PASSING THE BATON
“How to leave a Godly Legacy”
Deuteronomy 30:11-30
All of the children and parents in this video, all of the adults who helped Monday night….. all of you here today... Will be a part of the legacy of this church in the years to come. These children will become the future of this church. And all must of us must work together to the legacy in our community. Now legacy carries with it 2 simple definitions.
Legacy is property are money that is received from someone who has died... An inheritance that is passed along.
Legacy is something that happened in the past or comes from
someone in the past.
Simply put, a legacy is what we pass along to the next generation. Our legacy is what we will be remembered for in the years to come. It is our gift to the future of this church. So please take a moment and ask yourself this question this morning... What will your legacy be? What will you leave behind that will make a difference?
Last week we closed our series on discipleship and were reminded that the last words Jesus spoke to his disciples were telling them to go and make disciples. Now Jesus is about to leave-about to return to heaven. His mission here has been accomplished. At one point Jesus had already said to his disciples, “My children I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me but where I’m going you cannot come.”
For 3 ½ years their every need had been met through Jesus. If they were hungry, he supplied food, if they needed encouragement he gave it, if they needed truth, he taught it-at one point he sent them out to fish, they had not caught anything so Jesus told them to cast a net on the other side of the boat and they caught 153 fish. On still another occasion, they reminded Jesus that their taxes were due and Jesus instructed them to again go fishing, throw out your line and the first fish you catch, open his mouth and you will find a coin in it. Take it and pay your taxes he said. Amazing.
So whatever need they encountered, Jesus always did what was best for them. So you can perhaps imagine the level of dependence they had on Jesus and now he was leaving. What in the world would they do? Twice, Jesus tells them, “do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid.” Jesus on the way to that old rugged cross was more concerned about their welfare than his own. And that is one of the main things it takes to build a legacy that lasts. We call it humility. The ability to humble yourself.
There’s a tendency today on the part of many people to confuse humility with low self-esteem. Humility is like meekness; it is strength on the inside. Inner strength. Humility is not thinking less of yourself; humility is simply thinking of yourself less. It is the process of learning to put others first and it is especially difficult in today’s society that is so “me” driven. Greed and selfishness seemed to be the order of the day. So it is unique if we come across anyone who actually practices humility. Notice I used the word practice. We have to practice humility because it doesn’t come naturally. Pride does. It is natural to be full of pride. Pride is one of the earliest sins committed by mankind in the book of Genesis and as we follow the Scripture it only grows worse.
• Pharaoh was full of pride-he said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey him?”
• The Pharisees struggle daily with it. Moab struggled with pride, Naaman, Hezekiah. Most of the Kings dealt with it. And you are probably sitting next to someone today who is also struggling with it. After all you couldn’t be dealing with it right? ? Pride is like a cancer, it can often destroy you.
Pride is perhaps the most dangerous sin of all because pride can keep you from crying out for a Savior. Those who are guilty of pride will leave only one thing behind when they are gone-their pride. If you and I plan to leave a godly legacy behind we must learn to practice humility.
A second requirement we must possess is integrity. Hebrews 11 has been referred to as the Hall of faith. It is a listing of individuals throughout Scripture who show their faith in great ways. Among them we find men like:
• Enoch whose faith pleased God so strongly that Enoch was taken; did not die, did not have to experience death.
• Noah who acted on faith when warned about things he had not yet seen.
• Moses who regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ of greater value than the treasures of Egypt. He led God’s people through the Red Sea.
All men/women of integrity. And there were many more. And the Bible says that by faith their life still speaks even though they are dead. This is what a legacy is about-a life that will continue to speak long after we are gone.
Integrity has been defined as “who we are when no one is watching.” Who are we when no one else is around? Webster says integrity is a state of being whole and undivided. A person with integrity has their time and energy focused in one direction-the right one. The complete opposite of this would be what we call a hypocrite. One who wears a mask and you don’t know which person they are today. Which mask will they be wearing when I see them today? They have little or no consistency in their Christian walk. James said they are “unstable, double minded. They are like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. “
If you plan to leave behind a godly legacy and you must learn to practice integrity.
There is a book that made the NY Times bestseller list that is titled Tuesdays with Morrie. It quickly went to the top of the list when our president announced that he was reading the book. It is the story of a man named Mitch and his former teacher whose name was Morrie. Mitch was a good student when he was in college but he became very concerned about how much he was going to make when he left college. His entire focus was on material things that he would be able to get...a bigger house...a new car...he was driven to get as much as he could.
Mitch was very fond of Morrie and he always looked up to him in his college years, but he lost track of him after he graduated...he was simply too busy to keep up. But some things happened in his life and he needed to talk with someone and he really wanted to talk with Morrie. To his surprise he learned that Morrie was still living in the area. So he began to go and visit Morrie every Tuesday and they would sit and talk. He learned that Morrie was dying and Morrie told Mitch ...he said I was your teacher for a long time in college and I tried to teach you lessons about life and how to live your life...he said now I want to talk with you about some lessons I am learning about dying. They met every Tuesday for 14 weeks.
They spent some time each week talking about life, death and how to live. What our priorities should be. They talked about regrets, family; the fear of aging, money, marriage and forgiveness. One Tuesday...arrived ...people coming and going in black. He assumed Morrie had died and apologized he did not know. She said he was still very much alive but that he always wanted to have a living funeral so that he would not have to wait until he was dead to be able to hear all the good things that would be said about him. All of us have things that we want to say to others...things that perhaps we even need to say but we do not take time to do so. We need to choose to express our concern and love for people while there is time to do so. If you love someone tell them. If there is anything between you and another person, get it right. Don’t wait.
Steven Covey asks the question, what if you could attend your own funeral, what would you hope someone would say about you/your life. What kind of husband, wife, father, or mother would like their words to reflect? What kind of son or daughter or cousin? What kind of friend? What kind of working associate? What character would you like them to have seen in you? What contributions, what achievements would you want them to remember? Think about your family and the difference you hope you have made I their lives. What difference would you like to have made in their lives? This is your legacy. What do you hope people will say?
Third, you must have perseverance. The ability to see a project through to the very end. Too many times we start something and quit before we have given the effort the project deserves. Simply give up too early. I am told that
• Edison made 1000 unsuccessful attempts before he created a lightbulb that worked. 1000.
• Lincoln went to war as a captain and came home as a private. If you don’t know it is not supposed to go in that direction. He failed in business, ran for office numerous times and failed before finally becoming our 16th president.
• The Beatles were told they didn’t have the right sound and that guitar music was on its way out.
• Beethoven wrote five of his best symphonies while he was deaf.
• Michael Jordan was cut from his basketball team in high school.
But all of these individuals chose to stay the course and now their legacy still speaks to us. God’s people must learn to persevere. To stay the course. To never give up. You will not be remembered for the things you never attempted. You will not be remembered for the time you stood by and did nothing. The times when you just quit.
The Bible says that life is being set before us…… prosperity is set before us but unfortunately death and destruction are as well. The writer tells us as a result to do these things: love the Lord your God, obey him/keep his commands and refuse to bow down the things that can become idols. And he tells us that this life he offers is not too difficult and it is not out of your reach. “No the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.”
We do not get to decide whether we will leave a legacy or not. We only get to decide what kind of legacy we will leave you all of us will pass something along to our children-to the next generation, but what will it be? What do you want to be known for?
