There are many lessons here for us in this chapter. Lessons on: the fear man, ministerial burn out, unwise prayers, the power of God, the care of God… There are also several people that make for good messages – Ahab, Jezebel, Elijah, Elisha, the 7,000. But tonight we’ll consider a man you probably missed entirely – the servant of Elijah mentioned in verse 3. But we being with a conundrum – how do we approach this man – as a Christian or as a lost man?
We can’t learn anything definitive about his background because that is a complete blank.
He may have been an ex-priest, ex-con, a cousin of Elijah or a distant relative of David. We don’t know if his father was living, or who he had been if he was dead. Was he a servant because his family had fallen on hard times and he was “sold” into temporary slavery? From where did he come? Galilee, Judea? Was he a heathen? A barbarian? A former heathen?
Why doesn’t God tell us? Apparently, because it is unimportant to the case. It was important to that man, and to the Lord, but it’s not important to us. Besides, it doesn’t matter who his parents were – He came into the world naked and he left the same way. If our earthly father is a pastor or a pirate – each and everyone us are sinners. We are all “as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as filthy rags.” We all grow up “walking according the course world, according to the prince of the power of the air.” Initially, we all “have our conversation in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh.” But God is rich in mercy, even to those – especially to those – who are dead in trespasses and sins. This servant was like everybody else: needing the grace of the Lord. But the question remains – had he tasted that grace? Was he a child of God? If so, why was he so quick to let his master go on without him?
He served the prophet of God for a while and then no longer served him. Was it that his time as a slave had been met, or was it something else? What did he become? Druggist, brain-surgeon, union organizer, truck driver, banker? There are lots of legitimate occupations in world – all which mean nothing unless we are born again. The man saving lives as a surgeon, has no less pull in Heaven, than an undertaker. Perhaps this man was a servant of Jehovah, long before he became a servant of Elijah. Or perhaps he was trying earn points with God by serving a servant of God.
We aren’t told whether he was a son of Ham, Japheth or Shem. It doesn’t matter what the servant looked like: short, tall, fat, skinny, hunchbacked. It doesn’t matter if talked with a lisp or was highly eloquent. It doesn’t matter if good singer, a good sinner; a card-shark, sky-lark, barber or beggar.
Through him, God is telling us that He is no respecter of persons. “What is man profited if he gain whole world and loose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange…” “The Lord maketh poor, and the Lord maketh rich; he bringeth low, and lifteth up.”
We don’t know a lot of things about this man but we can guess a few things.
We can surmise, for example, that he was, at least for a time, a helper and a witness to Elijah.
If he were here today, this man be constantly hounded by the tattle-tale news magazines and TV shows. Elijah was a kind of folk hero among some of the people of Israel – he was a news-maker. There was a rumor he was the cause behind the terrible famine which had been plaguing the nation. There was a grand jury being called to investigate of the deaths of 450 prophets of Baal. This servant had a lot of information which he could share if he wanted – he could even sell it. Perhaps he could talk about Cherith Creek and what food the ravens brought to the man of God. This servant could talk about Elijah’s relationship to the woman at Zarephath. Anything shady there?? What about the oil that wouldn’t quit? The Raising of the dead boy? This servant personally knew the fear of being hunted by Ahab’s Gestapo. And he was as a witness to that great spiritual battle on Mt. Carmel. It was he who first saw the tiny rain cloud which broke the three year famine. Yes, this man knew the power of God the same way that Capernium knew the miracles of Christ. He worked with, ate with, and helped the prophet of God, even as Judas had done with Jesus. And the man who replaced him was Elisha – which says something about this man’s opportunities. We are not told that Elijah had another servant before Elisha started tagging along. You could say that this man went to the right school, knew the right people, heard the right lessons…..
But this man willingly or unwillingly lost it all by staying at Beersheba.
In a sense, God was not in Beersheba, but on Sinai, where He was needed. Someone might suggest that Elijah ordered his servant to stay in Beersheba, and that may have been. But if that were the case, we recall that he also ordered Elisha not to follow him across Jordan. Elisha refused to obey his master, and this unnamed servant might have refused as well. Essentially, this man turned his back on the greatest man of his generation. Was that the condition of his heart as well as his feet? Was this compliance with Elijah coupled to a rejection of Elijah’s God? That was a very common thing in Elijah’s day, just as it is today.
And that is infinitely sad – it is not an isolated case – millions before and since have done the same. There is something about our natures which makes us spiritually self-mutilators. We may not put guns to our heads, but mankind is spiritually suicidal. We took the Son of God and said, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” We have taken prophet after prophet, stoning those who were sent unto us. Our Bibles are dust collectors in most people’s homes. How many hundreds of people have sat in these pews for a time, and then returned to the well in Sheba? Sometimes they say that it is me that they are rejecting, sometimes it is you, and sometimes it is us. But in reality, most of the time it is the Lord. “Away with this man. Crucify Him, Crucify Him.”
The need of our souls can be found in only one place – the man Christ Jesus. Forgiveness of sin and eternal life are not wrapped up in things that we do and perform. Not even in being a servant to the servant of God. Assuming that this man was a believer, what was he doing with his future in departing from the only scriptural church in town?
What is it that drives people away from God? I wish that I knew. I’d send it to a laboratory and manufacture an antidote. We could sell it in capsules, caplets, and liquid form for children. I would give it away without money and without price. What drives people away from God? All that I can say is that we are sinners – children of disobedience. Deep down in our hearts we know that the Lord is Holy – and we are wretched. And that is basically the way we want to stay. “Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.” Even Christians choose sin over fellowship with the saints and peace with God. “No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” – or the flesh, or Satan.
This servant may have left his master out of fear – his life, too, was in danger from Jezebel. How common is this still today. We’ve all known people who wanted the blessings of Christ, but missed them because of fear of what others might think, say, or do to them. “I might loose my job, my wife might leave me, my friends would think I’m crazy.” Jezebel made a threat, but I don’t see the slightest evidence that she even began to carry it out. I’ve seen Christians, who sit on their hands and never do anything for Christ out of fear. Yes, Virginia, there are hypocrites in God’s churches. The Bible says, “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.”
Do you suppose that this man willingly stayed in Beersheba because he was simply tired? This pair had traveled all the way from Carmel in the north to the most southerly major city in Judah. Some people forsake the Lord and His church simply because it is not convenient to stay. That may have been John Mark’s problem when he forsook Paul and Barnabas. It takes just too much effort to come to church, especially when there is no air conditioning.
I wonder if Elijah was thinking that this man would become his replacement – probably not, but who knows? How many people are seen to flee when there is pressure put on them to serve the Lord? How many leave when they hear the dirty, five letter word that starts “T” and ends “THE”? How many are offended if they expected to pray or invite the lost to come to Christ, or listen to sermons.
In this case, this man was probably lost and bound for hell.
“Hey, wait a minute preacher, you can’t say that about people.” I get amazed at people who tell me that I can’t or shouldn’t read the Bible. In this case I don’t have to make up my own mind because Elijah did it for me. Verse 14 – Elijah said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” I admit that Elijah missed the boat, but he personally knew of no one else serving the Lord. Sure there were seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal, but Elijah hadn’t met any of them. One would think that if the man standing next to him for all those months or years was truly given to Lord, Elijah would have known. But the prophet of God wasn’t aware of it.
And how many pastors would have to admit the same thing about some of their church members? If God called the pastor to the witness stand to offer evidence of the Christianity in some of his people, under the oath of God, he’d have to keep his mouth shut. That was apparently the case with Elijah. Everything that this servant did, was done because it had to be done; it was expected of a servant. Yes, he dropped a dollar in the offering box, because it was expected, but not because he joyfully gave as the Lord had prospered him. Yes, he dutifully sat there under the preaching of his master, but it was because he was holding the candle. Yes, he prayed before each meal, but if he didn’t Elijah might not have let him eat.
Despite the miracles, despite the grace he’d seen, that servant is probably in hades today. There may be stories just as sad as this, but this is a truly sad situation. “Let me stay in Beersheba, Master, don’t take me not down to Sinai. “I don’t want to get too close to Jehovah.” Don’t be so foolish as to turn your back on the message of grace.
Was this man a child of God or wasn’t he? Only the Lord knows for sure. Our job is examine our own hearts – not his. And when the opportunity seems to present itself to quit – to stay behind in Beersheba – we need to make the right choice. “To whom shall we go, thou hast the words of life.”