Dock Resource Kit

Sunday sermon, 26 October 2025

Summary

This week Michael spoke to us about picking up the mantle — the passing of prophetic authority from Elijah to Elisha, and what it teaches us about how God forms us. We explored how the “mantle” represents a divine calling that is not chosen by us but entrusted to us by God. Michael reminded us that, like Elijah, we are each called to form others — in our families, in our church, and in our communities. The mantle we receive and pass on is one of servanthood, transformation, and power. True formation happens when we step beyond comfort, serve one another in humility, allow God to change us deeply, and trust in His power that continues to work through every generation. The challenge for us is simple but profound: will we pick up the mantle God has placed before us?

Key Points & Takeways

God chooses who carries the mantle. - Elijah didn’t choose Elisha; God did. Formation begins with obedience to God’s calling, not our own preferences.

The mantle represents calling and inheritance. - In Scripture, passing the robe or mantle signifies the transfer of authority and identity. Elijah’s cloak symbolised the prophetic office, but more deeply, it pointed to God’s continuing work through generations.

The mantle is one of servanthood. - Elisha began not as a powerful prophet but as Elijah’s servant. True formation means serving others — humbly, practically, and sometimes in unseen or unglamorous ways.

The mantle brings transformation - Elisha burned his plough and oxen, symbolising a complete break with his old life. Formation always requires surrender — letting go of comfort, routine, and control so God can reshape us.

The mantle carries God’s power. - The same God who parted the waters for Moses and Elijah empowered Elisha — showing that God’s power isn’t tied to one person or era. We serve the same living God today; His Spirit still equips and empowers us for His purposes.

We must choose to pick up the mantle. - Elisha had to pick up the mantle after Elijah dropped it. God’s call is given, but we must respond. Formation requires an active “yes” to God’s invitation.

Dock Discussion Questions

  1. Elijah was commanded by God to anoint Elisha — he didn’t choose his successor. What does this tell us about how God directs our relationships of formation and discipleship today?

  2. Elisha burned his plough and oxen as a sign of complete commitment to God’s call. What might “burning the plough” look like in your own life — letting go of comfort or security to follow God’s leading?

  3. Michael described the mantle as one of servanthood, transformation, and power. Which of these aspects do you most identify with right now, and which do you find most challenging?

  4. Who might God be calling you to “form” — to invest in, encourage, or help grow in faith — and what practical step could you take this week to begin that process?

Long-form, edited transcript

Formation
Passing The Mantle

1 Kings 19:19-20, 2 Kings 2:1-14
1 Sam 18:3-4, Matt 28:19-20

Introduction

We have been looking at the stories of Elijah and Elisha found in 1 & 2 Kings, looking at how God formed, and what that teaches us about how God forms us. In the last two weeks we looked at Elijah’s iconic showdown with Israel’s King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and the state-sanctioned prophets of Baal.

Despite Elijah’s success in that showdown, and Israel turning back to worshipping Yahweh, Elijah, fearing for his life retreats to Mt Sinai in despair. God appears to Elijah in the still small voice, encourages Him and commands him to anoint a new king in Aram, in Israel; and to anoint Elisha as prophet in his place.” (1 Kings 19:15b – 16)

This week we will look at Elijah’s commissioning of Elisha and the passing on of prophetic authority. We will think about what the relationship between Elijah and Elisha tells us about our own formation.

Scripture Reading

1 Kings 19:19-21

19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 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?”

21 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 servant.

2 Kings 2:1-14

2 When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.”

But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

3 The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” Elisha replied, “so be quiet.”

4 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho.”

And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.

5 The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” he replied, “so be quiet.”

6 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.”

And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them walked on.

7 Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”

“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.

10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”

11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.

13 Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

In these two passages of scripture we have all of the Biblical narrative of Elijah and Elisha interacting with one another. It may seem like less than we might expect for two such significant biblical figures. Yet even in these relatively short accounts, there is so much to learn about how God forms us. Whilst there are many potential lenses through which to examine this passage, today we will focus on the passing on of the mantle between Elijah and Elisha. 

What is the Mantle - Biblical context and background.

The mantle is a robe, some translations of this narrative say “mantle,” some say “robe.” Elijah’s mantle is a robe, but, symbolically it is also so much more than a robe. There is rich symbolism in the use of mantles in the Bible and in other Ancient Near Eastern Texts. In 1 Samuel 18:3-4 – Jonathan makes a covenant with David, using his robe symbolically.

3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.

Jonathan is King Saul’s, son, the prince, the next in line to the throne. Passing his robe, his mantle, likely had legal significance, Jonathan is symbolically recognising David’s right to the throne, because David was anointed by the prophet Samuel at God’s command.

The symbolic passing of robes as having legal significance in the Ancient Near East is something that we also have extra biblical evidence for. Texts from Ugarit and Emar (both in modern Syria, and some of the most significant sources of ancient cuneiform tablets) indicate the significance of the passing of robes in matters of royal succession, in family inheritance. The transfer of a mantle was seen as symbolising the transference of position.

Think of the significance of Joseph’s robe in Genesis and in Genesis 37:23, when his brothers strip the robe off him before selling him into slavery, dispossessing him of his legal identity. In Ezekiel 16 - God uses metaphorical language to describe His relationship with Israel, linking covering someone with a cloak and committing to them in a binding covenant relationship (Ezek 16:8-16).

The use of a mantle, or cloak, is highly symbolic and the symbolism would have been plain for the reader to see. It just needs to be picked out for our modern eyes, because while we still use the idiom “passing on the mantle,” a little of the significance is lost to us. So, now we are all up so speed, three points about this mantle:

1.        Who Gets the Mantle?

2.        What does the Mantle Look Like?

3.        Picking up the Mantle.

 

Who Gets the Mantle?

Last week Abie unpacked Elijah’s moment on St Horeb, hearing God in the still small voice before being commissioned for three important tasks: anointing Hazael to be king of Aram (Syria), Jehu to be king of Israel, and to anoint Elisha as prophet in his place. (2 King 19:16)

Who chooses Elisha to succeed Elijah? There is not a question of, “will there be a successor? There is not a question of, “which successor will Elijah choose?” God has already chosen a successor, Elisha, Elijah need only obey the command of God to go and anoint him.

What does this tell us about our spiritual formation? First of all, there isn’t a question of, “should I be forming someone?”  What were Jesus’ final words to the disciples in Matt 28:19-20: 

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The command is clear, forming others is an essential part of our Christian lives. There isn’t really even a question of, “who should I be forming?” The question is who has God called us to form? Surely the answer to that question is something that only God can give us? Well, Yes, but thankfully He wrote it down! God gives us clear instruction in Scripture.

So, who are we called to form?

  • Your husband or wife

    • 1 Peter 3 – Gets bogged down in gender politics these days, and I understand the debate and complexities involved in understanding the cultural context of biblical instructions for husbands and wives. But at their heart, the instructions given to husbands and wives are designed for them to help to form one another in love.

    • 1 Peter 3:1b “If any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives”

    • 1 Peter 3:7 goes on to describe wives as co-heirs with their husbands of the gracious gift of life.

    • Ephesians 4:32 – says that spouses should be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave them.

    • Spouses are called to form one another.

  • Your children

    • 1 Tim 3:4 – (a dangerous verse to reference as a church leader) says that Church leaders should manage their families well.

    • Eph 6:4 – Calls parents not to exasperate their children but the train them and instruct them in the Lord.

  • People in your household

    • Those in Christian households are instructed to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Eph 5:21)

  • People in your church

    • Encourage and build each other up (1 Thes 5:11)

    • Speak truth in love (Eph 4:15)

    • Bear one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2)

    • Confess Our Sins (James 5:16)

    • Show Hospitality (1 Peter 4:9-10)

    • Devote ourselves to fellowship (acts 2:42-47)

    • Pursue unity (Romans 14:19; Philippians 2:1-2)

    • The list could go on and on. We are called to form each other. Those sitting to your left and right, in front and behind, those that you have not spoken to yet.

  • People in your community

    • As we already considered. Jesus calls us to make disciples of all nations.

    • Think of Jesus’ metaphor of salt and light in Matt 5, the sermon on the mount.

      • 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

It doesn’t have to be a single person, a one-to-one mentoring relationship, like Elijah and Elisha, we also know from the narrative in Kings that Elisha went on to lead the company of prophets. We too may be called to one-on-one mentorship, to leadership, or to be in peer relationships forming one another as equals. However we also form each other in community. God has a plan to use you to build up other people, to help to form other people, to be a blessing, an encouragement, to see things that perhaps no one else is in the right place to see, he just needs you to be obedient, like Elijah was obedient.

2. What does the Mantle look like?

If we are called to form others, passing on the mantle, what does the mantle that we are passing on, or being passed, look like? Three things to consider, it is a mantle of servanthood, a mantle of transformation, and a mantle of power.

Mantle of Servanthood

The mantle that Elisha received was not one of royal position, of being elevated above others. Elisha left everything behind and became Elijah’s servant (1 Kings 19:21) Elisha is descried as “the one who used to pour water on Elijah’s hands.” (2 Kings 3:11)

In the same way, we are called to serve God and serve others. Formation is serving. Serving is a key principle of the Kingdom of God. The son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a reason for many. (Matt 20:28 – Jesus’ response to the Disciples feeling indignant after James and John’s mother asks Jesus if they can sit at his left and right in heaven).

Two weeks ago after preaching on Elijah and Elisha, as I am doing now. Someone came up to me after the service, and I thought, oh amazing, someone wants to talk about the scripture, receive prayer, or as a question. Sadly, they came to tell me about a dead rat that they had found in the playground in the church garden. The juxtaposition from unpacking scripture with you to popping on my gloves and bagging up a dead rat was stark. But both are acts of service. I don’t highlight this story to bring myself glory, but to say, this is the way it should be. 

We are here to serve one another. You are all doing the same as you volunteer in ministry, when you serve on the PCC, when you give financially into the life of the church, when you make a meal for someone going through a difficult time, when you pray, when you message, when you call, when you meet together midweek. You are serving because God gives us a mantle of servanthood.

Mantle of Transformation

After Elijah places the mantle on Elisha, and Elisha responds to the call. Elisha slaughters his oxen and cooks it using the wood from the ploughing equipment (1 Kings 19:21). There is no going back for Elisha. He has completely severed the ties with his old life. Elisha sacrificed what was of greatest importance and destroyed the tools of his trade. In doing so Elisha broke with the comfort of the knowable, breaking with a job and life he knows, saying farewell to his parents. Elisha’s life was transformed, and not necessarily for a more objectively comfortable one. 

Elisha’s father Shephat had 12 teams of oxen ploughing a field, that is a lot of oxen and a big field, it is implied that Elisha came from a family with means. Yet Elisha is responding to a calling of itinerant ministry, or walking the desert roads, of putting himself in danger of death, of speaking truth to power, healing, rolling up his sleeves and working for the good of God’s people. It is not in most people’s nature to seek out discomfort.

This week I took my five-year-old daughter Eve on a day out and we stopped by St Alfrege’s Church in Greenwich. The things that she liked the most were the named pews, she was keen to have me read out all the plaques saying which family sat there. Whilst we may not have pews anymore in this church. As a leader in this church I get a fairly unique perspective and I’d say about 75% of you sit in the same place every week. It is human nature to search for comfort, to search for the knowable in an unknowable world. 

How often do we strive for routine because it is knowable predictable. We have to be careful, that our desire for familiarity, for controlling the uncontrollable doesn’t make us less available to be used by God. Are we willing to be stopped, to be paused, to speak to the person that we were not expecting to speak to, to be challenged, to be changed?

Vitally thought, we are transformed in two ways. We are transformed on earth, the relationships we talked about before, become relationships of formation, we take on a mantle of servanthood, we become a little less comfortable. Our lives are transformed on earth. We are also transformed in the heavenly realms.

As Abie looked at last week, we will experience ups and downs in our journey with God. Yet be assured, you were bought with a price (1 Cor 6:20), through Jesus death and resurrection, by faith, you are now a brother or sister of Christ (Rom 8:29), we were dead in our sin and are now alive in Christ (Eph 2:1-5), and have received the Holy Spirit as the promised seal guaranteeing our eternal life (Eph 1:13). You have been transformed through Christ. God’s mantle is a mantle of transformation.

Mantle of Power

The Mantle that God gives Elijah and Elisha is literally used by both of them to split the Jordan river. It is important not to lose sight of the power of God. 

7 Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. (2 Kings 2:7-8)

14 He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, ‘Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?’ When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over. (2 Kings 2:14)

Dale Ralph Davis, in his commentary on 2 Kings, gives us two important reflections on God’s power displayed in this narrative. That God’s power is not tied to a particular era, or person. 

Moses’ parting of the waters for Israel in 1400BC and Elijah and Elisha doing it 550 years later (850BC). In the same way God’s power is not limited to Jesus walking on earth, Pentecost, the Reformation, or the 18th century revivals. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). It is the power of God that does the forming, we need simply follow His leading. As Elisha declares in 2 Kings 2:14, it is not Elijah that gave power to the mantle, but the God of Elijah, and the God of Elijah was still present with Elisha, just as He is present with us today. 

3. Will we Pick up the Mantle?

This is less of a third point and more an opportunity to respond. Intiitally Elijah casts his mantle on to Elisha, the symbol of his prophetic office (1 Kings 19:19), ultimately we see in 2 Kings 2:13, Eisha has to pick up the mantle that Elijah has dropped. God calls Elisha, but Elisha has to take up the calling.

I could stand up here and talk to you about Elijah and Elisha, mantles, Jesus, for the rest of the day, but you have to decide to pick it up. I have asked you a lot of questions this morning, I believe this section of scripture has many challenges for us.

Who are we forming? Who is God calling us to form, which relationship will we commit to forming more intentionally this week.

We have been given a mantle of servanthood, of transformation and of power. Do we believe it? Is there an area of God’s calling on our lives that we need to lean into, to understand better, to express more fully? 

Will we pick up our mantle?

Closing Prayer

Lord God,

We thank You for the story of Elijah and Elisha — for reminding us that You are the God who calls, equips, and empowers through every generation.

Teach us to be people who not only receive Your mantle but also carry it faithfully — serving with humility, walking in transformation, and trusting in Your power.

Show us, Lord, who You are calling us to form, to encourage, and to bless.

Give us courage to step out of comfort and into calling, and faith to believe that the same Spirit who worked through Elijah and Elisha is working in us today.

May we be people who pick up the mantle and follow You wherever You lead.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.