10 Sunday after Pentecost 8/5/07 #1 of sermon series, "Help for the hurried life."
10 Sunday after Pentecost
8/5/07
Week one of four week sermon series
Text: Philippians 1
Title: “Help for the Hurried Life”
How many times after you have arrived at your destination and somebody has asked, “How was your trip?” and you have answered, “We made it in good time.” The trip in itself might have been uneventful or you might have seen a lot of interesting things on your way, but the usual answer to the question, “How was the trip?”, is usually, “We made it in good time.”
It is unfortunate, but for most of us in today’s busy world, it is not the trip itself that is important, but the speed in which we made the trip. Therein lays the problem.
There is an epidemic sweeping though our nation. Its physical symptoms are exhaustion, fatigue, loss of sleep, upset stomach, tightness in the chest, and many other physical problems.
It is easily diagnosed, but not easily cured. There is no vaccination for it. There are no special diets. No special medicine, although people spend a fortune on vitamins, caffeine, and other stimulates to try and help them overcome the disease, but in the end they only make it worse.
The epidemic I am talking about is hurriedness. It not only effects our physical and mental health, but our spiritual health. There are many theories as to why this disease is spreading, but none of them hold up to scrutiny in the end, except for one and that is what we are going to look at this morning, and the next four weeks as we join together in prayer, daily devotion, and small group Bible study.
Now to avoid confusion, let me clarify two words, hurriedness and busyness. Busyness is an outward behavior, a series of activities leading toward a goal. You can be extremely busy without being hurried. Hurriedness on the other hand is internal. It is a mental condition as well as a spiritual condition as we will find out.
Jesus, we know led a very busy life. He was on the go all the time. He had a goal he had to reach and he never let the things he did, healing, forgiving of sins, teaching the Word of God, and miracle working interfere with his goal.
He was a busy man, but never a hurried man. It was not a hurried life because Jesus knew his purpose and that purpose was to reach his goal. He knew what was going to happen on the cross, but more importantly in the tomb.
I know some of you are thinking he should have known for he was God, but in thinking that way you are missing a most important truth about Jesus and yourself. He was a true man just as you are a true man or woman, boy or girl.
This morning we are going to look at the life of another busy man to see how he can help us with our hurried lives. You might want to follow along with me in your Bible if you brought it. Chapter one, verse one tells us something that we need to know about Paul and his co-workers. Paul considers himself a slave to Christ Jesus. The English word is servants, but that is just being politically correct. It is a shame because the word servant means something entirely different than slave. A servant can pretty much walk away, negotiate his or her own deal, but a slave has no rights at all. He or she is completely owned by their master.
What we learn here is that Paul considers himself to be completely owned by Jesus Christ. His life is not his, it is Christ’s. And because his life belongs to Christ, he can only do what Christ wants him to do.
What does that mean to us today? It means that we too, as followers of Jesus Christ, which we are, aren’t we, are owned by Christ. We are to do as he tells us, with no questions or objections.
That sounds bad to you? Well let me cut to the chase, for it should not. Who would you rather be owned by, you’re self which you know can mislead you, the devil who will mislead you, or God, who by the very fact that he is God cannot mislead you. The choice is yours.
Before you can live an unhurried life, you need to make sure that you know the goal that God has set for you. When you know your goal, then you will know your purpose.
You will not only know your purpose, but you will break the sickness of hurriedness, really the slavery of hurriedness, for hurriedness comes from being in slavery to the things of this world.
Two weeks ago we looked at the hurriedness of Martha. She had forgotten the goal God had set for her. She had let her hurriedness, as the Greek word says; pull her away from Jesus’ teaching. Last week we looked at prayer and the role it plays in our busy lives, for it reminds us that God is God and we are, well we are sinful humans completely dependent on his good will.
In verse 9 of the first chapter of Philippians we read of another prayer, the prayer that Paul is praying for those he loves. “And it is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.”
Each of us needs to pray this prayer for our self. We need to pray this prayer for our family, and those in this congregation, for in this prayer are three key parts for helping us to overcome our disease of hurriedness.
“Abound in love.” this is not some kind of I love you, you love me, we all love each other, but the love that abounds in action. God wants your love, actually his love flowing through you to be abundant. In other words the love he is talking about is an action word.
Another part of the prayer, “and in knowledge and all discernment” shows us that we are live our lives not in the wisdom of the world, but in the wisdom of God which is much better than the world can ever offer. God’s wisdom is knowing what is most important in your life. This is particularly important, for until you know the his wisdom, you will be a slave to every invitation and opportunity that comes knocking at your door.
When you have hurry-sickness you are admitting whether you want to admit to it or not, that you do not have a clear idea of what is goal in your life. You do not know what will advance you to your goal and what will draw you away.
The third part of this prayer is, “so you may approve what is excellent.” In other words you need to know what is best. When you have not set your goal or your priorities, you will spend time on things that are not in your best long term interest.
If you do not set your priorities someone else will. Write them down. Don’t begin by asking, what do I or my family want. That is the wrong approach, for it is the way of the world.
As a slave of Christ it only makes sense to ask, what is that God wants me to do? What is the goal he has set for me? What does he want me to do that produces significant, lasting results? Write it down and share it with your spouse or a friend.
You have to realize that you will never get everything done that you want to get done. People try to balance their lives, but you may as well give that idea up, for it is pure fiction. There is no such thing as a balanced life.
I remember an illustration I read somewhere about life. Imagine you have a balance scale. The only way that you can keep it balanced is to add equal amounts of weight to each side. When you keep trying to balance your life you will keep adding equal weights on each side until the balance breaks. There are probably some here today that knows what I mean, for you have broken the balance in your life.
Life is living an imbalanced life. You should not try to equalize all parts of your life. Not everything is of equal value. One of the keys to living an unhurried life is recognize that and then spend your time and energy on what is important, what it is that will help you reach the goal that God has set for you.
Notice in verse 18 Paul states what is important in his life. The important thing for Paul is, “Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed.” And in verse 21, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
You might not be aware, but Paul is living in prison. He is finding joy in the depths of a prison. He is living in the moment, not the past, or the future, but the moment and doing so he is teaching us a valuable lesson.
We too need to live in the present. We need to pay attention to those around us, as they are talking to us. We don’t need to be looking at our watch, or thinking of what we are going to say. We need to enjoy the moment, the trip, and not how fast or how much you can pack in during the trip.
Here is what you need to do this week. Look at your calendar for the rest of the week. Make sure that you have allowed time between those things you have to do. Look at each activity and decide which ones will help you reach your goal, which ones will make a lasting difference, which ones are just being busy and thus adding to your hurriedness.
I am not saying it is going to be easy, but you can be assured that when you put the goal God has given you first, you will find the time to do what is important, what is significant.
If you feel hurried ask yourself a question. “Is what I am doing helping me to reach my goal, the goal God wants me to reach? Get rid of those things and focus on the goal God has given and you will be on your way to living an unhurried life.
In closing let me remind you that there were many things that Jesus could have done, but he didn’t. His goal was clear. He needed to die on the cross to get us back into a right relationship with God. He knew what mattered most. He knew what would make the most significant, lasting difference. And he would not let anything to get in the way. He knew his goal, and thus his purpose.
He knew and we need to know also. The question that each one of you sitting here this morning need to answer is who will you follow, Christ your Savior who is the truth, the way, the life, or the world? Your answer will tell whether or not you are on the way to living an unhurried life. Amen
8/5/07
Week one of four week sermon series
Text: Philippians 1
Title: “Help for the Hurried Life”
How many times after you have arrived at your destination and somebody has asked, “How was your trip?” and you have answered, “We made it in good time.” The trip in itself might have been uneventful or you might have seen a lot of interesting things on your way, but the usual answer to the question, “How was the trip?”, is usually, “We made it in good time.”
It is unfortunate, but for most of us in today’s busy world, it is not the trip itself that is important, but the speed in which we made the trip. Therein lays the problem.
There is an epidemic sweeping though our nation. Its physical symptoms are exhaustion, fatigue, loss of sleep, upset stomach, tightness in the chest, and many other physical problems.
It is easily diagnosed, but not easily cured. There is no vaccination for it. There are no special diets. No special medicine, although people spend a fortune on vitamins, caffeine, and other stimulates to try and help them overcome the disease, but in the end they only make it worse.
The epidemic I am talking about is hurriedness. It not only effects our physical and mental health, but our spiritual health. There are many theories as to why this disease is spreading, but none of them hold up to scrutiny in the end, except for one and that is what we are going to look at this morning, and the next four weeks as we join together in prayer, daily devotion, and small group Bible study.
Now to avoid confusion, let me clarify two words, hurriedness and busyness. Busyness is an outward behavior, a series of activities leading toward a goal. You can be extremely busy without being hurried. Hurriedness on the other hand is internal. It is a mental condition as well as a spiritual condition as we will find out.
Jesus, we know led a very busy life. He was on the go all the time. He had a goal he had to reach and he never let the things he did, healing, forgiving of sins, teaching the Word of God, and miracle working interfere with his goal.
He was a busy man, but never a hurried man. It was not a hurried life because Jesus knew his purpose and that purpose was to reach his goal. He knew what was going to happen on the cross, but more importantly in the tomb.
I know some of you are thinking he should have known for he was God, but in thinking that way you are missing a most important truth about Jesus and yourself. He was a true man just as you are a true man or woman, boy or girl.
This morning we are going to look at the life of another busy man to see how he can help us with our hurried lives. You might want to follow along with me in your Bible if you brought it. Chapter one, verse one tells us something that we need to know about Paul and his co-workers. Paul considers himself a slave to Christ Jesus. The English word is servants, but that is just being politically correct. It is a shame because the word servant means something entirely different than slave. A servant can pretty much walk away, negotiate his or her own deal, but a slave has no rights at all. He or she is completely owned by their master.
What we learn here is that Paul considers himself to be completely owned by Jesus Christ. His life is not his, it is Christ’s. And because his life belongs to Christ, he can only do what Christ wants him to do.
What does that mean to us today? It means that we too, as followers of Jesus Christ, which we are, aren’t we, are owned by Christ. We are to do as he tells us, with no questions or objections.
That sounds bad to you? Well let me cut to the chase, for it should not. Who would you rather be owned by, you’re self which you know can mislead you, the devil who will mislead you, or God, who by the very fact that he is God cannot mislead you. The choice is yours.
Before you can live an unhurried life, you need to make sure that you know the goal that God has set for you. When you know your goal, then you will know your purpose.
You will not only know your purpose, but you will break the sickness of hurriedness, really the slavery of hurriedness, for hurriedness comes from being in slavery to the things of this world.
Two weeks ago we looked at the hurriedness of Martha. She had forgotten the goal God had set for her. She had let her hurriedness, as the Greek word says; pull her away from Jesus’ teaching. Last week we looked at prayer and the role it plays in our busy lives, for it reminds us that God is God and we are, well we are sinful humans completely dependent on his good will.
In verse 9 of the first chapter of Philippians we read of another prayer, the prayer that Paul is praying for those he loves. “And it is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.”
Each of us needs to pray this prayer for our self. We need to pray this prayer for our family, and those in this congregation, for in this prayer are three key parts for helping us to overcome our disease of hurriedness.
“Abound in love.” this is not some kind of I love you, you love me, we all love each other, but the love that abounds in action. God wants your love, actually his love flowing through you to be abundant. In other words the love he is talking about is an action word.
Another part of the prayer, “and in knowledge and all discernment” shows us that we are live our lives not in the wisdom of the world, but in the wisdom of God which is much better than the world can ever offer. God’s wisdom is knowing what is most important in your life. This is particularly important, for until you know the his wisdom, you will be a slave to every invitation and opportunity that comes knocking at your door.
When you have hurry-sickness you are admitting whether you want to admit to it or not, that you do not have a clear idea of what is goal in your life. You do not know what will advance you to your goal and what will draw you away.
The third part of this prayer is, “so you may approve what is excellent.” In other words you need to know what is best. When you have not set your goal or your priorities, you will spend time on things that are not in your best long term interest.
If you do not set your priorities someone else will. Write them down. Don’t begin by asking, what do I or my family want. That is the wrong approach, for it is the way of the world.
As a slave of Christ it only makes sense to ask, what is that God wants me to do? What is the goal he has set for me? What does he want me to do that produces significant, lasting results? Write it down and share it with your spouse or a friend.
You have to realize that you will never get everything done that you want to get done. People try to balance their lives, but you may as well give that idea up, for it is pure fiction. There is no such thing as a balanced life.
I remember an illustration I read somewhere about life. Imagine you have a balance scale. The only way that you can keep it balanced is to add equal amounts of weight to each side. When you keep trying to balance your life you will keep adding equal weights on each side until the balance breaks. There are probably some here today that knows what I mean, for you have broken the balance in your life.
Life is living an imbalanced life. You should not try to equalize all parts of your life. Not everything is of equal value. One of the keys to living an unhurried life is recognize that and then spend your time and energy on what is important, what it is that will help you reach the goal that God has set for you.
Notice in verse 18 Paul states what is important in his life. The important thing for Paul is, “Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed.” And in verse 21, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
You might not be aware, but Paul is living in prison. He is finding joy in the depths of a prison. He is living in the moment, not the past, or the future, but the moment and doing so he is teaching us a valuable lesson.
We too need to live in the present. We need to pay attention to those around us, as they are talking to us. We don’t need to be looking at our watch, or thinking of what we are going to say. We need to enjoy the moment, the trip, and not how fast or how much you can pack in during the trip.
Here is what you need to do this week. Look at your calendar for the rest of the week. Make sure that you have allowed time between those things you have to do. Look at each activity and decide which ones will help you reach your goal, which ones will make a lasting difference, which ones are just being busy and thus adding to your hurriedness.
I am not saying it is going to be easy, but you can be assured that when you put the goal God has given you first, you will find the time to do what is important, what is significant.
If you feel hurried ask yourself a question. “Is what I am doing helping me to reach my goal, the goal God wants me to reach? Get rid of those things and focus on the goal God has given and you will be on your way to living an unhurried life.
In closing let me remind you that there were many things that Jesus could have done, but he didn’t. His goal was clear. He needed to die on the cross to get us back into a right relationship with God. He knew what mattered most. He knew what would make the most significant, lasting difference. And he would not let anything to get in the way. He knew his goal, and thus his purpose.
He knew and we need to know also. The question that each one of you sitting here this morning need to answer is who will you follow, Christ your Savior who is the truth, the way, the life, or the world? Your answer will tell whether or not you are on the way to living an unhurried life. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 12:57 PM
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