Beginning prayer: Lord it’s once again time to give the message that you’ve laid on my heart. I think you for it. Now, will you open the minds and hearts of the people that are sitting in the pews today and hearing my voice? Send that Sweet Holy Spirit to teach us once again. To make the lot the words on the page come to life and leap in our heart. Let us be changed in an instant and more like Jesus. Help me to hide my emotions and my expressions and totally submit myself to you. Let my utterance be your utterances. Hide me behind Jesus Christ and let him shine through this morning. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen!
God created the world and everything in it on His timetable. He made the Earth for man and the animals for his food pleasure. Today, we need to ask ourselves how do we use the time God has given us? Do we waste time on ungodly habits or do we use are time wisely for the Lord?
We are each given 24 hours of time. God makes the Sun to shine and the moon to rise. Some of us carry around our calendars on our phones, some of us still use date books; while some of us use lists. I happen to be a list maker and I find great satisfaction in checking off my list. However, God does not want to be something I check off, but he must be what everything revolves around. So, if we pull out our calendars, datebooks, and lists – can we conclude that most of our activities are centered around our Father’s business? Do our daily schedules include any time for study or devotions? How about prayer? How about visiting the poor, sick, or destitute? Does it at least list Bible Study on Wednesday nights and church on Sunday?
This verse begins a familiar passage in Ecclesiastes, which teaches that there is a time for all important parts of our lives: work and play, mourning and joy, activity, and calmness, building and resting. Know that these rhythms are important and know that God is behind every phase of our lives. We seem to read this section of scripture in a melancholy way, that we should be addressing this section by pulling her hair out. The teacher wrote the in extreme distress over this issue of time. Even though, there is a time and a place for all of these events, God has planted the thought of eternity into our hearts.
I would’ve adventure to say that most of us think that eternity begins when this timeline ends. I can picture a timeline that at the end has arrows and it just continues on and on, but God’s Type of eternity should not be pictured this way! We need to understand that eternity is erasing the timeline altogether. Eternity it has nothing to do with our clock system. This is one reason why, we should be frustrated, because we know that we were meant to live above and beyond this resource of time. When we receive our eternal bodies we will be escaping time altogether. This thought of eternity and time is proven in The way God represent himself. In scripture, God says: “I am the God who is.” God is eternal!
As we open the book of Ecclesiastics, we are saying that king Solomon is talking about the monotony of life. King Solomon tells us that a life outside of Christ is meaningless. Without God we try to fill a void in our life with happiness. We look to things and pleasures of this world in hopes of reaching Joy, but Joy is a product of the Holy Ghost and if you’re not one of God’s children you’ll never be able to achieve it and hold onto it.
As we dive into chapter 3 we see that King Solomon was focused on time. And aren’t we so today? We take courses in school called time management. We always fill our time with meaningful activities and doctors’ appointments and such, we even keep track using a calendar. Today, the schools provide each student with what they call an agenda. Here, in church we have a church calendar. The clock was invented in the 14th century; which, was supposed to help us, but did it? I found myself being a slave to the clock. There’s a time to get up, there’s a time to go to bed, there’s a time to eat, there’s a time to cook, time to clean, time to get the kids after school bus, time to preach, time to study, and it just goes on and on. My schedule seems to be an endless list of tasks. Therefore, the most meaningful activities in this life, is when I serve the Lord.
King Solomon in verses one through eight is explaining that life has seasons.
Ecclesiastes (King James Version). “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Here, and first one he begins by explaining that in our life we have different seasons. Then, he begins to list the different seasons according to what he has seen.
This list – describing the different seasons and facets of life – is beautiful. Yet it also casts a dark shadow, because it reminds us of the inevitability of trouble and evil, and of the relentless monotony of life.
“His ceaseless reiteration of the words, ‘A time … a time … a time,’ are intended to indicate his sense of the monotony of all things, rather than of their variety.” (Morgan)
“The repetition of ‘a time …, and a time …’ begins to be oppressive. Whatever may be our skill and initiative, our real masters seem to be these inexorable seasons: not only those of the calendar, but that tide of events which moves us now to one kind of action which seems fitting, now to another which puts all into reverse.” (Kidner)
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A bad facet answers each good facet. The Preacher understood that though there are good things in life, the bad things can’t be escaped.
- “Birth and death, the boundaries of life under the sun, are mentioned first.” (Wright)
- A time to kill: “Significantly, the Hebrew word used here for ‘to kill,’ is ot the word reserved for murder in the sixth commandment, where premeditation seems to be in view.” (Wright)
- A time to dance: The Purity commentator John Trapp seemed to be wary of this time. “Here is nothing for mixed immodest dancings…. Where there is dancing, there the devil is, saith a Father: and cannot men be merry unless they have the devil for their playfellow? Dancing, saith another, is a circle, whose centre is the devil, but busily blowing up the fire of lust, as in Herod, that old goat.” (Trapp)
- A time to cast away stones: In the ancient world they commonly scattered stones on an enemies’ land to hinder farming.
- The poetic quality of the list shows that even the tragic, dark aspects of life can be artfully – and powerfully – presented.
- This list also shows us the need to take full advantage of the time God gives us (Ephesians 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil., Colossians 4:15). “Many a man loseth his soul, as Saul did his kingdom, by not discerning his time. Esau came too late; so did the foolish virgins. If the gale of grace be over-past, the gate shut, the drawbridge taken up, there is no possibility of entrance.” (Trapp)
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up
A time to kill : – could be a time of war, because thou shal not kill! It could also mean harvest time. For example, I live on a farm and there is a certain time to slaughter animals and harvest plants.
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
Dancing sometimes accompanied religious sere-monies, as when David brought up the ark (2 Samuel 6:14, 16). Ecclesiastes 3:4
For further explanation I would like to consider how knowing God and being saved turns our morning into dancing. Check out Psalm 30:11
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to cast away stones could refer to building. Clearing the land and so forth. It could also mean casting out the good and the bad for building or construction. I think of all the times that they built altars in the Bible and selected certain stones for the project.
Embracing refers to our relationships with each other and with God.
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
King Solomon was perhaps referring to the Lord’s paradox “whosoever will (wills to) save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). I also think of practical things too here. Like my closet, there is a time to get new items and a time to shed new items. There is a time to give and there is a time to receive. There is a time God takes and there is a time God gives.
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
The words are commonly connected with the practice of rending the garments as a sign of sorrow and sewing them up again when the season of mourning past and men return to the routine of their daily life.
- Genesis 37:29; New International Version
When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.
- Genesis 37:34; Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.
- Genesis 44:13; At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.
There is also times that we need to speak out at Christians. We have been sitting to long on certain issues.
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. We have a Godly hate. We hate sin and its destruction.
We see the seasons of weather come and go. I feel the monotonous of it because I cannot change it. Sometimes, like today, Winter seams to drag on. Apart from God there is a helplessness to it. As believers in Christ, we have a better understanding of theses things. Because of God’s severity, we understand that time is short. We understand that God knows the beginning from the end. We understand that there is a bigger picture then what we can see. Although, It is not easy to learn to yield to it. God rarely moves as fast as I want him too. I get that my timetable is not God’s, but we have to learn to surrender and to wait. How many times did David wait on God in the book of Psalm? We have to understand that God has a sovereign plan. We are waiting for God’s wisdom to play out. We hopefully, come to a place, where we rest in God’s timing. We hopefully, come to a place, that we realize and accept that God is in control. -because this gives us rest. I think about being in charge of a party and going to a party. Sometimes, I can rest when someone else is in charge. -Us as Christians can rest in Jesus Christ.
We look at time differently than what God sees time. We look at our lifetime and consider it to be long and vast, but it is but a vapor scripture tells us. We are here today, and we are gone tomorrow. So, what we do with our time is very important. This week, the Holy Ghost wants us to investigate how we spend our time. If you keep an agenda or a schedule, we need to look at it last week and allow the Holy Ghost to dictate a new vision for this week.
Then, in verse 9 king Solomon asks a question. Here is his question: “What do workers gain from their toil?” We as humans do seem to throw ourselves into our work. Our work becomes the most important thing in our life. So, apart from God what is the meaning to life? We work, and we work, and we work some more for our salary. This wage provides for our needs and some of our wants, but the money runs out soon and there really isn’t any goal met in eternity.
Then, King Solomon says the following: verse 10 “I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.” Here, he seemed to question yes this labor is a burden. Is it stealing time that should be driven at laying treasures up in heaven. How should we balance our time? If we were to look at our calendar, or if someone would pick up our calendar, with they see we do for ourselves or
Would they find evidence that we are a children of God?
Verse 11 says: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end(I)”
As humans, we can’t understand God‘s timetable. We understand the clock in our limit on time, but we can’t fathom eternity.
First 12, is kind of, king Solomon‘s conclusion of the matter. Verse 12 says the following: “12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.”
So, for our neighbors that are nonbelievers or who have not been saved this as is as good as it gets. Their happiness comes from working and pleasure. They take the money from their occupation and have as much fun as they can, because they have no understanding of eternity. They have no promise of eternity. After this life there is either heaven or hell. If they did not accept Jesus Christ and continue in his word; then, hell will be your eternal home. I’m so thankful that I worship what is real today and that he gives me an abundant life. I’m so thankful that when this jig is up I’ve traded up.
Verses 12,13, and 14 remind me of the song by Bobby McFerrin: “Don’t Worry be happy!”
versus 13 and 14, of the Ecclesiastics chapter 3, reads as follows: “13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the agift of God. 14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be afor bever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.”
I wonder if this song writer got the idea from King Solomon? I doubt it, but the world teaches us that being happy is the most important thing in life. And for the unsaved the here and now is all I have. But we know, happiness is only for a short period of time. Joy is the product or the gift of the Holy Ghost. To experience true joy you must be a son or daughter of the king. He must be reborn.
King Solomon talks about the unsaved and saved in the scripture. That does not confuse me, because today we have men and women, who are atheist, but acknowledge God in their life. In other words, we have plenty of people who profess Christianity, but they are not practicing it.
They are practical atheist, because they live their day-to-day lives I have a sense of the father, but their mind tells them that there is a God. Occasionally, they will mention the name of God, but they are not trusting in him, they are not living for him, and they do not have a personal relationship with Christ. They do not yield to the spirit and they do their own thing. Therefore, they are disobedient and happiness in life is their goal.
Then, back to 15 It says the following:.
Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.
So, King Solomon sees that history just repeats itself. Whatever has happened will happen again. And if you use this all as under the sun, because it is separate from God.
Now, verse 16 says the following: “16 And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment— (like court) wickedness was there,in the place of justice— (like church) wickedness was there.”
Here, we see King Solomon explaining the world. We have people in the world that will acknowledge there is a God and maybe there is a heaven. They will say things like the following: “well, if there is a heaven, perhaps God will look at my life and see there is more good than bad and will let me in.”
But they do not live their life as if there will be a judgment. King Solomon acknowledges their vagueness, but stands firm on the fact that judgment is coming.
Let’s move on to the ESV version for the next section, because it’s titled: From Dust to Dust
(ESV) “17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. “
King Solomon, understood the animal kingdom and today scientist explained that humans are beasts also. Scientist say that we are top of the food chain, but no matter our status in the world we are all judged by one judge.
Verse 18 says: “18 I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts.”
Humans can be very vulgar and destructive. Our human nature can be like that of a beast. If we are not God’s children we are more wasteful and we do not care about the environment. Absent from the Lord, it is all about me, myself, and I.
19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.
20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.
21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?
The ones that do not know God are at a true disadvantage. Their eyes are shut and they cannot see the things of the light. For them, life under the sun, just ends. Sometimes, they do not believe that their life is more important than the life of an animal. Which, this kind of thinking leads you down a psychological understanding that is not good.
For us as believers, we realize that we were created in the image of God. We realize that our life has worth and value. We realize that each person is created with unique gifts and talents. This creates a psychological thinking that aligns with wellness.
So, we have reached verse 22 and again king Solomon reaches the same conclusion. For the unsaved man, absent from God, the goal is happiness.
“22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?”
For the world, the grave is it, your legacy is it, your happiness is what is most important. For the Christian, your relationship and connection to God is important. Following the direction of the Holy Ghost is one goal. Laying up treasures in heaven is the goal, because these things will last in eternity. Everything that is under the sun has a arrival date and a departure date. Just read the food labels. It says: “best if used by such and such date.” As a Christian, when this body dies, our souls do not have an expiration date. The soul simply trades places.
We live in this upside down world. I find if I chase life that I actually lose life. I found if I chase happiness I actually get sorrow. I found the faster I move the more time runs faster. So, let’s chase the Lord, let’s seek his face, and let’s do his will.
