IF I COULD PUT TIME IN A BOTTLE (2)

SLIDE: Open Your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 3

SLIDE: Scripture for Today

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NLT)

1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.

SLIDE: This is the Word of God

SLIDE: Welcome

For those of you joining us on the internet this is Curry’s Chapel Church in Greenfield, Indiana. And I am pastor Rich Bailey. Thanks for joining us.

SLIDE: Sermon Title

Church --- Welcome Home!

INTRODUCTION:

''Let's play `Let's Pretend.''' Let's pretend that your banker phoned you last Friday and said he had some very good news. He told you that an anonymous donor who loves you very much has decided to deposit 86,400 pennies into you account each morning, starting the following Monday morning. That's $864 a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year.

He adds, `But there's one stipulation...you must spend all the money that same day. No balance will be carried over to the next day. Each evening the bank must cancel whatever sum you failed to use.'

With a big smile, you thank your banker and hang up. Over that weekend you have time to plan. You grab a pencil and start figuring: $864 times seven equals over $6,000 a week... times fifty-two. That's almost $315,000 a year that you have available to you if you're diligent to spend it all each day. Remember, whatever you don't spend is forfeited. So much for `Let's Pretend.'

Now let's play `Let's Get Serious.' Every morning Someone who loves you very much deposits into your bank of time 86,400 seconds of time - which represent 1,440 minutes - which, of course, equal twenty-four hours each day.

Now you've got to remember the same stipulation applies, because God gives you this amount of time for you to use each day. Nothing is ever carried over on credit to the next day. There is no such thing as a twenty-six hour day (though some of us wish there were). From today's dawn until tomorrow's dawn, you have a precisely determined amount of time. As someone has put it, `Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you want to, but you can spend it only once.'

One of the most fascinating (and, I might add, frustrating) of all subjects is this four-letter word time. It's amazing. We all have the same amount of time. Whether we are penniless or whether we happen to be the richest person on earth, whether we are young or old, single or married, employed or without a job, an adolescent in school or the President of the United States of America - we have exactly the same amount of time.

SLIDE: Introduction

Think of how much time is woven into the fabric of our conversation every day. Here is a list of some familiar lines

- `What time does the meeting start?'

- `What time does the meeting end?'

- `I don't have time.'

- `How much time will it take?'

- `Don't waste your time on that.'

- `It's time to go.'

- `Time out.'

- `It's time we had a long talk.'

- `What time is supper?'

- `Take out a clean sheet of paper. It's time for a quiz.'''

SLIDE: Time

Time has been defined as ''a stretch of duration in which things happen.'' This reminds me of the fact that we will have all eternity to enjoy our victories, but only one life in which to win them.

Ecclesiastes 3:1–22 (NLT)

1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. 2 A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. 3 A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. 4 A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. 5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. 6 A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. 8 A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. 9 What do people really get for all their hard work? 10 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. 12 So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. 13 And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. 14 And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. 15 What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again. 16 I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt! 17 I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.” 18 I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals. 19 For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless! 20 Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust. 21 For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is our lot in life. And no one can bring us back to see what happens after we die.

SLIDE: Solomon Saw - (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

In our text Solomon saw something above man, a God who was in control of time and who balanced life's experiences (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8),

SLIDE: Solomon Saw - (Ecclesiastes 3:9-14)

then he saw something within man that linked him to God (eternity in his heart) Ecclesiastes 3:9-14.

SLIDE: Solomon Saw - (Ecclesiastes 3:15-22)

Thirdly, Solomon saw something ahead of man- the certainty of death (Ecclesiastes 3:15-22).

SLIDE: Solomon Saw - (Ecclesiastes 4:1-5 :9)

Finally, he saw something around man, the problems and burdens of life (Ecclesiastes 4:1-5 :9).

Ecclesiastes 4:1–5:9 (NLT)

1 Again, I observed all the oppression that takes place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power, and their victims are helpless. 2 So I concluded that the dead are better off than the living. 3 But most fortunate of all are those who are not yet born. For they have not seen all the evil that is done under the sun. 4 Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind. 5 “Fools fold their idle hands, leading them to ruin.”

9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.

SLIDE: God’s 4 Factors

God seems to use four factors to keep our lives from becoming monotonous and meaningless. They are:

ADVANCE: time

time,

ADVANCE: eternity

eternity,

ADVANCE: death

death,

ADVANCE: suffering

and suffering.

This passage serves as a reminder that the plan of God encompasses everything from our being born to the day of our death. God appoints both our birthday and the day of our funeral.

In Ecclesiastes 3:2-8, Solomon turns to 14 pairs of opposites, using the word ''time'' as he presses home the point of God's fore- ordination and man's accountability.

Let me make one more statement of introduction while giving a considerable conclusion of this text. God, Himself, wants to be known and obeyed by man; accordingly, He has shut man up to the riddle of life, yet given him an unquenchable hunger to know how it all, from the simplest to the most profound, fits with everything else.

I. LIFE'S COMPARISONS. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Ecclesiastes 3:1 Solomon tells us that not only are there times and seasons in this world, but there is also an over-ruling providence in our lives. From before our birth to the moment of death, God is accomplishing His divine purposes, even though we may not always understand what He is doing.

This defies the theory of fatalism and deism.

FATALISM: Is the belief that all events are determined by fate and hence inevitable.

DEISM: Is the belief that God exists and created the world but thereafter did not control it.

Neither of those theories are correct.

Note 14 Comparisons:

SLIDE

ADVANCE —>

1. ''Born - Die'':

Ecclesiastes 3:2 The entirety of human existence illustrates the comprehensiveness of God.

Things like abortion, birth control, mercy killing, and surrogate parent- hood make it look as though man is in control of birth and death, but Solomon said otherwise. Birth and death are divine appointments, for God is in control.

Psalm 139:16 (NLT)

16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

Depressed people have a tendency to ask ''Why was I born?'' ''Why can't I die?'' It seems as though when life boils itself down to the basics, we go back to birth and death.

ADVANCE —>

2. ''Plant - Harvest'':

Ecclesiastes 3:2 A successful farmer knows that nature works for him only if he works with nature. This is also the secret of a successful life; learn God's principles and cooperate with them.

ILLUSTRATE PERSONAL LEVEL: There are times when you feel you should move on, and you try to uproot yourself, but you can't because things don't fall into place. And there are other times when you are convinced that you'll be there forever and, lo and behold, two months later you are 100 miles away. God has a way of uprooting us and planting us, and He does it in His time.

ADVANCE —>

3. ''Kill - Heal'':

Ecclesiastes 3:3 Refers, possibly, to sickness and plague. God permits some to die while others are healed. Read our papers and on one side there is an article on murder and on the other side medicine - a miracle drug.

ADVANCE —>

4. ''Tear-down - Build-up'':

Ecclesiastes 3:3 Relationship with nations; old walls; relationships

SLIDE

ADVANCE —>

5. ''Cry - Laugh'':

Ecclesiastes 3:4

C.S. Lewis said- ''’Pain is God's megaphone.'’ He whispers to us in our pleasure, but He shouts to us in our pain.”

I love to laugh, but laughter does not teach me as much as tears. Maybe that is why I don’t remember many jokes. I remember a broken heart.

However, I do love to laugh. Many preachers don't know how to laugh. Maybe it is because they are too serious about straightening everybody out.

JOKE:

I heard of a pastor who left the pastorate after 20 years to become a funeral director. Somebody asked, ''Why did you do that?'' ''Well, I spent about 12 years trying to straighten out John. He never did straighten out. I spent 14 months trying to straighten out the marriage of the Smith's, and it never got straightened out. I spent 3 years trying to straighten out Jane, and she never did get straightened out. Now when I straighten them out, they stay straight!

ADVANCE —>

6. ''Grieve - Dance'':

Ecclesiastes 3:4 Death, divorce, disappointment, wedding

Jewish song:

''Sunrise, sunset, swiftly fly the years. One season following another. Laden with happiness and tears.''

ADVANCE —>

7. ''Scatter stones - Gather stones''

Ecclesiastes 3:5

ADVANCE —>

8. ''Embrace - Turn Away''

Ecclesiastes 3:5

They go together: times of affirmation times of confrontation

For life to stay balanced, both affirmation and accountability are needed.

SLIDE

ADVANCE —>

9. ''Search - Quit Searching''

Ecclesiastes 3:6

(A time to search, and a time to give up to lost)

ADVANCE —>

10. ''To keep - to cast away'' (to throw away):

Ecclesiastes 3:6

God put this in the Bible for Cindy. She thinks this gives Biblical authority for garage sales.

However, Janet has offended this principle; she wants to keep everything. Some things you would rather die than part with - like those things that find their way into the attic or the bottom of a trunk in the basement or in the shed.

ADVANCE —>

11. ''To tear - to mend''

Ecclesiastes 3:7

May refer to the Jewish practice of tearing one's clothes during time of grief or repentance.

ADVANCE —>

12. ''To be quiet - to speak''

Ecclesiastes 3:7

Someone said, ''I never felt sorry for the things I did not say.'' There are times we need to say it and say it well.

SLIDE

ADVANCE —>

13. ''To love - to hate''

Ecclesiastes 3:8

ADVANCE —>

14. ''War - Peace''

Ecclesiastes 3:8

Together, we are reminded of acts of injustice, acts of prejudice, and inequities ought to be hated and ought to be withstood.

SLIDE: Life’s Considerations

II. LIFE'S CONSIDERATIONS. Ecclesiastes 3:9-14

What's the profit? Ecclesiastes 3:9 a

What's the purpose? Ecclesiastes 3:9 b

ADVANCE —>

A. Man's Profit Is That Life Is A Gift From God. Ecclesiastes 3:10, 13

If we believingly accept life as a gift, and thank God for it, we will have a better attitude toward the burdens that come our way.

SLIDE: Life’s Considerations

B. Man's Purpose Is Linked To Eternity. Ecclesiastes 3:11

ADVANCE —>

God has not only put things into perspective by having a timetable in which events run their course, He has put within every human being's heart a curiosity about tomorrow, an eternal capacity that prompts me to probe, to be intrigued, to search.

Meaning what? Meaning you and I are not ready to handle life until we are ready to face death. When we get eternity securely in place, it's remarkable what it will do to time.

Thomas Watson said, ''Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset; eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise.''

SLIDE: Life’s Considerations

C. Men's Perspective Is Linked To Reverence. Ecclesiastes 3:14

ADVANCE —>

''fear'' - not the cringing of a slave before a cruel master, but the submission of an obedient child to a loving parent.

SLIDE: Life’s Certainties

III. LIFE'S CERTAINTIES. Ecclesiastes 3:15-22

God will call the past to account. Ecclesiastes 3:15 How can God be in control when there is so much evil in our world, with the wicked prospering in their sin and the righteous suffering in their obedience?

ADVANCE —>

TWO ASSURANCES:

ADVANCE —>

1. God has a time for everything

ADVANCE —>

2. God is working out His eternal purposes

James Johnson wrote 7 sermons entitled, ''God's Trombones'' Listen as he describes the after-life when ''time shall be no more.'' ''In that great day, People, in that great day, God's a-going to rain down fire. God's a-going to sit in the middle of the air To judge the quick and the dead.

Early one of these mornings, God's a-going to call for Gabriel, That tall, bright angel, Gabriel; And God's a- going to say to him: ''Gabriel, blow your silver trumpet, And wake the living nations.''

And Gabriel's going to ask him: ''Lord, how loud must I blow it?'' And God's a-going to tell him: ''Gabriel, blow it calm and easy.'' Then putting one foot on the mountaintop, And the other in the middle of the sea, Gabriel's going to stand and blow his horn, To wake the living nations...

Oh-o-oh, sinner, Where will you stand, In that great day when God's a-going to rain down fire? Oh, you gambling man - where will you stand? You whore-mongering man - where will you stand? Liars and backsliders - where will you stand, In that great day when God's a-going to rain down fire?

And God will divide the sheep from the goats, The one on the right, the other on the left. And to them on the right God's a-going to say: ''Enter into My kingdom.'' And those who've come through great tribulations, And washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, They will enter in - Clothed in spotless white,...

And to them on the left God's a-going to say: ''Depart from Me into everlasting darkness, Down into the bottomless pit.'' And the wicked like lumps of lead will start to fall, Headlong for seven days and nights they'll fall, Plumb into the big, black, and red-hot mouth of hell,...

Too late, sinner! Too late! Good-bye, sinner! Good-bye! In hell, sinner! In hell! Beyond the reach of the love of God.

And I hear a voice, crying, crying: ''Time shall be no more! Time shall be no more! Time shall be no more!'' And the sun will go out like a candle in the wind, The moon will turn to dripping blood, The stars will fall like cinders, And the sea will burn like tar; And the earth shall melt away and be dissolved, And the sky will roll up like a scroll. With a wave of his hand, God will blot out time, And start the wheel of eternity.

Sinner, oh, sinner, Where will you stand In that great day when God's a-going to rain down fire?''

Time has begun for you and me, but it hasn't yet ended, by His grace.

SLIDE: So I Ask You

SO I ASK YOU: What are you doing with your time?

Is it something for God or for self?

SHARE ABOUT Samuel Morris, Taylor U (similarities) and BODY BUILDERS.