Notes 20080810

Step Away from the Edge: I Don’t Have Time This sermon was prepared and preached by Pastor Mike Rose at First Federated Church in Des Moines, Iowa, on Sunday, August 10, 2008. Copyright © 2008, First Federated Church In preparation for this series, Pastor Joe shared a book with me titled The Overload Syndrome. At the beginning of chapter 4, I discovered this nugget by Dr. J. Grant Howard: Some people can’t say no. They enroll in too many courses, hold down too many jobs, volunteer for too many committees, have too many friends. They are trying to be all things to all people all at once all by themselves. Does that sound like you or someone you love? Does that sound like a person who is taking time to the edge? During the month of August we’re in a series titled Step Away From The Edge. What I’m communicating is that our Heavenly Father is inviting us to step away from the insanity of living on the edge to enjoy a life that’s more sustainable, healthy and satisfying. The truth that runs throughout this series is painfully obvious, but consistently ignored: We all have limits and we will live within those limits! We will live within the limits our culture pushes us to (usually the edge) or the limits God has set for us and God’s limits will lead us to have margin. Today we are looking at time, and for some of you the natural response to what I have to say will be: “Pastor Mike, what you’re encouraging us to do is nice, but I don’t have time to create margin in my schedule.” Then this message is specifically for you! If you are going to walk with Jesus – I mean really walk with Him – then He wants to be the Lord of your time, just as He is Lord of everything else. And as Lord of your time, He wants you to use the time He’s given you in the best possible way. Part of that will be to create within your time, margin. Space to enjoy, become and be all that He has for you. Facts concerning Time 1.

Your time is limited. – This is so obvious, we all know it, but how many of us actually live like we know it? Truth is, our behavior often says we believe our time is unlimited.

We do this by failing to make the tough choices to limit the number of things we say “yes” to. It’s like we think we have an unlimited supply of time and energy to do everything, and we don’t! Churches are bad at this – continually adding things to the schedule, and almost never taking anything off, and ministry leaders burn-out trying to get people to staff all the stuff that keeps getting added. If we are going to have margin in our time, we must evaluate the numerous opportunities before us and strategically say no to some and yes to others.

Step Away from the Edge: I Don’t Have Time | FFC | 08.10.2008

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All of your time will be spent. - point is, time is the one resource you can’t save.

Have you seen the cell-phone commercial where the mom is upset with her family because they keep throwing away the “roll-over minutes”? She scolds her family making reference to underprivileged people who don’t have the luxury of having an abundance of unused minutes. Reality Check! There’s no such thing as unused minutes. They click off one-by-one, and they all get used. Time cannot be saved, only spent. It may be spent efficiently or inefficiently, but it all gets spent. 3.

Somebody determines how your time is spent. For the many of us, we determine how our time is spent, but for others, their kids, boss, church, school … Many feel their time is not their own – I imagine every mom feels that way at some point.

But as we struggle our time, many of us come to realize that we’ve allowed the “urgent” to crowd out the “important” things of life. Things we know should be a priority but don’t make it on our schedule. Things like taking care of our health (exercise) time for our kids, marriages, friends, recreation time, our relationship with Jesus. And at the core of it all is the struggle of who is going to be in charge of our time. When we allow others to control our time, they will use it to deal with the “urgent” things of their life. This depletes the limited time available to us. When we control our time, we often make poor choices to spend it on things of lesser importance, and thus we waste our time. In either case, if we allow others to dictate how our time is spent, or we waste it in frivolous pursuit of things not worthy of our time, margin gets squeezed out and we find ourselves on the edge seeking an answer to our dilemma. So what do we do? Surrender! The best thing we can do when it comes to our time is to surrender the control of our time to the One who created and gave us our time – God. If we can stop the circus for just a moment and think, it’s the only logical thing to do. Three Questions: Who but God gives you the time you have? Who but God knows how much time you have? Who but God knows how you should best use your time? Bible: Job 14:25, NKJV – speaking of man, the Bible says; 5… his days are determined, The number of his months is with You (God); You have appointed his (Man’s) limits, so that he cannot pass. God is the sole controller of time. In the Bible we find extending time to a man who thought his time was finished and shortening the time of a man who thought he had plenty left. 2 Kings 20 – King Hezekiah was ill, and the prophet Isaiah was sent to tell him to put his house in order for he was about to die. The Bible says he cried out to the Lord asking for healing mercy and this is what we find in verses 4-6: 4

And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 5“Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the LORD,… “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. …6And I will add to your days fifteen years.

Step Away from the Edge: I Don’t Have Time | FFC | 08.10.2008

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Luke 12:16-20, NKJV – Jesus told of a man whom God had blessed with great wealth, and one day this man thought to himself: 19… Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ 20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ One man thought his life was finished, God gave him more time; another thought he had many years to selfishly enjoy his wealth, but he didn’t even have another day. What’s The Point? Since God is in control of our time wouldn’t it make sense to give our schedules to Him and let Him control the use of our time? And if that makes sense, why don’t we do it? Could it be we’re afraid of what He might do with our time? But here’s a question: If we can trust Him with our eternal souls, what’s the big deal about trusting Him with our temporal, earthly time – our schedules? And if you turned your calendar over to Him, here’s what He would do: He would make sure that you had margin so you could attend to the “important” things of life, not just the “urgent.” Ok, so how do I surrender my time to God and allow Him to begin creating margin in my life? 1.

Recognize that your days are numbered by God. Here’s what that means in a practical since: you only get to be a teenager once, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 – all only once.

What does that mean? It means that each stage of life has its important issues, and we need to embrace each stage, instead of looking forward or looking back. When I was a teen I couldn’t wait to be in my 20s, but now that I’m 18 months shy of 50, I wish I were 17 again. I wasted a lot of teen time looking forward, and I don’t need to waste my late 40s looking back. Psalm 90:12, TLB – Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should. Once you recognize that your time is limited, it gives you wisdom to order them as you should. When I think I have an unlimited supply of something, I tend to be very wasteful and careless with it. When I understand that the supply is limited, I’m much more careful how I use it. Andy Stanley tells of a man who, when he turned 50, bought 1,500 marbles representing the number of Saturday’s he had left if he lived to be 75. Each Saturday he would take one out – the number in the jar reminded him how many Saturdays he had left. It reminded him of the limits of his time and the need seek God concerning what to do with his days. Recognition that your days are numbered by God is the first step in creating margin with your time. 2.

Prioritize Accordingly. Ephesians 5:15-17 - 15So be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are wise. 16Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. 17Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do.

When thinking about your time, ask yourself this question: What is the wise thing to do? Step Away from the Edge: I Don’t Have Time | FFC | 08.10.2008

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Is it wise to put this on my calendar, is it wise to commit do doing this thing, is it wise to commit my kids to this endeavor? It’s not always a matter of right and wrong as much as the fact that we’ve been given limited time by God, and is this the way He wants me to invest it? Many people think that productivity and a full schedule go hand in hand – it doesn’t. A secret I’ve learned from Pastor Andy Stanley is, Your capacity isn’t determined by how much you cram into your schedule. Your capacity is determined by your priority. Priority determines capacity. When we travel, I like to be the one who packs the van. I know that the luggage area has only so much capacity, but I can maximize the capacity by the priority and order in which I place the items that need to go there. It’s the same with time. You only have 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week. When you prioritize and put on your calendar what’s most important first, you maximize your time. On the other hand, when you allow just anything to fill up your calendar, you fail to accomplish what’s really important and become a slave to the “urgent.” Creating margin with your time requires that you: •

Recognize your days are numbered by God

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Prioritize accordingly

3. Make time alone with God a priority. Foolish are we when we think we have too much to do to spend time alone with God. My best days, the days I’m most productive, most emotionally healthy, most spiritually minded, begin with time dedicated to be with God. Matthew 6:33, NKJV, Jesus said: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. The cure for a calendar that is out of control, emotions and relationships that are on the edge of disaster because there isn’t time to deal with them, is to step away from the edge with your calendar and make time to be with God, to give Him control of your time. He won’t waste your time, He won’t keep you from what is truly important. Instead He will give you margin. Space between the edge where crisis lurks and safe ground where sanity, serenity and satisfaction thrive. Psalm 90:12, NKJV says: 12So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Are you a wise person? A heart of wisdom is cultivated in a person who understands that God gives time, we must prioritize that time and our first priority is making room in our schedules for Him. Step Away from the Edge and give God your schedule. The First Federated Church copyright, above, is for the sermon itself, not for any items quoted in the sermon, unless otherwise stated. All quoted items are done so in good faith, and the source is attributed when it is known.

Step Away from the Edge: I Don’t Have Time | FFC | 08.10.2008

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