What Legacy to Leave?

The memory of the righteous is blessed,

But the name of the wicked will rot.

Proverbs 10:7

I recently visited my alma mater to find a new portion of a structure that was named for one of my favorite professors.  It is so pleasing to see those lives well spent memorialized by some fitting gesture or dedication.  While we may never have a building named after us, we certainly leave a legacy.  Every person will leave a legacy and a name behind that will be remembered by someone for something.  Will the legacy that we leave behind be a godly and positive legacy in the lives of others, or will our memory be washed away in a matter of moments after our physical death.  The way to have a valuable legacy is quite simple: to invest in eternal things.  Our chief legacy is not what we do but who we are.  What my children and grandchildren, friends and neighbors will most remember is whether or not I have loved them with the powerful and perfect love of Jesus Christ.  Did I know Him and make Him known.  The time we spend growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The time we spend in the Bible, in prayer, in fellowship with others, these are the things that determine who we are and what our legacy will be.

Very Good

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.  Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.  By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 

Genesis 1:31-2:2

Six times God surveyed what He had created and found it good.  Yet now, having completed this universe and created man in His own image to manage that creation the verdict changes.  Upon completion God sees that the whole system is very good.  God was pleased by the finished work of His hands.  As any artist or craftsman knows; that pleasure comes from the fact that His perfect artwork reflected His character – His power, His love, His artistry and His love.  It was “very good” now because it reflected the Creator more clearly now than it had at any given point.  When Sin entered this world the mirror of Creation became a less effective tool to see the character of God.  Death and decay did not destroy all the beauty of the earth, but it did make it harsh, dangerous, and even cruel.  No longer can we look at the created world around us and see a perfect illustration of the Creator.  God’s love was too great to allow His beloved children to die, alienated from Him.  He revealed Himself through His Son Jesus Christ – “the visible expression of the invisible God”.  He revealed himself through His word – The Bible.  He reveals Himself through the amazing power of His Holy Spirit at work on the heart of every living being – convicting the unbeliever and indwelling the believer.  Though many of the things that were created to make Him known have been fractured His purpose has not been thwarted.  At the end of all things Christ Jesus will stand upon the redeemed earth – victorious!  By His provision at the Cross – we who humbly accept His grace will stand with Him.  Not because of the works which we have done, but because of His amazing Grace.

Father and Son

As we continue in our study of our relationship with God, it seems important to remember how we received this new relationship. We must remember that it is nothing that we have done, and it is therefore nothing that we can lose. It is Christ's work on the cross that we take hold of by faith (belief, trust) in the Gospel (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Of the many ways that our relationship with God is described in Scripture, this is always an amazing amount of assurance in this truth.

The Jews would be comfortable calling God "Our Father" meaning that they corporately were the children of God, but would not presume that they could individually call God "my Father." It seemed too close, too intimate, and placed God too close to man for comfort. Seemingly, degrading God and over-elevating man. So first century Jews would avoid this altogether. Truthfully, they were wise to do so. However, a distinct change has occurred and we can call God "my Father" with confidence because of what we know through the Scripture.

Jesus referred to God as His Father in a special way (John 20:17). The eternal relationship between God the Father and God the Son justified His special and unique address to God as His individual Father. Here is the exciting thing: because we are positioned in the Son of God we have this position of sonship, and can address God as our Father and come to Him boldly, based on the work of Jesus Christ and our position in Him. Paul puts in this way: "For you did not recieve the spirit of bondage again to fear but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out 'Abba Father.'" (Romans 8:15) The word abba is an intimate term and sounds much like our English word "papa", not coincidentally! We can glean so much from this amazing revelation. God wants us to address Him as "Papa" and come to Him with the same readiness that any toddler would run to their loving Father, whether running to show a finger-painting, or to seek comfort for a skinned knee.

One final thought on this Fatherhood of God from Jesus: "If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your childen how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:11) A principle of your Heavenly Father is that He will care for you and delights in the moments when you trust in Him. As a father of 3 I think I can see a bit of what God is trying to tell us. Nothing is more beautiful, honoring and pleasing to me when my kids are willing to trust me, that I am looking out for their best good. This gift is amazing, don't forget the great undeserved privilege that we have each and every day to come to our "Papa" and trust in His care.

Branching Out

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. John 15:4

As we continue to study the various ways our relationship with God is illustrated throughout the Bible I pray that we are are growing in the understanding of the reality that the Faith of the Bible is a relationship indeed, and one greater than we could ever imagine. This week we get to look at the image that Christ gave us proclaiming us to be branches connected to Him, the vine. The reality of this is easy to understand, as God commonly uses the physical world that He created to display spiritual realities to us.

As we imagine a branch attached to a vine we see that it gets all of its definition from the vine to which it is attached. The branch can only become stronger by being more firmly attached to the vine. The life, energy and power of the branch to produce fruit rest solely, wholly and completely with the vine. Christ speaks so clearly that apart from him we can do nothing, why do we question Him? Why do we waste our energy and spin our wheels trying to produce love, joy, peace, patience, etc. When we really can go only to the source. If those qualities and characteristics are missing from our life we don't need to "try harder" we only need to turn our eyes with Christ and abide, once again, in Vine apart from whom we can do nothing.

More on that Relationship...

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep."

John 10:11

"Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship." This week we look at a different description of the relationship that we have with Christ, by His grace. This is truly one of the most comforting descriptions for me, Christ calls Himself "the good shepherd." This makes us His sheep. He alluded to gentile believers in John 10:16 Jesus tells the Jews that He had sheep that are not of the fold of Israel. Did you hear His voice? Did you put your faith in the gospel? Then you are one of His sheep. This is a fantastic realization! David wrote Psalm 23 as a marvelous hymn of praise to what it is to be in the care of this Good Shepherd. While many observations could be made about this wonderful relationship we can only mention a few here:

Firstly, a shepherd is in a position of responsibility for the sheep. We can look back to Jacob as he tended Laban's flocks. Whenever Jacob lost one of Laban's sheep he was expected to pay for it. It is the shepherd's responsibility to protect the sheep from disease, famine, predators, and tension within the flock. If a sheep is lost it is by the failure of the shepherd. Fortunately we can say with all confidence, "the Lord is my shepherd!" And we need never even fear the possibility of His failing, because He cannot fail!

As sheep we will live the most healthy, productive possible by trusting in, and remaining near our Shepherd. We never need to worry, concern ourselves, or fear; we need only to fix our eyes on the Shepherd trusting Him for care, protection and provision. I believe it was this relationship that Peter was considering when he penned the words, "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." The idea is that the Lord has taken responsibility for us, we need only to look to Him. If you ever catch yourself wondering how much this Shepherd cares for you as His sheep remember that He would leave the 99 to find the lost one (Luke 15:4-6), remember He laid down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). Don't lose sight of the Shepherd.