Sermon Snippet – Am I a Failure?
INTRODUCTION – In late 2024, we spent almost three months considering the difficult time in which Elijah lived. We focused on his loneliness and on the problem of loneliness in general. Today I want us to think about the prophet and the subject of failure. There is no doubt that Elijah felt as though he had failed in his mission as a believer. It is easy to feel that way, for…
1. THE NUMBERS ARE ALWAYS AGAINST US
Sometimes on a Sunday morning, I notice car after car speed by the church (and it is quite clear that they are not headed to another church). Only a very small percentage turn in. Elijah had just defeated 450 false prophets, demonstrating the power of the one true God… and no one turned in (I Kings 18 – note especially verse 21b – “How long halt ye between two opinions?”; the response is silence: “The people answered him not a word” – verse 21d). The people were impressed by Elijah’s victory (verse 39), but their hearts were not touched and transformed. The extraordinary ratio of 450:1 was actually ordinary for that time: each of the 7,000 followers of God (I Kings 19:18) faced similar numbers of unbelievers throughout their challenging lives. Living in such a minority of faith is daunting. We are drawn to what is popular, and no one enjoys being belittled. However, believers have always been a remnant. Jesus, God the Son, spoke to at least tens of thousands in His earthly ministry, but only a core group of about 500 followed Him faithfully (I Corinthians 15:6). I have had the privilege of preaching the Gospel to thousands of people; the majority of them do not appear to be committed to Christ. Some people give up and retreat into a form of monastic isolation. Does it seem that we have failed? Are you the only Christian in your place of employment or in your family? Elijah thought that all of his hard work, all of his faithful labor, had been meaningless, had amounted to nothing. He yearned for a release (I Kings 19:4). Instead, God affirmed the value of the prophet’s ministry and gave him more work to do. “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not [if we do not give up]” Galatians 6:9). The number are always against us, but…
2. GOD CARES ABOUT EVEN ONE
While Elijah was wandering in the wilderness all alone, he was not alone. God tended to his needs and spoke to him (I Kings 19:1-18). Centuries later, in another desert, God removed Philip from a hugely impactful work in Samaria to present the Gospel to just one man, an Ethiopian returning to his homeland (Acts 8:26-40). Of course, this newly saved man took the Gospel with him back to Ethiopia, for God is always doing more than we can see and understand at the moment. However, let us not lose sight of the fact that God would have provided an evangelist to this man even if he were to die before returning to Africa. Salvation is always a personal matter; it is always a matter of one person making an individual decision. We can be certain that our Savior God is concerned about each one (Matthew 10:29-32).
CONCLUSION – The greatest theologian in American history was Jonathan Edwards. He was twice dismissed from pastorates, including from the one where the Great Awakening of 1734-35 occurred. He was not an overbearing personality; church politics and prominent (that is wealthy) church families were his downfall. He pressed on, becoming the pastor of a small church in a frontier town and a missionary to native tribes (considered savage and unredeemable by some benighted people). From a large work of revival to a much smaller work in scope, Edwards seemed to be a failure. History says otherwise. Revelation 14:13b has always been a great encouragement to God’s faithful folks: “Blessed are the dead [who] die in the Lord from henceforth: ‘Yea,’ saith the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.’” We must be “in the Lord”: we need Jesus as Savior. With salvation secure, we know that our “works” for the Lord will bring eternal reward (for what we should be doing anyway!) and that they outlive us in the lives of others. For real failure, there is very real forgiveness and empowerment. For perceived failure, there is the kind and caring presence of God, assuring us that we matter to Him and that our “labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Corinthians 15:58b).