WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.500 And so if you would please turn with me your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 3. 00:00:06.900 --> 00:00:11.679 We started this sermon series in the book of Ecclesiastes about four weeks ago, 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:15.300 and we are now in chapter 3, verses 1 to 15. 00:00:17.219 --> 00:00:19.879 Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word. 00:00:19.879 --> 00:00:33.820 Father, you have placed eternity on our hearts. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:44.840 So I ask that this morning, for anyone here who does not have the assurance of eternal life in Jesus Christ, 00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:49.019 that you would save them by the power of your Holy Spirit today. 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:57.219 And we ask that all those who belong to you already, your sons and daughters, 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:02.480 would grow in humility, their submission to you, 00:01:03.300 --> 00:01:10.820 in the wisdom and the freedom of living under your sovereignty, 00:01:11.379 --> 00:01:14.960 rather than seeking to be rulers of our own lives. 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:22.379 So Lord, do that work, accomplish that work in us, in our hearts, in our minds, in our lives, 00:01:22.899 --> 00:01:27.539 as we listen to your word now. 00:01:28.839 --> 00:01:29.739 Speak to us. 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:32.299 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:01:32.859 --> 00:01:33.119 Amen. 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:41.340 If you are able, please stand and join me as I read to honor God as we read his word. 00:01:43.180 --> 00:01:45.460 Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verses 1 to 15. 00:01:45.459 --> 00:01:51.439 For everything, there is a season. 00:01:52.119 --> 00:01:54.559 And a time for every matter under heaven. 00:01:55.339 --> 00:01:58.319 A time to be born and a time to die. 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:02.339 A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted. 00:02:03.019 --> 00:02:06.319 A time to kill and a time to heal. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:10.639 A time to break down and a time to build up. 00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:14.060 A time to weep and a time to laugh. 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:17.359 A time to mourn and a time to dance. 00:02:17.959 --> 00:02:21.819 A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. 00:02:22.379 --> 00:02:26.259 A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. 00:02:27.019 --> 00:02:30.039 A time to seek and a time to lose. 00:02:31.099 --> 00:02:34.000 A time to keep and a time to cast away. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:37.840 A time to tear and a time to sow. 00:02:38.500 --> 00:02:42.020 A time to keep silence and a time to speak. 00:02:42.860 --> 00:02:45.979 A time to love and a time to hate. 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:49.860 A time for war and a time for peace. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:53.780 What gain has the worker from his toil? 00:02:55.219 --> 00:02:59.099 I've seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 00:02:59.639 --> 00:03:02.099 He has made everything beautiful in its time. 00:03:02.099 --> 00:03:05.219 Also he has put eternity into man's heart. 00:03:05.500 --> 00:03:10.840 Yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 00:03:11.959 --> 00:03:17.859 I perceive that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. 00:03:18.500 --> 00:03:22.639 Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. 00:03:23.299 --> 00:03:25.500 This is God's gift to man. 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:29.840 I perceive that whatever God does endures forever. 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:33.659 Nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. 00:03:34.120 --> 00:03:37.620 God has done it so that people fear before him. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:41.139 That which is already has been. 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:44.219 That which is to be already has been. 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:47.379 And God seeks what has been driven away. 00:03:48.060 --> 00:03:49.860 This is God's holy and authoritative word. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:50.479 You may be seated. 00:03:50.479 --> 00:04:03.859 There are a number of occasions throughout the year that remind us of the steady march of time. 00:04:05.079 --> 00:04:09.560 Labor Day tomorrow reminds us that the summer is basically over. 00:04:09.959 --> 00:04:10.179 Sorry. 00:04:11.459 --> 00:04:12.579 Outdoor pools are closing. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:14.039 Vacations are ending. 00:04:14.599 --> 00:04:18.279 Or some people are away doing their last weekend vacation for Labor Day. 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:20.259 And schools are restarting. 00:04:21.019 --> 00:04:23.179 Some of you celebrated birthdays recently. 00:04:23.659 --> 00:04:25.159 And anniversaries recently. 00:04:25.319 --> 00:04:29.500 Which are all reminders that you are one year, another year older. 00:04:30.459 --> 00:04:33.659 On New Year's Day we all recognize the passing of time. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:35.579 Which never fails to come. 00:04:35.739 --> 00:04:36.159 The new year. 00:04:36.739 --> 00:04:43.779 Like soldiers in a military parade that march forward rhythmically and relentlessly. 00:04:44.500 --> 00:04:45.759 Time just ticks. 00:04:46.259 --> 00:04:47.019 Tick tock. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:48.259 Tick tock. 00:04:48.719 --> 00:04:49.679 Without pause. 00:04:50.519 --> 00:04:51.379 Without variation. 00:04:51.939 --> 00:04:52.599 In pace. 00:04:53.559 --> 00:04:56.379 And that's what we see in this famous passage in Ecclesiastes 3. 00:04:56.619 --> 00:04:57.479 Time to be born. 00:04:58.439 --> 00:04:59.239 Time to die. 00:05:00.139 --> 00:05:00.919 Time to plant. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:02.899 Time to pluck up what is planted. 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:04.099 Time to kill. 00:05:04.679 --> 00:05:05.319 Time to heal. 00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:09.359 Whether you run as fast as you can or stand still. 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:12.839 Whether you scream at the top of your lungs or you stay silent. 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:18.019 There is nothing you can do to affect this march of time. 00:05:18.019 --> 00:05:22.479 We want to grasp on the time as it passes by. 00:05:22.479 --> 00:05:24.699 But it's like striving after wind. 00:05:24.899 --> 00:05:26.199 It doesn't stop for us. 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:31.279 It keeps ticking until we are all dead and buried in the grave. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:32.939 And even then. 00:05:32.939 --> 00:05:34.439 The time doesn't stop ticking. 00:05:35.719 --> 00:05:36.939 It keeps ticking. 00:05:36.939 --> 00:05:40.039 The world keeps going around until we are all forgotten. 00:05:40.039 --> 00:05:41.119 And the place. 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:43.399 Our place on earth remembers us no more. 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:46.519 In light of that reality. 00:05:46.719 --> 00:05:48.959 What sense can we make of our lives? 00:05:50.159 --> 00:05:54.099 What meaning can we find in a world like this? 00:05:55.459 --> 00:05:58.859 Ecclesiastes 3.1-15 teaches us an invaluable lesson. 00:05:59.239 --> 00:06:02.739 It teaches us that as humans who inhabit fleeting time. 00:06:03.379 --> 00:06:06.560 We should fear God who inhabits eternity. 00:06:07.339 --> 00:06:09.959 And I'm going to unpack that for us in two parts. 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:12.199 First, there is a season for everything. 00:06:12.979 --> 00:06:16.719 And secondly, but the reason for everything is beyond our grasp. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:20.120 That's the two main points that I want to impart to you. 00:06:20.719 --> 00:06:23.459 First, we see a beautiful poem. 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:26.120 A haunting poem in verses 1-8. 00:06:26.199 --> 00:06:28.439 Which tell us that for everything there is a season. 00:06:28.659 --> 00:06:30.240 And a time for every matter under heaven. 00:06:30.939 --> 00:06:34.000 Verse 1 is really a summary heading for the poem that follows. 00:06:34.339 --> 00:06:36.959 And the poem is made up of seven verses total. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:41.039 Each of which is made up of paired lines that are thematically linked. 00:06:41.579 --> 00:06:44.879 And within each line, there are two poles of opposite things. 00:06:45.019 --> 00:06:46.719 Like time to be born, time to die. 00:06:47.459 --> 00:06:51.240 And seven, as you know, if you've been with us through our sermon series in the book of Revelation, 00:06:51.399 --> 00:06:54.000 is the number of perfection or completeness. 00:06:54.740 --> 00:06:59.539 Because God finished and rested in creating the world after seven days. 00:06:59.919 --> 00:07:00.719 In seven days. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:06.580 So the seven represents the totality of human experience and human life. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:10.760 This is what our entirety of our life is like in verses 2-8. 00:07:12.140 --> 00:07:14.180 And fittingly, verse 2 begins this way. 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:16.240 A time to be born and a time to die. 00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:19.040 A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted. 00:07:20.180 --> 00:07:24.120 In the course of my sermon, about 16,000 people will be born. 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:27.139 And about 7,000 people will die. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:31.139 Every day, there are baby showers. 00:07:31.500 --> 00:07:33.519 Every day, there are funerals. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:38.019 And the second line of the couplet speaks of the same theme, 00:07:38.139 --> 00:07:40.360 but using the illustration of agriculture. 00:07:40.899 --> 00:07:43.100 There's a time to plant, to sow seeds. 00:07:43.280 --> 00:07:45.899 And then there's a time to pluck up what was planted, to harvest. 00:07:47.939 --> 00:07:50.019 Which is a kind of death for the plant. 00:07:50.280 --> 00:07:51.720 But it gives life to another. 00:07:51.720 --> 00:07:55.780 As in life, as in farming, there's a season for everything. 00:07:56.740 --> 00:07:58.740 In the engineer yeast where this was written, 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:00.420 you sow seeds in the spring. 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:03.460 And then the plant grows in the summertime. 00:08:04.100 --> 00:08:07.160 And then you harvest it either at the end of the summer or fall 00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:10.100 before the winter chill destroys the crops. 00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:13.060 There's a season, a determined season for everything. 00:08:14.220 --> 00:08:17.460 Similarly, verse 3 says there's a time to kill and a time to heal, 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:20.360 a time to break down and a time to build up. 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:26.540 If you have farm animals, which I know this is Boston, most of you don't, 00:08:26.620 --> 00:08:28.600 but believe it or not, there are some church members who do. 00:08:29.340 --> 00:08:32.019 Or if you're involved in other kinds of animal husbandry, 00:08:32.100 --> 00:08:34.659 there's a time when you attend to your wounded animal 00:08:34.659 --> 00:08:36.240 and you heal that wounded animal. 00:08:36.379 --> 00:08:40.879 You bandage up the wounded leg and you apply feeded medicine, whatever. 00:08:41.019 --> 00:08:45.279 And then there comes a time, this very animal that you fed and that you healed, 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:50.139 now you must slaughter that animal for sacrifice, for food. 00:08:52.620 --> 00:08:57.699 Similarly, in war, there's a time to kill enemy soldiers in the battlefield 00:08:57.699 --> 00:09:01.959 and peace times when it's a time to heal the wounded. 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:07.179 This is followed up in the second line with an illustration from construction. 00:09:07.659 --> 00:09:10.419 There's a time to break down and a time to build up. 00:09:10.419 --> 00:09:14.179 I think we're supposed to understand this both literally and figuratively. 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:17.179 There's a time to break down and raise an old house 00:09:17.179 --> 00:09:20.479 and there's a time to build up a new house from the foundation up. 00:09:21.799 --> 00:09:23.399 But not just physical buildings, 00:09:23.459 --> 00:09:28.079 there's also a time to break down and dissolve a company, a school. 00:09:29.019 --> 00:09:33.439 There's a time to build or launch a new company or a new school. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:38.480 I was notified this past week that one of our sister churches within our denomination 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:41.040 just closed their doors, right? 00:09:41.540 --> 00:09:45.960 Even as several others are launching and starting anew from our denomination. 00:09:46.700 --> 00:09:49.700 There's a time to break down and a time to build up. 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:53.780 Likewise, verse 4 says there's a time to weep and a time to laugh, 00:09:53.900 --> 00:09:55.700 a time to mourn and a time to dance. 00:09:56.160 --> 00:09:59.460 To every single one of us, there are times that make us weep. 00:10:00.600 --> 00:10:02.080 And I'm sure you can think of several. 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:04.700 A disheartening medical diagnosis. 00:10:05.680 --> 00:10:07.620 The heartbreak of wayward children. 00:10:08.740 --> 00:10:13.020 People afflicted by drugs and alcohol, other kinds of addictions. 00:10:13.800 --> 00:10:15.759 Children starving from poverty. 00:10:16.680 --> 00:10:18.180 The ravaging effects of war. 00:10:19.160 --> 00:10:22.500 But there are also things and times that make us laugh. 00:10:23.300 --> 00:10:25.220 The silly, pure laughter of children. 00:10:26.140 --> 00:10:29.780 The unintended slapstick comedy of your clumsy friends. 00:10:29.779 --> 00:10:33.240 A funny line from a book or a movie. 00:10:33.740 --> 00:10:36.600 A thoughtful gift from a friend who knows you well. 00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:39.179 The love of family members. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:43.980 Likewise, there are times when we mourn and there are times when we dance. 00:10:44.579 --> 00:10:48.139 In one season, we dance joyfully at a friend's wedding reception. 00:10:48.139 --> 00:10:53.240 And in another season, we attend the funeral of that very friend. 00:10:54.860 --> 00:11:02.159 Because I'm a young pastor, I've officiated a dozen weddings or so, but only a few funerals. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:04.279 Only one funeral of a church member. 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:09.699 But I know that there's a time coming and a season coming when I will be doing more funerals than weddings. 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:14.139 Verse 5 continues. 00:11:14.259 --> 00:11:17.459 A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. 00:11:17.839 --> 00:11:21.120 A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. 00:11:21.819 --> 00:11:22.879 Okay, what does this mean? 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:24.419 This one has puzzled a lot of people. 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:27.779 Time to gather stones and time to cast away stones. 00:11:27.779 --> 00:11:34.879 Some people think that maybe this also might be related to some kind of building or clearing away a farm, like a field for farming or whatnot. 00:11:35.319 --> 00:11:41.759 However, if we interpret it that way, it doesn't match the second half of the couplet, which says time to embrace. 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:45.879 And a time to refrain from embracing, which is why I don't think that's what that means. 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:50.079 I think there's this decisive clue in Genesis 31, 43 to 48. 00:11:50.600 --> 00:11:54.459 There where Jacob and Laban are entering into a covenant with each other. 00:11:54.460 --> 00:11:59.060 Here, Jacob instructs his kinsmen to gather stones. 00:12:00.060 --> 00:12:12.100 The idea is that you gather stones, you pile it up as a pillar, and now it becomes a memorial between you and the other party of a covenant, an agreement, a relationship that you have forged with one another. 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:20.220 So I think gathering stones and casting away stones refers to the embracing of a new relationship or partnership, 00:12:20.220 --> 00:12:32.639 or the dissolving and the breaking up of that relationship or partnership, which is why it matches perfectly with time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. 00:12:33.500 --> 00:12:41.259 There is a time when you, like a lot of people, students that are arriving for the first time to Cambridge to start orientation at school. 00:12:41.259 --> 00:12:47.340 I think we had several MIT students last week and this week and a lot of people starting at Harvard and other schools here. 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:50.439 And that's a time and a season when you meet new friends. 00:12:51.980 --> 00:12:55.179 It's a time to embrace, a time to gather stones. 00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:59.080 But then a few years later, graduation will come. 00:12:59.879 --> 00:13:01.620 And that's a time to cast away stones. 00:13:02.419 --> 00:13:05.620 That's a time to say goodbye, to refrain from embracing. 00:13:05.620 --> 00:13:09.100 Even for our church. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:13.440 Today we have the joyful occasion of welcoming Todd and the Bourne family. 00:13:14.179 --> 00:13:16.460 It's a time to gather stones together, to embrace. 00:13:17.179 --> 00:13:20.200 But today also we say goodbye to the Yangs, right? 00:13:20.299 --> 00:13:23.740 Charlie and Stephanie, this is there last Sunday with us, moving back to California. 00:13:24.539 --> 00:13:26.700 And it's a time to cast away stones as well. 00:13:26.700 --> 00:13:33.740 There's also a time to seek and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away. 00:13:33.860 --> 00:13:35.940 This is probably speaking of possessions. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:41.280 There's a time to seek what you do not have, to look for something, to buy something, to acquire, 00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:44.020 as well as a time to lose that which you already have. 00:13:44.340 --> 00:13:46.240 There's a time to shop for new clothes. 00:13:46.660 --> 00:13:50.960 And then there's a time when you accidentally leave your clothes and shoes in your hotel room, right? 00:13:51.680 --> 00:13:54.720 There's a time when you shop for your earphones. 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.720 And then there's a time you leave those earphones on your plane. 00:13:58.660 --> 00:14:00.940 There's a time to buy books. 00:14:01.300 --> 00:14:04.480 And then there's time to get it wet in the rain and lose them. 00:14:05.180 --> 00:14:06.779 There's a time to keep your possessions. 00:14:06.980 --> 00:14:12.360 And despite what some of you hoarders might think, there's also a time to get rid of those things. 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:14.980 Time to throw them away. 00:14:16.060 --> 00:14:16.940 Every day. 00:14:17.560 --> 00:14:19.779 The stores at the mall are busy with shoppers. 00:14:20.259 --> 00:14:20.820 Every day. 00:14:20.820 --> 00:14:22.100 And every day. 00:14:22.540 --> 00:14:23.360 Salvation Army. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:29.000 Or the Miller favorite savers are busy with people donating stuff. 00:14:30.700 --> 00:14:32.080 There's a time to seek. 00:14:32.500 --> 00:14:33.360 Time to lose. 00:14:33.640 --> 00:14:34.340 Time to keep. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:36.240 And a time to cast away. 00:14:38.680 --> 00:14:39.460 Verse 7 continues. 00:14:39.560 --> 00:14:40.420 A time to tear. 00:14:40.560 --> 00:14:41.560 And a time to sew. 00:14:41.740 --> 00:14:43.020 A time to keep silence. 00:14:43.160 --> 00:14:44.379 And a time to speak. 00:14:45.260 --> 00:14:48.260 There are times when your jeans and sweaters tear. 00:14:48.259 --> 00:14:50.980 And there are times when you sew them up. 00:14:51.899 --> 00:14:59.500 And this example, this illustration of fabric sometimes tearing open and then sometimes being sewn closed, 00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:03.259 then becomes a metaphor for another kind of opening and closing. 00:15:04.139 --> 00:15:05.700 A time to keep silence. 00:15:06.700 --> 00:15:08.080 And a time to speak. 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:12.220 There are times when we should open our mouths to speak. 00:15:12.340 --> 00:15:14.320 And times when we should close our mouths in silence. 00:15:14.920 --> 00:15:19.300 Sometimes we can't help but sit silently with someone in deep sorrow or grief. 00:15:20.060 --> 00:15:23.100 But other times we speak in order to offer counsel. 00:15:24.360 --> 00:15:26.900 There are times when we are silent before God or others. 00:15:27.160 --> 00:15:29.080 Because we feel our unworthiness. 00:15:29.520 --> 00:15:31.820 And there are times when we speak confidently. 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:35.259 And share our faith or share our convictions with others. 00:15:35.259 --> 00:15:40.819 And finally, the last couplet of the poem, verse 8, says a time to love and a time to hate. 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:43.159 A time for war and a time for peace. 00:15:44.019 --> 00:15:45.759 Which is fairly self-explanatory. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:46.960 There are times when you love. 00:15:47.159 --> 00:15:48.539 There are times when you hate someone. 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.360 And when you amplify that to the national level. 00:15:53.240 --> 00:15:57.100 That's when there are times of war and times of peace. 00:15:57.100 --> 00:16:03.680 Now, having gone through the poem, this poem is frequently misinterpreted. 00:16:04.300 --> 00:16:08.800 And there are a few important things that we need to keep in mind when we are trying to understand it. 00:16:09.159 --> 00:16:15.139 First off, this poem is not intended to be a neat contrast between good times and bad times, as some people claim. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:20.399 If you go through the poem and try to label what you consider to be good with a plus sign. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:23.639 What you consider to be bad with a negative sign or a minus sign. 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:26.240 Then you will notice that there is no structure. 00:16:26.419 --> 00:16:29.679 There is no consistent theme or pattern in this poem. 00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:30.899 They are all over the place. 00:16:31.860 --> 00:16:33.559 And some lines are ambiguous. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:35.379 For example, verse 2. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:38.340 It says, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted. 00:16:38.500 --> 00:16:39.699 Which one of those is good? 00:16:41.080 --> 00:16:43.679 Obviously, planting maybe might seem more like life. 00:16:43.960 --> 00:16:46.340 But isn't it good when you harvest a thing and eat it? 00:16:48.620 --> 00:16:50.159 Isn't there a time and place for both? 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:51.919 Likewise, verse 7. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.199 Time to keep silence and a time to speak. 00:16:54.579 --> 00:16:57.699 Which of those things is positive and which of those things is negative? 00:16:58.379 --> 00:17:04.000 In fact, if you want to match with the analogy earlier of sowing and closing, it's actually when you're keeping silent that that is a good thing. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:04.400 Right? 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:04.960 Right? 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:16.440 And on top of that, there are metaphors here where it's things here that are clearly meant to be ambiguous like the ones we were talking about. 00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:22.599 But in addition to that, even the ones that you might think are perfectly clear, like being born and dying. 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:24.640 Clearly being born is good and dying is bad. 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:26.059 Actually could be ambiguous. 00:17:26.059 --> 00:17:30.460 Because if you look later at Ecclesiastes chapter 4, it says this, 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:35.539 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:42.039 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. 00:17:42.919 --> 00:17:46.099 So what's better, being born or dying? 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:49.940 Or we might say, surely mourning is bad and dancing is good. 00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:51.639 Weeping is bad and laughing is good. 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:53.759 But then Ecclesiastes 7, 2-4 says, 00:17:54.080 --> 00:17:57.759 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. 00:17:58.300 --> 00:18:01.740 For this is the end of all mankind and the living will lay it to heart. 00:18:02.320 --> 00:18:06.420 Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:11.920 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.060 So again, what's positive and what's negative? 00:18:15.800 --> 00:18:20.180 The preacher is not trying to place a value judgment on each of these items. 00:18:20.180 --> 00:18:27.420 In fact, I think he intentionally scrambles them so we can't discern a consistent pattern or order to these lines. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:32.759 In verse 5 and verse 8, he intentionally inverts the order of the couplet. 00:18:33.500 --> 00:18:35.340 So, for example, in verse 8, it says, 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:37.060 A time to love and a time to hate. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:39.420 And if you were to match the pattern of the rest of the poem, 00:18:39.500 --> 00:18:42.460 you might expect to find a time for peace and a time for war. 00:18:42.560 --> 00:18:46.820 But he inverts the order and mentions time for war first and then time for peace. 00:18:46.819 --> 00:18:53.740 I think the preacher deliberately scrambled these items to prevent us from reading value judgments into these things 00:18:53.740 --> 00:18:57.139 or to figuring out some kind of pattern to make sense of it all. 00:18:57.740 --> 00:18:59.759 And I think that's precisely the point. 00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:02.559 Life is not neat. 00:19:03.619 --> 00:19:04.879 Life is complex. 00:19:05.939 --> 00:19:07.019 Full of good times. 00:19:07.419 --> 00:19:08.359 Full of bad times. 00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:09.720 Full of hard times. 00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:11.500 Full of times of smooth sailing. 00:19:11.639 --> 00:19:14.079 Full of times where the going gets tough. 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:16.819 And everything in between. 00:19:17.679 --> 00:19:20.359 And you can't always tell what's good, what's bad. 00:19:21.399 --> 00:19:22.859 In fact, verse 11 says later, 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:26.819 God has made everything beautiful in its time. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:34.000 The second important point to remember about this poem is that it's descriptive and not prescriptive. 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:37.319 It's describing the way things are, 00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:40.659 not prescribing the way things should be. 00:19:40.939 --> 00:19:41.960 And how do we know that? 00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:47.480 Because the very first line of the poem speaks of two things that we have no control over. 00:19:48.180 --> 00:19:50.500 The day of our birth and the day of our death. 00:19:51.460 --> 00:19:55.680 These times are ordained by God, even for those who take their own lives, 00:19:55.980 --> 00:19:59.240 and do not come at our bidding or according to our planning. 00:20:00.980 --> 00:20:05.059 Verse 2 is not a command to sow seeds in the spring and harvest in the fall. 00:20:05.059 --> 00:20:10.679 It's simply an observation of the fact that there is time for planting and a time for plucking up. 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:16.359 Likewise, verse 4 is not an exhortation to weep and mourn when it's appropriate, 00:20:16.619 --> 00:20:18.399 and laugh and dance when it's appropriate. 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:20.379 Although that's not bad advice. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:27.980 I mean, you've all had the experience of someone laughing out loud in a very inappropriate time of the conversation. 00:20:27.980 --> 00:20:35.880 Or you've had someone maybe start crying at a very celebratory occasion and being really sad. 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:40.940 We are supposed to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, 00:20:40.980 --> 00:20:42.460 and so there is an appropriate time for those things. 00:20:42.539 --> 00:20:44.819 But that's really not the main point of verse 4. 00:20:45.420 --> 00:20:48.940 It's not a prescription to weep and laugh at the appropriate times. 00:20:48.940 --> 00:20:54.640 Rather, it's an observation that times of weeping and times of laughing come to us all, 00:20:55.559 --> 00:20:59.320 heedless of our desires, beyond our control. 00:21:01.720 --> 00:21:04.380 In J.R.R. Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring, 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:07.900 after, everybody laughs now when I mention the Lord of the Rings, 00:21:08.420 --> 00:21:13.539 after learning about the grave events of Sauron's rise and the discovery of the One Ring of Power, 00:21:13.539 --> 00:21:14.820 Frodo says to Gandalf, 00:21:15.059 --> 00:21:18.620 I wish it need not have happened in my time. 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:21.860 And Gandalf wisely replies, 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:24.700 And so do all who live to see such times. 00:21:25.180 --> 00:21:27.820 But that is not for them to decide. 00:21:28.600 --> 00:21:33.880 All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. 00:21:36.120 --> 00:21:38.320 That brings me to my second point. 00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:40.100 There is a season for everything, 00:21:40.100 --> 00:21:44.220 but the reason for everything is beyond our grasp. 00:21:45.360 --> 00:21:47.900 That's what verses 9 to 15 teach us. 00:21:47.900 --> 00:21:49.759 We want to control time. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:53.120 We want to be masters of our times and seasons. 00:21:53.560 --> 00:21:57.360 But Ecclesiastes 3 teaches us that the time is not subject to us. 00:21:57.480 --> 00:21:58.759 Time is but a breath, 00:21:58.860 --> 00:22:02.100 and trying to grasp hold of it is like striving after wind. 00:22:03.259 --> 00:22:07.720 And that's why the poem is followed immediately by this rhetorical question in verse 9. 00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:11.100 What gain has the worker from his toil? 00:22:11.100 --> 00:22:17.380 This is the exact same programmatic question that was posed earlier in chapter 1 verse 3 and chapter 2 verse 22. 00:22:18.059 --> 00:22:21.880 And the consistently implied answer to this question is nothing. 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:26.320 There is nothing to be gained in our toil under the sun. 00:22:27.260 --> 00:22:32.560 The preacher is returning again to his theme of the cyclical nature of life. 00:22:32.940 --> 00:22:35.180 As he said in chapter 1 verse 3 to 6, 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:36.860 Generations come and go. 00:22:36.940 --> 00:22:38.380 The sun rises and sets. 00:22:38.500 --> 00:22:40.900 The wind blows to the south and then back to the north. 00:22:41.180 --> 00:22:43.940 So what is there to gain in this kind of world? 00:22:43.940 --> 00:22:47.160 We celebrate baby showers and birthdays, 00:22:47.360 --> 00:22:49.120 but we're all destined to die one day. 00:22:49.420 --> 00:22:52.559 We plant things that we know will eventually be plucked up one day. 00:22:52.620 --> 00:22:56.500 We build things that will one day be disintegrated and will break down one day. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:22:59.900 There isn't a single thing that humans build that lasts forever. 00:23:01.100 --> 00:23:05.580 There are times when we laugh with our family members on game nights and graduations and vacations, 00:23:05.880 --> 00:23:08.580 but so soon there will be times when we must weep with them. 00:23:09.799 --> 00:23:12.580 Debilitating diseases, tragic accidents. 00:23:13.940 --> 00:23:14.799 So on. 00:23:17.900 --> 00:23:21.600 So what do we stand to gain from all of this? 00:23:22.299 --> 00:23:24.299 What really is the point of it all? 00:23:25.259 --> 00:23:29.059 Many people think that the poem of verses 1 to 8 are beautiful, and I agree. 00:23:29.360 --> 00:23:30.580 It's haunting and beautiful. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:35.400 The American folk artist Peter Seeger wrote a song entitled Turn, Turn, Turn. 00:23:35.500 --> 00:23:36.160 You guys know that song? 00:23:36.700 --> 00:23:37.580 It's a good song. 00:23:38.460 --> 00:23:40.779 It's subtitled To Everything There Is a Season, 00:23:40.779 --> 00:23:44.059 which repeats Ecclesiastes 3, 1 to 8 verbatim. 00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:48.660 And this song was popularized by the band, the American rock band, The Birds. 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:51.460 And that's a great version of it if you listen to it. 00:23:51.639 --> 00:23:54.379 But it sounds like a sunny beach song, 00:23:54.700 --> 00:23:57.220 which seems so inappropriate given the content. 00:23:57.220 --> 00:24:05.039 For all these reasons, this is perhaps the best-known passage in the book of Ecclesiastes, 00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:09.860 and that's why even at non-Christian funerals, even at atheistic funerals, 00:24:10.079 --> 00:24:11.500 this passage is often read. 00:24:12.860 --> 00:24:18.839 But of course, the song, as well as all these people who use this passage in their funerals, 00:24:19.799 --> 00:24:20.940 leave out verse 9. 00:24:20.940 --> 00:24:27.799 But without verse 9, you're missing the whole point of the poem. 00:24:28.500 --> 00:24:31.799 Because the whole point of the poem is the disappointment and despair 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:34.559 at the cyclicity of life under the sun. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:39.580 This is not a good passage to read at a funeral, unless you're a believer. 00:24:41.980 --> 00:24:43.460 Look at verses 10 to 11. 00:24:43.840 --> 00:24:47.380 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:50.080 He has made everything beautiful in its time. 00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:52.379 Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:56.859 yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 00:24:57.599 --> 00:24:59.319 If you search online for the text, 00:24:59.439 --> 00:25:01.960 if you type up Ecclesiastes 3.11 in your Google search, 00:25:02.359 --> 00:25:05.439 and look for, go to Google Shopping or something, or Google Images, 00:25:05.559 --> 00:25:07.399 you'll find that there are hundreds, 00:25:07.919 --> 00:25:12.359 hundreds of mugs and cards and wall art that have this verse. 00:25:13.439 --> 00:25:17.639 But nearly all of them do not include the last part of verse 11. 00:25:17.640 --> 00:25:23.100 Yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 00:25:24.280 --> 00:25:28.080 This is a good reminder for all of us about sound biblical interpretation. 00:25:28.380 --> 00:25:31.020 If the first part of the verse sounds really good to you, 00:25:31.780 --> 00:25:34.860 but then you have no idea what the second part of the verse is talking about, 00:25:35.259 --> 00:25:40.900 then that's not a license to just lop it off and then run, run, run where you go with that first part of the verse. 00:25:40.900 --> 00:25:45.759 No, it's time to sit with it and wrestle with it, ask questions of it, and consult people who understand it. 00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:51.740 Yes, God has made everything beautiful in its time. 00:25:51.900 --> 00:25:54.759 Yes, God has put eternity into man's heart. 00:25:55.019 --> 00:26:01.720 But God has made it so that we cannot find out what he has done from the beginning to the end. 00:26:01.720 --> 00:26:09.279 The times that verses 1 to 8 speak of is not our time, as Bible scholar Roland Murphy puts it. 00:26:09.539 --> 00:26:13.339 These are God's times, not our times. 00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:19.059 Eternity is God's purview, not ours. 00:26:19.900 --> 00:26:21.360 And that's why it says in verse 14, 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:33.819 Isn't that a humbling thought? 00:26:34.179 --> 00:26:37.459 There's nothing that we do that can add to what God is doing. 00:26:37.779 --> 00:26:41.279 And there's nothing that we do that can take away from what God is doing. 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:48.359 That word forever, there is the same Hebrew word translated eternity in verse 11. 00:26:48.359 --> 00:26:50.539 It's speaking of what God does. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:56.579 God has instilled in the heart of every human being an inkling of eternity, 00:26:57.139 --> 00:26:58.759 our longing for eternity. 00:26:58.939 --> 00:27:04.039 But because we are finite and temporal creatures who inhabit fleeting time, 00:27:04.339 --> 00:27:08.240 we cannot quite grasp hold of it or make sense of it. 00:27:09.579 --> 00:27:13.459 We can't understand why everything happens in its season. 00:27:14.679 --> 00:27:19.939 It's like we have a sense of what this thousand-piece puzzle is supposed to look like. 00:27:19.939 --> 00:27:21.299 We have a vague sense of it. 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:24.599 But we only have ten puzzle pieces. 00:27:25.139 --> 00:27:26.879 And we're trying to make it all fit. 00:27:27.699 --> 00:27:29.339 And it doesn't make sense. 00:27:31.879 --> 00:27:35.319 Or it's like seeing a huge mosaic, 00:27:35.859 --> 00:27:41.659 but zoomed in so that you only see two tiny picture frames next to each other. 00:27:41.660 --> 00:27:47.040 And you have no idea how those two pictures are related because you can't see the whole picture. 00:27:48.040 --> 00:27:50.759 What do these two pictures have anything to do with each other? 00:27:50.759 --> 00:28:02.619 We are eternal souls within time-bound bodies destined for death. 00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:04.720 We seek reason, 00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:06.000 we seek purpose, 00:28:06.220 --> 00:28:08.539 and we seek meaning behind everything in life, 00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:10.519 but in the cyclicity of life, 00:28:10.599 --> 00:28:12.039 in the inevitability of death, 00:28:12.099 --> 00:28:14.480 the reason and the purpose and the meaning that we seek 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:15.640 escape us. 00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:21.160 Try writing your own version of this poem. 00:28:22.060 --> 00:28:23.600 I think that would be a good exercise for you. 00:28:26.600 --> 00:28:28.340 A time to be unemployed. 00:28:29.100 --> 00:28:30.800 A time to be employed, 00:28:31.580 --> 00:28:33.380 but in a job I never imagined I'd have. 00:28:33.380 --> 00:28:39.080 A time to get rejected by schools and programs. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:40.820 A time to be admitted. 00:28:42.100 --> 00:28:43.040 A time to be healthy. 00:28:43.780 --> 00:28:45.640 A time to be diagnosed with a chronic illness. 00:28:46.280 --> 00:28:48.000 A time to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. 00:28:48.500 --> 00:28:49.940 A time to break up. 00:28:50.620 --> 00:28:52.400 A time for rich, rewarding friendships. 00:28:53.060 --> 00:28:55.240 A time for strained relationships and loneliness. 00:28:57.300 --> 00:29:01.200 Can you really make sense of all of these details of your life? 00:29:03.380 --> 00:29:06.460 Do you really understand the purpose and the meaning, 00:29:06.600 --> 00:29:07.800 the reason behind them all? 00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:10.920 None of us can. 00:29:12.520 --> 00:29:16.040 Because the divine, eternal, omniscient perspective 00:29:16.040 --> 00:29:18.180 is not available to us. 00:29:19.220 --> 00:29:21.980 Only what he has revealed to us is available to us. 00:29:22.340 --> 00:29:24.860 And hence the thesis of Ecclesiastes, 00:29:25.080 --> 00:29:26.300 the vanity of vanities, 00:29:26.560 --> 00:29:27.700 all is vanity. 00:29:28.600 --> 00:29:29.860 Hevel, that's the word. 00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:32.240 Breath, the mere breath. 00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:33.799 Breath, striving after wind. 00:29:35.079 --> 00:29:37.779 There are profound real life implications of this truth. 00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:38.480 And here's one. 00:29:39.079 --> 00:29:40.220 Verses 12 to 13 says, 00:29:40.299 --> 00:29:42.339 I perceive that there is nothing better for them 00:29:42.339 --> 00:29:43.400 than to be joyful 00:29:43.400 --> 00:29:46.460 and to do good as long as they live. 00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:49.180 And that everyone should eat and drink 00:29:49.180 --> 00:29:51.120 and take pleasure in all his toil. 00:29:51.259 --> 00:29:53.620 This is God's gift to man. 00:29:54.339 --> 00:29:56.240 For a book that has the reputation 00:29:56.240 --> 00:29:57.759 of being a Debbie Downer, 00:29:57.759 --> 00:30:00.379 it speaks an awful lot about joy 00:30:00.379 --> 00:30:01.839 and enjoying. 00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:06.339 This is almost exactly the same as chapter 2, verse 24. 00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:08.400 And it's the second instance of what is known 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:10.000 as the Carpe Diem passage. 00:30:10.460 --> 00:30:12.140 There are five Carpe Diem passages 00:30:12.140 --> 00:30:13.339 I explained last Sunday. 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:15.200 The Carpe Diem is just a Latin phrase 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:16.259 that means seize the day. 00:30:16.259 --> 00:30:18.920 It's the idea that you're supposed to take advantage 00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:21.619 of the opportunities you have today 00:30:21.619 --> 00:30:22.759 in the present 00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:25.059 and to enjoy life today 00:30:25.059 --> 00:30:26.900 while it still lasts 00:30:26.900 --> 00:30:28.920 rather than counting on tomorrow 00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:29.980 that may never come. 00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:33.819 These Carpe Diem passages in Ecclesiastes 00:30:33.819 --> 00:30:36.140 are moments of profound insight and light 00:30:36.140 --> 00:30:37.079 in the book. 00:30:37.299 --> 00:30:40.680 And it contrasts two approaches to life. 00:30:40.680 --> 00:30:43.360 First approach to life 00:30:43.360 --> 00:30:44.779 is that you approach life under the sun 00:30:44.779 --> 00:30:46.420 as a means for gain. 00:30:46.680 --> 00:30:48.880 That word gain is contrasted with the word gift 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:49.940 as I talked about last week. 00:30:50.440 --> 00:30:51.460 And the second approach 00:30:51.460 --> 00:30:54.460 is to receive life as a gift from God. 00:30:55.460 --> 00:30:58.400 Gain is some profit or advantage that you derive, 00:30:58.500 --> 00:31:01.519 a wage that you earned through your hard work, 00:31:01.980 --> 00:31:04.720 while gift is something that you receive freely 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:05.660 without cost 00:31:05.660 --> 00:31:07.820 because of the generosity and grace of another. 00:31:07.819 --> 00:31:12.539 If you approach life as a means for gain, 00:31:13.559 --> 00:31:16.859 we imagine that we are masters of our own fate 00:31:16.859 --> 00:31:19.500 and we seek to use and control our lives 00:31:19.500 --> 00:31:21.279 and the circumstances of our lives 00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:23.159 and the relationships of our lives 00:31:23.159 --> 00:31:24.379 in order to get ahead, 00:31:24.980 --> 00:31:26.619 in order to make a difference, 00:31:27.059 --> 00:31:28.519 in order to leave a legacy, 00:31:28.779 --> 00:31:30.779 or in order to gain some kind of surplus. 00:31:31.359 --> 00:31:33.679 That's what it's like to live for gain. 00:31:34.899 --> 00:31:37.639 But if we approach life as a gift from God, 00:31:37.819 --> 00:31:40.919 then we understand that the seasons of life 00:31:40.919 --> 00:31:42.679 are not ultimately up to us 00:31:42.679 --> 00:31:45.099 and we live surrender to him. 00:31:45.659 --> 00:31:48.240 We embrace the wisdom of humility 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:51.519 and the freedom of insignificance. 00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:55.799 And that's what enables us 00:31:55.799 --> 00:31:58.960 to really enjoy the simple pleasures of life, 00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:00.960 to eat and to drink 00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:03.339 and to take pleasure in all our toil. 00:32:03.339 --> 00:32:06.119 Here are some telltale signs 00:32:06.119 --> 00:32:07.939 that you have not reckoned with the fact 00:32:07.939 --> 00:32:09.619 that your life and time itself 00:32:09.619 --> 00:32:11.559 is hevel, a mere breath, 00:32:12.099 --> 00:32:14.899 and that life is not meant to be approached for gain, 00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:16.959 but as received as a gift. 00:32:18.379 --> 00:32:20.959 Do you get irritable or angry 00:32:20.959 --> 00:32:23.619 when someone interrupts your plans? 00:32:23.619 --> 00:32:28.479 You had planned to have a productive afternoon 00:32:28.479 --> 00:32:31.199 and get all of your household chores done, 00:32:31.939 --> 00:32:36.219 but your child is cranky and crying, 00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:40.219 threatening to derail all of your well-laid plans 00:32:40.219 --> 00:32:40.819 for the afternoon. 00:32:41.959 --> 00:32:45.000 Do you get irritated and angry in that situation? 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.779 Or are you able to humbly receive the afternoon 00:32:49.779 --> 00:32:52.059 that God has planned to give you 00:32:52.059 --> 00:32:55.220 of consoling and comforting your child, 00:32:55.339 --> 00:32:57.559 of loving your child that's before you 00:32:57.559 --> 00:32:58.839 as a gift? 00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:03.299 Or do you see your afternoon as your means for gain? 00:33:05.700 --> 00:33:06.779 Here's another question. 00:33:06.900 --> 00:33:10.579 Do you accept what you perceive to be bad things from God 00:33:10.579 --> 00:33:14.200 as well as the good things from God? 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:20.819 Illness, rejections, loss of loved ones, disappointments. 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:25.220 When life turns sour, do you become bitter toward God, 00:33:26.099 --> 00:33:27.019 angry at God? 00:33:28.059 --> 00:33:31.140 Or are you able to say, as Job said in Job 2.10, 00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:32.940 shall we receive good from God 00:33:32.940 --> 00:33:34.359 and shall we not receive evil? 00:33:36.039 --> 00:33:38.619 Do you trust in God's sovereign rule 00:33:38.619 --> 00:33:41.380 and his providential care for you through the valleys 00:33:41.380 --> 00:33:43.539 as well as the mountaintops of life? 00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.980 We might not yet see the beauty of such seasons under the sun, 00:33:50.099 --> 00:33:51.079 those valley times, 00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:53.339 but do you trust that God above 00:33:53.339 --> 00:33:56.180 has made everything beautiful in its time? 00:33:59.460 --> 00:34:00.680 Or how about this? 00:34:01.059 --> 00:34:03.799 Do you drive around the streets of Boston 00:34:03.799 --> 00:34:05.799 like you're a Formula One driver? 00:34:05.799 --> 00:34:09.239 I know some of you out there. 00:34:10.759 --> 00:34:14.860 Is every drive a race against time 00:34:14.860 --> 00:34:17.539 trying to see if you can whittle down 00:34:17.539 --> 00:34:20.719 and beat that estimated time of arrival on your Maps app? 00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:26.659 Are you always trying to exploit that gap between cars 00:34:26.659 --> 00:34:28.000 and trying to find leverage 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:31.279 and push and shove into that fast lane on the highway, 00:34:31.980 --> 00:34:35.119 competing against these other drivers? 00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:38.119 Why are you in such a hurry? 00:34:39.619 --> 00:34:41.659 It might be because you see time 00:34:41.659 --> 00:34:44.059 not as a gift from God, 00:34:44.279 --> 00:34:46.699 but as an opportunity for gain. 00:34:50.139 --> 00:34:52.599 Some of you remember Winnie Truex? 00:34:53.139 --> 00:34:53.400 Yeah. 00:34:53.940 --> 00:34:55.500 She was a good friend to many of us, 00:34:55.559 --> 00:34:56.659 moved to North Carolina, 00:34:56.659 --> 00:34:59.920 and she's one of the coolest and funniest people we know. 00:35:00.460 --> 00:35:02.920 And I remember I gave her a ride one time, 00:35:03.319 --> 00:35:05.179 and then afterward, 00:35:05.659 --> 00:35:08.139 she described my driving colorfully this way, 00:35:08.859 --> 00:35:10.279 Sean, woo, Tokyo Drift. 00:35:15.079 --> 00:35:16.779 I think it's an exaggeration. 00:35:17.339 --> 00:35:19.539 That's a Fast and Furious reference 00:35:19.539 --> 00:35:20.539 for those of you who don't know. 00:35:21.279 --> 00:35:23.559 And I think that's a movie about car racing 00:35:23.559 --> 00:35:25.679 that's probably inappropriate for me to mention in a sermon. 00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:27.599 So don't watch it. 00:35:28.980 --> 00:35:30.460 Now, when he said that, 00:35:30.500 --> 00:35:32.679 it was so funny that I laughed out loud. 00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:34.839 But then inside, 00:35:35.079 --> 00:35:37.039 I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit. 00:35:41.480 --> 00:35:43.460 Why am I in such a hurry? 00:35:46.980 --> 00:35:50.579 Our hurriedness reflects the busyness of our own hearts. 00:35:50.579 --> 00:35:56.119 The fast-paced life in the city 00:35:56.119 --> 00:35:59.739 is not conducive to receiving life as a gift. 00:36:00.779 --> 00:36:02.159 So we need to be watchful. 00:36:04.719 --> 00:36:06.000 If you drive like that, 00:36:06.119 --> 00:36:07.960 not only are you more likely to get into an accident, 00:36:08.799 --> 00:36:11.440 you will never notice the trees that you're passing by 00:36:11.440 --> 00:36:13.739 or the sun that's setting. 00:36:13.739 --> 00:36:17.719 You will never enjoy the breeze on your face 00:36:17.719 --> 00:36:18.939 with the windows rolled down 00:36:18.939 --> 00:36:20.739 or the sun shining on your face 00:36:20.739 --> 00:36:23.599 because you're doing this. 00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:29.900 You will miss all the gifts of the present 00:36:29.900 --> 00:36:31.500 while racing for the future. 00:36:34.019 --> 00:36:36.319 There's an insightful passage in C.S. Lewis' book, 00:36:36.420 --> 00:36:37.199 Screwtape Letters, 00:36:37.319 --> 00:36:39.759 which talks about living in the present 00:36:39.759 --> 00:36:41.699 and receiving the gifts of the present 00:36:41.699 --> 00:36:44.500 rather than living on this never-ending treadmill 00:36:44.500 --> 00:36:46.079 of the next thing. 00:36:46.079 --> 00:36:48.159 It's an imagined correspondence 00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:50.259 between senior devil Screwtape 00:36:50.259 --> 00:36:52.219 and his nephew and junior devil Wormwood, 00:36:52.380 --> 00:36:53.840 which is why in the conversation 00:36:53.840 --> 00:36:55.679 they refer to God as the enemy. 00:36:55.860 --> 00:36:57.259 So remember, this is devils talking, 00:36:57.679 --> 00:36:58.279 demons talking. 00:36:59.079 --> 00:37:01.920 This is what Screwtape advises Wormwood. 00:37:02.799 --> 00:37:04.699 The humans live in time, 00:37:05.139 --> 00:37:07.779 but our enemy destines them to eternity. 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:10.380 He, therefore, I believe, 00:37:10.759 --> 00:37:13.079 wants them to attend chiefly to two things, 00:37:13.079 --> 00:37:15.159 to eternity itself, 00:37:15.619 --> 00:37:17.199 and to that point of time 00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:18.480 which they call the present. 00:37:19.360 --> 00:37:20.840 For the present is the point 00:37:20.840 --> 00:37:22.519 at which time touches eternity. 00:37:23.319 --> 00:37:25.500 Of the present moment and of it only, 00:37:25.659 --> 00:37:26.960 humans have an experience 00:37:26.960 --> 00:37:28.319 analogous to the experience 00:37:28.319 --> 00:37:30.619 which our enemy has of reality as a whole. 00:37:31.259 --> 00:37:32.239 In it alone, 00:37:32.400 --> 00:37:34.400 freedom and actuality are offered them. 00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:35.940 He would, therefore, 00:37:36.039 --> 00:37:37.739 have them continually concerned 00:37:37.739 --> 00:37:39.019 either with eternity, 00:37:39.219 --> 00:37:40.799 which means being concerned with him, 00:37:41.119 --> 00:37:42.139 or with the present, 00:37:42.139 --> 00:37:45.339 either meditating on their eternal union with, 00:37:45.480 --> 00:37:46.980 or separation from himself, 00:37:47.420 --> 00:37:49.859 or else obeying the present voice of conscience, 00:37:50.460 --> 00:37:51.879 bearing the present cross, 00:37:52.319 --> 00:37:53.960 receiving the present grace, 00:37:54.319 --> 00:37:56.359 giving thanks for the present pleasure. 00:37:58.219 --> 00:38:00.559 Our business is to get them away 00:38:00.559 --> 00:38:02.739 from the eternal and from the present. 00:38:03.799 --> 00:38:04.639 With this in view, 00:38:04.699 --> 00:38:05.940 we sometimes tempt a human, 00:38:06.079 --> 00:38:07.159 say a widow or a scholar, 00:38:07.279 --> 00:38:08.219 to live in the past. 00:38:08.219 --> 00:38:10.519 But this is of limited value, 00:38:10.919 --> 00:38:12.819 for they have some real knowledge of the past, 00:38:12.879 --> 00:38:14.139 and it has a determinate nature, 00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:16.319 and to that extent resembles eternity. 00:38:17.139 --> 00:38:19.779 It is far better to make them live in the future. 00:38:20.799 --> 00:38:23.099 Biological necessity makes all their passions 00:38:23.099 --> 00:38:24.619 point in that direction already, 00:38:24.959 --> 00:38:26.639 so that thought about the future 00:38:26.639 --> 00:38:28.719 inflames hope and fear. 00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:29.980 Also, 00:38:29.980 --> 00:38:32.079 it is unknown to them, 00:38:32.639 --> 00:38:34.579 so that in making them think about it, 00:38:34.659 --> 00:38:36.799 we make them think of unrealities. 00:38:37.719 --> 00:38:38.339 In a word, 00:38:38.759 --> 00:38:39.719 the future is, 00:38:39.799 --> 00:38:40.539 of all things, 00:38:40.859 --> 00:38:42.799 the thing least like eternity. 00:38:43.679 --> 00:38:46.899 It is the most completely temporal part of time, 00:38:47.059 --> 00:38:49.399 for the past is frozen and no longer flows, 00:38:49.480 --> 00:38:51.799 and the present is all lit up with eternal rays. 00:38:52.359 --> 00:38:52.619 Hence, 00:38:52.839 --> 00:38:54.939 nearly all vices are rooted in the future. 00:38:54.940 --> 00:38:57.519 Gratitude looks to the past, 00:38:57.619 --> 00:38:58.740 and love to the present. 00:38:59.200 --> 00:38:59.619 Fear, 00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:00.440 avarice, 00:39:00.679 --> 00:39:00.980 lust, 00:39:01.220 --> 00:39:02.519 and ambition look ahead. 00:39:03.700 --> 00:39:04.639 To be sure, 00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:06.820 the enemy wants men to think of the future too, 00:39:07.220 --> 00:39:09.400 just so much as is necessary for now planning 00:39:09.400 --> 00:39:11.119 the acts of justice or charity, 00:39:11.220 --> 00:39:12.980 which will probably be their duty tomorrow. 00:39:13.659 --> 00:39:15.460 The duty of planning the moral's work 00:39:15.460 --> 00:39:16.599 is today's duty. 00:39:17.099 --> 00:39:18.980 Though its material is borrowed from the future, 00:39:19.079 --> 00:39:19.460 the duty, 00:39:19.619 --> 00:39:20.400 like all duties, 00:39:20.519 --> 00:39:21.280 is in the present. 00:39:21.920 --> 00:39:23.240 This is not straw splitting. 00:39:23.239 --> 00:39:27.039 He does not want men to give the future their hearts, 00:39:27.279 --> 00:39:29.000 to place their treasure in it. 00:39:29.419 --> 00:39:30.699 We do. 00:39:31.759 --> 00:39:33.719 We want a whole race, 00:39:34.119 --> 00:39:36.799 perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow's end, 00:39:37.119 --> 00:39:37.899 never honest, 00:39:38.039 --> 00:39:38.559 nor kind, 00:39:38.659 --> 00:39:39.719 nor happy now, 00:39:40.059 --> 00:39:42.719 but always using as mere fuel wherewith 00:39:42.719 --> 00:39:44.659 to heap the altar of the future 00:39:44.659 --> 00:39:48.259 every real gift which is offered them in the present. 00:39:48.260 --> 00:39:53.120 In what ways 00:39:53.120 --> 00:39:55.480 are you heaping up 00:39:55.480 --> 00:39:56.900 the gifts of the present 00:39:56.900 --> 00:39:58.100 that God has given you 00:39:58.100 --> 00:39:59.720 as mere fuel 00:39:59.720 --> 00:40:01.340 upon the altar 00:40:01.340 --> 00:40:02.420 of the future? 00:40:05.420 --> 00:40:06.060 Therefore, 00:40:06.220 --> 00:40:07.740 do not be anxious about tomorrow, 00:40:08.260 --> 00:40:10.760 for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. 00:40:11.520 --> 00:40:12.640 Sufficient for the day 00:40:12.640 --> 00:40:13.800 is its own trouble. 00:40:13.800 --> 00:40:18.220 And here's another application of this truth. 00:40:18.340 --> 00:40:19.780 It says in verses 14 to 15, 00:40:19.900 --> 00:40:21.960 I perceive that whatever God does 00:40:21.960 --> 00:40:22.880 endures forever. 00:40:23.620 --> 00:40:25.160 Nothing can be added to it, 00:40:25.180 --> 00:40:26.860 nor anything taken from it. 00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:29.039 God has done it 00:40:29.039 --> 00:40:30.960 so that people fear before him. 00:40:31.720 --> 00:40:33.420 That which is already has been, 00:40:33.480 --> 00:40:35.060 that which is to be already has been, 00:40:35.100 --> 00:40:36.039 and God seeks 00:40:36.039 --> 00:40:37.680 what has been driven away. 00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:39.800 The first sentence of verse 14 00:40:40.440 --> 00:40:42.019 and verse 15 match. 00:40:42.019 --> 00:40:43.139 They mirror each other 00:40:43.139 --> 00:40:44.880 and essentially say the same thing, 00:40:45.320 --> 00:40:47.239 thereby framing that middle part 00:40:47.239 --> 00:40:48.420 which says God has done it 00:40:48.420 --> 00:40:49.940 so that people fear before him. 00:40:50.079 --> 00:40:51.400 It's emphasizing that. 00:40:52.400 --> 00:40:53.559 Whatever God does 00:40:53.559 --> 00:40:54.300 endures forever. 00:40:54.440 --> 00:40:55.480 Nothing can be added to it, 00:40:55.500 --> 00:40:56.659 nor anything taken from it. 00:40:57.000 --> 00:40:57.500 Once again, 00:40:57.599 --> 00:40:59.159 these times and the seasons of life 00:40:59.159 --> 00:41:00.360 are not our time, 00:41:00.420 --> 00:41:01.380 but God's time. 00:41:01.699 --> 00:41:03.440 He has put eternity into our hearts, 00:41:03.579 --> 00:41:05.539 yet so that we cannot find out 00:41:05.539 --> 00:41:06.259 what he has done 00:41:06.259 --> 00:41:07.239 from the beginning to the end. 00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:12.339 And what does this mean? 00:41:12.399 --> 00:41:13.219 That God seeks 00:41:13.219 --> 00:41:14.639 what has been driven away. 00:41:15.279 --> 00:41:16.599 I think the fourth century 00:41:16.599 --> 00:41:17.779 Bible scholar Jerome 00:41:17.779 --> 00:41:18.379 got it right 00:41:18.379 --> 00:41:19.599 in his Latin translation 00:41:19.599 --> 00:41:20.059 of the Bible. 00:41:20.439 --> 00:41:21.479 He renders it this way, 00:41:21.839 --> 00:41:22.359 and God, 00:41:22.419 --> 00:41:23.019 this is a translation, 00:41:23.199 --> 00:41:24.219 and God repeats 00:41:24.219 --> 00:41:25.539 what has passed away. 00:41:26.819 --> 00:41:28.000 It means that God 00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:29.599 will bring to pass again 00:41:29.599 --> 00:41:31.459 the events of the past 00:41:31.459 --> 00:41:32.839 that have been driven away. 00:41:33.839 --> 00:41:34.519 And in the end, 00:41:34.579 --> 00:41:36.500 all will have to give account to him. 00:41:37.239 --> 00:41:38.299 For us, 00:41:38.439 --> 00:41:39.019 mere mortals, 00:41:39.139 --> 00:41:40.179 there is no escape 00:41:40.179 --> 00:41:41.719 from the cycle of life. 00:41:42.119 --> 00:41:43.079 There is nothing new 00:41:43.079 --> 00:41:43.859 under the sun. 00:41:44.259 --> 00:41:45.039 The sun rises, 00:41:45.179 --> 00:41:45.839 the sun sets, 00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:47.239 the sea ebbs and flows, 00:41:47.339 --> 00:41:48.779 the wind goes round and round. 00:41:49.419 --> 00:41:50.939 That which is already has been, 00:41:51.019 --> 00:41:52.099 and that which is to be 00:41:52.099 --> 00:41:53.399 already has been. 00:41:53.879 --> 00:41:54.959 God has embedded 00:41:54.959 --> 00:41:56.500 this very futility 00:41:56.500 --> 00:41:58.279 into the cyclicity of life 00:41:58.279 --> 00:42:02.519 so that people fear before him. 00:42:02.979 --> 00:42:03.799 That's the purpose. 00:42:05.359 --> 00:42:06.619 The fear of God in the Bible 00:42:06.619 --> 00:42:08.799 is not the terror you feel 00:42:08.799 --> 00:42:10.719 in the face of an evil tyrant. 00:42:11.920 --> 00:42:13.839 The Proverbs 15.33 says, 00:42:13.940 --> 00:42:14.799 The fear of the Lord 00:42:14.799 --> 00:42:16.500 is instruction in wisdom, 00:42:16.719 --> 00:42:18.559 and humility comes before honor. 00:42:19.699 --> 00:42:22.420 If we know how big God really is, 00:42:22.480 --> 00:42:24.239 and how small we really are, 00:42:24.339 --> 00:42:25.440 then if we know 00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:27.000 how holy God really is, 00:42:27.099 --> 00:42:28.920 and how sinful we really are, 00:42:29.119 --> 00:42:29.619 then that produces, 00:42:30.400 --> 00:42:31.579 naturally in all of us, 00:42:31.579 --> 00:42:32.039 fear, 00:42:33.159 --> 00:42:33.539 awe, 00:42:34.579 --> 00:42:35.099 reverence, 00:42:35.519 --> 00:42:36.179 and worship. 00:42:37.119 --> 00:42:38.719 And that's the fear of God. 00:42:39.639 --> 00:42:40.940 To fear the Lord 00:42:40.940 --> 00:42:42.960 is to live every waking moment 00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:44.579 before the presence of, 00:42:44.619 --> 00:42:46.179 and under the authority of, 00:42:46.440 --> 00:42:47.960 and for the glory of God. 00:42:47.960 --> 00:42:51.019 The futility of life 00:42:51.019 --> 00:42:52.820 is intended to teach us 00:42:52.820 --> 00:42:53.900 to fear God, 00:42:54.059 --> 00:42:55.300 to recognize 00:42:55.300 --> 00:42:56.960 that God is in control, 00:42:57.059 --> 00:42:58.119 and we are not. 00:42:58.960 --> 00:43:00.780 That God is the sovereign one, 00:43:00.820 --> 00:43:01.760 and that we are not. 00:43:02.639 --> 00:43:04.159 That God is the creator, 00:43:04.659 --> 00:43:05.940 and we're only creatures. 00:43:08.139 --> 00:43:09.300 Do you approach the times 00:43:09.300 --> 00:43:10.320 and seasons of your life 00:43:10.320 --> 00:43:11.480 with this humility 00:43:11.480 --> 00:43:12.519 and the fear of the Lord? 00:43:13.260 --> 00:43:14.679 Or do you fancy yourself 00:43:14.679 --> 00:43:16.059 to be the master of your time, 00:43:16.059 --> 00:43:17.480 seeking to control time 00:43:17.480 --> 00:43:18.500 and leverage time 00:43:18.500 --> 00:43:19.639 in order to advance yourself? 00:43:21.579 --> 00:43:23.239 I was a college student 00:43:23.239 --> 00:43:25.880 that during the first few weeks 00:43:25.880 --> 00:43:26.980 of my first semester, 00:43:27.299 --> 00:43:28.480 I scheduled out 00:43:28.480 --> 00:43:30.179 my entire four years of college, 00:43:30.940 --> 00:43:33.139 including my study abroad year, 00:43:33.219 --> 00:43:34.279 which I did end up doing. 00:43:35.119 --> 00:43:36.639 And so I am well acquainted 00:43:36.639 --> 00:43:38.380 with this temptation and sin. 00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:43.079 If you're like me, 00:43:43.179 --> 00:43:45.159 someone who likes to make plans 00:43:45.159 --> 00:43:46.879 future plans, 00:43:47.319 --> 00:43:48.219 grand plans, 00:43:49.119 --> 00:43:50.299 then you need to examine 00:43:50.299 --> 00:43:51.359 your heart for pride, 00:43:52.079 --> 00:43:55.559 which views time and life 00:43:55.559 --> 00:43:56.980 as a means for gain. 00:43:58.599 --> 00:44:01.279 It says in James 4, 13 to 16, 00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:03.519 Come now, you who say, 00:44:03.619 --> 00:44:04.599 today or tomorrow 00:44:04.599 --> 00:44:06.519 we will go into such and such a town 00:44:06.519 --> 00:44:07.759 and spend a year there 00:44:07.759 --> 00:44:09.079 and trade and make a profit. 00:44:09.940 --> 00:44:11.059 Yet you do not know 00:44:11.059 --> 00:44:12.159 what tomorrow will bring. 00:44:12.839 --> 00:44:13.879 What is your life? 00:44:13.880 --> 00:44:15.140 For you are a mist 00:44:15.140 --> 00:44:16.760 that appears for a little time 00:44:16.760 --> 00:44:17.579 and then vanishes. 00:44:18.300 --> 00:44:19.860 Instead, you ought to say, 00:44:20.059 --> 00:44:21.320 If the Lord wills, 00:44:21.420 --> 00:44:23.220 we will live and do this or that. 00:44:23.740 --> 00:44:24.579 As it is, 00:44:24.660 --> 00:44:26.119 you boast in your arrogance. 00:44:26.460 --> 00:44:28.599 All such boasting is evil. 00:44:30.260 --> 00:44:31.720 We are but a mist 00:44:31.720 --> 00:44:33.320 that appears for a little time 00:44:33.320 --> 00:44:34.059 and then vanishes. 00:44:34.840 --> 00:44:36.180 That sounds a lot like Hevel 00:44:36.180 --> 00:44:37.640 in Ecclesiastes, doesn't it? 00:44:37.639 --> 00:44:41.139 A vanishing mist. 00:44:41.559 --> 00:44:42.379 For everything, 00:44:42.539 --> 00:44:43.339 there is a season 00:44:43.339 --> 00:44:45.379 and a time for every matter 00:44:45.379 --> 00:44:45.980 under heaven. 00:44:46.400 --> 00:44:48.139 But those seasons and times 00:44:48.139 --> 00:44:49.460 do not come according 00:44:49.460 --> 00:44:51.199 to our stopwatches 00:44:51.199 --> 00:44:52.319 and schedules. 00:44:57.679 --> 00:44:58.779 Most of today, 00:44:58.980 --> 00:45:00.420 I plan on laughing 00:45:00.420 --> 00:45:01.519 and dancing. 00:45:01.519 --> 00:45:03.280 Tomorrow, 00:45:03.519 --> 00:45:04.380 I'm scheduling in 00:45:04.380 --> 00:45:05.579 an hour of weeping 00:45:05.579 --> 00:45:06.119 and mourning. 00:45:07.099 --> 00:45:07.920 The next week, 00:45:08.179 --> 00:45:09.659 I am spending my whole day 00:45:09.659 --> 00:45:10.420 building up, 00:45:10.980 --> 00:45:11.940 building my career 00:45:11.940 --> 00:45:12.639 in earnest. 00:45:13.440 --> 00:45:14.739 By year 2026, 00:45:14.840 --> 00:45:15.559 I will be married. 00:45:16.059 --> 00:45:17.239 By year 2030, 00:45:17.360 --> 00:45:18.539 I will have my first kid 00:45:18.539 --> 00:45:20.559 until I die 00:45:20.559 --> 00:45:21.599 at ripe old age 00:45:21.599 --> 00:45:22.539 of 100. 00:45:22.539 --> 00:45:22.659 100. 00:45:25.019 --> 00:45:26.320 It's arrogant boasting. 00:45:29.179 --> 00:45:30.420 It is not wrong, 00:45:30.480 --> 00:45:31.279 as we talked about 00:45:31.279 --> 00:45:32.420 with C.S. Lewis' code, 00:45:32.500 --> 00:45:34.019 to make tentative plans 00:45:34.019 --> 00:45:35.559 and to make 00:45:35.559 --> 00:45:36.779 diligent preparations. 00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:38.559 But we should do so 00:45:38.559 --> 00:45:39.380 with the understanding 00:45:39.380 --> 00:45:40.980 that all of our plans 00:45:40.980 --> 00:45:43.000 are always contingent 00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:44.300 on God's plans. 00:45:47.579 --> 00:45:48.539 Robert Burns, 00:45:48.779 --> 00:45:49.279 a renowned 00:45:49.279 --> 00:45:50.579 18th century Scottish poet, 00:45:50.639 --> 00:45:51.199 I think I've mentioned 00:45:51.199 --> 00:45:51.840 this before 00:45:51.840 --> 00:45:52.519 to some of you, 00:45:53.360 --> 00:45:54.579 he was plowing a field 00:45:54.579 --> 00:45:55.679 for his garden, 00:45:56.300 --> 00:45:56.759 his backyard, 00:45:56.980 --> 00:45:57.480 and then one day 00:45:57.480 --> 00:45:58.159 he noticed that 00:45:58.159 --> 00:45:58.960 as he was plowing 00:45:58.960 --> 00:45:59.480 in the field, 00:45:59.699 --> 00:46:01.079 this whole bunch of mice 00:46:01.079 --> 00:46:02.039 just scurrying away 00:46:02.039 --> 00:46:03.000 and he realized 00:46:03.000 --> 00:46:03.739 that unwittingly 00:46:03.739 --> 00:46:04.500 he had disturbed 00:46:04.500 --> 00:46:05.380 a mice nest 00:46:05.380 --> 00:46:06.840 while plowing his ground. 00:46:07.559 --> 00:46:08.179 And pondering 00:46:08.179 --> 00:46:09.440 at the fate 00:46:09.440 --> 00:46:10.219 of those mice, 00:46:10.619 --> 00:46:12.019 he thought about 00:46:12.019 --> 00:46:14.460 the unanticipated 00:46:14.460 --> 00:46:15.139 events of life 00:46:15.139 --> 00:46:16.079 that frequently derail 00:46:16.079 --> 00:46:16.779 our own plans. 00:46:17.719 --> 00:46:18.480 And with this mind, 00:46:18.519 --> 00:46:19.000 he penned 00:46:19.000 --> 00:46:19.980 this famous line 00:46:19.980 --> 00:46:20.619 of his poem, 00:46:20.759 --> 00:46:21.300 To a Mouse, 00:46:21.300 --> 00:46:22.420 which goes, 00:46:22.519 --> 00:46:23.700 the best laid schemes 00:46:23.700 --> 00:46:24.640 of mice and men 00:46:24.640 --> 00:46:25.840 often go awry. 00:46:27.200 --> 00:46:27.920 And that's where 00:46:27.920 --> 00:46:28.620 John Steinbeck 00:46:28.620 --> 00:46:29.180 got his title 00:46:29.180 --> 00:46:30.400 for Of Mice and Men, 00:46:31.140 --> 00:46:32.039 which is exactly 00:46:32.039 --> 00:46:32.700 about that, 00:46:32.880 --> 00:46:34.300 of the tragic tale 00:46:34.300 --> 00:46:35.440 of George and Lenny 00:46:35.440 --> 00:46:36.480 whose simple, 00:46:36.720 --> 00:46:37.480 innocent dream 00:46:37.480 --> 00:46:38.880 of settling down 00:46:38.880 --> 00:46:39.420 on their own 00:46:39.420 --> 00:46:40.360 piece of farmland 00:46:40.360 --> 00:46:41.160 with soft, 00:46:41.340 --> 00:46:42.120 pet rabbits 00:46:42.120 --> 00:46:44.440 is dashed 00:46:44.440 --> 00:46:45.600 by unfortunate, 00:46:46.120 --> 00:46:47.320 unanticipated events. 00:46:47.320 --> 00:46:50.300 It says in Proverbs 16, 00:46:50.360 --> 00:46:51.200 verse 1 and verse 9, 00:46:51.260 --> 00:46:52.280 the plans of the heart 00:46:52.280 --> 00:46:53.300 belong to man, 00:46:53.380 --> 00:46:53.940 but the answer 00:46:53.940 --> 00:46:54.440 of the tongue 00:46:54.440 --> 00:46:55.180 is from the Lord. 00:46:55.640 --> 00:46:56.600 The heart of man 00:46:56.600 --> 00:46:57.519 plans his way, 00:46:57.600 --> 00:46:58.140 but the Lord 00:46:58.140 --> 00:46:59.380 establishes his steps. 00:47:00.240 --> 00:47:01.420 These verses contrast 00:47:01.420 --> 00:47:02.440 divine sovereignty 00:47:02.440 --> 00:47:03.480 and human responsibility. 00:47:03.900 --> 00:47:04.180 Yes, 00:47:04.320 --> 00:47:05.300 it is our responsibility 00:47:05.300 --> 00:47:06.280 to make plans. 00:47:06.820 --> 00:47:07.820 The plans of the heart 00:47:07.820 --> 00:47:08.720 belong to a man, 00:47:09.120 --> 00:47:10.400 but the heart of man 00:47:10.400 --> 00:47:12.140 plans his way, 00:47:12.140 --> 00:47:13.140 but though man 00:47:13.140 --> 00:47:14.200 gets the first word 00:47:14.200 --> 00:47:14.960 in that planning, 00:47:14.960 --> 00:47:17.059 God gets the last word. 00:47:17.679 --> 00:47:18.340 The answer 00:47:18.340 --> 00:47:19.139 of the tongue 00:47:19.139 --> 00:47:19.840 is from the Lord. 00:47:21.099 --> 00:47:22.099 We might plan, 00:47:22.179 --> 00:47:22.720 but the outcome 00:47:22.720 --> 00:47:23.440 is from the Lord. 00:47:24.099 --> 00:47:25.079 As Thomas Akempis 00:47:25.079 --> 00:47:25.500 put it in 00:47:25.500 --> 00:47:26.380 The Invitation of Christ, 00:47:26.599 --> 00:47:27.639 man proposes, 00:47:28.240 --> 00:47:29.240 God disposes. 00:47:31.260 --> 00:47:32.179 As humans 00:47:32.179 --> 00:47:32.900 who inhabit 00:47:32.900 --> 00:47:34.019 fleeting time, 00:47:34.220 --> 00:47:34.940 we should fear 00:47:34.940 --> 00:47:36.059 God who inhabits 00:47:36.059 --> 00:47:36.579 eternity. 00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:38.800 But is there 00:47:38.800 --> 00:47:39.260 anything 00:47:39.260 --> 00:47:41.199 that will arrest 00:47:41.199 --> 00:47:43.139 this cyclicity 00:47:43.139 --> 00:47:43.579 of life? 00:47:44.960 --> 00:47:46.260 Is there anything 00:47:46.260 --> 00:47:47.199 that can interrupt 00:47:47.199 --> 00:47:48.840 this round and round world 00:47:48.840 --> 00:47:50.280 and fulfill 00:47:50.280 --> 00:47:51.880 our longing 00:47:51.880 --> 00:47:52.619 for eternity, 00:47:53.260 --> 00:47:54.099 which God 00:47:54.099 --> 00:47:54.860 has instilled 00:47:54.860 --> 00:47:55.639 in our hearts? 00:47:56.460 --> 00:47:57.559 Is there any way 00:47:57.559 --> 00:47:58.420 that we can, 00:47:58.679 --> 00:47:59.820 in some measure, 00:48:00.220 --> 00:48:00.900 find out 00:48:00.900 --> 00:48:01.920 what God has done 00:48:01.920 --> 00:48:02.820 from the beginning 00:48:02.820 --> 00:48:03.380 to the end? 00:48:04.099 --> 00:48:04.500 Yes, 00:48:04.639 --> 00:48:05.079 there is. 00:48:07.280 --> 00:48:08.000 It says in 00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:09.000 Ephesians 1.10 00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:10.840 that God made known 00:48:10.840 --> 00:48:11.199 to us 00:48:11.199 --> 00:48:12.000 the mystery 00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:13.039 of his will 00:48:13.039 --> 00:48:14.820 according to 00:48:14.820 --> 00:48:15.940 his purpose, 00:48:16.320 --> 00:48:17.360 which he set forth 00:48:17.360 --> 00:48:18.259 in Christ 00:48:18.259 --> 00:48:19.380 as a plan 00:48:19.380 --> 00:48:20.259 for the fullness 00:48:20.259 --> 00:48:21.019 of time 00:48:21.019 --> 00:48:22.019 to unite all 00:48:22.019 --> 00:48:23.019 things in him, 00:48:23.119 --> 00:48:23.699 things in heaven 00:48:23.699 --> 00:48:24.599 and things on earth. 00:48:25.400 --> 00:48:26.900 There is a cyclicity 00:48:26.900 --> 00:48:27.539 of the times 00:48:27.539 --> 00:48:27.980 and seasons 00:48:27.980 --> 00:48:28.619 in our lives, 00:48:28.699 --> 00:48:29.679 but then there is 00:48:29.679 --> 00:48:31.219 also this fullness 00:48:31.219 --> 00:48:32.019 of time 00:48:32.019 --> 00:48:33.480 in which God's 00:48:33.480 --> 00:48:33.980 purposes 00:48:33.980 --> 00:48:35.400 for all creation 00:48:35.400 --> 00:48:36.539 and heaven and earth 00:48:36.539 --> 00:48:38.099 find their fulfillment 00:48:38.099 --> 00:48:39.119 and purpose 00:48:39.119 --> 00:48:40.219 in Jesus Christ. 00:48:41.759 --> 00:48:43.000 Romans 5.6 00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:43.759 puts it this way, 00:48:43.880 --> 00:48:44.679 For while we were 00:48:44.679 --> 00:48:45.420 still weak, 00:48:45.960 --> 00:48:48.119 at the right time 00:48:48.119 --> 00:48:49.339 Christ died 00:48:49.339 --> 00:48:50.239 for the ungodly. 00:48:51.059 --> 00:48:52.500 There is our time, 00:48:52.559 --> 00:48:53.380 which is cyclical, 00:48:53.639 --> 00:48:54.779 and then there is 00:48:54.779 --> 00:48:55.819 God's time, 00:48:56.339 --> 00:48:58.199 which is the right time 00:48:58.199 --> 00:48:59.839 when Jesus came 00:48:59.839 --> 00:49:00.500 and he died 00:49:00.500 --> 00:49:01.159 on the cross 00:49:01.159 --> 00:49:02.219 to save us 00:49:02.219 --> 00:49:02.860 from our sin. 00:49:03.900 --> 00:49:04.799 And that's why 00:49:04.799 --> 00:49:05.619 Jesus announces 00:49:05.619 --> 00:49:06.719 in John 5.25, 00:49:06.719 --> 00:49:07.559 Truly, truly, 00:49:07.659 --> 00:49:08.439 I say to you, 00:49:09.000 --> 00:49:10.459 an hour is coming 00:49:10.459 --> 00:49:12.339 and is now here 00:49:12.339 --> 00:49:13.539 when the dead 00:49:13.539 --> 00:49:14.119 will hear 00:49:14.119 --> 00:49:14.679 the voice 00:49:14.679 --> 00:49:15.659 of the Son of God 00:49:15.659 --> 00:49:16.659 and those who hear 00:49:16.659 --> 00:49:17.819 will live. 00:49:20.819 --> 00:49:22.019 How welcome 00:49:22.019 --> 00:49:23.039 is that news 00:49:23.039 --> 00:49:24.259 that the hour 00:49:24.259 --> 00:49:25.219 is now here 00:49:25.219 --> 00:49:26.279 to people 00:49:26.279 --> 00:49:27.299 who have lived 00:49:27.299 --> 00:49:28.919 round and around 00:49:28.919 --> 00:49:29.779 generation 00:49:29.779 --> 00:49:30.859 after generation 00:49:30.859 --> 00:49:31.980 after generation. 00:49:31.980 --> 00:49:36.380 for God 00:49:36.380 --> 00:49:36.880 so loved 00:49:36.880 --> 00:49:37.199 the world 00:49:37.199 --> 00:49:37.679 that he gave 00:49:37.679 --> 00:49:38.400 his only Son 00:49:38.400 --> 00:49:39.380 that whoever 00:49:39.380 --> 00:49:40.039 believes in him 00:49:40.039 --> 00:49:40.980 may have what? 00:49:42.420 --> 00:49:42.820 Eternal 00:49:42.820 --> 00:49:43.880 life. 00:49:47.539 --> 00:49:48.519 That's the fulfillment 00:49:48.519 --> 00:49:49.179 of the eternity 00:49:49.179 --> 00:49:50.039 that God placed 00:49:50.039 --> 00:49:50.599 in our hearts. 00:49:55.440 --> 00:49:56.860 I have images 00:49:56.860 --> 00:49:57.559 I want to show you. 00:49:57.800 --> 00:49:58.320 Mariah actually 00:49:58.320 --> 00:49:59.079 shared this with me. 00:49:59.219 --> 00:49:59.960 It's a great image. 00:49:59.960 --> 00:50:01.820 The first one, 00:50:01.980 --> 00:50:02.460 this is 00:50:02.460 --> 00:50:03.780 what is known 00:50:03.780 --> 00:50:04.420 as the Tibetan 00:50:04.420 --> 00:50:05.199 wheel of life 00:50:05.199 --> 00:50:05.840 or the Buddhist 00:50:05.840 --> 00:50:06.860 wheel of life. 00:50:07.240 --> 00:50:08.079 This is their 00:50:08.079 --> 00:50:08.740 worldview, 00:50:09.139 --> 00:50:09.920 how they think 00:50:09.920 --> 00:50:10.679 the world works. 00:50:11.300 --> 00:50:12.199 As you can see, 00:50:12.360 --> 00:50:13.659 there's this spirit 00:50:13.659 --> 00:50:14.780 that oversees it. 00:50:15.440 --> 00:50:16.480 They say that 00:50:16.480 --> 00:50:16.940 this is not 00:50:16.940 --> 00:50:17.579 an evil spirit, 00:50:17.679 --> 00:50:18.139 but to us 00:50:18.139 --> 00:50:18.820 that's very clear. 00:50:18.900 --> 00:50:19.579 That's the devil, 00:50:19.800 --> 00:50:20.820 the ruler of this world. 00:50:22.139 --> 00:50:23.699 And in the middle 00:50:23.699 --> 00:50:24.900 you see three animals 00:50:24.900 --> 00:50:25.900 that represent 00:50:25.900 --> 00:50:26.699 greed 00:50:26.699 --> 00:50:26.759 greed, 00:50:27.399 --> 00:50:28.259 and anger, 00:50:28.839 --> 00:50:29.559 and 00:50:29.559 --> 00:50:32.139 there's one more. 00:50:32.239 --> 00:50:32.779 Does anybody know? 00:50:33.279 --> 00:50:33.759 Greed, 00:50:33.919 --> 00:50:34.279 anger, 00:50:34.579 --> 00:50:35.559 and is it selfishness 00:50:35.559 --> 00:50:36.659 or lust? 00:50:36.839 --> 00:50:36.960 Maybe. 00:50:37.399 --> 00:50:37.659 It's like 00:50:37.659 --> 00:50:38.759 those animals 00:50:38.759 --> 00:50:39.839 represent sin 00:50:39.839 --> 00:50:40.319 basically 00:50:40.319 --> 00:50:41.559 that drives 00:50:41.559 --> 00:50:42.099 the world 00:50:42.099 --> 00:50:43.099 this wheel 00:50:43.099 --> 00:50:43.980 round and around 00:50:43.980 --> 00:50:44.559 in a cycle. 00:50:45.379 --> 00:50:46.259 And then you see 00:50:46.259 --> 00:50:47.259 the different phases 00:50:47.259 --> 00:50:47.739 of life, 00:50:47.980 --> 00:50:48.619 different realms 00:50:48.619 --> 00:50:50.279 of the universe, 00:50:50.399 --> 00:50:50.980 and also different 00:50:50.980 --> 00:50:51.879 phases of life. 00:50:52.599 --> 00:50:54.000 And it's an endless cycle. 00:50:54.000 --> 00:50:57.320 And the dearest dream 00:50:57.320 --> 00:50:58.760 of a Buddhist adherent 00:50:58.760 --> 00:51:00.179 is to finally 00:51:00.179 --> 00:51:01.559 get out of that cycle 00:51:01.559 --> 00:51:02.800 with nirvana 00:51:02.800 --> 00:51:04.159 by reaching enlightenment. 00:51:04.760 --> 00:51:05.260 And that's what 00:51:05.260 --> 00:51:06.320 that picture of Buddha 00:51:06.320 --> 00:51:07.460 on the right-hand corner 00:51:07.460 --> 00:51:08.159 is supposed to be. 00:51:09.199 --> 00:51:10.360 But I can assure you 00:51:10.360 --> 00:51:11.500 that Buddha 00:51:11.500 --> 00:51:12.599 attained no 00:51:12.599 --> 00:51:13.539 greater wisdom 00:51:13.539 --> 00:51:14.579 than Solomon did. 00:51:15.400 --> 00:51:16.079 And Solomon 00:51:16.079 --> 00:51:17.400 tried all of this 00:51:17.400 --> 00:51:18.519 and he said 00:51:18.519 --> 00:51:19.719 it's vanity of vanities. 00:51:21.300 --> 00:51:22.639 You don't ever 00:51:22.639 --> 00:51:23.659 get out of that cycle. 00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:27.440 That's the hopeless 00:51:27.440 --> 00:51:27.960 world view 00:51:27.960 --> 00:51:30.119 that millions 00:51:30.119 --> 00:51:30.500 of people 00:51:30.500 --> 00:51:30.820 in the world 00:51:30.820 --> 00:51:31.400 are living with. 00:51:33.260 --> 00:51:34.119 And then you see 00:51:34.119 --> 00:51:34.800 the next picture 00:51:34.800 --> 00:51:35.659 which was made 00:51:35.659 --> 00:51:36.719 by a Buddhist convert, 00:51:37.480 --> 00:51:37.940 an artist, 00:51:38.079 --> 00:51:38.980 a Christian artist 00:51:38.980 --> 00:51:40.480 who transformed 00:51:40.480 --> 00:51:41.739 that wheel of life 00:51:41.739 --> 00:51:42.800 from the Buddhist culture. 00:51:44.059 --> 00:51:45.119 And here you see 00:51:45.119 --> 00:51:46.119 the cross at the center 00:51:46.119 --> 00:51:47.000 which has a tone 00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:47.559 for sin 00:51:47.559 --> 00:51:49.099 where sin used to be. 00:51:49.780 --> 00:51:50.500 And then you see 00:51:50.500 --> 00:51:52.000 that ray of light 00:51:52.000 --> 00:51:53.039 coming down 00:51:53.039 --> 00:51:54.079 into a baby. 00:51:54.159 --> 00:51:54.699 That's Jesus, 00:51:55.159 --> 00:51:56.340 the eternal son of God 00:51:56.340 --> 00:51:57.279 being incarnate, 00:51:57.380 --> 00:51:58.420 taking on human flesh 00:51:58.420 --> 00:51:59.079 and being born. 00:51:59.860 --> 00:52:01.000 And then there's a cycle. 00:52:01.139 --> 00:52:02.139 You see his life, 00:52:02.579 --> 00:52:03.239 his life, 00:52:03.759 --> 00:52:04.340 his death, 00:52:04.840 --> 00:52:05.619 his resurrection, 00:52:06.199 --> 00:52:07.619 and then his ascension 00:52:07.619 --> 00:52:08.539 breaking through 00:52:08.539 --> 00:52:10.360 this endless cycle 00:52:10.360 --> 00:52:10.900 of life 00:52:10.900 --> 00:52:12.840 to offer us 00:52:12.840 --> 00:52:14.000 hope for eternity, 00:52:14.920 --> 00:52:16.380 offer us salvation. 00:52:16.380 --> 00:52:18.460 Jesus, 00:52:19.079 --> 00:52:20.559 that Jesus is 00:52:20.559 --> 00:52:21.680 in his person, 00:52:21.800 --> 00:52:22.660 in his life, 00:52:23.440 --> 00:52:24.119 the moment 00:52:24.119 --> 00:52:25.420 when the eternal light 00:52:25.420 --> 00:52:25.820 of God 00:52:25.820 --> 00:52:27.240 broke into this cycle. 00:52:28.099 --> 00:52:29.340 When eternity 00:52:29.340 --> 00:52:30.400 broke into 00:52:30.400 --> 00:52:31.920 our fleeting time 00:52:31.920 --> 00:52:33.200 in order to 00:52:33.200 --> 00:52:33.860 redeem us 00:52:33.860 --> 00:52:34.460 from it. 00:52:36.680 --> 00:52:37.720 Do you know this, 00:52:37.820 --> 00:52:38.000 Jesus? 00:52:38.000 --> 00:52:38.280 Jesus. 00:52:38.280 --> 00:52:38.360 Jesus. 00:52:38.360 --> 00:52:38.440 Jesus. 00:52:38.440 --> 00:52:38.460 Jesus. 00:52:38.460 --> 00:52:38.500 Jesus. 00:52:38.500 --> 00:52:38.539 Jesus. 00:52:38.539 --> 00:52:38.559 Jesus. 00:52:38.559 --> 00:52:38.640 Jesus. 00:52:38.640 --> 00:52:40.440 Jesus. 00:52:40.440 --> 00:52:42.380 Jesus. 00:52:42.380 --> 00:52:46.360 Jesus. 00:52:46.380 --> 00:52:48.140 That's the ultimate hope 00:52:48.140 --> 00:52:50.140 that the book of Ecclesiastes 00:52:50.140 --> 00:52:50.800 points to. 00:52:51.500 --> 00:52:52.519 Let's pray. 00:53:00.619 --> 00:53:01.720 Oh, Father, 00:53:02.880 --> 00:53:06.900 we were so lost 00:53:06.900 --> 00:53:07.440 without you. 00:53:11.820 --> 00:53:13.099 We were dead 00:53:13.099 --> 00:53:13.700 in our sins. 00:53:16.380 --> 00:53:18.579 We were alienated 00:53:18.579 --> 00:53:19.059 from you 00:53:19.059 --> 00:53:19.960 and from your people 00:53:19.960 --> 00:53:21.180 having no hope. 00:53:22.920 --> 00:53:24.800 Stuck in this cycle. 00:53:26.720 --> 00:53:28.340 A fallen world. 00:53:29.640 --> 00:53:30.559 This sinful life. 00:53:35.059 --> 00:53:36.400 Marred by death. 00:53:40.660 --> 00:53:42.440 Apart from your 00:53:42.440 --> 00:53:43.619 gracious intervention. 00:53:43.619 --> 00:53:45.679 apart from your 00:53:45.679 --> 00:53:46.559 greatest gift 00:53:46.559 --> 00:53:47.259 of your son, 00:53:47.519 --> 00:53:48.199 oh, Lord God, 00:53:48.259 --> 00:53:49.299 we would still be lost. 00:53:51.719 --> 00:53:52.779 Thank you for 00:53:52.779 --> 00:53:53.759 sending your son, 00:53:53.839 --> 00:53:54.480 Jesus Christ. 00:53:56.199 --> 00:53:57.119 Thank you for 00:53:57.119 --> 00:53:58.480 breaking into our time 00:53:58.480 --> 00:54:01.319 and ushering us 00:54:01.319 --> 00:54:02.000 into eternity. 00:54:06.739 --> 00:54:07.440 Oh, Lord, 00:54:07.519 --> 00:54:08.079 help us 00:54:08.079 --> 00:54:11.059 to be bold 00:54:11.059 --> 00:54:11.659 and wisdom 00:54:11.659 --> 00:54:11.799 and win some 00:54:11.799 --> 00:54:12.279 witnesses 00:54:12.279 --> 00:54:13.000 of this 00:54:13.000 --> 00:54:14.599 amazing gospel truth 00:54:14.599 --> 00:54:16.779 that we might 00:54:16.779 --> 00:54:17.440 give hope 00:54:17.440 --> 00:54:18.000 to those 00:54:18.000 --> 00:54:18.619 who are lost 00:54:18.619 --> 00:54:19.940 in this cycle. 00:54:25.840 --> 00:54:26.860 In Jesus' name 00:54:26.860 --> 00:54:27.259 we pray. 00:54:27.940 --> 00:54:28.219 Amen. 00:54:28.219 --> 00:54:28.319 Amen.