This is a copy of my talk given at Ayia Kyriaki and Saint Stephen’s in the Anglican Church of Paphos on Sunday 18 August 2024. The Bible reading was Ephesians 5:15-20.
Prayer
Heavenly Father
I thank You for Your word
By the power of the Holy Spirit
May You speak to my heart
And change my life
In the precious name of Jesus I pray
Amen.
Introduction
What are your favourite places to visit – UK or ? I’ve two favourite places I like to visit in my native North East of England! One is Durham Cathedral, which continually tops the charts as one of the most popular tourist attractions in the UK. My other favourite place is not so well known – it’s Roker Beach/Pier in my home city of Sunderland. The beach was a health hazard for many years because of industrial slurry from the mines and shipyards, nowadays, it’s one of the top ten beaches in the UK.
Roker Beach/Pier is one of those places I visited growing up and a place I go to every time I visit my family – as I will do next weekend. But when I think about this, I suddenly realise how I’ve been on that beach at every stage of my life. I was there as a toddler with my grandparents, as a boy building sandcastles with my parents and as a teenager playing frisbee and cricket with my friends and as an adult! I’ve been there with my own family over the years too (Ben and Annabel say they’ve had the best Fish & Chips ever there – Downey’s are regular finalists for UK Fish & Chip Shop of the year!).
But it’s amazing how quickly time passes. In our childhood/youth we want time to pass quickly, yet as adults we wish the exact opposite. A woman wrote:
First, I was dying to finish high school and start college.
And then I was dying to finish college and start working.
And then I was dying to marry and have children.
And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough for school so I could return to work. And then I was dying to retire.
And now, I am dying … and suddenly I realize I forgot to live.
The Apostle Paul writes about making the most of our lives in Ephesians 5:15-20. He is saying, as did the Roman Poet, Horace: Carpe Diem. Seize the day!
- Life is precious.
Life is precious. And none of us knows how long our life may last. Paul is encouraging us to be careful and wise about how we live our lives: making the most of the time we have.
Psalm 90:12: So, teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. Life is too precious to waste. Tragically the world is filled with stories of people who have wasted their lives. I’ve often read or seen a story and said to myself: What a sad waste of a life. Life can also be wasted in ways that are unseen and incremental. A life can be wasted an hour, a day, a week, a month – a year at a time. The collective impact of our choices over time significantly shapes the life we experience.
Be careful how you live, Paul says. The opposite of careful is careless. The Greek here means “don’t stumble through life, don’t drift through life.” The word translated live can also be walk so be careful how you live or walk. Don’t trip and fall. Live as wise people don’t be foolish. Understand the will of the Lord for your life. How do we make the most of our life? How do we invest our life, over regardless of our age, to make the most of the opportunities which have come your way. Making the most of our life begins with understanding that our life belongs to God. The question then, is:
- What does God want from my life?
It’s clear as we read through the Bible that God wants our whole life. This was the theme of last week’s Gospel reading from John 6. Nowhere does the Bible teach that we can be a Christian and live our life any way we want.
It’s said that during the Crusades of the 10th Century, many mercenaries were drafted into the Holy armies to bolster their numbers. And, because they were a supposed ‘Christian’ army, the church would ensure that the mercenaries were Baptised before they went into battle. However, those mercenaries wouldn’t let go of their swords when they were Baptised and would often hold them up out of the water whilst the rest of their body was covered. It’s almost as if they were saying to God: You can have my body/soul but you’re not going to have my sword.
For the mercenaries it was their sword, which they held back. What might it be for you? Your gifts and talents? Time? Your wallet or purse? You may be holding back because the road ahead looks a bit rough. You may be saying: “Here I am Lord” … but don’t send me there! God doesn’t want 10% of our life or 50% or even 99% – God wants all of you and all of me.
Romans 6:13 (NLT): Give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God. Some people may say: “I don’t know what God wants me to do.” Deuteronomy 10:12 (NCV): This is what the Lord wants you to do: Respect the Lord and do what he has told you to do. Love him. Serve the Lord with your whole being.
There are many good things that can push God out of our lives. Money, hobbies, family, friends, career, maintaining good health – God knows we need these things; God just doesn’t want any of them to come before our relationship with Him. In the Ten Commandments, God said: You shall have no other gods before me. Any time we have something that is No:1 that’s not God, that’s called an idol. If we put God first in our life, God will help us to align our other priorities in their proper places. Proverbs 3:6, says: In all your ways acknowledge the Lord, and the Lord will make straight your paths. Living a part-time Christian life is not the path to contentment.
- What does it take to give ourselves completely to God?
And not to waste our life? What does it take to develop to our fullest potential? It’s a word that causes many of us to groan – discipline. You cannot be a disciple of Jesus without discipline. Disciple and discipline. The two words go together. Paul wrote to Timothy: Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. Discipline is doing the difficult things now to enjoy the benefits later.
Each Olympian that competed at Paris 2024 (all 10714 of them) will have disciplined themselves on a daily basis to be Altius, Citius, Fortius (Latin to English, means: ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’) than their fellow competitors. They’d have persevered even when they didn’t feel like it. Especially during dark mornings in the rain and snow when they wanted to stay curled up in bed! But without this commitment they wouldn’t have been at the top of their game or even qualified to take part in The Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.
Some of us are disciplined in our work. We plan our day, arrive on time, and are conscientious in our work habits. Some of us are disciplined when it comes to our physical workouts or taking our dogs for a walk early in the morning before it gets too hot! All of us are disciplined in areas where we want to be. The things we get done are the things that are most important to us. Another word for discipline is ‘habits.’
So many of our lives are over scheduled and overcrowded that we don’t have time for ‘spiritual’ habits. In 1 Timothy 4:7, Paul, speaking like a spiritual coach, urges Timothy: Train yourself in godliness. Just as there are exercises that help keep us physically fit, there are exercises we can do to keep spiritually fit: Prayer, Bible Study, Fellowship etc. Why not make the time to develop some new spiritual habits if they aren’t already part of your life? 15-20 mins a day is all it takes. Theologian and writer Henri Nouwen observed:
The state of the world suggests to me the urgent need for a spirituality that takes the end things very seriously, not a spirituality of withdrawal, nor of blindness to the powers of the world, but a spirituality that allows us to live in this world without belonging to it, a spirituality that allows us to take the joy and peace of the divine life even when we are surrounded by the powers and principalities of evil, death, and destruction.
- Live a life filled with the Spirit
If you want to live a life with purpose, live a life filled with the Spirit. In vs18-20, Paul emphasises that we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit rather than the spirit of alcohol. As if! Vs19 speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing, and making melody in your heart to the Lord. We are to encourage one another and build each other up in the faith.
Vs20 giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father. We are to give thanks always. In his first letter to the Thessalonians (5:16-18) Paul said: Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. It can be difficult to give thanks when things are not going well. However, if we are rooted spiritually, we will be encouraged by the knowledge that God is with us even in the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4).
- Make the most of your life
The average person lives 40 million minutes. That’s 25,550 days. The Bible talks of three score years and ten. The average age in UK and Cyprus is 81 yrs. Moses was 80 years old when God called him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Abraham was 75 years old when God told him he would be the father of the nations. Noah was 600 years old when God called him to build an ark.
Dame Judi Dench
“One day, a young woman asked me: “What do you think about being old?”
I thought aging was a gift.
I wouldn’t change anything I have for a few less wrinkles and a flat stomach.
Who cares if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 in the morning and then sleep until who knows how much?
Who cares if I dance alone listening to ’50s music?
What if I later wanted to cry for a lost love?
And if I walk on the beach in a bathing suit and walk my chubby body and sink between the waves, swinging at them, despite those still wearing bikinis … they’ll be old too if they’re lucky.
I’m proud that I lived long enough to have my hair done grey and to keep the smile of my youth, since there were still no such deep marks on my face.
I don’t want to complain about what wasn’t or worry about what will happen. For the time I have left, I will simply love life as I have done it to this day.”
What can you do to make the most of (the rest of) your life? Why not take some time this week to think about what you could do and, as the Apostle Paul has been urging us this morning: Carpe Diem. Seize the day!
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
I don’t want to be a casual Christian, part-time believer or lukewarm servant.
Help me to give myself to you completely, totally and without reservation.
Holy Spirit help me to discipline myself and train myself
in developing the habits and the disciplines I need to grow spiritually.
Help me to let go of things that don’t really matter and to put you first in my life.
I thank you that Jesus died for me, help me to always live for him.
In the precious name of Jesus, I pray.
Amen.
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER The text contained in this sermon is solely owned by its author, Revd Paul A. Carr. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name.
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