How Do I Deal With Old People? - Day 3 and 4

Hey crew....sorry I missed yesterday....busy day being off and spending some quality time with my PS3...Anyways let's cover a couple of points today.  Wednesday we pointed out that the first thing we should do with the elderly is to show them honor.  Here's another couple of points we need to remember.

Treat them as family.


Read 1 Timothy 5:1-2.

Have you guys ever had to complete a family tree for a school project or anything?  It's a pretty interesting experience most the time.  There's all kinds of information that you learn that you may have not known about family that you thought you knew well.  You also sometimes learn of family that you never even had!

So how is the biological family similar to the spiritual family?  Isn't church supposed to be like a family?  If that's true than everybody that you see on Sundays and Wednesdays are part of your spiritual family.  Some of you have probably been influenced already in your lives by one or more of the elderly folks that we have at the church.  If you haven't already, you will....I can promise that.

See, Timothy was a young pastor who had a church filled with people of all ages, including the elderly.  Paul wrote to encourage Timothy to treat others with respect and honor, including the older members of his congregation.  Timothy's challenge was to treat the elderly he ministered to as if they were his father or mother.

Why do you think Timothy might have needed this advice from Paul?

How are the elderly treated in our church?  How will seeing the elderly as members in God's family - a family of which all Christians are a part - help you to treat them with greater respect?

Let's look at one more point quickly.....

Listen to their wisdom.


Read Job 12:12.

A lot of times we find it easy to dismiss the opinions of the elderly and we avoid taking time to visit them.  But Job 12:12 is a reminder that the elderly have a wisdom which can only be gained from experience and long life.  Some elderly people feel like no one wants to listen to them because of their age, but there are so many things to be learned from someone who has lived a long and full life in relationship with God.

So to rap this week up....let's summarize....we need to respect the older people in our lives and in our church family.  We need to honor them, treat them as family, and listen and learn from their wisdom.  Most of these things we already knew, but sometimes we need to be reminded!  Have a great weekend and we'll see ya Sunday morning!

Heffe