By Ted Johnston
Last summer my wife, Donna, and I passed through a great transition of life. We entered the ranks of the empty-nesters. As of last August, both our children had left home for college. We are excited for them, but we are dealing with the grief that comes from our sense of loss.
As parents, we've sought to prepare them for life--to leave them a legacy they can carry into the future. And we have confidence that, with God's help, they will do well.
All of us have a legacy from our parents and ancestors. We carry it from one generation into the next. And as I have thought about the legacy Donna and I are passing to our children, I have noticed some striking parallels with our experience in the Worldwide Church of God.
God is blessing our fellowship with spiritual renewal. We rejoice, yet we are mindful that with change many experience a sense of loss, disorientation and even fear.
These emotions are part of the burden God lovingly helps us bear as we leave some of our past behind to move into the future he has prepared for us. As we go forward let's be mindful that God has equipped us for the journey by imparting to us a positive legacy as we have grown up in the Worldwide Church of God.
This legacy is a gift from the pioneers of our fellowship. These pioneers are not just folks from long ago--they include many of you reading this.
These pioneers are those who have worked and worshiped in the Worldwide Church of God for many years right up to today. These are the ones who have helped craft the positive legacy that we should take forward into our collective future.
What is that legacy? Before I answer, I'd like to remind you of a parallel between our experience near the end of the 20th century and the experience of some Christians in the latter part of the first century. We have a letter written to them--it's called the book of Hebrews because it was written to Jewish Christians.
It was written to help those Christians sort out the differences between the old and new covenants. They were being assisted in finding their way into the future.
As they changed, they experienced a sense of loss and demotivation. And so the author of Hebrews exhorts them: "Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised" (Hebrews 10:35-36).
He encourages them to remember the positive legacy they had by virtue of their collective experience. Hebrews 11 lists the faithful example of those who went on before them.
Then in Hebrews 12 he summarizes what they should do with this example: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Hebrews 12:1).
He sends them back to their legacy to find inspiration. Their spiritual and physical forefathers served as a cloud of witnesses.
Were these individuals perfect? No--they were imperfect people with incomplete knowledge. But the imperfect leaders and ordinary people in Hebrews 11 left a legacy that was a source of inspiration--something to be kept as these Hebrews entered more fully into the new covenant.
And notice what this legacy was to inspire them to do: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
An imperfect legacy was meant to inspire them to follow the perfect Jesus Christ.
Many of you are part of a cloud of witnesses responsible for helping to build a positive legacy in our fellowship. I define that legacy in terms of several commitments we collectively and individually hold in the Worldwide Church of God. I believe that these represent the core of the positive legacy that has been built here. I believe God wishes for us to carry this legacy into our collective future.
The first aspect of our legacy is commitment to Christianity as a living faith. In the Worldwide Church of God we see men and women willing to live their lives in service to God.
Herbert Armstrong taught us that Christianity is more than going to church once a week--it involves total surrender to God. Notice how Paul makes this point: "I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship" (Romans 12:1).
Our members show an outstanding level of commitment to living what they believe. Has our knowledge of God's will been perfect? No--but God is correcting us and adding to our knowledge. It's not our knowledge but the commitment that we have shown that is extraordinary.
We deeply believe the words of Jesus when he said, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God' " (Matthew 4:4).
Have we been perfect in understanding how to apply every word? No--but the commitment to do so is there because we, as did Paul, have a high view of the word of God: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Mr. Armstrong imparted to us a great respect for the Bible. He was eager to defend the reliability and value of all Scripture. He was eager to make the word of God accessible and meaningful to all people.
Such a positive and respectful view of Scripture is part of the legacy we have. It's a principal reason we've been willing to be corrected--to make massive changes in what we believe. We've continued to go back to the Bible to test what we believe against what the Bible says. Let us never lose that commitment.
The opposite of a commitment to change is a desire to maintain the status quo. That is hardly what Mr. Armstrong and his successor Joseph Tkach taught us. One of the great aspects of our legacy is a willingness to be corrected by God--to change.
Notice the words of the Psalmist: "The Lord knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile [that's why we don't rely on human tradition or reasoning]. Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord, the man you teach from your law.... For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance" (Psalm 94:11-12, 14).
God has shown himself faithful to not forsake us so long as we are willing to be corrected by him. Through the process of correction God brings his people--including our fellowship--into the renewal that comes as we "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).
The Worldwide Church of God stands as a witness that Christians must be willing to change anything to follow God--even changing dearly held doctrines and traditions. And we are a witness that Christians must be willing to pay the price to follow God-- even when the cost is high.
Being willing to change anything at any cost is a prerequisite to the renewal God wishes to bring to us all.
Chuck Colson writes about this in his book Who Speaks for God: "Any hope for revival must begin with genuine repentance ... [a] willingness to give up what we have ... [a] desire to change.... Only when individuals ... subordinate their own interests and desires for self-preservation will God begin to move in a powerful way."
Part of the legacy we have in the church is a serious commitment to God-led repentance and change. By God's grace, we have been willing to follow where he leads.
Another aspect of our legacy is a strong commitment to do the work of God. We have known that to be a Christian is to be a co-worker--working with God and with others to bring the gospel to a dying world.
The Worldwide Church of God continues to be a fellowship that takes the work it does for God seriously. And now God has renewed the focus of our work to be in accord with John 6:28-29: " `What must we do to do the works God requires?' Jesus answered, `The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.' "
I imagine that the Jewish Christians in Hebrews experienced a sense of loss and disorientation as God reoriented the focus of their work. But they too had a notable commitment to work for God, and the author of Hebrews encourages them to hold on to it: "God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised" (6:10-12).
With the pain of change often comes a loss of motivation. But we need to hold on to and recapture the diligence, commitment and zeal that are part of our collective legacy.
Part of our legacy is a strong emphasis on unity--togetherness as brothers and sisters in Christ. We've benefited from our family closeness in the past and we need to take it into our future. As we do, we also need to broaden the scope of our affection as we recognize that our family in the faith encompasses many more people than we have recognized.
And let's let the closeness of our fellowship bolster our commitment to being together for worship and for our collective work in the gospel: "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25).
The final core commitment in our legacy is a recognition that what God has for us cannot be achieved on our own strength. The words of Zechariah to Zerubbabel, the man leading the difficult work of rebuilding the temple, provide a summary of this point: "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: `Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty" (Zechariah 4:6).
We must never look to our wisdom, our efforts or our abilities as our source of strength. We are Christ's slaves and ambassadors-- equipped by him to do his work. That has been our dearly held belief and it must continue to be.
We are privileged to participate in a mighty work of the Holy Spirit. By the transforming grace of God, renewal is occurring in our denomination, and we rejoice to see evidence of it in other fellowships as well.
Through the process of renewal God is leading us in personal and corporate repentance, and that is good--though repentance is always painful.
Let's not be discouraged nor fear what God is doing. Rather, let's take our positive legacy forward with us--teach it to our children and to new members God adds to our fellowship.
Let's add to it a renewed emphasis on Christ, on salvation by faith in God's grace and in the ministry of all believers. Let's build on the positive aspects of our legacy, allowing God to add, correct and refocus us as he wills. With this perspective we can move forward in faith and joy.
Jan. 21, 1997, Worldwide News, page 4
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