As I prepare for this sermon I'm reminded of a quote I read that's goes like this
“You shouldn't go through life with catchers mitts on both hands, you should be able to throw something back”.
Many times we develop the attitude of what can God do for me instead of what can I do for God? As we look at this message we will notice some very important things in Gods word to help us avoid this attitude.
Chapter 6:1- We see where the sons of the prophets came to Elisha to dwell in the place where he was. Evidently the place was not big enough to contain the number of people that had come to dwell with him. The man of Gid was willing to pick up and go with them to follow God
We notice in chapter 5, that Elisha had sent Naaman to the Jordan River to be healed. No doubt the people saw the miracle that had happened in Naaman’s life and decided to follow Elisha. It shows when God performs a miracle that people will notice. This miracle was a cure of Leprosy which represents sin. We don't see many people following the man of God today because we're not seeing the miracles happen in people's lives. That miracle is the transformation of sinners to saints. Just as Naaman wanted to obtain the healing his way, Elisha told him that it would be Gods way or no way.
We notice that they asked Elisha to go with them to the Jordan River. This is the place where Naaman received his healing and they desired to be in that place. When we see God working in a place, Christians desire to be a part of it. We should always desire to dwell in a place that people come to for help.
6:2-They not only decided to go there. The decided to build there. In other words this was where they would hang their hat. It would be a great thing to see Christians who have not settled in a place to find a church home where the message of Christ is being preached in its entirety, context, etc. and just settle in and go to work for the lord. We see something in this verse that is important to look at.
• They said let every man take a beam. They didn't expect any one else to do their work for them. They knew that their dwelling in that place would be up to them. I'm reminded of the scripture Phillipians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
We are commissioned to let our light shine out in the world before men.
6:4- when they came to Jordan they cut down wood. It doesn't say anywhere that they put it up and park and waited on someone else to do the work. They got busy! Nehemiah built the walls to Jerusalem in just 52 days because the people had a mind to work. Just as the walls of Jerusalem were important to Nehemiah and the exiles these people were building for a cause . They had seen the work of God and desired to be close by.
6:5 Just as we see many times there is something to hinder our work with God. As this individual was busy working his ax head flew off and fell into the water. Now we know how many people will get hindered in some way or another and just stop and sit down and wait on somebody else to do the work. How many times has discouragement stopped us from working in the house of God . What's some things that hinder us from doing the work God commands us to do.
• Jealousy- when we see what others are doing in the house of God
• Someone hurts our feelings so we just say well stop or decide to move to the next Jordan
• Health issues- you may not be able to chop the wood but you can find something to do in the house of God
• Work or Financial Issues- we get ourselves in over our head and don't have the time to do the work that needs to be done, the work that belongs to us not someone else after all God expects a reasonable service from all of us.
• The list can Go on and on but you should have a idea of what's hindering you!
We also see the concern in this individual that he could no longer work until this problem was rectified. When we see that something is hindering our work for God we should stop and take care of the problem and get back to work.
Many of us pray for God to put us in a place where we can work and feel his presence and when he does we get lazy . Scripture tells us that whosever loses his life for my names sake will find it. Jesus also said if you will abide in me that he will abide in you. Don't loose your ax head and let it sit in the bottom of the river and just sit down and do nothing. Our time is just borrowed from God anyway. It doesn't belong to us. It belongs to him .
6:6- We see that this individual called for help from Elisha. He knew that the man of God could help him . Wouldn't it be great if spiritually every time we lost an ax head that we would call out to God and ask for his help. That's what this person did. As soon as it hit the water and sank to the bottom he called on Elisha. Don't sink to the bottom of the river in the mud when you have a problem. You simply can't cut wood and build without the ax head. It does no good with just a handle. Calm out on God and ask him to help you in any situation and he will be there to help you out. Just as the man of God had faith when he cut down the stick and threw it into the water that God would raise the ax head. You too must have the faith that God can raise you up from your problems and restore you good as new.
If you notice the one who lost the ax head remembered where it fell in and showed it to Elisha. We too know where we have fallen and must go back to that place to be restored to a right place and communion with God.
6:7 is the last verse in this passage today but very important. It states that after Elisha retrieved that had sunken to the bottom that he offered it back to the one who lost it.
The word of God said he put out his hand and took it. He was willing to take the ax head and reattach it to the handle and get back to work.
How about you today? Have you lost your desire to be in Gods will and be a worker in the army of God? Would you allow God to pick up the things in you life that you alone are responsible for and place it back into your hands.
My prayer is that we all see this message as a message of love from God and that he will always restore you to that place with him if you desire it in you heart.
In His Service!
Richard Wimpey
May 14, 2015
