Sermon.992
See #.478
“Have You Lost Your Cutting Edge For The Lord?”
Second Kings 6:1-7
This event took place in the 8th century BC.
There are many people in this Bible story, but there are two main characters, an unnamed prophet student, and the prophet Elisha.
You remember that Elisha had been Elijah’s student, but when Elijah was taken away to heaven in a chariot and horses of fire, Elisha became God’s chosen successor to Elisha and God richly blessed Elisha’s ministry, giving him a double portion of His Holy Spirit.
Elisha’s prophetic ministry lasted 50 years and was characterized by many exciting miracles.
The text we read in Second Kings Chapter 6 begins by telling us of a problem that the young seminary students had.
The building where they were meeting in for the prophet Elisha to teach them God’s ways was too narrow, so the students asked permission of their trusted teacher Elisha to go to the area of the Jordan River where there were many trees so they could build a larger place to live.
The plan was for each student to cut one beam of wood each for the building expansion.
This was the first college dormitory that the Bible speaks of to my knowledge.
The prophet Elisha said, “That sounds like a great idea, go!”
That reminds me of a couple of cousins I had in Orangeburg, SC who owned a used car lot some years ago.
One day a nice couple came on their car lot to look at a nice Chevrolet.
My two cousins were busy in the office cooking some black-eyed peas, rice and pork chops.
After greeting the couple, and finding out they were interested in seeing the car on the car lot, my cousins told them, "Ya’ll go ahead and look at the car, we’ve already seen it!"
I suppose my cousins trusted the couple, but for the most part, they were more interested in cooking the meal than showing a car.
In our Bible text, you can see there was mutual trust; for Elisha thought the students were mature enough to engineer the building of a new place to live.
Not wanting to be without their trusted teacher, one of the young seminary students said to Elisha, “Won’t you please come with us?”
So Elisha and his young students headed to the Jordan River to build a new college campus, and when they arrived, they immediately began to work on cutting down trees.
Each student was doing his part, and when one of the young students was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head flew off the handle of the axe he had borrowed and fell into the Jordan River, sinking straight down to the bottom of the flowing water.
This young student lost his axe head, he lost his cutting edge, and he lost his effectiveness in doing his work.
Today is Labor Day weekend, a day set aside to honor the work we do during the year.
Think about that for a moment, this morning.
Each of you have been successful in your respective choices of work, and if you’ve done work for the Lord, you can be assured there is no greater work in the world than building up the kingdom of God; but have you ever lost your cutting edge in serving the Lord?
Have you ever lost your effectiveness in doing the Lord’s work?
Were you at one time in your life working with great strength and vigor, with the chips flying in all directions, knocking down tree after tree, building up the kingdom of God?
Folks, if we’ve lost our cutting edge for the Lord, we need to ask God to help us get it back.
There are a couple of things I believe this passage teaches us that just might help us get back our cutting edge for the Lord.
First, like the young seminary student in our text, we must admit that we have lost our cutting edge.
The first step the young student had to take was to admit that he no longer had his cutting edge, for it had slipped off his axe handle, flew into the Jordan River, and sank to the bottom of the flowing current.
He was busy doing important work for God, but suddenly he was no longer effective at it.
To admit that we have a problem is the first step, and often the most difficult step.
We can see many examples around us where admitting that one has a problem is the first step in the healing process.
For example, the first step in the program A.A. is to admit that you have a problem with alcohol.
The young student could have reacted in other ways instead of admitting that he had a problem.
He could have been happy that he lost his axe head, and he could have used this as an excuse to stop working for God altogether.
He could have found him a nice cool shade tree, poured himself a glass of ice tea, and just watched his fellow students do all the work.
On the other hand, he could have refused to admit that he lost his axe head.
He could have said, “What problem, I don’t have a problem.”
He could have just kept swinging the wooden stick, without the iron axe head mounted on the end, just going through the motions of cutting down trees, making a lot of noise, but accomplishing absolutely nothing.
And did you catch the part where the young student said, “Oh, my lord, that axe was borrowed!”
Iron axes were rare in the 8th century BC, not to mention that they were very expensive, and this man was a young seminary student, with no doubt, very little money.
So, if someone had not loaned him the axe, he would not have been able to work.
Have you ever considered the fact that all our abilities, resources and talents are borrowed?
They’re on load to us from God, so remember that God has not given us permission to stop working for Him until we enter His rest in heaven.
If we have lost our cutting edge for the Lord in doing His work, the first thing we should do is admit that we have a problem.
Second, like the young seminary student, we need to determine the exact spot where we lost our cutting edge.
Have you ever had a problem with misplacing things?
Many people, here at Bayview Baptist Church over the years have lost their car keys, and have frantically searched our building looking for their keys so they could get in his or her car and go home after a worship service or fellowship.
When I hear of someone loosing his or her car keys, one of the first things I ask them is, “Do you remember where you were when you last had them?”
Elisha asked basically the same question, saying, “Where did it fall?”
You know from personal experience, a really good way to find something is to try to remember where you had it last.
This young student didn’t plan to lose his cutting edge, it just happened.
And isn’t that the way it is with us?
Somewhere along the road, we just have the tendency to lose our contributions to the building up of God’s kingdom, and like that young student in our text, we don’t plan for this to happen.
As a matter of fact, something similar happened to the Apostle Peter in the New Testament.
Peter said to Jesus, “Though everyone else at times stops serving you Lord, not me, I will never stop.”
Then one day, even faithful Peter denied his Lord Jesus three times, and then the cock crowed!
By the way, we once had a rooster on our farm that I know was a direct descendant of the cock that crowed when Peter denied his Lord!
Folks, if we ever get to the point where we’ve lost our cutting edge in doing God’s work, we need to remember that our cutting edge was left where we had it last.
Maybe we need to ask some other questions too, like why did we lose our cutting edge with the Lord?
Was it because I dropped out of Sunday School, thinking that Sunday School wasn’t important?
Was it because I stopped attending church worship services on a regular basis?
Was it because I became angry with someone, or even jealous of someone?
Have you lost your cutting edge because you stopped praying, or reading God’s Word on a regular basis?
Have you lost your cutting edge for the Lord because you’ve failed to witness to someone in His name?
Did you lose your cutting edge because some personal sin entangled your life?
Or, have you lost your cutting edge for God because you’ve not been giving Him a portion of your talents and resources?
If you have the courage to take a deep and serious look at your personal spiritual life, you can discover where and why you lost your cutting edge of service to the Lord.
When the young seminary student lost his cutting edge, he first had the courage to admit the fact that he didn’t have his cutting edge anymore.
Then, he determined the exact place where he lost it, and the third thing he did was:
He did his part in recovering his cutting edge!
Elisha wasn’t a magician, he was a chosen prophet of Almighty God.
The power Elisha had to perform miracles wasn’t his own power, it was power from God.
Therefore, the miracle on the part of Elisha not only shows us that Elisha was concerned about this young student’s problem, but more importantly, this miracle shows us that God was deeply concerned.
I think this miracle clearly illustrates some basic truths about God.
First, God is deeply concerned with you as an individual.
There were an entire company of young prophet students cutting down trees that day, yet God took the time to help the one who had a problem.
God is deeply concerned with the individual.
We see that in Jesus’ teachings about the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Lost Son, to mention a few.
You and I are very valuable to God!
We’re so valuable to God that He said He created us in His own image!
Another truth here is that with God there are no problems too small to bring to God’s attention.
First Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you…”
Do you have a problem or concern today?
Have you cast that problem or concern upon God?
A man losing an axe head may not seem like that big of a deal, but God thought it was.
God not only cares about you and is concerned about your problems, but God will help you to solve your problems that in turn will return honor and glory back to God.
God will cause the solution to float to the surface!
Let’s talk about what this young student did to get back his cutting edge!
His work didn’t end when he admitted that he had a problem, and it didn’t end when he sought help from the prophet Elisha.
Elisha had the power, a spiritual gift from God, to make that axe head float to the top of the water, and then fly straight up out of the water into the air, and back on that wooden handle, but he didn’t do that.
Why do you suppose Elisha didn’t do that?
God wanted this young man to be involved in his own recovery!
God wanted him to reach out his hand and recover the axe head himself.
Be honest with yourself this morning!
Take a serious look at your cutting edge in doing God’s kingdom work.
Have you adopted the motto of the world when it comes to the things of the church?
The motto of the world these days seems to be: “What can the church do for me?”
Nearly 40 years ago, President John F. Kennedy won the presidential election by giving the American public an unforgettable speech.
I’m young enough to remember that speech and the words of President Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!”
Today, we live in a culture which has swung completely in the opposite direction and says, “What will big government do for the people!”
Far too many Christians look at the local church as a place to be served rather than a place to serve.
Many Christians today look at a church and say, “What programs do you have for me and my family, and if you don’t have programs or the services that I like, I will just go down the road where there’s a church better equipped to serve me.”
Lord, help us to get back into the saddle of personal service to You and hold on to our cutting edge.
This is a great text and I’m glad it’s in the Bible, but do you know that this young student could have avoided all of his problems if he had only checked his axe head occasionally.
If he had check his axe head to see if it was firmly attached to the axe handle he would have seen that it was loose, and he could have done a quick and easy repair so he would not have lost any time doing his work.
We too need to check out our spiritual tools on a regular basis.
When is the last time you did this?
When you check out your spiritual inventory on a regular basis, you can make minor adjustments and keep on serving the Lord.
The devil would prefer that you never look at your spiritual life until the repair is too costly and too much damage has been done, but it’s not too late for you to make those necessary repairs.
If you’re here today and you’re a Christian, God wants you to be an effective servant in His kingdom.
Check out your iron axe head of spiritual service and make sure everything is okay in your personal relationship with the Lord.
Make sure you’re not swinging away with just a wooden stick without that axe head.
Make any needed repairs and go back to work.
And if you’re here today and you’re not a Christian, Jesus is extending to you His personal invitation of mercy and grace.
We pray that you’ll respond to Him.
We pray that you will know without a doubt this morning that Jesus Christ went to the cross and died for your sins, and that He was buried, and on the third day He arose from the dead, victorious and triumphant.
Jesus offers His ultimate sacrifice of His life’s blood on the cross as full payment for all your sins.
If this is a decision you have not already made in your heart, I urge you to make this decision for Jesus this morning.
The Bible says, “If you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:9,10).
We offer to you that invitation, and pray that you will respond as we stand and sing.
Rev. Jimmy Davis
Bayview Baptist Church
5300 Two Notch Road
Columbia, SC 29204
Telephone: 803-754-8690
Email: BayviewBaptist@aol.com
