I just read a sermon by John Wesley on Eph. 5:16, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. He dealt with the matter of staying in be too long, exhorting all to find out by experiment how much sleep is required for them and to sleep no more than that. There is too much to do to lay in bed, and it is harmful to the body and mind and spirit. And it is. But there are other considerations regarding this passage and all have to be dealt with equally.
One may not lay in bed but still not use his time wisely. He may waste his waking hours being idle or doing things that are not best. The things that are of eternal value must take priority. To know God and maintain a close fellowship with Him is of crucial importance. One cannot do anything outside of abiding in Christ, which means having a close, very personal relationship and fellowship with Him. John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. Not only knowing Him in salvation but also in ordinary, everyday conversation. For nothing of eternal value can be done except one have such fellowship with Him. To do that we must spend much time with Him and in every way possible submit to Him. Prayer, meditation--on His word and on Him personally--and worship are the commodities that make rich our storehouse of abiding in Him. But to do so out of duty is to take away the value of the exercise. God does not want our sacrifices, He wants our personal, willing and heartfelt companionship. He apparently walked with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden before the fall, and He wants to walk with us today in the same manner, or at least as much the same manner as is possible. He wants personal fellowship which stems from a close relationship. We are His children, His dear and close family. And being so we know we are desired by Him above all else, For the LORD’S portion is his people (Deut. 32:9). How much time, therefore, ought we to spend with Him, getting to know Him better by becoming more and more like Him? We are commanded to be so--1Peter 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. How does this happen except one spend time with Him in prayer and in His word? 2Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. I take the phrase "with open face" to mean "in sincerity, with desire and determinedly ." It means we are not holding anything back and we want God to change us. We are willing to do and change anything that needs to be so we can be what He is. No Compromise! No Hypocrisy! Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, and, Philippians 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. "I am busy about this business of becoming like Christ. I have no time for the frivolous things of this world, whatever they may be. I MUST BE LIKE HIM!" If truly we do, we must redeem the time, take every opportunity to get to know Him and use such time as wisely and profitable as possible, always looking to do so better.
Not only must we become more and more like Him by getting to know Him better and better, but also by doing what He has told us to do. Ephesians 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. We do not need to spend time wondering what God wants us to do. He has already told us. We need only find out by His word what it is and then learn how to accomplish the task. Ephesians 5:10 Proving (learning or trying to understand) what is acceptable unto the Lord. Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove (approve by testing--come to a true knowledge of and appreciation for) what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. There are a multiplicity of commands to consider and we are responsible for them all. No picking and choosing allowed! Neither ought we feel we must go out of our way to do them for they are but the natural outworking of the redeemed heart in close fellowship with God. It is not that we do not have to work at it and continually assess and correct ourselves. We do. But one in love with God is in love with His desires, which are His commands. The will of God and the word of God are the same thing. And, 1John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous (burdensome). That is, they are not burdensome to the one who truly loves God, and the greater the love the less the difficulty of keeping His commandments.
Contextually, the primary thing we are to be about is to be holy, separate from the sinfulness of this world. That is what is being dealt with. Mostly one would think of this as a command to do a lot of things, and indeed we ought and need to to really fulfill the intent of the command, but that is not the case. Redeeming the time here means be godly. Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. This brings us back to the first thing mentioned--be like God by spending time with Him in prayer and in His word, letting His word manifest itself in and through us. Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 ¶ Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. To sum these verses up, we are to be: submitted to the control of the Spirit (not doing our own thing our own way, or even His things our own way, but His things His way), meditating on His word, having a cheerful heart rejoicing in Him, not demanding our own way--preferring others to ourselves. Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 1Corinthians 10:24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth. (John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.)
It is essential to remember, or know, as the case may be, that in order to redeem the time we must expose the unfruitful/wicked works of this dark, evil world. Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Colossians 4:5 ¶ Walk in wisdom toward them that are without (non-Christians), redeeming (making the most of) the time. This is done by living out and preaching the Gospel of Christ. So we must get out of bed, not only morally, but also physically. We are to get to work for the Kingdom of God. There is much to do in every realm and we must get at it today. John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
One may not lay in bed but still not use his time wisely. He may waste his waking hours being idle or doing things that are not best. The things that are of eternal value must take priority. To know God and maintain a close fellowship with Him is of crucial importance. One cannot do anything outside of abiding in Christ, which means having a close, very personal relationship and fellowship with Him. John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. Not only knowing Him in salvation but also in ordinary, everyday conversation. For nothing of eternal value can be done except one have such fellowship with Him. To do that we must spend much time with Him and in every way possible submit to Him. Prayer, meditation--on His word and on Him personally--and worship are the commodities that make rich our storehouse of abiding in Him. But to do so out of duty is to take away the value of the exercise. God does not want our sacrifices, He wants our personal, willing and heartfelt companionship. He apparently walked with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden before the fall, and He wants to walk with us today in the same manner, or at least as much the same manner as is possible. He wants personal fellowship which stems from a close relationship. We are His children, His dear and close family. And being so we know we are desired by Him above all else, For the LORD’S portion is his people (Deut. 32:9). How much time, therefore, ought we to spend with Him, getting to know Him better by becoming more and more like Him? We are commanded to be so--1Peter 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. How does this happen except one spend time with Him in prayer and in His word? 2Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. I take the phrase "with open face" to mean "in sincerity, with desire and determinedly ." It means we are not holding anything back and we want God to change us. We are willing to do and change anything that needs to be so we can be what He is. No Compromise! No Hypocrisy! Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, and, Philippians 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. "I am busy about this business of becoming like Christ. I have no time for the frivolous things of this world, whatever they may be. I MUST BE LIKE HIM!" If truly we do, we must redeem the time, take every opportunity to get to know Him and use such time as wisely and profitable as possible, always looking to do so better.
Not only must we become more and more like Him by getting to know Him better and better, but also by doing what He has told us to do. Ephesians 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. We do not need to spend time wondering what God wants us to do. He has already told us. We need only find out by His word what it is and then learn how to accomplish the task. Ephesians 5:10 Proving (learning or trying to understand) what is acceptable unto the Lord. Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove (approve by testing--come to a true knowledge of and appreciation for) what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. There are a multiplicity of commands to consider and we are responsible for them all. No picking and choosing allowed! Neither ought we feel we must go out of our way to do them for they are but the natural outworking of the redeemed heart in close fellowship with God. It is not that we do not have to work at it and continually assess and correct ourselves. We do. But one in love with God is in love with His desires, which are His commands. The will of God and the word of God are the same thing. And, 1John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous (burdensome). That is, they are not burdensome to the one who truly loves God, and the greater the love the less the difficulty of keeping His commandments.
Contextually, the primary thing we are to be about is to be holy, separate from the sinfulness of this world. That is what is being dealt with. Mostly one would think of this as a command to do a lot of things, and indeed we ought and need to to really fulfill the intent of the command, but that is not the case. Redeeming the time here means be godly. Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. This brings us back to the first thing mentioned--be like God by spending time with Him in prayer and in His word, letting His word manifest itself in and through us. Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 ¶ Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. To sum these verses up, we are to be: submitted to the control of the Spirit (not doing our own thing our own way, or even His things our own way, but His things His way), meditating on His word, having a cheerful heart rejoicing in Him, not demanding our own way--preferring others to ourselves. Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 1Corinthians 10:24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth. (John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.)
It is essential to remember, or know, as the case may be, that in order to redeem the time we must expose the unfruitful/wicked works of this dark, evil world. Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Colossians 4:5 ¶ Walk in wisdom toward them that are without (non-Christians), redeeming (making the most of) the time. This is done by living out and preaching the Gospel of Christ. So we must get out of bed, not only morally, but also physically. We are to get to work for the Kingdom of God. There is much to do in every realm and we must get at it today. John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
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