First Things First (Ecclesiastes 3:1-15)

Answer - Life without God is futile and striving after the wind. The efforts and work of man on his own cannot satisfy. Man’s wisdom can lead him to knowing the problem (sin) but cannot generate a solution. Life without God leads to DESPAIR.

Life With God: Understanding Authority

ON-BOARDING at a new job.

Wikipedia: Onboarding, also known as organizational socialization, refers to the mechanism through which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders.[1] Tactics used in this process include formal meetings, lectures, videos, printed materials, or computer-based orientations to introduce newcomers to their new jobs and organizations. Research has demonstrated that these socialization techniques lead to positive outcomes for new employees such as higher job satisfaction, better job performance, greater organizational commitment, and reduction in occupational stress and intent to quit.[2][3][4]

Why do people not want to admit that there is a God? Authority! When we understand that the earth and life on it was CREATED, then we naturally understand there must be a CREATOR. If there is a CREATOR, then He is bigger than we are - more powerful, beyond our full understanding, and authoritative.

We cannot explain or understand life without God, and we don’t naturally want to accept that there is a God.

One of the first things we need to accept as a part of life with God is that God is SOVEREIGN.

STOP and PRAY

Ecc. 3:1-8 - An Appointed Time for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 NASB95

1 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven— 2 A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. 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 weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. 5 A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. 6 A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; 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.

Ecc. 3:1 - THESIS - There is an appointed time for everything. Meaning - GOD IS SOVEREIGN

Root word - to fix, set; i.e. a fixed, set time -

Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego - time set by king Neb when all must bow

Memorial Feasts of the Jewish exiles

Ecc. 3:2-8 - A poem describing examples of seasons of time.

7 sets of verses - fullness/completion - a poem

Examples are bookends and opposites - showing that they cover the full spectrum

Examples also are a start and end point

birth/death, plant/uproot, kill/heal, weep/laugh, tear down/build up, …

Ecc. 3:9-11 - Question: If everything is already set, then what’s the point?

Ecclesiastes 3:9–11 NASB95

9 What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? 10 I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. 11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

Ecc. 3:9-10 - QUESTION: “If God is sovereign (and He is), and has already fixed everything that is going to happen, then what is the use of living and making decisions?”

Ecc. 3:11 - God has put eternity into the heart of man, so that man has to TRUST GOD.

Everything appropriate/beautiful in its time

Isaiah 41:4

Isaiah 41:4 NET

4 Who acts and carries out decrees? Who summons the successive generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, am present at the very beginning, and at the very end—I am the one.

Isaiah 46:10

Isaiah 46:10 NASB95

10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;

Eph 1:11

Ephesians 1:11 NASB95

11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,

Romans 8:28-29

Romans 8:28–29 NASB95

28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

Eternity - a sense that there is more out there, more that man cannot grasp

So That - man has to rely on God for what happens next.

Heb 11:1

Hebrews 11:1 NASB95

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Did Adam need faith in the Garden of Eden before the Fall?

Gen 22 - Abraham trusting God to provide a sacrifice or to bring Isaac back to life.

Heb 11:19

Hebrews 11:19 NASB95

19 He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

Hebrews 11:6 - Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Hebrews 11:6 NASB95

6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Ecc 3:12-15 - Answer: Embrace God’s Authority Over Life.

Teaching Kids to OBEY - When we teach our kids to obey us - the first lesson I want them to learn is why they need to obey. The reason because the one in authority over them commands them to obey. Authority is good. It is godly. (Running in the street).

Ecclesiastes 3:12–15 NASB95

12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; 13 moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him. 15 That which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by.

Ecc. 3:12-13 - The first response to God’s sovereignty is to rejoice and do good.

Do Good - obey God’s word - enjoy the life He has given.

Being in proper relationship with God is the first step to being able to enjoy the life He created.

Ecc. 3:14-15 - God’s work is eternal and unchangeable. God is in control.

God seeks what has passed by - hard passage to translate apparently and interpret.

Will call into account what was hidden.

Job

Jospeh

Moses

Passion of the Christ

What Now?

God is Sovereign.

God has appointed and ordained everything.

God has created us to have an understanding that there is more beyond us.

God has made it so that we cannot fully understand all His will.

God allows us to enjoy this life.

God will bring to light what has passed by.

WHY? So that we will understand that He is GOD and we are not, so that we will revere Him.

It is for our good to submit to the sovereignty and authority of God. This is the first step in living a meaningful life.

GOD LOVES TO BE TRUSTED!

Are you trusting in, and thus living under, God’s authority? In all of your life?

Marriage?

Parenting?

Work?

Church…?

Matthew 16:24

Matthew 16:24 NASB95

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.