Ecclesiastes 3:1-22
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INTRODUCTION:
Ecclesiastes chapter three, especially the first eight verses, is very well
known having been memorialized in song and poetry. But so often the point
of the passage is missed.
Solomon, as he now is in fellowship with God and looking back relating to
us his quest of seeking significance in the cellar of the secular takes
a break . . . and talks about the relationship we can have with God.
As he considers the spiritual rather than the secular, he makes FOUR observations:
1. God's perfect timing
2. God's absolute control
3. God's magnificent grace
4. God's eternal glory
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every
event under heaven:
A time to give birth, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to
uproot what is planted.
A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to tear down, and a time to build
up.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace,
and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search, and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep, and a time
to throw away.
A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together; A time to be silent, and
a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate; A time for war, and a time for peace.
This list must have driven Solomon crazy as he search for significance in
the cellar of the secular.
TWO THINGS BECOME VERY APPARENT IN light of the realities mentioned here.
1. If everything is a part of God's plan and has its right time, I must
not be as free as I thought.
Someone much larger than me is really calling the shots. The things that
will cause me to laugh or to cry, to go to war or to stay home at peace
are in the final analysis beyond my controllable circumstances.
Some of these and to some degree we can control these things, but remember
the three intrusions upon secular wisdom that we examined earlier . . .
death, evil, chance.
And everyone of these is susceptible to these intrusions.
2. The second equally devastating thought is that this list implies that
nothing I do is permanent.
The wrong conclusion would be that we should not build up because everything
in its time will be torn down. Why strive for peace when the next war is
just around the corner. Why be born if we will only die?
But that depressing conclusion need not be drawn by the child of God . .
.
LOOK AHEAD TO VERSE 11: God has made everything appropriate in its time
. . .
AND THAT IS THE KEY: God is in charge and in control and he loves you and
is good.
When we look at these eight verse we see some interesting contrasts:
1. God's plan includes our birth and death, both which are
out of our control.
2. We are told there is a time to build and a time to tear down what has
been built, reminding us that nothing is permanent.
3. We are reminded that mourning is proper in its proper time but then
that time ends and then comes a time to dance or celebrate.
I Thessalonians 4:13 That you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no
hope.
In verse 7 we are told there is a time to tear clothing which was part of
the Jewish ritual of mourning but then there is a time to sew together that
which was torn.
4. God's plan includes times of happiness as well as sorrow so do not be
surprised by circumstances in life that allow for these emotions.
5. In verse 6 we are told that God's plan includes profit and loss. Which
is an interesting contrast to the secular wisdom of Eccl 1:3 which said
What advantage (profit) does man have in all his work Which he does under
the sun?
This shows us that any profit is going to come because of our dependence
upon God and our part in His plan.
6. There is a proper time to speak as a part of God's plan and a proper
time for silence.
7. And there are times for war and times for peace.
When these words were made a part of the song Turn, Turn, Turn, the writer
did as what the secular world so often does, it TURNED the meaning all around
and ended with the question I hope we are not to late to stop the war?
But we find in the Bible that there is a time for war, and Jesus observed
that there would be wars and rumors of war until He returns at the second
advent.
However, we must chose our conflicts carefully. Knowing that living in a
fallen world means that there will be times of war and times of peace.
ALL THESE THINGS SHOW US that we are not as in control as we might think
and that we have a choice, depend upon the one who is in control and try
to be the captains of our own destiny in a sea of uncertainty and doubt.
Ecclesiastes 3:9-11
What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?
I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy
themselves.
He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity
in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has
done from the beginning even to the end.
Here we see what is permanent and what is not.
Remember back in chapter 1, verse 13 when Solomon accused God of giving
man an unfair and grievous task.
Well, here he has the task right.
The task is given by God to man: The only things of value in life is what
God gives to us. Even the material things of life, the enjoyable things
of life, the relationships we have the jobs we do are only of value when
given by God.
The things that are given by God are given according to His appropriate
timing,
The Hebrew word APPROPRIATE is YA-PA and looks at that which is beautiful.
Now beauty is in the eye of the beholder and this requires capacity on our
part.
With out capacity, which is developed with God in our relationship with
Him as we grow, we may not see the things of God as being beautiful.
With Him, we can look back over the list of contrasts and see that what
is giving by God according to His proper timing, is beautiful, YA-PA.
It is also God who has set eternity in our hearts without which (corrected
translation) man will not find out the works which God has done from the
beginning even to the end.
It is God who, at salvation, gives us something eternal and that is the
ministries of the Holy Spirit. In our dispensation this is the Spirit indwelling
us so that we can understand who God is and what He is doing.
A part from what God gives we cannot know God nor can we understand what
is going on in the world nor in our own lives.
Solomon has shown and will show the emptiness of man trying to figure God
out a part from what God gives to the believer.
Paul, in I Corinthians 2:9-10 and 12 echoes the principle: But just as it
is written, Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which
have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who
love Him. For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit
searches all things, even the depths of God . . . Now we have received,
not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might
know the things freely given to us by God.
PRINCIPLE: The God shaped whole in man will never be filled by anything
a part from what God gives.
Man tried to fill the void that is sensed in his soul with anything and
everything but there is still emptiness.
Ecclesiastes 3:12-15
I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to
do good in one's lifetime;
Moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor
-- it is the gift of God.
I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to
add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that
men should fear Him.
That which is has been already, and that which will be has already been,
for God seeks what has passed by.
Understanding the grace of God allows us to understand that all we have
is from him:
1. The capacity to rejoice
2. The ability to do good
3. To have good labor is a gift from God
4. That what God does remains forever, no one can ever take from you what
God does in you
5. The privilege of fearing, serving God
6. And God in His grace seeks us to return to Him
Understanding what we have seen thus far in Eccl chapter three allows us
to see that even though life is comprised of opposites, God is in control
and God is gracious and good.
Even things that seem to contradict, birth and death, profit and loss, mourning
and rejoicing, war and peace, work together for our good and God's glory.
Introducing Ecclesiastes 3:16-22
God's Eternal Glory:
In these last verses in chapter three, Solomon begins to take what he knows
of God back into the secular world.
He makes observations:
3:16 I have seen . . .
3:17 I said to myself . . .
3:18 I said to myself . . .
3:22 I have seen . . .
4:1 Then I looked . . .
4:4 I have seen . . .
4:7 I looked again . . .
In making these observations he concludes the futility of a life that sees
God's as irrelevant.
The best man can come up with a part from God still must deal with injustice,
death, and oppression.
And when these things hit, nothing will make sense apart from knowing that
God's eternal glory is ours through faith.
Ecclesiastes 3:16,17
Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice
there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.
I said to myself, God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,
for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.
Secular wisdom might also see injustice and try to correct it. However,
man is ill equipped to correct the problems of the sin nature and the resulting
problem of injustice.
Because we live in a fallen world with fallen men, injustice will be, has
forever been, a reality.
That is not to say that man should not strive for justice. God has given
to man the delegated authority to administer laws and regulate society.
But man will never achieve perfection . . . so injustice will always be
a problem
Often, secular man, in trying to correct one problem of injustice opens
up other problems of injustice. This is especially true on the federal level
in our country.
It is an injustice that children die from diseases that can be easily cure
or vaccinated against? Of course it is. But a federally regulated and mandated
health care system is not the answer. It just creates more injustice.
We used to talk about the bleeding heart liberal, who wants to correct all
of societies ills with more regulations and laws . . . won't work.
REMEMBER: Solomon was a king, his word was law. But he could not correct
the injustices he saw within his own nation.
MANY CHRISTIANS have fallen into lock step with this secular concept. They
think that if they could just bring back the OT law in its entirety (a part
from the sacrifices), all would be well. But that would create chaos and
chaos always brings about injustice.
SO WHAT ARE WE TO DO:
We put the matter into God's hands. We do not further injustice and we even
try to correct it when we can, but the final judge is God.
Psalm 37:12-13 The wicked plots against the righteous, And gnashes at him
with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him; For He sees his day is coming.
Ecclesiastes 3:18-22, Death as a Principle of the Eternal Glory of God:
Now death is the ultimate harsh reality for the person whose sole orientation
is to this life. Even for the believer death suggests pain and sorrow.
But if we go back to Solomon's statement in v 11 we see that even this is
appropriate in its time.
Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints.
Death is as much of God's provision as is life.
Ecclesiastes 3:18-20
I said to myself concerning the sons of men, God has surely tested them
in order for them to see that they are but beasts.
For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one
dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there
is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity.
All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.
If we are to limit our view of death to what the secular man has available
to him by way of wisdom we come up with one disturbing principle . . . both
man and animals end up as the dust of the earth.
So who can make that any different. Oh we know there are those who try to
cheat death by freezing their bodies or their heads but that is nothing
more than the foolishness of secular man.
Ecclesiastes 3:21
Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the
beast descends downward to the earth?
Now man certainly does not know. We nee only look at what man comes up with
when it comes to death and any possibility of life after death to see that.
We have everything from reincarnation to death being nothing but an eternal
void.
Whether man or beast, death, from our secular side, is death. Bodies decompose,
they go back to the dust.
So who knows? GOD KNOWS . . . So the question then becomes DO YOU KNOW THE
ONE WHO KNOWS?
Ecclesiastes 3:22
And I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy
in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what
will occur after him?
All the worry people do as they ponder death is really not necessary. Man
can never figure it out but the child of God who knows God and trusts God
puts his life and his death in God's hands.
Who will bring him to see what will occur after him?
Only God . . . and it will be art of his eternal glory for Him and for us.
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