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An Invitation to Something Greater: Burn the Boats, There is No Plan B

I want you to simply absorb what the Lord is speaking today. I believe there is an invitation to something greater for this season in our world. Something greater is upon us. That is the message today for us as individuals and possibly as a collective—to be sensitive as God is moving in our midst to something greater.

What Is Something Greater?

Well, I think it's different for each individual, for each couple, and for each family. But in general terms, the kingdom is advanced, and your role in that brings peace. That is the definition of something greater for this message. The kingdom is advanced and your role in that brings peace.

Let me tell you a story about a billionaire. He's a billionaire and he has no kingdom fruit in his life and he has no peace. Somehow he decides to give all of his stuff away and become a peasant in a faroff land. And as a peasant, he ends up hosting a Bible study and he leads a dozen people to the Lord Jesus Christ with eternal differences.

This message today is that the billionaire that became a peasant—as a peasant found something greater. And our materialistic world sometimes can't get their head around that.

The Incredibly Wealthy Elisha

So back to our prophets. Let me back up a few verses to get a little more context. I'm going to show you First Kings 19:15-16:

"And the Lord said to him, 'Go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu, the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint to be the prophet in your place.'"

You see what's going on here? What's about to happen is Elijah, being faithful to the word of God, is going to anoint Elisha as the heir apparent. Did that make sense?

Now in verse 19 of First Kings 19:19-21, we see that Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. Do you know what that means? That means Elisha was a very, very rich dude.

"So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen in front of him and he was with the 12th. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, 'Let me kiss my father and my mother and then I will follow you.' And he said to him, 'Go back again, for what have I done to you?' And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him."

I don't think most of us get it on the first reading how rich Elisha was. That's what this text is actually telling us. Twelve yoke of oxen, that's twenty-four oxen. The average household at that time would have been extremely blessed to have one oxen.

For those of us old enough to remember the 60s and 70s, moving on up to middle class when your family got that second car—you get it? One oxen, maybe two. Elisha had twenty-four.

Elisha Was the Boss

Elisha is explained here as being very wealthy simply because of the oxen. But you want to know what else? Elisha was also the boss. How do we know that? It tells us he stood behind the other teams of oxen. He was the last one, the last team bringing up the rear of the plowing. This means he was the owner, the boss of it all.

It also tells us that Elisha would have had a huge plot of land in his ownership. One team of oxen can plow a small field. Yeah. So having twelve teams means that Elisha's enterprise was something to behold.

This Was Big, Big Doings

Now what comes next is really incredibly cool. Elijah takes his cloak, his mantle, and throws it over the shoulders of Elisha. At the end of verse 19, it says this:

"Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him."

This was big, big doings on Elijah's part. There simply is no equivalency to this action in our day. You know, maybe an NFL team trading away all of its draft picks for the next three years to draft Elisha with the very first pick in the draft. But even that feels lame compared to what this moment actually meant in that time.

This meant Elisha was handpicked by God to succeed Elijah.

So our text says that Elisha runs after him, catches up to him and says, "Let me go kiss my mom and dad." What's that mean? This phrase would have meant, "Let me get my stuff sorted out. Let me take a few needed steps, gain closure, then I'm all in."

Then Elijah says something peculiar in the English language. Elijah says to Elisha, "Go back again, for what have I done to you?" At the end of verse 20, that's what he says. What have I done to you? This is actually an ancient Hebrew figure of speech. It's a turn of phrase. It means why not or nobody's stopping you or the New Yorker "forget about it."

The Feast of All Feasts

So then let verse 21 come alive. Let verse 21 speak to you today. Verse 21 says:

"And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him."

Do you see it? Elisha goes back and kills the oxen and feeds everybody in the community. One oxen would have fed a family of five for close to a year. So twenty-four would have been the feast of all feasts.

Three Things That Characterize Elisha's Response

So let's break it down today into three things. Three things characterize Elisha's response. And I'm here to explain that this is where the invitation to something greater always begins. You ready?

Point Number One: The Valley of Surrender, Sacrifice, and Service

The road to something greater goes through the valley of surrender, sacrifice, and service.

When Elisha burned his plows, that meant he was resigning as CEO of Elisha Farms permanently. The rich dude was now going to become an assistant. He went from calling the shots to basically an administrative assistant.

For ten years, Elisha followed around and served Elijah. Estimated from the time of the cloak and the plow burning to the chariots of fire in Second Kings chapter 2 was about ten years. That's a long humbling time. Yeah.

God's Pattern of Humbling

The Apostle Paul went to Arabia for three years and didn't consult with anyone after the Damascus road incident and finally went up to Jerusalem to meet with Peter and James. That's in Galatians chapter 1. Moses spent forty years in Midian before he spoke with God in the burning bush.

Look, many times, dare I say most times when God calls you and he calls me, he puts us through a time of humbling. Some of us have been there and some of us are still there now. And many times during this time, we miss what God is doing and we complain. We murmur, "How come it has to be this way? Why oh why God aren't I faithful?" And on and on our grumbling before the Lord goes, right?

But the real question is this: If we are faithful, if we are faithful where God has placed us, are we going to be faithful to take steps the Lord has before us? Right where he has us?

The reality is that it's common for God to break folks down and humble them before he elevates them to greater service. And by the way, greater service in God's economy isn't the same as what we humans often times think.

Where you are right now is the most exciting place for you to be if you are serving God with faithful purpose and intensity. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but today we serve the Lord with what we have, with what we have been given.

The Way Up Is Usually Down

The way up in Christianity is usually the way down. Our humbling will be crucial in how the Lord uses us. See, once you've been humbled, the Lord will show you that if you excel with what he has given you, he can use you in an elevated kingdom circumstance.

But we have to be active. We need to look for the purposes of God and our faithful efforts then must follow. Joshua and Caleb had to go out and take the land, right? They still had to be advancing, doing something.

See, if we can't be a good student, a good employee, a good leader, or a good business owner right where God has put each and every one of us to serve him, then we will never be a solid witness, never be a beacon on a hill, never be a true agent of change, never be a solid messenger of the gospel. It won't happen.

We need to continue to serve so God will call you and I good sons and daughters so he can make us in this place and our effort into something he has destined us to be.

When You Get to This Place

See when you get to this place in your contented spirit—now you no longer care about the why you were humbled. Instead, we turn our focus to 100% faithfulness to do what we can with what we have been given. That's the deal. What we are to do.

You've heard the phrase, "Honor God in the little things, and in due time, he will lift you up." He always does. The path to something greater always starts with humbling yourself before the Lord.

Jesus Takes It Up a Notch

Jesus actually took it up a notch in Mark 8:34-36. Let's look at it:

"And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?'"

Do you notice something here? Jesus did not say deny money. Jesus did not say deny pleasure. He doesn't even say deny sin. He says deny yourself.

This means saying no to all you want from life so you can honestly say yes to all what God wants to give you in the time that he has provided you with. It means you say no to all you want from life so you can honestly say yes to all what God wants for you at the time he's given you.

The point is not that now you're going to quit your job and become a missionary in a far-off land or that you got to give away all your money and go sit cross-legged in some monastery and hum all day. That's not what this is saying.

The point is, listen now, the point is that to serve and truly follow Jesus, nothing can be off limits to him.

God Gives New Hearts and New Desires

"Well, if I go all in with Jesus, he may send me to Zimbabwe." Look, if you're sold out to Jesus in real time over the course of your journey, the Lord will lay Zimbabwe and its people on your heart in such a way that you'll be on your knees begging the Lord to send you to Zimbabwe. "Lord, please let me go to Zimbabwe or I'm going to die."

Full servants of Jesus don't get sent to places they have no interest in. When God gives you a new heart, it will come with new desires. And those promptings is what will now be in tune with you.

Again, the reality is that to serve and truly follow Jesus, nothing can be off limits to him. This fact gives the smackdown to all the "Jesus really helps me achieve my potential, I am living my best life" stuff.

Now stop for a second and think about the apostles. Research shows that every one of them suffered a martyr's death. Now the apostle John was exiled. Do you know what happened to him before his exile? They tried to boil him in water or in oil. They tried to boil John in oil, but it failed. That's not written down in the Bible, but very reliable church history describes it as another supernatural preservation of God so that John could then receive the revelation.

By the way, side note, some people now then turn following Jesus and serving Jesus into actually pursuing martyrdom, which is very wrong to say the least. Do you see what I'm talking about when I talk about balance? When I talk about all these different things when you read the scriptures. Narrow it down to the most narrow road focus and understand what's there.

The Spirit Question

Anywho, let me get stone cold with you for a second. Here is the spirit question asked of every one of us. This is the question the Holy Spirit will ask every one of us. You ready?

Are you really following Jesus? Or have you turned Jesus into someone who simply meets your needs and makes a life focused on yourself really come true?

Are you really following Jesus? Or have you spun him into this fake Jesus that's there to make you all that? Because I'm here to tell you there's a huge difference.

Look, come to terms with this today. If you come to terms with nothing else, there is a big difference of being a follower of Jesus and using Jesus for a self-centered life. And once you cross that line of understanding, you can't go back. And many of the falsehoods surrounding Christianity begin to crumble. And the "not my will, Jesus—not my will, Lord, but yours, Jesus. That's what I want"—it starts to strengthen.

And so the path begins in the valley of surrender, sacrifice, and service.

Point Number Two: Bold Acts of Faith

Then possibilities of something greater are realized through bold acts of faith.

In verse 21 of our text today, it tells us that Elisha burned the plows and held the feast of feasts with the community. And here's a little detail I don't want you to miss. It says he then got up and went after Elijah. What does that mean?

Elijah left. So, here's Elisha burning the plows, feeding the people, totally lost and abandoned in his new lot in life. And now he has to chase Elijah over the mountain to start his new job assisting the prophet of God. Takes some intentionality, doesn't it?

Elisha was all in.

Burn the Boats

Many of us have heard about the explorer who was assigned to conquer a land. And when he and his team arrived on the shore, they had to burn the boats. There's a huge lesson to be learned from the explorer burning the boats and Elisha burning his plows and killing his oxen. The lesson is this:

There is now zero possibility of turning back. No possibility to execute plan B because now there is no plan B.

Here it is. Nine times out of ten, failure is resorting to plan B when plan A gets too risky, too costly, or too difficult. Nine times out of ten, failure is because you resort to a plan B because plan A gets too hard. It's too much risk, costs too much. "Ah, it's just too tough. I don't want to do it no more."

And you know what? Many people are right now today living their plan B because they didn't burn the boats. They didn't burn the plows. Plan A people who achieved the greater don't have a plan B. It's plan A or bust. They would rather crash going after plan A than succeed at anything else.

Some folks right now need to act boldly in faith based on what God has shown them and what God has said to them through his word. Some of us need to decide how we're going to proceed with what we have been given.

Yes. Yes. There are times when God tells you to change course, but even then, if you are truly following the Lord, this will also be clear to you. Look, there's always risk involved in following Jesus.

You know the feeling of, "Hey, where did Elijah actually go?" Elisha might have been thinking going over the hill country to find Elijah, "I'm not sure this is going to work out."

In Narnia, the Pevensie children first find the beavers and they're learning about Aslan. They ask the beaver, "Is Aslan safe?" The beaver laughs and says, "No, Aslan is not safe, but he is good."

The Parables of Risk and Investment

In Luke 19, we get the parable of the minas or gold bars as they are called. And in Matthew 25, we get the same basic story with a few little twists. And the example of the twist is that the money in Matthew is called talents. It's a different level of money. Although the stories differ slightly, the message is still clear. And by the way, most believe the differences in these stories isn't so much the author as it is that Jesus would use familiar stories to teach kingdom principles.

In other words, Jesus would have told some of these stories multiple times over the three-year journey, constantly teaching as he went.

So anyway, the story goes that multiple people are given money to invest for the master while he was away. The folks who invested in it, took risks, created a return on that investment, were praised by the master as being worthy servants.

Then there is the one who was all worried about how potentially harsh the master could be. So they hid it for safekeeping. In Luke, it's in a handkerchief, and in Matthew, it's burying it in the dirt. In both cases, they basically said, "I didn't want to lose it. Maybe make you angry, so here's your money back."

Very sobering what Jesus said. The Lord called that person wicked. Luke 19:22-23:

"He said to him, 'I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. Why then did you not put my money in the bank and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?'"

What's he saying here? In other words, do the absolute minimum you can do. At least do the minimum.

Jesus Called Him Wicked

I want you to notice something else deeper. Now Jesus called him not lazy. Jesus called him not foolish. Jesus called him, "No, you didn't play it safe." Jesus called him wicked. What did the Lord mean by that?

Could it be that if your life is not characterized by some bold risk of faith, you're a wicked servant?

Look, I hate to say this, but I can't shake the truth of scripture. Following Jesus always involves risk. It always involves bold acts of faith. Look, listen. Even your basic salvation involved the risk of surrendering your life at the foot of the cross and trusting him to redeem you than giving up this life for the one to come.

So if this is the case, then what? You take the risks of trusting Jesus in all things. And if we are hearing from the Lord, then we must act on it. The twinge of risk is going to be there if it is from him. If all risk is mitigated, then is it really from God? And when you see God moving, you jump in and join him in what he is doing.

I love seeing God do stuff more than I like seeing my football team win. Follow.

A Real Life Example from Harlem, Iowa

Let me give you a real life analogy. Part of the prerequisite of me being able to come to be your pastor here was I was bringing a podcast that was an outreach of my sermons and I would be allowed to continue to do it here or I wasn't coming. It's called the teaching platform is what it's called. And at the time it was called Bible Idiots but we rebranded it Salvaged by God.

Now, one of the things I love about God using Salvaged is because it has nothing to do with me. My job is to be faithful, preach the word, try and capture it with the audio and video as best as we can, and then put it out there anywhere plausible and see what God does. You know, invest what little I have.

Take the risk. Ignore the objections. What objections? I'm too old. We're too small of a community for anyone to care. My teaching isn't worthy of national or international attention. Let me tell you, no one moves to rural Iowa to start a national outreach broadcast ministry. You know that, right?

So, what does that mean? That means every single download on Spotify or iTunes or iHeart or whatever or YouTube or Rumble, that means that God is taking our small effort and is doing something with it.

The Context Matters

Now, let's back up and get the context because that is important for me on this very personal analogy. I am here to serve whoever walks through that door on Sunday mornings. That is my main indisputable priority. The second priority is our people, our folks in Shelby County who watch or listen online. They matter most.

I'm not discounting the others, but the fact is that is where my heart is and that is where my heart will always stay because that's my calling. But listen, when you see that right here from Harlem, Iowa, we had people in other states who tune in regularly. Many reach out to me and tell me some are supplementing their own walk with Christ with our teaching. But others, my preaching on Sunday is all they have in their life right now.

Did you know that there is a truck driver in California that every Monday morning like habit tunes in to Salvaged by God? How do I know that? Cuz he told me that last week.

See, God is using this from here. And that is so cool to me. I know to some of you it's no big deal, whatever. But to me, it is so very precious because it goes hand-in-hand with what we're talking about this morning.

The Global Reach

Since the end of May, audio only, we have reached a couple hundred downloads in Brazil. Same with the Netherlands. China had twenty-nine downloads last month of my messages. Singapore, Australia, South Africa, and other countries. All from this platform here in Harlem, Iowa.

I want the messages to be available to all our people who may miss a Sunday or two, want an encouragement on their commute, or sometimes listen to the message again. But, you know, the last twelve months as of Tuesday, Iowa ranked fourth.

Florida and New Jersey are the top two states that listen to Salvaged by God over the last year. And that is not counting the two to three thousand that see at least a portion of every message on YouTube each week. Now, some of those are ad-based clicks, but many are not.

Point is, when you see God moving, join in.

Point Number Three: The Heavenly Vision

Lastly, and this is a shorter point, the power to pursue something greater is found in the heavenly vision.

Let's go to Second Kings chapter 2. Now, the verses leading up to this, I'm not going to show you them all, but the verses leading up to this, Elijah is going to be taken away, and everybody seems to know it. Elisha refuses to leave his side.

So pick it up in verse 7. Second Kings 2:7-12:

"Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, 'Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.' And Elisha said, 'Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.' And he said, 'You have asked a hard thing. Yet if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you. But if you do not see me, it shall not be so.' And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, 'My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and his horsemen!' And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his clothes and tore them in two pieces."

Get this now. Elisha had been assisting Elijah for a decade. He clearly has some idea of what he's being called to. But even Elijah couldn't guarantee him what he asked for. Elisha boldly asked for a double portion. And he saw what he saw.

A Terrifying Fire Tornado

Elisha saw the vision of Elijah taken up to heaven and it was terrifying. I think of all the songs and some of the artwork depicting this and it's kind of that smile on your face, you know, the white billowing clouds. It was not that. It was a terrifying scene. It was a fire tornado. The true vibe of that moment is people are going to die.

When God came to Mount Sinai, he came in the same way. Whirling winds and fire. He set up a perimeter around the mountain. That way, if you step foot across, you would die. So, here's Elisha seeing a scene that should kill him. How do we know that? He tears his clothes.

Now, he sees Elijah being lifted up on top of that, and in that moment, he saw a prefiguring of Christ. Stay with me.

Now, the Bible says when Jesus died, there was lightning and thunder and the fierceness of God's judgment was poured into our Jesus. The cross is what it is because God was executing his justice against sin.

We like Elisha see someone ascended into heaven alive and on top of the judgment. In fact, what we see is greater than Elisha saw because we see Jesus risen from the dead, delivered to God's right hand, ever living to make intercession for us. Elisha simply got a glimpse of what Jesus would someday do.

The Moment of Truth

And now comes the moment of truth. It's in verses 13-14. Second Kings 2:13-14:

"He took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, 'Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?' And when he struck the water, the water was parted to one side and the other, and Elisha went over."

Bada bing, bada boom, Elisha got exactly what he asked for. Did you know that Elijah has fourteen miracles recorded in scripture? Do you know how many Elisha has recorded in scripture? That's right. Twenty-eight. Exactly double. Our God is an awesome God.

Elisha got exactly what he asked for. Why? Because he didn't hold anything back. Elisha got what he asked for in part because of God's sovereignty. And in part because he didn't hold anything back.

Great Blessings Come from Bold Moves

Great blessings of faith come from bold moves of faith—bold moves grounded in prayer and in line with scripture. Don't miss that part. Let's not take this out of context and put the Lord our God to the test. Follow.

But each of us can have a spiritually significant life. But if that is going to happen, we have to act boldly in faith in our Lord and Savior. We have to burn the plows. We have to invest the mina.

Hey, we can plow the fields with twenty-four oxen if we want, but we just might be missing out on twenty-eight miracles. Follow.

Ponder for a minute what our lives could be, all of us, for the kingdom of God.

Jesus's Cloak Is Greater

Listen, it's not Elijah's cloak we've been offered. It's more. It's Jesus's cloak we've been offered. How is that true?

When Jesus stood on the Mount of Olives and said, "All authority has been given me in heaven and on earth. Go in my name and ask whatever you want and I'll give it to you." What did that mean? That means a surrendered life, a serving life, a sacrificed life, one that says, "Not my will, Lord, but yours" will be given what they need and when they need it to faithfully live out the work that is assigned.

The problems come in when we get our dirty little paws on some things and then the Lord has to correct us and some of the stuff we're trying to do for the kingdom gets stalled out. Remember the humbling from the start of this message. Think it through.

Greater Works Than These

In fact, Jesus takes it further. Remember when he said, "Greater works than I have done, you will do."

Guess what that is? That is a repetition to the promise of Elisha. Greater. Really, Lord, you raised people from the dead. Greater.

Listen, greater means greater in number. Elijah fourteen became twenty-eight for Elisha. Follow what Jesus meant was that you and I would take the power of the resurrection into places Jesus's feet wouldn't touch while he's here on earth. We would carry him into places that are hurting, families that are struggling, folks that are lost, and we would see his power come alive with eternal consequences.

Wow, what a life to pursue together with others, huh? Eternal significance way beyond our skill set.

He has given us the authority to set the captives free to be used to see his authority to be given to others. To witness people released from spiritual blindness and spiritual death. Wow. To be the instrument to give them the word of life found in Christ that would forgive their sins and give them an inheritance in heaven. Wow.

Jesus's cloak, his mantle. We get that. We first share it with our families, then our church body, then our friends, then to all the nations of the earth.

You can settle for twenty-four oxen if you want, but it's twenty-eight miracles God's calling some of us to.

The True Treasure

This vision of Jesus, the one who was lifted up to save us from deserved destruction, should make us see him as our treasure. Matthew 13 talks about the pearl of great price and the treasure in the field. That's a whole sermon in and of itself. But the gist of that is that there's joy that's so overwhelming in our salvation when we get Jesus's mantle. When we get forgiven that the person got rid of everything in their life all so that they could obtain that treasure whether it was the pearl or the chest in the field full of coins or whatever treasure was in the field.

See, Jesus is our treasure because we see something better in Jesus than anything we leave behind. There's more with what you get from Jesus than anything you're going to give up in this pathetic little world that's like a whisper.

And that, my friends, is the fuel to go hard into the greater things of the kingdom. That is what Jesus is saying. He is to us and for us. He is telling us he is worth giving everything not because it is a path to serve your best self but it is a way to the true savior himself. He is telling us that just him—he and he alone—is worth all of it.

The Actual Deal

The actual deal is this: You get all of him in exchange for all of you.

You get all of his righteousness. You get all of his promises. You get all of his power. You get co-inheritance in him in exchange for you giving up all of you, your sin, all your corruption, your sentence to hell, which is deserved by the way.

That, my friends, is in fact something greater. When you see God moving, you want to come alongside and join in the work of the Lord.