FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

PREFACE

Before our sermon, I want to say that I am grateful for the growing number of young adults, singles and couples, from Midtown and all around the town, who are worshiping with us in this church and attending our Sunday School programs, many of whom are joining this church. We are making plans to expand our Young Adult Ministry here. A Task Force has been meeting for some months and we look forward to strengthening our ministry to and with young adults in the months and years ahead. We hope that you young adults will participate in this ministry as you embrace the summer of your lives.

INTRODUCTION

I love the old song from "Porgy and Bess" which begins with this familiar line: "Summertime, and the livin' is easy." It brings an image into view of a slower pace during the hot days of June, July and August when we try to get away for a week or two of vacation and seek the rest and relaxation we need for body, mind and soul. "Summertime, and the livin' is easy."

But it is not so in the Seasons of Our Lives, as the late spring of youth and adolescence gives way to the summer of young adulthood. In fact, I think another song from the Broadway musical "Pippin" is more descriptive of what happens in our twenties, thirties and early forties. It's called "No Time at All," and this is how it begins:

"Oh, it's time to start living,
Time to take a little from the world we're givin',
Time to take time, 'cause spring will turn to fall -
In just no time at all."

(Written by Stephen Schwartz, 1972, for "Pippin")
It seems that in the Summer of Our Lives , time begins to accelerate as we throttle forward into the fast track season of Young Adulthood. We have plenty of energy and a myriad of options from which to choose, but the bottom line is that we need to take the time to make important decisions and to set the direction for where we want to go and for what God is calling us to do.

Back in the mid-1970's, the author Gail Sheehy wrote a book entitled "Passages". It quickly became a best seller and a quarter of a century later, this book is still considered to be a helpful guide for people who are living through the stages, crises, challenges and changes of life.

Sheehy describes the "trying twenties" as a period of preparation for a vocation, a time of finding mentors and developing our dreams, an opportunity to build relationships and discover our capacity for intimacy. And during the trying twenties, Sheehy says that there are two impulses at work - either we try to create a firm and safe structure for the future by making strong commitments -- or we choose to explore and experiment with different possibilities, resisting the expectations of others that we ought to be "settling in."

Our passage from the "trying twenties" to the "catch thirties" is both exhilarating and frustrating as we climb the career ladder or adjust our course to begin a different kind of work. It's a time when single people feel a push to find a life-long partner and when married couples, many of whom are raising children, face the reality of how to balance their responsibilities and discover a deeper fulfillment. Most of us begin putting down roots and sending out new shoots - we buy houses, move to different locations, try to establish deeper friendships and to create some sense of financial stability and security.

Now, whether or not you completely agree with Sheehy's assessment of young adulthood, her book does offer some helpful points of reference in our journey through the summer season of life. It is a time of decision-making and direction-setting which lays down the foundations and develops the framework for the future that is still ahead. I encourage you to read this book, and if you can't find a copy, or if it's now out of print, I'd be glad to lend you mine.

Yet with all of that said, there is another book which I commend to you today, and it is definitely still in print. In fact, it is the one book we can all trust to tell us the truth about the joys and the sorrows, the ups and the downs, the hopes and the fears, the creative possibilities and the painful crises of the summer of our lives - it's this book, the Bible. And as we read and study the scriptures, especially in our young adult years, it will become abundantly clear that God is with us in each of our seasons and has promised to guide us and provide us with all that we need.

I.

That's what David discovered as a young man in the summer is his life. As we read the story from the book of I Samuel, David was probably in his early twenties when he became a protege of King Saul and the closest friend of Saul's son named Jonathan. In previous chapters, we are told of how Saul mentored young David and taught him the skills of leadership and the art of battle. David was also enlisted by the king to play the lyre to help soothe his soul, for Saul suffered from what the Bible calls an evil spirit (I Samuel 16:14), which was, more than likely, a severe case of depression.

But what started out so well turned into a living hell as the king became jealous of David\rquote s success as a soldier and his popularity with the people of Israel. As David came home from battle, the crowds would shout, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands (I Samuel 18:7) which so incensed the king that he tried to kill his young protege and then banned him from the palace.

In the midst of that crisis, the Bible tells us that David trusted in God to see him through and he remained faithful to the Lord who gave him the courage and the strength to go on instead of giving up.

It can happen, you know. It does happen in the summer of our lives when we are young adults and everything is going our way -- until suddenly, something breaks down or falls apart and we don't know where to turn or how to start all over again.

A young member of the church I served in Pittsburgh had a dream to build his own business. He invested all of his resources and had the financial backing of his parents and a number of close friends. The company made a lot of money in the first year, but soon after, he discovered that one of his partners was siphoning off some of the profits into hidden accounts. When the truth came out, it was too late to save the enterprise and as the lawsuits piled up, the business went down and that young man lost everything. He came to the church office one afternoon and with tears in his eyes and a sense of despair in his voice, he said to me, "Not only have my family and friends and I lost our money, I was betrayed, and it's going to take a long time to recover my trust."

It happened to David in the summer of his life, when King Saul, a mentor and friend, turned his back on him. Has it ever happened to you?

A young woman, who had broken off her engagement to her fiance, had second thoughts about the situation and sent him a letter. It said, "Dear John, words cannot express the regret I feel at having hurt you. Will you please come back to me? Your absence has left an emptiness that no one else can fill. Please forgive me and let us start again. I love you with all my heart. Your adoring Sally. P.S. Congratulations on winning the Georgia lottery." You see, he was committed, she wasn't, and no real relationship in the summer of our lives or any other season can begin or last without commitment.

In Tom Stoppard's play "The Real Thing" which Barbara and I saw years ago at the Alliance Theater, a young married couple is trying to figure out how to survive after the husband Max discovers that his wife Annie has been unfaithful to him. She asks the question, "Do you feel betrayed?" He replies, "I feel surprised. I thought we'd made a commitment." And she answers, "There are no commitments, only bargains."

As people of faith who put our trust in God and have been called to make and keep our commitments to Him and to those whom we love, that is the wrong answer! And especially during our young adult years, when we are beginning to launch careers and build friendships and start marriages and make our way in the world, we have the opportunity to be and become Christian women and men of integrity who seek to honor the Lord and to keep our word.

That is what David did in the summer of his life, and in the midst of the crisis he faced and the critical decisions he had to make, God blessed David as a young man and gave him the direction he needed to become the leader of his people.

II.

So it was with Jesus, as He began His ministry on earth. In the first chapter of the gospel of Mark, there is no story of His birth, but rather the description of His baptism as a young man at the age of thirty. And as Jesus emerged from the waters of the Jordan River, the Spirit of God descended upon Him and a voice from heaven declared, You are my beloved son, and with you I am well pleased.

It was a sign of God's blessing, it was the symbolic announcement of Jesus' identity and it was the beginning of His ministry as the Savior of the world. And with all of that at stake, Jesus was sent into the wilderness where He was tempted by Satan and had to make decisions which would set the direction for rest of His life.

Jesus was offered security - Turn these stones into bread , said Satan.

He was tempted with power - Throw yourself down from this pinnacle and the angels will catch you, said the devil.

He was promised wealth and privilege - All the kingdoms of the world I will give you if you bow down and worship me, said the evil one.

But Jesus answered three times, You shall not tempt the Lord your God, and with that, Satan was gone (Matthew 4:1-11).

In the summer of His life, at the age of thirty, Jesus laid down His priorities and from that moment on, there was no turning back. And if you are a young adult, living in the summer of your life right now, you have the opportunity to do the same.

Several months ago, a member of this congregation gave me an illustration about setting priorities which I have been saving for this sermon. It's entitled "Time Management," but it is about much more than that. Listen:

"One day, an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of the group of high-powered overachievers he said, 'It's time for a quiz,' and he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth Mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. He also produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, 'Is this jar full?' Everyone in the class responded, 'Yes.'

The time management expert replied, 'Really?' He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in and shook the jar, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. He then asked the group once more, 'Is the jar full?' By this time the class was on to him. 'Probably not,' one of them answered. 'Good!' he replied, as he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel.

Once more the expert asked the question, 'Is this jar full?' 'No!' the class answered. Once again he said, 'Good!' and then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Finally, he looked at the class and asked, 'W

hat is the point of this illustration?' One eager student raised his hand and said, 'The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things in!' 'No,' the speaker replied, 'that's not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is if you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all.' "

CONCLUSION

Jesus, tempted in the wilderness at the age of thirty, decided to put the big rocks in first. Like David, He chose integrity, commitment, faithfulness and a resolve to put His trust in God. And Jesus, in the summer of His life, set His priorities which would give Him a sense of direction for the rest of His days on earth - humility, love, care, compassion and service to others.

Christian friends: that is His call to all of us today, living through the Seasons of Our Lives . And when we say, "Yes" and decide to follow Him, in the words of Albert Schweitzer, "He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings (and the joys) which we shall pass through in His friendship. And as an ineffable mystery, we shall know in our own experience who He is."

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.