Let’s begin by defining our terms. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary a Legacy has three definitions: 1) a gift by will; 2) something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor; 3) a candidate for membership in an organization who is given special status because of a familial relationship to a member. If you think about it, all three definitions apply to us if we are born again believers in Christ.
Number 3 probably has the most negative reputation in our time. We hear about privileged, rich kids getting into prestigious schools and universities because of a “Legacy Admission” when their grades may be mediocre but their parent or grandparent went to the school (and has contributed to it as an alumnus) so they get in before a brilliant poor kid. “Well, that’s not fair!” we think. Very true but think again. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” And yet, because of the finished work of our spiritual ancestor, Jesus of Nazareth, who died for our sins, we get full access – “admission” – to the throne room of Father God forever.
“WOW!” you say (yes, I heard you). “So all I have to do is say the ‘Sinner’s Prayer’?” Sorry, but no. You have to believe that what Jesus did on the cross was not only true but that it applies to you because you are a sinner. In the Gospel of Mark 8:34-35, Jesus tells his disciples that they must also “. . . deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” So it’s not just being a “believer.” We must also be “followers.”
There is a non-Biblical story that has been passed down for millennia that when the great persecution of Christians by the Emperor Nero began around 67 AD the Apostle Peter was in Rome. He was urged by the church there to leave Rome and save himself. According to the legend, as Peter was walking away from the city on the Appian way, he saw the risen Jesus walking toward the city. Peter asked Jesus, “Quo vadis?” which is Latin for “Where are you going?” Jesus replied that he was going into Rome to be crucified again. Peter was deeply convicted, so he turned and followed his master back into Rome where he was crucified head down because he didn’t believe he was worthy to die in the same way as Jesus. This is what it means to be a follower of Christ.
So how do you not only believe in Jesus, but follow him? In the Gospel of Luke 9:61-62, Jesus tells the parable of the plowman. A man asks if he can go back and say goodbye to his family before following Jesus. Jesus says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Modern tractors have all kinds of high tech gadgets to help them plow straight furrows, but in the first century a plow was basically a sharpened stick hitched to an ox or mule that scratches a furrow in the ground. If the plowman didn’t keep his eyes on a distant, fixed object like a tree or a hill while he struggled with the plow his furrow would wander all over the place. In the same way, following Jesus requires paying attention to where Jesus is going. It’s not enough to simply memorize some verses. Jesus is still very much alive in His Holy Spirit and by that Spirit and His Word he is on the move.
In our verses for today, Paul tells us that, “ . . . we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (v.10) To simplify, we have received a Legacy of adoption into God’s family and our Legacy will be to do the good works which God has already prepared and equipped us to perform.
Some of you may be old enough to remember a comedian named Richard Pryor. He used to joke about his family always struggling to pay for the rent or the groceries. “In fact,” he’d say, “We were so poor, I couldn’t even pay attention!” Well, our Father in Heaven has made all His riches available to us to follow His will and do those Legacy building works he’s prepared for us. We just need to pay attention to the leading of our Lord and Savior moment by moment, circumstance by circumstance, day by day.
The Reformer Martin Luther gave Jesus followers a pretty good job description: “We are all mere beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.”