Legacy - Part II

Society today is different then when I was a child. I grew up in a home with two parents who loved my brothers and I very much. It wasn't a christian home and my mother did everything she could to make her kids happy. My father was worked 6 days a week from sun up to pretty much sundown. He isn't a very tall man but because he was a mason and worked with blocks and concrete all his life he had a very strong build. My parents didn't teach me in the way of education, they never sat down to teach me how to read, they didn't work with me very hard on math. Still I learned a lot from my parents. I learned what it means to be a hard worker. I learned what it means to take care of a home. Important lessons that I have carried on to adulthood. When it comes to raising children and leaving a legacy for our children and grandchildren what are you leaving for them. What you believe is always will be evident to your children and to your grandchildren. They are watching you and they will pick up how they are to live from they way you live, what you say and what you do. The legacy you leave is important and God knows how this works, God knows how His creation operates and He knows that children are observant and that they are like sponges that soak up what you believe even when you think they aren't paying any attention. So what kind of legacy do you want to leave for your children and grandchildren, is it a legacy of worldliness or is it a legacy of faithfulness.

Last week we looked at four virtues of defending the faith, especially in the church. This morning we are going to begin looking at Seven Truths for leaving a Legacy of Faithfulness

Seven Truths for Leaving a Legacy of Faithfulness

We will find these truths in Deuteronomy 6:1-9, Deuteronomy 6:1-9;

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Deuteronomy is the second giving of the law. This is the closing letter of the Pentateuch, the fifth of Moses writings. The nation of Israel is about to go in and possess the land after wandering in the desert for forty years and Moses calls them together to provide one reiterate the law and to instruct the nation how they are to live when they take possession of the promised land. As we open here in verse 1 we find Moses telling them, "Now this is the commandment, the statues and the judgments which the Lord you God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it," The object of God providing His commandment, the statutes and the judgments, is for the purpose of obedience. They are for faithful living, but the beginning of the faithful living comes by hearing.

Faithfulness comes By Hearing

God didn't write the ten commandments on stone tablets so they would become a monument to worship or just look at. He wrote them so they nation of Israel would have the standard as how to live. This standard though needs to be taught and the people need to hear it. Faithfulness begins with hearing. It is funny as God is writing the ten commandments for Moses and the people on mount Sinai, what are the people at the foot of the mountain doing. They are down there asking Aaron, Moses' brother to make them another god. In the nations sin of creating a graven image and worshiping a god other then the One True living God they broking the laws God was at that very moment writing down for them to follow. The command for the people was for them to wait until Moses came down from the Mountain but they didn't listen. Then when Moses came down from the mountain in his anger against their faithlessness he throw both tablets to the ground and shattered them. Moses saw that the people profaned the name of the Lord that day and he took drastic action against them. These people didn't want to listen.

Here in Deuteronomy Moses repeats the Decalogue the ten words or ten commandments, and he says this is the commands they have heard from him the words he has taught them. They were taught this so they would be faithful to God. God wants our loyalty but without people hearing how they are to be faithful. In Deuteronomy 5:1 Moses says this;

Deuteronomy 5:1 NASB95

1 Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully.

It is important to hear the Word of God. This is how we learn.

Proverbs 1:1–6 NASB95

1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; 4 To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion, 5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, 6 To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles.

Proverbs 15:31 NASB95

31 He whose ear listens to the life-giving reproof Will dwell among the wise.

Jesus knows the importance of hearing look at what He tells His disciples;

Matthew 13:10–17 NASB95

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; 15 For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them.’ 16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17 “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

Faithfulness Expressed in Obedience

If you are listening to the Word of God if you are hearing what is taught and what is said, then the natural expression of this is obedience to what has been taught. Moses tells them the purpose of hearing is so they, their sons and grandsons might fear the Lord. Remember this fear of the Lord is terror but it is terror because of God's power. It is having reverential awe at who He is and is power over all our lives.

When you hear about His truth and His power it should naturally lead to obedience to who He is and what He has done and what He is doing.

James explains well what this means.

James 1:23–25 NASB95

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Then James later in his letter writes this;

James 2:14–23 NASB95

14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. 18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.

Faithfulness Leads to Multiplication

Moses is speaking specifically to the nation of Israel and to their possession of the land of promise. He says in the beginning of verse 3, "O Isreal, you should listen and be careful to do it" this is repetitive, listen and obey, hear and obey. There is the connection through out this passage of listen and obey and they are intrinsically linked. You can't obey without listening, that is actually legalism, you do the works but there it is shallow. You can't listen, truly listen without obedience because if you listen to the Word of God what will flow naturally from that is obeying God. This has an outcome for the Israelites. When they take possession of the land and if they continue in listening and obedience then they will multiply. This is also linked to the land flowing with milk and honey. This phrase means they will be in a land that is prosperous and abundant. This is God's promise to them that there will be multiplication within the land and it will be keeping with their faithfulness. Their multiplication would also be family and produce. This is the same for our own family and for the church. If we want to see multiplication especially with regard to faithfulness then we need to instill this within our children. The church grows through multiplication through discipleship but how often do we forget we have disciples that God has provided for us in our children.