Don't Waste Your Life (Part 1)

Watch the video of this sermon on YouTube: Don't Waste Your Life (Part 1) A copy of the outline can be downloaded at the bottom of this page. To listen to or watch the next sermon in the series, click here: Part 2 Don't Waste Your Life I. Many people, including Christians, waste their lives. 1. Waste v.- 9. In unfavourable sense: To spend, consume, employ uselessly or without adequate result. (Now the most prominent use.) a. To consume, expend, bestow (money, property) uselessly, with needless lavishness or without adequate return; to make prodigal or improvident use of; to squander. e. To spend, pass, occupy (time, one's life, etc.) idly or unprofitably. f. To employ, put forth (energy, effort, qualities, talents) uselessly or without adequate return. i. To fail to take advantage of, ‘throw away’ (an opportunity). j. To cause or allow (a substance, physical energy) to be used unprofitably or lost. 2. Squander v. - 3. To spend (money, goods, etc.) recklessly, prodigally, or lavishly; to expend extravagantly, profusely, or wastefully. 3. Many people spend their lives, including their money, time, and talents, uselessly without adequate results or returns. 4. They fail to take advantage of the opportunities that God has given them. 5. They squander their blessings. II. The opposite of wasting your life is being profitable. 1. Profitable - 1. Yielding profit or advantage; beneficial, useful, serviceable, fruitful, valuable. 2. Profit n. - 1. a. The advantage or benefit (of a person, community, or thing); use, interest; the gain, good, well-being. 3. Profit v. - I. †1. intr. To make progress; to advance, go forward; to improve, prosper, grow, increase II. 2. trans. Of a thing: To be of advantage, use, or benefit to; to do good to; to benefit, further, advance, promote. b. intr. To be of advantage, use, or benefit; avail. 3. Of a person: a. intr. To be profitable, bring profit or benefit, do good (to some one); b. trans. To be profitable to, benefit, do good to; c. refl. To benefit oneself, make one's profit; = 4. 4. intr. (for refl.) To benefit oneself; to derive profit or benefit; to be benefited. b. esp. with prepositions †with, by, of, from: To derive benefit from, be a gainer by; to avail oneself of; to make use of, take advantage of. 4. To waste your life is to spend your life, time, talents, and money unprofitably. A. To be profitable is to yield and take advantage; to waste is to fail to take advantage of an opportunity. B. To be profitable is to be useful; to waste is to employ resources uselessly. C. To be profitable is to gain; to waste is to expend energy without adequate return. III. Our human nature is prone to wasting our lives. 1. Mankind by nature is unprofitable (Rom 3:12). 2. Therefore, by nature, mankind is unbeneficial, unfruitful, worthless, and not useful for anything. 3. In other words, the natural man is a waste. 4. The natural man is good for nothing (Jer 13:10). 5. Therefore, our spirits have to war against our flesh to resist wasting our lives (Rom 7:18-23; Gal 5:16-17; 1Pe 2:11). 6. If Christians waste their lives, they are likewise good for nothing (Mat 5:13). IV. The first step in resolving not to waste your life is to realize how short it is. 1. Our time here is short (1Co 7:29; Psa 89:47-48). 2. Our life is like a vapor which is gone in a flash (Jam 4:14; Job 7:6-7; Psa 103:15-16; Psa 144:4). A. Our days are as an handbreadth (Psa 39:5). B. We are as a wind which passeth away (Psa 78:39). 3. We should pray that God will impress upon us that our time is short so that we will know how frail we are (Psa 39:4-5). 4. We should all pray as Moses did: "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." (Psa 90:12) 5. If you are old, don't waste the rest of your life that remains. 6. We all have wasted our lives to one extent or another and we need to redeem the time (Col 4:5; Eph 5:15-16). 7. If you have wasted your life, then be wise in your latter end (Pro 19:20). 8. "...it is better to lose your life than to waste it." (John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life, p. 10) V. We are to be good stewards of what God has given us 1. Steward n. - 1. a. An official who controls the domestic affairs of a household, supervising the service of his master's table, directing the domestics, and regulating household expenditure; a major-domo. 5. a. One who manages the affairs of an estate on behalf of his employer. 6. fig. (From senses 1 and 5.) An administrator and dispenser of wealth, favours, etc.; esp. one regarded as the servant of God or of the people. Partly after Biblical uses 2. Jesus taught by way of a parable that we will be judged for not being good stewards of what God has entrusted to us (Luk 16:1-2). 3. If we are not faithful with the little that God has given us, He will not trust us with more (Luk 16:10-12). VI. Seven ways to waste your life 1. Sinning A. Sin does not profit (Job 33:27). B. Turning from God and going after vain things cannot profit us (1Sa 12:21). C. Sinning is the ultimate way to waste your life (Ecc 12:13). D. If you are living in sin, you are wasting your life. 2. Seeking excess pleasure A. Seeking pleasure as your end in life is vain and doesn't bring fulfillment (Ecc 2:1-11). B. We must never be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God (2Ti 3:4). i. Being in the house of God (the church), should be the most important thing in our lives (Psa 84:10; Psa 27:4). ii. If you miss church frequently for pleasure, you are wasting your life. iii. If you regularly choose to do things that bring you enjoyment instead of going to Bible study, you are wasting your life. C. The prodigal son is a great example of one who wasted his inheritance on seeking pleasure (Luk 15:12-13). D. On judgment day when God asks you why you didn't spend more of your time with Him, His house, and His people, do you think He will be pleased when you tell Him that you didn't have time to fit that stuff in, but you sure did have a lot of fun though? E. If you live for pleasure, you are wasting your life. 3. Acquiring excessive wealth A. "...a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" (Luk 12:15). B. Heaping up riches is vain (Psa 39:6). C. You can't take it with you (1Ti 6:7). D. Leaving it to others is vain (Psa 49:10-12), because they will likely squander it like fools (Ecc 2:18-19,21). E. God will judge those who lay up treasure for themselves and are not rich toward him (Luk 12:16-21). F. What's the point of gaining the world and losing your own soul (Mar 8:36)? i. A man is not profited by doing so (Mat 16:26). ii. If your goal is to be rich, you are wasting your life. 4. Working too much A. I have never seen a person on their deathbed lamenting that they didn't spend enough time at the office. B. It is vain to rise up early and sit up late working all the time (Psa 127:2). C. It is vain to work too much and deprive your soul of good (Ecc 4:8). D. You can work all the time to make yourself rich and yet have nothing of true worth (Pro 13:7). E. We ought to work to live, not live to work. F. We ought to enjoy the fruit of our labor in moderation (Ecc 2:24). G. If you work too much, you are wasting your life.