Leaving a Legacy

 

Leaving a Legacy

What is a legacy?

By definition the word legacy means:
: a gift by will especially of money or other personal property : 

: something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past

 

Each of us will leave a legacy but what we leave will be our decision.  In the USA it is common for the family of the deceased to write an obituary that is published in the local newspaper.  When I read them, I look for comments that are made about the spiritual life of the person, whether they knew the Lord and how they were involved in the Lord’s work. 

What will be your legacy?  How will you be remembered and what will you leave behind that will be a blessing to others?

 

The pages of Bible history give us many examples of people who loved God. We remember them for a variety of reasons, and all are patterns from which we can learn valuable lessons. Following are some Biblical examples of those who left us a spiritual legacy. Look up the references given and tell who left the legacy, and briefly what that legacy was.

 

Genesis 5:22-24   After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

23 Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years.

24 Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

 

Numbers 12:3   (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

 

1 Samuel 17:32   David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

 

Romans 4:3,20-21  Romans 4:3

3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:20-21

20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,

21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

 

2 Timothy 4:7-8  7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

 

James 5:11 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

 

 

When I think of a spiritual legacy, I think of 3 things.  The legacy of your character, the legacy of your conduct and the legacy of your work and impact of your ministry.

 

The legacy of our character.

Our character is based on the values and principles by which we live our lives.   This is the real you.  Is your character one of godliness or worldliness?  Do you reflect the image of Jesus in your values and principles that govern your life.  How we live our lives, the principles and values that govern our lives are observed by others.  Becoming like Jesus should be our goal and a priority of our lives.  Paul said in Galatian 2:20, “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.”  He also stated, “follow me or imitate me as I follow Christ”.  When people examine your life, what character and values will they observe?  Do they observe the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22,23?

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Character traits opposite of the fruit of the Spirit are: hatred, sorrow, strife, impatience, cruelty, evil, unfaithfulness, harshness, and indulgence.

How does your character measure up to the standards God has given to us in his word and through the life of Jesus?  How will you be remembered and what character traits will  you leave behind that will impact other people’s lives?

 

The second part of the legacy we will leave behind is our conduct.  Your character will determine your conduct.  A godly character will produce a life that will bring glory to God.  How we live our live our daily lives, how we treat other people, how we respond in times of crisis, how we use our time and talents, are all decisions that we make.  The challenge that we face is our integrity.  Integrity means oneness, what you claim about yourself is the same in public life and private life.

 

Are you the “Real Deal” or hypocritical in your words compared to your conduct?  Your life is being observed by others and they form opinions about what it means to be a believer in Jesus.  Your reputation is how other people see you and what they think of you.  Paul stated that leaders in the church must be people of good reputation. Your conduct must be marked by consistency. It only takes one bad decision or action to ruin your reputation.

 We all have witnessed believers whose public life was different than their private lives.  When they are exposed, there is damage done to their reputation and harm done to people that previously respected and admired them. 

 

 

We also leave behind a legacy of the work of ministry we have done in obedience to the Lord.  The most important measurement of our work is not how much we have done but have we been faithful to do what God has called us to do.  We can do many things, even good things that seem to be godly but if we are not doing them in obedience to what God has called us to do, we are really doing them with wrong motives. 

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

We must leave behind a legacy of doing what God has called us to do and not get distracted by other things that seem to be good in our own eyes.  This requires that we have an intimate relationship with the Lord to be able to hear his voice, know his will and then do what he has called us to do.  God may call you to a specific ministry in a specific place that may be very challenging.  The easy thing to do is to quit and find something less stressful.  Staying on course, staying faithful to the calling will leave a legacy that others can follow.  As I look back on 25 years of missionary work, there were times when I was tempted to quit and find something else to do with my life.  Not everything in ministry turns out the way you thought it would.  People can disappoint you, fail you, betray you, speak evil of you etc. and that can become a source of discouragement that can lead to leaving the ministry.  But if you can weather the storms and persevere in faith, God will bring you through and keep you on the right track to fulfill the ministry.

When we venture out in obedience to God’s call it will require faith and dependence upon God.  I think that when we move forward in faith God gets excited and will reward us.

When it came time to purchase property and build, it was a big step of faith for me.  We could have continued renting the building we had been using for 11 years but it had limitations and really did not facilitate the ministries we had and were yet to be discovered and developed.  I reflected on the verses that talked about counting the cost before you build and at times I wondered if the efforts to raise the money were not going to produce the results we needed.  But God honored our faith and obedience and helped us buy the land and build the facilities.  When you respond in faith it also provides opportunities for others to join in with what you are doing and be a part of the ministry.  If we don’t move forward in faith, we stagnate and fail to give others the opportunity to join in and grow with us.

We must always remember that God rewards those who respond in faith.  What we do for the Lord may not always be rewarded in our life time but others may build upon the foundation we have established and advance the ministry beyond what we were capable of doing.  God will provide the right people at the right time to continue the work. 

 

When our life on earth is over, we will receive the reward from the Lord for the work you have done for his kingdom.

I listened to a testimony of David Yongee Chou who was the pastor of a very large church in South Korea.  He related the story of his associate pastor, Kim, whose wife died.  He was greatly affected by her death and five days after she died, he died of a massive heart attack.  Pastor Chou made the arrangements for his funeral and as was the custom of the Korean people, the body of the pastor was washed and then dressed and placed in the coffin.  The people that attended the funeral sang a final song before they would place him in his grave.  While they were singing, the pastor sat up in the coffin and all the people ran toward the door thinking if was a phantom!  Pastor Kim motioned for them to come back in and the very fearfully returned to the casket.  They touched him and realized he truly was alive.  Pastor Kim became angry with them and asked them why they were trying to bury a live person?  The men confirmed that they had a death certificate issued to prove that he had died of the heart attack.  Pastor Kim then related his story of traveling with angels to heaven and meeting Jesus.  Jesus took him on an incredible tour of heaven and at Pastor Kim’s request brought him to his wife’s house.  It was a huge mansion and his wife looked very beautiful.  Pastor Chou had commented that in reality his wife while on earth was not very beautiful but now, she was changed and looked like Jesus.  Jesus told Pastor Kim that the reason he was sent to heaven was because his wife asked to see him.  He asked Jesus to take him to his future home in heaven.  When they arrived at the home, he noticed that it was not finished, there was no roof on the home.  He asked why it was not completed and was told that his home would be finished with materials supplied by the good work he would do when he returned to earth.  He was then sent back to earth and brought back to life in the casket with his friends surrounding him.  There are many more details of his visit to heaven but the main point I want to make from his testimony is that the work that you do in obedience and faith will one day be rewarded when we get to heaven.  Your mansion is being built by the good works you are doing on earth!  God records and remembers your work you are doing for him.

The legacy you will leave behind will be a blessing to the next generation and will be rewarded when our Master says to us, “well done my good and faithful servant.” Like Paul we want to be able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith…

I pray each one of us will leave a legacy of godly character, conduct that glorifies the Lord and works of ministry that will impact many lives or lay a foundation that others will be able to build upon.