1.
Please
pray with me. May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock
and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word today is taken
from the Bible lessons that were read a moment ago. It’s entitled, “Managing God’s Gift of Time,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
Have
you ever noticed how so many people are trying to catch up with their “busy
schedule”? It’s as though their schedule were a New York City subway train that
has just closed its doors and is starting to leave the station. And there they
run, coffee in one hand and briefcase in the other, trying to catch the
speeding train and hop on, but to no avail. Maybe your schedule makes you feel
that way. Yet God has given each one of us the very same twenty-four-hour day
and the same seven-day week.
3.
In
this installment of our Managing God’s Gifts
stewardship series, we look at God’s gift of time. First, we looked at managing
God’s gift of His created world, receiving it with thanksgiving, taking care of
it, and using it to benefit other people. Then, we looked at managing God’s
gift of other people by loving and serving them in our God-given vocations. Now,
we look at time. God created time, and He has given it to us. As with His
others gifts, our gracious “lord of the manor” wants us to manage time to His
glory. Wise King Solomon writes of time
in Ecclesiastes 3. “For everything there
is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). He
then sings of many things that we do and endure during our days and years on
planet Earth—perhaps more things than we ever dream of cramming into our
already crowded schedules. But notice where Solomon leads us: “[God] has made
everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart,
yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do
good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take
pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man” (Ecclesiastes 3:11–13).
4.
Not
only does God give us time—our hours, days, months, and years—as a gift, but He
also gives a purpose to our time. You may not find this purpose mentioned in
the time-management books of your local bookstore. God wants you to find
“everything beautiful.” He wants you to be joyful and do good as you manage
your time. He wants you to eat, drink, and take pleasure in your toil as you
practice good stewardship of His gift of time.
5.
But,
how can we find everything beautiful when we try to keep up with the speeding
subway car of our overcrowded schedules? How can we be joyful and do good when
we’re running late, have to shuttle the children to school, and then rush to
work for another long day? Oh, and fit in a trip to the grocery store? What
about those trips to the doctor’s office? How can we possibly take pleasure in
our toil, let alone in eating and drinking, when we only have time for the
McDonald’s drive-thru for supper? How can we possibly receive our labor as God’s
gift when keeping the frantic pace is standard operating procedure?
6.
When
we can seem to fit some rest and relaxation into our hectic schedules, does it
truly restore and refresh us? Maybe we pack our vacations just as full with
activities as we do the rest of our time. Maybe we fill our one or two days off
per week with so many chores and “honey dos” that we feel the need to return to
work just to rest up a bit. Maybe we just “veg out” in front of the TV, binge
watching our favorite show on Netflix, for hours at a time. But have you ever
noticed that doing nothing in this way doesn’t always refresh?
7.
We
really are like Martha in our Gospel. When Jesus came to visit, Martha busied
herself with the dinner preparations, while Mary merely sat at Jesus’ feet
listening to Him teach. “Distracted with
much serving” is how Luke describes Martha (Luke 10:40). Then Martha
worried that Mary was not pulling her weight, and she tried to triangulate
Jesus to her side of the conflict. But Jesus would not have it. He answered
her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and
troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41). Our Lord might as well say that
to us as well. Then Jesus gives the better way: “But one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which
will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42).
8.
What
is that “one thing necessary,” that “good portion”? Jesus lets us figure it out
from Mary’s action, which Martha thought was inaction. It was sitting at the
Lord’s feet and listening to His teaching. Let’s call it regularly attending
the Divine Service or reading our Bible at home or praying at home together
with everyone in the household or taking time to be fed on the bread of life
Himself.
9.
“But,
Pastor, I don’t have time for daily devotions. Haven’t you heard how busy I am?
Don’t you get just how many things I have to do? And come to church every
Sunday? Sundays are my only days to sleep in.” And there lies the problem. We’re
anxious and troubled about many things—things not related to the Word of God,
things that do not, and cannot, give us the real rest we need.
10.
This
is the reason God gives us the Third Commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” This is also the
reason Martin Luther tied God’s Word to this commandment in his Small
Catechism: “We should fear and love God
so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly
hear and learn it.” Let that meaning change your view of life. Let it shape
you and how you manage God’s gift of time.
11.
In
his Large Catechism, Luther says that God gives us this Third Commandment for
both physical and spiritual rest. Speaking of “holy days”—from which we get
“holidays”—Luther says, “We keep them
first of all for bodily causes and necessities, which nature teaches and
requires. We keep them for the common people”—that’s us—“who have been
attending to their work and trade the whole week. In this way they may withdraw
in order to rest for a day and be refreshed” (LC I 83). Managing God’s gift
of time includes withdrawing from the hectic, busy, pace and being refreshed in
the body.
12.
It
also includes being refreshed in our soul and spirit. Luther continues: “Second, and most especially, on this day of
rest (since we can get no other chance), we have the freedom and time to attend
divine service. We come together to hear and use God’s Word, and then to praise
God, to sing and to pray” (LC I 84). Managing God’s gift of time starts
with and circles back to hearing and learning His Word, not only in personal
Bible reading but also, and especially, in the Divine Service.
13.
Luther’s
catechism hymn on the Ten Commandments teaches us to sing this meaning this
way: “You
shall observe the worship day, That peace may fill your home, and pray, And put
aside the work you do, So that God may work in you.” Have mercy, Lord! (LSB 581:4) When you actually push pause on your busy
routine and your overcrowded schedule, and when you attend Divine Service and
gladly hear preaching and learn God’s Word, God Himself works in you. God
Himself gives you the rest that you need. God Himself works so that you may
manage His gift of time, find everything beautiful, be joyful, and do good.
14.
God
works in you by giving you His own Son. Jesus knows how the body wears out and
needs physical rest. He also knows how the soul needs spiritual rest in His
Word. When He took His rest, He did so by observing the worship day and praying.
For all of us who neglect His Word, for all of us who frazzle ourselves with
our frantic, workaday pace, our Lord Jesus did His greatest work by suffering
and dying on a cross. Consider how that wore Him out! Then He rested in His
tomb of death on the Sabbath to restore the day of rest for our benefit. Then
He rose victorious on the third day to restore us to proper Sabbath-keeping, to
proper management of His gift of time. “So
then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has
entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His”
(Hebrews 4:9–10).
15.
Managing
God’s gift of time is a lot like putting big rocks, medium stones, pea-size
gravel, and sand into a gallon jar. All of them will fit into the jar. If we
start with the small stuff—the sand—put it in the jar first, and then put the
gravel on top of that, and then the medium stones on top of that, then, no,
there will not be room for the big rocks. But when we begin by putting the big
rocks in first—the most important things—followed by the medium stones,
followed by the pea-size gravel, and finally the sand, then, yes, it all will
fit. You see, the big ingredients—the important things—go in first, and the
smaller ingredients work around them to fill in the gaps. And on top of that,
we just might be able to squeeze a bit more into the jar. Pour in some water to
fill in the rest of the gaps.
16.
When
it comes to managing God’s gift of time, learning His Word, attending the
Divine Service, receiving the Lord’s body and blood—these are the “big rocks.” If
you try to fit them into your busy schedule last, then, of course, there will
not be room. So put them into your schedule first. Then put in the medium
stones of other obligations, such as family, work, and so on. Then put in the
less weighty stuff, such as social activities or outings with friends or
reading a good book or a favorite hobby—the “gravel” and “sand,” if you will—to
fill in the gaps. And you may just find that your “busy schedule” still has
gaps to fill as you so choose.
17.
God
gives time as His gift, not so that you will feel frazzled or feel like you are
chasing the departing subway. He doesn’t want you to be “anxious and troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41). Instead, He
wants you to spend your time on “whatever
is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is commendable.” So, “if
there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about
these things” (Philippians 4:8), and make them the “bigger ingredients” in
the gallon jar of your schedule.
18.
In
managing God’s gift of time, our gracious Lord wants you to find “everything beautiful.” He wants you to
be joyful and do good as you manage your time. He wants you to eat, drink, and
take pleasure in your toil as you practice good stewardship of His gift of time. Amen.
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