Is Retirement in the Bible? | Matthew 24:46

[00:00:01] We'll truth, Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:07] All right, buddy. Welcome back to Daily Truths. I think of a conversation I had with my oldest son many years ago about retirement in my wife and I were both talking to him.

[00:00:17] We're talking about the things we're going to do in our retirement that we do a lot of traveling. Maybe I take up a new hobby and so forth and so on.

[00:00:24] And he looked at me and looked at his mom and he said these words, did you know guys that the word retirement isn't in the Bible?

[00:00:35] That really made me think. Now you guys know that when I retired from full-time ministry a couple years ago, I decided that I was going to do a podcast like this and I also was going to serve a congregation part time.

[00:00:48] And that's what I'm doing. Well Jesus talks a little bit about that. Remember we talked about yesterday this verse, verse 45,

[00:00:55] Who then is the faithful and wise servant? Those are Christian leaders who is Master's set over his household. Those are folks who are led by those Christian leaders

[00:01:03] To give them their food at the proper time. Remember we talked about the food is word of God. Now he says this in verse 46,

[00:01:10] Blessed is that servant who is Master will find doing so when he comes. So I thought a lot about people who are in full-time ministry and then retire.

[00:01:22] And so many of them have told me you never really retire when you leave full-time ministry. There's still things to do.

[00:01:30] There is still people to minister to. There's still lost people that need to be reached. You never fully retire. So Jesus is basically saying whether you're retired or not as a Christian leader,

[00:01:43] You still need to be utilizing your gifts to serve the Lord.

[00:01:47] I love that when I was contemplating retirement this verse really stuck with me because God's given me gifts and talents to serve the people of God

[00:01:57] And to utilize to build up the body of Christ. And so that's what I'm trying to do. Now not only is Jesus talking about Christian leaders when he says this,

[00:02:07] But I've talked to many people down through the years who reach retirement age and also felt like they could retire from serving the Lord in the local congregation.

[00:02:18] No, as a matter of fact I found out that since I retired I have more time utilized my gifts and talents to serve the Lord than I did before.

[00:02:28] And if you are a retired person and you kind of feel like I'm, you know, I've done my time. I've served my time in the church. It's time for the young people to take over.

[00:02:36] We need your gift goodness. We need your wisdom. We need your experience. We need your insight. We need to not the knowledge you have based on what you've done in church work before you never fully retire from utilizing your gifts and talents to serve the Lord.

[00:02:54] I think I shared with you maybe a few months ago about my dad when he retired. He had pretty much lost his voice. He had pretty much was immobilized. He couldn't get around very well. And so he sat at the dining room table literally for years.

[00:03:07] But what did he do? He wrote letters of encouragement to people. Right? He was still utilizing his gifts and he had the gift of encouragement.

[00:03:16] And so he would write letters to pastors and leaders and just tell them to hang in there. He was using his gifts.

[00:03:22] My friend, if you're not using your gifts and talents to serve the Lord, think about what this says blessed is that servant who is masterful fine doing so in other words, using their gifts and talents when he returns before Jesus returns.

[00:03:38] May he find us utilizing our gifts to serve other people. Why is that? Because that's what Christ wants us to do.

[00:03:47] We never put our gifts on the shelf and say, okay, it's time for somebody else to serve. No, we serve the Lord using our talents until he comes back.

[00:03:59] And that is today's daily truth. Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:04:04] Thank you for tuning in to daily truths with Dave Olman.

[00:04:07] Pastor Dave Olman is the pastor of Mount Hoard Church in Boulder, Colorado.

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[00:04:22] Come back tomorrow for your next daily truth.