Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
Good morning. This week I was thinking about how much we VALUE LIFE. And don’t get me wrong. It’s good that we VALUE LIFE. GOD gave us this LIFE. God put within us the will to fight with every last breath we have to keep this life. But listen, eventually DEATH will find us all. Death will find our LOVED ONES. And after they’re gone we still GRIEVE for them don’t we? But think about this just for a minute. After the last person that personally knew them dies, themselves, it’s not too long until they’re forgotten.
A few years ago I was researching some of my family from way back. I enjoy researching Genealogy. Anyway I found my GREAT GREAT GRANDPARENTS on my mom’s side. Before this time I didn’t even know their names. But anyway, I found where they are buried. Springtown Cemetery just to the East of Tulsa. So we went to find their graves. You drive out Highway 412 and just before you get to the Verdegris River you go South a ways and then you go back to the West a ways down a dead end road. And this is what I want you to get. You go out into a field where the CHIGGERS and the TICKS will almost carry you away (Believe me I know), and you’ll find the Springtown Cemetery. And as you wade through the GRASS that’s higher than your head you’ll find TOMBSTONES. Many from well over 100 years ago. And I found my GREAT GREAT GRANDPARENTS stone. James and Josephine McCleery. They both died in 1896.
They died a 128 years ago. There’s NO ONE ALIVE who knew them. No one knows what they LIKED. What kind of people they were. Did they have a HAPPY MARRIAGE? Were they FOLLOWERS of JESUS? I will NEVER KNOW on this side of eternity because their TIME to be BORN came and then their TIME to DIE came.
And someday the same will happen for you and I. That TIME to be BORN has come and gone for us but that TIME to DIE is fast approaching. It’s very likely that at least one of us here today, probably more, will be DEAD by this time next year. And as the years go by those who knew us will also die and we will be remembered NO MORE. That seems kind of DEPRESSING doesn’t it? LIVE, DIE, BE BURIED then FORGOTTEN. That sounds HOPELESS but Ecclesiastes 3, Verse 1 tells us something important. Let’s read it.
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:”
There is a PURPOSE for LIFE. A REASON why we’re here today. I have preached out of Ecclesiastes 3 in the past but always for funerals. But that’s NOT why we’re here today is it? No, God has given each one of us LIFE, at least for the time being. Some of you all may not look alive but I’m confident that you are. So the PURPOSE, the REASON for us being here, is what I want to talk to you about today.
Before I do let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.
Brother ____, would you lead us?
I. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born and a time to die”
So what was the PURPOSE of James and Josephine McCleery to be born? What was the REASON?
Why were your FOREFATHERS and FOREMOTHERS BORN?
Well, first of all, to PROCREATE. To have children. Listen, this is the way God has chosen to continue on the Human Race. He could have continued to CREATE HUMANS just as He did Adam and Eve but He chose US, you and I as humans, to join in WITH HIM by CREATING CHILDREN. Now I know not everyone has children but I’m talking about as a whole, the HUMAN RACE continues on because children are born. I’m thankful today that my ancestors had children or I wouldn’t be here today. I know my Great Great Grandfather, James McCleery, certainly did his part. He fathered AT LEAST 18 children and one of them was my Great Grandfather, Samuel McCleery. Samuel McCleery fathered my grandmother, who gave birth to my mother who gave birth to ME. Life goes on. People are born and people die.
But THIS RIGHT HERE is the PURPOSE of God. God told Adam and Eve, He told you and I, to have CHILDREN.
A. Genesis 1:27 and 28, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
B. God also commanded Noah and his children, after the flood, to have CHILDREN. Genesis 9:1,
“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”
C. The Apostle Paul tells us to have children.
1 Timothy 5:14, “I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”
We live in a society that looks down on Traditional Homes and Marriages. I’m not here preaching that you need to have a lot of kids. We certainly didn’t. We only had SIX. Nothing like my Great Great Grandfather James.
But listen, the TRADITIONAL FAMILY is under attach today. WHY? I believe it’s because God instituted the family. It was and still is HIS PURPOSE. The DEVIL HATES THE FAMILY. And if the DEVIL can destroy the FAMILY, he has a GOOD CHANCE of destroying the LIVES of that FAMILY.
II. So what other PURPOSE does God have for us today?
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die;”
We’ve talked about that but what else? Well there’s
“a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;”
In other words, there’s a time in all of our lives that we need to GET UP and DO SOMETHING. God’s PURPOSE for our lives is NOT to be a COUCH POTATO. Listen, I’ve said this so many times but it’s TRUE. God has a PLAN for everyone of our lives. But we have to DECIDE, within ourselves, that we’re gonna DO IT. Proverbs 3, Verses 5 and 6.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
God has a PURPOSE for each and every life and part of that PLAN is to SOW. PLANT SEEDS along the way.
PLANT SEEDS into the LIVES of our Children and Grandchildren. PLANT SEEDS into the lives of those we MENTOR. Everyone we come into contact with.
ILLUS: I don’t mean to embarrass my cousin Danny. But every week he volunteers at Rogers High School in Tulsa. He helps coach the girls Volley Ball Team. He started back years ago when one of his daughters was a coach there. And now, through his coaching, he’s able to PLANT SEEDS in these young people’s lives. A lot of them in that area come from broken homes. But yet he makes a difference.
We have school teachers here today who make a DIFFERENCE in kids lives. They SOW SEEDS.
We have counselors who work with people when they are at their lowest. They SOW SEEDS.
Sunday School teachers, Awannas teachers, Children’s Church workers and the list goes on.
Listen, everyone of us here today will have an opportunity to PLANT SEEDS in people’s lives. God will put us in the place He wants us to be and then it’s up to us whether we do it or not.
And here’s the deal, we’re all PLUCKING UP the things that were planted by us and someone else. I’m REAPING the seeds that James and Josephine McCleery planted.
ILLUS: Like I said, I know very little about them. But I do know that James was born in Indiana and Josephine was born in Kentucky and they got married and moved to Oklahoma. And I’m sure glad they did that. I’m proud to be an Okie from ... Skiatook. And by the way, I’ve seen pictures of James McCleery and he was a very handsome man so YOU KNOW it HMM HMM all makes sense.
I don’t know whether they were followers of Jesus or not but I do know they raised my great grandfather to be a good man. I never knew him but my mama LOVED her grandpa Samuel.
And all of the people that came before us, our parents, grandparents, great grandparents and so on. They are what has made us what we are today.
They didn’t just contribute their DNA, their PHYSICAL MAKEUP, to make us what we look like today. But also our MENTAL MAKEUP. Who we are, the things we like, the way we do things. And we are REAPING from the seeds they have SOWN.
And you know what, someday after we’re gone, our children and grandchildren and on down the line will REAP what we have SOWN. The decisions we make affect GENERATIONS that come after us. We’re REAPING what has been SOWN and at the same time we’re SOWING SEEDS for future generations. Generations that won’t even KNOW US or REMEMBER US.
III. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
And then Solomon says something almost shocking.
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;”
Solomon is talking about TIMES of WAR. TIMES of CALAMITY. TIMES of DESTRUCTION. TERRIBLE TIMES.
And the next few Verses go along with this.
“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 together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, 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.”
I guess all of us have asked why God allowed something to happen. If God is really OMNIPOTENT, ALL POWERFUL, then why did He allow some TRAGEDY in our lives.
Why does He allow little children to get sick? Why does He allow CAR WRECKS to happen? Why does He allow people to MURDER OTHERS? Why did He allow Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin to live and kill so many?
Why would a GOOD GOD tell us that there is a PURPOSE to KILL and a PURPOSE to BREAK THINGS DOWN?
What is the PURPOSE of WEEPING and MOURNING, RIPPING THINGS APART, LOSS and all of these other things?
I think Solomon is simply describing LIFE. As TIME MARCHES ON these are things that we will experience.
And all of these TERRIBLE THINGS are because we live in a BROKEN WORLD. And the PURPOSE, the REASON, for all of these TERRIBLE THINGS is FREE WILL. GOD CREATED PERFECTION but yet He gave mankind a CHOICE.
We like to blame Adam and Eve for eating that APPLE in the Garden of Eden don’t we? All of these things are their fault.
A. On Monday mornings when we have to crawl out of bed we think, “Man, if it weren’t for Adam and Eve I’d be living in a PERFECT WORLD where I wouldn’t have to go to work.”
B. When we get sick we blame Adam and Eve. They’re the ones who brought sickness and death into the world.
C. It’s Adam and Eve’s fault we have to keep our doors locked at night.
D. We have CORRUPTION and PURE EVIL in our SOCIETY today. We have SINFUL BEHAVIOR. All you have to do is go to Wal-Mart or just drive down the street.
ILLUS: I was telling someone the other day that driving my truck is so much safer for me. It’s NOT because it’s bigger and beefier, it’s because the HORN doesn’t work.
But listen, we blame this SINFUL, WICKED WORLD on Adam and Eve but I’ve got a feeling most of us would have eventually given in like they did. We ALL would have listened to that SERPENT. We ALL would have thought how PRETTY that piece of fruit was. How can I say that? Romans 3:23,
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
That’s me and that’s you. Everyone of us here have given in to temptation sometime in our life. Everyone of us here has thought how PRETTY something is, and then we’ve reached out and touched it. We’ve tried it out even though we knew better.
And as Solomon wrote this passage he was describing the LIFE that he lived and the LIFE that you and I would live. And yes, life can be really HARD. It can get really BAD.
IV. But for my last point, there’s something here that I’m sure you noticed but let me point it out to you. For every BAD THING, for every CALAMITY, for every LOSS, for every time you MOURN, there is the EXACT OPPOSITE.
A. Where there is DEATH, there is also LIFE.
ILLUS: Most of you all know my sister’s husband, Bob Jones, died suddenly of a heart attack a few months ago. He had taught the teens at family camp this year. A really good guy. He had made many mission trips to Eastern Europe. Worked full time for the Voice of the Martyrs. It was such a TRAGEDY but just a month or so after he died there was NEW LIFE. His daughter Hope and her husband Theron, had a baby boy born to them and they named him Bobby. In this life that we live there is DEATH. But there is also NEW LIFE.
B. There is a time to WORK. PLANT SEEDS. But there will come a time of HARVEST.
C. There is a time to KILL. Solomon’s NOT talking about MURDER here. He’s talking about WAR and SELF DEFENSE. In the past God had commanded the Nation of Israel to go out and CONDUCT WAR. God used them to bring judgment on wicked nations and He used wicked nations to bring judgment on them.
Some of you all have been through times of war and I’m not talking about a BAD MARRIAGE.
We’ve had WW2 Vets come here and pass away.
We have Vietnam Veterans and Veterans of the Middle East Wars who attend church here.
I’ve never been there but I can’t imagine how hard WAR would be. We honor our VETERANS every year in November. It’s a very small thing that we do for all they have done for us.
But Solomon tells us that after a TIME TO KILL there is a TIME TO HEAL. I hope all of you Veterans that are here today have healed.
D. There are times that things are BROKEN DOWN in our LIVES but then there comes a time to REBUILD.
There are people here this morning whose LIVES were ALL BUT DESTROYED. People here who were ADDICTED to DRUGS and ALCOHOL but now they are FREE. People who were ADDICTED to PORN but now they are FREE. People who have spent time in PRISON but now they are FREE.
E. There are times to CRY but then times to LAUGH. Times to MOURN but then times DANCE.
F. Times of ANGER and TENSION but then times to EMBRACE. Come together and HUG one another.
G. There are times of LOSS but then times of GAIN.
H. Times to RIP things apart but then times to SEW them back together.
I. This is one I need to learn. In this life there are times to keep your MOUTH SHUT but then a time to SPEAK.
J. A time to HATE but then a time to LOVE.
K. And finally, a time of WAR but then, a time of PEACE.
I want to close my sermon by reading Verses 9-11.
“What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.”
God sees everything we go through in this life. He sees our TRAVAIL. He sees all of the PAIN and SUFFERING and He turns it around. Some don’t believe it but He really will make everything beautiful in HIS TIME. Not our time, HIS TIME.
Some theologians have titled this Chapter “The REIGN of TIME and the GLIMMER of HOPE.”
Some day TIME will cease. There will be NO MORE DEATH and there will be NO MORE time to be BORN. And ALL of the TRAVAIL of this life, that you have ENDURED, won’t mean anything ... anymore.
God, speaking through Solomon, tells us about this life. That there is a PURPOSE for everything. He winds up Verse 11 by telling us that we probably won’t understand all the ways of God. And I don’t.
But this is something I hope you’ve gotten out of this message. God wants to turn all of the things in your life, even the bad, into something beautiful. That’s why He sent Jesus at the RIGHT TIME. Galatians 4:4-7
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
Jesus came and He lived and died for you and I. He came at the RIGHT TIME, the RIGHT WAY for the RIGHT REASON.
ILLUS: James and Josephine McCleery. My Great great grandparents. There was a time for them to be BORN, way back in the early 1800’s. THEY LIVED LIFE. But then the time came for them to DIE. 1896. And many generations later I think about them and someday I hope to meet them.
I don’t know your HEART TODAY. I don’t know the TRAVAIL that you’ve had in your life. The PAIN you’ve endured. But we all have lived LIFE. Now Jesus wants to be your Savior. Remember what some have titled this Chapter.
“The REIGN of TIME and the GLIMMER of HOPE.”
Time marches on. TIME REIGNS but Jesus is our GLIMMER of HOPE. Let’s Pray
