Balance is a Myth

So we started this series last weekend called You'll Be Dead Soon and a lot of times I get asked as a pastor, hey, do you think we're in the end times? How many of you have wondered that? Do you think we're in the end times? Just a show of hands, right? Yeah, and people look at the sign of the times and they look at what the Bible says and prophecy and those kinds of things and people will ask me around town or in the lobby here at the church or whatever, Chad, do you think we're in the end times? Here's my answer, I don't know. Most likely, yeah. I mean, every day we're a little closer to the end. Does this make sense? But what kind of blows my mind is there's a lot of people that study all of that and I get it, it's fascinating. I've studied it, I know the different theories, all of that, okay, like I'm in, I get it. But we spend so much time thinking about the end of time that we don't think about the end of our time. Because I can't tell you when the world's gonna end but I bet I can guess your end within probably 20, 25 years, what do you think? I mean, none of us know how much time we have left but we all know our time's gonna end. Can we all agree on that? The one thing we all have in common

is we all have a date of birth and a date of death and right now we're living out that little dash between those two dates. And there's this book in the Bible that we're walking through this summer called Ecclesiastes. It was written by Solomon. The Bible says that Solomon is the wisest man that ever lived. He's the wealthiest man that ever lived. He had accomplished more in life than anybody else that's ever lived. And at the end of his life, he writes these wisdom books. A couple of them are in your Bible and one of them is in Ecclesiastes. And so we're just walking through this. Now here's the challenge of Ecclesiastes. When you read it, it sounds depressing, but it's not. When we gain an understanding of what he's saying and why he's saying it, it helps us to live our lives on purpose and to live our lives with meaning. And one of the things that Solomon says is, if you want to be wise in the way that you live your life, you've got to think about the fact that your life is going to end. This is our key verse for the series. This is Ecclesiastes chapter seven, verse two. Follow along with me in your Bible here on the screen. And I really want to encourage you to memorize this verse. I always quote this verse when I perform a funeral.

Here's what it says, Ecclesiastes chapter seven, verse two. He writes, it is better to go to a house of mourning. That's a funeral. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting. For death is the destiny of everyone and the living should take this to heart. If we're going to be wise in the way that we live, we have to remember that one day we will die. And so we started this series last weekend and we just asked the question, what will your story be? In other words, people are gonna talk about you at your funeral, what do you want them to say? You want to live in such a way that nobody has to lie at your funeral. That they can celebrate your life, that they can celebrate your faith in God and they can celebrate who you were in their lives because in the end, all that matters is God and people. So we talked about last weekend, what will your story be? If you weren't here, I hope you'll go online and watch and listen to that sermon. Here's what I want to talk about this weekend. What are you doing with your time? Because life is about time. What you do with your time is what you are doing with your life. And so we're gonna look at one of the most famous passages in all the Bible. If you brought your Bible,

turn to Ecclesiastes chapter three. In fact, I wanna challenge you guys with this. I know we always put the verses on the screen. In this series and moving forward, bring your Bible to church. Because I'm gonna read some scriptures that are not on the screen today, but you can follow along with me if you've got your Bible with you. So Ecclesiastes chapter three, beginning in verse one. This is a really famous passage of scripture. There was a song in the 60s that came out about this passage of scripture. You're going to know this passage, even if you don't attend church regularly. And he's talking about time. I said this a moment ago, all of us have regrets and we can't gain time back, but we can redeem the time that we've been given. I said this last weekend, I wanna remind you of it. Would you like to see me time travel? Would you like to see me do it again? All of us are time traveling. We're just moving forward. Okay, so recall in the series, you'll be dead soon. You are closer to that moment right now than you were five seconds ago. And now you're closer. And now you're closer. And now you're closer.

Aren't you glad you came to church this weekend? I mean, we are all moving forward. We are time travelers, but we're all traveling into the future. What will your future be? What will you do with the time that you've been given? Ecclesiastes chapter three, beginning in verse one. I'm gonna share a lot of scripture with you today. And there's a lot of wisdom here. Here's what Solomon writes. There is a time for everything. And a, what's the next word? Say it with me, and a what? A season for every activity under the heavens. Okay, first observation. Let's stop right there for a second. The Bible says that time is about seasons. Did you see that there? Okay, when we talk about time, here's what we talk about, management, time management. In fact, I took a class one time about time management. And here's what I've learned. I can't manage time, and neither can you. To manage something means you have some control over it. You and I can't manage time. We can only manage ourselves. I'm gonna say something. I say it, it always bothers different people. And so I'm gonna say it again, just because I enjoy bothering people, I guess,

on some level. I tend to say this. There's no such thing as quality time. There's just time. And invariably, some guy will come up to me and goes, there's such thing as quality time. And I'm like, give me an example. Well, I can like, you know, either watch TV, or I can do something valuable with my time. I go, did the time change, or did you? Did you change time, or did you just change your decisions? No such thing as quality time. There's just time, and what you and I decide to do with it. Do you see the difference? What we just read is there are seasons. So we think time management, and we think living a balanced life. But just think about this. We just read that life is about seasons. Seasons are not balanced. I will give you an example. Right now, in the East Valley of Phoenix, here in Arizona, it's summertime. You know what that means? It's hot, and it is not balanced with winter. When we wake up in the morning, you know what it's gonna be? It's gonna be hot. When you go to bed tonight, you know what it's gonna be? It's gonna be hot. You're not gonna wake up in the morning to 50 degrees.

You're gonna wake up to a hot sidewalk soon as you walk out outside. Can I get an amen? It's hot. Seasons are not balanced, which means a balanced life is a myth. I'm gonna give you one big thought here. When you think about your life, what we tend to think is like pie pieces, like a pie chart, right? Like I have my family life, and I have my work life, and I have my recreational life, and then there's my church life, and we've got all these pie pieces. God says, forget about that. I'll give you a verse of Scripture. Matthew 6, 33. This is Jesus speaking. He says, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you as well. Instead of thinking a balanced life in these pie pieces, make your life about seeking God first, and then let everything else flow out of that, because life is going to have seasons. I'm about to read some of the seasons. Some seasons of your life will be really, really fun, and you will love it, and it will be amazing. And some seasons of your life will be really, really hard, and there will be tears, and you will weep,

and it will be difficult, and your life will not be balanced. What there is in life is not balanced. Listen close, because I'm gonna unpack this with you over the next few minutes. It's not gonna be entertaining, but hopefully it will be helpful. You with me? Instead of looking for balance, realize that life is a matter of managing tensions. Managing tensions. For example, right now in my life, I have some really difficult things going on, and I have some really great things going on, and these things are not balanced. It's not that I wake up in the morning and go, ooh, is the good outweighing the bad? Are we bad? No, I'm just holding those things all at the same time. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? The older you get, the more you realize life is living in those kinds of tensions. There are wonderful things and there are difficult things all happening in the same time, and there are seasons when that ebbs and flows, leans one direction or the other. to think life was highs and lows, highs and lows, like peaks and valleys. You guys know what I'm saying? Like, am I on a high or am I on a low?

But as time goes on, I've realized I can get happy in the same pants I'm getting upset in. There's going to be great things. There's going to be difficult things. All that matters is how I'm going to choose to live today. Does this make sense to you? It's not how we think. It's not how we look at things. It's not how movies teach us to live, but it is the timeless wisdom of the Bible. Just so you know, yes, the Bible is an ancient book, but more than that, it is a timeless one. The truth in it was true then, it's true now, it will always be true. So what he's telling us here over the next few minutes as we read this is wisdom for the ages. And I'm telling you, life is not a problem to be solved. Life is a mystery to be lived. And the more that you try to solve all the problems of life and all the questions of life, and the more that you try to solve the problem of the tensions, the more frustrated and miserable you will be. Think seasons, think tensions, think mystery, all under the sovereignty of a good God. You ready? Let's read it. See if you see tensions here. See if you see seasons here. So there's a time for everything

and a season for every activity under the heavens. Now, what I'm about to read is not gonna be on the screen. If you have your Bible, you can follow along with me, but I'm just gonna read these tensions that he lists here. And this is actually poetry. In Hebrew, it's beautiful. In English, it can be a little rough, but I'll explain some of it as we go. All right, so every activity under the heavens. Verse two, a time to be born and a time to die. That's not balanced. Birth looks a whole lot different than death. And there's a time for both. When you were born, you were the only one who cried. Everybody else was happy. Yeah. Yeah. And when you die, if you've given your life to Jesus, you'll be the only one who's happy and everybody else will be crying. But the determining factor of whether you're happy or not is whether you and I settle in to what we're talking about today and choose to redeem the time that we've been given. There's a time to be born and a time to die. Listen to this, a time to plant and a time to uproot. Now, as I read these, ask yourself what season you're in. Planting season, uprooting season. Verse three, there's a time to kill and a time to heal. Let me just ask you this, not somebody, but something.

Is there something in your life that needs to die? You just need to let it go. Is there something in your life that you really need to restore and work on and find healing there? All of these things are tensions and we need wisdom in the tension of it all. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build. There's a time to weep and a time to laugh. You know what I love about the Bible? The Bible doesn't say, just stay positive. Just have a positive mindset. No, what's he saying? Sometimes it's time to cry. Some of you, you're in a season right now, it's time to cry. Let it out. Sometimes in recent days, like I'll just have a wave of emotion hit me and I'll have a friend that's just like, let it go. Like, let it out. Let it ride. For all the men, real men cry. They don't whine, gripe and complain constantly. Are you taking notes? But pain is real and it's okay to feel the pain. It's okay to embrace the pain. It's okay to experience the pain and it's okay to cry in the pain.

There is a time to weep, so do that. And there's also a time to laugh, so do that. And what I've learned is, it could be the time of day lately in my life. At this time of day, it was time to weep. This time of day, it was time to laugh. A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn. A time to dance. Some of you need to learn how to dance. Because there's gonna come a time when it's time. That was a little bonus, you're welcome. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. What does that mean? There are different ideas of what that particular line means. Think remodel. There's a time to remodel your life. There's a time to tear it down and rebuild it. There's a time to shake things up so that they can be made new. There's a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. There's a time to search and a time to give up searching. Now I said something really good a moment ago and a bunch of you missed it. And I hope that you write it down. Life is not a problem to be solved. It's a mystery to be lived. Some of you are searching, searching, searching, searching. You wanna know why, you wanna know why, you wanna know why this has happened.

Look at me. You may not ever know why this side of heaven. And the longer you wrestle with God trying to figure out why, the longer you're gonna stay in frustration and misery. Some things you just trust him and let it go. It's not a problem to be solved. It's a what? Mystery to be lived. There's a time to search and a time to give up searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. How many of you need to clean out your garage? Might be time for that. There's a time to tear and there's a time to mend. There's a time to be silent. I'm gonna say that one again. It's a time to be silent. I'm gonna say that one again. It's talking to myself. It's a time to be silent and a time to speak. There's a time to love and catch this and a time to hate. Oh, did we just read the Bible says there's a place for hate? Absolutely. Think with me. Did you know God hates some things? Did you know you can't love anything without also hating some things? It's impossible. In fact, what you hate reveals a whole lot

about your character. There are some things that should be hated. Injustice should be hated. Wrongs, evil, racism, prejudice, the strong preying on the weak, these things should be hated. There's a time to love and a time to hate. The last one, there's a time for war. And there's a time for peace. A time for war. I thought God was all loving. Oh, he's gonna come down and throw down. When Jesus comes back, he doesn't come back as a little baby in a manger, cute, cuddly, and omnipotent. He comes as a warrior on a horse to wipe out all evil for all time. And by the way, he's wearing white. He's not even planning on getting dirty. He's that powerful. But there is a time for war, for just war. And there's also a time for peace. So, okay, thinking about those things, and I hope you'll look at this again this week, what time is it in your life? And what season are you in? The writer continues. He gives that poetry, and he talks about how there's our seasons,

and there's a place for every activity under heaven, that God has a purpose for all of it. But then he starts to break it down. He says, verse nine, what do workers gain from their toil? He says, I have seen the burden that God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Now, let's stop right there for a second. He doesn't say everything is beautiful in the moment. He says everything is beautiful in its what? Time. If it's not good, God's not done. And there is purpose and meaning and a reason for it all, much of which we won't know this side of heaven. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also. No set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Okay, let's put this all together for a second and then I'm gonna read a little more. I've only got three points. Okay, guys, this is thick, this is deep, you gotta think. Okay? God's put eternity in our hearts. What does that mean? If you are here this weekend and you're not a believer, you don't know what you believe about God,

somebody cute invited you, whatever, and so you're here and I'm so glad you're here and you're welcome to be here as much as you wanna be here. You don't have to believe what we believe to attend here at Sun Valley. But here's what you know, even if you don't believe in God, the world is not as it should be. I mean, is there anything unjust in the world? And if you're like, absolutely, then you do not believe in survival of the fittest. You think there is more to life than the material universe. If you believe in handicap parking and you think that's a good thing, you do not believe in survival of the fittest. You believe in justice, you believe in compassion, you believe in something more than the strong rule. The reason you believe that, the reason that you think things are not as they should be is because God put eternity in your heart. And that's what all of us are chasing. That's why we chase wealth, that's why we chase varying relationships, that's why we chase things that are not good for us. We are chasing, chasing, chasing because our souls are thirsty. Eternity resides in our hearts. God put it there, why? So that we would thirst for Him and trust Him. And we just read that God has put this burden on the human race,

that there's toil under the sun and we don't find satisfaction in it. We just read all of these tensions that we have to manage. Let me break this down for you. Here's the frustrating thing about life, okay? Life is full of problems. And it's full of problems that we will never solve. What are you gonna do with that? You're going to wake up tomorrow to problems that will never be solved. Welcome to the human race. You mean prove it to you? I'm gonna talk politics for a second, you excited? Might get myself canceled. I don't even care, let's go. You realize politics is not set up to solve problems because most problems cannot be solved. Think, think with me. Most things are not a problem to be solved, most things are attention to be managed. For example, a politician that represents your district, when they go to Washington, should they represent the rich or should they represent the poor? Yes, because both reside in their district. Because both reside in their district. This is called common sense. If they're gonna represent the people, they're gonna represent both the rich and the poor and everybody in between.

Does this make sense to everybody? Okay, let's keep going. Should we secure the border or welcome refugees? Yes. Should we protect the life of the unborn or care for women in difficult situations? Yes. Let's think about you and your house. Should you lock your front door or care for homeless people? Yes. You realize what we do in politics? We go all the way over here, all the way over here, but the truth is most of life is we've got to manage the tension in the middle. Does this make sense to everybody? I need you to nod at me so I know that you're getting this. Okay, here's the secret though of living wisely. It's you and I realizing that all of life is like that. Let me ask you this. Are you waiting right now for a season where you will finally be happy? Have you ever said this? I will be happy when fill in the blank. Let me help you. Happiness is not a destination that you arrive at. Happiness is the habits that you choose to practice day in and day out. And chasing it, this book in the Bible, Ecclesiastes, because a lot of it says meaningless, meaningless, chasing after the wind.

Chasing happiness, Solomon says, is like trying to grab smoke. Because if you're going, oh man, if I didn't have any problems, then I would be happy. You're always going to have problems because you live in a broken world and you're going to have to let go. live in the tension of managing those problems all the time. What will you do with your one and only life? You will be dead soon. And you know what we do? We cry and we whine, and how come my life is not like this? And how come my life is not like that? And why is their life this way, but my life is this way? Because comparison is always the thief of joy. If you wanna make yourself unhappy, just start looking at Instagram and how great everybody else's life is. By the way, those are the highlight reels of their life. It's not reality. There's all these things that we do because we think there's some destination somewhere where it will finally be perfect, and there is, it's called heaven. But what will you do in the meantime? Eternity is in your heart. You long for that. But if you're expecting that here, you will always be miserable and frustrated,

and you will never get anything done, and you will live a meaningless, pointless, sad existence. But if you choose to just live in reality, that most things are not problems to be solved because it'll never completely be solved, most things are tensions to be managed, and that God is great, and God is good, and you can trust Him, then you're at a place where you can begin to build on that, live a life of joy and meaning and purpose under the sun. First thing here in the notes, here's what He's saying. Our efforts are limited, limited. Yes, we can manage tensions. Yes, on some level, we can solve problems, but our efforts are going to be limited in what they can accomplish. This is the burden that God has laid on the human race. Our biggest problem with God, you know what it is? I'm gonna tell you what your biggest problem with God is. You ready? You're not Him. By the way, that was the devil's biggest problem with God. He can see what you can't see, he knows what you don't know, and you're gonna have to choose whether or not to trust him. I'll give you a common prayer that I pray. God, I trust you, help me to trust you. I think that's a pretty good prayer. God, I trust you, help me to trust you.

So He said, eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. There's just gonna be some things that you don't understand and you've gotta live in that tension. Verse 12, He says, I know that there is nothing better. So what do we do? He's gonna tell us. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live, that each of them may eat and drink and find some satisfaction in all their toil. This is the gift of God. Okay, so what's He saying? There's all of these big problems. There's all of this mystery out there. Okay, life is not a problem to be solved. It's just a mystery to be lived. I'm gonna live in these tensions. So what do I do? I get happy. How do I get happy? I get grateful, realizing that all good things are a gift of God. Now, I said this last week and I'm gonna tell you again. I'm gonna give you the secret of happiness right now. You ready? This is it. Okay, this is wisdom. This is from Ecclesiastes.

All I'm doing is compressing it. Here's what Solomon says if you wanna be happier in your life. First thing, lower your expectations. Nothing under the sun will ever be perfect. Nothing under the sun will ever be fair. Lower your expectations. That is a huge secret of happiness. Okay, real quick. If you're somebody that gets upset all the time when something doesn't go your way, grow up. Because it's never gonna completely go your way. In fact, don't expect it to completely go your way. I'm gonna say what I say lately. Calm down. Live lightly, freely. We talked a lot about this in the previous series talking about the soul. Lighten up. Be a grace-filled, grace-centered, grace-giving person. And you will be a whole lot happier. First step to experiencing happiness and joy in your life is you lower your expectations. Second step, you increase your gratitude. You do those two things, you will be considerably happier every day of your life. Lower your expectations. What are you grateful for? And the more that you focus on what you're grateful for, the happier you will be.

Here's what Solomon just said, okay? So a time for this, a time for this, a time for this, a time for this. There's all of these tensions. God's laid this burden on us. There's eternity in our hearts. What do we do? Well, we lower expectations. we get grateful. Here's what he's saying in your notes. Do good and be grateful. Just do good and be grateful. Well, how do I know what God wants me to do? Here's what he wants you to do. The next right thing. What is it? Just every day, wake up, do good and be grateful. There's all of these mysteries. There's all these challenges in life. What will you do with it? You do good and you be grateful. Verse 14, he says, I know that everything God does will endure forever, which is really good news because God is great and God is good and he will accomplish his purposes. I know that everything God does will endure forever. Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him. God's ways and God's will, all of it will come to pass and all of it will be made beautiful.

When? In its time. God, I trust you. Help me to trust you. What Solomon is saying is don't grasp your ways too tightly. Life's not gonna go your way. There's going to be challenges. You're gonna have some curved balls. All these things are a part of life. Watch me. So here's what you do. Watch my hands. You surrender it to the Lord and you step into this flow of receiving his good gifts and surrendering your life back to him. You lower your expectations, you increase in gratitude, you do good and you get grateful because the purposes of God endure forever. Right now it could be, you know who he's writing this to, by the way? He's writing it to all of us who are shaking our little bitty fist in the massive face of an almighty God. And we're so mad that we're not him. And we're so mad that it's not going our way. Hey, look at me. What are you gonna do with that? You'll be dead soon. Gonna waste your whole life griping that it didn't go your way?

Because there's a time for everything. And there's a reason for everything. For every purpose under heaven. And he will make it all beautiful in its time. Here in your notes, the purposes of God endure forever. You wanna know what the challenge of this sermon is today? Other than I didn't give you any funny stories and lighten up on you? Is there's no resolution. That's the problem with Ecclesiastes. There's no resolution in the sense of, hey, when you wake up tomorrow, it's all gonna be perfect now. No. But there is resolution above the sun. There is resolution on the other side. There is justice, there is peace, and everything is made right. So in this life, what will you do? God, you're God, I'm not. Redeem the time. What would it mean to wake up tomorrow and love the people around you? What would it mean tomorrow, even if you're in a difficult season, to just do the next right thing? God, you're God, I'm not. What would it mean to wake up tomorrow and love the people around you?

What would it mean tomorrow, even if you're in a difficult season, to just do the next right thing? What would it mean to choose gratitude and serenity, even in a broken world? What would it mean to say, I'm not gonna solve all the problems, but I can live in this tension better than I've been living? I think that he's good, and he makes everything beautiful when it's time. This is wisdom for you and I as we live under the sun. Let's pray together. What does God want you to let go of? What does he want you to take a breath about? What does he want you to calm down and relax about? And where does he want you to trust him? Father, give us wisdom of these things. Help us to know what time it is in our life. And to not waste it, but to grow through what we're going through and choose to redeem it. Each day is a gift. Teach us, we pray. And may we gain a heart of wisdom. In Jesus' name, amen.