Stages of Life

Announcements

Book club starts tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM

Bailey Church Council will meet next Sunday at 7:00 PM in the FMC.

Opening Prayer

Awesome God, you knew us before we were born. You love us into life. Open our hearts and our spirits today to hear your word for us. And, upon hearing the word, may we be convinced of our call to ministry and mission through the church. Bless us with your presence and your powerful love, for we ask this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN.

Songs

“Rise Up” (Lazarus)

“Let It Rise”

Pastoral Prayer

Patient and Wise God, you have called this church into being to serve you in this world by helping others. We rejoice in the many ways we are able to be of help. We offer our prayers for each other, for those near and dear to us, for the situations of difficulty and strife in community and world. You hear our voices cry out and with your eternal compassion you respond in loving care to each of us. We gather here this day, meeting and greeting each other, celebrating fellowship and friendship, welcoming each other in your name. You remind us that you are with us always. What have we to fear? But we fear far too often the unknown tasks that lie ahead of us. We always want to be assured of the happy out come of our efforts. Help us to trust your guidance and presence, Lord. Help us remember that there is no time in which we are out of your care. Enable us to be in serving ministry and mission with joy and confidence. Heal our wounds, bind up our bruises and broken spirits. Put us on a pathway of peace. For we ask this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN.

Song

“Have Thine Own Way, Lord”

Stages of Life

Introduction

Life happens in stages. Over the centuries, humanity has developed ways of demarcating various points in our lives - infant, toddler, child, adolescent, young adult, adult, middle-aged adult, and senior citizen. Some are more recent additions. Others have been with us since the beginning. However we divide our life, the fact is that throughout those points, there is change.

There are physical and emotional changes that take place. There are also ways in which we change in our spirits as we move in life. And all of the ways that do change are interconnected with one another. This is important for us to recognize especially as we read our passage for today from Ecclesiastes.

Most of us, no matter our age, can probably at least hum The Byrds 1965 hit tune, “Turn, Turn, Turn.” The words for that song come straight from these eight verses in our reading. The song, written by Peter Seeger in the late 1950s, was a song asking for peace in the world. It became a big hit for the counterculture of the 1960s as well in the face of the Vietnam War and political unrest throughout the country.

But, of course, that is not what the verses penned by Solomon in the 10th century BC are really about. They lay out for us the contrasts of life - the changes that happen. Many of these changes we don’t have much control over. They happen because they are a part of life. There is no real rhyme or reason to the verses. But verse 2 and verse 8 give us an envelope of ultimacy. Verse 2 refers to birth and death. Whereas, verse 8 refers to war and peace. In between are all the ways that change happens in life. It also reminds us that human existence is hard. Life is not always easy. There are times when things are wonderful, and there are times when things are not. And there is a lot of time in between.

That past year has given us polarities of existence. It has been hard for many people. Lost jobs, lost family members. The inability to gather together. There has been a lot of change - some for the good, I hope. But in the end, I believe that it has helped us to realize what matters in life and that all things in life have a providential motive. What is laid out before us by Solomon is a series of human experiences that all have their time and place throughout life. It is a reminder for us that life is not perfect - that is, it is not going to be easy. Sometimes we can look at other people’s lives and think they have everything. But all we see is the Facebook version. In that version, life is always great. The kids look great. The house is always clean. There is always enough money. But we all know that is not true. There are always going to be problems and things that don’t work out for us. But that is OK. It’s life. There is a time for everything. There is always going to be change.

1. Change is a part of life.

Matthew 7:24–27 ESV

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Change is the one constant in life. Seasons change, people change, governments change, animals change—the list could go on. Some of those changes can be positive and exciting: a promotion at work, the first warm day of spring after a long winter, or your team winning the Super Bowl. Other changes in life can be painful and negative: the loss of a marriage, unexpectedly being let go from your job, or having your child go through a traumatic accident. All of these experiences are changes in life and can bring about happiness, sadness, joy, and fear.

I really like what John Wesley says in his explanatory notes about this first verse:

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, Volume 3 Chapter 3

V. 1. A season—A certain time appointed by God for its being and continuance, which no human wit or providence can alter. And by virtue of this appointment of God, all vicissitudes which happen in the world, whether comforts or calamities, come to pass. Which is here added to prove the principal proposition, That all things below are vain, and happiness is not to be found in them, because of their great uncertainty, and mutability, and transitoriness, and because they are so much out of the reach and power of men, and wholly in the disposal of God. Purpose—Not only natural, but even the voluntary actions of men, are ordered and disposed by God. But it must be considered, that he does not here speak of a time allowed by God, wherein all the following things may lawfully be done, but only of a time fixed by God, in which they are actually done.

The change that happens in life is something that happens through God’s providence. We are not in control of all things. We control what we can, and God does the rest, which happens to be 99.9% of all things. But what we have to remember is that in life God is always moving things to a particular end. That can be hard for us in times like we live in now. But all that we see unfolding before our eyes is part of God’s providence that is working out to his desired purpose. In philosophical terms, Solomon makes the argument that events in life are no so much about their inherent “goodness” or “badness.” Events in life happen because they correspond with divine will. Nothing that does happen in life can happen without divine will.

Then the question arises, “What is the place of human free will in this?” Our free will is to correspond with God’s divine purposes. We know what those purposes are through scripture. We know that we are called to love our enemy. Do we always do that? No. Hence, wars and battles are fought. But even that which goes against God’s desire for humanity is still part of his divine purpose that will be worked out to a particular end.

The parable of Jesus that ends the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew gives us some insight on how we manage these changes in life. Are we going to stand on the promises and purposes of God outlined in his word? Or are we going to ignore them and perish? These are the questions we must ask ourselves in times of tumult and change. If we know that life is going to change, why do we want to go down the path that will lead to chaos instead of the one that will give us hope for tomorrow? We know that God’s purpose for us is for us to be completely in his will. The storms of life will rage around us. There will be chaos that ensues. But if we are not grounded in God’s word, we are going to falter and we are going to be swept away by the waters. That is why it is so vital for us to know and be grounded in the truth of Christ so that we are not on the sand of man-made paths but on the rock of Christ.

2. Change will bring us closer to God or take us further away from him.

James 4:7–8 ESV

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

If we realize that change is going to happen in life, how do we respond to that change as it happens? This is a deeper question that must be answered. As different life stages come and go, there are also stages in our spiritual lives that are moving us closer to God. However, when change comes, it may be something that weakens our resolve and our attitude becomes one of blaming God rather than praising him.

This is normal for us. If something bad happens, as Solomon lists out in his poem, it can be easy for us to look at the circumstance and put the blame squarely in God’s lap. This is especially true when we think about how all things that happen in life are part of God’s plan in the world and in our lives. It becomes an issue of suffering and whether or not suffering is supposed to happen to us if we are faithful. We know that this is not the case. Suffering is not always about punishment. It is also about lessons that are learned in the suffering.

Take for example the story of Job. Throughout the entirety of the book, Job’s friends want Job to confess sin in order for the suffering to stop. But Job was a righteous man and had not sinned. His lovely wife proclaimed to him that he should curse God and just die. (I’m sure she was a delightful woman.) Job does not curse God nor does he confess any unrepentant sin. He does get angry with God by the time we get to chapter 38, but by then, God asks the question, “Were you there when I created the world?” In other words, you are not God so don’t question me. We don’t like that answer from God. We want to know the specifics of the suffering and why so that we can remedy it. However, there are times when we must turn to God and ask what it is that we can learn in the suffering. It is in those moments that we can receive clarity in our lives.

James puts it another way. “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” But before we can draw near to him, we must first submit to God. That means we must submit our will to his will. Our will and what we want cannot be the driving factor for us. We must be searching and seeking God’s will in the circumstance. It is when we do that that we will find ourselves closer to God. When we do not submit to God’s will, it leaves room for Satan to come in and bring doubt into our lives. We are placing ourselves in peril spiritually. But when we do submit to God’s will in our lives, we draw closer to him and he draws closer to us. So within the context of suffering, we see that it can be used as a way to bring us closer to God or draw us away from him. The choice is how respond to the circumstances in our lives.

This is not an easy task. But that is because it is not something that comes from within ourselves but a gift of the Holy Spirit as we move toward entire sanctification. Circumstances in life are there for us to become more and more like Christ. If life is always easy, how can we know Christ and his sufferings, as Paul says. Those who preach that you don’t have to ever have a bad day if you are a Christian are preaching a false gospel. Nowhere does it say that just because you believe and trust in Jesus that suddenly life is going to be easy. It is not. In fact, life gets much more difficult. We have to trust God through whatever is going on in life. We have hope in knowing that the bad will not last forever. The suffering is only for a while because joy comes in the morning. We must use the good times and the bad in life to help us draw nearer to the Lord and place our faith in him.

3. We must take responsibility to follow God in every season of life.

Mark 8:34–35 ESV

34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Following Christ is not an easy task as we have mentioned. It takes perseverance and faith. As Solomon concludes his poem, he says that there is a time to love, a time to hate, a time for war, a time for peace. These statements, just like all the other couplets, are polar opposites of one another. But here, we have violence and kindness being described. Obviously we prefer peace over war and love over hate, but these are realities in life.

In this reality, we have to take responsibility to follow God in every season of our lives no matter what may come. We do not know the big picture. All we know is what we see before us right now. We do not know what tomorrow holds nor can we change the past. All we can do is live in the now and live according to what God’s word directs us to do. Later in chapter 3, Solomon says:

Ecclesiastes 3:12–13 ESV

12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.

We should live joyfully knowing that God is the one that has all things in his hands. The moment will pass. Our faithfulness in the highs and lows of life are what bring us closer to him. Our consistency in our relationship with him is how we grow in our sanctification.

In Mark 8:34-35, Jesus calls on his disciples to take up their cross and follow him. We have to lose our lives to save our lives. In other words, we have to live for today and make the best of the present. We must live in obedience to his call and follow him even if it may cost us everything.

As we live in the kingdom of God and push the boundaries of that kingdom in the name of Christ, there will be times when it is going to be difficult to truly follow Christ. There will be times when it seems like the suffering is too much, and the witness is too hard. But our lives are not our own. They are his. Last week when we talked about baptism, we were reminded that the basis of our identity is found in Christ. This does not mean that we are no longer an individual. It means that our identity begins and ends not with self but with Christ and our self through Christ. We have to take responsibility for our lives. But that responsibility must grounded in Christ, first and foremost.

That is when joy can come to us even in suffering and we can live out precisely what Solomon says in verses 12-13: There is nothing better for us than to be joyful and to do good as long as we live; also that we should eat and drink and take pleasure in all our toil because it is God’s gift to us. This kind of joy does not happen unless we get to the stage in our spiritual lives that we are mature and going on toward perfection. God brings us to this point through the power of the Spirit. Then we can look on our lives past, present, and future and know that God has his hand upon it all.

Closing

We are all at different places in our lives. None of us are where we should be. And most of us are probably further along than we realize. But in the end, we must realize that all of us and the universe itself is God’s. God has a plan that we cannot fathom with our finite minds. There is an end that God has already decreed from the beginning of time. We are all part of that plan. We have the opportunity to join with him in the good and the bad that comes knowing that whatever happens, God will be glorified in and through it. All things have a purpose and meaning. We do not and cannot understand it all. All we can really do is trust God and obey him and live joyfully in all things knowing that he is indeed with us.

Sacrament of Holy Communion

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or you had formed the earth, from everlasting to everlasting, you alone are God.

You created light out of darkness and brought forth life on the earth. You formed us in your image and breathed into the breath of life. When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast. You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign god, and spoke to us through your prophets.

And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ, in whom you have revealed yourself, our light and our salvation.

In his baptism and in table fellowship, he took him place with sinners. Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to your Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the supper was over he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father, now and forever.

Amen.

And now, with the confidence of the children of God, let us pray:

Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.

Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for all partake of the one loaf. The bread which we break is a sharing in the body of Christ.

The cup over which we give thanks is a sharing in the blood of Christ.

Let us pray:

Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us. Grant that we may go into all the world in the strength of your Spirit, to give ourselves for others, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Closing Song

“Be Thou My Vision”

Benediction

Go into God’s world, aware of God’s call in your life. Follow our Lord Jesus Christ who will lead you in paths of service and hope. Lean on the power of the Holy Spirit to give you courage and strength. May peace, joy and love flow through you to others, in God’s name. Amen.