Legacy

INTRODUCTION

Go ahead and grab your Bible and turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter one. As you’re turning there, I want to tell you a bit about…

Opening Story TBD

Timothy had been left in charge of the Church at Ephesus, an important city within the Roman Empire. Conditions facing the church had worsened considerably since he had written 1 Timothy. Godlessness and worldliness were invading the church. If the church failed to fulfill its purpose, God's truth would cease to go out into the world. Consequently, Paul wrote this letter to encourage Timothy to fulfill his responsibility as a leader in the church.

Ever since Rome had burned in July of A.D. 64 and Nero had blamed the Christians, it had become dangerous to be a Christian. It was also dangerous to have contact with leaders of the church such as Paul. Consequently many believers, including some of Paul's coworkers, had chosen to seek a much lower profile and become less aggressive in their ministries. Undoubtedly, Timothy faced temptation to do the same. Paul wrote this letter to urge him to remain faithful to his calling. Timothy needed to stand shoulder to shoulder with Paul and the other believers and to continue to "preach the Word" as he had done.

This is Paul’s final letter. He's in a Roman prison. He knows death is coming. This is his final charge to his spiritual son, Timothy.

And let’s be honest: when someone knows they’re about to die, they don't waste words. They don’t waste time on fluff. This is raw. This is real. This is legacy.

Please Stand With Me as I Read:

2 Timothy 1:1–7 ESV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

God determines your identity. Not you.

2 Timothy 1:1–2 ESV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul starts with identity. Not just his own identity—but Timothy’s. And right out of the gate, he’s anchoring everything in Christ. He’s saying: “Listen, I’m not an apostle because I applied for it. I didn’t climb the ministry ladder. I’m here by the will of God. And this is about the promise of life that is in Christ.”

It can be so easy to gloss over these opening, throat clearing statements at the beginnings of Paul’s letters. But Paul starts with who he is, not what he’s done, and that identity is rooted in Christ. We have the same identity, if we are in Christ. This identity comes with some fundamental truth’s about you:

You are not a mistake. You are not the sum of your failures. You are not the sum of your successes. You’re not what others have said about you. You are not your ministry position, your marital status, or your bank account.

You are who God says you are.

And Timothy? Paul calls him “my beloved child.” The language here is dripping with affection. This isn’t cold mentorship. This isn’t some strategic leadership pipeline. This is spiritual fatherhood. Deep relationship. Life-on-life discipleship.

A theme that we will be hitting on over and over again during this series is this - Who is your Paul? Who is your Timothy? Every believer should have an answer to that question.

Because here's the deal: you’re not meant to walk this life out alone. The Christian life is not an individual sport—it’s a family. It’s the body. You need Pauls in your life. You need Timothys in your life.

Your legacy will be determined by your faithfulness to discipleship

2 Timothy 1:3–5 ESV

I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

Paul’s not just giving Timothy a pep talk. He’s calling him back to his roots, back to his first love. We cannot miss this.

Paul says: “I’m reminded of your sincere faith—a faith that was passed down from your grandma and your mom.”

Church, hear me on this—legacy matters. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, mentors, teachers, counselors, YoungLife leaders: you are planting seeds every single day. You are shaping the next generation’s understanding of who God is, whether you know it or not. You don’t have to have a stage and mic to make an impact. In fact, the far greater impact is in the daily faithfulness of the people sitting in seats just like these all across this world. We always say that worship is not taught it is caught - the Christian life is often the same way.

When we hear the word legacy we often think of reputation or finances. What do people recognize about me? How will they remember me? What will I leave my children when I’m gone? These are all good things to think about and consider, but oh how far short of the mark does that fall!

I think of my parents - life in my house was good. We never had a lot of money; going out to eat was a BIG deal. We went on the same vacation every year (and still do) to the same place that has become like a second home to us. Every now and then we got crazy and drove to another state. When my parents are gone they will not leave a financial empire behind - lets just say I’m no trust fund baby. By the world’s standards, and unfortunately by too many Christian’s standards, when my parents are gone, their “legacy” won’t amount to much.

Oh how far that is from the truth:

My parents legacy is this:

A father who modeled diving into the word every chance he got. Woke up every day at 5am to go to his study and do his personal bible study before the demands of pastoral duties began.

A mother who exemplified what it means to love and raise her children in Christ.

A father who made sure we all knew that, after Jesus, Mom came first.

A mother who taught us what it meant to have a servant’s heart.

The legacy of Brent and Joyce Bowden won’t be in riches or fame, but they have three grown children who live in different corners of this vast country and all of us love Jesus and are raising their children to love Jesus.

THAT is legacy.

You don’t have to be perfect. Lois and Eunice weren’t perfect, my parents weren’t perfect. But they were faithful. They passed down a faith that was real. Authentic. Not just Sunday faith—but kitchen table, Monday morning, still-trusting-Him-when-it’s-hard faith. You don’t have to be uber-spiritual about it either. Sometimes its as simple as opening up your home to the friend of your child who desperately needs some stability and in their life. Sometimes its about praying with your kids every night before bed. Sometimes about your children seeing you read your Bible, and how you treat your spouse. Sometimes its about that high schooler seeing you practice what you preach. Sometimes its about that middle schooler knowing an adult actually sees them and knows them.

And Paul is saying to Timothy: That same faith is in you.

Active obedience is the fan that turns a flame into an inferno

2 Timothy 1:6 ESV

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,

Here’s the turning point. Paul is saying: Don’t let the fire die. In fact, not just that, but turn the fire into an inferno

He’s saying “You’ve got a gift, Timothy. It’s in you. God put it there. The Spirit breathed it into you.” But gifts can smolder if they’re not stirred. Paul is handing the baton off to Timothy here - remember, Paul is awaiting death. His time on earth is drawing to an end, and he desperately is trying to embolden Timothy to remain firm. To withstand the storms ahead of him. To NOT let his fire die out. Timothy’s choice now is to either take action and lean into that call, or to

**My story from 2020-2024**

A little over a year ago, when Lauren and I came to Middleton Grace, I was, in many ways, a broken man. Apathetic. Jaded. Angry. Prior to the summer of 2022 I was in a position that had become joyless for me - every day going to work was an exercise in discipline. So I did the obvious thing and solved all my problems by leaving and opening my own business. So I traded in joyless days for sleepless nights. So many nights laying wide awake wondering how I could have been such a moron and think it was a good idea to start my own business. (Where my small business owners at?). I had spent years at that point finding anything I could to distract me from or numb the frustration and outright anger I felt. What fire remained in me was just the smoldering embers that remains under the pile of cooled ash.

Maybe you have a similar story - or may you just got tired. You got discouraged. You let comparison creep in. Maybe you even let sin cool your passion.

We came here, we got plugged in and almost immediately it felt different. Middleton Grace felt like home. And Jason, man, he saw me. Our families had gotten to know each other a little bit prior to Lauren and my attending Grace because Savannah has worked at our business from essentially the time we opened, but once Lauren and I became more involved, Jason and I got to know each other on a deeper level. When he got to know my heart’s tilt toward ministry he didn’t hesitate to call me to more. - to call me out of my apathy. He never forced it, he gave me space but told me that when I was ready, he had some “ideas” - which if you know Jason, boy you’re in for a wild ride when he starts throwing around that he has “ideas”.

This past fall, the idea of being on the teaching team gets presented to me, and I just felt like I needed to say yes. So I did. Two weeks before the first time I was scheduled to preach, I messaged Jason and said “I can’t do it…there’s no way I should be the one up there preaching. I’m not worthy. I’m not ready”. That conversation resulted in Jason, Dan, and I sitting in the Grace house and having the both of them encourage me and remind me about everything I just told you! The preached the Gospel to me that evening.

The fact that this story includes preaching has nothing to do with preaching! This is just an expression of living out the Gospel, not the only way. My story could have included anything - small group leadership, nursery help, setup, sound, worship team - you name it and we are called to obedience. It could be as simple as inviting your neighbor over for dinner, or prayer-walking your neighborhood…and even just praying with your spouse!

And God has equipped you.

If you are in Christ, your spirit is from God.

Some of you are sitting there today having the same internal conversations about why you can’t do it now. So many Christians are being told by the Creator of the universe “I have equipped and enabled you for THIS moment.” (1 Peter 2:9-10 )

1 Peter 2:9–10 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

You are not here by accident - God has put in in your home, in your neighborhood, in your town, in your workplace, in this church for a REASON. And we have the gall to tell the Creator of the universe that he made a mistake - that he couldn’t have called US. If you are sitting there arguing with God that now isn’t the right time, you need to get this together or that together you are believing accusations by the enemy designed to keep you on the sidelines. To keep you out of the fight! Get in the fight! When God asks you to do something, you can trust that he’s already taken into account that you’re a moron. Your response needs to be obedience. Every time you say “no” it’s like taking a shovel-full of cold ashes and covering the embers underneath. You are quenching the flame.

Step back into obedience. Step back into the mission. Don’t bury what God ignited. Stop letting fear drive you to inaction!

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Man, I love this verse.

Paul’s not talking about personality here—he’s talking about the Spirit of God. And this is what’s so important. He’s saying: Timothy, I know you’re afraid. I know the culture is pressing in. I know Nero’s out there killing Christians. I know the Church is fractured and there’s pressure on your back. But God didn’t give you a spirit of fear. God called and equipped you for THIS moment.

That fear you’re feeling? That timidity? That hesitation? That shame? That’s not from God. He gave you something different:

Power – Not your own strength, but resurrection power. Spirit-empowered boldness. The kind of power that raised Jesus from the dead and now lives in you.

Love – The kind of love that casts out fear. That holds steady when others walk away. That binds up wounds and speaks truth in grace.

Self-control – Or “sound mind.” The ability to think clearly, to stay rooted in truth, to live in discipline—not chaos.

Some of you need to stop agreeing with fear. You’ve made peace with anxiety. You’ve built a home in shame. You’re living like fear is your master.

Get in the fight. Stay in the fight. Cement your legacy of faithfulness.