Legacies of Light: Bert Elliot

Ever feel that tug to measure your life against someone else’s highlight reel? We go straight to the root of comparison and find a better way, guided by Scripture and the contrasting stories of two missionaries and two apostles. We begin with a clear distinction: learn from other believers without longing for their life. From there, we trace how the Bible uses biography to teach truth, why Hebrews calls the church a gallery of “living biographies,” and how Paul urges us to imitate faith rather than copy outcomes, gifts, or platforms.

The heart of the conversation lands in John 21, where Jesus tells Peter hard news about the road ahead and then says, “Follow me.” Peter glances at John: “What about him?” Jesus answers, “What is that to you? You follow me.” That line resets our compass. Your race is uniquely assigned. Your gifting and personality are God’s creative handiwork. Trying to run someone else’s route only breeds restlessness. To make it tangible, we pair Jim Elliot’s brief, blazing influence with Bert Elliot’s quiet, decades-long service. One was a meteor who inspired thousands to go; the other a steady star who showed us how to stay. Both were faithful. Both mattered.

We unpack four practical principles to resist unhealthy comparison: recognize your God-designed race, embrace your wiring, remember that others carry unseen burdens, and reject the false promise that comparison can deliver joy. Along the way, we expose the “greener pasture” myth, name the soul diseases that comparison spreads—pride, despair, apathy, envy—and offer a better focus: fix your eyes on Christ so you don’t grow weary or lose heart. Whether you feel like a meteor or a plotter, there is freedom and joy in faithfulness. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs the reminder, and leave a review with one takeaway that will shape your week.

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Transcript

Learn Without Longing For Their Life

Your Race Is Yours

Jim And Elizabeth Elliot’s Global Impact

Scripture As Living Biography

Imitate Faith Not Experiences

When Imitation Turns To Competition

Meteors And Plotters: Two Missionaries

Peter’s Calling And Cost In John 21

Don’t Compare Peter To John

Four Principles To Resist Comparison

The Greener Pasture Myth

Soul Diseases Of Comparison

Keep Your Eyes On Christ, Not Others

Faithfulness Is The Measure

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Learning from other believers is not the same thing as longing to live the life they have, to experience the same blessings that God gives them, to have the same spiritual gifting. You have never been told by God to run someone else's race. Your race is yours. By God, every missionary will not become world famous like Jim and Elizabeth Elliott. In the end, God does not measure faith. Perhaps if you're older in the faith, they served as missionaries in Ecuador in 1952. Less than four years after beginning their missionary service there, Jim, along with four other men, were speared to death by the natives. They had hoped to have a face-to-face meeting as they flew that little piper plane onto that sandy bar down in that valley. Their story went global. The news of their martyrdom became a catalyst, really, for a generation of individuals for world missions. Jim's biography would become a best seller. Thousands of people would be impacted to answer the call to world missions and go to the fields of the world. And that's often the way God works. Isn't it? He takes tragedy all according to his plan and brings from it triumph. He uses the biography of a believer to inspire us, to convict us, to challenge us, to perhaps warn us, rebuke us. That's why I read one biography after another, and for many years, I learn from their mistakes as I see what they did or what they went through. I'm convicted by their example. And I'm also very encouraged because it lets me know that the challenges of the Christian life from century to century really don't change. They don't change. Most of all, it's a reminder that God is not timing how fast we run our race or how many people we influence along the way. Faithfulness is the true measure of running your race well. You know, when you think about it, the Bible is a book of biographies, isn't it? It seems that God favors teaching volumes of truth by wrapping it around the lives of men and women, young and old. The Apostle Paul wrote, didn't he, in Romans chapter 15, that the history of the nation Israel has been recorded for our instruction, our observation. He writes, it's been given to us for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, that is the record of their history, we might have hope. The writer of Hebrews wrote in chapter 12 that we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses. So, because of that, let us also lay aside every weight that besetting sin that clings so closely to us, that dogs are heals, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. That cloud of witnesses are the biographies of faithful believers who've gone on before us. By the way, you can learn not only from the lives of people in the Bible, but those down through the ages who've faithfully served God, some of them even alive in your lifetime and mine. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, Join in imitating me and keep your eyes, note this, keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. In other words, keep your eyes on other people who are living a godly life and learn from them. Now, ultimately, we're we're focusing on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, which is why Paul will clarify later to the Corinthian church, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. So even the Apostle Paul, he's worthy of being studied, being watched only if he imitates the character of Christ. The writer of Hebrews put it this way: remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. In other words, watch how they live, take note of where they end up, and if the way they're going is godly and it's leading in a righteous manner, well, imitate their faith. By the way, let me add a caution here, beloved. You're not told to copy somebody's experiences, their ministry, their occupation, their gifting. We are imitating their faith, that is, their resolve to follow Christ. Have you ever thought about the fact that one of the purposes we meet together on the Lord's Day is to observe one another and be encouraged? Hebrews 10, 24 says it this way. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting the meet together as is the habit of some. So the assembly on the Lord's Day is a place to observe living biographies. One another. Someone in here may be observing you. Your attitude, your spirit, your joy, your service, and you're inspiring them, and you may never have a word with them. But they see you and they're inspired to follow what they read in your living biography. Now we have to be careful here, beloved, not to allow imitation to become competition. We're imitating integrity, not ministry. The places where God puts us. The danger in watching other believers is that we are, frankly, we're imitators by nature, aren't we? I mean, that starts very young. You want the same lunchbox everybody else has, and the same backpack, and then the same car, and then whatever. We have that naturally. But the danger is in watching other believers is that it can lead you to wonder why God isn't doing with you what he's doing with them. And that's where imitation can become comparison in the wrong way. That believer that you admire for their walk with God might start a business and it prospers. You start a business and it goes bankrupt. They have an illness and they recover, and you get it, and you just can't get past it. Learning from other believers is not the same thing as longing to live the life they have, to experience the same blessings that God gives them, to have the same spiritual gifting that God has given them. That's when the imitation of faith turns into a comparison of life. And that's when imitation can become competition. You have never been told by God to run someone else's race. Your race is yours. Uniquely designed by God. Every missionary will not become world famous like Jim and Elizabeth Elliot. Every biography will not become a bestseller. This is a reminder that in the end, God does not measure fame, He measures faithfulness. Located next to the country of Ecuador, where Jim and Elizabeth served, is the country of Peru, I've had the opportunity to visit each of these countries. Another missionary couple, Bert and Colleen, were serving when Jim Elliott and his fellow missionaries were martyred. Of course, news spread around the globe. Everyone was stunned by their death. Books and movies would be produced about their ministry. Their children would grow up and serve the Lord. We've had Nate Saint, one of the sons of a martyr missionary, Steve Saint, has spoken here. But this other couple, he probably never heard of Bert and Colleen. Even though their ministries were only about 350 miles apart. Now, if you compare Jim and Bert, they would have entirely different ministries. They were very different missionaries. Jim was a natural leader, a gifted speaker. He was a bold influence. When he was martyred, he was only 28 years of age. Bert would live to the age of 87. He was a quiet disciple maker, church planter. He worked often with his hands. He would teach the Peruvians how to manage crops and rotate them and tend animals. Jim served for less than four years. Bert would serve 55. Elizabeth Elliot actually knew Bert and Colleen. And years later, she would write this, and I quote I often think of Bert and Colleen as examples of godly self-sacrifice, simple perseverance in jungle heat, mildew, mud, and rain, humbly ministering to lonely and needy people. Bert and Colleen both passed away in 2012. Several years ago, Bert was asked to compare his ministry with Jim, which is probably the wrong question to ask somebody, right? But Bert smiled and said this. I was kind of like a faint star rising night after night. On another occasion, Bert referred to Jim as a meteor. And he to himself said he was a he was a plotter. He just plotted along. He refused to compare. He knew that the gospel is spread not just by meteors, but by plotters. I read that during their fifty-five years in Peru, Bert and Colleen would travel by canoe, on horseback, or walk for days on foot, camping out in the jungle, facing illnesses alone, flood seasons, even bandits who threatened their lives. They just kept plodding through the jungles, the Andes mountain regions, and into coastal cities in Peru. Someone wrote it this way. Jim's martyrdom inspired thousands to go. Bert's life showed us how to stay. These two missionary biographies brought to my mind a text of scripture we didn't get to, but I want to cover it because it it is an inspired account of what Jesus is going to say to one of his disciples. Before ascending back into heaven, you may remember if you were with us, Jesus prepared breakfast for these disciples, Peter, James, and John, and Nathaniel and Thomas, some others unnamed. After breakfast, he recommissioned Peter. Let me show you what happened after that. So take your Bibles to John chapter 21 and let's find out what happens next. It's easy to miss, but it's so significant for us today as we imitate others while being careful not to compare in the wrong way. Let's get a running start at verse 15. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And he said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. And he said to him, Tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, Do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep. Now, with that, let's carry on. He makes a prediction. Truly, truly, I say to you, Peter, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted. But when you were old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. In other words, Peter, when you were young, you were independent and free, and you could go where you wanted to go and do what you wanted to do, unfettered. Sort of unlimited. And you know Peter would go anywhere. But when you're old, Jesus says, somebody's going to stretch out your hands. That's an expression used by an executioner who is tying someone's hands to the crossbeam to prepare to crucify them. We know from history that was Peter's future. Clement of Rome in AD 96 referred to Peter's martyrdom. In the second century, Origen wrote that Peter was put to death by crucifixion. Peter himself wrote in 2 Peter 1.14 that Jesus had made it clear to him now he was going to die. Even though he didn't give us the details, he knew. Now, here in John 21, verse 19, the Lord follows that prediction up by saying, after saying this, he said to him, follow me. Literally, Peter, keep on following me. You can render that, keep on plotting. It's implied, though, Peter, follow me all the way to your death. Ever thought about the fact that Peter would live the rest of his life in the shadow of his own cross. Now, with that, uh, I want to carry forward and find out what happens next. Verse 20. Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper. This is the way John refers to himself. Always in this, in this case, it's never, he never names himself. And he had, this is the one who had said, Lord, who is going to betray you? Now, verse 21, when Peter saw him, that is John, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? In other words, what are you going to do? What are you going to do with John? How is he going to die? How long is he going to live? What's his ministry going to look like? What's his life going to look like? Now get this, verse 22. Jesus said to him, If it is my will that he remain until I come, he's referring to the rapture, I come back. What is that to you? You follow me. Peter, don't worry about my plans for John. I have mapped out a race for him. Yours is different. You just follow me. Well, this brought to my mind a question. How do we avoid unbiblical comparisons while at the same time allowing ourselves to be stirred and inspired by people we see or know or read about? How do you keep a balance in this regard? Let me suggest four principles to help us. First, recognize that your race of faith is uniquely designed by God and it's for you. Peter is going to reach primarily a Jewish audience. John is going to reach a much broader Gentile audience. Peter is this bold preacher who launched the New Testament church age with that courageous sermon. John is going to pastor a small church for several years. Peter's nickname was the rock. He had that first, by the way. John's nickname was the Elder, the statesman. Peter was impulsive, John was steady, Peter was loud, John was reflective and quiet. Peter will die courageously as a martyr. John is going to live into his 90s, as best we can determine. And there's debate on this, but he perhaps is the only disciple to die a natural death. So recognize, number one, that your race of faith is uniquely designed by God. Secondly, remember that your gifting and personality are the creative handiwork of God. God's put you together differently. One source I read said that Peter shows us the grit of discipleship. John shows us the heart of discipleship. Two different men, two different personalities, two different physiques, two different races to run. The point of 1 Corinthians 12, which we could have easily looked at as well in detail, is to inform us that we're all uniquely different. We're adding 33 or 34, I can't remember, today, to our membership. Very different. Different roles to play. But we all have a place in the body of Christ. He goes on in that chapter with the analogy of a body. Some are feet and some are ears and some are eyes, some are visible, muscle. There is invisible support systems keeping us alive, resourcing us. Some are sensitive, flesh. Others are our calloused hands. In other words, face up to who you are and come to terms with who you are not. Grammar's rugged, but you get the point. I referenced an interview that's still swirling in my mind and heart with Chuck Swindol. I mentioned him a few days, uh a few Sundays ago, maybe last Lord's Day, this veteran pastor, now 90 years old, nearly completely blind. When I asked him what kept him in the race, pastoring for more than 60 years, he gave several reasons for it. The first one surprised me a little, but the more I thought about it, and it surfaced again in our study today, it fit perfectly with the text and what the Lord is teaching. Teaching us. He said this. Well, to start with, you need three things. First, know who you are. Second, accept who you are. And third, be who you are. Know who you are. How God has made you. Accept that. Accept it. And then know that God has determined you're to live accordingly to how He's put you together. Heart and soul, mind and body. Jesus is effectively saying here, Peter, look, you're not John. I've got something different for you. Your life isn't to be compared with his life. Your ministry, Peter. We know from studying the rest of Scripture that it's going to be a busy tour. It's going to take him. He's surrounded by people. He's going to go from Jerusalem all the way to modern Turkey. John, you're going to be just sort of tucked away in this little village called Ephesus, and you're going to spend a lot of time in obscurity writing. And then over to an island where you're going to be exiled for three years alone to write. So he would write the Gospel of John, first, second, third John, the book of Revelation. Now that kind of life would have driven Peter mad. It was suitable for John. Remember that your gifting and personality are the creative handiwork of God. Here's another principle to keep in mind. Number three, remind yourself that the object of comparison is another human being. Which means they have their own problems, they have their own challenges. I have the privilege of interviewing, meeting with every individual on the platform today. And it's a joy of mine to meet with them. And I can tell you that to a man, to a woman, it is a story of challenge, unique suffering, difficulty, resolution. We have this, you know, this greener pasture myth that over there on the other side of the fence, you know, they're happier, they're more prosperous, they're more blessed, they seem to be more peaceful, they seem to have it together. We don't. If all you know about somebody's life is from Facebook or Snapchat or TikTok, The Wicked Witch is dead. I always think of that when I hear TikTok. I know it's ding-dong, but she's dead, whatever. And we're probably just as dead wrong to think that somebody else has it better. What does better mean, anyway? Paul writes in 2 Corinthians that those who measure themselves by one another, who compare themselves with others, are not wise. 2 Corinthians 10, 12. For one thing, remember, you are comparing your clay pot to another clay pot. Get to know them and they will tell you of their challenges and their suffering. Let me give you one final principle. Recognize that comparing your life to others, and I mean in this unhealthy, unbiblical manner, will never bring contentment, security, or joy. In other words, it is it's gonna it's gonna breed sinful infections in your mind and your soul. On the one hand, it can produce pride, arrogance, boasting. Yeah, I'm looking at somebody, and man, am I better than they are? I'm so much further down the road than they are. That's a disease of the soul. More often than not, it will produce discouragement. I'm not measuring up to where they are, that person. Uh uh, I'm way behind. Or it can breed uh apathy. Well, since I'm not as gifted as that person, I'm never gonna volunteer. God can't use me. I don't have as much to offer. I'm gonna sit out on the sidelines of ministry and service. It can breed envy. I can't believe God has used that person like that more than me. I'm just as deserving as they are. I want the breadth of ministry and opportunity they have, and let me tell you, that's like letting the air out of your tires. Contentment and joy and peace just leak out and leave you empty. I have admired F. B. Meyer. I have all his books he pastored a century ago. He once admitted that he struggled with the nagging thought that God's hand of blessing was always on someone else. And I look at him and I think, how gifted and blessed. But he had to battle that. So there's a blessing from watching or reading the biographies of others, and there is this danger. We can become preoccupied with other believers. And we're gonna want to run their race. That's gonna lead to trouble if we're too preoccupied with them. I remember when I was about 13 or 14, I was on a I was on a scooter racing another kid. He was on a mini-bike, and I was way ahead of him. Man, it was fun. Going down a gravel road. And I turned to look to see how far ahead I was, and I hit a pothole and that those handlebars jerked over and locked. And I went flying over those handlebars and landed in the ditch next to that gravel road. Fortunately, the ditch was filled with waste-high grass, and it was like landing on a mattress. I got up without a scratch so that I could become your pastor one day. Well, years ago, I tried to use that story to convince my wife that I ought to have a motorcycle because God gave me special protection. She used that story to tell me something else, which doesn't fit my sermon, so I'm not going to tell you what she said, but I didn't get a motorcycle. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that we can learn from this cloud of witnesses, but the next verse, two down, he says, but stay preoccupied with Christ, so that you will not grow weary or faint-hearted. Peter, don't become preoccupied with John. Don't focus on him, or you're gonna lose heart. You're gonna lose, you're gonna lose your hope. Instead, you, and in the original Greek, it the emphasis is there, you, he probably pointed it at him, you, Peter. You follow me. Peter was not meant to be John, John was not meant to be Peter. Jim Elliot was not Bert. Bert was not Jim. They were both missionaries in the same region, but with different ministries, different perspectives, different races to run. See, Jim Elliot was indeed a meteor. He lit up the sky for the glory of God for this brilliant moment in time. But his older brother, Bert, Bert Elliot, called himself a faint star. He would rise and go into the sky night after night, just plodding along. Bert Elliot is probably the Elliot you've never heard of. But through the faithful ministry of Bert and his wife Colleen, they would reach people tucked back into places that no one else would visit. And after 55 years of service, though, they had planted 150 churches. Never in the limelight, just quietly serving. God uses meteors and plotters alike. But for both to be used, including you and me, and we're somewhere between meteor and plotter, right? The secret for all of us is to slip into the sandals of Peter and hear the word of the Lord as he points his finger at your heart and mine. Look, you who you are, how you've been wired and gifted by God. You, I want you. Listen, you just follow.