Steadfast Devotion
Just as the Lord has promised never to
leave or forsake His children,
so we are to be loyal to one another.
Here's Gene:
And here we pick up now with the
relationship between Elijah and Elisha:
2nd Kings chapter 2, verse 1.
Here we have, really, the introduction to the
story of Elijah taken to heaven in the whirlwind.
The time had come for the Lord to take
Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind.
Elijah and Elisha were traveling from
Gilgal, and Elijah said to Elisha,
Stay here: the LORD is sending me on to Bethel.
[God is sending me to Bethel.]
But Elisha replied,
As the LORD lives and as you yourself live,
I will not leave you. [I will not leave you.]
[And] so they went down to Bethel.
Now basically what happened,
this happened three times.
They go on down to Bethel and then
they go on down to Jericho.
And Elijah says to Elisha the very same thing.
And he comes back and he says:
I will not leave you.
So they go on down to Jericho.
And Elijah says to Elisha:
I'm going to cross over the Jordan.
And--stay here. And Elisha said:
I will not leave you.
Three times this happened.
And really I think what we have here is
a beautiful Old Testament picture of
what God wanted in terms of our relationships
as believers within the church of Jesus Christ.
Romans 12:10:
A wonderful statement about our
relationships in Christ.
Show family affection to one another
with brotherly love. ...
We really see an Old Testament
illustration of showing family affection
on the part of Elisha to Elijah whom
he called his father.
Brotherly love.
...Outdo one another in showing honor.
That's a powerful statement, isn't it?
In relationship to our relationships
within the body of Jesus Christ.
That doesn't mean that in our relationships
we don't instruct, or admonish one another,
or care about one another.
There's such a thing as accepting love
and tough love. But that's a beautiful balance.
And we see that balance in Romans 15:14:
My brothers, [writing to the Romans, Paul said]
I myself am convinced about you that
you also are full of goodness,
filled with all knowledge and able
to instruct one another.
Or admonish one another.
More literally, admonish one another.
And right before that Paul had said
we're to accept one another as Christ
accepts us. But if we really love each other,
we will also admonish, correct, and help
each other to grow and mature in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, we have a picture here of loyalty,
of steadfast devotion.
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
And so the Reflection and the
Response question reads:
Why are some Christians fickle and disloyal,
even to those who have led them to
Christ and encouraged them in their faith?
Well some day when you get to heaven,
you can ask the apostle Paul about that.
Now he won't hold anything against
anybody because we're all in heaven.
That's all behind us.
But imagine how the apostle Paul felt:
After he had gone to Corinth.
After he had sacrificed his life there in many respects.
After he had given so much to those Corinthians.
And then after he left Corinth.
And they deteriorated and
continued on in their carnality.
That a lot of those believers there in
Corinth wouldn't even acknowledge
that Paul was their spiritual father
in leading them to Christ.
How do you suppose that made Paul feel?
Well Paul faced that quite frequently.
And there you have an incredible illustration
of Christians who are fickle. Who are disloyal
to the very man that was willing to
lay down his life for them.
And why was that true?
Well it's because, if you look at the Corinthians,
it's certainly because of their immaturity.
He wrote to them. He said:
You're still babies in Christ.
You're still infants. You haven't grown up.
It was because of their carnality.
They were living as if they weren't believers,
even though they were believers.
And so we see the focus of all of this
showing up in selfishness,
self-centeredness, thinking only about themselves,
and not taking seriously those who
built their life into them.
And so it shouldn't surprise us that
we do see that happening,
even within the body of Jesus Christ.
Now fortunately, I believe
and my experience has been that those
people are rare within the church.
And I've been a pastor for many, many years.
And I feel like when you teach people
and they grow and mature in Jesus Christ,
they become loyal. We're never perfect
in our relationships.
But we can grow. We can mature.
But there are those who will take
all that for granted.
And one reason it happens is they just
get stuck in their carnality. And they
won't mature or they won't grow in Jesus Christ.
And that's going to show up in
selfishness and carnality.
That should not surprise us.
But when we see that happening,
it ought to motivate every one of us
to steadfast devotion. To really be devoted
to one another in brother love.
Just as Elisha was devoted to Elijah when he said:
I will not leave you.
I won't forsake you.
I won't turn my back on you.
And that's a beautiful illustration
of a New Testament truth.