Title: The Stewardship of Time
Text: Psalm 90:1-7; Ecc. 3:1-17; Eph. 5:8-17
Truth: God expects people to use their time wisely.
Aim: To help them use their time wisely.
Life ?: What does it matter what I do with my time?
INTRODUCTION
Maybe you remember the 1974 folk song by Harry Chapin, “Cats in the Cradle.” The song was in the top ten for 15 weeks and the number one record for two weeks. It was Chapin’s only number one hit.
The song is about a father that is too busy to spend time with his son. As the son grows he asks his father to spend time with him, but the father always postpones the son’s request to the future. The son idolizes his father and wants to become like his father. At the end of the song, the father realizes his son has become like him. However, it is the poor example of not having time for his father. Throughout, the song is peppered with phrases of nursery rhymes to remind us how quickly this time is going by.
Here are a few verses:
My child arrived just the other day.
He came to the world in the usual way.
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away.
He was talking before I knew it, and as he grew
He said, “I’m going to be like you, Dad.
You know I’m going to be like you.”
My son turned ten just the other day.
He said, “Thanks for the ball, now come on let’s play.
Can you teach me to throw?” I said, “Not today,
I’ve got a lot to do.” He said, “That’s OK.”
And he walked away and he smiled and he said
“You know I’m going to be like you, Dad,
You know I’m going to be like you.”
The final verse says:
I’ve long since retired and my son’s moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, “I’d like to see you, if you don’t mind.”
He said, “I’d love to, Dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job’s a hassle and the kids have the flu,
But it’s sure nice talking to you, Dad.
It’s been real nice talking to you.”
And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me,
He’d grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.
Here’s the rest of the story. Harry Chapin’s wife, Sandy, actually wrote the words to the song. Her poem was inspired by watching her ex-husband try to reconnect with his absent father. Chapin wasn’t much interested in the poem until after their son Josh was born. But it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
When their son was seven, Harry was performing 200 concerts a year, and Sandy asked him when he was going to take some time to be with their son. Harry promised to make some time at the end of the summer. He never made it. That summer, on his way to a business meeting, a truck rear-ended his Volkswagen, it burst into flames, and he was killed. (Jerry Shirley)
Like the song, I’m sure if Harry Chapin had it to do all over again, he would have used his time differently. That statement and the song assume it matters what we do with our time. Why does it matter what we do with my time?
I. IT MATTERS WHAT WE DO WITH OUR TIME BECAUSE TIME IS SHORT (PS. 90)
Psalms 90 is a contrast between the brevity of human existence in comparison to God’s eternity. Verses 1-6 stresses God’s eternity. Read.
The psalmist is emphasizing the security we have with God. Our trust is in One who existed before the mountains were born. In all of the ups and downs of life, He is God. Before the heartaches and pain and devastations of life, He was God. Long after those things have passed away He will still be God. He is everlasting.
In contrast, human beings are dust. We are not just mortal, but we are short-lived. To illustrate the difference between our brevity and God’s eternalness, he says a thousand years to us is like a day to God.
The brevity of life means that soon death will overtake us. Why do we die? His answer is found in v. 7-11. Read.
Why do we die? We have sinned against a thrice-holy God and his abiding judgment is on us. When we understand the brevity of life and the abiding judgment of God on our sin, then we realize before we finish this short journey through life we must seek out the mercy of God. It matters what we do with our time because time is short.
When we see that life is short and we must find the mercy of God before life ends, it inspires a person to pray for wisdom so he won’t spend his time foolishly ignoring God. Read v. 12.
In Luke 12 Jesus told a famous story about the rich farmer. He had a bumper crop and he decided to build a bigger barn to hold all his crops. Jesus called the man a fool because that night he was going to die. Jesus didn’t call the man a fool for planning for the future. Jesus said the man was a fool because he planned and spoke as if he was going to live forever. It matters what we do with our time because time is short.
Next the psalmist prays that he will find peace in the love of God early in life. This is what he means by being “glad all our days.” Read v. 13-14.
The joy that God gives us will make up for all the hardships and adversity we experience in this sinful, painful world. Read v. 15.
The last thing the psalmist addressed is his work. One of the tragedies of death is it interrupts our labor and cuts short our achievement. William Barclay wrote of one of the most popular New Testament commentaries. He started on an Old Testament commentary series but died before he started. His students took his notes and attempted to complete what he started. It didn’t succeed.
But the psalmist says we need a heart of wisdom about life so we find the work God has for his servant. When he finds his place of service, God will prosper and establish the work of his servant. The only work that lasts is that which God gives and establishes. Read v. 16-17.
Psalm 90 teaches that when a person understands of how short a time he has on this earth he will ask God to show him how to make the best decisions in order to pursue a love relationship with God, and to give him work that God can establish and prosper.
John Taylor recently invented a clock called the Chronophage. Literally it means time eater. It was donated to Corpus Christi College at Cambridge. It combines the Greek word for time, chronos, and the word phageo meaning “to eat”. A monster-looking grasshopper with a mouthful of teeth devours every second with the movement of its jaw. A chain rattles in a tiny wooden coffin at the back of the clock, and then slams shut marking the tolling of the hour. Taylor, 72, says it is the sound of his mortality.
The pendulum swings erratically. It will slow to a near stop, and then race ahead, reminding us of occasions when time flies or seems as though it has come to a standstill. The timepiece is accurate only once every five minutes. Blue lights play an optical illusion. They will whirl around the clock one second and then suddenly appear to freeze the next. Einstein said an hour sitting next to a pretty girl can be like a minute, and a minute sitting on a hot stove can seem like an hour.
John Taylor says, “Clocks are boring. They just tell the time, and people treat them as boring objects. This clock actually interacts with you.” One reason he built this $1.5 million clock was to remind viewers not to take time for granted.
Our biggest issue with time is not how to organize or plan our time. We know how to make a to do list or we have a daytime or palm pilot. Our biggest issue is being convinced we don’t have a lot of time. We need to do what matters. Therefore, we need God’s wisdom so we can live a life that is rich in its relationship with God and meaningful in its service for God.
Why does it matter what we do with our time? It matters because time is short. Secondly, it matters what we do with our time because time can be wasted.
II. IT MATTERS WHAT WE DO WITH OUR TIME BECAUSE TIME CAN BE WASTED (EPH. 5:8-17)
Read text.
Paul has taught the Ephesians that because of Christ, they are a new society. Their values, morals, and relationships are very different from the culture in which they live. One of the ways they are different is they live holy lives. To illustrate this he says in v. 8 that Christians are people of the light. They are no longer in darkness. Darkness represents evil and error. His point is Christians are to conform to their new identity. We claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. Therefore our speech, our attitudes, our character, and our behavior look like Jesus.
Just like light doesn’t participate in darkness, we live a clearly separated life from evil. Just like light reveals dirt or danger that’s hidden in the darkness, our pure lives rebuke and expose the wickedness of society. I found it interesting to hear the political pundits explain the unbalanced, unfair treatment of Sarah Palin, the Vice-Presidential candidate for John McCain. Some said the bias was because she contradicted the message of the women’s liberation movement. She illustrated that a woman could have conservative values, be successful outside the home and in the home, and be pro-life. We’ll long remember her holding that beautiful mongoloid son in her arms on the platform after her speech. Some would say her life exposed some of the evil and error of the women’s liberation movement. Paul says this is what a holy Christian’s lifestyle does.
He goes on to say that the difference between the life we use to live and the life we now live is as different as the difference between being asleep and being awake, being dead or being alive, and of being brought out of pitch blackness into the noon day light of a holy Christ (v. 14). When we recognize that living a life of sin is wasting our life, it’s like living in darkness, but living for Christ is like living in the light, a life of fulfillment. With that realization we will want to make the most of the time we have to live. He says the days are evil. There are powerful forces at work in this world that will distract us from doing God’s will, and this results in a wasted life. To avoid wasting life, discover the will of God and do it.
Before modern harbors, a ship had to wait for the flood tide before it could make port. The term for this situation in Latin was ob portu. It described a ship standing over a port waiting for the moment when it could ride the turn of the tide into the harbor. Our English word opportunity is derived from this original meaning. The captain and crew were watchful for this moment. If they missed it, they would have to wait for the next rising of the tide. Shakespeare understood it this way in one of his famous lines in “Julius Caesar” (Act 4, scene 3).
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day lost the opportunity to actually know the Messiah, the God-Man. Why? They didn’t recognize Him as the Messiah. They lived in darkness. Today, God has brought to light the importance of the stewardship of time. That awareness is a gift of God so we can take advantage of opportunities so we don’t waste our life.
I want to give you a practical opportunity to use time wisely. All it will take is 12-15 minutes a day. This year you can read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation if you will set aside 12-15 minutes a day. If you were to read the Bible at the speed that I read out loud the Bible this morning, it would take 71 hours to read through the Bible. If you put that into minutes and divide it by the number of days in a year, you could read the whole Bible by just reading 12 minutes a day.
If we can talk on the phone or check our email for twelve minutes a day, we can read the Bible. If can we spend twelve minutes combing our hair and getting dressed for the day or folding a load of laundry, we can read the Bible. Don’t die not having read the Bible.
On the counter is a sign up list. If you will sign your name and give me an email address I commit to occasionally drop you a note of encouragement to read your Bible. I’ll pass along helps and ideas to use in reading through the Bible.
I’m going to use The One Year Bible. My copy is on the counter for you to look over. They’re inexpensive and can be bought at any bookstore. We will officially start in February. If you have another reading method that you prefer, great! You’re welcome to sign up too.
Many in this room have never read the Bible through in a systematic way. I appeal to you to not waste another year. Even if it takes you longer, you are not wasting time when you read the only book in the world written by God.
Why does it matter what we do with our time? It matters because time is short. It matters because time can be wasted. Lastly, it matters what we do with our time because time will be accounted.
III. IT MATTERS WHAT WE DO WITH OUR TIME BECAUSE TIME WILL BE ACCOUNTED (ECC. 3:1-17)
The author of Ecclesiastes acknowledges that God has ordered life in such a way that every activity has its proper place. Birth or death, planting or harvesting, love or hate, each has its place and season in life. He doesn’t mean that things are so determined that we don’t have any choice or control. He is simply saying these are things that are common to all people, and they have their time in our life.
The similarity of our lives is emphasized. Every one of us is unique and there are specifics that apply to only us, but for the most part the larger issues are the same. We are born, and we will die. We laugh and we cry. We speak and we are silent.
The writer says God is more than interested in how we use these various seasons of life. God will hold us accountable for our use of His gift of time. In v. 15 it says, “God will call the past to account.” The Bible calls us stewards. One of the basic characteristics of a steward is he doesn’t own anything. A manager of a business doesn’t own the business or its money. He is responsible for managing all the resources and opportunities of the business for the benefit of the owner. As stewards we don’t own one second of our time or our talents or our money. Some have been given a long time to live; others are given a very brief life. Some are given exceptional talents; others are given very modest abilities. Some are given great amounts of money, and we have been given very little! But all are responsible for what God has given them and one day will give an account of how it was used.
In v. 17 it says, “God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked.” There are two judgments all people will face. The first judgment relates to salvation. This determines whether you go to heaven or hell. The sole basis of that judgment depends on your personal relationship to Jesus Christ. If He is your Savior and God, you have no fear of the judgment of hell for the unbeliever.
The second judgment will focus on the degree of reward and punishment. This is what Paul spoke of in 2 Corinthians 5:10. He said, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” On that day God will hold us accountable for the things we did and the things we failed to do.
When we were first approached about Jesus, we were asked to trust Him. Most of us are convinced we can trust Jesus with our eternal destiny. That’s great trust. But I’m not talking about you trusting Jesus. What I am asking is can Jesus trust you?
As a nation, we are in a financial mess. Who can we trust? Did you know that one of the banks that the federal government gave billions of dollars went out and bought a Chinese bank for $6 billion dollars? They were supposed to be loaning the money to consumers.
You’ve heard of Bernie Madoff, what an appropriate last name, who made off with $50 billion of other peoples’ money. The FBI discovered checks to be given to family members and others totaling $173 million before he was found out. Going against a court order he gave away over a million dollars in assets to family members.
One financial expert said that after the stock market crash of 1929, it took a whole generation before people trusted investing in the stock market again. He speculated we may see the same response again, because people lack trust.
Far more valuable than money is time. Consistently, in surveys people say they’d rather have more time than more money. God has given you time, a very valuable gift. It makes perfect sense that He will one day audit our use of this gift. It matters what we do with our time.
CONCLUSION
One of the surprising best-selling books of 2008 is Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. Notice that the main title is only six words: Not Quite What I Was Planning. People were asked to succinctly sum up their life in six words.
Some were humorous. Joan Rivers wrote, “Liars, hysterectomy didn’t improve sex life!” Stephen Colbert said, “Well, I thought it was funny.”
Others were filled with emotion. Someone wrote, “Followed yellow brick road. Disappointment ensued.” Or, “Should have risked asking, he sighed.” The USA Today writer that reviewed the book offered this as his own: “Dad was Santa. Downhill from there.”
Maybe you can identify with the person that summed up their life this way, “Never really finished anything, except cake.”
It reminded me of Jesus’ brief summation of two different people. To one He said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Seven words. To the other He said, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” Seven words.
Why does it matter how I use my time? It matters because time is short, it can be wasted, and we will give an account of the time He gave us.
PRAY
INVITATION
According to a recent USA Today poll, the top five things people put off until the last minute are: House chores/yard work: 47%; holiday gift shopping: 43%; making doctor/dentist appointments: 35%; calling relatives: 31%; changing oil in the car: 29%.
I think there is one thing missing from the list: putting off getting right with God. Somehow we think this is something we can put off until another time, a later time — perhaps the last minute, and yet this is the most important decision we will ever make. Don’t put this decision off until there is no more time. Today, make the decision that you are giving to God whatever time you have left. Do it now. Time’s a wasting, and it will matter throughout eternity how you used this time to respond to Christ.
