DiscipleShift Part 10: Disciples are Stewards of Time

INTRO

Reading a study from 2017 about how people spend their lives.

If a person lives to be 80 years old, they will spend approx. 26 years of their lives sleeping and usually 7 years of their life, trying to get to sleep.

Just over 13 years of their life working.

8.25 years of their life in front of a screen

4.5 years eating / snacking

3 years traveling

2.25 years in a classroom (with a Bachelor’s Degree)

1.25 years exercising

1.15 year socializing in person

347 days in church if you went 2 hours a week and never missed a week your entire life.

The average amount of time spent reading the Bible among Bible readers is approx. 30min per day, 4 times a week.

260 days of their lives (age 20 - 80).

Do we manage our lives well?

What is a steward?

One who manages what belongs to another.

One of the first things we have to realize, is that when we become Christ-followers, we surrender our lives to Jesus. We are His (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

All that we are and all that we have becomes His…which means we need to discipline ourselves to have same mind of Jesus who said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19)

If we do not yield all of who we are and all that have to Jesus, then we will continue to be mastered and controlled by the world around us rather than mastering and controlling certain things for the glory of God.

Stewarding our time well.

Steward Your Time for the Glory of God

1 Peter 4:1–2 ESV

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

1 Peter 4:7–11 ESV

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1) Time is Short

"The end of all things is at hand”

“…so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”

Psalm 90:12 ESV

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Never take your time for granted, assuming that you will have tomorrow.

James 4:13–16 ESV

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

If you knew that you only had one month to live, what would you do differently? What about one week? One day?

Just because we experienced today in light of yesterday, does not mean we are guaranteed to experience tomorrow in light of today.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift and that’s why we call it present.

Time is short…are you disciplined enough to focus your time on God?

2) Time is Opportunity

Opportunity to be good stewards of God’s Grace (vs. 10)

Opportunity to bring God glory (vs. 11b)

Opportunity to grow in self-control (vs. 7)

Opportunity to love one another and show hospitality (without grumbling). (vs. 8-9)

Opportunity to build disciplined intentionality in your life. (vs. 11)

We should never be in a position to kill time or waste time…we need to be intentional with our time. What opportunities do we have to make sure we manage God’s time alloted to us well?

CLOSING