Retiring Retirement

By Rodney Macready

In Retiring Retirement Rodney Macready doesn’t believe retirement is a biblical concept, especially the way it's practiced in today's Western culture, with a sense of entitlement. His aim is to challenge readers to think about retirement and what the Bible has to say in relation to it. He encourages retirees to continue to be productive and contribute to the Kingdom, and challenges us to evaluate our current concept of "retirement" by exploring what the Bible says about it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
• Release date: May 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781683070337

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Retiring Retirement (eBook edition)

© 2016, 2017 Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC

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Peabody, Massachusetts 01961-3473

www.hendrickson.com

eISBN 978-1-68307-033-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations contained herein are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Due to technical issues, this eBook may not contain all of the images or diagrams in the original print edition of the work. In addition, adapting the print edition to the eBook format may require some other layout and feature changes to be made.

First eBook edition — February 2017

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

1. HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT RETIREMENT?

2. MY CULTURAL AND CHRISTIAN HERITAGE

3. ELEMENTS OF THE BIBLICAL CULTURES

4. IS WORK A FOUR-LETTER WORD?

5. GOD’S REST AND HUMAN REST

6. A SABBATH REST?

7. SABBATICALS AND JUBILEES

8. ECCLESIASTES—WORK AND PLEASURE

9. RETIRING LEVITES?

10. VOWS AND VALUING PEOPLE

11. PUTTING WIDOWS ON THE LIST

12. CARING FOR AGED PARENTS

13. THE ELDERS AT THE GATE

14. BITS AND PIECES

15. HINTS IN THE OTHER DIRECTION

16 WHERE TO GO FROM HERE?

ABOUT THE HENDRICKSON PUBLISHERS/THEOLOGY OF WORK LINE OF BOOKS

FOREWORD

A good book provides a conversation partner. A good conversation partner provides a dialogue. A good dialogue provides the opportunity to learn, think, grow, change, and develop.

There is little point in reading a book to confirm your opinions. Often it is best to listen to a conversation partner with whom you disagree. Yet it is most valuable to dialogue with somebody who shares the same fundamental assumptions, who speaks the same language and inhabits the same thought world but disagrees on a particular point.

Such a conversation partner is like a teacher—opening up new worlds of thought. This is the case with Rodney Macready’s book Retiring Retirement.

A few years ago, an American friend of mine, Dr. Phil Burgess, told me he was writing a book against the common culture of retirement. I thought it sounded interesting and strange. It had never occurred to me that there was any alternative to retiring. I put it down to Phil’s zest for life and his American work ethic. But Phil insisted it was a matter of Christian commitment. When Phil returned to America, I lost my only goad to think afresh on this topic, though his challenge continued to spur me to think about the whole Christian philosophy of work and especially retirement. I suspected Phil was right, but my life was too busy for me to thoroughly investigate the Bible’s teaching on retirement.

I saw a number of Christian friends retire, but continue in active service of others. Their financial arrangements changed, their workplaces changed, but their productive service of the community did not diminish; in some cases it increased. I came to the conclusion that we resign rather than retire. We resign from one employment in order to work differently for the good of the community.

Then Rod’s manuscript arrived at my desk.

Here is the conversation partner I’ve been looking for. This book goes back to basic principles, assuming only the general theological position of the average evangelical believer regarding biblical authority and method.

There are no holds barred as Rodney wrestles with the question of retirement. The very topic forces him back into the Bible’s view of work and rest and so back to creation, the eschaton, and all stops between. It’s exactly the right way to tackle a question such as this, for so many of our ideas and values about retirement are derived unconsciously from our culture.

As an Australian, it is so easy to take our affluent Western way of life for granted, and worse, to generalize it to all people; worse still, to find it in the Bible! There is always this danger in exegesis: that we read the Bible from our life instead of reading our life from the Bible. Those reading this book from outside the Australian context will be particularly helped by its different perspective as well as its biblical awareness of universal principles. Again, that is the advantage of a good conversation partner, who can point out our unwitting biases and help us look at ourselves from the viewpoint of the Scriptures.

Rod helpfully takes time to tell us about himself, so that his readers can join him in evaluating how his cultural and personal biases may be clouding his judgment. Apart from being personally interesting, this is of great benefit, because it confronts the reader with his or her own particular assumptions about work and retirement.

This is not the book for those who want ten essential tips for a happy Christian retirement, nor the best way to a fulfilling retirement. It’s a book that raises serious questions about our ready acceptance of the world’s values about retirement. And whether you agree or disagree with the argument, it is a discussion that is long overdue. Rod Macready is to be thanked not only for raising the topic but for doing it in such a thoughtful and biblical way.

Phillip D. Jensen, Bible Teacher and Evangelist

Two Ways Ministries, Newtown, Australia

INTRODUCTION

Let me be clear from the outset. I don’t think retirement is a biblical concept—especially the way it’s practiced in my Australian culture. And since my Australian culture is part of a larger animal known as Western culture, I suspect it’s the same for that broader context. Since I don’t have personal experience of those other cultures, I can’t say for sure, but a few others who do live within those cultures have assured me this is the case.

The Purpose of This Book

My aim is to challenge you to think about retirement and what the Bible has to say in relation to it. You don’t have to end up agreeing with me—although, of course, I think it’d be nice if you did. My big concern is that we Christians have simply adopted our culture’s thinking about retirement without examining it to determine whether it fits with our profession to acknowledge Jesus as our king. And that, it seems to me, is dangerous. We’ve allowed the world to squeeze us into its shape and dictate to us all our dreams, goals, and aspirations about this increasingly lengthy period of our lives.

Occasionally you hear about some areas of the retired lifestyle that are baptized with an element of Christian religion—like Christian seniors’ golf days or Christian seniors’ tour groups. I can sympathize with the sentiment behind such activities and appreciate the evangelistic thrust of many of them, but I think they fail to deal with the underlying beast. Such activities simply accept retirement and its accompanying cultural values as a given and seek to somehow Christianize them. I think that’s a bit like trying to Christianize greed. We need first to get to the root of the issue. That involves investigating what God-honoring values imply about retirement itself.

I know the Australian image of enjoyable, leisured retirement resonates with something in the very depths of my being. It doesn’t take much for me to picture (and anticipate with great desire!) a lifestyle of overseas holidays, playing golf, reading novels, and enjoying fine cuisine. You can substitute your own pet pleasures if those particular things don’t take your fancy. Does the Bible promote that sort of lifestyle for Christians? I think not. It’s not that those things are sinful in themselves. Indeed, they may each have a place in the Christian life. They could be considered examples of enjoying God’s good creation with thanksgiving. But, as a lifestyle in this current age, there’s something there that clashes sharply with Christian values.

In effect, my aim in this book is to achieve a paradigm shift—to get you thinking that retirement (at least as we normally think of it) is not God’s best for your life. And so I challenge you to think seriously about this great Australian (or Western) dream. Is it a dream you should desire? Should you put your time, money, and effort into pursuing it?

If you’re under fifty, I wish to challenge you to take the opportunity to develop godly goals that will continue into your senior years. Rather than accepting a vision of your life that divides it into working and nonworking years, I hope you will develop a vision of serving others no matter your age. You may reach an age where the nature of that service transitions. That may happen at several ages during your life. But the underlying, driving vision should always seek ways to serve others rather than ways to indulge yourself.

If you’re over fifty, still in the workforce, and anticipating the approach of your retirement, I want you to think carefully about your choices at this point. That same vision of serving others is just as relevant for you—but it’s far more likely you already have a significant stake in this great retirement dream. It’ll be tough for you to shift your thinking. Indeed, without God’s help, you won’t be able to do it. I want you to actively consider how you can best continue to serve others beyond your official retiring age. For some, that will mean not retiring. For some, it may mean a change of paid employment. For some, it will mean voluntary work in the community or overseas. The options are wide-ranging. But I don’t think full-time leisured self-indulgence is among the options available to Christians.

If you’re already retired and in the middle of a self-indulgent binge, I want you to repent. You may think you’re entitled to this—that it’s your God-given right after years of hard work. I don’t think you’ll find that in the Bible.

Now, I know that’s simplistic and doesn’t cover all the issues. That’s why there’s a book and not just an introduction (though I’m sure the book also won’t cover all the issues). Our bodies do change as we age. Some of the options previously open to us for serving others disappear as our wrinkles increase and our bodies deteriorate. But the definition of our Christian values doesn’t change with age. The depth of our understanding of them and how we express them practically may grow and change, but the underlying values remain constant.

I do need to stress one important qualification to my purpose and acknowledge that some people either can’t work or can only work with very limited capacity. This is part of living in a world that’s impacted by human sin. The reasons some people can’t work are many and varied. Some people are born with physical conditions that either prevent them from working or allow them to work only in a very limited capacity. Some may be involved in accidents or become the victims of violence, and the results are the same: their injuries either prevent or significantly reduce their capacity to work. Still others develop mental conditions that bring about the same results. Those sorts of situations are a separate issue, often accompanied by significant pain. I certainly don’t intend to add to that pain and sincerely hope my writing does not inadvertently do so.

For some, their very work situations bring about a similar result. They discover that the physical or mental effort they’ve put into their work over a period of forty or fifty years takes a toll on their bodies or their minds such that they’re no longer able to continue. They find that the spirit is willing, but the body is weak—or sometimes they feel that even the spirit is no longer willing. I don’t wish to cause you undue stress if you’re in this category. At the same time, I hope you won’t avoid the challenge of thinking through this topic. The fact that you can’t continue in your previous work (or can work only with reduced capacity) doesn’t mean you can do no work—you can still continue to find ways to serve others.

All of us develop reduced capacity to work as part of the aging process. Our bodies slow down and wear out. Our minds aren’t as sharp as they used to be. This is the reality we all face. And so, yes, I do wish to change how you think about the subject of retirement, but I don’t wish to do so in a way that denies that reality. How does that work in practice?

On the one hand, it means developing a changed mind-set—one that devotes the whole of one’s life to serving others and doesn’t expect to cease doing that upon reaching retirement age. On the other hand, it means recognizing our human limitations, especially in light of the aging process. Our ability to serve and the way in which we serve will need to adjust to our changing abilities. Like all our abilities, these vary from person to person. And so, it’s up to each individual to assess their own abilities and how these can best be used to serve others at each stage of life. For each of us, there may indeed come a time in our lives where our human limitations are so great that we can no longer serve others—or only do so in a very limited way.

Likewise, some people experience difficulties obtaining paid employment[1]—a highly significant aspect of work within Western cultures. This results in significant problems for such people, including emotional pain, anxiety, and stress. That too is a separate issue from what I address in this book. Again, I don’t intend to add to that pain and sincerely hope my writing does not inadvertently do so.

The Plan of Attack

So, how do I plan to achieve this aim? First, I want to set the scene by briefly describing what I think are three key elements for understanding our current cultural situation.

How did we get here? That is, where did the concept of retirement originate and how has it developed?

What is retirement?

What are our current expectations about retirement?

Given the cultural reality of retirement, it seems natural to then ask: How should Christians evaluate this concept? That question could be answered from several angles. In this book, I limit myself to exploring the Biblical material that could be used to argue for or against the concept of retirement.

Although I don’t particularly like doing so, chapter 2 talks about me: my background and my presuppositions—at least, as far as I am aware of both. I think the former is important so you can weigh any vested interests I may have in this subject and their likely impact on my analysis. I think the latter is important so you recognize the theological tradition in which I place myself and can make any relevant adjustments where it differs from your own.

Chapter 3 explores some major cultural issues. Our world is very different from that in which the Bible was written. There are vast gaps of time, language, geography, culture, and so on. Sometimes we forget those differences when we read the Bible, and automatically read our culture into the text. There are two major areas where I think it’s important to be aware of those differences in relation to our current subject: family and work. These were arguably one and the same in the cultures of Bible times.

I believe chapters 4 to 7 form the heart of my argument. Chapter 4 presents the case for a presumption in favor of work. Work was part of life in the Garden of Eden. It continues to be part of life after humanity’s fall—though there are some significant changes. It’s part of life after Jesus’ resurrection. I believe it remains part of life in the new creation. Thus it seems to me that if we stop work for an extended period of time, we need to be able to give a reason for our inaction.

Some argue that the Bible’s teaching on rest provides one such reason. This is understandable, since rest appears to be an important part both of God’s original design for creation and of his renewed promises to believers. Those who take this view argue that since God’s rest is the climax of the creation narrative in Genesis 1:1–2:3, humans should follow the Creator’s example by resting from work at the end of their lives. While I agree that entering into God’s rest is our ultimate goal, I disagree that the achievement of this goal excludes human work. Instead, the fully biblical view of human rest can include work and enjoyment of God’s creation. The development of this argument forms the content of chapters 5 to 7.

Chapters 8 to 14 then deal with various other scriptural passages that address aging and work, exploring whether they validate the concept of retirement. The danger here is that I’ve omitted relevant passages. I’ve thought through the issue over several years. I’ve also raised the matter with others. As far as I’m aware, my coverage is comprehensive. Yet, it’s still likely I’ve omitted some relevant passages. I think I’ve covered all the relevant passages—but I realize that not everyone sees things the same way I do and so it’s likely there will be other people who come up with passages they consider relevant. For that, I can only apologize in advance. Like you, I’m not infallible. Hopefully, there is sufficient material in the discussion of the passages that are included for you to evaluate whether adding others would alter my overall conclusion.

I should warn you that these may seem to be the least exciting chapters. The people who kindly read the draft of this book used words like academic, thorough, and weighty—you get the general drift. Yet, they saw no way of avoiding the problem. These Scripture passages (some of which are rather obscure and not well-known) require exploring, and a superficial treatment would create its own problems. And so, although I’m conscious that many these days want instant information in snack-size servings, I believe it’s important to aim for completeness in my presentation of this topic. It’s my hope that each of these chapters will help to develop further the overall biblical understanding of work, and address many of the possible pitfalls of interpreting what the Bible has to say on this topic.

The penultimate chapter deals briefly with some passages that appear to favor non-retirement. Because I believe the Bible presumes that work is the norm for human beings, I have not dealt with these passages in as much detail. However, I think it is worthwhile to draw attention to these other passages that lend support to that presumption.

The final chapter starts to deal with the question: So what? While this book is just the first step in considering this issue and thus only comes to an initial conclusion, I think it’s worthwhile to begin the process of thinking through the possible implications of that conclusion for our own lives. I don’t want this to be simply an academic exercise. Personally, I think the very nature of the topic prevents that, since it impacts how we in the Western world map out our lives in terms of our time, our money, and our dreams. It touches our attitudes toward work and leisure. So, on the one hand, it’s hard to imagine this being a purely academic book.

On the other hand, I do find that I have a tendency to love generalities. I’m good at reading general conclusions, agreeing with them, filing them away in my head (or, more likely, on my computer’s hard drive), and then doing nothing about them. I find it helpful when an author or speaker fleshes out his or her conclusion with some concrete proposals. Those particular proposals may not work for me in my individual circumstances—that’s the danger with specific applications. But I still find those proposals are often more effective in stimulating me to action than the generalities on their own. I hope this final chapter will do the same for you—that it will help you think through the practical implications of what it would mean for us to reject this particular cultural value.

The Journey

So, I invite you to come on a journey with me as we explore several Bible passages. From my perspective, in looking back over the journey I’ve undertaken, I have noticed two things. First, I discovered most of the texts I looked at were more difficult than I anticipated. Second, the journey was at least as much about how to interpret the Bible as it was about retirement.

I certainly struggled at times. At times, it wasn’t obvious where I could find answers to the questions I had. Much of the reason for that is that I’m asking questions these texts weren’t designed to answer—modern retirement didn’t exist when the Bible was written. That’s probably also why the various commentators often don’t answer my questions.

I’ve tried to leave something of my journey in how I’ve written. I know that makes for a longer book. I hope the payoff will be that you grow in your ability to interpret the Bible—as well as thinking through the concept of retirement.

NOTES

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[1]. As I hope will become evident in later parts of this book, work includes far more than paid employment. For example, the relationship between paid employment and work is considered in chapter 1.

1. HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT RETIREMENT?

Retirement is big business in most (if not all) Western economies. It’s likely to get even bigger and better. Life expectancies continue to increase. Modern health-care services produce expectations of relatively active lifestyles in retirement years. Today’s seniors realistically anticipate twenty years of post-work leisure. They’re cashed-up with excess time on their hands. What entrepreneur wouldn’t salivate at the prospect? It’s a market ripe for the picking.

But they aren’t the only ones salivating. Someone trained the rest of us to long for these golden years—and most of us will get there. This is life’s goal—the carrot we eagerly crave. It’s the new Garden of Eden—leisured, desirable, idyllic. What could be better? No stigma attached to not working. No pressure to meet deadlines. No one telling you what to do. Free to follow your fancy. It’s so attractive that many scheme to get there as early as possible. Where’s the catch?

For me, the catch is that this seems to be an unexplored segment of Western thinking, especially from a Christian perspective. Now, at first glance, it doesn’t look that way. All sorts of magazines, journals, and books deal with issues surrounding retirement and gerontology (a fancy word that disguises the fact it’s about old people). You can readily find material that explores:

How to finance your retirement

How to cease employment well

How to cope with a leisured lifestyle

How to prepare for the life changes involved

How to handle the aging process

How to deal with the issues of ageism

How to develop new hobbies

How to run a retirement village

How to treat the elderly with dignity

How to survive the death of a spouse

How to deal with a whole host of things that wouldn’t otherwise enter my head

Scholars have developed theologies of aging and theologies of ministering to the aged.

But, as far as I can tell, the theology of retirement itself is a neglected field. In particular, it seems that few have stopped to ask the question: Should we retire? Is retirement consistent with the values of our Christian faith? Does God endorse the concept of retirement?

Because that’s such a rarely asked question, I don’t want to leave it too quickly. Retirement is a subject very dear to most of our hearts. I think it’s important to consider why this is so. How is it we’ve come to this point? Why does this concept attract us? What’s our vested interest in longing for retirement—and does that influence what we think the Bible says about it? And so I want to tease this out a bit further—to explore why we seem to have this cultural blind spot. I want to do this by looking briefly at three areas.

The history of retirement (for those who abhor the h word, I promise to keep it brief)

The definition of retirement

The expectations surrounding retirement

Having said something about those three areas, I’ll then briefly outline the issues involved in understanding what the Bible may contribute to our evaluation of the concept of retirement.

The History of Retirement

So, when did retirement originate? American Express began the first private pension plan in 1875. German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck began the first public pension plan around 1880 (I’ve seen several different years cited for this event!). He set the retirement age at sixty-five. At that time, very few people achieved that milestone, so he didn’t anticipate it would cost the state a huge amount.[1] New South Wales passed the Old Age Pension Act in 1900. The Australian Commonwealth passed the Invalid and Old-Age Pensions Act in 1908. The first American states to allow for retirement followed suit in 1915. They set the retirement age at seventy and had additional stringent conditions.

Yet several factors hindered retirement’s widespread enjoyment in these initial stages. The percentage of the population reaching age 65 remained relatively small. Those who did achieve this milestone often suffered from significantly declining health. Many found the pension (and any financial resources they had accumulated) insufficient for their living expenses, which were frequently increased by medical costs. And a level of social stigma often attached to those not working.

The situation changed around the 1950s. Life expectancy increased. Medical services improved. People’s financial situation became more secure. The workforce became more youth focused. The social stigma surrounding retirement disappeared. And entrepreneurs introduced a propaganda campaign to encourage retirees to enjoy their leisure.

Further changes occurred by the 1980s. Life expectancy had increased still further, but birth rates had declined. The ratio of those receiving pensions to the size of the workforce grew dramatically. Governments recognized they could no longer afford to sponsor their mushrooming pension expenditures. Thus, in Australia, they legislated for employer-sponsored superannuation schemes and invented other ways to encourage individuals to save for their own retirement.[2]

This very brief (and somewhat simplistic) historical survey demonstrates evolving attitudes toward retirement over a relatively short time frame. Further, at a societal level, pragmatic concerns drove that evolution. The depression years saw a move to get older people out of the workforce to make way for younger ones. Later, superannuation schemes were promoted to prevent governments from entering bankruptcy. Likewise, the current incremental increases to the retirement age in Australia are meant to reduce the financial burdens on the government. This pragmatic approach is unsurprising in a secular society. What is surprising is the apparent lack of theological reflection on the concept.

So, retirement is a relatively recent concept and one that’s still evolving. It’s worth pausing to ask: Are there any precursors to the modern concept of retirement? Did earlier societies have any comparable practice?

Certainly, examples of an apparently leisured status abound in history. In ancient Greece, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle considered manual labor second-rate and harmful to body and soul. They proposed that the contemplative life was vastly superior. Their contemplative lifestyle was not mere idleness, but definite mental activity, which they believed would result in true happiness. Still, it’s unlikely this view was shared by the general populace. Instead, non-leisured people of the ancient world probably considered work both necessary and virtuous. Yet, it was the intellectuals such as Plato and Aristotle who had a marked influence on the development of Western worldviews. Consider, for example, our ongoing distinctions between professionals (often mental activity) and tradesmen (often manual activity) and the higher status conferred on the former.[3]

A second example arose within Christian circles. For a wide assortment of reasons, some Christians abandoned normal occupations for a more ascetic and holy lifestyle. This resulted in various monastic systems where contemplation (vita contemplativa) was prioritized for the purpose of growing in godliness. The issue was not with manual labor itself—they considered some forms of manual labor conducive to contemplative activities so that both could be done concurrently. Yet they attempted to set aside the earthly goods that come from physical work, and placed a higher value on contemplation. This contributed to what I believe is the inappropriate division between the sacred and the secular (a view shared by many of the Reformers). It also tended to downgrade the overall importance of work and thus may have contributed to modern preferences for that which is not work.

Upper-class lifestyles from the past and present provide a third example. Most people envy the status and the accompanying benefits of the upper class and hope to make the transition to leisured wealth themselves. Ancient history presents the occasional example of an individual’s elevation from relative destitution to successful prominence (for example, the biblical narrative of Joseph), but this was relatively rare. Much later, however, European colonialism and the Industrial Revolution offered increased opportunities for such changes in status. The development of newspapers and increased levels of literacy resulted in both the opportunities and the real-life examples of such rags-to-riches stories being more widely known. The wider distribution of literature (for example, Jane Austen novels) contributed to a greater understanding of and longing for upward mobility. Perhaps membership in the aristocracy was beyond reach for those born on the wrong side of the tracks, but entry into the middle class was a satisfactory and desirable alternative. And one of the perceived benefits of middle-class status was escape from drudgery into