The World has Gone Mad - Burn the Plows

ME | Introduction

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Title Slide:

Good morning everyone. I am so glad you are here. We’ve been in a series called “THE WORLD HAS GONE MAD,” and in this series, we’ve been exploring the life of the Old Testament Prophet Elijah, who is very famous, but his ministry was filled with challenges and sorrows throughout his life. He experienced rebellious people and kings who regularly turned away from God and worshipped other Gods.

Last weekend, my wife and I celebrated 11 years of marriage. We ditched the kids and went to Level 99 in Natick, Mass, for a good time. October is one of our favorite months because of family celebrations. I have to tell you a story during the rehearsal dinner before the wedding day. We got married at Indian Ranch in Webster. The rehearsal dinner was mostly a blur, but I remember one moment vividly.

Part of the rehearsal dinner is going through the motions of the ceremony. The wedding coordinator and officiant would place you and tell you where to stand, when to walk down the aisle, and so forth. Of course, one of the most emotional moments is when the father of the bride and the bride walk towards the front. Traditionally, the officiant would ask the question, “ Who gives this woman to this man?” The bride's father would say something like “I do, or Her mother and I do,” followed by a hand-off usually marked by a handshake or a hug between the father of the bride and groom. We did this during the rehearsal dinner, and when my father-in-law went to shake my hand, he grabbed onto my hand real hard and even placed a second hand in my risk with a firm grip and uttered the words: “No backsies.” (On other words, there is no turning back).

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As funny as that moment was, it stuck with me because it was one more moment that reminded me of the commitment I was about to make. Although symbolic, that handshake and that hug at the ceremony signified that I was taking over caring for and supporting my wife, Kelleigh. Through thick and thin. For rich or for poor. In sickness and in health. Till death do us part. And there is no backsies.

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We | Building the tension

I researched marriage rates and found two studies suggesting marriage rates are down 60% in the last 50 years. This means that fewer and fewer people are committing themselves to marriages. I am sure there are many different reasons for this, but I would make the case that, as a society, we live in a time when there isn’t as much interest or value in the word “commitment” as there once was.

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This isn’t just about marriage commitment rates being down. It's about the word commitment itself. Lending Tree (a lender company) did an in-depth analysis of Job tenures in the US and found that: Job Tenure Drops Nearly 11% in 10 Years.

This and many other sources can be used as evidence that, as a people, we have growing commitment issues. And when we do commit, it seems like our commitments are short-lived.

Maybe you see this as a sign that the world is going mad. Today, I want us to explore how our commitment issues may affect our relationship with God and how we live it out.

Perhaps your commitment issues come from fears of getting hurt. Past trauma. Fear of failure. Perhaps those commitment issues come from fear of change. I don’t like change. I need to be in control. Or it could even stem from low self-esteem. You feel like you are not good enough. This is a short list.

Of all these reasons, I want to focus on one part of our lives that may hinder us from making long-lasting commitments. I would argue that part of our commitment issues stem from a societal indoctrination leading us to believe that we always need a backup plan. This may mean when attempting to move forward, you have one foot in, but you will keep one foot out just in case.

For example, if someone was leaving a job for a new one. One would advise leaving on good terms in case it does not work out. Be sure to have two electricians in your contacts if you need a backup. This makes perfect sense, but the problem is that we have depended on this system in areas where they do not belong. I think this system hinders a giant part of our relationship with God about commitment.

Main Tension

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I want to ask this question; this will be the central tension of the message. What if your backup plan is hindering you from moving forward?

I don’t want to assume everyone here is in the same place on their journey with Jesus. Some of you are committed, and we know that. We see it, and we are grateful; I think this message will serve as a reminder that your commitment is of great value to God’s kingdom.

You may fall into the group of people who have verbally expressed a commitment to Jesus, but you are dragging. Something is hindering you from moving forward. You take one step forward and two steps back. I am so glad you are here, and I hope this message can speak truth into your life and challenge how you live.

Some are just exploring the Church, exploring Jesus, and we are so glad you are here because we are going to talk about what it means to be committed as it relates to our relationship with God and how to ensure this commitment is not short-lived.

Truth | Revelation

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I want us to open our Bibles to 1 King 19:19-21, and we will read a narrative in the life of Elijah that I hope serves as a challenge to all of us regardless of where we are in our faith journey.

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Context. Elijah is a Prophet, which means that he has been given the ministry of speaking on behalf of God to the people of Israel. This was a challenging job because Elijah delivered God’s message to his people regardless of the content. Sometimes, the content was not exactly roses and butterflies. At the time, Israel was being governed by an Evil King named Ahab, who allowed the worship of false Gods. Elijah was tasked to rebuke the actions of a King and his wife, Jezebel, who tried to kill Elijah because of what he had done on behalf of God. Have you ever heard the saying “Don’t shoot the messenger”? This does not apply when your enemies don’t have the same values as you. At this point of the story, Elijah is on the run.

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He lived a bitter life, with triumphant moments being followed by moments of depression to the point of wishing to die. The world was going mad around him. Pastor Matt shared a bit about that last week. But God never left Elijah. As I see the story of Elijah unfold, I can’t help but notice that God was always nudging Elijah to move forward regardless of past disappointments and the toll that may be ahead. In Mount Horeb/Sinai, God nudges Elijah to move forward by anointing the next King and the person that will replace him as a Prophet. Verse 19-21 describes the first encounter between Elijah and Elisha, who would become his replacement as a Prophet.

So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field.

Now, I am going to be honest. At some point during this message, I will likely say Elisha when I try to talk about Elijah. It is my accent, and it is what it is. So, for the sake of clarity. I am going to refer to Elijah as E1 and Elisha as E2. Is that ok with everyone?

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Elijah move forward, finding his replacement God commanded him to seek. So he finds Elisha, son of Shaphat, plowing the field. Elijah moves forward. This is important because it seems like in the first half of this chapter, Elijah goes backward, and God makes it clear to him that there is a plan, and that plan requires Elijah not to go backward but to move forward.

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Many people today see our world going mad and wish for a simpler time—blaming each generation for their negative role in society. Wishing for what in their mind was a better time in history. I can almost guarantee that every generation has had a previous generation say something that started with the words… Back in the day… And you could not help but roll your eyes at them.

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“Back in my day, cloud was something in the sky, not something that you needed to store your thousands of unneeded photos”

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“Back in my day, we didn’t have google. We had to go through the pain of using an encyclopedia.”

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“Back in the day, we walked twenty miles on the snow bare foot to school, kids today are too spoiled with their winter boots and stuff.”

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I’ve found that different generations of people are pinned against each other because of the tension of some wanting to go back in time and the younger generation being frustrated that the older generation does not want to adapt to our world today. This results in a generational disconnect that does not help anyone.

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Do you remember when a previous generation did this to you? When they criticized how you communicated or the style of music you listened to and so forth. Instead of practicing curiosity, we serve judgment. I would go as far as saying that this attitude affects how we also move God’s message forward from one generation to another. When the book Growing Young was written, data showed a dangerous pattern in the US church.

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“Scripture assumes that the gospel message and faith in Jesus is meant to be passed on from generation to generation. However, data shows that no major Christian tradition is growing in the US.” - Jake Mulder, Growing Young

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Could it be that rather than committing to share the gospel forward, we may sometimes behave selfishly by stubbornly idolizing our generation and criticizing the next generation too much? This may be part of the problem because we have to invite and prepare the next generation to carry the tread of the Gospel story forward. That is a forward motion, not a backward motion. Elijah moves forward as God calls him to anoint the next generation of leaders for Israel. This commission has not changed. We have to do the same.

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There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team.

We don’t know much about Elisha beyond being the son of Shaphat, but here we get a little more insight. Elisha was the owner of the twelve teams of oxen. These were his possessions, which led us to believe that Elisha was on the wealthier side of things. He seemed to be doing ok in life. It might be implied that he had a giant piece of land because it required twelve teams of Oxen to maintain. Little did he know God would change the course of his life.

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Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away.

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I want to comment on this moment and the significance of it. All people, societies, and generations have some kind of symbolic ritual for the transfer of power or something that symbolizes the transfer of responsibility and leadership. I have some props.

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For example,

During a wedding. A Father, mother, or even a significant person would walk the bride down the aisle and shake the hand of the groom to symbolize the release of responsibility, and care, and giving that responsibility of care to the husband-to-be.

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Handing over a crown and placing a crown over the new king symbolizes the power and responsibility being transferred to the new king.

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Passing the Baton: In a relay race, passing the baton signifies a transfer of effort and responsibility in a relay race.

There is no difference here. Throwing a prophet’s cloak around a person symbolized the passing of the power and authority of the office to that individual.

Back in 2023, we did a series called Growing Young, meant to help the church establish a new culture by crystalizing some essential commitments to move the Gospel forward to the next generation. One of those commitments was Keychain leadership. This brings me to another way we can express the transfer of power and the giving of leadership to someone else.

Giving Keys to some can represent a moment where someone with authority is providing leadership and authority to someone else. Especially young people. I believe that this is of great importance to move the Gospel forward. And we have to move forward.

We must recognize that, like Elijah, God is also calling us to find our replacement. The next generation of leaders needs our attention. Right now, we are experiencing some growth. This year alone, we’ve exceeded the number of Baptisms we’ve done, and our church is growing in engaged families. This means that we need you to get involved in developing our young people by signing up to serve in the kids' ministry or student ministry. We need obedient Elijah-like figures willing to move the gospel forward and passionately seek to invest and even anoint the next generation of Christ's followers. Giving leadership keys effectively starts with a generation investing deeply in the next generation.

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This is part of our culture, but we need more help with this amazing task. We will lose momentum if we don’t invest more in an intergenerational strategy to move the gospel forward. We will experience a drag in our forward motion. I think that may be on us.

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Verse 20 says…Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, “First let me go and kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you!” - 1 Ki 19:20.

Elisha seems to have all the intentions of following Elijah. I am not sure if Elisha knew who Elijah was, but there is likely a good chance he knew who Elijah was and what he did. So he intends to say his goodbyes and follow him. But Elijah replies with this.

Go on back, but think about what I have done to you.”

I want to read some of the different translations of this part of verse 20. The NIV writes it to suggest Elijah wants Elisha to think deeply about what throwing the cloak across his shoulder really meant. Other literal translations write this sentence as a question. Go back again, for what have I done to you?”

Most translations prefer to translate and write this as a question and further comment that Elijah may be asking a rhetorical question. Meaning that Elijah himself had not called Elisha; it was God’s call. Whether Elisha would follow that call was his own decision.

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Regardless of the translation, the sentiment is clear. Elijah wants Elisha to think deeply about what just took place. This call upon Elisha’s life goes beyond a man throwing a cloak across another man. This was a call from God.

This was a life-changing moment that required being all-in. Guys listen. I was so excited to preach this message because it involved one of my favorite things to do in life. A lot of you had the opportunity to affirm my gifting of cooking delicious meat. I was so excited to read this text a realize that it involved a massive BBQ as a send-off.

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So Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them. He used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate. Then he went with Elijah as his assistant.

We said earlier that Elisha owned the oxen and the plows, which points to Elisha being on the wealthier side of things. He literally took his property and BBQ it. He took his previous livelihood and burned it.

In 1519, there was a conquistador named Hernan Cortez. Upon arriving in Mexico, he ordered his men to burn their ships so they would have no option but to advance and conquer the Aztec Empire. This act was a bold statement of resolve and commitment. This is where we get the phrase “burn the ships”.

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Earlier, we discussed how our culture often teaches us to have a backup plan. If you get a new job, keep a door open for new opportunities. Don’t settle down because you may miss out on something if you fully commit. Be sure to have an exit contingency just in case it does not work out the way you envisioned it to do so.

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I get that having a backup plan makes sense in some cases. For example, If the hard drive of my computer dies. I better have a backup drive to retrieve sensitive and sentimental content like photos. But we are not concerned with your computer’s data. We are concerned about helping you discover and live out God’s call upon your life, which changes everything.

Cortez made sure there was no turning back. They were fully committed to moving forward. Likewise, Elisha BBQ his past livelihood to send a clear message. He was committed to God’s call upon his life.

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Conclusion

Maybe Elisha knew that his wealth or property could get in the way of moving forward. Can you relate? What if you are holding on to things in your life right now that are hindering you from following God completely?

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There is a moment in the life of Jesus where something similar to our reading today occurs. Jesus already had a committed following of disciples. However, as he went on, he encountered some individuals who expressed interest in following Jesus. Here is one.

Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.” But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”

Jesus, of course, knows our hearts. There was a request to say goodbye to family (similar to Elisha), and the response from Jesus reveals that some people were simply making excuses to delay a commitment to follow Jesus. Jesus’ response is sharp. If you are distracted by what's behind you, you are not fit for the Kingdom of God. That is a sharp response.

Like Elijah’s response to Elisha, Jesus wants that man to understand that following Jesus requires being all-in. There are no backsies. There is no backup plan. According to Jesus, there is no room for room-temperature faith.

Bottom Line: Committing to live for Jesus requires quitting to live for self.

If you are exploring God, you may think this is outrageous. But here is the thing about God. Here is the thing about Jesus. He didn’t ask something from us that he wasn’t willing to live out himself. This is outrageous, good news for us all.

We believe that we are God’s creation, but we moved backward in our relationship with him. We sinned. We decided to live for our desires outside of God’s will. The Bible tells the moving story about how God, our creator, puts in motion a plan of redemption through His son Jesus. There was but one plan of redemption, and God was committed to it through thick and thin. Observing a world going mad over and over and over again. But our shortcomings did not derail God’s commitment. There were no backsies. This commitment was full of pain, and the cost was great. But the price of reconciliation seems to be worth it for God. We believe that Jesus is God and died on the cross as the perfect and necessary sacrifice for us to be reconciled to God.

We believe in eternal gratitude. We are called to give our lives to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We are accepting a new Identity, a new people, and a new calling. A calling that requires us to move the Gospel forward. This is an all-in invitation. This is a no-turning-back scenario.

‌Now What?

BBQ your backup plan. You don’t need it. Its hindering you from moving forward.

‌Here is a simple application for you to consider. Next Steps is a 3-week course starting next week during the 9:30 AM service. Next Steps is for anyone trying to connect with God and the church more deeply. For anyone trying to take their commitment to another level by getting involved in an impact team. Maybe that means serving in Kids ministry or in our parking team. For anyone needing help discovering some key principles for what it means to be an all-in for Jesus. Some of you need to scan the QR code and plan to be there.

But I also want to make room for those interested in following Jesus for the first time today. During the next song, I invite you to boldly commit to making Jesus your Lord and Savior. I love the examples of those who got baptized today. Romans 10:9 says that if you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. We’ve invited some leaders in our church community to stand in front and be available to pray with you a prayer of confession and commitment. Some of you like Elisha need to BBQ the life you have been living and commit to being all in for Jesus.

Until now, you may have been the person with commitment issues, but God is calling you out to let go of what is holding you back and activate a life of faith that propels you forward. No backsies. Fully committed. Firmly in the hope of a God who also went all-in to have an eternal relationship with you. If you are that person, there is an open invitation to make Jesus your all right now. You need to move forward.

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