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.
What is your spiritual gift? May I suggest a few simple ones that we all have, which we can use regardless of our age? I recall speaking with an octogenarian in Decatur once who lamented the fact that she was too old to be of much help to the church. I remember saying, “You can still pray, can’t you?” Does the church need prayer? Do those on our prayer list need prayer? Does this country need prayer? Unless you are comatose, you can serve the church through prayer until your last breath. We never retire from a life of prayer, a vital spiritual tool that God has placed in our hearts.
Here is something else to think about. Many old people are better off financially than our younger friends who are raising a family. Does the cause of Christ need money? This church does well financially, but other causes need financial support. I think of places like Ozark Christian College, our missionaries, or the Christian Youth Home in Lamont. When you invest in their ministry, you are touching the lives of future ministers and missionaries who may win thousands to Christ. Even when we are gone, the gifts we give to strengthen ministries devoted to the cause of Christ will live on.
In Romans 12, when Paul discusses spiritual gifts again, he mentions giving. God blesses some Christians with abundance, enabling them to invest some of their prosperity in the work of the Kingdom. In addition to what we offer to this local church, numerous ministries are deserving of our financial support. There are missionaries, Christian Schools, and a host of other ministries in need of financial support. Find one or two causes that you feel comfortable supporting. Again, many of the ministries we support will continue when we are gone. I like to think that my Christian influence will not die when I die because I have invested in the future.
Senior saints can pray, give, and set a good example by their manner of life. You can teach and encourage your grandchildren to be faithful to the Lord. There is so much we seniors can do to serve our Lord. God has not called you to follow Jesus until you retire. He has called us to be faithful to the end. We read, “Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). It does not say to be faithful until age 65, or be faithful until you retire. It says to be faithful unto death.
Jesus never commended anyone for coasting. He does commend those He calls “good and faithful servants” (Matt. 25:21); the ones whose faithfulness endured to the end. Brothers and sisters, the church is an eternal institution. The gates of hell will never prevail against the church. We are sitting in this sanctuary this morning, a place we did not pay for. We don’t know the names of those who built this church back before the Civil War, but we thank God for them. They made investments that have far outlived their days on earth. Will we do likewise?
There is a warning for seniors in Matthew 25:28-30. It also applies to the young. It is the familiar parable of the talents. Two persons in the parable used what had been entrusted to them to advance the cause of the master. One, perhaps because he was too old, buried his spiritual gift in the ground. The end of that parable is not pretty. The point is clear. Never stop using whatever gifts, abilities, and resources God has placed in your hands.
We hope the pastor can use this text at our funeral. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day. May those words be appropriate for each of us. We have fought the good fight to the end. We finished the race to the end. We have kept the faith and lived it to the end.
I never ran track, but I do know this. In a race, it doesn’t matter if you are ahead in the beginning or the middle of the race. What matters is how you finish. My Minnesota Vikings led Buffalo for the entire game a few years ago until the very last play. On the last play of the game, Buffalo scored a touchdown and won the game. Minnesota led for 59 minutes and 59 seconds. They lost in that one second. It is not how well you do in the first, second, or third quarter. It is how you finish that counts. I pray that we can all finish strong in our lives of service to the Master.
Many seniors have made significant contributions in their golden years. Golda Meir was 71 years old when she became the Prime Minister of Israel. George Barnard Shaw was 94 when one of his plays was published. Benjamin Franklin was 81 when he helped frame the US Constitution. Goethe completed “Faust” in his 80s. Sophocles completed his immortal “Oedipus” in his 80s. Chaucer wrote “Canterbury Tales” when he was 60. Some of those named were not Christians. What do you think retired Christians can accomplish with the help of the Holy Spirit?
Brothers and sisters, most of us are living in the 4th quarter. Some of you look like you are in overtime! I guess I am in that category! Are you coasting, or are you working hard to finish your race strong? You may have retired from your job, but there is no such thing as retirement from Christian service.
