Double Portion

“Double PortionAuthentic Worship”
 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sunday, Sept 3, 2017
Text: 2 Kings 2 // Series Wrap Up: Elijah: Bold Faith

Happy Labour Day, Jericho!  Last weekend of summer!  This summer we have been working our way through the life of the Prophet Elijah whose history is recorded for us in 1 Kings and the first 2 chapters of 2 kings.  What’s amazing to me about this guy is he just kinda bursts on the scene.  We have no real knowledge of his backstory, he just shows up from I Kings 17 – 2 Kings 2, 7 short chapters and yet his impact is massive! He’s the man who has no fear of man and yet who at the same time, demonstrates very human, very low moments in his faith journey. 

Elijah is bold. He rebukes kings for leading the people of ancient Israel away from genuine faith in God.  He experiences God’s miraculous provision as he is fed by ravens as he lives out by the book when there is no rain for 3.5 years.  He is a person with a mighty gift of faith and intercession: he asks God for amazing things – like the resurrection from the dead of the Widows son; and God hears and God responds to Elijah’s bold faith. 

Elijah has a flair for the dramatic!  He calls the entire nation to repentance when he publically challenges the false prophets of the local Canaanite deity Baal at the showdown at Mount Carmel where God answers by fire to prove His presence and power are still real at a time when all seemed lost and everyone seemed to have forsaken faith.  But then immediately following this, he falls into deep despondency and gives up hope that God cares about him.  He runs away into the dessert and in His mercy, God sends an angel to minister to him and feed him.  You see Elijah is a human being just like you and I… he’s fallible. He’s capable of great faith but also he’s prone to great discouragement.  So Elijah is this grand, mysterious, complicated, larger than life figure who casts a massive shadow of the influence over the Old Testament and the role of prophet.  And the end of his life, which we’ll look at today, confirms and even adds to this! 

Turn with me in your Bibles or on your devices to the book of 2 Kings.  We’ll be reading from the New Living Translation starting in verse 1 of 2 Kings chapter 2.   [Slide 2 Kgs 2:1-3)

What’s intriguing about this exchange to me is that everyone seems to know what most any of us would give a million bucks to know: Elijah knows that this is his last day on earth.  And Elisha, who is his protégé, the one whom God instructed him to appoint as his successor, also knows.  And so Elisha wants to stay with his mentor until the very end.  And not only do Elijah and Elisha know, but also the group from the school for prophets in Bethel knows.

It made me think: If I knew that today would be my last day on earth, what would I do with this day?  What would you do if you knew that today was your last day on earth?  Elijah knows that it’s his final day walking on terra firma and yet he’s calm, he goes about his business with a sense of normality.  He’s going to check on those who are enrolled at the schools of prophets – He goes to Bethel, then he goes to Jericho, then he’s going to cross over the Jordan River.  

I think that Elijah has this sense of calm on his last day because he has done all that the Lord has asked of him.  He has fought the good fight, he has kept the faith, he has finished his race and now he is ready to receive his reward.  What a gift to be able to come to the end of your life and just walk calmly and with certainty into eternity.  Friends, this is one of the great and precious promises that we have as people who walk with God who know Jesus as our forgiver and our leader.  Death loses its sting.  That fear that can paralyze loses its grip.  So I want to remind you that if you are listening & you haven’t said yes to Jesus, and you live with a sense of dread and paralyzing fear about the end of your life, the Christian faith gives not only strength for today, but also bright hope for tomorrow.  There will be people who can pray with you during our response time & help you experience a peace with God that persists even in the face of death. 

Elijah has done all that God has asked of him, he doesn’t fear his departure from this world and so the scene plays itself out again.  [Read 2 Kings 2:4-7].  And then Elijah’s final miracle, which is like a throw-back to the experience of the people of God at the Jordan River under Joshua’s leadership and we’re going to see that Elisha the successor makes a very, very bold request. [2 Kings 2:8-10]

Elisha the new guys, asks Elijah the old prophet, for a double portion.  Twice as much.  Twice as much of God’s spirit, presence, and twice as much Divine power than Elijah had!  Think about the bold audacity of that request for a moment!  Think about the amazing miraculous things Elijah did by the power of God.  He raised a kid from the dead!  He prayed and the entire normal process of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation over a whole nation was supernaturally halted for over 1,0000 days!  The dude has a seriously impressive resume of divine miracles.  And then the new guy comes along, with no seniority, no street cred and says “yeah, man.  I’ll take twice what he had!”  It’s a pretty bold and audacious request.  Elisha wants a double double.  Double the presence. Double the power. 

You see this notion of a double portion actually comes from the language of family inheritance.  So I’m going to need three volunteers to come up and join me here.  You don’t have to do any speaking or acting.  I will only way this, there are Timbits involved.  So here I have three boxes of 20 Timbits. And let’s pretend that I am a father and that passing away and I need to divide up my inheritance, which apparently isn’t much since it’s, been reduced to Timbits.  So if I am living in the ancient world and I have three kids, you might think to yourself “great, three people to receive this inheritance.  Three boxes.  This should work our well.”  Except there’s a challenge.  In the Ancient Near East, including in the land of Israel, inheritance was divined up along the principle of the double portion.  What this meant was that the oldest son received twice as much as any other child – they literally received a double portion of the inheritance.  And the remainder of the goods or property was split up evenly between the remaining people.   Thank you, you can sit down (and keep your Old Fashioned glazed). 

So when Elisha is asking for a double portion, he is making a HUGE request.  He is jumping to the front of the line and saying “Elijah, I know that almighty God has poured out His Spirit on you in strength and bold measure.  It’s been pressed down, shaken together and running over! And I want that!  I don’t want the dribbles or dregs!  I want the double portion!  I want the largest share of that spiritual inheritance that I can get my hands on.  I want to press in to God and know God’s heart and be a conduit of His power and presence in a way that an eldest son is close to the Father.”  I want my double portion!  And Elijah says in a classic understatement “you have asked a difficult thing.  It’s not my call to make, however.  It’s our heavenly Father’s call to make.  And so the way you will know if Abba Father grants your request is if you see me when I am taken from you.  Then you’ll know that in His grace & favour, God has said yes to your bold ask. 

“As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire. It drove between the two men, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” And as they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his clothes in distress. (2 Kings 2:11-12)

What a way to go!  In all of history, only Elijah and Enoch - the man who the book of Genesis says “walked with God” - are recorded as never having tasted death.  Of being auto-promoted to the presence of God in this case in a whirlwind.  See In most classic and contemporary art, Elijah is pictured as riding in the chariot of fire.  But if you look carefully at the text, you see that’s not at all what it says.  Look at verse 1 “when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind…” Then again in verse 11, ‘Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven”.  But almost every picture you can find of this he’s in the chariot!  The text does say there was a chariot, and there were horses, both of fire…  Fire in the Old Testament is a sign of God’s power and presence (think also Pentecost), and it’s as if God is saying “Elijah lived an impressive life, but I’m not a perfect life.  There is only One person, Jesus, who will ever attaint that standard. 

Elijah gets the whirlwind but there is only One who gets to ride the chariot.  Isaiah 66:15&16 gives us this picture “See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his swift chariots roar like a whirlwind…He will judge the earth.” And next weekend as we start into the book of Revelation, we’re going to see incredible imagery of God’s Kingship and control over all of created order. 

But can you imagine being Elisha and seeing all of this with your own two eyes.  Can you imagine being the group of 50 prophets standing at a distance and looking around and thinking “did you guys just see what I think I just saw?”  And the narrative continues in 2 Kings 2:13-14 “Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up. Then Elisha returned to the bank of the Jordan River. 14 He struck the water with Elijah’s cloak and cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Then the river divided, and Elisha went across.”

This is the same cloak or mantle that Elijah throws across the shoulder of Elisha when he invites him into his role as apprentice prophet.  The cloak is the symbol of author.  The symbol of power.  We talk about the mantle of leaders being passed; this is the metaphor that is being used.  So Elisha not only sees Elijah when he is taken from him, but he also gets to keep a souvenir.  The prophetic mantle is his.  So he begins to walk that calling out.  He approaches the river and just like Elijah did, he strikes the water with his cloak and, just like God did for Elijah, the waters part for Elisha and he goes across.  It’s the initiation, the stat of Elisha’s ministry in the power and authority that God has granted him to have.  And as we go forward next summer in 2 Kings, we’ll see that indeed, Elisha did receive the double portion.  He does twice as many recorded miracles as Elijah did.  And he walks with a sense of amazing boldness, faith and confidence in God.  Because he saw the bold faith of his mentor, Elijah, and he was also bold enough to ask for a double portion. 

The boldness of Elisha’s request got me to thinking: what I am asking God for?  What are you asking God for?  So often when I think about my prayer requests, they can add up to a list of things going on in the lives of those around me with a kind of catch-all “God, please help or bless or be with” so and so.  And that’s not wrong. But it’s also not enough.  One of the most striking things about the story of Elisha is that he was bold enough to ask and God was gracious enough to answer.  He received his double portion, even though Elijah said “wow! That’s a big, bold ask you are making of the Lord!”.  Think about the prayers you have prayed this week… would you classify them as big and bold? Or would you say they were more meek and timid.  A kind of telling God a list of what’s ailing you and then asking for him to add a little bit of Jesus juice to solve your problem for you.  I think some of our prayers are so weak and so tepid and so small, that God thinks “wow. I have unlimited power and that’s all you want?!”

In the book of James in the middle of a discussion on faith, the Bible reminds us that one of the core challenges of prayer isn’t that God doesn’t’ want to answer.  It’s that we forget to ask.  James 4:2 says “you do not have because you do not ask God”.  Elisha had the option to simply say “Elijah, can you ask God if He’ll give me what He gave you?” But he didn’t.  He was BOLD and audacious in his ask.  He had the faith to ask for a double portion.  He had the expectancy and the boldness to walk into the throne room and ask for grace to help in time of need.  And he was not shy or timid.  He asked.  And he asked for BIG things. 

William Carey was a Baptist missionary to India in the 1700’s.  He was one of the first to start schools for under-resourced children.  He encountered incredible difficulties and persecution, and yet he would often say “the future is as bright as the promises of God”.  But his better known quote fits our theme of the boldness to ask for a double portion today: He would challenge his students to “Expect Great things from God, attempt great things for God”.  So I ask you What is your expectancy level from God today? 

Embedded in this phrase are two problems that I can see if my own life and in the life of most churches.  The first one is that some people have developed an extraordinarily low level of expectancy.  You might feel that you’ve asked big things in the past and God has let you down or disappointed you.  You’ve decided to play it safe and keep your relationship with God inside the realm of what is possible.  You don’t want to get hurt and so you lower expectations so that they are most often met.  You don’t come to Jericho on a Sunday expecting to encounter the presence and power of God.  You pray prayers that God will bless food that’s already passed inspection by  and her team at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.  You ask God for nice weather once you’ve checked the Weather Network app.  Your prayers are so safe, you don’t actually need God to do much in order to answer them.  Your expectancy level is low and getting lower.  But here’s the problem with that: (song) “My God is so big / so strong and so mighty / there’s nothing my God can not do” Praying ‘safe’ prayers is an affront to the power and sovereignty of God.  You’re not asking for a double portion.  You’re asking for a half portion!  If that’s you today, you need to repent.  Because here at Jericho, we expect great things from God.  We expect God to provide for our needs.  We expect God to build His kingdom and grow His family here.  We expect Him to grant healing when we pray. We expect Him to work miracles.  And so   

The second problem which Elisha’s request highlights is not the expecting great things problem but the attempting great things challenge.  There’s a group of us, I put myself in this category, who are tempted because we have certain gifts or talents or abilities, to fall into the lie that it’s because WE are so great that things happen.  It’s because our musicians are so talented that the worship is moving.  Or it’s because we have people on our board with such strong gifts of leadership that wise decisions are being made. Or it’s because of our own strength that we are getting er done.  Under this model, you work hard and do like 98% and then ask God to fill in the 2% gap.  You attempt great things but you feel that it’s you doing the attempting and God doesn’t have enough room to do what He wants to do.  This strategy is a kind of pride and arrogance that doesn’t leave room for God to do what He wants to do because we’re so busy doing His jobs for Him that we don’t need Him.  We’re so busy getting things done expediently for God that we don’t actually need Him.

How about you?  Do you have an Expectancy gap or an expediency gap?  Most of us will err on one side or the other.  So today as we conclude, I want to continue our Tim Hortons theme and issue what I calling the Double Double challenge.  John and Lorraine are coming around and they are passing out some cups and some sharpie markers.  Now, I did try to get us Tim Horton’s cups.  I went to 4 Tim Hortons and none of them would give or sell me a sleeve of cups.  I think they thought I was going to poison their brand or try to pass of Jericho Coffee as Tim Horton’s coffee, which of course it isn’t.  It’s much better fairly traded coffee from Republica here in Langley!  But the principle is the same.  When you go to Tim Hortons and you order a double double, you are adding two things of sugar and two things of cream.  You are amplifying (or because I take my coffee black, you are ruining) your coffee.  But stick with me here.  Elisha asked for a double portion.  He wanted MORE in his life than Elijah even had in his.  So the double double challenge is this: I want you to pick an area of your life where you are going to commit to giving God MORE room to work.  It might be your prayer life.  You may want to go up a size or two in boldness.  Begin to ask God if you are asking him for big enough things. 

You may want to double double your intake, the time you spend listening to God and not just out rushing around doing stuff for Him.  What would it look like if this week, you made a commitment to spend double the time you spent last week in the Bible?  Maybe last week you got to your reading plan 2 times and this week you will make it 4 times.  The project 3:45 is named that because it takes 3 minutes and 45 second to read a chapter.  Even in the midst of a busy going back to school week, I am confident you can find 4 minutes 4 times this week to be with God.   Maybe for you, it’s a double double on the boldness front.  You may want to strentch yourself and invite two people to the BBQ & church in the park next weekend.  The event is up on Facebook.  Why not click “I’m coming” then e-mail or share it with two other people who don’t have a faith community.  Ron and the team are coming and as they do I want you to take this time to examine you expectancy level and to dial it up a few notches.  Take the sharpie, write down your commitment on that cup and put it somewhere you’ll see it this week (maybe use it as you mug).  Let me pray bold faith for you.