What will your legacy be?
This past Sunday after worship, our family headed home for lunch. We had a friend come to church with us last week and we invited him over to the house to eat with us afterward. Alisha had put on a big pot of soup and made some cornbread. Perfect lunch for a cold day!
After lunch, we were sitting around the table talking and catching up on life with our friend when Will walked into the dining room and showed us his phone. It took me a second to realize what he was showing me.
Kobe Bryant had passed away at the age of 41?! What? How?
Soon after that, like a lot of you, I began to learn more of the details. It wasn’t just Kobe, but his daughter and seven others that were killed tragically in that helicopter crash in California. And this story has captured the hearts of so many.
Kobe’s daughter was 13 years old. I have a 13 year old son. I can’t even imagine…
24 seconds
Whenever something like this happens, almost anytime someone passes away, especially when it happens unexpectedly and suddenly, it always makes you stop and think — what if that happened to me?
What would my legacy be? How would I be remembered?
This past week people have honored Kobe Bryant in different ways. The San Antonio Spurs were set to play the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. There was a question about whether the NBA would cancel the game as news broke about the helicopter crash. But they played. It was the first game played in the wake of the tragedy. About an hour after the news broke, these NBA players took the court after just learning that one of the all-time greats had died. Toronto got the ball first. They crossed half court. Then, just stood there and held the ball. The buzzer sounded. The ref blew the whistle. It was a 24 second violation. When you get the ball, you have 24 seconds to shoot and hit the basketball goal rim. If you don’t, then it’s a turnover. You loose the ball. They took the penalty and San Antonio got the ball. They crossed half court and they, too, held the ball. The buzzer sounded. The ref blew the whistle. Another 24 second violation.
Kobe Bryant wore the number 24. They did this to honor and to remember him.
What will my legacy be? How will I be remembered?
What Really Matters?
When you stop and think about your own life, and if something tragic were to happen to you, it makes you ask this question… What really matters?
I think we can all agree that we all get caught up in things that really just don’t matter.
As kids and even as adults, we get caught up in the desire to be accepted, to be popular, to be well liked. It matters more than it should – what we think people think about us.
We get caught up in wanting nice things, having nice things, and acquiring more nice things. We spend way too much time, money, and energy chasing after things that are here today and gone tomorrow.
We get caught up in the endless pursuit of happiness. Ironically, the things we pursue to make us happy often don’t make us happy, at least not for very long. But we believe in our constitutional right for the pursuit of happiness. So we pursue it though in reality very few of us ever find it.
But when all is said and done, what really matters?
What Matters to Me?
For me, I want to be a really good husband to Alisha. I want her to know I love her and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her. I want her to know that I know I married up!
I want to be a really good father to Will, to Ella Grace, and to Emma Love. I want them to know that I love them fiercely. That there’s absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do for them. I want them to know their earthly father loves them to the moon and back times a million!
I want to be a really good minister and pastor for the church that God has given me to love and to serve. I want my church to know that I love them deeply, that I pray for them often, and that my deepest desire is that each and every member of this church would have a life-altering encounter with Jesus Christ.
Those things are important. Super important.
What Matters to Jesus?
But, According to Jesus, there are things that are even more important. There are things that matter more. And I would suggest that if we listen to Jesus it will not only make us better husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, grandparents, preachers, teachers, doctors, etc…, it will also make us into the people we were created to be. A renewed people. The restored and redeemed people of God.
Jesus taught his disciples about this idea with this story…
“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence…
So this is the picture Jesus is painting of what we might call the end of time. The last day. This is what will happen when Jesus returns. Every person will be gathered together in HIs presence.
…and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.“
With every person from every tribe, every nation, from every generation gathered in HIs presence, Jesus says there will be a great separation. The sheep will be placed on his right in the place of honor. And the goats will be placed on his left in the place of rejection.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!“
— Matthew 25.31-40
Jesus says what matters most on the last day is what you did for others, specifically, what you did for the least of these. This is what matters most when all is said and done.
Not Just about your Legacy
What matters most is not just how you will be remembered… It’s not just about your legacy. It’s about your eternity.
It’s not just about how you’ll be remembered. It’s about how your eternity will be decided.
And according to Jesus, your eternity is decided by the way you live the life you live and what you do for others.
What does it mean to be followers of Jesus, the one who said, “Behold, i am making all things new?” Maybe it’s us learning to SEE People in a whole new way. Maybe it’s us seeing Jesus in every person. So that we love, serve, and treat each person like Jesus.
Maybe this is what it means to live in the NEW WAY of Jesus. It’s a NEW way to SEE PEOPLE.
As followers of Jesus, we see Jesus in every person. We love, serve, and treat each person like Jesus.
Seeing Jesus in Others
So many times, people read these words of Jesus in Matthew 25 literally, and that’s ok. To say that feeding people, clothing people, visiting people in prison is what we should do according to Jesus… I think it’s absolutely wonderful to read it that way.
But I think there’s another way to read it, that by the way is just as literal, is to focus on WHY we do what we do in these moments. And why we do what we do is because we SEE JESUS in EVERY PERSON. Regardless of skin color, language, tattoos, sexual orientation, nationality, political party, their living situation… when we see Jesus in every person and we seek to meet the needs of every person God puts in front of us regardless of anything that might separate us or deter us, whenever we do this… we serve Christ!
So many this is our prayer.
Lord, help me see what you see when you see people. Help me see Jesus.
It’s my prayer that what future generations say about us is that we loved people, we cared for people, and we treated every person like Christ.
If this is our legacy, then I’ve got no worries about our eternity.
May Jesus come and may He make All Things New. Until then, may we be part of seeing His NEW Kingdom breaking into this OLD world!
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