Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
November 25, 2001 PM
Becoming Proper Stewards Of Our Time
Reading - Psalm 90.10, 12 & Ephesians 5.15-16
Time may be the most important commodity we have. Time is a tremendous blessing... Yet if we are not careful... It can be a real struggle for us.
Even though TIME has become very important to us... It means little or nothing to God. Let's look at God's perspective on time.
-Peter says... With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day.
-In the Psalms... David says that God is from everlasting to everlasting.
-Jesus told the Pharisee that before Abraham was I AM.
-The Hebrews writer tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.
You see... God is ageless... Timeless... ETERNAL.
And here is something else... God never gets in a hurry... His timing is always perfect... He seems to operate outside the time continuum. Ever notice that during His three and a half year ministry... Jesus never got in a hurry? Amazing for one who came to this earth with so much to accomplish... RIGHT? We must know the God that we serve is always on time... His timetable is always perfect.
No where is this pointed out anymore than in John's narrative of the death of Lazarus. Jesus shows up three days after Lazarus died... And Martha says to Jesus in frustration... Lord... If you had been here sooner our brother would not have died. The implication is that Jesus is too late. Jesus' reply was... Martha... You must believe... Martha have faith in Me.
Sometimes things happen to us... Loss of health... Loss of a loved one... Loss of a job... A financial collapse... Whatever!! And we say... Why now... This is not the time... But like Martha... We must believe in God's timing... We must have faith in Him.
Listen to these scriptures that focus our attention upon our conforming to His timetable...
-Be still before the LORD... And wait patiently for Him.
-Those who wait for the LORD... Will inherit the earth.
-Wait for the LORD and keep His ways... And He will exalt you.
-Those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
-The LORD is good to those who wait for Him.
You see... If we will live by His timetable... Then what He does for us... With us... By us... Through us... To us... Will always be better than if we IMPATIENTLY take matters into our own hands. Abraham and Sarah learned this when they took things into their own hands and tried to bring about God's promise of a child in their old age... And as a result brought much grief into their lives.
Relax... Let go... Live by God's timetable... And life will be a joy. I believe this is the promise and principle of scripture.
Now... Lets notice some ways we struggle with time... Ways in which we fail to be proper stewards of the time God has allotted us.
First... We try to live in the past. Now... Intellectually we know that we can't do this... But it doesn't stop us... Does it? Why is living in the past so wrong... Why is it an improper use of our time?
Number one... Because we beat up on ourselves with our past. We have a tendency to not turn loose of the mistakes and sins of our past. Somehow we think that if we...
Punish ourselves long enough,
Regret long enough,
Suffer enough,
Perhaps we'll somehow make up for all our mistakes.
Is this possible?... Can we forgive ourselves by fretting about the past?... NO! This is the reason Jesus came... To forgive our sins... To remove our past. We don't have the power to forgive ourselves... Only the blood of Christ can do that. Only God can erase the slate and give us a new beginning. We can't do enough... Suffer enough... Regret enough to forgive even one sin.
Listen to these promises from Scripture...
- Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.
- Arise and be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His name.
- There is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ.
- If any man is in Christ he is a NEW creation... A new person... Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.
- In Him we have redemption through his blood...EVEN... The forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
- Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Do you want forgiveness?... Do you want a fresh start?... A new beginning? It is possible... By becoming a New Testament Christian... By clothing yourself with Christ. And listen to this... A new beginning is possible everyday by the continual cleansing blood of Jesus... If we walk in the light, the blood of Christ continues to cleanse us from all our sin.
Audience... Here it is... If you want a new beginning... Bring your past to Jesus.
The second thing we do is live in the glory days of our past. The glory days syndrome goes like this... Well... I used to...
- I remember when I was fired up for Jesus... Active in the Lord's church.
- I used to teach a class... Served as an Elder... or deacon... I headed up this or that ministry.
- I used to be active in personal evangelism... Visiting the sick... Caring for the poor.
Church... When we talk like this... We are romancing the past.
The problem here is that we are resting on past accomplishments. Folk... As His children, God does not judge us on our past... But on our present. I know we live in a retirement village... But there is no retirement in the Lord's kingdom. Jesus says... If you will be my disciple... Take up your cross WHEN?... HOW OFTEN?... Daily! INDEED... Living in the past is wrong... It is an improper use of God's blessing of TIME.
Secondly... We have problems with time because we attempt to live in the future.
The first struggle with the future is... WE WORRY ABOUT IT.
We worry about...
* Our health,
* About death,
* Our children,
* Our country,
* And the church.
WORRY... WORRY... WORRY... What's gonna happen tomorrow?
Remember what Jesus' philosophy was on this?... What did He say?... Don't worry about life... About what you are going to eat... drink ... wear... or what is going to happen to you... Do not be anxious... Don't worry about tomorrow... For tomorrow will care for itself... Each day has enough trouble of its own.
- Paul admonishes... Be anxious for nothing... But in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving... Let your requests be made known to God.
- Peter says... Cast all your worries upon Him, because He cares for you.
Don't be storing up food stuffs... Hoarding bottled water... Buying generators... Obtaining Crifro in case you receive an anthrax letter. Now... I don't pretend to have all the answers about worry... And I am certainly not saying I don't worry.
You see... We're not going to get out of this world alive... So trust God... He will do right by us as a Father. You see... Our worries are somehow bound up in our lack of faith in HIM...RIGHT?
Paul says in Romans 8... Nothing... NO THING... Can separate us from the love of God...
- Not trouble,
- Not hardship,
- Not persecution,
- Famine,
- Poverty,
- Dangers,
- Wars,
- Not even death.
God will never stop loving us and caring for us... SO WHY WORRY? You see... Whatever tomorrow brings... God will be there to care for us... And to see us through.
Another thing we do with our future is we procrastinate. We seem to have that notion that somehow the timeline of life just goes on forever.... It doesn't!!
I'll be happy tomorrow,
I'll spend time with the kids, tomorrow,
I'll be a better spouse tomorrow,
I'll serve others tomorrow,
I'll obey the gospel tomorrow,
I'll work in the church tomorrow.
Here's the problem... In the process of doing this... We rob ourselves of the joys of today. If we keep putting these good things off, one day we will be old and wonder where life has gone.
You see... Procrastination is a great tool of Satan. Satan is always whispering... You have plenty of time... You can do it tomorrow... God says... Today is the day of salvation... Now is the right time.. Are we listening?... Are we?
We struggle with the past & future... And sometimes we even struggle with the present. Let me read this illustration of how we struggle with the present... It's titled Psalm 23 for modern times.
The clock is my dictator... I shall never rest.
It makes me lie down only when I am completely exhausted.
It leads me to deep depression.... It hounds my soul.
It leads me in circles of frenzy for the sake of activity.
Even though I run frantically from task to task, I will never get it all done.
My deadlines and need for approval they drive me.
They demand limits of performance that are beyond my schedule.
They anoint my head with migraines... My IN basket overflows.
Surely fatigue and pressure shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the bonds of frustration forever.
Anyone relate to this? Listen to David's answer... This is the day the LORD has made... Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Now church... The option... The choice is ours... We can let our schedule rule and reign over our lives daily... Or we can rejoice in the day the Lord has made and be glad in it.
I think... We all choose... We all opt for David's attitude... RIGHT?... But how? Let me make some suggestions that will help us deal with the present... Help us redeem the time God has given us.
Number one... Overcome the tyranny of the urgent.
You see... We let the URGENT run... And ruin... Our lives
Do you find yourself wishing for 36 hours in the day?
Maybe I could get up earlier... And go to bed later.
However... If we had 36 hours in a day it wouldn't be long until we would need 48 hours.
Listen to me church... The things that are most important in this life... Are not the things that cry out, Do me... Do me... Do me Now!
So, we don't spend time with the children...
We don't spend time cultivating communication and intimacy with our spouse...
We don't take time to visit the sick...
We don't pray... study... meditate on His word... etc.
We don't take time for our own health.
We allow the important to be crowded out by things which cry urgent!! Urgent!! Then we salve our consciences by saying... Well look at what we are accomplishing... We've marked all these must do's off our list.
We have become a nation of overachievers... While ignoring the really important things in life. Of course the answer here is prioritizing... We must learn to accomplish the important first...
-Time with family...
-Time for Bible study...
-Quiet time... Prayer time... Time to meditate...
-Time to attend worship.
These activities must have priority... or we will never involve ourselves in any of them. Truth is... We have time for those things we really want to do... RIGHT!!
Secondly we need to learn to say NO.
Many of us are not making the most of our time simply because we are over committed.
Over committed at work,
Over committed socially,
Over committed in sports activities,
Over committed at school.
It may sound strange for the preacher to say this... But we can be over committed at church. I have known preachers... Elders... youth ministers... teachers... Deacons... and members who were over committed. And this over commitment ruins our ministry... Because we become ineffective. This happens for several reasons...
It happens because... We simply overestimate our own abilities.
We simply think we can do more than we can do.
Regardless of what we think... We can't do everything.
We want to please everybody. We don't want anybody to be upset with us... So we say yes... Again... and again. But sometimes we must say... No... I just can't do that. Now I'm not talking about making excuses... When we know we should say yes. But too many times we are saying yes to things we should say no to.
We need to take time before we commit time. In urgency people come asking... Will you do this or this or this. Feeling the pressure of the urgent... We say yes.
Make a resolution now... To take time to think it over. We need to say... Let me think about this... Pray about it... Talk to my family... Before I answer. In most cases, nothing is so urgent that we must answer immediately. Give it some thought... Then in a day or so give them a reasonable... Well thought out answer.
We must learn to count the cost of our commitments.
Every time we say yes... We are taking time from something else. If we say yes over here... Then we must take time from something over here to get it done. You see... Saying yes to the urgent over here... May mean saying no to God or family over here.
Know that we must have time for renewal.
If we say Yes... Yes... Yes... Yes... It won't be long until we are simply burned out. You see... When God created the Sabbath, I believe He was on to something. God knew we need time for:...
Rest,
Renewal,
Refreshment,
Relaxation,
And refilling.
There comes a time when its OK to just do nothing.
Church... We need to accept and then honor our limitations in this matter of time. Not only can't we do everything... We shouldn't even try. This is the reason God placed us...
- In the church,
- In the body,
- In spiritual family units,
So that all our Time... Talent... and Energies together could accomplish the task before us. Plus... When we try to do everything... We are robbing others of their opportunity to serve.
I pray the lesson this evening will help us become better stewards of our time. The invitation is for us to make the most of this moment... Say yes to becoming a child of God by...
Faith
Repentance
And New Testament baptism, immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins.
Perhaps we need the prayers of the church to make the most of the time God has given us
Today is the day of salvation... Now is the accepted time.
As we stand and sing this invitation song.
Come if you need too!!
