Elisha Series

We're going to read now, and it's 2 Kings chapter 4. Now we've been working our way through 1 and 2 kings, but actually homing in on the prophet Elijah's life and the prophet Elijah's life. We've done Elijah and now we're on to Elijah. And we're learning some of these lessons and there's great little stories and lessons that we've been learning. 1 of the things we've been learning, I just want to encourage you on this.

And you'll see it again and again, actually, is that little people sometimes unnamed people, just servants, do something that change the whole of the atmosphere. Just a servant saying you want to go and listen to the prophet, we'll see it again in chapter 5. We've seen it. In previous stories. Just 1 little servant standing up for God changes the whole thing.

And it's amazing how God shows us that. And I can't say the name of this person, although some of you will know, but there's a there's a there's there's someone here actually writing writing this the front hall. And we praise the Lord for her. She stood up for Christ, and for truth against a whole lot of opposition in her work. And I can't tell you exactly who she who she is and what happened.

Some of you will know. But we praise God for her And and I just think, you know, there she is, a servant and standing up for truth, Who knows? Revival could come from this. So let's be encouraged to keep going on with the Lord. And these stories help us with these things, don't they?

So I I'm I'm thankful. I'm gonna pray before I read. Father, we do thank you for this member of our church that had the courage to stand up against the whole of her firm really, wanting her to do stuff that was not right. And we we are so pleased that your word has been implanted in her and in others that are standing up for truth in very difficult times when there are so many woke things that we have to do, so many in things that we're supposed to agree with. So many words we're supposed to say and put our like to.

And it's hard, but we thank you that when we persevere, and those who are victorious to the end will have the right to eat from the tree of life. We thank you for these truths. We thank you all the way through the history of Christianity. You've used stories like we're reading today. To bless and challenge and create faith in us.

And we pray please as we read this part of the bible and as Tom comes to open it up, you would create faith in us that we would love the lord Jesus more. We would be encouraged to stand firm and be victorious. In a world that wants us to believe all kinds of nonsense. So help us we pray in Jesus' name, amen. We're gonna read then from 2 kings and it's chapter 4 and it's verse 38 to 41.

A fantastic little story. Entitled in the NIV, death in the pot. I mean, that's got me already, isn't it? Death in the pot. Here we go.

Elisha returned to Gil Gal, and there was a famine in that region. While the company of profits was meeting with him, He said to his servant, put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets. 1 of them went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild gourd plant and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew. Though no 1 knew what they were.

The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out Man of God, there is death in the pot and they could not eat it. Elijah said, get some flour. He put it into the pot and said serve it to the people to eat. And there was nothing harmful in the pot. If you like to take a seat and a very warm welcome.

Good morning from me. If you don't know me and you're tuning in online, my name is Tom Sweitman and I'm on the staff team here. And welcome to all who are here and in the back hall. Yeah. They're still paying attention, but perhaps slightly less enthusiasm than they were at the beginning of the service, but that's good to hear you as well.

And as Pete said, we're looking here at 2 Kings chapter 4, and it's been a great joy to follow the Ministry of Elijah and Elijah, and we are going to spend some time thinking about this quaint little story here tucked away at the end of chapter 4. Those of us at the hub had a really nice card through the hub this week, saying that saying how thankful a member in the congregation was that she'd had the opportunity to hear preaching on some of these stories, which which she'd never heard spoken on before and never heard opened up. And those of us who have been, it's actually been our pleasure as well to be teaching these stories and to see what the Lord has for us in his words. So let's bow our heads and let's ask for his help now. Further, we do thank you that this story is part of your living, breathed out word.

We thank you that these little narratives are just as much your word as the more difficult arguments that we might find in some of the letters of the New Testament. That all of it has been preserved by you that this is all here for our encouragement and our instruction and our edification and our rebuke and our correction and our training. This is part of your living word. Which is here to form us into the image of Christ and to help us to see Christ. And so we just pray that you would speak to us.

This morning. We pray that you would help us not just to sit back and be amused at this little story. But that your spirit would teach us what he would have us learn. And we ask that in his name. Oh, men.

Ma'am? Well, given that we're looking at a story this morning about accidental food poisoning, I thought I would actually look up some of the worst cases of food poisoning in in British history, accidental food poisoning, And it makes for quite a harrowing read, I have to say. But the the worst that I found was something called the Bradford sweet poisoning, in 18 58. I don't know if anyone is familiar with the with the Bradford sweet poison. He doesn't look like it.

It basically is about this man who owned a sweet stall in Bradford, and he would go to Bradford market either every day or every week to sell his sweets to the people. And 1 of his most popular items of confectionery was his peppermint humbugs. And in his peppermint humbugs were 3 key ingredients. There was peppermint oil, which gave it the minty flavor, there was this gum, which bound it together, and there was sugar. And because sugar was so expensive in these days, What they would often do is use filler to make up a larger quantity of sweets and to reduce the cost both to them and public, but that was quite common practice.

And 1 of the things that people would regularly put into sweets was powdered gypsum. Which had a which had a slang name, which was Daph in those days. And so they would put this Daph in, which is powdered rock, essentially. Into the into the sweets in order to flesh it out a bit. And on 1 particular day, the owner of the sweet stall sent 1 of his lads who worked on the stall to the pharmacist in order to buy more of this daf because they were due to make some more peppermint humbugs.

But the pharmacist was out of town on this particular day, and he had left 1 of his lads to manage the shop. And so these 2 lads were talking to each other, and he ordered this daf and the the guy in the pharmacist went to the back and instead of picking up the Daph, he accidentally took a a a container of arsenic. And took it back into the shop, and he sold this boy 12 pounds of arsenic instead of instead of death. And so the lad took it back, and as they were making up the Swedes, and on the Wikipedia article, I was reading, it's quite funny because apparently the owner of the Swedes store did think that they looked a bit different, but decided to carry on with the production process, and they sold 5 pounds of these arsenic laced sweets. And 21 people in Bradford died within a very short space of time from arsenic poisoning, and another 200 people were were had severely toxic toxic blood.

And it actually led. It was 1 of the events which led to the production of the pharmacy act. Where people decided I think we really need to start regulating what goes into these things. And so there was a good outcome in the end. But although when we come to this story, and when we look at this story of accidental food poisoning, the results aren't as tragic as they were in 18 58 in Bradford.

They could have been, couldn't they? This this this almost was an incredible tragedy not just in terms of the life that could have been lost, but remember who these people are. These these were the company of the prophets. These were the faithful spokesmen for Yahweh and people think that there could have been up to a hundred of them. Imagine a hundred of Yairway's profits taken out and poisoned because of 1 accidental pot that was served.

So what we have here, although it is quite quaint, it is actually an almost tragedy that if it wasn't for Yahway's good grace, could have been a disaster both for the people and for the word of God in Israel at the time. So what we're gonna do is we're just gonna walk through this story together And we're going to look at it as a as a sort of come dine with me, if you know that program, where the guests arrive, and the meal is served, and the dinner is served, and the entertainment is provided. Ever seen that. We're gonna walk through it like that and see how Yahweh redeems this potentially tragic situation. And in the end, brought glory to himself and preserved his word.

So the first heading this morning is this, the guests arrive. The guests arrive and you can see that in verse 38. Elijah returned to Gilgau, and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets. So we find ourselves again at the beginning of this story in a in a famine.

And when you turn to 2 kings chapter 8 in verse 1, you see that throughout this period of time that we've been looking at, there was a 7 year famine that had come upon the land. We're in the middle of a 7 year famine. And that would have been disastrous for this community. I mean, we live in a day where if you've got a vegetable patch in your garden or in allotment, it's something of a luxury, and it might supplement what you already buy from the supermarket, but no 1 to the best of my knowledge relies on it, or very few people rely on it. But in this day, this is a subsistence culture largely, where people living off the land day to day, hand to mouth just enough for that day, maybe enough for tomorrow.

And so a 7 year famine is disastrous for people. And as we've observed in this series, this may well be part of Yairway's curse upon an idolatrous land. We've seen that haven't we? Sometimes Yairwe expresses his displeasure. He desires to produce repentance by sending natural disasters, famines, and droughts, in order to wake the people up to their sin, show them their problem and bring them back to him.

So we may well be in the middle of this 7 year curse. And what we discover at the beginning is that these prophets, the company of the prophets, has gathered before Elijah. It's interesting to know, isn't it? And we saw this last week as well and in a few other sermons. That God's people are not immune from the effects of the curse that come upon the land.

It's not that Yairway evacuates them all before these things come. They they taste the hardships. They feel the effects of the curse. And yet the lord cares for them and looks after them even in the midst of that. And so these prophets would no doubt have been feeling it just as much as everybody else.

And so you can imagine them gathered before Elijah, looking haggard and weak and thin and weary, and yet they've gathered together at the foot of the prophet and they're ready to be taught by him. And it looks like Elijah does have that that kind of teaching ministry with these prophets. So he's not just there as 1 of them, so to speak, although he is. He's actually their educator. He's teaching them in the prophetic tradition.

He's helping them to understand the word of God. He's training them in the ministry of the word of God. And he's occupying that kind of teacher, teacher role. But you can see that he considers himself more than just a teacher He also wants to look after them physically. So 1 writer says, he doesn't just break bread for the soul, he wants to break bread for the tummy as well.

And so, he tries to organize this this stew, or as the old translations have it, this potage, this big potage, so that he can feed the prophets both spiritually and physically. And to do that, he sends out 1 of his servants in order to prepare a meal. So first heading, the guests arrive. Second heading, the meal is prepared. The meal is prepared.

Have a look at verse 39. 1 of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild gourd plant and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew. So here is this servant, and he's gone out into the fields in order to try to find a meal for the prophets. And to the best I mean, it looks like he's expecting just produce a kind of herb water.

You know, he goes out to gather herb, so he was hoping for this sort of tepid herb water, which I don't think would have gone very far. But then, he finds this vine, this wild gourd plant, and he picks as many of it as these garments can hold. And so, I guess this servant couldn't believe his luck. You know, he's going out looking to clip a few herbs off and he finds these gourds Now, these were kind of the size of a of a melon or a large apple. And he's found them all on this plant, and you can imagine him thinking, Gosh, my luck's in today, and he's lopping these gourds off the plant, and he's trying to fill as much of his garment as he can.

And so you can picture him in your mind's eye, can't you? With 1 edge of the garment here and 1 here, and he's sort of waddling back to the profits with his garment full of gourds, balancing a few on his head, some in each pocket, trying to get as many as he can back to the profits. It reminded me of those times when Aldi decides to do a special discount on its baby product. And the already cheap nappies and wipes and cotton pads are discounted further. And you see parents in there with the most cavernous trolleys that they can get, just sweeping the stuff off the shelves into their trolleys.

With piles of discounted nappies and wipes and trying to get them all through those narrow tills. I bet that's what he was like. He couldn't believe his luck. And so he gets back to his his pop up kitchen, and you can imagine him dicing up the gourds or shredding them down a bit, and then he throws them into the pot And what good news this is? Because instead of herb water, this thing has now got substance, it's got body, it's got tech texture, it's going to fill the stomach, it's going to look after these prophets, and everything's going to be alright.

But then we find this curious little phrase at the end of verse verse 39, and it says, though no 1 knew what they were, No 1 knew what they were. And that's a plural verb, which basically just refers to everybody there. So the prophets who were waiting for their meal, they didn't know what had been put in the pot. The man who had gone out and chopped the gourds and cut them up and put them in, He didn't know what was about to happen to the stew. They did not know it.

And just as a general principle, It is always it's always a worry when your cook doesn't know what's it is stew, isn't it? It's 1 of the reasons in more normal times when we bought slow cookers here to serve at church lunch. You might remember we had to put the ingredients and the allergies on a list. If a member of your home group bought a stew and you said fantastic, what's in it? You know, I don't know, actually.

I don't really know. It would be hard to serve it with a clear conscience, wouldn't it? You know? It's always good to know. 1 1 old puritan writer says of these prophets, they knew well their bibles, but not their herbals.

They didn't know their herbals. They weren't trained in herbs and vegetables. So no 1 knew what was about to happen to this to this potage So the guests arrive, the meal is prepared thirdly, the stew is served. The stew is served. Have a look at verse 40.

The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out Man of God, there is death in the pot, and they could not eat it. So you can imagine the anticipation. As all their bowls come out, and the servant is ladling out a portion for each 1, and their lips are smacking and they can smell, maybe it smells okay? They can smell the stew, but then 1 by 1 as they begin to taste it, 1 of them screams out, 1 of them belches, 1 of them wretches, 1 of them bends over in 2, 1 of them falls over backwards, and 1 after 1, man of God, there is death in this pot. There is death in the pot.

And the reason is because these gourds are apparently extremely bitter, very, very bitter. They're like they're similar to what we have today called bitter melons. If you've ever I think they're not used too much here, but in some cuisines, they used quite a lot. These bitter melons, and they're just extremely bitter. But also, when they were in this kind of quantity, they would act as a as a quite a strong laxative, apparently, which which really is the last thing you want in a famine.

If you've got nothing going in here, you don't then want everything going out there as well. Okay? So a a bitter, strong laxative is a disaster. For this prophetic community. But it it seems to be worse than just the flavor.

There is something deathly and toxic about this. My dad used to be a food inspector in Bristol in the 19 seventies, and he would go around visiting restaurants and making sure they complied with health and safety dislation. And I rang him up this week because I was looking at a passage about food poisoning to ask him what was the worst case of food poisoning that he ever encountered. And he told me about a time where a catering firm had hired another catering firm to cook their Christmas meal for them. So I don't know if this was a rival firm or not, but They were cooking their Christmas meal, and they were having chicken as their main course.

And 8 80 members of the catering company came down with salmonella food poisoning the next day, 80 80 of them through 1 meal. And as I say, I don't know if that was a rival firm trying to put them out of business or something, but It's a pretty it's the worst 1 he ever saw. And the the bad thing about that type of food poisoning is you don't know until it's too late. But here, as soon as they tasted it, they knew something was up. And as I say, this is about more than flavor, there seems to be something deathly about this pot.

You might remember a couple of weeks ago, we looked at 1 of Elijah's first miracles where he went to Gerico And the people of Gerico came to him, and they said, man of God, the water is bad here. And again, what they meant by that was not just that it tasted bad. But that it was having a kind of deathly effect upon the population. Do you remember the word was to miscarry the water was causing the land to miscarry. It was bringing a kind of death both to their crops and to their people.

It was a deathly thing in the water. And the same sort of thing seems to be true here. Man of God, they say, there is not just bad flavoring in this pot, not just bitterness, there is death in this pot. So as I say, this has all the makings of 1 of the worst food poisonings ever. 1 of the makings of a of a of a great tragedy.

So the stew is served fourthly, though, the dinner is saved. The dinner is saved. Have a look at what Elijah says in verse 41. Elijah said, get some flour. He put it into the pot, and said, serve it to the people to eat, and there was nothing harmful or the word can be evil.

There was nothing harmful or evil. In the pot. Now just to go back to that story in Gerico again, you might remember how Elijah and the Lord solved problem. Elijah said bring me a new bowl of salt, and then he takes the salt and throws it into the water and the water becomes pure and life giving again. And we saw that salt in the old testament had quite a few links with other important things.

So it reminded us of God's covenant and God's faithfulness, the salt of the covenant was put into the unfaithful waters and it was made good again. And with this flour, something very similar is going on, get some flour put it into the pot, serve it to the people, nothing harmful. But in this case, it is quite hard to know what the flower is all about and what the significance of it is. Pete's working theory on this, which I think is quite a good 1. Is that up until this point, the stew was gluten free.

And with the addition of gluten, it became good again, which I think factually is true, isn't it? But I don't know what the application of that is, I can guess what the application of it is, but I'm not gonna sort of stop short of making it here. But, you know, that's seems, you know, those details are right, aren't they? But it is hard to know what this I mean, flour was wholesome, it was a wholesome thing, it was a thickening thing, but why particularly Flower made the stew whole. I'm not I'm not too sure.

But I really like the way 1 writer describes these signs of the salt and the flour. And he says it's best to imagine them as peg on which to hang the memory of God's works. They're like pegs on which to hang the memory of his work. So you've got a washing line in the garden, and each peg is a sign, 1 of these signs, and you can hang the memory of Yahweh's work on each peg. I think that is what they're about.

It might be 1 of the reasons that Jesus used signs his ministry, you might remember that time where he spat into the mud and made a bit of a paste, and he put it on the person's eye, and then it was wiped away, and they could see again. There's sort of a visible sign to accompany Yairway's healing work. And that's why you can imagine in generations to come when these stories were being told. You can imagine them saying, do you remember that time when there was only a hundred prophets left? And they gathered together and they were on their last legs.

And that servant went out and he tried to make them a meal. And what was it he threw in Oh, it was those bitter gourds, yeah, night may, sent half of them off to A and E, half of them off to a Portelou. It was it was a disaster, wasn't it? And then what was it that Elijah threw in? Oh, it was the flower.

It was the flower, wasn't it? Handful of flower and Yahweh rescued the whole situation. It's like a little memory peg. In order to hang, hang God's works. That seems to be how they're functioning here.

And so that really is the end of this little story. There's not a whole lot more detail to give. Yairway has stepped in and redeems this deathly tragic situation preserved his people, preserved his words, and it's a remarkable miracle, really. And so when it comes to thinking now about some of the applications of this little story. There are 5 takeaway points.

We've been to the come dine with me meal, And let's imagine we've got a doggy bag, and there are 5 there are 5 takeaways to take away with us. And the first 1 the first 1 is this. When we do come back together as a church, and we are able to all eat together again. Don't let this discourage you from bringing a slow cooker. This story.

Okay? Do still use the 1 pot. We need you know, we're gonna be a hungry church when we come out of lockdown, and we're gonna need a lot of 1 pot stews But do be sure to know what's gone in it, I think, just for the sake of everybody else. That's the first thing. Secondly, and seriously, What we are seeing in these stories time and time again is Yairway stepping in in order to overturn the curse of death and to bring life.

We saw that last week, didn't we? With the Schumerite's son, We saw it with the waters of Gerico. Time and time again, we are seeing the lord bringing about a great reversal. That where there is death and hopelessness, he is stepping in and bringing life and resurrection. And so although in some ways, this story is less impressive than the 1 we saw last week, it is still pointing us to that same reality, isn't it?

That Yahweh is redeeming the curse of death bringing life and saving his people. And it's that great reversal, that great redemption which is at the heart of the Gospel story, isn't it? It's amazing how these few verses in 2 Kings 4 are anticipating the work of Christ the work that Christ would do in his death and resurrection, because we know the Lord Jesus Christ. When he came into this world, he came in order to die for the world, to die for our sins. And on the cross, he didn't only take our sins.

He took the wages of our sin, which is death, he literally went through death and hell itself on that cross, and the stone was rolled over the mouth of his tomb But 3 days later, it was overturned. He overturned the curse of death and rose in resurrection and set the pattern of things to come for all of his people. He has overturned the curse of death and brought life just as is anticipated here. In a quaint little story about a stew that went wrong. It points us to the great reversal at the heart of the gospel that Jesus brings life out of death.

And for every Christian here, that is the story of our of our lives, isn't it? That is the story of our baptism. It's why baptism is such a wonderful, wonderful thing. We can't wait to get back to baptisms. Because in the baptism, we see a sign on which to hang the memory of God's work, don't we?

We see a person who has died with Christ and has gone down into the waters of death and has been raised up in resurrection to begin a new life. And in that little scene, we see the reversal at the heart of this story, that Yahweh brings life out of death in the gospel and in the hearts of every 1 of his people. There is that redemption at the heart of our lives. And then it points forward, doesn't it? To the great day of resurrection when Jesus Christ will return.

When the Lord Jesus will come back, and death will be dead, and sin will be done forever, and we will live with him in a glorious eternal life. In 1 corinthians 15, I did put this, I did put it up, but I can't see it here. Oh, there we go. It says, when the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true, death has been swallowed up in victory, where o death is your victory, where o death is your sting, The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It would be so wonderful to sing that, won't it? On the day of resurrection, where o death is your victory, where o grade is your sting, Christ has given the victory, And that great reversal is right here at the heart of this little tale about a stew in the middle of the old testament. That's the second takeaway. The third takeaway is that what we see here spells a kind of new relationship with creation. So there is a time coming when Jesus Christ returns to bring about a new creation where the thorns and the thistles of Genesis 3 will be gone.

Where all that is poisonous and noxious in the world, and harmful in the world will be gone, and we will live in perfect peace with each other, with our Savior, and with the new creation that he's making. And just think about that because in many ways, the coronavirus is partly because there is still a jarring between us and the natural world, isn't there? You know, the most common theory is that bats, you know, pooed somewhere, some animal came and ate it, the animal goes to market, and then a pandemic, a deadly pandemic sweeps the world, affects the church. And that in some ways shows us, yeah, that there still is this This tension, this death between us and the creation, which we see here. There's something harmful and deathly in the world that could spell the end of the ministry, but actually 1 day as we sing at Christmas, no more let sins and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground, Christ comes to make his blessings flow as far as the curse is found.

1 day he's gonna come and all the cursed creation of Genesis 3 will be undone, and the world will be remade, and there will be nothing harmful or poisonous in the world to to spoil God's people again. There's a wonderful anticipation of that here in this story. Fourthly, and this is you know, 1 for more as individuals if you like. I think this story shows us the Lord's amazing power to redeem the work of servants. Not only does he redeem the stew, he redeems the work of his servant.

And that is encouraging, isn't it? Because I I guess this guy was well intentioned and he thought and wanted to do the right thing, but halfway through the story, I bet he wished he'd stayed in bed that morning. What had he done? You know? He tried his best He'd gone out there to try to serve the Lord's people in the best way that he could and he nearly wiped them all out.

They nearly went extinct as a result of his service. That's discouraging, isn't it? And yet actually the lord redeems the work of this servant. I remember when I first became a Christian, I was doing a 1 to 1 with a chap. It's 1 of the first 1 to ones I ever did.

And he was a fellow uni student who had who had quite a problem with drinking, and he would be going out quite regularly, and would would be hung over when he came to church and to our 1 to ones. And I remember as a young Christian, just just just sort of going for that issue all the time with him, you know, about his drink and trying to help him with his drink. And but not really taking the time to actually teach him teach him the gospel and to see whether he understood who Christ was before the life that followed was talked about. And as best as I can remember, that was a well intentioned meeting. But when I looked back on it, it was a bit of a mess from my perspective.

And the way I tried to help him. And yet the lord is so kind to us, isn't he? He redeems the failing work of his servants. He comes and he, you know, he cushions our failures, and he neutralizes our stupidity, and he takes that which we do in ignorance, and error, and sin, and he still chooses to use us and to redeem us. And so it might be that you can remember a person that you've tried to invest in, you've prayed for, you've taught them the bible, you've wanted them to follow Christ, and for whatever reason they've turned on the church and turned on you.

It might be you can think of a neighbor or a family member who you've prayed for and tried to witness to, And eventually, they've just said, I don't want to know. And then you think, Lord, you know, has my labor been in vain? You know, should I have just stayed in bed? Have I made things worse with my with my failure? But actually, this story says no, the Lord uses us despite all of that, he redeems our failing efforts and he can make them good for the glory of his name and for the church.

It's interesting at the end of 1 Corinthians 15. If we put the same chapter, but a verse later, Paul says this. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the lord because you know that your labor in the lord is not in vain.

Now, he can only say that because Christ has redeemed the curse of sin. Christ has brought life out of death, And because Christ has won the great victory, each 1 of his servants can know that the labor for the Lord is not in vain. Despite us, he still uses us for his glory. So a little encouragement just from this servant. And then lastly, as a bit more of a challenging application.

We can see this pot of stew as a metaphor for the Christian life. And I really don't think it's over spiritualizing it to say that because when you read lots of old commentators and preachers, That is exactly how they took it. They took this pot of stew to be a metaphor for our lives. And it is worth asking this morning, isn't it? Whether there is something in the stew pot of our Christian life, which is souring the whole thing.

Whether there is some bitter ingredient within us, that is spoiling the whole experience. It could be something wrong that we've started to believe. Look what Paul says to the Galatians in Galatians chapter 5, a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough. Now, he's talking to a church there, but it can be true of individuals as well. If we start to believe something wrong about Christ, we start to believe a false doctrine about his church, or how we should relate to his church.

We believe something, and we notice that the rest of our Christian life begins to be spoiled. It goes sour and bitter. Why? Because there's a death doctrine in the pot, we started to believe something that is wrong and it's spoiling the stew. It could be a lifestyle thing.

Here's what Peter says in his letter, husbands, in the same way, considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect as the weaker partner. And as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. You see how that can be death in the pot? Here is a husband who is trying to enjoy communion with Christ. He's trying to read his bible and pray, but his prayers are hindered.

His communion with His Christ is hindered Why? Because there is death in the pot, what is it? He isn't treating his wife well. He's being brutish to his wife. And therefore, he cannot enjoy his lord.

There is death in the pot and his Christian life is spoiled. It could be something that we stare at on the computer that we know we shouldn't. And we find that we can no longer sing with the same joy We find reading God's word hard. We begin to disconnect from God's church. Why?

Because there is something deadly in the pot which is spoiling the life, or it could be bitterness itself. The surest way to spoil a Christian life is bitterness, a bitter root in the pot. Some bit of unforgiveness, a refusal to give mercy, playing with a grudge, a desire for revenge. And so no wonder we begin to lose our joy. In the Christian life.

No wonder we become harsh and over critical of other people. No wonder we feel unwilling to read and to pray and to serve God's people. Why? Because there's a bitter root in the pot and it spoils the broth? And so this is a chance for us to say, brothers and sisters, could it be that there is death in the pot?

Because if so, there is such good news in this passage. Because this passage shows us that God can make that good again, and that all it takes is a handful of flour. The flower of the gospel, that Jesus still loves you, that he died for you, that he rose for you, that it's not about what you do, it's about what he does, that he's made you clean, he's made you wholesome in the gospel. He wants to bring the flower of the gospel to get every bitter root out and to make you good again and to redeem you again. And so if that does ring true of you, then come back to your Jesus today.

Let the flower of the gospel make the cauldron of your life good again so that you can know the joy of serving him. So quite a short little story. The 5 takeaways for our doggy bag. Don't abandon the slow cooker. Know that God brings life out of death, a new creation is coming, our failing works are redeemed, and he can make us good if there is death in the pot.

Let's take a moment to just think through some of those applications Think about the 1 perhaps which the Lord has particularly laid on your heart through his word this morning, and then I'll lead us in a prayer. Heavenly father, we do thank you for this amazing story, and we thank you for your readiness to turn potentially, deathly tragic situations into life giving hopeful situations. We thank you that in this story, you came, and this is not this is not just a magic story of putting the right thing in the pot, giving it a stir and making good again. This is you. You did this.

You redeemed this whole situation. And, lord, we thank you for what it means for that it points us to the life giving work of Jesus Christ. It points us to a wonderful new creation where nothing harmful will exist in that new world. It shows us that despite our failures and our ignorance, and even though we're so well intentioned sometimes, we just we just make loads of mistakes trying to serve you. And yet, you still love us, you use us, you redeem our failures, you won't allow us to derail your great work in this world.

In fact, you invite us to keep serving you. And we thank you for that, lord. And we just pray that you'd help each 1 of us to examine ourselves to see if there is some kind of deathly ingredient in our hearts that is spoiling a lot. And we pray that we would just be honest about that before you. We would bring it to you.

And let the flower of Jesus make us good again. We thank you for your your graciousness and your willingness to redeem us time and time again. In Jesus' name. Amen.