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Transconfiguration Sunday - Bling Bling or Blessing! - Pastor Nieting |
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?¨Bling Bling or Blessing!?Æ February 26, 2006
2 Kings 2: 1-12 Pastor Mark Nieting
I
can only guess, but I figure quite a few of us have watched at least
SOME of the Winter Olympics, especially the ?¨action sports?Æ like
curling(!). But when the Olympics are over, it??s only a week or so
before the next big TV event, the Academy Awards, AKA the Oscars.
Gazillions of people watch, not so much, it seems, to see who actually
WINS, but more to see who shows up and what they will be wearing and
how they will act and what they will say. Our culture is obsessed with
?¨stars,?Æ so it seems, and Oscar night is the ultimate highlight.
Oscar
night also serves as a significant reminder that there is a definite
divide in our culture between those who are seriously famous and the
rest of us. Take, for example, the ?¨Thank you?Æ gift baskets given to
the major stars. When our District and Synodical Presidents visited us
on our Centennial Sundays, they got gift baskets with Emmanuel church
ornaments, Emmanuel cookbooks, and a few other things. The ?¨official?Æ
Oscar gift bags are a bit more glitzy?ñthey are worth approximately
$100,000 each?ñ.just for showing up! What??s in them? Try this:
-A complete Krups kitchen set: toaster, coffee grinder, maker, etc.
-Weekend getaways to ritzy beach hotels, complete with private butler.
-A pair of cashmere pajama bottoms (is this for the guys or both?)
-A $1500 dinner party at any Morton??s Steakhouse.
-Thousands of dollars worth of cosmetics?ñ..and so much more.
That??s
some serious ?¨bling bling,?Æ right? And why do they do it? Because these
companies are just hoping that some star will say their name or stay at
their place or use their product and bring them publicity that will
bring more business!
Do the celebrities like this? Sure they do!
One actor I read about made this comment: ?¨I can??t walk down the street
without being bothered. I gave up my anonymity for this job. I deserve
this stuff.?Æ
For the rest of us in the great unwashed, we often
wonder if there is any reward for living an authentic, real and?ñ.this
is the big question?ñ.Christian life. We people of faith often (even if
we won??t admit it all that openly) wonder if God will give us some
eternal blessing for giving our lives to God in His service, don??t we?
One
of the greatest celebrities of the Old Testament, at least, is Elijah.
Elijah was a prophet during the reigns of Ahab and Ahaziah, about 875
to 850 BC. This was after the Northern and Southern Kingdoms had
divided, but before the captivity. He was a major player in a lot of
Old Testament events, including the victory of God over the prophets of
Baal that our children??s drama group portrayed so well a few weeks ago.
(1 Kings 18) He was so famous to the people of Israel that generations
later, Jesus?? disciples recognized him alongside Jesus and Moses in the
transfiguration event that we are celebrating today.
Elijah
conducts his ministry boldly and passionately and was singled out by
God as one deserving a ?¨lifetime achievement award.?Æ In other words,
Elijah wouldn??t leave this earth in the normal way, with a big funeral
and burial?ñ..he would go out in heavenly style?ñ..going straight to
heaven in a chariot of fire. God hasn??t given many of these?ñ..Enoch got
one, since he ?¨walked with God,?Æ and Moses, it seems, got a different
version of one, since he showed up with Jesus in the Transfiguration
story along with Elijah.
Today??s Scripture picks up after Elijah
had two more confrontations with two kings of Israel who had left their
faith in God and were worshiping false idols. Elijah confronted Ahab
over Naboth??s vineyard (1 Kings 21) and denounced Ahab??s successor
Ahaziah for his use of cultic fortune tellers (2 Kings 1). The time for
God to take him to heaven was almost there?ñ..and take him God would, in
a ?¨whirlwind.?Æ USUALLY in Scripture this is the word for God??s wrath,
but not in the case of Elijah. Here it was going to be a blessing!
By
this time Elijah had chosen his successor, the young prophet Elisha.
Elisha was the perfect young apprentice. Even though Elijah ORDERS him
to stay behind, Elisha won??t leave. Although we don??t know quite how it
happened, God had informed the communities of prophets who lived at
Bethel and Jericho that it was time for Elijah to ?¨go.?Æ Each time they
reach a new place, God??s prophets come out and tell Elisha that the
Lord is about ready to take Elijah from him, to which Elisha responds
that he KNOWS this and asks the prophets to keep silent about it!
Then,
when they get to the Jordan River near Jericho, Elijah puts on a
?¨special effects?Æ display by parting the waters of the Jordan by
whacking them with his rolled up coat?ñ.a deliberate sequel to the
?¨Moses and the Red Sea?Æ scene and once they go across onto dry ground,
Elijah turns to Elisha and says that he will grant him one request.
Imagine
that you have just witnesses someone do a rather powerful miracle and
then he turns to you and says, ?¨Ask for whatever you want before I am
taken up from you!?Æ Where did your mind go when you heard that phrase?
It would have been easy for Elijah to ignore Elisha and focus on his
coming reward, a whirlwind trip to heaven. He could have let Elisha
fend for himself. But he chose instead to make his swan song all about
?¨passing on the mantle?Æ to the one who would carry on the work.
Here
it is?ñ.a ?¨King Solomon-ask for anything you want?Æ moment. How would YOU
handle it? Ask for some version of the riches of the world? Ask God to
pay off your credit cards or help you win the HGTV Dream Home? Maybe a
trip to Disney World? The temptation would be tremendous, wouldn??t it?
Elisha??s
response was powerful and inspiring. He doesn??t ask for fame, fortune,
riches or rewards. He just wants a ?¨double share?Æ of Elijah??s spirit.
Whoa, Nelly, let??s back up the prophecy train just a bit here.
?¨Elijah??s Spirit?Æ is his ability to prophecy, which is a gift from God
and certainly NOT something under his own control. It??s something
Elijah had no control over. In classical Old Testament Biblical
prophecy, it??s not the prophet??s spirit that exercises the power, but
the spirit of the Lord acting THROUGH the prophet?ñ.just like any
spiritual gift that we have today?ñit??s God??s gift, used through US.
Do
you remember Elijah??s reply, ?¨You have asked a difficult thing, and yet
if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours-otherwise
not.?Æ (2 Kings 2: 10).
In other words, if the request is going to be
granted, it will be GOD who grants it, not Elijah, and if it is denied,
it is God that will deny it, again, not Elijah. It was Elijah??s way of
saying that his spirit was God??s gift to give, not his!
And of
course, what happens next is something that only Hollywood special
effects can match?ñand only on film. There is the CHARIOT of fire and
Horses of fire and Elijah is taken up into heaven in a fiery whirlwind.
He gets a personal chauffer into the presence of God?ñ?ñwow?ñ?ñ.what a way
to go, right?
The real power in this story?ñ.as if this isn??t
powerful enough?ñ?ñis what happens next. Elisha mourns the departure of
his teacher by ripping his clothing, the traditional sign of sadness,
but then he picks up the coat that had fallen from Elijah and walks to
the edge of the river. He slaps the water with the coat and asks,
?¨Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah??Æ (v 14), and the water parts
open again and he walks across the riverbed.
The whole bunch
of prophets from Jericho, all 50 of them, went out, bowed down and met
him, placing themselves at his service to go LOOK for Elijah. Elisha
knows that would be a waste of time?ñ.and tells them. Eager to please,
they went anyway and when they came back 3 days later, Elisha gave the
the ol ?¨I told you so,?Æ picked up the mantle of his mentor??s prophetic
ministry, and went on his way.
What??s the lesson here, dear
Christian friends? Many of us?ñ.at least the ?¨earthly parts?Æ of
us?ñexpect some sort of blessing from God just for showing up, kind of
like the ?´open a bank account and get a free toaster?? of the old days.
?¨Hey, God,?Æ we can imagine, ?Ælook what I??ve done?ñI??ve got perfect
attendance in Sunday School?Æ or ?¨I have tithed for 3 years?Æ or ?¨I??ve
carried my cross for 3 months now?ñ.HOW ARE YOU GOING TO REWARD ME!????Æ
The
real reward that we Christians should be seeking is the reward that
outlives us and yet might even be enjoyed right now?ñand that??s sharing
Jesus with people who don??t know Jesus and being a part of OPENING
HEAVEN to them! We??ve spent 3 weeks learning The Roman Road, the
Bridge, and The Questions. Our goal is to become more confident and
more competent at being instruments of the Holy Spirit in winning more
souls for the kingdom of heaven!
Most of us who have come to
faith have done so, yes, by the call of the Holy Spirit, but also
through the TOOLS the Spirit has used, often the investment and the
mentoring of Christians who have gone before us. We bless their names
and pray that we can receive a ?¨double-share?Æ of their spirit as
Servants of God.
There??s probably no greater reward a person
can receive as a Christian in this life than knowing that he or she has
made an eternal difference in the life of someone else. No amount of
money can touch the smile I see on a child??s face at baptism. No
earthly reward can touch a marriage re-knit together through Christian
counseling or the knowledge that someone else is giving their life to
the Lord in His service. And hearing someone on their deathbed confess
their faith in Christ?ñ.. it is a joy that??s unimaginable!
Most
of us will never be famous or rich, at least in the Hollywood sense.
But we can experience the awesome reward of seeing lives transformed.
We don??t even need to wait til we get to heaven to receive that
blessing?ñ.we can watch God work every single day!
Let??s get off the mountain and down to business!
Amen.
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