November 10, 2019

A purpose for everything under the sun

Preacher:
Series:
Passage: Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
Service Type:

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
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