{"id":226,"date":"2013-06-23T21:06:30","date_gmt":"2013-06-23T20:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=226"},"modified":"2013-06-23T21:06:30","modified_gmt":"2013-06-23T20:06:30","slug":"into-the-hot-seat-1-kings-1915-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=226","title":{"rendered":"Into the Hot Seat 1 Kings 19:15-21"},"content":{"rendered":"

The advert in the Jordan Times might have read something like this.
\nWanted: 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.
\nWell, Elisha did not 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 Elisha\u2019s successor and God\u2019s representative to Israel for 50 years in the ninth century BC?
\nYou remember the story from last week, how Elijah the prophet was stressed out and worn out and burned out after the conflict with the prophets of the false god Baal on Mount Carmel. You remember how God cared for Elijah and revealed His Almighty power to him, and spoke to him in that still small voice of calm, that gentle whisper. And then God gave Elijah somebody to share the burden with, a sidekick, Elisha.
\n1 Kings 19 15 The LORD said to Elijah, \u201cGo back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet \u2026 <\/p>\n

ELISHA WAS CALLED<\/p>\n

19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him.<\/p>\n

His cloak was a symbol of the prophet\u2019s gifting and calling. And Elijah went and put his cloak on Elisha\u2019s shoulders. Elisha\u2019s response to God\u2019s call gives a perfect example of how somebody should respond when God calls them.
\n20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. \u201cLet me kiss my father and mother good-by,\u201d he said, \u201cand then I will come with you.\u201d
\n\u201cGo back,\u201d Elijah replied. \u201cWhat have I done to you?\u201d
\n21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.<\/p>\n

Elisha didn\u2019t just burn his bridges. He burned his plough and he burned his oxen. No turning back! For Elisha this was a radical break with the past. To follow God\u2019s calling to a new destiny, with a new lifestyle, and new priorities.
\nElisha was called. In the church it is not only ministers and missionaries who are called. All Christians are called by God. We are called first to be, before we are called to do. 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. And we are called to follow Jesus. We are called to serve God and to tell others about Jesus.
\n1 Peter 2 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
\nBut answering God\u2019s call to follow Jesus is only the beginning! A new Christian needs to grow in their faith and learn to serve God in the church and in the world.
\nAnd as we go on in our Christian lives we need to be open to the call of God to serve him in other ways. In the church, working with the children or as a youth leader. As Deacon or Home Group Leader. Maybe to serve God as a missionary or as a minister?
\nELISHA WAS DISCIPLED
\n21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.<\/p>\n

Elisha became Elijah\u2019s attendant, Elijah\u2019s helper. Elisha became the Apprentice. The same word is used of Joshua\u2019s relationship with Moses. 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.
\nElisha was discipled. By that I mean, Elijah took Elisha as his disciple. That is a vital part of passing the faith on from generation.
\nAnd Christians need discipleship. Learning and growing. Not just at the start of our Christian lives but all through our Christian lives. We need to be disciples of Christ. But part of what that means is that we learn from other older, wiser, more experienced Christians. They disciple us.
\nThere 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.
\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 learn from and share with and pray with.
\nEspecially for people starting out in the Christian faith we have a little course called Making Disciples One to One for New Christians. It is a series of eight meetings where you get together with a mature Christian to talk about what it means to be a Christian and how we can be sure of our faith. You talk about prayer and Bible study and witnessing and about the power of the Holy Spirit. If you would be interested in doing that course, have a word with me and I will suggest somebody you could meet with. Elisha had his time being Elijah\u2019s apprentice, and Christians can benefit enormously from being discipled.
\nAnd then Elisha was being trained for the job God had for him to do as prophet of Israel. We need that kind of apprenticeship in the life of the church. Training for the next generation of Deacons and Home Group Leaders. Passing on the baton of service in the church.
\nElisha was called. Elisha was discipled. But to be God\u2019s prophet, to lead the band of prophets and become advisor to the King, Elisha needed more than that. Elisha would need God\u2019s power to do God\u2019s work. And he received it!
\nELISHA WAS EMPOWERED
\nAfter many years with Elisha learning from Elijah as his apprentice, at the end of his life Elijah took Elisha out across the Jordan back into the desert.
\n2 Kings 2 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, \u201cTell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?\u201d
\n\u201cLet me inherit a double portion of your spirit,\u201d Elisha replied. <\/p>\n

Remember in those days the Jewish custom was that the first-born son and heir would receive the privilege of a double portion of the inheritance. Elisha asks for the first-born\u2019s share of the Spirit of God who empowered Elijah to be God\u2019s prophet.<\/p>\n

10 \u201cYou have asked a difficult thing,\u201d Elijah said, \u201cyet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours\u2014otherwise not.\u201d
\n11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, \u201cMy father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!\u201d And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.
\n13 He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. \u201cWhere now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?\u201d he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.
\n15 The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, \u201cThe spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.\u201d And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. <\/p>\n

In the Old Testament God the Holy Spirit came upon specific individuals at specific times for particular purposes. In particular it was the Holy Spirit who inspired the prophets. The Spirit of God who inspired Elijah now rested on Elisha to make him God\u2019s prophet.
\nFor Christians it is different. Every Christian receives the Holy Spirit when we start the Christian life and are born again. It is the Holy Spirit which makes a person a Christian.
\nActs 2 38 Peter replied, \u201cRepent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off\u2014for all whom the Lord our God will call.\u201d
\nIt is this gift of the Holy Spirit which makes a person a Christian. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit living and working inside them, making them like Jesus, helping them to pray and to understand the Bible,
\nAnd it is the Holy Spirit who inspires Christians and empowers them to serve God and to tell others about Jesus. And God will keep on filling us with His Holy Spirit again and again, as much as we need to be able to say and do the things He wants us to do.
\nThe apostle Paul said this to his apprentice Timothy, who at a young age was leader of the important church at Ephesus.
\n2 Timothy 1 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
\nWe all need to fan into flame the gift of God which is in each one of us. Some people thing if we have discipleship and training, that is enough. Other people think if we have the anointing of the Holy Spirit, that is enough. If we want to serve God in the church and in the world we need both!
\nI was going to call this sermon, \u201cHow God makes a prophet.\u201d Elisha\u2019s story reminds us how God wants to take and use every one of us. Every Christian is called by God. Not just prophets, not just ministers, not just missionaries. God has work for every one of us to do. Then every Christian can benefit from being discipled, having some time as an apprentice. And every Christian needs to be empowered by God by the Holy Spirit.
\nThe world is full of \u201cback seat drivers.\u201d Full of good advice but never ever getting in the hot seat. And there are some back seat Christians too with lots of good ideas about what \u201csomebody else\u201d could do but never getting into the hot seat and doing those things themselves. Elisha was called. Elisha was discipled. Elisha was empowered. Then God put him into the hot seat as prophet. God wants to use us to change the world! Back seat Christians or hot seat Christians?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}