A Holy New You
Ephesians 5:15-17
Rev. Brian Bill
1/1/12
Several weeks ago, Bill Flick, a columnist for the Pantagraph wrote an article entitled, “Only 11 Years Later…and Life is All Different!” He pointed out that we were all wigged out as we worried about Y2K but nothing really changed. However in the time since our calendars rolled into a new-numbered century, many things have changed.
There was no Twitter, no Facebook, no TiVo, no Wikipedia, no YouTube, and no one had Wi-Fi. Flying was easy; there was no TSA; your luggage flew free…Google was something your 4-month-old did and the economy was so strong, the federal budget was balanced…Gasoline was $1.48 a gallon. 9/11 was two random numbers. Download was a term that still just referred to dump trucks…an app was still something you filled out to get a job at McDonalds and a blackberry was still on a bush…China was a third world country…Kindle was what you did to a fire…There was no text messaging and no satellite radio. Amazon was still known as a river…Y2K? Absolutely nothing changed. But since then, everything has.
As we ponder the past and remember news stories and note-worthy people, many are now positing predictions about the New Year. From what’s going to happen politically, to who’s going to win the Super Bowl (there’s no doubt there) to whether the world is going to grind to a halt when the Mayan Calendar runs out on December 21st.
My guess is that you’d like to change some things in 2012. Much of what will happen will be beyond your control but there are some things you can control. While we all want a Happy New Year, what God wants is a Holy New You.
I talked to someone recently who told me that she doesn’t make any New Year resolutions because she always breaks them anyway. While I certainly understand this (all too well), the downside of this attitude is that we can end up not making any decisions to move forward spiritually. As Donald Whitney writes, “No one coasts into Christ-likeness.”
Sometimes I hear people say that making a resolution is not even biblical. I did a concordance search and I beg to differ.
Psalm 17:3: “Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin.”
Daniel 1:8: “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.”
1 Corinthians 2:2: “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
Jonathan Edwards lived in the 1700s and was a preacher, theologian and missionary. He has been credited with helping to bring about the first Great Awakening. Amazingly, he wrote out 70 different resolutions when he was just 20 years old! You can read them by clicking here. He not only made this list but he determined to read through each of them weekly. Here are a few of them:
• Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.
• Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom, and of hell.
• Let there be something of benevolence, in all that I speak.
I’m going to sprinkle the sermon with some more of his resolutions in the hopes that you’ll be spurred on to make some similar determinations this New Year.
We’re going to draw out some truth from three verses in Ephesians 5. In the first three chapters, Paul establishes the importance of doctrine and in the second half of the book the focus is on how to do what we know to be true. Based on our position, we must put into practice. Look at 4:1: “…I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” We’re then called to live in the light, not in the darkness. Chapter five begins with these words: “Be imitators of God, therefore as dearly loved children…” He then moves to the importance of sexual purity and avoiding the deeds of darkness because light makes everything visible. Verse 14 urges us to “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
With that as a very brief explanation of the context, let’s look at our text. Please turn to Ephesians 5:15-17: “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
Our outline is simple:
• Live wisely (15)
• Leverage your time (16)
• Learn God’s will (17)
And here’s the sermon in a sentence: Since our time on earth is limited, let’s make the most of the time we have left.
1. Live wisely. Ephesians 5:15: “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise.” I can’t even count how many times my mom told me to “be careful” when I was growing up. I’m sure our girls would say the same thing about our parenting as Beth and I are always urging them to be careful and to stay safe.
The word “careful” means to be skillful and to be on guard, to look very closely so as not to stumble. It has the idea of exactness, precision and accuracy. One Greek scholar renders it this way: “Be constantly taking heed therefore how accurately you are conducting yourselves…”
I got a taste of what this word means on Wednesday night at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament when Simeon, the number one high school basketball team in the nation, was scheduled to play. Beth and I arrived early only to find that there was no parking left and a crowd had formed outside the high school. When we finally got to our seats, the team was warming up and all eyes were on these incredible players. I asked the person next to me to point out which one was Jabari Parker, who is ranked as the number one junior in the entire country. I kept my eyes locked on him the whole game.
Then, I was told that Bruce Weber, the Illini basketball coach was in the house so I tried to find him. I searched the crowd very carefully, motivated to locate him so I could sing “On Wisconsin” for him but I couldn’t find him. I think he was hiding from me. I did locate him on Thursday and took his picture and told him that Bo Ryan had already wrapped up all the top recruits.
Likewise, we’re to lock in and give that kind of careful attention to our own lives. It’s actually a present imperative, meaning that that we must pay continual attention to how we’re walking. We’re to be “constantly careful.” The same word is used in Hebrews 3:12 to warn us about unbelief: “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.”
We’re to be careful about how we’re living. The King James Version uses the word “circumspectly.” Let’s face it. Too many of us are spiritual sluggards, living sloppy lives. Instead of fighting sin and staying on the road, we take exit ramps all the time. Someone has said that the tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.
I like how the Amplified Bible puts this verse: “Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise, sensible, intelligent people.” To be wise doesn’t mean to be smart because smart people do really stupid things sometimes. Wisdom is the correct and appropriate application of knowledge.
Let’s ponder another one of Jonathan Edwards’s resolutions: “Resolved, whenever I do any conspicuously evil action, to trace it back, till I come to the original cause; and then both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and to fight and pray with all my might against the original of it.”
Will you do the same? Let’s live wisely.
2. Leverage your time. We see this in verse 16: “Making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” To “make the most” has the idea of buying up a bargain that you see. I was tempted to do that at Walgreens this week when they had all their Christmas candy on sale for 50% off. I wanted to wait until it was 90% off but then I never made it back. The idea is that when we see a bargain we should buy up all that we can, before it’s too late. Likewise, we’re to “buy time” before it’s too late. We’re to purchase opportunities before the evil of our day takes it off the shelf.
There are three ways the word “time” is used in the New Testament. One word refers to hour. Another is “chrono” which speaks of time in general. The word used here means an “appointed time, a fixed or special occasion.” It refers to a period of opportunity that is open for awhile and then closes. It’s not clock time, but kingdom time. We see this in Colossians 4:5: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.” Have you heard of the phrase, “Carpe Diem”? That means “Seize the Day.” Instead of using this one, let’s make a change and start saying, “Carpe Momento,” which means “Seize the Moment.” Next week we’ll begin a four-part series that we’re calling, “Now is the Time” from the Old Testament Book of Haggai. This will help us to stop procrastinating and start living by God’s priorities.
I checked out some countdown clocks on the web this week. By entering your age and gender and other factors, you can know how much time you have left to live. One site I visited is called “The Death Clock.” I was told that I was going to die on October 17th, 2033 and that I only have 687,885,725 seconds left to live. Another site, which asked for a ton of input, including whether I floss my teeth (I do) and how much butter I use (I’m glad it didn’t ask about my cheese consumption), has me living for 13,098 more days (until November 8th, 2047)!
Obviously, only God knows the number of days we have left but we are called to live with a sense of a countdown according to Psalm 90:12: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” To number means to “weigh” or “measure” our moments so that we live them for God’s glory and for the good of others. Psalm 39:4-5 is a great reminder for us: “Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath.”
Billy Graham was asked what he was most surprised by in life. He answered, “It’s brevity.” The missionary Adoniram Judson wrote: “A life once spent is irrevocable. It will remain to be contemplated through eternity…the same may be said of each day. When it is once past, it is gone forever.”
We live in world filled with evil influences and evil individuals. Unwise people are oblivious to the dangers that lurk every day of our lives. It’s easy to think that Paul is exhorting us to action because the days are short. Actually, he urges us to take advantage of the opportunities because the days are evil. Listen. Even in the midst of great evil, there are always opportunities. While there are many options to do evil, make sure you buy up opportunities to do what’s right. Every day is an opportunity to grab the good and shun the sin. Here’s a principle. Every time you can do something good you should.
Time is a very precious possession and it’s very easy to lose it or to allow activities to steal it. Here are some “time-wasters” that come to mind.
• TV and entertainment
• Texting
• Gaming
• Rooting for the Bears
Have you ever used the phrase, “I’m just killing time?” I have. I wonder if you’d be willing to join me in an effort to not ever say this again. God doesn’t want us to kill our time; he wants us to fill our time. Wasting the gift of time insults the giver of time. Someone has said the only piece of eternity we’ll ever hold in our hand is the opportunity at hand right now. We have no other time in which to live. The past is gone; the future has not arrived and we will never have any time but the present.
If you’re looking for something to read in this regard, I highly recommend the book called, “Don’t Waste Your Life” by John Piper. Here’s a challenging quote from something else Piper has written: “One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.”
Maybe we should do what the 16th Century reformer Philip Melanchthon did every day. He kept a record of every wasted moment and took his list to God in confession before he went to bed.
Here’s a question. If you had to pay $100 in advance for every hour of your life, do you think you would spend your time differently? Would you waste your life? Would you stop ‘killing time’ and start filling it?
I turn to Jonathon Edwards again: “Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I can. I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age.”
God has created opportunities for you in 2012. But there will also be obstacles and distractions because the days are evil. Ephesians 2:10 says that God has made you in order for you to do His work: “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” That means He has work prepared for you to do this year. Will you do it? Live wisely. Leverage your time. That leads to the third point.
3. Learn God’s Will. Ephesians 5:17 clarifies what is most important: “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” The wise know God’s limits, while fools know no bounds. A fool is not just someone who is a couple bricks short of a load, or one whose elevator does not go to the top floor. In Proverbs, the fool is the one who doesn’t follow God’s ways. He’s the one who knows the right thing to do but instead does the opposite, or simply does nothing. Proverbs 1:32 says that the “complacency of fools will destroy them.”
A fool lives as if God has no claim on his life. Proverbs 12:15 says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes” and Proverbs 14:9 adds that fools make a mockery of sin. John MacArthur says the “the greatest fool in the world is the fool who wastes time, who spends opportunity without a return.”
The “Lord’s will” is primarily focused on transformation, and less on location. We tend to focus on where God wants us while God is all about who we’re becoming. The word “understand” carries the idea of assembling facts into an organized whole, like putting pieces of a puzzle together. And it’s in the present imperative, meaning that it’s a command to make this a continual practice. How does one understand the will of God? Simply put, by reading, meditating, memorizing, studying and applying the Word of God.
God doesn’t always tell us everything about the future, does He? Here’s a principle that is helpful. If you want to know God’s will then do the will of God that you already know. Many times we ask God to tell us what to do and God says, “I’ve already told you in my Word but you’re not doing what you already know.” The old adage is true: “God doesn’t steer parked cars.” If you want God to guide you, then start moving on those things you already know He wants you to do.
It was Will Rogers who said that half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save. Someone else said it like this: “Life is too short to do everything we want to do; but it is long enough for us to do everything God wants us to do.”
Let’s reflect on another of Edwards’ resolutions: “Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.”
Can I challenge you in 2012 to develop a disciplined intake and application of God’s Word?
Check out Psalm 119:130: “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.”
Friend, there is no way to become wise apart from the Word of God! Here are some practical things you could do this year in order to become devoted to the Word of God so that you learn the will of God.
• Read the Bible through in 2012. One of the best ways to understand the overall picture of the Bible is to simply read it from cover to cover. There are several Bible reading plans available at the Resource Center or you can download a wide variety by clicking on the Resources tab on our website (www.pontiacbible.org). If you have a smart phone or another device that can download apps, I highly recommend the YouVersion Bible. We’ve included a plan in your bulletin today. If you’d rather use something, simply give the one you have to someone you know.
• Read one chapter from Proverbs every day. Since there are 31 chapters, you could simply read the chapter that corresponds with the day of the month.
• Bring your Bible to church each week. If you have an app on your phone, feel free to use that. As you follow along in your own copy of the Scriptures, you will get more out of the sermons and you’ll be more motivated to do your own study between Sundays.
• Plug into a Connection Group.
Someone has said that there are two great enemies of time.
1. Regrets about the past.
2. Anxiety about the future.
The way to overcome these enemies is to focus on today. Since our time on earth is limited, let’s make the most of the time we have left. It’s fine to wish each other a Happy New Year today but let’s allow God to make a Holy New You. That can happen as we…
• Live wisely
• Leverage our time
• Learn God’s will
As we wrap up today I thought it would be helpful if you would turn to the person next to you and say this, “I wish you a Holy New You. Carpe Momento.”
