Beyond 10

10 min read

9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” 
“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.
10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”
— 2 Kings 2:9-10

Who knows that the life of Elijah was really like. But we know that he was constantly on the move as a servant of God. And he wore a garment of camel hair.. He knew that God was going to take him away from the earth soon, but what could he possible leave behind for Elisha?

From a worldly sense, Elijah had nothing to give. And yet, the inheritance that Elijah had that he could leave for Elisha was much more valuable. It was the experience and wisdom that he had as a servant of God—both his victories and failures.

The wisdom gained through the failures may actually be more important. The problem with victories is that our sinful nature tends to assume one of two things about them.

First, we might assume that our victories are the result of God’s favor upon me, myself, and I. In other words, we assume that God is rewarding us for being righteous and holy. In a sense, and to a certain degree, that may be true—but not on account of me, myself, and I.

The Bible does contain language about God’s favor being on certain individuals. But God’s favor is richer and more complex than a straightforward tit-for-tat.

Of course, faithfulness (our actions resulting from being full of faith) matters. Our faithfulness matters because when we walk in faith, we will be found to be abiding in the kingdom of God—that is, in Christ. Faithfulness is what it means to abide in the kingdom of God.

But even when we are walking faithfully in the kingdom of God, bad things can happen to us. We might think that those bad things are the result of our own personal failures, and in truth they may be the result of poor decisions. But more than anything, those bad things are the result of living in a broken world..

Second, we might assume the our victories are the result of our own personal abilities—our own personal skill, smarts, strength, education, wealth, good grooming, common sense, whatever. In fact, this second assumption may be more prevalent among Christians than the first.

We may achieve a certain degree of success on human terms based on the common grace that God has given to nonbelievers and believers alike. But personal success on human terms has absolutely nothing to do with the kingdom of God.

So when it comes to our walk of faith, the reason that our failures are more important than our victories is that our failures help us to evaluate the nature of our victories better.

In other words, in terms of personal experience, there may be a lot of commonality between our victories and our failures. But the differences may help to reveal why God allowed the victories.

Sorry. I know that I am being abstract, and none of this may make much sense.

More concretely with respect to my own victories and failures, I was so moved by the demonstration of love for our ten-year anniversary at GCC. But as I mentioned on Sunday, the video commemorating the event reminded me that I need to evaluate my “victories” side-by-side with my “failures.”

My victories are the brothers and sisters who are with us now, especially those few brothers and sisters who have been with us from the start. We are all here together according to God’s sovereign grace and because of our response to the grace of God in our lives.

For me personally, it is only my response of faithfulness to God’s sovereign grace that I claim as a contributing factor to these victories. Because it is through faithfulness that I find myself abiding in the kingdom of God. Yet I understand that it is God’s sovereign grace that is the controlling factor. God’s sovereign grace is primary.

The failures are the brothers and sisters who left because of my lack of pastoral wisdom. Of course, some of those brothers and sisters left because of God’s sovereign grace too.

And so, how can I tell the difference? Well, did they leave with a spirit of love or a spirit of bitterness?

It is through those “failures” of people who left that I should evaluate the “victories” of people who are here.

I remember during the days of “Black Lives Matter,” I took the opportunity to point out that “Every Soul Matters” to God. And if I really believe that (I do), how I get along with my EGRs is the place that I (we all) need to grow. Because how I FEEL and THINK about my EGRs doesn’t matter. How God feels and thinks about them is what matters.

I read this story of Elijah and Elisha, and my takeaway is that their victory is found in that they stayed together to the end according to God’s sovereign grace. My prayer is that when the day comes for God take me away, that every single brother and sister who is here now would be there to watch me being taken away—by God’s sovereign grace.

And if anyone reading this has gotten to this far in the blog, please do not automatically think that I am being “naive” and that such a vision is “impossible.” Please just pray with me that my vision would come to fruition—FOR THE GLORY OF GOD!

Father, You gave me a vision to renew the hope of Christ and His church in the South Bay. May I not treat this vision as a mere slogan, but may it be born out in every relationship You bring to my life. But I am a sinful man filled with insecurity and pride. God me Your perspective so that I can love better as You love. In Jesus’s name. Amen.