Well, good morning, church. Would you turn with me one last time to the book of Ecclesiastes.
We are in chapter 12, verses 8 through 14. We've come to the end of our study in this rich and challenging
! And we get to hear today what Ecclesiastes calls the end of the matter. We come to the epilogue of
this book where the main message is summed up for us. When all has been said and all has been heard,
here is the main thing. So, as you turn to chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes, let me pray.
Father, how we long to be people of wisdom,
people who know what it means to live life as it is meant to be lived.
Give us ears to hear what the conclusion of this great book of Ecclesiastes has to say to us,
this book that you have inspired and preserved and through which you continue to speak today.
Guide us by your Spirit and lead us to your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found. In His name we pray. Amen.
All right, Ecclesiastes 12, 8 through 14.
Vanity of vanity, says the preacher, all is vanity.
Being wise, besides being wise, the preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying
and arranging many proverbs with great care. The preacher sought to find words of delight,
and uprightly he wrote words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads,
and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings. They are given by one shepherd.
My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books, there is no end, and much study is a
weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment,
with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
So, in this book of Ecclesiastes, we've been on a quest, a quest to discover the life well lived.
Or as verse 13 puts it, we've been on a quest to discover what is the whole duty of man.
That is, how might we live such that we could look back over our lives
and say, I've done all that I was meant to do. With this life I've been given, I've lived it well.
Now, are you on a quest to discover the life well lived?
Of course you are. Who isn't? Who doesn't want to look back over their life and say, I've lived it well.
With this life I've been given, I've done all that I was meant to do.
But, in this quest for the well lived life, Ecclesiastes has found many dead ends.
In fact, at times, Ecclesiastes has felt like nothing but a series of dead ends.
After all, listen to the words that serve as the bookends, as the frame for this quest.
Chapter 1, verse 2. Chapter 12, verse 8.
Vanity of vanities, says the preacher.
All.
But the life well lived, it's chasing the wind.
So, it seems that we've ended where we began.
Vanity.
So, is that it?
Is it all just a dead end?
Is there no such thing as the life well lived?
Are we just back where we started?
Well, yes and no.
Remember T.S. Eliot's famous lines near the end of his poem, Four Quartets?
He says,
We shall not cease from exploration.
And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and to know the place for the first time.
We've come back to this realization that all is vanity.
But what do we now know now that we've taken this quest?
Well, we know that in order to really find lasting meaning, lasting substance, lasting joy in this life,
in order to really find the life well lived, we need more than just life under the sun.
When the preacher says,
All is vanity,
the all he's referring to is all of life considered apart from God, our Creator.
And all there really means all.
There is no creaturely reality that can hold up the weight of a human life.
Your soul is like a treasure of gold.
It is heavy with beauty and glory and worth.
And the tragedy is that we try to hold up this golden treasure
with the thin reeds of pleasure and power and worldly wisdom.
And they all break.
And the soul falls with them.
But what can hold us up
if every creaturely reality is nothing but vanity and a fleeting breath?
Only the Creator.
Ecclesiastes is showing us
that we have to look beyond the frame.
The quest from chapter 1, verse 2, to chapter 12, verse 8,
has not been a dead end.
It has followed every alternative path
so that we might find the only true lasting road to a life well lived.
And that's why in the epilogue to this great book,
verse 11 can take this book so full of its dead end explorations
and place it among the words of the truly wise
and describe it like goads and like nails.
What's a goad?
Well, a goad was a sharp stick
that a shepherd would use
to direct sheep away from harmful paths.
And has not Ecclesiastes been like a goad?
Has it not prodded us and poked us
to see the futility
of so many of the dead end paths
that we're prone to take?
Try pleasure, Ecclesiastes has said.
See where it leads.
Try power.
Try wealth.
Try earthly wisdom.
Let's take those paths
and see that they're all vanity.
But after the goad comes the nail.
And then, you see, like a nail firmly fixed,
Ecclesiastes has given us something
that at last is stable and secure,
a place not just to hang a coat,
not just to hang a bag,
not just to hang a few bits of choice advice.
No, here is an anchor
upon which you can hang your whole life.
Your soul, in all of its weighty beauty,
can rest here and be secure and never fall.
You know, it's sort of like we've been staring
at a painting in a museum.
And inside the frame,
there's this picture of human life
that's ultimately empty and fleeting.
And as our eyes move across the picture,
we come to the edge,
we come to the frame,
and then we scan over
and we hit the frame again,
and we come down
and we hit the frame again.
And we think,
but everything I see in this picture is vanity.
And the more you stare at the picture
within the frame,
the more empty life becomes.
And your heart sinks
and your spirit drops.
Is this all there is?
All is empty.
But then one of those,
you know, one of the guys in the museum
with the blue coat comes over
and taps you on the shoulder and says,
friend,
look beyond the frame.
Lift up your eyes.
Turn around.
Lift up your gaze.
There is more to be seen.
So as Ecclesiastes comes to an end,
as we return to the frame of vanity
in verse 8,
we're beckoned
to leave vanity behind,
to step beyond the frame,
to leave the dead-end paths,
and to find
that the life well lived
is the life lived
in the presence of God.
verse 13 and 14,
the end of the matter.
All has been heard.
Fear God
and keep His commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed
into judgment
with every secret thing,
whether good or evil.
And so in these last two verses,
we see
the contours
of a life well lived.
We see first
the heart
of a life well lived.
And what is that heart?
It's a heart
that fears God.
What does it mean
to fear God?
In the Bible,
to fear God
means to live
in awe
of His reality.
And that's a bit different
than how we usually
use the word fear,
isn't it?
We usually say
we're afraid of something
because we're scared
it's going to hurt us
and we want to run away
and hide, right?
But this kind of fear,
the fear of God,
doesn't necessarily mean
you want to run away
or hide.
It's the sort of feeling
you get in the presence
of something
truly majestic,
truly great.
Natural beauty
perhaps provides
the best analogy.
You know,
when you stand
on the edge
of something like
the Grand Canyon
or when you see
20-foot waves
rise in the ocean
during a storm,
that combination
of power
and beauty
fills your heart
with awe.
And yes,
you know
that a 20-foot wave
is dangerous
and so it's scary
in that sense.
but even if it
wasn't going to hurt you,
even if you were
safe on the shore,
you would still
look at it in awe.
That's a bit
of what the fear
of God means.
To understand
God's character,
the perfection
of power
and beauty,
of wisdom
and goodness,
to understand
the excellence
of God's character
and being
and to feel
the reality
of it.
And to fear
God
means
that the reality
of God
is the shaping
reality
of your life.
It means
that you care
more
about what
pleases God
than what pleases
other people.
It means
that you care
more about
God's approval
or disapproval
than the approval
of your colleagues
or neighbors
or classmates.
It means
that the reality
of God
is the standard
by which you
measure all
other wisdom,
all other goodness,
all other beauty.
That's why
verse 12
can say,
My son,
beware of anything
beyond these,
of making many books
there is no end,
and much study
is a weariness
of the flesh.
You know,
those words
weren't just penned
in the midst
of finals week,
right?
Ecclesiastes,
notice,
Ecclesiastes
isn't saying
we should
never
read books,
never study,
never explore ideas
and see where
they lead.
He's saying
beware.
Beware
of chasing
after
every new idea.
You can always
find one more
path to explore,
one more idea
to chase,
one more pleasure
to experiment with.
Humans will
always be
contriving
yet another way
to try to find
meaning and purpose
under the sun
apart from God.
But in the end,
Ecclesiastes
says it will only
lead to weariness.
real wisdom.
The heart
of a life
well lived
is fearing God.
There is no book,
no podcast,
no TED Talk
that will give
a better foundation
for a life
well lived
than this.
Fear
God.
After all,
what else
could you put
at the center
of your life?
that could
compare to this.
God
is the perfection
of beauty,
the pinnacle
of righteousness,
the sum
and source
of all truth,
the very ground
of being
itself.
God is the one
from whom
and through whom
and to whom
are all things.
Why would you
dance in the shadows
when you can
step into the light
and be flooded
with light?
fear God.
But how can we grow?
How can we grow
in the fear
of God?
Well, friends,
on the one hand,
the fear of God
is ultimately
something that only
God's Holy Spirit
can bring about
in the human heart.
Only the Holy Spirit
can open the eyes
of our hearts
to understand
and worship God
as God truly is.
but on the other hand,
the means
that the Holy Spirit
uses to do His work
is so often
and regularly
the Word
He has inspired.
Do you want
to grow
in the fear of God?
Do you want
the reality of God
to be the controlling
reality of your life
so that you can
be liberated
from all the petty
little fears
that drive you?
then meditate
upon the character
of God
revealed
in the Word of God.
Study His attributes.
Ascribe to Him
the glory He deserves.
Praise God
for who He is.
Meditate on His perfections.
When you read Scripture,
prayerfully keep an eye out
for those descriptions
of who God is
and what He is like.
You know,
often we go
to Scripture
looking for
a little bit of advice
to do this
and a little bit
of comfort to do that
and those are good.
We should go to God's Word
for everything.
But do we go
to behold God
as He has revealed
Himself to us?
Go to see
His holiness.
His righteousness,
His faithfulness,
His goodness,
His sovereignty,
His majesty,
His timeless eternity.
Do you need help
doing this?
Of course you do.
We all do.
We all need help
learning more
about who God
reveals Himself
to be in Scripture.
And thankfully,
God has raised up
teachers throughout
the history of the church
who help us
take the truths
of Scripture
about who God is
and understand them
and apply them
and make them shine.
You might consider
reading a book
like J.I. Packer's
Knowing God,
a wonderful book
to begin meditating
on who God is
and His glory
so that you might grow
in the fear of Him.
You might read a little bit
each day with your daily
Bible reading
and then spend time
each day
worshiping God
simply for who He is
and pray.
And pray that the Holy Spirit
would allow
the right awe
of God's reality
to rise up
in your heart
because that
is the heart
of a life well lived.
Fear God.
But in verse 13,
we also see
not just the heart
of a life well lived
but the direction
of a life well lived.
What is the direction
of a life
that is well lived?
Verse 13 says,
fear God
and keep
His commandments.
How different that is
from most of the advice
we receive
about living
a well lived life.
You know,
money,
fame,
impact,
friendship,
community,
family,
service,
these are the sorts
of ideals
that get held up
as, you know,
when you're really
on track
to live a well lived life.
Right?
But a truly
well lived life
is a life lived
in obedience
to God's commands.
Why is this the case?
Why obedience
to God's commands?
Well,
because God
is the creator
of all things.
He not only knows
how our human lives
work best,
but He also knows
how the very created
order works best.
Think of it this way.
When a carpenter
or a craftsman
is working
with a piece of wood,
they have to pay
very careful attention
to what?
To the grain
of the wood.
To the direction
and orientation
of the fibers
of the wood
as it is grown
in the tree.
Right?
Woodworkers know
that as they cut
and as they plane
and as they finish
the wood,
they have to work
with the grain.
Otherwise,
the wood
will simply chip
and splinter.
Going against
the grain
is a recipe
for ruining
the wood
and ruining
the project.
But if you can learn
to work
with the grain,
then you can create
things of beauty
and stability
and integrity.
And friends,
that is true
of our lives
as a whole.
You see,
God's commands
describe,
as it were,
the very grain
of the universe,
the grain
of created reality.
And so,
to obey
God's commands
is to live life
with the grain
of reality itself,
to live life
with the grain
of God's created order.
You see,
what that means
is that God's commands
are not some
sort of external
dictates
that are just
imposed upon
the foreign material
of the world.
Right?
No.
Because God
created all things.
Because He called
all things
into being
and fashioned them
according to His will.
Because of that,
God's commands
are His gracious
description
of the very grain
of the reality
He has made.
If it seems
to us
like God's commands
are strange
or counterintuitive
or out of place
or unrealistic,
it is not because
God's commands
are out of step
with reality,
but because we are.
Keeping God's commands
are the direction
of a life well lived.
But how do we
keep His commands?
How do we
keep God's commandments?
Anyone who has
tried to live
according to God's
commands set forth
in Scripture
will sooner
rather than later
be able to say
what the Apostle Paul
said in Romans
chapter 7.
The things I want
to do,
I don't do.
And the things
I don't want to do,
those are the very
things I keep
on doing.
You see,
the human heart
by itself
cannot keep
God's commands.
There's a power
in us
that seems
to keep
driving us
to go
against the grain
of God's
good commandments.
And this
power
that drives
us against
the grain
is what the
Bible calls
sin.
And because
this power
is inside
of us,
there is no
outside-in
approach
that will fix
it.
We can try
to learn more
about the moral
life.
We can try
to learn more
about virtue.
We can try
harder to put
it into practice.
You know,
like Benjamin
Franklin,
we can keep
a meticulous
practice of
sharpening our
moral character,
focusing on one
virtue at a time,
keeping track
of it in our
journal,
charting how
much progress
we made each
week,
each month,
each quarter.
And we can
even join
together in
community with
others who
are striving
for the same
goals.
But all of
these things,
while good
in themselves,
are outside-in
attempts to
fix an
inside problem.
It's sort of
like painting
the outside
of a house
house, when
the real
problem is
that the
foundation is
cracked.
The only
hope we
have of
keeping God's
commandments
and living
with a grain
of reality
is an
inside-out
solution.
We need the
sin in our
hearts to be
dealt with
on the inside
so that then
our outward
actions can
begin to
change.
And where
does this
inside-out
solution come
from?
It comes
from God.
God, in
His grace,
has made a
way for a
new power to
begin inside
of us that
can liberate
us and
empower us to
obey God's
commands from
the heart,
that can subdue
the power of
sin.
Listen to how
Paul describes
it in Romans
8, just
after confessing
the things I
want to do,
I don't do,
the things I
don't want to
do, I
just keep
on doing
them.
He says,
where do I
go for
rescue?
He says in
Romans 8,
God has
done what
the law
weakened by
the flesh
could not
do.
You see,
the law is
the ultimate
outside-in
approach,
trying to
do better
in our own
willpower.
But God
has done what
the law
weakened by
the flesh
could not
do.
How?
By sending
His own
Son.
In the
likeness of
sinful flesh
and for
sin,
He condemned
sin in the
flesh in order
that the
righteous
requirement of
the law
might be
fulfilled in
us who
walk not
according to
the flesh,
but according
to the
Spirit.
What Paul is
saying is this,
God the
Father sent
His Son to
take on our
fully human
nature in
the Incarnation
and united
to our
humanity.
Jesus not
only lived a
perfect life
for us,
but also
died to
pay sin's
penalty for
us.
And on the
third day,
when Jesus
rose again,
He demonstrated
that sin
was defeated.
And now,
for everyone
who admits
that they
can't beat
sin on their
own,
and who
turn and
trust in
Christ as
the one
who did,
God not
only promises
to forgive
their sins
on account
of what
Jesus did,
but He
promises to
give them
new hearts
through the
Holy Spirit.
That is,
everyone who
trusts in
Jesus as
Lord is
granted a
new internal
power by
the Holy Spirit
to enable
them from
the inside
out now to
obey God's
commands.
Friend,
do you
know this
inside-out
power?
that only
comes through
Jesus Christ,
the one who
condemned sin
in the flesh
so that you
might be made
alive to walk
in His Spirit.
Do you
know that?
Of course,
Ecclesiastes,
!
right,
only saw the
need and the
importance of
keeping God's
commands.
But today,
we also see
the lengths
that God
has gone
to make
us able
to keep
His commands,
sending His
own Son for
us,
pouring out
His Spirit
upon us.
So,
have you
trusted in
the risen
Lord Jesus
to receive
this enabling
and empowering
grace?
us?
Or are you
still trying
the outside-in
approach?
And how
much longer
will you
keep trying
until you
realize you
need a much
more radical
solution?
Not a new
strategy,
but a new
heart that
only God
in Christ
by His
Spirit can
give.
But friends,
don't you see,
don't you see
what good
news this is?
God doesn't
just create a
world and
then reveal
His commands
that describe
the grain of
that world
and then say,
good luck,
have fun with
that.
God is
willing to
condescend to
us,
sinners though
we are,
willingly live
and die and
rise again so
that we might
be filled with
His very
Spirit and
being able to
live at last
with the grain
of His
created world.
Of course,
we'll never
live that
perfectly in
this life.
Sin still
remains in
our hearts
even after
becoming new
creations.
And it will
remain there
until the
new creation
when Christ
returns.
But as we
keep in step
with His
Spirit,
as we depend
upon His
enabling grace,
this new
birth inside
of us will
surely work
itself out
and our
lives will
become lives
well lived.
life.
So Ecclesiastes
ends by
showing us
the heart
and the
direction of
a life well
lived.
Fear God,
keep His
commandments.
But there's
one more
thing.
In the
final verse
of the
book,
we see
the horizon
of a life
well lived.
What is the
horizon that
we must look
toward if we
are to live
the well lived
life?
Well,
according to
the last
verse of
this book,
it is God's
perfect and
complete
judgment.
This is
really the
only thing
that can
give life
any lasting
meaning.
Arthur Miller
wrote a play
called
After the Fall,
and in that
play,
one of the
characters,
Quentin,
sort of
gets at
this when
he says,
it's a long
quote,
but I think
it's really
meaningful.
This character
in Arthur
Miller's play
says,
you know,
for many
years I
looked at
life like
a case
at law.
It was
a series
of proofs.
When
you're
young,
you prove
how brave
you are
or smart.
Then,
what a
good lover.
Then,
a good
father.
And finally,
how wise
or powerful.
But underlying
it all,
I see now
there was
a presumption
that one
moved on
an upward
path towards
some elevation
where,
God knows
what,
I would be
justified or
even condemned,
a verdict
anyway.
And then the
character says,
I think now
that my
disaster really
began when
I looked up
one day and
the bench
was empty.
No judge
in sight.
And all
that remained
was the
endless
argument
with oneself.
The
pointless
litigation
of existence
before
an empty
bench.
Which,
of course,
is another
way of saying
despair.
If the
bench is
empty,
friends,
then human
life is
just one
long,
despairing,
pointless
litigation
of existence.
Because what
you do
or don't
do
really doesn't
matter in
the end.
But what
if the
bench
isn't
empty?
what if
everything
you do
does
matter?
Down
even to
the little
things,
even the
things no
one else
sees,
every secret
thing,
as verse
14 says.
What if
every dollar
that you
spend,
and every
word that
you speak,
and every
simple act
of kindness
toward your
spouse,
or your
child,
or your
neighbor,
what if
all of
that mattered,
and mattered
for eternity?
What if
the whole
of your
life,
every
moment of
it,
wasn't a
flicker
on the
blank screen
of a
pointless
and meaningless
universe,
but what if
it was a
meaningful
thread in
a created
order headed
toward eternity
with a
holy God,
a God
who sees
every deed,
and who
will vindicate
or condemn
every act
in perfect
righteousness?
What if
the bench
isn't
empty?
It's
surprising
how this
book of
Ecclesiastes
ends,
isn't it?
For pages
and pages
we hear the
book wrestle
with the
fleeting
vanity
of existence
under the
sun,
exploring
every
dead-end
path,
and exhausting
every
earth-bound
road,
only to
discover
that
creation
leads us
headlong
to our
Creator.
And in
view of
this God,
no longer
does nothing
matter,
but everything
does.
Everything
matters.
Everything
has substance.
Nothing is
in vain,
because a
good and
holy God
has created
all things,
and this
God will
not allow
His creation
to go
unnoticed.
And He
will call
the entire
story of
creation
and every
work done
within it
to account.
God
will
save us
from the
creation
and
God.
The reality
of God
as Creator
and Judge
saves us
from the
despair of
meaningless.
We're
saved!
But does
it not
simply
introduce
another
despair
in its
place?
Who
can stand
before a
perfect
judge?
I mean,
think about
it.
every
secret
thought.
That's
pretty
harrowing,
isn't it?
Look at
these stained
glass
windows.
Imagine
every
secret
thought
was
displayed
on
these
stained
glass
windows.
Who
would
stay
in
this
sanctuary?
We'd
all be
running
for the
door.
If
every
deed,
even
our
secret
thoughts
are
exposed,
who
could
possibly
be
justified?
But,
friends,
the good
news of
the gospel
tells us
that the
one who
sits on
the bench
is also
the one
who hung
from the
cross.
The one
shepherd,
God,
who utters
the words
of wisdom
described in
verse 11.
That's what
Ecclesiastes is
talking about
there.
These words
of wisdom
come from
one shepherd
ultimately,
all true
wisdom is
God's
wisdom.
That one
shepherd
God who
utters
words of
wisdom,
the one
judge
God who
renders
perfect
judgment
in verse
14,
is the
same
God
who stood
in the
place of
sinners
and was
condemned
unto
death
so that
all who
trust in
Him
might be
justified
and live.
hope.
And so
there is
not just
meaning,
but hope.
The message
of the apostles
from the
earliest days
was this.
God has
fixed a
day on
which He
will judge
the world
in righteousness
by a
man whom
He has
appointed.
And of
this,
He has
given assurance
to all
by raising
Him from
the dead.
And when
that day
comes,
those who
have trusted
in Christ,
as the
Gospel of
John says,
will not
come into
judgment,
but will
pass from
death to
life.
This is
the horizon
of a life
well lived,
to trust in
Christ for
our final
justification,
and to know
that because
Christ rose
from the
grave,
our labors
are not
in vain,
but that
everything
matters.
And so
this is
where the
quest has
led us.
On this
quest for
a well lived
life,
we've
discovered
that on
the one
hand,
it is
true.
All is
vanity,
vanity of
vanities.
Yes,
that's
true,
but only
to those
who refuse
to look
beyond the
frame,
only to
those who
remain on
the dead
end paths,
only to
those who
persist in
chasing the
wind.
But for
those who
turn and
come to
know the
God who
raised Jesus
from the
dead,
our Creator
and our
Redeemer,
all their
life is
full with
unspeakable
meaning and
purpose and
lasting joy.
And as we
fear God,
and as we
obey God,
and as we
look to God's
judgment to
make all
things new,
then we
will live
lives that
are not
in vain,
but lives
that will
be meaningful,
gloriously
meaningful,
now and
for eternity.
Let's pray.
Christ,
in you,
all the
treasures of
wisdom and
knowledge are
found.
Oh, by your
Spirit will we
turn to you,
cling to you,
receive you,
follow you,
receive your
forgiveness,
receive your
power,
and live lives
that are truly
full,
full of your
meaning,
full of your
purpose,
full of your
joy.
Amen.