| “WHAT TIME IS IT?” Ephesians 5:1-21; Esther 4:1-17 Olivet Covenant Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA © Rev. Linda Jaymes, 10/25/09 |
Since it will be time to set our clocks back next Saturday night, I thought this might be a good time to spend some time
thinking about time! Time is a strange and wonderful thing, a concept that can sometimes be hard to define and understand.
Even our perception of time changes over time! For the very young, time seems to move at a snail’s pace, and children who
are made to wait for a half hour are sure that an eternity has passed. As we get older, however, time seems to gain in speed.
Not only hours, but days and months and years seem to pass in the blink of an eye. Yet the truth is that time never changes.
Its value is consistent and measurable.
For those of us who live in a modern and fast-paced culture where it is broken into sound bytes and nanoseconds, time
moves all too quickly and we often end up feeling like we are in a race against it. We refer to having time on our side—or not.
Most of us think of time as a precious gift, something to hold on to, and we would slow it down if only we had the power to do
so. Yet for others, time does not feel like such a valuable commodity. For those living under difficult conditions, plagued by
war or poverty; hunger, imprisonment, or disease, time can feel more like a sentence to be tolerated and endured. Clearly, time
is perceived differently by different people.
Some aspects of time can also be confusing. I have always been fascinated by books and movies about time travel,
especially the one with Christopher Reeve from the 1970’s (I think), called Somewhere in Time. In the movie he returns to the
past and ends up being his own grandfather, or something like that. These movies usually leave me with my head spinning,
trying to wrap my mind around how these plots can possibly make sense and work out properly in the end. And for that
matter, even the standard dictionary definition of time may leave our heads spinning. According to Webster’s College
Dictionary, the primary definition of time is: “the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past,
present or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another.” Got that?
It may be more helpful to consider a simpler understanding of time. Peanuts cartoon “philosopher” Charlie Brown
summed it up by explaining to Lucy that whenever we think about time we should simply remember to live each day as if it
were the last day of our life. Unfortunately, his suggestion did not have a calming effect on Lucy. She ran off screaming,
"Aaugh! This is the last day! This is it! I only have 24 hours left! Help me! Help me! This is the last day! Aaugh!" Poor
Charlie Brown, left alone with his thoughts, was heard to remark, "I guess some philosophies aren't for all people."
I ran across some surveys about how we spend our time that might leave us screaming like Lucy. According to one
source, people who live to be 70 years old will spend 23 years sleeping, 16 years working, 8 years watching TV, 6 years eating,
6 years traveling, 4.5 years on leisure activities, 4 years being sick, 2 years getting dressed and 6 months on religious
activities! Another source took those statistics and came up with a thought-provoking article entitled, "If You Are 35, You
Have 500 Days Left to Live." Evidently, at 35, if you subtract the time spent sleeping, working, tending to personal matters,
hygiene, odd chores, medical matters, eating, traveling, and miscellaneous time-stealers, in the next thirty-five years you will
have roughly the equivalent of only five hundred days left to spend as you wish. And many of us are a lot older than thirty-
five! No wonder the Psalmist advised, "So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom."
Charlie Brown may be right when he said that some philosophies may not be for everybody, but it seems to me that
Christians need some kind of common philosophy of time, and it shouldn’t be one that causes us to run off screaming like Lucy
did. It should be serious, encouraging and most of all Biblical. After all, God is the One who invented time when He created
the universe and set the stars and planets in motion. And He is the One who still controls time and moves in and through it and
will bring his purposes to completion when time ceases to exist.
Both of today’s scripture lessons give us insight into how God’s people are to view and use time. From the Old
Testament, we heard part of the story of Esther, a fascinating story that has much to do with time and timing. It deals with
how God works through time and brings events together in his perfect timing to accomplish his will. It’s a story of an evil plot
to exterminate the Jews in Persia, approximately 500 years before the time of Christ. But this plot was exposed and prevented
as God worked through two Jews, Mordecai, and his niece, Esther, who providentially were in the right place at the right time
and were obedient to seeking and doing God’s will.
We might say that they understood what time it was, in terms of their calling and their destiny. It became clear to
Mordecai that God’s hand must have been involved in making Esther queen and a royal “insider” in the Persian court. In that
way, she would be in a unique position to use her power and influence on the king during this crisis, when time was running
out for the Jews. So Mordecai went to Esther, his beautiful young niece whom he had raised as his very own daughter after
her parents had died, and he pointed out to her that if the plot to destroy the Jewish population succeeded, Esther would not
escape execution just because she was a queen. Her Jewish heritage, which had been kept a secret from the king and his court,
would eventually come to light, and when it did, the consequences for Esther would be disastrous.
But Mordecai also suggested that Esther had come into the kingdom precisely “for such a time as this,” to be God’s
instrument to deliver the Jews, and to ignore the timing of these circumstances would be a mistake. Thankfully, Esther had the
wisdom to see the truth of Mordecai’s words and take them to heart. She carefully considered the time and decided it was her
time to stand up and be counted. She asked Mordecai and all the Jews of the city to fast and pray, promising that she and her
maids would also do the same. And then on the third day, she would go and plead for the Jews before the king, even if it meant
that she would perish in the process.
I won’t spoil the story by telling you the ending. It’s a great drama with some very clever, ironic twists to it, and you can
quickly and easily read it yourself. But if you do read it, and I hope you do, notice how important it is for God’s people to
know what time it is, to rightly interpret and understand the times and the things God is trying to do through his people. Esther’
s story should remind us that God still calls and uses people in similar ways today. The future may depend on whether or not
we recognize what time it is now, and put our faith into action so that others might be saved.
The Apostle Paul also reminds us, in his letter to the Ephesians, never to forget what time it is. He gives us a long
description of how we ought to behave and live, commending us to focus on love and sacrifice and warning us to refrain from
sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscenity, foolish talk, coarse humor, drunkenness and all kinds of “deeds of darkness.”
Paul wants us to use our time wisely; to make the most of every day. And he says this not only because time is moving quickly
and our days are numbered (as they surely are), but because the days are evil. What he means is that Satan is still on the loose.
Satan and his minions still exert power and influence in the world and these powers and principalities are doing their best to
undermine what God is doing. And so we must not miss the opportunities that come our way. We must always be aware of
what time it is, of what the Lord’s will is—what He is trying to do through us—and not miss the chance to be his instrument in
the world. We must recognize the fact that God has brought us into the Kingdom exactly for such a time as this, and it would
be a terrible loss if we should miss or ignore the opportunity to be part of God’s plan to make his love and salvation in Jesus
Christ known to the world.
Maybe what we need to do periodically is pretend that we have reached the end of our lives and think about the way we
have used our time. Research has actually been conducted on this subject, including a very large survey targeting people over
the age of 95. They were all asked one open-ended question, “If you could live your life over again, what would you do
differently?” Participants could answer any way they wanted and the researchers were not looking for or expecting any
particular or uniform responses. But among all of the different answers given, they found that there were 3 answers that were
repeated over and over again with a high rate of frequency:
1. I would reflect more (one of the most popular answers).
2. I would risk more.
3. I would do more things that would live on after I'm dead.
As I thought about these three answers, it occurred to me that if we know what time it is now, then when we are 95—if we
get that far—we won’t have too many regrets. We won’t have wished we had used more of our time reflecting and risking and
doing the kinds of things that live on after we’re gone. We would already have spent our lives making the most of our time,
making the most of every opportunity, like Mordecai and Esther and Paul.
As we think about time in general, and as we ask ourselves, “What time is it?” we may end up with more questions than
answers. We may struggle to make sense of God’s view of time and how we fit into it. We may wonder how and why it is
that God has made us so fragile and finite, with bodies that break down all too quickly, before we get to do and experience
everything we dream of accomplishing. That’s when we need to remember that our physical bodies were created for just a
brief span of time, but our spirits—our hearts and minds and personalities were created for eternity, where we will have new
spiritual bodies without physical limitations. We may not have all the time we want here on earth, but whatever time we have it
is very important, and God has given us enough time to do what really counts, namely, time to know and serve Him, something
that will have lasting meaning for us and others after we’re dead and gone.
So if you’re asking yourself the question, “What time is it?” the answer is that it’s time to make the most of the limited
time we have here on earth. It’s time to look around and notice what God is doing in our lives, and realize that we have been
brought into the Kingdom for just such a time as this. It’s time to recognize that eternity lasts forever, beyond time, and we
should spend our time here doing things that will also matter there, when time is no more. Let’s not get to the end of our lives
and wish we could live those days again. Let’s live them now, while we have the time to make Jesus Christ Lord of our life
and our time and dedicate each day to Him. Let’s take every opportunity to be the Mordecais and Esthers and Pauls of our own
era. Where would we be today if they had never realized what time it was for them in God’s plan? And where will future
generations be tomorrow if we don’t do the same today?
Unfortunately, some things haven’t changed since Bible times, in spite of how much time has passed. The days are still
evil and we never know which day will be our last. Charlie Brown’s advice turns out to be good advice: we should live every
day as if it were our last, realizing we may not get very many opportunities to help save someone else not just for time but for
eternity. And that’s why we need to continually ask ourselves, “What time is it?” and trust that God has brought us into the
Kingdom for such a time as this.
Let us pray.
thinking about time! Time is a strange and wonderful thing, a concept that can sometimes be hard to define and understand.
Even our perception of time changes over time! For the very young, time seems to move at a snail’s pace, and children who
are made to wait for a half hour are sure that an eternity has passed. As we get older, however, time seems to gain in speed.
Not only hours, but days and months and years seem to pass in the blink of an eye. Yet the truth is that time never changes.
Its value is consistent and measurable.
For those of us who live in a modern and fast-paced culture where it is broken into sound bytes and nanoseconds, time
moves all too quickly and we often end up feeling like we are in a race against it. We refer to having time on our side—or not.
Most of us think of time as a precious gift, something to hold on to, and we would slow it down if only we had the power to do
so. Yet for others, time does not feel like such a valuable commodity. For those living under difficult conditions, plagued by
war or poverty; hunger, imprisonment, or disease, time can feel more like a sentence to be tolerated and endured. Clearly, time
is perceived differently by different people.
Some aspects of time can also be confusing. I have always been fascinated by books and movies about time travel,
especially the one with Christopher Reeve from the 1970’s (I think), called Somewhere in Time. In the movie he returns to the
past and ends up being his own grandfather, or something like that. These movies usually leave me with my head spinning,
trying to wrap my mind around how these plots can possibly make sense and work out properly in the end. And for that
matter, even the standard dictionary definition of time may leave our heads spinning. According to Webster’s College
Dictionary, the primary definition of time is: “the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past,
present or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another.” Got that?
It may be more helpful to consider a simpler understanding of time. Peanuts cartoon “philosopher” Charlie Brown
summed it up by explaining to Lucy that whenever we think about time we should simply remember to live each day as if it
were the last day of our life. Unfortunately, his suggestion did not have a calming effect on Lucy. She ran off screaming,
"Aaugh! This is the last day! This is it! I only have 24 hours left! Help me! Help me! This is the last day! Aaugh!" Poor
Charlie Brown, left alone with his thoughts, was heard to remark, "I guess some philosophies aren't for all people."
I ran across some surveys about how we spend our time that might leave us screaming like Lucy. According to one
source, people who live to be 70 years old will spend 23 years sleeping, 16 years working, 8 years watching TV, 6 years eating,
6 years traveling, 4.5 years on leisure activities, 4 years being sick, 2 years getting dressed and 6 months on religious
activities! Another source took those statistics and came up with a thought-provoking article entitled, "If You Are 35, You
Have 500 Days Left to Live." Evidently, at 35, if you subtract the time spent sleeping, working, tending to personal matters,
hygiene, odd chores, medical matters, eating, traveling, and miscellaneous time-stealers, in the next thirty-five years you will
have roughly the equivalent of only five hundred days left to spend as you wish. And many of us are a lot older than thirty-
five! No wonder the Psalmist advised, "So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom."
Charlie Brown may be right when he said that some philosophies may not be for everybody, but it seems to me that
Christians need some kind of common philosophy of time, and it shouldn’t be one that causes us to run off screaming like Lucy
did. It should be serious, encouraging and most of all Biblical. After all, God is the One who invented time when He created
the universe and set the stars and planets in motion. And He is the One who still controls time and moves in and through it and
will bring his purposes to completion when time ceases to exist.
Both of today’s scripture lessons give us insight into how God’s people are to view and use time. From the Old
Testament, we heard part of the story of Esther, a fascinating story that has much to do with time and timing. It deals with
how God works through time and brings events together in his perfect timing to accomplish his will. It’s a story of an evil plot
to exterminate the Jews in Persia, approximately 500 years before the time of Christ. But this plot was exposed and prevented
as God worked through two Jews, Mordecai, and his niece, Esther, who providentially were in the right place at the right time
and were obedient to seeking and doing God’s will.
We might say that they understood what time it was, in terms of their calling and their destiny. It became clear to
Mordecai that God’s hand must have been involved in making Esther queen and a royal “insider” in the Persian court. In that
way, she would be in a unique position to use her power and influence on the king during this crisis, when time was running
out for the Jews. So Mordecai went to Esther, his beautiful young niece whom he had raised as his very own daughter after
her parents had died, and he pointed out to her that if the plot to destroy the Jewish population succeeded, Esther would not
escape execution just because she was a queen. Her Jewish heritage, which had been kept a secret from the king and his court,
would eventually come to light, and when it did, the consequences for Esther would be disastrous.
But Mordecai also suggested that Esther had come into the kingdom precisely “for such a time as this,” to be God’s
instrument to deliver the Jews, and to ignore the timing of these circumstances would be a mistake. Thankfully, Esther had the
wisdom to see the truth of Mordecai’s words and take them to heart. She carefully considered the time and decided it was her
time to stand up and be counted. She asked Mordecai and all the Jews of the city to fast and pray, promising that she and her
maids would also do the same. And then on the third day, she would go and plead for the Jews before the king, even if it meant
that she would perish in the process.
I won’t spoil the story by telling you the ending. It’s a great drama with some very clever, ironic twists to it, and you can
quickly and easily read it yourself. But if you do read it, and I hope you do, notice how important it is for God’s people to
know what time it is, to rightly interpret and understand the times and the things God is trying to do through his people. Esther’
s story should remind us that God still calls and uses people in similar ways today. The future may depend on whether or not
we recognize what time it is now, and put our faith into action so that others might be saved.
The Apostle Paul also reminds us, in his letter to the Ephesians, never to forget what time it is. He gives us a long
description of how we ought to behave and live, commending us to focus on love and sacrifice and warning us to refrain from
sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscenity, foolish talk, coarse humor, drunkenness and all kinds of “deeds of darkness.”
Paul wants us to use our time wisely; to make the most of every day. And he says this not only because time is moving quickly
and our days are numbered (as they surely are), but because the days are evil. What he means is that Satan is still on the loose.
Satan and his minions still exert power and influence in the world and these powers and principalities are doing their best to
undermine what God is doing. And so we must not miss the opportunities that come our way. We must always be aware of
what time it is, of what the Lord’s will is—what He is trying to do through us—and not miss the chance to be his instrument in
the world. We must recognize the fact that God has brought us into the Kingdom exactly for such a time as this, and it would
be a terrible loss if we should miss or ignore the opportunity to be part of God’s plan to make his love and salvation in Jesus
Christ known to the world.
Maybe what we need to do periodically is pretend that we have reached the end of our lives and think about the way we
have used our time. Research has actually been conducted on this subject, including a very large survey targeting people over
the age of 95. They were all asked one open-ended question, “If you could live your life over again, what would you do
differently?” Participants could answer any way they wanted and the researchers were not looking for or expecting any
particular or uniform responses. But among all of the different answers given, they found that there were 3 answers that were
repeated over and over again with a high rate of frequency:
1. I would reflect more (one of the most popular answers).
2. I would risk more.
3. I would do more things that would live on after I'm dead.
As I thought about these three answers, it occurred to me that if we know what time it is now, then when we are 95—if we
get that far—we won’t have too many regrets. We won’t have wished we had used more of our time reflecting and risking and
doing the kinds of things that live on after we’re gone. We would already have spent our lives making the most of our time,
making the most of every opportunity, like Mordecai and Esther and Paul.
As we think about time in general, and as we ask ourselves, “What time is it?” we may end up with more questions than
answers. We may struggle to make sense of God’s view of time and how we fit into it. We may wonder how and why it is
that God has made us so fragile and finite, with bodies that break down all too quickly, before we get to do and experience
everything we dream of accomplishing. That’s when we need to remember that our physical bodies were created for just a
brief span of time, but our spirits—our hearts and minds and personalities were created for eternity, where we will have new
spiritual bodies without physical limitations. We may not have all the time we want here on earth, but whatever time we have it
is very important, and God has given us enough time to do what really counts, namely, time to know and serve Him, something
that will have lasting meaning for us and others after we’re dead and gone.
So if you’re asking yourself the question, “What time is it?” the answer is that it’s time to make the most of the limited
time we have here on earth. It’s time to look around and notice what God is doing in our lives, and realize that we have been
brought into the Kingdom for just such a time as this. It’s time to recognize that eternity lasts forever, beyond time, and we
should spend our time here doing things that will also matter there, when time is no more. Let’s not get to the end of our lives
and wish we could live those days again. Let’s live them now, while we have the time to make Jesus Christ Lord of our life
and our time and dedicate each day to Him. Let’s take every opportunity to be the Mordecais and Esthers and Pauls of our own
era. Where would we be today if they had never realized what time it was for them in God’s plan? And where will future
generations be tomorrow if we don’t do the same today?
Unfortunately, some things haven’t changed since Bible times, in spite of how much time has passed. The days are still
evil and we never know which day will be our last. Charlie Brown’s advice turns out to be good advice: we should live every
day as if it were our last, realizing we may not get very many opportunities to help save someone else not just for time but for
eternity. And that’s why we need to continually ask ourselves, “What time is it?” and trust that God has brought us into the
Kingdom for such a time as this.
Let us pray.
