Rev. David Holwick N
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
April 14, 1991
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
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I. Tensions caused by urgency.
A. Woman calls this week, needs one hour to talk - that afternoon.
1) Two families stop by to get last-second help.
B. Telephone rings just as you're leaving the house.
1) Answer, seethe with tension.
2) Don't answer, plagued with guilt and curiosity.
C. Much of our lives are burdened with unimportant urgencies.
1) Send Glenn's date book back with a few extra appointments.
D. Charles Hummel wrote a classic booklet "The Tyranny of the Urgent."
In it he tells of advice a factory manager gave him:
"Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things
crowd out the important."
II. The preciousness of time.
A. We only have so much time. According to the Bible:
"Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.
He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting
shadow, he does not endure. Job 14:1-2
"Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting is my life.
You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Each man's life is but a breath.
Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro:
He bustles about, but only in vain;
he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.
Psalm 39:4-6
B. According to an anonymous human boss:
[used at first service. Second: shortness of our time on
earth.] #686
"So you want the day off.
Let's take a look at what you are asking for:
365 days in year
-104 weekends
-175 evenings and nights
- 23 coffee breaks
- 46 lunch hour
- 2 sick leave
- 14 vacation
------
1 And you think I'm going to let you have this day off?
C. We have enough time to live a full life.
1) Ecclesiastes 3, and the rhythm of a full life.
2) Jesus' promise to have life to the fullest. John 10:10
In the popular high school play "Our Town,"
the character Emily turns on the audience and scolds them.
She asks, "Do any of you ever really live life while
you are living it?"
#759
3) In his short life, Jesus had enough time to finish his work.
a) So do you.
III. Take time for important matters.
A. Small details will suck up all the time they can.
1) Don't allow them to.
2) Plan ahead.
3) Prepare each day with prayer.
B. Testimony of a busy Christian writer, Jay Jennings:
"At times I reflect on the mystery of God's time.
I've discovered that when I put priorities on all those tasks,
set my own deadlines (well ahead of those imposed by others),
do my best, relax and leave the results in God's hands,
God multiplies my time as Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes.
God's time is not just linear; it has depth and breath....
What I can't do in God's time isn't worth doing or is
better left undone.
#1281
IV. Take time for people.
A. Jesus spent hours with the Samaritan woman, despite demands on
his time.
B. Time with your family.
1) Watching videos - kids are small only once.
2) The wisdom of grandparents. (visiting right now)
[by way of Harriet Meeker, by way of Trinka Osborne]
Written by a third grade girl:
A Grandmother is a lady who has no children of her own,
so she likes other peoples' little girls.
A grandfather is a man grandmother.
He goes for walks with the boys and they talk about fishing
and things like that.
Grandmas don't have anything to do except be there.
It is enough.
If they take us for walks, they should slow down past pretty
leaves and caterpillars.
They should never say, "Hurry up!"
Usually they are fat but not too fat to tie kids' shoes.
They wear funny glasses and funny underwear.
They can take their teeth and gums off.
They don't have to be smart - only answer questions like why
dogs hate cats and how come God isn't married.
When they read to us they don't skip or mind if it is the same
story again.
Everybody should try to have a grandmother, especially if you
don't have television because grandmas are the only grownups
who have time.
#1150
C. Martha and Mary. Luke 10:38-42
V. Take time for God.
"In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to
eat - for God grants sleep to those he loves." Psalm 127:2
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set
eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God
has done from beginning to end. Eccl 3:11
A. Jesus, surrounded by crowds, spent much time alone with God.
Matthew 14:23
B. How much time do you spend with God?
1) It is easy to put him off.
2) But then things don't go well.
3) Faith in God puts things in perspective.
VI. What will you show for your time on earth?
A. Only one thing is truly urgent in life: knowing God.
1) "Today" is day of salvation. 2 Cor 6:2
B. "Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise,
making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5:15-16
***************************************
Christianity Today: July 12, 1985, p. 58. Wayne Grudem
We must have priorities for time, or we will be ineffective.
Busyness doesn't equal effectiveness.
Christianity Today: January 1, 1982, p. 28. Edward Fudge
Take time for Today. King David (Psalm 1 & 37) lived in the
"now" and had an impact on his own generation. We can't live
in the past.
Discipleship, #60. "Tyranny of the Urgent." #1453
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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