“Everything in Time!”
Ecclesiastes pt. 4
On the lighter side of life:
Proverbs from Fourth Graders
A 4th grade teacher collected well-known proverbs. She gave each child in the class the first half of the proverb, and asked them to come up with the rest. Here is what they came up with:
Better to be safe than punch a 5th grader
Strike while the bug is close.
It’s always darkest before daylight savings time
Never underestimate the power of termites.
You can lead a horse to water but how?
Don’t bite the hand that looks dirty.
No news is impossible.
A miss is as good as a Mr.
You can’t teach an old dog math.
If you lie down with dogs, you will stink in the morning.
Love all, trust me.
The pen is mightier than the pigs
An idle mind is the best way to relax.
Where there is smoke, there’s pollution.
Happy is the bride who gets all the presents.
A penny saved is not much.
Two is company, three’s The Musketeers.
None are so blind as Helen Keller.
Children should be seen and not spanked or grounded.
If at first you don’t succeed get new batteries.
You get out of something what you see pictured on the box.
When the blind lead the blind get out of the way.
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you; cry and you have to blow your nose.
(from The Daily Dilly)
Opening Illustration: Blue Fish TV “There is a Time for everything!”
Illustration what happens in 30 minutes put the timer on set it for 3o minutes?
Review:
Do you know - What happens in 30 minutes? “Mission Maker Magazine”, page 18, Edition 2008, (www.WorldChristianDatabase.org).
7,764 souls began life in the world
3,444 souls meet Jesus face-to-face
3,420 baptisms occurred in foreign mission
$1,311,888 dollars were given to foreign missions
$1,368,924 dollars were embezzled from Christian funds by leaders
10,896 people migrated internationally
402 children became homeless or family-less
2,275 rural poor migrated to cities
1,140 people moved into urban slums
68 people began supporting themselves only by collecting garbage
1,375 children under age five died from preventable starvation related causes
22 million was given to all Christian causes (3% from Christian incomes)
10 Christians died for their faith witness
Thesis: Solomon tells us that timing is everything in life and life goes through many stages and we need to know what time it is.
Ecclesiastes 3
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9What does the worker gain from his toil? 10I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
15 Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.
16And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
17I thought in my heart,
“God will bring to judgment
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time for every deed.”
18I also thought, “As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
22So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?
Introduction:
Information from Rev. Bruce Goettsche:
You have probably heard the phrase many times, "timing is everything". There is a great deal of truth in that statement. The difference between a good joke and a bad one is a person’s sense of timing. An appropriate pause makes a joke . . . an inappropriate pause can kill the same joke.
Timing is essential when dealing with people. You don’t ask for a raise when business is not going well or when things are tense around the office. You don’t try to correct someone who feels threatened by you. You don’t ask for a favor when someone is under a lot of stress or angry.
Timing is important in cooking. The juicy hamburger on the grill is raw meat if cooked for too little time and a clump of charcoal if it is cooked too long.
Timing is important in medicine. If you catch a problem early you will be able to treat it more effectively. You timing is important in taking medication. If you take your medicine as directed it will be helpful. If you skip doses it loses it’s effectiveness. If you take extra doses it can be deadly.
Timing is important in finance. When you invest in a particular stock and when you sell the particular stock will make the difference between whether you make money or lose it. Knowing when to borrow and when not to borrow is the key to financial independence.
Timing is important in your spiritual life as well. Jesus was very conscious of timing. He lived His life with an acute awareness of God’s timing for His life. The gospel of John records these words of Jesus,
1. John 2:4 "My time has not yet come"
2. John 7:6 "The right time for me has not yet come"
3. John 7:30; 8:20 "His time had not yet come"
Peter tells us that the second coming of the Christ is a matter of timing. God has not sent Christ back to earth yet because "he wants everyone to come to repentance". God is waiting until everyone who will come to Christ, does…(http://www.unionchurch.com/archive/052001.html.)
Timing is everything and everything must happen in its proper God time – or God moment.
Quote: The earliest recorded philosophy of time was expounded by Ptahhotep, who lived c. 2650–2600 BCE said: "Do not lessen the time of following desire, for the wasting of time is an abomination to the spirit."
Solomon in this chapter rolls into the realization that timing is everything and that life is filled with eternal moments of time (EMT’S). These time moments must be dealt with wisely and correctly because your eternal destiny is linked to them. In a sense Solomon says to those reading his journal “You have to know what time it is!” “If you don’t know what time it is you will blow it and waste that eternal moment - EMT!” He adds a phrase in this chapter that leaps out at me, “God has made everything beautiful in its time and in these moments eternity is placed within the heart.”
T.S. - So what are the three primary messages within the words of Ecclesiastes chapter 3?
1. Learn how to tell time wisely!
a. Know what to do and when to do it!
i. You must make the right choices at the right time so that this eternal moment lives on into the future – make the wrong choice and the moment is lost forever.
ii. You can only do this with the help of the Holy Spirit.
iii. You own intellect will lead you astray instead we must rely on our faith in God and His word.
iv. Illustration on the importance of timing for picture taking.
1. See slides on the power point on the importance of timing.
b. It’s import ant for us to understand what season it is:
i. For example if I decided to go put my boat in the water in winter I would major problems.
ii. I need to know when I should wear a coat or a bathing suit.
iii. In need to know when turn the heat on and when to turn on the AC.
c. Learn to discern the signs of the times!
i. Learn to discern the times with the help of the Spirit – be ready for Christ’s return every moment of the day and you will never waste your time.
ii. Learn from the Word of God what to do when the stages of life come stepping into your life.
iii. Learn what to do in time – in your life time – learn when to do things and what has to be done then do it!
iv. Learn about God and what he has been doing in this world and in the past – understand what will come in the future and see God at work even today in our life-time.
1. See Him recognize what he is doing and jump aboard with God.
2. Be time conscience
a. Understand that time is short!
b. Maximize your time!
i. The story of Francis Asbury: Marshall notes this about this man of God and circuit rider preacher:
1. How does one evaluate a life like Asbury’s? Not easily-although the hard evidence is there; when he arrived in Philadelphia in 1771, there were but 300 communicant Methodists in America. He personally ordained more than 4,000 preachers, traveled more than a quarter of a million miles mostly on horseback, and preached more than 16,500 sermons. At the time of his death, the recorded membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America was 214,235… 20,000 mourners escorted his body to its resting place in Baltimore (page 84).
2. This man maximized his life-time!
d. Learn to listen to the voice of God for wisdom and insight into these “Eternal time moments.”
i. You must understand that missing an eternal minute in time means it is lost forever, but if you find it and connect with it then it will live on into eternity.
ii. See James 1:5-8:5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
T.S. – We must learn to tell time God’s way if we want our life-time to live on into eternity.
2. Know your eternal destiny and purpose in life!
a. Find out how you are to spend your time and then do it.
i. Don’t waste your life!
1. Don’t live to be useless! Don’t live a life that has no eternal value to it!
ii. Be ready to be used by God in one of those eternal moments in time (EMT).
1. “Don’t miss a defining eternal moment of time in your life when God steps in to use you to impact the eternal kingdom with your sacrificial life.”
b. I was watching the history channel this week and a special on Superman was on so I watched as they explored the history of Superman.
i. At one point they highlighted the TV series “Smallville” They focused on the episode where superman must discover his destiny – in other words -- why he was sent to this planet? What was his purpose? Why was he sent here to earth? What was he to do with his life?
1. The scene from this episode “Smallville” is where Superman is led to a lab of a scientist who is Christopher Reeves:
a. “You must write your own destiny?” Christopher Reeves says to the questioning Superboy!
b. “You will not find your destiny looking at the stars! You must find your destiny from within!”
c. The message was clear to look within for your destiny, for you purpose.
ii. Solomon in our book is the wise man who has been dealt an eye opening blow in life – he realizes how much time he has wasted! So he pens this book and communicates an urgent message, “Your destiny, your eternal purpose, the reason you were sent to this earth from beyond is not found by looking up into the stars but actually from within – it comes from God and He wrote it into your heart when He created you.”
1. God has placed eternity in the heart of every person and if they know the law of timing and they allow the Lord to enter into their hearts - then He will unlock your eternal purpose-your eternal destiny-your eternal mission for life- your eternal calling and your life will make a difference eternally.
c. God wrote your eternal destiny into your heart when He created you in your mother’s womb – It’s there but we must allow Him to unlock it for us and reveal it to us- we do this by dying to self and by yielding our life-time to God.
i. Yes, it’s written into your DNA.
1. D-Divine
2. N-Nature’s
3. A-Agenda
ii. He designed you for a divine purpose – your life has been given a divine agenda!
1. The key to understand is - If you choose to follow your divine nature’s agenda and you live it and do it then your life-time will live on into eternity!
iii. Take a risk – share the risk quote.
1. I came across this poem a while back when I was teaching High School Math -- listen to what it says:
a. To laugh is to risk appearing the fool
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach out for another is to risk involvement
To expose feelings is to risk exposing, your true self
To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To live is to risk dying
To hope is to risk despair
To try is to risk failure
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing
They may avoid suffering and sorrow but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love or live
Charmed by their attitudes they are a slave, they have forfeited their freedom
Only a person who risks is free.
b. The reality check is that we must take risks in life for God and these moments in time are God tests.
2. To find satisfaction in your life-time you must tap into the presence and the power of God.
a. Do what McGready did! Grab a hold of that Eternal Moment of Time and let it live on into eternity:
i. In 1798 the Rev. James McGready rode into Logan County Kentucky. Logan County was the home of many murderers, horse thieves, highway robbers, counterfeiters and this county was nicknamed by the outlaws as “Rogues Harbor.” It was considered one of the most lawless areas of the US in those days. But in road James a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian preacher – called by God to lead this county to Christ. He came preaching about the “New Birth” found in the Gospels. He came preaching of Heaven and Hell and people said, they could see and feel them both when he preached. He came to help shepherd three small congregations which had formed a year earlier. These three churches were all located on three rivers, Muddy, The Red, and Gasper River. When he came he had his three congregations sign a Covenant which read like this: When we consider the Word and promises of a compassionate God, to the poor lost family of Adam, we find the strongest encouragement for Christians to pray in faith-to ask in the name of Jesus for the conversion of their fellow man…With these promises before us, we feel encouraged to unite our supplications to prayer –hearing God, for the out-pouring of His Spirit, that this people may be quickened and comforted, and that our children, and sinners generally, may be converted.” All those willing to sign the Covenant agreement made a decision to pray for the county and for God to send an Awakening to this rowdy county. They prayed every Saturday evening, and Sunday morning and they devoted the 3rd Saturday of each month to prayer and fasting for the county. Within one year revival broke out. In July of 1799 while preaching at Red River a group of vile sinners came into the church crying bitterly to be saved and where “Born Again.” Then it happened again the following month at Gasper River when Communion was being observed. It started to spread through the county and by June of 1800 500 people showed up for the Communion services. God would knock the sinners to the floor and then they would cry out for mercy and grace and then surrender their heart to Christ. Then it hit at Muddy River with the same force. In July at Gasper River they planned special camp meetings with guest speakers and anticipated a move of God. McGready was blown away when 10,000 people showed up for the meetings, people were saying that they were compelled by God to be there, frontiersmen of corrupt character showed up and were slain by the Power of the Spirit, many got saved, people cried out to be saved during the preaching and communion services, people would just start weeping as God’s Spirit blew through the meetings. Barton Stone another minister returned home to Cane Ridge to tell his congregation what he had witnessed in Gasper River. They planned a camp meeting in Cane Ridge the following summer and they were blown away when 25,000 people showed up and God came rushing in to this camp meeting like He did in Gasper River. 1/8th of the entire states population showed up and God moved with power (From Sea to Shining Sea by Marshall, Manuel).
d. Allow God to unlock your potential destiny and Solomon reminds us what will happen, “14I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.”
i. What you do as God empowers you and enables you will endure forever.
ii. It will not fade away but live on forever.
iii. These meetings happened 207 years ago and people are still talking about them!
T.S. – It is imperative that we discover and allow God to unlock our spiritual DNA so that our lifetime is not wasted but is used by God to make a difference for eternity.
3. There will come a day when time will stand still and hold its breath.
a. Remember God will look at us in the future and hold us accountable for how we used our life-time.
i. God will hold us responsible for how we used our time.
ii. God will address us personally on how we fulfilled or did not fulfill our destiny.
iii. God will show whether we knew what time it was or not!
b. The truth is we are progressing in a linear time to climax in our life and it is associated with our appearance before the Judgment Seat of Christ.
i. Time is defined by Wikipedia Encyclopedia: In general, the Judaeo-Christian concept, based on the Bible, is that time is linear, with a beginning, the act of creation by God. The Christian view assumes also an end, the eschaton, expected to happen when Christ returns to earth in the Second Coming to judge the living and the dead. This will be the consummation of the world and time. St Augustine’s City of God was the first developed application of this concept to world history. The Christian view is that God is uncreated and eternal so that He and the supernatural world are outside time and exist in eternity.
c. There will come a day when our time – our life time – our years of living will be evaluated by God to see if there is any eternal value found in our life-time.
i. He will bring to light how we lived our lives – how we spent our seconds, minutes, hours and days.
ii. Then He will determine their eternal value.
Conclusion:
God always knows what time it is even when we may not! This is why we must be in tune to God and be submissive to His will for our life.
1. Bruce states: God knows what He is doing. His delays are always purposeful. When we dare to live by His timing, great things happen. Isaiah writes, those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. [Isaiah 40:31 (NLT)] We need to get to know God. When we get to know God (rather than just know "about" God) we will begin to anticipate what God would have us do in certain situations. When we understand God’s character there are some questions we just don’t have to ask. We need to discipline ourselves to seek God’s will. We get into trouble most of the time because we never even think about the fact that God may have an opinion on what we should do. We forget that God’s plan is always the best plan. We need to learn to check with the Lord. Have you ever agreed to do something before asking for God’s wisdom (sure, all the time). Have you ever declined something without seeking His guidance? For example, if you were asked to serve as a teacher, a leader or a helper at the church did you immediately say, "No, I’m not good at that!" Why not check with God first? What if God wants to expand and deepen your abilities? You cut yourself off from His blessing when you made decisions without seeking His will. We must learn to listen. We must learn to listen to scripture and listen to the whisper of God’s Spirit. I know that sounds weird. I’m not saying that you should go up into the hills and listen to the rocks talk to you. People who do such things are loony. What I am suggesting is that we learn to hear and listen to what the Bible is saying. We need to make sure it registers rather than just reading to meet an obligation. We need to build some quiet times into our life so that we can hear the "still small voice of God." I know it sounds strange, but God still does whisper direction to His children. We must follow faithfully when we are called to take bold action or when we are told to wait. Many times we don’t understand. When a door is closed we should watch with eagerness to see what new doors God is going to open. When doors are open we should be willing to step out in faith. Generally, when God opens a door he is giving you an opportunity to grow and to serve Him in new and surprising ways. These are usually scary opportunities. They require faith and they are very exciting.
Timing is everything in life and if we miss it – it will cost us an eternal blessing!
Points: WE NEED TO LEARN TO TELL TIME GOD’S WAY, WE NEED TO DISCOVER OUR ETERNAL DESTINY WHICH WAS WRITTEN INTO OUR DNA AT CREATION AND WE NEED TO BE READY TO MEET GOD WHEN OUR TIME STOPS!
Video Illustration: “In Time” Blue Fish TV
