Mature, Not Old! Senior Appreciation

 Mature, Not Old!                                                            Kelly Durant 4-28-13

1-    Titus 2:2-4  2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

2.An old man limped into the doctor's office and said, "Doctor, my knee hurts so bad, I can hardly walk!" The doctor slowly eyed him from head to toe, paused and then said, "Sir, how old are you?" 
"I'm 98," the man announced proudly. The doctor just sighed, and looked at him again. Finally he said, "Sir, I'm sorry. I mean, just look at you. You are almost one hundred years old, and you're complaining that your knee hurts? Well, what did you expect?"    The old man said, "Well, my other knee is 98 years old too, and it doesn't hurt!"

3. What happens to old things? They get taken care of with great care! For old things, you might find a few old cars around maybe 40 years old or more but they usually are rusted and in need of many repairs but a few have been maintained and conserved and they then are priceless.

The value of old things be it old furniture or machines, is valuable only if it is in good condition, right? Value is relative to the wholeness of the item. People too, the mature ones, are purified by time and the trials of life and valuable if pure and holy.

4. Many people in the Bible were used by God only when they were older because leadership and a record of being a faithful good example require maturity and an older age! Age 40 was considered young in certain time periods and old in other time periods. Old or mature is culturally relative; this is why we usually say anyone past 30 is old! Today’s message is good teaching for everyone.

The scripture in Tit. 2:2 tells the elderly to be serious, Why? Because quite a few are not! Serious means they are using their time to be productive and helpful to teach to others what they know, not wasting their time on gambling games and vain talk in the coffee shops as many retired people in the world do. Do you know of some old person that still acts and thinks like they are a teenager pursuing shallow carnal pleasures? They look foolish and it is shameful, right?

5. Next, it says for the aged people to be temperate (which means living life in balance, calm, and not exaggerated in any area). The tendency of some older ones is to succumb to extreme behavior out of boredom. Some overspend, some over sex. If you investigate right now the increase in STDs, you would think it would be highest with the young people, right? Wrong! Its too bad Viagra exists because elderly people (46-64) in Florida are going to doctors by the droves because they have been contaminated by STDs. Over 12 million new cases appear per year in the U.S. alone! This reveals too much foolish promiscuity. Most of these people affected I doubt are people of real faith or the Holy Spirit would convict them to not do this behavior which harms their bodies and hearts and their relationship with God, and it frequently brings on divorces and murder.

6. Which brings us to the next words in the scripture, sound in faith. Faith increases over time after faithful years of study and practice (I repeat practice) of the word of God. Real faith is not gained with age, or years of going to church, it is gained by years of living in a relationship with our Lord Jesus!

Those that have strong faith are good people who respect and love others and their maturity is evident to everyone. Spiritual maturity, or being sound in the faith, is often not relevant to age but relevant to a serious dedicated obedience to the Word of God.

7. The next words in the verse: love and patience. Older people should act upon what their tender hearts feel which often is a love for all. Older ones do love children and want to see others happy. But, doesn’t it bother us when we see an older bitter, unkind person? Do you recall the comic strip Denis the Menace?  Have you known old men like that, bothered by everything? No matter your age, ask yourself, am I easily bothered and complainy about things or people?

And now: to be patient. Have you ever seen an older person impatient? They can make you crazy, right? Well, right now each of us are becoming more of what you will be when you are older. If you are impatient now, you will be twice as bad 30 years from now! Try practicing more patience today! Patience comes with taking control of your own spirit, something every one of us need to work on.

8. Tit2: 3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

How can a person have a behavior that is holy? The scripture answers it, by not falsely accusing, over drinking, and by teaching good things. The greatest temptation of your average carnally minded person is to talk about all of what they imagine that everyone they know is involved in. It is always some sinful activity which is far worse than their sins and quite often (no offense intended!) some mature people speak up about things they do not even know about. It is amazing all the things I have heard in my lifetime about other people, most of which has been untrue!  Why is this mentioned in scripture not to accuse? Because women speak 20,000 words a day men speak from 7,000 to 10,000.  In the multitude of words there is often many things said that should not be said!

People usually falsely accuse so they can manipulate the opinion of others so that they come out getting what they want or looking prettier than the others. Speaking imagined things without knowing the facts is false accusation, and these habits make people lose their holiness; it is a abomination that unglues the love and unity. Today gossip, slander, and scandal are commonplace in the media and everywhere. I knew a lady that would always speak bad of the young girls; that they should never be allowed here with their modern clothes, that they were flirty, etc. and she would eye them down and give dirty looks and we lost several young people because of her attitude, and words!

9. Next, why does it mention not being a wine bibber here? In the Biblical times there was wine which everyone had to drink due to the water being full of bacteria; however, today wine is mostly for pleasure. The factor here is that it is wrong to want to get a buzz or high all the time from wine (or any other substance) because that provokes unclear judgment. Note that the smaller bodies of women are more susceptible to drugs, pills, or alcohol addictions than men’s. Possibly women alcoholics were a problem back then!

9. Next, where it mentions teachers of good things, the emphasis on good is so important. I was shocked when younger when I discovered that in Brazil (and it is here and around the world) that there are mothers that teach their children to steal and do crimes. There are multi-millions of kids that grow up seeing older people do drugs, crimes, and horrible things so what are they teaching? People teach by our actions much more than they teach by words.

Adults that do crimes, or anything sexual with kids, or abuse them in any way, or make fun of God or church goers in front of them, prohibiting that they learn about God, or that practice occult things, these are people that will suffer the fate of hell according to Jesus.

Matt 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

10. Now advance to the part of the verses to Titus 2: 4 where it mentions the women (being mothers or grandmothers). 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, The idea is that the older women are to be respected role models as teachers explaining about good family relations and how to attend to the men and the kids.

Young women are always going to have problems with their husbands but what happens when a girl recently married goes to the mother for good advice but it is not given? She might say, how can I get my man to help me more to clean the house? A correct teacher would say, well, start the day with him praying and planning the day together, maybe even discuss some surprise you have for him if he helps you clean the house. That will get him interested just like a child.

But instead I have heard women say to younger women, I know sweetheart, men are terrible, they never help, they do nothing but take advantage of you as a woman! Get out of the marriage while you can!  I know many young women now that live very unhappy due to bad advice from bad female mentors! This is why we have the terrible mother-in-law jokes. But I never repeat them, I want peace with everyone! Usually it is the non-Christian bitter women that speak like this.

11. Today, sadly, we have a generation of youth that disrespect the elderly. Like it or not the elderly must teach the children to respect. Do you want to know how a young person shows they are mature? When suddenly they respect and want to be around older people so they can learn from their deep well of knowledge! This usually happens about college age when young people realize professors and older people are not so dumb after all, they actually have learned a whole lot! The mature ones should always be ready to teach about the lessons of life! And most of all teach prayer and the Word of God!

It is the job of the young to learn from the mature and experienced and the older ones should be willing teachers! The mature ones have a big job in our Corps, they must be mentors to the younger even when the younger don’t value it. (yet)

12.There are many articles about how we age and many of them are positive and state how people often get more mellow, worry less, get more friendly, get more happy and less worried, and even more productive. Later in life many people go on to accomplish great things in business, in writing, in service to the community. Old age, or maturity, is a blessing from God!

In my life, as in yours, you have met thousands of older people. I can tell you the names of some people right now that I know that have sought the Lord even later in life, come to church, and lived better holy lives, and they have prospered. On the other hand, some people I know have been too slow to get close to the Lord, I see them now in the same or in worse condition than what they use to be! We are on God’s time as always our timeframe has a limit, our days are numbered.

God waits for us to mature in order to pass on to us greater things. It is God’s plan that we all grow more mature in our faith, holiness, and love. There are some people that get older but still make the same mistakes over and over though, and that is because they have a record of living out habits for 10,000 days or more of their lives not seeking God and changing with Him and the times. People, usually the non-Christian ones, get older but not wiser and quite a few might agree that South Florida has an abundance of older but not necessarily wiser individuals.

13.In my time here with the Salvation Army I have meet hundreds of older and retired Officers and what I have seen is amazing. They are a very bright group like a person in their 40s! I have seen some retire at 65 and keep working another 20 years! And just like some of you here, your memory of Bible stories and of life’s experiences is lucid. Even though we live a busy stressful life for the Lord, it is as though the Lord blesses us with length of days for serving Him. Look up… Prov, 3:1,2 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

William Booth started the Salvation Army later in life and look how much he accomplished! When he died the whole city of London stopped that day to honor him!

Age with faith will regenerate you and you will be useful and fulfilled, but age without the qualities covered today will degenerate you and kill you quickly!

14. We need to thank those who visit the elder in the Community Care ministries! Remember, the people out in the world, those that have not known about righteousness and our loving life filled with the renovating Christian way of life, are not anywhere near as happy as most all of us are in this Corps.

Relationship issues such as having a deceased spouse, living far away from family, loneliness, etc. Mental issues such as depression, forgetfulness, moodiness; Health issues such as arthritis, osteoporosis, high or low blood pressure, cancer, and many more issues such as a loss of hearing and eyesight afflict the elder.    

On the bright side though, you and I have been in enough rest homes to see that there are all kinds of elderly people and most can be very nice, calm, and sweet!

15. Answer this question, what habits do you have today that will be many times stronger when you are old? You will be more of who you are today tomorrow!

Will you be energetic, in love with the Lord, and with life, and blessed because you planted good seeds in others so you could reap? Here there is teaching, service, generosity, and encouragement, and a lot of it comes from the mature faithful ones!

Will you be old and bitter about how you don’t have what you wanted out of life? Will you complain how others have treated you unfairly, how you should have been richer, how your family held you back! Age & time is a collection of what was lived day to day and daily living in God’s praises will always be renovating but our own thoughts with our own carnal minds are degenerating and discouraging!

16. Each one of us is responsible for the effect of what we are feeding our minds and spirits day to day over our time on earth. People look up to the older ones around us, and what do they see? With age we get better or bitter! Like wine that gets more fine, or like vinegar that gets more tart!

Let’s appreciate, respect, and pray for those with us that are mature! Each of us must make plans now on how to mature being full of God’s seriousness, holiness, love, patience, wisdom, and faithfulness!

Pray for those you know who are elderly today, for family members, friends! Ask the Lord how you can inspire them and honor them!