As always, you can read the transcript of the message below
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is a time for everything,and a season for every activity under the heavens: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 scatter stones and a time to gather them,a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,6 a time to search and a time to give up,a time to keep and a time to throw away,7 a time to tear and a time to mend,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.
Matthew
7:33,34
33 But
seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well.34 Therefore
do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Ecclesiastes
3:1-8/ Matthew 7:33,34 A TIME TO KEEP
Springford Baptist Church:
August 2, 2020.
As we come together again to consider, “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens,” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) we can become more and more convinced that this is true. Example after example points to the times and seasons that are part of the rhythm of every human life.
This week we are focusing on verse 6: “a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away.”
How do we determine what to keep? If we are doing sorting in a garage, closet, or drawer, the usual question to decide whether something is to be kept or not is, “Have I used it or worn it lately”? Isn’t it surprising the number of things we keep “just in case”, thinking, “I never know when I might need or want that.” Some people have clothes in their closet that they never wear or that don’t even fit, but still they are kept. And like me, keeping my Grade 8 graduation dress after all these years, sometimes we keep things for sentimental reasons. They evoke special memories for us.
As times change, there are things that change, particularly technology. I could mention telephones. Remember party lines? Then there were 8 track and cassette tapes that are no longer used unless you have kept the machines. And further changes with photography and taking pictures…
As things change, we have to decide what to keep and what to throw away.
I have been keenly aware in reflecting on the twists and turns our world has been taking of “A TIME TO KEEP.” This is a time to keep our focus on God. This is a time to keep our faith in Him.
Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew 7:33 emphasize what we must keep, “But seek first His (God’s) kingdom and His righteousness…”After searching for the truth and purpose in life and finding it in Jesus, this is what is to be kept!
In all the swirl of life’s uncertainties, we need to keep our faith in Jesus and the kingdom he came to establish. The motivations and priorities of this world come and go. Leaders rise and fall. It is the kingdom of God built on faith in Jesus that we can depend on and keep. This is most certainly for us, “a time to keep”. We need to keep our faith in God’s plans for us and our world. We need to seek how we are to contribute to the establishing of His kingdom and His righteous will here on earth as it is in heaven!
The Message Translation of Matthew 7:33,34 expresses Jesus’ teaching this way:
33 “Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”
Notice the word “steep” at the beginning of verse 33. If we are to “steep” our lives in God and God’s kingdom then that takes time, just like the making of a good cup of tea. Our lives need to be saturated and soaked in the reality of God and God’s kingdom!
In our desire to keep our faith centred in God, I find this direction from Matthew 7:34 helpful, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.”
Isn’t that so necessary? As we see this as, “A TIME TO KEEP” and keep our faith in God and the kingdom Jesus came to establish, we can trust God.
Throughout our lifetimes, we make ongoing decisions about what to keep and what to throw away. We will want to keep what we have found in Jesus.
When we have been searching for life’s meaning and purpose, we do not want to give up searching until we find that meaning and purpose in Jesus.
And having found life’s meaning and purpose in Jesus, everything else, all of life’s pursuits, pale by comparison to knowing Jesus as our Saviour. This is a time to keep our assurance of salvation through faith in Jesus.
When Jesus came to our earth to demonstrate God’s immense love for our world, there were people then who chose to accept and to keep what He had to offer and there were those who chose to reject or to throw away what he had to offer.
All through history, people have been making these same choices around, “a time to keep and a time to throw away.”
Jesus knew how essential it would be for those who chose to give their lives to Him and to follow Him in humble service to keep their faith in Him strong and committed.
He has given us a sacred and effective way to remember Him and to keep Him and what He has done for us in our thoughts and in our hearts. Communion, the Lord’s Supper is “a time to keep”. As Jesus designed it, Communion is a way that we regularly keep strong our faith in Jesus and remember Him until He comes again. This is what we can participate in together this morning.
We
have searched for Jesus and we have found Him! We will want to keep
Him close with us as we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness
every day! Communion is a time to keep strong our faith in Jesus and
living life each day with all its challenges is a time to keep strong
our faith in Jesus. In this “TIME
TO KEEP”
we will want to search and seek for how we can best serve Jesus in
His kingdom of light. “HERE
I AM WHOLLY AVAILABLE. AS FOR ME I WILL SERVE YOU LORD.”