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The
Little Pot of Oil |
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A Pocket Paper Robert J.
Morgan Tonight is one of those holy and historic nights in the life of a church when we set aside one of our members for cross-cultural and overseas missionary service. Angela Emerick grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, and became a Christian at age sixteen at a youth camp. She has been coming to our church here for the last eight years or so. It was during a short term trip to the Ivory Coast ten years ago, in 1996, that she felt God was calling her to missions, and she has a burden to work among Muslim peoples in Central Asia to advance the cause of Christ. We’re pleased to have just about all her family and very many of her friends with us tonight. For our Scripture this evening, I’d like to turn to the next passage we’re coming to in our pulpit studies of Elisha. If I were to search the whole Bible for a better text, I couldn’t find one that is any more fitting that the one we’re naturally and providentially coming to in our current sermon series entitled “Miracle Man.” It’s the story of the little pot of oil, found in 2 Kings 4: The wife of a man from the company of the prophets
cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know
that he revered the Lord. But now
his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” Elisha replied to her, “How can I help
you? Tell me, what do you have in
your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at
all,” she said, “except a little oil.” Elisha answered, “Go around and
ask all your neighbors for empty jars.
Don’t ask for just a few.
Then go inside, shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as
each is filled, put it to one side.” She left him and afterward shut the door behind
her and her sons. They brought
the jars to her and she kept pouring.
When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me
another one.” But he
replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said,
“Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is
left.” (2 Kings 4:1-7) This is one of the most picturesque and poignant stories in the Old Testament; it’s one of those that we can visualize very easily. There was a widow whose husband had been a faithful preacher and prophet, but he had died leaving her a single mother with children and with tremendous needs. The home was about to be broken apart, and her sons were in danger of being seized as slaves. So she cried out to the Lord and to Elisha. And God performed one of the sweetest little miracles in the entire Bible. Tonight there are three phrases in this story I’d like to bring to your attention and we may want to underline them together in our Bibles; so let’s work our way through these verses, trolling it for lessons and principles. God Asks Us: What Do You Have? The wife of a man
from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my
husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take
my two boys as his slaves.”
Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell
me, what do you have….?” There’s the first phrase: What do you have? And look at her response: “Your servant has nothing there at all, except….” Nothing at all, except a little oil. Nothing at all, except a little time. Nothing at all, except a little tongue for witnessing. Nothing at all, except a little gift. Nothing at all, except for a little opportunity for teaching. Nothing at all, except a little part in this ministry or that ministry. We just have a little oil. What do you have? Oh, Lord, I don’t have very much. I don’t have a lot of skills or gifts or abilities. I don’t have fame and fortune. I cannot preach like Peter and I cannot pray like Paul. Lord, I don’t have much to offer you, but what I have I give to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s an old hymn that says, “Little is much when God is in it.” As I mulled over this, I couldn’t help but think of the great missionary Gladys Alward, whose story I’ve told here before; but would you mind if I told it again? It had started on a bus in England. Gladys Aylward, a poorly-educated 28-year old parlor maid, was reading about China and the need for missionaries there; and from that moment, China became her life and passion. She applied to a missionary agency only to be turned down. Crushed with disappointment, she returned to her small servant’s room and turned her pocketbook upside down. Two pennies fell on top of her Bible. “O God,” she prayed, “Here’s my Bible! Here’s my money! Here’s me!” That’s all she had.
But Gladys began hoarding every cent to purchase passage to China. She knew she couldn’t afford to travel by ship, so she decided to go overland by train right across Europe and Asia, though it meant slicing through a dangerous war zone on the Manchurian border. On October 15, 1932, a little bewildered party gathered at London’s Liverpool Street Station to see Gladys Aylward off for China. The journey was hair-raising and nearly cost her life. But eventually Gladys reached China, showing up at the home of an older missionary who took her in — but didn’t quite know what to do with her.
And yet — to make a long story short — Gladys Aylward eventually became one of the most amazing single woman missionaries of modern history. Her mission’s career was so extraordinary that the world finally took notice. Her biography was made into a movie starring Ingrid Bergman. She dined with such dignitaries as Queen Elizabeth and spoke in great churches. She even became a subject of the television program “This is Your Life.” But Gladys never grew accustomed to the limelight, for her heart was always in Asia. “I wasn’t God’s first choice for what I’ve done for China,” she once said. “There was somebody else... I don’t know who it was — God’s first choice. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn’t willing. And God looked down... and saw Gladys Aylward.” I think He’s looking down tonight and seeing Angela Emerick and you and me; and some of us don’t have a lot to offer, but we’re willing to give God what we have. Paul wrote, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, to that no one may boast before Him.” None of us has very much to offer the Lord. Not many skills. Not many gifts. Not much wealth or fame or ability. But He just asks us, “What do you have?” He asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?” Only a staff. He asked the disciples, “How many fish do you have?” Only two, and five small loaves.” What do you have in your house? Only a little pot of oil. But such as I have, Lord, I give to Thee. Pour Oil Into All the Jars But there’s a second phrase. Let’s continue reading: “Your servant
has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a little
oil.” Elisha said,
“Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door
behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars…. God asks us to take the little bit that we have and to pour it out. You and I are little pots of oil; and oil in the Bible represents the Holy Spirit; and we’re called on to pour ourselves out in ministry and sacrifice and evangelism for the world. At the very end of His earthly ministry, Jesus took the cup at the Last Supper and passed it around saying, “This is my blood which is poured out for you.” While in prison, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians and said, “Even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.” At the very end of his earthly life and ministry, Paul wrote, “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.” The Psalmist said on one occasion, “I am poured out like water.” And Isaiah 53 says that Jesus poured out His soul unto death. Sometimes we grow tired and weary and wonder if we can press on. Sometimes in the Lord’s work, our souls are vexed, our nerves are stained, and our strength is small. But the Bible says, “Pour oil into all the jars.” All around us are empty vessels, and we must be alert to opportunities, even if we must be broken and spilled out. One of the most powerful speakers I’ve ever heard and one of my favorites is Jill Briscoe, who, with her husband Stuart, travel the world for the cause of Christ. It was Stuart who once preached a sermon that changed the direction of my life. Well, in one of her books Jill tells about a time when she and Stuart had just started out as missionaries, and Jill ran terribly low in stamina, patience, and the inner resources for the job. But nearby was a senior missionary’s wife, and one day Jill went to see her and poured out all her frustration. She told her about Stuart’s many extended travels, about his long absences from home, about her worries for the children, about the difficulties of juggling the roles of missionary, wife, and mother. Jill felt a certain amount of resentment as well as confusion and emptiness. The senior missionary wife listened kindly and patiently, and then she firmly directed Jill’s attention to the little pot of oil within her. She had forgotten her greatest resource; she had discounted the work of the Holy Spirit. “You have all that you need within you, Jill,” said this woman, “in the person of the Holy Spirit. You have heavenly help a heartbeat away.” “How does it work?” asked Jill. “It works as you begin to appropriate what you have,” replied the woman. “Go home, shut the door, and spend time with the Lord. Then begin to pour out whatever you have into the empty vessels of your neighbors.” Well, that wasn’t exactly what Jill expected to hear. She was already depleted; how could she empty herself further? She felt she had nothing; how could she give what little she already had away? But she decided to do it. She went home, shut the door, prayed, and asked God to show her where to begin pouring out. “Give me an idea, Lord,” she prayed. Then she got up from her knees, called in a babysitter, and took off to the town center of their town. Now, I need to tell you that Jill has always had a very engaging way with young people, and she went to one of the trouble spots where teenagers like to hang out, and she just started talking to kids. She began to connect with high-risk young people, and she said, “As I began to talk to these beautiful kids, I was able to draw on the limitless power of the Holy Spirit, and as I poured out, He poured in. It was one of the most incredible evenings of my life.” That evening was just the beginning of a long and fruitful ministry of working with young people, and even her children became involved—just like the children in the story in 2 Kings. They watched the oil begin to flow and saw the vessels fill up one by one. Mother and children begin to minister to troubled young people, and they saw kids come off drugs, sign up for Bible studies, and have their lives transformed. In fact, many years ago, I heard Jill describe this period in her life, still amazed at the young lives that were transformed. And Jill now says that the years since have been just one moment after another of pouring herself out for the needs of others, and seeing God multiply the oil until the vessels are filled.[1] Peter told us to always be ready to explain the hope that is within us; and the Christian ministry is one of sharing and giving and working. But as we pour ourselves out… God Himself Provides the Overflow There’s one other final phrase. Look at verse 5: She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. The implication is that she wasn’t just pouring out her oil; God was supernaturally multiplying it, and there was an invisible pipeline that went all the way to heaven. The Holy Spirit was funneling an invisible supply that perfectly matched both the need and the opportunity. This reminds me of the Zechariah’s vision in Zechariah 4, when the prophet saw a lampstand with pipes or channels leading to an great upper-story reservoir, and the message was: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts. The danger, of course, is that if God doesn’t supernaturally supply the oil, we’ll run dry very quickly. No profession in the world is so subject to burnout as Christian ministry. Jeff Nichols showed me an article on this just a week ago. If we try to do God’s work in the power of our own strength and personality, we’ll run dry, burn out, and collapse. The great secret of the Christian ministry is that God Himself provides the overflow. When you read this story of the little pot of oil, you say, “What a lovely little miracle.” The very same thing can be said for whenever we do anything for Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. What a lovely little miracle. As the widow poured from the cruse of oil, the flow of oil kept on coming and coming and coming as God preformed a miracle of multiplication and expansion and kept the oil coming. I’d like to show you two passages in the New Testament that teach us the same truth. Look at John 4:13-14. In the conversation by the well, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life.” Now think about those words. After this service, some of you will go home and drink a glass of water before bedtime. What if, when that water hit your stomach, your stomach turned into a fountain and you became like one of those garden fountains that kept bubbling out water over and over? And then, three chapters later, Jesus said at the Feast of Tabernacles, “On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive.” When we minister in the power of the flesh, we run dry. When we minister in the power of the Spirit, the flow continues on and on and on; because it’s the overflow of the Spirit. Ministry is overflow. And so we send out our sister, Angela Emerick, to pour out her life for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom, depending of God’s infinite supply of the oil of the Holy Spirit. Does the place you’re called to
labor Seem too small and little known? It is great if God is in it, And He’ll not forget His own. Little is much when God is in it! Labor not for wealth or fame. There’s a crown and you can win it, If you go in Jesus’ Name. (Kittle Louise Suffield, c. 1924) Copyright StatementWe grant permission for any edition of The Pocket Paper to be photocopied for use in a local congregation or classroom, provided no more than 1,000 copies are made, the material is distributed free, and the copies include the notice: "Copyright (year) The Donelson Fellowship."For any other use, advance permission must be obtained from The Donelson Fellowship church office. |
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