Once more seeking the Lord's
favour and blessing and help as we come to his word, I'd like
us to turn to the chapter that we read together, Ephesians chapter
5, and the text you'll find in verses 15 and 16. See then that you walk circumspectly,
not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are
evil. In the chapter that we have read
together, the Apostle Paul is seeking to lay out the effects
of the changed heart. In the beginning of the epistle
he writes to them, explaining to them their state in which
they once were, but what they have become through the work
of the Holy Spirit on the heart. They have been brought to be
fellow citizens with the saints and the household of God. And
then as he progresses through the chapter, he comes to expound
what the consequences of that are. We know that those of us
who have been through the transformation of heart, once we have been born
again, that there is a difference. Our life, it is transformed. We have the Holy Spirit working
in us, enabling us to trust in the Word of God and to trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ and to hate sin. And we have been
renewed from the inside. We are no more what we were.
but we are becoming those who are becoming into the image of
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a pathway on the narrow
way that leads to life. And so he begins to explain to
them, these are the things that are expected to be seen in the
life of a person who has been changed. And he seeks to encourage
them and to persuade them to show greater evidences of those
manifestations of the Holy Spirit within their life. does not just,
as some believe, a one-time event and then everything just stays
the same. The Apostle presses them for a conscious act of transformation
as they walk along the narrow way that leads to life. Not of
their own strength, of course, but because they are indwelt
by the Spirit of God. They're enabled by the Spirit. to walk out a Christian life. In chapter four, in verse one,
he says, therefore, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech
you, I beg you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
ye are called. How are they to walk? With all
loneliness, and meekness with long-suffering or patience, forbearing
one another, being patient with one another in love, endeavouring
to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. And so
he writes to them and he says, I beg you, You who have experienced
the new birth, you who are walking in newness of life, you who have
been brought out of the darkness, you who have come from the broad
road that leads to destruction, through the narrow door which
is the Lord Jesus Christ, onto that narrow pathway, walking
to heaven, those of you who have been birthed into new life, I
beg you, Walk worthy of your calling. Walk worthy of the one
in which you are following after with all loneliness and meekness
and long-suffering, forbearing one another as Christ forbears
with each and every one of us. In verse 15 of the same chapter, he says,
verse 14 he says that we henceforth be no more children tossed to
and fro and carried with every wind of doctrine by the slight
of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive
but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ. We read, didn't we, of Christ
being the head of the church and every single member of the
church is individual believers in Christ and they are, as it
were, grafted into that body and become part of the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He says this is a great mystery
But I speak concerning Christ and his church, for we are members
of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. We become brought
into that spiritual body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And each member
of that body grows up into his likeness and into his image. As they walk through the Christian
pathway, as they press on the narrow way that leads to life,
there's to be a spiritual growth that causes them to grow up into
him, and in all things which is the
head, even Christ. And so that is who he's writing
to. You see an unbeliever cannot grow up into Christ. An unbeliever
cannot walk worthy of their calling unless that is their calling
which they are walking with in Satan. They cannot walk worthy
of Christ. They cannot produce fruit that
is honouring and glorifying unto God because they are still walking
in the darkness. They are outside of the covenant.
They are seen in their sin. And therefore it is impossible
for them to do anything worthy of the favour of God. We know
that those who are inside of Christ Jesus have been brought
into that family and are covered with his righteousness, are cleansed
from all of their sin by faith that has been given to them to
enable them to lay hold of the Lord Jesus Christ. They and they
alone are the ones who the Apostle is writing to. He knew that these
Ephesians were ones who had come under the conviction of sin and
the work of the Holy Spirit and therefore he writes to them that
they are to walk worthy of their calling. In chapter 5 he says, Be ye therefore
followers of God, dear children. and walk in love as Christ also
has loved us and has given himself for us an offering, a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savour. Walk in love as Christ has loved
us and given himself for us. And as he goes on, he encourages
them to continue on in that work, that pathway of fellowship and
love one to another. But in our text, he says, see
ye then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Because these are the people
of God whom he is writing to. He is telling them that they
are to walk out their Christian pathway. Often we see, don't
we, a lovely flowing brook. And when it's flowing, especially
in the mountains, it's crystal clear. It meanders or bubbles
over the stones and into pools and down little waterfalls and
such like. But when the rain stops and the
sun comes out and the flow stops, then those pools become green
and stagnant and warm, unable to bear life. And so it is when the Christian
stops walking, When he stands still, he becomes
stagnant and lukewarm and ineffective. Easily an easy prey to Satan. But Paul says, see that you walk
that you walk out day by day your Christian pathway, that
you don't become stagnant and lukewarm, but you are constantly
those people who are on the narrow way that leads to life, that
you are constantly those people who are in the way, on that highway,
that holy highway that leads on to heaven. And the word circumspectly,
an unusual word that we, I don't think we use very often, but
it means exactly or perfectly, that you walk perfectly, uprightly,
exactly, step by step, taking each step in a precise manner,
that you do not stumble or fall. if you've ever walked on a narrow
pathway, especially up mountains and such like, you take great
care as to where you put your feet. in case you slip and you
fall down. When the road is smooth and wide,
we have no problem. We walk without even thinking
about it. But when the pathway is narrow
and dangerous, we take care as to where we put our feet so that
we don't come to any harm. And it means a similar to that.
Or if we're walking on ice, we walk very carefully. We take
great care in where we place our feet so that we do not fall
through the ice. And the scripture tells us that
we are on a narrow way. We've gone through the narrow
door and we're on the narrow way that leads to life. It's
a narrow pathway. And it has to be trodden very
carefully, very precisely, very prayerfully. And every step that
we take and every decision that we make upon that pathway has
to be taken with very careful, prayerful consideration as to
which way we are going to go and how we are going to step.
And so he says, see that you walk your Christian pathway very
carefully and very cautiously, taking care how you step this
way and step that way in every aspect of your life, day by day
as you walk out of your Christian pathway, walk in a careful and
a precise manner, not as fools. We don't often say that word
foolish. We would see it as unkind. The
scripture says that there are people who are foolish. Foolish
people. In Psalm 53, it tells us there
that the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Corrupt
are they. They have done abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good. So the fool, a foolish person
is a person who has no understanding or no comprehension and rejects
the existence of God. We see that someone is acting
foolishly, they're acting in a way that is out of control
and maybe unnatural and uncontained. They're expressing themselves
in a graphic way. We say they're foolish, they're
jesting. In Proverbs 10, We are told there, Solomon tells
us in verse eight, the wise in heart
receive commandments, but the pratting fool shall fool. The word pratting is also a word
which we probably used when we were younger. But the real meaning
of the word is it is just foolish speaking and jesting. And so the wise in heart receive
the commandments, but the fool, the pratting fool, he shall fall. And we know that those who are
wise are those who fear God. The scripture tells us the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the fool has said
in his heart that there is no God. A fool does not receive
a commandment or instruction, but just acts in a an idiotic way, we could say. And so the Christian is to walk
circumspectly, not as a foolish person, without the knowledge
of God, without understanding, and without acknowledging the
commandments of God. They are not ignorant. but they have a knowledge of
God. But we are not to walk as fools,
but as wise. In verse four of the chapter
that we read together, it gives us really an illustration of what pratting
foolishness is. Neither filthiness, nor foolish
talking, nor jesting. Jesting is joking with a crude
element to it, which is not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. And so as the Christian walks
out his pathway, or her pathway, they're to walk with precise,
definite steps as to how they conduct themselves. Not only
their walk, not only their behaviour, not only their demeanour, but
also their conversation. There's a conversation of the
wicked and there's a conversation of the righteous. There's a way
of living of those in the darkness and there's a way of living of
those in the light. And they are to be different
and they are to be seen. And the Christian makes as much effort as possible under
the influence of the spirit to walk worthy of his calling, taking
steps to walk precisely and carefully, that he does not act in a foolish
and an ignorant way, but walks as someone who is wise and has
understanding. Jesus tells us about the wise
man. the wise man who built his house
upon the rock. Matthew chapter 7, verse 24. Therefore, whosoever hears the
sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man
which built his house upon a rock. For the rains descended, and
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon the house,
and it fell not, for it was founded upon the rock. And we read in
the Proverbs that the wise man hears the commandments. And here
Jesus says, the wise man hears my sayings and he does them.
He hears my sayings and he does them. He has the fear of God
within him. He has the spirit of God in him. His ears are open. His eyes of
faith are open. His heart is soft and tender
to the commandments of God. And he hears the sayings of Christ
and he obeys them. And he is like a man who has
built his house upon a rock. And we know that that rock is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the rock. He says, I am
the rock. And whosoever hears my sayings,
I would like he is a wise man. And so we're to walk not as fools,
ignorant and unlearned people, but as wise men and wise women
who have founded themselves upon the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and who walk worthy of their calling. And so it's like the
apostle gives us a contrast as to the two states of mind before
he brings us to consider the next text, which is redeeming
the time. See then that you walk circumspectly,
not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time. And so it's like he's
saying that there are two ways of which time can be dealt with. You can deal with time in a foolish
way, or you can chuck it away, waste it. As I thought of that,
I thought of the wise men and the foolish man. If we look,
they both labored. The wise man actually laboured
longer and dug down deeper and built his house upon the rock.
But the foolish man also laboured, but his house fell down. And
we can see then that he wasted his time. All the effort that
he went to in the parable, he wasted his time because it was
just washed away and was useless. But the wise man, he used his
time wisely. And he used his wisdom and he
dug down deep and he found the rock and upon the rock he then
built. But because he used his time
wisely, his house was strong. It may have took him longer,
but his house was stronger and it stood the test. And so there
are those two ways in which to use time in a foolish way. We
could say like the foolish man, he rushed it through, he built
his house and it all went to nothing. But the wise man, he
used his time wisely, used the wisdom that God had given to
him and he dug down deep. We could say that he tread, he
trod carefully every step and every process that he went through. It was a prayerful consideration
and thoughtfulness that went into every decision that he made
in order to get the right foundation to enable him to build right
up. And so there are those two foolishness
and there is that wise, redeeming the time. Now the word redeeming, it's like buying up. You know,
Christ has redeemed his people. He has brought them with his
own heart's blood. He has redeemed them from sin
and from slavery, and he has brought them into his family. They are now fellow heirs of
the kingdom of God with Christ Jesus, and he has brought them.
There was payment made. And so redeeming the time, it
is buying the time, it is seizing the time, grasping the time. I also found out something else
that was interesting. In the Greek language, there's
two words for time. It's just translated in our version,
in other Bible versions, as time, or a long time in the Swahili
language. They only have one word for any
small creature, and it just means rat, panya. And so if they see
a rat or a mouse or a shrew or any other small animal that scurries
around, it's just a rat to them. But for us, we were able to differentiate
between the type of small creature that it is. And it adds a depth
to our language. which the Swahili people don't
have. And the Greek people had a depth to their language which
we cannot grasp, because we just have one word for time. They
had two words. And one word was chronos, in
which we get the word chronological. There's a chronological order,
which means there's a length of time broken up, like the time
of the day, or the time of the year, But then they have another
word, which is charos. And this is the word that is
written here, redeeming the charos. Now, if you think of a long corridor, that is the chronos, like a long
corridor of time. But as you walk down that long
corridor, there is doors of opportunity along that corridor, and that
is the karos. And so the scripture is saying,
redeeming those times of opportunity, not necessarily every single
second of every single day, but allotted times in life, that
can be snatched away or snatched to ourselves. Stages in life,
and you think of those of us who have had children, and a
child's life is just a stage, and it's soon gone. Little Talitha,
remember when she was just small, and now she's getting bigger
and bigger and bigger, and soon she'll be 16. 20, God willing. And that moment
of her life will be gone, never to be got back again. And so
Paul is saying, the Spirit is saying, redeem these moments
of opportunity, buy them up and don't waste them. I've spoken
to lots of businessmen, And they said, if only I hadn't been so
focused on my business when my children were so young. I've
missed that opportunity to be with them. They're just growing
up now, and that time has passed away. If only I could go back. But you can't. That caros, that
moment, that has gone away. And Paul says, we're to look
for them. and to grasp them and bind them back and seize them
so that they don't pass us away and that we use them for the
honour and glory of God. Specific seasons in life. opportunities
that come our way, different times and different appointments
that our life or the Lord brings into our lives that come and
go. Sometimes we We may regret not
taking opportunity to speak to somebody. How often it is you
know that there's an opportunity there. It's like the Lord has
given us it. But we're afraid and the opportunity
passes by and we've lost it. We haven't redeemed it. We haven't
grasped it as ours and it's gone. And because it's time and because
it's a moment, it is gone and it's gone forever. Why then would
you say redeem time? Because time is very valuable. He says, redeem the time because
the days are evil. We live in a wicked day, an evil
day. But every generation has confessed
that their generation is evil. Ever since Adam and Eve fell,
the days are evil. And because the days are evil,
and because we're in a sphere or world of time that
is constantly moving on, and that our lifespan is short because
of the sin that we have committed against God, the wages of sin
is death, and therefore our time is very, very precious. It is valuable. And every moment
that we have, every second, every minute, every hour that we have
has been given to us by God. God, we know, is the author of
time. He's the one who created time. Although he himself lives outside
of it, The scripture tells us one day with God is as a thousand
years and a thousand years as one day. But we are stewards of the time
that God has given to us. And I heard something yesterday
that Jonathan Edwards said. He said, You imagine how much
somebody who is in hell would pay you for a moment of time. How much would they give you
just for a moment of your time that they could come out of hell?
And if they were able, obviously, to repent and turn to Christ,
how much would they give? And you think of someone who's
on their dying deathbed. They know that the moment is
near. How much would they give just
for another day? They understand that time is
valuable and that their life has hastened on quickly. And they're now at the end. And
they can look back, no doubt, and see wasted time. Another
thought on that, think of the NHS. how much the NHS spends
just to prolong people's lives. Although we're so thankful for
the wisdom that has been given and the amazing things that they
do, but you think on the money that is spent to enable people
to have a longer life. When I was in Kenya, people would
come to us and they would ask for thousands of pounds. just so that their loved one
who was dying would be able to have some operation just to prolong
their life for just a little bit longer. And they were willing
to put themselves in greater poverty just so that their loved
one may have an extended few months or a few years of life. Time is valuable. And yet often we just let it
waste away. It is easily wasted. And I think,
as I was thinking about that, Satan wants us to waste it. If you look at societies that
have prospered, and they do all they can to earn
money, so that they may relax. That's
the goal. Even in our land people are trying
to reduce the days of the week that they work so that they can
have more time for leisure and enjoyment and for relaxing. But with relaxation and with
leisure comes more sin. There's a worldly saying isn't
there, the devil makes work for idle thumbs. Think of David when he should
have been at war. We find him on the castle and
there he is with Bathsheba. Also I thought about Sodom and
Gomorrah in Ezekiel chapter 16. 48-49 tells us there about Sodom
and Gomorrah. As I live, saith the Lord God,
Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou
hast done thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity
of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and an abundance of
idleness. was in her and her daughters.
Neither did she strengthen her hand of the poor and the needy. And they were haughty, and they
committed abomination before me. Therefore, I took them away."
But look what it says there. An abundance of idleness. Idleness is just wasting time,
doing nothing. Recently, I heard of a new slang word that they're talking
about. I think they're Gen Zed, as they
call them, the youth of today. They have a new thing in which
they do. It's called bed rotting. And
it's where you just stay in bed all day. You don't do anything. Go to bed at night, wake up in
the morning, and you just stay there and lay there and do nothing. It's called bed rotting. This
was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, an abundance of idleness and
time wasting, not valuing the life that has been given, not
valuing the time that has been given and not valuing where that
time has come from and that life which we have, which ultimately
comes from God. And so time is valuable. Time
is easily wasted. Also, time is never, ever recovered. It is gone forever. When we arrived here, it was
7 o'clock. It will be never 7 o'clock
again today. It's gone forever. Every one of us has got maybe
an hour and 15 minutes older. We'll never be able to go back.
It's like we've taken a step, and that step that we've just
taken is plunged into eternity past, never to be recovered,
just a memory. And we must keep continually
going forwards. How many regrets do we have?
2023, it's gone forever. As we look
back over that year, how many moments did we not redeem? How many moments did we not clasp?
How many moments did we waste and not treat as valuable? How often is that we look back
and we want to, oh, if only I'd done this and if only I'd done
that. If only I could go back there and straighten those things
out. If only I hadn't said that and
done this, it would have all been okay. And often when we
look back at those times, it's because we have not walked circumspectly. We have not walked carefully
and prayerfully but we have acted rashly and out of emotion rather
than a diligent and a specific way of walking and dealing with
things. As we look forward, as the Apostle tells us we are
to heed the warnings that he has given that we are to walk
worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are to work out our own
salvation with fear and with trembling, redeeming the time,
walking circumspectly, not as foolish people, but as wise people
and as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who have been made
wise by the Holy Spirit. as to be a certain way in which
we live and in which we conduct ourselves. It might be that this
year none of us can guarantee that we're going to make tomorrow.
None of us can guarantee that we're going to make the end of
the year. But what we can guarantee is
those who are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as their only
hope of salvation have an ability to walk worthy of their calling
and to shine as a light in a dark world. And whether they make
it to the end of the year or not, it won't matter to them
because they will be redeemed to be with Christ, which is far,
far better. They will see him face to face,
and then they will see that all the struggle, all of the difficulty,
all of the fighting will be worth the while. But there is time well spent.
Today, now we have redeemed the time. We have sacrificed the
time that has been given to us and we have come and we have
sat under the word of God to worship our God and to fellowship
with the saints. We've redeemed the time, we've
used the time that God has given to us wisely. And in Ephesians 6 it tells us
about the armour of God. I know putting on this armour
takes time. Putting it on is using the time
wisely, praying with supplication in the spirit and putting on
the the helmet of truth, and the
breastplate of righteousness, and the feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you should
be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked, and the helmet
of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word
of God. And all of these are practical uses of time, putting
on and diving in deep to the Word of God, spending time in
prayer with God, communing with God, fellowshipping with God
and fellowshipping with the saints and taking those opportunities
that come our way and seeking that the Lord will grant us that
favour to be able to see those opportunities and to redeem them
and to use them wisely, especially those times when we're dealing
with children and loved ones that we know that this moment,
we will never ever have it again. It could be gone in an instant. Of course, time, the time that
we have is fragile. Very, very fragile. We do not
know, do we? Every heartbeat and every breath
can be our last. And then like our dear friend
Audrey, who has gone to be with the Lord, so shall we one day
follow her if the Lord Jesus Christ tarries. See then that you walk circumspectly,
not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are
evil. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. Our closing hymn for this service
is hymn number 120 from Hymns of Worship. Come ye sinners poor
and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands
to save you, full of pity, joined with power. He is able, he is
willing, doubt no more. Hymn number 120 from Hymns of
Worship, tune 691. He is able ? He is able, he is willing to
come home ? ? Come ye, ye come and welcome ? ? God's rebirth
to glorify ? ? True belief and true repentance ? ? Every grace
that brings us nigh ? ? Without money, without money ? ? Can't
tear Jesus Christ apart ? ? Let not conscience make you linger
? ? Lord of faith, let's humbly pray ? ? All the faith that's
here in choir ? ? Is to fill your need of help ? ? This day
gives you, this day gives you ? ? Tis the spirit riser ? ? Come ye weary, heavy laden ?
? Burst and broken by the fall ? ? If you tarry till you're
better ? ? You will never come at all ? ? Father righteous ? of
the righteous sinners Jesus came to call. Give him prostrate in
the garden, on the ground you'll make a place. Then on carpet, straight behold
him, ? Hear him cry before he dies ? ? It is finished, it is
finished ? ? Said the well of the sacrifice ? ? And now the incarnate God has
ascended ? Come on, live back to Holy, let
no other trust in truth. None but Jesus, none but Jesus,
can do helpless sinners good. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
Thee for the gift of eternal life through Thy Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and we thank Thee for the gift of Thy Holy Spirit,
and we pray that Thou enable us through this year to walk
circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Grant us, Lord,
the wisdom of the Lord, and now may the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship and
the communion of the Holy Spirit, who rest and abide with us each
now and for evermore. Amen.