As we draw to the end of the year, it’s a time to look back and reflect on ourselves; whether we have grown spiritually in the Lord; whether there are areas we are still lacking. This sermon will covers lessons we can learn from the actions of the Shunammite woman so that we can help the church and improve ourselves.

2 Kings 4:8-37
Shunem is a place in Israel in the tribe of Issachar. At that time, the kingdom had already been divided; Issachar belonged in the northern kingdom - Israel. All the kings of Israel were evil and didn’t worship God; they led the people to worship idols. But there were still some individuals who helped in the work of God, such as this Shunammite Woman.

v8 In one verse, a lot of things happened. We see the hospitality of the Shunammite woman. The Bible uses the words ‘persuaded’ and ‘urged’ to describe how she asked Elisha to have some food. In Chinese, the words are even stronger, meaning ‘forcefully detaining’. Inviting Elisha wasn’t a spur of the moment thing; she was very intent on inviting Elisha in. The strong word ‘constrained’ might also imply Elisha had rejected her invitations initially.

She was also described as a notable woman. She was probably wealthy and of well standing in the city. All this didn’t stop her from lowering herself down to convince Elisha. Perhaps she might’ve felt rejected by Elisha and just thought: ok so be it! But all this didn’t stop/dissuade her.

From here we can learn about hospitality. Perhaps this happens less in small churches and more often in large churches. When we see strangers or foreign members coming for service for the first time, nobody goes up to speak to them. Often when the speaker sees someone he thinks has come to church for the first time, he’ll observe whether anyone talks to them. If not, he’ll ask the brother beside him if he knows who it is. If both of them don’t know who the person is, they’d both just observe a bit more to see if anyone goes up to talk to the person. In the end, once in a while, the speaker will muster enough courage to talk to the person. Sadly, most times, no one talks to the person. Sometimes the speaker says to himself: “I’ll speak to the person the next time I see him! But when the next time comes, he feels it somehow becomes even more awkward ”the person has seen me and I’ve seen him and we didn’t talk last time…”

But the Shunammite woman was very sure she wanted to give the food to Elisha. So she thickened her skin to persuade Elisha to eat and eventually, he was. This is something we can learn and it’s very important for the church today. We also need to thicken our skins and speak to strangers and foreign members, especially new foreign members. They may be here for the first time, not knowing anybody in church. When they come to church for a few times and nobody speaks to them, they’ll naturally spend more time with their colleagues (given the amount of time they spend with them). Very often we see such people start to drift away from church, because they don’t feel the love from the church. They feel like strangers in church. Hence it’s very important to catch hold and talk to these new faces as fast as possible. Instead of always thinking there’ll always be an opportunity next time or that someone else will talk to him.

The speaker believes we all want these new faces to feel welcomed too, but often we hope someone else will do it because we feel awkward. We should be like the Shunammite woman to thicken our skin and go up to talk to the person. For us we feel awkward, but it may be even more so for the new faces. They don’t know anybody at all! With so many new faces, they may reject our invitation to stay behind and talk. But we should be like the Shunammite to persuade and forcefully detain them so that the initial barrier of awkwardness can be broken down. She didn’t let the initial rejection turn her away but made more effort to break through to Elisha.

We see that after this invitation, every single time Elisha passed through Shunem, he’d turn into their house to eat some food. Each time he visited them - he Bible doesn’t tell us why he did so, the woman probably told him he could drop by whenever he passes through. If Elisha didn’t feel hospitality and warmth from the house, he would probably not have gone to her house every single time. In fact he might even think twice about passing though Shunem, perhaps wanting to avoid passing though to avoid the house lest he get invited in. The hospitality shown touched Elisha.

This incident also reminds us of Lydia.
Acts 16:13-15
Lydia BEGGED Paul to stay, so much so that Paul was persuaded. Later, Lydia’s house became a place of gathering for the church. This was because, like the Shunammite woman, she lowered herself to invite Paul in. Similarly, when we have taken the first step to speak to the new faces, like Elisha, they’d feel the hospitality and warmth here. They’d be encouraged to come to church and eat of the spiritual food.

Rom 12:10-13
“Be…given to hospitality.”
It is something we should pursue after. It should be our way of life. Let us learn from the Shunammite woman; how she was hospitable and brought warmth to the church.

Matt 10:40-42
Hospitality comes with a reward. The Shunammite woman indeed received a prophet’s reward. She was already of old age and it wasn’t physically possible for her to bear a son, but she managed to because Elijah blessed her. Not only that, we also know that later on her son died and another miraculous thing happened in 2 Kings 8. Elisha specially warned her of a famine that would strike the land, so she could move away. After the famine, she returned home but found out her land had been possessed by other people. She went to the king to appeal for this case. It should’ve been very difficult to appeal to the king immediately, and even after doing so, having the case looked into would probably take a long time too. But at the point she met the king, coincidentally, Gehazi the servant of Elisha happened to be there telling the king some of Elisha’s miracles - Elisha restoring the dead to life. And then he saw the Shunammite woman. He called her out, “This is the woman whose son we revived!” Not only was she able to bring glory to God, she was also able to appeal to the king who immediately appointed an officer who looked into her case and restored her belongings to her. All this couldn’t have happened without God’s blessing. How blessed the Shunammite woman was for being hospitable! God will surely reward us and the church if we show hospitality. We can easily start off by smiling and greeting one another. Do we notice anyone we aren’t familiar with? Let’s go talk to them. If we’re scared, grab our buddies along to talk to them. Instead of nudging the other to go, go together. Don’t only show hospitality to new faces but to everyone.

2 Kings 4:9-10
The Shunammite woman observed a problem - Elisha often passed through Shunem and didn’t have a place to rest from his travels. She thought it would be good that they make a room for the man of God, so he could rest each time he turned in. The room was to be made and dedicated to be for the man of God. Again, this wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. She had thought things through on where to make the room; how to furnish it so Elisha could rest well and feel at home there. So Elisha didn’t need to spend more time trying to find a place to rest. This helped Elisha so he wouldn’t be tired out by his travels. This was helping out in the work of God in a way she could; in her capacity.

From this we can learn how we can help in God’s work too. She took 4 steps:

1. She was observant and noticed Elisha could use a place to rest from his travels.
2. She took initiative to see this was a problem she could do something about. Elisha had not made any requests.
3. She thought of ways on how to deal with this issue.
4. She sought approval from her husband before she proceeded to build the room.

We can employ these techniques to see how we can help in God’s work too.

1. Be observant to notice the gaps in the church
   There’re 3 types of people generally:
   1) They aren’t observant/don’t look at things around them/don’t notice the gaps around them
   2) They observe and see but since the matter doesn’t concern them, they just let it be
   3) They’re observant and take initiative to see what can be improved

Which kind of person are we? The Shunammite woman was the third type. She observed and thought about how to improve the problem.

In Telok Kurau church, there’re many names on the Friday night duty roster, but sometimes there is a lack of people to help with the cleaning. Perhaps because some people aren’t around or aren’t able to stay back that evening. Do we take notice that that group doesn’t have enough people to help? And we join in to help even though it’s not our duty.

Or sometimes when we notice our names are missing from the duty roster (e.g. during Spiritual Meeting), are we relieved or think “eh actually I can help in this work!”

This is just an example. There’re many church work that needs help. If we open our eyes to look out, there’re many gaps in church that need to be improved. We can take the initiative to help out in this work instead of waiting for others.

For example, Telok Kurau church uses a robot vacuum to sweep the church hall now. This has helped the members save time; they just need to mop and don’t need to sweep anymore.

1. Take the initiative + 3. Thinks of ways to deal with an issue
   The Shunammite woman took the initiative to think up a solution. She didn’t just tell her husband, “Elisha always passes by. What can we do?” She taught up how to build and furnish the room.

2. Seek approval
   It was a well thought out plan. She was really doing something good, but she didn’t just go ahead and do it, just because it was a good plan. She still went to seek the permission of her husband who was the head of the house before doing it.

Similarly, everybody has good plans but if everyone goes ahead to execute it without seeking approval, it may be a mess.

We can seek ways to help in God’s work today. We may notice certain things missed out or neglected in church. Do we just complain about it or think about it?

Each of us have different special gifts from God. We can see different aspects of an issue and offer different solutions for it. Then, seek the approval from the church.

Two teachings from the Shunammite woman:

1. Learn to show hospitality (It comes with a great blessing!)
2. Take initiative to look out for the church and not just grumble. Think of solutions for the church