Eternity in Our Hearts

0:54A guy named Pete Seeger wrote it. And really, he didn't even write it because 99% of the lyrics come from Ecclesiastes 3, 1 through 8. Do you think Solomon's descendants sued for royalties? Today, as we walk through our series in Ecclesiastes, we're technically covering chapters 3 and 4, but as I got into all of the research for it this week, I realized that was an impossible task. So I encourage you to study the rest of chapter 3 and 4 this week and in the weeks to come. And we're going to spend our time in Ecclesiastes 3:1 through 15 this morning.

1:35And as we saw last week, Solomon is completely honest about the joys and trials of living in this world. If you've lived long enough, then you've walked through good seasons and bad seasons, highs and lows. You've seen the beautiful side of life and the ugly side of life. You've been encouraged and discouraged, sometimes within the same hour. All the good things in life make us wish that they would never end. And the best moments in life end with that twinge of disappointment that they're over.

2:17And the bad things in life, we don't want to go through those, and we don't want anybody else to go through them either. What we want, friends, is peace. Peace on earth. That's what we sing about at this time of the year. We want peace on earth and goodwill toward men. And the kind of peace that we want isn't merely the absence of conflict. We want peace as the ancient Jewish people understood it. They had this word for peace, shalom.

2:51And that word referred to a holistic kind of peace. It meant peace that was physical and mental and emotional. And spiritual. It was prosperity in every sense of the word. But of course, we don't find that on earth, do we? We long for peace on earth, and so what that does is it leaves us asking the question: where can we find peace on earth? Where can we find peace of any kind? And what we'll see today in the first half of chapter three is that our desire for peace on earth reveals that God has written eternity in our hearts.

3:37Let's take a look at these first eight verses that Pastor Bill read a moment ago. They start off with this thesis statement: for everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. And Solomon follows up this thesis statement with 14 examples that are meant to prove that statement: that there is a time for everything and there's a season for everything in life. And so he begins by saying there is a time to be born and a time to die.

4:10Unfortunately, death is a part of life. It is unnatural. It's not the way that things are supposed to be. But because of our sin and rebellion against God, death is a part of life. One nearly unbelievable fact about me is that although I Have been in pastoral ministry for 15 years and I have helped to shepherd this church for 12 years. I have never conducted a single funeral service. I know many colleagues in ministry that performed a funeral their first week on the job. Many of my colleagues in ministry perform a funeral nearly every single month. But it just so happens that for me and for our church, it has largely been a time to be born. I have been to the hospital hundreds of times to encourage families who have had a new baby or to pray with someone when they're sick or having surgery and recovering, but I've never performed a funeral service.

5:15It has largely been a time to be born, but even in these past few weeks, several beloved church members, for them, it has been a time to die. They have buried parents and grandparents just in the past couple of weeks here at New Life. And that's a reminder to us that, as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 15, the last enemy to be defeated is death. Even when we think of death, when we come face to face with death, we are reminded that death is an enemy, that it's not the way that things are supposed to be, because the separation of the body and the soul is unnatural.

5:56But thanks be to God, because at Christmastime, We remember that there also came a time for Jesus to be born, and that later in his life, there came a time for him to die on the cross, so that through faith in his life and death and resurrection, we could be born again to a new life that can never be taken away from us. There is a time to be born and a time to die. Look at verse 2 again.

6:27He says, There's a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted. Go down to verse 5. He says, There is a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. Now, because we don't live in an agricultural society unless you're really into gardening, this probably doesn't pack a whole lot of punch for you. But what Solomon is pointing out here is that God has ordained certain seasons for planting and other seasons for harvesting, certain seasons for removing stones from a field that is to be cultivated, and other times that you gather stones together to build a wall or a well or something else that's useful.

7:11And what he's saying is that if you try to go against these natural rhythms in life, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Because crops and flowers that are planted at the wrong time of the year or that are planted in uncultivated fields, they simply will not grow. For us, we have to remember that certain seasons of life are for planting, and other seasons of life are for harvesting. And farmers and those who live in agricultural societies, they understand that intuitively, but a lot of us don't.

7:47And so, figuratively speaking, we walk outside and we get frustrated because we're not producing anything. And it might be because we are in a season for planting and not a season for harvesting. And we need to embrace those seasons from God. We have to embrace those seasons of family life when you're sowing the seeds of discipline and instruction in your children. We have to embrace those seasons of life in our careers where we are the low person on the totem pole, so to speak, and are laboring away at jobs that we think are not as meaningful.

8:30We have to embrace those seasons spiritually where we feel like we're reading the word and we're praying and we're participating in the life of the church, and yet we're not harvesting a whole lot of spiritual growth. At least, not that we can perceive. You see, you can embrace those seasons if you embrace what Solomon is teaching here: that according to God's wisdom, there are times for planting and there are times for harvesting, there are times for sowing and times for reaping.

9:01And see, believing that truth guards us against bitterness towards the things that God is doing in our lives. Take a look at verse 3. He says, There is a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up. Go all the way down to verse 8. He says, There's a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. Just the other day, we were driving in the car, and my kids were asking about World War II and why we got into that conflict.

9:45And the kids were asking some really good, really tough questions about things like our decision to drop the atomic bombs, our decision for the firebombing of Dresden. And part of that answer is easy enough, isn't it? We were attacked, and Japan and Germany declared war on us. And the likelihood was that if we didn't take the fight to them in Africa and Europe and in the Pacific, that soon enough it was going to come to us, and by that time it may have been too late.

10:23But part of the answer is harder to explain, and that's why historians and ethicists continue to debate it. This day. It was undoubtedly a time to kill, but was it a time to heal before Dresden, before Nagasaki? Was the decision to drop that second atomic bomb during a time when it should have been a time for peace? And of course, a big part of the reason that we got into World War II was that most people in the Allied nations didn't recognize that it was a time to build up after World War I.

11:08And as I was reflecting on all of these things this week, it just reminded me of our need to pray for our government officials and our military leaders as we're commanded to do in Scripture. To pray for the men and the women who are charged with making these decisions about when it's a time to kill and when it's a time to heal, when it's a time to break down and when it's a time to build up.

11:31Because I think life humbles us enough to the point that we can say it's just not always clear, even in hindsight, what time it is. And so we need to ask for God's mercy for ourselves and for those who have to make those decisions. Verse 4. Solomon says there's a time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. Look at verse 5. He says, there is a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. I think Pastor Bill was hinting at the idea that Solomon foresaw the pandemic conditions. Verse 7, he says, there is a time to tear and a time to sow, a time to keep silence and a time to speak.

12:29I think all these things can be paired together because you look at that time to tear and a time to sow, and you're like, what's going on there? But you have to remember that tearing one's clothes or rending one's garments was a visible sign of mourning, of lamentation. And so Solomon is saying, there's a time to do that, and then there's a time to sew it back up and to move on with life, so to speak.

12:53So crying and mourning, laughter, and dancing are all appropriate in certain seasons of life, and they are inappropriate in other seasons. So consider what James says in chapter 4. Take a look at this. He tells his readers, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

13:31What James is saying is that it was inappropriate for his readers to be going around laughing and joyful when they were sinning by being double-minded. They were professing to serve God, but they were acting in worldly ways. Instead, they were to draw near to the Lord. And I want you to see just in that text how important the order of everything is here. He doesn't say, cleanse your hands, purify your hearts, then draw near to the Lord. Did you notice that? He says, draw near to the Lord, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands and purify your hearts. So many of us struggle with that order because we feel like, both before and after we come to Christ, we have to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts before we can come. But God is saying, come, and I will enable you through my grace to cleanse your hands and to purify your hearts.

14:28See, because of their sin, laughter and joy were inappropriate in that season. Mourning and weeping were appropriate. But contrast that with what we find in Nehemiah 8. The context in that chapter is that Ezra and Nehemiah have just read the law of God to the people, and the people break down weeping because they're so convicted of their sin. Look at what Nehemiah 8:10 says. Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink sweet wine, and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready. For this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

15:17Nehemiah is saying, guys, it's inappropriate to mourn and lament and grieve during this season. Our sin, which breaks our fellowship with God and others, is grievous. But friends, we don't grieve as those who are without hope. That's Paul's message to the Thessalonians. We don't grieve as those without hope. Why? Because the joy of the Lord is our strength. Jesus did everything necessary to redeem us from sin and its consequences in his life and death and resurrection. So the time for mourning and lamentation, it must give way to the time for rejoicing and dancing.

15:59And I believe that these verses, especially what we find in verse 7, are so instructive for us as we mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice. Because sometimes our brothers and sisters need us to laugh and dance with them, and other times they need us to mourn and weep with them. And a lot of times, when it's time for laughter and dancing, we don't need a lot of wisdom and discernment for that. Nobody's ever going to... Gotten upset by the way that you laughed and danced with them, probably.

16:37But weeping and mourning with other people, that requires a special degree of discernment. It requires wisdom from the Holy Spirit. Because take a look again at verse 7. What does Solomon say? There is a time to keep silence and a time to speak. If Ecclesiastes teaches us nothing else, it teaches us that there is no one size fits all solution to living in this fallen world. I was doing some house cleaning the other day, and I pulled out this box of latex gloves, so you can imagine what I was doing. Maybe you can. I was cleaning the toilets just so it doesn't get weird. And I noticed on the top of the box, it says, one size fits most. I mean, when we were growing up, it said one size fits all. But of course, that could never be true. That's a great subtitle for Ecclesiastes, isn't it? One size fits most.

17:40There's a time to keep silence and a time to speak. And friends, when our brothers and sisters are mourning, sometimes the best thing that we can do is to recognize that it's a time to keep silence. So look at what Job's friends did. Chapter 2, this is early in the book. Take a look. And when they saw Job from the Distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept. And they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

18:24Everything they did after this was a disaster. And do you know why it was a disaster? Because they started talking. And they didn't just start talking, they started trying to offer explanations for why Job was suffering. You see, what Job needed was what they offered him at first. He needed friends to mourn and to cry with. He needed friends just to be present with him. He needed, at most, friends to pray with him. What he didn't need was anybody trying to explain the unexplainable, trying to pretend to comprehend the incomprehensible.

19:16There is a time to keep silence and a time to speak, especially when others are mourning. So let's ask God for wisdom and grace to know the difference. Finally, let's take a look at verse 6. Second half, he says, there is a time to keep, a time to seek, and a time to lose, a time to keep, and a time to cast away. I realize that not many of you are golfers, but I love golf, and I hope you appreciate the restraint I show every Sunday in not mentioning it in every sermon.

20:01Golf has lots of rules, and one of the rules, yes, this is actually a thing, is called the lost ball rule. The lost ball rule states that if you hit an errant shot and you don't know where your ball went, you have exactly three minutes to find that ball. Now, you might say, what a strange thing to codify into a set of rules. But really, friends, it comes back to scripture. This is all about the love of neighbor. Your buddies did not come out there to watch you play hide and seek with your golf ball all day. The people behind you did not pay good money to watch you play hide and go seek with your golf ball all day. So if you hit an errant shot into some trees, and at this time of the year, when there's leaves all over the ground, it can be really hard to find that thing. You got three minutes and then the time's up. You got to declare it a lost ball, you take your penalty, and you move on.

21:01Now, I think in life, that same principle applies. And I want you to think about how that applies to relationships in particular. We've all been in a relationship, whether that's a friendship, a mentoring relationship, a dating relationship, a professional relationship, where that other person is going astray in some way. And you value that person in that relationship, and so what do you do? You seek them out. You send an email, you make the call, you ask them to go to coffee to sit down and talk, and you do that over and over again for some time. You keep having those hard conversations.

21:51But there comes a point in certain relationships where you kind of reach this threshold where they're just not responding anymore. They quit replying to your texts or your emails or your phone calls, or maybe they continue to sit down with you or talk with you, but their behavior doesn't change in any way. Jesus would say, you can't cast your pearls before swine. Your three minutes is up. It's time to declare that a lost ball and move on.

22:29Now, I'm Saying that you quit praying for that person, I'm not saying that you give up hope on that person. If God could save us in our lostness and sin, then he can save anyone, he can bring anybody out of any place that they are in their lives. It's just to say that there are certain seasons in life for seeking and certain seasons in life for declaring things to be lost, at least for the time being.

22:55There's a season for all things. And when we have people in our lives who are responding to our friendship, who are responding to our mentoring, to our discipleship, then, friends, we have to be good stewards of our time and our energy. And we have to invest in those relationships where we are still making a difference. So, as you can see from these first eight verses, there is a time and a season for everything. We know from God's Word and our own experience that life has its highs and lows, its joys and its sorrows. The problem is, of course, that understanding that we're going to face disappointments in life doesn't make them any easier to endure.

23:39And understanding that we'll enjoy some good things in life doesn't make it easier for us to endure when those things come to an end. What we want and what we long for is that peace that we talked about at the beginning of the sermon. We want that shalom, that all-incompassing. Peace for us and for other people in our lives. We want there to be holistic healing. We want there to be prosperity in every sense of that word for us and for others. So, again, we return to our initial question: where can we find peace like that?

24:21Let's pick up here in verse 9, and Solomon will show us. He writes, What gain has the worker from all his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 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. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. Also, that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. This is God's gift to man. I perceive that whatever God does endures forever. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is already has been. That which is to be already has been, and God seeks what has been. Been driven away.

25:33I want to draw your attention in this section to verse 11. Solomon makes this statement: he has made everything beautiful in its time. That statement is a succinct way, almost a summary of what we read in verses 1 through 8. That there is a season for everything, there's a time for everything, and God makes all of it beautiful in its time. So I think about Isaiah chapter 61, where the people are facing the prospect of being conquered and then exiled by Babylon, and God comes to them through the prophet Isaiah, and he says, I'm going to give you beauty for ashes. I'm going to give you the oil of gladness instead of mourning.

26:25I'm going to give you a garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. I think about Matthew 5, where Jesus has blessings for those who are poor in spirit, for those who mourn, for the meek, for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And I think about a conversation I had last week with a sister in Christ whose mother, whose believing mother, just passed away. And she said that being present at her death was the most terrible and beautiful thing she's ever experienced.

27:08There is indeed a time to be born and a time to die. But God makes everything beautiful in its time. Because we have to remember that for the Christian, for us, death is just the last enemy to be defeated. That's all that it is. Christ has already conquered death. And so even death, terrible as it is, can be beautiful because of the hope that we have in him and because of what we know is true for every believer in Christ. That there awaits an eternity with God in heaven and then on the new heavens and the new earth.

27:52In reflecting on the certainty of death, I think in particular, it brings forth this next statement in verse 11. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Look what he says. 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. God has put eternity into our hearts, hasn't he? Atheism is no one's starting point. Belief in God, or a God, or some gods and an afterlife, that's the starting point for every human being. And that's the argument that Paul is making in Romans 1. He says that God has revealed his invisible attributes through what he has made. But although we knew God, although we knew those eternal things in our hearts to be true, we exchange the truth of God for a lie and we worship and serve created things rather than the Creator who is forever praised.

29:11So when we look around our world and we see war and hate and death and mourning and weeping, or when we experience those things firsthand, what do we think? It doesn't even matter what we say our worldview is. The response comes right out of our hearts. What do we think when we see or experience those things? We think it's not supposed to be this way. It shouldn't be this way. But, friends, if you reject the existence of God, there is no room for should or ought when it comes to understanding this world.

29:56There are no grounds to say that things should or ought. To be any different than they are because the world is simply the result of chemical and biological processes, not the result of an intelligent and independent and creative mind. So, you have to find some explanation for the way things are if you're going to profess to be an atheist, if you're going to exchange the truth of God for a lie. You have to find some explanation for why things are the way that they are, and that can't include God or anything supernatural or anything mysterious. And yet, you are still haunted by what's in your heart. This is not the way that things are supposed to be.

30:48So, where do we go? Verse 11 tells us he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from beginning to end. In other words, friends, if we are to know the truth about God and ourselves and our world, it has to be revealed to us. That eternity, that longing and yearning that God has placed into our hearts, that's not enough to know who God is or about what he has done or about what we must do in response. He has placed eternity into our hearts, yet so that we can understand. What God has done from beginning to end, it has to be revealed to us. But thankfully, God has revealed it to us. Look at Hebrews 1.

31:44Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

32:32We cannot figure out what God has done from beginning to end unless He chooses to reveal it to us. But He has revealed it to us through His prophets, and then, last and most importantly, through the person and work of Jesus Christ, who was the very image of God, the Word become flesh, who dwells. Among us. And verse 14 tells us this encouraging word: that whatever God does endures forever. Jesus has achieved a salvation for us that can never be undone, it can never be taken away, so that we would fear before Him and turn to Him and receive Him for who He is: creator, Sustainer, Lord, and Christ.

33:40Friends, the book of Ecclesiastes is such a gift, both to believers and to those who don't yet believe, because it paints such a realistic picture of life in this world. Because of God's common grace, there is much good in the world. We have reasons to give thanks, and reasons to rejoice, and reasons to be happy about harvest, and healing, and laughing, and love, and peace. And at the same time, any honest person also knows that this world is very disappointing.

34:20And if you'll take the time to study the rest of chapter 3 and chapter 4, you'll see Solomon talk about oppression and injustice. He'll talk about the problems of good. Greed and loneliness. He'll talk about the problems of power, both for those who are in power and for those who put people into power with the hope that they're going to solve all of their problems. He paints a realistic picture of the world. So many people think that mankind is speeding right along, that we're not only progressing in terms of science and technology, but we're also progressing morally and spiritually. And that if we just stay optimistic, we'll eventually be able to create a utopia, or what we would maybe refer to as a heaven on earth.

35:12Our desire for utopia, for that heaven on earth, is the eternity that God has placed into our hearts. It's that longing for shalom, for that holistic peace that we all yearn for. So, if you want that kind of peace this holiday season, you have to know that Jesus Christ is going to return to bring permanent and perfect peace on earth. He's coming to wipe away every tear from every eye. There is going to be no more death or crying or mourning or pain anymore.

35:52But before Jesus returns, it is essential that you understand that he already came. He already came to bring peace to us by reconciling us to God. He is God's greatest gift to man. And what he accomplished in his life and death and resurrection, it endures forever. Look at Hebrews 10. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Friends, if you desire peace on earth, if you desire peace for yourself, then you must understand that you desire the very best thing. You want what we all want. You want what Solomon wanted and looked for and found only in God and the perfect and permanent peace that He alone offers.

36:55So remember this week as we go into the celebration of Christmas, that our desire for peace on earth reveals that God has written eternity in our hearts. Let's pray. Father, every part of your creation, including we ourselves, has eternity written on it. When we look around and we see this wonderful Complex, amazing world that you've created that sits as a tiny speck in the midst of this vast universe. When we look at ourselves and at one another and we see people who are made in your image and likeness, when we experience how we naturally understand that things should be a certain way and they should not be another way, when we have this intuitive moral sense, when we look at the things that go on in our world and they grieve us or they make us happy, we see and we realize that we were created for another world, that things aren't supposed to be this way.

38:23So, God, my prayer for us today is that we would not be a people who grow complacent, who grow used to and calloused to the brokenness and the sin in our world and in our own hearts and lives, but instead that we would be grieved and that we would long for Jesus to come and to make all things new. Father, this week we celebrate the fact that you sent your son to take on Flesh so that he could go at the right time to the cross to take all of our sin upon his shoulders to die and to rise again from the grave so that we could be reconciled to you.

39:21Thank you for your great salvation and we praise you that your works endure forever. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.