Core Value: Intergenerational
February 3, 2024

“God’s Expectations for Senior Christians”

Main Point: Older Christians should be respect-worthy and respected in the church

We are getting older, but the important thing is, are we becoming more godly?

Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. —Titus 2:2

As we age, we need to allow God to keep us teachable

As we age, we need to allow God to help us be sober-minded

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve,

everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under

the sun. —Ecclesiastes 2:11

As we age, we need to allow God to help us be worthy of respect

Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD. —Leviticus 19:32

As we age, we need to allow God to help us learn to be self-controlled

Rehoboam: a young man who should have listened to the wisdom of the aged, but didn’t —1 Kings 12:6-8

As we age, we need to allow God to make us sound in faith

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. —2 Corinthians 4:16

As we age, we need to allow God to make us sound in love

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. —1 Corinthians 13:2

As we age, we need to allow God to make us sound in endurance

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 3:14

Caleb: an older man we can learn from (Joshua 14:6-12)

Takeaway: Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. (Isaiah 46:4)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. At what age do you think of people as being “old”?

2.Which of the seven descriptors of godly “senior Christians” from Titus 2:2 speaks to you today? Maybe as something God is working with you on, or something that He has graciously helped you to become, or maybe something you want to ask God to help you with.

3.How do you think our church is doing with respect to our “senior Christians”? Do you have any thoughts about what we could do better?

4.Anna and Simeon were two elderly people for whom welcoming the infant Jesus meant everything (see Luke 2:22-40). What does this tell us about the life of faith as we advance in years?

Table Discussion Question – Who are some of the senior citizens who have brought the most value to your life? What did they teach you or model for you that you appreciate? How did they show Jesus to you?