SERMON

NOT TO US, BUT TO YOUR NAME

Psalm 115:1

Have you seen those bumper stickers on the backs of big RV’s out on the highway that say, “I’m spending my kids’ inheritance?” Most of the time that’s just an indication of a good sense of humor…but sometimes it’s a genuine declaration that the owners figure that their kids are on their own with regard to the future.

What is our responsibility for the next generation? Do we indulge ourselves at their expense? Do we pass on insurmountable debt that they will have to pay? Do they deserve help from us, or should they have to pay their dues and make it on their own with no step us from us?

Usually we think of the inheritance for the next generation in material terms—land, businesses, trusts, homes and so forth. But what kind of spiritual heritage are we preparing for those still to come? As families, and as a congregation, we have a legacy to pass on to the coming generations that is eternal, not material.

As we look back over twenty-five years today, we also must look ahead to see what kind of inheritance our children’s children will receive from us.

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments.

Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

Those who follow Jesus Christ will give an account for all that He has entrusted to our care. Are we making adequate preparation for those who will come after us, should Christ delay His return?

What God has already done over these twenty-five years has exceeded by far anything we could possibly have expected when twelve families launched out to begin this work in 1978. No one around here is confused about one thing—everything good that has happened here can only be attributed to a gracious God who has allowed us to have a ringside seat for what He has done and is doing.

Psalm 115:1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Thy name give glory because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth.

We have come today to make sure that God is glorified by a people who have seen His glory and want to lift our voices in thanksgiving and praise for who our God is and all that He has done!

THESIS: The greatest legacy we can leave for the generations to come is a vibrant faith in a glorious God who honors us by calling us His own.

I. As Followers of Jesus Christ, What We Live for Gives Glory to God

--Not living for ourselves, but living for Christ!

--What are you living for this morning?

A. LIVING FOR OURSELVES

--Whenever we choose to ignore God’s will, or contradict His Word, we diminish the quality of the legacy we leave behind.

--We become guilty of taking what God intended for His glory and wasting it on ourselves.

1. Robs God of His Glory

--Living for ourselves always robs God of His glory and steals what can only rightly belong to Him.

Isaiah 42:8 I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images…

Isaiah 48:11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.

--By deciding to place our desires above His, we attempt to take what God has made good for ourselves and end up ruining it and ourselves in the bargain.

That can happen to a person or a group of people, to an individual or a church. When we take talents and gifts, things of beauty and value, and misuse and abuse them, we rob God of His glory.

If a young man or woman is particularly gifted musically and uses those gifts for worldly acclaim and gain, they rob God of His glory. If a church takes its resources and builds a name for itself instead of for Jesus Christ, it robs God of His glory.

2. Rewards Selfishness as a Virtue

--Living for ourselves plays into the hands of the selfish, those who are takers and users, not givers and helpers.

--Our culture rewards and applauds selfishness and egocentric behavior by imitating those who profit by their inverted values.

With an attitude that brazenly declares, “It’s all about me,” and always asks “What’s in it for me?” one can hardly be surprised that we get the idea that it is a ‘dog-eat-dog world’ where it is ‘every man for himself,’ and ‘look out for number one cause no one else will.’

What we cannot afford to do is propagate that attitude in the church and condone a selfishness among those who are called to be ‘self-less servants’ of Jesus Christ. People are beginning to think of the church as the place that exists to meet their needs, not as the place where they can find out how to meet the needs of others and care more about them than us!

Matthew 22:37-39 It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be you servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

--Will we pass on a heritage of selfishness and endorse a Christian subculture where it is acceptable to live for yourself and expect others to cater to you?

3. Regards Others as Less Important

--The selfish subculture smothers humility and suffocates servanthood as it rides roughly over anyone getting in the way of what we want.

--What living for ourselves does is promote the idea that what I need and want is always more important than what you need and want—an attitude that contradicts the life to which Jesus Christ calls us.

Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

--Paul sounds positively subversive to a culture saturated in living exclusively for its own good, its own pleasure and its own desires.

--If we insist on living for ourselves, we have no one but ourselves to blame when those who come along after us choose to do the same!

--What a shameful legacy to leave behind when God has given us every opportunity to live for Him instead of ourselves!

B. LIViNG FOR CHRIST

--New life begins when we discover what it means to live for Christ instead of ourselves.

--There is a self-imposed prison for those who choose to live for themselves, because they can never be truly satisfied—but in Christ, the bars disappear and we are released to a newfound freedom in living for Him.

1. Surrender My Life to Him

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.

2. Sacrifice My All for Him

Romans 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

II. As Followers of Jesus Christ, What We LEAVE BEHIND SHAPES GENERATIONS TO COME

--We stand at the threshold, the beginning of the next twenty-five years of our ministry together.

--The decisions we make, the priorities we follow, the vision we pursue—all will determine the nature of the legacy we leave for those who are to come after us.

--Consider what a difference we can make, what shape we can give to coming generations, by taking steps now to invest in the following priorities.

A. A Legacy of Love

--What greater legacy can we leave for the next generation than one of love—the greatest commandment?

Matthew 27:37-39 You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

--As a church, are we demonstrating the kind of love that permeates our life together in such a way that everyone can see that Jesus Christ has overcome our natural inclination to be selfish and given us a heart that loves with an authenticity only He can produce?

1. Love for God

--Nothing has such a profound impact on our perspective on life than a deep, abiding love for our Lord.

--When He holds our affections, everything else flows from and is motivated by them.

--If we only pass on Bible facts and religious traditions to the coming generations, but not a passionate for the Lord, we will do them a tragic disservice.

Jonathan Edwards once said that multitudes often hear the Word of God and have knowledge about it. But it is totally ineffective and makes no change in their behavior or character if they are not affected by what they hear. He even went on to assert that no change of religious nature will ever take place unless the affections are moved and that nothing significant ever changed the life of anyone when the heart was not deeply affected.

--Over the next twenty-five years, will the next generation inherit only our objective and external structures of religion, or will they be captivated by the love of Christ and long for Him above all else?

Psalm 27:4 One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in His temple.

Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

--What a legacy of love to expose our children and their children to the contagious love of Christ!

2. Love for Others

--Of course the genuineness of that love for the Lord is tested for authenticity by the measure of our love for others.

--If we talk about God’s love but never put it into practice, we fail at the most fundamental level and disqualify ourselves as witnesses for Christ.

a. Unconditional Love

--People always disappointment each other and hurt each other, but our love for each other does not depend upon performance.

--Unconditional love demonstrates grace in a practical way as we love one another even though none of us deserve it.

--When we love one another unconditionally, we pass on a message that each generation needs to know—that God’s love always finds a way to express itself in genuine love for others.

--That kind of love is contagious, magnetic, compelling, irresistible as people long to be loved and will do whatever it takes to belong to a family of faith who will love them unconditionally.

b. Incarnational Love

--Theoretical conversations about love mean very little until they are translated into practical expressions of love, person to person, face to face.

--In the body of Christ, if we have learned anything about the nature of God’s love, it is best understood in the incarnation as God became flesh and lived with us so that we could see what His love was supposed to look like in person.

c. Sacrificial Love

--As God’s love matures in us, one of its chief characteristics will surface—it is sacrificial, and that is true because it is selfless!

--When we love others the way Christ loves us, we willingly place their needs above our own, consider their concerns above our own, redirect our attention to their issues instead of being so preoccupied with our own.

What kind of message do we send to the next generation about the nature of our love if they never see us sacrificing for the sake of others? In our personal lives, can you think of ways that your children see a sacrificial spirit in how you respond to the needs of others? Are you giving to and caring for the needs of others in less fortunate situations? Practicing hospitality? Serving as volunteers?

In our church life, does the next generation benefit from your sacrifices for them (that they probably will never see!)? Have you considered parking at Oak Park? Coming to another service or LIFE class to make room? Taking a visitor under your wing, or even out for lunch?

Sacrificial love willingly forsakes its own convenience so that others might benefit!

--What an impact it would have if the next generation just assumed that sacrificial love is the standard for every believer because they saw it so often in those they look to for leadership!

B. A Heritage of Trust

--When we understand God’s love for us and respond in love for Him, the natural course leads us to trust the One who would love us so completely.

--Therefore, as we prepare a legacy for the next generation, we also want to leave them a heritage of trust so that they can have total confidence in the faithfulness of God

Psalm 78:5-7 …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, that they should put their confidence in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.

--Is our vision for ministry big enough to incorporate “even the children yet to be born?”

--As we celebrate the past, we must also accept responsibility for preserving intact our security and contentment with such an awesome and powerful God as He is.

C. A Remembrance of Wonder

--Do those who are young in the faith see the awe in our eyes and sense the anticipation in our hearts as we come before the Lord?

--Should we not train them to delight in the greatness of God, to bow in wonder at the splendor and majesty of the Lord?

Psalm 111:2-4 Great are the works of the LORD; they are to be studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is His work; and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate

--Part of the memory we want to leave is in the heritage of spiritual vitality we have enjoyed together, and in those times of worship and ministry when the presence of the Lord was so powerful and real!

Some of those here have no memories of God’s gracious and compassionate works in the body of Christ here at Providence but those associated with this building. Others recall the elementary school, the first building on Strickland, or the grocery store on Leesville. Places are very important in anchoring memories.

Each place we have met as a church family came with its own stories of God’s faithfulness in providing the much needed space. We are poised on the threshold of expanding our space so that there is room for still more who want to come but have found no place available for them. The stories of the next generation will be likely to have a different location where the memories were made…there is such a need for more room for those who even now have a hard time finding a place!

Over the next couple of years, we will have the opportunity to lead the next generation to witness the awesome work of God’s hand as He provides the resources for a “new place” for His name to be exalted and for His children to marvel at the goodness and greatness of the Lord.

D. AN EXAMPLE OF HUMILITY

--Yet we have to be careful to direct their eyes, as we do our own, to the fact that it is God who causes the increase and God alone who gets the glory.

--Our place is always to take the low place, to walk with such humility before Him that even as He does amazing things among us we never give the impression, nor entertain the thought, that we deserve what He does on our behalf.

--As we noted at the start of this message, our primary concern in for all glory to go to the Lord, and none to ourselves—not in some kind of show of humility, but as a result of hearts and minds that truly understand the psalmist’s sentiments when he wrote,

Psalm 115:1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Thy name give glory because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth.

--Knowing that everything is for Him and from Him allows us to walk humbly in our life together in a way that communicates to the Lord that we understand our place, and communicates to others that we rely entirely on the Lord.

--Ultimately that attitude shows up not only in the way we respond to Him, but in the way we treat each other.

--We approach each other with genuine humility and gladly take the low place in serving each other.

--That will speak volumes to the coming generation of how the people of God, the followers of Jesus Christ are supposed to behave in our life together.

--That is the kind of attitude we want to transmit as a part of our living legacy of faith.

E. A MESSAGE OF GRACE

--What better way to conclude than to be reminded that we have a message of grace to pass on, a message that we take seriously enough to include as one of our Core Values as we seek to perpetuate “An Environment of Grace” where failure is never the end but only a strategic step in the growth process.

James 4:6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

--Because God has blessed us with the gift of His undeserved favor, the mark of our oneness with Him is that we offer the gift of grace to others.

--As we prepare a legacy worth passing on, let it be seasoned with grace and may the generations to come learn from our example of treating each other graciously, with kindness and gentleness, mercy and love.

--Then they will know that what we profess to be true with our lips has been validated with our lives.

Some people choose to spend their kids inheritance on themselves. In the same way, some churches choose to spend their ministry years living only for themselves and invest nothing in the generations to come.

I pray that we will never lose sight of the big picture and get lost in the shuffle to do nothing more than just attend to our own concerns and neglect what the Lord would have us do to prepare a godly inheritance for those still to come. Will you come to the Lord this morning and commit yourself to live for Him and for others? Will you seek first His kingdom and let the chips fall where they may for you—knowing that the Lord will get the glory, not us!