Prayer
Because the primary goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together?
Opening Question
What helps you start over when you’re having a particularly bad day?
After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel. Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”
But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!’” So Elijah went.
When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you come back?”
“A man came to meet us,” they replied. “And he said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, “This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”’”
The king asked them, “What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?”
They replied, “He had a garment of hair[a] and had a leather belt around his waist.”
The king said, “That was Elijah the Tishbite.”
Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’”
Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.
At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, “Man of God, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’”
“If I am a man of God,” Elijah replied, “may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. “Man of God,” he begged, “please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!”
The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.”– 2 Kings 1:1-15
Elijah’s Prayer
In the sermon, we heard how vulnerable Elijah is here, facing possible execution by Ahaziah’s soldiers because he passed God’s judgement on to Ahaziah. Ahaziah did not go to God when he needed healing, and instead turned to foreign Gods.
What makes entrusting ourselves to God challenging? What benefits does going to God first for rescue, healing, or help offer us?
When you consider the story of Elijah’s life, with all the confrontation and danger he faced, what do you imagine he is thinking and feeling when the soldiers arrived?
Have you ever been desperate for God’s rescue, possibly afraid for your life or safety? If appropriate, would you be willing to share a little about how you survived that situation?
God’s Response
What was your first thought when you read that Elijah called down fire and God burned up the soldiers?
Elijah lived in a time without real courts, investigations into war crimes, or societal accountability for leaders and those in authority. Does this idea affect your initial response to God’s answer to Elijah’s prayer?
Consider this quote:
If God were not angry at injustice, that God would not be worthy of worship. The only means of prohibiting all recourse to violence by ourselves is to insist that judgment is legitimate only when it comes from God. My thesis that the practice of non-violence requires a belief in divine vengeance will be unpopular with many…; but, it takes the quiet of a suburban home [to believe] that human non-violence results from a belief in God’s refusal to judge.
In a scorched land soaked in the blood of the innocent it will invariably die… with other unpleasant captivities of the liberal mind.”– Miraslov Volf “Exclusion and Embrace”
How could the promise that God will one day ensure evil is judged help those who have suffered injustice?
What does God’s anger toward injustice imply about how we ought to live our lives as his followers?
Jesus’s Solution
In the sermon, we heard about two instances in the New Testament that reference fire and judgment. One is in Luke 9, when James and John asked Jesus if they should call down fire on people acting as Jesus’s enemies and Jesus rebuked them. The other is in Luke 12:49-50, when Jesus says:
I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!
Jesus was baptized by fire on the cross, taking the judgment for our sin upon himself.
How does the truth that because of the gospel, God’s mercy triumphs over his judgment bring freedom to those who belong to Christ?
How can we love so that our choices and treatment of others reveals God’s mercy and forgiveness in greater measure?
Is there anyone God is asking you to forgive and offer mercy to today? What would be a good first step toward obeying this call?
Have you fallen on your knees, like the third captain did before Elijah, and asked God for mercy on you, to preserve and rescue you by the power of the gospel? If not, would you like to do that today?
Closing Thought
End your time together praying for any needs those present might have.