Here’s Elijah, the colossus of the Old Testament, tough as steel, he’s going to be calling down fire on Mount Carmel later in the story, but here he is growing in compassion by ministering not to a whole nation, but to one family in an ordinary home and helping to share the burden of a single mother. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and Colin, today it sounds like there’s something we can all learn from Elijah’s story. Yeah, I think this is a marvelous part of the story because we may never get the opportunity to call a nation to repentance. Most people never get a platform like Elijah was given on Mount Carmel, but all of us have the opportunity to minister into the life of one person in need, and this was something that was of huge importance in Elijah’s life, and God used it. So I find this so important in my own life, I have the great privilege of being able to speak to many people, but what a blessing it is to be able to sit down with one couple, one family, one single person, and to encourage and to minister the Word of God and to pray. My wife does this all the time, and I love that ministry that he’s given to her. That is a ministry that’s open to every Christian, there is someone you can help, someone whose burden you can carry, someone you can encourage with something from the Scripture that you may even hear in this program today. So let’s have our eyes open to how we can be really useful to Christ. So today we’re in the first book of Kings, chapter 17, as we continue our message, Where Faith Begins. Here’s Colin. When the Apostle John writes to Christians, he says, whenever our hearts condemn us, this is 1 John and chapter 3 and verse 20, whenever our hearts condemn us, he’s writing to Christians. Now that clearly communicates that a Christian will experience from time to time your own heart condemning you. Whenever your heart condemns you, it’s not going to happen just once or twice, but there will be many times in the Christian life when the memory of your own failings, the knowledge of your own weaknesses sort of rises up and you feel that your own heart condemns you. And John tells us what to do when you come to that place. He says this, 1 John 3.20, whenever our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart. That’s what you need to know. So when there is muttering at this level, you tell your heart that God is greater than your heart. You tell your heart that condemns you. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That’s how you deal with it. So where faith began, we’ve looked at our faith tested. Your faith will be tested if it’s begun. And then I want you to see this third snapshot in our faith journey. It’s her faith triumphant, verse 24. The boy is raised from the dead. The woman received back her son. And at the end of the story, she says to Elijah, verse 24, now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of God in your mouth is the truth. Listen, your faith has begun. Your faith is tested. One day you will stand in the presence of Jesus and you will say, now I know. What a day that’s going to be. That is the whole point of the resurrection day, and that’s the application of what we’re learning here. Faith will one day for you be turned to sight. Every question you have struggled with will one day be answered. Every tear will be one day wiped away. Now the Bible says we know in part, then we will know fully even as we are fully known. None of us is there yet, but one day every person in Christ will be. And until then, faith lives on the promise of God even when we cannot understand his ways. So, friends, it seems to me that the whole of the Christian life is really laid out in this one mother’s faith journey. Faith begun, faith tested, faith triumphant. There’s the Christian life right there. If you are not yet a Christian, I hope that you will begin a faith journey with Jesus Christ today. If you have begun a journey of faith with Jesus Christ, you must know this, that your faith will be tested. You will come to places where you say, I just do not understand what God is doing in my life. You may come to places where your own heart condemns you and you need to say, God is greater than my heart. But when your faith is tested, remember this, in all the questions that you cannot answer now, the promise of God to you is very clear. One day you will stand in the presence of Jesus and on that day you will be able to say, now I know. Now I know. Now, more briefly, I want us to look at this story through the eyes of Elijah. And so let’s look at it from a different angle here, the prophet’s journey of love. We thought about the woman’s journey of faith. Let’s look here at the prophet’s journey of love. This is a series on leadership and I want to pick up one or two insights on leadership from the example of Elijah. Remember that Elijah is really a Christ figure in this story. Or as we sometimes call it, Elijah is a type of Jesus Christ. Another way of saying that is simply this, that Elijah is the person in the story who most obviously points us to Jesus. And our Lord Jesus Christ said, when you read the scripture, remember the whole thing is about me. How is this story about Jesus? How does it relate to Jesus? The answer is that Elijah is the person in the story who most obviously points to Jesus. Now remember, and we will see this later in the series, Elijah doesn’t always do that because he is not perfect. No one can, in every respect, point to Jesus. But he clearly points to Jesus here. And you find that with other characters like Joseph and King David and Daniel in the Old Testament. They point to Jesus and shine a light on who he is and what it is that he came to do. Now we already began last time to think about how Elijah is like Jesus and points to Jesus. We said that just like Jesus, he comes into a situation of desperate need. He asks for a great sacrifice and he promises greater joy. That is exactly what Jesus does. But now look at some additional ways in which he points to Jesus. Elijah is the super prophet of the Old Testament. I mean, he is as high as you get along with Moses. If you are to say who are the greatest characters in the Old Testament, it is Moses and Elijah. So he is right up there at the very highest level of leadership. I want you to notice that this man who has a calling on a national scale to call a whole nation to repentance, that he enters the home of one family and shares in the life of one family. And in this he beautifully points us to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, who when he comes enters into the most ordinary of human lives and does so in the most amazingly personal way. When Jesus enters into our lives, he shares in our suffering. Elijah became part of this family and when pain came to this particular home, the pain touched his heart too. And that is how it is with Jesus, who is far greater than Elijah. Here’s Elijah, this colossus of the Old Testament, tough as steel. He’s going to be calling down fire on Mount Carmel later in the story. But here he is growing in compassion by ministering not to a whole nation, but to one family in an ordinary home and helping to share the burden of a single mother. Here’s something for every leader then. You have to be tough and strong to lead, but God wants you to grow in tenderness as well as in toughness, to grow in sensitivity as well as in strength, for the high-level vision to be earthed in the real needs of an ordinary home. So where is the family to whom you can minister? Where is the one person bearing a burden that you can help to carry? What is the need that you can help to meet, however high the level of your particular calling within a business or an organization? What is the particular situation in which you can, like Jesus, enter into the suffering and bring help to the situation of one individual? God sends Elijah to the widow before he sends Elijah to Carmel, and he does that so that with all his toughness, this man is going to grow in tenderness as he walks with one widow through the depth of her pain. And doesn’t that make you think about the incarnation? Isn’t this the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? He’s at the highest level. He’s in heaven. And he’s the Lord of the universe, and he’s got all power, and he’s got all authority. And what does he do? He humbles himself, and he takes the form of a servant, and he enters this world of need, and he comes alongside particular families experiencing human pain. He ministers to a widow at Nain. You can go through the stories in the New Testament of Jesus entering into the life of one individual, one family. And then he experiences pain in his own soul and into his own body, and the New Testament says, he is the Savior who is able to help those who suffer because he himself has suffered. So see how Elijah points to Jesus here as he enters into the home. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the message, Where Faith Begins, part of our series, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life. And if you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or if you want to go back and listen again, you can always do that by going to our website, that’s openthebible.org.uk. There you can stream any of our earlier messages directly off the website. Now let’s get back to the message. Here’s Colin. See how Elijah points to Jesus here as he enters into the home. And then think of how Elijah points us to Jesus when the child dies. As we come to this point in the story, try to let Elijah fade and look through him as if he was translucent, and see Jesus behind him. This little boy has died, and Elijah said to her, verse 19, give me your son. Many in this congregation have experienced the death of a child. And for many others, this day makes you think about your mother who no longer is with you and may now be with the Lord. You think about her, you thank God for her, you remember her and you remember how she died and you miss her. What happened to your mother? What happened to your son or to your daughter who died early in life? Here is what has happened. The Savior, in his tenderness, has said as that life expired, give me your son. Give your mother now up to me. This life has come to an end, but it’s not going nowhere, it’s into the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And notice as you follow this, what happens to your son, to your daughter, to your mother as they are released into the hands of Jesus Christ, verse 19, and he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged. You see the beauty of what we’re being told here is the light shines on Jesus Christ. The child who is no longer in your arms now rests in the arms of Jesus. The mother who is no longer in your home is now at home with Christ. And where does Christ take your loved one? To the upper chamber where he lives. Beautiful. Give me your son and takes him to the upper chamber. But most of all, the place where Elijah points to Jesus is, of course, in this amazing resurrection that then happens. Elijah calls on the Lord and the life of the child comes back to him, we are told, and the child lives again. Now pause for a moment. It is very important to apply this correctly. The point of the story here is not to say that if we Christians today were more like Elijah, we could go to cemeteries and raise people from the dead. That is not promised to us and that would not be a right application of the Scripture. Elijah is shining a light on Jesus. Elijah is showing us beautifully the promise of Christ. And what is that promise? John chapter 6 and verse 40. This is the will of the Father. That everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him has eternal life. And Jesus says, I will raise him up when at the last day. So here is our marvelous hope. That those who have died in Christ are carried in his arms, think of it, to the upper chamber where he lives. And his promise is this, that he will raise them up and we will be together with the Lord. And as you think about the anticipation of that marvelous day, I want you again to look through Elijah as if he were translucent and to see Jesus in verse 23. Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, see, your son lives. And you read that and the light shines through Elijah into Jesus and you bring to mind that Jesus has promised that one day he is coming down from heaven. He’s going to come back from the upper chamber where he is at this time. And when he does that, who is he going to bring with him? He’s going to bring with him believers who have died in the Lord. And just as Elijah says, see, your son lives, can you imagine the joy on that day when Jesus returns and he says, see, your mother lives, see, your son lives, see, your friend lives. And Paul says, on that day as we are gathered together, so we shall be with the Lord forever. So look at Jesus here, in all the losses and the crosses of your life, are you not thankful today for Jesus? The Lord and the Savior who enters our sorrows and heals our wounds and even at the point of death, he is the one, the only one who is able to hold out the promise of life everlasting. Friend, one day you will die, that is true obviously of every person here today. One day you will die and when that day comes, be it sooner or later, whenever it is, you want to be sure that you will be in the arms of the Savior as that boy was in the arms of Elijah. You want to know that because you belong to Christ, he will be taking you to the upper chamber and that you will therefore share in his great resurrection. You want to be sure that you have put your trust and have taken the path of obedience in Jesus Christ who says, I am the resurrection and the life. And he who believes in me even though he die, yet shall he live. So we’ve looked at a mother’s journey of faith. We’ve looked together at a prophet’s journey of love. And very, very briefly, just this last thought, a child’s journey in grace. Think about this little boy. Of course, we’re not told how old he was, but from the description of Elijah carrying this boy in his arms up the stairs to the upper chamber, I’m concluding that this boy was fairly small, that he was fairly young, which raises the question, did he even remember this event? Perhaps only vaguely, we’re not told. Perhaps he had a vague recollection of feeling ill and then rather like you can remember just about falling asleep, but you don’t know what happens next. Can you imagine his mother telling him the story as this boy grows up and he becomes a middle school student and then he becomes a high school student and his mom is saying to him something like this as he grows, son, here’s what you need to know about yourself. Your life is a very special gift of grace from God. You were dead. You became ill, you died, but God gave you life again. Your life is a gift of grace, son, and so here is what you must do. You must offer that life back to the God who gave it to you. Give your life into the hands of the God who loves you. Embrace the Lord who has power to sustain life and has power to deliver you even from death. Make him your God, son, as I have made him mine. For all of us who are parents here, for those who are dedicating children this weekend, this is what we need to teach our children. Your life is a gift of grace from God. Now offer it back to him. So here’s the invitation for every son, every daughter, every student in the congregation today. Listen, the strength of your body, the agility of your mind, your gifts, your opportunities, where do they come from? These things come to you from the hand of God. What do you have that you did not receive? And everything that you have received comes from him. So I want to invite you to come to God today, to come to him through the Savior Jesus who loved you and gave himself for you, and to say something like this. Father, I offer the whole of my life in faith and obedience to you, because you are the one from whom I have received all things. Make me now yours. You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, and as we conclude the message Where Faith Begins, there’s an opportunity to come and know the Savior. If you’re not sure that you ever took that step of committing your life to him, you can do that today in the words of a simple prayer, asking the Father to forgive your sins in the name of Jesus. Ask Jesus into your heart and take charge of your life. Thank him that he’s done that, and then go and tell someone about it, perhaps a trusted Christian friend or family member. Doing that will strengthen your faith and make it more real. You can also, of course, go along to a local church and talk to the pastor there, or maybe ask members of the prayer ministry team to pray with you. All of this will strengthen your faith as you go forward with God. Remember that if you ever miss any of our broadcasts, you can always go online and go back and listen again or catch up. Go to openthebible.org.uk. There you can stream any of our previous messages directly from the website. You can also listen to Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith’s messages as a podcast, and you can find that by going to your favourite podcast site and searching for Open the Bible UK. Open the Bible Daily is a series of short two to three minute reflections written by Pastor Colin Smith and read by Sue McLeish. Sue took a break from recording this month’s Open the Bible Daily to tell me what the theme is. Ah, well, this month’s reading and next cover the whole of Isaiah chapter 53, sometimes referred to as the Gospel according to Isaiah. Many verses will be familiar to those who have heard or perhaps sung in Handel’s Messiah. I can’t do better than quote Pastor Colin’s words from today’s devotional. Jesus is like a field in which there’s buried treasure. If you get the field, you get the treasure. Isaiah 53 describes the treasure hidden in Jesus. It also teaches who Jesus is and what he has accomplished and what he offers. Do you know, David, I think many people would benefit from Open the Bible Daily. Well, Sue, there are at least two ways to find Open the Bible Daily. One is on our website, that’s openthebible.org.uk. Click on the menu item Resources and then Open the Bible Daily. You can also read the text of that day’s Open the Bible Daily by clicking on Listen Now. For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick and I hope you’ll join us next time for the next part of our series, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life. That’s next time on Open the Bible. The company or employer you work for can make you feel very uncomfortable and sometimes you wonder, I’m a Christian, should I even be here? Find out why next time on Open the Bible.