A Time to Love
This week in worship, we continue Part 3 of our Bible Series, “How Do I Live Wisely?” with the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Pastor Doug will be sharing about the value and importance of recognizing what time it is in your life; not in a sense of, “What time or season of my life am I in?”
Our lives have seasons and cycles that influence us. Part of maturing is becoming conscious of the seasons in your life and how to work with them rather than against them. As we begin the season of Advent and look forward to celebrating the birth of Christ, it is a time to love.
Thank you for worshiping with us.
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This first video is the sermon from the 8:30 service
This video is the whole 8:30 service.
A Time to Love
Does anybody know what time it is? When you hear that question, where do you look? Some of you look at your watch, others at your phone.
For most of human history, those options weren’t available to people.
How do you think people would have responded to that question 2,000 years ago?
They would not have answered in hours or minutes.
They wouldn’t have looked at a wristwatch.
Where would they have looked?
Perhaps at the sun or sky.
They might not have understood what you were asking or have responded with the time of year.
Days, months, and years all make sense as units of time—they match up, at least roughly, with the revolutions of Earth, the moon, and the sun which ancient people knew very well.
A passage about time in the Bible that’s familiar to some people is found in the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes, along with Job, Proverbs, and some of the Psalms is part of a type of writing in the Bible known as the Wisdom Literature.
Job is about the hope of recovering a relationship with God who seems to have withdrawn into silence precisely when needed most in the midst of great suffering and heartache.
Proverbs is about wisdom that helps us lead a healthy and fruitful life in faithfulness to God’s will. It’s practical in advising that if you want to be wise, you’ll seek wisdom, tame your tongue and your temper, avoid drunkenness and unfaithfulness, and practice honesty and integrity in all things including your finances.
Ecclesiastes is different from any other book of the Bible. Its focus is on humanity, our life on earth, and how hard it is to know God and God’s mysterious ways. Ecclesiastes reflects the perspective of a person who lacks trust in God and in the value of knowledge.
It’s remarkable that the Bible includes a skeptical book that questions the value of knowledge, right after the Book of Proverbs.
Ecclesiastes asks the question of questions: Does life have any meaning at all?
The first two chapters express the futility of searching for wisdom, (which Proverbs just spent 31 chapters telling us we should do) and the emptiness of a life of self-indulgence. “All things are wearisome, there’s nothing new under the sun, all is vanity and a chasing after the wind.”
Then Ecclesiastes 3 describes how God has created a stable universe marked by reliable patterns. The turning of the seasons and the flow of time imposes its own order on our lives. Time, not humanity, is the master. Ecclesiastes 3.1-8,
“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 throw 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 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 for war, and a time for peace.”
Time is a fascinating concept. Knowing the time is important in the world in which we live. From structuring when we’re to be at work, school, and worship, to when programming begins on television and radio, when tickets for special events go on sale, or when we’re going to meet someone; knowing the hour and the minute and even the second has become important to everyday life. In a football game, clock management can be crucial to winning or losing.
With the advent of smart phones, fewer people are wearing watches because the time is on their phone.
One of my friends was talking humorously about his new digital watch that’s dark as it sits on your arm. When you lift up your arm and start to turn your wrist it lights up and you can see the time digitally. He was laughing saying in the old days your watch was on your wrist and all you had to do was glance and you could see the time no matter what position your arm was in and now we’ve “advanced” to the point where you can wear a watch that doesn’t show you the time unless you obey its command to move your arm.
We’ve all grown accustomed to understanding time in seconds, minutes, and hours because that’s all we’ve known. Our understanding of time was influenced by the Industrial Revolution when more people moved from working on farms to working in factories. However, for most of human history, people didn’t walk around with watches on their wrists or clocks on their walls. Portable timepieces were made possible by the invention of the mainspring in the early 15th century. Most people throughout history had a different sense of time than we do.
Before our modern sense of time and before the invention of electricity, humanity’s sense of time was determined much more by the sun and the seasons of the year. This is reflected in the words of Ecclesiastes chapter three which seeks to teach you about the value and importance of recognizing what time it is in your life; not in a chronological sense of, “It’s 9:00 am.” But in the more important sense of, “What time or season of my life am I in? What season am I living in?” Our lives have seasons and cycles that influence us.
Part of maturing is becoming conscious of the seasons in your life and how to work with them rather than against them.
Historically, for people who lived in migratory fashion following herds of animals, like some Native American tribes followed the bison and elk in the American west, or for farmers involved in agriculture, the ability to recognize the season and time was vital to having enough food and for survival. If you don’t know the right “time to plant,” you won’t have anything when it’s “time to pluck up what is planted,” and you’ll starve. Anybody who’s had to sell a house and move understands there is “a time to keep, and a time to throw away.”
As you get older, there’s no way of knowing how much time you have left on earth. A key to valuing time is understanding this is true no matter your age. It’s important to value time and the season of life in which you find yourself because it is where you are, and you want to make the most of it.
Ecclesiastes 3 teaches there are seasons and times that take place that are beyond your power or influence and that you may not have as much control in life as you’d like to think.
You’re a small part of God’s creation. If you’ve ever been in a hurricane, blizzard, or an earthquake you can feel small and keenly aware of your limited sphere of control. You can’t stop the turn of the seasons or the changing of tides. If you’ve ever gone down a river in a canoe, kayak, raft, or inner tube, you know there are stretches of the river that are calm and quiet; other parts are turbulent and filled with rapids. Most of the river is an endlessly converging and mixing of currents and conditions that inevitably move you along even if you don’t exert any effort.
Going down a river there are at least three different approaches we can take. Some people are floaters, some are fighters, and some are navigators.
Floaters passively accept the river in its present condition. They go with the flow and are along for the ride. Some people will fight the river and try to exert their will on it, but eventually the river will wear you down no matter how fit you are, especially if you’re going upstream all the time.
Whether you’re more naturally a floater or a fighter, what’s important is your ability to become a navigator who recognizes you can’t control the river, but you can equip yourself to navigate the currents and seasons of your life.
Ecclesiastes identifies many contrasting times or seasons, and I believe this is a time to love. In these times in which we’re living, how can you practice making this “a time to love” when so many people need love?
So many people are hurting, lonely, lost, angry, grieving. What’s needed is more love.
In whatever season you’re in personally and as we seek to navigate turbulent waters as a nation, God does not want us to live in fear. We are people of faith, hope, and love.
Faith triumphs over fear.
Hope enables us to persevere.
Love is the greatest because it never ends and is most powerful force in the world.
It’s important to discern the season in which we find ourselves, and then to respond appropriately.
There is a time to love, and this is such a time.
Professor and author Dallas Willard said, “We don’t believe something by merely saying we believe it.” We believe something when it changes how we live our life.
That includes the command to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Each of us is a small part of God’s creation; there’s a great deal that is beyond our power and control, however we can use our influence to the best of our ability.
Knowing the season of your life, you can accept responsibility for yourself and your choices, behaviors, and attitudes. You can equip yourself and harness your resources for the season you’re in.
1 Chronicles 12:32 (New Living Translation) describes the men of Issachar this way:
“From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take.”
That’s what you want to do in your life. You want to understand the signs of the times and know the seasons of your life, so you know the best course to take.
As followers of Christ, it’s always a time to love, give, and share with others and we all can do that in our own way.
On November 8, ESPN writer Brooke Pryor shared the story of Pittsburgh Steeler rookie running back Najee Harris and what he’s done for the homeless shelter where he lived for a while when he was a child. She wrote,
“The first thing Najee Harris wanted to replace was the carpet.
It was once blue-green. But the short-looped industrial weave that covered the floors at the Greater Richmond (California) Interfaith Program (GRIP) had faded from shoe prints of more than 20 years, traces of countless families looking for a fresh start.
The shoes of Harris, his mom and his four older siblings walked over that carpet when they arrived at the Richmond shelter more than a decade ago. This was the last of several shelters the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie running back and his family stayed in during his childhood, a time when they faced multiple evictions and a stint living in a van at Golden Gate Park.
When he went back to the shelter for a visit between helping Alabama win the national championship in January and becoming the No. 24 overall pick of the NFL draft in April, Harris noticed the carpet. He made a mental note to change it when he got the chance.
A few months later, thanks to a partnership between his foundation and Lowe’s, Harris helped GRIP replace the carpet with a dark hardwood tile throughout the 12,000-square-foot, two-story building.
And he didn’t stop there.
While Harris, 23, watched through a video call from the Steelers’ facility last month, nearly 100 volunteers, including his family, descended on GRIP to start fulfilling the wish list Harris and his mother, Tianna Hicks, compiled from their experience living in the shelter and through meetings with the organization over the summer.
The additions included new appliances, a computer, a grill, a rock wall, a playground, landscaping, pavers in the parking lot and a fresh coat of light blue-gray paint that looks almost iridescent when the light catches it.”
Loving and helping others is a message his mother started instilling in Harris and his siblings during their formative years spent in temporary housing. Harris and his family worked at soup kitchens, Christmas toy drives and Special Olympics events. She said. “I’ve done a few things throughout their lives, just to show them that giving back is as important as receiving.”
Once uncomfortable sharing his experience growing up homeless, Harris is now using his platform to make an impact. Harris said, “I found out that I could help people, my story could help people — or it will make them feel like they’re not alone. If all of us help each other out somehow, then we all can try to make a change. It took me all these years to really figure that out, so I wanted to help somebody else.”
How Pittsburgh Steelers’ Najee Harris and family are helping out homeless shelter where they once lived
I smiled when I read that line, “it took me all these years to really figure that out.” Najee is only 23 three years old! I’d say he’s learned that sooner than many people. I pray we all can find ways to make this Advent season “a time to love” and we can find ways to help others when so many people need love.
Prayer: Dear God, thank you for your grace that has made me one of your dearly loved children. By your grace make knowing, loving, and obeying you my highest priority. Empower me to love others the way you love me. Wash me clean from every sin. Enable me to praise you, O Lord, with all my heart. Jesus be Lord of my life today in new ways and change me any way you want. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Make me an instrument of your grace, truth, forgiveness, love, peace, and justice. Use me today for your glory, and to invite others to follow Jesus Christ as Lord. Gracious God, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior and Leader and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Blessing 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13
“May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you.
And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”
Questions for Discussion or Reflection
- When it comes to traveling down a river would you describe yourself as a floater, a fighter, or a navigator? Would the people who know you best agree with you?
- How would you identify the current “season” of your life? What is it “a time” for (see Ecclesiastes 3.1-8). What is God calling you to do?
- Are you in a time of changing seasons? If so, what do you think you’re leaving or heading into?
- Why is it helpful to know the season and time of life in which you find yourself?
- Given the season you believe you’re in, how can you equip yourself and what resources are available to you (spiritually, relationally, physically, etc.) so that you can make the most of the time in which you find yourself?
- In a time of strife, division, and conflict, how can you practice making this “a time to love” when so many people need love?