Sacrificial Succession #20 – Mission Accomplished?

“In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” Judges 17:6

• President George W. Bush’s iconic speech on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003 with the banner ‘Mission Accomplished’ behind him sent the wrong message, even though what he actually said was, “Our mission [in Iraq] continues.”

• Joshua, too, may have sent the wrong message by sending home the eastern tribes during the conquest of Canaan (22:6-8). The job was not yet finished because not all the territory promised by God had been conquered, yet they were having a succession ceremony.

• Another weakness was that Joshua did not prepare successors like his predecessor Moses prepared him and Caleb. One of the consequences was the period of the Judges in Israel, when there were no successors.

• Judges descended into a time when everyone did as they saw fit (Judges 21:25). Judges is a stark reminder of the unintended consequences of NOT preparing successors and giving them time to prove themselves before handing over leadership.

• In a Sacrificial Succession the mission is accomplished when at least three generations of leader: Predecessor, Successor and Disciple are generationally involved in a transition in an ongoing way (2 Timothy 2:2).

• The point of the many Sacrificial Succession analogies shared in the book about serving, sacrificing and sustaining successors is that practicing each of these principles indicates the likelihood of your successional mission being accomplished.

• There are four roles and functions required of sacrificial leaders in a Sacrificial Succession: 1) Successors serving through their leadership roles (deakonos), 2) Disciples serving without expectation as servants do (doulos), 3) Incumbents serving successors by sacrificing their leaderships (lytron) Matthew 20:26-28 and 4) Sustainers as advocates for current leaders (paracletos, John 14:16,26) were all modelled perfectly by Jesus. Sacrificial Succession Podcasts

• Note that the sacrificial analogy here is that of freeing a slave or a victim of a kidnapping by paying the ransom price. The price must be acceptable to the one in authority, like Aslan’s sacrifice in Edmund’s stead to appease the White witch.

• The minimum criteria for ongoing success in a Sacrificial Succession is three generations of leader: 1) Predecessors, 2) Successors and their 3) Disciples, working together in relationship and partnership of serve, sacrifice for and sustain each other in the succession.

• Apostle Paul explains this inter-generational dependency and relationship to his successor Timothy: “And the things that you [Timothy, 2nd Generation] have heard me [Paul, 1st Generation] say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men and women [3rd Generation] who will be qualified to teach others [4th Generation] as well, 2 Timothy 2:2).

• Incumbents model and make known to successors everything they have learned from their predecessors. Helpers actively guide, and directly model sacrificial qualities to, successors throughout a leadership transition.

• How is your successional mission being accomplished? What steps are you taking to serve, sacrifice for and sustain successors?

• If you are not doing that, what must be done to accomplish a Sacrificial Succession?

• Lord, help me to continue my mission of Sacrificial Succession till it is finished!” Resolve to continue your mission of sacrificial succession till it is finished

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.