If It Wasn't For The Women, Part 5: The Ministry Of The Widow
If It Wasn't For The Women • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 27 viewsThe LORD God's provision for His faithful (obedient) servants can occur in unexpected places
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Introduction
Introduction
The Latin term for ‘widow’, vidua, is related to a root meaning ‘to place apart’. 2 As will become clear in the chapters which follow, in most cases widows are, in fact, placed apart from much more than just their husbands.
In the Bible the word is practically synonymous with “poor” because in the ancient Near East widows were largely unprotected by law & were easily exploited
Widowhood= separation that occurs upon the death of a husband
Scripture says:
And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
; ; ; ;
And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there.
; ; ;
When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.
Deuteronomy 24:20; 26;12
“When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled,
;
They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless;
Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children”: These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Honor widows who are truly widows.
She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,
1 Timothy 5:5
and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.
1 Timothy 5:10
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Why is the widow so important in scripture? She has lost her provider and he to whom she is identified. So now she has to possibly depend on the unknown & unseen for her provision. Is the widow an example or illustration of the type of dependence on & faith in we should have of the LORD God?
We normally associate with widows what we can do for them. But have you ever considered what the widow can do in serving and ministering to you? Widows have a God given Ministry and testimony to the church
Illustration: Between Poverty And The Pyre: Moments In The History of Widowhood by J. Bremmer & L. Van Den Bosch
“It has been noted that widows are in general more involved in religious activities than widowers or married women. Jan Bremmer, for example, notes the great number of widows among the first followers of Jesus”
Transition To Body
Transition To Body
In our text today, the prophet Elijah goes to Zarephath and is served or rather ministered to by a widow
The prophet receives a word from the LORD and then clearly communicates that word to the people of God. In the Old Testament as well as New Testament, the word from the LORD is often corrective in nature and encourages faithfulness, change, or repentance (returning or turning) towards the LORD. In the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, and even today, not everybody who shows up at the sanctuary wants to hear a word from the LORD. They want to hear a word but not necessarily from the LORD. So the prophet is in a precarious situation- they life is on the line.
The Apostle Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians chapter 4
This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
But God’s Word also protects & preserves the prophet...
In no uncertain terms that Yahweh, the God of Israel, is more powerful than the Canaanite god Baal, who was worshipped as the god of rain and fertility and the vanquished of death:
Baal was worshipped as the god of rain and fertility and the vanquished of death
But in the God of Israel provided sustenance during a famine & proved his power over death in the raising of a child (v22).
The next chapter , recounts the triumph of Yahweh & his prophet over Baal & his prophets
God’s command to Elijah to remain in the home of a pagan widow must have seemed strange. Jesus cited this story as an example of how a prophet is often unwelcome in his home country ()
Body
Body
The LORD’S Word Is Always Relevant ()
The LORD’S Word Is Always Relevant ()
- as the LORD lives, before whom I stand
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
The LORD’S Word Is Always Timely ()
The LORD’S Word Is Always Timely ()
Illustrate: Dottie People’s On Time God
He's an on time God, yes he is (oh oh oh)
On time God, yes he is
Job said He may not come when you want him
But he'll Be there right on time
I'll tell you He's an on time God, yes he is
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55
Obeying The LORD’s Word Can Be Inconvenient ()
Obeying The LORD’s Word Can Be Inconvenient ()
Elijah’s calling does not require home court advantage
Illustration: Statistics on the value of home court advantage in the NBA & NFL
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Obeying The LORD’s Word Leads To Blessings (1 Kings 7:15-16)
Obeying The LORD’s Word Leads To Blessings (1 Kings 7:15-16)
Illustrate: “when the praises go up, the blessings will come down”. That’s not recorded in the Bible, but we can recite it in our sleep
But...
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Psalm 1:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Transition To Close
Transition To Close
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Close
Close
Illustration: Reading Homer’s Odyssey during the summer of 1987 while going into the 9th grade
No one who has heard ‘Penelope’s Lament’ by the Italian composer Monteverdi will ever forget the grief of this Homeric grass widow, whose faithfulness to her missing husband Odysseus was eventually rewarded by his return.
Penelope is the wife of the main character, the king of Ithaca, Odysseus (Ulysses in Roman mythology), and daughter of Icarius of Spartaand his wife Periboea. She only has one son by Odysseus, Telemachus, who was born just before Odysseus was called to fight in the Trojan War. She waits twenty years for the final return of her husband,[5] during which she devises various strategies to delay marrying one of the 108[6] suitors (led by Antinous and including Agelaus, Amphinomus, Ctessippus, Demoptolemus, Elatus, Euryades, Eurymachus and Peisandros).
On Odysseus's return, disguised as an old beggar, he finds that Penelope has remained faithful. She has devised tricks to delay her suitors, one of which is to pretend to be weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus's elderly father Laertes and claiming that she will choose a suitor when she has finished. Every night for three years, she undoes part of the shroud, until Melantho, one of twelve unfaithful slave women, discovers her chicanery and reveals it to the suitors.
Penelope, in Greek mythology, a daughter of Icarius of Sparta and the nymph Periboea and wife of the hero Odysseus. They had one son, Telemachus.
Homer’s Odyssey tells the story of how, during her husband’s long absence after the Trojan War, many chieftains of Ithaca and nearby islands become her suitors. To spare herself their importunities she insists that they wait until she has woven a shroud for Laertes, father of Odysseus. Every night for three years, until one of her maids reveals the secret, she unravels the piece that she has woven by day so that she will not have to give up hope for the return of her beloved husband and remarry. When at length Odysseus does return, she makes him prove his identity and finally accepts him.
How is the widow in Zarephath an exemplary model of truth faith in LORD
“And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, '"Physician, heal yourself." What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'" And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.”
Luke 4:23-26 ESV
“Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.”
2 Kings 5:1 ESV
https://www.bible.com/59/2ki.5.1.esv
“After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant.
Roman Centurion
And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."”
Luke 7:1-3, 6-9 ESV
https://www.bible.com/59/luk.7.1-3,6-9.esv
“As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep."”
Luke 7:12-13 ESV
https://www.bible.com/59/luk.7.12-13.esv
Persistent widow
“And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.'
And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"”
Luke 18:3, 6-8 ESV
https://www.bible.com/59/luk.18.3,6-8.esv
Syrophoenician woman in the region of Tyre & Sidon
“And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."”
Mark 7:24-27 ESV
https://www.bible.com/59/mrk.7.24-27.esv
“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Romans 3:21-26 ESV
https://www.bible.com/59/rom.3.21-26.esv
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23 ESV
https://www.bible.com/59/rom.6.23.esv
“For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."”
Romans 9:15 ESV
https://www.bible.com/59/rom.9.15.esv
“And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."”
Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
https://www.bible.com/59/mat.28.18-20.esv
How are we to be like the widow in Zarephath?
How is the church like the widow in Zarephath?
So the widow of Zarephath is a shadow of the church...
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
(How does the Widow in Zarephath show faith)
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
(How does the Widow in Zarephath please the LORD God through her faith)
“After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!" And he said to her, "Give me your son." And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the Lord, "O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?" Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, "O Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again." And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, "See, your son lives." And the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth."”
1 Kings 17:17-24 ESV
https://www.bible.com/59/1ki.17.17-24.esv
(Bro. Oveante take me to the bridge...
And let us close this little sermon...)
And...
Close:
“so they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be." This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, "They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." So the soldiers did these things, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.”
John 19:24-27 ESV
https://www.bible.com/59/jhn.19.24-27.esv
Illustration: Elijah a type of Christ as the ultimate provider & sustainer of those who put their hope &!trust...
- Some trust in chariots and horses, but...
And
I know somebody else who lost someone important and precious
In fact they were one in unity and in perfect harmony up in glory in heaven