Amen, all right. We're there in first Samba chapter number 13 and of course tonight. We are in a series called
Undisciplined we started a brand new series last Sunday night
And we're looking at these different areas where people tend to be a little undisciplined and the last week
We looked at laziness and this week
We're looking at the subject of we're studying and looking at in the Bible to this idea of a tardiness or
being late or the lack of being
punctual
Over the next several weeks as we continue through the series. We're going to talk about being undisciplined with our words
We're going to talk about gluttony. We're going to talk about all sorts of things that have to do with on being undisciplined
but tonight
I want to speak to you on this subject of tardiness or being late and when we talk about being late
There's probably I would say the most well-known story in the entire Bible
Where somebody was late was this story first time in chapter 13 where the prophet Samuel?
Was late now for some of you who?
Tend to be late
You're a little relieved because Samuel is actually the good guy in the story and but I want you to notice
I just think it's an interesting story is the most famous story in the Bible in regards to someone not showing up at
The time that they were supposed to notice there in first time of 13 in verse 5
The Bible says this and the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel
30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and people as the sand which is on the seashore in
multitude and they came up and pitched in Micmash eastward from Beth haven of course we have Saul who
His enemies are preparing to go to battle against him and they are gathering
30,000 chariots 6,000 horsemen people as the sand is what the Bible says and Saul's
soldiers are
fearful at this site notice verse 6 when the men of Israel saw that they were in a straight the word straight means in a
narrow or limited passage or space
It says for the people were distressed
then the people did hide themselves in caves and in thickets and in rocks and in high places and in pits and some of
The Hebrews went over to Jordan to the land of Gad and get lead as for Saul
He was yet in Gilgal and all the people followed him notice the last part of verse 7
Trembling that is not what you want when you're getting ready to go into battle to have your military men
Following you while they're physically trembling
This is a bad situation that Saul finds himself in his enemies are preparing against him his soldiers themselves are
fearful and Saul
felt
Like he was wasting his time because not only
Were the enemy's gathering not only were his soldiers fearful
But his prophet was late notice verse 8 for Samuel 13 and verse 8 and he tarried
Seven days and the idea here the word Terry means to take longer
Than intended and he tarried seven days according to the set time that Samuel had appointed
But Samuel came not to Gilgal and the people were scattered from him
The idea is that Samuel prophet was supposed to come and meet Saul and he was supposed to help the people bless the people
Pray for the people guide them spiritually and prepare them encourage them to go into battle
But Samuel is late to the meeting. In fact, he's seven days late. The Bible says that Paul that Saul tarried
Seven days he waited for seven days according to the set time that Samuel had appointed
But Samuel came not to Gilgal and the people were scattered
So what does Saul do he decides not to wait for Samuel and he did something he should not have done
He did something that only Samuel should have done notice verse 9 and Saul said bring hither a burnt offering to me and peace
offerings and he offered the burnt offering see Samuel was supposed to show up and
Offer this burnt sacrifice in order to bless the people
But because Samuel was late Saul decided to do it himself. The problem is that the Bible the Word of God
forbade
Anybody but the Levites and for the Prophet and for the those that were allowed to do this and Saul
Was not allowed to do this. He took it upon himself notice verse 10 and it came to pass
I love how the by the Bible is because the Bible it's it's it's so true to human nature
isn't this always how it is and it came to pass that as soon as he had made an end of an
Offering the burnt offering behold Samuel came isn't that true now how it always is your kid growing up?
You know, you're not supposed to do something your parents aren't home and that you know
You've been debating it this whole time
And as soon as you decide I'm gonna just grab that cookie and it's in your mouth mom walks through the door
Right as soon as you make that decision as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering behold
Samuel came and Saul went out to meet him and that he might salute him and of course
Here we see that Samuel was the one that was late
But I do want you to notice that Saul is a very undisciplined man
Notice what he does instead of taking responsibility for his actions and taking the consequences for his action
He begins to make all sorts of excuses
He begins to blame everybody but himself leavers 11 and Samuel said what has thou done and
Saul said here's excuse number one because I saw that the people were scattered from me
And here's excuse number two and that thou camest not within the days appointed and that verse excuse number three
The Philistines gathered themselves together at Micmash
Therefore said I the Philistines will come now now upon me to Gilgal and I have not made supplication unto the Lord
I I love the words I forced myself
Therefore I didn't want to I just I had no other choice, you know, whenever people tell you they don't have another choice
There's always like a million other choices. There's all sorts of things you could have done differently
He said I forced myself therefore and offered a burnt offering and here Saul makes excuses
For his actions. He blames everyone but himself and we see that Samuel was late now
Some of you are a little confused you're saying I thought you were preaching about how it's wrong to be late
And I am preaching about that tonight
I'm preaching on the sin of tardiness and the sin of being late in this story
We have the most famous story of somebody being late and it's the Prophet Samuel and Samuel is the good guy
I want to begin tonight by just giving you a couple of things just by way of
introduction a couple of things that we can learn from this story of Samuel in
Regards to being late before I get into all the negative aspects about being late
Let me just say a couple of things first of all
Sometimes you're going to be late
It's unavoidable
Sometimes and I'm not talking about this should be a habit that you have but even if you're a very punctual person
You're a very disciplined person. You tend to be on time or early to everywhere
You need to be sometimes it's gonna it's gonna happen that you're gonna be late
You're gonna get an accident. You're gonna have a flat tire
You're something's gonna happen and and and and you're going to be late
And so when I'm preaching about tardiness tonight
I don't want you to think that every time that somebody's late to something they're in sin or they're
Undisciplined or they're not right with God because the truth of the matter is that sometimes you're just gonna be late
Sometimes your flights gonna get canceled your flights gonna get delayed your flights gonna get
Rearranged there. There's gonna be unexpected traffic. There's gonna be emergencies and things that happen it every once in a while
We're going to be late
We need to understand that he punctual people from time to time are going to be late Samuel was a good man
Samuel the Bible tells us traveled a lot
He Bible tells us that he that he had a circuit in which he would go and meet with people and perform
Sacrifices and minister unto the children of Israel the Bible doesn't tell us here why he was late
But I'm sure it was a legitimate reason why he was late. Obviously, he's going into a battlefield
There may have been a reason why he was not able to get there when he intended to get there and I want to begin
By just saying this sometimes sometimes you're gonna be late and that's okay
every once in a while something's gonna happen that is out of your control and you're not going to be able to
Make it at the appointed time. Sometimes we're gonna be late
however
Here's where it gets negative
You being late should be a sometime very rare event
You say are you preaching about tardiness tonight? Are you preaching about any time? Anyone's ever late? No
Because like we learned from Samuel sometimes you're gonna be late
But let me say this
There is a huge difference
There is a world of difference between the person who is normally punctual
Who's normally
Disciplined who's normally responsible who normally is where they're supposed to be at the time
They said they would be there at the time. They're expected
there is a world of difference between the person who's normally on time and
every once in a while
There's a a big emergency or something outside of their control that causes them to be late
There's a world of difference between that individual and the person that's always late
The person who's habitually late the person who's chronically late the person
You know, you you you probably work with somebody like this not for very long
I'm sure but you know
You have someone like this in your family or you are the someone like this in your family the person that you can just count
on them being late
You know, you know I'm talking about you tell everybody else the event starts at 7, but you tell this person it starts at 5
So that maybe they'll make it at 7 15
You know the person you can just count on you if you if you have to wager you would just wager they won't be there
On time they won't make it on time
That person is not the same as the person who's always punctual and every once in a while. Sometimes we're late
Tonight I'm preaching on the sin of tardiness
I'm not preaching about any random time that any of us may be late because that's gonna happen from time to time but I am
Speaking to individuals who are habitually
Chronically all of the time it can be counted upon that they're always late
Maybe we talked about pride this morning. We said it's it's it's not easy to see it in the mirror
I think sometimes tardiness is not easy to see in the mirror
Which I don't understand because you just have to look at a clock
But obviously you're not look good at looking at a clock if you're always late
So, let me just help you out and you're if you're wondering I wonder if I'm chronically
Tardy if anyone has ever mentioned it to you you are
If they've ever had to sit you down at work and say hey listen you got you guys start getting showing up on time you are
If any frustrated family member has always said why are you always late then you are the person I'm talking to tonight
You're the person that needs this
But let me just say this all of us would benefit from a sermon like this because we can all have the tendency to be
Lax from time to time and especially young people, you know young children and young teenagers are right now forming the habits
that are going to
Be the character of their life and you ought to listen tonight as we talk about this idea of being late
So one thing we can learn from the story of Samuel is that sometimes you're going to be late
Here's another thing that you can learn from the story of Samuel and I want you guys to hear this especially you men
One thing we can learn from Samuel is that sometimes you're gonna be late. There's no way to get around it
Samuel was a very responsible and successful man. I'm sure his tardiness was out of his control
It was a legitimate reason and sometimes it's going to happen
Here's another thing that we can learn from the story of Samuel and it is this that
When the boss is late that's none of your business
You just worry about yourself
You don't need to be making, you know, well Samuel was late. Well, Samuel's the guy in charge
You say well Saul was the the king. Yeah, but the nation of Israel was a spiritual nation. It was a nation of God
Samuel was the one running the show in the spiritual sense and he was the one that was supposed to do the sacrifice
Let me just help you out with something you make sure you're on time to work and if your boss is late
Don't mention anything don't say something to him. Oh
I notice you're you weren't here at night. Hey, he's the boss
You you weren't around when he started the business
Getting up at 5 in the morning working long hours. You're not around when he's there late at night
You're not around when he's there early in the morning. You're not around when he's working on your day off
so
make sure that your
Character is a character of punctuality
And make sure that you understand your place when it comes to your boss because Saul should have just waited for Samuel
So well Samuel was late. That's between Samuel and God. That's Samuel's business and
Don't get this idea because I hope I hope what we develop at Verity Baptist Church is punctual people
individuals that are on time and
That you can count on them, but don't let that become pride
Because sometimes the boss is late, and that's none of your business
And you say well well he doesn't he didn't show up to work at the same time
I showed up to work yeah, but he was working when you were off
He was working when you didn't know it. He was there before you got there left before you got there was there after you got there
He's the one that took the risk. He's the one that started the business. He's the one that got it going
He's the reason you're employed
So you just don't mind it when the boss is late you let him do whatever he wants. He's the boss
With that said let me give you some reasons. Why we don't want to be
Chronically or habitually late go to Philip Philippians chapter number two
We are in Philippians 2 this morning, and I do apologize for this
We're going to look at two verses again from Philippians chapter 2 it just worked out this way
There were the verses that I needed for the sermon and maybe God's trying to teach us something Philippians chapter 2 Matthew Mark Luke John
Acts Romans first second Corinthians Galatians Ephesians
Philippians Philippians chapter 2 when do me a favor when you get there put a ribbon or a bookmark there because we're gonna leave it
We're gonna come back in that area of the Bible Philippians chapter 2
Why is it wrong to be chronically or habitually late
What's wrong with it? Let me give you three reasons tonight. Maybe you can jot these down number one
Being late is inconsiderate of other people's time
You
Say why don't I want to be late? Why what's the big deal with being late? Here's what's wrong with being late
It's inconsiderate of other people. It's
inconsiderate of other people's time
Philippians chapter 2 we talked about it this morning
Look at verse 3 let nothing be done through strife or vainglory
But in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves
You know the Bible teaches that we should esteem other better than ourselves
Which means that we should be considerate the word esteem means to ponder to consider to think about other
People and what's going on in other people's lives the Bible says that we should esteem
We should think about we should consider other people. Well being late is
inconsiderate of other people's time
See people who are chronically late are not thinking about others
They're not concerned with others
They're not concerned with the fact that other people got ready and got to the event at the time
They were supposed to and now they're having to wait on you because you aren't thinking of them
They're not considered of the fact that other people had to move around their schedules other people had to start getting ready and had to
Start driving and had to get there
They're not considered of the fact that other people have taken the time to be where they said they were gonna be see you say
What's wrong with being late? It's rude. That's what's wrong with it
Being late is inconsiderate of other people's times and as Christians. We're commanded to
Esteem other better than ourselves to be considerate of other people notice verse 4 we saw it this morning
Let's look at it again
Look, not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others
See people who are chronically late are not thinking of others and
What this means say well, if they're not thinking of others, what are they thinking about themselves?
People who are chronically late are self-absorbed
I'm not trying to hurt your feelings. I'm just telling you the truth speaking the truth and love right?
I gave you like six weeks worth of warnings about the sermon. So nobody should be upset with me
You say I'm chronically late. I'm habitually late. What does that say about me? Here's what it says about you. You're selfish
Here's what it says about you. You're self-absorbed
Here's what it says about you. You only think about yourself
Here's what it says about you. You're dead sure not thinking about anybody else
Anybody else's schedule anybody else's time see being late is
Inconsiderate it does not esteem others better than ourself. It doesn't esteem others at all
other people's time energy
Resources their life and their what's going on in their life doesn't even come into your mind into your consideration
You say what's wrong? What's wrong with being late being late isn't considered by the people's time
I remember when I was growing up. I've told you this story
When I when we were growing up
My brother and I would get picked up we went to a Christian school and there was
Actually the principal of the school lived down the street from our house. This was a private Christian school. We'd go to and
We my our fan my parents had arranged it with the principal of the school to give us a ride to
To school every morning because he he lived down the street from us and he literally drove by our house every day on his way
To school and the way that he would come is he would come down the main street
And then he would have to come down our street
We lived in a house that was maybe three houses into the street and he would
Come down this street and and if he wasn't picking us up
He'd normally just go keep going but if he had to pick us up
He'd come down this street about two houses down to
Meet us and we had this plan that he was going to pick us up at a certain time every day and my brother
And I were out there with our backpacks right in front of the house and he would pull down the street come down
maybe two or three
Houses and we would
Load up and then he would back up and turn around and go drive back
Maybe two houses down the street and get back on the main street and and go to school
We did that. I don't know for how long we did it for a while at some point. My parents got
An idea or a way for the fact that this is what was happening and I remember them sitting this down and having a
Conversation with us. I remember being a young kid and my parents sitting us down my dad saying
This man this man. This is a grown man. This is a successful man, and
He is taking time
to help you
He is esteeming you better than himself
He's taking the time. He doesn't have to pick you up
He's choosing to be a blessing to our family to pick you up sons
so how about instead of you sitting there with your lazy self in your
Backpack waiting for him to come down the street. How about you meet him at the main road?
How about you walk 30 yards or 30 feet down to the corner?
So he doesn't have to pull in pull into the parking lot back up and come back up
How about I remember my dad saying he we should be as little of an inconvenience to him as possible
he said if he doesn't even have to stop if he can just kind of
Slow down a little bit because he had a truck and he can kind of just throw your backpack in the back and jump in
Through the window that would be great. You say why would your parents teach you that?
Here's why to teach you that you should be considerate of others
That other people's time matters to them and for you to sit there and waste their time is rude
Say what's wrong with being late. It's inconsiderate of others
It's inconsiderate of other people's time
Yeah, I consider the fact that time is valuable we're gonna see that here in a minute
Yeah, I consider the fact that wasting other people's time is rude
Say what's wrong with it? Go back to 2nd Samuel chapter 19
You were there in 1st Samuel if you go back to 2nd Samuel 19
What's wrong with being late? Well number one being late isn't consider other people's time
Don't
Make him come down the street to you and waste another two minutes
You meet him
You be ready and don't you know and when our families like and that sure don't ever make him wait. I
Don't understand this idea
Somebody's gonna pick you up for something and they got to go they're doing you a favor to pick you up and they got a
Pull over call you get out of their car knock on your door. I'm here and you're like, oh, I'm still getting ready. That's ridiculous
Somebody's doing you a favor to pick you up you be ready
You'll be out there waiting for them. Try not to waste their time be considerate of other people
Say pastor. Why are you preaching this because I've got to preach to you the things your parents failed to teach you. I
Gotta try to help you out
Being late is inconsiderate of other people's time number two
being late is
irritating to productive people
Not only is being late and considerate of other people's time but being late is
irritating to
productive people
Who's ever heard of a type a personality raise your hand you ever heard of a type a personality?
Okay, who is a type a personality raise your hand? You mean me? You don't want to admit that. I don't know
You may not be a type a personality. You say what's a type a personality? It's a type of person
It's they're hard to describe they're they're very driven and they like things done a certain way
They're usually attention oriented and and they just want things done right and and and there's a lot
there's a there's not a lot of grace for for lack of
Not of not getting things done the right way
Let me say this you may not be a type a personality and I understand that but you need to understand this
most of your bosses
most of your CEOs
most of your supervisors
Most of your pastors that you will have through your life will be type a personalities
It usually comes with the territory of being a leader
It's usually type a personalities that start businesses that start churches that
get our results driven type people and
You should just understand this because maybe you don't know this you're in your little self-absorbed world. Just kind of going through life
Being late is not only inconsiderate of other people's time being late is
irritating
to productive people
Now in second Samuel chapter 19. I want you to know is the story
Here's the second most famous story of somebody being late. I showed you the first story in first Samuel 13 about Samuel
Here's the second most famous story of a man named a Mesa and it's a story about a Mesa and Joab
Now you should be familiar if you read the Bible with a character named Joab
He was the captain of the host for David
He was the general of the army and whatever you think about Joab or say about job
You have to know this he was productive
He got things done
He didn't always do it the right way and that's also a problem with sometimes type a personalities
He didn't always do it the right way, but he got it done
David is
Replacing Joab with this new general a Mesa second Samuel 19 look verse 13
This is David speaking and say ye to a Mesa
Are thou not of my bone and of my flesh?
God do so to me and more also if thou be not captain of the host
That's what we would call today a general before me continually in the room of Joab here
David is replacing Joab with a Mesa
Now I want you to notice when I Mesa becomes the captain of the host
He gets promoted to this position of leadership, and he's been given a a place of leadership
He's given a task by David look at verse 4
Then said the king this is David to a Mesa the new general the captain of the host he gives him a task
He says assemble me the men of Judah within three days and be thou here present
Is that I want you to he's a new general here. I just I just promoted you to general
I want you to assemble the men of Judah within three days and be thou here present
He gave him a time frame. He said do this and do it by this time
verse 5
So a Mesa went to assemble the men of Judah
But he tarried remember the word Terry means he took longer than he should have here
He was delayed, but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him
What does that mean he was late I?
Want you to notice with Joab mr.. Type-a personality mr.. Get-it-done
Productive personality how he takes a Mesa's tardiness verse 8
when they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon a Mesa went before them and
Joab's garment that he had put on was girded unto him and
Upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheaf thereof and as he went forth it fell out and
Joab said to a Mesa
Art thou in health that's quite a question to ask right before you kill somebody
art thou in health my brother and
Joab took a Mesa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him
But a Mesa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand so he smote him
Therewith in the fifth rib and shed out his bowels to the ground and struck him not again
And he died I want you to notice that Joab
killed a Mesa now job did not only kill a Mesa because the Mesa was late part of it had to do with the fact that
Mesa had replaced Joab with
In the promotion of being a general we understand that but I want you to notice what the Bible emphasizes
What Joab does right after he kills a Mesa verse 10 because remember a Mesa was supposed to go
Assemble the men of Judah within three days and because he was
Undisciplined for whatever reason maybe a legitimate reason or maybe not. I don't know
I just know this when you first get a job and when you first get promoted and when you're first given an opportunity
You better get it done. I
better not be the first time you mess up and
Here a Mesa didn't get it done notice the last part of verse 10
So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after
Sheba the son of Bikrai look down at verse number 14
They're pursuing after she but she was another problem another enemy that David's dealing with at the same time
Look at verse 14 and he Joab went through all the tribes of Israel
Unto Abel and to Bethmakah and all the be rights and they were gathered together and went
Also after him notice Joab kills a Mesa
Follows Sheba and does what a Mesa was supposed to do and failed to do. That's a type a personality
You say what can we learn from this this is why your parents want to kill you
This is why your boss wants to kill you
That's why your pastor wants to kill you sometimes now
I'm not saying the job should have killed a Mesa and I'm not saying that anybody should kill you for being late
But I'm just trying to help you understand that being chronically late is irritating
To productive people
to people who actually value
Production who actually value
Discipline who actually value character who actually value the fact that we're gonna get something done that what we're doing is serious here
We're not messing around. We're not playing games
To those people you strolling in late with your Starbucks to work is irritating
To those people you chronically habitually being late is annoying
So why don't we want to be chronically late one number one because being late is inconsiderate of other people's time
number two because being late is irritating to
Productive people. Let me give you a third one go to Ephesians
If you would Ephesians chapter 5 if you kept your place in the end Philippians if you go backwards one book one book is
the book of Ephesians Ephesians
If you kept your place in Philippians right before Philippians you have the book of Ephesians
Why don't we want to be late number one being late is inconsiderate of other people's time number two being late is
Irritating to productive people number three being late is irresponsible with your personal time
Yeah, well, I'm not you know. I'm not bothering anybody. I'm just being like even if you're not it's irresponsible with your personal time
You know that God has given you a gift every day. It's called time
You know that time has value
You know that everything that's limited
has value
That's why gold is more valuable than rocks
Twice silver is more valuable than than dirt
Because there's less of it
Well time time is a highly valuable thing
Ephesians 5 look at verse 15 see then that you walk
circumspectly Ephesians 5 15 see then that you walk circumspectly that word
Circumspect means cautiously and
Purposefully it means that when you take a step you're taking a step on purpose
You're heading in a direction for a reason you've thought about it. You're not just kind of whatever just going through life
No, you're very purposeful in your walk see then that ye walk
circumspectly not as fools notice these words, but as wise
Now what is it according to Ephesians 5 that wise people do that is different than what fools do here
It is verse 16
Redeeming the time because the days are evil
The word redeem has a financial idea the idea is that something's being purchased the idea is that something has value
The idea is that you can exchange money for you ever heard people say time is money
You know it's true
That's why you get paid to go to work someone's paying you for your time
Here the Bible tells us don't miss this that wise people
value time I
Mean look at it see then that you walk circumspectly walk on purpose walk purposefully walk
Cautiously not as fools, but as wise what a wise people do redeeming the time because the days are evil
You know that wise people value time
You know that wise people realize that there's value to time that time is expensive that time is
Valuable that we should redeem it and not waste it
Go to Colossians chapter 4 if you're there in Ephesians you're gonna go past Philippians into the book of Colossians Colossians chapter 4 notice
What the Colossians chapter 4 says the same thing Colossians chapter 4 verse 5 walk in
wisdom
Toward them that are without notice the words redeeming the time
What does it mean it means that you value time it means that you see time as a precious commodity
It means that you realize that there's value to time and that we should not waste time
Let me explain something to you being late is
Irresponsible with your personal time because wise people understand that there is value to time
I want you to notice the contrast go back to Ephesians 5 look at verse 15
Ephesians 5 and verse 15 the contrast is this verse 15
See then that you walk circumspectly
Not as fools
Here's the contrast wise people value time. What do fools do they waste their time?
Foolish people waste their time
I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but if you're a grown man, and you're spending hours upon hours playing video games. You're a fool
If you're a mom and you've been tasked by Almighty God to raise children for the glory of God
And you're wasting your days on Facebook or Instagram or social media doing nothing. You're a fool
Foolish people waste time wise people value time
Foolish people don't see the value in time
Foolish people don't understand that there's value to time
Punctuality or the lack of it
communicate something about you
You know what it says you know when you're when you're constantly habitually late. You know what people think about you
Here's what they think you're a fool
You're not wise
You're wasting your time see
Punctuality indicates something about you it indicates a couple things about you first of all it indicates its competence
When you are on time it shows that you try to be in control of your life instead of allowing
Circumstances to prevent you from doing the things you want to do
When you are somebody who's punctual what that communicates to other people is here is a wise and competent
Person now obviously when you're punctual all the time all the time you're on time you strive to be on time
You strive to get things done when you're supposed to get done and every once in a while
You're late because something happened people look at that and say well. We're all gonna be late from time to time sometimes
We just don't have any control over what happens
But when you're constantly and habitually
Chronically when people can count on you being late everybody else is thinking. There's a fool
There's somebody who's not competent
There's someone who doesn't your lack of punctuality
communicates
Incompetency the type a the Joab type people, and I'm not saying it's right that they think this way
But they think that person is so incompetent. They can't read a watch
They can't look at a clock
They can't figure out how to get where they're supposed to be on time
punctuality indicates competence
Punctuality also indicates dependability in a society
Where promises are often broken and commitments frequently ignored people appreciate those who stick to their word
dependable people earn respect from friends and family
Employers value those who arrive on time for work and meet deadlines
Dependable workers may even be rewarded with a higher salary and greater trust
You know what luck lack of punctuality communicates. You're not dependable
You know what lack of come punctuality indicates it communicates you're incompetent
This is not someone we can trust
This is not someone we can give responsibility to
When I was in the Air Force as you can imagine the military
Is big on punctuality when I was in the Air Force we were told that if you're not 15 minutes early you're late
They with your appointments at a certain time you get there 15 minutes before that if you're not sitting in the waiting place 15 minutes
Before that you're late. You're wrong. I
Remember being in the Air Force and being a airman and and having a fellow
Airmen that could not figure out how to get to work on time
One of the sergeants asked me because I was obviously always on time
Asked me to come alongside this young man and try to help him and
As I sat down started talking to this individual
I became aware of the fact that the reason they could not show up to work on time is because they were staying up playing
video games
all night long
This guy showed up late
He showed up late. He showed up late. He got written up. He got written up. He got written up
It got to the point where they were going to kick him out
Discharge him from the military
Now, I don't know if you understand the military works and I'm not I'm not saying the story as a recommendation of the military
I don't recommend any young person going to the military. I'm just telling you what I did
Just because I did it not make it right
But when it comes to the military you if you're going to get discharged to the military what you want is an honorable discharge
What you don't want is a dishonorable discharge
What you don't want is a general discharge if you have a medical discharge because you were injured that's okay
But if you don't have a medical discharge or an honorable discharge for the rest of your life that thing's gonna haunt you
I remember being 16 years old working at a subway and a
19 year old walked in who had a
dishonorable discharge from the army and he couldn't get hired at Subway I
Remember talking to this young guy and say you're gonna get kicked out of the military because you can't show up on time to work
And it was just like you know. I just really like playing video games
You know you got kicked out
You got kicked out that's gonna follow him for the rest of his life
He's not gonna be able to apply anywhere if you were prior military
Everybody's gonna want to see whether you've had an honorable discharge or not. He won't be able to get a job anywhere
I've known grown men that had good jobs supporting their families got fired because they couldn't show up on time
Punctuality or lack of it
Tells other people you're competent or incompetent
You're dependable or it dependable it tells people that you're wise
Or you're a fool
What's wrong with being late
Well being late is inconsiderate of other people's time
It shows that you're self-absorbed only thinking about yourself
Being late is irritating to productive people
Productive people want to get something done. They value time being late is
Irresponsible with your personal time wise people value time foolish people waste time
Now let me just talk for a minute go me to the book of Proverbs if you would if you open up your Bible just
Write in the center you're more than likely on the book of Psalm right after some you have the book of Proverbs Proverbs
chapter 27 I
Don't know if you notice, but a very Baptist Church. We value
organization structure timeliness
Somebody said to me recently yeah, you can tell the church run by a problem prior Air Force guy
We just we just start on time
And we just like to run things you well
You say is that a pride thing you know you know the Bible says whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do do all
to the glory of God I
The Bible says what so ever thy hand find it to do do it with all what thy might I?
Just think if we're gonna do something. Let's do it right
If we're gonna be somewhere, let's be there on time
We're gonna we're gonna put our energy into something let's put our energy into it
Now you say well when it comes to church life, let me just talk to you about church life for a minute
Do you realize that it hurts you and it hurts us
When you're late to church
Say what you realize it hurts you and it hurts us when I say awesome talking about the church as a whole
When you're late to church
Say what do you mean? Well? It hurts you because you don't get to fellowship with other believers
Proverbs 27 verse 17 says iron sharpened with iron
Iron sharpened with iron so a man sharpened at the countenance of his friends
But you may not realize it
But the Bible actually teaches that one of the forms one of the forms of discipleship is fellowship
One of the ways every week I pray for our church
I pray for our church in general and my wife and I pray through the
list of our church
Individually and every week I pray that our church that God would allow our church to grow
spiritually and as I pray that our church would grow spiritually I pray that the Lord would allow our church to grow spiritually that the
Preaching of his word would help you to grow spiritually and that the fellowship with other believers would help you to grow spiritually
Say well, why would fellowship help you?
Grow spiritually. Well number one because that's what the Bible says iron sharpened with iron. So a man sharpened at the countenance of his friends
But number two, it's not it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you'll start being like the people you hang out with
Birds of a feather flock together and
When you you say well I show up to church
But I don't show up on time and I don't really talk to people or fellowship with people that's hurting you
That doesn't help you that doesn't help you grow in the Lord
It hurts you when you are late to church
But let me just say this it also hurts us just in case you don't care about yourself
Maybe you'd care about the rest of us it hurts us
So, how does it hurt us? Well number one we we need to fellowship with you
It's not one iron sharpens one iron. It's they sharpen each other
Iron sharpness iron so a man sharpen at the countenance of his friends when you don't fellowship with us
That doesn't just hurt you that hurts me that hurts the rest of us because we need to fellowship with you
Iron sharpens iron, but let me just take it to a more practical sense
You know that it hurts the impression that we make on the guests who show up to church
when you're late
Is that understand let me give you an example?
Every week at Verity Baptist Church we have
Somebody who counts the attendances for the church
It's brother Jose Cruz is the one who generally takes care of that task and every week every church service
I he as soon as he starts getting numbers
He texts them to me so that I can know what those numbers are and he texts me the initial number and then
when people come in after he texts me more and more and more and
So we have the final number. This is just an example of the text messages that I get this is from Sunday morning
May 30th, just one example
at 10 35 a.m.
So the service started at 10 30 a.m.. This is five minutes into the service
He's already been counting before that at 10 35 a.m.. I get a text message from brother
Jose saying we have 200 people in church that morning praise the Lord
1036 he says 203
1037 he says 204
1038 he says 206
1041 he says 211 1042 he says 212
1051 he says 223 1058 he says 229
11 10 he sends me the final updated number
231 now first of all let me just say this praise the Lord that we had
231 people in church on Sunday morning on May 30th. I'm not complaining about that
What I want you to notice though is that when the service started we started with 30 less people
We started with 200 people
31 people were late to church that day
You say well, why does that matter well? Here's the thing?
It hurts the impression that we make on guests when guests show up to a half-filled church
And I realize those numbers aren't half-filled
Don't you walk into a restaurant look around and say we're the only ones here this place will not be that great
You don't think people do that about church
You say what a guest need they need you to fellowship with them
Galatians 2 9 says that we should give the right hand of fellowship. You know that guests need you to help them feel welcomed
Acts 242 says and they continue to steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine
Acts 242 and they continue to set fastly in the Apostles doctrine. That's my job to preach the doctrine of the Word of God and
Fellowship that's your job and
in breaking of bread and prayer
Say pastor we want the guests to when they show up we want them to like our church and to want to come back
Okay
Well, here's the thing
I'll do my best to preach sermons that are practical and applicable and that connect with their hearts and that help them grow and then
You help me make sure they feel welcomed
You say well, what's the problem if 31 people showed up late to church? Well, here's the problem
Studies say that the average guest decides whether they like a church in the first seven minutes
In the first seven minutes of their interaction at that church
They decide within those seven minutes whether the place is friendly or not friendly whether it's good or not
Whether if it's empty if people are standoffish if people are not nice
The average guest decides whether they like the church within the first seven minutes
The average guest to church. This is what studies tell us show up five minutes before the service starts
That means that the average guest on any given Sunday morning because our service starts at 10 30 a.m. By 10
32 a.m. Has already decided whether they like our church or not
The average guest shows up five minutes early
Makes their decision within seven minutes not within seven minutes of the service starting but within seven minutes of them getting out of their vehicle
Which means that usually the guests would show up at 10 25 a.m
If the sermon starts at 10 if the service starts at 10 30 a.m. And by 10 32 a.m
They've already made a decision whether they like the church or not you walking in at 10 35 or 10 45
Doesn't help us
See you being late to church hurts you and it hurts us
So, how about just being punctual
How about just not being a fool and not wasting people's time and not wasting your own time
How about learning to take some responsibility for your time go to Proverbs 24
Proverbs 24
Let me help you out just by way of conclusion how to be a person who's habitually punctual
Now look if you're here tonight, and you're a pastor. He's preaching about me
Yeah
What what else am I supposed to do get up here and preach about people that aren't here
You say I'm the person that's habitually late. Look. I'm not mad at you, and I know and I don't know it
I'm not paying attention to when you show up or whatever
He doesn't tell me brothers who and so showed up at this time. He just gives me a number
But let me just help you out with this idea cuz you say our passengers he's angry. Oh, here's the thing it I care about you I
Don't want you get fired from your job. I
Don't I don't want you to miss out on the blessings of developing friendships within church
I want you to help us make a good if I didn't care about you
I'd stab you in the fifth rib with a nut, you know, I just I'd get rid of you or what
I don't know we'd make you disappear
Let me help you with this idea you say I don't understand how I'm always late. I'm always late. I don't understand
How to be on time, let me help you with it how to be a person who is habitually punctual
Proverbs 24 verse 20 I want verse 27. Excuse me, Proverbs 24 verse 27
Here's a key word
prepare
Prepare
Prepare thy work without and make it fit for thyself in the field and afterwards build thine house
This is a proverb about preparation
The idea here is about a worker who's gonna go to work and the proverb is telling them
Hey before you get to the job site prepare that work without before you get there
make sure you have the tools you need make sure you have the things you need make it fit for thyself in the field and
Afterward build thine house, don't just show up somewhere. Oh, I need this. I need that. I forgot this. He says you should prepare
to be productive
Well, the same concept works with punctuality. You should prepare to be punctual
You say what does that mean? Here's what it means you figure out when you need to be wherever you need to be
You figure out what you need to do in order to get there
You figure out how much time it will take for you to get ready and get there
You work backwards from when you have to be there to when you have to leave
you give yourself 15 minutes because remember if you're not 15 minutes early, you're late and
You prepare
You just think
you just consider you just esteem and
You decide I'm going to strive to be someone who's punctual
Who's on time you say? I don't know what is happening. I don't know what that looks like. Let me give you an example
You know, this is what punctual people by the way
This is what I just explained to you
I know first first first of all, let me just say this is for those of you that are always on time
I realize that this sounds like third grade lesson. You're like, I thought everybody knew that well, obviously not everybody knows it
But for those of you that don't let me just help you out with something. This is how the rest of the world thinks
Everybody who shows up on time
They just figured out when they need to be somewhere what they need to do to get there how much time they need to get
There and then they just work backwards
You know, I travel a lot
I'm doing this all the time. Let me just give you a very practical example. Let's say I'm traveling some are preaching somewhere
My flight leaves at 945 a.m
Well, I want to be to the airport an hour and 30 minutes early
So that means that I need to be at the airport at 815 a.m
But it takes 20 minutes to ride the shuttle from the car rental place to the airport
So that means that I need to be leaving the car rental place at 755 a.m
And it takes 50 minutes to drop off the car and do all the paperwork in order to leave the rental place
So that means I need to get to the car rental place at 740 a.m
It takes 25 minutes to get from my hotel to the car rental place
So I need to be leaving the hotel at 715 a.m. It's gonna take me 25 minutes maybe to eat breakfast
So I need to be leaving my hotel room at 650 a.m
It's gonna take me 35 minutes to get ready and packed to leave so I need to be getting up at 615 a.m
And I want to give myself 15 minutes a 50-minute buffer just in case something happens
So that means I need to get up at 6 a.m
That's how punctual people think
That's how people that are habitually on time to places don't miss their flights. Don't miss appointments. Don't get fired for being late
That's how they think. I don't know if you know that but that's how they think that's how you should think
You know that church starts at 1030 every Sunday
Now I would get it if we were constantly just changing it on you. I started at 1015 this morning. Gotcha
It always starts at 1030
Sunday night always starts at 6 p.m
Wednesday nights to always start the 7 p.m. You probably start work at 9 a.m. Every morning or whenever you start
It's probably the same every time
There's probably the same amount of traffic
Every day at that time that you're going to work. It's probably that same amount of traffic every day
So well, but there was traffic. Yeah, but there's traffic every day
So, how about you account for the fact that there's traffic every day and if there's traffic every day
Look, it's not rocket science and I'm not trying to talk down to you
I'm just trying to help you out if you're habitually chronically late
figure out
When you need to be where you need to be
Figure out what you need to do in order to get there
Figure out how much time it'll take for you to get ready and get there go to 1st Corinthians 1440
Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans 1st Corinthians 1st Corinthians 1440 figure out how much time it will take for you to get ready and get
There work backwards from when you have
To be there to when you need to leave or get ready or get dressed or get up or whatever
give yourself 15 minutes just in case and
be punctual
And be on time
You say I don't know pastor. I don't know if I agree with this being late is inconsiderate of other people
Being late is irritating to productive people being late is irresponsible with my personal time. I don't know
Well 1st Corinthians 1440 says this let all things be done decently and in order
You know the Bible says that everything our lives our lives should be structured in such a way that they're decent and in order
They should be structured in such a way when people where people can count they can count
They can depend on us
They say there's a very competent young man. There's a very competent young lady. There's a very dependable
Person I can depend on them if they're not here when they said they were gonna be here
It must be a legitimate reason because they're always on time
The testimony of your life and my life aren't we representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ upon this earth?
The testimony of my life in your life ought to be this let all things be done decently and in order
and part of that requires
That we be on time. Let's buy our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father
Lord I pray that you would help us to be punctual people
What I realized from time to time we're gonna be late I get it
things are gonna happen that are out of our control and
We're not gonna be on time. We understand. That's how life is
But let it be rare
When we're not punctual
Let it be rare
when we're not on time and
Let it be the norm that we're punctual people
Help us not to be inconsiderate of other people's time
Help us not to be irritating to
Productive people around us
Help us not to be irresponsible with the time that you've given us
time that's valuable
Help us to walk circumspectly not as fools, but as wise in the matchless name of Christ we pray amen