Today Is The Day - 05.05.13
Intro: Talk about my friend Michael, who died unexpectedly. I have been reminded anew of the truth of James:
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’.” James 4:13-15 NIV (p. 852)
This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t make plans. It means that we always need to recognize that we are not in control of our own futures. Compared to the eternal God, our mortal life is like a mist. Like a fog.
Illustration - Tuesday morning fog before breakfast. Gone completely afterward.
1. ___TODAY___ is the only day I have.
I can’t change ___YESTERDAY___.
I have no guarantee of ___TOMORROW___.
May not be a new lesson, but one worth reminding myself of daily. Otherwise I squander the day and lose opportunity. Today is all we have. This is why the psalmist...
“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12 NIV (p. 413)
Illustration of $86,400 a day. What if each day you were given $86,400 to spend on anything you wanted. But anything you didn’t spend you lost. NO SAVINGS! NO BORROWING! How hard would you work to spend every last dime? This is what our lives are. Each day we have 86,400 seconds, no more, no less. We use them or we lose them.
The more we live in each moment, the more we become like God:
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’.” Exodus 3:14 NIV (p. 40)
Isn’t this fascinating, because if there is anyone Who has the power to change yesterday and Who has the guarantee of tomorrow, it the Almighty! Yet He more than anyone identifies Himself as the “I Am.” Always in this present moment - for all eternity!
So how do we make the most of this moment? How do we best live in today?
2. I am commanded to ___REJOICE ALWAYS___.
You might be surprised at this, especially if you think of Christianity as hanging around with doom and gloomers. Ours is not a sour-puss faith!
“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24 ESV (p. 425)
This Psalm is filled with instruction and theology. It’s starts with “This is the day the Lord has made.” Who made it? The Lord! Who is in control? God is! Who owns the day? He does! Often we live our lives as if somehow we created this day, as if we somehow were in charge. If that were the case, then it would be understandable if there were days we didn’t rejoice. Because not everything goes as planned. Life is filled with disappointments. When we realize that each day is a gift - no matter what - then we can rejoice. This is why Paul writes...
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ... Do not be anxious about anything.” Philippians 4:4, 6a NIV (p. 820)
Paul connects the dots between anxiety and rejoicing. You can’t do both. And you won’t when you have the right perspective on the “mistyness” of life. Two generations from now, most of us will not be thought of again by other people. What’s a big deal to you today will be “no deal” 100 years from now. The idea here is not to be distressed about our own short-term life span. The concept is to rejoice in our eternal connection to the eternal God. We can’t do that while we’re worrying and anxious about what’s going on today.
Jesus: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34 NIV (p. 679)
How does tomorrow worry about itself? Who is in charge of tomorrow if not us? God! In other words we rejoice today and let God worry about tomorrow - because He’s in control. Which leads to an honest question:
3. Is it about me or is it about God?
Illustration - As you think about this question, consider the Creator. Thanks to the Hubble telescope we now know there are (conservatively) 350 BILLION galaxies. Why would God make so many? Could it be so we would know just how BIG He is? Or consider the opposite extreme. Did you know that a caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its head? That’s quite a few for a bug! LOL. Or that the average elm tree has approximately 6 million leaves on it? Why so many? Why so detailed? So we would know the truth of...
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90:1-2 NIV (p. 413)
What’s the point of this focus on God? What does this have to do with how we live our daily lives? What does it have to do with making the most of each day? With rejoicing? Is it about me? Or is it about God?
Illustration - Francis Chan in Crazy Love tells the story of being an extra in a movie. I identified with it because of all the movies made in Cleveland. (Christmas Story in 1983, Air Force One 1997 made Cleveland look like Moscow, Spiderman 3 in 2007 shot on Euclid Avenue. Wikipedia 23 major motion pictures!) Right now Captain America filming begins May 18th! What if you signed up to be an extra in C.A. You’re one of thousands shot in the crowd scene. A year from now you rent a theater so people can see you? Not about you!
In the same way our daily lives are not about us! The Bible tells us the story of God. It’s all about Him. So what does this tell us about our anxious days, our worry and our stress?
___WORRY___ - I don’t believe that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what’s happening to me.
Is it possible that the God who created 350 billion galaxies, 228 muscles in the caterpillar’s head, or 6 million leaves on the Elm tree, doesn’t have the ability to take care of me? When we have the right view of God, and our relationship to Him, and our correct position next to Him - our worries disappear. What about stress?
___STRESS___ - tells me that what bothers me is important enough to display my impatience, my lack of grace to others, or my tight grip on control.
Who is really in control? Me or God? When I realize that it’s God in control and not me, I won’t have reason to get all stressed out, because it’s not about me. It’s all about God!
The Bible teaches that we shouldn’t worry and we shouldn’t stress out. But we do anyway, don’t we? When we do (and it’s sin because it goes against God’s instructions to us), we unconsciously believe our issues to be exceptional. Really - both worry and stress demonstrate arrogance! Because we show we forget that we’ve been forgiven, that our lives here are brief, that we are headed to a place where we won’t be lonely, afraid, or hurt ever again, and that in the context of God’s strength, our problems are small indeed!
So what is our purpose in the here and now - TODAY? If it’s not about me, what is the point of everything?
4. The point of my life is ___TO POINT TO HIM___!
You and I have been put here on this earth for one reason only. To point toward the glory of God. As humans, we are unique because we can freely choose - from our own heart of love and from an independent will - to love, worship and honor God.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV (p. 798)
Whatever you do - work or play, good times or bad, happy or sad, when our plans are working out and when they’re not, when we’re on the mountain top as well as when we are in the valley, all things, all times, all events, all occasions - do it all for the glory of God!
Conclusion: How are you doing? This is a talk that hits us all because we’re all guilty of spending too much time looking backwards or focusing forward. We all worry and get stressed out. And we all are reminded when we lose someone close to us that all we have is right now. Let’s make it about God EVERYDAY!
Pray. Sing “Everyday” with Praise Team. Dismiss.
