Jeffrey C. Long

The following sermon was preached on Sunday January 15th 2006 at Filer Mennonite Church. It made very liberal use of a sermon resource provided by Mennonite Mutual Aid.

At one of our elder meetings a month or two ago, we were looking at an assessment question from a MCUSA booklet that relates to our vision of being a place for spiritual renewal to happen to each of us.

It asks if this statement is true:

“Schedules become simpler and less full, in order to make room for others and recognizing the presence of God.”

How do you think we are doing at that? How are you doing at it?

Lately when members of my family want to add something to our schedule, I’ve been replying “our schedule just keeps getting busier and busier.” I’m sure yours is the same.

It’s no wonder that one of the popular topics in Self help books is time management.

Two here. (show getting things done, and first things first)

How to cram even more into our already busy lives.

Mennonite Church USA has provided worship resources for today to focus on stewardship. As I looked at the topics, I thought the most helpful to us would be to look at our stewardship of our time.

Let’s list some symptoms of hurriedness and see if it’s something you struggle with.

Symptoms:

-looking for the closest parking spot to the store so you’ll save time

-trying to judge the quickest line in the checkout so you’ll get out quicker

-getting impatient at slow drivers. i’m hot and cold with my driving. sometimes i’m in a hurry. but there are often times when my children say “why are you driving so slow,” and the answer is that I’m in no hurry.

-too many projects

-seeking information, not wisdom. cnn headlines news and usa today are successful because they allow us to digest

What can we do?

First let’s get some Biblical perspective from two passages, Psalm 90:10 and 12, and John 10:10

First, Psalm 90:10, The length of our days is seventy years— 
       or eighty, if we have the strength; 
       yet their span [a] is but trouble and sorrow, 
       for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

Teach us to number our days aright, 
       that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

How old do you think you’ll live to?

I’ve always thought I’d live to be one hundred. I’ve had grandparents and great-grandparents that lived into their 90′s.

One of the motivators for health in our society is fear of death. People are trying to find ways to prolong their life.

And our society doesn’t seem to value the role of age in our lives.

30 year olds are trying to look like 20 year olds. 40 year olds are trying to look like they are in their 30′s. 60-80 year olds are trying to live like they are in their 50′s.

None of us wants to admit with Moses that the length of our days is limited, even if we have strength… they quickly pass, they fly away.

So we aren’t to deny the process of aging, instead we are to number our days aright, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

For more perspective, read John 10:10 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Did you hear what Jesus said he came to give?

A fulfilled life. Not a full one.

This is one of my core scriptures. Because the pressures of life can lead us to be cynical about this world. Jesus came to give us life. A fulfilled one.

Typically a if we fill up our life with too much stuff activities, things, it keeps us from having a fulfilled life.

Listen to this quote from MMA’s small group

Bible study “Time Warped,” “The more we do, the more we accumulate, the more we attain, the less we are able to live. Our ability to fully engage life’s experiences, embrace its subtle mysteries, and be enriched by special moments, is significantly reduced by the amount of things we do, the speed at which we do them, and the reasons why they seem important to us.”

My former pastor Doug Murren used to describe his life in the church as moving 100 mph with your hair on fire.

When we are trying to do so much, our lives get full, rather then fulfilled.

We spend more hours working so that we can make more money so that we can get more things that take up more of our time.

So, what do we do? How can we win back our lives from the busy-ness that encroaches on us.

I want to leave you with eight Scriptural encouragements that can help you take back your lives.

1. Come to Jesus to receive rest.

If there is one thing missing from our lives today, wouldn’t you say it is “rest”? I

don’t mean a nap on Sunday afternoon, I mean a spirit and a soul that is at peace

with God and itself. I don’t know many people who can say that because they just

don’t have time in their lives to pursue this kind of rest. But Jesus not only calls

us to rest, he modeled it.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, “Come to me, you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Notice that Jesus says he will give us rest. This implies that it is a gift, and it also reminds us that we must approach and ask for it. When’s the last time you asked and received the gift of rest?

2. In Jesus’ life, he modeled this rest First in observing the Sabbath. Jesus said in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”The Sabbath was given to us in order to have communion with God and retreat from the constant pull of the world. It is our opportunity to step aside from the hecticness, contemplate on how and where God has been at work, and restore our souls.

3. The other area where Jesus modeled rest was personal solitude. Many times in

Scripture we are told of Jesus’ withdrawing to a desolate place in order to pray and be alone with God. In our modern vernacular, we would call this a “retreat.” How many of you have ever taken a personal retreat or been part of a group retreat. How many

of you practice solitude on a regular basis? For some people, solitude can be a

challenge. For many hurried people, it may take several hours just to quiet our minds and hearts to a place where we can connect with God. Yet, if you talk with people who practice solitude regularly, they will tell you that it is one of the best things they do.

4. Be still. Both Psalms 37 and 46 remind us to be still and know that he

is God. Take time every day to slow down and acknowledge God’s sovereignty in your life.

5. Seek God first. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus reminds us to seek first God’s king-

dom. No matter what your to-do list looks like, each day is an opportunity to serve God.

6. Do not worry. Jesus, James, the apostle Paul – all alluded to this. The follower of Jesus need not worry about anything. God will provide. If you didn’t do everything on your list this week, what would you worry about not getting done? Is that really

worth worrying about?

7. Learn to say “no.” I’m a big fan of no. No is not a bad word. It is a freeing word. A liberating word. And sometimes we need to simply tell people, even the church,

that we can’t do something this time. Recall Moses in Exodus 18. As magistrate, Scripture tells us he was overseeing the people’s issues “from sun up to sun down.” It took his father-in-law, Jethro, to come alongside and show him a better way. Jethro

said, “This isn’t good for you or the people.” Moses needed to say no. Maybe you do, too.

Not just saying no to committments and people. Saying no to ourselves. Merlin Mann of www.43folders.com recently told the story of subscribing to a magazine that he had previously only bought on the newsstand.

He writes: “For a year we subscribed to my favorite magazine, The Atlantic. Where I used to love leafing through The Atlantic on the newsstand and then buying a copy to bring home, by the time the second home-delivered issue appeared, I was already jaded. “Feh. Another thing I have to read.” And onto “The Pile” it would go. I’d taken something I occasionally did on purpose and for pure fun and turned it into an experience with all the anticipation and thrill of opening the gas bill.”

We need to learn, I need to learn to say no to our impulses which add more clutter and take more time away from our already hectic schedules.

8. Focus on one thing. I was doing a year end review that asked what books I had read. I read a lot but as I looked at my bookshelf to find the books I’d read, I had only read a chapter here of one and a chapter there of another. I’d not read through one book. So now I’m taking the time to read through books.

Studies have repeatedly shown that we get more done when we do one thing at a time

and do it completely. How many of us spend our day doing a little bit here, a little bit there, and then wonder why we’re so frustrated at the end of the day?