The Legacy of Grace

Legacy

Ever thought about what your legacy will be? What impact you will have made on the earth after you’re gone?

Have you ever dared to have a goal for a difference you’ll make in the world?

Are you going to be a world changer?

The next Martin Luther? The next Martin Luther King? The next Mother Teresa?

Or are you more at the humble end of the spectrum, expecting just to quietly slip away?

There are billions of people whose lives have simply been forgotten

But planning on that might say more about our pessimism than our humility!

Should we want a legacy? or is that automatically pride?

Today’s reading shows Jesus telling his disciples they should have a legacy. One that lasts. One that’s built on him.

And that means if you’re a follower of Jesus here today, you should have a legacy.

Luke gospel intro; context - Jesus’ mission; a key sermon spoken to crowds - but particularly to disciples

2:00

Reading Luke 6:43-49

Heart diagnostics

3:15 Jesus starts with a diagnostic about trees and fruit

He doesn’t tells us this so that we can judge others

original language tightly connected to what’s gone before

So what’s gone before? Lk 6:37 “do not judge” “do not condemn”; Lk 6:42 “take the plank out”

Jesus tells us this so we can recognise (Lk 6:44) ourselves

4:15 Every tree bears fruit - every life has results, has an impact - the question is, what

good + bad apples

bad - literally rotten fruit

or good fruit

Jesus says the results of our life on the outside are a consequence of what’s going on inside

more precisely, a consequence of what’s in our heart - literally “the treasure of our heart”

The word “heart” can mislead us a bit today

Today hearts are for emotions and lovey dovey stuff

back then, the heart was seen more as the core of our being, the centre of who we are

So what does your heart treasure?

you could ask it, but it might well lie: “the heart is deceitful above all things!”

5:45 How do you really know what your heart treasures?

Jesus’ diagnostic: our words

they overflow from our hearts’s treasure

So what do your words show is going on in your heart? What do my words show is treasured in my heart?

Jesus has just been emphasising the mercy God has shown to us, challenging us to show mercy to others Lk 6:36

even to our enemies

Do we speak mercy over others? forgiveness? blessing?

or do we speak judgement, condemnation, hate?

7:00 Challenge for this week: listen to yourself.

How is it that you speak to others?

How many times do you speak mercy? how many times do you speak from a position of humility?

And how many times do you speak judgement?

speaking to our children. speak out frustration at their failure? or remember our own failure again+again?

speaking to our colleagues / classmates

speaking to those we disagree with - Christians can sometimes be particularly poor at practising humility towards each other when there is theological disagreement

As Jesus says, “the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” - so what is your heart full of? Take a look in there this week.

If you don’t like what you find, perhaps it’s time to change your treasure.

PAUSE 10

9:30 But fruit of what our hearts treasure goes beyond our words

Remember what Jesus has been talking about throughout this last section, the “sermon on the plain” as it’s called

How disciples are to speak and act towards others:

showing love and mercy as they have been shown love and mercy

particularly to those who reject them and their message

To start from humility because they want to lead, and to help others towards Jesus - like we heard last week

fruit pictures that beautifully for us:

[cut apple] good fruit is tasty [eat some, share]

but more than that, it’s a seed carrier, a reproducer [show core]

and that’s where Jesus goes next, speaking to his disciples about their legacy

Builders + buildings, foundations + floods

10:30 Jesus talks about builders and buildings, about foundations and floods.

If you grew up in the church, chances are you probably sang songs about these things as a kid.

You’re probably pretty confident you know what these pictures are about already. Do what Jesus says and life will go well, right? Don’t obey Jesus, and things will fall apart?

No question, doing what Jesus says is a good idea. Not doing it is a bad idea.

But is that all Jesus is saying here? Are we really clear on what Jesus is picturing? We need to listen carefully.

And we need to listen in the light of what’s gone before. You see, this is Jesus concluding his sermon, summing up and closing. This is his “mic drop” moment. We should be expecting this to connect back to other stuff he’s said already.

11:30 So, builders and buildings, foundations and floods. Let’s take a closer look.

Is the flood the final judgement? And so Jesus is saying those who don’t obey his words will be swept away in the end?

Lk 6:48-49

Luke 6:48–49 NIV

They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

Perhaps. But let me give you three good reasons to question that:

First, it’s a flood, not the flood. And it’s a different, less dramatic word than where the bible speaks about Noah’s all-destroying flood - Noah’s flood is a κατακλυσμὸς in the original Greek - a cataclysm. This flood is just a πλημμύρης - it has more the sense of a river breaking its banks after too much rain; a seasonal phenomena. If you were trying to picture that last and final judgement, I think you’d want to highlight how it’s one-of-a-kind.

Second, it’s the house that’s destroyed, not the builder; v49 “The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete” - there’s no mention of the builder. Now maybe he’s inside when it falls, and he goes down with it - but if that was Jesus’ point, couldn’t he have been clearer?

Third, think back through the commands Jesus has given in this sermon, through the second half of Luke 6. Notice with me that they’re all relational, they’re all about responses to other people:

love your enemies

do good to those who hate you

bless those who curse you

pray for those who mistreat you

turn the other cheek; do not withhold your shirt; give; do to others as you would have them do to you; be merciful; do not judge; do not condemn; forgive; give;

It’s obedience to these commands in particular that’s in view. If Jesus was describing who will face judgement at the end here, wouldn’t you expect more focus on the God-ward relationship - or at least some focus on that? But Jesus’ sermon here is all about human relationships.

PAUSE so I don’t think this is Jesus speaking about who will be swept away in the final judgement.

13:45 So what is he saying? What is this about?

It’s about legacy. It’s about what impact we’ll have that lasts. What mark we’ll make on the world. What will stand through the storms of life.

Some people who claim Jesus as their Lord won’t leave anything beyond a pile of rubble; others will change the world - some of those disciples listening to Jesus that day went on to change the world. Others just to be forgotten.

The difference between them is what they build on.

Whether they build on Jesus as the foundation: God’s undeserved love for us, his mercy shown to us in Jesus.

Whether they find that to be the treasure in their hearts which overflows in their words.

Whether they obey his commands - commands which he’s given throughout this sermon, commands to show others the same mercy we’ve been shown; to repay good for evil just like we’ve received good despite our evil.

Do you want to have a legacy? One last will stand through life’s storms?

Obey Jesus’ commands and you will have one; respond to others with the grace you’ve been shown.

PAUSE 10

15:30 But perhaps you don’t think you’re the legacy type?

Perhaps all this talk of making your mark and having an impact and shaping the world just seems so grand and arrogant?

Or just unimaginable when we’re so insignificant in a world that’s so overwhelming. Maybe you feel you’re too young for that. Maybe you feel you’re too old for that. Maybe you feel you’re too unimportant for that.

Here’s the thing: every true disciple of Jesus is building a legacy. Every true disciple of Jesus is building a legacy that will stand the test, that will last.

16:30 You’re rubbing off on others all the time; making an impact in how you respond to them, like it or not. Sometimes big, sometimes small. But always you’re making a mark.

Either you’re rubbing off religion on them: what does that look like? judgement; condemnation; arrogance; performance; pride. And in the end it will come to nothing; you’ll make no difference; you’ll have no impact; you’ll leave no legacy. That house, it’s destruction was complete. That’s the warning here. That’s the warning Jesus chooses to close with.

PAUSE

Or you’re rubbing off grace. And grace is the foundation that will stand; grace makes the mark that lasts - because if you’re a Christian, it’s God’s grace that transformed your heart; it’s God’s grace that overflows from your heart into your words; and it’s God’s grace that will transforms others’ hearts too.

So what?

17:45 treasure Christ's grace until it overflows from you - you’ll build a legacy

Watch your words to see what you treasure.

There’s no lasting legacy to a graceless life

But the legacy of a graceful one can be astounding

18:30 even winning those who were your enemies

a story of winning enemies through grace - Jim/Elizabeth Elliot?