When God Calls
Download MP3If you have a bible open to 1st Kings chapter 19, you can also put a thumb there in 2nd Kings chapter 2. We're actually gonna be looking at 2 different texts this morning, but they both have to do with the call of Elisha. That's why we're kind of going backwards and a little bit forwards. And I hope that you are ready for the confusion. Because up to this point, you've only had Elijah.
Joel Brooks:And now you're going to be throwing Elisha into the mix, and you will forever get the 2 confused. As most of you know, I'm dyslexic. And so I want you to know that there is zero chance of me not confusing these two people in this sermon. So I would just ask that you have a little grace on me. I also think of that just in the Lord's, I guess, humor.
Joel Brooks:He would have at our church a Riggs Markham and a Briggs Markham that are the same age children. And I have never once gotten their names right, but I'm working on it. Alright. So Elisha and Elijah. And we'll look at that in 1st Kings 19.
Joel Brooks:And then we're gonna read 2nd Kings later in the service. So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shephat, who was plowing with the 12 yoke of oxen in front of him. And he was with the 12th. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.
Joel Brooks:And he said to him, go back again, for what have I done to you? And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them, and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him. This is the word of the Lord. Amen.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. Father, I pray that this morning, through your spirit, we would hear you calling us. Calling us to a new life. Calling us to yourself. So as there would not be any confusion as to, who is calling who, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
Joel Brooks:But, lord, your words and your calling would remain and that they would transform us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Alright. So unlike Elijah, who just burst onto the scene with no introduction, here we get to see Elisha's call.
Joel Brooks:And we even get a glimpse into his former life. Now realize that most of you are probably not going to be called to be a prophet. But this still is a valuable text for us because we learn a lot of things about God's call on us in general. The story of Elijah or Elisha, already mixed it up. The story of Elisha, his calling, it began back at Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai when God was speaking to Elijah in that still small voice.
Joel Brooks:Do you remember that? He he didn't come in the, he didn't come in the fire or the earthquake. He didn't come in the wind, but he spoke to Elijah in that still small voice. And one of the things the Lord told Elijah was that he was to anoint Elisha as his successor, as a prophet. And so Elijah, he leaves that cave, and he immediately goes, and he finds Elisha who is out plowing in the field.
Joel Brooks:And he throws his cloak upon him, which is apparently how you call a prophet, is you just throw your cloak upon them. Now, we actually learn a number of things about Elisha in just a sentence or 2 here. We learned that, well, Elijah, he was a very wealthy man. He was plowing with 12 yokes of oxen in front of him. That is 24 oxen.
Joel Brooks:And anyone who owned that many oxen would have been an extraordinarily wealthy man in this day. And we know he owned them, because he sacrificed 2 of them. And you can't sacrifice another person's oxens. These are your own. And we also know that he was, the owner and the boss and the supervisor of these people, because he was the one in the rear.
Joel Brooks:The the oxen were all in front of Him. And and running in the rear was the position of the supervisor, so He could look after everything and keep everyone in line. And so just just from a sentence, we we learn a lot about Elisha. We know that he had a good job. He he came from a wealthy family.
Joel Brooks:And he would have been a person of status and influence, in his village. And then comes Elijah, and messes up everything. Elijah with not even a word spoken to him just throws his cloak over him and disrupts his entire life. And I want you to try and to picture this scene, if you will, because I don't know about you, but when I picture Elijah, I picture a wild man. This
Jeffrey Heine:was a
Joel Brooks:man who was fed by ravens. A man who was always on the run. A man who had a bounty out on his head. A man who had been in hiding for 3 years. So I'm sure that this cloak was just nasty, that it was worn, and it was it was dirty.
Joel Brooks:And without even asking for permission, Elijah just throws this cloak over this young man, and then he just keeps on walking. I mean, seriously, notice, he doesn't stop for a conversation. Elisha, we read, has to run after Elijah in order to talk to him. That means that Elijah just threw the cloak over him and just kept moving. It's the strange ways of a prophet.
Joel Brooks:They didn't take time, you know, Elijah didn't throw it over. Elisha didn't take time to, you know, hear one another's stories, get introduced to one another, talk about what a life and ministry would look like. Didn't do any of the things that normal people do. Cloak and kept moving. The astonishing thing is that Elisha does run after him.
Joel Brooks:I mean, why would you do that? Elijah has a great job. He's got loads of money. He is a person of status. Yet, he runs after Elijah.
Joel Brooks:He knows that if he follows Elijah, his life is gonna become just like that cloak. He's gonna have a life of poverty. He's gonna have a life of being on the run. He's going to make some powerful enemies, and yet he runs after Elijah anyway. Despite all of the success, despite all of the wealth that this young man had, he realized that something was missing in his life.
Joel Brooks:His life lacked meaning. Elijah wasn't just giving him a cloak, Elijah was giving him a purpose for his life. And he took hold of it. So let me ask you, what would you have done? Seriously, what would you have done?
Joel Brooks:If you were in Elijah's position and he had all of that, would you have given it all up to follow god's call on your life? I've lived in Birmingham now for 25 years, and I feel like I have had the same conversation over and over, with, with many people, who have come from some of the wealthy neighborhoods here in Birmingham. And please hear me. There is absolutely nothing wrong with living in a wealthy neighborhood. If that is where god's called you, please live there.
Joel Brooks:Absolutely. But in these conversations, typically, the person will get all apologetic, And they will say that they are not like the other people in the neighborhood, that they're not like that culture. They don't really enjoy that culture. And they go on and on. And I just listen.
Joel Brooks:I've I've I've never said anything to them. I've always just listened. But but what I've wanted to say is thank you for telling me this. Because your camouflage is so good, I would have never known you were any different. I just assumed wrongfully, apparently, but I just assumed because you bought the same things everyone else bought.
Joel Brooks:You pursue your career the same way as everyone else pursues their career. You pursue money the same way as everyone else. You're obsessed with sports and comfort just like everyone else. You put enormous pressure on your kids to perform like everyone else. You have the same sexual ethics as everyone else.
Joel Brooks:You treat the poor just like everyone else. You read your Bible and you go to church with the same casualness as everyone else. I just kind of assumed you were like everyone else. I mean, you do seem to fit the part really nicely. Tell me, how did God's call on your life change you?
Joel Brooks:Has it changed you? Did anything change? I'm not saying that accepting God's call in your life is a call to poverty. Not at all. I'm also not saying it won't be a call to poverty.
Joel Brooks:God could call you to wealth. He could call you to poverty. It's His choice. Whatever He calls you to, that's up to Him. But I do know this.
Joel Brooks:Your life will look markedly different than those around you. Have you ever just taken a moment to ask yourself what's why you're making the decisions you're making? I mean, most people just they kind of actually make really big decisions without ever even thinking about it. It's almost like something's just pulling them along. They're on some kinda conveyor belt that culture has given them, and they can't get off it.
Joel Brooks:But for those of you who are in high school, why are you working so hard to get the grades that you are getting? You would say, why? It's to get in a good college. Well, why do you want to get in a good college? Well, it's so I could get a good job.
Joel Brooks:Why do you wanna get a good job? Well well, I want to be able to make some good money. Well, why do you wanna be able to make good money? Well, because I wanna be able to have a a life of comfort, and I wanna be able to buy the things that I want to buy. Well, why do you want to be able to buy the things that you want to buy?
Joel Brooks:Well, I guess I wanna be happy. So how's that working out for you? For those of you who have arrived there, how is that working out for you? Is it everything you ever wanted and dreamed? Joy comes from obeying God's calling on your life.
Joel Brooks:Or or a better way that I could say that is this, you cannot have joy in your life apart from obeying God's calling on it. Now now hear me. If you believe that your life or that every human life is just the end result of some random accidental collision of atoms, and that there really is no creator, then know that you are free to do whatever you want in this life. Live however you want to. But know that that freedom does come at a price.
Joel Brooks:You have to acknowledge that your life has no purpose, no meaning. After all, how can your life have any purpose if you were never designed for something? It can't. If you were just a cosmic accident, then your life cannot have any meaning. Now the good news, the silver lining behind me or if you believe that, is that, although your life might be meaningless, you get to do whatever you want.
Joel Brooks:Because you owe your life to no one. No one could tell you what to do. No one could tell you what to believe. No one could tell you what is right or wrong. Because all of those things come from an assumption that you have a purpose.
Joel Brooks:Someone can can make demands of you. That you have a design. So if you don't believe in a Creator, know that you have total freedom. However, if you do do believe in God, you do believe you that you were created by him, this means that you were designed for something. Your life now has meaning and it now has purpose.
Joel Brooks:But if your life has purpose, know that you are no longer free to do what you want to do. You have meaning. You have purpose, but you are no longer free to do what you want to do. You've been designed for something. The apostle Paul says it this way in Ephesians 3.
Joel Brooks:He says that you are God's workmanship or you are God's masterpiece that he put together, created to do good works, which God has prepared beforehand that you should walk in them. So, God, he he came up with the job description, and then he built you. He fit you or created you in order to fit that job description, that you might accomplish it, which is to do good works. So you can either have a life free, but without meaning. Or you can submit to God's call on your life and have purpose.
Joel Brooks:Those are the two options we have before us. Now I want you to notice that when Elisha accepts god's call, the end result is just joy. He explodes in joy when he answers God's call. He might lose some freedom, but he explodes in joy. Look what happens.
Joel Brooks:1st, he asked if he could go home and kiss his mother and his father goodbye, and then follow Elijah. Elijah or Elijah responds by saying, go back, for what have I done to you? Now this is a little awkward in English, only because it's also awkward in Hebrew. It's it's an awkward phrase here. But Elijah is essentially saying this.
Joel Brooks:When Elijah says, can I go back and, you know, kiss my parents goodbye? He goes, fine. Whatever. Why should I care? It's essentially what he's saying here is why should I care?
Joel Brooks:I mean, once again, you gotta love how Elijah interacts with people. He's a real people person. He he says, do whatever you want. I'm not the one calling you. I have absolutely no say in the matter.
Joel Brooks:I mean, I didn't even choose you. But far from being a devastating word hearing Elijah says, you weren't my pick. I mean, far from being that designated being this devastating word, it actually just made Elisha's heart leap for joy. Because he knew he was not being called by man, he was being called by God Himself. God had a plan for his life.
Joel Brooks:It wasn't Elijah's plan. It wasn't his parents' plan. It wasn't even his plan. It was God's plan. It wasn't His his neighbor's plan.
Joel Brooks:It wasn't His culture's plan. This was unique to God. God had designed him for something. And when he realizes that his life has purpose, his heart explodes for joy. And so he runs back, and he throws this enormous party.
Joel Brooks:I mean, he runs home, and he kills 2 oxen, throws a feast. And people rarely, as we've looked at when we studied the parables, they rarely ate meat in this day. If you did eat meat, you killed a lamb, maybe you killed a calf, but you would never kill an oxen. This is at minimum 2 to £3000 of meat. It's enough to feed the entire village and the surrounding villages.
Joel Brooks:This would have been the largest feast that these people would ever experience in their entire lives. And it all flows from Elisha's joy. He is inviting people into his joy. He uses His yokes and His As as the firewood here to cook this. This is a way of Him burning His bridges, saying, I'm never going back.
Joel Brooks:I mean, he could have just liquidated his assets, taken money with him, but instead he burns it. I'm not going back to this life. And he throws a party and invites everyone into his joy. Your calling in your life, if you say yes, will result in the joy of those around you. Now, wouldn't he like to experience that type of joy that we see in Elisha here?
Joel Brooks:Wouldn't he love to have that?
Jeffrey Heine:Well, then you have
Joel Brooks:to answer the Lord's calling on your life. When, Lauren and I, we started this church just over 12 years ago, we got these really odd comments from, from some people who they came up and they were kinda congratulating us. Then, they would pull me to the side, and these were actually some really wealthy people. And first time this happened, I thought that was odd, but then it happened several times. So, you know, we're envious.
Joel Brooks:I'm envious. I'm envious that you could just leave, if you could just you just go off and you could just you could just do this thing. It's like envious. But you look like you have a life of everything you wanted. They felt trapped, and they couldn't escape it.
Joel Brooks:And because they weren't answering whatever God's call was in their life, it was suffocating to them. God is offering you joy when you answer his call. So what does that look like? I mean, we see what it looks like for Eli Elisha here. But what does it look like on us?
Joel Brooks:Because God's probably not calling you to be a prophet. Maybe he is. Well, I think God's call, 2 things are true about it for every person. First is this. He calls us to be something, and he calls us to do something.
Joel Brooks:He calls us to be something and he calls us to do something. Every Christian is called to be something. We are called to to be a person who has the fruits of the spirit. We're called to be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control. We are called to be children of God.
Joel Brooks:We are called to look like Christ. We are called out of darkness into light. We are called to be changed on the inside. We become someone new. Now, it's not that easy to see in this story.
Joel Brooks:I mean, we do see a change with this joy exploding out of Elisha. But we also see it in this, how the Lord is working in him to become a new person by the fact that Elisha is essentially called to be an intern. I mean, he becomes Elijah's attendant, which today we would just call an intern. I actually got to talk to our interns at the church about this this past week and say, you have a noble calling. You are following in the footsteps of Elisha.
Joel Brooks:And I know, like, it doesn't seem like it's that meaningful work. Like, this is what Elisha was doing. Do you have any idea how long Elisha was an intern? I mean, you have to kind of look at how he served the other kings and kind of follow that timeline to piece it together, but he was an intern for 18 years. 18 years of making Elijah's food, of waiting on him.
Joel Brooks:18 years of making copies, running errands. 18 years of sitting under Elijah's teaching, 18 years of character building, growing in the fruits of the spirit, becoming a different person. And God was changing him on the inside before God was ever about to use him for something extraordinary on the outside. I'm just kind of it cracks me up. I don't even know why I'm gonna share this.
Joel Brooks:But it is funny. I I just have this this conversation I could pick picture in my head between, like, Elijah's parents and the other parents, you know, by the time Elijah turns 40. And, you know, Elijah's Elisha's, you know, parents are probably talking to others like, hey, how's Johnny doing? Oh, Johnny's great. You know, he's a senior partner now at this firm.
Joel Brooks:Oh, that's great. You know, when Jimmy just started his own company, he's running that really well. How's how's Elisha? What's he up to? Well, you know, he's, he's still got that internship thing going.
Joel Brooks:I mean, I mean, it's, it's, he's still, you know, making food every morning. Still making some copies. It's a good, good job. How do you think his parents felt that he was obeying God's calling on his life? God was working character into him.
Joel Brooks:But it couldn't have been easy. So God first calls us to be something. Children of God, growing in the fruit of the spirit. But he also calls us to do something. This is the specific work that God has called you to do.
Joel Brooks:And this is different for every Christian. I mean, we've got some guidelines that we have in scripture. You know, we're to love mercy. We're to do justice. We're to do good works.
Joel Brooks:We have we have all these things. But there's ton of vague guidelines here. Our specific outworking of it is a little more fuzzy. And I cannot answer the question for you as to what God has specifically called you to do. Knowing what you do just comes from listening to him, listening to him and obeying.
Joel Brooks:I will say this, for those of you struggling to know what you are supposed to do as God's child, I would say know his heart, and then you will know his works that he wants to invite you into. Know his heart, strive to know who he is, and then you will find out what he is calling you to do. Alright. So after 18 years of an internship, Elisha finally becomes a prophet. And we read about this in 2nd Kings chapter 2.
Joel Brooks:So if you would turn there, and this is gonna lead us to our communion table. 2nd Kings 2, Beginning in verse 6. Then Elijah said to him, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. But he said, as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you. So the 2 of them went off.
Joel Brooks:50 men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them as they were both standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the 2 of them could go over on dry land. When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elijah, ask what I shall do for you because I am taken from you. And Elisha said, please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me. And he said, you have asked for a hard thing.
Joel Brooks:Yet if you see me and I am taken from you, it shall be so for it shall be so for you. But if you do not see me, it shall not be so. And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the 2 of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen.
Joel Brooks:And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in 2 pieces. And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him, and he struck the water saying, where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? When he had struck the water, the water parted to the one side and to the other, and Elijah went over.
Joel Brooks:So now we get to the stuff of flannel graphs and children's bibles. Love looking at the pictures of those fiery chariots and horses. Even if you've, never never once went to Sunday School. You likely have heard about the chariots of fire. I'm sure every person in here is at least aware of the old Negro spiritual, swing low sweet chariot coming forth to carry me home.
Joel Brooks:We're familiar with this. But but actually, a few of us have really actually studied the text. Because if you look at it, there is nothing about a sweet chariot taking you home. There's nothing sweet about these chariots, and it's actually the whirlwind that takes Elijah home, not the chariots. The story begins here.
Joel Brooks:And just briefly, the story begins here with Elijah asking for a double portion of Elijah's spirit. A couple things are meant by this. 1st is this, Elijah knows, or Elisha knows I cannot obey God's calling unless I'm empowered for it. I need a new heart. I need a new spirit within me to obey God's calling upon my life.
Joel Brooks:So that's one of the first pleadings. The second is this. When he asked for a double portion, at first, you're like, oh, that seems like that's a pretty audacious, like, ask. But all he's asking is that Elijah treat him like a son. The firstborn children got a double portion of the inheritance.
Joel Brooks:And so he's just wanting to be, like, Elijah, you are a father. You've been a father to me all these years. Will you treat me like a son? Can I be your son? And indeed, when Elijah is being carried off in this whirlwind, Elisha calls out, my father, my father.
Joel Brooks:So it's actually a very tender moment when Elisha asked for that double portion. Elijah says, well, that's up to god. And then suddenly, we have this chariots, these chariots of fire, and these horses of fire separating the 2 of them. And can I just say, there is a whole lot here I do not understand? I have studied the heck out of this, and there is still a whole lot I do not understand.
Joel Brooks:But I do know this, These were not sweet chariots. This wasn't a carriage. It's a chariot. Chariots were instruments of war, And this one was on fire. These chariots were on fire.
Joel Brooks:The horses were on fire. And then you have a tornado coming behind it. These were terrifying images of God's judgment. And then what we see next amazes us, and it points us to the communion table we are about to partake in. God's fiery judgment comes, but it doesn't take Elijah down.
Joel Brooks:It takes Elijah Elijah up. It carried him up to heaven. Elijah and Elisha did not have to fear God's fiery judgment coming to this world. They were spared. They were saved from it.
Joel Brooks:It didn't bring them down. It it took them up to heaven. And then Elisha, he cried out, my father, my father, as this judgment was coming down. And then he was given the spirit, Elijah's spirit, and he received the mantle. He was treated like a son.
Joel Brooks:Now we know that all of these things were possible because of this table that we have in front of us as we're about to celebrate the body and the blood of Jesus. Think of it this way. As as you study the story, Elijah, he was spared god's fiery judgment. Those instruments of war when they came, he was spared god's judgment. Because later Jesus would not be spared God's fiery judgment.
Joel Brooks:Elisha? Well, he could call out my father, my father, and he would be heard and he would receive the spirit and he would be treated like a son, but Jesus would not be. When that fiery judgment came, Jesus would cry out, not my father, my father, because He had, at that moment, he did not feel that privilege. He called out, my God, my God. And his father did not send him his spirit.
Joel Brooks:His Father forsook Him. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And it's for these reasons here that Jesus was not spared judgment, that Jesus was not treated like a son. It's for these reasons that we do not fear judgment because He took those things for us. He took the judgment for us.
Joel Brooks:Although He was the first born, He was treated like a common sinner and judged for it. And now the reason that our lives have such purpose and our lives have such meaning is because we have now been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Hear me, Christian. You have been doubly bought. You have been created for a purpose, and then you rebelled in your sin, and then Jesus bought you back with his own blood.
Joel Brooks:You have been twice bought. Therefore, glorify God with your body. Accept the calling and the claim that Jesus has made upon you. And it will all be for his glory and for your joy. Pray with me, church.
Joel Brooks:Father, we thank you for the calling you have made on our lives and that you have given us meaning and purpose. You also offer to us joy, joy running over, joy we cannot even fathom. And so I pray that we would accept your calling upon us. All in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
