I was reminded recently (I don’t remember how) of a song that was playing on the radio a lot when I was in my early teens. I know some of you young people might be surprised there was radio when I was a young teenager. I actually had a clock radio in my bedroom and listened to music all the time (no streaming services or mp3 players, just whatever they chose to play) and this particular song was playing a lot in 1969. The title to the song is “In the Year 2525.” Now, the lyrics to that song are a little out there and one has to wonder if the writer of the song – Richard Lee Evans – had some sort of outside (😉) influence when he wrote those lyrics.
But it was actually the title that got me to thinking. I realize none of us will be around in 2525, and it is highly probable that Jesus will return before then. But the question crossed my mind, if Jesus tarries what will I have left behind that might still be viable 500 years from now. Will anyone even know my name that far into the future and if they do, for what reason will they know it?
One of the things we as human beings wrestle with is a struggle for significance and feeling like our life makes a difference. We can only find that in the service of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. James, the brother of our Lord, reminded us that “…You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” The older we get, the more we realize how temporal our existence really is. We have friends and relatives all around us who are completing their earthly journey and moving on, all the while reminding us of our own mortality. In this brief stay here on the earth, what is it we are producing and will leave behind when we are not here anymore.
To begin with, we must be reminded that our very existence is defined by the apostle Paul in the book of Acts when he tells the men of Athens – “In him we live and move and have our being.” (or exist) We have no significance outside the purpose of God in the earth and our service in His kingdom. In Him we truly live and we truly have our existence. So, we reconcile ourselves to that fact and order our lives accordingly. Now, that does not mean we all quit our “secular” jobs and enter into some kind of ministry. No, for most people, the vocation in which they find themselves is the most fertile ground to represent the kingdom of God in our work habits and integrity. This is so important to the apostle Paul, that he repeats this exhortation twice in his letter the church at Corinth.
“Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” 7:20
“So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.” 7:24
Where God has you now is the fruitful field for you to flourish and participate in the extending of the gospel of the kingdom of God in the earth.
So, what shall we do so that when it is time for us to gain our heavenly promotion we leave behind a legacy that perpetuates and continues the work we have been putting our hands to? This same thing happened when Jesus’ departure was imminent. John chapter 17 is often called “Jesus’ Intercessory Prayer,” but what it really was, was the beginning of preparations for His disciples to assume the mission He had been sent here to begin. I won’t cover it here, but if you read it, you will find He references them often and prays for them to be successful as they continue the work He has begun. When Jesus ascended to heaven, He left this band of disciples (scary thought, huh?) to continue the work of the kingdom. Their salvation and ability to succeed was due to Jesus sending them another Comforter – the Holy Spirit – to empower them to do the mission for which they had been selected. Once He was gone, it was His investment of 3 or 3 ½ years that would now cause the message to be proclaimed.
So, we must take inventory of our life and determine if we are addressing what is important and vital in the grand and eternal scheme of things. What is really of great consequence at the end of the day and our lives? If you and I will order our lives in a prioritizing and value focusing way, we can at least leave the foundation for those coming after us to continue the mission established by the Lord Jesus and adopted by us. Have we focused what will produce eternally and will carry on beyond our earthly existence?
We begin with our personal commitment to Christ and His purpose for our lives. We must be sure we have offered our human bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord Jesus, holy and acceptable to Him. This certainly does not wait until we “have our act together,” because we may never totally get our act together. But it is the very act of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice that will enable us to make our way to a life of holiness and sanctification by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Psalmist wrote,
“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.”
and again Solomon in the Proverbs,
“Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.”
If we are to pray those coming after us will commit themselves to the Lord’s work, it is incumbent upon us to make sure our heading is true north to a committed life.
After becoming committed to the Lord Jesus and His mission, it is necessary that we are involved with His kids. Now, this will play out in many and varied ways, but at the end of the day, there is no room for “Lone Rangers” in the work and life of the kingdom. Paul wrote to the Ephesian church that the body of Christ grows when each part of the body is supplying that
piece of the “puzzle” that we bear.
Again, this may flesh out in a typical church setting where one becomes a part of a local body that has a somewhat traditional gathering and mission. It can also be realized in a non-traditional setting where there might not be a typical church meeting at a typical time on a typical day. The issue is not what kind of meeting you have, but what kind of relationships you have in the body of Jesus Christ. What will not work is “Me and Jesus Got Our Own Thing Going,” – my apologies to Tom. T. Hall. We are to bring our gifts, talents, and God-given inclinations to the “table,” so to speak, and make ourselves available to our fellow brothers and sisters with whom He has placed us. Remember, it is God the Father who places the members of the body as it pleases Him.
When we have fully committed our lives to our King, the Lord Jesus and are actively participating in and with an organic body of believers from whom we can receive- and give – encouragement, admonishment, and hope, it is important that we give attention to our personal holiness and behavior. The apostle Paul wrote that “We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways,” in his second letter to the Corinthians. And again –
“And this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God— not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.”
Paul continues his instruction in his letter to the Ephesians when he writes that we should “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.” It is when we deviate from God’s prescribed way of living that we not only depart from that which will release blessing in our lives, but we needlessly weigh ourselves down with a burden that was taken care of at the cross. Again, I am not pointing fingers (if I am, there are three more pointing back at me), but trying to motivate us away from making the same mistakes over and over again. I have so many times of faulty examples that I have left in my wake, that I pray I am able to overcome them by giving myself to the behavior and holiness that comes from God Himself.
If we can comprehend this, we will understand that God’s prescribed way of living will produce greater fruit in us than going our own way and succumbing to the lure of the flesh. We will also understand that people are watching us, especially those we consider our legacy that we leave behind when we cross over the proverbial Jordan River. God’s grace will take care of a multitude of sins and mistakes, but there is no need for us to attempt to overload God’s grace. Some have posed the idea of doing whatever we want whenever we want, because the grace of God is so abundant. Well, first of all, that sounds like someone who doesn’t really know the Lord God in a personal way, and secondly, the apostle Paul saw that idea coming and he addressed it in the 6th chapter of Romans.
“Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace?”
“Absolutely not!”
Or, as J.B. Phillips paraphrases it,
“What a ghastly thought!”
I will conclude this issue of The Kernels of Truth with a portion of the aforementioned 17th chapter of the Gospel of John. I pray you have a Happy and Prosperous (in every way) New Year and if the world somehow makes it to the year 2525, there will be a trace of you and me that testifies to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the goodness found in Him.
John 17: 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, John 17:21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.
John 17:22 The glory that you have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
John 17:23 I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me.
John 17:24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved me before the foundation of the world.
John 17:25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know You, I know You, and these know that you have sent Me.
John 17:26 I made known to them Your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”