“A Biblical Plan for Establishing a Spiritual Legacy”

(Sunday Morning January 10th, 2010)

 

Passage: Deuteronomy 6:1-9

 

O.S.        I Want to Begin This Sermon This Morning by Describing Two Men Who Have Both Left a Legacy. One of                     These Men Has Left a Very Good Legacy, and the Other Man Has Left a Very Bad Legacy.

 

                         a. Jonathan Edwards Has Left a Very Good Legacy

                                 He Was so Brilliant That He Entered Yale College at the Age of 13, and He Graduated With                                             Honors He Became the Pastor of a Congregational Church in Northampton, New England, and His                                  Famous Sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Was the Spark That Began the First                                          Great Awakening in America.

 

                                 On July 28th, 1727, He Married a Devout Christian Woman Named Sarah Pierpont; He Was 23                                       Years of Age and She Was 17. She Did Everything She Could to Support Her Husband in the                                             Ministry so That He Would Have More Time for Study and Sermon Preparation And They Had                                        Eleven Children From These and Their Descendants Have Come…

 

                                          …1 Vice President of the United States

                                           …3 United States Senators
                                           …3 State Governors

                                          …3 Mayors

                                          …13 College Presidents

                                          …30 Judges
                                           …65 College Professors

                                          …80 Public Office Holders

                                          …100 Lawyers

                                          …and 100 Christian Missionaries

 

                         b. Max Jukes, by Way of Contrast, Has Left a Very Bad Legacy

                                 He is a Man Who Lived at the Same Time Period as Jonathan Edwards, and an Historian by the                                       Name of A.E. Winthrop Describes Him as Having Been an Irreverent and Immoral Man and a                                          Hard Drinker His 1200 Descendants Include…

                                          … 310 Who Were Vagrants and Died as Paupers

                                          … 400 Who Wrecked Their Lives Through Debauchery

                                          ... 130 Who Went to Prison and 7 of These Were Incarcerated for Murder

                                          ...  600 Became Alcoholics

                                          … 60 Became Thieves
                                          … 190 Became Prostitutes

                                          … Only 20 of Juke’s Descendants Ever Took on a Legitimate Trade and 10 of These Learned                                                Their Trade While They Were in Prison

                                          ... It Has Also Been Estimated That Max Juke’s Descendants Have Cost the State of New                                                     York Alone Over $1,250,000.00

 

St =        Now Listen, We are All Going to Leave a Legacy And I Would Certainly Rather Leave a Legacy Like That of                  Jonathan Edwards Than That of Max Jukes (Can I Get Witness?)

 

               So, I Believe That It Will be Beneficial for All of Us to Carefully Examine What the Bible Has to Say About                      What We Can do to Help Insure That Our Legacy Will be a Good One And the Bible Has a Great Deal to Say                 About This.

               In Fact, I Love This Verse That is Found in Psalms 127:4; the Psalmist Said This; He Said, “Like arrows in the                hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth”

 

Q.n =      What is the Psalmist Talking About?

Ans =      Leaving a Spiritual Legacy

               For You See, Arrows Revolutionized Warfare Because When Arrows Came Along, for the First Time, Men                    Were Able to Impact a Battle From a Great Distance Away

               And in the Same Way, the Psalmist is Saying That We Have an Opportunity to Impact Future Generations by                  Passing Our Spiritual, Moral and Ethical Values on to Our Children

               An Arrow, by the Way, Starts Out as a Crooked Stick or a Reed, and It Has to be Carefully Prepared in Order                to be Effective

 

               And Likewise, We are Told in Psalms 58:3 That Children Come From the Womb With a Crooked Heart, and                  They go Astray From Birth

               So, Our Job as Parents Involves Straightening These Little Arrows Out

               We are to Prepare Them, and Point Them and Propel Them in Such a Way That They Can Have a Positive                     Impact in Their Own Generation

               And Even if You Don’t Have Any Children, or Your Children are Already Grown, You Can Still Make a                           Difference Because Parents are Not the Only Ones Who Influence Children

 

              In 2 Timothy 1:5, the Apostle Paul Said This to His Young Protégé Timothy;He Said,“For I am mindful of the                  sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that                 it is in you as well”

 

              Here We Have an Example of a Spiritual Legacy That Could be Traced Backto a Godly Grandmother and a                   Godly Mother

             Timothy’s Father Was a Gentile; He Was Probably Not a Believer in Christ; But Nevertheless, Timothy                           Became a Christian, and He Eventually Became an Effective Pastor Because of the Influence of These Two                     Godly Women

 

            So, I Don’t Want Any of Us to Think That This Message Does Not Apply to Us Today,  Because It Most                           Certainly Does

            Those of Us Who are Parents Have a Responsibility to Try to Pass Our Faith on to Our Children, and                               Grandparents Can Influence Them as Well

             And Ultimately, All of Us as Church Members Have a Responsibility in This Area

             We Can All Get Involved, and We Should Because We Can All Benefit From This

             For You See, the Key to Having a Strong and Stable Society and a Prosperous Country Can be Traced Back to               This Very Thing Which is Exactly Why Moses Was so Deeply Concerned About It

 

            In Fact, I Want You to Look Back to Chapter 4 and Verse 40, and I Want You to Read That Verse With Me so                That We Can See the Context of This Passage

 

Deut 4:40 (Turn and Read)

T.S.      Establishing a Spiritual Legacy is What This Passage of Scripture is All About Passing Our Faith on to                            Succeeding Generations so That They Can Continue to Enjoy the Blessings of God is the Theme So, With                        This in Mind, I Want to Draw Your Attention to Three Things That God Tells Us We Must do to Insure That                  This Will Happen

 

 

T.S.           I. There is a Dedicated Life That Must be Lived

             II. There is a Divine Lord That Must be Loved

            III. There are Definite Lessons That Must be Learned

 

 

I. There is a Dedicated Life That Must be Lived

 

vs 1-3 (Read)

1) It is a Life of Reverence

 

            In Verse 2, and Again in Verse 13, and Again in Verse 24, We Find the Phrase“The Fear of the Lord”.What                        This Literally Means is “To Stand in Awe of God” or “To Show Him Reverence”

 

             This Means That We Should Live With the Constant Awareness of the Fact That God is Aware of Everything                  That We Do, Everything That We Say and Everything That We Think, and That We are Accountable to Him

 

             We Hear a Lot of Talk Today About Competing Worldviews, and the Need for Us to Pass on to Our                                 Children a Biblical Worldview

 

            Well, That is Essentially What Moses is Talking About Here, and This is of Vital Importance as We Seek to                    Establish a Spiritual Legacy

 

            This “Fear” or This “Reverence” for God Became Even More Essential When the Israelites Failed to Drive                     Out All of the Inhabitants of the Land

 

            God Warned Them About This Back in Numbers 33:55 by Saying This; He Said,"…if you do not drive out the                   inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will                       become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you                        live”

 

               Moses Was Saying, in Essence, That, Because They Did Not Drive These Canaanites Out of the Land as                         God Had Commanded Them to do That…

 

                       …Now, They Would be Forced to Struggle Against a Tide of Secularism

                       …And Their Religious Values Would be Constantly Challenged

                       …And They Would Face the Additional Pressure of Materialism and Idolatry

                       …And These Forces Would Constantly be Vying for Power and Control in That Society   (Doesn’t That                                  Sound Painfully Familiar?)

                        …And So, in This Environment, an Awesome Respect for God, and a Constant Awareness of His                                          Presence Would be Essential for Their Survival

 

Q.n =      By the Way, You do Realize That Other People are Trying to Exert an Influence Upon Our Children                                 Don’t You?  (Elaborate – Letting Them Choose for Themselves)

 

2) It is a Life of Righteousness

 

              Moses is Referring Here to the Ten Commandments Which He Had Just Finished Reviewing in Chapter 5

              And His Earnest Desire Was for Them to Keep These Commandments so That They Would Continue to                          Enjoy the Wonderful Benefits of Being in the Land of Promise

 

               That is Why This Single Letter Word “O” Appears Here in Verse 3

 

              That is an Article of Entreaty, and It Tells Us That Moses Was Pleading With Them at This Point

 

Q.n =      Why?

Ans =      Because He Wanted Them to Continue to Enjoy These Blessings

 

              For You See, This Land Was a Gift to Them From God

 

                         . These People Did Not Earn the Promised Land

                         . Moses Did Not Give the Promised Land to Them

                         . The Promised Land Was a Gift From God

 

              But This Same God Who Had Given Them This Land Had Stated That He Would Take It Away From Them                   if They Violated His Commandments And What Was True for Them is Also True for Us

 

              In Fact, Listen, We Cannot Understate the Importance of the Family as It Relates to Learning and to                                Applying God’s Moral Absolutes in Our Society

 

              In Fact, I Want Us to Read These Moral Absolutes Together, and That’s What These Ten                                                 Commandments Are; They are God’s Moral Absolutes And I Want You to Tell Me How Many of Them are                     Directly Related to the Family

 

Deuteronomy 5:6-21 (Turn and Read)

 

Pt =        Five of the Ten Commandments are Directly Related to the Family

 

               And the Sad Truth is That as These Commandments are Violated, as These Moral Absolutes are Violated,                        Families Will Fall Apart First, and Ultimately an Entire Society Will Collapse

 

St =        I Also Want You to Notice That Moses Warned Them About Amnesia

 

              In Deuteronomy 6:12, Moses Said. “then watch yourself, that you do not forget the LORD who brought you from
               the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery”

 

               For People Living in an Affluent Society, There is Always This Danger of Forgetting Who Gave It to Us And                    if We’re Not Careful, We Might Actually Begin to Think That We Earned It Ourselves And We Might                             Forget That It is God Who Has Given Us These Blessings.

 

              In Fact, Moses Gave Them a Discouraging Prophecy About This Danger in Deuteronomy 32:15 "But                                Jeshurun (This was a term of endearment for Israel which means ‘the righteous one’) grew fat and kicked --                                (rebelled) You are grown fat,  thick, and sleek -- then he forsook God who made him, and scorned the Rock  of                     his salvation”

 

               Prosperity Has a Way of Causing Us to Feel Self-Sufficient, and That is Ultimately What Happened to                              These People. In a Relatively Short Time, They Violated God’s Commandments and as a Result of This,                          They Lost Their Wonderful Land of Promise

 

Q.n =      Do You Ever Stop to Think About How Expensive Sin Is? in Dollars and Cents?

 

Ex.          The Cost of Housing Criminals in Prisons - 100,000 of Our Teenagers are in Prison

Ex.          The Cost of Aids on Our Healthcare System - 10 Million Teenagers Have STD’s

Ex.          Shoplifting = Over 5 Million People Get Caught Shoplifting Every Year in the U.S.

 

Pt =        Our Rejection of God’s Moral Absolutes, Not to Mention Our Failure to Enforce God’s Moral Absolutes,                        Could Cause Us to Ultimately Lose Our Land of Promise Just as They Did

 

vs 4-5 (Read)

 

              This is What is Known as “The Shema”

 

              The Jews Recognize This as the Most Important Summary of Their Faith, and It is Still Recited Every Friday                  and Saturday in Their Synagogues. It is an Extremely Important Passage of Scripture, and I Want You to                        Notice Who Moses Was Addressing. He Was Addressing the Fathers and the Grandfathers, Because These                     Were the One’s Responsible for Perpetuating Their Faith in God.

 

vs 2 (Read)

 

               But Listen, Moses Might as Well Have Said Parents or Guardians, Because We Should All be Concerned                         About the Importance of This

 

                         1) We Need to Love God Exclusively

 

                                   Moses Begins by Making a Strong Statement About Monotheism.  He Reminds Us All of                                                    Something That is Very Essential for All of Us to Believe, and That is That There is Only One                                           True God.

 

Q.n =      And Listen to Me, are You Listening?

 

              The God We Believe in Does Make a World of Difference Spiritually and Socially

Ex.          A Lot of Hindus, for Example, are Starving to Death Even Though a Perfectly Healthy Cow is Standing in                        Front of Them (Elaborate = Wrong god Little ‘g’)

 

Ex.          A Lot of Muslims are Killing Innocent People and Killing Themselves in the Process by Becoming Suicide                        Bombers (Elaborate = Wrong god Little ‘g’)

 

               Of Course, the Truth is That There is Only One God, and That is Why Jesus Said, “…’I am the way, and the                    truth,and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’” (John 14:6)

 

                That is Not a Politically Correct Statement, But It is a Biblically Correct One

 

                         2) We Need to Love God Enthusiastically

 

                                   I Want You to Notice the Personal Pronouns That are Used Here. And I Also Want to Remind                                           You That, in the Hebrew Language, Repetition is Used for Emphasis And Here We Find the                                               Word “YOU” Repeated Several Times

 

                                   God is Speaking to Fathers, and Grandfathers, and All Parents, and He Says “YOU shall love t                                         he LORD YOUR God with all YOUR heart and with all YOUR soul and with all YOUR might”

 

Q.n =       Who is He Referring to?

Ans =       Parents and Grandparents

 

                                                  a. Included in This is the Idea of Undivided Loyalty “You  shall love the LORD your God                                                          with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your might”

 

                                                  b. Included in This is the Idea of Spiritual Obedience Because Obedience Naturally                                                                 Flows Out of Genuine Love

 

                                                      In John 14:15, Jesus Said,“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”

 

                                                   c. Included in This is the Idea of Our Entire Being “heart, mind, soul and strength” and                                                          He Sums It Up in Verse 6 by Saying “It shall be on your heart”

 

                That Phrase is Very Interesting in the Hebrew, Because It Literally Means “to pass through the pores”

 

Pt =         This is Not a Superficial Kind of Love; This is a love That Permeates Our Entire Life as Tripartite Beings:                       Emotionally, Physically, Spiritually. In Other Words, This Love Must Permeate the Parent First

 

II. There is a Divine Lord That Must be Loved

 

               Several Years Ago, a 50 Year Longitudinal Study of Christian and Non-Christian Homes Was Completed

               And What They Discovered Was Very Interesting But Not Very Surprising. They Came to the Conclusion                        That the Vast Majority of Young Adults Following Jesus Christ Actively Today Either Came From Homes                       Where a Deep Personal Relationship With Jesus Christ Was Revered and Modeled

 

                                                                                OR

 

               They Came From Non-Christian Homes Where a Relationship With God Was Not Pursued in Any Way at                       All

 

Q.n =       Now, What Does That Tell Us?

Ans =       That Tells Us That, if Our Relationship With Jesus Christ as a Parent is Marginal, or Nominal, or                                    Segmented, or Sporadic, or Apathetic, We Might Actually be Doing More Harm Than Good to Our                                  Children Spiritually. In Other Words, It Would be Better for That Child to Grow Up in the Home of an                             Outright Atheist or an Outright Infidel Than to Grow Up in a Home Where His or Parents Have a Weak                          and Superficial Faith in God  And the Years are Moving by Faster Than We Might Think

 

               And Our Window of Opportunity Will be Closed Before We Know It So, We Need to Start Getting Serious                      About Living Our Faith Now in Such a Way That Our Children Will See That Our God is Very Real to Us                       Because This is How a Spiritual Legacy Works, It Flows Through the Parent to the Child, In Fact, Look                          Back at Deuteronomy 5:29 (Read)

 

                By the Way, Being a Part of a New Church Like Ours Can Provide You as a Parent With an Excellent                             Opportunity, Because We Have so Many Needs Around Here. This Past Week, My Three Children Went                         Out With Me, and We Distributed 250 Evangelistic Brochures and CD’s . Sophia Has Started Sending Out                      CD’s to Our Shut-Ins (Elaborate)

 

vs 6-9 (Read)

 

                         1) We Need to Impress Our Faith Upon Them

 

                                      The Word “Teach” That is Used Here in Verse 7 Literally Means “To Intensely Impress                                                       Upon”,And the Word “Diligently” That Also Appears Here in Verse 7 is Not an Adverb in the                                            Hebrew, It is a Verb That Literally Means “To Sharpen”  In Fact, It Was Actually Used to                                                 Describe an Engraving Tool. And So, It is Obvious That Moses is Talking About Here Initially                                          is Not a Passive Form of Instruction, But Rather, a Very Active and Deliberate Form of                                                     Instruction. In Other Words, This Means That You and I, Who are Parents, Ought to be Doing                                         Everything We Possibly Can to Actively Teach Our Children About God. And by the Way, the                                           Primary Responsibility to Teach Your Child About God and His Word Does Not Rest Upon the                                         Church, It Rests Upon the Parent.  The Church Can Supplement What You Teach to Your                                                 Child, But the Church Cannot be a Substitute for What You Need to be Teaching to Your                                                  Child.

 

Ill: There are Definite Lessons That Must be Learned

 

 

               Consider This:

 

                                      The Average Child Has 108,000 Waking Hours From Infancy to Maturity

 

                                      If You Attend Church Regularly, You Child Will Spend Approximately 1,000 of Those Waking                                          Hours at Church

 

                                      If You Child Attends a Public or Private School, He Will Spend Approximately 7,000 of His                                                Waking Hours There - 7 Times as Much as He Will Spend at Church

 

                                      But Listen to This, by Way of Comparison, You Child Will Spend 100,000 of His Waking                                                   Hours at Home

 

Q.n =       So, You Tell Me: Who Has the Greater Responsibility of Impressing Spiritual Truth Upon Your Child?

Ans =       The Answer is a No Brainer - You Do

Q.n =       So, When Should You Start Teaching Your Child About God?

Ans =       Yesterday

 

               As Soon as, and Preferably Before He or She is Born, You Should Start Teaching Your Child About God

 

               Listen to what the Bible Says in Isaiah 28:9-10; the Prophet Says “9 To whom would He teach knowledge,                        and to whom would He interpret the message?  Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the                               breast?10 ‘For He says, 'Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little                                 there.'"

 

               I Agree With Those Who Say That From Birth to Age Seven are “The Formative Years”

 

                That Means That These are the Most Critical Years for Us to be Involved in Imparting Spiritual Truths to                       Our Children

 

Ex.           The Jesuit Order, Which Has Been Handed by Roman Catholics for Generations the Education of Their                          Children, Have Made This Flat Statement “Give Us Your Child Until That Child is Twelve, and We do Not                        Care Who Has Him After That”

 

Ex.           Dr. James Dobson, Who is an Internationally Famous and Respected Evangelical Christian Psychologist                         Says That by the Sixth Year the Major Opportunity to Imprint and Impress the Spiritual Direction of                                Children Has Already Come and is on Its Way Out.

 

               That Means That This is an Extremely Important Time for Us to be Teaching Spiritual Truths to Our                               Children (Ex. Moses  Ex. Samuel)

 

                Now, if Your Child is Past the Age of Six, or Seven, or Even Twelve, This Does Not Mean That You no                            Longer Have a Chance to Pass Your Spiritual Values on to Them  But It Does Mean That You Need to                            Get Busy  Because if You Wait Until You See Them Get Involved With the Wrong Crowd, or Until They                           Break the Law, It’s Going to be Too Late. By Then, the Die Will Have Already Been Cast

 

                         2) We Need to Illustrate Our Faith for Them

 

vs 7b (Read)

 

                                          There is a Word in Hebrew for “Lecturing,”  But That is Not the Word Used Here. There is                                               Also a Word in Hebrew That Means “Natural Conversation”, and That is the Word That is                                                Used Here. This Means That We Should Use Events and Objects From Everyday Life to                                                    Illustrate and Apply Spiritual Truth.

 

Q.n =       And Jesus Was a Master at This, Wasn’t He?

 

               In Matthew 6:26, for Example, Jesus Said, “Look at the birds of the air…” , And in Matthew 13:13, Jesus                           Said, “A Sower went out to sow…”. Sometimes, After I Have Done Something Kind for One of My Children                      or All of Them, I Will Say This to Them; I Will Say,

Q.n =       Do You Think That Your Mean Ole Rotten Ole Snake in the Grass Daddy Would Ever Do Such and Such                       for You?

Ans =       And They Will Either Say “Yes” or Sometimes They Will Object and Say “You’re Not a Mean Old Rotten                         Old Snake in the Grass Daddy”

 

                By the Way, I Love to Hear That, Because I do Hope That They Will Remember Me as Being a Kind and                         Generous Father. But There is Something Else That is More Important to Me And What is Why I Will go                        on to Ask Them This, I Will Say

Q.n =       If You’re Mean Ole Rotten Ole Snake in the Grass Daddy Will do This, do You Think That Jesus Will                             Ever do Anything Nice for You?

 

Ans =       The Answer of Course is “Yes”

 

               And That Comes Right Out of Matthew 7:11 Which Says This, Listen, It Says, “If you then, being evil,                              know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is                        good to those who ask Him!”

 

                This is How We do It

 

                          3) We Need to Impart Our Faith to Them

 

                                          This Reference to the Word of God on Your Hand, and Your Forehead and Your                                                                Doorpost Was Not Intended to be Taken Literally. The Jews in Bible Times Wore                                                              Phylacteries, and They Placed a Mezuzah in Front of Their House But That is Not                                                              What Moses Was Instructing Them to do Here.

 

                                          What This Actually Refers to are Our ATTITUDES and Our ACTIONS

 

                                          It Means That We Need to be Bold Enough to Identify Ourselves as Christians, and                                                            to Identify Our Family as a Christian Family

 

Q.n =       So, Do You Have a Family Motto?

Ans =       If Not, Let Me Recommend One to You. It is Found in Joshua 24:15, and It Was Joshua Who Said, “…as                         for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Notice the Order There)

 

                This Means That We Do Not Allow Some Things to Come Into Our Home, Because We Believe That They                      are Dishonoring to God (Elaborate)

 

                More Importantly, It Means We Teach Our Children to Serve the Lord Alongside Us by Example

 

               Of Course, the Greater Challenge Here Relates to the FOREHEAD and the HAND, Because These                                  Represent Our ATTTITUDES and Our ACTIONS

 

                This is Where the Rubber Really Hits the Road, Because It Means That in PUBLIC and in PRIVATE My                        Children Should be Able to See That My Faith is Genuine

 

Ex.           You Might Let One of Your Children Put Your Tithe Check in the Offering Plate

 

Ex.           You Might Work as a Sponsor at One of Our Youth or Children’s Events or Use Some of Your Vacation                         Time to go With Us to Camp

 

Ex.           You Might Take Your Child With You on a Mission Trip, or for a Hospital Visit, or Across Town to Visit                        Someone Who is Homebound  (Ex. I do This Sometimes)

 

Invitation:     There is a Character in the Bible Who’s Name is Enoch. Enoch Lived Just Prior to the Time of Noah,                               During the Antidiluvian Age That Was Characterized by so Much Wickedness That God Destroyed the                            World And Yet, the Bible Calls Enoch “A Preacher of Righteousness”  And the Way He Came to Know the                        Lord is Especially Interesting to Me.

 

                     His Conversion Experience is Described to Us in Genesis 5:21-22 Which Says This; It Says “21 Enoch lived                       sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. 22 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years                         after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters”

 

                      We Have Every Reason to Believe That Enoch Was Just as Wicked as the Rest of the Men Who Lived in                        That Wicked Age Until One Night When He Heard the Cry of a Newborn Baby Boy, and That Caused Him                       to Turn His Life Around.

 

Q.n =             What do You Think Happened to Enoch?

 

Ans =             I Think He Suddenly Realized That No Man Lives to Himself, and No Man Dies to Himself (Romans 14:7)

 

Ans =            I Think He Suddenly Realized That It Was One Thing for Him to Live a Sinful Life That Would Ultimately                       End in Heartache, But He Just Couldn’t Bear the Thought of Dragging This Beautiful Child Down With                           Him.

 

Pt =               The Most Important Thing You Can Give Your Child is Not a Nice House, and Nice Clothes, and Plenty of                       Toys. The Most Important Thing You Can Give to Your Child is Not a College Education or a Large                                Inheritance.

 

                     Mark 8:36 Says“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”

 

                      The Most Important Thing You do for Your Child is to Lead Him by Your Actions and Your Speech to                             Embrace Jesus Christ as His Savior.