September
24, 2006
Controlling Time
Luke 10:38-42; Hebrews 10:25
Scripture
Isaiah 55:1-3
1 "Come, all you
who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is
good,
and your soul will delight in the richest
of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with
you,
my faithful love promised to David.
Psalm 63:1-8
1 O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise
you.
6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the
night.
7 Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
Mark 6:30-32
30The apostles gathered
around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31Then,
because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a
chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet
place and get some rest."
32So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary
place.
Twentieth century humorist, Will Rogers,
once said:
Half our life is spent trying to find something to
do with the
time we have rushed through life trying to save.
As Will Rogers obviously knew, human beings
are people who are always seeking more time, but often fail to make good use of
that time, or as I titled this message, we are not very good at “Controlling
Time”. For while we may or may not have time, often when we do we are too tired
to use it wisely and fully.
A couple years ago,
a story ran in Alaska Magazine, about Buckwheat Donahue:
Buckwheat
Donahue is a resident of
Donahue had suffered congestive heart failure in 2003, and
if he had been in
Buckwheat Donahue has been influenced greatly by Jack London’s
words, words posted on Buckwheat Donahue’s webpage: “The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not
waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”
Donahue told Alaska Magazine. “That’s what I want to do, I
want to use my time.” Choked with emotion, he added, “And I’d just like to
share it with other people.”
Sherry
Simpson, "Buckwheat's Long Road Home,"
Today, I want us to consider not so much
how we can find more time, but rather how we can best use our time. As we begin
fall with its visual awareness of diminishing daylight, living in a world where
we often speak of time “slipping away”, or us “losing track of time”, God calls
us to make the most of the time we have, and to cherish the time we have to
grow closer to Him and to one another.
This
week I have been led to offer three messages concerning time.
1. We make the most of our time as we acknowledge that
time is a gift from God.
When the psalmist cries out to God:
Psalm 90:12
Teach us to number our
days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
he was
acknowledging what each of us knows, but many spend their lives trying to
forget; that our days on earth are limited. Our time to “do our thing” is
ticking away; we have an expiration date stamped on our heads.... and unlike
the collection of food we found yesterday in the door of our church
refrigerator, when we expire, we’re out-of-here!
Now, if you are a “glass-half-empty” kind
of person, that reality is a real bummer. But, from a “glass-half-full”
perspective, each day you wake up is a day of great potential; a gift from
God... 24 more hours to celebrate
this life and serve His Kingdom.
And the questions set before us each
morning are:
“How
then shall we live?”
Will we “lose track” of what we see as
precious gifts from God; will
we let those hours “slip away” from us, or will we take control of those hours and make the most of
them?
Just last week I
received from our denominational leaders in Christian Formation, some wonderful
resources for encouraging spiritual growth. This morning I want to introduce
two of them. The first resource in your bulletin is titled: “Reviewing Your Day” (gold paper).
Is “reviewing your day” a spiritual discipline
in your life? Do you take time before sleep to think back on your day;
-
to reflect upon God’s presence with you?
-
to remember your encounter with others, to reflect on your
motivations and critique your actions.
-
to give thanks to God for the joys you experienced and the
lessons learned.
The gold “Reviewing your day” pamphlet even
gives guidance for how families can review their day together. This is a
wonderful tool to use in remembering that we make the most of our time as we
acknowledge that time (each day) is a gift from God and worthy of our review
and celebration.
I also highlight
the truth that
2. We make the most of time as we strive for quality time
with God.
As you will tell
from my third point, I am not falling into that cultural “faux pais” of the
1990’s that “quality time” can some how replace “quantity time” in relationships.
In a minute you will hear me encouraging you to spend more time with each
other. But my second point here is simple. If you had opportunity to spend time
with the person you admired the most, would you do all the talking, or would
you use the time to gain as much from that person as you could?
A very significant scripture story for me
is the story of Jesus going to the home of Mary & Martha. We read in
Luke 10:38-42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a
village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She
had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.
40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that
had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister
has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41”Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and
upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed.
Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
You
know, I always feel bad for Martha, don’t you. After all, she was the one who
“opened her home” to Jesus. What a wonderful act of hospitality! Not only did
she open her home but she set at once to provide food for her guests. And yet
somehow, her distracted sister, Mary, is suddenly the “good example” and she is
the “less-than-good example” according to Jesus.
Did
Martha do something wrong?
No,
she didn’t do something wrong; her sister just did something “better”. While
Martha opened her home to Jesus, Mary opened her heart; she listened to the One
we should all give full attention to whenever He speaks. She was the one whom
God used to make very practical the words of scripture reiterated by Jesus:
man does not live on bread alone
but on every word
that
comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4 & Luke 4:4)
The story of Mary & Martha is a story
about “quality time”.... a time to recognize that all we can do for others is
of lesser importance when our Master and Lord is speaking to us. But the question raised by the OT story of
Elijah hearing God as the “gentle whisper” amid the power wind, shattering
rocks, fire and earthquake.... is also heard in the questions raised in a
contemporary teaching by Pastor Rob Bell in his DVD called “Noise”:
“Does all the noise
in our lives make it hard to hear God?”
“Does my schedule,
my time, my life look like that of a person who wants to hear God’s voice?
Nooma “Noise 005” by Rob Bell, Zondervan 2005
Many people welcome
God into their lives.. into their homes, but do not give Him the attention He
deserves; their full attention; the time He needs to speak and for us to hear?
We make the most of time as we strive for
quality time with God.
Finally, let me
offer one final word about time:
3. We make the most of our time as we recognize the
importance of spending time with other Christians
In saying this, I
am not calling for a cloistered life.... a life isolated from non-Christians.
Most certainly our Lord exemplified for us, and He commissioned His followers
to go out into the world with the gospel message. In fact, just last week, one
of our Adult SS classes studied Jesus’ teaching at Caesarea Philippi, where He
prepared his disciples to go out with the good news of God’s love and
forgiveness into a very pagan & immoral world.
No, we are to associate with and bring the
Hebrews 10:25
Let us not give up
meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one
another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
While we can come
to God anytime, anywhere, and He will meet us even in our aloneness, there are
special blessings which come from God when we spend time with God together, as
a believing community. Jesus once said:
Matthew 18:20
... where two or three come together
in my name, there am
I with them.”
As our candles symbolize for us week after
week, the very presence of Christ our Lord and Savior is here with us whenever we
gather; gather for worship, for fellowship, for Bible study, for missions and
acts of servanthood. And the same power Jesus exercised in the first century is
available to us today.... it’s just that God’s Holy Spirit is spread out among
his believers.
Once, as Jesus was teaching his disciples about
the Holy Spirit who would come upon them after He left them, Jesus said:
John 14:12-14
I tell you the truth,
anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even
greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do
whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You
may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
The
Bible goes into specific about how our Lord’s Holy Spirit will work in and through
believers. Romans 12 and
1
Corinthians 12 are powerful passages describing these “gifts of the Spirit”
which have been apportioned to each of us according to God’s grace. >>> Bottom line? The more time we can
spend with each other, the more we will recognize, encourage and benefit from
God’s Spirit touching us through one another. Look at the people around you. Do
you know that God’s Spirit in them wants to touch you in some important way? Do
you make the time for that to happen?
My
calling into ministry began with personal Bible reading and prayer, but was
capped when a Christian named Rita Benz came up to me after a church concert
and allowed her spiritual gift to be exercised. I almost didn’t give Rita the
time to do what God wanted to do through her. I’m so glad I did.
Have
you been praying to God to answer a potentially life-changing question? Do you
spend enough time with other Christians for God to give you His answer, or are
you too busy racing off to welcome someone into your home, or to prepare supper?
Like
Martha you might be blessing others with your spiritual gift of hospitality, or
your gift of giving, or your gift of teaching; but do you take the time to
allow God’s Spirit to speak to you, to touch you, to lead you through the
spiritual gifts of other Christians?
We make the most of our time as we recognize
the importance of spending time with other Christians
Just
as we are all aware of the time we set aside for work, and the time we make to go
on vacation, do you have a handle on the time you set aside for God? As we
heard in Isaiah 55 and Psalm 63, God offers us what we truly need for life;
- 1 "Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is
good,
and your soul will delight in the richest
of fare.
God offers us what
we truly need for life, but we must deliberately set aside time for God to
bless us.
How would you describe that time right now?
If a non-Christian asked you how you “control” your time for spiritual growth, what
would you say? A “rule of life” is simply a structure that facilitates
spiritual formation. The word “rule” in English is regula in Latin. How do you regulate your life... your time... in
order to experience relationship with God?
I leave you with a challenge.. a spiritual
homework assignment found in the white brochure found in your bulletins titled
“”Rule of Life”. This week, I want you to evaluate four quadrants of time, and
ask yourself these questions:
What are the spiritual practices
you exercise daily?
What are the spiritual practices
you exercise weekly?
What are the spiritual practices
you exercise monthly?
What are the spiritual practices
you exercise annually?
God wants to meet
you, and feed you, and support you, and empower you in so many ways! What is
your game plan? How are you controlling your time so that God’s blessings fill
your life?
Today I encourage you to be deliberate and
wise in your use of time; write out your own “Rule of Life” and follow it. Give
time to drink deeply of the living waters God is offering to you. AMEN
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (r).
Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
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