We're over the hill but don't feel sad
This side of the hill ain't all that bad.
So give us "five" and then a smile
To us who have been here for awhile.
With by-pass pain and mended hip
And plumbing fixtures prone to drip;
We all may seem a sorry lot,
But we rejoice for what we've got.
We have each day and what it brings
And on our pensions live like kings.
We've paid our share for unused knowledge
As the kids are now all done with college.
We complain to them about our health
As they worry about our dwindling wealth.
And though our wardrobes may be plain
We'll suffer no more labor or pain.
Now it's with cane we do our strut
And if we can't drive - we still can putt.
We're mean and tough, meet all demands,
Why!, M&M's melt in our hands.
Yes, we're still here, and it does delight us
That you join our fight against arthritis.
But we ask you to make a pledge today
That you'll be careful what you say.
We have to spread "Over the Hill" fear
Or we'll have those young folks over here.
But there are others who do not see growing old as cheerfully.
Illus: Someone said, “How do I know that my youth is all spent? Well, my get up and go has got up and went. But in spite of it all I am able to grin, when I recall where my get up has been. I get up each morning, and dust off my wits, pick up my paper and read the "obits". If my name is missing, I know I'm not dead, so I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed.”
While we poke fun at getting old, we are told to respect those who are IN CHRIST and are UP IN AGE.
Lev. 19:32 “Thou shalt RISE UP before the hoary head, and HONOUR the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.”
While the Word of God exalts the elderly, the television industry is constantly putting the elderly down.
Illus: In December of 2002, the Dell Computer company had an advertisement that they ran on television to help promote the sale of their computers for Christmas. The commercial shows a dad in a shopping mall. He is confused and frustrated and he calls his son to tell him what a hard time he is having trying to buy a computer. But the son is pictured as relaxed and very much in control, and he tells his dad not to worry, he would take care of it.
Commercials like this make the elderly look like idiots, and they make the youth of this nation appear smart. But this is contrary to what the Word of God teaches.
There are all kinds of waste in this country, but one of the biggest wastes is the waste of the elderly. They have all these years of experience and knowledge, and many of them are not doing anything with it.
Senior Saints should have a great ministry of leadership and teaching in God’s church. There is much to be passed on, and if that duty is neglected, the church of tomorrow will not be AWESOME, it will be AWFUL.
David recognized that there were SOME THINGS WE ARE TO SHOW BEFORE WE GO. Look at Psalm 71:18, look at these words, “Until I have shewed”
The elderly in this congregation are GOING TO BE GOING SOON. Statistically we know that our time is very limited. But before we GO, we, like David, must show our children some things.
WHAT CAN WE SHOW THOSE LOVED ONES WHO WILL BE LEFT BEHIND?
I. THERE ARE SOME NATURAL THINGS
A. COMMITMENT TO WORK
Working on a job may not seem spiritual, but actually it is spiritual.
• Many Christians spend more time on their jobs than they do anywhere else
• It is important that Christians represent the Lord on their jobs, as much as it is important to represent Him in church
The apostle Paul saw work on secular jobs as a spiritual matter, and he did not hesitate to preach on it.
Look at 2 Thess. 3:10, “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”
Paul knew that God had no pity on the lazy man.
Illus: In Santa Monica, California, in November of 2002, the Fox News Channel was showing that we have a major problem with the homeless. Years ago, the liberals in charge of this beautiful city began to make it known how sorry they felt for those poor p-i-t-i-f-u-l homeless people.
But now, many are beginning to change their minds, because the word got out among these TRIFLING, HEALTHY MEN AND WOMEN who do not want to work, that they can come there and get free clothing, food and shelter. With their healthy bodies, they stand in line with their hands out, wanting the freebies offered to them by the city and various churches.
Santa Monica is filling up with these bums who get free food and clothing, and do not have to do any kind of work whatsoever.
• We are not helping people like this when we call strong healthy individuals homeless. They need to be called what they are, “Bums”. Because that is exactly what they are doing, they are bumming off the hard working people of this nation.
• We are not helping them when we do not demand that they work for a living as God has commanded. They become totally dependent upon us, and soon can not care for themselves.
We have many in this nation who DO NOT KNOW HOW TO WORK, but we who are SENIOR SAINTS, need to SHOW them how to work before we GO, especially our children!
Illus: Smart parents give their children chores, and supervise them to make sure those chores are done each day. Why? Because they want to teach their children how to work so they can take care of themselves.
We have too many young people in our society that want a FREE LUNCH, because the elderly people never demanded they use their healthy bodies to do something other than sit in front of a television set.
Illus: Dr. Ron LaFlam said, “I remember seeing a picture that had a small fish swallowing a smaller fish. Right behind that small fish was a bigger fish, about to swallow it. And then a larger fish about to swallow that one. The caption on the picture said, ‘There is no such thing as a free lunch.’”
Sometimes the love we parents have to give is “Tough Love”! But if that is what is required, we must be willing to give it!
It is important that we love them enough that when they come to us we say:
• No, I will not make your house payments
• No, I will not make your car payments
• No, I will not pay your hospital bills
• No, I will not pay your taxes
I will not do any of these things because you are healthy and these are things you should be doing for yourself, and I demand that you do just that!
Before we GO, we need to SHOW them how to have a COMMITMENT TO WORK, and how to have a -
B. COMMITMENT TO DISCIPLINE
We have a generation today that has been raised on the philosophy of Dr. Spock, and IT IS NOT WORKING.
For example, we have a generation today who says, “It is wrong to spank a child!” Listen, it is wrong not to spank a child when they need a spanking! Those who make that statement, think they know more than God, because the Word of God teaches discipline.
• Look at Prov. 22:15, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.”
• Look at Prov. 23:13-14, “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.”
• Look at Prov. 29:15, “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”
You can read those scriptures to some parents today, and it is like pouring water on a duck’s back, it rolls off! Many young people in this nation have been raised with NO DISCIPLINE in their lives.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger, tells of family that attended his church who were strong believers in, “I do not spank my children.” They didn’t spank them, and those children grew up knowing they can do anything they wanted to do, and all they were going to get from their parents was, “You shouldn’t do that!” They knew that before the parents told them. What they needed was something that made them wish they hadn’t done that!
They did not believe in spanking their children, but one night Dr. Belger got a call to come to their house, and one of the young girls in this undisciplined home had beat the stuffings out of her mother.
Before we GO we need to SHOW our children that if they do not obey the Word of God, and they SPARE THE ROD, they and their children are going to pay dearly down the road.
Listen Senior Saints, before we GO we need to SHOW our children there are some lines you do not cross. They need to be shown that if you are so foolish as to cross those lines, you must be willing to suffer the consequences.
It is a dangerous thing when a child grows up thinking they can do anything they want to do and there are no consequences. The jails are full of people who thought this, and many of them have died on death row.
Before we GO we need to SHOW them some things about COMMITMENT TO DISCIPLINE and some things about-
C. COMMITMENT TO MARRIAGE
Commitment is something that we do not see much of today. Even in today’s marriages, we hear married people saying strange things:
• One wife said, “Don't imagine you can change a man - unless he's in diapers.”
• One wife said, “If they put a man on the moon - they should be able to put them all up there.”
• One wife said “A bachelor is just a man who has missed the opportunity to make some woman miserable.”
• Another wife said, “The children of Israel wandered around the desert for 40 years. Even in biblical times, men wouldn't ask for directions.”
But what men think of marriage is just as bad.
• One man said, “Every man needs a wife, because there are a number of things that go wrong that one cannot blame on the government.”
• One man said, “The happiest marriage I can picture or imagine to myself, would be the union of a deaf man to a blind woman.”
• One man said, “I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry. That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste.”
• One man said, “I was married for five years and never told anybody. I like to keep my troubles to myself.”
So many of the things today in our society stamp a negative image on the sacred institution of marriage. But God is the one who said IT WAS NOT GOOD FOR MAN TO BE ALONE!
There are many verses that teach us about the sanctity of marriage. We need to get back to the old way of ONE MAN, married to ONE WOMAN, for ONE LIFETIME!
Our young people need to see that godly marriages are still possible. They need to see that commitment is necessary in marriage, and that ...
• DIFFICULT times will come
• DEDICATED people will hang in there
Senior Saints, before we GO we need to SHOW how to be committed to ONE PARTNER FOR ONE LIFETIME!
We have looked a the NATURAL THINGS we should SHOW them before we GO, but also let’s SHOW THEM…
II. THERE ARE SOME SPIRITUAL THINGS
Before we GO we need to SHOW them how to make a COMMITMENT TO GOD.
HOW DO WE DO THAT? We do that by knowing the God of this Bible ourselves. What kind of God is He? It is impossible to teach others about God if we do not know what kind of God He is.
The Bible declares that He is the IMMUTABLE GOD. That is, we need to teach them before we GO:
• There are some changes for the good
• There are some changes for the bad
But when it comes to God, He never changes, He is IMMUTABLE, which means He changes not!
WHY DOESN’T GOD CHANGE? It is impossible for God to change because He is the IMMUTABLE GOD.
We mortals are constantly changing, EMOTIONALLY, PHYSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY. But God is not like us, HE CHANGES NOT!
Illus: Sometimes we hear folks who say, “I have this problem, I have HIGH DAYS and LOW DAYS.” Welcome to the human race, we all do because we are not God. Every day our emotions are up and down.
Physically, we look one way today, but ten years from now we may have changed so much that folks will not recognize us.
Spiritually, some days we feel spiritual, and other days we wonder if we are even saved.
What I am trying to say is this, we mortals are constantly changing from better to worse or worse to better. But God NEVER CHANGES! He is Immutable!
Look at Malachi 3:6 “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
You see, it is impossible for God to change.
• He can not change for the worse, if He did He could not be God
• He can not change for the better, because He is already perfect
So this puts God in a place that He is IMMUTABLE! He is eternally the same!
Heb. 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”
But today, many of the churches have changed so much that when you compare them to the New Testament church, there is no similarity. They have not changed because God has changed, they have changed because they are NOT IMMUTABLE!
Notice, in Psalm 71:3, David refers to God as “My Rock”. He was not being disrespectful to God. Look at verse 3, we read, “Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for THOU ART MY ROCK AND MY FORTRESS.”
WHY DID HE SAY GOD WAS HIS ROCK? Because a rock describes God’s immutability. For example, you can lay a rock on the ground and come back in 10 years, and that rock is still the same.
We who are going to be GOING need to SHOW those who we are going to leave behind that GOD DOES NOT CHANGE.
WHY IS THAT IMPORTANT? For many reasons, such as:
• Because God’s LOVE is UNCHANGEABLE
Illus: Now that is not true with us mortals. Someone may love you today but hate you tomorrow. We need to teach our children GOD’S LOVE DOES NOT CHANGE.
• Because God’s PROMISE is UNCHANGEABLE
Illus: Again, that is not true with us mortals. Someone might make a promise today, but break that same promise tomorrow. We need to teach our children that GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE, HE KEEPS HIS PROMISES.
We who are going to GO need to SHOW them that God is OUR ROCK, He does not change! And He is the same God they serve. They can depend on:
• Great Love
• Great Promises
But also we need to SHOW them that while He is our SOLID ROCK ,to the unbeliever, He is...
• “A STUMBLINGSTONE”
• “A ROCK OF OFFENCE”
Look at Rom. 9:33, “As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”
We REJOICE in the Lord, but the lost world REJECTS the Lord!
Conclusion:
As we grow older, and the day of our departure grows nearer, there are some things we ought to SHOW, before we GO!
I. THERE ARE SOME NATURAL THINGS.
II. THERE ARE SOME SPIRITUAL THINGS
