a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

ALL IN GOOD TIME (Ecclesiastes 3:1-15) Sunday, May 21, 2017 Series: Under the Sun: The Wisdom of Ecclesiastes, Message #5 - Summit EFC - Pastor Doug Corlew (Play song, Turn Turn Turn ) - In 1965, this song by the Byrds became an international hit. There s never been #1 song with older lyrics. It s based on Solomon s words in Ecclesiastes 3 To everything - turn, turn, turn; There is a season - turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under heaven A time to be born, a time to die; A time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal; A time to laugh, a time to weep (fade music) All the baby boomers are rockin out to that one! Pete Seeger wrote the song, because he liked Solomon s poem, but he wasn t necessarily a fan of the Bible as a whole. In fact, Seeger gave this text his own interpretation, by changing the last line: Instead of, a time for war, and a time for peace the song says, A time for peace, I swear it s not too late. But is Ecclesiastes 3 really a call for world peace? Or, as some say, is it a basis for relativism: that there are no moral distinctions to be made between war and peace, killing and healing, hating and loving? Others think Solomon is continuing his theme that life is meaningless. We have no control over the situations we face. There s a time for this and a time for that but there s nothing anyone can do about it. Today you re happy, celebrating someone s birthday, and tomorrow you may be crying at their funeral. Life is so random and unpredictable. Vanity of vanities; it s all so meaningless! But is that what Solomon means here, in 3:1-8? To give him a fair reading, we really should look to see if Solomon himself explains the meaning of his own poem, shouldn t we? Thankfully, that s exactly what he does in v 9-15. So let s turn to our Bibles and read the complete text. This is the Word of God from Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 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; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. 9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil this is God s gift to man. 14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away. 1

If we were inclined to see the events of v 1-8 as random or meaningless, v 9-15 brings just the clarity we need. Though God is not mentioned by name in the first 8 verses, He s mentioned 8 times in v 9-15! And as the focus shifts to God s role in the times and seasons of our lives, we see that circumstances don t just happen to us, God sends them to us. God is active in this world! He s in control of all things! So as His children, we have a new perspective on life: 1 st, we can TRUST THE PERFECTION OF GOD S TIMING. This is the emphasis in v 1-8. God is in control of time and whatever happens in time. This is evident from the very first verse: For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. According to the clear testimony of Scripture, the progression of your life, like the progression of history, is happening according to God s timetable. Isaiah 46:9-10 says, I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose. Apparently God has a very different perspective on time than you or me! I might be able to predict my schedule for the coming week, but I know it could change in an instant. God is saying, I m not like you people. I alone sit on top of time, all of it, from beginning to end. So I m never surprised or shocked or afraid by what happens. I m the one who decides what happens, and when it will happen, as I accomplish all My purposes. Ephesians 1:11 says believers in Christ have been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. All things! Jesus said, A bird doesn t even fall out of the sky apart from the will of My Father. Or how about Psalm 115:3 Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases. This is the God of the Bible. You may not like this about God, but this is what it means to be God! If He wasn t sovereign over all things, then He wouldn t be God. I like how the late preacher, J. Vernon McGee put it. He said, This is God s universe, and He does things his way. You may have a better way. But you don't have a universe. Get your own universe if you want to be God! The scope of God s sovereignty is emphasized in this famous poem of v 2-8. There are 14 contrasts made, which is twice the Biblical number of perfection 7. 14 pairs of opposites are set forth as a way to capture the totality of our lives. It s a literary technique: By mentioning birth and death, he means to include everything that happens in between. Weeping and laughing are polar opposites, in order to capture the whole spectrum of human emotion. So the poem is meant to be comprehensive. It covers the widest possible range of human experiences to show that God is the King of Time. He regulates our minutes and seconds, He rules over all our days And He s not haphazard, but very precise and intentional. We see it with the changing of seasons. There is a rhythm of creation that testifies to the orderliness of the Creator. Not just in the four seasons, but for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. I know this can be a hard truth to grasp or accept, because you ve experienced some things in life that you certainly wouldn t have planned or chosen for yourself. 2

It would be nice if this list was like a buffet line, and you could just take whatever you wanted onto your plate, and bypass the rest. A time to be born, and a time to die? I ll take the born part, I ll pass on the dying part. A time to weep and a time to laugh? Give me the laughter, please I like to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance? I m not much of a dancer, but it sounds better than crying. A time to embrace and a to refrain from embracing? I like hugs, but not too many, so I ll take both. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak? Same way, I want a little of both please. A time to love and a time to hate? Give me some love! A time for war and a time for peace? War? No thanks. I don t like conflict. I d much rather have peace: I swear it s not too late! But life doesn t work like that, does it? You don t get either/or, you get both. And you don t always get to choose your own proportions of each. God fills your plate with just the right amount of joy and sorrow in order to accomplish His purposes. If it was up to me, I d choose all the good things nothing that would bother me or hurt me or stretch me. But God loves us too much to let that happen. He knows we would become like self-centered, spoiled rotten children. We wouldn t grow to maturity in faith if we didn t face the struggles and hard times. We need the sunshine and the rain. So God decides who gets what and when. Many people don t want to bring God into v 1-8 because they prefer a God who s one-dimensional: They like to think of God giving life, but not appointing the time of death. They re good with God planting and building, but not uprooting and tearing down. Yet God is not either/or. He s both/and, depending on what time it is. True, God is love, but He hates proud eyes, lying tongues, hearts that devise wicked plans (Prv 6:17-19). True, Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but He s coming in righteousness to judge and make war (Rev 19:11). Many people have an unbalanced view of God, and we need the complete picture! At the right time, everything in this poem is fully in keeping with the character of God. Just think of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. There was a time for Him to be born. The Bible says, When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman (Galatians 4:4). And there was an appointed time for Him to die. He was untouchable until that day. They wanted to kill Him sooner, but Jesus kept saying, My hour has not yet come. But at the right time, Romans 5:6 says, Christ died for the ungodly. Everything Jesus did was on time. Sometimes He wept, sometimes He laughed. Sometimes He embraced; sometimes He kept His distance. Sometimes He spoke, other times He remained silent. To the day He died, Jesus knew the right time for everything. And so we too are called to make the best use of our time (Ephesians 5:16). We all have 24 hours in a day, no more, no less. But time can be a difficult thing to manage, so we need wisdom (v 15). As followers of Christ, we should know what time it is, so that we re living in sync with God s purposes. And as we strive to live wisely, we ll constantly be reminded that so much happens in life that s totally beyond our control. That s when we need to remember who is in control. Rather than getting impatient or critical of God, we should wait for His timing, and say with the psalmist 3

I trust in you, O Lord! My times are in your hand (Psalm 31:14-15). That s a good place for us to be! God will send us just what we need, when we need it. It might make us laugh, or it might make us cry. But God opens doors and He closes doors. He s never late, and He s never early. So we should live with confidence that God knows the right time for everything. And we should live our whole lives knowing there is a time for us to die. Scripture says All the days ordained for me were written in (God s) book before one of them came to be (Ps. 139:16). Martin Luther said, You cannot live any longer than the Lord has prescribed, nor die any sooner. Only God knows the time you will die, but I can tell you you re an hour closer than when you got here. Are you ready for your eternity? Whatever time it is now, this is a good time to give your life to Christ. When it comes to receiving the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus, there s no time like the present: Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Since God is in control, we can trust the perfection of His timing. And 2 nd, we can EMBRACE THE BEAUTY OF GOD S SOVEREIGNTY. 9-11 - What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Some people resent God s control over time and eternity; they would rather set their own agenda. But Solomon sees the beauty of God s sovereignty, and he s learning to embrace it. Notice what he says in v 11 - first, God makes everything beautiful in its time. Everything God does is right and pleasing and appropriate. That s good to know, because when we re grieving or suffering, it s hard for us to see or comprehend how this could be beautiful. If you re looking at a tapestry on a loom, from underneath all you see is a bunch of snarls and knots. But from above, you can see the beautiful pattern that s being made. In the same way, life under the sun often seems meaningless and confusing. We see so little of the huge tapestry God is weaving. But from God s point of view, something beautiful is forming. This is not to minimize the reality of evil or the awfulness of suffering. We live in a broken and fallen world. But even in the midst of tribulation or persecution or danger We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). God is forming us into the beautiful likeness of His Son. Of course, we can t step back far enough from our circumstances to see the eternal picture. But God is saying, You have to trust Me. You re too close to see the beauty of what I m doing. You re on the wrong side of the loom. But you need to be assured that I m for you, not against you! And I ll make everything beautiful in its time. v 11 also says that God has put eternity in our hearts. Do you know what that means? It means, all these joys and sorrows of life help us realize this life is not all there is. We re part of something bigger than we can fathom. The joys are just a foretaste of what God has planned for His children in heaven. And the sorrows remind us that sin has disrupted God s perfect creation, and it s not always going to be like this. God is going to redeem this world and make it new again. 4

Deep down, you know this. You can sense it. How do I know? Because God says so. He has placed eternity in your heart. You realize you re ultimately not in control of all the joys and sorrows, the weeping and the laughter. You re not in charge of your own fate. There is something bigger going on. You re part of God s eternal story. You were born with the craving for another world, a life with God that never ends. Unlike dogs or monkeys, we long to know and understand God, to see more of the pattern He s weaving. Yet, the verse goes on to say, we cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Have you been around a 3 year old recently? What s their favorite question? WHY? Why this, why that, why this? I don t think any parent can make it past the 4th why. You can answer patiently maybe three times, but then you become like your parents: Because I said so, that s why! That s just the way it is! Really, we never outgrow the why question. We want everything to fit into a neat system that our puny minds can understand. We want all our question marks to be turned into periods. But should we really expect to understand all the purposes of an infinitely wise Creator, who made the heavens and the earth? Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! (Romans 11:33). We d like to search out the unsearchable; we try to unscrew the inscrutable. But we can t find out what God is doing! The creature will not be equal to the Creator. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says, Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So one day we ll know what God has done from beginning to end or at least we ll know as much as He wants us to know. But until then, by faith, we can embrace the beauty of God s sovereignty. And that s not all we can do. Because 3 rd, we can LIVE JOYFULLY, IN THE FEAR OF GOD. That s v 12-15. Rather than being bitter that God hasn t allowed humans to comprehend all of reality, Solomon says 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil this is God s gift to man. So the Preacher is saying, Don t waste time with questions that are beyond your capacity to answer. Get busy and enjoy life. Go about your daily work with energy and enthusiasm, with gratitude to God for the pleasure of serving Him. It s not about wearing a fake smile even when we re not happy about the way things are going. But no matter what challenges we face, we can choose to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, like eating and drinking, and having work to do. And despite our circumstances, we can be glad that there is always a way for us to glorify God, as long as (we) live right to the very end of our lives. Imagine how much good we could accomplish in our lives simply by applying these verses! Think of the impact we could have for the kingdom of God if we approached every day with this kind of joy, this kind of hard work, and this much thanksgiving. Centuries ago, the great Scottish pastor Thomas Boston (1675-1732) said this to his congregation: Each generation has its work assigned by the sovereign Lord; and each person in the generation has his also. And now is our time. We could not be useful in the generation that went before us; for then we were not: nor can we be useful personally in that which shall come after us; for then we shall be off the stage. Now is our time: let us not neglect usefulness in our generation. 5

I don t know how old he was when he said this, but it looks like Thomas Boston left the stage when he was 57. And we may be off the stage sooner than we think. So let s not neglect usefulness in our generation. As Christians We are God s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10). So let s get busy, and serve the Lord with gladness, all our days. Live joyfully in the fear of God: 14 - I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. How does it affect you to know that God is in control and that His purposes can t fail? Does this cause you to give up, lose hope, or be discouraged? I hope not! The absolute sovereignty of God is meant to bring us to a sense of humble reverence and awe. How many times during the day do you check to see what time it is? What if, whenever you checked the time, you recalled there is a time for every purpose under heaven? What if every clock reminded us that God is sovereign over time and eternity, that He s in control, not us? That would be a good thing! And we would learn to fear Him. The fear of God is not about living in a state of fright or panic. The fear of God is one of the most positive concepts in the entire Bible. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7), and only a fool doesn t see this. In fact, when we get to the end of Ecclesiastes (12:13), we ll see that this is the point of the whole book: Fear God! Let God be God, and don t challenge His right to govern the universe as He sees fit. Keep His commandments, and you will flourish according to His design. He made you! To fear God is to live with reverence before His awesome power and might. To fear God is to rest in His sovereignty, believing that He knows everything about your life, and He s doing all things well. The fear of God is a trembling trust, knowing as v 15 says, That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away. That last phrase is difficult. The NIV translates it, God will call the past to account. So it could be a warning of the coming judgment. But this more literal translation in the ESV gives it a more positive sense that God is looking, as if to redeem the past: He seeks what has been driven away, not simply to render judgment, but to recover and restore! This is good news: No matter what has been in your life, despite all the wasted years and regrettable choices, I want you to know: the Lord Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the lost. The same God who put eternity into our hearts will make everything beautiful for His people, including things in our past that now seem to be lost or broken all in His good time. So let s trust the perfection of God s timing. Let s embrace the beauty of God s sovereignty. And let s live joyfully, in the fear of God. Amen. 6