Harbor of Hope

Summary:
 
 ‘If you only had 30 days to live and you’re going to speak to those people who are most important to you, how would you finish this sentence?’
“Above all else…here’s what I want you to know…”

We want to leave a godly legacy and in order to do so, we’re going to say the words that God wants us to say, we’re going to do what God leads us to do…
“This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.  There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:12-13

Welcome:

So here we are…wrapping up our series called 30 Days Left to Live.  For four weeks, we’ve asked, ‘How would our lives be different if we recognized just how brief life really is?’ 

Let’s start today with the same prayer that we have been praying throughout the series.  The prayer comes from the book of Psalms…David prayed this prayer. 

(read aloud with me)…

“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.  Remind me that my days are numbered – how fleeting my life is.  You have made my life no longer than the width of my handf.  My entire lifetime is just a moment to you at best, each of us is but a breath.”    39:4-5

Human existence is but a breath.  James says in the first chapter of his letter that it is like a mist.  Peter wrote that ‘People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field.  He goes on to say…The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of God lasts forever.’

Because our lives are so brief, I want to explore what it means to leave a godly legacy.

What would generations to come say about the way you’re living your life today?  How would they be different? 

Take your parents for example.  Chances are, your parents made some sort of difference in your life.  For many of you, it may have been incredibly positive.  Others might have a different experience.  For example, let’s just say I ask you this.  Tell me about your dad.  What did your dad impart to you that is valuable? 

Some of you would light up immediately and say, ‘my dad was amazing, and here’s why, and you would go on to tell story after story and you’d be laughing and say he was incredible and you’d go on and on about how awesome your dad was. 
Others of you might be polite but not have a whole lot to say.  You might say, ‘yeah, he was a hard worker, he provided for our family, but you know…he wasn’t around much, he wasn’t really all that active in our lives.’

Some of you, if I said, ‘tell me about your dad,’ you might say, ‘my dad left us or my dad was this or that and you may have a hard time being positive about your dad.’

I want to talk about legacy…about our God-given opportunity to make a mark on those who will be here after our lives on this side of eternity are over. 

First, let’s watch this video together…(watch the video, set up in any way?)

(Video)

We’ll listen to more of their story in a few moments, but let’s talk about how it is that we will leave a godly legacy.

We’re going to say the words that God wants us to say. 

We’ll want to say to those that we love, to the next generation, the things that are most important to us. 

My prayer for us is that we don’t ever come to the place where we miss the opportunity to speak the words that God desires for us to say. 

A great example of this is found in the Old Testament, when Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived was imparting wisdom to his son.  This is what he said. 

Proverbs 4:20 says… “My child, pay attention to what I say.  Listen carefully to my words.  Don’t lose sight of them.  Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.”  Proverbs 4:20-22
Solomon is saying, ‘Son, if there’s one thing I want you to know, it is this.’  And he goes on to express words of wisdom and love and encouragement.  Solomon takes the lead…so many do not. 

I was reading an interview with a counselor this week, and he was asked the question, ‘What’s the most common thing that you’ve seen when you’ve talked to different people throughout the years?’  Here was his answer.  He said…

“I’ve worked with hundreds and hundreds of people and the most common denominator I’ve seen is this.  I’ll always ask, ‘do you believe that your dad was proud of you and he said, ‘almost everybody would either say ‘no, I don’t’ or ‘I’m not sure.’” 

It’s tragic to think that we as parents would not tell our children just how much we love them…

Two of the goals that I have as a father are to be fully present with each of my children, and to always communicate my thoughts, and my heart for them.  

I know that for many it can be challenging to communicate emotions and feelings.  For those of you that would say, ‘that’s me,’ you’ll have to work intentionally and creatively at converting these positive thoughts into positive words.’

Be generous with the words, ‘I love you.’ 

Jesus, speaking to his closest followers at a meal, just hours before he would be arrested, tried and crucified spoke these words…

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me.  Remain in my love.”  John 15:9

Here’s a question for you…
‘If you only had 30 days to live and you’re going to speak to those people who are most important to you, how would you finish this sentence?’
“Above all else…here’s what I want you to know…”

To the people that you love, to your friends, to your family members, your spouse, children; ‘above all else, here’s what I want you to know…’
To leave a godly legacy, we’re going to have to speak our hearts…

Don’t wait to speak your last words until life demands it.  Sometimes the opportunity doesn’t come…Start saying those things today…

If you want to leave a legacy…
We’re going to do what God leads us to do

Acts 20:24 says… “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” 

Paul is saying…unless I preach about Jesus, life is meaningless…God has called me to preach Jesus.  That’s all that matters.  Nothing else. 

Here’s a question for you.  What is your unfinished task?  What is your unfinished assignment? 

            Illustration – Blake Mycoskie (TOMS shoes)

I was reading about a company in Santa Monica, CA called TOMS Shoes.  It was started in 2006 when Blake Mycoskie was visiting Argentina as a tourist and noticed that many of the children didn’t have shoes. 

Blake returned to the United States and started a business with a mission of putting shoes on the feet of those children. 

The premise of TOMS shoes is simple.  One-for-One.  With every pair of shoes that TOMS sells, they give a pair of shoes away. 
Blake returned to Argentina later in 2006 with 10,000 pairs of shoes.  This year, their projected shoe drop is over 300,000. 

Mycoskie is leaving a legacy by meeting a need that he encountered.  The need became a dream, the dream a passion, and the passion fueled action.  It started small…but now hundreds of thousands of children have shoes to wear because one person took the time to care, and do something about it. 

Many of us have one or more unfinished assignments…

For some of you, it may be something big.  You may be in the middle of a job that you know is not God’s calling on your life.  You’re just doing a job, drawing a check and you know that you’ve got gifts and a vision of something else and you have not yet taken a step of faith. 

It could be relational.  There could be someone who’s very important to you, but right now your relationship is not good and you know it.  And if you never take steps to work toward healing, you know that you will regret that decision one day. 

Maybe you are aware of someone’s needs…You have the resources to meet that need and God’s put them on your heart, but you haven’t done anything about it.

Maybe God wants you to lead your family spiritually, but you have yet to begin. 

What is your unfinished assignment? 

We want to leave a godly legacy and in order to do so, we’re going to say the words that God wants us to say, we’re going to do what God leads us to do…

Here’s how I want to land and wrap things up…

We’re going to live how God designed us to live

Jesus, speaking in John 15 says… “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.  There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.   John 15:12-13

In this verse Jesus reveals the key to how legacies are left behind…

Read that again. 

No greater love, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Think with me about those who have left legacies historically…

Martin Luther King Jr. left a legacy.  As a result of his life, millions can walk into a grocery, use public transportation, get a job, own a home, because one man took up the cause of the equality of man.   

Even before his life was taken, he had laid it down for the well-being of others.

Let me ask you, who left a mark on your life?  Chances are that in some way or another they laid their life down, they gave themselves in some way for your well-being. 


To say that Jesus left a legacy would be the understatement of all time.  Yet countless individuals continue to give their hearts and lives to him daily.  Why?  Because he was a good man?  A good teacher?  No, because he laid down his life for all of mankind…

I’m convinced that if you and I are going to leave something of lasting significance for those who will be around when we die, we will do so when we lay down our lives for them.   

Don’t mistake a reputation for a legacy…

Many times, we imagine that we’ll leave a legacy through accumulation…more stuff, more stuff…

Or we imagine that we’ll leave something of significance behind through achievement…just need to accomplish more things…

1 John 2:17 says… “And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave.  But anyone who does what pleases God will last forever.”
 
All of the things that we are surrounded with…that so many of us have spent so much time chasing, craving, collecting in some vain pursuit to justify our own significance, all of it is fading away. 

Possessions don’t equal legacies, awards don’t equal legacies, having a street sign or building named after you isn’t a legacy… a legacy is when you leave something of significance behind in someone’s life…their life is different, better, changed because of you. 


2 Corinthians 5:15 says… “He (Jesus) died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.  Instead, they will live for Christ who died and was raised for them.” 

Jesus laid down his life so that you and I would stop living for ourselves, and start living for Him and for others.  

Ask yourself…am I laying down my life for anyone? 

To lay down our lives is to give up our preferences…to lay aside our desires…as Paul says, ‘to consider others as greater than ourselves.’

To decide to lay down our lives means that we no longer consider our passions, our abilities, time, our resources as things to use for our own self-advancement. 

We recognize those things as gifts from God to use for the good of others.    

Each of us is able to love in such a way that we give our lives for the good of others. 

What would it look like for you to lay down your life for your friends?  To encourage, to support, to affirm them regardless of what you receive in return?

Parents…don’t for one second think that you’ll leave a legacy in your child’s life with a large college fund or inheritance.  Don’t think that you’ll leave a legacy for them through your accomplishments.  You’ll leave a legacy when you lay down your self-interests and you start giving them yourself…your time, your attention, your love.

Husbands, your wife doesn’t need more nice stuff – she needs you…your love, your affirmation; she needs you to model Christ for her. 

Every one of us in here could walk out of these doors today, and within ten minutes be staring at the face of poverty in our community.  Will you leave a legacy by giving your time, your passion, your abilities for the good of the poor, for the well being of the sick, for the benefit of the hungry around you? 

Legacies are developed when one person or a group of people decide to lay down their lives for the good of others.

There is no greater love…no greater love…no greater love…than this.  One friend laying down his life for another. 

Can you imagine one day if there are people who say, ‘my life, my family is different because of who you were, because of how you lived, because of what you stood for, how you gave, how you loved.’

 
Let’s watch the end of Lionel and Sherry’s story.  Let’s listen in as they talk about how thankful they were to get a second chance. 

(Video – Part 2)

My prayer in this series…is that none of us would wait until we get sick or have a near death experience to take a step back from our lives and reassess those things that we’re giving our time, our hearts, our affections, our resources, our passions too. 

I don’t know what we’re waiting for.  Life is brief.  It’s a mist.  It appears for a little while and then vanishes.  We’ve got one shot at this life.  It’s time to embrace it as a gift from God…

If life ended today, would you be content?  Would you be able to say, generations will be different because of how I lived, or would you say, ‘I think there’s some changes I need to make?’ 

(Pray)

I’m going to guess that there are many for whom something over the last four weeks has spoken…God has pressed…He’s convicted, he’s moved, He’s encouraged. 

I want to ask you to spend a moment talking to him right now.  Tell him what’s on your heart.  Be honest.  Confess a sin.  Tell him about a broken relationship.  Tell him about your desire to leave a legacy.  Ask him to help you to seize every moment as a gift.  Surrender your time, your passion, your resources…God, help us to leave a legacy with our lives.  Cause us to live well…to love well…to give well with our lives.

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