Living Life to the Full: Sermon Three (LTF-03)
Living to Leave a Legacy
2 Timothy 4:6-7
This morning I want to start our message with one of the most profound questions you could consider in life - and that is this - What king of legacy do you want to leave behind for your family and friends when you pass? How do you want others to remember you? Do you want them to be known for how intelligent or educated you were, how articulate or animated you were, how well dressed or organized you were - is that what you really want to leave behind when you go?
Our series is called ‘Living Life to the Full.’ My title this morning is, ‘Living Life to Leave a Legacy.’
The reality is that every life leaves a legacy - that is not an option. The question is ‘What type of legacy do you want to leave?’ How ever you frame that question - the truth is that right now you are working on the legacy you are going to leave.
You see my friend, your family will have left in their hands primarily that which you pass on to them. They will be left with your legacy - good or bad - that is what they will have. And the legacy you leave will be come the legacy they live, and in turn will become the basis for the legacy they leave.
Proverbs 13:22 "A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children."
I read this astute comment by a political commentator (Reich) this week - he noted, "The central paradox of our time is that most of us are earning more money and living better in material terms than (our parents) did a quarter century ago… Yet by most measures we’re working longer and more frantically than before, and the time and energy left for our non-working lives are evaporating. The new economy we are living in brings enormous benefits in terms of wealth… innovation… new chances and choices. But our absorption in keeping up with it all is leading to the erosion of our families, the fragmenting of our communities, and the challenge of keeping our own integrity intact. We are in danger of losing the crucial distinction between ‘making a living and making a life.’"
The former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm said something very interesting, and I quote, "Future historians will say the multiple factors that led to the decline of America, were led by the failure to replace ourselves with enough stable children born to families with the ability to raise successful children themselves."
What we are experiencing is a crisis in generational legacies. May In say that again please? What we are experiencing is a crisis in generational legacies.
Martin Luther, when asked what he would do if he knew he were going to die tomorrow, replied simply, "I’d go out and plant a tree." He would, in other words, leave behind him a legacy of life that would grow on and on into the future. And that is what I want us to look at this morning - leaving a legacy that will grow on and on into the future.
So the thrust of my message this morning is this - Don’t Live to Be a Legend, Live to Leave a Legacy - and I want to show you that from the Word of God.
Now you know there is a difference between your reputation and your legacy don’t you?
• You reputation is who you are supposed to be; Your legacy is who you are.
• Your reputation is what you have when you come to a new community; Your legacy is what you leave behind when you go.
• A reputation is made in a moment; A legacy is built in a lifetime.
• A single newspaper report or careless gossip can give you your reputation; but a life of toil gives you your legacy.
• Reputation is what men say about you on your tombstone; Legacy is what your children will live with for the rest of their lives.
So right now you are working on your legacy - amen!
Open your Bibles with me if you will to the second book Paul wrote to Timothy, 2 Timothy and the four chapter.
While you are turning there let me recount a legacy I read from an older gentleman who was the epitome of grace toward others; and he was deeply loved by his wife, his daughters, and his sons-in-law. In fact, his sons-in-law kneeled by his bed as he died. Afterward, one of his daughters wrote a letter. At the end of the note, she concluded with these powerful words: "Our world has lost a righteous man, and in this world, that’s no small thing."
2 Timothy 4:6-7 - Read - Pray.
Notice that Paul’s brief statements here say nothing about the education he had received, the places he had traveled, the letters he had written, the people he had preached to, or the churches he had planted. He flat out wanted his legacy to be labeled as "faithful." I love that! It’s what I want to aspire to as a follower of Jesus.
As Paul pondered the end of his life, he made three very simple statements about his legacy. He says that he had . . .
"Fought the Good Fight"
"Finished the Race" -
"Kept the Faith"
I would suggest to you that right there you have some of the greatest statements concerning ‘legacy’ you will ever read. If you want to leave a legacy that is greater than you, if you want to leave a legacy that will impact generation after generation, if you want to live your life to leave something that will be great - all you need is wrapped up in these three profoundly simple yet inspiringly deep statements.
1. Fight the Good Fight
Precious believer - if you want to leave a legacy that is greater than you, recognize each day that you are in a war - and choose to stand firm, clothed in your armor, as a spiritual warrior.
Here is what I think we sometimes miss - when you and I are casual about spiritual things, careless with the disciplines of the faith (things like prayer, Bible, study and church,) when we are callous about things that are holy, we could be leaving a legacy that may not be strong enough for our family in their time of need. We have got to understand that when satan targets you and tries to weaken your faith, compromise your stand or induce you to sin, he is not simply targeting you but he is targeting your children and your family and your friends as well.
That is why the legacy I leave is created by the choices I make on a daily basis.
Eph. 6:12 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."
The deeper your walk in righteousness the more effective your weapons in the fight. 2 Cor. 6:7 says that we have weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left. Precious believer - if you are not making choices in keeping with righteousness you are compromising your strength in the battle.
How many of you know that in the kingdom you may have to fight for your inheritance, or fight for your legacy. That is because it is promised but not possessed. Israel had already been given the promised Land - it was theirs - an inheritance, a legacy - but they had to fight for it.
The devil does not want you to walk in the legacy left for you - as a matter of fact he is out to steal, to kill and to destroy it.
Watch this - it may help you - the most powerful place for a child of God is when out of a lifestyle of righteousness, you add faith to the word of God
Paul says that we are not fighting against flesh and blood but
Do you know how to tell if you are winning? You are growing.
Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit
Growing in the Ministry of the Gifts
If you want to live to leave a legacy, Fight the Good Fight.
1. Fight the Good Fight
2. Finish the Race
Finishing the race means ensuring in the process that you are neither disqualified nor disheartened in the race of life and ministry.
I’ve been around long enough to know some men and women whose lives were totally sold out to God a few years ago but who have since walked off the track in the middle of the race. They’ve given up. They’ve lost their longing for God and all He is. They’re AWOL from the Christian life.
Gal. 5:7 "You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?"
Let me tell you some of the things satan uses to try and dissuade you from finishing the race.
Distractions
- Good Things
- Wrong Things
Discouragement
- Offense
- Failure
Divisions
- You and God
- You and Others
Deceptions
- It is all about you
- God wants you happy
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." (Hebrews 12:1)
1. Fight the Good Fight
2. Finish the Race
3. Keep the Faith
The word for ‘keep’ means to manage, to guard, to look over. Some Christians bury their faith like the man with the one talent.
What is it that you must manage, guard and look over? It is ‘the Faith’.
Hold on to the Truth Tenaciously - ‘the faith’
Pursue God Daily - a lifestyle of worship
Forget living to please man, and live to please God.
Live Sacrificially for Others - descent into greatness
People leaving a legacy live sacrificially because they are living for something greater than themselves.
Embrace Supernatural Faith
The obedience of faith (Rom. 1:5)
Unless you add faith to truth it will not provide the desired result. Without faith the Word remains impotent. But when you add faith to truth you seal in the supernatural - and release the power of God.
Faithfulness
Now here is the deal folks - you cannot fight the good fight, you cannot finish the race and you cannot keep the faith. Nor could Paul - but this morning I want to tell you that there is One who can. You see, Paul who left us with these words also said that it he had been crucified with Christ and that it was no longer him who lived, but Christ Who lived in Him (Gal. 2:20). He said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13).
The Olympic history books will never forget about marathon runner John Stephen Akhwari, who represented Tanzania in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. During the race, he fell badly, cutting his knee and dislocating the joint. Rather than give up, he continued running, and was the last to finish the race, an hour after the winners.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq3rOMnLGBk or YouTube video "John Stephen Akhwari - Finish the Race"
You see my friend as we close this morning, we must ask a very important question - have you made up your mind to finish the race? I know it is hard, and the course long and the pain sometimes great - but will you finish?
Your flesh does not want to finish because your flesh does not want to leave a legacy - your flesh is all about self.
When you rise up in faithfulness ‘in Him’ His life becomes the legacy you leave. When you realize that in Him you live and move and have your being (Acts 17:28) He becomes the legacy that you live and the legacy that you leave.
Is it not time to choose to live life to leave a legacy this morning? Will you say by the strength of Christ in you, "I will fight the good fight. I will finish the race. I will keep the faith." Will you pray with me please?
Amen!
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