Text: 10Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it. 11Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. (The Message)
Last sermon I shared an overview of what stewardship is.
Stewardship lesson one: everything we have belongs to God - God has given us the honor and responsibility to manage his property, finances and affairs.
Stewardship is a way of life, anchored in relationship with God – responds to the community at large.
The full sermon can be found on our website – www.sakcc.com – called “Full Life” Investment
Now that we’ve seen the overview let’s focus this morning on our responsibility relating to our stewardship of TIME – how we manage this resource God gives us every day.
Are you familiar with any of the following phrases?
“I don’t have time.”
“Be there in a minute!” (Kids!)
“I’ll do it tomorrow.”
“I’ve got more important things on my mind…”
“There are just not enough hours in the day.”
“Would you hurry up?”
“How time flies.”
“Where has the time gone?”
If you have used any of these or similar type statements, you know the experience of being in the TRAP – Time Restraints And Pressures.
Michael Altshuler – "The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot."
How the times have changed! Stay-at-home moms have become working professionals. 9 to 5 professions have become split-shifts, night-shifts and different shifts for spouses so one is leaving while the other is just getting home. We’re in a time warp of bag lunches, subway sandwiches and T.V. dinners. Breakfast has become a drive-through trend of extra-large black or double lattes with cream and poppy seed loaf to take off the edge.
As these realities continue to change and evolve, so does the approach we take to life and ministry. That road is quite different for any number of us. We cannot decide for each other where our commitment obligations lie or what our priorities should be. While we will likely agree that commitment to God’s plan is priority one, the interpretation of what that means is quite fluid and not so easily measured.
E.g. – In previous years people understood commitment as attending everything that happened at the church. The lines of commitment have shifted. People are still committed but it could mean one service, not two on Sundays; or one service every other Sunday; or a commitment to give two nights to church ministry functions / leadership, instead of only two nights at home and so on. The pace in people’s lives is so unbelievably full and fast, with unimaginable demands and time restraints that they are carefully evaluating where they will invest that precious commodity called TIME. That is not a bad thing because it will demand that the church be very focused and intentional, if it wants people to lead and invest in what’s going on.
As you struggle every day pairing up your time and balancing your life, allow me to suggest that the Bible offers some insight on living a balanced life. The Word of God provides instruction on managing His resource called TIME.
1. ALLOW TIME TO REPAIR
E.g. – There are many things I don’t enjoy. One of them is taking my vehicle to the dealership to have it serviced. Then there’s the wait for a ride back to the office (or sit in the waiting room drinking terrible coffee). I lose the rhythm in my day. This past week was an absolute nightmare on Wednesday morning. I dropped the vehicle off and waited thirty minutes for the shuttle to get a ride back to the office. When I got to the office I was already thirty minutes late for a meeting, only to realise I had to leave at 11am for a meeting in London but wouldn’t have my vehicle! Our two staff kindly agreed to hike back to the dealership and get my un-serviced vehicle while I looked after my meeting at the office. THEN, when I finally left for London I was an hour late and a call led me to turn around and come home because they figured the meeting would be nearly finished by the time I got there! And all because my vehicle needed to be serviced!
But I know it’s a necessary process, otherwise the vehicle will get ‘sick’ and have far more problems later on.
Sometimes I feel like my vehicle! There’s plenty of slug in my thoughts and grit in my spirit. But when I get together with God’s people, I get a tune-up! The Bible outlines the principle of this practice for us in Hebrews 10:25 “Let us not give up meeting together…”
This is a significant instruction. It was very clearly a charge to not neglect Sunday worship. Christ initiated meeting on the first day of the week after he had risen from the dead and actually attended the first-day meetings until he ascended to heaven. Thomas missed the first one. His introduction to the risen Christ took place when Jesus revealed himself on the second first-day meeting. Another example of Sunday worship in the life of Jesus’ followers leads us to consider one source that says, “The establishment and beginning of the church on Pentecost occurred on the first day of the week when the disciples were gathered together…Scholar, preacher, teacher and author Burton Coffman goes on to provide something else of interesting detail when this command of Hebrews 10:25 was given. “Pliny, a secular writer about 112 A.D., made a report to the emperor Trajan in which he unconsciously bore witness to certain vital aspects of Christianity. Of special interest was the witness he bore to the tenacity maintained by the Christians in regard to their assemblies. They attended the regular worship services in spite of every hindrance. Legal meetings on a publicly recognized day of rest, as in these days, were impossible. Christians met in the darkness of pre-dawn assemblies; and no impediment whatever was allowed to interfere.”
This sacred obligation was an important characteristic of Christians even before the instruction of Hebrews 10:25 but like many, some needing reminding of what the most important things are.
If we are serious about honoring God by wisely using the time entrusted to us, we must be intentional about how much of it we spend in community with God’s people. We’re not going to talk about ‘doing’ or leadership at this point – that’s another sermon for another day. It’s about BEING in community. It’s about investing in repair time – to let God (to INVITE God) to renew, cleanse, empower and inspired us to face what the next week has to dish out.
2. ALLOW TIME TO REASON
- To evaluate what you’re doing and why.
Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer, wanted to recruit 38 year old John Sculley, President of Pepsi-Cola. Jobs issued a tremendous challenge to Sculley. He asked, "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?" What a challenge to all Christians! Are we settling for sugared water existence, settling less than what God designed us to be?
There are many people who could share about lost dreams and “if I had my time back” testimonials. It seems, as we get older, we reflect and wonder what life’s been about or what difference we’ve made in the world. Maybe men struggle with these things more than women do.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 – King Solomon wrote,”There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven.” Solomon then outlined 28 examples to illustrate his opening statement (Examples)…
A king who was quite skilled in judging court, building economic infrastructures and architectural wonders. He practically had and did everything there was to have and do in his lifetime. His achievements were so phenomenal that he became bored as he searched for value in all his achievements.
Maybe value and purpose was intended when St. Paul wrote 1Cor. 10:31 - Whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do you must do all for the glory of God.
Paul offered these words during a time when there was dispute about eating meat that people had sacrificed to idols and people indulged in drunkenness and parties we don’t want to imagine. The challenge here was to make even regular eating and drinking a sacramental experience, to make even the common tasks of eating, drinking or whatever else one does a purposeful activity that aimed at showing God in that activity.
The investment of our TIME should be intentional, not haphazard or careless. We should be evaluating how much time we invest versus the time we waste because once spent we can never have it back. Are we spending our lives distributing sugared water or very intentional about changing the world? When you evaluate your investments of time, how much of it will stand up to God’s illuminating light?
3. ALLOW TIME TO REST
Here’s an interesting instruction - Mark 6:31 - Then Jesus said, "Let’s get away from the crowds for a while and rest."
There are times to rest. This was a call to Sabbath rest. Sabbath rest is not a particular day or activity (E.g. Not necessarily going to church on Sundays). It is about finding time for personal, quiet time with God.
E.g. Genesis 3:8 - And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:
Time is difficult to measure in terms of how much of it we invest intentionally for God. We can measure busyness and activity but it is sometimes difficult to measure how we invest time for God. There’s a line between what I do throughout the day and what I do for God throughout the day. The Old Testament provides an interesting picture of measured time. The Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia breaks down a period of seven years. The authors made a record of the religious festivities such as Sabbaths, Passovers, and the different feasts (at least seven of them). What they discovered was, in terms of religious activity under the law of the Old Testament, God commanded the people in the Old Covenant to give eight hundred and twenty-two days to their religion in seven years.
Percentages – 32% - God’s organized table of activity and spiritual focus; 68% - other living and responsibilities.
Now, since we are living the New Covenant of Christ’s blood shed on the cross for us, we are not bound by the law of the Old Covenant. So, we are not to conclude that God is looking for 32% of our time for so-called “religious” activity. We realize that all time belongs to God, and we should give every moment of every day to Him in service and for his glory. However, there is something to say for intentional focus and attention to prayer life, Bible reading, church attendance, leadership, ministry focus and so forth. Leadership does not mean everyone should be leading something in the church other than to say at the very least, everyone should be leading themselves into the life of the community to impact it for Christ though God calls some to lead and assume certain responsibilities and roles.
Sadly, some people have no life outside the church with which they are associated. Their motto is “Bop ‘til you drop.” That’s not healthy either – nor is it expected.
The lesson is simple – live a balanced life! I can summarize everything I’ve said so far in this final point:
4. ALLOW TIME TO BE RENEWED AND RELEASED
This brings us to the instruction of our text for this morning, as drawn from The Message:
10Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.
It’s been said: “Time wasted is existence; used, it is life.”
- How many countless people merely exist, even in the church? It is often the result of not focusing on God’s agenda and direction for the way we spend our time.
I can provide a five point sermon on “How to spend your time wisely.” I’m not sure that’s a good idea though. I will say this. God has wired you the way you are to do SOME-THING for him! All of us should be committing a minimum factor of time to God’s work – which is doing that thing that God wired you to do!
The main ingredient is figure out the abilities God gave you. These abilities should reflect the activity and ministry God wants you to do and will this information will lead you to understand the amount of time He wants you doing it.
The author to the Hebrews makes a most interesting comment in the next verse of our text:
WRAP
- Everything we own belongs to God
- Your time is not your own
- Give time to
= Repair
= Reason
= Rest
= Be Renewed and Released
10Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.
