A Time for Everything (Part One)

Introduction. (Eccl. 3:1-8). Note: (vs. 1) “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” The wise man here in this passage makes some very simple and yet profound statements. Although written to those under a different covenant, he Holy Spirit has given us here some timeless truths that address our condition in this age under the reign of Christ. This morning and next week let’s think about the truths declared in this passage from a perspective the gospel of Jesus Christ enables us to have.

Note: This passage is an assortment of pairs of contrasts connected together (love/hate, war/peace, etc.) I have broken them down into six categories to better examine them.

I. Beginnings and Endings.

A.    A time to be born, and a time to die (vs. 2).

1.      Birth. Man doesn’t know how to define death. Is it when the heart stops? When there us no brain activity?

a. Man also doesn’t seem to know how to define life. Is it...

i.        When a child comes out of the womb?

ii. When conception takes place? (Bible definition).

b.      The world has great difficulty accepting as real that which it cannot see. It tries to say “A child conceived is not yet real”.

i.        To the world birth is just the physical process.

ii.      To the world death is just when the body stops working.

c. Bible definition of physical death. James 2:26 defines death as the separation of the body and the spirit. That suggests something however—there is physical life and spiritual life.

i.        There is physical birth and spiritual birth.

ii. There is physical death and spiritual death.

d.      Without spiritual rebirth one cannot be saved (John 3:3-5). Note: “born of water and of the Spirit”. How does this take place? In obedience to the gospel.

2.      Death. To understand spiritual rebirth we must understand spiritual death.

a. Upon physical birth we are spiritually alive.

i.        Matthew 19:14 says of little children that the kingdom of heaven is made of such.

b.      Sin causes spiritual death.

i.        Ephesians 2:5 and Colossians 2:13 both makes reference to those who are “dead in sins.”. This is spiritual separation from God.

c. Those who die in sin will face the “Second Death.”

i.        Revelation 20:14 describes eternal punishment, hell, the lake of fire as “the second death.”.

d.      Those spiritually reborn die to sin and will receive eternal life (Col. 2:10-13).

i. In order to be spiritually reborn one must die to his or her old life.

ii. The one in sin is spiritually dead though they live.

iii. The one who is buried with Christ in baptism is spiritually raised with Him.

B.     A time to plant , and a time to pluck what is planted (vs. 2).

1.      Planting. The Apostle Paul looked at his work in preaching the gospel as planting.

a. He said of the work in Corinth “I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6).

b.      Jesus in Luke 8:11 refers to God’s word as the seed which is to be sown in the human heart. We must be about the business of looking for opportunities and chances to plant God’s word in the hearts of those around us.

2.      Uprooting. A gospel preacher during the restoration movement named Raccoon John Smith was once asked why, if the gospel is so simple so much time and effort must be devoted to refuting false doctrine? He responded that it was just like planting a garden. First you must pull out the weeds, then you can plant the and enjoy the pure fruit of the garden.

a. We live in a world flooded with religious error. We must educate ourselves to be able to uproot this error, if we hope to be able to offer people the truth.

i. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them” (Eph. 5:11).

ii. This is not being negative people, it is being a people who love the truth.

b.      There is another sense in which there is a time for “uprooting”—when sin invades our life personally, or the church collectively, it can not be overlooked, tolerated, or accepted. Sin must be rejected, repented of, corrected, and not allowed to grow (1 Cor. 5:7-8).

 

II. Destruction and Reconstruction. There are three pairs of contrasts that deal with ideas of destruction & reconstruction (or starting anew).

A.    A time to kill, and a time to heal (vs. 3).

1.      Killing. From the very beginning God has forbidden murder, and yet with this command there is also the prescription to punish those who commit murder.

a. Patriarchal age. Genesis 9:6 Ð “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed...”

b.      Christian age. In the Christian age also, capital punishment is a legitimate duty of the civil authority.

i.        Paul teaches that civil authority is “...God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil be afraid ; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil” (Rom. 13:4).

ii. Under the Old Law the “avenger of blood” was one who was lawful allowed to take the life of one who had taken the life of one related to him (cf. Deut. 19:12).

2.      Healing. When Jesus came, His message was confirmed by the miracles He performed.

                                                 a.      Acts 2:22 claims that this was one way that the Jews could know of Jesus approval by God.

i. When He returned to heaven the message His followers spread was confirmed by miracles as well.

ii. Mark 16:20 - “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”

b. While God still answers prayer providentially (James 5:15), in one sense the “time of healing” has passed.

i.        First Corinthians 12 defines one gift of the Spirit as “the working of miracles.”

ii. First Corinthians 13 then speaks of the time when spiritual gifts would cease. We now live in this time.

c. There is another sense in which we could understand that there remains “a time to heal.”

i.        If sin has destroyed and sickened our life, we need to experience a “time to heal.”

ii. If we have damaged and broken relationships within family, with brethren, or with those with whom we have not done all we can to reconcile, it is “time to heal.”

iii. If our relationship with God is not what it ought to be, we can’t wait another minute—it is “time to heal” through repentance and restoration (Heb. 12:12-15).

B.     A time to break down, and a time to build up (vs. 3).

1.      Breaking down. The gospel breaks down the arrogant false strongholds of the worldly (2 Cor. 10:3-6). We must spiritually assault them with a relentless persistence and confidence that we will win in the end!

2.      Building Up. Clearing away the old unstable foundations of denominationalism allow us to have a strong stable foundation upon which to build. “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11).

i. Our responsibility to one another is to build each other up. First Thessalonians 5:11 teaches us to “edify one another.”

ii. The word “edify” is the Greek word oikodomeo, which means literally “to be a house-builder” (Strong’s 3618).

iii. This involves encouragement in times of hardship, and teaching each other the truths of God. In this sense, we should see that it is always the time to “build up” our brethren.

C.    A time to tear, and a time to sew (vs. 7).

1.      Tearing. The word for “tear” is qara‘. “Most frequently it refers to an act of heartfelt and grievous affliction (tearing one’s upper and under garment in front of the breast baring the sorrow of the heart; (cf.... Leviticus 10:6). This occurred at the first news of a death (Gen. 37:29) or other tragedy (Num. 14:6; Josh. 7:6)” (Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, 2: 816).

a. For those who please God there is a time when it is appropriate for us to feel bad. i. Guilt over sin is the God given warning sign that things are not right (Joel 2:12-14).

b.      Rather than hiding sin, allowing our heart to be “torn” and cut allows us to fix what is broken, heal what is sick, and restore what is shattered.

2.      Sewing. In the New Testament the book of Acts tells us about a woman named Dorcas who was raised to life. She was known even after her death by the things she had made.

a. It is usually assumed that she made things and gave them to the people (although this isn’t actually revealed in the text). What is clear is that she was a productive worker and servant to those around her (Acts 9:36-41).

b.      Christians must be this way, serving each other, serving our families, and serving our employers.

i.        Colossians 3:23 teaches us that - “...whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.”

Conclusion. Next week we will look at four other categories of contrasts expressed in this text: Sorrow and Joy; Possession and Surrender; Action and Restraint; and finally Conflict and Harmony.