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Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 “A Time for everything”

“Today dear Church, I am here to speak to you and you are

here to listen. Let’s hope we both finish at the same time! Many people look to work as the meaning of life…. people define themselves by what they do! Jesus defines you by whose you are. So glad Jesus redeemed work!

Solomon has presented several arguments proving that life was meaningless, futile, grasping at the wind… chasing soap bubbles.

I heard this saying and think Solomon might have made it up…

Solomon would

pessimistically say "Eat right. Stay fit. Die anyway." Wise or foolish you

still will die… His repeated failures in quest for life’s meaning is now in

danger of embittering his heart:

But As Chuck Missler notes, ―he was too wise a man to let his own arguments go unchallenged.‖

so in chapters 3-10 he will reexamined each of them carefully.

Again Missler gives us some great insight into where Solomon will be taking us from here. Solomon is realizing that without God everything is meaningless and futile. So in chapter 3 he will begin to see God and His working in all of life

―First, he saw something above man, a God who was in control of time and who balanced life’s experiences (3:1–8). Then he saw something within man that linked him to God—eternity in his heart (3:9–14). Third, Solomon saw something ahead of man—the certainty of death (3:15–22). Finally, he saw something around man—the problems and burdens of life (4:1–5:9). So, The Preacher asked his

listeners to , ― , and to

“look around‖ , and to take into consideration time, eternity, death,

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and suffering. These are the four factors God uses to keep our lives

from becoming monotonous and meaningless.

Keep in mind that chapter 2 ended with a declaration of the enjoyment we find

whenever God is present and we receive life’s blessings as a gift for him.

Life is not uniformly bad but includes both positive and negative experiences.

(3:12–15, 22)

Chapter 3 verse 1 To everything there is a season, A time for every

purpose under heaven: 2 A time to be born, And a time to die, A time to plant,

And a time to pluck what is planted; 3 A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to

break down, And a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A

time to mourn, And a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, And a time to

gather stones; ,A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time

to gain, And a time to lose, A time to keep, And a time to throw away; 7 A time

to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; 8 A time

to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.

Solomon didn’t know he had penned what will become the world’s most famous

poem on time. Everyone recognizes the beauty of these lines – their rhythm, their

repetition, and their orderly completeness.

Chapter 3 verse 1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose

Many scholars see this phrase as virtually identical to the more

common expression “under the sun.” However, the words “under heaven” seem to

have much more positive connotations. Later the Preacher will say explicitly that

“God is in heaven” (Ecclesiastes 5:2). So everything that happens in this time-bound

universe is under the authority of the God who rules in Heaven.

Solomon affirmed that God is at work in our individual lives, seeking

to accomplish His will. Each pair forms , a figure of speech in which

two inverses make up a whole.

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Hughes points out… For example, when the Bible says

that God created the “heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), it

means that God created the entire universe. Similarly,

each of the pairs in Ecclesiastes 3 makes up a larger whole. Together birth and death comprise the whole of human existence, weeping and laughing summarize the full range of

human emotion, and so on. There is something

comprehensive about each pair. All of these events come from

God and they are good in their time.

A poem on 14 opposites, each of which happens in its time. The fact that Solomon utilized polar opposites in a multiple of seven and began his list with birth and death is highly significant.

The number suggests the idea of completeness and the use of polar

opposites—

In the words of H. C. Leupold, the pairs in Qoheleth’s poem “cover the widest

possible range and thus practically every aspect of human life.”

The standard Greek translation of the Old

Testament (known as the Septuagint) uses the term for this passage

rather than the term

sequential time While chronos is quantitative, kairos is qualitative

2 A time to be born, And a time to die; The womb and the tomb… birth and

death – the two most momentous experiences in life, and the two appointments

that every person must keep. Both the cradle and the deathbed follow God’s

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timetable. God is the one who brings life into this world So David

praised him by saying, “You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in

my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13; Job 33:4). David continues… “All the days ordained

for me were written in Your book” (Ps 139:16, NIV).

The initiation, duration, and termination of our existence are all under his authority.

Finishing verse 2… A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;

Being an agricultural people, the Jews appreciated the seasons. In fact, their religious calendar was based on the agricultural year (Lev 23). “Plucking” may refer either to reaping or to pulling up unproductive plants. A successful farmer knows that nature works for him only if he works with nature. Everything must come in its appropriate time. If you get it out of synch you are in trouble. Try to plant a crop in the middle of winter when snow is on the ground and it will not grow. This is also the secret

of a successful life: learn God’s principles and cooperate with them.

3 A time to kill, And a time to heal; This probably refers not to war (v. 8) or

self-defense, but to the results of sickness and plague in the land.

Deuteronomy 32:39 ‘Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides

Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal;

1 Samuel 2:6 “The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up.

Who are we to dictate

how He should work… we know He is good, we know He loves us, we know He is

all powerful. “Don’t give up what you know to be true for that which you do

not understand”

A time to break down, And a time to build up; God broke down the Tower

of Babel that was built because of human pride (Genesis 11:8-9). He also built up a house

for Israel and a kingdom for David. The complete work of God includes both

creation and devastation.

Youth is the time for building up. Muscles grow, abilities increase, coordination gets better. Then, if you hang on long enough there is a time when everything starts to fall apart -- "a time to break down."

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4 A time to weep, And a time to laugh; there is an appropriate time for all of life's

experiences. Have you ever laughed at the wrong time? I have.

No one is going to escape the hurts and sorrows of life, is what he is saying here. God chose them for us. The proof of that is when God's own Son came. He was not handed a beautiful life with everything pleasant and delightful, free from struggle and pain. No, he was, (Isaiah 53:3b). In a fallen world it is right that there will be times of hurt, of sorrow and weeping.

Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

A time to mourn, And a time to dance; A funeral and a wedding…I think life should be filled with more dancing than mourning

5 A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; Israel is indeed a

rocky land and farmers must clear their fields before they can plow and plant. If you wanted to hurt an enemy you filled up his field with stones (2

Kings 3:19, 25). People also gathered stones for building walls and houses. Stones are neither good nor bad; it all depends on what you do with them. The whole of scripture

would teach us “If your enemy fills your land with rocks, don’t throw them back. Build something out of them!”

A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw

away; A time to keep and a time to

clean house! clean out the attic, the garage, throw away the old clothes, etc. This is true of habits and attitudes at times. Resentments need to be thrown away. Grudges and long-standing hurts need to be forgiven and forgotten.

7 A time to tear, And a time to sew; This probably refers to the Jewish

practice of tearing one’s garments during a time of grief or repentance (2 Sam 13:31;

Ezra 9:5). Again on this side of the cross we grieve… but we grieve differently. We grieve but not as those who have no hope. (1 Thess 4:13–18).

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A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; There are times when we know

something, a piece of gossip, and we should not say it; we ought not to speak. There are times when we ought to speak, when something we are keeping secret would deliver someone or bring truth into a situation; a time to speak up.

8 A time to love, And a time to hate; God is not either/or; he is both/and,

depending on what time it is. According to God’s schedule, there is both “a time

to love, and a time to hate.” Again, many people like to think of God as love

without considering the reality of his wrath.

Proverbs 6:16-19 … These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an

abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A

heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who

speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.

A time of war, And a time of peace. With God there is both “a time for peace,

and a time for war.” Yes, God has promised peace on earth. But not until the

“Prince of Peace” comes and sets up His Kingdom.

God is sovereign over the seasons, and Jesus Christ is the Lord of time.

When we witness the work of Jesus in the Gospels, we see a Savior who always

knew what time it was. There was a time for Him to be born. Galatians

4:4 “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman”

There was also a day appointed for Jesus to die. He died on that day, and not a day

before or a day later. The religious leaders were plotting against him, trying to

put him to death as soon as they could. But they were not able to crucify him until

the day that God had appointed. Before that time, as John 7:30 states “his hour

had not yet come” But when the hour did come, Jesus died on the cross. So the

Scripture says in Romans 5:6 “at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” Jesus

rose again at the right time too – on the third day, as the Scriptures had promised

(Hosea 6:2, Luke 24:45-46, 1 Corinthians 15:4). From his birth to his death and then on to his

resurrection Jesus was right on time!

Jesus knew the right time for every emotion. There were times to

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mourn. So this “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3) wept at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35, 38)

and wept again for the lost sheep of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44, Matthew 9:36). But there were

also times for him to laugh and to dance. So he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit when his

disciples came back from their first mission trip, having started to do the work of

the kingdom (Luke 10:21).

This is one of the best ways to avoid the vanity of life without God – by knowing

what to do with our time. The way we spend our time is the way we spend our lives.

What Happened to Time?

When as a child I laughed and wept, time crept. When as a youth I dreamed and talked, time walked.

When I became a full grown man, time ran.

And later as I older grew, time flew.

Soon I shall find while traveling on, time gone.

James 4:14 For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a

little time and then vanishes away.

Ephesians 5:15 See then that you walk , not as fools but

as wise, 16 , because the days are evil.

Barnes The word rendered "circumspectly" means,

diligently; and the idea here is, that we are to take special pains to guard against the temptations around us, and to live as we ought to.

Here it means, to rescue or recover our time from

waste; to improve it for great and important purposes. Because the days

are evil. Because the times in which you live are evil.

70 years = 25,550 days… 613,200 hours… 36,792,000 minutes 2,407,520,000 seconds

that’s what time it is! This is one of the

reasons why David was able to “bless the Lord at all times” (Psalm 34:1); he knew that

whatever time it was, God was still in control.

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Then redeeming the time will require wise decision making. Do more that will last

when you are gone… the word of God and the souls of men… more of God’s

word and more sharing with the lost.

Wisely written years ago by one astute commentator

The wise, and regular, and orderly administration of One, who sees the end from

the beginning, and to whom there is no unanticipated contingency; and whose all

knowing eye, in the midst of what appears to us as complicated confusion, has a

thorough and intuitive perception of the endlessly diversified relations and

tendencies of all events, and all their circumstances, discerning throughout the

whole the perfection of harmony.

To put it very simple, God does everything at just the right time.

A life once spent is irrevocable. It will remain to be contemplated through eternity... The same may be said of each day. When it is once past, it is gone forever. All the marks which we put upon it, it will exhibit forever... Each day will not only be a witness of our conduct, but will affect our everlasting destiny... How shall we then wish to see each day marked with usefulness? It is too late to mend the days that are past. Let us, then,

each morning, resolve to send the day into eternity in such a garb as we shall wish it to wear forever.

Live your life in such a way that the preacher doesn't have to lie at your funeral!!!

Make sure God is in the center of all you do!