What’s Your Expiration Date? Psalm 90
Pastor Jeff Williams
1-02-05
We all have an expiration date…
Before I came on staff at Pontiac Bible Church, many of you know that I worked at Salem Children’s Home. Salem has been serving children in Livingston County for over one hundred years. Several times a year we would clean out rooms that had not been touched in a long time. One afternoon, while I was off-campus, the students cleaned out an old pantry. When I returned, they were excited to tell me what they had found. Among the many “treasures” they discovered, there was a five-pound can of “Pork and Beans.” I asked if they had looked for an expiration date on the can and they said it was from the late 90s! I immediately asked where it was and was informed that Stan (not his real name) had eaten the whole can that afternoon! After talking to the nurse and observing Stan for a while, it became apparent that he was not going to die. Although, after spending the night with him, his roommate thought he would die if he did not move out!
Most of the products we buy have expiration dates. Anyone who has ever drank a glass of milk after the date on the container knows it is important to know what the date is. Did you know that we all have expiration dates? I have been told that it is actually written in small print in the middle of our backs. It can not be read in a mirror and no one else can read yours for you. There is a date that represents that time in history when you entered this world. Mine is July 31, 1968. I don’t remember that day very well, but my parents told me it was a blast. There is another date though, a date that will complete my tombstone. It will be my last day on this earth. It could be today, tomorrow, ten years from now, or with a lot of Botox, sixty years from now. I do not know my expiration date, but I know for sure it is coming.
Solomon said there is “a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)
If it is true that everyone of has an expiration date, and equally true that we do not know when that date is, how should we approach the remaining time God has given us? That is what our topic is this morning.
Turn with me to Psalm 90. Please stand for the reading of God’s Word.
A Psalm of Sadness
Psalm 90 was written by Moses. It is by far the oldest Psalm in the Bible and, some would say, one of the oldest examples of Hebrew poetry in the history of the world. It was written during a very bleak time in Hebrew history. Moses was commissioned by God to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. After the miraculous escape through the Red Sea, Moses leads them toward the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey. (Read Exodus 14) It was at a place called Kadesh Barnea, a beautiful oasis, that Moses sent twelve spies into the land to check out the people. Ten of the spies came back shaking in their boots. They reported that the people were too big and too strong for the Israelites to try to attack. But two of them, Joshua and Caleb, encouraged the people. They knew God had promised them this land and they told the people to trust God and do what He had said to do. (See Numbers 13) God said, “Go!” and the people said “No!” The consequence for this disobedience was the death of an entire generation. The Hebrews wandered in the desert for thirty-eight years. Over those years, over one million people died. If you do the math, that comes to about eight-seven funerals a day. Moses was surrounded by death and despair. This man of God then took out his journal and began to pour out his prayer to the Lord.
Moses affirms that God is eternal, faithful, and completely holy. He then contrasts the eternal God with fragile mankind. Moses rightly describes the human race as finite, fickle, and unfaithful.
Isaac Taylor writes this summary of Psalm 90: “…it might be cited as …the most sublime of human compositions – the deepest in feeling – the loftiest in theological conception – the most magnificent in its imagery. True is it in its report of human life – as troubled, transitory, and sinful. True in its conception of the Eternal – the Sovereign and the Judge; and the refuge and hope of men…” (The Treasury of David, Charles Spurgeon)
Prayer: It is Your Words, O Lord that can change hearts, not mine. By your Holy Spirit translate these words that we may have a willing heart to do what we hear.
When was God born?
Have you ever had a child ask you, “When was God born?” How did you answer? Did you say something like, “God wasn’t born. He has always been.” How did you handle the absolute blank look you received after explaining this? This is a very hard concept to grasp, but it is a vital theological reality that can change the way you look at life.
Look at verses one and two:
“Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born, You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” (v. 1-2)
Moses begins his meditation with a description of who God is. God is “Adonai” which denotes the majesty of God. Moses says that God is a “dwelling place.” The Hebrew word for this phrase means a protective shelter. God is portrayed as sheltering, comforting, protecting, and cherishing His own. This was important for the Israelites to understand. They were a people without a country. At least in Egypt they had a roof over their heads and the protection of the walls and armies of Egypt. Now they are insecure and afraid. They were living in tents in the middle of nowhere. They were fair game for wild animals, other tribes, or local kings that wanted to attack them. But Moses reminds them no matter how insecure and temporary their lives are at the moment, they are protected by the eternal God. Moses knew that ultimately man’s safe place is not in a place at all but in the Person of God Himself.
David affirms this truth in the Psalms:
“I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” (Psalm 4:8)
Notice that this protection is “from generation and generation” as the Hebrew reads. God has always been, from the very first generation to the present time. God is a dwelling place that is eternal, past, present, and future.
Moses wrote in the book of Deuteronomy:
“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Duet 33:27)
God created the world. The word “birthed” is fascinating. It can also be translated “to twist, to dance, or to writhe.” Think of it! It makes sense, doesn’t it? You can’t really sit in a lawn chair and create a llama. God danced our world into existence. He, the Triune God, is creator and sustainer of our planet. The Apostle Paul wrote of this in his letter to the church at Colosse:
“For by Him (Jesus) all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him.” (Col 1:17)
God is forever. He is eternal. He has no expiration date! And Moses tells the Israelites that He is their eternal dwelling place.
Giovanni Pico, a fifteenth century writer, said it this way: “God created the earth for beast to inhabit, the sea for fishes, the air for fowls, and the heavens for angels and stars, so that man hath no place to dwell and abide in but God alone.” (The Treasury of David, Charles Spurgeon)
God is God and we are not…
Moses begins with the forever ness of God so that he can contrast that with the finiteness of man. In other words, He is God and we are not! He uses four descriptions of humans beings that speak of the brevity of life and the reality of death.
A. Dust in the Wind
“You turn men back to dust, saying, ‘Return to dust, O sons of men.’ For a thousand days in your sight are like a day that has just gone by or like a watch in the night.” (v. 3-4)
Keep your place in Psalm 90 and let’s turn back to another one of Moses’ best-selling books Genesis.
In Genesis 2: 7 we learn that God created Adam from the earth:
“….the Lord formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Gen 2:7)
God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden and gave them one rule. They were told not to eat “from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) They did not even know what the word “die” meant. The snake tempted, Eve questioned, Adam blamed, and the fall of man was complete. (For the whole sad story read Genesis 3) Look with me at a portion of the curse that God pronounces on Adam in chapter 3:
“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Gen 3:17)
These sad words are often read at graveside services. Adam rebelled against God and the consequence was physical death. Israel rebelled against God and the consequences were the same.
As Kansas put it in the late 1970s, we are “dust in the wind.” We are dust and we will return to dust. When our lives are compared to the Lord who is from “everlasting to everlasting” we realize that our lives are transitory. Even the longest recorded life, Methuselah lived 969 years, is but a day to the Lord. But it is really shorter than that.
Moses says a thousand years is more like a four hour watch to God. Think of it in terms of the resurrection of Jesus. Using this math, in God’s time, Jesus died eight hours ago. What he is trying to say is that, while we are trapped in time, God is above time. Peter encouraged his readers:
“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is not slow at keeping his promises, as some understand slowness.” (I Peter 3:8-9)
Every Christmas, Maxine tries to get me the newest edition to the World Almanac. This helps me to keep my nickname, “the well of useless information.” One of the first sections I turn to is the obituaries. What notable people died in 2004? The world said goodbye to Ronald Reagan, Yassar Arafat, Jack Parr, Tony Randall, Rodney Dangerfield, Ray Charles, Marlon Brando, Janet Leigh, Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo) and sadly, just this week, football great Reggie White. Even Superman, Christopher Reeves, died. In life, these people were “important.” But, in the end, they were dust just like we will be.
B. The Green, Green Grass of Home
Look at verses five and six with me:
“You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning – though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dried and withered.” (v. 5-6)
First, Moses describes us as dust. Now he says we are like grass.
The King James translates verse five: “Thou hast swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep.” Some commentators believe this is an allusion back to the flood in Genesis six and seven. During Noah’s time, the people of the world were strong and boastful and rebellious against God. Noah watched that entire generation be swept away in judgment because of their rejection of God’s message of redemption. Likewise, Moses watched in horror as an entire generation died in the wilderness because of their rejection of God’s direction into the Promised Land. Like grass that springs up new in the morning, they withered and were no more. Isaiah states this beautifully:
“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them.” (Isaiah 40:6)
David writes:
“As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place is remembered no more.” (Psalm 103:15)
We are like the grass that starts out in the morning standing strong but, by late in the day, are withered by the hot Canaanite sun.
There is something a bit disconcerting about these verses. It is God who says, “Return to dust” and it is God who “sweeps men away in the flood of death.” I thought God was loving and kind. I thought God was “slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). Why is He destroying what he created? Why did the whole world drown in the flood? Why did an entire generation of Israelites have to die in the desert? That answer is given in the next verses.
C. Bubbles
“We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath, and we finish our years with a moan.” (v. 7-9)
The Hebrew of the verses are so rich I want to take a minute and go through the individual phrases to get a taste of what Moses is trying to convey. First he says that the Israelites are “consumed” which can mean “destroyed or exterminated.” It also is a root for our word “circumcision.” They are cut to the quick and quaking in fear. What are they so afraid of? They are afraid of being annihilated by God’s anger. The Hebrew is vivid. It gives the picture of “flaring nostrils.” Remember that God is not a man and does not have a face. But Moses says it is as if God’s nose is flaring in fury. They are terrified or “disturbed, dismayed, or anxious” by God’s “indignation.” This word conveys the picture of heat or God’s “hot displeasure.”
Moses takes on the people’s sin head on. God reacted to their rebellion in anger because He is a jealous God who loved them and wanted their best. God can not, and will not, tolerate open sin, and there were consequences for their actions. But the people did not think their sins were that obvious.
Look at verse eight. They did not realize that God knew all their sins. The word for iniquity could also be translated “perversity or depravity.” Even the most secret sins are laid bare in the light of God’s presence. David spoke of this in Psalm 44:
“If we had forgotten the name of our God, or extended our hands to a strange god, would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.” (Psalm 44:20-21)
And Paul speaks of a day when:
“…according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.” (Romans 2:16)
The Israelites were prideful and arrogant. But their days pass away under God’s “wrath.” This word can be translated “fury” and has the meaning of “outpouring, overflow, or excess.” God’s anger overflowed on to the Israelites due to their sin and the once proud people finished their years with a “moan.” This word can be translated many different ways. It can also mean “sigh” or as the King James Version translates it –“a tale that is told.” It is interesting to note that there is no recorded history in the wilderness wanderings from year two to year thirty eight. It was as if they had just flittered away the time with nothing to show for it. The Vulgate translation of this verse is even more descriptive – “like that of a spider.” Our lives are as frail as a spider web that can be torn apart by the wind.
There is death because there is sin. And Paul wrote to the church at Rome that “the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23)
No matter how vigorous a person may be, they will surely succumb to death because of the sin of Adam and Eve. No matter how important their words were in life, the end will bring sighing, moaning, and mumbling. We may shout throughout life, but, in the end, we finish with a whisper.
James, the brother of Jesus, asks:
“What is your life? You are a midst that begins in a little while then vanishes.” (James 4:14)
We are like bubbles that float in the air for a second and the burst into nothingness.
D. 25,550
“For the length of our days is seventy years – or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.” (v.10-11)
Moses gives one more description of mankind in contrast to God, the number 25,550. That is seventy years. Interestingly, Moses counts our time in days, instead of years. He says that our time here on this earth in very short and full of distress, disillusionment, and depression. After that, like small birds let out of a cage, we “fly away.”
We count our lives in terms of years. We celebrate birthdays but say we are a certain number of years old. Some even lie about how many days they have lived!
I ran across a few interesting facts that speak to our subject. The average life of copper wire is twenty years. Joe Hilt may very well have the oldest chicken on record at the age of eighteen years. The average age for a cat is fifteen years. The average life of a dollar bill is eighteen months. The average life of a painted line on the road is three to four months. The average life of a pro basketball players shoes is two weeks. The average life of a tornado is ten minutes. And the average life of a human is 25,550 days.
Many live more days than this and many live less. Death comes to all – the young may and the old must. During our church service today over 5,000 people will die. The average age of a male in the United States is 77.5 years. According to these statistics, man’s lifespan still falls within the seventy to eighty range that Moses observed 2500 years ago. The oldest person in our congregation is well over 35,000 days old. And the youngest, Samuel Hildenbrand, is only five days old.
I have known people who believe in reincarnation. This is the belief that we get a cosmic “do over” and get to live our days out again and again. The only problem with this that the Bible teaches the exact opposite:
It is appointed for man to die once, after this comes the judgment.” (Hebrew 9:27)
God knows the day you were born and He knows your expiration date. When Confederate General Andrew “Stonewall” Jackson was asked how he could be so fearless in battle, he responded, “I feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time of my death.” (from “Under God” by Toby Mac and Michael Tait) He has ordained your days according to Psalm 139:
“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to pass.” (Psalm 139:16)
We are only given a few days to live and then life is done. We get one shot. How then shall we live?
Teach Us to Live
Moses looks out over the landscape littered with lifeless bodies. He has been writing in his journal so far about the fact that God is forever and we are not. He then is overcome with emotion and bows his head and utters this beautiful prayer:
“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (v.12)
Moses is saying, in effect, “God, you are God and we are not. We are like dust, grass, a whisper. We do not know how to live or how to please you. We run after other gods and do things we know will hurt us in the long run. Please, I beg of you, teach us how to make the most of our short time here on earth.”
David wrote:
“Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere hands breath; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath.” (Psalm 39:4-5)
The word “teach” means to “ weigh or seriously consider.” The phrase “to number our days” can mean to “count, reckon, assign, or prepare.” It is the idea of being intentional about how we live our lives. What is the outcome of making every day count? The prayer is that we may have wisdom in our inner man. I’ll never forget Dr. Frank Pollard’s definition of wisdom. He described wisdom as “sanctified common sense.” That is what Moses wanted. That’s what I want!
Solomon says wisdom is the ultimate treasure:
“Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.” (Proverbs 3:13-15)
Paul encourages the church at Ephesus to:
“…be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16)
If it is true that we only have a few days to figure this out, maybe we need to look at our priorities. As we begin the New Year, let’s forget New Year’s resolutions. Research shows that most resolutions don’t last three weeks. But I’m talking about New Year’s Revolutions. A total change in the way you approach life.
If you knew your time was short, would you do things differently? In a song written by Tim McGraw for his dying father, he describes how his impending death caused him to reevaluate his life. After learning the bad news, he “went sky divin’, went rocky mountain climbing, went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu. I loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I’ve been denying, and he said someday I hope you get your just to live like you were dying.” (from “Live like you You Were Dying” by Tim McGraw)
Our problem is not that we don’t have enough time. We all have the same amount of time per day. It is how you use that time for the Lord.
How do you make 2005 count? Reorient your life to focus on the most important things, instead of the most urgent things.
1. Take time for God
• Read the Bible through this year. There is a Bible-reading plan on the resource table. Read it, study it, memorize it, and make sure you bring it to church. Get to know God deeply through our spring sermon series on “The Names of God” and the book of Habakkuk
• Seek God through prayer and worship. Buy a worship CD (May I suggest Michael W. Smith’s “Worship” and Worship Again” CDs?) and spend time alone with God. Ask God to use you to change the world!
• Make sure you are in community. Attend church every Sunday. Join a small group. Learn people’s names.
• Serve others and use your gifts to bring glory to God. Get involved. Don’t be a pew potato. There are opportunities in every ministry of PBC to serve. Currently, we need help in our small group Bible study time (The EDGE) in Sunday mornings in the teenagers.
2. Take time for your family (marriage, children, parents)
• Take your wife on a date. (not to McDonalds) Buy her flowers. Ladies could you put your hands over your ears? Thank you. Guys, Aldi has half dozen roses for 2.99. Splurge and get a dozen!
• Take time for your children. Find out what they want to do with you and then make time to do it. Austin, my youngest, loves to color with me. I must make time to color Spiderman with Austin and mess around with the computer with my oldest.
• Pray for your family. Get Stormie Omaritan’s books, “The Power of a Praying Husband/Wife/Parent.” Spend time each morning lifting your family up to the Lord.
3. Take time for yourself (study, recreation, rest, dream)
• Get enough sleep. Take fiber pills. Walk, run, play basketball. Do something physical.
• Turn the TV off and read a book. Try an autobiography of a person who used their days to honor God. (May I suggest reading about Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the founding fathers of our country?)
• Take a few “squint days” this year. A fellow pastor told me it was important to step back every once in a while and “squint.” This is an intentional time of reevaluation of your goals in a quiet setting.
For some of us, the year 2005 could be our expiration date. It could be that second date on the tombstone. When I said that, there were two different reactions in this auditorium. Some of your hearts beamed with anticipation. Others of you broke out in a cold sweat. It was Woody Allen that said “It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” We all must deal with our expiration date because it is coming sooner than you think.
Listen to the writer of Hebrews:
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did” (Hebrews 3:15-16)
What rebellion is the writer talking about? The rebellion of the Israelites at Kadesh Bernea. That is when they had a choice to follow God or go their own way. Don’t make the same mistake they did.
There is a story of three demons arguing over how best to destroy Christians. The first demon said, “Let’s tell them there is no heaven. Take away their reward and they will collapse.” The second demon disagreed. He suggested, “Let’s tell them there is no hell. Take away their fear of punishment and they will go wild.” The third demon smiled and softly said, “No, my friends, there is a better way. Let’s just tell them there is no hurry.” They all laughed and knew that would be the best weapon of all.
Do you hear his voice today? Do not listen to the voice that says you have plenty of time because the odds are you do not. Listen to Jesus: “The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. But I have come that you may have life, abundant life.” John 10:10) This is this difference between surviving and thriving! God is calling us to live passionately, love purposefully, and serve extravagantly for the cause of Christ.
John Piper, in his book “Don’t Waste Your Life” forcefully says, “God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is a life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.”
Make your days count for Christ! Don’t waste your life. It doesn’t matter how long you live. Rick Warren says, “Life’s value is not in its duration but in its donation.” Let me give you good example.
Communion
He only lived on this earth 12,000 days. That is not very long. But His life changed the course of history. He was a man on a mission. He was single minded, focused, and goal directed. He made each of his days count by doing only what His Dad told him to do. Actually, relationship with His Dad and with others dominated his life. His days were filled with joy, and pain, and suffering but he never got off track. In fact, it was his very last day that provides us with hope. For on that day, he made us more than dust, grass, or a whisper. He gave us the opportunity to be called children of God (I John 1:12)
At Pontiac Bible Church, we practice open communion. If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, then you are welcome to join us in this remembrance ceremony. This is a very serious time of worship. Paul says, “A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.” (v.28) How are you with God, really? How are you with others? Is there something you need to get right before you take communion? Let’s spend some time before the Lord preparing our hearts.
Read I Corinthians 11:23-24
Bread
Read I Corinthians 11:25-26
Cup
Mercy Fund
Many of us remember certain days. Our nation celebrates and remembers days like Dec 7, 1941 when Japan attacked Pear Harbor. Or September 11, 2001, when the terrorist attack claimed over two thousand lives. I believe the world should remember Dec 26, 2004. On that day, an earthquake of historic magnitude occurred in the middle of the ocean near Indonesia. Barely visible from the air, waves, less than half a foot high, began speeding toward Sir Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. By the time it reached land, the small wave had piled up into a two hundred foot wall of water. As I write, authorities suspect that at least 90,000 people have died and that number could double! In the flatlands of Illinois, thousands of miles away, what can we do? We can give. This morning’s mercy fund will be given to World Relief in order to assist the efforts of many who are bringing not just food and water but the hope of Jesus Christ.
Listen to Psalm 46:1-3:
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” (Psalm 46:1-3)
As you watch the pictures on the screen, remember that no of these people knew that December 26 would be there expiration date. The question for you this morning is, “If today ended up being your expiration date, would you be ready to meet the forever God face to face?”
