Our "Under the Sun" series continues this week as Pastor Jody draws our attention to Ecclesiastes 3 and the idea that there is a season for everything.
What season are you in right now? What is this season right for in your life? Have you moved ahead of God's timing? Are you delaying or avoiding embracing a new season?
Join us as we explore the wisdom from the Word this week.
Sermon Notes:
We worship a Creator God who established the world in seasons – who has a created order and time for things according to his good plans and purposes.
“You made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to set”
A picture of a God who is very much in control – intimately involved in the details of all of life.
Life happens in seasons.
The idea of ‘Seasons’ is one of the big master metaphors used in scripture to describe the way we experience life and the journey of faith and following Jesus.
Jesus often used illustrations of seasons in his parables to teach the disciples.
Wisdom literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job) where we’re anchoring ourselves in this series – is all centred around how to live God’s way in the world – also speaks a lot about seasons.
The Word offers us some great wisdom and encouragement when it comes to how we are to discern and navigate our way through seasons of life that come our way.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 (NIV)
There is a time for everything
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
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 from embracing,
6
a time to search and a time to count your losses,
a time to hold on and a time to let go,
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.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
15
Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.
Locating Question: What season are you in?
– It could be a season of planting, a season of building and growing, a season of grief or lament, a time of letting go or repairing something that’s been broken, a season of celebration etc
If there’s a right time for every season – there is also a wrong time for every season.
The invitation that comes up repeatedly throughout the wisdom literature and ALL of scripture – is learning to move at the speed of God.
‘A wise youth harvests in summer,
but one who sleeps during harvest is a disgrace’ (Prov 10:5)
‘Those too lazy to plow in the right season
will have no food at the harvest’ (Prov 20:4)
Questions:
What is it the right season for in your life right now? (Ask God for his wisdom)
Have you run ahead of God?
Are you delaying or avoiding embracing a new season?
Prayer – Ask God to guide you back in step with his Spirit
Psalm 27:11-14
11
Teach me how to live, O Lord.
Lead me along the right path,
for my enemies are waiting for me.
12
Do not let me fall into their hands.
For they accuse me of things I’ve never done;
with every breath they threaten me with violence.
13
Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness
while I am here in the land of the living.
14
Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.
The significance of THROUGH – (the journey v the destination)
There are no shortcuts or cheat codes when it comes to growing and maturing as a follower of Jesus – wisdom and character are formed and forged in us through the experiences of life, through the successes and the setbacks – through the seasons of joy and the seasons of pain and challenge.
The journey is just as important as the destination. The journey is where our faith is forged.
Prov 14:23
‘All hard work brings a profit,
but mere talk leads only to poverty.’
Phil 1:6
‘He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’
Question:
Are there any shortcuts I’m trying to take (whether intentionally or unintentionally) that God wants to draw my attention to today?
What is God teaching me and forming in me through my current season?
Take comfort – God doesn’t leave us in our seasons to navigate them alone – we worship a God who is ever-present with us in the seasons of life.
The tension of the mystery – growing a holy curiosity
The tension of the mystery – we might not always know what God is up to but we can know his heart and his nature towards us:
V11 holds two curious phrases worth exploring …..
‘He has made everything beautiful in its time’ – God’s sovereignty – his redemptive plan for humanity and for the world – a reminder that even when we can’t see it, God is moving and restoring things, bringing order to chaos, beauty for ashes, life to bareness ….
‘He has set eternity in our hearts’ – This is an inner knowing that we were not made for this world – rather we’re just passing through. An inner knowing that there’s ‘more’ to life than what this world has to offer. It’s what we call The Bigger Story – the gift of perspective to help us through the seasons of life.
And it’s these 2 things the author of Ecclesiastes says should lead us to a place of holy fear.
What does it mean to fear God?
– The fear of God is an awe and reverence that comes from acknowledging God in his sovereignty – as the one who created all things and in whom all things hold together (Col 1).
Pray:
Invite God into your season.
Pray that God would lead you to a place of humble surrender as you worship him in holy fear (awe and reverence)
Let him remind you of his sovereignty – that he is in control and present with you in every season you face. May his presence and power bring you renewed comfort today.
