What Have We Learned And What Are We Leaving?

Our church, Calvary Baptist Church in Ottumwa, just spent the entire weekend celebrating our 80th anniversary. Having only been here for 15 years, it was absolutely priceless to hear the stories of its beginnings from some of the people who were here when it began. 

It was incredibly convicting to think about those who came before us, the more than 40 people who loved the Lord so much that they bought a building and met together multiples times a week to worship Him and study His word.

This is the legacy that continues today. They bought land, built a brand-new church building, and created a faith family that still believes that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that He sacrificed Himself so we can spend eternity with God. 

As I looked at the display table full of original photos, newspaper clippings and programs from events held over the past 80 years, I really began to think about the people who sat in those pews all those decades ago. They thought about the same things we do, they prayed for the same things we do, and they worshipped the same God we do. We never met most of them - with the exception of two who still attend, praise the Lord! - but because they stayed faithful, we're sitting here today.

Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. Psalm 78:1-7

According to Asaph, the song leader of David's tabernacle, older believers are to pass down everything they know about God's works, His strength, His commandments, and our hope in Him. All of these pass down-able things have one thing in common: they focus on what God did, not what we have done.

If nobody told the next generation about God, what would happen?

God never intended faith to be rediscovered from scratch with every generation. We’re not wasting time reinventing the wheel. Someone teaches someone else. There were hundreds of faithful people here in our church before us whose names we don't know. But because they taught Sunday school, gave offerings, repaired the building, prayed, and shared the gospel, our church is still here 80 years later.

One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. Psalm 145:4

We tend to think that the pastor preaching from the pulpit, the Sunday school instructors, and the youth group leaders are the only ones teaching. They're the ones who have been called to teaching and know what they're doing, right? Well...

Each and every one of us who is older than kindergarten is teaching something to someone younger just by the way they live their life. The littles are watching the school-aged kids. The school-aged kids are watching the teens. The teens are watching the young adults. The young adults are watching the middle-aged adults. The middle-aged adults are watching the older adults. The older adults are watching the elderly. But what are they learning as they watch? 

Many people have taught us something about God, perhaps without even realizing it. For better or worse, we watch the way the generations before us worship, serve, love, pray, give, and offer themselves - or don't - and we learn something about how faith and Christianity work. If someone is being that example for us, we can rest assured someone is watching us, too. What are they learning from the way you and I live day to day?

A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. Proverbs 13:22

Most people think inheritance means money, but believers leave faith, character, wisdom, testimony, and examples as their inheritance. My husband the funeral director often reminds people that you never see a u-haul on the back of a hearse. The only thing you'll be able to take with you when you die are the souls of those you led to Jesus. Absolutely everything else stays here.

If somebody attended your church 80 years from now and only knew you from stories, what would you want them to say about you?

Someday you and I will be the older generation of our church family. Somebody is going to learn what Christianity looks like by watching us. The question isn't whether we'll leave a legacy. It's what kind of legacy will we leave?

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2