Never Too Old To Stretch

ILL. There’s a bumper sticker that says, “If Satan reminds you of your past, you remind him of his future.” I like that. He’s going to hell. But if your sin is forgiven, you’re headed in a different direction.

ILL. We used to sing a chorus that went like this, “Gone, gone, gone, gone, yes, my sins are gone. Now my soul is free, & in my heart’s a song. Buried in the deepest sea. Yes, that’s good enough for me. I shall live eternally. Praise God, my sins are gone!’

II. ACCEPT THE PRESENT

Paul then talks about the present. Vs’s 13 & 14 say, “Forgetting what is behind & straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize…”

Another Bible version says it this way, “I continue to stretch forth. I continue to reach for the prize that is before me.” That is why I call this sermon, “Never Too Old to Stretch.”

ILL. Several years ago Herman Silva ran in the New York Marathon. The race is 26 miles long, & Silva was ahead of everyone else. But as he came to the final bend, he turned in the wrong direction.

People started yelling at him that he was going the wrong way. But so intent was he on the race that he ran 40 yards in the wrong direction before realizing what they were yelling.

I can’t imagine, after running nearly 26 miles, how exhausted he must have been. But he had to turn around & run back the 40 yards, turn in the right direction, & then push himself hard to sprint toward the finish line because some of the other runners had almost caught up.

He won the race by 2 seconds – the closest finish in history for the New York Marathon.

APPL. Now my point is this: Even when you’re close to the end of the race of life it's possible to make a wrong turn. But if you’ll listen to the warnings & turn around, you can still cross the finish line & win the victory.

Paul looked at himself & saw his own imperfections. But even while in prison, he says, “I’m still pressing on. I’m still stretching forth.”

ILL. The Family Circus cartoon strip some time ago had Billy speaking to Jeffy, & Billy was philosophizing. He said, “Yesterday is the past. Tomorrow is the future. And today is a gift. That’s why we call it ‘the present.’” I like that. Each day is a present from God.

In Psalm 118:24 the Psalmist says, “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice & be glad in it.” So accept the present & use it for God.

III. PURSUE THE FUTURE

A. Next, Paul tells us to pursue the future. We need a purpose, something to do, something to hope for, something to stretch forward to. But the tendency when we get older is to ease up. Some even say, “When I retired, I really retired. I bowed out of everything.”

Yet nothing in the Bible ever suggests that we are to retire in our service to God. In fact, it seems that as people got older in the Bible they became more useful to God. God used them in the twilight of life in ways that He wasn’t able to use them when they were younger.

When we retire from a secular occupation that just sets us free to be of more service to Him. When I dedicated my life to Christ I didn’t dedicate just 40 or 50 years, I dedicated all my life to Him. I want to be used as long as God gives me the strength & has something for me to do.