The Holy Spirit Renews Us - Ezekiel 37:1–14

Today we’re celebrating Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit on God’s people. We often refer to the first Pentecost as the birth of the church as we know it today, a multicultural, multi-ethnic body of Christ equipped by the Holy Spirit to share the good news of Jesus in the world, bringing new life to the world. The Holy Spirit’s given to us as a gift, reminding us of who Jesus is, pointing us to God and Jesus, and how our salvation rests in the work of Jesus and not in our own works.

This vision of Ezekiel foreshadows the coming of the Holy Spirit and the new life the Holy Spirit brings. It comes right after the Lord speaks against the nations that have plundered Israel and speaks words of restoration, renewal, and blessing to his people. The Lord holds the nations accountable for their actions against Israel, even though he used the nations as his tool to punish Israel for their sin. Just because the Lord uses them, they’re still responsible for how they treat others, even if they’re enemies.

Israel would often forget God, ignore his ways, and find themselves slaves to other gods, living in spiritual deadness and hopelessness. This time their ignoring God has led them into exile in Babylon. The Lord speaks to Israel and tells them that they’ll remember their evil ways and wicked deeds and loath them. Israel’s called to be ashamed and disgraced for their conduct, but the Lord, in his grace, promises to cleanse them from their sins and resettle them in their land again. Grace is also found in Israel’s punishment; the Lord holds them accountable for their acts so that they’ll change and come back to the Lord. The Lord shows his grace to them so that they’ll know that he is the Lord.

The Lord gives Ezekiel this vision of a valley of dry bones, a message of hope coming shortly after a message of judgment. The Lord takes Ezekiel to the middle of a valley filled with bones that are very dry with absolutely no life in them, bleached by the sun. As Ezekiel looks out at this scene, he’s likely remembering his vision in chapter 3 on the plain, probably by the Chebar River in Mesopotamia, representing Israel’s defeat at the hands of the Babylonian empire. The bones represent the hopelessness Israel’s experiencing in exile. This is a battlefield scene, the bones representing the fallen dead, the loss of life, and the loss of hope. The Lord now asks Ezekiel a really challenging question, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

Ezekiel’s wise enough to be cautious in his answer. He knows that humanly speaking there’s no chance of these bones coming back to life. Yet Ezekiel’s already been given some fantastical visions, realizing that the Lord is giving him an opportunity to practice trust and faith, knowing that with God all things are possible as he is the creator of the universe and life, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Then the Lord says to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” Everything that’s about to happen is so that God’s people will once again acknowledge the Lord, once again worship him over all other gods and idols.

Ezekiel obeys and prophesies as the Lord tells him to. Prophesy is more forth-telling than fore-telling; prophesy is about speaking God’s word into the present situation rather than speaking into the future. As Ezekiel’s prophesying, a rattling noise happens, and bones begin moving towards each other and joining together. As the bones form skeletons, tendons and flesh begin to appear on them, and then finally skin covers each of the bodies. As the bodies lie there, they’re still lifeless. It echoes God creating Adam from the earth. At this point they’re still dead. They may look good on the outside, but there’s no life in them. Another step, a major step of creation is still needed; life needs to be poured into these still dead bodies.

Now the Lord commands Ezekiel to prophesy again, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come breath, from the four winds and breath into these slain, that they may live.” There’s so much in this simple sentence. The Hebrew word for breath is the same word for both wind and spirit. The Lord’s commanding Ezekiel to speak to the Spirit and to bring life into the bodies, as life comes from God and God’s Spirit is called to bring life to the bodies lying there. The picture of the four winds echoes references to Zechariah and Revelation and the world-wide presence of the Spirit.

This is a “WOW!” God moment happening here, even if it’s in a vision. As Ezekiel prophesies, breath enters the bodies and they come to life and stand up on their feet—a vast army. This echoes the creation of Adam, showing that we’re more than skin and bones, our life comes from God, and we’re both flesh and spirit. This is prophecy in action. We hear an echo forward, to the opening of the graves and the dead coming back to life at the death of Jesus and the tearing of the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the world and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit into the world, bringing life to those who’ve died.

This vision’s all about Israel stripped of hope. The Sovereign Lord, the name God uses here is significant as it reminds Ezekiel and Israel that he’s in control, sovereign over all creation, including death and life. This is all about hope and restoration; “Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’” The Lord ends this vision with the promise of restoration in their own land again, a national restoration that points to individual resurrection and new life for all God’s people.

There are so many people seeking new life and hope today. Life can be cruel and hard; people get beat down. Sin’s not just things that we do that are wrong morally, ethically, or religiously; sin is a direction of our heart that rejects God for ourselves. The impact of sin, both our own and others, has created a world where great things are promised, where we’re told that we can be anything we want, but than the forces in our culture quietly tear us down. The weight of sin can overwhelm us, we can begin to believe that Jesus could never forgive us, that we’re unforgiveable.

Idols slither into our ears and eyes and we’re seduced into following their promises of influence, wealth, power, physical love, and whatever our hearts can conceive of. We’re so confident in our own ability to build our own world on our own terms and then when disaster or loss comes and the idols prove false and our world falls apart and our hearts and souls begin to whither away. The chains of slavery to our idols weigh heavier and heavier, we’re unable to get out from under them and we begin to shrivel up and our hearts and souls begin to dry up. We get side-tracked in life, following paths that look so promising at first: wide open and smooth, but then find ourselves in sloughs of despair and hopelessness, wondering how we ended up there, unable to see a way out or forward. There’s a great need for new life today.

If you’re struggling, if your soul has withered and you’re seeking hope and new life, you can find it in Jesus. When his disciples were hiding away after his death, Jesus appeared to them, John 20, “Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.  Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus offers us his peace, he gives us his Spirit of life, the same Spirit that poured over the valley bringing life, the Spirit that poured out from the temple and raised the dead to life. The Spirit is given to us when we choose to follow Jesus; when we turn to Jesus for new life. This new life brings forgiveness and new beginnings; it gives us a new identity that’s rooted in Jesus. Through the Spirit, we’re called to extend forgiveness, to be people of grace as we’ve received grace from the Lord through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The Spirit works through Scripture and the call to walk in Jesus’ way; through prayer, and meditation, taking time with God, through worship with other Jesus followers, through reflection on creation and seeing God’s fingerprints all around us, through fellowship, and service. As we engage with the Spirit, Jesus’ peace fills and shapes us, and we become witnesses to the world of Jesus and the good news of forgiveness and grace he offers. Shape your life around Jesus and experience his life in you, remembering that Jesus can use you to bring new life in Jesus, offering his forgiveness and renewal to a world quietly, and not so quietly hurting and struggling today.

Being Witnesses - Acts 1:1–11

        

Our passage this morning comes from Acts. This is Luke’s second book; he’s also the author of the Gospel of Luke where he tells the story of Jesus; his audience is the Gentiles. The book of Acts is the story of the gospel news going out to the Gentiles. Jesus spends 40 days with his disciples after his resurrection, showing them that he’s truly alive. Jesus spends this time teaching and equipping his followers to carry on his work; echoing Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness preparing himself for the work that lay ahead of him to take our sin on himself and to prepare a people ready to witness to him as the promised Messiah.

Ascension Day is often connected to Jesus’ ascending into heaven in order to take his place beside God. Our theology connects Jesus’ ascension with the kingship of Jesus, which it does, while Scripture’s focus on Ascension Day is the charge to go and be witnesses to the gospel news of Jesus and the forgiveness of our sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and to teach the world of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus tells the apostles to go to Jerusalem to wait for the gift of his Spirit so that they will “receive power to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus tells his disciples before his death that he needs to go home. In John 16, Jesus says, “but now I am going to him who sent me… it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”

Why didn’t Jesus simply stay and become king right away. Here’s a few thoughts on why. Jesus is our mediator, bringing our cares, concerns, and hopes to the Father. Jesus is allowed into the throne room because he’s God, and represents us because he’s also human and without sin. The Belgic Confession puts it this way; we believe that we have no access to God except through the one and only mediator and intercessor: Jesus Christ the righteous. He therefore was made man, uniting together the divine and human natures, so that we human beings might have access to the divine Majesty. Otherwise, we would have no access. Jesus is the only mediator, the only access we have to the Father through faith. And as Peter says in Acts 5:31, “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

 Jesus said he needed to go back home to his father. In John 14, John shares that when Jesus told his disciples that he was leaving, he told them, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God.” Jesus knew that trusting God’s wisdom in this would be hard at times. “In my Father’s house are many rooms. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am.” Jesus has some stuff still to do that we’re not completely aware of yet before he’s ready to come back and fully establish his kingdom; challenging us to trust God that his plan’s the right and best one.

Jesus physically returns to heaven, a sign of how our physical bodies will be renewed in our resurrection as we’re joined to Jesus’ death and resurrection when we accept him as Lord and Saviour, symbolised in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Jesus doesn’t give up his humanity when he returns to heaven, but continues to be fully human and fully God. Jesus sends his Spirit so we can be his witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem and their neighbours, then moving out to Judea and Samaria, to people like themselves with a similar history and understanding of God and the world, and then out to the ends of the earth, to all the other peoples and cultures, many who will understand and see the world in very different ways, and will need to be taught and shown who Jesus is.

This is about growing in trust in Jesus’ way and God’s plan. When Jesus meets with Thomas and Thomas is finally convinced that Jesus is really alive, Jesus says, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This is the challenge of faith; we’re called to believe without seeing Jesus’ physical body. We’re called to trust God and to trust the words of those who did see Jesus. When Jesus left us to go home to heaven, he sent his Spirit to us to make our hearts its home, giving us the assurance that what we hears true and trustworthy. The Spirit’s given so that we can be Jesus’ witnesses in the world, beginning locally. Jesus left so that we can be his presence through the Holy Spirit, changing the world using everyday people like us who take his call to love the Lord your God with everything you have and your neighbour like yourself seriously. Part of loving our neighbour is inviting them to repent and believe in Jesus because the kingdom of heaven in near.

Jesus doesn’t promise easy. Jesus left so our faith can grow stronger through difficult times, especially difficult times that come because we’ve chosen to follow him. You’re not promised an easy life because you believe and have faith. We’re promised heartache and persecution instead, beginning with the reality that Jesus has left us and we only have our faith and the Holy Spirit to reassure us. Peter writes to people going through hard times because they’ve chosen Jesus over the world’s rulers, but these hard times are making their faith stronger. “For a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” How we go through hard times can show others who Jesus is and how his presence strengthens us.

Jesus is looking for people to follow him out of love and their own free will. When people are introduced to Jesus, it often takes some time for them to come to a place where they can accept him. They need time to learn about Jesus and experience the effects of the Holy Spirit in their lives and hearts. There’s a period of time where people need to discover that they can trust God and Jesus. In most cases, this doesn’t happen over night, it takes time and so Jesus goes home for a time so that there will be time for people to come to know and accept him. Jesus commands his followers to go out into the world and make disciples. This is a process, something that happens through building trust relationships and speaking about God with those people he places into your lives. Jesus left to give time for those who don’t believe to change and accept him as Lord. As Peter says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Jesus left and sent his Spirit so that we can go into the world and bring others into the Body of Christ. God doesn’t want anyone to be lost and so he’s waiting while sending us out to share the Good News.

The angels said, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” The story isn’t over and our part in it isn’t done yet. There are people to be saved, prayers to be prayed and growing still to do. In the meantime, the disciples are reassured that Jesus will return again one day, but until that time, we’re called to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth, but it begins with our neighbours, and sometimes, even with our own family. The reality though is that we build our friendships, our trusted relationships and have no deep desire to build more or deeper relationships of faith with more people. It takes effort, it takes investment in them, and most of us aren’t really willing to make these investments, even though we know those around us haven’t accepted Jesus, haven’t been invited to get know Jesus, challenged to repent and believe. This is why Jesus sends un the Holy Spirit, to create that desire for others to know Jesus. We’re to continue his work of inviting people to believe in Jesus, to repent and believe for the kingdom of heaven is near.

We do this by sharing who God is as our Father; who Jesus is as our saviour who’s working to redeem and restore creation from our slavery to Satan. Jesus loves the entire world and doesn’t want anyone lost. We need to develop that same love and urgency for the people in our community. It’s not always easy to share the gospel news, but Jesus never promises easy. The majority of people in our community have little or no relationship with Jesus, may that drive our hearts to care for their souls over our personal wants or comfort.   

Wisdom is a Good Thing - Ecclesiastes 7:1–8:1; Ecclesiastes 9:13–10:20

These 2 passages are rather long, but are written similar to how Solomon writes in the book of Proverbs on the value of wisdom. Solomon connects a variety of situations and thoughts together to give a wide-ranging vision of what wisdom looks like, contrasting it with folly and wickedness. Solomon begins by reminding us of the value of a good name, and then how death is a good day since our time of suffering is finished, while birth is only the beginning. There’s a sadness in looking at the world from the perspective of living under the sun. Solomon then says something I thought humorous, “Do not say, “Why are the old days better than these?” He tells us it’s not wise to ask these kinds of questions, to live in the past rather than in today with an eye to living for the future. We reflected on this a bit last week when looking at how God has place eternity in our hearts and to enjoy today while investing in our children for the future. While we’re called to not look back to the old days with rose coloured glasses, we do look back in order to remember and believe in God and his providence, protection, and presence.

Scripture describes wisdom as living well with God, others, and ourselves, living according to God’s will. J.A Louder observes, “Wisdom is concerned with the correct ordering of life. Wise action is that which integrates people harmoniously into the order God has created. The rules of life that prescribe how human beings must integrate themselves into that order are the precept of wisdom.” Wisdom is living according to who God created us to be as his image of him in his world. Ecclesiastes calls us to an awareness and a fear of God that helps us live within God’s design and plan for creation. Truth Seekers are taught how to study the Bible, how to read it and understand it so they can learn the truth of who God is, how we’re saved from our sins, and our sinful nature is renewed. Basically, truth seekers are seeking wisdom and going to the right place to find it: Scriptures.

Wisdom teaches us how to see the world through God’s eyes. Solomon recognizes this in verse 13, “Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.” Living wisely is usually developed by living in today rather than the past, or too far into the future, as Jesus reminds us in Matthew

Wisdom sees the world through the eyes of reality, good people often die for being good, while many wicked people prosper and live long lives. Many wise people are not always listened to, “wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.” Under the sun, there’s a great deal of meaningless, much ‘hevel’ or mist. This is how Solomon has been approaching wisdom in most of Ecclesiastes; using his rational intellect to examine the world. He's studying wisdom itself; what it looks like, how it works. He often uses contrast to examine and describe what wisdom looks like, a common way of showing how wisdom works in life, something we often find in the book of Proverbs. He’s also looking to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly, and ultimately, he finds it all absurd, craziness.

Solomon tests everything in order to find a better wisdom, but he can’t find it. He found few wise people; he sees that even though we’ve been created upright, we are easily mislead by schemes, schemes to get rich, power, influence, the desires of our hearts. As Solomon looks at folly, he sees that the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure, extortion turns a wise man into a fool, patience is better than pride, anger sits in the lap of fools, and calls us not to be over-righteous or overwise, to not be over-wicked, avoid extremes. Don’t pay attention to every word people say for you have often cursed others yourself, be careful of the woman who’s a snare, or searching out many schemes for your own profit. He concludes that wisdom’s definitely better than folly if we desire a good life, that there’s more to gain from wisdom than folly. This may seem like common sense, yet that’s really what wisdom is, common sense rooted in knowing God.

Solomon knows that there will be times of suffering and adversity, there will be times of success and in all times, we are called to live as wise people; seeking out God’s wisdom rather than the wisdom found under the sun. Solomon sees some good coming out of difficult things: death, sorrow, the house of mourning, adversity. Our hearts are often shaped by God through times of struggle. In Jesus’ teaching, especially in the Beatitudes, we see a similar thought developed, that there are some good aspects to suffering here on earth, those who suffer are “blessed,” Matthew 5:3–12, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted…. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me….” Times of struggle and suffering can lead us back to following God’s ways again, as we see in the stories of Israel falling away from God, only to come back during times of punishment. Struggle and suffering also shape our character, as Paul tells us: suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Often in suffering, we experience the presence of God and his grace and glory in us and even through us.

Solomon often talks about death. The hope of the resurrection doesn’t rest in denying death, but in embracing its full scope: it’s a punishment as the result of sin, it’s an enemy, however, it’s been defeated through Jesus’ death and resurrection. For Solomon, acknowledging the reality of death is the beginning of wisdom as it creates a humbleness in recognizing that in the end, we all meet the same end, at least if you’re looking at life under the sun. This is part of why the church celebrates the sacraments. The sacraments are signs pointing us to Jesus. In our baptism, we acknowledge that in Jesus, baptism symbolizes the beginning of the journey of faith as we die to our old selves and are raised up to new life in Jesus; in the Lord’s Supper we recognize that Jesus’ death and resurrection bring new life and that as members of his body, we also participate in his death and resurrection and have eternal life in and through Jesus. This gives us the strength and hope to commit our lives to Jesus’ way and teaching.

If we’re looking for understanding, we’ll not always find it as we live under the sun since humanity isn’t very rational, we’re easily seduced by Satan. Wisdom’s valuable if rooted in God and his ways, yet it will seem at times that foolishness and wickedness do better. This calls for trusting in God’s wisdom and timing. Living according to God’s way brings peace and good to those around you by how we treat and respond to others, by doing our daily work and toil and enjoying the blessings of each day with our loved ones.

Wisdom tells us who God is: wisdom’s more than knowledge, it sees all of creation and finds God’s fingerprints over all of it. We see God at work in the structure of creation, in the beauty around us, in the moral order that’s consistent across most cultures. Wisdom tells us who we are: when we know God, we can see ourselves in light of his greatness. As Calvin said, the more we know God, the more we know ourselves. Wisdom shows us how glorious it is for God to care for us. We see and hear God’s wisdom in his Word: wisdom always begins and ends with God, so we must be people willing to listen to God’s Word and root our lives in it, because then our lives are rooted in Jesus, grafted onto him as our source of life.

Wisdom means acting on what we know: wisdom without action is meaningless. Lives that show God’s wisdom become strengthened in God’s power. Jesus’ ministry involved a great deal of teaching, offering wisdom to the people. At the end of his sermon on the mountainside, in Matthew 7:24–25 Jesus tells his listeners, “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. 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.” Wisdom is not of much use if it’s not lived out in real life, and we’ve been offered the greatest wisdom in the world in the Bible. Take the Word, read it, study it together, allow its words and guidance to soak deep within your minds, hearts, and souls, and then live it out in our world that desperately needs wisdom from above rather than what is being offered up here under the sun.

Contentment - Ecclesiastes 5:8–6:12

There are those in my family who’ve struggled with addiction. Addiction’s often rooted in hurt or discontentment that drives a person to look for something that will take it away and give them a sense of relief, even if it’s temporary. We usually associate addiction with drugs or alcohol, but we can also become addicted to experiences, or anything that promises happiness, security, or escape. The newest addiction today is not a substance, but the little screens most of us have in our pockets or purses. Nir Eyal, an expert in “behavioural engineering,” has advocated the development of programs that turn customers into addicts through a hook model: a looping cycle of trigger, action, reward, and continued engagement… the hook model creates craving… what draws a person back is, Eyal says, “not the sensation we receive from the reward itself, but the need to alleviate the craving for that reward.” It creates an increasing sense of discontentment, drawing you away from the people around you and even more importantly, from God and the joy and satisfaction you can find in him.

Solomon recognizes that the love of money can become addictive, leading to a lack of contentment and gratitude for the daily gifts God offers us. This section begins with a hard reality, Ecclesiastes 5:8–9, “If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.” This was first raised by Solomon in 4:1-3; we shouldn’t be surprised by injustice; sin infects everyone, including those who rule and have authority.

The scholar Van Leeuwen explains that when Solomon says one official is “eyed by a higher one,” he’s saying that the high and mighty “look out for” one another, so the poor have no chance at justice. We get a glimpse of this in Luke 19:1–10, “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through ... When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” As a tax collector, Zacchaeus would take more than he was supposed to when he went to gather the taxes; it was an expected way of doing things, and the officials higher up overlooked this theft. Zacchaeus is transformed through his encounter with Jesus and recognizes that accepting Jesus as his Lord and Saviour is where his hope and salvation rest rather than his wealth.

There are two paths we can take: chasing after wealth or anything else that captures our hearts, or the path of contentment and gratitude for all God’s given us, how we can use what God has given us to build up and encourage others, and make our communities places of shalom and fullness. Solomon, a very wealthy person, warns us, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.” Wealth carries temptations, as Solomon observes, if you love wealth, you’ll always be striving for more, and living a life of contentment becomes more difficult. Wealth can create worry, stress, hurt relationships, and a lack of trust in others. As Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Ecclesiastes 6:1–2, “I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.” Wealth, in itself, does not bring happiness. A friend once commented that God has blessed him with a lot of riches and he had always thought it would bring him great happiness, but as God blessed him with more and more, he began to reflect on the purpose of why he had been given the ability to create much wealth because it hadn’t made him and his wife any happier, no matter what the lottery people might tell you.

He and his wife began to quietly invest in people and the church. They quietly paid off some people’s debts so they could focus on the future instead of just getting by, they helped a number of young adults go into missions which led to a couple of them staying long-term on the mission field, they helped set up a scholarship for abandoned mothers so they could go to the local college and upgrade their skills. Their life theme became generosity; helping people reach their potential, loving like Jesus, and in doing so, they found deep contentment in their lives. They experienced the blessings found in Ecclesiastes 5:19–20, “Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.” Wealth is not evil; it’s a gift given by God to be used wisely.

Wealth is a blessing. God offers us his blessings, and some he blesses with wealth.  The issue’s not how much a person has, it’s whether they place their trust in their wealth rather than in God to save them or protect them. It’s all about our focus and priorities. Mark 10:23; 25-27 “Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” … It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Our salvation is accomplished through the work of Jesus, not through our work. That’s hard for some to accept, because the more we have, the more we tend to depend on ourselves to provide for what we need; this can even creep into our relationship with Jesus, as that same attitude subtly creeps into our thinking about salvation. We’re called to completely trust in the grace of Jesus rather than our work; we cannot save ourselves.

Jeus teaches us to trust in God and not worry about our basic needs, Matthew 6:32–33, “For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Instead of worrying about having enough, Solomon encourages us to enjoy the daily blessings God gives us each day.

God has placed eternity in our hearts, and because we have eternity in our hearts, the things of this world will never fully satisfy us, there will always be sense that there has to be more, a longing for more. Bobby Jamieson writes, “happiness comes not from trying to make this world satisfy all your desires but from realizing that that it never will. Happiness begins to glimpse new dimensions when you discover that everything is never enough.” Happiness comes from knowing that the creator of the sun knows you, and loves you, and can fill that longing for more, showing you a way forward into eternity that brings meaning and purpose; the way of Jesus, accepting him as your Lord and Saviour, embracing his way as your way.

Solomon repeats one of his main thoughts in Ecclesiastes 5:18, “it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labour under the sun during the few days of life God has given them.” It’s repeated in a slightly different way in 6:3, “A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.” The main idea in this section is ‘enjoy God’s daily gifts,’ and after we follow his advice, to acknowledge that it’s God who gives us this joy. Paul says the same thing in Philippians 4:12–13 “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Contentment under the sun is hard to find when we keep our eyes focused down here; our eyes are always drawn to what others have that we don’t have. The call is to keep our eyes on the one over the sun who lives in eternity and provides for our eternity through Jesus, and sees what we need and provides, often more than we need, so that we can bless others. Our lives are merely a moment in the history of the world, and part of what we can offer is what we contribute to the future in time, energy, or money, toward developing the potential in others.

 

 

Careful Words - Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

Solomon has been considering the world by looking at it through the eyes of humanity, through a philosophy of meaninglessness. Now, for a few verses, he completely shifts his point of view and considers our relationship with God, focusing on how we come to worship him. I wonder if the weight of looking at the world only through humanity’s eyes has become too much for him; last week we looked at how Solomon even mentions how the dead are happier, and the person not yet born is better off than us. The answer to such despair is God, so Solomon turns to the one who created the sun.

Worship has changed a lot even in just my lifetime; not necessarily for better or worse, probably a bit of both. Saturday night was all about preparing for worship the next day. At supper we would read the Scripture passages for the next day. After supper we would polish our shoes, while mom made sure our Sunday clothes were clean and ironed. Saturday night was bath night because Sunday was about being our best for God and Sunday worship was all about honouring God. But it could also be very legalistic.

How do you prepare to come to church to worship? What do you expect from worship on Sunday? I often hear many say they come to be fed, to be blessed, and to be equipped. A quiet shift has taken place from going to church to glorify God and honour him, to worship now being about our experience of worship, coming for what God gives us on Sunday rather than what we’re bringing to God; honour and glory. Some come out of obligation or habit. Some come on Sunday morning so they can do what they want in the afternoon. Some come to be entertained; while others come to be seen and heard. It wasn’t much different in Israel. People came to the temple, but didn’t always come with a right heart or spirit, without reverence or awe of God. Worship was often a formality.

Solomon calls us to “Guard your steps” when we go to the house of God. This is a command, to come before God with reverence. It’s a reference to how coming before God is a holy experience, an echo to those times when God came and met his people personally. The most well-known is Moses and his encounter with God at the burning bush in Exodus 3. When he saw a bush on fire and not burning, he goes to check it out, “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.” Moses is struck by the realization that God has come to him, has reached down to speak with him, even though he’s a sinner and God is holy. Awe and reverence drives Moses to hide his face.

Jesus taught us to pray to God, “Hallowed be your name.” God is holy, and while he calls Abraham and others friends, we still approach him with awe and reverence because he’s the creator of all things, including us; he’s holy and the only one who can make us holy. Jesus calls us to approach the Father with respect; deep respect. We’re reminded that God is in heaven while we remain here on earth; we hear an echo again to how Jesus begins the prayer he teaches to his disciples, “Our Father who is in heaven.” This is why we come to God’s house to worship, coming together in a designated place to worship God, a place where we invite the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds to the presence of God.

One of Jesus’ angriest moments is when he sees God’s house disrespected in Matthew 21:12–13, “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” Those who came to worship at the temple would have had to contend with the noise and chaos of the sellers, the buyers, and the animals, all while trying to worship God. This would have especially affected the Gentiles, as the selling area was in the Gentile court, impacting their ability to worship, pray, or seek God’s presence. How can you approach God to worship in the middle of a marketplace, it would be like trying to worship at Parkland Mall while all the stores are open and doing business.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Hallowed be your name in heaven and on earth,” approaching God with respect. Jesus urges reverent worship in the temple because it’s the house of God. The writer to the Hebrews picks up on this call to reverent awe in 12:28–29, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” Worship, thankfulness, gratitude, and reverence are all connected. Because God’s holy, when he gives us his Spirit to live in us, the Spirit works like a consuming fire that burns away all that’s unholy, sanctifying us throughout our life into the image of Jesus. Be careful of being too casual with our holy God.

Solomon calls us to “Go near to listen;” to listen to God speaking rather than filling worship with our words. Going to listen shows humility, a desire to learn and be shaped by God, to grow into God’s image, to grow deeper in Christian character. In the Old Testament we’re told to worship God with reverence through listening rather than speaking. Deuteronomy 6:4–5 is central to the Jewish faith, reminding them of who God is and how to relate to God, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Hearing leads to obedience, the call to hear is a call to obey in the Old Testament. Without hearing there can be no understanding or obedience.

When Solomon talks about the “sacrifice of fools,” he’s pointing to doing sacrifices out of ritual rather than a desire to honour God through your offering; ritual is not good enough for God, he wants your heart and your entire life, this is why Jesus tells his followers that if they’re bringing sacrifices and remember that a brother has something against them, to put their offering down and to make things right with them before giving your offering to God. God is a God of restoration and reconciliation and it begins with each other.

Solomon goes on to talking about talking to God, about not being quick with your words, and not overtalking either. “God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” There’s a huge difference between God and us, we’re in no place to demand anything from God, nor to expect anything from God. Our ability to see things as God does is limited because we’re limited, living under the sun rather than seeing all things from the perspective of God. Jesus teaches us to let our words be few when we pray, Matthew 6:7–8, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” It’s about trusting God in our worship and our praying, because he’s our God, and our father, and loves us accordingly. His love for us is awesome! He keeps coming after us, he never gives up on us, he gives up his own holy Son so that we can be made holy through his sacrifice. God is an awesome God worthy of all our love and respect.

“When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.” Do not put strings or conditions on your requests to God, everything you already have is God’s anyway; a gift given to you to manage for him. Do not use God’s name lightly, let your mouth only use his name with the deepest respect and humility. In Matthew 5:33–37 Jesus warns us about making vows, “I tell you, do not swear an oath at all … All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” When we pray to God, it’s about trusting that God gives us what’s best for us. We don’t have to convince him to give us his blessings, it’s his joy to do so.

In Solomon’s time, worship was done at the temple; when Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman, he says in John 4, “a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” When we consider what Jesus endured for us so that we could be washed clean from our sin, made holy, our worship needs to reflect the holiness of God, to come to him with awe and reverence. It needs to become a part of each day as we worship through our work, our play, our home and family life, and in all parts of our lives, bringing glory to God.

 

A Cord of Three Strands - Ecclesiastes 4:1-16

Selfish individualism. We live in a very individualistic world. We’re constantly told that it’s all about us, and if it benefits us, rewards us, if we desire it, it must be good. Our busy lives are a sign of this too, we’re so busy because we’re afraid of missing out. When we slow down, many of us turn to social media to fill our time, and the algorithms tailor our social pages to our personal tastes and preferences, so that we never need to be challenged by a different perspective, leading us to believe we’re always right, leading to a more individualistic way of engaging the world. We’re all impacted by our culture, is selfish individualism rubbing off in the church too? A strong focus on the self leads to a lonely world.

Solomon addresses this in verse 4, “And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” People work hard to get ahead, too often with little concern for their neighbour, focused on what they don’t have but what the other person has. Envy easily leads to a willingness to step on others to achieve your desires. Solomon sees the oppression going on under the sun, he sees the tears and hears the cries of the oppressed. He recognizes that they’ve no comforter, no defender; they’re alone. Often, those being oppressed feel their friends slip away; they don’t want to be targeted themselves, so they step back. The oppressed experience even more pain as they struggle with no one on their side. Solomon emphasizes the aloneness, mentioning it twice, he recognizes what’s going on and calls it hevel, meaninglessness, like the wind blowing, you can’t hold onto what you’re chasing after under the sun into eternity.

Solomon addresses the desire for wealth and its cost, “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” It’s better to be content and grateful with one handful rather than desiring more and more, warning that it will come with toil. We hear an echo to Genesis 3 and God’s punishment to Adam, Genesis 3:17–19, “To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” For the greedy person, the toil is endlessly, and without any enjoyment of what they’re been working for. Eating supper alone, even with a large bank account, still means you’re eating alone, “there was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” this too is meaningless—a miserable business!”

You can be part of a community and still experience feelings of not belonging, of not having a place in the community, of being oppressed and no one recognizing or caring. It’s hard to walk through life alone, to feel friendless and struggle alone with no one to walk alongside you. The first “not good” in the Scriptures is when God sees that among all creatures, Adam is alone. God immediately creates Eve from the side of Adam as a help-mate for Adam, someone to share life with. We’re not called to walk alone; we’re created to be in community. Part of the image of God is community: three persons in one essence.

The feeling of aloneness, of feeling like you have no place happens even in churches, when no one recognizes or acknowledges your presence. It’s often surprising when you look around in a group like a church and observe how many people are overlooked, quietly ignored unless someone needs something from them, loneliness in a crowd. Having lived on the fringes of most groups, it’s something I’ve picked up on over the years. Someone recently wrote in a church blog about how church employees face this a lot, they’re only recognized as an employee and not as an individual with interests and a life outside the church. They went on to say how once they took a position in the church, even their friendships changed, simply because of their work. New members to a church can find it hard to really belong because those who’ve been there for a while are so comfortable with each other, that they find it difficult to remember to welcome new members, not only into the church, but also into their lives.

Solomon, as king, likely faced loneliness. Who can he confide in who understands what he carries as the one responsible for an entire nation? From the outside looking in, he had everything; he had great wisdom, wealth, many wives and concubines, power, and yet I wonder if he ever had an opportunity to relax with a bunch of friends and talk about how the archery competition went, how the fishing was in the Sea of Galilee, or how his chariot and horse team was faster than the king’s next door. How important it is to have people who see you for who you are rather than for what you do.

The power of loneliness has been used as a form of discipline. There are faith communities who use shunning, turning their backs on someone and not acknowledging their presence when they do something that members feel violates the values of the community. This is a powerful and extremely painful experience for those who are shunned. It’s often practiced in informal ways in many places, even in churches and church families.

This is why Solomon moves on to talk about the importance of companionship. “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” I heard a really wise statement this week, the discussion was about recovering from addiction and the person mentioned, “the opposite of addiction is connection.” People who are supported, who have someone in their lives to walk alongside them, encourage them, be there for them, are more likely to move out of addiction than those who try to do it on their own. Having someone come alongside you creates strength and increases your ability to heal, to work through hard stuff, to grow into your potential instead of losing hope and spiraling downwards.

We were created for companionship at creation, Jesus himself created a circle of companions by choosing 12 men to walk with, and a smaller circle of 3 friends to be with him during special and difficult times. The Holy Spirit created the church, a community of people to be family together, to support and encourage each other, to work together, to build close friendships with. The second of the great commandments is a call to “love your neighbour as yourself,” a call to look outwards to others and build relationships with them.

A wise friend offered this wisdom, “Both my personal relationship with God and my friendships with others require accountability and responsibility on my part. It’s a blessing to spend time with my Christian friends and it’s an essential part of my continuous growing relationship with God...here are some things that God has taught me through my friendships. Friendship is an extension of myself; the good, the bad, and the ugly; true friendship embraces the whole person. Don’t enter a friendship expecting to change the other person, instead expect God to use that person to change you! Some friendships are for a season of life, God puts them in your path to either meet a need/cause growth etc, for a defined period of time; that’s ok. In order to be a good friend, I need to give what I expect the other person to give; you cannot expect someone to trust you if you don’t trust in return. Christian friendship works best when love, forgiveness, accountability and responsibility are present; the combination of the four is awesome!”

We’re the body of Christ together. Remember that we’re all one in Christ. Reach out to those who aren’t connected. Seek out conversations with others not in your circle of friends, reach out to some of our housebound members, and to those who are going through difficult times, pay attention to the people around you to see who stands alone, talk to them. Ask questions to learn what they’re interested in, what some of their dreams are. Share what you appreciate about them to someone else that you normally don’t talk to, pray through the church directory, ask God for ways you can encourage and build them up in the Lord. Because we’re one in Christ, when we reach out to the other, we’re reaching out to Jesus, and we’re being changed because we’re his body together. As the body of Christ, when we work towards everyone being healthy and connected, the stronger the body of Christ is.

In Christian friendships, we grow stronger as we’re changed by the other person through God. Like a three stranded cord, Jesus keeps us from unravelling, adding security and strength into our relationships. When you braid a rope, you start with a knot and when you finish you end with another knot to keep it together. In the same way, Jesus is the knot that holds us together giving us strength. May we live together under Jesus rather than under the sun.

A Time for Everything - Ecclesiastes 3:1–22

This morning we’re returning again to Ecclesiastes. Just a few reminders of key thoughts in this book: the word hevel, meaning vapour, empty, void, or no substance is repeated over and over again in this book, often translated as meaningless. Ecclesiastes offers a philosophy of life rooted in living “under the sun,” understanding the world from the perspective of humanity rather than through the eyes and plans of God.

I remember a song based on the first 8 verses of our passage this morning, written by Pete Seeger and sung by the Byrds called Turn! Turn! Turn! These first 8 verses are a poem that is based on the theme of time, how there’s a time or season for every activity under the heavens. As you read the poem more slowly and reflectively, it can bring on feelings of unsettledness; there’s nothing permanent. Verses 2-8 bring together opposites without any judgment on whether one is better than the other, only that at certain times one is present, but that at other times, the other is present.

Time is the key word in this text, there is a time for this, and then there’s a time for that, but do we really know which time we’re in right now. It’s spring, planting season, but when exactly will the weather let us get into the field to begin. Same with harvest, it’s not like you can put an exact date on your calendar to begin, it all depends on how the growing season goes. You can say, “Well, we mostly know around when these seasons are,” but how about those in business, can you truly say with absolute certainty that right now is a good time to start a business, or grow your business, or hold firm, or shut down? In all this talk about time, one time cancels out another time, so nothing really changes, hevel, nothingness. We hear an echo to chapter 1:4-6, “Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.”

We think we have control, we make plans, we work hard, always expecting that everything is going to work out according to our plans, but the reality is when we make plans, then, as James tells us, we should say, “Lord willing.” Who saw a pandemic coming, who saw the war in Iran that is creating economic hardship all over the world coming, who really sees drought or flooding coming; so often we live in ignorant bliss thinking we’re in control, in charge of our lives and decisions; blissful ignorance. When the Teacher wrote this, the people were buying and selling, making fortunes and losing them, thinking that they’re in charge. There’s no awe for God, only ritual performance, doing faith for show, not from the heart or a relationship with God.

They’re living under the sun, without any true concern about God in their daily lives. In our own busyness, we all have times where we think we’re in charge and fail to really consider or think about God until something unexpected, usually something that impacts us in negative ways, that we focus again on God. There are so many things that happen in our lives and all around us that we have no control over; only God is sovereign and is in control of what’s going on. Working hard, even for our own goals, isn’t wrong. God approves of using his blessings, it’s the abuse of his blessings and making them our end goal that he disapproves of.

Solomon then wonders what we actually gain from our work in verse 9, coming to the conclusion that it’s good to enjoy our work because that’s our lot. He goes on to remind us that “everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.” God’s works, what he’s doing will last into eternity, while what we do doesn’t endure forever; yet Paul does write in 1 Corinthians 3:12–14 about building our lives on Jesus, “If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.” It all comes back to living life over the sun, looking to live under Jesus, with an eye on who God is calling us to be. Solomon puts it this way, “God sets eternity in the human heart… I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.”

Verses 9-14 can be seen as the central theme of the entire book; in our limited perspective, it’s simply good to do good, to live with gratitude for all the simple gifts like eating and drinking, of family and friends, of blessing others to build community and society that reflects God’s goodness and will. All of the events, like those in the poem happen when they’re supposed to. All the impermanence and repetition are ordained by God to accomplish his purposes, even if under the sun it can feel like hevel, meaninglessness.

When we think on eternity, we see only a small part of God’s plan and purpose. We’re called to walk in faith because we can’t understand; Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” and Job 26:14, “And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”  and later in Ecclesiastes 8:17 Solomon writes, “then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.” Scripture keeps calling us to a humble understanding of the limits of our knowledge of God. God gives us glimpses of who he is and what he’s doing, but we can never know the entirety of what God is doing and what he has done. He tells us enough for us to know who he is and who we are, how he works and how we should work, but there’s so much more to who God is that we need to stand in awe before him.

Even though we’re not in control, we’re still responsible for what we do, especially since we should know good from evil by knowing what’s happened before, obeying how God’s called us to live, which is why Solomon reminds the people, “God will call the past to account,” and, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.” This is why we tell the stories of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit over and over again so that we can learn who God is, what he expects, and who he expects us to be as his children. Ignorance is no excuse for doing wrong. 

It's hard living with uncertainty, it creates anxiety or a sense of futility, of hevel. Anxiety leads to fear, to stress, and can impact relationships in negative ways. Solomon reminds us that God sets these times; God made everything beautiful in its time, he’s put eternity in our hearts, a call to look past living for what’s under the sun to living for who has created the sun and everything under and over it. Because we’re creatures created by God, we’re unable to really understand what God has done, is doing, and will do, but we can choose to trust God in uncertainty.

It takes faith to live with peace and hope, placing our trust and future in God’s hands. We grow in faith through regularly studying Scripture and who God reveals himself to be, a God who is invested in his people, a God who has a plan for saving his people and renewing all creation, a God who is in control, omnipotent. We grow in faith when we take time to talk with God regularly instead of only when we need something, we grow in faith when we regularly come together to worship God. The more we grow in our relationship with God, it leads us into a place of awe and wonder, both trusting and knowing that he’s made everything for its time, leading to the fulness of time, choosing to be happy and do good.

Paul reminds the church in Galatians 4:4–5, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Jesus speaks to the time of his return in Matthew 24, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.… So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” The poem in verses 1-8 can give the impression that everything in time simply repeats, God shows that time is flowing towards the fulfillment of his plan of redemption and restoration of all things. As we look forward to Jesus’ return, keep your eyes on God, do good. While our fate is similar to the animals in that we’ll die, we know that God has his purposes for us, that our lives are not hevel because we’re his children, so live in confidence and in awe of our God who holds our times in his hands.