Life In The Forth Quarter

LIFE IN THE 4TH QUARTER

Warsaw Christian Church, Richard Bowman, Pastor Emeritus

Text: 2 Timothy 4:6-8: For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

This message is intended for senior citizens. Notice I did not say “old people.” Those few of you under age 55 may listen in, for your time is coming. As we contemplate our golden years this morning, I am well qualified to deliver this sermon. Tom is way too young! First of all, I'd like to share some thoughts with you that will help you recognize that you are a senior citizen. You are a senior citizen when everything hurts, and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work. You feel like the morning after, but you haven’t been anywhere. Your little black book contains only names ending in M.D. You get winded playing checkers. You look forward to a dull evening at home. Your knees buckle, but your belt won’t. Your back goes out more than you do. The little gray-haired lady you helped across the street is your wife. You sink your teeth into a steak, and they stay there. You have more hair in the drain than on your head. You have too much skin for your face. You bought expensive memory pills, but you can’t remember where you put them. Your bladder develops a mind of its own.

One grandmother didn’t like to share her age. Her ten-year-old granddaughter asked her one day, “Grandma, how old are you?” Grandma responded, “Honey, that’s a secret.” Twenty minutes later, the granddaughter bounced into the room and declared, “Grandma, you are 75 and you weigh 140 pounds.” The astonished grandmother responded, “How in the world do you know that?” “Easy,” she replied. “I found your driver’s license. I also noticed that you got an ‘F’ in sex.”

One way to think of the retirement years is to think that we are living in the 4th quarter. Some of us may be in the final two minutes of the 4th quarter! In our text, Paul is living in the 4th quarter. He has heard the 2-minute warning. He is about to depart from this life. As he contemplates his own death, he offers us some words of wisdom about aging. As he advanced in years, Paul had no thought of spiritual retirement. He wanted to fight the good fight of faith until the very end. Is that your attitude? Most of you have retired from work. Have you also retired from service to Jesus? I hope not.

I would like to suggest several reasons why, regardless of age, we should strive to finish our race on a strong, positive note. You may retire from your job. However, I don’t believe there is such a thing as retiring from Christian service. Here is why.

For one thing, we have two things our younger counterparts lack: experience and time. We can use our experience to help the church avoid pitfalls that may come. Paul warns that false doctrines will come, which will undermine the church (2 Tim. 4:1-4). Experienced saints should have learned enough to enable them to identify false teaching and protect the church. And of course, when we retire, we have more time available to serve our Lord. Don’t waste all that free time on yourself. Invest some of it in service to the King of kings.

With our last breath, we want to do whatever we can to build up the church of Jesus Christ. The church will go on when we have departed this life. We all want to hear God say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We don’t want to have to confess to God that, while we served Him when we were young, we coasted when we reached the AARP years.

I must confess there have been times when I have thought about retiring from Christian service. Now I have no thought of ever retiring. Even if I need to give up serving as a local church lead pastor, I want to find some way to serve my Savior to the very end. I want to leave this life having done something to strengthen the church. I hope you feel the same way.

Think about this. Scripture tells us that each one of us is given a spiritual gift or gifts for the building up of the body of Christ. In Ephesians 4:7, we read, “to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Paul adds that when Jesus ascended to heaven, He gave gifts to men. He then provides a few examples of spiritual gifts in Ephesians 4:11. Paul further emphasizes in 1 Corinthians 12:7 that every Christian is spiritually gifted in some manner. And guess what? Spiritual giftedness never wears out; our spiritual giftedness does not retire when we start drawing Social Security.