The wise use of time

 

I’m not sure how many of you have noticed a lot of chatter on social media over the last few. Chatter is when something becomes very popular and it seems that everyone has an opinion about it. The chatter has been around the question of whether the world is coming to an end soon. Someone had proposed that the world was going to end yesterday, on September 23rd. It’s good to know that they were wrong.

 

There was much conversation about this, and people were quite serious. So much so that an encounter I had on the street with a gentleman that I have known for some time. He said, Doctor Stirling, do you think that the world is going to come to an end soon?

 

I thought he was being funny, and so my response was, “Probably, when the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup, hell will freeze over and that might be the beginning of the end.”

 

He was not amused, not because he’s a Leafs fan, but because he’s observing what’s going on in the world. He read the words of Jesus about the return of the Son of Man and the signs that would possibly lead the way to his return. Sure enough, there are storms and floods, earthquakes and fires, there are wars and increasing rumours of wars. This was not a trivial matter with him. 

 

I thought about it some more, and I concluded in all seriousness to him that we are not told the times or the seasons when the Son of Man will come again, that we have not been given such insight, for we do not know the moment and I’m always suspicious of those who think that they do.

 

Nevertheless, he was also getting at how we spend our time between now and the end of the world? How do we live our lives? What pleasures do we have, what patience do we need – which I addressed last week. What values do we have?

 

How do we spend the days that we have been given on this earth, and what should we do with them? Time is an important thing. In the Children’s Moment this morning, Lori was really profound and she said that the language we use around time is that of saving time and spending time. Because time has value, not just in monetary terms, but in terms of the days that we’re given and how we spend those very days.

 

I turn this morning to the book of Ecclesiastes. I chose Ecclesiastes because it is a book that deals with time. It’s ancient wisdom and we’re not really sure who wrote this book. Some have speculated that it was Solomon, because Solomon was wise and this is wise literature. Others have postulated that maybe it was written after the exile – maybe it was by Ezra, or one of Ezra’s followers. There were debates over the years as to whether Ecclesiastes should be in the biblical canon, but thank God it is because it contains profound wisdom.

 

At the heart of what the writer of Ecclesiastes is saying, is the belief that life is vanity, meaningless, unless it is spent with God. So much so that in the passage immediately following our text today are some wise words. They’re words I’ve always remembered because my father, who was, of course, a devout Christian and clergyman, wrote these words in a book to me when I went into university: “Remember the Creator in your youth.”

 

I’ve often thought of dear Dad, and why he wrote that. I think he wrote it because, like the writer of Ecclesiastes, he knew that every day we have is a precious gift. Every life is to be spent, and every hour that is to be spent, has a purpose. And everything in your youth can be meaninglessness, unless there is God.

 

In your old age you look back and have regrets because of the way you spent your time. Time is an important thing. Remember your Creator, even when you are young, are wise words. The more I thought about the man talking about the world coming to an end, the more I thought how each of us needs to genuinely ask ourselves how should we live our lives. Our time on this earth, as short as it is, should be something precious and beautiful.

 

Now of course, people have responded to this passage from Ecclesiastes very differently. Some have taken what I call an ascetic approach to this. In other words, make sure you don’t waste a moment that you’ve got on anything frivolous. Make sure there are no amusements, not too many joys and excitement. Don’t do the things of your youth when you mature and get older. In other words, live an ascetic life, a life devoid of pleasures and entertainments and amusements.

 

I was reading an old Puritan who wrote that basically amusements and pleasures are like mushrooms; some of them might be poisonous, and you should not eat any of them. In other words, protect yourself, avoid any amusements because they could hurt you; take the safe approach to the time you have, and don’t do anything that might lead you into temptation!

 

That is nothing compared to St. Francis de Sales who wrote these incredible words, and I’ve thought about them many times: 

 

Balls and dancing and music and similar gatherings are wont to attract all that is bad and vicious. All the quarrels, envying, slanders and indiscreet tendencies of a place will be found collected on the ballroom floor. While people’s bodily pores are opened by the exercise of dancing, the hearts’ pores will be opened by excitement, and if any serpent be at hand to whisper foolish words of levity or impurity, to insinuate unworthy thoughts and desires, the ears which listen are more than prepared to receive the contagion.

 

 

Fortunately there is a more balanced view. I think it’s a much more biblical view of how we spend time. There are those who have looked at this passage from Ecclesiastes and thought, “Yes, spend your time, have desires, and amusements and joy in your life, for your days are numbered.” After all, when you really think about it, if we believe as we do, that God created the earth and that it was good, notwithstanding the sin and the fall and the temptations that followed, then play, and joy are an integral part of life and the spending of time. Children, for example, play to live, and they learn from it. As do we. There is a role for amusement, for joy, for play in our lives. These are not inherently evil things.

 

There have been others who have argued that life is really all about utility, that the time you spend and the things you do must ultimately have some utility; they must produce something, generate something, make something, create something. They must have tangible value. If that is the case: Why beauty? Why art? Why music? Why would David dance before the Lord and write his psalms and songs of praise? Why would we gather in a place of worship like this and sing wonderful? Why would we have children spend their time singing praises to God and saying those words, “He’s got the whole world in his hands?”

 

If the world was only utilitarian, there would be no role for such beauty, such joy, such fun, such praise. Look at Jesus: after all, he’s the Lord. Jesus said to the children when they were playing and they were shunned, “Let the little children come unto Me and forbid them not, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

 

When he went to a wedding in Canaan and found out that the wine had run out, what did he do? He produced the best wine at the wedding reception. When the disciples were worn out and needed rest, Jesus said, “Go and rest for a while.”

 

When there were people making the Sabbath a strict affair, so that no one could enjoy anything, including the praise and joy of God, Jesus said, “The Sabbath is made for humanity, not humanity the Sabbath.” In other words, Jesus understood the nature of joy and the reason why beautiful things in life are to be enjoyed and praiseworthy.

 

In fact, NT Wright, the New Testament scholar, says that there is a distinction between the followers of John the Baptist and the followers of Jesus. The disciples of John the Baptist were ascetics; they found little or no pleasure in life and they avoided sin at all cost. The disciples of Jesus went with him wherever he was, even on the Sabbath, and did things that the ascetics thought were terrible and godless.

 

But you know, there are a lot of people who genuinely feel that the following of Christ and the good usage of time, is always like that of John the Baptist, not of Jesus. They think that all faith is a matter of killing joy, amusement, and praise; is a dour and sallow thing, so they look with suspicion upon all people who are devout and religious.

 

There is a better way, but like all biblical passages, there is a caveat. The writer of Ecclesiastes says to young people, “Follow your hearts, follow your desires, but remember, God is there to judge them. The usage of your time, the living of your days, are accountable to God.” You have your days and they’re a gift. You have your life and it is precious. You have your moments and they are valuable, but ultimately you give an account of how you spend your time to Almighty God.

 

This is because the writer of Ecclesiastes knew that outside of God, things are vanity; they become meaningless, there is no joy, no victory. And if there is no accountability, then there is the anarchy of pleasure. Maybe in our current culture, this is a warning sign. 

 

A few years ago, the New York philosopher and educational writer, Neil Postman, wrote an incredible book that’s had a lasting impression on me, Amusing Ourselves to Death. In it he argues that we really are amusing ourselves to death. We have made amusements and the pursuit of them too great. We have made it our raison d’etre, our purpose, and we do so at the expense of so much. Postman says:

 

When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby talk, when, in short, a people become an audience and their public business a Vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk. Culture death is a clear possibility.

 

 

I spoke not long ago with a friend of mine who was a television news producer and editor. He said that when the American broadcasters in particular, decided to bring the news into their entertainment division, and fund it based on its entertainment quality, news itself started to go out the window as an objective thing.

 

His argument was that if news becomes entertainment, then everything becomes entertainment and people passively sit back and watch things evolve. That is what Postman is getting at when he says we are amusing ourselves to death, that’s when things can take the form of a god. When these things supersede the things that we are accountable to God for, it becomes idolatry. 

 

I read an extremely touching book this summer. It was a gift to me, an autobiography of the rock star, Myles Goodwyn of April Wine fame. Many of you around in the seventies will remember Myles Goodwyn well. One of his very close friends handed me this from the trunk of his car, and said to me, “Andrew, you really should read this, this is fodder for sermons.” I thought, how nice for a rock guitarist to give fodder for sermons – life’s good.

 

I read the book on quiet, hot evenings, and as I came to the end I, frankly, was disturbed by it. I’ve been a big fan of Myles Goodwyn for many years, but in a moment of introspection, in the penultimate paragraph, he wrote this – now hear this, folks:

 

Looking back, I most regret the time I didn’t give to my children when they were young. I was away from the home so much during my career that I missed out on the important day-to-day stuff that really defines a family. Even when I wasn’t touring, I was unreasonably unavailable, because I was always writing new material, or in a recording studio, or just doing my own thing. I could have managed my personal time better back in those days, but I didn’t, I was selfish. And now those opportunities have long passed us all by.

 

What a deep thing for someone to write, and I applaud him for doing so, because it shows us the need to account for our time, that our time matters, and who we spend it with and how we spend it, is vital.

 

I love the Apostle Paul because he goes beyond the writer of Ecclesiastes, and in 1 Corinthians Chapter 10, says, “Whatever you eat or whatever you drink, or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.” That’s the key to how you spend your time. It doesn’t matter what it is, do it to the glory of God. Do it knowing that God is there. Remember the Creator in your youth. Remember your Creator all your days, for God wants us to live our lives joyfully, beautifully, and peacefully. God wants us to live our lives faithfully, morally, compassionately, and justly.

 

This past Wednesday morning I dropped in to the food bank – I do from time to time – and spent time watching all these people coming in for food, and believe you me, friends, they’re coming in greater numbers right now. I also looked around the room at the volunteers, those who give their time, hour after hour, week after week, selflessly, for the sake of others. I must admit, it struck me, the commitment, and how to take that time and to use it for somebody else, is worth more than gold.

 

God gave us this time on this earth to use it, to live healthily, to enjoy beauty, to be amused, to sing and to dance and to praise. But he also calls us to use the time to us by him and him alone, for the good of the world that he loves so much.

 

What is your time like? How are you going to spend it to the glory of God? Amen.