So here we are at the end of our series in Ecclesiastes. How have you found it? Depressing? Sombre? even hopeful? I have found Ecclesiastes permission giving. It says to embrace your limits. Deal with the fact you are finite and have to progress through time. You don’t need to know and control everything and so instead why don’t you enjoy the meal in front of you? We are told Jesus came eating and drinking and He told us not to worry about tomorrow.
I think this book gives us a glimpse in how we can live another way. This ancient book has a modern-day counter-cultural feel to it. Gain is off the table, instead focus on our created creaturely limits: you are going to die, you do not know everything in this confusing and almost unjust world. See the gifts our Father has given us, and be thankful for our lot in life.
Some don’t see the optimism that flows from seeing our limits. Some think this is depressing. It’s depressing to know you are going to die. It is depressing as everything is hard to grasp and fleeting. But knowing our limits and being depressed doesn’t have to follow. - And in our culture, you can see this. Even those who think there is no meaning to life are for some reason optimistic, although for all the wrong reasons.
YouTube must know that we are doing Ecclesiastes as a song came up in my related that I want to play to you. Just so you know, it’s wrong, but I think it captures our modern-day thinking, our modern-day atheistic optimism.
Video: Ian McConnell - Important (The Way I Wrote It)
“Isn’t that great?”
Does this song capture Ecclesiastics? We are to face the fact that nothing matters, humans will go extinct and so this means that what we do isn’t important, so we can give things a go because it doesn’t matter anyway.
I find this flow of thought really interesting.
I’m not important so therefore I can do whatever I want. The second point does not necessarily follow from the first. You could easily say, I’m not important so why bother doing anything? Or the singer could have said: I’m not important so why are you listening to my song in the first place?
Jean-Paul Sartre in the last century said that humans are not born with any purpose or nature and that the universe is indifferent towards us. What people must do, is create their own essence through actions and choices. Humans are free but like spider man, this comes with a great responsibility. We don’t have to listen to any text for guidance, as meaning and morality is self-made. We can be free and do whatever we want and deal with what comes from our actions.
To some, this is freeing and our culture laps this idea up, and yet it is horrifying. Our culture overlooks the life of the ones who espouse this. We want to live like this, but we don't like the lives of those who do it. In our SOAP readings a few weeks back Jesus said you will know who the wolves are not by their teaching but by their fruit (Mat 7:15-16). Just looking at Sartre's life, it turns out he was a misogynist and had numerous affairs using an imbalance of power he had with his younger students. He used these women for himself and in his letters he was quite casual about it. And so what? I’m not important and neither are you, so let's do whatever we want to do. Isn’t that great?
In Ecclesiastes, it may feel like it is saying something similar. Life is meaningless, and we don’t know what is going on, we can’t tell the future, there is injustice in this world and then we die. So in the face of all that let's try and have some wisdom and do a few things and enjoy some fleeting moments when we can.
And even today's passage I think is saying, try things out, enjoy and remember. Old age is coming so do what your heart is telling you. But that is not all this passage is saying. There are more factors to consider because life is not simple and one-dimensional. It can’t be summed up in a catchy tune, even if it says things we want to hear.
Our passage sort of has two movements, it says:
Clouds bring rain but who knows exactly when? Even BOM get it wrong with all their satellites and historical data. When big trees fall, there they lay, it will not move after that, the life has been lived and there it is to move no more. If you sit around watching the weather, waiting for the right opportune time to act, you won’t actually act. There never is a good time to start going to the gym. There never is a good time to add a Life Group to your weekly schedule. If you are waiting for the right moment to change jobs, to move house, it won’t come.
In preparing for this sermon I listened to a talk on this passage, it was recorded in 2018. The preacher was saying, are you at this moment working hard, not enjoying your time now but just saving and scrimping, so that 2020 you can do what you really wanted, to have that holiday, to move somewhere else or to retrain? He said, who knows what is going to happen in the next two years? And how right he was. No one knew about COVID and lock downs in 2018. Plans and holidays, and jobs were all put off. Should you change degrees, change jobs, or move to a warmer city? Maybe, but don’t sit around thinking about it for too long, weigh it up, make up your mind and just do something.
There is lots I don’t understand. How do cells in a fertilized egg turn into different parts of a body, like skin and eyes and lungs they are different, but they are still made up of cells and atoms. They divide right but how do they know what to become? How do they all form together like a complicated Voltron or Megazord. I don’t know. I can’t even understand how human things work, like electricity. I get that you want to spin a turbine, you boil some water or get some wind but then what, how does spinning a thing mean I can charge my phone 300 kms away? And don’t get me started on Bluetooth. That stuff is magic.
You can not understand the work of God so, sow your seed, try some things, don’t be idle and who knows what you do might work out.
Don’t be paralyzed by uncertainties and the unknown but be as active as possible.
I had this lecture at St Mark's, and it's a little strange now, as I think we are kinda peers. Before he was like my academic teacher who wrote some award-winning books. But now, we both have kids in the same high school and have bumped into each other a few times this year. Anyway, he was telling me he turned 50 last year and his wife said he can get a fancy new guitar. He is now 51 and still hasn’t decided what to get. He is like, “I don’t think I will get a chance to buy another guitar, and so I can’t decide which one”. He has been in to many music shops and tried lots out. He is parlayed by decision, when if he had decided he would have the guitar by now and be able to play around with it.
One commentator says:
While you still have sight, enjoy the sun. Go and watch a good sunset from Mount Oxley. Enjoy your whole life, but don’t forget you will age and that will be hard. Your whole life and the time that you are young is misty, it is vapour, it is transient and not permanent, like the mist this morning. It is fleeting, so be active and let your heart give you joy while you are able.
It is OK to have joy in what you do. Sometimes Christians don’t really believe this. There is the joke about the religious folk who are worried that someone somewhere is having fun. We may think that this bit of verse 9 seems to be anti-Bible, it literally says: “Follow the ways of your heart”. But hold on aren’t we all sinful, aren’t our hearts deceiving? Isn’t that worldly wisdom that needs to be countered? Maybe it is Old Testament wisdom that we need to be readjusted through Christ somehow. But did you catch our second reading from 1 Timothy?
Paul writes to Timothy some instructions. In verse 6 he says how Timothy can be a good minister by teaching some things. He says
There are some people in this church who have started two different prayer ministries. These are not St Matt’s endorsed, but it is just something they wanted to do. One couple invites people over to their place to pray for the unreached people groups in Canberra. When they were starting this up, I asked what will you do if no one comes? The wife said, if no one comes, then I can just pray with my husband for the lost, which is a win anyway. And it is.
Another person coming out of COVID has started a prayer group once a month, praying for family members who don’t know Jesus. They meet via Zoom, and they may switch to meeting in person soon. This was something on their heart, and they have about 16 people from different churches coming together to pray for family members.
Is there something you think you can do and start-up? What would you like to try? I have made some free Christian Android apps in the past, when I worked at ANU I used to meet with uni students in my lunch hour, no one asked me or commissioned me to do these things. Just do what your heart is telling you, if it is sanctified by word and prayer, enjoy it, and know that you will be judged for it, and you might enjoy God even more.
This I think is simply a reminder of the end of the matter of this book
When you age your eyes go dim, and you can’t see, your grinders or your teeth fall out or become few, your hearing fades, and falling over is dangerous. The almond tree turns white when it blossoms which is like your gray hair, and after that, you will go to your eternal home. Our senses will fade, it grow hard to walk around, your strength will stoop, you will drag yourself around. It will be hard. As a few people have told me, growing old is not for wimps.
Some say this poem instead is about a village, maybe in mourning, maybe under siege. The people who are in charge of houses tremble, the strong men go weak, those who grind at the mill stop, and people are scared of the danger in the street.
Either way, trouble is coming, and it will affect you, and throughout this, we are to remember our creator. How we live now is an investment in the future. You can’t put off remembering your creator when you're old, you need to do it today to carry it into the future.
The next verses are talking about death
This may sound strange but in one sense ageing is a gift from God. Imagine if we didn’t age, but all of a sudden dropped dead. Funerals for people who die suddenly are the worst. Ageing lets us know and prepare for what is next.
Ageing can help us get our affairs in order. I watched a livestream funeral a few weeks ago, someone my age who I did Beach Mission with died. He had a stroke beforehand and it affected his speaking and cognitive functions. They had recorded an interview with him and he said the stroke was a good thing, as it allowed him to get his things in order so he could make plans for his wife and children when he was gone. Ageing is hard, but we can use it to get our affairs in order.
Plans change when you are older. Your timeline is different. This American politician Claude Pepper said “A stockbroker urged me to buy a stock that would triple its value every year. I told him, ‘At my age, I don’t even buy green bananas.””
There is a member in our congregation who bought a puppy, he is 90 next year. If he were my parent I would be saying, “Why did you do that, isn’t it a handful, and a hassle, you don’t have the energy for this”. He told me, that he got the puppy because it will outlive him, and when he is gone, he wants his wife, who is younger than him to have some company. So they take it for walks, and train it now, so that it will be a good companion for his wife in the future.
How do you see your own timeline? Contemplating our death now means we can live life backwards. How might you live, knowing that you need to remember God now before trouble comes? Wasting today is also wasting your future. What is your trajectory of your life now? What makes you think you will change in the future if you don’t change now?
And so here’s the money question: what important thing should we be going after in this life? What does a life not wasted look like? Throughout this book we have seen certain gains are fleeting, nothing lasts under the sun, and people are forgotten. However, the teacher is not death denying nor are they eternity denying. They know death is coming and they know eternity under God is a real thing.
See the end of Eccl 12:7 after you are put in the ground
When we die we will face God, and give an account. Hebrews says
So wait and remember. Live a life looking at the end, so we can make the most of the opportunities we have, and enjoy all that God has given us. As we grow old, may we not fear the judgement of God, but look forward to when we hear the words “Well done good and faithful servant, come and share in your master’s happiness.”
Yes, death is coming and don’t be paralysed by that and the fear of the unknown future. But know you will face God’s judgement, so prepare for that. This means what we do is important, for God takes an interest in what we do. So live your life, take opportunities and enjoy your moment in this world. Trust in our wise God, when things don’t make sense, and know that He has made a way for us to stand firm on Judgement Day.
Video: Ian McConnell - Important (The Way I Wrote It)
“Isn’t that great?”
Does this song capture Ecclesiastics? We are to face the fact that nothing matters, humans will go extinct and so this means that what we do isn’t important, so we can give things a go because it doesn’t matter anyway.
I find this flow of thought really interesting.
I’m not important so therefore I can do whatever I want. The second point does not necessarily follow from the first. You could easily say, I’m not important so why bother doing anything? Or the singer could have said: I’m not important so why are you listening to my song in the first place?
Jean-Paul Sartre in the last century said that humans are not born with any purpose or nature and that the universe is indifferent towards us. What people must do, is create their own essence through actions and choices. Humans are free but like spider man, this comes with a great responsibility. We don’t have to listen to any text for guidance, as meaning and morality is self-made. We can be free and do whatever we want and deal with what comes from our actions.
To some, this is freeing and our culture laps this idea up, and yet it is horrifying. Our culture overlooks the life of the ones who espouse this. We want to live like this, but we don't like the lives of those who do it. In our SOAP readings a few weeks back Jesus said you will know who the wolves are not by their teaching but by their fruit (Mat 7:15-16). Just looking at Sartre's life, it turns out he was a misogynist and had numerous affairs using an imbalance of power he had with his younger students. He used these women for himself and in his letters he was quite casual about it. And so what? I’m not important and neither are you, so let's do whatever we want to do. Isn’t that great?
In Ecclesiastes, it may feel like it is saying something similar. Life is meaningless, and we don’t know what is going on, we can’t tell the future, there is injustice in this world and then we die. So in the face of all that let's try and have some wisdom and do a few things and enjoy some fleeting moments when we can.
And even today's passage I think is saying, try things out, enjoy and remember. Old age is coming so do what your heart is telling you. But that is not all this passage is saying. There are more factors to consider because life is not simple and one-dimensional. It can’t be summed up in a catchy tune, even if it says things we want to hear.
Our passage sort of has two movements, it says:
- You don’t know the future so try something and
- Know that in the future you will age and die
- Try things out
- Enjoy
- Remember
Try things out
Let's start from Chapter 11. Have a look at the first four verseShip your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return.This is saying try things out. Ship your grain, it may give a return. Try seven things, maybe even eight as you don’t know what will happen, so give things a go. Have a side hustle, pick up a hobby, make a website and start a blog. Write that book, make that app. It could work out, who knows?
Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. (Ecclesiastes 11:1–4 (NIV))
Clouds bring rain but who knows exactly when? Even BOM get it wrong with all their satellites and historical data. When big trees fall, there they lay, it will not move after that, the life has been lived and there it is to move no more. If you sit around watching the weather, waiting for the right opportune time to act, you won’t actually act. There never is a good time to start going to the gym. There never is a good time to add a Life Group to your weekly schedule. If you are waiting for the right moment to change jobs, to move house, it won’t come.
In preparing for this sermon I listened to a talk on this passage, it was recorded in 2018. The preacher was saying, are you at this moment working hard, not enjoying your time now but just saving and scrimping, so that 2020 you can do what you really wanted, to have that holiday, to move somewhere else or to retrain? He said, who knows what is going to happen in the next two years? And how right he was. No one knew about COVID and lock downs in 2018. Plans and holidays, and jobs were all put off. Should you change degrees, change jobs, or move to a warmer city? Maybe, but don’t sit around thinking about it for too long, weigh it up, make up your mind and just do something.
As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. (Ecclesiastes 11:5–6 (NIV))Sow your seed in the morning, and in the evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.
There is lots I don’t understand. How do cells in a fertilized egg turn into different parts of a body, like skin and eyes and lungs they are different, but they are still made up of cells and atoms. They divide right but how do they know what to become? How do they all form together like a complicated Voltron or Megazord. I don’t know. I can’t even understand how human things work, like electricity. I get that you want to spin a turbine, you boil some water or get some wind but then what, how does spinning a thing mean I can charge my phone 300 kms away? And don’t get me started on Bluetooth. That stuff is magic.
You can not understand the work of God so, sow your seed, try some things, don’t be idle and who knows what you do might work out.
Don’t be paralyzed by uncertainties and the unknown but be as active as possible.
One commentator says:
our ignorance should be liberating: if we cannot know what might actually affect our lives for better or worse, then there is no point in worrying about such things. ..we are not to deny the reality of our situation, but we are not to let our acceptance of that reality impede the enjoyment of our lives (Weeks, S. (2022). Ecclesiastes 5:7–12:14: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary (G. I. Davies, Tuckett C. M., Eds.; Vol. 2, p. 578). T&T Clark.)
Enjoy
We are to enjoy the life we are given, but not ignoring the troubles we see or ignoring that we are going to die. In the rest of Chapters 11 and 12 there is this contrast about the young and the old, and it is framed in a way to instruct the young to prepare for the future, not ignoring it but accepting that this is life.Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.
However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all.
But let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many.
Everything to come is meaningless.
You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 11:7–10 (NIV))
It is OK to have joy in what you do. Sometimes Christians don’t really believe this. There is the joke about the religious folk who are worried that someone somewhere is having fun. We may think that this bit of verse 9 seems to be anti-Bible, it literally says: “Follow the ways of your heart”. But hold on aren’t we all sinful, aren’t our hearts deceiving? Isn’t that worldly wisdom that needs to be countered? Maybe it is Old Testament wisdom that we need to be readjusted through Christ somehow. But did you catch our second reading from 1 Timothy?
Paul writes to Timothy some instructions. In verse 6 he says how Timothy can be a good minister by teaching some things. He says
If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. (1 Timothy 4:6 (NIV))I want to know what these things are right. You want to have a good minister? I want to be a good one, so what is it that Timothy should teach? Just back up in verse 4 it says
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, (1 Timothy 4:4 (NIV))God’s creation is good. But people have gone after their own schemes (Eccl 7:29). In this context some are saying marriage isn’t important, its just a bit of paper, its thing from the patriarchy, or they are saying you should avoid some foods. How has that animal been killed? Has it been sacrificed to an idol? But no, Paul says we can receive marriage, and food with thanksgiving. Why?
because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:5 (NIV))If you set apart your marriage or food, or work or a hobbies or a new ministry through God’s word and prayer, enjoy life. Go and retrain, move, study, enjoy, download Duolingo, but know that you will be judged for what you do.
There are some people in this church who have started two different prayer ministries. These are not St Matt’s endorsed, but it is just something they wanted to do. One couple invites people over to their place to pray for the unreached people groups in Canberra. When they were starting this up, I asked what will you do if no one comes? The wife said, if no one comes, then I can just pray with my husband for the lost, which is a win anyway. And it is.
Another person coming out of COVID has started a prayer group once a month, praying for family members who don’t know Jesus. They meet via Zoom, and they may switch to meeting in person soon. This was something on their heart, and they have about 16 people from different churches coming together to pray for family members.
Is there something you think you can do and start-up? What would you like to try? I have made some free Christian Android apps in the past, when I worked at ANU I used to meet with uni students in my lunch hour, no one asked me or commissioned me to do these things. Just do what your heart is telling you, if it is sanctified by word and prayer, enjoy it, and know that you will be judged for it, and you might enjoy God even more.
This I think is simply a reminder of the end of the matter of this book
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 (NIV))
Remember
After we are told to enjoy we are told to remember. See verses 1 and 6 in chapter 12.Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come (Ecclesiastes 12:1 (NIV))and
Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; (Ecclesiastes 12:6 (NIV))There is some debate about these first 5 verses in chapter 12 and what they mean. In the Life Group booklet, I spoon-fed the idea that it was a poem about aging.
When you age your eyes go dim, and you can’t see, your grinders or your teeth fall out or become few, your hearing fades, and falling over is dangerous. The almond tree turns white when it blossoms which is like your gray hair, and after that, you will go to your eternal home. Our senses will fade, it grow hard to walk around, your strength will stoop, you will drag yourself around. It will be hard. As a few people have told me, growing old is not for wimps.
Some say this poem instead is about a village, maybe in mourning, maybe under siege. The people who are in charge of houses tremble, the strong men go weak, those who grind at the mill stop, and people are scared of the danger in the street.
Either way, trouble is coming, and it will affect you, and throughout this, we are to remember our creator. How we live now is an investment in the future. You can’t put off remembering your creator when you're old, you need to do it today to carry it into the future.
The next verses are talking about death
Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:6–7 (NIV))Before the silver cord of life is cut and the precious bowl breaks and your life is spilled, before things break and you return to the dust, we are told to remember him, remember God.
Ageing can help us get our affairs in order. I watched a livestream funeral a few weeks ago, someone my age who I did Beach Mission with died. He had a stroke beforehand and it affected his speaking and cognitive functions. They had recorded an interview with him and he said the stroke was a good thing, as it allowed him to get his things in order so he could make plans for his wife and children when he was gone. Ageing is hard, but we can use it to get our affairs in order.
Plans change when you are older. Your timeline is different. This American politician Claude Pepper said “A stockbroker urged me to buy a stock that would triple its value every year. I told him, ‘At my age, I don’t even buy green bananas.””
How do you see your own timeline? Contemplating our death now means we can live life backwards. How might you live, knowing that you need to remember God now before trouble comes? Wasting today is also wasting your future. What is your trajectory of your life now? What makes you think you will change in the future if you don’t change now?
And so here’s the money question: what important thing should we be going after in this life? What does a life not wasted look like? Throughout this book we have seen certain gains are fleeting, nothing lasts under the sun, and people are forgotten. However, the teacher is not death denying nor are they eternity denying. They know death is coming and they know eternity under God is a real thing.
See the end of Eccl 12:7 after you are put in the ground
the spirit returns to God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7 (NIV))and in Eccl 11:9, follow your heart
but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. (Ecclesiastes 11:9 (NIV))
When we die we will face God, and give an account. Hebrews says
Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, (Hebrews 9:27 (NIV))This is saying the same thing, but it goes on to say
so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:28 (NIV))We have a more developed idea about death than the Teacher in Ecclesiastes. We know that Christ came as a wise teacher as well as a sacrifice, to take away all our sins. We may have been foolish in our lives, we may have chased many things that have led us astray, but what is potentially missing in Ecclesiastics and Old Testament wisdom literature is grace. Jesus came to save those who are fools, those who need help and wisdom. He will come back a second time to bring salvation to all those who are waiting for him.
So wait and remember. Live a life looking at the end, so we can make the most of the opportunities we have, and enjoy all that God has given us. As we grow old, may we not fear the judgement of God, but look forward to when we hear the words “Well done good and faithful servant, come and share in your master’s happiness.”
Remember the end of the matter, of this whole series we have looked at isIf the Teacher were to hear that song that was played at the beginning I think they would say
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 (NIV))
Yes, death is coming and don’t be paralysed by that and the fear of the unknown future. But know you will face God’s judgement, so prepare for that. This means what we do is important, for God takes an interest in what we do. So live your life, take opportunities and enjoy your moment in this world. Trust in our wise God, when things don’t make sense, and know that He has made a way for us to stand firm on Judgement Day.
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