Thursday, September 22, 2011

Sermon for Sunday Sept. 18th, 2011--“Begin With the End in Mind: Living as Fruitful Stewards in Time” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)


“Begin With the End in Mind: Living as Fruitful Stewards in Time” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

1.                  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Today, we begin our stewardship program Bearing Fruit for Jesus: His Grace and Power at Work Within You.   For this week, our focus is on being fruitful with our time.  The text is from Ecclesiastes 3:1: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…”  The message is entitled, “Begin With the End in Mind: Living as Fruitful Stewards in Time,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.                  Come with me for a little adventure.  Listen carefully.  Imagine you see yourself going to the funeral of a loved one.  You arrive at the church and walk in.  You see friends and family and you feel the sense of grief that fills their hearts.  You walk up to the casket at the rear of the sanctuary and come face-to-face with yourself.  This is your funeral.  All these people have come to honor you, and you hear them expressing feelings of love and appreciation for your life.  As you take a seat and wait for the service to begin, you look at the service folder in your hand.  There are four speakers.  The first is from your family, the second is a friend, the third is a co-work or neighbor, and the fourth is your pastor.
3.                  Now think deeply.  What would you like each of these speakers to say about you and your life?  What kind of husband, wife, father, or mother would you like their words to reflect?  What kind of son or daughter or cousin were you?  What kind of friend have you been?  What kind of worker or neighbor were you?  How would your pastor describe your Christian life?  How would those who know you best remember your relationship to them?  Bottom line: how would you like to be remembered when you die?  You will be thought of in definite terms.  (To say, “I don’t care; I’ll be dead anyway;” is not an option.)  If you participated seriously in this exercise, you revealed some of your deep, fundamental values, principles, and beliefs.  (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey).
4.                  Time is a gift from God, and, if Christians would begin each day with the end in mind, it could change lives.  Every day we live under God’s grace.  We live with the saving faith in Jesus Christ Who died and rose victoriously that we might live the abundant life as fruitful stewards of time.  Let me put it this way: To begin with the end in mind isn’t to be focused on “What will others think of me when I’m dead and gone?”  Rather, how differently would I use the time God has given to bear witness of His grace at work in my life?  When we consider how we will be remembered upon our death, it awakens our sense of urgency for living what I call a Christfilled, fruitful life.
5.                  It means, I’m connected to Christ as the true vine; I am one of the branches, so connected as to take my life from Him, and to bear fruit.  "I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:5).  Jesus is telling us that as branches we will bear fruit as long as we stay connected to Jesus, the Vine.  In order for us to be fruitful with the time God gives us, we need to stay connected to Jesus.  My time and life has meaning from beginning to end.  And even then, the end is only the beginning of all eternity.  In Christ, you will be fruitful stewards of time.
6.                  When people in their eighties were asked, “What would you do differently if you had life to live over?”  Their response was threefold: Risk more, reflect more, and leave a legacy (something that would last beyond their time here).  What did they mean by “risk more?”  Gamble?  Invest more money in the Stock Market?  Live with reckless abandon?  Drive like there were no tomorrow?  (Some are doing this already!)  Rather, for the Christian doesn’t it mean using our time to boldly, confidently, and openly share the love of Christ, risking ridicule and rejection for the reward of eternal life for all who believe?  Doesn’t it mean using my time with a non-Christian to share Christ with him?  How about risking a relationship by using your limited time to share your faith.   Colossians 1:6 says, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.”  It was because the early Christians were willing to risk it all for the sake of Christ that the church grew in the power of the Holy Spirit.
7.                  Reflect more.  What does this mean?  It has a two-fold or dual meaning here.  To pause and think; to retrace the past; to stop and smell the roses; ponder; or reflect as the moon reflects the sun in the night sky, or a mirror reflects the image before it.  By the use of our time, we should reflect such a life filled with fruit that others would know decisively that we are Christians.  (“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Matthew 3:8).
8.                  We need to use our time to reflect on the richness of God’s grace revealed in His Word.  We need to use our time to reflect on the power and benefits of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper and for living for all time and eternity.  AND, we need to be closer to Him Who is the Light of the world that we might more brilliantly reflect His light and love to the world, to others.  “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).  Jesus doesn’t want us to hide our lights.  He wants the world to see His light shine through us.
9.                  Leave a lasting legacy.  “Begin with the end in mind.”  Your use of time (how you prioritize and live your life) each day sends a powerful message to others regarding what you value the most. Toward the end of the 19th century, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel awoke one morning to read his own obituary in the local newspaper.  It read:  “Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who died yesterday, devised a way for more people to be killed in a war than ever before, and he died a very rich man.”  Actually, it was Alfred’s older brother who had died; a newspaper reporter had bungled the epitaph.  But the account had a profound effect on Nobel.  He decided he wanted to be known for something other than developing the means to kill people efficiently and for amassing a fortune in the process.
10.              So he initiated the Nobel Prize, the award for scientists and writers who foster peace.  Nobel said, “Every man ought to have the chance to correct his epitaph in midstream and write a new one.”  Few things will change us as much as looking at our life as though it is finished.  (Is It Real When It Doesn’t Work?  Doug Murren and Barb Shurin; quoted in Leadership by Rex Bonar, Summer, 1991)
11.              There is a time for everything under heaven.  This is your time, a gift from God.  It is your appointed time.  For such a time as this the Lord has appointed you to live as a fruitful steward of the days and years He will give.  The Holy Spirit is our powerful source of strength for living as fruitful stewards of time.  Begin with the end in mind, because the end is the beginning of forever with Jesus! Amen.





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