A Mom's Legacy | Sunday, May 12, 2024

I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day... when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. (2 Timothy 1:3–5)

What is the greatest thing a mother can leave her children? Not property or money, but a genuine faith handed down.

Honoring Our Moms

Today is Mother's Day, an important day, and we are so grateful for the moms who are part of our church. I don't know firsthand, but by observation, being a mom looks like an awful lot of hard work—and I think many moms here know that to be the case.

We have award ceremonies for athletes, authors, and actors, but we don't really have award ceremonies for you moms. It can sometimes be a thankless job, but we want to say thank you. We have red roses to give as a small token of acknowledgment.

You'll also notice white roses up front to acknowledge the sorrows of the day. There are women who don't come to church on Mother's Day because it's too painful—the sorrow of the loss of little ones, of miscarriage, of estranged or wayward children, of those who desired to be moms and never had that desire satisfied. If that's you, take a white rose at the end of the service. If you see someone holding one, you don't have to say anything—just lift them up to the Lord in prayer.

A Mom to Our Church: Lisa

Before the message, I want to recognize someone who, even though she never had her own children, has been like a mom to our church and our staff for a very long time. In June she will celebrate 33 years on our staff—the longest-running member of our team. Her name is Lisa Cook.

She has been one of my greatest champions and a huge blessing to me for the 25 years I've been on staff. She prefers to be behind the scenes, which is just the way she'd have it. This summer she's going to resign, and she will leave a massive hole. On paper she's my secretary, but she really makes sure every detail in the office gets done from week to week. Lisa, I know you'll watch this—we are so grateful for you and we'll miss you greatly. Please be praying for her and her husband, Jeff.

The Twin Idols of Our Culture

I want to set a backdrop by saying something about success and prosperity—what I'd call the twin idols of our culture. When I say those words, different things come into different people's minds, but after a while you begin to see common themes. You can watch the way a culture exists, listen to its stories and movies, and discover what it values as the measures of success.

When you look at Western culture in the 21st century, the measures of success often have to do with fame. It's interesting how that changes over time. If you asked children in the 1960s what they wanted to be when they grew up, the number one answer was astronaut. Today the number one answer is YouTuber. For others, success means fortune, or financial stability, or fitness and health, social status, career, educational, or political advancement.

We tell ourselves these stories over and over, looping in our minds, placing a value on these things until they become the target our lives are oriented toward. That word worship comes from two Old English words—worth and ship—and means to ascribe a value upon something. When you set a value on something off in the distance, you begin to worship it, giving it your commitment and devotion.

Transformed, Not Conformed

Every culture has a value system, and it affects us whether we want it to or not. If you put something in the refrigerator, the surrounding culture cools it down; if you put it in the oven, the culture heats it up. We are all affected by the culture around us.

But in Romans 12, Paul says, "Do not be conformed to this world... but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." That's the challenge we find ourselves in. The Bible sets forth a value system increasingly different from the one around us, and our culture is constantly trying to press us into its mold.

So we need to re-evaluate our metrics of success, because here is point number one: what I value will affect how I live. The things you value will order your decisions—what school you attend, what major you choose, who you live your life with, how you handle your finances. If I desire to live a good life, I need a rightly ordered perspective on what is actually worthy of my commitment and devotion.

What the Bible Calls Success

So what does the Bible lift up as valuable? You could spend a year on that question and find many things, but as I've looked through the Old Testament at the people of God when they were walking righteously, three things stand out: longevity, lineage, and legacy. Point number two: God's people valued long life, a big family, and a heritage to hand down.

In the opening of Joshua, God tells him to commit himself to following the precepts of Scripture, not turning to the right hand or the left, "and then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." How many of you want a prosperous and successful life? I believe God wants that for you—the issue is how God defines it. I do not agree with the prosperity gospel, which simply baptizes American culture's definition and amplifies greed, one of the seven deadly sins. God wants you to experience success and prosperity according to His definition.

Consider the songs and wisdom of Israel. Psalm 128:5 says, "May the Lord bless you out of Zion... Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel." Proverbs 13: "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children." Proverbs 17:6: "Children's children are the crown of old men." Think about that in the context of American culture in 2024. Would any of you agree our culture might need to re-evaluate its value system? I certainly think it does—but more importantly, I need to re-evaluate mine.

Meet Lois and Eunice

With that as a backdrop, I want to introduce you to two individuals in the New Testament who have a great legacy. We know very little about them, but they are worth not only our consideration but our emulation. We first meet them in Acts 16.

Then Paul came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. (Acts 16:1–2)

Other than this passage and 2 Timothy, we know almost nothing about Lois and Eunice. But there are key clues. First, Timothy had a grandma and a mom who believed—they believed Jesus was Messiah. Second, they lived out their faith. Third, they made sure he knew the faith and lived it so well that he had a good reputation; he was well spoken of by the brethren.

Why Paul Wanted Timothy

Fourth, they did such a good job raising him that Paul the Apostle wanted Timothy to come with him. Why is that significant? Paul was a hard man who did not suffer fools. Just a few verses before this, he had fired a young man named John Mark because he didn't do things quite the way Paul wanted. If you think you're tough to work for, I suspect Paul was tougher.

And now Paul says, "I want this guy"—a teenager, probably about 15 years old. How did that happen? I think it had something to do with Mama Eunice and Grandma Lois. Paul says, "I thank God for the genuine faith that is in you, that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced it is also in you."

Think about this: Timothy's dad was Greek—a gentile, probably a pagan. He didn't have the best father influence. But his mom and grandma had a huge influence. Their genuine faith affected him so deeply that when Paul came through Galatia, the brothers told him about Timothy, and Timothy became the standout of Paul's team for more than a decade and a half, eventually pastoring the church in Ephesus. We know the name Paul far better than Timothy, but Timothy is the one who carried on the faith—a faith that came first from mom and grandma.

The Greater Legacy

I bring all this up to remind you of an important truth: the greatest family legacy is a genuine faith handed down. What does our culture value? Money, money, money—and we think that's the thing to strive for and hand down.

Many of you were born between 1946 and 1964, the Baby Boomers, the wealthiest generation in human history. Over the next 15 years you will hand off roughly $70 trillion in wealth—the greatest wealth transfer in history. But the most important thing you can hand off to your kids and grandkids is a genuine faith in Jesus Christ. That's what Lois and Eunice handed off to Timothy.

This is exactly what the Scriptures teach. Proverbs 22: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." And the Shema in Deuteronomy 6: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart... And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart; you shall teach them diligently to your children."

More Caught Than Taught

The most important thing you can hand off to your kids is a genuine faith—and not just in your words, but in the way you live your life day to day. A genuine faith is more caught than taught. A couple weeks ago I sat in front of a man at my daughter's dance recital who was sneezing and coughing the entire time, and sure enough, I got sick. Faith spreads the same way—it's contagious.

I want to encourage you to set a value on a genuine, viral faith you can hand down to your kids, your grandkids, your children's children. Handing off a financial or property inheritance is wonderful—God bless you if you get to do that. But the greatest legacy is a genuine faith handed down.

What do we hear over and over from people in the last quarter of their lives? Not what car they drove, not the square footage of their home, not their career titles. The most important thing to them is their kids and grandkids. We need a reordering in our culture—and much of our culture's direction has to do with what we've exalted as valuable. May we be those who are not conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may show to the culture around us what is that good and perfect will of God.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I thank you for your Word, and I pray that you would do a work in my life and in the lives of my brothers and sisters here of transforming our minds. There is no possible way that we can live in San Diego County, the most costly county in the nation, and not be affected by the value system of our culture. It is constantly trying to press us into its mold and conform us to its way of thinking. I pray, God, that by your Spirit and by your Word you would transform our minds, that we would live according to what you have revealed to be right and true and good. Do a work in our minds and hearts that would affect the way we live, and I pray that our lives would be exemplified by a genuine faith that is contagious and handed down to our kids and grandkids. We pray this today in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said amen.