Lessons From Over the Hill

I'm not sure if I needed that much closer. I could do it without the mic. I've been known as being loud. I've got my bottle of water. I'm ready. So, again, I want to thank all of you for hosting the Ambassador Bible. Ambassador Bible College Corral. Boy, that's an article. I appreciate it, and I was going to say some kind things about Mr. She-Maker, but I think Mr. Burton covered that. One thing I want to add, though, is Mr. She-Maker goes out of his way to prepare the corral to run themselves. And he really works at teaching them to take responsibility, and I think this group has done that well. So, I'm always pleased. I don't tell them when we're back in Cincinnati, but I'm very proud of them, and it's a pleasure for all of us faculty to get to work with them. And then we get to come out and show them off at times like this. So, there's an old saying that says, we're too soon old and too late smart. It's sort of like the old joke of a fellow going to see his doctor when he's older, and they're talking about these health problems and difficulties, and the doctor's sort of on him, and he says, well, Doc, if I'd have known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself. I'm waiting for this to catch up. These ideas come from the idea that life goes by faster than we think. When we're young, it seems, ah, we don't have to worry about that. It's going to be a long time before I'm old. And then when we are older, we look at it differently. We might wish we had back some of those days of our youth to put to different use. And I see that in myself sometimes. You know, I wonder every time I'm behind a lecture and I say, how do I get here? I'm just a kid. And then I look in the mirror and I go, no, Frank, you don't look like a kid anymore. And I know there's a number in the audience that feel these things very well. And we've got some younger...it's funny, I've got youth... Mom, there's a little bit of youth over there, a lot of more youth over here. But, you know, we're everywhere in between. And I want to talk today a little bit about the life cycle that God made for us as human beings and what he expects of us, different stages we have.

In the society around us, there's a lot of value put on youth. Not so much on old age. But God's Word shows the priorities perhaps should be a little bit differently. Let me just cite a couple of scriptures that we're familiar with without turning there. Leviticus 19, verse 32, is where it says, Rise before the gray-headed man. The old King James said, the hoary head. Honor the presence of an old man and fear God. In Proverbs 16, verse 31, it says, A silver head is a crown of glory if, and I think that it's important, if it's found in the way of righteousness. God would show that the blessings that come from old age really fully apply if the person has been living God's way. So we do want to stress and understand the importance and the value of a lifetime of experience and learning and knowledge. But I don't want to give the wrong impression. I do still understand that it's a lot more fun to be young than to be old. There's enjoyable experiences. But age earns this degree of honor, but it has its problems. We can wonder, why did God make it that way? What is the value of old age? What are we supposed to do between being young and old? What can young people learn? And God in general made, I would classify it as three broad stages. There is youth, adulthood, and old age. I know we've come up with a lot of euphemisms in our society. We say senior citizens and seasoned citizens. I remember when we used to talk about silver ambassadors. And I don't know what all else, but I hope nobody gets offended if I say old. I like one syllable words when I can do it. Each has its place. Let's talk about youth. The Bible has a considerable amount of instruction for what to do when you're young. And most of it has to do with preparing for when you're not young anymore. If you'll turn towards Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 11 is the first place I want to read, verse 9. But before I get to there, if I ever answer there, I'll remind us, Ecclesiastes 12 and verse 1 is a scripture we cite fairly often. Where it says, it reminds us to remember God when we're young. Remember Him in the days of our youth. And it says, Ecclesiastes 11, verses 9 and 10, where we see a little bit of why. That's where it says, Rejoice, O young man, in your youth. Let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. Bobs, know that for all these, God will bring you into judgment. And for that reason, therefore, remove sorrow from your heart. Put away evil from your flesh. Childhood and youth are a vanity. That doesn't mean they're useless, but it means they pass by more quickly than you think.

Therefore, it's foolish to live as the life will always be that way. Be aware this time in life is going to go by. With that in mind, what should a young person be doing? We can find an answer. As a matter of fact, the book of Proverbs has a lot of instruction for those who are younger. I want to read just one passage in chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4. And I might have to condense. I've got a whole bunch of it listed here.

Proverbs chapter 4 begins with the words, Hear my children the instruction of a father. Give attention to no understanding.

If we skip down to verse 5, it says, Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don't forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Don't forsake her. That is the wisdom and understanding. And she'll preserve you. Love her and she'll keep you. Wisdom is the principle thing. Therefore, get wisdom. And while you're busy getting, get understanding. Sorry, I paraphrased that a little bit. I've been in a habit lately doing that.

Now in verse 10, it says, Hear my son, receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many. This alone is enough to tell us that a lot of what we need to do before we're older, while we're young, is...

It's a time for learning. A time for listening to those who are more experienced, studying, developing skills.

Of course, we can make a strong implication about some of what the responsibility is for those who are older, because the young aren't supposed to figure it out all on their own.

But I think we kind of know that.

I don't want to go through a lot of examples, but in my study of American history, when I was preparing to be a history teacher, I focused on the American Revolutionary period, the Founding Fathers. And there's some great examples in them. One of my favorites is Benjamin Franklin, because we don't often remember how he was born to a very poor family that had a lot of children, and he was one of the youngest. But he set about out to learn. When he was young, he was apprenticed to an older brother who operated a print shop.

And Franklin said, hey, I'm in a shop where they print things. He made the habit of reading everything he could get his hands on. And during lunchtime, others would go out and have fun or whatever. He'd stay there and read and study. And I don't have to tell you what Benjamin Franklin became and how his wisdom helped shape our nation. And he was one of several among the Founding Fathers.

But I want to move on, because I want to focus more on some later things rather than youth.

When we reach adulthood, there's not a lot of mystery about what we're supposed to do then. I can sum it up largely in one word. Work.

It's a time to work. Provide for yourself. Provide for your family.

And there's a couple of scriptures I'll mention once again without turning, because I think we know them. And 2 Thessalonians 3, beginning in verse 10, the Apostle Paul pretty much said, If a person won't work, he should meet.

Now, that doesn't say anything about a person who's unable to work. We don't want to castigate or ostracize people who have disabilities, but if you're able to work, he says you should.

1 Timothy 5 and verse 8, in 1 Timothy 5-8, he said that if anyone doesn't provide for his own household, he's denied the faith. That's worse than being an infidel.

That's putting some strong words there. It is very strong.

Now, granted, working for a living can be pretty tough. We know that. Not every bit of work is enjoyable.

But I want to focus a little bit on the other side of that also. Looking back at some of what Solomon wrote, that's why I didn't want to go too far from Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. If you want to turn towards Ecclesiastes chapter 5, maybe I should have stayed turned towards it. You might never get there.

But we want to turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 5. But let's think about King Solomon. He had more wealth than a person would know what to do with. He had it all. He enjoyed the finest things of life, accomplished a lot of tremendous things. And we think Ecclesiastes was written towards the end of that life, when he was looking back.

And part of what he struggled with is, what really makes a person happy? When they're in those years, when they have it all, what do you need? What makes a happy life? And I think he gives some keys here. In Ecclesiastes 5, starting in verse 18, and say, I'm focusing on when we've finished studying and preparing for life and we're living it.

He says, here's what I've seen. It's good and fitting for one to eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. I said, work, that's another word for that. Enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils unto the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him. It's his heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth and giving him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor, this is the gift of God.

Rejoice in your labor. Enjoy the work you have to do in eating the food and drink. And verse 20, he says, and he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.

It seems to me Solomon saying, if you enjoy your work and the profits of it, life is going to just fly by.

You want to think about unduly about the time going by. And I think we see then some keys to a happy life.

Take some joy in your work. And notice he doesn't say one work will make you happy and the other won't. It's what your daily tasks are. Take some pleasure in them. Put yourself into it. And enjoy the benefits of that work, whether it be much or a little.

Let's see about a couple of other keys. Back in chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes, this one's pretty brief. Ecclesiastes 3 and verse 12.

Again, we're looking for happiness in our adulthood.

I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice and do good in their lives. Also, that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. It's the gift of God. Solomon's tying those two together. I made the point, okay, rejoice in your labor, enjoy your food and drink. But he added a third key here, I think, when he said simply, do good.

Live God's way.

I'm rushing by it as though it's a small thing, but it's not a small thing. Obeying God's way makes you happy. You don't have that underlying guilt, that nagging, oh, maybe I should have told the truth to that guy when I didn't. No, if you tell the truth, you obey God's commandments, you've got a clean, conscious, and a pretty happy life.

Skipping ahead to chapter 4, beginning in verse 8, we'll see a fourth key, I believe. And I only have five keys. I don't have seven. For some reason, I'm going to have a talk with Solomon about that when he shows up. He might say, no, I had seven, Frank. You just missed two of them. Chapter 4, verse 8.

This is fairly poetic language, but Solomon is saying, that a very important key to happiness is your family.

Don't just be alone. Become attached to people. You start off attached to people. You've got your parents, whether you like it or not. And maybe brothers and sisters. But that's good. And sooner or later, you hope to attach yourself to one other individual. And we'll see that come up again. But sharing a life with your family has a great key to happiness.

Another one, as I'm proceeding ahead in the next chapter, Ecclesiastes 5 and verse 12. Again, I thought of this when Mr. De Canclos was talking about that miserable night. He says, The sleep of a laboring man is sweet. Whether he eats little or much, the abundance of the rich won't permit him to sleep. You know, getting a good night's sleep is a key to being happy and healthy.

And I learned a phrase a couple of years ago. I don't know if it's still in common practice. It's called POMO. F-O-M-O, fear of missing out. And I've noticed that happens especially with young people. You know, you fear something's going on you're missing out on. So you've got to have your cell phone on so you can get that text. Or you might stay out too late. You know, you fear you're going to miss out something. But when you do that, what you're missing out on is a good night's sleep sometimes. You know, sometimes you just gotta say, no, I need my rest. I want to take care of my health. And this fits into that. There's a section in the ninth chapter of Ecclesiastes that I think sums up a lot of this pretty well. Ecclesiastes 9 and verse 7.

Ecclesiastes 9. I'll begin in verse 7 and read through verse 10. After studying this a number of years, I said, I think this is what happiness is all about, especially in the midst of your life.

And it starts with what I could have put first. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life.

No, actually, no, I wanted to start in verse 7. Okay, let's back up to verse 7. We'll get to that wife. We started earlier. Eat your bread with joy. Okay, happiness. Drink your wine with a merry heart. So it's okay to have a little wine sometimes. God has already accepted your work. Let your garments always be white and your head lack no oil. Take care of yourselves. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life. Notice this isn't...you mean love the wife you have. Not go looking for another one that you think you can love better who might make you happy. The one you have is the wife that you love. And ladies, it goes the other way, of course. Live joyfully with the husbands that you love. Yes, all the days of your life, this life of vanity, that's your portion in life. And in the labor which you perform under the sun. Verse 10. Whatever your hand finds to do, that is, whatever your work is, do it with your might. There's nothing else afterwards. No work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you're going. And again, I think there's some keys to happiness when we reach our adulthood. It's in those things we have, the work before us, our family, the food and drink that we're able to earn. It's not. Happiness is not in trying to get something you don't have that you think you need. That's not saying it's not okay to go to Walmart and get what you need, but that's not the key to happiness, not stuff. It's not in amazing, unusual experiences. Skydiving, deep-sea diving. Those things can be fun and good, but you can't be doing it all the time. Taking the pleasure and the life you have is important. Happiness is not in that someone out there that I haven't found yet. Now, I know I've met a large group of single young people here. You may or may not find them. When you find someone, it's okay. You have to choose someone and devote yourself to them. Not thinking there's one person who you just find. You have to commit yourself when you're both ready. And I don't want to make this a marriage seminar by any means. But again, happiness and life, it comes from that and from obeying God and living righteously. Working hard at the work you have to do. Enjoying what you get from it. Living happily and lovingly with your family.

It's all in the sense that if you're doing that, time's going to fly by. You won't think unduly about it because you'll be happy. And then the next thing you know, you'll be old.

Okay, I'm trying to tie these together. If we notice what we need to do when we're young is preparing to work, and then we spend our lives trying to do these things to make a happy life, it makes sense. Part of what we'll be doing when we're older will be teaching and advising those who are younger. I see an example in life stages actually in some of the instruction God gave for the tribe of Levi when they were serving first in the Tabernacle and then in the Temple. Actually, I can tell you, if you begin turning to Numbers 8, I should have had that memorized. Remember, the Levites were devoted to serving the priesthood in that system. All the work that had to be done, maintaining the Temple, and probably involved the normal maintenance, cleaning and such, it required the work that went into worship. They had Temple choirs. They had people setting things up and taking things down.

And, boy, it included the work that goes along with animal sacrifice. I don't know if anyone here has ever worked as a butcher. And I've never been a full butcher. I worked at a restaurant where I did do some meat cutting. And before I'd done it, I never realized how heavy cows are, even when it's just pieces of them. And it's hard work cutting them up. And, boy, those Levites did a lot of hard work.

There's also administration. Among the Levites were the special class that family within the Levites who were priests, who had a responsibility for overseeing all of this and a lot of teaching, especially located at the Temple. I sometimes wondered if the Levites who weren't at the Temple, because they couldn't all be there at once, didn't do a lot of government administration and teaching in their particular areas. And I suspect perhaps they did. But I want to look at an interesting schedule God set up, now that I'm going to turn to Numbers 8. Sorry, I thought I was there, but I didn't have my glasses on. Numbers 8 will begin in verse 24.

And those of you in Lexington, remember, I brought my non- my traveling Bible just doesn't open up the way my classroom Bible does.

Nor does it have as big a letters. Okay, Numbers 8 and verse 24. This is what pertains to the Levites.

Notice that four-letter word again, work. And at the age of 50 years, they must cease performing this work. They must work no more. Now, they may minister, and minister could also be translated as serve with their brethren in the meeting to attend to the needs. But they themselves shall do no work.

Thus, you shall do it for the Levites concerning their duties.

I'm not going to turn there, but if you pair this with Numbers chapter 4 and verse 3, it says that they begin their work at age 30.

And it seems like an apparent discrepancy, but I think what it means is there was a training period built in.

And we might wonder, well, what about before age 25? Are they just out blowing soap bubbles and catching butterflies? No. They do what all of us do in our young years. They get a general education. They're learning how to live. Then, starting at age 25, though, very specific training, I believe. Learning how to do the particular tasks of that job of serving.

And then they could begin doing it at age 30. Not coincidentally, I believe, when men are often at their peak in maturity, in physical strength, in ability to do these duties.

And they stay at that peak, hopefully, for a full 20 years. And then at age 50, stop that physical labor. Bring in a younger man to carry those heavy animals and cut up the sheep and things like that.

Now that you're past 50, they would tell the Levites, it's time for you to not go home and retire, but continue to serve without all the work. Probably consisted of a couple of things. I imagine administrative duties. Someone had to keep records. Someone had the very important task of making new copies of the Scripture. And that's something that they learned they had to take very seriously.

Someone also had to start working with those 25-year-olds to teach them how the job should be done. Who better than someone who just spent 20 years doing it?

So the work and the career phase of Levites was a very special and unique profession.

I don't think all careers would necessarily follow that kind of path. But there's some general guidelines. Any job worth doing is worth getting some preparation for. In some cases, it might be going to college. It could be training school. Apprenticeship. In our country, apprenticeship used to be a primary way to learn a trade. And it's kind of gone by the wayside. And from what I've seen, it's starting to come back. Learn from a master. Get some on-the-job training.

Now, few, if any, modern professions have built-in retirement at age 50. Yeah, I'd be retired already. I just started.

But it does make sense to have someone who's experienced in their trade to not be doing all the mundane daily work as much as starting to work to train the younger generation and preparing them and overseeing and managing. I think that makes a lot of sense.

I'll recite a passage from the book of Job. In Job 32, verses 6-9, we won't turn there, but it's after Job and his three friends have been reciting poetry at each other. It looks like if you read the verse form that's written in. But, you know, Job has suffered this great catastrophe. His friends come to cheer him up, and they accuse him of being bad and sinning. And, Job, you better repent. So, we've got to remove this.

Job says, I haven't done anything. I'm good. I'm suffering unjustly. And finally, a younger man speaks up. And, by younger, he still might have been 50 or 60. But, he said something very important, and that's what I wanted to get to. He said, age should speak. Age should speak. And, multitude of years should speak wisdom. So, those of us who are getting older, and those of you who are ahead of us, there's a responsibility. Multitude of years should speak wisdom. That's one reason why, when you're young, you've got to seek after wisdom. So, you'll have it to speak later on.

I pause sometimes, and I think, how does this example match what we've been doing in God's church?

In some ways, I think pretty well. In some ways, maybe we've fallen behind, and we're trying to catch up. For years, I, and probably many of you, would hear messages from the home office, and one of the things I heard over and over again is, we need to train younger men for the ministry. Our ministers are getting old.

For some reason, I thought that would bring a laugh. Maybe because it's a mysterious business.

But, what I thought of using is, okay, we need younger men, but what we consider younger has been a moving target.

You know, I find, as my hair gets grayer, what I consider young is not what I considered young back when I was 30.

And so, here I am. I'm one of the new young ministers they hired.

I'm 54 years old.

That reminds me, I know I've shared this joke, but I don't know if I've shared it. Probably not in this room.

A few years ago, at the General Conference of Elders, they did something they hadn't done in a while. They scheduled the Sabbath services to have split sermons. And they got two of the younger ministers in the church. Tim Peppers and Matt Fentchel gave split sermons.

And I remember, I came up and I talked to Matt, and Matt and I went to school. And Matt, Tim, and I all were in Ambassador College together. I said, wow, it's neat that they're having younger men speak. And I said, younger being 50.

And Matt said, speak for yourself. I'm still 49.

You know, in recent years, we've been forced to say, let's address this and let's start training younger men. And let's give credit to where credit's due in the Home Office. They've reached out and done that. And I think with some good success.

But we're still playing catch-up. And I'm not saying this to criticize or complain, just to acknowledge that, as I said, you know, what you consider young changes as you get older. And sometimes, we need to say, okay, let's trust younger people. Let's give them a chance.

And one of the reasons I try to speak on this subject when I travel is because it's not just the Home Office.

It's in our local congregations.

We've got a lot of older members who serve without giving it a thought.

And been doing it quite a long time, successfully.

And I just hope that we are giving thought, though, to helping work with and train younger people as we're doing it.

They need to learn how to do those jobs for when we won't be around to do it.

I think that's one reason we hesitate. No one wants to think of not being around to do the jobs.

Although I think, and I don't want to embarrass my in-laws, but...

Uh-oh. Mom just gave me a look.

No, I... And I'm sharing a story from my wife, Sue. And we've had this discussion. She shared many times how when she was an older teenager, her mom has been a deacon for longer, more years. Not that deaconess. Thank you. Her dad is a deacon.

But you have the deaconess setting up for potlucks and doing things. And Sue tells the story. Mrs. Lord would grab the young adults and the teenagers, and here, I need to do this, do this. And they'd be learning how to do. And I guess, I don't remember what it was, once she was sick and told Sue, I'm sick, I can't go, you've got to go run the potluck. Which, I think, the way Sue tells it, she'd be like, what? I'm just a kid.

But having that experience gets people ready to go.

What I find sometimes is having well-intentioned older church members working with younger people and teaching them sometimes isn't the hard part.

The hard part is saying, okay, now you do it. It's easier to do when you're sick and you can't. Because you know what young people do? They do it differently, sometimes. Or they make mistakes. You know, it's easier for me to just keep doing it myself than let some younger person take over and they're going to mess things up.

And so I say, young people will make mistakes, they will have questions.

All the better to have them start doing it while the older people are still around to help answer the questions.

That was the system for the Levites. And I think that, you know, I still, sometimes I'm not, look at that, sometimes I'm amazed that I'm sitting in Mr. Antion's office behind his desk in that nice comfortable chair. It's funny, he told me I should get a new chair. I love that chair.

I found out later other people in the office sometimes refer to it as the Captain Kirk chair. And he says, okay, I always wanted to be Captain Kirk.

But I got sidetracked. What I wanted to say is, I'm there, but Mr. Antion is only a phone call away if I have a question.

Or if I need to call him and say, I think I messed up, what do you think I should do?

That's an example for us to do.

And of course, I don't mean to be raped, I'm certain, I hope I'm not rape and older people. Young people need to take the hint. Don't wait to be drafted. Don't wait to be told I need you to learn how to do this. It's good to step up. Attach yourself. Look for a job that needs done or an opportunity to learn.

And I want to look at an interesting example. I'm looking at the clock and you guys will...

I don't know, I was getting kind of hungry before I walked up here.

You're hungry. So I'm summarizing.

There's a story that occurs in 2 Samuel. So if you'll turn, 2 Samuel begins in chapter 15 and carries forward through chapter 19.

It's the story of Absalom's rebellion.

And I'm only going to summarize, but I've always thought this would make a great movie.

It has a very interesting plot.

You know, a family crisis and a struggle for power.

It's got some very interesting characters. The protagonist is King David.

The antagonist is Absalom, his very good-looking, charismatic son.

And there's an array of interesting and engaging supporting players.

There's Joab, Mephibosheth, Hushai, and Ahithophel, and other people whose names are hard to pronounce.

And the one I want to focus on, Barzilii the Gileadite.

He's one of my favorite characters in the Bible, Barzilii.

So to summarize the story, Absalom, David's son, spends years building up a conspiracy to seize the throne.

Even before David, David won't die and get out of the way.

So Absalom is setting this up, but David learns of it a little early.

It comes up in chapter 15, verse 13, where it says, Messenger came to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.

David says to his servants, Arise, let us flee, or we won't escape Absalom. Make haste to depart.

And they take off.

At this point, everyone who's there has to make a decision. They have to choose sides.

They can go with David and risk death, or they can join Absalom committing treason.

And a lot of interesting characters are introduced at this point that we don't have time to focus on.

But if you skip ahead to verse 30, you see, David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and he wept as he went up.

He had his head covered. He went barefoot.

And all the people who were with him covered their heads and went weeping as they went up.

They weren't going out in triumph, saying, Oh, we're going to come storming back and fight. They were sad. David was probably more sad and upset than anyone.

His own son that he loved had committed treason against him.

Now, as I said, I want to move past the various people that come up.

But David and his followers would successfully make it across the Jordan into the eastern land, in the area of Gilead.

But they're weak. You know, David, or Absalom's advisors, discuss what's the best way to go out and totally crush him.

You know, God takes a hand to make sure it doesn't.

But David's followers are hungry and weary and thirsty.

I'm sure you all relate to the hungry and thirsty part.

All hope seems lost, but David will receive help.

If you turn to chapter 17, verse 27. Now, it happens when David had come to Mehenahem, that Shobih, the son of Nahash, from Rabah, of the people of Ammon.

That's one fellow. Then Makir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodabar, the second person, and Barzilii, the Gileadite, from Rokhelim.

They come and it says in verse 28, they brought beds and a basin, earthen vessels and wheat and barley and flour, parched grain, beans, lentils, parched seeds, honey and curds and sheep, cheese of the herd for David and the people who are with him.

The reason they did this is obvious, is that they said the people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.

So they come when they're needed and they bring the supplies.

It's not mentioned here, but Barzilii, who I want to focus on, will learn as an 80-year-old man.

Not someone who's charging off to join an army, usually.

Now, the climax of the battle comes next, where David does build an army and Absalon brings his army, and they fight in the wooded area.

In chapter 18, verse 6, the people went out into the field of battle against Israel, and the battle was in the woods of Bephryim.

The people of Israel were overthrown before the servants of David. A great slaughter, 20,000, took place.

The battle was scattered all over the face of the countryside, and the woods devoured more people than the sword.

Obviously, God took a hand. God wanted David to continue and overthrew Absalon.

Now, other points in the drama come up. Absalon, of course, is, for some reason, he was in love with his long, luxurious hair. He only got it cut once a year, and it describes how he got his hair caught in the bowels of a tree. The donkey who was riding went out from under him. He's hanging there. Joab, the commander of the army, comes and kills him, basically. Throws guards through his heart.

And then there's political rangling.

Okay. David fled, and we anointed Absalon king. Now Absalon's dead. What do we do?

Well, maybe we should bring back David the king. And David tends messengers. David, by the way, wasn't a student politician. And finally, he gets the invitation. Come back, you and your people. And so he's going to do that.

In chapter 19 and verse 15.

And we're going to meet a lot of those interesting characters again. Or I should say, you'll meet them when you go back and study this again when there's more time.

Verse 15, then the king returned, came to the Jordan, and Judah came to Gilgal to go and meet the king, to escort the king across the Jordan. As I said, a number of those supporting characters that we looked at, some who were critical of David come to apologize.

Some are criticizing or accusing each other of wrongdoing. Let's go down to verse 31. And again, meet my friend Barzilii.

Barzilii the Gileadite came down from Rogelum and went across the Jordan with the king to escort him across the Jordan. Now, Barzilii was a very aged man, 80 years old. Remember, he provided the king with supplies while he stayed at May and Am, for he was a very rich man.

So, Barzilii had the means, he wasn't suffering to provide. The king makes an invitation to Barzilii in verse 33. Come across with me. I'll provide for you while you are with me in Jerusalem. Now, I speculate a little, but having studied the way governments work, and kings and their courts in the Middle Ages, I don't think David was saying, come have dinner with me. I think what he was doing was inviting Barzilii to come and join his court, giving him a position in the government, saying, I trust you, you've got wisdom, come and be in my government. But Barzilii has an interesting answer. Verse 34. Barzilii says, how long do I have to live that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? Today, I'm 80 years old. Can I discern between good and bad? Can I taste what I eat or drink or hear the voice of singing men and singing women? Why should your servant be a burden to the Lord your king? I'll go a little ways with you across the Jordan. Barzilii is saying, this is all I wanted. I wanted to enjoy a moment in the sun with the king, seeing him go back. But please, verse 37, let your servant turn back again, that I may die in my own country near the grave of my father and mother.

But here... Now, I lost my place. Yes, but here is your servant Kim him. Let him cross over with my Lord the king. Do for him what seems good to you. I imagine the king looked and said, Kim him shall cross over with me, and I'll do for him what seems good to you. Whatever your request of me, I'll do you. And it goes on.

As I said, Bible commentaries, scholars of the era, speculate who this Kim him was. Now, we don't think it was his son. It's not listed that way. Some think he might have been a grandson or a nephew, perhaps just a younger friend from the village. As a matter of fact, if you look at the listings of the genealogies in Chronicles and Ezra and Nehemiah, there's some reason to think that Barzillia might have not had any sons, only daughters. And so maybe, as I said, not likely this was his son.

But I like this. If this were a great movie, we see a lot of the different plot lines being resolved. And we see that Barzillia, I remember he's not asking David, do for this young fellow what you would have done for me. He's just saying, give him a chance, give him an opportunity, maybe a clerkship or a pretonship. There's a hint, and it's only a hint, in Jeremiah 41, verse 17, hundreds of years later, there's a mention of an estate of Kimham. Maybe he made good on this opportunity.

But I want to think of some of the lessons we can learn from this story of Barzillia and Kimham. What did Barzillia do first? Well, he served in need when it was there. Even though he was 80 years old, he had a good excuse for saying, I'm staying home, you know, my arthritis is hurting me and I can't travel that far. But he had what God's work needed at that time. You know, in this case, it was physical wealth and generosity. And I'll say, over the years in God's church, many older people have stepped up when there's been a need.

Many experienced members have provided what was needed, whether it be know-how, faith, experience, knowledge. They step in. And I don't mean this to contradict what I said earlier about training the younger generation and giving them a chance. But I mean, when there's a crisis, we need the people who know how to do things to do it. At the same time, not forgetting about the future. That's where the second thing that Barzilliai had done and had been working at for a long time. He provided for the future by training a younger leader. You know, in the scenario, I'll say, David's saying, come with me back to Jerusalem. I'm too old. I can't go back.

And I don't think he was just looking around. Is there anybody else I can get? What about that guy? No, in a moment, he said, here's your servant, Kim Ham. This couldn't have been the first time you laid eyes on him. I have a feeling he and Kim Ham had a relationship. Perhaps Barzilliai had worked with Kim Ham for years, teaching him some of what he knew, preparing him, to be ready when an opportunity arose.

And here I speculate, you know, just think Barzilliai, when he was a younger man, say when Barzilliai was 45, he might have thought, boy, I wish I could go serve in Jerusalem. I'm capable and knowledgeable.

But he never got that call. Maybe nobody knew about him. He wasn't called on to serve, and he could have moped around and regretted opportunities that didn't come his way. But instead, he provided the leadership that was needed where he was there in Gilead. He probably served as a leader in his community. And perhaps for the next 35 years, while he might have been ready to go do a bigger job, maybe he was working with the younger men in the village, making sure they were ready.

Maybe Kim Ham and others were mentored by Barzilliai. And as I said, this is speculation, but when the time came, Barzilliai knew exactly who we would recommend to go serve with David. And since I'm speculating, I'll go a little further. What if Kim Ham was 30 years younger than Barzilliai?

Imagine Barzilliai at 45, capable, ready to serve, and he sees a 15-year-old in the village. And he says, I'm going to take that man under my wing and teach him a little. And it's showing interest in him, talk to him. Later, when Barzilliai is 60, Kim Ham is now 30. They probably still have some type of a relationship, mentoring that goes on.

Then we've seen Barzilliai reach his 80 years old. Kim Ham, if this is true, would have been 50, ready to go to Jerusalem and serve. Again, this is pure speculation on my part. But I think we can think. What is not speculation is that in God's Church, for many years, we've had very capable adults spread throughout a number of congregations.

Most were never asked to go to Pasadena. Those of you who remember when we had something there, most were not called and asked to go to Milford. And they could just sit around and mope, or they could say, I'm going to serve in the congregation where I am. And by the way, I might notice some younger people that I can work with and teach. And I know that it's been done.

Matter of fact, one reason I know it is I've been one of those younger guys that have had older men take interest in me and try to teach me and show me some things. And so, you know, as I get older, eventually I'll be moved out of the way. Who knows? But, you know, I look at several people here. We've got potential pastors, teachers at ABC. You know, I got Austin Grub in front of me. Who knows? One day he might be a pastor in the congregation. Sorry, I didn't mean to put Austin on the spot, but I remembered his name for a change.

I'm bad at not his name, but anybody's name. It's exciting to look to the future and think of what we can do now. And I think I had it in my notes somewhere and you missed over it. But one reason we haven't always been as active at preparing younger generations is we knew Christ will return before we get that old. I remember a time when I released I would get old enough to get my driver's license, but I knew it wasn't going to happen because Christ would return, and I don't know if we'll have cars. Now I've gone through a number of cars.

Anyways, this is a lesson for us, but I want to remember, as exciting as it is to look to the future, we don't want to think of our older members as only good for teaching the next generation and then sitting in a rocking chair and being done. Because I've been looking at the stages of this life, but there's more. Proverbs 22 verse 6, I won't turn there, it's one-week quote many times. It says, train up a child in the way that he'll go, the way he should go, and when he's old he won't depart from it.

Not departing from God's way when you're old is something we should strive for. And accomplishing that, that's something important worth doing. And that's been sticking with it when you're old. You know, we want to be aware of some of the things that happen when we're older, and I'm only beginning to see that hint of it in my own life. But, you know, when you get older, one thing that happens is your memory starts to fade.

You can't recall that information out of your brain cells the way you used to. But is recalling information what makes a Christian? I would say, no, I would cite 1 Corinthians 8.1 where Paul said, knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. Paul was making me a point that having information isn't always the most important thing. Having love always is. And I often cite Matthew 23, verse 23, where Christ said, the wavier matters of the law were judgment, mercy, and faith.

And he said, these you ought to have done without leaving the other things undone. It's the importance of getting and building character. What we know and the information we can remember is nice, but it's not as important as what we are. Who we become. And with that in mind, I want to share the last thing I want to talk about is an experience that I had in my own family. Students hear me refer to my grandmother a lot of times. She was the first member of my family to come into the church.

But she had two long and fairly successful marriages. Her first husband died when I was fairly young, and she remarried a man in the church by the name of Arleigh York. A man who I considered my step-grandfather and I developed a great admiration for. A man with about a junior high school education, maybe high school, but really good with his hands, could fix anything, studied God's Word diligently, and served wherever he could. He and my grandmother married when they were in their 60s and were married almost 25 years.

He died at the age of 90, five years before grandma. As I said, a hard worker, industrious, and moral. And he was in good health until almost the very end. When his end came, it was after a brief period of a sudden decline in his health, they discovered that he'd developed lung cancer. He'd been a smoker way, way years ago when he was earlier. I don't know if it was related to that.

But even then, at his health and strength were fading, I noticed he devoted so much time and attention to serving my grandmother. As a matter of fact, I remember at one point hospice started providing help. And I talked to him in his room, and he was upset because he said, I'm in here and they're serving me. I should be out there helping her. And he was speaking with great sincerity.

He was always concerned to not be a bother to other people. He wanted to serve. In the end, he couldn't do even simple things like change his clothes or go to the bathroom by himself. He suffered the height of indignity in his weakness. I remember at that time, the thought came to mind of what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 9. This is a little bit out of context. Paul was talking about having a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of safety to buffet him. But he says in verse 10, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions. For Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

When I am weak, then I am weak strong. Paul was saying, when we physically, which is what happens to us inevitably as we age, we can be strong spiritually. I sat by Arlie York's bed on what we probably both knew was going to be the last night he spent on this earth. He was suffering, he was in pain, and the doctors said that he was at the end. And I realized, as he was as vulnerable as a human being could be, that I was sitting next to someone who was on the verge of being born as a spiritual son of God.

Now, I say that knowing that he's in the grave waiting for Christ's return. I don't want to imply that I think he went up to heaven. But in the next moment of his consciousness, and I say this, obviously God judges. But everything I knew about him assured me that he would come up in the first resurrection. When that seventh trumpet sounds, I believe he'll be one of the first up. And it amazed me.

Here he was, as I said. He'd lost his physical strength, but he was on the verge of becoming a spirit being with unimaginable power. I felt very humble sitting there thinking I was sitting next to someone who was moments away from becoming a son of God.

And I don't get to do it very often now that I'm not pastoring, but I try to keep that thought in the back of my mind when I visit with older members. If I visit someone in the hospital, we don't want to lose sight of where we are in this stage of life. And we want to respect and admire our older members. And I said, it's good to remember the cycle that we have in life. You know, it's temporary, but its stages are important. We start out as children, young people, who have to devote our time to learning and growing. And we spend our adulthood working. But still, we can learn and grow, and if it's done right, that can be a time of tremendous happiness. And God gives us keys to that happy life. And as we grow older, we move more into the phase of teaching and guiding the younger generation, but also making preparations to move into the next great stage of our existence. And that's where it's exciting. Even when we reach the pinnacle of achievement in this life, that's when we're ready to begin what God has in mind for us for eternity.