Well, I'm going to imagine that most of us in this room are going to gather together with our families for a Thanksgiving dinner sometime on Thursday.
If you're like me, you've been doing it all your life.
But have you really thought about how those family gatherings have changed over the years?
We, in my family, we've lost some family members to death and divorce.
But we've gained family members through marriages and births.
There was a day when I was one of the younger ones to gather at the table.
But today, I know I don't look it, but I'm one of the older ones that's going to get together on Thursday.
Many of you have the same, have had the same experience.
You've had the same kind of changes at your family Thanksgiving table.
One way to describe all of this is time has passed.
You know, as time passes, change happens.
Nothing stays the same because time never stops.
Now, if you don't like change, the only way you can avoid it is to die.
Because every moment of every day, time is passing and life is changing.
Now, time does pass at the same rate for everyone.
Although, the older we get, the more we say, time just flies.
It seems like only yesterday.
It was Thanksgiving last year.
Well, it seems that way, but regardless of our age or situation, there's 24 hours in everyone's day, isn't there?
There are seven days in everyone's week.
And there are 52 weeks in everyone's year.
Time may really be the only thing in life that we all have the same exact amount of in terms of the hours of our day.
That's what we're going to look at today.
How we use our time.
Or more precisely, how we steward or manage our time.
What we're going to look at and be thinking about is we manage our time differently.
Even though we have the same amount, we manage it.
We use it very differently.
Now, we're involved in an actual series on stewardship.
We're looking at how God has entrusted to our care time, talents, treasures.
And He intends for us to wisely use it, manage it in a way that will please Him.
In a way that will enable us to do His will for our lives.
We've already looked at our stewardship of money.
And then we've also looked at the first of two studies on our stewardship of time.
We interrupted the series last week.
But two weeks ago, we looked at how we are managing our time in terms of the season of our life.
I put it up on the screen how we can think of our lives in terms of the four quarters of a football game.
Some people, right now, you're in the first quarter of life.
Some are in the second quarter.
Some are in the third.
Some are in the fourth.
And there's some people in this room, you are in overtime in terms of the number of years that we live on this earth.
Well, today I want us to think about how we're using our time chronologically in terms of hours, our days, our weeks.
We're going to begin looking at Ephesians chapter 5, two verses, verses 15 and 16.
I want you to look with me.
I'm going to put it on the screen.
Paul is writing to Christians.
He has been describing the importance of growing as a Christian, developing Christ-like character,
putting off some of the old sinful habits that we had, putting on new God-honoring character traits.
Here's what he says.
Look carefully, then, how you walk.
Or how you live.
Not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
He's talking about Christians living in a sinful world.
That's what he's basically talking about in general there.
The days being evil.
We live in a world that is anything but the way God designed it to be.
And we need to be careful how we live and make the best of what God has given us in terms of our time as we live in this evil age.
I want us to emphasize, or I want to emphasize, two things about our stewardship of time from these verses.
First, we need wisdom to make the best use of our time.
We all need God-given wisdom to make the best use of our time.
Wisdom, it says in verse 15, requires that we live carefully.
He says, look carefully, then, how you walk.
The NIV says, be very careful, then, how you live.
The word carefully means to be accurate.
To be precise.
God wants us to pay attention to how we live.
To how we use our time.
How we manage the days that God gives us.
God wants us to be wise and seek to live our lives in a way that clearly says we belong to Him.
That we're His children.
And we have a resemblance to our Heavenly Father.
That's really what Paul's been writing about from chapter 4, verse 17 to this point.
That word, then, look carefully, then, in light of what he's been saying.
He's talked about living an intentional Christian life.
Developing Christian character.
Learning to control your tongue.
Learning to be sexually pure.
Learning to love one another.
Learning to forgive one another.
Things of this nature.
A good summary of what he's been talking about.
We can put it together in verses 8 through 10.
Look.
He says, walk or live as children of light.
For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.
And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
The only way that we can live a life that truly pleases God is to conduct ourselves in a way.
Look on the screen there.
In a way that is good.
That's right.
That is true.
Ways that God would consider are good, right, and true.
Now, what I want us to understand is we're not called to live as Christians by just doing the best we can.
The Christian life is not about just trying your hardest not to do bad things but to do good things.
Not to do what's wrong but to do what's right.
Certainly we have a responsibility.
But the Christian life is not a do the best you can life.
When we become Christians, when God does a work to change us, to save us, he puts his spirit in us.
If you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives within you.
And he is the one who gives us the desire to please God.
To do what is good and right and true.
And he is the one who will enable us to actually do it.
Speak the right kind of words.
Close our mouth and not say the wrong kind.
Treat one another the way we would want to be treated.
The golden rule.
Rather than treating people the way that they treat us.
The spirit of God lives within us.
And if we will be sensitive to his presence, he will convict us about what is wrong.
What is false.
Not to go there.
Not to be that.
Not to say those kind of words.
But he's the one who will prompt us to do what is right.
What is good.
What is true.
And we have a responsibility.
Not just to be sensitive to his presence but obedient to his leadership.
What I want us to see at the outset is Paul is saying more than just use your time wisely.
He is telling us to make sure you please God by living like a Christian.
And then use your time wisely.
Now, if we really want to use our time wisely, we've got to think of practical how-to ways to do that.
So here's the second point.
Wisdom requires that we find practical ways to make the best use of our time.
You can find some good how-to books, pamphlets, so forth, how to better manage your time.
Some Christians have, you know, written some good things that will help us better manage our time in a way that will please God.
I put on the front page of this week's newsletter, the bulletin you have in your hands, a little article by R.C. Sproul that I think can be helpful.
I hope you'll read it.
Think about what he's saying about better managing your time.
But I want to call attention to the first thing he says that will help us to get serious about the way we manage our time.
Look at it.
It'll be on the screen.
First, Sproul says, I realize that all of my time is God's time, and all of my time is my time by his delegation.
God owns me and my time, yet he has given me a measure of time over which I am a steward, a manager, and for which I must give an account.
Now, when you leave here today, the rest of this day and this week, you're most likely going to follow your regular routine.
You're going to go to work.
You're going to go to school.
You're going to do these things that you do after school, at night, all these kind of things.
You're going to follow your routine.
Well, as you go through your routine this week, think about, in light of what Sproul is saying here, think about, am I really managing my time with the understanding that God has given it to me?
God has entrusted me with my life, my time, and this season of life, and am I managing it in a way that I'm going to be ready to stand before him on judgment day and explain to him what kind of manager I was?
As you go through your routine this week, evaluate how you spend your time.
And it may be, if you'll do that, you may even make some serious changes in your routine.
Because some of the things you may do every day or every week may be a total waste of time.
May be involved in something that truly dishonors God because it is anything but right and good and true.
Another Christian leader, Eric Raymond, he offers us some, what I think is some very good, wise counsel to help us manage our time.
I read an article by him and he started off talking about how he has a real problem wisely managing his time.
He talks about being easily distracted.
He talks about how just the least little thing gets his attention, takes him off track.
One of the things he said that really distracted him was social media.
But that wasn't the only thing.
That wasn't his major emphasis even.
But he said one of the things he has found helpful to help him to stay on task more is what he calls patrol your borders.
Other people write about this and talk about establishing boundaries.
Listen to what he says.
I'm going to put it on the screen.
It's rather lengthy, but I've chopped it up.
I want you to look at what he says.
The problem, as I see it, is a life that does not have either well-defined or properly enforced boundaries.
However you may feel about illegal immigration, we need to properly secure the border of our life and responsibilities.
To do this, we need to identify what we are supposed to do and then do it.
It sounds so simple, doesn't it?
Well, why don't we do it?
I think it's because we are often lazy, undisciplined, and lack the priorities in the moment to govern us.
It takes discipline to apprehend the impulse to check email or social media.
When it is jumping over the wall into your family time.
We're the ones who have to say, no, this is not the time.
Nobody is going to protect our family time, rest, or specific work tasks for us.
A tool for me in this process was to do an in-depth diagnostic of my schedule.
When you go through this process and see what you have to do, and when you have to do it,
you become less likely to have porous borders.
He says, I can have a few hours per day with my kids.
He said, I only have a few hours per day with my kids.
Why would I be checking my email or allowing other mental intrusions?
Each week on the first day of the week, I spend about an hour looking at projects, tasks, and schedule.
I try to reasonably plan for the week in order to get the most important things done.
Over time, I've learned that a major tool to help ensure that these things get done are clear and enforced borders.
Do you have boundaries set up in your life?
Do you have borders around certain blocks of time with your family?
Do you have borders around when you are working and need to be focused and cannot, do not need to have distractions?
It may be that you need to ask God to give you the wisdom to find ways to focus.
Give the right people the right attention by helping you to set up the border.
Set up the boundary.
Say no to some people, to some new things.
Keep in mind, like Sproul said, we are stewards.
God has entrusted to us the time that we have in each season of life.
And one day, keep in mind, we're going to give an account of how well we've managed what God's given us.
Let's look at the second thing about the way we use our time.
We need discipline to make the best use of our time.
Or we need to learn to discipline ourselves to make the best use of our time.
That's really what verses 15 and 16 together are saying.
He says, look then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time.
You've got to, I've got to discipline ourselves.
Wisdom requires it.
Wisdom requires us, forces us.
Discipline ourselves in order to wisely manage the time, the blocks of time for each thing in your life that you've got to do.
Or that you need to do.
That's what Eric Raymond's talking about.
Look at it one more time, this part.
He says, to do this, we need to identify what we are supposed to do and then do it.
It sounds so simple, does it?
Well, why don't we do it?
Look again.
I think it's because we're often lazy.
What he means lazy, he's not necessarily talking about somebody who just sits back and never does anything.
Some people are lazy.
They work.
They're active.
But they have a hard time starting something.
They have a hard time finishing something.
Some people are lazy.
They're busy people.
They're not just taking naps all the time.
But they're busy doing things that are of little importance.
Way down on a priority list.
I think it's because we're often lazy, undisciplined, and lack the priorities in the moment to govern ourselves.
You may have a great system mapped out.
You may know all the right priorities and you say those are your priorities.
But in the moment, when you're supposed to be giving your time and attention to your spouse, to your child, to your job,
someone calls you, texts you.
Something comes into your mind that will take you away.
And you allow it.
It takes discipline to apprehend the impulse to check email or social media when it is jumping over the wall into your family time or whatever time.
Another reason why it's so important to discipline ourselves is because we live in a world that is sort of like there's unlimited distractions.
The New Testament scholar Clinton Arnold describes it this way.
Never before in history have so many potential distractions been offered to Christians.
You think about how many distractions pop up throughout your day.
Most likely the number one distraction in most Americans' lives has something to do with a smartphone.
People are addicted to their smartphone.
And some of you are saying, now he's going to jump on young people.
No, I'm jumping on everybody of every age who's addicted to their smartphone.
And I honestly, I know some people who are retired, one in particular in their 80s,
who is absolutely addicted to the smartphones, social media, news, all this kind of stuff.
I want to ask you, how many of your smartphone apps,
do you have the notifications turned on?
If I spent 15 minutes in a quiet place with you, just you and me, quiet, alone,
in a 15 minute period of time,
how many times would we be interrupted by a ding of some kind?
I've been around a lot of you and there's this quite often.
I want you to listen.
I want you to think.
Do you really need to know every time somebody adds a comment on Facebook?
Do you really need to know every time somebody likes something stupid that you posted on your Facebook?
Do you really need to be interrupted by every breaking news story or update on Fox News?
What if you do get an update?
What if you do get the breaking news?
What in the world are you going to do about it?
How does it affect your life, really?
I want you to listen to this one closely.
Did you really need to check your phone during this service?
You not only distracted yourself, but you distracted the people near you.
And if the people near you don't have a phone and they don't normally do that,
they like to shove it down your throat.
And I'm being serious.
Now, I'm not in any way saying it's wrong to have a cell phone, smart phone.
I've got one.
And I'll be honest with you.
I probably need to delete my ESPN app.
I'd be ashamed if it could be put on the screen how much time I spend on it,
especially on Saturdays looking at football scores.
I've got my own smart phone demons.
And if you've got a smart phone, you probably be too.
Probably do too.
I know that I do.
Do you know that you do?
And are you conscious of how much time it is taking away from things that truly matter,
people who truly matter?
And are you aware of how much it is distracting you
and keeping you from concentrating on your work,
focusing on people who matter,
people who want your eye contact,
people who want you to listen,
who want you to engage with them?
I hope and pray that Lisa outlives me.
That's the most selfish thing that I pray is,
I don't want to die first.
But if the worst case scenario happened,
and I was relatively young,
which I am a real relatively young now,
and I ever dated again,
and I was with a woman at a table,
and all she was doing was looking at that phone,
I would say, excuse me,
like I was going to the bathroom,
and I would leave and go home.
And I would encourage you girls and guys who are single here,
don't put up with such rudeness as to be with someone,
but they're not with you.
Just tell them,
if I'm so boring,
let me just take you home now.
Or if you're so boring,
you take me home now.
Do that kind of stuff,
provided you don't have your face stuck in the phone yourself.
We need to understand,
time is precious.
Time is passing.
And we never get any of it back.
In many ways,
time is more valuable than money.
What use is money if you have no time to enjoy it?
An old Puritan writer,
Richard Baxter,
said this,
place a high value upon your time.
Be more careful of not losing it
than you would of losing your money.
Be more careful to escape that person,
action,
or course of life
that would rob you of your time
than you would be to escape thieves and robbers.
There was no technology.
He wrote that.
Last thing in the world he was thinking about
was something like a phone or TV
or anything like that
that distracts us today.
Eric Redmond describes the value of time like this.
Time is the quiet oxygen
that allows us to breathe in
the joys of life.
We need it.
It's precious.
Again, I want to remind us,
the point of this passage in Ephesians
is not that we just learn
to manage our time better.
It's important to manage your time better,
but that's really not the point of Ephesians.
The point is that we make the best use of our time
and the seasons of life
that God has given us
for the purpose of seeking to live a life
that pleases God
and prepares us to stand before Him
on Judgment Day
without fear
and actually hear,
well done,
my good and faithful servant.
Some people will actually hear that
by the grace of God.
Are you headed in that direction
in the way that you are using your time?
If not, what needs to change?
Do you just simply need to draw closer to God?
Do you simply just need to draw,
take some time away from the busyness of life
and any distractions
and just draw close to God?
Talk to Him.
Listen to Him.
Open His Word.
Is your main problem today
that you are separated from God
if you're not a Christian?
That's what the case is.
Or could it be that you are a Christian
but you just don't feel close to God anymore
because you're not?
There's too many people,
too many things,
too many distractions in your life.
If that's the case,
I want to encourage you to confess that to God.
Change your mind.
Turn from it.
Draw close to Him.
Spend some time with Him.
Just talk to Him.
Explain what's going on in your life.
Explain the business of life.
Explain the distractions.
Ask Him to give you the wisdom
to know what to do to change things.
How to make your time more useful.
How to develop a real relationship with Him.
And if you don't know Christ as your Lord and Savior,
that's what you need to do
is to call upon Him to save you now.
Could it be that
part of your problem is
you need to start focusing more
on the people in your life
than the things?
And what I mean by that is
giving the people
who are important in your life
your attention.
It's not enough just to be in a room with them.
But to give them you,
your eye contact.
Listen, talk, exchange,
ideas, words.
You know, the seasons of life
don't last forever.
They change.
If you've got children in your home,
they're only there
for a limited amount of time.
If you have little children,
teenage children in your home,
it's not going to seem long at all
that they're going to be gone.
So right now,
this is the only season
that you're going to have them
close like you do right now.
If they are normal
and you want them to be,
they're going to grow up,
they're going to move out,
they're going to have their own family,
their own job,
they're going to have their own life.
And I don't mean this to sound
as bad as it actually sounds,
but you're not going to be
the major part of their life
like you are right now
if they're healthy.
Because they're going to love their spouse.
They're going to focus on their children.
They'll still love you,
have a good relationship,
but it will be different.
I want to say this,
because I thought about this
in the last month or so.
If you've got older people
in your life right now,
you've got parents,
grandparents,
spend some time with them
while you can.
I have thought,
I've never really thought about it
until very recently.
I told a Sunday school class
this morning.
For some reason,
I've thought about,
I would love to ask
my parents or grandparents
some things about my family
from the past,
but I can't
because they've all died.
So I want to encourage you,
if you've got
not just younger people,
but older people in your life,
this season is going to pass.
They're going to die.
It's just part of life.
So enjoy them.
In fact,
this Thanksgiving,
this,
don't go off
and just play with your phone.
Don't just go off
with the other children
if you're young.
Don't just go off
with people just like you.
Take some time
to look at
and listen to
the older people
who are there
at Thanksgiving
because one day
they won't be.
Take some time
to enjoy the younger people
at Thanksgiving
that might want
to throw a ball with you,
that might want
to do something with you
because the time will come.
They won't.
They've moved on.
Do you need
to discipline yourself
this morning?
Do you need
to get organized?
Do you need
to establish
some borders,
some boundaries?
You know,
if your life is full
and most people
in this room,
I know you'd say,
my life's so full
right now.
That's another reason
why you need
to add these borders,
these new walls.
Don't take
new things
into your life
if your life's
already full
or if you do,
if you take
something new in,
get rid of something else.
It's good
to change
some things
in your life.
Let go
of some things
especially if you're
going to do
some new things.
But it's also
it's good to learn
to tell people no.
No,
I can't do that
today
or I can't do that
tomorrow.
I'm committed
to so and so.
You don't even
have to tell them.
Just say no.
Learn to say no.
Learn to accept
people saying no
because they may
be protecting
their family time.
They may be
protecting their sanity
by saying no.
Ask God
to give you wisdom.
Be the best
steward
or manager
of the time
he has given you
for a lot of reasons.
One,
so that you
won't look back
at the previous
seasons
of your life
with a whole
lot of regrets.
You know,
my boys are grown
now.
30 something
years old.
And there's a lot
of things I would do
different.
Some things I'd do
different if I could.
But I don't have
a whole lot of regrets.
Because
I was there
with them.
I told people
in the church
a lot of times
no.
Because
I was going to
go to their games,
coach their
sports.
I have absolutely
no regrets.
You need to do
stuff like that.
Enjoy who you have
while you can.
during this season
of life.
But another reason
to ask for the wisdom
and this is
the bottom line.
We are all
going to stand
before the Lord
on judgment day.
Thankfully,
if we're Christians,
the penalty for our sins
have been paid.
But we are going
to give an account
of how we've lived.
How we've used
our time.
God,
we are,
knows that we are
sinful people
so we're never
going to be perfect,
never going to be flawless.
But by His grace,
we can be good
stewards
of our time.
And we can
stand before Him
on judgment day
without regrets,
without guilt.
because by His grace,
we sought to do
what we thought
would please Him
and best use
the time
and the season
that He gave us.
Think about it.
Let's pray together.
Dear God,
help us all right now
to think
we have
now.
We have
this time
that we are
right here
before You.
Show us,
dear God,
if we are wise
time
managers.
Not just
in terms of
our schedules,
but in terms
of
are we
pleasing You?
Are we
growing in a
relationship with You?
Are we
growing in
meaningful
relationships
with people
that we should
be growing
in
in our lives?
Help us to
thank you,
God.
Are we doing
the work,
the jobs
that You've
given us,
that we're
getting paid
to do
to the best
of our ability?
Are we wise
managers of time
there?
Are we
just show
us,
dear God,
what we
need to do.
If there's any
changes we need
to make,
if there's anything
we just need to
keep on keeping
on.
Show us,
dear God,
if there's any
boundaries or
walls,
borders we need
to put up
and help us
to want to
do it
and help us
to take it
step by step.
Help us to
discipline ourselves
to do it
each day.
And in an
attitude of
prayer,
let's just
do what God's
telling us to
do.
Make some new
priorities.
Call upon the
Lord to save
you if you're
not a Christian.
Draw back
close to the
Lord if you
are distant.
Just do what
God's calling
you to do.
And I'd be
happy to pray
with you about
it here at the
front in these
next few minutes
if you would
like.
Let's listen
and obey the
Lord.
Let's listen and
obey the Lord.