When The Glory Fades

I'm turning your Bibles this morning to Psalm 71 and just to encourage the congregation for a moment before we read the text, I had somebody say to me this past week, they said, Chris, they're not from this church. They said, Chris, I don't think you realize how blessed you are. And I said, what do you mean? And this person said to me, well, I've seen, your world's probably a little small, but I've seen what goes on out there in the church and to have a group that's committed to god's word to have a group that will sing out of a hymn book and this is somebody who is not used to that they don't know that to see this this sort of way of worship and what goes on today it's increasingly rare and it's going to get more rare and i want you to not look over the fence too much There's something very special that the Lord has given to us. And it's an encouragement to you. It's easy to look over the fence. Grass always looks greener on the other side, I promise. But see what the Lord is doing. And look at the word He's implanted in your hearts and how you're growing in grace and in truth to see the Lord's goodness to you. That's priceless. Psalm 71 this morning. Psalm 71. in you oh 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've given the command to save me for you are my rock and my fortress rescue me oh my god from the hand of the wicked from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man for you oh lord are my hope my trust oh lord for 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 i have been as important to many but you are my strong refuge my mouth is filled with your praise and with your glory all the day do not cast me off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength is spent for my enemies speak concerning me those who watch for my life consult together and say god has forsaken him pursue and seize him for there is none to deliver him oh god be not far from me oh my god make haste to help me may my accusers be put to shame and consumed with scorn and disgrace may they be covered who seek my hurt but i will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more my mouth will tell of your righteous acts of your deeds of salvation all the day for their number is past my knowledge with the mighty deeds of the lord god i will come i will remind them of your righteousness yours alone oh god for my youth you have taught me and i still proclaim your wondrous deeds so even to old age and gray hairs oh god do not forsake me until i proclaim your might to another generation your power to all those to come your righteousness oh god reaches the high heavens you have done great things oh god who is like you you who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again in the depths of the earth you will bring me up again you will increase my greatness and comfort me again i also will praise you with the harp and your faithfulness oh my god i will sing praises to you with the letter oh holy one of israel my lips will shout for joy when i sing praises to you my soul also which you have redeemed my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt may the lord bless the hearing of his word psalm 71 is a psalm that is dealing with the challenges and the problems of old age it's what the psalm is thinking about what the psalmist is wrestling through no one likes to talk about that much today that's uh not something that uh really gets to the top of the sermon charts if there are sermon charts we live in a culture that wants nothing to do with it we're in a youth culture that thrives on on beauty and the strength of the body and it's just really out of control if you haven't noticed none of us really like to talk about what's happening to us there was a and i'm going to use this this morning and you're going to hopefully see why it's so important to make the contrast it was interesting that last week there was a big article written on ESPN. The article was on Michael Jordan. And I don't care what anyone says, that was the greatest athlete ever to exist, okay? Let's get that out of the way right up front. The article is about Jordan turning 50. And Jordan, you know, if you are about my age, you remember in the 90s, we would sit around and watch Michael Jordan play ball and all of us wanted to be like Mike. We all wore his shirts and his shoes. The writer interviewing Jordan asked, it must be strange to be locked in combat with the ghost of your former self. Jordan says, at 30 I was moving so fast. I never had time to think about things I was encountering, all the things I was touching. Now I can slow down and hopefully remember what that meant. that's when I know I'm getting old. Man, I wish I was playing right now. I would give up everything now to go back and to play the game of basketball. How do you replace it? He asked, you don't. You learn to live with it. The game to me, he said, now listen to this language, was a refuge and the place where I've gone to find comfort and peace. He still dreams of playing at 50, getting back to his playing weight of 218. Aging means losing things, he says, not just eyesight and flexibility. It means watching the accomplishments of your youth be diminished. Even after Jordan is gone, he knows people will remember him. Here lies the greatest basketball player of all time. That's his epitaph. When he walked off the court for the last time, he must have believed that nothing could even diminish what he had done. It was the closest to immortality he would ever get. The knowledge would be his shield against aging. There's a fable about returning Roman generals who rode in victory parades through the streets of the capital. A slave stood behind them, whispering in their ears, all glory is fading. The article ends. Jordan is alone. He hates being alone because that means it's quiet. He doesn't like silence. He can't sleep without noise. The house is dark. It's 1 a.m. on the tv is the western channel his favorite movie unforgiven he knows every scene and sometime before the shootout in the saloon he falls asleep it's the end of the article that's a tragedy he's looking back at life and he's completely stuck in where he is at 50 the glory has faded and now what what does he have there's there's no satisfaction he's a miserable man the world struggles with this the world doesn't understand this the world this is the greatest perplexity to them how can such glory be chipped away hey we would all love rocky balboa to climb back in the ring at 60 and take out the new young champ but it's a fable if you understand the struggle you understand psalm 71 you have a man in this psalm probably david dealing with this struggle of old age but not just that dealing with all of the hardship and pain that comes with growing old there's nothing easy about it and the psalm tells us that very clearly and very plainly the psalm is about as honest as it gets and as as he's looking at this struggle he's providing us an answer and that's why i love this psalm i didn't realize how wonderful this psalm was till i i used this psalm to minister to many of the older brothers and sisters who were dying and and how the christian is to handle this how the christian is to think through this to think through and what is god's purpose in this what is to be the attitude through this it's a struggle it's a real struggle that none of us probably really understand until you're there but the psalm gives us great insight into it and how is the christian to be different how is the christian to be different and how he approaches growing old especially with the pain and all of the weariness that it brings this psalm is having us think through very simply where true strength lies and where it's always been found that's the point and that's what makes psalm 71 so special notice verse 1 in you oh lord i take refuge let me never be put to shame deliver me in your righteousness and rescue me he's desperate you hear the plea i come to you oh lord for help for security and as i do that let me never be disappointed in coming there are two things happening to this man the key to understanding this psalm is what this man is facing and how he describes it it's found in two particular verses verses 9 and verse 18 notice what he says there do not cast me off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength is spent and then he says it again to make you understand that this is what he's really struggling with verse 18 so even to old age and gray hairs oh god do not forsake me now why is he asking that why is he asking that don't forsake me don't forsake me did you notice i'm old the glory is gone the glory is gone i believe there are two reasons he felt this way one is probably something that is extended to society at large this is what the world has always done to in society to those they deem as unuseful old age robs us of the former glory old age and outward beauty it deprives us of strength we need to be active and many people feel that they're unuseful anymore because of it we see this play out in the medical world today don't we there's a whole shift in thinking in our country that once you get past a certain age if you're draining the system you know let them go let them go so this is what lies behind the old uh the thinking what are old people for and some of you really struggle with that in christ day they didn't have convalescent homes by the way um the elderly were public and societies did what they could to remove those from the daily activities of the people who were a hindrance. Remember the Pool of Siloam. You had many of these sicknesses and the elderly sitting out there if they didn't have families to care for them. That was it. No homes. And this is really, I believe, what he describes. People are looking at him. People are viewing him. And he views this as a very severe attack upon him. It's a very severe attack. This is hard in our day because we really do. We live in a youth culture and everything is focused on beauty. And notice how he's wrestling with this in verse 7 because he says, I've become as important to many. What does that mean? I'm a wonder to many. People are looking at him. And whatever's happened, they're astonished that so powerful a man is so weak and despised. in other words this was uh this was quite a man in his day this was quite a man in his day he was known he was powerful especially if it's david and um look at what's happening to him in verse four deliver me out of the hand of the wicked out of the unrighteous and the cruel man what are they doing verse 10 my enemies speak against me and those who lie in wait take counsel together what are they saying god has forsaken him in other words the people have completely written him off they're looking at him and saying ah he's useless he uh you know if he's like that how could god really care about a person in that kind of state what purpose does he serve in life he's nothing and that has brought about all sorts of pain that has brought about all sorts of of cries you know and maybe because the psalmist didn't realize and i i think this is just true we don't realize that life only gets harder the older we get we have this dream that it's going to get better i've got news for you it's not going to get better let me get harder he's experiencing this he's experiencing a sense of rejection and what is what does rejection bring rejection brings a sense of loneliness he's alone everyone's written him off think of the burden here his situation his strength his body has become so weak the people who once knew him chalked him off as someone that god has forsaken very similar to the problem with job and his friends look at that man waste away do you remember what he used to be in his former glory this comes into the minds of people who loves who cares for these people it's a real trial that we probably don't appreciate enough that our older brothers and sisters face no strength you feel the awful pain of being alone and if you want to get a sense of that walked down the aisles of the convalescent homes. These were the people who built your community years ago. Look in their rooms. You can hear the pain. Who takes notice of it? I've seen God strip very powerful men and take everything. I've seen it in the ministry. It's hard to minister to. Is God with these people? You may not wrestle with this right now, but you probably will. What do you do at this moment? What do you have at this moment? There's something else happening here. The second real struggle. Do you hear in the cry something else? Don't forsake me when I'm old and gray-headed. I hear a concern in that. What is it? There's a fear there, isn't there? There's a real fear that this older person is feeling. don't let me be put to shame i don't want to fail in my old age it's remarkable how many older people in the scriptures didn't finish very well in this psalm the dying saint is recalling his life his past his choices and when you stare death in the face when you're at the very end and and you're looking back you know you look over your life there's a there's a lot to think about there are moments of real joy there are moments of embarrassment there are moments of loss and then you have to deal with the struggle of the stupid things you did when you were young and the sins of your youth and guilt can be a terrible thing that people go through the slideshow before your life of your life at the very end can bring despair can it Remembering is not so attractive at the end of a long life that's been lived in rebellion. But that's not what he's doing. And I think that's a teaching point in and of itself. Ultimately, that is not what he remembers, does he? This is so instructive this morning. This is so helpful for all of us here. And you know what I would have titled this psalm? A psalm for the youth. This is for the young people to consider. over against all of the failures, he's asking the Lord to strengthen him. And what does he pray? What is he thinking about? I want you to notice this. You're really going to see why this psalm is so precious to the older saints. To be forsaken of God would be one of the worst things to go through. But he calls to the Lord. In you, O Lord, I put my trust. I put all of my confidence. My whole being rests in you. You're the longing of my heart. Notice verse 3. Be my rock of refuge to which I may come continually. In verse 3, his face shines. You've given the commandment to save me. So at the end of life, where is he going? What's he doing? Think of the contrast here for a moment. Think of Michael Jordan just for a second. Jordan, greatest athlete, looking at his glory fading, and here's a believer looking at the same thing. Two different paths. two different ways what's jordan looking at jordan's looking back and he's looking at an idol of the past that he thought brought him satisfaction it never really did bring satisfaction because it's stuck in time by the way but he thinks it brought satisfaction and so he clings to that with the glory day stuff you know they all like that song glory day he's looking at that He's thinking about that. And what's happening? He is getting angry. He's bitter. That's what the writer of ESPN noted, that the whole thing is dispersed with an angry Michael Jordan. He's 50, and he says, how can I enjoy the next 20 years without so much of this consuming me? And that's exactly why people who age, when you see people, some of them are very miserable people. angry people it's hard very hard they're bitter they've lost something they desperately are trying to hold on to what is the psalmist looking at what is the psalmist looking back he's going back over life and he's considering what it was like and what does he receive all of his glory is gone but there's something far different here he's realizing something about his past that he didn't always see so clearly what did he see looking back what is the truth of the matter look at verse five for you oh lord are my hope my trust oh lord from my youth upon you i have leaned from before my birth you are he who took me out of my mother's womb my praise is continually of you so he begins to look back and he says when i was a youth i remember seeing your working and you can put it in these terms i remember standing up and professing faith in the lord as a young man i remember that you were my hope then i believe i remember that do you remember that remember the joy that's what profession of faith should bring it should bring a joy what the Lord has done in you and how He's been faithful. And you're standing up and saying, I believe. He's struck with God's power. But that's not where He stops. Where would you expect Him to go? From the moment I made the decision and now go forward. But He doesn't do that. He starts from the moment He had an understanding and He works backwards. Notice what He says here. What He says, He doesn't go from His decision for the Lord. He moves backward to the time before his birth. It's a period when he had what? Absolutely no strength. Think about this. What was the truth of the matter? I have leaned upon. The word means I have been supported. I have been supported by you from my birth. You are he who took me out of my mother's womb. I think the psalmist must have stopped and thought, I didn't bring about my birth. I didn't put myself in the womb. And he's looking back. I didn't profess in my own power. Using the words of the Apostle Paul. Remember Paul was Saul who for years wasted his life persecuting Christians. Remember what Paul would say? The Lord set me apart before I was born. Galatians 1. and He called me by His grace, and He was pleased to reveal His Son to me. Paul looked back, and what did he say? There's no way I got here on my own. From birth you knew me. From birth you knew me, formed me, preserved me. And look at where I am today. David is saying this. Here's what he realized looking back. You have been my strength the whole way through. Now, that's a really important point this morning because I don't think he always realized that. I don't think I always realized that. Where do young people find their satisfaction? Well, the Proverbs tell us. Young people, where do you find your satisfaction? The glory of young men is their strength. That's their glory, Proverbs 20. And here he stands at the end of it all. At the end of it all, with no strength. And what's he saying? What's he saying? any amount of strength that he ever enjoyed, strength that really mattered, was never something he produced. You get that? It was never something he produced. Former strength is not to speak of man's greatness after he dies as being able to put a ball in a hoop. That's not strength. Strength that matters comes from the Lord. And do you hear what he's saying? He had come to know that all of his life, God's favor rested upon him. And now he sees it. Do you see this? He's always been with you. I don't know how many here, my guess, I won't make you show hands, but how many have been blessed to be nurtured and trained and raised up in the Christian faith? Quite a few. And we tend to look at the great conversions that happen later as the extraordinary thing. But I'll tell you what God's normal way of working is, which is really extraordinary, is this. And I don't know how much you've given thought to it, but how common is all of this to us, you know? How common is all of this to us this morning? Bibles, schools, pastors, church. And do we really stop and ever think that this is God's manifest evidence that he's among us? The sadness of Jordan when he says, I was going so fast through life. Think about this. I didn't have time to think about the things I was encountering. What was Michael Jordan encountering that he found satisfaction in? A ball. Do we have to wait until 90 if we make it to that age to realize what we are encountering? You ever think about what you're encountering as God's people? From birth, the Lord says, I love you and I want you to put your sign on your children so that you know that. And all the way, I want you to teach them that they belong to me. And I want you to know that I'll never leave you nor forsake you. And I'm going to hold out for you grace. I'm going to hold out for you spiritual food every Lord's Day. And that's the whole way through. Jordan asks, how can I find peace away from the game of basketball? The Lord says, my peace I give to you. No one can take it. It's almost as if worship today is a burden to us and here is my generation, because I did it, chasing Jordan's dream with their children. Think about it. Here is my generation, I did it. I climbed up as high as I could get and I only got to D2. And today I suffer in the knees. Do you think about what we're really encountering? All of us are going to be in this position, but which one are we going to be in? That's the question. when you face these things you either get really bitter by the outcome of what's been taken from you and it could be a million idols or you will stand in awe that through it all there was one who has always been your rock so he says you are my rock one who knew you from the womb one who's carried you the whole way through and all of your failures to fill your heart with living water one who stands outside of time not like a dead idol that doesn't speak and that doesn't move and that cannot satisfy. One who has promised to be with you and encourage and help you and give you lasting peace. I just don't think that such a realization of that and a life of praise should begin at 90. Do you? You see what he's saying? Since this blessing is all that I've ever known and this is what I've enjoyed, now that my hour of trial has come, don't forsake me. and i think this is the heart of the song because think about this this is the heart of the song because we see that this truth of what christ has been to him and for him brought him to the realization of something very important this morning do you know what it is the curse has brought death and guess what life is decreation that's what's happening to you you're being decreated that's what death is but how does the christian view this the unbeliever experiences judgment what about the christian you know the whole process of death tells a story we get the opportunity to show the world that there is the greatest meaning in the decreasing of our life we get to show the world that there is the greatest meaning in the decreasing of our life what does the psalmist realize he has nothing everything's taken all of his strength and having that he has everything and so this changes everything for the time that's left he's invigorated for the present is it true that we're useless when we're old i'm already having gray hairs and i i think about these things is it true that we're useless when we're old he does two things to answer that for you this morning listen to the language but i will hope continually this is verse 14 i will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more my mouth will tell of your righteous acts of your deeds of salvation all the day for their number is past my knowledge with the mighty deeds of the lord god i will come i will remind them of your righteousness and yours alone did you catch it what has strengthened his heart over and over keeps saying i'm going to tell of your righteousness of your righteousness did you notice he joins it with salvation your righteousness and your salvation i believe his eyes are so fixed on christ when his life was at an end all he could speak about was the salvation of the lord and the psalm is moving to me because it shows us in the decreasing of ourselves to the lowest point here is a man former glory taken no strength he's alone enemies are mocking him there's confusion because of his sheer weakness and he's realizing the whole time he's been bore on eagle's wings and the strength the lord has been his strength and that kind of weakness and decreasing of life he is seeing the most clearly where his true strength lies it's in our decreasing that christ increases you realize that john said that i must decrease and he must increase and this is a peculiar blessing of old age this is a peculiar blessing of old age you get to teach us all about the decreasing of the self i am so thankful in the ministry to have older saints come to me before they die and they specifically warned me pastor when you get up and you preach my funeral don't you dare start eulogizing me i've had this repeatedly in the ministry i'm always thankful for it and then i'll say this because everyone will know that the gospel i claim to believe then it makes sense because being a sinner i had confidence in the one who actually is righteous don't confuse everyone by making me sound like a savior of mankind i'm not what makes the christian gospel so glorious is that god chooses to take such power and arrest it upon those who have no strength in themselves it's all over the bible so when the psalmist says let me never be put to shame in verse one he understood that a prayer is answered in christ because there's only one way you'll never be put to shame because behold said peter i'm laying in zion a stone a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will what never be put to shame the glory there is a glory that awaits me and he says that in verse 19 i know this is not it for michael jordan the ball is it unless he comes to jesus for for the psalmist you have who have shown me verse 19 great and severe troubles you're going to raise me up again you're going to bring me up from the depths of the earth you're going to increase my greatness you're going to comfort me on every side there's the resurrection in the old testament but here's the question i want to leave us with this morning does this mean that there's no purpose for our older brothers and sisters in the time we have left there's one great challenge i'm going to give and i'm going to throw it hard because the scriptures throw it hard verse 18 so even to old age and gray hairs oh God do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation your power to all those to come that's the most meaningful reason to be here isn't it did you hear it there's a whole generation in front of me that doesn't get this doesn't understand this they need to hear about the power that you have enjoyed throughout the course of your life if you're sitting here as an older brother and sister they need to hear about it and i'm going to challenge you a lot of you are sitting here today why do you think you're here what i've seen in the ministry is this too many of our older brothers and sisters check out they've retired they're done they come to church they do what they're called to do but i want you to know that one of the greatest purposes the lord has for you is that you would be the most christ-like figures to the next generation when you're not feeling well when things have gone wrong in life when you feel alone when you feel pains when you suffer i understand that it's easy to complain we can complain about life that transfers to the church and sometimes to the pastor I know but I've seen the effects of that and I've seen families even parents who are extremely bitter with everything and it transfers right on over into the children and then they wonder why later on in life those children aren't there I realize the younger generations are full of problems listen my generation is full of problems i know you feel that i know you look at our generations and think what a mess i think what a mess but if you can identify with the goodness of the lord that the psalmist is saying you can identify with this psalm you've got a great story for us and i want to hear it they say that the old immigrants who came over on the boats and doesn't matter from what country they didn't like to talk about their faith i've heard that repeatedly in my ministry over the years they just don't talk about their faith and i say how do you reconcile that with verse 18 this is your duty this is what we need and maybe the younger generation's not connecting because we need you we need you more tell us about the lord let us hear about what he's done in your life younger generations like mine and your children and our children we're crying for help our priorities are wrong show us how how grace translates to the christian life because we need you you don't have to look like them you don't have to talk like them and please don't act like them but i can tell you that they want something real and that they don't want us to take a giant broom and sweep away all the cigarette butts just casting before us a veneer you've got a story you know what christ has done for you tell us give me an invigorated older generation that's filled with the gospel and willing to talk about it and invest time in our young people we'll see him we'll see him it'll spill over because this is what god has told you to do it's been rightly observed that the christian church is one generation away from extinction I've been distressed by that, studying Israel's history. I don't want to be in a convalescent home holding a ball. I don't want to be in a convalescent home holding medals of the past. I want to be there with the praise of God on my lips, don't you? Don't you want everyone who walks through those halls of the younger generation to hear that? The wonderful things that the Lord has done for you because He's been the strength of your life. Don't run through life missing what you're encountering. I say this to all of us, to me. The younger generation has to think a lot about priorities. A lot about priorities. Stand today upon that rock who is Christ. And when tomorrow comes, the same peace that you've enjoyed all of your life will surround your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. oh lord our god we are so grateful where do we begin uh to thank you for all that you've done all throughout from birth you've upheld us you've brought us here you enable us to stand up and declare that we love you and professing you and from the earliest moments when we had no strength to the very end when we have no strength today we confess our strength is in the lord the joy of the lord is our strength and so we pray that that would deeply impact us in this church from young to old young people would see the blessing that they're being raised with the blessings they have and not look over the fence oh the devil shows them a lot keep them and lord may our older generations who we so love and respect may they talk to us and tell us of the wonderful things that you've done for them hear our prayer in Jesus name we pray