Sermon notes from Pastor Peggy's message on Sunday, August 25, 2024
I was curious so I got out my calculator and started to figure out our “time.”
There are 1,440 minutes in a day.
There are 10,080 minutes in a week.
There are 40,320 minutes in a month.
There are 525,600 minutes in a year.
Sounds exhausting doesn’t it. Yet, God has established time and according to our Scripture today it is to be used wisely.
In Genesis 1 we have the beginning story of creation. On the 4th day God said “let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years…and God saw that it was good.
Right now, we are in the midst of summer—the hottest season of the year! This is the season when many have taken vacations. Here in Shell Knob its when people come and vacation and utilize our beautiful lake for recreation. It’s a time when many small businesses hope for a good season to survive the winter months when not so many people are around. It is a time for family gatherings and so many other things we can list.
Yet, no matter what season we are in, in the natural there are still things that need to be done—such as lawn care, housekeeping, laundry, and other types of maintenance that has maybe been put off for one reason or another.
We are all so heartfelt aware of the tragedies that seem to fill the news waves every week. People’s lives cut short by evil; trauma set in the hearts of survivors. A nation reeling from such violence and needless actions of others. Then we are aware of the high cost of living right now and some wondering if they can maneuver their expenses to put food on the table and gas in their car to get to work or to buy the needed medications they need for their own health. It is all blatantly before us every day.
In Job 14:1 he cries out—Man born of a woman has but a few days.
Solomon in Ecc. 1:2 says vanity, all is vanity.
Solomon was a man who attained fame and recognition only to report that fulfillment in life is not found in grandeur and reputation alone. All 3 men, Job and Solomon and the Apostle Paul, leave strong warnings that we should maximize and prioritize our time and esteem it as precious, for life is fragile and fleeting. We need to make the most of the life God gave us today because we all know, tomorrow it may be gone.
These words can sound ridiculous to someone who is young, yet we all know life can change in a moment.
I don’t really think that a person’s life can be accurately measured by the number of days, for days lose their meaning when they stand in the face of eternity. The question isn’t how long we live but how well we live. What matters are the moments we live life to the fullest.
We also know that life cannot be measured by the attainment of material possessions. Real success consists of more than riches alone yet we are all wealthy in many ways—we are wealthy in opportunities, wealthy in creativity, and wealthy in the chance to prioritize our life, maximize our potential, and to reassess our strengths. We are wealthy because God loves us!
There are other seasons that come with time and Paul is speaking directly to the time and seasons of our walks with the Lord.
To better understand what Paul is saying we need to back up a couple verses in Ephesians:
Beginning in verse 8, chapter 5, Paul says that we were once darkness but now we are light in the Lord—he expresses that the fruit of this light we are now walking in is goodness, righteousness, and truth. Paul then says something very powerful and it would be easy to miss it—FIND OUT WHAT PLEASES THE LORD.
Go on a discovery tour! What is it in your life that the Lord wants you to do that would please Him? We all know that we don’t want anything of darkness to penetrate our lives. We all know that we don’t want to willfully sin and cause not only God’s heart to break but for our testimony to be damaged in one way or another. We all know that we want to be loved and to love those around us and to lead others to know Jesus the way we do.
But what is Paul saying—he is saying look around, be aware of what is going on around you and in you. The idea is to have a view that is precise, one that is helping you to walk in wisdom. This is the 5th time in Ephesians that Paul uses the word, “walk.” This word, walk, refers to conduct, the habits of life.
The first “walk” says to walk worthy of our calling and to give diligence to keeping the unity of Spirit and peace.
The second is that we are not to walk as those who do not know the Lord.
The third reminds us to walk in love—we talked about that in depth last week.
The fourth reminds us to walk as children of the light. Your actions, your language, your character should be different than that of the world.
And now the fifth—walk, not as unwise but as wise!
Each of these phrases characterizes the life and conduct of a follower of Jesus.
When we are encouraged to walk in wisdom it is not just about making our times better or making the best use of our time—it means more about opportunity. In other words—we are to make the most of every opportunity.
We so desperately need wisdom to walk in this life and part of that is understanding that the wisdom we receive from the Holy Spirit on a daily basis can help us to navigate each and every day.
When we hear the message in Ecclesiastes saying that there is a time for everything and season for every activity—we come to understand not only the frailty of life but also how fluid it is—always changing, always needing our attention to walk out each season.
We need to freshly understand that God has an eternal plan for each of us. As a follower of Jesus, we give ourselves to God as holy sacrifices and allow the Holy Spirit to accomplish that plan for us. This requires us to be aware of the Lord’s working and presence in our lives.
Ecc. 3:11 says that God has set eternity in our hearts and that He makes everything beautiful in His time. There is a deep desire in all of us for something more than just this earthly life. The desire to find eternal value. In Christ we are given eternal life—the knowledge of knowing that when we take our last breath here, we will be in heaven with the Lord and all those who have gone before us.
We have been given the ability to enjoy life and we are to live it properly. Life is a true gift from God and when we are in right relationship with Him there is a joy that comes despite our circumstances.
We all have experienced the difficulties of life. We have walked through grief and pain. Many have walked through traumatic events and/or are currently walking through difficult health issues. Yet, we are invited to understand that life has seasons and that it is in each season of our life that we are to glean the very best we can the joy and the presence of the Lord with us.
The older we get the closer we are to the Lord taking us home to be with Him. We don’t know when that time is so we are encouraged to live each day to the fullest possible.
Many are getting closer and closer to the age of retirement (no I am not considering retirement soon) and wonder what that will look like.
There are some like Kit and Klaire, Sadie and Sydney, that are still young and yet to discover what they will do in life as they get older and how to maneuver this world as a young person.
Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
We all need to take inventory of how we are spending our days. A day is like a dollar—it can be spent wisely or foolishly—but once that dollar is spent, it cannot be spent again.
We have all seem tombstones—the persons name and the year of their birth and the year of their death. Both separated by a simple dash—yet we have no idea the enormity of that dash. How did that person live their life? What joy did they have? What sorrows did they have? What did they do to make a living? What types of things made them laugh, cry, and find purpose and value in their life? Did they know Jesus? Whose life did they touch along the way? What difference did they make in the lives of those they had relationship with?
What will your dash show? How are you being wise with your days, your time, your talents, your love for life and others?
We have such precious time to be the best we can be for the Lord and for one another. What opportunities can you see around you to be a blessing to someone? What opportunities do you see in your life to spend time with the Lord? What opportunities do you see to serve here at the church? What opportunities can you see to encourage someone else in their Christian life?
Let’s be wise in our days and our time and not foolish. If time were like the dollar—lets spend it efficiently so that the Lord can receive the glory in our lives and our lives will be blessed with the abundance of His presence and the ever present help of the Spirit of God.
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