The Search for Meaning In Every Season
Before we get into today’s message I want to celebrate the incredible Easter celebration we had. We set a goal to have 250 people, we prayed for the Lord to help us reach that goal, and we ended up having 255 people! So let’s praise God for that!...In fact last week was the largest attended children’s ministry we’ve ever had with 43 children, but it was also the largest attended Sunday gathering we’ve ever had since we launched as a church! So let’s praise God for that!...Thanks to all our staff, elders, and volunteers for being generous with your time, talent, and treasures to serve Jesus and his church. Thanks to all our students who served with the Easter Egg hunt, our tech team, and jumped in to set up extra chairs when we reached capacity. Thanks to everyone who invited friends and family to reach more people with the good news of Jesus. It was an incredible Easter celebration, and one of the most impactful worship gatherings we’ve had as a church. But it won’t be the last, so don’t get comfortable after Easter! Instead let’s keep inviting, keep praying, keep growing the church, so we can keep reaching people and reaching the world, with the life-transforming grace of Jesus.
Now as for today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the Bible called Ecclesiastes. It’s an 8 week teaching series we’re calling The Good Life, and it’s all about finding satisfaction and purpose in everyday life. What we’re talking about specifically today is finding satisfaction and purpose in our seasons. We’re talking about finding meaning in every season of life, because life is full of seasons...The reality is life is full of seasons, and every one of us is in a season...Some of us might be in a good season, some of us might be in a tough season, but every one of us is in a season...So today we’re talking about finding meaning and beauty in every season, including the tough seasons. Let’s turn to Ecclesiastes 3 and get into it. If you open your bible to the middle and keep turning left, you’ll find Ecclesiastes. We’ll be in Ecclesiastes 3:1-14, and the title of today’s message is The Search For Meaning In Every Season. The big idea of the message is that not every season in life will feel good, but God can bring good out of every season in life...Not every season in life will feel good, but God can bring good out of every season in life...
Here’s your context. The author of Ecclesiastes is King Solomon, who’s historically one of the wisest, wealthiest, most powerful kings in history. We know he’s a man who experienced a lot of life, he made a lot of mistakes in life, and he wrote Ecclesiastes towards the end of his life so we can learn from his mistakes. As we read Ecclesiastes we need to picture him as a wise old teacher, like a wise old grandpa, who’s teaching us a few things about life. Today he’ll teach us 4 things about our seasons, but also how to find meaning and beauty in every season. Let’s check it.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 states, “There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven.” In the original manuscripts the Hebrew word for an occasion, can also be translated as an appointed time or appointed season. Solomon’s saying everything you experience in life is an occasion, an appointed time, an appointed season. So the 1st thing we’re learning is…
#1 Our seasons have a beginning and end date. – Our seasons in life have a beginning and end date. It’s what makes a season, a season! It’s that they don’t last forever! They’re an occasion, an appointed time, an appointed season, with a beginning and end date. Solomon’s saying just like winter, spring, summer, and fall don’t last forever, neither do our seasons in life. So how’s the season of life you’re in right now?...How’s your season?...Is it a good season or a tough season, an easy season or a hard season?...How’s your season?...Some seasons last longer than others, but every season including our tough seasons, has a beginning and end date.
Again vs. 1, “There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven. 2 a time to be bornand a time to die...” Notice he says there’s a time to be born, and a time to die, meaning just like our seasons have a beginning and end date, so do our lives. On everybody’s tombstone there’s always a beginning date and an end date, a birth date and an expiration date. But there’s also a little dash that separates those two dates. It’s a little dash that’s supposed to represent your entire life, and the different seasons you experience in life. Solomon’s about to give us some examples of different seasons we experience in our little dash called life.
Again vs. 1, “There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven. 2 a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot; 3 a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build; 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; 5 a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing; 6 a time to search and a time to count as lost; a time to keep and a time to throw away; 7 a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak; 8 a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.” Solomon uses 14 contrasting events as examples of different seasons we experience in our little dash called life. So the 1st thing we learn is our seasons have a beginning and end date, but now we’re learning…
#2 Our seasons are constantly changing. – Our seasons in life are constantly changing. One day you feel happy, the next day you feel sad...One day you feel loved, the next day you feel lonely...One day you pursue your dreams, the next day you have shattered dreams...One day you’re caught up on texts and emails, the next day there’s more...One day the car’s fixed, the next day it’s broken...One day you feel in shape, the next day you eat too much and feel soft like a Twinkie... One day life is easy and trusting the Lord is easy, the next day life is hard and trusting the Lord is hard...The point is our seasons are constantly changing, and the truth is I don’t always like the seasons changing, especially if I’m in a good season. I mean I like the good seasons! I want to stay in the good seasons! So my tendency is to treat these verses like a buffet where I get to pick and choose the seasons I want. “You want to be born?” Yes please. I’ll take some of that. “You want to die?” No thanks. I’ll pass on that for now. “You want to laugh?” Sure, I like laughter. I’ll take a scoop of laughter. “You want to weep?” Nope. I’m on a no weeping diet. I’m trying to cut back on the weeping...Isn’t this what we do? Don’t we want to treat the seasons of life like a buffet?
See at a buffet you get to choose what you want, and if you notice we never go for the things we hate, we go for the things we love. I mean I’m not going for the veggies, I’m going for the sausage, bacon, and steak. I’m not getting excited over an all you can eat okra buffet. But I’ll get excited over an all you can eat BBQ buffet!...Yet this is exactly how we treat our seasons of life. We want to be able to pick and choose what seasons we want, and we get angry at God if okra ends up on our plate. We get angry at God if he allows us to go through a tough season...But what if your tough seasons are healthy and good for your life?...Even though you hate your tough seasons, what if they’re healthy and good for your life?...I mean if it were up to us all we’d ever choose is the good seasons, but it’s the tough seasons that’ll stretch us and grow us. You’ll never grow in life if you aren’t ever put in situations that require you to grow. You’ll never grow in faith if you aren’t ever put in situations that require you to have faith. Faith is like a muscle, you have to stretch it for it to grow. In fact there’s a great poem I’ve read in the past that captures this well. It’s called In The Valleys I Grow by Jane Eggleston...So even though we want to remain in the good seasons because we hate the valleys and tough seasons, we need to remember that the valleys and tough seasons are still good for us. We need to remember to trust the Lord in every valley and season we face in life, because even the valleys and tough seasons can grow us.
Vs. 9, “What does the worker gain from his struggles? 10 I’ve seen the task God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied. 11 He has made everything appropriate in its time.” The Hebrew word for appropriate can also be translated as beautiful. Solomon says God has made everything appropriate, he’s made everything beautiful in its time. The phrase he has made refers to God’s initial action setting creation in motion at the beginning of time. But it also refers to God’s continual action and plans for creation since the beginning of time. It refers to God’s sovereign hand being involved in every season, making sure everything will eventually turn out for our good and his glory at the end of time. So the 1st thing we learn is our seasons have a beginning and end date, the 2nd thing we learn is our seasons are constantly changing, but now we’re learning…
#3 Our seasons are made beautiful, in its time. – Our seasons in life are made beautiful, in its time. If you notice Solomon doesn’t say every season will feel beautiful, he says it’ll be made beautiful...He doesn’t say every season will feel beautiful, he says it’ll be made beautiful, and it’ll happen in its time. That phrase in its time implies that it won’t always happen immediately, but it will happen eventually, in its time. God will make everything beautiful not in your time, but in its time. We have numerous examples of this in the Bible. It’s examples of God using his sovereign hands to redeem ugly seasons in its time. We have the example of Joseph whose brothers threw him into a well and sold him into slavery. But that slavery eventually led him to save many people’s lives during a famine, including his brothers, and he says to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, “You planned evil against me, but God planned it for good! It was to bring about the present result, which is the survival of many people.” We have the example of Paul who was looking to assassinate Christians, but he eventually becomes a Christian and says in Romans 8:28, “We know all things work together for the good of those who love God.” We have the greatest example in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, who turned the ugly season of the cross, into a beautiful season of salvation and restoration for us. We have numerous examples in the Bible of God using his sovereign hands to redeem ugly seasons in its time. Solomon doesn’t say every season will feel beautiful, he says it’ll be made beautiful, in its time. His point is only God has the sovereign power to control our seasons and redeem our seasons in ways that can eventually bring good and beauty out of every season. It won’t always happen immediately, but it will happen eventually, in its time.
Again vs. 11, “He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.” Solomon says God put eternity in the hearts of humanity, meaning he put an eternal craving in our hearts for joy that nothing can ever satisfy. Well why would he do that? It’s so we’ll realize that eternal craving can only be satisfied by our eternal God. In the words of St. Augustine, “You made us for yourself O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you!” But Solomon also points out our need for God’s infinite wisdom. He says we’ll never fully understand everything happening in our seasons from beginning to end. We can’t see the entire plan for our lives with our limited wisdom, but God can see the entire plan for our lives with his infinite wisdom. We don’t have the power to control the details of that plan, but God has the power to control every detail in that plan to make everything beautiful in its time. Solomon’s exposing our limited wisdom and power so we’ll trust in God’s infinite wisdom and power. Both the eternal craving in our hearts and the tough seasons in our lives expose our desperate need for God to satisfy and sustain us. So what we’re learning is…
#4 We need to trust God in every season. – We need to trust God in every season, but especially in our tough seasons, since we don’t know what happening from beginning to end. But we sometimes struggle with this don’t we? I mean we love the thought of God making everything beautiful in its time. But we struggle with not being in control of the plan, and with having to wait for the beautiful part of the plan. But it’s the tough seasons and the waiting that reminds us of our limitations. It reminds us that we aren’t as in control of our lives as we think, so we need to rely on God’s infinite wisdom and sovereign power for our lives. C.S. Lewis said something similar in his book “The Problem of Pain.” C.S. Lewis states, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It’s his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” He’s saying it’s the tough seasons, it’s the valleys that often wake us up to the reality that we need God. Both Solomon and Lewis are saying it’s the tough seasons, it’s the valleys that expose our limitations, and our desperate need for God’s infinite wisdom and sovereign power. We need to trust God’s infinite wisdom in every season, because he always knows what’s best for our life, he’ll always do what’s best for our life, even when we don’t understand what he’s doing from the beginning to the end of our life. We need to trust the process just as much as we trust the plan...We need to trust God in the process just as much as we trust God in the plan, because the process is a part of the plan...Sometimes the seasons that feel like death to us now, become the very seeds God uses to produce greater fruit in us later. So when you’re in a tough season remind yourself to trust God in the process just as much as you trust God in the plan. Remind yourself that God hasn’t abandoned you, instead he has a greater plan for you. Remind yourself to trust God, in every season.
Vs. 12, “I know there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life.” There’s where we get our series name. It’s called The Good Life. He’s saying the only way to enjoy the good life, is to walk through daily life and every season of life with God. That includes even the toughest seasons, so you can see God bring good and beauty out of the tough seasons too. The only way to enjoy the good life, is to walk through daily life and every season of life with God.
Again vs. 12, “I know there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life. 13 It’s also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts. 14 I know that everything God does will last forever; there’s no adding to it or taking from it. God works so people will be in awe of him.” When Solomon says everything God does will last forever, he’s saying we’ll never find lasting meaning or joy in our seasons without God. It’s because if God doesn’t exist, if eternity doesn’t exist, then there’s no reason for our existence, and there’s no lasting meaning or joy for anything we’re doing in life. But if God exists, if eternity exists, then there’s a reason for our existence, and we can find lasting meaning and joy in life with God. Solomon says if we can trust God has a good and beautiful plan for our lives, then we’ll eventually see all the work God’s done in redeeming even our toughest seasons, and we’ll be in awe of him.
The big idea of the message is that not every season in life will feel good, but God can bring good out of every season in life...Not every season in life will feel good, but God can bring good out of every season in life...Like I said in the beginning life is full of seasons, and every one of us is in a season...So how’s your season?...How’s the season of life you’re in right now?... Solomon’s reminding us that God can bring good and beauty out of every season in its time, and nothing proves this more than the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus is our incarnate God who died on the cross for our sins, so we can enjoy eternal friendship with him. He loves you and wants to walk through every season of life with you, including the season you’re in now. His death on the cross proves he loves you and has good plans for you.
But his resurrection is the exclamation point on those good plans, because it proves he has the power to turn the ugly season of the cross into a beautiful season of salvation and restoration for us. If he has the power to do that with the ugly season of the cross, then he has the power to do that with any ugly season in your life. He loves you, he has good plans for you, and in his infinite wisdom and sovereign power he's making every season beautiful in its time. The reason you can’t see it yet, is because he’s still mixing the colors and painting the masterpiece of your life. He’s still painting, he’s still writing your story. He’s writing a good and beautiful story for anyone who trusts him as the author of their life. Not every season in life will feel good, but he can bring good out of every season in life. So trust Jesus in every season, including the season you’re in now...