November 10, 2019

A purpose for everything under the sun

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

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