Sermon Notes, November 6, 2016
Rev.
Garry McGlinchy
Pastor
Garry continued the sermon series based on the book Kings and Presidents:
Politics and the Kingdom of God by Timothy R. Gaines and Shawna Songer
Gaines. His final sermon was titled “The
Sanctified Vision of the Kingdom,” and is based on 2 Kings 7:3-20.
“Sanctification
is a word derived from Latin that simply means ‘to make something holy.’ There are lots of ways we can approach what
it means to be holy, and there are lots of other books that have been written
on that subject. But for our purposes
here, to be made holy is simply this: to be set apart for God’s purpose alone.” (Excerpt from Timothy R. Gaines & Shawna Songer Gaines, “Kings and Presidents.”
In
2 Kings 7:3&4, The Arameans were after the Israelites—again. There was a famine, and the Arameans had the
city under siege, as we learned in last week’s sermon. Our story starts with four
lepers, who were quarantined: they had to announce themselves by calling “Unclean!”
whenever other people approached. They
had a decision to make: they could go into the city, and they would die. They
could stay outside the city gates, and they would die. Or they could go and
surrender to the Arameans, and they would die.
Or perhaps they might be captured, and then possibly be fed. Sometimes God puts us in tight spaces for a
reason, so we have to weigh our options, so that we can move forward.
In
v. 5-7, at dusk the lepers went to the camp of the Arameans. When they got there, nobody was there. God had caused them to hear the sound of
chariots. They figured that Israel had
hired the Egyptians to come after them.
They left the camp in a big rush, leaving their donkeys and horses and
everything else behind. Know this as
Christ-followers: when you get out of your corner and move forward and do what
God has called you to do, the world shakes in its boots. Evil flees.
The world sees the world in terms of competing powers. Those who live in the world of the Kingdom
see the world in terms of God’s faithfulness to sustain the meek and humble.
In
v. 7-9, the four men go into a tent.
They eat some food, and take some things and hide them. They go on to another tent. Then they stop, saying “This isn’t
right. This is a day of good news. We need to go and report this to our people.” Good News.
That’s a familiar term to Christians; the Gospel is the Good News. We have good news. Is it right for us not to share it? In the world of kings it’s all about what we
can get for ourselves. But in the world
of the Kingdom, it’s about giving away the good news, pointing others to Jesus,
where the good news is. Are we
spiritually fat? Do we just feed
ourselves on God’s word, or do we also exercise, sharing the good news with
others. We need a healthy diet and exercise. In our political climate right now, our good
news is that God is faithful.
In
verses 10-12, they got up and shouted to the gate-keepers that they’d gone to
the Aramean camp and the Arameans were gone.
The gate-keepers shouted the news, and it was heard in the palace. The lepers shared the good news that the Arameans
were gone, and that they’d left everything behind. God had brought salvation to the people! Remember last week the woman calling to the
king on the wall “Yasha! Save us!” The
lepers are saying “God has saved us!” The gate-keepers shared the good news.
In verses 13-15, the king thought the Arameans
were trying to lure the Israelites out of the city and then they’d kill
them. The world of kings trusts only
certain news sources, and has trouble hearing good news from untrusted
sources. So he sent out five men in two
chariots to see what had happened. They
followed the Arameans to the Jordan, and found the road strewn with equipment
the Arameans had dropped in their flight. In the world of the Kingdom, they are
willing to receive good news, even if it comes from outsiders.
Then
Elisha’s prophecy comes true. Verses
16-20 describe what happened. The one
who questioned Elisha’s prophecy (in verse 1) was trampled by the people going
out the gates to plunder the camp, and was not able to partake of God’s
blessings. Many people are watching the
news today and saying “Even if God could save us, it wouldn’t be enough.” They will not see it.
The
main point today is that God, the Provider, has been, is, and always will be faithful
to His people. He is God yesterday, today and tomorrow. He provides for His people through the
darkest of times. He keeps his promises. He is coming back for His people. He doesn’t want for us to simply sit and wait
for salvation to come to us. He wants us
to be actively seeking it until He calls us all home. He is in the business of the reconciliation
of people
No comments:
Post a Comment