Everyday Matters . . . Because Every Day Matters, Part 1: Seize the Moment!

Well here we are on January first, two-thousand and twenty-two. Congratulations, by God’s grace you survived (and hopefully thrived) over last year’s three hundred and sixty five days. Now lies potential and possibilities before us over the next three hundred and sixty four days of this new year.

I don’t know about you but I love this time of year. The week from Christmas Day until New Years Day is an exciting time for me as I look back at the goals I accomplished, the places I traveled, the friend’s I’ve made, and the progress our church made in mission — new ministries started like last summer’s Vacation Bible School and milestones reached such as the Christmas Lights Offering that you generously gave with $ ________ in total given, $______ of that going to help with the costs of improving the quality and safety of our sanctuary lighting while $______ will be donated to Eyes for India so sight restoring surgeries can be provided for ____ men, women, and children. This last week has been exciting for me to praise the Lord for what He has done in my life and in the life of our church.

Maybe during this past week you too have taken inventory and become excited as you counted your blessings, as you named them one by one, realizing how God not only helped you survive but thrive this last year.

Or perhaps during this past week, you were excited as you dreamed and envisioned what you would like to do with this blank canvas of a New Year before you. What goals you would like to take on? What adventures or travels you could make? What you might do for Jesus in this New Year? Those things come to my mind in that week between Christmas and New Year’s Day and I become excited over the potential and the possibilities.

This time of year is an exciting time, and yet, it is also a solemn, serious time. Because as the calendar turns, and as we begin to form that new habit of writing checks or dating documents with two thousand and twenty two, we realize we are one year closer to two ever imminent realities. We are one year closer to our own death and we are one year closer to the return of Jesus Christ.

The days of our lives, the sands in the hourglass of our lives, well there is less of it now than there was before— and that is solemn, sobering, serious reality. Whatever future we have, however long our lifespan will be — it’s just gotten shorter. And with that solemn, serious reality, hopefully also comes an increasing desire to use whatever life, whatever time we are given in this New Year to use it wisely.

This week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, is a solemn serious time. It’s a time where the words of our Scripture reading from Psalm 90 should be a the forefront of our minds. Psalm 90, a psalm that many scholars attribute not to David, but to Moses, Psalm 90 verses 10 and 12.

Psalm 90:10 (NASB)

As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is only trouble and tragedy; For it quickly passes, and we disappear.

Psalm 90:12 (NASB)

So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

Some of you have already reached that seventy year mark, others have been blessed to reach the eighty year mark. And if you are in either one of those two clubs, God has blessed you and to an extent you are now living on borrowed time by God’s grace. The rest of us, if Jesus’ return delays longer, could be as blessed as you are to see our seventieth or eightieth birthdays.

But however long we live, Moses reminds us, the majority of our days will be filled with trouble and tragedy, and the time will go by extremely fast.

Therefore, we should ask the Lord to teach us to live wisely with a realization that our days are numbered, that is to live with this realization that each day we live is a precious gift and that every day matters.

And so this time we are living in right now, in this moment, it’s exciting but it is also a solemn, serious time - because as you look back, and as I look back, perhaps we lived as if tomorrow was guaranteed, and that in fact many years before us are guaranteed, and so we could afford to delay forgiving and have the luxury of holding onto a grudge, we could put off the Holy Spirit conviction to do a work for Jesus now believing that someone else will come along in due time to fulfill God’s calling so we don’t have to, that we could have the luxury to procrastinate, to put off doing really important things - like spending time with your children, like taking that trip with your spouse that you’ve always talked about, like getting out of debt, like actually doing what the doctor has recommended to get your health back. We believe we will have the luxury of more time ahead for those things because we believe that many more tomorrows are guaranteed.

But the sobering reality is, time is not guaranteed, and the time we have is filled with trouble, and tragedy, and it goes by so fast, so if you and I don’t let God teach us to number our days, if we don’t live as if every day matters, one day we will look back on our lives with regret wondering where the time went? Why don’t I have a closer relationship with my spouse and children? How is it I have so little money to show for all my hard work? Why did I do so little for the Jesus who has done so much for me?

The dawn of a New Year is an exciting time filled with so much potential and possibilities before us, but it is also a solemn, serious time of year, especially when we read Moses’ Psalm or when we come across the Aposle Paul’s words written to the church at Ephesus, from the fifth chapter versus fifteen and sixteen.

Ephesians 5:15–16 (NASB)

So then, be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

“So then, be careful how you walk [or how you live], not as unwise people but as wise [Well who here wants to live foolishly? We all want to live wisely, so how do we do that?], making the most of your time, because the days are [what?] evil.”

Paul seems to echo Moses’ Psalm — and here it is not just that our days are filled with toil and tragedy, it’s that they are also filled with evil. And if you look back on 2021, and you do an inventory you can see just how much evil filled your days. Evil in how people treated you. Evil poured into our lives either by the news or the entertainment we consumed. And evil we poured into our days — not because we did overtly bad things but because we intentionally chose not to do good, loving things.

And so the picture of the year before us becomes more solemn, more serious — that while we can make goals for ourselves to achieve great things, and while we can plan trips and enjoy new adventures, and make new friends, and while there will be birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, weddings, holidays, and baby showers to celebrate. There is still going to be a lot of evil in the days to come.

And right now you might be thinking, “Pastor Jason, this is a Debbie Downer kinda sermon. Can’t you be more positive?” Well I am being positive. I’m positive our days in this new year are going to be filled with evil. Because Jesus said that as we come closer to the day of His return, the world would be like it was in the days of Noah.

Matthew 24:37 ESV

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Genesis 6:5 NIV84

The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

In the days of Noah, “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”

So I’m positive that our days in this New Year are going to be evil. That’s another reason why then every day matters - not only because our lives are filled with trouble and tragedy, not only because time flies fast and our lives are brief, but because our days are filled with evil.

And if Scripture says this is the case, what then should we do? In this English translation, it seems the answer would be that with the evil days we have before us, we should “make the most of our time” or if you read another English translation . . .

Ephesians 5:16 ESV

making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

it would seem we are to make the best use of our time, as a way of doing what Moses says - to be taught to number our days, or as Paul says to cope with the fact that the days are evil.

But how does one make the most of their time or how does one make the best use of their time?

Are we to read Moses’ Psalm and the apostle Paul’s words and come away believing that because every day matters, we are to find every way to save as much time as possible by delegating, using time saving services, by using day planners and to do lists, in order to be as productive as possible with the days we have?

You know right now is an incredible time in human history to save time and be super productive. You can hire virtual personal assistants to delegate tasks to do for you so you can do bigger and better things with your time? Instead of you taking the time to shop at WalMart and Target and wait in lines, you can order what you want online and the store employees will not only shop for you but they will deliver your order to your parked car or home. It’s incredible. You have more time to devote to bigger and better things. Now almost every restaurant under the sun uses some form of delivery service, so instead of taking all that time to cook, you can have every cuisine and restaurant deliver your meal to your address and use the time saved for bigger and better things. There are all kinds of ways to save time, to create more time, so you can do bigger and better things.

Is that how we make the most of our time? Is that how we make the best use of our time? Is that how we meet the demands of days that are full of trouble, tragedy, and that are filled with evil?

Or is living like every day matters — making the best use of our time — about something not related to day planners, to do lists, delegating, and saving time in order to be do big and better things? Is living like every day matters — and making the best use of our time more about seizing little everyday moments that occur every day of lives?

You see Paul’s words are best understood when we look at the original language, Greek, in which he and most of the New Testament writers used. Because our English translations don’t always capture the Greek terminology well and using our English translation we can make poor conclusions and poor applications of God’s Word to our lives.

In the ancient Greek of the New Testament, there were two main words used to describe what is translated into our English Bibles as “Time.”

If you wanted to speak of time as in a duration of time— seconds, minutes, days, months, years, or the time of the day you would use the word chronos (χρόνος) from where we get our words chronology or chronicles. Chronos deals with the quantity of time.

But if you wanted to speak of time in a different way — as in a special season or as in an unique opportunity or moment, you would use the word kairos (καιρός). Kairos deals with the quality of time.

Why is that important? Because when we read our English translations and read a text that uses the word “time” we often think of chronos - quantity of time — not realizing that the New Testament writer, as is Paul here in Ephesians, is actually using the word kairos — to speak about a unique season, a unique opportunity within time, a moment within time that must be seized.

This is why Paul’s words are translated better in versions like the New International . . .

Ephesians 5:15–16 NIV84

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

In other words the days of our lives, the chronos time, is filled with evil, but in order to resist that evil, in order to not be overwhelmed with evil, in order to help others not be overwhelmed by evil, we are to seize or redeem some of that evil chronos time each day by seizing the kairos, by seizing a season of the day, by seizing an opportunity within the day, by seizing a moment or moments of each day to be filled with God, to be filled with God’s love and to spread God’s love and goodness into this evil world.

That’s how we can be wise, that’s how we can live well knowing that our days are numbered, that is how we can resist the evil of these last days. By seizing the kairos, seizing the opportunity, seizing the moment in being filled with God’s love and goodness and seizing the moment to share His love and goodness with the world immersed in evil.

Today, the first day of a New Year falls on a Sabbath. We are living in the middle of a kairos moment. This is an opportunity to seize, a moment to seize by beginning this New Year taking the Lord’s Supper. We get to begin a New Year rededicating our lives to Jesus. We get to begin this New Year that is exciting remembering the exciting reality that Christ’s sacrifice is enough, by His stripes we are healed, and His blood washes away all our filthy stains. And we get to begin this New Year, which is also a solemn, serious time, being reminded of the serious sacrifice, the cost and suffering Jesus went to ransom our lives from evil’s clutches. We get to begin this New Year with the solemn reality that as we have been forgiven by God so should we forgive others.

This worship service is a kairos moment — a unique opportunity to be seized. And this day, is a kairos moment. Every week the Sabbath is a kairos moment, a season of rest and renewal, a unique opportunity to connect to God and others with full focus. And on this Sabbath, after the worship is over, you have this kairos moment to seize to talk to Jesus about the year before you, to lay your plans at His feet, to ask Him to give you guidance and direction for your path. Today, through the Lord’s Supper and what you do in the hours that remain, is a season, an opportunity, a moment for you to seize — to be filled with God’s love and to be empowered to spread His love with those around you surrounded by evil.

In the Sabbaths to come in January, we are going to continue to looking at other kairos moments that we can seize every day in the very everyday moments of life. Kairos moments are not just unique opportunities like a Sabbath that falls on January first. Kairos moments can actually be found and seized in the everyday matters of life, which if we make the most of can help us live as if truely every day matters.

I’m looking forward to beginning this new sermon series with you called Everyday Matters. And I would encourage you to make this day matter, to seize the moment, seize this kairos moment that you have been given on this Sabbath to partake of the Lord’s Supper, remember Christ’s love for you, be filled with His love, and go from this place ready to share His love with those whose days are filled evil. And I would encourage you today, to seize the sacred season of the Sabbath, to seize this kairos moment, to talk to God about the year before you, turn your plans over to Him, surrender your will to Him and give Him permission to use you for His plans and purposes in 2022.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church practices open communion, meaning anyone who wants to participate in this service can do so. Before we take the emblems in the Lord’s Supper, we practice what Jesus modeled in the Upper Room with His disciples in washing each others feet as a sign of humility and a reminder that we are to serve our fellow man. If you want to participate in that part of the service, please go to the Fellowship Hall and when you return to the sanctuary, please sit every other row so you can be served easily. For those not participating in the foot washing or what we call the Ordinance of Humility, you are welcome to stay in the sanctuary where you can seize this moment in meditation and contemplation of what Jesus did for you on Calvary.

Let us pray.