijah, Mr. Prophet doesn't die. He's on the amount of transfiguration with Moses and Jesus. He made it. Elijah is a role model for us. In God, put him back to work, but recognizing his limitations.

26:32 You go do this, do you think? And then get your replacement and get out of God, because you are out of gas. Look, when you come to God, no one knows you better. God, when you find your way to the God of creation, life, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he will not. That God will not ask you to do something you cannot do or be something you cannot be. God may have greater aspirations for you than you have for yourself, but I'm telling you, God is right.

27:04 You are wrong. God knows you better than you know yourself. And when he when he met with Elijah on the cleft in Mount Carmel, the same place he met with Moses. He commissioned him again and knew his capacity and met him right there in the middle. And Elijah was comforted and went back on his way. It was sustenance enough for him. I just want to finish two more points out of this story.

27:35 OK, so and then he's talking about what will happen when J who becomes king verse 17 and one who escapes from the sword. OK, yet I believe. Oh, first 18. He's talking about what will happen. Israel, how is going to set things right. And then this yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel. All the needs that have not bowed to the all in every mouth that has not kissed him. I love this because I think this is part of the consolation for Elijah. Not only that he's not alone, remember, he says, I'm the only one left.

28:09 This is constellations for Elijah. Go back to work. Here's your successor. Oh, and by the way, there's 7,000 have event. This is constellation for Elijah because he in fact, he's not alone. And also God is paying like micro attention to everything that is happening. The problem when the world goes crazy is we are sure God has checked out. But at every point in the story, whether we're whether the people of Israel are enslaved or ruled by

28:40 tyrannical kings or that we're seeing the crucifixion of Jesus, we know at every moment God is paying micro attention. And so the same is true now. Right. Every move of injustice that we cannot capture on phones and share on screens. God is there presence in the moment. Every back room deal that is crooked and unjust.

29:10 God has seen it and knows. And every movement you make or others make to speak and act for justice, though you are met with threats of death like Elijah. God sees and knows. And numbers like count it up. He's paying so much attention.

29:41 Micro attention to the world at all points. Elijah, there are 7,000. Here's the last point I want to make out of this story. And it's because I am taking seriously this encouragement that the world needs you all, especially right now. And so I'm challenging you to think deeply about what does it mean for you to encounter God and in that encounter, what kind of commission is God giving you for right now?

30:15 He remember he says, go and anoint Elijah. So verse 19, the very next thing he does is to go anoint Elijah, his successor. I told you that's all he ended up getting done. So he departed from there and found Elijah, son of Shafah, who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen in front of him. And he was the 12th and Elijah passed him. OK, he found Elijah and Elijah is plowing with 12 yoke of oxen. That's a lot of oxen.

30:46 And what that means is that Elijah is in a situation where there are there are six or 12 teams, so 24 oxen going, right? But he's got 11 people in charge of 11 of them and he's got the 12. That means one, he's the probably the eldest son of a wealthy family. Two, it means he's a good eldest son because he's leading the last team himself.

31:19 Three, it means he's minding his own business, doing his work. Some of us may have felt like Elijah, like we've been on a mission and we are exhausted, we need two full plates of miraculous bread and a personal encounter with God if we're going to go back to work and the commission had better be clear. Right? Others of us may be feel like Elijah, like, man, we are just cruising. I got the 12 teams.

31:50 I'm ready to take over the thing. And I'm telling you in moments of upheaval, God will come and call the good ones out of work and into other work. And that's what happened. Elijah comes down straight out of the like still small voice past the earthquake of God down the mountain of meeting straight to where he stops them in the middle of his work. Elijah stops Elijah in the middle of his work.

32:22 Says he walks over to him. If when you read it, it sounds like it says he walked by and dropped his cloak on him and kept walking. What it really means is she walked across all the fields that they were plowing. He didn't even wait for him to get done. Cook his cloak. It's an ancient sign of like adoption. I mean, now you are my son and you'll come with me. Elijah, stop. Right there. Let me go kiss my parents. Sacrifice these oxyns because something cool happened right here will boil the meat, give it away to everybody, and then I'm off with you. And he did.

32:56 Now is the time for us to pay attention to the calling of God on our life, whether we are like Elijah or Elijah. Now is the time when the church needs when the world needs the church to be the church. Of course, it always needs it, but now I'm telling you, it needs it more. And so we all need to take time to engage with God and find out our commission because there is strength enough for you there.

33:36 You can be the church. The hands and feet of the risen Christ in the world. Justice, mercy, love, advocacy, provision, protection. You can be the church in the world. This is why Christ came, died, rose, ascended, dispatched the spirit in order that you could be this for the world. And now is the time.

34:06 Let me pray that we would not miss the opportunity to partake in being the church in today's world with all the confusion and upheaval. Lord, thank you for the opportunity to be your church today. Oh Lord, we love you because you have loved us now.

34:36 Lord, whether we need miraculous meals, still small boys, whether we need a mentor to come and lay the robe on our shoulders, whether we need a fresh commissioning, a clear description of the work in front of us. Or would you come and give us what we need today and this week in order that we might

35:09 be your church empowered by your spirit for the people, the city, the world around us. In Jesus name we pray.