Covenant Presbyterian Church

The legacy of a man does not consist in the possessions he leaves behind or the accolades he receives from the world. The championship jerseys of his favorite team will one day find their way into a clothing receptacle for the needy. Others will divide his most cherished personal belongings; or they will gather dust in attic corner. Death reminds us that everything the world holds dear is of little value. What counts is character. This alone is a man’s true legacy because it is the fruit of his life’s loves and priorities. All else is a vain show, the trappings of his life but not his life itself. Character alone will bear up under the scrutiny of eternity, the penetrating, burning gaze of the living God. Malcolm McCallum left such a legacy

He left it in his children, all of whom are endeavoring to serve the Lord. In our day of tragic statistics that chart the apostasy of children, Malcolm left no such statistics. Each of his children rises up and calls him blessed. Malcolm did not credit this to his own wisdom or expert parenting. Like every Christian parent, he knew seasons of struggle and great heartache. The promise of God sustained him: "I will be a God to you and to your children after you down through your generations." He embraced that promise and the means to its fulfillment: commitment to Christ-centered education, exhortation and correction, and most importantly, daily prayer for his children, a practice he continued until the last. One part of his legacy, of God’s legacy to us through him, is children and grandchildren that bear the marks of his faith and works. Through his children he continues to speak - of the Savior he loved, of the faith he lived, of the unwillingness to compromise the truth of God for a few scraps of temporary domestic peace.

He left a legacy in his commitment to God’s Word. He loved its preaching and the sacraments that bear witness to it. He earnestly desired to see men saved. His unashamed confession of Sola Scriptura is bearing witness in his family during this season of grief. They are not grieving as the world does - without hope, as if this life is the end, as if there is nothing but "me and my feelings of sorrow." I heard from them words of faith in God’s promises, confidence in the resurrection, and joy in Malcolm’s entrance into heaven through Jesus Christ. Here is a legacy to be envied - when your grieving family speaks the same doctrines that you believed and taught - when the same truth of God sustains and encourages them when you are gone. And God’s Word alone sustains - platitudes, trite moralisms, and religious slogans do not. They are chaff that is blown away when the trials of life come upon us suddenly. But God’s Word is the hidden manna that sustains even in the darkest hour. God gave Malcolm "the love of the truth" that saved him in life and sustains his family in death.

He left a legacy of selflessness. His closest family members bore witness to his careful and constant concern for their wellbeing. He had a made a to-do list for the day he died - of domestic chores to help his wife. Humility is the fountain of true religion - brokenness before the goodness and mercy of God leading to the power to die to self and live for others. He received this from the Lord. He worked hard all his life to complete a business project but was unable to do so. But his legacy even in this was daily persistence without giving up and without the frustration and bitterness that comes from pride and self-will. God gave him to us to teach us that the beautiful and full life is that which gives itself for the good of others and the glory of God. No wonder he felt sometimes like a stranger in a strange land - when he saw the waste, lack of frugality, and selfishness in the world and in the church. His life was very different. He gave himself for the good of his family.

He left a legacy of power in old age. In the last few months Malcolm was considering how he might help other churches of which he had been a part. I attended with him just two weeks ago a men’s Bible study. Last week he went to one of the church’s midweek prayer meetings. Last Lord’s Day he participated in our nursing home visitation. None of these things may seem like legacy material, but they show the truth of God’s word: "Those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing: to show that the Lord is upright" (Ps. 92:13,14). This is the legacy of the righteous: to be still serving God in old age. That we saw and benefitted from the Lord’s faithfulness must encourage us to be faithful in whatever stage of life we find ourselves so that our latter days may be marked by vitality, the strength that ripens in old age from a life of experienced walking with Jesus Christ. O, how we need to see such a legacy! Old age is not for retirement, wistful longing for an irrecoverable past, or dread of the future. When old age flows from a life dedicate to the Lord, like Joshua, Caleb, and, yes, even Malcolm McCallum, it will still be marked by usefulness, Christ-centeredness, and power. How "good and upright is the Lord; he is our Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him" (Ps. 92:15).
I say these things not to praise a man but because they need to be said so that we can understand this glorious testimony of Scripture: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." The Hebrew word precious means "splendid, rare, prized." It might seem odd, even a little inappropriate, to speak of God taking pleasure in the death of his people. He takes pleasure in our death because he takes pleasure in us, in his work in us, in unfolding the treasures of his grace in each one of his people. It does not always take the same form, for our heavenly Father loves the beauty of the diversity of his gifts and graces. But every child of God is his handiwork, his peculiar treasure, his unique work of grace. He delights in us, to do us good, to bring us to heaven to be with him in order that his work in us might be completed to our everlasting joy and blessedness. Death is hard, undoubtedly. We grieve, and rightly so. But we cannot forget that the death of every godly man is precious to God. It must be precious to us. It leaves us a legacy, a treasury of promise and grace from which we may draw consolation and motivation, especially when we are tempted to think that all is lost and the future is bleak. It is not. The glory lies ahead. The future is all glory. It is precious. It is a prize.