Seasons || Charles Zimmerman || May 3, 2026

So, if you have your Bibles, turn to

Ecclesiastes chapter 3. If you're using

Ecclesiastes 3 · chapter mention

a phone or an iPad, you can go to

Ecclesiastes and find that. If you're

using a Bible out of the seat rack,

that's page 456.

And I'm going to read, say, the first 16

verses or so. So, here we go.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3, not in the

Ecclesiastes 3 · chapter mention

laboratory, in the easy chair,

contemplating the seasons of life.

There's a time for everything and a

season for every activity under the

heavens. A time to be born and a time to

die. A time to plant and a time to

uproot.

A time to kill and a time to heal. A

time to tear down and a time to build. A

time to weep and a time to laugh. A time

to mourn and a time to dance. A time to

scatter stones and a time to gather

them. A time to embrace and a time to

refrain from embracing. A time to search

and a time to give up, a time to keep

and a time to throw away. A time to tear

and a time to mend. A time to be silent.

And a time to speak, a time to love and

a time to hate. A time for war and a

time for peace.

what the workers gain from their toil. I

have seen the burden God has laid on the

human race. He has made everything

beautiful in its time. He has also set

eternity in the human heart. Yet no one

can fathom what God has done from

beginning to end. 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 satisfaction in all their toil.

This too is the gift of God. 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. Whatever is has

already been and what has and what will

be has come has been before and God will

call the past to account. And I saw

something else under the sun in the

place of judgment. Wickedness was there

in the place of justice. Wickedness was

there. I said to myself, 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. Now, we're going to walk through

those verses and uh we need to kind of

fly above a little bit to see what's

going on. But did you notice what he

says? There is a season that we're in

and the seasons come together to kind of

show us how life works. There are

seasons and what do we do? We are living

in a particular season. Living in the

seasons of life. Now, we need to uh kind

of take roll just to make sure we're on

track here. How many of you are in the

season of going to school? Raise your

hand. Okay, we got some season. Um, in

the first service we had the middle

schoolers and high schoolers stayed.

That's a season of life, right? Middle

school, high school, elementary school.

If you're in school, that's a season.

Now, some of you are on the opposite end

of that season. How many of you are in

this season of retirement?

Yeah, we got some retirees here, right?

So, if you're retired, you went to

middle school, you went to high school,

you went to elementary school.

Hopefully, you passed all those things.

And eventually, you get a job. And if

you retire from that job and you're now

on in the season of retirement, your

working career is behind you. How many

of you are in the season of raising

kids? How many? Yeah, we got some

raising kids here. How many of you are

in the season of empty nest? Kids leave.

Yeah. And let me just warn you, they

come back sometimes, right? You don't

want them to necessarily. You send them

on their way. You're just enjoying and

then they may come home. You're in the

season. How many of you are in the

season of

resting,

the season of contemplating,

the season of wondering?

Okay, the scripture tells us and the

writer of Ecclesiastes says life is put

together as a series of seasons. One

comes after the ne. Now, we know how

that works in the natural world, right?

It is now spring and I wish it would

hurry up and get warmer this spring. And

after spring will come summer and after

summer comes fall and then comes winter.

Uh and then it'll be spring again. See,

there's a season that comes upon season.

That's how God has kind of organized

life. And as you read as I read through

those verses, you we recognize what

season we're in. There are some seasons

behind and some seasons ahead. And if

while I was reading those first first

eight verses, you were thinking of the

bird song from the 60s, that mean you're

that means you're in the old season. Um,

seasons of life. Okay, but let's um kind

of dive in a little bit in those verses

that we read. Yeah, there are seasons

and a series of seasons, but the seasons

have a rhythm and a pattern to them. Do

you notice that? And one season follows

the other. There's a rhythm and a

pattern to how they go. And so we're not

we don't have time to look at each of

the seasons. Um if we were to look at

that in a more technical sense, here's

how those first eight verses work.

That is a series of merorisms. A meism

is a figure of speech where the author

gives you the first item and the last

item to refer to everything in the list.

Right? So, if you're familiar with the

some of you are real familiar with this

with the Amazon logo, right? Amazon with

the little a that arrow goes from A to Z

in the Amazon word. Why? Because that's

kind of a logarism saying they will

deliver from A to Z, right? That that's

a logarism. Each of those 14 items there

are is a merorism, right? The beginning

and end with everything in between. Now,

we don't have time to look at all 14.

Uh, let let me let me just pick out a

couple to say something about.

Did you notice that it says um there's a

time to plant and then a time to uproot?

Now, it's spring. Some of you like

digging in dirt and you're planting,

right? Maybe you got to overseed the

lawn. Maybe you're putting flowers in.

It's a time to plant. It's not a time to

uproot in the spring. Unless you didn't

uproot the stuff in the fall and now you

got to take it out now to plant new

things. There's a time to plant and

uproot. There's a time to plant and a

time to harvest. There there's a season,

a cyclicality to life that we understand

how it goes. That's what the author

says. He's reminding us of the seasons

of life. Here's another one that he

says.

There's a time to gather stones and a

time to scatter stones. Now, there's

disagreement on what that is about, but

it kind of makes sense if you think of

it like this. A time to gather stones

would be a time of building. You go out

into your fields. You walk around your

property. You gather stones. And back in

the ancient world, why would you gather

the stones to build? You're going to

build the walls to separate your field

from someone else's or you're going to

gather stones and build your house. So,

gathering stones, a time of peace and a

time of building where you're going to

take the gathered stones and construct

something. Well, what would it mean to

scatter stones? Well, I think it's maybe

the opposite of that. A time to scatter

stones is maybe maybe you had a dispute.

Maybe there's a war. So what do you do?

You defeat an enemy or the enemy defeats

you. What do they do? They take your

wall that you built and they throw the

stones back on the field. They take your

house, they knock it down, throw the

stones on the field. So now you have

difficulty planting and growing. A time

of victory, a time of defeat. Maybe

that's what's going on. Oh, here's

another one that it says, a time to keep

and a time to throw away. Some of you

need to enter that second season there

because you could be on the next episode

of Hoarders, the way you guys operate. A

time to keep. Yeah, sometimes it's

important to save things, but there's

also a time to throw away. If you don't

throw away, your kids are going to throw

it away or your grandkids. A time to

keep. And you got to know which season

you're in, the beginning and the end.

Um, a time to be silent and a time to

speak. Life is made up of seasons. And

the author of Ecclesiastes is saying

from one season to the next, there's a

rhythm. There's a pattern. And we know

how the seasons work. But not just a

rhythm and pattern. He also is hinting

that every season has challenges and

opportunities.

There are challenges in every season. It

does. If you're in elementary school,

middle school, there are challenges to

that, right? peer pressure, challenges,

homework pressure, parent challenges.

There's challenges that come, but

there's also opportunities.

Opportunities to learn new things,

opportunities to kind of exercise your

athletic ability and develop. Every

season has opportunities and challenges.

So, it's almost as if the author saying

God takes us through these seasons of

life, but there's a purpose to them. It

isn't just coincidental. It isn't just

um haphazard. No, the seasons are

organized. God has so organized life

above the sun, below the sun, it may

seem like it's haphazard. Seasons don't

matter. No, but there's a there's a

rhythm and a pattern and there are

challenges and opportunities from each

season. And what's the point? You need

to be present in the season you're in.

And you need to move on when you're

finished with that season. You know,

sometimes we're so worried or anxious

about where we were that we bring the

old baggage from the previous season

into this season and we don't do a a

good job in this season because we're

worried about or we're thinking about

the next season and we can't get to get

we can't wait to get there. No, live in

the season you're in. There are

challenges and opportunities in that

season. The previous challenges and

opportunities are gone. The future ones

aren't there yet. be in the season

accepting the challenges, making the

most of the opportunities, but remember

above the sun. There is an author. It

may seem like it's haphazard. It may

seem like it's just this cyclical

thing that goes over and over again.

There's no progress being made. There's

no destination. It's just over. No, but

there is an author. This is a journey.

There is God above the sun. H Let me

explain it this way.

Um a little while ago I had to go to

East Penn manufacturing

in Lion Station, Pennsylvania.

I had never heard of Lion Station

before. I had never heard of East Penn

manufacturing, but I was supposed to go

there. So what I would normally do kind

of take out a map, remember those some

of you, right? if you're in the older

season. And I like to know kind of where

I am, where I'm going, and how to get

there. But I didn't have time. So, I get

in the car and do it and did what my two

daughters did. I just put into the GPS

um East Penn manufacturing in Lion

Station, Pennsylvania. And it started

out fine. I left my home. I go up to

Ridge Road, make a left. I know Ridge

Road. My daughter lives on Bridge Road.

Drive it. Drive right past her house.

And I get to 63 and I make a right. And

I'm headed down. I've been on that road

before. I know where I'm going.

Eventually 63 comes to 20. I got on 20.

I've been there before. I know that.

Been to Makobi Golf Course. Know where

it is. I'm driving up 29 and eventually

get to Red Hill. I know where that is.

Continue. We get to East Greenville. I

know where I'm at. We kept going.

Eventually I came to Bear Creek. Now

I've been to Bear Creek before. No. But

my GPS said keep going. I've never been

beyond Bear Creek. I never knew there

was a world beyond Bear Creek. So I keep

going beyond. And now I am completely I

have no idea where I am. Continue though

because the GPS says, "Hey, we we got

like a half hour to get there. You're

going to miss the appointment."

Continue. Eventually, we come to Route

100. And GPS says, "Turn right. Turn

right." About a 100 yards later, turn

left. I turn left onto this road that

seems like it's going nowhere. It's in

between farms. I'm in the middle of

woods. And then I come up. The road

takes a hard right. All of a sudden, the

the trees are almost touching each other

across the road. It's dark. I don't know

where I'm at. I come to the dead end to

make a left. and I have no idea where I

am. Eventually, I continue. I wind

around for about 20 minutes or so.

Eventually, I came to a red light. It

said, "Turn left." I turned left on the

deck of road and there was these pen

manufacturer.

Huh. It's almost like the GPS guy knew,

right? Um, there was a destination. It

seemed coincidental, half pass. I had

never been there before. You know,

sometimes the seasons of life are like

that, right? You wonder if there's a

point. You wonder if there's a purpose.

Yeah, there is a season. There's a

cyclicality to the seasons. There's a

rhythm and a pattern. There are

challenges and opportunities, but there

is a destination. But if we only look

under the sun, we don't realize that God

has given a GPS and there's a

destination. The seasons don't just

repeat forever. The seasons are leading

us. And what God wants, he wants us to

be challenged in this season to make the

most of the opportunities so that we

grow, so that we develop, we mature, we

become stronger, and that we reach the

right destination.

There's a rhythm and a pattern.

Challenges and opportunities, but

there's a purpose behind what looks like

coincidence.

God is leading through the seasons to a

destination.

Well, now we come to the depressing

part. We looked at them living through

the seasons of life. Now, the author

takes a turn because it seems like it's

pretty positive so far, but the author's

not got a positive spin on this because

now he talks about

dying. Now, dying is the season we all

face. There is a dying season, right? If

you look at the first two verses, there

is a time, what's verse two say? A time

to be born and a time to die. There is a

time to die. Now, um I know it's not

nice to talk about dying in polite

company, but just to make sure we're

tracking, let me ask you a couple

questions.

What happens

to um someone you may not know, they may

have read about what happens to someone

who's brutal, violent, cruel,

oppressive, exploitive, nasty. They eat

fatty foods, they never exercise, they

don't care about what happens to people

like that. They they die. They die.

What happens to people that are generous

and gracious? They never eat fatty

foods. They exercise all the time. They

play by the rules. They jump through all

the hoops. They go through the seasons

trying to learn. Those people, they all

die. He had a writer of Ecclesiastes.

So, what sense does this make, right?

Everybody lives and everybody dies.

Dying is the season that we all face.

And the writer of Ecclesiastes is wise

enough to know, you know what? We all

face the season. And you're going to

face it, whether you think about it,

whether you contemplate it or not.

Because the writer of Ecclesiastes knows

as he looks above the sun that yeah,

everybody lives in the seasons. They all

experience the season of dying, but

that's not the end.

There's a season beyond the dying. Now,

I have a confession to make. It's not

that juicy, so you don't have to take

note.

Death in general

most of the time doesn't bother me that

much. You know, when some of these

cruel, brutal, nasty people, a part of

me says, "Well, we're done with them

now, right? I'm okay with that." Other

deaths are catastrophic. Other deaths of

loved ones, friends, people that are

close to the good guys. We Lord, what

are you doing? But the writer of

Ecclesiastes says there's a time to be

born and a time to die. Everybody lives

through the seasons. God wants to teach

us, get us to the destination, and

everybody dies. Um,

I'm kind of a country music listener,

not singers, so you don't have to worry.

I was thinking about Ecclesiastes 3 and

I heard this song on the radio. It's by

George Burge and the song is called It

Won't Be Long. Now, what George sings

about is um each of the verses talks

about how quickly life's going by and

before you know it, you're you're

playing little league and then you're

watching your kids play little league

and your grandkids playing little league

and right, he's talking about the

seasons of life and how quickly they go,

right? Those quick those seasons fly by.

It's like this giant conveyor belt and

it keeps when you're born, they put you

on the conveyor belt and before you know

it, you fall off the other end. That's

what Ecclesiastes says. Here's the

chorus, though.

It might be crazy. Talk about life. It

might be crazy. It might be sweet.

It might not be perfect.

It It might be the last thing you ever

saw coming.

But it gets a little better when it's

spinning around something. So, buy that

drink, steal the kiss, make the trip,

take the risk, love hard as you can, and

hold on tight,

cuz life might be a lot of things,

but it won't be long.

That's what the writer of Ecclesiastes

is saying, right? There's seasons to

life. The author wants to teach us some

lessons as you go through the seasons.

And what you're learning in one season

is going to be necessary to learn well

in the next season. So do your

elementary school work well. That'll

help you in junior high, middle school.

That'll help you in high. That'll help

you get it. When you go through the

seasons, make the most of the

opportunities. Accomplish the challenges

because you're going to need those

lessons. And boy, it's going to be

quick. That conveyor belt seems to pick

up speed.

Living the seasons of life.

dying,

the season we all face.

But that's not the end. In fact, the

writer of Ecclesiastes won't let us stay

there. He comes back to living again.

But not living the seasons of life. Now

he talks about living

beyond. How do we learn best in the

seasons of life? So let me describe it

this way. Living is best when you define

it forward.

but live it backwards. Now, here's what

I mean by that. Define where you want to

be,

right? Define the goal and then live

life toward that goal. Define it forward

and then live it to get to that goal.

Define life forward and then live it

backward to get to that destination.

Now,

where does that show up in the passage?

Well, it shows up a couple of times.

Look at verse 17.

God will bring into judgment

both the righteous and the wicked for

there is a time for every activity a

time to judge every deed. Now before he

gets to the accountability section, he

mentions something in verse 11 that we

all know and that's actually driving the

teacher here and that is

God has put eternity into human heart.

We have verse 11 on God has set eternity

in the human. Now what does that mean?

It doesn't mean in your heart you know

all about God. You know no here's what

it means. There's a longing inside of

you. a longing inside of me

that isn't satisfied with anything under

the sun. That's what that's what the

author is finding out, right? There's a

hole inside of you that can't be filled

with the things under the sun. And who

gets that? Humans get that. Um, I was

thinking about the humans getting that.

My youngest daughter, Megan, has two

French bulldogs.

Neither Finley or Lohen have eternity in

their hearts. And here's what I mean by

that. They never contemplate eternity.

They never contemplate accountability.

What do they think about? Where's my

next treat coming from? When am I going

to have a nap? When am I going on a

walk? When am I going to eat again? They

never contemplate the bigger picture.

They never contemplate what happens

after I died as anything. But human

beings contemplate that all the time,

right? That's what the teacher's doing.

And that's what you and I are also prone

to do. Now, we don't always do it

because it's too painful and and and too

miserable to think about. But human

beings have that eternity in our hearts.

That longing that can't be satisfied. We

keep asking the questions and

accountability. Those are the two things

that come on the other side of living.

Living the seasons of life, dying the

season we all face and living again.

Eternity and accountability both

together. And what he says in verse 16

is, boy, if you just look at life under

the sun, there seems to be injustice

everywhere. Right? In the place of

judgment, there was wickedness. In the

place of justice, there was wickedness.

You ever noticed that? Like you ever

read the newspaper or go online, look at

the news. What do you Where's justice?

We're never going to find Well, that's

what the writer of Ecclesiastes said a

long time ago. We look for justice under

the sun, but it's not quite there. Oh,

yeah. But remember, they'll be living on

the other side of dying. There will be

justice on that side. God's placed

eternity in our hearts and eternity will

bring accountability.

So, how does that work?

Well, I was thinking about that this uh

past week and I was reminded

um of a funeral that Jesus attended. You

ever noticed Jesus attended some

funerals? Um he attended one funeral.

You can read about it in John 11. Jesus

attends the funeral of his friend

Lazarus. In fact, Jesus is a family

friend. There are three siblings, Mary,

Martha, Lazarus. Jesus is friends with

all of them. He would stay at their

house. He got to know them pretty well.

Well, anyway, Jesus traveling on mission

doing work with his disciples and he

receives a message. Lazarus, your

friend, is dying. He's really deathly

ill. You better get here. Well, by the

time Jesus gets there,

Lazarus is already dead.

Martha comes running out. That's one of

the sisters. And to be very honest,

she's a little ticked, right? She says,

"Jesus, if you had been here, my brother

wouldn't have died." And Jesus says, "I

got this, Martha. Don't worry." Gives

her a little theology lesson. And then

Mary, the other sister, comes running

up. And Mary says the same thing, but

she's not ticked. She's kind of

grieving. and she JJ Jesus if you had

been here Lazarus wouldn't have died and

Jesus said um I want to go to the grave.

So they take Jesus into the cemetery and

he stands before the grave and he says

to the people there roll the stone away

from the tomb. They object.

Jesus he's been dead 40. He's going to

stink by now. Right. Very, you know,

kind of there's the fact we roll the

stone. It's going to stink. Jesus, do

you want to kind of ruin the whole

grieving party here with the stench?

Roll the stone away. He rolls the stone

away and Jesus then says, "Lazarus,

come forth."

And in an instant,

Lazarus

comes walking out of the grave, taking

the grave clothes, unwrapping the grave

clothes as he came out. And he walks up

before Jesus.

I thought about that

because in the story of Lazarus, we have

living

Lazarus live.

He knew Jesus. He welcomed in. He

welcomed Jesus into his house. Mary and

Martha knew Jesus. And then he died.

But there was living again.

You know what?

One day

you and I are going to be in Lazarus

position.

One day

Jesus will call your name and it'll be

after the living through the seasons,

after the dying, the season that we all

will face and you will assume the

position Lazarus did before Jesus.

Now, will that be a terrible day or will

that be a day of celebration?

Well, that all depends. It depends on

whether you've learned the lessons,

made the most of the opportunities and

challenges through the seasons. You see,

you can't do it after the dying chapter.

Part of what God wants to do through the

seasons, through those challenges,

through those opportunities, he wants to

show you your weakness. He wants to show

you your failures. He wants to show you

your fault. And rather than try to

accomplish it on your own, he wants you

to say, "I I can't do this." And then

Jesus will say, "Yeah, but I can."

So if we learn the lesson through the

seasons,

that day will be a celebration,

not a day of tragedy.

I heard a quote a long time ago. I don't

even know where I heard it.

It goes like this.

I cried

the day I was born.

I I don't know if that's true, but I'm

I'm guessing I did. If I was like most

other baby, I probably I cried the day I

was born. And the world celebrated. They

didn't celebrate like 10 years later,

but that f the first day they were

happy, right? Baby's here. Um that

happened with my daughter. They cried

the day they were born. Sometimes it

feels like they're still whining today,

right?

We cry. We all We cried the day we were

born. But the world celebrated, right? A

baby's born. Mom and dad have a child.

What's going to happen

the day you die in that season?

Will

the world cry

and you celebrate?

That can be

our story.

We cried the day we were born and the

world celebrated

the day we die.

Hopefully people will cry because of the

whole left and what what we've done and

way way we will live in relationship

with them. Will we celebrate then and

forever?

God wants you to learn through the

seasons of life

that that day can be a celebration.

We're all moving quickly to that day

because the conveyor belt's running.

God's taking care of our biggest problem

so we can celebrate forever.

Let's pray.

Father, we give you thanks for

this discouraging, sometimes

frustrating, depressing book

that actually gives us an honest look at

life.

someone who has resources and power that

we don't have. Round down all the roads

that we think will find satisfaction and

fulfillment. And he reports back,

they're all dead ends.

But God, you tell us that you've

arranged the seasons of life with their

challenges and opportunities to teach

us. Help us to live well in the seasons,

to learn the lessons, to make the most

of the opportunities, to learn about

ourselves, and to lift our eyes above

the sun.

Because Lord, the lesson of Ecclesiastes

is look up above the sun, beyond the

seasons, and look ahead. The day of

accountability is coming.

Thank you, Jesus, for taking care of all

that needs to be taken care of so we can

celebrate on that day. But not just that

day, forever and ever. We pray in your

name. Amen.