On Leaving A Legacy Series

- Exodus 1:8 is a pretty famous verse. For good reason too, it provides a nice summary of our situation as we move into the story of Exodus and the miraculous deliverance of Israel from Egypt:

a. Israel is in Egypt.

b. They are there because of Joseph.

c. When Israel got there, they were highly favored because of Joseph.

d. Now years have passed and Joseph is a distant, obscure memory.

e. Israel has grown greatly over the years and are now seen as a threat to Egypt rather than an invited guest.

- Clearly all of that is not found in that single verse, but for those familiar with the story it provides a nice shorthand of where we are, what’s behind, and what’s ahead.

- This finds us on the precipice of another great story in the Old Testament. We’ve been going through the stories of Joseph for three months now, examining his character amid crisis. If you have even a rudimentary grasp of the Bible, you know that Exodus is the story of God calling Moses to lead the Israelites out of captivity and toward the Promised Land.

- We are not going to get into that second story. We are simply going to conclude the first.

- We have in the last verse of Genesis the death of Joseph. He fought the fight and finished the course. He lived a life of faithfulness despite persistent and weighty setbacks and obstacles.

- I said at the beginning of this sermon series that I think Joseph needs to be rated at the top in thinking of great Old Testament saints. I don’t mean important – that distinction would likely go to Abraham, Moses, or David. But Joseph comes through his life as quite possibly the greatest Old Testament saint, with probably only Job as competition. He didn’t have the serious moral failings that almost every Old Testament saint seems to have on their resume.

- So here we are at the end of Joseph’s life. This provides us a good moment to talk about the legacy you leave behind.

1. JOSEPH REVEALS THE INCREDIBLE IMPACT ONE LIFE CAN MAKE.

- Genesis 50:15-21.

- I think many times we act like fate is the determining factor on how things turn out. It is a source of regular frustration for me to hear people say all the time when something happens, “Well, it must have been God’s will.” As though everything that happens is God’s will. It isn’t. We live in a fallen world and people often do things that are not in God’s perfect will. But people just presume that if it happened it must have been something God wanted to have happen.

- In truth, so much of what happens is in our hands. God has given us the dignity of consequence. What we do matters.

- As such, whether we live our lives passionately for God or with compromise and mediocrity or with a blatant disregard for the divine – all those choices impact our lives and our eternity as well as the lives and eternity of those around us.

- Just to use a simple example: we’ve all been in a meeting that is careening out of control, with personalities and agendas ratcheting up the tension. Then someone (often the most mature person in the room) steps up and helps everyone work through the problem with humility and grace. You all leave an hour later smiling and in full agreement on the best way to handle the situation. It’s easy to look at that and say, “Well, the meeting turned out great!” But you have to stop and acknowledge that the meeting turning out that way was not inevitable. It’s could have even more easily broken up with acrimony and anger. But it was one person who made the difference. Their presence made a huge impact in that moment.

- Now, we take that truth and expand it out to all of our lives:

a. The mother whose presence gives confident love to all her children, which serves as a foundation for them to go out into the world.

b. The businessman who puts what’s right before money.

c. The pastor who actually believes what he’s preaching.

d. The grandfather who pours his character into his grandchildren.

e. The friend who doesn’t give up on you when everyone else walks away.

- I know this isn’t a new truth to anyone in this room. We’ve all seen “It’s a Wonderful Life.” But the problem isn’t that we don’t know this truth. The problem is that we forget to live as though it’s true.

- We start to doubt that we matter.

- We start to discount our presence.

- We get discouraged and dejected.

- We get diverted into merely being entertained.