A WIDOWS OIL
How much is a bar of iron worth? A plain bar of iron is worth $5. The same bar of iron if made into horse shoes would be worth $50. If it were made into needles, it would be worth $5,000. If it were made into balance springs for fine Swiss watches, it would be worth $500,000. The raw material is not as important as how it’s developed. God says we have spiritual gifts, but their worth to Him will be dependent on how we use and develop them.
2 Kings 4:1 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." 2 Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil." 3 Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbours for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." 5 She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."
During an interview, Bud Wilkinson, coach of a number one college football team, was asked “What contribution does professional sports make to the physical fitness of Americans?” His answer was unsurprisingly “very little.” He added, “A professional football game is happening where 50,000 spectators, desperately needing exercise, sit in the stands watching 22 men on the field desperately needing rest!” The church should not be like this.
“A Christian who does not have a ministry is a contradiction of terms” - John MacArthur
Jesus is building His church and He is looking for men and women who will join with him in the construction. Perhaps you are thinking to yourself “what part do I play in building the church? What can I bring to help?” You can bring 3 things:
1. Bring what you have (vs. 1-2) -
This widow had been the wife of a prophet who had died. She had reached the end of her rope and had nothing left. She was so poor her sons were being sold into slavery. She cried out to Elisha and he asked what she had in the house. Isn’t that a little strange? Instead of asking what she WANTED he asked what she HAD. He then took what she had and multiplied it.
This is how the Lord often works in our lives. Sometimes we can come to him and ask Him to make us something which we are not. We ask to be another Billy Graham or Hudson Taylor. He asks us to give what we already have so that He can multiply it and use it for the kingdom.
Everyone excels in something in which another fails. -- Latin Proverb
John 6 - Feeding the 5000. What do you have to offer the Lord. What has God already given you that you can give to him to multiply for His service?
The problem with the church is that, “few of us really know our strengths. The great teachers, and great leaders, recognize their strengths and focus on them.” -- Peter Drucker
A man was sitting on his porch in the Southern USA. He recently retired from the post office, and he’s sitting there when his first Social Security check is delivered. He’s very, very discouraged. He thinks to himself, "Is this what life is going to be from now on--sitting on the porch waiting for my check to arrive?" He decided he wouldn’t settle for that, and so he made a list of all of the things he had going for him all the blessings and the capacities, the unique things that were in him. The list was long because he listed everything he could think of and in the list was the fact that he was the only person on earth who knew his mother’s recipe for fried chicken. It used eleven different herbs and spices. So he went to a nearby restaurant and asked if he could cook the chicken, and they said yes. It soon became the most popular item on the menu. So he opened his own restaurant, and then others, and a string of restaurants. Eventually Harland Sanders sold the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise across all of America. He finally retired a second time (all this happened, you remember, after he had retired from the postal service), and he continued in the service of the company as a public relations representative for a quarter of a million dollars a year till his death.
Perhaps you are thinking that what you have is so small and insignificant. Remember that God can use anything or anyone to accomplish His purposes. History is full of ordinary people who did extraordinary things for God because they used what they had been given. What talent or experiences do you have that God can use? Do you know your spiritual gift – if not then you need to find out what that is.
2. Bring what is Available (vs. 3) –
There was enough oil to fill either 5 or 5000 jars. The quantity of oil received was not based on the miracle but on the availability of the jars. It was not the jars present but the jars available that ere important. This is what determined the quantity of oil received, not God.
The effectiveness of ministry in the church is not based on God’s ability. God has given us his Spirit and the gifts we need to be a light in the world. He has given us His word which is the power of salvation for everyone who believes. Unfortunately there are too many one jar Christians in the church today.
Story of the wise old man and the boy with small bird.
Often we are not available because we are so busy. A brand new lawyer in his brand new office on his first day in practice sees a prospective client walk in the door. He decides he should look busy, so he picks up the phone and starts talking: "Look, Harry, about that amalgamation deal. I think I better run down to the factory and handle it personally. Yes. No. I don’t think 3 million will swing it. We better have Rogers from Seattle meet us there. OK. Look, I have to go, call you back later." He looks up at the visitor and says, "Good morning, how may I help you?" And the prospective client says, "You can’t help me at all. I’m just here to hook up your phone."
In the busyness of our Christian life it is easy to become so pre-occupied with other things that we become unavailable to be used by God. We can look busy but not really be hooked into Christ and His will for our lives. In order to be filled you must first be available. God often does not move through the most educated or gifted person but through the most available person He can find. Through the one who says, “here am I Lord, use me”. Make yourself available to God and He will use you.
3. Bring what is Empty (vs. 4) -
The jars which the widow brought needed to be not just available but also empty. Jars that were full of something else would have been of little use. You cannot fill an already full thing.
When Jesus gave His sermon on the mount He began with “Blessed are the poor in Spirit”. That is because emptiness is the starting place for filling. In addition to making ourselves available to God we must also must be filled with His Spirit. To fully use and flow in the gifts that God has given we must hand over the control of our life to God.
Eph 5:17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is looking for people who are “under the influence”. Whose mind, heart and will is controlled by His Spirit. In the Greek verb “Be Filled” is interesting:
a. It is imperative (a command). This is a non negotiable. It is God’s plan for your life. It is not something just for a group of "charismatics" - it is for everyone!
b. It is passive. It is not something you do but something that is done to you. God is the one who fills - you simply receive. It is not taking more from God but allowing God to have more of you. You received all of the Holy Spirit when you came to Christ. Now you need to allow that Spirit to have free reign in your life.
c. It is present. It is not something that happened once but something that is continuous. It requires constant attention (every day). The reason for this is that there is constant depletion. No matter how much you eat today you will be hungry tomorrow. No matter how much gas you put in your car, if you drive it eventually it will need more. No matter how much you are filled in a service you have to be filled again - sometimes even before you get to the parking lot. You constantly need to be filled because you are constantly being pulled back into the flesh. Moody was once asked by a woman why he always preached on being filled and why one filling was not enough. He replied "Because Madam, I leak". The more you "leak" the more and more frequently you need to fill.
An illiterate man who was converted through the work of the Salvation Army. He went regularly to the Salvation Army church. One day he came home rather depressed. His wife said, "What’s the matter?" He said, "I’ve just noticed that all the people in the Salvation Army wear red sweaters, and I don’t have a red sweater." She said, "I’ll knit one." So she knitted him a red sweater. The next Sunday after he went to church, he still wasn’t happy. His wife said, "What’s wrong this time?" He said, "I just noticed all their red sweaters have yellow writing." They were both illiterate, but she said, "Don’t worry about it. I’ll embroider some writing on for you." She had no idea what the yellow writing on the red sweater of a Salvation Army man said--Any of you know what it is? They have a yellow circle, and in it, BLOOD AND FIRE. That s their motto. The man’s wife had no idea what the letters said, and she couldn’t read anyway. So copying a sign from a store window opposite their home, she embroidered the words of that store sign onto his red sweater. When he came back the next Sunday, she said, "Did they like your sweater?" "They loved my sweater. Some of them said they liked my sweater better than their sweater." What neither of them knew was that the sign on the store window she had copied read, UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.
When you give God control in your life He moves in and starts to change things. Priorities and attitudes change.
Nobody can be indwelt by the Spirit of God and keep that Spirit to himself. Where the Spirit is, he flows forth. And where there is no flowing forth, he is not there. -- Bishop William Temple
You have your gifts not so much for your own sake as for the sake of others. You are like an apple tree that produces fruit not for its own consumption but for the consumption of others. Your gifts are given so you can bless others by ministering to them. If you have the gift of teaching, you have it so others in the body will be taught. If you have the gift of hospitality, it is because others need the gracious welcome they receive from you. If even one gifted person fails to function, the body of Christ is deprived of a ministry it needs to function well.
Do you want to be used by God? It means identifying what the Lord has already given you in Christ. It means opening your life and making yourself available to God. It means giving over the control of your life and asking Jesus to use you. It begins with a prayer – “Lord Jesus Christ you can have all of me. I will do anything you ask of me, go anywhere you direct me, give anything you request of me, anytime.”
