Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Dallas Willard says that it’s the task of every disciple of Jesus to live our lives as Jesus would if He were us.

That the task that’s before us is not to necessarily learn every task that Jesus did, as the purpose and mission of our lives may be very different.

Rather, it’s to learn how to do all the tasks that God has put before us to do in the way that Jesus himself would do them.

If Jesus played quarterback on the football team, how would he play the position and utilize the influence?

If Jesus were a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher, what type of doctor or lawyer or teacher would He be?

To that end, I’ve always thought it would be helpful to have been able to see Jesus up close living across the various life cycles.

It would be helpful to read about him as a teenager working through puberty or as a young man establishing himself as a carpenter.

And, zeroing in even more on where I want us to be this morning, it would have been helpful to see Jesus age, to see him as an example of what it should look like as our bodies diminish and hair grays and our eye sight fails.

His mission didn’t allow for us to see it; yet, that’s the call that’s on every life that God allows today.

Each of us are to age, and we are tasked with aging in the way that Jesus would have aged.

God’s Word

If God allows us the grace, we’re all going to age, and we must not take the aging process for granted.

We must not waste our aging.

There’s two misconceptions that must both be dispelled as we look at Psalm 71, and this Psalm obliterates them both.

Someone in their most vital years might think that it’s too early for them to be concerned with aging in the way that Jesus would.

And, to that, the Psalmist will say that you’re already aging, and you’re already establishing the habits and rhythms that you’ll carry into your golden years.

So, you better be intentional now about who you intend to be then.

Another person, already in the their golden years, might say that for them it’s too late.

But, God’s mercies that were new this morning when you woke up with breath in your lungs undermines that from the start.

It’s never too late to pursue the way of Jesus for your life.

The psalmist here, and most agree that it’s David, is writing this Psalm from the perspective of a long life looking back.

So, he’s looking both at his present circumstances and his lifetime of experience through his bifocals — up close and far off at the same time.

And, that’s what I want us to see this morning — Looking at Providence through Bifocals (headline): (so we can the target for the young and the responsibility of the aged)

Age teaches who to “trust.”

Lifelong refuge

Psalm 71:1-3 “In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame!

In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me!

Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.”

I thought that I’d be farther along by now that I am.

I thought that by 35 I wouldn’t struggle as much to pray or still care so much about what people thought of me.

I still find myself praying many of the same prayers now as I did 21 years ago when I first became a Christian.

And, what the psalmist is showing us is that this is how we will always feel, even to the end of our lives.

Much of Psalm 71 is found directly in other psalms.

For instance, these first three verses are almost identical to the first three verses of Psalm 31.

So, what we’re seeing here is that this has been a common prayer in his life, that the pathway that leads from his troubles to his refuge is well worn.

You’ll notice this in verse three especially.

He says, “continually”, repeatedly, day after day, year after year, he has found God to be his “rock of refuge”, the one beneath whom he could find shelter, rest, and protection.

One of the only differences between Psalm 31:1-3 and Psalm 71 is the phrase “rock of refuge”.

There’s actually one letter difference in the word used in Psalm 71 than in 31, which would translate most accurately as “rock of habitation”.

Or, my dependable, safe, restful “home.”

When he’s with the Lord, he’s at home.

I can think of the times in my life when I’ve been most afraid, and every time, I just wanted to be at home.

Fearing death in the back of 15 passenger van, I thought, “If I can just get home.”

Some of the difficult days early in ministry, “If I can just get home.”

And, that’s what age is meant to teach us, that’s what this psalmist had learned.

Our home isn’t just with God; it is God.

He doesn’t just provide us with a shelter; He himself is the fortress that secures his people.

So, we don’t run to another relationship or try to perfect physical fitness or to the bottom of a bottle when we face pain or even death; we run home.

We run down that well-worn path to our refuge in prayer again, in confession again, in need again.

Lifelong relationship

Psalm 71:4-6 “Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.

My praise is continually of you.”

But, the comfort here isn’t just that God has been a lifelong refuge under which to rest but also a lifelong relationship upon which he could lean.

Now, notice this because it’s a powerful challenge and hope for us.

Upon whom does He “lean”?

He leans upon the one he knows, the one who is close by and within arm’s reach, the one who has always been there!

Notice that he’s talking about “my” God/hope/trust.

It’s personal.

It’s possessive.

His hope isn’t just a promise; it’s a person.

His God isn’t just a refuge; He’s a relationship.

It’s a relationship that’s developed over the whole of his life, “from my youth.”

David isn’t calling out to some strange, distant power; he’s calling out to a God he knows intimately and personally.

That’s the experience of age talking.

Age teaches you who to trust.

Age teaches you how weak and dependent you are.

We think of maturity very often as the ability to become more and more independent, but, in reality, it’s to realize more and more that you’re just as dependent upon the Lord today as you were when you were born.

So, to those who are younger, the Lord is inviting you to establish “from (your) youth”, from your earliest days a relationship with him.

He’s inviting you to find your home in him so that you’ll be ready for the harder days that lie ahead.

And, they do lie ahead.

And, to those who are further down life’s road, He’s reminding you that you can always come home.

In fact, you must.

You must lean upon your God, your Savior, your Friend as finish your race.

Dale, it’s our responsibility to continually remind the congregation who they can trust and where they should run.

Age presents unique “challenges.”

Age threatens us to blame God.

Psalm 71:7-8 “I have been as a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.

My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.”

David’s relationships with people had been much different than his relationship with God.

It seems that every chapter you turn to David is betrayed by someone that he loved.

His family is an abject disaster.

In fact, he says in verse 7, “I have been as a portent to many.”

That is, to people it’s like David is cursed from God, so much so, that other people worry about being associated with him in fear of his curse wiping off on them.

Think of how much pain that is.

It reminds us of Job’s wife who sees her husband, now a shell of his former self, and say, “Curse God, and die.”

The difficult truth this morning is that the longer you live the more pain you will know.

Years are a gift from the Lord, but we must not forget that they are lived out in a broken world.

A long life may cause you to experience the abandonment of a child or even their death.

It may mean that you have to watch your spouse of many decades wither with cancer right before your eyes.

It may mean that you live during the worst of wars or economic collapse.

It may mean that you outlive your ability to provide for yourself.

And, if you’re unprepared, it can turn your heart cold and hard.

Pain either soften us or it hardens us.

It either gives us reason to draw near to God or to resent him.

Decide even, now, before you’re in the valley of the shadow of death that you’ll draw near to the Lord, that your heart will become softer.

The world cursed David, but David chose to praise the Lord.

That’s the way.