I Have to Grow Old?

Well, it was just a little over 500 years ago. There was a determined expedition party. They were privately funded, they were outfitted, and they set out on their trip.

This expedition was led by a 52-year-old man. His name was John. He was a statesman, a politician, a peacemaker, a colonist, an explorer. And he led this expedition during an amazing time in history, a time of discovery, a time of exploration, looking for things, areas of the world previously unknown, amazing sections of legendary lands. So his party left their port, and they were searching for two things. One was an island called Bimini. The second was a much more mysterious, fascinating item. And so as they set out, they searched. They tried to discover these two very important things. They came upon a land that they believed to be an island, and they searched the east coast. They searched the west coast in a land that was beautiful, a land that had wonderful flora and fauna, flowers, beautiful plants, wonderful sceneries. In fact, this land became known for that very thing. They called it Florida because of all the beautiful plants and scenery that they found. And yet that mysterious item, that evasive item, just was not to be found. They left empty-handed when it came to that. And yet John was determined. He wanted to find that elusive item. So nine years later, a 61-year-old John set out on another expedition. This time landing on those shores wasn't so peaceful. They met resistance. There was a battle. John was shot. And not too long after that, he died. That's the facts. And so no matter how much time we spend on trying to stay young, reality and the mirror will tell us it's not possible. We are getting older. And so it doesn't matter if there's the toupees, the cosmetics, the Botox, the facelifts. Sooner or later, we've got to face those facts. We're getting older. The Bible talks about that a lot. In fact, King Solomon recognized that fact, and he wasn't real happy about it. In fact, it was actually kind of discouraged about the whole thing. Ecclesiastes 12 talks about that. If you'd like to join me over in Ecclesiastes 12 verse 1, he wrote about this very issue. In fact, it's pretty discouraging overall because he talked about the fact that it's all useless.

Seems like life is lived in vain, vanity of vanities. Yet he gave a little bit of instructional direction to his thinking in Ecclesiastes 12 verse 1, and especially directed at our youth, our young people. Ecclesiastes 12.1, it says, Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth. So when you're young, remember God.

He says, Before the difficult days come, Before the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them. Of course, being young, I don't think I think about that. I'm young. I don't have to worry about that. That's a long, long way off. Yet here's old Solomon saying, You can't stop the clock. This is coming. If time goes on, this is what we're facing. There was a little boy and his grandfather. They were kind of having a snack together, and grandpa got out all these junk foods. He got out all these different things. The little boy was really conscious of that and said, Grandpa, you know, you shouldn't be eating things with coloring. You shouldn't be eating all those additives. So that's got all these preservatives. They're really bad for you. Of course, grandpa said right away, Listen, son, when you're my age, you need all the preservatives you can get. Right? Solomon says those preservatives are going to work. He's not real positive about aging, but he's very realistic. This is what it's going to be like.

But should that be our perspective? Should we have a Solomon kind of perspective? This is really discouraging. He gets down to the end of the chapter saying, This is all useless. What's the point? And you know, without God's perspective, you know, when we don't understand why God created us, when we don't know His purpose, when we don't understand why we get old, if we have no understanding of what God is doing and what He's trying to accomplish by this life, then we're going to end up like Solomon. It does seem vain. It seems useless. People have said, you know, it's just a shame that youth is wasted on the young.

But what should our perspective be? You know, do I have to grow old? Do I have to get old? Why do I have to get old? You see, without understanding that and realizing why we must go through the aging process, why I have to lose some of the capabilities that I used to have, why my body has to wear out, when we don't understand God's purposes, we don't know what God's all about, we're going to end up like a Solomon. It's going to seem like such a waste. So God wants us really to understand and step back and take a look at why we get old. And why did God create us for that very purpose? To age, to become elderly.

There was a teacher that wanted to teach her little students about that, took her second grade class to a nursing home. So the kids were kind of touring around a little bit, and one little girl asked one of the residents, how old are you? And this elderly lady said, I'm 98 years old. That little girl was just amazed. 98 years old. She thought about it, and then she thought, wait a second, did you start with one? Because when you're that age, it's hard to recognize what it's like to be old. And you know, when you're that age, it seems like you always want to be a different age. I was talking to one of our little ones just the other day, and I said, well, how old are you now? They said, they're five and a half.

Because that half was very, very important. And our little preteens, they want to be teenagers, and our teenagers want to be young adults, and our young adults want to be mature, recognized young adults. And our mature, recognized young adults want to be young adults. And our elderly want to be mature, recognized young adults. Yeah, we kind of soak in some of those aspects of our society, even in the church. The elderly want to be anything but elderly. Sometimes we feel that way. But we've got to recognize the fact God wants us to grow old, which may sound kind of funny. Really? God wants us to grow old? It is a part of His plan. It is a part of God's plan for reproducing Himself. There's lessons we can learn. Every stage of life has amazing opportunities where we can learn, and we can grow, and we can understand what God is all about. That much better because we're living this life. We're in this physical world, in this physical life, and only by going through this life, in some ways, can we begin to have a deeper insight into what God's purpose is all about. So let's think about that for a minute. Do I have to grow old? Why? Why do I have to grow old? Well, in God's Word, it is interesting that there are many references to aging. It even starts with the little ones. Proverbs 22, 15 says, foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. But God doesn't want us to stay there.

He says we grow old so that we can gain wisdom. Or maybe I should say that a little bit different. We grow old so that we may gain wisdom because growing old is automatic. As long as we're alive, we're going to get older. But getting wiser doesn't necessarily automatically come with the package. He doesn't want us to be foolish. He doesn't want us to be rash. He doesn't want us to be reckless. He wants us to become wise. And time and experience… sometimes, yeah, we refer to those as the best teachers. Time and experience, right? Wisdom requires time. It doesn't come automatically. Practical experience is something that happens over a period of time. And, you know, sometimes, yeah, it can be kind of frustrating when we're young. Like, why does Grandma know that?

She's lived it. She knows because she's experienced it. Sometimes older people know best. They've seen this situation. They recognize it. They know what to do because they've seen it before. Psalm 90 verse 10 has a lot to say about this very concept of gaining wisdom and how important wisdom really is in our lives and what God wants us to be able to obtain, not just to know stuff, not just to understand things, not just to be intelligent, but to use that intelligence and that understanding in a wise way. And He speaks to that very thing in Psalm 90. Notice verse 10. Psalm 90 verse 10, we're probably very familiar with this section of Scripture. It says, the days of our lives are 70 years. 70 years is a good life. God says it is. He says, and if by reason of strength they're 80, that's a pretty good thing. You know, maybe the genetics are working really well in your family. 80 years old, not the worst thing. But He says, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow. I was talking to my dad about this one time. I said, Dad, did you see this study where people are living almost 10 years longer than when you were born? You know, average lifespan. My dad said, Yeah, it's just too bad that all that 10 years always comes at the end. Because that's when you don't feel like it. Things are wearing out. So no wonder it says, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow. For soon it's cut off and we're done. Life's over. We fly away. Who knows the power of your anger? For as the fear of you, so is your wrath. It is frustrating at times to get old. But here we're told in the Psalms, verse 12, teach us to number our days. It says, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Numbering our days has a direct association with wisdom, how we can be wise individuals. So if I pull out my calendar and I start checking off the days, boy, 70 is getting closer all the time. Is that what he's talking about here? Just get out the calendar and tick off those days and that's going to help me? See, I don't think that's the kind of counting he's talking about here. Because it seems like we want to fill up the days. We want to have as much activity as possible. We can get distracted and overwhelmed with all the things that we're doing and all the things we're supposed to do and all the things that we have to do. But that's not the kind of counting that he's talking about here. It's not the kind of model that David meant. It's not the kind of model that Jesus Christ lived for us because he rested. He had recreation. He spoke and he preached and he taught. He worked. But he did all of those things focused on God's will, focused on God's way. It wasn't by the kind of standard we are surrounded by today. We're surrounded by this, well, you got to achieve these things within this timeframe or you're a failure. If you haven't done this by the time you're 30, you're a loser, right? That's the way our world looks at it. If you haven't done this by 40, you're gone. You're over the hill. And now I'm not saying if you have a birthday today and you're 40 years old that you're over the hill or anything. That's not what I'm saying.

Although some may feel that way. But I think what we see here is how did Christ live His life? He lived His life so the days counted. And that's really what this is getting at. Teach us to number our days. Value every day. Value every moment. Life is short. We only have a certain number of days. Live them for God's way to gain wisdom as living those moments so that we're not distracted, that we're determined. So that we're not just seeking after empty pursuits, things that don't matter, things that don't count in the long run of things. Is this going to make any difference?

He doesn't want us to live that way. He wants us to count the days as valuable. And when we value the days, life is going to be meaningful. Life is going to be full. Life is going to be hopeful. We're going to live life with the love and the direction that Christ had. And so when we put God at the center of our lives in that way, we can wisely work. We can wisely play. We can wisely teach and laugh and enjoy things. We can engage in activities that really, really matter in the long run because that's what Christ did. That's what David strives to do. That's what we can do as well. So God wants us to do that very thing. Live in a way that we will gain wisdom.

It used to always seem to be that kind of way. It used to be, yeah, the generations that went before us knew a lot of stuff. They were the wisest. They were the most knowledgeable. They were the smartest group of people around. But today, it's not really like that, is it? Most of us as young people, we think, well, they don't know anything about computers. They don't have smartphones. They don't even know what an app is. What's wrong with them? So just because they can't tell you the details of how your phone works or computer science, well, they must not know anything. But see, that's the trap that we as younger people fall into because old people have a lot to teach us. There's a lot to learn. They have a great deal to give us. So we can't discount them just because they don't understand what an iPhone is. What is that thing anyway? I don't know.

They're not going to be able to get into all those little details of things, but I'll tell you, when it comes to the principles of life, they got a lot to pass on to us. And God designed this process of aging so that we as younger people can gain wisdom from their experience because they're growing not only in knowledge but wisdom and understanding. They've been in this whole lifespan of striving to put on the character of Christ. Do you think there's something to learn from that? Think there's something that we can begin to understand a little bit better? God tells us, yeah, there is. There certainly is because as younger people, even as older people, we need to want to be wise. But what if we're not? What if we're not? We look at our lives and we say, oh boy, my dad used to say, you know, old too soon. Well, no, let me think of how we say it. Too old, soon, too late, smart, something like that. Yeah, old too soon, too late, smart, something like that, I used to say. But how do you get wise? How can we attain wisdom?

Lots of Bible passages talk about it. Over in James chapter 1 is one passage we could turn to, just as a reminder. If we don't have wisdom, we recognize the fact that God wants us to be wise in this life. Wise spiritually is certainly most important.

James reminds us how we can do that very thing. James chapter 1, look at verse 5.

In our life, we've all been here. I don't think any one of us, no matter how old we are, can say, we've reached it. We've attained that wisdom. We are now a sage that has all this wonderful comprehension of what is most wise and life. Well, none of us are there yet, no matter how old we are. So I suppose James 1.5 applies to everybody. James says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. He gives to all liberally and without reproach. And so when we go before God and seek wisdom, ask Him for it. Like Christ said, we're asking, we're seeking, we're knocking. That's what we desire. What does James say God's response to that will be?

He says it will be given to Him. It will be given to Him.

So we age so that we can gain wisdom. We've got to ask for it, especially as young people. Is it more important that we know how the apps work? We've got all the best ones. We talked about social media last night. We can get to the next level in the video games and all of those things that can be right in the right balance. And yet, wisdom is what God desires for us, that we have spiritual understanding and how to apply that spiritual understanding wisely in life. You see, the Proverbs tell us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Do we have God first in our life? Proverbs 9, 10 reminds us of that. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. You see, if we get distracted from that point, we're not going to be able to fulfill God's purpose of attaining wisdom in this life. And so wisdom is what we're after because God's that source of wisdom. It's God's wisdom. It's His perspective. And so if we've been lacking, we can change. We can grow. We can apply God's Spirit in our lives, submit to that Spirit, and gain that understanding through God's blessings. And so we can fuse that life experience with God's Holy Spirit, and we can have more of that mindset of God. And it's not just for me to be wiser so that I have more understanding and look how wise I am. There's more to it than just that. I can serve. I can help. No matter how young or old, spiritual wisdom is of amazing value, amazing value. And yet all too often, we just focus on the physical side of things. Anne Landers wrote a column probably 20 years ago or so that compared us as human beings to cars, that we're kind of like an automobile, she wrote. She wrote, as we get older, our differential starts slipping. She said, our U-joints get worn. The drive shaft goes bad. The transmission won't go into high gear anymore. The cylinders get worn. We start to clank and to ping and to wonder if there's ever a chance we'll get up that hill. She wrote, the headlights grow dim, the horns get weaker, the battery never seems to recharge the way that it should. You wish there were less bangs and dents and chipping on the paint of that body. And one thing you hope, you hope beyond hope that you sure don't blow a head gasket.

Yeah, sometimes that's the way it seems. And yet, God's saying as we gain wisdom, we gain understanding, it's not just for gaining wisdom itself. As we age, we grow old to serve. I mean, have you ever felt, I'm too old, I can't do anything. There's nothing I can do.

God doesn't want us to feel that way. We grow old to serve the young, especially.

God set it up that way. Psalm 71 points to that very fact. Psalm 71 verse 17.

God doesn't want us to feel that just because we're old, we're some kind of a cast off, that we're not useful anymore. God does not want us to feel like Solomon. Vanity, vanity, it's all uselessness. God doesn't want that at all. As we gain in the character of Christ, as we gain His wisdom and His perspective, He says, I've given you a mission. There's a job to do.

Psalm 71 talks about that very job. Verse 17, probably recognize these words a little bit. It says, O God, you've taught me from my youth, and to this day I declare your wondrous works.

Recognize that? Sometimes we'll sing this at Winter Family Weekend, or if we have a youth day, we'll sing it. Why? Because our hymn starts with those words. For even from my youth, O God, by thee have I been taught. Right? We know that song. But see, this is more about the elderly perspective. You see, the elderly being taught God's way, gaining wisdom, it says, I, as an older person, I'm going to declare your wondrous works. So God's giving us a job to do that very thing. He says, now also when I'm old and gray-headed, O God, don't forsake me, because God is with our seniors. He says, don't let me die. Don't let it be all over until what happens. Well, until I fulfill my job, until I fulfill the mission that you've given me as a senior. He says, until I declare your strengths to this generation. So as older folks, we've got a job. You've got to declare those things. How has God worked in your life? What wisdom can you pass on to this younger generation, younger generation, teens, pre-teens, our young adults? Do we have a relationship with the wise among us? We need to have that kind of a relationship that we've heard about so that we can glean those things. I don't want to have to experience them all for myself. They can show me. They can lead me. They can guide me so I can have a deeper understanding of God's will and His way and how it works in this life, because they're sharing that with us. They're guiding us. They're directing us through their experiences. And as seniors, I'm not going to take that for granted. I'm going to seek out those. I'm going to develop relationships with our young people so that it can all work together for good.

Because, you know, it does take grandmas and grandpas, and it takes all the way down to the little grandchildren, our church family. We all need each other so that we can help and we can serve. And God set us on this mission as seniors to serve the young people. And so, are we declaring that? Do we have relationships so that we can share those things? Are we fulfilling that mission, that job that God has given us to do that very thing? We can do that. We should do it. Verse 19 talks about God's greatness. He says, your righteousness, oh God, is very high. You who have done great things, oh God, who is like you? Well, do we talk about those great things that God has done in our life so we could pass on this wisdom that God's granted to us? Yeah, and sure enough, verse 20 says, you've shown me great and severe troubles because we know growing old can bring those kinds of things. And yet, that doesn't scare me. That doesn't frighten me. I could tell you there is nothing more reassuring than a senior facing death talking to their little one saying, I'm okay. I know God's greatness. I know what His plan is. I know His purpose. It's going to be okay.

That is such a powerful thing. Amazingly powerful working in our children's lives. And so even though there's difficulties and troubles and my body is wearing out and I'm facing death, we know the power of the resurrection. That's what it says in verse 20. He shall revive me again. Bring me up from the depths of the earth. Talk about reassuring wise outlook. He's going to comfort me. He's going to encourage me.

Don't be beside yourself when I'm gone because God has a plan. And so He says, yes, what an amazing thing. Verse 22, also with the loot I'll praise you. You and your faithfulness, oh my God, to you I'll sing with the harp, O Holy One of Israel. We had this play out right before our eyes in our family. My wife's grandmother was a part of God's way from the 1950s. And she would visit us oftentimes over the year and come and stay a couple of weeks. Great-grandma, of course, became her name for our kids. Great-grandma was in her 90s and we'd go to church and she would stand and sing out those songs that we sing. Do you know what she sounded like? Terrible! She was awful. She had this shaky little voice and it would wobble and wobble and she would struggle to stay on pitch, but she sang out. What kind of witness was that for the kids? What kind of witness was it for that old lady? In fact, her name was Dolly because she was so tiny a lady, but she would bell her out. She'd really sing just amazing. Not so much the sound being amazing. You can say, oh, it was amazing. But she put everything she had into it and lived that out and talked about, not only at church, but we'd talk about it with the great-grandkids. In fact, that lady would come with us on our circuit when we would go to two churches. She's in her 90s and she wanted to declare God's strength unto this next generation. In her 90s, in fact, one time the kids had chicken pox. They were going to stay home. Great-grandma was visiting with us. So I thought, well, I'll go to the first church in the morning and on my way back, I mean, it was 100 miles away. On the way back, I'll stop, pick up great-grandma and we'll go to the second church. So I kind of snuck out that morning, went to church. When I got back early in the afternoon to pick her up for afternoon church, she was mad. She was fried at me. It's like, why didn't you wait for me? She wanted to go to those churches. At 90-some years old, this lady inspired me, inspired our kids with her dedication to God in those days when she hurt.

And she didn't feel... It didn't matter if she didn't feel good. She would say, well, if I'm going to feel bad, I'd rather feel bad with God's people than to feel bad all by myself at home. I mean, what an amazing example. And that was a proclamation. That was serving the young by that amazing example that she set. And so even though she wasn't around as our kids got to be teenagers, they remember. They remember what great-grandma was like. Yeah, absolutely. And so here we see that very... You can't sing? Sing anyway. Sing anyway. That shouldn't hold us back even when we're old. Even says, talk about it. Verse 23, my lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing, and my soul which you've redeemed, my tongue shall also talk of your righteousness all the day long, for they're confounded. They're brought to shame who seek my hurt. And so what an amazing thing that we have. We have this great example. We have this wonderful opportunity to do that very... We can talk about it, but we got to know each other. We got to care about each other. We've got to develop our relationships within the church. So it's not just our physical family that we share these things with, but our spiritual family. And for our young people, what an opportunity. What an opportunity to hear the stories of our seniors and what their life was about. How were they able to say faithful to God for all these years? What did they face? I mean, what a resource we have right here before us. We don't want to take that for granted. What would the church be without our seniors? Wouldn't be a church. Not the way God intended it. And there's no substitute for our seniors passing on that wisdom, that spiritual understanding to the younger generation. Of course, there's so many aspects of growing old and lessons we can learn as we do.

I think there's such an important one that kind of fits with this whole scenario, is the fact that as we grow old, we learn reliance on God. As we grow older, we have to depend on God. It's a requirement, I think, in so many ways. Because as those physical capabilities kind of wear out, it is a struggle to do things. It's like the little girl was talking to her grandpa, and grandpa to this little girl just seemed like ancient, ancient. Grandpa was telling her, you know, I'm just so tired. My arms are so weak. I can hardly pick up my coffee cup. He said, my cataracts are getting so bad, I can hardly see anything. He said, I can hardly pick up my toothbrush because I can't see where it is. He says, I have this struggle turning my neck because I've got all this arthritis that's just hurting so badly. He said, my blood pressure medicine just makes me dizzy. Can't hardly see straight. He said, but I am really thankful. I can still drive.

Stay off the sidewalk, right?

Old age should lead us to recognize that very thing, that we got to be dependent on God.

We can't count on the strength of youth any longer. The reality starts to set in. I can't do the things I used to do. I can't get the screwdriver on that screw anymore because I can't see it. Bring some more light over. It's not obvious anymore. And yet, God created it that way on purpose, that we can't stay young. There's an interesting section of Scripture in Lamentations, chapter 3, verse 22. Growing old should help us to learn reliance on God. Lamentation, we don't often turn to this section of Scripture. In my Bible, it's on page 944, so it is a little bit difficult. If you find the bigger book of Jeremiah, the biggest book there, you can go right after that. It should be the Lamentations before Ezekiel. Here, it points out this very fact.

Let's take note of what it says here in Lamentations, chapter 3, verse 22. In fact, this might begin to sound a little familiar as well. See if you recognize these words at all. We say Lamentations, we'll say, boy, I don't know if I'll recognize anything in that book, but I think you will, this section. Lamentations 3, 22, it says, through the Lord's mercies, we're not consumed. You see, we're seeing something beyond life. Because His compassion fails not. Verse 23, they're new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.

Right, we recognize these words. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I hope in Him. The Lord's good to those who wait for Him. To the soul who seeks Him, it is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. You see, as we age, we recognize that doesn't change the fact of what God's doing. We can rely on His promises. His promises never fail. In fact, we can be reminded of them every single day. He is absolutely faithful. He will never leave us. He'll never forsake us. And as we get older, we recognize that fact. We can't go on this way. We have to face the reality. God didn't make us to last forever in this physical world. And so we learn, I'm not self-sufficient. I can't do it by myself. I can't rely on my own strength, my own prowess. That's long gone. I can't do the things I used to be able to do. And by this aging process, it becomes that much clearer, doesn't it? That much clearer that we need to rely on God. In fact, we need to depend on Him. This passage shows that very thing. Where is our confidence? If our confidence is in this life alone, we're to be most pitied.

This is where our confidence lies. Where is our hope? Where is our trust? You see, that's the interesting part. You put all of those different synonyms together, whether it's reliance on God or dependence on God or confidence in God. Our hope is in God. We trust God. Don't you see that this aging process should be a faith-builder? Trust and confidence, hope, reliance. Those are all synonyms for faith, aren't they? That we trust God. We have absolute, undeniable confidence that what God says He will do, He will do. There's no doubt about it. Yes, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but what does God promise when He delivers? Will He deliver us out of a couple of them? One or two of the trials and afflictions? Or does He say He's going to deliver us out of all? He says out of all because we see the bigger picture. We see the bigger picture, so it builds our faith and our confidence in God. And that is a phenomenal thing when we recognize that very fact. So growing old doesn't change our outlook because we know beyond this life, there's so much better future. We were talking about this in one of the classes, well, this is a while ago, and I was really getting into the kingdom and how awesome God's kingdom is going to be. And I have a tendency to get a little excited about those kinds of things. This is going to be great. It's going to be awesome. We can't even imagine how wonderful it is going on and on. And someone raised their hand and they said, well, you're excited about it because you're old.

But even as young people, when we glean that wisdom from those who are seniors, it can help set our perspective because we are going to grow old. When does it start, anyway? I mean, when are we old? There was an interesting survey that was done by the Pew Research Group. They did a little study called Growing Old in America. That was kind of interesting. The title said, Expectations versus Reality. One of the questions they asked about was, when does old age begin? So if you had to pick a number, when does old age begin? What number would you put on that?

Okay, you got that number in mind? Some might say 40. I don't know if they would say 40 or not. That didn't come up on the survey. It was a little bit older than that. What do you think the average answer turned out to be?

68. 68 was the average answer when it came to being old. Now, what do you think the people that were 68 said? No, no. 6% of 65-year-olds agreed with that. Now, they're not going to buy into that. But if you were under 30, guess what their answers were? Remember, this is an average.

They said, whoa, it's way before you get to 60. Old age is way before that. So average was 68.

But when they asked those, are you old? Are you old? Imagine asking that question to a group 65 to 74 years old. They were asked, are you old? What percentage of that group would say they felt old? 65 to 74. 21%. Just 21%. How about those older than 75? What percentage of 75 and older would say that they're old? 35%. Only 35%. So I thought, wow, that's pretty amazing.

Sometimes I'm reminded of my dad's perspective on things. Well, one of the things he said is, old age ain't for sissies, for one thing. You talk about wearing out. But one time he was trying to describe this person to me, trying to get me to remember who this individual was. He says, well, you know this guy. He's that old guy. He's a senior and he tried to describe what he's like, and I'm trying to imagine this guy. I couldn't come up with it. He's an old timer. He said, you know, he's a pensioner. He's an old guy. There's a word you don't hear very often, a pensioner. Yeah, a pensioner. My dad used that once in a while. Yeah, he said, you know this guy. He's kind of an old fogey and he's describing this guy and I'm not getting it. I can't picture who this guy is. He's kind of getting frustrated with it. You know him. He's that old cotger. And as I'm going along, I'm trying to imagine this guy. Of course, my dad is in his 80s at this time, describing this guy. And then finally it was like, boom, the light bulb comes on. It was like, dad, this guy's like 15 years younger than you are. I said, you're the cotger.

True story. True story. But it always seems that that was even my mom, I think, says that today. Old is 10 years older than where you are right now. So imagine this survey. They asked that question, how long would you like to live? How old would you like to be before you die? What do you think the average response... Now this was a whole group of people. So younger people, older people, all were asked that very thing. So what do you think the average age was when they asked the question, how long would you like to live? It was 89. 89 was what came back on that Pew survey. So it is interesting, the perspective that different people have when it comes to aging.

And it's always interesting to see the little ones and their perspective. You may have heard the story about the little girl was having her friend over and grandma lived with them. And every time, the little friend came over, grandma was studying her Bible and she was sitting at the table going through this Bible and this friend noticed, why is grandma always reading her Bible? She's always that every time I come over, grandma's always reading her Bible. Why is she doing that? She asked her friend and she said, oh, I think grandma's studying for finals. Yeah, there's going to be a test, isn't there? Studying for finals. Well, there is something that lies ahead and I think in one sense, it may be the most valuable thing that we can appreciate as we grow old. Eternal life. As we grow older, do you think that God helps us to value real life, eternal life? I mean, imagine if we were always in our prime, we're always full of energy, we have all this vitality. Who needs a kingdom? Why would I want that? I mean, physical life is great, everything's fine, I'm healthy, I'm strong, everything's wonderful. But as we age, we begin to ache for real life rather than just aching and hurting. We see the aching need, we see the necessity for real life, for eternal life, a body that's not just physical, a body that's spirit. We see the absolute need for eternal life and I think God set it up that way.

There's a section in the book of Job that brings that to our attention. Job 14, verse 1 describes this very fact, how much do we really appreciate eternal life? As we're young, yeah, we might not. But God wants us to really get a handle on this as young people, as teenagers, as young adults. God wants us to have this perspective as well. He doesn't want us to wait around until we're old to really appreciate God's plan and His purpose. Job 14, right at the beginning of the chapter, right at the beginning of the chapter, we see that man who is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble.

Well, it sounds a little solemn-esque, doesn't it? A little bit like that, like Solomon. Well, life is difficult. Why is it that way? Well, verse 2 describes the process. You're like a flower, but then you fade away. And I said this morning, it reminded me of going to Kroger's and buying the manager's special, the little flowers they have there. You get them home, and how long do they last?

About a day, right? It's like, well, it was a nice thought. Didn't last very long. Life is like that, right? It's like the manager's special flowers at Kroger's. We buy them and they don't last long, right? They fade away. It says he compares it to a shadow. The shadow goes away when the sun comes up, right? It doesn't continue. But then he compares life to a tree. Verse 7, it says, there is hope for a tree. It says if it's cut down, it just might sprout again, that its tender shoots will not cease. And we've all had that experience probably.

Maybe not with trees, but with those weeds you don't want. You cut them down and it seems they come right back, right? Well, God's reminding us here, under this inspiration we find in Job, is there something more? Is there something more to this life? There's a resurrection, and that is a promise of God. And we can value that even though we wear out, things kind of wind down.

It doesn't mean it's over. It's not over. Verse 10, a man dies, is laid away, indeed he breathes, is last. Where is he? Here's a section we often read at funerals. Verse 13, oh, that you'd hide me in the grave, that you'd conceal me until your wrath is passed, and that you'd appoint me a set time and remember me. Well, will God remember us? Without a doubt. We understand His purpose and His plan. We understand why we age and why we get old. And we understand this life is not what it's all about. If a man dies, will he live again? Absolutely! He says, all the days of my hard service, I will wait till my change comes.

You will call, I will answer. You desire the work of your hands. We are the work of God's hands. Do we appreciate the significance of eternal life and that plan? And just because we get older, that doesn't mean that we don't value what is most important.

In fact, this thing can never be taken from us. Yeah, our knees might creak and our elbows don't work and we can't turn our neck and we can't see as well and everything seems to hurt. Our vitality has been taken away from us. But that doesn't change the positive perspective that we can have because no one will ever take the value of what God's gift is all about.

No one can steal that from us. And so we don't ever want to take that for granted. We don't want that temptation to say, well, I don't know what God's doing. Not really that valuable to Him. No, He says we are. He says we are valuable to Him and He's not going to leave us. He's not going to forsake us. He's always going to be there for us. And so just because we're getting old doesn't change a thing. In fact, Paul talked about the same thing. He kind of summarizes this whole perspective on getting old. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16. Paul was certainly not a Solomon. His perspective was totally different. And I think part of that comes because he had gained wisdom.

He was instructing those younger than himself. He was reliant on God. And here, sure enough, we see his perspective on eternal life. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16. Yes, we're getting old, but we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. International Standard Version, verse 16, it says, that's why we're not discouraged. We're not down. We're not discouraged.

We're not depressed. Even if outwardly we're wearing out, not that way on the inside, every day. Each and every day, we're being renewed. Troubles? Yeah, the little troubles we suffer now, they're just for a short time because God is making us ready for great things. God is going to give us forever. Love that translation. God is going to give us forever. We don't lose heart. We recognize the value of eternal life.

And through God's Spirit, we can have an amazing, positive state of mind. Our approach and our attitude recognizes the fact we're walking by the Spirit of God. And so old age doesn't have to be a down and discouraging kind of thing. We can grow and mature even that much more spiritually speaking. So imagine it in this sense. Have you ever thought that getting older, aging, is actually an expression of God's love?

Because we get older, God demonstrates His love to us. He really does. He shows us how much He loves us because He says, you know, there's something even better ahead. There's something even more valuable ahead. In fact, you talk about getting old.

God Himself gives us a perspective on that. One of His names, the Ancient of Days. So if God calls Himself Ancient of Days, why should I worry about getting older? It must not be that bad of a thing to get older if God Himself refers to Himself by that term. And so as we do get older, it is time to gain wisdom. It is time to grow. It is time to put on the character of Christ. It's time to rely fully and depend on Him. It's time to grow in faith and in confidence of the plan of God. It's time to serve. Never time to get up. We're going to be good Texans and we're going to die with our boots on. We're going to serve God and we're going to honor Him no matter how old we are because that's the mission that He's put us on. And it will certainly reflect in our appreciation and our love for God because He has this great plan that He is going to give us eternal life. Now, John didn't get it. You know, Juan, Ponce de Leon, he didn't understand it. It's not about physical life. God's got real life for us, right? He's put us on a spiritual quest. And this spiritual quest of aging, of living life, is something God has given to us out of love for our good. And when we recognize that very fact, we can begin to say, that's why I'm growing old.