A purpose for everything under the sun
Bible Text: Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 | Preacher: Andrew Love | Series: Special Services | Introduction
Considering the first 8 verses of this chapter – a poem
War
Reflects the darker side of human nature
It is a great evil
It should make us ask questions
The cycle of life
We need to understand what these things mean
A time for every purpose under heaven – v1
Not just meaningless
God has made everything beautiful in its time – v11
No one can find out God’s work – v11
God is active in our world
He is Sovereign
We are called to trust Him
Overview: looking at the couplets – v2, v3, v4, v5, v6-8
What is the purpose in these areas of life?
Birth and Death
Do you ever ask questions about your birth? – examples
We live in a time of peace
There is much improvement …
… but there is much suffering and evil
There is a time to die
God has appointed this time
We are called to apply our hearts to wisdom
Most people don’t want to consider death as they don’t want to consider God
Acts 17:26-27
We are made to seek God
Yet He is not far from us
There is a lifespan
What do we do with our lives? – examples
We acknowledge God’s common grace, but …
… life is knowing our maker
Ecc 12:1
We must pray for ourselves and our children
Ecc 12:6
Remember God before the end of your life
Have you really considered your Maker?
Do you understand who God is?
Do you know the God of the Bible? – explanation
There was a time for the Son of God to be born and to die
That God would send forth Jesus Christ to be born – that He would mysteriously take on flesh
In the fullness of time Jesus Christ came
He put Himself under the law of God and kept this law perfectly
He knew there was a time when He would die
He had full control over His birth and His death
He offered Hie life freely
He liberated this world
He came to destroy the works of the devil to reconcile us to God
Have you had your sins dealt with?
Destruction and Restoration
There is a time for killing and healing – destruction and restoration
There is a time to kill – example of self defense, judicial systems
There is no beauty in the evil act of killing
There is beauty when some gives their life for another
God permits men to continue in their ways
He does not treat them as robots
Example of Joseph
God can bring healing after a time of killing
He restores and renews all who come to Him in repentance
There is a time for breaking down and building up
Jerusalem – explanation
There is a time to break down and build up
God is sovereign
Often when people are in a state, they turn to God
Things are not random
God orders all things
Weeping and Laughing
There is a time for weeping and laughing
Jesus Christ wept over Lazarus, over Jerusalem
Life is not a ‘laugh a minute’
Ecc 7:2-4
At death – this is when people really think, when people really question what life is about
When we have mourned our sin and repented, we enter into the kingdom of heaven
There is a time to mourn and dance
Example of King David
Rejecting and Embracing
There is a time for casting and gathering stones
To prepare a field, to build a wall
Stones can be a help or hindrance
There is a time to embrace or restrain
It can be right or wrong at different times
Examples
Do we embrace things we ought not to?
Sin spoils how we act
We are called to be like Christ – the perfect man
Do not embrace as the world does
Inpermanence
There is a time for gaining and losing
We cannot hold onto ‘the moment’ – examples
There is a time for keeping and throwing away / tearing and sewing
This is life
Where is security and permanence?
Where are things that really matter? – example
It is the things of God that matter
Other things are transient
Relationship and Society
There is a time for silence and speaking
In the multitude of words is much sin
There is a time to be silent
Example of Jesus Christ
There is a time to speak
For the defenceless
A word in season
To edify and help
There is a time to love and hate
God hates sin – examples
God loves – examples
Jesus Christ loved righteousness and hated lawlessness
What about us?
Do we love what is right and hate that which is evil?
We can only do this in God
There is a time of war and peace
War – shows there is something desperately wrong with the world
God can use wars
God’s common grace
Peace
We can only truly have this through Jesus Christ
Closing Remarks
We have considered this poem of opposites
Actions and attitudes that seem to be contrary
God has a purpose
God has made everything beautiful in its time
We are to seek God’s purposes in all things
Ecc 12:13-14
We are to fear the living God
We are to keep His commandments
We must come to God through Jesus Christ
Example of Jacob Shazer
May we serve only Jesus Christ in all the experiences of our life