“Good Advice For A New Beginning”
Ephesians 5:15-17
Just one year ago a thug, dictator and mass murderer by the name of Saddam Hussein was trying to be the modern incarnation of Nebuchadnezzar, the great ruler of Babylon. He built himself opulent palaces while his people suffered. He thumbed his nose at the world in general and the United States in particular. Today he sits in a prison cell, and awaits the judgment he so richly deserves. Isn’t it amazing the difference a year makes?
A few short days ago, as the clock struck midnight, we said goodbye to the year 2003 with all of its joys, heartaches, challenges and opportunities and welcomed in the New Year of 2004. It seems that at the beginning of every New Year we get excited about having a new start, a new beginning, and new opportunities to make positive changes in our lives. So here we are, at the Sunday of 2004, and I wonder what advice I can offer to you to make a success of the year 2004.
The Apostle Paul offered some “Good Advice For A New Beginning” in Ephesians 5:15-17. Would you turn there and read along with me.
“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.”
The New Living Translation renders those same verses this way, “So be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are wise. (16) Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. (17) Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do.”
“Be Careful!” Those are words that we all have heard from our Mothers growing up! When we were children our mothers would say, “Be careful playing with that or you will hurt yourself.” As teenagers and were leaving with the car we heard, “Be careful and drive safely.” We even exhort each other with, “You be careful!”
The general principle stated in this passage is simple, “Be careful how you live your life.” And then we are given three important directives to consider.
First, We Must Realize That Our Time On Earth Is Limited. (v. 15) “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,”
If you are a wise person, then you must “make the most of your time.” One of the reasons we are to be careful is because time is finite and limited. There is only so much time available to us. A wise person uses time, a foolish person wastes it.
Scripture over and over warns us that our time on Earth is not unlimited. The Psalmist says in Psalm 39:4, "LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am.”
And again Psalm 90:10 the Psalmist says, “The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
Time is significant because it is so rare. It is completely irretrievable. You can never repeat or relive it. There is no such thing as a literal instant replay. That exists only in the world of film.
So how can we make the most of our allotted time in this New Year?
1. By Refusing to Be In Bondage to the Past
No matter what this year held we do not
have to be in bondage to the past. Maybe this past year was time of great transitions in your life – the kids grew up and moved out. Maybe your job came to an end and you’re having a tough time financially. Maybe a loved one died and your trying to deal with the loss.
Maybe it was a time when sin got a real hold in your life and you feel the burden and guilt of that sin.
The two greatest enemies of happiness in our lives are regrets about the past and anxiety about what may happen in the future. So often, we face the new year with a "what if," "what might have been," or "if only" mentality -- when we should say with confidence, "2004 will be my year!!"
2. By Establishing Priorities In Your Life
“A while back an expert on the subject of
time management was speaking to a group of business students.
After speaking to them for a while, he said, “Okay, it’s time for a quiz.” He set a one-gallon, wide mouthed Mason jar on the table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks & carefully placed them, one at a time, inside the jar. When the jar was filled to the top & no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full?” Everyone in the class said, “Yes.”
“Really?” he said. Then he reached under the table & pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel into the jar & shook it, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks.
Then he smiled & asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?” By this time the class was on to him. “Probably not,” one of them said.
“Good!” he replied. And he reached under the table & brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in & it filled all the spaces between the rocks & the gravel. Once more he asked, “Is this jar full?” “No!” the class shouted. Again he said, “Good!” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water & began to pour in the water until the jar was filled to the brim.
Then he looked back at the class & asked,
“What is the point of this illustration?” One eager beaver raised his hand & said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit something more into it!”
“No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is this: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”
What are the big rocks of your life? They
should include these: Each day drawing nearer to God, spending time with Him in prayer, & seeking His guidance for your life through reading His Word. Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you’ll never get them in at all.
Jesus once said to his disciples, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)
Because our time on earth is limited we can not afford to dwell in the past and we can not afford to live our lives with the wrong priorities.
Because our time is limited we must….
Second, Make the Most of Every Opportunity. (v. 16) “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
The phrase “redeeming the time” can also be translated “making the most of” or “buying back or buying up.” It is a word from the market place. You go down to your supermarket and look for bargains because you know they will not last long; they are passing, changing. Therefore, make the most of them and buy them up. This is exactly the word he employs here. Buy up the opportunities that are created constantly by the evil days in which we live.
The idea is to buy the time. We are “buy up every opportunity” to use our time wisely. There are three Greek words in the New Testament used to refer to “time.” The first “hora” is usually translated “hour.” The second, “chronos” is the word from which we get the English word “chronological” and refers to time in general a period or measured time. The word used here is “kairos” which refers to an “appointed or fixed time.” The time that Paul refers to is a particular time, the opportune moment. The verse could easily be paraphrased, “seize the moment,” those moments when opportunity knocks. When opportunity knocks, don’t let those occasion pass you by. Seize the opportunities that God has planned for you in the days ahead.
God makes the opportunity. It is our responsibility to be alert, watchful, to see it for what it is and step out into it. I don’t want to miss any God-given opportunities in 2004.
“Richard Swenson, a medical doctor, wrote a book in which he discusses one of the major maladies of our time - anxiety and stress. He calls it "overload," and says that people are just plain overloaded.
1. We’re overloaded with commitments.
We’ve committed ourselves to go here and there, to take part in this activity and that social function. As a result we soon begin meeting ourselves coming and going because we have overloaded ourselves in the area of commitments.
2. We’re also overloaded with possessions, he says. Our closets are full, and our garages are overflowing. We’ve gone into debt to pay for all of these things that we "simply must have." And now we’re so afraid that someone will steal them. We are overloaded in the area of possessions.
3. Thirdly, we have an overload in the area of work. We get up early, fight traffic, and experience intolerable working conditions because we have to if we’re going to pay for all those possessions that we’ve accumulated.
4. There is also an information overload. He said that as a doctor he has to read 220 articles a month just to keep up with all the changes in his profession. And now with the Internet there’s an information superhighway. But the problem is that we can’t possibly absorb it all. So we feel an overload in this area, too.
Hopefully you get the picture. There are so many demands on our time, so many good things that need to be done. But there are just 24 hours in each day, 8,760 hours in this year. We all have the same amount of time the question is what are we going to do with it, how are we going to spend it?
Because we want to make the most of every opportunity we must …
Third, Understand What The Lord’s Will Is.
(v. 17) “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
If we are to make of the time we have available, then we must understand how to use that time as God desires it to be used. The word translated “understand” carries the idea of assembling facts into an organized whole – taking all the bits and pieces of information and making sense of it. God’s word says that to live wisely is to choose God’s way.
The Apostle Paul says in Romans 13:11-14 (The Message) “But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-to-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed. Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!”
Conclusion
Someday you will stand before the Lord and give an account of how you have used the days of your life. You will want to be able to say that you have made use of every God given opportunity and you have lived you life in tune with his desires for your life. This morning you are given a chance for a new beginning, it is up to you as to how you use it!
