Never Too Old by Steve Keeler
Scripture Psalm 71:9, 14-18
"Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not
forsake me when my strength fails. But as for me, I will
hope continually, and will praise You yet more and
more. My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and of
Your salvation all day long; for I do not know the sum
of them. I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord
GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours
alone. O God, You have taught me from my youth, and
I still declare Your wondrous deeds. And even when I
am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, until I
declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to
all who are to come."
A little boy once asked a woman in a wheel chair in a
nursing home he was visiting how old she was. She
smiled and answered, "39 and holding." He looked at
her and said, "Well how old would you be if you let go?"
People say age is just a state of mind and that you are
only as old or only as young as you feel inside.
For example, if you happen to be an eighty-year-old
woman who is happy with life and you think that you
are just a spring chick, then guess what, you are going
to act and feel like you are much younger than reality.
On the other hand however, if you happen to be a
seventy-year-old grump who has a negative outlook on
everything, then you won't have any joy in life and you
will act and feel very old.
We're not supposed to just kick back and wait for the
inevitable when we reach our autumn age, we finally
have time, all this wonderful time now. Just doing
nothing all day will only lead to a nice funeral.
It was discovered that longevity and happiness in our
old age requires a purposeful lifestyle with ongoing
relationships, and sustained involvement.
What I'm trying to get across to you is that you need to
realize that just accepting your age can lead to losing
the best years of your life. Don't let yourself become
inactive and resigned, you need to live.
God wants you to live out your life in a meaningful way.
And the single best, the most meaningful way to spend
these better years of your life is by serving the Lord.
Listen to this, just because you are retired from your
old job, even if that was a really hard job like being a
wife and mother, you never retire from your spiritual
job. You can stay on the front line of the battle, working
for the Master.
Being here, in this place may actually present you with
the time and opportunity to be of greater service than
ever before.
I know that some of your might be saying, 'But I am too
old for that,' but service in God's army has no age limit.
Moses was eighty years old when God told him to go
get His children out of Egypt.
Abraham was seventy-five years old when he obeyed
God's command to leave his homeland and serve Him
in the land of Canaan.
We are never too old to serve the Lord, and we can
definitely never retire from serving Him. Let me tell you
when it comes to work of the kingdom, Not one of us
has earned the right to say "I've served our time".
As we saw in our scripture reading, God's Word
shatters the myth that once we have reached a certain
age that we have "served our time". It also encourages
those of us who believe we are too old to serve.
This Psalms shows that David never considered
himself as retired from serving the Lord and telling
people of God's goodness.
It's plain to see this was written for those in their senior
years when we look at verse 9 which says, "Do not
cast me off in the time of old age"
David was an old man when he spoke these words and
we read that his strength was failing him as well and he
pleaded that God not forsake him.
When David made this plea to God he didn't doubt that
God was with him. David was asking God to continue
showing His glory through him as he had always done
all his life. David still desired to be used by the Lord.
The Psalm says that David never ceased from telling
people about God's righteousness and His salvation.
Just like David, we should never stop telling people
about the salvation that they can find in Jesus Christ.
David was unwilling to give up his witness even when
old age was stealing his strength. He asked God to
never stop using him until he had spoken of the Lord's
goodness to his entire generation.
David was committed to serving God until the very end
of his days. He would never give up trying to reach the
people around him with the message of salvation.
A little boy was playing with his friends in the yard. His
great grandmother, in her 70's, watched with great joy
as the little guys burned off some energy. After a while
her grandson came over and asked her to join his
team. Her automatic response was, "I'm too old to play
those games now." He looked up at her and asked,
"Grams, when were you ever new?"
Just like this woman, when we are asked to participate
in something to often our reply is "I'm too old for that."
This seems to be especially true when it comes to
serving God. However, the Bible shows us we are
never too old to serve God, it can be as simple as
telling people about Jesus.
In the old testament we find some inspiring words that
are spoken by a man named Caleb. Back in the book
of Numbers, we are told about the Lord sending 12
spies into Canaan. When they came back, most
brought back reports of fearsome giant people there.
But Caleb had faith and said they should hurry and
take the land that God has promised.
The people, however, were afraid and because of their
refusal to take the land of Canaan God caused them to
wander in the wilderness for forty years as punishment.
After their wandering was over, there stood Caleb. He
was 85 and do you think he was saying he was too old
to fight? Nope, he said he was as ready today to go
into the land as he was 45 years earlier.
Listen to Caleb in Joshua 14:12 "Now then, give me
this hill country about which the Lord spoke on that
day, for you heard on that day that Anakim were there,
with great fortified cities; perhaps the Lord will be with
me, and I will drive them out as the Lord has spoken."
As he came to his final years, Caleb gave aging
Christians us a great mantra, 'Give me this mountain!'"
In our old age we must always seek to be like Caleb
and strive for those mountains that God has called us
to claim in His name.
Don't allow yourself to give in to frustration, failure and
bitterness. These things have no place in the life of the
Christ Follower. Don't let your old age steal your
witness and make you say 'What's the use?'
People often give in to the "what's the use" mentality
when they get old and their spiritual gifts become
paralyzed permanently all because of some trail or
disappointment they experienced years ago that they
haven't given over to God.
Not Caleb! After 40 years in the wilderness, wandering,
he refused to give into the "what's the use" mentality.
Instead he said "God, give me that mountain!"
My grandfather replaced the roof on his church at 91.
The song 'Ave Maria' was written when Verdi was 85.
Ronald Reagan was the most powerful man in the
world at age 75
This idea that life should be winding down at 50 or 60
years of age is crazy. The idea that we can grow too
old to serve the Lord or the notion that we have "served
our time for the kingdom" is just as crazy.
Folks as we grow older, I pray that we don't grow
colder in the things of God. This is the time to proclaim
the glories of God to this generation just as David did.
It's time to claim those mountains for God just as Caleb
did.
The great evangelist John Wesley is a good example
of serving God in one's senior years. "In Wesley's life,
he rode 350,000 miles on horseback, preaching the
gospel of Jesus Christ. He preached over 40,000
different sermons.
As he grew older, at the age of 83 he complained
because he could only study for fifteen hours a day.
At the age of 86 he became concerned about his
spiritual state because he felt that he had become
slothful by sleeping in until 5 a.m. At 87 he learned his
eleventh foreign language. And at 88 he was worried
because he could only preach twice a day, every day,
six days a week."
George Muller, another great evangelist, is said to
have traveled 200,000 miles, using his gift of tongues
to preach in seven different languages to an estimated
three million people. Muller's ministry didn't began until
the age of 70 and continued for the next 17 years.
Take it from these guys: You are never too old to be of
service to the Lord.
If you believe that you are not physically able to serve
the Lord in your senior years, then please don't feel
down. All you really need is a willing heart and the
knowledge that God loves you and sent his only Son to
give you the gift of eternal life in God's kingdom.
When John Newton, the writer of 'Amazing Grace,'
was old, a friend asked him if his memory had gotten
bad. Newton replied, "Yes, but I remember two things:
He said, I know I'm a great sinner and I know I have a
great Savior; and I don't need to remember much more
than that".
God wants you to know today, that you are still of great
benefit to Him and He still wants to use you for His
glory. Just tell of God's saving grace to all whom you
meet.
I also want to warn some of you and let you know that
if you have given up serving God because you are too
old to share the gospel or you feel that you have
already "served your time" in His kingdom, that God is
greatly displeased with your attitude.
I'm not saying that you have to talk about God in every
conversation you have, after all even God rested on
the seventh day, however what I am saying is no one
can ever really retire from serving the Lord.
The only ability we really need in order to be of service
to God is to know that Jesus Christ died to save us and
to declare this knowledge to everyone we meet.
Amen!
