It's about time O-462 RR-705 c-236 The Scripture that I want to use to begin our discussion today is: Ecc 8:5 He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; And a wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment, As we deal with stewardship there are many variables. Some of us can sing better than others. Some of us find it easier to talk with strangers than others do. Some of us have more money than others. We could go on. But there is something that each of us has exactly the same amount of, and that is time. It is irreplaceable, unredeemable, and persistant. As some wrote: Just a tiny little minute only sixty seconds in it Forced upon me. Can't refuse it. Didn't seek it, didn't choose it, I must suffer if I loose it, Give account if I abuse it. Just a tiny little minute, but eternity is in it. You have probably seen something similar to this before, but I want to share with you something from the Grace News of Waterloo, IA, on the use of time. A 70-year life span is spent according to this estimate: Sleep ......... 23 years .............. 32.9% Work .......... 16 years .............. 22.8% TV ............ 8 years ............... 11.4% Eating ........ 6 years ............... 8.6% Travel ........ 6 years ............... 8.6% Leisure ..... 4.5 years ............... 6.5% Illness ....... 4 years ............... 5.7% Dressing ...... 2 years ............... 2.8% Religion ...... 1/2 year ............... .7% I'm just glad that we don't have to do all that consecutively. The wise man Solomon, reflecting on the conecpt of time wrote Ecc 3:1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: 2 A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; ................ 7 ........ A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; 8 A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace. We as human beings are locked in time. We yearn for eternity, but recognize that time is a prison that no one can escape alive outside of the intervention of God. Psa 89:47 "Remember how short my time is; For what futility have You created all the children of men? 48. What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave? Selah" Psalm 90:9 For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh. 10 The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. As we grow older from our thoughts may move to the passing of time. We can only look back a few years it seems to when we had our beginning, yet our life is barely a blip on the screen of time. And as much as we can know about the age of the world or the age of the universe, for each of us individually, there is only time between our birth and our death. So we are time bound creatures. How does the Bible teach us to deal with time? First, I believe that it teaches that we are responsible for the way that we use what we have. 2 Cor 5:9. "Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10. For we must all 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." 1 Peter 4:17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?" Time = Choices. In a speech on The Trouble with Television, Robert MacNeil (of the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour on PBS) said: "It's difficult to escape the influence of television. If you fit the statistical averages, by the age of 20 you will have been exposed to at least 20,000 hours of television. You can add 10,000 hours for each decade you have lived after the age of 20. The only things Americans do more than watch television are work and sleep. "Calculate for a moment what could be done with even a part of those hours. Five thousand hours, I am told, are what a typical college undergraduate spends working on a bachelor's degree. In 10,000 hours you could have learned enough to become an astronomer or engineer. You could have learned several languages fluently. If it appealed to you, you could be reading Homer in the original Greek or Dostoyevsky in Russian. If it didn't, you could have walked around the world and written a book about it." The Sabbath is about time. If the world belongs to God and we belong to God, then time belongs to God also. The Sabbath is an acknowledgment that not only is the world His world because of creation, but all our time is His because he created that, also. We Need to Remember our Goal 1 Cor 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. (GOAL) 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things (SACRIFICE). Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. (GOAL) Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, (SACRIFICE) lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. Galatians 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind (SACRIFICE) and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, (GOAL) 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Can only spend time once. 1 Cor 7:29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none, 30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, 31 and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away. The Value of Your Time in Dollars and Cents, Eight Hour Work Day, 244 Days Per Year Annual Each min. Each hr. 1 hr. per day 1 hr. per day Worth worth worth for 1 year for 30 years ------------------------------------------------------------ $ 5,000 $ .0426 $ 2.56 $ 625 $ 18,750 6,000 .0531 3.07 750 22,500 7,000 .0598 3.59 875 26,250 8,000 .0683 4.10 1,000 30,000 10,000 .0852 5.12 1,250 37,500 12,000 .1025 6.15 1,500 45,000 14,000 .1195 7.17 1,750 52,500 16,000 .1366 8.20 2,000 60,000 20,000 .1708 10.25 2,500 75,000 25,000 .2135 12.81 3,125 93,750 30,000 .2561 15.37 3,750 112,500 35,000 .2988 17.93 4,375 131,250 40,000 .3415 20.49 5,000 150,000 50,000 .4269 25.61 6,250 187,500 75,000 .6403 38.42 9,375 281,250 100,000 .8523 51.23 12,500 375,000 We don't know how much time that we have. James 4:13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Advice on how to use the time that we have. (If we knew that tomorrow were our last day, how would we spend it?) Rom 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. Eph 5:15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. 2 Thess 3:10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. 13 But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. Time is Action or inaction Galatians 3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 1 Thess 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 2 Cor 5:10 For we must all 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. We really have very little time Ps 39:4 "LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Ps 90:10 The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 1 Peter 1:24 because "All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, Soon in your hand will be placed a priceless gift. Look at it closely. There is no price maker stamped on it. It cannot be weighed, because no scale can balance its value. A king's ransom in comparison is as nothing yet it is given to beggar and prince alike. The giver asks only that it be used wisely and well. This jewel, rare and unique, is not displayed in any shop window. It cannot be purchased, cannot be sold. No other treasure holds the possibilities this gift offers -- none can surpass its golden splendor. Of all gifts, this is one of the most precious. It has been offered many times before; today, from the depths of a limitless love it will be given again. It will be left to you to find the golden thread running through it. Only with great care will the jewel retain its luster. Carelessness, ingratitude and selfishness will tarnish the brilliance, break the unspoiled thread, mar the perfection. Guard it closely, lest through weak fingers it slip from the hand. Look often at its faultless beauty. Accept it as it is offered from the heart of the giver. Consider it is the most treasured of possessions, for of all gifts it is by far the greatest. It is the gift of another day.