{"id":1822,"date":"2024-08-25T18:19:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T17:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=1822"},"modified":"2024-08-25T18:19:02","modified_gmt":"2024-08-25T17:19:02","slug":"how-god-makes-a-prophet-1-kings-1919-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=1822","title":{"rendered":"How God makes a prophet \u00a0\u00a01 Kings 19:19-21 \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The advert in the Samaria Times might have read something like this.
\n\u201cSituation Vacant: prophet of God, to lead a band of prophets. Must be diplomatic and useful in battle and famines. Miracles, especially raising the dead, an advantage.\u201d
\nOf course, Elisha didn\u2019t become one of the most influential prophets in Israel\u2019s history by answering a newspaper advert. So how did he end up \u201cin the hot seat\u201d as Elijah\u2019s successor and God\u2019s representative to Israel for 50 years in the ninth century BC? It all started with Elijah calling Elisha to follow him.
\n1 Kings 19 “19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him.”
\nElijah\u2019s cloak was a symbol of his gifting and calling as a prophet. When Elijah went and put his cloak on Elisha\u2019s shoulders, he was symbolically inviting him to become a prophet too. Elisha responded to the call as we would hope we would when God calls us. He said yes.
\n“20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. \u2018Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,\u2019 he said, \u2018and then I will come with you.\u2019”
\nElijah\u2019s reply at this point may appear confusing.
\n\u2018Go back,\u2019 Elijah replied. \u2018What have I done to you?\u2019
\nDifferent translations can help us see the meaning here. The New Living Translation says, \u201cGo on back, but think about what I have done to you.\u201d
\nThe Message reads, \u201cGo ahead,\u201d said Elijah, \u201cbut, mind you, don\u2019t forget what I\u2019ve just done to you.\u201d
\n With Elijah\u2019s blessing, Elisha said goodbye to his family. And then he did something else.
\n“21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the ploughing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.”
\nElisha\u2019s response to God\u2019s call gives a perfect example of how anybody should respond when God calls them to serve him.
\nIt began with the CALLING
\nElisha didn\u2019t become a prophet because he woke up one day and thought, I\u2019d like to be a prophet. He became a prophet because Elijah called him to. In turn, Elijah only did that because God told him to. Just a few verses before in 1 Kings 19 verse 16 God had said to Elijah, \u201cAnoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.\u201d So actually it was God who called Elisha to become a prophet. And that\u2019s the way it should always be in God\u2019s service. Ministers don\u2019t become ministers because they want to \u2013 but only because God calls them into pastoral ministry. Missionaries only become missionaries when God calls them to the mission field. Deacons and Home Group Leaders and people working with children and young people and indeed anybody who is serving God should only do so when God calls them to. God\u2019s call to Elisha came through Elijah. Sometimes God\u2019s call comes to us when ministers or church leaders or wise friends say, \u201chave you ever thought about doing so and so.\u201d I wonder, what might God be calling YOU to do today? Elisha heard God calling him through Elijah, and he responded to it. But he didn\u2019t become a prophet immediately. Before he could become Elijah\u2019s successor, Elisha had to become his assistant.
\n\u201cThen Elisha set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.\u201d
\nElisha became Elijah\u2019s attendant, his helper. The same word was used of Joshua\u2019s relationship with Moses. Delivering God\u2019s unpopular messages of judgment to Israel would not be easy. Elisha needed a period as an attendant, a time of training, of growing, of learning from his Spiritual Elder before he could take over the role of Prophet to God\u2019s people.
\nA very biblical word for this process would be
\nDISCIPLESHIP
\nElisha became Elijah\u2019s disciple. The idea of discipleship isn\u2019t very fashionable in the church today. Many people want to get stuck into a job straight away \u2013 they don\u2019t like the idea of spending time as an apprentice or an assistant. On the contrary, the truth is that whatever the role in the church or in the world, everybody benefits from an opportunity to learn from somebody more experienced, being trained and encouraged and supported. As a chemistry teacher I was so grateful to learn from senior colleagues, and starting a minister I spent five years as Assistant Minister before I had my own church. Whatever the task in church life, Deacons, Home Group Leaders, Youthwork and Children\u2019s Work, it is good to learn from those who have been doing the job for years. Passing on the baton of service in the church. If the great prophet Elisha needed to start off as an apprentice, so do we.
\nGod called Elisha to a period of years of discipleship. And that took
\nCOMMITMENT
\n“21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the ploughing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.”
\nWhen the Romans invaded Britain 2000 years ago, the emperor Julius Caesar famously said, \u201cif you want to take the island, burn the boats.\u201d With no way to retreat, the soldiers would have no alternative but to march forward. Elisha didn\u2019t burn his boats or his bridges but instead he did burn the plough and the oxen which were his livelihood. No turning back. For Elisha this was a radical break with the past. He was giving up everything he knew, to follow God\u2019s calling to a new destiny, with a new lifestyle, and new priorities.
\nCalling, discipleship, commitment. Elisha would need one more very important thing before he could step into the hot seat as God\u2019s prophet to Israel. But I\u2019m not allowed to talk about it today because that is next week\u2019s subject, so you\u2019ll just have to come back for that. No spoilers.
\nSo what does this story of how God makes a prophet have to say to Christians today? Elisha was CALLED. In the church it is not only prophets and ministers and missionaries who are called. All Christians are called by God. We are called from darkness to light and from death to life. We are called to be God\u2019s children. We are called to be holy, set apart for God. We are called to tell other people about Jesus. Supremely, we are called to follow Jesus \u2013 just like Jesus called his first disciples.
\nMark 1:14 “\u2026 Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 \u2018The time has come,\u2019 he said. \u2018The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!\u2019
\n16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 \u2018Come, follow me,\u2019 Jesus said, \u2018and I will send you out to fish for people.\u2019 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.”
\n\u201cCome, follow me.\u201d DISCIPLESHIP is not just for Old Testament prophets and ministers and missionaries. Christians are called to repent and believe the gospel and we are also all called to become disciples of Jesus. The Bible only uses the word \u201cChristian\u201d three times and the word \u201cbeliever\u201d only 30 times. Much more often, around 100 times, the Gospels and Acts talk about people being followers of Jesus, and following Jesus. That is what God calls Christians to do. To be the people who obey that simple command. \u201cFollow me.\u201d And then the New Testament word which is used over 300 times to describe followers of Jesus is \u201cdisciple\u201d. Jesus was a Rabbi, a teacher, and those who followed him and learned from him and whose lives were shaped by him were called his disciples. All Christians are called to be disciples of Christ.
\nDiscipleship is about learning. It is about obedience. And it is about passion. Somebody once said, \u201cIf one tenth of what you Christians believe is true, you should be ten times as excited as you are!\u201d So the church needs to be making disciples. That is precisely what Jesus commanded his followers to do in Matthew 28:19. Make disciples. Part of that process is learning from older and wiser and more experienced Christians. There are many things in life which we learn by watching others. The piano teacher, the driving instructor, the personal trainer and the life coach all show us HOW TO do what we want to do. The best way to learn to speak French is to spend time with a Frenchman. So also in the Christian life there are individuals who inspire and encourage us by their passion in prayer, their boldness in evangelism, their commitment to holiness and their complete devotion to God. From their examples we learn skills, attitudes and character. We learn hospitality, patterns of prayer and devotional reading. We learn how to cope with life. We seek to imitate their work\/life\/church balance. We are fired by their wisdom, zeal and love. They are our role models. We catch their faith. As other people share their lives with us, we learn from them how to share our own life with other people. So much in the Christian life is better caught than taught! We need to be making disciples.
\nOlder Christians \u2013 is there a young Christian you are supporting and teaching and encouraging in the early years of their faith? By your word and example?
\nYounger Christians \u2013 is there an older Christian you look up to and are learning from and sharing with and praying with?
\nMaking disciples, one-to-one. The late Jascha Heifetz was a child prodigy. He became the highest paid virtuoso violinist in the world by the age of 18, and was widely regarded as the greatest in the twentieth century. When he retired from performing he became a professor of music. Heifetz explained his change of career like this: \u201cViolin playing is a perishable art.\u201d \u201cIt must be passed on as a personal skill; otherwise it is lost.\u201d Living the Christian life is the same \u2013 it is a perishable art which must be passed on. We need to be making disciples.
\nAnd discipleship demands
\nCOMMITMENT
\nCommitment is not just for prophets and ministers and missionaries. When Jesus said \u201cFollow me\u201d to Simon and Andrew, we read, “18 At once they left their nets and followed him. They left their nets.”
\n“19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.”
\nLike Elisha, those first disciples gave up everything they knew, they left their nets and their lives behind to follow Jesus on the road. They were completely committed. Some people are only involved in following Jesus \u2013 others are committed to him. It was the great tennis player Martina Navratilova who once said, \u201cThe difference between involvement and commitment is the difference between ham and eggs. In ham and eggs the chicken is involved but the pig is committed.\u201d Being a true disciple of Jesus requires commitment. As Billy Graham said, \u201cSalvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have.\u201d
\nCommitment is for every Christian. Remember what Jesus said to his disciples. \u201cIf anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross (daily) and follow me.\u201d (Matthew 16:24). And another saying is even more challenging: “those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” (Luke 14:33). Jesus deserves nothing less than our total commitment to him.
\nWe just sang Stuart Townend\u2019s hymn:
\n“I will feed the poor and hungry, I will stand up for the truth;
\nI will take my cross and follow To the corners of the earth.
\nAnd I ask that You so fill me With Your peace, Your power, Your breath,
\nThat I never love my life so much To shrink from facing death.”
\nGod calls every believer to follow in the steps of Elisha the prophet: calling, discipleship, commitment. Dedication, devotion, sacrifice. If this all sounds very hard, very costly, very, demanding, that is exactly what it is. But don\u2019t be discouraged. Let me leave you with some inspiring words from the missionary martyr Jim Elliott. \u201cThat man is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.\u201d Calling. Discipleship. Commitment. Because Jesus is worth it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The advert in the Samaria Times might have read something like this. \u201cSituation Vacant: prophet of God, to lead a band of prophets. Must…<\/span><\/p>\n

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