Disclaimer: Source material for this sermon has been gleaned from many different sources. I have attempted to acknowledge these sources whenever possible.
REDEEMING THE TIME
EPHESIANS 5:13-20
Introduction: I would be more involved in church but, I just don’t have enough time. I would _________ (you fill in the blank) but I just don’t have the time. How often have you heard those words or perhaps have said them yourself. Today men and women are overbooked, overscheduled, and overcommitted. Not having enough time that precious commodity that has been allotted to each of us to use to do His will. God has entrusted us with 24 hours each day to use as wise stewards. David said in Psalm 39:5 “Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah” To the Eternal God our time on earth is brief, but he has demands our stewardship not only of our tithe and talent but our time also. If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,000 that carried over no balance from day to day...Allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount you failed to use during the day, what would you do? Draw out every cent every day, of course, and use it to your advantage! Well, you have such a bank, and its name is TIME! Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off as lost whatever of this you failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balances, it allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account with you. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow. (Copied) God has given us enough time to carry out His plan for us. If we don’t have enough time it is not that God has not given us enough time, but that we need to redeem time.
I. What does it mean “to redeem” the time?
A. Lit – to buy up for one’s self
B. “make the most of the time” (HCSB)
C. “Making good use of the time” (BBE)
D. “Buy up your opportunities” (WEY)
E. Redeeming the time is a Christian concept which, basically, means to convert time into value, to recover, to not waste.
F. Prioritizing
II. Why should we redeem the time?
A. We should redeem time because of the prevalence of evil
1. Ephesians 5:16 “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
2. The days of life in general are so exposed to evil, as to make it necessary that we make the most of every opportunity to do the will of God.
3. Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
4. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
5. Matthew 5:14 – 16 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
B. We should redeem time because of the fleeting nature of opportunity
1. Isaiah 55:6 6Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near:
2. Galatians 6:9 - 10 9And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 10So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith.
3. Four things come not back: the sped arrow, the spoken word, time past, and the neglected opportunity. - Arabian Proverb
4. 2 Corinthians 6:2 2For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
C. We should redeem time because of the brevity of life
1. James 4:13 – 14 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
2. Some has listed the seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills, wills.
3. Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
4. Do you realize how quickly time passes and flees from us? In a lifetime the average American will spend: Six months sitting at stoplights; Eight months opening junk mail; One year looking for misplaced objects; 2 years unsuccessfully returning phone calls; 4 years of doing housework; 5 years waiting in line; 6 years eating. (Survey of 6000 people polled in 1988, U.S. News and World Report, Jan 30, 1989, p. 81.)
5. Only one life twill soon be past – only what’s done for Christ will last.
III. How do we redeem the time?
A. By being alert
1. Ephesians 5:14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
2. When it comes to being on the alert and ready at any moment to do the job, it’s hard to beat the Pony Express. This historically famous mail service between St. Joseph, Missouri, and California depended on constant movement and readiness. Relay stations were established every ten to fifteen miles. A rider would shout aloud as he approached a station, giving the station master very short notice that he needed to be outside waiting with a fresh mount. Even when a rider came to the station where he was to spend the night, another rider was already mounted and waiting, ready to grab the first rider’s bundle of packages and continue the trip.
3. Sloth is not to be confused with laziness. A lazy man, a man who sits around and watches the grass grow, may be a man at peace. His sun-drenched, bumblebee dreaming may be the prelude to action or itself an act well worth the acting. A slothful man, on the other hand, may be a very busy man. He is a man who goes through the motions, who flies on automatic pilot. Like a man with a bad head cold, he has mostly lost his sense of taste and smell. He knows something’s wrong with him, but not wrong enough to do anything about. Other people come and go, but through glazed eyes he hardly notices them. He is letting things run their course. He is getting through his life. – Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking, A Theological ABC, (Harper, San Francisco, A Division of Harper Collins Publishers, 1973), pp. 89-90
4. Ephesians 5:17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
B. By being Spirit- filled
1. Ephesians 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
2. Be led and controlled by the Holy Spirit.
3. Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
4. I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first 3 hours in prayer. - Martin Luther.
C. By fellowshipping and worshipping with other believers – vs. 19
1. Ephesians 5:19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
2. Hebrews 10:24 - 25 24And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
D. By being thankful for every opportunity and blessing
1. Ephesians 5:20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Acts of kindness, words of appreciation, ministries of affection, have their "Now," their "Today," and to say "When I have a more convenient season" to these great opportunities is to bid them depart from you. – copied
