Promise of a long life

Exodus 20:12 (NIV) and Ephesians 6:1 (NIV)

“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you”.  “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right.  Honor your father and mother—which is the first commandment with a promise—that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land”.

The fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments, as Ephesians 6:1 says, is the first commandment with a promise.  While the main focus of this commandment is for children to honor their father and mother, I wish to focus on the promise of a long life. 

In the United States in 1900, 4% of the population was 65 years old or older.  In 2000, that percentage had increased to about 12%.  It is estimated that by 2020, 17% of the American population will be 65 and older.  So indeed our population is aging.  Yet, no one likes to get old.  Jonathan Swift said that “every man desires to live long, but no man would be old.”  Christians may not fear death, but most fear getting old since getting old means potential health problems, financial pressures, physical limitations, loneliness, and other problems.

The Bible teaches that growing old is a blessing. For example Deuteronomy 5:33 teaches that if you live an obedient life, the Lord will prosper you and prolong your days on earth.  King David died at a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor (I Chronicles 29:26,28).  Growing old is part of God’s purpose for your life.  I admit that looking at aging from that viewpoint seems to lessen my personal depression about the aging process.  Proverbs 16:31 says that “gray hair is a glorious crown, it is found in the way of righteousness”.  

Perhaps the number one blessing/attribute promised by the Bible for getting older is gaining the attribute of wisdom. Wisdom is a characteristic of a person who puts the Lord first in his/her life and allows the Spirit of God to fill his/her life.  Don’t be like the person Ben Franklin referred to when he said, “Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late”. Wisdom allows a person to live a long/full life (Proverbs 3:16, 9:10-11).  Wisdom allows the older person to be a teacher, coach, mentor, and counselor to a younger person (Deut 32:7, Titus 2:3-5). 

As you grow older, your goal as a Christian should be to serve as a good example to younger Christians.  Titus 2:2-3 says that older men are to be self-controlled, worthy of respect, sensible, and sound in faith, love and endurance.  Older women are to be reverent in behavior, not gossipy, not addicted to much wine and teachers of what is good.

God will never leave your nor forsake you no matter how old you get.  There’s a great promise for the elderly in Isaiah 46:3-4; the Message Bible says:  “I've been carrying you on my back from the day you were born.  And I'll keep on carrying you when you're old.  I'll be there, bearing you when you're old and gray.  I've done it and will keep on doing it, carrying you on my back, saving you.”   We know also that God will be with you when you are suffering both physically and emotionally.  There needs to be a continual grounding of your faith to be there for you to carry you through your final days on earth. 

I believe the teaching that of the three sources of temptation---the flesh, the world, and the devil---the devil himself is most active with the elderly, telling them that they are no good any more to anyone, worthless, and don’t deserve to be content with their final stages of life.  You must be prepared for these attacks and fight them (“resist the devil and he will flee from you---James 4:7).  You are best prepared, again, by daily grounding your faith in the Lord through Bible study, prayer, and Christian fellowship.

For younger people reading this teaching, you need to remember that the Bible instructs you to take care of the elderly and, especially show respect (Lev 19:32, I Tim 5:1-2).  Indeed, the fourth commandment and the first with a promise affirm the importance of respecting your elders, your parents foremost among these.  Someday you will be old and will deserve others’ respect as the elderly deserve your respect now.

“Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest in life and living wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair – these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.”---Douglas MacArthur 

"Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many." Unknown   

MJA Note:  I also wrote this in honor of my mother's 89th birthday tomorrow (July 1).

Jericho and Achan

Joshua 6 and 7 (NASB)

So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. (6:20)

When I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it. (7:21)

Joshua 6 describes the Israeli conquest of Jericho, representing the return of the Jews to the Promised Land after centuries of slavery in Egypt.  Joshua 7 describes the story of the sin of Achan and the initial Israeli defeat at Ai.  How and why are these two events relevant to Christians today?

The story of Jericho rivets the imagination.  Imagine about 40,000 people (Joshua 4:13) circling the mighty

Canaanite city of Jericho for six days and then 7 times on the 7^th day before the trumpets of the priests sounded (Joshua 6:15-16).  All these people shouted (think of the noise when 40,000 people are cheering at a football game) and the walls of Jericho “fell down flat” (6:20).  People are fascinated by this story who most likely first heard it as children and remain fascinated about it as adults.  Jericho represented a city/society/culture full of sin that God chose to destroy using the Israelites led by Joshua.  Yet God also chose a method of capturing the city that was far different than any human military leader would choose.  Joshua is an example to us today of having complete faith in the Lord God.  He followed God’s commands exactly, even if those commands might have been very hard to understand.           

The story of Achan can be entitled “The unfailing curse of secret sin” (from a sermon I heard the late Adrian Rogers preach in 1979).  Achan decided to steal some of the spoils of Jericho then lied about it.  Joshua 7:21 describes the progression of sin, true then and true today:

-- Your eyes see something you want (“I saw among the spoil…….”)

-- What you see, you then covet (“…..then I coveted them…….”)

-- What you covet, you eventually steal (“……and took them”)

-- What you steal you then try to hid (“….they are concealed in the earth inside my tent….”)

Because of Achan’s sin, God needed to punish not only Achan, but the whole Israeli nation.  Such fierce judgment and discipline from God was absolutely necessary or the nation would quickly destroyed by its enemies.  Because of the sin of Achan, you can read the following about what happened to Israel and Achan:

-- 7:9  Dishonor to God

-- 7:12  Defeat of our brethren

-- 7:17-18  Disgrace to family

-- 7:24-26  Death to loved ones

Joshua is an example of faith and obedience.  Achan is an example of selfishness and disobedience.  Joshua’s obedience resulted in victory and honor.  Achan’s disobedience resulted in shame and death.  You might wonder why stealing and then trying to hide a theft resulted in death not only to the thief, but to the thief’s family.  Israel’s entire future as a nation was dependent on strict obedience to God.  Any kind of disobedience and hidden sin simply could not be tolerated. 

One last point although a book could be written (and probably has) on all the learning points from the stories of Joshua and Achan.  Joshua 7:7-26 and I John 1:3-10 go together.  Sin is always ultimately revealed.  Trying to hide sin only results in a curse.  Confess and repent now, not when you are caught.  If now, forgiveness (I John 1:9).  If later, judgment (Prov 28:13).

Read thoroughly and reflect on all the teachings about obedience and Joshua 6 and disobedience in Joshua 7.  Make up your mind to live the rest of your life like Joshua and never again try to hide any sin like Achan, but to confess it and be forgiven.  Whatever choice you make, there are consequences.  The stories of Joshua and Achan exemplify those consequences.   

What does God want you to do?

John 6:28-29 (NIV)

Then they asked Him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.”

There are several questions that either you ask yourself or others (like your children) ask you about God and Jesus and the Bible such as

·       What is God like?

·       Is Jesus really God?

·       What is the primary purpose of mankind on the earth? 

·       What is my purpose in life?

·       Why is there suffering?

·       Why is there evil?

·       What is heaven like?

and many other questions like these.

In John 6:28, Jesus’ followers ask Him one of these simple questions: “What must we do to do the works God requires?”  Perhaps this is a question you have asked of yourself.  What does God want you to do?  What can you do such that you know that God will be pleased with you (“well done, My good and faithful servant”)?  Often people wonder what one must do to earn favor with God, even to earn salvation.  The history of mankind has always been attempts to earn one’s way into heaven.  We are programmed somehow, perhaps because of growing up trying to please our parents, where we think that we must work to earn our place in heaven

Jesus clearly answers their question with this answer:  The work of God is to believe in the one He has sent.  At first, this doesn’t appear to be a very good answer.  What must you do?  No, you don’t need to do anything.  Rather, you must believe in Christ the Lord.  There no action involved except for the action of belief, of faith.   It’s one thing to believe in God, people everywhere believe in God, but Jesus’ answer is to believe in Him.  

Does that seem right, that the work of the Creator of this Universe--of everything we see, of who we are, of who you are—is simply to believe in Jesus?  That’s not much work, is it?  According to www.religioustolerance.org, the World Christian Encyclopedia estimates that in 2000, 32% of people in the world claimed to be Christians.  However, that percentage had declined from 34.5% in 1900 and was forecast to continue to decline.  Therefore, perhaps today, there are over 2/3 of the world’s population who do not believe in Christ as Lord.  If the world’s population is over 6 billion people, that means that 4 billion people do not believe in Jesus Christ.  Might there be anything more difficult than the work required to evangelize and convert four billion people to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God when the Christian faith is on the decline? 

It is a seemingly impossible task to do the work God requires.  He wants you to believe in Christ first, then to serve as a Christian witness to everyone else in your life.  As Jesus said in Matthew 9:37 and Luke 10:2, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation and then on the basis of your faith, you spend the rest of your life doing good works.  And first among your works for God is to help others see their need for Jesus Christ to forgive their sins, their need for assurance of eternal life in heaven, and their need for the most abundant life possible on earth. 

May you pray as though everything depended on God and work as though everything depended on you---St. Augustine  

Iron sharpens iron, people sharpen people

Proverbs 27:17 (NCV)

As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other.

“Iron sharpens iron” may be one of the most famous verses phrases of the Bible, certainly one of the better know proverbs.  People who don’t know anything about the Bible probably have heard of this term.  You may have used the phrase yourself before you knew where it came from.   

Iron sharpening iron conveys the imagery of one strong material sharpening a like material.  Think of an iron knife sharpening another iron knife.  Think of steel sharpening steel.  Then think of the imagery of one Christian person sharpening another.  For a Christian to be sharpened (the Hebrew word also means to be alert or to be keen), the best way for this happen is through the efforts of another Christian.  To sharpen a Christian friend to improve his/her walk with the Lord and spiritual growth means to influence your friend in the right way, to be provocative at times, even to say things that might be painful to hear.  With friends, it’s much better to say what you think than to hide your thoughts.  We all appreciate a close friend who will reveal our blind spots because it’s the blind spots that keep you from improving even more.    

This sounds easy to do, but much harder to practice.  To sharpen another, you need to be uplifting for sure, but also need to be honest.  Note what the Bible says about properly sharpening another:

§  "Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful" (Proverbs 27:5-6).  If your friend is bitter or rebellious or has some kind of negative attitude, you must confront him/her about this and not go along with it.

§  “……consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deads……” (Hebrews 10:24).  If your friend needs to change some attitude or take action that heretofore he or she has not done, you must confront your friend about this and not ignore it.  However, you must give strong thought to how you will approach and talk to your friend.

§  Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. (Ephesians 4:29).  The bottom line purpose of mentoring another is to encourage that person even when you might be giving honest feedback that your friend may not wish to hear.   

Who encourages you, prays for you, helps you through difficult times, and sometimes challenges you when you might stray once in a while?  A primary reason why Christians backslide, even pastors, is because they do not have—and do not choose to have-- someone in their life who sharpens them.  When you have no one to whom you are accountable, either you become too full of pride (“I don’t need anyone else to help me”; “I’m too good to listen to others”, etc) or you easily get depressed and discouraged (“no one cares for me”; “I’m not good enough”, etc.). 

If you are a Christian there is at least one person—and likely more--that the Lord has put into your life who can keep you sharpened and to whom you can sharpen.  Who is your sharpening friend?  Thank him or her for what they do for you.  And thank the Lord for putting that person in your life as your sharpening iron.