Sermon Tone Analysis
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A lot of us got interested in God because it seemed like he could something to our lives that we were missing.
He could give us peace; help when we are in trouble; comfort when we were worried; a stable foundation for our families; assurance that when we die we’d go to heaven.
And that’s great.
Those are all valid reasons to come to God.
But you don’t come to God to get services from him.
You give yourself wholly to him.
In the sixteenth century, the Renaissance astronomer Nicholas Copernicus challenged the belief that the earth was the center of the universe.
Copernicus argued that the sun didn’t revolve around the earth, but rather that the earth revolved around the sun.
The Copernican Revolution turned the scientific world upside down by turning the universe inside out.
We each need to have a Copernican Revolution of the soul.
Most of us view the world me-‐centrically, and for many us, when we do decide to follow Jesus, it’s mainly because we think he can add something to our lives.
And so in our list of priorities he comes 2nd or 3rd or 10th.
You think you are following Jesus; in actuality, you’ve invited him to follow you.
Many have bought in but never sold out.
Watch how God calls Elisha.
THE CALL TO FOLLOW
BEGINS WITH GOD’S INITIATIVE
COMES WITH AN INVITATION FROM GOD.
God calls us not by throwing a cloak on you but by covering you in a robe of righteousness.
THE COMEBACK OF FAITH
COMMENCES WITH SURRENDER
Elisha is surrendering his life to follow a man who was not popular.
A man who was currently being pursued by the authorities for crimes that carry the death penalty.
Following Elijah meant a drastic change in his manner of life.
It meant giving up a lucrative worldly life.
Remember Paul’s words to young Timothy in
Burning his plow meant handing in his resignation as CEO of Elisha farms.
He literally cooked his old way of life and had it for dinner!
Elijah was his master now, no plan B.
True followers of Jesus go all in and all out for the all in all.
If you don’t go all in, you’ll never enter the Promised Land.
But if you go all out, God will part the Jordan River so you can cross through on dry ground.
If you aren’t hungry for God, you are full of yourself.
That’s why God cannot fill you with His Spirit.
But if you will empty yourself, if you will die to self, you’ll be a different person by the end of this sermon.
CARRIES US TO THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE
Elisha was rich.
How do I know that?
Well, he’s got at least 24 oxen.
12 pair.
Think of oxen like cars.
A middle-‐class family in that day had one... Elisha had 24 and notice that it says he was in line behind the 12th set, but they were all his.
What does that mean?
He had servants pulling the others.
He lived in a place called the “Abel Meholah,” (which in English would be translated “the dancing meadow.”)
This area was known as the breadbasket of Israel; a little fertile area right along the Jordan River.
So see, he was rich.
He had the best land; servants; and lots of oxen.
Well, Elijah, if you recall, was a wanted man.
He lived on the run.
God feeds him through handouts from widows and by ravens beside creek beds.
Elisha is being called from a life of luxury to one of poverty and danger.
Watch how he responds…
“Go back again, for what have I done to you?” is a Hebrew figure of speech meaning, “Why not?” or “Who’s stopping you?”
So he kills the oxen and uses them to feed the poor in his community.
One ox would typically feed a family of 5 for a year and a half.
24 oxen.
This would have been an epic feast!
Theological side not . . .
this is where many theological believe this is where the vision for the Golden Corral originated.
Elisha is the antitype of the rich young ruler.
Remember, the rich young ruler.
He wanted to follow Jesus.
He was seeking the free gift of eternal life.
However, he walked away sorrowful because though the gift was free its demands were to great.
I haven’t met many demon possessed people but I have met many possessed by their possessions.
They don’t own things.
Things own them.
The comeback of faith commences with surrender, continues the altar of sacrifice, and commits itself to a life of servitude.
COMMITS TO A LIFE OF SERVITUDE
He became Elijah’s “assistant.”
He made coffee for him.
He went from calling the shots to making coffee and copies for 18 years.
For 18 years Elisha is a servant, doing menial tasks for Elijah.
As I have explained to you before… whenever God calls people in the Bible, they almost always have a wilderness time of preparation.
Before God uses someone, he must first humble them…
“The way up is the way down.”
The path of exaltation always goes through the valley of humiliation.
If you don’t excel in those areas God has assigned you to be a servant—if you’re not a good employee; a good student; a good son or daughter; a good door-‐holder, you’ll never make a great prophet!
God calls to service, and sometimes he takes a long time to teach you that; in Elisha’s case 18 years!
Are you faithful in the little things?
Honor God with all your heart, in the little things, and in due time, he will lift you up.
When God calls people, these 3 words begin to characterize their lives: Surrender, Sacrifice, Service.
Jesus would take this up a level:
“Deny yourself” means total abandonment of your life to God.
Note that Jesus did not say, “Deny money” or “Deny illicit sex” or even “Deny sin” but “Deny yourself.”
Denying yourself means saying “no” to all you want from life so you can say, “Yes” to all that God wants from it.
It means putting your “yes” on the table.
“Take up your cross…” think about that one, for a moment.
Crosses in those days were instruments of torture.
In our day, crosses are sentimental—symbols of our faith; pieces of jewelry we wear around our necks.
But for that first century audience, “crosses” were symbols of Roman racism and oppression.
They evoked horror in the hearts of all who beheld them.
Condemned men hung upon them, in shame, totally dominated by the will of another.
Sometimes in our use of the symbol we lose its horror.
Imagine you went to someone’s house and above their dining room table was a picture of a man being electrocuted.
In their family room they have a life-‐size lethal injection table.
Above their baby’s crib they have mobile with little dangling hangman’s nooses… Are these the kinds of people you want to be friends with?
You want your kids playing with their kids?
Yet this is the image Jesus used… and his disciples told him he was crazy.
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