CHURCH LIFE CLASS
GODLY LEGACY
PREFACE: One of the most neglected areas among the people of God is the whole focus on Godly
Legacy. There is a short sightedness that has come upon the contemporary church regarding
the generations behind us. This stands in stark contrast to the Biblical perspective that focuses
on leaving a spiritual inheritance to the coming generations. The Bible speaks much about the idea of legacy, which is the handing down of the faith to generations behind us. God has always been multigenerational in focus and commands us to be as well. There is no success without a successor.
I. GOD’S CALL UPON HIS PEOPLE IS MULTIGENERATIONAL IN FOCUS
Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that your son and grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments,…. Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach (impress) them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you shall rise up. Deuteronomy 6:1-7
Listen, O My people, to my instruction; incline your ears to the words of my mouth…I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wondrous works which He has done. For He establishes a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children. Psalms 78:1-6
God is multigenerational in focus.
He refers to Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He defines Himself generationally.
Throughout the Bible God always considers things in light of how they affect generations. He
considers things generationally.
In the Bible there is always a view towards lineage.
There is always a concern for the generations coming behind.
There was always a focus and mandate to deposit into the generations coming behind us.
Older men are to be,… teaching what is good, that they may encourage (train) the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored. Likewise (the old men) urge the young men to be sensible; in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with all purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, in order that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. Titus 2:1-7
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. 2 Timothy 1:4
The church is designed by God to be multigenerational in focus.
We are failing if we are not thinking about the generations behind us.
There is no success without a successor.
To be multigenerational we must understand two words, Destiny and Legacy
Destiny – What you are heading for, your goal, vision, your journey.
Legacy – Anything handed down from an ancestor or predecessor. What you leave behind.
Christ’s first instruction to Peter (an Apostle) after He rose from the dead and before He ascended was to feed the lambs (young sheep). If you are too big or important to care for the lambs then you are too big and important.
So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, {son} of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” John 21:15
In the House of God the younger generations behind us are not to be tolerated but celebrated. They are
our future. Children are a gift of God and the blessing of the Lord.
II. TO BE MULTIGENERATIONAL IN FOCUS WE MUST BEGIN TO THINK
LIKE A PATRIARCH
Having a Patriarchal mindset.
Patriarch – A Patriarch was a founding father, or ruling ancestor.
The Patriarchs were always thinking about the generations and lineage behind them. They were constantly concerned with the line of descent by which the covenant was being perpetuated. They worked to make sure they succeeded. (Abraham - Genesis 15:1-19)
Having a Patriarchal mindset isn’t a matter or age but a matter of focus.
The trick of the enemy is to get us so focused on the current generation that we lose the seed.
There are to be no generation gaps in the House of God.
The prophetic picture of God’s design is for the generations to be together. Zechariah 8:1-6 – The
elderly and the children are together.
The New Testament exhortation set forth in Titus 2 - Older with the younger, teaching them.
The great danger of growing older with the spirit of the age instead of the Biblical design.
In our culture when people grow older they isolate themselves from the generations.
Some times this is aided by an attitude in Christians as they get older that tries to preserve their generation instead of understanding their call to compel the coming generation.
Aspects of the spirit of the age in people as they grow older that robs them of the purpose of God
for legacy in His house:
Failure to run you race to the end. “Draw Back spirit”
This is the opposite attitude than the one Caleb had when at the age of 85 he was still wanting
to fight for the inheritance he was yet to possess. Joshua 14:10-13
Paul also had an attitude that wanted to run his race all the way up until the end that caused him
to have a “press on” attitude. Philippians 3:7-15
Nothing is more damaging to the younger generations than to see someone older than them
Living a halfhearted commitment, or someone who slipped into spiritual retirement mode.
2. Lack of concern about inheritance. This is exemplified in the bumper sticker “I’m spending
my children’s inheritance.”
It is a retirement mentality – “I have paid my dues and sacrificed enough, now it is time for me
to finally enjoy life.
Why do people, when they get older, withdraw from the younger generation and travel around
the country looking at rocks and buildings, when they have so much wisdom that the younger
generation needs?
3. Short term thinking.
4. Concern with preserving your generation instead of compelling the next.
You always fight to preserve your style of church, music, etc. The old is always better.