How Shall the Young Redeem the Time?

Introduction

I’ve always enjoyed the creative ways in which the people of God compliment the preaching of the gospel. One of our common phrases is, we appreciate your efforts, which to me always sounds like nice try.

I’m going to get destroyed after services for that. But one of our older sisters once told me, she said, You’re sure doing good. She said, When you first got here, I said to myself, this kid’s never gonna make it. But you know, my favorite all-time compliment came in this church building after the past meeting we had together concluded, and it was given by Sister Linda Parker, and she said, if you ever quit preaching, you’re gonna be sinning. And I have loved that. And it’s hard to come here and not see her. Thank you for your genuine expressions of appreciation for the work we’ve shared together this weekend. From my perspective, it’s gone by very quickly, and I thank you for the way in which you’ve welcomed me and allowed me to work with such a fine group of young people.

And I know you’re proud of them. And sometimes we talk about young people as being the future of the church. But I want you to be proud that you have a group of young people who are the present because they’re working already and they’re making a difference, and they’ve certainly made a difference for me this weekend, and I want them to know that. Thank you so much for allowing me to come and be with you. I want to begin tonight by reading from an excerpt from the motion picture code that was used in our country from the years 1930 through 1966. And as I read just a portion of this, I want you to realize how much our standards of entertainment have changed since just this few years ago.

When motion pictures were made in our country, they had to conform to this code. The sanctity of marriage and the home shall be upheld. Obscenity in word, gesture, reference, song, joke, or by suggestion is forbidden. Adultery and illicit sex must not be explicitly treated or justified or presented attractively. Pitchers shall not infer that low forms of sexual relationships are the accepted or common thing. The technique of murder must not be presented in a way that will inspire imitation. Brutal killings are not to be restricted to essentials. Actions showing the taking of human life must be cut to the minimum. Many scenes cannot be presented without arousing dangerous emotions on the part of the immature, the young or criminal classes. If motion pitchers consistently hold up for admiration high types of characters and present stories that will affect lives for the better, they can become the most powerful natural force for the improvement of mankind.

Correct entertainment raises the whole standard of a nation. Wrong entertainment lowers the whole living condition and moral ideals of a race. That’s the motion picture code from 1930 to 1966. Is it not amazing how much entertainment has changed? And not only to the extent that the things that we see today, which were forbidden then and are commonplace now, but more often than that, we talk about those things as being the best part of the movie. And I can remember a time when television shows that when I was growing up we would never be allowed to watch, and now Christians get together and watch them on Netflix, one after the other.

A generation ago. One of the most common excuses I would give my mother when I wanted to go see a movie I had no business going to see is Mom, it doesn’t affect me. You ever use that one? It doesn’t affect me. It doesn’t matter the kind of language that this movie has, it just goes right through me. It doesn’t matter the violence that it’s in the movie or the sexual scenes, it has no effect on me. Well, is that really something to brag about? Have we become so desensitized to sin that even someone saying the Lord’s name in vain doesn’t affect us anymore? That alone ought to bother us. I want you to know that your entertainment and the choices you make for what entertains you does affect you.

1. Your Entertainment Affects Your Time

It has an impact on you and your character. And I want you to see that it does that in three ways. I want to use what has become a popular acronym today, TMI. And that’s the problem. Too much information. I want you to see that your entertainment has an effect on your time, on your mind, and on your influence. T M I. Let’s look at those three very quickly. First of all, your entertainment affects your time. It has an effect on your time. How many times do we use the excuse I don’t have time? I’m a busy person. I’ve got all these things going on at the office. I have all these projects at school and tests I have to study for. I just don’t have time to serve God in these areas.

Well, if that’s the case, when was the last time you went to bed at night and you said to yourself before you went to sleep, boy, I just didn’t have time to check my email today. I mean, I was so busy I didn’t have time to update my status on Facebook. I didn’t have time to watch television today. Truth is, we make time for what’s important to us. In Ephesians chapter 5, I want you to notice what Paul said about making use of our time. This time that is indeed a gift from God. And the fact is that all of us have the same amount of time when we start each day. Every single one of us starts with the same amount, and it’s up to us to use it in a way that will be beneficial in our service to Him.

In Ephesians chapter 5, notice what he said at verse 15. Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as one as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. The King James Version there has redeeming the time. You think about Jesus’ work in redemption from sin. He rescued us from the depths of sin. He caused us to be saved from our sins. When you redeem the time, what you do is you rescue it from misuse. Yes, it is so, we have used it poorly in times past. But you can’t have that back. Once you’ve used it’s gone. What you can do, though, is make the decision, I’m going to rescue the time I have left and use it for godly pursuits.

Your entertainment does have an effect on your time. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person spends five hours a day watching television. Now, if you were to span that out over a lifetime, a generation that says, I don’t have time, that would be nine years of your life watching television. Children of these couch potatoes, they call them tater tots. I don’t know whether or not that’s so. But I tell you what, that doesn’t even include the internet usage. You see, at least the television has a built-in off switch. The football game has a fourth quarter. The clock on the basketball game’s gonna run out. The movie has a final scene, the TV show comes to an end. And with this built-in mechanism, we can say, all right, well, now let’s get on and do something else.

But the internet doesn’t have anything like that. We get on right before we go to bed and say, Well, I just want to check my email one more time. Well, let’s see what the weather’s gonna be like tomorrow. Oh, well, look who’s updated on Facebook, and before you know it’s two or three in the morning.

And we just don’t have time. Your entertainment has an effect on your time. We all need leisure time, but there’s the danger that our leisure time becomes lazy time and then lazy time becomes all the time. Is that what Paul has in mind when he says redeeming the time? Making the most of your time. A companion passage to this one is Colossians chapter 4. Notice what word he uses here in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 5.

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. In Ephesians 5, it was making the most of your time. This one, he said, making the most of your opportunity.

They pictured this woman who was floating down the river in her canoe. And when you looked at her from the front, she had beautiful, long flowing hair. But by the time the woman passed you, as you were standing on the bank of the river and you looked at her after she passed you, the back of her head was shaved off. In other words, as it’s coming toward you can grab a hold of it and make use of it. But once it’s passed you by, you can’t grab it anymore. It’s gone. Making the most of the opportunity. When the majority of our day is spent being entertained, can we really say we’re using our time and opportunity for things that have eternal value? Preacher was going to move to the Washington, D.C.

Area several years ago. And his friends tried to discourage him and say, You can’t do any good there. That’s a godless environment. People don’t want the gospel there. Well, he went anyway. The first year he was there, he baptized 12 people. Similar results the next year. People started asking, Well, what are you doing different? Are you preaching the same gospel? How is it that you’re having success in such a wasteland? He said, Well, it’s easy. He said, I’ve conditioned myself to feel guilty sitting at home at night watching television. And I’ll tell you what is the scariest thing to me about that.

2. Your Entertainment Affects Your Mind

Sitting at home at night watching television. It does affect us. I don’t preach these things tonight as one who has all the answers who’s got it all figured out. I’m a work in progress. But certainly we can see that our entertainment has an effect on our time and our responsibility to redeem it and make the most of it. But I want you to see, secondly, that your entertainment not only affects your time, but it has an effect on your mind. What you expose your mind to is going to come out either in your words or in your deeds. You’ve seen this before. So a thought, reap a word. So a word, reap an action. So an action, reap a habit. So a habit, reap a character.

So a character, reap a destiny. But it all starts with what you put in your mind. Think about it. If a 30-second commercial can sell us on a product, we can be watching a commercial, and at the end of it we say, Man, I’ve got to go get that. I don’t think my life would be complete unless I have that now. If a 30-second commercial can do that, don’t you think a 30-minute sitcom can sell us on a lifestyle? To where things that are contrary to God’s word, when they are presented attractively on a screen, and we say, well, they’re not all that bad. Maybe they are acceptable. Has an effect on your mind. In Colossians chapter 3, notice what the apostle Paul said in the first two verses of this chapter, Colossians 3, beginning at verse 1.

If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth. Can I ask you tonight, is it possible for you to have your mind set on the things above when your television is set on the things below. When Melissa and I first started dating, it didn’t take me very long to see that with regard to the things we were watching, she had a one cuss word policy. It didn’t matter how long we’d been watching it didn’t matter how engrossed we were with what was going on. I could be right on the edge of my seat, hanging on every word, and one cuss word, and she changed the channel.

But you know that was good for me. I needed that. Because I said, Oh, it doesn’t affect me. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth. In Philippians chapter 4, another familiar passage about what we expose our mind to and the effect it has on our life. Ephesians 4 at verse Philippians 4 and verse 8. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Notice again, you let your mind dwell on them, and then you practice them. But in all those words that Paul lists in verse 8, things that are lovely, pure, of good report. Just think about all those words on a piece of paper in a column. And then I want you to ask yourself this question are there any of my favorite shows that I can plug in next to those words. Where would dancing with the stars fit? It has an effect on our mind. Because what goes in our mind then comes out. Jeffy in the family circle comic told on his little brother. Said he used a TV word. Where do you think they learn them, parents? You say, Well, I know what you’re saying. But this show is funny.

But it’s funny. I know the children are disrespectful to the parents, and it makes the dad look like a bumbling idiot, and the mom runs the house, but that’s funny. Well, I wonder if the Lord is laughing at the things by which we are entertained. It has an effect on our minds when we come to the worship service.

When we see churches that are immersed in entertainment on television. And we begin to focus more on the package than the content. And we begin to wonder well, why can’t we have the things that they have? And ours all of a sudden become sterile and boring when we ought to wonder is it according to spirit and truth? Does this glorify God? Is it decent and in order? Some church signs have we offer traditional worship at this hour and contemporary worship at this hour. Well, are we in the business of entertaining men or glorifying God? Which is it? But the entertainment comes to the worship service. It affects our mind. Let’s be very careful at what we expose our minds to, because it will then come out through our words and through our deeds.

3. Your Entertainment Affects Your Influence

It has an effect. And then number three, it affects our time. It affects our mind. It affects our influence. Affects our influence. Little boy was telling about the family where he grew up. And he was saying how moral his parents were that they didn’t allow the children to say curse words or tell off-colored jokes. But he said every now and then we would have a visitor over. And he would start using these words that we were not allowed to use, and mom would kind of fizz it in her chair, and dad would look around, but they wouldn’t say anything. And he would start telling jokes that we could not get away with telling, and by this time mom would get up and leave, and dad would look even more uncomfortable, but he wouldn’t say anything.

And he said this would just go on and on. He said we never knew what the visitor’s name was. We just called him TV. I want you to know that your entertainment has an effect on your family. It has an influence with your family. The program warns this material may not be suitable for children. Well, is it suitable for a Christian? Who says we can watch whatever we want to watch just so long as we send the kids upstairs first? What kind of double standard is that teaching our children? It does have an effect. It affects your influence with your family. It affects your influence with your friends. Think about it. The people you work with and the people you go to school with.

You tell them rightly. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5 to abstain from every appearance of evil. But so long as we’re being entertained by it. We can surround ourselves with it. I mean, I’m not the one doing it, but I’ll watch somebody else do it. Is that going to have an influence on your friends? Is that one of going to want to cause them to obey the gospel? It has an effect on your influence with your brethren. Think about some new brother or sister who’s trying to come out of the world and they put all that behind them. And maybe they’re struggling with some sin. And we bring them along and come watch this movie that Brother So and So recommended. Is it going to help them to set their mind on things above and not on things that are on the earth?

It affects your influence with the world.

At the kind of things that people will post on Facebook. Pictures that they would never imagine putting on the bulletin board in the foyer for shame. And they’ll post them so that everyone in the world can see them. And they’ll fill out their profiles and list as their favorite television show, sex and the city.

That all of a sudden what we’re saying is, they’re my friend, and then I approve of everything that they post. What is that doing to our influence with the world? How will that help them see that we are different? I understand that all forms of communication and entertainment are not evil. And so my sermon tonight is not go turn everything off and throw it away. What wonderful uses these can be used for good to teach the gospel and send it places where it’s never gone before. But shouldn’t we be careful about how we’re affecting our influence in allowing the devil to take something which can be used for good and turn it into something evil? How dare we say it doesn’t affect me. It has an effect on your time and on your mind and on your influence.

Conclusion

Would you read one final passage with me tonight from Psalm 101? I don’t mean to pretend tonight that when David sat down to write this psalm that he was thinking about the internet and television and entertainment, but it sure has some principles that are true and timeless and apply to our subject tonight. Psalm 101.

I will give heed to the blameless way. When will thou come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away, it shall not fasten its grip on me. A perverse heart shall depart from me, I will know no evil. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy. No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure. My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me. He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.

Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, so as to cut off from the city of the Lord all those who do iniquity.

But I have to warn you, that’s going to cut out most of the TV guide.

Robert Martha and I are catching a movie after the meeting tonight.

Who will say, choose for yourselves whom you will serve. But as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. We need people of God, and you may be the only one in your family at the start, but we need the people of God who will stand up and say, We’re not going to watch that anymore. We need those young and old who will not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and who will take a stand in a perverse generation who are willing to say, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We want to give you that opportunity to make that confession tonight. Jesus said, He who confesses me before men, I will confess him before my Father who is in heaven.

And upon your confession of faith, you can be baptized tonight and have your sins washed away, and you can begin your life serving your master. If there is a way in which we can assist you in your walk with God, whatever it is, we want to give you the opportunity right now, while we stand and while we sing.