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2 Corinthians 6:1-13

What Time Is It?

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2 Corinthians 6:1-13

What Time Is It?

Dr. Philip W. McLarty

Can anyone please tell me what time it is? Don’t bother looking at your watch. In the Bible, time has a much broader meaning than the ticking of the clock. And that’s what I’d like for us to think about in the sermon today: What time is it in the Kingdom of God?

I first got into the complexity of measuring time in 1984. I was working with this passage from 2 Corinthians, where Paul said if anyone is in Christ, he is a New Creation, that the old has past away and the new has come. I was struck by what comes next. He goes on to say:

“‘At an acceptable time I listened to you,
in a day of salvation I helped you.’
Behold, now is the acceptable time.
Behold, now is the day of salvation.”
(2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

I couldn’t help but think: If now is the acceptable time, when is now? At what precise moment is the acceptable time?

It’s ironic: We have such an obsession with wanting to know what time it is; yet we can never quite pin it down. If your house is anything like ours, you have clocks in just about every room. Plus, you have a clock on your cell phone, your computer and your TV. Seldom do they all agree. One may read 9:02 while another says 9:04, while another is on straight up 9:00 o’clock. What time is it, really?

You may not know this, but the National Institute of Standards and Technology has a radio station in Fort Collins, Colorado that broadcasts the time of day by the second. Twenty-four hours a days, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year that’s all they do: Broadcast the time of day. It’s called the Coordinated Universal Time – the official time of the United States and, I suppose, the rest of the world.

Try it sometime. Tune in to WWV. You’ll hear the ticking of the clock, second by second. Then, at precisely seven and half seconds before the next minute, a resonate male voice will say something like, “At the tone, seven hours, forty-six minutes Coordinated Universal Time.” When the second hand reaches twelve, there’s a one-second tone to mark the precise time of day.

Sounds simple, huh? It’s not. I called radio station WWV and spoke with the engineer on duty. I told him I was working on a sermon about time and wondered if he could help fill in the gaps. He said, “Sure, what do you want to know?” I fired away question after question. He answered every one clearly and distinctly. There wasn’t anything he didn’t know about time.

He explained the basics: How we measure time from the rotation of the earth and the time it takes to revolve around the sun. From there it’s a simple matter of mathematics … only it doesn’t quite come out even. So we have to make adjustments – like the way we add an extra day to February every four years – only more minute.

I thought I was getting the hang of it. Then he threw me a curve. He said, “The problem is the earth doesn’t always rotate at a constant speed. Depending on any number of variables, including erosion, volcanic activity, the tides, the polar ice caps … the speed of the earth spinning on its axis varies ever so slightly, and we have to account for that by adding or taking away a millisecond or two.”

When you think about it, it’s amazing: The earth, like its Creator, has a mind of its own defying our precise calculation.

Well, in much the same way, seconds fade into minutes, and minutes into hours, and hours into the days, weeks, months and years of our lives. Just as the seconds tick away without our knowing exactly the time of day, so do we live out our lives in a shroud of mystery, never knowing for sure what time it is.

The Book of Ecclesiastes reminds us:

For everything there is a season,
and a time for every purpose under heaven:
a time to be born,
and a time to die …
a time to weep,
and a time to laugh …”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

The problem is it doesn’t say when it’s time for one, and when it’s time for the other. To put it in everyday language:

• For a young couple in love, when is it time to get married, and when is it best to wait and give the relationship time to mature?

• For an ambitious man or woman, when is it time to look a more promising job or career, and when is it time to hold on and be satisfied with what you’ve got?

• For a growing family, when is it time to move up to a larger house – and a bigger mortgage – and when is it time to wait until you’re more financially secure?

• For us senior citizen, when is it time to retire … to take that long awaited trip-of-a-lifetime … to pull up stakes … to move to the mountains?

You get the point: In spite of all of our computer age, high tech sophistication, no one really knows what time it is. It comes down to a matter of faith – prayerfully seeking God’s will, listening for the voice of the Spirit, then acting with confidence that God will bless your decision and give you success.

If my father were here, he’d tell you the exact day and hour he was sitting in church listening to a sermon when the preacher said, “If you don’t like what you’re doing for a living, quit it and do something else.”

He was working for the local Ford dealer at the time. He’d been working there for fourteen years, and he was making a decent living. But he wasn’t happy, and he didn’t think it was ever going to get any better. So, the next day he submitted his two-week notice. He quit his job, and he didn’t have any prospects for the future.

His friends told him he was crazy. He had a wife and three young children to support. But in his mind and heart, he’d heard the Word of the Lord. Nothing else mattered.

What happened after that was a long and difficult struggle. He started a business of his own, an automotive repair shop. He worked hard pulling himself up by his bootstraps. But he made it, and he’d be quick to tell you it was the best decision he’d ever made.

What time is it in your life today? Is it time to act boldly or wait patiently? You needn’t ask others. They can’t tell you. Only you can say.

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But then, all this is chronologically speaking. The Bible views time differently. There are actually two words for time. One is chronos; the other is kairos. Chronos refers to the ticking of the clock. Kairos refers to God’s time. For example, the psalmist writes,

“For a thousand years in your sight (O God)
are just like yesterday when it is past,
like a watch in the night.”
(Psalm 90:4)

So, a man has a dream. He dreams he’s standing in the presence of the Lord God Almighty. He’s speechless and in awe. The Lord God smiles down upon him and says, “Don’t be afraid. I’m your heavenly Father. Is there anything you want to know? Often people have questions. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?”

The man says, “I’ve always wondered about money. What’s money like for you?” The Lord God said, “The whole creation belongs to me. What use do I have of money? Why, a billion dollars to you is less than a penny to me.”

“Wow!” he says. Then he asks, “Well, what about time? What is time like for you?” The Lord said, “Scripture tells you: A thousand years for you is only a day for me.”

His mind gets to churning. He says, “Well, if I ask for something, will you give it to me?” “Sure,” the Lord said. “What do you want?” “Will you give me a million dollars?” The Lord smiled and said, “Sure, just give me a second.”

Peter got it right when he said,

“… one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day.”
(2 Peter 3:8)

In the story of Creation, those who get stuck on the question of whether God created the heavens and the earth in six twenty-four hour periods, or whether it evolved over billions of years, miss the point. They’re thinking chronologically. God’s time is different.

Jesus gives us a hint of this when the wine failed at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. His mother asked him to do something about it. He said, “My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4) He wasn’t talking chronologically.

What we need to know is that the eternal dimension of time is in God’s hands, not ours; that the seminal moments of history, from the beginning of time, are a matter of God’s choosing.

In the big picture, kingdoms rise and fall, generations come and go; only God is eternal. Just look at what’s happening in our world today:

• Internationally, we see a coalescing of the Islamic states. ISIS, with all of its brutality, threatens to be just the beginning. Will the neighboring states follow suit? Are we witnessing a resurgence of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of the 12th Caliphate?

• Here at home we watch as tens of thousands of Mexican and South American children cross our southern border with impunity; meanwhile, civil disobedience continues in Ferguson, Missouri, giving us just a taste of the unrest that’s beneath the surface and fomenting all across the country.

I heard a new term this week: “The Ten Year Century.” It relates to the speed at which our world is changing – how the clock seems to be spinning faster and faster, while the world as we know it spirals out of control. I can’t think of a better time than now to turn to the Lord and pray with Isaac Watts:

“O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while life shall last, and our eternal home.”

What’s the Good News? Here’s what Paul told the Galatians so long ago:

“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son,
born to a woman, born under the law,
that he might redeem those who were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of children …
And, (if children), then heirs of God through Christ.”
(Galatians 4:4-7)

In the fullness of time Christ came to redeem us from our fallen state. He died for the sins of the world and rose from the dead to usher in a New Creation – the Kingdom of God on earth – that we might live together in peace, regardless of race, nationality and creed.

That Kingdom – this New Creation – is not realized by international law or government decree, but as individuals like us humble ourselves and turn to the Lord, and then invite others to join us. This is what made our nation strong in the past; it can renew our strength today and ultimately make for a better world tomorrow. Listen to the text once more:

“… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new …
. (God) reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ,
and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation ,,,
We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ …
For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf;
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
(2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

At what moment does this new creation begin in us? I can tell you: At the moment we confess our sins and turn to Jesus as the Lord and Savior of our lives. But let’s be clear: I’m not talking about a one-time dramatic conversion experience, though that can be important. I’m talking about intentionally choosing to follow Jesus each day, obeying his Word and trusting his Spirit to guide you in the decisions you make.

The New Creation begins each day as you turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. At what moment does it spread to others? At the moment you share your witness of faith with those around you, and they come to know Jesus Christ for themselves.

Yes, we live chronologically – twenty-four hours a day – yet, God gives us the possibility of experiencing the fullness of his grace and love in every moment of life, as we turn to him. No one knew this better than Richard Avery and Donald Marsh, who wrote this snappy little tune:

“Every morning is Easter morning from now on,
Every day is resurrection day, the past is over and gone;
Goodbye fear, goodbye guilt, good riddance, hello Lord, hello sun!
I am one of the Easter people, my new life has begun.”

Let me end with a simple question: When’s the best time to embrace Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life? You know the answer: There’s no better time than now, for this is the acceptable time; this is the day of salvation. Amen.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible.

Copyright 2014, Philip McLarty. Used by permission.