I saw some youth wearing their shirts. We had a fun time. If y'all could stand up, if you want to, show off your shirts. Youth camp was a fun time last week, yes. Thank you, youth. Yeah, yeah, we had a lot more. Y'all can sit down, thank you. It was a great time. Thank you for the community that we get to have, the youth that is here. As a father, I love that my kids are just growing together with other individuals. I'm proud of a God who gives us these kinds of opportunities. To see the fun that life has and experience it together. So thank you.
If you could open your Bibles to Ecclesiastes chapter 3. As you navigate there, there's something that happened to me a few weeks ago that gave me a perspective of what we're going to go into, so I thought I'd share that. My wife and I were having some friends over, and I forgot to buy coffee creamer for the day, and it was about 45 minutes before they were coming. And I thought, no problem, just head to the store. Grab it really quick. So I get there to Albertsons, I don't grab a cart because all I need is one thing. And about 5 minutes later I had a handful of oil, milk, apples, brown sugar, like all the things I remember. And like it's just holding, clinging to my arms like, man, I wish I had a cart right now. So the problem wasn't that Albertsons didn't have a cart. The problem also isn't that the groceries were too cumbersome. The problem was I just thought I needed one thing, I chose not to grab. A cart. And as I was standing there holding these things, something hit me. Is this how many of us live our lives? Where we pick up and carry things that we're not meant to be carrying. So like, I was thinking about the burden of trying to make everything work out. The burden of trying to fix every relationship that's broken. The burden of trying to understand why bad things happen at the wrong times. So my thought was, what if our greatest exhaustion It doesn't come from having to make things work out, to have to do everything right. What if our moments of great exhaustion is because we carry things that God never meant us to carry? Is life hard? Yes, yeah, we would all agree. Life is hard. Life is hard because we face difficult things. But too often, and I think hidden from our eyes, from our hearts, we've picked up and carrying— we're carrying the wrong things. Oftentimes we find ourselves insisting on carrying the things that God has never given to us, that are not our burden.
So as, as we begin our survey into Ecclesiastes, this is the question I think we need to have an answer to by the end of today. Am I exhausted because life is heavy, or is it because I have picked up what belongs to God? If I were to summarize the main point for today, it would be this: God handles what belongs to God. And humanity receives what belongs to humanity. And once we understand this truth, this reality, there really is just one response. We need to release the burdens and receive the gift. So here's how we're going to walk through the passage together. The preacher is going to uncover 4 areas where we have picked up a burden that wasn't ours to pick up, things that God never asked us to carry. So each time he does, we're going to use the wisdom that the preacher implies or he gives directly To see the gift that God has given us instead. So as we read, listen for both the burden to release and the gift to receive.
To begin, let's start with the good news. We're going to start in Ecclesiastes 3:12-13. The preacher says this: I perceive that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. This is God's gift to man.
Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for this scripture. There is a gift you have ready for us to pick up and help us see where instead of that gift, we have held on to things that are not ours to hold on to. We pray for wisdom, we pray for encouragement, we pray for conviction. Thank you, Jesus, and in your name we pray, amen.
This is God's gift to us. There's nothing better than this. And, you know, throughout all of the preacher's observations of what the vanities are, this is the melody he keeps coming back to. This is the gift. This is a thing that we have been given. This is God's gift to be joyful, to do good, to eat and drink and take pleasure in all the work that we have been given. This is God's gift to me. There's nothing, nothing is better than this. So I'm going to just ask, settle in, imagine what that might look like. Imagine that gift. The, the, what if we found joy in the things that we were given, the simple pleasures of just eating and drinking? It sounds, sounds wonderful. Maybe, maybe you're thinking like, it sounds a little too wonderful, almost unrealistic. And here's the thing, because if we're honest, maybe we don't struggle imagining that kind of joy. Our hands and our arms are just full. We're just imagining, where do I have room to put this? Perhaps the problem is that we, not that we doubt this is God's gift, perhaps the problem is that we're encumbered. We hear this invitation to rejoice and we quietly wonder, where does that fit? I have too many responsibilities. I have too many worries in life. So many things are demanding my attention and then we find ourselves saying, Yes, Lord, that gift, that sounds wonderful, but I don't have any more fingers to put it on.
6 · The pastor reads the famous poem of times and seasons (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8), making a brief cultural reference to The Byrds' song adaptation, and transitions to explaining the passage's purpose
And this is exactly where the preacher begins. He starts uncovering the burdens that we have picked up that were never meant to be ours to carry. So if you could look back at verse 1, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 is what I'm going to read. For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to seek and a time to loose. A time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to tear and a time to sew. A time to keep silent and a time to speak. A time to love, a time to hate, a time for war, and a time for peace. Turn, turn, turn. As the Byrds would say, yes. Some of us might be too young to know what I'm referring to.
7 · The pastor interprets the poem's rhetorical function, correcting the temptation to find hidden meanings in individual pairs and instead identifying the passage's purpose: to establish God's sovereignty over all seasons of life
So this is a mostly well-known part of the Bible. I mean, if anything, we all know the phrase, a time to be born, and a time to die. And that's like an interesting idea where we feel like we're tempted to dive into these individual pairs of what's happening. Some way that they're connected, a hidden meaning. But really, that, that's not really the point that the preacher is trying to unfold, mainly because we notice this is not encompassing all of life. There's a lot more to life than what's in this poem. There's no pattern, there's no direction that we find in here. Um, some of them are even just repetitions, they're repeated. So truly, this is a literary beauty. There's a lot that we can find in here. It can be enriching to do that. But here, the The preacher's point is much more simple. He says this poem is comprehensive. Every season, every kind of season from life's birth to life's death, from mourning and laughing, everything is necessarily included, everything in life. Every season comes under God's sovereign hand.
8 · The pastor identifies the human resistance to the passage's implication: we prefer certain seasons over others and resist the reality that we cannot control when seasons change
So what the preacher is hoping that we see is something inside of us does not really like what this poem is implying. Reading that list, we can imagine the seasons where we have the good things. Like we like the laughing, we like the dancing, the loving, the healing, all of that's really good. But what about the ones that we might not like? We will know, I would agree. We all know that the necessary, sometimes you have to go to war. Sometimes you just have to forget those sunglasses you lost last year. Like it's gone, it's no longer in my life. But for the most part, we find ourselves saying, you know what, maybe not for me. Maybe that person over there needs to mourn, but God, give me the good times. I don't want these bad seasons. Well, to be clear, the preacher's not saying if any of these are good or bad, they just happen. And even more to his point, he is saying none of us get to choose when they happen.
9 · The pastor applies the theological claim to concrete life situations (grief, empty nest, financial insecurity), identifying the specific burden: our attempts to control or escape unfavorable seasons
And at those times of the changing of the seasons where we go from laughing to mourning, where we're laughing one season with our wonderful grandma, And then a few months later, we're weeping at our ceremony of life. These are the moments where we're tempted and then we often succumb to the choice of burdening ourselves or trying to get out of this season, this unfavorable season. God, I prefer the season where I got to dance with my family member, not the season where I have to mourn. And so I'm tempted, I got to find a way to cheer myself up. God, I prefer the season where I have my kids at home and I get to enjoy their company, not the season where I got to let them go into the world and experience it for themselves. So I'm tempted to try to control every single moment. God, I love the season where I was financially secure, not this one where I'm just wondering where the next paycheck is coming from. So I got to exhaust myself trying to overcome this season. Hear me, friend. I truly understand the difficulty it is to experience the transitioning of these seasons, one where we enjoyed life to one where it's not so enjoyable now. But we have to see that these seasonal changes are not ours to control. They're not ours to burden ourselves with.
10 · The pastor steps into a more intimate pastoral voice to diagnose the deeper emotional reality: the burden comes not from the existence of hard seasons but from our resistance to losing what we loved in the previous season
And I would say, I think that many of us are not burdened so much by the fact that they exist, these burdens, Like, I think that's really worth saying. Sometimes we can expect these burdens in our lives. A loved one's passing is not always unexpected. But the problem is that we just didn't want to lose the season in which we had them in our lives. And this is where we find much of our turmoil. We don't want seasonal change. And in fact, we find ourselves resenting the change. Ecclesiastes here is trying to help us see that controlling, trying to control the seasons is just vanity. Hope as we might, this season, for good or bad, is going to change. And this is happening according to God's plan.
11 · The pastor narrates his own pattern of denial in the face of seasonal change, using his personal story to illustrate a second unhealthy response (denial rather than resistance), and then moves through the story to the application: naming the season you're in and receiving today as the gift
Now, we all don't necessarily respond to these changing seasons the same way. Some might fight against it. As I was studying this passage, I realized there's another response that can be just as unhealthy. I was reminded of a time when I was facing a seasonal change and I was not handling it really well. I had some friends after some discussion, I found a deeply embedded pattern in my life. So I often neglected to recognize that there was a seasonal change. In my ebb and flow of life, I tried to convince myself that this new season I was in, it really wasn't that bad. This is okay, everything's okay. Where someone might try to fight back and change this new season back into the old one that they had, I on the other hand just like, I'm not gonna name it, I'm not even gonna recognize it. My reasoning was like surprisingly childish. Like if I didn't acknowledge its presence, then it had no effect on me. It's kinda like a little child convinced that the monster under the bed isn't there as long as they don't look. But that was me. So realizing this, What I tried to do was practice from that time forward, just naming the season I was in, whether it was a good season or a bad season. This really helped me handle the emotions I needed to have. Like I needed to see that the season I was in was named because if it was one that I needed to weep, I could weep with God. And if it was one that I was allowed to laugh, I could give myself permission to do that. I didn't need to change the season, I just needed to recognize the one that I was in. This is exactly what the preacher is desperately trying to help us see. Friends, we need to know what season we're in. There's no use fighting this season hoping it will become a new one. There's no use in pretending it isn't here. But remember this, I mean, rarely is it true that our lives are made up of just one season. One part of your life might be marked with grief while another is marked with gratitude. You may be waiting in one area of your life but rejoicing in another. The danger is allowing one season to close your hands to the very gift that God is trying to give you. Wisdom learns to recognize every season God has appointed. So that even in sorrow, we're not missing the gift. In each and every season, God has given you a gift. So what is that gift? Well, it's today. Today is the gift to us. This day may be filled with weeping or laughter, building down or tearing up, loss or gain, This season may not feel like a gift, but God has still given you this day. A day to rejoice, a day to do good, a day to eat and drink, a day to take pleasure in the work he has placed before you. So refer to the whole Psalm of 118. It gives a complete picture of this, but I think many of us know its most wonderful verse. I'm going to read 118, Psalm 118:23-24. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. We don't receive every season as a gift. We receive God's gift in every season. The ability to eat and drink and find pleasure in our work, today that is our gift. If we so preoccupy ourselves with the burden of trying to control the seasons, trying to get out of them, we lose on the gift that is today.
12 · The pastor issues the first major application: name your season, stop fighting it, and receive today as the gift—with concrete instructions for how to do this
So Christian, our first point for today is this: release the burden of trying to control the seasons and receive the gift of today. Are we exhausted because life is heavy, or is it because we have picked up what belong— doesn't belong to us? Let God handle what belongs to him. Let us receive what belongs to us. Release the burden of trying to control the seasons. God never asked you to carry tomorrow. Instead, we need to receive the gift of today. So what might this look like? Try this. This week, simply name the season that you're in. Give it a name. It's here. God gave it to you. Don't pretend it's another season. Don't try to fight your way out of this season. Today, if If it's a day of weeping, then weep with the Lord. If today's a day of laughter, then laugh with gratitude. The gift you are given may simply be today's work, today's family, today's food, today's opportunity to do good, so receive the day that he has given you instead of fighting for the day that you wish you had.
13 · The pastor signals the structural shift to the second burden, framing it as the next temptation: if we can't control the seasons, perhaps we can at least secure their meaning
Now, the chapter continues, the preacher continues on, there is yet another burden that we are tempted to carry. If we can't control life's seasons, maybe we can ensure that there is a good reason we're going through them. So let's look at the second burden, the burden of significance.
14 · The pastor reads Ecclesiastes 3:9 and interprets the question about gain from toil not as a question about productivity but as a deeper question about securing lasting significance and understanding through our work
I'm gonna read verse 9. What gain has the worker from his toil? The preacher asks a question about a burden we might not realize that we're carrying. What gain has the worker from his toil? And at first glance, we might hear this and think, okay, well, what am I gonna be able to accomplish in my work right now? But I sense that it's going to run a little bit deeper than that. While we get that seasons change, there's naturally a question that's going to arise. Why did I have to go through that? Is there a reason that the season was so difficult? Is there a reason that this trial was stretching me so much? I mean, surely there has to be a reason for all. So like, surely at the end of it, I can finally understand And see it all? Well, the preacher's response is basically the same way he's responding to all of these kinds of questions. He says, hevel, vanity. It's just vapor. We cannot gain what our hearts are searching for through our own toil.
15 · The pastor reads Ecclesiastes 3:10-11 and unpacks its theological structure: God gives work, makes everything beautiful in its time, places eternity in our hearts, yet withholds comprehensive understanding from us
But instead of leaving us in despair, the preacher immediately explains why. So let's continue reading verses 10 and 11. I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 4 truths right here. First, God has given us work to be busy with. Second, everything is beautiful. Third, God has placed eternity into our hearts. And fourth, We have not been given His perspective to be able to see the beginning to the end.
16 · The pastor narrates a hiking experience in Hawaii to illustrate the problem: preoccupation with wanting to see the whole journey prevents us from receiving the beauty already present in the moment
So this verse, this section of verse reminds me of a time that my wife Brittany and I got to go hiking. It was a trail called Kalalau Trail in Hawaii. I thought we were experienced hikers. We didn't really know what we were getting into. It truly was a beautiful experience, but the problem was that we were unfamiliar with this terrain and we kind of vaguely knew the distance. We looked it up after, it was 11 miles one way. So it was almost a whole marathon. We, we didn't know. It was beautiful. The forests, the cliffs, the ocean views. But while we were walking, we felt like we couldn't enjoy much of it because at every turn we were wondering how much further. Did we miss the trail? Like, why is it continuing on? Why? What is taking? Are we almost there? So we're so busy wanting to see this whole picture. About the trail that we missed. I'm sure we missed so many opportunities where God had already placed a beautiful thing beneath our feet and a beautiful thing before our eyes.
17 · The pastor identifies the second burden: the demand to satisfy the longing for comprehensive understanding ourselves, distinguishing between the God-given longing for eternity (which is good) and the sinful demand to possess God's perspective
And this is where the burden, I think, is quietly filling up our hands. God has placed eternity into our hearts. So we naturally have a longing to see the whole story. We want to know why one season left and this new one came. We want to know what this whole story is leading to. We want to know how all of it finally becomes beautiful. The longing is not sinful. God has placed that in our hearts. The sin is our demand to see more than what we're given. The burden begins when we decide that we must satisfy that longing ourselves. And I know this burden well. During seasons of transition, I often find myself wanting more than God's presence. I want his perspective. I get that God has a purpose, but I want more than just to, to just trust that. I want to see the beauty of the whole trail all at once. Yes, this little cove on the beach, it's nice. It's wonderful. But what other beautiful spots am I missing right now? I want to know what it all looks like. I want to know why it has to be this way. I ask him, okay, Lord, if this season that you have given me is necessary, what's waiting at the end of the tunnel?
18 · The pastor reads Ecclesiastes 3:12-15 and interprets God's surprising response to our demand for perspective: instead of comprehensive understanding, God gives us joy, work, and today's beauty, while He retains the lasting significance
And this is where the preacher surprises us. He points to the gifts. We're going to read it again, 12, we're going to read to 15. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and do good as long as they live. Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. This is God's gift to man. I perceive that whatever God does endures forever. Nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. God has done it so that people fear before him. That which is already has been. That which is or that That which is to be already has been, and God seeks what has been driven away. We come asking for understanding, God answers us with joy. We come asking for an explanation, God says, here's your work for today. We come asking to see every beautiful part of this unknown trail of life, And God says, today, sit right here in this beautiful cove. Watch the beauty of my creation. We want the whole perspective. God just gives us today's beauty. Read verse 14 again. Whatever God does endures forever. Nothing can be added to it or taken away. The beauty we long to see, the significance that we're hoping exists, The resolution to this difficult time that we're craving, all of that already belongs safely in his hands.
19 · The pastor issues the second major application (release the burden of securing significance, receive joy in work) with concrete diagnostic questions, then brings in James 1:2-4 to reinforce the call to meet trials with joy while trusting God's unseen work
Here's the second point for today. Release the burden of securing significance in toil. Receive the gift of joy in toil. Are we exhausted because life is heavy or is it because we have picked up what doesn't belong to us? Let God handle what belongs to him and humanity, us, receive what belongs to us. Release the burden of securing significance in toil. God never asked you to understand everything. Instead, receive the gift of joy in the toil that you have today. What might this look like? Try this, this week, pay attention to the expectations you have on your toil. Are you asking to prove your worth in it? Are those things trying to— you're trying to find and guarantee a legacy in the work that you're given? Secure your identity in that? Those burdens were never ours to carry. Instead, ask, how can I faithfully do the good for the work that God has given me today? Then allow yourself to enjoy the work itself. Trusting that God has the lasting significance in his own hands. Centuries later, James picks up the same thread. James 1:2, we find an encouraging thought on these toils. He says this, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, Lacking in nothing. We leave the significance to God and we meet the trials with joy. Be joyful because God is accomplishing something that we cannot yet see.
20 · The pastor signals the structural shift to the third burden with a hinge statement, framing it as the next temptation when the first two are surrendered: the demand to render final judgment on injustice
Still, the preacher continues. He says that even if we cannot control the seasons and we cannot secure this lasting significance and reason that we're going through these seasons, there is still another burden that, that is cramping our fingers and we're clinging to it. So the third one for today is the burden of judgment.
21 · The pastor reads Ecclesiastes 3:16-17 and diagnoses the third burden: when confronted with persistent injustice, we move from questioning God's plan to questioning His justice, quietly seating ourselves on the judge's bench and taking on the impossible burden of rendering final verdicts
We're going to read. 16 and 17 from Ecclesiastes 3. Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. So the preacher turns from one of life's greatest mysteries— why can't we see everything— to one of life's I think greatest frustrations. Not only do seasons change, and not only are we unable to see the whole journey from beginning to end, but sometimes when we look around, we have this feeling in this sense, is evil winning? When we see injustice continue to sit in the place that righteousness should be, another burden begins to tug at our fingers. We no longer simply want to understand God's plan, Instead, what we turn to is we begin to evaluate God's justice. If God is sovereign, if he is good and in control, then why hasn't he stopped this injustice? Why is evil still standing there? Why does it seem that wickedness always prospers? These— I think these are honest and difficult questions. These are good questions to ask, but beneath them, There is this temptation. If I were the judge, I would do things differently. I have recognized this burden on myself. It's when life doesn't unfold the way that I expect it to, I don't simply just question what God is doing, I begin to question whether what he is doing is right. I know he's Lord over all. I know he's lovingly faithful. I know he hates evil. I know he's just, but I find in my heart this little voice whispering to the Lord saying, well, God, if you would only listen to me, this would be a better situation. Friends, do you see the burden that we pick up when we do this? Right? We have quietly seated ourselves on the judge's bench. We've placed upon ourselves a responsibility of trying to explain every injustice. Trying to correct every wrong and ensure that there's some righteousness. Friends, this is an impossibly heavy burden.
22 · The pastor unpacks the theological comfort in the preacher's response: God will judge—not maybe, but certainly—and His judgment is comprehensive, though His timing is not ours
And thankfully, the preacher delivers, I think, one of the most comforting sections of sentences in this chapter. God will judge. It's not a maybe. It's, it's not hopefully. The preacher's absolutely clear. God will judge. Every act of wickedness is his to deal with. Every injustice is his to make right. Every act of evil will be exposed. None of it's going to escape him. It might not be our timing. It so rarely is, unfortunately. But our God has never shown his lack of sovereignty.
23 · The pastor issues the third major application (release the burden of judging, receive trust in God's timing) with pastoral nuance distinguishing righteous grief from the burden of rendering final verdicts
And I think the point becomes pretty obvious now. The third one for today, release the burden of judging the world and receive the gift of trusting God's timing. Are we exhausted because life is heavy, or have we picked up what does not belong to us? Let God handle what belongs to him, and we need to receive what belongs to us. Release the burden of judging the world. God never asked you to judge the world. Instead, receive the gift of trusting God's timing of judgment. So what might this look like this week? Pay attention to the moments where you are stirred to anger, frustration, maybe a little bitterness. It's right to grieve evil and wrong. It is good to do that, but don't carry the burden of trying to render that final verdict. Instead, entrust every wrong to the judge who sees everything perfectly, whose timing is always right, and then continue to do the good that he has given you to do.
24 · The pastor signals the structural shift to the fourth and final burden with a hinge statement, naming the pattern beneath all three previous burdens: the desire to occupy God's place
So maybe you've picked up on what the preacher is trying to do right now. Each burden, I think, has moved us one step closer to the heart of our problem. Each of these burdens is is kind of the same, with just a little bit of a different flavor. We don't merely want control, we want to be in God's place. So here's the final burden the preacher unfolds, the heaviest burden of all.
25 · The pastor reads Ecclesiastes 3:18-22 and interprets the passage's most confronting claim: we are creatures—dust like the beasts—and we resent the creaturely limits God has given us
I'm going to read verses 18 through 22. I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them, that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man And what happens to the beasts are the same. As one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place, all are from the dust, and to the dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of beasts goes down into the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring himself to see what will be after him? The preacher arrives at the deepest burden of it all. Throughout this chapter, he has slowly stripped away every illusion that we might carry. We cannot master time, we cannot see the whole story, and we cannot judge the world rightly. So the question becomes, well then, what are we? His answer, we're creatures, we're beasts. We breathe borrowed breath just as the beasts do, and we come from dust just as the beasts do. To the dust we're gonna return just as creatures. We cannot see beyond the limits that God has given us. We die just as every other living creature dies. If we're honest, I think maybe this is a little unsettling. We don't like to be reminded of the limits that we have been given in this life. I think in fact, we resent them. We resent the fact that I have to sleep so much. I'm weak. I resent the moments that I have to wait on something. I resent that I have to be dependent upon other people. I resent the fact that death is true and it becomes us all. We resent the truth that we are simple creatures of this world.
26 · The pastor traces the fourth burden to its origin in Eden: the refusal of joyful creaturely dependence in favor of grasping after God's place
To this idea, the preacher's, he's saying even something more that can be frustrating. God's testing us with this. He's testing us to see if we will remember that this is what we are. At first we might think it's a burden to be a creature, but I think that's just simply impossible. Being a creature is not a burden. No other creature considers it to be a burden to be what it is. Like, I don't think birds resent being birds. I don't think a deer wants to all of a sudden wake up being a mountain lion. I don't think they think that way. Only humans, we spend our lives resisting the limits that God has lovingly given us. The problem isn't that we are creatures. The problem is that we think being a creature is beneath us. The problem then becomes a burden that grows in us. It leads us to refuse the joyful dependence we have upon our Creator. And truly, this is the burden that It all began with the scene in the Garden of Eden. What exactly was wrong with being a human? Adam and Eve, they were made in God's image. They, they were sinless. They were given dominion. They walked with God. I think in every sense of the word, they were blessed. The serpent's temptation wasn't that humanity was somehow lacking. It was the temptation to reject the joyful dependence of being creatures. Instead, he's attempting to grasp after God's place. It was the temptation to determine good and evil for ourselves. It was the temptation to remove our dependence upon God, the temptation to push beyond our limits that God has lovingly established for us. The temptation to become what only God is. Adam and Eve literally refused the gift and took up what belonged to God. Ever since that day, humanity has been doing the very same thing. We keep reaching for what is not ours and neglecting the gift that we have been given. God has already placed it before us. Just as Adam and Eve reached out for the fruit, we are tempted to reach beyond our limits and into what God has for himself.
27 · The pastor names the ultimate burden (being a creator) and identifies the gift (being God's creature through eating, drinking, working, sleeping, laughing, loving), insisting these are God's original intention, not consolation prizes
The ultimate burden that we were never meant to carry is the burden of being a creator. Try as we might to be more than creatures, that simply is what we are. Creatures. To be more than creatures. If the burden we should not be picking up is being a creator, then what is the gift? Let's say it this way. What is the gift? The gift is to be God's creature by eating, by drinking, by working, enjoying life, and sleeping, laughing and loving. Let me say, these are not consolation prizes. This is not what's left over after we fail becoming gods. These are what God has intended for his creatures all along. The prize of being a god, the hope that we could recreate ourselves in our own image, that's not a prize. That is, that is a crown none of us could wear. That is a throne none of us could ever sit on.
28 · The pastor issues the fourth major application (release the burden of being a creator, receive the gift of creatureliness) with pastoral acknowledgment that this is the hardest to implement, and gives concrete diagnostic instructions for recognizing moments of resistance to creaturely limits
So here's the 4th point the preacher is helping us see. Release the burden of being a creator, receive the gift of your creatureliness. Let me ask again, are we exhausted because life is heavy, or is it because we have picked up what doesn't belong to us? When you let God handle what belongs to Him and receive what belongs to us, release the burden of being the creator. God never asked you to become Him. Instead, receive the gift of your creatureliness. I think this one might be the hardest to implement, but let's make an attempt this week. Pay attention to the moments where you become frustrated by your own limits. The weariness, the unanswered questions, your inability to do everything, a reminder of your own fragility. Notice the places where you're fighting your own finiteness. Those moments where you're reminded you cannot do it all, know it all, or even live forever. These are not moments where you have failed. Instead of resisting those limits, receive them as a reminder that you are a creature loved by your Creator. Then rejoice that your life is held by the one who never grows weary.
29 · The pastor synthesizes the sermon's four movements into a four-step process (recognize, release, receive, rejoice) and transitions toward the gospel resolution
So to recap, and before I close, here's a quick 4-step process that matches what we've been discussing today. Step 1, recognize the burden. What have you picked up that isn't yours to carry? Don't ignore it. It's there. Step 2, release the burden. Give up what isn't yours to carry. Step 3, receive the gift. Take hold of what is yours. Step 4, Rejoice in the Creator. Continue in faith that this is what's best for those who take up the calling to follow God's plan.
30 · The pastor diagnoses why we cling to burdens despite knowing we shouldn't: each burden promises to make us 'enough' by offering security, certainty, righteousness, or autonomy
Now, why do we insist on picking up these burdens? Like, we know we should release them. We hear this, we think, everybody's nodding, yes, I should let that go, uh-huh. What's so enticing? Well, the temptation to control is there because we might find security in it. The temptation to try to understand why all things are happening is because we hope to find certainty. We see the temptation to judge wanting a hope for righteousness. We see the temptation of becoming the creator desiring to fulfill this thing inside of us wanting autonomy. The problem is that every burden we cling to is whispering in our heart, saying, if you carry me, you will finally be enough. This is why it's so hard to put them down. We resent the fact that we can't make it all come together in our own efforts, but we keep trying anyway.
31 · The pastor returns to the grocery store metaphor to frame the gospel transition: Ecclesiastes tells us to release burdens but doesn't fully answer who carries them
The last point we'll have for today is this tension that we'll eventually find that Ecclesiastes doesn't fully answer. The preacher has shown us what burdens to release, But he has not yet told us what truly happens to them. So going back to the grocery store where I had everything in my hands, it would have been a blessing to have a cart and put them in there, right? But even if I did, the groceries don't disappear, right? The oil, the sugar, the milk, it'd still be there. The cart simply carries what I was never meant to carry. So if I let God handle what belongs to him and receive what belongs to me, what happens to those burdens? Where do they go? I mean, the better question, and maybe you're thinking of it, who will carry them?
32 · The pastor delivers the Christological climax: Jesus is the one who carries the burdens we cannot, fulfilling what Ecclesiastes could only point toward
The Son of God, Jesus the Christ. Jesus takes upon himself the burdens that we were never meant to carry, and he offers us a gift that we were always meant to receive. We no longer carry the burden of mastering the seasons because Christ is the one that reigns over all time. We no longer carry the burdens of creating lasting significance because Christ's work endures forever. We no longer carry the burden of final judgment because Christ is the righteous judge. We no longer carry the burden of becoming more than creatures because the Creator himself became a creature like us to redeem us. He is the only one who is truly more than a creature yet willingly became one. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, came to dwell with us, as us, and did not merely help us with the, the carrying of the things that was crushing us. Yes, he could only— he's the only one that could carry what we could not. He could carry our sin, our death, and our inability to stand righteous before a holy God. And this is what the preacher could only hint at. He could tell us to receive the gift, but he could not yet tell us how that gift would come. He could tell us that there is nothing better than rejoicing in the work that God has given you, but he lived centuries before the one who would carry the greatest burden that we have. So Ecclesiastes leaves us with this invitation, but Christ reveals its fulfillment. Jesus does not simply say put down the burden. He stretches out his hand and says give it to me.
33 · The pastor develops the gospel's fullness: Christ doesn't merely remove burdens; He gives us Himself—His righteousness, standing, life, and inheritance become ours through union with Him, transforming our identity from dust to children
But here's the wonder of the gospel. Jesus does not simply take something from us. He gives us something. In fact, he gives us someone. He gives us himself. Think about that. The greatest gift that God has given us, it's not forgiveness. It's not heaven. It's not freedom from guilt. It's not even a purpose in our toil. He gave us his Son. That's the greatest gift. So here's the final point for today. Jesus the Christ takes our burden and is the gift himself. What does this mean that Christ gives us himself? It means his righteousness is our righteousness. It means his standing before the Father is our standing before the Father. It means his life becomes our life. It means his inheritance is our inheritance. We spend so much of our lives trying to establish our identity through our work, through our accomplishments, Through our control, through our attempts to do good in life. But Christ, in him, we no longer have to create an identity. We are given an identity. We are still creatures. We are still dust. But in Christ, we are creatures who have become children. We're no longer defined by what we think we can accomplish. Under the sun. We're united to the one who came from above the sun and entered our world beneath it and now shares his own life with us forever.
34 · The pastor defines the gospel in direct contrast to burden-bearing religion: Christianity is not about better circumstances or self-improvement but about belonging to Christ, who loved us as dust and invites exhausted people to receive Him as the gift
Christianity is not ultimately about receiving better circumstances in life. It's about belonging to Christ. This is true and real grace, the grace that God gives by not requiring us to become enough before coming to him. The grace that he's never gonna ask us to carry the weight of making ourselves righteous. The grace that he loves the dust that we are. The grace that he knew our weakness before we admitted it and still came to become our strength. The gospel is not about God asking exhausted people to carry more burdens. The gospel is God inviting exhausted people to lay every burden down before him and receive his Son. If you feel exhausted today, if you know what it is to carry a burden that was never supposed to belong to you, then look to Jesus Christ. He has come to bear your burdens, wipe away your brokenness, pay your ransom, clothe you in his righteousness, and welcome you into his own life. Your response, simply wonderful. Receive the gift.
35 · The pastor issues a pastoral invitation to respond—both for those who have never received Christ and for believers feeling pressed by burdens—calling them to the cross after worship, and then gives a final charge to the whole congregation
If you sense that you've never felt that release, I would say after worship, please come over here to the cross. We would love to tell you more about a love greater than the brokenness you carry. If you know what it is to have a relationship with Jesus, but you still feel the burdens of life pressing in, Please come over here to the cross. We would allow— we would love to join you in reaching out to God and his love for you in your life. There is in our life much more than the burdens we face. Church, this week release the burdens that were never belonging to you. Receive the gift that your Father has already placed into your hands. And there is nothing better than rejoice in the work that he has given you today.
36 · The pastor closes with prayer, returning to the grocery store metaphor one final time and drawing on Matthew 11:28-30 (Christ's yoke is easy and His burden is light) to pray for the congregation's ability to release burdens and receive rest
Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, this time, this space that you have blessed us with to look into your word. God, convict us of where we have picked up things that were yours, the burdens, the fears. You have still yet blessed us with a gift, even where we are sitting at a grocery store carrying things that we shouldn't carry. Your love, your gift is there before us. Your Son has come to us, and his voice, his truth, he tells us that we can come to him as we are burdened and heavy laden, and that we will find rest in him. That you still have a yoke, but we get to learn from you. We know that your love, your gentleness, is a rest that we can find our souls in. Your yoke is easier than the burdens that we pick up. Your burden is lighter than the ones that we are so tempted to carry. Help us lean into that truth and love you all the more for the gift that we are given. It's in Jesus Christ's name we pray, amen.