Sermon

Aging in the Lord

Second City Sermons

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  1. Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

  2. a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

  3. It's our hope that these sermons will draw you

  4. more into the life of following God, Father,

  5. Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and

  6. joining with us each Sunday morning at 10 a .m.

  7. in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find

  8. us online at secondcitychurch .org and on Facebook,

  9. Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

  10. sermon. God bless. Let me pray once more Lord.

  11. Thank you again for this passage. Thank you for

  12. the Psalms these This great hymn book this this

  13. book that gives voice to all of the great emotions

  14. of this life God this invitation That you give

  15. to us to bring all of our self to you all our

  16. raw self all of our real self all of our All

  17. the different dynamics of life that we go through

  18. to you. God, I pray that wherever we are right

  19. now, that you meet us through these words. Meet

  20. us in the different stages of our life. Meet

  21. us in the trials of our life. Meet us in the

  22. joy of our life. Be with us present in this,

  23. your word. Now we pray. Amen. All right. This

  24. past fall, I was with a friend from Richmond

  25. where we had lived before we moved here 10 years

  26. ago. This friend is one of those friends who's

  27. particularly good at asking questions that invite

  28. more questions or that invite a deeper conversation,

  29. which I will say is a skill that we should all

  30. be seeking to develop. It's a great gift when

  31. you're with somebody like that who really asks

  32. questions that make you think and can be fun,

  33. but also invite something deeper. And so this

  34. friend who I've now known for 15 years asked

  35. me, Peter, what signs have you seen in your body

  36. that you're getting older? And so I remember

  37. really clearly when I turned 28, actually I remember

  38. this because a couple of years before this, a

  39. friend of mine said, man, when I turned 28, my

  40. metabolism changed and I used to be able to eat

  41. everything. And this was me, right? from basically

  42. the time I was 14 till the time I was 28 I weighed

  43. 145 pounds wet and 130 pounds sick, you know,

  44. and I could eat anything I could eat all day

  45. long and I turned 28 and I just was like I can't

  46. do that anymore. What what happened to my body?

  47. I just can't eat whatever I want Some of you

  48. have experienced this others if you you will

  49. hopefully if you make it there anyway that was

  50. not what came to my mind i was looking at my

  51. hands and my friend asked me this and i and i

  52. don't know if i had i think i had noticed them

  53. before but this was what i was doing and i saw

  54. this spot right there and this spot right there

  55. and right there and right here and right there

  56. uh some of you know those are called aging spots

  57. It's the clumping together of the melanin that

  58. gives color to your skin. It often is aggravated

  59. by being in the sun a lot, but it pretty much

  60. only happens when you put on a few years. Some

  61. of you have heard me talk about this one. So

  62. I was watching this fall in November I was watching

  63. this video of this physical therapist who counsels

  64. people who does sports and he what he does is

  65. he does he does these exams first of sort of

  66. range of motion things, you know, like these

  67. kinds of things and You know like muscle movements

  68. and what not and he gives people these exercises

  69. So they are their range can improve and their

  70. muscles with certain activities can improve and

  71. I'm watching this and I hear him say That He

  72. starts to see injury and significant decline

  73. in people when they turn 43. And so I'm bowling

  74. on January 4th this year with my family and with

  75. a few folk. And all we're doing is bowling. I

  76. mean, Mary was on a bowling league for like 50

  77. years, right? Or longer than that, a while. And

  78. we get done, and my knee has this sharp, acute

  79. pain. And my hip is just, I'm doing this kind

  80. of like, you know, leaving Trindle Bull. And

  81. here's the thing, I went to bed and it was still

  82. there in the morning. What is up with that? You

  83. know? Like, why? And then you know what? Actually,

  84. my hip, it pretty much hurt for about two months.

  85. My knee just got better like two months ago,

  86. five months after this happened. I don't remember

  87. falling over, nothing. I was doing this bowling.

  88. And I know, by the way, that was my 43rd birthday.

  89. And I know I'm not that old. I have been called

  90. names from the likes of Dottie Roden and Diane

  91. Koning and other of our senior saints. Names

  92. like Spring Chicken. and youngster. And I understand.

  93. That's fine. I don't take offense to any of that.

  94. I understand what the love from which it's offered.

  95. This song that we have before us this morning,

  96. it is definitely written in the waning years

  97. of David's life. He says there in verse nine,

  98. do not cast me off in the time of old age. forsake

  99. me not when my strength is spent." But I don't

  100. think he's, in saying that, I'll show you this.

  101. I don't think what he's doing is saying that

  102. the pains that we have in other stages of life,

  103. the different trials that we go through, the

  104. troubles that we go through physically, emotionally,

  105. mentally, socially are diminished. In fact, what

  106. he's doing is he's looking at his old life and

  107. he's saying, don't forsake me in my old age.

  108. And you know what? You haven't done it at these

  109. other times either. And so verse seven tells

  110. us things like this, that he's been a portent

  111. to many. It's been a sign of the hard things

  112. that are to come in the various seasons of life

  113. to many throughout his life. And yet God has

  114. been with him and he's been present with him

  115. through these challenges. So he can look back,

  116. verses five and six, tell us this, for you, O

  117. Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my

  118. youth. He's kind of, and then he goes back farther.

  119. Upon you have I leaned from before my birth.

  120. So David begins this Psalm primarily in these

  121. first few verses by asking God to not, you know,

  122. that he would not be put to shame. He asks that

  123. he would be saved. He asks God to be his rock,

  124. his refuge. He asked that a couple of times in

  125. this Psalm. He says also a rock and a fortress,

  126. something to defend, not just to protect, but

  127. also to defend against the onslaught of others.

  128. He asks for God's rescue from the hand of the

  129. wicked. And it says, and from a cruel man. Just

  130. people that are just cruel, mean, ornery. And

  131. what I want us to do a little bit today is to

  132. think together because I think this is actually

  133. what David is doing. He's coming to the near

  134. the end of his life and he is experiencing one

  135. of the hardships that age presents. But he's

  136. also giving, he's kind of thinking back on his

  137. life. about how he's been a portent to many,

  138. the sign of the difficult things of life, but

  139. also how God's been faithful in those things.

  140. He's thinking back through the challenges of

  141. aging. And I do want us to think a bit about

  142. the hardship of getting older, but also how just

  143. simply getting older from one stage to the next

  144. presents different challenges. He mentions here

  145. shame and a need for refuge and wickedness and

  146. cruelty. And one of the things I would suggest

  147. to you is that those dynamics are present pretty

  148. much in every stage of life. A degree of shame

  149. and a degree of cruelty, a need to take refuge

  150. in God. Getting older is not just something for

  151. the elderly. Getting older happens to each one

  152. of us in each stage. David, interestingly, goes

  153. back to birth. And did you notice he actually

  154. goes back before that? Verse six, upon you have

  155. I leaned from before my birth. You are he who

  156. took me from my mother's womb. He's looking at

  157. birth, but he's also actually going. back before.

  158. And I want us to think about this a little bit.

  159. There are challenges that face us even in the

  160. womb. You might not be terribly cognizant of

  161. those. Most of us have very few memories before

  162. the age of three or so. I was speaking though

  163. with a local psychologist who's become a friend

  164. about my own life, my own family upbringing.

  165. And you start to ask questions like, why am I

  166. like this and this and all these kinds of things.

  167. And we're talking about how we're so multifaceted.

  168. Us becoming us is such a strange and interesting

  169. subject. If you look actually at one of the meditation

  170. quotes, Dan Allender there at the bottom in his

  171. book, The Wounded Heart says, every person enjoys

  172. dignity and suffers depravity. The structures

  173. of personality is a result of the interaction

  174. of these two dynamics. And that can be said also

  175. actually in utero. How you were cared for the

  176. joy that parents might have embraced with you

  177. even when they just first learned of pregnancy

  178. That can have an effect on you even in the womb

  179. there. There's certain difficulties and challenges

  180. that take place I mean, of course, it's not hard

  181. for us to think of things like fetal alcohol

  182. syndrome, which certainly affects many but this

  183. wasn't the focus of my conversation with my friend.

  184. We were just talking about how everything that

  185. we're experiencing, even within the womb outside,

  186. how parents talk to each other, how they love

  187. each other, how they think of you with joy and

  188. gladness or the inverse of that affects us. Of

  189. course, any birth is a miracle, right? I mean,

  190. the weaving together of a child within a mother

  191. and the ways that children are cared for and

  192. fed. And it's an astounding miracle of miracles

  193. kind of thing. Wonder of wonders. How we are

  194. made such wonderfully and cared for in our wombs

  195. from our inception. But we also know how common

  196. it is to not make it out of the womb. I read

  197. that 15 % that's sort of a low number of pregnancies

  198. end in miscarriage. It's actually likely a lot

  199. higher than that because most of those happen

  200. in the first trimester. So many of them are not

  201. reported or unknown. And so many of us have experienced

  202. the pain and loss of a child in that way, which

  203. is to say to lean upon the Lord even in the womb

  204. is a necessary dynamic. To bear a child can be

  205. full of joy and also full of unbelievable hardship,

  206. overwhelming sadness. Sometimes a child is planned

  207. for, Often a child is the joy of their parents

  208. having waited a long time for that child. And

  209. yet often that's also not the case. Sometimes

  210. childbirth is met with the unrelenting scorn

  211. of others. How could you bear a child? How could

  212. you be a mother? And it's also actually in our

  213. own minds. How can I, what am I doing? You know,

  214. you leave. the hospital with that child and they

  215. just let you leave with it. What are they doing?

  216. I remember being astounded the first time that

  217. happened. It eased the second and third times.

  218. But sometimes children are born in the middle

  219. of a separation or a divorce. There are certain

  220. trials and troubles that are born even in infancy,

  221. even when just coming from your mother's womb.

  222. Leaning on the Lord is for the old and for the

  223. very, very young. And it goes on, of course,

  224. think with me, right, of the challenges and the

  225. joys of being a young child. You're full of interest.

  226. full of energy, sometimes to your own parents

  227. chagrin. You're learning to move, but also you

  228. have to learn to not stick your finger in the

  229. socket or not touch the oven when it's on. When

  230. I was in, I think it was third or fourth grade,

  231. I think I was nine or 10, around that. I was

  232. at a neighbor's house and we were playing and

  233. somehow we ended up upon a wasps nest. Yeah,

  234. you can imagine how that went. I remember more

  235. or less just being like covered in, you know,

  236. baking, the baking soda, baking soda afterwards.

  237. That's, this was stung me and it hurt like crazy,

  238. but actually what sort of hurt even more was

  239. that the very next day was my pictures for my

  240. baseball team. And I'm telling you, it looked

  241. like, you know, sometimes baseball players have

  242. a wad of chew in their mouth. I had the whole

  243. baseball like on my, in my cheek and it was just

  244. kinda like. I'm like, that's not what you want.

  245. That's a degree of shame for a kid who loves

  246. sports and you're 10 years old. We learn the

  247. scorn of others even at a young age and we learn

  248. to lean on the Lord in the unique ways that that

  249. age invites and the difficulties of those different

  250. stages. And of course, parenting those stages

  251. has its challenges. It's amazing how quickly

  252. parents, and I am speaking of myself in this

  253. regard, okay, but no doubt probably a lot of

  254. you will resonate. You go from having opinions

  255. about like parenting on everything when you have

  256. one child to then like having your second or

  257. your third and you're like, I actually don't

  258. know if I have an opinion about anything because

  259. I'm pretty sure I've failed at all of it right

  260. now. Which is to say we have learned how little

  261. we actually know, right? Because parenting can

  262. be actually a very humiliating thing. because

  263. it's such a deep trial. It's so much deeper than

  264. just a loss of sleep. Think with me a little

  265. bit about the puberty years. Those can be actually

  266. pretty exciting years. Your body's growing. There's

  267. a sense in which you're coming of age, growing

  268. into womanhood or manhood. And you're becoming,

  269. as Jess pointed out to us this week, I thought

  270. this was lovely, like a part of the great sisterhood.

  271. Part of the great brotherhood. There's something

  272. exciting about that You're getting stronger I

  273. remember looking in the mirror in the upstairs

  274. bathroom and flexing and thinking this is cool

  275. And yet our bodies don't feel like our own and

  276. we don't feel really comfortable in them We wonder

  277. to what people group, what friend group we belong

  278. to. Who are we? How do I exist outside of mom

  279. and dad and my siblings as myself? Because I

  280. know more and more that I'm a unique person and

  281. I don't know how that functions. So of course

  282. those years can be really socially deeply trying

  283. and really difficult friends can scorn you you

  284. can be made fun of You know for a little peach

  285. fuzz that starts to grow or if you just never

  286. end up having decent facial hair as some of us

  287. do Often in the teenage years you're introduced

  288. to things that can really harm you externally

  289. and internally sometimes you grab on to those

  290. because you know, they made you in in the social

  291. setting that you were in and And again, in those

  292. kinds of seasons, you learn to lean on the Lord

  293. through the troubles and the challenges. Of course,

  294. the end of the high school years, young adulthood

  295. has its huge challenges. What are you studying

  296. becomes a question that I used to lead college

  297. ministry. And I remember talking to people and

  298. they said, after the first week of being on campus,

  299. I just wanted to write out a card. that had like

  300. the four main questions. Where are you from?

  301. What are you studying? You know, what's your

  302. major? What are you going to do with it? Because

  303. it just gets so incessant that you just want

  304. to go, can you read this? Because you're not

  305. going to ask me anything else and I don't really

  306. want to talk to you. And they can be such fear

  307. inducing questions because so often you don't

  308. really know. I've heard it said that the years

  309. from 18 to 25 can be some of the most difficult

  310. years you experience. And I don't know that there

  311. are years that are not difficult to be frank.

  312. I think that's part of what David is even saying.

  313. But those years can be very trying. You're still,

  314. you're wondering, what do I do? Do I go to the

  315. trade school? Do I go work this job that's been

  316. offered to me? Do I go to this school? If I go

  317. to the school, what does this mean? Here, here,

  318. here. They're certainly very difficult. Where

  319. do you belong? Dating can be unbelievably hard.

  320. and unbelievably sorrowful. We learn again to

  321. lean on the Lord. We learn to lean on the Lord

  322. in our singleness. We learn to lean on the Lord

  323. in our dating or not, because some of us are

  324. not called to that kind of life. We learn to

  325. lean on the Lord in our sexual pain and our sexual

  326. sin and our sexual history. We learn to lean

  327. on the Lord in our new jobs or our lost jobs

  328. or our searching for jobs. or our heart emptying

  329. jobs, which many of us have at least from time

  330. to time. We learned to lean on the Lord with

  331. our roommates that won't do the dishes or that

  332. don't pay rent. Or as one of the roommates that

  333. I had once just ghosted us. And all of a sudden

  334. all of our rent went up because he just decided

  335. he didn't want to live with us anymore. And that

  336. was it. It was actually a pastor's kid in my

  337. own presbytery at the time. What's going on?

  338. We learned to lean on the Lord when we venture

  339. out from our mom and dad's house for the first

  340. time, or for the second time, or for the third

  341. time. We just moved down to the basement. We

  342. learned to lean on the Lord in our young marriages

  343. where we have no idea how our spouse ever made

  344. it out of the third grade, or how we thought

  345. that we were mature enough to say yes. We learn

  346. to lean on the Lord through divorces and through

  347. infidelity, through angry words thrown at you

  348. late at night, sometimes punches through doors,

  349. sometimes through forgiveness and healing. We

  350. learn to lean on the Lord when we are sitting

  351. with our children crying with them because they

  352. didn't make the basketball team because their

  353. friend Just said one of the meanest and cruelest

  354. things We learn to lean on the Lord when we're

  355. sitting with our teenager because We just said

  356. one of the meanest and cruelest things We learn

  357. to lean on the Lord when they move out when they

  358. head off to college or decide to take a job or

  359. to move states We learn to lean on the Lord when

  360. we outlive our children because of that car accident,

  361. because of that overdose. We learn to lean on

  362. the Lord when our parents start to show the signs

  363. of aging and not just skin spots. We learn to

  364. lean on the Lord when the diagnosis comes back

  365. and the cancer comes and the stroke happens,

  366. when the degenerative disease persists as they

  367. do. I'm heading back to Washington in two weeks.

  368. And I'm going to a friend's wedding. And you

  369. all heard me say this a few years ago. One of

  370. my mom's best friend, she died a few years ago

  371. and she had Alzheimer's for the last 12 years

  372. of her life. And her husband's one of my dad's

  373. best friends and he's getting remarried. And

  374. I mean, you wouldn't believe the hair loss at

  375. his wife's funeral. kind of like mangy hair loss

  376. and how skinny he was and how much he had loved

  377. his wife and cared for her through unbelievably

  378. difficult years. And when his youngest daughter

  379. was little, she's one of my younger, my youngest

  380. sister's best friend, they were over at our house

  381. and they riding bikes. They rode to the end of

  382. our gravel road. Because there's like a few houses

  383. that are on this gravel driveway and there's

  384. this little hill that goes down and little Chelsea

  385. Rode her bike down that hill and got hit with

  386. a car And it ran over her and she spent the next

  387. four months in the intensive care unit at Harborview

  388. in Seattle She's actually doing them remarkably.

  389. Well, but we know none of us knew if she's gonna

  390. live You learn to lean on the Lord in that Praise

  391. the Lord. She's doing well now. She's gonna walk

  392. her dad down the aisle Some of you have sold

  393. houses and they were the ones you raised your

  394. kids in. And the ones you hoped you would die

  395. in. And the ones you hoped your kids would buy

  396. the house next door to, right? Maybe it was also

  397. the house though that your husband got so angry

  398. in. Maybe it was the house that you dreamed of.

  399. Maybe it was the house that you came to fear.

  400. You've learned to lean on the Lord in the nursing

  401. home and the assisted living facility. Maybe

  402. you learned to lean on the Lord when your husband

  403. or your wife learned to change you and your diapers,

  404. help you go to the bathroom. We learn to lean

  405. on the Lord, what I'm saying, through every stage

  406. of life, because every stage of life has its

  407. unbelievable burdens and trials and hardships.

  408. And there is no stage that is exempt from this.

  409. I mean, this Psalm speaks of enemies multiple

  410. times, but think of verse 10, speaks of cruel

  411. man. All right, verse four, speaks of shame in

  412. verse one, speaks of accusers in verse 13, speaks

  413. of the wicked in verse four. And of course the

  414. list goes on, because that is this life. Verse

  415. 10 and 11. For my enemies speak concerning me

  416. those who watch for my life consult together

  417. and say What actually maybe people say have said

  418. about you right like God's forsaken him that's

  419. forsaken her Pursue and seize him pursue and

  420. seize her There's none. There's none to deliver

  421. him hurt. There's nobody that really cares about

  422. you It seems as if at each stage of life, there

  423. are reasons that we can say that we have enemies

  424. and there are reasons why we hear these words,

  425. God's forsaken them. And sometimes actually,

  426. I would say often, it's actually our own selves,

  427. right? We're the accusers, we're the cruel men,

  428. cruel women. We are the ones who are saying these

  429. kinds of things to ourselves. Think about this

  430. Paul writing in Romans 7. He says this, so I

  431. find it to be a law that when I want to do right,

  432. evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the

  433. law of God in my inner being, but I see in my

  434. members another law waging war against the law

  435. in my mind and making me captive to the law of

  436. sin that dwells in my members, wretched man that

  437. I am. who will deliver me from this body of death."

  438. He says, I'm part of the very problem. And I

  439. bet you know that experience, because we can

  440. say that at just about every stage of our lives

  441. too. And yet, and this is the truth, okay, this

  442. is one of the great things that I think commends

  443. the scriptures to you. If you're not a Christian,

  444. if you're kind of exploring, or let me say this,

  445. if you are a Christian, I think one of the things

  446. that commends the Bible to us the most is how

  447. honest it is. David's never like, ah, things

  448. are just peachy keen all the time. Put on your

  449. rose -colored glasses. No, but for as much as

  450. he's willing to be always honest about the challenges

  451. of life, he also says, I have learned the faithfulness

  452. of God. He's learned the faithfulness of the

  453. Lord. Turn with me again to the inside cover

  454. of your bulletin. Michael Gorman in a phenomenal

  455. book called cruciformity says the sufferings

  456. of Paul are not interruptions to his mission,

  457. but are intrinsic to it Through them the message

  458. of Christ crucified is embodied David does not

  459. shirk away from it, but he says that through

  460. these trials. He's learned the faithfulness of

  461. God. He's learned to lean on the Lord So Paul

  462. after those words that I just read in Romans

  463. 7 he says this Thanks be to God through Jesus

  464. Christ our Lord Not shrugging off the enemies

  465. and the accusers which are often ourselves Naming

  466. those but naming the faithfulness of God for

  467. us in Christ And so David says a little bit like

  468. this if you look down at verse 17, he says this

  469. read that whole section. Oh God, from my youth

  470. you've taught me and I still proclaim your wondrous

  471. deeds. So even in old age and gray hairs, oh

  472. God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your

  473. might to another generation, your power to all

  474. those to come. Your righteousness, oh God, reaches

  475. to the high heavens. You who have done great

  476. things with God, who's like you? You who have

  477. made me see many troubles and calamities will

  478. revive me again from the depths of the earth.

  479. You will bring me up again. You will increase

  480. my greatness and comfort me again. See, I've

  481. learned to lean on the Lord and He has not failed

  482. me. The trials and the troubles of David's life,

  483. they shape the context of his fidelity to God,

  484. but more than anything they show him God's fidelity,

  485. God's faithfulness to Him. And the same thing

  486. is true for you and for me. Various trials and

  487. the troubles that we go through in the various

  488. seasons of our life. All right, I wanna wrap

  489. this up, but I wanna encourage you with a few

  490. things first, okay? And then I'm gonna give a

  491. little historical ending, okay? I wanna encourage

  492. you with a few things. One, I wanna encourage

  493. you to embrace each season of life, okay? There

  494. are seasons that we go through where it is very

  495. easy to live into nostalgia. Ah, the glory days

  496. of being a dink, double income, no kids, or whatever.

  497. Oh man, I was the star football player. We've

  498. all heard about that guy. There are seasons of

  499. our life where it's so easy to say, back then,

  500. if only I was living then. There are also seasons

  501. of our life where all we want to do is look ahead,

  502. look to the next thing. How much of life seems

  503. to be lived towards retirement or something.

  504. I want to encourage you to embrace the season

  505. in which God has you. as much as you are able,

  506. embrace where God has you now. With its trials

  507. and tribulations, its troubles, the Lord is with

  508. you and He's teaching you something unique. He's

  509. giving you certain joys and certain difficulties.

  510. They are always there with you. And yet embrace

  511. where He has you now. Okay, that's one thing.

  512. I wanna encourage you in another way. And that

  513. is actually, in some ways I want you to look

  514. around. Like really literally, look around right

  515. now. Very few heads are turning, so I'm just

  516. gonna wait. Okay, just looking around a little

  517. bit. I want you to embrace, I want to encourage

  518. you to embrace the beauty of a multi -generational

  519. church. Sadly, it is true that many, many churches

  520. are divided up in all kinds of ways. Churches

  521. loved, we are the church that does rock and roll,

  522. we use the organ or whatever it is. We divide

  523. over all kinds of things. It's still the case

  524. that Sunday, morning is the most racially divided

  525. hours. Absolutely true. One of the great ways

  526. that we divide is over age. You know, we're the

  527. young church. Look at all the programs we have

  528. for kids or, you know, we're older church, whatever.

  529. But we need one another and we need one another

  530. in each stage of our lives. I think there's a

  531. unique need in a way to see the next stage beyond

  532. you following Jesus. So, you know, people that

  533. may be my age, we need to see couples who have

  534. fought for their marriages, like put in work

  535. and done something, made something beautiful

  536. because it is unbelievably difficult at times.

  537. And you're holding onto Jesus through the challenges

  538. that your marriage presents to itself. Teenagers,

  539. need to see young adults who have said, you know

  540. what? I know the challenges of that stage and

  541. you can follow Jesus after it and you can do

  542. it with joy. I need to see the faithfulness of

  543. you empty nesters. I already, I feel like I'm

  544. going to cry. I dread when my kids are going

  545. to leave my house. I can't believe I'm talking

  546. about that right now. We need you, right? We

  547. need people that have gone through that stage

  548. and are holding fast to Jesus and Jesus has been

  549. faithful to them. Our retirees need to see our

  550. elderly folk who are holding fast to Jesus in

  551. their older age, okay? Each one of us gives a

  552. gift to the other and we need one another. We

  553. need to embrace the beauty of this kind of life

  554. together. Okay. Sorry. I did not think I would

  555. stir up like that a little bit. Sorry. I'm going

  556. to go three, okay? I want to encourage you to

  557. learn to speak of and praise the Lord in the

  558. stage He's put you in, okay? I know this is kind

  559. of like the first one, like embrace where you

  560. are. But here's what, here, I want to, this is

  561. a little bit different because you senior saints,

  562. you who have been following Jesus a long time,

  563. I think you should be seeking to articulate the

  564. faith in a deeper and richer way, as David's

  565. able to do, than younger folk. Children, I want

  566. you to be thinking about this. And sometimes

  567. I get to see this because we do interviews for

  568. community and stuff, but... I want you to learn,

  569. what does it mean for me to profess and speak

  570. about Jesus and praise Jesus as a nine -year

  571. -old or as an eight -year -old or as a 13 -year

  572. -old? You know what I mean? What does it mean

  573. for me? I'm 43 and how do I speak about the Christian

  574. faith and how do I sink deep down more my feet

  575. and become more rooted in what God has taught

  576. me through the years? I want each of us to say,

  577. how can I embrace this reality of God with me

  578. now and how can I learn to articulate it to others?

  579. All right, let me end. In February, in the year

  580. 155, there was an 86 year old man who was taken,

  581. actually he had supposedly spent, he knew people

  582. were coming for him and he had spent this time

  583. in prayer. And he'd been praying for all these

  584. churches and these people that he knew and old

  585. and young alike, it said actually. But he was

  586. taken and he was marched. through his town and

  587. to the stadium there. And he was actually put

  588. to death by fire and by the sword. This man's

  589. name is Polycarp. Some of you know his name.

  590. He was arrested because he wouldn't burn incense

  591. to Caesar. Caesar was like a god. He could do

  592. whatever he wanted. And the Christians, they

  593. were called atheists because they only believed

  594. in one true God and they denied all the pantheon

  595. of gods. And so Christians were said, they had

  596. to come and they had to declare Caesar's Lord.

  597. Caesar's Lord. But he would not do this. He had

  598. learned over the years to lean on the Lord and

  599. he was going to do so until the end. And so he

  600. was arrested. He was brought to that stadium.

  601. And as he entered the stadium, the account of

  602. his martyrdom says that a voice from heaven came

  603. down. At least people looked around. They had

  604. no idea where this voice came from. He said,

  605. be strong, Polycarp. Be the man. And then it

  606. goes on, and I want to read to you a little bit.

  607. When he was finally brought forward, there was

  608. a huge uproar when they heard that Polycarp had

  609. been arrested. After he was brought forward,

  610. the procounsel asked whether he was Polycarp.

  611. When he confessed that he was, the procounsel

  612. tried to persuade him to recant saying, have

  613. respect for your age. Come on, you don't need

  614. to be a martyr at your old age. And all the other

  615. things they usually say, swear by the genius

  616. of Caesar, turn away, say away with the atheists,

  617. meaning the Christians. Polycarp looked solemnly

  618. at the whole crowd of lawless heathen who were

  619. in the stadium, motioned toward them with his

  620. hand, then groaned as he looked toward heaven

  621. and said, away with the atheists. But the procounsel

  622. was insistent and said, swear the oath and I

  623. will let you go. Revile Christ. Polycarp replied,

  624. 86 years I've served him. From his womb, from

  625. his birth. 86 years I have served him and he

  626. has never wronged me. How can I have blasphemed

  627. my King who saved me? It's not that Polycarp

  628. had an easy life. We actually know he was born

  629. into slavery. He was adopted as a young child

  630. by a single woman who taught him the Scriptures.

  631. We also learned that he learned from the Apostle

  632. John himself about the great love of God and

  633. Christ. And that upbringing, that tutoring, that

  634. mentoring from an older, wiser person changed

  635. his life. What I'm saying is, may we, may all

  636. of us fight the good fight, finish the race,

  637. keep the faith. And when we are old and all of

  638. our hairs are gray, when our body is failing,

  639. would we also proclaim, He's never wronged me.

  640. Great is the faithfulness of the Lord. Let me

  641. pray. Lord, so grateful for polycarp and for

  642. John. God, I'm thankful for Mary and Ross coming

  643. to Sunday school this morning. Four generations

  644. in a room, opening up the Bible. God, I'm thankful

  645. for Linda, loving people that come for English

  646. classes, little children. Got them thankful for

  647. Peter who plays with Will and August and all

  648. the others. Got them thankful for the names.

  649. that surround us in this space. People who have

  650. given time and money to build this sanctuary,

  651. to love us. Generations later who they didn't

  652. know. God, most of all we're thankful for your

  653. love for us in Christ. The great love of God

  654. for us. coming among us as one of us, dying,

  655. rising, giving new life, giving us the sure promise

  656. that the trials and tribulations of this life

  657. are not the end of the story. But you will be

  658. faithful and bring us through the resurrection,

  659. new heavens, new earth, no more crying or tears

  660. or pain, no more cruel men, no more accusers,

  661. no more shame. They will be the old things that

  662. have passed away and you will make all things

  663. new. We love you, Lord. We thank you for your

  664. great faithfulness in Jesus. In whose name we

  665. pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to Second

  666. City Sermons podcast. We hope this sermon has

  667. encouraged you to worship God and to celebrate

  668. the gospel of Jesus. Please consider subscribing

  669. to this podcast and joining us in person each

  670. Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us online at

  671. secondcitychurch .org and on Instagram, Facebook,

  672. and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. God

  673. bless.