Redeeming the Time – Part 2

These next two things are means of doing that.

Okay?

So, redeem the time for knowing Christ.

You know, college students, a lot of you are just now figuring out what a lot of you believe.

Was this what my parents taught me?

Is this what I believe?

It's a great time to grow.

So, redeem that kairos to really know Christ.

But number two, redeem the time for growing in relationship with God's people.

In other words, the church.

The covenant fellowship of believers.

The Bible has some really great metaphors for the church.

It's called a body.

In 1 Corinthians 12.

So, to be a part of a body means to belong to a living, functioning, you know, community.

A flock, which can sound degrading because you don't ever want to be compared to a sheep.

But, belonging to a flock means belonging to a community dependent on Christ for food and protection and direction.

A temple, Ephesians 2.

To be a stone in His temple means to belong to a worshiping community.

And then a household, a family.

That's 1 Timothy 3.15.

Like we have a common fatherhood.

And we will be together for eternity.

So, this is a rehearsal for what is to come.

So, understand.

I don't think most of us in here would be guilty of this.

Maybe at some point in our lives we were.

But there's a lot of people who say, yeah, I love Christ.

I'm all about Jesus.

But I can't stand the church.

You've heard people say that before.

Me and Jesus.

That's like all I need.

The last place, I think.

Yeah, no.

Just kidding.

Just write it down or log it away in your head.

I had to preach on it yesterday at this wedding.

Ephesians 5.

It talks about the love that Christ has for His church.

And it gives us an example.

It says, husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.

So, then it goes down in verse 29.

Christ loves His church.

He nourishes and cherishes His church.

Because we are members of His body.

So, you can observe that.

Christ loves His church and died for it.

He cares for the purity of His church.

And He is one with His church.

So much so that if you attack the church, you're attacking Christ.

Any good done to the church is a good done to Christ.

So, the church, in one of those images, is called the Bride of Christ.

So, how many of you husbands would get it on if someone called your wife ugly and deplorable?

Jesus could take some people to the cleaners if He wanted to.

Don't insult His bride.

If you love Christ, then you will love what Christ loves.

Christ loves His church.

With all its problems, He loves His church.

And He died for the sake of His bride, the church.

And so, we are to redeem the time by growing in relationship with God's people.

Amazingly, for some reason, God has determined that so much of what we need as believers comes through.

This is just His design.

It comes through the fellowship of the body.

We need our brothers and sisters.

There are rich deposits of Christ in every single believer.

That's 2 Corinthians 4-7.

The treasure of treasures is hidden inside the believer.

Christ takes up residence inside the believer.

And if that's true, there are things that we can learn about God and know Him by,

by getting to know the body of Christ better.

By getting to know and understand our brothers and sisters better.

And God has designed for us not to face all the crud and trials of this world alone.

But to be there for one another.

To help each other along as we go.

But we've been saved.

We belong to the body.

We belong to Jesus.

Jesus suffered and died, it says in the Scripture.

The church of God.

That He had pained with His own blood.

He died for His wife, the church.

And so, I pray that as time goes by, we are known here, first and foremost, we are known.

I won't mess with other churches.

I'm just going to really talk about ours.

Like, I hope we are known as a people who love God, who worship Him with fear and reverence and joy,

in spirit and in truth.

So, what are one of the first things people talk about when they're asked about their church?

What pops out of their mouth?

Will it be something other than Christ?

What is the gathering component of a local church?

That's a good litmus test.

Why do certain churches gather and why does ours gather?

And often you'll see an age demographic.

We like being with old people, so we're with old people.

We like being with young people, so we're with a bunch of young people.

It could be affinity-driven.

There's a bunch of singles at this church.

There's a bunch of married people at this church.

But more than likely, it's program-driven.

This church has a great children's ministry.

This church has a great youth ministry.

This church has incredible music.

And that's what people talk about, right?

When you ask them about their church,

Oh, we just love our music.

We just love our worship service.

We have both a traditional and a contemporary service,

so we can fit everybody in.

And that just feeds the consumer mindset the opposite of what Christ would have us do,

which is to unite around Him, right?

I heard on a local Christian radio station several years ago,

and it's not a bad station.

I won't hate on it.

It's not a bad station at all.

But for 20 minutes, I had people call in and explain,

answer the question,

How do you do church?

But that whole time, no one said,

What does Jesus say about the church?

Isn't He the head of the church?

Didn't He die for the church?

That was the whole point.

And a lot of well-meaning people just sort of missed that.

So what is our church going to be known for?

We do a lot of good things here.

We're about a lot of good things.

So these aren't bad things when I say this,

but we don't want to be known as the homeschool church.

We plan on homeschooling our kids, Lord willing.

So you know I'm not hating on that,

but we don't want to be known for that.

We don't want to be known as a church

that each family has to have X number of kids.

We don't want to be known for that either.

We do want to be known for the fact that we love children.

But is Christ the gathering component of our church,

or does it become something else?

Here's how you know.

If that one component is removed,

sometimes that church falls apart.

There's nothing else there.

If it's a pastor personality or a certain style of music,

it just vanishes.

When that is gone, that church falls apart.

And that happens with a lot of megachurches out there,

with a cool pastor.

When he's gone, like, no one knows what to do

because they haven't been functioning.

But I pray that our church is known for its love for Christ

and love for one another

and not allow good things to become the main thing.

So the Scripture teaches us that we have unity already in Christ.

We don't have to create unity.

We don't have to make it up out of thin air

and unify over some, you know, worldly thing

like this ministry or that program or this style of music.

We are united in Christ.

And so we need each other in discipleship.

We need each other for accountability and discipline,

encouragement and prayer and leadership.

I could go on and on.

So that's why this is really more of a bigger thing,

but you'll just have to maybe talk to me later

if you can handle any more.

But we're all gifted, too.

When you are saved, you are given gifts by the Holy Spirit.

We just read that, which is so cool.

You are given gifts.

And just because you can't stand up here and do something,

it doesn't matter.

There are tons of ways that you can serve the body

that are special and that have eternal value.

So, quick word to students, you know,

campus ministries are amazing.

I was a part of one, campus outreach,

for a little over three years.

Loved it.

It's not in North Georgia anymore, unfortunately.

But understand, as cool as campus ministries are,

they don't replace the church.

They just don't.

And a good one, in fact, will point you to the church.

They'll say, we're just here to kind of help serve the body.

And we see sort of a movement in that now,

which I'm thankful for.

So just to kind of remember,

just come and be a part of a fellowship.

We hope it's here, but it's not.

There's some other healthy churches out there.

And then lastly,

whew, man, maybe a few more minutes here.

That water looks really good to me right now.

But lastly, number three,

to redeem the time,

to redeem the Kairos,

redeem it for obedience to God's mission.

Obedience to God's mission.

We are called by Jesus in Matthew 28

to go and to make disciples of all nations.

And what is the goal of that?

Read in Revelation.

The large myriad of myriad and thousands of thousands

from every nation, tribe, and tongue

worshiping Christ at His throne

at the end of time.

And that's only going to happen if we go.

Most of the men who heard Jesus say that

didn't even make it out of Judea.

So we know that that wasn't the plan.

It was meant for the disciples that they made

to continue that good work,

to go to the ends of the earth.

And so Paul says,

walk in wisdom toward outsiders,

making the best use of the time.

That's Colossians 4, same word.

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders.

So we all have neighbors,

coworkers, family members

that are still walking in darkness.

And it's hard.

It hurts to watch.

But we have the message.

We can't save them,

but we know the one who can.

All right?

And students,

you will never have,

probably most of you,

some of you going to the army

may have as much opportunity,

but you'll never have as many chances

to connect with unbelievers as you do now.

Like just the relationships,

it's just a sea of relationships,

of needy people.

It's that depressed guy

that never leaves his room,

who just plays video games

and sits on his phone

because he's scared to go

and like face the world.

Right?

It's that person

in the gym

just trying to always exercise

like crazy

because they want people

to give them glory

for how they look.

It's that girl

that spends two hours

putting makeup on

because she's afraid

to go out

and afraid that people

will think that she's unattractive.

She's being evaluated

by the people

that are around her.

And a special heart

for these guys,

the ones who just got hammered

and partied

and went crazy.

They need the Lord too.

You've got to find ways

to get them through their life

safely, of course.

And so,

redeem the time.

Make the best use of it.

The scripture says,

rescue those

who are being taken away to death.

Hold back

those who are stumbling

to slaughter.

Understand that

as we bear witness to Christ,

he's going to use you

to reach those

who are around you.

And in closing,

a couple things.

I thought it was worth mentioning.

There's some good clips

on YouTube

if you want to go watch this.

I thought,

wouldn't that be a shocker

if I played a video here

on Sunday morning?

I've done that here

in probably 100 years.

But,

the movie,

Schindler's List,

is a movie

I just can't watch.

Like,

I watched it a long time ago.

I can't turn it back on.

But,

it's about

the Nazi death camps,

the Holocaust.

A true story,

though,

of a German

named

Oskar Schindler.

And he was

broken

over what

Germany was doing.

And he

took it personally

to, like,

work.

And he ended up

saving about

the lives

of 1,100 Jews

from the Nazi

death camps.

And at the very

end of the movie,

this is what you can

actually go and watch.

It's,

after all his

sacrifice,

all the stuff he did,

all his labor,

he's there

with all those

people that

he was able

to deliver

and save.

And he's with

his really close

Jewish friend,

Stern.

And,

he's looking around

at all of them.

He says,

he looks at his body

and says,

I could have gotten

more out.

I could have

gotten more out.

If I had just

done this,

I could have

done more.

And his friend

is so gracious.

He's like,

look,

you did so much.

There will be

generations of

people because

of what you did.

And he looks

at his car

and he goes,

what about this

car?

This car could

have been 10

more people.

Why did I keep

this car?

And then he said,

I had so much

money.

If I just had

a little bit

more money,

I could have

gotten more

people out.

And he says,

I wasted

so much money.

And he just

breaks down

crying unconsolably

like in front

of all these

people.

And his friend

picks him up

and he's like,

hey,

you did this.

Look at their

faces.

Like,

they're here.

He pulls

off his Nazi

party pen.

Like,

this is gold.

And he gives

it to him.

Like,

this could be

two more

people.

Use this

to get

them out.

But he was

so,

you know,

as you know,

in that time,

Germans were

taught not to

show emotion,

but he just

loses it.

And he kept

just saying,

I haven't done

enough.

I didn't do

enough.

And I'm not

trying to

produce some

form of

ungodly

guilt on

you,

ungodly

conviction.

ungodly

but none

of us

want to

get to

the

finish

line

before

the

throne

and

just

say,

look at

all my

stuff.

And look at

all my

possessions.

You'll just

say,

why didn't I

do more?

Sort of a,

I think John

Piper calls it a

heavenly regret.

So not a

sinful regret,

a heavenly

regret of like,

ah,

like,

if I knew

that this was

where things

were going,

like,

I just

would not

have

squandered

so much.

But Jesus

says,

do not lay

for yourselves

treasures on

the earth

where moth

and dust

destroy

and where

thieves break

in and steal,

but lay up

for yourselves

treasures that

are in heaven.

That is the

goal.

But then he

says,

where your

treasure is,

there your

heart's going

to be also.

You're going

to see it

on display.

So,

as I said

last week

from that one

missionary,

he said,

only one

life,

and it

will soon

be passed

and only

what's done

for Christ

will last.

And then

lastly,

in application

of this,

we can rest

bringing it

all into

Christ,

okay?

We see

in the

Gospels

that Jesus

was very

aware of

the providential

time that

he was here

on earth.

He was

aware of

the Kairos.

He said,

there were

times that

people wanted

to kill

him and

he said,

my hour

has not

yet come.

My Kairos,

my time

has not

yet come.

And then

eventually,

when he

had died

and breathed

his last,

he said,

it is

finished.

It is

done.

And like

this one

verse in

John 17

is one

that I,

man,

I really

hope on

my deathbed,

if I make it

to a deathbed

and don't

die in some

crazy other

way,

that I think

this verse

haunts me

just about

more than

any.

But Jesus

says,

Father,

he's praying

like the

hour has

come,

glorify your

son,

the son

may glorify

you,

having

accomplished

the work

that you

gave me

to do.

He was

done so

he could

go and

rest,

right?

So even

though we

have squandered

so much

time,

ridiculous

things that

we do

with our

time,

me too,

our cell

phones don't

help.

So if

you drop

it in

the

commode,

just rejoice

for the

30 minutes

that you're

going to

have before

you fix

it with

rice.

The good

news is

that all

the time

we've

wasted is

not going

to bear

witness against

us on

the judgment

day if

we have

Christ,

because he

was faithful.

He saved

us.

We don't

have to pay

him back

for what

he did,

but if we

do belong

to Christ,

it's going

to create

a holy

desire in

us to

want,

to redeem

the time

for eternity.

We're going

to desire

that.

Make the

best use

of the

time and

strive for

that daily.

It's not

about the

here and

now.

So just

prepare

yourself

for the

bigger picture,

for us

going to

be in

the Father's

presence

forever.

I'll stop

there.

Yeah.

So much

more to say

on all that.

Each one of

those could

be its own

thing,

but let's

pray together

and then

we'll respond

in song.

Let's pray

together and

respond in song.