We'll read beginning at verse 1. For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break 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 cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to seek, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to tear, and a time to sew. A time to keep silent, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate. A time for war, and a time for peace. What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time And also, He has put eternity into man's heart, so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceive that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. Also, that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. That is God's gift to man. I perceive 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. That which is already has been. That which is to be has already been. And God seeks what has been driven away. God's very word to us. Time. Time. How do you feel about time? At this particular point in time, how do you feel about time? Do you feel like you don't have enough of it? Sometimes frustrated because of it, right? If there were only more hours in the day. Or maybe you feel like time is slowed to a crawl because you're looking forward to something and it never seems to get here. I can't wait until or when is it going to be my time? Or maybe you just shake your head and say, where did the time go? Maybe you have a sense of urgency about the next day, the next week, the next month, right? I've got to make the most of the time. Or maybe there's kind of a nostalgic sense. Remember when Or maybe there's a fear. I really hope this time never comes. How do you feel about time? Time, it's a strange thing. We can't escape it. It brings all sorts of emotions, the whole spectrum of emotions and responses into our lives. It's a key element of life here under the sun. And for the author of Ecclesiastes, a key stop on the Ecclesiastes bus tour. If you weren't with us, this was several weeks ago how we described the book of Ecclesiastes. It's like a bus tour. The one who names himself the preacher is like the tour guide, the bus driver, who drives us around and shows us various stops. The purpose being to show us a guided tour of life here under the sun. as the author likes to put it. Life under the sun. That's life down here. Life where things are real and often hard. Life where it hurts and we're disappointed and where people sin against us and it gets frustrating and there's loss and people die. Life under the sun. And you might recall the preacher's conclusion. as he thinks about life under the sun and wrestles with it, the question, well, is this it? Is this everything? Is it just life under the sun? And his conclusion, he states right from the beginning, the bottom line of the tour of life under the sun, vanity of vanities. All is vanity. It's like a striving after wind, he concludes. For if this is it, it's just life under the sun, then this world is, well, it's frustrating and fleeting. It's maddening and meaningless. And to prove his point, the author takes us on a kind of bus tour, showing us various aspects of life under the sun. We've already visited a couple of those. We've talked about the search, the quest for knowledge and wisdom. And we talked about the hunt for pleasure of all different sorts. We talked about work and labor and accomplishments. And at each point of those stops, we've seen that if this is it, well, it is frustrating. It is maddening. It is vanity. None of those things satisfy. Well, here in chapter three, Preacher pulls the bus over again and shows us something else about life under the Sun time Times and seasons and he wants us to wrestle with it where where did that leave us under the Sun and Again, we'll come to a to a hard difficult conclusion there is hope when it comes to time and But before we are pointed the way through the scriptures, we have to wrestle with the frustration and the futility. Time. There's some trouble with time. There's some frustration with time. The first eight verses really sets the tone for that. They're probably the most famous passage in the book of Ecclesiastes, this great poem about time. The first glance, the first read through it, it almost sounds kind of soothing. I mean, after all, it is quite beautiful poetry in its form and its structure. It's beautiful. And so you kind of read it quickly and you think, oh, it has kind of a soothing feel to it, perhaps. Maybe this is something we should read for comfort at a funeral. Or maybe we'll turn it into a nice 60s folk song that we talk about peace to hippies. And maybe that's what this kind of thing is for. But we read a little more carefully. little more closely and we realize that the poem isn't meant to soothe it's meant to be jarring that fits in with the whole theme of the book that shouldn't surprise us because that's where the author has been all along that life under the Sun isn't very soothing in fact it's very jarring and in fact in here in chapter 3 The passage I read, of course, all one passage. There's not that little paragraph break that you have in your English Bible. That wasn't there as the preacher first wrote it. But here, even picking up on that language of frustration that he used in chapter one, verse nine is almost verbatim, a verbatim question. What gain has the worker from his toil? It's a question of frustration. Right after the great poem is, what gain? from all that we toil with. And you go and look at the poem itself, and you start to take it in. sink in a little more and more, some of the frustration. The preacher says that there is a time and a season for everything, every activity, every detail under heaven. And he lists these times and seasons, 14 pairs of emotions, activities, events, parts of life, and they run the scope of our experience. The whole life cycle, from birth to death, That's for humans and animals, or you can think about the plant world as he talks about time for planting and a time for plucking up what is planted. The whole range of emotions, weeping, mourning, weeping, laughing, mourning, dancing, and so on it goes as the pairs get piled up, seeking, losing, loving, hating, war, peace. Scholars analyze this and they try to find patterns and and directions and and and and kind of a purpose Movement to it but the more you kind of look at it the more this doesn't seem to have any Pattern to it or or rhyme or reason and I think that's very intentional It's just a piling up of times and seasons Because that's what life under the Sun is like it's times and seasons that run the gamut and And they just come, and they pile themselves up, one after the other, after the other. Times and seasons that we have no control over. At the end of the passage that we read, it talks about what God establishes, what He does in doors, but in terms of us. The only thing we can do to the times and seasons is take them as they come. We're powerless. You think about this, and you start to get into the details, and, well, yeah. Well, let me ask you this. I know many of you are gardeners. How many people planted tomatoes this year? I bet you you planted your tomatoes about around Mother's Day, right? Somewhere around there? Now, you could've put those seedlings in the ground on Christmas Day. You could do that. It wouldn't work, would it? No. Why on Mother's Day? Thereabouts. That's the time to plant. That's the season. You had no choice in the matter. None. It just came. And there it was. You were powerless to control it. You could try and throw that thing on the ground on Christmas Day, but it's not going to work. The season comes. There's a small example, but you blow it up larger, blow it up bigger. Think about the next few months for your life. Will it be a time of laughing? A season of dancing for you, for your family? You have no idea. And you have no control over it. The season will come. It will be thrust upon you. Think about for our church family. Will the next year be filled with births? Or will it be a time of death for people we love in the congregation? No idea. We don't know. We can't control it. The seasons will be thrust upon us. Think about we were praying for our brothers and sisters in Iraq. Think of them today. It's been close to 12 years of pretty much constant warfare in some form or another. Oppression. It's been a season of war. And you better believe that's not what they want. Not what they're praying for. We'd love a season of peace. It might come. Around the corner, it might not. It was thrust upon them. They had no choice, no control. Just come. That's life under the sun. Here's how one commentator, an OP pastor, puts it. He says, we dance to the various tunes of life because time thrusts them upon us. We are not the masters of our fate or the captains of our souls, but rather waves that are tossed about, driven by one event, or another. Yes, there is a season for everything. The times come, the times go, but they just come, and they just go, and we have no control. And so if this is all there is, just life under the sun, just the seasons coming and going, Well, you can understand why the preacher would say this is vain. This is meaningless. This is a striving after wind a frustration to time But there's there's more there's more and this is one that flows out of a blessing but becomes a source of restlessness in a fallen world as interesting powerful statement in verse 11 The second half of the verse The author writes, and also he, that is God, and also God has put eternity into man's hearts. Heart. Yet, so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. He's put eternity into man's heart. They're the references reflecting back on Genesis. God making man in his own image. That we're different from the rest of creation. We're created to know God, to copy God, to live with Him forever. Eternal souls. We have eternity right in the core of our being. Eternity in our hearts. We're different than the animals. We're different than the ducks in my neighborhood. I've gotten to know the ducks a little bit over the almost 10 years that I've lived there. I've gotten to see as I walk frequently around our neighborhood and getting to know the times and the seasons for the ducks. Somewhat predictable, you kind of see them pairing off at certain times and other times you see mom sitting there on the nest and then sure enough after that you'll see you'll see mom waddling along the side of the road and there are ten little fur balls waddling after it. I've also come to know that When I walk the next week, there's a very good chance that the same mom will be there, but this time there's only four or five little babies falling. Because life under the sun happens. Life in a cursed, fallen world. There's hawks, and snapping turtles, and cars, and bass, and things that happen. You know, it's interesting to watch the ducks. They don't seem to be bothered all that much by it. They don't seem to stress and fret. Could you imagine, could you imagine going around with the knowledge, if there was a pretty good likelihood that half your babies could disappear in the next day, could be taken from you, and you had no idea when, no idea if or how, and you had that knowledge and you had to, what it would do to you? You look at the duck and it's kind of business as usual. Of course. They don't have eternity in their hearts. They don't have this wrestling for the big picture and hunger to understand and to know and to see like we do. But yet we're not God, so we can't take it in. And more than that, we live in a fallen world. And so there are bad things that happen that we can't have control over or even knowledge of. And that's where you get the last part of verse 11, right? Eternity in our hearts, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Right? We have this sense and yearning for eternity. It's built into us. But as sinners in a sinful world, we can't take it in and we'll never be God. I like how one commentator puts it, he compares us to a man who is severely nearsighted and goes into a museum. Severely nearsighted, can't see things in the distance, goes up to one of those large tapestries. If you've ever been to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the huge things they have hanging there on the wall. And so there he is, he has to get really up close to see it. And he can work his way along the tapestry and get a sense that there's something going on. There's a design here. There's something big happening. But he can't step back to take it all in as the Creator can. That's us. That's us as creatures and creatures in a fallen world. You know, we have this eternity in our hearts and we see that there's something out there. There's something going on. There's something bigger than just us. We don't just waddle along as if nothing happened like the duck does, but we have a desire for it. But yet we can't step back and see the big picture and take it all in. We can't know it as God knows it. And so there's a kind of frustration. Eternity in our hearts and yet we're creatures in a fallen world and there's a restlessness and finally there's frustration with time because our sinful hearts respond with very Ungodly ways to the times and seasons Sometimes we respond we take in our lack of control or lack of understanding and We respond to it by desperately trying to grab control. Desperately trying to gain sovereignty over things around us. Control becomes a kind of idol that we bow down to, that we look to for hope. If only I could just control it. It's the oldest lie in the book. Remember Satan in the garden? What he said to Eve? Eat of the fruit, and what? You will be like God. And that was appealing. That was attractive. Still is for us. If only we could be like God. If only we could control it. Not only know it, but have the knowledge so that we could control it. And we try it. We go for it, don't we? We try to control the times and seasons, all sorts of ways. You know, maybe as a parent, we see our lack of control with our kids and where they're headed, and we desperately try to do everything we can to control it. And so we try to come up with the perfect rules and the perfect plan and the perfect prayers that are all gonna be able to control and make it happen the way we want it to happen in the lives of our kids. Or maybe it's our health, and as we think about death, and we try to control it. If only I find the right diet, and the right exercise program, and the right doctors, and the right medicine regimen, then I can control it. We plan, we scheme, we fret about all the things we want to control and have it our way, the seasons as we desire it, and we go after it and we try to make it happen. And you know, you know that control has become an idol, become something that you worship, because you get mad when it doesn't happen. When all of a sudden you realize a new season that you didn't want has been thrust upon you and you get angry. This isn't what I wanted. It's your heart being revealed. You've wanted to be like God. You've tried to control it and now you're upset because it didn't happen. Sometimes we respond to the times and seasons by trying to control them. Of course other times we do the opposite We just try to ignore it. We try to numb it We kind of like the idea of Living like the duck who just doesn't care about anything And so we try to find things to just kind of numb the reality around us And so we fill our lives with distractions and entertainments even good things But they begin to live for them And our focus is just on, oh, the next little nice thing, the next weekend, the next event, the next pleasure, the next thing that we can grab on to. And we just try to numb ourselves so that we don't really have to wrestle with the struggles of the world, the challenges of time. Of course, it doesn't work, because we're not like the duck. We have eternity in our hearts, so there will always be a restlessness that will creep up. The pleasure will never be enough to numb ourselves to eternity and questions of time. So what do we do? Is there hope? Is there hope? The preacher actually points the way. We're going to need the rest of Scripture and what God does, but the preacher points the way. That verse 9 is a challenging verse. I said it was almost verbatim for what he said in chapter 1. But it's just slightly different. He says what gain has the worker from his toil? Verse 9 or in chapter 1 he makes it more explicit that it's what gain has man from all his toil But here's just the worker and of course if the worker is man Right we could work all we wanted. We're not going to be able to control the times and seasons But if God does something If God works, then it's established, then it happens. That's where he goes in verse 14. Whatever God does. So if we can't rescue ourselves from this trouble of time, this frustration of time, but if God works to do something, to rescue and redeem, there will be hope. And of course, that's exactly what God has done. And He's done it in the person of His Son. There's the first place we need to go for hope we look for hope in the midst of time to eternity breaking into time Eternity in the person of Jesus right who is Jesus, but the eternal word and he becomes flesh The creator of time steps into time And you think about the life of Jesus. It's remarkable right he is the creator He's the one who creates time and upholds time, and yet here He is, subject to all the times and seasons that Ecclesiastes talks about. Think about the life of Jesus, right? Time where He's born, and time when He dies. A time when He weeps, a time when He laughs. A time when He loves, and a time when He hates. The whole gamut, He experiences it. Life under the sun. But He doesn't experience it in the exact same way that we do. under the tyranny of time. Because He remains the Sovereign God. And there's a theme that echoes throughout the New Testament. Jesus and His sovereignty, even in His earthly ministry. That He's not blown and tossed by the seasons. He rules it. Galatians says that He arrives not randomly, but when? But in the fullness of time, He arrives. We're told that he begins his ministry proclaiming that time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. His supporters, you might remember, at various points want to make him king in the wrong way at the wrong time. His detractors try to kill him prematurely. And he allows none of it to happen. And what does he say? My hour has not yet come. They can't do it. He is a king. He will die, but not on their schedule. My hour has not yet come. And it won't happen. It doesn't. Until he enters Jerusalem for that final time. And what does he declare? The hour has come. And he does die. Exactly according to schedule. He dies and he rises triumphantly. He does it for us. He does it for His people. He does it to rescue. And it's not a rescue where Jesus rescues us from time. We don't escape time. But He does bring an end to the tyranny of time that a sin-cursed world has us bound to. Jesus doesn't take us out of the world. He overcomes the world on our behalf. And so first of all, because of the work of Jesus, we're forgiven. For all the ways that we try to control and numb ourselves and try to be like God, He forgives us for it all. But He does more. Also, through His death and resurrection, He ushers in life. What does He call it? Eternal life. What a marvelous thing. Those who have been created with eternity in their hearts, And yet, because of sin, we're separated from it. In comes Jesus. And what does His work do? He brings us eternal life. It starts now, but it's all headed, Scripture says, to that finality, that new heavens and the new earth. And there, He will bring us safely. None will be lost who trust in Him. And what do we know about that place? What do we know about the times and seasons there? No seasons of death. No seasons of mourning, no seasons of war, no seasons of hate. It's all gone. Forever. A place where those with eternity in their hearts live eternally with the Creator. All because of Jesus. All because eternity steps into time. And then, so that's where you start. You start by looking to Jesus, trusting in Him. There's your only hope. in the midst of the times and seasons under the sun, Jesus. But having Jesus, now you rest in the sovereignty of God over time. Part of what Ecclesiastes 3 declares is that God is sovereign. He's the king. He's the ruler. That's why you get verse 14. Here's us in our powerlessness. We can't work and establish anything. But I perceive that whatever God does endures forever. Nothing can be added to it or taken away from it. God has done it that people fear before him. God is sovereign over it all. He rules and reigns over time, over the times and seasons. They're thrust at us. They come at us. We have no power, but He reigns over it all. And for the believer, that's a comforting thought. For the unbeliever, it's not a comfort. For the unbelievable if it's unsettling right think think to know you have no control over this Everything around you all the times and seasons big and little you have no control, but guess what somebody else does and Of course the message of scripture goes on and that someone Is angry at you because of your sin Is it war with you because of your sin? That's scary for the unbeliever. But you see, if you're in Jesus, it changes everything. Now, God is not a foe, but a friend. And that changes how we think about His sovereignty, how we think about time, times and seasons. I like how one writer puts it, whether time is a friend or a foe depends on the relationship one has with the creator of time. And if we're in right relationship with the Sovereign Lord, if we're not in right relationship, it's scary. But if we are, there's comfort. There's comfort. That we know the One who is the Lord of time. And we know that that same Lord of time has loved us with an eternal love. Because we see it in Jesus. We see it that He loved us so much He sent His Son to rescue us. And there is comfort. We know the promises of this Sovereign One, that He's using all the times and seasons for good, that are good. With that famous verse that we all know and love, right? And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. the times and all the seasons that are that from our perspective just get thrust upon us The God who loves us with that eternal love declares this Promises his word shall not fail that all of it is working together for good for his purpose the purpose that he defines later not to make us happy not to make us comfortable but even better than all that to conform us to the likeness of the Son, to make us like Jesus, to make us beautiful. So, yes, as a believer in Christ, God doesn't deliver you from the times and seasons. Not yet. The Ecclesiastes 3 list, in this world, you will experience, to some degree or another, all of it. A time to be born, a time to die. You will be there. A time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time to dance, a time for war, a time for peace, and everything in between, you will experience it. And you don't know when, and you can't control it, and sometimes it will hurt, and sometimes it will be joyful. But you do know the one who does control it. and it's not random, and it's not without purpose. He declares that He's working it for your good to make you like Jesus, to make you beautiful. You might be right now in a time that you didn't plan on. A season has been thrust upon you and you think, I didn't want this. I don't want to be here. I want to be somewhere else. Tomorrow might bring into your life Time that the very time that you're afraid of it might I Can't promise you otherwise But don't be afraid because you know the God believer, you know the God who does control it and That God is using even those things that you fear To make you beautiful to advance this purpose in the world This is how we can get to the first part of verse 11. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Not because death is good, or war is good, or hate is good. It's because He uses it, the Sovereign One. What did we sing earlier? When peace, like a river, attendeth my way. The times of laughing and dancing with peace, like a river, attends my way. Or, when sorrows like sea billows roll, death, mourning, those seasons come, thou has taught me to say, whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. Jesus teaches us that. We know it from his word. Or we could use the words of Philippians 4 that we read from Paul earlier. I know how to be brought low and how to abound. There's Paul talking about the times and seasons that have been thrust upon him. How to abound, right? The times of dancing. How to be brought low. Times of mourning and weeping. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. Sounds like Ecclesiastes. Back and forth. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. the Lord of time, and the work of His Son, He can strengthen us to not only endure, but be transformed through it, to trust Him. So we look to the One who is sovereign. We trust and rest in Him. And then finally, because of the work of Christ and the sovereignty of God, we can then view time as a gift, as an allotted portion. Here's where I think verses 12 and 13 fit in. I perceive that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. And also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. This is God's gift to man. God gives gifts. Time is a gift. God's allotted portion to us. Because we are safe in Christ, Because God is at work in our present and our future is secure, now all of a sudden, the little blessings of life can be enjoyed as gifts. We don't need to suck life out of them. We don't need to run after the little things, the pleasures of life as if, oh, this can get me through, this will numb the pain, this will make it worth it, this will make it okay. We don't need to get that kind of life out of it, because we're safe now in Christ, and our future is secure, and we know He's working everywhere in between. Therefore, we can just rest, and if good things come, we can enjoy them. Work, food, drink, family, laughing, dancing. We can enjoy it as gifts. We're also freed up to use time for the Lord's glory. This is where the New Testament comes in and says, redeem the time. Right? We are able to use time as our allotted portion for His service. My old mentor liked to talk about investing in things that last. And would immediately start talking, well, what does last? God's Word lasts. People last. And that's about it. Are we investing in things that last? Investing the time, the allotted portion that God's given us, and do it wisely because we know what's going to endure. The Lord's church, His Word becoming like. These things are going to last. Or you can think of it this way. What do you want people to say about you at your funeral? About how you used your time? He sure spent a lot of time in front of the TV. He never missed a game. Or she was really good at the computer, and she knew the best blogs, and had the most wonderful Pinterest account, and most entertaining Facebook page. God calls us to invest our time. And what lasts? And so you look around you and think, what's going to endure? I want to grab on to God's Word and know it so I'm changed and transformed and I can bless others. I want to invest in the people around me. There are those kids that God has given me. There are those Christian friends that I can encourage. There's that person I can mentor and bless. There are those neighbors that I can come alongside and get to know them, invite them into my life so that I can point them to Jesus. They're going to last. I'm going to work for the Kingdom of God, be a part of the church and invest it in fellowship and service because the Kingdom is going to endure and God's people are going to endure. Can you think of your calendar? What needs to be adjusted to invest in things that last, to better reflect eternal priorities? Yes, of course, enjoying the little good gifts. Using the time as a trust in allotment. Time. Whether time is a friend or a foe depends on the relationship that one has with the one who created time. If you're at odds with the creator, then the times and the seasons of life will ultimately frustrate you and anger you. They are a threat. You can't be conquered. You can't win. But you see, you come to know the Lord Jesus, you become right with the Creator through Him, and everything changes when it comes to time. Yes, there's still frustration in this world. Yes, there's still the seasons of mourning that hurt, and you have no control, and they're thrust upon you, and there's a groaning within. But in the midst of that, there can be a rest, a peace. You can say, it is well with my soul. Because through Jesus, you're safe. You know God is working now. You know He's going to finish His work and bring you to that place of eternity. And so now you're free. Free to go and enjoy the time as God's gift. Free to go and use the time as a trust for His glory. Let's pray. Father, we do ask that You would grant us Your grace Lord, that you would uphold us as those who live in time. Lord, that we would have our hearts set on eternity, looking to you, looking to your power and your gospel. Lord, that we would use even the hours that you have allotted for us this very week. We commit them into your hands. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Hymn 30. Him 30.