Working 9 to 5
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Working 9 to 5
Working 9 to 5
1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break 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 cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, 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 gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 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.
Do you have a balanced life? Read Ecclesiastes 3… you’ll see that God will balance it for you if you haven’t for yourself. Why does God do this?
In 14 statements, Solomon said that God is at work in our individual lives… and he seeks to accomplish His will in us. When we accept, accomodate, and assimilate God’s will into our lives, life finds meaning. He says, “God makes all things beautiful in His time.”vs.11.
But what is the point of all this… and why?
1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
We think that life and death are in our hands. In a society that has legalized abortion, has birth control at its fingertips, has murder on the news nightly, and has figured out surrogate parenthood- we can think that we are.
But Solomon tells us that God has control of life and death.. life and death are not accidents, rather they are divine appointments.
consider that God gave children to Abraham and Sarah when it seemed they were beyond that.
When Jacob returned to meet his brother Esau, he had children, wne when his brother inquired liten to the words:
5 And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”
Remember that Hannah prayed out of childlessness, and was given Samuel.
Look at Psalm 113.9
9 He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!
Remember the words of Jeremiah 1:4-5
4 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Listen for a moment to Psalm 139.13-16
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
And so you see, God has life and death at His hand.
likewise, there’s a time to plant and a time to pluck...
Being agricultural people they knew that to eat they had to cooperate with nature…There’s a principal right there…know God’s principles and cooperate with them.
a time to kill and a time to heal… this is probably not ware and self defense- rather it is the results of sickness and things like plague. Covid kills..others are survivors(healed)… God allows and knows every detail.
Casting away stones and gathering stones. You want to plant in Palestine? You have to clear stones… you want to destroy your enemies field? fill his field upo with stones.... or gather them to build houses. Stones are good or bad- depends on what you want to do with them.
Embracing and refraining form embracing. Embracing was greeting… it’s like hello and goodbye.
Tearing and mending… in grief or repentance, clothing is torn. We are to grieve, but there’s also a time to put things back together.
Love and hate. Yes, hate.
10 O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
16 There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
What is God’s purpose in all that we have to deal with.? He’s about to tell us.
YOu see, he asks this question in verse 9...
9 What gain has the worker from his toil?
Ever ask yourself, “Where did that get me?”
You see, Solomon was a people watcher of sorts. Look at the 10th verse...
10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
He’s saying, “I have observed all of this
birthing and dying,
planting and harvesting,
killing and healing,
breaking down and fixing,
weeping and laughing,
mourning and dancing
throwing stones and gathering stones
embracing and not embracing
finding and losing
keeping and throwing out
tearing and sewing
silence and speaking
loving and hating
war and peace.....
I have seen that God has brought all of this into everybody’s life… he has permitted it, not caused it....and I’ve pondered the question....
What gain has the worker from his toil?
Look at the 11th verse.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
He wants us to realize we cannot explain God away.
And the second reason God does this is so we can enjoy what we have. see vs. 12-13
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.
Why does God set eternity in our hearts?(vs.11)…
So we learn that this world should never really satisfy us. So, we have to figure out what God wants us to do, and allow Him to balance our lives with the right mix according to His will and pleasure.
Why does God set eternity in our hearts?
......
Go back to creation story.... God creates man and woman. Adam and Eve. He places them in the garden of Eden.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
The next verse is so key to understanding Solomon....
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
.......
and what happened in the garden?
man sinned.
Genesis 3. Weeds, death, dying.
birthing and dying,
planting and harvesting,
killing and healing,
breaking down and fixing,
weeping and laughing,
mourning and dancing
throwing stones and gathering stones
embracing and not embracing
finding and losing
keeping and throwing out
tearing and sewing
silence and speaking
loving and hating
war and peace.....
Why does God set eternity in our hearts?
Because he wants our hearts in eternity…with Him.
It seems that the flat tires, the flooded basements, the broken relationships, the thrown stones, the grief, they all have purpose...
birthing and dying,
planting and harvesting,
killing and healing,
breaking down and fixing,
weeping and laughing,
mourning and dancing
throwing stones and gathering stones
embracing and not embracing
finding and losing
keeping and throwing out
tearing and sewing
silence and speaking
loving and hating
war and peace.....
perhaps God gave us broken relationships so we could learn reconciliation...
flat tires get fixed.
flooded basements get dried out.
life has purpose.
Romans 8.28 says
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Bottom Line:
The Daily Grind Develops An Eternity Mind
The Daily Grind Develops An Eternity Mind
We carry too much weight.
Jesus said this is my commandment… your joy may be full.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
14 And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. 16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.