2 Kings 5:15-27 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+5%3A15-27&version=ESV

Being single-minded is usually a good thing. Focusing all your energy, all your work, all your thinking capacity on one thing can yield wonderful results. However, single-mindedness in itself is a neutral thing. It is only good if it is applied to a good goal. When applied to what is not good, it shows what a great capacity man has for evil.

What Gehazi did in our text, may not be considered evil by most. Wrong, yes. Deceitful and greedy, yes. But not evil. However, as Paul reminds us “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Such was the case for Gehazi. He was single-minded in a bad way – that’s what greed is, when we focus all our considerable, God given energies on getting more for me. When we do that, we have a very considerable ability to hurt others and destroy ourselves.

But Christ is His mercy has forgiven our greed by His own single-mindedness. He came to earth with one purpose and focused all His powers and will, both divine and human, on going to calvary to pay for the sins of the world. And this, His love, gives birth to our own. His love can give us a better kind of single-mindedness – that shown by Elisha and Naaman. While Gehazi was drooling over this world’s goods, they were seeking first the kingdom of God. Let this be our single-minded pursuit every day and when we get distracted by greed, may Christ’s warning law and forgiving love bring us back.

In Christ,
Pastor Ude

2 Kings 5:6-14 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+5%3A6-14&version=ESV

900 years. Not for about 900 years after the events of this chapter, would John the Baptist come into the wilderness of Judea proclaiming the Kingdom of God and baptizing people “for the remission of sins.” What Elisha does to Naaman is not Baptism but there are some striking similarities.

Naaman was dirty, so to speak – he was sick. Leprosy was a terrible wasting sickness that claimed the lives of many people. There was no cure. Naaman’s prognosis was bleak. We too are dirty, covered by a terrible wasting sickness – sin, those selfish, foolish things that you and I do every day. Those are not just mistakes. They are sins. Since which lead, inevitably, to death. There is no cure in this world. There is nothing that you can do. It will certainly result in eternal death.

2 Kings 5:1-5 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+5%3A1-5&version=ESV

Imagine if it were you, when you were a child – taken away from your family who were probably killed, sold as a slave in a foreign land to a people with a foreign god. You are helpless and alone. How many revenge movies have you seen that start this way? The child grows up and fights and overthrows the captors bringing sweet recompense.

That’s not this story. A little girl, taken away from home and country takes a very different, much harder road – she clearly forgives and loves her master. She hears that he is sick and knows how to help him – she tells him about the true God and His true prophet Elisha. She, though a slave, though so small, does a big thing, the biggest of things, the most loving thing she could do. Where does that come from? Where does one get such a big love? Only Jesus. Only His love. A love wider, higher and deeper than all things, a love which forgives us and speaks to us words of eternal life. That love was in this little girl’s heart. There’s nothing small about that love.

So what about you? Do you feel to small to do big things? Do you feel like taking revenge on those who have wronged you? Do you want to rise up and make yourself large and your enemies small. Do something harder, do something larger – forgive, love and tell the love of Jesus. Tell them about the true God and His True Word. There’s nothing bigger than that.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

2 Kings 4:38-44 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+4%3A38-44&version=ESV

2 Kings 4:8-37 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+4%3A8-37&version=ESV

Have you ever given the the common question (“how are you doing?”) it’s common answer (“good”), all the while thinking that it was not “good”? And I don’t just mean that “good” is not really a correct response to that question (Superman does good, you are doing well). We let those words fall out of our mouths without really giving them a second thought most of the time. “I’m well,” “All is well.” Do we mean what we say?

The Shunammite woman did. And when she gave that answer to Gehazi, it was just after her son had died. She didn’t tell her husband. She didn’t tell Gehazi. She said “All is well” because it was. She was confident that God would raise him up. After all, as she told Elisha – she hadn’t asked for this. This was his blessing to her, one so great she dared not even desire it lest it not be given to her. For her, all really was well because she trusted that God would be faithful. And he was. Through Elisha, God raised her son.

2 Kings 4:1-7 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+4%3A1-7&version=ESV

In chapters 4-8 of 2 kings there are a number of stories about Elisha and the miracles he performed. Each of them teaches us something about our God and His care for us. This first one teaches us that He provides more than we need.

Here was a woman with two sons, her husband (who had been a prophet) was dead. She was in debt. Her creditors were going to come and take her children to sell them as slaves. So she came to Elisha. She hoped God would provide. And boy did he! Once she had gotten as many vessels as she could, God miraculously filled them all with oil. There was so much that she was able to sell it, pay off her debtor and have plenty left over for her and her sons to live on.

We confess in the explanation to the first article of the creed that our Father in heaven “Daily and richly gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals and all I need to support this body and life.”

There are certainly times where we it seems like we have been abandoned. There may be long periods where we have very little, or none at all. Still as the psalmist says “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.” God provides. So often too He gives us so much more than we need (which is especially true for us in America!). Why does he do all this? The creed can answer that as well:

“He does all this because He is my good and gracious Father in heaven. Not because of anything I have done to earn or deserve it.” Jesus died to make God your Father. Each meal he provides, each day, each dollar is a sweet reminder of His love to you because of the forgiveness of sins. “For all of this it is my duty to thank, praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.”

Amen.

2 Kings 3 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%203&version=ESV

So you got into an argument with your mom, or your wife, or your friend. You dug yourself into a hole that you couldn’t get out of and then, in humiliation and anger, you tried to blame it on them. Sound familiar? It certainly was to Jehoram, King of Israel except he did it to God.

It wasn’t that he wanted to go to war against Moab. Obviously God wanted to judge Moab. It was that Jehoram (and apparently not Jehoshaphat either) didn’t bother to ask God what they should do. Then Jehoram foolishly took a “circuitous” route through the desert with a massive number of soldiers and animals. What did he think was going to happen? It was obviously his fault they had run out of water. So he blamed God. He even blamed God right to Elisha’s face.

Here’s where the salt comes in. Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you.” Jesus said to believers “You are the salt of the earth.” He didn’t mean that we give the world better flavor. He was talking about salt as a preservative. That’s exactly what is being said of Jehoshaphat. If it weren’t for him, God wouldn’t have helped them. If it weren’t for believers in the world, God would destroy the whole thing. But what makes salt salty? Jesus said that salt without it’s saltiness is good for nothing. Jesus makes you salty. Faith in the forgiveness of sins is what sets you apart. That is the reason that God is preserving this world, to bring people to faith in His work for us. That is the reason that He pours out His blessings on this sinful world, because there are believers in it.

Jehoram deserved the blame and the punishment for the hole that he had dug. But for the sake of Jehoshaphat, for the sake of the faith that he had in the one who took the blame for Him, God blessed.

Don’t blame God for your sins. Trust in Jesus for forgiveness – be salty.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

2 Kings 2:15-25 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+2%3A15-25&version=ESV

A double edged sword cuts both ways. And God’s Word is just such a sword. Elisha shows us that in his first day on the job and boy did he start things off with a bang. He parted the Jordan, miraculously cleansed water supply and brought down a bearible (sorry for the pun :)) judgment on some disrespectful youths. Quite the first day!

It shows us the power of God’s Word both to bless and to judge. They both come from the same place. And both were good and just. It’s the same with the gospel. The gospel itself is a two edged sword. It’s main purpose is to save. That’s God’s desire. He wants everyone to believe it. He wants to bring the forgiveness of sins and eternal life to every heart. But when the gospel is rejected, it serves a secondary, terrible purpose. Jesus said “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day” (John 12:48).

As Elisha’s miracle showed God’s great power to heal and bless, so the bear-judgment shows the results of scorning that word. On the last day, the judgment against those who spurn the gospel will be far worse than a bear-mauling. May we, by God’s grace in Word and Spirit be brought ever to treasure His Word of forgiveness, to honor and observe His Word lest His Word of peace turn for us into a word of condemnation.

In Christ
Pastor Ude

2 Kings 2:1-14 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+2%3A1-14&version=ESV

All my life, or at least as long as I could remember, Brett Favre had been the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. And he was pretty good. smile emoticon But he was getting old. Every year you wondered if he would call it quits. And then the questions would come – what would life be like for the Packers without Favre? Sure, we thought Rodgers would be good. But who could be sure? Would they enjoy the same kind of success? We all know how that turned out.

Perhaps the same kinds of questions were being asked as Elijah made his final journey. Time and again, the sons of the prophets told Elisha, “Don’t you know Elijah is going to be taken away today?” Elisha knew. Would he be able to fill those giant shoes? Would he be able to stand up to kings and proclaim God’s law? Would he be able to perform great miracles? Would he be able to preach the still, comforting gospel? We all know how that turned out.

Nothing really changed. Elisha continued the same powerful ministry that Elijah had toiled in before him. God still worked the same way. And that shouldn’t be a surprise. While we packer fans might smile at our good fortune to have two superstar quarterbacks one after the other, the ministry of God’s word has always been and will always be the same. That’s because the one truly working is the Spirit of God through the Word. Whether it’s Elijah, Elisha, John, Jesus, Peter or you, God’s word remains powerful. God’s Spirit remains the one pulling the strings. And with that Spirit in the word of law and gospel you can do mighty, heavenly things – you can proclaim judgment to kings or comfort and forgiveness. You can do much greater things than calling fire down from heaven – you can preach Christ and Him crucified.

Was Elijah irreplaceable? Not at all. The power is in our God – Father, Son, and Spirit.

Prayer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxebaN2Hemc

In Christ
Pastor Ude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g80DuDQEUT8