On August the 13th, the Summer Olympics begin 16 jam pack days of competition at the site of the original Olympic Games, Athens, Greece. This month we have watched American athletes compete for a spot on the team in track and field and swimming and if their times carry over the Athens, we are in for a record setting month of August.
How many of you watched the swimming competition? In Athens eyes will be on the swimming venue to see if 19-year-old Michael Phelps can beat Mark Spitz record of 7 gold medals. He has qualified for an unprecedented 5 individual events and has the possibility of swimming in 4 relays, which provide him with an opportunity for 9 gold medals if the United States wins all the events. What does it take to compete like Mike? Phelps said “I started swimming when I was 6-years-old. I swim everyday for about two to two-and-a-half hours. I do doubles on Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the school year and then Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the summer.”
After winning his 3 gold medals in the USA Olympic trials, the 200-meter butterfly, Mark Spitz presents Phelps with the medal. Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times said, “All that was missing was the flaming torch being passed and a rainbow over the harbor.”
Today, I want to talk about passing the torch. As I watched Spitz place the gold around Phelps neck, raising his hand in victory, my thoughts went on to the task of passing to the next generations what we have gained in ours. I am doing a series on going for the gold, as we get ready for Olympics in Athens. One might think the logical conclusion of the series would be passing the baton but it is not. When we have the baton in our hand, we need to already be thinking of our hand off, we need to be making the plans for the next person who will carry the torch. To wait until the end of the run, the end of the swimming lane, the end of the journey to begin to look around for someone to carry the torch is too late. You need to be bringing that person along with you.
This will not be Michael Phelps first Olympics; he competed 4 years ago, the youngest male to compete in the Olympics since 1932. Four years ago he was in training, he didn’t medal, his age was his only call to fame on that day for he finished 5th in the 200 meter butterfly and event four years later he has no equal. In four years, following the advice of coaches and continuing the discipline he established for himself beginning at age 6, he has come from the apprentice to the master and one day from the torchbearer to the torch passer.
This should be the task of every believer in Jesus Christ, to move from trainee to trainer, from novice to master, torchbearer to torch passer. If it is not happening right now in your life, then you need to begin the implementation of these skills today. I want to show you in a practical way in which this happens by looking at the passing of the mantle between Elijah and Elisha.
In 1 Kings 19:19-20 we read of the call of Elisha. Look at verse 19: So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother good-by," he said, "and then I will come with you."
"Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?"
Why was Elisha chosen to follow Elijah? A few verses back, Elijah had a talk with God who said in verse 16, Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet.
God has someone he wants you to pass the torch and the only way you are going to know who is your apprentice is to be in conversation with God. Elijah was in conversation, God was telling him what the prophet needed to be doing, than he so also, almost like, oh, by the way, drop on down and anoint Elisha, he is going to be your trainee, and one day he is going to take over.
Champions don’t want to give up; they try to stay in the race as long as they can. The day comes when you no longer are the leader, but need someone to lead you. In life, we come into the world as babies and we need someone to change our diapers, but one day we rise up and discover we can take care of ourselves, but don’t become so self sufficient you have no need for others for the day is not far ahead where you need to depend on someone else, when you enter the twilight before the sun sets.
Elijah is a champion and his response is a champion’s response. He comes to Elisha, finds him out plowing, and throws his cloak over him. It is obvious from the interaction we read here Elisha knows who Elijah is, and he also understand the symbolism of the gesture having the cloak placed upon him for he runs to the prophet and says let me kiss my mom and dad goodbye and then he said he could follow. Elisha knew it is important to honor mother and father. Elisha gets the response of a champion, ‘"Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?"
God told the prophet he was to anoint Elisha, but he does not want to give up the title yet. He is holding on. It is like he is saying, “Do what you like, and I don’t care, you figure out what is going on, all I did was throw my cloak over you.”
Verse 21 relates the events that followed, so Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.
Elisha burned the plowing equipment he owned, saying goodbye to a past way of doing and hello to a new adventure. He slaughtered the oxen, cooked the meat and gave it to the people. That is 12 yoke, or 24 animals. That is a lot of food, which indicates Elijah had people who were following him. He had others he could have passed the torch to but there was something about Elisha, which caught the eye of God that sent Elijah passing his way.
When the meal was over, and the training began, what did Elisha become, the attendant to the prophet. The go for, the coffee boy, the do this, do that, watch and see what I am doing and learn from the example of the leader, the champion, the prophet.
Time passes, a war erupts with Aram, there is then another Aramean war, Jezebel plots and murders and the prophet Elijah comes and prophesies the result of killing Naboth for his vineyard, there is another war with Aram, and we than read in the closing chapter of 1 Kings of the death of Ahab, the husband of Jezebel. From the calling of Elisha in chapter 19, to the close of 1 Kings, a lot has transpired since he connected with the prophet Elijah, since he began to fulfill the role of Elijah’s attendant.
2 Kings opens with a confrontation between Elijah and the messengers of the king of Samaria. Fire comes down from heaven and consumes the messengers until the last captain of 50 men begs for his life and the life of his men, which the Lord God spared.
Although Scripture does not fill us in entirely on what Elijah is doing from chapter 19 to this event in 2 Kings, we know he is about the business of God, and his attendant Elisha is watching, taking in the events, seeing the prophet in action, understanding his daily life as he works the role of trainee.
Then the big day emerges in chapter 2. The Bible says, When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the LORD has sent me to Bethel."
But Elisha said, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.
Elijah is coming to the end of his journey, still not wanting to relinquish his title, still trying to see how willing Elisha is to step back from the training, to take a break, to sit on the sideline and wait, but Elisha is in it for the long haul, he is going to continuing his conditioning for the day when he gets the torch passed in his direction, and he is not about to lose sight of the torchbearer in the process. He was making the trip to Bethel; Elijah was not going to shake him loose like that.
The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, "Do you know that the LORD is going to take your master from you today?"
"Yes, I know," Elisha replied, "but do not speak of it."
4 Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha; the LORD has sent me to Jericho."
And he replied, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho.
Elisha lets them know he is aware of what is going on and he lets Elijah know he is not staying in Bethel if the prophet is going to Jericho, the apprenticeship is not over.
Verse 5 The Company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that the LORD is going to take your master from you today?" "Yes, I know," he replied, "but do not speak of it." Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; the LORD has sent me to the Jordan." And he replied, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.
The company of the prophets reminds Elisha that today is the day. It is almost like Elisha is telling them, enough already, I know what is going on, you have already told me, so be quiet and Elijah, right in step, tells Elisha, hang out in Jericho, I’m off to Jordan.
When God is speaking into your life, don’t be distracted by others, follow what God has placed in your heart, Elisha said make way Elijah, I am going with you.
Verse 7 Fifty men of the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?"
I wonder how many started swimming at age 6? Maybe they saw the Olympics and said, “One day that will be me?” How many are still swimming in their teen years because they followed their heart and they didn’t get distracted from their journey? 50 men of the company of the prophets had been making the journey. When the water parted at the Jordan, not one advanced across with Elijah and Elisha, it said instead, they stood at a distance. They bought tickets to stay in the stands but they never made it down into the pool.
Then the big question from Elijah after he witnessed over this period of time Elisha attended to him, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?"
At the end of the verse Elisha said, "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,"
Elisha said I have watched your performance, I have seen you in competition, I have witnessed the records you have set; now I want to set a world record myself, one that exceeds you.
"You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours-otherwise not."
We know the rest of the story verse 11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.
13 He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. "Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.
15 The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha." And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
Consider what would have happened if Elisha did not keep up, if he was not preparing himself by attending to Elisha.
Let me show it this way…Gorden, come up here for a minute. Gorden is on one side of the pool in the relay, and I am on the other. I start out the race, I begin swimming across the pool, Gorden is waiting for me to touch the wall so he can jump in and continue his lap of the pool, but 2/3rd of the way across I stop. I began to think, at the age of 6, I started training, I had the goal of taking more medals than Mark Spitz, I was going to beat all the world records, I was going to be the swimming Phnom of my day because I knew I had the giftedness, the ability, and the call to make it happen. But then I thought, my gal is in the stands and she asked me to do something with her the other day and I said no, I had to train, I had to get ready for this Olympic event, and she looked disappointed. I could tap the wall, pass the baton on to Gorden, but I have missed out on so much with this discipline and routine for the past 13 years, I’m just going to stop right now, swim back and take her out on a date. There is Gorden, who has also been preparing for this moment, but without me, well, his chance for being a torchbearer is close to over.
That would be ridicules if that happened in the middle of an Olympic event, but it does, everyday, in the walk of Christians. Michael Phelps will not win a slew of Olympic medals because of what he is doing today; he will win because of the culmination of what he has been doing since age 6 when he first began swimming in the pool. When Mark Spitz placed the medal around his neck a couple of weeks ago, the award represented the journey he began a long time ago, a journey from which he was not detoured.
In 1954, Roger Bannister broke the world record and ran the mile in under 4 minutes. In the whole of the history of the human species, no one had been able to do that. It had been considered impossible - beyond the physical limits of the human body. Year after year, runners had come closer and closer but no one was able to break the 4-minute barrier.
Not only did Bannister practice and train, he constantly rehearsed the event in his mind until he truly believed that he could do it. Even though nobody before had been able.
Yet, within a year of Bannister breaking this psychological barrier, 37 runners did it, and one year later another 300 runners had done it!
Belief holds us back more than anything else - far more than fear; more, even, than physical constraints.
It is time to recognize who you are in Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the Message, Paul states in 1 Timothy 4:6 You’ve been raised on the Message of the faith and have followed sound teaching. Now pass on this counsel to the Christians there, and you’ll be a good servant of Jesus.
Do we have any torchbearers in the house today? They said no one would come close to Mark Spitz impressive record of 7 gold medals, now Michel Phelps stands close to setting a new record, perhaps as many as 9. They said when Roger Banister broke the 4-minute mark; it would be near to impossible for other milers to do the same, yet within the first year, 300 other runners did. The world record today is 3:43.13 minutes.
If you train, if you discipline yourself, you will be a torchbearer for Christ. We are reminded in Hebrews 11 of others who have gone on before us, setting the mark, the standard for us to follow, most importantly the standard set by our Lord Jesus Christ. Then the start of Hebrews 12 reminds us 1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
The torchbearers of the past the Mark Spitz’s of Christianity, now, having completed their race, watch from the grandstands of heaven, cheering us on, don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t quit, victory is just around the bend, it is time to rise up and prepare ourselves not only for the victory Christ has for us, but the victory he has for coming generations so we can be like Elijah who handed on his ministry to Elisha and be happy when they do better than we have. We need to strive to do our best to be gold medal winners for Christ.
The race is on, the competition has gathered, who needs to get back into the game, who has been sitting it out thinking it was someone else’s job? Who has the skills and talents of the Kingdom but has been reluctant to use them, almost getting to the wall of the pool, but never stretching out to tap it so the next person can continue the race?
This is a new day, a day of new beginnings, to reignite your passion for Jesus Christ, to relight the torch for all generations now and to come. I want to meet the athletes for Christ today who are ready to get back in, to reignite your passion and finish the race set before you. I want to invite you to come down to the altar and we are going to talk to God, break down some barriers and pursue kingdom records for the glory of Christ.
