Beeson Podcast, Episode #220 Name Date >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Now your host, Timothy George. >>Timothy George: Welcome to today’s Beeson podcast. We get to hear a great preacher today, Dr. Daven Watkins. He is the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Pleasant Grove here in Alabama. He’s a graduate of Beeson Divinity School and of Gorden-Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr. Smith, tell us what we’re going to hear from our friend and alumnus, Daven Watkins. >>Smith: Dr. Daven Watkins. He is, as you said, an alumnus from our school and he’s the kind of preacher we love to produce. His sermonic title is “Have You Been to Zarephath?” Zarephath is in northwest Palestine. It’s the same place where the Syrophoenician woman lived in Mathhew, chapter 15, verses 21-28. >>Timothy George: Where does that text come from? >>Smith: This text comes from 1 Kings, chapter 17, verses 17-27. And his proposition is pregnant with meaning. Zarephath is the place where faith is tested and the impossible becomes possible. That’s a significant statement because he proves it as he comes all the way down throughout the sermon where he’s interweaving biblical illustrations, personal illustrations, what’s going on in the world so that we can identify with this woman and understand that, as believers particularly, we have our Zarephath. And ultimately, he wants to show that Zarephath is the place where Jesus died on the cross and that which was impossible and even improbably became possible and became reality. >>Timothy George: You know, Daven has a passion for preaching God’s word. He loves his people. He’s a great pastor, has a beautiful family, his wonderful wife, Jane Ellen, their two children, Molly Grace and Nathan. In many ways, God has blessed this minister in ways that are just incredible to see it unfold in his life since I still remember him as a student coming to Beeson Divinity School from his home state of Kentucky. Well, let’s listen to Dr. Daven Watkins. “Have You Been to Zarephath?” >>Watkins: God, our Father, you are the giver of eternal life through our savior, Jesus Christ. And Lord Jesus, we stand in this place only because of you. It’s because of your grace that we’re here. You’ve given us the strength and the ability to wake up this morning and to come into your house and to worship you as a people of God. And Lord, we pray that everything that’s done, that it may be glorifying in your sight, that the words on our lips and the thoughts in our heads, and the meditations upon our hearts, that they all may be pleasing to you for you’re the reason that we’re here. Thank you for transforming us. Thank you four raising the dead. Thank you for being a God of life. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. It's an understatement to say that it’s a privilege for me to be here with you this morning. This is one of the greatest honors that has ever been bestowed upon me and it’s always great to be able to be here with my family and friends and I really feel like I’ve come back home. So, to the dean and to the faculty, to the students, the staff, the friends of Beeson, thank you for allowing us to come back home. I feel like we’re friends. I feel like we’re family. So, let’s just gather around the great throne of grace and let’s talk about the Lord just for a few minutes. The story than Sandra read for us this morning is a great story about God. It’s an incredibly story about an incredible God. It showcases His power and provision in a culture that was quickly becoming religiously tolerant. I believe there’s some relativity from this story to our culture that we live in today. Israel, at this time in her history, was quickly flirting with Baal. Baal had been introduced by King Ahab, probably the most notoriously wicked king that Israel had ever endured. In fact, the scripture days that Ahab did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. His first mistake was that he married Jezabel, the bad girl of scripture, the wicked woman of the Old Testament. And not only did he marry her, but he also embraced her false God, Baal. And not only did he allow her to being the U-Haul truck and unload everything right there in the palace, but he also enabled her to bring Baal right there into the nation of Israel. And the scripture says that Ahab did more to revoke the Lord, the God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel before him. If there’s one thing I know about God, it’s this: God cannot tolerate sins. Now, you can call it whatever you want to. You can call it an alternative lifestyle. You can call it a minor character flaw. You can call it just a mistake or a bad judgement of character. You can call it whatever you want to, but God cannot stand disobedience. And so, in this story he raises up a prophet, a man by the name of Elijah. And Elijah appears out of nowhere. He’s not even given the slightest introduction, but he just bursts into the scene. And Elijah, he has no credentials. He doesn’t have a proper education. He has no proper titles. In fact, he’s really just a red neck from the sticks. But he’s called by God to come and speak judgement against Ahab and the rest of the Israelites. My friends, I want to tell you something this morning. The greatest credential you can have as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be called for such a time as this. The greatest credential you can ever possess is to be called by God to do something that only God can help you do. And so, the Lord called Elijah. He called him to go stand before the most powerful man in all of Israel and speak judgment. And believe it or not, Elijah obeyed. He went into the court of the most powerful man in the entire nation, and he gave him what sounded like a meteorological report. He said, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, though be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” He nodded his head, turned around, and walked away leaving Ahab stunned. This declaration of no rain seems odd to us until we realize that Baal was believed to have been the god who controlled the weather forecast. He was the god who they thought could control the rains. And so, knowing that Israel was based upon an agricultural society, you realize that rainfall is a precious commodity. But in so many words, Elijah was saying that this god named Baal has no power to control the rainfall. In fact, he’s as good as dead. But the God that I serve is the living God and He’s the one who controls the heavens and the earth. He’s the one who opens up the floodgates and shuts up the heavens. This is the God who speaks and because of your rebellion, because of your spiritual infidelity, God is going to use a famine to punish the people of Israel. Elijah left and immediately, God told him to go to the Kerith Ravine. In this place he was fed twice a day by ravens. In the morning and at night, they brought meat and bread and Elijah, the prophet of God, drank from the crystal-clear water of the brook. I mean, this was a great ministry setting. This is the type of setting that we all dream about in seminary. This is the setting that we think, God’s going to call us to this great place in the Kerith Ravine and everything’s going to go great. They’ll be no deacon problems. They’ll be no problems with staff members. They’ll be no problems in the church. It’ll be a wonderful place. And I’m sure that at some point, Elijah must have thought, I could retire in a place like this. I mean, this would be great. I can be here my entire life because God is giving me everything that I need. It was a period in his life of tremendous growth and development. But eventually, the brook dried up and the Lord called him to go to Zarephath. Have you ever been to Zarephath? It’s a place that’s very difficult to get to. But have you ever been there? I know the absurdity of the question even as I ask it. But after all, we live in a very mobile society. I mean, I’m from Owenton, Kentucky and there’s not a whole lot in Owenton, Kentucky but even in Owenton, even in Owenton the statistics tell us that 50 percent of the people of been there five years or less. Even Owenton has a sense of mobility. I mean, we’re constantly on the move. We’re constantly relocating. We’re constantly going here and there. So, my question is, have you ever been to Zarephath? It’s a place that’s not really known for tourism. It’s not a very luxurious place to visit. It really is just a dot on the map. It’s nestled between the two ancient cities of Tyre and Sidon, located right there on the Mediterranean Sea. Have you ever been to Zarephath? I don’t think you’ve ever been there. Well, at least not intentionally. It’s a place that literally means a place of refining. Zarephath was a city that was known for smelting. Smelting is that process of burning impurities out of pure precious metals. Heat is used, intense heat, and from that heat the impurities rise to the top and then an instrument is used to scrape away all of the impurities, leaving only behind the pure precious metal. This is what Job had in mind when Job said, “But God knows the way that I take and when He has tested me, I will come forth as pure gold.” It was in this place of refining, this place of testing that the Lord sent Elijah. And he told him, there will be a widow there who will supply you with food. So, in verse 10 we read, “So he went to Zarephath.” No questions asked. He went to Zarephath in obedience. One of the amazing realities of this story is the emphasis upon the obedience to the word of God. As you read this one chapter of 1 Kings 17, you’ll realize that the obedience to the word of God is mentioned at least seven times. It’s sprinkled all throughout these 24 verses. Emphasis upon an obedience to the word of God. And I think that therein lies the greatest challenge for the church in the 21st century. The greatest challenge for the church today is not belief in the word of God. There are many people who believe that this is God’s word. The greatest challenge for the church today is not access to the word of God. The Bible remains the number one seller year in and year out. Not only can you get a hard copy of God’s word, but you can go online, and you can pull up any translation from your computer that you’d ever want to read. Some you can understand and others you probably couldn’t even understand. The greatest challenge for the church today is not knowledge of the word of God. Even though there seems to be at an all time low this thing called biblical literacy among God’s people. It’s a legitimate concern for the church, but it’s not the greatest concern. For I believe that the greatest challenge for the church of the 21st century is this thing called obedience to the word of God. We sing the song “Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.” But yet week in and week out, our churches are filled with people who have right belief but wrong behavior. And even more tragic than that is that far too many pulpits are filled with men and women who offer lip service to Christ have horrific lifestyles. If we don’t have a problem with obedience, if the church doesn’t have a problem with obedience, then how in the world can we explain that the divorce rate among Christians is equivalent to the divorce rate of non-Christians. If we don’t have a problem with obedience, then how can we explain the use of pornography and the frequence of adultery among Christians that is just as prevalent as non-Christians. If we don’t have a problem with obedience, then how in the world can we explain the materialism and selfishness and arrogance dominates non-believers as well as non-believers. I’ve got a news flash for us today. Just because we’re called into God’s ministry, that doesn’t make us exempt from the same temptations that everybody else falls into. In fact, we’re even more susceptible to them. I believe one of the greatest challenges in the church today is this issue of obedience to the word of God. I think somewhere along the way, there’s been a devastating divorce in God’s church among God’s people. It’s a divorce between the head and the hands. But we come to church, and we hear the word of God and sometimes it may even sink into our hearts, but very rarely does it flesh out into our hands and habits. There’s a legitimate concern for the church today. It’s called obedience to the word of God. The more I live, the more I believe that most of us are just difunctionally disobedient. Difunctionally disobedient to God and His word. That’s what makes a story like this so refreshing because you read this story, and the man of God is obedient to the word of God. The word of God came to Elijah, and he told him to go to Zarephath and he went at once in faithful obedience. Therefore, Elijah went to Zarephath. And when he got to the gate, he saw a widow who was picking up sticks. Now, he knew that God had told him I will supply a widow for you to take care of all your needs. She’ll supply all your food. So, he automatically assumed that this widow was the one sent by God. So, automatically, he just very politely, he asked her, could you please bring me something to drink? I traveled a long way and I’m very thirsty. Can I just have a little bit of water? Before he come back, do you mind just to bake me a little piece of bread? I’m so hungry. And the woman responded by saying, I’m sorry about your luck but I’m here at the gate gathering a few sticks so I can prepare a meal for my family. I only have a hand full of flour and just a little bit of oil in a jug and I’m going to make a meal for my family, for me and for my son. We’re going to eat it and then we’re going to die. I don’t know about you, but if that were me instead of Elijah, I think I would have started looking for another widow. I think I would have started asking the question, God, do you know what you’re doing? God, is this the woman who is going to take care of my needs? God, are you sure about this? She can’t even take care of herself. How in the world is she going to take care of me? God, one of us made a mistake. Either you made a mistake, or I misinterpreted what you said because this doesn’t make sense. Have you ever been to Zarephath? Have you ever been to that place where God just does not make sense? Have you ever been to that place where from your vantage point, it looks like God is on vacation? That you just don’t see how it's going to work out. Have you ever been to Zarephath? Zarephath is that place where faith is tested and the improbably becomes possible. Elijah told the woman, don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. I don’t want you to be fearful. I want you to go home and do exactly what you said. But first, I want you to make me a cake for this is what the Lord says, that your jar of flour will not run dry, and your jug of oil will not run out. She found it just as the prophet of God had said. Everything was there. Everyday there was flour in her jar, in her jug, and oil in her jar. And every day, she went, and she found that God had been faithful, that God had provided everything that she needed. Sometimes obedience precedes understanding. And we sing a song in the church that says, “we’ll understand it better by and by.” What’s the implication? The implication is that we don’t understand everything right now, that there’s something about my predicament, my problem, my prognosis that I just can’t quite understand. But if I’m obedient, God will bring about the understanding. It may not be right now. It may not be years from now. But someday, maybe when I stand before the Lord, He will help me to understand. So, I’ll understand it a little bit better by and by. In Zarephath, we’re called to be obedient to God. And for this widow, God became real in her kitchen. You know, sometimes God takes us to Zarephath and while we’re in Zarephath, God becomes very real and personal. In Zarephath, God becomes very real and very personal because everyday this woman woke up and she wondered, when I reach my hand into the jar, is there going to be some flour? And when I take off the top, when I pull off, will there be any oil? And every day there was just enough. See, when you’re in Zarephath, God becomes very real and very personal. You see, when you’re right there, you no longer want to talk about that God, but you talk about my God. And no longer do you talk about that so called redeemer, but you talk about my redeemer. And no longer do you talk about a provider, but you talk about my provider. And no longer do you say that creator, but He is my creator. And so, when you’re in Zarephath, God becomes very real and personal. And if this woman would have known the song, she would have sung it. “Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed your hand, oh Lord, has provided. So great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.” When you’re in Zarephath, I want you to know that obedience is required. But also, when we’re in Zarephath, God will become real and personal. Wish the story ended right there. Wouldn’t it be great just to sing the closing hymn and go to lunch right now? I mean, wouldn’t that be great if that was the end of the story? But for a while, life was great. But then something devastating happened. This woman had one son, and he became sick. Instead of getting better, he grew worse. She had already lost her husband. We don’t know how she lost her husband, but the scripture just says that she was a widow and now life was dealing with the most devastating tragedy. This mother was losing a child. Some of you know the pain of losing a spouse. Some of you also know the pain of having to bury a child. You know how horrific that is, how life just throws you a curve ball and what happens is not what should happen because as a parent, you should always outlive your children. But here this widow, she was losing her son and every day she would check on him. Instead of getting better, he grew worse. And some of you know what it’s like to have a loved one lying there in the bed wasting away to nothing. He used to be robust. He used to be strong. But now after months of disease, he’s only the skeleton of the boy that he used to be. And the nights are filled with tears. The nights are filled with prayer. She doesn’t know why it's happening. Then one day, he stops breathing. There’s inhalation but no exhalation. He stops breathing and the coldness of death saturates the house. And for a moment there’s silence. And then the silence gives way to screams of agony and a flood of tears. She turns to the only one in the house. She screams at Elijah. Why have you come? Did you come here to remind me of my sin and kill my son? Does God have a vendetta against me? Why in the world did He send you? Was it because He wanted to remind me of my sinfulness and my rebellion? And the only thing Elijah could say was give me your boy, son. And Elijah, he went upstairs, and I thought it interesting that he took the dead lifeless corpse into the upper room. But his actions are even more intriguing because when he was there, he laid the boy on the bed, and he began to pray. You know, sometimes when you’re in Zarephath, the only way to deal with life is through prayer. We have trivialized prayer, pretty much, in the church today. How many times have you said, or you’ve heard somebody say, you know, the least I can do is pray for you. My friends, prayer is not the least I can do. It’s the best we can do. The primary reason I pray is because I believe that God will listen. Now, I know that prayer changes men and it changes people, and it changes the situation, and I know there’s power in prayer, but the primary reason I pray is because I believe God will listen. I don’t think God is deaf. I don’t think that He’s turned His back on me. I don’t think that He’s too busy to understand. I think that God will listen. And so, that’s the number one reason why I pray. And so, we find Elijah praying. And he asked God a pretty big question, but that’s okay because God has big shoulders. Lord, have you brought tragedy upon this widow I’m staying with by causing her son to die? God, did you do this? And then he cried out to the Lord, “Oh Lord, my God, let this boy’s life return to him.” And the Lord heard the prayer of Elijah and the boy’s life returned and he lived. Now, the scripture writer is so matter of fact. He tells this great story and then he just says, oh yeah by the way, God heard the prayer, the boy’s life returned, and he lived. He’s kind of nonchalant about it. Just real matter of fact. Now, if God had asked me to write the scripture, which He didn’t, but if He had, I would have been so excited about this. I would have said, you won’t believe what happened next! Elijah was right there, and he prayed a powerful prayer, and he asked God to give the life back, and thunder shook the whole house, and all of a sudden, the boy raised up. But the biblical author, he doesn’t say anything like that. He just says that he prayed, God heard, the boy came back to life. It’s as if the author of the text is not surprised. Why is it that sometimes we’re surprised when God moves? Why is it that it surprises us when God moves among His people? Why is it a surprise when God raises up and grant salvation to hundreds of people? Why does it surprise us when God fixes problems? Why does it surprise us when God moves? For we serve a God who raised an army out of a valley of dry bones. I mean, we serve a God who preserved Jonah in the smelly belly of a fish. We serve a God who fed 5000 men with five loaves of bread and two fish. We serve a Lord who knows when the sparrow falls from the tree. And if His eyes are on the sparrow, then I know that he watches me. Why are we surprised? Well, Elijah, I don’t think he was surprised. He took the boy, and he walked back down the steps, and he said, “Behold, your son is alive.” And she said, “Now I know that you’re the man of God and the words that come out of your mouth are the truth.” See, Zarephath, it’s that place where faith is tested and the improbably become possible. When I think of Zarephath, I’m reminded of Nain. Nain was that city where Jesus and His disciples entered, and they bumped into a funeral procession. And the details are ironic because Jesus walked up and the Rabbi, the holy teacher, touched the coffin. He touched death. And the funeral stopped. And he told the widow, there at Nain, he said, “Don’t cry.” And he said, “Son, I command you to sit up. And the dead man rose up.” And the scripture writer tells us that this dead man began to have a little talk with Jesus. He just began to have a conversation with Jesus, his master and Lord. And so, He gave the boy back to his mother. And the scripture says that everyone there was filled with awe. Zarephath is the place where faith is tested and the improbable becomes possible. When I think of Zarephath, I’m reminded of Bethany. Bethany was that beautiful place where Lazarus was from with his sisters, Mary and Martha. And Jesus received word that Lazarus was sick. And instead of going immediately, he waited a little bit. But the time Jesus go there, Lazarus had been dead and in a tomb for four days. And Jesus was deeply moved. He went to the tomb in order for the stone to be rolled away. And he stared into death, and he said, “Lazarus, come out.” And the dead man came hopping out of the tomb. Ther reason we know he’s hopping is because Jesus said, “unloose his hands and his feet” for {inaudible 00:27:37]. Zarephath is a place where faith is tested and the improbable becomes possible. When I think of Zarephath, I’m reminded of that night that Jesus and his disciples were in a boat and furious storm came up on the lake to the point that the disciples were so afraid they woke Jesus up and said, “Jesus, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” And Jesus asked them, “Where is your faith?” And He stood at the front of the boat, and He ordered for the winds and the waves to be still. And they said, “Who is this man that even the winds and the waves obey Him?” They were in Zarephath. It’s a place where faith is tested and the improbably becomes possible. But really, when I think ab out Zarephath, I’m reminded of Calvary for it’s in that place on that hill called Calvary on the place of the skull where Jesus was crucified, and the dream was gone. The disciples were depressed because they thought everything was over. They realized that they believed that Jesus was the Mesiah. They hoped that He was the one to come. But now He was dead. And dead people don’t come back to life. And so, they moped around for a few days. But then on the third day, death could not hold the author of life and Jesus came bursting out of the tomb. And when the people came to the tomb, the angels asked the question, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is alive. For the bright morning star has risen with healing in His wings.” This is the Jesus who gives hope in hopelessness, who gives peace in turmoil, who gives faith when there’s doubt. This is the Jesus who has risen from the dead. It’s Zarephath. It’s a place where faith is tested and the improbably become possible. Of course, when I think of Zarephath, I’m reminded of January the 15th, 2001. It was just a typical Monday and Mindy and her daughter, Sara Jane, they were driving to the mall to get a dress for the upcoming Valentine’s Day dance at school. Mindy was a single parent and Sara Jane was a 14-year-old teenager. She was the life of the party. She loved the Lord and every time she smiled, the joy of God seeped out of her mouth. She was just really one of those girls that just really loved God. Well, before they got out of town, a water truck struck the car on the passenger side. Both of them had to be air lifted to the University of Kentucky Hospital. Melinda, the mom, suffered broken bones in her legs and ankles and other major injuries. But Sara, she never made it to the hospital. Somewhere in flight, this 14-year-old girl passed away. And I told you that Owenton is a small town. It’s a close-knit town as well and the town was rocked. And they asked me to do the funeral sermon. And the church was packed. And the question on everyone’s mind was the question why. Why did this happen? And I did the best I could, but I don’t know if I gave a very good answer. Family is very close in Owenton and Sara was very close to her grandfather on her mother’s side. His name is Buddy. You know what Buddy’s are like. Don’t you have Buddy’s in Alabama? We have Buddy’s in Kentucky. It’s the type of guy who’s rough and tough and on the outside, he’s pretty gruff. And this was Buddy. Buddy and his wife always came to the 8:45 service at church. It’s the service that has about 30 or 40 senior adult members. And I think they come there because they’re always up that early and so they just want to come. And they like it small, and they like just being there, and so we have a pretty good time together. But usually at the invitation time, not much happens, at least not externally. But one day about two months after the funeral, a bombshell dropped. We were right there at the invitation and all of a sudden, Buddy from the back began making his way to the aisle and walking forward. I had in my mind, Buddy, why are you coming? Buddy, why are you here? Why are you coming forward? And as soon as he got there, it was perfect timing. It was perfect timing because he was right there and I asked him the question, “Buddy, why are you here?” And Buddy just began to sing. It was the invitation song that we were singing. “Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. My sin had left a crimson stain, but He washed it white as snow.” He said, “Daven, it’s time for me to get it right.” And I want to tell you that just a couple weeks later on Easter Sunday evening, I had the privilege of baptizing Buddy, this grandfather in the Lord. Now, I don’t know why bad things happen all the time. But I do know that God works in all things to bring about good. And for Buddy and his family, they were experiencing Zarephath. It’s the place where faith is tested and the improbable, it becomes possible. The interesting thing about Zarephath is this, that all of us live in one of three perspectives to it. Either we’re going towards it, we’re in it, or we just left it. But I have good news for all of us. Regardless of where you are in conjunction with Zarephath, God is there because in Zarephath, that’s where God become real and personal. Obedience is required. Prayer is necessary, but God is always there. He will never leave us nor forsake us. This place called Zarephath, it’s a place of testing. It’s a place of sacrifice. It’s a place of suffering. But it’s also a place of joy and celebration. When I think of 1 Kings, chapter 17, when I think about this city called Zarephath, I’m reminded of this one thing, it’s a place where faith is tested and the improbably, it becomes possible. >> Announcer: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast with host, Timothy George. You can subscribe to the Beeson podcast at our website, Beesondivinity.com. Beeson Divinity School is an interdenominational evangelical divinity school training men and women in the service of Jesus Christ. We pray that this podcast will aid and encourage your work, and we hope you will listen to each upcoming edition of the Beeson podcast.