Facing the Great Known

Facing the Great Known

Early Spring at CREC

Quinquagesima

Collect: O Lord, who hast taught us that all our doings without love are nothing worth; Send thy Holy Ghost, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love, the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee. Grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.

Gospel: St. Luke 18:31-43 (BCP, p. 150)

Homily Text: St. Luke 18:31-34 Then Jesus took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.  

How would you like to know your future? Think back over all the things that have happened in your life. Would you have wanted to know in advance that those things were going to happen? Perhaps, if by knowing them, you might have avoided the bad things. But what if those things were unavoidable? What if you knew that on a certain day three years from now, you will be diagnosed with a terminal disease? Rather than a blessing, it would be a curse to live with that certainty.

Jesus is the only person who has ever lived who infallibly knew his bleak future. He could have avoided it, but rather embraced it and determinedly marched toward it.

1. Jesus’s Prediction of His Death

1.1 Jesus left Galilee on his way to Jerusalem. The direct route was through Samaria, but because of Samaritan hostility he took a longer route. Likely Jesus and disciples crossed the Jordan River, to the eastern bank, and traveled through an area called Perea, till got to a place on the eastern bank opposite Judea. Then they crossed to the west bank and headed toward  nearby Jericho where Jesus healed the blind man we read about in today’s Gospel.

But before they reached Jericho Jesus he took his disciples aside from the crowd and said something very serious:

Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.  

1.2  This is actually the third time in St. Luke’s Gospel that Jesus spoke plainly to his disciples about his future. In the 9th chapter, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” St. Peter answered for them all, “You are the Christ of God.” Then Jesus told them for the first time:

The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be slain and be raised the third day (Luke 9:22).

A little later, Jesus took three of his disciples up on a mountain where he was transformed. His face change and his clothes became dazzling white. This was a brief outbreaking of Jesus’s glory as the Son of God. The day after that experience a man came to Jesus and told him that his son was continually convulsed by a demon. Jesus again revealed his glory by delivering the boy from this oppression. While everyone was marvelling at Jesus’s mighty works, he said to the disciples a second time:

Let these sayings sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men (Luke 9:44).

1.3 The first time Jesus predicted his death, he said that he must suffer many things. He would be rejected the religious leaders -  elders, the chief priests, and the scribes. He would be slain, but then would be raised from the dead on the third day. The second time Jesus predicted his death, he said he “shall be delivered into the hands of man.” The passive “shall be delivered makes us ask, “Delivered by whom?” This is an example of something in the Bible called “the divine passive” man is passive and God is active. Jesus would be delivered into the hands of man by God. St. Peter clearly understood this, and on the Day of Pentecost preached:

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men (Acts 2:22,23).

It’s a mistake to think that the death of Jesus caught God by surprise, or that somehow wicked men got the upper hand on God. No, lawless men killed Jesus, but Jesus was delivered into their hands “according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” Jesus was put in the hands of man according to God’s plan.

1.4 In today’s Gospel, Jesus told his disciples three things about his coming sufferings:

1.4.1 He told them that his sufferings will accomplish what the Old Testament prophets wrote: “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.” From Genesis 3:15, where God promised that a Seed of Eve would crush Satan, the whole Old Testament is about God working out his plan of salvation till he send Christ to accomplish salvation. There are also places in the Old Testament that point predictively to the sufferings of the Messiah. In Psalm 22 (16-18), describes his suffering:

For dogs encompass me;

   a company of evildoers encircles me;

they have pierced my hands and feet—

  I can count all my bones—

they stare and gloat over me;

  they divide my garments among them,

   and for my clothing they cast lots.

                               (Ps. 22:16-18)

Isaiah wrote about him:

He was despised and rejected by men,

   a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

   he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs

    and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

    smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

   he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us

   peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed.

                                                    (Is. 53:3-5)

Jesus understood the suffering he would undergo in Jerusalem as accomplishing what was written about him in the Old Testament.

1.4.2 He revealed greater details about his sufferings:

• Before he told them he would be delivered to the Jewish leaders. Now he says he will be delivered to the Gentiles. That’s what happened. After his arrest Jesus was tried by the Jewish Sanhedrin and found him guilty of blasphemy. The next morning they took him to the Roman Governor Pilate and charged him with insurrection.
• Jesus predicted that he would be “mocked, and spitefully treated, and spitted on.” St.Mark describes his treatment by the soldiers:

And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him (15:17-19).

• Jesus predicted he would be scourged and killed. When Pilate ordered his soldiers to crucify Jesus, he had him whipped and then taken to the place of execution where he was nailed to a cross on which he died.

1.4.3 Finally, Jesus told them that after his death he would rise again, a clear prediction of his resurrection. He would put to death in shame, but he would be vindicated and glorified by rising to immortal bodily life.

2. The Disciples’ Perplexity

2.1 What was the effect of Jesus’s prediction on his disciples? They were perplexed:

And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.

If this was the third explicit prediction Jesus made of his sufferings, why was it so hard for them? Because they believed Jesus was the Messiah, and this did not fit their expectations about the Messiah. The Jewish expectation was that when the Messiah came he would deliver Israel from the Romans and give Israel peace, power, and prosperity. A suffering and dying Messiah made no sense to them.

2.2 People still don’t know what to make of Jesus, especially his death. Some people think he was an idealist who got caught up with the idea he would usher in God’s kingdom, but was crushed by the wheel of history. Others think he was a good man who showed courage in the face of rejection, suffering, and death. He is an example of heroic courage to us. Others think that his death was a demonstration of love. Certainly it is true that Jesus showed all the characteristics of love we read about his morning from 1 Corinthians 13. But that’s all some see - that his death somehow showed how much God loves us and that’s about it.

Why did Jesus die? What do you think? Isaiah told us:

All we like sheep have gone astray;

   we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

   the iniquity of us all.

St. Paul wrote, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” God laid on Christ the iniquity of us all, and he died bearing our guilt and suffering our punishment. Do you know why Christ died? Are you trusting his death for your eternal salvation?

In other words, God the Father out of his tender mercy have his “only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption; who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.”

An Ebenezer Moment

An Ebenezer Moment:

The Annual Report

Sexagesima

Collect: O Lord God, who seest that we put not our trust in any thing that we do; Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Homily Text: 1 Samuel 7:12 (3-13)

3 And Samuel spoke unto all the house of Israel, saying, “If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve Him only; and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

4 Then the children of Israel put away the Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only.

5 And Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you unto the Lord.”

6 And they gathered together at Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah.

7 And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

8 And the children of Israel said to Samuel, “Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.”

9 And Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord; and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him.

10 And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel; but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and discomfited them, and they were smitten before Israel.

11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines and smote them until they came under Bethcar.

12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer [that is, The stone of help], saying, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”

13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the border of Israel; and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

Have you ever known anyone named Ebenezer? Perhaps you think of that man with the flinty heart: Ebenezer Scrooge. You may have sung the hymn that has the line, “Here I raise my Ebenezer” and still scratch your head and wonder what it means to “raise your Ebenezer.” Today I want to tell you the story about how we got that name and what it means.

1. The Story

The time between Israel’s conquering of the land God promised and the time when they got their first king was a chaotic time. People did whatever was right in their own eyes. There was a repeated pattern:They rebelled against the Lord and worshiped other gods. The Lord would allow their enemies to oppress them. The people would cry out to the Lord for help. The Lord would send them a judge. You probably think of a judge as someone who carries on judicial functions. Judges did administer justice in Israel, but they also were military leaders who delivered God’s people from oppression. The last of the judges was Samuel, whose mother took him to the Temple as soon as he was weaned and gave up to the Lord.

Twenty years after Samuel began to lead Israel there was something of a religious revival and reformation in Israel’s life. The people began to mourn after the Lord - they wanted a restoration of their relationship with the Lord. Samuel told them what to do if they sincerely wanted to return to the Lord with all their hearts.

First, they must put away their pagan gods. They worshiped the Baals, a fertility god, and the Ashtaroths, Baal’s female counterpart. Second, they must direct their hearts to the Lord with trust, love, and loyalty. Third this must not be a temporary change, but they must continue to serve the Lord only. Samuel promised that, if they truly returned to the Lord, the Lord would save them from their enemies, the Philistines. The people did what Samuel told them. They got rid of all their false gods, and they worshiped only the Lord. In the Christian life, rather than repenting and turning to the Lord when he sends us trouble, repenting and returning ought to be a constant way of life for us. Martin Luther said, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

Samuel told them to gather people from all over the land to meet at a place called Mizpah, which was about 7 miles north of Jerusalem on a major north-south highway. At Mizpah he would pray to the Lord for them. They did as Samuel instructed. When they had gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and, rather than drinking it, poured out before the Lord. They also fasted. These were acts of repentance, self-denial, and consecration to the Lord. They confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.”

We will soon be in the season of Lent. It is a time when many Christians will give up something beginning on Ash Wednesday and continuing to Easter. This can be a good practice, so long as we don’t think we are gaining the Lord’s favor by our self-denial or think that that denying ourselves something like wine or sweets is enough. The purpose of Lent and any self-denial we practice is: (1) to remind us we will die and there is an eternity before us, (2) to call us to examine our relationship to the Lord and find if we have moved away from the Lord, if how our faith has cooled, if there are areas of disobedience in our lives, and (3) and to call us to a whole life of denying ourselves, repenting, and consecrating ourselves to the Lord.  

When the Philistines heard that Israel had massed at Mizpah, they got nervous that Israel might be gathering an army to attack them, so their lords led their army toward Mizpah, where  Israel was gathered. When the people of Israel heard that the Philistines were on the march, they got very afraid. So they turned again to Samuel, and asked him to intercede with the Lord: “Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.”

Samuel took a nursing lamb, killed it, and offered it as a burnt offering to the Lord. The burnt offering was an offering that involved the whole animal being consumed on the altar. The burnt offering had two significances it. It was an atonement to cover the sins of the people. And it was a consecration symbolizing offering themselves wholly to the Lord. And Samuel prayed. He cried out to the Lord for Israel’s deliverance.

As the smoke of the offering was rising, the Philistines prepared to mount their attack. But the Lord had heard Samuel’s prayer. He thundered with a mighty sound against the Philistines - possibly a great thunderstorm with large hail. This threw the Philistines into a panic. Their army was thoroughly routed. The Israelites pursued them and won a decisive victory.

Samuel knew the people must not forget what the Lord had done. So he set up a stone and gave it the name Ebenezer, which means “Stone of Help.” He declared, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”  That is, “So far, up to this present moment the Lord has helped us.”

2. The Significance

What was the significance of the Ebenezer stone for Israel? What is its significance for us?

2.1. The stone was a memorial of the Lord’s help to Israel. We still use stones for memorials. We memorialize the lives our our loved ones by placing memorial stones on their graves. If you go to the Civil War battlefields at places like Gettysburg or Vicksburg, you will find that they filled with large stone memorials given by the states to honor soldiers who served and died. Stones say, “We must not forget, and we must not let future generations forget.”

The Ebenezer stone Samuel set up said, “It is the Lord who gave us this victory; it was not by our power or skill. Let us give him the praise and glory, not ourselves.”  It said, “The Lord has been with us and helped us till this day. The Lord delivered us from Egypt. The Lord guided us through the wilderness. The Lord gave us victories over the Canaanites so we could possess this land. The Lord did not abandon us because of our sins, but time and again sent us deliverers. And even now, the Lord helped us win victory against the Philistines.”

“Hitherto” or “till now” the Lord has helped us is not meant to say, “The Lord has helped us till now but may not in the future. It offered encouragement for the future. If the Lord has helped us till now, why should we doubt he will help us in the future?, Israel could forfeit the Lord’s help if they turned away from the Lord and turned back to the pagan and false gods. But, if Israel maintains her trust in the Lord and loyalty to him, the Lord will always be her helper against her enemies.

2.2. We too should set up our Ebenezer stones. They may not be literal stones, but we must determine to remember the Lord’s faithfulness and help.

As individuals we should set up our personal stones of remembrance of the Lord’s help. Whether we have distinct memories of our coming to faith in Christ, we all should memorialize our salvation. “Christ died for my sins. The Holy Spirit gave me the gift of faith to trust in Christ. The Lord has preserved me through many ‘dangers, toils, and snares.’ ” There should be memorial stones set up in our hearts that call us to daily thanks for God’s salvation.

But we should also memorialize our many personal deliverances - that God has helped us through the trials and crises of life. Do you remember the Lord’s deliverances? Do you give thanks for them? Do they create in you confidence in the Lord’s future goodness? With 5 kids and a minister’s salaries there have been times when I got into a financial panic, but Susan would always say, “Has the Lord not provided and brought us through every time in the past?”

Ebenezer stones are for us as a church. The giving of the Annual Report should be a day we set up a stone that testifies to the Lord’s help to us since our founding in 1981 and particularly in the year 2016. How have we made it since 1981 till today? The Lord has helped us. Look over the past year and the trials we have experienced. We might not have got through them, but we did. Why? The Lord has helped us. Look at the Financial Report. We have faced a number of substantial but unanticipated needs. These could have discouraged us, or even sunk us, but the Lord helped us and has provided.

Today we say, “Till now the Lord has helped us. As he has helped us till this day, we believe he will help us in the days to come.”

Now we come to the greatest memorial of all. Not a memorial in stone, but in bread and wine. The memorial of the saving death upon the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A Psalm for Old People

A Psalm for Old People

Septuagesima

Collect: O Lord, we beseech thee favourably to hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

Psalter Psalm 71. In te, Domine, speravi. (p. 361, BCP)

1 In thee, O LORD, have I put my trust; let me never be put to confusion,  but rid me and deliver me in thy righteousness; incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

2 Be thou my stronghold, whereunto I may alway resort: thou hast promised to help me, for thou art my house of defence, and my castle.

3 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the ungodly, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

4 For thou, O Lord GOD, art the thing that I long for: thou art my hope, even from my youth.

5 Through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s womb: my praise shall be always of thee.

6 I am become as it were a monster unto many, but my sure trust is in thee.

7 O let my mouth be filled with thy praise, that I may sing of thy glory and honour all the day long.

8 Cast me not away in the time of age; forsake me not when my strength faileth me.

9 For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take their counsel together, saying,

10 God hath forsaken him; persecute him, and take him, for there is none to deliver him.

11 Go not far from me, O God; my God, haste thee to help me.

12 Let them be confounded and perish that are against my soul; let them be covered with shame and dishonour that seek to do me evil.

13 As for me, I will patiently abide alway, and will praise thee more and more.

14 My mouth shall daily speak of thy righteousness and salvation; for I know no end thereof.

15 I will go forth in the strength of the Lord GOD, and will make mention of thy righteousness only.

16 Thou, O God, hast taught me from my youth up until now; therefore will I tell of thy wondrous works.

17 Forsake me not, O God, in mine old age, when I am gray-headed, until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to all them that are yet for to come.

18 Thy righteousness, O God, is very high, and great things are they that thou hast done: O God, who is like unto thee!

19 O what great troubles and adversities hast thou showed me! and yet didst thou turn and refresh me; yea, and broughtest me from the deep of the earth again.

20 Thou hast brought me to great honour, and comforted me on every side:

21 Therefore will I praise thee, and thy faithfulness, O God, playing upon an instrument of music: unto thee will I sing upon the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.

22 My lips will be glad when I sing unto thee; and so will my soul whom thou hast delivered.

23 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long; for they are confounded and brought unto shame that seek to do me evil.

“It takes courage to get old.” I understand that saying now as never before.Courage isn’t the absence of fear, but doing what you have to do in spite of it.

Psalm 71 does not identify its author, but I think it likely King David wrote it in his old age. David lived a little past 70, which does not seem all that old to us - if I live, I will be 70 on my next birthday - but was a good old age in his time 3000 years ago.

1. The Psalmist’s Past

The Psalmist tells us three things about his past.

1.1. He had known the Lord all his life.

...thou art my hope, even from my youth. Through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s womb... Thou, O God, hast taught me from my youth up until now…(4,5,16)

Under the Old Testament covenant the Lord promised to be with his people and to be their God and the God of their descendants after them. He gave them the rite of circumcision seal his  commitment to them. God charged them to teach their children about him and his commandments. Under the best circumstance, a child grew up believing that God had always been with him and taken care of him even when he was in his mother’s womb. From his earliest days he trusted and followed the Lord.

That’s the best way to grow up. Today it means being born into the home Christian parents, receiving the New Testament seal of baptism, and being brought up in home and church to know, trust, love, and serve the Lord. Every Christian parent should strive to bring up their children in our faith. Every Christian child should rejoice in his privileges, trust God for salvation through Jesus Christ, and grow to know and serve the Lord better and better.

1.2. He had experienced trouble and hardship all his life.  

O what great troubles and adversities hast thou showed me! (9)

He did not think of his troubles as bad luck or blind fate. He knew the Lord for his own reasons brought him all his troubles.

This fits what we know of King David’s life from the time he moved to Saul’s court till his death. He endured Saul’s jealousy and rage. When he left court, Saul tried to chase him down to kill him. Once Saul was dead, it took David 7 ½ years to secure the throne. He had wars with Israel’s traditional enemies on its borders. Because of David’s sin with Bathsheba, he experienced conflict and intrigue within his household. One of his own sons, Absalom, tried to overthrow him. Family conflict continued to the end of his life.

The Lord orders the lives of his people in different ways. Some  have relatively easy lives with a few temporary troubles but mostly good. Others have the ordinary mix of blessings and troubles. But some have big and persistent troubles almost from birth to death. They experience little ease in this life. All these things are part of God’s plan. His wisdom is beyond understanding, but know that you are not alone, that you are in God’s hands, and he means to have you with him in heaven.

1.3. The Lord helped him all his life.

Thy righteousness, O God, is very high, and great things are they that thou hast done: O God, who is like unto thee! (18)

That’s the voice of experience. As he looks back over his long life, he sees the Lord has been faithful to his promises and has done great things for him. He has seen God do great things in his life. As he came to the end of his life, David said that the Lord “has redeemed my (his) soul out of every adversity” (1 Kgs. 1:29).

It is a great blessing to be able to look back over a long life and see how God has never abandoned you but always been your fortress, helper, and deliverer. Ir is a great encouragement to others to hear what the Lord has done for you.

2. The Psalmist’s Present

The Psalmist tells us three things about his present.

2.1. He is old.

Cast me not away in the time of age; forsake me not when my strength faileth me... Forsake me not, O God, in mine old age, when I am gray-headed…(8,17).

When we are young there are two things we can’t conceive of: We can’t conceive of being old, and we can’t conceive of dying. Our grandparents seem decrepit. Our parents amuse, because they’re so quaint. We wonder if they ever have fun.

Then it happens. We get some wrinkles and  gray hairs. We can’t stay up as late and be any good the next day. We are becoming our parents, even acting like them. We buy more life insurance. When we sleep in, we get up at 7:00. We see the dentist, doctor, and bathroom more often. Nothing to do on the weekend sounds good. We think about mortality. Being dependent scares us. We buy long term care insurance. Soon we are our grandparents. Sixty doesn’t seem so old. Then 70. Days can drag but months and years fly by. We’re old.

Perhaps you remember King David who was handsome, strong, and a great warrior. By the time he was 70, he couldn’t get warm. His servants put more clothes on him, but he still was cold. They got a young woman to take care of him and sleep in his bed, but nothing happened between them. David was old, weak, not up to being king.

Getting old is no picnic in the park.

2.2. His enemies are trying to take advantage of his weakness.

Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the ungodly, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take their counsel together, saying, God hath forsaken him; persecute him, and take him, for there is none to deliver him (3,9,10)

The Psalmist’s enemies are ungodly and unrighteous. They do not share the Psalmist’s faith in the God of Israel and do not submit themselves to the LORD and follow his commandments. Real enemies are ruthless and cruel. They have no compassion on the suffering of those they hate. They will take every advantage of a person’s weakness to advance their own purposes. David has appointed his son Solomon to succeed him as king. But, when David was so old he could not get warm, another of his son’s, Adonijah, took advantage of his weakness, plotted with one of the priests and the chief general of the army, and proclaimed himself king.

The Psalmist’s enemies even mock his faith, saying, “God has forsaken him; persecute him, and take him, for  there is no one to deliver him.” It is very painful when people try to undermine your faith. They say things like, “If God is in control, and he is with you, where is he now? Why are you in this trouble? Why hasn’t he delivered you?” That can plant doubts in your mind and take away your comfort and confine in the Lord.

3. His faith perseveres.

More people are living longer today. This has led to classifying people at different stages of old age. One is that those 65-75 are “younger olds,” those 75-85 “medium olds,” and those above 85 “oldest olds.” We Christians should think and talk among ourselves about “finishing well” - about seeking to deepen and live out our faith throughout old age, as best we can given our physical and mental states, till we die.

The Psalmist gives us an example of finishing well despite physical weakness and adversity in old age. He begins the Psalm with this petition and expression of confidence:

In thee, O LORD, have I put my trust; let me never be put to confusion, but rid (deliver) me and deliver (rescue) me in thy righteousness; incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

Be thou my stronghold, whereunto I may alway resort:  thou hast promised to help me, for thou art my house of defence, and my castle.

Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the ungodly, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

For thou, O Lord GOD, art the thing that I long for: thou art my hope, even from my youth.

Through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s womb: my praise shall be always of thee.

I am become as it were a monster unto many, but my sure trust is in thee (1-6)

In the middle of the Psalm he professes his true and lively faith:

As for me, I will patiently abide alway, and will praise thee more and more.

My mouth shall daily speak of thy righteousness and salvation; or I know no end thereof (13-14).

He closes the Psalm with both both faith and joy:

Therefore will I praise thee, and thy faithfulness, O God, playing upon an instrument of music: unto thee will I sing upon the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.

My lips will be glad when I sing unto thee; and so will my soul whom thou hast delivered.

My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long; for they are confounded and brought unto shame that seek to do me evil (21-23).

Here is how we strengthen and deepen our faith so that we finish well: the Word read and preached, the Sacraments rightly administered and received, Prayer in public and private. Now we we use on of those means, coming to the Table to grow in grace by feeding upon Christ in our hearts by faith.