Crisis

September 4, 2016       NOTES NOT EDITED

CRISIS

Ephesians 5:15-20

SIS:     The dangerous times in which we live present significant opportunities to witness to the lost about the love of God.

What time is it anyway? “Time.”  That’s a peculiar concept when you think about it.  You’ve heard people say,“If I only had more time.” How do you get more time?  Where would you keep it if you had?  If you had it could you keep it, or would you lose it anyway, as time passes.  

I read a short interview with a mother who had twelve children.  The interviewer was astonished that anyone in our time would have so many children.  The interviewer asked her, “How in the world do you find time to care for twelve children?”  Undaunted the mother replied, “When I had the first one it took all my time, so how could 11 more take any more time?”

That’s a good point–no matter how much time

something takes, it can never take more than time allows.

“Time,” a philosopher said is the “tooth that gnaws away

everything but is powerless against truth.”   (T. Huxley)

That is what God is trying to communicate in our text this morning: how to invest our lives wisely in the times that we are living in.   Let’s read that together:

(Eph 5:15-16)   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.

How can we as a church make the most of the opportunities

1.  The first step is to INVESTIGATE and gather accurate facts on the times in which we live.

What does an investigator do? Primarily, an investigator gathers facts about a case, and discover how to catch and evil villain, or solve a puzzling case.  Our text tells us,

“Be very careful . . . the days are evil.”

Criminal investigators are meticulous.  They gather even the slightest fiber or hair sample from a crime scene.  Many crimes are solved and evil men, or women, are taken off the street based upon evidence as small as a human hair.

Many times the Bible warns us to be careful.

(1 Pet 5:8)   Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

“Watch and pray” (Mat 26:41)

“Be on guard.”   (1Cor. 16:13)

Like skilled investigators combing a crime scene for evidence, we need to be skilled investigators, examining our world through the magnifying glass of God’s Word.

A Christian must be a student not only of God’s Word, but of God’s World.  We need to have our fingers on the pulse of the world so we can better diagnose how we might minister to their needs.  Our world is in a mess, and people cannot always tell us what they need because they really do not know.  The evil of our day has blinded man’s eyes to the truth and seared his conscience against the still small voice of God.  We must be careful investigators gathering enough evidence so that we can help those who are blinded and numbed by the evil spirit of the age.

A renowned philosopher once said, “Every man is a creature of the

age in which he lives; very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the times.”   (Voltaire)

That is true, we can either become captive to the times in which we live or conquerors.  We can either retreat from the evil about us, or redeem the time by using the darkness as a backdrop for the light of the gospel.  The blacker the day–the brighter the light!

But, in order to know where to shine our light,

we must understand the nature of the evil darkness around us.  We must know the best way to “make the most of every opportunity.”   We must know what works, and what doesn’t.  We must change our ways if we are going to effectively minister to our changing world.  The word translated, “carefully” can also mean “accurately.”  We must have a clear and accurate picture of the world and all its evil to minister effectively.

As a dear brother has said, “The Word determines our message

the world determines the when, where, and how we communicate it.”   (Rick Warren)

To “make the most of every opportunity” we must conscientiously and carefully investigate the world in which we live.

2.  Then, we must CONSOLIDATE our resources to  

“make the most of every opportunity.” (16)

I once read something that a man once said that seemed very sad to me.  This man had come to the end of his life and realized that he had “failed to make the most of the opportunities life had presented.”   He felt he had wasted years standing upon the pier of life waiting for his ship of fortune to come in.  He said with a note of regret, “I’ve spent my entire life waiting for my ship to come in, only to finally learn, I’ve been standing on the wrong pier.”

Every day, the “evil days” in which we live present tremendous opportunities for ministry—if we are in the “right place, at the right time, with the right mind.”   There is an old Chinese proverb that says, “Opportunity comes with a lock of hair on its forehead so we can grab it as we see it coming.  Once it passes it cannot be seized again.”  

The KJV teaches us that we must, “redeem the time.” The NIV translates that “making the most of every opportunity.”   This is a business term which means to “buy out,” or “take of the market.”   It also means, to “pay a ransom to get something back.”   They idea is that we must have the resources available to reclaim the souls that have been held captive by the devil.  

The marketplace was considered to be a place

where evil abounded in the Roman world.  It was in the marketplace that humans were auctioned off to the highest bidder, often to be mistreated, mutilated, and eventually killed and discarded.  God wants us to “redeem the time” by investing the resources he has given us for the purpose of setting captives free.

What resources has God given us to use as “ransom” for setting the captives free, and getting them out of the Devil’s marketplace? God has given us, first of all, Time.   Each day God places into our account 24 hrs.  That is 1,440 minutes, or roughly, 86,400 heartbeats, if my math is correct.  Out of necessity, a great deal of that time is given over to material pursuits.  As I mentioned in a previous message, “the majority of our time is spent in ways and places that are against the development of our Christian character.”   We must eat to live, and we must work to eat.  Very few people are so blessed as to work full time as a minister of the Gospel.  For most of you, if the bulk of your life is to matter for Christ, “you must redeem the time you spent in the marketplace earning a living.”

I am NOT suggesting that you use your employers time to distribute tracts or preach as sermon.  Perhaps there is a way in which, without detracting from your duties, you can share a word of truth or a testimony.  Perhaps, you can without detracting from your duties provide a lunch hour Bible study for fellow employees.

But, regardless of whether you can aggressively share the gospel in these ways or not, you can redeem the time allotted to your vocation by being the very best employee in the place.  I’m not talking just about being a hard worker.  I am talking about working in a fashion that is demonstrated by a man or woman who is walking in a love-relationship with Jesus.  This includes good work habits.  It also includes a positive attitude.  It also includes a loving concern for others.  It also includes honesty, sincerity, and servant mentality.

Even if you think you work for the Devil—give the Devil his due—and even more!  Throughlove and service event he Devil can be defeated.

Second, God gives us the resource of Talent.   Have you ever inventoried your god-given talents.  I’ve never met a person that wasn’t good as something—including non-believers.  Everyone has some talent.  Not long ago, one of the offering envelopes from the children’s department had an interesting note.  We used special “children’s envelopes” to help them learn to give to the Lord.  The children’s envelope has a line where the children can list their talents and God-given gifts.  On one that was handed to me was listed this talent: I can burb the A,B,C,s!  Well, God bless that little child.  If that child will surrender that resource to God—I know God could use it.  We all have talents that we can invest in God’s kingdom.  When we invest a talent into God’s work, we call it a “gift, a spiritual gift.”   Gifts are for giving.

Third, as we consolidate the resources God has provided for “buying back what the Devil has stolen” we must include our TREASURES.  

Many of you recall the old pop song, “Money Can’t Buy Love” by the Beetles.  That is absolutely true.  Money can’t buy you love, peace, joy, hope, health, or happiness.  In fact the Bible says that the “misuse of money” is so devastating that it can keep a person from having a saving relationship with Jesus:

(Mark 10:25)   It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

That’s how powerful money can be. But, money is just a tool.  We can use its power to do good or to do evil.  We can spend wisely, or we can spend foolishly.  As we consolidate our resources to “make the most of every opportunity,” we must surrender our treasures, as well as our time and talents.

The Bible describes these days in which we live as“evil days.”   We are commanded to “redeem these times” by consolidating all our resources: TIME, TALENT, AND TREASURES.

As I said before, the darkness of the days in which we live

present a unique opportunity for the church to break through the

darkness by shining the light of the gospel.

We must investigate the days in which we live, gathering all

the pertinent data.  We must consolidate our resources to “ransom”

that which the Devil now holds captive.

3.  Finally, we must EVALUATE our mission readiness (18)

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.

Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

HOW FULL IS YOUR CUP?  The emphasis in the lives of many Pentecostals is: how much of the Holy Spirit do I have.  This is an altogether erroneous understanding of the “baptism of the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit is God, and therefore, “indivisible.”  You are either immersed in the Spirit, or you are not.  The Bible says,

(Eph 1:13)   And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

The question of mission readiness to “make the most of every opportunity” is NOT a question of “how much of the Holy Spirit does one have, but how much of me does the Holy Spirit have.”

Many opportunities come our way which can be “redeemed” to bring great blessings to our lives and the lives of others.  We miss those opportunities if we are not sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s ministry of conviction, comfort, and teaching.

All the knowledge we accumulate, or all the resources we can consolidate will not suffice absent the filling of God’s Holy Spirit.  We cannot “redeem the time” without the resource of the Holy Spirit.  The Bible says eloquently in Zech 4:6,

"This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.

After 70 plus years in captivity God called the Israelites to return to the Holy City and rebuild the walls and the temple.  Zerubbabel was governor and overseer of the Temple reconstruction.  It is in the context of “doing God’s work” that the prophet Zechariah reminded God’s people: “you cannot do God’s work without God’s Spirit.”

When we turn that around we can say, “Filled with God’s spirit, I am ready for anything!”

The key to successfully “making the most of every

opportunity” is to EVALUATE our mission readiness.  Have we been filled with the Holy Spirit of God and are we “continually being filled with the Spirit of God.”  

God fills us with His Spirit through Bible Study, prayer fellowship with other believers, and yes, by witnessing to the lost.  

Many Christians are driving around on fumes—sadly, in need of a fill-up.  You must evaluate your mission readiness.  What does your “Spirit gage” indicate–full, or fumes?

These are opportune days for the church. The world is crying out for the light and love that the church of God has to offer.  People are searching.  Opportunities are everywhere.  We must be ready to meet those opportunities

There was an interesting sign in church parking lot.  The driveway was being worked on and a sign read: WARNING!  ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!  How true that sign was.  The work of God is risky business because the days in which we live are evil.  Our world is in a crisis–and with that crisis comes an opportunity if we

The Chinese language is pictorial.  Words are constructed by using symbols.  For example, the symbol for “good” combines the symbols for “man” and “woman.”  Likewise, the symbol for “Crisis,” combines the symbols for “danger” and “opportunity.”  A crisis, as we see in our world today is a “dangerous opportunity.”

Are we prepared to “make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil?”  We must INVESTIGATE, CONSOLIDATE, and EVALUATE—because the time is getting LATE.