PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Exodus 3:7–10
The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
CONSIDER THIS
I love what God doesn’t say to Moses. He doesn’t say, “Moses, I love you and have a wonderful plan for your life.” He says, in fact, “I want your life for my plan.”
Notice the verbiage in today’s text: “I have seen . . . I have heard . . . I am concerned . . . I have come down”
Moses was likely excited to hear the details of how God was going to solve this vexing problem of the enslavement of the Israelites. Finally, he must have been thinking to himself, God is finally going to intervene in this abominable mess and save our people. After all this demonstrative reporting, we get this sudden, dramatic shift:
So now, go. I am sending you . . .
Moses must have thought, You must have the wrong Moses, here. He must have thought, That ship has sailed in my life. At this point in his life, he was out to pasture, in every sense of the term. Why would God come to an assisted living community to find a candidate to deliver a nation from the oppressive rule of a cruel dictator?
The better question may be this one: Why wouldn’t God do this? Isn’t it just like God to do just this kind of thing?
There are still places in the world where to be old is to be revered and set apart as “the elders.” The idea of putting them out to pasture would be anathema. The elders are the most experienced, wisest, most spiritually mature members of any community. At the same time, they have the most discretionary time and, in many cases, the most wealth.
Still, in most of our culture (i.e., America), they are increasingly sidelined, rotated off of boards, and encouraged to vacate positions of leadership so younger people can have a turn. At the same time they are asked to step aside, we expect them to write checks. It’s wrong. I am beginning to think of these years between sixty and heaven as one’s kingdom prime—comprising what could be the most fruitful season of one’s life.
Youth and young adulthood are filled with idealism. The tests of midlife lead to an overabundance of realism and often cynicism. But what of old age? That is the question. There is a higher way—the antithesis of cynicism. Dreams.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter proclaimed the prophecy of Joel fulfilled, which declared that the old will dream dreams (see Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28).
We need the dreams of the elders to converge and commingle with the visions of the young. Our churches seem to have been more formed by the sociological principles of our time than the theology of the Bible. The homogeneous unit principle is a good example. It explains why most people in most of our churches look just like most of us. Segmenting groups in the church according to age is another. The nature of the church, however, is intergenerational. We’ve got to get the old and the young into the same rooms again. What the elders need more of in their lives is the young, and what the young need more of in their lives are the elders. One of the emerging (albeit ancient) strategies we are investing in at Seedbed is spiritual parenting. So many of our young are struggling and suffering in the full panoply of the Egyptian enslavements of our time.
All this to say, old age (whatever old means) is not a season to retire. Okay, sure, quit your job if you want and can. You just can’t retire. Your kingdom prime is ahead of you. This is a season to become wildly open to the dreams of God. This is a season to sow your life into the young. This is a season to enter into new assignments of prayer. This is a season to, “Wake up, sleeper! Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you!”
“So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
It starts with the preferred biblical response to God: “Here I am!”
THE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE
Lord Jesus, you are my Deliverer.
I hear you decree a season of exodus over me, over my family, and my church.
I receive it. And as you decree it, I declare it.
Deliver me from the conventional thinking of you having a plan for my life—and into the bigger picture of me offering my life for your plan.
Deliver us from our conventional and predictable thinking about our elders. Forgive us for believing that with age comes diminished capacity in the kingdom of God.
Deliver us from our ways of church that separate the old from the young. Restore the intergenerational genius of your church. Recover for us the gift of spiritual parenting.
Come, Holy Spirit. Fill our elders with dreams. Fill our young with visions. And bring these two realms of the church into collaborative convergence.
Now let it be as you decree—for our good, for others’ gain, and for your glory.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end, amen! Amen!
THE JOURNAL PROMPTS
Are you in the category of people I speak to today? How does what I am saying impact you? If you are not in the elder category, does this positively (and at least biblically) impact how you see our elders and their potential in the kingdom?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing “Here I Am, Lord” (hymn 589) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. Get your copy here.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
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14 Responses
Speaking as a certified “elder” (71 years of age), I could not agree with this Wake-up call more. But, in addition to what has already been stated, it is high time that the non-Biblical practice of separating “clergy “ from “laity, come to an end as well. God has gifted all His people with Spiritual Gifts intended for use for the expansion of His Kingdom. Because of some worldly philosophies being incorporated into the Church during the post-apostolic age, we now are suffering the consequences of a large group of Spiritually gifted elders whose SGs are not being utilized because they have not been properly “educated “. Until we can return to the New Testament version of an every-member ministry, the full potential of God’s people will go unrealized. Function, not titles, should determine one’s calling within the Body of Christ.
Amen, Bob
AMEN!!
I met Jesus 16 years ago in my garage. Physically, I’m almost 70. I’ve been spiritually alive in Christ for 16 years in human years. I have the spiritual spunk of a teenager.
Therefore, the evil one has sent many scheming darts to distract and deflate my worth because of my past. I say, what past? I am redeemed and made anew, have been forgiven, and now understand I’ve always been God’s child (isn’t everyone? The lost don’t understand as I was once lost and didn’t). My identity comes from God; I choose to believe and live in that identity.
We live in God’s plan when we serve Him by serving people in Jesus’ name for God’s glory and the world’s sake (thanks, J.D.). God’s plan for you is to make a difference for others through His plan of salvation, repentance, and discipleship.
God’s plan can be described in one word-
Jesus!
Advice from a human elder / spiritual teenager.
Staying 💪’n Christ,
Doc
Ephesians 6:10
Finally, stay strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
Welcome back, Doc!
😊
JD, Thanks for ALL your ‘energies’ put forth to ‘Awaken us’! We appreciate your transparency in your own ‘walk with the Lord’! Laughter, encouragement & TRUTH resound with your teachings! Thank you! It took Gods 80 years to get Moses ready for his ‘Main Event’! Today I rolled over to that unbelievable # (it’s just a #!😘) & ready for my own ‘main event’! For our good, other’s gain & God’s glory! Blessings on your ‘seed sowing’ today!
I believe that God is calling people (of all ages) who are burning with His inner fire to help bring His people out of the pain, pride, and political dominance of Egypt and into the kingdom (direct heart-to-heart government) of God. To do this we will need to demonstrate the presence, power, reality, character, and love of God in our daily lives. The early Christians “turned the world upside down” by doing things Christ’s way instead of following their own thoughts, feelings, desires, and opinions. They had the faith and humility to rely on spiritual weapons instead of on human anger and/or physical weapons. Are we willing to do the same?
The biggest problem in America (and other countries) is our divisiveness. We have to share our country with people we disagree with. If we continue to demonize and to try to dominate each other, we will blow America apart. Then no group or party will have what they want, and we’ll all continue to suffer from (and escalate) chaos and violence. If we love America and don’t want to destroy it, it is essential that we begin to find ways to work together so that we can “ensure domestic tranquility” and all of us get part (but not all) of what we want. When a presidential debate looks like two angry and scared children pulling on the same stuffed animal, the future is dim for America.
It’s time for God’s people to turn away from the worldly Egyptian-style weapons of self-righteous divisiveness, arrogant accusation, and continual blame. It’s time to show kindness and compassion to the people we disagree with. Jesus meant it when He told His followers to “Love your enemies,” and to “Bless those who curse you.” If you are unwilling to do what Jesus said, are you truly a Christ-follower?
(I believe that the term “elder” in the Bible doesn’t refer to a church office. I believe that it refers to senior citizens of the kingdom of God who passionately and humbly love, follow, and obey the risen Jesus day after day.)
Amen!!!
There is a reason why we in the Global Methodist Church call our pastors Elders. Following the synagogue practice of elders leading the synagogue, the early church called their pastors “elders.” And I think they were often elders in age. Though Timothy was young, Paul judged him spiritually mature enough to be an elder over a church.
A great book….Growing young.
It speaks toward the truth that for the first time, we have five generations in the church and how all things should be integrated.
J.D. Walt, I am lifting up prayers for you. I’m not sure what to pray specifically for, but I am asking for blessings to continue to be heaped upon you! You are such a blessing to so many SeedBed sowers. Thank you! Thank God for you!
This is such a great study, and I look forward to it every day. It is relevant to this season of my life, the one you showcased today. Here I am, Lord; send me!
I’m trying to do my seed sowing, but I spoke with someone today who said that we all interpret the Bible differently. He said that God told us not to kill, but then in the Old Testament he asked the Jews to kill many. I was speechless, not knowing how to reply.