Not Wasted Time

In October of 2017, when this church was vacant in the senior pastor position, I and my family came to visit for a weekend at the invitation of the pastor search committee. That was the first opportunity I had to stand up here and present a sermon to you. The sermon I preached back then seven and a half years ago was titled Not Wasted Time. Today’s sermon that I am preaching right before leaving for sabbatical has the same title. I don’t want you to think I am cheating—it is not a repeat of the same sermon. This one has a different passage than it did back in 2017, and it is an entirely different message. But it carries the same theme of thinking about the times in which we find ourselves, and what we can best do with that sense of time.

not to be read as God’s eternal divine decree of his sovereign will that must be; but observations that reflect the author’s experience of the world in which we all live

The wisdom writer of Ecclesiastes gave much thought to this topic. As a reminder, the book of Ecclesiastes is in a section of the Bible we call wisdom literature along with the books of Proverbs and Job. The wisdom literature is written in the Bible as observation. Ecclesiastes is not so much about God’s pronouncements of eternal decrees and divine will as much as it is about the author’s own thoughts about the way he or she simply observes the world to be. That is evident in the passage we are about to read today. These observations about time are not to be read as God’s eternal divine decree of his sovereign will that must be. Rather, these observations reflect the author’s experience of the world in which we all live.

every single one of us is constantly trying to make sense of our experience of the world in which we live

And this is true for every single one of us. Whether we are doing this reflective mental work intentionally or unconsciously, every single one of us is constantly trying to make sense of our experience of the world in which we live. These words are just as meaningful and instructive for us today as they were thousands of years ago when they were first written.

Ecclesiastes 3:1–15 (NIV)

Ecclesiastes 3:1–15 NIV

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. 9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him. 15 Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be? Sometimes kids imagine this.  But you can only choose one superpower. Maybe you would want to fly, or have super strength, or teleport. Perhaps it sounds like a silly question. After all, this is a game for children who have vivid imaginations. But generations of people throughout many cultures have stories of heroes with superhuman abilities. Something about it resonates with people all over the world. So, let’s play with the idea for just a few minutes today. Pick one superhero power. Now, the next question goes one step further. Choose one thing you would do with your superpower. Don’t choose something generic like, help other people. Think of something specific; one particular activity that you would do using the superpower you choose. Like this, I would use my laser vision to bake chocolate chip cookies. Or I would use my power of invisibility to sneak into the teachers’ lounge and see what really goes on in there.

in our moments of feeling the most helpless, what we feel is that there is some part of our world which we cannot control

Alright, what’s the point here to all this wondering and imagination. When you think about it, our thoughts of a superpower and what we might do with it all comes down to control. If we could, in fact, possess some superhuman ability, we would use it to attempt to gain control over some aspect of our lives or of our world over which we cannot otherwise control. After all, that’s what power is; it is control. In our moments of being and feeling the most helpless, what we feel is that there is some part of our lives or some part of our world which we cannot control.

This is sort of what the wisdom teacher in Ecclesiastes is getting at in the passage today. He is not talking about superpowers or heroes. But he is talking about the way in which he sees the world around him as a place in which we may all desire some sort of power over circumstances that are simply beyond our control.

much of what is listed in Ecclesiastes is a description not a prescription

What is the wisdom teacher in Ecclesiastes talking about in this list of times that we read today? A time to gather stones, a time to scatter them? A time to search and a time to give up? What is this about? As I have said already, it is important that we first of all remember that Ecclesiastes is about observation. It is a writing about a description of the world the way he sees it, not necessarily a prescription for what ought to be. Those are two different things, description and prescription. Describing an event is simply stating what we might observe—good or bad, right or wrong. Prescribing an event is scripting what we think ought to happen; what we should do. Much of what is listed in Ecclesiastes is a description.

Maybe this all goes without saying. Maybe it is already obvious that these items in Ecclesiastes 3 are not necessarily listing a mandate of God’s will. After all, that would raise some questions. What do you mean it is God’s prescribed will that there ought to be a time to hate? That there ought to be a time for war? That there ought to be a time to kill? That simply doesn’t make any sense because it would contradict what God has said elsewhere in scripture. But this list is not a prescription of God’s mandated will for all times and places. It is much more simply a description of the kind of world that the teacher sees around him.

What is the point the author of Ecclesiastes is trying to make by poetically calling out a list like this? We can catch a glimpse of this from the author’s conclusion in verse 11.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV

11b He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

vs 11b — our view of the world is limited

This list of polar extremes which the wisdom writer observes in the world draws to mind the ways in which humans cannot fathom all the events of the past, nor all the upcoming events of the future. In other words, the author of Ecclesiastes acknowledges that our view of the world is limited. And yet we strive to know such things; we long to be able to make sense of all that has happened in the past, and we long to know how the events of our day will unfold in days to come. Further, the author declares that God himself is not limited by these things. God holds all things in his hand—this includes all the past and all the future. And notice especially what the author says about this all-enfolding view of God’s hand.

Ecclesiastes 3:14 NIV

14a I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.

vs 14a — God’s view of the world is complete

I have spent time over the past weeks thinking about the past seven-plus years that my family has been here in Grandville. God has been active during that time. There have been some baptisms of newborn babies. There have been students who come to know Jesus and have made Profession of Faith. There have been those among you who have been invited into a small group or a Bible study in which your faith has been stretched and you have grown. There have been dozens of families from our community who have been lifted up and helped through the Life Skills program. There are many many more families here in Grandville who have been provided with groceries from our food pantry or students from Central Elementary who receive weekend meals through your donations towards Backpack Buddies. There are those among you who get together and pray together every week (and that one is huge!) God has had a hand in all of these things.

And then there are other moments. I will never forget the time when I was going through chemo and showed up on a Sunday morning to find everybody in this church wearing the same shirts that all said “We all fight cancer together.” There was the time I walked out in the middle of a sermon to go make guacamole in the kitchen and bring it back in here. I imagine that for many of you there have been moments at this church in the past which hold a significant memory with you. Of all these things the author of Ecclesiastes reminds us “everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.”

There have been other moments as well. I don’t think anyone among us would have guessed or predicted that there would be a global pandemic that turned our communities upside down. Hardly anybody here knew how to use Zoom for video meetings before 2020. Now just about everybody knows how Zoom works. Over the years we have lost others and buried loved ones who have passed away. About these things the author of Ecclesiastes reminds us of the same thing: “everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.”

God continues to hold the world together for his divine purposes; even if that is hidden from our perspective at the moment

For my part, that is a comfort. It is a comfort to be reminded that in all the various ups and downs we may experience and observe in life that God continues to be the one who holds it all together for his divine purposes; even if those purposes may be hidden from our perspective at the moment. It is helpful to remember that God’s perspective is always wider than ours.

Ecclesiastes 3:15 NIV

15 Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.

vs 15b — “and God will call the past to account” — literal Hebrew: “God will seek out what has been chased away”

This phrase about God calling the past to account in verse 15 is interesting. In Hebrew it reads more literally as “God will seek out what has been chased away.” In other words, nothing escapes from God’s grasp.

“Waiting on God is living on what I know to be true about God when I don’t know what’s true about my life.” —Mark Vroegop

Let me get to the point of why this is important for us today. Author Mark Vroegop says in his book, Waiting Isn’t a Waste, “Waiting on God is living on what I know to be true about God when I don’t know what’s true about my life.” Often this is when times of waiting show up, when there are uncertainties which come about in our own lives. It inevitably happens to all of us. And in those times we cannot help but endlessly wonder about how those uncertainties will fall into place and take shape.

waiting for the future to unfold is not wasted time; rather, it is transformative time

What Vroegop is encouraging us to do is shift the focus of those moments away from dwelling up our own uncertainties and instead focus upon the things of God that we do know with certainty. Then, waiting for the future to unfold is not wasted time. Rather, it is transformative time. It is a time in which God is at work in our own hearts and our own lives. I am about to leave on sabbatical and this is a time of waiting and discernment for this church. It seems that there is good advice from scripture here today to lean into these coming months not just as time to wait, but rather time to lean into what we know to be true about God.

Christ sacrificed himself in order to redeem us and restore our relationship to God set into motion his grand cosmic plan to bring about the restoration of shalom

And what do we know to be true about God? We know from scripture that God is faithful to keep his promises. We know from scripture that God is loving and forgiving. But take it a step further. We know from scripture that Christ was willing to set everything else aside in order to come into the world and seek out the lost and the hurting people of the world. We know that God still carries a heart for the marginalized and downtrodden. We know that Christ sacrificed himself in order to redeem us and restore our relationship to God. We know that God has set into motion his grand cosmic plan to bring about the restoration of shalom in our world. These are things that we know to be true about God.

rather than facing each day being pushed around by the uncertainties of our own futures, what if we were able to face each day being grounded and rooted in the firm certainties of God’s unfailing character

Now then, a time of waiting is a time in which we pursue and allow these vital truths about God to further sink in and saturate our own identities of who we are as his people. Rather than facing each day being pushed around by the uncertainties of our own futures, what if we were able to face each day being grounded and rooted in the firm certainties of God’s unfailing character? That’s not wasted time; that is redemptive time.

And so, dear friends, as we part ways from here today, may you face each new day not as wasted time but as holy redemptive time. Because we know and echo these words from Ecclesiastes: that,

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV

11a He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Ecclesiastes 3:14 NIV

14a [and] that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.

Ecclesiastes 3:15 NIV

15b and that God will [seek out what has been chased away].

11a He has made everything beautiful in its time, 14a that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it, 15b and that God will seek out what has been chased away