Your Spiritual Legacy
By Dr. Ken Matto
Acts 13:36 (KJV) For David, after he had served his
own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers,
and saw corruption:
Here we have a verse which describes the overall life
of David. It states that David had served his own generation by the will of God.
Many Christians claim they do not know the will of God for their lives and as a
result use that as an excuse to sit on the sidelines and do nothing. When David
was on the run from Saul, do you think that he sat down in caves and waited
until he received some kind of epiphany? David did not have the time to sit down
and wait because if he did Saul would have caught up to him and killed him.
David knew that God would take care of him. Samuel had anointed David to be the
next King of Israel and he could not have ruled from the grave. David had served
God in his own generation and when his task was done, the Lord took him home and
his body was laid to rest in a grave.
The key to this verse is the fact that David served
his own generation. The English words “had served” is one word in the Greek and
it is peculiar only to the book of Acts, being used only three times. It carries
with it the meaning of serve or minister. David‘s service was the faithful
execution of God’s call to minister in God’s kingdom and to His people. David
was the king of Israel for forty years and it was considered ministering to the
people. It does not matter what type of job you hold in this life, whether it be
as an elected official or a routine 9 to 5 job, the fact is that if you are a
Christian, then you are to view that job as one who has been called to minister
or serve their generation. In addition to your job, the rest of your life is
also to be used as ministering to your generation. There is no such thing as a 9
to 5 ministry.
Normally the will of God for each Christian will be
made known to them while in the normal routines of life. There is not going to
be a handwriting on the wall like in Daniel 5 with specific instructions. The
reason that most Christians do not know the will of God in their life is because
they are not getting involved in the basics of ministry and if they are not
doing anything, then God will not reveal to them His will. It is like a person
who is getting ready to learn how to drive a car but never starts the engine and
therefore never goes out on the street to start getting experience. You cannot
learn how to drive sitting in one stationary place. You must get experience by
actually driving. It is the same in ministry, you will never fulfill your
spiritual destiny if you are sitting on a couch immobile. If I were to guess,
many Christians do not want to know the will of God because they fear that God
might send them to a foreign country and they would have to leave their comfort
zone.
The reality is that each of us, and I am speaking of
only true Christians in this article, are going to leave a legacy, whether it
will be to our children or if we are single to our friends and extended family,
including church family. How would you like to be known after your home going,
as one who didn’t want to get involved or as one who couldn’t wait to be
involved? If at your funeral the preacher has to search vehemently to state what
you did while on earth means there is something wrong with your Christian walk
which has to be fixed now, before it is too late. Let us look at three realities
and then you can do a serious self-examination to see if you are leaving a good
testimony or a bad one.
You are Going to Die
Ecclesiastes 3:2 (KJV) A time to be born, and a time
to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
Just as God had appointed a time for us to be born, He
has also appointed for us a time to die. Just because you are in your teens or
twenties or thirties, don’t think that you have unlimited amount of time here on
earth. Satan’s big lie is that you have plenty of time. The reality is that you
don’t. We have the same amount of time many unbelievers have on this earth. We
may have 20, 30, 40, 70 years on this earth and believe me they will go by fast,
especially if you fritter those hours away in useless endeavors. What are you
going to leave the next generation? How many have you ministered to or how many
have you given the Gospel to? I am not asking how many became saved in your
sight because salvation is in the hands of the Lord. Jonah 2:9 (KJV) But I will
sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have
vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. Our responsibility is that we are to be
faithful in giving out the Gospel. 1 Corinthians 4:2 (KJV) Moreover it is
required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. We are to be found faithful
in the work of the Lord, not in some type of hobby or party atmosphere. There is
nothing wrong with having a hobby but if it becomes your obsession and starts
taking the place of ministry responsibilities, then the hobby must go. The
question you must ask yourself is simple, in light of eternity, is what I am
doing causing me to bear eternal fruit or is it something that carries no
spiritual significance and will die the day I do. The key is that we want the
fruits of our ministry to continue on after the day of our death. Instead of
tying ourselves to this world with all its ways to waste limited time, we need
to tie ourselves to eternity and make our lives count so we can be one who has
served or ministered to our generation.
Worldly Fun or Serious Commitment
Psalms 37:5 (KJV) Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust
also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
If there is one thing which defines the present times
we live in, it is the desire to have fun. This is why many call for the work
week to be shortened and guess what they are getting their wish as many full
time jobs are being turned into part time jobs. Lazy people are getting their
wish but not in the way they expected, and losing their benefits. Be careful
what you murmur about. The Christian must commit their way unto the Lord and
that means viewing their lives as spiritual in all aspects of it, including
their job. The job site is a great place to show that you have a serious
commitment to the Lord or it is a place where everybody can see your laziness
and condemn Christianity as fraudulent. Since we only have limited time upon
this earth, it is time to hang up the skateboards and get busy in Kingdom work.
That is not to say that we cannot go out and take a break or even go on
vacation, but the vacation mindset cannot rule our lives. We must not look at
our present life as one big vacation but we must view it with the limited time
that we have. Psalms 90:12 (KJV) So teach us to number our days, that we may
apply our hearts unto wisdom. Christians will have all eternity to rest but here
we have a responsibility to serve our own generations. The Lord Himself gave us
that dictate that we are to go into the world and make disciples. Now we may not
be able to reach the whole world but we can reach the very place where God has
placed us, in other words “Bloom Where You’re Planted.”
If God wants to move you, He will make it known but
for now minister where you are. Among Christians today there seems to be a lack
of serious commitment about getting the Gospel out. It seems if there is a
weekend Bible conference, we are unable to go but let there be some type of
event where we could have fun for a weekend and we will make the time. Today’s
Christian is very weak and lacks the grist that was prevalent one hundred years
ago. Now I am not speaking of those Christians in countries who are being
persecuted for their faith, they are making a serious commitment. I am speaking
about the western Christian who sees having fun as more of a priority than
commitment to the Gospel and then we wonder why our countries are falling apart.
God cannot bless laziness or non-commitment. For one to expect a blessing, one
must be fully committed to the Gospel. This is also a problem among retired
Christians. Nowhere in the Bible do we find anything about retirement. We can
retire from a job but we can never retire from being a Christian. Retired
Christians will have more time to do Christian work without the strictures of a
full time job. It could be a great time of opportunity provided they are not
tied to the bingo mindset where they partake in useless endeavors which just
waste time until the last time and then it is too late to get busy.
Present Level of Commitment
1 Timothy 1:11 (KJV) According to the glorious gospel
of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
Here is a reality that not many Christians realize.
When a person becomes saved, they become a repository of spirituality. They also
host the Holy Spirit who comes and indwells them. Basically, when a person
becomes saved they are no longer a person who walks around spiritually dead but
spiritually alive. This means that God has committed unto each Christian the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is our responsibility to do what we can and
propagate the Gospel, even if it is among a small group of believers at the
present. If we are faithful in little, then God can begin to trust us with more
responsibility as He begins to expand our ministry. If our level of commitment
is non-existent or so low, then God will not commit any more responsibility to
us. This may be the reason that so many Christians seem to have no ministries
and just seem to be walking around like a spiritual zombie, unable to find where
they should be ministering. It is the responsibility of every Christian to find
out where God wants them to minister. If we are still on the same biblical level
we were five years ago, then our commitment level is in the mud. Our desire to
serve the Lord and our generation should increase with each passing day. If we
do not commit ourselves to the Gospel, then who will get the Gospel out to the
world? The apostate church? I seriously doubt it. Every true Christian must
check to see where their level of commitment is at. If you have no ministry and
you are just tied to this world, then you will have a failed Christian life. You
will not leave anything for the next generation, simply because you have nothing
to leave them.
Each Christian is here today because generations
before us committed themselves to the Gospel so they could reach out to others.
My first contact with the real Gospel came when I was 12 years old and listening
to a local AM station WOR 710 AM from New York City on my $1.98 crystal radio
which was clipped to the ground on an electric outlet by my bed. I could only
get a few stations but WOR came in loud and clear and at 10:00 PM on Sunday
night, I heard blind evangelist Ralph Montanus bring the gospel. Of course that
was the seed because it was not until I was 27 when I became saved. Ralph
Montanus was completely blind and he could have just sat back and did nothing
claiming his blindness hindered his ministry but he didn’t and because he didn’t
allow that type of thinking, I and many others in the New York area heard the
Gospel on that radio station. Have you ever heard of Nick Vujicic? He was born
without arms and legs. He could have sat in a home and vegetated but he was
saved and now he has a worldwide ministry and has traveled the world bringing
the gospel. The Lord blessed him with a lovely wife and they even have a child.
His Internet address is: www.lifewithoutlimbs.org So you who have a good body,
there is no reason that you should lack commitment, if the Lord can give
worldwide ministries to a blind man and one who was born without arms and legs,
then He can surely place you into the ministry but you have to show a real
desire to serve the Lord. If not, then you will just float through life with a
useless Christian life and people will remember you as “Who is that again?”
“One day, you’ll be just a memory for some people. Do your best to be a good one” >>As the Quote goes