Honoring Our Senior Brethren

Happy Sabbath to all of you. I just turned it down to 32 degrees just to make sure that all of you are crisp and awake this afternoon. Ah, I didn't do that. I'm just kidding. Thank you, Mr. Blakey. True words were never spoken. That's very inspiring him, and thank you for providing that for us today. Well, today is a very special Sabbath to me. It's a Sabbath that I have chosen to give honor and show appreciation for our senior members. Yes, we have youth camps. Yes, we have youth education programs. Yes, we have youth and teen Bible studies.

But sadly, we don't focus enough programs for our seniors who now make up the overwhelming majority of the Church of God. So today, I want to specifically give thanks and to show respect and deep appreciation for the service and the contribution of our senior members. You know, it's a very special privilege to grow old in a world where only a minority of people who were ever conceived live, are born, live, and have the privilege of growing old.

To grow old, you have proved to be a survivor. Biologically speaking, you survived conception. You survived birth. You survived childhood diseases. You may have grown up in a dangerous world, maybe a dangerous neighborhood, been around people that themselves were dangerous or violent. You may have served in the military or been in part of the world where there was military action, where there was war. As you grow older, you may have had acute and chronic diseases. You've experienced the aging process. And you're still here?

And all that's really important, especially in a culture that shuns growing old. We live in a culture that worships youth, a culture that warehouses and shuns people who grow old. When I used the phrase today, senior, I had to choose an age. So I'm following the example of the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 5 and verse 9. He said, to be on the widow's list, you had to be 60 years old.

So that's just the arbitrary date that I've chosen today to consider someone a senior. Now, if you are saying to me or you are thinking to yourself, well, Mr. Thomas, I'm not 60 years old, my answer to you is, if you are blessed and privileged enough, you will be someday.

So this message is for you as well. It's something that I think is very important and long overdue in the Church of God. It was an interesting article that went through many of our news feeds this week. You may have seen this. I'm going to quote from the one from NPR, but they were just quoting from the National Center for Health Statistics. It said, quote, life expectancy in the United States declined by a year and a half in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says the coronavirus is largely to blame.

COVID-19 contributed to 74% of the decline in life expectancy from 78.8 years in 2019 down to 77.3 years in 2020, according to the CDC's National Center for Health Sciences. And here's what grabbed my attention from this, that to me that wasn't surprising. Also, a number of folks are committing suicide, taking drugs and doing other things. So that's contributing to the factor as well. But here's what really stunned me.

Quote, it was the largest one-year decline since World War II when life expectancy dropped 2.9 years between 1942 and 1943. You know what caused that? People were being killed in war! American soldiers were dying in various areas of the world. So you're a survivor. If you're 60 years old or older, you've seen a thing or two. You have a lot of life experiences.

God created the physical life cycle. From birth to death, we go through different life experiences, and it's all part of God's plan for each and every human being. It starts out with infancy. We're born, and we're almost totally dependent on others for our needs. We're helpless. We need others to feed us, to change our clothes, keep us warm, to protect us, give us love and all those important needs that an infant has.

So that's an important stage in the human life cycle. Then we become young children. Young children, this is a time of boundless energy and exploring the world. A few weeks ago, we had our youngest grandchild at our home. And the more I look at him, the more I realize that youth is wasted on the young. He just has so much energy, and he explores everything, and he sends everything. But that's natural. That's the way God intended for young children to be. The fastest brain growth in our entire life occurs before we reach adolescence. We're just soaking in everything. The whole world, and science, and touch, and feel, and smell, and all of our senses are absorbing the world.

That's an incredible time of life. Then there's adolescence, and adolescence also goes into teenage years. That's when we begin to enter a stage of independence. We, particularly males, tend to think we're invincible at that stage in life as teenagers. We take a lot more risks than we do any other time of life. And because of that, there's a high mortality rate.

A young male teenager is particularly driving and doing all kinds of crazy, nutty things, because our brains haven't developed yet to the point to realize there are consequences to the things that we say and the things that we do. Then we become young adults. This is a stage of setting down to domestic life. For many, it's beginning a family, couple bonding, and children come into the world, choosing a career path, making some very important major life decisions.

Then we enter middle age. This is a sense of heavy responsibilities. Normally, early middle age is the time of the greatest financial stresses in our lifetime. You have growing children who seem to eat you out of house and home. You've got car payments, and a car seems to break down every 20 minutes. I think the car should come with a credit card scanner already built into it. So every day you just go out there and have it take another hundred dollars out of your credit card account. You've got house payments and utilities and children's needs, and you're already thinking about, wow, they need to go to college, or they need this additional education.

You're already beginning to think, someday I'm going to grow old, and what am I putting away for my retirement years? And middle age is a very difficult time of life. Some even have a midlife crisis. Their marriages blow apart, or they dramatically change careers because they just wake up one morning and their life didn't turn out like they thought it would, usually because they let time and chance make their decisions for them, rather than choosing themselves.

And so they dramatically alter the paths of their life. And then there's old age. A time of reduced physical work, usually, and more time for reflection, for meditation. Got lots of time in your hands as you get older, especially after you retire, if our health is good. And we have some resources. It's a great time to enjoy hobbies like traveling, or reading, gardening crafts, doing things in our workshop, whatever may be of particular interest to us as individuals.

So that's part of a brief description of the natural physical life cycle that God created. What do the scriptures tell us about being old, about old age? I think it's something we should consider today. Let's begin by going to Leviticus 19. This is part of the law. This is part of the law of Moses. So I think it needs to be said, and it's only appropriate that it's the first scripture that we talk about today as far as scriptures.

It says in Leviticus 19, verse 32, You shall rise before the gray-headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God, I am the Lord. I am Yahweh. That's command. That's an instruction. Obviously, this refers to older women as well. Exodus, one of the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20 says, Honor your mother and your father. So in context, you shall stand in honor of the presence of an old person. Someone who has a lot of experience, someone who's a survivor. And at that time in history, you really had to be a survivor to be an old person, because you didn't have great medical care. You didn't have vaccines for chicken pox, and mumps, and measles, and diphtheria, and all the things that exist today that have almost been eradicated. Those were diseases that went rampant through many communities at that time. Many women died in childbirth, and we see examples of that, certainly in the Old Testament as well. I'm going to read this from the translation God's Word for today. Show respect to the elderly and honor older people. In this way, you show respect for your God, I am the Lord. God acknowledges that someone who is elderly is a survivor.

They have the rare privilege to have lived long enough to grow old. When you're young, you think you know it all, and you think you have an answer for everything. When you grow old, you have lived life experiences. You've been kicked around a little bit. You've made the mistakes, which are far different than youthful theories of thinking that we know everything.

Now, the Bible teaches, and we should, as we get older, be getting wiser and more experienced from our life lessons and maturing as individuals, because there's a lesson here. And that lesson is, of course, is when youthful people make mistakes. You expect that of youthful people. But when folks our age make big mistakes, it's really foolish. It's really embarrassing and shouldn't happen. I remember sitting in a college forum a number of years ago, listening to an elderly man who had been the founder of three colleges, and who was a church leader, religious leader.

And speaking of himself, he bellowed out to all of us. And I was as far from him as my wife is from me. He bellowed out to all of us, There's no fool like an old fool!

And he was referring to himself. He was in the middle of a very difficult divorce. He had married a woman about half his age, and it hadn't worked out like he had hoped.

And he knew that everyone expects young people to make mistakes. But as you get older, and the expectations are that we become more experienced, and wiser, and hopefully more measured in the way that we act, and the things that we do, that it's very embarrassing to make big mistakes when you are a senior.

So that was Leviticus 19.32. Let's now go to Deuteronomy 32.6.

Deuteronomy 32.6.6.

This was a time in Israel's history where some of God's children had rejected him. So a statement is being made here.

Deuteronomy 32.6.6. Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people?

Is he not your father who bought you?

Shouldn't you have more respect for God? He's a senior. He's older than you are. Let's see, average Israelite. You're maybe 32 and he's eternity. Yeah, he's older than you are.

So maybe you should have a little bit more respect for him.

Has he not made you and established you? Hasn't he given you everything that you have? The promises, the gifts, the food, the air that you breathe, the clothes that you wear? Hasn't he provided all of this for you? Verse 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.

So you don't need to figure out God all by yourself. There are people who have been there, done that.

They're seniors, they're elders. In some cases, they're our parents, if we're fortunate enough to have parents who are alive in the faith.

And they're there to give us wisdom and advice and counsel, and help us so that we don't make the same mistakes that they've made. Seniors have a lot of advice to give, because we've done a lot of right things, and all of us have also done a lot of wrong things. By experience, we've learned what works and what doesn't, and why something works, and why something doesn't work. And this includes church history.

If you want to know what happened to the church 40 or 50 years ago, you have people sitting right in this room who were there, who were eyewitnesses. So why would we go to a book written by a disgruntled 40-year-old to learn about church history 50 years ago, when you know people who were actually there?

So what the Scripture is telling us here is that there's a wealth of knowledge, a wealth of experience, a wealth of maturity among God's people, and rather than trying to figure everything out ourselves, talk to them.

Get their advice.

Get the wisdom that they have to offer.

They have a lot to teach us if we're humble and if we're willing to listen.

Proverbs 20 and 29.

Proverbs 20 and 29.

Something this world doesn't understand.

Because we do worship and idolize youth.

That's what most of our entertainment is centered over, including most sports, because frankly, in most sports industries, you're 35 to 45 years old. You're a has-been. You're washed up. It's time to check out. You're considered old already.

Proverbs 20 and 29. The glory of young men is their strength, and they take pride in that, and they like to show their muscles. If you look at your newsfeed and you see entertainers or someone on a TV show, they like to show how ripped they are.

And yes, maybe we don't have a six-pack ab. Instead, we have a one-pack slab.

But we have something they don't have, and the splendor of old men is their gray head.

You see, young men like to show strength and agility of body, and we have a culture that reinforces, and that is important. That's really where it's at, according to our culture.

But as we grow older, that physical strength we once had is meant to be replaced with wisdom, emotional maturity, and life experience that we can share with others. We can help them to avoid making the same painful decisions that we have made.

In the church, these should be spiritual traits.

Spiritually, we should have wisdom.

To share with others spiritually. We should have emotional maturity and not make knee-jerk statements, not act like a fool and say things that are rude to other people. But we should have emotional maturity, and we should have those life experiences that have been molded, our character changed, and altered by the master potter as we've gone through various life experiences so that we can share those with other people.

Let's now go to Psalm 39 and verse 4. Psalm 39 and verse 4.

At first, when you read this, it doesn't seem to be very encouraging, but we have to understand the context of why the great psalmist wrote this. Again, this is chapter 39 and verses 4 through 7. Psalm 39 and verse 4. Lord, make me to know my end.

And what is the measure of my days that I may know how frail I am?

The psalmist says, God, give me a reality check. Most people in this world go through life pretending they're never going to end.

And they say, busy, busy, busy, busy their whole lives in an effort to avoid thinking about the fact that someday I'm going to have an end to this physical life. That's what most people do. They deny it. They don't think about it. They refuse to meditate on that fact.

And they just go through their whole lives living in a state of denial about their own mortality.

Verse 5. Indeed, you have made my days as hand-breaths.

In other words, very short.

And my age is as nothing before you. Obviously, God is eternity, and we are whatever age we happen to be, which certainly falls far short of eternal life.

You certainly, every man at his best is but a vapor.

Selah. Hebrew word. Just stop and just think about that for a while. James says something very similar to this phrase. Verse 6. Surely every man walks about like a shadow.

So you talk about a reality check. The psalmist says that everyone is a dead man walking.

It just hasn't happened yet.

But that's your destiny.

It's appointed all to die once.

So the psalmist is trying to give himself, and he's trying to share with us the importance of having a reality check. Continuing. Surely they busy themselves in vain, and they heap up riches. If I just stash away enough money, then maybe I don't have to think about dying.

And the consequences of that. If I just say, busy, busy, busy, busy, then maybe I don't have to stop and think about the consequences of my life and the fact that I'm going to die.

Continuing. And does not know who will gather them. I can help you to understand that the tax man will gather them.

Or at least most of them. Much of them.

You're talking about your riches. Verse 7, And now, Lord, what do I wait for?

My hope is in you.

So he says, it's not about the flesh. It's not about this physical life. My hope, God, ultimately is in your promises.

Is in your love for me.

Is in your plan for eternity.

And having me the privilege to be part of that very plan that you have.

As I said, most people live in constant denial of their ultimate death.

They refuse to think about it or even acknowledge it. And the psalmist is asking God to give him a sense of reality.

When you know and accept that your time is limited, you have the opportunity to make the remainder count for something. When you go through a major health crisis, as my wife has, as I have, as I know many of you have, when you go through a major health crisis, one in which you had to ponder your own mortality, it changes you.

I look upon each day as a bonus round.

I met someone last week whose wife died two months ago of the very type of cancer that I had.

She was 49.

I lived. God was merciful. She died.

So I consider each and every day of my life a bonus round.

And going through experiences like that, indeed, changes you.

And going through those kinds of experiences, and what the psalmist is asking us to do is focus in your life on things that are really important, like faith, family, and friends.

Rather than material possessions and worldly distractions.

Faith with your brethren, fellowshiping with them, loving your family, spending time with them, spending time with your friends.

That's what life is really all about.

That's what lasts far beyond the memories and the character we develop last far beyond this physical tent that we all have.

Let's now go to the book of Ruth. Ruth chapter 4 and verse 13.

Ruth had the privilege of bearing a child, and Naomi became a grandmother. And here's what it says here.

Ruth chapter 4 and verse 13.

We know the story of the book of Ruth, and eventually Boaz married Ruth, and that was a beautiful thing.

And there are some great parallels in the book of Ruth to Jesus Christ Himself. We'll cover those today.

But it says here in verse 13, So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And when he went into her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.

Then the women said to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a close relative. And may his name be famous in Israel. And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age. And our children and our grandchildren, indeed, when we see them, if we haven't been around them for a while, can be a restorer of life and nourisher of our old age. For your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him, then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom, and became a nurse to him. So this is a fitting example of the comfort and love available in family relationships that are built upon godly principles. Even a daughter-in-law can endear herself to her mother-in-law. Usually, as we get older, because our perspective changes, we get more out of our grandchildren and them growing up than we did out of our very own children. Going back to when we were talking about the stages in life, normally, in our own children, men specifically, were really busy with all the anxiety and frustrations of making a buck and paying the bills and keeping the wheels on the wagon for all the demands, the financial and other demands of the family, that they don't enjoy it as much as when you get to be a grandparent. But here's what I want to bring out here. You may not have been blessed with grandchildren. Maybe you don't have children and you don't have biological grandchildren. I'll tell you what you do have. In the Church of God, we all have many spiritual children and grandchildren in our congregation. Young, excited about life, needing guidance, needing someone to talk to them, someone to spend a little time with them on the Sabbath, or maybe call them once in a while if we know they're going through particular struggles or difficulties. So we have spiritual, even if we don't have physical or biological children and grandchildren, we have spiritual children and grandchildren. And if we spend some time with them and get to know them, they too, for us, can be a restorer of life and a nourisher of our old age. Psalm chapter 92 and verse 12. Psalm chapter 92 and verse 12, back to the book of Psalms.

Here are God's expectations of the righteous throughout their lifetimes, including old age. Psalm chapter 92 and verse 12. It says, the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing. To declare that the Lord is upright, He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. So old age is not a time to check out, spiritually speaking. Old age is not a time to give up, to think that our work is done, seniors. Old age is a time that we can focus on doing the important things. No, we can't bench press a hundred pounds anymore. Some of us never could, even in our prime. But we can still do the most important things, and the very reason that God called us anyway. We can still bear fruit, fruit like love, enjoyed peace, long-suffering kindness, gentleness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. These are all fruit that we can be continuing to grow, bear abundantly, even in our old age. Why? Because we, frankly, have more time to focus on these fruit than all something generated from the inside, anyway. We can't make the excuse that we're too busy, that we've got a teenage daughter that we're doing this with, and when we get to become seniors, we have the blessing of some extra time for meditation, reflection on things. And that includes our ability to bear fruit in old age. Now, as we grow older, does God keep His promises to us? Does God promise to spiritually care for us when we grow old? Well, He absolutely does. Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 3. If you'll turn there with me, Isaiah 46.3. God says He takes care of His beloved during their entire life cycle, including old age. Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 3. I'm going to read this from the new century version. Feel free to follow me with whatever translation you have at hand. Family of Jacob, listen to me. All you people from Israel who are still alive, listen. I have carried you since you were born. God says I've always been there for you. I've never abandoned you. And yes, you may have gone through some difficult things in your life. And maybe it didn't sound like I was listening or I was heeding your prayers. Trust me, I was there every moment rooting you on, hoping you would get through this trial and this difficulty. I've carried you since you were born. I've taken care of you since your birth, from your birth. Even when you are old, I will be the same. Even when your hair is turned gray, I will take care of you. Now, that's not a promise about never growing old physically, living in do 150. Again, the scriptures say that it's appointed for men to die once. That's in Hebrews 9 and verse 27. So this is spiritually speaking. God says, I'm always going to take care of you. I always have you in the palm of my hand. And every promise that I have ever given you will be absolutely positively fulfilled. Even when your hair is turned gray, I will take care of you. I will make you and take care of you. I will carry you and save you. Can you compare me to anyone? God says, no one is equal to me or like me. So this is a spiritual promise of hope and salvation for the aged, for those who are seniors in our congregation. Let's take a look at a few scriptures from the New Testament. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 16. Again, Paul gives us what we might call a reality check. He was really good at that, too. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 16. And like the psalmist, he wants us to realize that time is going on. We're aging. And that our physical bodies indeed have an expiration date.

I tell people sometimes that I realize that I'm in the checkout line. I just hope it's not the express lane.

2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 16.

He says, therefore do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing. And all you have to do if you don't believe me, just look at a picture of you five years ago. For some of us, five minutes ago, probably, but five years ago. Or 10 years ago. Or 20 years ago. And you will have to agree with the Apostle Paul that the outward man is perishing. Yet, he says, the inward man is being renewed day by day. I can't tell you how many seniors have told me, you know, Mr. Thomas, I look like I'm an Edie on the outside. And that's what I see when I look in the mirror. But I can tell you on the inside, I still think like I did when I was 25.

I look into that mirror and I don't even know who that old man is, looking back at me. The inward man is being renewed day by day. Verse 17, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceedingly and eternal weight of glory. What is that light affliction? We call it physical life. And all that we have to experience, the trials, the troubles, the persecution, the health difficulties, the financial difficulties, sometimes relationship difficulties, those are our light affliction. Because compared to what God promises, all that's fluff. Compared to living for eternity with God in His kingdom and within His family and having an eternity filled with abundant purpose and happiness, all the nonsense we experience in this physical life is fluff. It's a light affliction compared to what God has planned for us. Verse 18, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen, the internal things, that's what we need to be focusing on. Not the flesh, not material possessions, not all the things that this world focuses on, because it has no hope, it has no future. So of course it's going to focus on the physical, it's going to focus on flesh, it's going to focus on the material. It doesn't know any other way. But Paul says here we should be focusing on the things that are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporary. Everything's physical, it's temporary. I could walk around my property today. All those flowers are beautiful, they're blooming, they're all temporary. In just a few months they're all going to be frozen and laying on the ground. They're temporary. The house that I built, it's temporary. I'm just a trustee. Give it enough time, somebody will tear it down and probably put in a trailer park. Who knows? Pave it with an asphalt parking lot. Who knows what the future holds? Because everything physical in this life is just temporary. We cling to it, we think these things are so important. God says, ha, get real. That's what Paul's trying to help us to do here. He's trying to help us to get real. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Like God's presence, His promises, our character, those are the things that are eternal. So Paul reminds us that it's what's happening on the inside is what really matters. It's our faith and character and commitment that will last for eternity, not these mere frail physical tents that we are all trapped inside of in this lifetime.

Let's go to Titus chapter 2 and verse 1. Paul has some advice for Titus and some good advice for those of us who are seniors on the kind of example that we should be setting for both men and women.

Hopefully we're living up to these qualities that he mentions to Titus.

Titus chapter 2 verse 1. But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine, that the older men may be sober, reverent, temperant, those are all reflections of being emotionally mature, sound in faith, in love, in patience, not expecting someone who's 25 to know everything that you know at 65. How ridiculous is that? They don't have our life experiences. Be patient with them.

Verse 3. That the older women likewise, that they may be reverent in behavior, not slanderers. We had a sermon recently on slander. Not given to too much wine, teachers of the good things, that they may admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemaker's good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed, so that the enemies don't look at us and say, what hypocrites! This guy, this old guy, he's supposed to be patient. He's a senior in his church, and he's got a big mouth, and he's got an opinion on everything. That's giving people an excuse or a reason that God can be blasphemed. And we don't want to have conduct like that. Within our congregations, we all have a role to play and an important example to set to our younger members, our younger families, and the younger children here who are like video cameras, walking around here, seeing everything that we say, overhearing our conversations, seeing our conduct while we're eating and fellowshipping out in the social hall. It's important that we be good examples. Our conduct alone should be a sermon.

I've said many times I'd rather see a sermon than hear a sermon personally.

So this is what Titus is being told and encouraged to do as seniors, the way that we dress, the way that we communicate, the way that we show love towards others, the way that we hopefully radiate joy, the way that we demonstrate our faith should be sincere and a shining light. To all of those members who are youth compared to us, and I know that's a relative term. I have to laugh. My stepfather, who's now 87, old people are always someone who's about 10 years older than he is at any given point in his life. He talks about, yeah, those old people, I'm thinking you're 87!

I don't say that out loud, but I do inside my head. But he said the same thing when he was six, when he was in those old people who we met people in their late 70s and 80s. Those old people, now that he's 87, old people are people in their 90s. So it's all relative, and I understand that, but we want to make sure as seniors that we are the kind of examples that Titus was encouraged to teach to the people in the congregations. Let's see how much old age is historically respected in Scripture. We'll begin with Exodus. Exodus chapter 3 and verse 16.

So after waiting hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years for freedom from slavery in Egypt, God sends a message that here's the good news. God is finally going to intervene, and he's going to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. So Exodus chapter 3 and verse 16, it says, go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them. These are the people to get the first bit of good, encouraging news. Go to the elders of Israel and say to them, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to me saying, I've surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt, and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites to a land flowing with milk and honey. Even God himself honors the elderly of Israel in Egypt with the privilege of being the first to know of his plans. He says to the elders, I'm telling you, now you go out and tell everyone else. I'm telling you first, and it's your job, by example, to go out and tell everyone this good news that freedom has come at last. It's their responsibility to share this knowledge with the rest of the people. It shows by God's example that they have a special place, and the elderly should be honored and respected. And when it says the elders here doesn't mean a spiritual office, it just means those who buy biologically within the clans and within the families had grown and matured and were respected and considered people of wisdom and experience, maturity. That's what it means by this phrase, elders. Biological people who had learned a lot and grown a lot through their life experiences. While we're in the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 24, and we'll take a look at verse 9.

So, Israel has just confirmed the covenant, and of all people, the elders are given a very special privilege by God. Why? Because God loves seniors. He loves, He has a very special and precious place for them. That's why the very first scripture that we read today was directly from the law of Moses in Leviticus 19. You shall rise up before the gray-headed and honor the presence of an old person, old man, or old woman. So let's take a look at this here now in Exodus chapter 24 and verse 9. Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel. They're going to go to Mount Sinai. Again, this is not a spiritual office. These, biologically, are people who have proved through their age to be mature, respected members of the Israelite communities. Verse 10, and they saw the God of Israel, and there was under His feet, as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. Very similar to what we read, a similar example in the book of Revelation. Verse 11, but on the nobles and of the children of Israel, He did not lay His hand, so they, this is Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders, and they saw God, and they ate and drank. Then the Lord said to Moses, Come up to me in the mountain, and be there, and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them. Again, by this example, God Himself honors the elderly with the privilege of being able to fellowship with Him. How cool is that? Seeing God and being able to be in one big fellowship table with God and with with your other fellow elders. It shows by God's personal example that the elderly should be honored and respected. Numbers chapter 11 and verse 16.

In time, Moses, like many leaders, tries to take too much on himself, and he gets burnt out. He needs help. He needs help to make decisions, especially the smaller, low-level decisions, because everyone's coming to Him, and He's there day and night, who knows, 12, 15 hours a day listening to everyone's problems, making decisions. This man is being burnt out. So, he needs help, and here's what God instructs. Numbers chapter 11 and verse 16. So the Lord said to Moses, Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Verse 17, And I will come down and talk with you there, and I will take that Spirit which is upon you. I'm going to take that Holy Spirit that I gave you, and I will put the same upon all those elders. Again, at this point, it's not a spiritual office like we have in the church today. It's simply those people who, by their example, were biologically aged, mature, stable leaders in the clans and in the community. And they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone. And sure enough, in the legal codes of Deuteronomy, the elders are responsible for administering justice, sitting as judges in the city gate. You find many examples of that. Deciding cases among family life and executing decisions, even into the period of the judges and the monarchy, the elders were prominent in Israel in both politics and religious life, because of the things they had learned through their life experiences and the wisdom that they had acquired. It were the elders that demanded that Samuel appoint a king. They played a crucial role in David getting and retaining the throne. It was the elders that represented the people in the consecration of the Temple of Solomon. So they always played a very important role in ancient Israel.

And we can play an important role in God's church today.

Now let's go to the New Testament, take a look at another scripture here. Acts chapter 14 and verse 21. We're familiar with the famous ministerial conference, Acts chapter 15. But I want you to know who was involved when there was a difficult matter in the church who was involved in the process and who was involved in making the decision. Now these are elders here, but these are people that just aren't biologically old. Now it has become a religious office. And how did that happen? Well, the church originally associated with the synagogues. The Jewish believers around Jerusalem, when Jesus Christ went to heaven, was sent into heaven, they fellowshiped in the synagogues. The synagogue had a religious office, the overseer of the synagogue. His title was elder. So it's only natural that the church, as it grew to the point, and persecution and so on, removed itself from the synagogues and had their own religious services, that that role of elder continued to remain as a religious title. So that's what's happening here. Acts chapter 14 verse 21. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, this is Derby, it made many disciples. They returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, we must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord whom they had believed. Paul and Barnabas knew that these newly established congregations in Asia-Mina needed leadership. They were fragile. Sometimes it was just a handful of people in a particular city. They needed leadership. So they, following the example of that title that had existed in the synagogue, they appointed elders in every congregation, according to this scripture, to provide stability and organization to these small congregations. And borrowing from the understanding that physical aid should bring experience and maturity and wisdom to a community, they appointed spiritual elders with the prayer and fasting and the hope that they also would demonstrate spiritual experience and maturity and wisdom and give guidance to those local congregations. So we see that occurring before we have this issue a chapter later in Acts chapter 15. So if you'll take a look at chapter 15 verse 1, it says, And certain men came down from Judea and taught to brethren, unless you were circumcised according to the law of Moses or the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. That obviously puts a lot of pressure in the gentile believers who were not circumcised. And if you were 35 years old at that time, that may have seemed a rather challenging experience to have to go through that, just to be considered a believer or to be told that you're saved. Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, in other words, after they argued with them vociferously, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. So at this point in time, the elders now are those who are fulfilling a spiritual office, oversight over the smaller local congregations. And although there are a few specific details about the functions of elders in this Jerusalem church, they apparently served as part of a decision-making council. And they're often mentioned in conjunction with the apostles. Some of the passages in Scripture show that the apostles and elders of Jerusalem considered themselves to be a decision-making council for the whole church. And even today, in the United Church of God, our general conference of elders, the overwhelming majority of members in that conference are elders. There are far more elders than there are pastors or assistant pastors or associate pastors.

So let's take a look here at verse 22. Our final Scripture today, verse 22. And they came to a decision, and a decision, of course, was that no, the Gentiles did not have to be circumcised to be saved. The circumcision that was required of them was the circumcision of their hearts, of their minds, of conversion through God's Spirit, not some physical act that left out 50 percent of the human race, because women are incapable of doing that. Then it pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, who was also named Barnabas and Silas, leading men among the brethren. And they wrote this letter. The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, to the brethren who are Gentiles and Antioch, serious, Alesia, greetings, since you have heard that some who went off from us have troubled you with words and settling your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep the law, to whom we gave no such commandment. It seemed good to us, being assembled in one accord, to send chosen men to you of our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Christ Jesus. So even the salutation of this included a statement that the elders were involved in this decision. So we see here that in the early New Testament, the traditional responsibility of what previously had been a village elder, someone who biologically was mature and faithful and stable, became a spiritual office, and they were appointed, appointed to a spiritual role of accountability. And again, this was an office that was borrowed from the synagogue.

That's basically my sermon today, but I do have closing remarks.

For those of you who are seniors here today in God's Church, thank you for your dedication to Jesus Christ. Thank you for your dedication to the brethren. Thank you for supporting the good news of the gospel message. Thank you for your examples. Thank you for your tithes and other financial offerings. Many of you have been part of the Church of God for decades, and spiritually speaking, you too are survivors.

You, in childhood, survived physical diseases, illnesses, accidents, and many unseen events. And as God's senior class, many of you have been around for decades, and you've survived a lot of change. You've survived some church splits, some trials of your personal faith. You've survived the loss of friends and loved ones who left the faith of God. But I want you to know that God praises your commitment and his dedication to his Church and your ongoing commitment to your calling. May God grant all of you, God's senior class, a special reward and a special blessing for your years of commitment and faithfulness to the people of God. Thank you, seniors. Without you, the Church could not be as strong as it is, and the Church may not exist without your presence, without your maturity, without your experience. Thank you very much, and may God richly bless you for your service to God and to his people. Have a happy Sabbath!