TOPIC:‌"The Recovery of Spiritual Vitality"

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌II Kings 6:1-6

 

‌‌"As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. 'Oh,

my lord,' he cried out, 'it was borrowed.' " (II Kings 6:5, NIV)

 

‌Elisha was the great successor to Elijah the prophet. Whereas Elijah confronted and exposed idolatry among the high and mighty, Elisha had a ministry of helping the poor and the despondent of his day. He was always ministering to those in need as he endeavored to put people in touch with the living God. No less than eighteen times do we read of his encounters with those in extreme situations. He compassionately cared for them and ministered to them. Whether it was paying off the debt of the woman in poverty or praying back to life the boy who was dead, Elisha was always available to help ordinary people. We are in desperate need of this same caring ministry in the church of Christ today.

 

‌Here in the verses before us we find Elisha helping a young prophet who while chopping down trees lost the axhead which had fallen into the Jordan River. The young man was in deep distress for he had borrowed the ax from a friend. He now had only the useless handle which was good for nothing for the task at hand. That handle had a zero effect when used for cutting down trees. The handle without the axhead was inefficient. It was of no help to the young man. Now the Christian life may be characterized much like this worthless handle. It is powerless apart from the infilling and inworking of the Holy Spirit. We may be theologically sound in Christian doctrine, but theoretically soft in Christian discipline. Our spiritual dedication may be weak and faint when it should be vital and dynamic. We beat the air with the handle of an empty axhead. We have no power when it comes to the cutting down the evil trees that are standing tall all around us.

 

‌That brings us to our theme - the recovery of spiritual vitality as we find it in the story before us. Let's look at it from three different directions.

 

I.

 

‌Consider, to begin with, this axhead symbolized a PURPOSE to FULFILL. That sharp blade was required for what that young prophet wanted to accomplish. We read in verses 1 and 2 these words: "The company of the prophets said to Elisha, 'Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan...and let us build a place there for us to live.'" A twofold purpose for the axhead emerges from these words.

 

‌First of all, the axhead was needed for the BUILDING of a DORMITORY. Notice the problem. . . .