March 3, 2024- Signs As A Means
Notes
Transcript
Signs - - They’re all around us...
Everywhere we look - we SEE one.
SOME more important than others - YET - ALL of them with the same purpose.
Let me know if you’ve seen these before....
SLIDE: SIGNS
This sign was found in a nearby church parking lot.
This one is the for the Younger Generations
This one is for all you dog lovers out there...
This one was found in Parma
AND THIS ONE was found in 2 places - Pittsburgh and Washington D.C.
SIGNS - they HAVE a purpose…and today - we will see YET ANOTHER sign - from the prophet Elisha...
And get into how signs are meant to work under God - and the DANGER of signs - under God as well.
Let’s get to our text....
38 And Elisha came again to Gilgal when there was a famine in the land. And as the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Set on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”
39 One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were.
40 And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
41 He said, “Then bring flour.” And he threw it into the pot and said, “Pour some out for the men, that they may eat.” And there was no harm in the pot.
42 A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, “Give to the men, that they may eat.”
43 But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred men?” So he repeated, “Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’ ”
44 So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.
What we see here today - are TWO stories of God showing up - and REVEALING Himself as a protector and provider.
The first account consists of Elisha commanding his servant to make up some STEW for the sons of the prophets.
One of the servants goes out into the field - to grab some herbs - and ends up grabbing some wild gourds - not knowing that they were poisonous.
The guys begin to eat - and realize right away that there’s a problem!
40 And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
41 He said, “Then bring flour.” And he threw it into the pot and said, “Pour some out for the men, that they may eat.” And there was no harm in the pot.
All throughout ELIJAH’s ministry, God DISPLAYED Himself...
He taught MAN - about God Himself...
God PROVIDED for Elijah…in times of drought...
He CONQUERED the false gods of the people...
PROVING that He alone is the One True God...
And SO - God here - was REVEALING Himself - to His people and to the world.
NOW - with Elisha - same thing! - And within Elisha’s MINISTRY...
So far God has revealed Himself as...
the PAYER of our DEBT
That God’s SUPPLY would pay our debt
the GIVER of Life
That GOD ALONE reigns over the physical world
And holds LIFE in His hands!
TODAY - God has shown Himself to PROVIDE for His followers - EVEN in times of chaos....!
And HOW does He do it?
By Just SPEAKING DOWN FROM HEAVEN?
“Trust Me - I will pay your debts when they come”
“Trust Me - I will raise your dead when they die”
NO - He doesn’t work that way!
God ORCHESTRATES situations and PEOPLE to walk out His purposes -
And to DEMONSTRATE to the world - that God IS all of these things!!
SLIDE:
God meets us on the ground and teaches us about Himself through life’s circumstances.
And so if God is going to TEACH people that HE is the giver of LIFE - where do you think God will LEAD you?
To death’s doorstep!!
If God’s going to TEACH you that HE PROVIDES in times of Chaos - where do you think God will LEAD you?
INTO the Chaos!!
And so in THIS CASE - there’s a FAMINE in the land...
These men are excited to get some STEW - and YET - they realize the pot was full of - DEATH!
No analogies there - we’ll just leave that one alone :)
But God HAD A PLAN...
Those men’s FEAR - was God’s CANVAS to show them WHO’s in charge!
And so - this MIRACLE of God - performed by Elisha… a SIGN that pointed to the Character of God.
But that wasn’t it!
42 A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, “Give to the men, that they may eat.”
43 But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred men?” So he repeated, “Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’ ”
44 So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.
Now this story - should remind us of another story we find in Scripture...
The feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000.
But - I think something we see right off the bat - is that a man comes to where Elisha IS - (Gilgal) and the man comes FROM Baal-shalishah.
What did he bring?
42 A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, “Give to the men, that they may eat.”
It says the man brought - bread of the firstfruits… why is this significant?
13 The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
4 The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.
5 For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.
These FIRSTFRUITS were to be given to the Priests of Israel.
INSTEAD - this man - in our text - brings these firstfruits to ELISHA!
SLIDE: MAP
if we look at the map here - we see that the man came from Baal-shalishah...
Gilgal is HERE...
But BETHEL - where the priests would have been - was not far.
This man - brings these firstfruits to Elisha in Gilgal.
And God HERE showing His faithfulness to His own…those who DID NOT bow the knee to Baal.
18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
God here - PROVIDING for His followers.
It was a SIGN - with a purpose.
See - SIGNS - HAVE - a purpose.
SLIDE: Sign that Makes Sense
We’ve all SEEN signs just like this...
This sign = HAS a PURPOSE.
All SIGNS have this same purpose....
And it’s NOT this!
SLIDE: Sign of a Sign (makes no sense) (Exit Sign - Right Here)
What do you think when you see this?
If you were driving down the highway, and you saw this - what would you think?
You’d probably think - Am I in Washington? What’s going on??
We would think - WHAT?
But WHY would we think that?
The battle in our minds at THAT MOMENT - would be -
Ok, SIGNS have a purpose - and THAT’S NOT IT!!
Listen - SIGNS are NOT meant to POINT at themselves!
We see THIS - and we think - That’s not helpful...
Elisha - for the past several weeks - has been performing SIGNS…just like ELIJAH did!
And those SIGNS - had a purpose.
NOW - The SIGNS of Christ - those had a purpose too - the SAME purpose…So let’s dive into THOSE - and see what that purpose was...
Let’s go to an account in Scripture where Jesus actually references Signs that He would perform...
46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill.
47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.
51 As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering.
52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”
53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household.
54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
What we notice right away is that Jesus here comes back to Cana
the same place where he turned water into wine...
and this is mentioned in the text...
46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill.
So Jesus here makes his way BACK to Cana...
And in DOING SO - He’s heading back to a place where He had made a name for Himself...
I would think - if you went somewhere - and turned water into wine...
that when YOU RETURNED to that place - you MIGHT have some people FROM that place..
…coming to check you out again...
AND what we read here is that this OFFICIAL hears that Jesus is coming...
WELL - the Official felt like this was the chance of a lifetime… WHY?
47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
OK - so this Official’s son was about to die...
and so he COMES to Jesus - and asks him to COME DOWN (go back WITH him to Capernaum)
and HEAL his son...
And it’s IN CHRIST’s RESPONSE to this man - that i think we see the main subject of this passage.
48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
Unless you SEE - signs and wonders - you will not believe
We need to look at this verse - thru the LENS of (the Physical) and (the Spiritual)...
We’re going to do that - but first look at the last word of this verse...
BELIEVE - Faith is on the table here...
Unless you see signs and wonders - you will not believe (have faith)
And i think we’re going to see here - how FAITH and SIGNS play off each other...
UNLESS you see signs and wonders, you will not believe...
He’s saying - Unless you see a MIRACLE...
Unless you physically see - the physical world - physical reality - MORPHED into something OUT OF THE NORM - you won’t believe...
So what does this say about FAITH...
SLIDE: Signs and Wonders: Can Anchor Faith
Signs and Wonders
Signs and Wonders
*You ever have doubts about something or someone…BUT THEN you experienced that something or someone, and you were then CONVINCED...
…and you ended up BELIEVING?
*Fains
I think MOST EMPLOYERS operate this way...
They say - Ok, we’re interviewing you for a position...
You’ve SAID ALL the right things...
BUT - We’ll be BELIEVERS - once we see you PERFORM....
Your ACTIONS / WORKS will carry MUCH weight regarding your words...
And if we think about the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, He conducted Himself in a way that would support this idea...
The book of John tells us how signs played into Christ's ministry...
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
We are told of the signs of Christ in Scripture for the purpose that faith in Him might arise in us...
And SO there was THIS WEIGHT to the Signs of Christ...
...a credibility to the signs, that they validated who Jesus was...and is...
At one point, the Jews came to stone Jesus because He had claimed to be God...So they come to Him, and He says this...
37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;
38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
He's saying - my WORKS/Signs speak for themselves!
They're enough to AWAKEN faith into WHO I AM!
They can VALIDATE who I AM...
Belief in the SIGN alone couldn't AWAKEN faith...
BUT - the SIGN could AWAKEN FAITH - IN CHRIST! The SIGNS POINTED to Jesus!
Jesus understood that MANKIND can weigh and judge the WORDS of man...
And so HE HIMSELF - being IN THE FORM OF MAN...Christ knew that MANKIND would be PRONE to being SKEPTICAL of Christ's WORDS...
*HOW MANY skeptics we got in the room?
Jesus KNEW that mankind would be skeptical...
And so He says - OK, look at my works!
We see this other places in Scripture:
1 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city.
2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”
3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.”
4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?
5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”
7 And he rose and went home.
We talked about this before...
Christ would teach SPIRITUAL truths, by using the PHYSICAL NATURE of man...WHY?
Because we as man can understand the physical...
There is a Biblical Reality of:
Spiritual hunger - where we can understand physical hunger
Spiritual thirst - where we can understand physical thirst
Spiritual rest - where we can understand physical rest
spiritual communication - physical communication
Spiritual Healing - physical healing
Spiritual darkness - physical darkness
Spiritual Light - physical light
Spiritual death - physical death
Spiritual life - physical life
And it's here where Christ wanted to teach about Spiritual Healing (the forgiveness of SINS)......and He teaches this truth by HEALING this man that was lame and telling him to walk.
20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.
SLIDE:
The Physical Signs Validated the Spiritual Work of Christ
That was DURING Christ’s ministry -
And so this is no different than Elisha’s ministry!
His SIGNS - validated his message!
The MIRACLES - were SIGNS - POINTING to something OTHER than the sign!!
They pointed to God…the God of Israel.
The physical SIGN validated the Spiritual side - S.P.E.C.I.F.I.C.A.L.L.Y. - - God!
Something I believe the “Christian” arena could stand to embrace is this...
SIGNS do not EQUATE - to God!
The MOMENT we begin WORSHIPING a SIGN - is the moment we begin IDOL WORSHIP.
And speaking plainly - there many SIGNS TODAY - that are worshiped in churches.
And that LEADS to our next point about SIGNS....
Yes - Signs and Wonders can be a springboard to Faith...
BUT...
SLIDE:
Signs and Wonders: Can Derail Faith
Signs and Wonders
Signs and Wonders
Signs and Wonders can ALSO be that which CAUSES us to go ASTRAY! To be DECEIVED!
How?
22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.
**How many of you have ever been ROPED into something that wasn’t on the up-n-up?
Maybe you saw what you thought was a SIGN, and then you started heading down that path...
Who remembers the CRYING statues?*
How about the Jesus toast?*
These things can lead us astray if we’re not careful...
We need to be able to DISCERN truth from error...
And there are MANY reasons that SIGNS have become ALL THE RAGE in Christianity…TODAY...
Let’s look at some reasons...
SLIDE:
People seek signs because they seek confirmation of truth
Now - is there anything inherently wrong with this?
Answer?
No - and YES.
On it’s face - nothing wrong with this
We see God all OVER scripture providing signs to man...
How about MOSES - and the burning bush?!
God did this to CONFIRM - His word...
To confirm - WHAT was happening!
.... BUT - there’s a BUT
Remember how Moses responded?
Remember how Moses kept - REJECTING the call God was giving Him?
Moses LIKED the SIGNS that God was displaying - but something WASN’T KICKING IN for Moses....
What was it?
FAITH!
SLIDE:
There comes a time when enough miracles have been performed—the truth has been proved—and it is time to exercise faith.
So Moses kept NEGLECTING faith...
And how did GOD respond?
14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
Moses was trying to RUN from FAITH!
and so SIGNS - in a sense - can actually QUENCH the need for - Faith...
And WE - ALL - by nature - would rather NOT rely on Faith.
WE’D rather walk by - SIGHT - than walk by FAITH.
And so - what was the point we just made?
People seek signs because they seek confirmation of truth
Yes - but this can also be a SYMPTOM of a deep ISSUE…this!
SLIDE:
People seek signs because walking by sight is more comfortable than walking by faith
And that’s why Jesus had an opinion about those who ALWAYS ONLY wanted Signs...
In John 4 we see a tale of two people groups...
41 And many more believed because of his word.
Here - the Samaritans BELIEVED based on Jesus’ words...
But in v48 (we read it before) - Jesus REBUKES the Galileans...
48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
In God’s eyes = there is a MAJOR difference between those who NEED and DESIRE SIGNS - to believe...
And those who believe - WITHOUT SIGNS...
YET - why do people SEEK Signs?
SLIDE:
People seek signs because they refuse to believe prior signs
We see this very thing all throughout Scripture...
In Matt 12 Jesus is walking through the grainfields with his disciples...
1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
So the Pharisees see this take place - and they see it as an opportunity to pounce.
They come and start questioning Jesus...
They get into a dialogue..
And Jesus is answering their questions...
NOW - Jesus at this point - had been doing MANY MIRACLES...
YET - they say this...
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
Ok, how do you think Jesus responds to this?
39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
They weren’t interested in BELIEVING....
*Have you ever come across someone who - YOU KNEW they weren’t interested in changing...
They just try to keep asking questions to get you off their back?
They keep DODGING…so they don’t have to accept responsibility..?
THAT’S 1st century Pharisees.
ALWAYS - seeking signs - to AVOID believing
And Jesus tells them here - the only sign given to you will be the SIGN of Jonah...
What does that refer to?
Jonah was in the belly of the FISH - 3 days and 3 nights
ONLY to COME back out again.
Christ speaks here - to His death and resurrection.
These Pharisees would SEE this last sign - and did they believe?
NO. - proving the point.
But what else?
Why else do people seek SIGNS?
SLIDE:
People seek signs because they want to justify their unbelief.
1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
They ask for a sign FROM HEAVEN...
They probably wanted to see something SPECTACULAR…
Something Jesus would FAIL at doing....
OR - something they could PROVE was faked...
It’s a PLOY of those who want to REMAIN in their unbelief…and be JUSTIFIED in doing so.
AND LASTLY...
SLIDE:
Some people seek signs because they want to gain from it.
Jesus fed the 5000.
What happened after that?
Those people came looking for Jesus...
And He responds to them...
26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
They were seeking Jesus - because they felt Jesus would be VERY USEFUL to them!
We’re going to get HUNGRY later!
We WANT JESUS!!
We LOVE Jesus!!
We’ll SING ABOUT HIM!!
he’s AWESOME!!
SLIDE:
Their seeking of Jesus was about them, not Jesus.
So people seeks signs for many reasons...
walking by sight is more comfortable than walking by faith
they refuse to believe prior signs
they want to justify their unbelief
they want to gain from it
People seek signs FOR MANY REASONS...
But TRUE signs have a purpose...
And it’s to POINT to Jesus!
Elisha was a man who was used by God greatly -
YET - God can use you the same way!
He wants you...
You have a purpose in this world - to SPREAD Truth!
To share Jesus...
with the world!
Signs are an interesting thing....they can..
SUMMARY
Anchor someone’s faith
Derail someone’s faith
May we approach signs - as a MEANS to a GREATER reality - NOT THE SIGN ITSELF - but Christ in us!
Have a Great Week
Let’s pray!