WEBVTT 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:07.259 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:07.259 --> 00:00:09.820 Sermons. This week we're beginning a brand new 00:00:09.820 --> 00:00:12.660 teaching series called A Matter of Time, where 00:00:12.660 --> 00:00:15.980 we're talking all about time. Spoiler alert, 00:00:16.179 --> 00:00:20.019 you only have a limited time on earth. So what 00:00:20.019 --> 00:00:22.120 are you going to do with it? How do we make the 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:26.120 most of this time that we have? And can we really 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:29.500 do anything that lasts forever? Those are just 00:00:29.500 --> 00:00:31.579 some of the questions that Rob is going to unpack 00:00:31.579 --> 00:00:39.079 for us in today's sermon. It is entitled, A Psalm 00:00:39.079 --> 00:01:09.420 of Moses. A thousand years in your sight are 00:01:09.420 --> 00:01:13.379 like a day that has just gone by or like a watch 00:01:13.379 --> 00:01:18.159 in the night. Yet you sweep people away in the 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:22.219 sleep of death. They are like the new grass of 00:01:22.219 --> 00:01:25.120 the morning. In the morning it springs up new, 00:01:25.319 --> 00:01:30.680 but by evening it is dry and withered. We are 00:01:30.680 --> 00:01:35.290 consumed by your anger and terrified. by your 00:01:35.290 --> 00:01:38.890 indignation. You've set our iniquities before 00:01:38.890 --> 00:01:42.769 you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 00:01:42.969 --> 00:01:48.510 All our days pass away under your wrath. We finish 00:01:48.510 --> 00:01:53.829 our years with a moan. Our days may come to 70 00:01:53.829 --> 00:01:58.870 years or 80 if our strength endures, yet the 00:01:58.870 --> 00:02:01.849 best of them are but trouble and sorrow for they 00:02:01.849 --> 00:02:07.680 quickly pass and we... Fly away. If only we knew 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:12.340 the power of your anger. Your wrath is as great 00:02:12.340 --> 00:02:17.740 as the fear that is your due. Teach us to number 00:02:17.740 --> 00:02:22.300 our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:28.370 The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Today 00:02:28.370 --> 00:02:30.349 we're going to get kicked off by talking about 00:02:30.349 --> 00:02:33.889 an incredibly encouraging and uplifting topic, 00:02:33.949 --> 00:02:37.610 and that is the topic of death. So aren't you 00:02:37.610 --> 00:02:40.629 glad that you came to church this morning? This 00:02:40.629 --> 00:02:43.449 probably all got started for me a couple weeks 00:02:43.449 --> 00:02:45.909 ago when I visited this website that was called 00:02:45.909 --> 00:02:51.759 Death Clock. The idea is you go there and you 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:55.000 put in your age, you know, when you were born, 00:02:55.159 --> 00:02:58.400 your weight. They ask you a few other kind of 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:00.900 lifestyle questions. And then the website will 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:05.199 spit out what they say is the exact day that 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:09.650 you are supposed to die. And why anyone would 00:03:09.650 --> 00:03:12.050 create a website like this is beyond me. But 00:03:12.050 --> 00:03:15.229 of course, I couldn't resist doing it. And so 00:03:15.229 --> 00:03:18.650 I put in my details. And according to deathclock 00:03:18.650 --> 00:03:23.409 .com, I am going to die on Sunday. At least it's 00:03:23.409 --> 00:03:31.090 a Sunday. Sunday, May 31st, 2061. So that means 00:03:31.090 --> 00:03:39.219 I now have 12 ,811 days. 14 hours and about 45 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:47.439 minutes and 30, 29, 28, 27, 20. Yes, at deafclock 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:50.430 .com, they will actually give you a... countdown 00:03:50.430 --> 00:03:54.110 that is counting down to the time of your death 00:03:54.110 --> 00:03:57.610 now rationally i know in my head this is all 00:03:57.610 --> 00:04:01.349 hogwash and you know surely my days are in god's 00:04:01.349 --> 00:04:04.750 hands not in the hands of some algorithm but 00:04:04.750 --> 00:04:08.949 still there is something very unsettling about 00:04:08.949 --> 00:04:12.490 watching your life reduced to the ticking of 00:04:12.490 --> 00:04:18.060 a clock That is especially true for me this summer, 00:04:18.259 --> 00:04:21.560 because this summer I'm going to turn 50 years 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:25.480 old. Wow. Hey, you know, and I know they say. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:31.459 50 is nifty, but I'm not so sure because I've 00:04:31.459 --> 00:04:34.240 noticed something about myself. And that is, 00:04:34.259 --> 00:04:36.819 you know, when you're young, right? Life feels 00:04:36.819 --> 00:04:40.019 just endless. Like when you're 16, it feels like 00:04:40.019 --> 00:04:42.620 the summer could go on and on forever. The summer 00:04:42.620 --> 00:04:45.420 takes 14 months. And then when you're 20 years 00:04:45.420 --> 00:04:49.079 old, oh my gosh, it feels like 50 is so, so far 00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:52.220 away. You've got your whole life ahead of you. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:55.620 But then at some point in your journey, something 00:04:55.620 --> 00:05:00.240 happens. and you begin to realize that time is 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:04.220 running out. And you start counting, not how 00:05:04.220 --> 00:05:06.939 many days you have lived, but you start thinking 00:05:06.939 --> 00:05:10.800 about how many more days you might have to live. 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:12.339 And I don't know when this change in thinking 00:05:12.339 --> 00:05:14.160 happens. I think it maybe happens at some point, 00:05:14.180 --> 00:05:17.199 maybe in your 40s. But you begin to realize life 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:20.819 is moving fast. Time is moving fast. Time is 00:05:20.819 --> 00:05:24.199 running out. And actually, the older that you 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:27.279 get, the faster that time seems to go by. And 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:29.160 that's actually a scientifically proven fact. 00:05:29.220 --> 00:05:31.660 There's good reasons. Why? Like when you're a 00:05:31.660 --> 00:05:35.319 kid, it feels like forever. You're waiting for 00:05:35.319 --> 00:05:38.199 Christmas to come forever and forever. And then 00:05:38.199 --> 00:05:40.500 when you're an adult, all of a sudden, it feels 00:05:40.500 --> 00:05:43.439 like Christmas happens like every 11 minutes, 00:05:43.699 --> 00:05:46.839 right? It's coming so fast. Life is coming at 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:50.000 you faster and faster the older that you get. 00:05:50.259 --> 00:05:53.300 And so if the question that we're always asking 00:05:53.300 --> 00:05:56.300 is, oh, what time is it? Or what time do we need 00:05:56.300 --> 00:05:59.319 to leave? Or what time is this service going 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:00.970 to be over? Guys, I'm going to tell you, the 00:06:00.970 --> 00:06:05.149 service always ends at about the same time. So 00:06:05.149 --> 00:06:08.730 usually, usually at the same time, mostly at 00:06:08.730 --> 00:06:11.970 the same time. But instead of asking the question, 00:06:12.149 --> 00:06:14.959 you know, what time is it? There is a better 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:17.079 question we really should be asking. That is, 00:06:17.139 --> 00:06:22.019 what am I doing with my time? Because your time 00:06:22.019 --> 00:06:24.660 is slipping away with every tick of the clock, 00:06:24.779 --> 00:06:27.000 with every flip of the calendar, with every day 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:30.259 and year that goes by. And we might try to want 00:06:30.259 --> 00:06:32.879 to push that thought off or avoid that thought 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:36.079 or deny that it's even happening. We say things 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:38.139 like, oh, I got lots of time. Or maybe you've 00:06:38.139 --> 00:06:41.560 heard people say, I got my whole life ahead of 00:06:41.560 --> 00:06:43.879 me. And one day I'll get to that. And one day 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:46.319 I'll slow down. And one day I'll make time for 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:49.519 those important things. It's not the way it works. 00:06:49.699 --> 00:06:53.439 And the Bible doesn't speak about time that way 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:58.120 at all. James says, what is your life? For you're 00:06:58.120 --> 00:07:01.980 just a mist that appears for a little time and 00:07:01.980 --> 00:07:06.180 then it vanishes. Or Job says, my days are swifter 00:07:06.180 --> 00:07:10.480 than a runner. They fly away without a glimpse 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:14.569 of joy. The psalmist says, we're merely mortal. 00:07:14.850 --> 00:07:19.670 We're gone like the breath of a wind that never 00:07:19.670 --> 00:07:24.269 returns. And Peter says, all flesh is like grass 00:07:24.269 --> 00:07:27.310 and all its glory like the flower of the grass. 00:07:27.389 --> 00:07:32.209 The grass withers and the flower falls off. Or 00:07:32.209 --> 00:07:37.589 today, as we read, our days quickly pass and 00:07:37.589 --> 00:07:43.129 we fly away. It's cheery stuff, I know. But the 00:07:43.129 --> 00:07:48.250 goal of the Bible is not to depress us. It is 00:07:48.250 --> 00:07:51.910 actually to wake us up. Because according to 00:07:51.910 --> 00:07:56.470 the Bible... A foolish way to live is to assume 00:07:56.470 --> 00:07:58.990 that you've got all sorts of time, right? In 00:07:58.990 --> 00:08:02.870 fact, one biblical definition of a fool is someone 00:08:02.870 --> 00:08:05.269 who thinks they've got their whole life ahead 00:08:05.269 --> 00:08:07.069 of them. Remember the parable Jesus told about 00:08:07.069 --> 00:08:09.310 the rich fool, this guy who thought he had his 00:08:09.310 --> 00:08:11.550 whole life ahead of him, and then he died that 00:08:11.550 --> 00:08:18.850 night. As a pastor, I have done more than my 00:08:18.850 --> 00:08:23.560 fair share of funerals over the years. You know, 00:08:23.579 --> 00:08:25.560 it's interesting, even here at Trinity, it feels 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:28.720 like over the past few weeks and months, there's 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:30.899 just been more and more funerals. What's going 00:08:30.899 --> 00:08:37.940 on, Trinity? Stop it. But in my 22 years as a 00:08:37.940 --> 00:08:40.159 priest, I have done funerals for people in their 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:45.399 80s or 90s, in their 60s, in their 40s, their 00:08:45.399 --> 00:08:48.779 20s. I've done funerals for teenagers, done even 00:08:48.779 --> 00:08:52.649 funerals for children. And so I feel like I can 00:08:52.649 --> 00:08:56.029 confidently say to you, you do not have your 00:08:56.029 --> 00:09:01.509 whole life ahead of you. And today, Psalm 90 00:09:01.509 --> 00:09:05.590 invites us not to run away from that reality, 00:09:05.750 --> 00:09:09.669 but to actually face it honestly. Because if 00:09:09.669 --> 00:09:12.429 a fool says, I've got my whole life in front 00:09:12.429 --> 00:09:17.470 of me, then a wise person says, no, no, my days 00:09:17.470 --> 00:09:20.929 are numbered. So that's what we're going to talk 00:09:20.929 --> 00:09:22.470 about today. And I want to let you know that 00:09:22.470 --> 00:09:24.929 it's going to take us a few weeks to really unpack 00:09:24.929 --> 00:09:27.710 all the interesting things the Bible says about 00:09:27.710 --> 00:09:30.250 time. Today might seem a little bit of a downer, 00:09:30.250 --> 00:09:32.429 but we're going to get to all the other stuff 00:09:32.429 --> 00:09:35.389 in the weeks ahead as well. I've given you a 00:09:35.389 --> 00:09:38.029 little few teaching notes here, you know, just 00:09:38.029 --> 00:09:40.809 so we can make the most of our time together. 00:09:41.669 --> 00:09:45.230 One of the things that... Psalm 90 teaches us 00:09:45.230 --> 00:09:47.250 right off the bat, and this is a good place to 00:09:47.250 --> 00:09:49.990 start, is though our time is running out, God's 00:09:49.990 --> 00:09:54.350 time is not. And I love how the psalm sets the 00:09:54.350 --> 00:09:58.309 stage by reminding us that God is eternal. Lord, 00:09:58.429 --> 00:10:01.590 you've been our dwelling place throughout all 00:10:01.590 --> 00:10:04.669 generations. Before the mountains were born, 00:10:04.870 --> 00:10:14.899 or you brought forth the whole world, God. In 00:10:14.899 --> 00:10:16.759 other words, before there were oceans, before 00:10:16.759 --> 00:10:19.419 there were planets, before there was human history, 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:22.379 before there were people, before there was the 00:10:22.379 --> 00:10:25.820 Canada Revenue Agency, there was God, right? 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:30.299 God has no beginning. God has no end. The psalmist, 00:10:30.500 --> 00:10:33.000 you know, he looks to the mountains as an example. 00:10:33.100 --> 00:10:34.759 It's not a bad example. If you've ever stood 00:10:34.759 --> 00:10:37.340 at the Rocky Mountains or the Alps, you look 00:10:37.340 --> 00:10:38.779 at these things and you're like, these things 00:10:38.779 --> 00:10:41.759 must have been here forever. There is a sense 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:44.519 of permanence when you look at a mountain. But 00:10:44.519 --> 00:10:47.139 the psalmist says, no, no, actually before they 00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:50.200 existed, God existed. And after they are gone 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:52.740 and one day they will be gone, God will still 00:10:52.740 --> 00:10:55.940 be there. From everlasting this way to everlasting 00:10:55.940 --> 00:11:01.200 that way, you are God. And that means that the 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:04.440 only permanent thing in the whole universe, the 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:07.610 only stable thing in the universe is God. Careers 00:11:07.610 --> 00:11:11.230 change, relationships change, your body changes, 00:11:11.429 --> 00:11:14.889 right? Cultures change, technology changes like 00:11:14.889 --> 00:11:19.409 every 17 minutes. Everything in this world is 00:11:19.409 --> 00:11:22.950 temporary. So if you are trying to find stability 00:11:22.950 --> 00:11:25.909 through your achievements or through your health 00:11:25.909 --> 00:11:28.289 or your beauty or your money or your career or 00:11:28.289 --> 00:11:31.029 your plans, you're not gonna feel very stable 00:11:31.029 --> 00:11:35.830 at all. These things all change. Stability. can 00:11:35.830 --> 00:11:38.629 only be found in an eternal God who does not 00:11:38.629 --> 00:11:43.309 change. And here, I think, is where we make a 00:11:43.309 --> 00:11:47.029 mistake in our lives. And that is, we spend a 00:11:47.029 --> 00:11:50.789 lot of our lives trying to make ourselves kind 00:11:50.789 --> 00:11:55.039 of permanent. right? We're trying to make for 00:11:55.039 --> 00:12:00.019 ourselves a name that will last. We want to leave 00:12:00.019 --> 00:12:02.360 a legacy that's going to, you know, speak to 00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:04.720 generations and generations of people after we 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:08.419 are gone. But the truth is, we don't got enough 00:12:08.419 --> 00:12:12.649 time. You know, our lives are so small and so 00:12:12.649 --> 00:12:17.409 short that we just don't have enough days and 00:12:17.409 --> 00:12:20.970 hours and minutes to make of our lives something 00:12:20.970 --> 00:12:24.850 that is going to last forever. For the future 00:12:24.850 --> 00:12:26.809 to all look back and say, oh, what a wonderful 00:12:26.809 --> 00:12:28.669 life that person lived. Let me give you a little 00:12:28.669 --> 00:12:32.049 example. But I remember my grandpa, Grandpa John, 00:12:32.230 --> 00:12:36.230 very, very clearly. He grew up in our home with 00:12:36.230 --> 00:12:38.110 us. And so for most of our childhood, he was 00:12:38.110 --> 00:12:41.629 there at every single meal. And he died when 00:12:41.629 --> 00:12:44.850 I was, you know, just becoming a teenager. So 00:12:44.850 --> 00:12:48.250 obviously my parents knew Grandpa John really 00:12:48.250 --> 00:12:50.590 well. Me and my siblings, we lived with him. 00:12:50.629 --> 00:12:53.330 We knew Grandpa John really well. really well. 00:12:53.509 --> 00:12:56.929 Now, my children, I don't think, they never, 00:12:56.970 --> 00:13:00.070 no, they never, they never met, of course. What 00:13:00.070 --> 00:13:03.610 am I saying? They never met Grandpa John. They 00:13:03.610 --> 00:13:08.429 might recognize his picture on a wall, and they 00:13:08.429 --> 00:13:10.850 might have remembered that his name was John, 00:13:11.029 --> 00:13:15.610 but certainly their children will have no idea 00:13:15.610 --> 00:13:21.149 who he is. He will be completely forgotten. And 00:13:21.149 --> 00:13:23.850 I hate to tell you this, but a hundred years 00:13:23.850 --> 00:13:27.549 after you are dead, nobody will remember your 00:13:27.549 --> 00:13:32.690 name. And that's not to be cynical. It is just 00:13:32.690 --> 00:13:35.889 to say, hey, time moves on and history moves 00:13:35.889 --> 00:13:40.649 on. And we can't make a name for ourselves. Alistair 00:13:40.649 --> 00:13:44.429 Begg says that we are all going to elude the 00:13:44.429 --> 00:13:48.879 pens of the historians. In the last 10 ,000 years, 00:13:48.980 --> 00:13:50.960 just think of the empires that have risen and 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:54.259 fallen. The Roman Empire, the Zhou Dynasty in 00:13:54.259 --> 00:13:57.799 China, Mongolian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.039 the British Empire, the German Empire, whatever. 00:14:00.379 --> 00:14:03.200 They're all gone now, right? They were just blips 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:06.600 on the screen of history. These nations were 00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:08.899 once powerful enough to shake the whole world, 00:14:08.919 --> 00:14:12.899 and now they are relegated to the history books 00:14:12.899 --> 00:14:17.909 and the museums. So no. Only God is eternal. 00:14:18.090 --> 00:14:24.490 We will not be remembered. Which sounds depressing, 00:14:24.809 --> 00:14:29.269 I know. But we were never meant to find meaning 00:14:29.269 --> 00:14:35.690 in making our own name eternal. So Psalm 90, 00:14:35.830 --> 00:14:40.110 that's how it begins. It says, only God is eternal. 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:43.200 And then the rest of the psalm goes on to talk 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:48.659 about how frail we are. Yes, God is from everlasting 00:14:48.659 --> 00:14:54.500 to everlasting. We are not. Like, for example, 00:14:54.620 --> 00:14:59.080 you turn people back to dust saying, return to 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:03.120 dust, you mortals. A thousand years in your sight 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:07.879 is like a day that has just gone by or like a 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:11.429 watch in the night. I actually did a little bit 00:15:11.429 --> 00:15:15.409 of math and I said, okay, so if a thousand years 00:15:15.409 --> 00:15:19.889 to God is like a day, then what would my soon 00:15:19.889 --> 00:15:24.350 to be 50 years be to God? Well, I did the math 00:15:24.350 --> 00:15:26.629 and actually it turns out it would be like an 00:15:26.629 --> 00:15:30.320 hour and 10 minutes. So in God's eyes, my life 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:31.720 is an hour and 10 minutes. But it actually gets 00:15:31.720 --> 00:15:34.019 worse than that because it says, no, a thousand 00:15:34.019 --> 00:15:36.500 years is like a watch in the night. And actually 00:15:36.500 --> 00:15:39.480 a watch in the night is three hours, maybe four 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:41.559 hours, depends on how you look at it. And that 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:45.759 basically means that my 50 years to God is nine 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:49.360 minutes long, which means somewhere around the 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.179 beginning of this sermon, God said, oh, Rob is 00:15:52.179 --> 00:15:58.649 born. And by now I am long dead. You know, so 00:15:58.649 --> 00:16:02.230 much of our life, you know, trying to think that 00:16:02.230 --> 00:16:05.470 somehow we are in control, but we are just so 00:16:05.470 --> 00:16:11.330 frail and we are so fragile and life is so unpredictable. 00:16:13.169 --> 00:16:18.730 As a side note, this psalm purports to be written 00:16:18.730 --> 00:16:22.980 by Moses himself. If you read it in your Bibles, 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:24.679 you'll see right at the top it says, A Psalm 00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:27.600 of Moses. And it's very interesting because from 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:30.700 Moses' perspective, he would have had a vantage 00:16:30.700 --> 00:16:34.480 point on the frail and unpredictability of life. 00:16:34.740 --> 00:16:38.299 Like, for example, Moses spent his first 40 years, 00:16:38.460 --> 00:16:43.259 you know, watching Hebrew slaves. suffer under 00:16:43.259 --> 00:16:47.519 Egyptian taskmasters, right? Saw them die and 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:50.399 suffer over and over again. Then he spent the 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:52.960 next 40 years of his life, you know, tending 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:56.120 sheep, same thing, day after day, day in, day 00:16:56.120 --> 00:16:58.700 out, just watching and waiting for these days 00:16:58.700 --> 00:17:02.080 of monotony to tick by. And then he spent the 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:05.160 last 40 years wandering the wilderness, and we 00:17:05.160 --> 00:17:12.450 are told that in the entire generation die off 00:17:12.450 --> 00:17:16.569 before they could enter the promised land and 00:17:16.569 --> 00:17:19.349 i thought i did a lot of funerals but for moses 00:17:19.349 --> 00:17:24.210 every day was another funeral every day was another 00:17:24.210 --> 00:17:29.470 grave another reminder that human life is so 00:17:29.470 --> 00:17:33.210 so fragile and which is why he the psalmist moses 00:17:33.210 --> 00:17:36.910 writes you sweep people away in the sleep of 00:17:36.910 --> 00:17:40.009 death They're like the new grass of the morning. 00:17:40.069 --> 00:17:43.069 In the morning, it springs up new. But by evening, 00:17:43.150 --> 00:17:45.750 it is dry and it is withered. In the Middle East, 00:17:45.829 --> 00:17:47.849 you know, the rain would come. And yes, grass 00:17:47.849 --> 00:17:51.289 actually would spring up overnight, green and 00:17:51.289 --> 00:17:53.589 vibrant and alive. But then by evening, after 00:17:53.589 --> 00:17:57.670 the scorching sun, it was brown, it was withered, 00:17:57.670 --> 00:18:02.390 and it was gone. That's what life is. feels like, 00:18:02.569 --> 00:18:05.289 right? At one moment, everything can be healthy 00:18:05.289 --> 00:18:08.450 and stable and secure, and then the next moment, 00:18:08.589 --> 00:18:13.369 everything changes. A diagnosis, an accident, 00:18:13.829 --> 00:18:17.910 a phone call in the middle of the night. You 00:18:17.910 --> 00:18:22.789 know, yesterday, I was dethatching my front lawn 00:18:22.789 --> 00:18:25.710 with this special rake, just pulling, and the 00:18:25.710 --> 00:18:30.039 idea of a dethatching rake is it pulls out all 00:18:30.039 --> 00:18:33.359 the dead and brown grass that has been laying 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:36.039 underneath of the green grass that is trying 00:18:36.039 --> 00:18:38.460 to grow. And my goodness, I could not believe 00:18:38.460 --> 00:18:41.880 how much was in there. We bagged up tons of this 00:18:41.880 --> 00:18:45.640 stuff and put it by the curb, waiting for it 00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:48.839 to be picked up and taken off. I don't know how 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:51.160 it all died, right? Maybe it just slowly withered 00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:53.599 away, like some of us do. Maybe it was cut off 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:56.579 quickly by our lawnmower last year, and it died 00:18:56.579 --> 00:18:59.539 just in a moment. But that's the whole point. 00:18:59.660 --> 00:19:01.339 Life is unpredictable. You don't know if you're 00:19:01.339 --> 00:19:03.299 going to wither away like grass or you're going 00:19:03.299 --> 00:19:06.640 to be cut off all of a sudden. Right? The Bible 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:11.259 says human beings, we're not like oak trees. 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:17.460 We're like grass. Which means not only is life 00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:21.619 fragile and unpredictable, but it is just, it's 00:19:21.619 --> 00:19:26.519 just short. This is another hard truth that Moses, 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:30.779 the psalmist, wants us to face in Psalm 90. He 00:19:30.779 --> 00:19:33.500 says our days, well, maybe they would come to 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:35.740 70 years. Maybe if things are going really good 00:19:35.740 --> 00:19:40.220 for you, you'll live to 80 if our strength endures. 00:19:40.819 --> 00:19:43.319 Yet the best of those years are but trouble and 00:19:43.319 --> 00:19:48.240 sorrow and they fly away. They quickly pass. 00:19:49.349 --> 00:19:51.730 I find it kind of remarkable that though this 00:19:51.730 --> 00:19:53.829 was written thousands of years ago, those ages 00:19:53.829 --> 00:19:58.029 are still kind of right, you know? Most of us 00:19:58.029 --> 00:20:00.509 get 70 years. Maybe some of us get 80. Maybe 00:20:00.509 --> 00:20:05.710 a few more. Maybe for others, less. But Moses 00:20:05.710 --> 00:20:10.710 says they all quickly pass. And it's true, right? 00:20:10.809 --> 00:20:14.410 You graduate high school and you blink and you're 00:20:14.410 --> 00:20:17.839 paying a mortgage. And you blink again, and the 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:20.160 kids are going off to university. And you blink 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:24.200 again, and the doctor's saying, Rob, at your 00:20:24.200 --> 00:20:27.000 age, you should da -da -da, right? We're like, 00:20:27.099 --> 00:20:30.799 my age? What are you talking about, right? Life 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:34.740 moves quickly, and Moses has this beautiful poetic 00:20:34.740 --> 00:20:37.259 line, and we fly away. It sounds lovely until 00:20:37.259 --> 00:20:41.500 you realize he's talking about your death. Now, 00:20:41.539 --> 00:20:44.819 like I said before, This creates a real problem 00:20:44.819 --> 00:20:46.799 for us as human beings because we want to be 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:52.680 permanent. We want to have our lives matter for 00:20:52.680 --> 00:20:55.180 something beyond these few years. We want meaning 00:20:55.180 --> 00:20:58.279 that goes deeper than those few years. We don't 00:20:58.279 --> 00:21:03.319 want to just be two dates on a gravestone. That's 00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:07.859 why I think we try to build wealth. build careers 00:21:07.859 --> 00:21:10.660 or reputations. That's why I think so many people 00:21:10.660 --> 00:21:13.319 love to write down their memoirs, right? We're 00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:17.920 somehow trying to find a way to make our story 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:25.079 last longer, but we can't, and it won't. But 00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:28.099 there is good news buried in all of this, and 00:21:28.099 --> 00:21:29.579 of course, that's where I want to end today. 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:36.650 There is actually a way to make your story count 00:21:36.650 --> 00:21:42.329 forever. And there's a way to make your life 00:21:42.329 --> 00:21:47.289 have eternal meaning. There is a way. There is 00:21:47.289 --> 00:21:50.670 a way. Tell me, Rob, how does one do that? Well, 00:21:50.769 --> 00:21:53.309 let's go back to that God. Remember that God 00:21:53.309 --> 00:21:56.390 who is eternal from everlasting to everlasting? 00:21:56.809 --> 00:22:02.390 If you are willing to place your life into his 00:22:02.390 --> 00:22:06.269 life, if you are willing to make your short story 00:22:06.269 --> 00:22:12.210 part of his eternal story, then your story in 00:22:12.210 --> 00:22:17.170 him, nested in his life, does go on forever. 00:22:17.430 --> 00:22:19.789 That is the only way. That is the only way to 00:22:19.789 --> 00:22:23.650 make your story make lasting sense, to put your 00:22:23.650 --> 00:22:29.059 little frail life into God's forever life. You 00:22:29.059 --> 00:22:31.380 could choose, if you want, desperately to spend 00:22:31.380 --> 00:22:34.160 your 70 or 80 years trying to make a name for 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:37.940 yourself, which won't happen. Or you can put 00:22:37.940 --> 00:22:42.119 your little story into the eternal story of God. 00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:46.359 And when you do that, then all of a sudden, everything 00:22:46.359 --> 00:22:51.720 you do matters forever. Every word, every act 00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:55.759 of... faithfulness, every relationship that you 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:58.539 have, whether you're raising children or whether 00:22:58.539 --> 00:23:00.579 you're a CEO, whether you're serving others, 00:23:00.680 --> 00:23:03.660 whether you're worshiping God, all of those things 00:23:03.660 --> 00:23:08.539 now will echo throughout all of eternity, not 00:23:08.539 --> 00:23:11.019 because they're connected to you, but because 00:23:11.019 --> 00:23:13.519 they are now connected to the living, eternal 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:18.440 God. The point was never to make our lives last 00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:22.980 forever, but to take our few years, and drop 00:23:22.980 --> 00:23:26.480 them into the God of everlasting life. That is 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:31.279 the only way our brief lives become part of something 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:34.920 eternal. That is the only way that we will never 00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:39.990 be forgotten. Which is why after everything that 00:23:39.990 --> 00:23:42.569 Psalm 90 tells us, it tells us, you know, that 00:23:42.569 --> 00:23:44.789 life is short, time is running out, that God 00:23:44.789 --> 00:23:47.829 is eternal, that we are frail. It ends with the 00:23:47.829 --> 00:23:49.930 most important thing it has to say to us. And 00:23:49.930 --> 00:23:53.730 that is, so therefore, therefore live your life 00:23:53.730 --> 00:23:57.819 differently. Live differently. Or as the psalmist 00:23:57.819 --> 00:24:01.559 says, teach us, therefore, to number our days 00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:05.539 that we may gain a heart of wisdom. You see what 00:24:05.539 --> 00:24:08.180 this all really boils down to is numbering our 00:24:08.180 --> 00:24:12.240 days. It's remembering the brevity of life. If 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:15.180 you do that, the result is not fear. It is not 00:24:15.180 --> 00:24:21.339 anxiety. It's wisdom. Because wisdom, the Bible, 00:24:21.400 --> 00:24:24.319 isn't just something you know. It is a way that 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:29.019 you live. Wisdom, therefore, is learning to live 00:24:29.019 --> 00:24:33.019 your life, your limited life, in light of eternity. 00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:37.079 It's to recognize that because your time is so 00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:40.819 limited, it is therefore so, so valuable. Do 00:24:40.819 --> 00:24:43.599 you guys, why is gold so valuable? It's because 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:46.240 it's scarce. Why are diamonds so valuable? It's 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:48.619 because they are scarce. Why is your life so 00:24:48.619 --> 00:24:51.660 valuable? so valuable is because it's scarce. 00:24:51.819 --> 00:24:55.420 Your time is running out. Your time is limited, 00:24:55.779 --> 00:24:59.819 right? Time is one of the, it is the most valuable 00:24:59.819 --> 00:25:03.339 thing that you have. You know, wisdom says, hey, 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:05.819 if I lose money, I can make more money. If I 00:25:05.819 --> 00:25:08.980 lose my career, I can rebuild another career. 00:25:09.079 --> 00:25:14.759 But you cannot relive a single day of your life. 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:19.230 Yesterday is gone forever. And wisdom, therefore, 00:25:19.250 --> 00:25:22.089 says, I'm not going to live my life worrying 00:25:22.089 --> 00:25:26.130 about distractions or constantly scrolling through 00:25:26.130 --> 00:25:31.109 my phone, right? Because my time is running out. 00:25:31.250 --> 00:25:33.750 Why do I sit around here and say, one day I'm 00:25:33.750 --> 00:25:35.450 going to slow down. One day I'm going to get 00:25:35.450 --> 00:25:38.150 around to tending to my spiritual life. One day 00:25:38.150 --> 00:25:40.869 I'm going to prioritize my family. No, wisdom 00:25:40.869 --> 00:25:45.289 says... We need to number our days, realize how 00:25:45.289 --> 00:25:49.630 precious they are, and then live our lives differently. 00:25:51.349 --> 00:25:54.569 You know, I think that by the time you subtract 00:25:54.569 --> 00:25:58.910 sleeping and working and commuting and all the 00:25:58.910 --> 00:26:02.069 things that you have to do, by the time you subtract 00:26:02.069 --> 00:26:04.470 all those, even for like someone who's middle 00:26:04.470 --> 00:26:06.509 -aged like myself, I can't believe I said that, 00:26:06.569 --> 00:26:10.000 but middle -aged. you've really maybe only got 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:17.180 a few hundred really significant days left in 00:26:17.180 --> 00:26:19.859 your life. Like days that are all yours to like 00:26:19.859 --> 00:26:21.799 determine what you want to do with. Goodness 00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:25.359 gracious, don't waste them. Live differently. 00:26:25.500 --> 00:26:28.579 Wise people, according to Psalm 90, they live 00:26:28.579 --> 00:26:31.559 with the end in mind, not in a morbid way, not 00:26:31.559 --> 00:26:34.640 in an anxious way, but in a clarifying way. It 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:37.660 really makes things clear. Certain things do 00:26:37.660 --> 00:26:40.220 not need to matter as much as they do, right? 00:26:40.339 --> 00:26:43.579 Those petty arguments, accumulating wealth, trying 00:26:43.579 --> 00:26:46.619 to impress people, all those other things, they 00:26:46.619 --> 00:26:49.819 don't matter. What becomes important are the 00:26:49.819 --> 00:26:54.319 relationships. love the forgiveness faith the 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:59.400 kingdom of god right the wise person knows to 00:26:59.400 --> 00:27:03.200 invest in those things because they actually 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:08.259 last and honestly i don't think anybody ever 00:27:08.259 --> 00:27:12.740 lived this way quite like jesus did i mean there's 00:27:12.740 --> 00:27:14.539 two things i want to say about jesus as we close 00:27:14.539 --> 00:27:18.740 first jesus he lived With a sense of urgency. 00:27:19.220 --> 00:27:21.200 Especially when you read the gospel of Mark. 00:27:21.319 --> 00:27:23.640 One word keeps coming up again and again. It's 00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:26.000 actually annoying if you keep reading. It's the 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:29.859 word immediately. Immediately Jesus went here. 00:27:29.980 --> 00:27:32.359 Immediately he healed someone. Immediately he 00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:34.920 taught. Immediately he moved toward the cross. 00:27:35.180 --> 00:27:37.839 There was this sense of urgency in Jesus' life. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:40.720 It was not panic. It was not anxiousness. It 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:44.609 was... purpose jesus lived as someone who was 00:27:44.609 --> 00:27:47.970 fully aware that his own days were numbered and 00:27:47.970 --> 00:27:51.450 so he invested his time in the people and in 00:27:51.450 --> 00:27:55.470 the purpose that was most important he never 00:27:55.470 --> 00:27:59.309 lived like he had unlimited time and neither 00:27:59.309 --> 00:28:04.829 should we but secondly in jesus the most amazing 00:28:04.829 --> 00:28:08.859 thing has happened and that is that This God 00:28:08.859 --> 00:28:14.180 from everlasting to everlasting in Jesus entered 00:28:14.180 --> 00:28:19.579 into our time, right? And stepped into this fragile, 00:28:19.619 --> 00:28:23.700 temporary world. He submitted himself, Jesus, 00:28:23.779 --> 00:28:28.460 to clocks and calendars, to aging and suffering 00:28:28.460 --> 00:28:33.539 and exhaustion and ultimately death itself. And 00:28:33.539 --> 00:28:36.880 because the eternal God entered into our mortal 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:40.539 life, it means that us mortals can now enter 00:28:40.539 --> 00:28:45.160 into his eternal life. Through his death and 00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:48.440 through his resurrection, he opened up a way 00:28:48.440 --> 00:28:51.960 for our short little lives to be caught up in 00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:56.220 his eternal life. And when we trust Jesus with 00:28:56.220 --> 00:29:00.940 these fragile lives as they are, he gives us 00:29:00.940 --> 00:29:05.759 his eternal. Which means that your short life 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:10.940 does not have to be meaningless. A life rooted 00:29:10.940 --> 00:29:17.220 in Jesus becomes part of something good and eternal. 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:24.759 So, in closing for today, you do not have forever. 00:29:26.339 --> 00:29:34.369 But in Jesus, forever can have forever. So God, 00:29:34.490 --> 00:29:40.170 teach us to number our days. Teach us to treasure 00:29:40.170 --> 00:29:46.990 our time. Teach us to live wisely, to live urgently 00:29:46.990 --> 00:29:52.950 like Jesus, and to live eternally with Jesus. 00:29:55.089 --> 00:30:00.710 Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks for listening 00:30:00.710 --> 00:30:03.430 to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. This 00:30:03.430 --> 00:30:06.150 sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville 00:30:06.150 --> 00:30:10.470 in Mississauga, Ontario on May 3rd, 2026.