Show attribution
Photo by JSJ.Finishing our course with joy
These notes are for anyone with a senior Christian believer in their circle of friends, family, or in the church in which they serve.
I have written a brief overview of Jim Packer’s brief book, Finishing our Course with Joy (IVP, 2014), followed by some ideas for conversations seeking practical shape to serving as a senior believer. At the time of writing J.I. Packer was nearing the end of his own life.
In the first chapter “We Grow Old”, Packer begins in Ecclesiastes 12, with a picture of the decline that growing older involves. He sets alongside it the portrait of an older father training his son in Proverbs 1-7, and an older believer praying for opportunities to testify to the next generation in Psalm 71. The fruitfulness of those who are older in Psalm 92 develops Packer’s picture of the ripeness that age makes possible.
The book’s central metaphor is “running the last lap” and Packer encourages Christians to live each day as if it were their last, focusing on God and on readiness for Christ’s return. Packer warns against spending one’s final years in self-indulgence and idleness.
Packer’s second chapter “Soul and Body” insists that:
“To see how we should live, we need first and foremost to know who and what we are.” p33.
We are embodied souls, and ensouled bodies. He answers from scripture these questions: What are human beings, and why did God invent us? What are our souls? What is the purpose of our bodies?
Packer explains that God gave us bodies to manage the material world and enrich our lives, while acknowledging the challenges that aging bodies present in every Christian’s spiritual struggle.
In “Keeping Going,” Packer addresses long-time Christian believers, emphasising that adapting to old age is a spiritual discipline. He suggests that senior believers focus on learning and leading in their final years.
The way forward is to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus” (Heb 12:1-2), while avoiding the indiscipline that was causing such trouble among the Corinthians (1 Cor. 9:24-27). Packer picks up Paul’s use of the language of running (Galatians 2:2; Philippians 2:16) as an image of his life serving God. Packer pictures Paul as an old man (Philemon 9) writing to Timothy (2 Tim. 4:6-8), having finished the race and kept the faith. For Packer, Paul’s race image combines clear headed goal orientation, purposeful planning, resolute concentration, and supreme effort. This image of the Christian life fits within the larger framework of a life of gratitude for grace (Romans 12:1), and a walk, keeping to the path and not being distracted from it (Colossians 2:6-7).
Packer appeals to all older Christians to cultivate maximum zeal to keep on running through the final phase of the race. He includes a fine piece on zeal from JC Ryle that would be helpful for older believers to use as a prayer.
Packer’s final chapter “We Look Forward” anticipates the future renewal of the cosmos (Roman 8:24), includes Peter’s celebration of what lies ahead (1 Peter 1:3-9), before exploring the future in four revealed truths from 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10.
Packer concludes with an appeal to senior believers to see the opportunity that lies before them, to make the most of the ripeness that God has given them through their years of knowing him, and to serve with humility and intensity, focused energy, for the final stage of the race that God has set before them.
This book is a valuable resource for Christian ministers to share with older men in their families and congregations.
Imagine a conversation about the book:
What did you make of it? What was best about it? What was most challenging? How about writing a prayer - within the next couple of days - to capture your response to Packer’s encouragement and his appeal for zeal? Would you kindly share it with me?