Rev. David Holwick H Your Family's Foundation
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 26, 2017
Proverbs 31:13-20
Philippians 4:11-13
YOU CAN'T DO IT ALL
I. Overwhelmed.
A. A sticky mess.
It was a balmy winter day in Boston, Massachusetts, 98 years
ago, and many residents went outdoors to enjoy the warmth.
It was probably just like the weather we had this week.
Some spread their lunches in the shadow of the massive Purity
Distilling Corporation's molasses tank.
This steel structure was 50 feet high and 90 feet in diameter.
On that day, it was nearly filled to the top with 2.3 million
gallons of molasses.
Suddenly, there was a sound like machine-gun fire, as the rivets
holding the tank together began to pop out.
With a roar, the weakened seams split open, and tons of sticky
fluid spewed out.
A tsunami of molasses up to 25 feet tall roared down Commercial
Street at 35 MPH, destroying everything in its path.
Several people died instantly.
The suddenness with which the tank burst caused pieces of metal
to fly through the air like shrapnel.
One piece sliced through a pillar of the Boston Elevated
Railway, causing it to collapse.
After the flood subsided, molasses clogged the street up to
three feet deep in places.
Some survivors had to have their clothes cut off to get free.
Trapped horses had to be destroyed.
The death toll reached 21, with more than 150 injured.
They say the whole city of Boston was sticky for weeks.
#7306
It probably won't be molasses, but at some point in your life
you may feel so overwhelmed you can't move.
You may feel like that right now.
The pressures will get too heavy, the expectations too high.
You will realize you can't do it all.
Where will you go from there?
B. Today's passage is a favorite of many.
1) I have used it at funerals of hard-working women.
It describes the perfect woman.
Her husband adores her and she waits on him hand and foot.
She conducts business outside her home and manages
her family at the same time.
She is involved in ministries to the poor.
She is wise, dignified and spiritual.
She gets up before dawn and gives the impression she
never sleeps, since "her lamp does not go out at night."
She is a Super-Mom!
Zillah Salmon hates this passage!
How can a normal human being measure up to all this?
Especially when you are a Christian who aims high in life?
C. How much should a mom be expected to do?
1) For that matter, a husband or child?
2) Are there natural limits to our accomplishments and
endeavors?
3) Since many Christians feel stressed out and inadequate,
we should find out God's perspective on this.
II. It is not a matter of too little time.
A. Everyone has always had the same amount, 24 hours in a day.
1) But everyone feels they have to pack more in these days.
2) Businesses lay off workers, and just add the tasks to
those who are left.
a) Expectations are not lowered at all.
b) And if you can't keep up, you might be the next to go.
B. Experts say the pressure was worse in the past.
1) We actually don't work as much as we think we do.
a) Time expert Harry Balzer claims people just like to
complain they're overworked.
b) His studies show people are actually working less and
relaxing more.
c) He says the biggest difference is we THINK we are
working more. #3599
2) Instead, we allow our time to be taken up by non-essential
things.
a) We rush home from work and pop our dinner in the
microwave.
b) And then we watch "Modern Family" and four more hours
of television drivel.
c) It is not really an example of a frantic lifestyle.
III. Our overload is from too little time, but too many choices.
A. Often, we are trying to attain unrealistic expectations.
1) We try to attain what we think God expects of us.
2) But we also try to match the standards that our
society promotes to us.
a) Well-ordered house, happy kids who excel at school
and sports, a spouse who is enamored with us.
b) You can't do it all, but what do you leave out?
B. Consider your obligations with a critical eye.
1) There are tasks we have to do, no matter what.
a) If you want to eat, you have to put in the necessary
hours at your job to earn your salary.
b) You can't lock a toddler in his room for 3 hours so
you can read a book.
1> You have to watch them, and feed them, and clean
them.
2> There are basic tasks we have to do to have a
normal life and raise a family.
c) "Mandatory" is negotiable.
1> You should clean your house, but how clean is clean?
A> I read a website on vacuuming with reader input.
B> Some do it once a day, others once a week. [1]
C> Is one more holy than another?
2> How clean were houses before vacuums were invented?
3> There is an early vacuum cleaner at the King Museum
down the street that was hand-pumped, no
electricity!
C. There are things we should do, if we are able.
1) Probably most people have big jobs they need to do around
your house.
2) They have to be done someday, but you can put them off
for a couple weeks, or months -- or years.
3) Only you can assess the balance of the stress of incomplete
tasks with the aggravation of doing them.
D. Then there are the things that are nice but not necessary.
1) Everyone enjoys a bike ride, or a picnic, or a special
trip to the city.
2) It can be enjoyable, educational, and a bonding time with
the people you love.
3) These things are not frivolous, but none of them HAVE to
be done.
a) It is just that if you never do them, you go crazy.
IV. Analyze your role in life.
A. No one has to do everything.
1) Moms aren't the only ones who are harried.
Consider a modern family situation.
Tricia Goyer was at the end of a long day.
She was thrilled it was time for her kids to go to bed.
She was wondering if she could check off a few more things
on her to-do list when her daughter asked her a question.
"Mom, can I do one more thing before I go to bed?" her
10-year-old daughter Leslie asked.
"Make it quick."
A few minutes later, Leslie gave her mom a hand-drawn grid.
The days of the week were written in perfect, fifth-grade
cursive.
"This is my schedule, and I'm stressed out. I have no
free time."
It was her daughter's voice, but did she hear her right?
"My schedule?" "Stressed out?"
Did these words come from a child's mouth?
Leslie ran her fingers over the squares.
"Look, I have basketball two days a week and piano lessons
on Tuesdays, not counting daily practice, then..."
As she continued, Tricia realized all her kids had
schedules like this.
No wonder their lives were hectic.
The mom discussed with her daughter what could be cut.
Tricia suggested, "Let's wait on swimming lessons.
And cut art class altogether.
That will free up Tuesdays and Fridays for just hanging out."
She noted relief on Leslie's face as she erased those items
from her schedule.
#65542
2) Doing fewer things better beats doing many things poorly
and being stressed out.
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 2:4 -
"Better one handful with tranquillity, than two handfuls
with toil and chasing after the wind."
B. Perhaps you could do better at what really needs to be done.
1) Everyone has coping mechanisms that waste time.
2) Take a moment to assess your life and where you want to
succeed, then focus on that.
3) Prune everything else.
V. Establish your priorities.
A. Look at your big jobs and rate their importance.
1) Write them down on a piece of paper.
2) Then consider their order and make a plan. [too similar?]
3) Do you have blind spots, areas that you neglect?
4) Make adjustments, and pray over it.
B. Where does God fit in your priorities?
1) Tricia Goyer says there is a "Sunday School" answer: God
first, then family, then ministry, then everything else.
a) But in day-to-day living, how often do we practice this?
b) What does it mean in practical terms?
#65542
2) Even your work for God has got to be balanced.
a) It can overwhelm you.
b) You don't have to serve on every committee, or keep
a position until you die.
c) But don't neglect God's work, either, or your daily
contact with him.
VI. You can control your attitude.
A. You can focus on what never gets done, or what is accomplished.
1) Give yourself credit for what you are able to do.
2) Don't compare yourself to "Mr. or Mrs. Perfect."
a) We all know who they are.
b) We can't figure out how they do it, but they put us to
shame.
c) But we are not them, we are us.
1> Judge yourself by yourself.
B. Let God mold your attitude.
1) Going deep can make a difference.
a) A number of years ago, a submarine was undergoing
tests at sea.
They had to submerge for most of a day.
When they returned to their base, someone on shore
asked the captain, "How did that terrible storm
affect you last night?"
The captain didn't even know there had been a storm.
They were so far down, the turmoil on top never touched
them.
#11521
b) Christians can experience this with God.
1> If you are deep enough into your faith, you will
have a calmness and steadiness in life.
2> Some begin their day with a quiet time with God,
others pray while they take a brisk walk.
Janet McHenry likes to prayer-walk.
She says being totally centered on God gives her
a genuine joy she never had before.
Seek God and ask his opinion on your priorities.
#65542
2) The Apostle Paul's secret on contentment. Phil 4:11-13
11 I have learned to be content whatever the
circumstances.
12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what
it is to have plenty.
I have learned the secret of being content in any
and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,
whether living in plenty or in want.
13 I can do all this through him who gives me
strength.
a) His circumstances were always changing, sometimes
drastically.
1> Yet he says he learned to be content no matter what.
2> He did it by making Christ his focus.
b) God gives us contentment, not our success in checked
off a task list.
1> Do you have this?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] DC Urban Moms and Dads, <link>.
# 3599 “So Many Lists, So Little Time,” by David Sharp, Daily Record
Newspaper (Dover, New Jersey), March 17, 1996, page 4.
# 7306 “The Molasses Collapse,” The Timothy Report, Swan Lake
Communications, July 5, 1999. Roddy Chestnut Collection.
#11521 “Reaching Submarine Depth,” Preaching Now, www.preaching.com;
Original source is David Jeremiah’s “Turning Point” daily
devotional, April 1, 2008.
#65542 “Feeling Overcommitted, Overloaded, and Overwhelmed? Prioritize!”
by Tricia Goyer, (no date); <link>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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