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SLIDE: David and Solomon
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I Kings 2 is a farewell conversation between David and his son Solomon, who will be the new king.
The first half of the conversation is inspiring: “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, 3 and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, 4 that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.” And after an inspiring word of faith, he gives Solomon a royal hit list. “Remember Joab, Abner, and Amasa…what they did. The sons of Barzilai…you shall bring their gray heads down with blood into the grave.”
Suddenly we’re struck with the reality that despite even our best intentions, if we’re going to remain entangled with the world, we’re probably going to get our hands dirty.
I’m curious when the last time might be that you read through the books of Kings.
Solomon’s son turns out to be a fool, and where you had one kingdom, now there were two kingdoms because in his brashness he caused the people to rebel.
And so we have kings in the North and in the South, and nearly every one of their stories reads exactly the same, except a few details.
So and So, son of So and So, became King over Israel in the such and such year of King Such and Such. He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord like his fathers before him, and caused Israel to commit great sins. Then in this year, another man rose up and overthrew him, and then the next guy began to reign in Israel.
There is also a peculiar phrase that shows up: in regard to several of these kings:
As for the other events of his reign, aren’t they written about in the Historical Records of Israel’s’ Kings?
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SLIDE: “Skip a bit, Brother.”
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In other words, “There is nothing remarkable about this guy, his life, or what he did. It was more of the same. If you really want to find out more, there are other books you can go sort through.”
I’m reminded of the classic line from Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail as one person reads an extensive section from the fictional book of Armaments, the other says, “Skip a bit, brother.”
No matter how people glamorize it, the truth is, if you live your life in an entirely power-hungry, selfish, materialistic way, you’re going to live a pretty boring life.
The proof is in the Scripture…even under the inspiration the Holy Spirit, whoever wrote this book about some of these wicked kings said, “You know, I just don’t have the patience to write any more about a person whose life was so selfish and boring.”
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SLIDE: Boring Definition
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Define boring:
When something is so lacking in interest that it causes mental weariness.
Synonyms of Boring:
MONOTONOUS - It is the same thing all the time. There is absolutely no variety.
TEDIOUS - People are focussed intently on something of no importance. A kind of dull slowness.
IRKSOME - When you look at something more closely, knowing more about it gives you reasons to be upset.
TIRESOME - Dealing with it just drains you. It is something marked by unremitting sameness.
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SLIDE: Stressed People
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A lot of our problems in this world occur because we’ve been lied to, and unfortunately, a lot of people are buying into the lies.
Do you know people who are so predictable that it just feels tedious or irksome to be around them?
Does anyone you know have to one-up you in every conversation? Does everything always end up being about them and their ego?
Do you know anyone who consistently undermines people in an effort to get themselves ahead?
Do you know people that from the moment the person in charge is out of the room they just gush and gush negativity?
Do we get stuck doing the same thing all the time, hoping for a different result?
Do we obsess over stuff of zero real significance?
Do we avoid really stopping to think about how we’re living because the truth is that we can be incredibly lame in how we form our priorities?
People often sin boldly, believing it is going to spice up their life, but sin is a poisoned fountain that only leaves you dry and parched.
But so many people choose to believe that the solution is to just do even more of what already isn’t really working
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SLIDE: Elijah approaches Elisha on Plow
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Walter Brueggemann, one of my favorite Old Testament Theologians, has a book on the role of Old Testament prophets, and the title of it is, “Finally comes the Poet.”
In a world that has gotten monotonous and boring, it’s the faithful voice of God’s people that breathes new life into the situation. Finally, there’s poetry. There’s a reason to sing.
Elisha could have remained in the same routine as most of his contemporaries. He was working on his parents property where there were 12 teams of oxen, and he was working with the 12th team. And then Elijah interrupted him. He put his mantle around him as a way to say, “You’re going to be my apprentice.”
Elisha could have stuck with the same things that everyone else was doing, but he chose to be different.
It says he broke the yoke, and used it to create a fire, then he butchered the oxen, and prepared a great feast for everyone.
There was no going back. He was going to step out on faith, and trust that God would have something in store for him.
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SLIDE: 2 Kings 2:9-14
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I’m sure it was LONG before Elisha felt ready that he was not only an apprentice of Elijah, but he was soon to step into the very shoes of Elijah.
2 Kings 2:9-14
9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” (2 mouthfulls) 10 And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” 11 And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.
Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13 And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And when he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.
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SLIDE: Elijah taken into the air
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The phrase that Elisha uses here gets used of Elisha himself much later at the end of his own life, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”
When you have a good mentor in your life. When you have a parent or a grandparent that you absolutely admire, any time is too soon to lose them, isn’t it?
It’s assumed in the phrase about the chariots and the horsemen, they are not only saying, “Wow, look at those!” but they are also saying of the prophet, “When you teach us the Word of the Lord, you are more valuable to us, even than the best troops in our military.”
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SLIDE: “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?”
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We have those moments, too, don’t we, when we wonder if God will be with us now the way that he was before.
He took up the mantle of Elijah, rolled it up, struck the waters of the Jordan, and discovered that even if Elijah was gone, God was still there.
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SLIDE: Golden Calf/Bull
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There were never a shortage of people wanting to worship at the much larger church of the Golden Calf. We have our own variations of it, even today.
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SLIDE: Praying in secret
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In the life of Elisha, we’ll see that the true community of faith is always subordinate to and under threat from a dominant culture.
The church is always in an emergency of identity. “Who are we?” “How can we love our culture without abandoning our rootedness in Scripture?”
“How can we respond when we are slandered and accused falsely?”
In every generation of God’s people there have been dysfunctional families, tensions, quarrels about the estate, and despairing over whether the church even has a next generation.
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SLIDE: Black and White to Color - Wizard of Oz
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But in a world that’s gray, it is our job to be like salt and light.
A boring world needs a community of people who are living for something much bigger than themselves, and in ways that aren’t self-seeking.
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SLIDE: Yellow Flower
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Elisha and his community foreshadow what the church is to be in our own culture.
When you find a prophet of God, you find someone totally different than the boring routines of culture.
They are dependent on the normal sources of supplies
In a world marked by scarcity, they are a source of plenty
They are a life source when death is otherwise final.
Sometimes we’ll be called “troublers” for our faithfulness.
We provide blessed interruptions.
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SLIDE: 2 Corinthians 5:17
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17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, (there is) new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
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SLIDE: Jordan River
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The Jordan River. More than once, it will be significant in Elisha’s life.
There are many ways in which the story of Elijah and Elisha anticipates the story of John the Baptist and Jesus.
It was at the very same Jordan River that Jesus came to be baptized.
It is at the same river that Jesus receives the Holy Spirit.
John’s ministry had been solitary like Elijah’s, but Jesus’ ministry is characterized by followers and disciples, much like Elisha’s ministry.
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SLIDE: Elijah in Chariot
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Can you put yourself there at the Jordan this morning?
And as you see Elijah shooting up toward the heavens in the chariots of fire, maybe you see in his face the face of someone you have admired and desired to be like.
As he releases his mantle, and it begins to fall to the ground, you have a decision to make.
Are you going to pick up the mantle?
Are we going to be content to be silent while people all around us are absolutely drowning in their individualism and hunger for more stuff.
Will we pretend that by their selfishness and underhanded dealings, they’ll feel good about who they’re becoming?
Much as Elisha lifted up the robe of Elijah, Jesus invites us to be clothed in his garment, and washed in his blood.
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SLIDE: Empty Chair
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It is a Jewish tradition in many places that as they observe the passover meal, they always do so with an extra seat at the table.
That seat is reserved for Elijah.
They’re always hoping that Elijah might show up and bring them good news that the Messiah is coming.
I can’t evaluate your life for you, but if you were really honest with yourself, I wonder if you’ve gotten caught up in a really boring existence. Your life is marked by sameness, shallowness, and forgettable repetition.
The promise to us is that if any one of us comes to Christ, New Creation is present.
Light breaks into the darkness.
Is it about time you set an extra place at your table?
Is it time you carved an extra couple of hours out of your over-packed schedule?
Are you ready walk in Elisha’s footsteps, out of the mundane, into a life that has real purpose beyond yourself?
The world already has enough boring and forgettable people. Why don’t you be something different?
