Obeying God in Times of Sensuality: Studies in the Life of Elijah
We live in a sensual world. Sensuality can be defined as "Enjoying the pleasures of the body." Theologians might describe sensuality as "Worldly." Self-gratification might be another way to describe the idea of sensuality.
It seems we are caught in a battle between serving our sensual nature and serving God. Is it wrong to gratify our selves? After all, doesn’t God want us to be happy? While it is not God’s intention to make people unhappy, the apostle Paul makes it clear that those who believe in him are not to "Gratify the desires of the flesh’ (Galatians 5:16.)
Why does Paul give this warning? Throughout history man has rejected God and replaced him with self-gratification. The Bible records from the beginning of time people who sought to enjoy the sensual pleasures of life rather than follow after God.
In the Old Testament book of 1st Kings we read about a Prophet of God named Elijah. He lived about 2,800 years ago yet his message to the King of Israel of turning from sensuality to a life of serving God is still as fresh today as it was then.
THE BACKGROUND
The Old Testament is filled with true stories of people like you and me; people with faults; sensual people. When God created the earth and mankind his purpose was that man would follow him and obey him. Yet God gave man the freedom to make his own choices and man chose to obey his sensual desires rather than his Creator.
The Old Testament tells the story of the nation of Israel. They were to be God’s chosen people; a people set apart to worship God and serve him. In fact, God told them what their lives would be like if they continued to obey him. In Deuteronomy 28 God laid out a list of blessings the nation of Israel would receive in exchange for obedience.
Specifically God told the Israelites that he would bless them if they did not "Go after other gods to serve them" (vs. 14.) God’s ground rules weren’t that difficult to follow in order to obtain this blessing – if they would just follow him they would experience:
- Honor among all the nations of the earth (vs. 1)
- Safe cities to live in (vs. 3)
- Abundant crops (vs. 3)
- Healthy children (vs. 4)
- Increase in livestock (vs. 4)
- Safety to walk the streets (vs. 6)
- Plenty of food (vs. 5)
- Lack of enemies (vs. 7)
By obeying God they would have everything they needed to live a long and prosperous life.
THE PROBLEM
The Israelites were weak. They saw all of the nations around them enjoying the sensual pleasures of life and they wanted to be like them. (It’s hard to be too tough on the Israelites because they were just like us. We also are weak and want to enjoy the pleasures of life.)
The surrounding nations had kings to rule over them and Israel did not. God had promised to be their king. Nevertheless, they wanted a king from among themselves. They wanted to be like everyone else.
God gave them what they wanted, and the line of kings began in Israel with Saul, David, and Solomon. As the nation grew the people began to fight among themselves. This infighting resulted in a split in the nation of Israel. Rather than being one united nation under God they became two kingdoms: The kingdom of Israel to the north and the kingdom of Judah to the south. Each kingdom had its own king.
God had specifically told them not to "Go after other gods" yet they didn’t listen and they did the exact opposite of what God commanded. Around 874 B.C. the northern kingdom of Israel grew strong. It was at that time that King Ahab began ruling Israel.
Ahab was not a man of God. The Bible says, "Ahab…did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him" (1 Kings 16:30.) Ahab’s father who ruled before him was an evil man as well. Ahab not only followed his father’s tradition of evil, he took it one step further and married a Sidonian woman named Jezebel who could care less about God. She introduced Ahab to her god, the false god Baal. And so, the era of sensuality in the nation of Israel began.
WHO IS BAAL?
Baal was the pagan god of fertility. He was known by many of his traits including that of storm god. As Baal was introduced to the nation of Israel people began to like the idea of worshiping him. They were able to practice their sensual desires. The worship of Baal included sexual practices as well as human sacrifices. If they wanted to have sex with a prostitute it was okay. They were so blinded by their sins that they even sacrificed their children by burning them to death as offerings to Baal (Jeremiah 7:31; 19:4-6.) Their sensual pleasure overruled the thought of losing a loved one. They wanted to do their own thing and live their lives as they pleased; satisfy their own desires and not worry about some God putting a damper on it for them. They could party freely, and best of all, it was blessed by the government!
In fact, King Ahab did the following:
- He served Baal (1 Kings 16:31)
- He worshiped Baal (1 Kings 16:31)
- He erected an altar to Baal (1 Kings 16:32)
- These altars are called "High Places" in Scripture. They were usually setup high on a hill to be seen by all who passed by.
- He built a temple for Baal in Samaria (1 Kings 16:32)
- He made shrine to the female goddess Asherah (goddesses were consider sacred prostitutes.)
- Ahab had disregarded the One True God so badly that the nation was now "ripe for the sickle of God’s judgment!"
COURAGE TO SPEAK OUT
The nation continued to plunge itself into moral darkness. The worship of Baal was a huge money making opportunity for the kingdom. People would pay to go to the temple to have their needs met. They would come to Samaria from all the surrounding towns and villages to worship Baal. It was an economic boomtown. Ahab even provided a builder named Hiel with enough money to rebuild the city of Jericho (1 Kings 16:34.) But with total disregard for the Scriptures, both Hiel and Ahab forgot what the deadly consequences would be if that city were ever rebuilt (See Joshua 6:26.)
Against this powerful king and queen and their booming economy stood a man named Elijah. In the New Testament, James the brother of Jesus describes Elijah as someone who was just like us, he had a "Nature like ours" (James 5:17.)
God uses people like you and me to accomplish his work. He isn't looking for the best dressed person or the most educated. God wants to use people who are obedient. In 1st Corinthians 1:27 Paul writes, "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong." You may say, "God could never use me. I don't know enough. I'm not well educated. I'm still learning the Bible. But God says, "When [you] are weak, then [you are] strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10.) That is the time when God wants to use you. When you look at yourself and realize that you cannot do anything on your own; that you need his power. It is then that you receive power from Christ to do his will.
Elijah was a Tishbite from an area in a place called Gilead. It was most likely a small backwoods village where he grew up. But God called him to confront the powerful king.
Elijah didn’t waste time in making his prophetic remarks to King Ahab. He stood directly in front of the King and said, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, "before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word" (1 Kings 17:1.) That’s all that he said. The message he wanted the King to understand was this; I serve the True God of Israel, the living God. You have turned your back on him and have chosen to serve and worship a false god. Because of that, your country is going to experience a drought like it has never felt before. You say you want to follow this Baal, this storm god? Well, let’s see what he can do for you.
With that message, Elijah left. The Lord told him to "Hide yourself by the brook Cherith" (1 Kings 17:3.) God wanted Elijah to lay low while the minutes, hours, days, months and years of the drought ticked by. Because of Elijah’s obedience, God provided a place for him to obtain water and performed a miracle causing ravens to bring him food each morning and evening.
WHAT CAUSES TOTAL DISREGARD FOR GOD?
How did the nation of Israel go from loving God and serving him to a nation that turned their backs on him in favor of the sensual pleasures of life? What causes us to do the same?
The book of James tells us how it happens:
1. It begins with temptation (1:13.) Temptation in itself is not wrong. Everyone is tempted. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that temptation is "Common to man." Jesus said, "Temptations to sin are sure to come" (Luke 17:1.)
2. Temptations come by our own desires (1:14.) James says temptations come when we are "Lured and enticed" by our desires. A lure is a something a fisherman uses to catch fish. It is usually a very bright object that resembles the type of food that the fish want to eat. The problem is that there is a sharp hook on the end of it ready to snag the fish as soon as it bites at the lure. That’s how our temptations come – we hold our desires out in front of us and we make them look better than they really are – we forget that there is a hook that will catch us and drag us away from God.
3. We think of the desire over and over in our minds (1:15.) James says, "Desire when it has conceived…" That word "conceived" literally means to "capture", like we capture a picture on a camera. What does a person do with a picture? He looks at it over and over again. Get the idea? Temptation doesn’t become a problem until we "capture" it in our minds. At that point, we have just given birth to sin. This birth is not an exciting one because it always ends in death.
WHAT LURES YOU AWAY FROM GOD?
Ahab was lured by his desire for Jezebel. The hook she brought with her was the moral impurity of her false gods.
Think of the things in your life. What lures you away from God? What entices you to capture your desires and hold them in your mind? Is it Music? Pornography? Sex? Materialism? Recreation? When God is outside of your desires you are susceptible to sin. It happens quickly and without mercy.
YOU CAN’T LOVE YOUR DESIRES AND GOD?
James makes it pretty clear. You can’t capture desires and still love God. He says, "Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4.)
He gives three solutions to the problem of sensual desires that captivate us:
1. Submit to God (James 4:7.) Submitting to God is a form of resistance. Resistance against whom? The devil. James says, when we resist the devil he will flee… Submission to God keeps the devil away.
2. Draw near to God (James 4:8.) James says, God will draw near to us when we draw near to him. We draw near to God by making sure we are clean; by confessing our sins.
3. Be humble (James 4:9.) The Bible says when you are humble you will be exalted. We think just the opposite? We think, If I am humble I’ll never get noticed. I need to sound my own horn and let people know how great I am. If I don’t people will walk all over me. But God says that’s not true, he says, "When you are humble I will "exalt you."
Ahab didn’t figure this out. He chose to submit and serve Baal rather than God. He chose to worship and draw near to Baal rather than God, and he chose to be prideful by disobeying God’s command to "Not go after other gods" thinking he knew what was best for his nation.
HOW CAN A BELIEVER HELP SOMEONE WHO IS CAUGHT IN SENSUALITY?
Elijah wasn’t afraid to go before the powerful king. Why? He wanted his nation to be healed. He wanted them to turn from their evil ways and serve the one true God. That should be our desire too for those we know who are captured by sin.
The apostle Paul says, "If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted" (6:1.) The person who is following Christ is to restore the one caught in sin. To restore means to "mend" or to "make whole."
Even gentleness can sometimes feel like a huge blow to our ego! Look at what king David said about being confronted when he sinned:
"Let a righteous man strike me – it is kindness;
let him rebuke me – it is oil for my head;
let my head not refuse it" (Psalm 141:5.)
We’ll find out later what Ahab’s response was to Elijah. Did he take it as kindness? Or, did he refuse it?
Study Questions
1. If you had been a follower of God during Ahab’s reign, what pressures and temptations would you have felt?
2. What things do you see people "worshiping" today? Why would they rather worship these things than God?
3. Would it be difficult for you to hear a righteous person confront you regarding your sin?
4. Is it easy or difficult to point out someone else’s sin? Explain.
This week: Ask God to show you the areas of your life that might be luring you away from him. Determine this week to "submit" to God in all areas of your life. If you are struggling with a specific sin, make a decision not to "capture" it in your mind. Share your burdens with someone you can trust who will pray for you.
