We receive a lot of information everyday. Some of it comes in the form of advertisement lines; some are enjoyable and meaningful, but some are senseless. One of the most senseless advertisement lines the speaker has heard is this: “I don’t care if I can’t have it forever, I only care if I’ve ever had it before.” Think about this. Will you ever suffer the pain of losing a child if you never had a child? Will you ever suffer the painful loss of a spouse if you’ve never been married? Given a choice, would you rather have a child knowing you only have a few months to love him or not have him at all? Why do you seek to have people for a while only to lose them? That’s why the advertisement is rather senseless.

Eccl 3:1, 6
“There is a season for everything to happen under the sun.” “There’s a time to gain, and a time to lose.”

What do these 2 verses mean? What does “there’s a time to gain and a time to lose” mean? What are the implications? Is the Bible telling us nothing is forever since we gain and lose, gain and lose, gain and lose? Or is it talking about balance? You gain sometimes, you lose sometimes, so don’t take losses so badly. Is this what the word of God is trying to say to us? “You gain some, you lose some.”

But, there’re some things you can’t afford to lose! And for some things, you’ll never be able to gain them back once you lose them. Let us not trivialise loss; it’s very real.

Eccl 3:11
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
What does this mean? God makes everything beautiful in its time. Does that mean it’s beautiful but fleeting? That beauty doesn’t last forever.

“God has put eternity in the hearts of men” God has put the concept of eternity in the hearts of men. The concept of eternity is something we all know.

But we also know:
“No one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”
Even though much of what God wants to do to us and with us is written in the Bible, we do not know what is going to happen next. Have you heard the saying: Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. Seems exciting but it can be quite frightening too.

Eccl 3:14
“I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.”

Does “nothing can be added, nothing can be taken” mean no gain and no loss? Actually what the Bible wants to tell us is this: God is an eternal God and He has an eternal plan for all of us. Even though it’s true life is like a box of chocolates, this box of chocolates conforms to God’s perfect plan. It’s not cyclical where you gain and lose, gain and lose; it’s not a matter of chance. Unless we believe there is a loving God who is in perfect control, there is no answer to the difficulties of life; there is no way we can find peace in life. But how do we see this?

Two points to consider:
1. Let’s take a closer look at gain and loss. If life is like a box of chocolates, let’s take a closer look at the box.

2. Let’s consider whether there’s such a thing as ultimate gain and ultimate loss
Many people like to be very pragmatic and say, “Life goes on, so let’s get the best out of it.” But there IS such a thing as ultimate gain, and ultimate loss.

1. Gain and loss

A Chinese story many of us are familiar with: a man called old man Sai. One day he bought a beautiful horse and his neighbours came to congratulate him on his buy. He also felt so blessed and fortunate to have found this beautiful horse. Then the next day, his horse ran away. It was a big loss to him! His neighbours came again, this time to moan and sigh with him. “How much did you spend on it?” “I don’t think you’ll ever be able to find such a beautiful horse again!” The next day, the horse came back! He gained back what he lost. The neighbours congratulated him again. The next day, his son rode on the horse, fell and broke his leg. His neighbours came again, “This horse is so beautiful but so wild! If you didn’t have this horse your son wouldn’t have gotten injured.”

Who knows when a blessing is a misfortune in disguise and a misfortune a blessing in disguise?

The story doesn’t end here. The country went into war and men were conscripted, but because his son was injured, he didn’t have to risk his life. To patriots, it’s a loss but to this man it was a gain. Again his neighbours congratulated him.

This story demonstrates gain and loss isn’t final. Who knows if misfortune is a blessing in disguise. But there is a true story in the Bible - a man by the name of Jacob had a favourite son by the name of Joseph; he lost his son. Because this was his favourite son, he doted on him and showed more love to him than his other sons. Jealous, 10 of his older brothers hence plotted against Joseph. He was sold as a slave to a foreign land! Joseph was a victim to sibling rivalry, and his brothers lied to their father that he was torn to pieces by wild beasts.

Gen 37:34-35
‘Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.’

He was in great despair. “I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Meaning: he would still be mourning his son until he died. But his son wasn’t dead. Joseph was sold to be a slave in a foreign land. But by some turn of events, he became the second most powerful man in the country.

Gen 41:51-52
“Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.””

Joseph gave birth to a son and called him Manasseh. He named him Manasseh saying this was because God made him forget all his toil and his father’s house. It was a good try but he was in denial. How could he forget? Can you ever forget the father who dotes on you? Can you forget your favourite brother (Joseph had a younger brother named Benjamin)?

“And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.””
When Joseph had a second son, he called him Ephraim which means “fruitful in a foreign land”. Yes God had blessed him. He had gained position, power and wealth. Now he gained a family - a good wife and 2 sons. But he had still lost the love of his father. He had lost the family he grew up with.

This was just a form of self-comfort.

The known world at that time suffered a terrible famine. Not because of a pandemic, but because of a great economic distress; there was no food to eat! Jacob and his remaining 11 children had to go to the place Joseph was (which was Egypt) to buy food, because God blessed Joseph and Joseph managed to store a lot of grain in the warehouses. The whole world hence came toEgypt to buy food. We can imagine how rich Egypt (and Joseph) would have been. His brothers came to buy food and couldn’t recognise Joseph at first, but later they did. Joseph invited his father and the whole family to Egypt where they had a big reunion.

Jacob gained his son again. Actually the loss of his son was a great gain because if Joseph hadn’t been sold to Egypt, they would all have died from the famine as Joseph wouldn’t have been guided to store grain.

Gen 50:20
“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”

To some, the story of Joseph might not be as entertaining as the story of old man Sai, but it has a great moral and deeper meaning.

This verse tells us of God’s foresight, so He allowed Joseph to be sold as a slave so that in the end many lives were saved. The loss Joseph and Jacob suffered was out of God’s foresight and good intents.

Psa 139:17-18
“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.”

Many people who know God experience this. We go through thick and thin, we go through a lot of sufferings, but finally we realise all this has been planned by God in order to bless us.

v16 “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.”

This verse shows our lives were planned by God; it’s all within His scope even before we live a single day.

We see more of this in our next example. We may say the example of Jacob is not a real loss. We now see someone who suffered a real loss that was much worse than Jacob.

Job 1:1-4
Job was a man who was really very blessed. v3 records all his possessions. “Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.”

He had 7 sons and 3 daughters (v2). They feasted everyday (v4). Enviable life, right? But suddenly calamity struck!

v13-19
The calamity was successive! One after the other. As his children were feasting, a messenger came to tell Job all his oxen were raided and his servants killed. While he was still speaking, another messenger came to tell Job fire from heaven burned up the sheep and the servants. While that messenger was still speaking, yet another came to tell Job his camels were raided and his servants killed. While he was speaking, yet another came to tell Job a great wind struck the house his children were feasting in causing the four corner to fall on them, killing all of them.

All his children were killed. Can you imagine? But what was Job’s reaction?

v20-21
Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Has Job gone mad? Or was he plain foolish? If there’s a loving God, why should all these things happen? And this is not all that happened to Job, he suffered even more woes after that.

Job 2:7-8
“So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes.”

Job having to use a potsherd to scrape himself meant the boils were likely both painful and itchy. When a person is sick, he often doesn’t just lose his health but also his dignity. He was sitting in the dust scrapping himself with a potsherd, not sitting at the city gate talking to noble people with a fan. Then, his 3 friends who were supposed to comfort him ended up accusing him of landing up in such a situation because he had done something wrong. He lost the respect and support of his friends. Worse still, he lost the support of his wife. His wife said, “Why are you still holding on to God? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) This was in essence cursing him to die.

What was all this suffering and loss Job suffered for? Remember we read earlier that God has put eternity in the hearts of men. When a man has abundance in his life, he will very often say God is great; he sees God through his material blessings. But when God tears these down, he will see God for who He is.

The first thing Job said when calamity befell him was, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” He saw God as sovereign; that He’s the one who gives and takes away.

Job 42:2
“I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”

This verse again shows God’s sovereignty.

v5-6
“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”

At the end of his sufferings, just before God turned back his misfortune, Job says he now sees God. He had only heard about God last time, but now he saw God clearly, THROUGH his sufferings.

Job 19:25-27
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”

Job said that he knew his Redeemer lives, and that at the end of days, out of his flesh, he shall see God. He looked beyond this mundane existence to eternity.

2 Cor 4:18
“while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

What did Job lose? What did he gain? He lost things that he could never hold on to forever anyway. But he gained a deeper understanding and a greater friendship with God.

[Due to time constraint, the remainder of the sermon is condensed.]

There are several testimonies of people who didn’t know God at first. One of them had lost his daughter. But it was because he lost his daughter that he found God; it was because he saw the wonderful workings of God in his daughter.

2. The ultimate gain and the ultimate loss

Some people say: “Life goes on, I’ll get the best out of it. After all life is short. You can hold on to nothing anyway. Nothing actually belongs to you! So if you lose it, it doesn’t matter.” But an ultimate loss exists.

Matt 16:26
“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

This is the ultimate loss. If you lose your life, it’s game over. But actually there is eternity. If we know how to hold on to the God who gives eternity in this life, this can be our great gain; our ultimate gain in life. If we miss this chance to know God, it will be an ultimate loss.