This is the 15th and penultimate sermon in series on Elisha.
The episodes are particularly bloodthirsty – as they are in scripture, we cannot avoid it.
We will look at:
1. Listening before we speak
2. The people we speak to
3. The consequences
1. Listening before we speak
God has given us two ears and one mouth – Elisha could not repeat what God had told him to say unless he had listened to God in the first place
Jarsen Sparks has written: ‘When you talk, you repeat what you already know. When you listen, you often learn something.’
We need to listen to His heart, to reach out to those who are lost and those who wandered – ‘My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jeremiah 2: 13)
The church can either be like a cruise liner or fishing boat – all working or just along for the ride, flabby or fit, productive or relaxing - which one are you in?
William Booth, founder of Salvation Army, commented ‘”Not called!” did you say? “Not heard the call,” I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonised heart of humanity, and listen to their pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world.’
We can only listen if we are:
a) Reading His Word – what is on His heart (reconciliation, truth, justice) He hasalready told to us.
b) Spend time with Him – we sing ‘Take time to be holy’ (hymn), but out lives are so full of busyness.
Blaise Pascal (the French philosopher in the 17th century) wrote ‘All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.’ If we are surrounded by noise, we cannot hear the still, small voice of God.
c) Look for His opportunities for Him to talk to you - in Bible: e.g. an ass, a centurion; for you, it could be your unconverted neighbour, the person behind the cash till (warning: check out if content in line with the Bible for God never contradicts Himself).
We are to listen carefully to what God is saying, and to note it precisely and accurately. We are not to be like this illustration: After the christening of his baby brother in church, Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally, the boy replied, ‘That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home, and I wanted to stay with you guys.’
God still speaks to those who take time to listen
2. The people we speak to
When we have heard God speak and we have listened to Him, we will then need to move out.
God is calling us and we need to be prophetic people – speaking God’s truth into our community.
We do not know who we are talking to, for Hazael is described by text of Shalmanazer III of Assyria (the superpower of the time) as a ‘son of nobody,’ i.e. a commoner and of no consequence. We are to be aware that all people have significance in God’s eyes.
Elisha was already known in Damascus for the influence of Namaan’s miracle having preceded him – despite the king of Aram having sent an army to capture Elisha recently.
God knows the heart of man – ‘A man’s heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things, no one can understand it.’(Jeremiah 17: 9) – God knew that Hazael had wickedness in his heart, knew that Judas going to betray Jesus, knew what we are really like.
On Thursday 27 May 1999, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, the first victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado was invited to speak to a judiciary sub-committee of the House of Representatives:
"I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy-it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room.
Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. "I wrote a poem that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today:"
Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!
"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, soul, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc…
What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs, politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties.
We do not need more restrictive laws." Eric and Dylan [the perpetrators of the crime] would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts…’
In 8: 12 – 14, Elisha was moved at outcome of his prophesy – how much are we moved when we speak God’s good news to others?
Sometimes, there is a need to train up others – Elisha sent a young man (by Jewish tradition, it was Jonah) from school of the prophets.
We need to be communicators of God’s grace to our community not sit on the sidelines:
· If we will not spend time communicating with God (listening and speaking), we will not be communicators of God’s grace
· If we cannot see the need, we will not be communicators of God’s grace
· If we cannot get offended at what offends God, we will not be communicators of God’s grace
· If we cannot give of ourselves or what God has given to us, we will not be communicators of God’s grace
· If even coming to meet with His people on a Sunday and during the week to listen to God together and to encourage one another, we will not be communicators of God’s grace
Oswald J Smith – ‘We talk of the second coming, half the world has never heard of the first.’
3. The consequences
When we have heard God and obeyed Him in going out, there will always be a response – even apathy is a reaction.
We are not responsible for the outcome, that is for the Holy Spirit – result of people’s choice of whether or not to love and follow God
We need to pass on the message of God with accuracy and at the right time.
I am reminded of the following illustration:
Imagine passengers on a small commuter plane waiting for the flight to leave. They’re getting a little impatient, but the airway staff assure them that the pilots will be there soon, and this way he flight can take off. The entrance opens, and two men dressed in pilots’ uniforms walk up the aisle. Both are wearing dark glasses, one is accompanied by a guide dog, and the other is tapping his way up the aisle with a cane. Nervous laughter spreads through the cabin but the two men enter the cockpit, the door closes, and the engines starts up. The passengers begin glancing nervously around, searching for some sign that this is just a little practical joke. None is forthcoming. The plane moves faster and faster down the runway, and the people next to the windows realise that they’re heading straight for the lake at the edge of the airport. As it begins to look as though the plane will plunge into the water, panicked screams fill the cabin. At that moment, the plane lifts smoothly into the air. The passengers relax and laugh a little sheepishly, and soon retreat into their magazines, secure in the knowledge that the plane is in good hands. In the cockpit, the co-pilot turns to the pilot and says, ‘You know, Bob, one of these days, they’re going to scream too late, and we are all going to die.’
Look briefly at the two uprisings:
a) Jehu
The revolution occured in 843 or 842 BC when the cult of Baal was eliminated (chapter 10).
God needed to take drastic action since the false priests were turning His people away from Him, hence love in action as judgement (it was not arbitrary or vengeful). The honour of His name and concern for those He had created was paramount – sin cannot be tolerated.
In 9: 1, Jehu was the only king of the northern kingdom to be anointed, like Saul, David and Solomon.
‘Jehu’ means ‘YHWH is the known one’ – he could have been sympathetic to the worship of God. However, in chapter 10, we read that Jehu wandered from way of God because he was swayed by others and was not careful to read God’s Word.
Even when he was seemingly getting rid of the Baals worshipped by Ahab and family, he was later condemned by God (Hosea 1: 4) as he did not destroy idol worship instituted by Jeroboam (first king of the northern kingdom (2 Kings 10: 30). In a sermon entitled ‘The Honour of World,’ Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet asked, ‘Why did he not destroy them [Jeroboam’s calf idols] as well as the Baal and his temple?’ The bishop went on answer rhetorical question: ‘Because that would have injured his own prospects, interfered with his own plans.’ (Clyde E Fant Jr. and William M Pinson Jr., 20 Centuries of Great Preaching, Volume 2, Word Books, Waco, Texas, 1971, p. 299, brackets mine).
Even when hear the Gospel, people will still have self-motives at heart, seeing what they can get, an attitude that permeates into the Church (sense of significance, security, self-worth) rather than fixing their eyes on God.
‘He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts’ (1 Corinthians 4: 5b)
Proverbs 16: 2 – ‘All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.’
The antidote is in the next proverb – ‘Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed’ (Proverbs 16: 3) – when we are listening, we will discern what His will is, we will be fruitful.
b) Hazael
Hazael would be the scourge of Israel. Likewise, there may be difficulties in speaking out what God has given to us, but we need to be honest. There was continuity as Elijah had been instructed to anoint as king, fulfilled by Elisha.
Sin brought Jerusalem to first destruction (2 Chronicles 36: 16) and the final one (Matthew 23: 37 – 38).
Discipline had already been predicted as we are reminded in 1 Kings 19: 15 – 17 by Elijah: Hazael would rule in Syria (the enemy of God’s people); if anyone escapes then Jehu (who would succeed Ahab’s family) would bring the sword; then if escaped these two then judgment from Elisha.
Interestingly, Omri (father of Ahab and grandfather of Jehoram) had became king of Israel after previous king overthrown and a civil war. In his reign, there were many wonderful building works and a time of prosperity – including foundation of the city of Samaria. But God’s commentary was that ‘his sin ‘has caused Israel to commit, so that they provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols.’ (1 Kings 16: 26) Micah 6: 16 (100 years later) – ‘You have observed the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house, and you have followed their traditions. Therefore I will give you over to ruin and your people to derision; you will bear the scorn of nations.’
In our age, there is relative prosperity – there is economic growth in one year that would have taken 10 generations in the Middle Ages to achieve. We expect material prosperity as a right, but we have left God out of the equation – God will remind us of Himself in love and as a last measure.
2 Peter 3: 9 – ‘The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’
We need to pray that we will be faithful to the message He has given us, to proclaim it and draw people close as they respond to it.
Conclusion
a) Are you listening to God? – how much are you reading His Word, quietly waiting upon Him?
b) Who are you reaching out to with God’s message? – where are your frontlines, meeting people where they are?
c) Are you willing to sow the seed and praying for God to move in the hearts of those who hear? – we are called to be faithful.
God is waiting for us to listen to Him and go out those He is sending us to.
