I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 6. The title of our message today
is, It Was Borrowed. It was borrowed. You know everything
that you have is on loan from God. Sometimes we don't remember that,
but it's true. Everything that you have is on
loan from God. What do you have that you didn't
receive? What do you possess that originates
from yourself for which you can say, this really truly is mine? What what do you possess or have
in your possession of which you can boast and say? This didn't
come from somewhere else. This had its origin in me. It
was with me all along I am the author and finisher of that which
I possess And the truth is none of us can ever say that and so
if you know that everything that you have Comes from somewhere
else Why would you boast as? If it came from you If you know that you received
from God's hand as a bestowment and as a grant and as a benefit
and as a benevolence and in many cases as a responsibility, the
things that you have in your possession, how about your right
mind? How about your good health? How
about a prospect for the future of which some people cannot have
that is laid out before you in God's good providence in your
life? You have to acknowledge that God gave you that. How about
a family? Do you understand that even your
family is a gift from God? How about your spouse? That person
that you would want to get rid of sometimes. Don't you understand
that they are a gift from God? And they ought to understand
that you are a gift from God to them. Your children are a
gift from God. Relationships are a gift from
God. As difficult as they can be,
they are a gift from God. Your job is a gift from God.
See, everything you and I possess really is a gift from God in
one way or another, and it's designed to keep you and I with
a proper perspective of what we possess. Because at any time
God wants to, He can take it from you. He can take your gifts
from you. He can take your talents from
you. He can take your skills from you. He can take your influences
from you. He can take your mind from you.
You and I don't have nothing that originates with us so that
we can say in a sovereign way, it's mine and I will always possess
it. It can go as easily as it came. And you know what else? What
I have discovered is sometimes until God takes the thing away
or threatens to take it away, we don't value it. And you and
I are inclined, listen to me very carefully, you and I are
inclined to misuse the blessings that God gives us. We are inclined
either to misuse them or to neglect them or to be careless with them.
And sometimes God has to shake us up to remind us that we're
not the first calls. anything we're simply the beneficiaries
of blessings that God gives to us with responsibilities I was
reminded last week several times in a most burdensome way how
easy it is to have a loved one in our lives for decades upon
decades 60 70 years plus and then all of a sudden they're
gone my sister Bonnie The mother of Patrick and Phillip lost her
mother last week. She called me as she had to jump
on a plane and fly away. And I told her, you're in my
prayers, you're in my prayers. I know what it's like to lose
a parent. And then my sister, Miss Banks
and Miss Holloway lost their daughter and lost their sister
in the same week. And they were in my prayers too,
because my heart was already burdened for Miss Bonnie. And
as I was preaching to you last week, I was in danger of losing
my mother as well. So I know something about God
giving us things in the context of borrowed blessings that are
here for a season and can be gone. We have to be extremely
careful to understand that these are gifts, blessings. You can
lose your son. You can lose your daughter. You
can lose your friend. You can lose your spouse. You
can lose people that ought to mean something in your life.
can be taken away from you. You can find yourself bereft
and find yourself alone. And let me remind you once again,
because our context will actually affirm what I'm saying. You can
lose even the gifts that God gives you. Be careful. You can
lose it if you fail to realize that it is indeed a gift. And so you can follow me in your
outline. The account before us is a wonderful,
wonderful scenario of extreme blessing on the part of God towards
the people of God, particularly in the context of ministry, of
which you and I are to be about as the people of God from the
oldest of us to the youngest of us. And so there are some
lessons to be derived from this, especially with respect to regarding
and caring for and maintaining a proper perspective of stewardship
towards the things of God. The scenario is that the sons
of the prophets, these would be corresponding to students
of scripture, those who are learning the Word of God, those who are
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Elisha, who is again the predecessor
of Elijah, is so blessed by the Spirit of God in so many ways,
he is now instructing these young prophets to be and training them
and teaching them And schooling young men in the cause of the
gospel is a very comprehensive gift. It's not a small matter. It is profoundly critical to
the advancement of God's glory and God's honor. And it is, again,
comprehensive. And so they look up one day and
they find that they have grown in number significantly and the
prophets The sons of the prophets are so excited and so delighted
that they call upon Elijah to move from where they are to a
place where they can expand and where they can grow. Verse one
says, now the place where we dwell with you is too small. Do you guys see that? The place
where we dwell with you is too small. I just wanna make sure
you get the scenario. God is specifically, Causing
us to see and observe the blessing of his hand upon the ministry
The blessing of his hand upon the ministry. It is a blessing
when the ministry experiences growth We know however as we
have already been exercised this morning that growth comes from
god God is the one that causes a thing to grow. Is that not
true? And so we don't attribute to ourselves any kind of subtle
or cunning wisdom by which we made a thing to grow. The Apostle
Paul very clearly told us in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. He said,
don't you boast in Apollos. Don't you boast in Cephas. Don't
you boast in Paul. They are nothing but gifts by
which the body of Christ is edified. God gave them to you and God
gives the increase. It's so very important for you
to know that, that the increase of all things come from God. Now, the attitude that you and
I are to have with regards to God increasing things is rooted
in God's aim and objective. We have said it more than once
in this church, don't ever fail to recognize that the purpose
for which God has caused you and I to exist and live and to
serve Him in His kingdom is that His glory would be advanced all
over the world. We want to see men and women
come to a real saving knowledge of Christ. We want to see God
glorified. We want to see Him honored. We
want to see Him exalted. We want to see sinners saved.
We want to see our loved ones saved. We want to see our family
members saved. We want to be able to say right
along with the sons of the prophet, the place is too small, but we
want to be able to do it on a right and proper grounds. We want to
be able to do it because we really truly do know that God is the
one that is actually causing the increase. We have not manipulated
this thing. We have not coerced this thing.
We have not put in our own human growth hormones to cause the
thing to grow. We have not, as it were, inserted
into the body politic an alien synthetic element by which the
church grows. We can easily say it was the
work of the Lord. Growth is God's doing and the
process must be respected. And what do I mean by the processes?
I mean that when we are talking about the growth of the kingdom
of God and the growth of the church of Christ, God has a method
and a manner by which the church grows in a healthy way, in a
way that glorifies God and is safe for the people of God. And
I just want to call your attention to three things that's in your
outline. Remember this, in the ministry of the Lord, in the
cause of the gospel, there must maintain in the mindset of the
people of God a real sense of humility. We must remain humble. The attitude towards the ministry
is that it's God's and we're stewards of it. And stewardship
really requires a faithfulness that cannot be fully executed
without humility. You and I don't have the gift
within ourselves to be faithful to God. If God left you to yourself,
you would be unfaithful to God. I'm here to tell you. And so
humility is not this kind of pious attitude that basically
says, oh, I'm nothing. No, that's not humility. Humility
simply says that I need God in every aspect of my calling. I
don't ever want to think one thought apart from God. I don't
want to conceive one idea, one proposition, one set of assertions
without it being the grace of God actually causing these things
to come to pass. And I don't want to find myself
dwelling on any notion or any doctrine or any agenda that doesn't
have as its foundation and premise the God who initiated those thoughts
and approved those thoughts and affirmed those thoughts. I don't
want it to be about me. I want it to be about God. You
guys got that? That's the humility with which you have to walk.
And in order to do that, you have to be Coram Dei. You have
to be in the presence of God. You have to stay prostrate before
the Savior. You have to understand that you
are dealing with some very serious issues in the ministry. Souls
are at stake. Eternity is the issue at hand. We're not playing games when
it comes to the end game of this thing called the ministry. One
day we have to give an account, every one of us, for the things
we say and do in the cause of the ministry. One day we have
to give an account. So humility is critical to that.
And humility allows every one of us to stop focusing on ourselves
and focus on the Lord. You wanna be able to be a part
of a blessed environment, make sure that you don't think of
yourself more than you ought to. but that you think soberly
that you you think according to the scriptures think of no
man above that which is written but be sober in your judgment
now when you think about yourself that ought to humble you right
there the other attribute in this context of what i consider
healthy growth in the local church as a consequence of god's blessing
is charity i i want to make sure you understand that all things
work by love did you know that In the kingdom of God, all things
work by love. God is a God of love. God saved
us, predicated upon his love, and the expression of his love
manifested in us ought to cause us to respond in love to God
and towards one another. This is the, as it were, the
golden rule. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor, what? As yourself.
So there is a critical component in the motive and attitude of
the believer when it comes to the ministry. It must be motivated
by love for God, and love for others. Never take that out of
the equation. Never take that out of the equation.
You want a happy environment where men and women are free
to grow and express themselves and to be able to work through
this process called sanctification. Walk in humility and walk in
love. The other one is there too. The
other one is there too. And there are many verses. I
don't want to actually waste the time going to all the verses
to affirm it, but the aim of the ministry must be edification.
The aim of the ministry must be edification. Now, edification
is a Greek term that technically means to build up, like taking
stacks of bricks and laying them out in order, intentionally and
deliberately, and you build up the edifice. It's called building
up. The goal, therefore, in ministry
should be three things, humility, charity, And the objective should
be to edification. That's first Corinthians chapter
14 verse 12. You remember when Paul was talking to the Corinthians
who were gifted with a lot of gifts in the church, but they
were so narcissistic and egotistical that they were like marbles clashing
with one another in the church. And so there was lots of divisions
and conflicts in the church. And Paul said, the reason why
there are divisions and conflicts in the church is because you're
stuck on yourself. But you don't understand that
when it comes to edification, edification never terminates
in you. It always terminates in the other. To edify is to
be ready to build someone else up, not yourself. To build yourself
up is to be puffed up. That's different than being edified.
Building up is in other work. It's mindful of others. Am I
making some sense? Actually, that's what's going
on in our context too. You and I are coming in on a
turn of events where Elisha is, as I said, having come through
several marked Ministry experiences into this this this real auspicious
and favorable situation where he's happy and the prophets are
happy and they are Desirous to continue growing in the work
and so they have the approbation of God But they realize that
the place where they are is too small so they make the request
that they should go somewhere else and as it were build a place
suitable for their ministry, which calls our attention then
to point number two, building adequately for God's honor requires
what? Diligence, diligence. Now notice
what verse two says, let us go, we pray thee unto Jordan and
take thence every man a bean. You see that? Now, do you know
what this brother is talking about? You're talking about one
of those words that causes people to sweat and run. It's the word
work. It's the word work. Now follow
me now. He didn't say to Elisha, can
we go to a certain area where we can resort and vacation, where
we can lay back and be casual, where we can rest and recline. where we can enter into a mode
of cessation and Sabbath. No, he said, let us go somewhere
where we can actually exert our energies laboriously and diligently
for the purpose of making the place where this ministry is
growing adequate for the cause. In other words, he was speaking
representatively for all the other sons of the prophets, those
who are coming to understand the ministry, that we want to
actually increase our labor, not diminish our labor. And here
is the point. When it comes to the cause of
the gospel, ladies and gentlemen, in every facet of it, you and
I are called to diligence. We are called to diligence. Diligence is on the part of every
man. The humility of service, the resolve to labor, diligence
on the part of every person. On your part and on my part,
God calls us to diligence. And in fact, keep your hand here
and go to Romans chapter 12. I wanna show you just one verse
with regards to that. And as I am talking to us about
the ministry and I'm talking to us about The attitude and
characteristics that should accompany us in ministry if we're going
to be successful in ministry I want you to hear this as well.
I am not speaking exclusively about The church per se the gathering
of the saints on sunday I am talking about the church Comprehensively
that is I am speaking about every aspect of the ministry of our
lives Remember earlier, I talked about the fact that God has given
us many things. He's given us good health. Is
that true? That's a stewardship. He's given
us a good mind. Is that true? That's a stewardship. He's given us families. Is that
true? That's a stewardship. Are you
hearing what I'm saying? So when I talk about ministry,
I'm not simply talking about us being merely diligent to come
to church on Sunday. I'm talking about the ministry
impacting every aspect of our life. impacting my family, impacting
my children, impacting my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, impacting
my work, impacting my peers, impacting my brothers and sisters.
In other words, your work, ladies and gentlemen, does not stop
when we go amen. Did you get that? So as we are
unpacking this, I want you to think ministry for you is according
to where God has called you. Has he called you as a single
person? Has he called you as a male? Has he called you as
a female? Has he called you as a young
person? Has he called you as an older person? Has he called
you as a couple? Has he called you as a family?
Are you hearing what I'm saying? In that calling, we are talking
about being diligent in the cause of the gospel because that is
the sphere and rim of which God wants you to be immediately responsible
and careful in your blessed receiving of the endowment of grace in
your life. If I'm going to make an impact
on the kingdom of God, it's not because I'm going to be sending
CDs over to Africa. Did you get that? I'm going to
make an impact on the kingdom of God when I realize what God
has entrusted me with. I'm a husband, so I have a wife. She must know the truth. She
must love the truth. She must give her life to the
truth. I'm a father, I have sons and daughters. They must know
the truth. They must love the truth. They
must give their lives to the truth. And I must pour out my
life before them so that I might persuade them that God is everything. And that it's worth them pouring
out their life to the true and the living God. Are you guys
hearing what I'm saying now? That's the diligence that I'm talking
about. But that diligence is integrated with the expansion
of the church. So here we are told in Romans
chapter six, 12 I'm sorry verses 6 through 12 these words having
been gifts differing according to the grace that is given us
where the prophecy let us prophesy According to the proportion of
faith verse 6 is talking about the gift of teaching or ministry
Let us wait on our ministry or he that teaches on teaching or
he that exhorts on exhortation. These are all Teaching gifts
he that give it let him do it with simplicity Sometimes God
gives us the gift of giving money. Most people don't have that gift But sometimes God gives us the
gift of giving money, giving resources. And in that gift,
He wants you to be devoted to God. That's what the word simplicity
means. Not duplicitous, not ambiguous,
not ambivalent. You as a giver, because God has
given you the gift of making money, are not to be yes and
no with God. You are to be grounded in biblical
truth, sound in your theology, so that your giving corresponds
with your devotion to God. Did y'all get that? So the man
that is wealthy beyond most of us poor people, and yet he knows
God like we know God, he should be edified in his edifying of
others through the resources that he gives. Because he's doing
it with simplicity, singleness, devotion. That's what the word
can be translated, devotion to God. It goes on, he that rule
it. The word rule has to do with those who are overseers in the
church. Let them do it with what? Diligence. And he that showeth
mercy with cheerfulness, let love be without hypocrisy. See, love there is an assumption. It's already presumed that it's
there. Let love be without hypocrisy. Don't love one person, hate another
person. Ooh, that got us. Abhor that which is what? Cleave to that which is good.
Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love and
honor, preferring one another, not slothful in business. There
it is. fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord. Now those six verses are the
formula for a healthy, vital atmosphere of growth in the local
church. That's the formula, that's the
construct by which we will be blessed. If we acknowledge those
principles there, we will see the blessing in the local church.
That's what I'm talking about. So in point number two, building
adequately for God's honor requires diligence on the part of every
man, the humility of service, The resolve to labor, and here
are the four areas that I wanna just lay out to you. I'm not
gonna unpack them. I'm just gonna tell you, if you're
going to be successful before God, there are four areas that
you're gonna have to give yourselves to. Prayer, you're gonna have
to give yourself to prayer. You will never be successful
before God without coming to the God who gives success. Prayer
is critical to it. Prayer. Personal devotion to
God in the context of study. You want to be a successful,
fruitful, productive believer in Christ? Do not skirt the responsibility
of growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. God uses
us to the extent that our hearts are right because we are walking
with him quorum Deo and to the extent that we have a right understanding
of God and the things of God. God uses us to the extent that
our heart is right, you're gonna learn that in a little bit, and
to the extent that he has taught us properly. To be used of God
requires knowledge, it requires understanding, and it requires
wisdom as well. And you and I will acquire wisdom
more quickly when we, in the context of praying before God
every day, realize that we are dealing with an infinite being
who is glorious and perfect and holy, and with whom we have everything
to do. Prostrate before the sovereign,
glorious God is what you must be in order to experience his
blessings. And then we must beg God in the
appropriate way to teach us who he is and what he does so that
we can communicate truth to people, not only accurately, but effectively,
effectively. The third thing that I will call
your attention to is healthy fellowship. You guys got that
healthy fellowship. I do use that little predicate
there on the concept of fellowship because there are what I call
unhealthy fellowships in the psychological world is called
toxic relationships. But there are unhealthy fellowships,
lopsided relationships between Christians where they emphasize
certain things over against others. And it can be rooted in immaturity,
naivete, a lack of understanding of proportionality that God calls
us to. But a healthy relationship is
where the body of Christ is walking in the light and walking in the
truth and recognizing all of the other requisites that we
have talked about, the necessity of humility, the necessity of
preferring one above another, the necessity of being patient
with one another. Watch this. The necessity of
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you. All of these are components in a healthy fellowship. By the
way, they are the same components in a healthy family. You want
a happy family that's rejoicing in the Lord? Use these particular
components. Understand humility. Understand
preferring others above yourself. Understanding what it means to
be patient. Understanding what it means to take time to grow.
Understanding all of these components are critical to a healthy environment.
And they are essential to glorifying God as a local church. How many
of you know what it's like to be in a local church filled with
scandal? Let me get a hand or two. I just wanted it to be on record
in heaven. No, and I say that only because
it's a sad commentary on a lack of diligence with regards to
what constitutes good fellowship. Good fellowship is not just two
people agreeing with each other. That agreement must be comprehensive.
It must be based on yielding to the truth of God's word in
all of these areas that I talked about so that our agreement is
not with each other so much as it is with God. How sweet and
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity because
God endorses it. That's what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the blessedness of the presence of the kingdom
of God. Righteousness, peace, joy, and the Holy Ghost. Does
that make some sense? Very critical to it and when you can discern
that in a fellowship you want to retain that you want to honor
that you want to thank god for that because in fellowships no
matter how large or small When it's filled with contention and
it's filled with strife and it's filled with fleshliness and it's
filled with carnality And there ain't no joy in that There is
no joy in a fellowship that fails to operate according to the spirit
of god and according to the truth of scripture So it's critical
for us to understand that what we are reading in verses one
and two of chapter six is not simply an accident. It's the
process of a growth and maturity that has occurred over time by
the blessing of God. So here's the fourth category.
Worship. Worship. Four areas is going
to make you a healthy, balanced, spiritually sound, effective
believer. Prayer. Study that is devotion
to God's word healthy fellowship and then worship The man or the
woman that thinks that they can be productive for God and do
not realize the absolute necessity of worship Has failed to understand
the first principle of God calling you into his presence The hour is coming and now is
and When those that worship God shall worship him in spirit and
in truth, for such the father seeketh. Until you have become
a worshiper of God, you will be limited in your perspective
on what it means to be an effective and productive Christian. Point
number three in your outline. The place to which these men
asked to go is what I call a spirit honoring request, prompted and
approved by the spirit of God. Well, you notice what they say
in verse two, let us go, we pray, where? Unto Jordan. Unto Jordan. Let us go to Jordan so that we
might build and expand as we are already experiencing growth.
Let us go to Jordan. Now what's so relevant about
situating themselves at Jordan. Might I say this, Jordan is that
very popular river that flowed through Israel that marked the
transition from the old to the new. from the land of the wilderness
into the promised land, from the old into the new of God's
covenant purpose for the people of God. The River Jordan signifies
that marked place where a number of miracles occurred, the greatest
of which, in my opinion, was the fact that John the Baptist
did his ministry at the River Jordan calling all religious
folks who thought they knew God to meet God in the river. And
when they started scoffing at him calling them to the river,
guess what? One day, the Lamb of God, the
Son of God, the glory of God showed up at the river. And there,
the Father and the Holy Ghost affirmed Christ as the central
object by which we come to God in the midst of the river. In
the midst of the river. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
In other words, they were spirit honoring in that what they wanted
to make sure occurred, hear me now, was that their ministry
was built on the gospel. Their ministry was built on the
gospel. of the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ, of the atoning work of Jesus Christ, of the revelation
of the invisible God in the person of Christ. They wanted to make
sure that they did their ministry where Christ was made known. See, if you get away from Christ,
you're in trouble. If you get away from the gospel,
you're in trouble. If you get away from the truth
that's revealed in Christ, you're in trouble. These men were aided
by the Spirit of God to make sure that where they built was
not some, as it were, opaque or an oculus place where they
didn't have any water source or they didn't have, as it were,
the legacy of biblical truth that God uses to affirm His saving
work. They built at the river, Jordan. Point number three, fertile trees
at the river. Do you see that? Fertile trees. Now geographically, Jordan is
a river that runs almost all the way through Palestine from
one end down at the south, all the way up to the north, almost
all the way down as it were. And along the river Jordan are
what are called trees, fertile, fertile trees. Quite naturally,
trees are gonna be fertile and strong and vibrant by a river
bank, right? So in your Bible, you read constantly
about the trees growing by the river. Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17. The Bible closes out with what
we call the motif of the garden as it were in Revelation chapter
22. And I saw trees on either side of the river. And the trees
here in this context are representing those things that are necessary
to build God's kingdom. Those things that are necessary
to build God's truth. So first and foremost, the sons
of the prophet are actually getting closer to Christ, not further
away. They're getting closer to a biblical
gospel that is rooted in the cross work of Jesus Christ. And
this is where God is about to build it up right here. This
is where he's about to build it up. They said, can we go to
the River Jordan that we may fell beans? You know what that
means, right? Cut down trees. Let us make us
a place there where we may dwell. And then the next statement that's
made by these young men is this, verse three, because Elisha said,
go ahead on, y'all can go. Go ahead on. Sounds like a good
idea. It is absolutely appropriate for you to build and expand the
ministry. And it's certainly wise that
you do it near the river. But you go. And here's what one
of them said. And one said, be content, I pray
thee, and go with thy servants. Do you see that? Be content,
I pray thee, and go with thy servants. Here is another warning. right along with a very good
proposition that is set forth. Elisha says go. The place where
you want to go is a legitimate place. It's safe. It's always
safe to build near the cross. Safe to build near the cross. But this young man also knew
that even if we're near the cross, without the presence of the Spirit
of God, it still avails nothing. You see what he says? We're thankful
that you approve of us going there, but we need you to go
with us. And so the next point that I
want to press on concerning ministry is this. It is critical that
we always call upon God to join us in this work of the ministry.
We must constantly depend upon the spirit of God to approve
our work, to establish our work, to advance our work, to build
our work. You and I can do nothing apart
from the spirit of God. Isn't that what the prophet says?
It's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.
And so here the prophet is saying, we're going to go because you
said go. But as Moses said, watch this,
if you don't go, we ain't going nowhere. It's a real understanding,
ladies and gentlemen, of the first point, that we can't build
anything of any significance apart from God. They knew that
there was a great possibility of calamity if God is not in
the Word. Let me see if I can build this
just a little bit more as we unpack the next verse that comes
to affirm what I'm saying. Suppose you and I have a proper
understanding of biblical truth in the areas of things like salvation
and redemption and the atonement work of Christ and justification
which flows out of that work. And yet we don't have the spirit
of God to actually make those truths, those orthodox truths
to have an impact in our life. Suppose we know those things
in a mere carnal way. in a mere fleshly way. Is that
possible? Is it possible for us to have right doctrine with
the absence of the Spirit of God? Is that possible? Please
listen to me then. For those young men to call on
God is to understand their limitations. It's for them to understand their
weakness. It's to understand their vulnerability. We need
to always build near Calvary, but we also need to build by
the work of the Spirit of God. You guys see that? Lord Jesus,
if you don't come with us, don't let us go. Very, very important. So fertile trees at the river,
certainly, certainly. But point number four, nothing
will succeed without the spirit of Christ. Nothing will be accomplished
without the spirit of Christ. And in fact, let me nail this
down. The Lord Jesus sent out 12 men to turn the world upside
down, didn't he? But you know what he said? I've
got to go with you. And so Mark 16 tells us that
he declared to them to go into all the world and preach the
gospel. And the text says, and the Lord was with them confirming
the word. He told them to tarry in Jerusalem
until they be endued from on high with what? The spirit of
God. And then you read in the book
of Acts chapter 5 and you read through the subsequent chapters
of the book of Acts. It is no wonder that the apostles
were so successful in ministry because they were aided by the
Spirit of God in the preaching of the gospel. It is critical
then for you and I to realize that we need the strength of
God's Spirit to do the ministry in a way that is successful.
It is critical that you and I remember that if we are doing any kind
of ministry apart from the dependence upon and the exaltation of Jesus
Christ in the context of the cross work of Christ, you and
I are going to be in trouble. The message of the gospel is
what God has called us to. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation to everyone that believes. The gospel is
the wisdom of God and it's the power of God in order for God's
glory to be accomplished. Our job then is to preach the
cross work of Jesus Christ. It will only be done as the spirit
of God endorses it and works through it to accomplish his
purpose. That's what we are called to
do. And so these men are indicating that in their wisdom of verse
three, we pray you go with your servants. And he answered and
said, what? I will go. So he went with them and they
came to Jordan and they were cutting down wood. They were
at the work, verse five. But as one was felling a bean,
the axe head fell into the water and he cried and he said, alas,
master for it, was borrowed. You see that? For it was borrowed. Point number five, our gifts
are on loan from God. See that? Our gifts are on loan
from God. So now we have here a test, wonderful
test of which some lessons can be brought out now. There was
no intentions on anybody's part to lose anything. Everybody was
diligent and desirous to labor and fulfill their calling as
they were industriously applying their gifts. But things happen,
ladies and gentlemen. Have you figured that out in
your life? Things happen. Stay with me here now. I'm going
to unpack a couple of points here and then we're going to
see what I mean by things happen. You and I never set out to do
something in which we intend on negative consequences. You
know, you'll get up in the morning and you'll get in your car to
head to work and just out of human infirmity, run the stoplight
and run into somebody. You didn't intend to do it, things
happen. You and I are human and so God
actually in the economy of our human existence and through the,
as it were, the mystery of life, he actually works through that
stuff, doesn't he? Doesn't God work through our mistakes? Doesn't
he work through our foibles? Doesn't he work through our errors?
And the only thing that you and I have to deliberate is whether
this error was a consequence of negligence or it was a motive
that was flawed or ill. Now, isn't that true? Doesn't
circumstances that actually befall us cause us to ask the question
about our motive? And what did I do or didn't do
to bring that to pass? See, I want you to put your feet
in this man's shoes for a moment right now, okay? Because he's
laboring with the brethren and they're cutting down trees. Now,
cutting down trees is no small task. When's the last time you
picked up an ax and cut down a tree? Stay with me now. But also cutting down trees requires
skill. And when you're cutting down
trees with other people, it requires certain ethics. See, because
the chopping of a tree or a branch is a very dangerous act. And I wouldn't want to be on
the same planet with a fool cutting down trees. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? Somebody that does not know what
they're doing. So now in this context, we're still talking
about ministry, right? We're still talking about building
the church, right? We're still talking about building
adequate space for ministry. And we must not imply that this
individual has some ill motive. It was simply a situation that
happened. Things happened. The ax head
flew off and it flew off into the water. What we can say about
this is this. In the Bible, like the hammer
serves as a representation of the word of God. In the Bible,
the axe, like the hammer, serves as a representation of the word
of God. You may recall when John the
Baptist was about his ministry and the Pharisees and the rulers
were coming to his baptism, the thing that he said with regards
to the coming of Christ, watch this now, now is the axe laid
to the root of the trees. And every tree that my father
has not planted will be cut down. You guys remember that? You know
what he was talking about? He was talking about the ministry
of the word by Jesus Christ dealing with the teachings and errors
of the Pharisees and the scribes. That the ministry of the word
in Christ's mouth would cut down the man-centered doctrines and
traditions of the men who were calling themselves the leaders
of the church. Christ would chop it down. It would chop it down.
And there's a real sense in which when you and I handle the word
of God, we are handling a battle axe. And in fact, Jeremiah chapter
50 tells us that the church is God's battle axe. The church
collectively is designed to and called to the ministry of cutting
down. cutting down false doctrine,
cutting down false teaching, cutting down false assumptions,
cutting down worldviews that don't correspond with the truth,
telling the truth as it is in Jesus. God's word is like an
axe. However, we must be careful how
we use that axe. We must be very careful about
how we use that axe because if we're careless with the axe,
we can hurt somebody. Are you hearing me? If I am filling
a tree with a collection of brothers and we're all in the woods now
watch this now and I don't understand that there is a proper direction
at which I am to fill that tree and I'm filling that let's say
35 degrees of an angle and another brother is exactly opposite of
my swing and he doesn't know it he's in danger If you go hunting,
I've been hunting with my grandparents and we line up parallel. When
we go hunting, we don't hunt perpendicular and we don't hunt
opposite towards one another. I don't think you ever want to
look into the barrel of a double barrel shotgun. I don't want
you. And so the same thing applies
here with the axe. Follow me now. Chopping down
a tree with a group of men requires being in a proper position just
in case something happens. Now these men had proper protocol
in this approach because when the young man went to strike
at the tree, he flew back and the ax head went into the water. You know what that means? They
had enough wisdom to know that the stroke going backwards is
the stroke that's most often gonna cause the ax head to fly.
So they had their backs to the river as they were cutting trees.
It meant that as they were cutting it down, they were following
proper protocol to be careful about the people with whom they
were doing ministry. They had no intentions of hurting
anyone around them. You and I can hurt each other.
And the church has done this for thousands of years with the
acts of God's word out of carelessness, out of lack of discretion, out
of a lack of wisdom. Are you following what I'm saying?
It is critical that we understand. And also let me just say it like
this just to make another personal application. Unintended consequences,
unintended consequences abound in the church where people are
using the acts of the word in a way where splinters fly off
the trees and get into the eyes of loved ones and relatives and
friends that you didn't intend to hurt. I know I'm telling the
truth. The silence is affirming. Unintended
consequences come when we're careless with the word of God.
Careless. What's beautiful about our account
is that God is teaching us something a little bit more fully redemptive
in that when this man lost his axe head, no one got hurt. The
axe didn't fly off and get anybody. The axe head flew off and went
into the water. So we can safely say this, and
this is what I can say after about 25 years of actual active
ministry in the church with all of the difficulties I have been
challenged with in all of the trials that we go through God
has been so good that when the axe hit flies off it hasn't Permanently
damaged anyone that I know See because the Word of God not properly
used can be utterly destructive Are you hearing what I'm saying?
It can be utterly destructive. It can create divisions. It can
create schisms. It can create conflicts of such
level that they're irreparable. It's only the mercy of God that
we can engage in work and engage in ministry that it results in
edification. It results in building up and
that we don't get permanently wounded. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? This is critical then. So what I say is the reason
why that ax head flew off in the direction of the river and
landed in the river is because Elisha was there. And the reason
why we can do ministry successful to the extent that we do is because
Christ is present because the spirit of God is present because
God is supervising and watching over our work so that we aren't
destroying one another. Am I making some sense? And I'm
saying this again, not just in the sense of the ecclesiastical
structure of the church. I'm talking about your home.
I'm talking about your family. I'm talking about your colleagues.
I'm talking about your friends. I'm talking about your coworkers.
I'm talking about your college students, your colleagues. I'm
talking about being able to be the kind of wise Christian that
knows how to handle the word properly. Am I making some sense?
And so now let's go on to something that is far more redemptive and
central to our lesson in our text. Certainly, our gifts are
on loan from God. The man, the man said that he
begged for the ax head, for the ax. Notice what he says in verse
five. But as one was felling the beam,
the ax head fell into the water and he cried and said, alas,
master, for it was what? You know the first thing that
came to his mind when he lost his head? That it wasn't his. That's what I was saying at point
number one. Point number one is what I was saying. It's not
yours. It's not yours. This is not your
gospel. This is not your Bible. This
is not your word. This is not your ministry. It's
God's. You must know that. You must
understand that. You must understand that. And
you must take care of it carefully because you can lose it. You
can lose your calling. You can lose your influence.
You can lose your gift. God can take it away from you
if you don't remember that it's borrowed. Now, I can easily surmise
that either the brother did not know how to handle the word or
he just got lazy and flung backwards and it took off. But what we
know is that the axe head came off the axe handle. So he still
had the handle, but the axe head was gone, which means he was
unproductive. Now he's standing around watching
everybody else work, while he's got nothing to do. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? And then on top of that, not
only is he not working, which is what Paul said in first Corinthians
chapter nine, I want you to hear this. Here's what he said. Here's
what Paul said. As I go about preaching the gospel, desiring
that all men would be saved, I become all things to all men
that if by any means I might win some. That's one side of
the ethic. The other side of the ethic is
this. Are you ready? But I bring my body into subjection. In other words, I control myself. I discipline myself. I don't
give myself over to capricious acts. I don't just let the whim
of my desires so control me that I'm swinging my axe or I'm beating
at the air or I'm running in vain. I labor with diligence.
I labor with carefulness. I labor with humility before
God. I labor with watchfulness. I am careful because I want to
remain productive. You know what he said? I bring
my body into subjection. I beat it into subjection so
that the intemperance and natural inclination of my lust does not
cause me to be unsuccessful in the ministry. Did you hear what
I just said? I'm gonna give you an example
why I say that this is an important aspect for all of us to remember. There was a man who was among
the sons of the prophets here. And that man is no longer in
the ministry. This is the last verse of the
previous chapter. It's verse 27. Verse 27 is the
close of an epic in the life of the ministry of Elisha, where
he had a servant named Gehazi. Now Gehazi was an omen that if
you would go back and study him, you'd learn something about Gehazi.
He's like one of the sons of the prophet. He was a protege
of Elisha. And everybody kind of looked
up to Gehazi because Gehazi is the one serving under Elisha,
right? But Gehazi had some real problems
and they started showing up. The first area they showed up
was when Elisha, as it were by the Spirit of God, blessed the
Shunammite woman so that she had a child a year later. And over time, that child got
older, but he waxed sick. Remember that? An only son. And
the son was laying sick and ultimately died. And Elisha sent Gehazi
with his staff to go lay the staff on the child so that the
child could rise again from his sickness or rise again from his
death. Apparently, Elisha had the capacity
by the gift and gracing of God to resurrect people from the
dead. He has such an anointing, such a presence of the Spirit
of God in his life that for him, the dead was not a problem because
he served the living God. He sent his servant Gehazi with
his staff and said, lay it on the boy's face and then come
again. When Gehazi came back, he said, nothing happened. My
efforts, my labors didn't avail at all. That was the first warning
to us about a deficit in the character of Gehazi. Gehazi was
among the ministry. He was among those who were Orthodox.
He was among Elisha, who was the man of God, but he had no
power in his ministry. He had no authority in his ministry.
He didn't have the gospel that raises the dead. Even though
he was sent by Elijah, he wasn't sent by God. And so he could
not raise the child from the dead. That's our first flag.
The second flag we have is over in chapter five, where Elisha has healed Naaman, the
leper, of his leprosy. You guys remember that? Of his
leprosy. And Naaman wants to reward Elisha
with all kinds of money. I mean, if I'm a leper and I'm
dying of leprosy and I've got lots of money, I want to give
it to the prophet too. But there was an ethic amongst the people
of God that went like this. And this was true in the Old
and the New Testament. God's people never take money from
unbelieving pagans. God's people never take money
from unbelieving pagans, lest the unbelieving pagan say that
we made their God prosperous by our will. Men of God that I know and have
known for decades, Never get involved with secular institutions
begging for secular institutions money to grow the church. We
never ask the pagan gods to serve our God, to prosper us when God
is the God of heaven and earth. So Elijah told Nehemiah, nah,
you're not going to get us. The healing, that's free. Go
on, brother. But as he's headed home, Gehazi jumps on his horse
and goes, hunts him down. And guess what he says? Now my
master's a little tired and he really wasn't thinking. We do
want that money. You know what's going on in Gehazi's
heart right now? Covetousness. Covetousness. He's a covetous
man. He's, first of all, powerless
in his ministry, but he's also covetous. And a covetous man
is an idolater. And an idolater lacks faith. When you're an idolater, you
lack faith. See, when you believe the true
and the living God, you know He is a rewarder of those that
diligently seek Him, then you wait on God. to pay your bills. You wait on God to take care
of your needs. You wait on God to bring you
through. You wait on God to bless you.
You don't let the heathen bless you in God's place so that they
can say the only reason those church folks have what they have
is because they signed on the dotted line and got all those
government grants. Am I making some sense? But Gehazi
was a problem in the ministry Because he did not believe in
the power of the gospel, nor did he believe in the God who
was powerful enough to take care of him. Elisha did. Elisha did. And so this is the person we
find that in the close of chapter 5, Elisha loved Gehazi, but he
told Gehazi, the curse, the leprosy that was on Naaman is now on
you. And here's what occurs, and I
want you to hear the lesson. What was privately and secretly
in the heart of that man now is publicly made manifest by
the leprosy all over his body. He's cut off from the church. He's cut off from the prophet.
He's separated from the servants of God. And do you know what
happens when they cut him off? Are you ready? God started blessing
the ministry. He started blessing the ministry.
All the prophets knew this. They understood that the blessing
of the ministry is where the people of God are operating out
of the humility, remember what we learned? Out of charity, remember
what we learned? Out of a sense of service to
others because we believe God. And so Gehazi had to go in order
for this to occur. And now we move into this other
area in which God is teaching us biblical truth with regards
to how the ministry is to prosper and to flourish. And here are
our last couple of points. First of all, remember, ladies
and gentlemen, that you and I are poor beggars and that the gift
that God gives us is a gift that's on loan to us. God gives it and
God can take it away. You and I don't have any innate
gifts of which we can say it has its origins in us What our
lord said in luke chapter 16 verse 12 is this if you're not
going to be faithful in somebody else's Who's going to give you
that which is your own remember that? He's talking about watch
this now the welfare of your soul The welfare of your soul
the ax flying off into the water Represents the soul of man This
is my last point. You and I can live, grow old,
and die, and lose our soul. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world in what? If he dies in the losing of his
soul, he's a what? A fool. This man loses his axe
head and immediately he cries, a master, master, it was borrowed. He feels the sense of indebtedness
because it was not his own. He feels the sense of indebtedness
because he begged for it, and now he doesn't have the ability
to give it back. So what's going to occur is a
notable miracle that's going to teach us a few gospel truths,
and we'll close. First of all, this is the river
Jordan. You know what that means? It's
not a dry, stale lake that's sitting still. There's not a
river bank. I mean, it's not a little pond.
If it was a pond, the ax could fall down, ax head could fall
down and you can point to where it is, swim on in and get it.
Watch this. This is a river and the river
Jordan flowed furiously at certain times of the year. It overflowed
its banks. When that ax head goes into the water, it takes
off. All the man who lost the ax head could do is tell him
where it fell. And I don't even actually know
how he could know that when he strikes he goes like this. Unless
the thing is flying so far he turns he looks and he sees it
go. Which I guess that's good enough. For God to actually use
that to teach us a lesson. And here's the lesson. If it
were not for a God who can raise the dead. Everything we have
would be lost and irretrievable. If you and I did not serve a
God that anticipated the loss of our soul, the loss of our
life, the loss of our gifts, the loss of our resources, if
you and I served a God that didn't have the ability to recover that
which is lost, you and I would be, of most people, miserable.
But the God we serve is a God who not only can recuperate the
loss, he anticipates it, in order to get glory out of himself.
Now watch this. Here's a beautiful redemptive
truth. Elisha says, where did it fall? He said, master, here
is where it fell. And what did Elisha do? Verse
six, he cut down a what? Now, what kind of old ancient
pagan voodoo stuff this brother getting ready to do? Stay with
me. I'm almost done. When you read
your Bible carefully, From Genesis to Revelation, please understand
this truth that the Bible is the word of God and it's written
to exalt the triune God centrally through his son, Jesus Christ.
When you read your Bible, your Bible is about a savior. It's
about a God. who has revealed his glory in
his son Jesus Christ. Lo, I come in the volume of the
book. It's written of me to do thy
will, O God. So even though you are dealing
with some miracle, some strange happening, some strange event,
what you and I must ask is, where is the gospel here? Where is
the truth here? Where is Christ here? And you
know what Elisha does? He cuts down a stick. The word
is tree. It's a branch. And that branch
is a person. That branch is the Lord of glory. That branch is the seed of David. That branch is the king of glory. And you know when he cuts this
tree down, he throws it into the Jordan. He throws it into
the Jordan. Because there's only one person
that can enter into the Jordan to retrieve your soul from hell.
And that's the God-man Jesus Christ. Are you hearing what
I'm saying? Now stay with me for a moment.
He didn't take that man's axe handle and throw it in the water.
He cut down a new tree because it required a new humanity, a
new man, the incarnate God to take your place and to join you
in your death. We call it the incarnation of
our Savior, the God-man Jesus Christ. What's going to redeem
my soul from hell is the God-man who can identify with me in hell. Jordan River is a picture of
death. It's a picture of damnation. It's a picture of the curse of
God. And you and I, by nature, are lost under the wrath of God. You and I have lost our souls
in sin in our first father, Adam, and we are irretrievably doomed. unless there was a God who loved
us enough to come into this world and assume a human nature so
that He could join us in our death. The axe head is lost from
all human purposes, from all human perspective. But the axe
head is not lost from the God with whom it is said, with Him
all things are possible. He cuts the tree down and He
throws it in the water. And what this teaches us? is
the union of Christ in our death. See, if you die without Christ,
you're doomed. But if you die in Christ, you're good to go.
If Christ dies for you, you're good to go. Watch this. And if
Christ dies with you, you're good to go. Do you want to know
how many women are raised from the dead, given spiritual life,
quickened and brought to a place where they are seated in heavenly
places with Christ Jesus? There was a man who died with
them so that they died in him so that when he rose again, they
rose again in him. The only way the axe head of
the soul can float from the dungeon of death is by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. By the resurrection of the God-man
Jesus Christ. When God raised him, he raised
me. When he raised him, he raised
his elect. When he raised Christ, he raised
us from the dead. Retrieve my soul from hell, from
hell, from hell. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We love him because he first
loved us and gave himself for us a propitiation for our sins. Christ died for the unjust being
the just one that he might bring us to God. He gave himself for
our sins in his body on that tree that we might be brought
back to God for you are like sheep going astray. Everyone
had turned to his own way, but the Lord laid on him the iniquity
of us all and now we are returning to the shepherd of our soul Look
at that sinner that that that metal-headed sinner look at him
Floating from the bottom of hell to the top of the river. Look
at that sinner coming up from death Coming up from damnation
Coming up from the wrath of God coming up from hell. I Retrieved
by the power of God, the wisdom of God, the glory of God. We love him, don't we? Because
he first loved us. Amen. Amen.