It's such a joy and privilege to worship with you guys.
Please turn with me to Ecclesiastes.
If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.
We'd love to give you a copy that you can have and you can use this morning.
Ecclesiastes almost smack in the middle of the Bible after Psalms and Proverbs.
We're in Ecclesiastes chapter 7 today.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.
Father, there are so many ups and downs and good things and bad things that litter our lives.
And we need humility, Lord, to accept the lot you've given us.
And we need your wisdom, Lord,
to live in light of our impending death
and with hope in the life after.
So, Lord, take all the misconceptions and functional misbeliefs that we have this morning
that prevent us from living in light of the wisdom you give to us here in this book of Ecclesiastes.
Please, conform us to your will.
Humble us and glorify, magnify your grace in Jesus Christ toward us.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Please stand, if you are able,
as I read from Ecclesiastes 7, God's word.
Amen.
A good name is better than precious ointment,
and a day of death than the day of birth.
It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
and the living will lay it to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise
than to hear the song of fools.
For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,
so is the laughter of the fools.
This also is vanity.
Surely oppression drives the wise into madness,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,
for anger lodges in the heart of fools.
Say not, why were the former days better than these?
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
an advantage to those who see the sun.
For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
Consider the work of God.
Who can make straight what he has made crooked?
In the day of prosperity, be joyful.
And in the day of adversity, consider.
God has made the one as well as the other,
so that men may not find out anything that will be after him.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
You may be seated.
Ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden
and were cast out from the Garden,
and without access to the tree of life,
humanity has been on this quest for immortality,
and even ancient stories tell of this.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is a Mesopotamian story dated 2100 BC,
tells the story of Gilgamesh,
who after the death of his companion Enkidu,
imparks on a perilous journey to find the secret of eternal life.
But interestingly enough, he is spoiled by a serpent in his quest.
In the third century BC,
Emperor Qin Shi Huang of China searched repeatedly for the elixir of life
when he found an inscription that predicted his death.
He got so angry that he searched the entire town over
to find, identify the culprit,
whoever inscribed about his death.
When he couldn't find the person,
he decided he'll kill the entire town off
and pulverize the stone upon which his death was predicted.
He was so obsessed with escaping death
that many people think that he died of poisoning from mercury
when he drank what he thought was an elixir of life
to give him immortality.
Similarly, European alchemists sought,
were rumored about the philosopher's stone,
which they hoped would grant eternal life.
I think that piqued the interest of some of the kids here
who's read the Harry Potter series.
This quest for immortality is still going on today.
In 2013, Google launched Calico Life Services,
which is a biotech company founded for the purpose of solving death.
Venture capitalist and founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel,
has pledged to fight death by investing in anti-aging research.
In 2021, founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos,
invested in Altoslav,
a company that hopes to develop life extension therapies
that will halt or reverse human aging.
But seeking eternal life apart from God
is a fool's errand.
History bears that out,
and we see that in God's Word in Ecclesiastes 7, 1-14.
This passage teaches us instead
that we should live knowing that we'll die
and die knowing that we'll live forever.
My first point is going to be this.
Death is the end of all mankind.
I'm going to spend the bulk of my time in that point,
establishing that point from this passage,
and then I'm going to conclude with my second point.
Eternal life is the end of all Christians.
At the end of chapter 6,
the preacher of Ecclesiastes last week asked the question,
for who knows what is good for man
while he lives the few days of his vain life,
which he passes like a shadow?
What is good for man while he lives?
And then in chapter 7, verses 1-14,
the word good, often translated better,
occurs 11 times.
So he's trying to answer that question
that he has raised for us
with a series of better-than statements.
This is what the good life looks like
in light of inevitable death that is fast approaching.
And the preacher's answers,
characteristically, upend our expectations.
First better-than statement is this,
in verse 1,
a good name is better than precious ointment.
The comparison is even stronger in Hebrew,
which is literally,
a good name is better than good ointment.
This echoes the wisdom of Proverbs 22.1,
a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
You might remember from the Bible,
the story of Mary anointing Jesus' feet
with precious ointment.
It says that she broke a jar
that contained a pound of expensive ointment
made from pure nard.
John chapter 12.
And who objects but Judas Iscariot,
who says that the ointment could have been sold
for 300 denarii.
One denarius was the wage of a common worker
for a day's work.
So 300 is 300 days worth of work
for a common laborer.
So that's almost an year's worth of salary
for a common laborer.
And that's how expensive that perfume was
that she broke to anoint Jesus with.
So you can tell from this
that even back then, like today,
some perfumes were genuine luxury items.
But still, verse 1 says this,
A good name is better than precious ointment.
How precious then is a good name?
In light of this,
sullying your good reputation
for the sake of gaining wealth
is a height of folly.
But this is also a sharp warning
to those of us who would never dare
to steal a precious jewel
from someone that we know,
but don't think twice
about stealing their good reputation
with gossip and slander.
A good name is more precious
than any jewel.
I'm sure you've all had the experience
of someone on the streets
walking by you.
Sometimes they run by you
and they're like in these exercise clothes
and then you just get this whiff of perfume.
And no matter how fragrant
that perfume is,
it's delightful to our senses,
it only lingers for a fleeting moment
and poof, and it's gone.
But a good name stays with you.
Your reputation precedes you.
What good is it if you wear an ointment
that smells of fragrant jasmine
when your name or your reputation
smells of rotten eggs
and sewage
and sweaty socks?
Do people smile at the mention of your name?
Do they bless the memory of your name?
Or do they curse the memory of your name?
So far, verse one sounds like a nice,
neat, predictable proverb.
But here's the kicker,
the rest of verse one.
And the day of death
than the day of birth.
A good name is a precious commodity,
but whether you have a good name
or a bad name,
you're going to die one day.
And it serves us to remember that fact.
The day of death
is better than the day of birth.
This is not what we'd expect people to say,
but it is consistent
with the message of Ecclesiastes we've seen.
Early in chapter six,
we are told that a stillborn child
is better off
than the man who lives a long life
but is never satisfied
with life's good things.
In chapter four, verse two,
because of the oppression
or the robbery,
the extortion
and injustice in the world,
the preacher said,
I thought the dead
who are already dead
more fortunate
than the living
who are still alive.
But better than both
is he who has not yet been,
has not seen the evil deeds
that are done under the sun.
Repeatedly,
we're told
that life under the sun
is a vanity
and a striving after wind
for all our days
are full of sorrow
and work.
Our work is a vexation.
Life is hard
and life is miserable.
One of the privileges
of being a pastor
is that many of you
do me the honor
of confiding in me
and bringing me
into your pains
and struggles in life.
I hear about some of your
debilitating physical
or mental conditions.
I think of our sister,
Jenny,
still at the hospital
since her open heart surgery
last Monday.
I hear about how you are treated,
some of you,
at your workplaces.
I hear about your
painful family history,
baggage with your family members
and relatives.
even two days ago
when I was visiting
Caleb,
Caleb born in the
neonatal intensive
care unit,
I walked through
dozens of rooms,
infants hooked up to tubes.
this life is messed up.
Mark Twain had this to say
in his autobiography
at the end of his life.
A myriad of men are born.
They labor and sweat
and struggle for bread.
They squabble and scold
and fight.
They scramble for little
mean advantages
over each other.
Age creeps upon them
infirmities follow.
Shames and humiliations
bring down their prides
and their vanities.
Those they love
are taken from them
and the joy of life
is turned to aching grief.
The burden of pain,
care,
misery grows heavier
year by year.
At length,
ambition is dead.
Pride is dead.
Vanity is dead.
Longing for release
is in their place.
It comes at last.
The only unpoisoned gift
earth ever had for them.
And they vanish
from a world
where they were
of no consequence,
where they achieved nothing,
where they were a mistake
and a failure
and a foolishness,
where they have left
no sign
that they have existed,
a world which will
lament them a day
and forget them forever.
Then another myriad
takes their place
and copies all they did
and goes along
the same profitless road
and vanishes
as they vanished
to make room
for another
and another
and a million other myriads
to follow
the same arid path
through the same desert
and accomplish
what the first myriad
and all the myriads
that came after it
accomplished
nothing.
It sounds like Ecclesiastes,
doesn't it?
It's plagiarized.
Yeah.
Mark Twain got it
halfway right
because he's missing God
from the picture
but he gets
this observation
about our fall
in the broken world,
right?
So then why are
so many people
desperate to stay alive
a little longer?
Well,
people are desperate
to stay alive
because they fear death
but once you remove
the fear of death
from the equation,
a clear-eyed view
of life's suffering
and oppression
and injustice
leads to the inevitable
conclusion
that the day of death
is better than
the day of birth.
If your motto is
life is good,
I think that's
a New England company,
right?
If you expect
everything in life
to make sense
and you expect
good things
to happen to good people
and bad things
to happen to bad people
and if you expect
people to be nice to you
because you're
a nice person,
if you expect
to be successful
because you're
a hard-working person,
if you never expect
to get sick and die
because you exercise
and have a healthy diet,
then you will be disappointed
because that's not
how this life works.
We live in a fallen
and broken world
and if you don't figure out
how to align your naivete
with this harsh reality,
then you will become
disillusioned,
discontented,
angry,
and bitter
but if you know
that the world
isn't fair,
if you know
that the day of death
is better than
the day of birth,
then you can be thankful
for the surprising number
of blessings
in your life.
You can rejoice
at the few things
that actually go
the way they should go
and you can enjoy
the good gifts
that God has already
given you
rather than grumbling
and complaining
about what you don't have.
Imagine that you drive
a 30-year-old clunker
of a car.
I know this from experience
because my first two cars
were like that.
When you drive a car like that,
you don't care
that the AC doesn't work
or the heat doesn't work
or that when you roll
the window down,
it gets stuck
in the middle.
You're just happy
that it started
and now you don't have
to walk somewhere.
You can drive.
But imagine that you have
a brand new car.
Even if the smallest thing
doesn't work,
it annoys you greatly,
frustrates you.
The tiniest scratch
on that shiny thing
upsets you
because on a new car,
you expect everything
to be perfect.
You expect everything
to work
the way they're supposed to.
I think often people
expect the world
to be like that.
We expect there
to be peace
and order
and justice
and righteousness.
It's as if
the rest of humanity
is living in denial
that we have been
caught off
from the Garden of Eden
and from the Tree of Life,
that we live in a fallen
and broken world
that's been subjected
to futility.
as it says
in Romans 8.
So saying
that the day of death
is better
than the day of birth
is a sober-minded
recognition
of this reality
that the world
is not the way
it's supposed to be.
It's important
to note here
that the preacher
is not commenting
here on the implications
of life after death
on eternity
because of course
that has an impact
on whether your day of death
is better than the day of birth
or not.
And I'll address that later.
But that's not
the preacher's concern here.
He is simply
making the observation
that all creation
has been subjected
to futility
and that there is
because of that
vanity in this life
and the day of death
is better than the day of birth.
Far from having a death wish,
Ecclesiastes does not
have a death wish,
the preacher of Ecclesiastes
repeatedly tells us,
and if you've been with us
in this series
you know this,
he tells us again and again
to enjoy life.
Joy is a major theme
of the book of Ecclesiastes.
Remember,
we find the thesis
of Ecclesiastes
in the five parallel passages
throughout the book
where he tells us
to receive
and enjoy life
as a gift from God
rather than striving
in vain for gain,
seeking to control life
and to leverage life
in order to get ahead
in life
and to make something
of life.
That's not how
we're supposed to live.
If your life is
go, go, go,
all be from one appointment
to the next appointment,
from one project
to the next,
from one rung
on the creator ladder
to climbing
to the next one,
then we will never stop
and actually enjoy life.
In other words,
you don't begin to live
until you know
that you're going to die.
And the book of Ecclesiastes
seeks to remind us
that we don't have to wait
until the doctor tells us
of a terminal diagnosis.
We're already terminal
because we have
a spiritual disease
called sin.
Romans 5.12 says,
sin came into the world
through one man
and death through sin.
And so death spread
to all men
because all sinned.
So then we should live
knowing that we'll die.
In 2018,
there was a Washington Post
article about
Veronica Bennett,
a TV producer
who ran a popular blog
series on aging
called Time Goes By
on the Washington Post.
This interview was conducted
shortly after Bennett
was diagnosed
with the rare form
of cancer,
terminal cancer
in her body's soft tissues.
And her doctors
told her that there
is no cure
and that she might
expect to have
six to eight months
of good health
after which her body
will start deteriorating rapidly.
And the diagnosis
completely changed
the then 77-year-old
Veronica Bennett's
perspective on life.
She said,
it colors everything.
I've always lived tentatively,
but I'm not anymore
because the worst
has happened.
I've been told
I'm going to die.
All kinds of things
fall away
at just about
the exact moment
the doctor says
there is no treatment.
She started making
immediate changes
to the way she lived.
Here are some things
that she stopped
doing immediately.
Some of these
are quite funny.
No more try-to-stay-healthy
extended exercise routines
every morning.
An activity that she
formally forced herself
to do
but never enjoyed.
No more watching her diet.
Palliative care
is very different
from preventative care.
No more worrying
about whether
memory lapses
were normal
or an early sign
of dementia.
Well, it doesn't matter anymore.
And no more worrying
about what other people
are going to think of her.
And here are the things
that she wanted to do
and have more of.
Ice cream and cheese,
her favorite foods.
walks in the park
near her home.
A romp with kittens
or puppies
licking her
and making her laugh.
And deep conversations
with friends.
These kinds of
perspective shifts
are not uncommon
when people receive
terminal diagnoses.
Welsh photographer
Sir Ridwin Hughes
created a short film
entitled
What Matters Most?
Question Mark.
Which documents
the lives of people
who have received
the terminal diagnosis.
And one of her subjects
in the documentary
is a 30-year-old woman
named Megan McClay.
She says that
after being diagnosed
with stage 4 eye cancer,
she says this,
I'm able to have a perspective
on what is important to me
that I didn't have before.
I value spending time
with my family,
being with my partner more,
being more present
with myself.
I feel like we're always
striving for more,
a bigger home,
a bigger car,
a bigger this,
and a bigger that,
but we forget to see
what we actually have
in front of us.
Her diagnosis also changed
the perspective
of her boyfriend
who said this,
instead of always doing
what I thought
was a helpful thing
and taking action,
being away and working,
I've not calmed down significantly.
Me and Megan
are able to have
as much meaning
within our time together
as possible
because we won't have
that time in the future.
Remember what I said to you
about Pastor Tim Keller
a few,
maybe last month or so
when he was diagnosed
with pancreatic cancer?
Which would eventually
take his life.
When faced with death,
he finally stopped
trying to make a heaven
out of earth
and realized that he needs
to make a heaven
out of heaven.
And as he and his wife,
Kathy, did this,
they noticed a change.
Quote,
this world becomes
something we're actually
enjoying for its own sake.
Instead of trying to make it
give us more
than it really can.
So oddly enough,
we've never been happier.
Day to day,
we've never enjoyed
our days more.
We've never enjoyed
hugs more.
We've never enjoyed
food more.
She'll say,
this would be great to make.
We've never enjoyed
walks more.
We've never enjoyed
the actual things
we see,
touch,
taste,
hear,
and then smell
around us more.
It's ironic,
isn't it?
We don't begin
to live until
we're expecting
to die.
It's only when
we keep death in view
that we begin
to truly enjoy life.
That's the meaning
of verses 2 to 6.
Verses 2 to 3,
loosely parallel,
verses 4 to 6,
and you can tell
that by the repetition
of words and themes
that bind them together,
words like house,
mourning,
heart,
laughter,
fool,
wise,
they both compare
the house of mourning
to the house of feasting
and conclude
that the house of mourning
is better.
They both include
a better than statement
saying that sorrow
is better than laughter
and that the rebuke
of the wise
is better than
the song of fools.
They both include
a rationale statement,
an explanation statement
that explains
this surprising proposition
and it begins
with the word for
and the reason it gives
is death
because all our lives
end in death.
The laughter
and the songs of fools
that make us forget
this troublesome
reality of life
are vanities.
Going to a funeral
is better than
going to a party
because what's waiting
for us at the end
of our life
is not a party
but death.
The heart of the wise
is in the house of mourning
but the heart of fools
is in the house of mirth.
The preacher
is not saying
that we should never
throw parties.
I was at two of them
yesterday.
But this is what it means.
When you come face to face
with the brokenness
of this fallen world
you can be driven
into despair
and cynicism.
And to avoid that
there are only two ways
you can deal
with the problem.
The first way
is to party
like there's no tomorrow.
This is the route
of escapism.
Drink away your sorrows.
Dance the night away.
Divert yourself
with endless comedy shows
so that you can forget
your trouble.
The second way
is to look at death
squarely in the eyes
come to terms
with your own mortality
and significance
acknowledge that
you don't have
all the answers
and cultivate humility
and submission
before God.
That produces
gratitude and joy.
The first way
is folly.
The second way
is wisdom.
The first way
inebriates you.
The second way
sobers you.
This is why sorrow
is better than laughter
for the sadness
of face
by the sadness
of face
the heart
is made glad.
The word translated
made glad here
is a Hebrew word
that often means
to do good.
So I actually prefer
the rendering
that the new
international version has.
It says
a sad face
is good
for the heart.
Or the King James version
says this
by the sadness
of the countenance
the heart
is made better.
A cure
for heart sickness
surprisingly
is a vial
of medicine
called
a dose
of reality
the reality
of death.
Confronting
the realities
of suffering
and death
in this life
makes us sober
and humble.
It forces us
to shed
our delusions
of grandeur
and immortality.
It instills
in us
deep in our bones
a freedom
of insignificance
and the humility
of wisdom.
This is why
sadness of faith
is good
for the heart.
In contrast
the laughter
of the fools
is like the crackling
of thorns
under a pot.
This is an image
of a pot
you're cooking
in a pot
you have some water
or some food
soup in it
and underneath
what's burning
is a whole bunch
of thorns
that you have
no use for
but to burn.
And as the thorns
are burning
and the twigs
are burning
they crackle.
They crackle
because of the
pressure of the heat
the thorns
crack open
and the little bit
of moisture
that's left in it
evaporates immediately
and pops.
It's like a mini explosion.
That's what the songs
and laughters
of fools
who seek to escape
this reality of death
are like.
They crackle with life
for a fleeting moment
and then they're
reduced to ashes.
So remember death.
Christian author
Randy Alcorn
writes this
in his book
Heaven
that ancient merchants
often wrote the words
memento mori
think of death
in large letters
on the first page
of their accounting books.
I think that's
a healthy practice
that we could
recover.
Philip of Macedon
father of Alexander
the great
commissioned a servant
to stand in his presence
each day
and say to him
Philip
you will die.
What a job.
In contrast
Francis Louis XIV
decreed that the word
death
not be uttered
in his presence.
Be more like
Philip of Macedon
than Louis XIV.
Think of death.
I read last week
about an author
who writes her own
obituary
every single year.
A practice
that she learned
while accompanying
our mom
who was volunteering
at a hospice
and one of the
training
that you do
when you volunteer
for hospice
at this place
was to
write your own
obituary
so that you could
imagine yourself
in the shoes
of the people
who are
spending the end
of their lives
there.
And so she
started doing
this practice.
Try writing
your own
obituary
one day.
It forces you
to think about
what people
will say
about you
after you
die.
What will
they say?
Will they say
that you
loved well?
That you
loved Jesus?
You walked
with him?
Will they say
that you knew
how to receive
and enjoy
the good gifts
of life?
Or will
the clinical
recitation
of your
string
of accomplishments
suggest that
you lived
life for gain
and that you
got a lot
of things done
but you were
never truly
known by anyone?
That exercise
will clarify
your priorities
in life.
Some accomplishments
that you have
prided yourself
in or hope
to accomplish
one day
will ring
hollow
in the light
of the certainty
of death.
It says
in Psalm 90
for all our
days pass away
under your wrath.
We bring our
ears to an end
like a sigh.
The years of our
life are 70
or even by reason
of strength
80.
Yet their span
is but toil
and trouble.
They are soon
gone and we
fly away.
So teach us
to number
our days
that we may
get a heart
of wisdom.
We should all
seek to get
this heart
of wisdom.
Number our
days.
But we also
need to remember
that the heart
of wisdom
is not immune
to corruption.
That's what
verse 7
teaches us.
Surely oppression
drives the wise
into madness
and a bribe
corrupts the heart.
The word surely
is actually a translation
of the same word
that in verse 6
is translated
as 4.
The translators
couldn't discern
the logical connection
between verses 5
and 6.
So they started
a new thought
but it's actually
supposed to be
connected to verses
5 and 6.
It's another reason
clause explaining
why it is better
for a man to hear
the rebuke of the wise
than to hear
the song of fools.
We should pay
attention to the
rebuke of the wise
for oppression
drives the wise
into madness
and a bribe
corrupts the heart.
In other words,
even those who
possess wisdom
are not immune
to corruption
and therefore
we should be open
to listening
to the rebuke
of the wise.
The word translated
oppression here
in scripture
refers to
dishonest gain
by means of oppression
which is why
it is sometimes
translated as robbery
or extortion.
The NIV
translates it this way,
the extortion
turns a wise person
into a fool
and bribe
corrupts the heart.
Both clauses
in verse 7
are referring to
the potential
for money
to corrupt
the person
who has wisdom.
It could mean
that the wise,
even the wise
can buckle
under the pressure
of extortion
and do something foolish
or it could mean
probably more likely
in my mind
that when the wise
person gains
a possession
of influence
or authority
in some kind
of office
by the virtue
of their wisdom
they can be tempted
to use their station
in life
to gain more,
to extort.
And if you do that
then you've forfeited
your heart of wisdom.
And if you take
a bribe
that colors
your judgment
then you also
have forfeited
your heart of wisdom.
And once again
remembering death
can fortify us
against the allures
of money.
As we talked about
last week
in chapters 5 and 6
earthly money
is expiring currency.
It's going to lose
100%
of its value
on the day
you die.
So why
sacrifice
your integrity
for death?
That's a bad trade.
So remember death
and go to a funeral.
Write your obituary.
Let the remembrance
of death
protect you
from the allure
of money.
Similarly,
verse 8
echoes earlier
verses,
better is the end
of a thing
than its beginning
and the patient
in spirit
is better
than the proud
in spirit.
That sounds like
verse 1, right?
The day of death
is better
than the day of birth.
The crib
is full
of hope
and potential
and we've been
rejoicing
the coming of
babies
in this season
in our church.
But there's really
not much
you can say
about a newborn baby.
Right?
What's the same thing
that everybody says
when they look
at your newborn baby?
Oh,
I think she looks
like the mom.
Oh,
I think he looks
like the dad
because there's
not much else
we can say.
It's all potential,
no reality.
It's not the crib
but the coffin
that tells us
what a man
or a woman
is really worth.
What they were
really like.
Better is the end
of a thing
than its beginning.
So don't lose heart
because you've made
a mess of your life
up to this point.
Jesus is a strong
redeemer
and he is indeed
making all things
new.
There's still hope
for you
and we're going
to talk more
about that.
You probably
don't know
who George Mallory
is.
You guys know?
Anybody know
who George Mallory
is?
I didn't know
who he was
until I googled him
earlier this week.
He's believed
to be the first
person to scale
Mount Everest.
Why don't we
know about him?
Well because
he never made
it back down.
He died
on the summit.
The name
you probably
have heard of
is Sir Edmund
Hillary
who is widely
known as the
first person
to summit
Mount Everest
because he
made it back
down.
As many people
have said
it's not how
you start
that's important
but how you
finish.
and when
you keep
the end
in sight
it will
help us
to be
patient
in spirit
rather than
proud in
spirit.
Why be
proud of
who you
are and
what you
have
accomplished
when you're
still in
the middle
of the
race?
Don't
join that
infamous
list of
YouTube
compilations
of people
who celebrated
too early
and lost
the race.
You are
not finished
yet and
much can
happen
between
now
and the
end.
Don't
take
where you
are at
this stage
of your
life,
your current
spiritual walk
with God
for granted.
The race
is not
over.
You need
to persevere
till the
end.
Better
is the
end of
a thing
than its
beginning.
Keeping
death in
view also
brings our
priorities
into focus.
We can
know better
that some
things are
not worth
fretting
about.
It makes
us patient
in spirit
rather than
proud in
spirit.
Do you
really care
that much
about what
people think
about you
when your
day of
death is
approaching?
Do you
really care
that much
that your
wife didn't
have dinner
prepared for
that day
or that
your husband
didn't put
the dirty
laundry in
the washer?
Do you
really care
that much
that your
roommate
talks too
loudly on
the phone
or leaves
the common
room area
as messy?
Do you
really care
that much
that your
kids spilled
a drink
and made
a mess
on your
pristine
carpet?
Does that
matter when
the day
of death
fast
approaches?
The patient
in spirit
is better
than the
proud in
spirit.
Verse 9
is thematically
connected to
verse 8
by the repetition
of the word
spirit.
Be not
quick in
your spirit
to become
angry,
for anger
lodges in
the heart
of fools.
Anger is
our emotional
response to
perceived
wrong.
And people
who get
angry often
are easily
offended because
they often
perceive what
other people
say and do
to be
wrong.
And they
often perceive
what other
people say
and do
to be
wrong
because they
are proud
in spirit.
Those who
are quick
in their
spirit to
become angry
are proud
in spirit.
This is a
sin with
which I am
intimately
familiar.
So if you
feel like
I am
calling
your cards
and reading
your mail,
don't worry,
I am just
reading my
own mail.
Oftentimes,
our anger,
unlike God's
anger,
is not
righteous
anger,
it is
self-righteous
anger.
In our
judicial system,
a judge
is required
to recuse
himself
if he is
personally
implicated
in the
case.
Because how
are you going
to judge
a case
impartially
if you
are
personally
affected
by it.
But when
we are
personally
offended
and affected
by something,
far from
recusing
ourselves,
we appoint
ourselves
the judge,
the jury,
and jailer
all at once.
We sit
in judgment
over the
person,
fooling
ourselves
that we
can discern
every motivation
of their
heart.
and then
instead of
seeking the
Lord's
guidance
and being
patient
in prayer
and seeking
the counsel
of wise
people around
us,
we quickly
pronounce the
verdict as
the jury.
Well,
yep,
that was
that,
and that
was wrong.
I'm right,
you're wrong.
And then
since our
verdict as
a jury
is impeccable,
we start
acting as
the jailer.
We jail
the offending
person in
the cold
prison of
our icy
stairs and
chilly
silence.
Or we
punish them
with hundred
lashes of
the tongue
by berating
them.
People
with anger
issues are
often wise
in their
own eyes.
In fact,
I would say
that they
are invariably
wise in
their own
eyes.
But the
preacher of
Ecclesiastes
pops our
balloons when
he kindly
reminds us,
anger
lodges in
the heart
of fools.
It's not
the wise,
it's the
fool.
So what's
the solution?
Look at all
the other
verses in
the passage
that mention
the heart.
Verse 2,
this is the
end of all
mankind and
the living
will lay
to heart.
Verse 3,
sorrow is
better than
laughter,
for by
sadness of
faith the
heart is
made glad.
Verse 4,
the heart
of the
wise is
in the
house of
mourning,
but the
heart of
fools is
in the
house of
mirth.
If you
don't want
the heart
of fools,
here's the
prescription
from
Ecclesiastes.
If you
want the
heart of
the wise,
then spend
some time
reflecting on
the end
of your
life,
so that
you might
grow smaller
in your
own eyes.
Make your
face sad
by reflecting
on death
and by
grieving your
own sins,
since the
wages of
sin is
death.
If you
are regularly
grieving your
own sins,
and the
death which
ineluctably
comes as a
result of
your sins,
then we
are well
on our
way to
becoming more
patient in
spirit than
proud in
spirit.
verse 10
gives another
invaluable
counsel to
fools who
think themselves
wise.
It says,
say not,
why were the
former days
better than
these?
For it is
not from
wisdom that
you ask
this.
People who
think themselves
wise often
bemoan the
good old
days.
I know
you guys
have done
this.
I have
too.
And it's
because they
accurately
perceive the
evils and
ills of
society today
that they
pine for
yesterday.
But such
thinking is
not from
wisdom.
In Exodus
14 and
16, the
Israelites
pine for
the good
old days.
And you
know what
their good
old days
were?
Slavery
in Egypt.
If anything
proves our
selective
memory and
the faultiness
of nostalgia,
I think
Exodus does
it.
They say,
oh, we
were better
off serving
the Egyptians
than wandering
here in the
wilderness.
Oh, when
we were in
Egypt, we
sat by the
meat pots and
ate bread to
the full.
When they
were actually
slaves,
worked to
the bone to
make bricks
without straw,
and they
were crying
out for
deliverance
from God.
people who
tend to
reminisce
dreamily about
the good
old days
likely don't
remember
accurately what
those old
days were
like.
Remember
Ecclesiastes
1, 9-10.
What has
been is
what will
be, and
what has
been done
is what
will be
done, and
there is
nothing new
under the
sun.
Is there
a thing of
which it is
said, see,
this is new?
It has
been already
in the
ages before
us.
The decadence
and perversions
that we see
in our world
and society
today are
nothing new.
They've been
around for
millennia.
Sure, they
didn't have
internet or
cell phones or
social media in
the past, but
you don't think
that people
dealt with
frivolous
diversions and
self-absorption
and self-promotion
back in those
days, of course
they did.
Of course
we live in
the age of
feminism and
sexual liberation
and the
corresponding jerk
reaction of
masculinism, but
do you really
think that the
struggle between
the sexes and
oppression between
the sexes is
new?
It's not
new.
There's nothing
new under the
sun because
human beings
remain fundamentally
unchanged.
the sin that
is at the root
of all people
are still
there.
It's been
there all
along.
So the wise
person does
not dwell on
the past or
dream of the
future, but
faithfully and
fully lives in
the present
moment.
It says in
verses 13 to
14, consider
the work of
God who can
make straight
what he has
made crooked.
In the day of
prosperity be
joyful and in
the day of
adversity consider
God has made
the one and
as well as the
other.
so that man
may not find
out anything
that will be
after him.
This echoes
what Ecclesiastes
115 said,
the greatest
philosophers of
throughout the
ages and the
best scientists,
the most brilliant
scientists throughout
the ages cannot
make what is
crooked straight.
I've said this
to you before,
despite all the
knowledge and
wisdom we have
gained in the
advancement of
medicine and
technology, people
still get sick,
hospitals are
still full,
people still
die, and our
average lifespan is
still not beyond
what Psalm 90
10 said 3,000
years ago, 70
or by reason of
strength 80.
So I'm sorry if
you work in the
health care, that's
just the reality.
Despite all the
experience and
wisdom we have
gained in
diplomacy and
peacemaking, the
world is still
ravaged by war,
is it not?
Despite all the
knowledge we have
and wisdom we've
gained about the
human mind, about
the brain and
the mental health,
people are still
depressed and
anxious as ever.
Despite all our
technological
advancements, despite
all our inventions,
this world is still
not the way it's
supposed to be.
It's still messed
up.
And despite all of
our wise choices,
we cannot control
the comings and
goings of the days
of prosperity and
the days of
adversity.
What is crooked
cannot be made
straight.
This world is
bent out of shape
and despite our
best efforts, we
cannot straighten it
out.
God himself has
subjected the
creation to
futility.
And since the
fall, vanity has
been woven into
the very fabric of
our universe.
And this is
intended to
humble us, to
remind us that
we are not the
saviors, that we
are not the
redeemers.
God is.
To remind us that
we are creatures
subject to the
passing of time and
God alone is the
creator.
It's not for man to
find out anything
that will be after
him.
We cannot control
our times and
days, so our lot
then is this.
In the day of
prosperity, be
joyful.
In the day of
adversity, consider
God has made
one as well as
the other.
We receive the
things in life, both
good and bad, as
they come from the
sovereign hand of
our loving Father.
If you're thinking
to yourself right
now, well, that's
depressing, then
here's the hope.
Death is the end of
all mankind, but
eternal life and
resurrection life is
the end of all
Christians.
In fulfillment of
Isaiah's prophecy,
Luke 3, 5 says this
about the coming of
Jesus, the crooked
shall become
straight, and the
rough places shall
become level ways, and
all flesh shall see
the salvation of God.
In his life and
ministry, what did
Jesus do?
He goes around and
he makes the lame
walk and he makes the
blind see.
He makes the lepers
clean.
Why does he do that?
They're still gonna die.
Why does he spend the
time doing that?
To show us that the
Redeemer has come who
will start to make
things right again, who
will make the crooked
things straight again,
who will make broken
people whole again.
Jesus, the folly of
Christ crucified, is the
wisdom of God, and the
power of God.
You see, death first
entered our world
through the sin of one
man, Adam.
But to save us from sin
and death, God sent his
only son, Jesus.
And we read this earlier,
Romans 5, 17.
For if because of one
man's trespass, death
reigned through that one
man, much more will those
who receive the abundance
of grace and the free
gift of righteousness
reign in life through the
one man, Jesus Christ.
Romans 5, 21 continues,
so that as sin reigned
in death, grace also
might reign through
righteousness, leading to
eternal life through
Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Jesus is the one man in
history who didn't have
anything to do with how
crooked and messed up our
world is.
He's the one man who never
deserved to die.
But he died on that cross
for our sins so that he
might bring about the
redemption and salvation of
all those who put their
faith in him and indeed in
the future of all creation.
The death of Christ spells
the death of death and
because sin, which is the
sting of death, is removed
on the cross because the law,
which is the power of sin,
is fulfilled by Jesus on
the cross.
It's in Jesus that the
relentless march of death
is arrested.
So this, my fellow crooked,
broken sinners, is the most
important thing you can take
away from this passage.
Come to terms with your
death for the wages of sin
is death.
All have sinned and therefore
all will die.
And having come to terms
with your death, come to
terms with Jesus who
defeated death.
For the free gift of God
is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
And you don't need to do
anything to earn that.
It's a free gift.
All you need to do is
receive it.
And that's what we call
faith.
And this is why, Christians,
we don't fear death.
I don't have a death wish.
I'm not suicidal.
I'm not even depressed.
But I know without a shadow
of doubt, the day of my death
is going to be the happiest
day of my life.
It's going to be the happiest
day of my life.
Because here, we are exiles,
aliens in a foreign land.
But then, we will be home.
We'll be home in our
father's house.
Here, we're in the wilderness,
tossed to and fro by the waves
at the sea.
But there, we will find land.
We will finally land on the shore.
Here, life is full of toil,
vexation.
That's our life.
But there, we'll finally find
rest in Jesus Christ.
So let us live knowing that
we will die and die knowing
that we will live forever.
Let's pray.
Amen.
Yes, God, we worship you.
We thank you for your grace
and kindness toward us
in Jesus Christ.
Lord, you are the savior
of our ruined life.
And even now, you are
straightening us out.
O Lord, we so long for that day
and we anticipate that day.
When we die, our soul will pass
to be with you.
And when you return, O Lord Jesus,
you will raise our bodies.
And we will dwell with you forever
in the new heaven and the new earth.
Give us an unwavering hope
in that certainty.
So that we live today
with the heart of wisdom.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.