Click here for more Mother’s Day Sermons.
Click here to return to the Sermons page.
Click here for Famous Mothers in the Bible Series

Note: If you found this sermon series helpful, would you consider purchasing it as an ebook or print book? Thank you! Click the image to view on Amazon.

Click here for more books in the Understanding God’s Word series.

—————–

1 Kings 17:7-24

INTRODUCTION: Our message series is called Famous Mothers in the Bible. Each year around Mother’s Day we take a look at one or two famous mothers in the Bible to see what principles we can learn from their lives and experiences. So, even though the series is about mothers, the messages are for everyone, because we can all take these principles and apply them to our lives. Today we will look at the widow of Zarephath who serves as an example of the hospitable mother. (Read 1 Kings 17:7-9 and pray.)

—————————–

This week’s mother and next week’s mother (the Shunammite woman – 2 Kings 4:8-37) form a pair. Both mothers are unnamed in Scripture. One is wealthy, the other is poor. One has a son but no husband, the other has a husband but no son. The first mother is visited by the prophet Elijah, the second by Elijah’s successor, Elisha. Both mothers receive gracious miracles of provision performed for them by God through these prophets. Both mothers have a greater miracle performed when their sons die and are raised to life again. Both mothers are referenced as women of faith in Hebrews 11, the great chapter of faith. Hebrews 11:35 says: “[Through faith,] women received back their dead, raised to life again” (Hebrews 11:35).

God’s miracle for these two mothers anticipates Jesus’ miracle in the New Testament when he raised the widow of Nain’s son from the dead (Luke 7:11-17). Jesus also used today’s story in his teaching as an illustration to the Jews of how God’s grace extends to the Gentiles (Luke 4:16-30). And so, both these mothers and their stories figure prominently in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Today we are looking at the widow of Zarephath and her example of hospitality. And you know what? Some of you are old pros at this. Some of you are really gifted in this area. You love doing hospitality, so this is going to be an easy message for you. But there are others of us who struggle with hospitality. We’re not so good at it. Perhaps some of us have never even done hospitality before. And so, this is a message some of us need to hear today because we need to grow in this area. God calls us to offer hospitality to others, and we will look at four important biblical principles of hospitality we find illustrated in her story.

I. Hospitality is God-directed and God-ordained (7-9)

Our first principle this morning is that hospitality is God-directed and God-ordained. We see this in verses 7-9:

Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.” (1 Kings 17:7-9)

   A. Hospitality is an important way that God provides for needs (7)
      – Romans 12:13

Hospitality is an important way that God provides for needs. Romans 12:13 tells us: “Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” (Romans 12:13) God had been providing directly for Elijah’s need for food and water through the ravens and brook at the Kerith Ravine. But now that the brook had dried up, God was going to provide for his needs through the indirect means of hospitality rather than the direct means of the brook and the ravens.

   B. God may be sending someone specifically your way (8-9)
      – Hebrews 13:2; Matthew 25:34-40

And so, God instructs Elijah to go to Zarephath where he has commanded a widow to supply him with food. I’m sure that was news to the widow. We have no record that God specifically told her to provide for Elijah, but God in his sovereignty was working out the details, and what God commands in the heavens happens on earth.

God sending Elijah to the widow at Zarephath tells you something else about hospitality. God may be sending someone specifically your way. Hebrews 13:2 tells us: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2) What looks like a random opportunity for hospitality may be a divine appointment from God.

And then of course, we need to remember that when you offer hospitality to someone in need, you are also ministering to Jesus. When Jesus told the parable of the sheep and the goats, he described the righteous in terms of their hospitality. We read Jesus’ words in Matthew 25: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’” (Matthew 25:35-36) And then the righteous will all ask him, “When, Lord? When did we do all these things?” And Jesus will reply: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40)

Now, we can’t always offer hospitality to all people. We may have family plans that preclude or conflicting obligations. But we should always desire to offer hospitality. We should always be looking for those opportunities. And as Christians when it comes to hospitality, our default position should always be “yes” rather than “no” – to provide for others when we can rather than not to provide.

So, that’s our first principle of hospitality this morning. Hospitality is God-directed and God-ordained. It is an important way that God provides for needs, and God may be sending someone specifically your way.

II. Hospitality can be spontaneous and simple (10-12)

Our second principle is that hospitality can be spontaneous and simple. We see this in verses 10-12:

So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread – only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it – and die.” (1 Kings 17:10-12)

So, Elijah goes to Zarephath. Zarephath was Gentile territory. Not only that, it was close to Sidon which was Jezebel’s hometown. Jezebel was married to King Ahab, and Ahab was searching for Elijah to kill him, so this was also enemy territory.

God sends Elijah to a poor widow deep in the heart of enemy territory to take care of his needs. You might wonder, why didn’t God send Elijah to someone who was wealthier and could really provide for his needs? Well, God has his reasons, and part of his reason here is that he is going to bless this woman and her son through their hospitality.

But I believe another reason is that God wants to show us that hospitality doesn’t have to be rich or fancy. Yes, there are times you will want to plan ahead, clean the house for company, pull out the fine china and make things extra special for your guests. But oftentimes hospitality can be spontaneous and simple as well.

   A. Sometimes a cup of water is all that is needed (10)
      – Matthew 10:42

We see this when Elijah arrives at Zarephath and finds the woman there gathering sticks. Tired and thirsty from his journey, he asks her for a drink of water. And she goes to get it. It reminds us of Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:42: “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42) That’s how simple hospitality can be. Sometimes a cup of water is all this is needed.

   B. You can’t share what you don’t have, but you can share what you do have (11-12)
      – Acts 3:6; 2 Corinthians 8:12

As she goes to get the water, he also asks her for a piece of bread. The woman replies that she doesn’t have any bread – only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug.

This leads us to another element of simple hospitality. You can’t share what you don’t have, but you can share what you do have. As Peter said to the beggar in Acts 3:6: “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” (Acts 3:6) You may not have much of anything else, but you can always give them Jesus. We find this same principle of giving in 2 Corinthians 8:12: “For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.” (2 Corinthians 8:12)

So, that’s our second principle this morning: hospitality can be spontaneous and simple. This woman didn’t have a lot. The whole reason she was gathering sticks was to go home to make a final meal for herself and her son before they died of hunger – which leads us to our next principle.

III. Hospitality requires sacrifice and faith (13-16)

Our third principle this morning is that hospitality requires sacrifice and faith.

   A. Seek God’s kingdom first (13-14)
      – Matthew 6:33

As believers we are called to seek God’s kingdom first, and we see the widow at Zarephath do this when she takes care of Elijah’s needs before her own. Look at verses 13-14 with me now:

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.’” (1 Kings 17:13-14)

Elijah tells her to take care of his needs first and then she can take care of herself and her son. He puts this demand in the context of a miraculous promise from God: “The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.”

This will require both sacrifice and faith. Giving Elijah his portion first is a huge sacrifice. Her son is starving to death, and she’s going to feed Elijah first? That is a huge sacrifice. And yet God has promised to multiply her flour and oil if she does so. That will require faith. Notice that Elijah tells her, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says.” Remember, she is a Gentile. This is Elijah’s God, not hers. Will she as a Gentile put her faith in the God of Israel?

Jesus says to us in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33) One of the ways we seek God’s kingdom first is by providing hospitality for others. And just as God promised the widow, he has promised us that he will take care of our needs when we do.

   B. Trust God’s promise to provide (15-16)
      – Matthew 6:33

And so, we not only need to seek God’s kingdom first. We need to trust God’s promise to provide. And that’s exactly what the widow does next. Look at verses 15-16:

She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah. (1 Kings 17:15-16)

Do you know how much faith it took for this woman to take care of Elijah first before herself and her own son? I like the way Ray Pritchard describes it in his book on Elijah: “When the barrel is full of oil, you don’t need faith because you’ve got all the oil you need. Faith comes in when you are almost out and you don’t know how you’re going … to fill it up again. That’s when you find out how much faith you have.” (Ray Pritchard; Fire and Rain: the Wild-Hearted Faith of Elijah; p. 73)

Hospitality requires sacrifice and faith. Hospitality is not always convenient. It sometimes interferes or infringes on your plans. As we said earlier, we can’t always sacrifice family plans for hospitality, but if we are never willing to sacrifice family for hospitality, perhaps family is becoming an idol in our lives that we need to dethrone.

Hospitality is not always financially feasible. We may feel that we can’t really afford to provide hospitality for someone else. But as Christians we are called to sacrifice and trust in God’s promises. As Jesus said in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33) That’s our third principle this morning. Hospitality requires sacrifice and faith.

IV. Hospitality yields unexpected blessings (17-24)

And that brings us to our fourth principle this morning: hospitality yields unexpected blessings. We see this when the widow’s son dies and God answers Elijah’s prayer to restore him to life.

   A. We don’t deserve God’s blessings (17-18)
      – Luke 17:7-10

Now, we need to be careful with this principle. We need to be careful that we don’t view it in terms of earning God’s blessings by our good works of hospitality. The Bible makes it clear that we don’t deserve God’s blessings. We see this in our passage today in verses 17-18:

Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” (1 Kings 17:17-18)

Notice the woman doesn’t try to claim any entitlement from Elijah or God because she has offered hospitality. She doesn’t say, “I did this, God, so now you need to do that.” No, she confesses that she is a sinner and doesn’t deserve God’s blessing. Yes, she has provided hospitality for Elijah, but she knows that does not cancel out her sin. We are not told what her sin was, but she knew her sin and she knew it well. She even wondered if her sin had something to do with her son growing ill and dying.

We should never take the attitude that we deserve God’s blessings. Jesus told the following parable in Luke 17: “Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Luke 17:7-10)

So that’s our first caution that comes with this principle that hospitality yields unexpected blessings. We need to remember that we don’t deserve God’s blessings.

   B. You won’t always understand God’s ways (19-21)
      – Proverbs 3:5-6

A second caution is to remember that you won’t always understand God’s ways. Look at verses
19-21:

“Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” (1 Kings 17:19-21)

Both the woman and Elijah are confused why God has allowed the boy to die. The woman thinks it is because of her sin. By the way, don’t ever play that game with yourself. Something bad happens in your life and you immediately think God is punishing you for some specific sin that you did. That’s the mistake Job’s friends made with Job in the Bible. We rarely know the reasons why things happen, and we just need to trust God in the midst of our trials.

So, the woman doesn’t understand why this has happened. Elijah doesn’t understand either. Here God has been providing miraculously for them with the flour and the oil, and now the boy dies anyways? It doesn’t make any sense. He takes the boy and lays him on his own bed and cries out for God to restore his life to him.

Sometimes things get worse before they get better. Perhaps God is testing you. Perhaps God is strengthening your faith. We don’t always understand God’s ways, but you can always trust God’s character. Proverbs 3:5-6 says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Verse 21 leaves us hanging. At this point we don’t know if God will heal this woman’s son. We don’t know, the woman doesn’t know, not even Elijah knows. Because God doesn’t always say yes. Sometimes he says no, and we don’t understand why. But you need to trust that God has his reasons, and please know this: If God’s “no” to your prayer is breaking your heart, it is breaking his heart also.

   C. Yet, God in his grace has promised to reward your hospitality (22-24)
      – Proverbs 11:25; Hebrews 6:10

We don’t deserve God’s blessings. You won’t always understand God’s ways. Yet, God in his grace has promised to reward your hospitality. It may not be in the way that you hope or expect. It may not be in this life. You may need to wait until heaven to collect your reward. We don’t deserve it. You can’t claim it on the basis of your own merits. Yet, God in his grace has promised to reward your hospitality.

And oh, how richly he rewarded the widow of Zarephath’s hospitality to Elijah. Look at verses 22-24:

The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.” (1 Kings 17:22-24)

Talk about unexpected: this is the first time recorded in Scripture that anyone has ever been raised from the dead! This was not only unexpected; it was unprecedented!

Imagine if this woman had said no when Elijah first asked her for that drink of water. It all would have ended there. It would have closed off everything else that followed. Imagine if she had refused when he asked her to feed him before feeding herself or her son. Imagine if she had not taken him into her home. If the widow had not provided hospitality for Elijah, Elijah would not have been there to pray for her son. There would have been no joyful resurrection. And this Gentile woman would have missed out on this amazing opportunity to learn about the God of Israel and his power and the power of his word.

Proverbs 11:25 says: “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” (Proverbs 11:25) Hebrews 6:10 says: “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” (Hebrews 6:10) We don’t deserve God’s blessings. You won’t always understand God’s ways. Yet, God in his grace has promised to reward your hospitality. That’s our fourth principle this morning: hospitality yields unexpected blessings.

CONCLUSION: Moms, dads, singles, working families and retired – how are you doing in this whole area of hospitality? Do you understand that hospitality is God-directed and ordained? Do you see how hospitality can be spontaneous and simple? Yes, hospitality requires sacrifice and faith, but it also yields unexpected blessings. We don’t deserve God’s blessings, yet God in his grace has promised to reward your hospitality.

When we offer hospitality to others, we also imitate God. God is the great giver of hospitality. Through Jesus God welcomes us into his family and forever home. God has been gracious to us, and so we need to be gracious to others.

You can’t outgive God, although it’s fun to try! The widow of Zarephath had nothing but gave everything and received everything that mattered back in return. What an example to us as we seek to be faithful to God and others through gracious acts of hospitality that meet people’s needs and reflect God’s great love to us.

© Ray Fowler

You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this message provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and that you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For any web postings, please link to the sermon directly at this website.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copies:
By Ray Fowler. © Ray Fowler. Website: https://www.rayfowler.org

Click here for more Mother’s Day Sermons.
Click here to return to the Sermons page.
Click here for Famous Mothers in the Bible Series