To Be Continued....
6 Signs That You’re Getting Old
1. Your back goes out more often than you do.
2. You’re proud of your lawn mower.
3. Your arms are almost too short to read the newspaper.
4. You sing along with the elevator music.
5. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
6. People call at 9:00 p.m. and ask, "Did I wake you?"
I’m not over the hill but, at 44, I’m probably starting the back nine. I don’t think of myself as old and I try to stay in halfway decent shape. I played softball this year and I walk a mile most days. So when Cody wants to wrestle I figure, no problem. And we wrestle.
The problem is next morning when I wake up and I’m 144, or at least I feel like it. I have aches and pains in parts of my body that I didn’t know I had. And I realize that I’m not in as good shape as I told myself and my body is telling me this in no uncertain terms.
The story of Caleb begins forty-five years earlier when he was 40 and one of the 12 original spies sent to spy out the Promised Land and it’s inhabitants. After 40 days the 12 returned and told of the land of milk and honey. But 10 of them also warned that the people living there were giants and that they could never defeat them. And Israel believed the 10. The problem was, the 10 faithless spies measured the giants against their own strength. The 2 faithful spies measured the giants against God’s strength.
This is why the people of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years. God would not allow this unbelieving generation to enter in, so He waited for them to die in the desert. Only 2 of that generation lived to enter the Promised Land. The 2 faithful spies, Joshua and Caleb!
So let’s consider the life that Caleb had. For 40 years he had been stuck wandering the desert with the unbelievers. They complained, but he didn’t. They wanted to go back to Egypt, not Caleb. They worshipped idols, but he would have none of that.
Caleb had been dreaming for 45 years now of the land that God had promised him. Here he is, 85 years old, and he steps up and says, “I want what God promised me 45 years ago. Give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke that day.”
Now, from what I can see, none of you that have reached or passed retirement age have let that slow you down. Those of you in your 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s still lead active, fulfilling lives. I mean, by the age of 85 many people are preoccupied with dying. But most of you remind me of Caleb. You’re not done yet. You’ve still got things to do, places to go.
Now, we could understand if Caleb wanted to rest a little bit, if he wanted to just watch the youngsters take over and fight the battles. You know, move to Florida, play a little euchre, have some iced tea in the shade, and talk about the “good old days”. He could have said the Joshua, “Okay, Josh, I’m 85, I’ve done my share. Now get those young guns in there to clear out the bad guys and give me the land the Lord promised me.”
But that’s NOT what Caleb said. (Read vss. 11-12) Caleb doesn’t want to retire. No way! He’s still full of zip and vinegar. He’s ready to take on the enemy himself. He has the strength. He has the desire. So what does Caleb do? He picks the biggest, baddest dudes there. He doesn’t want to take on just anybody, he wants the number 1 contender.
He says, “give me this hill country… with the Anakites and their large, fortified cities. The Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as the Lord said.” Caleb said, “I’m 85, but take your best shot, cause with the Lord on my side, I can whup anybody you got.”
What do we learn from this story? Caleb was 85 and took on the biggest enemy in the Promised Land. But our society tends to put old people out to pasture. Society feels that “old people” have outlived their usefulness. Let’s put them in a “home” and get them out of the way of progress. People past retirement age are often considered to be of little value.
But I’m here to tell you, it doesn’t matter how old you are – 60, 70, 80, 90 – as long as you’re alive God has work for you to do. And your age is no deterrent to God.
This leads us to our New Testament reading.
The apostle Paul says, "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”
I think it’s appropriate that we talk about this passage on Reformation Sunday. We are Presbyterians. We are of a Reformed Theology. Now, not growing up in the Presbyterian Church like many of you, I understand the basics, but I’m still learning the fine points of our theology. During my classes at school, I would ask others who were life-long Presbyterians what “Reformed Theology” was and what “reformed” meant.
I would get answers ranging from John Calvin’s TULIP acronym to long dissertations on the “essential tenets of Reformed Theology”. Those were all well and good, but I believe in the K.I.S.S. method. You know: “Keep It Simple, Stupid”. I wanted a definition that, if a 10 year old child asked what “reformed” meant, I could give them an answer they would understand.
Finally, a friend put it into laymen’s terms. As Presbyterians and followers of a Reformed Theology, we are reformed and still reforming. We are reformed, which is another way of saying that we are changed, or we are “new and improved”.
That is that first part of the scripture where Paul says, "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” “The one who began a good work in you..”. We are reformed, a good work is begun in us.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW CREATION; the old has gone, the new has come!" (II Corinthians 5:17). God has begun a NEW, good work in us.
Reforming is about the “process” of changing. The second part of our verse says, “…will bring it to completion…”. It does not happen instantaneously. It does not happen overnight. It is a process that takes months, years, maybe even 45 years.
Think of a potter and clay. The potter doesn’t just plop the clay down on the wheel and, “There it is. I’m done, what do you think?” No, there is work involved. The clay must be formed, turned, and shaped into what the potter desires the clay to be.
The potter sees the potential, the beauty hidden in that lump of clay. So the wheel turns and the potter squeezes here, cups the hands there, gently reforming what others see as just a lump of clay into a beautiful vase, bowl, or any number of things.
This process takes time. The clay is in a constant state of change, or being reformed. The potter pushes here and there, putting pressure on areas of the clay that need to be changed. Maybe certain areas aren’t following the lines of the vase that the potter had in mind. Maybe it’s leaning a little too much to one side. But the potter keeps reworking it, making changes until the work is complete.
God is the potter and we are the clay. “…the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion…”. We need to remember that God is “reforming” us into the beauty that He envisions to bring out the potential He sees in us. We are works in process. And sometimes in that process we go through pressures and things in life don’t always go smoothly. Remember, Caleb had to hang out for 45 years with a bunch of whiners.
You may have heard the saying: “Please be patient. God isn’t finished with me yet”. What God begins he will continue in us. "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion”. One thing we can be sure of: God will finish what He began in us. He will "fully finish" what He has begun.
We are reformed and reforming still and it doesn’t matter how old you are. We’re never done till God takes us home. As long as we’re alive, we are useful and can do God’s work. When I was working on this sermon and thinking about Caleb, at age 85, being ready to take on the Anakites, a story about Mildred Ward came to mind.
Now you need to know that Mildred is 97 and still lives in her own home, by herself. It seems that the consensus among her children was that it would be good for her to move to a place like Brentwood, an assisted living facility. There she would have round-the-clock care, could meet new people, and she wouldn’t have to cook or clean. Helen took her on the tour, looking at the apartments, the dining room, the activity rooms, the beauty shop, and so on. They stopped and talked to some of the residents there.
When they finished the tour and were discussing the possibility of Mildred moving there, Mildred said, “Yes, it’s a nice place, but I don’t want to live here with a bunch of old people.” Mildred doesn’t see herself as old. She may not be ready to take on the Anakites, like that young whippersnapper Caleb, but she’s not old. She is still ready to continue on toward the completion that God has in mind for her.
"I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”
So don’t think you’re to old to be of any use to God, because we are still work in process and God isn’t finished with us until the time He takes us home.
