01 When God calls: Burn your ox (1 Kings 19:19-21)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast by Krisan Marotta. This is the first talk in a series called When God Calls. And we will be looking at 1 Kings 19 and 2 Kings chapter 2. I ran across this quote in a book. When you have nothing but death to look forward to and nothing but memories to look back on, what will you need to see in order to come to the conclusion my life was a success? That was an interesting quote to me. I realized the author wasn't writing to be theologically, you know, precise, but it was rather thought-provoking, and it sparked the question: is it possible for a follower of Christ to have nothing but death to look forward to and nothing but memories to look back on? Is that even a thing if you're a believer? And I would say no. According to Psalm 139, it says, All our days were ordained, that is planned by God. So this is Psalm 139, 15 and 16. My frame was not hidden when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. But that we each have a course that is set personally for us by God, and it's to result in his glory and our good. So if you're still breathing, your race isn't over, you have a calling yet to fulfill. Now you probably say, of course I believe that, but think about how easily we get distracted from it, or we tend to ignore it. And I think particularly as women, we tend to ignore it based on our marital status. So we mistakenly assume that there's one plan for women, and it everybody everybody follows the same path. It's conceive children or marry, conceive children, raise children, become a grandmother in that order, no deviation, no variation. And if you just look around the room, you'll see that's not the path every woman in here takes. I mean, you probably know people who didn't follow things follow that precise path exactly. And you can see that God does not have a one-size-fits-all plan for women. But single women, I think, are tempted to believe that their race is on hold until the right man comes along. So the temptation is to think, well, is singleness is just like I'm still at the starting gate, my path hasn't, my race hasn't yet begun. And yet, Psalm 139 says, all our days were ordained. If singleness is every bit of calling that marriage is, and we ought to embrace it as such. And then if you're married, you tend to think, well, God has a plan for my husband, and I'm kind of the cheering spectator helping him run his race, and we act as if we're kind of the supporting actress in our husband's race, and we're just in danger then of becoming spectators. And it is true that if you're married, you run the race in tandem, but you're still running the race. Everybody has a race to run. And if you're on the other side of marriage, either through death or divorce, it's tempting to think your race is over. And that if you're no longer married, that there's nothing left for you to do. Now you're probably dealing with regret or grief or loss, but if you're still breathing, your race is still going on. So single, wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, grandmother, whatever your role is, those are part of God's calling for you. No matter what your age, what your role, what your marital status, you still have a calling. So that's what we're gonna explore this weekend. We're not gonna explore how do you find your calling, how do you figure that out. I'm gonna assume you're you're on that path, you'll figure it out. Instead, we're gonna look at how do you do it well, whatever it is, whatever age, stage, whatever your particular race looks like right now, how do you live it out well? And I'm by the end, we're I'm gonna give you five principles for uh living running your race well. And we're gonna get two tonight, and we're gonna get them from the story of Elisha and Elijah. So we're gonna look at 1 Kings 19, if you have your Bible. I like teaching from kings because I never go and people go, Oh, I'm so tired of kings. Everybody's teaching kings all nobody ever even knows where it is. You kids are thinking. So uh yeah, hopefully these stories may be familiar to you, or you've heard them, but you might not have read them recently. So we're gonna start in 1 Kings 19. Let me just set the stage for you a little bit. We're gonna look at Elisha's calling, the day he's called, and then we're gonna look at his what I would call his graduation day, the day he kind of took over. So Elisha is a disciple of and a successor to the prophet Elijah, and I will probably mix up their names. It's very hard to say Elisha and Elisha enough times to keep them clear, but bear with me if I mix up their names. Both of them were prophets in the northern kingdom during the dynasties of Amri and Jehu. So, what's the northern kingdom? After the death of Solomon, civil war broke out in Israel over which of his sons would take the throne. The kingdom split in two, ten tribes went with the northern kingdom and became what's known as Israel. Two tribes went with another son and formed the southern kingdom or Judah. So Elijah and Elisha were prophets to the northern kingdom, the ten tribes. And Elijah becomes active when Omni, Omri, is king, and he sought political alliances with Tyree because he wanted access to the lucrative Mediterranean trade routes, and to seal the deal, he married his son to a woman you've probably heard of called Jezebel. She was a Tyrian princess. That's where Jezebel comes from, yeah, boo his, right? So she arrives in Israel, uh, married to Ahab, the son of Omri, to seal this political alliance, and she is intent on wiping out the worship of Yahweh and replacing it with the worship of her God. So that's the backdrop to our story. That's what Elijah's dealing with. And at the point we're picking up the story, he's worn out. He's had huge successes, but the people haven't turned back to God. He's depressed. He goes, he sits under a broom tree, and he says, God, just take me home now. But God has other plans. He says, I'm not going to take you home. He's going to give you Elijah a disciple or a successor. So he tells him, Go anoint Elisha. So look at 1 Kings 19, 19. So he, that's Elijah, departed from there and found Elisha, the son of Shapat, who was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him. He was with the twelfth. Elisha passed by him, and Elisha cast his cloak upon him. So this is the beginning of Elisha's call, and for him, this is just another day at work. He's a farmer by trade and training, and as far as he knows, he's going to spend the rest of his life on the farm. This is his calling. And if you're going to be a farmer, what do you need? You need an ox, a plough, and some land. So he's out ploughing with twelve pairs of oxen. Probably not all of them were his. There are two possibilities. One is most likely one pair was his, and the rest either belong to his family, like his parents or his siblings. And if they did belong to his family, they were a very rich family. But the more likely possibility is they belonged to other neighbors because what they would do in those days when it was time to plow the fields is they'd gather up all the oxen, they'd make like what we would think of as a barn raising. They'd all go plow a field and then they'd move on to the next field and they'd keep going until everybody's field was plowed. So most likely one of these pears belonged to Elijah, and the rest are his neighbors. But in either case, if you're going to be a farmer in ancient Israel, you need an ox and a plow. They're the essential tools. So Elijah comes up to him and he throws his cloak around Elisha's shoulders. And for Elisha, he would have known the symbolism at once. He's being called to be the next prophet. And he would know that because the way the Old Testament describes having God's Spirit is to say you were clothed with the Spirit. So if you look through the Old Testament, you'll see a lot of language about the prophets being clothed with God's Spirit. So when Elijah throws his cloak around Elisha's stories or shoulders shoulders, he's invoking that symbolism. So he's physically putting on the coat to say, this is a symbol of you are now going to be clothed with God's Spirit and be the next prophet. And of course, the New Testament picks up that language. Paul talks about putting on and putting off the old man. He uses the same kind of language. He talks about clothing ourselves in Christ in both Romans and Galatians. It's the same idea, it comes from this Old Testament idea of being clothed with the Spirit. So here's Elisha plowing in his field, going about his normal day. He doesn't know Elijah maybe except by reputation. And he comes up and he says, basically, you're going to be the next prophet. So look at 1920. And Elisha left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you. And Elijah said to him, Elijah said to Elisha, Go back for what I have done, what have I done to you? So Elijah apparently walked up, put the cloak on him, and left, which I'm sure would have been like, okay, now what do I do? Elisha says, Let me say goodbye to my parents, and Elijah's answer is basically, do whatever you want. I'm not the one calling you, God is calling you. I think that's the sense of what have I done to you. It's this is not my call. This is God calling. The question before you is, will you or won't you? The choice is up to you. And that's, I think, the first choice all of us make in our lives. Will we or won't we? At some point it becomes clear what God's calling us to do, and we have to face that question. If following God means going here, am I willing? Will I do it? If it means whatever. So our choices may not be as dramatic or clear-cut as Elijah's, but we all face that decision where we realize following God means I need to do whatever, X, Y, Z, am I willing? So maybe it's following God means being single when I want to be married, or following God may mean living without glorious income when all my college friends are climbing the income ladder and I'm not. Or it may mean putting family before career, or it may mean dropping out of a career to take care of elderly parents, or whatever. But the whatever the call is, the first choice we have to face is, am I willing? So whatever situation God puts you in, whatever gifts He's given you, whatever your circumstances, are you willing to follow Him? And that's the choice Elisha's facing, and look at how he answers in 1921. And he returned from following him, that is, Elisha returned from following Elijah, and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them, and boiled the flesh with the yolks of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him. So this is a complete, utter change of life for him. He was a farmer, now he's gonna be a prophet. He can't do both. He can't meet the demands of being a prophet and stay on the farm. So what's he gonna do? He literally burns his plow and his ox. So he's responding with decisiveness. He is sacrificing the oxen and burning his plow, and he's burning all his bridges. He cannot now go back to being a farmer because he has completely given up everything he needed to do that calling. And using the plow for firewood is a big waste of money. He could have used anything for firewood. There was no need to use the plow. That was an extravagance. He could have sold the plow for a nice sum of money and then had that money to fall back on if this, you know, profit thing didn't work out. It would have been insurance. But burning the plow and the oxen, he's publicly saying, God's called, I'm following him. I'm literally throwing my old way of life on the bonfire to follow God's call. And that, I think, is the first kind of the first principle we're going to come out of this. His great qualification for serving God was he humbly said, Yes, I will follow you. So we tend to think that the work of God has to be done by the great and the powerful, or the famous preachers, or the celebrities, or the beautiful people, or the scholars, or whatever. And yet, all Elijah's qualifications were of I am willing. God called, I'm going. So you don't need the right education, you don't need the perfect degree, you don't have to have the most impressive conversion story or the right letters after your name. You only need humble obedience. So when God calls, there's the first principle, when God calls, burn your rocks. Go after him, follow him, say yes. He's not looking for fame, he's looking for faith, he's not looking for wealth, he's looking for willingness, and he's not looking for renown, he's looking for humble reliance. So the only pedigree you need to serve God is obedience, to say, yes, I will go. So in addition to his public commitment, Elisha celebrates with the whole village. Two oxen would have fed a lot of people. It would feed the entire village. So I don't know if you've ever, like if your family's ever bought a share of a cow or something, and you you know it like fills your freezer and then some, and you it's only a little tiny share of the cow. So two oxen are enough to feed the village for a huge feast. And I think that's one of those life-changing moments where they're celebrating. So we mark, you know, graduations, weddings, births, promotions, we mark them with these great feasts, and that's what Elisha's doing. He's making a public celebration, a public acknowledgement. I'm through with being a farmer, God's called, and I'm going. So the first thing we know about Elijah is he has faith. He burned all his bridges, he cut off his means of support, he's cast himself entirely on God's hands, and that is a great way to start your calling. Now, turn over to 2 Kings chapter 2. And we're gonna look at what I call his graduation day. So that was the day he first got his call. Now we're gonna look at the day when Elijah leaves him, and now he has to go forward on his own. So we're gonna look at 2 Kings chapter 2. I'm gonna start in verses 1 through 6. Now, when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel. But Elisha said, As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elijah and said to him, Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you? And he said, Yes, I know it, keep quiet. And Elijah said to him, Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you? And he answered, Yes, I know it, keep quiet. Then Elijah said to him, Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. But he said, As the Lord lives, as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So the two of them went on. So apparently everybody seems to know that this is Elijah's last day on earth. Not sure how they know, but apparently they all know. So either Elijah had been told and he spread the word, or maybe God gave revelation to the other prophets. So we don't know exactly how, but they all seem to know this is the day. So this is the final event of Elijah's life. And what he does is he spends his day, he leaves Samaria, they walk about 17 miles to Gilgal. Elijah tells him to stay while he goes on, and Elisha says no. So they go another eight or so miles to Bethel. Again, the scene's repeated. Elijah asks him to stay, he says, no, I'm going with you. And they go about 15 miles more to Jericho. Which is Jericho's on the north shore of the Dead Sea, it's just east of the Jordan River. And then for a third time they have the same seed, they scene. They go to the city of Jericho, the prophets there come out, and like the others, they receive this word that this is the last day. Elisha says, be still. Elijah says, Stay here. He says, nope, I'm going with you. So it's not clear when Elisha says, keep quiet, or it's literally be still. I'm not sure exactly what he's thinking. I think it's either something like, I don't want to talk about it, like, don't bring it up. Or it could be, you know, no tears, no party, no speeches. This is, you know, just one more day. We want to give the glory to God, not anything else. So I'm not quite sure what he means. Probably he didn't want to talk about it. So finally, um, they head over to the Jordan River, which is about another five miles journey, and that, of course, is where the history of Israel began, not so uh long ago under Joshua. And as they go to the river, notice at no time is there panic. We don't see the language or the um the speeches. There's no panic, there's no anxiety, there's no even regret. It just seems to be this peacefulness of this is what's gonna happen. So the the question, interesting question then, is why does Elisha ask Elisha to stay behind? And why do why repeat that three times? There's three popular theories. One is that Elijah is testing Elisha's faithfulness. So he's trying to see if he's this younger disciple of his is gonna follow him all the way to the end, and it's some kind of a test. That isn't my first choice because throughout the stories that we we skipped over, we see great faith in Elijah. You never see him wavering. He doesn't, he's always strong and steadfast. And so I don't think that's much of a test anyway, because if most of us, if you had a beloved mentor you'd spent years with, you'd want to every last minute you could spend in their presence, you'd want to be in their presence. So I don't know why that would be much of a test. But that's one theory if you read the commentaries, you'll run into. Another one is the second theory is that Elijah knows this is going to be a long day, this he's got a lot of places to visit, and he's just trying to spare Elisha the walk. So that has some merit. It's if you add up all the miles and think about how long it took to actually walk those or even ride a donkey if they were riding a donkey, which might have been their other mode of transportation, it's a long day. And it could be he's just saying, you don't need to take this. This is my final journey, you're ready, you're trained, you're on your own, you don't need to go uh with me. That's possible. The third theory is that Elisha sees this as a personal event between him and God, and he either doesn't want Elisha around or he doesn't need him around, and he just maybe just doesn't want any spectators. I lean toward the second option that uh it's not a test, but it that it's just that Elijah is ready to carry on. So the more interesting question, though, to me is why does Elisha stay with him? And I think the answer to that is in the next few verses. Let's look at seven through twelve. So they're at um they're headed over to Jericho. It says, fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, and as they were both 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 one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground. And when they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elijah said, Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me. And he said, You have asked a hard thing, yet if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me it shall not be so. And as they went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fi chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen, and he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his clothes and tore them in two pieces. That must have been an exciting experience. So they're walking along, they go about five miles away from Jericho to the Jordan River, and the prophets who are at Jericho walk along behind them to see what's going to happen. And when they come to the edge of the Jordan, they have to cross. And Elijah takes off his cloak, he folds it up like a stick, and he strikes the water so they can cross over on dry ground. Now that ought to be reminiscent of great symbolism there. So Elijah then asks his disciple, what can he do for him? And I think this is what he's been doing all day. He's been going from school to school of these, they call them the sons of the prophets. They were probably like rabbinical students or they're in prophets in training in some sense. And I think he's asking them, saying, What final thing can I give you? So, like when you see the patriarchs passing away, they give a blessing to their sons. I think that's what's going on here. Elijah's giving them one last prayer, one last blessing, one last teaching, and now it's Elisha's turn. So they cross over, it's just the two of them, and he says, What can I do for you? Ask now what I can do for you. And Elijah says, Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me. So as the spiritual firstborn son to his spiritual father, he's asking for the double portion of the inheritance. So the firstborn in material sense was to receive a double portion of the inheritance, but Elisha's not looking for wealth or materialism, he's asking for God's spirit. And I think that's why he stuck to him all through the day. Remember, he's burned his ox, he can't go back to farming, there's no going back. He could ask for a blessing, he could ask for a teaching, but he asked for a double portion of the spirit because if you're gonna be a prophet, you have to have God's spirit. Just like if you're gonna be a farmer, you have to have a plow and an ox. So I think he's acknowledging I don't have what it takes to do this job. If I'm gonna be a prophet, I have to have God's spirit. I'm not a prophet by nature. If God doesn't give it to me, I can't do this calling. I will fail. So I needed an ox and a plow to be a farmer. I have to have God's spirit to be a prophet and left to myself. I do not have what it takes. And the only place he knows how to get what it takes is from Elijah. So he sticks with him all through the day. And he could have asked for anything, but I think he's acknowledging I'm inadequate, I can't do what God has called me to do unless God equips me to do it. So I'm willing, but I need God to equip me. And that's the second way to be successful in your calling. Recognize I'm willing, I want to, and uh, but unless God equips me, I'm gonna fail. I can't do this on my own power, but I can if God equips me. So in his answer, Elijah acknowledges that I think he's saying God's spirit is not his to give. So when he says you've asked for a hard thing, I think he's saying, that's not in my power. I could give you a prayer, I could give you a teaching, I could explain scripture to you, but I can't give you God's spirit. That's a hard thing to do. It's not in my power. But he says, if you see me when I'm taken from you, it shall be so for you. If not, it shall not be so. So I think he's saying, it your request is in God's hands, and you'll know if he's answered you, if you see me leave. That's how you'll know that he has heard your request and he has answered you. So then comes the scary moment where they're walking and talking, and one minute they're talking side by side, and the next minute they're separated by a chariot and a fire and horses of fire, and Elijah's taken up by a whirlwind. And God answers Elijah because he sees it. He sees Elisha's departure. So that's his first answer. Now we're gonna get his second answer. Because now he's trapped on the wrong side of the river. So the only way they got across was for Elijah to strike the river with his cloak and that part of the waters. Now Elisha's on the wrong side. How's he gonna get back? Look at 2.13 and 14. And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood at the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, Where's the Lord, the God of Elijah? And when he had struck the water, the water was parted to one side and to the other, and Elisha went over. So I think he's essentially asking, Where's the Lord? Did God answer me or not? Did he give me his spirit or not? Is he with me or not? And he strikes the water, the water parts, and he knows, yes, God is with him, God has heard his prayer. So he's essentially asking, Do I have the spirit? Do I have has the mantle figuratively passed as well as literally? Because he has the literal cloak, but does he have the God's spirit? And when he strikes the waters, God is answering him. And notice that's precisely what the watchers on the other side of the bank conclude. Look at 2.15 and 16. Now when the sons of the prophet who were at Jericho saw him on the opposite, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elijah, and they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. And they said to him, Behold, now there were there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. It may be that the spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley. And he said, You shall not send. But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men, and for three days they sought Elijah but did not find him. And they came back to Elisha while he was staying at Jericho, and said to him, Did I not say to you, do not go? So I've often wondered why the story didn't end with Elisha just walking across the river on dry ground, you know, and the prophets meeting him and saying, Wow, you've got you've got the spirit now, why they have this scene where he says, Oh, let's go look for him, and um Elisha says no until they he finally gives in. And I think it it shows um what we're supposed to learn from it is that Elijah has the eyes to see in a way that the other prophets don't. Because part of the answer Elijah told him is if you see me, if you see and understand, if you see me taken from you, then you'll know God has given you a double portion of the spirit. And then when he comes back, he parts the waters, and then he knows Elijah is gone and the others don't. So it just confirms this contrast that Elijah saw and they didn't. They want to go look for the old prophet, but Elisha knows it's futile. So he sees and they don't. And Elijah said, if you see, God has answered you, and it's a confirmation for him that he sees. Okay, so what are we supposed to learn from all that? And what does that have to do with our calling? I've kind of dropped it in along the way. But the first one, uh well, I want a kind of a derivative of the first one, is credentials don't make the prophet God does. So Elijah had no qualifications, that so to speak. He was a farmer, not a rabbi. He uh didn't have, you know, didn't go to the best school and the best seminary and get the best training. As far as we know, he didn't have any training other than what a normal Hebrew uh son would get until Elijah showed up. So God didn't go looking for the person with the most impressive credentials, the biggest, you know, the most number of letters after their name, um, the intellectuals or the person with a 10-page resume. He went looking for the one who was faithful. So God called and Elijah burned his ox. He followed, he was willing. And that's the first primary qualification. That's the one we all need. So all of you are probably thinking, oh, God couldn't do great things through me because I'm too something, too old, too young, too extroverted, too introverted, don't have the right conversion story, didn't come from the right family, didn't grow up in the right place, didn't go to the right school, whatever. We all have an excuse. I'm too something. And all those qualifications are irrelevant. The one God's looking for is are you willing? Whatever call he puts in front of you, are you willing to take it? So you may think you can't do a certain job or a certain role, you don't have the right credentials, but God can call you to anything. And if he wants you to do it, he'll get you through, just like he did Elisha. He will equip you. So he's not limited by our gender, by our pedigree, by our education, by our conversion stories, by our past mistakes, none of that. He can call all he wants is a humble, faithful heart that says, Yes, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief, I'm willing. So you don't need the right credentials, you just need faith. And the second one is we've already touched on is that God is faithful. He equips those he calls for ministry. So what we see in Elijah is Elisha recognizes I'm inadequate, I don't have what it takes, I'm not the best person for this job, or at least in his own eyes, but instead of agonizing over that inadequacy or running from it or denying it or trying to prove to God maybe he had it anyway, he just asked, God, give me what I need, equip me, give me the spirit, which is what he needs to be a prophet. So if God's calling you to be a student or a wife or a mother or a teacher or a friend or an entrepreneur or a caretaker or whatever, he will give you what you need to get you through. Now, that doesn't mean it's going to be easy, and it might uh be ups and downs, you may become depressed, people may respond to you with anger, you may not feel like you're a success, but God is still with you, teaching you and giving you the resources you need. So the only credential you need is humble faith and obedience, and God will equip you for the rest. So when God calls, burn your rocks, throw yourself all in. It's a great adventure. So here's just a you've probably got them by now, but I'm gonna give you five ways to run your race well. So when God calls, here are five ways to run your race well. Here are the first two we've seen tonight. Follow God's call with humble faith and obedience. So that's what we learned from Elijah Burning and his ox. Just say yes with humble faith and obedience. And then the second one, trust God to equip you for whatever call he gives you. And that's what we see through him asking for the double portion of the Spirit. Let me pray for us. Father, thank you that you are a God who calls and equips. And we all come before you knowing we're inadequate, left to ourselves. We couldn't be the people we should be. We don't have the resources, we don't even have the um the faith sometimes to say yes. So we come to you with just like the verse from scripture, we believe, help our unbelief. I just uh just ask that for each person here as we start working towards calling, thinking about calling, thinking about being successful, that we would uh throw ourselves on faith and obedience, trusting that whatever journey you have ahead, you're in control, you know what it is, you've got a plan all our days for our day, and that you will equip us to do what you want us to do. And it's a good thing.