Redeeming Our Time
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
The end of the year is a great time to evaluate all that God has done in the past year of our lives. It allows us to give God praise for all the good things that have happened, to ask God for peace and understanding for all the negative things that have transpired, and to look forward expectantly and patiently for all the things that have yet to happen. This is all a part of numbering our days so that we can gain a heart of wisdom as Moses teaches us.
So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
To that end, I wanted to close out 2019 with a message from which is one of the most beautiful and meaningful passages on the subject of time.
Ecclesiastes 3:
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
There are just a couple of points I would like to make from this passage:
There are proper times for everything in life.
God can redeem everything in his time.
Generally when we think of the passing of time, we think of it in negative terms. With the turning of the calendar, it means we are getting a year older, for most of us it probably means another year of failed resolutions, another year of time that has been lost and not been used to the fullest. The ancient Roman playwright, Plautus, once stated mournfully:
“The gods confound the man who first found out how to distinguish hours! Confound him who has cut and hacked my days so wretchedly into small pieces. Confound him who in this place set up a sundial.”
As people with limited time it’s easy to have this negative perspective but surprisingly the author of Ecclesiastes has a fairly optimistic outlook on the most precious resource that has been given to man. He tells us that"For everything there is a season and every matter under heaven.” Then he goes down a long list of what appears to be the highest mountains and the lowest valleys that we can experience in life beginning with the two obvious end caps for every human being, our birth and death. For me in this year, I’ve had the chance to be a part of both. I’ve seen many, many births in our church as well as the birth of our first niece on Mira’s side of the family. Sadly, I also had the honor of presiding over a funeral.
In between those two definitive markers in our lives, birth and death, there is so much that happens in a lifetime. We find love and then lose it. We taste both the sweetness of success and the bitterness of failure. There’s times of peace but also seasons of conflict. A time to heal as well as a time for sickness. And for obvious reasons, we only want to experience the positive side of this ledger of life and so we do the best that we can to try to ensure that our lives are filled with one high after another. But just by observation, you can see that the most well rounded people, those people who seem to exude the joy of life are those who have overcome pain and tragedy. And the reason for this is that life can’t just be defined by the good things that happen but its a combination of both good and bad that sum up our human existence.
In this passage, we can see that the author mentions a parallel series of related opposites in this poem. Each of these pairs form what is known as a merism, which is a figure of speech where two polar opposites are used to describe the whole. For example, when the bible says that God created the heavens and earth in , it means that God created the whole of the universe. In the same way, each of the pairs in this poem describe the entirety of our lives. Birth and death comprise the whole of human existence, love and hate describes all the relationships that we have, weeping and laughing summarizes the full range of our emotions, planting and plucking up what is planted defines the total cycle of the work we do.
This poem teaches us that between the two definitive markers in our lives, birth and death, there is so much that happens within a lifetime. We find love and then lose it. We taste both the sweetness of success and the bitterness of failure. There’s times of peace but also seasons of conflict. A time to heal as well as a time for sickness. And for obvious reasons, we only want to experience the positive side of this ledger of life and so we do the best that we can to try to ensure that our lives are filled with one high after another. But just by observation, you can see that the most well rounded people, those people who seem to exude the joy of life are those who have overcome pain and tragedy. And the reason for this is that life can’t just be defined by the good things that happen but its a combination of both good and bad that sum up our human existence.
In other words, the fullness of life is dependent on both good and bad events happening in its proper time. In the relatively short thirty plus years of his life, Jesus experienced these polar extremes that this passage speaks about. He embraced those whom he loved but refrained from embracing the religious bigots of his time. Jesus laughed and danced with sinners but wept and mourned over those who refused to repent. He spoke to the crowds but remained silent before his accusers. Jesus taught us that there is an appropriate time for everything that happens in our lives and in order for us to truly appreciate the beauty of life, we need to experience the full gamut of both good and bad. In the end, it’s this kaleidoscope of opposing events that draw out the fullness of life that Jesus promised us.
We love the mountaintop but often undervalue the valleys of life, not realizing that if you don’t spend enough time to process these low points, you’ll never fully know the joys found on the mountain.
There is a great deal of wisdom found in the fourth verse of .
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
One pastor astutely pointed out that David as he was writing this Psalm understood that it’s more appropriate to walk through the valley of the shadow of death instead of trying to run through it like most people. But the only way that you can take your time to properly go through the eventual downturns of your life is to have no fear because you know that the presence of God is there to comfort you. This is especially true for those of us who are going through a season of grieving. It’s understandable that we want to rush through our grief but you cannot learn what God wants to teach you if you are simply trying to avoid the pain and sorrow that is a part of our existence. If we could see things from God’s perspective, we would see that every event happens in it’s proper time and there is not only a reason for everything but God can actually redeems everything in his time and makes them beautiful!
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
For many years, I wondered why
De
Mira and I have been reflecting on all the good things that God has done in our lives this year. It’s truly hard for us to comprehend but so many of these blessings have been God redeeming events from the past.
We sent our son to college where he is doing well academically but most importantly, his spiritual life has grown in leaps in bounds. Four years ago, he told me he was no longer a Christian and wanted to cut Mira out of his life. All of this happened on Mother’s Day but my wife now considers that the best Mother’s Day gift she could have recieved.
Just last week, we signed a purchase agreement for a new condo here in San Francisco which seems utterly ridiculous given our financial situation just a few years ago. And no we are not embezzling money from the church! We won the lottery again to buy a below market rate unit.
And obviously the big event for me was reuniting with my mother after being separated for over 40 years. Talk about God redeeming my parent’s divorce and years and years of family drama.
It is absolutely crazy what God can do in his time. He truly can make beauty from ashes.
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
However, as we wait for God make all things beautiful in his time, it’s also important that we make the most of the time that He has given to us.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
I want point out three things that will help us utilize the time that we have in a God-honoring way.
And I want point out three things that will help us manage our time in a God-honoring way.
And I want point out three things that will help us manage our time in a God-honoring way.
And I want point out three things that will help us manage our time in a God-honoring way.
First, we need to understand the economy of time. I would say that the value of time is highly underrated and this comes from the misconception that we have so much of it. Simple economics tells us that we tend to undervalue those things that we determine are in great supply and we place a higher value on those things that we believe are scarce. Judging by the lives of people, I would say that most of us believe that we have an ample supply of time. Yet the Scriptures clearly points out that this is not the case. tells us that our life is like a vapor, like mist, here for one moment and then gone. tells us that our lives are like grass, budding in the morning, then withering under the sun, and gone by evening. In the light of the shortness of our lives and the scarcity of time, Moses who is the author of writes, “Teach us to number our days, that we may present to you a heart of wisdom.” I don’t know if he meant for us to do this literally but I calculated how many days I have left based on the average life expectancy of men in the United States which is around 70 years. This is also the number given to us in the Scriptures. It’s crazy that with all of our technology and all of our medical advances, we can’t break the barrier that God has placed on the average life span. In terms of days, this means I have approximately 8000 days left barring any tragedy or unexpected catastrophe. That isn’t that many days. When we understand how little time we have, we are less prone to wasting our time. Jonathan Edwards makes the point that if we wasted money like the way many of us waste our time, people would think we were insane. And just as we learn to manage our finances, we also need to learn how to manage our time.
And this leads us to our second point which is that proper management of time begins with the correct evaluation of your time. It is always good to have a periodic review of your time expenditure. And you can do this by asking yourself a few simple questions:
1. What is the single greatest time-waster in your life and how can you redeem the time?
2. How much time have you invested in your relationship with God?
3. What is one thing you can do to deepen your relationship with God? With others?
4. What have you accomplished this year that matters most to you?
4. Would it have been as well or better if you would have been asleep the whole time or in a state of non-existence?
5. What single thing can you plan to do this next year that will matter for eternity?
Honesty is a key here because for some of us, there hasn’t been that much accomplished and we have gone backwards instead of forwards. At one point we have to say enough is enough and I am tired of wasting away my years.
After you have made an honest evaluation of your time, there is one last step to take which the determination to make the most effective use of your time. Jonathan Edwards gives us three keys to being more effective with our time.
1. Is to be aware of the present time. Don’t delay. Don’t procrastinate. Start living your life now.
2. Be aware of your most precious times. Although all of our time is precious, there is time that needs to be devoted to the more mundane things of life. Like work, study, eating, and rest. This is why you need to treasure your holy times. Time that you can spend in worship and in prayer and in godly fellowship should be cherished.
3. Be aware of your pleasure time. No matter how busy we are, we all have time for recreation and rest. Take advantage of those times so you can be refreshed for the next stretch of hard work. It’s no benefit to you if you take these times and you fill your schedule with constant visits and going out and playing so hard that you don’t give your body and mind any time to rest.
III. Conclusion:
The most important step in the redemption of our time is our salvation and this is why God tells us that now is the day of salvation. There are so many people who wait to make a decision to follow after Christ not realizing that everyday that is lived outside of a relationship with Him is a wasted day. If you are not living in the light of Christ, this passage out of Ephesians makes the point that you are living your life as if you are asleep or as if you are dead. In other words, your life is making no difference. And obviously this challenge isn’t only for non-believers, it is also meant to open the eyes of the believer. After all, how many Christians waste away their lives not living within the will of God? Imagine what the church would look like if everyone shared the heart of the Psalmist in saying, “I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.” Just as people delay in entering into a saving relationship with Christ, they are many who delay in obeying His commands. And we say things like: I will go on that outreach next time. I will go on that mission trip next summer. I will start sharing the Gospel with my friends when the time is right. I’ll get out of this bad relationship when I’m ready. I’ll start investing in people when I have time. There is no guarantee that there is going to be a next time or a later and it’s foolishness to believe that those opportunities will always be there. Let the light of Christ shine upon you today and awaken you to live out life in all its fullness.
For whose salvation will you pray the most fervently for this year?
What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
Which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress in this year?
What is the most important thing you can do to improve your family life?