Honoring Our Senior Saints
By
District Elder M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: When I was asked to speak for the Senior Saints luncheon I was very happy and nervous at the same time. I was happy because you thought enough of me and I am truly honored that you did to speak at the Luncheon Honoring the Senior Saints. I was nervous because I didn’t want to say something that might have offended someone unwittingly because like my father says so many times you young whipper-snapper you don’t know anything. When I am preaching if something is said that someone my get offended at I can always say I’m just the delivery guy and possibly get away with it. However, when just speaking like this I was a little nervous. So I said I know what I will do I will start by saying a joke or two just to break the ice. I searched the internet and found what I thought was going to be pretty funny until I started reading and found myself actually being part of this I would like to share it with you briefly.
10 ways to know you’re getting old?
1. Your joints are more accurate meteorologist than the people on the weather channel.
2. You’re grown when you groan every time you get up.
3. You turn the lights out for economic reason rather than romance.
4. You quit trying to hold in your stomach no matter who walks in the room.
5. You’re proud of your lawn mower.
6. People call you at 9:00 pm and ask did I wake you.
7. Your knees buckle but your belt doesn’t.
8. You know what the word “equity” means.
9. You sing along with elevator music.
10. It takes you longer to rest then it did for you to get tired.
Seriously I am truly grateful to be here and speak on honoring our senior saints. The Bible says in Romans 13:7 “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute [is due]; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour”
Hebrew 12:1 says “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
If I were to combine these scriptures for this occasion it would read “Wherefore seeing we also are compasses about with so great a cloud of witness, let us render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; and honour to whom honour is due.
Today I want to talk about an incredibly valuable and underused asset that we have in the Kingdom of God and that is you our senior saints. You our senior saints pass on a solid foundation of wisdom, stability, and strength that if the younger generation would open their eyes would be able to learn from the examples that are before them and will be able to live a life full of honor, filled with no regrets, and giving glory to God.
We live in a world that often celebrates its young people and mostly everything is geared toward the younger generation. For example technology is geared more toward the younger generation. Computers, iPods, cell phones, and GPS systems oftentimes are a status symbol of success in the eyes of the younger generation rather than a tool used to carry on the function of living.
In our churches we have incorporated in many cases a second Sunday service, the one is called “Traditional” and is geared to the older generation hymnals are used to sing from and the volume of the music is oftentimes softer, while second is called either “Contemporary or Generation X” it is geared toward the younger people, the music is louder, the atmosphere is what has become to be called pumped, and the age of the people in this service usually ranges from 40 and below. Although this is fine because we are able to reach a greater amount of people with diverse worship styles, we must understand and appreciate the value that the senior saints offer to Kingdom of God.
Sadly, many churches and even more young people do not give their senior saints the honor and respect due them. We must realize that many of these men and women that are often times pushed to the other side of the church are the very ones that helped form the foundation of the church. We must understand that the senior saints are truly the stability of the church. Many of the senior saints have the church at heart.
When work needs to done, the senior saints are always there. When projects need to be funded you can count on senior saints to contribute. When the doors of the church are open, the senior saints will always be found there. You the senior saints are the pillars of the House of God upholding the Holy standard! You the senior men and women of the church know God intimately because many of you have been walking with Him for decades.
You the senior saints know every inch of the Throne room of God because you have spent time there in the face of God. The senior saint knows and understands that the altar is not just a place for flower displays, but the place for people to come and travail before God. It’s you the senior saint that has the experience with God to know that prayers may not be answered in the first 30 seconds, but you also have the endurance to wait upon the Lord until He does. The senior saint, possess the patience to stand still until they see the salvation of the Lord! To the senior saint the scripture is totally true when the Bible says God’s Word is the lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
The senior saint knows the Word of God. All you have to do is look at their Bibles to know that they have been read over, and over, and over again! You the aged warrior has incredible wisdom about life, both natural and spiritual. You have lived 60, 70, 80 + years and the church needs to tap into the decades of wisdom and experience you have to offer.
The young man needs to seek out a senior man in the church that will agree to stand with them and fulfill the scripture in Titus 2. The young woman needs to seek out a senior woman in the church that will stand with her and teach her as the Bible says.
Sadly in many churches today so many of our senior saints have been asked to sit on the sidelines, because we see the gray hair and feel as though their time is over, when they yet still have so much to offer. So many-times we look at the gray hair and say things like you wouldn’t understand, things are different now, but we fail to understand what the Bible says in (Proverbs 16:31) that the gray hair is a crown of glory to those who love the Lord. The senior saints are often expected to settle down into inactivity, to just sit back and take your ease in the Lord, but the Bible says that the faithful can expect to be fruitful—even “flourishing”—in their old age (Psalm 92:14) so even-though man may think you need to be inactive God says be fruitful and flourish .
Psalms 92:12 says “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon”. The palm tree is known for long life and its ability to stand even in the storm. The Cedar of Lebanon are known to be solid, strong, and immovable. Senior saints are seen or should be seen as upright, strong, and unmoved by the winds of circumstances who know how to trust in God no matter what may happen like a tree planted by the rivers of water.
You the senior saints show how faithful God is to His promise, how true He is to His Word, how kind He is to those who trust Him. You show that He is the Rock on which we can stand, the Fountain from which we can drink, the Hope that everything will be alright. You show that He is peace that passeth all understanding. You show that He is a way maker when there was no way to be made. You show that He is the joy and the strength of your life. You show that He is a friend that will never leave you or forsake you. You show He is you shelter in the time of storms and He is your strength when you’re weak and worn. You show that He is a keeper of those that want to be kept.
In closing I want to say to our precious senior saints, understand that God is not through with you yet! You are in a wonderful season of your life where God can use you to be a blessing to so many. You have lived life, gained wisdom, overcome the enemy, never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging for bread. Now you must share that wisdom with the next generation.
The Bible says ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be open. Since there is no retirement from the work of God I would encourage you to use this acronym A.S.K. (A) - ask God to make your value noticeable, (S) – seek opportunities to share the great wisdom and experiences of your life with the next generation, (K) – knock down the stereotypical mindset of a senior saint.
The greatest legacy you will leave behind will be in the lives that you touch for the Lord. God has given you the gift of long life, which has blessed you with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, therefore your ministry is to share that gift with as many as you possibly can before God says that your work here is finished and calls you Home to Glory.
To you the Senior saints – I Thank you – for establishing the foundation, for stabilizing church, for being there when no one else was. Thank you for your many years of service to our Lord, in the Kingdom, and in the field of the world. I pray that I and all those that have not come into our senior years will not take for granted the marvelous asset we have in our senior saints, that we will follow in the footsteps of you and be found faithful in the service of the Lord as you have been.
May God Bless You and Heaven Smile Upon You.
District Elder M.L. Maughmer, Jr.
Boanerge Ministries
