The Gift Of Time Series

THE GIFT OF TIME

Giving with a Purpose-Part 2

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Pastor Brian Matherlee

Introduction

The paradox of our time in history is that....

We have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more, but have less.

We buy more, but enjoy less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.

We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life.

We’ve added years to life, not life to years.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.

We conquered outer space, but not inner space.

We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.

We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less.

We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait.

We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.

These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.

These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window, and nothing in the stockroom.

--source unknown

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15, 16)

Elizabeth Dole, NC Senator and former presidential candidate, said, “Life is not just a few years to spend on self-indulgence and career advancement. It is a privilege, a responsibility, and a stewardship to be lived according to a much higher calling.”

It is imperative that we begin right.

A professor began his class with an illustration. He had a large empty glass jar on a table and began filling it with rocks. He asked the class “Is it full?” Most said yes, but he took from behind the table some smaller rocks and poured them into the jar up to the top. He asked the class “Is it full?” Fewer said yes. He then pulled out a bag of sand and poured it into the jar. It filled every gap all the way to the top and he asked, “Is it full?” Nearly no one responded yes and for good reason. The professor then poured water into the jar until it overflowed. “Now it is full”, he said.

His lesson was on time management and that people should place the most important things in first if they want to get them in at all.

God understood our tendency to go on without Him and so a day was set apart from the foundations of the creation so that we might put the most important things into our lives first.

By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Genesis 2:2, 3)

Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)

The Sabbath was blessed and sanctified by God. He created it for the benefit of humanity and separated it from the other days in that it was to be extraordinary. The routine of life would be paused to remind us that we are created in the image of God.

The Sabbath was observed by early converts to Christianity for a while along with worshipping together on the first day of the week. The Apostle Paul encouraged early believers to bring their offerings the first day of the week. Not too long into Christianity the Sabbath observance ceased and “The Lord’s Day” was established as the corporate gathering time for Christians.

The sum total of the Bible’s teaching regarding a day of worship is positive. It is more concerned about what we do rather than what we avoid.