emblepō

Making the Most of the Time We’re Given

Making the Most of the Time We’re Given

Dave Riddle - 1/15/2023

Key Passage:  Ephesians 5:15-17

Look (Ephesians 5:15)

  • Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk.

    • Literally “look carefully”

    • blepo (Greek: βλέπω) literally: to see. Metaphorically: to see with the mind’s eye. To turn the thoughts or direct the mind to a thing; to look at; to weigh carefully; to examine, consider and/or contemplate.

    • How you walk = peripateo (Greek: περιπατέω) literally: to tread all around, walk at large. Figuratively: to live, to make one’s way, to regulate one’s life, to conduct oneself

  • How? (v. 15)

    • Not as unwise people but as wise

    • sophos (Greek: σοφῷ) - Wise. To have skill or expertise. To best form plans and use the best means for their actual execution. 

  • Proverbs 1:1-7

    • If we don’t pay careful attention to the way we live our lives, then we are living as fools!

Seize (Ephesians 5:16)

  • chronos vs kairos

    • Greek: καιρός: No direct English equivalent 

      • The right time

      • The critical time

      • The opportune moment

    • Implies, not the convenience of the season, but the necessity of the time at hand.

    • “Kairos is when eternity steps into time”

  • To make wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good.

Know (Ephesians 5:17) 

  • So don’t be foolish, but understand.

    • syniemi: to put together (mentally) to comprehend, to set or join together in the mind. To understand and act piously. Having the knowledge of those thing which pertain to salvation.

  • How do we know the will of God? 

    • Romans 12:2 

    • Francis Chan: “What is God’s well for my life for the next five minutes?”

    • Jim Elliot: “Wherever you are, be all there; live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

    • MLK Jr. “It does not matter how long you live, but how well you do it.“ & “We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always right to do right”

We Can’t, but God Can

Message at 37:30

We Can’t, but God Can

Dave Riddle - 8/7/22

Key Passage: Mark 10:17-31

“Good teacher, what just I do to inherit eternal life?” 

  • Mark 10:17

Jesus’ curious response

  • Jesus tailors his answer for the question asker

  • Mark 10:18

    • Jesus starts by redefining “good”

  • Mark 10:19

    • You know the commandments…

      • He lists five of the six commandments that talk about our relationships with others.

        • He leaves out “do not covet”

    • Jesus knows this man’s heart and sets him up a little bit.

Really!? Wow.

  • Mark 10:20 - “I have kept all these commandments from my youth”

    • He saw himself as a good person.

Jesus being Jesus

  • Mark 10:21

    • Looking at him, Jesus loved him…

      • emblepō: to observe fixedly, or to discern clearly

      • agapaō: divine, unconditional, perfect love

    • “You lack one thing”

      • Sell all you have… and follow me!

        • Take up your cross and follow me.

        • Jesus knew what one thing stood between this man and his ability to surrender to Jesus.

    • Jesus see each of us clearly and sees OUR one thing that stands between us and our ability to surrender to Him.

A Poignant Moment

  • Mark 10:22

    • He was dismayed by this demand and he went away grieving because he had many possessions.

      • Jesus offered him a choice and he chose his own desires over following Jesus.

The Hard Truth

  • Mark 10:23

    • What stands between YOU and a full surrender to following Jesus?

  • Mark 10:24-25

    • The disciples were astonished.

    • It went against their cultural understanding of blessing and favor.

The original question revisited 

  • Jesus’ set up pays off

  • Mark 10:26

    • “Then who can be saved!?”

    • “With people it is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God”

  • Romans 8:3

    • What the law was powerless to do, God did.