August 17, 2026

Redeeming Our Time: Ephesians 5:15-17 (Sermon)

Mustaches are back in style. This picture was taken around 1880 of a young twenty-year-old named Charles. He was a famous cricket player who didn’t look too happy. I believe it was not because of his game; it was just what everyone did. (Once, I thought looking serious was going to be cool, so I didn’t smile for my Driver’s License, and it backfired. It made me look more like a felon than cool. But when this picture was taken in 1880, not smiling was the thing to do.) Charles was born on December 2, 1860, in Northamptonshire, England, to a wealthy merchant, Edward Studd, and his wife, Dorthy. Edward made his money in India. He used that wealth to send Charles to the prestigious school Eaton, then to Trinity College, Cambridge. Edward loved sports, and in his retirement he got into horse racing, built a track, and won many awards. Near the end of his life, he heard the good news about Jesus from D.L. Moody, and Edward responded in faith. This picture from a few years later captures a moment when his son dressed each day, did whatever work he had, played, ate, and slept. He lived a life of privilege. The world was his oyster. He had everything, much like us in the West. Yet, now his body rots. One day, our photos will be like his, a distant memory of a forgotten time, a footnote in history, with little context and memory. How many of you know the first names of your grandparents? I imagine most of us. How about your great-grandparents? Our lives pass like the seasons. How do we make our time here count? How do we steward our time?

EULOGY

Last year, I taught a speech class in a co-op for homeschool kids. I had the students write eulogies. One student, trying to be funny, wrote one for me. He did a nice job. What do we want to be remembered for when we are gone? What would we want people to say about us? Are we living in a way that puts us on the road to that end? That is something to consider that might help us redeem our days. Let’s live with the end in mind. Time is short.

VALUABLE ASSETS

I have come to realize that time is one of the most valuable assets that we have. When we are young and just starting, money can seem hard to come by. In youth, we feel immortal and invincible, but poor. Yet as we age, we realize that we can get more money, but we can’t get back time. How do we wisely use it? How do we live our best life?

New Series

These questions kickstart our second/third in our sermon series on stewardship. We Talked last week about our treasure/talents; this week we will talk about time. How do we steward time? How do we steward the time God has given? Stewards are managers. Our time, treasure, and even talents are on loan from God. They are God’s gifts, and they come with responsibility and accountability. Jesus said, “To whom much is given, of him much will be required” (Luke 12:48, ESV). That verse rolled around in my teenage head walking the hallways of my high school. What does God require of us? Let’s dig into God’s Word for some answers. Would you stand with me in honor of it? I want D. & S. P. to come up here and read a short passage, Ephesians 5:15 through 17.

BIBLE

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15–17, ESV).

PRAYER

Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, help us. We want to use our time well that you have given. Even now. I need you. We need you. Help your Word and ways work themselves into our souls, in Jesus’s name, amen. You may be seated.

CONTEXT

The passage that D. & S. P. read for us is from the letter to the Ephesians. The apostle Paul wrote it to encourage them. He was writing around AD 60. We know he had been in Ephesus in Acts 19 for over two years before this. Later, he got arrested in Jerusalem and sent to Rome, where he made time to write this letter.

QUESTION

In the passage we read, Paul mentioned how evil the days were. He could authoritatively say that because of his experience. Paul was in prison not because he had done anything wrong, but because of persecution. He knew the dark forces in the spiritual realm and wrote about them in Ephesians Chapter 6. And all people basically run opposite God’s ways, as he wrote in Ephesians Chapter 2. Hence, the days were and are evil. We need God’s help to walk in ways that travel upstream from culture. Our time is running out. We only have one life to live.

WHY?

I remember one of the first years Joe was a youth pastor here, going to a youth event at the Kalahari Waterpark in Ohio. I was chaperoning. On the way there, I got a call from a friend. A long-time member, his wife, daughter, and brother-in-law were killed in a head-on collision. It was a shock. We didn’t think they would lose their lives so quickly or brutally. They left behind a gaping hole in people’s hearts. Ironically, the father who died texted his adult children a verse for that day. It was Psalm 90, verse 12:

“So teach us to number our days

that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12a, ESV).

Throughout Scripture, God invites us to use our time wisely. Do we number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom? We have no guarantee we will live longer than today. Many have gone before us. If these walls could talk, they would bear witness to the lives who have passed. Many of you knew June, Evie, Sharon and Chad, Barb, Jackie, Walker, Gerry, Bob, Michelle, Sandy, Cliff, Ruth, Irene, Melissa, Landon, Henry, Marge, Neal, and many, many, many more.

GUESSING OUR LONGEVITY

Our days are numbered. We can confidently say we are closer today than we were yesterday. We can guess how long we will live by looking at our grandparents or parents, but that is not certain. We can ask AI. I did. It told me,

While my crystal ball is currently out for maintenance, I can’t give you an exact date! No one—AI or human—can predict an individual’s precise lifespan because human life is influenced by a complex blend of genetics, environment, lifestyle, and a bit of luck. (Gemini)

That is true. No one can predict a precise lifespan. But God can. God knows. And we have some idea of our longevity.

GENESIS LIMITS

For example, Genesis 6:3 states that human “days shall be 120 years.” That limit contrasts with people like Methuselah, who lived a record-breaking 969 years, and Noah, who lived 950 years in Genesis. Genesis Chapter 6 wasn’t a promise that we will live to 120. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob went well beyond that, but most people won’t come close to 120 years.

MODERN DAY RECORDS

This woman, Jeanne Calment, went past 120 years and holds the current record in modern history in the Guinness Book of World Records at 122 years and 164 days, dying on August 4th 1997. Ethel Caterham of England will be 117 years old next/last week and is currently the oldest living person. A few weeks ago we had a memorial service for June Johnson, who lived nearly 104 years of age right here in our midst. She was sharp, but had little to no hearing or vision when she passed. At her memorial service, Jeff Dryden shared how our bodies are like tents wearing out. Hers did. Ours will (unless Christ returns and takes us home to heaven).

OUR OWN LIFE SPAN

Look around the room. Likely 100 years from now we will all stand before God face to face to receive commendation or condemnation. Our time is short. How we use it matters. He will hold us accountable for every second.

PROBABILITY BASED ON PSALMS

Psalm 90: 10 states,

The years of our life are seventy,

or even by reason of strength eighty;

yet their span is but toil and trouble;

they are soon gone, and we fly away. (Psalm 90:10, ESV)

Statistically, most of us will live to seventy, some eighty, and a few of you are beyond it. For the young out there, that seems like forever. It isn’t.

NUMBERING DAYS

I remember going to a workshop and sitting next to pastor Tim Van Loh, and he shared a number like 10,145. He said that was his number. I asked what he meant. He told me that according to Psalm 90, he has eighty years to live at best. He subtracted that from his current age to get that number. He numbered his days. If he gets more, it is a bonus. He did that to keep perspective that he only has so much time before he meets his maker. Time is running out. We only have one life to live, and it will soon be over. How we use it matters.

MODERN SENTIMENTS

It reminds me of the movie Dead Poets Society with Robin Williams. He played a private school teacher who challenged his students to embrace the Latin phrase carpe diem, which means? Seize the day. Henry David Thoreau wrote something along those lines:

“I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life” (Walden).

(He was talking about the Greek Spartans; Michigan State would not open its doors until one year after he finished his book called Walden.) Williams and Thoreau didn’t share our theology, but they did want to use time well. How do we live our best life now? How do we steward the time God gives us?

ANSWERS WITH WORSHIPFUL STEWARDSHIP

We recently finished studying Romans as a church. I want to go back to Romans Chapter 12 for an answer, building off our Ephesians passage. It says,

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2, ESV)

IN DEATH WE FIND LIFE

If we want to make the most of life, we have to die. We have to resign ourselves to his will. We need to submit to him. Jesus taught us we have to take up the Roman death penalty and follow him to truly live. A properly ordered life puts the old self to death and embraces the new self God provides through his Holy Spirit. And the life God wants us to live is one of worship, not campy kumbyas, monkish chants, or ascetic isolation. God wants us to go to him, our King, to live for him and love him. If we love him, we will obey him. We can only obey him by knowing him, and we know him through his Word: the Bible.

WALKING CAREFULLY: IRONSIDES

In 1937, Harold Ironsides commented on this passage in Ephesians 5. He wrote,

Christian, your path leads you through a world of sin, a world of folly, a world where you are exposed to all kinds of temptations and unholy influences. Snares are traps abound for your unwary feet. [Mind you, this was 1937, well before we had computers in our pockets with apps that seek to steal our time. He went on.] Therefore, walk circumspectly, be careful where you put down your feet, be careful as to the company you keep. Be careful as to your behavior in any company, so that there be that which will bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. Walk not as fools, not as simple ones, not as those who are still in darkness, but walk as wise men-made wise by the wisdom of God. (p. 263)

WALKING CAREFULLY: BOICE

How do we walk wisely? We are careful how we spend our time. James Boice, another dead pastor, wrote,

“In my opinion, most Christians do not consider time as important as it really is” (p.185).

Let us not be like most Christians. Let us be careful how we invest our time. Time is valuable.

WALKING CAREFULLY: EDWARDS

And that fact hasn’t changed. Even in 1722, the 19-year-old Jonathan Edwards wrote a resolution about his time:

“Resolved, never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can.”

Such purposeful living may feel exhausting or impractical, yet you can be careful without being legalistic.

WALK IN FAITH

How? Walk by faith, not in ourselves or our efforts or our past or our progress or our politicians or our nation. Walk in faith in God’s ability to take our little lives and do what is truly the best.

MY TIME IS SHORT

According to Tim Van Loh’s numbering strategy, I have 11,451 days left. That seems like a lot. But God could cut that short:

I might get struck by lightning while walking from church to my car.
I might fall into a sinkhole on my way from my drive to my house.
I might feel a bit daring and eat an extra helping of iceberg lettuce, raspberries, snow peas, or jalapenos, hopefully not all at once, and get Cyclosporiasis.

HOW DO WE STEWARD OUR TIME?

We have no idea how long we have left to live. Our time is brief. How we use it matters. So how do we use it? Here are four practices to help us steward our time:

Remember: time is brief
Make plans and trust God
Study God’s Word
Do what it says

First, God says,

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13–15, ESV)

Our time is brief. Let us keep that in mind.

Second, let us make plans and trust God. Hold expectations, goals, and dreams loosely. We can say, “If the Lord wills” and move forward.

Proverbs 3:5 and 6 are the verses the Elders picked for us this year as a church. Those verses say,

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Let us trust God as we walk forward in faith using our time.

Third, let us study God’s Word. God speaks to us through the Bible. Paul wrote,

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17, ESV)

If we want to spend our time wisely, let us seek to know God and his Word.

Finally, knowing God’s Word, let’s obey it. We don’t want to be hypocrites or lazy. God says,

“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22, ESV).

HOW DO WE MOTIVATE OURSELVES

With a perfect recipe, how do we stay motivated when it is hard? How do we fight the temptation of doomscrolling? How do we not waste time? What do we do? Here are six things to help with our heart struggles:

Pray
Do the next right thing
Worship
Pursue health
Build spiritual friendship
Read biographies

Pray. Ask God for help. Admit your weakness and seek his grace.
Do the next right thing. Each day, we have many options for how to live. What is the next right thing we can do?
Worship. Spend time singing to God and praising him. It’s hard to go wrong with that.
Pursue health. This might seem worldly and out of place. Our bodies are a temple for the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:19). Our minds and souls are connected to our bodies. Part of our spiritual problem may be that, physically, we are running on empty or on garbage. For example, God wants us to rest our bodies. It is commanded. God made us so we can’t function without sleep. We have to spend part of the time he gives us doing nothing. That is his will and good stewardship.
Build spiritual friendship. God says,

“Iron sharpens iron,

and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17, ESV).

Find a mentor, coach, or spiritual friend who loves you enough to tell you the hard things and follow up.

Read biographies. Other people’s examples can inspire you. If you are not a reader, Pastor Mike and Brendon Scott just started a podcast sharing stories of God meeting people. Check it out. www.undonepod.com

BIOGRAPHICAL EXAMPLE: C.T. STUDD

Speaking of biographies, let’s circle back to Charles Studd. He was a stud in his day, not because of his world-famous cricket playing or wealth. He was a stud because, at his father’s urging, he listened to some gospel messages and gave his life to Jesus. Then, he did walk away from the Lord for a season. His father died. D.L. Moody came to town again, and C.T. rededicated his life to Christ in 1884. He had an inheritance coming to him the following year. Before he received it, he gave it to a new organization you may have heard of: the Salvation Army. He gave another part to an orphan director who never asked for money and lived by faith, George Mueller, and most of the rest to a missionary pioneering the gospel in China, Hudson Taylor. C.T. felt called to give up more than just his treasure but his promising sports talent and his time as well. He went to China for ten years to serve alongside Hudson Taylor. He spent a year in the United States raising more missionaries, seven years in India, and a couple more decades in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Congo basin, what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he passed away. C.T. reflected on the choices he made, saying, “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” He wanted to use his time to help people who don’t know Jesus know Jesus. Our time is short. It is running out. How do we use it?

C.T.’S POEM

He wrote a poem which repeats the third line every couplet. Let’s read the bold parts in unison. I will read the rest. It begins,

Two little lines I heard one day, Traveling along life’s busy way;

Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart;