Run, Christian, Run! (A sermon based on 1 Kings 19:19-21)

Run, Christian, Run!

A sermon based on 1 Kings 19:19-21

Sunday, January 30, 2009 – Epiphany 4B

 

 "Run, Forrest! Run!" Remember that scene in the movie, Forrest Gump, when the main character does just that? For no apparent reason Forrest just decides he's going to run to the end of town. When he reaches the end of town, he keeps running to the end of the country, then figures, "I might as well keep running to the end of the state." He keeps running from coast to coast for 3 years, 2 months, 14 days, and 16 hours.

But do remember how people responded? Many were so inspired by Forrest Gump that they dropped what they were doing and started running behind him. They left behind their work, their families, their lives, to follow after Forrest Gump.

This morning we hear of another person dropping everything to run behind another. The prophet Elijah was sent to anoint Elisha to become the prophet that would succeed him. And though Elisha was a wealthy man with a family, he dropped it all to run after Elijah. Looking at his example, this morning you and I are encouraged to "Run, Christian, Run!" Run hard after Jesus and leave everything else behind. Our lesson this morning is from 1 Kings 19 beginning at the 19^th verse…

 

¹⁹ So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. ²⁰ Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother good-by," he said, "and then I will come with you." "Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?" ²¹ So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.

 

I. Run Hard After Jesus

 

People may be eager to follow a leader who seems to be going places. They're eager to run behind a winner. But who in their right mind would want to follow a loser?! After all, Elijah was a wanted man. The wicked queen, Jezebel, and her husband, King Ahab, were hunting Elijah, seeking to take his life to exact their revenge for the prophets of Baal who were slaughtered atop Mt. Carmel. Elijah was on the lam. And now, directed by God in the quiet whisper outside his hideout cave, he went to Elisha to anoint him as his successor.

Elijah must have wondered how Elisha would respond. "What?! Run behind you?! No thanks! I kind of like breathing! Not to mention the good life I've got! I'm healthy, I'm wealthy, and like things here on the farm! I've got it made! I'd be crazy to follow you, old man!" But that's not what happened is it?

Elijah went up to Elisha and threw his cloak around him. He gave him a new coat! Now, there was nothing special in the coat itself, but in what that coat represented. Think of it like a pastor's gown or a king's robe, or even like a uniform of one in public office. Elisha understood what the gesture meant. He was being called by God, through the prophet to become his apprentice—his vicar, if you will.

In 1914 the famous explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton, ran the following ad in the London Times before his expedition to the South Pole: "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in event of success." Who in their right mind would want such a job? And yet, in spite of the description Shackleton received 5,000 applications from men who wanted to be part of his expedition. 

Who in their right mind would want to follow Elijah and face a life of toil and trouble, persecution and pain, rejection and heartache? Elisha would. Why? Because he knew what a privilege it was to be called to serve God! To follow in the footsteps of Elijah! To speak God's Word to the people as their prophet!

 

So how about us? Do we view our vocation, our calling, as a privileged service called by God? Do we run hard to follow Jesus? Or do we sometimes amble or drag our feet? Are we sometimes dragged to do what God wants us to kicking and screaming? Do we sometimes run the other way?

Let's face it we don't always run hard to follow after Jesus, because after all, who wants a life of inconvenience, of persecution and pain, rejection and heartache? Who wants to leave behind service of self for service of God? The answer is we do! We long to run behind, not just Elijah, but Jesus himself because of what he's done for us!

When we go to great lengths to run away from our responsibilities and act like Jonah running in the opposite direction of Ninevah, God goes to even greater lengths to chase after us. And when he catches us, he gives us a new coat! He throws around our shoulders the robes of Jesus' righteousness. That perfect righteousness that Jesus earned by a life without any sin of thought, word or deed, he gives to you and to me. Covered with robe of hisrighteousness, you and I are sinless in God's sight! Perfect and holy with every sin of running from God or his call to live a holy life removed forever!

And in thanks to him, we're eager to answer the call to follow Jesus! Peter wrote of that call in 1 Peter 2:9 and following, "⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. ¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. ¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. "

What grace our Savior shows to us! And it's this grace that leads us to run after him! We long to be closer to him! We long to follow in his footsteps. So don't just mosey after him, don't just meander along or casually stroll with Jesus. But sprint!  As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9(:24), "²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."

And as we do pursue Jesus and run hard after him, we won't care quite so much about all the other fleeting stuff of this life. We'll gladly leave everything else behind to follow him!

 

II. Leave Everything Else Behind

          Take a look at what Elisha left behind to go running after Elijah. He was clearly a wealthy man! In a day and age when owning one pair of oxen made one rich, Elisha had 12 pair! Today, a team of oxen can go for four or five thousand dollars. And while he was a hands-on manager (driving the twelfth pair himself) he must have had at least eleven servants working for him! Certainly, money's not everything, but Elisha had more. We're not told that he had a wife or kids, but he had two loving parents that he was obviously close to. He had the good life! But what did he do with it? He left it all behind.

          Elisha clearly accepted the call to run after Elijah. He made it clear with the barbecue block party he threw, killing his oxen (worth up $60,000 or more!) and burning the plows—the tools of his trade. He went back to kiss his father and mother goodbye—possibly for good, this side of heaven! But he left it all behind gladly in exchange for the privilege to serve the God who'd saved him from his sin and to follow his servant, Elijah.

          Again, how about us? Are we willing to leave behind business and boat, fish and father, like the sons of Zebedee did? Are we willing to make such sacrifices as Barnabas and Paul (formerly known as Saul) and leave behind the familiar and comfortable to follow after Jesus?

          Now, don't misunderstand. Not everyone here is called to public ministry as Paul, the disciples, and Elisha were. And I'm not suggesting that you quit your jobs, burn your computers, and say farewell forever to your family and friends. But you are called to leave some things behind as you go running behind your Savior. And that's not always easy is it?

          The truth is that you and I aren't always quite so eager to sacrifice our dollars as Elisha was. We aren't always so eager to separate ourselves from family and friends who hinder our running after Jesus. We aren't always eager to separate ourselves from the things that entangle us, trip us up and slow us down.

          But thank God that Jesus was willing to give up everything for us! He left heaven behind with all its glory that he might make the perfect sacrifice for you and for me. He gave everything for us! He gave his life! He gave his soul!

          And it's because of this, "grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for [our] sakes he became poor, so that [we] through his poverty might become rich," (1 Corinthians 2:9) we are eager to give up anything that hinders us or slows us down as we run after him. Run from those sins that so easily entangle. Give generously—not just in the offering plate, but as you show hospitality and care for others. Throw a barbecue block party and get to know your neighbors that through you they might get to know their Savior. For this is our calling, dear friends. This is our joy. This is our delight! To run after Jesus in thanks for what he's done for us and to leave everything else behind! Run, Christian! Run! Amen!