31st July 2005 

DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE  -  Pastor Linton Smith

In a book of daily devotions that I find very helpful.. one of the authors writes about a photo on a wall in his home.. a photo of a rusted rake leaning against a post in a vegetable garden overgrown with weeds.

Apparently his father in law had been a keen gardener. One afternoon he leaned his rake against a post, walked to the house and never returned.

Several months later the writer took the photo. He says it reminds him of two things.. he must work while he can.. and he must keep it in perspective and not make it more important than it is.

He writes, Because my days are numbered, I need God’s wisdom to spend each one as I should [David McCasland ODB 15-6-05].

The Apostle Paul would agree. He writes..

Ephesians 5:15-17.. Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

Next Sunday we begin 40 Days of Purpose with the question, What on earth am I here for?

Today we are thinking about these words..

Be very careful how you live.. make the most of every opportunity.. understand what the Lord’s will is..  

In other words, don’t waste your life.. but try to understand what God wants and do it!

Today.. we are going to think about the one very big thing God wants us to do.

à        WHAT DOES GOD WANT?  HE WANTS MY WHOLE LIFE!

About 3,500 years ago God rescued His special people, Israel , from bitter slavery in Egypt . They saw God do some mighty things to set them free. Just over 40 years later.. Moses said to them..

Deuteronomy 10:12,13.. And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

God has been amazingly kind to you.. now.. this is how He wants you to respond to His kindness.. He wants you to fear Him.. love Him.. and serve Him.. with all your heart and all your soul! He wants your whole life.

This is how God wants us to respond to Him too.

In his letter to the believers in Rome Paul reminds us how amazing kind God has been to us. He begins by reminding us that we are all headed for judgment day.. and drives home the point.. that on that day.. we will all fail the test.. not one of us will be declared righteous. We are all in deep, deep trouble. Then he tells us how God stepped in to rescue us.. He sent Jesus. Jesus was a great teacher… a miracle worker.. At 33 years of age he was crucified and buried. That was Friday. On Sunday He rose again. He was no ordinary person.. He was God in human form..  and when He died on the cross.. and rose again.. He did it for us.. in our place.. and when we believe that.. put our trust in Him.. He declares us righteous..

And when He does that.. we have peace! Paul reminds us of that.. then in.

Romans 6:1-4,12,13.. he asks..  What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life… Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

Shall we go on sinning? No way. He wants us to live a new life! He wants us to offer ourselves to Him!  He wants your whole life.. He wants my whole life. He wants you and me to be devoted to Him – to Him alone!

Jesus said.. Matthew 6:24.. No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Faced with that challenge, I find Proverbs 3:5,6 very helpful.. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 

In all your ways acknowledge God. NLT – Seek His will in all you do. CEV - Always let Him lead you. Include God in everything you do.. from Sunday to Sunday.. include Him in everything.. speak to Him.. aim to please Him.. ask Him for His help.. And when we do.. He makes our paths straight.. directs our paths.. He opens up the way before us.. There is a picture in the Hebrew word here.. a picture that takes me back to my days on the farm as a young lad.. helping my father water the oranges.. We set the water running.. and then dug a channel ahead of it.. guiding it to this tree and then that.. at times blocking the path to redirect it.. but all the time leading it on.. God will do that for you.. when we include Him in everything.. when we  always let Him lead us!

That is what God wants.. but that doesn’t just happen..  

à        WHAT DOES IT TAKE?  IT TAKES DISCIPLINE.

Paul said to Timothy.. 1 Timothy 4:7,8.. Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Train yourself.. How? Throw off the things that hinder..

The author of the letter to the Hebrews.. says.. 

Hebrews 12:1,2.. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Throw off every thing that hinders. Concentrate on the things that really matter.. with our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus. In 1845 two sailing ships set out from England to find a way across the Arctic Ocean . They took along a lot of things they did not need.. a library of 1200 books.. fine china.. and silverware.. and only 12 days supply of coal for their auxiliary steam engines. They got stuck in the ice.. and all perished. A rescue team found the bodies of two men who had pulled a sled about 100 kms across the ice.. and found the sled filled with table silver!

How foolish! But what about us? Are we dragging along things that don’t matter.. that hinder.. may destroy us? Let’s take a good look at our lives..

Train yourself.. How.. Spend time with Jesus.

Let’s think for a moment about Mary and Martha.

Luke 10:38-42.. As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

What Martha did was not wrong. It was right to serve Jesus.. what was not right was to get all het-up about it! I feel sorry for her.. and identify with her! How different it may have been if she had joined Mary.. and sat quietly at the feet of Jesus.. listening..  Then she would have gone about serving Him with a quiet and peaceful spirit!

Train yourself.. How?  Allow God to work in and through you.

Paul tells us.. Philippians 2:12,13.. Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Let’s take that to heart.. God is at work in us.. slow down.. be with Him.. and He will inspire you.. lead you.. to do just what He wants you to do! 

What does God want – my whole life. What does it take – discipline.. the discipline to walk quietly with Him.. to allow Him to lead us.. to work in us and through us! 

à        WHY SHOULD I DO IT?

              BECAUSE OF WHAT JESUS DID FOR ME - THE CROSS.

Think for a moment.. Who is Jesus? A good man.. a great man.. yes.. and far more.. He is God become man.. God in human form.. The one who created the Universe.. died on a cross for us! 

Kendrik puts it so well..

Come see His hands and feet  

The scars that speak  

Of sacrifice   

Hands that flung stars Into space  

To cruel nails  

Surrendered

Paul.. Romans 5:6-8.. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

How are we to respond to such love.. such mercy?

Paul.. Romans 12:1.. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Paul again.. 2 Corinthians 5:15.. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

And again.. 2 Corinthians 6:1.. As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.  The Message: Don’t squander one bit of it!

An old man dying of cancer told his pastor this story..

God called me to preach.. I will.. if you help me sell my farm. God did.. next day a buyer.. then he said.. If he will teach my SS class.. I will preach..

The man bought the farm.. and taught his class.. but did he obey the call to preach.. no.. he went to America .. and there his life fell apart. His wife died.. his oldest daughter died.. he was declared bankrupt twice.. Now dying.. he said to the pastor.. I have only three months to live.. I know I am saved.. but oh the loss.. I will soon be ushered into His presence to give account of a whole life of disobedience [Bible Tracts Inc]

God is saying to us.. Don’t be like Him!  Don’t waste your life.

Hand your life.. everything.. all you are.. have.. hope to be.. to Me..

Let’s decide today.. to include God in all we do.. let Him be number One in our lives.. without rival..  and walk quietly with Him!