church

INI
August 19, 2012
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE
Ephesians 5:15-21

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus
our Lord, Amen. The text for this morning's message is found in the fifth
chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians, beginning with the 21st verse, as
follows:

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming
the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but
understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in
which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart
to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
These are the words.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Who has delivered us from the slavery of sin in
order to make us servants of righteousness, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

How would you like to spend 2 years making phone calls to people who aren’t
home? Sound absurd? According to one time management study, that’s how
much the average person will spend over his lifetime trying to return calls to
people who are not in. Not only that, you will spend 6 months waiting for the
traffic light to turn green, and another 8 months reading junk mail. It all adds
up. It’s a reminder, not only that our time is valuable, but that it is fleeting.
Tempus fugit, says one old Latin motto; "Time flies." And those of us who are
starting to get along in years realize just how true that is.

There's a better motto about time, though - one that fits Christians like you and
me. "Only one life, 'twill soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last."
I like that one better! It reminds us that our time on this earth is not unlimited.
Each of us has only a certain number of years, months, days and minutes left to
us in our lives. We don't know what that total is, but God does. The commodity
of time that each of us has is limited, and it is precious. The question our Lord
asks us in our text for today is - what are we going to do with that time? Our
theme this morning is --

THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE
I. It can easily be squandered
II. It has been purchased by Christ
III. Redeem it in His service!

In this part of His letter to the Ephesians, Paul begins by saying, "See then that
you walk circumspectly..." That word, in the Greek, means "accurately." What
does the apostle mean by telling us to walk accurately? If you ever get a chance
to watch an experienced long-distance runner, you'll notice that he runs
accurately. He doesn't just plop his feet down anywhere - he carefully places
each step. He doesn't clench his fists and swing his arms in huge arcs - that
would be wasting energy. He holds his arms low and close to his body, swinging
them very little, if at all. The runner knows that he has only so much energy to
use during his race. He knows that if he squanders that energy on useless
movements, he has no hope of winning..

Paul's message to you this morning concerns something much more important -
your walk in life as a Christian, and how you use your time. "Walk accurately,"
he says. You only have a certain amount of time to spend in your life, so don't
waste it! Don't squander a single minute of that precious commodity of time.

Because it's true: the time of your life can so easily be squandered. So many
people, as the Apostle notes, act "as fools," and not "as wise." They squander
the precious time of their lives foolishly. And perhaps the greatest foolishness
of all is the illusion that time is unlimited. Young people are the worst about
this - they seem to assume that day will follow day, and year will follow year,
and that time will never run out for them. It's not true. "After all," the Apostle
James asks, "What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time
and then vanishes away." James 4:14. Like a mist lying over a low spot in a
meadow, our life is here for a moment, and then gone. Can we afford to
squander a second of it?

Paul says, Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time,
because the days are evil. The days we're living in are certainly evil. People all
around us are using up the precious time of their lives in the most ungodly
ways. Pursuing riches and pleasure like there’s no tomorrow (or, rather, like
there will be an infinite number of tomorrows, which isn’t true!) Some people
put every second they have into their careers, into making more money, buying
a bigger car, a better house. Some people dedicate huge blocks of their time to
the pursuit of pleasure and entertainment - when one activity no longer gives
them a thrill, they turn to another. We've become a nation full of compulsive
people - compulsive workers, compulsive eaters, compulsive drinkers, gamblers,
drug abusers -- Millions of people compulsively driven to waste their lives
getting things that, in the end, just aren't worth the time! Jesus tells us, Don't
waste your time! "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth
and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do
not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Matt 6:19-21.

You and I need this stern reminder, too. Remember, Paul's talking to us - to the
Christians - when he says, Do not be unwise... (For instance,) Do not be drunk
with wine, in which is dissipation. It's all too easy for us, too, to be tempted by
the pleasures of the world, to overindulge. If you spend all your time at the bar,
it goes without saying that a lot of worthwhile things in your life are going to go
begging. If you get so involved in worldly activities that you lose sight of
spiritual priorities, it goes without saying that things are going to slip, and your
faith is going to suffer. Church attendance is one example. The Bible says
plainly, Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. But how many
times haven't I heard people say, "You know, Pastor, I'd like to get to church
regularly, but -- " fill in the blank: "But I'm too tired from working all week,"
"But I need my sleep," "But I need to do things around the house." Or, "Pastor,
I know I should read the Bible more often, but I'm so busy with other things -- "
Misplaced priorities!

Do not be unwise, Paul says, but understand what the will of the Lord is. What
is the will of the Lord? That you and your family be saved! That you and your
family be kept strong in the true faith through the power of His Word. That's
the Lord's number one priority, and it should be yours, too. You know, God’s
Word doesn’t give us a whole lot of details about what the next world will be
like. But there’s one thing I’m pretty sure about. I’m pretty sure that, when I
arrive there, all my priorities will finally be straight. And I’m pretty sure that the
priorities I had in THIS world are going to look pretty lame by comparison!
“What was I thinking? Why didn’t I see that God’s Word truly was more
precious than gold? Why didn’t I see that, compared to my relationship with
God, nothing else in my life was really very important at all? Why didn’t I see
how valuable was every second I dedicated to the service of my Savior?” We’re
going to see it then. It will all be clear. But why wait? Let’s see it now! Paul
says, Understand what the will of the Lord is! The Lord's will is that you use the
time of your life, not to serve sin, not to serve yourself, but to serve Him!

Now, some people are a bit annoyed when they hear talk like that. And it’s
understandable. Society trains you to think of your time as something very
personal - like your own body - something that belongs to you alone, and
nobody else. But the truth is that your time is not our own. It does belong to
Someone else. The time of your life has been purchased by Christ!

In I Corinthians, Paul tells us that neither our bodies nor our time belong to us.
He says, "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who
is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were
bought at a price..." I Cor 6:19-20. Your Savior Jesus paid the price to purchase
your body, your soul, your time -- your whole being. He paid cash on the
barrel-head for you; "not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood,
and with His innocent suffering and death." It was a steep price for Jesus to
pay. It meant that He had to leave His heavenly throne and take on the humble
form of a human being like us. He had to endure the jealousy and hatred of evil
men. Think of it - the very Son of God had to let Himself to be whipped and
tortured, slapped and spit upon, nailed to a cross and left to die like a
criminal...all to pay the price of our sin.

But He did it. He paid the price. Jesus carried out His love for us to the final
drop of His own lifeblood. And the result: "There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus!" Rom 8:1. We are free and
clear! Hell, with all its horrors, is far behind us now. Ahead is a bright future,
days of peace knowing that we are no longer God's enemies, but His own dear
children through Christ. Are we still sinners? Yes, we still have the sinful flesh
sticking to us; but we know that Jesus' love and forgiveness covers that
sinfulness like a blanket. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all
sin, says John. His perfect righteousness has us covered, no matter what. Each
time we fall, and come to our Savior in repentance, He grants us His pardon.
And when the Day of Judgment comes, we'll be standing on our Savior's right
hand, ready to take up residence in the mansions of heaven.

I've always thought it a terrible thing, what the Roman Catholic Church teaches
about heaven. They teach that it's a sin for a Christian to say that he's certain of
going to heaven. But think about what the Bible says! God’s Word itself says
that Christ has purchased you with His blood! Given that fact, how could
anyone keep you out of heaven? Let me put it another way – what sin have you
committed that is so great that not even the blood of God’s Son can atone for
it? Paul asks essentially the same question, "Who shall bring a charge against
God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who
died, and furthermore is also risen." Rom 8:33-34. Your life has been bought
back from sin by Christ. Your eternal life is as certain as the fact that the sun
will rise in the east tomorrow!

Our lives and our time have been purchased by Christ. We're His now, thanks
be to God! How does our Master want us redeemed Christians to use the time
we have left in our lives? Our text has many suggestions: Be filled with the
Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. In short, Paul says that
instead of squandering it, we should make good use of our time. We should
redeem it in His service!

I’m a notorious coupon-clipper. Some of you may be as well. Every Sunday the
newspaper contains coupons for discounts off grocery items and merchandise.
The little slips of paper are worthless in themselves. But when you "redeem"
them, say, for a quarter off a loaf of bread, or fifty cents off a box of cereal, they
can end up being immensely valuable. The same is true about your time. If you
choose not to use it, or to use it the wrong way, it's worthless. But if you
redeem the time - use those seconds and minutes and hours to serve your
Savior, it can be immensely. Valuable to you and the people around you -- and
to the kingdom of God.

So redeem the time! Cash in those days and hours and minutes! First of all, our
text says, "Be filled with the Spirit." If the power of the Holy Spirit has been
weak or lacking in your life, get back to your Bible and dig in for a half-hour or
hour each day. If you feel the core of your family life weakening, the power of
the Holy Spirit is the glue that will bind it together with a strength you may not
have thought possible. Get a program of family Bible devotions going: ten
minutes for a Bible story following supper in the evening -- it's not as tough as
you might think! If you need suggestions for good devotion books, see me, I’ve
got plenty.

Our text goes on: Speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs - why, we're doing that right now in this worship service. What better use
could you make of your time than to gather with like-minded believers and sing
the praises of your God? If Sunday morning worship isn't at the absolute top of
your family's priority list, then why not put it there and make sure it stays there?

Giving thanks always for all things unto God. Take time out of your busy
schedule to offer your thanks for all the things God has given you each day. It
won't be time wasted. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Imitate the humility of Christ, and for His sake, look for ways you can serve
your fellow Christians, help rather than be helped, do for others as your Savior
has done for you (we’ll talk more about this specific aspect in next Sunday’s
sermon). These are all ways you can cash in on the precious time that you have
left to spend - ways you can redeem the time that Christ purchased by serving
Him! Time: it can easily be squandered, but ours has been purchased by Christ,
so let’s redeem it in His service. May God grant us the grace so to serve our
Savior, with...THE TIME OF OUR LIVES. AMEN.