A Culture of Insanity

• Posted by Pastor John R. Harvey D.D. January 18, 2021 - #insanity  - 355 views
  One definition of the word insanity is to continue to repeat the same behavior repeatedly expecting a different result. How many of us could say we did something insane this week?

  
  This week we are going to try something new, I would like to teach on the Old Testament at least once a month, and so for today we will be starting in Kings.

   

  Solomon’s sin: Solomon sinned by allowing his many wives to set up places of worship in God’s Promised Land. Solomon had 700 wives, and broke the law in , and the verbiage used is very strong. 700 wives from 700 countries, can you imagine the varied types of religions Solomon’s wives would have brought with them? This sin was so grievous to God that his own son would be struck down for worshipping a golden calf…sound familiar? In fact, there would never be a good king on the throne for the Northern Kingdom.

   

  During one kings reign (Ahab) the culture had become so corrupt that his bride was allowed to kill as many of God’s prophets as she wanted. This evil woman’s influence would take her husbands nation into a very dark place, until she would finally meet her end by being thrown from a balcony.

   

  I. How Did They Get There? An accepting and tolerant culture. Look at our own mess in the United States.

   

  1. The cultural shift that has to take place for something this dramatic starts when the shift begins from a community mindset to that of the individual.

   

  A. For over a century we as a country needed each other. It was nearly impossible to do anything on your own. Look at the farms before the 20th century, they were a place where families stayed united, and could not succeed without community.

   

  B. Small business needed each other, and commerce favored the local economy. It was rare to go outside the local area to purchase something.

   

  2. We also saw a shift in our ability to trust our political leaders.

   

  A. As the shift from community moved toward individualism, we began to question everything, and to never trust anyone.

   

  B. Our media, Hollywood, and the educational systems began to focus on the negativity, and the mistrust in the name of equality and political correctness. This began a shift in the thoughts and feelings of the individual.

   

  C. As individualism expanded, the promotion of self, and self-expression shifted away from God’s authority, and God’s sovereignty to each individuals opinion.

   

  Yet just as Solomon was warned we think we know better than God, that submitting and surrender are negative actions that fail to promote an individual’s identity.

   

  (ESV) — 3 O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? 4 Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

  Man has never changed

   

  (ESV) — 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

   

  YES, WE ARE INSANE! We repeat the same behaviors over and over expecting a different result.

   

  1. We repeat the actions of our forefathers.

   

  (ESV) — 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

   

  A. Have we become so tolerant of the things God finds offensive?

  Back to the evil queen. Her name was Jezebel. She was the daughter of a Sidonian king. She was a priest in the temple of Baal. Baal worship according to tablets recently discovered in 1974, and 1993 describe human sacrifices that were an offering to Baal in order to prevent or counter a natural disaster including droughts, and earthquakes. Infants were sacrificed to Baal for fertility offerings using unwanted children, and both homosexual and bisexual prostitutes were available in the temple as well.

   

  Is it any wonder God found it so offensive. Yet the culture of the day had become so accepting that the death of an unwanted child did not seem outrageous in any sense.

  
  The culture accepted the queens right to her own religion, and embraced her demands to kill off those who opposed her…does this sound familiar?

   

  III. When God has had enough-a messenger

   

  1. In 1 Kings a man appears, he is a messenger from God, a prophet…in its simplest form that is what a prophet is.

   

  2. His name was Elijah, and he was from an area near Damascus. Elijah predicted that a famine, and a drought were coming from God…and it came true. Three years into the famine, Elijah comes back to the King to let him know God is still not happy.

   

  (ESV) — 20 So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 And 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. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. 23 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. 24 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.” 25 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.” 26 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. 27 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.” 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 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. 30 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. 31 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,” 32 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. 33 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.” 34 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. 35 And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water. 36 And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “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. 37 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.” 38 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. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” 40 And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

   

  The story doesn’t end there. The culture didn’t change. Even though something incredible had happened, the people actually turned on the prophet and he had to run, and hide. Elijah remained faithful, and even though he faced persecution he held tight. In the midst of all of it he was told to disciple someone to take his place.

   

  IV. Applying the OT

   

  1. Does this story apply to us 3000 years later?

  A. Are we as a people, as a culture, as a nation, any different than the Israelites of the North?

   

  a. Is not our culture just as accepting and as promoting of the individual and their rights over what God has commanded?

   

  b. Are we not just as guilty of not standing up to the culture of our day, that turns a blind eye to child sacrifice under the guise of choice?

   

  c. Are we not as a group not under constant persecution from that culture around us?

   

  2. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result

   

  A. When we choose a sinful pattern- we grieve the Spirit

   

  B. When we engage in our habits and choices that the Word of God says no to; and then repeatedly ask for forgiveness for that behavior, have we not forgotten God?

   

  C. Elijah had to choose to stand WITH God, to be “very jealous FOR God.” Isnt that the same thing Jesus commanded of us when He said Love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength?

   

  3. Can we just admit that we need God to restore us, to remove the repetitive sin nature from us, and in our lives? Can we ask God to open our eyes to the corrupt nature of the world, and give us a mind that is sound?

   

  (ESV) — 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

   

  I guess we all have a choice; keep repeating the same behavior, keep watching the culture influence us to be apart from God, or as Jeremiah said Choose you this day who you will serve, but as for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord.