Passing the Baton: How to Leave a Lasting Spiritual Legacy

Summary

Leaving a spiritual legacy requires intentionally passing the baton of faith to the next generation. By sharing the gospel, renewing our thinking, living for God’s purpose, loving others, following Jesus wholeheartedly, and making disciples, believers ensure Christianity continues to multiply. Empowered by the Holy Spirit and focused on love, faithful followers press on so future generations know, follow, and serve Christ.

Korczak Ziotkowski began creating the Crazy Horse Memorial but never finished it. His wife Ruth took over the project after his death. After she died, her children and grandchildren continued carving the monument out of a mountain. This family successfully passed the baton from one generation to the next.

How to Leave a Lasting Spiritual Legacy

Christians have a far bigger project. Our mission is to make more and better disciples and help expand God’s kingdom. How can we help produce loving, obedient Jesus followers generation after generation? Like the Crazy Horse Memorial, we must pass the baton to each succeeding generation because Christianity is always only one generation from extinction. How can we leave a lasting spiritual legacy?

The Apostle Paul addressed this ongoing need for new people and generations to embrace the mission: “Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of how God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more about how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us” (Colossians 1:9–12 The Message).

Let me make ten suggestions to leave a spiritual legacy.

1.    Share Your Hope

More than fifty years ago, I heard Dick Stum share the gospel as two things to know and two things to do. I have used what I call 2+ 2 many times to communicate it.

The first thing to know is that you are a sinner. Romans 3:23 says that we are all sinners and have fallen short of God's glory, which is His infinite perfection in all He does and is. Another way to say that is that you can't stand back-to-back with Jesus and measure up to his moral and spiritual height.

That's a huge deal. Romans 6:23 says death is the penalty for not meeting that standard. You have a problem.

The second thing to know is that Jesus died on the cross in your place and for your benefit (Romans 5:8). God showered His unmerited favor upon you and did more than you could ever reasonably expect.

God, in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, took your place and paid your death penalty (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). He was buried and rose from the dead to prove that God is satisfied with His payment on your behalf. Justice has been served. The penalty is paid in full. The guiltless took the place of the guilty. 

The first thing to do is to turn from living according to your values, priorities, and agenda. The U-turn to go God's way is what the Bible calls repentance. 

To repent is to acknowledge that you have been going in the wrong direction and now want to go in the right direction.  In Mark 1:15, Jesus commands us to repent and believe the good news (that He died in our place on the cross, was buried, and rose from the dead). 

The 2nd thing to do is to open the door of your life to Jesus and invite Him to come in and take the driver's seat of your life. He promises that if you open the door, He will come in (Revelation 3:20). He always keeps His promises.

Those who receive Him into their lives become children of God (John 1:12). You can open the door to Him by the following prayer, which has no magic words but merely expresses the attitude of a heart that is willing to go God's way:

Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross in my place and taking my sin, death, and judgment upon yourself. I open the door of my life to you. Please come into my life and take control. Thank you for forgiving my sins and making me a child of God. I want to be like you. Amen.  

The gospel brings hope to us and many with whom we share it. Sharing our hope brings light into our dark world and passes the baton of hope from our generation to the next.

2. Continually Correct Stinking Thinking

We correct stinking thinking by pursuing wholesome thinking. The Apostle Peter wrote, “This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory” (2 Peter 3:1 NLT).

Stinking thinking is self-oriented thinking. That is where we all start. Leaving a spiritual legacy requires moving progressively from self-centered to God-centered thinking. Only the latter is wholesome. We can’t write a spiritual legacy with secular ink.

We transform our thinking by feeding ourselves spiritually with God’s word and prayer. Those two disciplines empower us to see life from God’s perspective increasingly. “Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment” (1 Peter 2:2 NLT).

Following Jesus ever more closely requires reprogramming our minds. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2 NLT).

Pay no attention to what the world wants you to be, say, think, and do. “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.  For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world” (1 John 2:15-16 NLT).  Marching to its beat distracts us from being, saying, thinking, and doing what is eternally significant.

More mature believers can be the sandpaper that smooths the stubborn, rough areas of our self-oriented thinking. They help us see our blind spots. This works best through one-on-one relationships with them or in a small group. “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT).

3. Fulfill God's Purpose

To leave a spiritual legacy, we must cease behaving like life is about us. It isn’t. Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we could make a name for ourselves, but to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives.

“He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them” (2 Corinthians 5:15 NLT).

 “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT).

4. Love God, Neighbor, and Other Believers

Love is self-sacrifice for the benefit of others. Love prospers in an atmosphere of self-denial (Luke 9:23).

Jesus said that loving God with all our being and loving our neighbor as ourselves summed up all the Old Testament laws (Matthew 22:37-39).

His new commandment was to love other believers as He loved us (John 13:34-35). “For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love” (Galatians 5:6 NLT). Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Without love, it is impossible to claim faith or to leave a spiritual legacy.

5. Be a 24/7 Follower with Hiking Boots, not a Fan with a Seat Cushion

·       Fans show up for services but not service. They sit better than they serve.

·       Fans sing “Trust and Obey” but don’t.

·       Fans praise God with their lips, but He isn’t their defining passion.

·       Fans treat Christianity as a piece of the pie of life instead of the pie plate.

·       Fans are not whole-life stewards.

·       Fans are still trying to make a name for themselves.

·       Fans occupy the driver’s seats of their spiritual lives.

·       Fans are not growing spiritually.

·       Fans do not understand the basics of the Christian faith.

·       Fans do not feed themselves spiritually.

6. Be a Whole Life Steward

·       The parable of the bags of gold teaches that God expects a return on His investment in us (Matthew 25:14-30).

·       We are accountable to Him for using the time, talents, treasures, energy, and spiritual gifts He has given us for His glory.

·       We live to make an eternal difference. Pursuing earthly “accomplishments” competes with using all our resources to do what matters for eternity.

7. Be Holy Spirit Empowered

·  “Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18 NLT).

·       God commands us to be controlled and empowered by His Spirit. That is His will.

·       When we pray daily for Him to control and empower us, He will (1 John 5:14-15).

·       When the Holy Spirit controls us, we remain in Christ (John 15:5) and can do whatever God has planned for us (Philippians 4:13), living in a supernatural gear.

8. Serve to Open Hearts

·       God pursues lost people through us (Luke 15:3-7).

·       We connect with and open their hearts by practical demonstrations of love on their turf.

·       We heal hurts and meet practical needs to build trust and demonstrate Jesus’ love for them.

·       These people eventually become the growing edge of the church. 

9. Make Disciples

·       Jesus commanded us to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).

·       We must give all church ministries a discipleship core.

·       Disciples follow and progressively become more like Jesus.

·       Make discipleship training reproducible and recycle spiritual feeding.

10. Floor It

·        “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (Philippians 3:13-14 NLT).

·       “We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That’s what I’m working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me” (Colossians 1:29 The Message).

·       These ten suggestions boil down to one word—love.

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