What Time Is It?

Text: Ecclesiastes 3

I wonder if you noticed that there has been a method to the madness of the 3:16 series? This past Spring we looked at Stewardship and saw such texts as Leviticus 3:16 and we talked about an offering to God or Malachi 3:16 and talked about the Tithe. We looked at living in the midst of this world and saw sermons like “Warning” from 2 Peter 3:16. After that we began looking at our Spiritual Gifts and now, over the past several weeks we have been looking at Evangelism. We have jumped out of the 3:16's this month to ask “Why do you follow Christ” and what difference is it going to make in the world? We have looked at 1 Peter 3:16 and said we need to live out our faith regardless of the persecution that may follow. Be ready to tell others of the hope that is in you. Last week we saw that none are righteous but all are worthy. Christ died for us all. Today we will have the last sermon of our 3:16 series and, it too will be a sermon on evangelism.

Evangelism you may ask? Ecclesiastes 3? Isn't that the chapter that the Byrds got the lyrics to “Turn Turn” from? Well, yes it is, but there is a lot more to the chapter than just those few words and that is what we are going to look at today.
Ecclesiastes 3:16 – 22
Ecclesiastes is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted texts in our Bible. In a sense, people try to make of it what they will. For instance, one might read 2:13-14 and see that there are many advantages in this life to having wisdom OR one might read the same passage at another time in their life or from another translation and see that wisdom or foolishness doesn't matter because death comes to the foolish or the wise.
The truth is Ecclesiastes is hard for us to translate because it is so different from anything else we read. The Psalmist looks around at all that God has created and responds with a song of praise for God's great handiwork. The author of Ecclesiastes looks out at the same thing and sees the repetition of life, that the rivers flow into the sea, the wind blows where it may, the sun shines and the rain falls and then comes to the conclusion that, there is nothing new under the sun.
The prophet Isaiah may look at an unjust and corrupt society and demand justice in the name of God. The author of Ecclesiastes sees the same and says in 5:8, “It's just the system, you can't beat it.”

In some respects this is one of the most depressing books of the Old Testament. Songs like “Turn Turn Turn ” and “Dust in the Wind” were inspired by it. Songs that plea for peace or say simply that we are just dust waiting to blow in the wind when we die.
However, I think there is a lot more in this Book than depressing words about the meaningless life we live. I think it can help us to ask questions of ourselves. We can see injustice in the world around us and it can remind us that there is a time and purpose for everything under heaven.

That is the thought I want us to take a few minutes to look at. Time.
That thing that we just can't get enough of.
We always need more time don't we?
We say, “there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done.”
We have the term “waiting till the last … (what)... minute” – (time).
We are concerned that the time won't be there if we wait too long.
We worry about having time to do all our work and still spend time with our families.
We worry that time is slipping away and we can't control it.
Time, it seems, is our enemy, and for some maybe it is.
We do seem to have a limited amout of time in this life.
We do know that “This is the day and the hour of salvation”.
We know that others need to hear about and know Christ before before they die and we do not know when that “time” may come and we need to respond!

But I heard something yesterday about time. Bridget, the young lady that works at the Wash n Fold made a comment about time and then chuckled. She said my Mom always said “There's more time than life” Bridget would say, “Mom, I don't have time to do such and such, I have to finish this so and so.” and her mom would say, “There's more time than life.”
The truth is we use time as an excuse. We don't have time to go to church. We don't have time to talk to someone about the church or about God. We don't have time to care if someone is dying and going to hell.
Well, if that is the case maybe it's not about the time, maybe it's about our priorities. We somehow find the time to do the things we want to do. It's just those other things that we don't have time for.

Let me help us all out with this time thing,
Did God not create this world? Did God not design the earth to rotate around the sun setting our years and seasons? Did God not tilt the earth to the perfect 23.44° and set it spinning on it's axis to set our day's and nights? God created what we have deemed “time”.
God created just the right amount of time for what you need to do. The problem is we try to do all those things that we don't really need to do.
Time is what we make of it and that leads us to the question, “What time is it for you?”
In other words, what is God asking you to do with your time right now?
I think that issue of what God wants us to do with our time is directly related to our purpose as a church. Our church is not about this building! Our church has nothing to do with this building!

Don't get me wrong, I love this building. This building has a lot of history. There are a lot of sentimental feelings associated with this church. Sacred events have happened in this church. You and your children have been baptized in this church. Your families sweated as the bricks were laid and the repairs were conducted to this chancel and choir loft after the fire in 1927 – after much of the oil money had left the community.
All of those things are important for us as a church and as a community, but if this beautiful building were to be destroyed tomorrow we would still be a church. Because YOU are the church. In fact we as a church have somehow gotten this whole thing wrapped around backwards. And I'm not just talking about here in Wortham/Kirvin. I'm talking about the way we as Christians “do church”.
Somewhere between Christ and today we decided that church meant that we come for an hour of Sunday School, then meet together, sing a few songs, say a few prayers, put a little money in the offering plate, try to stay awake during a 20 minute speech that some call a sermon, sing a song and hope we make it to Magic China before the Baptists get there. Am I right?

That is what it means to “Do church”. Doing church involves coming to this building and doing “good things” and that's not a bad thing.
But being the church is something totally different.
Being the church means going to the McCurdy School in Espanola, NM on a mission trip.
Being the church means going to the food pantry and handing out food to those in need.
Being the church means seeing that person that you know is not in church and asking them if they would like to come to church with you Sunday.
Being the church means going to Caritas or Opening a Christian Clothes Closet, Oh, we are already doing that...
Being the church means more than simply showing up on Sunday and hoping to hear a good sermon. Being the church means you have to do something.

Now let me stop right hear and clarify something.
1) I'm not saying that you don't have to come to church. I can hear it now, “well I don't feel one bit guilty for missing church the entire 9 weeks of Deer Season because the preacher said being out doing is more important that just coming to the church.” or “I can skip church this week, it's getting to be Christmas season and I do need to do all my shopping. After all, I can't very well be with those that need to go to church on Sunday if I'm in church. I'll be able to talk to more people that need to be in church if I go on Sunday.”
No, We should never forsake the assembling together as believers.

2) I'm not saying that there is no purpose in coming together here in this beautiful building.
What I'm saying is, well, let me steal a phrase from Gerald Ray.

We need to come to church to fill our salt shaker. We should never have a full salt shaker.
What is salt? It is a purifying agent. It is a seasoning. It is what we are. We are to be out salting the earth, spreading the great seasoning of Jesus in the world. Think of your life as that salt shaker. We need to be emptying that salt shaker every week as we spread Christ to the world around us.
Then, when we come on Sunday we fellowship with other believers.
We gather and discuss how we spread our salt.
We rejoice in lives changed.
We support and repair each other when our shaker gets cracked by heartaches and mistakes.
And we refill our salt-shakers with the Word of God and the Fellowship of the Saints so we can go do it again.

Though Ecclesiastes seems to be saying that time and justice doesn't really matter because everything ends with death, we know there is more. There is more to church. There is more to life. There is more, because, as Jesus said, we are the salt of the earth.

It's time to spread a little salt.

When we see the injustice and wickedness under the sun, spread a little salt.
When we go out into our work, spread a little salt.

Go spread some salt. Share your salt with the world.

That is what time it is.