Don't Waste Your Time

Sermon for 6/19/2005

Don’t Waste Your Time

Ephesians 4:19- 5:21

Introduction:

Rules to Help Women Understand Men:

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. If it’s up- don’t come tell us about it. Put it down.

2. Don’t make us guess.

3. If you ask a question you don’t want an answer to- expect an answer you don’t want to hear.

4. Sometimes we’re not thinking about you.

5. We’re never thinking about “the relationship.”

6. Sunday = sports.

7. Shopping is not everybody’s idea of a good time.

8. You have enough clothes.

9. You have too many shoes.

10. Crying is blackmail. Use it if you have to, but don’t expect us to like it.

11. Ask for what you want. Subtle hints don’t work.

12. Share the bathroom.

13. “Yes” and “No” are perfectly acceptable answers.

14. Check your oil.

15. A headache that last for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

WBTU:

A. Raymond P. Murray- Wanted

The great want of this age is men: Men who are not for sale; Men who will condemn wrong in friend or foe- in themselves as well as others; Men whose consciences are as steady as the needle to the pole; Men who will stand for the right though the heavens totter and the earth reels; Men who can tell the truth and look the world right in the eye; Men who neither brag nor run; Men who neither flag nor flinch; Men who can have courage without shouting it; Men in whom the hope of everlasting life still runs deep and strong; Men who know their message and tell it; Men who know their business and attend to it; Men who are not too lazy to work, nor too proud to be poor; Men who are willing to eat what they have earned and to wear what they have paid for; Men who are not ashamed to say No with emphasis.

B. Last week we started our sermon with Ephesians 5:15-17. We talked in a positive tone about what we need to be doing with our lives. Our lives need to be spent in service, worship, fellowship, discipleship, and evangelism. Our whole life needs to be given to God. We are living sacrifices.

C. Today I want to spend our time talking from verses before and after Ephesians 5:15-17 about how we waste our time. This applies to everyone but in honor of Father’s Day we want to focus our thoughts on men.

Thesis: Let’s identify how many waste their lives on the following things from Ephesians 4 and 5. They start with the letter “S.”

For instances:

I. Speech

A. (Eph 4:25 NIV) Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

1. Exodus 20:16- You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

2. At a trial, the prosecuting attorney asked the defendant if he committed the murder. The defendant said he did not. The attorney then asked the man if he understood the penalty for perjury. The man said, “I sure do! I understand the penalty for perjury is a lot less than the penalty for murder!”

3. We are like witnesses in court; we are called to tell the truth. We are all witnesses for Jesus Christ. The witness in court eventually steps down from the witness chair, but the witness for Christ never does.

4. Daniel Webster, “There is nothing as powerful as the truth and often nothing as strange.”

B. (Eph 4:29 NIV) Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

1. Unwholesome talk- Malicious gossip and slander.

2. Women are the only ones who gossip. At breakfast in a men’s group!!

C. (Eph 5:4 NIV) nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

1. Obscenity- Cursing

2. Foolish talk or coarse joking. When someone tells a dirty joke, racial joke, a joke that puts some particular group down.

3. There should be more thanksgiving than anything coming from men’s lips. Examine your speech!

4. We cannot have any fun. Not fun to put someone down, not fun to get a laugh from something perverse.

D. (Eph 5:19 NIV) Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,

1. If we must exercise our mouths, may we do it in spiritual songs.

2. My son Andy loves to sing at home. I don’t see a lot of men who love to sing at church or at home.

3. When I am having a difficult day, a song on my lips helps to ease the tension.