I was sitting in front of a small amber screen with my family watching the first man walk on the moon. I looked over at my father and asked him what type of job I have to get to do something like that, and my father told me engineers made that happen.
So I started working for NASA on the Space Program back in 1987. What I did in my career was quite exciting. What I learned through engineering was most of the stuff I worked on, people said weren't real, it can't happen. And I took that as a challenge to do the impossible.
But I didn't feel the fulfillment of life. I didn't know what the purpose was. So I retired from work. There was a lot of turmoil and anxiety going on in life. I would walk down to the pier on a fairly regular basis, and I started to talk to God as I knew him and never heard anything.
Then in March of this year, I had wandered down to the beach and was sitting out at the end of the pier when four small children walked up to me out of the blue and asked me if I would like them to pray for me. When they got done, they looked at me, and the little girl asked me if I'd like to take Jesus into my heart, and I said yes.
I cried from one end of the pier to the other because I just had this feeling that I had heard the voice of God. From that point on, I started to become more engaged and trying to understand what it was he was saying to me. I started to go to church; I was hearing the message.
I had been involved in a rooted group and saw one of the big takeaways from my rooted journey was the community the church had, and I felt I was gaining that through this group of men that I was spending time with every week.
As I became more and more involved in the church, my wife and I have tried to expose my children to that. I find the fact that Jesus died on the cross and did what he did in his short life is an amazing gift. I don't think it's ever too late to say yes to Jesus.
My career has had many highlights, but when I look back, the fulfillment was short-lived. Things you hang on the wall, they don't live with you, whereas a life with Jesus goes on forever.
It's a joy to worship with you today. My name is Justin, and I serve as the online pastor here. Joe's story, what a beautiful story. It reminds me of how God is always pursuing us and inviting us into a new life with him. He never gives up on us, and he often works through the faithfulness of others to reach us with his love.
It's because of your generosity that we're able to serve people like Joe and help them take their next steps of faith. Giving to your church helps us create intentional environments for people to learn more about Jesus and go deeper into community. You can text the number below to give now. Thank you for being a part of the incredible stories Jesus is writing through our church.
Part of Joe's faith journey was going through Rooted, our 10-week small group experience designed to connect you to God, the church, and your purpose. In Rooted, he learned more about God's word, went deeper into his faith, surrounded by a life-giving community.
Now, if you have never gone through Rooted, now is the time. Signups for the fall session are live. They just opened with in-person groups at all of our congregations as well as online groups. And for the first time ever, we're launching online groups by time zone so you can meet at a time that works best for you and for your family.
If you're looking to go deeper at Mariners and find community, Rooted is the perfect opportunity for you. Visit the link below to learn more and to register today.
This weekend, we're launching a brand new teaching series called Life. We've all heard these phrases: Seize the Day, live life to the fullest, make every moment count. These resonate with us because we know life is short. The Bible even says our lives are like a vapor, here for a little while, then vanishing.
So how can you make the most of the gift of life? Together, we'll see how scripture offers wisdom on how you can make the most of your time, gifts, resources, relationships, and career. You can access today's message notes using the Mariners app or through the link in the chat.
Now let's welcome back our Senior Pastor, Eric, as we open God's Word together.
Welcome to Mariners Church. I'm so glad to spend time with you today. I have missed welcoming you. I've missed welcoming you to our worship service. If we haven't met, my name is Eric. I'm the senior pastor here, and I've been on study break for five weeks. So I haven't taught in five weeks.
Every July, the elders of our church give me a month to spend time with Jesus and His Word, to spend time with my family, to map out the teaching calendar for the next year. My prayer going into study break is always, "God, I pray you would burn in my heart so fervently and deeply the messages that you desire your people to hear for this next season."
It's from a passage in Jeremiah 20:9 where Jeremiah the prophet says, "God, you've put your word in my bones. It's like a fire. I can't hold it in. I'm weary of holding it in. I cannot." And that's exactly how I now feel. The Lord was really gracious and generous to answer that prayer.
So I'm so excited about what I'm going to be teaching you over this next season and as we move into 2024. But it's good to be back from study break. I also enjoyed time with my family. We got to go to the lake together.
Here's a picture of us at Lake Mead in the Las Vegas area. And I thought about time because I've been your pastor for five years now, and I looked back five years ago. This is a picture of us at the lake in Tennessee five years before we moved here.
And then five years from now, both my daughters will graduate high school. I mean, that's how fast this goes. Here's a picture of us with our daughters at the lake several years before that first picture. I mean, it's going by so quickly.
The songs are true, once they were seven years old, or the time keeps on ticking, it just keeps going so quickly. I thought a lot about time as a father, and I thought a lot about time recently as a son. Many of you know that my dad was recently diagnosed with ALS, with Lou Gehrig's Disease.
And it's caused me to think once again deeply about the fragility of life, the brevity of life. I enjoyed two great weeks with my parents in May. They were out in Southern California. I took my parents to dinner, and driving back from dinner, I'm in the driver's seat, my dad's in the passenger seat.
My dad's looking at his hands, and he says, "I don't understand how quickly they're becoming so hollow. I mean, look how different they look, look how fast it is happening." And we talked about these bodies and how we aren't supposed to live forever in these bodies that deteriorate.
I said, "Dad, in the scheme of eternity, I'm just a couple of years behind you. I mean, my body will deteriorate too." I mean, these lives are so fragile, and our time here in this world is so short.
In fact, many say that if you want to think about how long you have here, that it's about 80 years. And this is 80 years. If one week is a marble, there's 4,160 marbles in this jar. And so this is what you got. This is what you hope.
I mean, some live shorter in Southern California. We tend to live a bit longer, according to research when we take care of ourselves, we live longer in Southern California. In fact, we even look younger. I mean, there are people who look 60 all the way until they die. You're like, "How? I thought that person was sick." Well, they were 90. They just look 60 because we just, we look younger and live longer.
But the reality is there are a limited number of marbles in the jar of your life. And life is so short. Understand your why. Be self-aware of how brief life is so you can squeeze the most out of your time here.
And David, in the passage that we read, he gave us two illustrations of how short our lives are. First, he says our life is only a vapor. It's a vapor like the mist that emerges in the morning, and the sun quickly burns it off. It's just, it's gone really fast.
And then he says something fascinating. He says that our lives are just inches long. He's saying, "God, compared to you, I am nothing, because God, you are eternal." And also compared to the vastness of your creation, my life is really, really short.
And so David is speaking about God's creation, how big and vast it is. The circumference of the earth is 1.6 billion inches, and David says my life is really very small compared to the circumference of the earth.
And the distance from Pluto to the Sun, for example, is 233 trillion inches. So David is considering the vastness of the world, the bigness of God's creation, and the vastness and the immensity of who God is.
And he says, but for me, my life, the days of the human life is really only a few inches. In fact, your life, one day, it will be measured by a few inches. And this is deep, but hang with me. I mean, really, one day, our lives will be measured by a few inches because there will be a tombstone above where we are buried, and there'll be the day that we were born, a dash, a few inches long, and the date in which we die.
Or we'll have a plaque on a mantle somewhere, and it will say our name, and there'll be the date that we were born. There'll be a dash, a few inches long, and the date that we die. Our lives are a few inches long; they're a dash.
It's essentially what David is saying: compared to the immensity of creation, our lives are just a few inches. In fact, your life is so short. There was a very popular poem written called "The Dash." That your life is a dash, that at the end, one day someone will look at your tombstone or a plaque on a mantle, and everything you've done will be encapsulated in that dash.
So what are you going to do with the dash that you've been given? You were born; you will die; your life is this short. And one day, it will be memorialized by a dash. What will you do with the dash that you've been given?
Now this is where scripture diverges often from the popular readings in our culture today. So all of the books that I mentioned and other books like it and podcasts, they all agree with what scripture is saying that, hey, life is really short.
But then you'll see a divergence in what do we do now when we understand life is short. So I'm assuming we're on the same page, right? That life, yes, I get it. Life is short; at the end, I'm a dash. But what do we do with this one brief life we've been given? What do we do with the time we've been given?
There's going to be a divergence of viewpoints. And essentially, even under the banner of carpe diem, there's a divergence of viewpoints. So all the books, all the podcasts, they will say, listen, your life is brief. Carpe Diem, seize the day, make the most of it.
But they mean different things when they say make the most of it. For some, make the most of the brief life you have, they will say, hey, pursue pleasure. Listen, you got one life. You only live once. YOLO. You only live once. Go for pleasure. Enjoy. Squeeze the most enjoyment you can out of life.
Others will say, listen, with this one life, come on, achieve, accomplish. Carpe Diem. Make it happen. I've seen motivational speakers even post on Instagram the day after a funeral of a family member or loved one, essentially say, I'm reminded once again at how brief life is. Go for it, achieve, accomplish. Fulfill your dreams. Make the most of life.
And so some say, go after pleasure; some say, accomplish things. So there's understanding life is short, make the most of it, but different viewpoints on what make the most of it is.
On the podcast The Daily Stoic, the author of 4000 Weeks was interviewed by the host of The Daily Stoic podcast. And the host essentially said, but in the end, does any of this matter anyway? I mean, no matter what we do with our 4000 weeks, we don't take any of it with us. We all die.
And this guy believes that there it's the end. So what does it matter anyway? He asked. And the guest said, hmm, I, you're right. In the end, I guess it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
The scripture is so much more hopeful than that. The truth of God is so much more hopeful than that, that your life does matter, that your dash does matter. And listen, this actually even much more liberating that you don't have to live with the pressure of trying to figure out how to make your life meaningful, that you don't have to fear the deathbed where you're going to look back and have regrets; you don't have to live that way.
You don't have to live with fear of that moment; you don't have to live with the pressure of making your life meaningful. The news of Jesus, the scripture is so much better because when you've believed in Jesus, God has moved into your life, and he is the one that gives meaning and significance and purpose to your life.
And your life, yes, it is short, but because of Jesus, it matters. Your life matters, and it's not the end because those of us who believe in Jesus, we live forever. And so the scripture is so much more hopeful on how we can actually redeem the time that we have.
And I want to show us how. Look with me in this second passage we're going to look at in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 15 through 18. David, the psalmist said, "Lord, help me to be aware of how short my days are." And the Apostle Paul says something similar, "Pay careful attention then to how you walk, not as unwise people, but as wise, making the most of the time."
Because the days are evil. So don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is, and don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit. Paul says, "Hey, pay very careful attention to how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of the time."
Now the word time there, in the original language the Apostle Paul wrote this in Greek, and there were two Greek words he could have chosen for time. Chronos, we get the word chronological from this word; it means time in general, make the most of the time in general. It's not the word he chose.
The second word which he chose, which is also translated time, is the word Kairos, and it means a pre-set, pre-allotted, predetermined amount of time. You get no more; this is all you have. Make the most of the time that has already been given to you.
Make the most of the time because the days are evil, he says, meaning we live in a world that's going to ask us to give our time to a bunch of other things other than Jesus. But don't do that; the days are evil. Instead, make the most of the time by living in a different way.
Now the passage is not filled with a bunch of modern time hacks. I mean, this is not a modern-day blog where he's going to tell you, you know, seven ways to make the most of your morning. Why not? Because this passage is written for all cultures in all generations, and many people who have read this passage in the past and still read this passage today do not have control over their time.
I mean, they're slaves, and people who have lived oppressed lives who've read this passage and are reading this passage today, and God is saying, "Make the most of your time." And they have no discretionary time. So this is not a passage evaluating what percentage of your time you get to work, what percentage you give to hobbies, what percentage you give to family. That's not what this passage is.
This passage is written even to people who have no control over their time at all on how to view time, that no matter where your time is spent, you can make the most of it. That no matter where your time goes, whether it's at work or school, or a hobby or relationships, that the totality of your time, even if you don't have control over your time at all, you can still make the most of it.
How? How can you make the most? Now, I want you to see the mystery and the beauty of this passage, and to do so, I want you to see three different phrases. So we're going to highlight these. He says, "Hey, walk with wisdom. Be wise. Understand the Lord's will and be filled with the Spirit."
So wise, the Lord's will, filled with the Spirit. Be wise, understand God's will, be filled with the Spirit. I want you to see how these phrases are used earlier in the book of Ephesians, and this will help you understand how to make the most of your time.
Check this. This is now the first chapter of the book of Ephesians. I want you to see how these words come together. It's going to help you understand how to make the most of your time. Ephesians 1, verse 7-9. "According to the riches of his grace, that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom, the riches of the grace of God poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ."
This is what this means. That God had this really wise plan that many people did not understand. It was mysterious that God, the Son Jesus, would enter this world to know you. And you, to know him. That God's will for you is that you know Jesus and that Jesus know you. That's what this is all about. It's about us knowing Jesus.
See how the words are playing together. Now look, later in Ephesians 1, verse 17, Paul says, "I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glorious Father, would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him."
So when you became a Christian, God the Spirit moved into your life. And now you know Jesus. And now you walk in wisdom. You can walk in wisdom because God the Spirit moved into your life.
Say this is all connected. About making the most of your time. How you make the most of your time by knowing Jesus. You make the most of your time by helping other people see the plan of Jesus. That Jesus wants to know them.
You make the most of your time, and you walk in wisdom when you are seeking to know Jesus. And seeking for Jesus to be known by other people. See all of this is related. You want to make the most of your time. You're always making the most of your time when you are seeking to know Jesus more and for Jesus to be known by others.
You have been given a limited amount of time. You were born; you will die. The dash, the inches in between, is your life. Live your dash for what will last. Live your dash for what will last.
That means that you understand that God sent you into your career. And in your career, even the challenges and the struggles that you have, they are invitations for you to know Jesus more. In the middle of the challenges and the struggles at work, and the goals at work, and the opportunities that work, those are opportunities for you to help other people know Jesus more by how you love them, by how you serve them.
Students, there's a day you start high school, there's the day you start college, there's a day you graduate. The dash is in between. Live your dash for what will last. The struggles you have in high school, God's going to use those so that you know him more.
And as you have faith in him in the middle of the trial, God's going to use you to encourage other people to trust Jesus, that Jesus is better than all of the great things in high school, that Jesus is better than all the bad things in high school, that Jesus is better. And as you trust him, you will encourage others.
Live your dash for what will last. In your neighborhood, your condo, your apartment, you live your dash for what will last. You realize that God, in His sovereignty and His providence, puts you in that condominium complex, in that neighborhood. He puts you there.
And you can use your home. Your home's not going to last forever. Your home will not last forever, but you can use your home for what will last forever. What lasts forever is people. You can serve people in your home. What lasts forever is your relationship with Jesus. God puts you there so that people will encourage you and you will encourage others.
Use your dash for what will last. See the product that you launch, it won't last forever. Your senior project in high school or college won't last forever. But what lasts forever is the people that you serve. In the middle of the product that you launch, what lasts forever is the people you influence.
In the midst of your senior project, what lasts forever is that God uses those in your life for you to know him more. Now, that doesn't mean that your senior project or the product that you're launching is insignificant. No, it actually makes it really significant.
In fact, the more you think about eternity, the more of an impact you have here. The more you realize that you want to use your time for what will last. The greatest impact you have in this world, C.S. Lewis said it this way, "If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next."
So you want to make a big impact in this world; you realize, I only have these many marbles. And with all the time, whether my time is in the hobby, in the career, in my relationships, in my neighborhood, the time I have, I'm going to make the most of it by knowing Jesus and helping others know Jesus.
I'm going to live my dash for what will last. Augustine, an early Church Father, he, like others, compared money and time and being wise with money being similar to being wise with time. It is fascinating; think about it. We have many of us who are so cognizant about not wasting money, and yet we will not think much about our time.
But we can get more money. You can't get more time. You can get more money. You can make more money right now. But you cannot add to the limited amount of time you've been given. So make the most of your time, but Augustine said whenever there's something you want that you believe is valuable, you lose to get it.
Think about it. If dinner with some friends is really valuable, you lose to have dinner. You pay money to have dinner. You lose money to enjoy dinner. You lose money for a possession that you believe is valuable. You lose money for seats at a play or at a game because you believe those seats are valuable. You're willing to lose money for something that is worth it.
And Augustine said the same must be true for time. If you're going to make the most of your time, you must be willing to lose some things. What does it mean? If you're going to make the most of your time, what do you need to lose?
If you're going to make the most of your time, what do you need to lose? So that you will know Jesus more and help others know Jesus. I'll give you some possibilities. Maybe as you begin a new week, you need to lose some of the mindless scrolling on social media. You need to lose that so that you can gain time in the scripture.
So that you can know him more. Maybe this week for you, you need to lose the time you spend worrying. When that worry hits, "Now I'm going to lose that, and I'm going to instead devote time to praying."
Maybe this week, you need to lose the time you spend thinking about how you can get more people to serve you and instead think about how you can serve more people. You have to lose to redeem the time, to make the most of the time.
Maybe for you, it's you need to lose the constant obsession with what people think of you. And then lose that and gain caring about what people think of Jesus and how people know Jesus.
Be very careful how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of the time. You have a pre-set amount of time. You make the most of the time by giving your dash to what will last.
And here's what always lasts: knowing Jesus and helping others know Jesus. A life that is lived of knowing Jesus and helping others know Jesus is never a wasted life. Our bodies will waste away, but what is never wasted is knowing Jesus and helping other people know Jesus.
A life that is lived of knowing Jesus and helping others know Jesus is never a wasted life. And now you can live your dash for what will last. Our bodies will waste away. But that is never a waste.
My dad and I have been invited into this glorious, mysterious plan that was revealed when Jesus came here to rescue us and bring us into a relationship with Himself. And you have been invited into this glorious plan by Jesus too.
And if you have believed in Him, He has moved into your life. The spirit of God is within you. You don't have to live with fear about the day on a deathbed. You don't have to live with worry. Oh, am I going to do it right? I have such a limited time. If I'm going to do it right, no, you can just rest because God has moved into your life.
And you redeem the time by knowing Jesus and helping others know Jesus. Live your dash for what will last.
on Nov 05, 2023
