Eliminate All Hurry<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pastor Don Carpenter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Redeeming Your Time \/ Ephesians 5:15\u201317; Luke 14:28\u201330<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today is the last day of a series called, Redeeming Your Time. A quick recap:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Ephesians 5:15-17, God commands us to \u201credeem the time.\u201d Why? So that we can do \u201cthe will of the Lord.\u201d Over the past few weeks, we have explored six timeless time management principles from the life of Christ as portrayed in the gospels:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
? Principle #1: Start with the Word<\/p>\n\n\n\n
? Principle #2: Let Your Yes Be Yes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
? Principle #3: Dissent From the Kingdom of Noise<\/p>\n\n\n\n
? Principle #4: Prioritize Your Yeses<\/p>\n\n\n\n
? Principle #5: Accept Your Unipresence<\/p>\n\n\n\n
? Principle #6: Embrace Productive Rest<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eliminate All Hurry: To redeem our time in the model of our Redeemer, we must embrace productive business while ruthlessly eliminating hurry from our lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus Was Busy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout this series, we have talked about how although life is drastically different now than in the first century, Jesus did have many of the same time management challenges we face today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most common words used in the Gospel of Mark is \u201cimmediately.\u201d No less than forty times does Mark employ this word to make an inescapable point: The life of Jesus and his disciples was busy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n One time, Jesus was too busy to eat and his family thought he was \u201cout of his mind\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark 3:20\u201321<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n John 11:9<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Cambridge Bible commentary translates Jesus\u2019s words as follows: \u201cAre there not twelve working-hours in which a man may labour without fear of stumbling? I have not yet reached the end of my working-day, and so can safely continue the work I came to do. The night cometh, when I can no longer work; but it has not yet come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When that night did come, Jesus prayed to the Father saying,<\/p>\n\n\n\n John 17:4<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we have seen over the past four weeks, Jesus was highly motivated to finish his work as a means of glorifying the Father, and that led him to be wildly productive and busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus Was Not Hurried<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But while Jesus was certainly busy, the gospels never show him hurried. What\u2019s the difference between busyness and hurry? I love how pastor John Ortberg puts it in his book, Soul Keeping:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026there is a world of difference between being busy and being hurried. Being busy is an outward condition, a condition of the body. It occurs when we have many things to do. Busy-ness is inevitable in modern culture\u2026.By itself, busy-ness is not lethal. Being hurried is an inner condition, a condition of the soul. It means to be so preoccupied with myself and my life that I am unable to be fully present with God, with myself, and with other people. I am unable to occupy this present moment. Busy-ness migrates to hurry when we let it squeeze God out of our lives.\u201d[1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Busyness is having a lot of meetings on your calendar. Hurry is scheduling those meetings back-to-back forcing you to sprint from one meeting to the next without enough time to hear your own thoughts. Busyness is having a lot of errands to run. Hurry is getting mad about choosing the \u201cwrong line\u201d at the grocery store because you have no margin for the thirty seconds you lost by choosing lane 3 instead of 4. Busyness is attending three Bible studies a week. Hurry is not having enough time and stillness to listen to God\u2019s voice in between those studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost all of us are busy and hurried. And that\u2019s a problem because that is not the way of Jesus and is thus not the model for redeeming our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what is causing all of our hurry in the first place? There are many answers to that question, some external and some internal. But perhaps most practically, our hurry stems from our failure to \u201ccount the cost\u201d of our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022\t[1] John Ortberg, Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 170. Kindle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus uses this accounting terminology with his disciples in the gospel of Luke:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luke 14:28\u201330<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sounds like a typical Tuesday for most of us\u2014biting off way more than we can chew in a 24-hour time period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus himself models this application in the gospel of Mark:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark 11:11<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark 11:15<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n OK, so Jesus\u2019 plan all along was to overturn some tables and drive out the vendors who were turning the temple into a \u201cden of robbers\u201d (Mark 11:17). So why not do this the night before? Why wait until the next day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, we can\u2019t answer those questions definitively, but given Jesus\u2019s track-record as a busy but unhurried guy, here\u2019s my guess: I think Jesus had counted the cost of his time. He decided not to cram any more activity into what had already been a busy day (see Mark 11:1-10). You can almost hear him muttering to himself \u201cIt can wait.\u201d Could Jesus have squeezed in a little table flipping before he retired for the night? Sure, but he chose not to. He had counted the cost and knew that adding anything else to his already busy day would have tipped the scales from busy to hurry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To redeem our time in the model of our Redeemer, we must, like Jesus, embrace being busy and productive toward his aims in the world, while ruthlessly eliminating hurry from our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve come a long way in this series, exploring these seven timeless time management principles from the life of Christ. Here\u2019s the full list:<\/p>\n\n\n\n ? Principle #1: Start with the Word<\/p>\n\n\n\n ? Principle #2: Let Your Yes Be Yes<\/p>\n\n\n\n ? Principle #3: Dissent From the Kingdom of Noise<\/p>\n\n\n\n ? Principle #4: Prioritize Your Yeses<\/p>\n\n\n\n ? Principle #5: Accept Your Unipresence<\/p>\n\n\n\n ? Principle #6: Embrace Productive Rest<\/p>\n\n\n\n ? Principle #7: Eliminate All Hurry<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before we close, I want to say a few words about discipline. As we\u2019ve seen the past few weeks, Jesus himself was disciplined with his time here on earth. He was intentional about glorifying the Father by \u201cfinishing the work\u201d he was given to do (see John 17:4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus\u2019s example shows us that discipline is a virtue and this is a theme the writers of scripture carry throughout the New Testament. For example, the apostle Paul writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 9:24\u201327<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As Christ-followers, we don\u2019t run through life \u201cin an aimless fashion.\u201d We are called to \u201cself-discipline in everything\u201d or what Paul also calls \u201cself-control\u201d when listing the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23). Discipline is a byproduct of a Spirit-filled, Christlike life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But listen up as we bring this series to a close\u2014as with any good thing, we can easily make discipline an ultimate thing and thus turn it into an idol. Discipline is a gift, but it can also be a curse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me encourage you to be on the lookout for two signs that you\u2019ve crossed over to the dark side of discipline and turned this good gift into an idol:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are unable to extend grace to others who are less disciplined than ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can\u2019t forget that everything we have\u2014including our ability to be disciplined as we redeem our time\u2014has been graciously given to us. James 1:17 says that \u201cEvery good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father.\u201d Our ability to be disciplined in redeeming our time is a gift of grace, just like salvation, \u201cso that no one can boast\u201d (Ephesians 2:9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are unable to extend grace to ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m going to remind you again: the gospel frees us from the need to be productive. God doesn\u2019t need us to finish our to-do lists. He loves and accepts us \u201cno matter how many good things we do\u201d and no matter how productive we are. It is Jesus that started the work IN US and Jesus who will finish it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Philippians 1:6<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:06 PM February 16, 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eliminate All Hurry Pastor Don Carpenter Redeeming Your Time \/ Ephesians 5:15\u201317; Luke 14:28\u201330 Today is the last day of a series called, Redeeming Your Time. A quick recap: In Ephesians 5:15-17, God commands us to \u201credeem the time.\u201d Why? So that we can do \u201cthe will of the Lord.\u201d Over the past few weeks, … Continue reading Eliminate All Hurry<\/span>