31 August 2014
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Ephesians 5:15-16
Ephesians 5:15-16 (NIV)
15 Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as
wise,
16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days
are evil.
-- last
year, Nancy Borowick's mother and father underwent treatment for cancer at the
same time -- as her mother was struggling through ongoing breast cancer
treatment and the continuing ravages of chemotherapy, her father was diagnosed
with aggressive pancreatic cancer and joined his wife in the cancer ward of
their local hospital
-- a
professional photographer, Nancy
"set out to record the pain and challenges of her parents' shared
experience of cancer treatment, while also focusing on their bravery in the
face of mortality"
-- as she
documented their lives through a series of stunning photographs, Nancy made this
statement: "Cancer gave my family a
harsh, yet valuable gift: an awareness
of time"1
-- there is
that
about cancer -- I have heard others make that same statement
-- an
article from Newsweek several years ago told the story of Vicki and Jim -- when
Jim was diagnosed with lung cancer, the couple had to make a decision about
accepting treatment for his cancer -- both of them had stated in the past they
opposed cancer treatment -- they had seen the ravages of the treatment on their
friends and family and agreed that, in this case, the cure was worse than the
disease itself
-- but when
given a life expectancy of two months without treatment versus two years with
treatment, Vicki and Jim reconsidered their earlier declarations -- yes, the
treatment would be horrible -- yes, there would be pain and nausea -- sickness
and weakness -- no, it would not cure him -- but it would extend his life and
give him extra time with the family -- two more Christmases -- two more
birthdays -- two more anniversaries -- two more years of walking through life
with his family -- and Vicki and Jim decided it was worth it
-- in her article, "The Horror
is Worth It," Vicki wrote: "For one of the gifts that cancer
treatment gives is time for the discovery that as the length of life is
shortened, the feeling for life is heightened -- Experiences and emotions that
are taken for granted in normal times are telescoped so that each stands out in
clear, vibrant detail."2
-- in other words, when time is
short, it makes each moment of every day that much more precious
--
apparently, this is a lesson God is trying to teach me -- and what God gives
me, I usually pass on to you
-- a couple
of months ago we talked about the idea of seeing our lives as a story within a
story -- of learning to see our lives -- not as a series of days randomly
strung together -- not as individual moments in time -- but as a whole -- of
learning to look at where we are today in light of God's hand in our lives and
of learning to see how God is shaping and writing His story through us
-- the
trick, I said, was to view each day as the next progression in your story and
to decide, before the day begins, what story you want to write -- what you want
your story to say at the end of your life -- and then to live that day in light
of the entire story of your faith and your walk with God
-- but
looking back on that message, I realized it was only part of a whole -- and as
God led me to this passage from Ephesians this morning, it became evident He
wanted us to answer the question, "Yes, but how?" -- how do we live
each day in light of the awareness of time? -- how do we live each day as if it
were our last?
II. Scripture Lesson (Ephesians 5:15-16)
-- in this
chapter of Ephesians Paul has been contrasting those who walk with the Lord
versus those who do not -- he counsels us to abandon the ways of the world --
to stop mimicking the world and living for what the world says is important and
to instead imitate Christ -- to follow His path of righteousness as we write a
new story with Him
-- he references
the behavior of a Christian with the behavior of a nonbeliever -- he used the
analogies of good versus evil -- of light versus dark -- of those awake versus
those asleep -- and now he continues his thoughts on this subject by using yet another
analogy -- the wise versus the foolish -- as he talks about how to live our
lives daily in Christ
-- let's
look now at these two verses from Ephesians 5 and see what we can learn about
walking with Christ in our daily lives
-- verse 15
15 Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as
wise,
-- growing
up, one of the shows we always watched on TV was Hill Street Blues -- a cop
show set in New York -- and every show always opened the same -- the police
would gather in the morning for their daily briefing and be told what crimes
had been committed the night before and what, and who, to look out for as they
went about their patrols -- and on every episode, as the sergeant in charge
finished his briefing and the cops began to gather their supplies to walk out
the door, he would always stop them and get their attention and say the same
thing -- "hey, and be careful out there"
-- that's
exactly what Paul says right here in this verse -- he's been talking about
being light and not dark -- of being good and not evil -- of following Christ
and not the world -- and he pauses here before he begins his next thought and
says, "be careful out there" -- he actually says, "be very
careful"
-- that's
an interesting phrase -- more than most, Paul knew the dangers of walking with
Christ -- he tells us in 2 Corinthians about being beaten by the Jews -- about
being shipwrecked three times and spending a night and a day in the water --
about being in danger from rivers, from bandits, from his own countrymen --
about being in danger in the city and the country and on the sea -- Paul knew
about the dangers of life -- but I don't think that's what he's talking about
here
-- when
Paul says, "be very careful," he's talking more than physical danger
-- he's talking about our souls -- he's talking about the subtle lure of this world
-- of the enticements of temptation and sin -- of what's going to happen when
we try to walk with God and imitate Christ and His righteousness -- he's
talking about our natural tendency to follow the world and not God
-- so Paul
says be careful -- be very careful -- in how you live -- don't live as the
foolish -- live as the wise -- choose every day how you will walk and what you
will do and what story you will write, because this is of eternal significance
-- and by
telling us to be careful, Paul makes it clear this is a choice -- we have a
choice in how we live -- we can't blame anyone else if we give in to sin -- we
can't blame anyone else if we do that which we should not do -- it was a choice
we made -- we always have a choice -- and Paul's whole point in this chapter of
Ephesians has been to choose rightly -- to choose to follow Christ -- to choose
to walk in righteousness -- to choose to be light -- to choose to be awake --
and, now, to choose to be wise
-- as
George Eliot wrote, It is never too late to be what you might have
been," -- it is a choice
-- look back at verse 15-16
Ephesians 5:15-16 (NIV)
15 Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as
wise,
16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days
are evil.
-- "making the most of every
opportunity" -- I really like the way this reads in the KJV better --
"redeeming the time" -- let's think about that for a moment --
"redeeming the time"
-- Why the word
"redeem?" -- that's an interesting word to use -- to redeem means to buy up -- to ransom -- to rescue
from lost
-- since
the passing of Robin Williams, we have seen many reminders of his work on stage
and in film and on TV -- and watching the many clips -- hearing the many
remembrances of his life, I realized just how deeply he had touched me through
several of his works -- and it wasn't until I saw a clip from the Dead Poet's
Society that I was reminded of why this is still one of my favorite movies
-- early in
the movie William's character John Keating engages his class of pupils with the
classic line -- "Carpe Diem -- Seize the Day" -- but they don't get
it because they're young and they're dumb and they have their whole life ahead
of them -- time seemingly stretches out forever beyond them -- they have all
the time in the world
-- but when
a classmate commits suicide because he looks at his future and doesn't like
where he is heading -- where he is being forced to go -- what he is being
forced to do -- by his father -- the young men in that class realize the wisdom
of Keating -- life is short -- time is precious -- so Carpe Diem -- Seize the
Day -- make the most of every opportunity -- don't let time pass you by --
choose what you will make of your day
-- so writing from prison -- knowing
his time is short -- Paul writes to the Ephesians and tells them, "redeem
the time" -- Paul knew how fragile time was -- how quickly it passed away --
how our days can be taken from us if we are not careful -- wasted on trivial
matters -- wasted in temptation and sin -- wasted in good things, but not great
things -- so Paul writes "redeem the time" -- rescue your days before
it is too late
-- redeeming
the time means you are purchasing out of slavery the fleeting opportunities you
are presented with
-- I don't
know if I have shared with you yet that I am going to be serving on a Kairos
Ministry team this fall -- Kairos is like the Walk to Emmaus or the Chrysalis
weekends -- it's a three day spiritual retreat, but the difference is the
Kairos is held in a prison
-- many
people don't know where this ministry got its name -- it turns out there are
actually two terms in Scripture that are used for our English word time --
there's chronos and there's kairos -- chronos is what we normally think of when we talk about time --
it's chronological time -- it's time measured in seconds and minutes and hours
-- it's time measured in days and weeks and years -- chronos -- chronological time
-- but the
Bible also uses the term kairos --
which is defined as God's time -- God's time is not measured chronologically --
it's not a matter of seconds or minutes or hours -- kairos is an indeterminate measure of time and it refers to the
right moment -- the perfect moment -- that moment in time when you have the
opportunity to achieve a notable success for God
-- this is
the word Paul uses here when he talks about redeeming the time -- Paul is
trying to get across to his readers the idea that we need to look for God's
special time in our day -- to seek the opportunities that God makes available
-- and to choose to make the most of those moments when they are put before us
-- now
that's not to say that every moment of every day is a kairos moment -- certainly there are times in our day when we don't
have the opportunity to interact with God or with others in a truly meaningful
way -- but the concept here is to seek out those moments -- and when they
present themselves to you -- to redeem them -- to rescue them out of all the
other seconds and minutes and hours of your day -- and to use them to do
something momentous -- something significant -- something eternal
-- Henry
Blackaby wrote that each day we are "bombarded with opportunities that
entice us to invest our time and energy -- each day the voices of urgency cry
out for every available moment"3 -- knowing that, Paul counsels
us to be wise -- to look for God's moments -- and to take advantage of them --
to make the most of them -- when they occur
-- Paul
says do this -- live this way -- because the days are evil -- that thought
carries it with a sense of purpose -- a sense of calling
-- if you
remember, a few months ago a VSU student was killed crossing Patterson Street
because both the driver and the student were not paying attention -- so when I
drive past VSU I'm always very careful -- I try to watch for students darting
out into traffic -- not paying attention to what they are doing
-- I was
driving past there one day when two students were standing at the sidewalk --
both of them had their phones out and were texting or looking up something --
and one of them started to step out into traffic -- his friend swung his arm
across and blocked him and kept him from stepping into the street
-- that's
what Paul is talking about here -- that's what a kairos moment is -- it's having our eyes opened -- and when we see
someone walking into danger -- when we see our friends and our family -- when
we see Christians and nonchristians heading into danger -- to throw out our
arms and stop them at the right time -- in the right moment
-- this
world is a dangerous place -- and it eats people up -- as Paul says here,
"the days are evil" -- and it's our job to walk through this world aware
of that -- not only rescuing ourselves, but looking at the danger and pulling other
people to safety in Christ -- redeeming the time -- rescuing the moment --
saving lives for eternity
III. Closing
-- wisdom
is having knowledge and knowing what to do with it -- Paul tells us in these
verses to be wise and not unwise -- to be very careful in how we live --
knowing the days are evil and choosing not to live in that evil -- but instead
to live by redeeming the time -- by living for Christ instead of ourselves
-- how do
we rescue our time from these evil days? -- how do we live on kairos time instead of just chronos?
1. Choose how you
are going to spend your time each day
-- Don't do
anything you have doubts about -- if you're not sure if you should be there or
not -- if you're not sure if you should be doing something or not -- that's
probably a good indication this is something to avoid
-- Don't
procrastinate -- don't put off till tomorrow something that needs to be done
right now -- something that God is calling you to do -- you may never get the
chance to do it again
-- one of
the biggest regrets in my ministry occurred because of fear and procrastination
-- in a church service I had a little girl come to the altar and ask to be
baptized -- her parents were not believers -- they did not go to our church --
and I didn't think I should baptize her without their knowledge or their
permission -- so I told her I would do it, but it had to be later -- I told her
I would make a time to get with her parents to discuss it -- but later never
happened -- her parents were never available -- they didn't want to talk to me
-- and a kairos moment passed me by
-- a kairos moment with eternal
significance -- this little girl started walking a dark path as a teenager --
and has never come back to the church or to Jesus -- and I have to wonder what
might have been if I had not procrastinated a moment through fear
-- Don't
waste your time -- don't wish away your life -- think about those people with
cancer I talked about in the opening of this message -- what they wouldn't give
for one of those moments we casually toss away in meaningless and trivial
matters -- Carpe Diem -- seize the
day -- redeem the time
2. Make sure what
you are doing does not hurt your influence with anybody -- we are called to be
light in this dark world -- to be salt that seasons this world with the
righteousness of Christ -- would someone look at us and condemn all of
Christianity because of what we are doing?
-- R.A.
Torrey told the story about a young Christian lady who was dancing at a place
she shouldn't have been -- but as she was dancing, she was convicted in the
moment and tried to witness to her partner -- she asked her partner,
"George, are you a Christian?"
--
"No," he said. "I am not.
Are you?"
--
"Yes," she replied, "I am"
--
"Then," George retorted, "what are you doing here?"
-- think
about the young Christian woman in pastor Torrey's illustration -- what
influence did she have on her dancing partner George at the moment she tried to
witness to him?
3. Consider if you would be still be doing what
you are doing at this moment if Christ was present, because He is -- if Jesus
was to come back today, would you want Him to find you doing what you are doing?
4. Open your eyes to the presence of Christ --
pray for wisdom to see the kairos
moments in your day and to know what to do with them -- one thing I thought of
as I was studying this passage is prayer -- what we do when we want to get rid
of someone we're talking to? -- we tell them we'll pray for them and that ends
the conversation -- rather than doing that, what if we see this as a kairos moment -- what if we actually
stop and pray with them at that moment rather than putting it off till later
5. Learn to say
"no" -- to be honest, it's "often not evil pursuits that rob
your time" -- instead it's sacrificing "what is best for what is
good"3 -- we are busy people -- all of us -- even our kids --
we stay so busy we don't have time to turn around -- and that's not to say what
we are doing is not good -- but it could be our lives are so filled with good
that we miss out of the better stuff God has for us -- it could be our lives
get so filled with good that we miss the kairos
moments and opportunities to redeem the time in our or someone else's life
-- as we
close, let me say the words once again -- Carpe
diem -- Seize the Day -- Redeem the Time -- Live for Christ and make the
most of every opportunity presented to you -- choose today how you will live
the rest of this day and every day that follows -- don't substitute best for
good, but seek to glorify God in every moment of every day you have on this
earth
-- let us
pray
1 Matthew Tucker, August 2014, "A Daughter Documents
Her Parents' Heartwrenching Journey Through Cancer Treatment," http://www.buzzfeed.com/matthewtucker/a-daughter-documents-her-parents-brave-journey-through-cance#46l9uqx
2 Vicki Williams, "The Horror is Worth It,"
Newsweek, 10/4/1989
3 Henry Blackaby, Experiencing God Daily Devotional, 26
August
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