Focus: Time is a precious gift from God. Use it wisely.
Function: To encourage the people to see and form their lives within the context of God’s saving love and acts in Jesus Christ.
Text: Psalm 90:1-17
About 6 weeks ago, I had a moving conversation with my 88 years-old father, who for the last 5 years has been living with prostate cancer. His body is “yelling” at him more and more, and he is becoming frail. He asked me if I would be willing to conduct his funeral in due time by delivering a message.
Together we
talked about what he wanted to be done should that day come. And I asked him, “Dad,
what Scripture passage would you like me to preach from?” He said, “That passage that says, “My times are in
your hands….’” Then he broke down and said, “Let me tell you
why.”
Woven throughout my father’s story of life is a thread of
close encounters with death. For example, my father was 21 years old when
Germany invaded the Netherlands. My father was stationed near the border of Germany.
On the first night of the war, a bullet from a German rifle ricocheted off my
father’s helmet. That was his first encounter with death.
The following morning, the Germans captured my father and
his company of soldiers. The Germans led their prisoners of war to a
concentration camp near the Polish border. My father stayed there for a couple
of months, and there he nearly starved. Each day the Germans fed them some
watery soup, a potato—if they were lucky—and a piece of bread. Many prisoners
died. My father survived his encounter with death by starvation.
When the Dutch prisoners of war were allowed to return to
their country as civilians, my father was one of them. He went home, and
promptly joined the underground resistance movement. Along with local friends,
my father engaged in risky, hostile actions against the German occupiers in
town. My father and some of his friends were caught. While some of my father’s
friends were shot, my father ended up in prison to be shipped by train to a
labor camp in Germany.
While the train was on its way to Germany, my Dad managed
to escape and found refuge on a farm in the countryside. Slowly but surely he
managed to get back to his hometown, where he again joined the resistance
movement. The Germans caught him again, and locked him up at night, along with
two other underground fighters, in a small cell that was part of a bunker in
the dunes. The Germans did not realize this, but the air duct in my father’s
cell was filled with sand blown into it by the wind.
The
next morning, the Germans opened the door of the cell to interrogate their
captives and to lead them off to a dreaded prison in Scheveningen. They found
my father and the other two prisoners laying flat on their stomachs, with their
mouths right near the floor by the threshold of the cell door, gasping for air.
My
father survived the war. And after a lifetime of living with the reality of
death all around him, he has learned to say with the Psalmist: “My times (O
Lord) are in your hands.” Congregation, time is a precious gift from God.
Use it wisely.
Today
is the last Sunday of 2008. We are about to leave a tumultuous year behind us—a
year filled with blessings, yes, but also with multiple, enormous challenges
for our nation and world. The downturn in our economy and financial world is
causing hardship for many people who are now unemployed. The challenges in the
Middle East and the war on terror have only increased and become more complex.
And these problems only make up the tip of the iceberg of problems and
challenges ahead of us.
We
are about to enter a new year: Anno Domino 2009—that year, too, is the year of
the Lord. For all our times are in the hands of God. So, let me say it again:
time is a precious gift of God. Use it wisely.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Psalm
90 is a contemplative prayer, filled with references to the eternal God, to
time and the brevity of life. Throughout the centuries, Psalm 90 has inspired
generations of Christians to draw comfort, strength and guidance from this
prayer of Moses, offered at the end of his life. 17th Century poet
and hymn writer, Isaac Watts, for example, wrote his famous hymn “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” based on
the words of Psalm 90
Time, like an
ever-rolling stream, soon bears us all away; we fly forgotten, as a dream dies
at the opening day.
O God, our
help in ages past, our hope for years to come, still be our guard while
troubles last, and our eternal home.
Psalm 90 has many references to time. Historically,
the early Christian church associated this psalm with the beginning of the
workday. They would recite Psalm 90 at sunrise to start their day of labor.
Their habit of taking this prayer upon their lips at the beginning of the day
makes perfect sense.
For example, the psalm begins with the memory of
days gone by: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” So Christians would begin
their workday recalling the past days.
And as they would dedicate themselves to the God of
the past, these early Christians looked up for God’s blessings on their labor.
And thus they ended their early morning prayers with these words from Psalm 90:
“May
the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for
us—yes, establish the work of our hands.”
Psalm 90 contains a number of interesting themes and
observations about God and life itself. For example, God is eternal; people are
finite. God is from everlasting to everlasting; we are but dust; we are “like
the new grass of the morning—though in the morning it springs up new, by
evening it is dry and withered.’
The flow of time leads us all to death. Human life is short. Therefore,
time is a precious gift from God. We must use it wisely.
I say that in light of vs. 12: “Teach us to number our days
aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Here we note that the psalmist is after wisdom. And wisdom in the
Bible always centers on the fear of the Lord. The psalmist seeks to go through
life with a deep awareness that all of life centers on the Lord God. And such
awareness leads to a realization that all of life belongs to God, and that all
our responses and actions in life are to be in conformity with the will and
Word of the God of life. To have a heart filled with wisdom is to have a close
walk or relationship with the triune God. Time is a precious gift of God. We
must learn to number our days aright. But how? How should we do that?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Scriptures teach us to mark time by God’s mighty
acts of salvation, especially in Christ Jesus. Think of it this way: Jesus’
birth, his death, his resurrection, his ascension and Lordship—God’s saving
work in Jesus stands at the center of all time. Col. 1:15 tells us “Jesus
is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” And I Cor. 15:22 tell us: “For
as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own
turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
Then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after
he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he
has put all his enemies under his feet.”
To number our days aright calls for recognizing that
all time moves toward Christ and all time flows from Christ. Jesus and his
entire work is at the center of all time. That’s why Paul could say in
Ephesians 1:9-10 “And God made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good
pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times
will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth
together under one head, even Christ.”
We gain a heart of wisdom, when we number our days aright—that is, in
light of God’s mighty work of salvation in Christ Jesus.
Let me show you how Scripture teaches us to number
our days with Christ at the center of all of life.
For example, the Bible speaks of fulfilled time: Mk.
1:14,15 “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the
good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said, ‘The kingdom of God is near.
Repent and believe the good news.’” This fulfilled time is captured by
the incarnation of God in Christ. Christmas speaks of fulfilled time.
Then the Bible speaks of the time of salvation.
Romans 5:6 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ
died for the ungodly.” And Col. 2:13 says: “When you were dead in your sins
and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with
Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its
regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away
nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he
made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
This time of salvation is captured by the death of Christ. Lent and Holy Week,
including Good Friday all speak of the time of salvation.
The Bible also speaks about anticipatory time.
Anticipatory time points to the future. Christians live in anticipation of God
finishing his work of salvation when Christ comes again. Thus we read in I
Timothy 6:14 “I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own
time—God the blessed and only Ruler…..”
And in I Cor. 4:5 we read: “Therefore judge nothing before
the appointed time: wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is
hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.”
This anticipatory time is captured by the resurrection, ascension, and second
coming of Christ. Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost and Advent all speak of
anticipatory time.
Here’s the bottom line: by shaping and forming our
lives around the centrality of Jesus and his saving work, we learn to number
our days aright. And we will gain a
heart of wisdom to live holy and pure lives, pleasing to God. Time is a
precious gift from God. Use it wisely.
Let me give you two strange words. Anyone who
numbers his or her days aright, will want to practice ANAMNESIS and PROLEPSIS.
(Stookey) Keep in mind
that everyone of us intersects with time past, present, future, and eternity.
The present is the moving edge between the past and the future. The past,
present and future are of one piece. Now when we number our days aright, so
that our hearts are filled with wisdom, we are caught up in the work of the
Holy Spirit, who brings about that wisdom in our hearts. And the Holy Spirit
does that through anamnesis and prolepsis.
Anamnesis is the work of the Spirit whereby the past
becomes present. Through an active kind of remembrance, called anamnesis, the
Holy Spirit works faith within our hearts and shapes us more and more in the
image of Christ. By active remembering, by acting out and re-enacting, the past
enters the present. The present participates in the past. Let me demonstrate
(sing Silent Night):
Silent Night!
Holy Night! All is calm; all is bright round yon virgin mother and child! Holy
infant so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace! Sleep in heavenly peace! Where are you when you sing this song? You are here,
in this sanctuary; in this present moment. Yet, you are also with Mary in
Bethlehem 2000 years ago. By re-enacting, by re-entering, by actively
remembering God’s salvation breaking into our world through the birth and
coming of Christ, we are being formed, shaped, and strengthened in faith. The
power and significance of Christ’s birth moves us to the core and drives us
into actively living out the Christian faith.
A similar thing happens through the Spirit’s work of
prolepsis. Prolepsis is the Spirit guiding us to take something into our
experience beforehand, or ahead of the moment or time at which it actually will
occur. In other words, God’s future is drawn into the present by way of active
anticipatory remembrance.
Listen to the words of this song: Lo! He comes, with clouds descending, once
for our salvation slain; thousand, thousand saints attending swell the triumph
of his train. Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ the Lord returns to reign.
Every eye
shall now behold him, robed in dreadful majesty; those who set at naught and
sold him, pierced, and nailed him to the tree, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
shall the true Messiah see.
How is it possible for anamnesis and prolepsis to
take place in our lives? Well, since Christ is the center of time, holding all
time in unity, and since by his Holy Spirit Christ brings all things to our
remembrance, past events that occurred only once become contemporaneous. And
what anamnesis does for past events, prolepsis does for future events.
(if
time, give other examples: L.S)
Time is a precious gift from God. Use it wisely!
Let’s number our days aright.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen!