Message Bumper (Asaf Avidan – One Day)
Tick-Tock
Did you hear the lyrics in that video we just played? It comes from the song entitled, “Reckoning Song”. We played this commercial as our message bumper because the lyrics speak of time.
“One day baby, we’ll be old
Oh baby, we’ll be old
And think of all the stories that we could have told.”
Tick Tock goes the clock and so does our time.
Today we come to the action step of living out my faith by Offering My Time.
KEY QUESTION
How do I best use my time to serve God and others?KEY IDEA
I offer my time to fulfill God’s purposes.
KEY VERSE
Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17
I want us to look at another important statement of about time found in Ephesians 5:15-17
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
As we contemplate these verses what can we say about time, about us and about faith?
Tick Tock – Time is Passing
There is a sense of urgency in these words of exhortation by Paul. In the Message paraphrase – So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! 17 Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.
When as a child, I laughed and wept,
Time crept;
When as a youth, I dreamed and talked,
Time walked;
When I became a full-grown man,
Time ran;
When older still I daily grew,
Time flew;
Soon I shall find in traveling on,
Time gone.
I sense Paul in light of scripture has a sense of the brevity of life. Scripture repeatedly presents powerful pictures that speak of our brief “season of opportunity” on earth using metaphors such as a breathe, a swift ship, an eagle’s dive, a shadow, a hand breath (thumb to little finger), smoke, vapor, grass, flowers of the field, a weaver’s shuttle!
Casting Crowns has the lyrics that mirror what scripture tells us constantly…
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
TICK -TOCK – Time is Passing
TICK-TOCK – We are Careless
Paul’s warning about being careful with our time is because of the temptation and the danger of being careless. We often can act unwisely with our time. A teacher and author Chuck Swindoll – suggests five proven ways to be careless with our time.
First, worry a lot. Start worrying early in the morning and intensify your anxiety as the day passes.
Second, make hard-and-fast predictions.
Third, fix your attention on getting rich.
Fourth, compare yourself with others.
Fifth, lengthen your list of enemies. If there’s one thing above all others that will keep your wheels spinning, it’s perfecting your skill at the Blame Game.
Henry Blackaby observes that when we are careless…If you are spiritually prepared when a crisis comes, you will not have to try to develop instantly the quality of relationship with Christ that can sustain you. If you suddenly have an opportunity to share your faith with an unbeliever, you will be equipped to do so. If you enter a time of worship spiritually prepared, you will not miss an encounter with God. If you are spiritually filled when you meet a person in sorrow, you will have much to offer. If you have established safeguards in your life in advance, you will not give in to temptation. Christians lose many opportunities to experience God’s activity because they have not devoted enough time to their relationship with God.
Ortberg writes that we must all ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives.
Why?
Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry can destroy our souls. Hurry can keep us from living well. As Ortberg observes for many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will skim our lives instead of actually living them.
Another reason Ortberg gives to eliminate hurry is that love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time and time is one thing hurried people don’t have. The dilemma we all face with our hurry is that we often end up not being able to love those most important to us. We come home with sunset fatigue that leads to unkind words, underlying tension and escapist behaviors like tuning into the TV or computer and tuning out your spouse, children or friends.
TICK TOCK We are Careless.
Tick Tock – Faith is Now
Paul speaks about discerning the Lord’s will – about making the most of every opportunity. The idea of opportunity is to know the season that you are in and do what you can with it.
Henry Blackaby (known for his excellent study Experiencing God) says
Timing our obedience is crucial. Invitations from God come with a limited opportunity to respond. Some opportunities to serve Him, if not accepted immediately, will be lost. Occasions to minister to others may pass us by. When God invites us to intercede for someone, it may be critical that we stop what we are doing and immediately adjust our lives to what God is doing. Missing opportunities to serve the Lord can be tragic. When an invitation comes from God, the time to respond is now.
Let me quote Blackaby: God has tried, at times, to get our attention by revealing where He is at work. We see it, but we do not immediately identify it as God’s work. We say to ourselves, Well, I don’t know if God wants me to get involved here or not. I had better pray about it. By the time we leave that situation and pray, the opportunity to join God may pass us by. A tender and sensitive heart will be ready to respond to God at the slightest prompting. God makes your heart tender and sensitive in the love relationship you are called to seek to have with Him.
As we consider what it means to seize the opportunities let us recognize that often many can be termed – Inconvenient Opportunities
A history professor once visited a fine ancestral home in Virginia. He followed the aged owner, the last of a distinguished colonial family, as she proudly showed him through her home. An ancient rifle above the fireplace intrigued him, so he asked if he might take it down and examine it. She replied, “Oh, I’m very sorry. I just can’t allow it. You see, it just wouldn’t be safe. The rifle is loaded and primed, ready to fire. My great-grandfather kept it there in constant readiness against the moment he might strike a blow for the freedom of the colonies.” The professor said: “Oh, then he died before the American Revolution came?” “No,” came the reply. “Actually he did not. He lived to a ripe old age and died in 1802, but he never had any confidence in George Washington as a general or as a Commander in Chief. You see, he knew him as a boy and didn’t believe he could ever lead an army to victory.”
He missed out a history making moment.
Making the most of our time comes down to this – taking advantage of every opportunity to manifest the reality of one’s faith.
So how do we do that?
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Every day is time to depend on God in prayer and listen to his word.
Everyday is a time to show compassion to a stranger.. those in need.
Everyday is a time to share my hope in Christ.
Everyday is a time to grace and practice humility.
Everyday is time to practice gratitude
Everyday is time to seek first God’s kingdom…
Everyday is time to use my spiritual gifts
Every day is time for loving service, holy adoration, and diligent study.
Every day is time to know the mind of Christ and by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives live out His love and truth.
Psychologist, William Marston, surveyed 3,000 people. “What have you to live for?” Ninety-four percent said they were just enduring today and living for tomorrow.
Robin Mark:
When it’s all been said and done
There is just one thing that matters
Did I do my best to live for truth?
Did I live my life for You?
When it’s all been said and done
All my treasures will mean nothing
Only what I’ve done for love’s Reward
Will stand the test of time