The Life and Legacy of Jim Elliot - Mack Tomlinson

Could we turn to Matthew's Gospel,

the last chapter - chapter 28?

And we'll read verses 18-20.

Matthew 28:18-20.

"And Jesus came up and spoke to them,

saying, 'All authority
has been given to Me

in heaven and on earth.

Go therefore, and make disciples

of all the nations;

baptizing them in the name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit;

teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always,

even to the end of the age.'"

We rest on Thee,

and in Thy name we go.

That last hymn in 1956,

five men sang it together

and went out together to die.

I want to speak tonight

on the life and legacy of Jim Elliot,

the 20th century martyr and missionary

in Ecuador.

All that can really be learned about him

are in these three books,

and I want you to note them.

"Shadow of the Almighty,"

which is the biography -

the life of Jim Elliot
by his wife Elisabeth,

published the first time
2 years after his death in 1958.

"The Journals of Jim Elliot,"

written by him over a period

of about seven years

from age 21 to 28.

And "Through Gates of Splendor,"

the account written a
year after their death.

The account of the mission
to the Auca Indians

and the death of those courageous men.

Elisabeth Elliot once said of her husband,

"At the age of 21,

Jim began an adventure that would require

the ultimate sacrifice.

That adventure was to follow Christ

to the mission field of Ecuador.

And ultimately, face death at the hands

of an unreached jungle tribe.

It was a year and a half ago approximately

that one of our pastors, Philip Neeley,

shared a summary of Jim Elliot's life

with the men in our church.

Philip had gone away for two days

of reading alone,

and he always takes a choice book with him

and it was the life of Jim Elliot.

And Philip described Jim to our men

as a man of purity,

a man of purpose,

a man of priorities,

a man of the past -

meaning he loved history,

he learned from the past,

and a man of power.

And I thought, in thinking of Jim Elliot,

I thought of Bunyan's character,

one of his characters in
"Pilgrim's Progress."

Mr. Great-Heart.

That was Jim Elliot.

But then, here comes
Mr. Valiant-For-Truth.

Well, that was Jim Elliot also.

And I feel sure among his friends

and his college classmates
at Wheaton College

in the suburbs of Chicago,

and other Plymouth
Brethren church leaders,

that he seemed at times larger than life.

But he was a real guy

who smiled and laughed and joked

and cried a lot;

who loved to cut up and tease others

too much at times,

and he would be rebuked for it

by his pious friends.

But he was preeminently a young man

that, from his youth,

was in a serious pursuit to know Christ.

So, I want us tonight to look

at Jim Elliot's life under five headings.

The making of the man.

The marriage. The mission.

The martyrdom.

And the meaning for us today -

his legacy.

So first, the making of the man.

What did God do;

what did God use to shape Jim Elliot

into who he became?

Now, there's many ingredients often

in a good recipe.

And God's recipe for Jim Elliot's life

included a lot.

His birth: Philip James Elliot

was born October 8th, 1927

in Portland, Oregon.

He died January 8th, 1956

in the Curaray River in eastern jungles

of Ecuador along with his four friends,

at the age of 28 years
and 3 months to the day.

He was born into a godly
Plymouth Brethren family,

to Fred and Clara Elliot.

Four children. Two older
brothers, Bob and Burt.

And then Jim, the third,

and then a younger sister Jane.

And their home,

when you read the accounts,

their home exemplified godliness

and consistent Christianity

that was really lived out.

Daily, without exception, Jim's father

led the family in Bible
reading and prayer.

Always after breakfast.

Elisabeth Elliot said later that quote,

"Jim's father was always
showing his children

that the Bible was to be obeyed

and lived out,

and that the Christian life

was a happy and rewarding one."

So, Jim came to Christ in such a context

around the age of six years old,

and his future years proved

it to be a genuine conversion.

Now, toward the end of his college years,

he wrote Elisabeth Howard, his friend,

who was known to him always as "Betty."

He wrote Betty about his father.

He says, "I blush to think
of the things I've said,

as if I really know something at all."

By the way, a sentiment I've had often.

"I blush to think of things I've said

in the past as if I really know

something of all the Bible teaches,

when I think I know nothing.

But my father... my father's faith

is a kind I've seen nowhere else.

It is so real and practical

that it shatters everything I've seen.

He knows God.

We've had some happy times together,

and I cannot estimate what enrichment

a few months with dad might do for me

both practically and spiritually."

Mr. Elliot said, "I pray regularly

for my children,

and I pray regularly with them."

Every Lord's Day, the family were all

in church Bible classes
and corporate worship

at their Plymouth Brethren assembly

in Portland.

And every child was in all the services

by the time they were six weeks old.

Mrs. Elliot believed,

"It doesn't hurt children at all

to sit quietly through
the church meetings.

It's good for their nerves."

Well, their childhood was
happy and wholesome

at their country place
on the eastern slope

of Mount Tabor in Portland.

Their home was one of those homes

that people loved to be in.

Have you ever been to one of those

Christian family's homes

and you say when you leave,

man, what a blessing to have been there.

That's the way it was at the Elliot home.

What a family!

How they love and enjoy one another.

I want to go back there again.

They were always having visitors -

missionaries, preachers,

friends from college.

And the children -
the four Elliot children

love having people in their home.

Family times were special.

Sledding yearly near Mt. Hood,

day long picnics on the Oregon coast,

or trips to their grandparents' homestead

where they would work the produce

or tend the sheep.

Their local Brethren assembly

had church life that was real

and fellowship that
was vital and wonderful.

In summary, Jim's life

was consistently on the path

to a remarkable Christian life

even as a young man.

By the age of 13 or 14,

he was choosing to discipline
his life spiritually daily.

And he began telling his friends

about Christ and about salvation.

In 1941, he entered Benson
Polytechnic High School in Portland,

and he excelled as a student.

He would write editorials for

the student newspaper.

He starred in several school plays.

He excelled in public speaking.

And he was so good at drawing,

he wanted to be an architect.

He was planning on being an architect.

He was so good at drawing,

that the teacher kept his drawings

as examples for future classes.

A classmate said of him,

"Jim carried a small Bible

that would sit on top of his textbooks

on his desk in class.

It would only take an
audience of one or two

for him to open the Bible

and begin talking and sharing.

He always prayed before eating his lunch,

and he never missed a chance

to talk to me about Jesus Christ."

In his sophomore year of high school,

he began to write short letters,

at times to his brothers and sisters.

One note to his younger sister Jane.

Now, he's a 17 year old brother,

writing to a younger sister some advice.

"Jane, begin each day with private reading

of the Word and prayer.

John Bunyan said, 'sin will
keep you from this book,

or this book will keep you from sin.'

Give out gospel tracts too

to those you meet on the way to school.

And make a bold start at the
beginning of high school.

It's easier that way than later.

And memorize Scripture on your rides

to and from school.

Redeem the time, Jane.

Time is costly because it is so fleeting.

Do your best to present yourself to God

as one approved."

Now that's a 17 year old boy

pastoring his little sister.

By his senior year, his desire

for his future in architecture shifted

to the mission field.

He would set an alarm every night

so he would have plenty of time

for reading and prayer before school,

which became the priority
of the rest of his life.

In the fall of 1945, he
entered Wheaton College

in the western suburbs of Chicago,

which was a long way
from Portland, Oregon.

Now with one goal he went there -

to prepare himself to take the gospel

to a foreign mission field.

He didn't know where yet,

but he was determined to prepare himself.

Like Paul, this one thing I do...

that was Jim Elliot.

He had no money for college,

and he didn't know where it
was going to come from.

But God honored his faith,

and he always had it

through gifts of family friends,

through prayer,

through part-time work.

And as he got into his college years,

his activities increased.

He majored in Greek

for future Bible translation work.

He became president
of the foreign missions

fellowship on campus.

He was a class representative

on the student council.

He was a writer of poetry.

And he was respected and admired

by faculty and fellow students

as a genuine, serious-minded,

joyful Christian.

All the while, in the busyness of college,

being very consistent with morning

Bible readings and private prayer.

And it became his practice in college

on Saturday's, he liked to do two things.

He liked to go the college
football game in the afternoon.

But on Saturday night, he wouldn't go out.

He would stay in.

Because he wanted to prepare his heart

for Sunday worship

and the Plymouth Brethren practice

of the breaking of bread -

their weekly Lord's Supper meeting.

It was the highlight of his week.

At Wheaton, he began a personal habit

in his junior year

that continued until 8
days before he died.

A young British preacher,

Steven Olford,

spoke in the college chapel one day,

and that day suggested to Jim

that he begin a daily journal,

that would improve his private time

in his time with the Lord.

And, he began to do that.

That decision to keep a personal journal -

his thoughts, his prayers,

the events of the day,

what the Lord was teaching him -

would be a great spiritual discipline,

Olford told him.

Well, that decision, 30 years later

provided one of the most stirring books

in modern church history
and modern missions.

He never probably thought

that it would be published,

proving that small, personal choices

yield huge dividends later

in our own lives and the lives of others.

At the end of his freshman year of college

he wrote his parents:

"It's been a profitable year

drawing close to the Savior,

and discovering gems in His Word.

How wonderful to know

that Christanity is more than

a padded church pew

or a church cathedral,

but that it is a real,
living and daily experience

that goes from grace to grace."

Those formative maturing years

were essential for his future usefulness.

The tender heart.

A clear conscience.

A lifestyle of daily repentance.

Godly zeal. Real prayerfulness.

High standards.

Focused spiritual goals

that he let no one or nothing

deter him from.

An active consistent serving

of the Lord and others.

Jim Elliot became in the U.S.

what he was later in Ecuador.

Shaped into a solid, grounded man

of the Holy Spirit by his mid-twenties.

And that's mostly seen in his journals.

What stands out? He was always reading.

Always reading the Bible deeply,

meditating in it.

Taking notes.

Reading John Bunyan, the Puritans,

Plymouth Brethren writers,

Scottish pastors Andrew
and Horatius Bonar,

and Spurgeon - always reading.

And he learned to draw
from the deep wells.

He learned to draw deeply

because he wouldn't hurry himself.

This deepened his mind

and his heart devotionally.

David Brainerd who died
at the same age as Jim,

his journal had great impact on Jim.

And Jim wrote,

"Lord, if I were honest,

my soul would be more in anguish

like Brainerd's.

How cold and careless I've become.

Let not my soul be cast away

from Your nearness."

He soon wrote, "I have enjoyed

much sweetness in
reading Brainerd's life.

I spent the last two days

with tremendous profit to my soul,

entirely in reading
6 to 8 hours each day."

Another day, "I just finished

Amy Carmichael's 'Gold Cord.'

How can I express the
effect it has had on me?

Oh, what a shame and sham I am!

No scars, have you?

No scars.

No tears? No tears.

Oh God of the thorny path,

please in Your mercy,

privilege me to walk in Your path."

In those college years,

in those summers,

he feasted on the lives

of Jonathan Goforth,

Hudson Taylor,

J.G. Paton,

the missionary to the South Seas island

among the cannibals.

And his reading led him

into such meditation

that he began to journal more and more.

An example one morning:

Romans 15.

He's reading.

He comes to verse 13, which says,

"Now may the God of hope

fill you with all joy and
peace in believing,

that you may abound in hope

by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Jim stopped there and he began

to write and pray.

"Every hour I need Thee.

I claim this verse for these days.

My love is faint.

My warmth practically gone.

Oh, that I were not so empty-handed.

Joy and peace can only come

through believing God.

And that is all can I say to Him tonight.

Lord, I believe You.

I don't feel love.

I don't feel anything,

and I don't understand.

I now can only believe.

So bring my faith to fruition.

Produce in me, I pray."

And suddenly he writes,

"What is this, Lord Jesus,

that Thou should make an end

of all that I possess

and give Yourself to me?

So that there is nothing now

to call my own, save Thee?

Thyself alone, my Treasure.

Strange I say that suffering loss,

I have gained everything
in getting a Friend

who bore a cross."

He wrote. He meditated.

On 2 Samuel, he meditated one morning

and then he wrote this:

"Uriah, Bathsheba's husband,

declined legitimate ease

because his fellow soldiers

were in tents in the open fields.

David's error.

When kings go out to battle,

he tarried in Jerusalem.

How often..." Jim said,

"is this the history of Christian failure.

It's time to march,

and some Christians are laying on beds

of self-interest.

At such times, Satan sees to it

that a Bathsheba is not far away.

David staying at ease in Jerusalem

meant Uriah's death in battle.

Lord, don't let me be so found

reluctant because of selfishness."

His famous words journaled

in October of 1949:

"He is no fool

who gives what he cannot keep

to gain what he cannot lose,"

actually were not his words originally.

He journaled them after reading them

in the writings of Philip
and Matthew Henry,

who one of them said it

in the 17th or 18th century.

But he liked it.

He was gleaning, gleaning, gleaning.

Soaking it in. Taking it.

Passing it on to others.

Some other gleanings,

February 1948:

"Lord, show me the difference between

worship and service,

and how to press into Thy hand

the fresh juice of living worship.

Not the dead meat which
is only in my head."

"Last night I was entirely too talkative,

dogmatic, and even argumentative

with Dave (his future
brother-in-law at Wheaton).

Argumentative about
Christians in politics.

I'm seeking peace on this subject, Lord.

I know I've grieved Your Spirit

and my thoughts were not established.

Possess my spirit, Lord, today."

While reading through Genesis one month

he wrote this, "Lord, whatever barriers

there are in my life

that keeps the water of life

from freely flowing,

I ask You to point it out

and give me power to cut it off.

I would not be like Rachel -

beautiful but barren.

Give me Leah's eyes, tender eyes,

that I might be sensitive

to Your light and Your truth."

And his father had written him

not long before along that line.

His father wrote, "Jim, I am jealous

of anything or any person

who would hinder your progress

to everlasting riches

and a life completely devoted

to that supreme and glorious Man

at God's right hand."

Jim became so consistent in gleaning

rich gems of truth from the Bible,

over and over,

some major thoughts, major truths

about the gospel - he wrote this:

"Psalm 51.

'I was shapen in iniquity.

In sin did my mother conceive me.'

From the beginning of my life,

my contact has been with the unclean.

How then can a man become pure?

The atonement blood

that cleansed my own mother

must avail for me.

Oh, Lamb of God,

what a sacrifice Thou art.

Whose blood can avail?

Goat's blood cannot cleanse.

My own blood cannot avail,
for I am unclean.

Only Thy blood, O Lord,

could be effectual."

In his daily reading in Genesis,

he said this:

"I cannot fail to see Christ

in Joseph's life today.

He's a young man, 30 years old.

A Hebrew servant.

'Without Me you can do nothing,'

says our Savior.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph,

'without you shall no man

lift a hand or foot in Egypt.'

Only our heavenly Joseph can open

all the storehouse of God's wealth.

All must go to Him for blessing."

I've never gotten anything like that

from Joseph's life,

but he dug.

He meditated. He prayed.

And he wrote out of his mind and heart

what he saw.

John 13 he was reading.

You know, at the beginning it says,

Jesus realizing that the Father had given

all things into His hands -

Jim Elliot wrote this:

"Jesus, seeing that the Father

had given all things into His hands,

He then took those dirty
feet of His loved men

into those hands and washed them."

Always praying intensly, real,

honest, passionate requests.

He prayed this,

"selfishness, Lord, in our love

for service to You is inexcusable.

I have known this, Lord.

I've been guilty, often, I confess.

I have at times had jealousy

like a jagged tooth that
spoils my thoughts

when I've seen other young men

get more of Christ

and more of His power than I possess.

Teach me, Lord, to rejoice

in other men's growth."

Praying for true zeal, he said,

"It's a good day for stirring
and heart-searching.

Oh, may God revive His
work in our country.

I want to become pleasing to You, Lord.

I pray You would make me a minister

who's a flame of fire.

Oh, that Christ would be to me

as He was to Zinzendorf -

the master passion of life.

My heart pants after Thee,

not for results or power.

From henceforth, I would not seek

an experience or a sign.

For I have Christ as my object.

Occupied not with tongues of fire,

but with the great
purpose of the Holy Spirit,

to exalt Christ.

Father, make me a crisis man.

Bring those I come into contact with

to a clear decision.

Make me not a signpost on the road,

but rather a fork in the road.

So that men turning one way or the other

when facing Christ in my life.

Motives. He said,

"I sense tonight that
my desire to be great

will frustrate God's intent for good

to be done through me.

Lord, let me pray

with an honest, earnest heart.

I choose not to be great,

but only that You grant me

Your goodness."

Now, how would you respond

if someone said this to you?

A friend of Jim's - a close brother -

came to him in college and said,

"One of our sisters said to me,

'we know Jim's humble,

but we wish he would act like it more.'"

So the friend came and told him.

He didn't tell him who it was.

And how would you respond?

Jim's response -

her name was Ruth Stams

who later became a missionary to Pakistan.

Jim said, "Well, the first phrase -

'we know he is humble,'

How can they be so certain of that?

I know my proud heart is aware

of its self-exaltation,

but the last clause -

'we wish he would act like it more.'

That speaks to me in powerful tones.

Often this self-exertion comes out

and is most offensive.

This flesh of mine is constantly producing

something of itself.

All uncleanness.

Lord, put an end to my fleshly production.

Stop it, Lord.

Instead, flow though me,

that I'll be clean."

So, these are just examples

that his spiritual reality

and the pursuit for it was always engaged.

It was always exemplary.

He always seemed to be
out front of others.

He seemed to be in second or third gear

when others were still in first.

He was not only running more consistently,

but he seemed to be
running at a faster pace.

It was very hard to keep up with him.

He was out front - always a visionary.

Always an initiator.

He said to his brother Burt,

who went to Peru for 30 years

as a missionary,

and Jim had thought of going there first,

he wrote to his brother
Burt a little note:

"I must get into God's book
for a little defrosting.

May God make us love like the Tishbite.

John the Baptist bold."

So, whether in high school or college,

he was always out front.

He was a leader.

An example of this was when

President Franklin Roosevelt died in 1945.

Jim was a junior in high school.

And the principal on short notice

thought it would be good to have

a school assembly to address the students

about our president's death.

And so, on short notice,

who could give a suitable speech

to the entire school?

Jim was asked.

His coach said later,

"I've never heard a better speech

all these years."

At Wheaton, he went out
for the wrestling team

because he thought it would

keep him in shape for the future.

The result was, he not only made the team,

but he became a champion college wrestler.

Always excelling;

pressing on to improve.

Some of the views on important things.

"The pattern of my personal conduct

and behavior..." listen
to this, young people.

"The pattern of my personal conduct

and behavior is not based on

the activities of those around me.

Don't follow the examples of those

still in the world,

and not necessarily even those

in the church.

Rather, the Word of God

shall be my standard.

And as I see it, there are few examples

of that kind of living anywhere."

That was 1948.

(incomplete thought)

On sanctification

and the work of the Holy Spirit.

He said, "We should remember

that while knowledge may make one

look big, it's only love that makes him

grow into his full stature.

Whatever a man may know,

he still has a lot to learn,

but if he loves God, he is opening

his whole life to the Spirit of God."

He said, "We do not surrender

our entire life in one instant.

That which is lifelong

can only be surrendered in a lifetime.

Neither does surrender to God's will

always equal fullness of power.

Maturity is the accomplishment of years.

And I can only surrender

to the will of God as I know what that is.

So the fullness of the Spirit

is not just instantaneous,

but ultimately is progressive.

If men were truly filled
with the Holy Spirit,

they would not write books about it,

but they would major on the Person

the Spirit has come to reveal.

Occupation with Christ
is God's objective."

Later, he said this,

"I was moved last night to think

how very little we know

of trust in the Holy Spirit

and Spirit-directed ministry.

Oh Lord, restore Your people.

Rouse the elect in Portland.

It is time for Thee to work.

The Holy Spirit is the
only source of power

for the believer's witness.

Even if we know apologetics,

if we lack the power of the Spirit,

we will be ineffective

and even detrimental as witness."

Jim was a pacifist.

(Those who do not believe

that Christians should support

or fight in a war

or actively take part in politics.)

And even in high school,

he was very clear in his belief about it.

In high school, he was a member

of the public speaking club.

In fact, he was the most
influential one in it.

And one of the assignments

by the leader of the club

was everyone - it was the
presidential election year -

and the assignment was to give

a political speech about
the upcoming election

and which candidate you favored

and what your views were.

So the club president assigned

each member a speech

and Jim was called on in class,

and Jim said, "I have no speech."

Well, the president of the
class began to worry

because Jim was the leader
of the whole class.

"Jim, you know the rules.

I'll have to expel you if you
don't give your speech.

(Expel you from the club).

Now, come on up here.

You don't need any preparation.

Just give a brief extemporaneous speech

on your favorite candidate."

Jim, looked right back at him and said,

"I have no favorite candidate

and I have no speech."

Well, in rising from his seat, he said,

"But I'll be happy to take three minutes

to tell you why."

Well, the club president,

suddenly remembering Jim's convictions,

quickly said, "That
won't be necessary, Jim.

We understand your reasons.

I waive the rule and you're excused

from your speech."

So, he was acting on
principle courageously

which equipped him year by year

to act on the same principles

about the gospel

and about the mission field

and about missionary principles

and what he could or could not do.

His views of the local church were solid.

The Plymouth Brethren always called

the church meeting "the assembly."

We're going to the assembly today.

And it was a vital part of his upbringing.

And at Wheaton, he quickly found

a Brethren assembly in Lombard, Illinois

near Wheaton.

And in December of that year,

he journaled this: "What a ragged

and shoddy thing organized Christianity

has become in honoring man,

places, and crowds.

How I long to see the simplicity

and powerful beauty of a
New Testament fellowship

reproduced."

He loved real fellowship

with the brethren.

He said, "the love of Jonathan and David

I felt again today for Bill Cathers,

my friend, upon reading a letter from him

who is en route to China.

It makes me throb to
read his soul's swagger

and what the Spirit is making Bill

the way He is.

How I long for another like him!

But kindred spirits are so few.

Lord, give me a David that I can know

as David knew Jonathan -

sweeter, swifter, stronger."

Well, he did have some wrong views;

some immature views.

One was marriage and the ministry

and how they would mesh;

how it went together.

When Jim and Elisabeth Elliot both knew

they loved each other

and wanted to be married,

Jim expressed his thoughts.

"I cannot express the
yearning in my heart.

Oh, what a jumble,

cross-current passion I am in.

May Christ only satisfy my thirst.

But the possibility of seeing Betty,

again, brings wishful thoughts.

How I hate myself for such weakness!

Is not Christ enough, Jim
(he said to himself)?

What need you more? A woman in His place?

No, God forbid!

I shall have Thee, Lord Jesus."

And all along his Bible
had been saying to him,

it's not good for man to be alone.

I'll prepare a helpmeet for him.

Someone could have said to Jim,

"you knucklehead."

It's not Christ or her.

It's Christ and her.

Because God had been revealing

to both of them that she was prepared

by the Lord for Jim and him for her,

to complement and complete one another.

Elisabeth was always ready to marry him.

He was always holding back

because of the mission field.

Singleness - that's the
best missionary's life.

He said finally, after they were

both in Ecuador and the team

heard of a certain tribe of Indians

that were opening to them,

that a single man couldn't go in

because of the setting.

They need a couple.

There was no couple available to go.

Jim suddenly said to Elisabeth,

"So how soon will you marry me?"

Some wrong views get
corrected in all of us.

Well, she finally got him

and he may have gotten the better

part of the deal

when you see the life of Elisabeth Elliot.

He was growing and changing.

But more about their marriage in a moment.

So, what I've said are the ingredients

that shaped and made him the man he was.

A life of separation and pursuit of God;

of holiness; a true churchman;

who viewed the centrality
of the local church properly;

and being a vital member and
being sent out of the church;

consistent, deep Bible reading;

always reading great
books - the best authors;

a self-denying real prayer life;

cultivating a lifestyle of repentance

and humility,

and real fellowship with godly brethren

who exhorted and encouraged
one another daily.

And keeping a journal that matured him

in his faith.

That was the making of the man.

Secondly, the marriage.

Jim and Betty Elliot (or Elisabeth).

She was always called Betty

by family and close friends.

The marriage - he first met Elisabeth

at Wheaton.

Both were students.

She was a year ahead of him.

And then David Howard, her brother,

invited him home at Christmas

to their home,

and he was there for
more time around Betty.

They studied Greek together

being in the same course at Wheaton.

And he wrote his parents about her.

And a real love developed

and a mutual devotion between them

independently of each other

to God's purpose as friends.

She was his equal spiritually,

intellectually.

And he really saw her

as being further along than him

in a lot of ways.

Her godliness, her maturity,

her refinement, her separation

stirred him, intimidated him,

drew him with cords of love.

They were meant for each other.

She saw it early and he did not.

And it's a wonder that she was so patient.

But she was.

Well, they realized it.

Finally, they took a walk one evening

discussing God's path for them.

They had one date,
if you want to call it that.

It was to a missionary meeting in Chicago.

They had studied a lot.

They had a lot of conversation.

But neither outwardly
acknowledged anything

about their feelings for the other

beyond friendship.

But that evening, they took a walk

and when they looked at each other,

they both knew it and acknowledged it

and said it - that they loved each other.

That night, Jim marked in his hymn book

the date and beside it these words:

"If Thou should call me to resign

what most I prize,

it ne'er was mine.

I only yield Thee what was Thine.

Thy will be done."

But she didn't impress Jim's family,

for some reason.

Too quiet, they said. Too distant.

She's kind of awkward.

She didn't seem to fit in
the lively Elliot home.

But Jim knew, and he stood alone,

but he was also afraid.

What about my calling? The mission field?

How can both be right?

It was a big struggle for him.

He said, besides, I hate
American weddings.

Now with radical John the Baptist tones

he thunders in his journal about weddings.

Now see if you think he was just

running from his own wedding.

What he said,

"Twentieth century weddings

are the vainest, most meaningless things.

There is no evidence of reality in them.

The wedding party dresses for a show

and the flesh is given first place.

The songs are absurd if
anyone pays attention

to the words, but no one does.

They simply listen to how it's sung.

Candles are useless, expensive trifles.

Ushers help no one, but
they appear very official.

And the ceremony is the most meaningless

hodgepodge of obsolete grammar

and phraseology I've ever seen.

And the stupid question of asking

who gives the bride to be married?

Everyone already knows it's her father

uncle, or some sweating
pawn at the altar."

He said, "I'm sure the minor prophets

would have have found subject

for correction in this affair."

And then he closes the paragraph,

"I must read this to myself
on my wedding day

if I have one."

Betty said later,

"I do not think he remembered to read it.

If he had, he would have smiled

at his imbalanced zeal,

for he had matured over the years."

But maturity had not given either of them

a heart for an outward show.

Neither of them wanted a conventional

big wedding.

She showed up in Ecuador

shortly after him as a single woman.

When they decided to get married

they didn't return back to the states.

It was a civil ceremony of 10 minutes

at the justice of the peace

in the capital city of Quito.

I'm sure it wasn't called
the justice of the peace,

but same office.

They were married in a ten minute ceremony

with two couples with them.

After a two week honeymoon in Panama

and Costa Rica,

back to the jungles

to live for five months in a 16 foot tent.

Ladies, you ready for the mission field?

The point is singles who are waiting

on God's person in marriage

should not try to figure out and control

how God will give you a partner.

He is leading you.

He was leading Jim and Betty.

And He caused the time to be right

in the experience.

So the making of the man

and the marriage.

Thirdly, the mission.

Current mission statistics staggered

and haunted Jim.

1,700 languages have
not one word of the Bible.

90% of mission volunteers

never make it to any foreign country.

64% of the world's population

have never heard of Christ.

5,000 people die every hour.

The total of India equals North America,

South America, and Africa combined.

In India, there's one missionary

for every 71,000 people.

One Christian worker for every
500 people in the U.S.

Missions were Jim's
target since high school

He began to think of India,

Muslim countries, and Peru

where Burt was going.

But by his senior year,

he was burdened for South America.

So, after he graduated from college,

he went off to the University of Oklahoma

and did their linguistics
program for 3 months

to study linguistics for
language translation.

And it was while he was there

that he became clear that he was sure

he was to go to Ecuador.

He had been to the 1948 Urbana
missions conference in Illinois

before that and he prayed specifically.

"This came to me as I prayed

regarding this conference.

What the Lord has purposed

for this conference will be accomplished

but what is His purpose?

Lord, show me Your intent for me."

Well, after Oklahoma,

and that summer, he was clear

that he was to go to Ecuador.

He took a first practical step.

He hitchhiked to Mexico with a buddy.

Children, don't try that today.

But in 1950, it was more popular.

He and Ron Harris hitchhiked there

to be with the Harris family

who were missionaries there.

And Jim journaled, "Mexico
has stolen my heart.

We've been here two weeks,

and I've been invited to
stay as long as I desire.

Right now, I wish it were for life."

Writing from Mexico, he said,

"The Lord has been good to me

in bringing me here

to see the field and hear the language.

Missionaries are simply
a bunch of nobodies

trying to exalt Somebody."

He was there for six weeks.

As he hitchhiked back to the states,

he had no doubt where he was to go.

As Betty Elliot later wrote,

"His face was set toward those

who had never heard."

His brother Burt was already in Peru,

and would be there for 30 years.

Ecuador became the focus.

And after his home church assembly

along with other sister Brethren churches

commissioned him to go;

after a time at home,

he and his close friend Pete Fleming

departed by ship for Ecuador

in February of 1952.

Betty Elliot arrived two months later

than Jim and Pete - still single.

The work began.

A team of five couples developed together.

And the men were there

only three to four years.

Jim Elliot was in Ecuador three years

and 11 months.

So the work in those years

consisted of the following:

teaching the Quechua Indians

with language charts

to read their own language.

Translating the Bible in Quechua.

Building a mission station

and their own houses

at Shell Mara - the operations base

for Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Jim and Betty lived there

after they lived in their honeymoon tent

for five months.

Holding services finally

and preaching the Quechua language,

building a small airstrip,

and surveying villages by air

to see where tribes were;

Jim and the brothers

were only there a few short years.

On sailing away that day

in February of 1952,

Jim said, "We left the outer harbor dock

from San Pedro, California at 2:06 today.

Mom and dad stood together

watching on the pier.

As we slipped away, Psalm 60:12

came to mind and I called it back to them.

"Through God, we shall do valiantly."

They wept some.

I do not understand how God has made me.

I didn't feel like crying.

Only sheer joy and thanksgiving fills me.

The sheer joy of being in the will of God

is my general experience now.

The Lord is in our going now,

and if life were to end at this point,

I could say with Simeon,

'Lord, let Your servant depart in peace.'"

The first five months
were language studies

in Quito, the capital city,

with a Dr. Tidmarsh, a veteran missionary

who was leaving the country

because of his wife's health.

So along with Jim and Betty Elliot,

Nate and Marjorie Saint,

Roger and Barbara Youderian,

Pete and Olive Fleming,

and Ed and MaryLou McCully -

a team of ten.

Five families.

Not one individual like David Brainerd.

That says something about the importance

of biblical missions.

Jim Elliot had a proper
view of the local church

and being under authority

to be sent out.

They were a team.

They had to live as one another's church;

one another's body.

And so did the wives.

All of these are in their twenties -

young twenties, middle-aged twenties,

older twenties.

Twenty-year olds.

The mission target once
they were all in Ecuador

became the most savage tribe

in the country.

The Auca Indians.

Operation Auca began February 1952.

The Auca's were the most
savage group of killers

in all the eastern jungles of Ecuador.

The word "Auca" was given to this group

of Indians by the Quechua Indians,

and it means "savage."

Auca. Savage.

The savage Auca's.

Unreached by white men.

Except when business explorers

in previous decades

hunting rubber or minerals

came exploring their territory,

abusing the Auca's, killing them

to advance their own business ventures.

This caused any openness or curiosity

about the outside world to be destroyed.

They were totally closed off

from anyone but themselves.

Now, time doesn't allow the story here.

It's in the journals; it's in the books.

Especially "Through Gates of Splendor."

But those ten missionaries -

those five couples -

courageous, focused, sacrificial,

loving and big-hearted,

said, "In Thy name, we go."

It was the Auca's they targeted

and began their prayers

and the planned approach

to be the first ever white men

to become friends with the Auca's.

They made a first friendly contact.

Five white men

with three naked Auca Indians.

So the mission was clear

and was in gear.

Then, the martyrdom.

It was five men. Not just Jim Elliot.

As a young man through his twenties,

Jim was always for some reason

speaking, writing, and
praying about death.

It's coming.

I want to be ready.

He was facing and thinking about it.

Prior to arriving in Ecuador,

we see his mind and his perspective

in his own words.

Age 20; 9 years before his death.

"If I would spare my life blood

and resist pouring it out as a sacrifice,

Father, take my life -

even my blood if You will

and consume it.

I would not save it,

for it is not mine to save.

Have it, Lord. Have it all.

Pour out my life as an offering

for the world."

A year later - age 21.

"Lord, light the idle sticks of my life.

Let me burn up for Thee.

Consume my life, O God, for it is Yours.

I seek not a long life,
but a full one, like Yours,

Lord Jesus."

Age 21, "Father, if You will let me go

to South America to labor for You

and to die,

I pray You will let me go soon.

Nevertheless, not my will."

Next year, age 22.

"I must not think it strange

if God takes in youth,

those I would have kept on earth

till they were older."

"God is peopling eternity,

and I must not restrict Him

to older men and women."

He said, "I saw in reading
David Brainerd's life,

was much encouraged to think of a life

of godliness in the
light of an early death."

"Had thoughts of eternity today.

It will be a great eye-opener

and a great mouth-shutter,

and it will confirm the martyr's blood.

How few, how short the
hours my heart beats.

Then on into the real world

where the unseen is important."

He described a coffin

as a swallowing up of life.

He said, "for this I am most anxious."

Now, he had closely read

the autobiography of John G. Paton,

missionary to the cannibals

in the South Seas in the 19th century.

He, like Paton, was opposed and criticized

by others about going to the remote

unreached tribes and the dangers.

Friends and church leaders

told Paton and Jim

they should stay at home.

They could do much good at home.

Influence your church here.

When John Paton was decided and firm,

one of his own church members said,

"The cannibals! You'll be
eaten by cannibals!"

The memory of John Williams

who had gone from Scotland

only 19 years earlier

had been eaten by cannibals.

But to this Paton responded,

"Mr. Dixon, you are advanced in years now,

and you will be soon in the grave,

there to be eaten by worms.

So it will make no difference to me

whether I'm eaten by cannibals or worms.

In the great day, my resurrection body

will rise as fair as yours

in the likeness of Jesus."

This was Jim Elliot's perspective

on death and eternity.

So, they focus on the Auca's.

They had friendly fly-by's,

dropping gifts.

They landed on the beach.

They built little houses
35 feet up in the trees.

And they waited. They would
go and they would come

and they would wait and come back.

And they finally had friendly contact.

First, a young woman

and then a few others.

And they then began to plan

a fresh fuller contact

and they left their wives
for the last time

and were gone five days.

On the fifth day, the men were surprised

on the beach by killers

that they had hoped would be friendly.

They left for the beach
five days before dying.

And Elisabeth Elliot tells it best.

Finally, the meaning for us here.

What does this mean to us?

His legacy to us?

What shall we say of this man's life

and his example to us?

We can't go back 68 years

to hear him preach or pray

or to talk to him.

We have the record.

We have the legacy.

What's our takeaway?

What's applicable to you and I this week?

This spring in 2018?

What are the lessons
and the message for us?

A few things.

First of all,

we must have realistic and
not romantic views

of our spiritual heroes.

Those who have inspired us,

have fed us and taught us,

have ministered the most to us

for the greatest help and blessing,

are never perfect Christians.

They're flawed; they have blind spots.

They have prejudices.

They have needs. They have struggles.

They have sins.

They're wrong in some areas.

They can fail you.

They will, at times, disappoint you.

And they don't have all the answers.

So, like Jim Elliot in his day,

he viewed his spiritual leaders

with realism.

He didn't idolize them.

We shouldn't idolize them

or romanticize them

or praise them wrongly.

Scripture says whose faith follow.

And so, we should have a realistic view

of those in history

and of those we follow today.

Secondly, a lesson we should
learn from this is this:

A consistent and faithful life.

A consistent and faithful life

without martyrdom is as herioc

as a martyr's death.

Think about it.

Five men on that beach

surprised suddenly.

A spear attacks and it takes 2 minutes,

maybe, to die.

And it's over.

Does that somehow take superhuman power

more than living daily for Christ

for 70 years and running well to the end?

Both are heroic.

We know about David Brainerd only because

Jonathan Edwards
published his private diary.

But do you know anything
about John Brainerd?

David's younger brother.

No journal. No hero.

But he went and replaced David

among the Indians

and stayed 30 years.

Same caliber of man.

Same godliness.

He just never wrote about it.

Do you know anything about Burt Elliot,

Jim's brother?

Jim's there less than four years.

Burt's in Peru 30 years.

Of the four, Jim Elliot, Burt Elliot,

John Brainerd, who's more the hero?

We would know nothing about

the famous Brainerd or the famous Elliot

if four books had not been written.

No books - no heroism.

But it's heroic to faithfully live
for Christ where you are,

keep serving,

obeying God's will for you,

year in and year out,

doing what God's called you to do.

Dying for Christ suddenly

is not more glorious

than living for Him for 50 years.

Living long term in faithful service

is what we're called to do.

God determines the names

and the numbers of the martyrs.

And He determines who is not one.

So, the McCheyne's, the William Borden's,

the Keith Green's, the Jim Elliot's

are few in number who die early.

They are so few.

The majority of Christians
get the privilege

and heroism of living 30, 40, 50,

70 years walking with God.

The George Muller's... he was 90.

Leonard Ravenhill - he was 87.

Keith McCloud - late 70's.

Bill McCloud - 80.

Bob Jennings - in his sixties.

Conrad Murrell - 89.

It's the little things done

in persevering faithfulness

that are worthy of praise and notice.

A Belfast detective

in Belfast, Northern Ireland,

during the days of the bombings of the IRA

and the protestant conflict,

a Belfast detective read

Jim Elliot's life.

And he said I was afraid every day

to go into that battle zone.

I had fear every day.

Fear for my family.

But I read Jim Elliot's life,

and it transformed me.

He said if Jim Elliot can go in there

with courage for Christ, so can I.

That's a takeaway.

Faithfulness to Christ

in the small things is as great

of heroism as dying a martyr's death.

Thirdly, what does this mean for us?

More than ever, arise and go.

Go into all the world
and preach the gospel

to every creature.

What are you pursuing?

You young men, are you as focused

in any degree as Jim Elliot was?

Are you wandering?

Are you just aimless?

Or what are you focusing on?

What is God's purpose for your life

in light of kingdom purposes?

Are you settling in?

You young couples,

middle-aged couples,

are we settling in?

Are you settling in for a
good old U.S.A. lifestyle

of ease, fun, and comfort?

Have you ever been willing to go?

And have you truly surrendered

only wanting God's will?

If not, you need to start all over again

on your kingdom-first seeking

and deal with this.

You think about places right now.

Lebanon.

We have brethren there right now,

for the most part -

as far as long term - laboring alone.

Couples are needed.

Mature, godly, self-denying

single men are needed there right now.

Mexico.

Tim and Diego are going soon to Ecuador.

Many places God is opening doors

and working.

So where do you fit in the scheme

of God's purpose of serving Him?

If not you, who?

If not now, when?

If not you, why?

What are you holding on to?

What can or what will you

give your life to

that's more glorious or eternal

than what Jim Elliot lived for?

For the five young
wives in their twenties,

MarLou McCully,

Olive Fleming,

Barbara Youderian,

Rachel Saint, and Betty Elliot -

the longing of their numb and mute hearts

after their husbands died

was echoed by words found

in Jim's diary written before he died

in Ecuador.

He wrote, "I walked out
to the hill just now.

It is exalting and delicious

to stand embraced by the shadows

of a friendly tree with the wind

tugging at my coat.

And the heavens calling for my heart

to gaze in glory and give oneself

to God again.

What more could a man ask?

Oh, the fullness! The pleasure!

The sheer excitement of
knowing God on earth!

I care not if I never raise
my voice again for Him,

if only I may love and please Him.

Perhaps, in mercy, He may give me

a host of children that I may lead them

to explore His delicacies.

But if not,

if I may but see Him

and smile into His eyes,

oh, then... then, nothing will matter.

Only Him."

O church, arise.

Let's sing it together.

O church, arise.