What a person leaves behind is called:
4 Kinds:
- Legacy - "sasadyain" to be left behind. Coming from the word [Legate].
- Heritage - sum total of your life you have left behind.
- Bequest - whoever will benefit has been identified.
- Patrimony - An endowment or estate belonging to an institution, especially a church.
Every believer is expected to leave behind a spiritual legacy without which the one who passed away is viewed as a failure and the one left behind will more likely be a failure also. [until God intervenes]
A generation that did not leave a legacy will lead means the failure of the succeeding generation which is attributed to this legacy-less generation.
The passage comes from:
Judges 2:1-23
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Judges 2
Israel Rebuked
1 Now the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, 2 and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not [a]obeyed Me; what is this you have done? 3 Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will [b]become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’” 4 When the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. 5 So they named that place [c]Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the LORD.Joshua Dies
6 When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. 7 The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who[d]survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He had done for Israel. 8 Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10 All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.Israel Serves Baals
11 Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and [e]served the Baals, 12 and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger. 13 So they forsook the LORD andserved Baal and the Ashtaroth. 14 The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken and as the LORD had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.
16 Then the LORD raised up judges [f]who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do as their fathers. 18 When the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19 But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. 20 So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, 21 I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk in it as their fathers [g]did, or not.” 23 So the LORD allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
First Generation: The Exodus Generation
Second Generation: The crossing of the Joshua Generation AKA as the generation of conquerors.
Third Generation: The suffering and plundered generation - the generation mentioned in Judges 2:10
What were the failures of the legacy-less generation:
- The failure of the parents in their lack of total dependence of God (Bochim - weeping situation).
- They converted their Gilgal (God's will) to Bochim (A place of weeping)
- This could be synonymous to managing our lives on our own.
- Parents behavior affect children. - The failure to transmit their faith to their children.
- The next generation were not taught the right worship.
- God was no longer part of their daily practice. - Failure to maintain a shepherd guarded community
- A time when judges were appointed after Joshua's death (who was their spiritual shepherd)
The next generation did not know what the Lord had done.
- there was no more shepherding
- in our time, our generation do not want pastors but are more willing to watch a preaching. They do not want to be led.
This is WRONG and will only lead to suffering!
One thing Pastor Doy said was children should not be pulled to church by their parents it is a voluntary attitude for the youth to bring themselves to church and be knowledgeable of the legacy that our early Christians had left. Parents must not have partial dependence on God, it is essential that to influence their young to be completely dependent with God they should show their devotion to their spiritual community and definitely their complete and undivided dependence to God.
Now the question is: What is the legacy that you will leave behind for children?
Be blessed!
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