How to Redeem the Time With Love

There are roughly 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Each one contains about 100 billion stars. Our own galaxy — the Milky Way — is just one of them. And our sun is just one of a hundred billion stars inside our galaxy.

Our sun is moving at about 13 miles per second around the Milky Way galaxy. That's really fast. But, the galaxy is so big, it takes 250 million years for the sun to complete one orbit. In the entire history of the human race, we've traveled about 1/10th of 1% of that orbit. That’s really small. Compared to the galaxy. 

That is how big the universe is. And that is how big God is.

And here's what’s amazing to me — that same God is not far away, somewhere in the stars. He is not far away and not-involved. He is actually… inside you. That is what I’d like to talk about.

If you have a bible, please turn to Psalms Chapter 8.

I’d like to talk about 3 things: 

First — how big God is, and what it means that He is mindful of you.

Second — the time we are living in right now, and why it is the greatest time in history.

Third — what we are asked to do with what we have been given.

Let's learn how to redeem your time with love. But first, David.

HOW BIG IS GOD?

Now, David. Before he became a king, he was a shepherd boy. Spent his nights out in the fields with his sheep, under those same stars. No telescope. Just him and the sky. And here's what David wrote in Psalm 8:3-4 AMPC: When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained and established, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [an earthborn] man that You care for him?

Child of earthborn man. That's us. And God cares for us (1 Peter 5:7; Romans 8:38-39; Ephesians 2:4-5; Jeremiah 29:11). David looks at the entire expanse of creation — billions of stars — and his jaw just drops that God is even thinking about people. Let alone caring for them. Mindful of him. Turn to Colossians 1. 

Here's what David didn't know back then… that we get to know now. It's not that God is mindful of us… like from a distance… from the stars in the universe. Huh-uh. Paul tells us in Colossians 1:27: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Christ in you. Not Christ near you. Not Christ watching over you. Christ in you! David would have been shocked by that. He wouldn’t have even been able understood it. But for us... that’s the life we are living in… right now. It’s God in Christ in us. (John 14:20; 2 Corinthians 5:19; John 14:10; John 14:11; John 10:38; Colossians 2:9; John 10:38; John 17:21; John 14:20; John 17:23; Colossians 1:27; Galatians 2:20; Romans 8:10; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Ephesians 3:17; 1 John 4:12; 1 John 4:15; 1 John 4:16). 

Turn to Ecclesiastes 3. 

THE SEASON WE'RE IN

About 3,000 years ago, Solomon (king of all Israel, wealthiest and wisest man who ever lived, ruler from the Euphrates River to Egypt, with 700 wives and 300 concubines) wrote one of the most famous passages in all of scripture. And he ended it with a question – THE question. And here it is: Ecclesiastes 3:1: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. (2) A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. (3) A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up. (4) A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. (5) A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. (6) A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. (7) A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. (8) A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. 

And then after all of that, he asks in verse 9: What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

What is the point? He asks. What does any of this amount to? What are we to do in this time that we have? Solomon was asking the right questions. He just didn't have the answer yet. But we do.

Let’s fast forward to Apostle Paul. In Galatians 4. Here, Paul writes to born-again believers and in Galatians 4:4: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, so that we might receive the adoption of sons.

The fullness of time (in verse 4). God waited for exactly the right moment in history, and then He acted. Sent his son. Jesus died. He rose. And everything changed… in that moment. Born-again believers in the Grace Administration are now living on the other side of that moment in time. We received the “adoption of sons.” We have holy spirit inside us. We have Christ in us. And therefore, we are now sons and daughters of God. God adopted us. Into His family. 

Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:20 (I’ll read it) what that actually means to us: Now unto him [God] that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

God in Christ in us “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” That power is working in us right now. That’s what’s written right there. God in Christ. In you. In me. This is the “season” that King Solomon was asking about. This is what he (and everyone back then) didn't have. And we now have it.

REDEEMING THE TIME

Let’s look at Ephesians 5. Here, Paul writes in Ephesians 5 (15) See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. (16) Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

So Paul writes to born-again believers — and he says something important. The word is "redeeming." A little research in the Greek, the word is exagorazō. It comes from the word for marketplace — the agora. Think of a busy market square. Goods laid out on the tables. A buyer walks through and spots something valuable. He doesn't browse around. He doesn't come back tomorrow. He buys it up right then and there — because if he waits, it'll be gone.

Redeem the time. That's the picture. Seize it. Buy it up. Don't let it slip past you. Do it now. Now’s the time. Make the most of it. 

Read Ephesians 5:15-16 with that picture in mind: See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

The Amplified Bible says: ...making the very most of your time [on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence], because the days are [filled with] evil.

Making the very most of your time. Recognizing every opportunity. That is the instruction from the Bible. Not because time is running out — but because you have something powerful inside you… and every single moment… is an opportunity… to act on it.

Paul says it again in Colossians 4:5: Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

Paul says it in Ephesians and again in Colossians. You have Christ in you, you have power that works in you exceeding abundantly — now walk wisely and make the most of every moment you have been given.

WHAT ARE WE REDEEMING TIME FOR?

So what does walking wisely look like? How do we “redeem” and make the most of our time? It is written. Please turn to Mark 12. 

Jesus gave the clearest answer to those questions. Someone asked him once… what’s the greatest commandment?. And in Mark 12, this is Jesus speaking to Israel under the law — that's the context. 

Mark 12:28-31: And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

So that’s Jesus to Israel. Now, turn to Romans 13. Here's Paul… writing to us. Romans 13:8 says, “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. (9) For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (10) Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 

Galatians 5:14 says, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Love. That is what we are redeeming time for. The only thing you owe anybody is love. That's what our time is for. Do it now. Now’s the time. Make the most of your time. 

And Romans 12:2 tells us how it works: And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

You renew your mind to what God says is true about you — that you have Christ in you, that his power is working in you right now — and love flows out of that. 

Turn to 1 John 4. Our last verse. 

1 John 4:7-8: Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not… knoweth not God; for God is love.

God is love. And you have God in you. Which means.. love is in you. Redeeming the time is not about trying harder — it is about walking in (or acting on) what you already have. Remember, it’s important to remember: who you are, what you have, and what you can do with it. 

HERE'S WHAT WE COVERED 

God made a universe so big it takes your breath away. And that same God is inside you right now. David was amazed that God was even mindful of man. But we get something better — Christ in us. Solomon asked… what was the whole point of it all. We have the answer: the fullness of time has come, we are sons and daughters of God, and we have power working in us… exceeding abundantly above anything we could ask or think.

So we redeem the time. Seize every opportunity. Not because time is running out — but because what you have is too good to waste. You walk in love. You walk in wisdom. That’s the time that we live in. Right now. And that’s what you have.

Pick one person — your friend, your spouse, your neighbor, your coworker — and make one intentional act of love toward them. Not because you have to. But because you have God in Christ in you. 

Amen? Any questions?