287. How to Make More Time for Serving God

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Transcript:  

Watching the game of cornhole on tv fills me with many questions.  Questions such as:

·        “Why?”

·        “Who are these people who are so good at this ‘sport’?” 

·        “How many hours have they spent playing this game in order to keep getting that bean bag in the hole time after time?” 

·        “How do these people support themselves?”

These same questions arise when I hear of professional video game players.  What really blew my mind was when I discovered someone in my church who enjoyed watching other people play video games on TV. 

God gives us great freedom as disciples.  There are large areas that are “gray areas.”  These are activities or behaviors that don’t neatly fall under the categories of right and wrong.  You may not be able to point out a scripture that prohibits that particular past time.  However, that doesn’t mean it’s something that you should pursue.  What are some of these “gray areas” that aren’t discussed in the Bible directly?

·        Smoking cigarettes

·        Chewing tobacco

·        Cigars

·        Smoking marijuana

·        Video games

·        Online news addiction

·        TV binging

·        Hours of internet browsing and scrolling

·        Hobbies

Moses and Jesus never taught a lesson on “spiritual views on smoking” or “Christ-like computer usage.”  Instead, we are left with principles to follow that address how to view areas not covered in the Bible.  Paul addresses some of these areas in 1 Corinthians:

·        “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.  1 Corinthians 10:23

·        ¹² “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.  1 Corinthians 6:12

Paul was dealing with sexual immorality with prostitutes in a city that had three temples dedicated to the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite.  He was also trying to give guidance about eating food that had been sacrificed to idols.  The disciples in the church were pushing back against Paul and his authority and were saying, “I have the right to do anything.”  Paul agreed but added that not everything is constructive or beneficial.  He also advised to not do anything that may be allowed but could master a person or cause an addiction.  He then added in 10:31-11:1, “ So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. ³² Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— ³³ even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.  ¹ Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”  Paul explains that a mature and multiplying disciple looks at behaviors and activities and evaluates their worthiness not only on whether the Bible allows or condemns them explicitly but also by the following spiritual questions and filters:

·        Is this activity constructive?

·        Is it beneficial?  Will it help me and others?

·        Will it master me?  Can it become addictive?  Will it choke me out and land me in the third soil? (Matthew 13:7, 22)

·        Will this behavior bring glory to God?  Will it draw positive attention and praise to God? 

·        Will this cause someone else to stumble, struggle or miss the way?

·        Am I imitating Jesus and Paul’s example of seeking the good of many?

These are tougher questions that force us to evaluate our lives in light of God, other people and our influence in the world. 

My campus minister asked me to help mentor or “disciple” another Christian on campus at UC Berkeley.  I was less than a year old spiritually.  He was a friend of mine and so I planned our first time together to make it “special.”  We walked down to Whelans Smoke Shop near the corner of Telegraph and Bancroft.  We each bought a pack of cigarettes and then went to a nearby coffee shop.  We drank our coffee, smoked our cigarettes and looked at scriptures together.  Does the Bible say you can’t smoke cigarettes?  No, but after that appointment I started thinking more deeply about it.  Can smoking master me?  Definitely.  Is it beneficial?  No.  Will it cause someone else to stumble?  Most likely.  That was my last “Smokin’ D-time.”  I threw away that pack of cigarettes. 

You might be hanging on to hobbies, habits or activities from your days when you were living in the world.  All of us develop patterns that are not easy to change.  At the same time, they are often not clearly “wrong.”  If you want to be a multiplying disciple, you will need to take inventory of your life’s activities.  Paul warns in Ephesians 5:15, “¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”  You have to be very careful how you live.  That means you will need to examine all of your current patterns and ask if they are beneficial or if they are low-value, or even harmful for you and others.  Like the Corinthians, we can get defensive and claim our “right” to do anything we desire.  However, that is often the behavior of an immature and unfruitful Christian.  We are only thinking about us and what we want to do.  We aren’t asking ourselves whether this is the highest and best use of our time. 

Think about it this way.  If you were selected to join your country’s Olympic track team, what would you life and schedule look like?  Would you be smoking cigarettes, noshing on Snickers bars, downing gallons of Coca Cola every day and spending hours and hours on video games?  I don’t think so.  Your time would likely be scheduled hour by hour and even minute by minute.  Your aspiration to win a gold medal would force out low-value activities.  Your diet would improve, you wouldn’t have time for hours of mindless TV and computer viewing and you would spend most of your time with those who share your high ambition.  Low-value behaviors would be left behind.  As Paul shares in 1 Corinthians 9:24, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”  The context of the chapter is that Paul had a right to get paid and supported by the Corinthians, but in order to save more people and undercut his critics, he chose to support himself financially.  He was very careful how he lived.  He was willing to let go of what was rightfully his if it meant more people could be saved.  This is the mature mindset of a multiplying disciple. 

Application:

·        Take stock of your low-value activities.  What are you spending time on that may not have high value?

·        Evaluate your “gray areas.”  Instead of asking whether it’s right or wrong, use the questions above to determine whether your life’s activities are beneficial or constructive.

·        “Beat your body.”  Replace empty, fruitless behavior with action that will bear good fruit in your walk with God, your character and in saving souls.