In the Stages of Life Series this summer, we have climbed through the generations of life, Sunday by Sunday. Last week, we thought about the generational issue of people facing retirement. And today we will look at the last generational challenge – post retirement, the challenge of the Life Force and the Death Force.
For those of you who missed one in the series, the past messages are on the web site in audio and text. But just to see if these
have made sense, I wonder if you can tell me the Stages of Life. For children, the challenge is --- survival. And for teens, its – identity. And for 
20’s its --- gifts and vocation. For 30’s, its overcoming failure. For 40’s, its – rethinking life goals. For 50’s and
60’s, it’s the challenge of --- remaining time. And for post retirement today, the Stage of Life is the Life Force and the Death Force.
Death was never part of God’s plan. The Bible tells us that death only entered the world through rebellion. Humans were not created with the thought that they would die. And infants and children who are the most vulnerable, curiously never think for a moment about giving in to the Death Force.
The youngest attempt at suicide in studies was at age 6, but almost no one thinks about giving in to the death force as a child. We are born with such a tilt towards the Life Force even after the effects of sin. It is only as we get into the teen years that the Death Force really lurks on the horizon.
Most people deal with the death force after that by living for justice and peace, prayer and worship, exercise, hard work, medication, love, and play. Probably you lacked something on that list since no one is perfect. As I have said repeatedly, the Stages of Life are just a way to think of these challenges. We all know people who have given in to the Death Force at young ages.
What we do not see clearly is that we have far more control over the death force than we realize. And sadly, we use the death force earlier in life than we acknowledge. Today, we are going to look at this choice of life or death especially as it relates to our post retirement years. If you struggle with the Death force, you will hear some wonderful words today from the Book of Ruth and I believe you will get energy to keep the Life force winning in your life. Let’s worship
Before we discuss anything, I want to take you through the beauty of this story. There are just some parts of the Bible that are so breathtakingly good. Naomi was driven from Israel years before because of the famine and went to the country of Moab. Some people here have fled another place because of the conditions there. You know the hope of success and the fear of failure on the day that you leave. Worse yet, Naomi marries a guy who dies. And his kids die. Leaving her alone. Many of us would just sit down and hope to die at that point. That is where the life force and death force are fighting each other. Not that Naomi is happy about this. Like me, she must have had days when she would like to write the Bible differently, especially that part about living by faith. She tells Ruth in chapter 1, “Call me no longer Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.”
Now they are internal refugees in Israel, Ruth attracts the attention of the wealthy Boaz , and living by faith turns out to have its usual happy ending. Except that God, as usual, cannot resist making the event so good that you have to laugh at the extent of blessing. Ruth and Boaz have a child, Obed. They give it to Naomi to babysit and local women prophecy that her care for Obed will be a restorer of life to her. The life force comes back to Naomi with such power that it extends her life. And her life goes from the forgotten of the earth, abandoned by Israel, abandoned in Moab, and now returned to be the grandmother of Obed and the great great grandmother of David, the most famous king of Israel.
Naomi’s life shows the reality of our struggle between the life force and death force. It shows how even our physical lives are controlled by more than biology. We have considerable influence over the death force.
Most of us use the death force far more than we acknowledge. Of course, if you have abused your body chemically, or gotten into addiction or abusive relationships, then it is easier to see the ways that we can give the death force more power.
But we do not see that when we do not thank God, when we are judgmental instead of loving, when we do not deal with anger, when we decide to live in our own power instead of in faith, we are letting the death force have more power.
Most people here will not tithe when the opportunity is offered later in the service. You have heard me speak of it and you know the Bible mentions it. You know there are about 15 homes here that practice tithing. Yet it seems wiser to you to save than to give . God says you are failing in your training in a small area but the implication is when you need to have faith in God in a bigger area for your life, your faith will be small and the life force weak. Why would you live that way?
You all know people who cannot forgive and forget. They still remember wrongs. And I do not mean to diminish the wrongs. You may have been abused. Naomi did not know if she would even get her next meal. People suffer horrific things at times. Good people suffer. But the point of being a Christian is to search for grace and healing so that we can lay these things behind us.
I have met Walt Everett a couple of times at Annual Conference. He is a Methodist pastor and his son was murdered in 1987 near Nyack by a random drug induced attack. According to the Rolling Stone, Walt Everett spent a year in shock, withdrew from his family, and burst into tears sometimes in the pulpit. But something happened to Walt Everett. He found the power during the trial to forgive the murderer, Mike Carlucci. And Mike responded in prison to Walt’s letter. And they began to meet. And in the mid 90’s after jail, when Mike got married, he asked Walt to be his pastor.
I’m no Walt Everett. But that is the power of the gospel. And if you are letting some ancient grievance stay in your heart with anger and resentment, you need to let it go. I’ll say it bluntly – you are killing yourself. We murder ourselves more than we ever admit. A lot of disease is caused when we hate instead of love, fear instead of faith, greed instead of gratitude. You are choosing all along life the power of the death force and the life force.
Our nation is doing the same thing. I hesitated to include the bulletin article this morning . Is it too political I was asking myself? But President Bush is appealing to our fear instead of God’s plan for the world. This is not leadership. And he is making the death force in our nation stronger and weakening the life force. Our poor nation has suffered so much in five years. We have spent 300 billion that we did not think we had for Social Security or health care or education and managed to wreck two other nations without rebuilding them. No sensible person could think that this will add to our security . Does not our kindergarten teaching remind us that Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.
We need to stop being a nation of fear and trust God in some ways that I give examples of in the program, God will count that faith as righteousness. God saw Ninevah turn around and we can too. I hope everyone will come here at some point on September 11th to pray for peace. It is symbolism, but it helps us show each other that we are sold out for God’s plan for the world.
This all cumulates in the last decades of life. Physical strength is weaker and you may dealt with disease. So your decision as to let the life force or death force prevail – you have more influence. If you are 40 and decide to let death win, you have to fight your body still which usually wants the life force. But at 80, you have more influence. Remember that Stephen in the Bible, when he was persecuted, chose his moment to die. Jesus did as well on the cross.
Using the doorway to heaven is not always a bad thing. I have been with several Christians at the last hours of life and encouraged them to find the doorway for heaven and walk through it in confidence that the God who sustained them in life is merely waiting on the other side of the portal to welcome them to eternal life.
But I will say about this generation, we are trained by retirement ideas to give up to soon. People in their 80s and 90s have a lot to contribute. Your newsletter today was provided by the Mailing group, mostly people in their 80s. Several major leaders of this church and school are serving while in this area of life.
May I encourage everyone – choose you this day whom you will serve. If you are serving the Lord, then come to the table of the Lord this morning with a new determination to love, to forgive, to give, and live by faith instead of sight. The life you save will be your own. Amen.
