The sermon opens Ephesians 5:15-17, read in preparation for the Lord's Supper: "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." The preacher begins with a recent news story: three weeks earlier, four thieves broke into the Louvre in broad daylight and, in barely four minutes, made off with jewels historians consider priceless. The point of the illustration is urgency — a wake-up call. Ephesians 5:15 issues the same kind of alarm to believers: watch carefully how you live. The word rendered "look carefully" means far more than passive awareness; it is a command to stop drifting with the current of the world and instead pay deliberate, vigilant attention to one's manner of life.

The sermon ties this command to what precedes it. Because verse 15 begins with "therefore," it reaches back to verse 14 — "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you" — and further back to the church's identity as those who were once darkness but are now light in the Lord, made alive purely by grace and the Spirit's power. Precisely because Christ has already given this new life, believers are now called to respond: watch how you walk. The contrast is between the "unwise" (foolish, in Indonesian "bebal") and the "wise" ("arif"). The preacher illustrates this with a conversation with a young man who confessed that faith in God felt "irrelevant" to his life, attending church only out of family obligation. Pressed on what he considered truly valuable, the young man could not say faith was worth pursuing, yet also admitted he had no proof that success or wealth would deliver the fulfillment he assumed. The sermon likens this uncertainty to Adam and Eve in Eden: the serpent promised that eating the forbidden fruit would not bring death but would open their eyes; they could not know the outcome except by disobeying, and by then it was too late — like jumping from a high building to test whether the fall is fatal. Scripture's warning must be heeded in advance, not tested empirically after the fact.

The sermon turns to Romans 12:2 — "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind" — to reinforce that the world is not neutral; drifting with it inevitably conforms a person to it. This leads into the reason given in verse 16: "because the days are evil." The days are evil because the world remains fallen, and Ephesians 6:12-14 is brought in to show that the church's struggle is against spiritual forces of evil, requiring the full armor of God. The preacher applies this pastorally to conflicts within church life — disputes, gossip, wounded feelings, and division that the sermon notes have occurred in this congregation's own history and in sister churches. Left unspoken and unresolved, small offenses compound into large fractures, because sin crouches at the door (echoing Genesis 4) ready to be exploited by the enemy whenever believers rely on their own wisdom instead of God's. Wisdom, the sermon insists, is inseparable from understanding God's will as revealed in Scripture, supremely embodied in Christ, "the true and greater Solomon," whose responses to the Pharisees, sinners, betrayers, and Pilate model wisdom in action — a theme the congregation is currently exploring further in a parallel study of Proverbs.

The sermon then explains that "making the best use of the time" is better translated "redeeming the time," using the Greek concept of kairos (a decisive, non-repeatable opportunity) rather than chronos (mere sequential time). Illustrations include buying a neighboring property at auction and the Greek image of time personified as a bald figure with a single forelock — graspable only as it approaches, impossible to seize once it has passed. Psalm 90:12, "teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom," reinforces that a wise life reckons seriously with time's brevity and refuses to waste the opportunities God gives, including opportunities to serve, to attend training such as the upcoming regional conference, and to do good to others per Galatians 6:10.

The sermon closes with Galatians 1:4: Christ "gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father." Christ himself is the ultimate example of wisdom regarding time, laying down his life at precisely the appointed hour and declaring "It is finished." Because believers have been rescued from this evil age and now belong to God, they are called to live wisely, watchfully, and intentionally as they approach the Lord's Table, remembering Christ's death until he comes again.

Bible Verses Used

• Ephesians 5:15-17: the central text commanding careful, wise living and the redeeming of time because the days are evil.

• Ephesians 5:14: the preceding call to "awake" and be shone upon by Christ, grounding the "therefore" of verse 15.

• Romans 12:2: cited to show that failing to watch carefully leads to being conformed to the pattern of the world.

• Ephesians 6:12-14: used to explain why the days are evil — the church's struggle against spiritual forces requires vigilance and God's armor.

• Genesis 3 / Genesis 4 (background allusion): Adam and Eve's uncertainty before disobeying, and sin "crouching at the door," illustrate the danger of testing sin rather than heeding God's warning in advance.

• Psalm 90:12: the prayer to "number our days" is applied as the heart of wise, time-conscious living.

• Galatians 6:10: cited on doing good "while we have opportunity," reinforcing the kairos theme of redeeming time.

• Galatians 1:4: closes the sermon, showing Christ's self-giving deliverance of believers from "the present evil age," the ground for living wisely as those already rescued.