Legacy Left Behind

1 Samuel 3:1-10

John 1:43-51

Feel free to reference the links above. The message has little to do with the Scripture passages, they simply exemplify God's calling.

All of us seek purpose, meaning, significance for our lives. We all would like to leave something behind after we’re gone. Something unavoidable that we hope everybody in the world will recognize we accomplished in our short time on this earth. For some the building of that legacy may occur through writing a book, for others achieving the status of Dr., for others many years of faithful service to a prestigious organization, for others discovering something grand that will help the people of the world, and for still others perhaps by having children, grandchildren, great grandchildren. Whatever it happens to be, all of us in some way would enjoy it if future generations would look at our accomplishments and be impressed.

One problem many of us have is getting started. I mean, what field could I really leave my mark in? Well, I can’t make it as a professional athlete and I’m not good enough at science things to cure any diseases, hmmph. Where to even begin? Many of us start on one path and end up on multiple others before we find one that we can excel at and feel comfortable in and good about.

As I looked at the readings posted above, I saw people being called away from their lives to a new life, dedicated to serving the Lord and following Jesus. Perhaps a similar change has happened in your life?

While I’m not old enough to worry about not leaving a legacy behind quite yet, I think it is similar to the teenage angst of thinking I am never going to amount to anything.

I am well versed enough in television to see both of these as major concerns to many people. Can’t you just hear a high-schooler almost yelling I’m never going to amount to anything? Perhaps you’ve heard it from your kids, or perhaps you’ve yelled it yourself. This is a recurring theme on my newest craze of a TV show Lost. Indeed I could probably find a moment where every single character truly wondered if they would ever amount to anything great.

Perhaps some of you are sitting there saying, well, I achieved something great, I’ve left a decent legacy, so then another question becomes what do I do after I’ve achieved that great thing, after I’ve left my legacy. Do I promote the great thing? Do I try to do something even greater? Do I sit back, relax and revel in my accomplishment?

Well, for an example of this, we’ll have to look to another TV show of a different genre than Lost, my all-time favorite show, Seinfeld. This episode is called: the Frogger. In it, George (the stocky balding man with a temper) rediscovers his one truly great accomplishment, a high score on the arcade game Frogger from his old high-school hang out spot. Upon realizing that this record has stood for better than 20 years, and knowing that the place where it sits will soon be shut down, George decides his legacy must live on. He decides to buy the Frogger machine and keep it for himself. He soon realizes (thanks to Jerry) that he won’t be able to simply take it home, once he unplugs the machine, the scores will all be lost and his legacy deleted. So George comes up with this crazy ingenious plan to move the Frogger machine without losing power. And that’s where we begin the clip.

Seinfeld Season 9 - The Frogger 18:45-20:32

Despite all of George’s plans things go wrong, the battery is dying. But he sees the road and the machine and realizes that his entire life has been leading to this one moment. He was born to do this. He had been called to do it. And he fails. His Frogger machine, his pride, and his legacy are all destroyed by that truck and George is left with nothing.

Have you ever felt that way about something you felt called to do? Like it had been destroyed? Perhaps its destruction was a good thing.

It reminds me how the disciples must have felt after Jesus death, before his resurrection. They go back to fishing, what they knew before. Their legacy with Christ, they’re great thing gone. Their leader crucified. They’re left with nothing. But Jesus, unlike George’s Frogger machine isn’t destroyed. Death could not hold our Savior. He rose to life again. And His legacy lives on unto eternity. Amen.

Overcoming Darkness (or the Dark Side)

Disclaimer: If you are not a Star Wars fan, do not bother reading this post.

As a wedding present, my wife and I received Episodes I, II, and III of Star Wars, so we took our gift cards and made sure we bought IV, V, and VI as well. And of course, we’ve watched them all already. I’m sure in the 12 plus hours of movie watching you could find many things that would connect Star Wars to the Christian faith, but this is the theme that I think is most prevalent.

Reference: John 1:1-14

I’m primarily going to focus on verse 5 – "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it."

I’ll explain connections after you watch these two clips.

From Episode VI - Return of the Jedi watch from 1:23:38-1:25:41.

So here we see Luke attempting to convince his father to come back to the side of good. To let go of his hate, and return to his former self. But Vader says it is too late for him. He feels as though the darkness of the dark side has consumed him completely.

From Episode VI - Return of the Jedi watch from 1:55:52-1:57:30 (and beyond if you like)

And so we see that Luke was right, Vader could be turned. Throughout the series as we learn that Darth Vader is evil, people close to him, namely his wife, Senator Amidala (in Episode III) and his son, Luke (in Episode VI) defend Darth Vader, saying, "I know there is still good in him." For whatever reason they were able to see a light somewhere amidst the darkness of this machine-man.

It seems in our lives, it is exceptionally difficult to find the good or the light in certain people. Sin clouds our vision terribly, both our own sin, and the sin of other people around us, to the point where we often forget that each person we see each day was died for by the same Jesus who died and was raised for me and for you.
This light shining in the darkness of Darth Vader seems to be an internal goodness.
But the light that shines in each of us, in all of us, is a much more important light, a light that is much more difficult to extinguish, it is the light of Christ.

While it is of great importance to recognize this light in others, for the sake of community, reconciliation, and peace, it is as important and perhaps more difficult at times, to see that light in yourself. It’s so easy to beat ourselves up over the sins we commit on a daily, even hourly basis. So many people in this world, when met with the Gospel message seem too ashamed to realize that "yes, this can still speak to me." Rather they think as Darth Vader did, it is too late for me.
But it is not too late! The light of Christ shines in the darkness of our lives and the darkness has not overcome that light.

I don’t know Greek all that well anymore, but I know a few translations have translated this verse into English as, The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it. Overcome and understood are very different terms in English, but I’m assuming in the Greek that there is a certain sense of intentional ambiguity. I think that works quite well for this illustration.
The darkness has not overcome the light of Christ in our lives. But for many people. They are excessively conflicted, much like Darth Vader. The darkness can’t understand this light that is inside them. They feel it, but they don’t know how to pay attention to it. They can’t figure out how to make it work for them, when the truth of the matter is, they don’t have to do the work. The Holy Spirit at work in our lives, helps us with this understanding.
While it is not easy by any means, we need to let go. Let go of trying to figure it out for ourselves and let God help. Let that light come forth and shine, stop holding it back, stop assuming it’s too late, stop hiding that light.
The light will continue to shine in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it. Let it shine for others to see and for yourself to see.

Delivered May 23, 2008