Pastor Lola: In these summer months, as already indicated, we do plan to continue with our Outdoor Services at Springford Baptist Church, each Sunday at 10:30 am (weather permitting). I will still be sending out the message for those who read it at home and a link for those who choose to watch the service on YouTube. We are praying that God will guide us as we worship Him and look for Him to show us where we go from here.
As always, you can read the transcript of the sermon 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 7:24-27
(Jesus said) 24“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Ecclesiastes
3:1-8/Matthew 7:24-27
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE? A SEASON FOR
SERVING
Springford Baptist Church: July 12, 2020.
What is the meaning of life? That is a big question! That is a vital question! I have observed that with all that we have faced recently and will be facing for some time to come, people are asking that question: “What does life mean? Why are we here? What is our purpose in the time we are given? This has been a time of wondering. That is something good that has come out of all the upset of this pandemic. We have been given a time to wonder and to look for where God is in our wondering.
For these last several weeks, we have been considering together the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit that should be evident in us as followers of Jesus. No matter the conditions of the growing season, God is looking for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control to be growing in us. And now in looking for the meaning of life, we will have the chance over these summer months to be reminded that, “there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.” (Eccl. 3:1)
Today we will examine the truth to be found in the understanding that there is, “a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot.” (vs. 2)
This rhythm of life:
“a time to be born and a time to die”
emphasizes what is not in our hands. We do not control when we begin
or end our lives here. We do not control that for anyone else either.
What is in our hands is what we do with the time we have been given.
Do we cherish and value this gift of life and desire to live each day
in meaningful ways?
Here, I think of a poem written by Linda
Ellis that some of you will also have heard:
THE DASH
I read of a man who stood to speak at a funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning… to the end.
He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years. For that dash represents all the time they spent alive on earth and now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own, the cars… the house… the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.
So think about this long and hard; are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that still can be rearranged.
To be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile… remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.
So when your eulogy is being read, with your life’s actions to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say about how you lived your dash?
There it is. How do we choose to live the dash between the time when we are born and the time when we die.This will reveal the meaning of our lives.
The next part of Ecclesiastes 3:2 reflects the purpose of life in speaking of a time to plant and a time to uproot (to harvest)”. Whatever the purpose of a plant, it only has a certain season for that purpose to be realized. Here in a farming community, we are used to seeing fields of wheat, oats, corn, beans, potatoes… There is time when crops are planted and as the plants grow, they move toward the purpose for which they were planted: harvest.
I happen to know that even retired farmers enjoy driving around the countryside and seeing how the crops are growing. There is pleasure in seeing that the corn is growing taller and in anticipating a time of harvest. It is an affirmation of the cycle of life of beginning and end.
This is the way God has designed things. Even the flowers in our gardens or the wildflowers at the roadside have a time when they bloom and bring pleasure and then a time when their purpose is completed.
Likewise each of us. I am grateful that God gives us the ability and capacity to think about the meaning/purpose of the lives we have been given. We certainly do not want to waste the precious gift of the time we have been given to live because of course, it is for a limited time.
Jesus, God’s Son, in Matthew 7:24-27 gives a clear answer to, “What is the meaning of life”?
This is the story that
Jesus tells of two builders. Jesus declares, “Therefore
everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is
like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (vs. 24b)
When
the rains and storms of life come and beat against that house, it
does not fall because it has a solid foundation.
Jesus is the solid and certain foundation that we are intended to build our lives on and where we find our meaning and purpose.
By contrast Jesus maintains that, “everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.” (vs. 26)
When the rains and storms of life come and beat against that house, it falls with a great crash because there is nothing to its foundation.
For those of you who remember the Sunday School song about this story, you may remember the way the song concludes:
“So build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ. Build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ. Build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings will come down. The blessings will come down as the prayers go up. The blessings will come down as the prayers go up. The blessings will come down as the prayers go up. So build your house on the Lord!”
When we recognize that there is, for each of us, a time to be born and a time to die, how then will we live? What will we do with the time we have been given?
I am calling this summer sermon series: A SEASON FOR SERVING.
When we are asking God to use us and the gift of our lives to serve Him in meaningful ways with the time we are given, then being available to serve Him will be where we are directed. Making everyday decisions to serve Jesus is what will result in there being a harvest for God’s kingdom when our lives here are completed.
Yes, “there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
Over these next weeks, we will be concluding our Sunday service with these words of commitment:
“HERE I AM, WHOLLY AVAILABLE.
AS FOR ME, I WILL SERVE YOU LORD.”