Series: Get Energized –
sermon: “Energy Conservation”
Introduction:
The subject of today is buzzing across the air waves of the world – We hear “Energy conservation” being discussed and debated.
Energy conservation means to reduce the quantity of energy that is used for different purposes. This practice may result in the increase of financial capital, environmental value, national and personal security, and human comfort.
Individuals and organizations that are direct consumers of energy may want to conserve energy in order to reduce energy costs and promote economic, political and environmental sustainability. Industrial and commercial users may want to increase efficiency and thus maximize profit.
On a larger scale, energy conservation is an important element of energy policy. In general, energy conservation reduces the energy consumption and energy demand per capita. This reduces the rise in energy costs, and can reduce the need for new power plants, and energy imports. The reduced energy demand can provide more flexibility in choosing the most preferred methods of energy production.
By reducing emissions, energy conservation is an important method to prevent climate change so we are told. Energy conservation makes it easier to replace non-renewable resources with renewable energy. Energy conservation is often the most economical solution to energy shortages.
From http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_conservation
So I want us to focus on “Energy conservation” today – the premise here is “How are you using the energy which God has given to you in your life?”
Thesis: What are you spending your life’s energy on? Are you wasting your energy? Are using the energy God has placed in your life for eternal things?
America is overtaxed in everything and they burn countless hours of time and energy on many temporal things in life with not eternal value.
Scripture Text: James 4:13-17
Boasting About Tomorrow
13Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”
14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.
17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
Life – yours and mine has been given energy by God – He placed within you the ability to do something with your life – he has given you energy to use for eternal things not temporal things in this life. He wants us to use our energy wisely. To invest it into eternity, to spend it on things that will count for eternity rather than to throw it away and spend it away on things that do not matter.
The Bible was given to us to make one point – We all have a relationship with God – and we need to choose to use our life for God and for the purpose of God.
“All of Scripture is presented to us as a sequential narrative of the God/man relationship ¾ from the very beginning to the very end of the created world.” Sergei L.Golovin
We do so many things and yet we are becoming more and more unhealthy as a nation physically, emotionally and spiritually. We have been told we are the most obese nation in the world, the most depressed nation in the world and lately the most spiritually inept nation in the world. We seem to be spending huge amounts of energy on items that mean nothing in the context of eternal time. We live in the here and now generation. I don’t care about tomorrow! I don’t care about the impact of what I do today has on the environment tomorrow. I don’t care if eating fast food burgers and junk food affects my health tomorrow. I live for today with no thought or care for tomorrow. I spend money today I do not have to buy things I will hardly use and give no thought about the economical repercussion of my action. I want something and I want it now. This has also created the most indebted nation in the world from what I can tell from my research. We seem to be “impulse driven” we do things today without weighing, thinking, or evaluating the consequences of how this will impact us tomorrow, the next week, or even the next year.
In a sense our nation fails to live or plan for the future. Instead our motto to me seems to say this, “Live for today, do what you want, live high on the hog, because tomorrow we die!”
Video Illustration: In Time by Blue Fish TV – “Value of Time” This clip reveals to us how valuable our time is and how it should not be wasted but lived.
The energy of our time cannot be wasted. We must decide to use our lifetime of energy to make a difference for eternity. We must use the energy of our time to cultivate our relationship with the one who made us and formed us.
Scripture Text: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:15; 17
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9What does the worker gain from his toil? 10I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
Verse 15: Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.
Verse 17: I thought in my heart, “God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed.”
Hands on Illustration: Set the timer for 15 minutes – I am setting this timer for 15 minutes and 15 minutes from now it will ring and at that point I will tell you how valuable 15 minutes are in this world.
When the Timer goes off and rings this is what would have happened in the world!
Do you know - What happens in 15 minutes? “Mission Maker Magazine”, page 18, Edition 2008, (www.WorldChristianDatabase.org):
3,882 souls began life in the world
1, 721 souls meet Jesus face-to-face because they died
5, 448 people migrated internationally
201 children became homeless or family-less
1,137 rural poor migrated to cities worldwide
570 people moved into urban slums
34 people began supporting themselves only by collecting garbage
688 children under age five died from preventable starvation related causes in the world
5 Christians died for their Christian witness worldwide
The author of Ecclesiastes Solomon tells us from our text today that “Timing is an energy force which needs to be invested into eternity.” The timing of an action or a word will determine whether it is a success or a failure. There is always a time factor tied to everything we do in life. So we have to be able to discern what time it is.
Dave Ramsey quote
Focused Intensity on God = Unstoppable Momentum
Time
Focused Intensity Over Time Multiplied by God Equals Unstoppable Momentum
We need to focus our energy on the right things the eternal things of life.
I. The definition of time:
a. Time – Webster’s Dictionary states, “The period between two events or during which something exists, happens, or acts; measured or measurable interval.” He also adds time is also defined as period of duration, continuance “Indefinite, unlimited duration in which things are considered as happening past, present, or future; every moment there has ever been or will be.”
i. Quote “Time is given to us to prepare for eternity.” Francois Fenelon - (Workbook Driven by Eternity, page 4).
b. Eternity is defined as everlasting; there is no end to it.
i. John Bevere states, “However (eternity), it’s not just a matter of ceaseless time, as it is not subject to time. Eternity transcends time. To speak of eternity in terms of merely perpetual duration is to miss the full picture. To capture the best view of eternity, we must look at God Himself. He is not limited in power, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and all glory, just to name a few. He is self-existent, forever was and forever will be God. He is called the ‘Everlasting Father’ (Isa. 9:6). Young’s literal translation read, “Father of Eternity.” He is called the “King of eternity” (1 Timothy 1:17, AMP). All that is eternal is found in Him; in fact, eternity itself is found in Him. All that is outside of Him is temporal and will change. No matter how good, noble, powerful, or enduring it may see, it will eventually cease. Even the earth and universe will change, but He will not… (Bevere, Driven by Eternity page 6, 7).
c. Why is learning to tell time so important?
i. It will determine your eternal destiny!
ii. Quote “Time is given to us to prepare for eternity.” Francois Fenelon - (Workbook Driven by Eternity, page 4).
1. Do you believe this – your life time is given to you by God to prepare you for eternity?
iii. Indian Proverbs states, “When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced, Live your life in such a way that when you die the world cries and you rejoice.”
d. The Bible addresses the subject of time frequently listen to this thought from the Word which supports the teaching from Solomon.
i. Psalm 90:12 (NLT) “Teach us to make the most of our time…and make our efforts successful. Yes, our efforts successful!”
ii. Psalm 37:18, “The days of the blameless are known to the LORD, and their inheritance will endure forever” (NIV). The TLB version reads like this “Day by Day the Lord observes the good deeds done by godly men, and gives them eternal rewards.”
1. The Bible tells us not to grow weary in doing good because the Lord sees the good that you do and one day you will be rewarded for it.
2. So we need to make sure that we use our time wisely and for eternal purposes.
3. We do not want to waste away our time because when we use it up it’s gone never to return again.
II. Solomon learned from his life that the most valuable asset he had was his time.
a. Solomon lived the American Israelite dream:
i. He was considered very wise and very intelligent and people would come from far and wide to hear his decisions on certain cases. He helped Israel to prosper and he took her into the “Golden Age.”
ii. He was personally prosperous beyond measure. He would have been considered a millionaire in his day. He had a huge family. He knew what it was like to have 700 wives and 300 concubines. He had a palace to live in which was grandiose. He built great architectural masterpieces. He had fame which stretched worldwide. He had power and a huge army at his disposal. He had it all you could say!
1. He was living the dream – He had fame, fortune, and power!
iii. Solomon experienced all of life’s pleasures and then toward the end of his life he wrote this thought provoking book.
1. This book helps us to understand how to come to terms with the reality of life. This book is about real life experiences Solomon had with all of its toil, hardships and lessons to be learned.
2. He opens his book with this observation about life in Ecc. 1: 2 “Meaningless! Meaningless! …everything is meaningless.” I read this and I thought he sounds rather distraught even overwhelmed. What do you think! But he opens up this book with a phrase that pricks your heart and then he takes the reader through his own journey of life. He points out what he did, what he accomplished, what he learned, what he experienced, what he regrets, and compares that to what is really the most meaningful part of life. He takes you through a thrill ride of his life and ends with a poignant thought on the true meaning of life. He actually ends his book with an observation of what matters most in life.
3. He concludes his book by making a very clear point in Ecc. 12:13-14, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
b. Solomon tells us not to be deceived in life because life is meaningless when it used to pursue – fame, fortune and power.
i. He tells us “Don’t make the same mistake I did and waste your life chasing the wind!”
ii. His power, fame, wealth, huge family, and extravagant lifestyle really was meaningless even pointless. What mattered most in life according to our wise King Solomon was having a relationship with the Lord and following after His purpose and plan for your life.
iii. He knew the importance of timing! He knew that there was a law of timing. Solomon discovered that all the time that he spent doing things which had no eternal value to them were not worth the effort.
iv. He discovered that it’s God who brings meaning and fulfillment to life and all the worldly things of power, fame and fortune have no eternal value to them.
v. He learned the value of time and how valuable this commodity of time is to each of us. Why because his time was just about up.
1. He wrote this journal about his life to help us learn from his mistakes!
T.S. - Solomon learned that there was a time for everything in life. We are responsible to make sure that we do not waste our time or throw it away needlessly. Why, because it’s all we have to prepare for eternity. Life is really about preparing for eternity and this life that you and I are living is all we get – when your time is used up that’s it – you are out of time.
Conclusion:
Each of us has been given the gift of time to be used for eternal value. We need to never forget that life is temporary so we must prepare for eternity by using our time for the glory of God. This text reminds us that this short span of time that each of us has been given will either be used for eternal purposes or wasted. We need to commit to use our time wisely and the best way to use our time is for eternal purposes. We must learn how to tell time like God does!
Solomon tells us that timing is everything in life and life goes through many stages and we need to know what time it is so that we use our time wisely and for eternity. We must invest our time into eternity and not waste it!
Question to the group: Do you know what time it is and how valuable that time is? Do you know how to use your energy of time and use it for eternal purposes? Are you using and going to use your time energy wisely so that it makes a difference for eternity?
Closing thought from Chuck Swindoll:
Swindoll stated this in His book Living on the Ragged Edge and its focus is about the importance of our time:
Every morning someone who loves you very much deposits into your bank of time 86,400 seconds of time-which represents 1,440 minutes-which, of course, equal twenty-four hours each day.
Now you’ve got to remember the same stipulation applies, because God gives you this amount of time for you to use each day. Nothing is carried over on credit to the next day. There is no such thing as a twenty-six-hour day (though some of us wish there were). From today’s dawn until tomorrow’s dawn, you have a precisely determined amount of time. As someone has put it, “Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you want to, but you can spend it only once.”
One of the most fascinating (and, I might add, frustrating) of all subjects is this four-letter word TIME. It’s amazing. We all have the same amount of time. Whether we are penniless or whether we happen to be the richest person on earth, whether we are young or old, single or married, employed or without a job, an adolescent in school or the President of the United States of America-we have exactly the same amount of time (page 67).
Altar Call: So the question now surfaces to the top – so what are you going to do with your time? How will you use your energy of time? Will you use it wisely? Will you throw it all away pursuing the wrong dreams or the wrong things in life? Will you only focus on the temporal things of this life and waste your precious energy? Or will you choose to live your life with an eternal view of success?
“Time has a beginning, but God operates outside of time. On the other hand, humans are confined to time.” Hugh Ross
Colossians 1:24-29
Paul’s Labor for the Church
24Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
25I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—
26the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.
27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
29To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
