INTRO.- ILL.- Observations on Growing Older
- Your kids are becoming you...and you don’t like them ...but your grandchildren are perfect!
- Going out is good. Coming home is better!
- When people say you look "Great"... they add "for your age!"
- You forget names ... but it’s OK because other people forgot they even knew you!!!
- The 5 pounds you wanted to lose is now 15 and you have a better chance of losing your keys than the 15 pounds.
- You realize you’re never going to be really good at anything ... especially golf.
- Your husband sleeps better on a lounge chair with the TV blaring than he does in bed. It’s called his "pre-sleep".
- Remember when your mother said "Wear clean underwear in case you GET in an accident"? Now you bring clean underwear in case you HAVE an accident!
- You used to say, "I hope my kids GET married ... Now, "I hope they STAY married!"
- You miss the days when everything worked with just an "ON" and "OFF" switch.
- When GOOGLE, ipod, email, modem ... were unheard of, and a mouse was something that made you climb on a table.
- Now that you can afford expensive jewelry, it’s not safe to wear it anywhere.
- You read 100 pages into a book before you realize you’ve read it.
- Now that your husband has retired ... you’d give anything if he’d find a job!
- You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet .... 2 of which you will never wear.
Aging is inevitable, but it doesn’t make us useless. Even though our health declines somewhat, we need to keep on doing,working and serving as best we can. Working and serving keeps us physically healthy and spiritually fit.
ILL.- By 6 a.m., Morris Wilkinson, a 91-year-old letter carrier, irons his postal worker uniform -- a crisp, collared shirt and gray slacks -- a habit he formed while in the Marines during World War II. He enjoys a hearty breakfast of eggs or pancakes with his wife. He shines his black shoes. And he’s off to work.
Wilkinson, a tidy man with snow white hair and silver-framed glasses, arrives at a Birmingham, Alabama, post office promptly by 7 a.m. In his six decades working for the U.S. Postal Service, he’s accumulated enough sick days to take a vacation for more than a year. "I’d rather work than be idle," he says one morning before heading off on his route.
Use it or lose it. This applies physically and spiritually.
The appeal of an old man. What a sermon title! When you get to a certain age you hope that will people will listen to you or pay attention to you.
I hope that now I’m much older that my children would be quicker to listen to their old dad than when he was younger, that is, if they think he is wiser and more spiritual. Hopefully, I am. And the same thing applies to the church.
Why is it that churches are so quick to put preachers out to pasture when they get past 50 or 60? I work harder now that I ever have in my life. None of this “lame duck" business for me! I think I prepare better sermons than I ever have. And I’ve got more left in me! Let’s hear it for seniors! Let’s hear it for the appeal of an old man!
PROP.- What was Paul’s appeal as an old man to Philemon?
1- His appeal was love
2- His appeal was acceptance
3- His appeal was obedience
I. HIS APPEAL WAS LOVE
8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9yet I appeal to you on the basis of love.
ILL.- William Webb, a butcher of West Worthing, Canada, put up this notice in his window: “This business has been compelled to close owing to bad debts. A list of the names and amounts owing will shortly be shown.”
Money soon began to roll in; the shop opened again, and business was flourishing. AND THAT’S WHAT YOU CALL MOTIVATION! And there are different types of motivation.
ILL.- I am reminded of my first boss at the Foodtown grocery store in Webb City, MO, in 1960. His name was Paul Nichols. He was probably in his early 30‘s but was a super boss. Although I discovered one day that you didn’t want to make him angry. One day an elementary age boy was caught stealing something in our store. I was stocking groceries in some grocery aisle and suddenly, Paul came to me and said, “Follow me.” I had no idea what was going on but I soon found it.
Paul had that boy in the break room and he wanted me to witness what he said to that boy. And he let that boy have it in no uncertain terms that what he did was totally wrong! He also told him that if he came back that he would call his parents. I never saw Paul so mad as he was at that time.
Most of the time, Paul was soft spoken, had a good sense of humor but he also believed in hard work. And he got hard work out of us because we were motivated by his hard work and his good spirit. And the way he treated his employees. He was kind a employer.
Some bosses motivate their employees out of authority and sometimes, harsh control, whereas other motivate out of kindness, devotion and hard work. SUCH WAS PAUL NICHOLS.
And such was the apostle Paul’s motivation.
8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9yet I appeal to you on the basis of love.
Most things are swallowed better with love. Hardness and harshness are hard to swallow or take but kindness and love always pays off.
Proverbs 11:17 “A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.”
I Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
Proverbs 10:12 “Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.”
Galatians 6:1-2 “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Wow! The scripture must be right. The scripture is right. Loving others is the greatest way to motivate people to do what is right.
II. HIS APPEAL WAS ACCEPTANCE
12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.
The basis of Paul’s appeal was also acceptance. That is, he appealed to Philemon to accept Onesimus back as both his servant and his brother in Christ.
What’s the application for us? Could it be that we need to learn to accept one in another in love? And others?
ILL.- One time when I preached in Iberia, MO (1974-1984) I was greatly involved in the local ministerial alliance. There were five churches in that small town of 852 people. I attended most the meetings because I wanted to be friends with the other preachers even though, in one sense, we were competing with one another.
WE WERE COMPETING IN THE SENSE OF TRYING TO WIN MORE PEOPLE TO CHRIST AND GET THEM INTO OUR OWN CHURCHES.
I remember one meeting where one of the preachers came armed and ready for a fight. Why? I guess because he thought he was right about everything in the Bible and the rest of us were wrong. He came in and started quoting various scriptures, which he thought, countered what we believed. He went from one preacher to the next. And believe it or not, I said very little to him because it was obvious he was spoiling for a fight.
At last, one of the other preachers wasn’t giving in without a fight, so fight he did. The rest of us preachers left the meeting and left those two preachers to fight it out.
I never did hear the outcome. I’m not sure who killed whom! Or who conquered whom!
That was totally ridiculous for that one preacher to put all others preachers and churches down! DUMB, DUMB, DUMB! And totally against the greatest virtue of the Bible, which is love.
He was not trying to win friends and influence others. He was trying to make enemies of fellow believers in Christ. And I think He forgot (or never learned) that God is love!
Now, I contrast him to the preacher that showed up at our church on Wednesday, July 21, 2010. His name was/is Elmer Nugent, the pastor of the First Assembly of God Church in Camden, AR. That man had a totally different attitude about Jesus and those who believe in Him.
He was totally accepting of me as a brother in Christ. He was also totally accepting of another preacher from a church in his town that believes it is the only church that will be saved!
What is the basis for our belief and our acceptance of one another? IT’S JESUS!
It was Jesus who died on the cross for my sins. He is the one who saves us and secures us to one another.
ILL.- Max Lucado tells this story: When Lloyd Douglas, author of The Robe and other novels attended college, he lived in a boardinghouse. A retired, wheelchair-bound music professor resided on the first floor. Each morning Douglas would stick his head in the door of the teacher’s apartment and ask the same question, “Well, what’s the good news?”
The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the other side of the wheelchair, and say, “That’s middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor sings flat. The piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, that is middle C.”
Jesus is our Middle C. Many things change in life but He is the one constant who saves us and ties us all together. Because of Him and what He did, we must accept one another.
III. HIS APPEAL WAS OBEDIENCE
17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
Confident of your obedience.
Confidence in others is a great thing. Confidence that you can depend on someone. Confidence that someone will do what is right. Confidence in someone who is quick to obey God.
ILL.- On March 23, 2010, Vice President Joe Biden was perhaps overcome with excitement during his speech congratulating President Obama on the passage of health care reform, dropped an F-bomb on live television when he turned to Obama and said, "This is a big f.... deal."
And Jesus said in Matthew 12:34 “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Matthew 12:35 “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”
How do you gain the confidence of others? You do right. You speak right. You humble yourself. You serve others. You do as Jesus did.
It’s a great thing when you have confidence in someone to do the right thing and it’s even better when you have confidence in someone’s obedience to Christ!
And the apostle Paul expressed confidence is his borther, Philemon, that he would do the right thing and accept Onesimus back as his slave and even more than a slave. He would now accept him as a brother in Christ!
We all need to be the kind of people that others can believe in. Do we always show up for work? Do we always do what we say we’re going to do? Do we always try to do the right thing? Do we always try to obey Christ? That is what builds confidence in people!
CONCLUSION------------------------
The appeal of an old man. Let’s keep on using our hearts and tongue to appeal to people. We must always appeal to others to do what is right in life. God has called us to a life of doing right, a life of godly living. We must motivate others by living this way and by appealing to them verbally to live this way as well.
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
