Submission

Submission is a complicated topic. We don’t like it because it implies the removal of freedom. Also, submission has a nasty history. It can be used, and has been used, to abuse women and children, to justify slavery, to oppress workers, to promote dictatorial authority, etc. Many people are just uncomfortable with the word. (In places where suffering is rife, like Africa, even theologians do not like the word submission because it can lead to the justification of oppression.)

Also, to submit is not easy. Like the Israelites, the people of God, we are a stiff-necked people (Exo 32:9; 33:3, 5; 34:9; Deut 9:6; 10:16; 31:27; 2 Kings 17:14; 2 Chron 30:8;  Neh 9:16, 17; Jer 7:26; 17:23; 19:15). Stephen’s words are descriptions that apply to us: “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 7:51). We are creatures that are prone to self-will. In the words of William Ernest Henley in his famous poem Invictus (some lines removed):

I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

But we have to preach about submission, because the Bible has many passages dedicated to it. It is a crucial and important aspect of the Christian teaching. But we don’t have a choice but to preach about submission, because the Bible teaches it. We are called to submit to God (James 4:7), to others in our relationships (Eph 5:21; introduction to Christian marriage, 5:22-33; instruction to children and parents, 6:1-4; slaves and masters, 6:5-9), to civil authorities (Rom 13:1), and to our pastors (1 Cor 16:15-16; 1 Pet 5:5).

To submit is basically to surrender one’s will to another’s authority. It does not mean demeaning one’s self or being made less than one is. It just means you are accepting who we truly are: as finite and weak creatures. So why do we need to submit? It is because on our own we are not smart enough, we are not strong enough, we are not great enough.

We recognize the authority that is greater than us. We do not fight or oppose someone we know is greater than us (He>I; cf John 14:28; 1 John 4:4). The problem is that we are prone to assert ourselves even in the face of someone we must admit is greater than us. We can be like this with God. We do not recognize His authority over us and question His wisdom. We think we know better than Him. We think we are the Lord and our personal opinions are better. We want to be God’s adviser about how we should live our lives.

We also do not realize who we are in His presence. And we act as if we are high and mighty, like unsinkable Titanics or unbending poles or unbreakable walls. This is in contrast to the attitude of bible characters. In the presence of God, Abraham said: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty?” (Gen 18:27-28). David, the man of God’s own heart could not but affirm his own worthlessness (1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22): “Have mercy on me O God… wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin” (Psa 51:1-2). Isaiah could not but confess his sinfulness: “I am a man of unclean lips” (Isa 1:5). This is the same with Peter who confessed to Jesus upon seeing Him: “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8). We cannot boast anything to God. When He asks us to submit, we do not have the tiniest right to refuse. Paul said: “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought” (Rom 12:3).

The recognition of authority is applicable in all our relationships. In particular, children must submit to their parents (Eph 6:1; Col 3:20), and members should submit to their pastors (1 Cor 16:15-16; 1 Pet 5:5).

Let me illustrate what not surrendering is. My wife is way better than me with directions. I can easily get lost when I am driving. But even with this realization, it is hard for me to submit to my wife’s advice. No matter how she instructs me, I do not believe she knows what she is saying when we are travelling. I did not recognize her authority. And because of my arrogance, we have repeatedly got lost. My failure to submit caused us time and led us to anger and frustrations. In human relations, if no one wants to submit, we will end up fighting. This is why even in husband and wife relations, one has to be under: understanding.

In submitting to God, three things are important:

a. We must surrender our own will: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

b. We must surrender our own desires: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps 37:4). It is letting go of our desires and to follow the desires of God. This is not easy. It demands a large sacrifice, the sacrifice of freedom.

c. We must surrender our own wisdom: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Prov 3:5-6).

Why is it very hard to submit even if we know that we are surrendering ourselves to a generous, compassionate, merciful God? (Ps 23:1-6). It should be easier for us to submit ourselves to God who really cares for us (1 Pet 2:7). We know that God can be trusted, and yet we do not submit. We carry the concept of a loving God around with us in our back pocket as a comforting presence but in reality we have bought into our society’s lie that we can make it on our own. God is not a back pocket God. He is not a convenient power that we can pull out when we mess up and need Daddy to fix it. He asks us to trust Him and let Him be our guide.

The key to understanding submission is Jesus Christ. He exemplified submission, humility, and obedience throughout His life. Philippians 2:5-8 is appropriate here:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

There is no greater picture of submission than Jesus Christ. Although He was God, He humbled Himself. He did not consider equality with God, even though He could have used it for His own advantage. He could have annihilated everyone who opposed Him and told terrible rumors and judgments about Him. He could have snapped the necks of his opponents like twisting a tiny twig. He could have given then terrifying diseases. And yet, as Isaiah said, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth” (Isa 53:7).

Jesus Christ submitted to the Father, even if it meant death. In the Philippines, we have not suffered for Christ to the point of shedding blood (Heb 12:4). When I went to Vietnam, it was my first time to be face-to-face with Christians who were persecuted. Several of my students experienced literal beating. One of them had his property taken by the government. One of them went missing for many days, with his family worried; he was arrested and beaten repeatedly. And yet, after all these experienced they had, they were still studying and preparing to be pastors. 

Like Jesus Christ, and like the Vietnamese pastors, we must be willing to surrender our lives, our future, and everything to God. 

Stewardship of the Gift of Salvation

Ephesians 2:1-10

This is the third of my sermon series on stewardship. 

God has given us many things and many gifts. We already know that we are born naked (Ecc 5:15). As such, and we own nothing when we came into this world (1 Tim 6:7; Job 1:21). But as we grew from babyhood, we were given strength (Ps 28:7), abilities and opportunities to work (Deut 8:17-18), and even wealth and honor (1 Chron 29:12). We were given material things, like our homes, cars, and other properties. We were given parents and children, and friends who can help us and comfort us. We were given education and knowledge to deal with the world. We were also given gifts and talents: some with music, arts, computers, speech, drama, etc.

We have come a long ways from the time we were born, owning nothing, so cute, but also fragile, weak, destitute, dependent. When we compare where we came from and where we are today, we can say that we are actually and absolutely spoiled. Indeed, we can all testify with the Psalmist that “the Lord is gracious and compassionate” (Ps 145:8). Like Joseph, we can say that we were shown kindness and we were granted favor (Gen 39:21). Like Jeremiah, we can all proclaim that “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam 3:22-23).

And in all these things that God has given us, we are held accountable as stewards.

But the greatest gift we have received from Him is the gift of salvation, which Paul spells in Ephesians 2:1-10:

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Such is the grace of God for us that we are given such a marvelous gift.  All the other gifts pale in comparison to the fact that we have received forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7-8). From being people “separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” we are now in Christ (Eph 2:12-13). From being enemies of God (Rom 5:10), we are reconciled to Him and have become his friends (2 Cor 5:18-19; John 15:15). We are also born again and have become new creation (John 3:3, 5; 2 Cor 5:17; 1 Peter 1:3-4). We have also received the right to become children of God (John 1:12). We are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession,… called out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).

But like all other gifts we have received from God, we are also called to be good stewards of the gift of salvation. Basically, we are accountable for everything we have received from God, and because the most important gift to us is the gift of salvation, it is this gift that we must be extra careful and vigilant in being good stewards.

So the question is: How do we become good stewards of the gift of salvation?

Stewardship through Nurture

Salvation is a gift. There is no doubt about it. But it is a gift that needs to be nurtured and cared for. Let us remember that one of the metaphors of salvation is being born again. When we are born again, we become like new born babies. We know very little about the Christian faith. We do not know what and how to pray. We probably did not know that there were 66 books in the Bible. We did not know many things. We were babies in knowledge and practice. But from being babies, we are admonished to grow. Being “infants in Christ” is derogatory (1 Cor 3:1-2; Heb 5:12), because “anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness” (Heb 5:13). We are not meant to be baby-damulags, whose lives are characterized by foolishness and senselessness, skillfulness in doing evil, and ignorance in how to do good (Prov 22:15; Jer 4:22). Peter wrote: “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).

Instead of remaining infants, we are admonished to mature: “Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adult” (1 Cor 14:20). As Paul beautifully described, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me” (1 Cor 13:11).

We must continue to “purify ourselves from anything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Cor 7:1). There is no time to slack off in the Christian life. We must be eager to achieve the things that God wants for us to their fullness (2 Cor 8:11). Although we have already received the seed of righteousness in our hearts, we must ask the Lord to “enlarge the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Cor 9:8). We need our faith and love to grow more and more (2 Thess 1:3). We are aware that when Paul wrote that Christians are meant to grow “in every aspect” (Eph 4:15), he was talking about the holistic nature of the human person. We are meant to “be fully restored” (2 Cor 13:9) in the totality of our being, standing “firm in the will of God, mature and fully assured” (Col 4:12). This is our sanctification “through and through,” with every aspect of our lives “kept blameless” (1 Thess 5:23). This growth must continue till we die. There is not stopping point. For example, even when Paul praised the Thessalonian Christians because of their already commendable love to God and His people, he still urged them “to do so more and more” (1 Thess 4:10).

The problem is this: there are many nominal Christians around the world who care less about maturity. Wilbur Rees’ poem describes many Christians today:

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep,

but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine.

I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man

or pick beets with a migrant.

I want ecstasy, not transformation.

I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth.

I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

We are called to be stewards of the salvation we have received. This means that we are to nurture our Christian life in personal disciples, by communal disciples, and by allowing others to nurture us. All three are important, and not one should be neglected; otherwise, our progress to maturity is compromised.

Stewardship through Bearing Fruit

It is not enough for a plant to grow. No matter how sturdy a tree becomes, even though it stands the test of time and typhoons, it does not please its owner if it is not bearing fruit. If a tree is being nurtured, watered, and even fertilized, it is expected that it should bear fruit. A tree that sucks in all the nutrients it can get and only converts these nutrients for its own sake, never even producing flowers or bearing fruit, is useless to the owner, and will be cut down for firewood.

The law of life on planet earth is give and take. Plants receive sunlight and carbon dioxide, and produce oxygen in the process. Humans consume nutrients from food, then the body converts these nutrients into energy, so that the body may move and do something. Everything that we take in that is not used in our daily affairs become poison. They become juggly bellies, extra fat or weight, and make us prone to certain diseases. Crudely, every food that we take in through our mouths must always go out of our rectum.

The same principle is applicable in our stewardship of the salvation that we received from God. To grow is important, and to suck in spiritual nourishment through bible readings, prayers, communal services, and other spiritual disciples is not bad; but it is also not enough. As we “continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12), our salvation in Christ must bear fruit.

What are these fruits?

1. Righteousness: “May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation--the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ--for this will bring much glory and praise to God” (Phil 1:11, NLT).

2. Good works: “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph 2:10). James is right that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17).

3. Love. Because we are born of the Spirit (John 3:5, 7), we must live in the fruit of the Spirit: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23).

4. Humility: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Eph 4:2; Phil 2:5-8).

5. Harmonious relationship with others: “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited” (Rom 12:16).

6. Witness: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16). We must not be ashamed to live differently from others. We must be honest, kind, selfless, not greedy, not gossipers. We talk differently. We decide differently. We act differently. Brennan Manning once said: “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

It is true that we are stewards of time, treasures, and talents. But we are also stewards of our faith. We are stewards of salvation. We are stewards of great blessings and rewards. We are stewards of eternal life, and we have a part in who receives it or not. We are stewards of miracles: miracles of the forgiveness of sins, of friendship with God, and of reconciling love. We are stewards of the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt 19:19), and we have a part on who enters the kingdom. We have such great power, but with great power comes great responsibility.

If we look at ourselves in the mirror, and honestly scrutinize our being, we will realize that we are weak and fragile creatures. On top of this, in the words of the son, we are

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love

Even if we stack all our gifts and talents and strengths altogether, our weaknesses still outweigh our perceived worth. There is nothing about us that we should be entrusted by God to be his stewards of faith and salvation. But the mystery of the gospel is that we are chosen by God to be stewards of salvation. He sees something in us that we probably do not see in ourselves. He entrusts us with something great and expects us to accomplish His will. We do not deserve such a trust and confidence, and yet God chooses each one of us as His stewards. In gratitude and humility, our response should only be that of the lyrics of the song Potter’s Hand:

Take me, mold me, use me, fill me
Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me

Stewardship of Possessions

Luke 16:10-13

This is the second of my sermon series on stewardship.

Crown Financial Ministries says that there are 2,500 verses on finances and possessions in the Bible. This is actually more verses than all the thirteen letters of Paul in the New Testament, or 1/10 of the whole Bible (which has 25, 145 verses), or 1/3 of the New Testament (which has 7,957 verses). That the discussion about possessions occupies a large amount of space in the Bible might sound excessive, because we might think that surely there are better things that the Bible can talk about, like spirituality, morality, holiness, etc. So it is a bit surprising to realize that 1/10 of the whole Bible deals with possessions. What is important to realize here is that God cares about how we view and use our possessions.

That God cares so much about how we view and handle possessions is also evident in the Ten Commandments. In fact, three of the Ten Commandments are related to how we handle our possessions and the possessions of others.

4 Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

8 You shall not steal

10 You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, servants, or properties.

Considering that stewardship of possessions is so central in the Bible, there should be more preaching about it. In fact, every ten sermons should be about handling our possessions. But the problem is that we do not hear a lot of preaching about money and possessions because it is truly an awkward topic. Preachers like myself often shy away from the topic because this topic can offend many people. Even I am guilty of not preaching on this topic more often than I should.

We will be looking at Luke 16:10-13:

¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

¹³ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

“Someone Else’s Property” (16:12)

“If you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?” (16:12)

The first thing we need to realize about possessions is the principle of ownership. First and foremost, we must recognize that “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Ps 24:1). Everything that we think we own are from the God who gives (John 3:27; James 1:17). This includes our wealth and honor: “Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things” (1 Chron 29:12). Even our employment or the means we gain income are from God: “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth” (Deut 8:17-18). As dependent creatures, “we brought nothing into the world” (1 Tim 6:7). There is a spiritual and economic significance of the fact that we are born naked (Ecc 5:15; Job 1:21). Everything we have is only given to us.

The fact that we own nothing in this world is highlighted by the fact that when we die, we cannot take anything with us.

“Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands” (Ecc 5:15).

“We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it (1 Tim 6:7)

“They will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them” (Ps 49:17)

There was gold in the Garden of Eden and everything great (Gen 2:10-12), but when Adam and Eve were driven out, they did not take anything with them (Gen 3:24). Like them, we can enjoy everything on earth, but when we die, there is nothing we can take with us (Job 1:21; Ecc 5:15; 1 Tim 6:7). Whatever we have, whether a 5M handbag or a 25-yr old car, they all remain. We do not own them.

This realization is important because it leads to two other realizations:

1. That since it is God who gives, it is He who also can take: “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21).

2. When we give back to God, it is not as if we are doing Him a favor. Don Moen’s song poignantly makes the point when it rhetorically asks, “What can we give that You have not given? What do we have that is not already Yours?” Therefore, we should not develop pride when we respond to God’s graciousness by giving a little of what He Himself gave. We would not want the mighty God to echo His words recorded in Psalm 50:9-12:

I have no need of a bull from your stall

or of goats from your pens,
for every animal of the forest is mine,

and the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine.
If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it.”

When we think what we have is our own, we are tempted to protect them. If we think that what we have are things we have accumulated on our own strength and capability, we will try our best so that they are not taken away from us.

“True Riches” (16:11)

“If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? (16:11)

The word “steward” is a compound of two old English words, stig (house) and weard (ward). In its original meaning, the steward is the protector of a house, which is not too distant from the Oxford definition today of the steward as someone “employed to manage another’s property, especially a large house or estate.” This is who and what we are with the earthly possessions that we have.

What is interesting about Luke 16:11 is this: It would appear that God uses our stewardship of earthly riches to determine how much He can trust us with “true riches.” God is grading us or testing with how we use our possessions, and in the light of how we manage materials things entrusted to us, He will entrust us greater things. This means that for us, every financial decision is a spiritual decision.

Some people interpret Luke 16:10-11 as a foundation for a so-called prosperity gospel. Although it is not entirely inaccurate to say that God gives more earthly blessings to those who are faithful, the passage points to something greater. God is looking for people He can trust with real and eternal things, and He evaluates us through our management of entrusted money and possessions. As such, how much we have is not an indication of our spirituality; how we manage what we have is an indication of our spirituality. Our possessions and money can become something like a spiritual thermometer.

How can this be? Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt 6:21; Luke 12:34). What we do with our money and our possessions reveal our real priorities. Jesus is right: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Luke 16:13).

Conclusions

There was on older lady who was protective of her property, and was prepared to act violently if someone dares to take advantage of her. One time, she finished shopping and went to her car. She found four men inside the car. She dropped her shopping bags, drew a handgun, and shouted: “I have a gun, and I know how to use it. Get out of the car!” The men got out and ran like crazy. However, when she went into the car, she realized that the car is not hers. Her car is parked four of five spaces away. Like her, we can make terrible decisions and act terribly, just because we think something is ours. In reality, what we think is ours belongs to someone else. Many people ruin their lives in pursuit of something that they cannot really own, leading to their own downfall.

Because many are unwilling to let go of their earthly riches, they become destitute of spiritual things. Because they serve Money and their selfish wants, they are unable to serve God wholeheartedly. They pursue earthly riches at the expense of true riches. Jesus said: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matt 6:19-20).

We should not be like monkeys unable to make good decisions. Monkeys are very clever animals, but they are very greedy. In order to catch them, hunters only need to put food inside a coconut fruit tied to a tree. When a monkey grabs on to the food inside, it won’t let go. The foolish act of not letting go what it thinks is precious leads to its capture and demise. Our deliverance from death to life might only be connected to the act of letting go of whatever we are trying to keep. We are not monkeys. We are stewards.

Stewardship of Time

Ephesians 5:16 


This is the first of my sermons on stewardship. 

The 2011 movie In Time narrates a futuristic world where time is the new currency. At the age of 25, the physical body stops aging, but the catch is that when you reach your 25^th birthday, you only have one more year to live. You are implanted with a machine on your arm that tells you how much time you still have. You can earn time by working. You can donate time to your love ones. But you also buy everything, and pay everything, including riding the bus, with time. When your time runs out, you die.

The movie gives one realization: time is a precious commodity. We live in a world that values time and extra time. Time is precious. Many of the technological advances today are meant to give us extra time. Communication gadgets allow us to send and receive messages in less time. Transportation improvements enable us to go to our destination in less time. Culinary merchandises allow us to cook instantly or with less time. Fast foods are there so that we can eat and go, using less time.

With these technological advances and conveniences the world affords today, we should have more leisure time than any period in history, but the opposite is really the case. We are becoming more and more impatient and are more and more convinced that we need more time. We feel as if there is so much to do with very little time. We are always running out of time. Sometimes we even think that God is quite unfair that He only gave us 24 hours a day.

The Bible does not offer a lot of passages that deal with time, but where it does, it always gives a feeling of urgency. The general realization is that our existence on earth is so short:

“Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days;

    let me know how fleeting my life is.⁵ You have made my days a mere handbreadth;    the span of my years is as nothing before you.Everyone is but a breath,    even those who seem secure” (Ps 39:4-5)

Maybe because people realize that time is so short that they want to live their lives while enjoying it to the fullest. Of course there is nothing wrong with enjoying the little time we have on earth. In fact the writer of Ecclesiastes encourages us to do this: “I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad” (Ecc 8:15). Taken to the extreme, this can mean doing precisely what the Greeks thought, summarized by Paul: “Eat and drink for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor 15:32).

While enjoying life is novel, considering the shortness of life on earth, we are admonished to live it in the best way possible.: “Teach us to consider our mortality, so that we might live wisely” (Ps 90:12). Because our days are numbered, we must, in the words of Horace, always “seize the day.” The Christian motif is to live carefully. As Paul wrote: “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, ²⁰ giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 5:15-20).

It is this passage that we are going to look at today, and in particular, we are going to discuss what it means to “make the most of the time” (5:16).

Redemption of Time 

Paul tells us that we must be careful to live our lives and make most of the time (5:16a). What does this mean? The different English translations reveal that Paul’s words are hard to interpret:

NRSV translate the Greek to “making most of the time”

NIV translates it as “making the most of every opportunity”

KJV translates it as “redeeming the time”

This is because the two Greek words can be confusing: exagorazomenoi ton kairon. The word exagorazomenoi literally means buying back or redeeming something from its captivity (an example will be ransoming a child from kidnappers or redeeming an item from a pawnshop). This implies that time is in bondage to something, or is corrupted, which is why it needs to be redeemed. It seems that Paul is telling his readers that their task is to take back godly time from its current misuse. Paul is very clear: “the days are evil” (5:16b). Elsewhere, he says that there are powers of this dark world and principalities that are at work (6:12-13). The same evil powers are “the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (2:2). Our role is to snatch the time that evil is stealing from us, and redeem them for better use.

It is easy for us to understand what it means for time to be corrupted or misused. A survey conducted in the USA reveals something important about how people spend their God-given 24 hours. The biggest activities of the day are eating, working, household chores, travelling, tv and movies, socializing, and sleeping. The three biggest chunks are work, tv and movies, and sleeping. 

If we look at our lives today, how are we spending our time? Are there areas that have fallen to sin, and which must be redeemed?

Grabbing the Opportunity

In Greek, the word used for “time” is kairos. This word refers to an appointed time or moment. Kairos does not refer to linear time but is the God-given moment for Him to accomplish His will. This means that literally, the translation would be: We must live in such a way that we are redeeming or buying back God’s appointed moment to accomplish His will. Our task is to make the most of the opportunity God has given us. This is why NRSV translates the Greek to “making most of the time” and NIV translates it as “making the most of every opportunity.” God has appointed somethings to happen at specific times. It can very specific, like at 11:00AM on a Sunday you should be at church; but it can also be general, like you should finish your college schooling for 6 years.

The problem is that these God-given opportunities are not really appreciated or even grabbed. This is probably why Paul said that these opportunities must be redeemed. God wants His people to do something right now, but we are not doing them. Worse, we are not only not doing what God appointed us to do, but we are doing the exact opposite. It is like a parent telling a child that he should work on his homework. The child not only does not do his homework, but plays videogames instead.

So how do we make use of the opportunities God has given us? We can get an idea by looking at Paul’s admonition to the Ephesians:

1. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness” (5:6, 11). Participating in the unfruitful works of darkness is a waste of time. While it is true that the world is filled with darkness, the evil times does not excuse the people of God from using every opportunity to accomplish their given tasks. Although we are affected by the mood of the world, it must not necessarily control our life.  

2. “Do not be foolish” (5:17a). The Greek word aphron is used either to refer to a petrified, inert person or someone who acts frantically without prior thinking. Francis Chan narrates a story about a pastor who was driving and who happened to pass by a parked car. A big guy is harassing the old man in the driving seat of the parked car. So the pastor stopped his car and tried to mediate. He felt convicted that this was the right thing to do. The pastor was trying to pacify the big guy, but when the big guy began to forcefully pull the old driver from the car, he gathered all his strength and gave the big guy an uppercut.

Have you ever been in a situation when you are convicted to do something but you did not do it, then later you blame yourself for not doing it? What would you do if you were in the situation of the pastor? Foolishness (aphron) is the inability to act when something is needed. We must make most of the opportunities given to us.

But secondly, aphron can also mean acting frantically without prior thinking. This too is foolishness. This is also a waste of time. You try to do everything, or you commit yourself to something without thinking the consequences. It is making decisions rashly. It is acting based on explosive emotions or impulse. It is the inability to step back and think before doing something. Acting rashly is also the reason why Paul prohibits Christians from getting drunk (5:18a), because people who are drunk have low inhibitions. They can act rashly without thinking properly. They know what they are doing, except that they don’t care about it much.

Sometimes, when we just do whatever we want to do without thinking over things, we end up being very busy, using all the time we have in your life, but we may be accomplishing nothing which God really wants us to do.

Paul said: “So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (5:17). The only way for us to act properly every day is when we understand and know what the will of the Lord is. We must we be wise (5:15b) in finding what is pleasing to the Lord (5:10; Rom 16:19; James 3:13). We must know God’s purpose for our lives every time we wake up. We must continually be sensitive and discerning about what divine opportunities are in front of us. This can only happen when we are filled with the Spirit (5:18c), for the Spirit is the Spirit of truth (John 14:17; 16:13), who convicts the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).

Conclusions

Out of nowhere and no justifiable reason at all, a certain man was chosen to be the recipient of a generous donation. For the rest of his life, he would be receiving US$86,400.00 per day, and the only condition was that he would need to spend all of it every day too. If we think that the man is fortunate, then we should also feel blessed, because all human beings are receiving the gift of 86,400 seconds each day until we die. The only condition is for us to use all of it for the glory of God, whether we are eating, drinking, or even sleeping (1 Cor 10:31).

God has given us such a great gift: opportunities to glorify Him by “singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” and “making melody” (5:19) and to “give thanks to God the Father” (5:20). Our lives are characterized by opportunities to serve God, the Almighty. In fact, Paul says that time is entrusted to Christians so that we may do good works (Gal 6:10; Eph 2:10; cf Rom 12:11). He also says that “now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2). We are also informed by biblical writers that we are given time so that we might reach out to other people (Mark 13:10; Rev 6:11; 2 Pet 3:9; Eph 6:18-19).

These are exciting times indeed. These are the days of salvation. These are the days when sins are forgiven. These are the days when the Spirit of God is active in the world. These are the days of people being born again. These are the days of the harvest.