2 Kings 2:13-25 Developing Godly Leadership

2 Kings 2:13-25 Developing Godly Leadership

In every stage of my life, I am being influenced by leaders. God placed people around me who challenge me, help me, teach me, and encourage me to the be the person I am called to be. At times, I learned other lessons from people I watched, whether on television or in real life. In either case, I took what I learned and I applied it to my life. The same is true with you. Every single person in this room is an influencer. Therefore, every person in this room has the opportunity to lead others.

If you are a manager of a company or organization, you are a leader.

If you are a teacher, you are a leader.

If you have a ministry in this church, you are a leader.

If you are married, you are a leader to your family.

If you received people into your home, by foster or adoption, by divorce, or by some other means, you are a leader.

If you are in sports, in school, or some other activity, you are a leader.

Why is this true? Because God has called Christians to be influencers. Christians are leaders to the world. Jesus Christ has called us to lead others to Him. If you are going to influence others, then you are by definition a leader.

John Maxwell: Leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less.

In order to exert that influence as a leader, you are going to go through tests. The Bible shows us here that every leader will go through five tests.

FIVE TESTS EVERY NEW LEADER WILL FACE

LEADERSHIP TEST #1: CALLING

The first test of leadership is calling. You see, God is always raising up new leaders. Every person goes through transitions. We change leaders every four years as a country. People change jobs. New managers come. The church changes as new generations come along.

In this case, God led Elijah to mentor Elisha as the new leader. Elisha asked for a double portion of God’s Spirit – like a double portion of a family inheritance to prove to the people that he is now God’s man.

“Elisha picked up the mantle that had fallen off Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.” (2 Kings 2:13, HCSB)

“Then he took the mantle Elijah had dropped and struck the waters. “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” he asked. He struck the waters himself, and they parted to the right and the left, and Elisha crossed over.” (2 Kings 2:14, HCSB)

Elisha answers the question everyone is asking. Is God with Elisha just as much as he was with Elijah? Is God still here among us? Has God called another leader to lead us? Elisha answers that call. By striking the waters himself, the prophets watched as God parted the waters. In parting the waters, God showed the prophets that this was God’s man to lead the prophets.

Lowell D. Streiker: If you want to lead the orchestra, you must turn your back on the crowd. 

When a leader is called to lead, it means a change in the life of that person’s relationship with other people. If you are a mother, then you are called to be a mother, not a best friend. If you are called to be a manager, then you manage, not use people. If you are called to lead, it does change your relationship and it requires that you take more maturity in the relationship.

So we learn from this test two things:

(1) If you are a leader, you need to be mentoring. God has called for you to invest in other peoples’ lives. In this case, you are like Elijah who trains Elisha.

“And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2, HCSB)

(2) If you are not leading, you will be soon. God may be preparing you to lead other people. In this case, you are like Elisha – a man who has been mentored and now is taking the place of leadership.

LEADERSHIP TEST #2: CONFIRMATION

The second test of leadership is confirmation. Confirmation always comes after the calling. You prove yourself a leader after you have been called to be one. In this case, Elisha takes over the ministry of Elijah. There is a transition from one generation to the next. Elisha has completed his first test of leadership when he parts the water of Jericho with the mantel given to him by Elijah. The people watch it and confirm his call that he is the leader by submitting to him.

“When the sons of the prophets from Jericho who were facing him saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed down to the ground in front of him.” (2 Kings 2:15, HCSB)

The sons of the prophets who saw the event confirmed the calling of Elisha by bowing down before him. They recognized that God had called Elisha as the new leader. However, not everyone saw this event. Only the sons of the prophets who were facing Elisha confirmed him.

The fallen cloak of Elijah was symbolic of Elisha’s spiritual inheritance. With the cloak he duplicated Elijah’s miracle of crossing the Jordan River on dry ground. This proved that Elisha had received his ministry.1

Elisha was now their teacher, the president of that ancient seminary for prophets. That they still needed a teacher is evident from the account in verse 16. Although they saw the whirlwind, they did not perceive it as the miraculous vehicle for Elijah’s translation. It appeared to them that a mighty “dust devil,” a natural whirlwind, had picked up Elijah and no doubt had dropped him as a helpless victim on the side of a rugged mountain or a hidden canyon.2

LEADERSHIP TEST #3: COOPERATION

The third test for every leader is cooperation. At some point in the life of a leader, you are going to deal with people who want to do things their way. There will be people who think they know how something should be done. Although God has clearly shown people who a transition has been made, some people will resist. They will long for the previous leader. That is what is going here. These same sons of the prophets who confirmed that Elisha was the leader were still nostalgic about their previous leader. These sons of the prophets were clearly men who followed Elijah. They loved him. They wanted to continue following Elijah. But God sent him somewhere else. These prophets didn’t want to believe that. They were willing not to listen to the change in leadership so that they could seek their previous leader.

“Then the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Since there are 50 strong men here with your servants, please let them go and search for your master. Maybe the Spirit of the Lord has carried him away and put him on one of the mountains or into one of the valleys.” He answered, “Don’t send them.”” (2 Kings 2:16, HCSB)

“However, they urged him to the point of embarrassment, so he said, “Send them.” They sent 50 men, who looked for three days but did not find him.” (2 Kings 2:17, HCSB)

“When they returned to him in Jericho where he was staying, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”” (2 Kings 2:18, HCSB)

They didn’t find Elijah. Of course Elisha knew this. He saw Elijah go in a chariot of fire. Yet these prophets persisted. They had to be proved wrong in order to finally fall in line and cooperate with Elijah.

Maintaining cooperation is one of the hardest tests for leaders. Some people won’t like that you are the leader. They won’t like that you are not the previous leader. They won’t like your style, your words, your vision, your ideas. Eventually, they will either come around or leave. If people leave, that says more about them than your leadership. Yet, you have to deal with it. Dealing with them takes humility.

J. Oswald Sanders has said: Humility of the leader, as his spirituality, will be an ever-increasing quality.

If you are going to build cooperation, you have to be humble. Why is that? Because while people love to see their leaders be confident, the people also want a voice in what is happening. If you are going to build cooperation, Christians need to show humility. Arrogance only leads to bullying other people. Leaders are not supposed to be bullies. They are called to be servants by leading. You need to be humble if you are going to build cooperation.

LEADERSHIP TEST #4: CONFIDENCE

A fourth test every leader will face is the test of confidence. First, Elijah had sons of the prophets against him. Now, the men of the city were not confident in his abilities. The men say that the place is good, but the water is bad and the land can’t produce. They have doubts that God would provide to heal their water and land.

God uses Elijah in healing the waters and land. How did Elijah know to use salt to heal the water. The only explanation Elijah gives is that God said that He healed the water and made the land fruitful again. This event was a test the people’s confidence in the leadership of Elijah.

Herschel Hobbs once said: The people need time to develop confidence in the new leader.

That is what is happening here. This is not like the previous test when Elijah slapped the mantle on the water to part it. In that case, the audience was made of people who had seen Elijah transfer his leadership to Elisha. In this case, the audience was made of people in the city – people who did not yet know what to expect.

“Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Even though our lord can see that the city’s location is good, the water is bad and the land unfruitful.”” (2 Kings 2:19, HCSB)

“He replied, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.” After they had brought him one,” (2 Kings 2:20, HCSB)

“Elisha went out to the spring of water, threw salt in it, and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. No longer will death or unfruitfulness result from it.’ ”” (2 Kings 2:21, HCSB)

“Therefore, the water remains healthy to this very day according to the word that Elisha spoke.” (2 Kings 2:22, HCSB)

The waters were unhealthy. It couldn’t be used for drinking or for irrigation for plants. The most basic nutrient in life was contaminated. How were the people going to make it? There seemed to be no way out.

Then Elisha comes an untested prophet comes claiming that he has inherited the power of his mentor. The people don’t believe him and so they search for the mentor. The mentor prophet is never found. A tension rises as the people (sons of the prophets) have to trust the new prophet.

Elisha tells them to fill a bowl full of salt. They pour the salt into the water. The water is healed. Promise returns to the land. The land returns to fruitfulness.

Application: Trusting God to bring healing is hard. Sometimes, you want to find a trusted person who has helped before. It can be hard trusting a new person who is the instrument of healing. God can use new people to bring about His miracles.3

LEADERSHIP TEST #5: CONFRONTATION

A fifth test that every leader will encounter is confrontation. Leaders will have to confront people who detract from the mission God has called you to lead. In this case, there were some young men who taunted Elisha about his appearance and his work.

“From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking up the path, some small boys came out of the city and harassed him, chanting, “Go up, baldy! Go up, baldy!”” (2 Kings 2:23, HCSB)

The Hebrew word translated “little children” is nahar. Nahar is used to speak of little children, but also of younger men. In this case, the implication of what these young men were saying was, “Elijah went up, why don’t you? We don’t want you around.”4

“He turned around, looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the children.” (2 Kings 2:24, HCSB)

“From there Elisha went to Mount Carmel, and then he returned to Samaria.” (2 Kings 2:25, HCSB)

The writer of Hebrews tells people to obey their leaders for positive reasons.

“Remember your leaders who have spoken God’s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith.” (Hebrews 13:7, HCSB)

“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.” (Hebrews 13:17, HCSB)

Many people like to taunt leaders and curse them. The Bible states that anyone who makes these claims against Godly leaders will bring more problems among themselves. A leader has to deal with people who taunt them.

The company of prophets doubted Elisha’s credentials. Elisha demonstrated his authority by healing, that is, purifying, the polluted waters of Jericho. Also he invoked a divine curse upon his detractors, who mocked Elisha by urging him to ascend into heaven like Elijah. Two ravenous bears killed the wicked young men.5

Elisha showed his power as a prophet by putting a curse on these insulters. As a leader, there are going to be people who will doubt your credentials, or detract and insult you. While Elisha used a curse to stop these people, we are called to let God take His vengeance on them. Remember, Christian leadership means to develop a Christian influence to the people around you. Some may not listen. Some may throw insults and try to detract you from Christ. We deal with these people through loving confrontation. If they listen to Godly wisdom, then Christ will change them. If they don’t you can let God sort it out.

Leadership is hard work because influencing other for Jesus Christ is our mission. We are pointing people to the one true God. Remember that God will give you the skills you need to influence others for God’s kingdom.

Prayer: God, please help us as Christians to develop into Godly leaders to be used for your kingdom.