A Gospel Shaped Legacy

Census

During the week, the census data from last year was released. Now I expect that for most of you, the mention of statistics probably makes your eyes glaze over.

Not me.

I love stats and looking at trends.

They actually release all of the information which is great for me, because I’ve been looking at the Tilligerry Peninsula.

So I can tell you that on the 10th August 2021, there were 6,887 people living on this peninsula, which was an increase of about 3%

This being the start of NAIDOC week, I also looked at the number of people identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander. Interestingly, there was a significant increase from the 2016 census. There were 546 people which represents 7.9% of the population. In 2016, 5.1% of the population identified as Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander.

To put this in perspective, Australia wide, only 3.2% of the population identified as Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander.

But perhaps the stat you might have heard about because it made the news, was regarding the fact that for the first time in Australia, the number of people identifying as a Christian has dropped below 50%. In 2021, 44% of the Australian population identified with Christianity.

In the previous census, it had just been a majority, with 52% in 2016. And this was a big drop from 61% in 2011.

Curiously, when you look at the Tilligerry data, it would seem we are about 5 years behind the rest of the population. We still have a majority, but only just. We registered 51% in 2021, and in 2016 it was 62%.

You might like to know that there were actually 125 people who identified as Baptist.

Although I was joking with the Anglican minister earlier in the week asking him how he fits the 1,413 Anglicans in his building.

Now what do we make of this undeniable downward trend of people identifying with Christianity? Should we be worried? Well, yes and no.

It first needs to be recognised that this statistics does not represent the number of people who have a personal relationship with Jesus. In fact, it doesn’t even correlate with church attendance, even though today there are less people in churches compared to a few generations ago.

The trend that it is really showing, is that a majority of the Australian population really don’t see a benefit of identifying with Christianity. In fact, the biggest section in the religion section of the census goes to the “No religion” which Australia wide is 39%, and in the Tilligerry, an even higher 42%.

Now perhaps you could do a big study on this to really explore the reasons, but my hunch is that people are finding meaning in things other than religion.

And this is something which should give us pause for concern. I suspect that the number of people with a genuine relationship with Jesus is probably rising slightly, but why are we not having a bigger impact on those around us?

I don’t think the 42% of the people on this peninsula have found meaning outside of religion, but they don’t even think that Christianity can even help them at all.

Big Question

The question I want to explore this morning is: what legacy are we leaving?

On Friday, I had the privilege of conducting the memorial service for Kevin Allen. There was a man who did a good job of leaving a legacy. He has four children who all still love the Lord. He had more grandchildren and great grandchildren then I could quite get my head around, and many of them still love the Lord.

But beyond his own family, he provided the example for many of what it is to live a life worthy of the gospel. He stood up for Jesus. He worshipped Jesus with both his words and his actions. And he passed this on to others.

Would similar words be able to be spoken about you?

Are you leaving a legacy that will benefit God’s kingdom?

Paul’s example

Today, we’re coming to the end of our long journey through the book of Romans.

And in some ways, it can almost be easy to dismiss the end of the book as just the closing remarks of Paul.

You see, we all know how powerful those first eight chapter are. At least, if you’ve listened to my last few message where I keep coming back to them as the fundamentals behind what we’ve talking about.

And then of course, as I’ve explored in the last few weeks, we’ve had the application. Paul’s explored what it means for how we live - and there’s been some tough but important lessons for us to understand.

But half way through chapter 15, Paul has finished those big lessons and so he shifts gear as he brings the letter to an end.

He starts explaining why he has written as boldly as he has.

He then starts explaining what his next plans are, followed by a long section of greetings, and wrapping it up with a few final comments.

Sure there is some interesting stuff to explore in all of that, but what do we learn from it.

Well, this morning, as we explore the question I posed before - we’re going to use this final chapter and a half to look at the legacy Paul is leaving, to think about out own.

Now when we explore a subject, sometimes it’s good to use the 5 w’s - that is, who, what, when, where and why. And of course, to that we can add how.

Well, I’ll use these as a bit of a guide as we go through, because it’s almost as is Paul is giving us the who, what, when, where and why of his legacy.

So let’s go through that now.

Why

I’ll start with the why.

Actually, he doesn’t need to give us the why in these passage.

The reason why we want to leave a legacy is spelled out for us in detail in the first eight chapter. The fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He has surrounded us with his all consuming love - a love we can never be separated from.

You want to know why we want to leave a legacy? It’s because Jesus has completely changed us, and we know that he is there ready to change the life of anyone who is willing to accept it.

What

Well, let’s move to the what.

What are we doing to leave a legacy?

What Paul did...

Let’s start by looking at what Paul was doing to leave a legacy, and from this, we’ll see what we can learn about what we should be doing.

Well, the ‘what’ for Paul was something he was actually very clear about. As he says in verse 16 he clearly knows he was called to be “a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles”.

And so Paul’s legacy was tied up to this. As verse 16 goes on to say, the legacy is this: “that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit”.

Ultimately, it’s a legacy that we benefit from today. If you study church history, you can see the flow of Christianity throughout the world, and eventually to here in Australia where we benefit today.

It’s interesting as we look at Paul further explain this. In verse 20, he describes his ambition as being to only preach the gospel where Christ was not known so he wouldn’t be building on someone else’s foundation.

It really was a pioneering ministry.

What we should do...

But of course, this is something that was very specific to Paul.

So what is it that we should be doing to leave a legacy?

Well, while the specifics of what we should be doing will be quite different to Paul’s, there’s a basic principles we can learn from Paul.

Use your gifting

The first point I want to make in this regard, actually doesn’t specifically come from here, but I’ll draw on what Paul said back in chapter 12. In Romans 12:6 he reminded us: “we have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us”.

And so, first and foremost, if you want to leave a legacy, I would suggest the first place to start is actually in just using your gifts. As Paul went on to say back in chapter 12: “if your gift is prophesying, then prophesy… if serving, then serve, if teaching, then teach, if it is to encourage, then give encourgement, it giving, then give generously”.

What should you do - start by using your gift.

I do want to add here however, that just because you don’t have a specific gift, does not necessarily mean you shouldn’t take an opportunity presented before you. The classic example is the gift of evangelism. You see, we can sometimes use the fact that we haven’t specifically been gifted with evangelism to mean we won’t share the gospel. There are some things which at times we’re all called to do, it’s just that our gifting will determine where we put most of our energy.

Giving Jesus glory

But coming back to our passage for this morning, I want to draw on what Paul says in verse 17: “Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God”.

You see, this is something we should be able to say, regardless of what we do. Whatever it is, give glory to God. You see, you can give God glory by encouraging others. You can give God glory by serving other.

A gospel shape

The final thing I want to add regarding the question of what, is that whatever we do, should have a gospel shape. You can see this in Paul’s words. Verse 19 has Paul reminding us that he has “fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ”. In verse 20 he again talks about preaching the gospel.

But to have something gospel shaped, it doesn’t mean you need to be a preacher. It just means that what you do should have the characteristic features of the gospel, namely, love, grace, unity, inclusion… to name just a few.

Where and when

Well, lets move on to our next “w”. Actually, I’m going to do our where and when together, because that’s what Paul does in the next section when he starts talking about his future plans.

Paul’s plans

So lets really quickly look at Paul’s plan.

This is actually a really fascinating section, because we get a little insight into Paul’s thinking.

Now, evidently, Paul is writing this letter somewhere near the end of his third missionary journey. And so in this plan he talk about going back to Jerusalem to pass on an offering that Paul has been collecting along the way.

That Jerusalem trip of course is the trip where we now from the book of Acts that he will come under arrest and stay locked up for a few years while he awaits a trial.

But of course, when Paul writes this, his unaware of exactly how all of that is going to play out.

You see, he describes his plan of eventually wanting to go to Rome and visit the people he is writing to. But of course, Christianity has already been established in Rome, and not at the hands of Paul. And so, Paul is setting his sights even further, namely to Spain, which presumably as far as his knowledge would have gone, would have been the ends of the earth.

And so we see Paul thinking about the question of where he is going to leave his legacy, and also the question of when, in as far as he’s thinking out the order in which things will play out.

Our plans

Now it’s an interesting thing when it comes to thinking about questions of when and where of what we do. You see, making plans is a fraught activity.

In fact, even when we look at Paul’s plans, they didn’t exactly go to plan. I already mentioned that when he actually got to Jerusalem, he found himself locked up and delayed far longer than he would have expected. And there is also a big question mark over whether Paul actually made it to Spain or not. History is inconclusive. One historian, writing in the century or so after Paul, wrote words that might allude to him going further, but this is far from certain. There’s a possibility that Rome was in fact his final destination.

But yet, there is a sense in which our plans do need a when and a where. Just remember to hold those plans a little loosely, because God has a way of revealing just as much as we need to know at any point in time.

They need a when and a where, because God actually wants us doing something.

So where is it that God is calling you?

Is it your local area? Is it to minister to your next door neighbour, or perhaps a family member? Or is God calling you to a specific place? Maybe even further afield?

To figure this out, we need to take the time to listen to God. But remember, that a big part of listening to God is actually just opening our eyes and seeing where God has placed us and what situations he is putting in front of us. Sometimes we have to be careful not to overthink these things.

Prayer

If you look closely in this section where Paul outlines his plans, you’ll notice that in verse 30 he urges them to pray for him. In fact, he says: “join me in my struggle by praying to God for me”.

And this really is the key in this. Not only should you be praying, but ask other to pray for you as well.

Who

Which actually brings me to the next of the w’s, the question of Who?

Now perhaps you might think that the question of who should be - who should we be ministering too. However, based on what Paul does, I actually want to rather think about the question of who should we be ministering with.

You see, ministry is not a solo act. God might be calling you to a specific task, but you’ll find that this task should always fit into a bigger picture of what God is doing.

Paul might sometimes come across to us as a solo act, but as we see in chapter 16, this is not the case.

There is in fact a long list of people that he sends his greetings with,

Now I just want to highlight a few things about this list.

Diversity

Firstly, this is a very diverse list. There are 26 individuals who Paul sends greetings to. Of those 26, nine are women - and we could actually make a much bigger point of this fact given that there is clear indication that many of these women had important roles to play in the church (but I’ll leave that issue for another day).

But not only is there a gender diversity, there are good indications to suggest there was diversity in class, with reason to think that there were slave in the list, right next to people of high prominence.

And this is the beautiful thing about the gospel. Whether your a slave or a high ranking official, the gospel is a leveller - all are made in the image of God. All people are equally valuable in the sight of God.

unity

Which brings me to the flip side to this - and that is the unity we find in what Paul is doing. The question of who we minister with, should be seen from a kingdom perspective. No matter how important your role may seem, or for that matter how unimportant - you are part of God’s kingdom, and you are playing an important role.

And because of this, we should be striving towards unity.

Our co-workers

So who are you working with?

I think an interesting question to ask is whether everyone around you is just like you. You see, there actually is great benefit having a mix of male and female, rich and poor, old and young, and a variety of different races and nationalities. God has created us diverse, and there is a lot we can all learn from each other.

How

But I come now to the last of the questions I’m going to explore today - the how we create our legacy.

And in some ways, this comes back to my message from last week.

You see, from verse 17, Paul comes back to this idea of stopping the divisions among you.

We are people of peace. In fact, when we use the word Shalom, we get a fuller picture of this peace. A peace that is deep and goes far beyond just an absence of hostility.

And so, your legacy needs to come through peace.

It is actually in this regard, that we’ve seen some high profile Christians destroy what might have otherwise been an almighty legacy.

There have been some great communicators and leaders that have had a profound effect on people’s lives. And yet, I can think of some examples where these high profile leaders did not sow peace. And the devastation that was left in their wake was incredible.

This is not what we’re called to. If what you are doing is causing division - be very careful and consider whether it really is what God wants you to be doing.

There is hope - and Paul gives it to us in verse 20. He says: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet”.

I don’t know about you, but I like the sound of that.

It is so important that whatever we do - we act in a way that is worthy of the gospel in which we are called to.

And so that should answer the question of how for us.

Conclusion

It is an interesting question thinking of the legacy that we will leave.

The field ahead of us is immense. As I started, the census data is screaming at us, showing us that people don’t see a revelance in the church anymore.

And so what are we going to do about it?

Well, it’s not just up to you, but God has called you into his kingdom, and so you do have a role to play.

So to the question of what you should do? Use your gifting.

To the question of when and where? Have some plans, but carry them losely - and remember to pray and ask others to pray for you.

To the question of who do you minister with? Think diverse, but act with unity.

And to the question of how? Do it with peace - in a manner worthy of the gospel.

The question of your legacy is not about size - as in how many people you reach. But rather about how closely it resembles the gospel.

And on this note, let me pray...