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Mission 2025: Building Blocks of the Heart - 2. Time & Church
Shaun Rossi // Building Blocks of the Heart 2. Time & Church
Church is not another ball to juggle, but that which defines who you are and gives Christlike shape to the time you have been given.
“15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”
— Ephesians 5:15-16
Sermon OutlineI. The Particular Times
“10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
— Ephesians 3:10
“8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light”
— Ephesians 5:8
“20 And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the Lord.” And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. 21 And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.”
— Zechariah 14:20–21
II. The Preciousness of Time
““Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher.“Vanity of vanities! All [that is done without God’s guidance] is vanity [futile, meaningless—a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes, merely chasing the wind].””
— Ecclesiastes 1:2-4 (Amplified Bible)
“ Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.”
— Psalm 144:4
“14 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.”
— James 4:14
III. The Priorities of Time
“4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”
— John 17:4
“21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.”
— Mark 7:21-22
TAKE YOUR “TIME”
The word rendered time from our passage comes from the Greek “kairos” and may be better translated as “opportunity”. Kairos refers to a fixed and definite period of time during which something can be accomplished that cannot be accomplished after the time has passed. Kairos can be a moment or a season, but always refers to specific times in which opportunity is "ripe", so that when the time passes, so does the opportunity.
John Piper points out that the opportunity will never come again. He continues in his comments on Ephesians 5:17:
“These words ring with a sense of urgency. They are like the words of a platoon leader addressing his unit just before they enter combat. The air is tense and your heart is beating fast and, even if you love battle, your hands are sweaty. “Watch your step; be smart; don’t miss your opportunity; keep yourself lean for the battle!”… In other words, the Christian life is a vigilant life, defensively guarding itself from the subtleties of the evil days and offensively redeeming the time to strike for love and righteousness again and again. We are a vigilant people at war with unbelief and evil. O to be a faithful steward of the breath God has given me… Surely God means for our minutes on earth to count for something significant.”
Jonathan Edwards the great Puritan and pastor-theologian understood Paul’s charge to “make the best use of the time” and as a young man wrote in his journal:
“Resolved: Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can. Resolved: to live with all my might while I do live.”
”Time that is past you can never recall, Of time to come, you are not sure at all; Only the present is now in your power, Therefore, redeem and improve every hour.”
”Time that is past you can never recall, Of time to come, you are not sure at all; Only the present is now in your power, Therefore, redeem and improve every hour.”
make the best use of your time by serving your local church
One of the ways you can make the most of the time is to serve at your local church and to thereby join in on the front lines of its efforts to help to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, where should you serve?
A good place to start is by asking what are the activities that you enjoy doing? Things that give you energy? How has God gifted you? Find a ministry that will compliment these.
Do you like working with children? Join the Sunday school team!
Meeting new people? Join the Welcome team!
Working with technology? Join the sound and media teams!
However, serving in your local church is not always related to being gifted in that area. There are times when we just “step up” and help because there is a need. At home, we all pitch in some way, like throwing out the garbage or doing the dishes or laundry. Why? Because we are family. It’s no different at church with our church family. We want to help each other and share the load. The danger there is that if you serve in this way long-term you run the risk of burning out or growing bitter. Therefore, its important we have a regular flow of volunteers at UCC so that another may take a season of rest or move into serving in an area closer to their passion or gifting.
If UCC is your church home we want to invite you to the opportunity of “making the best use of the time” by serving. To do that you can speak to a pastor or team leader today after service, or simply sign-up to serve via the web forms below:
Serve in Espoo
Serve in Helsinki
1. In the sermon it was said:
“The prevailing view of life is that of an individual standing on his or her own, heroically juggling‘ various responsibilities: family, friendships, career, leisure, chores, decisions and money. We could also add social responsibilities like political activity, campaigning organisations, residents groups and school associations. Before you know it you have one too many ball in the air, you run out of time, and you are franticly trying to keep all those balls going…” We start to say “I am just too busy, busy, busy…” and sooner or later one, several, or all of those balls are going to drop. For Christians, sadly it is often not much different. Our relationship with Jesus Christ which began with prayers like, “Jesus take my whole life, take my time, its all for you” is reduced to just another ball we are trying to keep in the air. Sure we go to church but we juggle our responsibilities for church just as we juggle our responsibilities for work or leisure.”
Do you ever feel like this?
What kind of choices lead to the reduction Jesus as Lord of all your time to church invovlment being just another ball in the air?
2. Now, read the following quote from the sermon:
“What if I told you that its not suppose to be that way? What if Church is not another ball for me to juggle, but that which defines who I am and gives Christlike shape to my life. What if all your activities such as work, leisure, family, were not balls in the air competing for your time but more like spokes on a wheel, which went from a center which not me as an individual, but us as a members of the Christian community? What if church was not just another thing that takes your time, but that which defined all of your time.”
What strikes you from this statement? Discuss the difference between the ball in the air and spokes on a wheel images of Christianity?
Read Ephesians 5:15-16:
“15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”
1. In v 16 “making the best use of the time” is literally, “redeeming the time” in its original. Does “redeeming the time” imply that every Christian must devote every spare minute to serving the Lord? How do we determine the balance between leisure and service?
2. The word for “time” in v 16 is not the typical word for time on a clock, chronos, rather it is kairos, the word for opportune times. How can we learn to be alert for the opportunities that God brings our way? What opportunities has God brought your way recently?
3. The “days are evil” is a reference to the age we live in between the cross of Jesus and His second coming.
Sometimes this age is described as “the already and not yet”. Why do you think that is?
What tensions and opportunities exists specifically in our age?
Why is it important for every believer (not just theologians) to understand the big picture of God’s will for the ages?
4. In the sermon it was said:
“The book of Zechariah ends in14:20–21 with a vision of a day when even cooking pots will be inscribed “HOLY TO THE LORD”. That day is the coming of Jesus. The picture is in the time to come when we will understand that even cooking our porridge is time spend to the glory of God. So, why not even now let the ordinary be holy to God? We can even offer our washing up as a holy act, consecrated to God‘s glory.”
What difference would it make if HOLY TO THE LORD were written on your worktop, computer or car dashboard etc…to remind you to use your time today in light of eternity?
How does this passage encourage us in small or unnoticed acts of service that consume much of our time?
5. Jonathan Edwards (In his sermon “on the preciousness of time”) wrote that time is precious because it is scarce. Commenting on this in the sermon it was said: “The scarcity of something increases its value and preciousness. Time is precious because time is short, time is scarce, time is this little sliver and nobody knows how long it will last.”
Nobody likes to talk about the fact that our time on earth is scarce. Why is it not only necessary but good for your soul to do so as a Christian?
6. Jesus could claim that he had completed the work the Father had given him (John 17:4). Yet thousands had not been healed or had not heard the message of the kingdom. Clearly Jesus had a clear sense of his priorities! He knew what he could leave undone.
How do we determine our priorities?
What we can leave undone?
1. God has given us 24 hours in each day. He does not expect us to work 25 hours each day, yet many of use do!
What thinking or heart condition creates the pressure to do more than God expects you to do?
2. Do you feel led to repent for misusing the time God has graciously given you?
What steps will you take to redeem the time? List at least three ways. Try to answer from the heart. The point here is not just to get busy for Jesus! Rest, for example, may in fact be the best thing you can do to redeem the time for some.
Close in prayer.
Back to Bulletin
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By United Community ChurchShaun Rossi // Building Blocks of the Heart 2. Time & Church
Church is not another ball to juggle, but that which defines who you are and gives Christlike shape to the time you have been given.
“15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”
— Ephesians 5:15-16
Sermon OutlineI. The Particular Times
“10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
— Ephesians 3:10
“8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light”
— Ephesians 5:8
“20 And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the Lord.” And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. 21 And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.”
— Zechariah 14:20–21
II. The Preciousness of Time
““Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher.“Vanity of vanities! All [that is done without God’s guidance] is vanity [futile, meaningless—a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes, merely chasing the wind].””
— Ecclesiastes 1:2-4 (Amplified Bible)
“ Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.”
— Psalm 144:4
“14 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.”
— James 4:14
III. The Priorities of Time
“4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”
— John 17:4
“21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.”
— Mark 7:21-22
TAKE YOUR “TIME”
The word rendered time from our passage comes from the Greek “kairos” and may be better translated as “opportunity”. Kairos refers to a fixed and definite period of time during which something can be accomplished that cannot be accomplished after the time has passed. Kairos can be a moment or a season, but always refers to specific times in which opportunity is "ripe", so that when the time passes, so does the opportunity.
John Piper points out that the opportunity will never come again. He continues in his comments on Ephesians 5:17:
“These words ring with a sense of urgency. They are like the words of a platoon leader addressing his unit just before they enter combat. The air is tense and your heart is beating fast and, even if you love battle, your hands are sweaty. “Watch your step; be smart; don’t miss your opportunity; keep yourself lean for the battle!”… In other words, the Christian life is a vigilant life, defensively guarding itself from the subtleties of the evil days and offensively redeeming the time to strike for love and righteousness again and again. We are a vigilant people at war with unbelief and evil. O to be a faithful steward of the breath God has given me… Surely God means for our minutes on earth to count for something significant.”
Jonathan Edwards the great Puritan and pastor-theologian understood Paul’s charge to “make the best use of the time” and as a young man wrote in his journal:
“Resolved: Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can. Resolved: to live with all my might while I do live.”
”Time that is past you can never recall, Of time to come, you are not sure at all; Only the present is now in your power, Therefore, redeem and improve every hour.”
”Time that is past you can never recall, Of time to come, you are not sure at all; Only the present is now in your power, Therefore, redeem and improve every hour.”
make the best use of your time by serving your local church
One of the ways you can make the most of the time is to serve at your local church and to thereby join in on the front lines of its efforts to help to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, where should you serve?
A good place to start is by asking what are the activities that you enjoy doing? Things that give you energy? How has God gifted you? Find a ministry that will compliment these.
Do you like working with children? Join the Sunday school team!
Meeting new people? Join the Welcome team!
Working with technology? Join the sound and media teams!
However, serving in your local church is not always related to being gifted in that area. There are times when we just “step up” and help because there is a need. At home, we all pitch in some way, like throwing out the garbage or doing the dishes or laundry. Why? Because we are family. It’s no different at church with our church family. We want to help each other and share the load. The danger there is that if you serve in this way long-term you run the risk of burning out or growing bitter. Therefore, its important we have a regular flow of volunteers at UCC so that another may take a season of rest or move into serving in an area closer to their passion or gifting.
If UCC is your church home we want to invite you to the opportunity of “making the best use of the time” by serving. To do that you can speak to a pastor or team leader today after service, or simply sign-up to serve via the web forms below:
Serve in Espoo
Serve in Helsinki
1. In the sermon it was said:
“The prevailing view of life is that of an individual standing on his or her own, heroically juggling‘ various responsibilities: family, friendships, career, leisure, chores, decisions and money. We could also add social responsibilities like political activity, campaigning organisations, residents groups and school associations. Before you know it you have one too many ball in the air, you run out of time, and you are franticly trying to keep all those balls going…” We start to say “I am just too busy, busy, busy…” and sooner or later one, several, or all of those balls are going to drop. For Christians, sadly it is often not much different. Our relationship with Jesus Christ which began with prayers like, “Jesus take my whole life, take my time, its all for you” is reduced to just another ball we are trying to keep in the air. Sure we go to church but we juggle our responsibilities for church just as we juggle our responsibilities for work or leisure.”
Do you ever feel like this?
What kind of choices lead to the reduction Jesus as Lord of all your time to church invovlment being just another ball in the air?
2. Now, read the following quote from the sermon:
“What if I told you that its not suppose to be that way? What if Church is not another ball for me to juggle, but that which defines who I am and gives Christlike shape to my life. What if all your activities such as work, leisure, family, were not balls in the air competing for your time but more like spokes on a wheel, which went from a center which not me as an individual, but us as a members of the Christian community? What if church was not just another thing that takes your time, but that which defined all of your time.”
What strikes you from this statement? Discuss the difference between the ball in the air and spokes on a wheel images of Christianity?
Read Ephesians 5:15-16:
“15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”
1. In v 16 “making the best use of the time” is literally, “redeeming the time” in its original. Does “redeeming the time” imply that every Christian must devote every spare minute to serving the Lord? How do we determine the balance between leisure and service?
2. The word for “time” in v 16 is not the typical word for time on a clock, chronos, rather it is kairos, the word for opportune times. How can we learn to be alert for the opportunities that God brings our way? What opportunities has God brought your way recently?
3. The “days are evil” is a reference to the age we live in between the cross of Jesus and His second coming.
Sometimes this age is described as “the already and not yet”. Why do you think that is?
What tensions and opportunities exists specifically in our age?
Why is it important for every believer (not just theologians) to understand the big picture of God’s will for the ages?
4. In the sermon it was said:
“The book of Zechariah ends in14:20–21 with a vision of a day when even cooking pots will be inscribed “HOLY TO THE LORD”. That day is the coming of Jesus. The picture is in the time to come when we will understand that even cooking our porridge is time spend to the glory of God. So, why not even now let the ordinary be holy to God? We can even offer our washing up as a holy act, consecrated to God‘s glory.”
What difference would it make if HOLY TO THE LORD were written on your worktop, computer or car dashboard etc…to remind you to use your time today in light of eternity?
How does this passage encourage us in small or unnoticed acts of service that consume much of our time?
5. Jonathan Edwards (In his sermon “on the preciousness of time”) wrote that time is precious because it is scarce. Commenting on this in the sermon it was said: “The scarcity of something increases its value and preciousness. Time is precious because time is short, time is scarce, time is this little sliver and nobody knows how long it will last.”
Nobody likes to talk about the fact that our time on earth is scarce. Why is it not only necessary but good for your soul to do so as a Christian?
6. Jesus could claim that he had completed the work the Father had given him (John 17:4). Yet thousands had not been healed or had not heard the message of the kingdom. Clearly Jesus had a clear sense of his priorities! He knew what he could leave undone.
How do we determine our priorities?
What we can leave undone?
1. God has given us 24 hours in each day. He does not expect us to work 25 hours each day, yet many of use do!
What thinking or heart condition creates the pressure to do more than God expects you to do?
2. Do you feel led to repent for misusing the time God has graciously given you?
What steps will you take to redeem the time? List at least three ways. Try to answer from the heart. The point here is not just to get busy for Jesus! Rest, for example, may in fact be the best thing you can do to redeem the time for some.
Close in prayer.
Back to Bulletin