God of BreakthroughsPart6

God of Breakthroughs

Part 6

“The Unknown Servant: Breakthrough by Restoration”

2 Kings 6:1-7

This is about a man who was in the right place—the School of the prophets.

At the right time—the prophetic outpouring of that day.

With the right man—the Prophet Elisha.

This unknown servant was involved in an exploding ministry that was experiencing such supernatural growth they had to enter a building program.

“See now,” said the prophets to Elisha, “the place where we dwell with you is too small for us.”

Elisha agreed, and went with them to the forest where they began to cut down trees for the new building.

It was a happy moment, filled with excitement, anticipation, and fervent zeal for what God was doing.

Now, we’re told that, as one of the servants was busily swinging his axe, the axe head came loose and flew off of the handle into the nearby Jordan River.

Here we have the dilemma: The axe head was hopelessly lost without a breakthrough intervention from God.

I see a spiritual parallel for New Testament Christians in this account.

The axe head is a type of cutting edge.

We could say that, in the middle of the work of God, doing the right thing, at the right time, for the right man—the servant lost his cutting edge.

Now, the first application for us is:

Scripture says that our cutting edge is the Word of God:

“For the Word of God is quick, and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword…” (Heb.4:12).

And it is when we lose “the Word of God” in our life that the cutting edge is lost with it.

And I don’t mean just the written word of the Bible, but also God’s personal words to us—our calling, our purpose, our destiny, our direction in life, what we’re about in Christ.

Jesus quoted the verse, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

When the “cutting edge” of God’s word is lost to us, we wander, we stray, we become aimless in life, we don’t live well.

We can no longer fight the enemy effectively.

Our ministries become dull and ineffective.

Like a man striking a tree with a dull axe, we do twice the work to get half the results accomplished.

Before losing the cutting edge we possess clear vision for what God has called us to do, where we’re going, what we’re about.

But after losing it we experience the fog of indecision, spiritual lethargy, a “spiritual funk.”

BOTTOM LINE: Something exceedingly precious is lost.

Here are some tell-tale signs that you’ve lost the cutting edge:

If you've lost the ax head, the joy of serving God has waned.

Your prayer life has become stagnant.

The zeal for God is gone.

The joy of being in Christ, which is supposed to be like a fountain welling up inside of us, has dried up.

You don't see much fruit.

You know deep down that something is wrong, that something is missing, that you’re only going through the motions.

ILLUS:

I read recently about a university in the northwest.

Interestingly, the story involved lumberjacks as well.

It was a study on motivation.

The psychology department took two groups of lumberjacks.

They paid one group of men the same price that they had been making, the same wage, to just go what they had always done—just chop down trees.

The second group was told, "We want you to use the flat edge, the blunt edge of the axe, but we'll pay you twice your regular wage.”

“We just want you to pound it against the tree, just keep going. Do it as long as you want; we'll pay you double wages."

THE RESULT? The test group using the blunt edge of the axe had all quit within half a day.

As the last lumberjack from that test group was walking away, he was shaking his head.

In his exit interview he said, "Money, or no money, this is no fun. When I swing the ax, I have to see the chips fly."

A lot of us become worn and tired and weary and even bored because we're swinging the ax, but we're not seeing the chips fly.

In God’s work, we’re supposed to be seeing the chips fly!!!

Now, let me bring this home with a few more simple observations.

First,

The ax head was borrowed.

It wasn't the property of the one who was using it.

"Oh, my lord,' he cried out, 'it was borrowed!'" (2 Kings 6:5)

What we need to understand here is that our spiritual ax head, that cutting edge that God wants us to have, is the POWER we have from God to minister effectively to others, to teach, to share our faith, the power that God gives to give us to overcome temptation.

It's not a personal power. It is a God-given power. It is “borrowed” in a sense.

God told Zechariah when calling him to help rebuild the temple:

"So God said to me ...'Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit,' says the Lord Almighty." (Zechariah 4:6)

God told Zechariah and His people:

“Your arms aren't strong enough, your minds aren't smart enough, your hearts aren't courageous enough and your plans aren't good enough.

If the temple is ever rebuilt, it will be because my Spirit causes it to happen.

THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS THE KEEN, SHARP EDGE OF THE AX HEAD!

The power that you have to resist temptation, to share your faith, or to do anything for God is not a power created by your own energy, it is the GIFT YOU RECEIVED when you came to Christ.

It's a BORROWED POWER.

Second:

The axe head was lost for a reason

More than likely the man lost the axe head for not keeping it sharp.

The constant slamming of a dull blade against the tree jarred it loose.

If he had any fault at all, it was in letting the axe head grow dull.

The question for us today is, where do we lose our spiritual ax heads in our walk with God?

Has anybody ever lost it in the waters of worldliness?

Has anybody swung it in the rivers of ritual?

Has anybody lost your ax head in the creek of criticism?

Did it fly off into the pond of prayerlessness, or the stream of secularism?

Is your ax head in the swamp of self-satisfaction?

It can go any number of places!

The question today is, what are we going to do about it?

Third, we see that:

He knew he had lost it

As soon as he realizes it was gone, Elisha's helper cried out, '"Oh, my lord.'"

He was distressed.

I would guess there's not a one of us who hasn't at one time or another had to go look for their ax head.

Sometimes we need to stop and re-check our priorities.

When we realize something is missing we've got to repent and we've got to start again.

You see there's concern in this man that it’s lost.

We note that he was greatly disturbed over losing it.

This was a big deal!

The danger in church life is that too many times we go through religious rituals, go through the activities and say the right things, act the right way, we've got it down so pat we don't even realize we've lost the ax head.

Now, we come to the crux of this story:

4. The ax head was found where it was lost

In the natural this man was never going to see that axe head again.

The Jordan in those days could range from 200 yards to half a mile wide, to 40-150 feet deep.

Impossible for man! But not for God.

The one thing going for this unknown servant was—he knew where to go with his problem!!

When he told Elisha, '"My lord, I've lost the ax head and it's borrowed,' the man of God asked, 'WHERE DID IT FALL?'

When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there and made the iron float."

Now folks, this is powerful.

The ax head was found right where it was lost.

And it was restored to the servant through the application of a wooden stick.

I have to think of the cross right here.

I know that we experience the breakthrough of restoration when we apply the Cross to where the cutting edge was lost.

The forgiveness of the cross. The redemption of the cross. The hope of the cross. The deliverance of the cross. The defeat of Satan through the cross.

And it’s the same for N.T. Christians!

If you've lost your spiritual ax head, you're going to find it in the same place you lost it.

And the work of the Cross will restore you.

It’s like the story of the Prodigal Son.

Where did the boy go to find the ax head?

He went right back where he left it. He left it at home when he walked out and went to a far country.

When he came to himself, he went home and there it was.

Some of us need to go get our dusty Bible off the shelf and read it, because that’s where we left the axe head.

Some of us need to go to that special quiet place we had with God at one time.

We need to get on our knees and pray again because it's been a long time.

That's where we left our ax head.

Some of us need to return to that ministry to others, that place of 100% surrender, that first love we had with Jesus!

"Where did you lose it?" That's where it's going to be found.

In closing, we come to the most important part of this message:

The one who lost it is the one that had to pick it up again

The iron axe head supernaturally floated to the top of the water and headed straight toward the astonished servant.

But the power of God could bring it only so far.

There was a level of personal responsibility for the servant.

Elisha looked at him and said, "'Lift it out for yourself.' Then the man reached out his hand and took it."

You say, "What's the significance of that?"

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU AX HEAD.

No one can relieve you of that. The prophet said, "Pick it up for yourself."

The greatest thing you can do for yourself is to pick up your cutting edge walk with God again!

The good news is, God has given us the power to choose.

Incredibly, he gives us the power of choice to determine how much power from him is going to be channeled through us.

As long as you choose to let the ax head stay in the water, that's where it will stay.

If you choose to pick it up, God can bless your life in a mighty way!

QUESTION:

Do you need a breakthrough by restoration today?

Has the axe head been lost?

Are you willing to return to the place where you lost it and pick it up again?

GIVE INVITATION FOR SOULS AND RE-COMMITMENT!