Session #2 : Guarding God’s Gift of Time

1. “Guard What Has Been Entrusted to Your Care!”(1 Timothy 6:20)Encouraging brothers in ministry to guard four key gifts supporting ministry-long growth Session #2: Guarding God’s Gift of Time

2. Managing Ourselves in God’s Good Gift of Time • “God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day” (Genesis 1:5). • “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning – the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31). Why are we discussing this first of the four gifts to guard? You can’t really manage time. Each week God faithfully entrusts the same gift of 168 hours into each of our hands. But you can, under God’s blessing, manage yourself in time!

3. A Translation Comparison: Ps 46:5 One Side of Challenge #1 • “God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.” • “Gurgel is within her, she will not fall; Gurgel will help her since he doesn’t take a break any day.” The NIV 1984 The RLG 2012 What gets us into the ministry messiah complex? What are the practical problems caused by a ministry messiah complex?

4. The Other Side of Challenge #1 • “Was it not Ralph Waldo Emerson who said that 'man is as lazy as he dares to be'? It is true. And we pastors can be very daring in this area, because we have no employer to supervise our work or to reproach us for our neglect of it…. We are our own master and have to organize our own schedule. So it is possible for us to fritter our days away, until our time-wasting lapses degenerate into a life of gross indiscipline” (John Stott, Between Two Worlds, 208).

5. Toward Which Side Do You Lean in Your Ministry? • “After his many years in the classroom…he thinks he knows what to do and what to avoid in teaching others. He thinks he knows how to teach so that children and adults will hang on his every word and then do just what he has told them that Jesus wants them to do. Our new pastor may be only dimly aware that he has thoughts such as these or that his thinking verges on arrogance” (The Theology of the Cross, 200). • “There is a new cross and struggle that comes to a pastor of some experience. …The heart surgeon who has performed one thousand bypass operations no longer thinks of doing a heart bypass the way he did when he performed his first ten such operations….The pastor can fall into that kind of thinking as well; he can fall into professionalism. (The Theology of the Cross, 208-209). The Special Challenge of the Young Called Worker? The Special Challenge of the Older Called Worker?

6. A Word of Encouragement to Experienced Called Workers:Don’t Ride at Anchor! • "Not all pastors wrestle with ambition and standards for success set by the surrounding culture. Some pastors seem to reach a plateau and a level of contentedness with themselves that I find disturbing, especially when I see it in myself. When I stop trying to learn something new, or when I haven't added a new skill in a long time, I know my overall effectiveness actually declines. Unless I constantly challenge myself to further develop my gifts, they get stale very quickly….The great cellist Pablo Casals was once heard practicing when he was well into his 80s, and someone asked him why at his age and level of accomplishment he was still practicing. He said, 'I think I'm noticing some improvement.' If I make it to my 80’s, I suspect God will be nudging me to notice improvement, too" (“Called to Be a Loser: A Theology of Self-Improvement for Pastors,” Leadership, Summer 1999, Douglas Brouwer, 32).

7. A Middle Ground?Taking the Ministry Seriously But Taking Ourselves Less Seriously Dr. Dale Meyer President, Concordia, St. Louis How can Psalm 103:15-16 help us maintain our balance between the two sides of challenge #1?

8. A Key Perspective for Those Wearing Many Hats • 1 Timothy 3:1 Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. • πιστὸς ὁ λόγος.Εἴ τις ἐπισκοπῆς ὀρέγεται, καλοῦ ἔργουἐπιθυμεῖ. How do we need to be careful not to over-apply Paul’s point? Learning again that every hat given by God is a high and holy calling was a key Reformation insight! What’s the blessing of remembering this?

9. A Timely Comparisonfrom Thom Rainer’s Surprising Insights from the Unchurched Don’t Wear Everyone’s Hats!

10. A Timely Comparisonfrom Thom Rainer’s Surprising Insights from the Unchurched Don’t Wear Everyone’s Hats!

11. When Does 6 + 4 = 22? The true measure of our ministry is not what stops the day after we leave. It is what keeps going! Acts 6:3–4 “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” Ephesians 4:1,16 “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received…. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

12. The UnbusyPastor??? • Spend the next ten minutes reading through the excerpt from the chapter entitled “The Unbusy Pastor” from Eugene H. Peterson’s book The Contemplative Pastor. • Once you have finished reading, spend the next ten minutes discussing with a group of 3 or 4 others and list: • the three most useful insights; and • the three questions/challenges you would like to direct to the author. • We will share with the whole group.

13. The Unbusy Pastor??? • What were the three most useful insights you gained from the reading? • What were the three questions/challenges you would like to direct to the author?

14. Changing Pastoral Work Week?

15. Median Pastoral Work Week

16. My Personal Top Seven List • Use 1 hour to plan your week, 1 day to plan your month, 1 week to plan your year • Get to your calendar first – unburden your mind by scheduling priorities such as Word/prayer, exercise, rest • Caveat: James 4:13ff: leave margins for God’s unexpected changes to your day! • Work to maximize your strengths, delegate to minimize your weaknesses • 21 blocks – strive to block off 7 for family, rest, recreation • Schedule to your opposite • Remember: you are always saying “No!” with every “Yes!” you speak • “This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength’” (Isaiah 30:15). What have you found most helpful in managing yourself in God’s gift of time?

17. We Place Into Your Hands Our Unfinished Tasks! • O God our Father, by your mercy and might, the world turns safely into darkness and returns again to light. We place into you hands our unfinished tasks, our unsolved problems, and our unfulfilled hopes, knowing that only what you bless will prosper. To your great love and protection, we commit each other and all those we love, knowing that you alone are our sure defender, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. • Christian Worship: New Service Settings, 42)

18. The Grace of Each New Day “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).