“Carpe Deim!”  
(Sieze the Day!)
Colossians 4:5-6

Introduction

This morning we are continuing our sermon series through the letter to the Colossians focusing on the topic of being missional Christians. Our Bible study passage today challenges us in the area of using the limited time God gives us here on earth wisely, and therefore using time missionally!  It gives us instructions on how to be faithful stewards, not just of our money, or gifts, but of our entire life.  

It is fascinating how many financial terms we use when referring to time: we buy time, we spend time, we squander time, we invest time.  Time is the great equalizer – we all have exactly the same amount each day. Our account has 86,400 seconds in it every day. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft.  God will hold us accountable as to how we use whatever time God gives us on planet earth.  So the question that confronts us today from God’s Word is: Are you using the precious gift of time that God gives you in a wise manner that pleases God?

Exposition
    
Now this morning, we are only going to study in depth verse 5, and next week, Lord willing, we’ll explore verse 6.  So our study passage starts off commanding us to “be wise in the way you act toward outsiders.”  Now Paul earlier in Colossians speaks about “wisdom” when he mocks the so called wisdom of this world, and declares that true wisdom, indeed the entire wisdom of God, is discovered in the person of Jesus Christ.

So when we are instructed to conduct ourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, what is being called for is to conduct ourselves like Jesus Christ toward others. And the word here “outsiders” is simply a reference to those who are not yet passionate, devoted followers of Christ.

Our study passage also goes on to say “make the most of every opportunity.”   A more faithful translation of the Greek would be “redeem the time.”   The phrase “make the most of” in the original language is one word, “redeem.”   It is the same concept as when we say that Christ redeemed us from our sin.  

To redeem simply means to buy back or to ransom.  Christ paid to price to ransom us form death, from being under the Old Covenant Law, and from captivity of the evil one. To redeem the time means to make wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good by revealing Christ to others.

The phrase in our study passage, “every opportunity,” is the word “Kairos.”  Now there are two main words for time in Scripture, “Kairos,” and “Chronos.”  Getting a hold of the difference between these two concepts is critical in understanding God’s view of time, and our calling to be faithful stewards of the time and life God gives us.  

“Chronos” is where we get our word, “Chronology,” and simply refers to normal time measured in hours, days, years, etc.  “Kairos” on the other hand refers to a decisive moment, and most often to a divine appointment.  

Kairos is God’s time, God’s appointed time for something to happen that will bring about His will.  Throughout the New Testament, this word is usually translated “proper time,” or “opportunity,” or “acceptable time.”  

So we all live by Chronos time, normal time, and then as we walk with God, God brings into our life divine appointments, kairos moments when God is on the move, when God wants to do something specific, and we are invited by God to be the instrument to accomplish this plan.

Let’s look at some kairos moments from the Bible.   The NAS Strong's Version - 5 Verses
  - At just the right kairos time God decided it was time to call out a people from all the nations to be the elect ones through whom God would demonstrate His gospel plans for all the nations and God raised up an Abraham
  - Abraham and Sarah heard the promise of a child from God through whom a mighty nation would come, but decades passed and no child came so they took it upon themselves to have child through Hagar.  You see they couldn’t see past Chronos time and so they lost faith.  But at just the right kairos time, Isaac was born!  
  - Joseph’s brothers were jealous and sold Joseph into slavery.  Joseph was eventually thrown into prison, losing faith, in despair, stuck in Chronos time.  But in just the right divine kairos time, God had a Pharaoh have a dream, some magicians who couldn’t interpret the dream, a cupbearer who just happened to have been in jail with Joseph, who just happened to have had a dream interpreted by Joseph, and so recommends Joseph to Pharaoh and the rest is history of God saving his people form starving during a famine. Faith requires keeping our eyes on kairos time not Chronos time!
  - For 400 years of Chronos time the people of Israel were kept in cruel slavery, most lost faith because they just could not hold on to the promise that God would delver them.  But sure enough in kairos time, God raised up a Moses!
  - God’s people for decades after many decades heard the promises through the prophets of a coming messiah who would permanently deliver God’s people from all oppression.  We read in 1 Peter that for ages and ages even the angels and all the prophets begged God to tell them when the time would be when this messiah would come.  But God kept it secret until, as we read in Romans 5:6 at just the right kairos time Christ came to die for the ungodly!
  - And with the first coming of Christ, as we read Mark 1:15, Christ declared, "The kairos time of God is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."   
  - And now the salvation that Christ accomplished and Christ has made everyday until Christ returns God’s appointed kairos time to be saved:  2Co 6:2 “Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME ," behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION! "
  - Just as there was a divinely appointed time of Christ’s first coming, so 1Th 5:1 declares there is a divinely appointed time for Christ’s Second Coming.  
  -Meanwhile, Eph 1:10 declares that between Christ’s first and second comings, this is God’s appointed kairos time for “the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.” And our calling, our purpose for being alive, is to participate with the triune God in accomplishing this plan.
  - And so in our study passage, in speaking to our being wise and shrewd stewards of God’s kairos moments declares: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.”


The depth and breadth of stewardship that God calls for is far more radical, far more inclusive that just giving 10 percent of on earned income.  Once you surrender you life over to Christ as Lord, it means just that, Christ becomes the Lord of every part of your life, your time, your money, your relationships your career, your recreation, everything!  

We are living in God’s kairos season of kingdom harvest.  Today is the appointed day for the gathering in of all the elect so that the full number can be brought in as soon as possible so that Christ can return as soon as possible and put and end to this miserable, rebellious current age, and usher in the new age of the perfect, righteous just and peaceable eternal kingdom of God!  

We are called to live in kairos time not solely in Chronos time!  As we step through the Chronos time of each day, faithfully fulfilling the duties and responsibilities we have in all the many spheres of our life, we do so from a kairos time perspective.

As missional Christians, as devoted, passionate followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to make choices, to structure our lives based on the truth that we are not primarily creatures of Chronos time, but eternal children of God and therefore creatures of kairos time.  

We live our lives keeping an eternal perspective of our destiny as joint heirs and co-rulers with Christ of all creation.  We live our lives keeping a kingdom perspective of our purpose here on earth which is to glorify God by living and proclaiming the gospel.  

We remember that this world is not our home, that we are just passing through.  We remember that we don’t need to grab for every pleasure possible here on earth, because we have all eternity to live in the riches of God’s glory. We can live lives of reckless, lavish, sacrificial lives of faith, hope and love, because we our true and full lives are hidden in Christ, and our eternal inheritance, that far outshines anything this world has to offer, is kept safe for us in God’s hands!

Maintaining this kairos perspective of life is what empowers us to be faithful stewards over every area of life.  
  - We give lavishly of our money and time to God’s work, because we keep in mind this kairos purpose for our lives.  
  - We make decisions on where we live, what job we have, how we conduct ourselves at work and in the community, how often we engage in recreation and what types, how we take care of ourselves, and our world, how we budget our money, every decision we make first considering the missional implications of that decision.  How will this decision best help to please and glorify God by demonstrating and proclaiming the gospel to others in a way that makes Christ irresistibly attractive?


Then, in addition to living all of our life in Chronos time from a kairos time perspective, we also are always on the look out for God’s specific kairos moments.  A kairos moment is a divine appointment, a God ordained opportunity to participate with God in a specific kingdom advancing act.  

Perhaps it is launching a new ministry or joining an existing one.  Perhaps it’s a new relationship, a new job, doing a good deed, the possibilities are endless.  Perhaps it’s planting the seed of the gospel into someone’s heart. But kairos moments in some way large or small are al connected with demonstrating and advancing God’s kingdom plans.

We can learn much about discerning Kairos moments by examining the life of Christ.  When Christ walked the earth, he no doubt passed by hundreds of hurting people, but he did not immediately heal them all.  Christ tells us in John that He only did what He saw the Father was already doing.  So Christ would discern in the Spirit the kairos moment of the Father and then act accordingly.  
  - On one occasion, hundreds of people pressed in on Christ, but only one woman touched his cloaked and was healed.  It was her kairos moment.  
  - The disciples and the crowds saw the blind beggar as a nuisance as he kept calling out to Christ. Christ stopped everything to address his and head him. It was his kairos moment.
  - The crowds saw a despicable, short tax collector climbing a tree.  Christ saw a kairos opportunity of a hurting lost child of God who needed to be claimed by the gospel.  
  - The disciples were indignant in their prejudice that Christ was talking with a Samaritan woman.  Christ saw a kairos opportunity of a deeply wounded misguided daughter of God who needed to be embraced by grace.


As we step through Chronos time. God interjects kairos moments to reveal Himself and the gospel of irresistible grace.  When we live as faithful stewards of this gospel and of the limited but sacred time God gives us on the is earth, as we abide in Christ, live with a kairos perspective of life, and walk in the Holy Spirit, we can discern these kairos moments and partner with God.

Be always on the look out for what God is up to in the lives of others, and always available to God to be used by God in a kairos opportunity of planting the seeds of the gospel.

In the movie “The Dead Poet’s Society” Robin Williams plays English teacher John Keating who inspires his students to make their lives extraordinary by living Carpe Diem, by seizing the day.  We so often live our lives as if we had an endless amount of time to waste, to indulge, to put off what is most important until another day.  Only to discover that in the blink of an eye, our time has run out!  The Bible is psalm 90 tells us to “teach us God to number our days.”  

John Ortberg shares this sobering poem:
"Now that’s a sad story, but the good news is that grace is always stronger than our failures!  God’s hope is always stronger than our regret.  So long as you have breath, you have the opportunity to begin today to seize the day and joyfully obey God in whatever it is He is calling you to do!"

So dear brothers and sisters, what are some of the Kairos opportunities in your life right now that you may have been ignoring and running from?   
  - Has God been calling you to join a ministry or start a new one, or pursue a new job, but you’ve been fighting against that call?  God is saying today is the kairos time to abandon all fear or laziness or any other excuse and seize the day!
  - Perhaps there is a strained relationship in your life, and God is saying today is the kairos time for you to forgive, to seek forgiveness, to seek reconciliation. Seize the day!
  - Perhaps there is a neighbor, a co-worker, a family member that you has fleet the nudging of the Holy Spirit to talk to about the gospel, to offer to pray for, and you keep putting it off.  Seize the kairos moment!
  - Seize the kairos moment my friends!  Don’t put off a day longer giving that hug, reading that story to your child or grandchild, having that important conversation, writing that needed letter, volunteering for that agency, writing that song or book God has placed on your heart.  
  -Live with a kairos perspective, and seize the kairos moments and live extraordinary lives for God’s glory!


This is also a Kairos season in the life of this congregation.  We don’t know what God has in store for us in terms of church growth, but we do know that God wants to use us to minister grace and the gospel to the most hurting in this city.  

God is on the move and for us to seize this day of kairos opportunities we must be ready, willing, and empowered to make the needed changes in our personal lives and in how we do ministry here in this congregation in order to join God in the new work that He is up to.

This is God’s kairos season for us to renew our hearts, restructure our ministries, and repair our facilities all to be more missionally effective in reaching the lost and hurting of this city, drawing in new members, and entering into more intense discipleship for ourselves and those new believers and members God brings us.

In order for us to do that, here are some specific kairos opportunities that God is calling each of you to seize:
  - This is God’s kairos season for us to become a house of prayer, a praying church.  In addition to increasing the amount of time you pray on your own, God is calling you to restructure your Chronos time to participative in God’s kairos times of prayer here at the church either on Wednesday at lunch, Friday or Sunday morning, and or Sunday night
  - This is God’s kairos season for us to reclaim a dynamic children’s and youth ministry.  Your help is needed in these areas on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. Perhaps this is a kairos season for you to take a sabbatical from some other ministry you are in to free up your time to help in this area.  We have limited resources of people, time, and money, and if we are going to grow this church, we simply must reprioritize our ministry efforts to focus on those areas that specifically draw in now people.
  - This is God’s kairos season for us to enter into closer relationships with one another. There is no better forum for doing that than to be involved in a small group. We have currently have four small groups meeting weekly of bi-weekly and they are all open to new members. Please respond with a yes when one of these groups invite you, or talk with Alan Crandall about joining one.  
  - We are about to host a kairos Christmas event with our Old-Fashioned Community Christmas Night.  This event is designed for us to re-introduce ourselves to our community, especially our immediate neighborhood, who for the most part do not even know there is an awesome church right down the street!   
  - Lastly, for this kairos season in the life of this church to be successful, every one of you must live from a kairos perspective, not clinging to this world’s treasures, or living solely to pursue this world’s pleasures, but instead giving super-abundantly of your time and money to God’s kingdom work.   


This is God’s kairos season for this congregation, and to pursue God’s awesome vision for us and through us, we need everyone who calls this church home to be giving regularly and generously in tithes and offers, and even more importantly in prayer.  Our faith promise pledge this year is asking you to commit to praying regularly for the finances and ministries of this church, and to give as God gives to you, cheerfully and lavishly!

We invite you now to come forward and present your faith promises to God.

Let us pray…