Ownership

Occasion: The Bridge, Guys Workshop,

Winter 2020

Intro: Life & Ministry of Jim Elliot

Childhood:

· 1 of 4 Elliot Children

· Mom was a chiropractor and Dad was an evangelist

· Raised in the church attending worship services from 6 weeks of age on

· Dad read the Scriptures to them daily

· Saved at 6, Jim would preach to his young friends from the playground swings

Young Adulthood:

· Ambitious – wanted to be the president of the United States

· Eager – always carried his Bible at the ready and jumped at any opportunity to open it with someone.

· Called – Even in High School Jim knew he was destined for the mission field

o Exposed to missionaries who would come and visit the Elliot home in Portland.

College:

· Attended Wheaton College

· Word Saturated – “None of it gets to be old stuff, for it is Christ in print, the Living Word. We wouldn’t think of rising in the morning without a face-wash, but we often neglect that purgative cleansing of the Word of the Lord. It wakes us up to our responsibility.” (Shadow of the Almighty, 39)

· Determined – his clear-cut ambition to reach the mission field set him apart from his fellow students. He entertained no thoughts of trivial matters (dancing, dating, marriage, etc.)

· Went to Mexico for 6 weeks and came back even more convinced that missions was his calling.

· After college he attended Wycliffe Bible Translators camp in Oklahoma City where he first learned of the opportunity to serve in Ecuador (Quichua and Auca Indians)

Ecuador:

· Initially went to reach the Quichua Indians (800,000 people with 5 missionaries)

· Started in Quito where he would prepare for life in the jungle

· Moved to Shandia where he would meet Nate Saint and set about learning the Quichua language and building a mission station.

· Lost their initial mission station to severe flooding, but rebuilt and developed outposts with the Quichua Indians

· Married Elizabeth and had their daughter Valerie in 1955

· Discovered the location of the infamous Auca Indian tribe near Arajuno

· Switched focus to the Aucas

o Learned as much language as they could through a former Auca who had deserted

o Made contact with the plane and gifts

o Landed in Auca territory

o Lost their lives Friday, January 6, 1956

Body:

1. Own Your Mission/Calling

What is God doing with your life?

o Are you driven?

o Are you ambitious?

o Do you sense your calling?

o Are you convinced?

There was no doubt in the mind of Jim Elliot as to what the Lord had called him to do. He was keenly aware from a very young age of the Lord’s leading him to the mission field. Unfortunately, far too few of us share this awareness. For though you may not leave everything and go to an unreached Amazonian tribe, the Lord has led each of us in this room to the mission field.

Matthew 28:18-20 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 The only command in this passage is “make disciples of all nations.”

Acts 1:8 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Genesis1:26-27 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 

1 Peter 2:9 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 

All of us have been commissioned by Christ to take the gospel to the lost. But in our churches here in America we’ve come to view missions and evangelism as something we export rather than something we must put our hand to in our own backyard. (SPAM – Guam eats an average of 16 cans per person, per year) Evangelism is not an evangelical export, it’s the duty of every man who calls Jesus Savior and Lord.

Romans 10:13-15 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

You and I are the ones who have been sent. It should be said of us, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” RUNNERS (Isaiah 52:7 – anticipating the Messianic reign)

We have over 3 million people in the area surrounding our church, and we’d be lucky if 10% were genuinely saved. That leaves safely over 2.5 million lost souls in Orange County. And guess what? You can go to churches all over California, the West Coast, the United States, and guess what you won’t find on missionary walls? “This is Steve Jones and he’s currently serving the churches of Orange County by witnessing to the lost in that area so Christians in the local churches don’t have to be burdened with such things…”

“Missionaries are very human folks, just doing what they are asked. Simply a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt Somebody.” (Shadow of the Almighty, 46)

“Our young men are going into the professional fields because they don’t ‘feel called’ to the mission field. We don’t need a call; we need a kick in the pants. We must begin thinking in terms of ‘going out,’ and stop our weeping because ‘they won’t come in.’” (Shadow of the Almighty, 54)

Who makes up your mission field? Think of faces and names right now who God has commissioned you to pursue with the gospel. How are you doing with that? Are you making disciples as you go, as you move about on the mission field the Lord has given you?

No one who calls Christ their Savior is exempt from this mission. There is no age requirement on either side of Matthew 28:19-20. If you’re a young man here tonight newly saved, praise God and get on mission. If you’ve been a Christian for years, praise God and stay on mission.

“How long shall we sit analyzing, questioning, discussing, before God lays hold on us with power to thrust us out to the billion and a half who have not yet heard?...Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to a decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.” (Shadow of the Almighty, 87, 59)

Your still here on this earth primarily to be used in service to the Lord. How’s that going? Do you know your mission? Are you aware of your mission? Are you effective in your mission?

“How deaf must be the deafness of the ear which has never heard the story; how blind the eye that has not looked on Christ for light; how pressed the soul that has no hope of glory; how hideous the fate of man who knoweth only night! God arouse us to care, to feel as He Himself does for their welfare.” (Shadow of the Almighty, 70)

Once we have come to a place of knowing and owning our mission we will quickly come to realize, as Elliot did, that we have to make some adjustments to our lives.

2. Release Your Idols

Philippians 3:3-11 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Loss – disadvantage; damage; loss; forfeit

In light of knowing X everything else is rubbish; dung; garbage

Luke 14:25-33 25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. 

“Nothing abides. Behold, the Son of God comes! One flash of His burning eye will melt all our polished marble and burnished gold to nothing. One word from His righteous lips will speak destruction to the vast rebellion we call the human race. One peal of his vengeful laughter will rock the libraries of our wise and bring them crashing to a rubble heap. The wise shall be taken in their own craftiness; mountains shall be brought low. What shall abide that day? Lo, ‘He that doeth the will of God abideth forever.’ Church of God awake to your bridegroom!” (Shadow of the Almighty, 93)

Can you say, “I love Christ so much that it makes my love for every other person, look like hate”? Are you prepared to renounce everything to follow Jesus? Would you turn and walk away from your job? From your family? From your reputation? From your retirement? From your friends? If that’s what it took to remain faithful to following Jesus?

Do you hold back from what God is calling you to because you fear rejection?

Do you hold back because your comfortable where you are?

What is it that is keeping you from grabbing your life by the horns and getting after living it?

Is it comfort? Is it reputation? Is it work? Is it status? Is it family?

“What makes me tremble is that I might allow something else to take the place my God should have…all shall be revoked at his command.” (Shadow of the Almighty, 68)

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

All of us have the sinful idols in our life that we know we must renounce, we must release. But what about the weights in our lives? What about the good things or the neutral things that we have allowed to hinder our walk with Christ? Are we so infatuated with Christ that we are willing to do the hard work of releasing, renouncing, everything that holds us back from following Him?

Colossians 3:15-20 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

“Oh that Christ were All and Enough for me. He is supposed to be…but oh, to be swept away in a flood of consuming passion for Jesus, that all desire might be sublimated to Him.” (Shadow of the Almighty, 61)

Because Jim owned his mission and because he was willing to release everything that posed a threat to become an idol in his life, he was prepared for our final point:

3. Spend & Be Spent

2 Corinthians 12:15 15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.

In context, Paul was speaking of spending his own finances and expending his energies in service of the Corinthians. But the same principle is seen in the life of Jim Elliot, and it should be found in our lives as well.

1 Thessalonians 2:8 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. 

2 Timothy 4:6-8 6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

“God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn up for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.” (Shadow of the Almighty, 55

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Matthew 10:16-20 16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Some of the most powerful testimonies have been uttered by men whose heads lay on the executioners block, whose bodies and hands were bound to the stake.

Men, are we resolved to follow Christ with the same passion, the same zeal as Elliot such that we would even be willing to renounce our lives should it further the cause of the gospel? I would bet most of us in this room aren’t there. So let me urge you, encourage you to pray this way. Pray the Lord will impress his mission upon you more tangibly, more urgently, so that you will be more apt to let go of some of your idols and give yourself to be used for the gospel.

2 Corinthians 4:7-18 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you. 13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Conclusion:

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Knowing our mission means knowing a mission that at its core calls us to live for Someone else. Releasing our idols means embracing a view that our possessions, our families, our jobs, our time, our leisure must all take a subservient role to our following the mission of Jesus. Spending and being spent means placing our very lives in subjection and submission to following the mission of Christ.

Jim Elliot was described by his friends as a man with a “face-to-the-wind” mentality. He knew where he was supposed to go and nothing was going to stop him. Though our mission looks drastically different from Jim Elliot’s, the principles that he modeled so well for us are just as important for us to embrace. Men, we must know our mission, we must release our idols, and we must spend and be spent.