Before we open God's word, let us take a moment and pray.
Jesus, you have said that the truth will set us free.
!
Because we'll feel more liked, we'll feel more control, we'll feel more whole.
But the truth is, to live in the truth is the only true way to live.
Lord, we want to live according to your word.
We want to have those lies that we believe, those untruths that we cling to.
We want to see them banished.
So Lord, help us.
As we open your word, help us to see truth, see reality for the way it truly is, the way you have designed it to be.
Lord, not to dismay us, but to draw us ever closer, ever closer to yourself.
We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
I'll start off with a quote.
This is from an article called The Twelve Months of the French Republic Calendar, and it's from the Encyclopedia Britannica.
It still exists, by the way, encyclopedias.
Just an FYI.
I thought it better to quote from this than Wikipedia on a Sunday morning, but anyways.
Quote,
French revolutionaries believed they did not simply topple a government, but establish a new social order founded on freedom and equality.
To mark the advent of the new age of liberty, they replaced in October 1793 the old Gregorian calendar with a new Republican calendar.
Henceforth, the year of the official proclamation of the Republic, 1792, would become year one.
The Republican calendar was abandoned by Napoleon on January 1st, 1806.
This wouldn't be the first time that time was to be altered or adjusted by revolutionaries.
In fact, it's happened a number of times throughout history.
Another example, in AD 67, during the first Jewish-Roman war,
the priestly class of Jerusalem began minting coins with the year one as a way of rejecting Roman hegemony.
Three years later, Jerusalem was razed to the ground.
Didn't last for very long.
Nevertheless, revolutionaries and leaders throughout history have sought to control time.
For the control of time means one can control the narrative.
To have godlike power without limits.
Time is a very powerful thing.
Money comes and goes.
You can buy many things with it.
Jobs can be lost and gained.
But if you control time, you can control the world, or at least your sliver of it.
You could have anything you wanted, or at least, at the very least,
you could undo those things that you regret.
We're coming to Ecclesiastes 3.
And we are faced with this concept of time.
However, it does not teach us, Ecclesiastes 3,
how to seize the day, or how to control time,
or how to pursue peak efficiency in life.
Instead, it reveals in us as people that are completely subjects to time.
Not masters of it.
Constantly dominated by it.
Feeling the ache of not having enough of it.
This is the reality of all of us living, as the sage of Ecclesiastes puts it,
a life under the sun.
So our sage continues his disillusioning work.
I used that term last week.
The sage is looking to disillusion us.
Our sage continues his disillusioning work,
confronting our faulty worldview,
so that we can rightly understand, in this case, time.
And more importantly, the one true God who is above time.
So the sage will teach us what it means to,
first, be subjects of time.
The second, the nature of the sovereign over time.
And then finally, he will help us to conduct a proper investigation of the end of time.
And I use the end not as in time ending,
but the purpose of time.
So that we may approach time in an appropriate way,
and thereby live a full and wise life.
So we'll jump right into it.
Let's take a look at the subjects of time.
So the poem we have, verses 1 to 8,
really 2 to 8,
recounts times and seasons,
and captures most, if not all,
of the human experience.
I won't read it all.
Matthew did a great job reading it.
But you can see how it is connected to
mortality, morality, work, creativity, emotions, relationships,
and even conflict.
It recounts how humanity interacts with the world we find ourselves in,
regardless of culture and era.
I mean, you read this poem,
and it applies to us as much as it applied to the people
that were hearing it for the first time by the sage.
I'll just read the second verse and the eighth verse,
the beginning and the end of the poem.
And it goes like this.
Actually, I'll start in verse 1.
For everything there is a season,
and a time for every matter under heaven.
Verse 2.
The poem begins,
A time to be born, a time to die,
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted.
Verse 8.
A time to love, and a time to hate,
a time of war, and a time of peace.
If this were a situational,
a list of situational circumstances that we could control
through the right amount of discernment,
or cunning, or wisdom,
starting such a list,
and ending such a list with the extremities of the human life
wouldn't be the best approach.
Why?
If this was a list of things we could get better at,
you can't get better at being born.
We are completely,
we have no control over the circumstances of our birth.
Who we were born to,
where we were born,
who our parents are,
how they raised us in those early years,
nor do we
master the moment of our death.
And I briefly mentioned this last week,
but it goes again this week really well.
The euthanasia regime in our country,
it flagrantly, flagrantly disregards
this natural reality of death,
that it is out of our control.
Yet even for those who choose assisted suicide,
they do so precisely because their lives feel out of control.
This week,
it hit home to me afresh,
because Robert Munch,
the famed and beloved children's storyteller,
announced at the age of 70
that he's going to be pursuing assisted suicide
because of medical illness.
It's an affront,
a flagrant affront
to the sovereignty of God.
The poem also examines the extremes of social interactions.
We see this in verse 8.
It focuses on love and hate,
war and peace.
And in many circumstances,
you cannot control these things
because we cannot control or influence other people.
and are often driven into situations
by the wills of others.
What do you do when a nation declares war on you?
What do you do when your neighbor declares war on you?
Many things are out of our control.
So you see this section,
verses 2 to 8,
this poem that the sage is writing,
reflecting on the human experience,
it does not outline a vision of a balanced life
that we can create,
but rather describes the harsh reality
that human life is filled with.
It's filled with ups and downs.
Some victories,
oftentimes more tragedies.
Some things we can control,
and many, many more things beyond our control.
Such things are often against our will
and our best judgment.
So you see verses 2 to 8,
this poem describes what life is like
for us who live under the sun
and those that are subject to time,
not masters over it.
So we have no control over each year
or month or hour or minute
as we live them.
We can't reverse time
or bend it to our will.
This is going to hit home pretty closely
to Christine and I,
a dear couple that were mentors to us
when we were dating and got engaged
and then afterwards.
We don't keep in contact with them too often,
but they're very dear to us.
Monday, the wife, Catherine,
she's going to find out
if she has cancer for the third time.
And this time,
it's a very aggressive cancer
if she's going to get diagnosed to it.
diagnosed with it, rather.
We can't control any of that.
We can't control any of it.
We are subjects to time.
We are not masters of time.
Life happens to us.
We don't happen to time.
So once again,
the sage,
after he's done reciting this poem,
asks the question
that we've seen in chapter 2,
but he asks again in verse 9,
and he says this,
what gain has the worker from his toil?
And the answer again is none.
And especially the answer is zero
if our toil is an attempt to master time
or to reverse time
or to somehow get around it.
And a day when the autonomous
and authentic self is held up
as one of the highest,
if not the highest value,
this is a cause for concern.
The sage is telling us
that we aren't as much in control
as we think.
Even with all our carefully curated
and well-thought-out plans,
life can be somewhat unpredictable,
perhaps even chaotic.
I'm sure you guys can think of situations
where your careful planning
has not gone the way you've hoped for.
A relationship that you valued
has begun to crumble
and it's completely outside of your control.
But we have to remember,
and I've tried to stress this
in the weeks,
the couple weeks that we've had
in Ecclesiastes,
that the sage is not a nihilist,
nor is he a fatalist.
Rather, he's a sober
and hopeful thinker.
You read this,
and maybe it doesn't sound too hopeful,
but it is a hopeful message.
Why?
Because if all there was
in this material world
was to live and to die,
where we were subject to time
and the whims of fate,
then we would be in a very terrible spot
as a human race.
Although the sage,
he ends the poem here,
reflecting on the humanity,
the nature of humanity
in life of,
in light rather,
of life under the sun,
he does not conclude the section.
So he concludes the poem,
but not the section.
As what follows is a description
of the only sovereign over time.
And it is most certainly not us.
So this gets us to our second point.
Who is the sovereign over time?
Look with me in verses 10 to 11.
It'll be on page 16.
Verses 10 and 11.
I have seen the business
that God has given
to the children of man
to be busy with.
He has made everything beautiful
in its time.
Also, he has put eternity
into man's hearts,
yet so that he cannot find out
what God has done
from the beginning to the end.
God has allowed mankind
to exist in this life under the sun.
It is he who has given us
all that occurs
between birth and death.
And we see this connection,
actually, in verse 11.
It connects God
as the creator and curator
and the one who is sovereign
over time
because it connects to verse 1.
Let's read verse 1 again.
For everything there is a season
and a time for every matter
under heaven.
It is God who is at work
with everything,
making everything beautiful
or suitable in its time
under heaven.
So what does this tell us
about the world?
First, that the world
isn't a random cosmic coincidence,
that we didn't happen
to exist by chance,
but rather God alone
has appointed the time
so that everything,
every birth,
every death,
every tear,
every embrace,
every interaction,
it remains under
his watchful eye.
Nothing can bypass him.
Nothing surprises him.
Verse 14 also speaks
to the sovereignty of God
over all creation.
This is what it says
in verse 14.
I perceive that whatever God does
endures forever.
Nothing can be added to it
nor anything taken from it.
God has done it.
We'll get to that last part
of verse 14 in a bit,
but I'll pause there.
God has done it.
Because God has created time,
he's not bound by time.
He is sovereign over time.
He is complete and whole
in every aspect of who he is.
Theologians,
they'll talk about God being simple.
Not simple as in stupid,
but that he is,
who he is in its fullness,
it's not that God is
sometimes loving
and sometimes merciful.
God is loving.
He is merciful.
He is his attributes.
This idea, though,
of God creating time
and not being bound by it
is captured by C.S. Lewis
in mere Christianity
in a wonderful way.
I'll read,
it's a bit of a long quote,
but it really captures
this idea of God
being sovereign over time.
It begins like this,
quote,
almost certainly God
is not in time.
His life does not consist
of moments following
one another.
If a million people
are praying to him
at 10.30 tonight,
he need not listen to them
all in that one little snippet
which we call 10.30.
10.30 and every other moment
from the beginning
of the world
is always the present for him.
If you like to put it that way,
he has all eternity
in which to listen
to the split second
of prayer put up
by a pilot
as his plane crashes
in flames.
That is difficult,
I know.
You can get the idea
if you think of it like this.
Suppose I am writing a novel.
I write,
Mary laid down her work.
Next moment
came a knock at the door.
For Mary,
who has to live
in the imaginary time
of my story,
there is no interval
between laying down
the work
and hearing the knock.
But I,
who am Mary's maker,
do not live
in that imaginary time at all.
Between writing
the first half
of that sentence
and the second,
I might sit down
and have lunch
or I might spend
a whole year.
It makes no difference
to Mary's time
inside the story.
In the same way,
God has not hurried along
in the time stream
with the events
of the universe.
He has infinite attention
to spare
for each one of us.
End quote.
God is completely
outside of time.
He is like,
as Lewis talks about,
the author of time.
However,
God is not just an author
who writes a story
then leaves the book
on a shelf
to unfold
as he has planned.
Instead,
he is deeply involved
in the human experience.
In fact,
we find throughout Scripture
that he constantly
enters into the story himself.
Once again,
verse 11 addresses this
by saying that God
makes everything beautiful
in its time,
which also carries this idea
that it's orderly
and fitting.
And in doing so,
he stays deeply involved.
Still,
verse 11 also reveals
that God created mankind
with a profound understanding
that life is about more
than we see under the sun.
He has given us a conscience
and placed desires within us
that are not just primal
or physical.
Our emotions run deep
and are complex
and as we've discussed
over the past couple weeks,
we have this innate need
for meaning and purpose
and this is what separates us
from the animal kingdom.
This is a huge aspect
of what it means
to be made in the image
and likeness of God.
But if the first part
of verse 11
speaks to how we are different
from the animal kingdom,
the second part
of verse 11
speaks to how we are
completely different
from God.
It says that although
we are given a mind
that desires meaning
and desperately searches
for deeper understanding,
we are unable to know
what we yearn to understand.
We see just a little snippet of it.
We cannot exhaust our search.
Not only that,
but returning to verses 9 and 10,
we also see that God
has given us this additional
toilsome labor and business
that further frustrates us.
So in just thinking
and pondering through this text,
just to ask the question,
is this like a bit
of a sick joke?
Does God give us
this mind to understand
but then frustrates
our ability
and search
to find this ultimate meaning?
Why give us a conscience
and yet limit
our ability
to achieve our pursuit?
And not a pursuit,
but the pursuit.
So is God playing
a sick game
or
is it an act
of loving mercy?
And again,
I talked about
the sage being
sober-minded
and hopeful
in his quest,
in his investigation.
So I ask,
where is the hope in this?
And to answer that
question,
we're going to consider
verses 12 to 15.
And the sage here
will have two perceptions.
He will perceive
two different things.
He will examine the matter.
Look with me
at this first perception
from the sage,
starting in verse 12.
I perceived
that there is nothing
better for them
than to be joyful
and to do good
as long as they live.
It's talking about humankind.
Also that everyone
should eat
and drink
and take pleasure
in all his toil.
That is God's gift
to man.
I'll stop there
before we get
to the next one.
God provides us
with so much
to enjoy
in this world.
So much to discover.
So much to learn about.
He gives us
an incredible table
of things to try,
so to speak.
We can enjoy this.
We can enjoy food,
moments with our
loved ones,
our spouse,
our parents,
our children,
our friends.
We can enjoy
physical activity.
We can enjoy
a good book.
Maybe
a beautiful garden
or a stroll
through the woods.
If some of you
remember the
Messiah Reads
we did with
the book on the,
it's kind of a bit
of a survey
on the prayer book
by a lady named
Julie Lane Gay.
We did a
Zoom Q&A with her
and she talked about
how she's
an amateur botanist
and she's convinced
that roses exist
simply for our enjoyment.
She's convinced of it.
I mean other plants,
vegetation,
it has
a purpose
that feeds
other wildlife
or pollinates
or whatever
but she's convinced
that roses
are strictly for us.
I like that thought.
I have no idea
if it's true
but it sounds wonderful
and it sounds just
the type of thing
that God would do.
We enjoy life
but again
we remember
that we must enjoy it
in its proper context.
Recognizing that God
is the source
of all good gifts
that he is sovereign
over all
including time
but including the gifts
that he gives us
as people that live
in this time
under the sun.
So I'll say
as you enjoy your gifts
be thankful people.
Practice generosity.
thank the Lord
often
and always
when you realize
that what you have
and what you are enjoying
is from him.
So God's gifts
should be appreciated
for what they are
while they last
and attempting
to make them permanent
is both impossible
and again
an affront
and a challenge
to God's sovereignty.
So on one hand
we ask the question
why on earth
would God
give us
this ability
but also
an inability
to pursue
and understand
kind of the totality
of reality
and the sage
is saying
listen
he has given us
a ton of reality
to enjoy
so enjoy it.
Enjoy it.
Don't overlook
what you have
because you are searching
for this ultimate quest.
Enjoy what he has given you.
However the second perception
helps us to better understand
why we are given
the gift
of consciousness
despite the frustrating
and toilful limitations
that he has described
a couple verses
before.
Look with me
at verses 14 and 15.
I perceived
the second perception
I perceived
that whatever God
does endure
forever
whatever God does
endures forever
nothing can be added to it
nor anything
taken from it
God has done it
so that people
fear before him
that which is
already has been
that which is to be
already has been
and God seeks
what has been
driven away.
God is all powerful
we've established that
he is outside of time
he is a sovereign
over time
over everything
that we see
he sees
he understands
everything perfectly
and he overlooks
nothing
and yet
in his kindness
he allows us
to feel small
he allows us
to recognize
our finiteness
and to experience
the sting
and the prick
of broken relationships
and pain
and death
all resulting
from sin
sin being that
act of turning away
from the sovereign God
and choosing ourselves
ourselves
as the king
of our world
the main character
of our story
giving into selfish desires
and why is that?
Second part of verse 14
God has done it
so that people
fear before him
so that people
fear before him
that we may know
that he is
great
and that we are small
that our existence
is brief
and
but for a moment
while his
is eternal
and as we fear him
which
means for sure
to revere him
and to be in awe of him
but also to remember
that God is one
to be feared
okay
there is no strong man
above God
he is
the epitome
of strength
he is to be feared
but also revered
also honored
and as we fear him
we find ourselves
being drawn to him
okay
when we are small
and we are confronted
with the passage
of time
where
almost certainly
there is more time
behind us
than ahead of us
and there is nothing
we can do about it
okay
dear Catherine
is waiting
for
an appointment
tomorrow
to find out
if she has cancer
okay
and there is nothing
she can do about it
I mean she cannot go
to the appointment
that is not going to
change what is going
on in her body
and in light
of that
we turn to God
who is
huge
and infinite
and the sovereign
over time
and he is also
kind
and loving
we find ourselves
drawn to him
he opens our eyes
through our
finiteness
through our pain
through our suffering
through allowing us
to feel the pain
of this existence
under the sun
because that opens
our eyes
to see him
at least in part
for who he truly is
but as the ultimate
purpose of our pursuit
of meaning
we find ourselves
again
only going so far
and finding that
we are toiling
under the sun
in our quest
to know
the one true God
the sovereign
over time
and yet
even if we know
we must fear God
the question is
how then do we
ascend to him
how do we
how do we break
through that ceiling
how do we
enter into
his presence
our limitations
especially as those
subjected to time
make us
genuinely hopeless
unless God
himself
intervenes
this brings us
to our last
point
the end
of time
in his
graciousness
God does intervene
that's a wonderful
beautiful news
of the gospel
that we are
powerless
to connect
with God
to deal
with our sin
to find
purpose
and meaning
and God
doesn't say
you didn't
try hard enough
or there's
just not enough
runway for you
to get to me
he intervenes
into our
existence
the author
enters the
story
in his
graciousness
God does
not merely
set the
times and
seasons for
our existence
under the
sun
but he
designs
and directs
time
towards an
end
an aim
that culminates
in his
ultimate
purpose
for humanity
all of time
is centered
around the
incarnation
the life
the death
the resurrection
and ascension
of Christ
he has
redeemed us
so that we
may know
and be known
by the triune
God
and this is
at the very
center of time
itself
the purpose
of time
what do I
mean by this
just a few
bible verses
Mark chapter 1
14 to 15
Jesus came into
Galilee
proclaiming the
gospel of God
and saying
the time
is fulfilled
and the kingdom
of God
is at hand
repent and
believe in the
gospel
Hebrews chapter
1 and 2
long ago
at many times
and in many
ways God
spoke to our
fathers by the
prophets
verse 2
but in these
last days
he has spoken
to us by his
son
whom he
appointed
the heir
of all things
through whom
also he created
the world
Romans chapter 5
verse 6
for while we
were still weak
at the right
time
Christ died
for the
ungodly
John 13
1
now before
the feast
of the
Passover
when Jesus
knew that
his hour
had come
to depart
out of this
world
to the
father
having loved
his own
who were
in the
world
he loved
them to
the end
you see
when we
put our
faith
in Christ
Jesus
he redeems
us
from our
sins
rescues us
from sin
and death
but he also
rescues us
from being
subjects to
the cruelty
and tyranny
of time
so that this
moment
that we are
in this
temporal life
that we find
ourselves in
that in
some ways
we can enjoy
to its
fullness
but the
other times
we feel
the pain
and the
frustration
of it
we put
our faith
in the
one who
is sovereign
over time
and friends
his redemption
that he gives
us is not
for a time
and this is
how he redeems
us from time
for redemption
isn't for 10
years or
for 100
years or
even a
thousand years
it is
eternal
imagine if
the redemption
of God was
for a time
say 100
years
we knew
the presence
of God
in heaven
for 100
years
and then
the 99th
year
it's the
12th month
it's like
five minutes
till New
Year's Eve
and God's
looking at his
watch saying
listen it's
been great
it's been a
slice
but back
you go
that would
be a huge
type of
torture
and almost
a hellish
sick
redemption
or something
that was
called
redemption
but no
he redeems
us from
time
why
by bringing
us into
his presence
forever
so salvation
is eternal
that is why
after some
of our
prayers
we say
world without
end
because it
reminds us
that we
will be
with God
not for
a moment
or a series
of moments
or even
for a
millennia
but forever
okay
not subjected
to time
no more
under the
heavy weight
and tyranny
of time
however
we are still
people living
under the
sun
even though
we are
promised
eternal
life with
Christ
all we
know is
this mortal
life
put it
another way
how then
are we
to live
as people
who are
already
recipients
of the
eternal
salvation
that has
been promised
to us
but do
not yet
experience
it in
its
fullness
now
I think
Jesus gives
us the
answer
Matthew
24
verses
36
42
and 44
I've just
plucked out
the key
bits there
but really
this whole
section is
very important
to meditate
on
this is
what Jesus
says
but concerning
that day
an hour
no one
knows
this is
Jesus
talking
about
his
return
not even
the angels
of heaven
nor the
son
but the
father
only
therefore
stay
awake
for you
do not
know
on what
day
your
Lord
is
coming
therefore
you
also
must
be
ready
for the
son
of man
is
coming
at an
hour
you
do
not
expect
Jesus
is telling
us
to live
this life
under
the
son
as people
who are
already
recipients
of eternal
life
to not
get hung
up on
the
beauties
and the
pleasures
of this
world
as good
as they
are
to not
put our
eternal
significance
in them
but constantly
look to
Christ
look to
eternity
look to
heaven
as those
who fear
the Lord
we respond
to his
salvation
by growing
in our
love for
him
and increasing
our faith
that his
promises
so that we
can believe
that his
promises are
true
and eagerly
awaiting his
return
when all
will be
made right
where the
tyranny
of time
no longer
exists
so
church
enjoy this
life for
what it
is
enjoy it
this
afternoon
I don't
know
take a
nap
enjoy
a beautiful
walk
have a
lovely
dinner
tonight
I don't
know
whatever
it is
that you
truly
enjoy
it
for what
it is
a gift
from God
but a
fleeting
gift
and look
forward
instead
to the
life to
come
allow that
pleasure
that you
experience
on earth
just point
you to
the
pleasures
you will
have
forevermore
in
Christ's
presence
no longer
subjects of
time
but children
of the
sovereign
over time
do not
try to
break free
from the
times or
the seasons
as if you
could
do not
try to
control
time
because you
cannot
instead
look to
Jesus
the one
who has
conquered
death
who gives
us eternal
life
through his
precious
sacrifice
and victory
over the
tyranny
of time
let us
pray
how grand
is your
redemption
oh God
that you
even rescue
us
from time
and the
pressures
of this
mortal life
and the
toilsome
labor
that we
are engaged
in
under
the
sun
and yet
even still
you show
mercy to
us
so that
we can
enjoy
this
world
and the
problem
is always
that we
try to
enjoy
this
world
as if
it were
heaven
as if
it were
the
kingdom
of God
and yet
we
reject
you
we want
the kingdom
without
the king
and we
we repent
of that
help us
to repent
of that
always
help us
to look
to you
greatly
anticipating
your return
whenever that
may be
whenever
you decide
whenever
that time
will come
about
Lord we
thank you
for the
cross
that it
happened
at a very
specific
time
in a very
specific
place
and it
wasn't an
accident
but it was
your good
design
Lord
help us
to be
people
that live
eternal
lives
even though
we are
here
under the
sun
we pray
this
in
Christ's
name
amen
holy