Legacy - Part III

We have begun two weeks ago looking at leaving a lasting legacy. We began with first looking at leaving a legacy of defending the faith in the church, it was a broad scope or broad look at leaving a legacy. Last week we got a little more specific at looking at the truths of leaving a legacy of faithfulness. This is important for fathers to do but anyone who has people in their life that they are caring for, like children, grandchildren, step children, or even little brothers or sisters who are not walking with God. Who are not believers. You are being watched whether you know it or not eyes are on you. What is the legacy you are leaving behind, is it one of faithfulness or is it one of faithlessness.

The first of the Seven Truths for Leaving a Legacy of Faithfulness we looked at last week dealt with you personally.

Seven Truths for Leaving a Legacy of Faithfulness

The first Truth is Faithfulness Comes by Hearing. You have to be listening to the Word of God and what He is teaching. Godliness doesn't happen in a vacuum it and you don't pick up the Word of God by osmosis, it needs to be taught and you need to listen. This means you need to shut up and listen, which also means don't ever come to the Word of God with your own presuppositions to what you want it to say. Let God's Word speak to you. There are repeated themes through out Scripture but that doesn't mean you can't learn something new about God or especially about yourself. Listen for what God is doing or how you can be more like God. Whenever I looked at God's Word or even when I hear a preacher teaching on a topic or passage I have taught I listen to it as though it is the first time. I try to take in what it is God is saying to me. This is listening.

Once you have heard the Word of God the very next step is obedience. Faithfulness is Expressed in Obedience. How often do you listen to God's Word and think oh yeah this is true, but then you walk away unchanged or even worse, you apply it to someone else. To leave a legacy of faithfulness you need to listen and to obey. This is so important that Moses continually repeats it. He says it in verses 1 and 2 and then when he gets to verse 3 he says this, "O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it," Faithfulness is more then just acquiring knowledge and understanding it is the working out of the knowledge and understanding in your life which is discernment. Discernment is what we strive for as followers of Christ and discernment is the fruit of hearing and obeying. If discernment is what we are to strive for personally then what comes of our faithfulness should lead to multiplication.

Faithfulness Leads to Multiplication

As Moses is telling the Israelites in verse 3, "you should listen and be careful to do it," he provides the purpose for the nation to listen and do this. The purpose is, "that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly." Yes I get it this is a physical multiplication, this is just as God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. This involves procreation for the nation of Israel. As long as they are faithful to the Lord they will be fruitful and multiply in the land. The nation will continue to grow and thrive. This is a promise God made to Abraham. The promise was that from Abraham he would have a mighty nation and the nation was to be a faithful nation. Now here is the thing when it comes to multiplying faithful people you need to have those people right. Israel is a mighty nation at this time but can continue to grow more powerful as long as they stay faithful.

There is a stewardship that is made here. God is providing them with a land that they didn't have to work for and food they didn't have to cultivate and what he asks of them is that they stay obedient to Him and they will continue to multiply in this land. God provides all this for them and what they are to do is to be good stewards of their own walk with the Lord which will lead to them not only multiplying their children but as they steward their own walk they will cultivate in their children a faithful stewardship to God as well. This goes for us today too. This is not only with children although the child's faithfulness is the responsibility of the parent not the church. The churches responsibility in raising the child is to train the parents and to come alongside as the parents train up their children. This is good stewardship within the church and in multiplication. This is discipleship we are to be disciple our children. It doesn't need to be formal as we are about to see but we need to be teaching our kids how they can be faithful followers of God in the church and in the world. We want to see the multiplication of Christ followers in our homes and in our churches. It is as Paul said of himself to the Corinthian church, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." We are ambassadors in our own homes and it is very important that we take this task seriously as we disciple our children. Think about the effect of the multiplication that can happen from our time with our children. Not only can they grow in obedience but think of the impact they can have on their friends as you are leading the example of being an ambassador for Christ. They will pick up being an ambassador. In my family my father raised masons, my older brother became a mason and guess what now my nephew is a mason and I would actually like my son to work with him when he gets older just so he can learn the trade. How much more important is it to multiply our faithfulness, not just our faith and trust in God but our action of faith in God. Our listening and obeying. Faithfulness is putting in to action what we have heard and good stewards of this faithfulness is multiplied without even realizing it. All of this is said first to the parents this is directed to those who are the adults who are about to go in and take possession of the land. In the land they are asked to listen and to obey and to multiply then we find that when they multiply

Faithfulness Displayed in Love

Look with me at verse 4-6; "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart." Here we have the backbone to the Israelite belief system, the backbone to the life of faithfulness. Faithfulness is not rooted in prosperity or in our deeds, faithfulness is rooted in God and God alone. Once again we have here the word "Hear" this word for hear is crucial to the Israelites walk with the Lord and with the Christians walk with the Lord. To hear someone is synonomous with love. This call for Israel to Hear is a call for Israel to Love. God is One, this is still recited by the Israelites even today, they believe in a One God and One God only. We do to we believe in One God three persons but still only One God. There is only One God and He is the Living God of Israel meaning He is not made of stone or wood, He is not just some statue He is the One true living God and He is the God they are to love and He is the God we are to Love also.

When Moses says in verse 5, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might," he means with every fiber of your being. This is not to be a superficial love, this is not to be just lip service but to be a genuine love. This love is expressed in obedience.

I think there are times when people just say they love something. They use it in a way that I believe makes it a little trivial. I love pizza. Do you really love pizza. I mean seriously is every fiber of your being enthralled by pizza that Pizza is all that you think of all day long. No, you enjoy pizza or you like pizza but its not love. When it comes to loving someone with all your heart and all your soul and all your might, it means every thought you have can't escape thinking about that person. It means when you look at something it reminds you of the person.

Every time I see a Voltswagon Beetle I always think of Lynn. When we first met this is what she drove. Any Bug reminds me of her but when I see a red one I can just picture her driving in it. When you love someone you are reminded of them because you are always thinking of them. God wants us to love Him with every fiber of our being. Every time we look around are you reminded of God. It is funny we like to complain about the weather but do you ever stop to think wow look at the control God has over nature and even the weather patterns. We don't and I think the reason why is because we are selfish and we want what want want instead of just enjoying God and His work and His majesty.

That is why I love, and I am not using this tongue and cheek, I really do love Psalm 119. It is the longest psalm but the psalmist expresses his love for God and God's Word. This is a man who wants the Word of God written on his heart and we should all want this.

When we love God it shows, it shows in faithfulness to Him and that is key especially in the home. Men and women express love differently, everyone expresses love differently, but when it come to loving God the only expression there is is faithfulness which means you listen and obey His Word and you put effort into building on this relationship. I find it funny how a lot of times people feel they are not being loved enough or in the right way by their spouse, and they want their spouse to love them more and they want them to change they way they are loving them. We really need to not be so worried about how people are loving us, we need to be concerned with how we are loving God. Oh think about this God loves us perfectly, He will never fail us or forsake us, yet we don't know how to love Him and we are overly concerned with being loved by others. Focus on loving God with every fiber of your being first and allow God to change you. Does this mean your spouse will love you any differently probably not, but you will love your spouse differently and that will leave an impact. You will also love you children differently. You will also love your neighbor differently and the stranger and your in-laws and even your enemies.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 NASB95

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This is the definition of love and God has demonstrated this perfectly in His Son Jesus Christ who went to the cross and paid the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. Love is selfless and love never thinks of self but always puts the other first. We need to think of God first in all things and we need to put Him first and His Word needs to be first in our hearts so that we are always reminded of Him and everything in our lives points to Him. I have heard someone say one time that talking about the weather is fellowship, well talking about the weather should lead naturally to how glorious God is. This is loving God, He must be number One. And as you grow in your love for Him those around you will see it and it will make it easier for you to live a faithful life.

Faithfulness is Hearing

Faithfulness is Obedience

Faithfulness is Multiplying

Faithfulness is Love

And the next three facts of faithfulness has to do with passing it on.

First it is repetitive

Faithfulness is Passionate

In verse 7 Moses says, "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of the when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." Notice who has the responsibility of teaching the children. It is not the community of Israel it is the parents. Teaching the children to be faithful followers of God begins in the home. This also provides a format for teaching. So often we think of teaching as having a dedicated time when we all sit down and we all look at the Bible together and do a lesson. I am not knocking that and it is important to do but we are to be teaching our children at all times and it is to be repetitive. Look he says here when you sit, when you walk, when you lie down and when you rise up. All day long not just for five minutes a day or an hour but all day long. If you love God and if you are in His word the natural flow is to talk about Him and who He is and what He days. The best way for your children to think biblically is to ask them questions that are intentional so that they will think biblically. It is about teaching them discernment. This world is filled with influences that will take people away from God we need to be sure our children can look at the world and say no that isn't what God intended and what God wants.

Children at a young age are like a sponge and they can soak up what is being taught whether biblical or counter-biblical. Don't leave up to someone else to train them or to raise them teach them yourself about God. That is why your life needs to marked by faithfulness, because kids will see right through you if you teach your children to love God but you, yourself are not loving God. Never think oh well I have taught this and this still aren't getting it. I had a professor in Seminary who used to say, repetition is the key to learn and the key to learning is repetition. Repeat the scripture, repeat the lesson, repeat a truth. It is the only way kids will learn. The idea behind the teach them diligently is to inscribe it on their hearts. It is the idea of taking a chisel and hammer and etching it on there hearts so that it will never be removed. This goes to the idea of the proverb

Proverbs 22:6 NASB95

6 Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

This is a principle that can hold. Keep in mind that we are sinful and we have a penchant to wonder so this doesn't mean our children will never fall into sin but what it does mean is if you are teaching them to have spiritual and biblical discernment they will know not to wallow in self pity but turn to God confess their sin and repent. They can learn this from you. Kids pick things up from there parents and they don't need to pick up our sins that is just engrained in them, what they can pick up from us is faithfulness and if we are passionate about God and godliness and God's Word they will be too.

Faithfulness is Personal

We need to be sincere in our faith in the home.

2 Corinthians 2:17 NASB95

17 For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.