Title – What Season Is It?
Scripture Passage – Ecclesiastes 3:1-12
Description – The third sermon of a 4 part series, ‘Overload: Saying ‘No’ So We Can Say ‘Yes.’
This morning we begin with the reading of our main text and following the reading of it, we will watch a video clip. As you watch the clip, answer this question, (Slide 1) ‘What season of life is it for this mom and this family?
(Slide 2)
There is a time for everything,
a season for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to rebuild.
(Slide 3)
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to lose.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
(Slide 4)
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak up.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.
(Slide 5)
What do people really get for all their hard work? I have thought about this in connection with the various kinds of work God has given people to do.
(Slide 6)
God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. So I concluded that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to enjoy themselves as long as they can.
(Slide 7)
‘Bluefish TV Drained_from_Busy_Schedules’
(Slide 8) So, what season of life is it for this mom and her family?
We are at different points in the season of our life. Overload looks different to us that it does to Patty the mom. Some of us have ‘been there and done that.’ Others of us cannot relate, never have and never will, to the busyness of Patty.
Some of us have little overload to be honest. Others of us have a lightly loaded plate of overload. Still others of us have a full plate and perhaps a few of us have an overflowing plate of overload.
As we begin the third sermon in our fall series, ‘Overload: Saying ‘No’ So We Can Say ‘Yes,’ I want us to consider what season of life we are in this morning because each season of life has the ever present issue of overload in it. There are types of overload, such as financial and relational, common to every season of life but there is also overload germane to a particular season. Some seasons are busier than other seasons. But, all seasons of life present challenges to margin and spiritual health.
Those of us who are able to relate to Patty the mom know that overload of our schedules, and our families’ schedules, is something to work on in this particular season of life. For others of us who have gone through this season, perhaps the aging of our parents or other family members or the beginning of retirement, creates conditions for certain kinds of overload that we must deal with that is different from other seasons.
We face overload throughout life and sometimes, (and some of us are probably in this situation) we experience overload on several different levels because our lives are touching the lives of others who are at different seasons as well! Maybe we often feel overwhelmed rather than overloaded but lack of margin, that space between sanity and overload, is always present.
What does scripture have to say to us about all of this? Let’s look at our main text this morning out of the book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes is a very deep and fascinating book. Some Bible scholars suggest that Solomon wrote it after a period of walking away from God. Others suggest that Ezra, who helped Israel rebuild the temple after the return from Babylonia, wrote it. We really are not clear, as to whom the author is but we are clear that his view of life is rather negative and even depressed.
It seems that in spite of all of the things he has done, none of it has been satisfying and it all comes down to simply honoring or fearing God and enjoying life on a day to day level. Now this might appeal to us today given all of the trinkets, gadgets, events, and opportunities we have available to us that can cause overload. But, if we have had moments when we have been overloaded with things and events and excitement, then perhaps the author’s simple challenge to honor God and be happy with what we have been given, is boring.
In the opening two chapters, the key word is ‘meaningless.’ It frequently appears as the descriptive word to the author’s views and perspective on life. Everything is meaningless a chasing after the wind.
Then we come to chapter 3 which I think is both a summary of and a response to the previous two chapters. It is a summary, from a wide-angle perspective, about the rhythms of life. It is a response to the meaningless of life because this list of contrasts, gives color and meaning to life.
Let’s look at them
(Slide 9) There is a time for…
• Born Die
• Plant Harvest
• Kill Heal
• Tear Down Rebuild
• Cry Laugh
• Grieve Dance
• Scatter Gather
(Slide 10)
• Embrace Turn Away
• Search Lose
• Keep Throw Away
• Tear Mend
• Quiet Speak up
• Love Hate
• War Peace
What do you notice about these things? (Slide 11) For one they are a normal part of life. They happen to all of us in one way or another. We have planted things and we have harvested things and not just crops and flowers but attitudes and habits. We cry and we laugh. We grieve and we laugh. Life consists of those things.
(Slide 11a) They are beginnings and endings. Birth and death is a beginning and an ending. So is war and peace, love and hate. We experience different kinds of war in our lives – military, political, economic, church, work, family, love, all sorts of conflict. We also experience peace – between nations, political parties, management and labor, family members and ourselves. They are endings and beginnings.
In one of the Bible commentaries I consulted the author said that these verses ‘may supply a basis for patient courage… or they many involve us in a web of fatalism.’ (I would chose the former over the latter.) These verses; this book, causes us to have, as we study it, all sorts of questions about God and life that are beyond the scope of this message today.
So what has all of this to do with overload and margin? (That is a good question! I like those of you who say, ‘cut to the chase Jim and just give us the facts!’ Just be patient! I’m getting there!)
Let’s consider for a few minutes the main candidate for the authorship of this book, King Solomon and how his life, as we have recorded in certain portions of the Old Testament, could have reflected his thoughts and feelings in this book, and… most important the kinds of overload he faced in life.
Here are a few facts about King Solomon. (Slide 12)
• I Kings (contains his story)
• One of King David’s son
• Became David’s successor upon his death
• Built the Temple
• Asked God for wisdom
• God gave him wisdom and wealth
• Heavily taxed the people and became wealthier
• Married many wives
• Turned away from his basic beliefs and values as time went on
When we get to 1 Kings 7 we read in the opening verse, ‘Solomon also built a palace for himself, and it took him thirteen years to complete the construction.’
Then a few chapters back in chapter 4 we read, (starting at verse 22) ‘The daily food requirements for Solomon’s palace were 150 bushels of choice flour and 300 bushels of meal, 23ten oxen from the fattening pens, twenty pasture-fed cattle, one hundred sheep or goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and choice fowl.
24Solomon’s dominion extended over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza. And there was peace throughout the entire land. 25Throughout the lifetime of Solomon, all of Judah and Israel lived in peace and safety. And from Dan to Beersheba, each family had its own home and garden.
26Solomon had four thousand stalls for his chariot horses and twelve thousand horses.’
Then in chapter 11, starting at verse 1 we read, ‘Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. 2 The Lord had clearly instructed his people not to intermarry with those nations, because the women they married would lead them to worship their gods. Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3 He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. And sure enough, they led his heart away from the Lord. 4 In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship their gods instead of trusting only in the Lord his God, as his father, David, had done. 5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6Thus, Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; he refused to follow the Lord completely, as his father, David, had done. 7On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.
9 The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command. 11 So now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my laws, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. 12But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. 13And even so, I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”
Four thousand horse stalls, a living complex that took longer to build than the Temple, twelve thousand horses, seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (or mistresses)… talk about overload! And where did it get him? It got him in trouble with God and resulted in the eventual loss of the Kingdom. (Israel would split into two kingdoms later on and then be swallowed up by larger kingdoms including the Babylonians.)
Solomon’s overload affected his faith and lifestyle as we have just read. He was not living, as God wanted him to live.
What if, then, Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes on the heels of God’s word to him about the results of his unfaithfulness. He was no longer a young man. Perhaps 30 or so years had passed and now Solomon was aging (for that day) and with God’s heavy pronouncement, all of the power and wealth began to mean nothing. To continue to read 1 Kings 11 is to find a family breaking apart and enemies beginning to circle for the kill.
Can we not understand then the gloominess of ‘everything is meaningless’ and ‘there is nothing new under the sun?’ Overload was costing Solomon his soul. The joy and the peace that he had once experienced was being replaced by gloom and meaninglessness. What does overload cost us?
How then do we deal with overload across the seasons of life?
Here are some suggestions adapted from the thoughts of Dr. Richard Swenson.
(Slide 13)
Learn to ask the question at each new season of life, ‘How much is enough?’
There are seasons in life when we need to do more and be more involved and there are seasons when we need and must do less. We need to approach each new season of life (and many start and end with family changes: marriage, birth, school, graduation, marriage, birth, school, graduation, death) with a willingness to discern that perhaps it is a season to let some commitments go and not pick up any new ones for a time.
(Slide 13a) Remember that ‘success in God’s eyes is measured by love.’ Some of us here have experienced the death of a spouse and if you had a chance to share with us who are still married, I think that you would probably say to us, ‘be thankful for your spouse and value the time you have with them. Make it count.’ Love, not accumulation of things, is a more important goal throughout life.
(Slide 13b) Redefine happiness.
Happiness is a by-product of obedience to God’s way and purpose. Happiness, in and of itself, cannot be directly achieved.
(Slide 13c) Be a creator rather than a consumer. In other words, contribute, don’t just take. Serve and not just be served. The command to go and make disciples is a command to contribute to the lives of others as followers of Christ. Yes, do take in from time to time (we all need to be served from time to time) but also get out and serve.
In each season of life, the Lord allows us to live has both opportunities and challenges. There are beginnings, endings… and middles. Each of us are at all three places in our season of life.
As you have listened this morning, what is the Holy Spirit saying to you? Are you needing to tear down or mend? Are you needing to grieve or dance?
Next week is the conclusion of our series and I am going to be address the need for margin in our lives and what we need to say ‘Yes’ to so that we have space to live and grow and be as the Lord would have us live, grow, and be.
Let us spend some moments in quiet reflection before the Lord as we conclude.
Sources: The Interpreters’ Bible; The Overload Syndrome by Richard A Swenson, M.D. © 1998 by NavPress.
