Am I tardy again? 8/7/2006
Psalm 39:4-11
Just a few Wednesdays ago we were getting ready to start service and to my surprise several of our, let’s just say, “late comers” were not only there in time, but early. I had to look at my watch twice. And before anyone who has a tendency of being late turns me off today, that is not the point that I wanted to make this morning.
Now I will say this. It is against my nature to be late for anything. That may explain why I am guilty of driving to fast. I want to make sure that I get where I am going in time. Not making excuses mind you, just my nature. I never have to set an alarm clock. I am very much a morning person.
But I have family and friends who are consistently late. When their name is mentioned, then the phrase “They will be late for their own funeral”. Or I just recently heard this one. "Joe’s chronically late for everything. His ancestors came over on the Juneflower."
If you want them there at six, you better tell them five-thirty.
But this morning I did want to talk to you about being too late for certain things. While they may be ok in the nature world, they are not ok in spiritual world.
Late for work (John 9:4)
I have always wondered how people who are consistently late get by with being late for work. Maybe people just accept them for their nature. But as I said before, that is not the point that I wanted to make.
Reminds me of a factory manager who found that production was being hampered by the tardiness of his people returning from the lunch hour. When the whistle blew few were at their machines. He posted a sign by the suggestion box offering a cash award for the best answer to this question: "What should we do to ensure that every man will be inside the factory when the whistle blows?"
Many suggestions were submitted, and the one that was selected solved the problem. But the manager, a man with a sense of humor, liked this one best, though he could not use it: "Let the last man in blow the whistle”.
But the work that we should not be tardy in it the work we do for the Lord. That is what Jesus said in the verse we just read. “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.”
If you are here this morning and have accepted Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior then you have been given a job to do. What your job is, I may not be able to pin point, but I can tell you this. We are all called to reach the lost.
Mark 16:15 Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
It’s our job to reach the lost. Not the just the clergy, the hired guns as some call them, because they are paid to preach the Gosple. Not just the job of the deacons or the Sunday School teachers. It is the job of everyone who has accepted Christ as their Savior.
Don’t be tardy to do your job. Everyday, every minute someone dies and go out into eternity. I say this from my own experience. I have had friends whom I have known for years and never once asked them about their relationship to Jesus. The older I get the more I hear about friends of the past dieing. And I’m not sure where they are right now. I was not always in a position to ask them about their relationship with the Lord because my relationship to the was not where it was suppost to be. And someday I will have to stand before God and give an account for myself. And someday you will have to stand before a righteous God and you will have to give an account of your work effort as well.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
With most jobs you have job evaluations where you are evaluated for your job performance. So this morning I want us all to give ourselves our own job evaluation. Am I doing the job that God has given me to do? Are we doing our part to help reach the lost for Christ?
We should not be tardy in our work for God because where someone spends eternity can depend on it.
Waiting to late to make the right decisions (Luke 16:19-31)
Now I’ve heard some call this a parable. But I do not believe that is the case here. In parables it doesn’t use the names like it does in this passage. In chapter 15 and the beginning of chapter 16, we do read parables, but not once to you see a name mentioned. So I believe this to be a true story about a man named Lazarus who died and went to Heaven and a Rich man who went to hell.
We read where the rich man was in torment by the flames. He knew it was to late for him. His destination had been chosen so the first thing he seeks is some relief. Just a little water on the tip of Lazarus’s finger and cool his tongue.
Have you ever been thirsty? A hot day like we have been having and how good a tall glass of water taste. This guy just asked for a drop of water to be placed on his tongue. But he got no relief.
So then when he finds out that there is no hope for himself then he ask for Lazarus to go see his family so that he can warn them so that they don’t come under the same condemnation. But once again this man finds out that it is to late for Lazarus to do that.
My point. Some times people wait to late to accept Jesus into their heart. Now if I were to ask you today how many people here want to go to hell when they die? I am sure that there would not be one hand raised. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to go to a place that I just described.
But by you choosing to not accepting Him as your Savior that is exactly what you are doing. Now maybe in your mind you think some day you will. Maybe you are waiting till you have had your fun. Maybe it’s taken the back seat to your career. Maybe you think that you have to get some things in your life straitened up before you accept Christ.
Well first of all for those who think that you need to have your fun first, you don’t know if you will have the opportunity later to accept Christ. You don’t know if you will breath your next breath.
2 Corinthians 6:2b Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
By choosing to wait till you have your fun is more dangerous than playing Russian roulette with a gun. Some people have time to plan their death, while others it catches you blindsided. Perhaps you have heard me refer to a friend of mine who used to live close to here who got struck with lighting and killed him instantly. They say the lightning was so hot that it melted the glasses on his face. He never had a chance to think about anything. So you shouldn’t wait. Today is the day of salvation.
Maybe you are waiting for your career to blossom, or for your family to flourish, or anything like that.
Matthew 6:19-21 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The most important decision you will ever make is not where you work, not who you marry, not where your kids will attend school. But the most important decision that you will ever make is what are you going to do with Jesus.
Then to those who wait, thinking that they have to straiten up some things in their lives before they get saved so that you can live the Christian life. That is like trying to clean the fish before you catch them, it isn’t going to happen. God promised us a helpmate to “Clean ourselves up” after we are saved.
Acts I:8 But you share receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
The moment you accept Jesus Christ in your heart and life then He give you the power to clean yourself up.
But the second part of the story was that he wanted someone to go warn his family. Now one of the saddest moments that I can imagine would be if I was a parent and I chose not to accept Jesus as my savior and then to see one of my own children suffering in hell.
You can watch and in most cases a child will usually follow the footsteps of the parent. That is how they are raised. What is important to them will be important to their kids. That is why it is so important for parents to make sure they not only accept Christ in their lives but they live the live where they show Him as a priority.
We go out of our way to make sure they go to their sporting events, and their social events, but church it not a priority.
How we live and the decisions we make influence others. So we need to make sure we don’t wait to make the right decisions, which leads me to my last point.
Better late than never (Hebrews 3:15)
Now for my “late comers” I want you to know that is how I feel. I would rather you come in late then not to come. It does not bother me unless you are teaching a class or something like that. If God has given you a job then you need to show up on time and be prepared to do that job. But as I said before, that is not my point this morning.
But what I am trying to point out is that if you are here today and your relationship is not where it needs to be with God then you can change that this morning.
If you have never accepted Jesus in your heart the today is the day of salvation. Don’t put it off. Don’t make excuses. Come to Jesus. Probably the most used invitation song tells us how to do that. “Just as I am, with out one plea. But that thy blood was shed for me, And that thou bidd’st me come to thee. Oh Lamb of God, I come. I come.
If you are here this morning and you have not been serving God the way you should then it is better late than never. Look at Jonah. God told him to go to Nineveh and Jonah went to Tarshish and look where he ended up. Whatever God has given you to do then we need to do it before we end up in the fish’s belly. It could be a lot of things including witnessing to someone. Maybe you are waiting for the right opportunity. And timing is important. But are you praying and asking God for that opportunity.
As we get ready to give our invitation, then I want you to know no matter why you have never before, It is better late than never. Because tomorrow may be to late. Don’t be tardy again.
