We are about to embark on a new series called Hand Me Another Clinker Brick. If you have not read your bulletin, Im going to talk to you a little bit about what a clinker brick is. This is the brick (Pastor holds up a brick for the congregation to see) that is used from my house. As you can see, hopefully, the corner of this brick is gone. Its missing, so if this is one of the bricks that was used on my house, the mason would look at that and say, Well, we cant use that, and he would cast that aside. Thats what is called a clinker brick. Theyre called clinker bricks because they make a different sound when theyre hit than a normal brick would make. Sometimes clinker bricks are born that way. They start life as clinker bricks. Theyve been manufactured with a defect. It could be their shape, or it could be the wrong color. Something has happened to that brick that has caused it to be an outcast. It could be the brick has been damaged or scarred just in handling, so part of it is missing. The mason will then set that aside and not use it on the project because it will stand out. Over time, builders and architects began to recognize the value of the clinker brick, even though it may be scarred or damaged, it looks different-its unique. There are no two clinker bricks that are exactly the same, just like there are no two of us that are exactly the same. Architects began to use them. In fact, I would like to see us, in our new building, somewhere in that sanctuary-maybe around the baptismal-or somewhere we could have a little wall of clinker bricks. What it demonstrates is that though we are imperfect, though we have defects, God still uses us and values us in His church. There is a church, in fact, in New England that is made up entirely of clinker bricks. Its a beautiful church. In the brick, there are different colors that are reflected by the sun because of the misshaped bricks, so it looks different every time you look at it. Its a beautiful building, and they did that on purpose. They did that to reflect this very truth. Paul talks about that in the Book of 1 Corinthians 1:26 (on page 1128 of pew Bibles). Paul writes, Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are… Paul says, You were clinker bricks. You were flawed. You were rejects. You were cast aside, but God saw fit to use you to build His church. Peter uses the analogy of a building to speak of the church in his book. In 1 Peter 2:1 (page 1200 of pew Bibles), Peter writes these words: Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind. If youre going to rid yourself of something, you must first what? [You must first] have it. You cant get rid of something that you dont have in the first place. So when Peter says to them, Get rid of envy and slander and hypocrisy, that means they have what? Envy, slander, malice and hypocrisy. They have all those things. If they didnt have them, they couldnt get rid of them. So what is Peter saying? Peter is saying, Theyre clinker bricks. Theyre messed up. Theyre not perfect. They have flaws. Yet look at what Verse 4 says, As you come to Him, the living Stone-rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him… Jesus was the perfect brick. Jesus was perfect, yet He was cast aside like a clinker brick by men. Peter says, …you also, like livings stones, like living bricks, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Though you are imperfect, you have malice, you slander, and sometimes youre a hypocrite; though you have all these problems, God is still using you to build His church. The church is made up of imperfect people who serve a perfect God. We dont come to this church with halos over our heads. We dont come into this church walking on the clouds or walking on water. We come into this church, all of us, as fallen people redeemed by the grace of God. Were all clinker bricks, every last one of us. My clinks are different than your clinks, but we all clink if you hit us. During the Truth Project, we encountered a man by the name of Flash. Do you remember Flash, the tattoo artist? * Flash was an intriguing character to me. It seemed like Flash had quite a chip on his shoulder, and every time he talked about the church, you would notice he would get angry. Why is Flash so angry? I thought. Theres a story behind that. Focus on the Family chose-in their last installment-to highlight Flash, to zoom in on Flash and interview him to find out what made him tick. Were going to watch a little bit of that interview this morning. I will say this: during the interview, Flash swears four times. Two of the times, Focus on the Family edited them out; two of the times, they did not. He says the word hell twice. Hell is one of those words that is a word you can say, and its also a swear word, isnt it? If I say, The Devil is going to go to hell, thats an acceptable thing to say. If I hit my thumb with a hammer and say it, you would go, Ohhh! You shouldnt say that. Well, if you wonder why we dont edit it out, Focus on the Family chose not to edit it out, and we-because of copyright laws-cannot edit what they do not edit. Thats a violation of copyright laws, so we have to let it play the way it was said. So lets listen to Flash. Were not going to miss the forest for the trees, are we? Lets listen to this important message. Did you hear that? He had his mother who went to church, but then shed drink, shed burn him with cigarettes, shed beat him. He was one angry man. He went back to church, and what did they call him? Pagan. As soon as he found out what a pagan was, he said, I want no part of you. What were they saying? They were saying, Flash, youre not as good as we are. Flash, youre not as holy as we are. Youre not as righteous as we are. Youre not churchy like us was the word he used. We have to be careful that we convey to the world not an attitude of haughtiness-that were better than anybody-but an attitude of humility. That humility should say, You know what? Were the same as you except we know of a God who forgives our sins. When the Flash comes through our doors, or a girl Flash-Flashette-comes through our doors, that he or she feels welcome and loved. So, thats a clinker brick. A clinker brick is not a weakness like a learning disability. Thats not what were talking about. Were not talking about a disability such as blindness or deafness. Were so blessed to have Brenda this morning signing for us as a new ministry were beginning at our church. We hope that God will bless that. Were not talking about that. Were not talking about somebody who is unable to walk. Thats not a clinker brick. By clinker bricks, Im talking about our moral, ethical weaknesses, rotten attitudes, poor values and standards. Thats what Im talking about, things that we choose that dont honor God. We will struggle with our humanity until the day we die. Until the day you and I die, we will be clinker bricks. Now, we are not content with that. We dont say, Thats just the way I am. Im a clinker brick, big deal! No, Peter said, Rid yourself of these things. Dont be content with it. Try to rid yourself, but know you will struggle with your humanity until the day you die. What you will find is that people use these character defects to disqualify themselves from ministry. Now, if youre living an immoral lifestyle, thats a different thing; but if youre a fellow traveler who struggles with sin, wants to live a righteous life, but you trip on occasion, you fall and get mad and repent, you get back up and you keep on plugging on, youre a clinker brick. You will do that until the day you die. Were all in the same boat. You might struggle with temper; you might struggle with greed; you might struggle with lust; you might struggle with power; you might struggle with gossip; you can struggle with any number of things, but we all struggle. So what were going to do is were going to find a clinker brick in the Bible, and theyre full of them-I have plenty of illustrations there. Im also going to try to find somebody from church history who is doing the thing were talking about correctly. Then Im going to make that application to you. What youre going to find is that things youve used as an excuse or a hindrance, [times when] youve said, Well, I cant do ministry or I cant be effective for God because of this and that, those excuses are going to fall by the wayside. Youre going to realize that God has used people just like you in the past, and He wants to use you in the present in this church. So thats the concept. This is an easel I will literally be painting on during the services for the next four or five weeks. Youll find out that at the very end of the service why. I will literally be painting on that toward the end of the sermon today. Shall we hit our first brick? Lets turn to 1 Kings 18 (page 329 of pew Bibles). Were going to talk about Elijah. Before we discuss Elijah, I want to convey a story to you that will serve as a backdrop, a word picture, that we will play off of during this message today. About seven years ago, my family and I were returning from a vacation somewhere. Wed had a lot of fun. We were down south somewhere, and we were coming back up through Missouri and into southern Illinois. We stopped to eat. It was going to be our last pit stop before we made the final cruise home. Wed been driving and we decided, Lets not do any McDonalds or [other fast food]. Lets do a nice restaurant. I found a buffet sign. Of course, whenever I see a buffet sign, Thumbs up! Lets stop there! We stopped, and it was a spread. There were all kinds of dishes and desserts. It looked good, smelled good. We sat down and started to have fun. [We were] talking about the fun things we did. What was your favorite thing? What was funny? What goofy thing happened? [We were] just having a good time talking before we headed home. A woman comes into the restaurant who had a very imposing presence. She was a tall woman with a large frame. She was dressed entirely in black, from head to toe: a black blouse, black suit coat, black pants, and black shoes. She had on a big head of Dolly Parton hair; Im talking Dolly Parton from the 70s. Remember Dolly from Johnny Carson? You know-the big old bee hive? [Hers was like that but it was] jet black hair. It was like a bad Dolly Parton wig. [She had a] white face and came in and sat down at the table right across from us, so Im very close. Im pretty close. We start to eat, and she begins to glare at our family. I didnt say stare, glare! Shes not just looking at us, but looking at us with a hateful kind of look. I think maybe Im the only one who notices it, and I think maybe shes looking at me because every time I would look up, she would be scowling at me. We were hush-hush about it. We began feeling uncomfortable. You know how it is when somebody is looking at you. Have you ever had the feeling somebody is looking at you? You turn to look, and all the sudden they go (Pastor quickly turns his head) and look away. Theyd been looking at you. Or youll look at the back of somebodys head-now dont try this this morning-long enough, pretty soon they get fidgety and are like whats going on? Theres something that happens when somebody stares at you. Its this beyond the five senses kind of an E.S.P. sort of thing. Its just really different. You just know it. So we dont have to just sense it; we see this girl just glaring at us. Pretty soon, we start to mumble, Whats going on? Just eat your food, eat your food. Lets get out of here. We stop talking about our vacation. We stop having fun. We lose our appetite because this goes on for minutes, and shes relentless. Every time I look up, she is glaring. So our method of coping was to just look away, just ignore her; part of me wanted to say, Whats the problem? Why dont you like us? I dont know how to describe it other than it felt icky. It felt somewhat creepy because it was just a mean, hateful look. So our strategy was to look away except for one family member; we have one little family member who doesnt want to back down from a fight. So during the meal, I noticed my three-year-old was now engaged in a death lock, stare down, grudge match to the end with the lady in black. She stopped eating-she was about three-and shes giving it back. Shes not just looking; shes giving it back. I said, Lindsey, you need to eat. Without looking at me or anybody else, without looking at her food, without breaking a stare, she stared back at the black lady, and she said, That lady is looking at me! We said, Yes, Lindsey, just please look down and eat your food. Whys that lady looking at me? I looked at the lady, and shes staring back at Lindsey. I was like, Lets just eat our food and get out of here. Lets go. So when my wife-when she gets in these nervous situations-has a propensity to laugh. So shes feeling uncomfortable, and Im afraid shes going to start laughing. I thought, We have to get her out of here. So we finally all five of us get out the door, and as soon as were out of sight of the lady, we could almost feel her spirit as we left. We were all saying, Ahhh. What was that? That was just…. Ahhh! Ewww! We were just scared. We said, We have to pray for the lady in black. Somethings not right there. So we did. We prayed for the lady in black. We walked by a car that we didnt notice when we came in, but it was an older car that was full of trash, garbage and debris all the way to the windows in the back seat and the front passenger seat. I dont know, but likely it was her car. There werent many people there. Something wasnt right, so we prayed for her. We just felt like, Man, shes casting a spell on us. We prayed for ourselves too. The point I make in that story is…do not eat at buffets in southern Illinois. No, the point is what do you do when evil… and Im using this…I dont know her. I cant say shes evil, but work with me on this analogy here. What do you do when evil looks at you? Do you look back or do you look away? Do you face it and oppose it or do you run and hide? Do you leave? Do you hope it will just stop looking at you? Because in our lives, as believers, we encounter evil. What do you think God wants you to do? What does God want the believers to do when the believer encounters evil in society or in themselves? Look away? Or does He want us to, in fact, face it? Does He want us, in fact, to oppose it? Does he want us to, in fact, look it in the eye and say, Because of Jesus Christ, I am not afraid of you, and I will stand up to you? Elijah lived in a time when Israels history was corrupt. There were two people, a king named Ahab, who was written about and said to be the worst, most corrupt evil king Israel ever had to that point. Thats pretty bad. His wife was no better. She was a woman named Jezebel. To this day, if you encounter a woman who is somewhat snarley, you say, Shes a real Jezebel. Evil? That was Jezebel. So these two formed this unholy union, this evil marriage. It was not a good time to be an Israelite. They began to promote the worship of Baal, a pagan god, to which often human sacrifice would take place. [It was] an awful religion. They began to also worship Asherah and all these pagan gods and goddesses, and they erected temples to worship them. Nobody was doing anything to oppose them. In fact, the Israelites began leaving the faith of their forefathers and following after the gods of Baal. There was one man, and how many of you know if there is one man-and God is on your side, one man is enough? One man looked evil in the face and said, I am not going to run; I am not going to turn away; and Im not going to hide. His name was Elijah. Elijah is going to confront Ahab. We find it in Verse 16 of 1 Kings 18 (page 350), So Obadiah… By the way Obadiah is one of the good guys. Jezebel is literally killing the prophets of the Lord-literally. So Obadiah who works in the palace, he starts to hide the prophets in caves. He saved the lives of 100 prophets, feeds them and gives them water. He is a good guy. Elijah says, Tell the king Im coming to meet him. Elijah is a wanted man because Elijah said to King Ahab, Because of your sin, God is going to bring a famine on the land. Hes going to close up the sky, and its not going to rain. But now, several years have gone by. The people have lived in drought. They are desperate and they are ready to listen to the message of Elijah. They wouldnt have listened before, but now that they are destitute, they are all ears. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, Is that you, you troubler of Israel? Hes blaming the problems of Israel on him. You need to have a heads up here. Whenever you oppose evil, do not be surprised and alarmed when evil says, Youre the problem. Evil will turn it right back on you and say, Youre the reason this has happened. Its your fault-not my fault. Evil will do that, and Ahab says, Youre the problem. Elijah has none of it. You know how they say all the water in the world wont sink a ship unless it gets on the inside? If you know something is a lie, dont believe it. Elijah doesnt believe it. He says, I have not made trouble for Israel, Elijah replied. But you and your fathers family have. You have abandoned the Lords commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebels table. In other words, she supports them. There is going to be a showdown. Israel gathers and Elijah says, How long will you waver between two opinions? Youre trying to follow Baal, and youre trying to follow God, and it doesnt work. If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow him. Heres the contest. Heres the stare down. Were going to put a sacrifice on the alter, and whosever God sends fire from Heaven and consumes the sacrifice, thats the true God who we worship. You guys go first. So Baals prophets sacrificed an animal, and they began to call on and pray to Baal to consume the sacrifice by fire. Nothing happens. Youve heard of trash talking? Elijah is the original trash talker. Hours go by, and nothing happens, so he says, Hey, maybe your god is sleeping. Maybe you need to wake him up. Maybe Baal is taking a nap and you need to shout his name louder. So they start shouting louder, Oh Baal! and theyre cutting themselves to show how desperate they are. Theyre bleeding all over the place and mutilating themselves. Nothing happens. Elijah says, Maybe your god is on a trip. Maybe hes on a vacation. Maybe he wont be back for a while. Hes just taunting them. Finally after hours in vain, they give up exhausted, exasperated. They are all bloody messes. Elijah says, My turn. No knife, no sword to cut himself, no screaming, he calmly looks up to Heaven, prays to the God of Heaven who sends fire from Heaven and consumes the sacrifice. By the way, before he prayed, he had water dumped on the sacrifice and formed a trench around it. The fire comes down and lights up even the water in the trench. Everybody says, The God of Elijah is the one true God. Lets worship Him! Then he has the prophets of Baal destroyed, as in killed. It was a different time, but hes going to rid the land of those who are opposed to the living God. So its an incredible victory for Elijah, miraculous manifestation of the Hand of God. Before we tell you what happens next, I want to share a little bit of history with you this morning. I want to tell you the story of a man by the name of Boniface. There are many Bonifaces in history. Several of them were popes, but this one was not the pope. This one was a missionary. He was a missionary to the country or the region of what is now Germany. When you think of Germany, you think of the currently modern society. When you think of World War II, thats not the Germany you are to think of. Youre to think of a Germany that lives in unorganized tribes of people. There is a pagan superstitious religion that is going on. Theyre worshipping other gods and goddesses. Theyre worshipping things like trees. In fact, most believe the reason why we as Christians have Christmas trees in our homes is because of Boniface. The tree was used in pagan worship. Were going to find that out in just a little bit. Boniface said, How can I communicate the Gospel to these pagans? Ill use their stuff. Ill use their symbols. So he noticed the fur tree was triangular in shape, so Boniface began to talk about the trinity and teach the people of Germany the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He began hanging the trees upside down in his home, and he would use the tree-not for worship-but to explain the Lord. Thats why we can trace Christmas trees back to Germany, and really it goes back to Boniface. This is a guy who has influenced your life, and you didnt even know about it. Boniface could have lived a life of comfort and splendor in England. He was climbing the hierarchy within the church at a fast rate. He was offered prestigious jobs, and he said, I dont want that. I want to go where the Gospel is not being preached. He wanted to be sent to Germany. So he goes to Germany with two helpers and starts his ministry. He earns the favor of the pope and favor of a local duke. He has both civil authority and spiritual authority. He starts to learn the culture of people, and he finds out that they worship the god Thor, the god of thunder. If you read Marvel Comics, hes often portrayed as long-haired, blue eyed, Swedish-looking guy with a hammer…Thor. Well, they literally see Thor-not as a comic book character, Thor as a real guy. Thor is the god of thunder, and hes not somebody to mess with. Thor owns a tree, literally, in Germany. It is the giant, ancient oak that they call the Tree of Thor. When they wanted to worship Thor, they would come to the tree and offer sacrifices and gifts to the god of thunder, so lightening wouldnt strike their home, so they wouldnt be killed in a storm. [Theyd ask that] he will be kind to them, that therell be gentle rains instead of thunder and lightening. If theres a god you dont want to mess with, you dont want to mess with Thor. That tree, literally, in their minds belonged to Thor, so Boniface has this idea. He challenges Thor, just like Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and gods of Baal. The gods of Baal werent real-they were Satan in disguise. There really was no Baal. There really is no Thor, but they think there is. He challenges Thor, and he says, I want you to meet me at Thors giant oak tomorrow, and Im going to take on the god of thunder. That draws a crowd. The townsfolk all show up to watch this show down. Boniface is there with an ax with his two friends. He says, Were going to see who the true god is. In the name of my God, the Lord Jesus Christ, I challenge Thor, the god of thunder. I will strike down his tree. The people are flabbergasted. The people are amazed as he takes his ax and begins to chop down the tree of Thor. No lightening, no thunder, the only clap you hear is the clap of the tree trunk breaking as it falls. People wait for lightening to strike Boniface dead, but nothing happens. Boniface stands over the fallen giant oak, and he says, In the name of the God whom I serve, youre going to hear an important message. They said, If your God is so powerful that He can defeat the god of thunder, were going to listen to what you have to say. And, Christianity came to Germany. Boniface is called the father or the apostle to Germany. He took that tree, and he used the wood to build a chapel for the Lord there in Germany. The church exists today on the spot where the giant oak of Thor once stood. It happened because one man chose not to look away. Superstition and fear looked him right in the eyes, and he said, Im not afraid. I will stand up to you. I will oppose you, and God used him in a great way. What happens in our lives many times? Hed gone through this Biblical time. He just opposed an evil king and his wife. He just stood up against 850 pagan high priests. He just finished a military conquest. He is mentally, spiritually, physically exhausted. You know when that happens to you, youre vulnerable. Are you aware of that? Whatever your clinker brick-nish is (I just invented that word), whatever your weakness or defect is, you become more vulnerable in that area when youre under stress, when youre tired. If its anger, anger is going to come out. If its drugs or alcohol, youre more likely to abuse at that time. If its lust, youre more likely to cheat on your spouse. If its greed, youre more likely to steal. If its lying, youre more likely to be deceitful when youre going through those periods. Elijah has shown himself to be this great man of God, but now the light comes on, and hes in a moment of vulnerability. We find out that Elijah is a clinker brick, just like you and me. He has some problems. In Verse 1 of Chapter 19, Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say… Please forgive me Elijah. Your God is the true God. Im so sorry I was wrong. Love Jez. No, she is livid. Shes ticked. He has killed her spiritual leaders, and she sends a message back. She says, May the gods deal with me. Be it ever so severely. If by this time tomorrow, I do not make your life like one of them. Im going to kill you. Now you would think that Elijah might say, Bring it on. I just faced 850 prophets, and I just faced your god. Im still kicking, so if you think you can defeat my God, bring it on, but hes tired and hes vulnerable. His defects, his weaknesses, manifest themselves. In Verse 3 it says, Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a days journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree… Im not sure what a broom tree was, but the area was very well swept (congregation barely laughing). Tough crowd. He sat down under it and prayed that he might die. I have had enough, Lord… Have you ever said that? I quit! He says, I am no better than my ancestors. Hes feeling inferior, [feeling] no self esteem. [Did] you know God wants you to have a good, healthy self-esteem? Im not talking about arrogance, haughtiness, but He says, Love your neighbor like you love yourself. God wants you to have a good image of yourself, and sin gives you a bad image of yourself. Sin makes you think poorly of yourself. It takes away your confidence. He knows what hes doing is wrong, and he says, Im no better than my ancestors. He lay down under the tree and fell asleep. Let me ask you a question. Did all of these things all of the sudden surface in Elijahs life for the first time? I dont believe that. I believe some of these things Elijah had struggled with his whole life and was struggling with even when he faced the prophets on Mount Carmel. Apparently he struggled with emotional depression. Apparently there were times when he even wanted to end his life. Some of you have been that destitute. Some of you have been so discouraged and so defeated that youre literally entertained thoughts of suicide. He wants to quit. Some of you have been tempted to quit or have quit when things became difficult. He struggles with doubt and fear. All of the sudden he things Jezebel can take his God. You have struggled with doubt and fear. You have struggled with low self-esteem, thinking youre not worthy, youre not valuable; youre not good enough-just like Elijah. You see, Elijah was a clinker brick, just like you and me. What Im going to do here is Im going to paint for you a little bit this morning. Im going to do this over the next four or five weeks, however long were in this series. Im going to paint a little bit each time on this portrait. You didnt know I had this talent, did you? Are you just surprised right now that I can paint this good? Do you like my picture? The blackness of this picture represents the sin thats in our lives. It represents the attitudes that oppose God. It represents how sometimes well tolerate evil in ourselves or in the world and say nothing and do nothing about it. This blackness is in all of our hearts and souls. It was in Elijahs as well. Let me ask you a couple of very pertinent questions. Number one, was Elijah a clinker brick? Did he have flaws and defects of character? Yeah. The second question: Did God still use Elijah? In a great way, God still used Elijah. Guess what? You are a clinker brick; you will always be a clinker brick, but God does not give up on you. God sees within you something of value and worth. Hes put within you passions, talents and gifts that He wants to use. Dont allow periods of doubt or fear or inferiority to rob you of what God wants to do with your life. Thats what this series is about. Lets pray together. Father, as we look on that canvas, we see sin represented through black. Its a reminder of the sin thats in all of our hearts and lives. None of us are righteous. We are only righteous this morning through You, through Jesus Christ. Lord, each of us struggle with sinful habits, attitudes, patterns, and behaviors. We will do so our whole lives, but you are not a God who has abandoned us or rejected us. You are a God who uses us in spite of those things. You use us to build Your church. Help those of us who struggle with these things to see that we have value in spite of them, that we will not be content with them; we will continue to work to rid ourselves of them as Peter said. We will know that You will use us, that You see something beautiful in us. That is why it can be said-while we were yet sinners- Christ died for us. We remember that now and celebrate that in this communion time. In Jesus name, Amen. * Flash was a man who was badly mistreated as a child by the church he went to and by his mom. His dad came to Christ through a woman who was named Millie. With Millie, Flash saw true Christianity, but she was the only one in his life that showed him that. He was burned by his mom with cigarettes and made to stay in seclusion a lot when his mom was not home. Millie showed him unconditional love while the church people made fun of him and in essence made him an outcast in a place where everyone was supposed to have been accepted