The Wisdom of Redeeming the Time (Ephesians Sermon 35)

Some time ago, I was reading one of John Piper’s most moving books, at least for me, personally. And in that book, he shares a powerful memory from his days traveling with his father, who was, among other things, a traveling evangelist. And his father went from church to church and they would do revival services in that style, that pattern, and there would be a very, very clear, powerful preaching of the Gospel. And there was one time that stuck out in John Piper’s memory, unforgettable, in which there had been a particularly notorious, hard-hearted, elderly man whose family and friends had been praying for years that he would come to faith in Christ. And finally, really, to the amazement of everyone, this man accepted Christ after hearing the Gospel clearly explained by John Piper’s father, and with tears and repentance and brokenness, he received forgiveness of sins and came to faith. And it was just an amazingly powerful, moving moment.

But then, something crashed in on this elderly gentleman with vivid reality, and he began to realize how many years he’d resisted people coming to him with the Gospel, how many family members he’d turned away, how many times he’d said no, and all of the years that had been wasted, “walking in vanity and pride,” as the hymn puts it. All the years of his life that he had wasted. And he began crying out from the bottom of his heart, “I’ve wasted it, I’ve wasted my life.”

Well, in the spirit of that kind of bitter realization and to remedy that, Piper wrote his book, “Don’t Waste Your Life”, and I would commend it to you. But it’s in the spirit of that that I stand before you today, and I want to preach this text. The deepest desire I have is that you would redeem the time, that you would realize how precious a thing time is. And if I could speak just quite bluntly, that you would stop wasting it. And I’m speaking to myself, to all of us, that we would not waste our lives. The basic concept of that book and of this text today is that there’s going to be a day coming in which we will give God a careful account for everything in our lives, everything that we’ve ever said or done, or everything we didn’t say and didn’t do. Everything, we’re going to give God an account.

2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive what is due him for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.” I just think about that Bible verse every day. Someday, I’m going to give God an account for this day. And this text, Ephesians 5, especially verse 16, this text, with this section, verses 15 through 17, is of incalculable assistance in helping us get ready for Judgment Day. “Be very careful, then, [or look carefully] how you live [how you’re walking], not as unwise, but as wise, not as fools, but as wise.” I’m going to stick with the more literalistic, “Redeeming the time.” Many translations say something like, “Making the most of every opportunity,” which I think gets at the spirit of it, but I’m going to stick with these words, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

So, we’re looking this morning at the issue of time. I’ve been thinking much about time this morning. I have my app up, it’s 11:11. I have timed this sermon. It started at 27 pages. It went down to 21. Now, it’s at 17. So, there’s some hope we’ll finish it today. And isn’t that ironic? I thought, “Alright, I’ve shortened it, I’ve shortened it, I’ve shortened it.” Now, I’ve given you folks the gift of 12 minutes you didn’t think you would have. Now, you have no idea what I’m talking about, but trust me. I gave you the gift, and I thought, “How will you spend them?” And that’s another message, another day. But what will you do with your extra 12 minutes.

But from the very beginning, God has wanted us to be aware of the passing of time. “There was evening, there was morning, the first day. There was evening, there was morning the second day. And He put up in the sky, the sun and the moon and the stars.” It says in Genesis 1:14, “To mark seasons and days and years.” Since that time, we, using inventiveness that God gave us, have developed various time-keeping pieces, like this smartphone and like this clock and other time-keeping devices, that let us know where we’re at in the day. So, early on, there were sundials, which would trace the movement of a shadow across a face. Certainly thereafter, the Egyptians invented water clocks, the Chinese invented candle clocks. About 100 or 200 years before Christ, someone invented, in Alexandria I think, the hourglass, so dry sand, very fine sand, moving down through a necked in place in the glass and flowing down, so there’s a sense of, “How many more grains of sand are left in my life?” Or how much is left in the day? Mechanical clocks really came in when something called an escapement, which is a sprocket, or something like that, which would rock back and forth and it enabled accurate mechanical time-keeping.

Calvin and I were in a museum of technology in Dresden, and my favorite part, I don’t know what Calvin’s favorite part was, but my favorite part was the clock section because right around Dresden, there’s some of the most advanced watchmakers in the world. Switzerland’s known for it, and well, they should, but also that area of Dresden, Germany, has some incredible watchmakers. And so, I saw one watch about that big, about 100 years old, that kept the day and the month and the year as well. It was over 100 yeas old, but it’s all from gears and springs, and I was just amazed at the technology. But as I stood in that part of the museum, I could literally hear just almost deafening “tick-tock, tick-tock.” I was standing near a pendulum clock that was going back and forth, the sense of just the consistent measuring and the passing of time.

Now, for businessmen, the adage “time is money” is well known. And I don’t think that all of the clock inventors really cared about the themes I’m preaching about today. Their desire was to make the most of the day, so that they wouldn’t get behind in business. So that they could run the race, what we have called perhaps the rat race, against competing businessmen, and be able to make the most money. Benjamin Franklin had a lot of proverbs and adages about that, that type of thing, making the most of the day. And so, that’s just kind of a worldly wise theme, but if I can say, that kind of hard working non-Christian businessman, who is very aware of the way he’s spending his time at every moment and is driven by a desire for material gain is every bit as much a fool as the lazy heir of an oil tycoon who sits around in the Riviera and just get a tan all day long, they’re actually equally foolish.

To the hard-working, time conscious, non-Christian businessman, Christ would speak these words of wisdom from Mark chapter 8, “What would it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Or on judgment, what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” So this idea of redeeming the time in Ephesians 5:15-17 has not so much to do with the accurate measurement of the seconds and hours and days, etcetera. I think it’s there, that’s something we’re aware of, but it more has to do with a unique opportunity that God has set up every day. That you would cherish that opportunity maximally. Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them.” The same verb of walking, “walk wisely” equals, so in 5:15, “walk wisely” equals 2:10, “walk in a pathway of good works if you’ve come to faith in Christ.” If you haven’t come to faith in Christ, this is the work of God, believe in the one that God sent, believe in Christ. That’s the work. But having come to Christ, walk wisely equals do all of the good works that God has set up for you to do today.

So, God created this world with its physical laws, including the rotation of the earth on its axis for 24 hours a day, evening and morning a day, and then the revolution of the earth around the sun. There we have the seasons, and they changed, and the years passed by, 365 days is a year, but he did all of that, I believe, to tell a story, a true story of His own glory, in the redemption, in the salvation of sinners. From Satan’s dark kingdom, that’s what all of this was for. That’s what the history was for. I don’t think history has any other purpose apart from that, and so you and I and every person that God has ever created or ever will create are a part of that story, and God has a role for us to play in that story.

And sin wants to intervene, and wants to intercept and stop you from playing that role, so if you could picture it like a play, you missed your cue, and you’re supposed to come out and say these lines on the stage but you missed it because you were asleep, or drunk, or missed the bus. And that’s what sin wants to do at every moment. And it never happened, we missed that good work that God had set up for us to do, and that is a great tragedy. And we will not comprehend how great a tragedy that missed opportunity is until Judgment Day, then it will be clear.

My job as a pastor is, by the preaching of the Word, by the ministry of the word, to make invisible things very vivid to you. And like the invisibility of Judgement Day is a hindrance to us when we don’t have a strong faith. So my job is to make that Judgement Day very vivid to you today this morning, so that you will be wise and not be a fool, and that you will redeem the time and make the most of your life, to make the most of every opportunity.

I. Wisdom vs. Foolishness

So, as we go to verse 15, we begin with the issues of wisdom and foolishness. We have this very powerful warning from Paul. “Be very careful then, see.” [look is the verb,] how you live, [therefore, how you live, or how you’re walking,] not as fools but as wise. So in context, as we’ve said, this is in the application section of the Gospel, Ephesians 1 through 3, those chapters lay the foundation of God’s saving purpose, His eternal saving purpose in Christ. And then Ephesians 4-6 says, “How then shall we live?”So Ephesians 1, “from the very beginning, we celebrate the grace of God the Father, for He chose us in Christ before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. And in Christ, we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins. And how we, when we heard the word of truth, the Gospel of salvation, having believed we were marked in Him with a seal.” And how, in Ephesians 2, there’s this vision of a glorious church, a temple, a holy temple rising, little by little, little by little, more and more glorious, larger and larger every day, being built in the heavenly realms, a place where God presently does, and in the future will, live by His Spirit. That’s what’s going on in the world.

And we are told in Ephesians 4:1, “to live according to the calling, or live up to the calling, a life worthy of the calling that we have received.” This is just a part of that whole appeal. It’s all part of that section. Live a life worthy of that calling, a calling to be holy, a calling to build the church, etcetera. That’s the calling. And then, in Ephesians 5, he talks about, and this is the immediate context, “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, and righteousness and truth, and find out what pleases the Lord.” And don’t have anything to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness that he’s been unfolding from Ephesians 4:17 on. He’s been very clear about the way pagans live, the way you used to live, the non-Christian life, a life of lying, a life of stealing, a life of sinful anger and bitter disputes, and unforgiveness, a life of using your mouth to hurt other people, a life of unforgiveness, a life of sexual immorality, a life of laziness. And idolatry. Not that life. Those are the fruitless deeds of darkness. But now, a different kind of life in which righteousness and truth drives out of all of those sin patterns. Truth-telling and hard work, so you can have something to share with those in need. And not sinful anger, but forgiveness and mercy and kindness to people who have sinned against you. And not sexual immorality, but living a life as pure as light. A different kind of life. That’s what it means to walk wisely.

Now, Paul says in verse 15, in the KJV… I love this. It says, “See then that ye walk circumspectly.” That’s a great word, isn’t it? I guess it’s great if you know what it means, so I looked it up. Circumspectly. It’s like carefully, accurately, meticulously, that’s the idea. There’s a sense of accuracy to the walking here. Accurate walking, what does that mean? A precision. Well, imagine that you’re a soldier in a war zone, and you wander away somehow from your unit and you get yourself in a place and it’s not familiar, and you sense there’s danger. You just stop. And then you look around and you notice, because you know what to look for, that you’re in the midst of a minefield.

You can see the New Earth and the dirt and all that, and you can see the pattern, but you’re in grave danger of having your leg blown off or even your life ended, and you know that. Now, you know you can get out because you have the skill to do it, but you have to be very careful how you walk. So, I want that image in your mind. There’s a sense of circumspect walking in this world. There’s a precision to the holy walk. The Puritans, the English Puritans, were called by their enemies “Precisionists”, and there is a derision to that. It’s like, they weren’t “live and let live” people. They were very careful. I mean, Jonathan Edwards actually weighed out, and measured his food, and then saw the impact of various foods on his energy level. He was like a scientist of nutrition for the purpose of holiness, the purpose of fruitfulness. “I want to eat in such a way that I’ll be maximally energetic for Jesus.” And not only that, but physically, but also just, he would analyze how he did every day and how it went in conversations and he was just a very careful man of God. He was walking circumspectly, he’s walking precisely in the world.

So, what does it mean? Now, how do we live not as unwise, literally “unwise,” or “fools.” Not as fools, but as wise? Well, I think it has to do with living a life of faith as opposed to a life of the flesh. I think that’s what Paul has in mind here. And so, faith, for me, is first and foremost, it’s the eyesight of the soul, so we’re going to go with “see” or “look”, that’s the verb in verse 15. Let’s see the physical realm, but see it spiritually, and let’s see beyond the physical realm into the spiritual realm. And what are we going to see in the spiritual realm? We’re going to see Almighty God enthroned, we’re going to see Him with eyes of faith. That’s wisdom. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”

So, fundamentally, lost people are fools because they say there’s no God, and they live a practical atheism. But tragically, occasionally, Christians, too, live a practical atheism. We forget the invisible God, God enthroned. And so, for me, to walk as wise means to have a vivid sense of God all the time. A sense of God enthroned, of “God who is light and in Him there is no darkness.” A sense of the reality of God all the time. And not just God, His existence, but that He has spoken through the prophets, and He has given us the Bible, He’s given us the Word, He’s not left us in the dark. And how Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” I know what to do because you’ve told me what to do.

And so, the life of faith is a life of the reality of God, the invisible spiritual realms being real to you, and then the truth of the Word of God. “I’m going to live according to this.” That’s what it is. So, it says, “The righteous will live by faith,” Romans 1:17. It’s the faith walk that leads to Heaven. It says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” So, that’s what I think it means to walk wise, as a wise man or woman. It means a life of faith, not the life of the flesh. Martyn Lloyd-Jones puts it this way, that, “Unbelievers are living an anti-faith life, a life of the flesh, by instincts of mental pride, selfish lusts, sensual pleasures, worldly themes. They seem to have no knowledge of what is going to come upon all of us at the end of this age.” No knowledge of it, the terrifying day of God’s wrath that will come on the world. So, that’s what it means to walk as wise, not as fools.

II. Christ is Wisdom

Now, here I want to zero in on Christ as wisdom. Christ, for us, is wisdom. Because at one time, Titus 3:3, “we were all fools.” We were all of us foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and lusts. We were living the lives of fools. Just like everyone, we were all foolish. But thanks be to God, Christ appeared, and He has become for us wisdom from God, wisdom from God. First Corinthians 1:30, “That is our righteousness, He is our holiness, He is our redemption. That is Christ.” This is God’s wisdom to the human race, and He is the wisdom of God. And the wisest thing any person can ever do is repent of his or her sins and come to faith in Christ. That is the wisest way you can redeem the time.

I prayed this morning as I was going over the sermon. I prayed that God would bring lost people to hear this moment of the sermon. So I did, I prayed that, and if they did, that they would hear with ears of faith, while there was still time for them to flee, from the wrath to come, to flee from judgment that is coming, to see it, to believe that it’s true, and to flee to find salvation in Christ. There’s no wiser thing you can do. And to not do it would be infinite foolishness. He is offering us full forgiveness of all sins, past, present, future. He’s offering the gift of adoption into the family of God. He’s offering us a bright future in this world of good works, which I mentioned earlier, and I’ll talk more about in a moment. And then, eternity in His presence, and a glorious New Heaven, New Earth. Free, just completely free. Not by works, but by faith. It’s what He’s offering to you. Christ is wisdom.

And then, for the Christian, Christ continues to be wisdom. Walking as Christ walked in this world. God could have incarnated Jesus and put Him right on the cross as an atoning sacrifice, and in some sense, I suppose, His righteousness would have been met. But in His wisdom, Jesus lived an entire life under the law of physical life and He gave us an example that we should follow in His steps. So Christ has become for me wisdom from God. Live like Jesus did. We’ll get back to that toward the end. But now, we come to the centerpiece of my message and what I want to share to you now, redeeming the time.

III. Redeeming the Time

Look at verse 16. “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Fundamental to walking in wisdom is this idea of “redeeming the time.” Now, what does redeeming mean? What does it mean to redeem? It’s not a word that we necessarily know or understand fully. I think what it means is to free a captive from captivity by the payment of a price. That’s the basic, biblical idea. A captive, someone is kidnapped or someone’s enslaved, and a price is paid, and the captive is set free. That’s the idea of redemption. That’s what Jesus did for us by His blood. He redeemed us from Satan’s chains, from Satan’s dark kingdom, by His blood. We’ve been redeemed. But now, we’re supposed to redeem the time. So, the idea here is like the time, that word there means the opportunity. It’s a different word for, “the days are evil.” But the opportunity is enslaved, and you have to get up and go do something to it or it’s going to be lost. The Romans said, “Carpe diem”, seize the day. Now, Christians would say redeem the day. Let’s go redeem it.

So, the image I have here is the day is like, I don’t know, a snarling beast out there, a wild dog, and I’m a homesteader in the early 1800s. I have a historical imagination, so I’m like Daniel Boone. I’m out there, and every day, these wild dogs go running by my homesteading property. And my job, my mission, is to go out early in the morning and hunt down one of those wild dogs, capture it, and tame it until it’s a hunting dog, and it brings in my dinner that night. That’s the image of life I have. It’s like, “Wow, what a weird image.” Hey, look, if that doesn’t work for you, think of another one on redeeming the day. But the idea is, get up and go grab the day. If we chill, if we hang out, I’ve always pictured bats hanging upside down. “What are we doing? We’re hanging out. We’re just kind of chilling and hanging out.” One of the great dangers of this sermon is that you’ll think that I’m going to go so far as to say things like that are never appropriate. I’m not saying that they’re not. Jesus, however you defined it, chilled and hung out with his disciples. But He was always purposeful. There was a reclining at table, but there was always a purpose to everything He did. But if you’re just going to be kicking back, you’re on the inflatable tube of life and you’re on the wide water, you’re going to get swept downstream. That’s the image here. You can’t live your life that way. And if that’s how you’re living, you’re going to lose. You’re going to lose every day and you’re going to lose on Judgment Day, so that’s what we’re talking about.

Now, I’m following here as a mentor Jonathan Edwards, one of the greatest sermons he ever preached was on this very text, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil”. I would suggest it to you. You can read it for free online. It’s called The Preciousness of Time, and I just want to follow somewhat his warnings and outline in this section of my sermon. His doctrine of the sermon is this: Time is a thing that is exceedingly precious. That’s what he was trying to teach his people. Time is a thing that is exceedingly precious.

Reason number one: Time is precious because eternity depends on how you improve the time. It is in these days now, in this present era of time, that we hear and believe the Gospel. And so, your eternity will depend on whether you improve the time wisely. So, time must be a pretty valuable thing if your eternity depends on it. And not only that, but salvation isn’t an instant, but it’s a life process. There’s a whole race of salvation to be run. That initial, justifying faith will be with you for eternity, but then there’s a sanctifying race to be run, and we run it in time. And so, the soul is to be saved in time, so time must be a precious thing. That’s his first point.

Second point: Time is precious because it’s very short. If I can add a word here, it’s shorter than you think it is. It’s shorter than I think it is. The more scarce a precious commodity is, the more valuable it is. Basic economics, law of supply and demand. If there’s a high supply, low demand, it’s valuable. Or, vice versa. If there’s a high demand, low supply, it’s valuable. Well, I’ve already established that time is precious, but it’s even more so because it’s short. The Bible testifies that there’s not much of it. So, Job said, in Job 7:6, “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle.” So you picture like an old loom like that and the warp and woof etcetera, you got the strings like that and you got the weaver’s shuttle with the thread on it and the weaver goes like this, “woosh” and just it’s gone. Job said that that’s what my life is like. “Swifter than a weaver’s shuttle.” Blink of an eye. It’s gone. James said, “What is your life? It’s a mist that appears for a little while then it vanishes.” It’s like the morning mist. I’ve seen that out where I live. There’s one field in particular, it’s misty almost every morning and then give it an hour and it burns off it’s gone. Our time on earth is like a blink of an eye, compared to eternity. Time is so short for the greatness of the work that’s in front of us. And if time is already short, and then we squander a proportion of it, how great is that loss?

Some of you may have seen the movie, or I read the book and saw the movie Unbroken about Louis Zamperini. I don’t know if you know that story, but Louis Zamperini was a World War II bomber pilot, or was on a bomber and the plane got engine trouble and crashed in the Pacific and only three men survived. And they are in two inflatable rafts, in the middle of Pacific with very scant hope of survival. They had very small supplies of food, and very small supplies of water and among their supplies of food, were some candy bars, three of them I think, and they calculate if they broke off squares each of them having a square a day, could extend their lives, but one of them in the middle of the night freaked out and ate all the candy bars. All of them. Just out of terror and fear and whatever and just ate them all. I was telling that story to somebody I said, “I would have thrown him overboard at that moment” But no, I mean they overcame and it’s really quite an amazing story, but that’s an image of it was the time was already short and now we wasted some. That’s the sense I have here. It was already short, now we wasted some.

Reason number three, time is precious because time is actually uncertain. You don’t know the amount you have. So it’s precious and it’s short and it’s uncertain. Our lives could end tonight, or they could continue for many years, we actually have no idea. And we have to make the most of what God gives us. How much more would many people prize their lives if they knew they had but a few months to live, or even a few days left in this world. And so it is with multitudes in this world who assume that they have many years left to enjoy. They’re in good health, plenty of money, resources, like the rich fool of Luke 12, remember who’s land produced a bumper crop? He said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do, what I’m going to do with all this harvest, I know what I’ll do, I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger barns and then I’ll say to my soul, “Soul you’ve got things laid up for many many years, take life easy, eat and drink, and be married”. But God said to him, “You fool, this very night, your soul will be required of you”. Meditate on the word required, not requested. Death doesn’t come and make a request. That’s it. And yet how many will be surprised by the coming of their death, and think to themselves and this is from John Bunyan, “Cries from hell”, “I always thought I would have more time. I always thought I would have more time.” I wonder if there are Christians saying that. I always thought I have more time.

Reason number four: Time is precious because when it is spent, it can never be recovered again. Now, hear the illustration that came to me is of a pawn shop. Imagine you had a precious heirloom maybe you men, you had a watch that your father gave you, that his father gave him. Or maybe you women, you would have a piece of jewelry that the same thing your mother gave you, that her mother gave to her. And you’re under such economic extremity that you feel like you have no choice and you go sell it in the pawn shop. Actually, you can get it back, if you have enough money, and if it still exists, somewhere on earth, and you pursue it enough and you’re willing to spend, you could get that heirloom back, but you can never get last Wednesday back. Never! Another illustration I have of this is of God as a chef and a table waiter. Let me shift the image here, cooked up in advance that we should eat, think of it that way. And so in effect, God in the kitchen, the divine kitchen, the Heavenly kitchen cooks up a recipe for you, it’s a soup maybe or a stew or something, and he sets that dish in front of you, and you know what? He will never make that dish again, never. It’s got a combination of spices, it’s got an aroma to it. He gives you a spoon, and then he just stands back and just looks. And if you just don’t eat it, he’ll wordlessly pick it up and bring it back in the kitchen or rake it into the dumpster. And you’ll never have that particular dish again, ever. You can’t find it, you can’t go anywhere on planet earth to find last Wednesday, it’s gone. You never get it back. That moment was unique, it was unrepeatable, it was special and precious.

Now if we live 50 or 60 or 70 years, and for the most part haven’t improved those years it can’t be help. There’s nothing I can do to help you about that. It’s gone. All of it is gone. All that we can do is make the best of whatever time God may graciously give us still. That’s the point. So, what do we do with all this?

I’m going to give you four Rs that I think will help you. First, reflection, second rebuke, third repentance, fourth reformation.

First, reflection. What have you done with your time? Just think. You don’t need to tell anyone, just think about it, you’ve heard now the preciousness of time, this concerns you, it applies to you. God created you. Gives you a reasonable soul. Reflect. How have you lived up to this point? You’ve already had a great deal of time that was given to you, what have you done with it? Let your conscience answer for you. Perhaps you may conclude that your lifetime is half gone, it may well be, I don’t know. If you’re 35 or 40, you may think you’ve got half of your life still ahead of you, you may be right, you may be wrong, you don’t know. But let’s say you did. You’ve spent half your life. What have you done with it? Every day that God has given you, has been unspeakably precious. How have you spent it? Have you spent it wisely or foolishly or have you wasted hours and days and months even years?

Now, if you look back and search your memory, do you find that in a large measure, you’ve wasted your time or used it well? Think of how much can be done in a day in which you gave absolutely everything to Jesus. Think of what that day would look like. You gave yourself fully, energetically, mentally, and physically, everything you had for Christ that day. That’s how much you can do in one day. How many of your days have been like that? And what have you done with all the time you spend in spiritual pursuits? How many sermons have you heard? How many teachings, how many books have you read? How many things has God poured into your soul of the word of God, how much has He given you?

Now, we’re in America today, not in Jonathan Edwards day. We have far more leisure time than those did who listened to Edwards preach this message back in 1734. They were carving their existence out of a recent wilderness maybe 100 years before that, a little over the 100 years they began settling in that part, so they were farmers, they were merchants. It was a rough life, they didn’t have a lot of leisure time. We are glutted with ways to waste time. I don’t know if you noticed that but we are glutted with opportunities to waste time. They didn’t have internet, they didn’t have Netflix, they didn’t have endless sports. I don’t think they had sports in colonial New England maybe they did, but they certainly didn’t have 24/7. And they didn’t have the resources to eat at restaurants or to do the different things that we do, etcetera. They didn’t have that kind of life. This is the life we have. The question we’re asking in reflection is how have you spent your time?

Number two. The second purpose of this is rebuke. Another way to look at it would be conviction of sin. I really believe in Christ as a Christian the only good thing ever to be gained at looking back at past sins is to repent and be convicted and live differently. So I’m not trying to marinate everyone, so we all go out feeling guilty. That’s not it at all. We’ll get to that in a moment, but it’s all about conviction. To those who waste time, to those who actually are convicted that they have had a habit of squandering it as though it were an endless resource like tap water. Not in a well system, by the way. Just turn it on, it just flows forever. If you’ve been thinking like that and you’ve been wasting time, then be convicted. This text kind of stands over you to rebuke that way of thinking.

So I want it to speak to those who spend a lot of time in idleness. That may not be any of you, it maybe many of you, I don’t know, I’m just putting out the shoes and if they fit, wear them. But if you know that you’re spending a lot of time in idleness, doing nothing at all, following no business, not improving yourself, not working on spiritual strength, not working on a skill set, not working on your spiritual health, not praying, interceding, not studying scripture. Not being out leading others to Christ, not being out serving others in the Body of Christ. You’re not doing those things, but instead you’re just pouring hour after hour down the hole of mindless recreation, I’m just setting out a pair of shoes. If you know they fit you and you can put them on, then the text calls on you to repent. It calls on you to labor and live differently to a different kind of life.

I want to take Ephesians 4:28 and apply it to you. “He who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work doing something useful with his own hands, that he may benefit those in need.” So just do that. It’s like you’ve been stealing from God. So use your time going forward well for others. Invest in your heart, in your mind, and your soul, so you can bless others. And then, get out and serve. Use your spiritual gifts, use the Gospel. Get out and do things. Even worse are those who spend their time not merely in idleness, but actually violating their consciences. I’m talking about you know you’re sinning. It will be better for those people to have done nothing than to do that because what sin ends up doing it puts you further behind. You’re like negative 20 now and you have to put all of this effort to get back up to zero and then go on from there. Jonathan Edward says sin is a terrible time waster.

I’ll just take a little example. Let’s say a husband and wife are intending to do something and instead they get in some big conflict or argument. They spend a couple of hours to rectify that, just get back to square one. When, if they had been humble and loving and patient with each other, they wouldn’t have to spend any time on those things. Or, you may develop a bad habit, a corrupting habit and you have to now invest a lot of time to get out of that hole. I would say invest the time and get out of the hole but just understand sin has stolen from you.

Number three and number four, I’m going to put together, repentance and reformation. Edwards, as I said, makes it clear that the time once spent has gone forever. So Pastor why are you burdening us with this? There’s nothing I can do about last Wednesday. No, but you have a memory and you can look at how, if you remember at what you did last Wednesday. And as I already said, “The only reason for looking back in the Christian life is not to have a murky, guilty feeling. But to just do better, repent. Live better. God, in His grace, may give you more time.” And so, repent, turn in your mind and thought. The time you’ve wasted can still serve a useful purpose in your soul’s endeavors if a sense of conviction and a kind of holy passion, a zeal, of resolution fills us, then the painful memory of those wasted hours will actually serve us well. God may still be pleased to bless some that up until that moment were in an unconverted state like that man who wasted all those years but still you can gain the victory that overcomes the world, which is faith in Christ, and all of Heaven will rejoice. So there’s that.

But then, for you Christians God wants you to feel the weight of the preciousness of time and reflect seriously on how much depends on it, to feel the brevity of life, and how short time is and how rapidly it’s flowing. And you feel the weight of these truths, then you will buy back each hour of the day, and you’ll acknowledge yourself accountable to God for how you’re living. As part of it, it’s like our time to spend how we want. And actually it says in Romans 14:7-8, “None of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord and if we die we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” So, seek to find out what pleases the Lord. What good works he has for you to do. You may feel the sting of time already wasted, you should, if you’re alive you should feel that sting. Some of you may feel the sting of conviction, realizing you wasted some of the best years of your life, your youth, the years when you had maximum physical energy, maximum vigor, maximum idealism, but you were deceived into squandering it. Now you’re middle aged, you’re older and there’s nothing you can do about that except resolve to spend your middle age years and older years better.

So, do not be discouraged. God is gracious. I remembered a verse this morning, I looked it up. It’s Joel 2:25 God is able to “restore the years the locusts have eaten.” But I’m going to tell you who he does that for. He does it for people who seriously repent, and feel the weight of what’s happened. If you haven’t repented, he won’t restore the years the locusts have eaten. They’ll eat more years is what will happen. So, it is madness at Edwards for you to just sink back in a bed of depression over all this, over what’s happened and do nothing. Let me give you an illustration of this. Alright?

Imagine you are a wheat farmer in Kansas 100 years ago. Okay. I love these historic illustrations. So, we were Homesteaders with Daniel Boone in Kentucky. Now, we’re wheat farmers in Kansas. Alright, so it’s middle of the nights harvest time, but there’s a fire in the harvest field near the house. And it’s already burned a third of your harvest. And it’s now caught the corner of the house on fire, and a friend and neighbor sees it and runs in. It’s three in the morning, everyone in the house is asleep and he rouses everyone to wake up. “Get up, get up, you’re in danger, your crop is burning, your house is burning get up.” And imagine they sit up, the farmer looks out, and sees that a third of the harvest is burned and smells a smoke in his own house, and he’s just so depressed and just lays back in bed. It’s like, “Wrong answer!” You can still save two-thirds of your harvest, get up, put the fire out in your house, save your life, and run out and save your harvest. Don’t get depressed, get energetic, be zealous, have a fire in your belly, zeal for the glory of God. Not, “There’s nothing I can do.” Last Wednesday is gone forever. I don’t do that. That’s madness. It’s not the right answer. So, understand verse 17 what the will of the Lord is. Understand what He wants out of you. “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of God, and finish His work.” That’s Jesus’s wisdom for you every day. What does he want you to do today? And do it.

IV. Application

I’m going to close with just a couple of specific words of application to you. You may be in a unique place in life. I want to speak directly to you. I want to begin by speaking to mothers of preschoolers. Okay? You have a unique opportunity to pour into your little ones as they’re growing. Make the most of it. It’s tiring, I’ve seen it. My wife worked hard with our toddlers. I’ve seen other moms. I see some of you moms. I see the look of fatigue, I understand. It’s hard, make the most of it, it doesn’t last long. You turn around three or four times and it’s done. So I just want to urge you make the most of it.

Are you perhaps the father of a teenage boy? You don’t have long to teach him how to be a man, to speak into his life, and get him ready for the warfare he’s going to have to fight to be a warrior for Christ, to learn how to put on his spiritual armor. Are you speaking into the life of your son? Like I said, a couple of times you turn around and they’re gone. Are you the father of a teenage son or the mother of a teenage girl getting her ready for the things that are going to come? Just make the most of it, that’s all.

What about you, are you a teenager yourself? Maybe you just finished Disciple Now. You’re barely struggling to keep awake. Alright, I get that. Alright, two in the morning. Actually, the kids who are with us were phenomenal. Went to bed. You guys were great. You guys right here. I see you guys, you guys were awesome. It didn’t cost me any sleep. So thank you very much, I appreciate that. But I mean, you’re a teenager, I already mentioned about five minutes ago, you are about to come into the prime years of your life physically, in terms of zeal, idealism, energy. It’s incredible what young men and women have done for the cause of Christ, in missions, evangelism, in church building. Incredible. Don’t waste your childhood, don’t waste your teen years, don’t waste your young men and young women years. Get ready for them. Come to Christ, be sure that you’re born again. Don’t assume because you’re in a good Christian home that you’re born again. Be sure that you’re born again and then make the most.

What about you, are you a retiree? You’re thinking, “Lots and lots of my years are passed.” Yeah, but you might have some freedom, you might have some money and some wisdom and some resources and some things that, boy, the church could use them. Are you squandering your years? John Piper talks about a couple that spent their years on their shell collection. Wandering the beaches, collecting shells. Early retirement, 59,60. You got extra years of shell-collecting. Don’t waste it, don’t waste your retirement years. You could go on mission, you could go overseas, you could do things to enrich the Church. Many of you are. Praise God. But don’t waste your retiree years.

How about a specific circumstance? Maybe you’re diagnosed with cancer or the closest loved one, a spouse to one who is, don’t waste it, you’re like, “How in the world? What you mean don’t waste it?” What I’m saying is it may put you in a unique position, a platform that other Christians can’t use to minister.

Perhaps you’re single, don’t waste your singleness. You yearn for a spouse and God may give you one, he may not, but make the most of your years. 1 Corinthians 7 says that Paul had a kind of a freedom as a single man that he wouldn’t have if he were married. So, make the most of your years when you’re single, and God may well bless you with a spouse, but he may not, but just make the most of it. Friends, I could go on and on. I actually did go on and on, but I cut it down. Alright. So I’m just asking you each of you to redeem the time for the glory of God. Let’s live as though every moment were precious and live it maximally for him.

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the time you give us. Help us to make the most of every minute. Help us, O Lord, to live for your glory. Help us to be balanced in recreation. Help us to use it only to renew and recharge your battery so we can serve you and others. Help us, O Lord, to run the internal race of holiness, and the external race of evangelism and missions. Oh, God, help us to live for what you have laid before us to do in Jesus’ name, Amen.

“I’ve wasted it!!”

John Piper shares a powerful memory from his days travelling with his father, who was an evangelist. A man had resisted the gospel for years… as the hymnwriter put it:

Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary.

Finally, as Piper’s father preached the gospel, this man turned at last to the Savior… he found forgiveness at the cross and waves of relief swept over his heart and the hearts of all that knew and loved him.

But on the heels of that relief came the realization that he was elderly now… he’d heard the gospel all his life and had put it off. He suddenly realized the years he’d WASTED in sin… the bitter understanding that he could never have those years back again!!

He began to wail in the front pew of that church… “I’ve wasted it! I’ve wasted my life!!”

Piper wrote a book concerning that bitter realization… it is called Don’t Waste Your Life…

The basic concept in the book is that the sin of wasting our lives dogs the heels of every person alive, including Christians… Christians, though they have been wise in coming to Christ and receiving forgiveness, can be foolish day by day in how they live… how they spend their time

When Judgment Day comes, this will happen:

2 Corinthians 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

On that day, the way everyone of us spent our time will be of paramount importance

The text before us is of incalculable assistance in teaching us NOW… while there is still TIME how best to prepare for JUDGMENT DAY:

Ephesians 5:15-17  Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,  16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

The KJV has famously… REDEEMING THE TIME…

TIME: human beings have invented a massive array of time-keeping devices

God set up the celestial beings for the human race to mark time:

Genesis 1:14  And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years

The ancient Egyptians used large obelisks to mark the hours of the day by the movement of shadows… SUNDIALS

They also invented water clocks in which the flowing of a certain amount of water marked the elapsing of a measure of time

Ancient Chinese invented candle clocks which marked hours by the shortening of a candle

The hourglass was perhaps invented in Alexandria, Egypt, about a century and a half before Christ…  it measured time by the steady flow of find grains of sand through a narrow neck in glass.. the hourglass, with its steady flow of sand, has become one of the most famous symbols of the passing of time…

HOW MANY MORE GRAINS OF SAND ARE LEFT IN YOUR LIFE??

Mechanical clocks emerged with invention of a mechanical device called the escapement, which enabled gears and springs to keep a regular beat, later aided by the regular swinging of a pendulum…

The rhythmic TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK represents the constant flowing of time

I have a fascination for expensive Swiss or German mechanical watches, and last summer, Calvin and I went to a history of technology museum in Dresden, Germany, and saw some amazingly complex pocket watches…

TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK

For businesses, the adage TIME IS MONEY is famous… worldly wisemen like Benjamin Franklin learned that prosperity, success in the world, is linked very much to the improvement of time.

But such hardworking businessmen, who had the wasting of a single moment in the day because it puts them behind their competitors are driven by the FLESH every bit as much as a pleasure-loving heir of an oil emirate who lounges around a village on the Riviera partying all day and working on his tan

BOTH ARE FOOLS!

For to the hardworking non-Christian businessman, Christ would speak this word of wisdom:

Mark 8:36-37  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?

The idea of “redeeming the time” in Ephesians 5:15-17 has not so much to do with measurement of seconds, hours, days, years… it more has to do with UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY, something that God sets up, orchestrates for you… like a surprise party your friends organize, God has set up every day with its own good works to do

Ephesians 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

God created this world with its physical laws, including the rotating of the earth before the sun once every 24 hours, and the orbiting of the earth around the sun once every 365 days… to TELL A STORY… a magnificent story of his GLORY in the redemption of sinners by the blood of Christ

You and I and every person that God ever has created or ever will create are part of that story… God has a role for us to play… and SIN wants to intervene and make us MISS OUR CUE  for the stage… there were lines we were to say, a role we were to play, and we were asleep or drunk or missed the bus and IT NEVER HAPPENED!!

And that is a GREAT TRAGEDY… and we will not comprehend the full magnitude of what was lost, what was wasted, until we stand before Christ on that great and dreadful DAY OF JUDGMENT

My purpose today is to call you to live as WISE PEOPLE, no longer as FOOLS… and the centerpiece of that call is to REDEEM THE TIME because the days are evil… to make the most of every opportunity the Lord gives you every day

I. Wisdom vs. Foolishness

A. A Powerful Warning

Ephesians 5:15  Be very careful, then, how you live-

CSB Ephesians 5:15 ¶ Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk– not as unwise people but as wise-

The Apostle Paul is extremely concerned about this… he commands that we look very carefully at how we are living our lives every single day

B. The Warning in Context

1. The word “then” or “therefore” in verse 15 points BACK TO CONTEXT

2. The whole section began in Ephesians 4:1

Ephesians 4:1  As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

3. Our calling in Christ is PERFECT HOLINESS

Ephesians 1:4  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight

Ephesians 1:4-5  In love  5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ

4. He has been discussing what kind of daily life lines up with this ultimate calling

5. Paul has been discussing light and darkness

Ephesians 5:8  For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light

6. He lays out the fruit of light (goodness, righteousness, truth) and the fruitless deeds of darkness

a. This combination of evil things we must STOP DOING and good things that we MUST DO INSTEAD

i) Stop lying, but speak the truth of the Word of God to each other

ii) Stop sinful anger, but be reconciled and forgive each other as God has forgiven you

iii) Stop stealing, but work hard with your hands and give generously to the needy

iv) Stop using your mouth to speak corrupting words, but say only words of GRACE that build up your neighbor

v) Stop being bitter, angry, brawling people, but rather be compassionate and loving

vi) Stop having anything to do with sexual immorality… be perfectly pure from these corrupting things

vii) Stop being covetous, but live for God’s glory and the good of your neighbor

b. These are some of the FRUITLESS DEEDS OF DARKNESS

c. They are dark, they are evil… and here, Paul will call them FOOLISH

C. Daily Life: “Walk…”

1. This word speaks of our daily life in the world

2. Everything matters… how we sleep, when we wake up, what we do first thing in the morning; how our family interactions are, how we get dressed, how we work, drive, shop, speak, think, do errands, recreate, EVERYTHING…

3. “Be very careful, then, HOW YOU WALK…”

D. Walking Circumspectly

1. Paul uses a word that shows a level of WISDOM

KJV Ephesians 5:15 ¶ See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise

2. NIV goes with “be very careful…”

3. The word implies a kind of meticulous care… a PRECISION to your walk

4. Image: you are a soldier and you are walking at night in the dark;

a. As the time goes on, the dawn starts to come and you suddenly realize you are in grave danger

b. You are not where you thought you were, but you’re actually very close to enemy lines

c. To make matters worse, you are in a MINE FIELD… you can tell by the way the ground in uneven and recently dug up

d. You stop immediately, thanking God you haven’t already blown off your leg

e. To get out of that minefield, you are going to have to walk very precisely, very carefully, inspecting every inch of soil on which you are about to put your foot!

f. So, Paul calls us to WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY… PRECISELY… CAREFULLY

i) Some movements in the past in Church History have take this very much to heart and have become very precise in their lifestyles… carefully watching everything they do, everything they eat, everything they allow their minds to engage or their hands to do

ii) Oxford college students John and Charles Wesley started a group on campus called the “Holy Club,” and those who knew them mocked them saying they had reduced Christian living to a METHOD, so they came to be called “Methodists”

iii) But the zeal to live a HOLY LIFE is at the heart of Paul’s command here

E. Wisdom and Foolishness: Basic Definitions

ESV Ephesians 5:15 ¶ Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise

1. Here we come to the issue of WISDOM and FOOLISHNESS in our daily lives

2. Thinking, reasoning, what makes us different than beasts… analyzing the data and organizing it into systems of truth, and then putting what we’ve learned into practice for a wise outcome

3. More than mere intellect

a. Scientific geniuses can be extremely foolish biblically

b. The Greek philosophers were fools because they did not know, fear, love and serve the one true God

1 Corinthians 1:20  Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

4. Martyn Lloyd Jones observations

a. At every moment a human being will make a decision either based on FAITH or the FLESH

b. Faith takes in BOTH the physical truth we learn from actual life in this world (science, experience) AND the spiritual truths we learn from scripture… to live by faith means we walk wisely based on ALL TRUTH, especially the spiritual truth of the existence and holiness of God

Proverbs 9:10  “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

That’s what it means to WALK BY FAITH:

Romans 1:17   as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

2 Corinthians 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.

c. By contrast, the fool is driven by ANTI-FAITH, which is the FLESH… he may be very wise in the physical world… he may be a finely-honed athlete whose reflexes enable him to avoid physical harm or to catch his balance, where the Christian might be a klutz! He may be a brilliant life tactician, like Warren Buffett, whose schedule for years has been a well-oiled machine designed for maximum output for the day; he may be a brilliant medical researcher, whose insights into the human body far outstrip any Christians… but all these non-Christians WALK BY SIGHT, not by faith… they disregard the SPIRITUAL DIMENSIONS of life, and are

2 Peter 2:12 … like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones says they are driven by the flesh… by instincts of mental pride, selfish lusts, and sensual pleasures and worldly themes…they seem to have no knowledge of what is coming upon all of us… the terrifying DAY OF WRATH when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed

To walk by the flesh means to make decisions based on fleshly instincts and drives… the lust of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh, the boastful pride of life

Ephesians 4 describes it perfectly:

Ephesians 4:17-19  So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.  18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.  19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

Sadly, Christians can do this TOO from time to time!  This is the very essence of Paul’s call that we be not foolish but wise

F. Key Topics of Wisdom

John Calvin: “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say true and sound wisdom, consists in two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”

1. God

Psalm 14:1  The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

Proverbs 1:7  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

The essence of foolishness is a PRACTCIAL ATHEISM… forgetting that God sees everything you do

So that we should not WALK AS FOOLS BUT AS WISE, we will be continually seeking to practice the presence of God, find out what pleases God, do the will of God…

2. Himself

Psalm 36:1-2  There is no fear of God before his eyes.  2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.

The fool has a very high opinion of himself… he does not see that he is a sinner in need of saving grace from Almighty God

He is SIMPLE in his understanding because he does not take in the complexity of spiritual truth

Proverbs 1:32  For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them;

3. The Future… foolish people do not look ahead to what is coming!!

Proverbs 22:3  A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.

Matthew 7:24-27  “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Matthew 25:1-13  “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise.  3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.  4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.  5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.  6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’  7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.  8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’  9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’  10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.  11 “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’  12 “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’  13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Luke 12:16-21  And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.  17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’  18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘  20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’  21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Fundamentally, to walk carefully and not as a fool is to live every moment in light of eternity, in light of God’s holiness, God’s word, and Judgment Day… it is to walk with an eye to Heaven and Hell

II. Christ is Wisdom

A. Everyone of Us Begins as a Fool

Titus 3:3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

B. Christ is our Wisdom… In Him we are LIGHT and WISE

1 Corinthians 1:30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God– that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

Christ is GOD’S WISDOM to the human race!

Christ embodied wisdom… he only spoke wise words, so that everyone who heard him said

John 7:46  “No one ever spoke like this man!”

Christ lived out the Book of Proverbs every single day… dealing wisely with time, and money, and people, and parents, and children… he DELIGHTED IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD at every moment

And he is the WISDOM OF GOD in his death on the cross and his resurrection

It was WISE for God to redeem us by the blood of Christ

The wisest thing we foolish sinners can do is repent and believe in Christ

He is offering us full forgiveness of sins, and eternal life FREE OF CHARGE… that is the best offer we will ever have

The wisest thing we can do is flee the wrath to come and embrace the glory to come by trusting Christ

By faith in Jesus we become LIGHT in the Lord… we become WISE by the indwelling Spirit

C. By the Light of Christ We See Everything Properly

D. By Christ We Live Differently

E. The Power of the Indwelling Spirit… from Foolishness to Wisdom

III. Redeeming the Time

KJV Ephesians 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

A. Fundamental to Walking in Wisdom: Redeeming the Time

1. Seeing Everything in Light of Judgment Day and Eternity

2. Redeem = Buy Back… as though the day, though it hasn’t even happened yet, is already LOST… we have to go RESCUE IT

The Latin saying was CARPE DIEM… seize the day!

For the Christian is it REDEEM THE DAY!

3. The Time = Opportunity… a specially crafted masterpiece from God with specific good works to do

4. The “Days Are Evil”

a. To some degree the day begins are a snarling beast out in the woods… we have to go hunt it down and domesticate it and make it into a hunting dog useful to our purposes

b. The “days are evil” because of the WORLD, the FLESH, and the DEVIL

c. If we “chill”, “hangout”, “kick back”, relax, take life easy… we will most certainly WASTE THE DAY!

B. One of Jonathan Edwards Greatest Sermons: “The Preciousness of Time” from Ephesians 5:16 “Redeeming the time because the days are evil”

1. Doctrine: “Time is a thing that is exceedingly precious”

a. Reason #1: TIME IS PRECIOUS…  Because eternity depends on the improvement of time

i) Certainly our welfare in this present world depends much on us using our time wisely in life

(i)    If we become lazy sluggards, we will become impoverished

Proverbs 24:30-34  I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment;  31 thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins.  32 I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw:  33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest–  34 and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.

ii) How much more is time valuable because our eternity depends on it!

“According as we either improve or lose time, so shall we be happy or miserable to all eternity: without the improvement of time, our eternity will be miserable; and with a good improvement of time, our eternity will be happy.”

As we use our time wisely with the gospel of Jesus Christ, as we walk wisely in this present age, storing up treasure for eternity, in that proportion we shall be happy for eternity. As people squander the gospel through unbelief and waste their days in sin, they guarantee eternal misery.

So… time must be very valuable indeed simply because so much depends on using it wisely!

b. Reason #2: TIME IS PRECIOUS…  Because time is VERY SHORT

i) The more scarce a precious commodity is, the more valuable it is

ii) Basic economics…. The law of supply and demand

iii) We have already established that time is precious… but it is even more so because it is SO SHORT

iv) When there is a famine in a city, even the smallest crust of bread will sell for much silver or gold… the bread at that point is far more valuable than the metal

v) Scripture makes it plain that time is very short indeed

Job 16:22 For only a few years will pass before I go the way of no return.

Job 7:6  “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle…

James 4:14  What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

vi) Our time on earth is as a blink of an eye compared to eternity… it does not bear any proportion to eternity at all

vii) Time is SO SHORT for the GREATNESS of the work that God lays before us… the salvation of our souls, the serving of our God in this present age

viii) And… if time is already so short, and we squander even a small proportion of it, how dreadful is that?!

Louis Zamperini’s story chronicled in the book Unbroken; his plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean and he and two other men survived; they were floating in a raft in the middle of this vast ocean, with only a very slim hope of survival. Their inflatable raft had meagre supplies of food and water; they had a few precious chocolate bars, the calories of which could sustain them for a few vital days; they divided up the bars into small squares and stored them. But overnight, one of the men panicked and ate all the candy in one night. Their food supply was already critically low… but now, it was even smaller because of this act.

That’s what it is like to waste even a single day… we already had little to begin with; now, even less

c. Reason #3: TIME IS PRECIOUS…  Because time is UNCERTAIN… we actually don’t have any idea exactly how much more time we have

i) Our lives could end tonight; or they could continue for many years

ii) We have no idea, so we have to make the most of what God gives us

Edwards: “If a man has food and stores laid up for his journey and he doesn’t actually know how much is left or how much he will need, and if he knows also that if his stores run out, he will die, then he will be exceedingly careful about how he uses each morsel of food

How much more would many men prize their time if they knew they had but a few months left, or even a few days left in this world. So it is with multitudes in this world who assume they have many years left… they are in good health, with plenty of money and resources… like the rich fool:

Luke 12:19-20  And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘  20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

Yet how many will be surprised by the coming of their death, and think to themselves, “I always assumed I would have more time!”

d. Reason #4: TIME IS PRECIOUS…  Because when it is spent, it can NEVER BE RECOVERED AGAIN

i) Someone may take a precious heirloom they received from a beloved relative… maybe a watch a man got from his father or a piece of jewelry a woman got from her mother…

ii) Perhaps in some financial extremity, they sell it to a pawn shop… if later they repent and wish they could get that possession back, it is possible, if they have enough money… even if it is sold to some other person, they could track it down an acquire it again

iii) BUT NOT SO WITH TIME… you will never have this particular opportunity, this particular day, this particular chance again… each day is UNSPEAKABLY PRECIOUS, with its own works to be done

iv) Once time is spent, it is gone forever

Edwards: Every moment of time is served to us as if it were a meal; if we turn up our noses at it, the Divine Tablewaiter will immediately remove it from the table and will not serve it to us again.

ILLUS: Imagine that God has cooked a dish for you in the kitchen… you are sitting at a table with a white tablecloth on it, with nice silverware; God is both the chef in the kitchen and the tablewaiter who sets the soup in front of you; it’s a special kind of tomato and basil soup which he has never made before… it has a secret ingredient in it that God purposely mixed in. He sets the bowl of soup in front of you without a word, looks at you with expectancy in his face and waits. You look at the soup… the moment is a masterpiece, the decision is hanging in the air, with eternal consequence. If you do not pick up your soup spoon and eat the soup, he will whisk it away and you’ll never see it again.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Once you had that moment… unique, unrepeatable… you’ll never have it again. You can’t get it back!

If we have lived fifty or sixty or seventy years, and haven’t improved those years, it can’t be helped. There is nothing that can be done for them now. It is all eternally gone from us. All we can do it to improve the little that remains to us.

If we waste our money, we might earn it back again. But it we waste our days, they are utterly and everlastingly gone from us.

2. Improvement: How to make the most of this truth

a. First: reflection

b. Second: rebuke

c. Third: repentance

d. Fourth: reformation

3. REFLECTION

a. What have you done with your time?

i) You have now heard of the preciousness of time, and this concerns YOU… it applies to YOU; God created you, and gave you a reasonable soul… reflect on how you have lived up to this point

ii) You have already had a great deal of time given you by God… what have you done with it?

iii) Let your conscience answer for you

iv) Perhaps you may conclude that your lifetime is HALF-GONE… you don’t know, but it might be… if you live to an ordinary life of 70 or 80 years, how much is gone now?

v) Every day that God has given you has been unspeakably precious; have you spent it wisely? Or have you wasted precious hours, days, months, even years?

vi) If you look back a search your memory, do you find that in a large measure you have wasted much of the time God has given you?

vii) Think of how much can be done in a day in which you give absolutely everything you have to better your soul or worship God or serve others or evangelize… how much of the time have you redeemed and how much have you wasted?

viii) What have you done with all the time you’ve spent in spiritual pursuits? How many sermons have you heard? How have you made the most of the teaching God has poured into your ears?

ix) WE IN AMERICA TODAY have far more leisure time than did those who listened to Edwards preach this message in 1734; they were carving their existence out in a colony that was scarce more than a century old, and had nowhere near the labor-saving devices that we have; they were farmers and merchants and had very little discretionary time… we are GLUTTED with many ways to spend leisure time… they didn’t have the Internet, Netflix, endless sports 24-7, and resources to eat at restaurants and recreate like we do

4. REBUKE

a. To those who waste time… to those who are in the habit of squandering it as though it were an endless resource, like tapwater… the text stands before us as a stern rebuke and warning

b. People act as though there is time to kill, an endless amount

c. I want to speak to those who spend a lot of time in idleness… doing nothing at all; following no business, not improving themselves, not working on their skillset or spiritual gifts, or spiritual health… those who pour hour after hour down the hole of mindless recreation… the text stands over all of us, rebuking such a waste

The text calls us to LABOR and produce good things that we may have something to share with the needy…

Ephesians 4:28  He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

But some people do very little in the way of this type of labor…

Proverbs 18:9  One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.

d. Even worse are those who spend time not merely in idleness but in actual SIN

i) It would be better for them if they did nothing at all than to corrupt their hearts with the kinds of sins Paul mentions in this section of Ephesians

ii) Lying… stealing… wicked talk… sexual immorality… gossip… slander… coarse joking… arguments… complaining… drunkenness… lust… covetousness… greed

iii) Such people actually are using the time in the exact opposite way from what the Lord would have…

iv) We should be redeeming the time to get our souls ready for ETERNITY IN HEAVEN… instead, such sinners are wasting their lives storing up wrath against themselves

v) What’s worse, if any of us dabble in these sins, though not immersed in them, yet they taint our souls and actually SET US FURTHER BEHIND… we have to labor to undo the works we’ve done… if you have been sinfully arguing with your spouse, you have to labor to mend that relationship rather than do some good work the Lord originally laid our for you to do; people who get addicted to pleasures have to labor to put these habits to death… you have to actually INVEST MORE EFFORT just to get back to square 1

vi) Edwards: “SIN IS A GREAT DEVOURER OF TIME”

e. There are also some that are very hardworking, very busy in their careers… but they neglect their souls and they scarcely serve Christ or the church… they are prospering through industry and ingenuity, but their souls are starving… perhaps you are in business, or medicine, or a student, or in some other kind of work or career… you are pursuing the things of this world, and neglecting the good of your soul

Edwards: “They therefore whose time is taken up only in caring for the world, in  inquiring what they shall eat or drink or what they shall wear, in contriving to lay up for themselves treasure on earth—how to enrich themselves, how to make themselves great, or how to live in comfortable and pleasant circumstances while here, and busy their minds and employ their strength only in these things… they lose their precious time. All that time is lost that people have spent only on such purposes, though they have built beautiful homes and have advanced much in the worldly esteem of their colleagues.”

5. REPENTANCE and REFORMATION

a. Edwards makes it clear that the time, once spent, is gone forever

b. So why does he speak so clearly and convictingly about the way we’ve wasted time up till now? Only so that we can LEARN and REPENT and REFORM the way we’re living

c. The time that we have wasted in the past can still serve a useful purpose in our souls’ endeavors… if a sense of conviction and a holy fire of resolution fills us, then the painful memory of those wasted hours and days will serve us well for years to come

d. This text stands over us to ROUSE US out of sinful sloth and to set us to a kind of holy VIOLENCE about how we will spend the rest of our lives

e. God may still be pleased to bless some that up till this moment have wasted their lives in an UNCONVERTED STATE, squandering all the times they’ve heard the gospel… perhaps now will be the DAY OF SALVATION for some of you

f. For the Christians, God wants you to feel the weight of the preciousness of time… to reflect seriously on how much depends on it

g. To feel the brevity of life… how SHORT the time is, how RAPIDLY our lives pass away, how irrecoverable the time is when gone

h. If you truly feel the weight of these truths, you will BUY BACK each hour of the day, redeeming the time for the days are evil

i. You will acknowledge that you are ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD for your time… that you will give to God an account, not just for every careless word you have spoken, but every careless minute you have wasted

Romans 14:7-8  For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone.  8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

j. You will seek to find out what pleases the Lord… what good works He has for you to do in this brief life

k. You will feel the sting of the time already lost, already wasted, and understand that much of your life work is still left undone… only now, you have less time in which to do it!

l. Some of you will feel the sting of conviction in realizing that you have wasted some of the BEST YEARS of your strength… your youth, the years when you had maximum physical energy, maximum vigor, maximum idealism… but you were deceived into squandering it, and now those years are gone… what you can do is grieve over the loss and resolve to spend your remaining time in diligent labor for the good of your own soul, and for the benefit of others

m. If you ARE YOUNG NOW, you are being tempted by the devil to make that exact mistake right now… to feel like you have endless time to spend on whatever you want… this is a GREAT DECEPTION by Satan… this sermon may well light a fire under you to seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, and not live for worthless things

n. DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED… any of you… at this topic!

Edwards: “But what madness is it for persons to give way to discouragement, so as to neglect their work because the time is short? Don’t they really need to rouse themselves out of sleep and be in good earnest, indeed to be violent that if possible they might still win eternity?”

Picture a family on a wheat farm; they are in the house, all of them asleep in the middle of the harvest time. Even worse, because of their negligence, somehow a fire has started that has already burned a significant portion of their crop and is beginning to burn a corner of the house itself. A concerned neighbor runs into the house as starts SCREAMING to wake up!!! Your lives are in danger, your harvest is in danger! If you get up NOW you may very well save your house, your possessions, and a good percentage of your crop… you might well still have enough food to eat for the winter… but GET UP NOW!  The fire is devouring even as we speak! Imagine the family groggily trying to understand what that neighbor is saying… then their eyes get wide with shock… THEY GET IT… but they all begin lamenting, crying, wailing that it’s TOO LATE, we’ve already LOST a lot of our crop! What can we do? It’s already gone, and nothing we can do will bring it back! The neighbor yells… that’s TRUE… but if you get up NOW, you can save yourselves, your house, and whatever is still left of your harvest!  But get up NOW! But they just remain in their beds lamenting, wailing what they’ve already lost.

The parable makes the point… what’s been devoured is gone and cannot come back… but God can give you a holy zeal not to waste any more time, and still to have a crop of good works to present him on Judgment Day!!

o. Be careful to redeem the parts of time that are the MOST PRECIOUS

i) Early mornings, for your quiet time

Isaiah 55:6-7  Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.  7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

ii) Sundays, when you receive the ministry of the Word

The Puritans called Sunday the “market-day for the soul”… store up truth, go home and discuss the sermon, the text, let it have its maximum impact on your soul

6. Today is the Day of Salvation

2 Corinthians 6:2  For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

IV. Understanding the Will of God

Ephesians 5:17  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

A. Paul’s Final Exhortation

1. It is FOOLISH to live a life of sin, of darkness, of evil

2. Christians are called on to be WISE… to follow the ways of God and prepare for eternity

B. He Points Once More to God’s Will… or God’s Pleasure

C. What is GOD’S WILL?

Ephesians 1:4-10  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love  5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will–  6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace  8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.  9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,  10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment– to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

D. God’s Will is to SAVE ELECT PEOPLE from every tribe, language, people and nations

1. To redeem them from sin by the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ

2. To transform their lives by the power of the Holy Spirit… to cause them to be HOLY AND BLAMELESS BEFORE HIM… teaching them to obey everything Christ has commanded

3. It is the internal journey of HOLINESS… increasingly living like Christ did, who made the MOST OF EVERY MOMENT OF LIFE… consider… his public ministry lasted three years… in that three years, he changed the world forever… he lived every moment for the will of His Father

John 4:34  “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

4. That should be our goal… we also have a LIFE WORK…

Ephesians 2:10  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

5. It should be our purpose to finish that life work… and that life work should fit into God’s overall plan of salvation through Christ… he is building His Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail…

Matthew 6:33  seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

6. INTERNAL JOURNEY: Live every day to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ

7. EXTERNAL JOURNEY: Live every day to seek to advance Christ among the lost

a. Ask God to prepare people for you to speak with…

b. Do not be foolish, but understand what his will is

c. God has chosen people to be saved, and he WILLS to save each one of them

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not willing that anyone perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

2 Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

8. That’s what God will bless on Judgment Day!

9. That is what our works should be made up of

1 Corinthians 3:12-15  If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,  13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.  14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.  15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

Specific words of application:

1) Divide your time into regular patterns and unique opportunities

There are rhythms and habits of your life

Redeem the time by getting into good habits

Morning quiet times… get up every day and seize the first moments of the day with a good time in the Word and prayer; present your bodies to Christ as a living sacrifice; remind yourself that this day is unique… never to be repeated; pray that God will allow you to seize the unique opportunities that he SERVES YOU in his divine restaurant today… say, “Lord, I don’t want to miss the unique good works you give me today! Help me to love you and love others and live with a faith-filled eye to eternity!” Feed your soul on God’s Word… memorize scripture; pray… worship prayers and intercessory prayers

REDEEM EVERY MORNING this way

Then live your days wisely… look at the habits of your life, how you are earning a living, what is your career; also how you are spending your free time; look at everything from the perspective of eternity

2) Ask the Lord to show you the UNIQUE PLACE you are in in your life now… a phase you’ll be in for a time, and never again

Are you the mother of preschoolers? Ask, “Lord, how can I maximize the brief years I have with my infants… with my toddlers… with my preschool sons and daughters? How can I pour the gospel into their tender hearts when they are still so young and unjaded by the sins of this world?

Are you the father of a teenaged boy? How can you make the most of the years that you may have together? How can you get this boy ready to be a man? How can you redeem the time when he is nearing his physical prime? How can you challenge him to use his strength and vitality for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ?

Are you a teenager yourself? How can you make the most of your teen years? As I just said, you are nearing or at your physical prime… but you have a lot to learn from those older than you. How can you maximize these teen years? What are some special battles you will have to fight now—battles against sexual immorality and corruption and wickedness and peer pressure and drugs and alcohol that will GUARANTEE that you waste your life and afterward groan “I wasted it!” How can you guard your heart against falling in love before you are ready to be married? How can you guard your bodies against corrupting sins? How can you love Jesus with a vitality and physical power that you will never have again?

Are you a retiree? Perhaps you have money enough saved to do short term mission work… perhaps you have a wealth of wisdom and experience to give to a young man if you’re a man, or a young woman if you’re a woman. How can you use the final years of your life maximally for the Kingdom of God and not waste it?

Are you diagnosed with cancer or some other dread disease? How can you maximize this opportunity for the glory of God? Are there some other lost souls who suffer from the same dread disease you do, and you are able to share Christ with them in ways other Christians can not.

Are you a young professional, still single, perhaps yearning to be married, but not yet found that special person. How can you maximize your single years? Paul presented the immense advantages to the single life in 1 Corinthians 7—undivided devotion to the Lord, ability and freedom to serve him fully without distractions… but are you WASTING your single years in self-pity and Netflix?

FBC… I could go on and on…

Dear brothers and sisters… LET US REDEEM THE TIME!!!