Good Monday morning to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Legacy is a word that stirs up emotions, reflection, even anxiety in us. We each build our legacy from the time we are old enough to begin making choices, and we only stop refining that legacy when we breathe our last breath. So, no matter your age, from teen to elderly, you are always building your life legacy. And when you and I die, our legacy is passed to our descendants, whether we like it or not! Your Legacy is your estate distributed according to the instructions which you leave in your Will or Trust or other end of life documents. Your Legacy is the memory people have of your life through their personal experience with you. Your Legacy is your reputation both from personal experience and ‘hear say’. Oh, Legacy is such a big word, and a big deal, isn’t it?
For some people, the development of their life legacy is a very high priority and it’s obvious in their efforts, choices and even language. For some people, they give very little thought to their legacy. I wonder what “legacy” means to you? For the past few days in our “Walking with Jesus” journey, we’ve been in the Bible book of Deuteronomy and Moses has been speaking his farewell, LEGACY messages to the people. That’s right, the entire book of Deuteronomy is essentially a call by Moses to the people to consider the legacy their parents and grandparents handed to them, which caused their 40-year wandering in the desert. But also, Moses has been challenging them to give careful thought to their ways, so the legacy they pass to their children will be very different from the one they inherited! May I ask you my friends, is that a priority for you? Do you spend much time evaluating the legacy you received from your ancestors; what you have done with that legacy, and what the legacy will be which your descendants receive from you?
Yesterday we looked closely at Deuteronomy chapter 29. Have you considered the implications for us of the last verse of that chapter: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” (Deut. 29:29) Now that’s an easy Biblical address to remember, isn’t it? And it makes good sense if you ponder it. Since all TRUTH, all KNOWLEDGE originates from God of course anything we humans don’t know yet are still secrets God knows but has not revealed to us. Now this means education is all about God opening our minds to understand information and God holding educators accountable for what and how they teach the students! If you are an educator, I wonder if you ever thought about that before? Listen to this warning from James: “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1)
Moses, of course, is not so much talking about math or geography or even science as much as he’s talking about spiritual truth, truth about God and our human relationship with God. Those things God had been uniquely explaining to Moses and the Hebrews. That’s what Moses’ 8 trips up Mount Sinai were all about, and the 10 Commandments and all the other laws God gave Moses for His Hebrew people. You’ll remember the ‘covenant contract’ we looked at the other day was the holy agreement between these people and God that yes, they would follow obediently all God had instructed them, and God then declared them His people, who He would guide and protect and bless. But, of course, the obvious question would be… what about future generations? Would God bring every future Hebrew generation back to Mount Sinai and repeat the process with each new generation? How would God’s truth not be lost as the ones who first had received it from God grew old and died?
Of course, God had made that clear, over and over, that the oldest generation alive had, as their priority responsibility, to be sure their children and grandchildren understood all God’s ways, all God’s laws, and they had developed a vibrant, authentic, unwavering relationship with God… before the old people died. That’s what Deuteronomy 6:5-9, and Psalm 78:1-8 and Psalm 72:17,18 and Psalm 145:1-5 are all about. Clear expressions of that profound legacy principle. Yesterday I concluded with a brief look at Deuteronomy 30:19,20 “Now choose life so that you and your children may live, that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, hold fast to Him. For the LORD is your life…” You see the intentional choice, the responsibility generation after generation, right?
Moses had said: “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ No, the word [God’s truth] is very near you, it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” (Deut. 30:11-14) Oh my, that is profound, isn’t it? God’s truth has been made abundantly clear and available to humanity, going all the way back to Adam, and then again to Noah, and then again to Abraham, and then again through Moses, and then again through Jesus and His Apostles. There is no shortage of the availability of God’s truth, the problem is with us, humanity, and our refusal to share with our descendants, generation after generation, the truth of God which we have! Why are there places and people who have never heard of the Almighty, Holy, Creator God? Because back before them there were some people who rejected God and His truth and refused to share what they knew about God with their descendants!
So, let me ask you, each of you reading or listening to “Walking with Jesus” today: what priority have you placed on making sure you pass along to your descendants EVERYTHING you know about God, God’s truth, and God’s ways? As you’ve taught your descendants about math or science or money or love or hobbies or sports… how much have you taught them about God? Where is God in your Legacy? What about Jesus Christ, where is Jesus in your Legacy?
May I give you one more, very powerful statement Moses made in this message about Legacy: “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commands and decrees, then you will live and increase and the LORD you God will bless you…But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day, you will be destroyed…” (Deut. 30:15-18) Now let me ask you my friends… look around the world today, look back through history, do you see those places and people who have rejected God and God’s truth and God’s ways, and how they have suffered the increase of evil and despair among them? And those places and people who have sought to honor God’s truth, and live God’s ways, and raise up their children and grandchildren to do the same… do you see how they have experienced God’s blessings? What about your city, your country today? And what can you predict will be the future?
While yes, it is true the book of Deuteronomy is a specific set of farewell messages, given to a specific group of people, the Hebrews with whom God was establishing His covenant. Can you see the application of these truths to the Israelites over the centuries? But also, can you see the application of these truths to us… you and me and all who read these truths 3400 years later? Legacy my friends, Legacy. What was the role of God and His truths in the Legacy you inherited from your ancestors? How has your life been impacted by that? And what is the Legacy you have been building with your life and what is the role of God and His truths in your Legacy? And how has that already affected your descendants? Oh my, so much to ponder and pray about today, would you agree? So, I urge you to take your journal and write some of these verses into your journal, along with your personal reflections… and here’s a song to help you worship and pray:
Today’s Scripture is Deuteronomy 30:11-20.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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