Genesis 25:7-8
In our denomination as well as
across the evangelical church in America, the sanctity of human
life Sunday is something we observe yearly. It’s usually around the
anniversary of the Roe versus Wade decision. And as you think
about the issues of human life, we often focus on babies. We
often focus on the abortion issue. I had the privilege in seminary
to sit under the great theologian Harold O.J. Brown, who was a
great ethicist. He worked with C. Everett Koop
back in the decades ago to champion a pro-life position in the world. But he challenged us to think
about other issues of life and where we devalue it. If you read
the Fifth Commandment, which I think we considered last year
on the Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, and you read in the Shorter
Catechism, the Shorter Catechism tells us what is forbidden in
the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill, tells us what is forbidden
but also what is required. And so not only are we required
not to take life, we are required to actively preserve life and
to take every measure possible to see that human life is preserved. One of the ways we can do that
as a church is we can be a life-giving people. We can have children.
We can support families. We can encourage our children,
our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren in life. But we can also be stewards
of the truth of Scripture, proclaiming to a world that does not value
life that life is precious. Life is valuable. So today I
want us to consider what the Bible says about old age. The
world around says very little about old age. We devalue those
of the older generation, but the Bible says otherwise. So
I want us to consider that as we study what the Bible says
about Abraham’s life. Hear God’s word with me from
Genesis chapter 25 verses 7 and 8. These are the days of the years
of Abraham’s life, 175 years. Abraham breathed his last and
died in a good old age, an old man and full of years and was
gathered to his people. Pray with me. God be gracious
to us in these next moments. Help us to hear your word, to
believe your word and to walk in obedience to your word. through the power of your Holy
Spirit and by the precious merits of Jesus who has saved us unto
good works. Amen. You probably remember a time
in school where You went to a class and it wasn’t like a normal class. Most normal class was boring.
You sat in your desk, you heard the speech, the lecture, you
did your work, you walked through your books, you wrote down your
homework assignments, and you passed time until the afternoon
bell rang and you went home. But you have memories of a class
that was a little unorthodox, a little out of the ordinary. Well, I remember having just
such one of those classes. It was an Old Testament class.
And when we came to the book of Ecclesiastes, which speaks
about the meaning of life, we did not walk into the classroom.
We got into vans and buses. We didn’t know where we were
going or where we were headed or what the object of the day’s
lesson was going to be. But we found ourselves a few
minutes later in the local cemetery. And our assignment was to walk
around the cemetery and find a headstone that had the dates
of birth close to yours. And the whole point of that exercise
was to recognize, not just through the word, through Ecclesiastes,
which we would study as an academic exercise, but to physically see
with our eyes, to tangibly touch the headstone of a person who
had been born about our time in life and had died at an early
age. We were young college students.
And that challenge is something that stuck with me. I can’t remember
what happened in the other 40 or 50 classes I attended, but
I remember that day. It was an exercise in considering
the end of life, the afterlife. It was an exercise in considering
how to live your life well now. The Bible speaks very often of
various seasons in life. And we focus a lot on the early
seasons of life. We love pictures of babies. We
love to see little children develop. And we speak of their age and
matters of days and weeks and months. And as we get older and
older, we don’t talk about birthdays. We talk about our age less and
less. But you know, the Bible speaks
of all seasons of life and it gives value and importance to
all seasons. In fact, Solomon in his wisdom
said, there’s a time and a season for everything, a time for every
matter under heaven, a time to be born. and a time to die. But the Bible also speaks a lot
about that in-between time, between birth and death, how we are to
live life, what is the meaning of life, what is our purpose?
Well, there’s a lot of time between life and death, and so we consider
what God’s word says to us, particularly in the aspect of old age. There’s a question I want us
to consider today. And that question is this, as believers in God,
how will I live my life between life and death? How will I live
my life between the bookends of birth and death, between the
cradle and the grave? Our passage from Genesis today
that speaks of the end of Abraham’s life tells us that Abraham died
of a good old age. So that’s our subject. What is
a good old age? How do we live life between birth
and death, between those bookends, particularly in the latter season
of our life? How do we live a godly life?
We’ll learn from the example and life of Abraham and various
scriptures that speak to the subject. What’s our goal? What’s
our purpose? Well, I want to encourage those
who are of a good old age, you know who you are. And I want
to cast a vision for those who are young that we listen to and
learn and respect those who are of a good old age. There are
five things that we want to see from the scripture today about
aging. And the first is this, a good
old age is a blessing of God. The world may not see old age
as a blessing, but God says it is. And it says of Abraham, He
was 175 years old. He breathed his last and he died
in a good old age, an old man full of years and gathered to
his people. If you take a survey of the Bible
and look at how the Bible speaks of old age, you’ll find all these
euphemisms. You know what a euphemism is,
right? It’s a good saying. It’s a good way to say something
that maybe A little less flashy than that word makes it. A good
old age, the Bible says, a ripe old age, a vigorous old age full
of days. We hear throughout the scriptures,
various ways of the description of old age, and they’re always
good ones. It’s positive to be old. Of Abraham, it says, he died
a man full of days of a good old age. So why do we say a good
old age is a blessing of God? Well, if you know anything about
the life of Abraham, you know that when he died full of days
of a good old age, that was the promise of God fulfilled. Remember
a little about Abraham’s life. He was an idol worshiper, an
ur of the Chaldeans, and God called Abraham Abram at the time. He called Abram from idolatry
to worship Yahweh, the living and true God. He called him out
of Ur of the Chaldeans, a prosperous and rich land, a land full of
culture. It would be like being called
from New York City to some rural region of our country where there
was nothing, no food, no culture, no society. And he calls Abraham
out of that lifestyle, out of that pagan practice into the
worship of the living God and says, come to the promised land,
the land of Canaan. It’s a land that I will give
you and your offspring. You can imagine Abraham, what
a difficult time he must have had convincing Sarah that this
was a good thing. Honey, we’re going to pack up.
We’re going to leave your family. We’re going to leave my family.
We’re going to quit worshiping these pagan idols that we once
thought brought us prosperity. And we’re going to go to the
middle of nowhere. and into uncertainty, but God, he appeared to me and
he said, this is the thing to do. So we’re going to do it.
You can imagine the pillow talk at their house was a little difficult,
but God says to Abram, do this. And I will bless you do this. And I will give you a land. I
will make your name great. You’ll be a nation. And not only
will you be blessed, you’ll be a blessing to others around you. And in chapter 15, and the chapters
that follow in Genesis, we read over and over and over that Abraham
was a man of faith and a man of obedience. He did all that
God promised, or all that God commanded. And God said to Abraham,
you will die in peace if you obey me. If you obey me, you
will live to a good old age. And here we find in Genesis 25
that Abraham met the promises of God. God did as he promised. And so we understand that a good
old age is a gift. It is a blessing from God Almighty.
And we should see old age as a blessing. Not only is old age
a blessing of God. Secondly, it is a result of godliness. Old age comes to everyone. We
understand that chronology time passes and we we just get older. We age. But a good old age comes
to those who follow God in obedience. Think again about the life of
Abraham. Not only did he pack his bags and leave his land,
he left paganism to come worship God. We read of his obedience
and we read of several marks of his obedience that are significant.
Chapter 12 of Genesis says, so Abraham went. Simple words. But you understand all that is
behind Abraham going. He packed, he said goodbye to
his family, he moved his belongings, his servants, his household.
Abraham was a very wealthy man and he had a lot to move with
him. There were no rider trucks, no
U-Hauls, no two men in a truck. It was a caravan, all that this
man owned, all his possessions, vulnerable to the world, and
yet going to a place he did not know, but he went. When he got
there, he built an altar and worshiped God. He called on the
name of the Lord. He gave his tithes and offerings
to the Lord. The scripture tells us he was
a man of his word after battling against the kings of the wilderness
who had taken his nephew Lot. And he meets that strange figure
Melchizedek, which we studied, who we studied several months
back in the book of Hebrews. He gives his word and he says,
I have lifted my hand to the Lord that I would not take from
you. He’s a man of his word. The people in the region become
to know Abraham as a good, faithful man. Chapter 15, verse six of
Genesis says, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him
as righteous. And so we’re to understand that
a good old age is a result of godliness. How did Abraham grow
old? Well, time does that. But how
did he grow to a good old age? Well, that came through his obedience
to almighty God. I mean, for sure, we can all
grow old. It happens to everyone. But to
bear fruit in our old age, as the scripture teaches, that is
a different matter. And so God calls us in our old
age to be fruitful. and our good old age is a result
of that fruit. We bear the fruit of the spirit
of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. We read in the book of Proverbs
that longevity, that long life is a result of living righteously
and wisely. What does the father say to the
son in Proverbs? Over and over and over, he says,
my son, live wisely, live well, follow the Lord, fear Yahweh,
and if you do, it will go well with you. In fact, the proverb
says that gray hair is a crown of glory and it is gained by
a righteous life. And so we understand that a good
old age is a blessing of God. It is a result of godliness,
but it is also an age of opportunity. A lot of us think as we get older
and our abilities are Our energy levels limit us, but the Bible
says otherwise. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter
two, that if we are in Christ Jesus, we have been recreated
in him for workmanship to do good works, which God prepared
beforehand and that we should walk in them. Now, remember the
first three chapters of Ephesians two, we were dead in our sins
and trespasses. We were following the prince
of darkness. We were following our own passions and desires
of the flesh, mind and body. We were living for ourselves,
much like Abraham in the land of Ur of the Chaldeans. We were
children of wrath. And then you skip past chapter
two, verse 10. Or just before you read verses
four through nine, you read of God’s grace and mercy. God has
made us alive in Christ Jesus. And so when you get to verse
10, where it says we have been saved for good works, we recognize
that that’s not just in our youth and it’s not just in our middle
age, it’s also in our older years. God has made us alive. He has
saved us by grace. He has given us riches and gifts
for his glory and for others good. He’s raised us from the
dead that we might serve others. And so Christians, young and
old, we need to be reminded that we’ve been saved for a purpose.
We’ve been redeemed for a purpose. And the challenge from God is
to find that purpose, whether young or old or in between. Find
that purpose. Find where you were gifted to
serve and where God has blessed you to be a blessing to others. I remember several years ago,
sitting with a group of men over lunch and asking them about this
subject. And one of them simply said this, it doesn’t matter
what age you are, you’re never off the hook for serving God.
Now, your service may be limited, your service may be way less
than it used to be, and your service may look different than
what it used to be. And it can be as simple as praying
through the prayer list of the church. It can be simple, like
just showing up to church. We know how difficult it is sometimes
just to show up and participate, but what a godly thing that is.
But Christians, young and old, were never off the hook at any
age to serve God. Now think about your sphere of
influence, particularly those who are of an older age. You’re
a parent, you’re a grandparent. Many of you are great grandparents.
You’re church members and you’re stewards to one another. And
we are well reminded of what the psalmist says in Psalm 71,
18. He gives a prayer. He says, so even to old age and
gray hairs, oh, God, don’t forsake me. He’s saying, God, I’m getting
old. Don’t forsake me. My hair is
getting grayer. He says, don’t forsake me until
you see there’s an opportunity and that opportunity is this
until I proclaim your might to another generation. and your
power to all those who come. You see, the psalmist is saying,
I have value as long as I am alive. And that value is in my
proclamation of the goodness of God to the next generation. He’s saying, let me see a fifth
generation. Let me see a fourth generation.
Let me see a third generation. Let me see more children and
grandchildren, not only in the family, but in the church so
that I can proclaim the goodness of God to them. We read just
a little bit ago from Titus chapter two. And Titus chapter two and
a little bit of three reminds us our duty as spiritual mothers
and fathers. You see, we don’t have to have
children to be an influence. We can be spiritual fathers,
spiritual mothers. We can breathe life into people,
sharing with them the gospel and the way of the Christian
life. But we have spheres of influence as parents and grandparents
and as great grandparents, as church members. In that sphere
of influence, we ought to make our prayer, Lord, keep me alive
until another generation hears from my lips about your your
goodness and your power and your might. Help me to be a spiritual
father and mother to teach the young. Who God is and what he
has done, you know, our scope of ability may change. We may
be retired from labor, but, you know, that frees us up to do
other things to serve. Oh, it may be limited. but never
ever think, whether young or old or in between, never ever
think that you have no value or no place in the church of
Almighty God. A good old age is a blessing
of God. It’s a result of godliness. It’s an age of opportunity. There’s
a fourth thing. Those of a good old age are to
be respected. The book of Proverbs begins this
way. My son, hear. My son, listen. You see, it starts out with saying
you’ve got two ears and a mouth. You keep that mouth shut, but
you keep those ears open and you listen to the sage, to the
wise. You listen to those who have
lived life, those who know what life is, and you listen to them
for in your old age, you may prosper as well. Remember Job
when he had so much trouble come upon his household. He had many
bad friends, many miserable comforters. And one of the things Job said
to them is wisdom is with the aged and understanding is in
length of days. How do we understand wisdom and
understanding? How do we process knowledge?
What do these three mean? Well, knowledge is simply this.
It’s knowing information. And you know, young people can
know lots of information. They can call it up on their
smartphones. They can look at it on the internet. They can
know lots of information. We’re a very well-educated society. But knowledge is just knowing.
Wisdom is collecting that knowledge and putting it in order, putting
it in categories. How does this knowledge affect
my family? How does it affect my work? How
does it affect my finances, my long-term desires? We categorize
it. We put it into buckets, so to
speak. So we have knowledge, we have wisdom, but understanding
is what the Bible speaks about is key to getting. And understanding
is putting that wisdom and knowledge into practice based upon the
realities of the world around us. It’s taking knowledge, it’s
taking wisdom and saying, I’m going to apply it in the best
possible way so that I can live well and others may be blessed. And Job says, wisdom is with
the aged and understanding is with length of days. And so if
those are who are of a good old age are to be respected, we should
recognize that in their early days, these folks learn knowledge.
They gained wisdom through living, but now they have understanding.
And it is up to us to put ourselves in the path of those who are
of a good old age and respect them and listen to them and hear
from them. They have life experiences. They’ve
been through World War One and World War Two, the Great Depression.
They’ve made it through the 1960s. They’ve seen the markets go up
and down. They’ve had hardships in the
workplace. They’ve been part of the church. Their experience
spans decades and many seasons. They’ve studied the word of God.
They’ve applied it to their lives. And so Christians with both age
and experience should be. should be attractive to us. They
should be on our high list of heroes and people we want to
influence. You see, someone of a good old
age with knowledge and wisdom and life experience puts forth
an aroma, and it’s a sweet aroma, and we should be naturally drawn
to their graciousness and to their fruit-filled lives. A good old age in the Bible is
also translated as a ripe old age. We understand what ripe
means. Something has passed the test
of time and it’s at the perfect moment for picking. It’s at the
perfect moment for its use. In the Bible, it means simply
to bear tasty or good fruit. And notice how it doesn’t speak
of the young or even the middle age that way. It speaks of those
who are of a good old age, a ripe old age. Friends, we should get
in the path of the older generation. We need to know what they know.
We need to be encouraged by them. And let me challenge you in this
way, those who are young, it is to our detriment as youth
to disregard those of a good old age. There is much to learn
from them and we ought to learn it. And it is to our peril not
to listen. So a good old age is a blessing
of God. It’s a result of godliness. It’s
an age of opportunity. Those of a good old age are to
be respected. One final thing for us to consider this morning,
and that is this. A good old age has a downside. We live in a world that is wrecked
and ravaged by sin. We live in a world that is under
the curse of Adam and Eve’s original sin. We live in a world where
things deteriorate, not only material things, but our bodies,
our vision, our diets, our range of emotions, our senses. We face
medical problems. We have expenses that didn’t
occur in our younger age. We have lots of living to do
and yet on a fixed income. And then there’s death. And Abraham’s life reminds us
so well that we are sojourners, we are pilgrims, we are making
our way from the pagan world to the city of God, to the celestial
city where God himself dwells and where Jesus has promised
that he has prepared a place for us. And so as we live life
from young age to middle age to old age, we’re on a pilgrimage
from this life to the next. And we need to remember that
in all its hardships, all its difficulties, all its infirmities,
all the darkness and difficulty and pain that God is still God. He reminds us in the scripture
that he will never leave us or forsake us. The Apostle Paul
reminds us that in life and in death and in sickness and in
hardship, there is nothing in this life that can separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. We are united
to Christ Jesus in our faith the whole way through. He’s with
us. He never leaves our side. He
has passed through the waters before us. He’s been in the grave. He has been shrouded in burial
cloths. He was three days in the tomb.
He knows what it is like for us to endure suffering and hardship. and all the curses of this life.
And the Bible says that when we pass through the waters, he
will be with us. He never leaves us or forsakes us. No, he never
forsakes the righteous, neither the young nor the old. What a good reminder this is
for each of us today. All of us will face death. All
of us will face old age. All of us will face middle age.
All of us have made it through young age. But the question for
us is this, how will we live life between those bookends,
between birth and death? One of the great ways I’ve heard
somebody categorize it is this way. Do I want to rust out or
do I want to wear out? You know, if you rust out, you’re
just sitting idly. You’re letting the elements take
you down, so to speak. But if you wear out, you wear
out serving God and serving others. And that’s what we see in the
life of Abraham, our ancient forefather. If we are of the
faith, we are children of Abraham. And so let us, like our father
Abraham, not rust out, but wear ourselves out, serving the generations
after us. Pray with me, if you will. Our
Lord, we think of the Apostle Paul as we pray, who said at
the end of his life, I’m like a libation, a drink offering. And my very life is being poured
out. It’s being poured out as a sacrifice
for the service of others, for the sake of the gospel, and so
that more men and women and boys and girls may come to know the
power of God, the gospel of Jesus, and the grace that is ours in
the scripture. And so help us as we live life,
Help us to honor those of an older age, but help us help us
to live life well, to live life well for your glory and for the
good of others. And this we ask and pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let us respond to God’s word
as we sing together a rendering of Psalm 23, hymn number 50.
The Lord is my shepherd. I’ll not want.