Below is the outline of the sermon, I preached on 18 November 2012 at West Ewell Evangelical Church, Surrey
Introduction
This is the latest sermon on Elisha, who ministered for 50 years.
In this narrative, there is another skirmish in Middle East – with Israel being attacked by Arameans, despite the healing of their general Namaan (who was healed in chapter 5).
The incident occurred at Dothan, which was 10 miles north of Samaria and about 60 miles north of Jerusalem. It was a major town on the main route used by merchants and herdsmen going north to the Jezreel valley. Its previous mention was in Genesis chapter 37, where it was the location where Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers so it was notorious in association.
In the town of Dothan, Elisha's slave was in consternation as the town encircled by the Aramean army.
In 1991, an organisation called Michigan’s Timid Motorist assisted 830 motorists across the MacKinac Bridge that is five miles long and 200 feet high. The drivers were so scared of heights that they couldn’t drive their own cars. In the same year, more than a thousand motorists received assistance at Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge – also 200 feet high and four miles long.
Matthew Henry stated in his commentary: ‘In the dark we are more apt to be frightened.’
We will look at:
1. Blindness – what is blocking the view in this day and age
2. Awareness – looking beyond the worldview
3. Being different – how having a different viewpoint changes our behaviour
1. Blindness
The king of Aram made a big mistake for his enemy was not Elisha, but God so it was not going to be much of a contest. Whilst the soldiers were commissioned to capture Elisha, he leads them to the king of Israel in the end.
It is said that three of major thought processes that seek to replace God in modern society:
a. Relativism – which states there is no moral absolutes – seen in acceptance of same-sex marriages, despite facts and (more importantly) God’s Word.
b. Pluralism – people state no true truth for there is a plurality of truths. It is reminiscent of ‘everyone did what was right as he saw fit’ (Judges 21: 25)
c. Postmodernism – words have no meaning, leads to revisionism (e.g. history).
I would venture another reason: people do not realise God working because so caught up in their own worlds. Busyness is an effective strategy of the Devil’s.
People have been ignorant of what God has said - they do not think and do not care. The days when people are aware of the Bible from childhood are long gone.
The philosopher of our age, Homer Simpson stated: ‘I’m not normally a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me Superman.’
It is easy to point finger at people outside of the Church – but more fingers point back.
In the challenging of the world outside because of their worldviews, we can become soft in attitudes in the church. We can try to 'fudge the edges' in order to try and make the Gospel more acceptable to them.
When attitudes go soft, our eyes become cloudy, like cataracts, with wrong beliefs so we can fail to see the effectiveness of the God’s mighty strength in our lives.
The uncertainties that people have in the world around us can permeate into our lives.
We need to remember that there is more than the material world – that is we have to remember the spiritual dimension including eternity, heavenly beings, God Himself.
2. Awareness
Elisha quietened the situation by two things:
a. By a word ‘Don’t be afraid’ (verse 16)
In the Bible, it is stated 365 times ‘Be strong’ – one occurrence for every day of the year.
We are reminded that the wind and the waves obey Him, that devils fear and fall – but so often our doubts and fears get in the way of trusting God.
We need to take on board the words ‘Don’t be afraid,’ especially as we seek to move forward as individuals and as a church.
b. Vision – so could see the armies of the Lord
By the way, in verse 17, the word is ‘hill’ (singular) not ‘hills’ (plural) as the horses and chariots of the Lord surrounding the hill on which the town of Dothan was situated.
The horses and chariots represent a personal bodyguard for the prophet, as God is often represented as the Lord of Hosts - as God appeared before Joshua as the Captain of the Hosts before the fall of Jericho (Joshua 5: 13 – 15).
His vision is contrasted with the subsequent blindness of the Aramean soldiers.
Verses 17 – 18, to ‘open the eyes’ – in the Bible, only used of God’s action – it was only through God that the servant could see the superior forces encircling the besiegers.
Joe Stowell speaks of ‘clicking and dragging’ like computer material, so drag the spiritual into the material – need to see God working in this world – can see God active, both in events and in your lives.
We need to have eyes of faith – ‘…without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him’ (Hebrews 11: 6). God wants us dearly to be involved in Him in the spiritual as well as material; indeed, He loved us so much that sent His Son to die so that He would bear our sins.
We are urged to ‘walk by faith, not by sight’ (1 Corinthians 5: 7) – not to have two dimensional sight as the slave did, but to have three dimensional as look into the spiritual.
3. Being different
Because Elisha had confidence in God, he was able to surrender the situation to Him.
The vision that Elisha has is in contrast with:
· Spiritual blindness of the servant
· Physical blindness of the Aramean soldiers (almost sense of farce as Elisha rounds up the soldiers); and
· Moral blindness of King Jehoram – the latter wanted to kill the soldiers captured as surrendered, not taken in battle; his eyes had not been open to the work of God although recognised that Elisha had relationship with God by using title ‘father’ which like people saying to us ‘have a prayer for me’ without them having personal relationship with God.
He was aware of the divine support and protection that is always available to God’s people in times of testing. The question is posed as to whether we are aware of His presence with us and His delight as we walk in step with Him.
We were reminded by Stephen at his stoning (Acts 7: 56): ‘”Look,” he said. “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”’
There is the question in Romans 8: 31 – ‘If God is against us, who can be against us?’
We are to live out our Christian lives in love – ‘speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him [i.e. Jesus] who is the Head…’ (Ephesians 4: 15)
The clemency as urged by Elisha often leads to peace – as Paul urged us to ‘live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.’ (2 Timothy 2: 2 – 4)
He was not wanting blessing for isolated community as he prayed for soldiers’ sight to be restored (verse 20). It would have been easy to be vindictive (after all, they were the enemy), not be bothered or kept blessing back for people of Israel. Likewise, we can easily hold back from showing the vision of mighty work of God to other people, for it could be that they are ‘not our kind of people’ (whatever that might mean) or we might not be bothered.
It will mean going against the grain, the tide of modern life, in having our eyes opened. Paul then tells us how eyes to be open: ‘For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.’ (1 Timothy 2: 5 – 6)
The Gospel contradicts:
· Relativism – for we cannot do life through philosophy, as we cannot argue with God for He made us and knows the best way for us to live.
· Pluralism– as God is the only way, Jesus: ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14: 6 – incidentally, these were the names of the gateways of the tabernacle)
· Postmodernism – the truth of God relevant today as the start of creation, since God saw redemption before the world began. There was the need to deal with sin through the cross, which was the centre of history.
· Unthinking – for the Gospel makes us consider where we really are and who we are.
Conclusion
We should be seeking to draw people to Jesus, who said to people of Jerusalem: ‘If you, even you, had known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.’ (Luke 19: 42). Like Jesus, we should want our community to know that which only God can provide: forgiveness, reconciliation to Himself, which leads to peace
God wants us to move from uncertainty to confidence. It will be risky as we take our fingers of control of our lives. Brother Andrew commented : ‘If your vision doesn’t scare you, then both your vision and your God are too small.’
Closing questions:
· How open are your eyes? – are you still blind, sucked into the thinking of this age (whether or not realise it)?
· How aware are you to what God is doing? – read about it in books and magazines; but, more importantly, read about in the Bible and on your knees in prayer.
· How different are you? – we should be standing out from others around, provocative in the positive sense: pointing to Jesus. There is the old question: if you were to be put on trial for being a Christian, would you be found guilty? (Unfortunately, I think that too many of us would found 'not guilty.')
Our prayers should be that our eyes would be fully open and far-seeing, and that others would also see God at work.
