Ecclesiastes Chapters 3 and 4

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Ecclesiastes Chapters 3 and 4

• Servants Meeting
• February 6, 2010

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A Song

• Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a
  Season)
• The Byrds
• Released in 1965
• Reached 1 on American charts the week of
  December 4, 1965
• Stayed at 1 for three weeks

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Lyrics

• To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
• There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
• And a time to every purpose, under Heaven
• A time to be born, a time to die
• A time to plant, a time to reap
• A time to kill, a time to heal
• A time to laugh, a time to weep

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Ecclesiastes 3

• 1 To everything there is a season, A time for
  every purpose under heaven
• 2 A time to be born, And a time to die A time to
  plant, And a time to pluck 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 A time to embrace, And a time to
  refrain from embracing

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Ecclesiastes 3

• 6 A time to gain, And a time to lose A time to
  keep, And a time to throw 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 of
  war, And a time of peace.

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What is Wisdom

• Just right or wrong?
• Maybe, to the young and inexperienced
• Maybe, to those who are content with the
  superficial and avoid depth
• To those who really seek wisdom, there is more
• It is not just about being right
• There is the question of how
• There is the question of timing
• There is the issue of appropriateness
• To everything there is a season

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A time to give birth and a time to die

• The Preacher begins by looking at the two
  extremes of life
• Bookends of life
• Everything else takes place between these two
  bookends
• All other items mentioned are a choice

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A time to give birth and a time to die

• To us, symbolically speaking, there are times of
  birth or beginnings
• Commitment to sincerity in our walk with God
• Commitment to service
• Commitment to another person
• Rebirth
• New beginning with God through repentance
• Tears of repentance are considered a renewing of
  our baptism

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A time to give birth and a time to die

• Death
• We have no control over the time of our physical
  death
• There is a time for some things to die
• Time of hypocrisy and dual life must die
• When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I
  understood as a child, I thought as a child but
  when I became a man, I put away childish things.
  (1 Cor 1311)
• Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and
  evil speaking be put away from you, with all
  malice. (Eph 431)

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A time to plant and a time to pluck what is
planted

• King Solomon was addressing a people familiar
  with agriculture
• For us, times of fasting and spiritual renewal

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A time to tear down and a time to build up

• A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather
  stones
• A time to tear and a time to sew
• Could refer to buildings and materials
• Servants are in the business of building people
• There is a time to correct and a time to look the
  other way
• Imagine if we felt like we had to correct
  everything
• There is a time to criticize and a time to
  encourage
• Saying
• Praise in public criticize in private
• Vince Lombardi

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A time to tear down and a time to build up

• Here there is a dimension of not just what is
  right and wrong, but how and when
• Not just with our Sunday School students
• With our families
• While at work
• With our communications with one another

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A time to keep and a time to throw away

• What happened to the good habits we used to have
  long ago when we first started serving?
• Our regular prayers
• Our spiritual readings
• Our zeal and enthusiasm for the service
• We may have neglected to keep these things and
  have instead kept new, unpleasant habits
• Laziness
• Indifference
• The routine
• A feeling of entitlement

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A time to weep and a time to laugh

• Here, we have the issue again of appropriateness
• Emotions sometimes get the best of us, but we
  must learn to control them as best we can
• Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with
  those who weep. (Rom 1215)
• How unpleasant it is to attend a funeral
• How often we might be lazy about attending a
  joyous event in someones life
• Builds fellowship and unity
• With our Sunday School students

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A time to weep and a time to laugh

• With our Sunday School students
• Birthdays
• Graduations
• Accomplishments
• In their difficulties
• Weeping is something healthy, by the way
• C.S. Lewis described pain as Gods megaphone. He
  whispers to us when we laugh, but He shouts to us
  when we weep.

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A time to embrace and a time to refrain from
embracing

• We may use this verse as a guide in what to
  accept and reject from society
• Much good in western culture
• Organization
• Structure
• Punctuality
• Freedoms speech and worship
• Much to reject
• Secularism
• Loose morals
• Political correctness and relativism
• Obamas version of health care reform

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A time to be silent and a time to speak

• Do I know the difference?
• St. Arsanius I have spoken often and regretted,
  but I have never regretted my silence
• Your lips, O my spouse, Drip as the honeycomb
  Honey and milk are under your tongue (Song 411)
• But there is a time to speak
• It is true that the Lord Himself was silent while
  being examined
• He opened not His mouth nor did He defend Himself

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A time to be silent and a time to speak

• But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest
  answered and said to Him, I put You under oath
  by the living God Tell us if You are the Christ,
  the Son of God!
• Jesus said to him, It is as you said.
  Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will
  see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of
  the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.
  (Matt 2663-64)

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A time to be silent and a time to speak

• He broke His silence because it was the time to
  speak
• It was the time to witness and give honor to the
  living God
• Maybe we sometimes shy away from speaking the
  truth and witnessing to our faith
• Maybe we sometimes find it difficult to tell our
  students what is right and wrong for fear of
  their reaction or that they might not like us
  anymore
• Maybe, too, while at work, we keep silent, out of
  fear, when asked about our beliefs

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A time to be silent and a time to speak

• More than this, the question is how to speak?
• Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned
  with salt (Col 46)
• If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and
  does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own
  heart, this ones religion is useless. (James
  126)
• Nowadays, speech includes emails and texts
• Even these should be with grace and seasoned with
  salt, especially those sent to our students
• It is really an art that requires attention and
  lifelong practice in order to perfect

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A time to love and a time to hate

• Hate is such an unpleasant word
• Should we ever hate?
• But the Lord hates
• The LORD tests the righteous, But the wicked and
  the one who loves violence His soul hates. (Psa
  115)
• These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are
  an abomination to Him A proud look, A lying
  tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart
  that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in
  running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies,
  And one who sows discord among brethren. (Pro
  616-19)
• For the LORD God of Israel says That He hates
  divorce, For it covers ones garment with
  violence, says the LORD of hosts. Therefore take
  heed to your spirit, That you do not deal
  treacherously. (Mal 216)

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A time to love and a time to hate

• So our hatred should be directed toward the evil
  that we do
• But we should always love evil-doers and pity
  them
• We should love those things that lead to
  righteousness
• We should love correction and discipline
• We should love being challenged to reach new
  spiritual heights

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Also He has put eternity in their hearts

• God has given us a sense of eternity
• A sense of thinking of and imagining life beyond
  our own short lives
• It means that man desires this eternal life and
  seeks after it
• Man has a desire to understand Gods purposes and
  His economy
• So we pursue science and philosophy and theology
• We have also a hunger for God Himself
• St. Augustine Our souls will forever be
  troubled, until we find our rest in You.

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Chapter 4

• The Loneliness of Oppression
• The Rivalry of Competition
• The Emptiness of Success
• The Strength of Togetherness

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Loneliness of Oppression

• 1 Then I returned and considered all the
  oppression that is done under the sun And look!
  The tears of the oppressed, But they have no
  comforter --- On the side of their oppressors
  there is power, But they have no comforter.
• 2 Therefore I praised the dead who were already
  dead, More than the living who are still alive.
• 3 Yet, better than both is he who has never
  existed, Who has not seen the evil work that is
  done under the sun.

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Loneliness of Oppression

• It is bad enough to be oppressed, but how much
  worse is it to face it alone
• Because of the misery of oppression which the
  Preacher saw, he concludes
• Job, too, felt this way when he asked
• May the day perish on which I was born, And the
  night in which it was said, A male child is
  conceived. (Job 33)
• Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish
  when I came from the womb? (Job 311)

Those who were never born Better off than Those who have now died Better off than The living today
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The Rivalry of Competition

• 4 Again, I saw that for all toil and every
  skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor.
  This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
• 5 The fool folds his hands And consumes his own
  flesh.
• 6 Better a handful with quietness Than both hands
  full, together with toil and grasping for the
  wind.

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The Rivalry of Competition

• Man is by nature competitive.
• He desires to be the best as what he does.
• And this spirit of competition can lead to
  covetousness.
• The Preacher found that this competition is
  empty.
• There is always someone a little better.
• All this striving eventually leads to
  accomplishment that is temporary.
• There is loneliness at the top.

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The Rivalry of Competition

• What to do?
• Not compete or compete without restraint?
• He offered a proverb as a resolution

Proverb 1 Proverb 2
The fool folds his hands And consumes his own flesh. (45) Better a handful with quietness Than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind. (46)
It is foolish to drop out of a competitive endeavor It is equally foolish to be so competitive that you never enjoy rest
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The Emptiness of Success

• 7 Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the
  sun
• 8 There is one alone, without companion He has
  neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to
  all his labors, Nor is his eye satisfied with
  riches. But he never asks, " For whom do I toil
  and deprive myself of good?" This also is vanity
  and a grave misfortune.

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The Emptiness of Success

• Success being sought for ones own selfish gain
  is vanity
• A man who cannot enjoy success with others finds
  emptiness in the success

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The Strength of Togetherness

• 9 Two are better than one, Because they have a
  good reward for their labor.
• 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his
  companion. But woe to him who is alone when he
  falls, For he has no one to help him up.
• 11 Again, if two lie down together, they will
  keep warm But how can one be warm alone?
• 12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two
  can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not
  quickly broken.

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The Strength of Togetherness

• Togetherness increases the reward
• Togetherness provides help in time of trouble
• Togetherness warms both body and soul
• Togetherness holds up under attack

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Summary Chapter 3

• Wisdom is not just right and wrong
• One can be right but be unwise in the way and
  timing
• Wisdom is appropriateness
• There is a season for everything under the sun
• God has put eternity in our hearts

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Summary Chapter 4

• The Loneliness of Oppression
• The Rivalry of Competition
• The Emptiness of Success
• The Strength of Togetherness