The Bible tells us of the responsibilities of old age, but did you know that the Bible gives no retirement age to Christians? Did you know that even in your older years you have responsibilities as children of God?
The Bible outlines four clear responsibilities for older Christians.
-First, continue to praise God to the end. Our retirement years, our older years, are not for us to enjoy apart from God. Solomon spent his entire youth and into his later years trying to enjoy life and find meaning in life apart from God. He did not want to make the same mistake in his old age that he made in his youth. That is his unique perspective looking back over his life. And it must be our perspective too.
Hebrews 13:15 “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-- the fruit of lips that confess his name.”
It is clear that every day and every moment of our Christian lives, even into our old age, we are to continue to praise God to the end.
(2) We are also to continue to know God to the end. In Philippians 3: 10-14, the apostle Paul expressed his desires and how he would attain them: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Here Paul expressed that he wanted to know Christ in ever deepening ways and that he had not yet arrived at his destination. Did you notice that he was going to keep striving forward? Did you know that Paul was not a young man when he wrote this? And he was still working on growing in his relationship with God and the One who save Him?
-We are to continue to serve God to the end. Again, old age may mean retirement from earthly work, but old age is not an excuse for retiring from God’s work. Sure, your work may change form in your old age but it does not end. This is affirmed in Psalm 92: 12-14, the psalmist writes, “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green…”
The picture here is of believers flourishing in a wonderful way. Believers will be strong too. When the psalmist said that they would be like a cedar of Lebanon, he was saying that it was a very strong tree. The wood from cedar trees was so strong that it was used for shipbuilding by the Egyptians. The cedar tree was no wimpy tree that could be knocked down by a strong wind. It stood strong and that is the psalmist’s picture for believers, that they too would stand strong and flourish in the courts of God.
But they would not stand strong only in the days of youth when we are the strongest. The psalmist went on clearly to say that believers would “…still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green…” That means that we are to still bear fruit for God by serving God even in our old age. God has given us all gifts to be used for His church. And while our physical capabilities will change with age, service is not supposed to end. We can only bear fruit by continuing to use our gifts and serve Him in our old age.
-We must continue to proclaim God to the end. The psalmist said in Psalm 92:14,15, “They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
When we are Christians, we are to praise the Lord always. That can be both public and private. But proclaiming God to the end takes on a very public meaning here. We as believers, in our youth and our old age, are to always proclaim who God is and what He has done in salvation. We are to proclaim that God is righteous; that He alone is our Rock; He alone is our salvation; and there is no sin or wickedness in Him.
Isn’t that the Gospel? In Mark 16:15, 16 Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
In Matthew 28:19 -20a, Jesus also said, “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
What is the Good News? What are we to teach? The Good News, what we are to proclaim is this: Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life; He is the only way to heaven, the only name by which anyone can be saved. He was and is sinless and He gave that life as an atoning sacrifice, a payment for our sins. And through faith in His Name, people are saved. Is there supposed to be an end to proclaiming that Good News? No. We can never retire from proclaiming the Good News of salvation. We are to proclaim it in our youth; and we are to continue to proclaim God to the end as older Christians.
I know that many of you feel the pains and changes of old age. I know that life has changed from what it was 10 and 20 and 30 years ago. Some of you think and have even said that your best days were behind you. But the Bible tells us and challenges us to remember that these are still the best of days of life because every day, including our old age, is a gift from God to enjoy.
We can never retire from the responsibilities of old age as Christians. We are to still bear fruit for God. We are still to live for him and proclaim and praise Him for what He has done for us through Jesus Christ. God has given you your old age as a gift to enjoy, as time to be spent profitably for Him.
So, don’t be a grumpy, retired, fuddy-duddy old Christian. Rather, enjoy and use the gift of long life God has given you by never ceasing to serve and praise the One who saved us.
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