Trinity 15
Dear friends in Christ. Although there is only one true God—the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit—the world is full of many false gods, many idols; many things that people call a god, consider a god, and worship as a god. In his Large Catechism, Luther answers the question: What does it mean to have a god? A god means that from which we are to expect all good and in which we are to take refuge in all distress. So to have a God is nothing other than trusting and believing Him with the heart. I have often said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and trust is right, then your god is also true. On the other hand, if your trust is false and wrong, then you do not have the true God. For these two belong together, faith and God. Now, I say that whatever you set your heart on and put your trust in is truly your god.
So then, whatever people put their trust and confidence in is really their God. As Jesus points out in today’s Gospel, the god that is so commonly worshiped—that is, that thing in which so many people put their trust and confidence in is mammon—money and goods. People so often figure that if they have money and goods, they have it all. Even many calling themselves Christians still have hearts that cling to money and goods—thinking that all is well so long as they have money and goods. That’s why Jesus warns at the beginning of today’s Gospel, part of His Sermon on the Mount: No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Our new life of righteousness in Christ’s kingdom involves fearing, loving and trusting in the holy Triune God alone; single minded devotion to Him alone.
This single-minded devotion to the holy Triune God alone; that our faith is in Him alone; that we look alone to Him for every grace and blessing; this is a very bold thing. Whereas Jesus in today’s Gospel talks more about finer idolatry, what the heart really clings to; our OT text about Elijah is more about a coarse, obvious idolatry—the worship of a false god. Whereas Jesus tells us: No one can serve two masters; Elijah in our text confronts the Israelites: Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.
Dear Christian, both from our Lord Christ speaking about a more subtle idolatry and from Elijah speaking about a coarser idolatry, we hear the same message: Take your stand! You can only serve one God—make sure it is the right one!
Notice Elijah’s sharp preaching of the Law: “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him”. He uses the colorful word “limping”. One time, when it suited them, the people would be faithful to the Lord; the next time they would listen to the prophets of the false god, Baal. Nothing was firm, nothing was steady. They had no true object of faith. The people basically “harmonized” the two different faiths; the two different gods. The Lord, the true God, they liked when it suited them; but they would listen to the false god Baal more.
Notice how similar that temptation and that way of thinking are to our world today. So many people in our nation will call themselves “Christian” and yet, not only will they not live a life remotely resembling a Christian but they will also accept/ believe notions from other religions or philosophies—be it Hindu or Buddist, communism or materialism etc.—that they like, that “make sense” to them; the one they worship is not the true God alone: You cannot serve two masters.
Others will say/ believe things like: All religions worship the same God; It’s the same God all people worship, they just call Him by different names: Jesus, Allah, Vishnu, etc. All religions are the same, they claim; one is as good as another. But, if all religions are equally good and valid with their contradictory claims—Christianity saying we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ and the rest saying we are saved by various works that we do—then all are placed on the same level; truth and falsehood are equal. And isn’t that what the society around us is saying—that there is no truth?
In Elijah’s day, the people were believing what the world around them was saying; they were accepting the godless thought and harmonizing it their minds—just like many today calling themselves Christian do—mixing and believing various religions or bits of them and considering themselves Christians. You cannot serve two masters; and “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him”.
In all reality, another word for this serving 2 masters/ limping between 2 different, contradictory opinions/ this adopting the ways/ thinking/ attitude of the world around us is indifference; to put it another way, people don’t care; to them it’s unimportant/ irrelevant. Those limping between 2 different opinions justify their adopting all sorts of weird and unbiblical notions—probably much like the people of Elijah’s day did—by saying “the Church and her teaching are irrelevant.” And, yes, speaking to the people of our self-centered, materialistic age, who care only about their physical carnal urges, yes, the Church is irrelevant. The Church will not tickle their fancy; the Church is about sin and grace/ law and Gospel; it is about dispensing spiritual and heavenly treasures of forgiveness of sin and eternal life. So here is our warning: a person who has heard the Gospel, has been raised in the faith, has been taught the faith, becomes indifferent when they forget their need of a Savior from sin and forget God’s care and grace. Here, the call for us is to take our stand and boldly examine our hearts and lives in the holy Law of God; recognize our sin; see that by our sin we have earned God’s wrath and punishment. Let us then boldly, in sorrow and contrition go before God’s throne of grace, confess our sin; and in the boldness of faith grab ahold firmly the forgiveness of sin in the Gospel and absolution. Then, having experienced the true sorrow over sin and the great grace of God, how can we be indifferent to the true God and His word and will? How can there be a lack of interest? Knowing our great need for God and His gifts and His care, we will, by the power of His Holy Spirit take our stand with Him and His will and not limp between 2 opinions.
2. What great indifference Elijah experienced: “If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. How lukewarm/ indifferent the people were! They didn’t really oppose Elijah, but neither were they strongly for him and the Lord, the true God: And the people did not answer him a word. They didn’t take a stand. What a sad picture also of many in our land calling themselves Christians. They just don’t care.
So now Elijah goes back to square one and shows them that must care—for they are dealing with the one true God. Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.” Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.
Elijah shows the people that the god they were worshipping in place of the true God is a false god. Notice that false religion will mimic the true One. The religion of the false god, Baal, had sacrifice—mimicking the sacrifices in the true religion, those sacrifices that pointed forward to Jesus’ perfect, once for sacrifice for sin.
Notice the false religion has what it calls prayer—even long, grandiose, continuous prayers. But the true religion has true prayer, the simple prayer of a few words prayed in faith: “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back”. Notice the false religion is full of human ideas—things that people would expect to be pleasing to God and make themselves pleasing to Him: dancing around the altar, cutting themselves, thinking the longer the prayer, the more effective it is. But all works are worthless unless God Himself has commanded them.
So long story short—do not be impressed by how holy something seems, how much it mimics the true religion, how much it makes sense. Instead, take your stand with the Lord and His will and word—He alone is the one true God.
As Elijah taught the people that day, how utterly foolish it is to look to, trust in and serve any god but the holy Triune God, the one true God. All the works of the prophets of this false god could do nothing to rouse him—because he didn’t exist! How foolish to trust in/ depend on idols/ anything other than the one true God! They cannot deliver when needed.
Contrast that with the true God: Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been thrown down. Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, “Israel shall be your name,” and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.
Very often the Lord and His ways seem so opposite, so contrary, so foolish. But, He is the almighty God, the one true God, the God of unlimited power—and it is easy for Him to gain the victory in this contest through His prophet, Elijah. And Elijah makes this power and might of the Lord all the more obvious; drives home the point that He alone is the one true almighty God who alone is worthy of all worship, praise, trust, faith. So after making it seem all the more unlikely by dousing the sacrifice with water, Elijah offers up His simple prayer and the Lord answered in a miraculous way: Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God”. What a miraculous fire—it greatly exceeded ordinary fire in intensity. Here was the grace of God at work. Although the people, due to their indifference to the Lord/ due to their serving a false God, in no way deserved it, the Lord came in grace to show them once again just who He is and that He alone is worthy of their worship, trust and praise. Here was the true demonstration of mercy that the people needed.
Let us take our stand. Let us not be like those who would say: Well if I had a sign like that I would believe; instead, take your stand for today we have God’s holy Word and Sacrament. These are the certain and dependable signs of God’s grace to us, showing us that He is our God and alone worthy of trust and faith. Where His word and sacrament are, there is Christ; there is forgiveness; there is life!
We have no reason for limping between 2 differing opinions. Let us take our stand with the Lord—for He in grace revealed Himself to us—and give Him alone, the one true God, the honor that is due Him—fearing, loving and trusting in Him above all things! Take your stand! You can only serve one God; be sure it is the right One. INJ Amen.