Real Life Radio

Jack Hibbs: Lord, keep me usable. That means he's going to keep me pure. That means he's going to keep me in prayer. That means he's going to keep me in the word. That means he's going to keep me in fellowship with you. Lord, keep me usable. Think about what that means. Keep me usable. Keep me discerning, keep me on track, keep me, Lord. This is Real Life.

David J: Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David J. Thank you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s word, the Bible.

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David J: On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues his series called Disciplines of Life with a message titled "Disciplines of Declining Days." In times where culture and morality seem to decline, we need to strengthen our habits like prayer and Bible study, and especially our trust in God.

Spiritual disciplines help us keep our faith grounded and purposeful. Rather than being discouraged by social decline, we find confidence and direction by focusing on Christ’s authority and by obeying God’s word. Today, Pastor Jack teaches that to remain effective and faithful to God in these days of declining strength, we’re to face it with a greater vision.

It’s time to take stock of our lives when so much of our younger days are wasted on empty and meaningless endeavors. Now, with his message called "Disciplines of Declining Days," here is Pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.

Pastor Jack, I just had a birthday. Just recently.

Jack Hibbs: I'm sorry, Davey.

David J: I'm sorry too, believe me, because the number that showed up on my birthday cake was shocking. In my mind, I wasn't supposed to be around this long, to be honest with you. At some point, everybody starts to think differently about time, right?

Let me ask you this. It's pretty cool how God often uses the old guys in the Bible. For those of us that are getting at that stage, can we still be used? How valuable are we in this whole thing? I ask that question from the heart.

Jack Hibbs: I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you. My hearing’s gone. I’m kidding. I did see your birthday cake, and it almost set off the fire alarm at the house. It was heavy with numbers and candles.

That said, look at the Bible. You’ve got people who grew old and died for their faith—Peter. Paul died in his old age. John died very, very old in his life. God used a bunch of old guys. Noah had to be old; we know he was old. You look at people like Caleb. He’s one of my favorite guys to hang out with in the Bible as I grow older. Caleb was an old man, but just resourceful. The Bible gives great honor to the gray hair, to the elderly.

It’s too bad that our culture doesn't—in fact, I could tell you right now, I could open up a school tomorrow for kids and bring in a bunch of old people. They would learn more from those old people than they would in six months of public school. You could sit people down right now who are still alive who will tell you, "I saw the first automobile." From seeing the first automobile to man walking on the moon, it’s just amazing.

Age brings a beautiful thing, but here’s the best thing about aging as a Christian: all the stuff that’s wearing out on us is going to be beautifully revived. Eyesight, hearing, mobility, whatever it is. It’s us oldies who are going to enjoy heaven the most because it’s going to be so fantastic.

David J: In this sermon, you talk about how later seasons of life bring different responsibilities and different temptations. Why do those shifts seem to catch folks off guard, do you think?

Jack Hibbs: Again, look what we’re doing right now, Davey. What’s our answer to that question? King David. King David when he was young and scrappy and reliant upon God. He killed bears, he killed lions, and he killed giants.

Then he got successful, made a lot of money, had a great army. It was time for the nations to go to war. His nation went to war, and he stayed home. He could afford it. He was the man. That idleness led him into making an adulterous relationship based on lust, and he turned into a murderer. The rest of his life was messed up. That is something to learn from—to not do.

David J: What do you think God values the most for a Christian in his later years?

Jack Hibbs: I think it’s just what we call the walk—the walk with God. The Bible tells us that Enoch walked with God, and God took him. Enoch walked with God and he was no more; he was no longer on earth, God took him.

I love that thing about the walk. We are to strengthen our walk. We are to walk in the light. We are to walk with one another. We’re to walk with the Lord. We’re to walk with patience, walk with endurance. It’s the walk, Davey. It is nurturing the Christian disciplines that give us that ability to walk a Christian life that is steadfast.

Look, we’re all sinners; we’ll make mistakes, but we don’t have to make a lot of them. We’re not going to be sinless until we die, but we certainly are sinning less as we walk with Jesus. I think it’s the walk that keeps us close to him.

David J: Let's get into it.

Jack Hibbs: Matthew chapter 28. You know that’s our theme verse for this series on the disciplines of life. Matthew 28. As soon as you get there, jump way back to the Old Testament to 1 Samuel chapter 8. I can tell by the rustling of the pages when you’ll get there. It sounds awesome from right here to hear those pages turning.

Matthew chapter 28, verse 18. Jesus said, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world."

First, Jesus makes this statement about discipleship just before he leaves them and ascends back to heaven, but then he turns right around and says, "I’m going to be with you, even unto the end of the world," which is a radical statement. That statement means that Jesus Christ is in the earth moving today and has been for the last 2,000 years.

How does he do that? Ever since the day of Pentecost, the birth of the church, the Holy Spirit has been that amazing, appropriated power of God working in the life of the believer. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to disciple people. Jesus said, "I’m going to be with you." What he meant by that—in fact, he said it in John chapter 14—he says, "I’m not going to leave you orphaned when I leave and go back to heaven; I will come to you." He said, "I will send the Holy Spirit to you." That’s how Jesus Christ dwells in your heart today, and that’s the work of Christ in your heart today by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 1. We’re going to read part of the verse and use this as we look at our title. 1 Samuel 8:1 says, "Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he..." and we leave it there. Why? Because he’s going to not only say something to his sons, he’s going to accomplish a tremendous work. We’re talking about what we’ll name this evening "The Disciplines of Decline" or "The Disciplines of Declining Days."

When we talk about the disciplines of decline, what are we talking about? The first temptation tonight is for the young people. Remember earlier I asked you to raise your hands if you’re 18 years of age or over? If you’re 18 years of age or younger, if you’re alive tonight, you need to hear this. This is stuff that you may not think applies to you, and that’s part of the trick. We’re going to be talking about our lives as they decline in this world.

It doesn’t sound very uplifting, but if you listen all the way through to the end of the message, it should be very encouraging. You and I are living in a time and in an age that, no matter how prosperous or how threatening it may be, we live in the time of declining days. Aren't you a year older right now than you were last year? That’s a big deal.

It's a very important thing and quite frankly, as we consider this series on discipleship, it's something that is rarely talked about. That is: what happens as you grow older as a Christian? What’s to be expected of you? What are you to be doing? What are you to expect in life? For the Christian, we’re not often thinking like that. We have this mindset—and I have to tell you, I am all the time—I have to discipline myself to think beyond.

I so believe that Jesus Christ is coming back in my lifetime that even on my deathbed, I’m still going to be expecting him to come back any moment. That’s the way I was brought up spiritually. It’s biblically accurate. It’s what’s called expectation in Bible prophecy; it’s the immanency of Christ, that he could appear at any moment for the church. I live like that, and I want you to live like that too. All those who have this hope, says the Bible, purify themselves even as he is pure, meaning I’m going to see him soon, so let’s get ready.

What if you live to be an old man? Then you have lived to be an old man living the right way. "I'm only 16, why should I care?" You should care the most. Us old people, we’re close to the end. It’s you young'uns that have got to put up with this world. I have to tell you, anyone who’s bold enough to say so, if you’re older, would you ever be coming back to this world again younger? Would you want to be younger again in this world? No. As a Christian, I want out of here.

It’s amazing. We have huge hope. My future retirement program is awesome. It’s around the throne of grace. Jesus is on the throne; there are angels flying around; it’s going to be incredible. The older you get, the more excited you get about it. The truth of the matter is, how are we going to manage those declining days, those declining years of our lives?

In Matthew chapter 25, verse 21, this is what you and I are living for. Jesus said that in the end, he’ll say unto his faithful servants, "Well done." Don’t you want to hear that? Every Christian that I’ve ever met, that’s what they want to hear. That’s what we’re living for—is to hear from Jesus, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." That’s what I want to hear.

As people criticize you or encourage you, when they pat you on the back or kick you in the rump, understand this: you’re living for just one opinion, and that’s his opinion. When he says, "Well done," it's like, "Yes!" Can you imagine? We are going to see Jesus someday face-to-face. You’re going to see his face. You say, "Well, I don't believe in him." You’re still going to see his face. He may not be smiling at you when you see his face, but you can change that tonight.

Until that time comes, you and I are dealing with the time issue. All of us to some degree or another will eventually begin to take stock of our lives. It’s the way that human nature works. Everybody does it. Some men do it and they fall into what’s called a midlife crisis. At least psychologists tell us that a man begins to look at his life and figures out, "Hey, I should have more money than this. I should have a faster car than this." So he trashes his Yugo and he gets a red Honda and he begins to unbutton his shirt and wear gold chains down around his navel and thinks all of a sudden that it’s time for him to cash in his wife of 20 years and get a 20-year-old instead. He begins to go insane.

People begin to evaluate their lives. Others begin to evaluate their lives and they begin to conclude that, "I've lived for nothing in life." People have a crisis, they have a panic. Not all of those crises are bad. When someone wakes up to the fact that, "I've lived for myself, I've got nothing in life that matters," that’s a good crisis. That can lead you to Christ.

But when we talk about the declining days and years of our lives as believers as we continue on—and that’s what I want to stress tonight, we are to continue on in our walk with faith—don’t give up, don’t quit, keep your eyes on Jesus, don’t cave in. Time is like a thief. Do you guys remember? There are people in here young enough to be able to agree with what I’m saying, what I’m remembering, and then there are some of us that just flat-out understand it because we’ve lived it.

Remember when you were young, summer? When I was young, we actually had like three months off for summer. We had real summer break, summer vacation, and summer seemed to have lasted a few days. We’re having so much fun, riding to the beach, we were goofing off. All that stuff that you did. Summer seemed to have just lasted a moment and I remember my mom getting us in the car and saying, "Come on, we’ve got to go school shopping." I got sick to my stomach when I heard that. I’d get sick to my stomach, and I have to tell you something, this is my pathology: every year we bought our clothes at JCPenney. Even now when I walk into—I don’t know what it is about JCPenney—but it immediately makes me think of school’s coming.

Then school begins, and the school year, which is about nine months, feels like 24 years. Right? Then you get into higher grades, you get going along, and all of a sudden your junior high year seems to be going kind of quick. Now you’re a sophomore in high school, now you’re a senior, and all of a sudden you start thinking those thoughts like your parents are thinking: where’s the time go? Then you get to college and it’s like, "Oh my gosh, I can't keep up with the calendar." Now you get to where I’m at or where you’re at, and I’m still in February of 2010. Do you know where I’m at? Are you with me?

Time is moving so fast. Then you get sick, and it seems like the sickness has got a grip on you forever. Then you’re having a great day, and it seems like that day lasted a minute. Why? Because time’s like a thief. Those strange things that we just laughed at a moment ago can very directly apply to our spiritual person of who we are. How are we investing our spiritual life right here, right now, in this world?

Are we busy for Christ or are we goofing off? Time will rip us off. Mick Jagger sang a song, "Time Is on My Side." Yes, it is. Look at this picture of Mick Jagger. Is time on his side? No. I don’t think so. Mick, no, time is not on our side. Even as believers, we need to be applying our lives to the cause of Christ. We need to be living for him. Time, life, opportunity, age, the responsibilities that you and I have, all of these things will someday be brought to a conclusion and we’ll answer to God in the end.

The disciplines of those even in our childhood—think about this. The disciplines of decline actually begin in our early days if you think about it. From the very beginning—I know this sounds silly, but it’s true—a parent needs to get their child to eat those vegetables. You’ve got to learn how to eat vegetables. A little kid wouldn’t say it like that; the little kid moves his face around, he pushes, he cries. Why? He doesn't like vegetables. But he’s got to have them. For his kidneys to develop right, for his brain, for his skin, for his tissue, he’s got to have fruit. He’s got to have vegetables.

The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 12—I’m going to ask you to look at the screen. Watch this and think about it spiritually. Ecclesiastes 12:1 says, "Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come and as the years draw to an end you have no pleasure in them." Watch this little baby age before you. Imagine your spiritual life.

When the scripture says to us, "Remember the days of your youth and in your youth your Creator, your God," it's because the older days will come. The days when it’s not so easy to get out of bed or get into bed will come. You’ll lay awake all night tired and be up all day when nothing is pleasurable. Somebody's life there in 60 seconds.

Spiritually, you and I are doing the same thing. We’re born into this world and the time clock begins, and you are to be living your life for the glory of God. You’re to be living your life for Christ. The Bible tells us again in Ecclesiastes 3:1, "To everything there is a season, a time and a purpose under heaven." Listen to this; Solomon wrote this, wisest man that ever lived.

"A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck what is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to gain and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away; a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to keep silence and a time to speak; a time to love and a time to hate; a time of war and a time of peace."

That’s life. Number one, church, jot it down tonight. What can we learn in this brief time together in the disciplines of life and the disciplines of decline? Number one, for each and every one of us, no matter how young we might be or how old we might be tonight in this sanctuary, it’s the days of declining strength. Write that down. The days of declining strength. Obviously, I’m speaking about physical strength, but listen: you and I can be so caught up with the days of declining strength.

This morning early, Lisa said, "Come on and do some stretching with me." I don’t do stretching. She had me do her little thing, and I’m telling you right now, I’m sore. I can bench press more than my wife, but I can't stretch. I can't do that. She says, "Do this and do that." "Wait, slow down, I’m two years older than you are."

There’s a time when physical strength begins to wane. You young people, enjoy yourself now, but there’s going to come a time when what you eat and how you invest your physical energies, it’s going to matter. It will catch up to you. Look at Mick Jagger; it caught up to him.

You are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Bible says. Paul told the church at Corinth that the Holy Spirit dwells within you as a believer, and you need to present your bodies as a living sacrifice unto God, he told the church at Rome. Then he again tells the church at Corinth, "Don't you know that the Spirit of God dwells in you and you’ve been bought at a price? Therefore glorify God with your body." Your body—this physical thing is to be used for the honor of God.

Yes, you and I live in days of declining strength with every year that passes. But those days are to be met—jot it down, you’re going to need it; it’s going to fight off depression—in the days of declining strength, those days are to be met by you and I with the eyes of greater vision. Are you getting older? Stay tuned. Pull out a piece of paper and a pencil, begin to pray, and watch God give you vision. Corporate, creative, spiritual vision should never die of old age. The more seasoned a leader becomes or a Christian becomes, the greater the vision is available to share.

Think about that. Declining strength doesn’t mean it’s the end. Are you in a sense tonight saying, "Well, Jack, I've been around ministry a long time, been a Christian a long time"? What are you doing? You’re hanging up your Bible? Are you retiring? No. More than ever. If you find yourself tonight, as we’ll read in a moment, having gray hair, that doesn't mean you’re supposed to retire from ministry. It may be that you retire from DuPont or Ford Motor Company, but it doesn't mean that you retire from ministry as a Christian. There’s a lot of awesome stuff the Bible talks about regarding the Lord using old guys. It’s encouraging.

David J: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio with his message called "Disciplines of Declining Days." We’re glad you spent some time with us today. This message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Disciplines of Life. It’s a series that highlights the disciplines of a Christ-follower and the high cost of sharing our faith with others in a lost and broken world. We’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Jack Hibbs: Have you ever thought about what’s after life? Do you know that the Bible teaches life is after life? If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, my good friend Philip De Courcy has written a great book and that’s the title: *Life After Life: Exploring the Bible’s Wonderful Promises About Heaven and Eternity*. Get a copy for yourself.

David J: *Life After Life* by Philip De Courcy is available for a gift of any amount at JackHibbs.com. That’s JackHibbs.com.

Thank you again so much for listening. If you’d like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to JackHibbs.com for all the latest on what’s going on with this ministry. Please, if you’re ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills; we’d love to see you there in person. It has been so good to be with you today, and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. See you on the next episode.

This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at JackHibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in his word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.