Senior Saints

Introduction

What goes up but never comes down? Age.

I feel that as we have gone through this series it has been relatively easy to know if and how the message directly applied to you or your season of life (Men, Women, Married, Single)

So in keeping with previous messages, I feel I need to define the term “senior saints.” I would define senior saints in this fashion — You know who you are.

If you believe you fit in this category you probably do.

If everything inside you screams there is no way you fit into this category, you probably do.

Reality is aging is not always easy.

aches and pains

slowing down

feel less productive

Maybe this is why we try to avoid it at all costs.

Western world — tend to forget the elderly

Psalm 71:17–18 (ESV)

17 O God, from my youth you have taught me,

(when did you come to know God as your God through Jesus?)

and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. 18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me,

(Sometimes seniors can feel forsaken, forgotten, neglected)

until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

God values senior saints.

17 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

God values their life.

The first and foremost reason my senior saints are valuable to God (and should be to the rest of us as well) is the same reason we haver stated in each message thus far — they are image bearers of the King of the Universe.

The value of your life is not tied to what you can create, it is tied to the One who created you.

For the senior who feels every ache and pain, God still comforts

For the woman whose hearing is diminished, God still speaks.

For the one whose eyes are not dim, God still sees.

For the man who is bedridden and unable to go to church, God is still near.

God values their wisdom.

Job 12:12 (ESV)

12 Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.

Job 32:7 (ESV)

7 I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’

An old geezer, who had been a retired farmer for a long time, became very bored and decided to open a medical clinic. He put a sign up outside that said: Dr. Geezer’s clinic. “Get your treatment for $500, if not cured get back $1,000.”

Doctor “Young,” who was positive that this old geezer didn’t know anything about medicine, thought this would be a great opportunity to get an easy $1,000.

So he went to Dr. Geezer’s clinic

This is what happened.

Dr. Young: “Dr. Geezer, I have lost all taste in my mouth. Can you please help me?”

Dr. Geezer: “Nurse, please bring medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in Dr. Young’s mouth.”

Dr. Young:  “Aagh! This is gasoline!”

Dr. Geezer: “Congratulations! You’ve got your taste back. That will be $500.”

Dr. Young gets annoyed and leaves in a haste. He’s angry now, and spends the next few days trying to figure out a way to recover his money. He returns to Dr. Geezer’s office once he thinks of a clever plan…

Dr. Young: “I have lost my memory, I cannot remember anything.”

Dr. Geezer: “Nurse, please bring medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in the patient’s mouth.”

Dr. Young: “Oh no you don’t. That is Gasoline!”

Dr. Geezer: “Congratulations! You’ve got your memory back. That will be $500.”

Dr. Young, after having lost $1000 total, leaves angrily and comes back after several more days.

Dr. Young: “My eyesight has become weak. I can hardly see!”

Dr. Geezer: “Well, I don’t have any medicine for that so… Here’s your $1000 back.”

Dr. Young: “But this is only $500…”

Dr. Geezer: “Congratulations! You got your vision back! That will be $500.”

Moral of story — Just because you’re “Young” doesn’t mean that you can outsmart an old “Geezer “

God values their experience.

Proverbs 20:29 (ESV)

29 The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.

In other words, young men have strength, old men have experience.

Most things are caught better than they are taught.

Deuteronomy 32:7 (ESV)

7 Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.

The culture does not always value the aged. In fact, our culture often marginalize and sideline the aged.

However, because God values senior saints. . .

(The Church should value senior saints)

God uses senior saints.

Just because you can’t do what you used to do doesn’t mean you can’t still do what God wants you to.

Psalm 92:12–15 (ESV)

12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, 15 to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

In the Bible

Noah

600 years old when he had to care for the animals through the flood.

Abraham

75 years old when he left his home to go to the land where God had called him.

Sarah (had a child!)

Was about 90 years old when she gave birth to Isaac, the son of promise.

Moses

Was 40 years old when God started his formative process with Moses in the desert.

He was 80 years old when he led the people out of Egypt

Deuteronomy 34:7 (ESV)

7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.

Joshua

Was about 101 years old when he led the Israelites in the great battle of Jericho

In the church

8 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

If the main ministry of the church was to do the work of Sunday service then yes, aging can affect your usefulness in ministry.

However, the main ministry of the church is NOT the Sunday service. It is that faith is shared, disciples are made through life on life experiences, sharing knowledge, experience, prayer, teaching. In this case, senior saints may perhaps have some of the most vital ministry in the church!

In face, the greatest investments you can have are the ones you leave in the spiritual lives of the next generation.

ILLUST - Dad - doin’ my giving while i’m living so I’m knowin’ where it’s goin’

Psalm 145:4 (ESV)

4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.

Why?

Psalm 145:3 (ESV)

3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

This is part of the solution to the “generation wars” often found in the church.

If each generation would find ways to commend (laud) the works and the greatness of God to the next generation then we would have a greater success rate at handing down the “faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”

This means asking what the most effective methods may be for the next generation to receive the faith (which has been matured in our lives) and which needs to be given faithfully to the next generation so it can mature in theirs as well.

This means that methods may change.

The message (of Christ, the gospel, etc) must never change.

Methods must remain faithful to the message not to memory.

Because, the generation that focuses only on its own generation is the last generation of that church.

ILLUST - Bonsai tree takes generations to prepare (opposite of Chia pet).

“The Ficus retusa Linn, which is found at the Crespi Bonsai Museum in Italy, is believed to be the oldest existing bonsai tree in the world at an estimated 1,000 years old.”

(https://www.oldest.org/nature/bonsai-trees/)

In an interview I heard recently, one bonsai master stated how she completely understood how the seeds she was planting today may begin to take root but it would be her children and grandchildren who would benefit from all the work she was doing now.

“In early July, Afghan pastors and church leaders made a difficult decision. They decided to formally register their faith with the Afghan government. What an absurdity to register as Christians in an Islamic republic that prohibits a person from converting to Christianity! Against the advice of many, these Afghan church leaders felt compelled, for the sake of future generations, to legally declare their true faith in Christ.

“What about our children and our grandchildren?” they said. “Someone should make this sacrifice so the next generations can openly call themselves followers of Jesus.” They registered with the government, and we all prayed from outside, asking God to protect them from being rounded up and imprisoned the next morning. They were interviewed but not arrested.

Dramatic Church Retreat

This past weekend, we met in an Afghan/English church retreat. On the first night of the retreat, we learned that a pastor in Afghanistan received a letter from the Taliban: “We know who you are, what you do, and where to find you.” By Saturday the Taliban were at his door, but he had gone into hiding. Praise God.”

(https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/afghanistan-afghan-pastors/)

So, what will you tell the next generation? What will you declare to the next generation?

Let me suggest 3 things:

God’s character

Psalm 71:19 (ESV)

19 Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?

God’s salvation

Psalm 71:20 (ESV)

20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.

God’s goodness

Psalm 71:21 (ESV)

21 You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

(The Church should use senior saints.)

“So eldercare in the churches, while rightly taking account of increasing bodily infirmities among the aging, should at the same time seek to cherish and continue to harness the ministering capacities that these Christians displayed at earlier stages of their lives. And elderly Christians themselves should press on in the worship and service of God, and in pastoral care for others, up to the limit of what they still can handle in terms of learning and leading, as they used to do earlier in their lives.”

— J. I. Packer, Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging

God honors senior saints who remain faithful.

Psalm 71:14 (ESV)

14 But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.

Because faithfulness is the goal of the Christian life.

Hebrews 12:1 (ESV)

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

2 Timothy 4:7–8 (ESV)

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Because God remains faithful to senior saints.

God honors senior saints who remain faithful because God remains faithful to senior saints.

Psalm 71:22 (ESV)

22 I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 46:3–4 (ESV)

3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; 4 even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

The God of your youth is your God now. He is timeless. He does not grow weary, weak, sick, or faint.

You can call on him now. He is as faithful now as he has ever been!

Psalm 71:20–21 (ESV)

20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. 21 You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

How? through eternal life.

Death only has a sting when it is seen as a loss. If we view heaven as a loss then we do not understand heaven.

Imagine:

Seeing Christ face to face

Seeing loved ones who have gone before.

ILLUST - runner who stopped too soon.

“A runner who stopped just feet before the finish line to celebrate his apparent victory was beaten by a fellow athlete who charged ahead of him.

Mateo Bustos was on his way to clinch first place in the Sagunto triathlon in eastern Spain on Sunday when he slowed down to clench his fists and perform a foot trick in front of onlookers.

Fellow competitor Germán Cister used the opportunity to run up behind Bustos, overtaking him and striding across the finish line with just a few feet between the pair.”

(https://www.newsweek.com/runner-celebrates-win-too-early-gets-beaten-finish-line-viral-video-1602436)

It has garnered more than 2.8 mil views.

(The Church should honor senior saints who remain faithful.)

Finish strong. Finish well. Finish faithful.

So you can say with Paul:

2 Timothy 4:7–8 (ESV)

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Finish well.

Church, we need to applaud and cheer for those who finish well.