Psa 90:1-12 A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. (2) Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. (3) You return man to dust and say, "Return, O children of man!" (4) For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. (5) You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: (6) in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. (7) For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. (8) You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. (9) For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. (10) The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. (11) Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? (12) So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Mat 25:14-30 "For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. (15) To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. (16) He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. (17) So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. (18) But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. (19) Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. (20) And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' (21) His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' (22) And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.' (23) His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' (24) He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, (25) so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' (26) But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? (27) Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. (28) So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. (29) For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. (30) And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
Introduction
Many of us are afraid of exams. Whether we like it or not, there is one exam everyone will face.Rom 14:10-12 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; (11) for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." (12) So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
The good new: God wants us to pass this exam. He has given us the questions beforehand. There are 2 questions.
- Why did you do with my son, Jesus Christ? Have we accepted him?
- What did you do with your life? Are you spending time on worthy causes or squandering our time?
2Pe 3:10-12 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (11) Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, (12) waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
Peter tells to invest ourselves in things that will last.
1Co 9:25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
Paul tells us to set our sights on winning the right race.
Nike’s tagline is Life is short, just do it. For Christians, it should read Life is short, do it right.
Thank God, we don’t have to worry how to live our lives. God gave us the Scripture to tell us how to do so.
What must we do to make our lives count?
How do we life our lives to the fullest measure to bring glory to God1. Live with a sense of eternity
Ecc 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.Life on earth is like a full dressed rehearsal. Let’s prepare for eternity.
Psa 90:5-6 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: (6) in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
Compared to eternity, our lives are short. Sometimes we don’t even remember our classmates and teachers. Our mind / memory / body fade.
On every tombstone, we see 2 important dates (years) connected by a dash – the year of birth and the year of death, both which we have no control of. But we can control the dash.
Psa 90:10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Eph 5:15-16 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, (16) making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
We will make wrong decisions and take God casually if we do not live wisely. We may also take sin lightly thinking God’s judgement will not come upon us.
When we see our lives through the eyes of our maker, we find the little things matter less. We don’t have to worry about the impression we make with others. Is that movie so important that we have to watch it?
For most, the only time to ponder eternity is during wake services. People will gather to sing hymns and talk about the life of the recently departed. No one talks about the possession of the deceased but rather how the life of this person touched theirs. When we leave the earth, we leave behind the quality of relationship, our generosity and the lives we touched while we were still alive.
What would people say about us? More importantly, what would God say about us? Don’t wait until 60 to begin making our lives count.
Php 3:7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Psa 90:12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
At the end of out lives, we are evaluated by how well we handle what God has given us.
2. Maximize Our Gifts and Talents
There are two things we can do with our lives – to waste it or to invest it for the glory of God and to leave a legacy.3 Principles:
God gives everyone talents
Mat 25:15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.Everyone is gifted but not the same way. We must accept that different people received different gifts from God. There is no such thing as a person with no talent.
Rom 12:6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;
Zig Zigler said we are the only person in the whole world who can use your talent.
(I like and respect Pastor Kee who pay attention to facts – he told a story about camel and made it a point to tell us the camel humps are not to store water. That’s more that I can say for some preachers.)
What we we doing with what God has given us?
God expects us to use our talents
Mat 25:19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.One day, God will require us to give an account of how we used the talents he gave us.
Mat 25:18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money
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Mat 25:26-27 But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? (27) Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
God would rather we serve Him and fail and rather that not trying anything.
Rick Warren wanted four words to be put on his tombstone – ‘At least he tried.’
Doing nothing at all is not excusable.
Fears keep us from developing our talents
Mat 25:24-25 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, (25) so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.'The third servant gave excuses that he wanted to play safe. He was told clearly to invest the money. He came prepared with a speech - he put the blame on the master!
Satan likes to use fear. There are 3 kinds of fear that will prevent us from using our talents
- Self-doubt
- Self-pity
- Self-consciousness
Mat 25:28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
If we don’t use our muscles, we lose our muscles. Use it or lose it. It is a universal law.
The promise of God’s reward
Mat 25:23 His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.' (MSG)Mat 25:23 His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'
- Affirmation = “Well done!”
- Promotion – given greater responsibility. He who is faithful in little will be entrusted with more.
- Celebration – honoured
3. Develop Christ-like Character
Christ-likeness is what God wants to see in usRom 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
2Co 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
These 2 verses present to us a very important truth – we are given the honour to bear the image of God. It is an great privilege. It is also an awesome responsibility.
Christ-likeness is also what the world wants to see in us.
We make them. Jesus is always on our lips. We witness. We tell everyone Jesus is the answer. Therefore, they want to see who Jesus is in our lives. It is ok for our friends to critique us as Christians. But it is sad when they critique us of not being Christian enough.
We ought to to a stock take of our spiritual inventory? Pastor Kee found the fruit of the spirit listed in Gal 5 to be a good checklist.
Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
4. Doing good, loving people
Gal 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.God brings people into our lives every day. Sometimes, what they need is just attention, is for someone to tell them we care and listen. But we don’t see them.
On a cold January winter morning, 7 out of 2000 people gave money to a violinist who play 6 JS Bach songs. It was Joshua Bell, who played a USD 3.5 million violin.
We don’t recognize. That was Jesus in the orphanage, in the jail, in Klang Bus Station. The person needed our help was Jesus – what did we do for him?
Pastor Kee was very encourage by Joshua 13:1 which he read when he did his journaling in Dec 2010.
Jos 13:1 Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the LORD said to him, "You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess.
Keep pressing on. How much of Jesus do we have in our lives? How much Bible do we have in our lives?
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