PH 4-minute Bible teaching
Eager to sacrifice
It’s a moment in Scripture that is often glossed over. And it shouldn’t be. The moment when Elisha first meets the great prophet Elijah, his eventual mentor, is one that is full of biblical insight and wisdom.
It’s clear Elisha was not destitute or poor. He had means. But the moment Elijah called him to a life of sacrifice, you won’t believe the man’s response. If you want to just listen to the audio version of this clip, just click here.
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Transcript: Eager to sacrifice
Wed, Oct 11, 2023 : Peter Heck
(Begin transcript)
Hold your finger where we are in Second Kings. But now flip back just a couple pages to the end of first Kings. This is First Kings chapter 19. And you're going to see where Elijah first meets Elisha. And this is probably a story that you've overlooked in your Bible study, but you shouldn't.
Okay, so first Kings chapter 19, verses 19 through 21. So Elijah went from there and he found Elisha, son of Shaphat. That is a great name Shaphat. We really ought to bring that back. Blake, where is Blake? When you have a kid named him Shaphat. Shaphat Robinson. Alright, so anyway, so he's got Elisha, son of Shaphat. He was plowing with the 12 yoke of oxen, and he himself – 12 yoke of oxen – and he was driving the 12th pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. That's the sign that you're the one, you're going to be my mentee. Elisha, then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, Elisha said, and then I'll come back to you. So I just said, Go back now verse 21. So Elisha left him and went back.
Now look, what he does. Is this a guy that is worried about the material and what he's going to have later on? Is this a guy that’s saying, I'm gonna go follow this dude for a while, but I want to come back because I've got all of this. Look what he does. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered him. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people and they ate. And then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant. Okay. I mean, this is, this is a guy that has gotten the call of God, and he's so giddy about it. He's like, Oh, I wonder what to do with the oxen. He just up and kills them, and then takes his farm equipment, takes his combine and sets that thing on fire, and then cooks the oxen and gives it to the people. They eat and he runs after Elijah. That's how this whole story plays out.
Okay, first of all, if you've got 12 pair of oxen in this day, you're doing pretty good. Elisha is sittin pretty well at this point in time. He has material wealth. But look how eager Elisha was when he had the opportunity to follow this man of God. How eager he was to give it all away. If that meant serving God, material things mean nothing to me. The oxen, I'm just gonna slaughter them, and you can eat them. I don't care. I'm going after Elijah. I'm following this man of God.
He could have cared about material things. But he didn't. He was so focused on the spiritual. How tied to possessions are we? I am not saying that you need to go home and slaughter your livestock. That's not what I'm suggesting. But would you be eager to give those things up? If it meant following the call of God? Suppose you got a call, and you felt pulled to the mission field? What would you do with all of your possessions? Well, I could get a storage unit and pay for that. I could give them off to somebody. Would you be ready and willing if, I mean, I'm going to serve Jesus and I don't plan on coming back, just whatever.
Is that how eager we are to follow the call of God? Are those possessions too important to us to let go when given the chance? Elisha slaughters the oxen, burns the farm equipment, sell or doesn't even sell the meat, he gives the meat away. And he doesn't ask God, is there a way that I could keep all this? Like could someone maintain this while I go and serve you for a while? And then that way I've got this kind of a fallback plan. In case I'm not into the whole profit thing, I'd like to have the whole farmer things still available to me.
He was ahead of his time, but here's what he got. When Jesus would teach us later, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and then all this other stuff will be added to you as well.” Elisha understood that way ahead of his time. We're way after his time, and I'm not sure we understand it. This is an important lesson, and an important, valuable lesson for us.
(End transcript)