How many remember that song? Oh, look at that. Isn't that great? I didn't figure that it would hurt that we played that in the meeting tonight, because it's all scripture, except for the last six words.
Pete Sigur stuck six words on the end and called it his song. But it's often the book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter Three. And that's where we're going tonight. And I thought that it would be kind of nice for us to have that little bit of technology thrown in, because I have nothing else to offer by way of technology.
I was talking to David when he introduced this whole idea about doing a study on Ecclesiastes and talked to me about speaking. And the last time I spoke, actually, here for a meeting, is nine to seven years ago. So it's been a long time. And we didn't have the technology on the wall.
We didn't have this kind of thing when I spoke last. And David told me that all his messages are in the cloud. I'm not even sure if I know what that means. But I know that most of my messages are in a fog.
So it's probably something similar to that. We're going to Ecclesiastes, Chapter Three, following along in this series. And Pete Sigur took credit for the words of this song in a sense. He didn't.
He offered it back and said this earlier came from the Bible. But he wrote a song, that song. And in the late 50s, 1950s, and it was recorded a couple of times by a couple of different artists. And then Pete said, you know what?
This song is really for the birds. And so the birds actually recorded that version of it. And it became the top of the chart in the United States in December of 1965. That's why there's only three or four of us in the group that can remember the song.
But I wanted to throw in a little bit of modern music anyway for us today. I want to read with you Ecclesiastes, Chapter Three. And we're going to talk about it a little bit. When David asked me to do this, somehow we came to an agreement on Chapter Three, because I knew that it was about this.
I knew it had to do with the seasons and the times, and there's an appropriate time for everything. And I got it in my head that that's what I was going to be speaking on. It would just be this section. And I wrote the first nine or 10 verses of it.
And while I was away in Toronto, I was reading the scriptures. And I said, I'm going to read Ecclesiastes, Chapter Three, and these first few verses. And just get those in my head and in my heart. And I read them through.
And I thought, you know what? Somehow I just thought it goes to verse nine. I didn't know I was doing the whole chapter. So I thought, you know what?
I can read that through. And then we can go verse by verse. And that'll take up about three minutes and 56 seconds. And we're going to have a real long prayer time at the end.
But then when I got back home and got online again, I saw that I had the whole chapter, Chapter Three. And so I began to read the chapter. And I thought, I'm not going to have near enough time to talk on this whole chapter. So what I'm going to do, and I found it very complicated.
I found Solomon rambling a little bit. Have you ever found that when you're reading Ecclesiastes that he seems to ramble a little bit? This was the wisest man on earth. And he rambles when he's teaching.
All right, I thought I rambled, and I do. But he really rambles. And I began to wonder just how am I going to put a message in here? How am I going to get this put together?
And I'm not going to be able to comment on every single thing. We're just going to look at the high points here. And you're going to have to figure out the rest a little bit. I kind of figured that this guy, God used different people to write the scriptures, probably around 40 different individuals to write the scriptures.
And they all had their individual personalities involved. I think this guy was ADD. I mean, he's just all over the map, right? So I'm going to try and consolidate it a little bit, put it together a little bit.
And maybe you'll think I'm ADD by the time we're done. But we're going to read it. We're going to enjoy it. It is God's word.
And I'm sure there's something in there that will touch your heart if you're listening carefully. So let's start off by reading that section that Pete Sigurd took and made a song out of. Chapter 3 will read verses 1 to 9. There isn't a point in time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven. A time to give birth, a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh. Time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace, and a time to shun, embracing.
A time to search, and a time to give up is lost. A time to keep, and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together. A time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate. A time for war, and a time for peace. And Pete Sigurd stuck on the end of that. I swear it's not too late.
Those are the six words that he added to the song. Verse 9, what prophet is there to the worker from that in which he toils? We're going to stop there and pray. We're going to look at that section and then we'll move on.
Father, thank you for the privilege of the real privilege it is tonight, to be together with these people at this place, and to read your word together. And while we may not understand every single thing that Solomon wanted to convey, we know that this is your word. And so that there is truth in this, there is deep truth for us to understand, we are sure. And we pray that you will just speak to our hearts tonight.
Help me to speak what you have spoken to me, but go beyond that, Father. Please go beyond that, and speak to individual hearts as they read these verses, and make application to our lives. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. The very beginning of this chapter in chapter three, Solomon, who is the writer of this book, we believe, gives his theses, the very first verse.
There is an appointed time for everything. There is a time for every event under heaven. That's his theses. He really doesn't go on to prove that theses, he just makes it, he just hates it, this is it.
And then he lists 28 events in our lives. Most of us will experience all of these things, 28 events in couplets. For every positive thing, like if you read with me, there's a time to give birth, we kind of figure that's a positive thing, a time to plant, a time to heal, a time to build up as we go down through the couplets, time to laugh, a time to dance, and so on and so on. Those are kind of positive things, those are things we kind of like in our lives.
But you'll notice that there's a contrasting negative side to all of this, there's a time to give birth, but there's also a time to die. There's a time to plant, and there's a time to uproot what is planted, a time to kill. That's, we consider that negative, wouldn't we? Time to tear down, a time to weep, a time to mourn.
Did you notice that as we were reading through? There's the positive, what we would consider positive, and then there's the negative, what we would consider negative. And there's one for each. So when you get down through the 28 couplets, what you're looking at is a net gain of zero.
Did you notice that? Fourteen pauses, 14 negatives, cancel out, zero. And that's basically, the teacher brings that to a head when he says, what profit is there? To the worker from that which he toils.
And all of these things that we do in life, all of these things that we put such effort into, and all of this that takes our time and really expands our lives, right? We use our lives doing these things. When you look at it, what is the profit? What does it mean?
What's the good of it? What is the profit to the worker from that in which he toils? That's a common question. Solomon asks this question over and over, giving this book because he wants us to think about that.
It's very easy to go through life, isn't it? Day after day after monotonous day. Get up in the morning, get the kids ready for school or whatever, and then if you have kids, and then get off to work, if you have work, come back home, feed the kids, put them to bed, go to bed yourself, get up in the morning, go through it all over again. Day after day after day.
We're happy for weekends because there's a little bit of a change there, but after all, the weeks go by and by and by and all of a sudden we're elderly, and we're wondering what happened at the time and what is the value of it? Bank account, maybe, maybe not. Retirement plan, maybe maybe not. But you know, it's then what?
What is the value? And Solomon is asking that question over and over again in Ecclesiastes. I'll just give you a couple of references. If you look back to chapter one, verse three, that David spoke on introducing the study, Ecclesiastes one, three.
He says, what advantage does a man have in all his work? Which he does under the sun? That's the question. What advantage is the same word as what profit?
It's exactly the same Hebrew word. What is the advantage? What is the profit? You flip over to chapter five and look at verse 16.
He says this is also grievous evil. Exactly as a man is born, thus will he die. So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind? For nothing, grasping for the wind.
What are we working for? What's this all about? Solomon and his wisdom, and he had a lot more to do with than most of us imagine having. He says when it's all said and done, what is the profit of all these things that we do?
There's a proper time to do these things. There's a proper time for that, but what is the advantage for that? That's the question. Now, all of these things that Solomon is looking at, he's looking at under heaven.
He's looking at from an earthly perspective. It's that under heaven perspective that we have to understand is we're reading the book of Ecclesiastes. Because only from a perspective of heaven itself does any of our lives make sense. That's the point.
Now, I want you to see what Solomon observed. We pick it up at verse number 10. I'm not gonna go over those at time to die, and I'll answer them. I'm not gonna go through that.
We're gonna look at what Solomon observed because there are three times in this chapter that he says, I've observed this. I've come to a conclusion about this. I've observed this and I've come to a conclusion. After asking that favorite question in verse nine, what prophet is there, he observed something.
Look at verse 10. I have seen, he says, I have seen, I have observed, I've perceived something here. I've taken something into account as I've been looking at life. It's a lot easier to look at life in the long haul when you're older.
You look back over it and you have some kind of perspective that you wish you had when you were younger. But you look back at it and you say, uh-huh, I've got some words of wisdom for you. That's what Solomon's about to say. I have seen, I've observed, the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.
He's made everything appropriate in his time. He has also said eternity in their heart yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. I want to point out three things that he mentions in this observation, three things. First of all, it is God who assigns our tasks in life.
You see that in the first part of verse 10. I have seen the task which God has given to the sons of men. God assigns the tasks. Sometimes we assign tasks to ourselves.
That's true. Sometimes we choose to do things. And sometimes the things that we choose to do end up not being such a great idea after all. It looked like a good idea but maybe in retrospect not such a great idea.
But ultimately God assigns to us much of what probably we wouldn't assign to ourselves. He makes that assignment. Sometimes God's assignments are too much for us. In fact, I can almost guarantee that when God gives you an assignment, it'll be too big for you.
Too big for you. And that's a part of his wisdom. That's a part of his plan. Sometimes you think, well, God knows how much I can take so he won't give me, oh yeah, he'll give you more than you can take for sure.
And you know the wisdom in that, right? It's so that you're no longer depending upon yourself. I can do it. I can take this.
I know I've got enough to do this. I've got the strength to get the wisdom. I've got the power to get the money or whatever. I can do this.
Now you can't. Because God will give you something that you can't do, that you can't take, that you can't handle. So that you realize I can only do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. Because ultimately, we're very fragile.
We're very weak. And the sooner we admit that and the sooner we get over it and turn to Christ the better. So God is the one who assigns our task. I just want to talk about a few tasks from the Bible that God assigned to people.
Think about Noah. Think about the task God assigned to Noah. A 450 foot three story barge that would become a floating zoo in which you will live for the next more than a year. How's that for a task?
Do you suppose Noah felt he was up for it? I can't imagine it. I can't imagine it. He'd never even seen rain before.
And it took him what 120 years? Something like that to build that boat. That was a big task. It was bigger than Noah.
And he needed God all the way through it, didn't he? What about Joseph's task? Joseph was tasked with saving a family that had sold him into slavery. Is there an emotional struggle with that?
Do you suppose? A sleeve for years in prison for years show love to that family, rescue them. That was his task. How about Moses' task?
2.5 million complaining refugees marching through the wilderness. Would you like that task? No, thank you. Moses said no, thank you too.
Right? But God said, oh yeah. Yeah, you and I, Moses, we're going to do this. Mary's task.
Not Mary Elizabeth, but Mary in the Bible. Mary in the Bible, bearing the reproach of being pregnant. And a pregnancy that could not be explained was not reasonable and could have ended her relationship with Joseph. How about that task, Mary?
And she said, on the hand made of the Lord. Be it unto me as you've said. Mr. Gabriel, how about your task?
What task is God calling you to? I guarantee you it will be bigger than you can handle. But God's assigning it. And he won't let you down.
He'll be there for you. He'll carry you through whatever that task is that he assigns. And all of these things that we read about in the first eight verses, those are part and parcel of life. It's a fabric of life woven together.
It's how we're we going to live. This is what we're going to experience. God will be there with us. He won't take the task away.
He'll just be there with us. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Second thing that I want you to notice that Solomon observed, not only does God give the task, but he also makes the task of our life worthwhile. Verse 11, he has made everything appropriate in its time.
The New American standard translates the word appropriate. Actually, the word, the King James, has a great translation of this. Everything beautiful. He has made everything beautiful in its time.
That's those tasks that God gives us. They're beautiful. He's made everything appropriate or beautiful in its time. And that word is used.
I went and looked at it. Where is this word used in the Old Testament again? And it's all about sometimes it's beautiful. And I'm in there being described sometimes as beautiful cows.
This guy's going to be beautiful too, if you're a farmer. Sometimes it's a beautiful location. Sometimes it's a beautiful moon. That's the creature that talks about these things.
It uses that word in the context of a beautiful moon. Beautiful feet. A beautiful tree. A beautiful voice.
Beautiful. God makes all things beautiful, everything appropriate or beautiful in its time. Now everything is a Hebrew word that means all, the whole, the entirety. God makes the whole thing beautiful.
And the whole thing I think is talking about the whole picture. And sometimes the parts of the picture aren't that beautiful, the parts of the puzzle. Parts of the picture aren't that beautiful. But God makes everything the whole thing, the complete picture beautiful in his time.
When I was teaching back in Yarmouth and Living Waters Christian Academy, we used to have lots of people come in as guest speakers on Wednesdays. We had chapel every day. But on Wednesdays we had an extended chapel where we would invite in special speakers. Kids had to listen to me the other days, but they had a special speaker on Wednesdays.
So the kids were excited. And one of the guys that we used to have come in, this guy by the name of Henri Langton. Henry Langton. I don't know if you guys remember Henry.
Henry Langton was a preacher in Monctonu Runswick with Le Bonnevel Mission. And Henry would come down every now and again. He'd visit with us. And Henry was a chalk artist.
He didn't do sidewalks that I know of, but he used to do, he used to have a panel, and he would do chalk art on that panel. And what Henry loved to do was create a colossal mess on the panel. You had no idea. And he was talking all the time that he was drawing or making the mess, just scribbling in.
He didn't really draw. He just shaded in parts here and there. And he'd be talking and talking about the gospel. He'd be talking about the Lord Jesus Christ.
He'd be talking about sin. He'd be talking about whatever. And he'd be drawing on this panel. And as you're watching him shade in places on the panel, you're just sitting there and looking at it and saying, wow, I remember the first time.
I just thought, I could do that. And I'd have just the same result. But Henry, when he got to the last part, the very last part, he would make a few very, very pointed moves and swipes with that chalk. And all of a sudden, the picture would jump out at you.
He was a master at it. Every single time he did it, he did it that way. You had no idea what was coming. And then he'd go, swish, swish, swish, like Zorro.
And he'd have this incredible painting. Chalk art painting, as you can call it painting, but whatever, chalk art thing. And the kids would clamor to have that after he was done. They all wanted it.
But that's the thing, you see. While he was doing it, it didn't look like much. But at the very end, at the very end, he made it all make sense. And it was beautiful.
And I believe God works that way in our lives. Maybe some of the swishing that he's doing with his chalk is really, you're just looking at it and say, I can't see what you're up to, God. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. It's not the way I would do it.
And it's really not very clear to me. But God, he makes those last few swishes. And all of a sudden, we can say, wow, that's beautiful. He makes everything appropriate.
He makes everything beautiful in its time. Solomon observed this. Solomon watched life happen. And he said, you know what?
That's what God does. And we need to know that. And the third thing that he noticed here in verse number 11, he's made everything appropriate in his time. He's given us a task as well, verse 10.
But in verse 11, the second part, he has also set eternity in their heart. He has set eternity in their heart. God has wired us with eternal notions. We think about eternal things.
Animals are different, aren't they? As far as we can tell, they don't think about anything like that. They don't think about God. They don't think about eternity.
But we as human beings do, no matter where you go in the world, whatever people group you deal with, you find people who are thinking about life after this life. We are wired that way. God is hardwired us that way. We think about that.
And Solomon noticed that in his day, the idea of going home to be in a better place is universal. Our hearts yearn for an eternal paradise, traces of the garden remain logged within our collective memories. Gabriel and I were talking about this the other day. It was time I'd go home to Nigeria.
And then we got talking about, you know what? Ultimately, going home is great. I like to go home now and again. But that's really not home.
Home is where my Lord is. Home is where you guys are going to be. Those of you who are saved and we're going to be together. We're going to be in a place where there's no more of the foolishness that we're experiencing in the world today.
We're going to be with Christ. We're going to be home once and for all. God has wired us with that. So there's this gift of mission.
God has assigned us with tasks. God makes tasks for us to live through and in. And the beauty that he adds to that mission and the prospect of heaven in the end, these things that teach you perceives are gifts of God that he has given to us. Therefore, he concludes in verses 12 and 13, I know.
There's something I know. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime, moreover that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor is the gift of God. I know, says Solomon, that we should rejoice. We should do good.
And we should enjoy what God has blessed us with. That's a good motive in life, isn't it? Rather than going around grumping all the time, as David was talking about this morning, that stuff about when you're at work grumping around. That's easy to get caught up in.
That's easy to get caught up in. I try not to grump. But boy, it's a lot of fun when everybody else is grumping around. Just to join right in and grump around too.
It's all going down the tubes, right? This thing is going in the toilet. It's not true. It's just not true.
And it's not a godly example to give, wherever you work. Solomon says, I want you to rejoice. I want you to do good. And I want you to enjoy life.
That's a pretty good model, right? It's a pretty good standard to uphold. Solomon further knew, he says in verse 14, something else he knows. He also knows three things about what God does.
Verse 14, first of all, whatever God does, he says, will remain forever. It's permanent. What God does is permanent. Can you contrast that with what you and I do?
You look around and you see the stuff that man has made in his crumbling, right? Even the pyramids, they're crumbling. Everything that we do, no matter how well we do it, crumbles in decays. But whatever God does, it's permanent.
It will remain forever. Whatever God does, secondly, is perfect. There's nothing to add to it. You can't improve on it.
Remember when God created the universe? What did he say? When he did day one, day three. And he looked at it and he said, it was what?
Good, perfect. It was perfect. You didn't need to add to it. Didn't need to alter it.
Didn't need to tweak it. It was perfect. I can't say anything I've ever done. It's been perfect.
It always needs tweaking. It always could be better. It always crumbles. It doesn't last.
What's permanent? What God does is permanent. What God does is perfect. We got a letter in the mail.
A letter in the mail concerning our Nissan X-Trail. Guess what the letter said. Recall, right? Recall time.
What's wrong with that? Well, kind of re-adfaced, I'm sure. The safety device in your car could kill you. The safety device could kill me.
Do I need to press the point any further? What man does is not perfect? Far from it. I need to get that car in.
And hopefully they'll repair that safety device. Whatever God does is permanent. Whatever God does is perfect. Whatever God does, thirdly, it's this year for God has so worked that men should fear him.
Whatever God does is purposeful. It's purposeful. It's permanent. It's perfect.
It's purposeful. What's God's purpose? It says he does it so that men should fear him, so that they should reverence him and say what that word means. They should stand in awe of him.
They should take notice of him. God, what God does, whether it's in the microcosm or in the macrocosm, what God does is so that we'll take notice that he's there. The heavens declare, they haven't screamed the glory of God. What God has done, he does for a purpose of letting mankind know that he is there.
And that he's to be honored and revered. He's an awesome God. So he has purpose in what he does. And he's got purpose in what he does in small things of our lives too.
We may not see it at the time. But what God does is permanent, perfect, and purposeful in your life and mine. And we can bank on that. We may not understand it, but we can bank on it.
This is not waste of time. No matter what you're doing, no matter what you're going through, no matter what setback seems to be in your life. It's not purposeless. God has a reason for that.
Solomon said, I know that. I know that. The smartest man who ever lived apart from the Lord Jesus said, I know that that's true. I know it's true.
And I think you and I need to know it's true. We need to take hold of that for our lives as well. So Solomon knew. And on top of that, verse 15, he rambles, right?
So I got to ramble a little bit too. Verse 15. On top of that, even when we think that we've done something novel, it isn't. Look what he said.
That which is, has been already. That which will be, has already been. When we think we've come up with something new, we think that, well, this is a new idea. This is crazy.
This is new. God says, no, it's not new at all. Same old sin, same old twisted thinking, right? The men's group gets together.
Sometimes we talk about things that are happening in the world, happening in our country. Crazy laws, as we were hearing about this morning, right? Crazy ideas. Things that threaten our society.
It's not new. It's already been here. The world has already experienced it. God says it's not novel.
It's not new. And then he says, and this is very important to walk away with. He tells us that whatever we think we may have gotten away with, we won't. You see what it says in the latter part of verse 15?
For God seeks what has passed by. Loosely translated, God holds men accountable for what they do. God holds men accountable for what they do. And whether those men are in the highest places of authority and government position, or those men are the heads of homes, or those men are single individuals or ladies, God holds us accountable for what we've done in the past.
We may think we've gotten away with that, but God says, no, I'm going to bring that thing forward. We need to know that. We need to know it, because God said it. That's absolutely true.
So moving along, verse 16. Here's another thing, one of the things that Solomon has seen. He said, I have seen in verse 10. Now he says again, furthermore, I have seen something else under the sun.
Another observation. I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness, in the place of righteousness, there is wickedness. I have seen corruption in high places. Is that new?
Sound familiar? Solomon said, I see corruption in high places. I see it. I see it in the place of justice, the courtroom.
There's wickedness. When was the last time that justice was truly served in the court system? Time after time, the victims of crime were denied justice, and the public is dismayed at the verdict. Same in Solomon's day.
Smooth talking lawyers find a loophole in the guilty walk, and we're disgusted. Those of us who love justice. Solomon said it was happening in his day. I see corruption in the place of justice.
He also said, and we're still perhaps I see corruption in the place of righteousness. Corruption in the place of righteousness. Where's the place of righteousness in the world today? Could it be the church?
There's a corruption in the church. We are embarrassed to hear of it, aren't we? Christ's name is tarnished. Solomon saw it in his day, too.
Professing insight in the drawing of conclusions is expected in a king. But as we move on in these verses, we see at this point, Solomon begins to talk to himself. He begins to talk to himself. See what he says in verse 17.
I said to myself. I said to myself. Sometimes we talk. I talk to myself.
Sometimes I have to straighten myself up a little bit. Self-talk. And I'm going to call this point, self-talk with King Solomon. He's going to talk a little bit.
I drive up and down the road. Well, I drive to work every morning. Callwell Road. And as I drive to work, I know I leave just the same time every day.
And as I'm driving down Callwell Road, there's this little girl walking down the sidewalk that I started to notice. She's all by herself every single day. And she's walking along. She's talking.
She's talking. And she's one of those little girls that can't talk about moving her arms. So she's talking. And she's being very expressive.
She's going down the sidewalk. And I got to kick out of it. I tried to stay on the road. But I'm wondering, what is that little girl talking about?
What do you suppose that is so important? I think she's just preparing for class, right? She's preparing to meet her buddies in school. And she's got things that she needs to communicate.
So she's talking to herself all the way down the sidewalk. She's cute. And Solomon probably wasn't that cute. He's talking to himself.
In verse 17, here's what he says to himself. After thinking about the corruption that is in high places, the corruption that is in the judicial system, the corruption that is in the place of righteousness, he says to himself, God will judge both the righteous and the wicked man for a time, for every matter, and for every deed is there. There may be injustice in this world today. There may be under the sun and under heaven, there may be injustice in this world.
But listen, there's a day of judgment coming. God will be just. He will. And as I thought about that, I thought of three things to praise him for.
God is going to judge justly. So praise him that you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Because if you didn't, you're in bad shape. If you don't have Jesus Christ as your advocate, if you don't have Christ as your Savior, you are in bad shape because you might get away with it in this world, but you're not going to get away with it in the next, whatever your sin is.
God requires that which is passed. And you need a Savior, you need an advocate, you need a lawyer, not get the best. I get the very best. Jesus Christ, the righteous is my lawyer.
I have a lawyer. And he will plead righteously for me. He has already a Calvary. Praise God that we have an advocate with the Father.
Praise him that judgment for our sins is already passed. I don't face judgment for my sin. Judgment is passed. It happened at Calvary.
And praise him that the wrongs of this world will be made right. Justice will be served. Verses 18 to 21. Solomon said to himself, concerning the sons of men, God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts.
For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same as one dies. So dies the other. They all have the same breath. And there's no advantage for a man over a beast for its all vanity.
All go to the same place. All come from the dust and all return to the dust. Who knows that the breath of a man is upward and the breath of the beast downwards to the earth. Solomon says, as he talks to himself, when it all comes right down to it, people aren't any better than brute beasts.
Like then we expire and our bodies go to dust. It's just so meaningless. And unless God had told us otherwise, we would make the same observations, wouldn't we? We would think that this is tragically true.
But John 14, Jesus said, my Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go away to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. I'm not like a brute beast. I'm not.
In Philippians 4, verse 2, Paul said that he had a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. He's not a brute beast. He doesn't just go to dust. His spirit goes to be with Christ.
In 1 Thessalonians 4, 17, it says, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with the others and the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we always be with the Lord. Praise God for those wonderful truths. One final observation, verse 22, verse 22.
I have seen. That's the third time he says that in this chapter. I have seen. I have observed.
I perceive that there's nothing better than a man should be happy in his activities. All those things that God assigns us. For that is his lot. That's what God has given us.
That's our portion. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him? Live now. Live now.
For now, for this time, is all the time that we have to live here in this world. So live it. And live it for the Lord Jesus Christ. Live it for his glory.
Because we're not going to see what's going to come after us as we go into the next life. But we want to leave some kind of footprint behind that will be a guide for others. I'll tell you a story in closing. When my dad, who passed away seven years ago, when my dad was just a little boy, eight, nine, 10 years of age, my great grandfather, Grandpa Jake, was alone.
His wife had passed away. And Grandpa Jake was alone living in a big house in Gavilton. And my dad, just a little boy, it was chosen. It was his lot to go live with Grandfather Jake.
Away from his family, away from his siblings, away from his friends, away from his community. Gavilton was like, light years away from Glenwood, as far as dad was concerned. So this little boy went to live with his grandfather, an old man. And he didn't like it.
Not one bit. He was homesick, homesick for everything that he knew. When every child was ever caught homesick, my father would always empathize. My father knew exactly what that felt like.
So dad used to tell me stories about living up there in Gavilton. He hated Gavilton. He used to tell me stories about that place. And he told me stories about what Grandpa Jake liked to do during the day for work.
And that was biblical. Because it was a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones. Grandpa Jake had a field. Well, what he wanted to be a field.
It was a piece of ground that had been logged off. And he had pulled a stumps off it. He had a diggin and a drag. You know what a diggin is?
No a diggin. A diggin is one ox. All right? One ox.
So he had a diggin hooked up to a draggin. And he'd pulled a stumps off. But now all the ground was exposed. And there were lots of rocks.
And he wanted to make a field. Grandpa's in his 80s. I don't know why he needs a field. But anyway, he wanted to make a field.
That's what he's going to do. So dad, a little boy of eight, nine, 10 years of age, is out with grandpa picking rocks. There's a time to throw rocks away, and there's a time to gather rocks. And dad knew all about that verse.
And they gathered rocks. They gathered rocks. They gathered rocks. Clear the field.
Clear the field. Clear the field. And I remember dad telling me that story and how sick and tired of gathering rocks he was. And one day we were traveling along the road through Gableton.
I said, dad, I remember you telling me about all the rocks you picked off the piece of ground. Show me the piece of ground. Show me the piece of ground. We were driving along, dad said, I'll show you.
And we'd get to a certain place in the road. The road sort of curves a little bit. And dad pointed over here and said, there it is. And I looked.
I said, dad, that's a lake. Yeah. He said about 10 years after we cleared all the rocks off to that ground. No scoch power built a dam downriver.
Flooded the whole thing. And that's the field. So I want to say what profit is there for the worker from that which he toils. Dance.
Grab his fields underwater. That's the way it can seem, right? That's the way it can seem with their life. That everything just gets flooded and covered over.
It doesn't make any sense and it's useless. Years later, I'm driving through that same territory with my family. And I'm telling them the story. And we get to that same place in the road, and the lake is gone.
It's gone. They have opened the dam and drained the water from Lake Vaughan, man-made lake. Water's gone. Just a little stream way out there.
Way out there. You look way out there. There's a little stream run through it. You know what I saw?
I saw dad's field. I saw grandpa's field. I saw the road where it used to go. I saw the road that went out into the field.
I saw the piles of the rocks that had been underwater for years. But there they were. There they were. God is able to bring back that which we think is gone.
He's able to show it to us. He's able to reveal it. He's able to show us the point of it. We just need to live right now with a realization that there is a point.
There is a reason for everything that happens, under heaven shall we pray. Thank you, Father, for your word. Maybe Solomon didn't have ADD. Maybe he was really speaking what you wanted us to hear.
We have to believe that he was. For you, super intent in all of these individuals lives. And in this passage of scripture, you're trying to tell us that we need to live life with joy and with purpose, knowing that you have assigned us our tasks, that you make these things beautiful in their time and that you're taking us home one day to heaven. All these things will make sense when we will see things differently and how happy it will be if we have followed you faithfully in this time when we're there looking back.
We pray that we might take something home with us. We pray that we might be changed people from having spent time in your word tonight. Pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.