In this message Pastor Brian seeks to stir up God’s people to consider the preciousness of time, remember that they must give an account for their time, and to choose carefully how they spend their time.

The Christian’s Use Of Time

Ephesians 5:15-17

As 2012 comes to a close and 2013 begins in just a few days, our minds are absorbed with the passing of time. A year has come and gone. Another year is upon us. Will we use our time any differently in 2013 than we did in 2012?

I did some calculating recently and discovered that I have already lived over 19,500 days upon this earth. That amounts to 464,000 hours, nearly 28 million minutes, and 1.6 billion seconds! Time is passing all the time, and either we will be rewarded for our diligent and wise use of time or we will displease our Lord for the way we have squandered it. The great question we must ask this morning is, “Am I using my time in a way which is pleasing to the Lord?” Ultimately, that is all that will matter. I am very aware that I have already lived 53 years, and I don’t know how many more years I have before I must stand before the Lord. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us. Some of us here may not live to see 2014. The great issue that all of us face is whether we will use our minutes and hours and days to glorify God or whether we will shamefully squander this precious gift of God.

This morning I’m going to do my best to stir you up to do three things:

• Consider The Preciousness Of Your Time

• Remember You Will Give an Account for the Use of Your Time

• Choose Carefully How You Spend Your Time

1. Consider The Preciousness Of Your Time

Nearly 300 years ago, Jonathan Edwards preached a magnificent sermon entitled, “The Preciousness of Time.” This morning I want to share with you some of his thoughts on the preciousness of time.

Time Is Precious Because a happy or miserable eternity depends on the improvement of it.

Edwards states that something is precious depending on the importance of it or the degree in which it concerns our welfare. Gold and silver are considered precious to us, but they are of no real use to anyone except by enabling us to avoid some evil or obtain some good. The greater the evil or the good, the more precious is the thing which can remove the evil or gain the good. Time is precious, because by it we have the opportunity of escaping everlasting misery and of obtaining everlasting blessedness and glory.

Time Is Precious Because it is very short.

The scarcity of any thing causes men to set a higher value upon it, especially if it is necessary and they can’t do without it. It’s the old principle of Supply and Demand. If there is a great demand, and a limited supply, prices go up. James 4:14 says, “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” Time is but a blip compared to eternity. Thus we ought to esteem it as very precious. “Time is so short, and the work which we have to do in it is so great, that we have none of it to spare” (Edwards).

Time Is Precious Because we are uncertain of its continuance.

We know time is short, but we don’t know how short. We don’t know how little of it remains, whether several years, or a year, or only a month, or week, or day. Every day we are unsure whether it will be our last, or whether we will even live the whole day. If a man were to go on a journey through the desert on a camel and only had a certain amount of water that he could take on the trip, and he didn’t know how many long it would take for him to cross the desert, how precious would every drop of that water become because he doesn’t know whether the water will last until he finds more water. Even so, how much more should we value our time, since we don’t know how much of it we have left.

Time Is Precious Because when it is gone, you can’t get it back.

There are many things which if we lose, we can still get back. If we lose our house or our job, we still have the chance of buying another house or getting another job. If a man were to become bankrupt and lose everything, there would still be a chance that he could gain back all that he had lost through diligence and hard work. But that’s not true concerning time. When time is gone, it is gone forever. If a person lives 50 or 60 or 70 years and has not improved his time, there is nothing he can do about it. All that they can do is wisely invest the little time that still remains. When death comes, there are no second chances. What we have done with our lives is done.

The truth is that we don’t usually consider time to be precious. There is nothing more precious, and yet nothing of which we are more wasteful! If a person was as wasteful with his money as he was with his time, what would you think of him? What would you think of someone who made it a habit when he got paid, to light a match and burn a $20 bill every day? You would think that something was really wrong with that guy, right?! He’s insane. Well, many of us are doing the same thing with time. The truth is, that we are the ones who are really crazy.

How valuable do you think those people who are in hell consider it? Their time on earth is over, and they are suffering in torment. They didn’t think twice about the value of their time while they lived, but now they do! How much would they give for just a moment of time now! How much do you suppose they would be willing to pay in order to have just one of the days that you enjoy, in order to make their peace with God and escape hell?

2. Remember You Must Give an Account to God for the Use of Your Time

What leads me to believe that we will all have to give an account of our use of time? Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 6:19-20, “You are not your own. You have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” If we are not our own, that means that our lives are not our own, our money is not our own, and our time is not our own. The teaching of Scripture is that Christians have been bought by Christ at the price of His precious blood. Therefore, we are no longer slaves of sin and Satan, but servants of Jesus Christ. If that is true, then we have no right to treat our talents, money, possessions, or our time as our own. All of these things belong to Jesus. Those of you who have jobs and work for someone else, how would your boss take it if instead of doing your job you decided you were just going to do what you wanted. Instead of actually working on the job, you put your feet up on the desk and took a nap, took an hour break, then visited with your co-worker, and then took a 2 hour lunch. You would probably be fired before the day was over! Why then do we think it is OK to do what we want with our time? Time is just like money. We have to stop using the word “our”. Our money and possessions and time are not really ours; they are Christ’s. We are only His stewards, to do His will with all of them.

Jesus said in Mt. 12:36-37, “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” If we are going to have to give an accounting for every careless or idle word in the day of judgment, it seems to me we’re also going to have to give an accounting for every careless or idle period of time.

Furthermore, we read in 1 Peter 1:17, “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth.” What will God judge? Each one’s work. When are these works accomplished? During the time of your stay on earth? You see, God will judge our lives, and our lives are made up of a series of moments in which we did our work. Thus, God will require that we give an account of what we did with the time He allotted us.

Jesus told a parable of a wealthy nobleman who went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return. He called 10 of his slaves to himself, and gave them each about $20,000 to do business with until he returned. Some of his slaves were diligent to use the money to advance the interests of their master. However one slave did nothing with the money except put it in a handkerchief for safe keeping. That parable is about us. We are the slaves, and Jesus is the nobleman who went on the journey back to heaven, and will one day return again. While He is away he wants us to diligently use what He has given us to advance His interests. My friends, one of the most important things He has given us, is our time! Notice that in the parable, when the Master returned, He ordered that the slaves be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. They were called to account. It will be the same on the Great Day of Judgment! We need to use our time wisely now, because one day we will be giving an account to Him as to what we have done with it!

3. Choose Carefully How You Spend Your Time

So, what do the Scriptures have to say to us about how we should use our time?

Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” Paul’s answer to the question of how to use our time is to always abound in the work of the Lord. We are not to always abound in gratifying the desires of our flesh, or giving ourselves to recreation, or amusements. Rather, we are to always abound in the work of the Lord.

Jesus said in John 9:4-5, “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” Now, what did Jesus mean by day and night? Well, Jesus explains what He means by day in verse 5 when He says, “While I am in the world.” Jesus was teaching His disciples that He had a limited amount of time to do the works of God. His time was limited to the day – that period of time when He was in the world. Jesus knew that night was coming when no one could work. He knew that His death was fast approaching, and therefore, if He were to do the works of God, He had to do them in a very limited period of time. And notice, that Jesus includes us in this. He says, We must work the works of Him as long as it is day. What is true for Jesus, is also true for us. We have a limited period of time in which to accomplish the works that God has given us to do. Again, let me repeat that quote from Jonathan Edwards, “Time is so short, and the work which we have to do in it is so great, that we have none of it to spare”.

Notice that in 1 Corinthians 15 we are told to always abound in the work of the Lord. In John 9 Jesus teaches us we must do the works of Him who sent Him. In both places we are instructed that our time should be filled with doing the works of the Lord. Well, what are those works?

In Mark 12:28-31 a scribe came up to Jesus and asked him what was the foremost of all the commandments. Jesus replied by saying, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Based on these words of Jesus, I would say that the works of the Lord that we should abound in are works in which we demonstrate our love for God and for other people. It’s really that simple. That’s what God wants us to do with our time!

Of course there are many things that we all must use our time for, such as:

1. working (40+ hours a week)

2. preparing and eating meals

3. taking care of the children

4. sleep (42-56 hours a week)

5. shopping and doctor’s visits

However, all of us have 168 hours in every week. Even after we subtract the time for these things, we all have time left over, probably 20-40 hours a week, and for those who don’t work a full-time job probably more. The question is, “How will we use the time that God has given us?” I really think that one of the idols American Christians have, and don’t even know it, is the idol of entertainment. We feel this need to be entertained and amused all the time. We spend lots of money and time on making sure we are constantly entertained. Well, are you really OK with investing the majority of your free time day after day, week after week, month after month primarily on vain amusements and entertainment? On Judgment Day, will you regret how you have wasted so many precious opportunities on things with no eternal value? If so, NOW is the time to change that pattern, before it is too late! I understand that changing habit patterns is very difficult. After a while, we do certain behaviors without thinking, just because we are so used to doing them that way. Well, today I want to motivate you to break some old habits, and establish some new ones.

First, repent of procrastination. Procrastination can be defined as “the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of lower priority, or doing something from which one derives enjoyment, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time. Some people are always procrastinating. They think that by putting things off it will relieve their stress and solve their problems. However, it only makes things worse. Because important tasks don’t get done, stress is higher, not lower.

In the early 1900s, Ivy Lee, a management consultant, had an appointment with Charles Schwab, who was then president of Bethlehem Steel. Schwab told him he would be glad to listen to him, if he could show him a way to get more things done. And if it works, he was willing to pay him whatever he asked within reason.

Lee answered, “If that is what you want, I will show you a method that will increase your personal management efficiency, and that of anyone else who applies it, by at least fifty percent.” He handed Schwab a blank piece of paper and said, “Write down the most important things you have to do tomorrow.” Schwab did as requested; it took about five minutes.

Lee then said, “Now, number them in the order of their true importance.” This took a little longer because Schwab wanted to be sure of what he was doing. Finally Lee instructed, “The first thing tomorrow morning, start working on item Number 1, and stay with it until it is completed. Then take item Number 2 the same way. Then Number 3, and so on. Don’t worry if you don’t complete everything on the schedule. At least you will have completed the most important projects before getting to the less important ones. Do this every working day. After you have convinced yourself of the value of this system, have your men try it. Try it as long as you like, and then send me your check for whatever you think the idea is worth.”

In a few weeks, Charles Schwab sent Ivy Lee a check for $25,000 (the equivalent of $250,000 today). Schwab reportedly stated that this lesson was the most profitable one he learned in his business career. It was later said that this was the plan largelyk responsible for turning a little steel company into one of the largest steel producers in the world. It also helped make Charles Schwab a multi-millionnaire.

Such a simple but profound concept. But notice, that a procrastinator can not follow Lee’s advice. If you want to use your time wisely, you will need to repent of procrastination.

Second, try to identify what your biggest time wasters are. According to various polls done on the Internet, these are among the top ones:

1. TV

2. video and computer games

3. Facebook

4. E-mails

5. Reading Novels

6. Texting

Now, remember, the goal is to spend our time loving God and loving people. If you are doing those things in order to love God and people, it’s not wasted time. If you are doing them simply to entertain yourself so that you won’t be bored, then they probably are. For example, if you are emailing or Facebooking in order to love someone by encouraging them in the Lord, that is definitely not wasted time. But if you are spending hours just checking on everyone’s status, that would qualify as wasted time.

Third, start making the best use of your time. Now, you may be thinking, “That’s all well and good, Brian, but I can’t think of anything with any eternal significance that I could use my time for!” OK, let me try and help you with some ideas. I spent some time just the other day thinking about ways that we could invest our time that would be pleasing to the Lord. Here’s what I came up with:

1. Cultivating your relationship with the Lord (Scripture reading, memorizing, meditation, prayer, fasting, singing). This is the most important thing you can do with your time, bar none! There is nothing more important than spending time with God, and hearing from Him. And I’m not talking about reading 1 page of Our Daily Bread. I’m talking about spending a good amount of time with Jesus, soaking up His Word, and praying about the things you have read.

2. Reading good solid Christian literature that will instruct and edify you. I’m not talking about Christian fiction. Most Christian fiction will do very little to help you grow spiritually. There are a few exceptions, but by and large it will do very little to advance your eternal interests. And let me give you a tip – when you choose a good book to read, consider reading authors that are at least 200 years old. You will find a whole different depth of Christian maturity and character among the older authors. Some of my favorites are the Puritans, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Spurgeon.

3. Meeting with another believer for mutual discipleship (DNA) and encouragement. If you are a new believer, find a more mature believer to meet with to help you grow. At the same time, find someone younger in the Lord than you, and pour your life into them.

4. Going out to intentionally share the gospel with lost people. If you are interested in doing this, talk to Kelly. He’s the hub around here for contact evangelism. Seriously, I can’t think of anything which you can do with your time that will have more eternal significance than this!

5. Email or send a card or note to someone who is going through a hard time or struggling with sin and encourage them with Scripture.

6. Come up with a plan to get to know your neighbors so that you can introduce them to Jesus Christ. You might consider pancake breakfasts, block parties, or taking some homemade bread or cookies over to a neighbor.

7. Meet with another believer or 2 for prayer once a week.

8. Volunteer to help in a Christian ministry such as jail or prison ministry or a crisis pregnancy center, or a homeless shelter or distributing food for the poor.

9. Make up bags of non-perishable food items and socks, and bibles and tracts and give it to the homeless and poor when driving around town.

10. Identify a need in the church, and seek to meet that need (Oleg uploading sermons to our web site and preparing slides for Sunday; Lyndsay and Debbie preparing lessons to teach children on Sunday)

11. Prepare a meal for someone who is sick or just got out of the hospital.

    You may be thinking, “I don’t have time!” However, that’s not true. You do have time. We all have time. You may not want to use your time that way, but you do have the time. We need to get rid of that lame excuse once and for all. The truth is, we invest our time in those things we really want to do. (Example: “I just don’t have the time to be involved in a missional community and intentionally share the gospel with others.” However, if you look at their life they have loads of time to go out to lunch with friends, go to the movies or go fishing.) We all have time. That’s not the issue. The real issue is how we use the time we have. The problem really stems with our hearts. All of us are self-centered. We want is to be entertained, have fun, and indulge our flesh, so we often use our time to do those things. We must cry to God that He would change our hearts and desires and cause us to want to use our time to glorify Him.

Some of you are thinking, “What about rest?” Can’t we take time to just rest and relax and recreate? Yes. In the Old Testament, God commanded His people to rest one day in seven. However, He also commanded them to work for six days! We remember the command to remember the sabbath, but we forget the command, “Six days you shall labor.” So, how much can I rest? As much as you need so that you can do the Lord’s work. This is the way Jonathan Edwards put it, “Diversion should be used only in subserviency to business. So much and no more should be used, as does most fit the mind and body for the work of our general and particular callings.” What he is saying is that you should take time off work for a diversion or rest if your mind or body becomes unfit to do that work. In other words, your main business in life is to do the Lord’s work. If you need to rest in order to refresh your body and mind for that work, do it. But then get back into the Lord’s work.

What about the elderly and the disabled? They are not able to do much in the Lord’s work. Maybe they can’t do a lot physically, but they can still do the most important thing of all. They can pray! Intercessory prayer is perhaps the greatest weapon the church possesses, and someone who is bed-ridden can engage in that great work. At Milpitas Bible Fellowship, we had a precious old saint, Jenny Morse, who was in her 80’s. She was very feeble and frail, and about all she could do was attend the Sunday morning worship service. But whenever I went to visit her, she would show me her prayer list that was several pages long. She would pray over every person on that list every day. I thank God for Jennie Morse, and her intercessory prayers! She has long since gone on to heaven, but I believe her prayers made a big difference in the life of our church. As long as you have breath in your lungs and your heart is still beating, you can use your time for eternity. Friends, let’s commit today to use our time for the glory of God.

Some of you may be thinking, “I have been wasting my time all my life! I have spending my time the way I wanted to rather than how God wanted me to. I have been absorbed on entertaining and amusing myself, while I have neglected using my time to love God and people.” Well, if that is true, go to God this morning, repent, and receive forgiveness through the gospel. Christ died for all our sins, including squandering His precious gift of time. Thank God that our standing with Him is not dependent on our perfect performance. It is based on His grace. As you come to the Lord’s Table this is a time for you to remember afresh that all your salvation is wrought out for you by Jesus Christ. Glorify Him!

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