Ecc Sermon Week 3

One Hope Kids

My name Pastor Justin, good to be with you — Welcome

Before we jump into the sermon this week.

I wanted to take a moment and talk about part of our vision as a church.

The equip the generations for a life of ministry.

In our church, one of the main elements of ‘generations’ is literally the next generations.

Those who are a part of our church who are under 10.

Because we believe in the importance of the next generation we have a One Hope Kids ministry that is

geared to share the gospel truths in age appropriate ways as we seek to come alongside of parents to disciple the next generation.

Often at One Hope, partly b/c our kids exist all the way on the other side of the gym, many of you may not even know about our kids, may not even see them much.

But there are the largest demo of unbelievers the mission field

43 Kids (16 k5, 14 Prek, 14 Nursery) ++ and more babies are coming!

We dedicated 10 babies the other week

Think about your life — how much might you have benefited from an older more mature believer loving on you and pouring into you life.

I know that could have changed things for me, and saved me from a lot of poor decisions and pain in my life.

The Kids of One Hope because they are a critical piece of our mission as a church.

To be able to effectively minister to our kids we need a minimum of 8 team members per week

serving once per month

for a total of 32

We currently have 22

I say this because all of us are the Church, kids, teenagers, adults

where one part is lacking then we are all lacking.

And so, I wanted to invite my friend Josiah up to share a bit of his heart for Kids and why he finds so much joy in this ministry.

Josiah

Tell us a little about yourself (stage of life, getting married, graduating UCF, career path, how long at One Hope etc.)

You’ve been serving on One Hope Kids for a time- tell us why you have joined One Hope Kids (share passion for kids, experiences while serving, why you love being a part of One Hope Kids, etc.)

What would you like to see moving forward in One Hope Kids? (More team members, maybe more men in particular, anything else you’d love to see etc.)

Scripture Reading

We are in week 3 of our Ecclesiastes Series

Today we’ll be in one of the most well known, but perhaps least understood passages in Ecclesiastes

We’ll be in Ecc 3:1-15

Josiah — since you are already up here would you mind reading a portion of our text today?

Thank you!

Prayer

Pray for wisdom

Intro/Welcome

How was your stress level this week? You’re level of anxiety?

2018 Poll found that Americans were among the most stressed countries in the world (143)

some 20% points above the global average

As one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world, you might expect the opposite.

we are some of the most stressed and anxious people on the face of the earth.

Anxiety disorders affect some 40 million Americans

16 million struggle with Major Depressive Disorder

Who are the most affected?

ages 15-49 — that’s you guys.

So, how has your anxiety level been? Your Stress level? Your Depression?

Anxiety and depression are often linked.

Psychologists point out that anxiety stems from one’s need for or lack of control.

When we don’t have control over something, we become anxious.

is that true for you?

Our season— A Season of Chaos — four kids.

Like drowning and some one hands you a baby

Transition

King Solomon, the writer of Ecc was acquainted with stress, anxiety and depression.

Ecclesiastes 2:22 (CSB)

22 For what does a person get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 2:23 (CSB)

23 For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

Solomon’s Life:

He ruled an expanding kingdom

Negotiated trade deals with foreign leaders

Political adversaries to fend off

Tens of thousands of servants to manage

had 700 wives

numerous children

and he did it all without google calendar.

What wisdom does Solomon have for us today?

Can he help us today?

If there is anything we think we have more control over that we actually have none it is TIME

It’s the one thing we can get more of.

Jesus says about time:

Matthew 6:27 ESV

27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Solomon directs us not so much at the passing of time, but understanding the times or seasons themselves.

A time for every occasion

He says this in Ecc 3:1

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (CSB)

1 There is an occasion (appointed time) for everything, and a time (season) for every activity (matter, pleasure, delight) under heaven:

Then as Josiah read for us he lists some of those seasons or times.

Ecclesiastes 3:2–8 (CSB)

2 a time to give birth 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 throw stones and a time to gather stones;

a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;

6 a time to search and a time to count as lost;

a time to keep and a time to throw away;

7 a time to tear and a time to sew;

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.

This is his assertion, his proposition so to speak:

For every occasion, every time, every season it has been appointed…ordained.

In light of this he brings us back to our main question for Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 3:9 (CSB)

9 What does the worker gain from his struggles?

Ecclesiastes 1:3 CSB

3 What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?

Is there any gain in this life?

In the seasons we find ourselves in?

Or are we just in an endless cycle as he talked about in Ecc 1:4-11

is it all just Hevel — meaninglessness, futility, chasing after the wind

This is the secular conclusion

Solomon’s going to tell us 4 things in the next 2 verses

that can frame how we understand the seasons we go through

and in understanding will reduce our anxiety levels.

Then he is going to draw some conclusions from that

He is going to show us that by focusing on eternity allows us to enjoy the present season we are in.

By looking into eternity we can truly enjoy the present moment.

The Season is from God

Ecclesiastes 3:10 (CSB)

10 I have seen the task that God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied.

What he says is the season is from God

more accurately the struggle is from God.

Task — Hebrew (עִנְיָן) ein-yawn

Used 8x in the Bible and only in Ecc

Root word shows up some 375 times

carries idea of ‘affliction’ or to be troubled with, to keep busy with.

Ecclesiastes 1:13 (CSB)

13 I applied my mind to examine and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task (ein-yawn) to keep them occupied.

Solomon says he has seen the struggle, experienced the struggle and it is from God

In fact we’ll spend sometime next week looking at the injustices in life.

He is saying that God is Sovereign.

there is nothing outside of his jurisdiction.

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” - Abraham Kuyper

Ecclesiastes 7:14 (CSB)

14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that no one can discover anything that will come after him.

The first thing Solomon says about the appointed times we find ourselves in is that God is over them.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

They all operate under God’s Sovereign Control

Perhaps the first remedy to overcoming anxiety is to acknowledge that we are not in Control, but God is.

But what about sin? what about evil? what about suffering?

you might say.

The next verse is extremely important.

God is Sovereign & Good

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (CSB)

11 He (God) has made everything appropriate (beautiful) in its time...

What does this mean?

It means God is in control of all things

AND he makes all things beautiful in his timing

“he makes beautiful things”

It is his power to redeem all things

to turn what was meant for evil to what was good.

We see this time and time again in God’s Word

This is the OT version of Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 (CSB)

28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

God is in the business of redeeming all things, of renewing all things

Solomon to not just trust in the Sovereignty of God — Trust in the goodness of God

Not just powerful — that will lead you to many religions

but that he is good —

This is probably what is most difficult in seasons of difficulty and suffering.

We doubt the goodness of God and the goodness of God’s purposes.

This was the original attack of the enemy in Genesis 3, to call into question the goodness of God. (not the power)

How can we know that God is good?

The Cross: God’s Example

How can we know that God is good?

he demonstrated it chiefly, supremely, completely, undeniably at the Cross

The Cross was the supreme example of God’s goodness towards his creation.

If you ever doubt God’s goodness to you, look no further than the cross.

God entered into the hevel, into the brokenness of life and experienced it first hand.

Acts 2:23–24 (CSB)

23 Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him. 24 God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death.

In Jesus God would take care of sin, misery and suffering

He absorbed it into himself on the cross

He took your sin and shame.

and he put it to death

Then he rose from death and overcome death

To offer redemption and renewal to all things.

so that our Hope would not be placed in the things of this world which are all subject to death

but our hope would be in the one who overcame death

to make all things new

We can trust God’s goodness because of the person and work of Jesus.

Jesus makes all things beautiful in the appointed time.

Story of Redemption:

Nancy Guthrie

The hope of the goodness of God means that in Heaven we will look back and marvel at how God used suffering.

How he turned it for the saving of many lives.

2 Corinthians 4:17–18 (CSB)

17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. 18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

You and I were made for heaven, for eternity

which is what he says next.

We are Eternal Beings

This is what Ecc 3:11 says.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (CSB)

11...He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.

God has put eternity’ put into our hearts

the very core of our beings — part of the imago dei

We have an eternal longing which this temporal world can never fulfill

it’s why it’s all hevel apart from God.

Example) anti-aging industry.

STATS — multi-billion dollar industry

people are living longer - medical advances

The National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA) are the official estimates in 2019, US health care spent $3.8 trillion or $11,582 per person.  

As a share of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, health spending accounted for 17.7 percent.

God has given each human being and inward sense that they were made for eternity.

This is true, every human being has this.

We try to fulfill it in many ways apart from God.

CS Lewis says it so well

Who was an atheist for many years and became a believer later in life says this in Mere Christianity:

"Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise [...] If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

- C. S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity, pp. 135-137. Published by HarperCollins.

This is why nothing in this world can satisfy us

It’s why the addict stays addicted — he is chasing the wind

chasing an experience that will never happen in this world.

Not only that we are on a quest to extend life

Solomon says that we were made for eternity — for the Eternal One.

Yet, we cannot fully know

he has put eternity into our hearts…yet

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (CSB)

11…He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.

We are never going to figure out all that he is doing

It means we not get to see the final picture

the beauty that God is weaving into our lives

That’s what Solomon is saying (the wisest man)

Paul says the same thing in 1 Cor 13:12

1 Corinthians 13:12 (ESV)

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

This again is wisdom

We are never going to figure out all that God is up to

We are never going to see all the beauty that he has done — at least not in this life.

He is over all time, all things.

and as Romans 8 says

Romans 8:24–25 (CSB)

24 Now in this hope we were saved (the hope of redemption), but hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? 25 Now if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.

We anticipate his full redemption.

What is it for you right now that you need to be reminded that God is in control of it?

Be reminded that God is weaving and working something beautiful

That our unmet desires indicate that we were made for more, for heaven.

And not only that but He is good! And he means good for you?

in His Timing

If we would follow Solomon’s wisdom in this that:

God is sovereign over all — every season

God is good.

God has made us for eternity

We will not see the whole picture this side of heaven

This focus on eternity will allow us to be present in whatever season we find ourselves in.

To be able to receive it from God, whatever season we are in and enjoy it

This is what Solomon concludes.

Enjoying the Present Season

Ecclesiastes 3:12–13 (CSB)

12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life. 13 It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts.

Life is the gift of God, every season.

There is nothing better in this life than to just actually enjoy it, in all of its ups and downs, celebrations and difficulties.

To be present in the moment

not worrying about what might happen, or what will happen, or what has happened.

But to enjoy the present moment with the presence of God

And to be able to enjoy life is from God

to eat, drink and enjoy all of his efforts, all of his toil.

This is the beauty of Trusting in God’s Power and Goodness.

My story in the Navy

I become a follower of Jesus during my first out to sea period on a nuclear powered submarine.

God brought me to the end of myself — i could not handle the pressure and responsibility on my own.

I broke down and desperately cried out to God and gave my life to Him.

The next three years i spend onboard a nuclear powered submarine were some of the most his stress, pressured and anxiety producing times in my life.

and God was using it.

I had to come to terms with I could not control if something went wrong in the reactor.

I could not control if a fishing boat would be sitting right above us as we surfaced.

But I could trust in God’s power and goodness.

He is over every neutron and electron in the reactor and over every boat in the sea.

That even if something did happen

He would be there

He would guide me to do the right thing

he was in control.

These lessons in my life were invaluable and translated to much of my everyday living.

If God could protect and deliver me there, surely he could and would in all these other areas of my life.

God’s work lasts forever

Ecclesiastes 3:14 (CSB)

14 I know that everything God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it...

What God does…lasts forever

It begins now and goes on for all eternity

Do you realize the magnitude of this statement.

Everything that is happening to you in this life is preparing you for the next.

This life is connected to the next.

This life is not all there is.

God is at work, weaving something glorious

focusing on eternity allows us to enjoy the present season we are in.

Solomon’s Final Conclusion: Worship God

Why does God do it this way?

he tells us, here and in many places.

Ecclesiastes 3:14 (CSB)

14...God works so that people will be in awe of him.

lit. that we will fear God and revere Him (Ecc 12:13)

That we will worship God in all of his goodness and power and glory.

So whatever season you are in...

Be assured that all of it has the end goal of the Worship of God in his glory and goodness!

Application

So what season are you in?

What ‘appointed times’ is God giving you right now?

Ecclesiastes 3:2–8 (CSB)

2 a time to give birth 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 throw stones and a time to gather stones;

a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;

6 a time to search and a time to count as lost;

a time to keep and a time to throw away;

7 a time to tear and a time to sew;

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.

1. Be in the season that you are in. Receive it as a gift from God.

accept the God gives good times and allow the bad

Trust in Gods sovereign control in all seasons

2. Can you move towards God’s promises — that he is GOOD and working all things for BEAUTY in HIS TIMING — NOT YOURS

True in Gods goodness in all seasons

3. Can you look at your unmet desires/expectations/disappointments s the very evidence that you were made for something more.

realize that you are made for another world

4. Can you settle in the fact that you will not be able to see it all in this life?

You need to do this with God’s People

How we grow: God’s People, Spirit and Word

Talk about this in your groups this week.

If you are not in a group, join one.

This kind of stuff cannot be worked out during a Sunday Sermon.

We need God’s people.

If we can trust in Him and these things we can live differently.

We can enjoy our present season because of our eternal one

Gospel Call

For some of you it may be the appointed time to come Jesus for the first time.

to acknowledge his power and goodness towards you in Jesus — demonstrated by the Cross

to repent of your need for control — how you’ve tried to do it yourself.

the unmet longings we have point us to Christ

to begin to experience eternal life here and now

Give him your life

The reality is we are eternal beings.

The choices we make here have eternal consequences

And we will experience eternity in one of two places.

Heaven or Hell

Heaven is the place of God’s presence, blessing, joy and glory.

A place of immeasurable riches with Him forever.

Hell is the absence of God’s goodness and loving presence.

People en dup in hell because they spend their life not choosing God and in the end they get what they choose — forever.

If you are not in the habit of choosing God in this life, what makes you think you will spend eternity with him?

The answer is to Choose God now.

And you can, right now, choose him.

Give him your life

Walk with God for the rest of your life and onto eternity for

Ecclesiastes 3:14 (CSB)

14 I know that everything God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it.

Let’s Pray

benediction

Numbers 6:24–26 CSB

24 “May the Lord bless you and protect you; 25 may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’