The Gospel of Time - Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 - Paul Twiss

well as I was invited to preach on New Year's Eve I thought what what text would be appropriate to close out the year with and even to open up a new year with and I thought Ecclesiastes 3 might be helpful for us so please turn there in your Bibles please yes T's chapter 3 I'm aware that maybe you have a New Year's resolution that you've made maybe you've set some goals for the year ahead often a New Year's resolution is really a decision as to how you're going to spend your time over the next year and Ecclesiastes chapter 3 is a well-known passage that really speaks to the issue of time so we'll be looking this morning at just the first 15 verses I'll read from verse 1 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 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's 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 I know that there is nothing better for them to than to rejoice and to do good in one's life time moreover that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor it is a 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 away so reads the word of the Living God well if you had been alive in the 18th century and if you'd had any interest in science then you would have been aware of the greatest scientific problem of that day and it was the longitude problem the longitude problem it was the greatest scientific problem of that Dana had been the greatest problem for hundreds of years simply stated the longitude problem is man's inability to measure longitude at sea the measurement of latitude was not an issue as ships moved around the equator the lines running parallel they could quickly calculate where they were how far they'd been but as ships moved towards either of the poles the license would converge and it would be somewhat difficult to accurately calculate where the ship was the result of this is that thousands of men lost their lives often a captain would miss calculate the position of his ship and then out of nowhere some cliffs or some rocks or land would appear and the vessel would crash and the men would die now the crux of the longitude problem is essentially one of time you see in order to accurately measure longitude you need to know two things you need to know the time in the home port and the time on board the ship if you can measure those two things accurately then you can calculate your longitude but they weren't able to and so for many centuries scientists had sought a solution and for a long time they believe that the solution lay in the heaven if they could accurately map out the Stars then somehow they could keep time on board but it wasn't to be indeed it was when a carpenter from the northwest of England designed the clock the design of which he labored over for 40 years that the solution to the problem was finally found now that is not the world we live in today we can very quickly measure longitude at sea today in a few seconds indeed we live in a world where we can track just about anything the children consider it their daily responsibility to help Mom in her sanctification by miss placing the phone and so with some kind of app that I don't really understand we can locate Laura's iPhone and thwart their efforts that is the world we live in but it wasn't always the case and the longitude problem apart from being a great issue Nautica lee speaking it testified to the theology of Ecclesiastes 3 at its crux it testifies to the fact that man cannot master time we do not control the ticking of the clock much less do we control the timing of the events in our lives rather than being lords over time we are minions at the mercy of time seasons come and seasons go and we have no control over them we have no control over when those seasons begin in our life and when they end rather what we must do is learn that as they come about we are simply to give thanks to the Lord we are to learn how to skillfully navigate through them in such a way that the Lord is honored and understand that time every second we have is a gift from the Lord rather than seeking to master the clock we should submit to the master of the clock this is a lesson that we must learn and we must keep on learning it is a lesson that would most certainly help us with our time management that is for sure but much more than that it is a lesson that relates to a gospel issue it is at its heart gospel centered simply because we are representatives of Christ and our response to situations as they come about in our lives the way in which we respond to things that we would perhaps never have chosen to walk through the way in which we respond to a particular situation the timing of which we would not have chosen reflects for good or for bad on the person of Christ and so it is imperative for the people of God to learn a robust theology of time and that is what Ecclesiastes 3 teaches us now we need to remember that this short passage is part of a bigger argument we're in the book of Ecclesiastes written by Solomon the king of Israel and you'll remember that he prayed to the Lord for wisdom and the Lord answered abundantly we're told in the scriptures there was not a man before or after him who had more wisdom tragically Solomon sought to put that wisdom to work apart from a proper acknowledgment of God and so what we see in the book of Ecclesiastes is one endeavor one pursuit after another on the part of Solomon to find ultimate meaning he searches for ultimate meaning apart from a proper acknowledgement of the Lord so in chapters 1 & 2 we see a pursuit of pleasure we see a pursuit of learning we see a pursuit of work in and of themselves not inherently wrong but when divorced from a proper acknowledgement of God they ultimately only ever yield frustration frustration and dissatisfaction well when we come to chapter 3 the tone of the book changes somewhat we see all these searches in chapters 1 & 2 from a desperate man we get to chapter 3 and the tone is much more reflective Solomon starts to reflect upon the truths and the realities of life but again he finds vanity is the answer now there's no reason to think that as we embark upon this new section of the book the attitude of Solomon has changed at all we still have here a man who is trying to live a secular life that is a life without a proper acknowledgement of God we still have in chapter 3 a man who is refusing to acknowledge the authority of his creator and so as he reflects he reflects upon the issue of time and we find a man who is frustrated by the clock we can divide the passage into two halves the first half is verses 1 through 8 and it's a poem a poem and then 9 through 15 we see the explanation of that poem it's helpful to think of this passage like a clock picture a big grandfather clock in 1 through 8 as we read this poem we observe the swinging of the pendulum from one side to the other we observe the passing of time and then in nine through 15 as Solomon gives us an explanation a theology of time we step around the back of the clock as it were we open up the door and we look inside and we observe the cogs of the clock turning when we start to understand how it is that this time works so 1 through 8 we might call the futility of time we observe the futility of time and 9 through 15 we would call the mechanism of futility the mechanism of futility beginning with the poem 1 through 8 the futility of time verse 1 reads there's an appointed time for everything and there is a time for every event under heaven now we can stop there and make at least two observations number one notice the all-encompassing nature of this statement Solomon says there is an appointed an appointed time for everything there is a time for every single event under heaven but notice secondly the absence of any reference to mankind there is an appointed time for everything time has been ordained every event in but not by man everything is ordained but not by man and this simple truth is what Solomon plays out for us with with rhythmic beauty in the next few verses now as we jump into the poem proper it's important to realize that this poem is descriptive and not prescriptive it's observational it's not instructional it's funny how many Christians will read this poem and somehow for some reason they interpret it as some kind of to-do list something that is is has to be achieved we have to check it off in our short time on earth that interpretation will get you into a lot of trouble especially when you come to verse three Solomon is simply observing he's observing and he observes with 14 pairs of opposites again like the swinging of the pendulum of the grandfather clock Solomon moves from one extreme to the other so we see in verse 2 he moves from birth to the other end of life namely death from planting to uprooting from intentionally harming that is killing in verse 3 2 now healing and seeking to prolong life from tearing down to building up from crying to laughing and so on and so forth and what we need to understand is that as Solomon moves from one end of the spectrum to the other in every area of life everything in between is implied so solomon moves from birth over across to death and in view implied is every other event in between those two so solomon is again reiterating to us that every single event in life is ordained there is a time for it he makes the same point a second way when we realize that these 14 pairs of opposites are chosen to reach every sphere of life so in verse 2 we think about the physical realm birth death planting uprooting in verse 3 warfare is view killing healing tearing down that is tearing down a Battlement and building it up again in verse 4 emotions both private weeping and laughing and public mourning and dancing in verse 5 he considers agriculture throwing stones that is the practice of covering a field with rocks so as to prevent any growth and then picking them up again to allow the harvests to grow relationships a time to embrace and to shun embracing in verse 6 we have what you might refer to as the metaphysical realm talking about possessions a time to search and a time to give up what is lost to keep and to throw away in verse 7 he's back to the idea of mourning a time to tear a part that is to tear apart your clothes in mourning as would be the practice in Israel to sew up together again to be silent in mourning and a time to speak and then in verse 8 affections love and hate and warfare a time for war and a time for peace and so in a very skillful and yet subtle way Solomon probes every sphere of human experience he examines all of the contours of life and the message is the same every event is ordained but you don't get to choose when what that means for you is that there will be times of mourning in your life but you don't decide when they are there will be times of joy in your life but you don't ordain them there'll be times of grief far greater than you can imagine but you don't get to pick when that happens and then of course eventually death will come knocking at the door and he won't consult your schedule and in case you haven't got the picture there's yet a third way that Solomon Heights the future highlights the futility of time there's a third way in which he highlights man's inability to master the and that is simply in the poetic nature of the text and I described it as the ticking of a grandfather clock and that's because that's precisely the literary effect of this poem Solomon says there is a time for this and a time for that a time for this and a time for that a time for this and a time for that tick tock tick tock even in the writing of the poems Solomon in all of his brilliance is representing the passing of time even as you read the poem you get a sense of the sands of time slipping through your hands and you can't get them back even in having read the poem out loud time has passed and now it will forever be lost now think about the irony of this this section of Ecclesiastes is perhaps the most well known portion of this book our adventures to say that if you were to walk down the street this afternoon and interact with an unbeliever quite possibly they know something of this passage I've heard it quoted in movies and quoted in TV shows and the question is why is it so well known and the answer is because of its inherent beauty but its beauty is deceptive the beauty of the poem subtly draws the reader in in order to testify to something that is broken the poem testifies to the futility of time we can't master it it is running away from us and we have no control over the timing of events in our life and so it is quite ironic that we would speak of keeping time so often we talk about keeping time there are a few phrases that are so ridiculous in all of the English language we cannot keep time if all of the clocks and all the watches on planet Earth were to stop this second time would keep marching on it doesn't show us any mercy it doesn't care for us the very best we could do is to track time and we can't even do that very well for hundreds of years we couldn't track time at C such that thousands of men lost their lives the most accurate clock in the world today is an atomic clock it loses time in the range of 1 times 10 to the minus 9 seconds per day what that means is over the course of a hundred million years that clock will lose one second the engineers say look at our great work marvel at what we've done to which Solomon replies you are still losing time we have no control over the clock the testimony therefore of mankind's relationship with the clock is that we don't keep it we don't track it we are always beaten by it our schedules are dominated by the tyranny of the urgent and it always yours frustration that's the most immediate example of this is the fact that even this morning perhaps your mind is drifted to whatever it it else it is you have to do today perhaps even this morning your mind is drifted to the other events that have to get done today before the Sun sets and there's a fear that maybe there just isn't enough time I think personally about the fact we arrived here five years ago in in California I remember it like it was yesterday I remember like yesterday when we touched down at the airport I can recall the smell of the airport I can remember the sounds and what it felt like and five years just disappears like that our daughter our oldest was born nine years ago I remember like yesterday driving to the hospital with my wife I remember the doctor handing me my daughter for the first time and nine years just vanishes and we all have those experiences we can all testify to the sands of time slipping through our fingers wherever we look and whatever we consider that testimony of life is that time wins again and so it is for good reason that Solomon exclaims in verse nine what profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils Solomon shrugs his shoulders he throws up his arms he says what profit is there now when he uses that word profit he's not asking questions of immediate temporary gratification Solomon's not asking the question of what's my next paycheck look like this is an eternally minded question it's the same question that he hopes that he asked when he opens this book and it's the same question he asked all the way through this book which would be where can meaning be found where can meaning be found or to put it more bluntly what's the point if time is always slipping away and we can't hold on to it and it will always win then why bother you see Ecclesiastes is such a helpful book to confront us with the realities of life Ecclesiastes is such a helpful book to confront us with the reality of life outside of the garden it confronts us with the reality of sin and the fall and brokenness you see it was true that mankind dwelt in Paradise it was true that mankind enjoyed life with God without any interruption to perfect communion with him but he sinned and when sin was introduced into the world it affected everything we were expelled from the garden and now sin seeps into every single aspect of life I would encourage you not simply to think of sin in the category of the things that men and women do but understand that sin affects even abstract concepts sin affects our joy sin affects our laughter sin affects our thinking sin affects our emotions and sin affects the concept of time consider the fact that the pain of life is not simply felt by the content of events but so also by their timing the pain that we feel in life is often felt because of the timing of events I've been texting with my friends Sam back in England recently I sent him the text saying I look forward to when sin is gone and the glory of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea now why did I send that particular message and the answer is because Sam was recently diagnosed with cancer he's my age he is married with two young children and the doctors are talking about months and not years which means most likely Sam won't grow old with his wife he won't walk his daughter down the aisle he won't see his children graduate from college and that the content of that diagnosis is hard enough but what makes it so particularly hard is its timing why now why now it is true for all of us the futility of time the frustration that comes from the continued ticking of the clock and the timing of particular events in our lives that we would not have chosen to walk through far less would we have chosen their timing this is the frustration that Solomon feels as a man who so desperately wants to find meaning and significance in other things in life all he can conclude when he reflects upon the issue of time is vanity what's the point well that leads us to our second second section having observed the futility of time we step around the back of the clock as it were and we now look at the Mecca of that futility from verses 9 through 15 we peer into the inner workings of this clock we see several cogs moving away and here Solomon gives us an explanation he gives us a theology of time he says in verse 10 I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves now Solomon is simply drawing out a truth that has been implied in the poem the first part of which is that we have no control over time but notice now he also says that the events are ordained and they're ordained by God he's already hinted at this if you look back up to verse 1 solomon uses that phrase under heaven there is a time for every event under heaven that phrase occurs three times in the book of Ecclesiastes and it is somewhat synonymous with the phrase under the Sun when you read it you understand that God's involvement is indirectly in view and so what Solomon says here in verse 10 that he's already hinted at in verse 1 is that yes man has no control over the timing of the events in his life but God does now think through the implications of that one observation though the fall sin robbed man of the ordained Authority and rulership that God had bestowed upon him though we are no longer able to subject the world to the rulership that God intended the fall did nothing to impoverish God's control over nature the fall did nothing to impoverish God's control over the affairs of human history it did nothing to affect his rule and his reign God is still king over all things which includes the ticking of the clock God still ordains the affairs of man he chooses the hour at which you will grieve God chooses the hour when you will mourn God and God alone decides when you will have seasons of joy in your life Solomon reiterates this truth in verse 11 he says he has made everything appropriate in its time some translations translate the word appropriate as beautiful now what Solomon is not doing is declaring some kind of inherent beauty to a fallen creation appropriate is a is a good translation Solomon is saying that all events are perfectly ordained by God the timing of the events in your life are perfect God has not made a mistake he has not lost control though we would see chaos though we experienced tragedy that we might experience pain though we see sin abounding we have to affirm the truth that God has not lost control he has not lost control over the content nor has he lost control over the timing what this means is that even if now you can't see this truth being played out one day you will stand before the Lord and you will look back with increased understanding increased awareness and you will proclaim that God's timing was perfect you will look back and proclaim that the timing of every season in your life was the very best that it was perfect he has made everything appropriate in its time now in contrast carrying on in verse 11 in contrast Solomon says yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end the inner workings of the clock testified the fact that God reigns over history he reigns over every event and we swim in the current of time there is something in our hearts that desires that yearns for that knowledge that desires and yearns for even communing with God and understanding that he has over the timing of events in our lives and yet God has established it yet so that we cannot fathom these things but Solomon goes further than that he takes us now to another part of his argument as we move into verses 12 and 13 we see that he he provides a solution verse 12 says 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 a gift of God now before we consider the content of the solution let's just think about the way in which Solomon is presenting it he says I know that there is nothing better this is not Solomon using the superlative he's not using the phrase nothing better in the way that you or I might use it solemn is not saying I found the very best thing there's nothing else that compares to this this is not an enthusiastic Solomon perhaps an example would help if I describe to you the difference between the British and the Americans when you speak to an American and you ask him how was your day he would say it's awesome it's great fantastic the Brit would say it's not bad you asked the American how's the weather he says gloriously sunny the Brit says well it's not raining you asked the American how was dinner he says it was delicious the Brit says well it wasn't awful you see what he's doing is that the Brit is is expressing a positive truth but in negative language and that's what Solomon is doing here in fact Psalm is being very British he says I know there is nothing better it's a reluctant admission that there is another way having sought meaning apart from God Solomon now reluctantly expressing a positive truth in negative language reluctantly says there is another way and the other way is to accept that the time you have is a gift from God it is such a small shift in thinking and yet it changes everything this is a turning point in Solomon's argument rather than assume that you have a right to the time that you enjoy rather than assume that you can master the clock you accept that every second is a gift from the Lord rather than allow your schedule to yield frustration you quietly submit to the reign of God you humbly submit to his lordship over your life and this change is everything Solomon says I'm not the master of the clock I am NOT the master of the time I am NOT the master of the seasons of my life I don't get to control their content far lest I get to control the timing the timing of the various seasons of life but I must accept them humbly as a gift from the Lord and in so doing then I can rejoice in the midst of them in so doing then I can live skillfully navigating through the various seasons of life living in such a way that the Lord can be truly honored friend you must affirm God's sovereignty over the timing the timing of the events in your life you must delight in the life that he has given you and embrace your lot with humility and contentment this is the rare jewel of Christian contentment it is the gospel of time and if if you make that small shift in thinking then you are no longer frustrated at every passing hour but you humbly rejoice in the gift of every hour you navigate through every season times of blessing times of mourning with a reference point that is not the ticking of the clock but is the perfect Providence of the Lord now Solomon goes one step further he extends his argument one more time looking at the inner workings of the clock he says in verse 14 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 so he tells us that God will remain forever there is nothing that we can add to his reality there is nothing we can take from it and then notice the word for so often theology is packed into small words so often as you read your Bibles you need to examine the arguments that are being made by the author of the text and you realize that their argument will hinge upon a small word and if for a but or are there for us so that and such is the case here just one letter in the Hebrew text for God has so worked that men should fear Him so what we understand now is that Solomon is saying yes man has no control over the timing of events in his life that is true it is also true that God does and he is doing so absolutely perfectly but more than that he says God has set it up this way in order that we would be driven to him in the economy of the fall according to God's wisdom he has so established the way that time works that every time we are tempted to be frustrated every time we acknowledge that we have no control over the timing of the events in our lives we are driven towards the Lord he has set it up so that we would fear Him that is where the Lord wants us to be sat before him in reverence bowing humbly in submission to his will when we consider the passing of the clock we must then flee to the Lord the passing of the clock and the the inability we have to master it should cause us to recognize our place in the grand scheme of things it should cause us to recognize that we have no power over this but God is the Lord of all time and the very best we can do is to flee to him we might ask at this point how do we fear the Lord how do we rightly fear the Lord and the answer is the gospel the answer is found in the gospel just as Ecclesiastes is a book that paints a an accurate picture of life for us just as Ecclesiastes is such a helpful book to confront us with the reality of sin in a broken world so it is also a book that should drive us towards the gospel time and time again we must consider the place of this book in the grand scheme of Scripture and understand that true satisfaction the satisfaction that Solomon was searching for all along is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ just as the fall affected everything the gospel of Jesus Christ affects everything it affects even our consideration of time when God caused his son to break into the futility of time to live amongst us to subject himself to the same world that we live in yet doing so perfectly without sin and then opening up his harms that he would be nailed to a cross paying the price the penalty for sin making reconciliation with God for sinful men and women and as we are reconciled with God we understand that it changes everything there are ramifications from the gospel that that sit on your life if you are indeed a child of God then you have to take seriously the imperatives that rests on your life included in which is the command to redeem the time as children of God we must think carefully about how we use our time because it honors Christ it honors Christ to use our time well and honors Christ to respond to situations in our life well situations the content of which we would not have chosen the timing of which we would not have chosen and as we do so as we labor and strive to honor Christ because of the foundation of the gospel of salvation that he has gifted to us we also think forward to eternity we think forward to the reality that very soon we will be with him no more feeling the passing of the clock in the way that we presently do no longer frustrated by the passing of every hour but dwelling with him forever and ever in eternal ongoing worship may these realities bear fruit in our lives over the next year pray with me our Father we do give you thanks for the gospel of Jesus Christ and we acknowledge that it changes everything we see the frustration of Solomon here as he sought to live a life apart from you and when it came to time it was yet more frustration please father keep us from that error help us to acknowledge properly that you are the Lord over all time that you or day in the events of our lives you ordained their content and their timing and your wisdom is perfect help us to prove your goodness in that I pray that we would prove your grace in our response to the situations in our lives and as people who are centered around the gospel may we look forward to that day the day that is coming so soon when we will dwell with the king forever ongoing never-ending worship we give you thanks in Christ's name Amen

Channel: Countryside Bible Church

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Length: 40min 22sec (2422 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 09 2018