II Kings 4

There are both advantages and pitfalls to the common approach of reading a biblical narrative and then finding a lesson to apply directly to our lives. I became first aware of this a few years ago when I was talking to a friend of mine in Washington State. He told me that all of their home Bible studies were going to a new format. The members were to take turns each week picking out a Bible story, nothing from the books of poetry, prophecy or the epistles or a Bible teaching. They would then read the story to the group, and each person would derive a practical application from it. My friend was a little dubious about this approach and wanted to know what I thought.

There are definite advantages to this approach. Narratives are usually more interesting than doctrinal or ethical teachings, and indirect teaching is sometimes more effective than a straight sermon, as seen in Jesus' parables. Through stories, one can make the teaching your own.

Possible pitfalls –

1. There are huge portions of the Bible that would be totally ignored, especially any straightforward teachings on the subject.

2. There is a danger in jumping directly from a story in the Bible to personal application without first taking into account the sometimes great differences in times and circumstances. Today, we rarely see or expect such supernatural occurrences as we see in the present lesson such as raising the dead to life or multiplying food supplies. Also, today God doesn't just work through just one or two specially appointed people within a country such as Elijah and Elisha.

3. There can be a highly subjective nature to such interpretations.

4. How does one determine who in the story is the model to imitate. Today's story as an example contains two women in need, the husband of one of them, the prophet Elisha, and of course God himself.

5. Even the most admired biblical characters were flawed, including David, Abraham, Jacob, Gideon, etc.

6. There is a difference between description and prescription, what is described as actually happening and the question of whether we are being encouraged to do the same today.

7. One must take into account the original intent of the story. In the Elisha stories, there is a theological intent first and foremost to show how God met people's needs supernaturally through one appointed prophet. The stories were not primarily given as object lessons on how we today can do the same thing.

For example, as an exercise consider the miracles performed by Elijah in I Kings and Elisha in II Kings. You will notice the large number of similarities in the miracles associated with these two prophets. This points clearly to the fact that there is a consistent source behind these miracles, God. Recall that before Elijah is taken up into heaven, Elisha asks if he can inherit a double portion of his spirit. I always thought that this was rather selfish of him to want twice the spiritual power that Elijah had, but that isn't what Elisha was requesting. There was a whole band of prophets following Elijah, and Elisha is just asking to be treated as the oldest son among them, who would get twice the inheritance that the other sons received. The emphasis is really on the work of the Holy Spirit, not human prophets.

This is why it is unfair to say that we should try to exactly emulate Elisha. That is the problem I have with the classic book by Charles Sheldon which some of you may have read, In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?. A friend of mine tells the story about his two boys receiving a train set for Christmas. They started fighting over who could play with it. He asked them, What do you think Jesus would do? One of the boys answered, “He would make a second train set.”

We may not be Jesus or Elisha; nevertheless, the Holy Spirit has equipped all of us with both the means and willingness to serve others. There is no exhaustive list in the NT of the gifts of the Spirit, but they include prophecy, teaching, miraculous works of faith, and administration, and it is obvious we all don't have each of these gifts. However, one of the gifts is that of helps (I Corinthians 12:28), especially exercised by deacons. It is really one gift that we can each practice to one extent or another. It may include visiting the sick, widows and those in prison and giving to charity. Just because all of us are gifted to do this, does not mean that it should be looked down upon as a lower gift than the others. I Corinthians 12:24b-25: “But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another.” We can, for example, all pray for others, but keep in mind that sometimes God wants us to be the means of fulfilling those same prayers. As an example, look at Boaz in the Book of Ruth.

Despite all these caveats, there are definite lessons on caring and some universal principles that can be gotten through examining these Bible stories especially when they are backed up by actual teachings found elsewhere in the Bible. Two different stories of meeting needs are found in II Kings 4.

II Kings 4:1 We can get a couple of principles out of this verse. Sometimes the need will become very obvious. This is generally true when we are closely acquainted with the person. In this case, with her husband dead, Elisha and the other prophets became the widow's new family. And we are taught in several places in the Bible to start in our caring with our immediate family, then move outward to the body of believers, and then everyone else. Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for bragging about all the money they have given to the Temple (which went to the support of the widows and orphans in the community) but used that as an excuse for why they couldn't support their own elderly parents. Paul, in I Timothy 5:8 specifically says, “Whoever does not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” I have known several full-time ministers who could be accused of ignoring their own families.

The next ring of care includes our church family.

I John 3:17: “How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” But we aren't to stop there. Look at Jesus' example of washing feet – be a servant to all. Galatians 6:10: “ So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.”

Romans 12:13: “Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.”

4:2 Before helping someone out, you may want to first to check out their present resources. When my wife was involved with our benevolent ministry at the church, she helped assure that an investigation into the people's needs was first carried out. There is a happy end to the story in that Elisha multiplies the supply of oil so that the widow can sell the excess and pay back the creditor.

In the second story, a rich couple provides Elisha with food whenever he is passing through.

4:9-10 When my wife and I had enough money to buy a larger house, one of the things we looked for was whether it was arranged so that we could host Bible studies and mission conferences.

You could read into this story that the woman thought it would be to her advantage to host a man of God, We may be entertaining angels unaware but that shouldn't become our motive. And it soon becomes obvious that the woman in the story isn't expecting any return at all for her hospitality.

4:11-13a Circumstances change so that A helps B one day but later B is in a position to help A. You could infer that the caring here is based on reciprocal actions of the parties: you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. But Jesus said to his followers, “...when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.” Luke 14:13-14

And before he sent the Twelve out to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. He said, “You received without payment; give without payment.” Matthew 10:8b

Acts 20:34-35 “You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”

James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus in his teachings about the Last Judgment stresses the importance of showing care to strangers, to the thirsty, the hungry and those in prison.

Leviticus. 19:18 “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” The context refers to other Israelites, and specifically (in the preceding verses) the poor, the alien, the deaf and the blind.

4:13b. Some people are reluctant to point out what their needs are due to pride, self-sufficiency, etc. “In modern times and cultures that applaud seeming independence and self-determination, practices of receiving care are devalued...” (Susan Phillips, Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics, p. 122)

4:14 You may have to probe further into people's circumstances by asking others who are closer to the situation or by paying attention to their body language. Elisha tells the woman that she will have a son, which comes to pass. Some years later, the son has a dangerous illness so the woman seeks out Elisha. Again, she is reluctant to point out what her need is but Elisha can see that it is urgent.

4:29-30. In helping others, we may find out that a personal touch is sometimes what is appreciated more than anything else.

It turns out that laying the staff on the child doesn't help so Elisha puts his body on top of the boy and revives him. Sometimes we need to be innovative in helping others; if one approach is unsuccessful, try another one. “Loving-kindness is not prescribed or obligatory; it is surprising, responsive, creative, remarkable, generous...risky, and sometimes in conflict with other loves and commitments.” (Susan Phillips, p. 122)

Since much of the caring we do is centered around our church, I thought I would end up by going through some good and bad examples I have seen over the years as a member of a number of churches in different locations and of different denominations.

The church I grew up in consisted of a very close-knit group with many friendships, but there was also a strong independent streak in many of the members (most of whom had lived through the Great Depression) which led to an unwillingness for many to admit needs. And there was also the idea that everybody needed to stand on their own. They definitely had trouble meeting the emotional needs of those in the church who were hurting.

For example, a founding elder, a very gentle and godly man, was falsely accused of wrongdoing in an anonymous letter sent to all the elders and deacons, and no one came to his defense. He ended up resigning his eldership and moving to another congregation. In his resignation letter he said that he felt he had lost all credibility as a leader in the church. In another case, no one knew how to comfort a deacon whose wife had left him to run off with our minister. There was even the general feeling that it must have somehow been the deacon's fault.

The church I attended while in graduate school had good solid teaching and preaching. I didn't see much care for others outside the church itself but they definitely took care of their own. Even though I was only a temporary student member, when my wife and I got married, we were given free use of the church, the women of the church completely decorated the church and the fellowship hall and hosted our wedding reception at no cost to us.

While I was there, I was chosen to be a representative to an ecumenical committee which contained representatives from one of the more liberal churches in town. We were supposed to jointly draft some sort of position paper dealing with the church's responsibility to the poor and needy. One of the young men on our committee from another church shared his own experiences. It turned out that he spent most of his spare time volunteering in places like soup kitchens and retirement homes. Listening to him, I felt quite ashamed at how little I personally, or our own church, did in that regard. But the interesting thing was that he admitted that although he knew he should be doing these things, he really didn't know why or what in the world it had to do with being a Christian. Of course, the representatives of our church immediately spouted out a number of Bible verses on the subject of caring which we knew by heart but didn't really follow. It was the contrast between those of us who had head knowledge but didn't actually show much concrete love for others, and a church where apparently the social gospel was taught as a duty but never tied in with any particular biblical teachings.

The first church we attended after moving to Texas included a number of retired government workers who tended to model church policies on the worst of political practices. This gave rise to warring parties in the church and multiple committees lobbying for votes and using underhanded methods for getting their own way. There was constant backbiting and name calling, but not a whole lot of love on any level.

The next two churches we attended in Austin provided another lesson in contrasts. The first church had fantastic teaching and preaching from the Bible. But any ministries to the outside world were totally left to individuals in the congregation. And it was very hard to detect any loving care shown within the congregation. None of the pastors was interested in pastoral care so they hired someone to do it for them, then they made him split his time with missions, and finally did away with the position entirely after about two years for not giving enough return on investment. The pastors and elders each had their own little concerns and fought among themselves for space and money to optimize their own individual ministries. This attitude spilled over to the teenagers. We learned from our daughter that they totally ostracized anyone who didn't attend the best high schools. And they would walk down the sidewalks at church in groups, forcing the adults off into the grass. I could go on, but basically the situation was one in which the Bible was taught extremely well and then rarely followed.

By total contrast, we next attended a church in which I was appalled by the lack of Bible knowledge by parishioners who had attended there for years. The sermons were great, but all teaching pretty much stopped there. I talked with the Minister of Education, who was obviously quite learned, and asked him what class he taught so that I could at least attend it. He said that there were three very elderly widows who didn't really fit into any of the Sunday school classes so he personally taught them on Sunday – a wonderful example of a servant heart. The elders divided the members of the congregation among themselves and each one made sure that the needs of his particular flock were met. After church services, the elders stationed themselves at the doors of the church building to personally meet everyone coming out. Finally, I was quite impressed with the teenagers because they seemed to always be on the lookout to run to the doors and hold them open for any of the adults coming in or out. So basically, they may not have had as deep a knowledge of the Bible as those in our previous church, but they actually lived out their faith in practical ways.

When we moved to another town, we visited several churches before settling on our present congregation. Besides the quality of the sermons, we were looking for how the church members treated one another and visitors, to see if they cared for others. In one church, no one paid any attention to us as visitors so after church we parked in front of the visitors table but the woman behind the table was too busy talking to a friend of hers to even look at us so eventually we left.

At the second church we visited, the pastor announced from the pulpit that there would be a congregational vote on some issue that the deacons had brought up. He said that we could vote for the measure if we really wanted to but he didn't think the deacons should have brought up the issue in the first place. It was obvious that there was no love lost between the pastor and the deacons.

We attended Sunday school at the next church we visited, and one of the members brought up the fact that her son had been asked by a friend at school where he went to church. When her son replied, the friend said, “Oh yes, that's the church where they hate everyone.” I was impressed that they openly discussed the issue but more than a little worried that that was the reputation the church had.

That brings me to my present church, which I personally feel has an excellent balance of good, sound biblical teaching and preaching, while also showing practical care not only to our own members but also the wider community. But there is always more one can do as individuals and as a group so I want you to consider this questionnaire. It comes from Gene Getz' 1982 book Building Up One Another. In the chapter on serving one another, he quotes from Galatians 5:13: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge your sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” Getz says, “Freedom in Christ is not freedom from servanthood....in serving one another in love we find true freedom in Jesus Christ. Our deepest needs are met in legitimate ways. We are not used by one another. We are not put on a performance standard. Our relationships with others can be truly satisfying and enduring. This is true freedom!” As you go through his checklist of questions, consider how you yourself and your church are doing.

1. Is there Christian love being expressed among those in your church?

2. Are there evidences of joy and happiness?

3. Is there peace, oneness and unity?

4. Are believers showing patience toward one another?

5. Are they kind in their actions and attitude?

6. Are they demonstrating goodness?

7. Are they faithful toward one another?

8. Are they demonstrating gentleness and sensitivity toward one another?

9. Is there self-control in their conversations with one another?

If you think your congregation passed with flying colors, Getz closes with a warning:

“Carefully guard against 'spiritual pride' and 'pseudo-spirituality.' Attitudes of superiority and spiritual pride create more problems than solutions.”