Sunday, June 16,17, 2007

Sermon: "A Lifetime Offer"

Scripture: I Kings 17: 8-16

Reverend Larry M. Gerber

 

There's no problem these days finding companies that offer a "lifetime supply" of everything from ice cream to gasoline to a lucky contest winner. This text reminds us that God has a few offers, too.

Wine drinkers are hoping to discover the Golden Cork when they buy a bottle of Browns Brothers Pinot Grigio, so I am told. This Australian winery has placed five golden corks in five bottles of wine. If you are lucky enough to find one, you'll win a lifetime supply of wine!

But maybe you're not into wine. Maybe ice cream is your passion.

If so, you really should've submitted an application for the job of CEO at Ben & Jerry's. This ice cream company announced a contest called "YO! I'm Your CEO," and invited people to send in 100-word applications. First prize in the contest: the job of CEO. Second prize: a lifetime supply of ice cream. Not bad for a consolation prize.

 Or perhaps your gas tank is dry. The BP "Drive for Life" sweepstakes offers a lifetime supply of gas, as well as a new tank to put it in! The winner gets a Ford F-150, every five years, for life.

Exactly what is it that you would like to win for life? Toilet paper? Vitamins? Pantyhose? Advil? Diet Coke? Groceries? Vacation rentals? Mortgage payments? The answer can say a lot about what we treasure, what we place at the very center of our lives.

Ever since Willy Wonka put golden tickets in his chocolate bars, we've been dreaming of being lifetime winners. An episode of Family Guy puts a twist on this fantasy when the Pawtucket Brewery hides silver scrolls in bottles of Patriot beer, and suddenly everyone in town is chugging brews like crazy. The character Peter finds a scroll and is given a tour of the factory, with the hope that he'll win a lifetime supply of beer. One of the songs, presented as a sarcastic spin on Willy Wonka, includes the lyrics, "Take a drink / and you'll sink / to a state of pure inebriation."

So not all these lifetime offers are particularly good for us.

Nor are they very common. While lifetime offers do exist, they are not as frequent as you might think. In addition, you have to read the fine print. Wine for life, as defined by Browns Brothers, is six bottles per month for 25 years.

Lifetime offers are grounded in a lot of wishful thinking, and for them to do us any good they have to be grounded in someone ? or something ? that is truly trustworthy. After all, a lifetime offer is only as good as the person or company that stands behind the offer. If the company goes out of business, you lose your benefits. If Ben and Jerry suffer a meltdown, no more ice cream.

All of which brings us to the widow of Zarephath. She's a lifetime winner! The prophet Elijah promises that her "jar of meal will not be emptied and [her] jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth" (1 Kings 17:14).

Sounds like a good deal, but what's really going on here? Let's read the fine print.

Today's passage comes from the beginning of the story of Elijah, right after he has been told by God to leave the land of Israel. Elijah is locked in a power struggle with Israel's King Ahab, and their fight is over the nature of God himself. Ahab has been seduced into thinking that the Canaanite god Baal is the source of rain and life on Earth, while Elijah holds to the conviction that the God of Israel controls rain and life. Elijah gets in Ahab's face and makes the bold claim, "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" (v. 1).

These are brave words ? the kind that can get you killed. God knows that Ahab has a temper, so he advises Elijah to "Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan" (vv. 2-3). There God sustains Elijah with gifts of bread and meat, delivered by a flock of ravens (vv. 5-6).

Then the word of the Lord comes again to the prophet, "Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you" (vv. 8-9). Elijah does what God says, and as he comes to the gate of the town, he sees a most pathetic sight: a poor widow, gathering sticks. Any sympathy he might be feeling is overwhelmed by his own thirst and hunger, aggravated by the length of his journey and the drought that is now gripping the whole land. "Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink," he calls to her. And then he adds, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand" (vv. 10-11).

The widow is at the end of her rope, and her response to Elijah is as depressing as a funeral dirge,

As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked,

only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug;

I am now gathering a couple of sticks,

so that I may go home and prepare it

for myself and my son,

that we may eat it,

and die.

It's a sad and poignant statement, sure enough. But Elijah will hear none of this gloomy talk. "Do not be afraid," he counsels her; "go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth" (vv. 12-14).

She goes and does what Elijah says ? a remarkable act of faith for a woman so down in the dumps, so depressed, so close to death. And sure enough, she and her household are able to eat for many days. The jar of meal is not emptied, and the jug of oil does not fail, according to the word of the Lord, spoken by Elijah (vv. 15-16).

The widow of Zarephath is a lifetime winner.

Notice, however, that this amazing gift comes with some strings attached. First, it requires a response: The widow has to act on the word of the Lord, and do the baking required to turn oil and meal into cakes. The same is true for us. God may provide the flour, but we've got to do the baking.

In Milford, Connecticut, a man named Milton experienced a spiritual awakening after a career-ending stroke. Laid up at home, he developed a thirst for the religion he had not tasted since childhood, so he rode his wheelchair to a series of new members' classes at the First United Church of Christ, struggled to memorize Bible passages, and did what he could as a church office volunteer. Milton feasted on the Christian faith as few ever do, and he used his time of spiritual nourishment to reconcile himself to God and his family. He could not know that within weeks he'd be dead. But he died, in peace.

God is a Giver. It's up to us to shake 'n' bake. Our job is to turn flour into cakes! These "cakes" might be ? the Cake of Hope, the Cake of Opportunity, the Cake of Life??

But, and this is a big but, God doesn't always attach strings. God can do what God wants to do. The angel (chapter 19) made dinner for Elijah and nothing was required of Elijah. He ate the meal and survived.

Second, God's amazing gifts ? or providence ? may last only as long as the need is present. In the story of Elijah and the widow, the offer is good until the rain returns. This is an important point for us today, because we live in a culture of excess in which nothing seems adequate except the next new thing. We want the latest and the greatest, whether we're looking for clothes or cell phones, cars or computers.

But God doesn't promise to give us what we want ? only what we need. He sustains us in a time of drought, instead of spoiling us in a time of abundance.

Travel to any developing country, and you will see the joy of Christians who have discovered that the Lord really does provide. At the Plan Escalon School in La Entrada, Honduras, the 400 young men and women who are students there gather for worship every Sunday, and they raise the roof with their spirited song and dance. They are thankful to God for the education they are receiving, even though their school is always desperate for textbooks and their kitchen serves little besides beans and rice. In a country in which many children have no hope of schooling beyond the primary level, the students of Plan Escalon are thankful that God has given them the chance to receive a high school education.

God sustains us in a time of drought, giving us exactly what we need. The challenge for us is to discover that these gifts are sufficient ? and they may be better for us than the next new thing.

Finally, the widow of Zarephath is a lifetime winner, because whenever we're touched by God, we're never the same. She's a winner because she acts on the word of God, because she turns her gift into something good, and because she accepts that God will sustain her instead of spoil her. Her faithfulness makes her a model for us today, just as she is a model about whom Jesus says to the people of Nazareth, "There were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah ? yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon" (Luke 4:25-26). Jesus wants the people of Nazareth to know that God isn't going to bless them because of their race or creed or nationality. God is going to give help to those who make a faithful and active response to what he is doing in their lives.

Since a lifetime offer is only as good as the power that stands behind it, we can trust what God is putting before us. Better than ice cream, or gasoline, or wine, God's gifts will truly sustain us.

They'll give us life.

In the movie Babette's Feast, a French chef takes refuge among a small, somber Christian sect in Denmark during political unrest in her own country. When she discovers she has won the French lottery, she uses all her money to make a feast the people will never forget.

It is reminiscent of "The Last Supper", the feast of a lifetime, no strings attached. The Gift of all gift. A life time offer through eternity, sustaining us for ever.

Let us pray??

Sources:

"Ben & Jerry's company timeline." benjerry.com.

"BP links with Ford for year-end promo." Oil Express. November 10, 2003. goliath.ecnext.com.

"Find a golden cork and win wine for life." Pieces of Victoria. May 2006. tourismvictoria.com.au.