Josh Book

Box 188

What Is Your Legacy

Just before the National Championship game in 2003, Jim Tressel, the coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes gave an encouraging speech to the players in hopes of raising them to another level.  In that speech he asked the players a very powerful question: “What do you want to be remembered for?”1

Now life is a lot more important than some football game.  Life is a lot more challenging than a football game.  Life is a lot more rewarding than a football game.  So let me ask you a question.  “What do you want to be remembered for?  What is it that you want to leave behind you when you pass from this life to the next?

What kind of legacy do you want to leave?  Will you be know for your kindness, devotion to loved ones, athletic ability, something bad, or perhaps the devotion to God that you have?  We will leave a legacy, the question is will it be a Godly one to leave behind.  I received an email once that points this out well.

During the waning years of the depression there was a man named Mr. Miller, who owned a roadside market.  One day I noticed a young boy entered the marketplace and was looking at some fresh peas.  Mr. Miller’s wife informed me that the boy had no money and Mr. Miller realized that and would always trade and barter with him and two other boys that were real bad off.  He would ask what color of marble they had, then would tell them that he wanted a different color and would send them home to come back with it next time.  When they returned, and they always would, he would change his mind about what color he wanted, telling them he like red marbles more.

Well I left that stand amazed with that man and his heart.  Returning home after some time I found that Mr. Miller had passed away, and his funeral showing was that day, so I went with some of my friends.  Ahead of us in line were three young men, one in a army uniform, and the other two dressed in suits and looking very professional.  They went to the casket paused and then left the room.  When it came our turn to meet Mrs. Miller I told her about how she had met me and told me about her husband trading food for marbles with the poor boys during the depression.  With tears in her eyes she took me to the casket.

“The three young men that just left were the boys I told you about.  They just told me how they appreciated the things that Jim “traded” them, now at last when he could not change his mind about color or size, they came to pay their debt.”

“We never had a great deal of the wealth of this world, she confided, but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in the world.”

With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband.  Resting underneath were three, exquisitely shined, red marbles.

This man left a legacy that allowed him to be remembered for a great heart and great deeds as well.  What is it that you want people to say about you or to leave at your funeral site?

            I have another question for you.  How many of you skip over the parts of the Bible that provide the genealogy of people?  Now many times I tend to do this too, but as we read today, that is exactly what we are going to read.  Legacies come and go, it is our job as Christians to develop godly legacies, and today I am going to share how.

            If you will turn with me to Matthew chapter 1, and we are going to read verses 1 through 17.  Here in these verses it gives the genealogy of Jesus, and it says,

“A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, the father of Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, the father of Hezron, the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, the father of Nahshon,  the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,  the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,  the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.  Was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, Solomon the father of Rehoboam, the father of Abijah, the father of Asa, Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, the father of Jehoram, the father of Uzziah, Uzziah the father of Jotham, the father of Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, the father of Amon, the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jeconiah  and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.  After the exile to Babylon: was the father of Shealtiel, the father of erubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, the father of Eliakim, the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok, the father of Akim, the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar, the father of Matthan, the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.  Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.”

            What is your family history like?  Is it full of people who have made a positive difference?  Maybe it has a few nuts or bad apples in it.  Perhaps it is filled or spotted with criminals and bed legacies.2

            Another story that I have that applies here is also a personal story.  My parents use to always tell me that I was related to Santa Clause.  Needless to say, I never believed them.  Finally one day they informed me that him, his wife, and their son were buried in a near by cemetery.  Well my curiosity got to me and I had to go and see for myself.  Sure enough, I was related to Santa.

            Jessie Watters, AKA Mrs. Santa Clause was born in 1884 and died in 1950.  Here legacy was her generous, kind, and giving heart.  In the 30’s when money was tight she owned a business and had more money than the others in her community.  She was know for using what she had to buy and make toys and Christmas presents for kids and families that would not have been able to afford things.  Each year she would do this, even after the depression was over.  She would also make and take food to kids in school for lunch so they would not go hungry.  Thus she was given the name Mrs. Santa Clause.  The name stuck and eventually was engraved on her grave stone.

            Now her husband and her son both had Santa’s Husband, and Santa’s Son carved into their gravestones as well.  Everyone in her family had a reference to her.  In the same way, as Christians, shouldn’t we have a reference to God applied to us.  Mrs. Santa has touched lives and has been remembered foe it.  From what I understand, this woman would have been my Great, Great Aunt.

            Many of you I am sure have heard the song Three Wooden Crosses by Randy Travis.  In this song it says, “It’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you, it’s what you leave behind you when you go.”  This can be a very powerful statement.  What you leave when you go is your legacy, will it be good or bad, that is up to you.

            Now we can not do anything about the legacy given to us, but we can do something about the legacy that we leave for those who come behind us.  There are three quick points to follow to leave a godly legacy.3

            Step one is to acknowledge your own legacy.  You have to look at you ancestors and understand where you are and how you got there.  Then you can look at your personal history.  What you have done to leave a legacy behind you must be centered on God in order to provide a good legacy for the next generation.

Step two is to refuse to let your legacy decide your future.  Jesus could have looked at all of those people in his ancestry and decided to throw in the towel and give up.  There were criminals and murderers in that family, however He didn’t give up with all of that and we shouldn’t either.  So we need to get passed what has been passed down to us and begin something new for those to come.

            The third step is to actively seek to influence the next generations.  We have to influence others in order for them to follow us.  Dr. James Dobson who once accurately declared that, morals, convictions, and values of a child are more often “caught” than “taught.”4 Some ways that we can influence the next generation are; to pray for them, live by example, and to simply teach them what you know.  You have a choice, you can let your old legacy given to you hold you back, or you can choose to go on and build your own legacy of a life lived in the nearness of God.

            Living a life as an example is the only way to begin a new legacy.

            Daddy had a little girl; her soul was white as snow.  She never went to Sunday school cause daddy wouldn’t go.  She never heard the word of God.  That thrills the childish mind, while other children went to class, This child was left behind.  As she grew from babe to youth, dad saw to his dismay, a soul that once was snowy white, became a dingy gray.  Realizing that his daughter was lost, dad tried to win her back.  But now the soul that once was white had turned an ugly black.  Dad even started back to church, and Bible study too; he begged the preacher “isn’t there a thing you can do?”  the preacher tried, failed, and said “we’re just too far behind; I tried to tell you years ago, but you would pay me no mind.”  And so another soul was lost, that once was white as snow; Sunday school would have helped, but daddy wouldn’t go.5

What are you investing into the youth of today?  Dobson also said, “A good father will leave his imprint on his daughter for the rest of her life.”6 On another stone in the same cemetery that Santa and family were found in, I found these words engraved on another stone.  “Remember friends as you pass by, as you are so once was I, as I am now soon you must be, so prepare for death and follow me.”  We don’t know when it is going to be our time to go, but the bible states that all men will face death, so we better have a legacy that leads to Heaven.  John Maxwell writes in his book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, “Success is not measured by what you are leaving to, but by what you are leaving behind.”7

            A legacy is not based on where you go, but what you are leaving behind you.  Let’s make sure that our legacy leads people to God and is a godly legacy.  What is the legacy that you will leave behind when you go?

Thank You