Rev. David Holwick C Ecclesiastes Series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
January 19, 1997
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
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I. The curse of popularity.
A. Greatest hit by the "Byrds" in the 1960's.
B. Best known passage from Ecclesiastes.
C. But how do we understand it?
II. Cycles of time.
A. Structure.
1) Fourteen pairs, carefully arranged.
2) Shift from positive to negative emphasis. [chiasm]
3) Covers most of life (at least metaphorically).
B. A closer look.
1) Birth/death. Right to life movement not in view.
2) Plant/uproot.
a) A pastor once visited a tree nursery looking for a
certain type of tree.
He was surprised to see a sign that said, "The best
time to plant a tree was 15 years ago."
The next line stated, "The second best time is today."
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3) Kill. Death penalty.
4) Tears. Sorrow is healthy, according to OT.
5) Stones. Clear fields / build houses / sex.
6) Search/give up.
a) Two young men lost on boat, Coast Guard searches for
several days, then gives up.
7) Love/hate. Hate proper things.
III. Descriptive or prescriptive?
A. Some say the list merely describes the events of life.
1) It doesn't tell us how to attain the positive and avoid
the negative.
2) We are powerless to mold events.
a) (we cannot add or take away from them - v.14)
3) Point is that our fate is completely at God's whim.
B. Others say list is about appropriate time for actions.
1) We are mortals and are creatures of time.
2) Everything, positive and negative, has a special time.
3) Our burden is to figure out when that is.
IV. Time: tyranny or comfort?
A. Time is a tyrant.
1) Much of events in our lives are beyond our control.
a) Someone else calls the tune, we have no control. (Kidner)
1> We cannot choose to be born.
2> We wouldn't choose to weep.
3> We shouldn't choose to kill.
b) Events happen to us apart from our character.
1> Good die young.
2> Our efforts cannot change fundamental things.
c) We cannot add to good events or subtract from bad. (Ldr)
2) Repetitive cycle, like a ticking clock, seems deterministic.
a) Nothing we do has permanence. (Kidner)
b) We have eternity in our hearts (unlike animals) but
still cannot fathom what it is all about.
B. Time gives comfort because God is behind it.
1) Much is beyond us, but God gives us grace to enjoy it.
About five years ago, Christian social critic Richard John
Neuhaus was being driven from the Pittsburgh airport to
a speaking engagement.
During the drive, one of his hosts persisted in complaining
about the disintegration of American society and the
disappearance of Christian values from our culture.
Cases in point were too numerous to mention, but Pastor
Neuhaus's host tried anyway.
After the tedious drive, Neuhaus offered these words of
advice:
"The times may be bad, but they are the only times we are
given.
Remember, hope is still a Christian virtue, and despair is
a mortal sin."
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2) God is greater than time, and works things out according
to his plan.
3) Both good and bad events have a proper place in our lives.
a) God can use both to teach us, and build us up.
V. The mystery of time.
A. God gives humans two attributes. 3:11
1) A glimpse of eternity.
2) We have a desire to understand the whole.
a) Motivation for all science, mathematics, etc.
b) Our limitation is that we cannot know everything.
B. Skeptics are doomed to despair.
1) Many scientific skeptics say there is no pattern in life.
a) There is no beginning, and no end, no meaning.
b) Time just flows on.
2) The desire for something "more" is always frustrating.
a) Skeptics are limited to "while they live." 3:12
b) By nature, we want more. We want to live forever.
C. Believers have hope of eternity with God.
1) We also cannot figure everything out in this life.
2) But we can trust God with the details.
VI. God makes the difference.
A. We catch glimpses of beauty, only God sees whole. 3:11
B. He gives us ability to have satisfaction in life.
1) Our joy is not limited by an incomplete (to us) and
meaningless universe.
2) Joy is a gift from God. 3:13
3) We can do good and know there is a reward for us.
C. Take life day by day from hand of God.
1) Make most of prevailing circumstances.
a) God works out all things for our good. Romans 8:28
b) [transmission falls out of van]
2) Discern right times for right actions.
a) "Beautiful" in 3:11 means "appropriate."
The "Focus on the Family" newsletter we put in bulletin had
this article a few years ago.
It was words of advice from a man who took his own life.
Vince Foster, deputy counsel to President Clinton, spoke to
the 1993 graduating class of Arkansas University School
of Law only six weeks before his death.
His words now echo back to us from somewhere in eternity.
A portion of what Mr. Foster said to several hundred young
lawyers on that historic day:
A word about family.
You have amply demonstrated that you are achievers willing
to work hard, long hours and set aside your personal lives.
But it reminds me of that observation that no one was ever
heard to say on a death bed,
"I wish I had spent more time at the office."
Balance wisely your professional life and your family life.
If you are fortunate to have children, your parents will warn
you that your children will grow up and be gone before you
know it.
I can testify that it is true.
God only allows us so many opportunities with our children
to read a story, go fishing, play catch and say our
prayers together.
Try not to miss a one of them.
The office can wait.
It will still be there after your children are gone.
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D. Revere God. 3:14
1) He wants us to seek him, and know him.
2) Past is called to account. They way we live matters. 3:15
The movie CASUALTIES OF WAR is about a true incident in the
Vietnam War.
Michael J. Fox plays Private Erikson, a soldier who is part
of a squad that abducts and rapes a young Vietnamese girl.
He didn't participate in the crime.
Afterward, as he struggles with what has happened, he says
to the other men in his squad:
"Just because each of us might at any second be blown away,
we're acting like we can do anything we want, as though
it doesn't matter what we do.
I'm thinking it's just the opposite.
Because we might be dead in the next split second, maybe
we gotta be extra careful what we do.
Because maybe it matters more.
Maybe it matters more that we ever know."
Death for all of us, is a breath away.
And the nearer death is, the closer we are to answering to
God for all we have said and done.
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