Introduction

Last week, we started a 5-week series called Redeeming Your Time. A quick recap: In Ephesians 5:15-17, God commands us to “redeem the time.” Why? So that we can do “the will of the Lord.” So, now that we know God does care about how we manage our time, how do we “redeem the time”? Where can we look for an example? Well, like with everything else in our lives, God has provided us with the perfect example in Jesus Christ.

We talked about this last week, but some of you may still be wondering, how can Jesus help me manage my time well? He didn’t have a smartphone. He didn’t have emails pinging him day in and day out. Life was different in the first century. And, you’re right. Jesus didn’t have an Apple watch. He didn’t have to choose between doing his quiet time or watching Netflix. He didn’t spend hours scrolling on his Instagram feed.

However, as Hebrews 4:15 reminds us, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses.” In the person of Jesus, the word became flesh, ensuring he could empathize with all of our weaknesses, including our efforts to redeem our time. We see all throughout the Gospels how Jesus was interrupted, and his attention was demanded. Here are just a couple of examples: Jesus is going to heal Jairus’s daughter when he is distracted by the woman grasping his cloak. (Mark 5:21-34) Jesus was teaching in a house full of people and a sick man was dropped through the roof so that Jesus could heal him. (Luke 5:17-26)

God has provided us with the perfect example in Jesus Christ.

Main Teaching/Body

Here’s Principle #2: Let Your Yes Be Yes: To redeem our time in the model of our Redeemer, we must ensure that our “yes” is “yes” from the smallest to the biggest commitments we make.

I’m going to define a new term for you - open loop. An open loop is a commitment you have made to yourself or others, big or small. If I’m on a call with you and I say, “I’ll send you a link to that book once we hop off,” I have made a commitment to you. That is an open loop.

We all have open loops and missed commitments. We told a friend we would come to their event, and then when the day arrived, we completely forgot. Or you promised your boss that you would send her a draft proposal by Wednesday, but things came up and you weren’t able to get to it.

In isolation, these don’t seem like that big of a deal. However, failing to do the things you say you’re going to do is a much bigger deal than letting something “slip through the cracks.” It’s a matter of trust. And because it’s a matter of trust, the stress that open loops cause should (and in my experience, often do) affect Christ-followers in significant and negative ways.

Why? Because Jesus has commanded that our “‘yes’ be ‘yes’” plain and simple. He said, “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37 NKJV). I think author and teacher, Jen Wilkin, states it so eloquently in her excellent book, In His Image:

Do we [Christians] do what we say we will do? Do we let our yes be yes and our no be no?...Ultimately, every act of faithfulness toward others is an act of faithfulness toward God himself. Though others may make commitments they have little intention of keeping, the children of God strive to prove that their word is their bond. They do so not to win the trust or approval of others, but because they long to be like Christ. They long to hear with their ears, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

In addition to being a command of Jesus, when we fail to keep our commitments, or in other words, close our open loops, we feel anxiety and stress. This is backed by science and scripture.

First, science: I won’t bore you with all the details, but there is a scientific term called the Ziegarnik Effect, which is essentially what happens when you hear a bad song on the radio, turn the radio off, and then can’t get the song out of your head for the rest of the day ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium