Legacy & Honor

Today, we're going to turn into the Lord's Word and speak of the legacy that Ralph left and the hope that he had. So if you have a Bible near you, I invite you to open up to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3, you'll have to forgive me, I don't remember the page number in the Pew Bibles, but Philippians chapter 3 beginning at verse 17.

This is what the Lord says in his word. Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now even through weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, and has set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to his glorious body. according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. Therefore, my beloved and longed for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. And we pray now that you might use it as a scalpel upon our souls and as a balm upon our hearts. We pray, Lord, that you would show us the hope that endures through all generations and that your spirit would apply comfort to us. Lord, we pray that you would be with us in this moment. In Jesus' name, amen.

Sermon

You know, by the world's standards, Ralph wasn't a rich man. He's a man from humble beginnings. And by the world's standards, you know, he didn't have material gain. But old boy was Ralph rich. Rich in grace in Jesus Christ. Rich in love for others. Rich in family.

He left a legacy behind him. a legacy of faith, a hope that he desired earnestly that each one of you would latch onto, a hope that he left as a deacon of this congregation, a hope in Jesus Christ as the one who would come and who would raise him from the dead.

And so this morning, as we look at God's word, I pray that you would see the legacy that your father, your grandfather, your great-grandfather, your friend, your brother, our father in the faith left for us, the shoes that he left for us to walk in, the path he left for us to follow by his faith and by his example.

First Point

And so first, verse 17 calls us to something sobering. We need to evaluate how we are living. We need to evaluate how we are living. Look with me at verse 17. Brethren, join in following my example. And take note of those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern." Where the text tells us, take note, this is more, it should be translated better, pay careful attention to lean into, look at, examine those people who are an example for you. Paul could say, imitate me as I imitate Christ. He in earlier parts of this book in Philippians has said, look at Timothy and his example of humility. Look at Epaphras and his example of humility. Look at Christ and his example of humility.

There are people on this earth that the Lord gives us that it's clear as we see their lives that the grace of Jesus Christ has transformed them and has formed their and molded their entire lives. Ralph was one of those examples for us. God gave us an example to look at, not a perfect example. He was a sinner just like you, just like me, but he sure was a saint because he was saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, because he loved God and he sought to love others.

So here, as we look at these following verses, there's two patterns of life, two ways we could go, the way of shame or the way of glory. We know which way Ralph is constantly encouraging us to walk. But first, we need to look at the way of shame, verse 19. Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame. who set their minds on earthly things.

There's a large portion, a big population of our world that is more worried about where they're going to get their next food, where they're going to get their next paycheck, what they're going to do, that they have no concerns about the things of heaven or about Jesus Christ. I remember in the very same nursing home where I enjoyed going and spending time with Ralph and opening the word with him and praying with him and singing with him and doing communion with him, there was another man in that same nursing home that I went and I was trying to speak with him about spiritual things.

We had somewhat of a friendship. We would always joke around and talk about the weather and farming. And this time that I tried to provoke spiritual conversations, he said, well, I've always just been too busy working, and I don't think I have much time for that type of stuff. I thought, you've got nothing but time on your hands now. All you have is time.

But he didn't want to worry about it. It wasn't his concern. That wasn't what he wanted to think about. God was his belly. Just worried about today. It was amazing to me that these men could be just a few rooms apart from each other. One whose heart was hard as stone and one who smiled every time we opened the Bible together. And I could count on it. He was always this big encouragement to me. Every time I opened the Bible, he would just automatically go ear to ear grinning. The way of shame is those who are just following after their own stomach. Their glory and their shame, this is brazen in their sin. Let's not sugarcoat it. When I was in the Navy, I remember what it was like.

I just don't care. I just want to follow my heart. I just want to do whatever I want to do. People heard, I don't care. I just want to get drunk because I want to get drunk. I want to just have as many parties I want to have. I want to just do whatever I want to do. And I don't care about what God says. And I'm open and honest about it. It's a way of shame. We ought not to sugarcoat it. The way of shame also in verse 19 looks like setting our minds on earthly things. I know this is hard. It's not comfortable to talk about this stuff, is it?

But it's easy to love our toys and trinkets and not care one ounce about the Lord and his word. It's easier to just be interested about building our own kingdom, building our own stuff, worrying about our own career, and not having a heart for Christ and His kingdom. This is not saying that we're to be so heavenly minded that we're of no earthly good.

God gives us the world. It's a beautiful world full of good things, and He tells us to work. But He gave us the world not so we could be infatuated with it, but that we could give Him thanks. He gave us the ground to till so we can rejoice, that He makes things beautiful and grow. He gave us family, not because it's an end and a meaning of itself, but He gave us family that we can thank God that there's love in this world. So I plead with you. There's a whole bunch of you I've never met before. I don't know who you are. Honestly, this is me pleading with you. I don't know who you are in this walk.

The end is coming. Right now, every single one of us is going to eventually lay in one of these boxes. Unless the Lord comes before then, each one of us is going to die. What does your life point to? Where does it end for you? Does it end in a box with nothing after? Because that's not true.

The Bible specifically says it is appointed for every man to die once and after this, the judgment. I'm going to kind of push that behind us. We don't like that. It's not a good thing to talk about. But brothers and sisters, the reality is that if sin wasn't real, our brother wouldn't be dead. See, the grief you feel in your heart Your father, your grandpa, your great grandpa, our friend is dead. This is the most sober reminder that we have that something in this world is not right.

This isn't the original story. This isn't how it was supposed to end. What does it take to be an enemy of the cross? It doesn't look like just having to kill Christians or be on persecution sprees or something like that. What does the text tell us? It just looks like loving the world more than loving God.

It's a harsh word, but it's a true word. It just takes love in our sin. But there's a better way. Thank God there's a better way. And it's the way that Ralph would point you to. It's the hope that he had, the legacy he leaves behind. In verse 20, thank the Lord, the passage just doesn't end there.

It's not just doom and gloom, but it says, for our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is Ralph's body here. And his body awaits the day of resurrection. But Ralph, while he was living, was a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. And now he has entered into his eternal rest. The Westminster Confession, I love when it says, the Shorter Catechism says, what benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death? They do immediately pass into glory. Ralph's body is here, but his soul is with his Savior. Because that's where his citizenship was. That's where his citizenship is. That's where his home was.

You know what it's like for that, don't you? When you've been gone away for so long that you just want to go home. Just long to be back. You know that there's a place for you. You know that there's a place of comfort, a place of love, a place of peace.

Ralph would often talk to me about how he couldn't wait for that place. He said, I don't know why the Lord has me here. I just want to go home. He knew where Arlene was. He knew where the refuge for his soul was. It was in the arms of Christ. He had packed his bags long ago to go home. And he would encourage each of you this morning to also go home.

Christianity isn't fire insurance. Christianity isn't just get out of hell free. It's not just believe in Jesus so you can live your life as a child of Satan. Nor is Christianity do as many good things as you possibly can and maybe you'll be good enough to get to heaven. That's not the good news. The faith, the faith that Ralph had, the faith that's in front of us today is that Jesus Christ saves sinners like us. That we can love God, we can love our neighbors, but the object of our Christian desire, this might be surprising, it isn't heaven. It isn't heaven, but it's Christ. Now don't get me wrong, I can't wait.

I cannot wait to go see the streets of gold. But people in heaven aren't staring at the streets of gold going, oh wow, look at these streets. They're following the streets of gold because it takes them to Christ. I cannot wait to see the sea of glass that surrounds the throne.

But you know all the angels in heaven aren't sitting there going, wow, look at this great sea of glass. No, they're looking at the Lamb who was slain sitting on the throne in the middle of that sea of glass, and they're praising the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world, for He is their object of worship and desire. The fact that there's no sun and no moon in heaven is really cool, but what's even better is that it's the glory of Jesus Christ that's their light.

What's really neat about heaven is that even though, yeah, there's all these cool things to see, the tree that's spanning both sides of the river with fruit that grows at all times. I can imagine, right, Ralph up there right now is like, how is there a tree? Look at this tree, it's on both sides of the river and has fruit all the time. But he's not actually infatuated with that. He's infatuated with a God who walks in the cool of the garden. Who's a shepherd who brought him beside those still waters.

See, the Christian desire is that we want to see Jesus, who is our God and our Lord. That we want to see the hands of Jesus that were wounded to take our sin. We want to see the face of Jesus smile upon us and be gracious to us. The Christian longs to see the Son of God face to face, high and lifted up.

Man, I'm envious of Ralph. He got a front-of-the-line pass. He got to see what we hope for. He basks in the glory of what I long to see, what every Christian heart longs to see. We want to behold the glory of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and our brother has joined that heavenly choir. So we eagerly wait for the Lord Jesus. We now who live must eagerly wait for Jesus. Verses 20 through 21.

For our citizenship is in heaven. from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself.

Jesus is our Savior. He is the one who has rescued us from the mire and from the clay. He is the one who has brought up our lifeless bodies and has breathed life into the Christian's lungs. He is the one who has redeemed us, not with silver or with gold, but with something far more costly, his own blood. It is Jesus who has transferred us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of his marvelous light. It is Jesus, our Savior, we long to see, who has washed us, cleansed us of all of our transgressions and made us clean of all of our sin.

And not just that, but the faith that Ralph had. I keep saying had. Faith is something you long for, something not yet seen. Ralph doesn't long for it anymore. He doesn't hope to see Jesus. He sees him face to face. And the robe of righteousness that Jesus had promised him, he wears on his shoulders now. He sees it more clearly than we ever have. We long to see, but Ralph beholds.

But heaven is not the end. We talked about the first part of the shorter catechism question. Believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory, but that's not where he's going to stay. The story goes beyond that. But their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves until the resurrection.

Jesus is going to come back. Our Lord and Savior is going to return and He is going to raise the dead. He is the firstborn of the resurrection. Jesus Christ being raised from the dead is the guarantee that we who are in Christ will also raise again. Jesus is going to make all things right. For the low, for the hurting, for the failing, for the sick or prone bodies that are in weakness, he's going to restore to full strength the way they were originally meant to be, like his.

Christians actually believe this crazy truth. We're about to go out, and you're going to walk through grave after grave after grave Have you ever seen someone get out of that grave? There's only one who ever has. Even Lazarus, he was raised from the grave, but he died again. But it's Jesus Christ who raised from the dead and who ascended up into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And he is coming again to judge the living and the dead. The same Jesus who is powerful enough to call Lazarus from the dead, even after three days, is the same one who will come back at that trumpet blast. And your father, your grandfather, your great-grandfather, our friend, is going to rise again. Ralph's soul is in heaven.

But the story goes on for eternity. C.S. Lewis in The Chronicles of Narnia, and the last book he wrote in that series, The Last Battle, he talks about how the children were ushered into Aslan's country. And as they were entered into Aslan's country, it's as if their entire lives, all the journeys they had gone on before, were just the introduction to the story. But now the real story began. And each chapter was going to be better than the next. And it was going to go on forever. The introduction to Ralph's story has only been written. But each chapter is going to get better and better.

We grieve. We must face death face to face. Deal with it honestly. But we grieve with hope. For you who are in Christ Jesus, for you who have faith in Jesus Christ, we grieve with hope in the resurrection. So what is your hope? That's the question I leave you with now. What is your hope? Is it in Jesus Christ? Or is it in something else?

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Holy Spirit, we pray that you might comfort us, for you are the great comforter. And God, I pray for each one of those here, that you might work a miracle in their hearts, that you would take these words and that you would comfort, and that you would do a miracle of pouring out your Holy Spirit on people even today, that they might share the same hope that our brother Ralph showed us, a hope in a living Savior. Lord, please let us live with our whole lives this joy and this hope in Jesus' name, amen.