sermonette: Grumpy Old Men

Mike Ford
Given 20-Oct-11; Sermon #FT11-14s; 18 minutes

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8 grandchildren with us here at the feast this year. The other 3 are with Cody and Brooke down in Panama City. I do not know why they chose a condo on the beach over Topeka, but to each their own. It has been such a pleasure these last 8 days having the little Munchkins next door watching their wide-eyed wonder, their curiosity, their respect. Their love, their sheer joy in life. I have some great, great grandkids stories, but Kim Myers did such a good job talking about his grandkids and for the sake of time, I'm going to take those stories. Out of my notes. List that one. That's a good one too. I'll just take all those, OK. They are acute. They really are. You know, as we age, And as we fight the storms of life, we can become cynical and we can become jaded. We can become critical. And sometimes we can even become mean spirited. We lose that wide-eyed wonder that we once had. And some of that is to be expected certainly after all that we've been through. But do we have to really become grumpy old men or grumpy old women? I'm sure many of you have seen, have seen those movies with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, Grumpy Old Men. Grumpier Old Men was the sequel. They played bickering next door neighbors, a couple of old men that fought and griped and complained, and they were just grumpy. Who wants to be around that? Over the years, we've heard many a message about the youth in the church. How many have you heard about the old folks? Well, I'll be talking about the great heads today because someday I will probably be one. And I And, but I think the lessons that I'm going to bring out would apply to all of us. We've all noticed the aging of the church, have we not? Many of you under 30 are probably a little tired of hearing about the old days and worldwide. How many fee sites we had, how many brethren there were, how much income the magazines, the impact that we had, and so on. Now we find ourselves scattered in numerous small groups, sometimes growing smaller, and it's enough to make you grumpy. I'd like to read two verses. You do not need to turn to them. They're fairly well known. Proverbs 16:31. The silver-haired head is a crown of glory if it is found in the way of righteousness. Daniel 7:25 speaking here of the man of sin, he shall speak pompous words against the Most High and shall wear out. The saints of the Most High. So the older person is to be honored due to their age, and further, if they are righteous, their silver head is a crown of glory. Now that word glory can mean majesty. But lest we coast on our accomplishments, We can wear out. What happens when you wear out? What happens when you're worn out? You quit. You stop. We're an old church in many respects. We've been at this for some time. I've been associated in one way or another with the church for over 44 years. Many of you for a lot longer than that. It can be tiring work. It's hard to keep that wide-eyed wonder. Of a child and not become world weary. Hard not to become grumpy at the loss of our youth. They say youth is wasted on the young. It's hard not to become grumpy at the loss of our friends, our family. Maybe even of our excitement. None of us start out wanting to be a crotchety old man or woman, a worn out saint, as it were. How does that happen? There are two words I'd like to define here. The first is complacent. From Merriam-Webster.com, and listen to this in a religious sense, complacent. Marked by self-satisfaction, especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies. Synonyms are apathetic, casual, indifferent, nonchalant, and perfunctory. Now that to me describes a saint that has been worn out, a grumpy old man or woman, as it were. The second word is consistent. Again, listen to this definition in a spiritual sense, consistent. Possessing firmness or coherence marked by harmony, regularity, or steady continuity. Free from variation or contradiction marked by agreement. Synonyms are coherent, compatible, harmonious, and of a piece. Now that to me describes a Christian, even a silver head, found in the way of righteousness. What would cause a Christian to go from consistent Too complacent. From possessing firmness, you might think conviction. To self-satisfaction and a casual, indifferent attitude. Trials could certainly do that. They can wear you out if you let them, if you drift from God. Job loss, illness. Persecution, divorce, death, lack of friends, lack of brethren, the list is practically endless. You think to yourself, well, here comes another trial. I know I should pray about it. I should fast. I should seek counsel, meditate. But I've been at this a long time. I've got it. When you've been through something before, you can teach someone else how to handle it. And when you teach someone, do not you usually stress all the steps in the process? How to do everything in the right order, how important it is to do them, all the steps. But do we sometimes cut corners spiritually ourselves? You know, it's very, very hard to be consistent, to do it right every time. And as older folks we are pretty good about saying to the younger ones, you're doing it wrong. You need to do it this way. And we know how to do it because we've done it. But are we always walking the walk or sometimes just talking the talk? I read a story when I was a kid one time, a young fellow growing up on a farm, and his father had taught him to always turn off the tractor when he was refueling. The tractor was balky, did not like to start in the cold. One winter day, the young boy was walking across the yard and he saw across the yard his dad was refueling the tractor, and he could hear the tractor running. About then, the tractor exploded in flames. He ran. He pulled his father out. The father later died from his injuries. The dad had impressed upon his son at all times, turned the tractor off when refueling. But he felt like obviously he did not have to obey the same rules because he had experience. I've got this Nonchalance or complacency in a spiritual life, at the very least, can make you grumpy, but at the worst, Can kill you I want to read two examples from the Old Testament. You can be turning to 2 Chronicles. Two examples of grumpy old men. They did not start out that way. But they ended that way. In II Chronicles 14. We find the story of Asa, third king of Judah. Raised by an idol worshiping grandmother, he had watched his father and his grandfather before that rule very poorly because they left God out of the picture. He chose to do things differently. He obeyed God. He got rid of the idols. And so down the road when the Egyptian army came against him with a million men, he gathered his much smaller army and he went out to meet them. Now before he went out to meet them in II Chronicles 14 and verse 11, He had a prayer. And he said, Lord, it is nothing for you to help, whether with many or with those who have no power. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on you, and in your name we go against this multitude, O Lord. You are our God. Do not let man prevail against you. It's a very powerful prayer. God subsequently destroys the Egyptian army. Judah has peace for 35 years. Now I'm sure there were some day to day troubles, but essentially nothing major. 35 years of peace. In the 30th year of Asa's reign, he has a small border war, I would call it with Israel. And he seeks an alliance with Syria. He takes all the treasures from the temple, sends them to the Syrian king, and says, Come help me. It would appear to me that he became complacent because he doesn't involve God in this decision at all. I've got this, he says. Where'd the man go? That gave that prayer that I just read. So God sends the prophet Hannani to him, telling him he's done wrong, and he throws the prophet in prison. Some translations say he was in a rage. People are upset over this and they protest what he's done, and he inflicts cruelties upon them as well. So the final years of his reign, he's afflicted with gout in his feet and he dies a very painful death. Surely he died a grumpy old man. Let's go forward to II Chronicles 26. We're going to do this in a little more detail. 7 generations later, another king of Judah, Uzziah. Find his story in II Chronicles 26 and verse 3, we see he was 16 when he became king and he reigned 52 years. Look at the imprint of our current president after 3. What kind of damage could he do in 52? 52 years. Verse 4 says, Usaiah did what was right in the sight of the Lord. In verse 5, he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. In verse 6, he made war against the Philistines. He broke down the Wall of Gath, the Wall of Jabna, the Wall of Ashdod. He was quite successful. Verse 8, the Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah. And then it says his fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he strengthened himself exceedingly. Verse 10, he built towers in the desert. He dug many wells that actually would be reservoirs, for he had much livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plains. He also had farmers and vinedressers in the mountains and in Carmel, for he loved the soil. Skip down to the 1st 15. He made devices in Jerusalem invented by skillful men to be on the towers and the corners to shoot arrows and large stones, so his fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped. Till he became strong. It's an interesting way of putting it. He was marvelously helped. Now, earlier it said God made him prosper as long as he sought the Lord. So for some extended period of time, we do not know how long, decades for sure. He sought the Lord. Let's see, fame spread far and wide. What else? Pretty hard, go back to that phrase, his fame spread far and wide. He was marvelously helped. He prospered in the Lord. Pretty hard for that not to go to your head. So while Uzziah was consistent in his worship, God was with him. Notice the things that he built towers. Cities, farms, vineyards, but he built it all with God's help and guidance, as it should be. But at some point comes the complacency. Self-satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies. Let's read verses 16 through 21. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up. When he became self-satisfied, when he became proud, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. For he transgressed against the Lord is God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were 80 priests of the Lord who were valiant men, and they withstood King Uzziah. They said to him, It's not for you, Usaiah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests. The sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense, get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed. You shall have no honor from the Lord God. Now what happens? Usaiah became furious. He had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and while he was angry with the priest, leprosy broke out on his forehead. Before the priest in the house of the Lord beside the incense altar, and Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests looked at him, and there on his forehead he was leprous, so they thrust him out of that place. Indeed, he also hurried to get out because the Lord had struck him. King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in an isolated house because he was a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And that's all, all we need there. Usiah became self-satisfied. He became complacent. I'm the king. I can go where I please. They could have seen this trouble coming. He'd been on the throne approaching 52 years. His whole life he'd seen the priests go into the temple. He knew it was not his job. God did not speak to him, tell him there'd been some sort of change. No, consistency demanded that he do his job, rule the people with God's guidance. Going into the temple and trying to burn incense on the altar was not his job. Now, was he, or had he become the stereotypical old man? You're doing it wrong. Uh, back in my day we burned incense a lot better than that. Maybe he felt like he needed to step in. Or was it more the who says I can't do this? I'm the king. I can do what I want. It doesn't matter which approach it was. He spent the last years of his life alone, by himself, shut off from the kingdom, a leper. What a come down for a man whose fame had spread far and wide. Just picture this Sitting alone in his house. I suspect that he also died a grumpy old man. So what do we learn from these two examples? How do we keep from becoming Grumpy old men and women. First of all, back in II Chronicles 26:5, we read that while Usaiah sought God, God made him prosper. How do we seek God? Are we consistently praying, studying, meditating, doing the things we've been taught to do low, these many years? Do we have the attitude of a child? Are we humble and eager to learn, happy to be here, looking at the world? And all that God has made with wonder. Even if we've been in the church 40 years or more, there are still things we need to learn. We're not done yet. If we were done, we wouldn't be here. We'd be in the grave awaiting Christ's return. Secondly, we guard against complacency. We watch that our hearts do not become lifted up. And should we find That we have become complacent. We repent. We return to the way in which we formerly walked. God is a merciful and forgiving God. It seems to me that Usah did not repent. We read there in verse 21 that he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And that's what complacency will do to us. Cut us off from the house of the Lord. When we become casual in our worship or perfunctory in our spiritual lives, self-satisfied as Asa and Usaiah were, We're just begging for God to put us out of our misery. Once we take up the mantra that we've seen it all before, I've got this. We can become negative. We can become joyless. We can become even grumpy, and who wants to associate with that? Now every year at the end of the feast we hear, and I've said it too, we are going to have a tough year. It's a long stretch between here and the next feast. A long time until many of us will see each other. God-willing we will do that in Nashville next year. But my point is, I want to encourage you all to be consistent. To stay the course, to not take for granted or waste. What we've been given or what we've spent these many decades doing. Don't let life get us down. Make us complacent, wear us out. Let's keep the grumpy old folks in the movies.