Followers Are Good Stewards
Grady Henley
Part 01 of Lesson 09 of the Follow Me Series
Key Verse:
1 Tim 3:14 These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly:
1 Tim 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
Lesson Text:
Luke 12:42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
INTRODUCTION:
Each morning I arise, leave home, and report to the ________ Oil Refinery here in ________, Tx. as. For the next eight to eleven hours each day, (as I have for the past 27 years) I go about conducting the business of which the _____________________ has entrusted unto my care.
That being, the steward of ensuring that their crude distillation units are operating safely, efficiently, effectively, and environmentally secure. If equipment is in need of repairs, it is my responsibility to work with others to schedule the maintenance, get the best price for the repairs, and then place the equipment back in service. That in just a few lines is my stewardship.
The above is what I have been paid to do for the past 5 years. I know. I stated that I have worked there 27 years. That is correct. However, my duties and my position changed over the years. With each new position, there were new rules; old rules applied differently, more responsibility, and more accountability. One thing remained constant and that was my ruling manager: was _________________.
I say it remained constant for the name has remained _____________, even though there have been company mergers, changes in the board of directors, changes in immediate supervision, and changes in work scope. Regardless of the changes and of the duties, each year I was ranked, rated, and compensated according to my stewardship.
The dictionary defines a steward as ‘a person entrusted with the management of the affairs of others.’ Stewardship is the duration of you doing what is entrusted unto you. Should I remain faithful in fulfilling my stewardship responsibilities, one of these days, I will retire and enjoy the fruits of my labor.
If you think about your stewardship, you will conclude as well, that because of events, tenure, and unforeseen situations, your stewardship changed. Each year or so, you also, are held accountable for your stewardship. If you plan now, you will also one day retire.
Someone once said that the only thing certain is the more things change the more they remain the same. There is much truth in that adage for if you think about the many changes relating to your stewardship, you will conclude that there were many changes. However, you are doing the same thing that the human race has done since the fall of man. You are living, working, and dying.
In a world of constant change, much of which we detest, it ought to be comforting to know that there are some things that do not change. The unchangeable things are God, His word, His promises, and His expectations. He has never merged with anyone. Regardless, He continues to offer the best incentives, the best pay scale, and the most enjoyable service this side of eternity and his retirement package is out of this world. There are no uncertainties in His organizations. He offers are eternally secure. There is no chaos in carrying out His commands, only peace.
Knowing that these unchangeable blessings offered by Him are the very things that mankind seeks, ought to cause us to gladly and willingly enter into His stewardship program. However, even those that know just a little relating to His stewardship program with its bonuses, rewards, and abundant joy are reluctant to trust Him to do that which He promised in their very lives. Furthermore, some of those that took Him up on His offer did not remain faithful. Those of us that continue plodding along are constantly assured by the Holy Spirit that the eternal awards waiting for the faithful follower far exceed the temporal nuisances we endure.
There is much in the bible about God’s stewardship program. There are may examples, the Lord being the best. However, should you desire to compare what a good steward ought to be to your present life, have you considered comparing your life to that of Joseph?
Sam Wilder West Lakewood Baptist Church, said this:
“Perhaps one of the greatest examples of stewardship in the bible comes from the greatest example of the Lord as found in the life of Joseph. From Joseph we find three essential roles relating to stewardship:
1. Nothing he put his hands on belongs to him. Although he owned nothing, he was entrusted with great wealth. Everything that belongs to his master was under Joseph’s control.
2. He has no status or significance but was charged with great responsibility. Everything that went into running his master’s household fell on his shoulders.
3. He is a slave with no freedom or rights, but as the chief steward, he is free to make use of the master’s property and to manage his affairs as he sees fit. Nobody but the master has more power.
Further reading of his life reveals that the defining quality of the good steward is trust. What does it mean to be a trustworthy steward?
§ Proving worthy of the confidence placed in you.
§ Being faithful to your task.
§ Resisting opportunities to take advantage of your position.”
Have you considered the Lord’s stewardship program? Are you of the same caliber as Joseph? Are you willing to be one of the faithful followers that will lay hold on His unchanging promises and labour in His field? Stewardship is more than thinking about it. It is more than lip service, Isaiah 29:13.
Stewardship is not about your money; it is about your life. Stewardship is about who or what is in charge of your life: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
This stewardship program is not demanding. Once you enroll (commit to the course) you will find yourself laboring with one of the most elite groups of all believers. You will rise to the challenge and affirm that by the power of the word of God, you can meet the requirements and be found a faithful and wise steward.
Now that you are ready to be a faithful steward, there are three main areas wherein each of us meet the demands of the course. These are: time, talent, and treasure. Those three items are the sum of our stewardship. For with those three things we are either faithful stewards or we are wicked and slothful. Who then is that wise and faithful steward…
This lesson on stewardship is divided into three parts. Lesson one is on being a good steward with our time.
TIME – PART ONE
The first thing the Lord expects from His stewards is that they be conscience of their time. If we are unaware of what we do with our time, we will not be faithful in the other two areas as well. Not only should they be considerate of their time, they must be prompt when dealing with time in relation to others and especially to render to the Lord that which He expects. If we are wasteful with our time, we will not be considerate of other people’s time as well. A little leaven will leaven the whole lump…
Time is the most precious thing any one has ever been given. It is the one element by which we measure our lifespan, our workday, our marriage, the sermons the preachers preaches, and the amount of sleep we did or did not get.
Time is measured by every country in the world. Every one wants more of it and more often than not, we waste more time than we do money. King Hezekiah was allotted fifteen more years of life, 2 Kings 18-20, and that which he did with it can be summed up in one word: vanity. There was more faithful work for the Lord found in the this man up until the time he took sick then there was in the extra fifteen years that the Lord gave unto him. Why is this? Human nature. Though the bible does not say, the answer is probably found in procrastination. He told himself everyday he had 15 years and he knew the Lord would not lie. Hezekiah was going to get ’round to using his time wisely. One day at a time, 15 years passed and at the end, he was unproductive.
Time, as measured today, was established about 1884 at the International Meridian Conference. World time is measured at Greenwich, England. Why is Greenwich the "centre of time and space"? Why does the Prime Meridian (Zero Longitude) pass through Greenwich? It dates back to October 1884. At the behest of the President of the United States of America, forty-one delegates from 25 nations met in Washington, DC, USA for the International Meridian Conference.
At the Conference the following important principles were established:
1. It was desirable to adopt a single world meridian to replace the numerous one's already in existence.
2. The Meridian passing through the principal Transit Instrument at the Observatory at Greenwich was to be the 'initial meridian'.
3. That all longitude would be calculated both east and west from this meridian up to 180°.
4. All countries would adopt a universal day.
5. The universal day would be a Mean Solar Day, beginning at the Mean Midnight at Greenwich and counted on a 24-hour clock.
6. That nautical and astronomical days everywhere would begin at mean midnight.
7. All technical studies to regulate and extend the application of the decimal system to the division of time and space would be supported.
8. Resolution 2, fixing the Meridian at Greenwich was passed 22-1 (San Domingo voted against), France & Brazil abstained.
http://millennium-dome.com/info/conference.htm
Greenwich, England is where east meets west, at the Greenwich Meridian 0’ longitude. World time is set to Greenwich Mean time.
I. WHAT IS TIME?
Time is the general idea, relation, or fact of continuous or successive existence. It is measured in three tenses: past, present, future. It is a definite moment, hour, minute, second, or can be used in a general sense. (All in good time; Timing is of the essence…) It is every man’s enemy.
One common saying relating to time and beauty is: “That which mother nature gives, father time takes away.”
A. Time Created.
The word time appears 619 times in the bible. The word is used in context to define a process of events, a definite event, or a moment in time. It is there to remind us that are days are numbered.
The Lord created time. In so doing, He determined the length of the day, John 11:9…are there not twelve hours in a day, and if there are twelve in the day, there are twelve in a night.
Though it was some four thousand years after creation that the Lord plainly told us the number of hours in a day, His deliberate mention of the already know fact of the duration of the day and night solidified His deity. It was in the beginning, He created time, and how the days and nights were to be measured, Gen 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31. That is, the new day begins at even, contrary to what the world Meridian Conference established in 1884.
Six times we are told that the evening and the morning was such and such a day, revealing the creative story in six days. Furthermore, when God gave His laws to Moses, the Lord stipulated that the feast day for Israel began in the evening, Lev 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover.
Footnote:
One of the biggest reason why most Christians think the Lord died on ‘Good Friday’ and arose Easter Sunday morning is because they fail to reckon that Jesus died according to Jewish law. What this type of false reckoning reveals is they can not tell time and if they can not tell time, they do not know what time it is, Rom 13:11. The Lord died on Wednesday and arose Saturday evening about 6:00 P M. Three days and three nights, Mat 12:40, equals 72 hours.
B. Time Ceases.
Not only did the Lord create time, mark it off, and establish it, He also set an appointed time for it to end. Simply stated, God marked off a definite time for finite people. In the fullness of time, we that are born again will have a body fit for eternity. At culmination of the church age, time will cease and we will live in an eternal estate. Simply stated, life continues either in the presence of the Lord or in the eternal presence of the damned. Take your pick and remember you are choosing for eternity.
As a faithful follower of the Lord and one desiring to be a good steward, each of us ought to ask and answer a few questions relating to this most important commodity which we have been lent. Always keeping in mind that the Lord is eternal, and dwells there, Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Though time means nothing to Him save in how we use it, He is more than willing to spend time with us. (“He’s still working on me. To make me what I ought to be. It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury and Mars. How lovingly and patient He must be. He’s still working on me.”)
It was not long after his fall that Adam realized the Lord would spend some time with him. Adam thought he would ignore God, but God did not ignore or forget His appointment. There are many engagements in life we will fail to keep. However, there is one we will definitely keep and that is when the Lord calls, we will answer.
Therefore:
§ Do we know what time it is, Rom 13:11?
§ Do we know the hour in which our Lord will call, Luke 12:45, 1 John 2:28?
§ Do we know what we did with our time, are you sidetracked or on track, 1 Ki 20:40?
§ Do we realize that each of us are rushing through time, that we are time travelers, James 4:14?
§ Of further and consequential importance, are we acutely aware that we will be judged by how we spent our time, Rom 14:12?
§ Do we realize that the only way to change time is consider our ways today so that we will not regret our actions tomorrow?
II. ALLOTEMENTS
Many folks say they have a code by which they live. Others say they live by the principles found in the bible. Some are a law unto themselves. Regardless, the one thing we all live by is the ticking of the clock. You may not be aware of the clock ticking. You may not care. It matters not. You live by the tick-tock of the clock. You will die at the set tick or tock.
(“Hickory dickery dock. Three mice ran up the clock. The clock struck one and the other two escaped with minor injuries…) I know that is not how the nursery rhyme goes, but the point is valid. One day the hand of time will strike you dead.
Each time the second hand move, or the bell tolls, a portion of your life is gone and you are helpless to get it back by your own merits or strength. You can make more money but you cannot make more time. At one time there was a ‘soap opera’ on television called “Days of Our Lives.” Probably the most truthful thing said on the show for the many years it was broadcast was what the announcersaid as the show started: “Like sands through the hour glass, so go the days of our lives.” Each time grain of sand passing through the neck of the hour glass represented a portion of our life that was passing.
Time is the one thing God allotted evenly to all:
§ 60 seconds to a minute.
§ Sixty minutes to each hour.
§ 24 hours in a day.
§ Seven day in a week;
§ 365 days in a year.
The difference between money and time is we all have different amounts of money (perhaps because some were wiser in spending and investing their time into making money instead of spending their money and wasting their time.) but we all have exactly the same amount of time.
Every day God gives us 86,400 seconds. It is as if someone gave you $86,400 and told you, you had to spend it all that day, and any money left over at days end had to be surrendered. What did you do with the 86,400 seconds God gave you yesterday?
Time moves one forward into eternity in every time zone in the world. With or without a second hand at the same interval, for your body has a built in body clock installed there by its Creator. You may live at the north or south poles where there are more hours of daylight and you will still grow old and die.
Time is allotted evenly. Psa 90:1-12 reveals what time is and leaves us with a stinging command: Teach us to number our days. Why should we need be taught to number our days? Is not man the crown of God’s creation, a being with intelligence? Why, then must we be taught to number our days?
The reason we must be taught to number our days is because once our grandfather Adam decided to become a god, to know the difference between good and evil, Grandpa Adam in all his new found knowledge forgot how to tell time. He immediately began thinking he was as eternal as his Creator, Psa 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
That particular birth defect, not being able to tell time, did not stop with Adam, for it was passed to all his descendants, for we are all born in the likeness of sinful Adam, Gen 5:3, 2 Pet 3:4.
Man considers himself a god and therefore, he can do whatsoever he pleases with his time. He is not accountable to anyone. The common thought in every generation and nation is it is my life and I have the right to live it as I please. Do not tell me what I should or should not be doing.
Have you considered how you are spending your life, your time? Below is a short timetable meant to reveal how swift our days past. Keep in mind that a week is 168 hours, no more; no less.
Activity 168 hours each week Did You? Have You?
40 hr work week leaves you 128 hours each week. How much time did you spend reading your bible?
If you sleep 49, you have 79 hours remaining. How much timd did you spend with your children?
If you spend 14 hrs eating, you have 65 hours remaining. Did you mark out time for church?
7 hrs travel time to and from work, leaves you 58 hours remaining. Have you spent time with your wife?
8 hours each week personal hygiene, leaving you 50 hours, did you make time for church visitation?
There are now 50 hours left in your week. That is an average of about 7 hours a day that each of us will fill doing something. (For some it will be waiting in their car so that they can get a parking space close to the front door at Wal-Mart. If you opt to spend your life waiting on a parking space, that is fine. Remember you will give account.)
Timely Quotes:
1. A.W. Tozer wrote: “Time is a resource that is nonrenewable and nontransferable. You cannot store it, slow it up, hold it up, divide it up or give it up. You can’t hoard it up or save it for a rainy day–when it’s lost it’s unrecoverable. When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.”
2. Jim Croce wrote, “If I could save time in a bottle…”
3. “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” by Stephen Covey writes: “Time management is a misleading concept. You can’t really manage time. You can’t delay it, speed it up, save it or lose it. No matter what you do time keeps moving forward at the same rate. The challenge is not to manage time, but to manage ourselves.”
4. Who steals my purse steals trash, but who steals my time robs me, and thou shalt not steal. Author Unknown.
5. A buzzing bee will make some honey. A buzzing mosquito will earn a swat. Which are you?
A. Your Time
Benjamin Franklin said, “Do not squander time, for it is the stuff life is made of,” This is your time—your life. Right now is all you have. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is not here. What are you doing with right now?
A man wise with his money can tell where he spent his dollars. He can look at an object, compare what he paid for it to what someone is asking for one of similar substance, and tell whether or not he made a wise investment. The man wise with his money knows how much he made today and how much he lost. Not so with the man who does not esteem his life as measured in time. Time will get away from him. He will realize one day that he is doing the same thing at age 60 that he did at age 20 and now his life is almost over and he has nothing to show.
One time I saw a bumper sticker that read: “I spent the better part of my life and money on wild women, booze, and a good time. The rest I just wasted.” Where are your priorities?
1. Distributed according to the dictates of His will.
Though the calendar amount of time was allotted evenly unto all creation, such was not the case in how it is distributed to each individual. Psa 89:47 Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? That vanity that each of us must deal with has to do with the thinking that I am special. Our thinking goes something like this:
“Of all the people ever born, I am special. The rules that govern the lives of others do not apply to me. I will never grow old. I will always be young. Right now, as my life is so shall it be forever; no wrinkles or gray hair for me! Those rules and regulations that others use to keep their flesh in control were not directed at me. “I am special. Other people will die, but not me. ”
With a sudden illness or tragedy, the folly of such thinking shatters the kingdoms we erected in our minds. Suddenly we are as we were at birth: someone feeds us, clothes us, and tends to our needs. When such happens, the norm is to grow bitter!
If a sudden illness does not find us, death will. Job 3:16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. How many times have we heard someone say that so-and-so met with a premature death? Did they meet with an untimely death, or did they sin themselves into an early grave?
The years of our existence are set so that none of us know our time. There is no normal age where in death strikes. Our time upon this earth is according to His will for our lives. This teaching is a difficult one to grasp; especially when it comes to the death of an infant. What was God’s will for their young life? It seems as if there was no will for that dying infant. Their life was as a briefly burning candle and quickly extinguished. Sometime we must simply say, “Thou doest all things well,” Mark 7:37.
There are some answers to such disturbing facts of life relating to the death of a child or a young lad or lass. Which one suffices will depend upon your acceptance and your level of spiritual maturity.
a. The death of the child, conceived by King David and Bathsheba in their sin, presents us with the thought that sometimes God sends good things on ahead. It is as if He sent that someone we loved and held dear ahead of us to await our arrival so that we set our eyes are on eternal things and off the things relating to sin and its pleasures for a season. Their death causes us to renew our hope in the words of God and look forward to being reunited with that dear on. King David said I will go to him, but he cannot come to me, 2 Sam 12:23. The child’s death caused David to consider his own mortality and to repent of his sins.
b. Sin unto death, Rom 6:16, 1 John 5:16.
There are some folks that sin themselves into an early grave, Job 15:2, Eccl. 7:17. How does one sin themselves to death? Much in the same manner as one will take an overdose on drugs. Those that OD on drugs, consume more than their body can process and thus, the drugs shuts down their bodily functions that sustains life.
Some folks live their lives in direct and constant rebellion to God so much that their lives are consumed in sin. Their body was given over to the Destroyer for the destruction of the flesh so that their spirit may be saved, 1 Cor 5:5.
What is that sin unto death? I do not know, for the bible does not say. The only answer I can give is if there is a sin in (y)our life that constantly hinders our walk with God, that besetting sin, Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, that might just be the one. Why fool around with it? We often hear of someone playing ‘Russian roulette’ and wonder how such a one could be so foolish. Is playing around in sin any more foolish or deadly?
c. Refusing to do God’s will.
Another thing that will cause death is refusing to allow God to perform His good will in our lives, Rom 12:2. If we constantly and consistently refuse to conform to His will, all we are doing is heaping up judgment upon ourselves.
d. Our work is finished, John 19:30.
Some folks live their lives in accord to His will. They do what the Lord wants and once their work is over, He calls them home. Some finish their work at an early age. Some of us live to be three-score ten and then some. Paul said it best, 2 Tim 4:7-8.
e. Honour thy parents, Ex 20:12.
The first commandment with promise is for us to honor our parents. Eph. 6:1-3. The thought here runs parallel with love, in that if we cannot love our fellowman whom we can see, we cannot love God whom we cannot see.
Such it is with obedience. If we cannot obey our parents whom we can see, neither will we obey God whom we cannot see. If we would honour our parents, there is the promise of long life. Rebellion is one way to sin yourself to death.
As we think about death and dying, each of us must consider if we are living our lives according to His will so that we can finish our course. We ought to live so that once we stand before Him, we have something to show for our allotted time, Mat 25:24-28.
2. Death.
We are all rushing forward into time, heading for what mankind calls the great unknown. However, those of us that believe what the bible says, we have somewhat of an idea what is out there and took steps to avoid that great unknown called death and instead opted to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and not into death, itself, Ps. 23.
Facts: http://www.benbest.com/lifeext/causes.html?source=DeathClock
In the last 150 years there has been a shift in the major cause of death from infectious & preventable/treatable conditions to the degenerative diseases of old age. Thus, the most dramatic increase in life expectancy has occurred for the youngest ages. Conversely, the life expectancy for a 70-year-old has not increased much in the last 150 years. As a result, people are increasingly surviving to an elderly 70-90 years of age and then dying of heart disease, cancer or degenerative disease
AGE OF DEATH ANNUAL RATE PER 100,000
1-4 38.3
5-14 22
15-24 90.3
25-44 177.8
45-64 708
Over 65 5,071.4
Peculiarly, from age 95 to 105 the annual death rate does not change for each given year. A graphical breakdown of the causes of death by percent, by age and by sex are effectively presented in the following graph. CAUSES OF DEATH AS PERCENTAGES OF TOTAL DEATHS, 1979
II. CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
At any given time, the distribution of blood in a person's body will be approximately: 64% veins, 13% arteries, 9% pulmonary vessels, 7% heart and 7% arterioles&capillaries. Although the heart weighs less than 1% of the total body weight, it relentlessly receives nearly 5% of the total blood flow (which may explain why the arteries of the heart can so easily develop problems). Congenital defects and infectious disease can strike anywhere, but by far the most common disease occurs in the arteries: atherosclerosis.
Blockages can occur in veins as well as in arteries, but these tend to be caused by blood clots (thrombi) rather than by atherosclerosis. Thrombophlebitis (often simply called phlebitis) most commonly involves clotting of blood and inflammation of a vein in the leg. This can be serious if a portion of the clot becomes detached, travels through the heart, and gets pumped to the lung where it blocks a pulmonary artery as a pulmonary embolism. About 10% of people with pulmonary embolism die within an hour.
Clotting of blood in the veins can occur when blood flow is slow or stagnant. This can occur during long periods of immobilization such as when confined to a hospital bed, cramped in a crowded airplane on a long flight or driving for an extended period. Periodic walking, tightening/relaxing of lower body muscles and stretching within the confines of space can reduce the stagnation of the blood. Low-doses of aspirin under may reduce possible clotting.
[Source: National Vital Statistics Report, Volume 52, Number 9 (November 2003) ]
Strange is it not that the number one cause of death is heart problems and the number one thing that keeps a person out of fellowship with their Creator is heart problems as well. Some have cold hearts; other have hardened their hearts.
3. Prioritize your time
As faithful followers of the Lord and from reading the above information on death and dying, we should understand that it is of the utmost importance for the followers of the Lord, those of us that have purposed in our hearts to be good stewards of our existence, to prioritize our life. Else, we will get busy here and there, 1 Ki 20:40, and our time will get away from us. Once it does, we will not get it back.
Because none of us know the time of our departure, everyday is precious. The older I grow the more inclined I am to believe that time is the fastest thing God created. Job said as much in is dissertation, Job 7:1-10. Eccl 3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
Each man has an appointed time on this earth. Some of us live unto a ripe old age. Other of us die young. Therefore, prioritize our time. Job 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
B. Accountable For Your Time.
Each of us must realize that we will one day give account as good or bad stewards in relation to our time. Knowing such, we ought to try to be productive.
Many people are non-productive, while others are workaholics. We look at amazement at the lazy folks and wonder how they can be content to accomplish and have so little. We look with pity at the hyperactive man, the workaholic, and wonder why they do not relax and enjoy life? We say something to the effect: “Why bother to labor if one does not take time to enjoy its fruit.” Whether we are lazy, productive, or merely working ourselves to death, we are accountable.
1. Do you dare to discipline your time?
If we are lazy or working ourselves to death, we must realize God desires His children to be productive with their time; not in the things of the world, but in the things of Christ.
If one is going to make the most of their life, they must learn to discipline themselves to use their time wisely. A lazy soul does not take control their destiny. Once we fail to control our destiny, someone will control it for us and we might not like the results. Much is beyond our control.
God knows that and in such circumstances, He expects us to rely on Him.
Why is it that some people can use their time wisely and seem to accomplish so much while others do so little? The reason for such is in what we accept or try to change. The lazy person simply accept whatever happens and consider self a victim of circumstances, Prov. 26:13-16.
The truth is they do not accept responsibility for the circumstances of their own creation. Hence, they make excuses, lie, and be idle. Even in their foolish thinking, they esteem themselves wise. The slothful person is admonished to learn importance of diligence from one of God’s smallest creatures, Prov. 6:6-11.
2. Which are you: the diligent or the sluggard?
The Diligent
Make himself rich, Prov. 10:4
Rules, Prov. 12: 24
The Diligent gains much, Prov. 13:4
The Sluggard
Has a slack hand to accompany his mind
Serves
Wishes and wants
The sluggard does not realize that they did not become such overnight. The sluggard does not really know how he got to be as he is. What he fails to understand is he got that way one day at a time. He fails to discipline his time.
3. The disciplined wife.
Self-discipline is necessary for obedience unto the things of the Lord and for balancing our lives. The virtuous woman of Prov. 31 exemplifies fullness of the disciplined life, one that is a faithful steward with her time. She is a good example from which to pattern our lives. Observe that she:
§ Worked with hers hands, v. 13
§ Up at dawn, v. 15
§ She was enterprising, v. 16.
§ Works past sunset, v. 18.
§ Budgets her time to help others, v. 20
§ Prepares in advance, v. 21.
§ And still has time for her husband and family, v. 23.
§ Her life is summarized as a blessing, v. 27-28.
She did not become such overnight. She became such by managing her time wisely over her entire life. This is what faithful followers of the Lord must. Follow me, says the Lord, and I will show you things that are out of this world….
C. Set Your House In Order, 2 Ki 20:1.
A faithful follower of the Lord will be such of their own will. One only becomes a faithful follower, a good steward by redeeming their time and making each moment count. This is done by setting things in order.
One day the Lord sent word to King Hezekiah by the prophet Isaiah. The word was quick and to the point: Set your house in order for you will die and not live, Isa 38:1.
That message is as true today as it was then. Faithful follower, set you house in order for you will die and not live. Get the important things firmly established so that you are not sidetracked with non-essentials.
One of the best ways for faithful followers to set their house in order so that when we stand before the Lord we have a productive and fruitful life to lay at His feet is by not allowing the world to dominate and rob of us of our time. The way we prevent this is by setting our house, our lives, in order.
1. Set Priorities. Did Jesus rush around, yelling: “Hey John! Go find a boat and be quick about it! You there! Peter! Go help him!” No. The Lord controlled the situation; the situation did not control Him.
2. Not everything is important for us. The Lord knew He had but a short time and thus, from an early age He was up and about His Father’s business, Luke 2:49. If you do not know what is and is not important, use a daily scheduler each evening to plan next day's activities.
3. Evaluate the past day, 1 Th. 5:21. Eliminate some things from your schedule tomorrow and move some up in priority; things like: prayer, bible reading, and personal meditation.
4. Take care of your body, 1 Cor. 6:19-20. It is the temple of the Lord. Our physical well being is related to physiological well being. Our physical conditioning affects thinking and emotions. It is difficult to resist the sweet temptation of the devil in a fatigued state of mind and body.
5. Do not get spiritually out of shape. Unless we spend time in our prayer closet, we will not resist the devil on the street corner.
6. Be conscious of things and people that waste your time. It is easy to get side tracked and major in the minors. It is easy to fall into the trap of procrastination, Eph.5:15-16. TV, though not inherently tool of Satan, does have much ungodliness there to contaminate our thinking and rob us of our time.
7. The telephone or internet chat rooms will rob us of productive time as well. Set your house in order.
8. Too much sleep will rob you of your day.
9. Poor communication and planning will cause you to run hither and fro and at days end that is all you did.
There are other ways for us to set our house in order. Those are just a few to stimulate or thinking. However, do not stop with the thinking. The next step is implementation.
D. Make Time
Once the faithful follower of the Lord has set their house in order, there is now time for the important things that go into making us more like our Creator and Saviour, things like prayer, meditation, and bible study. It is during these times that we find out what the Lord wants us to do today. We must keep His words in front of us each day for we have not been this way heretofore, Josh 3:3 And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it. Josh 3:4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore. Just as the nation of Israel followed the Ark of the Covenant, even so, faithful followers must follow the Lord each day for this is a new day in our lives with new battles to fight and old ones to finish.
It would be to our advantage to become accustom to spending time here on earth with the Lord for surely if we are faithful followers, our plans are to spend eternity with Him. Giving Him back some of the time He allotted to us is not too much for Him to expect from us.
1. Take time to pray, Acts 12:5, 1 The 5:17.
Now that we have made time, the next step is to take that time and use it as intended. We need to make our time here on this earth account for some things positive. One way to do such is to pray. The prayer of a righteous man, James 5:16, availeth much. How often do we think back over our day and say that much of what I did today was time wasted.
No so if we are righteous and pray. When Peter was in prison, prayer was made for him without ceasing. God honored and answered those prayers and Peter was released. Prayer works. The reason our prayers seem so fruitless is that we probably spend more time working and playing than we do in praying.
Prayer is our time to communicate one on one with our Lord. If we would seriously consider that by means of prayer, through the shed blood of Jesus, we have access daily into the Most Holy Place, it ought to stir our hearts to want to communicate with Him.
To fail to talk things over with Him shows a lack of gratitude and an unthankful spirit dwelling within us. When we fail to pray and seek counsel from the Lord, the path we trod today may be one of sin and reproach. Isa 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. Isa 59:1 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
2. Make time to give of your time, Rom 6:16.
If at days end you should set down and review your day, how many hours of the day was spent in serving:
a. The Lord?
b. Ourselves?
c. Sin
d. Satan?
e. Our fellowman?
If we ever hope to be recognized as servants of the most high God, we will have to set aside some time every day to put into practice that which we learned at church and through bible study. James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
If we studied the life of Christ in depth, we would conclude that He had very little time for Himself. His whole life was dedicated to serving other and His Father, Mat 20:28. If we take the time to help our fellowman, we are giving that one a portion of our most important assets: time!
Too many people dedicated themselves to their jobs. They are the workaholics discussed previously. Thirty to forty years they spent ten to twelve hours a day on the job and even brought the job home with them. Their family is neglected. When such a one is forced into retirement, they must now spend the remainder of their lives with a wife or husband, with whom suddenly they realized they have nothing in common. Divorce is in their future. Why is this? It is because these did not make time to give of their time to the ones they vowed to love honor and cherish till death do us part. Their life was their job. Suddenly, they now have no life. They are among the living but there is no life.
There was a secular song out a few years back that captured this thought. The song was titled “The Cats in the Cradle” by Cat Stevens. The song talked about a man who spent all his life working to make a living and failed to make a life with his son. The son wanted time with dad, but dad was too busy. The son grew and learned to live without dad. When old age set in on dad, dad began to want someone around. Thinking his son would surely come and spend time with him, the father called his son. However, the son learned a long time ago that dad did not have time for him, and now he has no time for dad.
Our immediate families are important. As the families go; so goes the nation. Faithful followers, take time to be with your family. Make some “Precious Memories” with your loved ones every day. Fathers, it is your responsibility to lead your household in the things that are important to the Lord.
3. Make time to live for the Lord, Acts 20:7
Not only should we make time for our family and fellowman, we must also make time to give time unto the Lord. God gave us seven days and commanded that one day be set aside to remember and honor Him. For the Jews it is the Sabbath. For the church age saints, that day is Sunday the first day of the week. The norm for most professing saved folks is to give God one to two hours on Sunday morning and forget about Him for a week.
Now, think about that for a moment and seriously consider if such is what you want the Lord to do with you? Do you want Him to remember you when you are sitting in church and then forget about you the minute you walk out the door and shake the preachers hand? Do you want the Lord to treat you the way you treat Him? Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Have you pondered the thought that if we want God to be with us in our time of trials and tribulations, it is needful for us to spend time with Him when life is at its best every day?
Do you want to be thought of by your friends and family as someone they come to when there is a problem in their lives? If the only time your child calls is to ask for money, how does that make you feel? How do you think God feels? Take the time to let the Lord know you are thankful. Let Him know you are thankful in word and deed. Tell someone else how good the Lord has been to you. Tell them by word and deed. Tell the Lord in word and deed as well.
C. Being Punctual And Wise.
Use your time wisely and respect other people’s time as well. For every minute wasted is gone into the endless expanse of eternity.
One very important way to use our time wisely is to be punctual in our dealings with others. When we fail to be on time, we are guilty of committing several sins all at once. Being habitually late reveals several things about our character. Things like:
a. Lack of respect for our fellowman. We deem him and what he has to say of no consequential importance to self, Mat. 7:12.
b. No respect for his time. We are content to waste our time and the times of others as well.
c. Little regard for the things of God. If we constantly come in late for service, we interrupt the class and a learning point is often missed or taken lightly. Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
d. A lack of self discipline. Our lateness reveals we have discipline problems in our lives. A little lack of discipline in one area will carry over into other areas as well.
e. Lack of punctuality is a violation of the Greatest Commandment. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, Mk 12:30. When we are late for church, we silently tell God that what I am doing is of more importance to me than You or what your preacher has to say.
f. Do you want God to be late with your blessing or with an answer to prayer? Then why are you late in doing what God expects from you?
III. WHAT TIME IS IT? IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP, Rom. 13:11-14.
Time is moving forward one second at a time. You may think that time is slow. Time will leave you doing what you are presently doing. In another ten years, unless you make a change, you will be older and doing what you are presently doing and wondering why your life is as it was.
Do not anticipate any longer days to accomplish more. You have as many hours in the day as everyone else. If your stewardship relating to managing your time is one hour a week on Sunday morning, do not hold your breath waiting for God to perform a miracle in your life as He did with Joshua, Josh 10:13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. Do not think God is going to smile down upon you and give you an extra 15 years as He did Hezekiah. You have today.
What are you doing with it? (There is more truth to story of Rip Van Wrinkle that a superficial reading renders.)
Do you know what time it is? The prophet said, Jer 8:20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. For the nation of Israel during the days of Jeremiah, it was nearing the winter of their existence.
What season is you life today? Do not think that just because you are young that your life is the budding season of spring. In the next minute, you may enter into the winter of your existence. Are you awakened to the seasons of your life or have you grown sleepy and lethargy?
Perhaps your days are filled with apathy. Such are the seasons of many that profess to be God’s children. They suffer that age old affliction of not being able to tell time and are not even aware of their nearness to eternity. They have forgotten that they were bought with a price and continue to live their lives as they see fit. Even their worship and service is simply one of going through the motions.
When such is their norm, their service is nothing more than vain repetitions: go to church; sit in the pew; sing the same old songs; shake the preachers hand; tell him you enjoyed the sermon; do the same thing every Sunday. (Have you considered that if you enjoyed the sermon either your heart is hardened to sin or your pastor does not preach the word?)
Paul told Timothy, 2 Tim. 4, that when people just go through the motions and will not stand for sound doctrine, that the church and those people who reflect what Paul said, are in their last days. What should be more concern to you is not that church is in its last days, but rather that you are wasting your life and one day you will suffer a loss of rewards for being an unfaithful steward. If your stewardship in merely going through the motions of service, God has put you on a shelf and considers you a non-essential, a vessel that He cannot use.
Not only are there people that God cannot use, there are churches that He cannot use as well. Why do we have more churches in America and less revival? Why do so many congregation look more like the living dead instead of living stones or a royal priest hood, 1 Pet 2:5, 9. We are supposed to be dead to the world and sin but alive and awake unto the things of God. Are we asleep or dead?
If you were to compare your church to some listed in the bible, which church would yours’ be? Would your church run a parallel path with the church at:
1. Corinth? Is there more worldliness in your church than Godliness? Does the worship service in your church appeal to the flesh? If it does, then why are you wasting your time there?
2. Ephesus? Perhaps your church is as the one at Ephesus in that both of you have left your first love, Rev. 2:4. If you are thinking about repenting and making your service to your Lord the top priority in your life, how long halt ye between two opinions? If God be God, serve God, 1 Ki 18:21.
3. Laodicea? Is your church lukewarm, Rev. 3:15-16? Do you realize that a born again soul that is lukewarm makes the Lord sick? Do you want Him to be continually nauseated with your stewardship? If something makes you sick, what do you do with it? You cast it out of your life and sight. What do you think the Lord will do?
4. Philadelphia? Is there an open door of revival and opportunity in your church, Rev 3:7-10? If it is, then get in there and begin serving the Lord with all your heart and might. Right now while you have your life and breath in your body!
If your church is either of those listed, it did not get that way overnight. Paul knew the need of exhorting the church in Rome that it was time for them to awake from sleep, Ro 13:11-14. Not literal sleep but from the carelessness and indifference that tends to settle in on the local church body. Paul knew that the church had to shake off their slothfulness and security, else apathy would creep in and replace their desire for the things of God. Once apathy settles in doctrine will be the next thing to leave and then out goes faith, Jude 1:4.
The question important to each of us is have we become lethargic and indifferent to eternal things. Mat 26:40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? If so, it is high time that we get up and get busy for our time is short.
A. Why We Need To Awaken, Rom. 13:11-12.
Prov 6:10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: Prov 6:11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. Too much sleep is contagious for it will make one lazy. When we are in a state of slumber, our senses are dull and thus we are susceptible to danger.
The purpose for sleep is to refresh the body and soul so that we may do the work of the Lord. Once we are refreshed, we need to arise and get busy. There are dangers about our family and us. These dangers are eternal.
B. Knowing The Time.
When you are asleep, you do not know what time it is. You are unaware of how fast time flies. Eight hours sleep is but a wink of the eye for the one that is asleep. If you know what time it is, and if you are observing the times at hand you know you have much to do and little time to accomplish it, Eccl 3:1-8.
IV. THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE.
This is the times of (y)our life. The times of (y)our lives are passing. In the twinkling of an eye, our lives will be passing in review at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Whatever we do today has two potentials: eternal blessing or eternal loss of rewards, 1 Cor 3:14-15. Whether we have blessings or cursing, Josh 8:33, depends on the choices we make today and in context of this study, those choices relate to us being good stewards of our time.
Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: There are enough scriptures in the bible warning us not to waste our time that God is not going to wink at this ignorance of His followers. There are many verses in the book of Proverbs exhorting faithful follower to observe the sluggard and not follow his ways. If we have been guilty of wasting our time, we ought to repent.
There is the story in 1 Kings 20:35-43 where one of the prophets waited by the wayside for King Ahab to pass. This prophet had a message to give to the king from the Lord. King Ahab was commanded to utterly destroy the king of Syria. However, he did not. Thus the prophet came to him with “Thus saith the Lord… v. 42.”
The prophet pretended that he was a soldier wounded in battle. He told King Ahab that a prisoner had been trusted to him. The one that entrusted him with the prisoner told him that should the prisoner escape, it would be his life for the life of the prisoner. That in and of itself was a stern warning so much so that an astute man would have surely paid closer attention to the command and the consequence.
However, the prophet got busy here and there. Suddenly, he looked around and the prisoner was gone, 1 Ki 20:40 And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone…Because the prophet allowed the prisoner to escape, King Ahab told the prophet that he must forfeit his life. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.
Consider that story for we are man that was entrusted with a prisoner called time. Furthermore, we are prisoners of time. What are we doing with this prisoner called time? Have you looked at what that prisoner called time is doing to you? (How many wrinkles crown thy brow? How many teeth do you have left? Is it time to get those eyes and ears checked?) Time is marching on and leaving its mark on us. Have we gotten so busy here and there that our prisoner called Time got away from us? Our life for his.
One day time will stop. Not so with our life. Our life will leap past the bounds of time and suddenly the bondage of time will be no more upon us. The times of our lives are today. What are we doing with it? If we are good stewards and faithful followers, we are making our time count. We must make time count and not stand in one place and mark time, (mark time is a military term that means to stand in one place and move your feet to the cadence. It looks good but in reality, you are moving but going no where.) We may rest assured that time is counting against us.
End of part one
