A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on June 26, 2022 at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on 1 Kings 19:9-21. You may play the audio of the sermon here.
A mostly unedited transcript of the sermon follows the jump:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the First Book of the Kings, the 19th chapter:
There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
49 years. In 1973, the Supreme Court made the horrible decision to put into law a command that every state, regardless of its citizens, would have to allow abortion. And this didn’t just say that it would have to be 12 weeks or 20 weeks, but Roe v. Wade codified abortion for any moment of pregnancy, right up until that baby was actually born. It took 49 years of work from the pro-life community, one of which many of you have been members, but it was finally decreed that Roe was undone as of this last Friday. And praise God. As of January of this year, 63, 459, 781 babies have been aborted since Roe v. Wade was passed. A holocaust, a genocide of 63 million babies was the cost of this law. 63 million babies were sacrificed at the altar of Molech, the ancient god that demanded the sacrificial death of infants. 63 million babies. It wasn’t worth it.
I worked in the pro-life community for a time. My family has a long history of working there. Many of you, through your work with A Place of Refuge, and in other places, have been a part of this. We’ve prayed, we’ve lobbied, we’ve begged. We’ve supported mothers and families, and taught men to be fathers. And, finally, after 49 years, we have the right, again, to keep abortion out of our state.
Our work begins now, though. We still must support mothers and fathers and babies and children. We must keep standing for life, not just against abortion. It’s not enough to make abortion unthinkable, we, the Church, must work to 1, bring people to repentant faith in Christ Jesus, and 2, support families as best we can to give them a fighting chance in this world.
I can only imagine what it must have felt like 49 years ago. Faithful Christians woke up that day and realized that their own home was now sanctioning the murder of the unborn. How alone they must have felt. And since then, too. How alone they must have felt for years, fighting against the culture, fighting for the law, fighting for what was right, even while your tax dollars were spent subsidizing abortion, even while people firebombed pregnancy resource clinics, while you’ve been slandered and demonized for not wanting people to murder their babies. You feel alone.
This is not an uncommon thing. Elijah felt this way. Elijah thought that he was the last faithful person in all of Israel, that everyone else had either been killed by Jezebel and her minions or had bowed down to Baal. He had been running for what seemed like ages. He was afraid. He wasn’t just afraid for his life, but he feared what the Lord would do to Israel for their unfaithfulness. He feared for everything and he felt alone.
Elijah finds a cave to hide in and rest. And God comes to Elijah through His word and asks him what he is doing there. Elijah knows he’s in the wrong. He’s feared for too much and hasn’t left it in God’s hands. Worse, he’s run from his duty of preaching the Word to those who need to hear it. So Elijah prevaricates: Oh, uh, I’ve been very jealous for you, everyone has gone astray, and I’m the only prophet left, and I just ran to make sure you had at least one prophet left. But that’s not what God was looking for. Elijah felt alone, and he acted alone, so alone he stood on the mountain.
He saw the wind shake the mountain apart. He saw the earthquake topple stones. He saw the fire burn up everything around him. And there he was, standing alone like the sole tree that survives a windstorm when everything else has been knocked down. He was alone there.
I think sometimes it’s normal to feel alone. You never are, for God is always with you, but it’s normal to feel that way. Loneliness leads to fear: what if no one loves me, what if I’m never happy, what if I’m alone forever? This, of course, leads to sin because we don’t trust God. And so we should pray. We pray so that we never feel alone, for when we speak the word of God, we know He is with us. He surrounds us with the voice of His Scriptures and we can rejoice, for we are never left alone, but always have Christ near us and in us.
Elijah must’ve been praying right then because he was alone, himself only spared. It wasn’t Jezebel taking the prophets down; it was God destroying field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea, they all disappeared and Elijah was standing alone. And the word of God came to him in a still small voice, a low whisper, and asked again, What are you doing here, Elijah?
Now Elijah sees. He sees that he has been protected by God. He sees that he has been guided by God. And though he gives the same answer, now, it is predicated on the fear of the Lord, not fear of Jezebel, fear of the sword, the fear of loneliness. Now he sees that it is God only should he fear, and Him alone.
For all those who have fought for the lives of the unborn, you have fought well. And now that the Lord has used this Supreme Court to strike down an unjust law, we stand and see that no matter what happens, no matter if people attack us, besmirch us, vandalize or destroy this building, it is God alone we should fear, for only He can do marvelous things. He alone can transform the hearts of those who are violent. He alone can change the minds of those set to murder their children. He alone can restore the family to a place of prominence and rightness. He alone can bring fathers back to their children. He alone can strengthen a marriage. He alone can preserve those who live lives of celibacy and singleness. He alone can do marvelous things, and He alone should we fear for His marvelous works.
We have put our hope, then, in a God who is greater than violence, angry words, or death. We have put our hope in a God who has conquered death in Jesus Christ. We have put our hope in a God who gives to us the forgiveness of sins so that we might live an everlasting life like His own.
God comes to you this day in a still small voice, a low whisper. He doesn’t come with angry words. He doesn’t come screaming for his rights. He doesn’t come with graffiti. He doesn’t come tearing down every institution. He comes with His Word, just as He did with Elijah. He comes surrounding you with His word, speaking His forgiveness, speaking His promises over you. You are not alone, for the Lord is with you. You are not alone. You have been called here by the very Word of God, and this Word accompanies you each and every moment of your lives until, like Elijah, you are taken to the bosom of Jesus. You are not alone; you are with Christ and He is with you, always. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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