Humility: True Greatness
CJ Mahaney
Multnomah Publishers
"…Then the evil spirit goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first..." - Luke 11:26
I struggle with pride. Every time I seem to master it, it comes back with a vengeance.
There are two ways to fight pride, one is to thrash about and lop off every branch and twig and leaf as they sprout. The other is to preach the gospel to yourself, and to cultivate humility in the soil where pride wants to grow.
This is where CJ Mahaney's book comes in. It is not so much a treatise on pride, exposing it with surgeon-like precision, although he does do that in places, rather it is about cultivating humility. This is a key distinction to remember otherwise you will look for the book to do something that it isn't seeking to do. I took me a while to realise this!
The book is divided into three sections.
In the first section he makes us stand before God and shows us how foolish pride is, and how much God detests pride. For me one of the key statements in the book was the definition that pride is contending for supremacy with God. This strikes like an arrow to the heart when you use it, as Mahaney suggests, instead of "Lord, forgive my pride", "Lord, I was contending for supremacy with you, forgive me."
In the second section on greatness, he looks at how true greatness is seen in the servant Saviour. It is here that Mahaney displays what he has shown in his other books, that the answer to our problems is to keep Jesus Christ central. We need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily.
It is however the third section that receives the most attention. Here Mahaney gets down to the nitty-gritty of practical humility. The list of suggestions range from the theological (Reflect on the wonder of the cross), to the practical (Begin your day acknowledging your need for God) to the humorous (Play golf and laugh a lot).
He has suggestions for how to begin each day, and how to end each day. One of the most challenging for me was under the heading of "Avoid Cosmic Plagiarism". In it he urges that we give God the glory for success in our lives, and throughout the day intentionally 'transfer' all glory to him.
The pursuit of humility isn't a solo effort. In fact it best grows when we water other people's plants! In other words, seek to identify and encourage graces in others. Mahaney rightly suggests that this is something we don't do enough of, within the church, within marriages, and within families.
As well as giving to others we need to receive from others, specifically, humility grows in the soil of correction. Mahaney quotes Paul Tripp, "Our own self perception is like a carnival mirror," therefore we need to invite and welcome the input of others.
These two chapters are key because they highlight a much-needed lesson that Christianity isn't a solo effort. It is a community effort. Professor Donnelly has said, "The word 'saint' does not occur anywhere in the New Testament in the singular. It is always in the plural." We have privatised our Christianity too much, and Mahaney's book is a helpful corrective because it sets this grace in the context of the church.
The two closing chapters deal with responding to trials and passing humility on to our children. This final chapter is first-class. In it Mahaney gives powerful counter-cultural lessons in teaching children what true greatness is. As a father this was something I had never thought of before as being a specific goal, and Mahaney's suggestions were timely and useful.
Mahaney strikes you as a man who writes only what he himself has found useful. These are his own practices, tried and tested by one who journeys on the road to humility. However it is more than just one man's ideas, throughout the book Mahaney grounds what he says in scripture.
Although the book is relatively short, and very easy to read, yet it will take time to read, and re-read. And it will bring profit and beauty to your Christian walk.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Food for thought - The Safest Place?
I remember once seeing a set of statistics:
I always thought they had a point. But now I'm not so sure…
Someone said to me the other day, "Surely it's better that a person is in church on a Sunday than doing something else." You may be surprised to hear that I disagreed with them! To sit in church and hear the gospel is a great thing. It's the best place to be; there you hear the great news that God has provided a way for people to be forgiven for all the wrong they have done. But it could also be an incredibly dangerous place.
It can be dangerous when the gospel isn't preached. Sometimes you can go to church and hear nothing but a watery story with a moral tagged on at the end. What use is that to people who stand on the brink of eternity? Will they thank the preacher as they suffer the agonies of God's wrath? Such a preacher is like a vandal who removes STOP signs from a busy junction.
Some preachers will tell you that if you do enough good then God will be satisfied. That's even worse. Because of them, millions of people are heading down the road to Hell whilst thinking that they are on the road to Heaven. Such a preacher is like a vandal who covers or smashes the emergency escape signs in a building.
Church can be dangerous for another reason. Suppose the preacher does tell you faithfully that you have a problem before God. Suppose he then points out the solution that God has provided at immense personal cost. Suppose that you sit there week after week and do nothing about it. How do you imagine God feels towards you? Is he pleased to see you there? Is he pleased to see you turning your back again on the priceless sacrifice of his dear Son? He sent his Son to die so that you could be forgiven, and do you chose to ignore him?
I once told someone that if they were going to continue to ignore the message that they would be safer sitting in a pub. I meant it - think of Jesus' words to Korazin and Bethsaida in Matt 11:21-22
- Avoid travelling in cars, because they are responsible for 20% of all fatal accidents.
- Do not stay home, because 17% of all accidents occur in the home.
- Avoid walking because 14% of all accidents occur to pedestrians.
- Avoid travelling by air, rail, or water because, 16% of all accidents involve these forms of transportation.
- Only 0.001% of all deaths occur in church, and these are usually related to previous physical disorders.
I always thought they had a point. But now I'm not so sure…
Someone said to me the other day, "Surely it's better that a person is in church on a Sunday than doing something else." You may be surprised to hear that I disagreed with them! To sit in church and hear the gospel is a great thing. It's the best place to be; there you hear the great news that God has provided a way for people to be forgiven for all the wrong they have done. But it could also be an incredibly dangerous place.
It can be dangerous when the gospel isn't preached. Sometimes you can go to church and hear nothing but a watery story with a moral tagged on at the end. What use is that to people who stand on the brink of eternity? Will they thank the preacher as they suffer the agonies of God's wrath? Such a preacher is like a vandal who removes STOP signs from a busy junction.
Some preachers will tell you that if you do enough good then God will be satisfied. That's even worse. Because of them, millions of people are heading down the road to Hell whilst thinking that they are on the road to Heaven. Such a preacher is like a vandal who covers or smashes the emergency escape signs in a building.
Church can be dangerous for another reason. Suppose the preacher does tell you faithfully that you have a problem before God. Suppose he then points out the solution that God has provided at immense personal cost. Suppose that you sit there week after week and do nothing about it. How do you imagine God feels towards you? Is he pleased to see you there? Is he pleased to see you turning your back again on the priceless sacrifice of his dear Son? He sent his Son to die so that you could be forgiven, and do you chose to ignore him?
I once told someone that if they were going to continue to ignore the message that they would be safer sitting in a pub. I meant it - think of Jesus' words to Korazin and Bethsaida in Matt 11:21-22
21 "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.More bearable for homosexual rapists and child molesters than for those who sat in synagogue and heard about the Messiah - Church can be a dangerous place!
22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
23 And you, Capernaum... But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Sabbath Sermon - My God will meet all your needs - 2 Kings 4:1-7
Have you ever felt "I just can't go on"? Or "I just can't see any way out of this"? Perhaps things have got so far out of hand, so badly messed up that you can't see any light at the end of the tunnel.
And you feel that you just don't have what it takes to get through it.
Or perhaps as you look at issues you have to contend with in your life, sickness, pain, poor health, you feel "I just don't have enough, Lord, I'm running out of strength and energy."
Or perhaps you're facing temptation, or fiery darts from Satan, fears that just keep coming and coming, and you feel, "I just can't cope with this any more."
Or perhaps you look at loved ones or colleagues or neighbours who aren't yet converted and you look at yourself and you think, "I don't have what it takes to communicate what I want to communicate with these people."
Or a slightly different problem, you look at your past, all the sins and all the judgment that you know that you have accumulated, and you feel Satan accusing you, and you wonder "Can my debts be cleared?"
2 Kings 4:1-7 has much to say to us
Being a Christian does not exempt you from trouble
A distraught lady 2800 years ago felt many of those things. A few months previously her husband had died. They hadn't been that well off anyway, he had been a prophet, and who pays prophets in a country where the king and queen are dead set against the true religion? Not only was she bereaved, but also destitute. It was bad enough to be a widow, to have lost her husband, but the main breadwinner was gone, and there were debts, and the creditor was closing in.
It looks as if he had already been and cleared the house out, and sold what he could to reclaim his finances, but it wasn't enough, and now he comes to take her two sons, and they would work for him for a minimum wage for years until the debt was cleared. And this woman is at the end of her tether. Where does she go? Whom does she turn to? Where is God when his people are in trouble?
Because God's people do get in trouble. They are not exempt from trials and difficulties. And often what makes it worse is that they are God's people. Here is a man who had stood against the Baal worship of his neighbours, who had given his life to proclaiming an unpopular message. And yet now, his wife and sons face disaster. Surely if there is to be merit in following God, then God's people should be exempt from difficulties.
And yet don't we often see the opposite - a Christian lady finds herself widowed, not once but twice. A man who has been serving Christ faithfully finds that his job falls apart around him, and he loses everything. Or a Christian mum who had cancer and two months after the all clear had been given, the cancer has returned and it's inoperable. Or the elder in the church who is struck by a mystery disease that leaves him virtually paralysed.
Bearing this in mind will help us - sickness may come, financial troubles may come, farming troubles may come. Temptation will certainly come, struggles in our faith will come. God's people are not exempt. Jesus himself said, "In this world you will have trouble" (John 16:33). Paul had his thorn in the flesh. Being a Christian isn't a get out of jail free card for illness or difficulties. What is happening to us is exactly what God said would happen. But how are we to respond?
"Fix the problem not the blame"
How do we respond?
Sean Connery in the film, "Rising Sun" turns to a colleague and says, "Fix the problem, not the blame."
This widow doesn't blame God. She doesn't shake her fist angrily at Heaven - and say, "We served you faithfully for years, and now look what you've done to us. What did we do to deserve this?"
Often as Christians we can be filled with the "Poor me" complex. We feel justified in being swallowed up by self-pity. "After all I've done, why is this happening to me?" - As if somehow we have earned the right to a trouble free existence. And yet when we do that we miss out on an opportunity to see God supply all our needs.
This widow shows us how to react: In her desperation she is faithful. This widow seeks to fix the problem, rather than fixing the blame. She cries out to God - look at her cry in v1 "The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."
She brings her problem to God. And look at v2, at the response of God's prophet, "How can I help you, tell me …" You can hear his eagerness to help. And here is the wonderful privilege of the Christian set out for us. And it is only the Christian that it belongs too. Look back a few verses earlier in Ch 3 to v13-14. Here is Elisha is approached for help by a man who has denied God, and wanted nothing to do with God. See Elisha's scathing response on God's behalf. Not everyone has this privilege of bringing their problems to God, and knowing that they will be heard and answered.
But the believer has. Are you a Christian this morning? You have an access that no-one else has. You have a blood-bought access into the throne room of Heaven. Perhaps this morning some of you aren't Christians - you have no access. No blood has paid for your prayers to be heard. Christ's death hasn't opened up a new and living way into the Most Holy Place for you. When you pray, God is not obliged to hear. When you pray in trouble, God is not obligated to answer, when you pray for your children you have no reason to expect an answer. When you are at the end of your tether like Joram in the previous chapter, God is not compelled to do anything. Unless you are asking God for salvation, that is the only prayer of the unbeliever that he has bound himself to answer.
But the believer has instant access 24 hours a day into the throne room of God. And its not on some sort of sliding scale - the longer you are a Christian the more access you have. The newest believer has the same rights, privilege and access as the oldest saint. And you have no more access in Heaven than you have here. Rom 5:1,2. We may have troubles, but we have a friend to take them to.
Do you use it? Or do you store up resentment that poisons our relationship with God that steals the joy that can be ours? Perhaps resentment is too strong, but do you feel hurt that God has somehow disappointed you? We need to repent of such responses, and turn to God in prayer. But perhaps you wonder whether God is really interested in someone as insignificant as you.
God is concerned about the lives of each of his people
The world we live in is so full of personalities - people famous for being rich, being smart, being sporty, people famous for being famous. And nobody else gets a look-in. And sometimes the Christian can be tempted to think the same way. They look at famous Christian writers, or famous Christian ministers, or even just their own minister, or some other Christians around them whom they see as much stronger and a much better Christian than they are and then they look at themselves and they think, "Well God couldn't be interested in me."
For 8 chapters since 1 Kings 18 its all been about kings, and the man of God confronting kings, or wars, or cities, or politics. Where God has been working it has been very public, and a great display of might. Yet here in this incident and in those which follow we see God at work in the home, very personally and privately. We see his tender care for his people. When they are hurting, he notices. He is not just the God who deals with kings and armies, but the God who deals with hurting widows, where the practical details of life have overwhelmed and swamped them. Her name isn't even mentioned - she is a nameless widow, someone that would have gone unnoticed in the villages of Israel, certainly not anyone that would be talked about around the king's table.
But yet around the table of the great King of Heaven, her name is known, and her request is heard, and it is talked about there. Your God cares. Your God is interested. Not only do you have access, but as you come into the throne room of the King of Kings he sits there as heavenly father. He sits with a tender heart and a sympathetic ear. And while kings and presidents may be waging wars and fighting election campaigns He is interested in what is troubling you. And in this chapter we have a picture, in Elisha, of a God who is near to his people when they are in their problems.
Child of God, you have no right, no reason to feel that God is anything less than 100% intensely and personally interested in you and in the details of your life.
God seeks to strengthen the faith of his people
This woman is at the utter end of her resources. She has nothing left. When we are in debt, nothing that we own is ours until the debt is cleared. Nothing you have is yours except what remains after debts are paid. To have the wherewithal to pay, and yet not pay, is theft.
Elisha knows this, and so he asks this woman, "What do you have in the house?"
She has nothing. I suspect the creditor has already come to the house, he has brought round the heavies, and he has cleared it out. Tables, chairs, everything is gone. They are left with the clothes they stand in, and one little jar of olive oil. You can almost picture her as the men clear out the house, holding the jar out to the men, and saying, "Here you forgot this," and they turn and look, and pause and say, "What would we want that for, that's no use to us."
She has nothing.
But God doesn't just wave a magic wand and make her problems disappear. Because God is in control of our lives, including the trials. It's not as if the trials catch God unawares and he comes along to tidy up the mess. No he orders the difficulties because he is teaching us, and shaping us, and sanctifying us. And he has a purpose in this trial for this widow. He is seeking to strengthen her faith. And so Elisha sends her out to gather up from her neighbours every jar, barrel, bottle, basin, that she can find. He tells her to get as many as she can.
What faith! What obedience! She is facing the most traumatic day of her life, her two sons are about to be taken from her, and Elisha sends her out on a bottle hunt. And she goes.
And she takes her sons and they gather every jar and bottle they can find. And as she will find out, it is in proportion to her faith that God will bless her. If she had only gathered a few jars, her reward would have been small. And so Elisha tells her to gather not a few. In her trial her faith has been tested already in the trying circumstances. And now it is about to be tested again in the answer to her problem. And that often happens to us. We have to hang in there through a trial, and we are tempted to give up, but we hang in there. And then we find that the solution requires us to put our faith even more in God. As in this case when we can't see how things will turn out. And we are required to hang in through difficult times and times when we can't see how obeying God will actually provide an answer.
Times when we don't feel like obeying…
And it is in these cases that God provides for out need, and in doing so strengthens our faith.
We mustn't be like some preachers who do this woman a disservice. In v 6 she calls to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. Some preachers claim that she lacked faith, that she hadn't gathered enough jars. But there is no hint of that in the passage. In fact v7 makes it clear that She had gathered an ample amount of jars to supply oil to clear her debts and provide income to live on.
She has obeyed in faith. Will you keep on obeying in faith? Whatever problems you are facing have come to you from the hand of a loving father who is seeking to do what you need - to strengthen your faith. The very act of obeying him and trusting him and keeping doing that even when you can't see how this will actually help your circumstances is what God is looking for. Whatever circumstances you are in God is seeking to stimulate your faith. And so there is little point in complaining or wondering what God is doing - this is what he is invariably doing. And her faith was tested before the miracle - she couldn't sit back and wait for God to work. She was to exercise her faith. And according to her faith it was done to her. (Matt 9:29)
You obey and trust, and leave the circumstances in his hands.
God displays his overflowing kindness in supplying the needs of his people
And the widow and her sons return to the house after visiting every home in the neighbourhood, they go in and shut the door - and we see that God works miracles in places where no-one else sees, only the people directly involved. He doesn't always go in for the big display. And all the bottles and jars and pottery are spread out over the floor, and she takes her little jar of olive oil, and she says to her son, "hand me a jar," and the son hands her one and she pours the oil into it - there's nothing amazing about that.
But then she says, "hand me another one" and he does so, and she pours again, and you can see the eyes of the three people standing in that room widening and their jaws dropping, and that jar is full, and the first son is reaching as quick as he can for another jar, and the second son is reaching for the full one. And the mother is taking the next jar and they all watch as she tips up their own bottle a third time and still it pours. And a fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh. And on an on and on it goes.
And in that little home, you can imagine them nearly weeping with joy as they realise the wonderful truth of God's abundant kindness and love to his people. You can picture them as the last bottle is handed over and the son reaches round for another bottle only to find that there is none there, and as he turns back the oil has stopped flowing just as the bottle is filled and they know that it isn't magic, they know that it is a mighty miracle done by God. And you can picture them standing in silent adoration before their God, quietly delighting in the power and the goodness and the love and the mercy and the kindness of their God.
Because God is a God who does provide. He filled all there was to fill. His grace is sufficient for all your circumstances.
Elisha gives the widow three commands - Sell, pay, and live. God grace has not only cleared her debt, but he has given her enough to live on. God doesn't just see the immediate emergency, but he sees also the ongoing need. And that is part of the reason that he brings us through difficulties is so that we are equipped for the future. This is God's way, not just to meet the present need, but the ongoing need.
Whatever situation you find yourself in - this widow comes to you and says, "He provides, My God is able to supply all your needs."
And beside her comes the lady in the next section, and she stands with her son in her arms and says, My God is able to supply all your needs. And walking from school of the prophets comes the man from Baal-Shalisha at the end of the chapter and he says the same. And there comes the vast hoard of all the Children of Israel who had manna supplied, and who drank water from a rock. And here comes the Daniel, "My God provided an angel to shut the mouths of the lions." And here comes Esther, and she takes her place, "Yes he does supply all your needs." And there is Hannah, poor broken hearted Hannah, now standing with Samuel, and Sarah with Isaac, and Rachel with Joseph - My God is able to supply ALL your needs. And here is Jairus. And the crowd of 5000 men, and the crowd of 4000 men from Samaria, and with a mighty chorus they look you in the eye and say, "Our God is able to supply all your needs." And here is Peter walking in to the line from Herod's prison and he raises his voice and calls to you across the centuries, "My God is able to supply all your needs."
And a man in chains comes and stands beside them. He's still in prison and will never be released and he says, "I wrote those words in prison because I found that whatever circumstances I was in 'My God was able to supply all my needs."
And we could add to that the vast countless millions of God's people down through the centuries who have found that God's kindness overflows to his people. God doesn't save his people and then leave them to get by.
That which frees from debt also enables her to live.
And the same is true for us. The Gospel is what frees us from debt but here is what many Christians forget - they forget that the gospel is what enables them to live. And we need to remind ourselves of the gospel each day. It encourages us. It frees us from legalism. It helps us to pray. It gives us a sense of value. It helps us when we are struggling with sin. What God has provided to clear our debt also helps us to get through each day in a way that brings glory to God.
My God is able to supply all your needs. At the cross Jesus Christ purchased everything you would need to live your life here on this earth. You don't have to earn it. You have a father who loves to abundantly supply the needs of his desperate people.
And there is no situation that God's goodness and power aren't able to supply. God's goodness to this widow only stopped when the jars ran out. God has more to give than we can ever contain. So whatever trouble and situation you are in or find yourself in, I can look you confidently in the eye and say with Paul, and this widow, and that whole host of other people, "My God is able to supply all your needs."
A great picture of the Gospel
A woman in great debt. She is unable to discharge what she rightly owes. The law has come, and has taken away everything she owns, and still it isn't enough. Her debt is still standing. Eventually it comes to take away that which is most precious to her. Its like our debt to God. We can't clear it ourselves. If we gave everything we had, all the good we could do, it isn't enough. And that which is most precious is demanded of us - our life.
What hope is there for those of you who find yourself in this situation?
The same hope that this woman found - My God is able to supply all your needs.
Go to God, and ask him to clear the debt that you can't clear. Because if you don't then he will make you pay for all eternity.
If you do go to him and ask that He pay the price that you owe, He will pay it. And not only will he clear the debt, but he will set you free from the power of sin. And you will be freer than you have ever been in your whole life. And like this women and her sons, you will delight in the goodness and mercy and abundant kindness of God.
And you feel that you just don't have what it takes to get through it.
Or perhaps as you look at issues you have to contend with in your life, sickness, pain, poor health, you feel "I just don't have enough, Lord, I'm running out of strength and energy."
Or perhaps you're facing temptation, or fiery darts from Satan, fears that just keep coming and coming, and you feel, "I just can't cope with this any more."
Or perhaps you look at loved ones or colleagues or neighbours who aren't yet converted and you look at yourself and you think, "I don't have what it takes to communicate what I want to communicate with these people."
Or a slightly different problem, you look at your past, all the sins and all the judgment that you know that you have accumulated, and you feel Satan accusing you, and you wonder "Can my debts be cleared?"
2 Kings 4:1-7 has much to say to us
Being a Christian does not exempt you from trouble
A distraught lady 2800 years ago felt many of those things. A few months previously her husband had died. They hadn't been that well off anyway, he had been a prophet, and who pays prophets in a country where the king and queen are dead set against the true religion? Not only was she bereaved, but also destitute. It was bad enough to be a widow, to have lost her husband, but the main breadwinner was gone, and there were debts, and the creditor was closing in.
It looks as if he had already been and cleared the house out, and sold what he could to reclaim his finances, but it wasn't enough, and now he comes to take her two sons, and they would work for him for a minimum wage for years until the debt was cleared. And this woman is at the end of her tether. Where does she go? Whom does she turn to? Where is God when his people are in trouble?
Because God's people do get in trouble. They are not exempt from trials and difficulties. And often what makes it worse is that they are God's people. Here is a man who had stood against the Baal worship of his neighbours, who had given his life to proclaiming an unpopular message. And yet now, his wife and sons face disaster. Surely if there is to be merit in following God, then God's people should be exempt from difficulties.
And yet don't we often see the opposite - a Christian lady finds herself widowed, not once but twice. A man who has been serving Christ faithfully finds that his job falls apart around him, and he loses everything. Or a Christian mum who had cancer and two months after the all clear had been given, the cancer has returned and it's inoperable. Or the elder in the church who is struck by a mystery disease that leaves him virtually paralysed.
Bearing this in mind will help us - sickness may come, financial troubles may come, farming troubles may come. Temptation will certainly come, struggles in our faith will come. God's people are not exempt. Jesus himself said, "In this world you will have trouble" (John 16:33). Paul had his thorn in the flesh. Being a Christian isn't a get out of jail free card for illness or difficulties. What is happening to us is exactly what God said would happen. But how are we to respond?
"Fix the problem not the blame"
How do we respond?
Sean Connery in the film, "Rising Sun" turns to a colleague and says, "Fix the problem, not the blame."
This widow doesn't blame God. She doesn't shake her fist angrily at Heaven - and say, "We served you faithfully for years, and now look what you've done to us. What did we do to deserve this?"
Often as Christians we can be filled with the "Poor me" complex. We feel justified in being swallowed up by self-pity. "After all I've done, why is this happening to me?" - As if somehow we have earned the right to a trouble free existence. And yet when we do that we miss out on an opportunity to see God supply all our needs.
This widow shows us how to react: In her desperation she is faithful. This widow seeks to fix the problem, rather than fixing the blame. She cries out to God - look at her cry in v1 "The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."
She brings her problem to God. And look at v2, at the response of God's prophet, "How can I help you, tell me …" You can hear his eagerness to help. And here is the wonderful privilege of the Christian set out for us. And it is only the Christian that it belongs too. Look back a few verses earlier in Ch 3 to v13-14. Here is Elisha is approached for help by a man who has denied God, and wanted nothing to do with God. See Elisha's scathing response on God's behalf. Not everyone has this privilege of bringing their problems to God, and knowing that they will be heard and answered.
But the believer has. Are you a Christian this morning? You have an access that no-one else has. You have a blood-bought access into the throne room of Heaven. Perhaps this morning some of you aren't Christians - you have no access. No blood has paid for your prayers to be heard. Christ's death hasn't opened up a new and living way into the Most Holy Place for you. When you pray, God is not obliged to hear. When you pray in trouble, God is not obligated to answer, when you pray for your children you have no reason to expect an answer. When you are at the end of your tether like Joram in the previous chapter, God is not compelled to do anything. Unless you are asking God for salvation, that is the only prayer of the unbeliever that he has bound himself to answer.
But the believer has instant access 24 hours a day into the throne room of God. And its not on some sort of sliding scale - the longer you are a Christian the more access you have. The newest believer has the same rights, privilege and access as the oldest saint. And you have no more access in Heaven than you have here. Rom 5:1,2. We may have troubles, but we have a friend to take them to.
Do you use it? Or do you store up resentment that poisons our relationship with God that steals the joy that can be ours? Perhaps resentment is too strong, but do you feel hurt that God has somehow disappointed you? We need to repent of such responses, and turn to God in prayer. But perhaps you wonder whether God is really interested in someone as insignificant as you.
God is concerned about the lives of each of his people
The world we live in is so full of personalities - people famous for being rich, being smart, being sporty, people famous for being famous. And nobody else gets a look-in. And sometimes the Christian can be tempted to think the same way. They look at famous Christian writers, or famous Christian ministers, or even just their own minister, or some other Christians around them whom they see as much stronger and a much better Christian than they are and then they look at themselves and they think, "Well God couldn't be interested in me."
For 8 chapters since 1 Kings 18 its all been about kings, and the man of God confronting kings, or wars, or cities, or politics. Where God has been working it has been very public, and a great display of might. Yet here in this incident and in those which follow we see God at work in the home, very personally and privately. We see his tender care for his people. When they are hurting, he notices. He is not just the God who deals with kings and armies, but the God who deals with hurting widows, where the practical details of life have overwhelmed and swamped them. Her name isn't even mentioned - she is a nameless widow, someone that would have gone unnoticed in the villages of Israel, certainly not anyone that would be talked about around the king's table.
But yet around the table of the great King of Heaven, her name is known, and her request is heard, and it is talked about there. Your God cares. Your God is interested. Not only do you have access, but as you come into the throne room of the King of Kings he sits there as heavenly father. He sits with a tender heart and a sympathetic ear. And while kings and presidents may be waging wars and fighting election campaigns He is interested in what is troubling you. And in this chapter we have a picture, in Elisha, of a God who is near to his people when they are in their problems.
Child of God, you have no right, no reason to feel that God is anything less than 100% intensely and personally interested in you and in the details of your life.
God seeks to strengthen the faith of his people
This woman is at the utter end of her resources. She has nothing left. When we are in debt, nothing that we own is ours until the debt is cleared. Nothing you have is yours except what remains after debts are paid. To have the wherewithal to pay, and yet not pay, is theft.
Elisha knows this, and so he asks this woman, "What do you have in the house?"
She has nothing. I suspect the creditor has already come to the house, he has brought round the heavies, and he has cleared it out. Tables, chairs, everything is gone. They are left with the clothes they stand in, and one little jar of olive oil. You can almost picture her as the men clear out the house, holding the jar out to the men, and saying, "Here you forgot this," and they turn and look, and pause and say, "What would we want that for, that's no use to us."
She has nothing.
But God doesn't just wave a magic wand and make her problems disappear. Because God is in control of our lives, including the trials. It's not as if the trials catch God unawares and he comes along to tidy up the mess. No he orders the difficulties because he is teaching us, and shaping us, and sanctifying us. And he has a purpose in this trial for this widow. He is seeking to strengthen her faith. And so Elisha sends her out to gather up from her neighbours every jar, barrel, bottle, basin, that she can find. He tells her to get as many as she can.
What faith! What obedience! She is facing the most traumatic day of her life, her two sons are about to be taken from her, and Elisha sends her out on a bottle hunt. And she goes.
And she takes her sons and they gather every jar and bottle they can find. And as she will find out, it is in proportion to her faith that God will bless her. If she had only gathered a few jars, her reward would have been small. And so Elisha tells her to gather not a few. In her trial her faith has been tested already in the trying circumstances. And now it is about to be tested again in the answer to her problem. And that often happens to us. We have to hang in there through a trial, and we are tempted to give up, but we hang in there. And then we find that the solution requires us to put our faith even more in God. As in this case when we can't see how things will turn out. And we are required to hang in through difficult times and times when we can't see how obeying God will actually provide an answer.
Times when we don't feel like obeying…
And it is in these cases that God provides for out need, and in doing so strengthens our faith.
We mustn't be like some preachers who do this woman a disservice. In v 6 she calls to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. Some preachers claim that she lacked faith, that she hadn't gathered enough jars. But there is no hint of that in the passage. In fact v7 makes it clear that She had gathered an ample amount of jars to supply oil to clear her debts and provide income to live on.
She has obeyed in faith. Will you keep on obeying in faith? Whatever problems you are facing have come to you from the hand of a loving father who is seeking to do what you need - to strengthen your faith. The very act of obeying him and trusting him and keeping doing that even when you can't see how this will actually help your circumstances is what God is looking for. Whatever circumstances you are in God is seeking to stimulate your faith. And so there is little point in complaining or wondering what God is doing - this is what he is invariably doing. And her faith was tested before the miracle - she couldn't sit back and wait for God to work. She was to exercise her faith. And according to her faith it was done to her. (Matt 9:29)
You obey and trust, and leave the circumstances in his hands.
God displays his overflowing kindness in supplying the needs of his people
And the widow and her sons return to the house after visiting every home in the neighbourhood, they go in and shut the door - and we see that God works miracles in places where no-one else sees, only the people directly involved. He doesn't always go in for the big display. And all the bottles and jars and pottery are spread out over the floor, and she takes her little jar of olive oil, and she says to her son, "hand me a jar," and the son hands her one and she pours the oil into it - there's nothing amazing about that.
But then she says, "hand me another one" and he does so, and she pours again, and you can see the eyes of the three people standing in that room widening and their jaws dropping, and that jar is full, and the first son is reaching as quick as he can for another jar, and the second son is reaching for the full one. And the mother is taking the next jar and they all watch as she tips up their own bottle a third time and still it pours. And a fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh. And on an on and on it goes.
And in that little home, you can imagine them nearly weeping with joy as they realise the wonderful truth of God's abundant kindness and love to his people. You can picture them as the last bottle is handed over and the son reaches round for another bottle only to find that there is none there, and as he turns back the oil has stopped flowing just as the bottle is filled and they know that it isn't magic, they know that it is a mighty miracle done by God. And you can picture them standing in silent adoration before their God, quietly delighting in the power and the goodness and the love and the mercy and the kindness of their God.
Because God is a God who does provide. He filled all there was to fill. His grace is sufficient for all your circumstances.
Elisha gives the widow three commands - Sell, pay, and live. God grace has not only cleared her debt, but he has given her enough to live on. God doesn't just see the immediate emergency, but he sees also the ongoing need. And that is part of the reason that he brings us through difficulties is so that we are equipped for the future. This is God's way, not just to meet the present need, but the ongoing need.
Whatever situation you find yourself in - this widow comes to you and says, "He provides, My God is able to supply all your needs."
And beside her comes the lady in the next section, and she stands with her son in her arms and says, My God is able to supply all your needs. And walking from school of the prophets comes the man from Baal-Shalisha at the end of the chapter and he says the same. And there comes the vast hoard of all the Children of Israel who had manna supplied, and who drank water from a rock. And here comes the Daniel, "My God provided an angel to shut the mouths of the lions." And here comes Esther, and she takes her place, "Yes he does supply all your needs." And there is Hannah, poor broken hearted Hannah, now standing with Samuel, and Sarah with Isaac, and Rachel with Joseph - My God is able to supply ALL your needs. And here is Jairus. And the crowd of 5000 men, and the crowd of 4000 men from Samaria, and with a mighty chorus they look you in the eye and say, "Our God is able to supply all your needs." And here is Peter walking in to the line from Herod's prison and he raises his voice and calls to you across the centuries, "My God is able to supply all your needs."
And a man in chains comes and stands beside them. He's still in prison and will never be released and he says, "I wrote those words in prison because I found that whatever circumstances I was in 'My God was able to supply all my needs."
And we could add to that the vast countless millions of God's people down through the centuries who have found that God's kindness overflows to his people. God doesn't save his people and then leave them to get by.
That which frees from debt also enables her to live.
And the same is true for us. The Gospel is what frees us from debt but here is what many Christians forget - they forget that the gospel is what enables them to live. And we need to remind ourselves of the gospel each day. It encourages us. It frees us from legalism. It helps us to pray. It gives us a sense of value. It helps us when we are struggling with sin. What God has provided to clear our debt also helps us to get through each day in a way that brings glory to God.
My God is able to supply all your needs. At the cross Jesus Christ purchased everything you would need to live your life here on this earth. You don't have to earn it. You have a father who loves to abundantly supply the needs of his desperate people.
And there is no situation that God's goodness and power aren't able to supply. God's goodness to this widow only stopped when the jars ran out. God has more to give than we can ever contain. So whatever trouble and situation you are in or find yourself in, I can look you confidently in the eye and say with Paul, and this widow, and that whole host of other people, "My God is able to supply all your needs."
A great picture of the Gospel
A woman in great debt. She is unable to discharge what she rightly owes. The law has come, and has taken away everything she owns, and still it isn't enough. Her debt is still standing. Eventually it comes to take away that which is most precious to her. Its like our debt to God. We can't clear it ourselves. If we gave everything we had, all the good we could do, it isn't enough. And that which is most precious is demanded of us - our life.
What hope is there for those of you who find yourself in this situation?
The same hope that this woman found - My God is able to supply all your needs.
Go to God, and ask him to clear the debt that you can't clear. Because if you don't then he will make you pay for all eternity.
If you do go to him and ask that He pay the price that you owe, He will pay it. And not only will he clear the debt, but he will set you free from the power of sin. And you will be freer than you have ever been in your whole life. And like this women and her sons, you will delight in the goodness and mercy and abundant kindness of God.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Thoughts on seeing Christ in all of Scripture
Last week I was preaching on 2 Kings 3. It's an easy passage to get a lot of moral lessons from, but what does it have to tell us about Jesus? I found myself scratching my head often.
I have a problem with how some preachers make the 'leap' from Old Testament narrative to Christ. A number of commentators say something like this about 2 Kings 3: "v20 tells us that God's provision was made about the time of the morning sacrifice. This speaks to us of Christ, where God provided what we needed at the time of the sacrifice."
I appreciate that the writer of 2 Kings tells us of the morning sacrifice for a reason, but I'm not convinced that this is how we best see Christ here. It often seems as if preachers scrabble around in the dust of the text for a key word that they can seize on and milk for all it is worth, for example, "red" - Rahab hung a red cord from her window", or as in this case "sacrifice". (Although admittedly 'sacrifice' is a much more substantial key word than 'red').
It always seems a bit random to me: a bit 'hit and hope', a bit 'pulling a rabbit from a hat'.
It seems like a man standing close to a large red brick wall, peering intently at the lines of mortar. You ask him what he is doing and he answers, "I'm looking for something red". And after a long search he points to a fragment of red grit, and exclaims, "If found it!". And yet all the while, all he had to do was step back and look at the whole wall of red bricks.
Consider 2 Kings 3. What is the chapter about? It's about three foolish and disobedient kings who get stuck in a desert without water. They cry out to God for help and he answers and graciously and miraculously gives them more than they ever ask for or imagine. It's a chapter that contrasts man's folly and the grace of God to undeserving sinners. The contrast is heightened by a fourth king who feels that the only way he can gain his god's attention is by sacrificing his son, whereas all the other three kings had to do was to come to God. It is about a gracious God who yoke is easy and whose burden is light.
The lostness of man without God, the folly of ignoring God, the heavy yoke of false religion, and the abundant grace of God to those who seek him - if that's not the gospel I don't know what is!
Sometimes it's not a matter of 'finding' Christ in the text, but of standing back and seeing the whole picture.
Of course I got all this figured out after I preached the sermon!
I have a problem with how some preachers make the 'leap' from Old Testament narrative to Christ. A number of commentators say something like this about 2 Kings 3: "v20 tells us that God's provision was made about the time of the morning sacrifice. This speaks to us of Christ, where God provided what we needed at the time of the sacrifice."
I appreciate that the writer of 2 Kings tells us of the morning sacrifice for a reason, but I'm not convinced that this is how we best see Christ here. It often seems as if preachers scrabble around in the dust of the text for a key word that they can seize on and milk for all it is worth, for example, "red" - Rahab hung a red cord from her window", or as in this case "sacrifice". (Although admittedly 'sacrifice' is a much more substantial key word than 'red').
It always seems a bit random to me: a bit 'hit and hope', a bit 'pulling a rabbit from a hat'.
It seems like a man standing close to a large red brick wall, peering intently at the lines of mortar. You ask him what he is doing and he answers, "I'm looking for something red". And after a long search he points to a fragment of red grit, and exclaims, "If found it!". And yet all the while, all he had to do was step back and look at the whole wall of red bricks.
Consider 2 Kings 3. What is the chapter about? It's about three foolish and disobedient kings who get stuck in a desert without water. They cry out to God for help and he answers and graciously and miraculously gives them more than they ever ask for or imagine. It's a chapter that contrasts man's folly and the grace of God to undeserving sinners. The contrast is heightened by a fourth king who feels that the only way he can gain his god's attention is by sacrificing his son, whereas all the other three kings had to do was to come to God. It is about a gracious God who yoke is easy and whose burden is light.
The lostness of man without God, the folly of ignoring God, the heavy yoke of false religion, and the abundant grace of God to those who seek him - if that's not the gospel I don't know what is!
Sometimes it's not a matter of 'finding' Christ in the text, but of standing back and seeing the whole picture.
Of course I got all this figured out after I preached the sermon!
Sunday, September 25, 2005
The severity of God at Bethel
(Looking at 2 Kings 2:23-25. Again - much owed to Stuart Olyott and Dale Ralph Davis)
God still punishes unrepentant sinners
Here is the miracle of the cursing of delinquent children. And the purpose of this passage is to teach us that God's wrath is just as real as his grace. The unchanging God who is good is also severe.
Elisha leaves Jericho and travels to Bethel. Now Bethel is almost the exact opposite of Jericho. Bethel is a place with a great history. This is where Jacob lay down to sleep and he had the dream with the ladder with angels ascending and descending, and he awoke and said, "Surely God was in this place and I knew it not." He called it Bethel, meaning house of God. It was the place where God had given his people a great victory in the days of the Judges. Samuel visited Bethel in his preaching circuit.
It was a place that had known blessing from God, whereas Jericho had known God's curse. And where we saw God bringing forth blessing in the city of the curse, now we see God bringing a curse in the city of blessing.
Straight away we see that we must never think that God's blessing and grace clings to a particular place, or a particular congregation or family. The place of blessing can become a place that provokes the wrath of God. God's house can become a house of wrath.
In fact in the intervening years Bethel had actually become a place of idol worship. In two generations it went from being the House of God, to what Hosea calls Bethaven, The house of Wickedness.
Elisha travels to this town, and news of what had happened in Jericho surely travelled before him. Certainly news of Elijah's going to Heaven had reached the town - that's why the children cry out, "Go up!". But such is the town of Bethel, that before he has even made it inside the city walls, a crowd of young boys come out to him.
Now the NIV says youths, and that conjures up ideas of 18-25 year old louts. The KJV has 'little children' - and that gives ideas of 5-6 year olds. Neither gives the right impression. NKJV - young lads - You'll not be far off if you think of 8-14 year olds - really, little youths. Boys, not teenage thugs.
And as Elisha is approaching the town they spy him and go out to meet him. Note they went out of the town - they had to go out of their way to mock the man of God. This wasn't the case of Elisha walking down the High Street and a few of the town wags having a bit of a laugh. They saw him and left to harass the man of God. And it's a sizeable crowd - because look at v24, 42 of them were mauled. Those words, "of them" are significant. More than 42 children were involved.
And it is not a childish prank. They weren't just calling him "Baldy". They were shouting "Go up, Go up". They were telling him to do what Elijah had done. Get up to Heaven, you baldy man. GO on get out of Bethel and go up, go up to Heaven. They were mocking the things of God, and they were mocking God and they were mocking the man of God.
You might be thinking "That sounds a bit advanced for 10, 11 year olds to be thinking". And you might be right - but where do children learn things that are beyond their years? How often have you heard a child express an adult opinion, and where has he heard that adult opinion? In the home. Have you ever noticed this happen, much to the embarrassment of parents? Children repeating swear words and its obvious where it has come from? Where do loyalist children in the north learn their hatred?
And you can be sure that in the homes of Bethel in the days before, there were parents talking over the dinner table, and they were talking about Elijah, and the rumours of the fiery chariots, and they were wishing him good riddance, were talking about Elisha - baldy so and so, and the school of the prophets in Bethel, and they knew Elisha would be visiting the prophets - and they wanted nothing to do with the baldy old goat, and if he would just get away on up like his master that would suit everyone nicely.
And at the table were little ears drinking it all in - the distain and disregard of the parents for the man of God and for the things of God. That's the way mummy and daddy think, so that must be the way to think.
When children snigger and sneer at holy things, that is because they have learnt it at home. And when children hold the things of God and the prophet of God in contempt, then we have reached an all time low. And children don't get there until their parents get there.
So here is a warning for parents. Your attitude to the things of God, to God's word, and to God's house, and to God's day, and to God's people, and to God's ministers will hugely influence your children. Some of you aren't parents, some of you have children who are grown up, but nevertheless there are still children who see you at church each week. And you set them an example either for good or for bad.
What happens next? Look at v24.
Note carefully this is no act of a petty petulant man, who has had his pride wounded by some likeable but high-spirited children. If this had been a rash act of revenge, then the LORD would not have confirmed Elisha's words by sending the bears. God is under no obligation. And Elisha can't command bears. This is the punishment of a righteous judge.
And God had warned the people that if they forsook his covenant, if they abandoned him, then this would happen. In Lev 26 God states the blessings that follow when his people walk in his ways. But he also states what happens when his people will forsake his ways.
Because God will not be mocked. He says in Gal 6:7
"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."
And God will not allow his messengers to be mocked either. Matthew 10:40 "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me.
How do you think the parents felt? Those boys had only spoken what they had heard their mum and dad say, those boys only had attitudes and beliefs that their parents had had.
Their children had paid the penalty because of the godless lives of their parents. Make no mistake - it was the children's sin, but they wouldn't have been in that terrible condition if their parents had been different. Their parents had broken the covenant, and God was faithful to his word. At each baptism we recognise the covenant that God makes with believers and their families, that covenant carries great promises for those parents who are faithful, but it also carries terrible promises for those who squander the blessings available to their children, who fail to bring them up in the ways of God.
And I say this in love, if some of you have children that are not interested in the things of God, or who despise the things of God, it may be the case that you need to seek forgiveness from God for the signals they have picked up from you. I say signals, because you can go to church, but children aren't stupid, they can see whether or not this Christianity is a living breathing reality for mummy and daddy.
And God's promises of judgment are real. He is slow to anger, but he will display that anger. He is not some unhearing unseeing god like the Baals. He notes, he sees. And those who breaks God's rules will find not the God is gracious, but that he is severe. He will not let the guilty go unpunished. And across the centuries comes this warning voice - "Be not deceived, God is not mocked."
Because God is a God who is severe with unrepentant sinners.
Conclusion
So what have we seen?
We have seen that those who live and displease God, in which God will show that he is severe.
Or like those who lived in Jericho, they can repent and turn to God, in which case they will discover that God is a God who delights to show grace and mercy.
Behold the goodness and severity of God.
God still punishes unrepentant sinners
Here is the miracle of the cursing of delinquent children. And the purpose of this passage is to teach us that God's wrath is just as real as his grace. The unchanging God who is good is also severe.
Elisha leaves Jericho and travels to Bethel. Now Bethel is almost the exact opposite of Jericho. Bethel is a place with a great history. This is where Jacob lay down to sleep and he had the dream with the ladder with angels ascending and descending, and he awoke and said, "Surely God was in this place and I knew it not." He called it Bethel, meaning house of God. It was the place where God had given his people a great victory in the days of the Judges. Samuel visited Bethel in his preaching circuit.
It was a place that had known blessing from God, whereas Jericho had known God's curse. And where we saw God bringing forth blessing in the city of the curse, now we see God bringing a curse in the city of blessing.
Straight away we see that we must never think that God's blessing and grace clings to a particular place, or a particular congregation or family. The place of blessing can become a place that provokes the wrath of God. God's house can become a house of wrath.
In fact in the intervening years Bethel had actually become a place of idol worship. In two generations it went from being the House of God, to what Hosea calls Bethaven, The house of Wickedness.
Elisha travels to this town, and news of what had happened in Jericho surely travelled before him. Certainly news of Elijah's going to Heaven had reached the town - that's why the children cry out, "Go up!". But such is the town of Bethel, that before he has even made it inside the city walls, a crowd of young boys come out to him.
Now the NIV says youths, and that conjures up ideas of 18-25 year old louts. The KJV has 'little children' - and that gives ideas of 5-6 year olds. Neither gives the right impression. NKJV - young lads - You'll not be far off if you think of 8-14 year olds - really, little youths. Boys, not teenage thugs.
And as Elisha is approaching the town they spy him and go out to meet him. Note they went out of the town - they had to go out of their way to mock the man of God. This wasn't the case of Elisha walking down the High Street and a few of the town wags having a bit of a laugh. They saw him and left to harass the man of God. And it's a sizeable crowd - because look at v24, 42 of them were mauled. Those words, "of them" are significant. More than 42 children were involved.
And it is not a childish prank. They weren't just calling him "Baldy". They were shouting "Go up, Go up". They were telling him to do what Elijah had done. Get up to Heaven, you baldy man. GO on get out of Bethel and go up, go up to Heaven. They were mocking the things of God, and they were mocking God and they were mocking the man of God.
You might be thinking "That sounds a bit advanced for 10, 11 year olds to be thinking". And you might be right - but where do children learn things that are beyond their years? How often have you heard a child express an adult opinion, and where has he heard that adult opinion? In the home. Have you ever noticed this happen, much to the embarrassment of parents? Children repeating swear words and its obvious where it has come from? Where do loyalist children in the north learn their hatred?
And you can be sure that in the homes of Bethel in the days before, there were parents talking over the dinner table, and they were talking about Elijah, and the rumours of the fiery chariots, and they were wishing him good riddance, were talking about Elisha - baldy so and so, and the school of the prophets in Bethel, and they knew Elisha would be visiting the prophets - and they wanted nothing to do with the baldy old goat, and if he would just get away on up like his master that would suit everyone nicely.
And at the table were little ears drinking it all in - the distain and disregard of the parents for the man of God and for the things of God. That's the way mummy and daddy think, so that must be the way to think.
When children snigger and sneer at holy things, that is because they have learnt it at home. And when children hold the things of God and the prophet of God in contempt, then we have reached an all time low. And children don't get there until their parents get there.
So here is a warning for parents. Your attitude to the things of God, to God's word, and to God's house, and to God's day, and to God's people, and to God's ministers will hugely influence your children. Some of you aren't parents, some of you have children who are grown up, but nevertheless there are still children who see you at church each week. And you set them an example either for good or for bad.
What happens next? Look at v24.
Note carefully this is no act of a petty petulant man, who has had his pride wounded by some likeable but high-spirited children. If this had been a rash act of revenge, then the LORD would not have confirmed Elisha's words by sending the bears. God is under no obligation. And Elisha can't command bears. This is the punishment of a righteous judge.
And God had warned the people that if they forsook his covenant, if they abandoned him, then this would happen. In Lev 26 God states the blessings that follow when his people walk in his ways. But he also states what happens when his people will forsake his ways.
Leviticus 26:14 "But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror. 19 I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.They had just had three and a half years of drought.
20 Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit.Jericho had experienced this, and they had repented.
21 "If you remain hostile towards me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. 22 I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted."If you look at the text, you'll see that Elisha didn't call the bears, he simply called down a curse - a covenant curse on a covenant breaking people. And God did what he said he would do.
Because God will not be mocked. He says in Gal 6:7
"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."
And God will not allow his messengers to be mocked either. Matthew 10:40 "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me.
How do you think the parents felt? Those boys had only spoken what they had heard their mum and dad say, those boys only had attitudes and beliefs that their parents had had.
Their children had paid the penalty because of the godless lives of their parents. Make no mistake - it was the children's sin, but they wouldn't have been in that terrible condition if their parents had been different. Their parents had broken the covenant, and God was faithful to his word. At each baptism we recognise the covenant that God makes with believers and their families, that covenant carries great promises for those parents who are faithful, but it also carries terrible promises for those who squander the blessings available to their children, who fail to bring them up in the ways of God.
And I say this in love, if some of you have children that are not interested in the things of God, or who despise the things of God, it may be the case that you need to seek forgiveness from God for the signals they have picked up from you. I say signals, because you can go to church, but children aren't stupid, they can see whether or not this Christianity is a living breathing reality for mummy and daddy.
And God's promises of judgment are real. He is slow to anger, but he will display that anger. He is not some unhearing unseeing god like the Baals. He notes, he sees. And those who breaks God's rules will find not the God is gracious, but that he is severe. He will not let the guilty go unpunished. And across the centuries comes this warning voice - "Be not deceived, God is not mocked."
Because God is a God who is severe with unrepentant sinners.
Conclusion
So what have we seen?
We have seen that those who live and displease God, in which God will show that he is severe.
Or like those who lived in Jericho, they can repent and turn to God, in which case they will discover that God is a God who delights to show grace and mercy.
Behold the goodness and severity of God.
Friday, September 23, 2005
The wonderful grace of God at Jericho
Behold the Goodness of God - 2 Kings 2:19-22
(This is part one of a sermon entitled "The Goodness and Severity of God". It owes a lot to Stuart Olyott's sermon on the same passage and to Dale Ralph Davis' commentary on 2 Kings.)
Elisha tours back through Bethel and Jericho. And the purpose of this tour back through the towns that Elijah and just travelled through it for the people in these towns to see that although Elijah may be gone, God is still present and working through his prophet Elisha.
The circumstances may have changed but God has not changed. More specifically we learn in these passages that his saving power has not changed, and his wrath at sin have not changed.
This section and the next could be summed up by one New Testament verse, Rom 11:22
Romans 11:22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God (NASB)
And that is what we are going to - to consider the goodness, or the grace of God and also the severity of God.
God still saves undeserving sinners v19-22
Elisha has travelled up from the banks of the Jordan, towards the city of Jericho. It was a fantastically situated city. One commentator describes it as, "A situation of remarkable natural beauty." It stands in the middle of a broad plain, majestic views with mountains rising steeply behind the city. It had been famed for its rich fertile soil, where palm trees of various kinds flourished in abundance.
But now it was the city of the curse. When Joshua and the children of Israel, 600 years previously, had travelled into the Promised Land, Jericho was the first city in Canaan to defy Israel. And it defied not only Israel, but God. And it came under the curse of God. Joshua 6:26 records Joshua speaking God's curse on this defiant city:
Joshua 6:26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: "At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates."
And sometime in the past 22 years, in the reign of Ahab, sure enough someone decided to rebuild Jericho. And as he started we read in 1 Kings 16 his oldest son died, and yet he persisted in his disobedience, and as he finished and put gates on the city, his youngest son died.
It was the city of the curse. Nothing grew well there now. In v19 the men of the town come to Elisha seeking his help. For twenty years they have been seeking to live in this town. Everything is perfect, the view, the city layout, the roads, but there is one problem.
Here is a very clear picture of our world, and the lives of many of its inhabitants - the situation of their life is pleasant, well situated, they have a good job, friends, nice house, but they are under a very real and lasting curse. When Adam and Eve sinned they ruined it for all of us, just as surely as the inhabitant of Jericho 600 years previously had ruined the city for these people.
This teaches us straight away that it doesn't matter how materially blessed we are, if we are under the wrath of God, it ruins everything. It is the one thing that we need to get sorted out in our lives. Here also we see that God's wrath and his curse is both real and lasting. It was nearly 600 years since Joshua had in God's name uttered those words that declared God's wrath on the place.
And we learn here that when that is the case there is only one thing to do - come to God and seek his help. In the city for three days there has been this eminent man of God, so the men of the city approach Elisha.
Now look at v20-21.
He tells them to bring a bowl with salt. It is symbolic, as with many miracles. It is to be a new bowl - not one that can be associated with anything else. It doesn't belong to anyone, it hasn't been used for offering incense to another god. In it they are to put some salt. Again symbolic. Salt was used in biblical times for a host of different uses. It was used to preserve meat. It was used to make things palatable. Elisha takes the bowl with the salt - that which preserves, that which makes tasty, and goes to the source of the problem, the spring itself and throws in the salt. But it is not the salt that works the change. Nor is it Elisha. v21 gives us what Elisha said, "This is what the LORD says: 'I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.'"
It is the Lord who works the miracle and Elisha makes sure the people know it. It is a work of God. It is God who is putting the situation straight. And we read in v22 that the cure was permanent.
Here is a great picture of the grace of God
In the place of the curse, God is good. He is actively good to those who don't deserve it, to those who have flouted his laws, and have come seeking his help. And now there is life where once there was death.
There's hope for those who have lived life without God, and come knowing that they have defied God, there is grace where there should be judgment.
Here is encouragement for those whose past holds pain and hurt, and who wonder "How can God delight in me?". God's grace transforms that. Look at Jericho.
Here is encouragement for those whose sin as Christians has clouded their walk with God - and you have wondered "Will I ever enjoy the sunlight God God's smile again?"
Here is encouragement for those of us who have loved ones whom we care for that aren't converted. God brings life where there was death.
Here is a God who delights to show grace to undeserving sinners. V22 is a marvellous verse
2 Kings 2:22 And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.
When a person is changed they remain changed. And sometimes we need to take ourselves mentally to Jericho, or even take others to Jericho and make them stand and look at the city once under the curse of God, now enjoying his grace, and say to them, "Here is your God" - the God who "binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted." (Is 30:26)
What a great encouragement this is to us as individuals and as a fellowship - How like Jericho Letterkenny is. Yet as Elisha found - God hasn't changed. He still delights to display his grace.
Here is a great picture of the gospel.
The source needs to be put right if we are to be right. All the problems in Jericho were down to the water. The problems in men and women's lives are down to sin. If there is to be any hope for them, they need to go to God.
And it seems an unlikely answer, that a message about death can bring life, people need hope, and we tell them that they are guilty before God. People need their lives put back together and we tell them that they aren't broken enough, that they need to humble themselves before God and seek forgiveness. People need life and we point them to the cross, a place of death.
But how unlikely did Elisha's actions seem - that by adding salt to the water that life could be brought. Victorious armies scattered salt it on land to render it infertile, to curse the land, yet here is God taking the thing used to curse land, and using it to bring life.
But in the place of the curse there is life. When we look to the place where Jesus suffered the wrath of God, there we find life.
Here is a great picture of the power of God in the gospel
How unlikely it must have seemed when Elisha stood with the little bowl of salt at the great rushing waters that fed the town. How insignificant the cure seemed, when such a vast area needed to be covered.
We live in a vast town. Each citizen is under God's curse - they have gone wrong right at the source. And the source needs to be healed if there is to be any hope. And all we have is the gospel, and it mightn't seem like much as we look at all the effects of sin in Donegal, the godlessness, the immorality, the suicide, the depression, disobedience - and we can wonder, what do we have to offer? Elisha learns this lesson early on in his ministry that God solution is enough for the task. His grace is sufficient.
Here is great encouragement for us as we go out with the Gospel. Here we see that God delights to transform curse-ridden sin laden judgment deserving sinners into men and women of grace. God's word through God's people brings God's grace - even to Jericho.
Isn't there hope here for all sinners? Don't you see how powerful God's grace is?
A great picture of the gospel - we go to people whose hearts are poisoned by sin, we take with us the gospel, in a weak earthen vessel, neither looks very impressive, but it doesn't matter because it is God who works!
Behold the goodness of God
(This is part one of a sermon entitled "The Goodness and Severity of God". It owes a lot to Stuart Olyott's sermon on the same passage and to Dale Ralph Davis' commentary on 2 Kings.)
Elisha tours back through Bethel and Jericho. And the purpose of this tour back through the towns that Elijah and just travelled through it for the people in these towns to see that although Elijah may be gone, God is still present and working through his prophet Elisha.
The circumstances may have changed but God has not changed. More specifically we learn in these passages that his saving power has not changed, and his wrath at sin have not changed.
This section and the next could be summed up by one New Testament verse, Rom 11:22
Romans 11:22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God (NASB)
And that is what we are going to - to consider the goodness, or the grace of God and also the severity of God.
God still saves undeserving sinners v19-22
Elisha has travelled up from the banks of the Jordan, towards the city of Jericho. It was a fantastically situated city. One commentator describes it as, "A situation of remarkable natural beauty." It stands in the middle of a broad plain, majestic views with mountains rising steeply behind the city. It had been famed for its rich fertile soil, where palm trees of various kinds flourished in abundance.
But now it was the city of the curse. When Joshua and the children of Israel, 600 years previously, had travelled into the Promised Land, Jericho was the first city in Canaan to defy Israel. And it defied not only Israel, but God. And it came under the curse of God. Joshua 6:26 records Joshua speaking God's curse on this defiant city:
Joshua 6:26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: "At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates."
And sometime in the past 22 years, in the reign of Ahab, sure enough someone decided to rebuild Jericho. And as he started we read in 1 Kings 16 his oldest son died, and yet he persisted in his disobedience, and as he finished and put gates on the city, his youngest son died.
It was the city of the curse. Nothing grew well there now. In v19 the men of the town come to Elisha seeking his help. For twenty years they have been seeking to live in this town. Everything is perfect, the view, the city layout, the roads, but there is one problem.
19 The men of the city said to Elisha, "Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive."The trees and the fields and the vineyards were unproductive. In fact the situation is worse than the NIV translation. Literally it says "the land causing to miscarry". The Hebrew phrase vivid in its words, applies not just to the ground, but to the animals and people too. For 20 years they had struggled, crops would die, animals would come to give birth and miscarry. When the fruit trees blossomed and looked as if they were about to give fruit, the fruit came to nothing. When the mothers were pregnant they lost their children before they were born.
Here is a very clear picture of our world, and the lives of many of its inhabitants - the situation of their life is pleasant, well situated, they have a good job, friends, nice house, but they are under a very real and lasting curse. When Adam and Eve sinned they ruined it for all of us, just as surely as the inhabitant of Jericho 600 years previously had ruined the city for these people.
This teaches us straight away that it doesn't matter how materially blessed we are, if we are under the wrath of God, it ruins everything. It is the one thing that we need to get sorted out in our lives. Here also we see that God's wrath and his curse is both real and lasting. It was nearly 600 years since Joshua had in God's name uttered those words that declared God's wrath on the place.
And we learn here that when that is the case there is only one thing to do - come to God and seek his help. In the city for three days there has been this eminent man of God, so the men of the city approach Elisha.
Now look at v20-21.
He tells them to bring a bowl with salt. It is symbolic, as with many miracles. It is to be a new bowl - not one that can be associated with anything else. It doesn't belong to anyone, it hasn't been used for offering incense to another god. In it they are to put some salt. Again symbolic. Salt was used in biblical times for a host of different uses. It was used to preserve meat. It was used to make things palatable. Elisha takes the bowl with the salt - that which preserves, that which makes tasty, and goes to the source of the problem, the spring itself and throws in the salt. But it is not the salt that works the change. Nor is it Elisha. v21 gives us what Elisha said, "This is what the LORD says: 'I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.'"
It is the Lord who works the miracle and Elisha makes sure the people know it. It is a work of God. It is God who is putting the situation straight. And we read in v22 that the cure was permanent.
Here is a great picture of the grace of God
In the place of the curse, God is good. He is actively good to those who don't deserve it, to those who have flouted his laws, and have come seeking his help. And now there is life where once there was death.
There's hope for those who have lived life without God, and come knowing that they have defied God, there is grace where there should be judgment.
Here is encouragement for those whose past holds pain and hurt, and who wonder "How can God delight in me?". God's grace transforms that. Look at Jericho.
Here is encouragement for those whose sin as Christians has clouded their walk with God - and you have wondered "Will I ever enjoy the sunlight God God's smile again?"
Here is encouragement for those of us who have loved ones whom we care for that aren't converted. God brings life where there was death.
Here is a God who delights to show grace to undeserving sinners. V22 is a marvellous verse
2 Kings 2:22 And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.
When a person is changed they remain changed. And sometimes we need to take ourselves mentally to Jericho, or even take others to Jericho and make them stand and look at the city once under the curse of God, now enjoying his grace, and say to them, "Here is your God" - the God who "binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted." (Is 30:26)
What a great encouragement this is to us as individuals and as a fellowship - How like Jericho Letterkenny is. Yet as Elisha found - God hasn't changed. He still delights to display his grace.
Here is a great picture of the gospel.
The source needs to be put right if we are to be right. All the problems in Jericho were down to the water. The problems in men and women's lives are down to sin. If there is to be any hope for them, they need to go to God.
And it seems an unlikely answer, that a message about death can bring life, people need hope, and we tell them that they are guilty before God. People need their lives put back together and we tell them that they aren't broken enough, that they need to humble themselves before God and seek forgiveness. People need life and we point them to the cross, a place of death.
But how unlikely did Elisha's actions seem - that by adding salt to the water that life could be brought. Victorious armies scattered salt it on land to render it infertile, to curse the land, yet here is God taking the thing used to curse land, and using it to bring life.
But in the place of the curse there is life. When we look to the place where Jesus suffered the wrath of God, there we find life.
Here is a great picture of the power of God in the gospel
How unlikely it must have seemed when Elisha stood with the little bowl of salt at the great rushing waters that fed the town. How insignificant the cure seemed, when such a vast area needed to be covered.
We live in a vast town. Each citizen is under God's curse - they have gone wrong right at the source. And the source needs to be healed if there is to be any hope. And all we have is the gospel, and it mightn't seem like much as we look at all the effects of sin in Donegal, the godlessness, the immorality, the suicide, the depression, disobedience - and we can wonder, what do we have to offer? Elisha learns this lesson early on in his ministry that God solution is enough for the task. His grace is sufficient.
Here is great encouragement for us as we go out with the Gospel. Here we see that God delights to transform curse-ridden sin laden judgment deserving sinners into men and women of grace. God's word through God's people brings God's grace - even to Jericho.
Isn't there hope here for all sinners? Don't you see how powerful God's grace is?
A great picture of the gospel - we go to people whose hearts are poisoned by sin, we take with us the gospel, in a weak earthen vessel, neither looks very impressive, but it doesn't matter because it is God who works!
Behold the goodness of God
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Words of Christ in Red
Over at Shall we sing a song for you, Stevie Steele is surveying whether he should get a 'words of Christ in red' bible.
I suppose I wasnt just being provocative in my comments in his blog. I was saying what I really feel!
This really gets my goat!! I appreciate that it can be helpful to see what Jesus said (helpful for those who can't see the phrase "And Jesus said"!), but I find it theologically and physiologically offensive.
Three reasons why I don't like it:
One - It seems to suggest that the rest of scripture is somehow less inspired than Christ's actual words. This works out in practice with people saying things like, "Yes, I know that Paul says that but Jesus says this" as if the two were in conflict, and as if Paul's instructions on something like church discipline, for example, are somehow unbiblical! Believe me, I've heard this happen.
Two - It's harder to read. See this slightly tongue in cheek article. It concludes:
I suppose I wasnt just being provocative in my comments in his blog. I was saying what I really feel!
This really gets my goat!! I appreciate that it can be helpful to see what Jesus said (helpful for those who can't see the phrase "And Jesus said"!), but I find it theologically and physiologically offensive.
Three reasons why I don't like it:
One - It seems to suggest that the rest of scripture is somehow less inspired than Christ's actual words. This works out in practice with people saying things like, "Yes, I know that Paul says that but Jesus says this" as if the two were in conflict, and as if Paul's instructions on something like church discipline, for example, are somehow unbiblical! Believe me, I've heard this happen.
Two - It's harder to read. See this slightly tongue in cheek article. It concludes:
According to Wheldon's study, to print the words of Christ in red is to ensure that they will be poorly comprehended by 81% of readers! It is difficult indeed to see how this does him honour. To be sure, it makes his words stand out—it's just that it's almost impossible to read and remember them. I trust that little further needs to be said. Out of reverence for the Lord Jesus, we must put a stop to red-letter Bibles. They are rendering his words largely unreadable, thus affecting the spiritual well-being of who knows how many unsuspecting Bible readers. In the interests of Christ's words being read, we must ensure they cease being red.Three - its hard to get plain text editions of bibles in a format you like without having the words of Christ in red.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Sabbath Sermon - Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?
In 1983 when Bob Paisley the manager of Liverpool FC retired, Liverpool were at the peak of their greatness. They had won the European Cup, the League Cup, the Milk Cup - they were sweeping everything before them.
The questions on everyone's lips were - Who would take over? and Would the team be as successful?
Unfortunately as time proved, a succession of managers have been unable to repeat the majesty of those glory days.
Elijah the Prophet is about to go to Heaven. Elijah had stood like a mighty giant in the scenery of Israel - standing boldly and bravely for the cause of God. He had opposed Ahab, and Jezebel, and seen them off. He had single-handedly, from a human perspective seen off the prophets of Baal. He had given a strong and firm lead in days of desperate crisis. And now God was going to take him from the life of the church and the nation. Who would take his place? And the people knew that it wasn't just a matter of stepping into his shoes, the successor needed God with him. Was Elisha the man? Was he really up to the task?
It was an uncertain time. Kings were changing. War was on the horizon. What remains for the people of God in shifting times? Is Elisha the successor? Is God with Elisha?
Those are the questions that run through this passage. The chapter finds its climax with one question, finally the question everyone has been wondering, but has been afraid to ask is asked, v14 "Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?"
The whole chapter seems to focus in on this one moment
They leave Gilgal in Samaria, head for Bethel, head for Jericho, Cross the Jordan, Elijah is taken away - then we have this cliff hanging question - "Where is the Lord the God of Elijah?" And then Elisha crosses the Jordan, travels back to Jericho, then back through Bethel, then back into Samaria.
At the centre of it all stands this question - "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?"
Such an important question. It is a key question for each of us to be asking ourselves. Last week we saw that we live in a world very similar to Elisha - days of wickedness and unbelief and sexual immorality, days of indifference to the things of God.
And where is God? Do we even need God?
The Question - Why do we need the God of Elijah?
Why did Elisha need God?
Because he is majestic
You can imagine that as Elisha grew up in his home, and as his father Shaphat taught him about the one true God, that they would have followed the events of the prophet of God with great interest. News would filter in to their home in Abel-Meholah of the great events of Eliajh's ministry. And then for ten or so years Elisha had served Elijah. He had seen at first hand what God was like, and what it was like when God acted. Not only so, but he had opportunity to hear of all the mighty acts God carried out through Elijah.
Elijah's God - called that because the country was rife with so many false gods - Elijah's God was the God who had sent fire from Heaven on the glorious night at Mount Carmel when the false god Baal was shown to be a figment of the imagination. How that must have thrilled the hearts of the faithful believers in Israel.
Elijah's God was the God who controlled the weather, stopping the rain for three years, sending rain after the triumph of Mt Carmel.
Elijah's God was the God who miraculously provided the flour and oil for the faithful believing widow at Zarephath and her son.
Elijah's God was the God who, when the widow's son died from sickness, sent life back into the corpse of that young man as he lay on the bed.
Elijah's God was the God who commanded the ravens to lift bread and meat and fly to the Kerith ravine where Elijah was in hiding and to deliver food to his faithful prophet.
Elijah's God was the God who sent fire from Heaven not once, but twice to protect his prophet from arrest by the soldiers of wicked king Ahaziah.
Elijah's God is the God who provides for his people in need
Elijah's God is the God who defeats his enemies and triumphs
Elijah's God is the God who controls the universe
Elijah's God is the God who protects.
Elijah's God is utterly majestic - Don't you want to know him? Don't you want him with you?
Because he is the one true God
When Elisha shouts, "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?", he isn't calling forth one God out of a myriad of gods. He doesn't have to identify God in such a manner because there are other gods. He does so because Elijah was the foremost representative of the one true God in Israel.
And even in this passage God demonstrates again that he is the one true God. Unbelief, if it weren't so tragic is almost comical. Baal was the nature god. He was the god how provided the rains. Baal was the god of the crops. In ancient Canaan Baal was known as the "One who rides upon the Clouds". His voice thundered forth, and he carried lightning as his spear. Baal was the god of storms.
Here's the irony - in the ministry of Elijah, God systematically challenged the people at every turn by demonstrating that Baal was no god, and that he was the true God.
In the country of the rain god, He sent a drought
In the country of the god of crops and fields, He stopped the crops
In the country of the lightning god, He sent fire from Heaven to consume the prophets of the lightning God
In the country of the rain god, He sent the rains when He decreed
In the country of the Fire god, He sent fire from Heaven to consume the soldiers
And now even the way Elijah departs is a snub to the worshippers of Baal.
How does God take his faithful servant home?
In a whirlwind! And he sends a chariot of fire and horses of fire so that we know that it is not just a freak of weather conditions. And Elijah the prophet of the true God departs in a storm, with the Chariot of God - the true Rider of the Clouds beside him.
The Warrior God, the captain of the armies of Heaven, has come to retrieve his servant.
How great is Elijah's God. He alone is the true God. The miracles proved it, the ascension confirms it.
Just like the one described as "One greater than Elijah is here" - the Lord Jesus Christ.
What God was doing with Prophet Elijah in his life was to give us a picture of the Great Prophet to come. Jesus came and worked mighty miracles. Except in this case it was different. God worked through Elijah - the miracles were not Elijah's but God's. But with Jesus, he spoke and it was done because he spoke it. He is the one true God. Jesus' ascension confirmed his deity. When God took Elijah to be with him, he sent a chariot and a whirlwind, because Elijah wasn't capable of going himself. But with the one greater than Elijah, there was no chariot, no whirlwind, because he wasn't some servant of God, he was and is God.
Jesus is the only one who really meets our need.
And so, why do we need Jesus? Because he is who he says he is - he is the one true God, he is the Saviour that the world needs, he is the way the truth and the life, he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. He is the door, he is the resurrection and the life. He is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
He is the one true God.
Because good character and hard work aren't enough
It would be easy to study Elisha's life and learn a lot of great lessons about Elisha, because he was a fine man of God. He was diligent - see him stick to his God-given task in the opening verses, despite the efforts of the prophets and even of Elijah to dissuade him. He refused to be sucked in to the pessimistic outlook of the other prophets - "Don't you know Elijah's going today."
That was all they could think about, but Elisha cuts them off before they get into full flow, "What are we going to do? What will become of the cause of God now? All is lost!" Elisha silences them.
But nevertheless, it is not Elisha's hard work, or effort, or his optimism, or his obedience, or his sacrificial following of God, or his humility that will see him through the trials that lie ahead of him. And he knows it. And so he calls, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah."
He needs God. And good character, and good moral uprightness are not enough. We need God in our lives.
Elisha is a man who knows that. Do you? Or are you counting on being moral and upright and decent and hard working? It isn't enough. Human effort isn't enough for anyone to live in this world to serve God or even be acceptable to God. You need to cry out for the God of Elijah, you need to seek the Lord Jesus who is the God of Elijah, to come and rescue you.
Do we know that as a fellowship?
Do you know that in your own life? - not enough to work hard at being a Christian, reading your Bible, going to church, praying. You need this hunger for God. We need God with us, working in us. We need to be often on our knees with this prayer. It needs to be our cry every week as we come to church, every morning as we get up.
Like Elisha we can't take it for granted - Where NOW, today is the Lord, the God of Elijah?
Because He is our only hope
Elisha about to step into Elijah's shoes, feels the crushing weight of responsibility. Elisha knows that if there is to be any hope for this messed up world that he needs the Lord, the same God that Elijah had.
Not simply Elijah that he wanted - he doesn't pray to the dear departed saint for help in the trials he is about to face, because Elisha knows that God is his only hope. There is no saint or departed man or woman of God who is of any use to us now. God is our only hope.
It was God who enables Elijah to stand firm in the trials he faced. That man, when the waters raged about him stood like a rock, unmoved and unmovable. That is the kind of men we need in the church today. Men who will stand for what they believe. And they are vital for the health of the church. And not only that for the welfare of this nation. Elisha phrase, "My father, my father, the chariot and horsemen of Israel." This isn't Elisha referring to the fiery chariots and horses, this is a phrase used in scripture to describe the defence of a nation. It is used of Elisha on his deathbed when there were no fiery chariots. But Elisha realises that men and women of God are the true security of any nation. They are the ones that uphold the nation before God in prayer, that are a witness to the truth of God, that uphold God's laws.
But to be such a man or woman of God we need God, we need to be made strong by God. We need to be filled by the Holy Spirit. Ireland's welfare lies not in the hands of politicians, or civil servants, or in business men and women, but it lies in the hands of men and women of God, who will pray and confront, and witness, and resist evil.
We need the Lord, the same God as was the God of Elijah
So here is our prayer - Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?
The Hunger - Desiring God
Elisha has seen enough to know that he wants the God of Elijah to be the God of Elisha. And we see how earnest he is in his desire. He knew that God was present in the sense that he is present everywhere. But he wanted more than that. He wanted God to work through him, and to know God's power personally at work in his life. And when he got up that morning he set himself resolutely to pursue this?
He had a hunger for God that is unmissable. He knew Elijah was going, he knew God had called him to do the same work Elijah had been doing. And he knew he couldn't do it on his own, so he wasn't going to let Elijah out of his sight until he had received an assurance that Elijah's God would be his God too. See his hunger:
In his Persistence
He got up that morning somewhere in Samaria, Elijah informs him that he is going to Bethel. It would seem that either Elijah or God has told Elisha that this will be Elijah's last day on earth
And Elijah takes a less than straight route across the Jordan, starting off at Gilgal, heading for Bethel, then for Jericho, then across the Jordan. Some 20-30 miles. It is his final farewell tour of the prophets, men that he has acted as leader to over the last number of years.
And at each place - Gilgal, Bethel, then Jericho - Elijah makes a strange request of Elisha. Three times he asks Elisha to stay behind. Elijah suggests to him to stay. But Elisha persists for these 20-30 miles. He has been made a servant of the prophet of God by God, and he is going to stick to his God-given task. It is a test, to see how much Elisha wants the to be Elijah's successor. And we know it is a test because in v9 he has passed the test and he is rewarded for his commitment. Elijah says to him, "What can I do for you before I depart?".
And now his persistence pays off because he can ask for what he so badly wants. He has hiked over 25 miles with Elijah for this moment. And we see his hunger for God in his persistence. Will you be persistent in your desire for God?
In his request
Elisha asks for a double portion of the Spirit of Elijah. This isn't asking that Elisha would be twice as holy, or twice as godly, or twice as powerful as Elijah. In biblical times, when a father made out his will, he divided the property between his children. He would give a double portion to the one he choose as his successor, the head of the family, usually the oldest son. If he had 5 sons, the property was divided in 6 and a double portion given to the one who had greater responsibility.
Elisha is asking that he be appointed as the successor of Elijah. He is a man who fervently wants to serve God, and to be equipped by God to do so. Here is a test of a person's character - The man of God asks "What do you want me to do for you?" How would you respond? If you were told as a Christian that you could have anything you wanted. What would you ask for? He didn't ask for wealth, or honour, or safety, or success.
Elisha wants the necessary spiritual gifts to do what God has called him to do. He recognises that he can't do the task ahead without the equipping of God. He wants the same spirit that rests upon Elijah to rest upon him too. And here we see his hunger - anything in all the world - and he wants the Spirit of God to rest on him. And again we see his persistence. Elijah acknowledges that Elisha has asked for a difficult thing - not the blessing itself, God gives that, not Elijah. But Elijah recognises what young Elisha is asking for - he is saying "I want to stand where you have stood, to be God's ambassador to kings, to stand in the teeth of the storm and speak for God. And Elijah says, "You are asking for a difficult thing." And then he again seems to offer Elisha a way out - all along he has been giving Elisha an escape route, and now he does it again - "If you see me go, it will be yours." I understand this to be a challenge to count the cost of discipleship. It is going to be a hard life Elijah tells him, you can turn away now, but if you want the blessing stay here with me. And he stays.
In his Cry
"Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?"
The next thing that happens is that a fiery chariot and horses sweep between them, separating Elijah and Elisha. And then a whirlwind comes along and in the whirlwind Elijah is taken up to Heaven.
And at this Elisha is overwhelmed with grief - "My father, my father." It was a personal loss to Elisha. God's servants are not inhuman machines, and Elisha feels greatly the loss of the man whom he had lived and worked with for the last 10 or so years.
And as Elijah disappears from view, left behind is his cloak, and Elisha lifts the cloak. It is his token that he is to Elijah's successor, that his request has been answered. And he heads for the Jordan and as he gets to the Jordan, what does he say? Does he say, "Here is Elijah's cloak, a relic of this great saint of God - I must build a shrine to it and worship it."? Or "Here is the cloak of mighty Elijah, it will spilt the waters as it did before"?
No - he cries out "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah" because he knows that is the only solution. And he cries out - "where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" A passionate heartfelt plea.
Will you make it your plea - for your congregfation, for your own life? Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?
And the whole chapter is building up to this climax - Is Elisha going to be the divinely appointed successor to Elijah or not? Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Will God act for this servant as he acted for the previous servant? For this generation as in the previous generation? Is God with this follower of God as he was with Elijah?
The Answer
Imagine the scene. Elisha approaches the river with the cloak in his hand. On the other side 50 of the Prophets from Jericho were standing watching. They had seen Elijah and Elisha cross over. Now they watch as only Elisha returns they see in his hand Elijah's cloak. What will happen next? Elisha approaches the banks of the Jordan and strikes the waters and cries out "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah" and the waters part.
Here is the answer. The Lord the God of Elijah is with Elisha. Poor Elisha has lost Elijah, his grief is real, but he has not lost Elijah's God, and therefore all is well. The servant of God has gone, but God has not gone.
This passage teaches us that although times may change, and godly leaders come and go, God does not change. Is there any truth more comforting in an uncertain world than this? God, the same mighty God that was with Elijah, and so powerfully worked through Elijah was the same mighty God that was now with Elisha, and our God does not change and when in our day and in our generation we cry out, "Where NOW is the Lord, the God of Elijah?"
The Lord Jesus Christ answers, "I am with you always until the very end of the age."
And we see God's presence with Elisha in the next few verses as first of all the prophets recognise that Elisha is the successor - look at v15. Not only so, but when they seek his opinion about where Elijah is, and they set out to search for him, they learn that he not only has God's power present with him, but the wisdom of God with him as well.
Christian friends, not only do we have God's power at work in us and through us, and God's presence with us, but we have God's wisdom at our disposal. "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."
Elisha retraces the path taken by Elijah through Jericho and Bethel and there displays that God is with him by the miracles he works there.
Friends the great lesson here is that our God remains with his people and works through them. And so our great hunger and longing should be to know God's presence with us, the God who said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you," the God who said to Paul, "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you", that is the God who is with us. And like Elisha we should hunger, not just to know in our heads that he is with us, but to see him at work in us and through us, to have his power and wisdom evident in our lives.
Will you pray this prayer?
Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?
The questions on everyone's lips were - Who would take over? and Would the team be as successful?
Unfortunately as time proved, a succession of managers have been unable to repeat the majesty of those glory days.
Elijah the Prophet is about to go to Heaven. Elijah had stood like a mighty giant in the scenery of Israel - standing boldly and bravely for the cause of God. He had opposed Ahab, and Jezebel, and seen them off. He had single-handedly, from a human perspective seen off the prophets of Baal. He had given a strong and firm lead in days of desperate crisis. And now God was going to take him from the life of the church and the nation. Who would take his place? And the people knew that it wasn't just a matter of stepping into his shoes, the successor needed God with him. Was Elisha the man? Was he really up to the task?
It was an uncertain time. Kings were changing. War was on the horizon. What remains for the people of God in shifting times? Is Elisha the successor? Is God with Elisha?
Those are the questions that run through this passage. The chapter finds its climax with one question, finally the question everyone has been wondering, but has been afraid to ask is asked, v14 "Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?"
The whole chapter seems to focus in on this one moment
They leave Gilgal in Samaria, head for Bethel, head for Jericho, Cross the Jordan, Elijah is taken away - then we have this cliff hanging question - "Where is the Lord the God of Elijah?" And then Elisha crosses the Jordan, travels back to Jericho, then back through Bethel, then back into Samaria.
At the centre of it all stands this question - "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?"
Such an important question. It is a key question for each of us to be asking ourselves. Last week we saw that we live in a world very similar to Elisha - days of wickedness and unbelief and sexual immorality, days of indifference to the things of God.
And where is God? Do we even need God?
The Question - Why do we need the God of Elijah?
Why did Elisha need God?
Because he is majestic
You can imagine that as Elisha grew up in his home, and as his father Shaphat taught him about the one true God, that they would have followed the events of the prophet of God with great interest. News would filter in to their home in Abel-Meholah of the great events of Eliajh's ministry. And then for ten or so years Elisha had served Elijah. He had seen at first hand what God was like, and what it was like when God acted. Not only so, but he had opportunity to hear of all the mighty acts God carried out through Elijah.
Elijah's God - called that because the country was rife with so many false gods - Elijah's God was the God who had sent fire from Heaven on the glorious night at Mount Carmel when the false god Baal was shown to be a figment of the imagination. How that must have thrilled the hearts of the faithful believers in Israel.
Elijah's God was the God who controlled the weather, stopping the rain for three years, sending rain after the triumph of Mt Carmel.
Elijah's God was the God who miraculously provided the flour and oil for the faithful believing widow at Zarephath and her son.
Elijah's God was the God who, when the widow's son died from sickness, sent life back into the corpse of that young man as he lay on the bed.
Elijah's God was the God who commanded the ravens to lift bread and meat and fly to the Kerith ravine where Elijah was in hiding and to deliver food to his faithful prophet.
Elijah's God was the God who sent fire from Heaven not once, but twice to protect his prophet from arrest by the soldiers of wicked king Ahaziah.
Elijah's God is the God who provides for his people in need
Elijah's God is the God who defeats his enemies and triumphs
Elijah's God is the God who controls the universe
Elijah's God is the God who protects.
Elijah's God is utterly majestic - Don't you want to know him? Don't you want him with you?
Because he is the one true God
When Elisha shouts, "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?", he isn't calling forth one God out of a myriad of gods. He doesn't have to identify God in such a manner because there are other gods. He does so because Elijah was the foremost representative of the one true God in Israel.
And even in this passage God demonstrates again that he is the one true God. Unbelief, if it weren't so tragic is almost comical. Baal was the nature god. He was the god how provided the rains. Baal was the god of the crops. In ancient Canaan Baal was known as the "One who rides upon the Clouds". His voice thundered forth, and he carried lightning as his spear. Baal was the god of storms.
Here's the irony - in the ministry of Elijah, God systematically challenged the people at every turn by demonstrating that Baal was no god, and that he was the true God.
In the country of the rain god, He sent a drought
In the country of the god of crops and fields, He stopped the crops
In the country of the lightning god, He sent fire from Heaven to consume the prophets of the lightning God
In the country of the rain god, He sent the rains when He decreed
In the country of the Fire god, He sent fire from Heaven to consume the soldiers
And now even the way Elijah departs is a snub to the worshippers of Baal.
How does God take his faithful servant home?
In a whirlwind! And he sends a chariot of fire and horses of fire so that we know that it is not just a freak of weather conditions. And Elijah the prophet of the true God departs in a storm, with the Chariot of God - the true Rider of the Clouds beside him.
The Warrior God, the captain of the armies of Heaven, has come to retrieve his servant.
How great is Elijah's God. He alone is the true God. The miracles proved it, the ascension confirms it.
Just like the one described as "One greater than Elijah is here" - the Lord Jesus Christ.
What God was doing with Prophet Elijah in his life was to give us a picture of the Great Prophet to come. Jesus came and worked mighty miracles. Except in this case it was different. God worked through Elijah - the miracles were not Elijah's but God's. But with Jesus, he spoke and it was done because he spoke it. He is the one true God. Jesus' ascension confirmed his deity. When God took Elijah to be with him, he sent a chariot and a whirlwind, because Elijah wasn't capable of going himself. But with the one greater than Elijah, there was no chariot, no whirlwind, because he wasn't some servant of God, he was and is God.
Jesus is the only one who really meets our need.
And so, why do we need Jesus? Because he is who he says he is - he is the one true God, he is the Saviour that the world needs, he is the way the truth and the life, he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. He is the door, he is the resurrection and the life. He is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
He is the one true God.
Because good character and hard work aren't enough
It would be easy to study Elisha's life and learn a lot of great lessons about Elisha, because he was a fine man of God. He was diligent - see him stick to his God-given task in the opening verses, despite the efforts of the prophets and even of Elijah to dissuade him. He refused to be sucked in to the pessimistic outlook of the other prophets - "Don't you know Elijah's going today."
That was all they could think about, but Elisha cuts them off before they get into full flow, "What are we going to do? What will become of the cause of God now? All is lost!" Elisha silences them.
But nevertheless, it is not Elisha's hard work, or effort, or his optimism, or his obedience, or his sacrificial following of God, or his humility that will see him through the trials that lie ahead of him. And he knows it. And so he calls, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah."
He needs God. And good character, and good moral uprightness are not enough. We need God in our lives.
Elisha is a man who knows that. Do you? Or are you counting on being moral and upright and decent and hard working? It isn't enough. Human effort isn't enough for anyone to live in this world to serve God or even be acceptable to God. You need to cry out for the God of Elijah, you need to seek the Lord Jesus who is the God of Elijah, to come and rescue you.
Do we know that as a fellowship?
Do you know that in your own life? - not enough to work hard at being a Christian, reading your Bible, going to church, praying. You need this hunger for God. We need God with us, working in us. We need to be often on our knees with this prayer. It needs to be our cry every week as we come to church, every morning as we get up.
Like Elisha we can't take it for granted - Where NOW, today is the Lord, the God of Elijah?
Because He is our only hope
Elisha about to step into Elijah's shoes, feels the crushing weight of responsibility. Elisha knows that if there is to be any hope for this messed up world that he needs the Lord, the same God that Elijah had.
Not simply Elijah that he wanted - he doesn't pray to the dear departed saint for help in the trials he is about to face, because Elisha knows that God is his only hope. There is no saint or departed man or woman of God who is of any use to us now. God is our only hope.
It was God who enables Elijah to stand firm in the trials he faced. That man, when the waters raged about him stood like a rock, unmoved and unmovable. That is the kind of men we need in the church today. Men who will stand for what they believe. And they are vital for the health of the church. And not only that for the welfare of this nation. Elisha phrase, "My father, my father, the chariot and horsemen of Israel." This isn't Elisha referring to the fiery chariots and horses, this is a phrase used in scripture to describe the defence of a nation. It is used of Elisha on his deathbed when there were no fiery chariots. But Elisha realises that men and women of God are the true security of any nation. They are the ones that uphold the nation before God in prayer, that are a witness to the truth of God, that uphold God's laws.
But to be such a man or woman of God we need God, we need to be made strong by God. We need to be filled by the Holy Spirit. Ireland's welfare lies not in the hands of politicians, or civil servants, or in business men and women, but it lies in the hands of men and women of God, who will pray and confront, and witness, and resist evil.
We need the Lord, the same God as was the God of Elijah
So here is our prayer - Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?
The Hunger - Desiring God
Elisha has seen enough to know that he wants the God of Elijah to be the God of Elisha. And we see how earnest he is in his desire. He knew that God was present in the sense that he is present everywhere. But he wanted more than that. He wanted God to work through him, and to know God's power personally at work in his life. And when he got up that morning he set himself resolutely to pursue this?
He had a hunger for God that is unmissable. He knew Elijah was going, he knew God had called him to do the same work Elijah had been doing. And he knew he couldn't do it on his own, so he wasn't going to let Elijah out of his sight until he had received an assurance that Elijah's God would be his God too. See his hunger:
In his Persistence
He got up that morning somewhere in Samaria, Elijah informs him that he is going to Bethel. It would seem that either Elijah or God has told Elisha that this will be Elijah's last day on earth
And Elijah takes a less than straight route across the Jordan, starting off at Gilgal, heading for Bethel, then for Jericho, then across the Jordan. Some 20-30 miles. It is his final farewell tour of the prophets, men that he has acted as leader to over the last number of years.
And at each place - Gilgal, Bethel, then Jericho - Elijah makes a strange request of Elisha. Three times he asks Elisha to stay behind. Elijah suggests to him to stay. But Elisha persists for these 20-30 miles. He has been made a servant of the prophet of God by God, and he is going to stick to his God-given task. It is a test, to see how much Elisha wants the to be Elijah's successor. And we know it is a test because in v9 he has passed the test and he is rewarded for his commitment. Elijah says to him, "What can I do for you before I depart?".
And now his persistence pays off because he can ask for what he so badly wants. He has hiked over 25 miles with Elijah for this moment. And we see his hunger for God in his persistence. Will you be persistent in your desire for God?
In his request
Elisha asks for a double portion of the Spirit of Elijah. This isn't asking that Elisha would be twice as holy, or twice as godly, or twice as powerful as Elijah. In biblical times, when a father made out his will, he divided the property between his children. He would give a double portion to the one he choose as his successor, the head of the family, usually the oldest son. If he had 5 sons, the property was divided in 6 and a double portion given to the one who had greater responsibility.
Elisha is asking that he be appointed as the successor of Elijah. He is a man who fervently wants to serve God, and to be equipped by God to do so. Here is a test of a person's character - The man of God asks "What do you want me to do for you?" How would you respond? If you were told as a Christian that you could have anything you wanted. What would you ask for? He didn't ask for wealth, or honour, or safety, or success.
Elisha wants the necessary spiritual gifts to do what God has called him to do. He recognises that he can't do the task ahead without the equipping of God. He wants the same spirit that rests upon Elijah to rest upon him too. And here we see his hunger - anything in all the world - and he wants the Spirit of God to rest on him. And again we see his persistence. Elijah acknowledges that Elisha has asked for a difficult thing - not the blessing itself, God gives that, not Elijah. But Elijah recognises what young Elisha is asking for - he is saying "I want to stand where you have stood, to be God's ambassador to kings, to stand in the teeth of the storm and speak for God. And Elijah says, "You are asking for a difficult thing." And then he again seems to offer Elisha a way out - all along he has been giving Elisha an escape route, and now he does it again - "If you see me go, it will be yours." I understand this to be a challenge to count the cost of discipleship. It is going to be a hard life Elijah tells him, you can turn away now, but if you want the blessing stay here with me. And he stays.
In his Cry
"Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?"
The next thing that happens is that a fiery chariot and horses sweep between them, separating Elijah and Elisha. And then a whirlwind comes along and in the whirlwind Elijah is taken up to Heaven.
And at this Elisha is overwhelmed with grief - "My father, my father." It was a personal loss to Elisha. God's servants are not inhuman machines, and Elisha feels greatly the loss of the man whom he had lived and worked with for the last 10 or so years.
And as Elijah disappears from view, left behind is his cloak, and Elisha lifts the cloak. It is his token that he is to Elijah's successor, that his request has been answered. And he heads for the Jordan and as he gets to the Jordan, what does he say? Does he say, "Here is Elijah's cloak, a relic of this great saint of God - I must build a shrine to it and worship it."? Or "Here is the cloak of mighty Elijah, it will spilt the waters as it did before"?
No - he cries out "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah" because he knows that is the only solution. And he cries out - "where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" A passionate heartfelt plea.
Will you make it your plea - for your congregfation, for your own life? Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?
And the whole chapter is building up to this climax - Is Elisha going to be the divinely appointed successor to Elijah or not? Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Will God act for this servant as he acted for the previous servant? For this generation as in the previous generation? Is God with this follower of God as he was with Elijah?
The Answer
Imagine the scene. Elisha approaches the river with the cloak in his hand. On the other side 50 of the Prophets from Jericho were standing watching. They had seen Elijah and Elisha cross over. Now they watch as only Elisha returns they see in his hand Elijah's cloak. What will happen next? Elisha approaches the banks of the Jordan and strikes the waters and cries out "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah" and the waters part.
Here is the answer. The Lord the God of Elijah is with Elisha. Poor Elisha has lost Elijah, his grief is real, but he has not lost Elijah's God, and therefore all is well. The servant of God has gone, but God has not gone.
This passage teaches us that although times may change, and godly leaders come and go, God does not change. Is there any truth more comforting in an uncertain world than this? God, the same mighty God that was with Elijah, and so powerfully worked through Elijah was the same mighty God that was now with Elisha, and our God does not change and when in our day and in our generation we cry out, "Where NOW is the Lord, the God of Elijah?"
The Lord Jesus Christ answers, "I am with you always until the very end of the age."
And we see God's presence with Elisha in the next few verses as first of all the prophets recognise that Elisha is the successor - look at v15. Not only so, but when they seek his opinion about where Elijah is, and they set out to search for him, they learn that he not only has God's power present with him, but the wisdom of God with him as well.
Christian friends, not only do we have God's power at work in us and through us, and God's presence with us, but we have God's wisdom at our disposal. "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."
Elisha retraces the path taken by Elijah through Jericho and Bethel and there displays that God is with him by the miracles he works there.
Friends the great lesson here is that our God remains with his people and works through them. And so our great hunger and longing should be to know God's presence with us, the God who said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you," the God who said to Paul, "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you", that is the God who is with us. And like Elisha we should hunger, not just to know in our heads that he is with us, but to see him at work in us and through us, to have his power and wisdom evident in our lives.
Will you pray this prayer?
Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Introducing Elisha - 1 Kings 19
We're starting to look at Elisha over the next number of weeks in church. Here's the outline of where we went in the introduction.
Context – It is possible to serve God in Difficult times
Time: 850-800 BC After David and Solomon.
Place: Israel is split in two. The Northern kingdom is a godless place
Elisha & Elijah serve God in the Northern kingdom
Situation: Several generations of idol worship
Sexual immorality widespread
False teachers in the church
A coldness among the people of God
Often we think that no time is as bad as our own. Yet Elisha's world was much like 21st century Ireland
But God still had his people and still had his messengers
Even when God is angry with a nation, God is still tender towards his people
Contrast – God has shaped each of his people the way he wants them to be
Elijah – Possibly a poor background
Elisha – Well off family
Elijah – A lonely life mostly in the countryside
Elisha – Lived with the prophets and with people in cities
Elijah – A Prophet of Judgement
Elisha – A Prophet of Grace
Elijah – Extremes of temperament
Elisha – Even tempered and self controlled.
Elijah’s Message – God is Holy
Elisha’s Message – God is tender
Elijah's miracles - mostly judgment
Elisha's miracles - mostly healing and restoration
Both godly, both the men God made them.
God has different men for different times, different people for different situations.
Elisha doesn’t try to be Elijah. We need to be content with who God has made us, while yet striving to grow in godliness.
Calling – The Marks of the Servant of God
God’s call is an authoritative call that he expects to be obeyed. He calls all men and women to follow Christ.
Four characteristics of the man or woman who follows God
Context – It is possible to serve God in Difficult times
Time: 850-800 BC After David and Solomon.
Place: Israel is split in two. The Northern kingdom is a godless place
Elisha & Elijah serve God in the Northern kingdom
Situation: Several generations of idol worship
Sexual immorality widespread
False teachers in the church
A coldness among the people of God
Often we think that no time is as bad as our own. Yet Elisha's world was much like 21st century Ireland
But God still had his people and still had his messengers
Even when God is angry with a nation, God is still tender towards his people
Contrast – God has shaped each of his people the way he wants them to be
Elijah – Possibly a poor background
Elisha – Well off family
Elijah – A lonely life mostly in the countryside
Elisha – Lived with the prophets and with people in cities
Elijah – A Prophet of Judgement
Elisha – A Prophet of Grace
Elijah – Extremes of temperament
Elisha – Even tempered and self controlled.
Elijah’s Message – God is Holy
Elisha’s Message – God is tender
Elijah's miracles - mostly judgment
Elisha's miracles - mostly healing and restoration
Both godly, both the men God made them.
God has different men for different times, different people for different situations.
Elisha doesn’t try to be Elijah. We need to be content with who God has made us, while yet striving to grow in godliness.
Calling – The Marks of the Servant of God
God’s call is an authoritative call that he expects to be obeyed. He calls all men and women to follow Christ.
Four characteristics of the man or woman who follows God
- Diligent at whatever work God has given them – v19
- Immediate obedience to God’s word – v20a
- Willingness to sacrifice – v20b
- Humble service – v21 (see 2Kings 3:11)
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
How do you read your Bible?
I came across this quite challenging bit from JI Packer recently:
"So let us read the Bible - if we can. But can we? Many of us have lost the ability. When we open our Bibles, we do so in a frame of mind that forms an insurmountable barrier to reading it at all. This may sound startling, but it is true. Let me explain.
When you read a book, you treat it as a unit. You look for the plot or the main thread of the argument and follow it through to the end. You let the author's mind lead yours. Whether or not you allow yourself to "dip" before settling down to absorb the book, you know that you will not have understood it till you have read it from start to finish. If it is a book that you want to master, you set aside time for a careful, unhurried journey through it.
But when we come to Holy Scripture, our behaviour is different. To start with, we are not in the habit of treating it as a book - a unit - at all; we approach it simply as a collection of separate stories and sayings. We take it for granted that these items represent either moral advice or comfort for those in trouble. So we read the Bible in small doses, a few verses at a time. We do not go through individual books, let alone the two Testaments, as a single whole. We browse through the rich old Jacobean periods of the King James Version or the informalities of the New Living Translation, waiting for something to strike us. When the words bring a soothing thought or a pleasant picture, we believe the Bible has done its job. We have come to view the Bible not as a book, but as a collection of beautiful and suggestive snippets, and it is as such that we use it. The result is that, in the ordinary sense of "read," we never read the Bible at all. We take it for granted that we are handling Holy Writ in the truly religious way, but this use of it is in fact merely superstitious. It is, I grant, the way of natural religiosity. But it is not the way of true religion.
God does not intend Bible reading to function simply as a drug for fretful minds.
The reading of Scripture is intended to awaken our minds, not to send them to sleep. God asks us to approach Scripture as his Word - a message addressed to rational creatures, people with minds, a message we cannot expect to understand without thinking about it. "Come now, and let us reason together," said God to Judah through Isaiah (Isa. 1:18), and he says the same to us every time we take up his book. He has taught us to pray for divine enlightenment as we read. "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Ps. 119: 18). This is a prayer for God to give us insight as we think about his Word. But we effectively prevent God from answering this prayer if after praying we blank out and stop thinking as we read. God wants us to read the Bible as a book - a single story with a single theme. I am not forgetting that the Bible consists of many separate units (sixty-six to be exact) and that some of those units are themselves composites (such as the Psalter, which consists of 150 separate prayers and hymns). For all that, however, the Bible comes to us as the product of a single mind, the mind of God. It proves its unity over and over again by the amazing way it links together, one part throwing light on another part. So we should read it as a whole. And as we read, we are to ask: What is the plot of this book? What is its subject? What is it about? Unless we ask these questions, we will never see what it is saying to us about our lives.
When we reach this point, we shall find that God's message to us is more drastic and at the same time more heartening than any that human religiosity could conceive."
From JI Packer's God's Plans for You
"So let us read the Bible - if we can. But can we? Many of us have lost the ability. When we open our Bibles, we do so in a frame of mind that forms an insurmountable barrier to reading it at all. This may sound startling, but it is true. Let me explain.
When you read a book, you treat it as a unit. You look for the plot or the main thread of the argument and follow it through to the end. You let the author's mind lead yours. Whether or not you allow yourself to "dip" before settling down to absorb the book, you know that you will not have understood it till you have read it from start to finish. If it is a book that you want to master, you set aside time for a careful, unhurried journey through it.
But when we come to Holy Scripture, our behaviour is different. To start with, we are not in the habit of treating it as a book - a unit - at all; we approach it simply as a collection of separate stories and sayings. We take it for granted that these items represent either moral advice or comfort for those in trouble. So we read the Bible in small doses, a few verses at a time. We do not go through individual books, let alone the two Testaments, as a single whole. We browse through the rich old Jacobean periods of the King James Version or the informalities of the New Living Translation, waiting for something to strike us. When the words bring a soothing thought or a pleasant picture, we believe the Bible has done its job. We have come to view the Bible not as a book, but as a collection of beautiful and suggestive snippets, and it is as such that we use it. The result is that, in the ordinary sense of "read," we never read the Bible at all. We take it for granted that we are handling Holy Writ in the truly religious way, but this use of it is in fact merely superstitious. It is, I grant, the way of natural religiosity. But it is not the way of true religion.
God does not intend Bible reading to function simply as a drug for fretful minds.
The reading of Scripture is intended to awaken our minds, not to send them to sleep. God asks us to approach Scripture as his Word - a message addressed to rational creatures, people with minds, a message we cannot expect to understand without thinking about it. "Come now, and let us reason together," said God to Judah through Isaiah (Isa. 1:18), and he says the same to us every time we take up his book. He has taught us to pray for divine enlightenment as we read. "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Ps. 119: 18). This is a prayer for God to give us insight as we think about his Word. But we effectively prevent God from answering this prayer if after praying we blank out and stop thinking as we read. God wants us to read the Bible as a book - a single story with a single theme. I am not forgetting that the Bible consists of many separate units (sixty-six to be exact) and that some of those units are themselves composites (such as the Psalter, which consists of 150 separate prayers and hymns). For all that, however, the Bible comes to us as the product of a single mind, the mind of God. It proves its unity over and over again by the amazing way it links together, one part throwing light on another part. So we should read it as a whole. And as we read, we are to ask: What is the plot of this book? What is its subject? What is it about? Unless we ask these questions, we will never see what it is saying to us about our lives.
When we reach this point, we shall find that God's message to us is more drastic and at the same time more heartening than any that human religiosity could conceive."
From JI Packer's God's Plans for You
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Do you need to kiss your wife in private if you have already said, "Hello", to her in public?
Or, Do you need to do your daily Bible reading when you are at a Christian camp or conference?
Here is something that I was asked recently - if you are at some sort of Christian teaching event (camp, conference, mission team) where you are already receiving a lot of teaching, do you need to spend time in personal, private devotions? Surely you are getting enough in the teaching.
I don't know what anyone else thinks, but my instinctive reaction was, "Of course you should still spend time with God in private." But I couldn't really think of a good strong reason. I knew that in my life, I felt I was copping out in not to spending time with God in personal Bible reading, prayer and worship - even when I was at a ministers' conference.
However, a day after the conversation had occurred (why is it always a day later you get these insights?!), the answer came to me. Or rather it wasn't the answer, but my wife that came. She came to see me while I was leading a church camp. We stood and chatted a while with everyone standing around, and we talked as a group, and I heard what she was saying.
But that wasn't enough. I wanted to talk to her by myself, I wanted to hear what she had to say, I wanted to tell her about my week, I wanted to know how she was, I wanted to spend time with her on my own. It wasn't enough that I had heard her speak generally to others, and even specifically to me in front of others. I wanted to talk to her and talk to her about personal things.
It dawned on me that our relationship with God is similar in many respects. Its not enough to take in the teaching - we should long to commune with our Saviour. I'm not suggesting that we seek private revelations from God, but rather that we need to spend personal time with him, even at conferences or camps.
It may be the case at a conference or a camp that we do put our regular Bible reading pattern on hold, and take the talks and use that to form the basis for our personal meditation. Or we can read the passages that we have been studying, or are about to study. Or perhaps we take what has convicted us and pray over it and apply it to our own lives.
In any case, I suspect that when we start asking questions that begin with, "Do we need to…" - then there might be a more pressing issue of perspective that needs to be looked at. If I have to ask myself, "Do I need to kiss my wife?" - then I know something's wrong! Why do we read our Bible and pray? Is it just for knowledge? If so, then there is no real need to read and study more when we are being well fed at a conference. But it's not about knowledge; it's about relationship. And any man who is content to say '"Hello" to his wife in public and not long to converse with her personally in private has missed the point.
I wonder are we missing the point sometimes in our relationship with God?
Here is something that I was asked recently - if you are at some sort of Christian teaching event (camp, conference, mission team) where you are already receiving a lot of teaching, do you need to spend time in personal, private devotions? Surely you are getting enough in the teaching.
I don't know what anyone else thinks, but my instinctive reaction was, "Of course you should still spend time with God in private." But I couldn't really think of a good strong reason. I knew that in my life, I felt I was copping out in not to spending time with God in personal Bible reading, prayer and worship - even when I was at a ministers' conference.
However, a day after the conversation had occurred (why is it always a day later you get these insights?!), the answer came to me. Or rather it wasn't the answer, but my wife that came. She came to see me while I was leading a church camp. We stood and chatted a while with everyone standing around, and we talked as a group, and I heard what she was saying.
But that wasn't enough. I wanted to talk to her by myself, I wanted to hear what she had to say, I wanted to tell her about my week, I wanted to know how she was, I wanted to spend time with her on my own. It wasn't enough that I had heard her speak generally to others, and even specifically to me in front of others. I wanted to talk to her and talk to her about personal things.
It dawned on me that our relationship with God is similar in many respects. Its not enough to take in the teaching - we should long to commune with our Saviour. I'm not suggesting that we seek private revelations from God, but rather that we need to spend personal time with him, even at conferences or camps.
It may be the case at a conference or a camp that we do put our regular Bible reading pattern on hold, and take the talks and use that to form the basis for our personal meditation. Or we can read the passages that we have been studying, or are about to study. Or perhaps we take what has convicted us and pray over it and apply it to our own lives.
In any case, I suspect that when we start asking questions that begin with, "Do we need to…" - then there might be a more pressing issue of perspective that needs to be looked at. If I have to ask myself, "Do I need to kiss my wife?" - then I know something's wrong! Why do we read our Bible and pray? Is it just for knowledge? If so, then there is no real need to read and study more when we are being well fed at a conference. But it's not about knowledge; it's about relationship. And any man who is content to say '"Hello" to his wife in public and not long to converse with her personally in private has missed the point.
I wonder are we missing the point sometimes in our relationship with God?
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Book Review - Sex Romance & the Glory of God by C. J. Mahaney
Sex - God created it, the world abuses it, and most Christians are embarrassed by it.
The way the world treats sex is like using a Stradivarius violin to hammer in nails - a thing of wondrous beauty misused and trashed beyond all recognition. For years Christian men have been sold a pack of lies by the media. We have lost the vision of what God intended in marriage.
CJ Mahaney's book returns us to the maker's instructions and restores a much profounder biblical perspective of romance within marriage as God intended it. He uses the Song of Solomon to illustrate how men should treat their wives. He puts the masterpiece of marriage back into its God-given frame, showing the significance of what marriage demonstrates - the relationship between Christ and his people. He calls Christian men to selfless sacrificial love, like Christ's love for his Church. He calls men to be leaders, a much-needed truth; and to be thoughtful caring servant husbands, possibly a more needed truth.
One of the great lessons repeatedly brought home is: "Before you touch her body, touch her heart and mind."
Too often men are more focused on their needs and pleasures. This is not what God intended in marriage - a selfless giving by each person. Mahaney then proceeds to illustrate what this means, and to help us men with the task of romancing our wives, and to develop marriages that go way beyond the physical side of the relationship.
This book is a must read for all married men. Some may find Mahaney's frankness startling, but he deals with this delicate subject without being crude or explicit. Mahaney's wife, Carolyn, has added an appendix, "A Word to Wives", which contains much of what we might want to say to our wives, but are afraid to.
I strongly recommend you read this book, and put his suggestions into practice so that in a world where marriage is unfashionable and often self-serving, we will be able to live God-honouring, God-glorifying marriages.
Men, buy it and surprise your wife. Ladies, buy it for your husbands.
Monday, August 22, 2005
A subject close to my own heart!
Here's a post that I might even print out and distribute to some people I know!
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Food for thought - The power of images
(My local newspaper column. This post was inspired by this one by Doug Groothuis.)
Something has happened to the news. I wonder if you've noticed a change?
I noticed it on holiday when I was reading the newspaper. Then when I came home I noticed it on the RTE news; one report in particular stood out.
Towards the end of July there was a news report on the 6.01 evening news bulletin concerning vandalism of a parish church, school and community centre in Moycullen, Co Galway. Quite rightly, the whole tone of the report was one of disgust and outrage. Yet in the footage that accompanied this report the camera zoomed in and panned across the walls so that we could see the exact terms used in the sexually explicit and vulgar graffiti. We were left in no doubt as to what four-letter obscenities had been scrawled and sprayed.
Given that the newsreaders would not have been permitted to read what was daubed, why was it permissible to display it? As a father of a little girl I have no desire for her to grow up using such language. If my daughter was at an age where she could read, I would not allow her to read books with such explicit language - yet in the act of watching the news she would have been subjected to it.
Bizarrely, it was almost as if RTE news was doing the vandals work for them - the vandals had a message they wanted to convey and RTE happily conveyed it for them.
I don't think it's a one off either. It seems to be part of a growing trend amongst news reports to be more gritty (I almost typed 'grotty'!) and realistic. It used to be that we would see a distant shot of a body covered with a white sheet, now the camera often zooms in to show the blood seeping through. Close-up shots of injured bomb victims have become much more common in the newspapers.
I'm not convinced that just because an event has happened that I need to see it in graphic detail. There are some images that should not be shown. Not merely extremely gruesome images, but indecent things also. It might be news, but there are times when decency looks away. St Augustine wrote about this 1600 years ago in words that have a curiously modern ring to them:
"What pleasure is to be found in looking at a mangled corpse, an experience which evokes revulsion? Yet wherever one is lying, people crowd around to be made sad and to turn pale. To satisfy this diseased craving, outrageous sights are staged in public shows."
He goes on to describe such curiosity as a vice, a sin.
Images are powerful, and burn themselves into the memory for much longer than verbal descriptions. News broadcasters and newspaper editors have a responsibility to their public to choose wisely what they show. Because the more they show, the more they shape society. What we see influences how we think. The more filth and violence we see, the more desensitised to filth and violence we become.
And so far I'm only thinking about the news. This doesn't even begin to touch on the vast variety of other programmes and advertising, and their use of images.
But as well as there being a burden on broadcasters, there lies a burden on us as well to take care over what we look at. Mankind is made in the image of God, and certain images are not befitting to that dignity.
Something has happened to the news. I wonder if you've noticed a change?
I noticed it on holiday when I was reading the newspaper. Then when I came home I noticed it on the RTE news; one report in particular stood out.
Towards the end of July there was a news report on the 6.01 evening news bulletin concerning vandalism of a parish church, school and community centre in Moycullen, Co Galway. Quite rightly, the whole tone of the report was one of disgust and outrage. Yet in the footage that accompanied this report the camera zoomed in and panned across the walls so that we could see the exact terms used in the sexually explicit and vulgar graffiti. We were left in no doubt as to what four-letter obscenities had been scrawled and sprayed.
Given that the newsreaders would not have been permitted to read what was daubed, why was it permissible to display it? As a father of a little girl I have no desire for her to grow up using such language. If my daughter was at an age where she could read, I would not allow her to read books with such explicit language - yet in the act of watching the news she would have been subjected to it.
Bizarrely, it was almost as if RTE news was doing the vandals work for them - the vandals had a message they wanted to convey and RTE happily conveyed it for them.
I don't think it's a one off either. It seems to be part of a growing trend amongst news reports to be more gritty (I almost typed 'grotty'!) and realistic. It used to be that we would see a distant shot of a body covered with a white sheet, now the camera often zooms in to show the blood seeping through. Close-up shots of injured bomb victims have become much more common in the newspapers.
I'm not convinced that just because an event has happened that I need to see it in graphic detail. There are some images that should not be shown. Not merely extremely gruesome images, but indecent things also. It might be news, but there are times when decency looks away. St Augustine wrote about this 1600 years ago in words that have a curiously modern ring to them:
"What pleasure is to be found in looking at a mangled corpse, an experience which evokes revulsion? Yet wherever one is lying, people crowd around to be made sad and to turn pale. To satisfy this diseased craving, outrageous sights are staged in public shows."
He goes on to describe such curiosity as a vice, a sin.
Images are powerful, and burn themselves into the memory for much longer than verbal descriptions. News broadcasters and newspaper editors have a responsibility to their public to choose wisely what they show. Because the more they show, the more they shape society. What we see influences how we think. The more filth and violence we see, the more desensitised to filth and violence we become.
And so far I'm only thinking about the news. This doesn't even begin to touch on the vast variety of other programmes and advertising, and their use of images.
But as well as there being a burden on broadcasters, there lies a burden on us as well to take care over what we look at. Mankind is made in the image of God, and certain images are not befitting to that dignity.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Food for thought - "Relationship advice"
I was preaching at a friend's wedding a few weeks ago. As part of the sermon I was encouraging them to read over and put into practice an article written by my own minister, Ted Donnelly. It had some really good advice, not just for newly weds, but for all people, for all relationships. So I thought I'd share it with all of you, for there is wisdom here for all of us.
"Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them" - Matthew 7:12
"Personal relationships seem to cause more trouble than anything else. Friendships are broken, families destroyed, drugs taken, and murders committed because of them. Efforts are made to provide guidance - clinics, books, and counselling. But nothing seems to do much good. People are so different, circumstances change so rapidly, situations prove so complicated. We almost despair.
Here, in one luminous sentence, aptly called 'the golden rule', is the Lord Jesus' recipe for personal relationships. Easily understood and applied, it has the touch of a teacher of genius. In the words of JC Ryle: 'It prevents the necessity of laying down endless little rules for our conduct in specific cases. It sweeps the whole debatable ground with one mighty principle.'
The golden rule is positive. It tells us not merely that we are to refrain from harming our neighbour, but that we are to do him good - not merely that we are not to rob, but that we are to give - not merely that we are not to murder, but that we are to save life. It is concerned and compassionate. And this is because God, who gave his only begotten Son, has been supremely positive in his dealings with us.
The golden rule is liberating. The common ethic 'do to others what they do to you' is enslaving, because it means that our behaviour is dictated by others. They act - whether kindly or otherwise - and we merely respond in kind. We become their mirrors, their echoes. But Christ offers a pattern of behaviour which is truly free. We choose to behave as God wants us to, irrespective of what others may do. And this freedom has its roots in the sovereignty of our Heavenly Father, who chooses to love us, not as a response to who or what we are, but out of his own free grace.
The golden rule is substitutionary. It demands an effort of the imagination. Whatever you wish that others would do to you - if you were in their place - do also to them. The employer, the husband, the wife, the parent, the pastor - all must ask: 'How would I want to he treated if I were in the position of my employee, wife, husband, child, church member?' - and then act on that basis. It is a fruitful approach to personal relations. And that is because it echoes the mighty reality at the heart of salvation. For Someone took our place, not just in imagination but in fact, on the central cross at Calvary. The golden rule is based on the self-giving of Jesus and to obey it is to walk in the steps of the Saviour."
"Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them" - Matthew 7:12
"Personal relationships seem to cause more trouble than anything else. Friendships are broken, families destroyed, drugs taken, and murders committed because of them. Efforts are made to provide guidance - clinics, books, and counselling. But nothing seems to do much good. People are so different, circumstances change so rapidly, situations prove so complicated. We almost despair.
Here, in one luminous sentence, aptly called 'the golden rule', is the Lord Jesus' recipe for personal relationships. Easily understood and applied, it has the touch of a teacher of genius. In the words of JC Ryle: 'It prevents the necessity of laying down endless little rules for our conduct in specific cases. It sweeps the whole debatable ground with one mighty principle.'
The golden rule is positive. It tells us not merely that we are to refrain from harming our neighbour, but that we are to do him good - not merely that we are not to rob, but that we are to give - not merely that we are not to murder, but that we are to save life. It is concerned and compassionate. And this is because God, who gave his only begotten Son, has been supremely positive in his dealings with us.
The golden rule is liberating. The common ethic 'do to others what they do to you' is enslaving, because it means that our behaviour is dictated by others. They act - whether kindly or otherwise - and we merely respond in kind. We become their mirrors, their echoes. But Christ offers a pattern of behaviour which is truly free. We choose to behave as God wants us to, irrespective of what others may do. And this freedom has its roots in the sovereignty of our Heavenly Father, who chooses to love us, not as a response to who or what we are, but out of his own free grace.
The golden rule is substitutionary. It demands an effort of the imagination. Whatever you wish that others would do to you - if you were in their place - do also to them. The employer, the husband, the wife, the parent, the pastor - all must ask: 'How would I want to he treated if I were in the position of my employee, wife, husband, child, church member?' - and then act on that basis. It is a fruitful approach to personal relations. And that is because it echoes the mighty reality at the heart of salvation. For Someone took our place, not just in imagination but in fact, on the central cross at Calvary. The golden rule is based on the self-giving of Jesus and to obey it is to walk in the steps of the Saviour."
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Book Review - The Big Picture for Small Churches
The Big Picture for Small Churches
John Benton
Evangelical Press
I was talking to someone recently and they were amazed to find out that I was the pastor of two congregations, and they oohed and ahhed over this, assuring me that this work was an amazing calling. Their face and enthusiasm changed somewhat when I told them that one congregation had 35 people out on a Sabbath, and the other about 12.
We live in a world that values only the big and the successful. As John Benton puts it, "a society that worships at the shrine of size." And let's face it, we are part of a small denomination with small congregations. When we look around us and the bigger churches in other denominations, even our biggest congregations look small. And it is easy to become discouraged.
It is for such moments and such congregations that John Benton has written this book. It is a wonderful little book and a timely corrective in a world obsessed with size. Benton reminds us that God is not obsessed with size but with the heart. And he goes on to argue that since God will not give his glory to another, a small congregation is perhaps better situated to be used by God. In a small congregation with little or no earthly resources the credit for success cannot be laid at the feet of "two little old ladies, a blind man and his dog", and so God is seen to be all-glorious. This is no spin job, but an outworking of biblical truth.
Benton outlines some of Satan's tactics in seeking to destroy small fellowships, before going on to set out five key aspects of church life that are attainable in any congregation, no matter its size: Quality presence, Quality welcome, Quality teaching, Quality hospitality and Quality prayer. Closing chapters on 'Heaven's Resources' and 'How to fight discouragement in a small church' make this an extremely helpful and practical book.
Benton doesn't beat about the bush, and he writes in a plain straightforward style. There is much practical pastoral wisdom here to recalibrate our thinking. It would be a great book for every church member to read - not just because of our size, but especially because of the five key qualities he sets out for churches. If we were putting these five into practice, things might be a lot different!
John Benton
Evangelical Press
I was talking to someone recently and they were amazed to find out that I was the pastor of two congregations, and they oohed and ahhed over this, assuring me that this work was an amazing calling. Their face and enthusiasm changed somewhat when I told them that one congregation had 35 people out on a Sabbath, and the other about 12.
We live in a world that values only the big and the successful. As John Benton puts it, "a society that worships at the shrine of size." And let's face it, we are part of a small denomination with small congregations. When we look around us and the bigger churches in other denominations, even our biggest congregations look small. And it is easy to become discouraged.
It is for such moments and such congregations that John Benton has written this book. It is a wonderful little book and a timely corrective in a world obsessed with size. Benton reminds us that God is not obsessed with size but with the heart. And he goes on to argue that since God will not give his glory to another, a small congregation is perhaps better situated to be used by God. In a small congregation with little or no earthly resources the credit for success cannot be laid at the feet of "two little old ladies, a blind man and his dog", and so God is seen to be all-glorious. This is no spin job, but an outworking of biblical truth.
Benton outlines some of Satan's tactics in seeking to destroy small fellowships, before going on to set out five key aspects of church life that are attainable in any congregation, no matter its size: Quality presence, Quality welcome, Quality teaching, Quality hospitality and Quality prayer. Closing chapters on 'Heaven's Resources' and 'How to fight discouragement in a small church' make this an extremely helpful and practical book.
Benton doesn't beat about the bush, and he writes in a plain straightforward style. There is much practical pastoral wisdom here to recalibrate our thinking. It would be a great book for every church member to read - not just because of our size, but especially because of the five key qualities he sets out for churches. If we were putting these five into practice, things might be a lot different!
Sunday, August 07, 2005
A couple of reviews on Da Vinci Code books
(Sorry fo the absence - I was away leading a church camp for 13-15 year olds)
Most Christians, on this side of the pond at least, don't seem to realise how big Dan Brown's best selling novel, the 'Da Vinci Code', is. It is a publishing phenomenon - 36 million copies in print (as of August 2005), translated into 44 languages.
It is a very readable novel that combines a fast paced action thriller with a series of claims that undermine historic Christianity. True, it contains nothing that is new - many of these claims have been bandied about for years, but now everyone is reading them.
It is easy to read the book and dismiss it as nothing to worry about. But although there is nothing here to worry the believer, there is another, very real, danger. Someone once said, possibly Goebbels (Hitler's propaganda minister), "If you repeat a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it". Therein lies the danger of "The Da Vinci Code". Many people will read the Da Vinci Code yet never lift the Bible to verify the claims made.
Here is a fantastic witnessing opportunity for Christians. Next year the film will be released. Now is the time to get your head around some of the facts. Already it has been a topic for discussion in numerous places.
Here are a couple of books (a third book will follow later, DV) that will get you started. You only need to read one of them - that will give you enough to work from!
The Da Vinci Code on Trial
Stephen Clark
Bryntirion Press
Stephen Clark was a solicitor before becoming a minister. In this book he places a very different defendant on trial: Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code".
At 90 pages, this is a short, but very readable book that highlights many of the errors in the Da Vinci Code. It deals specifically with the aspects that relate to Christianity, and provides solid answers to many of the claims in the book. Areas outside of scripture and Christianity are largely left untouched, such as the Priory of Sion hoax. Clark also includes a chapter at the start giving an overview of the book, and its key claims.
Clark states his intention in the introduction:
Cracking Da Vinci's Code
James Garlow & Peter Jones
Victor Books
At 240 pages this is a longer book than Clark's and covers the Da Vinci Code in more in-depth fashion.
Jones and Garlow have taken a leaf out of Brown's book and sought to interweave a fictional story throughout their book, in an attempt to personalise some of the questions that readers of the Da Vinci Code might have.
The strength of this book over Clark's is also its weakness: It has more detail and covers more aspects of the novel, and so takes longer to read. However it gives the reader a broader knowledge of the Bible's teaching on different topics, the history of the church, the reliability of scripture etc. Scattered throughout the book are sidebars that discuss some of the side issues raised by Brown.
Again this is an easy-to-read book.
It comes with a pull-out copy of Da Vinci's 'Last Supper' which is subject to many claims in the Da Vinci Code. Also included is a discussion guide. On their website they have provided an index to the book to make it easier to reference.
At this stage I am 'over read' on the Code - so don't buy any more than one of these, one is enough!
Most Christians, on this side of the pond at least, don't seem to realise how big Dan Brown's best selling novel, the 'Da Vinci Code', is. It is a publishing phenomenon - 36 million copies in print (as of August 2005), translated into 44 languages.
It is a very readable novel that combines a fast paced action thriller with a series of claims that undermine historic Christianity. True, it contains nothing that is new - many of these claims have been bandied about for years, but now everyone is reading them.
It is easy to read the book and dismiss it as nothing to worry about. But although there is nothing here to worry the believer, there is another, very real, danger. Someone once said, possibly Goebbels (Hitler's propaganda minister), "If you repeat a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it". Therein lies the danger of "The Da Vinci Code". Many people will read the Da Vinci Code yet never lift the Bible to verify the claims made.
Here is a fantastic witnessing opportunity for Christians. Next year the film will be released. Now is the time to get your head around some of the facts. Already it has been a topic for discussion in numerous places.
Here are a couple of books (a third book will follow later, DV) that will get you started. You only need to read one of them - that will give you enough to work from!
The Da Vinci Code on Trial
Stephen Clark
Bryntirion Press
Stephen Clark was a solicitor before becoming a minister. In this book he places a very different defendant on trial: Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code".
At 90 pages, this is a short, but very readable book that highlights many of the errors in the Da Vinci Code. It deals specifically with the aspects that relate to Christianity, and provides solid answers to many of the claims in the book. Areas outside of scripture and Christianity are largely left untouched, such as the Priory of Sion hoax. Clark also includes a chapter at the start giving an overview of the book, and its key claims.
Clark states his intention in the introduction:
"I wish to demonstrate that real Christian faith is passionate about the truth. Far from encouraging or confirming a closed mind, the exact opposite is the case: real Christianity engages the mind and intellect."This is excellent and would also be suitable for giving away.
Cracking Da Vinci's Code
James Garlow & Peter Jones
Victor Books
At 240 pages this is a longer book than Clark's and covers the Da Vinci Code in more in-depth fashion.
Jones and Garlow have taken a leaf out of Brown's book and sought to interweave a fictional story throughout their book, in an attempt to personalise some of the questions that readers of the Da Vinci Code might have.
The strength of this book over Clark's is also its weakness: It has more detail and covers more aspects of the novel, and so takes longer to read. However it gives the reader a broader knowledge of the Bible's teaching on different topics, the history of the church, the reliability of scripture etc. Scattered throughout the book are sidebars that discuss some of the side issues raised by Brown.
Again this is an easy-to-read book.
It comes with a pull-out copy of Da Vinci's 'Last Supper' which is subject to many claims in the Da Vinci Code. Also included is a discussion guide. On their website they have provided an index to the book to make it easier to reference.
At this stage I am 'over read' on the Code - so don't buy any more than one of these, one is enough!
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Ruth Chapter 4 - The Redeemer Redeems (3)
The Blessings on the Redeemed v11-22
This book of Ruth with its happy ending shows us what happens to those whom God redeems. I read a book called “A fine Balance” – a book about India. Two men from a low caste tribe, make a success of their lives tailoring, they break the system, but the book ends in tragedy. There is no happy ending. A miserable book. Possibly very true to life. But miserable. But for the man or woman who puts their hope in God there is hope.
The life of the redeemed is blessed by God. Naomi, is no longer empty, but her life has been turned around. Ruth the widow, for whom it would have made more sense to stay in Moab, but who committed herself to following God, she finds herself with a husband, and inheritance, a son. She who didn’t belong, finds herself belonging. God is no woman’s debtor, or no man’s debtor. If you commit your way to the Lord he will pour out blessing on your life. Not material blessings, but certainly spiritual ones, ones that can never be taken away.
We see some of them here in the closing verses of Ruth 4:
A place in God’s kingdomRuth’s son will bear the inheritance that was assigned by God to his father Mahlon. Ruth now has a place in the Kingdom of Israel. She has her tact of land there. V 10
Friends – if you are a believer you have a place, no less real than Ruth place, in the Kingdom of Heaven. It is your inheritance. It is being prepared for you right now. It has your name on it. I’m not talking a piece of heavenly real estate, but a place in the presence of God, where you will enjoy him forever.
A place in God’s peopleThe words of the women of the town as they speak their blessing on the wedding reinforce that Ruth the outsider has been brought in. They want her to be as blessed as the founder of the town of Bethlehem, Perez. There is a great sense of belonging here. It doesn’t matter what background you come from – there is no tier system in God’s kingdom.
You have a place in God’s people.
Ephesians Ch 2:11-21 is the New Testament equivalent of this passage.
You belong. See how both Ruth and Naomi have been given a new family. You too have been given a new family when you came to Christ. New brothers and sisters, a new elder brother, a new father. It doesn’t matter if like Naomi you grew up among the people of God, or whether you are like Ruth and have no Christian background. There is no such thing as a second class Christian.
A part in God’s planThe elders on the day of the marriage pronounce this great blessing on Ruth and Boaz. But as they pronounce it they have no idea of how it will be fulfilled. They pray for honour and blessing to be on them. They pray for fruitfulness.
But little did they know what that honour and fruitfulness would mean. The family tree that the book ends with shows Ruth and Boaz place in the line of the greatest of Israel’s Kings. King David. And from Matthew ch 1 we see them again in the family tree of David’s greater son, King Jesus.
When God redeems people he has not just a place for them, but a purpose for them. And that purpose far exceeds anything you can imagine. And as you seek to live your life here with commitment and faithfulness, God will work through you. And although you may see nothing come of it – Ruth would have been in glory by the time David became King – Heaven will reveal to you what God did through your life. The effects of your prayers, the effects of your words. So don’t be discouraged or become weary in doing good.
A present provision from the hand of GodAmongst all the sorrow of the opening chapter, it would have been hard to explain to Ruth and Naomi the outcome. Naomi was so convinced of the harshness of her life, that she changed her name. Yet God had other plans. He provides the whole way through the book. And God provides, not just a redeemer for Ruth, but in the child, he has also provided a redeemer for Naomi. V14
And this child will provide and sustain Naomi for the rest of her life. Friends in the words of the townswomen we have a great description of the blessings of our redeemer – one who restores life, and who sustains us.
This book teaches us that no matter how dark the days are, and how stress filled, we have a father in Heaven who provides, and brings great blessing to those who commit their ways into his hands.
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