Increasing Our Faith

2 Kings 4:18–37 NASB95

When the child was grown, the day came that he went out to his father to the reapers. He said to his father, “My head, my head.” And he said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her lap until noon, and then died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door behind him and went out. Then she called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and return.” He said, “Why will you go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath.” And she said, “It will be well.” Then she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, “Drive and go forward; do not slow down the pace for me unless I tell you.” So she went and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her at a distance, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite. “Please run now to meet her and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’ ” And she answered, “It is well.” When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for her soul is troubled within her; and the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me.” Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?” Then he said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins and take my staff in your hand, and go your way; if you meet any man, do not salute him, and if anyone salutes you, do not answer him; and lay my staff on the lad’s face.” The mother of the lad said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” And he arose and followed her. Then Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff on the lad’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he returned to meet him and told him, “The lad has not awakened.” When Elisha came into the house, behold the lad was dead and laid on his bed. So he entered and shut the door behind them both and prayed to the Lord. And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth and his eyes on his eyes and his hands on his hands, and he stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child became warm. Then he returned and walked in the house once back and forth, and went up and stretched himself on him; and the lad sneezed seven times and the lad opened his eyes. He called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Take up your son.” Then she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, and she took up her son and went out.

INTRO: How many of you work out? Ok, how many of you have ever in your life worked out?.. seen someone work out on tv? Why?

You work out, lift weights, run, etc. in order to strengthen your body, right? Well, let me probe a little further: What made you decide to begin working out?

For many of us, we decide to start working out when we realize we are vulnerable in a certain area… that might be a doctor’s visit where your physician looks at you, shaking his head and says… you need to drop some weight.

Or maybe it’s that huffing and puffing you experience when you climb a set of stairs that lets you know you need to make some changes… Maybe you caught a glimpse of yourself in the bathroom mirror after getting out of the shower.

ILL: My grandpa, I think, liked to point out this vulnerability in our family. He was never too shy about poking me in the belly and saying something like, “Marcus, you look like you put on a few pounds...” Thanks grandpa...

Like our physical bodies need exercise to grow stronger, so does our faith. Unfortunately, just like we often ignore the signs of weakness and vulnerability in our physical bodies, we are perhaps even more prone to ignore vulnerabilities in our spiritual lives. But this morning, I hope to change your thinking on that.

Consider Paul’s words to Timothy:

1 Timothy 4:7–8 NASB95

But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Where are you spiritually vulnerable? Is it in knowledge of God’s Word? Is it in the practice of obedience to God’s Word? Is it in making disciples? Is it in trusting God with your life? What area does your faith need to grow?

In our text this today, we find ourselves back with Elisha and the Shunammite woman. If you were here last week, you learned that because of her kindness and exemplary neighborly love, God blessed her with a son. She didn’t ask for a son. In fact, she was pretty well-off and had need of nothing. But, this child was a demonstration of God’s generosity and blessing towards her.

However, this son also became an avenue for God to grow this woman in her faith. HOW? Because she became vulnerable because of her love for this child.

Parents- you probably changed a lot when you had your first child, didn’t you? You were ok and could handle anything that would come your way… until you held that little baby in your arms… when she wrapped her little hand around your finger, something in you just shifted and suddenly you realized that you’d do everything you could to protect and provide for this life God had blessed you with. You and I became big ol’ softies!

In verses 18-20, we see that when the child was a little older- my bible says ‘grown’ but the actual Hebrew literally means “strong” or strong enough. At any rate, he is out with the harvesters and gets a headache… dad knows that compassion is what he needs, so who else would he go to?

Right- Mom. And Mom holds him and loves on him for a few hours and then the child dies. It’s truly tragic. Now, we’ve already read the end of the passage, so we know that it ends well… we won’t dwell so much on the emotional toil of this event.

What I want us to focus on this morning is how she exercised her faith through this ordeal. I believe you and I can both learn and apply these lessons so that this church can experience the joy of increased faith. Our message is entitled “Increasing Our Faith” and I want to encourage you to follow along in your bibles and make use of the sermon guide as well as we learn together.

Like any good exercise routine, we have to warm up. To do this, we must:

Stretch Our Normal (21-25a)

Let us take a look at this woman’s actions in verses 21-25 (READ)

There is no doubt that this woman had a certain measure of faith. Last week’s message demonstrated this; God had blessed her with a child which was an impossible feat given her husband’s age. But this was unlike anything she’d ever faced before.

Now, we don’t know what all she was thinking when her son died, but we can see that she was determined to go and talk to Elisha. I don’t think she even told her husband that the boy had died- she laid him on the bed that they had given to Elisha and shut the door, called for her husband to let him know she was going to see Elisha and would be back soon. (22)

This didn’t make any sense to him, obviously. But I want to point you to this: READ v. 23

IOW, this is not normal. Elisha was regularly stopping by- maybe she could just wait? Besides that, it’s not a day of normal worship nor a day of sacrifice. BUT, she was willing to interrupt the normal routine in order to beseech Elisha. This was an uncomfortable step, but she was not only willing, but urgently insistent to take it.

Why? Why couldn’t she just stay put? Why did she take this step and stretch beyond her current faith?

I believe it is because she cared enough about her son to risk her own comfort.

The situation surrounding her son illuminated how vulnerable she was- she could have done nothing, but then the pain would have had no purpose in her life. No, she must stretch beyond her normal interactions with Elisha- her normal appeals to God because the normal simply would not do.

Folks, have we not evidence that our normal, status quo faith and obedience needs to grow? I recently read a survey that reported only about 1% of Americans are regularly attending church. That means that our culture overwhelmingly does not regard the things of the Lord as important… the question is do we?

How will we reach the lost in our community?

How will we overcome the obstacles of the sexual perversion being forced upon our kids?

How will we reflect the glory of the Lord if we do not step outside of our personal comfort and talk about the things of the Lord, model obedience, and prioritize His bride, the church?

Folks, if your child was dying, would you not do anything you could to save them? I’m telling you that the situation is that dire! Our kids and our grandkids- some that have come through our preschool and our youth group - they are in danger of dying and being eternally separated from God in Hell!

Church, I’m pleading with you this morning to care enough to risk your comfort. Care enough to stretch your normal so that as we pursue God, we might bring some along with us. Stretch Your Normal.

As we look on, the Shunammite woman reached Mt. Carmel and here we see her model our next faith exercise. That is:

Stay The Course (25b-31)

Let’s read 25b-31 again (READ)

I cannot tell you why this woman told Gehazi “It is well” - perhaps it was her normal response… like when you ask how someone is doing and they say, “I’m well!” even if they aren’t. Maybe she just didn’t feel like talking to Gehazi. She was there to see Elisha, the man who was anointed a prophet of God.

At any rate, when she gets to Elisha, she throws herself at his feet, probably in tears. She didn’t ask him to heal the boy. She didn’t ask him for anything, really. But she came to him with vulnerability… and as we read, we get the feeling that she isn’t going to stop clinging to him until he personally addresses the issue.

Admittedly, Elisha’s action of sending Gehazi is puzzling- maybe it was preparation, maybe it was a lesson for Elisha that some things just cannot be delegated… either way, Elisha’s staff was not the source of power. Gehazi was not the anointed prophet, and even though God could have worked through him, He chose not to. Elisha was the proper instrument… there was no shortcut.

When I was in high school, I had a weightlifting class. I was given a workout routine and told just to do it. Now, it just so happened that I watched a lot of baseball and I’d see these guys crushing homers every night and I remember looking at the size of their arms and thinking, “I need to get on their workout plan.”

Well, (and some of you know this) their workout plan included steroids which gave results, but it was all fake and their stats are meaningless.

My point? This Shunammite’s determination to stay with Elisha was validated. Just because Gehazi got there quicker did not mean that his action was adequate. Had she had returned with Gehazi and Elisha stayed on Mt. Carmel, perhaps the window of time for a miracle would have closed. She recognized the importance and urgency of the situation and stayed the course.

You know something? God has given us the means by which to accomplish everything that He has called us to. We are the church, the called out ones of God. We have been given His Holy Spirit and His Holy Word and these are the means by which we will reach the nations, push back the darkness, and train the next generations of Christians.

There are all sorts of quick-fix ideas to reach the world, but when the rubber meets the road, the results are not adequate. We must first stretch our normal and then stay the course that Jesus Christ has set before us!

Finally, let us observe how the exercise routine ends. That is, we must:

Surrender The Results (32-37)

It came to be that this woman had done everything she could do. Now, she had to hand off the situation to Elisha.

In this last section, it’s just Elisha and the boy. The woman disappears for this period. She must simply wait and see.

But notice this- Elisha similarly handed the problem to God. Look here in v. 33 (READ)

This was out of Elisha’s hands as well. So, like the Shunammite, he stepped out of his comfort zone, besought the Lord, and obeyed God’s directions.

His actions over the boy sound odd and maybe a bit awkward, but I believe that this was a test for Elisha as much as for the Shunammite. After all, marching around Jericho probably sounded like an odd plan too. God’s son dying on a cross sounds like an odd plan.

All in all, the results are up to God. And here’s the thing: Even if God chose not to raise this child, He is still good and trustworthy. Whatever God’s will is, it is right. And the faith of the Shunammite to trust God in this area of vulnerability shows her growth.

Ultimately, this woman went from “It will be well” to “It is well” - That’s what increasing in faith looks like. God restored the life of her son and Elisha had the blessing of being an instrument of God in this unique exercise.

And so it is with us.

When we exercise our faith, whether that’s committing to learning Scripture or sharing the Gospel with a neighbor - the results are up to God. You might think it odd that YOU should be the instrument to bring the hope of eternal life to your neighbor, but that’s why God put you there.

It is in His hands to act. It is the Holy Spirit that will illuminate the Scriptures. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts the sinner’s heart. It’s the power of God that saves or heals

ILL: Let me go back to our opening illustration. Do you know why professional trainers take pictures of people before they begin to work out and pictures after they have worked out for 6-12 months? So they can see the results and celebrate their growth.

But here’s the thing: If we never exercise our faith, then we never get the opportunity to see the results or experience the joy of walking closer in faith.

This morning, I am asking you to take the steps to increase your faith. Surely we are not content with the nominal normal? Let’s stretch that beginning today. I believe that what is at stake is worth the effort, how about you?

Discuss: What area of your faith is vulnerable and needs exercising?

Discuss: Have you began to take steps of growth only to quit after a period? Why?

Read Hebrews 11 and discuss the measure of your faith.