God's Will for Your Time
What is God's Will for ME? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
The difference to this series.
Topical VS. Expository.
God’s Will for your time.
How do we often think about our time?
We are too busy.
There isn’t enough time in the day.
God has a great care about, and quite a bit to say about our time.
When I say our time, I mean all of the things we do with our time.
What are we filling our days with?
This sermon in many ways sets up many parts of these series as we look at some of the specifics of things we do.
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.
To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.
So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.
But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.
Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed,
so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’
But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?
Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Concept of Stewardship.
Stewardship is taking care of something that you have been given.
What are we stewarding?
Everything that God has given us.
This includes our time.
First Things First
First Things First
The highest priority in our life should be serving God.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Only 16% of people in the US list God as one of their top priorities.
Less than half of evangelical Christians would say that God is their highest priority.
That is within those who are evangelical Christians.
Most had family.
There is a major disconnect from what we see in Scripture.
The way that we compartmentalize
When the God things we do are separate from the other things we do.
The problem with this - Being poured into and pouring out.
Not being poured into enough
Even with daily Bible Study.
Too Small of a Cup
Pouring water into a strainer
This is why so many believers struggle with a “double life” of sorts.
If someone only saw us at our very worst moment, and then saw us at church they may be surprised.
The problem comes when much of our life doesn’t look like the faith we claim.
It is the reason that so many Christians are called hypocrites. It is because often times we are.
I am not talking about the hypocrisy that is tied to being a Christian. The one that is acknowledged in the Gospel. The wretched sinner saved by grace now called a saint. We are what we aren’t because of ourselves.
I am talking about the kind of hypocrisy that drives people from the church.
The kind like when a new person visited a previous church I was at and it took me a while to figure out where I knew them, then I remembered it was the coach that cussed me out while reffing a little league softball game a few years before.
This is the “altar and the door” phenomenon.
VS. The way all we do should emanate from our relationship with God.
Who we are should be defined by our relationship with God. How we interact with the world should be transformed by this.
A married person doesn’t only act married when they have “felt loved enough” by their spouse.
It is a change in identity that marks how you interact going forward.
Our relationship with Christ should be transformative in this way.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Everything that we do should come from our faith in God.
This does not mean that we only do Christian things.
Rather, it means that everything we do we should do in a way that reflects Christ and honors him in our life.
This is an ESSENTIAL framework that you must build for your life.
This means that what you DO does not make you a better Christian, but understanding WHO YOU ARE.
Does not mean Christian things aren’t important.
Understanding who you are makes you do Christian things.
Explain tension between just “going to church” vs. becoming a person who understands their identity and living from it.
Next Things Next
Next Things Next
The first category I want us to touch on is the things that as Christians we know that we should be seeking to rid ourselves of: Sin
One of the things in life that is included in every person’s life, that should not be there, is sin.
We should MAKE WAR against our sin
In a passage talking about running our race with endurance...
In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
Responsibilities VS Activities
Responsibilities
Marriage
Parenting
Work
Activities
Play
Fun
Hobbies
Things that aren’t overtly necessary.
Sabath being the exception.
Give Lots of examples of both of these things.
How they work together.
When they become sin.
When Good things become Bad. OR Things can be used for both good and bad.
They should honor God.
Check Your Schedule
Check Your Schedule
Where are you spending your time?
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.