01/10/10
LIving In the Moment
Summary:
Jesus didn’t come for the good, and the put together people…Jesus came for the sick, for the financially poor, and the spiritually impoverished, for the physically blind and those who can’t see God…He came for people who would never think of themselves as being God-worthy. Jesus came for those who are helplessly lost in sin, and who recognize their desperate need for God’s unconditional, unmerited love.
Welcome:
I hope that you had a wonderful New Year…We just returned from visiting Beth’s side of the family in Nebraska. Just one minor detail from our trip… In the evenings, the temperature dipped to 17 below…so when we flew into Boston, it felt like we were stepping back into a tropical paradise, a balmy 32 degrees…Life is Good. It’s great to be back with you.
Today, we are beginning a brand new series that has the potential to change all of our lives in a profound way. The series is called 30 days to live and we are going to examine how our lives would be different if we recognized and embraced the truth that our time is very, very limited. Unless Jesus returns in our lifetime, and we meet him in the air as Paul described in the book of Thessalonians, the truth is that all of us are going to die.
In case you’re wondering, I’m scheduled to die on July 16, 2066, at the age of 89. You may wonder how I know that. I know it because I went on the internet and found the death clock and this death clock asked me the day and year I was born, how much I weigh, whether I exercise, how much I work, my family medical history, whether or not I have a pet, and on and on. According to this death clock, I have 20,464 days left to live.
The truth is that I could live longer or I could live much shorter. Next week when I get on the highway, I could get in a car accident and I could die then. I could have cancer and not know it and die six months or a year from now. I could have a heart attack while I’m out shoveling snow. I could go out with Jeff for lunch and share in some of his crazy food choices and get food poisoning, game over. The possibilities are endless.
The truth is that if we were all really honest, we would recognize how brief life really is.
And when we come to grips with that truth, it has a way of bringing incredible clarity to the way we choose to live. It allows us to begin to see the people, and the opportunities that God has placed in our lives as gifts from God…
How often do we think about this reality?
Illustration – Car ride to Edmond – I can still see Beth and myself driving in the car to visit my parents in the Oklahoma City area. This was the Thanksgiving before we would get engaged…We’re driving peacefully, and Beth randomly throws out the question. What would you do if you only had one month to live?
So, I, being quick on my feet, and knowing that I would soon ask Beth to marry me, said what came to mind first…I would go home and spend it with my parents, and you could come visit me…ding, ding, ding, wrong answer.
The unexpected happened. Beth got really frustrated. I was clueless as to why she would be so irritated at my response. As I talked it through with my dad, I began to realize that she was probably more hurt than angry…I had essentially communicated to Beth that my parents were more important to me than her, the woman that I was going to marry. Fortunately, she didn’t abandon ship on me.
If I were to ask you, what would you do if you discovered today that you only have thirty days left to live? Where would you go? Who would you spend those days with? Where wouldn’t you go? What wouldn’t you do? How would you spend your time? What would you cut from your schedule?
This is the question that we want to ask ourselves over the next four weeks.
How would our lives be different…How would your life be different if you only had 30 days to live?
Let’s look at Scripture together. Read with me from Psalm 39…
Psalm 39:4-5 – “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered – how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.”
Would you read that first sentence aloud, and when you do, let’s make it our prayer together.
“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.”
Whether you realize it or not, your life is incredibly brief. On the timeline of eternity, you and I are like a mist that appears for a moment before it vanishes.
In this series, 30 days to live, we are going to get to know a few people… Some people that the doctors said had a very limited time to live. This week you are going to meet a young woman, who was a mom, a wife, and a daughter. When her story was filmed in 2007, she had just been diagnosed with stage-four cancer. Let’s watch part of her story together…
(Video)
Stacie’s story is very powerful and you’ll hear more of it today. Let’s talk for a moment as we recognize that our life is very brief.
Go with me to James chapter 4…
James 4:13-17 – “Look here, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.’ How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog – it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.’ Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”
Because life is brief, the width of a hand, I want to explore what it looks like to live in the moment. And I pray that God will speak to us today through His Word and that He would move in our lives in two areas…
Turn the When into Now
First, we’re going to ask God to take our lives and turn the when into now. I don’t know if you’re anything like me but for so much of my life I have literally almost wished life away.
Beth and I have had several conversation about looking forward to the days of no more diapers, no more car seats, no more strollers…you know…We just packed the baby crib up for what we believe to be the last time, it was a strange experience…We bought that crib eight years ago. All four of our children have used it…and we probably won’t use it again until our kids have children…If God gives us that opportunity. That moment marked for us a passing-season…a time period that we’ll never have again…we have memories, very good memories of our four children in that bed, but we can’t go back.
And Beth and I have recently recognized how we each have such a tendency to mentally grow our kids up, to wish them older. And we’ve been convicted lately, that when we do that, we’re missing out on time, on moments, that God is giving us with our children, today…
Do you know what I mean?
I don’t know how it plays out for you, but I’ve talked to a lot of people who have a variety of when-thens.
‘One day when I get married, then I’ll finally be happy.’
‘One day when we get the right home, we’ll have people over’
‘One day when we finally get out of debt, then we’ll begin to live generously with our money.
‘One day when my career is established and we are strong financially then I’ll reengage with the family.’
‘One day when the kids are grown, then we’ll start investing in our marriage again.’
When everything is the way I want it to be, then I can fully engage with God and do what He is calling me to do…
‘One day when everything falls into place, then I’ll pursue the dream that God has given me.’
The problem is that the ‘then’ doesn’t always come.
I don’t know what your when-then is but we’re going to ask God to turn the when into now.
Why? Because in case you haven’t realized life is brief. It is flying by.
Illustration – Last week, we were at a family get-together, and I was playing a 16 year old in basketball, and I was dying…I felt like a wuss. Yesterday, I was 16…I blinked, and today I’m 32. Where did those 16 years go?
Life is brief. We’re going to ask God to help us turn the when’s into now’s.
Maybe this is God’s assignment for you…from the book of James. No matter where you are, if you’re with your wife, if you’re with your husband, your kids, if you’re with a friend, with people at work…no matter where you are, make sure that you are all there…fully present.
If you have children, you’re not off in your mind working and engaging, solving some problem at work but you are all there. With everything in you at that moment, fully engaged. If you’re with your spouse, you’re not off thinking or surfing channels, you’re all there. Every bit of you, fully engaged. If you’re talking to somebody at work or engaged in a conversation with them. You connect with them. They are important to you. You hear their words, and you hear their heart. Wherever you are, be all there. Turn the when’s into now’s.
Start living in the moment, because if you don’t, life will be gone. Gone…
Proverbs 27:1 – “Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.”
That’s our first prayer…We’re going to ask God to turn our when into now.
Turn our Intentions into Actions
Chances are, if you’re like me, or most people I know, you’ve got some seriously good intentions about life but you probably haven’t gotten around to doing some of them yet.
Let’s revisit James 4:17 –
“Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”
James is addressing part of his audience who have begun to isolate God from pieces of their lives, in this instance, business, and making a profit…As a result, these individuals have become so focused on their own plans and purposes, that they have lost sight of God’s place in it all.
James is reminding them of the brevity of life…and of God’s call for them to live fully for Him…
So, we’re going to ask God to close the gap between our good intentions actions…so that we might live fully for Him.
Let me give you a couple of examples…(might go up a paragraph)
Maybe God wants you to reach out to someone who doesn’t know Christ but you just haven’t done it yet. Maybe God wants you to show your appreciation for someone, to express your love for someone, to encourage someone, to say thank you to someone who made a difference in your life, but you haven’t done it yet.
Maybe God is nudging you to get involved in your community, with the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the uneducated, the sick…to serve people in Jesus’ name, but you haven’t done it yet.
Maybe God is leading you to get involved at Harbor, to use your gifts, to start giving generously with your resources to support the ministry that God has called us to, but you haven’t done it yet.
Maybe God wants you to connect intimately with your spouse or to reach out to one of your children.
Maybe there’s someone that hurt you and God wants you to forgive them, or, maybe there’s someone that you hurt and God wants you to apologize.
What good intentions do you have that you have yet to act upon?
Illustration – About four years ago, God opened my eyes to see a part of my past that I had yet to face at that point in my life. I spent several years in my late teens and early twenties living in a very self-centered which caused me to leave behind a string of tattered and torn relationships…
I began to ask God to show me relationships that needed to be restored.
As He did that, I began to write letters, make phone calls, email these individuals…probably five or six specific people that I can think of…I apologized to them, acknowledging where I had hurt them.
While I can’t get back the time that I lost with friends, I can move forward with a clear conscience knowing that as far as I can tell, I’ve done everything in my power to heal what was broken. God has been so good in the process…Many of those relationships have been restored, and through it all, God has taught me the value of the people in my life today.
You have no idea what God might be able to accomplish when you do what He puts on your heart. Be obedient to what He calls you to. Never let the good go undone. Start today!
Proverbs 3:27-28 – “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them. If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, ‘Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you.’”
Our prayer…
God, turn our when into now…
God, turn our intentions into actions…
Here’s how I want to close.
It’s possible that you’re here and you’ve been putting off the most important decision that you will ever make. The decision to give your life to God…to embrace Him as King, as the one who Forgives sin, and Heals pasts, and redeems futures…
Maybe that’s your when…then…the intention that you’ve never acted on.
Maybe you think this way…when I become a better person, I’ll start engaging with God, because he’ll like me then…
When I get this habit kicked, this addiction beaten, this sin under control, then I’ll invite God into every area of my life.
Or how about this…
When I’ve done everything that I want to do…then, I’ll give God a chance, because right now, I’m doing just fine.
Can we talk honestly?
The Gospel…or Good News that we read about in Scripture, is that Jesus didn’t come for the good, and the put together people…Jesus came for the sick, for the financially poor, and the spiritually impoverished, for the physically blind and those who can’t see God…He came for people who would never think of themselves as being God-worthy. Jesus came for those who are helplessly lost in sin, and who recognize their desperate need for God’s unconditional, unmerited love.
I think that so many people hold God in a when-then pattern because they don’t understand God…
God is patient, and He’s kind…and He desires more than anything for you to know Him…to know His mercy, His power, His presence in your life. He wants to forgive you, He wants to relate to you, He wants to give you a heart for him, He wants to give you a desire to love Him and love people. He wants to teach you how you were designed to live…and that’s something that you’ll never be able to do on your own.
The Gospel is that while people were caught in a when-then waiting pattern, Jesus came and gave His life for us and absorbed the sin and wickedness and ungodliness and rebellious acts of you and me so that we can become right with God, and live our lives for Him.
That’s Good News.
And if you’ve been holding off that Good News for one reason or another, today is the day to embrace Jesus with your whole life. Say to Him, today, I surrender to you as My Forgiver, and as My Leader…I’m yours…where you go, I’ll go; where you lead, I’ll follow; where you move, I’ll move too. Today, I’m all in.
As we close, I want you to hear from Staci one more time because you’ll get a glimpse of a person who knew better than just about anybody that life is a mist. It’s here for a while and then vanishes.
(Video)
I’m going to guess that every one in this room has something that God is nudging you to move on…a when-then that can become a now…an intention that God is calling you to act upon.
I’m not sure what it is for you…but I want to pray as we close today, and ask God to make that very clear for you…
Let’s pray together.
Father, remind us how brief our time on earth will be. God, help us to understand that every moment counts. God forgive us for wishing our lives away and thinking ‘when something happens, then.’ God help us to turn the then into now.
God, help us to close the gap between our intentions and our actions. To do the good that you put in front of us when we have the power to act. God, show us who to reach out to, what to do, what to say, where to go, when to do it. God, I pray that we would get to the end of this life and say that we lived with no regrets. We did everything that you put in front of us.
God, thank you for life…it’s a gift from you. Help us to seize every moment, in your name we pray…Amen.
