LEAVING A LASTING LEGACY

We’ll all have ‘one of these’ one day. What am I talking about? A gravestone (unless Christ comes back first of course)! When we look at a gravestone, most everyone sees the dates beside the words: BORN and DIED, but there is something fascinating in the middle of those dates that is often overlooked . . . THE DASH. That dash is our legacy. James 4:14, says: “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

If you stepped into eternity today what would your dash say? In other words, what would be your legacy?

Let’s talk briefly about an account often glanced over in the Bible about a man who left a legacy that transformed his entire household. Let’s look at the legacy of the jailer in Acts chapter 16.

ACTS 16:25-34:

25 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.”

THE JAILER SAW HIS TRUE CONDITION (v27).

The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. At this time, jailers who let any prisoner escape were to suffer the same punishment that the prisoner(s) deserved. As the jailer came face to face with his own mortality, he quickly came to grips with his real problem- sin. The Holy Spirit intervened in the life of the jailer, and he responded by falling at the foot of the cross: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved,” he pleaded in v30.

THE JAILER SAW HIS GREATEST NEED (v30-31).

Amazingly, none of the prisoners chose to escape when the jail broke open. From the text, we can deduce that the influence Paul and Silas had on the jailer and the other prisoners was extremely significant. Don’t miss what Paul and Silas told the jailer in v31- “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” We see how generational God is, and how much worth he puts on the spiritual health of the household. The jailer saw his need, and also claimed his God given responsibility as the spiritual head of his house. As a result, his family saw God’s miraculous work, and they all came to Christ!

THE JAILER EXPERIENCED GOD’S GRACE (v32-34).

The jailer’s encounter with the gospel illustrates God’s grace at its’ finest! Although Paul and Silas were the “prisoners,” it’s obvious that the jailer and his family realized that they were the ones in chains, who had been truly set free on this night. They found Jesus and would never be the same again: v34- “he and his whole household were filled with joy because they had come to Christ.”