Redeeming the Gift of Time | Kingly Gifts

As I mentioned in the beginning of service, we continue our sermon series,

Kingly Gifts, where we're looking at three key gifts that the Magi, the wise men,

came to bring baby Jesus when he was born. Last week we talked about which gift?

Gold. And today we're going to talk about it. And then in two weeks we're going to

hit on this again, the understanding of the gift of frankincense. One that we

still have somewhat today. We see it in certain things, perfumes and candles,

because it has everything to do with an aroma. Right? Frankincense is more of an

aroma gift, one that people can smell sometimes from far away. It can be a very

strong gift. But we're looking at these things because of, as we talked about

last week, the recognition of one major narrative around Jesus' life. And that is

that this baby Jesus is the king. Gold brought to him, a kingly gift of gold

brought when he was born. We see that picture of the shepherds worshipping. We

see the Magi coming a little later and bringing these gifts. And I know that

gifts are something that are brought when babies are born. We do our best to

recognize those families with our baby boards in the back. We try to shower them

with gifts that they need. Things I see are beautiful hand-woven or sewed

blankets. We see a lot of baby supplies. But I have yet to see any gold. I have

yet to see any frankincense. And I don't think you can find myrrh anymore. And so

under, so it's interesting these three gifts were very specific. They actually

have prophetic tracking back in the Old Testament. So what we're going to look at

today is frankincense, a gift of worship that invites us to consider the value of

our soul. Nef-hish is the Hebrew word for soul that we're going to look at this

understanding that our soul, our life should be a gift of frankincense to the

king. So we're going to be in the book of James this morning talking about this

fleeting gift that we call time. We're going to wrap that together so we're

going to get going. The first we're going to look at is James 4. James 4, 13 through

17. Life is a vapor, James says, where he writes this. Come now, you who say,

excuse me, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a

year there and trade and make profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.

What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then

vanishes. Instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or

that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So

whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. So one

of the things that we learn about frankincense, frankincense was used in the

tabernacle or in the temple. We see this great writing about that in Exodus

Exodus 30 · chapter mention

chapter 30. It was a part of the offerings given to God in the tabernacle.

So we knew that the temple, the tabernacle had the holiest of holies where God's

presence was. Only the priests were allowed to go there during certain times

of the festival year and frankincense symbolizes the prayer of God's people,

the worship of God's people, and the presence of God. So like last week, the

gold represent and recognize Jesus as King, though a baby, the King of Kings,

Lord of Lords. We see this gift of frankincense acknowledging Jesus in

another role, another attribute that he carries with to fulfill prophetic and

messianic prophecy is the recognition of him as high priest. Now that calling of

high priest is an important one because that is the one, he is the one, much like

in the Old Testament, the priest, the Levites did that. Jesus now does that for

us as he is the intercessor between us and the Lord. So not only is this

acknowledgement as baby of King but also high priest is a great honor but this is

no surprise to Jesus because of the prophetic word given over his life. We've

talked about this, the who, what, when, where, why, and how of Jesus' birth, over

500 prophecies fulfilled to see this through. So the Magi's gift of frankincense

not only acknowledges Jesus as high priest but is acknowledging the fact

that he will be the one to intercede for us. As Protestants, that means something

very different than the Catholic Church. There is a tension there, there is a

difference there, we're not going to dive too much into that but one belief system

says you need to go through a human person of the papacy, the pope to

intercede and that is why the reformers and the Protestant Reformation broke away

from that because they said it's through Christ alone. And you read Calvin or

Luther or Zwickley and they mention and talk about the recognition of the baby

Jesus in all of this, that Jesus came to be our king and came to be our priest.

Also many other things, we'll get to that this sermon series and the next sermon

series, that Jesus holds many hats in our life. But as James says, life is a

mere vapor. It comes and goes. None of us know the time span that we will have here

on this earth. So really it is an acknowledgement that we all have time.

How do we know we're here? And we need to make best use of the time. And notice the

flip here, that it isn't we are dictating our calendar but if the Lord wills it,

then we will be, we will go, we will do these things. But I wonder how we really

feel about that term or the kind of half sentence of if the Lord wills it because

that inherently comes with a word we don't like, submission. If the Lord wills

it. Now some of you may have said in your marriages, if my wife wills it.

Rarely do I hear if my husband wills it. I don't know why but it always gets, the

wife usually gets that place. Another rhyme for another time. But understand

that there is a life of submission built into that saying because the life of a

believer is ultimately a life of submission. James calls for submission to

God's providence. In Calvin's Institutes he actually emphasizes that recognizing

God's will in all things is central to true faith. Lord's Day 7. That this true

faith is an acknowledgement of Lord's Day 1 that I am not my own. So if I am not my

own, my time is not my own. As we learned last week, my stuff is not my own. And

how I utilize the time tells the world who I am. Now if we're really going to

engage that, that's convicting. If people see how you use your time, that tells a

lot of people about who you are, maybe even what you believe. So James goes on

in chapter 5 to warn us about misuse of time in chapter 5, the first 6 verses.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your

riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are

corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your

flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the

wages of your laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are

crying out against you. And the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of

the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence.

You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and

murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. So James 5 now warns us

of not only last week the misuse of stuff, but our misuse of time. Hoarding wealth,

oppressing others, reflects a misuse of God-given resources and time. Let me say

that again. Hoarding wealth and oppressing others reflect a misuse of a

God-given time and resources. This aligns with our understanding and principle of

stewardship. Understand that stewardship, all that we have, including our time,

belongs to God. So there's the tie-in to frankincense this morning. That

frankincense, symbolizing our worship, is the best use of our time. Do that again.

The best use of our time always, hands down, is worshiping the Lord. Well,

Pastor, how am I supposed to use my time to work, to make money, to do all of these

things? And that's all well and good. Being good stewards of that time, when

that becomes the only thing, when work or whatever is consuming your time starts to

consume past your time for worship, the question then is, Beg, what are you

worshiping? Because if you're not taking time to worship the Lord, you are

worshiping whatever your time represents. Half of us just got convicted. Because I

could ask all of you to pull out your phones and look at your calendar and go,

Have you scheduled your worship? Have you scheduled your time with the Lord? Now,

you could easily come back to me and say, Okay, Pastor, have you? Show us your

phone. I don't put that in there. Maybe that's a conviction to me that we should

start. I don't necessarily put in Sunday worship on the calendar, because almost

20 years into this is where I'm going to be. But understand that where our time is

being spent can easily be seen as what we covet most, what we worship the

greatest. So, Frankincense symbolizing worship reminds us that our time and our

resources should not be used for ourselves. Now, that doesn't mean you

can't buy clothes or gifts or take vacations or do any of those things. But

being good stewards of our finances and our time can be worship and glory to God.

What about when the lean times come? What about that time where I go,

Look at the bank account. Maybe we can't tithe this month. There needs to be

patience, right? There needs to be grace. Starting with verse 7 of chapter 5,

patience in God's timing. Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of

the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being

patient about it until it receives the early and late rains. You also be patient.

Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble

against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is

standing at the door. As the example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the

prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed

who remain steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have

seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. James

uses the farmer as the symbol and example of patience and the metaphor for

trusting God. Because as much as farmers, I'm sure, would love to be able to snap

their finger and have their crops grow, it doesn't work that way. As best as I

understand, that there is patience, that God has that time for us to learn about

ourselves. So in those lean times, in those times where we feel we're not

being effective for anything, lean into the Lord. Be patient in that season.

Advent points us to Christ's first and second coming, teaching us to live

faithfully in the already but not yet of the kingdom of God. That the kingdom of

God is clearly here at work. How do I know? We're all here today. That we

represent as the body of Christ, the kingdom of God here at 214 Ridge Road

this morning, just like many churches, both this way and that way on Ridge Road

in the Chicagoland area in northwest Indiana. But understand that there is

still something to come. That even us, the most impatient, need to be patient

for the coming of Christ's second coming. That we need to be looking towards that.

And for us that went through and waited through the 13 weeks of Revelation,

we know why. We know what is coming. It says it in the book. If you don't know,

take this afternoon and read the book of Revelation, that last book of the Bible.

Because understand how we put in our time, what we are stewards of today plays

into that tomorrow. Though we don't know what tomorrow will bring, we know who

knows. And for those times when it's hard, as we round third on this today,

understand time can best be redeemed through prayer. How is your prayer life

this morning? When is the last time you just spent time in prayer? Specific prayer,

just you and God. I get a lot of people say, well I pray on my entire commute,

on my commute to work and from work, however long it is. And that's awesome.

And that's great if you do that. But that can't be the only time we connect with

the Lord. Because how does that look when you are in the midst of prayer and

someone cuts you off? Does that prayer change? Does the prayer of grace and

mercy watch over to my kid to, oh smite or smite him? How our prayer life can

change like that given our circumstances. I want to challenge all of us, myself

included, to find this week, every day, 20 minutes, where we have just time with

the Lord. One of the best ways in my mind to do that is to go for a walk.

Because I know that if I try to do that in my home, our home is a very busy place.

And I know that that prayer with God will be interrupted most likely by our dogs.

And that prayer may change and those dogs' life might be in peril. But

understand that we need to be intentional about using that time wisely.

Because our time through prayer is time well spent with God as verse 13 tells us.

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing

praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let

them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the

prayer of the faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up.

And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to

one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a

righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with the

nature like ours and he prayed fervently that it might not rain. And for three

years and six months, it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and heaven

gave rain and the earth bore its fruit. James emphasizes prayer as a central way

to redeem time and seek God's will. It's an interesting verse, isn't it? The prayer

of a righteous person has great power as it is working. So does the gift of

frankincense. Frankincense was burned as a fragrant offering in worship,

symbolizing the prayers of the priests, prayers of the saints. We see that at

work in our lives, not that we ever pray to saints, but we understand that those

that have gone before us with relationship with God prayed. Therefore, we

pray, we see in scripture when we pray and cry out to God, things happen. So our

takeaways for today. Last week we talked about offering of our treasures. Today we

talk about offering of our time. Our practical application, our understanding

of where time is going and what time means. We need to recognize the brevity

of life. Take this week and evaluate your time. Are your priorities aligned

with God's kingdom? Psalm 90 says, teach us to number our days that we may gain a

heart of wisdom. Two, that we should live reliant on God's will. Practice submitting

your plans to God in prayer, reminding us always of God's sovereignty and that

shapes every decision we make. Third, use time for worship and service. Dedicate

daily moments to prayer and scripture. Volunteer your time in ministries or

community outreach. And fourth, cultivate patience in prayer. Embrace patience in

trials, knowing that God's timing is perfect. Make prayer central to our daily

rhythm of life, offering it as a fragrant offering to God. So where's the gospel

focus for us today? That Christ, our eternal priest, redeemed us to live for

his glory. And through his life, his death, and his resurrection, Jesus

redeemed not just our souls but our time, calling us to worship in spirit and in

truth. So my final challenge is I land the plane this morning. This Advent, how

can you offer your time as a gift to God? And like frankincense, offer to Jesus.

Let your time and prayers rise as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Let's pray.