Leaving a Positive Legacy
Matthew 1:1-17
November 30, 2003
Introduction
I have a question for you, and you need to be real honest here, okay?
How many of you skip the genealogies when you read the Bible? It¡¦s okay, I¡¦m not going to embarrass you in front of everybody!
You know, I tend to read through them very quickly, but I have recently been convicted of something: if the Bible is God¡¦s Word, then that means the genealogies as well.
There¡¦s a reason God put these in here. And so now I try to read them carefully, and you know what? I actually find something useful almost every time I do.
This morning, as we begin our look at the gospel according to Matthew, we are going to read through this genealogy.
This is found on page 681 of the Bibles in the seats
And before you tune me out, let me just tell you that I promise you¡¦ll get something out of this, okay? So hang with me.
And as I read this, let me demonstrate how you should read genealogies, okay?
1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, (Wow! They had Dodges back then?)
4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud,
15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
What is your family history like? Is it full of people who have made a positive difference?
Maybe it¡¦s got a few nuts that have fallen off the family tree. Maybe your family history is filled or spotted with criminals.
It could be that your history is a sad one.
The idea here is that we all have a family history, whether good or bad.
We can¡¦t do anything about the legacy given to us, but we can do something about the legacy we leave for those who come behind us.
Today I want to talk to you about leaving a positive legacy. The fact of the matter is that we will all leave a legacy. You can choose what kind of legacy that will be.
So today I want to give you three steps to leaving that positive legacy.
1. Acknowledge your own legacy.
You might as well! You can¡¦t do anything about it!
We all have two parts to our history:
„« Our ancestry.
Unless you¡¦re Adam, you have a family history called an ancestry. And if you¡¦re like most people, it¡¦s not made up of perfect people.
You know what? Jesus¡¦ ancestral line wasn¡¦t perfect, either!
The genealogy of Jesus is packed with people who did not meet the standard of perfection.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are recorded in Scripture as men who lied when it was convenient, and cheated people. Yet God chose these men to begin the line of the Messiah.
We go down to verse 3 and we see Judah. He was the leader of the tribe of Judah, and he is named with Tamar.
Tamar was the daughter-in-law of Judah. She was married to one son of Judah who died. She was then given to another son, who also died. God had put both of them to death because they were evil.
Judah promised his third son to her, but he was very young. Later, Tamar realized that Judah was not going to give her his remaining son to marry, so she decided to do something about it.
She dressed up like a prostitute and seduced Judah, and she became pregnant by him. She gave birth to twins, and they are mentioned here in the genealogy, as ancestors of Jesus Himself.
And we see a name in verse 5 that brings attention to itself: Rahab.
Scholars are pretty unanimous in their opinion that this is the same Rahab who hid the spies in Canaan. She was a prostitute, remember?
Quick note here: ancient genealogies were not meant to be records of everybody in an ancestral line. They generally recorded notable persons. Rahab was not the actual mother of Obed, but an ancestor, okay?
My point here is that you are who you are. You cannot change your ancestry.
Let me address something else real quick here, and that¡¦s the idea of illegitimate children ¡V children born or conceived out of wedlock.
I don¡¦t really believe that children are illegitimate. The parents may be illegitimate, but not the children.
Now listen up. Maybe your parents didn¡¦t plan you, but God did, and He loves you with an indescribable and infinite love.
And He has a plan for you. A plan that includes using you to advance His kingdom and bring Him glory.
You can¡¦t control how you came into the world. You can only control how you handle it.
Don¡¦t let something like how you came into the world get in the way. Perez was conceived out of wedlock, and God chose to put him in the line of Jesus.
The point here is that your ancestry does not have to limit you. It didn¡¦t seem to limit Jesus, did it?
Everyone has an ancestry. Everyone also has a¡K
„« Personal history.
Your personal history is made up of everything in your life since coming into the world.
But what I want to focus on here is the life that you have carved out for yourself through your own decisions.
We have all made decisions in our life that have affected who we are today, because the fact of the matter is that you¡¦re a product of both your ancestry and your own decisions.
Hopefully, the vast majority of those decisions were good, like deciding who you were going to marry, or where to settle down.
Of course, the decision to follow Christ is the most important and best decision you can make.
But what about the decisions you¡¦ve made that weren¡¦t all that good? Unwise business decisions or decisions regarding certain relationships that led to trouble.
Maybe your decisions got you in trouble with the law, and it¡¦s not just affecting you, but those you love as well.
There¡¦s no use in denying that we can make decisions that get us in trouble sometimes.
And these are part of what we bring to the table in looking at our past.
So just be upfront about your past, at least with yourself, and understand that your past is your past. Acknowledge the good apples with the bad eggs. Don¡¦t try to deny what has helped shape you into the person you are today.
And when you do this, you can move on to the next step in giving the gift of a positive legacy¡K
2. Refuse to let your legacy decide your future.
Jesus could have looked at His ancestry and threw in the towel.
¡§My ancestry¡¦s full of cheaters, liars, adulterers, murderers, and prostitutes. How could God ever use me?¡¨
Folks, if God could use Jesus with His ancestry, what¡¦s to keep Him from using you and me?
Nothing except our willingness to be used, or lack of it.
Let me offer you some actions you can take to help get past your past, okay?
„« Thank God for your ancestry.
Really. It was all part of His ultimate plan anyway, so thank Him for it and for using it to shape you into who you are, at least in part.
So purposely thank God for your ancestry.
The next action you can take in refusing to let your past decide your future is to¡K
„« Seek forgiveness of your sins.
You may have a checkered past. Maybe you¡¦ve blown it big time, like the prostitute Rahab.
There is forgiveness available for you. Have you taken advantage of it?
If you have trusted in Christ as your Savior, then the Bible says that if you confess your sins to God, He forgives. The Bible also says He remembers them no more.
That doesn¡¦t mean that God has amnesia or that He has Alzheimer¡¦s. It means that He chooses to not bring them up anymore.
You may have to live through some natural consequences of things, but you will never have to worry about God bringing them up in your face anymore.
If you have confessed your sin to God, it¡¦s over as far as He¡¦s concerned.
Is it always easy? No ¡V in fact, it will likely be extremely hard at times. But we¡¦re here to help you move on. We¡¦re here to help you determine to not let your past determine your future.
And if you have never called on Christ to make you a child of God, forgiven of all things, then get that going, man! Don¡¦t wait.
The third action you can take to not let your past decide your future is to¡K
„« Move on with an eye toward eternity.
Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, could have let his past decide his future.
He was convicted of a felony in connection with the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Nixon, and sent several men to prison, including Mr. Colson.
Instead, during his months in prison, he determined to be a positive force in an area that has very little positive in it.
He had come to Christ shortly before entering prison, and so was able to enter that environment already sensitive to what God would have him do.
And now, almost 30 years later, he and his organization have done more to minister to prisoners and their families than anyone else.
He saw his past as an opportunity to affect the future.
Folks, if you¡¦ve blown it, and you¡¦ve confessed it to God, move on.
Today¡¦s a new day. Live today in view of tomorrow. If you walk through life looking over your shoulder, you¡¦re gonna trip!
Let¡¦s review: In order to give the gift of a good legacy, you need to first of all acknowledge your own legacy and then you need to refuse to let that legacy decide your future.
The final step we will look at this morning in giving the gift of a positive legacy is to¡K
3. Actively seek to influence the next generations.
„« Live a life of purpose.
Live a life centered on an active love for Christ and His Word.
I say active because we have enough people paying lip-service to Jesus. Live it out, on purpose.
In February, we will be embarking on a campaign that will equip us all to do just that. But you don¡¦t have to wait until then. Start now.
Our theme for most of this year was ¡§Being Intentional.¡¨ It was my desire to help us get beyond good intentions and into real discipleship and purpose.
I said in the first message that effective Christians live by decision rather than by default.
And that is no more true than when it comes to living an authentic Christian life in front of others, especially our children and family members.
If you need some tips to help you be a person of purpose, you let me know and I¡¦ll be thrilled to help with that!
„« Purposely pray for your children and those you influence.
Pray that God would be alive in them, so they can avoid the sins and mistakes you and your ancestry made.
Pray that they would hunger and thirst for God above all else.
Pray that your example would take hold of them, and that they would adopt all the good they see in you as you seek to honor God in your own life, in all you do.
„« Use every possible opportunity to teach your descendents by example.
I¡¦ve said it before, and I¡¦ll say it again, so get used to it: more is caught than taught when it comes to spiritual training.
If you say one thing and live another, you lose credibility.
But if your example matches your teaching, you gain credibility, and so does the good news of Jesus.
Conclusion
Folks, the good news this morning is that while your past has helped shape you, it doesn¡¦t have to trap you and hinder you from effective love and service for Christ.
And you have a choice: you can either let your own legacy hold you back, or you can choose to go on and build your own legacy of a life lived in the service of Christ.
You can choose to wallow in the past or you can choose to say, ¡§I don¡¦t care what happened back then. Today is a new day and I have a new life in Christ.¡¨
And you can choose to look at your past and say, ¡§Wow, isn¡¦t God great to take a guy like me, with all my past issues and my heritage, and love me anyway, and want to use me?¡¨
It¡¦s up to you. So what are you going to choose?
Remember what I said in the beginning of the message: you will leave a legacy. What kind of legacy you leave will be up to you.
Be intentional. Be purposeful. To default on this is to set up your future generations for mediocrity. Don¡¦t risk it, okay?
Look to begin today to leave a positive legacy.
Let¡¦s pray.
