Ecclesiastes 7:1-8:1 “Wisdom”

Sunday January 13, 2008

First Church of the Brethren

H. Kevin Derr

Ecclesiastes 7:1-8:1    

“Wisdom”

 

¹ A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. ² It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.

³ Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. ⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. ⁵ It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools. ⁶ Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.

⁷ Extortion turns the wise into fools, and a bribe corrupts the heart. ⁸ The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. ⁹ Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. ¹⁰ Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.

¹¹ Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. ¹² Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this:    Wisdom preserves the life of its possessor. ¹³ Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?  ¹⁴ When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, you cannot discover anything about your future.

¹⁵ In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness. ¹⁶ Do not be over righteous, either be over wise— why destroy yourself? ¹⁷ Do not be over wicked, and do not be a fool— why die before your time? ¹⁸ It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all [extremes]. ¹⁹ Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful than ten rulers in a city. ²⁰ Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.

²¹ Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you— ²² for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others. ²³ All this I tested by wisdom and I said, “I am determined to be wise”— but this was beyond me. ²⁴ Whatever exists is far off and most profound— who can discover it?

²⁵ So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly. ²⁶ I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare.

²⁷ “Look,” says the Teacher,” this is what I have discovered:  “Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things— ²⁸ while I was still searching but not finding— I found one [upright] man among a thousand, but not one [upright] woman among them all. ²⁹ This only have I found:  God created humankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.” ¹ Who is like the wise? Who knows the explanation of things?  Wisdom brightens the face and changes its hard appearance.

 

 

Prayer:

 

I.                   The teachers walks us through a series of hard sayings, truths that we find disturbing.  Often it is not in the pleasant days that we find growth and maturity.  Rather, we find maturity in the hardships of life, in the trials and pains that help to shape and form us.  This is not to say that easy days do not have their place, and that they do not help to shape us, but if you would consider a working with a piece of wood, will a sponge be as effective as a saw in shaping a piece of wood?  No!

a.       So the hard days shape us in a similar fashion.  The teacher speaks to this, he says, ¹ A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. ² It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.

                                                              i.      A good name is of more value than the rarest of luxury goods.

1.      What does it take to get a good name, a lifetime of righteous living, dealing honestly with people, earning their trust and respect.

2.      How long does the value of a rare luxury item last, until you use it or until food becomes more valuable than it.

3.      A good name is something that  you can use, like a good credit score today.

                                                            ii.      Then he says something completely unrelated, or so it seems, the day of death is better than the day of birth?

1.      A good name goes on long after you die, people remember you, talk about you.  The upright will live on long in the minds of their friends and family and those who knew and respected them.

2.      A child, does not have a good name, it all must be earned and built up but the day of death brings rest.

a.      Everyone with a good name will be remembered and honored, but not everyone who is born will be remembered and honored.

b.      The hard edge here is that we are mortal, we will all die.  We cannot control the manner in which we die, but we do have a measure of control over how we live, or at least how we will react to the circumstances of our lives.

                                                          iii.      This is followed by some rather simple and basic instruction in life.

1.      The hose of mourning is better than the house of feasting

a.      It really is  a simple proverb here, which is better to go through life drunk and foolishly or sober and wisely?

b.      The house of mourning invokes images of death, reflection and a realization that we will all die

c.       The frat party on the other hand suggests no foresight, no thought, just excess and indulgence.

2.      The reminder that we will all die, and that our time is actually rather limited, should be sobering and should cause us to ask questions about how we will live and what we will value and hold in esteem.

3.      As the teacher moves forward, we are still working with the same images, he writes, ³ Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. ⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. ⁵ It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools.

a.      The Teacher says, “Frustration is better than laughter”

                                                                                                                                      i.      I’d rather laugh and be frustrated, but which is more useful for me in the long run?

                                                                                                                                    ii.      He says, that “A sad face is good for the heart.” This is why  frustration is better than laughter.

1.      If you are wise, frustration will lead you to ask questions, it will lead to knowledge and understanding, but laughter will never take us to a point of deeper understanding, of living from a place of wisdom.

2.      This is not to say that frustration will not cause you to do stupid things, but there is the potential for growth and wisdom in frustration, but laughter does not have that same hope.

3.      He then details this wisdom for us, He says, “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning”  

a.      We do not seek sages in funeral homes

b.      What he is saying, is that the path to wisdom is not found in foolishness, but in reflection and wisdom and ask questions of those who are wise.

4.      He sets the other path in this light, “the house of pleasure.”  This is where the foolish reside. 

a.      Celebrities with lots of money, doing stupid things, just because they can.

b.      When we make our goal pleasure, our pleasure, we make sating our destructive desires the goal.  We see the path of the addict.

4.      Verse five sums this up rather nicely, the teacher says, ⁵ It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools.

a.      The wise person will rebuke us and lead us to life, to a good name, but the song of fools will lead us to our own destruction.

b.      In the end we all die, but do we wish a good name or to be known as a shortsighted fool?

c.       If that were not enough, verse 6 reads, ⁶ Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.

                                                                                                                                      i.       No one listens to the fire crackling under the cooking pot for advice, no one listens to the hum of the microwave for sound advice, so is the laughter of fools.  Meaningless, useless, like seeking wisdom in the hum of your microwave.

                                                                                                                                    ii.      The teacher speaks harshly to us, but how else will he get our attention.

II.                We now move through a series of examples of all of this:  The Teacher writes, ⁷ Extortion turns the wise into fools, and a bribe corrupts the heart. ⁸ The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. ⁹ Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. ¹⁰ Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.

a.       What are the pitfalls for the wise?  What temps the wise to stray from a life that leads to a good name?

                                                              i.      Money will, thus, Extortion turns the wise into fools, a bribe corrupts the heart.

1.      The teacher calls us to consider the effects of ill gotten gain, It is not only a bigger bank account, but a destruction of what matters, the character of a person, the heart.

2.      Two things are better than others, the end of a matter is better than its beginning and patience is better than pride.

a.      A completed project does not allow for corruption like one in progress does

b.      Patience can allow one to wait, pride causes us to act

3.      A warning about our tempers and quick reactions to things, being quickly provoked brings us to the point of being fools sooner rather than later.

4.      Then we are called to reflect on the good old days, and ask why were they better than now, he says this is not a good question.

a.      When we focus on what was, not what is, we end missing much, it does no one any good to live in the past in the glory days

b.      In fact, the glory days typically were not as good as we want to realize, we often romantic the past and make it much nicer than it was.

b.      The examples continue, ¹¹ Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. ¹² Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this:  Wisdom preserves the life of its possessor. ¹³ Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?  ¹⁴ When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, you cannot discover anything about your future.

                                                              i.      Why bother with wisdom? 

1.      Wisdom has some very specific values

a.      It is like money a shelter, a means of taking care of you and yours, but here is the difference wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.

b.      People will kill you for your money, but wisdom will help you survive, in ways that money never can

2.      Now he says, consider what God has done… God had done many things, he then pushes the example, “Who can straighten what God has made crooked?”

a.      Who can undo what God has done?

b.      God will use circumstances to shape you, good days as well as bad.

3.      So, the teacher says, enjoy god days, be happy, but consider that the same God who has brought you a good day will also bring you bad days.

a.      If both are from the hand of God, there is something worthwhile in them all

b.      Don’t try to undo what God has done, there is something for you in the difficulty that you are in, pay attention.

                                                            ii.      No matter how hard we try we cannot find out what our future is to be.  So, we must embrace what God has given us. This is not passive, but active, both come from the hand of God.

III.             The teacher now calls us to live rightly.  Listen to his words, ¹⁵ In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness. ¹⁶ Do not be over righteous, either be over wise— why destroy yourself? ¹⁷ Do not be over wicked, and do not be a fool— why die before your time? ¹⁸ It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all [extremes]. ¹⁹ Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful than ten rulers in a city. ²⁰ Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.

a.       He tells us that the righteous die young and the wicked live long.  In other words the ancient notion that the righteous will live long in the land and the wicked will die young, is not true, it might be a nice thought, but it is not true.

b.      So, he says,

                                                              i.      Don’t be over righteous or over wise on the one hand

1.      Don’t be self-righteous, don’t be holier than thou

2.      Don’t assume that you know it all and others have nothing to offer you

                                                            ii.      Don’t be over wicked on the other

1.      We often miss life because we have had and fast boundaries that God does not

                                                          iii.      Rather, wisdom says grab hold of both of them, one in the one hand and one in the other

1.      Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.

2.      Wisdom will bring a person more influence than the rulers of a city

                                                          iv.      If you want another way to think about his, be genuine, honest and don’t put on any false modesty or success.

1.      As Jesus said, “Let your yes be yes and your no be no, anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

c.       As the teacher wrote, he spoke truly, but in passing time this point came to be surpassed.  He said, ²⁰ Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.

                                                              i.      Jesus was sinless, but there were many religious folks of his day that felt he was evil, they would be the over righteous the over wise.

                                                            ii.      Jesus redefined humanity in many ways, this one included.

d.      The next few lines is hard to hear in the modern context,  ²⁵ So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly. ²⁶ I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare.

                                                              i.      In the day of the teacher, Women were powerless, there only power was their femininity.

                                                            ii.      It may also speak to the Teachers besetting sin, the lust of his eyes

                                                          iii.      This should also be read the other way around about the way that men ensnare women too

                                                          iv.      In the end, it speaks about which will ensnare us all:

1.      A besetting sin, something that is tempting especially to us, powerful, a mere thought or image can become almost overwhelmingly powerful

2.      The only escape, other than to be dominated by this besetting sin, is a life of righteousness, being a man or woman of God, nothing else will stop this deadly thought.

IV.             The end of this passage also reflects a bit the teachers besetting sin and the nature of the times in which he lived.  He writes: ²⁷ “Look,” says the Teacher,” this is what I have discovered:  “Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things— ²⁸ while I was still searching but not finding— I found one [upright] man among a thousand, but not one [upright] woman among them all. ²⁹ This only have I found:  God created humankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.” ¹ Who is like the wise? Who knows the explanation of things?  Wisdom brightens the face and changes its hard appearance.

a.       At the end of the day, wisdom is worthwhile, it brightens the face and changes its hard appearance

                                                              i.      The wise are thoughtful and desirable to have in a community, there are none others like them, they understand.

                                                            ii.      They know how the world works, and who to live in the world, and to do so righteously

                                                          iii.      There are not many who are wise and righteous in the day of the Teacher, neither are we likely to find many today who are wise and righteous.

1.      The state of humanity is thus, that while God created us righteously, we have sinned and continue to do so, both men and women.

2.      God created us righteous, but we go looking for schemes, ways to appease God for our lack of righteousness

a.      In the end, it is not we who save ourselves with our scheming

b.      But rather it is God who has saved us through his sinless son, the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus who is our Lord.

Ecclesiastes 6:1-12 “Wealth”

January 6, 2007

Epiphany

First Church of the Brethren

H. Kevin Derr

Ecclesiastes 6:1-12     

“Wealth”

 

¹ I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on the human race: ² God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.

³ A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. ⁴ It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. ⁵ Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man— ⁶ even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?

⁷ Everyone’s toil is for the mouth,
yet the appetite is never satisfied.

⁸ What advantage have the wise over fools?
What do the poor gain
by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?

⁹ Better what the eye sees
than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.

¹⁰ Whatever exists has already been named,
and what humanity is has been known;
no one can contend
with someone who is stronger.

¹¹ The more the words,
the less the meaning,
and how does that profit anyone?

¹² For who knows what is good for people in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?

 

Prayer

 

I.                   The Teacher, be that Solomon or an other, pushes us to consider all that we strive after, and the foolishness of much of our toil.  Listen to his words,

a.      ¹ I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on the human race: ² God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.

b.      The Teacher is identifying the evils he has seen, and often we do not classify this as an evil, yet, we are called to consider it here.

                                                              i.      It is not just an evil, but a grievous evil, one that weighs heavily on humanity, it is a weight that keeps people from life.

                                                            ii.      He says, God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire.

1.      that does not sound like a grievous evil, it rather sounds nice, a delight, but it is not the end of the sentence either.

2.      Here is the catch, while God may give them wealth, possessions and honor, he also prevents them from enjoying their wealth, possessions and honor.

                                                          iii.      In the ancient world, the wealthy were assumed to be blessed by God, and thus their wealth.  We are told here that this is not necessarily the case, in fact the wealth may well be a means of delivering God’s judgment. 

1.      Not only are they prevented from enjoying their wealth, but that it will be passed on to another to enjoy instead.

a.       You spend a lifetime accumulating only to give it to someone else to play with.

b.      God gives you wealth, prevents you from enjoying it, and then gives it to an other to enjoy.

2.      It prompts a myriad of questions, why would God do such a thing?  What does this tell us of God? How much of our perceived free will do we actually exercise?

a.       We should realize that wealth and poverty are both tools that God uses to shape his people, they are not in and of themselves signs of God’s favor or disfavor.

b.      The whole point it that God will use the circumstances of our life to shape and form us to conform to the image of Christ.  He will use wealth and poverty to do what needs to be done in us and through us.

c.       God does not grant wealth as a sign of his approval, nor does he withdraw wealth as a sign of his disfavor.

d.      It would seem that we are much more shaped by our world and our God than we are by the wishes of our minds.

                                                          iv.      The Teacher then moves to a specific example, he writes, ³ A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

1.      In the ancient world there were three primary indicators of how you were standing with your God, the first was wealth, the second was how many children you have, and the final was a long life.

a.       The Teacher removed wealth from the list of signs of God’s favor

b.      Now he address two other indicators:

                                                                                                                                      i.      A hundred children and long life

                                                                                                                                    ii.      The teacher says a still born child is better off than a man or a woman who cannot enjoy his prosperity and a proper burial.

1.      Though he is very wealthy, though he has a hundred children, a still born child is happier than he is.

c.       How can this be?  The teacher continues, ⁴ It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. ⁵ Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man—

                                                                                                                                      i.      The child comes without meaning, knowledge or insight, departs in darkness and it’s name is shrouded in darkness

1.      To name a thing it is to understand it’s essence.  A name was very important in the ancient world.

2.      To name something, implies you are the creator, as God named Adam, as parents name children

a.       But the name of the stillborn is shrouded in darkness, it has not been known, called into being, it rests in God.

b.      Even though this child never saw the sun, never knew any of the world, still it is better off than the rich man you cannot enjoy his hundred children many years or his possessions

3.      In the end the child knows rest, the rich man does not.

                                                            v.      It should cause us to raise some questions about what we spend our time seeking after, what we pursue and why we do it.  When do we have enough?  When are we satisfied, perhaps the problem in that we are seeking the wrong things? 

1.      Jesus said, ¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

2.      Again Jesus said,    ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

3.      Again Jesus says,   ⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened.     ⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

4.      The Teacher concludes this point with these words, ⁶ even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?

a.      Long life does not ensure contentment, nor does it indicate God’s blessing.  All the signs of approval of society do not indicate that God has too added his approval to ones life.

b.      It seems, when all is said and done, the rich man who was prevented from enjoying his wealth has the same fate as the still born, death. 

                                                                                                                                      i.      But even in death, the still born child has the advantage, it will know rest.

II.                We now move into a series of sayings, thoughts to help us reflect and consider life.

a.       The first grouping gives us these words,

    ⁷ Everyone’s toil is for the mouth,
yet the appetite is never satisfied.    

     ⁸ What advantage have the wise over fools?
What do the poor gain
  by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?

                                                              i.      Everyone’s toil is for the mouth, no matter how much we fill our mouths, we never can satisfy the appetite, the hunger for more food.

1.      The only thing that will end the apatite is death.

2.      The wise like the fool will also find a space in the grave, wisdom will not allow one to escape death

3.      The poor no matter how well they conduct themselves, will end up like the rest of us, dead.

b.      Then the focus shifts,

    ⁹ Better what the eye sees
than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.

                                                              i.      Seeing something can make for a satisfaction, but eating will never do the same, but in the end both of these things, seeing and feeding our stomachs leaves us with an activity as useful as chasing after the wind.

                                                            ii.      How much of our activity falls into this category, into this place useless activity, meaningless accomplishments that we will only have to do again and again?

c.       We see the focus again shift, the Teacher writes,

        ¹⁰ Whatever exists has already been named,
and what humanity is has been known;
no one can contend
with someone who is stronger

                                                              i.      Whatever is, whatever exists, is known by someone. Every once in a while you hear a story of the discovery of a new species of animal.  It was not typically previously unknown, just unknown to western science, the locals knew about and told the researches where to find

                                                            ii.      It was already known and named, There was no real discovery.  Much in the same way that on cannot contend with another who is stronger, we must accept the difficult reality.

                                                          iii.      This is often a problem for us, we don’t like to be told what to do.

1.      But which of us will be able to contend with God?

2.      Who will be able to stand and say, this is the way it will be?

d.      This one hurts,  ¹¹ The more the words,
the less the meaning,
and how does that profit anyone?

                                                              i.      Yet, our culture thrives on creating more words, talking about things endlessly, but never actually doing anything about the things we talk about.

                                                            ii.      How does that profit anyone?

III.             The teacher leaves us in a rather harsh place, he says, ¹² For who knows what is good for people in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?

a.       Everyone has a philosophy, a theory, a plan for having a better life.  There is nothing new in this, you will see these competing philosophies in ads, in books, in music and literature and movies and any form of distraction or entertainment.

b.      But who does know about how to live life in a way that will be meaningful and offer hope the few brief days of our lives?

                                                              i.      Jesus gave us some rather simple instruction, he said, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  ³⁷ Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

                                                            ii.      We are called to live out of these two commands

1.      Love the Lord your god with your whole being

2.      Love your neighbor as yourself

 

 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22 “A Time for Everything”

November 25, 2008

First Church of the Brethren

H. Kevin Derr

Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

“A Time for Everything”

 

¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ 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. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ 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.

¹⁵ Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.

¹⁶ And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

¹⁷ 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.”

¹⁸ I also said to myself, “As for human beings, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. ¹⁹ Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. ²⁰ All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. ²¹ Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

²² So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

Prayer

I. Ecclesiastes reflects some common ideas that we see in the Scriptures, one that comes into focus here is that of a sense of order, and a time that is appropriate for the various activities of life. We see the idea of order emerge in Genesis in the creation, God brings order out of Chaos. Paul will later tell us that God is a God of order not disorder. This idea of an appropriate time and season for all the activities of life is echoed here by Ecclesiastes.

a. Here in the third chapter, we find the controlling thought expressed clearly in the first verse, he writes, ¹There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

i. The world that God has created also includes a time and a place for all the activities of humanity. There are times and places were some activities and behaviors are fine, but others that are not appropriate.

1. It is not to necessarily suggest that some of these things are evil, just that there is an appropriate time and place.

2. That is not to say that all behavior is fine, it just needs the appropriate time and place.

a. This is not an uncommon idea in the ancient world, for example Aristotle said that there is no appropriate time and place for adultery. It is wrong.

b. This is also true in the Scriptures, Solomon is not saying that there is a time that is right for adultery.

ii. He does say ²a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

1. A time for beginnings and endings, a time to plant and a time to uproot, likely a reference to trees or vineyards, but that is not the issue at hand. All things come to an end. People, plants, animals, we all come to and end.

2. There is a beginning point and an ending point, this is true of all of creation, from the whole of the universe, to the smallest gain of sand.

iii. Ecclesiastes goes on to give us a much bigger sense of this movement in life. He says, ³a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

1. This may be understood in different ways, but following the agricultural theme, a time to kill animals that are wounded, and a time to heal them.

2. There are times to tear down our buildings and time to build new ones. There are beginnings and endings to all we know.

iv. There are times for tears and laughter, dancing and sitting with those who have lost loved ones. ⁴a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

1. There are times and places for these activities, a time to mourn a reference to death, and a time to dance, a reference to birth.

2. weeping and laughing, events of life we know all to well. Each is fine in its context, in the right place and time.

v. This line of thinking continues, ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

1. gathering and scattering stones, building and tearing down.

2. A time for marriage and a time for abstinence

vi. Ecclesiastes is clearly taking us to a very specific place with this line of thinking, he is not specifically address the activities themselves their value or righteousness, but he is taking us to a specific destination. He continues

1. ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away, ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

2. So where is he taking us?

II. Here it is, here is our destination.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ 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. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ 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.

a. What do workers gain from their toil? What do we get from all our work? What comes of it? That is the question of Ecclesiastes.

i. He says he has seen the burden that God has laid on all humanity, to work and toil for our food, an echo of the curse from Genesis 1

ii. But then there is a shift, he says “God has made everything beautiful in its time.”

1. There is a fundamental beauty to life and all of creation, that is not to say that it is without difficulty, he already mentioned the cruse, the result of the fall.

2. But, even with that burden, there is beauty, this is a gift from God.

3. He also tells us that God has set eternity in the human heart.

a. We realize that there is more to the universe than just ourselves, we understand that time goes well beyond the short span of our days

b. We comprehend that there is more than just what we see

c. Yet, even though creation hints to the reality of the creator, though our hearts and minds attempt to grasp that there is more, we still do not understand God, nor what God has done from the beginning of time to the end of time.

iii. Then he says,. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God

1. What is good for people? To be happy and do good, to be righteous.

2. To eat and drink and find enjoyment in their work these things are to be seen as a gift from God.

3. This is dependable, because the universe that God created will endure, we cannot add to or take away from, and God had done this so that we will fear him, that we will know him and be in relationship with him.

III. We then move into a restatement of some things we have been over, but then it is expanded, Ecclesiastes says,

¹⁵ Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.

¹⁶ And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

¹⁷ 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.”

a. Whatever is has been, what will be was already, here is the change, God will judge what has been done and what will be done.

b. Then Ecclesiastes notes what he has seen, wickedness.

i. In the place of Judgment, wickedness, corruption in those who judge and oversee people

ii. In the place where there should be the granting of justice, wickedness, corruption, and favoritism

iii. Then he comes to this realization, God will judge what humans do under the sun.

1. The righteous and the wicked will be examined by the Lord God.

2. Just as there as been time and place for all that humanity does under the sun, so too will God take time to see that every activity, every deed is considered.

3. Here will be the realization of the wise and the foolish, the righteous and the wicked, while death may face both, there will be an accounting to God for foolishness, for sinfulness and for wickedness.

IV. Now He pushes us just a little further, Ecclesiastes writes, ¹⁸ I also said to myself, “As for human beings, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. ¹⁹ Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. ²⁰ All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. ²¹ Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

a. God tests us so that we may see we are like the animals.

i. How are we like the animals, sometimes in our behavior

ii. But all the time in that like they draw their last breath so will we.

iii. We are both formed from the dust and return to the dust.

1. We have the same breath, in this we have no advantage over animals.

2. We are all bound to breath our last, to return to the earth.

b. Then he asks the question that so much of humanity asks, What happens after we die. Is there life or isn’t there beyond the last breath?

i. We of course have the assurance of Jesus that for those who believe in him, death is not an issue,. If you would consider how often this topic emerges in popular culture.

ii. Ecclesiastes was addressing the same question in his day, what happens when we die?

c. At the end of the day, he says, ²² So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

i. Here is the best hope for those who do not know Christ Jesus, to simply be able to enjoy their work, because work is their lot.

1. Who can convince them that there is something more?

2. Who can change the mind of the man or woman who refuses to see that Jesus is the Christ.

ii. Yet, for you and I there is more to life, there is genuine life, Jesus said it this way: ⁷ Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. ^[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

1. Those who are not the Messiah, those who are not pointing to the Messiah, are thieves robbers and are not here for the benefit of the people of God.

2. Jesus is the Shepherd, the gate, the way we come to life.

a. The thief comes to steal and destroy

b. But the shepherd, Jesus comes to bring life, life to the full or abundantly.

c. While Ecclesiastes hints at this coming revelation, he did not fully understand what he was point us too, yet he none the less points us to life that will be abundant, more than just a chasing after the wind, more than just another beginning and ending point.

d. He directs us toward Jesus the Christ.