Hands of Time

One of the things that were really new to me when we moved to Canada, aside from the 4-Way Stop was the adjustment of time – Spring Forward or Fall Back. We don’t have that in the Philippines, well mainly because we don’t have spring nor fall seasons there. 

 I would like to discuss something very relevant to everyone - TIME. There’s a study that says one of the most frequently asked question in the world is:  What Time Is It? Another  study shows that an average user looks at their cell phone about 150 times per day,  20 out of these 150 times is to check the time.  We hear all these kinds of expression… be on time, just in time, nick of time, Filipino time, please give me time, etc.   Time is probably one of the most relevant things that can happen to everyone.  We measure almost everything through time… our age, our length of employment, our marriage anniversary, our mortgage… even prisoners… we refer to them as “serving time,”  Even this article will be sort of be measured using time… will I take a long time reading this? Will I waste your time? Rick Warren says in his book Purpose Driven Life that the word LOVE is defined as T.I.M.E. We often hear people saying “if I can just turn back the hands of time.”  

Please read Ephesians 5:15-20. 

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,

¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,

¹⁹ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,

²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

BACKGROUND:

Paul wrote the letter to the Christians in Ephesus (1:1)

He clearly identified himself as the author in Chapter 1 verse 1 and he also identified his audience, the letter is addressed to the Christians in Ephesus.

The letter is among the four prison epistles of Paul.

I use the acronym PEPC to remember these four epistles that Paul wrote while he was in prison, Philippians-Ephesians-Philemon-Colossians.

 The Christians in Ephesus were mostly Gentiles.

This is the reason why the letter to the Ephesians is very relevant even for us today because we all came from different background.  

When we became Christians, we brought with us years of pagan beliefs and practices, traditions and norms that are not necessarily biblical.  It’s the same thing with those former Gentiles in Ephesus, so:

Paul had to constantly remind the Ephesians on how they should live their lives now that they are already Christians.

REALITIES ABOUT TIME:

Paul is also reminding us on how we should live our lives.  Like what I said earlier, it’s New Year.  It’s time to make resolutions. .  It’s time to once again look back as to how we lived our lives in 2014 and hopefully, by the grace of the Lord, do better in 2015. 

A lot times, when we talk about TIME… we talk about turning back the hands of time – it’s often times associated with regret.  Oh, if I only have done this… or have done that… oh I could have done things differently if only I could turn back the hands of time.  Oh, if only I have more time, I could have done this, or I could have done that. 

Let us look at Three Realities about time:

1.  Our time here on Earth is limited

They say TIME is the great equalizer.  Every person, young or old, rich or poor, girl or boy, we all have 24 hours each day, 7 days each week.  God has apportioned time EQUALLY to each person. 

2.  We should make the most of our time.

So the issue is not whether or not we could turn back the hands of time because we certainly cannot. The issue is not whether we can have more than 24 hours a day so we can accomplish more because we certainly cannot.  The issue is what we are going to do with the time that God has given us.  Paul said we should make the most of our time.

3.  God transcends time.

The 3^rd reality about time is that God transcends time.  We may have limited time.  We may not be able to turn back the hands of time but we have a God who is above and beyond time itself. But we’re going to talk about this later.

LESSON POINTS:

Paul gives us some lesson points as to how we can make the most of our time.  He said we can make the most of our time by:

1. Living wisely by making the most of every opportunity (verse 15-16)

Paul said we should be careful because the days are evil.  There are so many things in this world that are time-snatchers or time-stealers.  It takes away our precious time from us… from doing something important.  The book called “The Tyranny of the Urgent”  talks about how we can easily get caught to the myriad of things and we just simply lost tract of time.  

Before we know it, our kids are grown-ups and they are already moving out from our place and we say… I should have spent more time with my children.   Before we know it, our parents are very old or some of them have passed away and we say… I should have spent time with my parents.  Why didn’t I listen to my parents? Or why did I answer him in a disrespectful manner?  Why didn’t I pay attention to their advice?   Paul said live wisely -- this is living wisely in a Godly way.    He said if there is an opportunity, grab it -- opportunity to be wise because if you don’t grab that opportunity, this evil world will take it away.  How many times we feel regretful because we missed an opportunity to do good to somebody?  Somebody called us, asking for help but we turned our backs.   Then afterwards, we feel guilty or we regret our decisions.  If only I could turn back the hands of time. 

2. Understanding the Lord's will (verse 17)

Understanding God’s will have always been a challenge for many Christians.  Many times I came across this question from a church member…how do I know God’s will?  Well, the simple answer there is… before you know God’s will; you have to know God’s words, right?  How will you know God’s will if you don’t even listen to what He says? He communicates to us mainly through His words.  

Psalm 119:105 says “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”   Not knowing God’s words is like walking in the darkness with no light at all.   It’s like driving while texting – it’s just a matter of time that you’ll meet an accident.   Statistics say that when you’re texting while driving, it takes an average of 5 seconds that you’re eyes are not on the road and you’re mind is not focused on driving.  That’s equivalent to driving across a football field at 55 miles per hour completely blind.

3. Being filled with the Spirit (v19)

This is something very important.  We know that each believer, the moment he truly accepted the Lord Jesus Christ in His life, has been indwelt by the Holy Spirit ever since.  We actually receive Christ in our lives through the Holy Spirit.  This is the reason why the Bible calls each believer as a temple of the Holy Spirit.  But being indwelt by the Holy Spirit is not the same as being filled. If you notice in verse 18, Paul is giving us a command.  He says “be filled with the Spirit.”  So we may be a Christian, we may be indwelt by the Holy Spirit but that does not mean we are “filled” with the Spirit.   Those are two different things.  Paul said we make the most of our time by being filled with the Spirit.

Paul gave some examples on how to be filled by the Spirit.

·       Not giving in to debauchery

·       Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, Spiritual songs

·       Giving thanks to God in everything

Here we learn that drinking wine per se is not bad.  Being drunk is bad because the tendency is you lose control of yourself.   How many car accidents have been caused by drinking?  How many marriages were destroyed by drinking?  How many girls have been raped because of drinking?  How many jobs have been lost because of drinking?   Statistics say that almost 50% of crimes committed in this century are alcohol-related. The Bible says do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery.  What do you mean by debauchery?  It’s a strong word.  Dictionary defines it as  “extreme indulgence in sensuality;  bad or immoral behavior that involves sex, drugs, alcohol, etc.., extreme partying…getting wild when drunk”  that’s debauchery.  So be careful when you attend parties that you might lose control of yourself. 

Paul also mentioned that we can be filled with the Spirit if we speak to one another with psalms, with hymns, and songs from the Spirit.  If we keep on singing and making music in our heart to the Lord…then we can be filled with the Spirit.  It says here, singing and making music in our hearts to the Lord. so it’s not just any song.  It should be “to the Lord.”  So if you are singing “another one bites the dust” or “I came in like a wrecking ball” … you’re not being filled by the Holy Spirit there but the spirit of Miley Cirus. 

We are filled by the Spirit if we keep on giving thanks to God the Father for EVERYTHING!  If we have an attitude of gratitude, if we are always thankful to God for everything, even the little things… we are filled with the Spirit.

CONCLUSION:

Since we cannot control time, we cannot have more of it, we cannot turn back the hands of time because we are simply subject to it. We live in a physical world and our time is limited.  However, God dwells in a different dimension—the spirit realm—beyond the perception of our physical senses. It’s not that God isn’t real; it’s a matter of His not being limited by the physical laws and dimensions that He himself created.

God created us within the confines of time and space and there is nothing we can do about it except to make the most of time.  We are humans and we are limited in terms of our relationship with time.  Therefore:

We should shift our focus from ourselves (with limited time) to God who transcends time.  

Our God created time and space and He is above or beyond time itself. The Lord does not count time as we do. He is above and outside of the sphere of time. God sees all of eternity’s past and eternity’s future. The time that passes on earth is of no consequence from God’s timeless perspective.

To put it simply, time is just duration. Our clocks mark change or, more precisely, our timepieces are benchmarks of change that indicate the passage of time. We could say, then, that time is a necessary precondition for change and change is a sufficient condition to establish the passage of time. In other words, whenever there’s change of any kind we know that time has passed. We see this as we go through life, as we age. And we cannot recover the minutes that have passed by.  The Bible says in Psalm 90:10

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures;

yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, (Psalm 90:10)

God transcends time.  He is eternal.   But the real comfort is in knowing that He has time for us.

 As believers, we are comforted knowing that God is timeless and eternal and He has time for us right now.  He is not beyond our reach.  He is right here at this moment with us.   And because He’s at this moment, He can respond to our needs and prayers.

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.  (Psalm 90:12)

Let me share with a story I came across in the internet lately:

A corporate executive, on holiday in a small, Greek sea-coast village, was strolling by the riverside and he complimented one fisherman about  his catch for the day.   “How long did it take you to get all those fish?” he asked.

 “Not very long,” answered the Greek fisherman. “An hour or two.”

“Then why didn’t you stay out longer to catch more?”

Shrugging, the Greek explained that his catch was sufficient to meet his needs and his family’s.

The executive asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

Me?  Oh well I sleep longer, play with my children, watch movies with my wife. In the evening, we go on a date to the village, sometimes we see our friends, eat souvlaki, dance a little, play the bouzouki, and sing songs. I live a full life.”

The executive said, “Well, you know I have an MBA from Harvard and I’m sure I can give you some advice.   You should start by fishing longer hours every day. Then, you’ll catch extra fish that you can sell. With the additional revenue, you can buy a bigger boat. With a bigger boat, you’ll catch more fish, then buy a 2^nd boat and a 3^rd one, and so on, until you have an entire fleet.  Instead of selling your fish to middlemen, you can go directly to the big players. You can ship your fish to markets around the world and maybe even open a chain of seafood restaurant.

“How long would that take?” asked the Greek fisherman.

“Well, based on studies conducted by Harvard, maybe twenty to twenty-five years,” replied the executive.

“And after that?”

“When your business gets really big, you can sell stock and make millions!” exclaimed the executive with zeal. “Millions? Really? And after that?”

“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a small Greek village near the coast, sleep longer, play with your grandchildren, watch movies with your wife, and spend your evenings singing, dancing, and playing the bouzouki with your friends.”

PRAYER

Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life.  Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:

Father God, I confess all my sins to you today.  Please forgive me.  Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ.  I accept Him in my life as my Savior and as my Lord.  May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be.  In Jesus Name, I pray.  Amen.

(The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCF Richmond on January 4, 2015)

(I apologize if there are grammatical and spelling errors.  If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website for more information at www.wordchristianfellowship.com)