11/16/08 - Saints Triumphant - 1 Thess. 4:13-18

WHAT LEGACY WILL YOU LEAVE?
- What you have done?
- What Christ has done for you?

Almost every day you can read the obituaries in the paper. Some are longer and some are shorter, but almost all of them give a few details about the life of the person who has recently passed away. Those obituaries tell us what that person is to be remembered for. “She was a great mother to her children and a great grandmother to her grandchildren.” “He had a big heart and was the best friend, brother, father, and husband one could ask for.” “She loved to sow.” “He loved the outdoors.” “She was kind and considerate and gentle.” “He was hardworking and honest and dependable.” Those few short paragraphs that sum up a person’s life try to convey what that person should be remembered for. Those words let us know what legacy that person has left behind.
What legacy will you leave? What will you be remembered for? I’m sure some of you would like to be remembered as kind or intelligent or loving, caring, straightforward, honest, generous, mild-mannered, faithful, happy, helpful… There are a variety of adjectives that we would want to be remembered by and there are a variety of things that we might want to be known for doing as well: something we’ve made with our own two hands, something we’ve written, children and grandchildren we’ve produced, friends that we’ve made, lives that we’ve touched, insightful words that we’ve said, brilliant advice that we’ve given… There are plenty of things we have done in this life that would like to be remembered for after we die.
Early on in his ministry, the apostle Paul had a chance to speak about those who had passed away. He was writing to the church in Thessalonica and they had apparently been a little depressed and worried about those relatives and friends that had died before them. Paul had an opportunity to encourage them, to lift their spirits about their loved ones who were no longer living. But the obituary that Paul writes for these people who had died is a little different than the legacies must people hope to leave behind.
Listen to how Paul encouraged these Christians about those who had died. Paul wrote, “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” Not much of an obituary, is it? And it’s not supposed to be. Because notice what Paul does not say about those who had died. He does not mention any of their actions. He doesn’t bring up their accomplishments, their words, their characteristics, their personality traits, their own personal legacies. He doesn’t talk about what they did or who they were at all. Instead, he talks about Christ. Because Paul knew that the things they had done and the kind of people that they were in this life wasn’t worth remembering.
And neither are any of the things that you’ve done in your life. Nothing you have done is worth remembering. If you want to be remembered for being kind or intelligent or loving, caring, straightforward, honest, generous, hard working, mild-mannered, faithful, happy, helpful… why? Why do you want to be remembered for those things? Because it’d be nice know, wouldn’t it? Because it’d make you feel good if people appreciated and benefited from what you had done in this life and knew about the good things you had accomplished and what kind of person you were? It would feel as if you had done something right on this earth and your life wasn’t a waste a time, right? It’d be nice to be remembered fondly by those who knew you. And I think that’s a common hope and a widespread goal for most people. But let me read to you what the Lord thinks about your life: “The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:2-3). No one has done good in this life. Because “good” according to God’s standards is “perfection.” No one has done anything perfect in this life - there is always some sort of fault, there is always some sort of corrupt motivation, there is always some sort of imperfection involved with everything we do. Others might not see the sin in the things we accomplish in our lives, but the Lord sees it. And he knows it. He knows you have fallen far short of what he expects. He knows who you really are. He knows every one of those thoughts that occupy your mind. He knows what is behind and between and below every one of those actions. And so why would you want to be remembered for those things? Why would you want to be remembered for any of your actions since they have all failed, since they have all fallen short, since they have all given proof upon proof upon proof that you don’t deserve to go to heaven?
If we want to be remembered for what we have done in this life, it’d be the same as a contractor wanting to be remembered for the front steps he built on an enormous mansion even though he was never able to finish the rest of it. If we want to be remembered for what we’ve done in this life, it’d be the same as a marathon runner wanting to be remembered for showing up at the starting line even though he wasn’t able to run any of the 26.2 miles. If we want to be remembered for what we have done in this life, it’d be the same as a mass murderer wanting to be remembered for those he ruthlessly killed: not only did he fail as a member of the society he lived in but he took the lives of innocent victims along the way. We are that bad. We are that far away from “good” because we have not even come close to keeping one of God’s commands. We have broken as many commands as we have come into contact with. And every one of our actions in this life prove it.
So let me ask you this again: what do you want to be remembered for in this life? I hope you’re scared to even think about anything right now. I don’t want to bring anything to mind for which I would want to be known for after I die! Because if none of my actions and none of my words and especially none of my thoughts are worth remembering, I don’t have anything left! I don’t want to be remembered for anything I’ve done if all I’ve done has failed.
And that’s the point. We shouldn’t want to be remembered for anything we’ve done in this life. We shouldn’t want to be known as failures. And so how would you answer that question? Allow me to give you a hypothetical conversation between a believer and an unbeliever. The unbeliever says to the believer: “When you die, what is it that you want to be remembered for in this life?” The believer looks at him and says, “Christ.” “Excuse me?” “I want to be remembered for Christ,” the believer says. “He came down from heaven, lived a spotless life on this earth, bled to death on a cross, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, rules at the right hand of his Father and promises to come back again.” “Uh… I don’t think you understood my question. What do you want to be remembered for after you die?” “No, I understood your question, I just don’t think you understood my answer,” the believer says. “Jesus came to this earth for me. He lived a spotless life for me. He hung on that cross for me. He rose for me. He rules for me. And he will come back for me. And I want to be remembered for believing that. The Lord has given me the gift of faith to believe that because Jesus died and rose again, I too will rise after my death. And so when I die, I don’t want people to remember who I was, but who Christ is. And I want them to know that I’m living with my Savior because of what he has done for me.”
Christ’s legacy is your legacy. Because even though we have failed miserably in this life, the perfect life Christ has lived he gives to us! He counts it as if we were perfect. And the death he died, that not only included blood and suffering but the darkest pits and pains of hell as well, that death he counts as ours. And his resurrection guarantees rising from the grave. And his return to this sinful earth will mark the beginning of our life in heaven. Christ’s legacy is our legacy. What he is remembered for we are remembered for. What he has done we have done. And what he has won we have won. And so we don’t have to be remembered for anything we have done in this life because we will be remembered for what Christ has done for us.
Most of you know that every pastor in the Wisconsin Synod goes through a year of “vicar” training at the Seminary. The third year at our Seminary is called “vicar year” in which the students are assigned to a congregation usually within the United States to serve under the pastor of a congregation, teaching, preaching, leading, and the like. The congregation I was assigned to had had 20 vicars before me - I was the 21st in a row. And after I’ve left they’ve had a vicar every year since. And the nice part about that is the congregation doesn’t really remember individual vicars. If I were to call that congregation up today, most of them would probably recognize my name, but they wouldn’t be able to picture my face. A handful might be able to, but after 20 some odd vicars in a row, the faces start to run together. They don’t remember the vicars, but they do remember the Christ we preached. And that’s the way it should be. They don’t remember who I am or what I look like or the things I did, but they will always remember what Christ has done for all people.
And that’s exactly what Paul told the Thessalonians. Their loved ones had died. And they who were still living didn’t know what to think. They didn’t know what would happen to those who had passed away and they weren’t sure how to deal with it. And so Paul told them about Christ. He didn’t remind them about what their loved ones had been like or what they had done. He told them about what Christ had done, what Christ had promised, and what Christ would do. “We believe that Jesus died and rose again,” Paul said, “and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him… After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” That was what they were to be remembered for. That was their legacy.
And that is ours. “We will be with the Lord forever.” That legacy will never fade. It will never be forgotten. It will never be just a memory. Because it will be our life. It will be real and true. “We will be with the Lord forever.” Lord willing, that is what you will be remembered for after you die. Because there’s really nothing else worth remembering.
Amen.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” - 1 Peter 1:3