Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning and welcome to Oldfield Free Church.

I’m Ian and it’s great to see you here and it is great to be back after what seems like 5 weeks.

Wait, IS five weeks!

Worship is all our lives not just the songs we sing.

We are told in

Our lives are to be one continuous worship session.

We will be aided in this in songs, prayer and with a message for our all-age service.

We’ll see what God has to say to us through His Word.

Make sure you have a bible.

There are some at the back.

You’re welcome to use an app.

I recommend Logos Bible Study App.

Talking of mobiles.

Do see you turn them either off or on silent.

If you’re new here a huge welcome to you.

We have leaflets at the back telling you about us - check out our website and stay for a cuppa after the service.

Let’s start with prayer:

Maker of heaven and earth, you rule over all the nations.

As we think of your unfailing, eternal, enduring love, we look forward to the day when we will worship you in eternity.

Your throne will be surrounded by people from every tribe, tongue and nation, all testifying that you have remained faithful.

We will all see that you have kept every single promise you made.

We will all see your goodness and grace.

We will all be transformed by your glory.

We ask that we would glimpse that glorious future as we gather today.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.

O Lord my God

King of kings

Blessed be your name

Notices/Offering/Prayer/Kids Exit

It seems to me that one of the things that some people joke about most in life is ageing...

All of us have had our parents say things like: In my day I walked to school uphill---both ways!

In my day all 12 of the children in our family slept in the same bed, we took turns using one pillow.

You know you are old if most of your dreams are re-runs!

You know you’re old if you try to straighten the wrinkles in your socks and you find you aren’t wearing any!

Old age is when everything finally begins to click, including your joints, knees, etc. It’s when everything that works, hurts.

Anonymous

The first sign of old age is when you hear snap, crackle, and pop and it isn’t your cereal.

To me, old age is always fifteen years older than I am.

Anonymous

Perhaps we can get past the jokes but be a little philosophical:

Anonymous

The principal objection to old age is that there’s no future in it.

Anonymous

Old age is that time of life when you know all the answers and nobody asks you the questions.

Anonymous

And then there is the practical thought that I heard in Wales so often:

Old age does not come alone

Like it or not, all of us grow older; all of us age.

Some enjoy joking about getting older but deep down inside growing old is something many people dread and fear and are willing to do anything to avoid.

Those who work in cosmetics or in plastic surgery have built multi-million pound businesses telling people how to avoid old age or looking older.

Health food manufacturers have built huge businesses producing special foods that promise it.

Genetic scientists are researching ways to prevent it.

But age still happens and since it is coming and there is no avoiding it what can we do to prepare ourselves for the onslaught of old age?

What does God expect of us as we age?

What does He desire?

1.

The first thing we need to realise is that this battle of AGEING is not just a matter of good arteries... but of

1. Have a Godly Attitude

You see, it isn’t a tragedy to grow old physically; it’s an inevitability; it is a normal part of life; all of our bodies grow old!

Our text from Ecclesiastes says as much.

The passage we read goes on to list the characteristic attitudes of old age...

a.

This text says that one mark of old age is this: "The grasshopper becomes a burden"....in other words a grasshopper lands on the shoulder of a man and its minute weight is a burden.

This phrase hints that one psychological characteristic of old age is that we are burdened down with trifles, little things bother us...there is an increased sensitivity to the trivial things of life.

You and I know people who are this way....little things bother them...the "grasshoppers of life" are a burden to them...They are always fussing and complaining...cranky and irritable...upset about insignificant things...they are already "old" psychologically ...they are constantly bugged by the small things of life.

b.

In verse 5 we are told that another psychological characteristic of age is that they "are afraid of heights".

This means that mental ageing is characterised by fear of risks in life, fear of challenges and new things.

So, we are “old” when we want to keep things the same, to play it safe, when we are afraid to take chances, afraid of the future, afraid that tomorrow will be filled with dark days.

And the scripture says that to people like this; “fears shall be in the way.”

Some old people always look at life with anxiety and fear.

This is opposite to what God wants for us.

He wants us to have faith and an expectancy of life and an abiding confidence in the future.

c.

One more characteristic of old age attitude is glorifying the past at the expense of the present and the future.

People like this think that the best times are all behind us.

The greatest days of a church were 30 years ago....in the “GOOD OLD DAYS”.

But people who have God’s attitude should believe that the best has not yet arrived and can start now and into the future.

They don’t let the victories OR the failures of the past limit the victories of the future.

So, these are the psychological characteristics of old age:

 Little things are a burden

 Pessimism and fear about the future

 Living in the glories of the past

According to these attitudes, How old are we?

Now it is certain, that if we live, that we are all going to grow old in body but we certainly do not have to grow old in spirit.

I have known people in their 30’s who have all the mental characteristics of old age and behave like Victor Meldrew.

Then there are others who are frail in body from the passing of years with hair that has either turned white or turned loose but their attitudes are young; they are excited, optimistic, friendly.

They are not old!

They are not bored nor are they boring.

To win in our battle with ageing you and I must know that ageing is not just a physical thing.

What does Paul have to say to all this?

2. The greatest achievements of our lives doesn’t have to be limited to our younger days

History is full of examples of this: Tennyson wrote "Crossing the Bar" when he was 80. Winston Churchill, the saviour of Europe would have been a failure if he had died before he was 65.

Thomas A Edison was busily seeking out new inventions when he died at 85. Michelangelo was still producing masterpieces when he was 89.

Hudson Taylor was going back and forth to China right up until the time he died at 73. George Muller only stopped travelling the world at 86 but kept preaching even on the day of his death at 92.

For both Hudson Taylor and George Muller travelling was not as easy as it is today.

When Irena and I were in Macedonia an 83 year old woman came out from the USA on a short-term mission trip to help us in the warehouses.

Moses had a zest for life right until he died at age 120

Then there was Caleb who said:

Imagine what it must have been like to be the only senior citizen in a group of younger people, all of them at least twenty years his junior, as they wandered in the wilderness, complaining about the weather, complaining about their leadership, complaining about circumstances.

What was it that sustained Caleb’s life?