A World of Change

Peter Fitch, St. Croix VineyardSunday, June 22, 2014

1 Kings 22:1-40

Last week

• Naboth’s Vineyard• Spirit of oppression versus Spirit of Truth as

seen in Ahab/Jezebel and Elijah• Great lesson: even the worst king . . .• Great questions: why does it affect the

generations to come? Why didn’t God send Elijah before Jezebel murdered Naboth?

This week . . . more to the story

• Ahab, king of Israel (northern kingdom) and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah (southern kingdom) make an alliance to fight against Syria

• Jehoshaphat wants to inquire of the Lord before they go to battle

• 400 prophets, produced by Ahab, say ‘Go for it’

• But Jehoshaphat wants to inquire of the Lord

Episode with Micaiah

• One guy who still represents the Lord in the northern kingdom (where they worship the Baals)

• Ahab hates him because he never prophesies good concerning him . . . Well!!!

• Micaiah is encouraged to chime in with others but he refuses to not speak what God shows

• At first encourages Ahab but they both know he is being sarcastic

The Truth

• “I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd; and the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace’” (1 Kings 22:17)

• Then it gets weird . . . Micaiah says that he had a vision in which God in heaven asks who will go and entice Ahab into battle, and a spirit volunteered to be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets

Is God fighting against Himself?

• He wants to bring justice to Ahab for his murderous activities

• He wants to show mercy because of Ahab’s (pitiful) remorse

• He offers the way forward to Ahab himself: choose to listen to 400 prophets of your regime or one truth-teller from mine

• Ahab tries to have it both ways and dies . . .

More questions!

• Why does God let a lying spirit lead someone astray?

• My thought: the quality of the asker determines the amount of truth in the answer

• Is God really leaving the decision up to Ahab?• My thought: yes

Isn’t God in control?

• Yes and no . . .• Some people have taught through the

centuries that God has absolute control• Yet this doesn’t seem like the message of

Jesus • Some have even said that God loves some

people and hates others and their fate is predetermined

Jonathan Edwards

• “The God that holds you on the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked” (from “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, July 8, 1741)

• Representatives of the current New Reform movement concur

Other voices

• Some neurobiologists have claimed that everything is predetermined in a different way: genetically

• Example: marshmallow test with 4 year olds predicts with accuracy success in life because of greater ability to delay gratification and this consistently reflects more activity in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex

So, two ditches

• One theological, assuming God has so much control that all possibilities are written in stone

• One scientific, assuming the cards have been dealt

• In the middle is the invitation of Jesus . . .

• “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22)

• Strange how it all leads to self-control, the very thing that predicts how well you will do in life (even more than IQ, according to Matthew Lieberman, in Social: Why Our Brains are Wired to Connect)

Key

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom in heaven” (Matthew 5:3)