5 Walk-in Wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. (NKJV)
Paul was asking for prayer that he might be able to “speak the mystery of Christ and make it manifest.” That manifestation was seen in the multitudes that were turning to Christ. That multitude included both Jew and Gentile throughout the Roman Empire. Those turning to Christ manifested the “new creation of the Spirit,” which Paul preached and taught. Paul’s prayer also included the manifestation of people being set free from demons, sickness, and disease through the miracle power of God’s word and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
In our last lesson, we focused on “wisdom” toward those who are outside of the faith. Today, we turn our attention to “redeeming the time.” The word redeeming is speaking about “purchasing.” The question could be asked, how do you purchase time?
Definition of “redeeming” as an adjective is:
- Compensating for someone’s or something’s faults; compensatory. 2. able to save people from sin, error, or evil.
“The transforming power of God’s redeeming grace”
Back to our question, “how do you purchase or redeem time?” My answer is that you give up other things for the time to reach out to those outside the faith that need to hear what the Lord has done to redeem them from the “wages of sin.” The wages of sin as noted in Romans 3:23, implies that there is a “payment” or “cost” for sins committed and that the wage or payment is “death.” “It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). That judgment is known as the “second death.”
“Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6).– New American Standard Version (1995)
Now we explore some challenging scriptural understandings. I do not want to lose sight of our scripture in Colossians about “redeeming the time,” but we must examine the other side of wages, the wages of sin, which is “the second death.” The first death is the natural death of every human being. The only thing that would prevent natural death would be the coming of the Lord. Paul says this is a mystery:
“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:50-52).
The first resurrection is what happens to every person who trusts Christ for their salvation. When we were born again, we were raised up with Christ and seated with Him in heavenly places. We learned this truth as we studied the book of Ephesians. Listen to what Paul said to the Ephesian Church
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:1-7).
Do you see the “first resurrection?” We have already been made alive and raised up “together.” Can you see why disunity and segregation is not the will of God? It is a slap in the face to what the Lord has already done through His grace in Christ Jesus. The true believer in Christ has no part in the second death because that one is already alive in Christ.
Back to the focus of our lesson, that is “redeeming the time.” Jesus redeemed us or purchased us with His own blood on the cross. As a redeemed people, our life belongs to our Lord. My life is not my own, it is all His. He gives my life back to me to “steward” for His glory and purpose. I give up the ownership of my time in order to invest my time in His kingdom purpose through me. Can you see the cost that is involved? We are joined with Him in reaching to those who have never heard or at least have never surrendered to His Lordship. That is, those who are yet outside the faith. Can you see why wisdom is needed and is required to walk in this kind of discipline and obedience?
There is another part to redeeming the time. It is the part that has to do with the “evil days.” “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:16). That same reality exists today. That is the reality “the days are evil.” Don’t waste your time on the evil activities of the day; those sinful, malicious, and corrupt activities will perish. Invest your time in people whom God wants to redeem for Himself.
Colossians 4:6 speaks to how we must relate with those in our society who are lost and in need of God’s redeeming love and grace. “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” Note, Paul says, “always.” What Paul is saying here, is to be our lifestyle. In all our speech, we must speak with grace. In all our vocabulary, it must be preserving words as salt is a “preservative.” It is our responsibility to know how we are to answer every person that crosses our path.
We must redeem the time by studying and learning the word of God. By seeking God for His knowledge to be given to us so we can represent Him well. Prayer and worship are essential to our development and maturity in Christ. It was important for Jesus to spend time with His heavenly Father. It must become necessary for us as well. Know God’s purpose for each life as it relates to Christ Jesus. Being able to answers the hope that you possess.
The hope is in Jesus the Christ. Jesus, the one who has overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. We must not be ashamed of the clear, simple, but profound message within the “Gospel of the Kingdom of God. The kingdom is a now, present rule of heaven over earth. Repentance and faith toward God, which means “obedience” to His Word is an absolute requirement of faith. This kind of faith will overturn the kingdom of darkness and lead the nations to their rightful possessor, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is every believer’s responsibility to let go of their independence and join with heaven’s eternal plan for the earth and its inhabitants. The Fathers Kingdom to come and the Father’s will to be done, on earth as n heaven. The nations to serve the King of Glory.
We have Christmas because God chose a day in time to break into the world with His remedy for sin and hell’s domine. Yes, the freedom came through a babe in a manger long ago. God breaking into time, set the agenda for eternity. There is nothing ambiguous about the message and the command of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Repent, turn from evil, and receive the glory of God through regeneration and transformation into His glorious children.
CHRISTMAS, CHRIST’S DAY
John 1:4-5 – In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The Gospel of John does not give us the details of the Christmas story but sums up in these two verses what the Christmas story is about. The earth was filled with death and darkness. There was no real hope, except in the “promises of God” of the One to be born who would free humanity from the chains of death and darkness.
The time had come! “When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). God promised that the Deliverer would come as the “seed of the women” (Genesis 3:15). The entire Law of God given through Moses, pointed toward the coming deliverer. The Law could not save us because of the weakness of human flesh, “What the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-5).
God the Father has summed up everything in His Son Jesus, the Christ. Today, we are free to receive all the Father has promised and prepared for those who are willing to abandon their own life for new life in Jesus. Presently, it is spiritual. By faith, we choose Christ and His life over our natural life and its resulting death. By faith, we receive His Holy Spirit, who gives us the Life of Christ through the “new birth.” We are empowered to live a life free from sin and share with others God’s Good News of life and light. God will use each believer, who allows Him, to lead others into a relationship with the living God through faith in Christ the Lord.
We look forward to the next great advent of our Lord, which is His Second Coming. No man knows the day nor the hour of the Lord’s return, but we are to live entirely for Him, waiting in expectation of that glorious day.
Most were not prepared for His first advent. Multitudes missed out on the great benefits of His first coming. Since that time, many have believed and have prepared themselves for His return. Those who died in Christ did not see their hope fulfilled in this life. They are now with Him in heaven and will return with Him as a great company of faithful ones to receive those who remain on earth. Together we will ever be with the Lord. The Apostle John puts it this way, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).
Merry Christmas in the worship of the Newborn King!