Once
Upon a “Time”
By Mac Jan ‘03
Time. Now, THERE’S a word. Or a concept, anyway. Time is relative. Everything in it’s own time. One day at a time. If I only had the time. Time for bed. Dinner time. What a time we had! A lifetime. Time is money. What time is it? A time to die.
I was reading the notes that Tony and his daughter Brittany Board took for me in Church on Sunday, 5 January 2003, as my wife and I are on teaching rotation. In the notes they took from the sermon of Anthony Cisco, a specific phrase caught my eye, and I said (to myself---I talk a LOT to myself---hope that is not senility), “there is a sermon in that phrase”. That axiom was “There is a time for everything.”
“Man, if I only had the time.” I don’t know HOW many times I have used THAT phrase!
If there is a ‘time for everything”, how come I can’t see that? It seems I NEVER have enough time. I have always had a difficult time with time. It was one of the precious things that I did not want to ‘give up’ before I began studying the Bible seven years ago. I used to visit churches with Socorro, but only those that met early on Sunday, so I could have the rest of the time that day to do things “I” wanted to. I didn’t need (or at least I didn’t THINK I needed) anything else in my life that would take up any more of my precious time. So, a ‘time for everything’? Doubtful.
But, then, after seeing these words in the notes the father and daughter team took for me, I began recalling just WHOSE time we are really talking about.
The book of Ecclesiastes, written by one of my idols,
Solomon, seemed to AGREE with Anthony Cisco.
In his at-first confusing, but then later revelatory, book, he begins
chapter 3 with: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every
activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and
a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down
and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a
time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a
time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep
and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent
and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” (Verses 1-8 –NIV)
Back in time, in 1965, Jim McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke (on the drums), (better known as “The Byrds”) took words extremely similar to these verses, words written by the great folk singer and writer, Pete Seeger, and put them to music in one of my favorite hits of all times, “Turn, Turn, Turn”. I am “not going to charge you”, as Les Johnson was known to have said often during his great preaching days, for this little bit of reflection in time, but I thought it might also have come to YOUR mind as well when reading Solomon’s words of wisdom.
Time. Oh, how precious you are.
I have three points in this study today.
Don’t Forsake Time.
Let’s Make Time
Take the Time.
1. Don’t Forsake Time. The Prophet Jeremiah, in the book of the same name, verse 51:33, said: “You who live by many waters and are rich in treasures, your end has come, the time for you to be cut off.” Cutoff! Egad! (Ya like that word??) “Times are awastin’”. We all ‘live by many waters’, meaning we have plenty of avenues to follow, yet we rarely follow the correct ones. As rivers meander, so do we. Instead of getting up early in the morning to contemplate with God, a lot of us waste the time by sleeping in late. We meander in our dreams, rather in our walk for God. We abandon time (for that is what forsaking time means) with God, and replace it with time for ourselves. We spend those extra hours at work, or extra time watching exciting (but meaningless---a term I LOVE in Ecclesiastes---besides, EVERYTHING is meaningless. And Solomon DOES say there is a time for EVERTHING!) sports on television. Really, think about it. What GOOD does watching the Falcons beat the 49ers REALLY do for you or God? NOTHING! (Really.) But, what good does it do when you spend those 3-plus hours praying to, or listening to God? A heck of a lot more.
Solomon writes in verse 3: “a time to be born”. Luke confirms that by saying that God “determined the times set for them (men) and the exact places where they should live.” (Acts 17:26) Solomon’s next few words are: “and a time to die”. I am reminded of a GREAT poem by Linda Ellis, but because it is copy-righted, I can not reproduce it here. But if you are reading this on your computer and have access to ‘the net’, I recommend you pausing here and read it before continuing. Simply click here. If you are reading this on a dead tree, you can find the poem at this web address: http://www.lindaslyrics.com/The%20Dash%20Poem.html
In summary, that poem questions just what we DO during our short span of a lifetime here on earth. And believe me, relationally with eternity, it IS a short span. So,
because He did make us and put us here in this time and place, we need to quit wasting what little time we have on this earth, and spend more time pleasing God. Make your ‘dash’ a memorable piece of time.
“a time to plant and a time to uproot”. This part of the verse is pretty easy to understand, being Disciples. ‘A time to plant’ is always. We are supposed to take not only our ‘free’ time, but ANY time we have opportunities, to plant seeds in the minds of others. If we watch football for an excruciating 3 ½ hours, wouldn’t it be nice to have non-disciples present so you can actually spend some QUALITY time for God? Not to get hung up on football, but any event in which we partake, we should attempt to reach out to others and plant ideas in their heads about God. When is the last time you had someone over to your home (non-Disciples) to watch a sporting event, or just to sit and talk? (And I don’t mean a Bible Study, which is, of course, one of the NEXT steps in planting seeds.) A time to uproot is more scary than planting ‘season’. In this season, people that have ‘died on the vine’ are in danger of being uprooted by God. You are all familiar with the parable of the farmer and the fig tree in Luke 13:6 through 9. After three years of non-production, the tree was given a reprieve of ONE MORE YEAR. Have YOU been productive for God in the past four years????
Romans 11:21 warns us ‘Gentiles’ that “…if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.” A few years ago, the church ‘weeded’ out folks that were not attempting to be true Disciples. Hmmmm.
Time is certainly one of the most precious resources we have. I encourage each of you to increase the percentage of time on a weekly basis that you do something for God. Please don’t forsake this valuable commodity that God has given us.
2. Let’s Make Time. How do you MAKE time? By reallocating it. Same way you make a cake. You ‘reallocate’ various ingredients in certain portions, provide a new environment (HEAT), and then, VOILA!!!, Cake! So, take the time you spend in a shower, and combine that with prayer. I would not advise 30 minute prayers in this environment though…both your water and gas bill could get pretty high after a few days. What about the time you spend brushing your teeth in the morning? Why not use that time to mentally jot down a list of people you want to contact and talk to about God? Wanna make MORE time? Lunch. A lot of us spend plenty of time at lunch….pretty obvious too. Well, instead of eating by yourself every day, why not plan, IN ADVANCE, to have lunch WITH someone twice a week? Use that time to either encourage a fellow Disciple or reach out to others. Do you drive to work? Why not listen to the Bible on CD or Tape rather than those RIDICULOUS radio talk shows? Okay, so you’re not into them…GOOD. Listen to the news? Most folks only need a few minutes of news to learn most of what is happening, what about the other 45 minutes or so you have when driving (or riding) to work? It will help your memorization and familiarization with Scripture which can be very useful when evangelizing. Each of us should review our schedules and revise it to include more minutes for God, because as Jesus said in John 7:6, “for you any time is right”.
There is an old saying that goes like this: “to make money, you gotta spend money”. I say, “to make time, you gotta spend time.
Getting out of our shells and spending more time with PEOPLE is one way to make more time (or at least make better USE of it). Provide a new environment for your life this month. Make some time for others. Make some time to call someone you haven’t talked to in years. Make some time to read the Bible during breaks. Make some time to do your OWN long and drawn out (I HOPE that is not what this seems like) Bible study.
There are only 168 hours in a week. You can’t MAKE more time than that. Most of spend roughly 40 of those at work, 31.5 eating, 49 sleeping, 11.5 driving and 4 hours at Church on midweek and Sunday. That leaves 32 hours. I don’t dare guess how many of those 36 you spend watching television, but I MIGHT dare to say it is more than most of us spend with God each week. Why not take those 36, make a plan every week to increase the percentage of them that you will spend with or for God, couple that with modifying some of the other 132 (work/eat/sleep/driving) hours to include spiritual activities. Take the time that God has given you, reassess and reallocate your priorities, and, in a new environment for your soul, make some time for God.
3. Take the Time. Okay, so now if you have not forsaken your time, and maybe have made some as well, sit back and Take some time. TAKE it? From whom? From yourself. Take the time that you use to make yourself FEEL better, and actually make your self BE better. Solomon wrote that there is “a time to tear down and a time to build”. Tear down the OLD you and build yourself up for God. Paul wrote about this same subject in Ephesians 4:22-25 when he said “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”
In order to tear down the old you, you must put off your old self. What specifically must you put off, you ask? Sin, I answer. Take the time to realize what sin you REALLY have. Review Galatians again. Remember the sin study. You once put that stuff behind you, but as time goes on, it seems to gain on you a little each day. Look back and recall the sinful life you used to live. If that doesn’t scare you, then Paul’s message in Galatians 5:21 should: “….I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” That is one warning we need to take the time to heed.
Take the time to sit and reflect. To create or modify your goals. To spend some with God. The time you take to do this, will reward you in the end. How about taking the time to simply relax? Are you stressed out a lot? Worried (oh-oh---there’s that ugly old sin again) about your job, your clothes, your salvation? Oops. Salvation. Well, I guess that is ONE worry that we all have. But if we simply take the time to STUDY the Bible, take the time to rid ourselves of sin, and take the time to be true Disciples, then THAT worry goes away in time. “Therefore I (Jesus, not me) tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But (take the time to) seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25-24) Take some of your time to relax. Cool it. Chill out.
Do you take time out of your busy life for movies? TV? Sports? Talking on the telephone. Oh-oh, struck a nerve with some of you. Yes, that blamed old Alexander Bell thing. Sure, time talking on the ‘phone’ CAN be spiritual for God. And, a lot of you use it just for that purpose. My hat’s off to you. But, what about those who simply use the analog/digital/cellular, or whatever modern contraption you may have, to sit for hours and not put God in your communication at all. That is NOT time well spent. I looked up the word ‘telephone’ in the Bible, and ya know what? I couldn’t find it. Yup, believe it or not, it was simply not there. Yes, I know that is silly and ridiculous, but I just wanted to make a point. A BETTER way to reach out to the lost, and to encourage fellow and fellowette Disciples, is to talk with them face to face. Take the time to get in your horseless carriage and go SEE someone. Every one of us live within 45 minutes by “otmobile” with each other, yet, most of us don’t take that precious time to stop by and encourage each other. Living where we do in Douglasville, my wife and I travel ‘probably’ the farthest of anyone in the Sector for ‘church-related’ activities, but I stopped complaining about that a long time ago. How many of you feel that the time to come to 5144 Kings Highway, exit 34 off I-20, is to far to drive? Everyone is welcome in our home, without specific invitations. I feel like Paul sometimes. Not often, but some times. Acts 28:30. Read it. Please add yourself to those who “come to see” us. Take the time.
“a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” Yes, wise Mr. Solomon could find time for everything. Even hate and war. We can also take time to hate and fight a war. And of course, I am talking about the daily battle with Satan. We NEED to hate him, and war against him. So, in the few hours left this week, take some time to gather up some hate within you. Hate that resides way down inside. It is time to bring that hate to the surface and let it fuel the war that we should be fighting. Hate the sin. Hate the temptations. Hate the evil thoughts. Spend a few minutes of your time in your next quiet time to reflect WHY you hate these things. In that way, you can prepare yourself for the on-going battle every day. Take the time to do that.
It is now time for me to close this short study. My intent was not to anger anyone who may read this and assume that I think I am better than ANY of you. I know better. I, personally, do not do everything I should be doing on a daily basis. But, I AM trying. And, in time, I hope to get better. I want to encourage all of you at this time, to take a look at your own lives. Don’t forsake any more time, make some time out of your busy schedule for God, and take the time that He has graciously given us to do things for Him.
To God be the Glory. Amen
PS….oh yeh….just in case you were wondering how Pete Seeger modified Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 (and again, no charge for this information_….
To every thing turn, turn, turnThere is a season turn, turn, turnAnd a time to every purpose under heaven
A time to be born A time to dieA time to plant A time to reapA time to kill A time to healA time to laugh A time to weepTo every thing turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A to build up A time to break downA time to dance A time to mournA time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together
To every thing turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time of love A time of hateA time of war A time of peaceA time you may embrace A time to refrain from embracingTo every thing turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time to gain A time to loseA time to rend A time to sewA time for love A time for hateA time for peace I swear it's not too late