This sermon explores the biblical command to redeem our time, the concept of time in scripture, and how we can apply these teachings to improve our productivity and service to God's Kingdom.
We are commanded throughout scripture to “redeem our time.” Because “the days are evil” and we are running out of time to do the “will of the Lord.” If our aim is to redeem our time, it is imperative that we start with God’s word. Here are five things scripture says about time and our role in it.
Father, we know the days are “evil” and fleeting. Give us the fortitude and wisdom to steward our time well so that we can best serve your Kingdom. Constantly renew our minds with the promise that we have peace first as your child, and everything we do after that is in response to your love.
Luke 8:22-23, Ephesians 5:15-17, 1 Corinthians 15:58
Today, we begin a 5-week series called Redeeming Your Time. What does this term— “redeeming your time” —even mean? Does God really care how we spend our time today?
Let’s look at scripture to find out. The term “redeeming your time” comes from the book of Ephesians. After expounding upon the gospel of grace in Ephesians chapters 1-4, the apostle Paul reminds us of our status as “dearly loved children” of God in Ephesians 5:1. What is our response to our adoption as sons and daughters of God? Paul answers this question a few verses later saying:
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17, NKJV)
Paul is saying, part of our response to the gospel is to redeem our time—to manage our time as carefully and wisely as possible. The Greek word exagorazó which we translate to mean “redeeming” here literally means to “buy up” or “ransom.” If you’ve ever said, “I wish I could buy more time,” that’s the idea here. As Christians, we are called to “buy up” as much time as we can.
Why? Not so that we will have more time to spend on selfish pursuits. We are called to redeem our time because “the days are evil” and we are running out of time to do the “will of the Lord.”
So how do we redeem our time?
Over the next five weeks, we are going to look at how the author of time managed his time when he came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. As you read the gospels, you can’t help but realize Jesus was the most productive person who ever lived. We’re going to look at his life and how he managed his time (very counter culturally) and see how we can apply those principles to our own lives in the 21st century.
To start, I want to use a well-known passage from Luke to illustrate how Jesus is the ultimate solution to our time management problems:
“One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.” (Luke 8:22-23)
The disciples were out there on the lake, enjoying a quiet sail with Jesus when suddenly, things spiraled out of control. You can imagine the boat taking on water from every side while the disciples frantically tried to shovel the water out, only to look back and see more water than before (sounds a lot like our never-ending to-do lists, am I right?). Luke says, “the boat was being swamped,” leaving the disciples with only one thing to do. Recognizing they couldn’t calm the chaos on their own, the disciples woke Jesus up and begged him to help. Verse 24 shares what happened next: Jesus “got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm.”
The point I want you to get from this passage is simple: Jesus offers you peace before you do anything.
I’m going to say that again. Jesus offers you peace before you do anything.
This is radical! Our culture constantly throws “works-based productivity” at us, which claims that if you do exercises X, Y, or Z, then you will find peace. But that is contrary to the teachings of scripture, which is covered with “grace-based productivity,” which says that through Jesus Christ, we already have peace, and we do time management exercises X, Y, or Z as a response of worship.
Again, look at the disciples in the swamped boat. The disciples didn’t do anything to calm the chaos. They merely trusted Jesus to still the storm. You and I can do the same. By trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, we have “peace with God” (Romans 5:1) that is secure regardless of how productive we are or how well we steward our time. In the words of author Matt Perman, for Christians “peace comes first, not second. The mistake we often make is to make peace of mind the result of things we do rather than the source.”
Time management tactics will never be your most foundational source of peace. As Christians, our ultimate source of peace—our ultimate solution to being swamped—is found in the God-man sleeping through the storm. As the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:14: “[Jesus] himself is our peace.”
So now that we have established that our place in God’s family is secure, we still want to be better stewards of our time, right? So what does scripture have to say about time and our role in it? ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium
Jesus offers you peace before you do anything.
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