Thursday, I had the blessing of having a breakfast with around 30 senior adults from the ABC Class. It was a great time of fellowship; the food was very good and the devotion was spot on. As I talked and listened to the different ones, I couldn’t help but think about the blessing these people are to our church family. I thought about many aged Christians in the annals of Christian history. After remembering a handful of my heroes from times past, that I have only read about, my mind then jumped to the pages of the New Testament. Many wonderful characters with marvelous testimonies are recorded for us. During the Christmas season I like to read in Luke 2 and study about two old folks, Simeon and Anna. When we have a senior saint nearing their departure time for glory, I think of Paul the old saint telling young Timothy “The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight.” But there is a man that not many know. His testimony is found in only two verses. Acts 21:15-16 gives us all the information we have for an aged man named Mnason.
He is Jewish but he is a Hellenists. Adopted some of the ways of the Greeks. Born on the island of Cyprus. He was a Cypriote (pronounced sip-re-ot). He lived near Jerusalem and was given to hospitality. Paul and his team no doubt lodged at his home when passing by this area. The passage also says he was an “old disciple.” What does this phrase mean? two possible meanings. One, he was saved a long time ago most likely at Pentecost. He was among the first generation of Christians which were rapidly diminishing. The day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit empowered the church has been several years in the past. His contemporaries are dying off. Two, he was just old and came to Christ late. I personally hold to the first meaning. Let me share three thoughts today about Mnason.
1. There was a “git-go.” We don’t use that word very often but I was trying to keep the three thoughts all alliterated. The Christian has a beginning! Every person that is a believer had a specific time that they put their trust in the Lord Jesus. I have heard people give testimonies that they have just always been a Christian. Their parents were Christians and they themselves were just raised to be Christians. You may have been raised by a godly father and mother but you don’t enter heaven on their coattails. God has no grandchildren only children. This old man, Mnason, met the wonderful Lord Jesus along with three thousand others on that glorious day called Pentecost. If you have never had a specific time that you asked Jesus to save you, today is the day you should take care of that.
2. There was “growth.” The word disciple is known by anyone that has spent even a small amount of time in reading the bible. Its most basic meaning is “a learner.” In Judaism young men that wished to grow in their knowledge of the scriptures and the ways of the Law would find a rabbi they had confidence in and follow him. They would hang on every word he would speak and with all diligence seek to internalize his wisdom. The original disciple looked at Jesus as their rabbi. They followed him for over three years. These disciples/learners listened to the words of Jesus and walked in his steps. Now many years later we have an old man, Mnason, that is still hanging on the words of God’s apostle, Paul, and his team of ministers. He has grown so much in the Lord he opens his home anytime this group of Jesus’ workers came nearby. We find also that he doesn’t just open the door inviting them in. When these men are leaving the next day, he walks with them toward Jerusalem enjoying the fellowship with other of God’s servants. He likes being with God’s people. That is a great marker in a person’s life that they have grown. They love the brethren. As I get older one of my prayers for myself is to help me grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to one day be an old man that has the sweetness of God on my lips and in my life as I deal with others. A few days ago, I was talking with our pastor emeritus, Bro. Richards. The whole conversation was him seeking to edify me and encourage me in the Lord. The kindness just oozed through the phone call. Mnason walking with this team reminds of something that recently happened. A few months ago, a missionary and dear friend died on a Friday night in Ukraine. It took several weeks to get his body back to the United States. His sweet wife is also a dear friend. Phyllis was going to have to fly home alone not knowing when his body would arrive. A dear sister in Christ, a Ukrainian Christian, decided she would fly with Phyllis back to America so she would not be by herself. Once they got Phyllis home the lady boarded a plane on a return flight to Ukraine. She had a Mnason spirit.
3. There was Glory. Several places in the New Testament we are told to “do all things for the glory of God.” I Corinthians 10:31 is my favorite one of these verses. “Eating, drinking, whatsoever” are all actions in which God’s glory is to be promoted. “Whatsoever” is a huge range. It includes anything you do all the time. How did Mnason accomplish this feat? He simply did what he could. Much like Mary who did what she could, so Mnason did also. He was old now but he wasn’t dead. He had a home; he used it for hospitality. He had some food; he offered it to his guests. He had a testimony, he shared it all around Caesarea and on the road from his house to Jerusalem. . All of these for the glory of God. Not only did he use what he had for God’s glory he was also adaptable in his life. In his early Christian life, the man most responsible for his “git-go” and “growth” was Peter. It was Peter that preached at Pentecost the day he most likely was saved. It would have been the ministry of Peter in which he would have grown in those early years. But the years have flown by and now there’s another that God is using in a magnificent way. His name is Paul. His testimony? he was saved from persecuting the church to planting churches. Mnason could have dug his heals in saying “Paul he’s too young, he wasn’t with Jesus during his earthly ministry, he didn’t walk on water, etc.” But that’s not what he did. He didn’t just live in the past he was a part of what was happening at the moment. We find him walking with those men toward Jerusalem. He’s an old man and wants everyone to know he is still on the Lord’s side. There is an old movie and there’s a line either in the title or the movie itself which has been adapted many times. “They died with their boots on.” That’s how God’s people should think. When my departure time arrives, I want the Lord finding me faithful unto the end. Mnason was a man like this. Let’s you and me commit to the same.