Better Chaplain Series - Train Your Replacement

Our modern military is in constant motion. Commanders change stations on average every two years, chaplains every four years, and enlisted members every four years. Not only that, but a twenty-year retirement means that after five or so moves, a chaplain is likely to leave the service. There are outliers, but the statistics show that chaplaincy is motion: our time at any duty station surrounded by the same people has an expiration date.

God—in his infinite wisdom—has written an expiration date on every human body (Psalm 90:3-4,9-10). The wisdom we gain, the Bible verses we believe and memorize, the illustrations we use, and the skills we acquire will all be swallowed by the grave.

If Enoch had not been carried off to Heaven, if Elisha were still teaching in Jericho, if JC Ryle were still bishop of Liverpool, if Preston Taylor were still the Air Force Chief of Chaplains, then we would have no need to train their replacements, and for us younger men (than them) we would have no audience for the advanced wisdom of centuries of pastoral elites available, nor would we want anyone to listen to us over those living, breathing, time-tested faithful pillars of Christianity.

But God has created in this world and in his church a constant need for discipleship and regeneration and replacement and replenishment. Wisdom is constantly lost when great saints die. Muscles and mind are returned to dust. Important information is sealed in silence. And, chaplain, it will happen to you much sooner than you probably expect.

If we want the name of Christ to persist among our followers and in our world, if we want to be found as faithful watchmen on the day of Judgment, if we desire to bless our progeny, then we must be training our replacements. Share the story, teach how to know God’s will from his Word, show the future generation how to continue in the dominion of the earth and church of which we are stewards over, and especially make known the way to the Father through Christ's life, death, and resurrection. How will they hear without someone preaching to them? "Where there is no vision, the people perish." (Proverbs 29:18) "My contention is with you, O Priest...my people perish for lack of knowledge." (Hosea 4:4-6)

Do you know that you neither can keep your teachers forever nor do you have infinite time to invest in your disciples?

Yes, I know. Hush. ~ Elisha (2 Kings 2:1-15)

Key Verse: 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, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you… ~ Matthew 28:19-20

More:

1. Many great teachers have held to a sort of baptismal progression all the way back to John the Baptist. In essence, the person who baptized you was baptized by someone else, they were baptized by someone else, and so on and so forth until we get all the way to John in the Jordan River. The Swiss Brethren complicated that when they could not find a faithful minister to baptize them so they baptized each other (which I believe was legitimate), but the principle is still mostly sound. More importantly, most Christians would be able to draw a direct line in their gospel hearing to the Apostles. The call to make disciples is to continue that tradition. Will Christ find faith on the earth when he returns? If he doesn't, let it not be because you didn’t train (disciple) your replacement. If he does, woe to the minister who did not preach the gospel so that the rocks were forced to cry out.

2. What would the world look like if Moses had not trained Joshua? Or if Elijah had not trained Elisha? Or Jesus had not trained the Apostles? Of if Paul had not trained Timothy and Titus? Or if your mentors had not trained you? Consider that everyone who got off the Ark knew the power of God's terrible wrath and the joy of his salvation; for millions of people living today someone in their lineage from here to the Ark did not think that discipling their replacement with that information was necessary. Are you willing to subject the world to a future where the knowledge of God's favor (Genesis 6:8) died with you?

3. Attributed to Abraham Lincoln is the quote, “Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.” Godliness is of great value forever in the world to come, but for those on this earth we only have a finite amount of time to impart it to others. Isaac Newton made famous the idea that if we have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. How can you help someone onto the shoulders of giants?

4. If you knew you were dying, how would you live differently? I have to break it to you: Bad news, you’re dying. At best you’ve got 100 years left, at worst you might not survive today (Psalm 90:12, Psalm 39:4, Luke 12:19-20). Let the short nature of military chaplaincy train you to equip someone now and so long as you have breath in your lungs, so that they may carry on the work when you’re gone. (Confer Philippians 1:22-26)

5. Resources:

MacArthur, John. Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2002.

Wiersbe, Warren. 50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Spiritual Giants of the Faith. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2009.

Friel, Todd. On the Shoulders of Giants. DVD. Newnan, GA: Burning Bush Communications, 2012.