“A Legacy of Influence”            2011

Deuteronomy 6:1-7           Philippians 3:14-17, 4:8-9

 

Deuteronomy 6:1-7

6Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2so that you and your children and your children’s children, may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 3Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. 4Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.

 

Philippians 3:14-17, 4:8-9

14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. 15Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. 16Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. 17Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. 8Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

 

            When Kathy and I lived in Washington state,

                        we loved to go hiking in a favorite ‘old growth forest’.

One characteristic of an ‘old growth forest’,

            are occasional  distinct rows of trees,   that are all about

                the same size and age evenly spaced along a straight line,

                        that may extend for some 200-300 feet across the forest.

 

In some cases, we saw huge fir trees that were 200-300 feet tall,

            perhaps 500-600 years old;       and you had to wonder,à

                        how they happened to be growing in such a straight line?

            I am describing a natural phenomenon of ‘old growth forests’

                        that   occurs because of something called, “nurse logs”.

 

Imagine a 700 year old Douglas fir tree that stands 300 feet tall-

            - and that gets blown over by a powerful storm.

                                        And so it lies along the forest floor for decades

                                                as it slowly decays and decomposes into soil.

 

In time, seeds fall on the log, and seedlings start to take root,

  getting their nourishment from the fallen and rotting nurse log.

 

As they grow, seedlings that are too close thin themselves out,

            and eventually, perhaps 100 more years or so, 

                        the decomposing fallen log will disappear entirely…

            … leaving behind a 300 foot long

                        straight line of evenly spaced trees

                                    that may live and grow for another 600 years or so.

 

            That line of mature fir trees all in a row

                        actually show exactly where a tree once lived and fell,

                                    perhaps a 1000 years ago.

 

            That line of trees in the forest is the legacy of a tree; 

                        with its influence and nurture          still visible,                                                      having made a long and lasting difference.

 

Now, think about your own life;

            when you were young, who were the influential adults

                        who took an active interest in you,  and helped shape

                               your character and the person you eventually became?

 

Was it a special teacher, a neighbor, coach, scout leader? ---

            someone significant   you admired and learned from, à

                        and whose guidance, nurture, teaching or influence

                                    made a real and lasting difference in your life,

                                                by helping shape your values and character?

*        Who were the ‘nurse logs’   to you and your development?

 

Nurse logs are similar

            to the way that faith, a living personal knowledge of God,

                        gets passed down through the ages and the generations,

                                    and is interwoven into the very fabric of our lives…

          … which is also the point of the Deuteronomy text we read.

 

The people are at the end of their long 40 year wilderness trek

            and just about to enter into the Promised Land.

                        Along the way they have learned about the Lord their God.

    But now as they enter and settle into the land,  the question is:

                   how will they faithfully pass along

                             that knowledge of God  to the next generations?

 

The answer is given:       vs. 1-2, 6-7

            Now this is the commandment--the statutes and the ordinances--that the LORD your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so that you and your children and your children's children may fear (learn to know & respect) the LORD your God…

            … Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. ⁷Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.

 

You must observe God's Law --  live out a faithful,  godly life

            so that your children, and your children's children

                        may see and follow   ------- so that they too

                                    may also know and walk with the Lord your God

                                                and may develop  their own faith walk with God.

 

Since we cannot model and teach what we ourselves do not possess,

            we need to consistently cultivate our own faith;

                             for only then     can we demonstrate and model the faith

                               that we hope our children will claim for their own.

 

And more powerful than anything we can ever say   are our deeds.

            Consider the incredible power and influence of what we do,

*                 and how what they see us do,  gives credence to our words…

 

            … for example, as when children see Mom and Dad praying,

                        or reading the Bible or serving others in Christ’ name,

                                    or making their choices based on God's truth & word

            or when children experience their time spent at church

                  as a pleasant and familiar place of welcome, grace &  love.

 

A Father’s Day lesson about influence:

            One time, at one of the big game preserves in East Africa,

                        those in charge decided to thin their herd of elephants,

                             so they got rid of the older male elephants (fathers).

 

And it was almost immediately, that unexpected trouble started.

            The elephants that were left,  suddenly became a big problem -

                                    - fighting, attacking and killing other animals,

                                                and even going after the busses of tourists.

 

It seems that the young bull elephants,

            were all about   impressing the female elephants;

                        getting very territorial with their aggressive behavior

                                    and fighting to prove their strength and prowess.

 

Then when some older elephants were reintroduced into the herd,

            they somehow brought the young bulls back into line,

                        and the behavior problems decreased and went away.

 

It seems that the young elephants didn’t know how to act

       without some older, more experienced elephants to teach them.

 

So too,

            we need more knowledgeable and experienced Christians

                   to teach us how to live out our faith and respond to grace.

 

Certainly one of the huge advantages of regular church attendance

            and being an active participant in the life of a congregation

                        is to place ourselves within a Christian environment

                             that will help and encourage us to grow in our faith…

     … and where more experienced and knowledgeable Christians

            can help us learn to live well, someone’s example to follow.

 

That was the issue at stake in our Philippians passage today.

            Philippi was a Roman colony, very immoral and wildly pagan.

                        These recently converted believers had much to learn

                                    about living as faithful Christians

                                           in that very un-Christian city and environment.

 

While Paul and the other evangelists were living there,

            they had tried to model and teach them how to live the faith.

But then when they had moved on to spread the gospel elsewhere,

    Paul was concerned that these Christians, young in their faith,

            seemed to be losing ground and slipping back

                        into the environment and pagan ways around them…

            … and so he encourages them to remain faithful:   

vs. 16-17

            … let us hold fast to what we have attained.  Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.

join in imitating me ?                  At first glance, we might think

            that Paul is being incredibly arrogant and boastful;

                        except that he fills in what he means by this, 

as he wrote in 1 Cor. 11:1                         Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

 

Paul is imitating Christ, trying to become more Christ-like,

            and so he invites the Christians of Philippi

                to join him on this quest, this life-long spiritual journey

                          of the Holy Spirit transforming us

                                    into being more and more like Jesus,          

                                                so that knowledge of God, our faith   can  be passed on.

 

The Deuteronomy text, spoken at the edge of the Promised Land,

            was really about passing our faith onto next generations,

                        and the grave danger of giving into compromise and ease

                                    of adopting the ways and false gods of culture, à

à         and of not standing firm and distinct as the people of God.

 

The danger was in forgetting and forsaking  the Lord God

            who brought them through the wilderness & provided for them.

Moses knew that the challenge of living in the Promised Land

            was somehow    to remain faithful and obey God's Law,

                        even when surrounded by those who did not…

 

            … so at the edge of the Promised Land, Moses warns and urges:

Deuteronomy 6:5-7

            You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 

            So that you do not forget, immerse yourself in godliness.

                              By example and careful instruction,  teach your children.

 

Strive to help form godly character and Christian values

           by living out   our faith in ways

                        that consistently provide a worthy model to follow,

                                    and an example of faithful commitment;

                                                as nurse logs for the next generations.

 

As there has been those in our past  who were faithful before us,

            who reliably modeled Christian faith and influenced us,

               so that has been left to us - a debt we are called to repay.

 

We are raising our children in a very difficult world --

            increasingly hostile to our Christian faith and ethics,

                        a culture ever intent on crowding out the truths of God.

 

How will the Gospel of Christ survive to generations yet unborn?

            How will we counteract the effects and influence

                of our increasingly corrupt and godless twisted culture?

 

A man was very impressed by a shepherd's healthy flock of sheep.

            He asked the shepherd, "How do you do it, year after year?"

                                    The shepherd replied:  "I take care of my lambs."

 

Children learn faith, to claim God’s love, truth and grace,

     by first observing the relationship that others have with God,

                        and by how those whom they trust, 

                                                relate to God and his love -- how they live;

*                 and that is an awesome responsibility upon each of us.

 

Our children will learn to walk with and to know God,

            by watching the way we walk, or don’t walk with God ourselves…

                        … and if we are faithful   nurse logs    of the Good News.

 

Our task is to demonstrate the truth and depth of our faith

            by word and deed, by our ethics  & the choices we make in life…

… by our lives we demonstrate  what our words of faith really mean.

 

Consider this day,   who helped you come to claim God’s grace?

 

            It is in that same way     that we are called by God

                        as family and church   to demonstrate before the world:

                       just what is so special about God’s love and His grace

                                      and why God's truth matters to us

                                                and informs how we live out our lives.

 

By our truthful living - by what we say and by what we do,

            by our good and faithful example we teach à

                        and we show   that God’s love and grace do matter,

                                    and that our faith does make a difference…

              … and as spiritual nurse logs 

                      that our children are loved and important to the Lord.

 

Our call is to deliberately and actively demonstrate

          God’s love and grace by our attitudes and attention,

                   by serving as caring dispensers of God's love and grace.

 

à And if we do your work and ministry   faithfully and well,

            and if we have been obedient to our calling and task,

                        then the children whom God has entrusted to us,

                              will know when asked,  “Who are you?”,

                                        they should reply,

                                                 “I am one, precious and loved by Jesus Christ.”