Organizing the Christian Life | Churchy Habits part 1
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:15-21
What does it mean to “make the most of your time”?
Or, to use the King James, what does it mean to “redeem the time”?
That is the question we are going to spend the next several weeks answering together. Because this is Week One of a new series we're calling Churchy Habits. And before you check out on me because the word "churchy" is in the title, let me tell you what this series is not. This is not a series about doing more religious stuff so God will like you better. This is not a guilt trip about how you should be praying more, reading your Bible more, going to church more. This is definitely not me standing up here wagging my finger at you for 45 minutes.
What this series is about is this: If you are a follower of Christ — if you have surrendered your life to him — then your life has been redeemed. Christ has bought you back. And the question is, what does a redeemed life actually look like? How does a redeemed person spend their redeemed time?
That is where we're going. And I think by the time we're done today, you're going to have a framework that is genuinely useful. Not because I'm clever, but because God actually designed us for this. He designed us for time. He designed us for rhythm. And he designed us for his presence.
So let's get into it.
We are each given 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 52 weeks a year. What we don’t know is how many years we will have on this earth, but we do know we have some time. So, how should we spend that time?
It’s our most precious commodity. It is possible to gain more money, more land, more resources, more of just about anything, but it is not possible to gain more time.
Paul’s command to “look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise” comes at the end of his letter in which he has laid out the Gospel story and God’s redeeming work through Jesus Christ. Chapters 4-6 are the ethical mandates because Christ has redeemed us. God has made us holy, and so this is how we are to live as holy people. Holy living, apparently then, includes understanding how we use our time. We are to use it wisely.
The redeemed life is an organized life — organized not around productivity or performance, but around the presence of God.
And so, to begin our look at the habits of living as a Christian, it will be best to start with the priorities of the Christian.
Jesus says in Mark 12,
“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:29-31
If the two greatest commands are to love God and love people, then that seems like where we begin.
The Priority of Worship | Exodus 20:1-11
Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength simply means we love Him with our whole being—emotions, thoughts, and physical conduct. Our life becomes an act of worship that extends beyond simply Sunday morning.
Paul describes it this way in Romans 12,
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2
Our lives are sacrificed because of the mercies of God, but not in the pagan, human-sacrificial way of our unbelieving ancestors. They are living sacrifices. Our lifestyles, habits, hobbies, and time spent on this earth is to the glory of God. Paul says elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 10, “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
This is our spiritual act of worship.
Now, this certainly includes our Sunday worship. We will return to what we normally consider “worship” in a bit, but for now, I want to reiterate that our whole lives, Sunday to Saturday, are opportunities for worship.
Each moment we spend on earth is an opportunity for worship.
In the very beginning of the Exodus, when Moses goes to the top of Mt. Sinai to receive the Law from the Lord, the Lord begins the Law with the Ten Commandments. Before anything else can be addressed, the Lord lays out for Moses the Ten top priorities for Israel. The first four have to do with their relationship with God.
“No other gods before”
Love the Lord as first priority.
“Do not make a graven image, or bow to it”
Even man-made things can take God’s place.
“Do not take the Lord’s Name in vain.”
Be careful in how you invoke God’s Name.
Remember the Sabbath.
Pay attention to God’s presence and intentionally spend time in His presence.
Now, here's what I want you to see. A lot of times we read these as a checklist. Item one, check. Item two, check. Item three, check. Item four, check. And we move on. But I don't think that's how they're meant to be read. I think they're meant to be read in relationship with one another.
In fact, try reading them backwards.
If you actually keep the Sabbath — if you actually carve out intentional time in the presence of God — it becomes much easier to keep the third commandment. Because when you are regularly in God's presence, you become more careful about how you talk about him. You don't throw his name around carelessly because you actually know him. You've been spending time with him.
And if you're careful about how you talk about God, it becomes much easier to keep the second commandment. Because your language reveals your priorities. If you seem way more excited about your fantasy football team, or your favorite show, or whatever else is going on in your life, than you are about the God who created you and saved you and is preparing a place for you in eternity — well, that's worth paying attention to. It doesn't mean you can't be excited about things on this earth. It just raises the question: What would people say is the top priority in my life? What does my language reveal about my actual loves?
And if you're keeping the second and third commandments — if you're careful about what you elevate and how you talk about God — then keeping the first commandment becomes the natural outflow of all of it. The Lord really is first. Not just in theory. In practice.
So the fourth commandment — the Sabbath — is not just one item on a list. It is actually the foundation that makes all the others possible. When we intentionally, regularly, rhythmically spend time in the presence of God, everything else in our spiritual life gets easier.
Now. Let's talk about the second commandment for a moment, because I think it's the one that is most relevant to our lives today.
The commandment says, don't make a graven image and bow down to it. And when most of us read that, we think, "Well, I don't have any little golden statues in my house, so I'm good." And technically, yeah. You're probably good on the golden statue front.
But I want to ask you about something else.
Have you ever heard of a condition called "text neck"?
It's a real thing. It's that hunchback posture people are developing from being on their phones too much. When you're hunched over a screen — whether it's a phone or a laptop or a tablet — your head tilts forward, your shoulders round, and over time, your spine actually starts to curve. Doctors are seeing it everywhere now. It's becoming a genuine medical issue.
And I just think it's interesting that we have a name for the physical condition caused by bowing down to our devices, but I've never once heard anyone complain about "prayer neck."
Now, phones are easy to pick on because they are everywhere. They can be useful. I like mine. But the point is this: we all have things in our lives that compete for our attention, our affection, and our time. And some of those things — if we're not careful — can start to function like gods. Not because we bow our heads to them in a literal religious sense, but because they occupy the center of our mental and emotional real estate. Although, if you check out this illustration, you might find something very similar in these two postures.
<bowed heads illustration>
Show me how you spend your money and I'll show you your god. I've heard that my whole life, and I think it's true. But I'd add to it: Show me how you spend your time, and I'll show you your god.
So the question is not whether we have distractions. We all have distractions. The question is what we do about them.
But before you think this is the beginning of a guilt-trip, let me remind you of another reality.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.Psalm 139:7-10
There is nowhere we can go where the Lord is not there. These distractions and idols don’t actually take us away from God. He’s still very present with us. The problem is, they cause us to not pay attention to what God is doing right where we are. And this brings us right back to “redeeming the time because the days are evil.”
We "redeem the time” by organizing our week with the presence of God in mind.
How do I go to work knowing God is there?
How do I spend time with my kids knowing God is there?
How do I visit my neighbor or my family knowing God is there?
How do I go to the sports game, the movies, or whatever else knowing God is there?
The answers to these questions will include the second Great Commandment, love your neighbor as yourself, and we will address those in the following weeks. But as we consider how to plan for these evil days, let’s take another look at what it means to keep the Sabbath.
Enjoying the Sabbath Rhythms | Psalm 27:4
I’ve titled this section “Enjoying the Sabbath Rhythms” because I want to differentiate between a legalistic view of Sabbath-keeping and the biblical view. Legalism concerns itself with what you should or shouldn’t do, but the Bible concerns itself with relationship building.
Before we look at some practical ways, I want to pause for a moment to address this issue some of you may be facing as we look at this. Some of you have been in church long enough, you know exactly what I’m going to say next. If you were a teenager in the 90s and 00s, you are waiting for the buzz phrase—Quiet Time.
For some of you, a Quiet Time is a time of refreshment and spiritual nourishment. For others, however, it became a chore at some point. You were told to do it. You may have had parents that made you do it. And as with most things our parents make us do, it leaves a bitter taste in our mouths even thinking about it.
And so, the quiet time becomes something else than enjoyable. They read their Bible. They say their prayers. They may even sit for a minute or so in silence. But for some reason, they don’t hear from God. So they ask, “Is He listening? Does He care? What was the point of all this again?”
Let me be clear. He is listening. He does care. The point is that God truly desires for you to know His presence, power, and passion for you. The following are ways to help cultivate Sabbath rhythms in your life. They are not a checklist. They aren’t a scientific method. They are guidelines for growth.
Keeping the Sabbath is part of God building His relationship with His people.
In fact, the “keeping” in “keeping the Sabbath” is the same verb that is used for “keeping sheep” or “keeping the law.” Another way to translate it could be “shepherding” or “cultivating.” We are called to cultivate the law in our lives which includes cultivating the Sabbath.
We are called to cultivate our time with God in our Sabbath keeping.
Where do we include our relationship with God during our days and weeks?
This reason is why Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man and not the other way around. God not only designed the three-dimensional space we call “Earth” or “The Universe,” but He also designed the 4th dimension of Time. Time has order. There are specific moments of time we call “seconds,” and each group of seconds builds into minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. Within these groups there are cycles that play out moment by moment, and learning when to do what during these moments is part of the human life.
We learn to sleep at night and play at day.
We learn to prepare for cold weather in fall and prepare for hot weather in spring.
We help small children in their earliest years prepare for their older years.
We know when the frost leaves, it is time to prepare for planting, and we know to keep watch as fall approaches in order to harvest before it is too late.
All of life can be characterized by these cycles of the years. Within each cycle is a period of preparation. Before we do the activity, we prepare for it.
One day, our time on this earth will be complete. Whether it is when our bodies give up, and they are laid in the ground, or Jesus returns. Either way, there is an end.
How are we preparing for this new season of life? The eternal season.
The Sabbath is part of that preparation. It is the regular, rhythmic practice of orienting ourselves toward eternity. It is how we keep from getting so absorbed in the temporary that we forget the eternal.
First, let’s begin with a daily Sabbath—the daily offerings we read about in Numbers 28.
Get rid of the distractions.
The main reason we don’t spend time with God is because we have a thousand other things competing for our attention. Turn off the phone. Turn off the tv. Put the kids to bed (or wake up before them). When you begin, begin in prayer stating the things that you are worried about. That way you can lay them at the feet of Jesus and ask Him to remove those distractions as you pray.
Use enjoyable texts for your devotion time.
Spending time with God is actually supposed to be enjoyable, not a chore. If you are reading from the Bible and in a particularly difficult to understand (or just boring) part, find somewhere else to read from. If you’ve picked up a devotional that isn’t holding your attention, put it down and just pick up the Bible. Some of my favorite devotions are done in the Psalms. They draw me into a time of worship and quiet reflection of Who God is.
Use more difficult texts for your study time.
Spending time with God is also educational. When your devotion time turns to study time, this is when more difficult texts come into play. Use this time of stretching your mind as a time of worship. My favorite devotions are in the Psalms, but some of my greatest moments of worship come when a new lightbulb goes off in my head. One of my absolute favorite things is when God shows me a new connection or some new application of Scripture.
We serve an infinite God. Don’t be surprised when He reveals something new to you.
Pick a time you can commit.
Some of you are morning people. If I say wake up 30 minutes early for your daily Sabbath, you say ‘sure.’ Some of you are night people. If I say wake up earlier, I’ve already lost you. Whatever time of day you can commit, do that. Maybe it’s over lunch. Whatever works for your day, do that. There are no spiritual brownie points for having your Sabbath time at a particular time.
Now, for the weekly Sabbath, the principle is still the same. We must plan for it. We cannot cultivate a weekly Sabbath by accident any more than we can cultivate a garden by accident. But there is another principle that I believe is very important, and it is usually missed in this conversation.
The daily Sabbath is for individual growth. The weekly Sabbath is for community growth.
The Sabbath day was the day of the week in which all of Israel ceased from work—even the foreigner traveling through the country, the slave, and the kids. All of Israel was to spend this day in worship and rest.
Today, the principle is much the same. As a community of believers, we are to cease from our labors and spend the day in worship and rest. Again, this takes purposeful planning. So, here are your guidelines for growth for weekly Sabbath.
Commit to Sunday on Monday.
I’ve heard it said, “The decision to go to church Sunday is made on Saturday night.” That’s true, but I would push even further. Plan your week around Sunday. Whatever chores are needed, whatever your job requirements are, and whatever distraction or excuse pops up, make Sunday worship the priority.
This may require saying ‘no’ to some things—possibly even important things. But what is the most important thing? I’m aware of the myriad of reasons why someone may miss a single Sunday. It’s not about every single Sunday. It’s about what is the pattern in our life? Is our pattern “I’ll go, if I can” or “I almost always go.”
Prepare for Sunday on Saturday.
It’s always the last minute things that keep us from following through with our commitments. Sometimes, it may just be poor decisions made the night before. If we spend our Saturday doing foolish things, especially long into the hours of the night, we can’t be to surprised when we can’t wake up for church. But even if it’s just matters of child-raising, or again the myriad of things that life throws at us, sometimes we just need to prepare a little more. If you mess up one week, don’t beat yourself up. Take stock in what happened, and ask yourself how you can do better next week.
Enjoy Sunday.
This last one sometimes is hard because we’ve spent so much work getting here, we can forget that we are supposed to be enjoying ourselves. It’s worship after all! Sing, fellowship, meet someone new, hug an old friend, but most of all, remember that in coming together, God promises to show up, too! We can enjoy the presence of the Lord together!
I want to close with one more piece of Scripture, because I think it captures everything we've been talking about in a way that is more beautiful than anything I could say on my own.
Psalm 27, verse 4. David writes:
One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.Psalm 27:4
One thing.
Not a list. Not a checklist. Not a to-do system. One thing.
David — the man after God's own heart, the king of Israel, the warrior, the poet, the man with more responsibilities and more enemies and more complications in his life than most of us could imagine — David's one thing is this: I want to be in the presence of God. I want to gaze upon his beauty. I want to dwell with him.
That is the Sabbath. That is what all of this is pointing toward. Not a rule to follow. Not a habit to perform. An invitation to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord — to stand, or sit, or kneel in his presence and experience the joy that comes from simply being there with him.
And here's the thing about this invitation. It's not just for the people who have been in church their whole lives. It's not just for the people who already have a quiet time routine and a small group and their whole week organized around Sunday. It's for the person who walked in here today and isn't sure they believe any of this. It's for the person who grew up in church and walked away and is cautiously, tentatively making their way back. It's for the person who has a thousand reasons why God probably doesn't want them in his presence — because of what they've done, or where they've been, or who they've been.
Jesus invites you to know him and to be present with him.
If you have never experienced the presence of God — if that sounds like a foreign concept to you, something that other people have but you've never found — I want to invite you today to simply ask. Ask him to make himself known. Ask him to show up. That is exactly why Jesus came. That is exactly what the cross and the resurrection made possible.
And if you're not sure what that even means, or what that even looks like, I want you to know that you can talk to me. You can fill out the connection card in front of you. You can use the QR code or the website. You can grab me after the service. Any of those work. I don't care which one. I just care that you know the door is open.
The redeemed life is an organized life — organized around the presence of God.
He is present. He is beautiful. He is worth every moment you give him.
Let's pray