SERMON: Legacy – How God Works – Ps 78.1–8 (8/9/26)
Sermon Introduction
Scripture
Open your Bibles to Psalm 78.
The Aneyoshi Tsunami Stone
Aneyoshi is a small fishing village in northeastern Japan.
Its geography makes it especially vulnerable to tsunamis.
In 1896, the great Meiji Sanriku tsunami devastated the area.
Only two villagers survived.
Another tsunami struck in 1933.
This time, only four villagers reportedly survived.
The survivors decided to leave a legacy to those who would come behind them.
They erected a stone marker carrying this warning:
High dwellings ensure the peace and harmony of our descendants.
Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis.
Do not build any homes below this point.
March 11, 2011, another tsunami...
At Aneyoshi Bay, the water reached an extraordinary run-up height of approximately 129 feet, nearly the height of a thirteen-story building.
18,000 people died as a direct result of the tsunami...
Not one home in the elevated village was flooded, and everyone who remained there survived.
That is a powerful picture of a faithful legacy.
A faithful legacy is hard-won truth passed from one generation to the next in a way that guides, strengthens, and safeguards those who come behind them.
The people who erected that stone protected descendants they would never meet.
They remembered the calamity, preserved what they had learned, and passed it on.
In a very different way, that is what faithful pastors and church leaders do.
They preach truths that will still guide people years after the sermon has been forgotten.
They establish convictions that will protect a church from dangers they may never personally see.
They build ministries whose fruit may not appear until long after their work is finished.
For thirty-six years, Dr. Reed faithfully helped build above the flood line.
He taught this church the truth.
He helped establish convictions.
He helped shape a culture.
And many of us are being strengthened and safeguarded today by decisions he made and truths he taught years ago.
That is what we will focus on today!
We are going to see how God works through the faithful legacy of one generation when they share that with the next generation.
We will also celebrate how God has worked through Linda and Dr. Reed.
We will consider the legacy each of us is leaving to our family, our church, and our community.
Scripture
Psalm 78 is the second longest Psalm in the Bible.
We will look at just the first eight verses this morning.
These are important because they show us the basics of how God works in our world.
They show us how God communicates truth through the generations...
They show us how God manifests faithfulness in future generations...
They show us the danger of a weak link in the chain...
Psalm 78.1–3
Scripture
Psalm 78.1 | My people, hear my instruction; listen to the words from my mouth. (CSB)
Psalm 78.2 | I will declare wise sayings; I will speak mysteries from the past— (CSB)
Psalm 78.3 | things we have heard and known and that our ancestors have passed down to us.(CSB)
Dr. Reed did not invent the gospel he preached.
He received the truth from faithful people who came before him.
For thirty-six years, he faithfully passed that truth to us.
That is part of the beauty of a Christian legacy.
We do not create the baton.
We receive it, run faithfully with it, and pass it on.
The Psalmist says, "I pass down truth passed to me..."
God speaks to us through creation, history, and direct revelation...
Finally, he revealed himself through his Son...
Hebrews 1.1 | Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. (CSB)
Hebrews 1.2 | In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. (CSB)
Hebrews 1.3 | The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (CSB)
That is the foundation of truth.
Ours is a revealed religion.
We know what we know because God has revealed it to us.
So, it all starts with God revealing himself and revealing truth.
Then...
Psalm 78.4–5
Scripture
Psalm 78.4 | We will not hide them from their children, but will tell a future generation the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, his might, and the wondrous works he has performed. (CSB)
Psalm 78.5 | He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children (CSB)
God then commands us to pass this knowledge and truth to those who come behind us!
God does not start revelation over with every generation.
God is not still speaking through a burning bush...
Jesus is not preaching a new Sermon on the Mount...
The Holy Spirit is not still inspiring more New Testament epistles...
Psalm 78.6–8
Scripture
Psalm 78.6 | so that a future generation— children yet to be born—might know. They were to rise and tell their children (CSB)
Psalm 78.7 | so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God’s works, but keep his commands. (CSB)
Psalm 78.8 | Then they would not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not loyal and whose spirit was not faithful to God. (CSB)
How will the next generation and future generations know and live the truth?
Because of the LEGACY of truth and faithfulness we give to them.
LEGACY is one of the most powerful levers God uses to bless us!
If you are walking faithfully with the Lord...
That faithfulness bears the marks of the legacy of faithfulness of someone in your life.
If you know the blessings of God in your marriage...
Those blessings bear the marks of the legacy of faithfulness of someone in your life.
If you have hope, peace, spiritual health and strength in your life...
Those strengths and that spiritual fruit bear the marks of the legacy of faithfulness of someone in your life.
We should recognize that legacy...
We should recognize the footprints of the faithfulness of others in our lives.
And we should thank the Lord for those people!
Parents, Teachers, Friends, Mentors, Leaders...
When I look around at the blessings in our church and the strength and health of our church today, I see the footprints of legacy.
Footprints...
I see them in our commitment to the authority of Scripture.
I see them in our love for missions.
I see them in the people who have been called into ministry.
I see them in families who were shepherded through suffering.
I see them in leaders who were trusted, trained, and given opportunities to serve.
I see them in the unity and stability of this church.
The faithful legacy of many men and women through the decades...
But I see the footprints of the faithful life and ministry of Linda and Allen Reed all over the place.
Listen, church, as your pastor, I see things you don't get to see...
I know things you don't get to know...
I have a perspective that you don't get to have...
And I thank the Lord for the faithful legacy of Linda and Allen Reed all of the time!
Dr. Reed and Linda planted trees beneath whose shade they knew others would sit.
You see, the strength and health of FBC is not something that can be created in a year or ten years...
It is the product of a generation of faithfulness.
It is the product of God working through a faithful legacy.
God’s Design for Legacy
Let me show you from God's word how legacy works...
I. God's economy operates through legacy.
God did not have to do things this way.
God could have communicated his truth to every generation directly and dramatically.
God could have continued to speak through a burning bush...
God could have continued to speak through a pillar of smoke and fire...
Jesus could have remained physically present, preaching and teaching every generation.
God could have sent an angel to every person who needed to hear the gospel.
God could appear to each of us in our dreams every night and reveal his truth.
But that is not how God has usually chosen to work.
God has ordinarily chosen to work through legacy.
God's economy, the way God works, is like a relay race...
The first runner begins with a baton...
That runner runs with it as fast as he can and while he is running, he passes it to another runner...
And that runner does the same thing...
For thirty-six years, Dr. Reed ran his leg of the race as pastor here at First Baptist Church.
Sunday after Sunday, he opened the Word of God.
Week after week, he shepherded this congregation.
Year after year, he carried the responsibilities of pastoral ministry.
Thirty-six years is not one dramatic sprint.
It is thousands of ordinary acts of faithfulness.
It is preaching when you are tired.
It is loving people when ministry is difficult.
It is staying steady through changes, conflicts, funerals, crises, and disappointments.
A legacy is rarely built in one spectacular moment.
It is built through faithfulness repeated over a lifetime.
We saw that in Psalm 78...
Psalm 78.5 | He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children (CSB)
Psalm 78.6 | so that a future generation— children yet to be born—might know. They were to rise and tell their children. (CSB)
That is how God's economy of truth works...
Is that the testimony of Scripture?
1 Corinthians 15.3 | For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (CSB)
2 Timothy 2.2 | What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (CSB)
Titus 2.3 | In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not slaves to excessive drinking. They are to teach what is good, (CSB)
Titus 2.4 | so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, (CSB)
Titus 2.5 | to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and in submission to their husbands, so that God’s word will not be slandered. (CSB)
1 Corinthians 11.1 | Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ. (CSB)
Philippians 4.9 | Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. (CSB)
Let's get down to brass tacks...
Primary ways...
The primary way God wants to teach the children and students here at FBC to grow up to be godly and faithful men and women...
Through godly and faithful parents and grandparents...
Through godly men and women in our church...
The primary way God wants to grow up a generation of godly men in this church...
Through the legacy of the men in this church today!
The primary way God wants to raise up faithful women in this church...
Through the legacy of faithful women in this church today!
Listen church...
When I hear yet another story of some young husband or wife involved in infidelity...
It angers me!
And it does not just anger me because of the sin.
It angers me because of the children...
Parents are hoping that their children will follow the parent's hopes...
God says it is more likely that children will follow their parent's legacy...
Let us look at biology for a moment...
God has built the principle of inheritance into the physical world.
Much of what you see when you look in the mirror bears the marks of those who came before you.
Your height, your eye color, your hair, and even the shape of your face may reveal your family history.
In a similar way, God intends one generation to leave SPIRITUAL MARKS upon the next generation.
Children should grow up bearing the influence of parents, grandparents, teachers, and church members who loved God and taught them his truth.
But there is one enormous difference between biological legacy and spiritual legacy:
Biological traits are passed down automatically.
Faithful spiritual legacy is not.
It must be taught, modeled, and intentionally handed down.
II. A faithful life does not automatically leave a faithful legacy.
This second point can be troubling.
Back to our illustration of the relay race...
It does not matter how fast the first runner runs if he fails to hand the baton to the next runner.
And if we are not careful, we will live faithful lives that do not impact the next generation.
This happens too often...
Israel's Quandary...
Look at something that happened when the nation of Israel transitioned from Joshua's leadership to those who followed him...
Judges 2.7 | The people worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works he had done for Israel. (CSB)
So, the people were living lives of faithfulness...
Judges 2.8 | Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. (CSB)
Judges 2.9 | They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. (CSB)
Judges 2.10 | That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works he had done for Israel. (CSB)
And the next generation didn't seem to properly inherit the godly legacy of the previous generation.
What happened?
We must be careful that we don't say more than Scripture says.
But clearly faithfulness does not automatically transfer from generation to generation.
Let me give you two reasons faithfulness might not transfer and one way to help make sure we hand the baton off effectively...
Two possible reasons faithfulness might not transfer...
The truth can be faithfully taught and still rejected.
We can teach, model, plead, and pray...
But we cannot change another person’s heart.
Joshua’s generation may have taught the next generation more faithfully than Judges records.
Some may have heard the truth and still rejected it.
Every person must personally respond to the Lord in repentance and faith.
Children cannot inherit their parents’ relationship with God.
Grandchildren cannot live on their grandparents’ faith.
Only God can give spiritual life.
We are responsible for faithfully extending the baton. We cannot force the next generation to receive it.
That should humble us.
It should also drive us to prayer.
We do not merely pray, “Lord, help me teach them.”
We pray, “Lord, open their hearts to receive the truth.”
Our teaching can be undermined by inconsistency or hypocrisy.
The next generation listens to what we say...
But they also watch how we live.
They hear what we say at church...
But they watch how we act at home.
They hear us talk about grace...
But they notice whether we forgive.
They hear us talk about integrity...
But they notice whether we tell the truth.
They hear us talk about loving people...
But they listen to how we talk about people.
None of us will model faithfulness perfectly.
That is why part of a faithful example is admitting when we are wrong.
Repentance may be one of the most important expressions of faithfulness the next generation ever sees in us.
Hypocrisy teaches the next generation that Christianity is a performance.
Humble repentance shows them that Christianity is about grace.
One way to ensure that we faithfully make the handoff...
Show and tell
Do you remember “show and tell” from school?
You brought something important to class.
You showed it to everyone.
Then you told them what it was and why it mattered.
That is how we leave a faithful spiritual legacy.
We show them what faithfulness looks like.
And we tell them why we live that way.
Dr Reed and Linda have been doing show and tell here for almost five decades...
Faithful marriage...
Faithful service...
Faithful preaching...
Show them
Let them see you worship.
Let them see you pray.
Let them see you serve.
Let them see you give.
Let them see you forgive.
Let them see you trust God during suffering.
Let them see you admit your sin and ask for forgiveness.
Let them see that Jesus is not merely part of your life.
He is the Lord of your life.
Tell them
Tell them who God is.
Tell them what God has done.
Tell them what Christ accomplished on the cross.
Tell them how a person can be saved.
Tell them about the times God sustained you.
Tell them about prayers God answered.
Tell them about mistakes you made and lessons God taught you.
Tell them why you worship, serve, give, forgive, and trust.
If we only tell them, our faith may sound like a lesson.
If we only show them, they may never understand what they are seeing.
A faithful legacy requires both: show and tell.
Showing and telling cannot guarantee that the next generation will believe.
Only God can change a heart.
But showing and telling ensure that, by God’s grace, the baton is faithfully extended.
We cannot control how the next generation responds.
But we can control whether we faithfully make the handoff.
That brings us to our final truth:
We can and must leave a faithful legacy.
III. We can and must leave a faithful legacy.
If God primarily works through the power of legacy, then that begs the question...
How and to whom are you leaving a legacy?
Let's go back to our relay race...
How are you running your leg of the race...
Hebrews 12.1 | Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, (CSB)
Are you following Christ faithfully?
Are you laying aside the sins that could weaken your witness?
Are you living a life worth imitating?
What is one thing you can do to run this leg of the race with more faithfulness?
How are you handing the baton?
Questions...
How are you serving in the church?
How are you serving and living out your Christian life so people in your generation and one or two generations behind you can see your faithful legacy?
What is one thing you can do to better hand the baton to others as you run your race of faithfulness?
Too many people complain about the generation behind them...
All of those young people!
Stop complaining about the next generation and begin to invest your legacy in them!
May I give you a prayer every one of us should pray every day?
This verse is not the prayer of someone who believes his usefulness is over.
It is the prayer of someone who wants every remaining day to influence another generation.
Dr. Reed and Linda, that is part of what we celebrate today.
Your faithful influence did not end when your tenure as pastor ended.
You are still proclaiming God’s power to another generation.
You are still showing us what enduring faithfulness looks like.
Psalm 71.18 | Even while I am old and gray, God, do not abandon me, while I proclaim your power to another generation, your strength to all who are to come. (CSB)
Conclusion
The greatest legacy passed down to us is the legacy of faith...
Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness...
That same baton...