FAMILY INHERITANCE (Bible Passage: Jeremiah 35: 1-19; Proverbs 13:22)

 

Picture taken from Google

Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page

Lesson ideas taken from: https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

 

MEMORY VERSE

A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.

PROVERBS 13:22

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Have you noticed in our society, particularly the families? If a certain family is known for their work for example a family of drug pushers, a family of illegal work or anything; they are known for a certain work. Most of the times, if the parents are doctors, they have that influence that some or one of their children would become a doctor someday too.  Let’s not go far, let’s look at our neighbors, relatives or even in our own families. Let me give an example about our clan; Anilao clan. Male Anilaos were known for their strength, proud, drunkard and womanizer and they were proud of it. Let’s see the nature of work. Most males were farmers, fishermen and females were maids. In spiritual aspect, they were pioneers and some had callings for pastoral ministry but of course it’s a different religion. They were not strict of Christian living.  But as time went by, some changed, and others remain. My mother was a maid when she was young and eventually it passed to the children. My three oldest sisters were maids and Carol almost started that work, but she didn’t make it. Don’t take this negatively, I have nothing to give example except the family I have so that you would understand clearly about this lesson. My parents didn’t reach high school; my mother was only Grade 1 if I’m not mistaken and my father was only Grade 6. Like domino effect, they passed this to their children: eldest until to their fourth children (explain the hardness of life getting into High School and how to finish this level). I am fifth and so in my time, things changed. Also, we started getting serious in spiritual things. The blood line of calling in God’s ministry appeared again in our generation. I mentioned this not to glorify the family or put negativity in our family but for us to show the reality of life. I know some of us have experiences to tell and as this moment I know there are families struggle but let this lesson might help us to keep on praying for our family.

 

Provers 13: 22 says, “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just”. What kind of inheritance are you leaving to your children?  What kind of inheritance are you leaving to your grandchildren?  That is what today's proverb wants us to consider.  There is a blessing that we should pass to our families.  From what we read in Scripture there is one that we can pass to several generations if we choose to live as God would have us to live.  Let us take a look at this today.

 

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  LEAVE A LASTING LEGACY (JEREMIAH 35:18-19).

And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you: Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.

Consider the incredible Biblical story of the Rechabites as recorded in Jeremiah 35. Jonadab, the beginning “domino” in the family tree, had made the following commitment, “we (both personally and as a family) will never drink alcohol and will live a nomadic life style. We will trust God for His provision and leading.” This family of faithful people kept up this incredible legacy generation after generation for more than fifteen centuries! As a result, God gave the descendants multiplied favor after favor.

 

What an incredible comfort to know that some of the godly principles we are instilling today, might be able to touch lives for multiplied generations. It’s a terrible thing to invest in something, only to see it evaporate. However, nothing could be a more guaranteed return on our investment of time and effort, than to pray for and to touch the life of a young person for Christ. May I say by the same token, absolutely nothing grieves me and cuts me to my soul and nothing keeps me any more dedicated to be true to the principles of God, than to know that my poor example could damage a precious little life. I want to encourage parents that before you fall into sin for example in vices, sexual sin or unfaithfulness think of your children. Try to see your little son or daughter’s face in your mind’s eye and think, “What will become of them?” We all know that our life has a ripple effect, and those pebbles that are thrown in the pond might be small, but have a long-range effect.

 

We need to leave our children an inheritance of godliness and wisdom as well as one that we can financially.  Without this our children will suffer far worse than if they miss a few luxuries according to the dictates of society.  There are those who will have wealth, but may spend eternity in abject poverty in hell when they die.  This is no inheritance that you want to pass on to your family.  If we leave them with wisdom and with knowledge of the Word and of their Savior Jesus Christ - they will be rich for eternity - even if they don't live on the Upper East Side in this life. 

 

In verse 19 of Jeremiah 35 caught my attention because they were obedient, their generations would always have “a man” to stand and serve God. How it is amazing, right? Imagine in the next, next of your generations there will always men for sure will serve God. Is it a lasting legacy? YES, AMEN. Your obedience to the LORD gives a lasting legacy to your generations. 

2.  LEAVE A GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE (PROVERBS 13:22).

A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.

 

The emphasis in Proverbs 13.22 is less about the mandate of inheritance and more about the quality of a person’s life. It is a “good man,” or a just man, compared to the sinner. Thus, conceptually the idea is that a just and righteous man will have an overflowing life. His life will overflow for generations. On the other hand, the sinner—the unjust man—will not have such overflow.

If we notice from this verse that parents should leave something for their children. It means giving and not spending. The parents should also have wisdom on how to use the money God entrusted to them. In the last words of this verse, “the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just” The wicked will leave their wealth to the righteous.  This means that although they live wealthy for the few years of this life, they will eventually die and leave all of it to others.  Since they have lived for wickedness, their children will most likely waste their wealth and have it transfer to those who use wise principles in how they do business.  These are those who are godly and good in their business as well as their daily lives. 

Proverbs 13:22 states that it is a good man that leaves an inheritance. If it’s a good man then he must be doing good things. Sometimes in the twists and turns of life we will not be able to give our children the kind of financial head start that we would like. If we can leave our children and our grandchildren a few dollars or a few thousand dollars, praise the Lord! Leaving others huge sums, is likely to be unwise without certain guidelines. As the old adage goes, “We should be giving while we’re living so we are knowing where it’s going.”

 

Pastor Tim Pollock explains/ narrates, “However, if we can’t leave many good things financially, we can ALWAYS leave them good things morally (spiritually), and that’s what this verse is saying most of all. Of all the things that you leave, make sure that you leave GOOD things. When my 75-year-old pastor dad learned he had terminal cancer, he pulled me aside and said, ‘Son, I’m sorry I don’t have much to leave you.’ I can still remember the emotions I felt at that moment as I looked into the steel blue eyes of that square jawed Scotsman. Immense gratefulness welled up in my soul as I said to him, ‘Dad what you have given my family and it is worth ten thousand times more than any dollars, trust me dad, you have left us so rich!’ You see, every time he would build up any kind of nest egg, he would get up and pioneer a church plant. Essentially, he put all of his money into the Lord’s work. He died with just a couple thousand dollars to his name, but I’ll tell you that he gave us millions in a godly heritage”.

There Are Three “Good” Things That Every Grandparent Ought to Leave:

v  Prayers: Pray for your grandchildren to be saved by the grace of God. Grandparents are a great key in the salvation of their grandchildren through praying that they might be truly born again. One of the exciting things about your position as a grandparent is that you can be a good grandparent whether you live next door, ten miles away or a thousand miles across the world. Being a good grandparent doesn’t require that you’re with them all the time, but you can ALWAYS pray for them.

v   Instruction: Instruction should be given that reinforces God’s Word and good morals, as you have opportunity to be with grandchildren. Sometimes circumstances don’t allow us to be with them as much as we might like. Perhaps then, a granddad or mom could have a texting program, where they text every grandchild. Or, of course writing letters and making phone calls occasionally is a good step of influence.

 

v   A Good Example: You may not be able to leave much of a financial inheritance but you can leave a godly inheritance. Pastor Charles Swindoll said, “Every day we make deposits into the memory banks of children and someday they’ll pull those deposits out.” Setting the example of fearing and obeying God is the greatest thing that you can do. Of course you want your children to be able to say to their children, “I’ll tell you one thing about your granddaddy - he served God. He was a man that feared God.”

Peter teaches us to have character in 2 Peter 1:5 – “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue (which means moral excellence or character) …”

In Ephesians 4:1, Paul says, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”

Our character and conduct should be so exemplary that Paul says, “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.” (Philippian 2:15)

I am encouraged by these promises in Psalms:

 

Psalm 103:17 - But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;

Wow…what an amazing promise! I can secure God’s special mercy to my grandchildren

 

Psalm 105:8 - He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.

You may forget, but God never forgets your good works and life. Your good works can touch a thousand generations, praise God. That is what we call a good inheritance!

CONLUSION:

Illus. – Men, your character and your conduct will impact generations to come, as is shown by a study done by A.E. Winship in 1900 of two men who lived and died in the 18th century.

• The first, Max Juke, was an athiest and married a girl of the same opinion. From this union came 1,026 descendants. A study of this man’s descendants showed that 300 died prematurely; 100 were sent to the penitentiary; 190 sold themselves to vice; 100 were drunkards; and the family cost the state of New York $1,100,00.00, which was an astronomical figure in 1900!

• Another man, the great preacher Jonathan Edwards, believed in God and married a girl of like character. From that union 729 descendants were studied. They discovered that 300 were preachers, 65 were college professors, 13 were university presidents; 6 authors; 3 U.S. congressmen and 1 was vice president of the United States.

One man left a tragedy; the other left a legacy!

Which will you leave when you die? Will you be like Max Juke, or will you be like David who left a legacy to his son, Jehoshaphat to follow, as we read about in 2 Chronicles 17:3-6a – “And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; But sought to the LORD God of his father, and walked in his commandments,…And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD…” Jehoshephat walked in the ways of God because of the path tread first by his dad.

The greatest heritage a grandparent can leave is to live uprightly and teach the grandchild to live uprightly. A Christian heritage is the greatest gift you can give to your grandchildren. God looks kindly on the children and grandchildren of the Christians.