Introduction:
Dads, have you ever wondered what your family will say about you in ten years? Have you ever wondered how the faith of your family will look in a hundred years? Have ever desired to leave a little for the grand children or great-grands so that they will have something for you in years to come? My grandmother is always telling me that she wished she was rich so that she could leave the grandchildren a little piece of money.
Back in 2000, the Epcot Center had a new feature as you first walk in. There were giant slabs of black granite all over – tons and tons of granite – and a big sign that says “Leave Your Legacy”. For a certain fee they will take your picture and photo chemically transfer it onto these granite rocks, so that for all of time your picture will be on this granite stone. And hundreds if not thousands of people have put their little, tiny picture on these big granite stones.
Why do we do that? Because, down deep inside, everybody wants to leave a legacy, and everybody wants to feel like their life counts, that their life matters, that we’ve left our mark while we pass through this life.
We all at times wish that we can leave something of ours or us to give to our children. Even though none of my grand-parents were monetarily rich, they were rich in other ways.
I remember my mother’s father visiting us when I was a teenager. The fondest memory I have is PawPaw’s faith. He was a broad shouldered man with a deep rich voice that thunder when he prayed. And his prayers were full of tears. I also remember Granddaddy’s, my Dad’s father, love for the Bible. I walked into his house one day and seeing me sitting at the table with his Bible open in front of him, his Sunday School lesson to the side and another book open studying.
That same faith that my grandfathers’ had was passed on to my parents. And they learned and grew in the faith of their father. My Dad and Mom passed on to us their faith and we are learning and grow in it with the hopes to pass the legacy on to our children. My grandparents may not have been rich in the world’s standards, but they were rich toward God, and that wealth they have passed on.
So since it is Fathers Day, I thought we’d look at this subject about how do you leave a lasting legacy?
The apostle new well what to do to leave a lasting legacy. In 1 Thessalonians 2, he tells the believers there what he did while with them. From Paul’s pen, we find six life habits that will build a legacy to pass on to our families.
How does a father leave a legacy?
1. Cherish your family greatly v7
To cherish = to hold in high regard, to esteem highly,
to place a great value on
Paul compares the care he gave the Thessalonians to the care given a nursing infant by his mother. It is the care that places the welfare of the child above that of the mother. A mother would rather face harm than to have her child harm.
“The figure implies a special effort to protect and to provide for every need, even to the extent of great sacrifice” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary).
Illustration:
I remember well the afternoon when Lindan was born and how my protective spirit kicked in when she was given her first shots. Her full lung cry broke my heart. I wanted to slap a few nurses around, grab her up to protect her from any other hurts.
2. Love your family deeply v8a
The term used by Paul is “affectionate longing.” It is a term that is used in the nursery but is masculine and tender. It conveys or describes:
• A yearning for
• A fond desire for
• to fill a need for
• A heart’s appetite for
In other words, our heart’s appetite is to be for our family.
Illustration:
I had a professor in college who traveled a good bit during the school and over the summer breaks. One day, he shared with a group of us about one of his trips and then mentioned that he has not seen his family in weeks during that trip. He shares that if he is away from his wife and four children too long is body being to ache. He is literal in pain for his family.
That is the picture that we need to see here. Paul’s heart longed to be with the church. Our hearts are to ache for our family. After Amy and the children have been away for more than a day or so, when they return home, I am so glad to see them that I could eat them up.
My heart’s appetite is toward my family. Because of my love for them is deep, I want them around all the time.
3. Invest into your family personally v8b
Paul says that he was well pleased to impart to you….
To impart =
• To show
• To share
• To give part
• To invest
The picture is that of an old master spending year teaching, training, and preparing his apprentice in all the craft and skills he knows so that the apprentice can take his place. He invests who he is into the apprentice.
Paul mentions two areas that he invested in the believers:
The Gospel of God
Dads, we are to be the leaders in the home and instruct our families in the saving knowledge of the Gospel. We are not to leave it up the preacher or the Sunday School teacher. It is not the mother’s responsibility either.
Illustration:
In Simi Valley, California, June 11, 2004, at the casket side of former president Ronald Reagan, Michael Reagan recounted that on a flight from Washington to California in 1988, his father told him "about his love of God, his love of Christ as his Savior."
"I did not know then what it all meant, but I certainly, certainly know now," Michael Reagan said. "I can’t think of a better gift for a father to give a son, and I hope to honor my father by giving my son Cameron and my daughter Ashley that very same gift he gave to me" (Baptist Press, June 15, 2004), making reference to the Gospel of Christ.
Dad’s are you sharing the Gospel of Christ at every open door your family gives?
Also our own lives
Paul is taking a part of himself and giving it to the church in Thessalonica. For us to build a legacy, we are to invest who we are and what we know into the lives of our families. We are to be open and honest with our families. We share our:
Hurts
Frustration
Failure
Stress
Successes
Joys
Lessons of life
Illustration:
What man in his right mind would walk away from a $600,000-a-year career for the sake of his family? All-star major league baseball pitcher Tim Burke did. And, he gave it up while he was at the top of his game and getting better.
Why? Because his wife and their four adopted children needed him. Tim decided that being available to his family was more important than the glory, glamour, and big money of major league baseball.
(From Making Your Work Count for God: How to find meaning and joy in your work by Ken Abraham. Copyright 1994 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Published by Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
4. Labor diligently for your family v9
Many of you are doing this or have done this. You have work many years and late hour to see to it that your family had what it needed and some of its wants.
One memory of my Dad that stands out for me is that of him standing at his drafting table. I remember going to bed late, Dad would be working away, and walking the next morning to find Dad still at his table working away.
Paul says that he toiled and labored night and day to keep from being a burden to the believers.
5. Live godly before your family v10
Paul lived an exemplary life to show them how to live godly.
Devoutly = holy and pure before God
Justly = upright and honest in his relationships with people
Blamelessly = in his business dealings with others
They lived what they preached.
They walked the talk.
They did not live by the ancient proverbial saying:
“Do not do as I do, but do as I say.”
6. Influence your family toward godliness v11-12
Paul uses three terms in verse eleven to describe his influence toward the Thessalonians. Paul Exhorted, Comforted, and Charged the believers to, look at verse 12, to walk worthy of God. He is instructing and encouraging them to live a godly life. He does so as a father does his own children.
Illustration:
One lesson that I learned from Dad just after he became sick sticks with me strongly today. I was in his office talking about the frustration, struggles, and time consumed going to school and having a family. Then I said that it was hard to find time to spend reading my Bible. Dad then said, “Don’t let your family keep you from God or God might take your family from you.”
We all have a great responsibility to our families, but it is not to get in the way of our relationship with God.
Dads, we need to take our very lives and pour them into our families so that can see what we have learned from life and how we handle it.
Conclusion:
These are the elements that leave a godly legacy in our family that is passed on to our children’s children’s children.
Dads, are you leaving a legacy for your family?
Would you like to? I am asking you today to make a comment to your family to build a godly legacy they can call theirs and can pass it on to their children. If you are not building that legacy and you desire to, you will need God’s help. Come and ask God to help you build that legacy for your family.
For those of you that do not know Christ as Savior, your first step is to in building that legacy is to have God forgive you of your sins through receiving giving your live to Jesus. Only then can the rest take place.
As we sing you come.
