TEXT: I Kings 19:19-21

SUBJECT: Life of Elijah #8: The Call of Elisha

This afternoon brings us to the eighth sermon in our study of Elijah. The series has one goal: To identify and admire the work of Christ in the prophet's life. If we leave this study knowing more of Elijah, I'll be deeply disappointed. We want to know more of His Savior. Who is our Savior, the Lord Jesus.

The verses before us are easily recapped. The Lord called Elijah to appoint his successor to the prophetic office. Directed to the farm of Shaphat, he finds Elisha plowing his father's field. A mantle is draped over the young man's shoulder. He understands the implication; after eating one last meal with his family, Elisha takes up after the man he will one day replace.

What was our Lord doing in the call of Elisha? Two things come to mind.

He was declaring His independence from Elijah. Elijah was a great man. For many years, he "stood before the Lord God of Israel"--eager to do His bidding. What courage he had, facing down a king, 400 false prophets, and a desperate people who blamed him for the long and deadly famine. What fortitude in serving the Lord without human aid. 7,000 men remained loyal to God, but none of them helped Elijah in the least. What faith he had in raising the widow's son to life. What hope in believing God would "turn back the hearts of His people". What prayers he offered--the heavens were shut and opened at His word. It's no wonder James has to remind us "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours". He seems superhuman. Excepting Moses, he was Israel's greatest prophet.

The Lord's cause, however, did not depend on Elijah. It did not exit the world with the prophet in his fiery chariot. It went on with Elisha. No two men could have been less alike than these. One was a frontiersman; the other a gentleman farmer. One craved solitude; the other enjoyed company. One pronounced judgment; the other promised mercy.

The Lord was with them both. But He depended on neither. He maintained His cause long after both passed from the scene. The prophets are dead; the Apostles are dead; The Church Fathers are dead; the cause of Christ lives on. Why? Because it depends on no one--no one at all--but the Lord Jesus. Its future is sure because of His abiding Presence. "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age".

If the cause of Christ depends on Christ Himself, we mustn't despair when men or churches or seminaries or movements prove disappointing. For, although the Lord may use these men and institutions, He can do without them. Quite well.

If this is so, we mustn't pin our hopes on anyone but Christ. As it is written: "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man".

The devout in Israel may have trembled at the prospect of losing their great champion, but they needn't have. For "The LORD is our keeper...and..."He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep".

The idolizing of men, of churches, and of movements is a great sin, a sin we ought to repent of...now! "My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him".

The Lord was calling Elisha to a life of radical dependence. The son of a wealthy man, Elisha's future was settled and secure. He would be a farmer; he would marry and have children; he would live a long and comfortable life; he would die in peace. An idyllic life lay before him. Till the prophet's mantle was put on his back. From that moment on, Elisha would live on Christ alone.

His career was over. Farming depended on oxen and plows. The oxen he worked were butchered; the stove was lit with the plowing apparatus. His family was lost; the parents were kissed and left behind. His reputation was ruined; from now on, he'd be linked to the most hated man in Israel. His once bright future was now a twilight of loneliness, poverty, and persecution.

What would he have in return? Only Christ. That's all he was promised; that's all he got; that's all he wanted.

Jesus Christ called Elisha to a trust Him for all His needs. No bargaining was allowed. Christ would have Elisha on His terms or not at all. He was not alone. The Apostles were called to drop their nets and to follow the Master. When one went back to fishing, he was met by an aggravated Lord: "Simon, son of Jonah, Do you love Me more than these?" Ordinary Christians receive the same call: "Deny yourself, take up your cross daily, follow Me".

What do we get in return? The Apostles got "Tribulations, needs, distresses, stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labors, sleepnesses, fastings" and more of the same. But they got more than that: they got Christ, the source of all joy and consolation, in this life and the next. We get the same. Perhaps not as dramatically as they. But make no mistake about it: there is no salvation without two crosses--our Lord's and our own!

Elijah's mantle is Christ's mantle. Once placed on Elisha, it has been removed from his shoulders, and put on ours. Who's willing to wear it?

Finally, the Lord was calling Elisha to a willing dependence. The mantle was placed on his shoulders; he was not forced to accept it. When he asked to return and bid his parents farewell, Elijah offered him more than a few hours of liberty: "Go back again, for what have I done to you?" In other words, he wouldn't coerce the young man into becoming a prophet. In those days, the Lord "loved a cheerful giver". He still does. He wants us to trust Him and to serve Him--not because we've got a pastor looking over our shoulder or because we're guilt-ridden, but because we want to. Happily, He also provides this "want to". For everyone He calls, He also enables to "will and to do of His good pleasure". His "people shall be willing in the day of His power".

Let us imitate Christ in this way. When dealing with an erring or slack brother, let us use persuasion, rather than coercion, to win him back. It is "the soft tongue that breaks the bone"--not aggravated and threatening words.

Because He loves our willing service, let us wear the mantle of Christ with joy and thanksgiving. This needn't be faked, for what a privilege it was to follow Elijah! Yet Elisha's privilege is much less than our own. For we're called to follow the One to whom Elijah bore witness on the Holy Mount, our Lord Jesus Christ.