You may not realize it, but your appreciation of time this morning goes well beyond the challenges of adjusting to daylight-savings time.
There was a time when time was a relatively simple thing. People were born, grew up, grew old and died. Days, seasons and years past. Then along came Newton and told us there was nothing in the laws of the universe that forced time to march forward. And Einstein developed this further with the idea that time could be stretched or shrunk, depending on how you looked at it. Now physicists are looking at the nature of time itself.
Dr. Paul Wesson, from the University of Waterloo thinks our whole notion of time may be wrong. He’s looked at Einstein’s equations, and thinks time is just an illusion we create to make sense of the universe. He says that all the events in the universe are all occurring at the same time, there’s no past, or future.
Dr. Lawrence Shulman, a professor of physics from Clarkson University in New York state has a different view of time. He does think it’s flowing forwards, with small pockets of backwards time existing within our universe. He’s done the calculations and found that backward and forward time can exist side by side.
Finally, Dr. Ronald Mallet, a physicist at the University of Connecticut also thinks time can flow backwards. He’s in the process of designing a time machine, using light to twist time. (Taken from CBC radio: Quirks & Quarks. September 8th 2001.”It’s About Time!”) (http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/01-02/sep0801.htm)
The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:16 explained how we should understand and use time. In Ephesians he presented to the Christians there how they should regard one another in various forms of love. One of the most loving things we can do for another person is to give them our time in considerate ministry. Time is the one resource that we all have to give.
The challenge that each of us has, it that there are so many demands on our time. We must make choices between work, family and leisure. If we fail to consider the use of our time, someone else will decide for us.
In this one verse, Paul shows us the 1) Gift of Time and the 2) Grappling of Time
1) The Gift of Time: Ephesians 5:16a.
Ephesians 5:16a [16]making the best use of the time, (because the days are evil). (ESV)
Paul did not here use chronos, the term for clock time, the continuous time that is measured in hours, minutes, and seconds.
He rather used kairos, which denotes a measured, allocated, fixed season or epoch. The idea of a fixed period is also seen in the use of the definite article in the Greek text, which refers to the time, a concept often found in Scripture (cf. Ex. 9:5; 1 Pet. 1:17). God has set boundaries to our lives, and our opportunity for service exists only within those boundaries. It is significant that the Bible speaks of such times being shortened, but never of their being lengthened.
• Our English word opportunity comes from the Latin and means “toward the port.” It suggests a ship taking advantage of the wind and tide to arrive safely in the harbor. The brevity of life is a strong argument for making the best use of the opportunities God gives us (Wiersbe, Warren W.: The Bible Exposition Commentary. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1996, c1989, S. Eph 5:15).
Having sovereignly bounded our lives with eternity, God knows both the beginning and end of our time on earth. As believers we can achieve our potential in His service only as we maximize the time He has given us.
Illustration: An ancient Greek statue depicted a man with wings on his feet, a large lock of hair on the front of his head, and no hair at all on the back. Beneath was the inscription: What is thy name? My name is Opportunity. Why hast thou wings on thy feet? That I may fly away swiftly. Why hast thou a great forelock? That men may seize me when I come. Why art thou bald in back? That when I am gone by, none can lay hold of me.”
Exagorazô (making the best use/most of) has the basic meaning of buying, especially of buying back or buying out. It was used of buying a slave in order to set him free; thus the idea of redemption is implied in this verse. We are to redeem, buy up, all the time that we have and devote it to the Lord.
• We should not wait for opportunity to fall into our laps but should but it up (William Hendrikson. Baker New Testament Commentary. 2002. p.237).
The Greek in this phrase is in the middle voice, indicating that we are to buy the time up for ourselves—for our own use but in the Lord’s service. It is also in the Greek present tense which denotes keep on buying.
There is a price to be paid or we will forgo the bargain. The price is self-denial and strenuous work (KJV Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994, S. 2423).
Paul pleads for us to make the best use/most of the time immediately after he pleads for us to walk wisely rather than foolishly. Outside of purposeful disobedience of God’s Word, the most spiritually foolish thing a Christian can do is to waste time and opportunity, to fritter away his life in trivia and in half–hearted service of the Lord.
When we properly give our time, we walk carefully, making the best use/most of the time. We take full advantage of every opportunity to serve God, redeeming our time to use for His glory. We take every opportunity to shun sin and to follow righteousness.
Paul said:
Galatians 6:10 [10]So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (ESV)
• For His own reasons, God allows some of His children to live and serve far into old age. Others He grants only a few years or even a few weeks. But none of us knows how long or short his own allocation of time will be.
• In light of various difficulties around here, we have seen people giving of their time, and this personal ministry will be honored by God.
• It’s a painful thing to learn recently of medical prognoses of terminal illness here recently, but situations like this give us an opportunity for ministry of giving time and support.
Illustration: The great sixteenth–century reformer Philipp Melanchthon kept a record of every wasted moment and took his list to God in confession at the end of each day. It is small wonder that God used him in such great ways.
• If we are truly honest we all need to regularly confess how we neglect in giving our time in godly ways.
Please turn to Matthew 25
Many biblical texts stand as warning beacons to those who think they will always have time to do what they should.
• When Noah and his family entered the ark and God shut the door, the opportunity for any other person to be saved from the flood was gone.
Jesus explained the danger of a lost opportunity in the story of the Five Foolish Virgins:
Matthew 25:8-10 [8]And the foolish said to the wise, ’Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ [9]But the wise answered, saying, ’Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ [10]And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. (ESV)
• The five foolish virgins who let their oil run out before the bridegroom came were shut out from the wedding feast (Matt. 25:8–10). “We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day,” Jesus said in John 9:4; “night is coming, when no man can work” (John 9:4).
To the unbelieving Pharisees He said, “I go away, and you shall seek Me, and shall die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come” (John 8:21).
• After centuries of God’s offering His grace to Israel, Jesus lamented, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling” (Matt. 23:37).
• Judas, the most tragic example of wasted opportunity, spent three years in the very presence of the Son of God, as one of the inner circle of disciples, yet he betrayed His Lord and forfeited his soul for thirty pieces of silver.
In the giving of our time, we must consider the mission that we were sent to do.
• Peter said, “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth” (1 Pet. 1:17).
• In his farewell remarks to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, Paul said, “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:24).
Hebrews 12:1 [12:1]Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (ESV)
Quote: Someone once said:
Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it. (Everywoman’s Family Circle as found in Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979)
At the end of Paul’s life he therefore could say:
2 Timothy 4:7 [7]I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (ESV)
Quote:
—Better try to do something
And fail in the deed
Than try to do nothing
And always succeed.
(The Bible Friend as found in Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979)
We have seen 1) The Gift of Time: Ephesians 5:16a, and now the challenge of
2) Grappling with Time: Ephesians 5:16b
Ephesians 5:16b [16](making the best use of the time), because the days are evil. (ESV)
Please turn to James 4
One of the most dangerous things we can do in grappling with our use of time is to make assumptions. We put off giving our time to others in our minds to a future date. In doing so we make a very dangerous assumption
Poem: 6717 All I Meant To Do!
Said yesterday to to-morrow:
“When I was young like you,
I, too, was fond of boasting
Of all I meant to do.
But while I fell a-dreaming
Along the pleasant way,
Before I scarely knew it,
I found I was to-day!
“And as to-day, so quickly
My little course was run,
I had not time to finish
One-half the things begun.
Would I could try it over,
But I can never go back;
A yesterday forever,
I now must be,
“And so, my good to-morrow,
If you would make a name
That history shall cherish
Upon its roll of fame,
Be all prepared and ready
Your noblest part to play
In those new fleeting hours
When you shall be to-day.”
(—The Pacific as found in Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979)
James warned:
James 4:13-14 [13]Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"-- [14]yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (ESV)
Illustration: Kefa Sempangi (whose story is told in the book A Distant Grief, Regal Books) was a national pastor in Africa and barely escaped with his family from brutal oppression and terror in his home country of Uganda. They made their way to Philadelphia, where a group of Christians began caring for them. One day his wife said, “Tomorrow I am going to go and buy some clothes for the children,” and immediately she and her husband broke into tears. Because of the constant threat of death under which they had so long lived, that was the first time in many years they had dared even speak the word tomorrow.
Their terrifying experiences forced them to realize what is true of every person: there is no assurance of tomorrow. The only time we can be sure of having is what we have at the moment. To the self–satisfied farmer who had grandiose plans to build bigger and better barns to store his crops, the Lord said, “You fool! This very night your soul is required of you” (Luke 12:20). He had already lived his last tomorrow.
The experience of that African family also dramatically points up the truth that the days are evil. We are to make the most of our opportunities not only because our days are numbered but because the world continually opposes us and seeks to hinder our work for the Lord. We have little time and much opposition.
Because the days are evil, our opportunities giving of our time, for freely doing righteousness are often limited. When we have opportunity to do something for His name’s sake and for His glory, we should do so with all that we have. How God’s heart must be broken to see His children ignore or halfheartedly take up opportunity after opportunity that He sends to them. Every moment of every day should be filled with things good, things righteous, things glorifying to God.
By the days are evil Paul may have specifically had in mind the corrupt and debauched living that characterized the city of Ephesus. The Christians there were surrounded by paganism and infiltrated by heresy (see 4:14). Greediness, dishonesty, and immorality were a way of life in Ephesus, a way in which most of the believers had themselves once been involved and to which they were tempted to revert (4:19–32; 5:3–8).
• There should be a marked difference in how a Christian and a non-Christian spends their time. As the world is centered on entertainment, our lives should be marked with the giving of our time in Godly pursuits.
Please turn to Romans 13
Less than a hundred years after Paul wrote the Ephesian epistle Rome was persecuting Christians with growing intensity and cruelty. Believers were burned alive, thrown to wild beasts, and brutalized in countless other ways. For the Ephesian church the evil times were going to become more and more evil. Several decades after Paul wrote this epistle, the Lord commended the church at Ephesus for its good works, perseverance, and resistance to false teaching. “But I have this against you,” He continued, “that you have left your first love” (Rev. 2:2, 4). Because the church continued to languish in its devotion to the Lord, its lampstand was removed, as He had warned it would be if the believers there failed to “repent and do the deeds [they] did at first” (v. 5). Sometime during the second century the church in Ephesus disappeared, and there has never been a congregation there since. Because the church at Ephesus did not heed Paul’s advice and the Lord’s own specific warning, it ceased to exist. Instead of helping redeem the evil days in which it existed, the church fell prey to them.
Romans 13:11-14 [11]Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. [12]The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. [13]Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. [14]But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (ESV)
• If a sense of urgency was necessary in the days of the apostles, how much more is it necessary today, when we are so much nearer the Lord’s return and the end of opportunity (see Rom. 13:11–14)?
Illustration: When pastor Kefa Sempangi, mentioned above, began ministering at his church in Uganda, growth was small but steady. Idi Amin had come into military and political power and the people expected conditions in their country to improve. But soon friends and neighbors, especially those who were Christians, began to disappear. One day pastor Sempangi visited the home of a family and found their young son standing just inside in the doorway with a glazed looked on his face and his arms transfixed in the air. They discovered he had been in that state of rigid shock for days, after being forced to witness the inexpressibly brutal murder and dismembering of everyone else in his family.
Faced with a totally unexpected and horrible danger, pastor Sempangi’s church immediately realized that life as they had known it was at an end, and that the very existence of the Lord’s people and the Lord’s work in their land was threatened with extinction. They began continuous vigils of prayer, taking turns praying for long hours at a time. When they were not praying they were witnessing to their neighbors and friends, urging them to receive Christ and be saved. The church stands today and it has not died. In many ways it is stronger than ever. Its lampstand is still very much in place and shining brightly for the Lord, because His people made the most of the time, did not succumb to the evil days in which they lived. They gave their time to kingdom work, and God continues to bless.
(Format note: Some base commentary from MacArthur, J. (1996, c1987). Ephesians. Includes indexes. (131). Chicago: Moody Press.)
