The Hero’s Legacy – Part 2
Posted by Pastor Pat on January 13, 2009
We have already noted how the Hero’s work has left His people with a legacy. This legacy is to be carried out by every succeeding generation. The mission for His people is to share His legacy. Luke 24:47 notes how the message is to “be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Luke continues this idea in Acts 1:7, 8. ”He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth’”.
“All the nations” in Luke 24:47 are “the remotest part of the earth” in Acts 1:8. The thought of Jerusalem is common in both. The Hero’s legacy, His redemptive work in behalf of His people, is to be proclaimed to everyone, everywhere, at all times. The work of the witness is to be who they are in whatever role they find themselves. The story of God is not bound by the chronicling of it in the Bible. The story exceeds its literary boundaries and is to overflow into every area of life. There is no part of life that is not a part of His story. Each of us, in our own special way, is a part of this divine story. This includes housewives, working mothers, husbands who find themselves in repetitive jobs whose sole interest is to clothe his family, put food on the table, and keep a roof over their heads. This is a part of the story. The story has various sub-plots but every sub-plot keeps taking the reader back to the four primary themes: creation, transgression, condemnation, and redemption. At times in the story, it is the author’s delight to keep parts a mystery to the reader, but this does not make the mystery any less necessary. Its placement is designed to push us toward the author and His purpose.
Our witness, no matter where we find ourselves, is to keep retelling the story. It is not for us to edit the story. Equally, there is no need for us to embellish the story. The story has enough weight to carry itself. It is a story where Jesus Christ sits at center stage. He is the subject matter of all stories. Its retelling penetrates powerfully into each of the inner sanctuaries of the reader. The story touches indiscriminately. There is power in the story and in the retelling of it. God promises, provides, and performs all that He promises and gives all He provides. The story is to be retold when a parent speaks its words to the child or when a grandparent retells the story to a grandchild. It is told when an aunt or uncle tells their niece or nephew. It is retold when an employee responds with integrity and honesty to their employer even when it might cost them their job. The story has power to change lives. It can change the defiled into a thing of beauty. It alters one’s mindset and attitude. It changes everything. No one can encounter the story without it touching their life. Yet there is an ever-present danger, a real threat to the stories retelling. We can deny the story by believing what those initial disciples had with Jesus or in the Book of Acts is different than what we have. There are three ways as to how the story might be denied.
First, we might believe our lives are too ordinary and do not see how who we are or what we do as a part of the one story.
Secondly, we might not see ourselves as a part of a local church and how this local church is a part of the larger, global body of Christ. We do not see how we fit into the larger story of God.
Thirdly, our view of eschatology can greatly affect how we understand this idea. I believe it is wrong for us to deny the one story of God. I believe it is wrong to think everything is worse now than during any other period of time. We have a very defeatist view of history. I believe wickedness will exist until Jesus comes. But His coming is not based on our commitment or corruption but on His calendar. The Father has set a time for the Son to come (Acts 1:7).
Because of the story of God, and how He unfolds and moves it forward, we are to be highly optimistic. The entire Book of Acts is a testament to the carrying forth of the legacy. Although there is a progression to the expansive nature of the work of the witnesses, it is also cyclical in so far that every remotest part is to become a Jerusalem. This is the greater work done by His disciples after the promised power came upon them. Acts wants us, 2,000 years later, to be encouraged and empowered to continue what has already begun. The spread of the Hero’s legacy has been constant and continues to this day. The gospel has been preached globally, and His kingdom has spread global, but it is not over. Our Captain, our King, our Hero has never rescinded the order, “Go into the entire world and make disciples of all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem!”
We are not to live in defeat or in any way be discouraged. We must know and believe that God has won the victory, and we are carrying out His continued conquest. Friend, you and I are living in a kingdom reality. It is different than what it will be, but it is no less real. When we see ourselves as a part of this one story, then we will see that God is working and His purpose is unfolding according to His timing. We are a part of this divine lineage and legacy. It is ours to possess and to proclaim. This is our legacy, this is our mission. Until the time set by the Father, we are to be busy telling the story to everyone, everywhere, at all times.
By Pastor Patrick J. Griffiths. For more information see the Waukesha Bible Church series The Storyline of the Bible.
