This study on stewardship was given at the end of service at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on November 11, 2018 for November's stewardship focus. The text of the study is included and you may play the audio of the study here.
Well, we’ve talked a lot about stewardship today in terms of giving, and we’ll come back to that in a few weeks, but today, I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about how you might use your vocation as a churchgoer to steward your time. Last week, we talked about the ideas of pastor and congregant, what we owe to one another, and how we all live in peace with one another. And, of course, one way of doing that is through giving and making sure the ministry continues. But, today, I want to talk about the idea of time.
You see, time is a finite resource. Like coal, time eventually runs out. There are only twenty-four hours in a day. There’s only about eighteen useable hours there, and, in the winter in Wisconsin, there’s only about 8 hours of real, good sunlight. It’s fairly incredible, if you think about it, that time should be on our side in any kind of way, considering how much of it we waste, how much of it we sleep away, just how little of it there is.
Did you know that the average American will spend almost 38,000 hours in a car by the time they die? You’ll sleep almost 230,000 hours. You spend 60 hours a year in the shower. The average kids spends 1,500 hours a year watching tv. The average kids also only spends 1,000 hours in school per year. Time is weird, and it’s finite. If you watch 1,500 hours of tv, that’s 1,500 hours you can’t spend elsewhere. You’ll never get it back. Once it’s spent, it’s gone.
So, the question is, what do you spend your time on? Now, according to your vocation, there are lots of good answers. You can spend it on your kids, on your spouse, on your home, on your school, on your hobbies, in prayer, in the Scriptures, in Church, relaxing, chilling, doing nothing. All of that’s okay. There’s actually nothing wrong with that.
But, as time marches on, we should consider how we spend it. The average person will only live for 76.4 years. That’s 27, 235 days. That’s 653,640 hours. How would you like to spend them? Would you like to take this time the Lord has given you in this world and spend it seeking after earthly pleasures that will fade away, or would you spend it on things that last for eternity. I know Jesus is talking about material possessions, but I think it applies to time, too, which is just as important. He says in the sixth chapter of Matthew, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” It’s the same with our time. When we bank on our earthly hours being somehow meaningful or woefully important, we miss the fact that they are passing away.
We need to spend our time appropriately. Time is a resource our Lord gave us, and we need to steward it. From the very beginning, there was time. Evening and morning, the first day. And from the day that Adam and Eve were created, they were given dominion over all that God had made, even time. Not that they could be some kind of time lord, traveling back and forth, but that they made the most of the day and the night. Even after the fall into sin, they worked for each other and their children through the day, they guarded them through the night. If they lounged around all day, they would not eat. If they partied all night, they would not sleep and would get sick or leave themselves open to the robbers or the wolves. Time was something to be stewarded, to take care of, and it still is today.
Today, we’re called to the same work, to give of ourselves to our work through the day that we and those we care for might eat, the guard in after our families through the night. We’re called to work and we’re called to rest. We’re called to give our time to others, serving them in love. We’re called to give our time to what our Lord loves, His Church and His people. We’re called to use our time to be ministered to at the Church, through the Divine Service, through Word and Sacrament. While these things are not fleeting, the amount of time, the number of opportunities we have to receive them is.
Every time we miss Church, do you realize that’s one less week during your life you’ll miss hearing the Word and receiving His Sacraments? Every time we skip the Lord’s day is one less time we can receive the goodness from His hand where He’s promised it to be found. Every time we miss Church, we have one less opportunity to hear the absolution, the forgiveness of sins. If we steward our time appropriately, we do get the benefit.
Now, this isn’t to make you feel bad about missing out on Church because you’re sick or because your family is or because you’re traveling or because, really, myriad reasons, but it is to put it in context for you. Just as, every time you don’t call your friend when you think of them is one less time you can. Every time you don’t take a meal to someone who’s hurting is one less time you can. Every time you don’t take the opportunity to listen is one less time you can. We’re called to steward our time, to take care of it to the best of our abilities, and we should try to do that.
The day is coming when we won’t have time. And I don’t mean your death. It’s true that your time on earth is running out, but if you’re worried about your stewardship of time, I have good news: time is running out. Soon, time will be no more and eternity shall take its place. There won’t be a need to rush to get it all done, because you’ll literally have forever. Jesus is coming back to redeem all things, even time itself. The time we abused, the time we misused will be given to us ten-fold. It doesn’t mean we don’t try to live appropriately now and steward all our Lord’s gifts, even time, but we do look forward to when we are able to receive from the Lord all the time in the world, for there will be nothing but forever.
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