OUR TIMES ARE IN THY HAND

OUR TIMES ARE IN THY HAND

Design for Christian Living - Part I

Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Sermon by The Rev. Dr. John A. Dalles

March 8, 2020

I enjoy reading about how people divide their time.  “Mr. and Mrs. Such-and-such divide their time between Pittsburgh and Naples, Florida…”  or some similar places.  No, that is not what I mean.  I mean specifically how they choose to use every God-given day.  How they fill the hours.  What they have to do and what they want to do, as a day unfolds.  Or put it another way.  If you were to divide up your time into categories, I wonder how much time you spend on work, on recreation, on acts of kindness, of sleeping, of eating, and the like?

I did a bit of research and this comes from the Wall Street Journal with a bit of clarification from the Pew Research Foundation, so these are what we would call fairly reliable sources.  What do they tell us about how people divide their time?  In a typical week, the average American spends …

-        -  15 1/2 hours awake

-         - And 8 ½ hours sleeping

Of those 15 ½ hours when they are awake…  How would you suppose they spend their time?  Here is what the research indicates:

-       -  52 minutes [nearly an hour] commuting

-         - 9.3 hours working

-         - 7.2 hours at play; that is, discretionary time…  Leisure and sports, and recreation and exercise; including almost 4 hours per day… you guessed it…watching TV, and 1 hour and 8 minutes eating.

Which, if you are good at adding these things up in your head, already makes an average day filled with more than 24 hours. So far we are up to more like 26 hours in a day.  How that is even possible, I do not know.  And did you notice?  We did not figure in these things:

-         Time spent in some kind of activity on behalf of others – we might call it volunteer work, or acts of compassion.

-         Time spent in worship and prayer and private devotions.

I know that all of you are like the children of Lake Woebegone – that is, all of you are above average.  So your results will vary.  At some point this week, it might be an interesting and worthwhile venture, to figure out what those results might be.  How you are using your time.  Especially those 7.2 hours of discretionary time.  And then – in keeping with our New Testament scripture of the morning, ask yourself.  Faith.  Where does that fit in?  According to the Letter to the Romans, faith fits into that part of our day for which we do not receive wages, or a salary, or financial remuneration.  As the apostle Paul says:

4 Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.

And faith is something different, altogether.  Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something.  Faith is a strong belief in God, in the doctrines of religion, based on spiritual apprehension, rather than proof.  Faith is a conscious choice to depend upon God, day in and day out.  Faith means looking at life with the attitude: “Our times are in Thy hand”, as Dr. Kerr says it in our beloved Shadyside Presbyterian Church Anniversary Hymn.  When we take that thought and run with it, the average hours of the day take on a new meaning altogether. 

Faith fits, whether we are waking or sleeping.

The University of Virginia’s collection of Jefferson papers comprises some 3,650 items.  Most are original documents or contemporary transcripts made by secretaries and family members.  Of the total, 1610 are by Jefferson’s own hand.  Including the drawings for the Library Rotunda which is the centerpiece of the University Campus (which Jefferson also designed).  You can go to the University and see it.  In all of its un-matched neo Classical splendor.  But before it was a reality, before it was there in brick and stone, it was an idea.  A plan.  A drawing.  A design.  The builders had to live into that plan to make it a reality.  We have to live into God’s plan for our lives, in order for us to be the people God designed us to be. 

We have been made to live for Christ, in Christ, and representing Christ to others.  There is a plan for our lives, which we are living in to.  It is as if the blueprint exists, but now we are building according to that design.  We could call it our “Design for Christian living.”

During this season of Lent, we who follow Christ seek to re-design our lives along the pattern that Jesus has prepared.  In order to do that, we share in action of learning, of wellness, and of self-denial

We die to the old self.  We put on the new identity – designed in God’s image.  A tremendous amount of love, care, thought, and energy has been spent on that design, already.  God initiated it.  God supports it.   By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are becoming what God has planned us to be.  When I say this, I mean “we” as in each one of us; and I also mean “we” as in all of us, together. 

Faith fits, whether we are working or playing.  Out times are in Thy hand.  In the time that someone or something else has authority over us.  In other words, when we are working.  When we have to answer to someone else, in order to be paid for what we are doing.  Can faith find a place in the workplace?  Of course it can.

You may work somewhere where you are prohibited from speaking about your faith, directly.  I understand that.  I have talked with teachers in the public school who have that kind of a restriction on their speech.  But I know that those particular public school teachers demonstrate every day, faith filled living. If they can speak a word of encouragement along the lines of Jesus Christ, they do.  If they can show kindness as he showed it. They show it.  If they can by acts of nurturing and care, sooth what is troubling their students, they do so.  If they can provide food for thought, they do that.  I would guess that most of their students have figured it out, that something makes them tick that is different from people who do not have a living faith.  One of the popular hymns says they’ll know we are Christians by our love.  Yes, it is true.  Another popular saying is that you may be the only bible that someone ever reads.  Again, yes.  Correct.  Faith in action can speak volumes without saying a word.  Faith can find a place in the workplace.

My friend Al was a top executive for a Fortune 500 company.  He was also a deeply devoted Presbyterian.  He and I had the joy of teaching Sunday school together for some years.  At one point we were teaching on the 8^th century prophets, which can be a challenging – although compelling – task.  He mentioned to me that from his earliest work day onward, he did something that I admire and that you might wish to emulate.  He kept, in his upper desk drawer, a reminder of what he would and would not do, as he conducted his work life along the lines of Jesus Christ.  It was way before that popular saying, “What would Jesus do?”, but it was exactly that.  When confronted with a decision, when working with colleagues or supervising others, when making important decisions that would result in the company’s success.  He had that reminder list. 

I have often thought that he didn’t really need it, since he lived his faith in a way that makes me glad to have known him.  But there was his reminder of faith, his simple but profoundly practical list of what he would and should do, as a follower of Jesus Christ in a workplace that was as secular as any giant corporation can be.  Can faith find a place in the workplace?  Of course it can, and it should.  Faith fits, when we are working.

What about when we are playing?  Can faith find a place in our discretionary time?  You know beforehand how I am going to answer that. You expect a minster to say, “Yes, it can”. So having said that, I will then say: The question is whether it does.  How much does your Christian faith enter your conversation?  Inform what you read, and watch?  Prompt what you choose to do when you have a choice in the matter?  This is a question of the stewardship of your time. 

You can use your discretionary time however you may wish.  If you want to take up safe-cracking and go on a crime spree; that is up to you.  I know that is an extreme example, of bad stewardship, but there is something of a sliding scale between that, and sainthood, and one of the goals of the Christian life is to be moving away from a misspent life, toward what is lasing, and true, and good and meaningful, and Christ-like.  A fancy theological word for that is sanctification, which comes as you can tell, from the same word as saint.  We are all saints of God in that we have given our lives to Jesus Christ.  We have said with our lips in front of the congregation:

-         Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.

-         I trust him.

-         I intend to be his disciple, obey his word and show his love.

-         I promise to give of myself in every way, and to seek the fellowship of the church whoever I may be…

Every Presbyterian says that, when we join a Presbyterian Church.  In other words, we place our time in God’s hands.

One of the reasons we come to worship is to ask ourselves how are we doing with that?  Trust me, this is not a guilt trip.  This is a cheerful reminder from someone who cares about you, a suggestion to check and see if you are feeling right about the ways in which you spend your – what was it ? 7.2 hours per day when you can do exactly as you please, and precisely what you want.  Ask yourself: Am I spending it as God would please?  Faith fits, whether we are working or playing.  Out discretionary times are in Thy hand.

Faith fits – even when a day seems to have more than 26 hours, and here is not enough time to accomplish what we wanted to.  No matter how busy you may be – there is time for God.  No matter how full the day is – there is a time to pause and pray.  Or if you cannot pause, to pray as you go.  Today, you may be feeling over-stressed.  You do not have enough time.  Trust me, you have enough time.  Just enough to put it all in God’s hand.  Keep Jesus before you.  You nothing lack, for you are his, and he is yours, forever.  Amen.

This is an original sermon by The Rev. D. John A. Dalles, Interim Senior Minister and Head of Staff of Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA .  It was delivered on the date indicated in the text. You are encouraged to read it and reflect upon it.  Please keep in mind that the sermon is Copyright © 2020 John A. Dalles.  Permission from the author is required to reproduce it in any fashion.  

Design for Christian Living - Sermon Series During Lent 2020

Design for Living - Sermon Series During Lent 2020

We have been made to live for Christ, in Christ, and representing Christ to others.

There is a plan for our lives, which we are living in to.  It is as if the blueprint exists, but now we are building according to that design.  We could call it our “Design for Christian Living.”

During this season of Lent, we who follow Christ seek to re-design our lives along the pattern that Jesus has prepared.  In order to do that, we share in action of learning, of wellness, and of self-denial

We die to the old self.

We put on the new identity – designed in God’s image.

A tremendous amount of love, care, thought, and energy has been spent on that design, already.  God initiated it.  God supports it. 

By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are becoming what God has planned us to be.

When I say this, I mean “we” as in each one of us; and I also mean “we” as in all of us, together. 

As the Sundays in Lent continue, please look for sermons and additional thoughts on the subject of "Design for Christian Living" each week..

“What Do You Want” - I.” When Jesus Asks”

The beginning months of 2015 have brought us an ongoing look at the questions that Jesus asked in the Gospel of John.  Here is the first of the sermons in that series.  From time to time, I will post others from the series, as well. 

 

“What Do You Want” - I.” When Jesus Asks”

A Sermon by Dr. John A. Dalles

Sunday, January 4, 2015

OT Ps. 147:12-20; NT John 1:35-40

 

This morning we are beginning an ongoing series from John’s Gospel that looks at Jesus based upon questions that he asked.  Jesus often used questions as a way to engage people, to prompt them to think about themselves and about their faith.  Jesus is the Master of the well-posed question.

The first question from John’s Gospel is very early in his ministry.  As John relates it, it goes like this:

Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"  John 1:38

This is John’s account of the call of his first disciples.  It is fascinating to note that before they were Jesus’ disciples, they had been disciples f John the Baptist.  We might want to reflect on who John was and what John did, in order to understand why people might have become h is discloses.  Then, perhaps, we can find some qualities in the first relationship of leader and disciple that carried them into their association with our Lord.

We know that Andrew was one of the two disciples who heard John the Baptist that day.  Andrew and peter were both fishermen, and came from the town of [Capernaum] on the sea of Galilee.  As the passage tells us, Andrew h ad at some point prior to our lesson, decided to follow John the Baptist.

Now john was a colorful and charismatic man, who had a message about confession of sins and of repentance.  People who came to him only once, came to let go of the sins that had weighted  them down.  They went out to John in the wilderness, heard his message, were baptized as a  sign of dying to sin and beginning fresh and clean, and then … they went back to their homes and lives.  They were changed, but their place and manner of living was not noticeably interrupted.  They began again, but they did not leave the familiarity of friendships behind…

And then there were those others who when they went out to the wilderness, stayed.  Or stayed connected to John the Baptist.  We think they may have formed a kind of retreat setting community, there in the wilderness.  It would have demanded rigorous living, and setting aside of much of their past. 

John was an eloquent speaker, he gave people a focus for living that was spiritual, and sought purity and readiness.  John’s message “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!” called people to live as if the Messiah was about to appear on the scene.  It could happen any moment.  The people around John were sure that it would happen very, very soon. 

The ancient Israelites had waited a long time for the Messiah to come, and some had grown complacent .  Sloppy expectations led to less than exemplary living.  The Messiah has con come for centuries, no matter what the prophets have been saying, (went their line of thinking) so the chance that the Messiah might appear today or tomorrow is about as likely as winning the lottery or finding a needle in a haystack...

But John the Baptist’s dimples beloved otherwise.  They were sincerely convinced that the Messiah was coming momentarily.  The Messiah, the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sins of the world, would appear and save His people,.  Just like the Passover Lamb protected their ancestors from the shadow of death way back in Egypt—

Loudly and long, John proclaimed it would happen.  They believed him.  So they stayed as close to John as they could.  Two of them were right there with him the day he pointed out his cousin Jesus and said: “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

“Behold, the Lamb of God!”

          What they must have felt.  It is like waiting for a baby to be born, month upon month, and then the day arrives.  It is like studying long hours and going to many classes and passing many tests and finally, the day of graduation arrives.  It is like a long engagement, where far off  you know that you will hear the church bells chime and you will exchange your vows, one to another.  At the outset, it seems like the day will never come.  But on that day, when John said:

          “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

          They knew that the day had indeed arrived.

          It is a measure of a growing faith that they heard what John said and then they followed Jesus.  They had been preparing the way in t heir own hearts and minds for quite some time.  We believe that it was snot their own doing so much as it was the Holy Spirit aching in them, to draw them nearer, nearer to that moment when they would decide  to follow Jesus.  The Spirit had kindled a fire for God’s promise deep within them, and that fire had not gone out, it had not smoldered or sputtered.  No they had kept it aflame by the fiery words of John the Baptist, and they were prepared to see and follow the Lamb of God when he arrived.

 

Picture that day, with others in the scene.  A crowd.  There were people going about their daily business—and important business it was.  Making a living, creating useful and beautiful objects for sale, or simply enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.  We cannot say how many were there, or who else heard what John the Baptist said, but we do know this, that 2 of his disciples followed Jesus.  They made the choice to risk, to go, to learn, to grow, in short, to live.

          Henry Drummond once said it:  “Death is more universal than life; everyone dies, but not everyone lives.”  All round them were people who were sure to die.  But these two disciples—they who decided to follow Jesus—they were sure to live.  In this world, and in the next.

          Do you wonder how it must have felt for John, to see these two disciples leave his side and watch their backs as they went after Jesus sin the crowd?  Was he joyful, that they had understood his message and were in that moment, getting close to the Lord?  Was there a part of  him that sighed, with a measure of sadness, that they would no longer be at his side, as students and followers—

          A true leader, a true parent, a true servant to God has to be ready to send their followers and children and the ones they mentor out into the world.  To fulfill their calling.  O the temptation is strong to tie them ever to one’s side, to keep them close at hand, to stop the development of their intellect and their faith at some point that seems the ideal.

          A wise leader, a wise parent, a wise servant of God knows that sending people out to be with and serve the Lord is about the best thing one can do.  After the teaching and nurturing and guiding and discipleship have done its good work, there is that other higher calling that awaits.

          With every step through the crowd, from John to Jesus, they were following that higher calling.  They had a plan. 

          “Many people seem to think that the spiritual life necessarily requires a definite and exacting plan of study.  It does not.  But it does require a defiant plan of life.  And course in stick to the plan, not mealy for days or weeks, but for years…  This is something which cannot be hurried.  But unless we take it seriously, can be infinitely delayed.  Many people suggest by their behavior that God is of far less importance than their bath, morning paper, or early cup of coffee…” (Evelyn Underhill, alt.)

          So… There was Jesus, walking away…  and there they were, walking toward Jesus and the, all of the sudden, Jesus looked over his shoulder, and saw them following Him and asked them the question that would change their lives.

           "What do you want?" 

          I would like to believe that this is the question Jesus asked them because he wanted them to have what they wanted.  What they wanted deep in their heart of hearts.  We might call it their hearts desire. 

          If you could have anything in the world, what would you want…  might be another way of saying it.  Yes I know that sounds like the question the jinni asks before granting three whishes.  You’ve probably played that mental game of what you would ask for (a recent commercial tells us that wishing for a million bucks is not a good idea unless we are fond of deer).  But you see that is still at the superficial level.  Good health long life happiness. Those kinds of wants are getting warmer.  To live as best I can the life I was created to live… that also is a good want.

          What do you want?

          The person who asked that question that day is the one person who can give you what you want.

          In all of history, in the entire world, Jesus is the one.

          We know that Jesus – God’s word – created all that is.  And is lord of all that is and so, has the authority to share and covey and give whatever portion of all that is, to whomever He deems needs it most, or will do the most with it, or will be the most grateful.

          Andrew and that other dispel of John the Baptist stood on the brink of being able to ask for whatever they wanted.

          How did they answer?  To be successful. To be happy.  To be popular.  To be considered wise.  ….      No.

          They answered: “Where are you staying?”

          It sounds a bit odd.  But then, think about it, they had been staying where John the Baptist had been staying.  They had been keeping close to the one who would point the way to God’s messiah.  And now he was here.  So of course they would want to know where HE was staying…  so that they could learn from him. 

          And then came the invitation…  ““Come and you will see.”

That is the invitation to dispel ship, isn’t it?  “Come and you will see.”

I cannot tell you all that you will learn.  “Come and you will see.”

I cannot show you all that you will see.  “Come and you will see.”

I cannot relate to you the adventures of faith that await you.  “Come and you will see.”

I cannot let you peer down into the future.  “Come and you will see.”

          So they walked off together through the crowd.  We know some of the adventures that awaited them.  But we cannot know all of them.  We know how Jesus changed their hearts and minds, how His compassion for people was proved again and again as they saw him heal their diseases of spirit, and mind and body. 

          Watch them, those first two disciples, and Jesus… and think as you see them go…

One of them is Andrew.  The other one…That’s me.  For I too long to be with Jesus to learn from him and grow in faith.  See yourself moving into the future with Jesus at your side, your teacher, yes, your guide, yes, your friend, oh yes.

          Walk forward with Jesus.   If you don’t you will never get where  you are going.

          Jesus’ invitation is for you:  “Come and you will see.”