Level Five Living

A Pocket Paper
from
The Donelson Fellowship
______________

Robert J. Morgan
July 9, 2006 P.M. Service

 

Throughout history, we have had great philosophers trying to tell us what life is all about, like Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher of the Enlightenment, Kierkeguaard, who is considered to be the founder of existentialism, and Schopenhauer, who was famous for his pessimism.

 

And then we have the writers of bumper stickers.

 

These are philosophers, too, who boil down all of life’s great questions and answers in little statements short enough to be plastered on the bumper of your car.  Here are some examples:

 

Ø      If ALL ELSE Fails, stop using ALL ELSE.

 

Ø      Never Let Your Mother Brush Your Hair When She’s Mad At Your Father

 

Ø      Never Believe Generalizations

 

Ø      Always Avoid Alliteration

 

Ø      No Pressure No Diamonds

 

Ø      The Best Things in Life Are Not Things

 

Ø      No One Can Drive You Crazy Unless You Hand Them The Keys

 

Ø      Just When I Think I’m Winning The Rat Race, Along Come Faster Rats

 

Ø      Sacred Cows Make The Best Burgers

 

Ø      Maybe You Should Go To E-Bay And Buy A Clue

 

Perhaps my favorite bumper sticker is one that expresses the way we all sometimes feel. It says:  Attitudes are contagious; mine might kill you.

 

That’s why someone with a bad attitude can be very detrimental to a home or to a church or to a family or to any group of people.  And that’s why leaders, especially, must be people who know how to keep their attitudes healthy.  In 1 Kings 19, Elijah lost control of his attitude, but we saw this morning how God helped restore his soul.  Tonight, I’d like for us to look at the last paragraph in that chapter, for this is the passage in which Elisha is introduced to us—and the thing we immediately notice is his attitude.  Let’s start reading with 1 Kings 19:19:

 

So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. 

This is the only time Shaphat is mentioned in the Bible, but we know two things about him.  First, he was very wealthy and influential in the northern kingdom.  He evidently had lots of land, oxen, servants, and was an affluent man.  Second, he was a worshipper of Jehovah.  We know that became he named his son Elisha, which means “God is Salvation.”

 

He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. 

 

This doesn’t mean that Elisha was driving a plow that was hitched up to 24 oxen.  It means that there were eleven servants plowing the fields that day, and Elisha was in charge of them and he himself was plowing with a yoke of oxen.  He was the foreman on his father’s farm and he wasn’t afraid to work hard.  He was a strong and muscular young man.

 

Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him.

 

There’s more to that sentence than meets the eye.  Elisha undoubtedly knew who this man was.  Elijah was a legend in his own time, the most famous prophet in Israel, an outlaw from the government, a worker of miracles.  His cloak was the symbol of his prophetic office.  In my mind’s eye, I can picture the scene as this famous old solitary prophet approaches Elisha, who halts his oxen and watches him with curious interest.  Elijah removes his cloak—the symbol of his authority—and deliberately places it over the young man’s shoulders.  He perhaps spoke to him as well, telling him that God was calling him to succeed him as prophet.  It was a moment of decision, but Elisha didn’t ask for time to think about it nor did he hesitate.

 

Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah.  “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”

 

“Go back,” Elijah replied.  “What have I done to you?”

 

This is a Hebrew idiom which meant, “Go ahead; I’m not stopping you.”

 

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.

 

One of the most popular leadership and management books of the last several years has been Good to Great by Jim Collins.  Collins and his team of researchers studied eleven good companies that had become great companies, looking for trends and common denominators.  They found several common traits, and one chapter is devoted to company leadership.  Jim Collins coined a phrase that has since become popular in leadership lore:  Level Five Leadership.  He described different kinds of leadership styles as Level One Leaders, Level Two Leaders, and so forth.  The eleven “great” companies that he studied all had Level Five Leaders, and without exception Level Five Leaders were characterized by two traits.  First, they were relatively humble and deferred compliments to others and didn’t care who got the credit.  Second, they were driven - determined to make their companies successful.

 

I was reading about that at the very time I was studying the life of Elisha; and it struck me like a bolt of lightening that Elisha is a prime example of what Jim Collins was talking about.

 

We Need Humility

First, notice Elisha’s humility.  God prefers humble people, and humility is a requirement for service in His kingdom.  Notice the very last word of this paragraph:  Then (Elisha) set out to follow Elijah and become his attendant.  In other words, his servant.  And that’s the last we hear of Elisha in this book of the Bible.  He isn’t in chapter 20 or 21 (which is the story about Naboth’s Vineyard), or chapter 23, nor do we see him in 2 Kings 1.  He is there, present as the action unfolds, watching Elijah, but he isn’t mentioned in the text.  He’s a servant.

 

And that’s the way people viewed him.  Look at the way he is described in 2 Kings 3.  In this passage, three kings have assembled their armies for war, and one of them, Jehoshaphat, wants some spiritual guidance.  We read in 2 Kings 3:11:  But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord through him?”  An officer of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here.  He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”

 

There aren’t very many books or sermons on the subject of humility, and the reason is pretty obvious.  Anyone—certainly me—who writes or speaks on this subject is automatically a hypocrite.  Whenever we talk about humility, we do so hypocritically, because all of us are sinners by nature and choice; and the essence of sin is pride.  Humility is an attitude we chose and a grace that God cultivates in us over a long period of time.  But great people are humble people.

 

I haven’t been around or known very many great people—almost none—but I have on several occasions been in close proximity with Billy Graham, and this is what has impressed me the very most about him.  His voice, which is so authoritative and powerful in public, is soft and gentle in private, and it seems to me that his favorite word is “Certainly.” 

 

“Dr. Graham, can I have a moment with you?”  --Certainly.  “Dr. Graham, may we have our picture taken with you?”  --Certainly.  “Dr. Graham, would you do this or that?”  --Certainly.  He has a servant’s heart.

 

One of the most successful politicians of our age was Tip O’Neill, the Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts, who served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives for many years.  In his book, All Politics is Local, he said that someone once gave him some advice that made his career.  The legendary James Michael Curley was the mayor of Boston when Tip was beginning his career in politics.  Mayor Curley took him aside and told him, “Over the years, hundreds and hundreds of people will come to your office and ask for favors.  Some of these favors may be great, and some of them may be small.  Some may be important, and some may be trivial.  Some will be easy, and some will be difficult.”

 

He went on to say, “But always remember, for the person who comes to you, that favor is the most important thing in the world.  If he could take care of it himself, he wouldn’t be coming to see you.  So treat them all alike and try to help everybody—no matter how big or small the problem is.”

 

Tip O’Neill never forgot that.  One day in early 1966, for example, Tip was sitting alone in his congressional office in Boston waiting to go to an official banquet.  It was about seven o’clock in the evening.  The door opened, and a fellow walked in with a problem.  It seems his son had married a Turkish woman whose parents wanted to remain in the United States.  Tip said that he would file a bill in Congress allowing them to stay.  In those days, that’s all it took.  He did so, and the bill finally passed.  The man was so grateful that he later told Tip it has restored his faith in the American government.

 

In the next election, the man insisted on giving Tip a party to help him with his campaign.  And what a party it was!  As it turned out, the man was very wealthy, and he set up a tent on his estate, hired an orchestra, and invited a thousand friends—all because of one act of kindness.[1]

 

It reminds me of Ronald Reagan, down on his hands and knees at the hospital following his assassination attempt, wiping up the water he spilled so that the nurse wouldn’t have to do it.

 

Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

 

Elisha, the greatest miracle man of the Bible apart from Christ Himself, was known as the man who poured water on the hands of Elijah.  He was a servant-leader.

 

We Need Drive

But the other aspect of Elisha is that he was driven.  He was committed.  He had passion and determination and drive.  Verse 21 says that Elisha took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat.  It was his way of burning his bridges behind him.  He was determined to do the will of God for his life, no turning back.

 

When I was in Japan last year, I met a couple who were serving there as missionaries and who had become friends with Jonathan and Teresa Snow.  The woman began telling me about her parents, who had been missionaries in Vietnam and had actually served there during the war.  She told me that her father had written a book about his experiences; so when I returned to the States, I ordered the book and found it engrossing.  The man’s name was Sam James; and prior to becoming a missionary, he had served in the United States Navy, spending four years in the Pacific during the Korean War.  One day, not long after giving his life to Jesus Christ, he stood on the catwalk below the flight deck of his aircraft carrier, looking out over the Asian shores and sensing that God was dealing with his heart.  He bowed his head and told the Lord he was willing to go anywhere for the kingdom. Almost immediately, an impression formed in his mind that God wanted him to serve overseas among people who have had little opportunity to learn about Jesus.

 

After his discharge, he wrote to the Southern Baptist Foreign Missions Board expressing his interest in going to Vietnam as a missionary.  The Secretary for the Orient wrote back, saying that the Southern Baptists had no missionaries in Vietnam and no immediate plans to send any there.  Sam James was disappointed, but he enrolled in college and spent several years at Wake Forest University and Southeastern Seminary getting his training; and just as he graduated the Foreign Mission Board announced they were making Vietnam one of their mission fields.  Shortly thereafter, Sam and his family were appointed to Vietnam.  War clouds were on the horizon, and as Sam and his wife Rachel were commissioned, in 1962.  At that service on the platform, the executive secretary of the Southern Baptist Board told him something very poignant:  “You are going to Vietnam.  Things are not looking very good there for the future.  Take whatever you want to take.  Take your piano, your appliances, and anything else you want to take.  But take them in your hands.  If they ever get into your heart, you are through as a missionary.”

 

The director could say that to them with integrity because as a missionary in China he and his family had three times lost everything as they fled from the invading Japanese and later from the Communists.  His words proved to be prophetic, but they went willingly.  Elisha left everything, killed his oxen, burned his yoke, and committed himself without reserve.[2]

 

I want to show you a verse I found just last week in my quiet time that speaks to this very thing.  Look at Joshua 1, which is one of the most encouraging chapters in the entire Bible.  If I ever preached a series of messages on “Great Chapters in the Bible,” this would be one of them.  It begins:  After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide:  “Moses my servant is dead.  Now then, you and all these people get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give you….

 

Verse 5 says:  No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.  As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you or forsake you….

 

The chapter goes on to give Joshua instructions, and through him the Lord gives instructions to the Israelites.  They are to prepare themselves, fortify themselves, sanctify themselves, and prepare in three days time to cross the Jordan and began occupying the Holy Land.  And what was their response?  Look at verse 16:  Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

 

Notice those two words—which is the Christian’s bumper sticker:  Whatever… wherever…!  If we had a bumper sticker pasted to our backs that expressed our philosophy of life, that’s it:  Whatever… Wherever….

 

That was Elisha’s commitment.  And that’s the kind of leaders and the kind of Christians and the kind of people the Lord is still looking for:  Humble, passion-driven people, willing to be servants, willing to say:  Whatever, wherever. 

 

I heard Him say, “Come follow.”

That was all.

My gold grew dim;

My soul went after Him.

Who would not follow if they hard Him call?

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[1] Tip O’Neill, All Politics is Local (New York:  Random House, 1994), pp. 169-171

[2] Sam James, Servant on the Edge of History (Garland, TX:  Hannibal Books, 2005), pp. 14-15.