Time and Justice (Ecclesiastes 3:1-22)

• occasionally, you come across a person who has some spiritual interest
• my antenna goes up and I pick this up pretty quickly, because I’m a pastor
• I sometimes sit down with a person on an airplane or in a restaurant or in a social setting, and inevitably the question comes around: “What do you do for a living?”
• when I tell them I’m a pastor, I find out very soon whether there’s any spiritual openness on their part or not
• usually, if someone is spiritually open, there’s a longing for something more
• they have probably enjoyed life, but they realize that there is a longing in their soul for something more
• they have identified a hunger that is probably weak but growing
• we’re lucky because today we’re going to partake of a spiritual appetizer
• I believe that if there is anyone here this morning who is spiritually hungry, that this appetizer will whet your appetite even more
• it won’t be the main course, but instead it will be like the aroma of a feast wafting from the kitchen
• it won’t fill you up, but it will prepare you for more
• you’ll remember that we’ve been studying the book of Ecclesiastes
• the author (possibly King Solomon) is on a quest to find meaning in life
• in other words, there is a spiritual openness there
• Solomon has tried many things, and he has found them all unsatisfactory
• but if you read between the lines at the end of Ecclesiastes 2, there’s a bit of spiritual openness present
• God begins to enter the picture of his life, and he says, “Maybe life is worth living after all”
• this morning we’re going to pick up in Ecclesiastes 3
• Solomon continues his look at life, and make no mistake about it: he is on a spiritual quest
• this morning, in the time that we have, Solomon is going to direct our attention to two aspects of life: time and justice
• Solomon, the spiritual seeker, is going to explore these areas to see what satisfaction they bring to the soul
• the implication is clear: if these two areas satisfy the soul, we don’t really need God
• however, if these two areas are unsatisfactory, we have to look elsewhere
• now this morning you might be very cynical about God
• but you’re probably here because you have some sort of spiritual hunger
• or maybe you’re not cynical about God – you’ve given your life to him and trusted Christ as Savior
• but you still want more of God
• I’m going to invite you to open your hearts this morning to examine these two areas: time and justice
• to discover whether they satisfy your soul, or if you want more
• let’s pray
• Dear Father:
• Thank you for bringing each one here
• I believe we are here by divine appointment, studying the words of a man who is long dead
• yet as he examined life back then, we realize that not much has changed
• people are still looking for something
• they’re still on a spiritual quest
• as we read Solomon’s journal, open our hearts I pray
• if there is anyone here who has not yet found what they are looking for, I pray they would find it today
• if there are any of your children who are looking for satisfaction where they shouldn’t, I pray that you would draw them back to you this morning
• we pray in Christ’s name, Amen.
• [TIME]
• if you went to my bank this morning, you would find that I owe some money
• basically what I have done is pre-spent some of my income
• I have spent yesterday what I have not yet earned
• it was fun when I spent it, but it’s not so much fun now
• but there is something which cannot be saved up or pre-spent
• it’s far more valuable than money
• every morning you are given 86,400 new units
• every week you are given 6,000 new ones
• every year you are given 315,000 fresh ones
• and once they’re gone, they’re gone
• you can’t save them, and you can’t pre-spend them
• no-one has more than you do; no one has less than you do
• what is this commodity? it’s time
• just in case you weren’t aware, time is the new most valuable commodity
• it has replaced money as the number one need, because you can always make more money, but you can’t make more time
• and Solomon points our attention to time in Ecclesiastes 3 to find out whether or not there is something in time that can satisfy
• is there something about time that can give some order to this world?
• at first it appears hopeful
• (Ecclesiastes 3:1) There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
• and then Solomon begins to list fourteen pairs of items that fill our time
• let’s read them
• after we read them, I want to ask you how they make you feel
• (Ecclesiastes 3:2) a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
• (Ecclesiastes 3:3) a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
• (Ecclesiastes 3:4) a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
• (Ecclesiastes 3:5) a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
• (Ecclesiastes 3:6) a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
• (Ecclesiastes 3:7) a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
• (Ecclesiastes 3:8) a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
• Solomon says, in effect, “These are the things that take up our time”
• now how do you feel?
• is this encouraging or not?
• you see, many mistakenly view this as a formula for life, but if you look more closely, you’ll find that it’s more of a description than a prescription
• and you’ll find that it’s not all positive
• if you look closely you’ll see that Solomon is showing us that we are subject to times and changes over which we have little or not control
• and this can’t be a good thing, can it?
• sometimes I’m asked how the church is doing
• to be honest, I never know how to answer
• at any particular time I could tell you both good things and bad things that are happening
• you know what I’m realizing?
• there are seasons over which I have little control
• sometimes it is tough slugging with no results; other times God is blessing and things are happening, and I’m doing the same thing as before
• I’m not doing anything differently, but it’s a different season
• it’s probably the same in your life
• as Solomon says, you’re born
• you didn’t ask to be born
• you had no control over when you were born
• and you’re going to die
• chances are you won’t have much of a say over when you die
• Solomon continues by reminding us that there are times when we laugh
• and then times when we’re going to weep
• there are going to be times of love and times of hate
• for every good there is probably going to be a corresponding bad
• we don’t have time in our grip; time has us in its grip
• if we properly understand what Solomon has written, there’s a kind of restlessness in this poem
• J.A. Loader writes, “There is a restlessness like that of a weaver’s shuttle in it, a persistent uncertainty in the back-and-forth movement of its ideas. It is a restless and unfathomable sea in which the human lifeboat tosses about.”
• Solomon is saying that no matter what we do, unfavorable as well as favorable circumstances come upon us
• love and hate, war and peace, life and death are all parts of the equation
• Solomon is saying, in effect, what’s the use?
• every morning God gives us 86,400 seconds
• by the end of the day, what’s left of it?
• Charles Swindoll tells of seeing a photograph with the familiar, octagon-shaped yellow sign on it that says, “Dead End”
• someone had spray-painted two more words on it, so that it read, “Dead End – What Isn’t?”
• Solomon gave us a list of opposites – fourteen positives, fourteen negatives
• in a sense, they cancel each other out and leave us on a dead-end street
• we can’t find life’s meaning here
• that’s why Solomon says in verses 9 and 10:
• (Ecclesiastes 3:9) What does the worker gain from his toil?
• (Ecclesiastes 3:10) I have seen the burden God has laid on men.
• we could very well say, what difference does it make in life?
• no matter how hard we work and no matter what we do, calamity and misfortune still come upon us
• that’s what the seeker has to say about time
• it’s as much bad as it is good
• for the person without God, this is as good as it gets
• enjoy the good times, because it’s going to get worse
• whether the bad times, because eventually it’ll get better
• is that any way to live?
• but wait
• there’s another option
• Solomon changes one thing in this equation, and it changes everything
• to this futility, Solomon adds God, and look what happens:
• (Ecclesiastes 3:11) He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
• now underline or highlight this verse: it is the key verse of this chapter
• here’s what it says
• two things
• first, God orders time
• God is sovereignly in control
• he has a time and purpose for everything
• even bad things can be made beautiful in his time
• God has a purpose in everything?
• second, we weren’t made for time – we were made for eternity
• we were made for eternity
• the things of time cannot satisfy
• we were created in the image of God with eternity in our hearts
• let me make this real to you
• if you knew that you were only going to live for x number of years and then be annihilated forever, your life would simply be a series of ups and downs until you died
• you would just try to have more ups than downs
• but if you knew that there was an eternity to be enjoyed, and that everything in life had a purpose, and that you weren’t created for time, you were created for eternity – wouldn’t that change things?
• it would for me!
• when God enters our life, we can live today in the light of eternity, and look what happens:
• (Ecclesiastes 3:12) I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.
• (Ecclesiastes 3:13) That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil – this is the gift of God.
• (Ecclesiastes 3:14) 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 men will revere him.
• understand what Solomon is saying
• he is saying that life is transitory; we are not in control; but whatever God does is forever, so live for Him and you will enjoy life
• only when we let God take our lives over does life make any sense
• as Warren Wiersbe writes, “How can life be meaningless and monotonous for you when God has made you part of His eternal plan? You are not an insignificant insect, crawling from one sad annihilation to another. If you have trusted Jesus Christ, you are a child of God being prepared for an eternal home”
• God has put eternity in our hearts, so we can live above the here and now
• let’s pause here before we continue
• you have a choice
• you can live in the present with no thought to eternity
• but then you will be living out the philosophy I read on the bumper sticker: life is hard, and then you die
• that’s option a
• but option b is this: you can live in light of eternity, knowing the good is a gift from God and the bad has a purpose
• and that eternity is in your heart
• which one will it be?
• we were made for eternity, and the things of time cannot ultimately satisfy our souls
• so stop looking to the things of time and start looking to the things of eternity
• [JUSTICE]
• Solomon invites us also to look not only at time but at justice – at what is fair and not fair
• and he concludes that life isn’t really fair
• (Ecclesiastes 3:16) And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment – wickedness was there, in the place of justice – wickedness was there.
• Solomon points out a problem
• there is injustice in this world
• life is not fair
• Solomon points out that everyday, wickedness wins out over justice
• as James Russell Lowell said, “Truth forever on the scaffold; Wrong forever on the throne”
• cynicism reigns
• but to the seeker, Solomon reminds us to look past the here and now
• Solomon reminds us that injustice only has a temporary reign
• (Ecclesiastes 3:17) I thought in my heart, “God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed.”
• there is a fundamental injustice in this life, but God will judge
• sadly, Solomon returns to a human and horizontal worldview in concluding this chapter, and he forgets God for a moment:
• (Ecclesiastes 3:18) I also thought, “As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.
• (Ecclesiastes 3:19) Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath ; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless.
• (Ecclesiastes 3:20) All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.
• (Ecclesiastes 3:21) Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
• (Ecclesiastes 3:22) So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?
• for a moment, Solomon spouts some heresy and says we’re no better than animals
• let’s wrap this chapter up for the seeker
• Solomon says you have a choice
• you can live without God, and your life will be a jumble of good and bad, and then you die
• there will be injustice in the world and you can do nothing about it
• or you can let God enter the picture
• and when he does, he makes everything beautiful in its time
• he equips you to live not just in time but in eternity
• and he brings justice to the wickedness in this world
• for the seeker, which one will it be?
• your choice
• I’m going to close in the words of J. Parker:

God holds the key of all unknown,
And I am glad;
If other hands should hold the key,
Or if He trusted it to me,
I might be sad.

I cannot read His future plans,
But this I know;
I have the smiling of His face,
And all the refuge of His grace,
While here and now.

• let’s pray
• Father, Solomon is good at presenting problems
• and he’s shown us this morning that apart from you, life is just a series of ups and downs
• it’s full of injustice, and who can tell from a human perspective if we’re any better off than animals?
• but Solomon also shows us in Ecclesiastes 3 that you have put eternity in our hearts
• that you will judge all injustice and wickedness
• Lord, this morning I know that there could be a seeker present
• I ask if there is that you would show them that without you life is just ups and downs, and then you die
• but if they trust you, you make all things beautiful in yo ur time
• you have a purpose in everything
• that injustice will finally end
• for the believer this morning, I pray that you would give them the satisfaction that Solomon writes about
• that the gift of God is that they enjoy life because they have their eternity squared away
• Lord, this is my prayer in Jesus’ name, Amen.